Specter of the Past Chapter 1
By KrossRodes
As the morning sun rose, the Guardia castle cast a shadow across it's kingdom. A new, peaceful day had begun. The skies were clear, the sun was shining, and waves crashed gently on the shore.
Marle, who had been sitting on the beach for the past hour, was thinking of her future. She thought of what her life was going to be like after marriage. Marriage with her true love, Crono.
She looked back at the house. The house that her father built for her and Crono. The gardeners were busily working in the yard, preparing it for the wedding. The place was beginning to look very beautiful.
The future wasn't something that scared her. She had seen much of it already, but Crono, Lucca, and her all agreed never to use Epoch to "see into the future." Therefore, they only visited Robo on special occasions. Not as much as they visited Frog, even though changing the past was equally dangerous. Changing the past is something that they're familiar with, though, so it doesn't scare them as much.
Marle thought back to all the times her and her friends spent together. Lucca saving Crono from prison, Ayla defeating the reptites, Robo saving his sister from the clutches of his evil mother, and helping Frog finally find the Masamune, ending the quest Cyrus started. They don't call Frog 'Glenn' much, even though that is his real name. 'Frog' developed into a nick-name of sorts. Lucca was the only one who frequently called him Glenn. Everyone else just thought that it was because she felt sorry for him. She had done tons of experiments on frogs when she was growing up.
Just then there was a big explosion. Marle got up and looked around, fearing the worst of her new house. It happened at Lucca's. She could tell by the smoke coming from behind her house.
Marle decided to go see what happened. She got up from her spot on the sand, brushed off her clothes, and headed to Lucca's. When she arrived she could smell burning rubber. As she walked behind the house, she saw Lucca furiously working on a broken machine. She was covered in grease.
"What happened?" Marle asked Lucca.
"My latest attempt to reopen the gates backfired," she said as she reached in her toolbox not even bothering to look up.
Ever since the gates closed, Lucca had been working really hard to find a way to reopen them. She just wanted to know what the 'entity,' that had opened the gates, had done. There were so many mysteries left by their last adventure, all of them Lucca wanted to solve. She worked day and night trying to reopen the gates, but she hadn't come close, yet.
"Lucca," Marle said, "you're going to work yourself into an early grave. Take it easy for a couple of days."
"There's no time for laziness and gluttony when there's work to be done," said Lucca.
"Just don't miss my wedding because you are too busy working," Marle said as she turned to leave.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Lucca added as she looked up from her work with a big smile on her face.
Marle turned around and smiled back at Lucca. Lucca then continued her work as Marle headed over to Crono's house. She had to help him move.
.
"You doing okay?" Crono's mom asked as she came up the stairs. Crono was packing his stuff into boxes, which were strewn across the floor.
"Yes, mother," said Crono. His mom was such a worry wart. Watching her son pack was the hardest thing she could watch, knowing that he won't be living under her roof anymore.
"Remember to pack everything you need," said his mom. "You don't want to have to come back and get something if you forgot it. You'll want to have enough clean clothes. Don't forget about books, you love books. If you forget them, what will you do on a rainy day?"
"Don't worry," said Crono as he grabbed his mother's shoulders, "I'll be okay."
"I know you will, but having you move out of my house after living here for 20 years is very hard on me."
"You'll be okay without me."
"What about your cats?" she asked. "Who will feed them and play with them?"
"They can stay here to keep you company. You did such a good job of feeding them while I was gone, so they'll be fine when I move. Don't worry, they'll be okay without me."
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Coming," Crono's mother yelled downstairs. "Marle must be here," she said to Crono. Then, she went downstairs to answer the door.
While Crono filled up one box, took an empty box, and began filling it with books, he heard a blood-curdling scream. He quickly ran downstairs to find the door open and a figure in a cape and hood silhouetted in the sunlight.
"If you want to see Marle and your mother again, come to the town square at midnight," said the figure. It's voice was dry and raspy and sent shivers down Crono's spine. Then it added, "tell no one." With those words, it was gone.
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