Things Left Undone Book 1, Chapter 2

Robo and Doan

By CuteLucca

They emerged in Bangor Dome. The first thing they noticed was the fact that the whole dome was remodeled. It was bigger, and there were people... Healthy people.

They walked around the dome, amazed. Some people stopped and looked at them funny, but they didn't notice. In one corner, an enclosed dome with a clear top encased a field. It was full of trees, bearing red fruit. There were more people there, harvesting the trees and planting more.

As Crono, Lucca, and Marle walked through the renovated dome, they saw stores, houses, and hundreds of people bursting with healthy beauty.

Once they had exited the dome, they saw people outside. No longer was the sky a dark blackish purple. Now it was the bluest blue. And there was grass. And trees, and flowers, and birds. The change that had come over the whole country was astounding.

On the way to the Arris Dome, they stopped people and talked to them. It was 2303 AD, and Emperor Doan was king. All robots were destroyed in 2301 under his command, all except the great Robo who restored peace to their once cruel world. Also worshipped were the gods Crono, Marle, Lucca, Frog, And Ayla who destroyed the demon Lavos three years ago.

The first sign of the Arris Dome was the gigantic tree emerging from its center. This dome was also redone in the manner of the Bangor Dome.

They were welcomed at the door by two guards who, after staring wide-eyed for several seconds, dropped to their knees and lowered their weapons to the ground. The guard on the right, with his head bowed to the ground, spoke.

"Oh, great gods. We only live to serve you, and we humbly apologize for our insolence at staring. We ask that you not zap us with Lightning, Great Crono. We ask that you do not fry our wives with Fire, Mistress Lucca. We ask that you have mercy on our children, Goddess Marle. And to Master Frog, who is so unfortunately not here for us to worship, we ask that you do not wash our homes away with Water. And to Warrior Ayla, who is not here to honor us with her presence, we ask that you do not destroy the kingdom which we so humbly guard."

During this speech, Crono and his friends could just stand there and look at each other. Once the guard had finished kissing their shoes and prostrating himself, he humbly asked if he could lay his unworthy eyes upon so great a group of gods as these.

Crono granted his request. "Oh, get up. Could you do us a favor and take us to Doan and Robo?"

The guard lifted his head, eyes sparkling with delight. "Ahh! Such a humble guard as I has the undeserved honor to escort our great gods through our kingdom!" At that, he snapped to attention, as did the other guard who had remained silent through the whole exchange, and flanked Crono, Marle, and Lucca. They called for the gates to open, and with a creak, they did.

As they walked through the kingdom, everyone knelt and lowered their heads at the group’s passing. Any guards that they met along the way saluted and joined the procession. Soon they came to the trunk of the great tree and the complex of buildings around it.

Doan emerged at the "Hark" of the guards, and seeing the deities that he worshipped, he knelt as well.

He stayed that way until Marle walked over and tapped his shoulder. Keeping his head below the level of her knees, he asked her what her great goddess so deservingly desired. She politely asked him to stand up.

"Oh, yes, Great Goddess Marle!" He stood up, briskly at attention.

"Please take us inside, away from all these people!" Lucca said. She was nervously looking at the whole village kneeling around them.

Doan waved his hand, and immediately all the people dispersed. "Please, follow me." He led them inside, to a well decorated room. "Make yourselves at home while I go find Robo."

After he had left, they seated themselves on the couch.

"*What* is going on here?" Marle asked.

"It seems that since we killed the monster that destroyed the world, and also killed the Mother Brain that was processing humans, they worship us as dieties." Lucca sighed. "Boy, it's pretty cool being a god."

Crono scoffed. "No, it's not. This is going a bit too far. I mean, heroes is okay. But look at them! They kneel when we walk by. They degrade themselves whenever they say anything to us. They are afraid to make eye contact. They ask us not to fry their families! This is pitiful!"

At that moment, Doan walked in, trailing Robo. Everyone ran and cried for joy, and embraced their long lost friend.

"I thought I would never see you again." Robo managed to say.

"We missed you so much, Robo!!" cried Marle. More embracing ensued.

Soon, everyone was reaquainted and calmed down.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation." Doan said. "It is true that these people worship you, but it’s not such a bad thing is it? I mean, these people need something to believe in, right?"

"Sure," said Marle, "but your people are overdoing it."

Doan stammered. "Well, it's too late to do anything about it now.

These people already have shrines erected in your honor."

"What!?!" Crono grabbed the old man by his collar. "Tell these people to find something else to worship!! We don't want to be gods!!"

Lucca piped up. "Hey, I want to be a god! Someone come and hand-feed me grapes!! Fan me!!"

Crono glared at her. She blushed, and quieted down.

"I would, but it's not that easy. The people have believed you gods for three years, and if I suddenly told them not to worship you, they would revolt at my banning freedom of religion." Doan stopped, and watched as a servant girl scurried in with peeled grapes and a fan. She went to Lucca, who laid down on a feather cushion and basked in the attention. He continued. "Only if the very gods they worshipped told them not to, would they stop. I mean, they'd still worship you, but not visibly."

"So, you mean, we have to stand in front of all these people, tell them not to think us gods, then when we're done, they will worship us even more for blessing their ears with our speech?" Marle asked.

"Exactly." Doan sighed, and apologized. "I'm sorry, but after you left, the people began to get restless. With the tree growing, they couldn't wait any more for their hope. I had to keep them busy, so I had them fix the dome, and worship you."

Crono sighed, and put the old man down. "All right. I guess we have no choice. Call your countrymen together, and we'll speak to them this afternoon."

Robo, who had been silent, spoke. "I will speak with you, Crono. I have no wish to remain a deity."

Doan told them to go wash up, since they must have had a hard journey there, and left to assemble his people.

* * * * *

That afternoon, Crono, Marle, Lucca, and Robo were on a balcony overlooking a milling crowd of people three thousand strong. A voice out of the crowd yelled. "Oh, speak great gods and goddesses!" So they did.

"Don't call us that!!" Crono yelled.

The crowd below yelled "Yes, great god Crono!!" as one.

Again, Crono yelled. "Please!! Do not worship us!! We are not Gods!! You are wasting your time!! We cannot bless your family!! We do not determine where you go when you die!! We do not have the power to do so!!" Crono breathed hard, waiting for the effect of his words.

"Speak, Goddess Marle!!" yelled the same voice.

Marle also refused the mantle of Goddess. "I am not a god either!! I can not bless, or curse, or lead!! I am no god!!"

Silence from the crowd. The voice yelled "Speak, Master Robo!!"

Robo whirred, and spoke. "I am not a god, as Marle and Crono aren't. I am just a robot, programmed to act as you humans do. Please, do not waste your time!!"

The voice yelled again. "Speak, Goddess Lucca!!"

Everyone looked at her, and she said, "I truly appreciate your compliments, and I enjoyed your hospitality, and you have really good grapes here. But I’m just as human as you!!"

Murmurs from the crowd. "What would Master Frog and Warrior Ayla say were they here!?!"

"They would say the same as we did!! They are mortals as we are... as you are!!" With that, the four ex-gods stood, awaiting the crowd's reaction. A roar sounded, growing in intensity as it neared the foursome. But this was not a respectful roar, this was an angry roar. Suddenly, raw vegetables and rotten eggs flew through the air, smacking on the metal walls behind them. They dropped to the ground, trying to reach the door to Doan's house, but the guard standing near them tried to stab Crono with his sword. Crono landed a kick to the guard's midsection, and he collapsed in a heap. The crowd was climbing the walls, trying to capture the false gods. Cries of "Kill the imposters" and "Die, heretics" resonated throughout the kingdom.

With much difficulty, they reached the door and closed it behind them, just as a volley of arrows clanged off its metallic sides.

Once inside, Robo summed up all their thoughts by saying, "Well, they took that well."

Doan herded them through the house into a small closet, where they could hide. By that time, the mad crowd had broken into Doan's house and were searching it for the false deities.

While hiding, Marle asked Lucca why she didn't tell everyone she was a god.

"Their feather beds have little prickly things in them." was Lucca's answer.

Marle rolled her eyes and was quiet.

Finally, the sounds of shouting died. Crono, who was closest to the door, tried to open it. "It's locked!!"

Everyone groaned. "Oh, great." Lucca growled. "It's about a hundred degrees in here, there's no leg room, and we have to wait for some old man to come and let us out!!"

Marle elbowed her in the stomach. "Quit complaining. At least we weren't torn limb-from-limb by a psychotic crowd."

But before Doan could come to let them out of the closet, a gate opened right over them. They were sucked in.

.

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