The Gift of Song Part 4

By The Storyteller

"You've got to be kidding me."

Lucca sat up. The sun was shining brightly through the windows in the white walled room.

"No way."

She looked over to her side. To her left, was a figure sleeping. His tousled blue hair rested on a soft pillow...

"NOOOO!!!"

The scream startled the sleeping Magus, shaking him awake.

"What? What?"
"What? What do you mean what? You jackass!"
"Who are you calling a jackass!"
"You! You lured me in here! I can't believe you!"
"I didn't lure you in here, you jumped me!"
"I did no such thing!"

She jumped out of the bed, grabbed her clothes up from the floor, and ran out.

"Man... she's uptight..."

* * *

Lucca walked swiftly down the hallway, cursing under her breath as she stumbled into her outfit.

"I can't believe him... absolute pig!"
"Morning Lucca."
"MARLE!"

Marle approached from the kitchen, after hearing Lucca's quiet rantings.

"So, Lucca, had yourself a wild night, eh?"
"What? No!"
"What's it like being with a rock star?"
"He's not a rock star..."
"Yes he is. Come on! Explain! You are so lucky... I would have jumped at the chance..."

Marle laughed, and then looked behind her. There was Crono standing in the kitchen. She had forgotten he was there. He was tapping his foot, and his arms were crossed, and a look of discomfort was planted on his face.

"What's wrong, Crono?"

He almost spoke when Marle interrupted him.

"Don't even say it Crono. Once doesn't count."

He looked angry, turned, and left.

"So Lucca... come on, tell me!"
"Tell you what?"
"Come on... everything..."
"There's nothing to tell."
"Yes there is!"
"Shut up, Marle..."

* * *

Crono walked outside, smelling the somewhat fresh air... fragrant with flowers... and something else tickled his nose as he sniffed the wind...

Weed.

Crono walked around the front of the castle, gazing at the once beautiful grassy plain, which was now covered with garbage. He wasn't depressed though, he was actually quite content. They had put on a good show, something that Magus could be proud of. And it didn't hurt anyone, either.

"Hey, Crono!"

Glenn called from the distance. He walked toward Crono, who stood silently.

"What's up?"

Crono shrugged.

"How's it with you and Marle?"

Crono sighed.

"Hey, man... do you mind if I ask her out?"

Crono looked at Glenn in disbelief.

"I know... she's yours... what about Lucca?"

Crono gave him a look, as if asking why.

"Crono, do you know how old I am?"

Crono shook his head.

"I'm 23."

Crono nodded, not understanding the meaning. He realized that Glenn looked older than he did, but what was the point?

"Ten years ago, Magus turned me into a frog. Girls aren't fond of frogs."

Crono suddenly understood what he was talking about then.

"I need a girlfriend! I was thirteen when everything happened..."

Crono suddenly burst into laughter.

"What? What's so funny! What? Are you laughing at me because..."

Crono nodded, still laughing.

"You know, Crono, I thought we were buddies. I thought I could tell you I was a virgin without you breaking into laughter. I'm trusting you not to tell anyone!"

Crono nodded again, reassuring that his secret would be kept.

"I really need a girlfriend, Crono. But I'm scared! I never had my teenage years to go through this."

Crono put his arm around Glenn's shoulder, after reaching down to the ground to pick up a small yellow dandelion. He handed it to Glenn.

"I'm not getting this signal, Crono. What are you trying to tell me? I mean, I don't go that way..."

Crono shook his head. He pointed the flower toward the heavy wooden doors.

"Oh... give flowers to the girls... okay!"

Glenn started to leave.

"I'd better go find some better flowers though... Crono, promise me, you won't tell anyone at all!"

Crono gave him a look as if to say "Do I ever say anything?"

* * *

Lucca sat in the kitchen at the table, staring at the wall. Marle paced around her, watching her eyes carefully.

"I don't get it Lucca. You didn't do anything? Anything? That's a first... I mean, if I were you, I would have done something. I mean Magus... or J.L. is a celebrity now. Doing him is a rare opportunity!"
"Shut up, Marle!"
"Lucca, come on. You're an adult. Adults do things."
"Just go away... I have a headache."
"From what? AHA! Banging your head against the headboard?"
"Marle, I swear, don't mess with me today. I'm not in a good mood."
"Fine. I'll be outside."

* * *

"She did it, Crono."

Crono gave her a look as if to say "What do I care?"

"She's in a mood now. I don't know why. I'd be happy!"

Crono frowned.

"Hey! Marle!"

Glenn came running toward her, with a bundle of flowers in his hand.

"Who are those for?"
"For Lucca... but don't tell anyone!"
"Well, she's in the kitchen, and she's in a mood. Stay wary!"
"Well, I hope these will cheer her up... ohh I'm so excited... I might finally get a girlfriend!"

Glenn walked inside the castle.

"What's he talking about? Wait, no, don't tell me. I probably don't want to hear."

Crono 's shoulders sunk. He thought, "Like I ever speak..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Lucca sat in the kitchen, looking forlornly at the table. Had she really done it? With him? Of all people...

Magus then strolled into the kitchen, humming the theme from Star Wars, as if to claim a victory...

"What the hell are you doing here? Get out!"
"This is my castle, Lucca. If anyone should leave, it should be you."
"Please. I can barely move."

Magus smiled.

"And it's not because of you! You pig..."
"Oh come on, Lucca. Yes, I know its hard to realize that you slept with me, the one and only..."
"Oh please, J.L. It wasn't even good."
"You lie!"
"I do not! In fact, a certain song comes to mind when I think about last night..."
"And what might that be?"
"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout..." Lucca sang, smiling.
"You wouldn't dare..."
"Want to hear another one?"

Lucca stood up from her chair.

"It's an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow--"
"Oh really. Oh really! I'll show you itsy bitsy!"

He went to her and pushed her against the far wall, kissing her wildly...

* * *

Glenn prepared himself, as he was nervous. He'd never given flowers to a girl before... he put aside his insecurities and walked slowly toward the kitchen...

* * *

Lucca had wrapped her arms around Magus's neck, as he kissed her powerfully...

"Lucca I..."

Lucca gasped. Magus and Lucca looked over toward the entrance to the kitchen, where Glenn stood, flowers in hand...

"Hi... um... hi Glenn!"
"Umm... Hi, Lucca, Magus..."
"Umm... who are the flowers for?" asked Lucca, giggling.
"They were for beautiful but I gueth you thole him fwom me!" Glenn said with a lisp. He dropped the flowers to the ground and ran out of the room.

"I suppose they were for you..."
"Well... I never saw Glenn act like that before... was he trying to ask me out or something?"
"Maybe."

Magus realized he was still holding Lucca to the wall. He let her go and stood, smiling somewhat.

"I'd better get practicing... we have another show tonight, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Well then..."

He gave her another kiss on her forehead and left the room.

"...Pig..."

* * *

"Stupid! Stupid stupid stupid!!"
"Relax, Glenn! What's the problem?"
"I'm so stupid!"
"Glenn, listen to me. What happened in there?"
"I interrupted her in there with Magus."
"She was doing it in the kitchen? Go Lucca!"

Glenn looked at Marle angrily.

"Listen, Glenn. There's tons of other girls. I'm still trying to get over the fact that you're looking. I was used to the polite little respectful you when you were a frog."
"It went with the figure, damn it!"
"Relax!"
"OOH… well, I'm sure there are more. And I guess I shouldn't bother with Lucca, I mean what are Magus's chances in this world anyway? Everyone pretty much hates him, although the younger folk like his music…"
"Yeah, see? He doesn't have a chance in the world to find anyone else that would even touch him. So let him have his fun, and you have yours. Now I'll be inside, talking to the little lady about being a bit more polite and keeping it in the bedroom…"

Magus walked outside, guitar in hand.

"What a beautiful day!"
"Indeed…"

* * *

Well, night came quickly. The second and last show (for safety reasons, as not to alert the castle) took place in front of Ozzie's Fort. The entire stage (or the pieces of it) were taken and moved with the use of the Epoch. The crowd was larger than that of the previous night, and the songs better. They managed to pump out the entire song Free Bird, by Lynyrd Skynyrd, sacrificing Flea's fingers which became bloodied thanks to the endless pressure put on them. Magus decided to have a bit more fun, and instead of harassing the crowd as he did the night before, he tried to make them laugh, by playing a certain Aerosmith song in honor of Flea… of course, Flea wasn't to fond of it, but he played along anyway. It was the last show, and after this he wouldn't have to put up with any more name calling.

After the concert, Lucca and Magus made their way back to the castle…

"Where the hell is she? We have to get this junk dismantled!"
"She went back to the castle with Magus. Spekkio drove them."
"What? Glenn, are you kidding me?"
"What?"
"She can't keep her hands off him, Glenn. You just cost us two good helping hands!"
"I forgot about that…"
"She's probably using those hands… never mind. We'll be here all night without her…"
"She left the plans in the back, Marle. Don't worry about it! Crono will go and get them and we'll get this cleaned up."

* * *

"Good morning, Magus."
"Glad to see you're not screaming."

Magus reached over and put his arm around Lucca.

"Sleep well?"
"Hands off J.L. I gotta go."

Lucca stood and left the room, leaving a smiling Magus relaxed on the bed.

"Magus! Wake up!"

Glenn was looking in the room.

"What? What do you want?"
"I got news for you. Good and bad."
"Okay, explain."
"First off, the people love the stuff, and they're demanding another show."
"So we'll give it to them."
"Problem is, I hear we have lookouts from the castle on our tail. They heard about everything. Leene's pissed off, too."
"Leene! I forgot about her… what happens if she hears you and Marle are in on it?"
"She won't hear. And I don't care if she hears."
"Wow… you're not fond of her anymore, are you."
"Magus, I had to fight a war over music. Music of all things! They lied to the people! They told everyone you were attacking them, when you guys were really just defending yourselves! And she's part of it now. Spekkio told me that it was the truth."
"That's not exactly true..."
"What?"
"Well, truth is, I got a little overzealous. We were just trying to keep our territory with small advances, but we realized we had more than we needed. I decided that the entire world wouldn't be too far off…"
"So you wanted to take the whole thing over just because you could."
"It would have been great! No laws, everyone doing what they wanted. Just relaxing…"

Glenn sighed.

"At least your intentions were good…"
"Somewhat."
"But it's still their fault that everything had to happen the way it did, with Cyrus and you... right? I mean, hell, I even blamed myself for what happened to him, let alone you... but I never realized that if the castle hadn't decided to fight a war, if they had just compromised... if they had tried to talk it out... would your people have listened?"
"My people were too angry and too driven at that time before the war started. It might have been nice, say... 30 or 40 years ago."
"But if history repeats itself, would another war start?"
"Yep. I doubt that they'll try anything though, seeing as how we beat the hell out of them the first time. Your folks might have won the war, but you sustained a lot of damage. A LOT. And besides, we wouldn't need to do that again... and if we did, I wouldn't lead it. I guess I could honestly say that I'm happy now."
"That's a first…" said Glenn, meaning to be snide.
"It is. It's not like me to be happy."
"Why are you so happy? Because you're back in a band?"
"I'm happy because I like her, Glenn. I think I actually really like Lucca."
"You? You like someone? I'm surprised."
"You should be. I don't usually like anybody."

* * *

"No, Marle, I am not in love with him. I hate him."
"So why do you sleep with him?"
"Because he's got a schwanz the size of a limousine!"
"Man, Lucca, you are really something…"
"What? Because I don't have feelings for him?"
"Yes! You're just giving it away. Girls aren't supposed to do that."
"So? Sometimes people don't do what they should. It's just the way they have to be."

Glenn walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, folks."
"What's up Glenn?"
"Nothing."

Glenn went rummaging through the cabinets in the kitchen, looking for something to eat. He grabbed a small pouch.

"Cough drops? What are these?"
"I don't know."

Glenn took one out and popped it in his mouth.

"Tastes like honey. And lemon. And medicine. Here, Crono, you can have them, I don't like them."

He gave the bag to Crono, who put one of the hard candy like drops in his mouth. Crono smiled, showing that he liked the flavor.

"You like them? They taste nasty."

Crono popped another in his mouth. They were really good!

"Okay, Lucca, listen up. Magus agreed to another show."
"Well I don't know how we'll do it with all that equipment you guys busted last night."
"Well Lucca, you could have stood by to help instead of coming back here to have fun with Sir Loves a Lot!"
"I left the plans there! You shouldn't have had trouble with them."
"Lucca, you don't realize your glasses magnify everything a whole lot. Even more than needed. You decided to write everything super small so you could see perfectly. Sorry, we don't have glasses to help us out."
"It should have been obvious. Listen, why don't you go back to my house and get BeBo? It'll help you out."
"Fine. Marle, Crono, you go. Me and Lucca have something else to discuss."

Crono and Marle left.

"What else is there to talk about?"
"We have to find somewhere else to hold another show."
"Why?"
"The people at the castle heard about the stuff. They've got lookouts all over. Problem is, if they find we've been holding these shows they'll attack us. And imagine how Marle would feel if she knew that what we are doing isn't exactly legal in the eyes of the king..."
"What do you mean, not exactly legal?"
"Let me tell you what Magus told me…"

.

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