Lakeside High, 9 AM
"Hey, Cass..." - Said Lucas, uneasily.
Cass looked up, surprised. She was at school, correcting some tests during a moment without classes for her.
"Lucas? Not that I mind, but what are you doing here?"
"Yeeeah, a funny thing..." - Said Lucas, somehow induced to press her index fingers against one another in the anime rendering Cass imposed.
This is gonna be good. - Thought Cass.
Lunar surface, a while before
"So... Basically, you know time will be stopped, you know where I have to go to prevent it, but you haven't the foggiest who or what I'll have to fight, only that it's strong enough to stop time itself once it sits outside of time and reach this... Origin of Time. That it?" - Said Lucas.
I am afraid that is correct. - Said Death - Chronos has not yet awakened, and without someone to ensure the flow from the Origin, it can be stopped... And it will, for that is its fate. And it might not, for you can destroy all fates.
"I didn't ask for this power." - Said Lucas, looking at her sword, glumly.
"You do cherish it most of the time, Lucas..." - Said Neruite, gently.
"Yeah, but..." - Said Lucas.
You are afraid. - Said Death - Fear not. If you fail, I will never reach you.
"That's not NEARLY as reassuring as you might think. Screw it. Yes. I'm afraid. I'm terrified. The list of things that can go wrong here is enormous. But the fact is I'm the only one that can do it, aren't I? If not, the Grim Reaper himself wouldn't be visiting me and asking for my help... Dammit... I... What if I fail? I'll be the one to blame, then..."
You always yearned for this power. You know as much. - Said Death - This is the responsibility that accompanies it.
Lucas nodded.
"I know. And I don't regret it. Well, most of the time I don't regret it. If there is a tomorrow, I'll likely not regret it either anyways. But I want something in return, Death. Three things, actually. One is either helping me find or even reinstating Shi as your helper if she wants it. IF she wants it. Two, you'll owe me something reasonable to be charged at a later date. Something within your abilities and so on. Three... I want to play chess with you. For my life."
Death "thought" perplexity.
Neruite figured out what Lucas meant, and decided that, as coping methods went, Lucas's were fairly harmless, and that, if Lucas was gonna try and save the world, she might as well get some rewards anyways.
Lakeside High, 9 AM
"I... I cannot go with you, Lucas. I... I'm sorry..." - Said Cass, gently.
"And I wasn't calling you to join me. I... Figured you had the right to know. But I'd not expose you to danger like this."
"Don't say it. Here." - Cass pulled a necklace from her neck and put it on Lucas's neck - "I want it back after this."
Lucas smiled and kissed Cass deeply.
"I will be back, Cass. I promise."
Per the tropes... - Thought Lucas as she left, hoping beyond all things that the tropes that guided Cass's life would be enough to protect time, the world... And Lucas herself.
