Chrono Trigger Invasions Chapter 28

By Jerm

"That will not do!" Morlis yelled, standing with his face near Marshall's.

Marshall had dropped the sword, unable to complete his suicide. He had lost control at the last second, Dalack had been able to stop him. Morlis bent over and picked up the dropped sword, examining it.

"Hmm. . .Not magical. . ." he muttered, then suddenly turned and hefted it over the edge of the mountain. It glittered as it spun away into the blinding snow.

Marshall/Dalack grabbed Morlis's arm, "What did you do that for?! I could have used that, you idiot!"

Morlis shrugged off the offending arm, "You have magic now. Use it instead. But we can not give him the slightest chance to finish that 'pose.'"

A bright flash of light struck the mountain about a hundred meters below where they stood. Snow was kicked up, melting and evaporating from the heat before it had a chance to finish its flight. The small explosion caused by the bolt tore a chunk out of the mountain, throwing rocks into the air. The brief flash ended and they could only hear as the rocks landed and smashed back to the ground. It was nearing midnight.

Marshall and Morlis looked to the north and saw that the things had come out of the ground now, and were finishing off the resistance. Many of the 'meteors' were now smashing into the earth with nothing to stop them. It would be over soon.

And soon the mountain would be destroyed as well. The spectres figured that the mountain wasn't being targetted due to its lack of inhabitants. Even so, they needed to keep an eye out for stray fire.

"We'll have to hurry if we are going to beat them in using that egg," Morlis said, stepping forward to continue his climb.

"What about his leg? It's broken, you know."

"Fix it," Morlis said, not turning around.

Marshall glared at the spectre for a moment, then tensed himself, holding his breath. He concentrated on his magic and focused it on his leg.

A loud popping noise erupted from his joint, then a snapping noise. Marshall gritted his teeth and his eyes were squeezed shut. Then a second snapping noise came and Marshall yelled loudly.

"Done?" Morlis asked, hiding a smile.

". . . .DAMN THAT HURT!" Marshall hissed through his gritted teeth.

"Yes, I could tell," Morlis said blandly, "Are you finished?"

"Might. . .as well be," Marshall began to walk without a limp, though there was a pained expression on his face.

* * * * *

"We're too late. . ." Marshall/Dalack said, looking briefly at the peak, empty except for the body of Cid.

Morlis ignored him and stepped toward the body, examining it. Marshall shuffled around, looking at the destruction all around him, "Dead yet?"

"No, he isn't," Morlis said, almost happily, "In fact, I can still use him!"

"How? We're too late," Marshall reminded him, "We can't use the time egg now."

"I know, I know," Morlis replied, "But I'd like a bit of revenge. I've got another idea."

"Two ideas in one week!" Marshall said sarcastically, "I think you're on a roll. . .Too bad the first didn't work."

"Is that sarcasm?" Morlis asked darly.

"It sure as hell isn't praise."

"Put your grudge down for the moment, I need your help." Morlis answered.

"What do I do?" Dalack asked, giving up.

"Greet them openly when they reappear. Try and keep them between you and Cid there," Morlis said, pointing at the body briefly, "Then when they start to pick up the body to carry off, attack them fiercely. When they turn to you, I'll catch them off guard from behind."

"It might work," Marshall mused, "If you don't mess it up again."

Morlis remained silent.

* * * * *

"Where are we?" Marle asked, looking at their new surroundings.

"I think we're inside Lavos's shell. . ." Crono replied, "It's hard to tell, being so dark."

Magus obligingly raised his hand, which burst into light. Beside him, Schala nearly jumped at the sudden flare, but remained calm.

"Good, good. We're close," Crono said, "This way should take us to the center. There we'll find Lavos. . .and ourselves."

Magus stepped forward, taking the lead and bringing the light with him. The other filed in behind him. Suddenly, Schala stopped, gasping audibly. The others quickly turned to her.

"I'm-I'm fading!" she said urgently, "What's happening?"

"It's started," Magus said, "We'll have to hurry."

"The Lavos's are breaking their hold on time now? Why aren't we fading as well?" Crono asked, stepping behind the now running Magus.

"You come from a later time. Schala will be first, followed by me. Then I take it Glenn will leave. Finally, you and the girl will go too. . .Unless we hurry."

"Right," Crono said, shaking visibly.

They winded down the path, the green lichen around them giving off faint light, but not so bright as Magus's magic. Schala was becoming translucent now, and she seemed extremely scared.

Then they turned a corner and were in the room. In the center was the alien creature, along with its sustaining orbs. The acorn shaped objects were floating on their own accord above the group of Ayla, Crono, Marle, Lucca, Magus, Robo, and Glenn.

Crono was in the air, his sword inches from the right orb, the one that had to be destroyed. This was the fatal blow.

"What do we do to stop it?" Marle asked, looking at herself.

Magus shut off his light, it wasn't needed in this bright room. He studied his hand and noticed that it wasn't whole anymore. Turning to the side, he saw that Schala was gone now. He was next.

"We have to stop it from sending a signal to its death," Crono said unsure, "To do that. . .I don't know."

The central Lavos was peering at them with evil intent. Even though it was frozen, it seemed that it was following them with its eyes as they walked to the frozen Crono. It seemed to know what they were doing.

"Magus?" Crono asked, looking back; in doing so, he saw that Schala was absent, "Dang, we lost her for the moment."

"I think its signal was that final scream when we killed it," Magus said helpfully.

"How do we stop it from doing that?" Glenn asked, "A death scream is a death scream."

Magus's whole body was now translucent, some fading away to nonexistance. He tried not to think on that, but concentrated on the task, "You have to cut its vocal cords, I would think."

"Well, where the hell are they?" Crono pressed.

"Which one made the scream?" Magus asked.

"The right one, I'm sure," Crono said, "It was loud."

Crono turned back to the frozen picture, as did Marle and Glenn, as Magus continued, "I don't know about the biology of these things, but I've got a slight guess. I think if you just adjust your sword a foot or so to the. . . . ."

"To the. . . .To the 'what' Magus?!" Crono yelled, "We don't have much time!"

Marle turned and saw that Magus was now gone as well, "No. . .we don't Crono. He's not here anymore."

"Damn. . ." Crono muttered, "Did you pick up anything he said?"

Glenn shook his head, "The direction was not given."

"He said 'a foot or so to the--,' so I'd say he meant left or right. A foot or so to the up or a foot or so to the down don't sound right."

"Right. . .I mean Okay. So it's left or right. . .left or right," Crono started to whisper the directions over and over as he thougth.

"Glenn! You're fading, too!" Marle said suddenly.

Glenn looked down at himself and sighed, ". . . .It cannot be helped at the moment, however."

"That's great, I don't have time to formulate a guess," Crono said, angrily, "Flip a coin, Marle."

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Flip a coin; flip something! We don't have time!"

Marle drew out the next best thing, a crossbow bolt. She held it horizontally in front of her, one hand at the point, the other at the back of it, "Left is front or back, Crono?" she asked.

Glenn was now ethereal, and was fading away fast, "Good bye for now, you two."

Crono caught what she was doing, "Umm. . .back."

Marle snapped the crossbow bolt in half. Holding out the two pieces in her hands, she saw that the back half was indeed longer than the front half, "Back half wins, to the left!"

Glenn was gone, and Marle and Crono began to fade away.

Crono reached up, but couldn't reach the sword. Marle quickly ran over to help. They were both fading fast, there wasn't much time left. Crono bent over, and Marle climbed on his shoulders. He hoisted her up and she easily reached the sword. Then she forgot, "Did we decide on left or right?!"

"Left!" Crono yelled back, trying not to fall.

She shifted the sword a foot to the left, and jumped down off of Crono's shoulders, "All done, let's leave before we're gone."

"I hope we chose the right direction," Crono said.

"I thought we chose left," Marle replied.

Before he could answer, they flashed away in a pillar of white light. Moments later, the battle completed itself once again.

* * * * *

"What if they don't stop this?" Marshall asked, finally realizing that they could end up dying up here.

"They will, I'm sure of it. It isn't a hard task. But if they do something wrong, we'll have enough time to leave. Don't worry."

A screaming noise came from above them. They both looked up quickly to see one of the meteors hurtling toward the peak. Before they could even blink, it was a mere thirty feet from them.

The two flinched back quickly, though reflexes wouldn't save them this time.

However, the meteor froze at thirty feet. The meteor hovered in front of them, seeming to stare down at them. They slowly uncrouched, peering at this phenomenon. Death had been that close. Then it began to fade away. All around, the other Lavos's were fading away, returning to where they would have been if it were not for the call for help.

The world around them began to shift, the fire and destruction fading away to be replaced by the buildings and cities and life that had flourished before the invasion. Everything was returning to normal.

When everything was gone, Morlis finally managed to speak, though it was forced, "See. . . .I told you we shouldn't worry."

Then there was a brief flash of light at the peak.

.

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