Cruel Reality
Magus woke with a start, breathing in sharply and coughing violently at the shock his lungs received from the cold air. He didn�t feel strong enough to sit up, so he just lay on the cold, stone floor, trying not to pass out again. He gingerly touched his face, wincing as his fingers came in contact with blisters that still burned dully. He didn�t know why, but his arms also burned a bit and he realized that his cloak was gone.
�Well, well, well,� a voice said, making Magus open his eyes, �I�ve never seen a vampire in my line of work. Luckily, they make us prepare for all occurrences.�
Magus struggled to his knees and looked around. He seemed to be in a cage of some kind, in a dark room. He could only vaguely see the man who had spoken. Magus moved forward slowly and grabbed the bars of the cage.
A flash of pain laced through Magus� hands and he yelled, letting go of the bars and moving back to the center of the cage. He stared down at his burned hands in horror.
�What do you think?� the man said, tapping the bars of the cage. �Light reinforced bars, they�re my own invention. As long as you don�t touch them, the light will only reach you in low levels. Uncomfortable, yes, but not lethal.�
Magus searched through his memories, trying to find a spell to get his out of this. He decided to try one of his strongest spells. He gathered together the strength necessary and held up a shaking hand towards the bars. A lightning bolt shot out of his hand, bounced off the bars, and hit him instead, making his muscles seize up. He fell to the floor, paralyzed.
�And its special feature,� the man said, �is its resistance to any and all spells, no matter how strong they are. I do know a bit about vampires. Sooner or later, the lack of a food source will be your downfall. In the meantime, I have other business, in the form of a werewolf. In that case, I had the cage made of silver. But why am I telling you this?� He laughed coldly and walked away, out of sight. Not far away, a slamming door could be heard.
Magus groaned as his muscles twitched painfully. The paralysis could last anywhere from a couple hours to several days. He knew that he would last a little longer than a vampire would in here, but not much. Eventually, lack of food and water would take its toll on him.
Magus managed to find enough energy to put himself into a trance, a temporary escape from his fate. He searched his thoughts for a moment before finally settling on thinking about the werewolf the man had mentioned. He felt his consciousness float up out of his cage, and move through the door of his room into a long hallway, full of closed doors. Instinct told him which one was the right one, and he passed through the door.
This room, unlike his, was brightly lit. Luckily, this didn�t affect Magus, as he didn�t have a body at the moment. In the middle of the room, there was a small, silver cage with a man inside.
The man was skin and bones, looking more like a skeleton than anything else. He was sitting in the center of his cage, his knees drawn up to his chest and his eyes unfocused. His clothing was torn, his skin was burned black in some areas, and he looked like his hair was falling out. Then, he blinked, and seemed to be looking right at Magus, who wondered if the man could see him.
Then, the man fell over with a dull thud. At first, Magus thought he might be dead. But then, he saw that the man was sprouting gray fur. After a few moments, there was a wolf inside the cage in place of the man. The wolf jerked its head wildly and threw itself against the side of cage. It whimpered and jumped back, leaping instead toward the other side. It kept doing this, not seeming to learn its lesson. Patches of fur that hit the bars started to burn off, leaving bare batches of skin that turned black when they hit the bars again.
Magus looked away, unable to watch this anymore. Sorry as he felt for himself, he had to admit that he was better off than this man. Judging by how thin he was, he had probably been here at least a week, if not longer. Magus made special note that if he ever got out of here, he would try to save this man too.
He went back to his room, having no desire to watch the werewolf�s self-sacrificing attempts to get out of his cage. He reluctantly went back into his cage, going back into his body and ending his trance. He knew that if he stayed in that disconnected state for too long, he wouldn�t be able to come out of it. Otherwise, he would have just stayed that way.
Magus had no idea how long he�d been in his trance, but it had been long enough for the paralysis to wear off. He sat up and pulled his knees up to his chest, his arms and face still burning dully. He knew that, as long as he was here, he would not be able to escape pain completely.
Magus had no way of keeping track of time. It seemed to move slowly and quickly all at the same time. At any given moment, he felt that he might have been there for only a few minutes or for weeks. It didn�t really matter anymore.
He felt himself getting thinner and his throat felt as if he had tried to swallow a handful of sand. He could see some of the changes. His hair, which was blue in color and long enough to reach to the middle of his back, now had streaks of white in it and was starting to fall out. When he looked down at his hands, he could see his veins and bones through his skin.
When he felt he could hardly stand it anymore, Magus put himself into a trance and went back to the room of the werewolf. The man there looked even thinner, if that was possible. His skin had now been charred beyond recognition. Magus drifted up to the cage and stared at the man.
Then, the man looked up and his eyes, which were sunken and had a dead look to them, widened in surprise. Magus realized then that the man could indeed see him.
�Who are you?� the man asked in a dry whisper.
Magus, Magus tried thinking the name at the man, since he could not speak in this state.
The man backed up as far as he could without touching the back of the cage. �You spoke in my mind! How did you do that?� he demanded.
I don�t know, Magus answered, stepping forward and walking through the bars of the cage.
�Stay away from me!� the man said, backing into the bars at the back of his cage and screaming in pain.
I�m not going to hurt you, Magus thought quickly, not wanting the man to hurt himself.
The man immediately moved forward slightly so that he wasn�t touching the bars anymore. �How did you do that?� he asked, more calmly this time.
I�m in a trance, Magus explained, so I can pass through walls. I�m a prisoner too. My room�s about five doors down the hall.
�Can you get me out?� the man asked hopefully.
Magus shook his head. No, I�m sorry. This is just my consciousness. I�d need to actually get out of my own cage before I could do that. Mine is light reinforced, so I won�t be able to do that.
�Light reinforced?� the man looked at Magus suspiciously. �What are you in here for anyway?�
They think I�m a vampire, Magus thought, but I�m not.
�Then you should be able to get out, shouldn�t you?� the man asked.
Should, Magus thought bitterly, but can�t. I�m not a vampire, but I do have one of their weaknesses. I can�t be exposed to light. It�ll kill me.
�That�s awful,� the man said. �They brought me in for being a werewolf.�
What is this place? Magus asked.
�It�s the Hogsmeade Creature Control Center,� the man said. �They lock up creatures they deem to be a threat to the village. Can�t really blame them. These are dark times, so they have a right to be paranoid, especially since many werewolves and vampires work for You-Know-Who.�
I have to go, Magus suddenly realized. If I don�t come out of my trance soon, I might not be able to.
�Okay,� the man said. �By the way, my name�s Remus Lupin. Thought I should introduce myself. Goodbye.�
Goodbye, Magus turned and drifted away, back to his own room. He went back in his cage and into his body. Magus winced as the pain came back, but he accepted it, knowing it was useless to fight. Besides, he had to save his energy so he could go into another trance later. It was the only thing left that could keep him sane, even when he knew that cruel reality would always be here, waiting for him.
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Author's note: I know, I know, everyone's mad at me for making Lupin suffer, but would you rather I use characters that you know nothing about and, therefore, really don't care about? Okay, bad question. Anyway, I'm eager for reviews, as this is my first crossover fan fic (unless you count Planet of the Pixies, but that's more of a parody). If this one's a success, I might write another one with more humor. I wanted to write this one because I always thought the Chrono Trigger characters Magus and Schala weren't developed enough. Actually, the Schala character is developed a bit in the sequel, but that's a whole other story and I don't know much about it. Anywho, I await reviews and will continue working on chapters for this and all my other fan fics.
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