Chrono Continuum
Chapter 92:
Two Concussions and a Nosebleed
Timeless
Well, thought Derias, At least Gaston's gone. Maybe
next time I'll
be able to find a way to help. If there is a next time. Gaston could be
anywhere in the universe. Anywhere at all. I'll just have to go searching
for him, though it won't do much good. But first, I need to see how this
ends.
He stared into the portal wishing he could do something. Anything. But he
simply watched as the three heroes tried to kill their best friends.
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1999 A.D.
The spell started out as a sphere, rather purplish. It seemed to pulse with
a life all its own as it hovered below the Magus' palm. Slowly, the sphere
seemed to... compress. It became thinner and thinner, and longer as well,
until it was pointed on both ends, like a twisted piece of cloth. The
odd-looking spell suddenly began to lower, dropping down as if someone had
let it go, but it stopped about five feet from the ground. And with no
warning, it shot forward. Straight at the Travelers.
Gaspar's hands were outstretched, and a green field was standing at his
fingertips. Masa and Mune were standing at his side, their small hands on
the shield, adding their own bit to the magic. Glenn, behind them, threw his
own bit of magic into the shield as well, though his knowledge of such
things was limited. The Frog was all but useless at the
moment
without its magic-amplification abilities, but Glenn held it close, just in
case.
It did them no good whatsoever.
The thus far misnamed Dark Horizon flew forward, and effortlessly smashed
through the shield the Guru and two Finori had erected. It flew right over
Gaspar's shoulder, ignoring him completely. Glenn had time only to bring the
Frog between himself and the spell. Once again, it did no
good. The
spell batted aside the black sword like a stick, and passed through his
clothing as if it wasn't there, slamming into his chest. The strange spell
vanished into him, leaving no mark on his skin. But it wasn't done yet.
Glenn screamed as his mind was opened completely to the Black Wind.
Darkness swept through his body, darkness that left him feeling cold, and
soiled down to his soul. Elsewhere on the planet, a bird was eaten by a cat,
and Glenn felt its pain. A man was disconnected from life support, and Glenn
felt his life leave his wasted body. Glenn felt the pain and suffering and
hatred and evil of every living thing on the planet. He could feel ripples
of evil coming from the past and the future, and he could see every dark
thought that lurked in his own mind. He could hear the thoughts of bloodlust
from his companions, and when Melchior's arm was cut off, Glenn was there.
Glenn screamed as very few humans had ever done before as he fell to his
knees. As his head hit the ground, and he lay on his side, all he could see
was the ground, stretching off into the distance. And to him, he who had
seen the evil of the entire world for one brief moment, even the horizon
looked dark.
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Same Time
Lucca cried out in pain as Corea's knee slammed into the small of her back.
The inventor fell to her knees, and then pitched forward onto her belly, to
avoid the blow to her head that she had known was coming. Her suspicion was
confirmed as one of Corea's rods swept past where her head had been a moment
ago. Lucca, still on her belly, swept her leg out blindly behind herself,
and was satisfied to feel one of Corea's legs give way. She rolled out of
the way in the second it took Corea to regain her balance.
Taking the split-second advantage, Ayla flew, feet-first, into Corea's
chest. They both fell to the ground, and scrambled back to their feet in a
moment. Corea, who had yet to actually react to any of the blows she'd
received, simply blocked the flurry of punches Ayla threw with her rods, not
taking a single hit from the cave-woman. But Ayla was determined, and knew
Corea enough to be able to block all of Corea's return attacks as well,
though with a little more difficulty.
Ayla didn't flinch as one of the metal rods slammed into her palm and she
grabbed it. In a moment, she also had the other one. She couldn't quite take
them from Corea, but for the moment they were in a stalemate, Corea trying
to wrench her weapons from the cave-woman and failing.
Ayla couldn't even cry out as electricity surged into her, the two rods
acting like conductors as Corea turned on a medium amount of Lightning
magic. The moment Ayla's stunned hands released the rods, Corea pulled back
and punched the woman in the face, knocking her to the ground.
There wasn't even a pause before Corea was simply tackled to the ground by
Christina, who was running out of ideas. Instead of trying to hold the girl
down, Christina immediately rolled off, and tried to kick the prone girl in
the side of the head. Corea's arm came up to block, and in a moment the
princess was standing again. Christina managed to block one rod with her
metal hand, but she was too slow to do anything about the rod that came up
from the other side and slammed into her head. There was a sudden explosion
of sparks as her cybernetic eye was smashed. Christina fell to the ground
roughly, and lay still.
Corea turned to fend off whichever of the two was going to come at her next.
Ayla. The cave-woman was breathing hard and smoking slightly. But for some
reason, she was smiling.
Corea only had enough time to turn and see what was coming before Lucca's
mallet, long forgotten, slammed into the side of her head.
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Same Time Period
She should have been crying. Marle knew that she should be on the ground,
sobbing, but she wasn't. She couldn't. Tears had been burned out of her, and
she was pretty sure that she was in a state of shock. But she didn't let
that distract her from what was important: Melchior. A man could bleed to
death with an injury like the Guru's, and Marle was damned if she was going
to lose another friend.
But that didn't mean it was easy. She'd never had to deal with a wound quite
like this before. What do you do when someone's missing half of their arm?
She was more skilled than any of the others at healing, but she doubted she
could fully regenerate Melchior's arm. She'd probably just have to stop the
bleeding and hope. After all, she was supposed to be the optimistic
Traveler, right?
As she tried to save the Guru's life, she chuckled bitterly.
Optimistic.
Once, maybe, long ago...
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Same Time Period
Robo's fist shot out, aiming for Crono's head, but of course the former King
managed to dodge. Robo hadn't really expected less. What was
unexpected was when Crono's own hand suddenly shot out (not literally) and
grabbed the chain still attached to Robo's arm. Robo pulled, trying to get
his hand back, but was unpleasantly surprised to find that he couldn't budge
Crono. That armor really gave the Hero of Time an advantage.
Even as Crono struggled in the tug-of-war with the robot, he brought up his
sword to fend off a double-handed strike from Wethreem's sword from
overhead, and easily pushed the winged man away back into the air. Crono
suddenly stabbed his sword into the ground and ducked, just in time for Gedd
to pass right over him and stumble to a halt a few feet away. Gedd managed
to catch his balance, but no sooner did he turn than he saw something he
really didn't like: Robo flying straight toward him. Gedd tried to jump to
the side, but he just wasn't fast enough. Robo crashed into him, unyielding,
and swept the middle-aged man aside as he continued moving around in a wide
circle, being swung around with both hands by Crono. There was little the
robot could do; he couldn't accurately aim with his other hand or with his
shoulder cannon, and using his rockets would only make things worse.
Crono suddenly released Robo's hand, and the robot went flying right where
Crono had aimed him: straight at the shell of Lavos. Robo tried to twist to
minimize the damage the spiky shell would cause him, but he slammed into
shell with the force of a train, back first, effectively crushing the rocket
on his back. To his dismay, he soon discovered he was wedged in between
several spikes, one of which had pierced the edge of his leg. He was stuck.
Crono turned unhurriedly to face his last challenge, the winged warrior.
Wethreem dropped to the ground as Crono drew his Rainbow from
the
ground. Crono looked worn, but Wethreem looked absolutely ragged, and he
felt it. Nonetheless, he charged, using his now-tattered wings to add extra
speed, and met Crono, sword in hand. Wethreem attacked ferociously, slashing
with both swords almost wildly. Crono blocked every single strike, as if he
knew they were coming before Wethreem.
Wethreem tried an overhead strike, but his sword was batted aside. His other
sword came up in a slice to the neck, but was knocked down to the ground,
and Wethreem's own momentum left his side wide open. Crono drew back his
sword to make the finishing thrust.
Crono didn't even make a sound as a solid block of ice, hard as rock,
slammed into the back of his head. He fell, unconscious, his armor making a
clatter as he hit the stone. Wethreem could only stare, still surprised, as
Marle walked up to her husband's form and sat beside him. The winged man
shook his head. That woman is stronger than any of us, he
thought.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same Time Period
Masa fell to the ground, moaning, beside his injured brother. Gaspar tried
to rise from his hands and knees, but couldn't manage it, even when the
Magus went to stand silently over Glenn's barely conscious form. The wizard
stared down at the knight for a few moments as Glenn continued to shiver,
trying to rid the shadows from his soul. Abruptly, the Magus squatted beside
the knight.
"Do you understand now?" he asked, his voice nearly inaudible. Glenn
managed
to come out of his half-mad condition to stare at the wizard. Magus
continued, "The darkness? It's everywhere. You got the worst of it, but
I've
had to live with it my whole life. And people wonder why I'm a pessimist."
Then the Magus shook his head, as if arguing with himself. "I'll... be
gone,
soon... I can't resist its orders." He looked Glenn in the eyes.
"I'm...
sorry, Glenn. I've lived my life with this darkness, but I've only ended up
perpetuating it. I wish... I could have told that damned Frog... I wish..."
He closed his eyes, and when they opened again, they were emotionless. The
thing in Magus' body looked down at the knight, and decided there was no
point in wasting magic. Calmly, it reached to its belt, and brought out a
scythe, the handle of which extended from the blade. It raised the scythe
for the killing blow.
"He... forgave you," Glenn whispered.
Magus didn't react. But he didn't move, either. The scythe remained poised
in midair, ready at any moment to fall and kill the knight. He didn't even
blink. His eyes simply stared, as if his body had been temporarily
abandoned. And then, strangely, a drop of blood slid out of his delicate
nose, and down to his lip. In a moment, the blood became a thin stream which
ran down his chin. And he screamed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same Time Period
Christina sat on the cold ground, dazed. Her cybernetic eye had been
destroyed, crushed beyond repair. She'd have to replace it, something she
didn't look forward to. Maybe you won't have to, she told
herself.
Maybe you'll die, once you realize that Rakin really is dead.
She
shook off that thought. It certainly didn't help anyone.
The three battle had spread to different areas around the huge shell, and
none could see the other. She was considering going to check on one of the
others, when she suddenly heard a shifting on the stone, and knew the Corea
was coming to. She turned, but Ayla and Lucca were already there by the
girl's side, ready to help her up. Or kill her. If that hit on the head
hadn't knocked sense into her, Christina didn't know what would. Maybe
nothing.
Corea's eyes fluttered open, unfocused. She simply stared up at the sky.
Lucca cautiously waved a hand before her face, and the eyes blinked. They
blinked again, and then they were sharp. The eyebrows tightened in confusion
or anger, and the eyes darted around. They settled on Lucca's face. There
was a pause. And then Corea's face softened, and she smiled, and Christina
knew she was back.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same Time Period
Crono's green eyes shot open and immediately focused on the first thing they
saw: blue eyes. Familiar blue eyes. He stared, somewhat confused, as if he
fully expected this to be a dream of some sort, and that if he reached for
the eyes, they would fade away. Slowly, hesitantly, he raised an armored
hand to the pair of blue eyes. With wonder in his eyes, he swept a loose
lock of blonde hair out of the way, and blinked as the blue eyes began to
water.
Marle could barely breathe in Crono's abrupt hug, but she didn't complain at
all. Her tears hadn't been burned out of her after all, but perhaps she
wouldn't be needing them much longer.
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Same Time Period
Magus fell to his knees and hands on the cold, hard ground, and the blood
immediately began to pool beneath his face. His mouth and chin were a bloody
mess, the same color as his eyes. There was another sharp pain, and then it
happened. A small device, barely visible to the eye, dropped from his nose
inside the flow of blood. The MC chip.
Magus smiled grimly. He was free now. Free. And you'll pay, Valiod.
You'll pay in spades.
"Revenge is a dish best served cold."
-Unknown
.