The Edge of Despair

I do not own Crono Trigger. I would like to, though. That would be lovely. Square Enix owns it.


The wind was bleak. It always was on the outstretch of rock he had found himself on after the fall of Zeal. Truly, he was surprised he had survived, but fingering the amulet his sister had gifted him so long ago, telling him how it held her feelings for him, he supposed it wasn't as unlikely as he believed.

He heard the wind whistling in his ears. For once, it was regular wind, and the absence of the black wind was almost as terrible as it's presence. He wasn't sure if it was worse or not. It seemed to tell him that the worst possible thing had happened, and it had nothing else to tell him, for nothing could hurt him anymore.

Except for his continual loss. His one chance that had ended in failure.

The outcrop of rock he had claimed as his seemed almost an accusing finger, pointing to his failure. The empty ocean, devoid of any trace that Zeal had existed. The clear air mocking him with it's sun glinting off the waves.

In the end, after staring most of the day, he decided to find a new place to look at it all. He jumped down, and found that he still had his minor powers left.

Magus floated down to a lower outcropping, below the main one, and found it chillier due to the closeness of the freezing water, and felt his tears begin as he sat down on the sharp rocks, melding with the salt of the ocean.

But his tears wouldn't bring back his home or his sister.

So he sat in dejection. Noticing nothing, until the engines came within earshot.

Looking up, he saw the sun reflecting off of a new shape in the sky. It looked like some giant bird. And he knew it for what it was. The Blackbird.

Someone had taken it and fled before Zeal had completed it's fall to the ocean.

Still, it didn't matter anymore. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He could feel the survivors, and could tell that the remaining enlightened and earthbound mingled in the face of tragedy.

But the engine noises became louder, and he watched as the Blackbird began it's ominous descent towards the mainland of what was left of the world.

He tuned himself to the auras, curious as to what the Blackbird would be doing.

Then the terror of the people hit, and the only defiant ones became neutral in an instant.

Magus just sat and felt for a while, and finally, the Blackbird took off, and he watched it go out over the bay and over the ocean, where he felt another pang of despair.


Magus spent days looking out over the ocean, hating himself, but becoming angrier as time passed by. Perhaps it was a preservation instinct that drove him. He didn't want anything to do with it. So he became possessed by fits of anger, which gave way to depression, and then back again, a circling process that tired him out quickly.

At one point in time, he threw away his amulet, even though it protected him, and it gave him comfort. He didn't want to live without his sister, and he knew he couldn't defeat Lavos on his own, now. His life had been spent in a pointless effort. His hopes crushed, dreams ripped to shreds.

He watched the Blackbird hit the ocean, coming down in flames. Smiled in a cynical satisfaction as others felt his despair before their lives snuffed out in a strangely uninteresting fashion. As soon as the Blackbird hit the water, it disappeared under the dark waves, and all traces of it were lost.

Magus watched it, and felt the sudden need to find his amulet again, and strangely enough, found it in his pocket. It seemed it was determined to watch over him, even if he refused to watch over himself on his own.

Collapsing on the ground, knees ground into the rough lichens, head between his arms as his elbows scraped rock, he felt the keenly piercing decay of even the need to feel anger, and went back to despair.

Sitting like that for a while, he slowly picked himself up, feeling something drop from him without caring, and finally saw something that took his breath away. It was a flying contraption, simply designed, without all the pomp of the Blackbird, the elegance of the Ocean Palace, and beautiful because of it.

As his tears dried, he watched it land nearby the settlement. And standing watching the ocean once more, for an unknown period of time, finally he sensed the survivors of the boy, Crono, nearing.

I must have been careless, passed through his mind. One of the survivors must have seen him. He didn't want to put up with them. He despised them, Schala had sacrificed herself for the sake of their petty existence.

He leaped into the air, and cloaked himself. They wouldn't find him, but he would watch them and decide what to do. So he waited, patient, and wondered.


After half an hour, the bungling things finally made it to the north cape. He watched as they noisily wandered up, looking wan. He sneered to himself. Not caring that he wasn't faring any better than they. As they grew into distinction, he was disgusted to find that the girls had rallied around the frog.

He was determined not to show himself to them at that point. The frog was weak, had relied on the Masamune to be able to defeat him.

Then became curious when, after finding nothing in the area, they shrugged, as they spoke amongst themselves, and leaving, when the pretty blonde girls eye caught on something.

Bending down, she picked it up, carefully. Looking, he felt the imbalance on his head, and realized that he was missing an earring. I must really be out of it.

He was going to watch them leave. Dammit, those are my favorite ones, too. He changed his mind.

Alighting upon the tip of the cape, he landed lightly.

"So, it's you," he says, voice deep and uncaring. They all jump, startled. Magus smiles, watching them as their expressions show fear at his presence.

Frog's initial reaction goes away quickly, stifled with anger. "Magus!" the frog snarls, as much as a frog can. The malformed frog draws a sword, muttering something about Cyrus. The girls follow suit.

Magus sneers, and turns his back on them, daring them to attack him. I don't care if they do.

"Behold. All of it rests at the bottom of the sea. Gone, is the magical kingdom of Zeal," and he puts derision in his voice. "And all the dreams and ambitions of it's people."

He hears the question in the faces watcing him. So he turns his head, to tell them. "I lived there once," he confides. Then hardness creeps back into his voice, showing none of his regret or sorrow, as he looks away once more. "But I was another person then."

And the memories come back to him, and he remembers what happened to him. He remembers watching the gurus being hopelessly dragged in. Schala trying to go for him, but Dalton stopping her. His pain, her pain making it worse. Being tumbled through a rift in time and space, and thrown into the filthy era of 600 a.d.

Frog is the one who understands first. Looking at him, and remembering him speaking of the black wind, he puts the pieces together. "You..you were the boy!" is all that comes out, but it is enough for the other two to understand.

Magus stays silent for a moment, under their gazes filled with pity, seething. Strangely enough, he felt the urge to speak well up inside of him. And so it began, " I've lived onl for the thought of slaying Lavos," he explains. "Ever since his rift in time's fabric stranded me in the middle ages." He continued after a breath. "...Just as I had summoned him to my castle, you arrived to interfere," he verily spat the last part, his anger coming back for a moment. Then he laughed, a rough, dry sound. "To think I would be drawn through yet another portal, only to find myself returned to this age...ironic, is it not?" he asked, without waiting for an answer. All his frustration spilling out. "Being from the 'future', my knowledge of the past enabled me to convince the Queen that I was a powerful oracle," and he watched their rapt faces. "So again, I worked to draw the beast out." Here, he paused in his story, shamed once more by his helplessness. "No history book could have prepared me for what ensued," he had ignored the black wind, to his chagrin, but he would ignore it again if given the chance. "..unimaginable is the power of Lavos." and he paused once more. "Before him, all are as leaves cast to the bitter winds that howl about death's black wings." Then he smiled a terrible smile, as they were all under the spell of his voice. Deep and vibrant as it was, even filled with despair and self-loathing. So he decided to give them one last warning, since he had been generous to tell them as much of his story as he was wont to tell. "Stay this course, and your fate will be the same as that fool, Crono's!"

Of course the frog would take offense. "You dare dishonor him?" he cried, bristling at Magus' callous demeanor.

So Magus only laughed at the foolish frog. "Play with fire and you get burned," he told them all, staring pointedly at Frog. "A lesson better learned sooner than later," and that part was pointedly directed at the frog. "The weak go quickly to their graves."

Frog drew his sword, hearing the unsaid implication of Cyrus, and Magus' taunt.

"Hold your tongue, Magus," and instead of intending it as a name, for once it was a title.

"You wish to fight me?" he teased, smiling a smile that was almost a snarl in itself. Perhaps they can reunite me with Schala.

He never takes his eyes off of the cursed frog. The challenge is there, behind it, pain and sorrow. The frog stares straight back, and after a while, there is some spark of recognition, and he sheathes the sword so recently brandished. Finally, after further silence, the frog holds his honor as another weapon. "Taking your life will not restore Crono or Cyrus theirs." And with that, he walks away, head held high, and the girls follow.

Watching them leave, Magus feels a sort of pity, seeing the sadness of losing a loved one reflecting in all of their eyes, especially the girl in spectacles. After internal strife, he finally says something, surprised at himself. "Wait." And with a sort of breathless anticipation, they stop to look at him, and he walks over to them. "I'll accompany you."

"Are you mad?" the frog yells at him, not killing him, but still hating him.

Sighing, Magus explained it to them, "I said the fool was dead, I did not say his death could not be undone."

"Of what do you speak?" the frog asked him suspiciously, after looking around and seeing the uncertain hope in the eyes of his companions.

"Gaspar, the Guru of Time, knows the way to restore those streams of time that have been..diverted...from their proper course," he tells them.

The look at each other, then huddle, and whisper quietly, although he could still hear them perfectly well.

"We could get Crono back!" the blond girl said, trying to keep the shrillness from her voice.

The other two don't take his words readily. Especially the frog.

"What if he's lying?" the bespectacled one asked, unsure, but wanting to cling to hope, even more than the blond.

"Of course he lies," the frog responded immediately, voice hot. "Despite his story, he is still a villain."

"But what if it is true?" the one with glasses asks, looking at the frog.

Looking at both girls, seeing their hope, the frog sighs, and stands up straighter, having had only to slouch to be at head level with the crouching girls. He nodded to them.

The blond girl spoke up first, blue eyes shining with renewed vim and vigor. "So, what do you want us to call you? Magus or J-" and she stopped, seeing the sudden menace in his eyes.

"You may call me Magus," he tells them stiffly. And he grabs the earring out of her hand, as she was still holding on to it. "Lead on," he tells them, as he rehooks the wayward bangle back to his ear, wondering at his actions. Until, almost to the bottom of the cape, he feels a disturbance. He flies to the end of the cape once more, such was his speed, and it takes a moment for the others to catch up, being hopelessly slower than him.

"Impossible! I'm picking up interference from an enormous gate! Could it be Lavos!?" cries the one in glasses, as she looks at an instrument bleeping from a bag. Everyone else is silent, as they feel the tremors in the air.

"That's..." and he is lost for words, as he watched the Ocean Palace rise up.

"It feels like we're going to get sucked in there," murmurs the girl, her instrument now forgotten in her limp hand, eyes larger than ever behind the glasses, mouth slightly ajar.

"Deaths ferry? Has it come for us?" cries the frog, and for once, Magus doesn't sneer a the stupid blight.

"The Ocean Palace?," he muses aloud. Then feels it more, atuning himself to it, "But, no..." it isn't the Ocean Palace anymore. It has changed. The energy more...forboding. What it felt like it was trying to become while it was still in the ocean.

Magus ignores them as they chatter more, as the goggle girl continues to look at more instruments related to her gate key. He can feel the spatial time disturbances on his own. "Is Lavos hand in this as well?" he mainly asks to himself.

"We must stop Lavos soon," mutters the girl, seemingly the only one who isn't hopelessly lost.


They lead him to a village, the only one around, and it is mainly just a clearing, with a few crude huts about.

Looking, there are old scorch marks, and soldiers of Zeal, enlightened, and earthbound alike.

His new companions go straight to the elder of Algetty, to say their goodbyes, when he hears a mew, and feels something soft rubbing against his legs. Looking down, he is surprised, as it is Alfador. A child looks unhappy that the cat has abandoned him to go to someone else.

Crouching down, he lets Alfador sniff him. After doing so a for a while, the cat rubs against his hand, purring at him. "Alfador, you clever cat. You know who I am, even now?"

The only response he gets is more purring, and he feels warmth sink through his gloves, reaching his skin. Smiling softly, he scrubs behind the ears of the cat. He is content with this.

Until he feels the eyes upon him, and looking up, notices the girls are looking surprised, and the frog is pretending not to see. He stands up quickly, heart giving a pang at the unhappy mew.

"Are we ready to go?" he asks them, affecting an aloof manner, face scowling at them once more.

The girl with glasses and a helmet hides a smile behind her hand, and he turns to go, affronted at this. They follow him, and he ignores them, until he hears the forlorn sound of Alfador, asking him not to leave again.

It's no good. He has to stop and crouch down. "Alfador, I have to go now, and you shouldn't follow," he tells the cat quietly, murmuring it. The cat's ears perk up, being magical in nature having given him more understanding than was strictly necessary. "I'll be back for you once I have finished this."

Alfador mews again, this time sounding critical. He hears a stifled giggle.

"Just believe me, it will be as if no time has really passed next time I come to you," and this time the cat pretends disdain, sniffing a little, and walking off, tail in the air, before looking back, with a look daring him to lie.

Getting back up to his feet once more, towering over them in height, he stalks off to the craft that looked as if Balthazar had created it. After all, they had more important business at hand.


The ship's engines roar to life, and then are almost silent, as if in anticipation of what will happen next. Magus settles in, ignoring how close the blond girl is, as they all have to fit in what they have called the Epoch.

"Lucca, where are we going first?" asks the blond. In response, the girl, Lucca, turns to him.

"You tell me," he counters, challenging the girl.

"Well, the old man at the End of Time always helps us out, so he could probably tell us where to find him?" she starts to reason. Magus only gives a mercurial smile, and looks out the window.

Suddenly, there is new life the craft, and the world starts to blur at the edges, and suddenly, they are in empty space, and it is a disconcerting feeling, like being stretched, but less bruising than the unstable portals he had always been through.

The lid of the craft retracted, and he looked up and to the right, hearing voices, and after the others jumped up, showing more grace than he had expected, he lightly leaped up, making them appear ungainly in comparison.

They walked with purpose, to an old man in a queer looking attire, sleeping while standing under a light-pole. But the old man awakens as they approach.

"Where is that sprightly young man?" he asks, looking at them curiously. At their heartbroken faces in response to his question, he too, looks down. "...I see. How terrible. There's little I can do for him, but let me honor him with a song." And with that, he brings out a music box, and it starts to play a melancholy tune, which lasts for the duration of which he had wound it. After it finished, he gave it to the blond. "Were there any more I could do, I would, but I fear I would be of little aid," and the old man gives a sad smile.

Magus isn't fooled. He watches, then says, "Only the Guru of Time can help us now," and the old man looks startled. Then recognizes him after looking a moment. He looks like he is millenium older, without actually aging.

"That face...have I not seen you before?" and staring, in thought, he finally finishes, "Ah. Indeed, you've grown strong." Musing, he adds, "Tainted of soul," after looking at him, seemingly through him, "But formidable all the same."

"Hmm?" Magus responds, not caring how tainted he had become. It wasn't over yet.

"The Guru of Time, you say?" he asks, carefully not saying anything. "I know of him, but what business to you have with him?"

And this time, the blond girl says something once more, always speaking without thinking, seemingly. "We have heard that he can revive Crono!" was what she blurted out.

This time, the old man looks up, and gives a wistful smile. "Ah, yes...to break death's hold over one you hold dearer still." Then looking sharply at them, he adds, "You are not the first to wish such a thing, nor shall you be the last. Crono must be happy indeed knowing he has such friends as you." And then he looks away. This is the end of the conversation for him. Magus shakes his head at the old man, seeing how meek he has become over time, and gives a last disdainful look, before they begin to leave.

As the two girls, the blond one named Marle, start to talk to everyone else congregated at the end of time over what to do next, since the old man can't help, they start to choose a party to investigate the new occurance of the revived Ocean Palace. Magus heard the Black Omen blown upon the wind. He goes to sit at the only place not occupied, the walkway leading to the Epoch.

Then the old man catches their attention once more, having his internal conflict resolved. Magus moves in closer, curious to see what old man Gaspar has finally decided upon.

"Here, take this with you," Gaspar tells them, seemingly more whole, more determined than before. And on the ground, he sets what looks like a large egg.

"What is it?" is the unison question. Magus already knows. He can feel it.

"That is the Chrono Trigger-a time egg." is the explanation, as Gaspar waves at it. "Should you wish to try and hatch it, the one who created the Wings of Time can show you the way." and he pauses there, looking slightly sad once more. "But know that it may not necessarily hatch the results which you desire. The Chrono Trigger represents potential," and at their questioning look, goes further, "Results require action. As long as you keep Crono in your heart and pursue what you seek, results should follow." At their hopeful looks, he adds hastily, "But I can make no guarantees."

"It really is you, isn't it?" asks Magus, already knowing the answer, but feeling the need to make it more obvious. I don't appreciate secrets kept.

"It is you, you're Gaspar, the Guru of Time!" Lucca exclaimed, strangely enough, the only one intelligent enough to keep up with the information.

"Ah, haha. I believe they used to call me that, a long, long time ago," admits Gaspar, with a dry smile.

It is all too much for Marle to take in, and everyone else is overwhelmed, having finally 'found' the last guru. Gaspar gets hugged by most all of them.

Finally, after they finish arguing over who gets to go and get Crono, they have no doubt of anything other than success, Magus is confronted by Lucca and Marle.

"You have to come with us," is their demand. Neither of them would give up the right to go and see Crono returned.

"Why?" he asks, simply, voice uncaring, daring them to try and coerce him.

"You told us the way," Lucca says, the one he has more faith in.

"Without you, we would never have found a way to get Crono back," Marle said loudly, acting like he should know better.

And I will regret this choice for a long time, was his unsaid response, as he looked down on the pleading girls. "If you will leave me alone, I will accompany you," he sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his forefingers. He already knew he wouldn't enjoy the journey.

He followed them to the Epoch, as they seemed unable to stop moving in their haste, and this time, he had room enough to get his own full seat in the craft.

"So, back to the future?" asks Lucca, as she dialed in coordinates upon the console. Marle makes an excited squeak noise in response. Magus didn't say or do anything, just continued to look outside the window. I don't want to promote their behavior, passes through.

Then the machine starts to blur even the inky black infinity in front of them, and the stretching sensation returns to him. After a while, he starts to feel thinned out, and then they are beyond sight, and a truly terrible sight greets him.

Looking at the time set in the machine, he sees that it is 2300 a.d., and is horrified at what the future truly holds. "Lavos did this," he whispers to himself. And as Lucca expertly moves the Epoch to a small island with an evil feeling mountain in it's northern end, he braces himself for a storm that is worse and better than the one created by the presence of Zeal. Dustier, with more debris, definitely. But full of forlorn howls through ruined cities.

Magus follows the girls to a dome, that looks like it has been buffeted for longer than it should have been.

Lucca looks back at him as they walk towards it, and tells him, "This is where we got the Epoch. I guess the locals call it the 'Keeper's Dome'," and she smiles, before looking sad. She walks in silence, and Marle doesn't speak either, face determined.

When they reach the dome, and go inside, he looks at the strange interior, but adapts as he always has done, wrinkling his nose at the musty air, distastefully reminded of Ozzie's Fort, where he had first lived.

He does, however, recognize the seal on the door ahead, and watches, startled, as he sees Marle hold her pendant in a painfully familiar way, and commune with it enough to open the door.

The air is clear in here, and he sees, across a winding path, a nu, sleeping in front of another sealed door. They make their way to it, and Lucca taps it on the nose, where it wakes up, not startled like nu's usually are. Instead, a voice issues from it, and he recognizes.

"Death peak harbors a power capable of restoring the slain to life," it begins, as if it already knows what they were about to ask. "But the power to reverse death is not one easily invoked," and now the voice holds a certain humor to it. "The need must be great, and the person's existence of the utmost importance. And what's more, you'll need a double- a doll identical to that person in every detail. Then, and only then, will the power deign to hatch the Egg."

Looking at one another, the girls seem confused by the sudden extra demand. "We need a double as well..?" was Marle's confused response.

Suddenly the nu spoke up again, and the voice had degraded to something less than it was before, excited now, though. "A doppel doll! That would do nicely!" and it giggles slightly. "The magician Norstein Bekkler could whip one up in a blink of the eye!" and now it sounds almost like an advertisement for the owner of the tent of horrors at the millenial fair. Then sounds wistful. "If only he were here." Then as if holding another conversation all together, hearing questions and answers, the nu answered a question never thought, "You've not heard of him, you say? Well, he loves festivals. Find a fair, and there, you shall almost certainly find Bekkler!"

Then the nu shut off once more, in a comatose state. Seeing that that was the end of it, Magus wandered off, used to nu's and Balthasar's habits from years of spending time with them. Marle and Lucca hurried after him, after prodding the nu a little bit more.

"We need a copy as well?" huffed Marle. "I thought we were just going to get Crono?"

"I don't know, maybe.." and Lucca trailed off, unsure of herself. She knew science, not magic so much, nor how time and death functioned. Magus, however, had more experience in the subject.

"We need a new vessel," he corrected, as they made their way out of the dome.

"Vessel?" Lucca questioned.

"What else do you think you're going to replace him with?" he scoffed, "You saw what happened to him, something has to take that spot in history."

He silenced himself after that, and positioned himself in the Epoch, not helping either girl climb the ladder, whereas he had just lightly hopped in.

"I guess we're going home then," Lucca sighed, as she set new time coordinates into the craft. "Think Bekkler will really help us?"

"Maybe, but he seemed kinda seedy, to me..." Marle answered, unsure, brow creased at the thought of going back to the tent. She remembered being lowered into a fire, while Crono earned cat food, strangely enough.

Then they were in the present, and Lucca landed the craft in a field near Truce. Looking around, Magus was surprised at how much cheerier it looked than he was used to, and how nice the houses seemed in comparison. The sun was shining, and there were fluffy white clouds drifting by, and he could hear the ocean in the distance. It all seemed so peaceful.

He followed the girls, as they chatted, and observed as they became deathly quiet as they passed one house. Then he finally found his bearings, and realized Truce Canyon had been overgrown, and a massive fair was in front of it. He heard the music and hustle before he saw it. He could smell it before it came into view. It was full of savory odors, and that of people as well. He couldn't help it, he didn't want to go in. There were too many people than he wanted to deal with. His fingers itched towards his hood once more, ready to hide within it's depths.

Marle laughed at him as his hood was halfway up. He stopped.

"Are you trying to become less visible?" she asked, staring at him. "Because the hood would only make you stand out more."

Magus dropped his hood, face scowling once more, irked at being caught nervous.

"It'll be fine," giggled Marle, as they finally entered the fair. Magus was surprised at how many people didn't really notice his presence, or only looked at him before wandering off. And then he saw the cheesy tent, with the overblown skull shaped entrance, before noticing that he glittery maw was actually a real skull. Then he became more curious.

Inside, strangely enough, was larger than the outside, and resembled a dungeon. He felt the magic weaving about them, and knew it was an extra-spacial dimensional room, which took effort to make and sustain. Then there was darkness, and a haunting, happy laugh. The lights came back on, and a floating white mask with matching gloves floated towards them, a large grin upon it's face.

"Welcome to Norstein Bekkler's tent of horrors!" came the showman's voice. "The spine-tingling show is about to start!"

"No, we need a doll copying a friend of ours," Lucca hurried to explain, not letting the magician get carried away. "Do you remember Crono?"

"The red-headed boy who stunk of lightning?" asked the magician, mask looking curious.

"Yes!" Marle burst out, excited at the goal getting closer once more.

"So, you want a doppel doll of Crono?" asked the mask, sounding suddenly mischevous, "Normally I wouldn't give out another person's doll, but today, I'll make an exception." And now the businessman was back, with the hint of prankster. "Forty silver points. I'll give you the doll, even if you lose the game, but it will cost you." Now there was the guise of a benevolent elder. "The longer you stay in the game, the lower my price will be."

At this, Lucca and Marle huddled, then motioned him to come closer. He didn't bother crouching down, as they hunched.

"Well, do we have any silver points?" Lucca asked, as Marle dug in her bag, searching.

"Wait for it..." Marle was biting her lip a bit, until finally she came up with a pouch. Which she brandished proudly for a moment, before actually opening it to check. "Ah hah!" she proclaimed. "It seems to have more than enough!"

"When and why do you have so many silver point?" Lucca asked, bewildered at the amount of tokens in the pouch.

"Well, I insisted that Crono escort me around," Marle said, toeing the ground, suddenly interested in her feet as she blushed. "I kinda got carried away..."

"I'll say," muttered Lucca, looking away.

Marle handed the amount asked for to Norstein, and it all disappeared, the moment he closed his glove.

"Now! The game!" began the magician, once more pure showman. "It is a mirroring game, as in, you mirror whatever they do," he cackles.

"Shoot, I'm terrible at this," Marle was biting her lip once more, looking helplessly at Lucca.

Backing away, Lucca had her hands up as if to fend off an attack, "Don't look at me, I've never been good at that kind of thing, we always left it to...Crono..."she finished lamely. Then she looked up after a moment, and her gaze focused on him, and he felt a different sort of horror than he was used to. "What about you?" she asked, eyes narrowed behind her glasses, seeing a way out, and not wanting to let it get away.

"No," he said, coldly.

"I bet you would be good at it," Marle put in, smiling at him, eyes big, wiggling in a way she didn't seem aware of.

Looking at them, he didn't really see a way out of it.

"Besides, we left most of our money with Robo," Lucca mentioned, sheepishly, then giving a look at Marle that he didn't understand, while Marle responded.

"It wasn't my fault there were so many cool things at that one store!" whined Marle, and suddenly he knew why, and felt like he had begun a mission that would hurt him in ways he hadn't known were possible. It already felt like they were lowering his mental capacities.

"Fine, I'll do it," he said, and when they started to look excited, "If you please just shut up afterwards."

"Deal!" was their response, as they moved out of the way.

"Well, let us begin!" cackled the mask, movingout of the way, gesturing to a portcullis, which opened soundlessly, and the inhuman eyes blinking in the darkness, came forward, and it turned out to be the green eyes of Crono, who looked healthy and a little blank.

Magus positioned himself in front of him. Norstein Bekkler gave the signal to start.

And it started quite simply, just raising hands, giving him plenty of time for each response, and then it started the spinning, and short cackles, which made him want to die in embarrassment, but he did it, and his efforts became more careful, as the speed of what he was to mirror increased. Fairly soon, they were readily going along at a speed it was almost to fast to see their movements, for as soon as he had completed one movement, it immediately changed into another one.

Finally, Norstein laughed, and said, "You win!" and is almost breathless. "I have to admit, I usually don't let it get that far."

Magus scowls at the smarmy magician, wanting to throw something at the smirking mask.

"That'll be...nothing!" laughs Norstein, before smirking once more, "I'll send this doppel doll to Crono's house." And before no one can tell him he doesn't have to, the doll is gone.

"Thank you!" cries Marle, as they all run out, heading to Crono's house. Magus feels the apprehension as they go in, Lucca accustomed to not knocking after a childhood spent visiting. They sneak upstairs, well, they did, Magus just did what he normally did, which was always silent and fast. But the surprise was that Crono's mother was in his room, feeding the poor ignored cat that adored the boy.

"Oh, hello! Is Crono all right?" she asks, when she notices that Crono isn't with them.

"Yeah...he's just...he's just fine," Lucca responds awkwardly, raising suspicion.

"Well, I hope he's not causing you too much trouble," his mother told them, misunderstanding, "You tell him I said to behave himself, all right?"

Nodding, Lucca shuffled a bit before finally getting to the point, "..Um, listen, I, uh...I mean..."

"Yes?"

"We'd like to borrow this doll for a bit," she finally asks.

Crono's mother crinkles her brow, then looks in distaste at the doll. "Go right ahead, dear."

Lucca looks relieved, and they lead the doll outside, saying goodbye to the lady before leaving in a hurry. They veritably run to the Epoch in their haste to get back to Belthasar's nu doll.

This time, the trip is even faster than usual, and he watches as they calm down, then become anxious all over again, and tries not to pay attention, disgusted by their lack of self control.

The doll follows them all the way back to the Keeper's Dome, and all the way back to the nu doll, which is waiting for them, and opens it's eyes as they approach, scanning the doll. "Yes, that will do quite well," it congratulates them. Then it sounds more serious. "It seems the time has come for you to attempt Death Peak. It is the only chance you have of reviving your friend." Then it continues after pausing. "I have impanted one final program-truly, I mean it this time," it says hastily, seeing their looks, "in this construct's memory banks. It will help to guide you up the mountain. Please stand back."

They oblige, going to the sides of the metal walkway, and backing away at the same time, and they watch as the nu doll with Belthasar's instructions wanders into the room behind it.

A doll comes out next, strangely enough, a small one that looks similar to a kilwala. It is a poyozo doll. "Executing program!" comes out of it, without tone, sounding like a real machine for once. And it is repeated twice more, as two more dolls come out. Then the nu follow last.

"The three entities you just saw will aid you on Death Peak," it explains, serious with Belthasar's voice. "This ends my message," and now it sounds almost sad, but relieved. "Now, I must ask you a favor. This construct has reached it's final program. Please, let him rest. The switch is on his stomach."

Magus walks up without hesitation, reaches for the stomach, and whispers, "Goodbye, Belthasar," before switching it off, understanding the need to sleep.

Sometimes he wishes he could rest, too, but he has one final duty to carry out before he can do so. And with that in mind, he begins to leave, ready to go to Death Peak.


a/n: Sorry, I have been taking so long lately. Not sure if this chapter is up to my standards, but the story shall accelerate more, unless someone wants more in-game stuff added, which can be done. I'm kinda ambivalent about that. So if someone wants that, it should be mentioned, otherwise I'm gonna skip through it rather quickly. Smiles.