Forward to the Past
A Chrono Trigger Fanfiction
By: Novalon
Chapter 5: Retribution
The black knight lifted his sword, sneering at his opponents.
Freya was currently fending off his attacks with various streams of water, but he was slowly, but surely causing damage to the team.
Looking to the water on the ground, he sneered, raising his right hand.
Miko darted back and forth, waiting for his magic attack, while Kage was conjuring a fire spell.
Yuber voiced his spell, causing the fighters to cringe at the evil the voice withheld.
"Soaring Bolt…"
His form outlined in electricity as the spell arced through the combatants, causing them all to fall to the ground. The water conducted the spell well, causing the fighters to fall quickly.
Yuber sneered as he slowly walked towards the female ninja closest to him.
"I've dealt with your kind before, assassin, but perhaps we shall see what you are like beneath your shroud…"
He licked his lips as he knelt in front of Miko, groping her as he ripped her shrouded mask off.
Her beautiful blue hair cascaded out, enticing him to remove more, but there was just one slight problem.
"Touch that lady again, perverse demon, and thou shalt perish beneath my holy blade."
He looked in the direction of the voice to see two similar looking men, one with red hair and one with green hair, and a blond haired woman backing them.
"What? More maggots to crush?" He voiced, with a sinister glare. "So be it."
He took a step forward, but found his legs were already encased in ice.
The green haired man turned to his red haired twin.
"I shall unleash a torrent… thou knowest what to do from there."
The wild red-haired one smirked as electricity played along his fingers.
Yuber grimaced, "Oh Hell…"
A bolt of shadow struck Magus hard, throwing him to the nearest wall. Tirion leapt over, rushing in towards Dalton to follow up with his own combo. Shaking his head to clear the damage done, Magus raised a hand and added to Tirion's magical onslaught of lightning strikes by adding his own enchantment of fire.
"Blast it, you pitiful cretins!" Bellowed Dalton as he crashed into his own throne.
"Sir Magus, can you stand?" called Tirion.
Magus wordlessly got up, walking to Tirion's side as dark energies began flowing throughout his very being.
His gaze sharply fell over Dalton's, who had already recovered and stood smirking in front of his own throne.
Dalton grinned, "The child does not learn… boy, I will always be better than you, no matter how much power you gain. You already sold yourself to the shadow, and thus already serve Lavos, no matter what you say…"
Magus grimaced, "That's where you are mistaken, drunkard."
The comment infuriated Dalton, but he stopped as the Wizard of Shadow continued.
"It was not Lavos who brought the power of Shadow to this world, it has existed since the beginning of time. Shadow is merely an element, like Fire, or Ice, but usually one must be a great magician to be able to even delve in the art."
He pointed to Dalton, rolling his eyes.
"Others sell their soul to higher beings in exchange for power they cannot handle themselves. You are not one with the Shadow, Dalton, and Lavos only wishes he obtained the mastery that I have over it."
He grinned, "Being at the destruction of Lavos has brought back the power he took from me, and since I had already brought myself to nearly full strength at that time…"
Blasts of ethereal energies bombarded Dalton at all sides, causing him to be thrown around the room as a torrent of Shadow warped reality.
"You are in for a world of pain… just as I made Lavos feel."
Dalton rose up in the air, as he began bleeding from every pore from the torrent his body was enduring.
"Foolish one, my great lord Lavos has granted me with true mastery of the Shadow! My body may not be able to handle it, but my spirit will cause your destruction!"
As his body began to deteriorate, a great ethereal shape formed, sucking up all the Shadow energies flowing in the room. Magus stopped the spell, seeing something that shook him to the very core.
The outline of Dalton grew gigantic as the power of the black wind shot out from his being, bringing both Tirion and Magus to their knees.
"I… may perish… as Lavos will surely… absorb the soul that I have promised him… but I will see to it… that you will die… along with any hope you may have had at reuniting with your sister!"
The energies grew to exponential heights as Tirion suddenly leapt up from his prone stance on the ground. He drew his lightning magic to his body as he leapt towards Magus, to save him from the oncoming strike.
Time stopped.
"Spekkio…"
The silver haired man grimaced, but waved a hand mildly.
"I am not Spekkio any more, but I'll allow it. It allows me to forget sometimes…"
The old man shook his head, "No, look at what is happening to Janus."
Spekkio, as he was once called, nodded, "I know. But things are different now."
Gaspar raised an eyebrow, "What? How so?"
The Master of War grinned, "Because the entity always gives his favorites a second chance, and I'm not about to let my student die."
He disappeared in a bright flash of light.
In the middle of the Shadow, Magus could see light suddenly pierce it, and a great blade of considerable length was drawn.
Tirion found himself on the ground, behind a man wearing odd black clothing, his silver hair somehow illuminating where there should not have been light. He watched as the man who pushed him out of the way slowly turned to him, his bright green eyes showing a hint of a smile.
"I will not allow your spirit to have another untimely death. It just wouldn't be right."
He turned to Magus, this time, his grin becoming apparent.
"And as for you, lost prince, for all that you have tried to undo, you surely deserve a second chance."
He turned to the ethereal spirit in front of him, who seemed to shrink in size at the light that shone from the visitor.
"And I am not about to let this pitiful excuse of a man try to take that chance away from you."
The spirit swirled around, the gawking face of Dalton appearing within it.
"Oh? And who does that make you, then?"
The visitor grinned, "Why, I am the entity, of course. I am the one who orchestrated the death of Lavos from behind the scenes."
Dalton grimaced, "But I see you're just as alive as I am, even I can tell in this spiritual state."
The entity smirked, "It is only your hate keeping you here, just as it similarly happened with a being I once read about. The same happened to me that happened to you… but the difference is, I was not meant to be possessed by one of Lavos' race."
Dalton moved forward slowly against the light, but found it to be more than an equalizer to his darkness. The light was slowly enveloping him and pushing him back.
"A beast called Jenova, an elder of Lavos' race, possessed me. And as a penance for all the lives I destroyed, I was sent to watch over this planet, as a being always changing, so I could never remember my former life. One fateful day, I regained my memories, as I believe my penance was granted through the death of Lavos… however…"
His glowing sword began to swipe at the darkness, causing the spirit to wail like it never had during its life.
"Because my penance is finished, that means all the more pain for you. In an alternate timeline, you may have succeeded in causing Magus to die in his sister's arms… but having seen that… I want no more than to make sure your plan doesn't succeed."
Dalton's spirit suddenly settled back into his original form, the body once again intact.
"Your hate no longer has any power here, the spirit of your hate is diminished… and now I will watch from afar… so I can let HER deal with you properly."
Dalton bristled as he once again felt his body's power returning, the black wind coalescing through the room at a lesser rate.
"Who?"
Spekkio grinned, "Why, the princess of Guardia, of course."
He promptly vanished in a flash of light as several voices rang out across the room.
"Full Cure!"
Magus stepped up, holding a hand out to Tirion, who grasped it as he straightened.
"It's about time you showed up, this idiot had a dirty trick up his sleeve." The blue haired one grimaced.
"T'is by the lady's behest that I am here, Magus. Show thine respect."
Magus waved a hand, "Of course, Glenn. Oh, by the way, you've all met the Dark Emperor before, yes?"
Crono grimaced, Glenn cracked his knuckles, and Marle gave an icy cold glare.
She was the first to speak, "However you survived being in that gate, I will never know… but you will not survive our second meeting."
She nodded to Crono and Glenn, who hefted their swords as she let forth a blizzard concentrated on Dalton's form.
The Emperor laughed, "Foolish attempt, you are pitiful in magic compared to-"
He staggered back as an X-strike with Melchoir's greatest weapons hit him full force.
It was his final undoing.
Before Dalton could utter another word, he found his heart to be occupying the same space as the keen blade of Magus' scythe.
"Go to hell, Dalton." Spat Magus. "And rot there long before I come."
With a great wail, the dark emperor exploded into ashes. As a result, the shadow energies expelled by his death began to make his great palace collapse.
"We need to leave." Grimaced Crono.
"Agreed." Acknowledged Glenn.
Everyone turned to Magus, who chanted the words to a mass teleportation spell.
"You still haven't told her?"
Marle had pinned Magus to the nearest tree, away from the great celebration that was going on.
"I just never found the time… it is hard enough to train one apprentice, but to train four? Impossible."
She glared at him before pointing over to where Schala stood speaking with Crono and Glenn.
"Do it, now."
He began to open his mouth to say something, but shut it tightly. Walking over to his sister.
"Lady Schala, there was barely the time to speak with you of this before. But there is something that I must speak with you alone."
Crono smirked, "I know what it's about. I'll take my leave."
Glenn nodded, "Let us make haste, I wish not to see her reaction."
The two left, allowing Schala to be alone with who she had known to be the evil Prophet.
"Well, Prophet Magus, it seems I finally find the time to speak with you alone. Tell me, it seemed as though you were against them before… why did you join up with their group?"
Magus sighed, "Revenge… against Lavos. It was all I had left. It was the only thing that gave me the slightest attachment to the rest of the group."
He motioned over to Glenn, "I turned him into a frog. He has been wanting to kill me for over ten years. I also killed his best friend. So believe me when I say it was very hard to get them to accept me."
"Had you done such an injustice to me, I would have cut your damned throat, burned your body with the greatest fire I could summon, and spread your ashes at a pond where tadpoles spawn."
Magus surprisingly smiled at that, "I would have done the same to anyone, had I still realized what I had been doing. I… was a rather warped individual when I was younger… growing up among monsters changed me, but I am regaining what humanity I thought I had lost for good."
Schala gasped in surprise, "You grew up among monsters? What possible circumstances led to that?"
He sighed, looking to the ground, "Who else but Lavos? He has caused so much sadness already…"
She looked at him, slowly walking closer to him.
"Lavos? Magus, the Herald of Zeal, had a vendetta against Lavos?"
He smirked, "You know of the other Magus, the true Herald of Zeal, do you not?"
She nodded, "He was a legend among Zeal long before my mother came to power… I used to tell the story of him to my brother when he was younger… that you would take his name is most disturbing to me… if I find that you had found my brother, wherever he is in the whole of time, and corrupted him…"
His head bowed, "The monsters were enough…"
"What?"
"The only blessing Lavos did was take me away from my tyrant of a mother, but to take me away from the sister I loved so much, to put me in the hands of monsters… I fought bouts of insanity for many years… I…"
He grimaced, fishing out his amulet from inside his cloak.
"I think it was this that kept me from truly going off the deep end, Schala…"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"It… it all makes sense now. You're… Janus?"
"Believe me, Schala, for there would be nothing for me to gain by lying to you. I know I am barely recognizable from the brother who was taken from you… but 18 years… changes so much…"
She tackled him, crying into his shoulder.
"By all that's holy in this world, you were spared! It… it is a miracle!"
He wrapped his arms around her shaking body.
"I have waited for this day… you understand I could not tell you before this war was finished, I thought you were better off not knowing who I was… if I ended up getting killed by Dalton."
Schala shook her head, "I see what you are saying… but still, it is good that I know… but Janus… you have grown so much… and though you have done many things, I will still allow you to stay with me, if you wish."
He smiled, about to answer in the affirmative, but a voice in the back of his mind said otherwise.
You will be needed in the future. To see that these events come to pass.
The Master of War?
"Time flows like a river. One enemy has arisen, and been vanquished, and soon another will rise to take his place."
The silver haired swordsman nodded.
"The merging has come to pass… if she is to separate and go to the past to begin the line of Royalty, we must send him to the future to ensure our victory."
The old man tipped his hat, "But what about the newcomer? The one who joined the group as a result of the change in time? Tirion's descendant?"
The muscular man behind him cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah, like the old man says, what about me?"
Spekkio smiled, "It will all come together, Sir Tedris. Just you wait."
"I hope so. I'm missing out on sharing a beer with Toma for this."
"Maggots."
The man in black armor scowled. He played dead after the shock had coalesced through his body, and once he was alone, he had teleported away.
"All of them, maggots."
He cursed, reaching into an opening in his armor and pulling out a small device. In front of him, a small vessel shimmered into existence.
"I better leave before he catches up with me."
He entered the vessel, and immediately initiated warp, sending it through time.
Author's Note: I don't really know what to say. I never thought I would even come close to finishing this. But then again, it isn't really finished at all. The man in black armor is a nod to a Suikoden fanfiction I may be writing in the near future, and there is another Chrono Trigger story that I have had circulating through my mind for a while. I hope you all enjoy this.
By the way, there is an epilogue coming, so be ready for that.
- Novalon