Chapter 7 - A Stitch In Time

Crono, Lucca and Marle emerged into a gloomy room. Metal encased them, the floor, walls and ceiling all made of the same material. Standing up, Marle took in her surroundings. "There's no way the Chancellor can reach us here. But, where are we?"

Joining her, Lucca walked up to a door, studying it. "The civilization here seems so... advanced... like we're in another world." Shaking her head, Lucca headed for the exit. "We've got to find some people and find out what year it is."

"Sounds like a plan to me, let's do it," replied Crono and followed after her with Marle in tow. This is just great, where the hell has that bitch got us now? She's been nothing but trouble since we met...

Outside, arctic winds blew, hail pouring from the black sky soaking through their clothes. The landscape solely consisted of wreckage, destroyed buildings strewn all over as far as the eye could see. What little land they could see was just mud, clinging to their clothing.

"Jeez, what a dump!" whinged Marle.

"Shut the hell up, will ya? It's your bloody fault we're here in the first place so don't bitch to us about how crappy this place is!" stormed Crono.

Firmly rebuked, Marle just kept her mouth shut, but her thoughts were hardly silent. Who the hell does he think he is, talking to a princess like that? I'm royalty! He should bow down to me, not curse at me like I'm some silly little girl! Lucca wisely said nothing, keeping her distance from the warring pair.

The trio made their way through some laboratories, keeping their eyes out for anything that could be dangerous, but nothing showed up.

"It's creepy, it's like there's nothing alive anymore... we're the only activity in this entire world..." whispered Lucca, her voice cowed by the oppressive silence.

"There has to be someone alive here, it's just a matter of finding them, that's all," responded Crono.

"LOOK! There's a big dome over there. Let's check it out, there might be someone there," cried Marle.

Silence resumed, they headed towards the darkened structure, seemingly dead to the world. As they arrived, it seemed even darker as if it was rejecting them, urging them to leave it alone. They weren't wanted there, they didn't belong, as if there spirit could somehow infect it, making it return from its eternal slumber.

Taking a grip of the door handle, Crono tried to pull it open but it refused to move. Straining his entire body, Crono put all his strength into pulling it open but it still refused to move.

"Here, let me have a go," volunteered Marle with a mischievous grin on her face.

"If I can't do it, you sure as hell won't be able to," snorted Crono with derision.

"Watch and learn muscle-head," Marle threw back and sauntered towards the door. Taking hold of the handle, she pushed it and the door slowly opened with an ear-splitting screech as it ground against the solid metal floor. Saying nothing, but with a cheesy grin on her face, Marle strode inside. Shamefacedly, Crono followed her with Lucca just behind trying not to burst out laughing, but unable to hide the impish grin that covered her face.

Inside, the team noticed the nauseous gases that filled the air, making it cloudy and stinging their eyes. Striding across the metal walkway, Marle noticed a bunch of people all gathered up at one end of the room. Speeding up into a trot, she quickly made her way over, but stopped when she saw the devastation that lay in front of her. Barely stifling a scream, she turned and buried her face in Crono's shoulder as he arrived. He just stood there shocked, taking in the scene around him. No-one had been left alive, all of them had their throats cut. One body lay away from the rest facing the rest of the bodies, signalling he was the last one killed, most probably this groups leader. He was an old man, slightly balding with white wispy hair straying from his head. The blood was covering the floor, but most of it had dried.

"This was recent... not all of that blood is dry. Whoever did this may still be around, lets be VERY careful..." murmured Crono, loud enough for Lucca and Marle to hear, but quiet enough for it to not stray any further. Straining his ears, Crono heard a slight shuffling sound and whirled around. Gesturing to the other two, Crono made his way to the ladder where the sound came from. He slowly lowered his head through the hole, looking around. He nearly fell down the hole as the scream came.

A little girl, barely more than five years old was huddled up in the corner, trying to make herself as small as possible...

"Marle, you talk to her, try to calm her down and find out what happened here. Lucca, you help me check out the rest of this place. There may be other people still alive here."

"N... no, they're all de-- dead!" the little girl cried before resuming her silence

"Hush... hush... you're safe with us. We mean you no harm, but we need to know what happened here," Marle whispered reassuringly to the girl.

Hesitantly, the little girl spoke, "Two days ago some people came here. They were all dressed in black, nothing else. They lined all the people up and killed them! They made Doan watch it all before they killed him as well and then they left and... and..."

"What about you? How did you get away?"

"I don't know... they just let me live, I don't know why."

Confused, Marle, Lucca and Crono begun talking in harsh whispers. "What are we going to do with her? We can't just leave her here, we have to do something," Lucca said.

"Don't worry, I know just where to take her," answered Crono. Crouching down in front of the little girl, he asked, "How would you like to live in a wooden house with me and a very nice lady? Marle and Lucca here will be sure to visit us in our new house. Wouldn't that be nice?"

A smile struck the little girls face and she rushed over to Crono and hugged him around the neck.

"Yes you can stay with us, we've just got to finish some business here and then you can come and live with me! Do you know what else there is here darling?"

Releasing Crono's neck, she took his hand and led him through an open doorway. "I guess she wants us to follow her, so lets go."

"But what if there's something dangerous down there? If she gets killed..."

"Don't worry, if there was anything down there, those guys in black probably took care of it. There should be nothing for us to worry about."

"Well, if you're so sure..."

They set off down the long corridors, passing the strewn remains of several robots. Their internal fluids had leaked all over the place, making the floor slippery. They eventually reached the computer room.

Gazing at all the technology around her, Lucca was obviously in heaven, a wild-eyed childish look on her face. "So this is the info centre. Good, the computer's still operational. If we run a search on time warps, we might find our Gate!" Rapidly hitting buttons, Lucca found the right one. The screen lit, showing a map of the continent. "Here, got it! East of Arris Dome... that would be... Proto Dome, I believe," she stated, pointing towards the screen.

"Leave it to Lucca! I'm beginning to think you could do anything with this device!" Walking towards the console, Marle paused. "Say, what does this button do?" Reaching over she pressed it. The huge screen flared up again, this time with a different message. "1999AD? Visual record of the "Day of Lavos"..."

The four watched the screen avidly as something rose from the ground. It started spraying hot needles of pure energy into the sky, which came raining down on the world, destroying all they came into contact with. The little girl buried her face in Crono's jerkin, refusing to watch the scenes of destruction unfurling before them. Shocked, Marle whispered, "Uh, what...IS that?"

"Lavos? Is that what's destroying our world!" said a visibly shocked Lucca.

"NO! NO WAY! I refuse to believe it! This... this can't be the way the world ends..." Turning to Crono, Marle's face was livid. "Crono... There's only one thing we can do! We must change history! Just like Crono did when he saved me!"

"I... guess so... it was a stroke of luck that we were sent here through that Gate," murmured Lucca.

"Well, lets rock and roll, we've got a world to save," said Crono as he headed for the exit.

The four made their way out of the dome and back into the hail outside. Crono clutched the little girl close to his chest where she had fallen asleep. Trekking through the barren wasteland, they finally arrived at Proto Dome. Inside they saw a young woman with her back to them, clad entirely in black, talking to herself.

"This is wrong. It's all wrong! They haven't been here yet, I know that. Gaspar would have told me otherwise... This door is meant to be sealed shut." Spinning around, she continued, "and Prometheus was supposed to be right he--" She stopped as she caught sight of the four standing in the doorway. "Oh crap... now really isn't a good time..."

"Who the hell are you?" asked Marle, aiming her crossbow for in-between the woman's eyes, with a scowl on her face. "And what the hell are you doing here?"

"My name is Destiny and my story is rather long."