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The young Sorcerer leaped over the gate that lead
into the End of Time plaza, ecstatic. "Gasper!" He shook
the old man awake. The Guru of Time gazed sleepily at his apprentice.
"Yes?"
"It's changed! Crono's dead-"
"What?!" Gasper grabbed the boy
by his shoulders and shook him roughly. "I think Spekkio's
given you one to many blows to the head! Are you insane?!"
The magic-user could simply stammer. "But-"
"No 'buts'! If he dies, you die, Jaunus,
and you know that very well!" Jaunus wasn't his real name,
but he was most commonly known as that after the incident that
had turned him into a manic-deppressive, psycopathic maniac. "I
know that," he sneered. "He died two hours ago. I
should have disappeared the moment he passed away."
Gasper grinned at the Sorcerer. "You've been
studying, haven't you?"
"As a matter of fact, no, I haven't. Now may
I please continue?"
"Get rid of the attitude, Jaunus. Very well,
continue."
"Crono was the one killed by the crossbow bolt.
That's not how it happened last time. Last time it was Will that
was killed, not Crono. And since I didn't disappear, that means
that there's way to bring him back, right?"
The old man nodded. "How?"
Jaunus thought for a moment. Then his deep green
eyes lit up, his face brightened. "The Chrono Trigger?"
The Guru of time gently shook his head no. "It's
to risky."
"I wanna use the Chrono Trigger!" he whined
plaintively.
"I'm sure you can think of a more conventional
way of to bring him back."
The young man pondered this for a second. "Got
it!"
"No magic!"
"Why?!"
"The resulting paradoxes would tear apart time.
Send out Fay, and no, that's not magic, I'll explain it to you
later, now git!"
Jaunus obliged, shaking his head and muttering under
his breath about "that crazy old man."
Snappdragon watched the scene before him helplessly.
Lucca lay curled up beside Crono's breathless body, Taban a few
feet away from her. He wanted to scoop his daughter, the most
precious thing in his life, and comfort her, but he knew that
she needed to grieve alone for a while to let the realization
that her only friend her age was gone. Thus, he had fallen into
a deep, almost comatose, sleep, in sharp contrast to Lucca, who
whimpered and stirred often, plaqued by nightmares. Will and Brooklyn
had nodded off, leaning on each other, at the edge of the circle
of light the small campfire made. They had said that they'd keep
watch, but they were exhausted. Snappdragon didn't mind; there
was no way he could sleep after he let his creator's son die.
A strange, melodic, humming roused Snappdragon from
his thoughts. Irritated, he rose, trying to catch something that
was in the air. Lucca was awoken by the movement. She looked sleepily
at Snappdragon. "Whatcha' tryin' to catch?"
"Faerie," he muttered, taking another
swipe at the air. "Gotcha!"
"Who's got who, old man?" came a tiny,
crystaline voice from Snappdragon's palm. A tiny light flared,
and in it's place was an incredibly small figure. "I know
someone's in trouble when he gets back home," she smirked.
Snappdragon snorted. "Don't rub it in, Fay."
"Okay, I will." They had woken everyone
up. Fay went over to Crono's lifeless body. "What killed
him?"
"Brooklyn spoke up. "A crossbow bolt in his back." He shook his head. "I don't get it. When we pulled it out, it wasn't near anything major, and even if it was, a bolt still doesn't kill that fast."
He shook his head again, his eyes overbright.
Fay kneeled and touched Crono's arm gingerly, then
cried out and snatched her hand back as if she had been burned.
"Poison," she murmured. "Really strong stuff…"
She took a deep breath and put both hands on his shoulder, biting
back the pain. She remained in that position for many long moments.
If they had magic, they would have seen that she was shimmering,
drawing the poison out of his body. Snappdragon was the only one
who could see it.
Finally she exhaled and slumped down, winded from
the effort. Lucca's eyes widened. The adults all gasped at the
same time.
Crono's eyes slowly opened, dazed and confused. Lucca
dropped to her knees and hugged Crono tightly, sobbing. He looked
questiongly at Snappdragon, who smiled. "We'll explain everything,
but be warned-it may take a while."
"Do you remember anything?" Lucca asked
curiously. Crono thought, then nodded. There was this girl.
She was very pretty. Her name was… Nancy? Nicki? Something
like that. She said her mother was there. But she was not there
all the way. I could not touch her. My hands went right through
her.
"Are you talking about the girl or her mother?"
Brooklyn asked when Lucca had finished interpreting what he was
saying. The girl, he replied.
Suddenly, Snappdragon came out of his anxiety and
gathered enough courage to speak up. "I'm sorry, Crono,"
he said miserably. "This was my fault. If I hadn't called
you so soon, that would have never happened. If you want, I can
take you home."
Crono was appauled. Are you crazy? I have come
too far! You want me to go back now? You are funny!
Snappdragon was hopeful. "Do you mean that?"
Of course! It was not your fault. You only have
control of your actions. How much farther do we have to go?
Snappdragon did a quick calculation in his head.
"We should be there in two hours. If you chose to continue,"
he added meaningfully.
All eyes turned to Crono. "Well?" Will
wanted to know.
What do you think? Come on!
And with that he jumped up and sprinted toward the sunrise.
"Crono!" Snappdragon yelled after the boy, half laughing. "You're going the wrong way!"