Rewrite

Chapter 3

When Lucca finally returned to her bedroom, after the disasterous meeting with her "mother" and a silent meal in the royal dining room, Eileen and Cora finally left her alone with her thoughts. She flopped down on the feather bed and tried to piece together what could have happened, based on what the servantwomen had told her.

Marle and my presences outside the Timestream must be what is allowing us to continue to exist. It's the only explanation for it...but isn't that a paradox? Would he eventually just fade? We couldn't possibly exist as we were in this world...her parents were never born. And my dad married some strange woman... Lucca grimaced, recalling her "mother's" reaction to her.

"Lucca...you look so different...your hair, your clothes...you're two years older..." And then the woman had begun to cry. "I know it was my fault that you ran away..."

What kind of person was she in this world? Lucca didn't really want to think about it. The wife of the Steward (whoever she really was) seemed like a perfectly nice person. But maybe that was it, Lucca thought to herself. She really seems like the prim-and-proper type. Maybe the Lucca of this world was just like me after all, and she liked science and mechanics. She probably didn't want to be a "princess", going to balls, preparing to govern the country. She might have wanted to build robots, or go camping, or...

Or be with her friends...

Lucca suddenly sat up. What, she wondered, was the story behind this-world Chrono? Had he been missing for two years as well? Surely his childhood had been affected just as her and Marle's had, but he too was out of the timestream's reach, safe at the End of Time. Frog had taken his place in the party before they went to retrieve the Sun Stone.

Maybe if I can get out out of here and go to the village, I can ask after him. Someone there could know him...maybe one of the kids we went to school with. Yes, I'll have to do that. I should do some research around here, too, though...we still don't know the event that caused the alteration. Why did Choras attack the castle, and how can we prevent it, when we have no way to get to 610 A.D.?

How much of Guardia's history has been altered by our deeds?

A scratching sound under her window made Lucca jump. "What the heck was that?"

She was halfway off the feather bed when Ayla swung through the open window, a terrified Marle attached to her back. The room was dark enough that the two girls stared at each other for a long moment before Marle broke the silence with "Is it over yet?"

"...Ayla? Marle!" Lucca threw herself at the cavewoman in an excited hug. "Where did you two come from?"

"Rescue," Ayla said sagely.

Marle gingerly lowered herself to the floor. "Yeah, Lucca, we weren't going to leave you here, obviously. It just took a little bit before it was dark enough to sneak in."

"Good timing. I think I just decided that I wasn't going to be needing a rescue, though." Marle looked at Lucca quizzically, who continued. "I had just been brainstorming about how we were going to fix this mess, and thinking I should stay here awhile and gather information."

"'This mess'? What exactly is going on here? Why doesn't anybody know me?"

Lucca's voice was grim. "Because somewhere along the way, the entire Royal Family got wiped out. In this timeline, you no longer exist."

Ayla uttered a curse. Marle's reaction, fortunately, was much more controlled. "Oh my God...when? What happened?"

"610," Lucca replied. "The castle was stormed by Choraen rebels. According to the servants here, power moved onto the Chancellor from there, who was an ancestor of mine. Rule has come down through my family instead of yours ever since."

"But why? I don't understand. That obviously didn't happen before."

"I don't know what," Lucca said slowly, "but something we did must have caused it. Something that happened between the last time we were in this era and now."

"The last time we were here...we were having the Northern Ruins restored."

"But we didn't come back to the castle at that time," Lucca noted. "There's no way to know if the change had been made by then."

"Then...the last time we stopped in the present time's castle would be when we came back to look for the Sun Stone. That was Frog, Ayla and I."

"Ah. So everything was fine then?"

"Yeah, it was. The divergence must have happened sometime between then and now." Marle frowned. "But I can't think of what it could have been. Really, the change could have been made in any era previous to this. I mean, what if this happened because by killing some reptite, one of the people of Ayla's time went on to live longer, and their descendant led the raid on Guardia? Or maybe someone we directly interacted with made some major change in their life because of this? Someone in Zeal?"

"No, not from Ayla's home," Ayla asserted. "Most Ayla's people will die now that Lavos hit. Only some live through winters."

"She's probably right. Most of the Zealians were killed too," said Lucca.

"Okay, so anyone we might have come in contact with between 12,000 B.C. and now? That's still a pretty wide margin, guys."

"Especially since not all of us were there at the time, thanks to the three-traveler restriction." Lucca frowned. "One of these days I should tool up Epoch for afew extra seats. But we need to look at what we've done between you guys finding the Stone that last time and returning here today. It's not really that much, when you think about it."

"No, but we've been to nearly every era in between." Marle, who had been a party member since before the last visit to the Present, begun to count off events on her hands. "We brought the Stone to the Sun Keep and picked it back up in the Future."

Lucca crossed her arms. "I was there, then, and we took it to my house. History hadn't changed by then."

"Ayla, Frog and Marle go to fix Frog-friend then." Ayla reminded the other girls. "In this time."

"Yeah, in Choras...Choras. You don't think it could have been from that time, do you?" asked Lucca.

"There's a good chance," Marle replied. "We spent a lot of time in Choras. The only ones we really interacted with were that carpenter and Toma."

"Toma. We rescued the Rainbow Shell for him after that."

"We had Leene take the shell for us, then we came here. That's all." Marle spread her hands helplessly. "We didn't do anything major in that span of time! At least, not anything that ought to have affected the timeline this badly!"

"We need to do more detective work," Lucca told her. "That's why I'm going to stay here and gather all the information that I can. I was thinking of going to Truce and talking to some people that Crono and I used to know. Well...if they still exist."

"Frog's gone off to find out what he can, too," Marle replied. "He set off for the Southern Continent before I went back to get Ayla."

"Ayla not want to leave Lucca here alone," the cavewoman said, very seriously. "Could be dangerous."

Lucca sat down on the huge bed. "You two are welcome to stay if you want. I told the guards not to let anybody in until I gave the okay." She looked around the room with an expression of dismay. The stone walls of the castle felt more than a little confining. "Actually, I think I'd be more comfortable if you did."

Marle's smile was both understanding and a little forlorn. "Sure, Lucca."

When Frog stepped out of the tavern, he wasn't surprised to find the woman who had been watching him earlier waiting outside the door. He halted and inclined his head. "'Tis late for a lady to be about."

"I live here," she told him quietly. "My husband and I own the pub and inn."

"Ah... Lass, though ye be familiar, 'tis sure never have we met. Dost thee want something of me?"

"I do, I think," she stammered. "It's a little bit complicated...I was given a message and told to pass it on to someone of your description."

Frog knew of none of "his description," present or past, save himself. "Interesting. What message dost thee carry?"

"It's a letter. Come to the Inn - I'll show you."

Frog allowed himself to be lead around the back of the tavern and into a smaller, nondescript door. A porch led to a homely kitchen, sparsely decorated with light green curtains. The woman gestured at the rough wooden table. "Have a seat. I'll run and fetch the letter."

Frog sat at the table, wondering at this new development. Could the letter possibly really be for him? He knew no one in this time outside of the people with which he had been traveling. He did not have much time to wonder, however, as the red-haired woman reappeared with an aged and yellowing envelope pretected by a glass box. "First, sir, may I know your name, and ensure that you really are the owner of the letter? There are several supposed recipiants, and the instructions were complex."

"I am called Frog," he told her. "And you are...?"

"Aliza," she replied. "Aliza Bell. 'Frog' is not one of the names, however, the directions that were given to me were that thefrog-man was once known as another."

"...mine name is Glenn," he told her quietly.

"Then, this is for you, Sir Glenn." She set the glass box on the table.

...to be continued...