Amor Vincit Omnia Chapter 7
An Old Face
By Minmei
"Schala?" Magus called out.
The girl's shoulders heaved as she sobbed, shaken by the series of traumatic events that had taken place so recently, and in such a short period of time. She was saying something...what was it? Everything that came out of her mouth was completely incoherent, until...
"Black wind...the…wild energy...so strong! Melchior...Gaspar...Belthasar! Where…where did they go? Oh no, Janus! Where are you?! Mother, how could you be so cruel? What-what-what, no! Crono! Marle! Lucca!" She let out another series of sobs. "Frog…Ayla…Robo…oh Prophet, how did you…know? Crono! He didn't deserve this fate. Oh no! Janus! Janus!! J-Janus..." She stayed there, crying, as the team stared at her in disbelief.
Marle and Magus both got up on their feet. "Schala?" Marle called.
The only response was her weeping.
"Schala," Marle tried again.
"What?" answered the girl, not even taking acknowledge of her new location.
"Schala," Marle said.
"Wh-what...Janus. Oh Janus," Schala mumbled.
Marle put her hands on her hips and made that pissy face. "Schala! Snap out of it already!" She then cleared her throat and softened her tone. "Now, come on, Schala honey, come back to us."
The sobbing stopped. Schala blinked, slowly stood up, and lifted her head, revealing her tear-streaked face. "Where-where am I?" she asked.
"You're in the woods Robo saved, in the year 1000 AD," answered Lucca.
Schala looked around her, wide-eyed, as it all began to sink in. "You're ALL here?!" she gasped. She laid her eyes on Crono. "You're alive? How?"
Marle stepped forward. "Gaspar gave us his time egg," she explained.
"So the egg works, huh?" Schala commented, sounding a bit pleased. She was about to say more, but asked a new question as the sudden fact hit her. "Wait-you know where Gaspar is? He's okay? And Melchior? And Belthasar?"
"Yeah, Gaspar's fine. Melchior's great. Belthasar-um, I'm sorry, Schala. He's already passed on," Marle answered.
"Oh," Schala said sadly, lowering her gaze. She then looked up as a new and more important matter entered her mind. "Hey, where's Janus?"
The others stared at Schala, surprised at her question, even though they would have expected it anyway.
Schala's mouth fell open in alarm. "Oh no, he isn't dead, is he? What happened to him?!" They all looked at her, not knowing what to say. "What? What is it?" she asked. "Tell me!"
"Don't worry about that now."
Schala turned her head in the direction of the voice. "You..." she said as Magus stepped forward, adjusting his gloves. "Yes, I wondered what happened to you as well, Mr. Prophet," she told him. "I'm…glad you're all right." She looked around again. "Where is that metallic creature Robo?"
"Hmph. That's what we're wondering. He's supposed to meet us here, but we've been here since yesterday," Lucca responded with a sigh.
"Okay. Where's Frog?"
Glenn stepped forward. "I'm here," he replied.
Schala shook her head. "You're not Frog. You can't be," she said.
"It is him," Lucca insisted. "Magus broke the spell." She pointed to the blue-haired man.
The young sorceress tilted her head to the side at her stepbrother. "Magus? Is that your name, Prophet?" she questioned him.
"It's, um...what they call me," he answered.
"Okay," Schala said. She took yet another look around and raised an eyebrow. "But what are you guys doing here anyway? Why are you meeting Robo?"
Marle put a hand on Schala's shoulder. "Schala, babe, you may want to sit down for this."
"Um…okay." Schala took a seat and listened attentively as Atropos stepped forward to explain the fate of the world to her. "That's awful," Schala said as the pink robot finished. "But what do you mean by 'the second Lavos'? There's another one? Whatever happened to the first?"
"They exterminated the first one in the year 1999 AD, and they thought they had also killed its children, but it appears that there was one that we did not know of," replied Atropos.
Crono came forward. "Yeah, but enough about that," he said. "I want to know what happened to YOU."
"Me..." Schala started, lowering her gaze to the ground. "Well, the only thing I remember is you...dying...and sending your friends and the Prophet to land. Then I called out your name and..."
"Yes?" Crono asked eagerly.
Schala let out a frustrated sigh as she thought back. "I-I remember being trapped somewhere, helpless. I remember wondering what happened to everyone, to everything. I remember thinking I had died and truly gone to hell. At least that's what it felt like. I remember being doomed to a life with Lavos and feeling so sad. I started to lament, but all of a sudden the darkness faded, and then here I am embarrassing myself."
"There's no reason for you to feel that way," Magus told her softly.
"I know," Schala said, forcing a grim smile. A moment passed when Schala decided to ask something new. "Hey, how much time has passed here?"
"In all the time periods? Over five months," Lucca answered.
"And you destroyed the Ocean Palace and Lavos that long ago? So why did I suddenly come back?"
"I think it has to do with those two lovebirds and their tender moment shared," Lucca cracked, pointing to Marle and Magus.
"Ha ha, very funny," Marle said in a sarcastic voice, rolling her eyes.
"What do you mean, Lucca?" asked Schala, an expression on confusion covering her pretty face.
"Well, when they embraced, their medallions had this weird reaction to each other. Something threw them apart, and then a gate formed and you came out. I mean, I knew Marle's pendant had power, but when it came in contact with Magus'-"
"Hey!" Magus yelled out suddenly.
"What?" Lucca snapped.
Marle looked at Magus and realized why he had interrupted. "Lucca," she told her friend, "I don't think Magus wants to, um, EXPLAIN things now."
Lucca began to understand as well. "Oh, yeah. Okay, whatever."
Schala just stood there, still confused. After a brief moment, she shook her head and said, "Yes, the pendant. I've wondered why it was identical to mine. Marle, where did you get yours?"
"Uh, actually, it was a family heirloom," Marle answered. "My mother, Queen Aliza, wore it often. She gave it to me before she died, when I was little."
"I'm sorry," Schala said sympathetically. She then frowned. "Wait, your mother was a queen? So that makes you-"
"Uh, yeah. I'm Princess Nadia," Marle explained with a sheepish grin. "But I told everyone to call me Marle. I guess I just got tired of hearing the title of 'Princess' constantly. I just wanted to be a normal person."
"I think I know what you mean," Schala agreed. She let out a small chuckle. "It's funny. I've always said that if I had children, I would pass the pendant down to a daughter in hopes that she would do the same for generations to come. And here you are, with a pendant that looks like mine."
"Miss Schala, art thou insinuating something?" Glenn questioned.
She turned to the former amphibian man. "Well, with royalty in our blood, and the fact we have identical pendants, it's almost as if we're related," she told him.
"Wow! I never thought about it that way," Marle admitted, a little shocked that Schala could be her ancestor.
Schala giggled again. "Now, now, that doesn't mean we're actually linked. Although I wouldn't mind having someone as wonderful as you as a relative."
"Thanks, Schala," said Marle, smiling.
Schala suddenly yawned. "Oooohh, I'm exhausted," she said. "I think I need to lie down."
"You can lie down in the shade if you want to sleep," Magus offered.
"Yeah, I think I will," she agreed. She picked up a blanket, lay herself down, and *yawn*
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