Birthright Part 6
By Dave Church
Crono was unsure of what to do at the moment except wait. But he knew that for all of Bane's confidence and cockiness, that Bane was not stupid. Crono could not bear to pick one of them, as he would have a burden of guilt far worse than…
than…
Suddenly, a vague and very disturbing memory entered Crono's mind. It was from years ago, and yet….
"Who was it?"
Crono shook off the once dormant memory and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. Bane seemed to notice this disturbed look in Crono's eyes and took advantage of it. His grip on Lucca loosened just a bit.
Behind the newly repaired stained glass in the back of the courtroom, a silhouette moved.
"What's the matter Crono? Can't pick? All right. I'll pick one for you."
Lucca took advantage of the moment and elbowed Bane right in the gut. Bane doubled over, unprepared for the move. The Chancellor was startled and Marle managed to quickly duck out of the weak grip of the chancellor. The guards scattered around the courtroom reacted, and moved toward Marle and Crono. Crono was still distracted by the "new" memory.
"Son, unless you can tell us who it was..."
Lucca turned the wrong way, though, and the Chancellor was not going to make the same mistake a second time. He quickly reached for Lucca and somehow managed to get an arm around her, though, and held a knife to her neck quickly. "No one move!" Crono wasn't moving anyway, and Marle, who was ready to fight, suddenly stood still. Even Bane's guards just stood where they were.
The glass at the back of the room shattered, and the silhouette that was hidden behind it emerged. Phil, his axe held in front of him, jumped toward the Chancellor and held his axe toward him.
The chancellor turned just in time to see Phil, and started to pull the knife back. Blood started to come from Lucca's neck as Phil's axe wedged itself into the chancellor's back.
Marle quickly grabbed a sword from the sheath of a nearby guard. She also took the liberty of slicing the sword through the guard's armor, killing him.
Crono seemed to be ignoring all of this, though, as the memory became fresh in his mind.
"Bring out the prisoner!"
Marle and Phil quickly took battle positions, even though it seemed as if they were outnumbered. There was about a dozen or more of Bane's guards around the room, as well as Bane, and 4 of them, minus Lucca, who was bleeding badly and Crono, who was half-awake. Marle seemed to notice this, and decided to do something about it.
"CRONO!!!!" she yelled, so loudly that the stained glass at the back of the courtroom decided to fall off of it's perch. Crono snapped out of his half-awake state and joined Phil and Marle.
Crono noticed Lucca, and told Phil, "You go help her. I'll watch your back." Phil hurried over to Lucca and bent down. Crono drew his sword as the guards moved in. Bane also drew his sword.
Marle was going to ask Crono what he was doing a few seconds ago, but decided not to.
"What are we going to do now?" she asked.
Crono thought about it, and gave her an answer. "We fight."
Phil was trying to think of what to do about Lucca. Blood was pouring from her neck, and he knew that if she bled for too much longer, she would die. A guard came up behind Phil, but Crono was there, kicking the guard about three feet past Phil. Phil looked at Lucca's gun, and suddenly got his idea…
Crono drew the sword- it wasn't as good as the Rainbow, but it would have to do if they had any chance at all of getting out of there. He darted over to a guard and sliced through him.
Marle clumsily deflected a blow with her sword, and struck back with her sword in a downward arc that any half-wit knight would have blocked. But Bane's men were mostly untrained and not as suited to classic combat. Marle kicked another one who was creeping up beside her.
Three guards decided to team up on Crono. They backed him into a corner, and struck at him one at a time. Crono winced at each blow, as he didn't have great armor with him, but used Cyclone to get out of the corner. The whirl knocked the guards backward. The three guards were damaged, but not beaten. Crono pierced a guard's armor with the sword, and cut through his shoulder. Crono looked around and noticed that Phil was no longer there. Did Bane get him? Crono wondered. He put that thought to rest as 5 guards came in his direction.
Marle was in similar trouble in her end. 3 guards had cornered her, and she was running out of magic, desperately trying to keep herself and Crono in the fight. Also, her sword arm was getting tired. She swung at one guard very tiredly, and the guard easily deflected it, and took a swing at Marle's leg. She was cut in the leg wounded, almost fatally. Too bad Lucca had all the healing items. Crono stuck a sword into a guard, which came out the other side.
Crono decided to try and clear the whole room with one last spell: Luminaire. The room lit up a bright green, and those who were not knocked over or hurt by the spell were almost blinded. Five guards were remaining(out of about 15 to begin with), as well as Bane, who had mysteriously disappeared. Crono was out of magic, and was bleeding, while Marle was running out of magic. The two realized that there was no chance of them getting out alive without intervention, divine or otherwise.
Crono decided to stall. "Bane!" he yelled in a voice that was noticeably tired and weakened. "Come out and fight, you wimp!"
That seemed to have an effect as guards just stopped, stared for a minute, and then strolled out of the room. Bane came in, looking quite angry.
"Maybe I ticked him off a little too much," Crono whispered to Marle. Marle could only agree silently.
Bane walked into the room. "All right. It's a fight you want, is it? You and me, down to the death? All right." Bane drew his sword, which had a glare that reminded Crono of…
The Rainbow. The sword that Bane had was Crono's sword.
Bane noticed Crono's look of anger and decided to comment on it. "You like the sword? I believe I picked it up from an arrested man not too long ago."
Crono's glare would have melted a sun. Bane smiled that evil smile which would make you want to put something hard and sharp through his head. He laughed.
Crono drew his sword and took a defensive position. Bane advanced on Crono, as Crono backed up into a corner. The courtroom was almost a square shape, save the balconies where the public sat and the chairs in the middle. Bane backed Crono into the upper left corner, where Crono had one more thing he could do.
With what energy he had left, Crono backed into the wall, and put his foot against it. He lunged at Bane, using his sword to knock the Rainbow out of Bane's hand and sprawling across the floor, and his left arm to punch Bane in the jaw. Suddenly, Crono thought that this fight wouldn't last as long as he had initially thought.
But Bane grabbed Crono's sword and held him against the wall with it. Crono could barely flinch.
Crono could see the Rainbow out of the corner of his left eye, but he couldn't get to it. He could see Marle slowly sidestepping toward it, though.
What is she doing? She should have escaped when she had the chance. But Crono knew from experience that she was not going to abandon him, no matter what kind of circumstances he was in.
Heck, she wouldn't leave me here if she would get me off Death Peak.
Bane held the sword to Crono's neck and. He inched closer and whispered to Crono. "Run, little boy. Run, little boy who killed his father."
Crono's heart sagged. He knows about my memory. But the only way he could know about that is if he were part of… Crono, realizing how Bane knew about this memory, stared at Bane, and could barely contain his anger. Marle had picked up the Rainbow and was waiting. Bane didn't seem to notice.
"Run, little murder-"
"I DID NOT KILL MY FATHER!" yelled Crono. He kicked Bane in the groin, and his sword fell to the floor, clattering. Marle threw Crono the Rainbow, and Crono threw her Bane's sword. Marle was more than a little startled by Crono's outburst.
His father?
Crono had rage flowing threw him. He gritted his teeth, and swung his sword at Bane. It clanked on Bane's armor, and Bane decided to run for the exit. Crono and Marle started to pursue, but soon realized that because of their fatigue they wouldn't make it far. Suddenly, just as Bane was out of the courtroom, the sound of a gun firing could be heard.
Crono tripped over the chancellor's body and fell to the floor…
.