The Magus Cut

by Windwillow

Both a sequel AND a prequel to Chrono Cross, plus a remake of my original CT fic. With Schala rescued the scene changes to the End of Time, where Gaspar, Spekkio, and Janus join Schala to recap the adventure while linking to the second game in the series. This won't be a straight remake, but with new angles and content. Contains mild language, violence, and suggestive themes.

4. The Trial

Start Date: January 24, 2024

Windwillow

The bold text is a flashback.

Chrono Trigger: The Magus Cut

Chapter Four: The Trial

The mood at the End of Time had since changed, with the atmosphere cooling down and everyone settling into their stride. Schala had by now accepted a gift of lemonade from Spekkio as well as a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and was settled in her seat a lot more comfortably than she had been up until that point. Janus, meanwhile, had moved on to a stack of donuts and coffee in an attempt to sober up from the copious amounts of beer that he'd consumed. Once everyone had reunited at Guardia Castle, Gaspar had also broken out a bottle of champaigne to celebrate and the cast of characters had toasted to Marle's return.

"Okay, explanation time: Marle needed to be gone for Crono and Lucca to get the hint, right? So the Planet shunted her into a safe place - a time-frozen pocket dimension. She was never in any danger and actually never even knew that anything happened to her!" explained Spekkio. He downed the glass of champaigne, widened his mouth, and pushed the entire glass down his gullet then chomped down to swallow the cup. "Once Leene was recovered all that needed to be done was to return her... right when and where Crono and Lucca found her!" he tittered.

"Lucca truly is a genius of geniuses! She grasped the concept of time travel far quicker than was expected of her. If she hadn't done so then Crono would have needed to go on the rescue mission alone... which he'd probably fail, most likely getting eaten by the Naga-ettes at the front of the church," Gaspar said as he lifted the champaigne to his lips. "Meaning, it was quite fortuitous that Lucca came up with the Gate Key when she did."

Schala listened intently, though she was temporarily distracted by a particularly good cookie and sort of blacked out for a minute before returning to the matter at hand. "And what comes next, then?" she asked. "I see that everyone's reunited, but..."

"Crono nearly has his head lopped off," Spekkio said plainly. "He'd have his neck chopped by the guillotine, and that would be that. His noggin would actually make an excellent conversation piece on someone's mantle... I love that kid's hair, nice and wild like he is."

"Watch your mouth, imbecile!" snarled Janus. When Schala nearly choked on a cookie, he'd smacked Spekkio over the back of the head. "I told you that if you scared her again I'd gut you! So... shut the hell up!" he roared.

"Oh, so now you want to take on the God of War?!" growled Spekkio. "Get ready for a black eye, punk!"

"Bring it on!" Janus growled. "I'll rip you a new one."

Gaspar shook his head and sighed, then switched over to a cup of tea while Janus and Spekkio began to bicker. "Regardless... Crono had two chances of survival. Either he escaped alone, or Marle and Lucca would bust him out of jail," Gaspar said coolly. "Then again, nothing is ever set in stone. If he'd died, then that would've been the end of it. However," he said with a gleam in his eye, "We humans make our own fates, as it should be. The Planet wouldn't have taken a bet on that boy without a healthy dose of faith."

Scene One

Crono, Marle, and Lucca left Guardia Castle as conquering heroes, but they had to go home at some point. They were provided a royal carriage to carry them back to Truce, after which they crossed into Truce Canyon to reach the Gate back home. There was a slight wrinkle when an Avian swooped down to attack and Lucca cocked and aimed a shot at it, but Crono swiftly downed it before the scientist could alert the entire Mystic population that they were there and was desperate to get home. Once they'd cleared the canyon and met at the site of the Gate, they could see that it was inactive and consisted of a small, rotating blue orb rather than an actual portal.

"It... looks sort of different..." Marle mumbled.

"Duh. It's closed, genius," Lucca snapped.

"And how are we supposed to open the stupid thing? I take it you have some sort of new gizmo, right, Lucca?" asked Crono. Lucca nodded, but Crono knew better than to take that at face value. "Will said device blow us up before we get home?" he choked. "I don't have a lot of faith after the whole thing started 'cause of your machine."

Disgruntled, Lucca simply whacked Crono in the shin with her foot. While he fell back clutching his aching knee, she turned to Marle and smirked. Marle smiled back, although with a little bit of fear of what Lucca might do to her. She'd already thrown her four hundred years into the past and whatever mischief the scientist planned on causing was a question that she simply had to take into account.

"I call this a 'Gate,' a localized distortion of the space-time continuum that links two points in time... Namely, 600 and 1000 C.E. To get home we'll need to open the distortion again by stimulating space-time with an electric inducer," explained Lucca. Seeing her friends' dumb faces staring back at her she quickly lost her composure and screeched out an expletive before rustling through her satchel and withdrawing the Gate Key, which she brandished. "All that matters is that I figured it out!" she snarled. "Be thankful that I'm a genius!"

"Ha ha... Thanks, Lucca!" chirped Marle. She gave a naughty wink and reached down to drag Crono back to his feet, and once he'd recovered she patted the dust from his tunic and put her arm around his shoulder, an act that startled Crono. The idea that he was still on the chopping block certainly didn't make him feel any better when the princess was essentially groping him.

Lucca smilingly lifted the Gate Key and held it flat facing the closed Gate. The device began to glow a bright crimson as the five gemstones that composed it began to gleam. Finally all five seemed to explode in a burst of flame as the Key shot a ray into the Gate that slowly twisted it in a clockwise formation. The dimensional distortion caused by the Telepod successfully warped the idle Gate and transformed it, creating a solidified field of shimmering blue light. Inside were dozens of shades of blue, purple, and silver, wild wavelengths that sparkled and warped seemingly at random.

"Behold! I am, indeed, the world's greatest genius!" Lucca boasted with a low cackle in her voice.

"You're sure this is safe?" wondered Crono. "One hundred percent sure, or fifty-seven percent sure like last time?"

"Oh, shut up," snarled Lucca. "I stabilized it so all we need to do is get inside."

Although Lucca hadn't fully convinced the two that they should trust her, there really wasn't a better option. The trio reluctantly entered the Gate and felt the air behind them completely disappear. To the surprise and shock of Crono and Marle, what lay beyond the portal was a world of color not unlike an artist's easel gone wild, but more importantly there was an actual road this time that connected the two points in space-time. Like Lucca said it looked stable, so they hurried two steps at a time towards the end of the Gate.

After passing through four hundred years and leaving behind an adventure they'd never forget the three teenagers stepped through the colorful portal and found themselves right where they'd started: Leene Square, although it seemed to be quite late at night. Crono feebly stumbled from the Gate, found a corner of the square, and promptly deposited his lunch. While Lucca simply shook her head in disgust Marle just laughed and turned to look at the device that had enacted the entire incident. The Telepod seemed to be working this time, at least.

"I can't believe we actually traveled through time with a machine made by a teenager!" Marle remarked with a gasp. She turned to Lucca and stretched out her knuckles, soon met and bumped by the scientist. "You really are a genius!"

"Damn straight, I am! Ha!" cackled Lucca fiendishly. She took hold of Crono by the shoulders and dragged him out of the bushes, turned him around, and positioned him squarely in front of Marle. "Now, Crono... Be a gentleman and see our friend back home," she said cheerfully. "I'm sure everyone's worried sick about her." A few moments passed before Lucca realized that she really was asking her friend to abduct the princess this time.

"Well, I'm worried sick I'm gonna lose my head!" Crono groaned. "You're actually telling me to bring the crown princess back home to meet my mother? In what world does that sound like a good idea?!"

"Oh, so I'm not good enough for her?" teased Marle.

"I... I didn't mean it like that! God!" Crono stammered, madly embarrassed and struggling with his own hormones that seemed to be setting him up for the guillotine. She was cute, yes. She was fun, yes. She was also jail bait and the best chance he'd ever have for ending up with his neck in a sling on the gallows. "There isn't anywhere for you to sleep!" he protested. After a few moments of thinking he shook his head and smiled. "You can take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch," Crono resolved.

"You're sure you don't want to sleep with her?" pressed Lucca.

"Shut the hell up!" Crono roared. "It's bad enough you want me to kidnap her, now you want me to go to bed with her ?!"

"I'm good with the idea, so you can take me to your house for the night," Marle said cheerfully. A few moments passed as she recognized what she'd just said and she frantically raised her hands in self defense. "I-I didn't mean it like that!" she croaked. "I can take the couch!"

Crono shook his head and held his forehead in an attempt to stifle his burning headache. It wasn't something he wanted to do in the first place, but there really wasn't a better option. Spiriting the princess in at night time seemed to be an excellent way to lose his head. "I won't let you take the couch," he resolved quietly. "You can take my bed."

As Crono and Lucca began to bicker back and forth, Marle couldn't help but suppress a giggle and leaned up against the Telepod to watch the two argue. Much as she wanted to just go home, she'd catch holy hell for coming back at night - especially with a boy. The best option was to take the couch, sneak out of Crono's house, and hope and pray that her father never learned Crono's name. If he did, Crono would have an axe over his head by lunchtime.

Scene Two

Given that it was nearly midnight Crono and Marle had little difficulty navigating the streets unseen, finally arriving at Crono's house by 12:15. Marle reached up to knock but Crono batted her hand down and rustled through his pocket to withdraw his key. He slowly, cautiously unlocked the door and it creaked open, and as they tiptoed through the house Crono gestured to his upstairs bedroom, and then to the couch in the living room, which amused Marle. Before she could approach the stairs, however, the lights went on and Crono wet himself.

"And what the hell do you think you're doing ?!" Gina shrieked as she stormed down the stairs to reprimand her son. This time he really was going to get it. As she descended from upstairs, however, Marle caught her eye and the single mother immediately stumbled and fell down the stairs before shuffling to one knee and bowing her head in deference. "Oh, dear God, it's the princess!" she hacked.

"Call me Marle, okay?" chirped Marle.

"Y-You... wait, what? Why is the princess in our living room after midnight?" stammered Gina. "The last time I talked to you, you were going to the fair to see Lucca's gadget... and you bring the crown princess, a fugitive from the castle, here?!"

"It's... complicated..." Crono squeaked.

"Complicated?" Gina snapped. "It isn't hard to contemplate that you're going to end up with your head in a guillotine! How is that complicated?!"

"Oh, I can use the couch if you want," Marle said nervously. "I don't want to displace Crono from his own room."

"Oh, hell no! Crono's grounded for the next two years anyway, so go ahead and take his room," Gina moaned. "Assuming neither of us hang I'm going to give my son the most miserable tongue-lashing of his life. I'll find you some extra blankets."

It was a restless night for all three of them, but somehow they managed to weather the storm. When she awoke at six o'clock, Marle quietly inched out of Crono's bed as silently as she could, pushed open the door, and slowly sneaked down the stairs towards the door. It was in everyone's best interest that she return to the castle alone and take her well-deserved punishment. When a strong hand clapped on her shoulder the princess shrieked.

"The hell?!" Marle screamed hoarsely.

"You didn't eat breakfast yet," Crono said with a crooked smile. "Pancakes, sausage, and hash browns. Eat up."

Marle quietly turned her attention to her right and found that Gina had, indeed, prepared a hearty breakfast for her and Crono, an invitation that she graciously accepted. Gina provided a hood and cloak to hide Marle's identity and sent the two on their way. The duo slowly walked down Truce's main street as the morning dawned, careful not to draw attention to themselves (it didn't work). Marle questioned whether the idea would even work but Crono shook his head side to side and shrugged. There really wasn't much choice at this point. When he tugged her hood down Marle huffed and snapped at Crono, but quickly relented and they continued on to Guardia Castle.

"I'll sneak in alone," whispered Marle. "Get the hell out of dodge." Crono of course had no objections to the plan, but when he turned to leave three guns were placed in his face and he immediately shrunk backwards into a ball. " Hey! Leave him alone!" she snarled.

The soldiers continued to push Crono back towards the castle, three barrels aimed straight at his face, and when he slowly turned Crono found the kingdom's chancellor staring back at him with a hungry, bestial look on his face. He quickly noted the Chancellor's resemblance to the one in 600 C.E., and had heard rumors of his hard-nosed administration of the criminal justice system so he automatically assumed that he was going to die.

Lucca... If I survive, I am so going to kick your sorry ass for this.

Scene Three

The next morning Lucca awoke in a dim haze, the stress from the previous night having totally wiped her out. She weakly stumbled out of bed and staggered towards the kitchen, desperately searching for coffee to ease her aching head and when she poured a cup she dropped into a chair and muttered a vile word, then slowly inched the cup to her lips. Unfortunately, when Taban tapped her on the shoulder the coffee went flying and Lucca fell flat on her face on the floor.

"Have you heard?!" rasped Taban.

"Heard?! Oh, God..." choked Lucca. "I didn't mean for him to sleep with her, I swear!"

"No, Crono is going on trial for abducting Princess Nadia. The trial starts at noon in the main courthouse..." moaned Taban. "Lara and I had a talk and we decided to say that you-"

"Shove off!" Lucca shrieked. "I have business at the courthouse!"

Before Taban could say anything else Lucca stumbled her way out of the kitchen and exited the house. She rustled through her pack, desperate to find the item she needed, and finally Lucca found the small push capsule that she was looking for. Lucca pressed the lever and tossed it to the ground, and in an instant a stylish motorbike (built by her, of course) appeared in a puff of smoke. Given that there was no time to waste the scientist grabbed her helmet from its resting place, plopped it on her head, and zoomed straight for Guardia Castle as fast as she could manage. Traffic laws? Who needs 'em?

Finally Lucca skidded to a halt outside the courthouse and pressed another button, which compressed the motorbike back inside its capsule, stored it in her tunic, and hurried towards the gates of the establishment. She was met by a soldier who asked for her ticket, but instead Lucca kicked him in the groin and rushed past him and into the courthouse. When she found the trial room she saw Crono at the podium, a shifty looking lawyer next to him, and the Chancellor representing the prosecution.

"I've seen him before!" gasped Lucca. "That little twit's going to railroad my best friend!" With no other option, however, the scientist shuffled through the crowd and found a seat close to the floor and pushed another citizen aside, shoved herself into the seat, and desperately grabbed onto the railing as she leaned in towards the proceedings. "If that jerk is anything like Yakra, I'm going to put my foot up his sorry butt!"

The judge sternly banged his gavel and the courtroom went silent. He quietly leaned back in his seat, looked around the room for any potential troublemakers, and finally cleared his throat before speaking. "The trial will begin when the prosecution is ready," he boomed. "Opening statements will now be read."

Stepping up to his podium, the Chancellor laid down his notes, cleared his throat, and stared at Crono with an unhealthy amount of hatred. "We are here today to conduct the trial of Crono, a random vandal who lives in Truce," said the Chancellor in a haughty manner. "He is charged with abducting Princess Nadia, in other words high treason. While the usual sentence is life in prison, the prosecution is seeking an execution of this vile criminal."

Crono angrily banged his bound wrists on his podium, startling the Chancellor and catching the attention of the judge. "Vandal?! Criminal?! You're the real piece of scum here!" he roared. "Take your stupid charge and shove it up your ass!" A stern rap from the judge silenced Crono, who reluctantly turned back to the proceedings with clear contempt on his face. "This is a kangaroo court anyway..." Crono hissed. "I don't have a shot."

His lawyer, a rather shifty character by the name of Pierre, stepped up to his own podium and slammed his fist down on the hard wood. "The defense is outraged that this charge was even processed! Crono did nothing wrong!" he growled menacingly. "The princess left the castle of her own volition! If there is a crime here, she's the one who needs to be held responsible!"

"It's clear that the motive is money," chuckled the Chancellor. "Were he to abduct and ransom the princess he could make a pretty penny in doing so. He would, of course, be caught and charged anyway."

"And I'm going to spend the money how?! I'm not stupid enough to use marked money to buy anything, and if you had anything between your ears you'd realize that because I'm not insane that wouldn't happen!" Crono snarled. "The only reason Marle left is because you guys hid her behind an iron cage! Let me talk to her, now!"

"That will be enough of that," snapped the judge as he banged his gavel and Crono reluctantly backed down.

"I have evidence that impugns the defendant's character. I call Liar X. Agerate to the stand," said the Chancellor. When an old man (who looked even shiftier than Pierre) shuffled into court he shot a nasty look at Crono, who returned the stare with one that nearly made the liar wet himself before he took the stand. "Sir, did Crono ever commit a crime against you?"

"Aye. At the fair he stole my lunch and ate it in front of me," lied Agerate. "It was my sweet mother's bento."

Pierre gruffly stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat before laying down his own notes. "Sir, you are eighty-nine years old. Your mother has been dead for decades," snapped Pierre. Agerate, stunned, could only leave the stand in shame and shuffle past Crono, who again growled a death threat at him that made him wet his pants. "We have a character witness! A young girl whose cat Crono retrieved and returned to her!"

"I object," sputterted the Chancellor. "She has no standing."

"And the lying old fart does?! Bull!" Crono boomed. When the judge rapped his gavel again he spitefully returned to his podium.

The young girl, who Crono had met at the Millennial Fair and returned to her her cat, cheerfully took the stand. "This kind man rescued my cat when it was lost! He's a really nice person and deserves a medal!" she beamed. When she departed the stand the Chancellor shot her a nasty look, but he quickly stopped when Crono slammed his fists on the podium and startled him.

"The court finds you in contempt, and sentences you to three days in jail," the judge said sternly. "That being said, if you treat a little girl like that in my courtroom again, Chancellor, you'll live to regret it."

"The prosecution rests," the Chancellor shrugged.

"As does the defense," Pierre said proudly.

The judge waved his hand and summoned the jury, who shuffled onto the courtroom floor and took their positions, guilty or not guilty. When the first juror voted guilty Lucca nearly leaped over the railing but was shoved back in her seat by her father, who had arrived and was quite cross. The next votes were split: two guilty, four not guilty. "Oh, thank God..." Lucca heaved. "That means it's over!" She jubilantly turned back to Taban, clapped her hands on his shoulders, and let out a sigh of relief. "Now we can take him home!"

"The verdict is Not Guilty!" proclaimed the judge. "However, my sentence for contempt of court stands. The defendant will be detained for three days in the castle's prison."

This time Lucca totally lost it and slammed both fists against the railing of the courtroom, startling everyone present and shaking the judge to the core. "This is nonsense! Marle left on her own! And now you sentence Crono for contempt when the only contemptuous one is that rat of a Chancellor?! Bull!" she roared. "Crono saved her, dammit!" Quickly realizing, however, that no one would believe their time traveling tale Lucca again battered her fists on the hard wood. "This is crap! I am out of here!" Lucca snarled as she stormed from the room.

Although the crowd was mostly on Lucca's side and rejected the Chancellor's charges, two guards nevertheless took him under his arms and began to drag him kicking and screaming from the courtroom. As he struggled, however, the courtroom doors were thrown open and Marle charged head long into the room. Even if she was dressed in her royal garb, her demeanor was anything but royal.

"Let him be! He's a hero! And if you want to take him in, you'll need to fight me tooth and nail for every inch!" she hissed. "I'm the only one responsible! Punishing Crono for a crime that never happened is an even bigger crime!"

"That is enough, Nadia."

Marle swiveled and turned on her heel to find her father at the doors of the courtroom, flanked by guards and staring at her with a healthy dose of contempt. Now realizing that the situation was beyond her control Marle angrily stomped her foot, shouted out a nasty word, and stormed past her father, shoving him out of the way violently as she left the courtroom. "The old fool won't listen to me? Fine!" Marle snarled. "There isn't a chance in hell I'm giving Crono up without a fight!"

Scene Four

Upon entering her house Lucca slammed the door open, stormed inside and passed by her startled mother, with Taban close on her heels. She grabbed a can of cola from the fridge, guzzled it, and then crunched it to bits and threw it in the garbage before charging up to her room. Lucca quickly threw open her door, jumped on the bed, and let out a horrific scream into her pillow that nevertheless echoed throughout the house.

Cautiously, Taban peeked his head in the door and watched his daughter begin to cry. "Are you alright, girl...?" he choked. "This has to be hard, I know... but it is what it is."

"Of course it isn't alright!" Lucca hissed. "Get the hell out of my room!"

As his daughter continued to rage and began to sob, Taban quietly shuffled onto her bed and threw his arms around her, and slowly Lucca's emotions began to cool. "You said that Crono saved the princess..." he whispered. "And the princess called him a hero. What does that even mean?"

With her fury beginning to fade Lucca feebly laid her head on her father's chest and rasped out a soft apology. "When the... event happened, we were thrown four hundred years into the past... and Crono saved Marle, not to mention the whole kingdom," Lucca groaned. "It isn't fair! He isn't a villain!"

Taban continued to hold his daughter tightly to his breast, stroking her deep purple hair as the sweat dripped from her brow and the tears flowed from her eyes. Finally he whispered something in her ear that shocked her stock still, then left the room and closed the door behind him. Eventually Lucca gathered herself and descended the stairs, entered her living room, and dutifully bowed her head to her parents in gratitude.

"I... am so sorry for the way I acted..." Lucca murmured.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Lara said flatly. "You're a hero, just like Crono." Her mother's words quickly made Lucca realize that Taban had read her into their exploits, turned to him, and smiled warmly. It meant a lot. "Don't give up. There has to be something that can be done... and you'll be the one to do it, I'm sure..."

The phone suddenly rang and Taban casually answered it, but when he heard who it was on the other end he let out a shriek and rose to his feet, stumbled forward, and shoved the telephone into Lucca's hand. Though the scientist stared at him strangely, she quietly put the receiver to her ear and listened to who was on the other end. "Who is this...?" she whispered. "It has to be someone big to make Dad so... Dear God, Marle?!"

"I've got a plan to save Crono," Marle whispered.

"How on earth did you get to the phone without your dad knowing?!" rasped Lucca. "He'd flay you for trying."

On the other end Marle chuckled and Lucca smirked. "I drugged the guard and sneaked into the communications department while no one was looking," she chirped. "This might be asking a lot of you... but are you willing to commit a little treason to save Crono?"

"In a New York minute," snickered Lucca. "Wherever that is."

Scene Five

Cracking open a single eye, Crono softly came to and sat up in his resting place to find that he had been thrown in a cell. When the Chancellor rigged his death sentence one of the guards had knocked him out and he only just then regained consciousness. He instinctively reached for the sword he'd received in 600 C.E. but found, to no surprise, that it had been taken and scowled. When Crono dropped back in bed his body went limp, but he caught sight of a care package near his bed and rustled through it to find three flasks of Lucca's tonic and a note.

It all goes down in three days. Be ready to run.

"Well, that doesn't help much..." groaned Crono. "If they get trigger happy and move the execution up I'll be dead by then."

Crono put down the flasks and looked outside of his cell, where he found two guards armed with stun clubs watching over him. Over the next three days he watched as the guard changed every day at noon, when the guards would be relieved, and noted that they were never there at the same time and formulated a plan to escape. On the third day, with nothing left to lose, Crono began to bang on the bars of his cell and tried to catch the guard's attention. When he found no response incoming, he shrugged and decided to play his last card.

"You not man enough to take me on?" Crono growled. "I bet your mother's a dirty whore."

This was enough to provoke the guard, who unlocked the cell and threw open the door as he rushed towards Crono to attack him. As he approached, however, Crono's martial arts training kicked into full effect and he brutally battered the guard over the head, struck him in the gut, and tossed him into a corner of the cell. After tying the guard up with his own bedsheets he stole his uniform, put it on, and re-locked the cell as he hustled into the guard's booth.

When the second guard arrived Crono saluted and he turned to unlock the cell, though when he found his fellow unconscious and bound the guard was unable to react when Crono jabbed his elbow into his face, sending him immediately prone to the floor with several missing teeth and rendering him unconscious while Crono immediately fled the room still dressed as a guard.

Crono carefully navigated through the prison in search of a weapon to aid his escape, but found nothing and decided to just go for broke and charge out the door. He managed to find the exit, where he was confronted by the now-awakened warden. When the soldier moved towards the phone on the wall Crono braced for trouble but suddenly the warden fell to the side and slumped to the floor, having been shot with a tranquilizer bullet that rendered him unconscious.

"And how the hell did you get here?!" an incredulous Crono screeched as Lucca entered the room. "This is supposed to be the most impregnable fortress in the kingdom!"

Lucca shook her head and smirked. "You think a little thing like treason would keep me away? I tranquilized the guards and sneaked inside, then gave a few more shots as I moved in until I got here," Lucca said with a wild grin. "We have about half an hour before they wake up! Let's get going!" Although Crono wanted to argue he was unable to do so before catching a large metal object tossed by Lucca, which he found was a solid, well-crafted steel katana, and he immediately stuffed it into his belt before moving to join Lucca in escaping.

It would be a wild dash out of the prison, but along the way Lucca explained how Marle had secretly lowered the gate to allow her inside, and on top of that had smuggled her a first-class sword from the armory for Crono to use. Crono, shocked, asked Lucca how the princess had even accomplished it and Lucca cracked a rather wicked grin and gave him a naughty wink. When the gate had been lowered Marle had smuggled Lucca inside, pushed the sword in her hands, and moved to run away.

Marle, who was still dressed as a princess, shook out a kink in her leg and turned to leave, but Lucca caught her by the arm and wrenched her back towards her. "We are so cooked when your father finds out!" choked Lucca. Marle quickly adjusted her dress to reveal both a crossbow and a sling of bolts hidden underneath, and Lucca's eyes went wide with shock. "You got something else out of the armory?!" she rasped.

"I've been planning this for ages, but I never had the guts to try. But now that Crono's in danger, I intend to fully cut ties with my father," Marle said quickly.

"This isn't just abduction anymore, it's treason! You really willing to make us all criminals just to spite your dad?!" Lucca gasped.

"As long as we kick butt and keep Crono out of the execution chamber, I intend to fight my way out of the castle once and for all. And it isn't just for Crono! It's for myself," Marled insisted. "Anyone tries to stop me's gonna live to regret it! This is it - all or nothing!"

Upon exiting the prison and reaching the bridge to the castle the two were confronted by the Chancellor, two of his guards, and a massive construct shaped with a dragon's head. The Chancellor had outdone himself in his masterpiece. It was gigantic, encased in a bronze shell with a dragon's head and two rotating wheels on either side of itself. The machine was capable of withstanding the hottest flames and was nearly indestructable.

"I did not sign up for this!" Lucca shrieked. As she panicked Crono quietly tapped her on the back and pushed her forward, an act that evoked a hard slap to the face from his friend. "What the hell did you just do to me ?!" she roared. Seeing Crono draw his blade, and staring at the much-hated Chancellor, however, Lucca quietly snatched up her weapon and aimed it at the Chancellor. "Fine. Let's clean house."

"Get them and kill them!" the Chancellor ordered. "Summary execution is approved!"

The Dragon Tank never had a chance to do so. Crono quickly lifted his sword over his shoulder, reared back, and slashed at the thing, sending a violent projectile of compressed air at the machine that severed its cannon. With its armament disabled Crono vaulted high into the air and landed squarely on the Dragon Tank, switched his grip to a reverse hold, and dug his sword into the engine of the machine. As it began to crackled and spark he dragged the sword through its body with incredible force and cut a large gash in its body before slicing off its head.

"Shoot 'em!" Crono called.

Lucca quickly lifted her gun and fired off three quick rounds, each shot nailing the Chancellor and his guards in the face and immediately knocking them out. She quickly dashed towards Crono, allowing herself to be dragged to the top of the Dragon Tank, and the two managed to dive through the final door just before the machine exploded to bits and took out the bridge where they'd fought it. Both Crono and Lucca were knocked to the ground, stumbling down a flight of stairs as they did so, but they quickly recovered, Lucca switched guns to her custom handgun, and the two hurried down the stairs towards the exit.

Inside her room Marle stuffed both her crossbow and silver dagger into her belt and stashed the quiver of bolts over her shoulder. When she heard the commotion of screams and gunfire, the princess quickly hurried down the stairs and entered the foyer, where Crono and Lucca had been cornered by a group of soldiers wielding swords. "Cease this instant!" Marle roared. The guards quickly lowered their swords and allowed her friends to rush towards her, but Marle stopped cold when she heard her father call out to her.

"Nadia, go to your room!" King Guardia ordered. "Detain those two traitors while you're at it!" Marle simply shook her head and ripped off her dress, revealing both her jumpsuit and her weapons, and she and her friends hurried outside as the soldiers began to chase them. The king was infuriated, his fingers clenching tight enough to draw blood, but finally he relented and bowed his head. "Aliza... This girl is insane," he murmured.

Crono, Marle, and Lucca dashed out of the castle and into Guardia Forest to make their escape. Unfortunately they found that all of their escape routes had been blocked by soldiers and fell back into a small open area that Marle noted had something both interesting and pertinent to their present situation: in the center of the forest there was a blue Gate, a doorway to either salvation or oblivion, and it didn't really matter which because they had nothing to lose.

"Open it, quick!" Marle shrieked.

"You've lost your God damned mind!" roared Lucca. "We might not survive if they rush through that thing without researching it first!"

"And you have a better idea?!" Crono snapped.

"When you put it that way," mumbled Lucca as she fumbled through her sack, "better a slim chance than none at all!"

Lucca quickly fished out the Gate Key and lifted it towards the blue mass, which quickly quivered and expanded into a large, swirling blue sphere, and the trio quickly dove inside just as the soldiers caught up to them. Moving through this Gate was something entirely different, however, from the one that led to 600 C.E. They fell down through a spinning whirlwind of colors before being drawn into a large black hole and finally they landed on hard steel face first just as the Gate closed.

"See...? I told you it was a bad idea..." mumbled Lucca.

"Oh, hush," Crono murmured. "You'd rather be locked in the stockade and charged with treason?"

While the trio caught their breath Crono guided Lucca to her feet and they took stock of their surroundings, a dirty, ruined bunch of scrap that they assumed was a futuristic broom closet. After opening the door with a black button they wandered through the complex, finding nothing but rats and ruins, until they finally reached the exit and reached 2300 C.E. proper. Marle immediately let out a shriek and fell to her knees when they did so, a stern chill tickling Crono and Lucca's backbones as well.

They'd arrived on an earthly hell-scape. Through darkened skies a thin streak of acid rain fell from above, and surrounded by unfamiliar hunks of ruined steel they found themselves in a futuristic, apocalyptic wasteland. None of the huge buildings were intact, with large bio-domes further north that had gigantic holes in their tops and exposed their inner workings. Lucca quietly adjusted her glasses to take in the nightmare, as Crono guided a trembling Marle to her feet and they hurried towards the nearest structure - Trann Dome.

Author's Notes

I finally finished the next chapter near the end of August, probably the biggest gap in time from one chapter to another that I've ever written. This is a long time in coming and hopefully I didn't disappoint you. I have yet to start notes for the next chapter and I also don't know when it'll be posted, but I wanted to throw you guys a bone and give you new material for the first time in more than four months. Looks like The Magus Cut will be posted sporadically, and I'll probably be working on my other projects at the same time, so this piece is still secondary to my other works.

Having completed FFV and The Andromeda War, that leaves FFIX on my present docket. However, I've started notes for a novelization of Metroid Dread, and my next plan is to do either Golden Sun or FFX at some point. By and large, however, I think when FFIX ends it'll be a dry spell before I work on Metroid Dread and my new main project, so expect a lull in new material until I get the projects well underway. Hopefully all of my present works will satisfy you until then. The Andromeda War seems to have hit a wall in popularity, so it's mostly FFVII that seems to be the most popular.

Thank you for waiting! I'll continue to work on The Magus Cut, and hopefully I can put something out in a month or two. I don't want to take another five months for a new chapter. FFIX is nearly done, though, so it may be a good gap in time before I start my other new work. Please read and review my present works! I'm always up for comments, feedback, and criticism.