AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm going back and re-writing much of this story after doing some more research on the events that occured between Crono Trigger and Chrono Cross. This tale is meant to be epic in scope and focuses as much on the relationships between the various characters as it does on action/adventure elements. I hope you enjoy this story all over again, as I've gone back and re-outlined the entire adventure. I have taken a few liberties and made a few interpretations of the events in the game. Now here is the exciting Prelude to The Search for Lucca!

The Search for Lucca - by Spark009, revised edition

Prelude:

Crono was awoken from a fitful sleep, his wife of many years still slept soundly beside him. It was cold that night in the forest near the ruins of Guardia Castle. He did not know why they had returned, both knew how dangerous it would be with Porre no doubt still searching for them, even after five years in exile. They had never strayed too far, having had to leave their friend Lucca behind.

He stood up and went to the nearby stream to splash water over his face. As he looked up to the south he saw a red glow in the sky. He had seen a glow like it before, when Porre sacked Guardia and burned his home town of Truce to the ground. Now he saw it again and immediately knew its source.

He held back from muttering a curse under his breath and returned to where his wife slept. He picked up his katana from where it lay next to their makeshift bed and shook his wife awake.

"Crono," she muttered as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. Crono motioned to the south, where they could see smoke rising off the horizon. She jumped up, grabbing her crossbow. "By God!" she exclaimed. Crono gave her a look meaning for her to stay put, but Nadia, the last Queen of Guardia would have none of it. "You don't really think I'm going to stay here while my friend is in trouble do you?"

Crono shook his head. He knew her better than that. He then gave her a nod of approval. For a moment, he was reminded of when they first met, and she now showed for the first time in nearly five years some of that old spirit which had nearly disappeared after they lost Guardia. He pushed those thoughts aside as they began running towards the old orphanage, expecting at any moment a contingent of Porre soldiers to come running after them, knowing they kept a close watch on both Lucca and the Orphanage.

They traveled easily over the wilderness, only ten years had passed since their adventure through time and both were in top shape. Any soldiers that did come after them would have a hard time keeping up.

They arrived to find the house in a blazing inferno. Crono didn't see how anything could have survived in there, but to his surprise he saw two figures emerge from the house, a young boy that could not have been older than he and Nadia when they had their grand adventure all those years ago and a young girl holding onto him tightly. While they had not spoken to Lucca in years, both knew that it must have been Kid, the child found by Lucca shortly after their adventure.

Seeing them safely outside, Crono started to run towards the house, but Nadia grabbed him and held him back.

"Crono, no!" She cried as the house collapsed in on itself. "It's too late," she said sadly, tears freely flowing down her cheeks. Crono knew she was right. They could both hear the sounds of screaming children who flocked around the boy who helped them escape. Crono looked frantically around for Lucca, but she was nowhere to be seen. The young girl in the boy's arms was crying out for her big sister, crying out for Lucca.

Crono could not help but feel his own tears in his eyes as he thought of his friend, if only they could have been there. Absently his hand fell to his chest, where he had a scar from the battle with Porre five years ago. If only he had been stronger.

He watched with interest as the boy carried the young girl away from the orphanage. They could hear alarms from the distance and knew that Porre was on its way to put out what was left of the blaze and clean up the mess. Crono wanted to help, but knew they would have to leave quickly if they wanted to escape from the armies of Porre.

"Lucca wasn't in there," Nadia said firmly. "She just wasn't, I know it." Crono nodded in agreement. He had known Lucca almost his entire life before his exile. The thought of losing her saddened him greatly. But he also knew that they had to get away, as they could see the soldiers of Porre approaching. They silently slipped away into the darkness of the forest, and as they did, Crono looked back for the boy. He saw the girl still standing on the hill crying, but the boy was now gone. The soldiers had arrived to put out the fire and Crono lingered at the edge of the forest watching, amazed to see that the girl, too, had vanished.

They did not sleep the rest of the night, talking about what would become of the children and if they could help. They decided to stay in the area for another day or so, any longer and they would take an even greater risk than they had of detection by Porre.

The next night, they returned to the remains of the Orphanage, Porre had already gone over most of it, and they had to dodge an encampment that was set up nearby to conduct the investigation.

They searched the grounds as best they could, looking for any signs of Lucca and where she might have gone or who might have taken her. They discovered by listening in on the contingent stationed there that all the children save one was accounted for, which Crono assumed was the girl, Kid.

"I searched for the Epoch," Nadia said later, when they were a safe distance away and could speak freely. "There was no sign of it." This troubled Crono, as it clearly did Nadia. "She wouldn't have abandoned her kids would she? I hope Porre didn't find it. It could have been the reason for the attack." Crono said nothing. He doubted Porre found it, or the soldiers might have mentioned something. Still, he said a silent prayer for the future, and the past.

Where, or when, the Epoch and Lucca had gone to, neither had the answers for…