Amor Vincit Omnia Explanations

By Minmei

I figured that since I gave the story about eight months of my attention, I might as well include an explanations' section. Originally, I had started to type up the story behind this story, but I realized how incredibly strange it sounded when I read over it. So that went into the trash, heh. Anyway, you are here reading these explanations, or afterthoughts, or makings, whatever the heck you would like to call them, to understand all that went into this fanfic. Either that, or you just got lost, hehe. Oh well. Stick around anyway.

Now, a lot of the authors on this page have been playing Chrono Trigger for literally years, ever since it came out. 'Tis a shame I cannot call myself one of them. Believe it or not, it has not even been a year (or maybe it will be by the time you read this) since I first set my eyes on a CT cartridge. After six months of nearly blowing out Super Mario RPG, my brother brought to me his friend's game, which was another RPG. Since I had played SMRPG to death, I was willing to play anything else. So I retrieved the cartridge and inserted it into my SNES (which I had been getting more game time out of than my N64, bleh).

Even though this was my first time even hearing anything about CT, I was hooked within the first five minutes. It was a great game, with a lot of gameplay, good music, memorable moments, and all around cool things. As I lost myself more and more into it, I couldn't imagine another game as wicked awesome as this was. Of course, I hadn't gotten a PSX yet, so…*snicker.* I loved that game so much that I played it over and over and over again, probably running through it close to a hundred times in a row in a time span of only three months. So yes, I suppose you could say I was addicted.

But as I played more, I noticed that there were certain things missing from the game. For example, and shoot me if you will for asking such an old question, where was Schala? Since I'd heard nothing about this game, and had no means of getting help on it (except for that sun stone thing my brother's friend helped out on), I tried my hardest to find her, searching the planet inch by inch, era by era. I finally got through my thick head that she was nowhere to be found. That's the only thing that left me somewhat disappointed. But otherwise, CT had become my favorite RPG…and just favorite game.

Of course, not all good things last…too long anyway. Like SMRPG, I'd played it a bit too much, and started to grow bored of it. I also grew annoyed that I couldn't find all of the endings. Then, in the middle of summer vacation, after many, many years, I finally got a computer. The bonus? I would get my second taste of 'net life. Realizing I could use the Internet to figure out the CT endings, I would browse around until I found one site, one site to provide me with all I ever needed to know about Chrono Trigger. And this site was called Icy Brian's Chrono Trigger Page. (okay, so I found it via the SMRPG link, big deal. I still got here, didn't I :-P)

After using all the info I had obtained from this site, I soon went back to check it again, clicking on a section I hadn't seen yet. I scrolled down (as it was still in the old format), finding myself staring at a word I had never seen before. Uhhh, what in the hell was a fanfic library? Curiosity led me to click on the link, then suddenly, a list full of names, with words and phrases beneath each name, popped up. They were stories. Stories, or fanfiction, written mainly about Chrono Trigger.

After viewing seven or eight stories, or fanfics, I suddenly became inspired. I would write a story of my own. A small fanfic just for fun. That's all. Then I'd slowly fade away, unnoticed.

Wait a minute…I was going to write a fanfic? Me? About Chrono Trigger? What was I thinking? I had just barely broken through my two-and-a-half year writer's block! How was I going to write a story, especially when my poem had barely made the school's literary magazine (which, I might add, had been mercilessly truncated by their evil hands)?

Nevertheless, I started the story. Taking a bit of notes, and taking it a bit at a time, I soon created a storyline. I realized there had been other "new threat" stories on the page, but I was going to make mine different. I was going to explore a couple of things no author had done before, no matter how hard it would be. I would…make it unique. Even attempt to put as much emotion into it as the game had. That's what I would do…then I would give it a really cool title…something to separate it from the rest of the stories on the page. With the theme of love in mind, I thought back to my old English notes, and just decided on a neat Latin phrase which came directly from the Canterbury Tales. Amor Vincit Omnia. Love conquers all.

Now I was all set. By the time I had sent in the first chapter, I had already written up seven chapters to the story. And that shocked me, because I had originally only planned it to be ten short chapters (yet I hadn't even been halfway through yet). Now look at it. Thirty medium-length to long parts. Think I had gone too far? Well, maybe I had gone too far in the way of submitting all at once. Guess I was so desperate to do something no one ever had before that I wrote and submitted it a bit too quickly. Besides, with school coming up and all, I probably wouldn't have much time to write the story anyway, so that contributed to my action of sending in the chapters a bit prematurely. That was my true mistake. No matter how desperate you are to get the fic out, no matter how badly you want to present your ideas, no matter how much you want to go into an untouched concept, never ever rush the story. That could prove to be hazardous to the story, as it did to mine, nearly resulting in its deletion.

All right, all right, I thought I'd never have to mention this again, but…when I first entered the page, I was known as Rain. RainCTL. Don't ask me what that stood for, because I don't know. I liked the name Rain, and NOT from the Mortal Kombat series, though I'll admit Rain from MK totally kicked. The CTL is another story. CT from Chrono Trigger…and it looked a bit weird only as RainCT, so I just added another letter. I don't know why I chose L. It just looked right to me. And I might've kept the name, but in the waning days of August, a major storm passed through the coast, and I, being glued to the Weather Channel, grew sick of hearing the word "rain" over and over.

I decided I would have to have a name change, but what would it be? I began to think about my interests, eventually coming upon my restored love for Robotech (Macross), and my love for its story and music…and even characters. Minmei (Lynn Minmay) resembled someone I was striving to be, careerwise. So I figured, why not? In a matter of days, Rain was no more. Minmei now existed on the page, with three fanfics.

At the time of the name change, I had whipped out close to twenty chapters of the story. Phew. Even began another fic, but I won't go into that one for reasons known ^_^. But as I sent in that twenty-first chapter, little did I know what trouble I would come across in the coming months.

To summarize, I didn't get too great a reaction when I kind of got carried away with the profanity (those who read the chapters before they were rewritten know what I'm saying). Also, I had just hit a wall. All the motivation, all the spirit, all the writing had just stopped. Most likely because I came to the realization that I had only been kidding myself in the past couple of months. 'Different story, original ideas'? How different and original can you get with a new threat story, really? I suppose taking a two-month break did wonders for me, however. I took a step back to observe how the story had progressed, and realized it was not where I wanted it to be. The chapters were a mess, lacking detail, but were packed with vulgarity. Yeeech. That is not what I wanted. That is not what I wanted at all.

Around the middle of October, I had begun to really loathe the fic. I scolded myself for creating such an abomination on Icy's page. Some of you may not like to hear that, but it's the truth. That's the way I felt about it. It was not too long ago that I was this close to having Icy take it down. And I almost did. But then, something strange happened. I discovered that…someone was actually reading it…and liking it!? Talk about a shocker. After careful consideration, I realized that I needed to go on, so in an attempt to save the story, I began working on the twenty-second chapter. And this time, I was taking it slowly, with ease. I was surprised at how much detail I had pumped out. So I sent this in and started the twenty-third chapter, then the twenty-fourth, and so on, until I reached the twenty-seventh chapter. As I started to work on the next one, I stopped, and then took notice of the first twenty-one chapters. Once again, I shook my head in disappointment. They looked so puny, so crappy next to the more improved chapters.

So I kind of broke a promise and asked Icy Brian if I could rewrite chapters one through twenty-one. It took a while, but I knew I wouldn't be able to go on without doing something about them! No, I didn't change a thing in them, but rather, just ironed out the chapters so all the dialogue wasn't crammed into one paragraph, took out a bit of the profanity (it made the fic look tasteless, but only in my opinion), and added in something that was missing…description! I don't know if I'll ever be completely happy with the fic, but I can at least say now that I am better pleased with it since I rewrote the chapters.

With the rewritten chapters out of the way, that gave me time to work on the ending. I had a good idea of how I wanted it to end (which was far from what I had originally planned), but once again, couldn't bring myself to make it end. I'd been forcing myself to write more, but I just couldn't get very far. It wasn't until a fellow author gave me that extra push that I finally wrote it to the end. It may have been a little fast, but I had enough time to do a little editing; I wasn't going to let it end in a TOO crappy way.

After my summarizing of the fic, I'll go more into detail about the story, telling it chapter by chapter. So, brace yourselves…hehe…

Chapter 1: Wow. Cliché one. To be honest, the lavoid didn't need to be in there, but at the moment, rushing and all, I didn't have a better reason to unify everyone. Oh, why 2300? 1999 was taken, duh. :-P

Chapter 2: Delivering the news to the main characters, yes…that's it.

Chapter 3: Yeah, I wanted Ayla back, but I've always wondered what it would be like to have Kino in the party. The Neanderthal joke? My crappy sense of humor.

The conversation between Lucca and Glenn only was to provide some kind of foundation for, um, future events.

Chapter 4: I sure didn't waste any time with dispute, huh? Maybe I overdid it with the argument, which is why I needed to rewrite this chapter, heh. Also to mention how Magus' search had come up empty…

Chapter 5: I love Magus, okay? This was a chapter written to touch up on his true feelings about his life, about his dead search, his lost sister. To temporarily remove the hardened shell he built up around himself and let the good Janus shine through, even if at one time only.

Chapter 6: Ha. The morning after. Why'd I turn Glenn back? Because I'd always wanted him human in the game, instead of only in one of those endings where Crono is dead. Why make Lucca have a crush on him? Well, at that one particular ending where Crono is dead, Lucca comments on how hot Glenn is, and that just struck me as funny, considering she didn't even want to be in the same room as he when she first met him. Just exploring something no author on the page (on the page, not "not ever" because I've spoken with people who want Glenn and Lucca together) had before.

Ah, yes, and Schala. I haven't yet created a true explanation for her reappearance, just left some of it in the dark. Yeah, I tend to do that. Sorry.

Chapter 7: Just my half-@$$ed version of where Schala had been. ^_~

Chapter 8: Well, Lucca had to come clean some time.

Chapter 9: I wanted Magus to fill Schala in on the events of the past few months she'd been gone. I intentionally made her hit a part Magus didn't want her to touch, then gave him a reason to jet, adding to the tension between he and Schala.

Chapter 10: I had to touch up more on Lucca's growing feelings for Glenn. Perhaps I could've let the disclosure happen in a nicer way, but come on, I'm a soap freak.

Chapter 11: As I made the tension build up more, I make Schala blow up at him. This seems to hit a switch with Magus, and he goes off to recollect his thoughts, his love for Schala, and his fears.

Chapter 12: I never let a dispute go unsettled.

Chapter 13: A nightmare leaves Lucca distraught, and she finds herself in the comfort of, um, a very good friend. Think I should take a break from television drama sometime?

Chapter 14: I didn't say Lucca's feelings were fake!

Chapter 15: I finally bring Robo back to fill in the members on the situation with the spawn.

Chapter 16: I just needed a place for the spawn to be, I guess.

Chapter 17: Dalton's such a loser, hehe. Seriously though, I intentionally made him as comical as he was in the game…maybe overdoing it as well. Oh well.

Chapter 18: The first attempt to finish off the creature fails, and the party loses more than just a battle. Maybe five people was a bit much…

Chapter 19: I just thought it was cool to scatter the members throughout time.

Chapter 20: What? Don't like my addition? Must be the cliché…

Chapter 21: Did I overdo this one too? The first version of it, I knew I did. I was going to include a wedding part between Kino and Ayla originally, but then, that's kind of played out too. I had Kino leave because, well, I felt there were too many people. Besides, he could back out on his promise to her…

Guess I wanted to touch up more on Magus' fears too…and his hidden anguish.

Chapter 22: I had Lucca realize her impact on Atropos' life. I brought back the Nu to really give him a purpose, and to put a twist on the story. Okay, that's a lie. I didn't even know he was going to be in there until a couple of days before I submitted this chapter. Yet it was soooo convenient…

Chapter 23: My attempt to make it more emotional, I guess.

Chapter 24: Another strange dream that doesn't exactly end in bliss. Just more evidence of my addiction to soap operas, hehe.

Chapter 25: Oh, you know I couldn't let anyone leave without a reunion.

Chapter 26: The second longest chapter of AVO, this ends in Lucca being content at last.

Chapter 27: As if one couldn't see it coming, I had to finish off the creature somehow.

Chapter 28: After all is done, Lucca does not accept the outcome, so I changed it.

Chapter 29: What has happened? As if nothing had occurred, the members wake up on the day Robo returns. Forgive me, for I am one addicted to twists.

Chapter 30: The final chapter. Like I said, it was far from what I had originally planned out, but I can say this ending is ten times better…at least, for me. Besides, did you think I was going to let Glenn go without resolving things with Lucca? Strangely enough, what I left unexplained kind of fueled the theme of the story. True, I might have explained in full what had happened, but you know what? Sometimes things really ARE better left a mystery. Yeah, I made it end the way it kind of began. It just seemed right.

A few extra notes, I guess I'll add in whatever else y'all might ask about.

Schala and Magus-you may have noticed I called them stepsiblings as much as I did siblings. Why did I do this? Because I don't believe they are related. Based on one Kajar citizen's comment, and I quote to the best of my recollection, "I hear Schala's powers far exceed those of her mother's. Then there's her step-brother Janus. He's of royal blood, but doesn't seem to have a speck of magic," I can't say they are genetically linked. I mean, reading it over and over, it seems that the game makers are implying they aren't related by blood. It may be only one person who said it, but that's enough to place doubt in my mind. Why would the game makers put that? And so spawns another great debate by me, Miss Controversy.

Frog/Glenn's and Ayla's dialect? To be honest, I faked Glenn's speech all through the story, basing it on Shakespearean notes and what was said in the game. So if something sounded weird, it's because I knew I couldn't say it a certain way, or else it'd sound even weirder. Ayla's was easier. Since I'd played the game so much, it was hard to avoid the way she spoke.

What else…I made a lot of mistakes in this story. The only other one I recall now is when the team is in the cave, and Magus calls his old friend Flea. Yet the second time Flea is called, that's when Schala reacts. Oh well. I only used that to my advantage later, in the twenty-first chapter, so that it gave Magus more of a reason to worry.

I will only go over the unexplained events once more. I think you know by now what they are. Why did I leave them unexplained? I'm lazy, lol. No, seriously, there would be way too much of a struggle with me forcing out only nonsense about something I know nothing about, and it would have still resulted in me leaving it unexplained. Besides, I justify my non-explanations by saying that some things are better left a mystery. In this case, I believe things do sound better as a mystery, and it's not as if my actions are anything new. Well, that's my defense anyway. It's up to you whether or not you want to buy it, lol. But who knows? Maybe sooner or later I might explain things, which kind of opens up a sequel…

So will I actually do a sequel? At this point, I'm not sure. I've sort of moved on to greener pastures in terms of RPG fanfiction writing on Icy's Suikoden page. With so many great ideas in mind, I'll be quite busy with my new stories. But after I'm done, I might go back to CT and go through with my sequel idea. But not definitely.

The comments at the end of a lot of the chapters? Just me acting silly.

Uhh, I don't know what else to explain. So I guess it's on with the thank you's, if you're still awake after all of this, hehe.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank Icy Brian (well, duh) for surviving all these months with this story. I put him through a lot with the re-posted chapters, y'know! Thanks, dude.

I would like to thank Jerm and Nanaki (eh? What's everybody staring at?) for showing me that quitting is never the way to go no matter what, and especially Jerm for giving me the push I needed to bring this story to a close (huh? You don't remember? Oh, okay… :-P).

Thanks to Mage64, who showed her support with her kind words, and by posting my story on her cool site.

Let me also thank JWolf and Husker Dü for…uhhh…er…me forget…oh yes! Ayla remember now! (lol) Thanks for telling me I don't suck!

And the Wandering Prophet…thanks for nothing, dorky! Hehehe, nah, j/k. You'd also been there, as did Black, to also give me support…in your own weirdo ways, hehe. Oh, and remember, Black and WP, YOU KICK @$$ AS WRITERS! Don't you ever forget that!

Thanks to Ice_Man_Ash for being the submitter of what I never knew to be such a neat quote of mine, hehe.

JDHJANUS, thanks for waiting until the fic was finished before reading it. :-P

I'd like to take this opportunity to mention Jelly. Okay, ya didn't do a thing, girl, but just as you gave me a spot in your webpage thank-you's, I'm also giving you a shout out "just for the hell of it!" When you get your head out of the clouds (hehe) I'm just telling you thanks for being an awesome friend and putting up with all my crap.

Thank you to the fans (few as ya are, lol), especially folks like Carrie who pushed me to get Glenn and Lucca together! O_o (j/k)

Also, thanks to Eponine, who found the time to give me constructive criticism, no matter how down I got on my fic. And thanks for the last-minute advice.

And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Flirtkid23. If you take time out to read this, thank you so much for teaching me that having an open mind can get you very far in life, and that the world will be kinder and more free to you if you just give it a chance.

Anyone else I forgot-don't kill me, please, lol. You were just as cool to me.

All right, see ya!

*cues curtain*

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