Chrono Trigger Dimensions Chapter 40
By Jerm
"What are you doing?" Marshall asked Lucca.
They, along with Glenn and Cid were standing outside in front of the gatekeeper. It was early morning, and Lucca was tinkering with her machine for some reason she kept to herself.
"I'm seeing if the demons did anything to it when they were knocking on our door. It wouldn't do us any good if we went to see Nikades, and ended up someplace we really didn't need to be at the time."
Marshall scratched the back of his neck and made no reply. He looked off to the east, shading his eyes from the rising sun. Finally, he spoke, "Twenty-four hours from now, we'll be right here, doing close to the same thing."
"If it bothers you, don't think about it," Lucca replied, not looking up.
"It doesn't bother me. . .It worries me," he answered.
"I know this is a dumb question," Cid cut in, "but does anyone know where Magus is?"
"Off somewhere else, I'd assume," Marshall replied.
Cid glared at him, "I--"
Marshall shrugged, "Dumb question gets a dumb answer."
Glenn walked away from the other, going around the house. Cid looked after him a moment before asking, "What's wrong?"
Glenn shook his head, "Nothing, I would think. I believe that that is Marle and Crono walking this way."
"'Bout time," Marshall grunted, "At least they're safe."
Cid wandered over beside Glenn, looking to the north at the bridge. Two figures were walking toward them. However, he couldn't make them out, "Are you sure it's them. I can't see that far."
"You must be going blind, Cid," Marshall said, suddenly beside him, "I can see them fine from here."
Cid took off his glasses and polished them on his shirt. He replaced them and peered forth once more, but with the same results.
"Oh, I see them," he lied.
"Good boy," Marshall said, "Let's go greet them."
However, when they reached the two, Crono was less than cordial, "I would say that someone here's been busy."
"What do you mean?" Marshall asked innocently.
"The natives are in a frenzy right now. It seems that they found several dead demons lying up in Leene Square," Crono replied.
"Oops," Cid said quietly.
Crono looked over at Cid and raised an eyebrow, "You wouldn't have anything to do with it, would you, Cid?"
"What happened?" Cid asked.
"Oh, nothing. Several people came to my house and tried to 'arrest' me and Marle. Apparently we were demons. Anyway, I persuaded them to go away and bug someone else."
Marshall chuckled, "Persuaded?"
"Oh it gets better," Marle spoke up.
"That's right," Crono said, "They have Magus for close to the same reason."
* * * * *
"How could they get HIM of all people?" Lucca asked as they trekked across the bridge back toward Truce.
"Ask him," Crono shrugged, "I doubt, though, that he allowed them to capture him. Of course, I could be wrong."
"Maybe he didn't have any energy to fight them," Marle said.
"No, he was using it fairly well when he was disabling the rest of the demons at the house," Cid said.
"What were you doing in Leene Square of all places?" Crono asked Lucca.
"Just taking a walk and reliving memories," Lucca said.
"With Cid if I recall," Crono pressed.
"Yeah, so?" Lucca replied defiantly.
Crono winked at Cid.
"I wish you people would quit that," Cid said suddenly, "We had a walk and talked; it's not like we did anything unethical up there."
"You did sort of kill five demons. Murder is unethical if I--" Crono began.
Cid glared him down.
"Sorry," Crono said.
"No problem," Cid answered, turning back to the path in front of him.
"Well, actually," Marle said, "There is the problem of getting Magus out. Any suggestions, plans, or wild ideas?"
"Yeah, Lucca," Crono said, "Got a Plan. . .what letter were we on?"
"I think 'G'," Lucca said, "Or maybe 'F' or 'H'. Anyway, no. I don't have one yet."
Marshall glanced at them.
Crono flashed him a quick smile, "Just a way of keeping track."
"Of course," Marshall said.
"You all do know we don't have much time to pull this off, don't you?" Marle said.
"We have plenty to run in, grab Magus, and run out, don't we?" Lucca asked.
"Maybe," Marle said.
"Pessimist," Lucca said.
"Maybe," Marle repeated.
"Are you going to say that word over and over again?" Lucca asked.
". . . ." Marle looked at Lucca with an evil grin, "Maybe."
Lucca wisely remained silent.
"I think I have a plan that'll work," Cid said suddenly.
The others looked at him inquiringly.
"At least I hope," he finished.
* * * * *
Magus slumped forward, unconscious. He was bound to a pole, cords of rope wound about him and the pole, ensnaring him. Around him were several angry and frightened people.
The people looked at him in fear. All except one, at least. That one person, obviously the leader of this mob looked at Magus with a look of something unreadable.
The man was slightly tall, around six feet and had red hair and a beard. There was a flinty look in his brown eyes and those eyes were directed deep into Magus's soul.
Looking at Magus, the man saw power so strong, it was almost a visible aura. He would do nicely, the man thought to himself.
"Hey!" yelled a voice suddenly.
The people all turned to look at the newcomer. It was a swordwielding frog. Since a swordwielding frog isn't something you see everyday, the people gave out an understandable reaction.
"Demon!" they shouted.
The red haired man looked at the newcomer, "Get him! It is a demon and the safety of your city and families depend on its death!"
The peole howled with sadistic glee and ran after Glenn, with full intention of fulfilling the orders.
Glenn waved his sword about one more time before sheathing it and turning to run away from the advancing people. Being a frog, he could carry distance faster than the humans after him, so he had to run slowly to allow them to keep up.
The redhaired man smiled, this was a much better opportunity than he was planning. He turned to Magus and reached out his hand.
Then the red haired man's eyes changed to black. It slowly began to lose its form as it began its self appointed task. The shadow smiled to itself at the power it was about to take over.
"Stop!" it was another voice.
Bastion turned toward the voice to find five figures facing him. He laughed at them, they were too far away. He reached once more toward Magus.
Then there was a whizzing noise and Bastion suddenly felt pain as the crossbow bolt flew into the side of its head, imbedding itself halfway.
Bastion stumbled to the side from the impact and fell to its knees. He twitched his head it a spasmed jerk and the crossbow bolt snapped, the half protruding from his head fell to the ground. A second later, Bastion spit out the second half.
"Damn, it's that stupid shadow again," Marshall swore, recognizing the black eyes.
Bastion stood slowly, "I am not Thatos. He is quite truly dead. However, I and more like me are still alive. I would assume you are the destroyers of him. In that case, I will surely enjoy destroying you."
Bastion shook the pain away and walked toward the group. When he was beside Magus, however, he stopped.
"Make the first move, murderers." he taunted.
Lucca and Marle both aimed their weapons at him, preparing to fire. Marshall wished he had another crossbow, but simply sighed and drew his sword; as did Crono and Cid.
The shadow smirked. Then he reached to the side and grabbed Magus's head. The body of Magus jerked for a second, then stopped.
There was a flash of light as Lucca fired her gun. Marle also fired.
"No!" the red haired man yelled as his fate advanced.
The two missiles struck him in the chest at the same time. He was thrown far into the air, to land on his back, dead.
"Are you ok, Magus?" Cid asked.
"He's unconscious, you wafer," Lucca said.
"Not. . .quite," Magus said, opening his eyes.
* * * * *
Glenn decided that the others had had enough time to get Magus out of harms way. He decided to lose the mob behind him.
Turning tightly to the right, he cut into an alley way, finally emergin from the back of the houses, running toward the ocean that presented itself before him. Behind him, the mob howled in fury as they continued the chase.
Then Glenn was there. He bent and jumped off of the bluff standing over the waters, performing a dive to a place no man would follow.
* * * * *
"Are you okay, Magus?" Cid asked uncertainly.
". . .Yeah, no problem," Magus replied, coughing slightly.
"At least untie him before you start asking questions," Marle said, looking at the rope around Magus's hands.
Crono, however, was looking at Magus's face intently, "'Yeah, no problem'?"
"Yes," Magus replied, "I am okay."
"Fine," Crono said, but he was suspicious.
He thought back to when the red haired man had died. There had been a sudden look of fear in the man's eyes. As though he didn't know what was going on. . .
"Let's go, Crono. We have to go find Glenn," Marle said, breaking his thoughts.
"Ok, one moment," Crono replied.
And just moments before, the man had had a look of accomplishment. Why would he change expressions? Unless the shadow's plan was to fake his death. . .
"Are you coming?" Lucca queried.
"In a moment," Crono replied impatiently.
Shadows were able to turn people into their hosts. To possess them and move on when another was wanted. How long did it take to possess people, anyway?
"Crono, we really don't have a--" Lucca began.
Crono broke from his thoughts with a jerk and pushed Lucca out of his way, drawing his sword.
"Hey!" Lucca said, as she was set aside.
Crono ignored her and stalked straight to the blue haired man in front of him. He grabbed Magus by the back of his cloak with his free hand and roughly drew the wizard aside, slamming him against a house.
"What are you doing, Crono?!" Marle asked, enraged.
Crono waved his sword in Magus's face, "You're a shadow, aren't you? Let him go or I'll kill you both!"
"I don't know what you're--" Magus pleaded.
"Shut up and let him go!" Crono continued.
"Crono, aren't you jumping to conclusions?" Cid asked.
"I've thought things through," Crono said, "That man was under the control of a shadow and now it has Magus. That's why the man was surprised when we killed him!"
"You're insane, boy," Magus said.
"Maybe," Crono said, "But you're too dead to care."
Crono ignored the sudden yells by his friends and swung his sword at Magus's neck.
A black form shot out of the body and struck Crono. The boy was thrown to the ground, his sword clattering on the ground.
A shadowy creature was writhing outside of Magus's body. It hissed for a moment, then reentered the wizard. Magus tried to fight it for a moment, but he was still too weak to fight. The possession was recompleted moments later.
"Get him, now!" Crono yelled, struggling to his feet.
There was a ringing noise and Crono looked up to see Magus's scythe arching toward his head. He forgot about standing and simply rolled to the side. The blade missed him by a second, imbedding itself into the ground.
"You can't fight me," the shadow was speaking, "You cannot defeat this man even without the fact that you would not dare kill an ally. He is much too strong. 400 years ago, Magus was the most powerful wizard in the world. Some things never change."
Magus raised his hand and lightning snaked from it, seeming to wrap itself around Marshall. The large man went into spasms as he was electrocuted. Then the lightning stopped, and he dropped to the ground.
Crono stood up and ran toward his sword. Before he could reach it, though, it flew from the ground to hover in the air, dancing about Crono. Then it struck him.
Crono was surprised, but he managed to turn slightly, so the blade cut his shoulder and not into his heart. He grabbed his arm in pain and stumbled away, trying to avoid the blade's next swipe.
Magus laughed, enjoying these games very much. Then he turned to the others who were advancing on him. He picked one at random and waved his hand.
Lucca was suddenly encased in an ice prison. Unable to move, she peered out of her 'cell' in helpless submission.
As his attention was diverted however, Crono managed to get his sword out of the air and was now stalking toward the wizard with murderous intent.
Crono suddenly found it hard to hold onto his sword, however. Magus regained control of it and it began attempts at hacking at its owner. Crono threw the sword away and grasped the new wound it had opened up in his leg.
Magus brought his scythe up to prevent the first attack, sent by Cid. He brought the butt of the scythe up to strike Cid in the jaw. He then sent a bolt of electricity toward Marle.
Suddenly, Glenn was there. He had evaded his pursuers and had returned to witness the betrayal.
Glenn raised the Masamune up and it seemed to invite the energies into it. The blade had actually prevented the magic, sucking it in like a vacuum. Magus realized what was going on too late.
Glenn swung the Masamune hard and struck Magus in the head with the flat of the blade. Magus crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
"A debt is owed to a friend, but now is not the time to pay it," Glenn said to the unconscious opponent.
A shadow erupted from Magus, shrieking in anger. Then it fled the area, leaving the group.
"Apparently, we have a problem," Marle said quietly.
"What's that?" Lucca asked, "Besides the fact that demons are running rampant, the people are in a lynching frenzy, the kingdom is in anarchy, and all existence will cease in 2 days?"
Marle glared at Lucca, "After we beat Nikades, how will we be able to get rid of these shadow demons? They have been set free for the first time in millions of years. I don't think any world is prepared for them."
"That's IF we beat Nikades," Crono said, reminding her of the odds of the situation.
"Which have just been dropped," Cid pointed out, "We now lack Magus and Marshall."
"Marshall," Crono said, remembering, "Is he alive?"
"Yeah, but he's out cold. He's about in the same condition as Magus. Without those two, we've lost a big fighting force." Lucca said.
"We don't need a fighting force, though," Crono said, "If our plan works, all we need to do is seal Nikades before he wakes."
"We still need to get past his minions, Crono," Marle pointed out.
"May we return to Lucca's house?" Glenn asked, "I have but only recently escaped my pursurers, but they will return here nonetheless."
"Good idea," Marle said, nodding.
"Ummm, one second," Cid said.
The others turned to him. "What is it?" Crono asked, impatiently.
"How are we going to get Marshall there? I really doubt he wants to be dragged." Cid said, actually able to control his smile this time.
.