The Time Warp Chapter 6
Of Frogs, Princesses, and Missing Queens
By Master Odin

By the year 599 AD I had finished my studies at the castle, and I was still no closer to finding my way home. After the fall of the mythical Magic Kingdom of Zeal in 12,000 BC, magic and its practices seemed to have stop completely. I decided to face the facts: I was stuck here.

Although I had finished my studies, it did not mean that I did not frequent the castle. The scholars there insisted that I return often, for they found many of my theories intriguing.

One day, as I was preparing to leave the castle, I heard a ruckus near the front gates. I ran to see what was going on, and to assist if necessary. What I found, though, where the guards harassing an old friend.

"Frog!" I called out as I ran to his aide. I pushed my way through the wall of guards that surrounded him and stood in front of the frog. "Leave him be!" I commanded.

"But he's a Mystic!" One of them yelled.

"Frog is no Mystic!" I countered. "He is a good friend of mine! Now let us through!"

The guards hesitated, but back away as I reached for my sword. They knew I had been trained by Glenn, and did not desire to see the fruit of his training.

"It's good to see you again, Frog," I said as I led him into the castle.

"'Tis good see thee as well, Sir Wallace." He looked back at the dumbfounded guards and croaked. "Very good."

"What brings you to Guardia?"

"The Mystics are becoming more daring." He croaked again. "I wish to protect the Queen."

I stopped as I heard him say those words. Something clicked in my head. His desire to protect the Queen, it was very familiar.

A croak from Frog returned me to reality. "Is there a problem, mine friend?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "No. Just a case of deja vu, I guess."

Frog nodded with a croak. "I seem to have that affect on people."

* * * * *

It took some doing, but I was able to convince the king and queen to allow Frog to join the royal guard. Queen Leene seemed especially keen to the idea. Maybe she saw what I saw in Frog.

* * * * *

A year later I was setting up shop one day when a small band of royal guards, four in number, barged into my shop.

"What's going on here?!" I demanded.

"Sir Wallace!" one of them yelled. "Frog told us to get you."

I looked around at them. "What's wrong?"

"We were escorting the Queen back from Porre. We had just crossed the Zenan Bridge when we were attacked by Mystics. They took the Queen!"

The blood drained from my face. "The Queen," I said under my breath. "Which direction did they go?"

"They headed north from the bridge, but we lost sight of them."

I thought about what he said for a moment, then asked, "Which way did Frog go?"

"West, toward the Cathedral."

"Then we'll go to Truce Canyon. There have been reports of Mystic activity up there as well."

I strapped my sword to my belt and holstered my gun and led them out of the shop.

* * * * *

Truce Canyon laid between two mountains an hour's ride north of Truce Village. We trekked into the canyon and crossed the rope bridge connecting the two sides. We didn't have to go far before we found the Queen. It appeared that she had been knocked out, for she was laying on the ground and just waking up. I noticed that she wasn't wearing her royal gowns. It was more like the cover-all undergarments that were popular in this world.

"Your Highness!" I yelled as I ran to her. I knelt down and took her by the shoulders. "Your Highness, are you okay?"

Queen Leene still seemed a little dazed, but answered with a "Um, yes, I'm fine. Take me to the castle." I looked at her face. She seemed more youthful than before. Maybe it was the sunlight.

I ordered one of the guards to carry her and we left the canyon.

* * * * *

Once we reached the western entrance to Truce I ordered another guard to seek Frog near the Cathedral and inform him that the Queen had been found. I then left the other three soldiers to take the Queen back to the castle while I returned to my shop.

As I was about to enter my shop a young man with spiky red hair bump into me. He apologized quickly and ran off out of the town.

Two hours later a young woman busted into my shop. She was absolutely beautiful. She had shoulder length purplish-pink hair that was covered by some odd helmet. She wore a pair of glasses over her light green eyes. She was wearing an orange tunic over a green long-sleeve shirt and black shorts. On her brown leather belt was a leather pouch and slung over her shoulder and across her chest was a green satchel. Beautiful.

She dropped to her knees, panting. I quickly got a ladle of water out of the water barrel and took it to her. She took the water and drank it.

"Thanks," she said.

I extended my hand to her. "The name's Wallace."

"Lucca," she said as she took my hand and I helped her up.

"Is there something I can help you with, ma'am?"

She looked around. "You haven't by any chance seen a girl with blonde hair or a boy with spiky red hair go through town, have you?"

"I saw the boy. He ran out of town toward the castle."

"Thanks!" she yelled as she ran out.

"Hey!" I yelled as I went to run after her, but she was already long gone. I walked back behind the counter. "What would I say, anyway? 'Can I have your number'?"

* * * * *

I decided to close shop early that day so that I could check up on Queen Leene. As I was locking the front door I saw Lucca run by with the spiky red haired boy and, "Queen Leene!" I yelled. They didn't hear me, so I yelled again, this time calling out Lucca's name. She didn't hear me, either.

Something wasn't right, so I ran after them. I followed them all the way into Truce Canyon, where I lost them. I followed their trail until I came to where we found Queen Leene earlier that day. There their trail had just disappeared and they were nowhere to be found.

I had to find out what was going on, so I ran back to my cabin to get my horse, which I rode at a full run toward the castle. When I was about halfway there, though, I met Frog on his way toward the Zenan Bridge. I reared my horse and asked, "What's going on with Queen Leene?"

"The woman ye found was not Leene, but someone else. With the help of Sir Crono and Lady Lucca we found her at the Cathedral."

"So she is safe?"

Frog nodded with a croak. "Yes, she came to no harm."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God." I looked to him. "Where are you going?"

He croaked a sigh. "I am returning to mine home. I hath no right to protect the Queen." He started to walk away.

I jumped off my horse and grabbed his arm. "Bullshit! You're the best swordsman I've seen since Glenn and Sir Cyrus."

Frog just looked to me and said, "It hath been ten years, Sir Wallace, yet ye doth not seemed to have aged a day." With that he tore his arm from my hand and started to walk away.

What he said was the final piece to the puzzle that I had been trying to work out since I met him. "Glenn!" I yelled.

Frog turned to me at the sound of his real name.

I strode over to him. "I knew it! I knew you had to be Glenn. The sword technique! Your mannerism! The missing things from your cabin! Your care for the Queen and the sadness you showed when you saw Cyrus' burnt body."

Glenn nodded sadly. "'Tis true that I am Glenn, but 'tis important that no one else knows of this. I am not certain what would happen if the castle knew what truly happened to Cyrus and mineself. As long as they believe that we art still searching for the Masamune, they shalt still have hope in defeating the Mystics."

"The Queen worries about you, Glenn. At least she has the right to know."

Glenn shook his head. "Nay, mine friend. 'Tis not wise." He looked to the ground and let out a quiet croak. "Just do me this favor, Sir Wallace: watch over the Queen. She is what continues to give our people hope."

"I promise, old friend."

Glenn looked up to me, a weak smile crossing his large lips. "Speak for thineself, old man."

Glenn's smile left his face. "Sir Wallace, what hast truly brought thee to Guardia?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know that ye long for thy home, for you spoke of it often, and yet you act as though there is no way for ye to return home."

I sighed. "Have a seat, Glenn. You're not gonna believe this even when I tell ya."

We camped there that night, and I told Glenn the truth as to how I came to be in Guardia.


Chapter 7

Crossover Fanfics