Once again, Chapter 7, unedited. There's not much to change, so why bother? I would personally prefer it if I could revamp this story with the flourish and excessive description of the first few chapters (because that's sexy writing XD), but that would take a long time. Anyway, without further ado, Chapter 7. Please read and review, and I'm glad to see you've resurfaced, Helldragon.

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Chrono Trigger, only the original characters in this fanfic. The rest is © Square Enix.

Date???

I could see…him.

He stood overlooking the sea. Our sea. He held his katana to his side, and stood dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Yet he never fell. Even if there was no ground for him to stand on, he would never fall.

His red hair billowed in the wind. His bandana would have been doing the same, but he abandoned it long ago; it was a symbol of his youth.

I could see him getting closer. Yet his feet did not move. Not even an inch; I was the one moving. I approached him and took hold of his hand. He did not need to turn his head, for he knew it was I. He sat on the edge of that cliff, the wind blowing, and beckoned me to sit beside him. I could see myself just then, as I sat at his side, our legs dangling over the rocks below.

His lips moved, and he ran his hand over my belly. Just then did I notice what was on my stomach…rather, what was in it. It was swelling to the point that I would be unrecognizable except for my purple hair. I saw myself answer to him, yet no sound appeared. All I heard was the crashing of the waves below. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him, to the point that I could see myself clearly in his emerald eyes. He kissed me on the lips, and drew his own to my ear. Finally, I was hearing what he had to say. He said,

"Wake up, sleepyhead!"

I saw no reason why he would be saying that. After all, I was wide awake, and it was clearly visible to him. He rested his face in the crook between my collarbone and neck, slowly sucking it, before running his tongue down my collarbone to my shoulder. I giggled crazily as he performed his antics. His lips came once again to my eye, and he whispered,

"WAKE UP!"

Lucca's eyes fluttered open, and what she saw was much more different that what she had just seen. A blue-haired, blue-eyed girl was standing over her, smiling vibrantly. Behind the girl were trees. Large, beautiful trees, each one filtering the sun and cooling the ground where she lay. This would have been paradise at any other moment, but after losing what she sought so dearly…

"What…do you think…you are doing?" Lucca said coldly. Khadgara grinned and pulled Lucca up by her arm. "Let me go, I'm still tired." Lucca growled.

"Regardless of what you may think, you have a lot of work ahead of you." Khadgara said, still sounding cheerful. The atmosphere in the residential section Kajar could easily cheer even Magus up. And Magus was always in a bad mood. Guess whose fault…

"What are you talking about? And aren't you supposed to be guarding a cave?" Lucca said, being pulled up out of bed again. Lucca looked around the room for her unwanted companion, but she had disappeared. Lucca felt a few newly fallen leaves on her head; looking up, she spotted the Zealian floating aimlessly near the canopy of trees. Levitation, something Lucca had only dreamed of before

"You need to learn how to do this. Among other things," said the Lieutenant. "Queen Zeal assigned me to oversee your studies." Lucca grimaced. She was quite fed up of being treated like a child by her Majesty, even though the latter was a good 4000 years older than her.

"And that includes waking me up in the morning?" Lucca said, clearly pissed off. Such a good dream, but was it just that, or an omen? A vision perhaps.

"Irritable, aren't we? You've been sleeping for 3 three days. I came back from that cave a while ago." Lucca was surprised by that answer. Had that spell really taken that much out of her? She had used it a handful of times before, and it never had such an impact. "As I said, I have the responsibility of assisting you with any things you may have trouble with, as well as supervising the fact that all your literary prerequisites are met." Khadgara said, coming back to the ground. She proceeded to snag a robe from the branch where Lucca had hung them the day before and laid it on the bed.

"Why you…?" Lucca muttered, pulling the covers back over her head. They were promptly ripped off. Khadgara's smile faded.

"Because I have met you before, and I am your neighbor." She said, slightly irritated. "Now, don't test my patience. I have better things to do then drag you out of bed." Lucca got the message from her tone, and punctually rose from the soft mattress. Still drowsy and ponderous from her odd dream, Lucca inadvertently put on a red robe with purple sleeves and a slitted bottom. She hadn't noticed that she was still wearing yesterday's clothing.

"You haven't noticed yet that you were wearing something while you slept?" Khadgara said impatiently. Lucca suddenly realized the unnatural warmth and heaviness of her clothing, and discovered her blunder.

"So what?" She said brazenly. Khadgara narrowed her eyes, and Lucca quickly corrected it.

Date: 12005 B.C.

"Haven't these people noticed that I am NOT a child?" Lucca thought angrily, twirling a pencil in her hands. She had begun reading the first out of two dozens books required of her, and was only on page 200 out of 1200. She had the uncanny ability to remember an imprint of a page in her mind, so reading such a book was quite easy, but the three days erased from her allotted time due to that excessively long slumber would mean extra hard work and no play. Not that she played anyway.

"Haven't you noticed that you live to 60 and they live to 2000?" She answered to herself. Lucca frowned and dropped the topic. She was a child in everyone's eyes, at least here. Had she been in Truce at the moment, it would have been no different, except that she was well known as a genius and inventor. Here, she was nobody. The lack of attention was excruciating. Turning her eyes back to the book, titled: "Magic Theory and the Principle of Influx", Lucca began to read:

Chapter 12: Magic as an Essence.

Magic is in all things, and likewise, all things are manifestations of magic. The one exception to this is living organisms. They are not made of magic, per se, but rather from proteins and other organic compounds, running on the chemical impulses created as a result of the catalyzation of outside resources. Thus, human beings, Enlightened and Earthbound alike, are not made of magic. However, Enlightened Ones are run on a combination of magic and these chemical reactions.

Likewise, magic is polarized. It has a negative and positive version of itself, and can thus be attracted or repelled from any object. Enlightened Ones have a general charge of xica, the Zealian word of darkness. All other matter generally have a neutral charge .It is from this knowledge that we know how Enlightened Ones draw their magic; by polarizing the charge of the target object by even the slightest bit, then increasing the relative charge of themselves, Zealians are able to propel this essence in their body in any shape. The expelled magic is hit its target unless reflected (that is, the charge of the magic is reversed, and it heads towards its source instead.)

It has been discovered that expulsed magic creates a gravitational center in itself as it is drawn to the target. Thus, as all laws of matter dictate that a sphere will be the most basic shape of magic in its crudest form.

Magic is all things, and magic is dynamic, able to take any form imposed on it. Thus, magic can essentially become anything as it is propelled from its owner. The differentiating factor is that it takes energy to change the form into what is desired, just as it takes energy for an Earthbound to push a boulder or to run any said distance. Thus, it takes repetitious practice in honing one's magical strength in order to handle the more difficult spells.

With all of that aside, we must now analyze the ways in which its user directs magic. It is either a) exploded towards, b) imploded towards, or c) detonated in a general location. These will be discussed individually. The first of these methods of pro-

Lucca's reading was abruptly halted when she felt a pair of hands caressing her shoulders. A free massage, just what she needed. That is, until she wondered who would do such a thing to a stranger. Turning her head around suddenly, she came to face the one and only Khadgar, who was grinning sheepishly and preparing for a pre-emptive strike, lest Lucca assaults him again.

"Didn't I tell you NOT TO TOUCH ME ANYMORE!" Lucca said, enraged. He kept smiling as he kneaded her now-tense trapezius. Not wanting to protest, (considering he was doing a good job), Lucca sat back down and let him do his work. "Do you always do this to people?"

"No, just you. Besides, you seemed stressed out. What's on your mind?" He asked. Though annoyingly intrusive, Khadgar's attempts at kindliness were quite touching.

"I have about 25000 pages to read in four days. I would have had a week, but I slept in." Lucca said calmly, silently relishing the massage. His hands were working magic. She noticed his surprise even though her back was turned.

"What kind of insane school do you go to? That's against the law!" He said, slightly amused. Lucca sighed. Reduced to being a schoolgirl now, wasn't she?

"Queen Zeal offered to give me private lessons of magic and magic spells. She said I had to read these books in preparation for my first lesson." Lucca said. Khadgar picked up one book out of the large stack lying in front of Lucca at that table. They were all basic documents of magic and its applications, in-depth essays about its presumed sources, and so on.

"Ehhh. I feel sorry for you." Khadgar said simply. Lucca frowned and eyed him questioningly. "She demands the utmost attention and respect, and she will not stop her annoying tirades until you faint of exhaustion."

"How do you know this, anyway?" Lucca asked indifferently. She wanted to finish her assignment so she could explore the city some more, but the thousands of pages she had to read were too imposing.

"Rumors, of course. Plus, she took Princess Schala through the same boot camp approach, and the poor girl couldn't even move, she was so drained." Khadgar said as if the Princess had passed away long ago or something. Lucca kept silent, wondering if she would suffer the same fate. Either way, her homework was calling her to it, but she wanted to procrastinate as long as her conscience allowed her.

"I met your sister." Lucca said out of nowhere. Khadgar nodded, his face not upturning as it usually did when he was going to speak. "Something wrong?"

"She's been quite selfish lately, clinging to some false sense of duty like a fanatic." Khadgar said, neither his expression nor his tone altered.

"What do you mean?" Lucca said, now quite curious. Khadgar ran his hand through his blue hair, and took a breath.

"She goes on military errands and slaves away unimaginable hours in the name of Zeal's defense, so much that we don't see her anymore than a few days per month. My parents are getting angry, as they wished for her to marry another councilman's son, but she refuses under the premise that the Kingdom will be vulnerable." Khadgar said. Lucca didn't even know Zeal Kingdom had a council. They surely had no decision-making power, and were just in place so that Queen Zeal wouldn't be labeled a despot. There you go with that Zeal bashing again.

"How is that selfish? That's quite noble, in my opinion." Lucca said quizzically. Khadgar turned to face her, slightly amused.

"You don't seem to get it, do you? Zeal is indestructible right now, and will likely be in the future. There is no need for a defense force. It's just a disguise for her own ambition." Lucca couldn't help but smile ear to ear. This is exactly what everyone believed, and it is exactly how Lucca, Marle, and Crono barged through the entire kingdom and the Undersea palace as if it was child's play. Between now and the year 12000 B.C. when Lucca would visit this place for the first time, Khadgara had probably already settled down and started a family. That would explain why no one with a massive pike had tried to impale them on their journey to destroy the Mammon Machine. The irony was so thick, she could cut it with a knife.

Lucca thought about speaking up, but couldn't risk altering the future in the process. Instead she nodded and waited for him to continue. When he didn't speak, she rose to her feet.

"Don't worry. She'll see the light eventually." Lucca said reassuringly. Khadgar smiled softly, then walked away. "Where are you going?" Lucca called after him.

"Breakfast. Want to join me?" He asked. Lucca nodded, and forgot about the books she had been instructed to read.

Lucca and Khadgar had ordered food to eat in the eastern field of Kajar (well, Lucca hadn't ordered, since she had never heard of those things), and consequentially chose a spot hidden from the sun under one of the city's four towers. The entire course of breakfast had been particularly uneventful, considering Lucca was still trying to get over the food's delightful taste, horrendous smell, and even worse appearance. Meanwhile, Khadgar wondered why she had never eaten these before, since they were Zeal's staple food, but Lucca skillfully warded off any such questions.

"Umm…what are you doing?" Lucca asked Khadgar. He was staring at his fingertips, which were glowing blue. Upon acknowledging her question, the magic on his hands vanished, and he grinned slightly.

"Prepare to be amazed!" Khadgar said as the glow returned to his fingers. He pointed them towards the sky and dozens of small bolts of ice flew off his nails and into the bright sky. This continued until the bolts began to grow too large for fingertips, and the emerged from his palm. Eventually, he began to charge each bolt for a few seconds before throwing them, and wantonly hurled bolts of ice continuously to faraway clouds. He started to have a slightly blue glow as the bolts became larger and more powerful, until his pupils vanished, characteristic to such things. After throwing what seems like thousands of ice bolts around (which Lucca found quite fantastic), Khadgar's pupils returned, though the whitish glow remained around him.

"Wow…not bad!" Lucca said from her seat on the grass. Suddenly, a volley of the same bolts that had been propelled returned to their sender in a scattered matter. Khadgar threw his palm in the air and a blue shield erupted from his position and grew outward. The bolts collided with the shield and melted harmlessly until there was none left.

"Now you try." He said. Lucca scoffed.

"I can't do that. Besides, that's pointless and a waste of energy." She answered. Khadgar pulled her to her feet and prodded her towards the spot where he was standing. Lucca sighed, considering he wouldn't let her leave without some display of magic. "What am I supposed to do?" She asked.

"Something fancy. I'm sure you can do it. It's not that hard." He answered. Lucca cringed. Every time she had performed any spell in the past few days, she ended up unconscious, asleep, or both.

Closing her eyes, Lucca focused her magic into her right hand. Almost instantly, she started glowing, at first calmly with small embers randomly erupting from her skin. Soon, however, she was fully immersed in flames. Her hair rose out of its place inside the robe and floated in the air. Likewise, the robes began to lift, and Lucca hovered a few inches off the ground. An odd sense of happiness and pleasure came unto Lucca, and she smiled at first, then began smirking, and finally grinned maniacally. Slowly, her right hand began to glow burning red, while the glow that incased her dissipated. Inside her palm came a small red orb, barely the size of a grain of sand. However, it began growing until it reached the bulk of a child's ball. Before long, its diameter was about as long as Lucca was tall, and it was becoming hard to control it correctly.

"Lucca, don't you think you're overdoing it?" Khadgar exclaimed loudly, the wind blowing past his face, propelling his smooth hair backwards. Lucca continued to grin, and seemed not to hear him. The combined image of her upturned mouth, her hair flung backwards whipping serpentinely like a medusa and her slowly vanishing pupils made both Khadgar and the slowly amassing crowd recoil at her crazed appearance. The ball grew and began to sear the surrounding area with heat. The grass was unscathed, but the air burned and the familiar scent of smoke engulfed the surrounding area.

Using her left arm as leverage, Lucca drew her right back and thrust it forward, the ball following the laws of momentum and flying off towards the clouds.

Lucca fell to her knees and gasped for air. The elation was gone in an instant, and she was already beginning to feel weak. All around her, people had seen the ball of fire grow until it was the size of many men, and were now rushing to Lucca's aid, for fear that she might be cataleptic. As if on impulse, Lucca struggled to her feet, and wobbled lightly there, holding her palm out to stop Khadgar from holding her up.

"Hang on tight, everybody." Lucca said. The ball came back into view, a distant glow, until it was easily seen racing towards the islands. It was coming straight for Lucca, uncaring about what else what in the way, its target straight in its view. Lucca began to glow red again, and bent her knees slightly in anticipation. The orb had reached the fields now, and somehow didn't melt the grass, even thought its temperature reading must have been massive. In an extremely loud crash, Lucca pushed the ball away with her outstretched palms. Streaks of fire erupted from the meeting point of these two, and the crowd that had been gathering backed away. Lucca groaned as the ball pushed her again Kajar's walls, her footmarks leaving a trail in the greenery. She was being forced backwards so far that her back was flat against the solid bricks of Kajar's eastern parapet. With a sudden display of force, Lucca screamed "Begone!" and the sphere exploded. The resulting wind blew everyone away by many meters, though Lucca stood firmly against the wall, blown forcefully against the solid stone. Before long, the explosion receded, and only a slight smell of burned air remained. The glow around Lucca vanished, and she wasted no time in falling to her knees and going unconscious.

If only I could elaborate this scene, it would be wonderful. Alas, the carnage must come quickly. R&R.