Footsteps! Follow!

No one reacted for a full minute. Could Robo die? Was he just out of commission? Chrono studied Lucca's face – she looked tense, which made him nervous. Obviously she didn't see a quick fix in store here.

"Your friend here thought his metal suit could protect him," Azala continued. (Of course – Chrono realized – she didn't know machines either.) "Your friend was sorely mistaken. Here are my conditions: I will ask a question. For every incorrect answer, Nizbel here will be forced to hurt you." She paused to let the thought sink in. "Don't worry," she said slowly, "I don't want to hurt you. Nizbel doesn't really want to either, as far as his primitive brain can want anything. But if you make him angry you will regret it."

Something about the tone of her voice snapped Lucca out of her trance. "Listen, we already told you."

"Yeah," Chrono added. "It's our way of getting back to our own time period. I don't care about your stupid reptite/human warfare. Just give us the key and we'll be out of your hair forever. Well, not your hair... but we won't bother you anymore."

"Lies," Azala blurted. "Of course, they are most ingenious lies. I've never heard an ape invent fantasies such as yours. But your kind would say anything to save your own skin, so I may have just underestimated your capacity for intelligence. That is all. But no one has ever talked so easily. You are hiding something."

"No more games," Lucca snapped. "Just let us go or you'll regret it."

Azala looked stricken – personally offended, Chrono would say, that someone interrupted her. She strode over to Lucca. "I think I am in the position of power here."

"Yeah right. You're a cardboard cutout of every schoolchild's action-adventure stories. You're probably their greatest inspiration. You can't come up with one original threat, and there probably haven't been that many before you to take a crack at it." Lucca paused as she noticed Azala's darkening expression and backed off a little. "So we're tired and cranky. Just let us go."

"You are so bothersome," Azala sighed, "that I am considering it."

"Oh," Nadia said hesitantly. "And our gate key. We need that back."

Azala laughed – an abrasive bark. "Gate key. You still expect me to believe it. I'll return your key if you answer me one question. What village are you from?"

"Guardia," Chrono fumed. "We've been over this – "

"Stop!" Azala held a claw out to Chrono. "I want this weakling to answer."

Nadia physically shrank back. "Chrono's right. We're from Guardia."

"Fool! There is no Guardia. You think I don't know this?"

"We're from Guardia, one thousand and one years after it was founded."

"Nizbel!" At the command, the hulking beast went over to Ayla and just waited. The girl spat on the monster's feet.

"How do you get there?"

"I..." Nadia looked at her feet. "I don't know."

"Nizbel."

The monster raised both arms in the air. Chrono didn't have time to realize what was about to happen. He just watched as Nizbel slammed its fists on Ayla's thighs. He heard the sharp report of both her legs breaking. To her credit, Ayla made no cry, and didn't writhe in pain at all. She sat still, eyes burning with hatred and starting to water. Her breathing came in ragged, short bursts.

"How," Azala continued with a smile, "do you get to Guardia?"

"I don't know because it's complicated!" Nadia screamed, trying very hard not to look at Ayla. "You'll have to ask Lucca. I don't understand time travel."

"Oh, that's enough," Chrono heard Lucca mutter. He saw a flash of light at her wrists, and some smoking tendrils were left at her feet – the remnants of her bonds. She leapt up onto Nizbel's side and climbed up onto its back. With a feral cry of victory she conjured a giant fireball to consume the beast's head.

But Nizbel didn't seem to notice the damage. Despite a charred, steaming face (complete with the smell of burning flesh), it effortlessly reached behind and plucked Lucca off its back, then threw her against the rough rock wall. Another crack rang out, and she lay crumpled on the ground, motionless.

Chrono pulled against his bonds, but to no avail. They weren't incredibly tight, but the reptites were able to tie a knot. As far as he knew, electricity had no power to break those thick vines. If only Spekkio hadn't given them such contrived limits to their power...

"Well done," Azala said, and it was then Chrono noticed she had distanced herself from the battle. In fact, she had practically left the room. "I've never seen worthless apes perform such tricks." She moved tentatively to Lucca, at the ready if her crumpled body were to suddenly spring up and run after her. Azala gave her a few kicks, and visibly relaxed as Lucca moaned. "Good, she isn't dead yet. But she won't be moving. It seems she has a few broken bones in her spine. I've heard that's a permanent condition with you humans.

"It seems in all the confusion that we have lost the point. Oh yes, I was asking questions which you refused to answer correctly, that was it. Well, I have changed my mind. It seems you are possessed of a certain, shall I say, magical charm. Give me your secret power and I will give you your key."

"What power?" Nadia said, shaking.

Azala sighed. "Nizbel," she said matter-of-factly, as if the whole ordeal had suddenly become boring.

"No! Wait!" Chrono's cry stopped Nizbel mid-swing. "I'll tell you. Just don't hit her!" And if I'm lucky, I'll figure out how to undo these bonds in the meantime. Perhaps they don't expect humans to be smart enough to untie ropes.

"I agree to your proposal. Nizbel, if the boy lies, kill the girl. He seems to like her." Nadia clucked her tongue.

"All right," Chrono said, ignoring the insinuation. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. What is your power? Who gave it to you? Gods? Were you born with it? Are you beings from the spirit world?"

Chrono jumped in before Azala could get another word out. "Woah, don't go all crazy on me. I don't understand it either. We were given this gift by someone called Spekkio."

"Such a strange name. Go on."

"That's all I can say," Chrono shrugged. Well, as much of a shrug as could be done with both arms tied behind his back. "No wait, I just remembered. I can't take you to Spekkio."

"Convenient," Azala huffed. "And why not?"

"Because we need that gate key to get there." Azala's eyes narrowed. She knew he was trying to play some sort of trick, but hadn't yet figured out what. "So let's make a deal. You let us go, and we'll use the key to take you to Spekkio."

"You are setting a trap for me. You apes think you can outwit me."

Chrono smiled. "You have no way of knowing that."

"How do I know this Spekkio even exists?"

"Oh come on, a girl just created a huge fireball from nothing and almost vaporized your pet and you're going to doubt a little story." Chrono winced – that last part may have been too harsh, maybe just harsh enough to set her off. Any moment he expected Azala to have Nadia snuffed before he could get loose.

But the moment never came. Good – she's hooked. "Deal?" Chrono squeaked.

"No. You will tell me where to go and I will go alone. You really think I would let you go? You will kill me the first chance you get."

"I promise not to harm you," Chrono said. "And I never lie. Isn't that right, Nadia?"

"I suppose," she replied unenthusiastically.

"Where is this Spekkio?" Azala asked once more. "Tell me now and I will see that you are not killed."

"Well, the directions are somewhat complicated."

"I don't care. Speak up or the girl dies!"

"First you have to get out of here. But I don't remember which direction to go exactly since we were unconscious for a while. All I know is we came from the Ioka village. Is that south of here? I wouldn't know, I'm not very good with directions." Azala was becoming visibly impatient. Chrono grinned a little. "Well, whatever direction the Ioka village is in, that's the one you want. 'Course, from there I don't remember well either, but we were up in some mountain. Or at least by a ravine. See, the gate is this big blue thing and it was up in the air, so we all fell down a ravine to get here. But I see no reason why you couldn't climb up it again. When you go through the gate, you'll probably arrive at some sort of wooden platform, if you've ever seen one of those around here, and... you know what, forget it."

Azala registered surprise.

"It's too late. We've taken too long."

"What is this?" She grinned evilly. "You have run out of lies?"

"Nah," Chrono shrugged, holding his hands out wide. "I managed to loosen the ropes is all." Before Azala's shocked expression could register, he fired one bolt from his left hand and sent Nizbel to the ground writhing. He noted the ease with which he incapacitated the beast and immediately launched a kick into Azala's chest, knocking her back into a sitting position under Nadia.

Chrono leapt up, ready for action, but Nizbel was slow in rising. Strange how fire didn't seem to do any harm, but one measly bolt of lightning and the thing is brought to its knees. Too bad I didn't do this earlier. He chuckled at the thought and then leapt onto Nizbel's back. It reached weakly for him but never got a handhold. Every time it got close, Chrono sent a surge of electricity through himself into it, sending it back down to its knees. Maybe Spekkio did know what he was doing.

Soon Nizbel starting crawling around, trying to shake Chrono off. The electricity was good at wearing the beast down, but it wasn't doing any permanent damage as far as he could see. Chrono quickly pulled off his belt and wrapped it around one of Nizbel's arms to hold on.

"Stop! Nizbel!" Azala cried, finally standing up. "Get off his back or I'll kill the girl!" She ran to Nadia, who kicked her in the chest, knocking her to her rump again. Chrono met her eyes – she evidently had never been challenged before. "You will suffer..."

In watching the reptite queen stumble about Chrono stopped focusing on Nizbel a little too long. The beast gave a hearty shake and Chrono was sent tumbling to the hard dirt, luckily still holding his belt. He'd worn that thing for years and it had never come in handy until now.

Nizbel stood to face him, its soulless eyes staring him down. It almost perched itself on the earth, as if ready to pounce. Chrono did the same. For a long second they just stared.

Then Nizbel leapt, much too slowly to be any danger. Chrono ran up to one of the walls and grabbed a torch, then ran to Nadia, all in the time it took for Nizbel to turn. The beast's size and power left its speed wanting. Before the beast could take a step Nadia's bonds were broken and she immediately headed for Lucca.

"No, stay with me," Chrono shouted, running toward Nizbel. The beast made another lunge, which Chrono dodged again. He fired another jolt of electricity to bring it down, then leapt up on Nizbel's back again. With an expert swing, he wrapped the belt around the beast's neck and fastened it as tight as it could go. "Quick! Nadia, now!"

"Now what?"

"You're the Ice Queen, right?"

She squinted. "Yeah, I think so."

"Plus your affinity is ice and water and that kind of stuff," he continued, smirking.

"This is not the time for jokes," Nadia scolded. "You want me to encase him in ice or something? I don't think I can do that."

"No, you just need to – " At that moment Nizbel jerked, trying to free himself of the belt. Chrono just held on and continued. "You just need to get this thing wet. The belt, I mean, not the creature."

"What would that do?"

"Don't question it, just do it."

"But I don't see the point – you seem to be doing just fine on your own."

"Nadia!"

"Fine," she muttered, nonchalantly pacing up to the beast. Nadia hesitantly rose her hand in the air, almost like she was afraid to be seen performing in public.

"Great – good job," Chrono said darkly.

"What now? Did I do it wrong?"

"You need to practice – you've completely frozen this thing, and you froze my hand to it." Nizbel was wheezing at this point. "Pass me the torch."

"Sure." Chrono took it and stuck it to his hand. The fire stung a bit, but he reassured himself that Nadia was the designated healer for a reason. Soon the ice melted and the belt dripped with cold water.

As soon as his hand was free, he grabbed on with the other and pulled as hard as he could. Within a minute Nizbel was on its knees, gasping for breath. In another, the beast was dead, splayed out on the dirt, face down, eyes open, tongue rock hard and sticking out.

Chrono and Nadia ran to Ayla first. The girl had made no sound and no motion the whole time. Chrono could see her eyes welling up with tears, and hear her murmuring "fie, fie, awpu, awpu" over and over.

"You're hurt. Don't move," Nadia instructed pointlessly. "Don't worry, I'll fix it." Chrono took another look at the girl's legs and shuddered – both legs were fractured a little below the hip. He had never personally experienced a break like that, but a childhood friend had once broken his leg and said it was the most painful experience he had ever gone through. For what had happened, Ayla was handling the situation well.

Nadia placed her hands on Ayla's thighs. "Don't worry. This will only take a second." Chrono watched in fascination as Ayla's legs mended themselves – like he was watching them breaking in reverse. The bones realigned, and just like magnets, stuck together. Her legs straightened and filled out and all the discoloration disappeared entirely.

Ayla was fascinated, too. "Mia feneh?" she said. "Meet chee nahlss?" She started to squirm.

"Stop! I'm fixing it, I'm fixing it," Nadia grumbled. But Ayla didn't seem to be scared. She just stared at her working legs, then at Nadia, then back at her legs.

"Oh! You are..." she started, but not even her language seemed to have the right words. Chrono took the torch to her bonds while Nadia went to help Lucca. "How you... you... Nizbel?"

"Kill?" Chrono asked, pointing to the fallen creature. "How did I kill it?"

"Kill, yes. How you kill Nizbel! You are strong! You are very very very very very very strong!"

"No, dummy," a frustrated voice spat. Lucca. "It's the belt. Everyone knows that rawhide gets tighter when it's wet." She walked over and sat beside Ayla and showed no sign of injury.

"Lucca, how did you know what was going on?" Nadia asked curtly.

"I was paralyzed, not deaf, dumb, and blind."

"You're welcome."

"Say, where's that coward Azala?" Lucca mused. Chrono whirled around. The reptite queen was nowhere to be seen.

Nadia groaned. "She must have made her escape while Chrono was occupied with Nizbel."

"Oh, now it's my fault?"

"Stop it," Lucca said again. "At least she left the gate key." True – Chrono saw it nestled against the rock he had been bound upon. Azala must have been so scared she dropped or forgotten it.

"Let's get her," Chrono said.

Lucca went over and swept up the gate key. "I agree."

"No!" Nadia shouted. The others looked at her accusingly. "What? It's not like I wouldn't agree... but we're all fine, and we have the key, and Robo's here – you just need to fix him. I mean... she's not worth it. In a few hours we'll be out of here forever, so it doesn't matter."

"I don't care!" Lucca screeched. "I want her dead. Maybe we'll save a few hundred Ioka in the process."

"Weren't you the one telling us not to change the past, Lucca?" Chrono instantly regretting opening his mouth.

"She destroyed Robo. She could have had us killed. She's evil. She deserves to die."

"It's not worth it!" Chrono shouted.

"Screw you! I'm going!"

"Pardon me," a new voice interrupted. "Where am I? I seem to be missing an eye. No. No, I found it. It was only hanging from the socket. I am glad. I do not think anyone around here would have a spare eye I could borrow."

They all looked to the trash heap that had been Robo. Now he was sitting up in a normal position, putting his eye back into place, looking perfect except for a few scrapes and dirty patches.

"What? H-h-how?"

"Do not worry, Miss Lucca. I see we have all survived and are as refreshed as ever. I saw that we were overpowered, and that no creature knew I was a machine. They would not have stopped unless I had been torn to pieces. I felt that if I put myself in sleep mode they would think they killed me, and leave me alone. Sorry to have left you all alone, but all appears well anyway."

Back in Ioka village, word soon spread that Nizbel had been defeated and Chrono had sent Azala running for her life. So he enjoyed some time in the spotlight while Lucca pestered Ayla about the red rock. He couldn't understand a word most people said, but it felt good to be the hero anyway. It didn't matter that their weapons had been stolen along with all their money. Plus, the attention kept his mind off the nagging thoughts that he and his friends were slowly drifting apart.

Lucca managed to get the red rock eventually, and quickly gathered the others together. "All right, we got what we came for. Let's go." She held out the rock. Aside from its reddish hue, it didn't look special at all. "Now let's just hope it really is Dreamstone, because I for one never want to come back here."

"Agreed," Nadia said.

"I disagree," Robo jumped in. "I found this to be an invigorating period in human history, despite our run-in with the reptites. If I didn't know better, you ladies were envious because Chrono seemed to be enjoying himself very much, at least around the native women." All three gave him an angry glare. "It looks a lot to me like common human jealousy, but I admittedly am a beginner in reading human emotions."

"It's not jealousy," Lucca said.

"Yeah," Chrono agreed. "And I was enjoying myself because of the fresh air. Nothing more."

Nadia snorted. "You are a terrible liar."

When they tried to leave, though, Ioka and his family stopped them. "Please, do not leave just yet. Stay a while."

"No... um, sir," Chrono began. "We'd love to. We really would and everything. We just have to get moving. We're... well, it's a really long story, but it's really important and can't be put off."

Ioka gave him a once-over, then spoke in a low voice. "I see. You disappear as mysteriously as you appear." He approached Chrono and whispered right in his ear. "I know it was Ayla who put you into trouble – both in the cave and at the festival. I am not slow in my old age. Many thanks – you have saved our daughter, though you have not saved her from the punishment I am soon to give her. And so you will always be welcome in our village, should the heavens send you back." He stepped back and raised his voice. "Please return to us. May the heavens look down on you with favor."

No sooner had Ioka stepped back than Ayal bounded up to Chrono. "You no can leave! Too soon!" she cried, and then gave him a quick peck on the mouth. Kino grabbed her firmly by the arm and led her away as Chrono's face reddened. He could feel Lucca and Nadia staring holes in the back of his neck, and knew that the teasing to come would have no end.

Robo broke the silence. "Is that a typical human farewell? It is more interesting than that handshake you showed me."

"Come on, let's go," Chrono finally squawked. He wasn't sure how they left – he was too busy trying to make himself invisible to the others.

The trek back was as unbearable as Chrono thought it would be. Every ten steps, either Nadia or Lucca would dig at him. Comments ranged from the humorous – "Look who's suddenly a lady-killer" – to the jealous – "I can't believe you'd let that strange girl fawn all over you like that" – to the outraged – "Typical hormonal male. Just when you thought you'd met someone normal." Chrono didn't bother coming up with responses. He sort of deserved it anyway. Sure, he hadn't pursued or encouraged that kind of behavior, but he certainly wasn't complaining. Not to mention he was confused. Was Ayla's behavior to be interpreted as that of a girl with modern sensibilities, or did this primitive culture just display their affections differently? Perhaps it would be too convenient to say they were so uninhibited that kissing a friend meant nothing to them, but Chrono secretly hoped it were so, if only to make him feel clean. Robo was unusually silent the whole way back.

Eventually they found the ravine they had appeared above. The only problem was the height of the gate – it was too high to reach without climbing up the whole thing. But Lucca refused to believe a simple solution wasn't possible, so she and Robo set to work figuring out how to scale the rockface. Chrono took the opportunity to pull Nadia aside.

"What is it?" she asked gruffly.

"I..." suddenly Chrono didn't know what to say. He wasn't confused in the same way he was in the village – that was simple hormones, he knew. This was something else entirely. He just felt that the slightest mistake, one wrong word, and he would screw everything up. Not in a relational sense, though. It had been months since he had even thought of Nadia that way. Back when they first met, when she had been mistaken for the Queen and he had to rescue her, she was like the princess locked in a tower and he was the dashing prince. Now to Chrono it looked as though she were locked in a tower again, only this one was locked from the inside – she was trapped in a prison in her own head. More than ever he felt like a fool for, well, everything – for thinking he had a mission to save the world, or for being so impatient as trying to do it so young, and especially for dragging her in when she obviously was not ready for such an journey.

"Well?" Nadia asked impatiently. Chrono realized he had lost track of time, and could only imagine how stupid he looked, trailing off, staring into space.

"I'm sorry," he said simply.

"For what?"

He balked. That wasn't one of the usual answers. "I don't know. I just thought I should say that." She huffed and started to turn away. "No, wait. Stop. You know what I said about us being a team – it's just, I think we should talk, you know? I mean, really talk. You're – well, all of us – we're all pretending that this saving the world business is just fine, but it's not, and you can't pretend anymore."

Nadia stared at him for what seemed a full minute. "No... not now. I can't bear to think about that right now. We're almost done. We just have to do the thing with the wizard, and Lavos never exists, right? Then we'll talk, I promise. But I don't think I'll make it if I have to talk now."

Chrono started to protest, but chickened out. "Okay. Well I'm sorry this trip has been awkward. I'm just not used to this... this kind of culture, I guess." He forced a laugh. "I'll never kiss another girl again, I swear!"

"Listen, you're fine. Don't apologize to me."

The rest of their time was silent. Once or twice Chrono wanted to say something, but he wouldn't get more than three sentences in his mind before he imagined Nadia shutting him down. They didn't even look at each other until Lucca returned. "Robo's cut some trees down, so we have a sort of ladder going on – " then she noticed their expressions. "What's wrong with you? Come on, let's get out of here. This place is so ecologically perfect it's giving me the creeps."