By Cain
Crono stood
at the altar, waiting for her to come. For a second he became worried that she
wouldn't show, but all sound stopped, and he knew it had to be her. Punctuality
wasn't her strong suit. He loved her anyway.
He turned slightly to look
at her, but he could barely make out anything beyond the huge cloud of rice
spewing forth from the two machines Lucca had made for the event.
Overkill, Crono thought.
Eventually, Marle, spitting
out rice, walked up to the altar. Melchior helped her up the steps. A muffled
voice from behind the rice-covered veil said, " Can't see a darned thing..."
Crono almost burst out laughing.
He turned toward the altar, and when
Marle was fully upright, Melchoir began, "Do you,
Crono...."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1020
A.D.;
He's trying to bore me to death,
thought Crono. I'm sure he is.
He sat on his throne,
trying to look as interested as he possibly could, while listening to the most
uninteresting dribble he had ever heard. A short, fat man named Hwozwarshlkin
(Crono had yet to say it correctly) stood in the center of the room, reading on
and on about grain shortage, a thief who kept stealing hay from a nearby farm
(Crono strongly suspected a cow, but the little man never allowed
interruptions), how the birds were making a killing at the market with the
coming of the fish stand, and all sorts of things that he couldn't care less
about.
With Marle sick, he had to handle all these matters himself. Rakin
and Corea sat on their chairs beside his throne, silently begging him to let
them eat, or talk, or something, but just as Crono began to say something to
them, Hwozwarshlkin stopped and exclaimed, "Your majesty, it would appear that
you have no concern for the well being of your kingdom and it's
people!"
Crono fumbled for a response, and finally came up with something
that might satisfy the little butterball. "Well, Soswershkin, some of these
things are truly awful, and I was about to tell my children that it might be
best if they left the room, uh... so they don't get nightmares... tonight, you
see, and, uh...."
The two teens put on their best frightened expressions,
and Corea trembled a bit. Nice touch, Crono
thought.
The little (but rotund) man looked long and hard at their
expressions, and finally said, "Children, maybe you should leave so your daddy
and I can talk, okay?"
The two nodded, quietly slid out of their seats,
and walked to the door behind "Hozark," as they called the fat man. Once they
reached the metal double doors, Rakin turned around. Thanks,
dad. he mouthed to Crono. As the short man looked down to shuffle his
papers, Crono mouthed back, You owe me.
Rakin merely
smiled and mouthed Enjoy, before walking out the
door.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
<I>Same
Time Period</I>
Corea walked out into the daylight, and was
surprised by how bright it was as compared to the inside of the palace. When
Rakin came out, he reacted similarly. After they had adjusted to the sunlight,
they stretched and yawned, until they felt completely relaxed.
"Do we
know anyone more boring than Hozark?" asked Corea.
"I doubt that such a
person exists," replied Rakin. They chuckled for a while, and then lied down on
the grass near the bridge.
"So," Corea began, somewhat insinuatingly,
"what do you think of that Oramina, hmmm?"
"What kind of question is
that?" Rakin replied, raising an eyebrow as he glanced over at her.
"Oh,
just wondering when you'll be married."
"WHAT!?" Rakin exclaimed, "Why
you little..."
He got up, but his sister had been prepared, already
having run into the forest. Rakin ran to catch her, but stopped when he heard a
short, clipped scream. Cautiously, he started to move forward, drawing his
katana as he did so.
"Come on, Corea. Don't kid around. I'm warning you,
really. Don't make me tell mom and-"
A hand fell on his shoulder, and he
yelled, jumped forward, and brought his sword up between himself
and...
"L-L-Lucca...," He stammered in embarrassment. He could see his
sister hiding behind Lucca, both of whom were now laughing so hard they couldn't
speak. He felt foolish, both because he'd let them sneak up behind him and
because he overreacted, but he couldn't look stupid in front of an older woman
and his sister at once. He made the most of it.
"Engarde," he said
boldly, and struck a pose with his sword pointing right at them.
Corea
fell over, she was laughing so hard. Lucca looked as if she was about to do the
same, but her face grew serious instantly, and she turned toward the castle.
Rakin was starting to wonder why she had done so, when the air behind the
castle... rippled. It was like staring into a pond when someone had touched the
surface. And then the ripple swept over the three of them.
Rakin tried to
scream, or yell, or somthing, but he didn't seem to be able to control his body.
Every fiber of his being seemed to be unraveling, like a tailor pulling out
stitching, and then it was over.
He stood there, dazed for a moment, and
then sheathed his sword. He saw Corea, still sitting on the ground, silent in
surprise, but wearing different clothes. He looked at the castle and saw that
unfamiliar banners waved from every tower. His legs also felt itchy. He glanced
down and saw that he was wearing those itchy fine pants that his mom sometimes
made him wear. The pants that he hadn't put on this morning. He looked to Lucca,
and saw that she was wearing her normal outfit, but that her glasses had pink
rims.
"Lucca," he asked, dazed. "What happened?"
Lucca stared at
the sky as if slightly dazed,and didn't look at him as she absently replied,
"Past-alteration resequencing."
"Come again?" asked Corea, coming to her
feet.
Lucca finally glanced around at the two siblings. "Big trouble,"
was her reply.
And then it darkened.
Rakin looked up to where the
sun was supposed to be, as did Corea. When Lucca turned around, a gasp escaped
her mouth.
"Ah, Lucca," whispered Corea, "is that more
trouble?"
Lucca merely whispered, "Omen."
"Sure," Rakin replied,
not sure at all of anything at the moment. "I suppose it could be an
omen."
"No, that's what it's called, Rakin. The Black... no... the Red...
Omen."
They all stared up at the vaguely triangular red object in the
sky. "Your dad's gonna need to know about this, kids."
"Just
as you touch the energy of every life form you meet, so, too, will their energy
strengthen you. Fail to live up to your potential, and you will never win."
-
Gaspar