[Chrono Trigger Novel - Episode 68] Where an Answer Returns
When Marle unfolded the cloth, the marks of her fingers slowly faded from the egg.
She cradled it in both hands. All through the climb she had felt for it beneath her clothes. Now it lay exposed to the clear sky. Its pattern was unchanged. No crack, no seam to open. She turned it once and returned it to its original position.
Lucca laid the doll beside the tree. Magus unfastened the carrying straps and left them on a stone. Marle could hear each of them breathing. There was no wind loud enough to erase the sound.
She looked downhill. She could not find their path between the clouds. No blue doll waited here to tell them where to go next.
“This is the end,” Lucca said.
She must have meant the summit. Marle held the egg more carefully.
The Nu had said they needed a likeness. Gaspar had offered a possibility. This was not like the ship, with a written sequence and handles to move. Should she raise the egg? In which direction? She was afraid to ask and receive no answer.
Lucca came closer.
“Take out your pendant.”
Marle supported the egg with one hand and searched for the chain. Its clasp caught in her glove. Lucca helped. A dim light shone within the jewel as it emerged from her clothes. It had not been there before they climbed.
Marle took off the necklace and gave it to Lucca, who spread it across her palm.
“I'll hold this.”
Magus picked up the doll. He wrapped the loose cloth around it and settled it against his shoulder. Marle looked at him and nodded. Whatever opened, they would have to take it with them.
She went to the tree. Near the roots, the snow was thin enough for her boots to find solid ground. She bowed her head over the egg, then raised it. If she thought too long about what to say, she might turn away.
“Every heart that endures its fear of the night. Every living thing resisting the dark. Please lend me your strength.”
Her own voice sounded strange. She raised the egg. The wounds in her arms pulled tight. Lifting it farther, she let the wrapping cloth slip from her wrist without trying to catch it.
Lucca called Crono's name.
The pendant brightened. Marle could not look aside. The same light shone inside the egg. Its weight diminished against her palms. She opened her fingers, and it rose.
Her hands followed.
A thin crack crossed the surface. She drew breath. The crack lengthened. For an instant she thought she saw light within the gap.
The egg broke.
Fragments scattered. Marle cupped her hands and caught nothing. She dropped to her knees, searching the snow. If even a little piece remained, perhaps Lucca could put it back together. Wet snow clung to her fingertips.
“It's broken,” Lucca said.
Marle reached farther. Her glove scraped earth beneath the snow. It had been against her chest all day. It could not disappear so quickly.
“Why? We came all this way.”
Lucca stepped closer.
“Marle. Maybe bringing back a life is more than—”
She could not finish either. Marle lifted her hands from the snow. Lucca had not said they couldn't when she faced the ship's strange controls, or when she watched the wind below the mountain. Now even she had no more words.
Marle stood. Snow fell from her knees.
“Say something.”
She spoke toward the absent face, not the slopes below.
“Don't go without me. Crono!”
His name did not carry far.
The tree's shadow lengthened. She thought tears had blurred the sun, but wiping her eyes did not restore the light. A black disk covered it, leaving only a thin rim.
The ground changed beneath her feet.
*
Dust hung motionless in the air.
Marle stood with one hand extended. Stone lay beneath her, not snow. Broken rocks hovered overhead. The light pouring out ahead did not widen. Even the finest line along its edge remained fixed.
Crono stood within it.
His arms were raised. His heels had not quite left the floor. A sheath hung at his waist. She saw that first. Where nothing had remained that day, there was cloth, leather, a person's body.
“Crono.”
She moved and found someone lying at her feet.
Herself. Hair stuck to one cheek. One hand reached toward Crono. Marle knew the shape of those fingers. She knew what they had tried to catch.
Lucca stopped beside her. Farther away, another Lucca braced herself against the floor.
“The egg brought us here,” she said quietly. “That's us, back then. It brought us to this moment.”
Magus's footsteps stopped behind them.
“Time has stopped. So it really is possible.”
Marle turned. He was looking past Crono. Schala knelt beside the fallen Magus, one hand on his shoulder. The man standing now lowered his scythe and watched her.
He walked closer.
“Pathetic. I changed nothing.”
He was speaking to himself on the floor. He stopped before Schala. A strand of her hair hung in front of her face. Marle expected him to say her name. He said nothing.
Lucca took the doll from him.
Marle hurried to support the other end. They loosened the mountain wrapping, revealing the same face again. One stood inside the light. One lay between their arms. Looking from one to the other, she kept checking which was touching her hands.
“Put it where he is,” Lucca said.
Marle nodded. They went around their fallen selves toward Crono, following the path he had walked. That day she had been unable to follow him even a few steps. Now she could walk. She hurried, then stopped: the doll's legs were dragging.
She lifted them again.
Her hand touched Crono's sleeve.
The cloth was not rigid. It folded beneath her fingers. That tiny movement took away her breath. She called his name again, but his face did not turn.
Lucca put the pendant in her belt pouch. She needed both hands. Marle stood the doll beside Crono and supported its shoulder while Lucca took hold of him.
They pulled, and his weight came toward them.
The weight of someone falling. Marle released the doll and caught Crono around the waist. She and Lucca stepped backward. Magus caught the tipping likeness. He lifted its false arms toward the light.
The doll stood where Crono had been, wearing the same clothes.
Marle bent to see the real face. A speck of dust clung to his cheek. Afraid her glove might scratch him, she rubbed it away with the edge of her sleeve. The dust came free. His eyelids did not move.
“You're alive?”
She could not tell whether she was asking him or herself.
“Crono. You are, aren't you?”
Lucca drew his arm over her shoulder.
“Come on. We need to leave.”
Magus turned.
“Talk to him afterward.”
He started ahead, then stopped for one more look toward Schala. Marle could not keep watching his face. The weight in her arms was slipping lower. She raised Crono's waist against her.
Light covered the cracks in the floor.
*
Crono descended beside the tree.
Marle knelt as his body touched the ground. He tilted, and she reached to catch him, but he settled against the trunk. A few grains of snow caught in his red hair.
His chest moved.
Once. Then again.
She waited for a third breath before touching the inside of his wrist. Something beat beneath her fingers. Her hand shook so badly that she confused it with her own pulse. She loosened her grip and felt it again.
“You're here.”
Her voice was small. Behind her, Lucca exhaled. Marle held his hand until that breath was finished.
“You're back, Crono.”
His eyes opened.
He saw the tree first, then the clear sky. Squinting, he turned until his eyes met hers. He tried to sit up and put a hand to his side. Lucca pressed his shoulder down.
“Slowly. Take it slowly.”
He looked from her to Magus. His hand went to the sheath at his waist. Marle caught it.
“It's all right. He's with us for now.”
Crono stopped. His face asked why. She tried to explain, but the first words would not come. The Ocean Palace, the Blackbird, arrows lost over the sea, the stairs in his house—everything came at once.
“They've been waiting,” she said. “Frog and Ayla. Robo's still waiting too.”
She could say no more. She leaned forward and put her arms around his neck. His shoulders fitted inside her embrace. His clothes smelled familiar. Beneath the damp and snow, they smelled of the clothes he wore.
“Don't go where I can't reach you again.”
Only after saying it did she cry. Crono's hand rose toward her back, paused, then touched beneath her shoulder. It shifted a little, awkwardly finding its place. Feeling that uncertain hand, she held him tighter.
Lucca sat beside them and removed her glasses, pressing two fingers between her eyes. To see whether she was crying, Marle would have had to lift her head and let go. She stayed where she was.
“While you were gone…”
She began again.
“Lucca flew the ship. It can fly now. And then we—no, first they took us prisoner. They took all our things.”
The order tangled. Spoken aloud, everything sounded so simple. Crono shifted, and she drew back to look at him.
“You are listening, aren't you? I haven't finished.”
He nodded.
An answer.
She watched that small movement for a long time. Lucca offered the pendant. Marle took it in both hands and put it on. While she fastened the clasp, Crono examined her torn glove. He reached out and touched its edge.
“Later,” she said.
This time, the word caught on a little laughter.
Light spread beneath the tree again. Lucca stood. Magus fetched the straps from the stone. There was no doll now. Marle helped Crono to his feet. He leaned against her at first, then placed both boots in the snow.
A small lamp showed through the light.
She blinked. The floor of the End of Time lay beneath her. Crono straightened beside her. All four had returned without boarding the ship. The Epoch was already by the railing.
Someone came running.
Ayla stopped in front of Crono and caught both his arms. She inspected his face, then pressed an ear to his chest. His shoulders rose in surprise. She stepped back and slapped his back. Lucca told her that was too hard. Only then did Ayla laugh.
Frog approached more slowly. His eyes met Magus's for a moment. He neither bowed nor offered a hand. Instead he stood before Crono.
“You kept us waiting.”
His voice dropped on the last word. Robo came beside him and extended a hand. Crono took it to steady himself.
Gaspar stood by the lamp. Marle tried to thank him, but he raised a hand first.
“Look at those hands.”
She turned. Crono held Robo's hand. Ayla had still not released his arm. Lucca touched his shoulder and pointed out somewhere to sit. Before sitting, he looked for Marle.
She was right beside him.
Crono made a little space. Marle sat down and removed her gloves. This time she did not hide the injured hand.
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