A/N: It's been a long while, and I can't find the original text documents on my hard drive, but I guess that doesn't really matter. Good thing I published them to the web. Anyways, I apologize for the long wait, but I had some pretty intense things going on in my life, and hopefully, I can just get back to routine. Review please, because I'm a little rusty in the genre.
Disclaimer: I do not own Chrono Trigger, or anything affiliated with it.
Chapter Four : Dreams and Reality
Chrono was sitting in his mother's kitchen again, listening to her hum contentedly while she worked. The sound of eggs frying, and he looked to the counter. There was something wrong, he knew it. The redhead was sore, all over, and he couldn't remember why. On the counter, he could see the eggshells, and his eyes widened as he noticed just how many were there. There was no way that his mother was just cooking for two people. His head whipped down and he looked at his feet, and was shocked to notice that they were almost a foot off of the wood floor. At that point, Chrono knew where he was, this day was just as vivid as every day he got to spend alone with his father. He could feel the bruises, on his hips and on his neck. They ached dully, and he glanced to his mother. The swordsman knew that she had to have noticed, but she seemed just as content and clueless as ever. The heavy footsteps sounded as his nightmare manifested, coming downstairs. Trapped inside the seven year old body, the swordsman tried to break free from the memories, wishing to change them, stop the dreams from happening, but he couldn't. His green eyes just lifted off of the table, and looked towards the stairwell, waiting for the demon to appear.
As his father rounded the corner, it was the most terrifying sight that he could have ever seen. It would have looked just like a normal man to everyone else. The man was tall with a broad chest and a tinge of red to his otherwise dark hair. A beard unshaved and scraggly covered most of his face. Even from that distance, he could spot the glaze to the blue eyes, and smell the alcohol. It was probably his imagination, because at that distance, there would be no way that he could smell whiskey on his father's breath. It didn't matter though, Chrono knew it was there. His father watched him carefully, smiling that perfectly innocent smile that plagued each and every one of the redhead's nightmares. Every time the swordsman thought of it, his heart pumped ice water through his veins and he felt weaker than he really was, even at the age of seven.
"Honey" rang his mother's sweet voice, as she strolled away from the frying eggs for a minute, to kiss his fathers lips. "I'll be going to the market after breakfast, and I have a few other chores to run, so I'll be gone for a while." Chrono looked towards his mother, and he wondered just how she never noticed. His father just smiled, nodded and looked towards Chrono.
"I'm sure me and m'boy'll find somethin' that'll pass the time." There was that sweet smile again. Chrono felt his skin crawl furiously, and he wondered why his mother never noticed.
Magus was almost asleep, serving as a silent guardian as he let the male in his arms have decent sleep for once. That was until his sharp nose picked up that cold and cutting feeling. It awoke him instantly, and he snuggled up to Chrono, trying to discern the matter. By the sound of his breathing, Magus judged the other male was asleep. He was unsure what to do, but the mage began to shake the swordsman, lightly at first, but when that was ineffectual, the dark mage shook him harder, a hand on the tanned shoulder.
It was at the part of the memory, where his Father had that tight grip on his shoulder, and he was crying. The redhead almost screamed when he felt the hand not only in his dream but actually on him. He flew back to consciousness, eyes and mouth open equally wide in fear and he leapt from underneath the warm cloak. Scrambling on hands and knees, he crawled as fast as he could, until the swordsman could manage to get to his feet. He was running blindly in the forest before he could even realize that he was long from home, or that he left his Katana back at camp, along with his shirt.
Magus scrambled to get up, to give chase, and he managed to get almost to the edge of the forest before the loud shot rang in his ears. As it blazed past his eyes at eye level, the mage froze, and glanced towards the source of the shot. He growled, his face darkening as even at that distance he could see the smoke streaming from the barrel of the Wondershot. As he glanced to Lucca's face, he could see that it was contorted in an image of fury and concern.
"Stay here! You'll just scare him more!" With that, the genius fled into the forest after her friend. Magus growled again, but glanced towards the forest. A sigh was ripped from his lungs, and he felt a need to follow still, but he just got dressed, prepared for the battle he felt in the air. The mage knew something bad was going to happen, but he needed to stay. The mage just didn't have enough information to help with the swordsman.
Chrono didn't know how long he had been running, but he was aware of the fact that he was utterly and completely lost. Had these been the familiar woods of his time period, he could have easily navigated his way out, but it was so different. He heard a noise, a twig snapping somewhere behind him. The swordsman reached for his sword, finding it gone.
"There you are Chrono. Don't do that. It's dangerous at night, and we have those hunters trying to kill us." It was Lucca's voice, calm and relaxed. His purple-haired friend approached him slowly. She placed a hand on his bare shoulder. "You had me worried.. it was one of those dreams again wasn't it.. We need to head back to camp, Magus is … well.. worried maybe.. something.. I have trouble understanding what he tries to convey. " She grabbed Chrono's arm, starting towards the camp, but almost as if on cue, several other twigs broke, and they glanced around. The redhead saw several humanoid shapes, but the most prominent one was the one that scared him the most. It was the boss of the mage hunters, but that was not the problem. His eyes widened at the build, at that dark hair, the blue eyes. The beard, Chrono tried to scream, but he couldn't. After all, he couldn't speak a word, the more noise he made, the worse it would be.
Lucca screamed, standing back to back with him, and he glanced over his shoulder. What he saw alarmed him even more. There were more behind him, more to either side, and when he looked forward, he saw even more. If Chrono had his sword, it would have been impossible for the pair of them to fight this many off, even if the men weren't equipped with armor that would block their magics.
"There's only two of them. We didn't even need to break out the good armor boys," chuckled the boss, tapping a finger to the glossy black metal. "This armor, makes us immune to all magic, no matter the element or style. We don't need to kill them right away, play with them a bit, let's make it fun."
As soon as Magus heard the scream, he grabbed the sheathed katana and was flying through the forest, scythe in his other hand. He head footsteps behind him, and a glance revealed a certain green haired knight. What really shocked the man was the fact that Glenn was managing to keep up on foot. It didn't matter, it was an ally. Magus sped up. It wasn't long before the footsteps faded. The dark mage had never moved that fast in his life, he was swerving wildly through the trees; he didn't even pause when he got to the clearing. What the mage saw, made his blood run cold. There was Chrono, on his knees, shuddering and terrified, although the men were not even near him yet. Lucca was unconscious, bleeding from her head, with her wondershot lying nearby.
"Their allies are here! Kill them now!" A hand axe went flying towards Chrono from his side, and the redheaded swordsman was too scared to notice. Magus couldn't make it if he flew, mostly because he found his way blocked by two knights in a strange black armor. He simply disappeared from his spot. The tomahawk was blocked by the haft of his scythe, as he planted the tip of the sheath deeply into the ground behind him. Chrono's eyes snapped up to the grip of the katana, and he saw those familiar leather gloves. He looked up into the mage's eyes.
"Chrono show them your strength. Stand and fight." Magus's quiet intensity spurred the swordsman to his feet, and their hands touched briefly as the redhead grabbed his weapon. Their eyes stayed locked, even as their enemies charged.