#Chrono Trigger Crono

[ebiebii]

walk around the room 3 times to learn magic incrdible game deserved classic

[ascendancy-echoes]

Chapter 1: The Return

Leene Square, Guardia. 10th of Fifthmoon, 1003 A.G.

Janus woke up to the feeling of cold stone against the side of his face, a throbbing headache on the other side of his head, a suffocating tightness in his chest and throat, and the sensation of a cat’s tongue raking against his forehead. He tried to reach out to pet Alfador as he became aware of his cat trying to wake him up but his arms felt numb and heavy. The late morning sun was shining down on him and the light was agonizing to see.

Alfador meowed loudly and bumped his head against Janus’s forehead. The world spun around Janus as he laid in the upper plaza of Leene Square. Closing his eyes didn’t stop the spinning sensation so he forced himself to keep his eyes open. Nauseous, he struggled to get to his hands and knees and then to his feet. It was almost impossible to keep steady as he took wobbling steps and caught himself before he fell down the stone steps at the end of the upper plaza. 

Every breath was a struggle. Leaning against the rail, Janus looked down the steps. He could see two people down by the bell in the main plaza, but the spinning sensation and headache caused his vision to blur. Janus tried to call out but his voice betrayed him, coming out in a hoarse wheeze. He tried to make his way down the stairs in hopes of getting help, but he forced himself to sit down after only going down a few steps. Overwhelmed, Janus leaned his head against the stone railing and started to close his eyes as Alfador ran down the steps towards the two people, meowing loudly. Everything faded to black.

Janus woke up once more, now to the sensation of being shook by someone. There were familiar voices that sounded distant at first asif they were underwater, begging him to wake up. He opened his eyes slowly and struggled to stay awake. Sitting beside him was Marle and in front of him was Crono. They looked a little bit older than he remembered but not too much. Janus vaguely wondered what year he had arrived in.

“Janus? What happened, how are you here?” Marle asked as he glanced in her direction. She and Crono looked scared. How long had he been out?

Janus wanted to answer but the tightness in his throat and chest and the throbbing pain in his head made it impossible. He wanted to tell Crono and Marle that he used all his magic to come back, to be with Lucca. All he could manage to do was pull out his sketchbook from his bag and fumble to open it up to the pages to the one he wanted to show them. He knew they couldn’t read Zeal but he knew they’d know to show the letter on the page to Lucca.

As he found the page, Janus felt himself falling backwards as Crono and Marle shouted his name in panic. The spinning and pain faded into darkness. The next thing Janus knew, he was laying in a bed. The spinning sensation had faded and the tightness in his chest was duller but still faintly present. His headache was fainter but now Janus was aware of the ache in every inch of his body. Aside from the numbness that remained in his lower legs and the tips of his fingers, it hurt to move. It hurt him to lay in bed.

Looking around the dark and unfamiliar room, he tried to remember what had happened after he had opened the gate in the cave. He remembered the rush of adrenaline as he successfully opened the Gate and saw the swirling blues and purples of the portal. The last thing he could clearly remember was thinking of the upper plaza of Leene Square and Lucca as he stepped into the Gate.

Had he dreamed that he had seen Marle and Crono and given them his sketchbook? As he tried to make sense of where he was, Janus could hear muffled voices on the other side of the door. He couldn’t concentrate on what was being said but it sounded like Crono, Marle and Lucca.

Meanwhile, Crono gave Janus’s sketchbook to Lucca. He also handed her a pendant that Janus had been wearing. It looked like Janus had turned his gate key into a piece of jewelry. Lucca read the letter several times and looked over the preceding pages in the sketchbook before she finally spoke.

“The letter says he couldn’t wait anymore. Things weren’t going well for him back in his time and after two years of trying to fit in and feeling miserable, he spent the next year and a half afterwards figuring out how to create a time travel spell and turned the Gate Key into a spell focus with the last pieces of dreamstone he had. He suspected it would drain all of his magic to come back…” Lucca explained as she held the sketchbook in her arms. “The drain from his efforts was probably a million times worse than that time on Death Peak…”

“Should we contact Melichor?” Crono asked. “Do you think he’d know what kind of spell Janus used?”

Lucca thought for a moment before shaking her head and saying, “While he probably knows how to treat magical burnout, I don’t think he’ll know what spell Janus used…”

Showing Crono and Marle the sketchbook, Lucca continued, “Janus has drawings of runes I have never seen in any of my books and random words and phrases pertaining to time and I think this one says something about a river, but most are scribbled over or crossed out and there’s a whole two pages ripped out. Maybe Melichor could make some sense of it, but I don’t think Janus wanted anyone to know exactly how he did this…”

“You should go be with him,” Marle urged. “He’s asleep but he’ll be happy when he wakes up and sees you.”

Lucca smiled softly and nodded. She looked down the hall to see Gina standing at the end of the hall. Gina approached and said that she had some tea brewing.

“Thank you again for helping, Mom,” Crono said. “Sorry about dumping this on you but Janus would be hard to explain to the town doctor.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Gina assured. “It’s not the first time this house has been a hospital for a time traveler. Why don’t you two go back to planning your wedding. I’ll take care of things here.”

Crono looked at Lucca who assured him she’d be okay. After he and Marle departed, Lucca turned and entered the guest room. She was a bit surprised to see Janus already awake in the bed. He looked at her, glassy-eyed. Seeing her, he smiled. He struggled to take a deep breath and started coughing.

Descending into a coughing fit, Janus rolled to his side, causing Alfador to leap awake. The cat had been sleeping at Janus’s feet and didn’t expect his owner to move suddenly. Alfador scurried to the floor and out the door as Lucca rushed to Janus’s side. When Janus wouldn’t stop coughing, Lucca called out to Gina.

Gina rushed in with a cup of tea. She set the tea on the nightstand and helped Janus sit up. Picking up the cup, she offered it to the coughing teen and urged him to try and take a sip.

“It’s just honey and lemon,” she said reassuringly. “It should ease your cough.”

Janus managed to suppress his cough enough to take a sip of the warm tea. The scratchy feeling that had come from coughing disappeared. As soothing as the tea was, it didn’t lessen the tightness in his chest, although it did stop the coughing.

“I read your letter,” Lucca said, tears building in her eyes. “I’ve been trying nearly every day to rebuild the Epoch so I could see you again… Janus, I’m so sorry I haven’t finished it yet and you went through this.”

Janus wanted to reassure Lucca but the words wouldn’t come forward. He smiled weakly at her and reached out to take her hand. As Lucca took his hand into hers, Janus could feel his mind starting to lose focus as exhaustion overtook him once more. He closed his eyes and mouthed an apology to Lucca before drifting off to sleep again.

Lucca sat on the edge of the bed, listening to Janus’s breathing wheeze and struggle slightly. She recalled the terrifying few minutes he had been breathless and unconscious after casting that spell on Death Peak. The fear that he may very well die because of the spell was very vivid in her mind. The racing thoughts of panic were almost immediately interrupted by Gina placing her hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll bring you a chair so you can be more comfortable,” she said softly. “And I’ll have your parents bring some books to pass the time and I’ll bring you something to eat.”

Lucca thanked Gina. Soon, she was seated in a chair next to Janus. Turning on the lamp, Lucca  began flipping through the rest of his sketchbook, seeing the things Janus had drawn since she had given it to him. 

She was stunned how well he could draw, the drawings looked almost like photos. All she could manage were doodles more fitting in a child’s classroom. Within the pages were sketches of his family and Alfador, the map to the Geno Dome and his notes on the spell he had created to save Robo.

There were also drawings of her and the others. Lucca found herself wondering how Glenn and Ayla were doing in their times and if Robo was okay too. Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of her parents. Seeing them, Lucca closed the sketchbook and put it aside. She practically threw herself at her parents to hug them.

“How’s he doing?” Taban asked quietly, looking over at Janus as he slept. “Your mom said Marle came by earlier to tell you that Janus was back but he was hurt.”

Lucca looked back at Janus and frowned. “He’s breathing better now but there were times it sounded like he was struggling. He’s been asleep almost the entire time he’s been here.”

“Your father and I were talking on the way over, Lara said. “When he’s well enough to move, Janus should stay at our house.”

“Gina says it’s okay for him to stay as long as he’d like but I know it would help you and him feel better if you could be close by,” Taban added.

Lucca smiled and thanked her parents. It would be hours before Janus woke up again. waking up long enough to get something to drink and giving Lucca a faint smile before falling back asleep once more. His breathing remained shallow and struggled but improved over the hours.

While Janus slept, Crono and Marle returned and informed Lucca that the Gate was closed and gone. Whatever Janus had done had only opened it long enough for him to walk through. They had also reached out to Melichor who expressed astonishment at Janus’s return, citing that time travel should have been impossible without a machine.

As far as how to help Janus, Melichor admitted there had never been a case of magical burnout that severe in the written history of Zeal. He grimly noted that Janus might not survive if he was suffering this much. He also said they could try and treat the symptoms but otherwise they would have to wait it out as Janus recovered on his own, if he recovered.

Lucca refused to believe such a dark outcome. He had survived so much. They had fought Lavos. Janus would survive, she was sure of it.

[scruffyturtles]

chrono trigger doodles

[acquired-stardust]

Chrono Trigger Super Nintendo 1995

[sylvanmigdal]

Had to try my hand at designs for the whole main cast (plus cats).

[stupjam]

The cast of Chrono Trigger, my favorite RPG. Rest in peace Akira Toriyama.

[jeansagain]

Epoch

[cruelangel94]

Rest in Peace Akira Toriyama.

[the-east-art]

I am like thirty minutes into Chrono Trigger :3

[macaulay-the-criminal]

Chrono Trigger (Crono and Marle vs Gato) - SNES - Isometric - 96 Frames

[maestache]

To Good Friends

[ascendancy-echoes]

Interlude: His Little Star

Truce, Guardia. Sixteenth of Fourthmoon, 1008 AG

At twenty-three years old, Janus Ashtear never imagined he would have found the love of his life, let alone become a father.

On the subject of children, it had taken Janus and Lucca the last four years of trying… Both due to his own health and the unfortunate luck of Lucca inheriting the same troubles her own mother had endured with becoming pregnant. However, despite the obstacles, he and Lucca had finally conceived a child. As the day for their child to be born neared, Janus was both excited and terrified. Something he hadn’t discussed with anyone until Crono brought it up during a visit to their house.

While Marle visited with Lucca in the living room, Janus sat in the kitchen with Crono. He sighed and admitted to Crono that he was afraid he would fail to be a good father to the baby. After all, his father had died when he was very young and all the male role models he had had, except for Glenn or Taban, had failed to teach him anything that could possibly prepare him for the role of being a father. He added that he worried he wouldn’t be able to show the baby how much he loved them as his own mother had been so distant and he was not sure how to show how he felt at times.

“Look at me, Janus,” Crono said firmly. “I didn’t have a father growing up either…. I’ve had to learn what to do by remembering how my mom raised me and how Taban was with Lucca…. Marle’s dad did his best to give me advice when Liz was born… You will do fine.”

“Parenting really isn’t as hard as it seems,” he added. Just as he was about to continue, Crono let out a shout of pain as his daughter accidentally smacked him in the back with her wooden bokken.

Grabbing the bokken from his five year old daughter, Crono snapped, “Liz! What did I say about using swords indoors?!”

“Dad! You can’t grab a sword by the blade!” Liz protested. “Sword safety!”

Crono sighed, “Sword safety is not using the bokken in the Ashtear’s house, Liz… and watching where you’re swinging it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you, kiddo… just be safe, okay?”

Crono smiled and handed the bokken back to Liz who hugged her father and ran off to the living room where Marle and Lucca were. 

Janus couldn't help but notice how much Liz looked like Crono. She was like a strawberry-blond copy of her father and she wanted to do everything he did. She was constantly on the move and talked nonstop. It was adorable albeit exhausting to witness.

“Let’s go make sure she doesn’t knock down anything in the living room,” Crono sighed with a smile.

Janus led the way, greeting Lucca with a kiss. Marle smiled and asked Liz if she was being careful while giving Crono a look that Janus had come to learn meant ‘I told you so’. He had gotten better at picking up on the subtext of his friends’ interactions and judging by the look on her face, Marle had evidently told Crono it was a bad idea to let Liz bring the bokken with her, let alone have the wooden blade at all.

“Hi Uncle Janus,” piped up a small voice.

Janus looked over at Crono and Marle’s son Oren curled up next to Marle. Oren had just turned three and was, in many ways, the opposite of his parents. He was a quiet and mindful child, more interested in being read to than play-fighting with his boisterous sister. Janus smiled and greeted Oren before sitting next to Lucca. They talked some more with Crono and Marle before the royal family had to return to the castle.

A week later, the baby was born just as the sun was rising. While Lucca rested from the exhausting ordeal, Janus marveled at the small life in his arms, bundled in a soft blanket. She was the star of his life… Zarya.

Minutes old, Zarya gazed sleepily up at her father. She started to fuss but calmed the moment he spoke to her. Janus swore at that moment that he would let Zarya have the childhood he had been denied. No matter if she was like most children or just like him and Lucca, she would get to be her true self. He would make sure of it.

[sapherin]

Something about daylight savings ending made me want to draw Crono 🕰️

[cephalopistol]

chrono trigger pmd type shit

[acquired-stardust]

Chrono Trigger Super Nintendo 1995