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	A Love to Span the Ages
	A Chrono Trigger Fanfic
	Written by Jenny 'Android18' Chan
	android18@hotmail.com
	www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/4071/index.html
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			 Chapter 2 : Cyrus's Shame 
			   Cyrus's Point of View

	It's really, the most interesting combinations of emotions
I had ever experienced in a long time. First, it was denial. 
Then it was horror and fear. Then denial again. Then more fear.
Finally, sadness, acceptance, relief and finally, more sadness.
	It's been a week since I accepted the fact that, even if
I'm not dead, I will never be able to interact with my friends
ever again. Sure, I can watch them from the time window, but
Gaspar forbids me to do anything else. Actually, it's almost
the same as being dead. 
	I think it's been a week. It's very hard to find out just
how much time has elapse since I was pulled out of the time 
line, but I think it's been a week.
	Gaspar and Spekkio are trying to make me feel at home,
but I doubt they will ever succeed. I don't like the end of
time. It's so different and alien to me. I don't understand
how they can ever be content with just walking around these
few rooms. I don't ever see them venture out into the blackness.
	I, of course, have already walked all around the blackness.
I can't tell how far I've gone since everywhere I go is exactly
the same as the place I've just been to. I don't stray very
far because I am afraid that if I loose sight of the rooms, I
will never find my way back.
	There isn't much to do in the rooms, but it's better than
this eternal blackness. At least in the rooms, I have company
in the form of Spekkio and Gaspar.
	Spekkio is amusing. He finds ME amusing as well. We
fought a few times, but he always wins. He uses magic while I
only have my sword.
	Gaspar... the old man is determined to find a way to keep
my living from interfering with the timeline. He believes he has a
way. He will find a way to give magic energy to me. Then, I can
use this magic and go back into the timeline. I will be able
to see my friend Glen one final time. Of course, I'll have to
pretend that I am a ghost. Then, I will shoot all the magic into
the Masamune. Gaspar believes that magic energy and spirit-energy
will both have the same effect of charging up the Masamune.
	I am looking forward to seeing my friend, but if I have
any say in it, I will not use this chance up any time soon and
then have nothing else to look forward to. It doesn't matter 
when I choose to do this, because that is irrelevant.
	Speaking of Glen, I cannot begin to tell you how much I
miss the brother I never had. I truly hope that he managed to
escape the clutches of Magus and Ozzie and find his way to back
to Castle Guardia with Sara. I am quite sure he survived. Glen, 
though not noted for his viciousness, fights better and with more
skill with the sword then I will ever be able to manage. I have
little doubt he will make it to Guardia and carry out the 
request I bestowed on him just before me abduction to the end 
of time.
	The request was to protect Queen Leene, and when I think
back to this request, I feel guilty. I know that Glen will do
as I ask until the end of his life. I should not have burdened 
him with this request.
	Some may wonder why I would feel guilty. After all, as
her royal majesty's champion, shouldn't I be glad to be able to
find her a capable protector as it is my duty to do so?
	This question leads to a whole other explanation that 
is my shame.
	My shame, you may ask? What shame could the great honorable
knight Cyrus hold?
	I will tell you. It is a large shame that has darkened my
soul for the most part of my career as a knight.
	The shame is this : I didn't protect Leene because I was
her Champion and therefore it was my responsibility. I would
have protected her if I were a normal knight and I would have
protected her if I were only a normal citizen, because I love
her.
	Gasp. Oh horrors of horrors! The kindhearted and well liked
queen of a respectable kingdom was having an affair with her
champion?! How could this be true?!
	No, I did not have an affair with Leene. She would
never had allowed it, nor would my conscience. But the fact
remained, I protected Leene for my own reasons, and that was
because I loved her.
	How did I become to love her, and how could I have 
survived her happy marriage to king Guardia? It's a long story
to tell, but hey, time is the one thing I do have.

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	It is not a well known fact but a fact none the less 
that Leene, Glen and I came from the same village. However, it
was a large village and Leene lived in the south while Glen and
I lived in the north. I did not see her often. I only knew her
as the beautiful daughter of a nobleman.
	The beautiful and kind daughter of a proud and loving
father, who's name was Lord Ebon.
	Leene's mother died giving birth to her, or so I heard,
and Ebon loved Leene with all his heart, seeing her as the last
gift his wife had given to him before her demise.
	Because of this, Ebon loved Leene so much that he would 
have nothing except the best for her. He once boasted that if
the best bachelor in the land was the king himself, then the
king himself would be his daughter's husband.
	An unpleasant side effect to all of Lord Ebon's love was 
his over protective-ness of his daughter. Little Leene was seldom
allowed to leave the house. 
	As a result, most of the town knew her by name if not by
face.
	One day, Glen was being picked on by bullies, again. He
was a natural bully magnet in those days, being a very small
kid who cried easily.
	It was a particularly cruel incident when the bullies
chased him from one end of the town to the other. When night
fell, the other kids came home to their beds, but Glen was not
one of them.
	Glen's mother was worried for her son.
	Since I always wanted to be a knight, I volunteered to
go get him, and be a brave and daring person. She would have
said no if she hadn't been so worried about the boy.
	The first thing I did was climb into the home of
one of the bullies and demand to know where Glen was. I got
my answer quickly.
	I trekked to the other side of town, wandering around
and calling for Glen when it started to rain on me.
	I was upset and cold and I would have gone home if I
hadn't been so worried for the little guy. I started going
door to door, asking if anyone had seen him, when I came
to a large mansion with several large trees in it's fenced
yard.
	Low and behold, there, in one of the branches was Glen.
He was soaking, and miserable, but he clung to the branch
for all he was worth, so he was not in danger of falling.
	"Glen!" I shouted.
	Glen looked down at gave a cry of relief when he saw
me. "Cyrus!! Help!"
	"How did you get up there?!" I shouted back. 
	"The bullies chased me, so I climbed through a crack
in the wall to escape! Then, these dogs came and I got 
scared, and I couldn't get back through the crack so I ran
up the tree! I can't get out! Help me Cyrus!!"
	"Just wait! I'm coming!" I walked back a few steps
and with a running leap, clung to the top of the fence.
Unfortunately, the fence was slippery from the rain and I
found myself in the yard, on my face, chewing on mud. I
got to my muddy knees, slipped and slid my way over to the
tree where Glen was.
	Taking a firm grip on the bottom branches, I started
to haul myself up, only to fall back down in the mud, because
the rain had made it impossible to climb up the tree. I tried
to climb a few more times, getting more muddy with each try.
	Finally, I just shouted up to Glen.
	"Hey! You have to jump Glen! I can't get you!"
	"Jump?! No! Cyrus, I'm scared!! I'll fall!"
	"Don't worry Glen, I'll catch you! It'll be okay! Just
jump!"
	"I can't Cyrus! I'm scared!"
	Glen and I hollered back and forth to each other before
I got fed up.
	"Fine then! Just stay up there, Glen! You'll probably
get struck by lightning or something."
	"AAAEEEI!!!" With that, Glen let go the tree, and
fell to the ground.
	Of course, he had a nice soft landing that came in the
form of me. He grabbed on to me, crying.
	"Cyrus, I wanna go home!! I wanna go home!"
	"Okay, okay, I'll get you home."
	I tried to get Glen to unhand me, but the little lad was
too scared to walk. So, since he was small for an 8 year old,
and I was strong for a 12 year old, I hefted him holding him
to my chest, and started to head for the gate when I felt a 
hand on my shoulder.
	I turned and saw a pretty girl looking at me curiously.
Her hair was orange and her clothing was on the rich side. She
was carrying an umbrella but was still getting wet.
	"Who're you?" She asked.
	"I'm Cyrus," I said. "Who're you?"
	"My name is Leene." She replied. Then, she paused before
saying. "I live here."
	"Oh, you're Lord Ebon's daughter, aren't you?"
	She nodded. "You're all muddy and wet! Why don't you come
inside first and wait for the rain to stop before you go home?"
	I thought about it for a moment. I was very cold and so
was Glen and the little guy was probably starving. So, I said,
"okay, we'll come."
	Leene smiled and lead us in the house.
	Once inside, a old, large woman gave a shriek.
	"Leene, what were you doing outside?!" She demanded,
grabbing a towel and starting to dry off the girl.
	"I heard something outside," Leene said, "and I looked
out the window, and I saw something, so I went outside. I'm
sorry, Nanny."
	Nanny grumped a bit before looking at me. "So, what
were you doing outside in the rain, young man?" She asked me
sternly.
	I swallowed. "Ah,"
	"Cyrus was rescuing me from a tree!" Glen piped up. "I
was stuck up there for hours and hours because bullies and
dogs chased me up a tree and then Cyrus came and rescued me!"
	Hearing Glen's explanation, Nanny softened up a little
bit. "Oh, you poor little dear!" She cried, taking Glen from
me and holding him in her own arms, "I thought something had
the dogs all excited this afternoon, but I didn't know what!
Come here and let me get you cleaned up."
	Then, Nanny left with Glen and I was standing beside
Leene, who giggled.
	"You're dripping on the floor, silly!" She said, picking
up the towel that Nanny had discarded. Then, much to my
embarrassment, she started drying me off much in the fashion
Nanny had.
	"I can do it myself," I said awkwardly, starting to
squirm.
	"Stand still!" Leene said, annoyed, "I know how to do
this, I've been watching Nanny do it! Now, stay still so I
can get you dry!"
	I've always wanted to be a knight, and I knew that a
knight had to take orders, so I stood rigidly still while
Leene rubbed me off. 
	I was embarrassed. I was supposed to be a brave and
daring knight and here I was, getting dried off by some
girl like a mother did to her son.
	"There! Finished!" Leene said proudly.
	There was a laughing from the top of a stairway. Both
Leene and I looked up and saw Lord Ebon, chuckling at what
he thought to be an amusing sight. Apparently, he had seen 
the whole thing.
	"What are you doing, dear?"
	Leene smiled. "Daddy! I was just drying off Cyrus
here! He was outside, getting this little boy named Glen
out of a tree and they both got all wet and muddy! Nanny took
Glen so I decided to dry off Cyrus."
	Ebon nodded. "Run along now, Leene. I would like to
talk to Cyrus for a moment."
	Leene nodded, turned to me, smiled, before she ran
off.
	"So, Cyrus, is it?" Ebon asked.
	I nodded. "Sir?"
	"Is what my daughter told me true?"
	I nodded. "Yes."
	"So, how exactly did this Glen get stuck in a tree in
my yard?"
	I explained to him how bullies chased him into his yard
and how dogs chased him up a tree.
	He nodded now. "That must have been very brave of you
to come out after dark to save a little boy."
	"I want to be a knight," I told him. "Knights do brave
things."
	"A knight, you say?" He said, with a twinkle in his
eye. "Well, I can make that happen, you know."
	My eyes must have gotten really big and round as I
stared at him.
	"....?"
	Ebon laughed. "I am a lord, and I have many knights and
soldiers. You see, my head knight, Branford, is getting old. He
wishes to train a worthy successor before he retires. You seem
to be a strapping young lad. If you really want to be a knight,
I can get Branford to teach you how to use the sword."
	"You mean that, sir?!"
	Ebon laughed. "Why would I lie?"
	I spent a few hours at the house of Lord Ebon waiting
for the rain to stop and for Glen to get fed before the two of
us left.
	Nanny had scowled motherly, "you two boys shouldn't go
out so late. Perhaps you should stay the night."
	I had shook my head, "I promised Glen's mother that I'd
take him back and I'm gonna."
	Ebon had laughed. "Such determination! Very well then,
Cyrus! Go home! Return tomorrow, and I shall get Branford to
begin your training."
	"Thank you, sir!"
	Leene smiled prettily. "See you tomorrow, Cyrus! Glen!"
	The next day, I came back, leading Glen. The younger
boy had a basket of fruits that his mother wanted to give
to the Nanny who had gotten Glen so nicely fed and cleaned
up.
	I found Leene waiting at her house for me. She brought
me to Branford, an elderly man who could still swing a sword
better than most young men, with one hand behind his back.
	To make a long story short, both Glen and I trained with
Branford for five years.
	Branford often took Glen and I out into the wilderness to
train. Therefore we both felt very comfortable fighting just
about everywhere. I wasn't home very often, only 3 or 4 months
out of the year, but every time I got back, I found Leene
smiling happily at my return.
	During this time, I went from a 12 year old boy to a 17
year old soldier, the best one of his class. Leene, who I
discovered was a year younger than I, went from a cute 11
year old to a stunningly beautiful 16 year old. 
	Naturally, I noticed her. 
	Leene and I were good friends for many years, though I
often wondered if we would ever be more. Leene never did though.
For her, I would always be like an older brother, or a very 
good friend. I would never be her husband, because she didn't
think of me that way. In fact, she thought that I had no desire
for her to become my wife. She thought that I loved her in the
same way that she loved me.
	I didn't. I should have told her how I felt, but I never
did. Maybe it was because I was just a soldier, not a knight
yet, and I thought she deserved a knight in shining armor. I
told myself that as soon as I became I knight, I would confess
my love, and ask for her hand in marriage.
	One day, I was standing on a bridge and staring out at
the sun, pondering my thoughts. The attacks from the mystics
had gotten more fierce and the attacks were coming more and
more often.
	Most people believed it was only a matter of years before
a full scale war was on their hands. The most disturbing
thought was that the mystics had a powerful leader, by the
name of Magus, and they had a good chance of winning the war.
	I had trained with Branford for 5 years, and I thought 
that I had enough experience to become a full fledged knight.
Thoughts of going and being knighted by the king and then 
turning and asking for Leene's hand in marriage filled my
dreams nightly.
	In my dreams, Leene would always change her mind about
how she loved me, and cried, "yes! Yes! Of course I'll marry
you!"
	Dreams are nice. But they are not reality.
	"Hey Glen," I had said. "I'm thinking of becoming a
knight..."
	"I knew it!" The green haired boy had said, "I knew you'd
enlist sooner or later! You'd make a great knight!"
	"Why don't you come too?" I asked.
	"Aww, I don't think I'd make the cut," Glen had replied
lamely.
	"You're better with the sword than I am!" I had shouted.
This was true, must to my initial chagrin. The little kid I
use to rescue from bullies was better with the sword than I
was.
	"I dunno..." Glen had said.
	Perhaps Glen didn't know about his future, but I knew 
about mine. I was going to Guardia, and I was going to become a
knight. 
	Glen and I went back to Lord Ebon's mansion, and I was
going to tell the lord, Branford, and Leene. I only found the
first two out of the three, but I wasn't worried. I knew I
would find Leene sooner or later.
	Both Branford and Ebon were very proud of my decision.
	"You'd be a major asset to the Guardian army," Ebon had
said. "You'd make a first class knight in no time!"
	"Of course," Branford had scoffed, "you are the best
student I had ever had! I would expect nothing less from you."
	"You must get going at once!" Ebon said. "It is good that
you decided to enroll when you did. Now you can accompany Leene
to Guardia!"
	"Leene is going to Guardia as well?" I asked, pleasantly
surprised. Looks like my dream, proposing to Leene right after
being excepted as a knight, would come true! I was so happy, I
almost missed what Ebon said next. Unfortunately, I caught it.
	"Yes," Ebon said proudly, "she is going to be the next
queen of Guardia. Leene is going to marry the king!"
	I stared at Ebon who was smiling proudly. 
	"L-Leene's getting married?" I choked out.
	Ebon nodded. "She is leaving this afternoon with the train
of knights the king sent for her. I'm glad you're going with her,
Cyrus. Those so-called knights look rather pathetic compared to
you."
	I swallowed. "W-where is L-Leene now?"
	"In her room, preparing for her journey."
	"May I go see her?"
	"Of course."
	I brushed past the man I wanted to be my father in law,
and ran up the set of stairs that led to Leene's room, I knocked,
well, pounded on the door.
	Leene opened it a few minutes later, and her face lit up
when she saw me. She jumped into me, giving me a hug and for a
moment, I thought what Ebon had was false.
	"Oh Cyrus, I'm so happy! I found out an hour ago, and I
was trying to find you and tell you, but I couldn't find you and
I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to tell you before I left!
I'm getting married!"
	All my hopes vanished. "M-Married?"
	Leene nodded, smiling happily. "To John!"
	"J-John?"
	"Of course, John Guardia! We been talking about it for so
long and finally, this morning, he showed up with a ring and asked
me to marry him! I said yes, and then he had to go back to Guardia
and prepare the wedding!"
	A chamber maid tapped Leene on the shoulder. "Lady Leene,
we need your help with some of your clothing, please."
	"I'm coming," Leene said. She turned back to me, beaming.
"I have to go now, Cyrus."
	I swallowed, and smiled weakly. "C-congra...dula...tions."
	Leene smiled, and gave me another hug. "Thank you, Cyrus!"
Then, she went back into her room, and one of her maids closed
the door.
	As soon as I was out of Leene's sight, my heart ripped 
free from my rib cage, and hurled itself at a wall, splattering
itself into nothingness.
	I stumbled down the stairs, numb with grief, and stumbled
around the mansion for a while before I bumped into Glen.
	"What's wrong, Cyrus?" He asked.
	"Leene's getting married," I said.
	Glen smiled. "Yeah, aren't you happy for her? I just heard
from Ebon! She must be so happy!"
	"H-happy?" I asked softly.
	Glen nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Aren't you happy for
her?"
	I stared at Glen in disbelief before I pushed past him
and ran off.
	Even Glen, my best friend, my brother in everything if
not in blood, didn't know about my feelings for Leene. Had I
managed to keep my true feelings hidden so well?! Apparently
so.
	I walked to the tree where I had rescued Glen, so many
years ago... the place where I first met Leene. I collapsed
on the ground, my head in my hands.
	I kept thinking over and over in my head, that I should
have told her sooner, I shouldn't have let her think I only
had brotherly love for her. It was too late.
	I wanted to cry, but, knights do not cry. So I let my
heart to the weeping, as I sat there, numb with grief.
	I just sat there, and I lost track of time. Suddenly, I
heard foot steps approach me. I looked up and saw Glen, looking
at me, frowning.
	"Cyrus, what are you doing here?!" He demanded.
	"Huh?"
	"Leene's train left hours ago! Didn't you go with her?"
	I sighed. "It's probably just as well that I didn't go,"
I said softly.
	"What?!" Glen shouted, "what are you talking about?"
	"I'm not going to go to Guardia," I said softly. How
could I ever serve the man who took my love away from me,
faithfully?
	Glen collapsed to his knees and stared me in the eyes.
"Say that again," he commanded.
	"I'm not going to Guardia. I can't go." I repeated.
	"No!" Glen grabbed my shoulders and started to shake me.
"Listen to yourself, Cyrus! What's wrong with you?! You've 
always wanted to be a knight! Always! Why are you suddenly
throwing it all away?!"
	"I... I can't talk about it, Glen," I said softly. "It...
hurts too much... I just know, that I won't be able to serve
the king faithfully."
	"That's a load of crap and you know it," Glen snarled.
He pulled me to my feet- he was a very strong 13 year old.
"Why are you saying this?! Cyrus, listen to yourself!"
	I shook my head. "Leave me alone."
	Glen let go of me, and I collapsed. "I'm glad Leene 
already left," he said darkly. "What would she say if she saw
her 'older brother' Cyrus, acting like a spoiled child?"
	That comment struck home. Although I might not have her
love, I still had her good thoughts. No way was I going to
let Leene think badly of me.
	I got to my feet, and suddenly, all of the misery and
sorrow I was feeling vanished for the time being.
	"Leene has already left?" I asked.
	Glen nodded. "Yeah. A couple hours ago. If you take the
fastest horse, you might be able to catch up in time." 
	Then, off I went.
	I grabbed my sword and shield and took my horse. Then,
I was off. I was in such a hurry to catch up to Leene, I didn't
even bring any change of clothes or food. My nutrition and
hygiene could wait.
	I took off at a gallop, and I kept my poor horse at that
pace for an hour. The entire time, I wondered about what I
was doing. Why was I trying so hard? So what if Leene thought
badly of me? She didn't love me anyway. 
	My apathy however, was replaced by thoughts about how
I could win Leene's love. Maybe if Leene saw me galloping
here for all I was worth, she'd see how much I love her, and
forget about the king?
	But I had no more time to think about it because I
was getting close to Leene. My horse was exhausted by the time 
Leene's train came into view, a few moments later.
	I slowed my horse, and he was grateful for that. But I
didn't do it for him, I did it because something was wrong
with Leene's train.
	Hiding my own horse behind some convenient boulders, I
crept up to the train and saw my worst nightmare come to life.
	Leene's train had been attacked by mystics. Many of the
knights were already wounded, though none were dead... yet.
	That was the biggest gathering of mystics I had ever
seen. There must had been close to 50 of them! The dozen knights
the king had sent were obviously not very well trained.
	One of the mystics grabbed Leene roughly, and tied her
up. They started talking about eating her when dusk came. I
wanted to kill every one of those monsters right then and
there.
	But I kept my cool, and stayed hidden. Night would not
fall for another hour or so. I followed the mystics who tied
up all the injured knights and forced them to walk to the
mystics' camp.
	When dusk came, I came up with a plan. I had managed to
get a bag of magic powder that had been discarded during 
the battle.
	When dusk came, the prisoners were grouped together near
the bonfire that was set. There were 10 mystics guarding
them. The other 40 were crowed by the fire, no doubt waiting
for the other 10 to roast the prisoners before they all
devoured them.
	Thankfully, the region was rocky, and I managed to get
on the cliff behind the 40 mystics. I managed to sprinkle a
little bit of the magic powder on to each one of the 40. Then,
I waited a little longer.
	One of the 10 mystics finally crackled, "so which do you
people want to eat first?" It asked. "How about... the woman?
She's probably cleaner and her skin's probably less tough! How
about it? Shall we eat her first?"
	There was a mutual roar of agreement.
	Leene was pushed towards the fire. I snapped. I gave a
roar, leaped from the cliff base I was hanging on, and landed
near her. In one hand I held my sword. In the other hand, I
held a tree branch.
	I stuck one end of the tree branch into the fire, and it
instantly lit up from the flames. Then, I hurled the flaming
branch into the crowd of 40. The flames hit a mystic, right
where I had sprinkled the magic powder on it. The mystic 
instantly caught on fire.
	He backed up a step, bumped into two other mystics, and
they caught fire. Pretty soon, all the 40 were screaming and
burning.
	I cut a very surprised Leene free from her ropes with
my sword.
	"Go free the other knights," I ordered. I pulled a knife
out of my belt and handed it to her.
	She looked at the knife, a little bit unsure of what
to do, before she ran off to one side.
	I turned to the mystics. "Come and get me!" I cried.
	They all charged forward, leaving the knights and
circled me. This left Leene free to run up to the knights and
start to cut through the ropes that bind them.
	Meanwhile, I had troubles of my own. I looked at each
of the mystics. "10 against 1 isn't very good odds, but at 
least it's better than 50 to 1."
	One of the mystics blinked and turned to see what had
happened to it's colleagues. I took the opportunity to kick
him into the fire before I chopped the mystic beside it into
two and send the two pieces into the fire with it.
	The other 8 started to react, but not before I stabbed
through another, and cut the head off of yet another. There
were only 6 left now, and they all came at me, snarling and
shouting.
	With a hack, hack here, and a stab, stab here, here a
chop, there a chop, I managed to kill all of them. 
	Of course, by the time this was done, I was probably
more bloody than one of the corpses lying around. I had
suffered many wounds.
	I fell to my knees before I fell to my face. I started
to blackout, but I heard Leene scream my name and I felt her
hands on my back before I totally lost consciousness.
	I awoke sometime later, and found myself in a nice,
comfortable bed. A chambermaid was beside me.
	"You're awake!" She cried. Then, she threw herself
on top of me and started to cry.
	"Do... I know you?" I asked, embarrassed and confused.
	She blinked away her tears, let go of me, and brushed 
a lock of blue hair behind an ear.
	"You... don't...," there was a look of utter sadness
on her face before it suddenly changed into a happy if
blushing one. "I mean, of course you don't! No! You've never
met me before. It's just that... well, the future Queen
Leene brought you in and told us your heroic deed and I
was just thinking what a shame it would be if you died, because
you'd make such a wonderful knight and it was be such a pity
if you died. I'll go get the future queen now!"
	With that, the chambermaid left the room. A few moments
later, Leene rushed in and threw herself on top of me much
like the chambermaid had. In fact, it was so alike, that it
caused a feeling of deja vu in me.
	"Oh, Cyrus, thank god you're alive!" Leene cried.
	"L-Leene...what happened?"
	"You saved my life!" Leene said, "you really showed those
mystics something! You defeated them all and you saved my life,
but then, you just fell and you wouldn't get up! I had the other
knights bring you the rest of the way to Guardia! I'm so happy
you're alive!"
	"L-Leene..."
	"Cyrus," we both began at the same time.
	"You go first," I insisted.
	"Why didn't you come with me when I left?" She asked
softly. "I... I was looking everywhere for you, and I couldn't
find you. Did I do something to upset you?"
	I blinked. "No," I lied. "No. Nothing you do could ever
upset me, Leene. Now, for my question. When did you..." I
swallowed, "when did you fall in love with John Guardia?"
	Leene blushed. "It... it was almost love at first 
sight, Cyrus. You and Glen were on one of your training missions
when John showed up at the castle. My dad is a nobleman, and
it was his duty to showed the king around if he ever came to the
village. When I saw him, I just knew that... there was something
special there."
	So now I understood. Leene feels the way about John the
same way I feel about her. And now, I am happy for her. If 
Leene came marry someone that she loves as much as I love her...
I could never take her away from him.
	It doesn't feel as bad now. 
	A few days later, when I was back to full health, I was
taken to the king, and promptly knighted. A few days after
that, Leene became Queen Leene.
	I served the King and Queen, despite my original thoughts,
very loyally and faithfully. I was appointed as the Queen's 
Champion as I was the one to save her that very first time. This
title both saddened and pleased me.
	A year or so later, Glen came to Guardia and he became my
squire. We made a fabulous team for the few years we were 
together.
	All the time I was at Guardia, I kept getting more and more
miserable. Every time Leene kissed her husband, or when the two
held hands, I felt the dullest of blades cut through me. 
	I could not take being around Guardia much longer. So, I
set out with Glen on a mission to recover the Hero's Metal from
the Frog King.
	Actually, I really didn't care for the Hero's Metal, but
it gave me an excuse to leave Guardia. 
	Glen and I traveled all around the world, and more than
once, our party of two had enlarged to include the odd hobo, or
the odd fan of mine.
	While fighting the Frog King, we were in the company of
a young lady who's name was Sara. We had rescued her a few weeks
before.
	Sara... brought me grief. She was so like Leene... and,
she liked me too. There were several times I just wanted to kiss
her... though I never did.
	She was a charming girl, one I could have grown to
like... but Glen had his eye on her, so I didn't try for a
relationship. Sara was there when we fought the Frog King.
	It really wasn't much of a fight. 
	A few months after retrieving the metal, Glen, Sara and I 
had a run in with Magus and Ozzie. Thankfully, Sara was not in
the clearing at the time Glen and I faced off against the two
evils.
	What happened next? Well... everyone knows what happened 
next.

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