Chrono Trigger Dimensions Chapter 39
By Jerm
Cid pushed through the front door to Lucca's house. Lucca followed behind him, shutting the door behind her. Cid looked around the main room, spotting Magus sitting in the chair. Magus looked back at him for a second, then looked away, concentrating on whatever he had been doing before the two had entered.
"I see you've decided to return," Cid said, sitting in another chair by the door.
Lucca looked out the window at the inky blackness that surrounded them. It was still night. A little past midnight, in fact. She shook her head, the first day had gone by so fast.
Tomorrow would prove no slower in all likelihood, as would the day after. But the third could become the longest day in all of their lives.
Magus made no reply to Cid's abruptness. He continued to keep his concentration on matters more important to him. Cid sighed and leaned his head back, preparing to fall asleep where he sat.
"Hey boy, that's my seat!"
Cid jerked aright at the sudden voice so close to him. He snapped his head to the side and saw Marshall standing beside where he sat.
"Oh, sorry," Cid apologized, sitting up and walking over to the couch to sit.
"No need," Marshall said and sat in Cid's earlier position of residence. The wooden chair creaked under his weight.
"Where have you been?" Cid asked.
Marshall coughed loudly, "In the kitchen," he replied.
Cid glared at Marshall, ". . .And before that?"
"Oh. Well, why didn't you ask that first?" Marshall asked innocently, then continued as Cid opened his mouth to say something in response, "Here and there."
Cid removed his glasses with one hand and massaged his temples with his other, "Marshall, I'm tired. I've got a headache. I'm not in a good mood. Get to the damn point."
Lucca walked over and sat on the couch by Cid as he replaced his glasses. They both looked at Marshall inquiringly.
"Boy are you ever nosy," Marshall accused, "Why are you in such a bad mood, as you put it?"
"Quit changing the subject," Cid said.
Lucca cut in, "We ran into a small group of demons at Leene Square."
"Oh. Was anybody hurt?" Marshall inquired, happy to have successfully 'changed the subject'.
"We're both here. Judge for yourself," Lucca replied.
Marshall nodded slowly, "Oh, so it was just you two, eh?" he winked at Cid.
"Stow it," Cid said, not bothering to say anything, "Thing is, there are now four or five dead demons lying right in the middle of Leene Square. Seeing as how they aren't very likely to get up and move, I'd say we have a matter of just a few hours before someone happens to notice that the cobblestones are starting to get a little thicker."
"Well, why didn't YOU move them?" Marshall asked.
"There are now five dead demons. We were attacked by nine or so of them," Lucca replied, "Do the math--if you can count that high--and you'll discover that four other demons are out running around telling friends that there are a couple of people who really need to die right now. We didn't necessarily have time to drag five dead bodies through the streets of Truce to find a hiding spot. People are suspicious of that sort of thing for some reason or other."
"You don't have to be so insulting," Marshall replied, holding his hands up, palms out, in front of him. He returned his hands to his lap, "What do you think the populace is going to do when they find the demons?"
"Probably go into a frenzy. Form lynch mobs and all of that stuff. One of Guardia's favorite pasttimes." Lucca said, pushing her glasses back up her nose.
"Maybe we should have warned Crono after all," Cid said as an afterthought.
"Crono's lived here all of his life. The people won't lynch him as a demon." Lucca stated.
"If they'll throw him in jail and attempt to have him executed. . ." Marshall left it hanging.
"That was a mistake," Lucca said.
"Oh yeah. Berzerk lynch mobs frothing at the mouth in anticipation of spilling demon blood don't make mistakes," Cid stated sarcastically, "I almost forgot about that. Thanks for clearing that up."
"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it, Cid," Lucca declared hotly.
"Ok, fine," Cid conceeded, "If you think they'll be all right, I believe you."
"They will," Magus said, startling everyone.
"Where's Glenn?" Cid asked suddenly.
Marshall shrugged, "Off to the lilypad or something?"
Cid started to laugh, but managed to stifle it, "Not hardly."
"Why didn't you ever lift his curse," Marshall asked Magus.
"What?" Magus asked, irritantly.
"You put the curse on him, I thought that--"
"You thought wrong." Magus replied, finishing the conversation.
"How will it wear off?" Marshall pressed.
"If I die." Magus replied.
". . . . . .Oh." Marshall replied after a while, "In that case, he'll be a frog for quite some time won't he? So if you leave unexpectedly again, and Glenn suddenly turns back into a human some odd hours later, we shouldn't be expecting you home for dinner?"
Magus remained silent.
Marshall shrugged, then turned to the other two, "Speaking of dinner, any of you kids hungry?"
They both shook their heads.
"I'm going to sleep then," Marshall replied stretching.
"Do you need a blanket or--" Lucca began.
Marshall was already asleep. The chair creaked under his heavy breathing. Cid smiled and shook his head.
So much for the bigger they are, the harder they fall--asleep.
"Are you tired, Cid?" Lucca asked him, standing and stretching.
"No, I think tonight's endeavors have given me a bit of one-night insomnia." Cid replied sleepily.
"Well, I'm off to bed. If you get hungry, there's some food in the kitchen and if your insomnia wears off," she gave a look at Marshall, "Just lounge anywhere, I guess."
Cid nodded and yawned. He shook his head violently, trying to remove his tiredness.
Lucca walked toward the stairs leading to her room, "Good night, Cid."
"Good--" he yawned again, "night, Lucca."
"Good night, Magus," she said as she started climbing the stairs.
Magus looked up from where he sat and glanced at her, "We'll see," he replied and returned to his thoughts.
Lucca stopped for a moment, "Pessimist," she mumbled and continued.
Magus seemed to ignore her, but Cid could hear him reply quietly, "Optimist."
Cid smiled, trying not to laugh. Magus wasn't as inhuman as everyone else thought. He tried to hide it, like he hid his emotions and past.
* * * * *
Cid must have fallen asleep because he suddenly found himself being shaken awake by Marshall. Cid sat up slowly, "What is it?"
"We have company," Marshall said quietly.
Cid looked around the dark room, "How do you know?"
Then there was a loud banging on the door. It wasn't a knock. Someone was attacking the house. Or something.
"Intuition?" Marshall guessed.
"Maybe it's Crono or Marle knocking," Cid pressed.
There was an inhuman shriek and the door shook violently under an impact from whatever was outside of the door. The thump reverberated throughout the house noisily.
Marshall turned to Cid and arched an eyebrow, "If that's Crono or Marle, I'd say that they have some serious problems. AND that they should work those problems through outside."
"Then what is it?" Cid continued.
"I thought you already knew," Marshall replied.
Another thump echoed through the house as the thing on the other side struck the door once more. Cid looked at the door for a brief moment to check its secureness, the turned back to Marshall.
"This isn't time for a guessing game," Cid said impatiently.
"The demons followed us here," Lucca said from behind Cid, startling him.
Cid whirled at the voice, then calmed, "Oh. Sorry, Lucca. I--"
The door cracked slightly as another jarring impact occurred. The demon shrieked in mindless rage once more.
"Cid?" Lucca asked, "Could you let me through for a second?"
Cid stepped to the side and Lucca walked past him to the door. She hefted her blaster, which Cid hadn't noticed a second ago, and breathed in and out quickly.
Then she suddenly wrenched open the door and pointed the gun out the opening, firing three times in quick succession. There was the sound of an impact, then the sound of something striking the ground.
Lucca quickly stepped to the side as the dead body of one of the four-legged demons slid into the door and across the room, its legs and tail splayed haphazardly all around it. It struck the wall with a thud and stopped.
It had been charging the door, when the door had suddenly been flung open. However, even after being shot, the demon had fallen and crossed the distance with its momentum, though it was dead.
Lucca quickly shut the door and patted Cid on the shoulder, "Thanks."
"Are there any more?" Marshall asked.
"Around three, I'd say," she replied calmly, "I'm going back to sleep."
"And the other demons?" Marshall pressed.
"The other three are running away," she said, not breaking stride in her path toward the stairs.
She walked past the demon, not paying it any attention. As she started stepping up the stairs however, she turned to the other two people, "Besides, Magus is taking care of them."
Cid and Marshall quickly looked to where Magus had been, but was now not. To punctuate her words, there was a sudden burst of light from outside and another demon shrieked.
"Good night, you two," Lucca said, and disappeared up the stairs.
* * * * *
Glenn returned the next morning.
Glenn shut the door behind him and stepped into the room. It was still early morning, so he wasn't surprised to find Cid and Marshall asleep, Magus missing, and a dead demon piled up against the far wall. . .
Glenn looked back at the wall and the demon ornamenting it. Now that he thought about it, there was something strange about this. Glenn drew the Masamune and slowly walked over to the sleeping duo. He hoped that they were asleep and not dead. He had a sudden fear that demons had attacked and killed all of his friends.
Glenn went to Cid and shook him softly, trying to wake him. Cid mumbled and groaned, finally opening his eyes and looking above him.
Cid saw something inhuman, standing above him and holding a sword at him. Cid yelled and fell out of his chair he had been sleeping in. He fell to the floor less than gracefully.
Marshall jumped awake at the yell and looked over at Glenn and Cid. "Something wrong?" he asked, not one to be so easily startled.
Cid looked back up at the amphibian and shook his head roughly, trying to clear it, "Sorry, Glenn. Didn't know it was you."
"It is all right," Glenn replied, "Would someone mind telling me what THAT is doing in the house?" he asked, pointing his sword at the dead demon.
"Well," Marshall said, "We figured it was going to be a long winter, so we went out and killed something to store. However, we couldn't fit it inside of Lucca's refridgerator, so we were going to--"
"Quit joking around Marshall," Cid said, cutting off the bounty hunter in midsentence, "It attacked the house so Lucca killed it, Glenn."
Glenn looked at Marshall for a few seconds, then turned to Cid and nodded. "Be there any more?"
"Magus got the rest," Cid replied, shaking his head.
"Where is Magus anyway?" Marshall asked, "Surely he's done hunting down demons now."
"It doesn't really matter where he is, anyway," Cid pointed out, "He'll show up when we are ready to go back to Nikades."
"I guess so. . ." Marshall said, then changed the subject, "So Glenn! Where have you been?"
"I went to the Cursed Woods. I found them to be no longer occupied by frogs and I also found that my home is gone."
"400 years can do that, I hear," Marshall mused humorously.
"What time is it?" Cid asked suddenly, "I'm hungry for breakfast."
They went to the kitchen and ate. Lucca awoke an hour later and she too ate. They talked and joked together and the day went by with no event.
Even with the threat of Nikades, they managed to have a great day and enjoy their possible last moments with ease. Night soon reached them and they each grudgingly went to bed.
There were now two days left.
.