A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Twenty-Four
A Promise and Light Through the Ages
By: Shadic the Hedgehog
After Lucca and I decided to stop kissing (I don't know how long it was, I didn't have a watch or anything like that), we went to meet up with Crono and Magus at the Moon Stone. Lucca and I blushed a bit when we saw Crono smiling lightly at us, but Lucca quickly shook it off and went to examine the stone.
"Hmm, it's obvious this hasn't had much chance to absorb energy, it's completely depleted!" She picked it up, the stone itself surprisingly small and porous in comparison to the game sprite that was used for it. "We could recharge it if we put it in the sun, but..."
I picked up where she trailed off. "But it's so low on power that it would take millenia to return it to full capacity."
Magus nodded. "I know of a place we could store it. I'm sure you know of a when."
"We place it in the Sun Shrine in sixty-five million BC. We'll have to make a stop in Porre in AD 1000, because someone found it, but then we just have to put it back in the Shrine."
We all nodded and headed back out to the Epoch, Lucca and I sitting in back while Crono piloted. We lay against each other, still basking in the glow of our newfound love, as Magus tried to pay us no attention. We arrived quickly in Prehistoria and Magus guided Crono in the general direction of the Shrine. Or as I said, "North. Lots of North," which earned me a half-lidded glare from Magus.
Crono said that we could stay behind as he and Magus went in, and I thanked him. Lucca and I spent the five minutes or so that the two of them were in the Shrine just talking about ourselves and some funny stories from our childhoods. I was just telling her about my unfortunate temper attack in sixth grade when Crono and Magus emerged. They got in without a word, and took off for the year 1000.
We arrived quickly and Crono flew us down to Porre, where I decided I wanted to get out with them to talk with the Mayor of Porre.
The mayor was a nice guy, what with my slight tampering with his family values, and handed us the Waxing Moon Stone. We returned to the Epoch again and landed in the Sun Shrine. Once again, Lucca and I decided to join them as they entered.
As we walked through the cave, I felt a strange shiver down my spine and I looked around. Much like the entrance to Arris Dome and the Giant's Claw caverns, the passageway to the Sun Shrine was larger than the game had shown. We continued on our way to the Shrine itself and placed the stone in the sunlight, on an area of the floor that was, interestingly enough, darker than the surrounding rock and the exact shape of the stone. I hadn't realized that rock could bleach.
While we were leaving, I felt the shiver again, and this time I could feel where the strange sensation was coming from.
"Guys," I started, drawing everyone's attention. "Did any of you feel something strange just a little bit ago?"
Crono and Lucca shook their heads, but Magus replied, "There's a disturbance in the space-time continuum here. I did not notice it until you said something, so I don't know if it's only in this time period, but if it's a Gate..." We headed in the direction Magus and I felt the disturbance and found ourselves looking at...
"It's a Universe Gate!" I exclaimed. "I wonder if it leads back to my world, or if it leads to some other one..."
"I'd say there's only one way to find out," said Lucca, holding up the Gate Key. Crono looked confused for a moment, until the U-Gate opened.
"It's... Green," he commented.
"And?" I returned. "I'll go through first. If it's safe, I'll bring you guys through." They all nodded and I strode forward, hand on the Murasame's hilt. I wondered at how it hadn't hurt this time, like it had when I was Barog in the Sun Palace, but decided I could leave that for some other time. The usual sensation of Gate travel surrounded me as I travelled, and I found myself standing in someone's house. The house seemed very familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place who it might have belonged to. I stepped back through and brought the others with me this time, and the U-Gate closed behind us. It was still there, just closed.
As I stared at the various coloured glasses in the front window, I heard a voice behind me. A very familiar voice. "I shouldn't have had all five of those pizzas last night."
I whipped around. "Tob!" It was one of my best friends from S.C.A., Toby Howard, and he was looking really confused and holding his hand to his stomach. "The Gate did bring me back home! Well, sorta. Guys, this is my buddy Tob, Tob these are Lucca, Crono, and Magus. Yes, from Chrono Trigger."
He blinked a few times, then stepped forward and punched my arm. I didn't feel a thing, other than the fact that I had been punched, but that was to be expected with how strong I had become. He shook his hand lightly as he stared. "You're really here... Do you realize how worried you made everyone? They thought you ran away from home or something!"
I winced. "I hadn't meant to make everyone worry, but this is the first Gate home I'd found since the one I crossed over with disappeared! What all's happened since I left?"
"You really want me to try to sum up a year of worry and sorrow?"
I sat down heavily on the easy chair I was standing next to as Lucca, Crono, and Magus sorta shrugged and sat down on the couch. "A-A year? But... I've only been adventuring on Chronos for three months!" There was a silence as we assimilated the information. Tob broke the silence after a tense minute.
"So... Where are you in the adventure? Is there any chance I could join? I'll leave a note and evidence and stuff if I can, but..."
"We're on the last step before fight Lavos, just before the Black Omen. I'm sorry, but I think you'd be better off here." He looked a little crestfallen, so I added a little more. "I know: when we've finished off Lavos, I'll come back and get you."
"You promise?"
"I swear it. Also, though it means a bit more traffic through your house, it means I'll be able to visit everyone again and tell them how things went."
We chatted for a little while longer, until I felt we should get back to the battle against Lavos, and Tob asked if he could get a picture of us, just so he knew it wasn't a dream that we had talked, and so he could show it to Mom and Dad as proof of where I was. Lucca opened the U-Gate and we crossed back through it. As we emerged on the other side, I turned to the others.
"So, why were you guys so quiet back there? Couldn't think of anything to say?"
Lucca shook her head, "No. We couldn't understand a word you two were saying most of the time. You seemed to be speaking a completely different language." I froze, confusion evident upon my face, as I contemplated how it was possible that I could sound like I was speaking one language and actually be speaking another one altogether.
"Perhaps it is an extension of your godly powers," commented Magus. "You, as Barog Firestorm, exist on some level in every universe, so you must be able to speak in every universe."
"But I wasn't Barog at the time," I protested.
"If I recall, you no longer need to be in Barog's form to be immune to fire, so why wouldn't the same idea work with languages?" I thought about that for a moment before Crono commented on something.
"Um, I thought I was supposed to be able to see a Universe Gate once I had crossed through it."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "You should, yes. Why?"
"Because I don't see it." I turned to look and found the U-Gate gone, just like the one back in Leene's Square back at the beginning of the adventure. I fell to my knees in shock.
"No... No... WHY?! I-I wanted to go home after we were done, see everyone again..." I started crying, Lucca hugging me from behind. "Tell them about the grand adventure..."
Magus, though I couldn't see him, turned away and walked slowly out of the cave. At first I thought he was just being a bit of a cold-hearted bastard as usual, but once I got to know him better, he explained that he was coming to terms with having a kindred spirit in the group. Someone else stranded far from home, never able to return the way we wanted to. Magus wanted to have a childhood un-interrupted by Lavos, to grow up as normal as a prince of a magical kingdom could. I just wanted to freely travel between my homes...
I woke up back at the End of Time, apparently having cried myself to sleep back in the Sun Shrine. Lucca was curled up beside me, our bodies somewhat intertwined. I smiled as I peered at her sleeping face, so peaceful in her slumber. That was when I made a resolution: I may have been cut off from my family and friends on Earth, but I had the gang here, and perhaps even a new family with Lucca. Earth would always be fondly remembered, but now... Now Chronos is the place I call home.
It was after Lucca and I woke up (myself for a second time) and Robo's crew from Geno Dome returned, Atropos's ribbon plugged into Robo's core, that we finally stopped by Lucca's house, followed by Melchior's, to get Taban-edition sunglasses, Lucca's Wondershot, and Crono's Rainbow. It just so happened that Taban's sunglasses actually looked more like sun-goggles, so I switched out my original pair for them, proclaiming myself the group's "goggle-head."
We all gathered in the End of Time, preparing for our assault on the Black Omen. It was pointless, I knew, to try and enter in AD 2300, because doing so wouldn't stop the Day of Lavos. I recommended attacking in 12,000 BC, simply because the Omen had only just recently risen there. Once again, we would split up, though it was only temporary. Magus, Glenn, and I were to travel by Gate with one other person and then fly to the floating fortress, while the other four would simply get there in the Epoch. Lucca volunteered to travel with my group, which was of little surprise, though Magus rolled his eyes again.
Crono's team headed for the Epoch, while we made for the Gate Room. The Black Omen was about to disappear, and Lavos would be soon to follow.
It was time to be Big Damn Heroes.
"Ready?"
"Why do your people always ask if someone is ready right before you're going to do something massively unwise?"
"Tradition."
-Ambassadors Jeffery Sinclair and Delenn, Babylon 5