Chapter VII: Dirge of Remembrance
There was emptiness, a vast, cold nothingness as Serge passed through the Time Gate. The sensation was a familiar one to him, and it reminded of how he traveled across reality, the gate at Opassa Beach. Then he could feel her, she was very close to him now, he shouted out for her, but no sound could escape his lips.
For a brief moment, it was as if they were one, then the sensation passed and she was gone again. The world reformed around him as quickly as it all had faded away. He fell to his knees, emptying the contents of his stomach in the grass in front of him.
Marle came out next followed by Magus. The Gate then closed behind them. Marle looked back and shouted, "Crono!"
Magus caught her as she was reaching for the Gate Key, "No, Princess. You knew only three of us could make this trip. Besides, it is too late, he and Glenn are either dead or captur—"
He didn't finish his sentence. Marle's hand had formed a hard fist and she struck Magus across the face. Magus took a step back away from her, releasing her other arm. He could see the fury in her eyes.
"You callous, cold-hearted…" she whispered through clenched teeth.
Magus was unmoved by her anger. "Maybe so, but unlike you and Crono, I am a realist who understands the necessity of the sacrifices needed to accomplish ones goal."
"You started a war with Guardia to get your own personal revenge on Lavos!" Marle yelled.
"A small price to save the rest of the planet," Magus said matter-of-factly.
They could not continue the argument, as Serge then collapsed in the grass beside them.
Back in Arni, the reconstruction efforts were already under way, overseen by the Acacia Dragoons who had come to assist. Fortunately, no one had been killed in the battle with Masamune, but homes had been destroyed and people seriously hurt. It would take the village some time to recover, both physically and emotionally.
No one understood this better than Leena, who now was mostly recovered from her own physical wounds. But, she was not allowed to participate much in the reconstruction efforts, save for keeping an eye on the children or other tasks that would not tax her too much.
Rapidly she was getting tired of the bed rest and, still wearing Serge's bandanna, decided to go down to Opassa that afternoon to escape the emotional weight currently on her.
She walked down carefully, taking her time and enjoying the summer air. But when she arrived at the beach, she was disappointed to note that she was not the only one with the idea to get away. There standing on the beach was girl about Leena's age. Her long blonde hair was braided into two long braids that went down her back. At her side she wore a dagger and a little red outfit that was well suited to the warm climate of El Nido.
The girl turned, a smile playing on her face, but when she saw Leena, her expression darkened considerably.
"Yer not Serge," she said moodily.
Leena then frowned, "No, I'm not." She was getting angry, the frustrations of the past several weeks finally catching up to her. "What's he to you?"
The girl cocked her head to the side and gave Leena a sly grin, "Who's asking?"
"His girlfriend," Leena stated firmly. "Now what do you want with Serge?"
"Been lookin' fer him," she replied. "He saved me earlier this summer."
Leena stopped, her eyes catching the blue amulet she wore around her neck, standing there transfixed on it for a moment. A portion of her anger left her and she smiled, "Well, he's not here. Been gone about a week."
The girl scratched her head, "Well that ain't good. When's he gettin' back?"
Leena shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I don't know if he's even coming back."
"Then he much not be a very good boyfriend," the girl said with a chuckle.
Leena was speechless, but knew that she was partially right, Serge had not been a particularly good boyfriend since that day on the beach. Could she be that reason?
Leena frowned again, and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, a loud sound like thunder ripped across the island formation.
"What was that?" Leena shouted. It was a clear day without any clouds to be seen, except for a column of black smoke coming from the north.
"Oh bugger," the girl said, they could now see warships on the horizon, firing their cannons into the islands. It looked as if they were attacking Termina. The girl grabbed Leena's hand and pulled her along. "Come on!"
Leena followed having a little trouble keeping up with the more athelitic girl that was dragging her around. She seemed to know the area well, but Leena could not remember ever seeing her before.
They arrived outside Termina where they got a better view of the bombardment. The Dragoons were now firing back in a futile effort to drive off the invaders. The sound of cannon fire was now continuous. The girl started running into the city, but Leena pulled her back.
"No!" Leena said, "Those warships are from Porre. If we go in now we might get hit."
The girl nodded in agreement, "bugger. I hate hiding from a fight."
"We should go back to Arni," Leena suggested, but the girl shook her head.
"Nah, we can't abandon them, we'll have to find a way to help." Her voice took on a slightly different tone, sounding older and more mature than she looked, and her previously easy going manner replaced. "Ya got any Elements?"
Leena shook her head slowly.
"Then this might be harder. Come on, I think I know how we can get into the city."
They went to the far side of Termina, which so far had suffered little damage from the bombardment and went down into the waterways below the city. There are a boy loading children his small fishing boat.
"Korcha!" The girl shouted to him, running over to help.
"Kid?" Korcha said, eyes growing wide. "Come on, we need to get out of here!" Kid nodded in agreement, helping lift one of the smaller children into the boat.
"Go on, we're going to try to help the others," Kid responded when the last child was on board. "You should take her with you."
Korcha frowned. The cannon fire then stopped. "What's going on?" Leena asked, her voice a soft whisper.
"Let's go," Korcha said, "we don't have time to argue about it." Kid sighed and climbed into the boat along with Leena and they started down waterway.
It was quiet and dark as they went, the only sound Korcha's soft paddling. They saw a light up ahead shine onto them.
"There are some!" shouted a voice.
"Dammit," Kid said, drawing her dagger. "They've found us."
The Porre military boat was now coming down the waterway towards them, guns trained on the passengers. When it got close enough, Kid gave a shout and jumped across onto the boat, prompting the soldiers to open fire. Korcha and Kid threw themselves over the children to protect them.
"Hold your fire," shouted the Porre commander. "You'll hit the children." They stopped firing, but struggled with Kid who was slashng at them fiercely. Leena dared to look up, amazed that Kid had not gotten hit by any of their fire. A soldier jumped on the small raft, where the children were now crying out for their parents. Korcha stood up and swung the only weapon he had, an old fishing pole. It knocked the soldier on his head, prompting him to curse softly and raise his rifle towards Korcha.
Leena then stood grabbing a paddle and swung it at the rifle, knocking it aside and accidently firing a shot. This caught the attention of Kid who looked back at the raft to make sure the children were okay, but the distraction allowed one of the soldiers to hit her on the head, rendering her unconscious.
"Little brat!" The soldier on the raft said, barreling his fist in Leena. She too was knocked out cold, and all rifles were trained on Korcha, who dropped his fishing pole and held his hand up in surrender.
Serge woke up groggily in a surprising nice bed, seeing Marle sitting at his bedside. He shook his head, still slightly disoriented. Also in the room he saw Magus leaning against a wall and an older man dressed in fine robes and a graying beard on his face. He smiled at Serge when he saw him awake.
Serge tried to sit up but Marle eased him back down. She was much better dressed then when Serge had last seen her, wearing an expensive looking dress.
"Rest easy, Serge," she said. "Seems in all the running around we were doing you must have forgot about your own injury."
Serge put his hand on his head which still throbbed slightly. Then he remembered, being thrown against the tree in Arni during the fight against Masamune.
"You are lucky, boy," Magus said. "But you should not have kept this hidden. We've been delayed too much as it is. It's been a week since you opened the Gate."
Serge then sat up, not allowing Marle to push him back.
Magus looked at Marle, "we cannot afford to delay any longer, and we still need Serge to find Schala."
Marle pulled back and let Serge stand. He was still a little unsure on his feet but his head was starting to clear. The old man that stood nearby offered an arm to help balance Serge.
"Careful there," he said assuringly. "Take it slow. I believe you can afford another minute or two while the boy regains his feet." The man flashed angry glare at the wizard.
"Very well," Magus said, turning away.
Serge quickly got dressed and put his dagger on his belt. Marle smiled at him encouragingly, and then left to go get changed herself. While she was gone a small boy of no more than 8 or 9 years old entered and gave the old man a letter. The man smiled and the bow bowed to him formally.
The boy smiled to Serge on his way out.
"Poor child," the man said. Serge looked back at him. "His parents have recently gone missing on an expedition."
The old man looked sad. "His father was a great knight who saved this kingdom many times over." He glared at Magus again, who left his features expressionless and said nothing. Serge felt for the boy, his father had disappeared years ago as well, only to be twisted into… Serge couldn't remember exactly, but shuddered at the thought that was in his mind.
Marle returned in her traveling clothes, newly cleaned and gave the man a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you again for everything you've done for us."
The man smiled, "It's been my pleasure, Nadia. You should come and visit me again sometime."
Marle smiled back at him, "I will try, me and Crono both."
Serge bowed to the old king and left with Marle. Magus lingered for a moment and looked at the king. "It was never about you or your country," Magus said turning to leave, he then looked back. "But I would do it again under the circumstances. Trust me when I say this: we will not meet again."
Magus then left, the king shaking his head. When they first arrived, his instinct was to have Magus locked away and tried for his crimes. He eventually decided against this, as a favor to Marle. He only hoped that what Magus said was true, and that they would never meet again.
The boy that had delivered the message to the king led the three out of Guardia Castle and through the forest to Truce and the port there, where a ship was already waiting. As the ship left we waved goodbye to the companions shouting, "Find my Ma and Pa, will ya!" He stayed until the ship disappeared over the horizon, and then came back everyday after that, waiting for the ship to return with his parents.
It never did.
EDIT: I made some minor revisions to the text, as I went back to read over it I noticed some signifigant errors. Should be cleaned up now!
NEXT: Sir Glenn returns in I'll Kick Yer Arse To The Mune