Chrono Trigger Prophecies Chapter 13
The Chase
By Jerm
Crono turned to the voice, but still couldn't see anything. Only the dark trees around him, made mysterious by the moonlight; the moon was now slowly inching itself out of hiding. It was only a crescent moon tonight, which made Crono's surroundings very dark.
"Crono?"
The voice sounded more like Lucca now. Crono started to quickly jog in the direction of the call, being careful not to trip into something or run into a near invisible tree as his eyes were still trying to adjust to the darkness. He looked left and right quickly, but still saw no sign of any life around him.
"Crono?"
The voice was definitely Lucca's and it had come from his right. He quickly changed directions and ran that way.
Why wasn't Marle calling out, as well?
He tried to banish the thought, but its message lingered in his head. He still had to hope, but it was slowly dying now, despite his efforts. Not even bothering to stop, he reached up and pulled a gripping spiderweb off of his face that he picked up from running between two trees. The feeling gave him a brief shudder, but he simply ignored it as best he could.
"Crono?"
The voice was getting nearer now, much nearer. He was almost there...
He climbed over a large fallen tree, flipping himself over. However, as he landed there came a brief scream of surprise very near to him. Startled, he jumped back, hitting the dead tree and banging his shin. As he grabbed his leg in pain, he turned around to see what had screamed.
And was facing the disheveled face of Lucca. They stared at each other for a moment, Lucca surprised at his appearance and Crono was trying to regain his breath think of something to say that would augment his dramatic entrance. Finally Lucca spoke, "Crono...Thank God you're here!"
Crono, still breathing heavily from his run, only nodded as he examined the small area he was standing.
However, it was more than small. A large radius of the forest had been demolished. He could faintly see in the darkness light grey smoke drifting into the air from the blackened rocks and dirt, there were no trees. He turned back behind him and looked once more at the dead tree he had hit, realizing that it belonged about forty feet from where it was now. He also realized that it wasn't the only one.
Something big had hit, and he knew it had to do with the earthquake he had been through earlier.
Crono took another deep breath and released it. Something big.
"Crono, are you okay?" Lucca asked, mistaking his silence.
Crono shook his head, turning back to her, "No...sorry, I'm just a little surprised about this."
"We were, too," Lucca replied, her voice sounded scared, not at all like the normal voice that had been calling him.
But Crono didn't care about that, he was centering on what she had said. We. Then he remembered Marle. He quickly looked around him and Lucca, scouring the ground for her. He finally found her lying on her back, eyes closed.
Lucca noticed this and tried to reassure him, "She lost consciousness."
"But is she okay?" Crono asked, still frightened of the possibility of something bad.
"She's hurt, I can tell that much," Lucca shook her head solemnly, "But it's not permanent. She'll be okay after a bit of medical attention."
Crono didn't want to linger on this for long, so he changed the subject, "What happened here?"
"You mean 'Who happened here?'" Lucca corrected, "We went after Magus. When we found him, he was extremely weakened and badly injured. Marle tried to put him to sleep for the moment so we could carry him back to Glenn's. He fought that very hard, but finally dozed off."
Lucca sighed and shook her head, "He had been yelling and screaming in pain after we had first found him. Everything about his seemed wrong."
Crono pressed for more of the story, but was careful not to be pushy about it, "What happened after he 'dozed off?'"
"We started to carry him back. Everything was all fine and dandy, then suddenly I find myself implanted into the side of a tree and Marle lying on the ground several feet away," Lucca gave a short chuckle of laughter; however it wasn't a laugh of humor or happiness, it was a laugh of irony, "I looked to where I had been and saw Magus standing up. He seemed so weak when we had put him to sleep, but now he seems strong. He healed himself with magic and then attacked us. We tried to fight back, but there's something wrong."
Lucca stopped for a moment, trying to find words to fit what she wanted to say. Finally, she sighed and shook her head. She continued, "He almost seemed evil, like the Magus we fought in his castle when he was summoning Lavos. I think something must have snapped in his head, he's gone insane or something. Anyway, after he wiped the floor with us for a few moments, he just stood perfectly still suddenly. You could see in his eyes that he was in deep concentration and I could sense something magical building around him. So we turned and ran."
"And you survived THAT?" Crono was surprised, yet very happy about the outcome of something like that.
"Survived..." Lucca seemed thoughtful, "We weren't fast enough to escape, just fast enough to survive, yeah."
"What were you doing going after Magus in the first place?" Crono changed the subject, "After what he did to Glenn, you should have known he wasn't what we were used to."
"We'll answer those later," Lucca stalled, "Right now, let's get Marle and get to Dorino, she'll need some help."
Crono nodded, "Right. Sorry, I sort of forgot about that."
Crono crouched behind Lucca and scooped up Marle into his arms carefully. She was slightly heavy, and he was tired from everything that had happened that day, but he managed.
"Don't worry. But we'll also have to get Glenn, unless Magus has--" Lucca began.
"No, I got Glenn earlier, he's waiting for us outside of the forest," Crono assured her, "I had to stop when I heard someone calling my name. He agreed to wait for me while I went back here to get you."
"Who was calling your name?" Lucca asked suddenly.
"Huh?" Crono turned back to her, "Don't you remember, it was you."
Lucca shook her head visciously, "No, no, no, it wasn't me. I'd been sitting here trying to help Marle when you suddenly heaved yourself over the tree and startled me."
"The voices weren't you..." Crono said, half question and half statement.
Lucca shook her head again, this time a fearful look crossing her face, mirroring Crono's now.
"Over here."
Both turned quickly to the south, peering over the dead tree into the dense forest. But neither of them could see anything.
"Magus," Crono said finally.
"Let's get out of here," Lucca said, grabbing Crono's sleeve and pulling him with her to the east.
Crono didn't need to be pulled however, he was right behind her as they both trampled through the woods, the leaves crunching under their feet. Behind them, they could hear small noises as well, though they couldn't tell if it was from the forest life scurrying away from their noise or Magus himself. However, they didn't care.
"Wait up, wait up..."
Crono ran as fast as he willed himself to go, thought most of his attention was on his surroundings as he tried to avoid obsticles, making sure Marle's head or feet didn't strike a tree in passing. That wouldn't be very good at all.
"Can you see me?"
Crono looked to his left quickly, but there was nothing in the woods. He turned his head back to where he was going and found that he was about to hit a tree. He quickly diverted his motion and tried to get around the tree without slowing down. Instead his feet slipped on the leaves and he fell to the ground, onto his knees. He held onto Marle, hoping she didn't mind the jostle.
Ahead of him, Lucca stopped and turned back to help him.
"I'm right behind you, boy."
Crono threw himself to his feet in a fit of fear at the nearness of the voice, it had seemed as though it was indeed right behind him. Lucca slid as she turned back around yet again, but she didn't lose her footing. Now she was running beside Crono.
"I'm reaching for you...."
Behind him, Crono heard the sound of a branch breaking. The snapping noise was followed by something hitting the leaves. Then another crunching of leaves. It soon became rhythmic footsteps that kept pace with him.
Crono looked back wildly, but could see nothing. Whatever was making the noise was beyond his limited vision, somewhere in the darkness. However, as he looked back he lost track of where he was heading and tripped over a rock. He pitched forward and stumbled, but Lucca grabbed him and held him up.
"Crono, don't look back!" she said forcefully, as they began to run again, "We're almost there!"
Crono looked ahead of him to see that she was right, the forest's edge was only several dozen yards ahead. He doubled his efforts, still careful not to trip over something.
Behind them, the voice was now taunting them:
Gonna get you, yes I am
Gonna get you, because I can.
"Ignore him," Lucca said, "We're safe."
And with that, they broke out of the trees and into the open area. Dim moonlight shone down on them, not bright but more light than they had been permitted in the forest. For some reason, it seemed safe.
Crono finally turned around again as both of them stopped. They were standing about fifty feet from the edge of the woods. As Crono peered into the forest, there seemed to be some movement. He tried to focus on it, but couldn't. Then suddenly, there were two eyes staring at him evilly, shining in the moonlight.
"There he is," Crono whispered to Lucca, whom nodded back.
Then suddenly, the eyes disappeared. They had lost track of him. Moments later however, a blue fire erupted below where the eyes had been, illuminating a hand which held it.
Then the flame died.
"It seems you're not quite as brave as you were when the frog was alive," a voice quietly sifted out of the forest, Magus's voice, "As little of a threat you pose compared to him, I still have principles to follow."
"Why are you like this, Magus? What happened to you?" Crono yelled back, as he peered into the depths, trying to lock onto Magus.
"I'm afraid that's something personal, and I'm too busy to talk as it is," Magus replied.
The blue flame reappeared, only this time it was burning with a fury, it was more a weapon than a light now. Crono and Lucca stepped back, preparing to dodge the attack.
Then they were both covering their ears when a scream erupted and the flame died as if water had been thrown on it. The sound was accompanied by leaves crunching, something was moving in the forest. The screaming stopped a moment later, as did the other noise. It was quiet now.
Crono and Lucca stared into the forest for several minutes, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did, Magus was really gone now. They slowly turned back to each other in silence. They were both breathing heavily from the exertion.
Finally, Lucca spoke, "I thought you said that Glenn was okay?"
"I did, he is okay. I left him that way," Crono pointed to the southeast, "somewhere. I think Magus went to his house and made a mistake."
"What do you mean? What kind of mistake?"
Crono started walking to the direction he had recently pointed to, and Lucca fell in step behind him, "You'd have to be there to understand; but something tells me we have a small advantage now."
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