Different Pathways
By Moonraker One

Author's note: What would C.T. have been like of "Crono" had been "Crona," a girl? Would it have been anything like the original? I don't think so. And there's one more gender change…

CHAPTER ONE

"WAKE UP!"

A shout so loud it rattled the windows accidentally inspired a sleeping figure to propel from her bed. Even before knowing what had happened the figure sprung to awareness and desperately whipped her head from left to right in search of what was going on. Oh, it hit her, I'm just oversleeping again. The mother from whom the bellows-like screech had come, prepared to do it again until her daughter looked at her.

A phony grin did the girl adapt. "Why, good morning, mom," she uttered in a sarcastically cheerful tone. Good God, she wondered. Jina Tekoris, calm mother or drill leader? Standing up, she wiped her head free of sleepiness and pulled up one corner of her nightgown as it drooped. She noticed, as an afterthought, that her mom lingered. "Hmm? Need something? Or can I change?"

Jina put her hands on her hips. "Did you forget that the fair's today, Crona?" She sighed. "You probably were so excited you didn't sleep well, did you?" She approached the window, throwing the shutters open with much enthusiasm. "What a beautiful day! Leene's bell sure sparkles in the sun!"

Crona gestured like waving aside dust. "Shoo! Let me get dressed!"

"I'll be downstairs!" Within a minute, she was.

Carefully the girl took her nightgown off over her head of red spiky hair. Examining it in the mirror, it was its usual self. No coming or washing would be required. Reaching in her closet she pulled out a purple pair of panties and a bra. Dressing seemed seldom a chore for her, as her clothes were so plain. She only had two dresses: one for church and one for ceremonies. Neither occasions were today, so she put over her undergarments a moderately tight undershirt, a greenish-blue tunic which criss-crossed over her chest in an X shape before becoming one connected unit by her abdomen, and a whitish mini-skirt. A yellow scarf, a white head band and a pair of waterproof, brown animal hide hiking boots were her final bits of clothing, accessorized by her wooden training bokuto. Prepared for adventure, she descended the staircase.

"Here's some money, dear!" Jina called. When her daughter was close enough for conversation she took the gold coins. "Don't forget your friend wants you to see her…I…oh dear! I seem to have forgotten her name!"

Crona blinked in surprise. "Lucca."

"Oh yeah! That's right, Lucca!" She rolled her eyes, startled by her own lack of memory, and stepped aside.

"I swear, someday you'll forget my name," Crona believed out loud. Before leaving, she checked her hand. "I only see three hundred gold pieces; you said you'd give me five hundred."

Jina took a deep breath and let it go. "See, there I go again!" She fumbled in her pocket for the rest. Producing it allowed her daughter to leave the house. "Have fun, dear!"

Waving goodbye, Crona stepped out into the world. It was a short stroll from her house to the fairgrounds, where she was welcomed by an old man who had been hired to greet people at the gate. She saw booths and tents and fairgoers, which consisted of men, women and children of all ages. She decided to look around and see where everything was before getting down to having fun. Before she went up the stairs she decided to take a look at Melchior's weapons supply.

"Hiya, Melchior!" she yelled. "I've only seen you around here once. You got anything?"

He looked at her left hip, examining her bokuto. "I've got a nice Iron Sword for three hundred gold, and a new Lode Sword for four thousand."

She very nearly choked. "Four thousand!" She pulled out her blade. "If I sell you this, will you give me the Iron Sword for less?"

He considered it. "This is a fine bokuto, and…ok, about two hundred gold, then." He took the money from her and handed over the weapon. She examined it with glee. A real sword! She had bought a real blade!

Beaming, she cried, "Thank you very much!" Happily she dashed up the stairs. Unfortunately, she did not notice a figure walking in from the side. Pow! She ran right into him, knocking both down in a frenzy. She noticed a pendant he had on go sailing. "Oww, my head," she muttered.

The man, wearing a white outfit, approached her. "Are you okay, miss?" he kindly asked, helping her to her feet. He looked down. "Oh, crap! I'm missing my pendant!" Nervously he looked around. "I swear I couldn't find water if I fell from a boat!"

Crona looked to her northwest and saw it. Quickly she fetched it and brought it back. "Oh, my," he admitted. "You must think me blind." She shook her head kindly. "Can I have it back?"

She pulled back, sliding it on over her head. "No! Jewelry looks better on girls! Oh hell," she joked, "I don't steal. It's not like I'm some kidnapper or anything." He laughed.

"Ah, you can give it back later. Hey, um, do you want to hang out a bit, miss…?" Hearing her cue she gave her name. "Crona? That's a beautiful name. I'm…I mean, my name's…um…Marle!"

Crona looked at him, slightly suspicious. "Sure you can stick around, but, isn't 'Marle' a girl's name?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah," he laughed. "I expected something more masculine, but 'mar-lay.' Ugh." He smiled. "You have shiny hair! How do you spike it, though? Some kind of gel or liquid?" She shook her head. "BORN that way? Wow." He looked at the second set of stairs. "Lucca and her dad're cookin' up something new. Must be putting the final touches on. Let's go get a soda!" Together they ventured down the right to the stand.

"Two sodas then?" the guy inquired, handing one to each. "Hey, sir? Wanna participate in a soda chugging contest?"

Marle shook his head. "No."

Crona sneered. "I will!" The man told her to drink as many as she could in the time on his stopwatch. Eagerly she yanked a soda from the cooler and chugged it down as quickly as she could, then another. Before the bell rang she'd downed eight in all. After which she emitted a huge belch, to which Marle laughed.

"Competitive girl, ain't you?" he suggested, which brought a mutual laugh.

"Very good! Five silver points!" He gave her a ticket with 'five silver points' emblazoned on it.

She and Marle then headed down to the main area, where they each bet on which racer would win. Marle had less luck with one win, whereas Crona had two. Afterward they went to the top to see Lucca's invention. Lucca noticed her quickly.

"Crona!" she yelled. In response, the spike-haired girl approached her scientist friend. "You came to see my invention!"

"And to pray it works," Crona sarcastically added. She noticed Lucca with a magazine. "Are you reading porn?"

Lucca looked at her strangely. "Are you cracked? These're royal soldiers; noble and all." She grinned. "Boxers and tanktops included. This guy looks good."

Crona examined the page. "Great build, ugly face." She flipped the page. "HE, on the other hand," she stared, "might be good." A mutual grin came to her face. "With some cherries and whipped cream."

"And MY mind is in the gutter, isn't it?" She patted Crona on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm thinking about a kiss and you're thinking about…"

"KEEP it child-safe with the language, Lucca," she retorted. Deeper she looked. "You think he'd like a large wedding?" she joked. "Shall we arm wrestle over him? Swords? Pistols at dawn?"

"How's the machine?" Marle entered, breaking up the conversation.

Lucca looked at him. "Now, Crona, where'd you pick up a hottie like him?" She focused. "Oh, the Telepod! No one wants to try it!" Marle stepped up.

"Behold as this strapping young gentleman steps up to try it out!" Taban announced. Once on the platform, Lucca and he began to activate the machine. The electricity built rapidly within the lines until, at the peak of charge, all of Marle's atoms separated and, as one unit of energy, traveled faster than light up through the device's transmitting antenna and into the other's, where he was rebuilt instantly on the platform of the other pod. Excited he stepped down.

"That was simply amazing! Crona, why don't you try it?"

Giddily skipping towards the machine, Crona practically leapt onto the platform. "This'll be awesome! Lucca, you actually built something exciting!" She waited anticipatingly as Taban and his daughter fed electricity into the electric lines as before. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as the charge increased at exactly the same rate as it had been doing so. However, a second later, a bizarre glow seemed to emanate from the center of Marle's pendant on Crona. In the space of a "what the…," she found her entire body, as one unit of energy, yanked from where she stood and thrown into a circular portal. Her startled onlookers looked to be frozen afterimages to her as the portal pulled her through into a multi-lighted stream which seemed to extend infinitely in all directions. Her trip had an abrupt ending, though, as her journey spat her out a similar portal into an almost idyllic setting. Looking around she saw a clearing high on a mountain with people searching the area for something. Where the hell am I? she thought to herself. Her question had been on target, it seemed a moment later.

"You!" A man shouted, taking immediate notice of her. Like moths drawn to a flame, all ten approached. They stood a few feet from her, out of sheer suspicion. The one who'd seen her turned to his fellow knights. "I saw 'er pop out of a blue hole in midair!"

A grand armored knight stood exactly in between two of his subordinates. "You must be a servant of the evil sorcerer Magus. I must admit, being able to move in and out of portals may be a huge advantage for his forces. So tell us what you know and surrender, and we will be as merciful as the king's law allows us to be towards our enemies," he instructed her.

Crona shook her head; this had to be a nightmare. Unfortunately, closing and reopening her eyes revealed that it had not been. "Uh, um," she stammered, frightened. Sweat began to drip off her forehead. Only one minute had she been here and already she found herself in trouble. "Please, there…must be a misunderstanding!"

The knight captain raised an eyebrow. Cowardly, in trouble, just like all of Magus's minions, he saw. Nevertheless, he cleared his throat. "You will be treated as the enemy you are, unless your defection is immediate and absolute."

"I…I've never heard of a 'Magus' before!" she argued. "Really! I don't lie!"

One knight did not hesitate to prosecute. "I swear, my captain!" he fired back. "She popped out of midair through a hole!"

A comrade of his approached with a lustful look in his eye. "I can see she's a girl, captain!" He reached for her chest. "I can see tits on 'er…" The dinstinct echo of skin meeting skin resounded as she slapped him so hard a tooth went flying out. Angrily, and before his superior could demand otherwise, he unsheathed his blade and swung for her head. Instinct kicked in as she yanked out her own katana and parried the attack perfectly. The next move happened hastily. In an eyeblink's time, he jousted for her midsection, while she spun clockwise and moved to his right so that she moved in sync with him. His blow sailed right past her while she came to a stop with the sharp end of her sword a millimeter from the back of his neck.

Hmm, the knight captain noted, having seen the exchange. She sword fights with far too much skill to be a Magus minion, or at least any that I've seen. A dripping was heard.

"You pissed yourself," a knight saw, reminding his beaten comrade. Crona sheathed her weapon as he resumed his position.

"Thank ye, I would not have known," the beaten knight sarcastically retorted.

"All right, miss," the captain announced. "We're sorry for doubting you. We just need to be cautious in this time of war." He blinked a few times. "Where did you learn to sword fight like that?"

She looked at him while they headed back to the palace. "From one of the sword fighting classes in the castle."

He instantly became suspicious. "Only knights are allowed sword lessons in the castle." He looked at her with prying eyes. "And if anyone would know knights, it'd be me. So who are you?"

"My name is Crona Tekoris, and I just came from the Millenial Fair." Her original train of thought came back to her. "Which reminds me, where is it?"

"Millenial fair? This's the year six hundred." The statement about her popping out of a blue hole in midair returned. "So, let me get this straight; you're from the future?"

At once her eyes widened. "Six hundred!" The truth finally struck her; she hadn't been sent to an alternate universe, she merely went backwards in time. The last minute statement she'd heard from a small kid in her own time resounded in her mind: "Who cares if we won a war against a wizard hundreds of years ago?" Currently, she did, because now, she was in the midst of it. "One second, why are you guys up here? I didn't see anybody."

"The queen was abducted," answered a knight. "We been searching everywhere. I suspect Magus be planning somethin' a dastard-like for her. Damn sorcerer." He spat on the ground.

It was precisely that instant Crona heard herself say something unbelievable: "Perhaps I could help you?"

The knight captain glanced at her. "You would offer your blade in service to the king? In the face of death?" A good swordsman seemed rare in this wartime. A good swordswoman was even rarer. Before she could retract her offer, he cooed, "the king is indebted to you, Dame Crona." Dame Crona, a female knight's title; she could grow to like that.

"You've looked everywhere for her?" Such seemed to be a standard question.

"Everywhere save the cathedral."

Somewhere had been overlooked; the idea seemed unusual. "Why haven't you looked there?" Crona's inquiry, while sounding somewhat simple to her, sounded completely unreal to them.

"Why would monsters attack the cathedral? Besides, nuns live there."

"Shouldn't you check anyway?"

"Wouldn't that show Magus's troops that we're desperate?" She analyzed his question; from the foe's perspective, searching a church where the enemy is absent could give that message, but by the same token it could be the supreme spot to install a base. Very few military minds would suspect a cathedral. She relayed this thought process to him. The knight captain considered it. One thought that astounded him was that he, a high-positioned military mind would overlook it. "You amaze even me, in that you quickly came up with an answer." A possible solution struck him. "Perhaps you could see if it is or not. Maybe two or three knights could go with you."

At the palace gates, the knight captain gave the secret code and was at once given entry. The two knights at the front took one look at Crona and stopped them. "Who is this with the truly inhuman hair?" he asked. "She's carrying a blade; is she a sorceress for Magus? Have you captured her?" The knight captain shook his head.

"Nope," he looked behind him at her. "She is here to pledge her service to the king."

The guard scoffed. "She any good?" He found himself staring at the smoothness of her legs. He shook his head to snap out of it. "I mean, she looks…rather lean…"

"Good enough to make Marcus wet himself," one admitted, and got a mild hit to the shoulder plate.

The guard motioned them on. Crona and the captain headed for the king's chambers, while the other knights went down stairs. The grand hall in which the king sat upon his throne had numerous decorations covered in gold and jewels, and had a very imposing demeanor. He cleared his throat and regarded his subjects. "Knight captain, who have you brought before me?" Both bowed. "I see a strange hair on this girl."

"She is Crona," he admitted. "We discovered her in the mountains where we searched for our queen. A brief scuffle between her and sir Marcus revealed her talent with the blade." He looked at her a moment. "Her hair is symbolic of where she hails from."

"And where is she from?"

"Guardia Kingdom," he struggled with the proper way to say it, "er…four hundred years from now." To this the king began to chuckle.

"Captain, how idiotic do you take me?" He began to wonder if years of combat wore on his loyal knight captain. "Do you have any sort of proof?"

The captain reluctantly shook his head. "I can make no claim to proof," he lamented. "But, my history paints a portrait of a man who has never lied, if I may say so, my liege." He looked up, awaiting some unspoken word, some gesture confirming his words. The king nodded and he continued. "I have several of my men who would attest to having seen her materialize from a portal."

The king turned to Crona herself, offering very silently a chance for her to explain. She had never previously explained herself to a king, so her nervousness came rather naturally. "Well, my lord…I…well…," Damn the strange language, she decided, best just to spill it. "I was taking part in a science experiment involving instantaneous movement from one point to another, when the machine malfunctioned. I was sent here, my lord." He took her words at face value, although he did not want to be taken for a fool.

"If you are in any way lying, dire consequences will be felt," he coughed a bit. "But for now, because we need all the help we can get, I'll take you into our kingdom " He recalled the words of the captain; if she indeed came from the future, perhaps she possessed some great knowledge that could help them. "Do you know the weakness of the great sorcerer Magus?"

She shook her head. "I recall him from history class, but other than that, I don't know much."

A momentary side glance betrayed his disappointment. Still, her talent with the blade could provide a useful instrument. He tapped his blade on each shoulder of Crona. "I proclaim you, Dame Crona." He grinned. "Now get up and tell me what news needs to be given."

The captain stood with Crona. "My lord, we believe the cathedral is at the heart of a scheme by Magus."

Contemplative of the information presented him, the king stroked his beard. It had occurred to him, in the darker periods of the war, that such could be a distinct possibility, but he had never the desire to believe it. If it proved to be the truth it meant the war had come dangerously close to home. As the leader of a kingdom of large groups of people he had no room for serious risks. "Crona, knight of Guardia," he ordered, "I command you to take two knights with you and inspect this danger. Godspeed."

It had to be at that instant that the door to the king's palace chamber burst open. A young man in white with blonde hair came rushing in. "Crona! Thank God you're safe!" Marle exclaimed.

The king stood, unable to understand. "What's the meaning of this! Who're you?"

Two knights, out of desire to protect the king, each grabbed an arm of Marle. "He came storming up, my lord! Saw him come out of a blue hole!"

The king came to the predictable realization. "Are you from the future as well, young man?"

Marle clenched his teeth inside his mouth. He had hoped not to reveal his true identity to Crona until later. "Y…Yes," he admitted. "I…am…the son of our current king of Guardia." He saw Crona become wide-eyed at the truth, and it crushed his spirit. "I am," he pulled out the coral pendant for proof, "Prince Nadius Marle Guardia." He could scarcely bear to glance at Crona for guilt of deception. "I'm…I am so sorry for lying. But you wouldn't have followed me if you'd known, right?"

Crona shook her head. "Wrong!" Marle perked up at the surprising response. "I judge people by action, not by blood." She had a superior concern. "How'd you get here?" As Marle's heart filled with joy, a familiar purple-haired girl stepped up.

"Your majesty," Lucca regarded the king, "We are from the future. By accident, a time gate has opened between our time and the past, which is this time." She presented a metal stick with the appearance of a flower. "Being a brilliant mind of science, I have devised this—the Gate Key—which allows us use of them."

With Lucca's level-headed scientific explanation he believed he finally had a grasp on the situation. "It is good to have these young minds and bodies on our side, young prince and knight girl." He looked at Lucca. "Even you, child of science, can be of immeasurable aid. Will you go to the cathedral and see if my wife is there, with Dame Crona?"

Marle readied his crossbow and Lucca her pellet gun as display of answer. "Yes, sir!" A unison cry was shouted.