"For Guardia!" Chapter 3

The Fall of Guardia

By Master Odin

1022 AD; EARTH R0-9SNES

"Who's this?" a woman close to Crono's age asked as Crono led Schala and the young girl into the back part of the treasury. She had long blonde hair. Her blue eyes told stories of pain and sorrow, yet, as distressed as they appeared, they only seemed to add to her beauty. One could tell she was suffering from lack of proper nourishment.

Crono ran over and helped the woman up. "Marle, it's Schala."

"Schala?!" Marle almost screamed, her blue eyes wide with surprise. "What happened to you?!"

Damn! You'd think the world revolved 'round ya!

"It's a long story," Schala explained, then observed Marle's condition, "apparently one that can wait until I get you some food." She reached into her satchel and took and handful of what appeared to be food out of it. She placed it into a small pouch on her belt. She took the satchel off and threw it to Marle. "That should tide you ever until I get back."

Marle, without thinking, greedily dug into the satchel and started stuffing her face with the small pastries. She then remembered her manners and choked down what she had in her mouth. "I'm so sorry!" she said, blushing.

Schala smiled. "It's alright."

Larissa took a bite of one. "These are great!" she exclaimed after she swallowed it. "What are they?"

Schala looked at them quizzically. "Uh, Viper Churros."

"I'll come with you," Crono told her. "Do you know how to use a crossbow?"

"Yes."

Crono grabbed a crossbow from where Marle had been sitting and gave it to Schala. "Larissa, stay here and take care of your mother."

"But I wanted to come, too!"

"No!"

"Yes, daddy."

Crono took a handful of the churros out of the satchel and put them into a small pouch on his belt. He then led Schala out of the treasury. He took a bite of one of the churros. "Wow! These are good!"

Schala shrugged. "They say hunger is the best condiment. I guess they're right."

"What are you talking about?"

"Honestly, I think they taste horrible!" They started up the stairs. "They're originally iron rations for the Acacia Dragoons."

"If they taste so bad, then why do you carry them?"

"Because they take forever to spoil and they're cheap."

 

"What happened here?" Schala finally asked once she and Crono entered the forest.

Crono sighed. Obviously the memories were painful.

"I'm sorry," she said, lowering her eyes to the ground. "You don't have to tell me now if you don't want to."

You're too apologetic, ya know that, mate?

"No," he said after a moment. "It's alright. It's a long story."

"Do tell, then."

"A year after we returned from Earth B9-14PS2, home world of the White Dragoon and his friends, the Nation of Porre became under Martial Law.

"The general of the Porre Army is a descendant of Tata, the boy who gave us the Hero Medal during our first adventure. When his children heard the story, they became angry and vowed vengeance against me. I do not believe that was Tata's intent when he told his children that story, but rather to tell them how he helped the Great Knight Frog defeat the Magus.

"We sent word to Medina and Termina, hoping that we could have new allies in this new threat. We never received a response.

"A month after Larissa was born, Lynx attacked and burned down Lucca's home. A few months after that, the Porre Army declared war on Guardia.

"We sent the robot army into bat-"

"Robot army?"

"Yes. That's another story all together. Maybe I'll tell it to you another time."

A Roly rolled out from under one of the bushes. Schala saw it and quickly aimed and fired. The Roly lied dead on the ground.

Crono bound a rope to it as he continued. "The Porres' technology, it-it was more advanced than we could have imagined." He slung the Roly onto his back. "Not only that, but we discovered that they had made a pact with the Mystics of Medina Village. They eradicated the robots in a few short battles. It wasn't long after that when they had defeated our human army as well."

Three blue eaglets flew overhead. Again Schala aimed and fired the crossbow. She felled two, but missed the third. Crono ran over and bound them up. "This should be enough for the next few days."

"Alright. Please, finish your story."

Crono cleared his throat. "They ransacked the castle and destroyed everything. This includes the Epoch.

"Marle and I figured that there wouldn't be any hope for reviving Guardia if we were dead, do we fled to Fiona's Chapel. We hid there for a few years, until the search for us died down quite a bit. After that, we returned to the castle and hid in the treasury until we could devise some sort of plan to retake Guardia. Since we could not send any word to Termina, we really haven't come up with anything."

They climbed up the stairs to the castle.

Ask 'em about the Epoch!

"Um, is it possible for me to see the remains of the Epoch after we eat?" Schala asked.

Crono scratched his head. "I suppose, though I'm not sure what good it will do you."

"Thank you."

.

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