A quick but heartfelt thanks for all the feed back I got about Magus and this story- it was really encouraging! I was hoping to have this chapter up last week, by my computer is really disliking the new Windows 10 update. Anyone else having trouble with it?

Anyway, here we are, now more than half way through. So without further ado...

Somewhere deep within the depths of the castle, tucked off into a small and dark corridor, there stood a man waiting in the shadows. He was short and stubby and leaning against the stone wall in a near slouch, a look sour enough to curdle milk pooling the many wrinkles on his face. His eyes were seemingly fixed on the ground, but out of the corner of his eye he was watching the green fabric of his long tunic bounce with the impatient tapping of his foot.

"Chancellor! O'er here!" came a sudden, shrill voice, immediately offending his ears. Before he had even turned, he could hear the clumpy footwork coming down the long hallway.

"Would you keep quiet, you blathering idiot!" he hissed, turning towards the immature, waving guard running towards him. He pulled him around the corner by the collar before continuing. "And why haven't you learned how to properly walk yet?!"

"I like flyin better," the soldier chuckled loudly as he struggled to keep from being dragged along.

Said chancellor growled, released him and swiftly clocked him over the head. "Shut up already! Do you want the entire castle listening in on us?!"

Now pouting and rubbing the tender spot on his head, the guard shuffled himself a safe distance from the angry man. "Dusn't matter anyway. They'll get what's comin' to em' before they even-"

"Enough about that for now!" shushed the smaller man, who crossed his stubby arms and looked him straight in the eye. "Tell me what you have to report."

The guard lolled his head backwards in a casual stretch and shrugged his shoulder. "I dunno, they seemed just as confused as you. Didn't say there was any kinda attack planned other than yours- whenever and wadever that is."

A slow frown etched into the old man's features. "Pah, like I would let you in on that- I can't even trust you to keep your voice to yourself in this place, let alone our strategic plans. No, I'll everyone will know when it's time to act and not a moment before." He let out a frustrated grunt. "But what in the world was this girl talking about? Something about a portal in the woods?"

"I dunno," mumbled the guard, who took to examining his nails in boredom.

"Did she mean that thing she disappeared through with those other trouble makers? Or did she…" seeing the guard's disinterest, he jabbed a finger into his breast plate and it made a faint clacking noise. "You! You are not to speak to this of anyone- not even the others. If any of the human guards ask you what we were talking about…"

"Eat em?" grinned the guard.

"Make something up. It was a security check."

The grunt groaned out a weary, theatrical groan. "C'mon, I'm tired of this disgusting food of theirs- it tastes like dust!"

"Which is what you'll be eating if you spoil this! I've been working too hard for you or that stupid, spoiled princess to get in my way! Whatever she was talking about…"

"Eh," shrugged the soldier. "Maybe she was makin' up stories. M'scout said Ozzie just laughed when he asked about an invasion."

"Of course that good for nothing sluggard wouldn't take heed of something like this until it were too late. Sitting on his ancestor's fame so he can lazy around all day... pathetic excuse of a Mystic." His eyes darkening, the older man frowned and stepped back from the soldier. "There's something strange going on, I tell you. We haven't planned anything past getting rid of the king- never mind a full out attack on Guardia. Rumors like that shouldn't even exist yet!" His fingers rummaged through his long, white beard. "Unless she knows something I don't? But the girl isn't clever enough to play mind games…"

Growing bored of listening to his ramblings, the Mystic grunt shrugged his shoulders for the umpteenth time and slipped past his superior. "Great, so I'll be at m'post if ya need me."

A surprisingly strong grip on his shoulder stopped the lackey mid-step, and he looked back to see the dark eyes of Yakra flash through his guise. "I mean it- if you value your pathetic life, then you speak to no one of this, not even the others in the castle. Understood?"

Gulping, the grunt nodded and was released. He disappeared with speed around the corner, leaving the brooding Mystic leader in disguise to mull over his worries alone in the dark corridor.

-v-

Crono's house had been a silent haven for at least an hour now, and Lucca was soaking up every glorious, precious minute of it.

Having dearly missed her alone times in the morning- or alone time period- she had been delighted to find that most of the party was still asleep or already out when she had woken. Ayla was gone (which perhaps slightly concerned her), as were Magus and Frog, though she assumed the latter was upstairs from the light patter of footsteps here and there. Robo, who had apparently brought himself down stairs on his own, was humming quietly to himself beneath the window as he finished his recharging cycle, and both Crono's mother and Marle were fast asleep- which was no surprise coming from either of the two notoriously late sleepers.

Knowing that such a rare opportunity would not last long, she made herself a pot of coffee, ran her fingers through her tangled hair and slipped into the bathroom for a warm, steaming shower, sighing gratefully as the heat relaxed her tense shoulders. The splendor of modern plumbing was something they had gone without for quite some time now, definitely much longer than she cared for. Not that half of the team was used to having such things anyway; the smells she put up with on a regular basis were evidence enough of that. She wasn't even sure she could coax Ayla into the shower without losing some limb or other, but she was beyond willing to try if it meant a break in the local stench.

Besides, they would need all the refreshing they could get for the task that lay ahead of them today.

Expecting to find a line up outside when she had finished, she had decided to be generous and leave enough hot water for the next dirty team member. Yet upon emerging from the washroom with her hair thrown up in a towel, she found, to her surprise, that the room was just as she had left it-silent. Eager to keep it such, she tip toed across the kitchen and pulled the curtains closed to keep the lighting of the room dim. She looked over to the couch where Marle was tucked in under her blankets, but with nothing stirring in reply, she smiled to herself and poured herself a cup of coffee. She couldn't remember the last time she had indulged in a nice mug of the drink. It quickly reminded her that she had spent the last few years starting her morning out this way- sitting at her kitchen table, slowly taking in the few sounds around her as her mind came to life.

She sat back and sighed softly; how dearly had she missed this over the last few, dreary weeks.

Perhaps everyone had been right about staying the night. At least now she would have the morning to organize their day- they would need all the efficiency and energy they could muster for this trip, after all. She nodded to herself and tapped her fingers gently along the table before grabbing a pencil and paper. Yes, this was probably the best way for her to begin such a brutal day. Besides, she still needed to pick up a few things (how she had forgotten all of this during yesterday's shop was beyond her): an emergency kit, some food supplies, warm clothes- all lightly packed. Hiking had never been her favorite past time, and this was unlike any hike she had ever made before. She would need-

As though it had been blow open by the wind, the front door suddenly flew open and with it came a dreaded burst of light, which left Lucca squinting to make out the silhouette in the doorway. Propping her pencil in her mouth, she could but frown; the silence had been so short lived.

"Glad to see you've taken in some sunlight this morning," she grumbled, watching the scowl on the wizard's face morph into something less malicious as he stepped into the room. Perhaps it was out in relief of being out of the direct morning sun, or perhaps he had caught the scent of her coffee brewing. If she were to have bet on it, she would lean more to the former. "I trust you're well rested and ready for the journey today?"

Magus' head slowly- so, so slowly- turned towards her, his eyes thin slits of irritation. "You have no idea."

"Er…" not sure how to take that, Lucca curled her lip into a shrug and was pacified. She slipped her damp hair out from the towel and turned back to the table. "Alright then. There's some coffee on if you want it… which probably wouldn't hurt you. You don't exactly strike me as a morning person. Or a day person, for that matter." She laughed. "Or a person at all, to be honest."

Magus' slit eyes blinked at her impassively. He opened his mouth, but another voice filled the space.

"Good morning, Magus," came Robo's chipper tone as he woke and lifted himself from the floor. The sunlight had spread across the floor and onto his hunkered-down form, seemingly the key to concluding his battery's recharging. "Lucca," he nodded to the scientist, then turned to the couch. "Marle." After a few clicks of his internal computer, Robo rolled towards the curtains and thrust them open. Light filled the room and spilled across the sleeping form on the couch, which Robo looked to for a response. Lucca couldn't help but roll her eyes; Marle was probably the heaviest sleeper of the group, and she knew that it would take more than the return of light to the room to wake her.

"I trust we have all slept well?" Robo asked, seemingly realizing that his plan was not working.

"Better than I have in the last few weeks, I guess," the scientist sighed, pounding back the last half of her cup with a swift gulp. Deciding it was time for another, she turned to the kitchen.

"Good," came Magus' calloused, commanding voice. "Because we have places to go."

Lucca crinkled her nose, but her back was to him now and she didn't really care to turn to express her facial confusion. "While I wouldn't usually agree with you- and I mean, it's really weird to agree with you on anything- I think we should get some breakfast first. We've got a long day ahead."

"Breakfast," the wizard snarled with dry rhetoric.

"Yeah, you know," she drawled, not particularly prepared to combat his attitude yet. "Some energy? Toast, maybe?"

"Toast?" The fact that this actually sounded like some sort of a question really bugged her, but Lucca was feeling gracious and brushed it off.

"Toast," Robo began, and Lucca sighed. She figured that Magus should know better than to ask questions he didn't want answered within ear shot of the machine by now. "Toast consists of wheat, eggs, water, salt and a type of leaven, although variations of the compound formulas exist. Formerly bread, humans often refer to the mystery of bread as it goes through the process of becoming toast. In my time, there was a device specifically devoted to the transformation of mmmawfta-"

Having heard far more from the machine than he cared to at such an hour, Magus flicked his wrist and a dark substance appeared over the robot's mouth vent. If Robo could show emotion, he would have looked angrily at the culprit. But he could not, so he simply looked at him.

"Toes?!" cried another voice from somewhere outside. Ayla's sudden burst through the front door made Lucca only further reach for the coffee pot. She could already smell her from all the way across the room. "What toes?"

"Toast, Ayla," corrected a Lucca, sounding the word out slowly as she turned. "Tooooaaas-" the scientist sputtered upon noting the strange, hairy forms slung over the cavewoman's shoulder. It was not curiosity, but rather a slow sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach which lead her to ask, "Ayla, what are those?"

"Food!" she shouted, gleaming with pride as she plopped herself down on the carpet. "Ayla find!"

To her horror, Lucca realized that the scent belonged to the collection of raw meat which the cavewoman had hanging from her shoulder.

"Want?" she beamed, hunching towards the scientist eagerly and waving the meat under her nose.

"N-No," Lucca stammered, nearly gagging as she backed away. She fumbled to set her cup to and keep her nausea at bay. "No Ayla. I don't want."

Ayla frowned a little. "Hn. Robo want?"

He attempted to make some sound, but it came out rather muffled.

"Marle? You want?" The couch, of course, made no reply. This displeased Ayla, so she sprinted across the room and jumped onto the sleeping figure on all fours. "MARLE!" she hollered into the blankets. "WHY KEEP SLEEP? SUN UP NOW!"

Lucca cringed from across the room, partially from the queasy feeling in her stomach, and partially out of sympathy for Marle's eardrums. Yet when the couch made no reply, she began to grow concerned. "Marle?"

"Marle?" Ayla echoed, dropping the meat on to the blankets and sitting herself down on the princess like a puppy. "Marle wake up now!" But to Ayla's surprise, Marle was not sleeping; in fact, she not even there. When the cavewoman tore away the blankets, there was merely a pile of pillows and blankets stuffed where the princess should have been.

"It appears she isn't here," chimed the ever observant Magus with a sardonic exhale.

"Hnn?" Ayla was genuinely confused as she looked about the room quickly and shook her head. "Where Marle?"

Lucca, who was only just beginning to subdue her dry heaving, took the scene in with some curiosity, but seeing the meat lying in the middle of the floor between herself and the others, and subsequently smelling it, it was all she could do to keep the few contents of her stomach from emptying. "Ayla," she managed. "P-Please… get that stuff outside."

"But where Marle?" frowned the cavewoman.

"Ayla, please!"

Ayla frowned a larger frown and leapt from the ruffled couch to the floor. She grabbed the meat and moved to the side of the front door, sulking and mumbling about how no one liked her meat. Thankfully, the distance was gracious to Lucca, and she was able to regain her countenance enough to open the kitchen window and gasp in the fresh air.

"If we're all done with breakfast then," the wizard began, letting his eye roll from glowering cavewoman the grimacing scientist. "We should be on our way."

Lucca shot him a quizzical glance. "Since when were you this interested in climbing Death Peak OR helping us save Crono?" She almost laughed a little, but found she felt too queasy. "You should spend time out in the sun more often. It does you wonders."

Magus merely glared at her- at least, that's what she thought the look on his face resembled.

"Yeah. Well anyway, don't suppose you know where Marle ran off to?"

"I do."

Lucca looked puzzled by the simplicity of his answer. "Okay… so where is she?"

"Sitting on a log outside, staring at the woods."

"…Okay." The scientist's hand fumbled towards the table in attempts to find her cup. "And why is that, again?"

At that moment, the front door flew open and Marle's weary figure trudged in through the burst of sunlight. Ayla, who was still grumbling to herself in the corner, cheered greatly at the sight of Marle and bounded towards her, holding out the raw meat eagerly. "Breakfast!" she chirped, despite the confused and almost fearful response she received from the princess. "Marle eat!"

Any trace of sleep quickly left the weary princess as she moved away from the cavewoman. "Er, no thanks Ayla…"

"Would you take that stuff outside already!" Lucca cringed as the smell of raw meat wafted her way again, then arched her brow upon further studying the princess' weary composure. "Jeeze Marle, you look like you've been awake all night!"

Marle grunted something incoherent and slumped into the place she should have been sleeping on the couch. She let her fingers glide longingly over the simple cotton patterns stitched into the cushions while Ayla slumped down in disappointment at her side.

"… Were you?" the scientist asked after a hesitant moment. Marle nodded slowly, as though she were in pain. "Well what the heck didja do that for? I don't think I've seen you awake past ten o'clock lately!"

To Magus, this was as good an invitation as any. "I see you haven't told them yet," he instigated, turning to the princess with little to no sympathy.

"Told us what?" Lucca straightened up and crossed her arms the best she could, not particularly liking the sound of that. In fact, she liked it so little that she decided it was time to sit down.

Marle merely sighed as she rolled over and got to her feet. She had not been looking forwards to this conversation. "Well…" she croaked, mildly surprised by the weakness of her own voice. "We have a problem."

"Merely calling it a problem is an understatement," quipped the wizard.

"I know, I know," sighed Marle.

The scientist quirked her head, slowly blinking between the two of them. "What do you mean 'a problem'? And what are you…wait a minute." She set her cup down and studied the princess a little closer before leaning forwards suspiciously. "What are you wearing?"

The princess smiled sheepishly in reply, brushing her fingers thoughtlessly across the foreign fabric around her shoulders. "Er, well…"

"Are… are you wearing my clothes?"

Marle sighed again. "It's a long story."

"Allow me to condense it then." Magus turned from Marle to Lucca. "They Mystics are planning an attack to kill us and then take over Guardia."

"The Mystics?" repeated Lucca slowly, as though she were unimpressed with the words coming out of his mouth.

"Mystics?!" cried Frog from upstairs. Immediately he was flying down the banister as though an alarm had gone off, his cape flickering behind him when he hit the ground and his sword drawn and ready before any of them had even sighed.

Lucca turned from the knight's ostentatious entry back to the wizard, nonplused. "Okay, and?"

The mage blinked at her, the slightest trace of confusion gracing his features. Marle's expression echoed his surprise, though much more vividly. This was definitely not the response she had been expecting. "And what?" she asked, crossing her arms uncertainly. "This is serious, Lucca!"

"Serious beith the only excuse I needth to brandish my blade!" croaked Frog, who was largely being ignored from his place at the foot of the stairs.

"If by serious you mean a daily recurrence, then sure." Shaking her head, the scientist reached for her coffee and took a long, annoyed sip. Marle's melodramatic flare was blaring far too early for her liking- coffee was yet to be digested. At this point, she was ready to declare the whole thing nonsense and move on with preparation for the day, but she figured she should be generous- yes, she was in a generous mood this morning. "We can deal with the Mystics later; they're definitely not going anywhere except our history textbooks."

"No Lucca," Marle sighed, deflating a little. She knew she was doing a terrible job of explaining- even she was having a hard time believing everything that had happened. It felt like she had had some kind of horrible nightmare and now had to prove had really happened. "Somehow…" she sighed. "The Mystics have found a way to time travel. I know it sounds crazy-"

"Madness!" interjected Frog, wide eyed and distressed.

"I'd say unrealistic," finished Lucca. "But crazy works too."

"No," insisted Marle. "It sounds crazy at first, but it explains how they stole Fiona's forest- they almost did it again! There's a big chunk of the woods missing out back."

The scientist frowned. "You mean to tell me they just tossed the trees through a portal?"

"Well, yes! I mean, that's how they managed to make the forest disappear overnight. I don't know how they did it, but they somehow managed to get a hold of a portal- a new one we've never seen before. We stopped closed it up last night with a barrier, but-"

"Marle," Lucca pressed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with a skeptical frown. "That's a little- no, a lot far-fetched. Firstly, they would need a key for the gate, which they have no way of getting their grimy hands on. And even if they did manage that, I don't think that the portals could handle that kind of material or a whole army of Mystics." She stopped to chew on a thought before continuing. "Or that it would even come out in one piece on the other end. Or-"

"But Lucca," interjected the princess, desperately trying to reason with her hands.

"Actually," continued the scientist indifferently, "just disregard everything I said, because they're far too dense to figure out time travel in the first place."

Marle looked as though she would burst with her unspoken words before Magus spoke up. "You're right," came his calm and firm tone. "Someone else has done it for them and they have to be dealt with. Today."

"Someone else? And what do you mean 'dealt with?'" Lucca articulated, peering over her cup with a skeptical flash of the eye "Haven't you dealt with them enough already? It sounds like that barrier thing you have up will-"

"Dealt with as in destroyed."

She pursed her lips into a thin line and shook her head. "Isn't that a little… much?"

"Hardly," scoffed the wizard. His gaze shifted out the window and over the ocean at something only he seemed to see.

Marle took a deep breath, trying to sort her thoughts into some coherent order. She turned to the scientist with clasped hands. "Lucca, Guardia is already in more danger than it realizes; real danger! And on top of that, there's something seriously wrong at the castle. I tried to warn them, but no one would listen!"

Lucca sighed deeply. "Well honestly Marle, you're not really on the best terms with them right now; they're not going to take you seriously on most things."

"Lucca, this is different." Marle insisted, moving towards the table and placing her palms on it as though she could compel her friend into understanding. "Those Mystics tried to attack last night- attack us. Attack Truce."

The color immediately drained from Lucca's face. "W-What?"

"Saith what?" echoed Frog, another wave of bewilderment and shock washing over him.

"Hm?" tried Ayla through her mouthful of raw meat.

"Why didn't you say that sooner?! What did they-" Lucca eyes widened, and she jumped from her chair. "My parents-!"

"They're safe," reassured Marle with eagerly outstretched hands that urged her back into her seat. "Everyone is fine, especially your parents- I promise. I was there myself to make sure of it." The scientist slowly deflated, and Marle turned to Magus with a smile. "I had good help to thank for it. It could have been a lot worse if it hadn't been for-"

"If we're finished wasting time," he interrupted coldly. "We should be moving."

Marle frowned at him and Lucca took a minute to look between the wizard and the princess to calm herself. She rubbed her fingers along the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply before looking towards the former. "I'm sorry, but when exactly did you become so hell-bent on picking the Mystics off?"

The wizard fixed her with that neutral, unimpressed line of a frown. "That should be your last concern at the moment. We're wasting time standing around here- that barrier keeping the Mystics is slowly dispelling."

The scientist scowled at him. "Barrier? What exactly happened last night?"

"Aye, what of their transgressions?" Frog demanded, who had been struggling to keep himself from bursting through the front door and track down this army himself. His chest was puffed up in such a way that only an agitated amphibian could manage. "Need'th they a taste of mine blade once again?"

"Well," began Marle, who was suddenly fumbling with her fingers behind her back. "They, uh, tried to attack someone in town, then us, and…" she trailed off awkwardly, much to the dismay of the two listening with eager ears. "I mean, that not the real problem here; it's what they're going to do that's the real problem now. We've managed to hold them off for the night, but…"

"But what?" stammered Lucca impatiently.

Marle bit her lip and peered at Magus out of the corner of her eye, who merely shook his head at her sudden lack of courage.

"We're going to deal with them," he finished.

Incredulous, Lucca scoffed and crossed her arms. "Dealt with today?"

"Yes."

The scientist shook her head in a quick burst of anger. "Is that so? Because if I remember correctly, we have a certain Crono that needs to-"

"Needs to what?" The room went dead silent as most everyone turned to the front door. With a small amount of horror, Lucca realized that the owner of the house was standing in the doorway holding a bag of groceries with that familiar, concerned expression etched into her aged features. "What about Crono?" she asked slowly, before cringing and sniffing in disgust. "Oh goodness, what is that smell?"

Lucca laughed nervously and jumped in front of Ayla, attempting to prevent a premature heart-attack. She had forgotten all about the cavewoman in the mess that was unfolding. "Oh! Crono? Y-Yeah, he needs… uh, a letter. I mean, we were going to send him a letter. And Marle was going to deliver it with… Ayla."

"Lwtr?" the prehistoric woman mumbled between mouthfuls.

"So," Lucca smiled wide, trying not to gag as she looked to Marle with strained signals to exit. "They have to…. take off now." She began inching towards the door. "Robo, could you help with the groceries? I'll be right back."

Having stood silent (though rather by force than choice) through the whole conversation, Robo was more than glad to contribute to the overall good something. He rolled himself in front of the older woman to take the heavy load of groceries from her, momentarily blocking her view of the girls running out the door. Could he have spoken, he would have been as polite as possible in assisting her, not realizing that he was also assisting as a distraction.

Frog, who was beyond baffled at the whole situation, of course made to follow after the exiting party, but Lucca caught this and shuffled him back into the house. He began to protest, but she had given him a firm, silencing glare, pointed back into the house and then closed the door before he could so much as croak in displeasure. He watched the door slam in his face and crossed his arms, torn between the concern of displeasing Lucca and his concern for the whole of the situation. But seeing Crono's mother move towards the door with a keen suspicion, he sighed.

"Good morn, madam," he began slowly, trying his very best to be genuine. "Perhaps you could assist me in preparing a bath for young Ayla."

"Oh goodness, yes! Was that her I smelt on the way in?" the older woman laughed and turned on her heels. "Goodness she really plays that act up, doesn't she?"

"A-Aye," croaked Frog as he followed after her regretfully.

"Oh, now wait just a minute," said she, stopping so suddenly that Frog fell over to keep from bumping into her. "If she's going to deliver that letter, then maybe we should get a bath ready for you first! She'll be a while, and there's no point in letting the water go cold."

"N-No good lady," objected the green knight, but he was not quick enough to evade her quick hands lifting him from the ground.

"I hate to say it honey, but that costume of yours smells just about as bad as she does."

Not giving him the chance to respond, the older woman set him on his feet and pulled him by the collar towards the bathroom. "Has your mother ever talked to you about taking that thing off?"

-v-

Outside in the bright sunlight, Lucca decided it was time to prioritize. First, she snatched the meat away from the carnivorous woman and threw it to the ground with unrestrained disgust. "Ayla, seriously! Where did you get this?"

"I catch!" she defended, growing angry that her food was being thrown about.

"Where?"

"Here!" Ayla nodded towards the open chicken pen next door. "Why hunt so easy here? No fun!"

Seeing the neighbour's gate swing back and forth in the breeze, Lucca groaned. "Why me?"

Magus, who had silently appeared out of nowhere, took the opportunity to make his usual smooth transition. "We're going to 600 A.D."

"Y'know, that sounds great." Turning to him, Lucca did everything in her power to keep from ripping his stupid tongue out of his stupid mouth. "Let's just drop this clone off with a babysitter and gallivant around to every other problem except OUR FRIEND WHO NEEDS TO BE REVIVED!"

Magus opened his mouth to intervene, but not fast enough.

"There's no time for this today! We seriously cannot wait any longer. Do you not understand?!" She was pacing around in circles now, throwing all former, generous manners and worries of secrecy to the wind. "We've pushed it enough already. Gaspar said that the egg will only put in as much effort as we do, and now that we've got everything we need there's no reason to waste time. The longer we wait the less chance we have of this actually working. If you want to drag us all along on some personal side-quest, FINE. But it will have to wait till-"

"We split up," Magus dissolved seamlessly, opting to instruct rather than argue at this point.

"Didn't you listen to anything I just said?" she glared, enunciating each word more than necessary. He shot an expression that could harden stone. "You can't seriously mean to tell me that this can't wait a day or two longer?"

"I do." He tossed his cape. "And it can't."

The inventor was getting revved up, laughing that angry, dangerous laugh of hers which usually indicated that some form of fire was about to be introduced to the conversation. "Magus I swear-"

"Lucca they almost killed someone last night!" Marle, who had been standing like a timid wallflower along the house finally shot forwards with anxious intent. She looked into the scientist eyes with something akin to desperation- an expression Lucca had never seen her wear before. "It was scary, Lucca; terrifying."

Lucca froze, her mouth half open as she slowly turned to her. "…What do you mean?"

"This woman…" Marle stuttered, trying to use her hands to explain what her lips could not. "Her hand was cut off… she was in shock… It… it was bleeding so much…"

"You were there?" came the inventor's small voice.

"Yes."

Lucca stepped closer, taking a slow breath. "And Magus was, too?"

"Yeah."

Somehow this had not quite sunk in until now, and upon fully considering it, it rather perturbed the scientist. "You snuck off last night? With Magus?"

"What?!" the princess defended, caught off guard by the strange accusation. "What do you mean snuck off?! Magus was the one who came and got me to help!"

Lucca arched her brow further and turned her stunned gaze to the wizard. "Magus did what now?"

"Their scouts have already crept in," he said impatiently. "If they're not dealt with now, they will be upon the village by nightfall tonight." He turned his back on them all. "Your families included."

"WHAT!?" shouted Lucca.

"We only have till nightfall?!" Marle stammered, her face quickly turning white.

Magus' stone gaze turned to her. "That wasn't clear to you, then? Let me reiterate." He towered over the princess with his scarlet, unblinking glare. "Mystics won't waste time. The moment that barrier runs out of energy to sustain itself- which should be by sunset tonight- they will come in waves."

If she could have been more pale or silent, Marle went so. Lucca had half expected her to snap back at the wizard, but she merely took a deep breath and looked him back squarely in the eye. "Can we do this before nightfall, Magus?"

"It's Ozzie," the wizard deadpanned dryly. "It's not going to be a long visit."

Lucca held her silence for a minute, studying Marle intently. It was clear the princess didn't like what she was hearing and was struggling to find an answer. "You're sure about this?" she asked finally, her frown deepening. "There's no other way to put this off till tomorrow?"

Deterred from Marle, Magus turned his glare towards her with a low glower. "Take that robot and the knight and we will meet you at the End of Time by the evening. No interference in your quest to redeem your friend, no reservations for the Mystics to cause any problems in the present."

Lucca's skeptical brow popped one last time and she crossed her arms, trying so very hard to decipher what motives were really at play here. Magus showing any kind of concern for their troubles was suspicious at best, and while she wasn't inclined to kid herself that it could be genuine, she couldn't possibly fathom why he would lie about such a thing. If there was one thing that Lucca knew with certainty, it was that nothing outside the realm of Schala, Lavos or Schala seemed of enough concern to motivate the magician into action.

Perhaps he had some personal grudge he wished to sort out? Or perhaps… perhaps what? If he was bluffing about his concern for the future the Mystic's were creating, there was no way to get through the rock exterior to tell.

But how could she argue with the lives of the people in this town? Of her parents?

Only now remembering what Marle had said about the trees, she turned and peered around the side of the house towards the woods. As though a giant had taken a bite from them, there was a large bald of ground where trees should have been, and patches of trees laying in torn up nakedness all around it. Her face fell as she took in the scene with a small amount of sadness; she had grown up playing in those trees with Crono.

"Fine…" Lucca sighed finally, shaking her head in defeat. "Whatever. Just be back at the End of Time tonight so we can regroup and get up that stupid mountain."

Already torn on the matter, Marle watched the inventor for a moment and tried not to feel sad. "Lucca, I'm really sorry that this is getting in the way of us getting to Crono like we planned. But I promise we'll be there as soon as we can- we'll get him back before you even know we've left!" This didn't seem to reassure Lucca quite like she had hoped it would, so she continued on. "I know that he's hanging on for us, and he'll be-"

"Just go, Marle," snapped the inventor suddenly. She turned away, brushing a strand of her overgrown bangs from her face. "Go."

As though the words had been slapped from her mouth, Marle stammered for the syllables to complete her unfinished sentence. None came, however, and she merely remained staring with an open mouth while the scientist blinked impatiently at her, slowly crossing her arms. For the first time in a long time, Marle didn't know what to say or do. The weight of such guilt and disappointment suddenly fell upon her shoulders, and despite her lighthearted character, she felt its pressure all too perfectly.

Guilt had never been something Marle had born so well deep down.

"I….I…" Blinking between her friends faces, Marle shook her head hopelessly. She cleared her throat and bit her suddenly quivering lip, though not soon enough to keep the others from seeing. Embarrassed, she spun around and abruptly bumped into Ayla before running off down the grassy path. Startled away from her snack, the cavewoman looked up and immediately ran after her disgruntled friend on all fours, leaving the scientist and the wizard in a silent standoff.

There was a slight pause between them before Lucca shook her head and stepped towards him, scowling. "I don't know why you're doing this," she began darkly. "This… this hero thing or whatever you want to call it. But so help me, if you mess this up- if you mess up our chances of saving Crono- you'll wish you had fallen off that cliff instead of messing with us."

The wizard's face remained unchanged as he turned away.

"Stupid wizard," breathed the agitated scientist under her breath. Watching the three walk off, Lucca was left to ponder a multitude of things in her hot tempered state: One being the unresolved problem of the clone's transportation; that thing was not easy to maneuver, and she had not been looking forwards to figuring that out. She had hoped she could bribe Magus into transporting it for them somehow- maybe making it float along?- but she hadn't really put her money on that as a realistic option. Another concern was the idea of getting it by Crono's mother without too much squabble or interrogation, for Crono's mother wasn't easy to maneuver, either.

And now as she watched the wizard step along side Marle off in the distance, she could not help but wonder at the change between said wizard and Marle. They had been at each other's throats almost the moment that miserable mage had made himself a member of the team. Now, however, they seemed to be in each other's confidence on this whole… whatever this was. Why had he woke Marle up and not the rest of them? What had really happened last night?

She didn't like it.

"Frog is not going to be happy about this," she sighed, her tension melting into a mild dread.

The fact that Marle had so willingly and instinctively jumped in on something the wizard had started did eluded her either, and she was thankful the knight would at least be ignorant of that much- though truly she felt just as ignorant of the truth as he at the moment. She only hoped Marle knew what she was getting herself into. Of course the princess had felt the need to protect her kingdom. That girl might have been one of the most easy-going people she knew, but she was definitely a loyal leader at heart, especially when it came to people's safety. Perhaps it was some kind of self-inflicted obligation?

Perhaps… Or maybe-

As the neighbors stepped outside and began yelling at the barrage of feathers strewn over their yard, Lucca decided to let the thought go for now and slipped inconspicuously into the house. She didn't notice Alfador creep out the cat door after the three retreating figures.

-v-

"And you see- just like that!" smiled Schala as a burst of fire exploded from her pale palm. It flickered in place faithfully, almost playfully, and she held it up for her brother to examine. "Cool, huh?"

Janus watched the flame dance with wide eyes. "Wow," he said softly. "You just made that appear out of the air."

Schala's smile grew, and her pride just briefly shone through. "Well, not the air; it came from me!"

Janus actually smiled a little. "It's beautiful."

"That it is. But it's been a long time coming; this took me almost a year."

The boy's eyes flickered to his sister. "But they say you're a natural."

"Doesn't mean it's easy. The textbooks have a lot to say- and show- about this stuff, but to move it into your own hands…" she looked down at herself slowly and shook her head. "It takes a lot of time, Janus; a lot of practice and dedication." The flame dispelled as suddenly as it had been born, and the faint smell of smoke filled the room. Schala rubbed her palms gently. "Hurts a bit still, actually. I need to work on that one a little longer."

Janus frowned at his sister and scooted closer to her on the bed so he could link his arms around her the bend of her elbow- one of his favorite places to be. He snuggled up to the soft, purple satin of her dress and immediately felt the warmth of the sunlight streaming from the window onto them. The goose bumps he had developed calmed themselves.

At their feet, Alfador mewed for attention.

"Don't worry Alfador, I'm okay," laughed Schala, placing her palms face down on her legs. "I just need to practice a little more."

"Can you make water, too?" Janus asked, hoping it would sooth the burn on her hands.

"Kind of…" she admitted. "Well, not really yet. But I can make ice."

"Why would you want to make ice? It's cold."

Schala smiled smugly, as though she had been expecting him to say such a thing. "Not necessarily." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small, green leaf and held it out for him to see. Alfador jumped onto her lap and sniffed at the foliage curiously before she tapped him lovingly on the head. "Once you can master it, magic allows you to use the property of the elements with the option of their physical effects; you get the bark without the bite. That's why I can hold the flame without being burned. I control it."

Holding the leaf up before the young boy, she closed her eyes and took a slow breath. He took a moment to scrutinize its dark green veins in the sunlight before something strange happened. Ever so slowly, a frost crept up from the tips of the girls' fingers and grew along the stem. Small, almost microscopic ice crystals crawled towards the base of the leaf, when suddenly, in an uncontrolled burst of magic, the ice jumped up the leaf and consumed the whole of it in a sharp snap of frost.

Schala took the crystallized leaf from the sunlight to examine it. "Well I mostly got it right that time."

Janus blinked between his sister and the leaf. "Why did you do that?"

"To preserve it."

"What's preserve?"

"Preserving," she corrected gently, "is to keep something in tact by protecting it."

Janus' brow arched skeptically. "It looks like you killed it."

"That's what it looks like," she taunted, wagging a finger at him playfully. "But the ice seals it in and keeps it from being harmed by the outside world, like putting a layer of armor over it."Passing the leaf to him, she stood and walked towards the stairs. "It's time for me to go, I'm afraid. You hold on to that for me till I'm done training; see if you can keep it from melting."

The boy merely frowned.

"Just keep practicing Janus- don't ever give up on yourself. Before you know it, you'll be able to use magic too. Let it flow from you; don't force it."

Janus watched her disappear through the railing before his chin fell into his palm with a bored sigh. He didn't want to learn magic; he just wanted Schala to stay. For a brief moment, he wished that Schala had never learned magic- then mother wouldn't constantly demand her time and skill, and she would be free to do whatever she wished. They could even spend the whole day together, like they used to when they were younger…

But magic made her so happy. It had made her happy again.

Feeling perfectly miserable, he twirled the stem between his index and thumb, watching it spin in rapid circles and ignoring the gentle drip of water on his thumb.

-v-

The constant dragging Marle's feet had been an annoying companion which Magus had borne for at least the last hour- far too long, he deemed. It was pathetic. While he and that cavewoman went on ahead, the princess remained slumping behind them at a piteously slow pace, kicking up dust and wallowing in what he supposed to be self pity.

Ayla had given all the comfort she knew how to give for the first stretch of their walk, but finding it only mildly effective, she had grown impatient and simply decided to give Marle her space. Having had her many questions and affections kept at bay had been enough to deter her impatient sympathy for a decent amount of time.

Magus, however, was not so charitable.

"Do you intend to be left behind?" he quipped over his shoulder, though it earned him no response. Looking back at the slow pace of the princess, Magus' feet came to a stop on their own. "Or picked off, perhaps? Stragglers are the first target of an ambush."

Had he been fishing for an angry response to pull her from her sorry disposition, he would have continued. But he was not fishing today; he was simply impatient.

When the princess had caught up to him, she merely wrapped her arms about her chest. Even despite the proximity, she remained distant, looking at the ground silently staring at nothing as she walked along.

The wizard watched her briefly before picking up his pace again, though much slower this time. Marle sighed and matched his slowed step with her own. She walked along side him in a lengthy silence, lost in the thoughts flooding her mind while she bit uncertainly at her lip, which was curling into a decent crescent of a frown. She was still quite the mess from last night-and wearier looking now then when she had fumbled back into the house a few hours ago.

Magus saw this from the corner of her eye. Despite himself, he found it slightly unsettling. This was not what he was used to, or even prepared for. He was ready for stubborn clashes, the arguments, the ice spears…. But not this.

"I'm sorry for being so slow," she sighed finally, her voice appearing like a flume of smoke.

The wizard's brow arched. "You needn't waste your apology on me. It's not my time you're wasting."

She frowned. "I think the exhaustion is finally catching up," tried Marle after a moment.

"Your concern for your friend is holding you back," the wizard deadpanned, cutting in front of her unexpectedly. She came to a stop and looked up at him with an unreadable expression. Or perhaps it was not unreadable, but rather unfamiliar. Sadness? He did not like it.

His gaze bore down on her, expectant of some form of a reply. It came first in the small sigh which escaped the princess' lips, then in the way her shoulders loosened and she slumped into a non-constrained stance. "Its…" she began. "It's not really that. I just feel… torn. Torn between two duties."

He crossed his arms and waited for her to go on.

"I mean," her head rolled gently back and forth. "Between the safety of my kingdom and the safety of one of my closest friends. I… I can't lose either of them- not after how hard we've worked. But what if… what if-"

"You can't live in a what if world," the wizard interrupted firmly.

Marle eyes closed. "But… but I feel so guilty."

Magus blinked at her. "What should you feel guilt for?"

"I…" she frowned. "I don't k now! I know that this is important- I mean, my entire kingdom is on the line here- but so is Crono's life…. and what if Lucca is right and we're too late and it's my fault?"

The wizard sneered, and his gloves slid loudly against his leather breastplate as he locked his arms over his chest. "Anxiety is its own weakness; you're wasting our time."

This, of course, was his typical, thoughtless response. While he had envisioned it getting them back up to pace with the cavewoman, who had run so far ahead he cringed at the thought of what kind of trouble she had got them into, it did little to cure Marle's overcast mood or reel in the roaming cavewoman. The princess merely exhaled loudly and looked away from him, further discontented by the sourness of his tone.

Somewhere inside of him, somewhere past the immediate irritation and the annoyance and one-track mindset he had fixed himself with his entire life- Magus knew that his methods were inefficient. He had dealt with more than his fair share of distraught armies of Mystics with low morale and sunken spirits to know better than to force the horse to drink. But while he had usually dealt with these pathetic masses with… different methods, methods which he was not currently so inclined to use under the given circumstance, there was one other method he had been taught.

"You're doing what you believe is right?"

The tone of his voice caught Marle off guard. She turned slowly, blinking around as though she were looking for the true owner of the voice. "What?"

His slight exhale was more than enough to affirm that he was not going to repeat himself.

"Well," she sighed, blinking up at him confusedly. "Yeah, I guess. I know this is what I have to do right now. I just wish the timing wasn't so awful."

"Your friend needn't worry about timing," he replied simply. "Your friend has too strong a spirit to give up; he will fight for his life as he fought to save yours."

At this, Marle's eye widened and then watered. Her lips floundered for words, but mere sputtering came out. "You really think so?"

While Magus had never really had the concern of morals to keep his tongue on an honest track- and often he said whatever he wished as long as it was of benefit to him- he had rarely found the need for dishonesty. The impact of his words, be they right or wrong, had never concerned him, and he had never felt the need to lie other than for his own direct gain.

This instance was, however, exempt from this.

"Yes," he answered simply, honestly. "He has a persistent spirit. He will live." Turning away from the princess' overwhelming joy, he crossed his arms and looked towards the darkening horizon ahead of them. Land, trees, and even the dirt faded into a pure, blackened slab; it was a miserable slate of death and destruction from here on out, and he knew they were close.

"You know what; you're right," breathed Marle behind him, her heart filling with confidence and her face lighting with renewed energy. She stood up straight and balled her fists at her side. "Crono is the strongest guy I know! If he can't hold on, then no one can. Besides, he'd want us to do this first. I know it's what he would do."

"Good." Hoping to make up for the lost time, Magus began walking. "Let's be on our way then."

"Yeah!" called the reinforced princess as she bounced into motion alongside him. She smiled up at him. "Let's do this!"

On the outside Magus focused his gaze ahead, scanning the blackness for anything out of place or unusual. But somewhere within his own darkness, deep in the depths of his black soul, he was glad to have banished that wretched frown from her face. "We'll need to catch up to that ape and keep her close. Going alone is not an option from this point."

"To Ayla?" she corrected quickly. "Why?"

"The woods surrounding the Mystic's fortress are not natural. Too much time spent within has… varying affects on its victims."

"Victims?" gasped Marle, looking up the road ahead of them. "Ayla!" she called loudly. "Hey Ayla?"

Almost immediately a figure came bounding along the path towards them, running with startling speed along the rock and gravel. Ayla's blonde bob became apparent before any of her other features could be made out.

"No like this place!" she yelled before she had met them. "Dark! Evil!"

"Gosh, yeah!" began Marle, who seemed to finally realize what they were walking into. She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn't notice the gradual change of the environment. Slowly but surely, the sky was growing unnaturally darker and the darkness almost seemed to seep from it, encompassing the land in a growing sort of gloom. It was a wasteland of black bramble and shadows, blotting out the little sunlight there had been before. "Doesn't look so homely."

"Perhaps not to you."

Marle looked up uncertainly at the wizard, but he gave to furtherance of his simple statement. Instead, he walked on in silence, making slow sweeps of the area with his crimson glare, scanning the trees and the path with a deep focus. Ayla ran ahead ever so slightly, darting back and forth and occasionally diverting the wizard's watch.

Keeping close behind Magus for good measure, Marle followed along eagerly at pace while keeping an eye on the blackish-red hue of the sky. The darkness, she noticed, grew darker, and the bold confidence she had mustered not but a minute ago was put it to the test; she hadn't been expecting this. But of course, she should have. Their initial trip to Magus' castle had been just as bad of an experience if not worse. She had never had a good handle on scary situations; she was far too jumpy and disliked being in the dark for any longer than necessary. And even then…

"You know, it's getting really dark," began Marle, her eyes darting between the black, twisted trees on either side of the narrowing path. The forest surrounding Ozzie's fortress had a particularly wicked edge to it that was, well, putting her on edge.

"Ayla no like," agreed the cavewoman as she sniffed suspiciously from side to side.

Magus gave no reply other than to continue his forward stride.

"I don't suppose you could just… hold a flame for a bit? You know, like a torch?" As much as she didn't want to, Marle found she couldn't help but find herself looking deep into the woods, her eyes absorbing the illusions of the pure darkness the longer she held her gaze. The trees seemed alive somehow, which was nothing short of an oxymoron considering the amount of dead wood and thorns they were passing by. "Lucca does it all the time," she began again, beginning to feel like a child trying to sway him. She cleared her throat awkwardly. "I'm sure it's not that difficult, right?"

Receiving no answer, she walked along and felt that the trees seemed to walk with her, bending as though stooping to inhale her with a mighty breath. Her head snapped towards them and they were still. She looked back along the road, and the same sensation overtook her. It sent a rack of shivers along her spine, and she stepped as close as she could to the wizard's flickering cape before realizing that she could, in fact, walk beside him.

She quickly did.

Magus' crimson eyes shifted to hers, but he remained passively silent, leaving Marle's nerves to skit about the woods with every nervous glance. Each step she took, she swore the black trees swayed and each breath she took, another layer of shadows crept up upon them.

"P-Please, Magus?" There was another brief silence, and then smallest of lights flickered to life beside her. A soft, orange glow flooded over the ground, cast from the flame in the wizard's hands. It grew until it lit up almost everything around them, casting tall shadows in every direction.

They walked on for a long time in silence until the path had grown so narrow with the overgrowth of the trees that Marle was forced to walk in line with the group again. Guided by the gentle, steady light coming from the wizard, the oddball team pressed on single file through the thickening rambled of dead vegetation towards the peculiar fortress appearing over the horizon. It had grown exceedingly bigger and bigger with each step, and now it loomed over them like a dangerous shadow. Marle shuddered involuntarily. At first glance, it looked somewhat similar to Magus's, and only under closer inspection did it become clear that it was much less in splendor and dignity. The stray bat here and there hung from the monotone brick walls like cheap ornaments to a Christmas tree, giving it a long-lost, deserted impression. Magus simply chortled at it, striding through the woods without ever setting foot on the ground.

It seemed Ozzie could make nothing look quite as awful as his own castle.

"How you go in?" asked Ayla eventually, making an unsuccessful attempt of holding the branches to the dense forest back for Marle, who let out a little yip when they successfully proceeded to slap her in the face.

"We," the wizard corrected as the dry twigs and thorns gave way to a dirt-path clearing, "can walk in right through the front doors. Ozzie never learnt how to use a lock."

"Oooo…" Ayla stepped out after him, awed at the strangeness of the large building now open before her, for she had seen nothing like it. The last branch slipped out of her grasp and whipped backward, meeting with empty air. Magus' ears pricked at the whisping sound, which was followed with a silence instead of complaint. Curious, he turned back to the forested path. Either the princess was suddenly much lighter on her feet, or…

"What do you mean we- OOF!" Marle, who had been too busy nursing the red scratches on her cheeks to pay attention to the path suddenly found herself walking right into the prince's leather breastplate. Instinct kicked in before shock. Her hands flew up in the defensive, squaring soundly on his steel abdomen and ready to attack until she realized who she had walked into. "Oh sorry Magus, I wasn't watching…"

Marle's innocent brow furrowed at the warmth on her forearms, and she looked to them, surprised to find Magus had caught both of her arms under the bicep. It wasn't a firm grasp, like she would have expected, or even a rough, forceful hold, but his palms were unnaturally hot. Confused, her head tilted up towards the wizard's, who was looking down at his hands as though they were alien to him.

His eyes flashed when they finally caught hers, and then his back was to her before she could share any other intelligent conclusions. "Let's go."

"O-Okay," she stammered, drawing her arms slowly back towards herself. Picking at her own reddening palms, Marle followed after the two. Since when was anything 'we' with him? And since when…

She fumbled along behind him until they came to a stop at the large, dark doors of the fortress. Sure enough, they were left unbarred. In fact the door was wide open, swinging on the squeaky hinges in the stray bursts of wind, begging to be walked through.

"They must have taken note of Lucca's house," noted Marle duly, placing a hand on her hip as she made one last study of the place. "The whole open door policy."

They took the invite.

Inside the castle it was just as dark, though much dustier than outside. Marle found herself making a slow round of the dark room, taking in the sheer curtains covering windows that let in no light and questioning how she could even see in such a place. There was a blood red carpet under their feet which ran along the stairs, leading up towards the dark corridor.

Magus had been just about to open his mouth when phlegm filled throat somewhere overhead was kind enough to clear itself and greet them at the same time. "Come on in!" called the familiar voice. "This is the great Ozzie's… famous… fort-!" The rather obnoxious address choked short with the realization of who it had been given to. "M-Magus!?"

The intruder of sorts stroked a line of dust off the black, marble staircase and read it with half hearted scrutiny before looking up the stairs to none other than the infamous green glob. "I see you're doing well, Ozzie," came his nonchalant reply.

"W-What do you think you're doing here?"Atop the spiraling staircase stood the green, bulbous leader of the Mystics, looking incredibly disturbed and angry as he glared down at them. "Grrr… the nerve!" he grunted, learning forwards with a warning, pudgy finger. "Deserting us to serve these humans and then expecting to be welcomed back!? You're a traitor! You might have a little strength to you, but you're not our king and you never should have been!"

"I serve no one," stated said traitor, stepping forward an inch. His gloved hands fostered his sickle- which had come out of seemingly nowhere- between an index and thumb, earning a nervous bead of sweat from the rounded Mystic. "And I'm not here looking for a means to make amends."

"Whelp…" Ozzie's rush of bravado flopped dead and he gulped so loudly they could hear it all the way down the stairs (was everything he did so obnoxious?). He stumbled backwards through the door, acting like he had forgotten something of great importance. "I-I uh, you know, we oof-" Ozzie was suddenly on the ground, having had tripped over his robe and with shameful ease. When he had finally managed to stop flailing and spin his eye-like body back around, he found Magus' towering shadow was cast over him as the wizard ascended the stair case towards him.

Perhaps what truly scared him most in that moment of paralyzed fear was the fact that there was not the faintest source of light to cast that shadow.

Blindsided, he rambled through the door. "F-Flea! Slash! Haaalp!"

Oh boy oh boy boy boy! I am so excited to write these goofy villians :D