Chrono Trigger Prophecies Chapter 22
Second Chance
By Jerm
"And where do we take him?" Crono asked, heaving a rock out of the pile, "Somewhere safe, I would assume...but where would that be?"
Lucca bent over and rolled a rock away from Magus, nearly crushing her foot as she stepped out of its path. "Um, I didn't think that far yet."
Crono nodded, looking a bit annoyed; still he smiled, "Yeah, great."
he kicked a head sized rock, trying to knock it loose. Marle glanced at him, "Don't be too rough, Magus is still halfway under that."
Crono stopped prying at it with his foot and bent over to pick it up, "Sorry. I'm just trying to think."
Glenn grabbed ahold of Magus's arms and pulled lightly, the weight of the rocks resisted. They would have to remove more or pull Magus in half. Crono nearly kicked another rock, then stopped himself, "Y'know. It would have been a lot easier if Magus had planned a little more before he jumped off the castle."
"Stop complaining so much," Lucca replied, "We're almost done."
"Tell me that when it's true; like in two hours," Crono replied, heaving another slab of rock away from the pile. It struck the ground behind him with a loud crunch, causing him to flinch, "...Oops."
"Don't throw them, Crono," Marle shook her head, "You want to make another hole to the basement?"
"It wasn't that heavy. And besides, it's not like one more hole's going to make a difference, considering there's already one, two more up there."
"Let's stay on the king's good side," Lucca added, "he's taking a leap of faith for our benefit at the moment. It'd be in bad taste to damage his castle in response."
"Where IS the king, by the way?" Marle asked, giving a short look around.
"He said he was going to his room to think. We'll let him know when we're done anyway," Lucca answered, continuing her task.
Crono rolled another rock out of the way, making sure not to throw it as Glenn grabbed Magus once more and heaved. The wizard slid from the pile for a few feet, shifting the pile in his wake. Marle quickly grabbed one of the larger rocks lying on his stomach and pulled it off of him with a grunt.
When Magus was far enough out of the pile, Glenn twisted his arms, causing him to roll over. The rocks still lying on him piled off and Glenn pulled him the rest of the way out. When he was far enough away from the rubble, Glenn released his arms and slumped back to the ground. "All done," Crono said, showing great signs of perception, "I'll get the king."
With that, he was away, heading up the stairway to tell his majesty the news. When he was out of sight, Marle repeated his earlier question, "So where do we take him?"
"Janus! Come back!"
Janus ignored the wavering voice of Vili behind him as he raced through the light, reaching the point that would give him control of the body once more. Magus was down, defeated yet again and weak. This was his moment to regain what was his and possibly warn those that could help him. He was positive there was a way to seal away Magus. Because, if not, then he would have to kill himself.
"Janus!!?"
"Try and stop me, Vili!" Janus yelled over his shoulder.
Aparently, Vili didn't hear him. He continued to yell after Janus.
"The cathedral?" Marle was caught off guard by the idea.
"No, that's a great idea," Crono retorted, "It's deserted, isn't it?"
"Yes," the king nodded, "It hasn't been used since the incident years back."
"Now for the next problem: How do we get out past all the knights?" Crono added, "The king is on our side for this, but the knights are a little annoyed at Magus right now, and if they found that the king let him go like this, they wouldn't be any happier."
"Morale would drop too far for my likings," the king supplied.
The group was quiet for a moment, thinking of how to pull this off. Then the king spoke up again, "My back exit."
"Secret exit?" Lucca seemed intrigued.
The king coughed, then nodded, "Yeah, it's how I...escaped."
"Um, Marle?" Crono said suddenly, drawing the others' attention.
"Yeah?" she turned to him, to see him looking at Magus.
"He's uh, waking up," Crono said, backing away, "Put him back to sleep."
Then suddenly, Magus' body jerked wildly, doubling over as the figure yelled in pain. Magus writhed and slowly crawled away from the pile of rocks, Crono shying away quickly, "Put him to sleep! Put him to sleep!"
"Help...me..." Magus looked up at the people surrounding him, watching as Marle began to prepare the spell, "Please don't..."
"What are you?" Crono asked, stepping around the wounded figure to reach the rest of the group.
As he passed by, however, Magus reached out and grabbed ahold of his leg. Crono lost his balance and fell over onto his face, jerking his leg in an attempt to release Magus's hold. But Magus had a deathgrip. Crono twisted and tried to get ahold of the floor to crawl away. Lucca ran forward to help pull him away. She looked up briefly and made eye contact with the tortured soul before her.
Magus's eyes weren't what she had expected. She seemed to float into their depths, becoming unconscious of the world around her. She didn't hear Crono's yells for help, instead she could swear she was hearing pleas from inside the mind of this person. Magus needed help, something was not right here.
Then the eyes shifted, converting to a emptyness devoid of thought. Lucca broke out of her spell and looked back. Marle had finished her spell. Magus slumped in his position, his hold on Crono loosening. The boy jerked his leg out of the dead hold and nodded to Marle, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," she replied, looking down at the sleeping form.
"Well, that's got..." Crono composed himself, "That's gotta be the strangest thing I've ever experienced. He was asking for help, but at the same time attacking me."
"He wasn't attacking you," Lucca broke in, her voice distant.
"Huh?" Crono turned from Marle to look at her, "He uh, sort of grabbed my leg."
"So?" Lucca stood and turned to him, her voice firmer than before, "I saw his eyes. He was afraid. There's something inside of his head; something's really getting to him, and it's working at him from the inside."
"A trauma?" Marle asked, not understanding what Lucca was talking about.
"I don't know," Lucca shook her head and glanced at the sleeping form, "Let's just get to the cathedral."
Janus struck the ground in anger at his newest failure. Two times he had had a chance to bring himself back, and both times he had been turned on by none other than those he had accepted as friends. They were doing more harm to him than they realized, though. How could they know what was wrong with him? His mind quickly sifted to his last moments, Lucca had seen something obviously. He dared not underestimate the mind the girl had, she had been staring at him for the last few seconds before he felt the magic remove his hold on consciousness.
There was no point in berating himself for past events, however. Janus stood and looked at the blackness around him. The nothingness surrounding him as he once again lay in the vaults of his mind. Magus was down here, he was once again in the pits of his own hell with the one thing that could destroy him.
And then there was Vili. The enigmatic third persona that seemed to choose Magus, yet not help. What was with him? Janus pondered this as he struggled about, searching for the mysterious Vili. He would have to talk to him once again.
As he wandered, he began to wonder if he was actually moving. The blackness around him was nothing, he could not make any form of bearings; no direction or movement could be verified. Janus stopped for a moment, wondering if he should bring them to him instead. Then a voice reached his ears and he froze in fear.
"Hello, Janus," Magus said from the darkness.
.