Chapter 1: The Millennial Fair (1000 A.D.)

By: Sokai

Disclaimer: I, Sokai, do not claim ownership to the workings of W.I.T.C.H. -- I leave that honor up to Elisabetta Gnone. Nor do I own the extremely kick arse classic console role-playing game, Chrono Trigger. The glory of that honor forever goes to Square Co., Ltd. However, I can and DO claim to own this story and its inspired ideas FROM said series, although the original idea to cross the two worlds together came from LordofDarkness2099's story challenge.

Note: This is fun. LoL You know, writing about one of my most favorite games of all time. A good thing I know and have played the game inside out a billion times over. Makes MY life a lot easier when writing the familiar scenes (so don't come at me and be all "Hey! They said this!" cuz duh-UH. I know LoL). Just gotta insert the Guardians where appropriate. Squee. LoL Anyway, um . . . enjoy? Yeah. LoL

This chapter was created/written in October 2006.
"You see? I told you that there'd be absolutely --" began a momentarily triumphant Cornelia as she and the remaining Guardians emerged from the portal, before letting out a sharp gasp at the horrific and unexpected sight that lay before her. ". . . nothing to worry about . . ."

Both Hay Lin and Taranee simultaneously cried out in fierce alarm after moving to stand on either side of the now catatonic blonde, while Irma's mesmerizing, and traditionally vibrant turquoise colored eyes widened and instantly became drained of all life.

Will, however (after somehow managing to close the portal that had been sparking behind her, despite the trauma she was now beginning to feel), was apparently the only one who still had enough wits about her to verbalize everyone's unanimous thoughts.

". . . W . . . What's happened? Guys, what's happened to Heatherfield?" she exclaimed in mortification, as she rushed forth from the back alleyway of their hometown of Heatherfield that the five of them were now in.

Debris and small, random fires littered the once familiar streets that was one block away from their private school, Sheffield Institute. The weather, previously warm and sunny before the quintet had left for Metamoor, was now brutally cold and supremely darkened, as thick black clouds endlessly blanketed themselves over the sun while heavy ash steadily fell forth from the sky.

As tremendously troubling a sight the Guardians' new scenery was to behold, it was perhaps the eerie observation that there did not seem to be any signs of life from anywhere -- animal nor human . . .

Hay Lin, the most emotionally fragile of the five, could no longer support her own weight and suddenly collapsed to the ground and retched violently, while tears welled up within both Taranee's and Irma's eyes.

"Th . . . this can't be Heatherfield . . . W-will, please tell me that you somehow inadvertently opened up another portal without realizing, and we're now in some unknown dimension! Please!" cried Taranee as she turned her attention to the startled redhead, whose brown eyes widened in continued disbelief at the wreckage surrounding them all.

"Oh, God . . . Oh, God . . ." was all Irma could manage to muster in numb shock in the meanwhile, staring blankly at the crumpled form of Hay Lin still grievously vomiting onto the destroyed ground beneath her.

Will, trying her best to keep her maintain a steady mind within the midst of the Guardians' dire crisis, could only raise a weak, shaky hand to point ahead of her.

". . . I . . . We are home, Taranee . . . look . . ." she whispered in astonishment, while the frazzled African American young woman and the still mute Caucasian blonde managed to pry themselves from their spots to see what had their leader so spooked.

There, in the fairly far although still visible distance, was their formerly well kept school, now nothing more than burning rubble. The familiar bright green sign that read "Sheffield Institute" now lay, demolished beyond repair, upon the ashen ground.

Hay Lin, at last completely and deplorably emptied of her insides, coughed uncontrollably before barely managing to speak.

". . . O . . . our families! My Mom and Dad! Y . . . you guys! We have to go find them! All of them!" she shrieked through the rapidly flowing tears that streamed down her saffron tinted cheeks.

At long last, Cornelia managed to jostle herself from out of her torpid-like state, and with an obviously heavy, heartbroken air softly murmured,

". . . I don't think we'll be able to find them, Hay Lin -- anyone . . . because I think, for once, Irma was right . . ."

At this, Irma whirled around in her spot and with a sonorous, sorrowful cry roughly slapped the now taken aback blonde straight across her face.

"No! Don't you dare finally agree with me on something, Cornelia!" she spat angrily, her own tears at last falling free from her extremely bloodshot eyes, as Cornelia's creamy cheeks grew hot and red from the blow. "Not today, not now and about all things! This is not the end of the world, and our families are still alive and out there somewhere!"

The chaos continually surrounding the magically blessed women seemed to fuel the inner turmoil growing within each of them, as after Irma's violent outburst, none of them could muster up enough strength within themselves to speak -- nor face the undeniable truth that something profusely cataclysmic had occurred during their absence.

Several seconds had elapsed into several minutes before the dreadful silence was finally broken.

". . . Well, we can't obviously stay here forever, because whomever -- whatever did this . . . could very well come back," said Will softly, turning on her heel at the same time that she closed her eyes to summon forth the Heart of Candracar from out of her palm once again.

Choosing to stay as far away from a still fuming and traumatized Irma as possible, Cornelia slowly moved to Hay Lin's side, and with Taranee's assistance helped the skinny girl from off of the soiled ground.

"But . . . where are we going to go, Will? Back to Metamoor? We're not exactly any safer there than we are here," commented Cornelia quietly, her light blue eyes beginning to sting and tear up more so from the Water Temptress's physical strike than from the continued shock of the area's -- and quite possibly, the world's -- newfound predicament.

"B . . . Besides, we can't just leave whomever might still be . . ." whimpered Taranee, unable to finish her point, as the mere thought of trying to face the great possibility that her beloved family was no longer alive would undoubtedly destroy her.

Will slowly shook her head, as the mystical Heart elegantly floated in front of her expectantly. Her face grew contorted with the obvious struggle to take the next, correct course of action, knowing that, as the other girls' leader, they would ultimately have to follow whatever decision Will made.

If I just had more time . . . If I knew what caused this . . . the crimson haired female began to think in desperation, squeezing her honey brown eyes shut.

It was at that moment that Will suddenly felt her right palm begin to tingle and itch uncontrollably as it still remained extended beneath the hovering Heart of Candracar.

"W-what the --! Will, the Heart! I-it's changing color!" Will heard Irma suddenly cry out from behind her, startling the redhead and causing her to open her eyes in alarm.

Sure enough, the traditionally blue, clear spherical orb was now resonating with a fierce whiteness that easily blinded the quintet, as all of them struggled to gaze upon its sudden brilliance.

Before any of them could properly react, the five Guardians of the Veil abruptly felt their bodies being effortlessly lifted from off of the ground and violently drawn in towards the swirling, deep blue vortex that had mysteriously appeared before them . . . away from the destruction and into the unknown . . .

.§.§.§.§.

A small gaggle of elegant, snow white doves gracefully soared high within the sky over a peaceful looking kingdom known as Guardia. Down below, several rounds of breathtaking fireworks were going off and straight up into the sky at the same instant that lyrical bells began to sound.

Today, as was every other day, traditionally, was one of peace within the Guardia Kingdom. However, this day was one of great importance, as grand festivities -- a carnival, to be more precise, was commencing to celebrate the current new year of 1000 A.D . . .

Everyone within the entire kingdom would most certainly be in attendance to partake in the wonderful merrymaking, as it was a truly joyous occasion.

And yet, despite this, however, all but one individual -- a boy -- still remained, asleep, within his bed in his home village of Truce.

"Crono . . ." the spiky redheaded young man could hear his own name being faintly called as he continued on within his slumber. "Crono!"

At this, the young teenager known as Crono stirred awake, cracking one clear blue eye open to see that his mother, Gina, was standing at the foot of his bed with a broad smile spread across her fair visage.

"Good morning, Crono! Come on, sleepy head! Get up!" she urged cheerfully, playfully tapping her son's blanketed foot before heading to open his curtains.

"Ah, Leene's Bell makes such beautiful music!" Gina gushed with a happy sigh as she stood before Crono's window, taking in the warm rays of yet another beautiful Guardia morning, while her son immediately covered his head to shelter his sensitive eyes from the bright light. "You were so excited about the Millennial Fair that you didn't sleep well, did you . . .? I want you to behave yourself today! Let's get moving, now!"

As Gina, with the same happy smile still secured upon her face, walked down the stairs and out of his bedroom, Crono slowly rose from out of his bed. Stretching out all of his limber limbs and thankfully already dressed (as he truly had been too excited about the fair the previous night, that he'd decided to sleep within the clothes he would wear out to save time), he groggily walked over to his window and closed the curtains, as his eyes still hadn't yet adjusted to the addition of light pouring into his formerly dark room.

Turning his crimson head to the left, Crono noticed that his pet cat's food bowl was empty and made a mental note to be sure to buy some more before returning home. Doing an about face, Crono began to head towards the stairs, when he abruptly turned back around and reopened the curtains, deciding it best to leave it open lest his mother get upset later on after finding them closed once more.

"Finally!" Crono's brunette mother exhaled in playful exasperation the moment she caught sight of him coming down the stairs and into the kitchen where she was. "By the way, that inventor friend of yours . . . Uh . . . you know . . .! Oh, dear, I've forgotten her name!"

Crono playfully rolled his blue eyes heavenward and smirked at yet another one of his mother's frequent scatterbrain moments, before tiredly murmuring the name of his childhood friend.

"That's right, Lucca!" said Gina as she listened to Crono reveal the name of the young woman in question. A faint rouge caressed her cheeks in embarrassment at the fact that she had been unable to recall the name of one who had been her son's companion since near infancy. "Don't forget that she invited you to see her new invention! Run along now, and be back before dinner."

Crono crouched down onto the floor to play with his Tabby feline friend that had then caught sight of him, as his mother moved towards the sink to wash a few leftover dishes from the previous night. Stroking his pet's furry back a few times, causing it to purr in happy gratitude, Crono stood back up and headed towards the door to leave, when his mother suddenly called after him.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Here's your allowance, dear!" said Gina with a warm smile, reaching into the pocket of the white apron draped around her mango colored dress and handed her son a small pouch filled with approximately two hundred gold pieces. "Have fun at the fair!"

Nodding in acknowledgment, Crono hurriedly stuffed the money pouch into the pocket of his light pea colored, vaguely baggy pants, headed out of the door and made his way to Leene Square, where the fair was being held.

"Welcome to the Millennial Fair! Have fun!" said an old man at the front entrance of the square as soon as he had Crono within his sights upon his arrival several minutes later. Crono could only offer up a small smile as a reply, for within seconds of arriving, he'd found himself feeling overwhelmed, as he did not know which activity of those many displayed around him to partake in first.

However, after managing to regain his composure and saying hello to the several familiar faces he'd already seen, the young redhead decided it best to simply make his way around the square in a clockwise fashion.

After collecting a total of forty-one "Silver Points," that he could apparently redeem for actual gold, from the various games and contests (that either consisted of hitting a bell as high up as possible; guzzling down soda faster than other participating contestants; duking it out with one of Lucca's inventions, a robot named Gato; and guessing the correct winner of a footrace), Crono at last decided to meet up with his intellectual best friend in the northern most most part of the Square.

Heading up the stairs, Crono carefully placed his Silver Points earnings into his other, free pocket right as he about to pass beneath the old, large bronze bell named Leene's Bell, named after the gracious and fair Queen Leene who kindly ruled Guardia back in the year 600 A.D.

Perhaps it was because he'd been too busy fumbling with his pocket to have paid proper attention, for before Crono could properly react he suddenly found himself bumping into something hard, causing him to fall over in the process.

"Hey! Ouch, that hurt!" cried a voice that sounded strongly female, at the same moment that Leene's Bell mysteriously began to ring.

Crono rubbed the back of his head sorely as he slowly sat up from his spot upon the ground, and took in the sight of a young woman, seemingly around his age, dressed in a white, bare shouldered top and slightly baggy pants rising from the ground, herself.

Clearly, she had been the "something hard" he had accidentally collided with.

As the melodic ringing of the majestic bell overhead at last died down, the turquoise-eyed young girl lightly shook her blonde pony tailed head while dusting herself off, before taking notice of Crono rising to his feet.

"I'm so sorry!" she gushed apologetically, rushing to his side. "Are you okay? Uh oh . . . My pendant! Oh, no! Don't tell me I lost it."

Crono narrowed his blue eyes as he allowed them to travel away from the now frantic girl pacing back and forth around the area to locate her lost jewelry, and immediately rested them upon said pendant lying directly before him.

Pausing a moment as he continued to watch the young blonde bite at her fingernails while at the same time trying to find her property, Crono moved from his spot and picked up the pearl colored amulet and returned it to her.

"Oh, thank goodness! My pendant! It has a lot of sentimental value!" explained the girl in gratitude, gazing down at the glittery jewel within Crono's strong hand. "May I have it back?"

Scratching the back of his bright red head, Crono gave a small shrug before handing over the girl's pendant, receiving a broad smile from her as a result.

After placing the pendant back onto her person, the gentlewoman cleared her throat before speaking once more.

"I came to see the Festival! You . . . live in this town, don't you?" she inquired a bit shyly all of a sudden, idly kicking at the ground with her brown sandaled foot. "I feel a little out of place here. Would you mind if I walked around with you for a while?"

Thinking a moment, as he remembered that he had been on his way to see Lucca before literally running into this newcomer, Crono nonetheless gave a swift reply of "Sure." After all, it was not every day that he'd met such an admittedly alluring young woman.

And clearly, the girl was just as excited as Crono was, for she suddenly began to jump up and down for joy at his response.

"You're a true gentleman!" she exclaimed, her peaches and cream complexion growing pink with faint embarrassment at her briefly infantile-like behavior. "Oh, by the way . . . My name is, er . . . um, Marle! And you're?"

Crono thought it a bit curious that the girl apparently known as Marle had to take a few moments to recall her own name, but said nothing about it as he instead told her his own.

"Crono? What a nice name!" complimented Marle exuberantly, extending out her delicate hand for the young man to shake. "Pleased to meet you! Now, lead on!"

For the following half an hour, Crono ended up backtracking as he escorted the bubbly and friendly Marle around the square, showing her the various activities and contests he himself had participated in earlier. Truth be told, he did not at all mind that he was now running behind schedule in meeting Lucca, as he got to show off some of his skills to impress the young woman (which, thankfully, he seemed to be doing, judging by Marle's various bouts of positive reinforcement every time he would win a new prize for her).

After once again winning the footrace bet, Crono had then decided that it was time he and Marle finally went to check out Lucca's latest invention.

"Hold your horses! I want to get some candy," said Marle suddenly, as Crono began to lead the way back up the stairs towards the back of the square. Blinking in surprise, he slowly nodded as he followed the energetic female back down and towards a small concession stand at the base of the stairs filled with sweets.

After waiting for a few minutes, with Marle having yet to make any sort of decision on which treat she wanted, Crono began to grow a bit impatient -- and it showed upon his face.

"Give me just a second!" assured Marle after taking notice of the man's facial expression, idly waving her hand.

Biting down upon his lip, Crono merely nodded before folding his arms across his chest and continued to wait. After yet another several minutes had passed without a purchase being made, Crono ran one hand through his spiky, fiery locks and gently tugged at Marle's arm with the other.

This act did not bode well for the blonde, as she turned around to face her new friend with inquisitive eyes and said,

"There's no need to drag me by the arm like some kidnapper!"

Jumping in surprise at this, Crono gave a swift apology and allowed his friend to continue perusing the assorted treats.

"I'd like some of this," said Marle at long last to the lady standing patiently behind the stand.

"Sure, young lady," replied the vendor with a smile, as she took Marle's money and handed over to her her sugary treat.

"Thanks for waiting!" said Marle appreciatively to Crono as she turned to face him with a small smile upon her face and her candy within her hands.

Nodding, Crono cleared his throat and suggested the two of them hurry and head back up the stairs to see Lucca's display.

The moment the pair had arrived onto the scene, they were met with a fairly decent sized crowd of curious onlookers, peering upon what looked like . . . some sort of two separate teleportation platforms. Crouched in front of one of them, presumably tinkering around with the device, was a young woman dressed in mostly mocha colored clothing that Crono immediately recognized to be his best friend, Lucca Ashtear.

He had, of course, left for the fair with the preconceived notion that whatever his extremely sagacious comrade had planned to unveil for the festivities, it would undoubtedly be vastly impressive -- as all her past inventions generally tended to be. However, nothing had prepared Crono for this astronomical sight.

It appeared as though, this time, the brilliant female inventor had completely outdone herself.

Standing in front of his daughter's invention, beckoning the crowd to come closer, was Lucca's robust and supportive father, Taban. As always, there was a broad, proud smile spread clear across his tawny hued face in regards to his daughter's continued achievements, as he opened his mouth to introduce the device to the anxious and slightly weary crowd.

"Step right on up, any of you who have the time and the courage!" he began boisterously, extending both of his hefty arms out on either side of him. "Our 'Super Dimension Warp' is the invention of the century!"

Crono's blue eyes began to give the now faintly murmuring crowd at this announcement a once over, while Marle gave a small gasp of impressed surprise and unconsciously began to stand on her tippy toes to get a better look at the awesome machine in the distance.

"To use it, jump up here . . ." continued Taban, pausing for dramatic effect as he motioned his right hand toward the platform on his right and the crowd's left, ". . . and you'll get teleported here! It's the masterwork of my beautiful daughter, Lucca."

While the majority of the onlookers gave several nods of acknowledgment and obvious excitement to witness the supposed teleportation device in action, Crono regrettably overheard a small trio of a little boy, elderly man and young woman begin to speak a bit ill of his good friend.

"Check out that girl's glasses!" breathed the little boy in amazement, rudely pointing ahead of him towards Lucca, who had then turned her unique-looking cap covered head (that concealed the majority of her medium length, magenta colored locks) to look upon the other platform she was not double checking. From the distance, Crono was unable to make out the familiar sight of the girl's inquisitive pale blue gems, as the day's beautiful sun rays were too bright and reflected against her broad, round optical lens.

Crono folded his arms across his chest and frowned in disapproval of the young boy's comments and was about to say so, when the old man next to him had then began to chime in with his own distasteful "two-cents."

"She could probably see the back side of the moon with those," he wheezed out a bit triumphantly, although proud of himself to have been able to come up with what he obviously perceived to be such a clever zinger.

The young woman, who had been a part of the boy and the man's little makeshift soirée, suddenly gave a dismissive wave of her hand towards Lucca's metallic contraption and said underneath her breath with a tired air,

"Lucca's inventions never work right."

Crono had been so focused upon the townspeople's' various conversations that he hadn't even noticed that Taban had been sweeping the crowd to find volunteers for his daughter's masterpiece before approaching him.

"Give it a try, kid?" he asked cheerfully, before giving a light chuckle after the realization set in as to whom he was speaking. ". . . Oh, it's you, Crono!"

At this, hearing her father mention her best friend's name, Lucca immediately craned her head around to look at Crono.

"Crono! Where have you been?" she demanded a bit feverishly, taking on her usual bossy, yet playful nature with her male friend as she swiftly approached him. "No one wants to try the Telepod! How about you?"

As Crono was about to open his mouth to object to the idea, Marle, who had up until that moment been so continually enraptured by the great device before them, suddenly interjected gleefully.

"It looks like fun!" she said, gently pushing the redhead towards the machine. "I'll watch while you try it out!"

Lucca nodded her magenta hued head in agreement as she walked over to the left platform.

"Just hop onto the left pod!" she instructed, waving her hand while she stood upon it in demonstration, before stepping off of it.

Taban, obviously sensing Crono's growing apprehension to the idea, gave a hearty slap upon the boy's back and grinned.

"Don't worry, we tried it on our pets!" he tried to reassure, although failing miserably, as Crono did not at all take comfort in the fact that Lucca's machine had yet to be tested upon more evolved mammals. "There's no reason why it shouldn't work as well on humans! So, step right up!"

Heaving a defeated sigh, Crono nodded slowly as he mustered up a bit more nerve and stepped onto the left pod as previously instructed. He watched in apprehensive curiosity as Taban moved over to the pod and flipped on a switch of some sort, while Lucca replaced herself back over to the right pod and began to receive a few electrical sparks as a result of whatever she was doing at the same moment.

"All systems on!" called Taban to his daughter, while she continued to fiercely pump away at the pod in front of her.

"Begin energy transfer!" she ordered, right before Crono heard a loud crackling and popping sound of lightning behind him, and he suddenly felt his body tingling uncontrollably. Before he could even react, the electrical sparks that had been whirling in front of Lucca seemed to jump or transfer over to Crono's pod where he stood, and in an instant his body erupted into several bluish white orbs.

The entire crowd let out a large, surprised and even impressed gasp as they witnessed the heavenly orbs hover over the left pod for a few seconds, before immediately vanishing and reappearing directly over the right pod.

Marle jumped for joy as she and everyone else watched as Crono's corporeal form began to reappear in the midst of the twinkling lights.

"Oh wow. That was great!" cried the crowd unanimously at this, absolutely mind boggled that Lucca had been successful in teleporting the young man from one point to another, unharmed.

"So, how was it?" inquired Lucca with a small but triumphant grin forming upon her slightly tanned face, as she watched Crono shakily climb down from the right pod. "Want to try it again?"

Crono gave his friend a slightly mortified expression to the invite, while Taban, despite his continued boasting about his daughter's unique mechanism, was truly flabbergasted at that moment.

"It . . . worked?" he bellowed in amazement, eyes practically popping from out of his head and his dirty blonde hair slightly standing on end. "I can't believe it!"

Realizing that the crowd -- and his daughter were now all peering upon him with great perplexity, the middle aged man gruffly cleared his throat and tried to recompose himself before stating,

"Uh, er, a thrilling display of science at its best, ladies and gentlemen!"

"I guess even her inventions have to work, sometimes," commented the same young woman from before with genuine surprise before leaving, at the same time that the old man next to her breathed out a rather loud "Wow!"

Rushing forward as more of the gathering began to disperse, Marle let out an extremely affected giggle and said,

"What a kick! I want to try it, too!"

Now it was Lucca's turn to be caught off guard, as she turned her attention away from the still rattled Crono and onto the exuberant blonde standing before her, properly focusing upon her this time around.

"Huh? Hey Crono, how did you pick up a cutie like her?" she queried teasingly, lightly nudging her friend's side as the two of them watched Marle head towards the left pod.

"Hang on, Crono!" she said with a smile and energetic wave, "I'll be right there!"

"Behold, ladies and gentlemen," implored Taban to the remaining group of people still eyeballing Lucca's invention, "as this vision of loveliness steps aboard the machine!"

Marle gave a quick wink of her turquoise eye and stated confidently,

"Don't go away. I'll be right back!"

Taban, obviously still feeling a bit frazzled by the machine's capabilities, lightly whispered to the waiting blonde,

"You're sure about this . . .? There's still time to change your mind!"

However, Marle would hear none of it as she immediately shook her head rapidly, causing her golden ponytail to wag back and forth feverishly in the process.

"No way! Throw the switch!" she demanded happily, clasping both of her hands behind her back after finally placing herself onto the platform.

Sighing lightly, Taban once more cleared his throat as he turned away from Marle and back towards the smaller assemblage.

"Okay, everyone, let's give her a great big hand when she reappears!"

While it had been truly impressive, what he himself had just experienced, Crono secretly did not envy Marle to be going up there to be "teleported," herself. Then again, perhaps he simply had a weaker stomach than she did.

In either case, it was obvious that, no matter what the outcome, Marle would undoubtedly find the experience riveting.

Once again did Taban take his place in front of the left pod to turn on the switch, while Lucca proceeded to charge the right pod.

"All systems on!" her father informed for the second time, Crono stepping back a bit to avoid the electrical sparks that were already beginning to form at his right.

"Begin energy transfer!" instructed Lucca without bothering to look up, feeling confident that her invention would of course not fail her.

Had she peered up for a second, however, the young inventor would have been able to take notice that something terribly wrong was beginning to occur where Marle anxiously stood.

Marle's milky white visage immediately crinkled into one of great weary as she felt her chest grow warm.

"What's happening?" she called out in alarm, peering down to see that the pendant she had momentarily lost was now beginning to glow fiercely. "My pendant . . . it's . . ."

Before anyone could react, Marle suddenly felt herself being violently lifted from off of the pod and into the air, her body spinning in a circular motion at the same time that a mysterious blue portal opened up from behind her.

It was then that Lucca, too previously engulfed in her concentration to have the machine work properly, finally looked up, just in time to witness the tomboyish female being sucked harshly into the portal's bowels before closing after her.

The only thing left in her stead was her mystifying pendant . . .

"Huh?" was all Lucca could utter, for once at a loss for words as the perplexity at what she had just witnessed was too great. Her teleportation device began to overheat just then, causing Taban, Crono and herself to swiftly back away from it.

"Lucca! Where is she?" cried Taban in fearful consternation, rushing over to his daughter's side before turning his attention to the startled crowd. "Show's over, folks! Let's head along now!"

After successfully ushering everyone away from the chaotic scene, Taban moved back over to Lucca to confront her once more, she, Crono and himself the only ones still within the area.

"What's going on Lucca? Where is she?"

Lucca, undeterred by her father's sudden and uncharacteristically forceful nature, immediately began to analyze the situation.

"The way she disappeared . . . It couldn't have been the Telepod!" she rationalized with relative self assurance, readjusting the glasses on her deep scowling face. "The warp field seemed to be affected by her pendant . . ."

Choosing to bypass his daughter's brief explanation and theory on what could have happened to the missing blonde, Taban instead heatedly asked,

"What are we going to do now?"

"She's so familiar! I know I've seen her somewhere . . ." murmured Lucca to herself as she continued to ponder the situation at hand, clearly ignoring her father's anxious inquiry.

After pacing around the area for several minutes, Lucca appeared to have reached some sort of epiphany, for she suddenly whirled around in her spot and pointed a slender finger at the silent, although worried young redhead.

"Crono!" she called, startling her friend in the process, "You brought her here, you get her back!"

Blue eyes widening in surprise at the moderate accusation that the current debacle was his fault, Crono lightly frowned as he began to mull it over. Even though he hadn't the faintest idea of how it had all occurred in the first place, it was true that he did in fact bring his new friend along to see Lucca's invention, making him feel slightly at fault for the whole mess.

And so, without really giving it further thought, Crono made his way over to the left pod and bent down to pick up the discarded pendant.

"Crono!" gasped Lucca in complete surprise, obviously not having expected to see the young man doing as she'd instructed, even though she had been the one to suggest it at all.

"You're actually going to do it?" asked Taban in astonishment, he too clearly taken aback by the crimson haired teenager's actions. "What a fine lad!"

Not wanting to waste another second of precious time, Lucca then rushed back over to her place in front of the right pod, as she began to bestow upon the lone young man standing onto the other pod a bit of dire words that did absolutely nothing to calm his growing nerves.

"Listen! I don't know where this machine is going to send you, but we haven't any other choice," she revealed quietly, fully aware that saying such a thing while in the face of possible danger was not precisely the most logical of moves.

However, she was also just as much aware as Crono that they truly did not have any other choice, if they wanted to find and bring back Marle safely.

"Won't they both be lost?" Taban asked the question that had been burning a hole straight through each of their tongues to verbalize.

Despite this, however, Lucca forced herself to put on a determined resolve and pushed aside any sort of doubt as she motioned for her father to help her with the energy transfer.

"This is our only hope!" she stated firmly, before turning her attention onto the patiently awaiting Crono. "That pendant seems to be the key, so hang on to it Crono, and brace yourself!"

And with that, both Lucca and her father began the rigorous task of recharging the teleportation contraption, to the point where it would be enough to hopefully trigger another reaction out of the pendant and send Crono to wherever Marle had ultimately ended up.

"Power to full!" ordered Lucca over the increasingly loud noise, receiving a nod and reply from her father.

"Roger!"

Shaking her cap covered head, Lucca frowned and poked a bit of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in frustration after shouting,

"More! Give me more power!"

Now sweating vigorously at this point, Taban could only muster another "Roger!" in reply to his daughter's demands, before the machine at last began to short out much in the same fashion that it had when Marle had been upon it.

Letting out a satisfied cry, Lucca swiftly wiped away a few beads of her own perspiration away from her brow as she and her father gazed up at the same eerie, blue portal swirling behind the now taken aback Crono.

"There! We did it! I'll follow you after I know what went wrong. Good luck, Crono!"

Taking a deep, steady breath, Crono nodded firmly in acknowledgment at his friend's best wishes, before swallowing down his nerves and headed straight into the portal . . . and even perhaps straight into possible danger.

-- End of Chapter 1

(A.N. YES! Thank you, merciful GOD! LoL Finished. Phew. That was fun but wasn't to do the whole fair scene. Of course, obviously, I just followed the game script and added in more detail and what I personally remember from playing it – haven't in a while, though, cuz my SNES is packed away and I never bothered to buy the PS version yet. But, hey, a classic kick arse game like THIS one, you do NOT forget about. LoL Also thought it'd be a real "kick," as Marle said, to have Crono behave like and do as I usually made him whenever I'D play it. You know, the whole play with the curtains in his bedroom once you gain control of 'em, look at the catfood bowl that's empty, play with the cat as it walks around you before you leave the house, and pull on Marle's arm to get her to say that whole kidnapper bit so I can have witnesses say that once I got back from 600 A.D. Fun times. LoL

ANYWAY! So right, I'd started and pretty much finished this whole thing last night, but I ended up getting sidetracked and then bored so stopped. LoL But that's okay, cuz I haven't received any new reviews since then, so obviously no one was anxious to read on. LoL And before you ask "Where are the Guardians? I thought this was a X'over!" Duh. Oui, c'est vrai. However, you'll have to wait and see in chapter 2 to see where they ended up in the whole time loop thingie. LoL TRUST me, while I AM going to follow the game's original plot/script, it will still be kinda original in my OWN right, since I will include the Guardians and alter a few scenes and create new ones. No worries!

Oh, yeah. A few more things, so you won't bother to come at me with it. 1, I know that you were only allowed 20 S.P.'s at one time, which sucked, LoL, but I said Crono won a total of 41 because, if he'd tried every activity and was successful, that's how much it'd be. And no, I didn't make up Lucca's last name, those of you who did not play "Chrono Cross." "Ashtear" is indeed her last name. Oh, and Crono's mom's name IS Gina. At least, in the Japanese version, it is. So I just went with it. Thanx! LoL)