Chrono Trigger: Timeless Angels Part 5
Crono and the Elf
By Mefathiel
AD 605, Ozzie’s Fort:
Ozzie and Magmas walked into his fort, entering the largest chamber in the entire complex. The fat Mystic stood at the center of the room, which also happened to be the center of a large circular design on the floor. Twelve braziers that surrounded the edges of the design lit up with blue flames when Ozzie spread his arms.
He twisted his head around and looked at Magmas. "It’s time," the Mystic said. "You help me revive Magus, and I’ll make sure to get you to the Beginning of Time."
Magmas stood at the edge of the circle as if in thought. Finally, his three-hinged jaw opened, and the ugly fusion of human and Pyrosian spoke. "What must I do?" it asked.
"You have powers beyond mine," Ozzie said. "I need you to stop the disturbances in the sun that are preventing me from gathering the magic energy necessary to revive the wizard."
Magmas concentrated. Moments later he said, "It is done."
Ozzie smiled evilly. "Good. Very good…"
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The End of Time:
Lucca watched the events that brought Magmas and Ozzie together. And much to her dismay, she saw other events that she simply didn’t want to witness. She quickly turned away from the ball of light before her. Zephon put his arms around her shoulders.
"Lucca, don’t worry," he said, extremely glad that she didn’t see anything about him. "That stuff won’t happen."
"But it will!" Lucca declared. "That’s our destiny, and we can’t change it!"
"Perhaps," her twin replied, "but we can prepare for it."
She looked at him and frowned, a tear spilling down her cheek. "There’s no way we can prepare for something like that. There’s no way we should prepare for something like that. We weren’t meant to see anything like that."
"You guys," Tata interrupted, "the others are coming back."
Almost as if on cue, the two parties that had left returned. Marle and Crono stepped to the sides to reveal Schala, and Glenn and Robo stepped aside to reveal Natan.
"We found Schala again!" Marle declared.
"And we hath found Natan, Prince of Veda," Glenn announced.
As soon as Crono laid eyes upon the Elven Prince, rage filled his heart. He rushed Natan and grabbed him by the neck, shoving him into the lamppost.
Glenn and Marle tried to pull him back as the others watched the outburst in amazement. Lucca’s jaw hung open. In the number of years she’d known Crono, he had never exploded like that. Eventually, Marle managed to calm Crono down enough that he let go of Natan and backed away.
Natan fixed his clothes, muttering "Insolent cur."
At that, Crono was upon him again, slamming his fists into the elf’s face. Schala ran forward and projected Crono into the fence with a burst of magic, and she held him there until the rage had escaped from his body. Glenn helped Natan up to his feet.
Everyone surrounded Crono, getting between him and Natan lest there be another outburst. "What was that about?" Zephon demanded. "Why did you attack our guest?"
Crono narrowed his eyes at the elf, his lips becoming a sneer. "I have a vendetta against all elves," he said darkly.
Natan fixed his hair and clothing again, stepping up to the contained teenager. "What is it you have against elves? I have nothing against you, I have done nothing to you, and yet you attack me," he said.
"An elf killed my father, fifteen years ago. I was only two years old…"
Glenn stepped forward and said, "But why attack Natan? He didn’t kill your father."
"But they did! His kind killed my father! It was their damn leader who killed him! And this elf looks exactly like him!"
"But Natan couldn’t have killed your father, Crono. He cometh from AD 800, almost 200 years before your father died."
Crono struggled against Schala’s magic to no avail. "Elves live for more than 300 years, Glenn! Didn’t that occur to you? You, elf! How old are you?"
Natan turned, refusing to face Crono and the others. "I am 64 years old," he said.
"You see!? He could be the elf who killed my father!" Crono declared. "I will never forget that face, and that face almost exactly matches that elf right there!"
Marle stepped up and smacked Crono across the face. "Crono, forget it! Natan is here to help us, and if you don’t want him to, then you can just leave!" she said.
Crono glared at her. "Then that’s what I’ll do. If I can’t work with any of you because you took an elf’s side, then I’ll just go back home and forget all of this."
Marle was taken aback. "I didn’t mean—"
Crono was freed and just walked to the Gate room. "If you need me, I’ll be at home."
With that, Crono stormed out of the End of Time. Everyone was left in shock, especially Marle. She sank to her knees. "That’s not what I meant for him to do," she said. "I figured he would make amends with Natan and that would be the end of it all. I never expected him to actually do what I said."
Zephon crossed his arms. "Well, you’d better go tell him that," he advised. "He’s the leader, and I’m sure that none of us feel like taking charge at the moment."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Marle stood up and walked to the Epoch Time Bike. "Okay, I’ll go get him. You guys wait here until I get back."
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AD 1002:
Crono sat on his bed, the point of his samurai sword deep in the floor below. He’d almost plunged it through the floor to the hilt, but his anger didn’t allow him the strength to do it. He clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails digging into his skin. Dozens of thoughts raced through his mind, most of them focusing on his father and that elf.
He stood up and shoved the window wide open, almost shattering the glass. With a burst of anger, he thrust his fists out in the direction of Leene Square. "Lightning!" he screamed as loudly and powerfully as he could.
Electricity crackled from his hand and all through Truce. The lightning energy stripped across the ground, ripping it up like a dozen plows; it hit trees and burst them into flames, the smoke billowing into the air; it plunged into the water, heating it and causing steam to gush forth into the air.
A sonic boom tore through the air, disturbing his concentration and causing him to cease his magic. "Damn," he swore. "Who could it be now?"
He slammed the windows shut, this time indeed shattering the glass, and stormed down the stairs, stomping loudly. With a scream, he kicked the door out, ripping it from its hinges, as it wasn’t supposed to open out from the house, and stomped out into the town. He charged his magic, ready to unleash it upon those who’d sided with the elf.
When Crono saw it was Marle, he forced himself to hold back. He folded his arms, turned and scowled. "What do you want?" he sneered.
Marle’s eyes were filled with hurt as the snide comment cut into her. "I came to see that you were all right and weren’t destroying everything in sight…" She trailed off when she saw the rest of Truce. "And I see I’m too late."
"Leave," Crono ordered harshly. Marle approached him and put her hands on his shoulders. As she expected, he shoved them away. "I said leave!" he ordered again.
She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder, refusing. "No, I’m not leaving without you. I want you to tell me about what happened those fifteen years ago. We can’t go back until you get over the pain and make amends with Natan. If it was him who killed your father, he did it without knowing—."
"The fact that he did it was bad enough!" Crono shouted, rage building in him. He knew he should’ve shoved Marle away when she’d wrapped her arms around him, but he felt somehow comforted by it and didn’t want it to end.
"It was war, Crono," Marle explained. "People kill other people in war. That’s the way it works. But some elves did fight on our side, if I remember correctly. It was all between the western continents and the eastern continents. The elves from the three kingdoms on Guardia and Porre sided with the humans."
Crono started calming down, and he returned Marle’s embrace. "Yeah," he said. "Glenn said that Natan came from Veda. If I remember right, then Veda used to exist on Porre Continent!"
"Exactly. Now, tell me what this elf who killed your father looked like."
Crono thought for a moment. "He looked exactly like Natan, except that he had jet black hair, and the clothes he wore weren’t at all like Natan’s. In fact, they were jet black, too. Now that I think about it, that elf showed none of the traits Natan has." He let go of Marle and started walking back to the house. "That elf couldn’t have been Natan. Elves don’t change much in 300 years, especially if they’re royalty. That settles it, I’m going back."
Marle smiled. "Good, it’s about time," she muttered under her breath.
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The End of Time:
A sonic boom signaled to everyone that the Epoch had returned. Crono jumped onto the platform, his sword drawn; he approached Natan, who raised his hands for protection. As soon as Crono was in swinging distance, Natan’s hands became charged with magic energy.
Suddenly, the teenager dropped and kneeled before the Prince. "Natan," he started, "I’m really sorry for the rude and disrespectful way I treated you when we first met. You are now a part of this team, and as the leader I must respect you, despite any agenda I have. After careful consideration, I drop anything I had against you because of your species, and I hope that you can forgive me."
Natan was taken aback. He struggled to find the words he sought. "As an elf, I am sworn to hate humans, but from what I have seen in all of you, I can no longer live up to that. From this day forth, I will work side-by-side with humans, instead of mercilessly slaughtering them like those in the kingdoms on Choras and Medina. And Crono, I forgive you. I realize your actions were not against me specifically, but against the elves who killed your father."
Crono stood and shook hands with the elven prince. Everyone was amazed at the sudden 180 that their leader had pulled. But it was for the better, so no one made a single comment about it; they simply accepted it because there was no need for worry.
The leader of the motley crew turned to his friends. "Well, we have four of the warriors Gaspar foretold. Now we must simply find the fifth, and we can defeat the enemy that opposes us!" he declared.
Tata stepped forward. "Lucca and Robo filled me in with the details of before I arrived here, and with the help of this place’s vantage point over all time, we came to a single conclusion."
Lucca took over for the boy. "Gaspar told us to find the five warriors and then seek out him and the other magi at the Shrine in 12,000 BC," she said. "Well, from what we saw, the only way to resurrect the fifth warrior is to retrieve the item from the shrine first."
"Wait a minute, resurrect?" Crono asked. "You mean this fifth warrior is dead?"
Lucca nodded. "Yes, and we need the item from the shrine to bring him back, as well as another Wings of Time. Only then can we revive the fifth warrior we seek."
"You make it sound like we already know this person somehow," Marle said.
"Only one of us truly knew this warrior," Zephon replied.
"Who knows," Crono asked, "and who is this warrior?"
Glenn stepped forward to answer that question. He lowered his head. "The warrior we seek is none other than the deceased knight Cyrus."
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"Stop pushing me, dammit; don’t push me any more!" —Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion
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