Chrono Trigger Prophecies Chapter 10
A World of Confrontations
By Jerm
"Thank God you're finally awake," Marle exclaimed, handing the tired figure some water.
He took it without question and began to drink. While he did so, Lucca reentered the room with some bread. She handed it to Marle, who accepted it and turned to take the empty glass of water.
"Here you go," she said, handing the bread over.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Lucca asked curiously.
Marle stood from her kneeling position and walked over to refill the cup with water as Lucca took a seat herself to listen to the story.
"Magus..." the figure spoke in a wheezing voice, "He attacked me."
"Why would he do that? I thought we were on even sides with him," Marle queried.
The figure, Glenn, shook his head. He took another bite of bread, then continued, "I have no idea, it was sudden. He seemed different than he has appeared before, he seemed to have a hatred for me."
Glenn finished off the bread and Marle handed him the water. He took a drink as his free hand began to feel along for the bandages he knew were there. "Did you see him?"
Lucca shook her head, "No, you were lying there alone."
"I was able to wound him heavily, he could not have gone far," Glenn remarked, leaning back into his 'bed,' "I will search for his body when I am rejuvinated."
"No, you won't," Lucca interrupted, "We'll do it for you. You still need to rest."
Glenn coughed a bit, then spoke again, "What brought you here, anyway? It find it a large coincidence that a time so close upon my injury, you come to visit."
Marle smiled, "I guess it would be something of a coincidence. But the five year anniversary for stopping Lavos is in two weeks and we'd decided to come here and invite you to a reunion."
"Reunion..." Glenn mumbled, "Has it been five years already?"
"Yeah," Lucca added, "but being a coincidence or not, we're lucky we were able to find you in time."
"Where is Crono, then?" Glenn added, "Did he forgo the trip?"
"He came," Marle assured Glenn, "We sent him to Dorino to get some medical supplies for you. He should be back in a couple days."
Glenn closed his eyes and nodded, falling asleep once again. Lucca and Marle looked at each other as and simply nodded. Something was wrong, and they both knew it.
The white brilliance around Janus slowly faded, being replaced by black. He didn't know what he was doing, but felt that he was heading in the right direction. Slowly, he began to grasp the consciousness that was becoming evident within his host. He would have to make it, if Magus was to take control again, something bad would definitely happen.
Then pain struck him, causing him to flinch back. He balled himself up within the blackness around him, shuddering from the immense suffering he was suddenly presented with. He knew that he was indeed waking up.
Then the world around him blurred, the black becoming fuzzy and shifting; color began to seep into his vision, swirling around him in a confusing mix. Noise, too began to reach him, though he could not distinguish any of it yet.
Janus felt something hard press against his side, something cold. The colors continued to shift, slowly focusing into something. He finally realized that the noise he was hearing was the noises of a forest.
The pain continued, but he was able to bear it now. He slowly opened his eyes, causing the colors to focus. Though he could still not see very well, he knew that he was looking at trees that grew around him. He was back.
"Not so fast."
Something suddenly tore into his mind, causing his head to feel like it was bursting. Janus yelled and grabbed his temple, his veins sticking out in his red face. The pain intensified and he reached out, grasping the ground in front of him. Slowly, he began to pull himself, crawling towards a destination that he didn't care about.
"It's not complete yet, I still have partial control."
Magus's voice was filled with hatred and contempt for Janus, obviously due to the fact that he was taking over what Magus thought rightfully his. Janus continued to crawl through the grass, crying out from the stabbed pain in his head.
The he blacked out.
"Did you hear something?" Marle asked, tilting her head.
Lucca nodded, "I think."
The screams became louder, allowing the two to pinpoint its location. Quickly, they broke into a run and raced through the woods, toward the mystery. But before they had made it very far, the yelling suddenly stopped. Silence returned.
They both slowed to a walk and began to look around, searching for where the voice had come from. Nothing but trees reached their eyes. They had lost the trail.
"I think it's over here somewhere," Lucca said hesitantly, heading to her left.
Marle shrugged and continued forward. If they both scoured the area separately, one of them would find the voice. She hurdled through the forest quickly, stepping over rocks and fallen trees, looking for a sign of some kind. Then Lucca' voice came from behind her.
"Found him!"
Janus slowly opened his eyes again, peering through the pain and blur to see someone approaching his body. The person slowly stepped over to him and carefully squatted down in front of him, allowing him to see it was Lucca.
"Help...me," he said hoarsely.
Lucca didn't respond. She looked over her shoulder, as if expecting someone else to come. Then he felt her hands on his arms as she attempted to pull him up. She dragged him slowly, finally putting his back up against a tree trunk. Then she stepped away and examined him. Behind her, Marle slowly stepped into the open.
Janus stared up at the two, wondering how they had reached this place, why they were here. They looked at each other, then back to him. Finally, Lucca spoke, "Why did you do it, Magus?"
Magus.
Janus shook his head, repeating, "Help me...Please."
"Why? You tried to kill Glenn," Marle pointed out, "You did this to yourself."
"NO!" Janus flinched in pain from the strain, but pressed on, "It was Magus, I did. . ."
He found that he was having trouble speaking now, and his vision was darkening. He was losing it again. And if that happened, Magus would regain control. He looked up at the two pleadingly.
Marle shook her head, "We'll talk about this later. For the moment, we're taking you back to Glenn's home so we can sort out what's going on."
"Yeah," Lucca agreed, "You'd better get some rest now Magus, this trip's not going to be pleasant, considering we don't have a stretcher for you."
"Yes. Go to sleep."
"No," Janus shook his head, "I...won't le-let..."
"You've exhausted yourself, Magus," Lucca said, a look of dislike on her face.
Janus shook his head painfully. Marle sighed at this, then pointed at him with a look of concentration on her face. "I'm afraid you don't have a say in this," she said, releasing the spell.
The energies erupted around Janus in a soothing touch. They clouded their way into his head, attempting to slow the supply of blood enough to cause him to fall asleep. Janus fought against it, trying to find a way to prevent it.
"Would you consider this the biggest mistake in her life?"
Janus yelled at the voice, causing Marle and Lucca to jump back. They could not hear Magus, apparently. Marle didn't relent in her spell, however. Janus began to twist and writhe as he tried to fight it, then he slid off of the trunk and fell over onto his back, grunting with pain.
"Soon, soon, soon..."
"Shut up!" Janus yelled, rolling over onto his stomach and trying once again to crawl away.
"You're losing the little respect I hold for you," Marle said, "You attacked a friend and I'm not going to put up with anything you say or do."
He couldnt' fight it any longer. He was too weak; physically from his wounds, and mentally from his struggle against Magus. Slowly, his eyes began to close. He didn't give up, however.
"Sleep, sleep, sleep..."
"About time," Marle said, as his eyes shut fully and he began to lose focus on his surroundings.
Before he fell away into oblivion, he heard one last statement.
"Be my body and I will be your mind."
"Geez, he can put up a struggle," Lucca said, bending over and picking up Magus by the legs.
Marle reached out and grasped his arms, pulling him of the ground. She grunted from the exercise, he was a bit heavy, "...Something seems all wrong about this though."
"Exactly. I guess that's why you decided not to kill him," Lucca replied.
"I decided not to kill him because I couldn't. He would have clobbered me if I tried."
Lucca shook her head, "He can't, he's been drained by the Masamune."
"I guess I didn't think about that," Marle said dubiously.
"Whatever," Lucca finished, "You know something's up just as much as I do."
"Li--" Marle began.
Then there was a great force in the air between them, centering around Magus. A rippling burst of energy erupted, striking both of them and throwing them away. The body fell to the ground roughly as the other two were thrown into the forest.
Slowly, Magus began to stand. He spread out his hands, then focused his mind. Wounds along his body slowly began to seal up, bruises softening back to a normal skin color. Marle and Lucca apprehensively stood, watching this with a look that came close to fear.
When most of the wounds were healed, Magus stopped and began walking away. Toward Glenn's hut. Lucca balled up her courage and chased after him, Marle trailing. "Stop, Magus!"
She was once again hurled through the air by his rejuvinated magic, flying past Marle and nearly hitting the princess. Marle glanced back to see Lucca strike a tree, wishing she had brought her crossbow. Lucca slowly and falteringly stood back up, indicating that she was okay. Marle turned back to Magus, preparing another sleep spell.
Magus noticed this, however, and turned to face her. Before she could release her magic, his was racing toward her. the essence struck her, and Marle suddenly found herself surrounded by flames. Incredible heat beat at her, and she felt her hair singing. In a instinctive act to survive, she changed her spell around before releasing it.
Ice sprung up around her, blocking off the fire, but at the same time sealing her for the moment. She looked through the blurry lens of the ice at Magus, who was now concentrating on Lucca.
The fires around her died away and she removed the ice. She looked at him for a moment, then tried another approach, "What is happening with you, Magus?"
Magus turned back to her and smiled. It wasn't a smile of reassurance or of happiness, either. Marle realized right then that she was in too deep.
Before she could do anything however, the ground around Magus erupted in a spray of fire, dirt and rocks. Marle looked behind her to see that Lucca had just used some magic. Lucca quickly ran up beside Marle, "Are you okay?"
Marle nodded, "So far."
The debris cleared, revealing a cut and bruised Magus. A shield glowed around him, indicating that he had prevented most of the damage. He dropped the shield, then spread his hands again, "Now it ends."
The earth at his feet, broken and scorched, began to shift and tremble. Slowly, Magus lifted off of the ground with levitation. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, putting his full concentration into this deathblow.
"What's going on?" Marle asked, taking an uneasy step backwards.
Then the shifting spread out from its focal point under Magus, starting slow, but building speed. It swept out in a circular path all around him, the circle increasing in size.
"Um, run," Lucca said quickly.
"What?" Marle turned to Lucca questioningly, but was facing thin air. She tilted her head back a bit farther to see that Lucca was already several paces ahead of her; Marle didn't need any further prodding.
She ran, catching up with Lucca slowly.
Then there was a blast behind them, the noise almost deafening. A shockwave screamed out of Magus, spreading out quickly. Rocks under it were tossed into the air with a violent force and trees caught in its path were blown over.
Marle didn't look back, however. She increased her speed and found that Lucca was now lagging behind. That was changed a moment later when the shaking caused her to stumble a bit. Without so much as slowing down, Lucca grabbed her arm in passing, hauling her to her feet. The wrenching hurt, but Marle didn't care at all.
She felt herself being pushed from behind now, showing that the shockwave was catching up to her. Then she lost contact with the ground as she was flung into the air. Lucca attempted to hold her grip, but was pulled back. She lost her hold and fell onto her back as Marle was lost from sight. She felt rather than saw as something large came at her.
Moments later, the devastation was over.
Inside the Cursèd Woods, there was now a large circle of destruction. Fallen and blackened trees smoked atop uneven and broken rock and soil. In a circle with a diameter of four hundred yards the remnants of the spell sat.
In the smoke, a figure slowly walked. No sign of remorse existed on his face, no sign of any emotions whatsoever. Just a look of unending and frightening calmness.
Magus looked about him for a moment, peering for possible remains of the two. No sign as of yet, they would most like be buried under debris, however. Magus smiled for a moment, then turned and walked away. He would return to Glenn's home and finish the job.
Glenn and the Masamune were the only two threats posed against him now. If he were to take them out, nothing would be able to stop him. That was a simple fact.
The figure walked away, disappearing behind the smoke, which shifted and twined in the wind.
.