Chrono Trigger Invasions Chapter 13

By Jerm

Magus quickly directed his attention to the figure in the bed as Schala opened her eyes. She blinked several times, seeming confused by her place of residence. Then, noticing him, she turned to Magus.

"Who are you?" she asked groggily.

Magus shook his head, "No time to talk," he gave her a cup full of water, "Drink this."

She accepted the cup and looked at it. Finally, she drank from it. She found that she was indeed thirsty as the cup was empty several seconds later. She handed the cup back to him and he accepted it.

The rest of the group was outside at the moment. Apparently, Cid needed something from the epoch. The others had been quite put out with Marshall for kicking the epoch off of its supports. Marshall had replied that he couldn't have known they would need anything off of it anymore. In fact, he couldn't have known that the kick would have knocked it off of its supports.

"Now, who are you?" she asked, bringing Magus back to the present, "And where am I?"

Magus thought over the first question. He could never give her his old name, he was no longer that person. Finally, he spoke, "My name is Magus."

She nodded, "And where am I?" she asked again.

"That is not important," Magus said, "At least you are no longer in the Palace."

Schala shuddered violently, "What happened to the world? To Lavos."

Magus sighed, looking down for a moment. He peered back up at her and told her of the destruction of Zeal. The death of Dalton. Now the once proud kingdom of Zeal was merely a small struggling village.

He stopped, "There is more, but you would not understand it at the moment."

Schala merely nodded, "How did you find me?" she asked suddenly.

Magus's mind reeled for an explanation. Ideas flashed through his head and he shook them off. Finally a feasible idea came. He grasped it and molded it into a story.

"I heard that there might be treasure in the ocean. I used my ship to get out there and then dived. I found the Ocean Palace and was able to get in. Instead of treasure, I found you."

After telling the story, Magus berated himself mentally. That was a pathetic story. Why would anybody be after treasure when food was what was most needed in this dead world. In a small village, money wasn't needed. However, he had told the story and he would have to stick with it.

Schala seemed to accept it however. Maybe she didn't know of the true conditions of the world yet. She reached her hand out suddenly, holding it before him, "Schala," she said.

Magus tried to hide his expression as he accepted her hand to shake, "Magus."

"I know," she said, smiling back.

This seemed to break the dark mood that had been created from the story. Magus got her some more water, which she drank away just as fast. She was definitely thirsty.

However, a gloom remained in Magus's thoughts. She would never know Janus again. Janus no longer existed, he was dead. Magus had accepted it, as had most other people. He didn't know how to tell Schala of that, however. He remained quiet.

After drinking a third cup of water, Schala looked around the cave she was in, "Do you think I could get up and walk around?"

"It depends on how you feel," Magus replied, "I'm not sure how long you were down there."

Schala slowly creeped out of the cot she had been in. She was very unsteady for a while as she tried to hobble around. After a while, however, she was able to walk with very little trouble. There was still struggle, however. It had been a long time.

She was still wearing her Zealian gown, but it was severely wrinkled from having slept in it. She didn't seem to mind however, and continued to walk around, examining the cave.

She walked over to the cave entrance to look out. Magus followed. Schala peered around her at the snowy wasteland. Then she looked at the sky. The new stars were now present in the daytime as well. Schala seemed quizzed by this, but didn't inquire. There was much to this new world she would have to learn about.

Magus peered along the ridges of the cave's entrance. They had been scraped from the epoch's crashing passage. That had been a very close call. He turned from the snow and walked back inside of the cave. Schala continued to peer out at her new world.

Then she looked down the mountain. There were seveal figures walking back up to the cave. They were much to far to recognize. She turned back to the inside of the cave, "Magus? There's some people coming up to your cave."

Magus merely nodded.

* * * * *

"You seem to be a very strong person," Bastion said hovering above the wrecked bridge. He seemed to jump and was suddenly standing beside Glenn.

Glenn turned, Masamune still drawn, and faced the spectre. Bastion merely laughed, "Ericane has failed me twice now. I think it's time I do this myself. The others would be so mad if they found out, but it's none of their business if they don't."

"What do you want?" Glenn asked, taking a step back.

"What nobody else seems to want. . .You dead," Bastion seemed to smile, "You see, the Masamune presents so much power. However, I seem to be the only person that knows how unmanageable the power is. Storimae is the most ambitious of them, even more so than me. The council has been split by your appearance. Everybody denounces any attempt to take the Masamune, but each one that denounces the attempts, attempts themselves behind the others' backs. It's quite funny, actually."

"So the shadows are in a war with themselves," Glenn retorted, "I can't say I'm saddened."

Bastion shuddered at the false appellation, "I'm sure somebody would have told you we aren't shadows. I myself hate that name. I'd prefer it if we were called what we call ourselves: Spectres."

"I've been told," Glenn replied, "but the names make no difference to me."

"Very well. . .froggy," Bastion replied, "With you gone, all of the council will have to give up their search. The civil war with us will end and we can continue with what we were doing. Morlis, Lanon, Adijem, Amey, Dalack, and Storimae will have to work together once more. The way the council was intended. Unfortunately, they will still try to one-up each other, but it won't be a war."

"Are you going to try and kill me now?" Glenn threatened, "The Masamune says it would be futile."

Bastion shook its head, "Not now. The bridge was my attempt for the day. The only way I'm going to kill you is indirectly. Watch your back for the rest of your life, froggy. You'll never know when or how I'll come at you next."

With that, Bastion faded away, leaving Glenn alone at the edge of a collapsed bridge. Glenn shuddered, Bastion was right.

He resheathed his sword and started to continue his trip back home. This time he was much more wary of his surroundings.

* * * * *

As the group reached Magus, he could tell they weren't very happy at the moment. He wondered what, other than having to walk so far in the cold, could put them in such a bad mood. Cid was carrying something, Magus didn't know what. He did know that it was what they had set out to find.

He turned and walked back inside the cave as they followed him. Cid all but dropped the thing he was carrying on the floor next to the time device. He then started to rapidly connect wires. He didn't even notice Schala.

The others did however. And Schal recognized Crono and Marle.

"You two. . .you were both at the Ocean Palace. What are you doing here?" she stuttered slowly.

Then she turned back to Magus, "I knew I recognized you. You-You're the prophet! What's been going on? What 'really' happened?"

Crono, about to say something, shut his mouth and looked at Magus questioningly. Magus however, didn't break stride.

"I told you earlier, there was much more that occurred, but you wouldn't understand it," he said calmly, "Do you remember the time gate, the thing I made you seal when we were getting these people out of Zeal?"

Schala scrunched up her face as she thought, ". . .Yeah, I remember the gate. . .Time gate?"

"That gate bridges time," Magus explains, "Those people were from another time. . .As was. . .I," Magus was having trouble telling the last statement, he shook his head and continued, "That was how I was able to become an oracle."

Schala digested the information slowly. Then she nodded, she didn't have a choice but to believe him. After all, he didn't have a reason to lie to her.

Did he?

"Tell me the rest of the story," she demanded finally, "Whether I understand it or not, I want to know."

"Very well," he replied, sighing.

He started to talk, but Marshall cut him off, "I don't think we have time for a long explanation."

"Why?" Magus turned to the bounty hunter, "I don't have any plans to go anywhere. 'I' have plenty of time to talk."

"I found something while we were walking back up. I think it might change your mind," Marshall started to dig through his cloak pockets, then through other pockets. Finally, he gave up, "Drat, I must've dropped it back there. . .Oh, wait, there it is!"

Marshall turned to the exit of the cave and pointed to the sky. Magus walked beside him and followed his hand. High up in the sky were the stars. One of them was a crimson red.

"What does it mean?" Magus asked.

"It means," Cid cut in, still trying to connect the time machine to the power pack he had salvaged from the epoch, "the aliens have landed. And they are most definitely not friendly."

"What's been going on?" Magus demanded, suddenly.

"What do you mean, didn't you hear us talking about it earlier?" Marle was confused.

"I had other things to deal with than other people's problems," he replied.

"Well, I thought he was taking it rather lightly," Crono said, "Okay, Magus. Here's what we've been able to deduce so far. Apparently, before we were able to finish off Lavos, he sent out a signal. That signal warned the others of his kind that the planet he was sent to had defeated him. They weren't very happy about this, so they have attacked by force. We've got a whole fleet of. . .Lavos's. . .coming at us, destroying one time at a time. This time is next, I guess."

"You guessed right," Marshall added.

Magus closed his eyes angrily. He had just managed to find his sister, and now this. Nothing ever came out the way it was planned.

But if this was the way life would be to him, he would snap back at life just as harshly. Magus turned from his thoughts and looked at the others, "I'll come with you."

"Good, I was hoping on that," Crono said.

"What we need to do is warn the remaining times and get our other allies with us. Then we need to find a safe place to gather and form a plan to stop these things," Marle said.

"Done yet, Cid?" Marshall asked again.

"No," Cid replied ill-temperedly.

"It's taking forever," Marshall said, looking back out at the sky.

"Do you want to do this?" Cid snapped.

"Nevermind," Marshall backed down quickly.

"Give me about ten more minutes," Cid said, "Then I should be done."

"Oh, we will," Marshall assured him, then added, "I just hope they will," he indicated the sky.

Two more of the stars had turned red, indicating their nearness to the planet. The other stars would soon follow.

Cid didn't answer Marshall's reply.

.

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