Note: Hey guys. I know, I'm updating and months haven't gone by. It's almost too good to be true! Well it probably is. I figured I might as well give this one another go before I start work on an Aeon Flux fic (since there are so few of those!). Although if you really want me to continue on with this, reviews are appreciated and they probably will make me right faster if there's enough of them. Wink wink nudge nudge.

As always, I own nothing and nobody is giving me anything of material value for it. Although I would totally love a milkshake if anyone was willing to buy me one.

On with the story -

The first thing the group did was visit Gaspar at the End of Time. They were looking weak and tired, their numbers greatly diminished. With Crono presumed dead and Lucca running off with a certain blue haired Wizard the only ones left were Marle, Ayla, Robo and Frog. Marle grimaced as she realized the only strong magic element among them was water and ice.

"Well, at least we'll heal easily," she thought.

"Children!" sounded a mature voice from the lampost. "Are you back to see me already? I was getting a bit lonely here. Spekkio isn't that great of company, you know. All he talks about is being the god of this and that, old coot."

"Big goat-man wrestle!" shouted Ayla and bounded, tail whipping behind her, to the door in the corner which led to the supposed God of War. Gaspar blinked and tipped his hat up so that his eyes, big, brown circles, could easily be seen.

"Spekkio has changed since you saw him last..." he began before being interrupted by a scream.

"EEEK! Purple devil!"

"Guess she found him. Now, onto more important matters. What brings you here?"

"Is it unknown to thou, wise one?" said Frog quietly as he took a meditative pose on the ground. Marle followed suit and sat next to him while Robo remained standing, beeping pleasantly.

"The mists tell me things but it isn't the same as being there myself. I do know that Crono is missing from your party. Has he had an unfortunate accident?" Gaspar looked at those around him. Marle's eyes started to water as she looked at the floor. Frog had closed his eyes, as if attempting to shut out the voice of the wise man and the reality of the situation.

"Crono died saving our lives in the Kingdom of Zeal, roughly 12,000 B.C., guru," sounded the metallic voice of Robo when nobody else would speak.

"Ah, that explains it. I cannot feel him in the present time stream. Tell me, how was it that this came to pass?"

"He died," whispered Marle "by stepping into the light that was..." she faltered and moved her hand in an aggressive manner "generated, I guess, from Lavos. We didn't know it was Lavos though, we thought it was the Mammon machine."

"The Mammon machine and Lavos are connected somehow," beeped Robo.

"That's correct. In the time stream I could feel the same sort of hunger rising from each."

"What are we going to do?" Marle said as a large teardrop fell down her face, hitting the ground and exploding outwards. The act, caught in Marle's eye, caused another tear to fall, and another. Some sort of never ending cascade of wetness.

"Nothing," said Gaspar, and lowered his hat so that his eyes were completely covered.

"Thou canst be serious," cried Frog as he rose to his feet. " Thou art saying that we shouldst continue on without our leader? Crono fought valiantly for us. It wouldst be a dishonor to let him go just as is."

Gaspar was silent a long while. The only sounds made in the End of Time were the quiet sobs of Marle, the mechanical whirring of Robo and the distant sound of Ayla being thrown against a wall by Spekkio. It was something none of them understood; Ayla always wished to tangle with Spekkio even though her physical attacks couldn't harm him. Like she was punishing herself, taking all of that abuse. Or like she couldn't admit to herself that there was something she couldn't take on with her bare hands alone.

"Perhaps, perhaps there is something."

"Please, if you know, you have to tell us," pleaded Marle.

"There may be a way of catching Crono's essense in the time stream."

"Excuse me, Guru, but you previously said that you could not sense him in the time stream anymore," said Robo.

"I said I couldn't feel him in the present time stream. He still exists in the past - and you guys are experts when it comes to traveling in the past, am I right? Now, here's what you must do..."

Gaspar whispered long into the mists of time that surrounded him. When the group left, it was with a smile that gleamed with hope.

"Um. Magus? Look... I... uh.. That is to say... I don't really know where Alfador is. He just ran off!"

"Simpleton! I give you one, count it, ONE task to do and you cannot even complete that? I'd downgrade you from royal cat carrier except that there no position lower than that at the moment!" Magus fumed, throwing his hands up in the air and pacing again.

Lucca sighed. He had been going on like this for over an hour, ranting and raving with little to no end in sight. The purple-haired mechanic was starting to wonder if Magus suffered from Bi-Polar disorder the way that his moods changed so quickly. First he was going to murder her, then he asked her to kill him, then he was apathetic, then indignant, than asking her to come with him, and now yelling at her just because his stupid cat happened to run away.

"Jerk," muttered Lucca under her breath. She quickly regretted those words as Magus almost leaped to stand in front of her. He leaned over so that his face was very close to hers.

"What. Was. That?" He said very low, very dangerously. Lucca gulped.

"N-nothing."

"Good. It better stay that way," he said as he stood up. It was then that Lucca lost her patience and jumped to her feet.

"Okay listen here buddy. It's not my fault that your stupid cat ran off. Maybe you should have been keeping a better eye on him."

"Do you understand the concept, braniac, of a royal cat carrier? No, obviously not. Well let me explain it to you. The job is really, really simple. You. Watch. The. Damn. Cat. That's all, and you couldn't do that. When your friends used to ask you to set things on fire did you miraculously manage to set something other than yourself aflame?"

"I... don't really see how this has to relate to your cat but... yes."

"That's a bloody miracle! So you can set things on fire with magic but you can't watch a cat? How dense are you!"

"Oh, shutup already you lout," Lucca said as she plopped back down, rolling her eyes.

This is your fault, Lucca. You decided to come with him. You could have been helping Marle save your best friend but nooo, you decided to go with Mr. I constantly have a stick shoved up my ass and I like it that way blue haired wizard guy.

"Ridiculous," muttered Magus. He glared at her for awhile before turning and walking away.

"Where are you going!" cried Lucca, standing and running off after him.

"To a gate, idiot! I'm not going to stand around here and discuss your incompetence all day. I have matters to attend to."

"Oh, hey. While I don't appreciate that idiot comment, I'm going to let it slide merely because it's freezing here and I'd like to leave as soon as humanly possible. I have a key that will allow us to travel through the gates and even help up to locate them," she said as she pulled out the wand looking object from her sack and showed it to Magus, who, taking Lucca by shock, actually looked impressed.

"Not bad. What's it called?" asked the blue-haired mage. Lucca felt kind of proud, even though he didn't rave or anything. Still, she liked being appreciated for things she made.

"Um... a gate key," Lucca said. Magus's face fell.

"You suck at naming things, little one," he said as he sauntered off.

Lucca stood there for a second, glaring. Little one! What sort of stupid name was that?

She couldn't tell from the coldness of the ice and snow around her, but her face was red, and not from any amount of anger.

"Hey, aren't we going to look for your cat?" said Lucca gingerly when she caught up to him. She was kind of afraid that he was going to start yelling at her again, but she didn't want to leave that poor defenseless cat all alone out there.

"Alfador can take care of himself, unlike some people I know."

Lucca sighed. Jerk.

Alfador, clever little cat, managed to accomplish many a thing after he snuck away from Lucca. He found a wall that was absolutely perfect for scratching. He also found a little Earthbound mouse that made for an excellent meal. Melted snow was perfect to drink and soothed the cat's thirst.

Alfador was a housecat. He was used to being pampered and while Janus had taken him down to the village often he never stayed there long enough to actually even consider the crazy idea that he might be stuck there. That idea, now planted firmly into the cats little mind, frightened him beyond belief.

He small kitty zoomed out of the Village and ran over the snow with an energy he had not known he possessed. Somewhere in the back of his little mind he thought that if he ran hard enough he might be able to find Zeal, or Janus, or (though feline-heaven forbid) that silly purple-haired girl that his master had left him with.

Unbeknownst to the cat he had managed to wander into the gate. Wether it was a malfunction in the gate or stream of time or wether the Great One who controls each destiny had waved his hand and made it so, the gate opened wide and flung the cat inside.

When he came out, Alfador was feeling perfectly rumpled and indignant. He wasn't used to such treatment at all. This was terrible, ludicrous! He began to lick his paws in order to put some semblance of royalty back into his fur.

"Oh, what a strange little cat you are!" said a voice of a matured woman. Before Alfador could move he was picked up into her arms. "Oh, have you no family? Do you belong to anyone around here? I suppose I will ask around later, but you look half starved, poor thing! I'll bring you home and feed you. You'll get along with our other cat. She's been so lonely ever since my son went off," she sighed. "Oh, how I miss my Crono."

Alfador blanched. Dear kitty-gods, he was getting picked up by a peasant woman!