Author Note: Hey kiddies, updating again. I got so bogged down with school, and, I'm remiss to admit it, a Harry Potter fanfic. I'm sorry. I'm obsessed. I love reading them. Cry.

As always, nothing here is really mine. Bugger.

Chapter 5

Lucca sighed to herself. Traveling with Magus was turning into one hell of a pain in the ass. He hardly slept which meant that she hardly slept as he required that they both continue walking or gate-passing whenever possible. Worst, when he did sleep, it was always standing up with his cape wrapped around him. Lucca had heard tales of vampires as a children but she didn't quite believe them, that is, until now. After all, he did have strangely pointed teeth.

When Lucca slept she put a clover of garlic under her pillow.

"Child, you smell," he pointed out to her once out of the blue. They had been trudging along in blissful silence when he had suddenly whipped around and said that as if it had been bothering him for a long time. Before Lucca could respond he turned around and continued walking on.

It was an understatement to say that he infuriated her.

It wasn't that he had a knack for saying the wrong thing all the time, but that if he wasn't saying the wrong thing he was saying nothing at all. Even Ayla, who wasn't exactly prized for her ability to articulate, spoke more often. Lucca was wishing, as she wished often lately, that she hadn't have left her friends and let this man go off on his goose-chase alone.

Magus, who was walking in front as always, stopped abruptly. Lucca, who hadn't been paying attention, so lost in her own thoughts, continued walking until she was stopped by his backside.

"Oof! Hey, what did you stop for?" she asked, moving away from him quickly as she caught the look of irritation on his face.

"Pay attention to where I am going in the future. If you hadn't noticed it's late and a good time to stop for sleep and rations," Magus lifted a hand to his temple and massaged it a bit. Lucca eyed him closely when she didn't think he was looking and frowned to see the stress traces on his face.

"Stop staring," he growled. Lucca glared and muttered that she wasn't before slinging her pack down on the ground. They moved about in silence. This was regular routine for them. Magus always spent about a half an hour combing through forests if they weren't near an inn trying to find some sort of animal for food. Lucca, in the meantime, would start a fire and try to find water.

Lucca had already completed her tasks and was waiting patiently when Magus came back holding what looked like some brown, scaly, terribly ugly, beast.

"You expect me to eat that?" she grimaced at it.

"By all means, starve," he said as he dropped the animal in front of her. "Before you do, be kind enough to skin and cook it for me."

Lucca sighed but did as she was told. She wasn't exactly fond of this master-slave relationship they had formed but it kept Magus from blowing up. She knew he had a temper and was dangerous. That much was evidence by the way he mercilessly destroyed whatever came in their path. Most creatures weren't a match for the two magic-wielders, and Lucca knew that a simple shot from her gun or a stroke of his shiny scythe would make easy, remotely humane work of them. Magus, on the other hand, would cast obscenely difficult spells, entrapping the dumb beasts in his dark shadow magic. His eyes seemed to gleam with an inhuman glow as they whimpered and growled and screamed in agony.

Issues, lots and lots of issues, thought Lucca as she stared at him.

"Would you quit doing that?" he spat, leaning against a tree with his arms folded.

"Doing what?" lost in her own mind she wasn't conscious of the breach of conduct her eyes committed.

"You're staring at me again," he said disdainfully.

"I was not!" she protested, but put her head down and concentrated on her work at hand. She didn't look up even when she heard him snort with derision.

Magus watched her through his peripheral vision, as, heaven forbid, she actually think he would deign to take an interest in her. He didn't like the way she talked as it tended to have an unconscious I'm so much smarter than everyone around me and damned if I don't know it air, although, thought Magus, considering who she usually traveled with, it wasn't something he could really fault her for.

He also didn't like the way her clothes were always messy and hung around her like they were two sizes too big. And orange! Who wore orange anymore? Magus was half convinced that the color was outlawed in Zeal before it, unfortunately, sank into the ocean floor.

Ah, Zeal. While all his memories from that place were far from perfect there were a few that he treasured. His sister, Schala, was there. She was tall, beautiful, and fiercely protective of Magus, who had once been Janus, who had once been young, stubborn, and totally unaware of the world around him.

Now that Schala was gone he was determined to search for her. He couldn't say if this obsession to find her and keep her safe rose from his desire to pay back the way she had stood up for him against his harlot of a mother, or because he wanted to redeem himself somehow. After all, he had done terrible, terrible things in his considerably short existence...

His eyes snapped wide when he saw that she was looking at him again. Annoying young girl. He was about to yell at her again when he saw the corners of her mouth turn up into a smirk.

"You were doing it this time, so don't even think about yelling at me. Your dinner is ready."

He grunted in reply and sat down to eat. He noticed she picked at the food but after one bite devoured the rest like it was her last meal. It was his turn to smirk.

"What?" she asked with an eyebrow raised high.

"You're welcome."

"Oh," she giggled nervously and turned a slight shade of pink. "Thanks."

AAAAAAAAA I am Clearly a Line Break AAAAA Worship my Line Breakage Powers AAAA

"Okay, so, we have the really creepy doll that looks like Crono, and the Time Egg, and now we just have to scale this mountain? This should be a piece of cake. Seriously. A piece of really old, moldy cake with worms on top," Marle muttered under her breath. Still, she was pretty happy though she wouldn't let it on. Finally, she was going to get her red–haired boyfriend back.

"Ayla eat worms. Worms make good soup," said the blond, making a snow angel in the snow. How she managed to not freeze without any clothes on was really beyond Marle, but she had an inkling it was the mass amount of hair.

"Oh, gods, Ayla, don't tell me there were worms in that soup we ate in your village."

"Yup! Worm Soup! Worm Soup!"

"I think I'm going to be sick." And, of course, she was.

Frog, in the meantime, was rubbing the top of his sword, lost in thought. He looked disdainfully down at his green body, and sighed.

If this works, I'll save thee next. No matter what, thine's heart will beat brilliantly once more. Even if it costs us the world.

Marle emerged a few seconds later, looking a little green around the gills but otherwise refreshed.

Robo beeped at her. "Are you alright, Marle? If you wish, we can set up camp here. The sun is about to set and it would probably be safer to scale the mountain in the light."

"You're right Robo. Okay, let's set up camp. Ayla, instead of setting up the tent why don't you go get us something to eat. No, it isn't that I don't trust you, but you tried to impale Frog on a spike the last time and I don't think he appreciated it." Frog agreed at this. "No, he knows you didn't mean it, but still. You're much better at hunting."

When they had gathered into the tents at night Marle stayed up a little longer, staring at the Crono doll which lay propped up near the flaps. She crawled over to it and stroked its hair.

"We're coming for you. I swear. I won't let you down. I'm strong, Crono. I'll do anything for you."

Gathering the doll in her arms she laid it next to her on the sleeping mat. Cuddling up to it, she fell asleep with her head on his chest.