Chapter VIII: Present Tense

Of all the places Crono expected to end up on this day, the castle was by no
means one of them. If there was a place he thought he'd never see at all, it
was the castle courtroom. Nonetheless, there Crono sat in the docket of the
castle courtroom. He felt the cold bitter sting of the shackles upon his wrists.
'How did I end up here?' he groaned. All eyes were upon him.
From where Crono stood, he recieved an excellent view of the courtroom. It
was a very imposing room, like a lion's den. It was perfectly symmetrical and eliptical in shape. On each side were seats, that scaffolded like a terrace. The lower teirs were for officals of the courts, the higher were for spectators. The docket at which he was stationed was crafted of fine walnut, and wore a rich coat of varnish. Directly before the dock, was the bench. It was extrodinalriy
crafted from walnut and pewter, had a high back, and stood exalted over the
dock. To the immedate left was the prosection, and hte immediate right was
the defense. Both stood facing the dock.
The most signifigant aspect of the courtroom was a massive stained-glass
window. It stood lofty like an aurora across the mountains. The window
soaked in light, and resonated with a light all it's own. It stood behind a rich
open red curtain, atop which was Gaurdia's royal crest. The stained-glass
depicted an man, well advanced in his years. His hair was white like a cloud, and his beard proceded unto his stomache. He wore ivory robes. In one hand
was a large book. In the other was a large set of scales that stood above his
head and rested upon his shoulder. The eyes seemed to be weary, as though
his burden were about overwhelm him.
Crono sighed. The judge was looked as old as the man in teh stained-glass. He� had a thick mustache and beard which covered the entire lower half of his face. Hie eyes were heavy, and nearly shut. The judges robes were
distinquished and regal. He sat like a stone idol in a temple.
Crono regarded his defense. He looked capable, to a degree. He appeared to
be in his middle ages. Crono thought he looked a dog who had been in one
fight too many that didn't quite go his way. He was able to see through the
bravado in his glance. He then gazed up and about at the crowd. The seats
were so filled he was curious as to why they didn't break. He also wondered
as to who all of these people were, and why they were assembled to see his
trial.

The gavel banged upon the bench. To Crono, it was the loudest thing he'd ever heard. It resonated like a parent calling his name after he broke a window, or a teacher announcing a test he didn't study for. A certain dread came upon him. His hands began to leak sweat.
'Here ye! The court is now in session' declared the judge. His voice sounded authoritative, yet a quivered a bit, due to old age. He sounded like a trumpet
being played over an old radio. His words came out slowly like a van trudging through mud. 'Will the attorneys please state their name and position!' he ordered.
To the left, the Chancellor stepped foreward. 'I the Chancellor to the Royal
Court of King Gaurdia the XXXIII, am the prosection.'
He stepped back and to the right, Crono's lawyer stepped out. 'I am Pierre,
Attorney to the Court, Doctorate of the Laws of Gaurdia, will be defending
Crono.'
'Very well' stated the Judge. 'Memebers of thr court, Before you stands one,' he stopped to look at his notes, squinting his eyes, 'Crono, who is officialy charged with 'Premeditated Abduction of Princess Nadia with the Malicous Intent of Overthrowing and Usurping the Sovereign Throne of Gaurdia.' He stopped to catch his breath. He stared directly at Crono with agaze that could melt the docket. 'You Crono are hereby ordered by the sovereign justice of the kingdom of Gaurdia to tell nothing but the absolute truth.' Crono gulped.
'Prosection, please begin your disertation.'
'Thank you your honor.' He walked out between the dock and the bench. He paced back and forth, head lowered in thought, stroking his beard. He stopped in midstep and turned and looked at Crono like a wolf who just spotted his prey. 'What shall we do with this young man. It is clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is guilty.' with each passing word his pitch grew in intensity and volume, his tone grew darker as well.
'I sware, this fair kingdom has not seen a darker, more vile, more sinister meanace since the dreaded Magus himself!
Crono rolled his eyes. He wished for something to throw at him, but he was unable to remove the docket from the floor.
'So what then shall we do with this wretched, despicable, fiend?' He turned to face the audience. 'Fire perhaps? We have not burned anyone since we killed our last witch, perhaps we ought to bring it back for this evil man? Or,
perhaps we can hang him upside down for a few years? We could leave his body to the crows and vultures. Fitting don't you think for a low dwelling, scavanging, scoundrel.' He walked across the room to the rest of the audience.
'Or lest we forget the guiltine! I imagine the blade has grown abit rusty, all the better for this meanace.'
Crono expelled a weary sigh. He sat like a kid in a chemestry class, bored and growing more furious with each word that came from the chancellor. He felt like laughing at the outright ludicrousness of the Chancellor's disertation.
Crono wondered where Marle was. He figured she'd step in and put an end to the nonsense disguised as a trial.

'I am so confident of Crono's guilt, that I am willing to let my opponent go first. Mr. Pierre. Please. Let us begin.'
Pierre gave the Chancellor a, 'who the hell do you think you are' look. He stepped out between the dock and the bench.
'Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court, Honored Justice, even the prosecution' he addressed. 'This trial is nothing short of a waste of the court's time! This young man before you is innocent beyond any shadow of a doubt, and in fact, I dare each of you to find a more upstanding model of citizenship and chivalry than this young man here!' He rasied his arm pointing at Crono. Crono
wondered where Pierre was found, and how he ended up defending him. Nonetheless, he was quite grateful. He grinned.
'As the Chancellor stated in a manner far too long and hostile, Crono is charged with "THe Premeditated Abduction of Princess Nadia with the Malicious Intent of Overthrowing and Ursuping the Sovereign Throne of< Gaurdia." The glaring question before us, which we must all consider is, "Did Crono kidnap Princess Nadia?" The answer is a resounding "no." In fact no such "abduction" ever took place. Crono and the Princess crossed paths purely by accident. In fact, it was her, our beloved Princess Nadia, who ASKED if she could join him. I must say, if there was any sort of premeditation in their little rendezvous, one would consider their meeting, a date.' Pierre threw a wink at Crono, who smiled inspite of himself.
'Very well, Pierre. Chancellor, please offer your rebuttal'
'With pleasure your honor.'
The Chancellor sauntered up to the dock, and peered at Crono with a beastial, peircing gaze. 'Let me ask you something son.' His voise was abrasive and scratchy like a sandpaper on an old record. 'Is what your attorney say true? Did is he telling the truth? Just who started this whole debacle in the first place?'
Crono thought, considering everything he could possibly say. He considered attempting to get into the Chancellor's head. He considered insulting him, among others. The longer he pondered, the harder the Chancellor peared.
'Marle did.'
'Is this so?' the Chancellor moved to the center of the floor. 'Just what did you do with the Princess Crono?'
'We hung out at the fair. That's all. We played games. We did what everyone does at the fair'
'Just as I suspected! You deliberately decieved the Princess, feigned freindship, all with the intent of facilitating this little kidnapping sceme of yours. Is that correct?'
Crono rolled his eyes at this interogation. 'No! I didn't feign freindship. Marle and I were having fun.'
'SO much fun, you decided to kidnap her! After having established yourself as her "friend" she innocently followed you to Lucca and Taban's little sideshow, after which the two of you disappeared! THat by textbook definition is a criminal abduction!'
Crono shook his head.

'And I have just the facts that throw the accused charachter into question'
'Objection!' shouted Pierre. 'That has zero relevance whatsoever to this case!'
'Care to respond Chancellor?' asked the Judge. 'Crono's charachter is at the very core of the case.'
'We have nothing to hide!'
Is that so? well, My witnesses say that you viciously assaulted the Princess!'
'WHAT!?'
'I call forth my first witness!'
A middle aged man walked up to the Bench. Crono had never seen the man.
'Sir, please do tell the court what you witnessed today.'
'Well, Sir. I was at the fair, I mean my whole family was, cause, you know, a Millenial Fair only comes to town like every 100-1000 years you know. We was over by Leene's Bell, and I saw that there boy there, just run right into some red-haired girl. Saw them both fall, and seen her yell out and stuff.'
'That will be all thank you.'
Crono groaned. The crowd stirred, a share of boos came from the upper tiers.
The man exited the Courtroom. 'Objection!' cried Pierre. 'THe Defense did not get the chance to question the witness!'
'Well, in that case, the Prosecution will not get to question your first witness.'
Crono groaned again
'If my sources are correct, you then stole an item from her and tried to sell it off? Is this true?'
'NO!' Objected Crono. The crowd gasped and began to vocalize their contempt towards Crono.
'LIAR! I have a witness who says otherwise. I call to the stand my next witness!'
Another older man came foreward. 'Please tell the court what you saw.'
'Well, I saw this guy here talking to that old man Melchior guy. He showed him some necklace or something?'
'Thank you.' The Chancellor stepped back.
THe judge addressed Pierre. 'Do you have any questions?'
'Yes. Sir. Was the suspect alone when he talked to Melchior?'
'Geez. I don;t know. I think so. But then again.'
'Did you see any transaction take place?'
'I think yeah.'
'Are you absolutely sure?'
'Well. Now that you mention it, I don't know.'
'No further questions'
'Thank you.' The judge addressed the witness and he left. The Chancellor returned to his postition.
'Ladies and Gentlemen, the Chancellor has done nothing but waste our time with his so called "Witnesses" In fact this entire case is a waste of time! I have witnesses who assert Crono as being an upstanding, right doing young man.
My first witness please!' The crowd speculated as to who it would be.
A little girl came up. Pierre knealt down to talk to her. 'Miss have you ever seen this man here?' He pointed at Crono.
'Yes! I know this man!'
The Chancellor leaned foreward eagerly. 'He returned my kitty to me!' She went over to the dock and hugged Crono. 'Thank you for being so kind.'
A collective awwwww sounded from the court.
'Doesn't this man deserve a medal?'
Crono and Pierre shared a grin. He marveled at how both sides were able to compile so much evidence in such a short period of time.
'Chancellor, have you any questions for the witness?'
'Yes. Are you sure that this man found your cat?'
'Yes. Him and his girlfriend gave me back my cat!'
The girl left, and thanked Crono on her way out.
'Now that we see just how righteous Crono is, ask yourself, 'Was there any MOTIVE behind the alleged "kidnapping?" The issue here is MOTIVE. And the truth is there was none!'
'Is this true?' scrutinized the Chancellor 'Did you befriend the princess with the intention of exploiting the kingdom for a ransom? After all, her family is very well to do, and you are everything that is wrong with this fine kingdom! Did you have the intent of holding Princess Nadia for ransom?'
'No!'
'But the temptation did cross your mind did it not?'
'No!'
'Did you in any way exploit the Princess? With her charm and good looks, I just know you to took advantage of her!'
Crono met the Chancellor's burning glare'I did not! In any way shape or form, take advantage of Marle in the slightest!' Crono felt as though he was in a crucible. His palms leaked sweat, his throat became parched, his tounge felt like cotton. He did believe he had withstood the Chancellor's prying inquires. He looked at him and wondered, just what was lodged in his rectum? And how did he ever get to be chancellor? There was something familiar in his gaze and his tone. Crono thought back to the first time he met the 'Chancellor' Could he be connected to Yakra? Impossible. Yakra had been dead for 4oo years. Butthe tone, the walk, the eyes, even the scent, all reminded him of the false chancellor.

The crowd reacted. Half of the mass cheered, the other half booed. The audience seemed more fitting to a sleazy afternoon talkshow than to a trial.
Although Crono didn't hear it, he swore he could hear the Chancellor tell him,
'You will not escape. Regaurdless the outcome, you will die'
The Chancellor's eyes burned like the flames of Lucifer's grotto 'You dare mock this sacred institution of Justice?!' He raved like an angry beast 'I have proved by my witnesses, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you assaulted, robbed, kidnapped and subduced the Princess, all with the Malicious desire of overthrowing the sovereign kingdom of Gaurdia and yet you still deny it? You indeed are evil young man!'
THe Chancellor stepped away from the dock and faced the crowd.
'This young man is a cancer to our fair society! I beseach you on behalf of everything this land stands for to convict this man! If we let him go free, we will see the very fabric of our society become unravled. Our children will not be safe. There will be chaos and anrachy running rampant in the streets.
This fair palace of ours will be nothing but rubble. And who will be sitting, reigningatop the rubble?' He pointed his cane at Crono, who attempted once again toremove the docket to throw at the Chancellor.
'Sir. The Prosectution rests. I trust the jury will make the right decisions.' The crowd stood silent, bewildered by the enigmatic distertaion of teh Chancellor 'Pierre, please begin your final argument'
'He came to the centre of the room, next to the docket. 'Ladies and
Gentlemen, just what has the Chancellor proved? His so called witnesses shed zero light upon the charges unfairly laid upon Crono. The fact that I did not question his first witness, merits a retrial! The other witness proved nothing!
Crono here is by far the finest young man in the Kingdom, in fact he risked his life to save the Princess! He did not assault her, nor did he rob her, nor did he subduce her. None of these thoughts ever crossed his mind for even the least bit of time! It is clearly evident, that Crono is a fine, noble, chivalrous young man. If there is any evil in this court, it is the false trumped up charges that the Chancellor has unfairly burdened upon not only Crono, but this sacred
hall of justice. The defense rests.' The crowd cheered in approval.
Pierre threw Crono a 'I think they're buying it' look to which he responded
with a 'You the man!' glance
'Let him Go!' cried a spectator
'Hang him!' shouted another.
Discenting voices resonated from the upper tiers. Their arguments grew louder. The judge banged his gavel several times in an attempt to slience the crowd.
'Order Order!' He banged the gavel again. 'Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the arguments. If the accused is guity please stand to the left. If he is innocent, please stand to the right.'
Crono held his breath. The crowd leaned foreward in anticipation, so far foreward, Crono wondered how it was that they did not spill out, breaking the seats. The first juror walked foreward. Crono clenched his fists, and noticed how they became wet. He watched intently as he approached the bench.
'Innocent.' The man walked to right by Pierre.
The crowd cheered. He gazed at the jurors in the back of the hall, trying to count them but was unable. There may as well have been 1000 of them.
'Innocent'
Inside himself, Crono was doing backflips.
'Guilty' declared the next juror
Crono looked at Pierre. He seemed reletivley level-headed given the circumstances. Though the guilty vote did frusrtait him, as he gripped his pockets tighter with each approaching juror. His heart sank, and the Crono doing backflips fell. The crowd roared.
'Innocent'
With each juror the grew more and more boisterous. They crecendoed like an apporaching stampede.
'Guitly'
Crono had lost count of the jurors. They all looked the same to him.
'Guilty'
His heart trembled violently, his breathing grew erratic. He looked back and saw one final juror.
He began the walk up to the bench. Crono counted his steps, and scrutinized his movements, they way he walked, the way his arms swung, the way his shoulders moved, even the way he breathed, all to draw some sort ofinference to what he would say.
The final juror approached the bench and turned to Crono. He leaned foreward so as to hear the verdict. The crowd grew silent.
The Chancellor gripped his cane in his wraith-like boney fingers. A wolfish grin came to his lips.
'Innocent!'
Crono leapt out of the dock in celebration. Pierre raised his arms in triumph.
The Chancellor slammed his cane upon the floor. The crowd exploded. The detractors threw objects on to the floor below. Cronos supporters rejoiced as well.
The judge banged the gavel. 'Order! Order!' The crowd decrecendoed and
Crono returned to the docket. 'The verdict has been reached. This Sovereign Court of the Justice of Gaurdia finds the defendant Crono, innocent of all chrages, However!' He gave a dramatic pause, and cleared his throat.
All people in the hall again leaned forward. 'Although Crono did not kidnap the Princess, the fact remains that he did run off with her, Three days solitary confinement for punishment!' He hammered the gavel one final time. 'Case closed.'
The crowd began to filter out. Pierre approached Crono. 'thanks!'
'Hey, not a problem.'
The Chancellor approached. They looked at him contemptously. 'Don't think youve gotten away with anything.'
As he said that, the gaurds surrounded Crono. He rolled his eyes, and expelled a weary sigh.
'Take him away.'
They began grabbing at him, taking his arms, and shirt into grasp.
'STOP!' cried an angry female voice. Marle rushed up to the dock. 'Stop it! You can't do this, this is crap! You didn't even let me testify!'
'Princess, do not impede the justice process!' admonished the Chancellor
'Justice my eye! Crono hasn't done anything!' Her voice rung with despiration and irritation. Crono looked at her, partialy gratefull, and partialy curious as to why she didn't speak up earlier 'If any thing we should be honoring him! After all he saved me!'
'Princess, now is not the time!'