Tragedy of the Raven Part 2, Chapter 5
By Prince Nightmare
Raven would never forget that day for as long as he lived. If he had known that it was going to be the last day he ever saw Lucca, he would have let her know he loved her like a mother. As it was, he and Glenn thought nothing of her going to get Aria. They had worked on the wagon and gotten it back together again when the Epoch came roaring back into the yard. Lucca held Aria in her arms. Aria was crying hysterically and Lucca looked pale and shaken.
Glenn ran towards them and helped Lucca out of the cockpit. Raven had never seen her so upset... she was usually so calm about everything and here she was almost ready to faint.
“It’s... all gone Glenn... the ocean swallowed it all up...” she choked and burst into tears. Glenn held her shoulders and looked at her incredulously.
“What’s all gone Lucca!? What happened out there?!” Glenn motioned for Raven to take Aria into the house and calm her. The frightened child clung to Raven’s neck as he picked her up and carried her in the house. He shook himself, wondering what had happened to make Lucca cry. He sat next to the window, Aria still clinging to him and crying. Above the girl’s sobs she could hear Lucca and Glenn.
“It was terrible... I got there and everything was all right... we were laughing at Crono’s joke... and then there was this sound like the sky was ripping apart! We all ran outside, and Crono pointed to the ocean... it was rising in a huge wave! We ran towards the Epoch as fast as we could go... but Crono saw an old lady who had fallen and was too weak to rise. He went after her...”
Lucca burst into tears again and it was a moment before she could go on. “Marle shoved Aria into my arms and ran after Crono. They reached the old woman just as the tidal wave hit... everything was swept away! The ocean just covered the land! I started up the Epoch and circled around for hours waiting for them to surface... I just knew Crono and Marle would find a way... but they didn’t Glenn... they drowned and everything was covered with the ocean!”
Raven heard her starting to cry again and he a sinking feeling filled his stomach. Could Crono and Marle really be dead?? Crono... who had always joked around and who had showed him how to do katana tricks...dead?! Marle... with her smiles and her cheek pinching... dead?! After all the adventures and dangers they had faced with Glenn and Lucca... all the stories he had heard about how brave Crono was and how strong willed Marle was. Raven felt a little sick. He had only met them a few times, but Lucca and Glenn had told him so many tales that they felt more like family than just friends. He looked down at the blonde little girl that was crying on his shoulder and felt terrible that he had thought of her as a brat. Now she was just an orphan like he was.
“I have to go back Glenn! Someone may be alive and needing help!” Raven could hear Lucca saying from outside. “ Don’t shake your head ‘No!’ like that Glenn. You know it’s the right thing to do!”
“Lucca! Have you gone mad!? Something terrible is obviously happening there right now! You could be lost... or worse! If you’re going I have to go too!”
Raven peaked his head over the window and watched. Lucca was standing apart from Glenn, facing the Epoch. She wasn’t crying anymore but her face was very pale. “No Glenn... you have to stay here and watch Raven and Aria. They’re just children. If you go with me and something happens to us, what would they do?”
Glenn reached for her. “Then let me go. I can’t stand the thought of you being in that kind of danger, Lucca...”
Lucca shook her head sadly as she trembled in his arms. “You know you can’t fly the Epoch... you know it’s me who has to go... don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it... I just can’t stand the thought of leaving people there to die! Crono and Marle lost their lives trying helping others. I owe it to them at least do what they couldn’t.”
Raven had never seen Glenn cry until that day. He crushed his wife to him and sobbed in her hair. “If you are lost to me, Mother of Light I don’t know what I’ll do Lucca.”
“I won’t be lost Glenn... and if I am somehow, you will go on, like you always do.”
Raven sank back down in the chair and trembled. Lucca would be all right, wouldn’t she? She had the Epoch and could fly in time if anything bad started to happen. She’d be back tonight and until then Raven promised himself he would not cry and he would not be mean to Aria anymore. She had lost her parents and that was something Raven knew all about.
He closed his eyes and squeezed Aria tighter to him as he heard the Epoch’s engine start up. That particular humming filled the air again, followed by the flash of light...
None of them would ever see Lucca again.
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That night had been the hardest Glenn had ever known. Finally Raven had gotten Aria to hush and Glenn had put her to bed. The four year old girl was worn out from her emotions and sleep would be the best medicine for her now.
Raven and Glenn had sat on the front step of the cottage silently. Glenn glanced over at the boy from the corner of his eye. The boy had a determined look on his face though it was obvious he was scared and sad. “He’s going to be a man soon,” the knight thought to himself. “He acts less and less a child everyday.” Glenn put an arm around Raven and turned his attention once again to the spot where the Epoch had taken off for the last time. He couldn’t think about what it would be like to lose Lucca. Glenn convinced himself that she would be back any second now, perhaps with a few survivors. They sat and waited.
An hour passed, and then another. Aria woke up crying and Glenn sent Raven to hush her and give her something to help her sleep. Raven searched around for some Hygeil herbs that would promote a deep sleep, but he found none.
“I can’t find anything either, Raven, and that poor child needs to rest after what happened. Can you think of anything else? I’m afraid I can’t think straight right now...” Glenn rubbed his temples and sighed. His hand trembled slightly.
Raven looked back down at Aria, who was sitting on his bed wailing for her mother. “I want her! Where are my Mommy and Daddy?! I want them now!” Raven had felt like crying the same thing when he was her age, only he had no voice. Besides, no one in Lenstahn would have listened anyway. He remembered what Lucca had said about Aria looking up to him like a big brother, and he decided that from now on she would be his little sister.
Something strange happened then. Raven felt a sort of calmness come over him. There was that slight, hot feeling in the back of his head. It was just like that day in Guardia with Elmer, except he was feeling warm all over instead of white hot with rage. He gently laid his hand on the girl’s head and she blinked once or twice. Her sobbing stopped all together. Raven carefully pushed her back onto the bed and closed her eyes with his right hand, keeping his left on her forehead. The warm, glowing feeling began to spread through his left arm and to his fingertips. He could feel it surging into Aria’s body. Within a few seconds, she was sound asleep.
Raven pulled his hand away, a little startled. He couldn’t have really put her to sleep, could he? Glenn just stared in disbelief. Raven looked down ashamedly at the floor. He had used magic again, just like his father had, and Magus had been hunted and hated for his powers.
A moment passed without the knight saying anything. Finally he laid his hand on Raven’s shoulder and nodded. “I don’t know what kind of magic that was, but at least it worked.” He smiled weakly. “Raven, I think it’s best if you just keep this secret between us. I’ve been thinking of finding someone to school you in the magic arts... as soon as everything calms down, I’ll get you a tutor.” He sat down on the bed next to the boy and observed Aria sleeping. “ I was granted some Water magic back in during the war with Lavos, but it was taken away after Lavos was killed. Only Mystics and those with the Zeal blood are born with magic, so it will have to be a trustworthy Mystic who teaches you...”
For the next few hours, Glenn simply stared out the door. It began to grow dark. With each ray of light fading, so faded their hope of Lucca returning. Raven felt his eyelids grow heavy despite his anxiousness. He almost dozed off once or twice and decided the only way to stay up was to stay moving. He walked past Glenn, still sitting on the front porch and staring off into the darkness. Raven resisted the urge to cry as he saw the look in Glenn’s eyes. Instead, Raven headed for the woods.
He didn’t go far from the cottage because he wanted to be able to hear if the Epoch came back. The night was cooler than the previous... there would probably be frost on the ground in the morning. He climbed a tall oak and watched the moon rise higher and higher into the sky. It was near midnight now and still no Lucca.
Raven was looking at the glowing disk of the moon when it seemed to grow foggy all of a sudden. The scent of rain filled his nostrils and he could barely make out a sound unlike any other... the Epoch! He spotted the machine. It flew over a strange land where the water was rough and the sea angry. Storm clouds filled the sky as the Epoch was tossed about by the winds like a feather in a breeze. . Lucca’s head barely visible in the cockpit. Several children were with her, all crying for their lost parents. Rain pelted them as lightning crashed overhead. Raven felt himself there, in that storm far below on the ground... He was looking up at the Epoch as it sped by overhead, searching for some place to land. He saw for an instant Lucca’s face and her eye met his. He tried to cry out but he couldn’t! She turned away as though not seeing him. The Epoch disappeared into the dark sky... Raven felt a scream ripping through his body like a knife. It tore out of his throat like a caged animal.
“ NNNOOOOOO!”
The sound of his own voice woke him from his trance and he knew that Lucca was gone forever. He repressed a sob, and the memory of his vision was sharp in his mind. Finally he could stand it no longer and he jumped down from his perch. Not caring if he tripped and broke his neck, he began to run as fast as he could. He didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t care. It was his fault, Raven decided, because he was bad luck. Glenn knew he was bad luck and he took him in anyway, and now Glenn was paying for it. Glenn would hate him now and make him leave and Lucca was gone!
His lungs hurt from running so hard and he burst from the brush into the yard, breathless. He stopped and stared around. He didn’t even realize he had been running towards the cabin, his feet had traveled the path so many times he didn’t even have to think about it. Glenn was leaning against the doorway, his shoulders slumped. The knight lifted his head and looked at Raven sadly. He had heard the boy’s cry, the first Raven had ever uttered. The boy looked even more pale than usual in the dull light, his black hair was haloed silver with moonbeams.
Glenn remembered the time Magus had a vision of the death of Schala. His eyes had been wide, blank mirrors that reflected the sadness that overwhelmed him. It was something he would never forget. Now Raven had the same dazed look on his face, and Glenn knew that the boy had “seen” what happened to Lucca.
“She’s... she’s not coming back, is she?”
For a second Raven just stood there, scared to move. He was still trying to make sure this wasn’t a dream too, because he didn’t feel altogether real. He just stared wide eyed at Glenn, whose eyes were filling with tears.
“Raven, tell me! What did you see?” Glenn’s voice was desperate. He grabbed Raven by the shoulders and pleaded. “Tell me what you saw! Is Lucca dead? Where is she?”
“There was a storm, and the ocean was raging ...” Raven began, trembling. The sound of his own voice scared him. It was quiet and smooth, like still waters. There was already a hint of how deep it would one day become, though he was not yet a man. It was so strange to hear himself speaking. How had he found his voice after all these years? He would ponder later. Glenn was waiting for him to tell his story now. “ There were children with her. They were getting blown around by the wind and the rain. The Epoch wasn’t working right... it wouldn’t go through Time anymore. All of a sudden I was there too, on the ground. They looked right at me but it was like they couldn’t see me. Then they flew off into the dark sky and were gone... I tried to call out after them, but they didn’t come back Glenn.”
Glenn said nothing for a moment as he closed his eyes. Raven could feel his hands trembling as he gripped the boy’s shoulders. His handsome face was drawn and pale, his hair disheveled. Slowly, Glenn sank to his knees and sobbed. He pulled the boy close to him and held him hard. “She’s gone! Mother Light! My wife is gone forever! Raven help me, Lucca is gone!”
Raven choked and felt his head swimming as the man who had raised him for five years cried on his shoulder. He could finally talk, but he would have gladly traded his voice a thousand times over to have Lucca back with them.
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Note to Part Two; Chapter Five:
In this chapter I have “killed off” some characters. I have not done so for shock value at all. If any of you have played Chrono Cross, you will see that I am trying to stay true to that story line as well, though this is not a Chrono Cross fanfic. However, since that game is the sequel to Chrono Cross, I thought I should make my fanfic as true to ongoing Chrono series as possible. The event I have written explains some of the events in Chrono Cross ( the Dead Sea and the three ghostly children encountered in that stage... most of you probably recognize them as Crono, Marle, and Lucca) and allows a reasonable explanation for Lucca’s departure in my own fanfic. Also to let you know that when Lucca went back to the Dead Sea, she found a few children (including Kid) and rescued them before the Time Freeze happened. Taking them far away, she prepares to head for the Middle Ages. Before that can happen, however, the Epoch’s time circuitry is destroyed due to the rip in time that Serge’s death/non death has caused... so she is stranded. Therefore, she becomes the Big Sis’ that Kid refers to in Chrono Cross. Even though I do not write about Lucca finding Kid in my fanfic, I thought I should clear that up and let you all know the logic behind this chapter.
Thanks!!
Prince Nightmare
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