Guardia Family History. [p,nk,io]

[continuation of The boring daily life of Crono Guardia]

'We have to talk, Crono.' The old man had turned to face his protégé, whose gaze was still fixed on the door from which the feudal heir had just walked out of the room the day before. The amatur samurai sighed and nodded. He was ready to hear what Magus had to say to him. Ready to hear about a past that had been hidden away from him for so many years…

'I suppose you want to talk privately, old man' the village boy remarked. He watched as the innkeeper put his sandals on and walked towards the door. 'So', he continued 'where will it be then?'

'You'll see when we get there' was the geezer's ambiguous reply.

Approximately twenty minutes later, the boy and his guardian had arrived at their destination.

'Is this it?' Crono's tone of voice clearly gave his disappointment away. The red haired boy leaned his arms against his waist and examined the tiny, pitiful-looking squared building that stood in front of him. After a while, he let go of his arms, letting them bang against the sides of his body. 'Meh' he blurted out 'I guess the location isn't really what's important here.' With this, he stretched his right arm, ready to grab the door knob in front of him. However, he was quickly intercepted by the perverted geezer, who immediately got hold of the young boy's arm before his fingertips could even reach the surface of the knob.

'What the hell do you think you are doing?' Magus scolded the boy 'This is not your own house you know? At least knock before you come in!'

Crono raised his eyebrows in surprise. So somebody actually did live in a place like this, right in the middle of nowhere, in this worn out building? Just who on Earth could this person be? Well, he would soon find out. Once again, he stretched his arm towards the door, this time intending to knock before coming in. Nevertheless, the door was opened from within before the boy could even touch the wooden surface of the entrance. Losing his balance, Crono fell face- first to the ground. Magus sighed, slowly kneeling down and helping the young boy to his feet.

'Sorry for intruding…' The old geezer apologized, looking at the person who was leaning against the door, silent. 'I just thought that now that I'm telling Crono the truth you might want to listen in too. That way I won't have to repeat myself in the future.'

'Well thought, Magus-sama. Come on in, of course. You too, Crono.'

The red haired boy shivered, now clearly recognizing the man in the entrance. Why was it that his brother was always somehow involved in everything that happened to him? Resigned, he entered the house behind the old man. This was going to be interesting, for sure. After all, Surge would find out about his past at the same time as him… How would the Shogun react? Or, most importantly perhaps, how would he react? Would it be painful? Would it hurt to unbury the past? Anyhow, Crono thought, there was nothing more painful than not knowing.

Surge's Office was austere and glum. The walls were plain and grey, and the only furniture was a primitive bed and a desk, which was full, Crono noticed, of Magus's books. The only source of light was a small window that was located right above the bed.

'I see you've spent a lot of time decorating this… place' Magus's commented sarcastically, as he sat on the edge of his ex-pupil's bed. 'Austere as ever, Surge.'

The younger man wasn't bothered by the innkeeper's observation. Instead, he smiled enigmatically, walking across the room and leaning against the wall behind the bed. 'I believe you came here to unveil the past, Magus-sama, and not to criticise my furniture' he remarked.

'Of course, of course' the old man cleared his throat. 'Crono, would you sit down somewhere. This is going to take a while.'

The samurai shaked his head silently. 'I'd rather stay standing' he replied. By now he was feeling extremely impatient.

'Well' the perverted geezer began, 'I guess our story begins a while ago, with a little boy who had no dreams or ambitions…'

The young boy sighed as he dragged the heavy suitcases up the stairs. 'It's not fair' he mumbled 'stupid geezer and his stupid inn'

'MAGUS!' The innkeeper's fierce voice resonated across the entire building 'I don't want to see you lazing around! Hurry up already and come back down to pick up the rest of the luggage!'

'YES I WILL JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!' the boy replied, enraged.

'WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME YOU BRAT?' The innkeeper's loud steps could be heard as he approached the staircase.

'NOTHING I'M SORRY' the boy apologized, falsely. 'Just leave me alone already' he thought to himself.

'Wait a second perverted geezer!' Crono interrupted, confused 'I thought you were going to tell me about my parents? Are you going to ramble on about your childhood instead?'

'Ssh Crono! Let me finish my story! It will all make sense in the end. So SHUT UP!'

Crono folded his arms and pouted, still not convinced. Regardless, the old hermit continued narrating his tale.

By the time Magus had finished all of his chores, the moon was already hanging high among the stars. Never did the boy have time to do something exciting and different. Exhausted, he jumped and threw himself on top of his bed, furrowing his face within his arms. A dream, that is what the boy needed. An ambition. Something that would make him stronger. If only he would find that something…

Frustrated, the youngster stood up and started walking towards the window. Who was he kidding? He was useless. A good-for-nothing orphan with a boring future ahead of him. Nobody loved him, and he didn't love anybody in return. He was empty.

The boy leaned his face against the window and exhaled, watching as the steam blurred the glass surface. He yawned and thought about going to bed.

And that was when he saw him. A figure, descending the slope on the boy's left. He was definitively approaching the inn. Magus frowned. He estimated it was probably almost ten o'clock. It was weird for clients to come at this hour. The innkeeper would me mad. He wasn't precisely a man who liked surprises. The boy decided he would take care of his guest himself.

As he ran down the stairs, however, the orphan started to have second thoughts about this. After all, what if this person was really dangerous? What if he intended to steal the innkeeper's money? Magus pictured this scene. The innkeeper being threatened with a sword, forced to hand over all of his money. The boy chuckled. 'Would serve him right though' he thought. On the other hand, if this ever happened, he would certainly be blamed…

The lavender haired boy stopped at the bottom of the stairs, doubtful. What should he do? Little did he know that his entire future would depend on him opening that door. In the end, the persistent knocks on the door helped the boy to make up his mind. He decided he would never forgive himself if it turned out that he had wasted his only chance to have fun.

Cautiously, the lavender haired boy leaned his hand on the door knob and pushed forward. On the other side of the entryway, he saw a middle aged man staring at him with kind eyes. The man smiled, deepening the wrinkles around his warm dark eyes.

'Why, I didn't expect the owner of this place to be a kid!' the stranger remarked 'Aren't you a bit too young for the business boy?'

Magus didn't answer. He was too busy examining the katana that the man was carrying tied around his hip. 'Weapons aren't allowed here. House Policy.'

The unidentified man chuckled. 'Oh, it's not as if I'm planning to use it! Not here, anyway…' Magus's eyes widened. Just who the hell was this man?

'Who are you?' the orphan asked abruptly.

The man scratched his beard and chuckled. 'Aren't you the cheeky one boy?' At this, he unfastened his belt and stretched his hand forward, handing the belt and katana over to the young boy in front of him. 'I'll let you keep it until I leave. That way you can be sure that I won't use it, right?'

The lavender haired boy nodded, catching the heavy weapon with his trembling arms. The strange man read his mind.

'Heavy huh?' he asked the boy, who was still carefully observing the katana in its leather cover. Magus lifted his head and looked at the man straight into his eyes. He frowned.

'You still haven't told me your name' the boy commented, accusingly.

'Oh right, it's true, forgive me' the bearded man excused himself. 'My name' he continued 'is Gaspar Satros'

'Gaspar Satros…' The boy repeated the name in his head. He had to admit, the name certainly had a ring to it…

'Well?' Gaspar stood with his arms around his waist, with an inquiring look on his face. 'Aren't you going to tell me yours?'

This caught the orphan by surprise. He hadn't expected the man to be interested in a good-for-nothing brat like himself.

'Magus' he blurted out hurriedly.

'That's it?' Gaspar enquired.

'Yes'

The bearded man smiled.

'And what happened after that old geezer?' Crono approached his guardian and brought his face closer to his, excited. The old man pushed him away with one hand.

'Oh so now you want to know what happened, huh? Didn't you say you didn't want to hear about my past? That you wanted me to talk about your parents?' Magus smiled, teasingly.

'I changed my mind okay? It isn't a big deal…' Crono excused himself.

'Yes, please continue with your story Magus-sama, we're all keen to know what happened next' the shogun stated.

'Woah Surge!' Crono took two steps back, surprised. 'I had almost forgotten you were here!'

Surge chuckled, taking his hand to his forehead. 'You know, that was kind of hurtful, ni-san…'

Magus sighed, annoyed. 'Well, are you going to let me finish or not? Because I warn you, I'm not a very patient man…'

'Yes, yes, please continue Ero-Kodenbushi! We'll shut up, right big bro?'

'Right, right' the teacher replied.

'Alright. So, as I was saying, that was the day I met Gaspar-sensei.' Magus closed his eyes and smiled. 'I don't know what that old man saw in me at the time but… the fact is, that he decided to take me with him. Turns out that he was a samurai you know? And a good one too. In fact, Lord Balthazar himself had summoned him to Palace. Sensei had come from the other side of the country just to advise the Lord. You see, the geezer was a war strategist. A thinker. The best in the nation. The more you got to know him, however...' Magus smirked 'the stranger that seemed.'

'But hey, Ero-Kodenbushi' The red haired boy interrupted 'how did Gaspar-sensei convince the innkeeper to let you go? Did he pay him?'

'Pay him?' Magus frowned 'Don't be ridiculous. The old man was broke. Quite frankly, to this day, I still don't know how he convinced that idiot to let me leave… Not that I care that much really… The man was full of surprises.'

'And so, after that he must have taken you to the samurai training centre, right?' Surge asked.

'That's right. He did. And by that time I was completely convinced that I wanted to become the greatest samurai that had ever lived. You see, samurai in those days were different, you know? (No offense Surge)' The clan's shogun waved his hand in front of him, not affected by his master's comment.

'Everything was different back then' Magus continued. 'Better. Merrier. Growing up, I felt safe and happy. Admittedly, it was mostly because of the old man and how he treated me.' Magus's expression was somehow nostalgic. 'He became almost like a father to me. However, there were other people in my life at the time who also encouraged me to keep going.'

Crono observed his guardian carefully, scrutinising every single one of his expressions. The village boy was starting to see the old geezer in a completely different light. In fact, he now realised that he wasn't that different from the perverted old man himself.

'In the samurai training centre, I met my team. You see, at the time, samurai were organised into groups of three for training. Each team was then assigned a teacher' Magus explained. 'My team was different in more than one way. Firstly, our teacher was the utterly famous Gaspar Satros, the war strategist. There was also a girl in our team, which was also very rare… Although to be fair at the time she didn't even look that much like a girl at all considering she was as flat as a table and was very aggressive… This last characteristic hasn't changed much at all…in fact I believe she's worse now.'

Crono had the feeling that he knew who Magus was talking about. It was still a huge surprise though, to find out that old Schala had been a samurai too! Schala, of course, ran a rival inn near the village entrance. To Crono's best knowledge, they always seemed to fight each other every chance they got.

'Yes, Schala and I were on the same team. I still remember the first time I saw her…'

'Ah Gaspar! Long-time no see my friend!' Lord Balthazar stood up from his desk and came to welcome his old acquaintance. His bright silver samurai armour was glistening in the sun that was coming through the great windows of his office.

As the two men hugged, Magus stood a few centimetres behind his sensei, watching the scene with his innocent eyes wide open. Never in his life had the child thought that life would provide him with such an opportunity.

Soon enough, the Lord noticed the presence of the young boy, who was observing the leader with true admiration. The Zeal smiled and kneeled down next to the lavender haired boy.

'Now, Gaspar, is this a present you bring to me?' the royal asked, still smiling.

'Oh, well, it's something like that. This is Magus. He has become my pupil.'

At this, a feeling of true excitement ran through young Magus's body. Sure enough, he had already accepted that Gaspar-sensei had accepted him for some reason. Nevertheless, hearing him say 'pupil'… made the boy feel extremely special.

'Your pupil! I see…He must be something special then.' The Lord commented, as he stood up. 'He kind of reminds me of my grand daughter… They have the same cheeky expression on their faces…'

'WAIT WHAT?' Crono couldn't believe his ears. 'Old Schala was the Lord's granddaughter? Are you joking perverted geezer? Then how come she's now an innkeeper in town?'

'SSh Crono! You impatient brat! It'll all make sense later on. Well, as I was saying, at the time Gaspar-sensei remarked…'

'You have a granddaughter already, Balthazar-sama? My, how time flies…'

'Oh well, we haven't seen each other in years, Gaspar!' The Lord chuckled 'A lot of things happen in that time. Indeed, now I am a grandfather of a young girl named Schala. In fact, I think she would also be a great acquisition, if I might say, even though she does have a strong character…' Zeal Balthazar scratched his head nervously.

'Oh well, Magus's quite a character too… I say a strong woman would do him much good!' The bearded sensei looked at his pupil meaningfully.

'Excellent! I'll call her then, so these two can meet.' At this, the lord turned around and left through a door located at the back of the office. A few minutes later, he was back with a Purple haired girl, whose arms were crossed on top of her chest.

'This, my dear friend, is my granddaughter Schalla. I entrust her to you.'

The lavender haired boy and the lord's granddaughter looked at each other carefully. The boy observed how the girl had beautiful brown eyes and silky purple hair held in a ponytail. Her lips were tight and her general expression was defiant. She was tense, yet… beautiful. Strong, yet delicate. Magus would never forget this first encounter.

Their first conversation – in which Magus had commented on the size of her almost non-existent breasts, which would, ironically, grow at an incredible rate throughout the following years – hadn't ended precisely well. After that the boy wasn't able to sit down properly for a month.

Regardless, their relationship had somehow relatively prospered after that. The girl had clearly been impressed by the boy's manhood and handsomeness. And intelligence, let's not forget about his intelligence because really, this boy was a true phenomenon in all aspects of life and had all the right qualities for -

'Ok old geezer cut the crap. If you're going to tell this story, you better tell it right.' Crono stared at Magus defiantly

The old man sighed. 'Oh alright then! Such spoilsport really... Well, as I was saying…'

Magus and Schala were soon enough joined by Dolton, the third team member. This quiet boy was Magus's complete opposite. His expressions were indecipherable and his intentions always unclear. Nevertheless, Gaspar-sensei had faith in him and his samurai skills were quite frankly astonishing.

At the time, Magus was happy. Sure, he was always rejected by Schalla and Dolton seemed to surpass him in everything he did, but at least he had a reason to continue fighting, a dream to fulfil and people who believed in him.

Years passed, and the group of three developed very distinctive and powerful techniques that had never been seen. They were the Lord's pride and it seemed like Magus had found stability. Little did they know that things were about to drastically change.

War broke out a few years later, when Gaspar's pupils were in their early twenties. Lord Balthazar went to the battlefield with his best warriors, swearing he would protect his nation with his life.

And certainly, this is what happened. The good-willed leader died in the battlefield, right in front of his comrades. After that, things changed drastically, as although the war was won, a new Lord had to be crowned. Several succession wars broke out. It seemed like stability was something of the past. Magus, who together with the rest of his team had become a very famous samurai, part of the three Kodenbushi, still had faith. He fought alongside his comrades, hoping that the wars would soon be over.

The prospect of another Zeal leader was ruined when Zeal Mu, Balthazar's younger brother was also killed on the battlefield. Schala's little brother, Spekkio, was also among the dead. Magus, who had left the city to assist the rural fronts, came back home to face a heart-broken Schala and a devastated town. On top of that, his best friend Dalton was as distant as ever. Shortly thereafter, he would leave the city to pursue his own ambitious and evil dreams.

For Magus, things couldn't get any worse. Luckily, the war didn't last much longer and afterwards, his teacher Gaspar, the popular and kind samurai, was chosen by the people to become the successor for the last Lord. Nevertheless, Magus's heart was already broken. Too many tragedies had taken place before the young man's eyes, who believed he had failed his only friends. After all, he hadn't protected Schalla's loved ones, and hadn't stopped his best friend from leaving. Nothing had gone as planned. The Kodenbushi cursed himself for being so naïve.

And so he left the Lord's service. In a crazy move, he decided to work at the inn where he had spent the first few years of his childhood, hoping to start a new life. An easier life, where he wouldn't have to face such tragedies, day after day. To sum up, he ran away, from everything and everybody. Locked himself up. Like a coward. And didn't think he would ever pick up a sword again.

But then again, life always surprises you, right? In Magus's case, it took a few years, but when the then ex-samurai was in his thirties, something (or someone) happened that changed everything.

This someone was a boy who was brought to him by a merchantman one morning. The boy was a war orphan – one of the many at the time – and the merchantman argued he had no money with which to feed him. He begged the innkeeper to look after the young guardia child, who would definitively die if the he didn't do so.

Magus, who had spent so many years trying to get away from everything, was suddenly scared at the prospect of having to take care of a young boy. Indeed he didn't feel prepared to do so. However, right then he couldn't help but remember the time when Gaspar-sensei had assumed the responsibility of taking care of him, when he hadn't been forced too. That had definitively changed his life. For the better or for the worse, right then Magus wasn't completely sure. Nevertheless, he knew that for a long time, he had been immensely happy.

So he took the boy. And that changed everything, yet again.

'Ero-Kodenbushi…' Crono's voice cracked 'Was that boy…' the red haired boy couldn't speak through the knot in his throat.

'Yes, Crono, that boy was your father.'

[3,507]