Prologue

The air was peaceful over the Kingdom of Guardia as the sun slowly started to rise over the horizon to shine its light upon Truce City, capital of Guardia. Though the city held hundreds of citizens, its outer edges were a bit more rural with wooden houses that had yards at least a couple of acres in size. In one such green-roofed house, a young boy, only eleven years old, with short, spiky red hair lay on his bed in a blissful sleep. The small room was sparsely furnished; containing only his bed set up under the large window, a dresser set at the foot of the bed, with a small bookshelf and desk against the left wall. A sudden beam of sunlight went through the open window to hit his eyes, to which he grumbled at the intrusion as he turned and pulled a blue comforter over his head. He was almost back asleep when he heard a loud squeal of surprise from his mother.

The young boy immediately sat up and threw the comforter and white sheets to the side in order to sprint down the stairs to the living room and looked around. In the few seconds it took his blue eyes to notice the open back door, it was seen that the boy only wore a pair of yellow, baggy pants for his pajamas before he rushed out the door; fear for his mother reflected clearly on his face. "Mom!" He called out in panic before he finally noticed her crouched over something and let out a loud sigh of relief. She wore a yellow dress, a pair of blue leather shoes, and had long, green hair that flowed down to a low pony tail and rested at the middle of her back with a pair of golden clips above her ears. His relief quickly disappeared when he noticed the concern in her eyes.

"Crono, come help me." His mother said and young Crono immediately ran up to her to see what had caught her gaze.

Crono froze once he got to his mother's side and his eyes widened in shock as he saw another young boy lying unconscious on the grass. The boy had dirty blonde hair under a long, green cap and a wooden shield with a symbol that started with a single point that arced upward gracefully to the right before it split into two different directions. The left line arced up and gradually came back to the right before coming to an end at a thin point while the right line arced for a few inches before suddenly twisting back around like a curling vine. A thin line connected the end of the left branch to the curve of the right one as it started its inward twist, and the unfamiliar symbol kept Crono's attention until his mother started to pick the young blonde up, at which point he immediately moved forward to help.

The boy suddenly let out a small groan and squirmed around, which shifted his hair enough to reveal his long, pointed ears. Crono and his mother immediately leaned back in surprise at those ears. The young red head cocked his head and looked at the blonde curiously for a couple of seconds before his mother quickly gathered the boy up. "Crono, go put out a blanket in the living room for him." She ordered and Crono immediately took off ahead of her as she started back to the house.

A few minutes later Crono, now wearing a green shirt, was sitting down cross-legged on the living room floor a few feet away from the still unconscious blonde boy. The living room was modestly sized with a light brown couch near the far wall, right in front of a large window, and a couple of bookshelves filled with books on the right wall standing like sentries next to another window. There were a few paintings on the walls and two small dressers, one under each window on the left and right walls, and a night stand on each side of the couch. In the center of the room was a large, multi-colored carpet that the strange kid was sleeping on with Crono's blue comforter tucked in around him. "Hey, Mom?" Crono called out as his mother made breakfast in the kitchen.

"Is he waking up?" She immediately called out and was in the living room in a couple of seconds. She now wore a white apron over her dress and had a metal spatula held loosely in her left hand and her blue eyes shone with concern for their young guest.

"No, but I was wondering... could he be a fiend?" Crono asked and his mother paused for a moment before she sighed and shook her head.

"I don't know." She admitted then turned around to return to making breakfast. "Still, I can't leave a child alone in such a state because of something like that." She said firmly as she walked back to the kitchen.

Crono blinked at her words before a childish smile came to him as he looked back at the sleeping blonde. Mom's amazing... even the fact that he might be a fiend doesn't faze her. He thought before his gaze went to the wooden shield that had been on the boy's back. The shield was now lying against the front of the couch, and the weird symbol etched on it drew his attention again. Curiosity shone in his young eyes as tried to figure out what it was, but a small groan immediately brought Crono's attention back in time to see the other boy shifting under the comforter as his eyes started to flutter. "Mom, I think he's waking up!" Crono quickly called out as he got up to go over and lean over him curiously. The boy's eyes suddenly opened and piercing blue eyes met piercing blue eyes as the blonde's attention immediately focused on Crono, and the red head blinked in surprise before he looked over as his mother came in.

Fifteen minutes later the three of them were sitting at a table and eating a large breakfast of eggs, warm bread, cooked beef, and glasses of cold milk to wash it down. While they ate, Crono and his mother watched the blonde, who had yet to say a single word, ravenously devour all the food in front of him. The boy wore a green, over-sized tunic that was held at the waist with a brown belt, which had a small pouch tied to it, and a pair of brown shoes on his feet. Finally all the food was consumed and Crono's mother gathered up the dishes to put them in the sink to soak. The dining room and the kitchen were actually one large room with a counter that went three quarters of the way across being all that separated them. The kitchen had a stove, one bowl sink, cabinets that held dishes, non-perishable foods, and spices, a refrigerator, and a large potted plant in the corner; while the dining room was more sparsely furnished with a wooden table and four chairs.

"Where are you from?" Crono suddenly asked as he looked at the other boy curiously. The boy blinked at the question and his ears twitched slightly before he opened his mouth to answer when he froze then leaned back as a disturbed look came to his eyes and he started to blink rapidly. "Come on, it can't be that hard to say." He insisted with a smile but the other boy simply looked at him helplessly. "What's wro-?" Crono started to ask before his eyes widened in realization as the boy's pointed ears drooped low. "You can't remember?" He asked and Crono's mother quickly turned back with a surprised gasp at the question.

The boy looked down with a miserable expression in reply and Crono leaned back in shock while his mother moved forward to enfold the boy in a warm hug. "Oh, you poor thing." She said as she pat the side of his head but the blonde still seemed lost and confused about his loss of memory.

"Do... do you remember your name?" Crono eventually asked and the boy paused for a moment before he looked up with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Link." He answered in a soft voice while his ears started to perk up.

"I'm Crono." The red head replied with a warm smile that Link hesitantly returned. "Nice to meet you." He said as he leaned over the table with his right hand extended. Crono's mother favored him with a bright smile at his positive and welcoming attitude as Link looked at the hand slowly for a few seconds uncertainly. "Put your hand out like this." He said and Link slowly extended his own right hand out with an uncertain look on his face. "This is a handshake." Crono said as he grabbed the other boy's hand and shook it up and down.

Crono's mother stood up with her smile still in place as she watched the two shake hands and put a hand on Link's head. "It's settled, you'll stay with us for the time being." She said firmly and Link looked up at her in surprise. "Do you remember how old you are?" She asked with a kind smile and Link looked back down as his eyes squinted in concentration.

"I..." Link started to say after a couple of minutes then trailed off as confusion flashed in his eyes. "Seven... teen?" He said uncertainly then quickly shook his head even as the other two looked at him in surprise. "I... I think ten." He said instead and Crono's mother let out a small giggle as she pat the top of his cap.

"Well now, Crono just turned eleven a couple of weeks ago." She said and Crono nodded his head before he jumped off his chair to run over next to them.

"This is awesome, it'll be like I have a little brother!" Crono declared with a wide smile and Link blinked before his eyes became unfocused.

"Brother...?" He asked slowly and Crono, who didn't notice the change to Link's expression, nodded his head before he brought his right arm up over his chest with the forearm extended towards Link.

"Put your arm out like this." Crono said and Link refocused on him before he slowly brought his right arm up next to Crono's, who brought his arm back slightly and bumped it against Link's. "Don't worry, little brother, I'll take care of you." He said with a confident smile. Link's ears twitched as he blinked at the other boy's words and didn't react for a while before his own face broke into a wide smile.

Six Years Later

The bedroom was peaceful as the morning sun slowly crept up over the horizon. Once Crono's room, it had gone through some changes since the unexplained arrival of the strange youth, Link. It now held two beds set against opposite walls, Crono's with a blue comforter against the right and Link's with a green against the left. There was a dresser at the foot of each bed, two big bookshelves at each side of the door and a pair of desks set side by side under the brown-curtained window.

The two teenagers were sleeping comfortably, Link's cap resting on the dresser at the foot of his bed and a white strip of cloth on Crono's dresser, when their mother walked in. While the facial features of the two boys had matured and sharpened, their mother looked almost exactly the same as the day Link had appeared. "Link... Crono..." She said gently as she tried to rouse the two from their slumber, an act she knew to be pointless but one she was still determined to try every morning. "Come on, you two, it's time to get up." She said brightly as she walked to the window to pull back the curtains and allow the sunlight to flood the room.

The two youths reacted instantaneously as they rolled away from the sunlight and pulled their comforters over their head. "Five more minutes..." Crono mumbled and his mother sighed at the predictable response.

"Come on, you sleepy heads! Get up!" She snapped out and the two boys immediately sat up in their beds. "Don't you remember what today is?" She asked while their eyes started to droop again, Link's ears following the same path, and Crono yawned as they both turned to look at her with tiredly confused expressions. Before she could answer, a musical bell sounded through the morning and the two teenagers blinked before their faces lit into a smile while their mother's eyes closed happily. "Leene's Bell always sounds so beautiful." She said with a delighted sigh at the traditional signal of the Millennial Fair before the sound of bare feet scampering on wooden floors had her eyes opening in amusement. "I'll be downstairs." She said with a giggle as the two quickly got dressed.

Link's face had become classically handsome and his ears, which had been the cause of much teasing and even some bullying while he was growing up, added to those features to make almost any girl giggle and blush when they looked into his piercing blue eyes. His body, while not very muscular, was still extremely toned and held strength beyond what others would believe him capable of. He quickly put on a pair of light brown pants over his boxers then slipped on a matching tank top that he tucked in. He then put on a long, green tunic with belt loops sewn into it and grabbed a brown belt to cinch it against his waist. He grabbed his small, yet somehow bottomless, pouch and tied it to his belt then put on a pair of fingerless leather gloves that reached to the middle of his forearm before he grabbed his long, green cap and fit it snugly on his head.

Crono had grown to be more ruggedly handsome than his adopted brother, his features not as delicate but still undeniably well-formed. His red, spiky hair almost seemed to be a wild mess that still somehow just seemed right on the youth, especially when one looked into his blue eyes and saw the burning spirit there; a spirit that was only matched by his brother's. His body was more muscular than Link's, but each muscle was still just as firmly toned; something that two achieved from not only doing chores around the house, but also odd jobs for the entire community to earn more gold for their goal, to go out and see the world. Of course, the other step they had taken for this goal had also helped with their physical development, for the two trained hard every night to master the art of swordsmanship. But that day was still some time off, and Crono shook his head as he put on a green, short-sleeved shirt, followed by a pair of loose, flowing yellow pants and a blue, sleeveless tunic that still allowed the green shirt to be seen. He grabbed a black belt to cinch it all down then tied an orange ascot around his neck, put on a pair of leather bracers, and finally grabbed the white strip of cloth and tied it around his forehead as a bandanna.

"Say, Link..." Crono said once they were dressed and his little brother looked at him curiously. "Do you think we should bring our stuff?" He asked and Link paused for a moment before he nodded his head. "Even to the Millennial Fair?" The red head asked with a cocked eyebrow and Link tilted his head as his ears twitched twice. "Oh come on, how was I supposed to know there would be a bear at the river?" He demanded but Link just cocked his left eyebrow at him and Crono sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I did say we should always be prepared after that... but still, it's a fair, no, THE fair, the Millennial Fair!" He said with a laugh but Link didn't seem to hear him, though his ears flicking let Crono know that he did, as he kneeled down to pull a long-sword in a brown sheath and a metal shield with that same symbol that had been on his wooden shield etched on its surface.

Link put both items on the bed and, before Crono could say anything else, took his pouch off of his belt and opened it up to store both sword and shield. "Good idea, little brother." Crono remarked with a wide smile as he reached under his bed to pull out a katana in a black sheath and tossed it over to Link, who quickly stored it as well. "So, about that thing you and Lucca have been working-"

"No." Link said firmly with a small smile of resignation and Crono sighed then shrugged helplessly.

"Well, can't blame a guy for trying." He said then walked over as Link finished tying the pouch back on his belt.

After Link, Crono, and their mother finished eating breakfast, Link did a quick stop to fill a small bowl with some food and immediately heard a meow from behind him. He looked back to see a yellow cat with blue stripes walking up and offered it a quick smile before he stepped to the side to let it eat. "Be a good girl for Mom, Navi." He said as he gave it a single stroke and got a purr of contentment from the feline as it chowed down.

"Come on, Link, let's go!" Crono called out from the front door and Link quickly went to join him.

"You two have fun at the Fair!" Their mother called out as they walked out and got waves of assurance from them. "And look out for each other!" She added and they both paused to look back at her.

"We always do." Crono said then looked over at Link and held out his right arm. "Right, little brother?" He asked with a grin and Link immediately brought his left arm up with a grin of his own.

"Right, brother." He answered and the two hit their forearms together before they took off to Leene Square.

This story is the product of an off-handed comment I made while talking with my fiancee about Chrono Cross. "Oh, that's bullshit. You know who Crono should have called? Link. They're both experts in time travel after all." For some reason, it stuck in my head and I already had a rough draft going through my mind before I knew it.

Hope everyone enjoyed the prologue.

Till next time.