The First Stars:

Revealing the Lights in the Pitch Night

Disclaimer:

Long story short, Chrono trigger is a registered trademark of Square-Enix. In case you don't know, the guys that makes Final Fantasies games and movies, etc.

Chapter one:

The Shooting Stars

"Ow! What the heck did I hit?"

"I told you to watch out! The place's like a maze."

"I know Ro! But couldn't you bring something that could light the way?"

"Melanie said we couldn't…now that I remember—Hey Pookey! Where are you?"

A squeaky light voice echoed through the dark building. "Straight ahead, squeak! And lower your heads, Squeak!"

"We've been around here for four days, what are we going to find?"

"Pookey said he found some things that might be useful, and were getting closer, Ilia."

Ilia sighed, releasing some of the stress that she carried, but aware of the danger that might fall to them.

Following the dark passage, they ended in front of a closed door, with a dim light revealing their appearances. Robert, or Ro, as he preferred to be called, had straight black hair and beige skin; while Ilia had a wavy hair and light skin, both around the age of 17 and wearing many kinds of rags to protect themselves from the cold.

"Do you think there could be food?" Ilia asked hopefully.

"Maybe, squeak!" Pookey answered, lifting himself on his hind legs and touching a panel aside from the door. Pookey was one of the many oddities of monsters that learned human language. Being a rat, he felt safer around people, yet he felt more comfortable with the two he was with now.

The door opened with a quick hissing, letting the cold air of the room reach them, making them shudder. As they walked in, Pookey climbed on Ilia's shoulder; the room was large enough to fit a large group of people with enough space to spare. The storage boxes were all undamaged; fallen pieces of the ceiling were scattered around the room. Ro ran to a computer terminal, turning it on and searching the status of the floor they were recently in.

"Hey! Pookey hasn't taught me that! How come you know!" ILia said as she saw Ro working his way in the computer. Pookey jumped down from her shoulder to Ro's.

"You complain a lot.—here! The refrigeration system is still working; should last a few more years" He walked away to the storages and opened one. "You think the monsters will find this place?" Ro asked, already packing the food stored inside; Ilia doing the same.

"Hardly. Those mutants live around here, they'll just eat anything that moves within their sights." Ilia cleared their doubts. "And those acid monsters only appear if you get too close to them."

"Organisms squeak!"

"There's one thing that's been bothering me." Ilia finished stuffing her bag, being smaller than Ro's, and crouched in front of Pookey. "Where'd you learned all this?" She asked.

"Don't know. I just knew."

"I don't believe you. Melanie will have to ask you someday." Ilia told Pookey with a smile.

"That day won't come, at least not yet squeak!" Pookey answered amused.

Ro walked to them, already with his pack full. After finishing, they closed the door behind as it was, hoping nothing would damage the room, and return there when they needed. Pookey led them through the dark and finally out of the crumbled building. Silently, they avoided the know monsters, including some of the mutants, and walking to Arris Dome; their home. From afar, they could see the barren city, with its blowing debris and twisting metal, silhouetted from the stormy, grey sky, which seemed to last forever.

CTR

"Where have you two been? Four days have passed, and we thought you were dead!" Melanie, a young woman, was scowling at them. Her light brown hair and hazel eyes, penetrating their very own.

I told you we were at the city ruins!" Ro answered back in defense, lowering his bag and showing her what he and Ilia found.

"We took a long time avoiding the mutants." Ilia answered too, unpacking her bag.

"The mutants!" Melanie asked in anger. "That place is crawling with them! And I've told you not to go there!"

"They weren't that much of them, squeak! So I asked if the wanted to go there." The rat answered in it's calmly way, walking to a floor rag that laid there; he stretched and picked one of the cans to eat. Melanie stared at him for a moment, and then turned to her friends.

"I guess that if Pookey went with you, you were a lot safer inside those ruins. But I don't want you going there again without telling me! " Melanie said. She lowered to the items they brought and started sorting them. One bag for the few people the lived with them, mostly teens seeking an answer to their existence, and the rest to the people in charge of the storage area in Arris. Most of the teens were lured by the same Rat that was sleeping on the floor, to this place, were they learned more about their surroundings, the youngest one being Ro and Ilia.

"Okay, that's all. Take the rest to Doan, and don't wander off anywhere!"

"Can we stay there for a while?" Ro asked.

"Just for this day" Melanie answered, while opening some of the items, giving them to the people nearby.

I'll make sure he doesn't wander, Mel." Ilia said, knowing Ro's tendency to disobey Melanie. Ro picked up the already closed bag, and made their way to another area of the Dome.

As they walked further into the building, they could hear excitement and intrigue coming from afar. The door opened, revealing the people gathered at a spot. The three of them walked to the woman near the entrance, watching the small turmoil from a distance. She was around her mid-30s, with black hair and eyes.

"So you finally came back. Melanie told me that she hadn't seen you in the last days." The woman said as soon as she recognized them.

"Yeah well, Melanie likes to exaggerate things too much." Ro answered.

"We brought some stuff for you." Ilia said.

Ro handed his own bag to Jade, as was her name. He then turned to see the people gathered. "What's happening there, Jade?"

"Oh, there? A group of three strange dressed people brought seeds from the storage room. Everyone's exited as to what it could bear."

"The storage room?" Ilia exclaimed. "But that place's guarded by security!"

"I don't know exactly how they managed through, but I think they shut down those." Jade said.

Anything else?" Ro asked, turning again to her.

"Ask Doan. They mostly spoke to him."

Ilia and Ro shared glances. He immediately went to the crowd.

"Thanks Jade. We'll be seeing you soon." Ilia said as she followed Ro. Pookey jumped from her shoulder to his for a better view.

From the center, Doan saw Ro and Ilia approaching. He walked until he faced them. "Melanie was scared because of you. You shouldn't do that to her."

"(Melanie's going to have her mouth shut tight after this!)" Ro thought.

"It doesn't matter." Ilia responded smiling. "We're here, right?"

"What's everyone so exited about?" Ro asked.

"Because of those seeds." Doan said as he showed them the pot with dirt. "They said something about this being their future. I didn't understand them very well."

Ilia looked at Ro, and she saw that he was looking at Doan, still. She remembered that face any time, Ro was curious about these people, and what's lying in the building below the stairs.

"Is it possible to go down there?" He asked.

"Yes, but…they're still monsters lurking down there. If you're really going down there, please be very careful. I don't like the idea of worrying Melanie."

"Don't worry, Doan; we'll only get to check something out anyway." Ilia said without second thought. Just as fast Ro looked confused at her. He was actually expecting her to complain about the idea…but she didn't. She just walked past him and climbed down the ladder, he followed her, having Pookey on his shoulder.

After a few minutes of descending, they found themselves in a small room with a monitor and two doors, one to the left and another to the right.

"Strange place." Ilia commented.

"What's this computer for?" Ro walked to it, the same monitor in the middle of the room, but whatever he tried it didn't seem to respond. He gave up, guessing it would be broken.

"Pookey, do you know what's this place for?" Ilia asked, turning to him. Pookey jumped down from Ro's shoulder and walked to the door to the right. He stared at it.

"This door wasn't open before, squeak!" The rat just disappeared through the door.

"Pookey! Where're you going!" Ilia ran after him.

"Hey, wait!" Having no other choice, he ran after both of them. In the next room, he could barely notice the monsters that dwelled there, having as a priority to get to the next room where he hoped the other two were.

Ro stood at the entrance of a giant room, with a computer console in its center, and a flat monitor as a part of the wall in front of him. He felt awed and uncomfortable in such a place.

"Ro, are you alrigth?" Ilia was standing in front of him, as if she had appeared out of nowhere. "Pookey's standing there." She pointed to the console. "I don't know what he's doing, but it seems kinda interesting. Wanna check?"

"There's nothing else to see around here."

They both approached Pookey as he tried the keys. She wouldn't dare touch anything, since she has no experience in computers, but what she lacked there, she could make up for electricity and chemistry.

"What you got, Pookey?" Ro asked as he leaned against the console.

"Squeak! I think those kids that Jade and Doan were talking about opened this place.

"Maybe you're right." Ilia looked around her, gazing at nothing in the steel room. "I'm still wondering what this place was for?"

"Don't know. Have you found anything yet, Pookey?" Ro asked, still waiting for the monitor to turn on. Pookey walked to the other side of the console, having tried all the buttons: seeing this, Ilia started to reconnect the cables that seemed out of place. Pookey set his eyes on a particular button, having no name or letter to identify it. As soon as he tried it, the wires Ilia was holding at the moment snapped, and the monitor turned on.

"It's on!" Ro exclaimed as he watched it. Ilia got up from the open panel of the console, and Pookey jumped on her.

The image was blurry and was hardly describable. As the video played longer, it became more visible. It showed a green world with cities, and no storm; as suddenly as it appeared to be clear, the image got dark as night. From the ground, a red entity came, devastating the cities. The video ended there, with static, playing again in short sequences.

"What do you think that is?" Ro asked, watching the monitor.

"I don't know. But some of the places seem a little too familiar." Ilia answered. She felt Pookey climbing again to her shoulder.

"Squeak! It would be best to find out. This system won't give us the answers."

"Doan's the descendant of the Chief of this building." Ro took them by surprise. "We can ask him?"

"What if he doesn't know either? We don't have any idea of what it was." Ilia said. "We don't even know where to start."

"That's why we're not going to Melanie today." He said smiling.

"But…I…If Melanie gets you, you're going to get in a worse situation than Pookey has!"

I've survived worse punishments. Besides, if she would have found this, she would have left me as a caretaker and wander off."

"I know that! That's why I'm going to follow you and make sure you come back." Ilia said with mockery, and then smiled to him. Ro found this disturbing over time; how quickly Ilia could change her expressions, confusing him even more. But Melanie always knew what Ilia was trying to say. For him, maybe it was a girl thing.

CTR

"So you came back safely. Anything you found useful down there?" Doan said as he saw them climb off the ladder.

"No. There was a computer we tried, but we couldn't find anything." Ilia replied.

"Is that so? Maybe it malfunctions as time passed. I remember in my young years how the people told me they lasted forever." Doan sighed. He was an old man, as experience would tell, he has lived through a lot in this decaying world. And yet people manage to live by his warnings and rules.

"Doan, I need a favor from you." Ro said, as if the though passed through his mind without even thinking.

"What is it?"

"If Mel dares to ask where we are, tell her we're with you, or around the building."

"What are you planning?" Doan asked, already knowing the answer.

"We're going to search for some things, and is probably going to take days. Would you please do this?" Ro asked, looking straight at the old man. Doan wandered a few steps, for he suspected the reason was below the ladder.

"I'll do that favor, but you have to promise me to come quickly." He answered.

"Thanks Doan!" Ro answered happily.

"We'll make sure to come!" Ilia added. They both stuffed their bags with whatever they could need and maid there way out of the Dome.

Coments:

First fic, capiche?Por favor, reviews, I really don't care how you do it...