5/7/23: When I wrote this, it was last year, but that isn't why I'm writing THIS. I just found out that forewords and afterwords aren't allowed, and when I deleted them it bumped the fics. I'm sorry, and if you don't want to read for this reason, please don't. To all staff, I'll be contacting you shortly... assuming anyone cares, of course...

January 21, 2022

Nickolas Anderson

Chrono Trigger

Epilogue

Lavos was dead, the future changed, and the planet saved. Crono and Marle could be together forever. And yet, an odd twist of fate could end up undoing all that the heroes accomplished...

Scene One

"My research has determined it... This place is where Schala resides."

A Gate opened, and Magus stepped out into a black void. He readied his scythe.

"Wherever she is, I shall find her. That has been my only purpose since defeating Lavos."

He turned on his heel, but stopped dead and readied himself. Before him was a small creature, three times his size and resembling Lavos. Well, it looked more like a spawn, it was so small. What caught his eye was the bubble above it, and the woman contained within.

"SCHALA!"

Schala floated above the Lavos-spawn, encased in a blue bubble. Magus snarled and drew his scythe.

"Damn you! How many times do I need to kill you, you bastard?!"

He roared and swung the scythe, only for it to break apart as it reached Lavos. Shocked, he fell back and onto one knee. The beast roared and blew him backwards.

"What the hell is going on?!"

A soft voice reached his ears.

"Janus...?"

Magus rose to his feet.

"SCHALA!"

Inside the bubble, Schala opened her eyes.

"Janus, how did you get here...?"

Magus frantically rushed forward.

"Schala, I'm here! I'll get you out of here, I...!"

Schala shook her head.

"No power exists that can save me. There is nothing that you can do that will change this truth."

Magus fell to his knees.

"Wh-what... What are you saying?! Schala?!"

Schala extended her hand.

"I pray only that you find peace before the Time Devourer ends all... I'm sorry, Janus. This is goodbye."

Magus clenched his fist, hard enough to draw blood.

"No! You can't! I only... I've only lived to be with you!"

Schala gestured, and Magus fell into a Gate. As he did, tears welled within her eyes and she began to cry. Then, all of a sudden, she stopped.

"That voice... a child...?"

Deep within the Gate's abyss, Magus floated in an empty stupor.

"Nothing...? NOTHING... I can do... can save you, Schala...?"

He scowled, and gnashed his teeth.

"To hell with it then. I've no reason to exist if I can't be with you. Better that I return to nothing than to live without you... No... Maybe I could find SOMETHING to aim for... But... What...?"

The Gate opened and Magus fell onto the forest floor. He forced himself awake, and stumbled back to a seated position. He looked strangely at his hands.

"What in God's name am I doing here...?"

He paused.

"For that matter, who in God's name AM I?!"

Slowly he rose, a look of dismay on his face.

"I... feel... like I need to look for something. But what kind of enigma could I seek...?"

Scene Two

"Okay, part one, yeah... Part two, hell yeah... I've got this down! Gonna show those punks what it means to cross me!"

In the Porrean mayor's mansion, he was going about his duties. Then, a green Gate appeared and Dalton walked through it. The mayor skittered to the wall.

"W-what the hell is...?!"

Dalton smirked. He held out his hand and created a fireball, then enclosed it in a clear barrier, made flowers grow from it, and collapsed it with a sparkle of feathers. The mayor gaped.

"That's amazing! Can you teach me to do that?!"

Dalton nodded.

"That and more. Tell me, what kind of metallurgy do you folks have on hand? I've got a few recipes that I'm DYING to teach you..."

Scene Three

"What do you mean, leave?! I ain't leaving!"

The Guardian military general sighed.

"We need to keep you safe, Your Majesty! If you die, the whole dynasty would end!"

Crono clenched his fist.

"You think I can't take that punk and his flunkies?! I killed a freakin' GOD!"

Marle shook her head.

"The kingdom needs us. We can gather our strength and rebuild."

Crono growled.

"Come ON! I'm not going any-"

A punch to the gut knocked the wind out of him. He glared at the assailant.

"Some son you are!"

As he fell into Marle's arms, the prince grabbed the Masamune from its ceremonial pedestal. He nodded to Marle.

"I won't fail you, Mother."

Marle smiled.

"I know, son..."

The royal family left, and the crown prince stood at the doors of the throne room as Dalton burst in. He snarled, and drew the Masamune.

"You won't get away with this!"

Dalton sneered.

"Try and stop me, squirt."

Scene Four

Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, Black, White...

And a color unknown to the naked eye.

A great flash burst through the darkness, as the world's inhabitants covered their eyes. One was a young man with a bandanna, holding a bizarre double-sided polearm weapon; he held the strange device that started it all.

Another was a young blonde girl, a tomboy clearly, holding a dagger. She was dressed in red and wore a small pouch on her belt.

The third was the strangest, an older man with violet hair and wearing a silver mask. He held a sterling silver staff, and was dressed in silver and gold.

Within the source of the light, a twisted form writhed. It was a vile creature, looking like an unholy crustacean with a blue bubble above it. The bubble held a young girl, blonde, covered in a simple white robe. As the demonic hellspawn shriveled to nothing, the girl shimmered.

Her body glowed, and what was once a child became a beautiful young woman with purple hair, dressed in ornate purple robes. She opened her eyes, and smiled gently.

A smile passed the older man's face, as his mask cracked. It shattered, and a new man emerged: muscular, pointy-eared, dressed in robes identical to the young woman's. He turned to his companions and smiled, then turned to the woman and nodded.

The young woman turned to the others and smiled. She extended her hand, but the young blonde shook her head.

"I don' think so. I like bein' me too much for that."

Schala smiled.

"You are you, I am me. Nothing can change that now."

Kid turned to Serge, a smile on her face.

"It was bloody good knowin' ya, mate!"

Serge smiled.

"I'll never forget you, Kid."

Lowering her head, Kid eyed Serve mischievously and smiled.

"I don' know when, but... I'll find ya someday. Count on it."

He extended his hand and intertwined it with Kid's. They tightened their grip and smiled.

"It's a promise."

Kid widened her grin.

"And Radical Dreamers keep their promises, mate!"

Start Date: January 21. 2022

Windwillow

Chrono Trigger

Postscript

This has been a labor of love for a number of years. I first had the idea in 2014, but stalled quickly after that. Almost everything I've written here was created in 2021 and early 2022, and let me tell you, it's been a blast. This is my first real published work since I called myself Astraleon, but that was ages ago.

I will first give full credit for this work to Masato Kato and the Dream Team at Square-Enix. Obviously, without them this would never have happened. Heaven knows I could never come up with the masterpiece they created. All other members of the Dream Team, I salute you! Akira Toriyama's art, Yasunori Mitsuda's music - everyone's contribution led to the greatest RPG of all time!

Next we address another major source, the Chrono Compendium.

Their archives of information was invaluable to this work, and more than that, much of their theories and discussions led directly to parts of this work. I humbly dedicate this fanfic to them, their contributors, and everyone involved with the site. Anyone who likes this, go to them and marvel at their dedication and thoroughness. They MADE this fic happen.

Also important, another writer named 0ccam's Razor inspired much of my style. He's written some AMAZING Yu-Gi-Oh! fics, and I encourage anyone who reads this to check them out. He's absolutely masterful, and having read his works I adapted much of his style to mine. Credit to him for the style.

Another Chrono Trigger fanfic inspired me, the link to which I'll add after this. He's got an astonishingly fun and readable fic, and again, check it out if you like this. Even if you don't, I suggest it. He's made one hell of a piece of work.

s/593335/1/Chrono-Trigger?_cf_chl_jschl_tk_=gO2mxZWaD2tgrLjdLQfQFpw4g1kABnPK4mCtlUJVyzc-1642808058-0-gaNycGzNDFE

Now I want to address some of the more notable liberties I've taken here. This will be in no particular order and I may leave something out, so please forgive me if I do. PM me and I'll answer your questions.

Looking back as I compiled this, my style changed considerably. I guess at a certain point I couldn't keep up the original style and changed it around the trial. I don't regret it, though... Writing the Ocean Palace and Death Peak scenes made me tear up, and I think that style did it justice.

One of the things I wanted to do was avoid as many game mechanics as possible. That's why I didn't name most Techs, and changed the encounters slightly (more than slightly?) to fit my own interpretation. Much of my inspiration for the action scenes came from series like Dragon Ball Z and Rurouni Kenshin, among others. Bleach was big too.

My intention was to make things more... streamlined. Thus, stuff like Crono's lightning mode was based on A's Lightning Chakra Mode from Naruto. It wasn't in the original, but I wanted to go somewhat more believable than calling out Tech names and using stuff like Laser Spin, Red Needle, etc.

There are a lot of controversial things I'll get knocked on for. Let me explain a few, again in no particular order...

I wanted to change the travel time a bit so everyone didn't take twenty minutes to pass half the globe. That's why I made it take a couple days to go from one place to the other. Also, I guess I just wanted to add a bit of a twist to it.

Fans of Dragon Ball will immediately recognize the Capsules. I first had the idea from seeing Toriyama-sensei's artwork and connecting the dots between the two series. Overall I'm satisfied by what I put out for them...

For Crono and Marle, I tried to make their relationship grow a bit more than just, "we fought together and fell in love." Scenes like at the prehistoric party and what happened leading up to the Ocean Palace? I wanted to give their relationship some oomph.

On that topic, writing Crono's death and resurrection gave me chills. I hope some of you also enjoy the feelings I tried to evoke. In fact, the images in my head of those scenes partially inspired me to start the project.

This is somewhat irrelevant, but I figure I'll add it anyway. All of this was improvised off the top of my head. No idea webs or notes, just images in my head. If the scenes came off bad or stupid, it's all on me... I just pictured the scenes in my head beforehand and wrote it out.

Let me talk about the ending scenes a bit. I wanted to link up to Chrono Cross, hence the small scene of Dalton in Porre. Naturally, the more pertinent scenes involve Magus, Schala, and the ending of Chrono Cross. I've always loved the game despite what some people say, and I figured it'd be fun to tinker with it. Might even novelize that someday, too.

I've peppered the piece with pop culture references from anime, video games, etc. If you notice them and like them, great. If not, I'm just a weirdo who threw it in for kicks. Whatever you guys get out of this is what matters.

In the matter of Crono's father, I named him Joaquim in reference to the theory that Crono is Miguel from Chrono Cross. I'm ready for flames, but I wanted to give the theory a nod.

Having written this, I've kind of gotten hooked. I might novelize some other games soon, maybe complete the Final Fantasy Chronicles package with FFIV. Already got some ideas for that one. Others include FFVI and Chrono Cross, and if I feel ambitious/ready for flames, Wild Arms 2 and 3.

But I digress. For all I know you stopped reading this ten paragraphs ago, and I couldn't blame you. I just hope someone can enjoy what I've made as much as I had fun writing it.

I dedicate this fic to anyone who gets any joy out of it. Please, leave a comment or send a PM. I won't respond to the comments in that actual section, but I'll be reading.

God bless Square-Enix.