Chrono Saga: To the Sea of Dreams Synopsis - Finale (part 4)
So, we've gone through two variations. What's that? You say you've gotten all the Chrono Cross Fragments? In that case...
Here is what really happened.
----- GOOD ENDING/TRUE ENDING -----
The party gathers in Medina's war room after gathering all the Fragments. Lavenda tells of the rebirthing ceremony, a practice originally used to purify Dragonians of Lavos during Kale's rebellion in the previous lifecycle. Glenn notes the irony that after so many eons, the ceremony is being used for its original purpose.
However, since Schala had altered herself through artificial means, the ceremony will have the side-effect of possibly restoring her to her original state, of which Reika lampshades the possible scandal of Schala returning to Medina as a completely different person. Lark (rightfully) reasons that the alternative is not an option.
Schala steps forward. She'll venture the risks of the ceremony. A trip to Fort Dragonia is in order, along with a brief pit stop to Terra Tower to acquire an unstable Dragon Tear (and an extra set of clothes, because we all remember what happened with Serge).
Lavenda and Lark are the only ones allowed to oversee the ceremony. Schala charges the Fragments to give off the melody, which harmonizes the Dragon Tear, stabilizing it... all the whie with Lark's amulet glowing, though nobody notices this.
The moment of truth is at hand. Schala's body fades into the bubble surrounding her. However, something is off. Schala finds herself in a white void. The cries of Lavos can be heard all around her with varying intensity. Looking around this null void, she sees a parasitic mass splitting apart, revealing a Dragonian female. (If the player has finished the events of the Abyssal Fissure, Schala recognizes her as Saffira.) As the Lavos matter is purified, the woman stirs, as if finally awoken from a lifetime-long trance.
She knows. All of it. She knows she has no right to ask Schala to forgive Kale, or to not hate him. All she asks is that she does whatever it takes to put her wayward love to rest before disappearing into the aether. Soon enough, Schala follows her...
Rebirth. Resolution. Reconcilliation. The infant grows to a child, to a teenager, and finally to a grown woman. Lark immediatly rushes to Schala's side, wrapping her in his coat. Gone is the silver-white, replaced by a brilliant teal blue.
A change of clothes later and Schala reunites with the others outside. To nearly everyone's surprise (especially Schala's), aside from the purification of Lavos' essence, the color of her hair was literally the only change of her appearance. Everything else is as it was. Lark suggests that perhaps deep down, Schala had unconsciously desired reconcilliation with her past life.
Almost as if to confirm, the Einlanzer (which, as Grandmaster of the Devas, Schwann is obligated to have on his person at all times) suddenly floats before Schala. (If this quest is done after Schala's personal quest, she will recieve the Grand-Lanzer, otherwise, she will recieve it at the conclusion of the Zeal Ruins.) From this point on, if it has not been completed, Schala's personal quest becomes mandatory to continue the game. (It will become impossible to lose her battle with Kid, as Schala will have a permanent auto-raise effect for the fight.)
Everything remains the same from this point save for an event at Truce before assaulting the Parasite Palace. In it, the party commandeers the 'member's only' section of the inn's restaurant where the Zweibreicht Company has one last meal as a group (personally cooked by Reika and Lark). The party reminiscs on how far they have all come since this journey began, especially Schala. They give a toast to the future, no matter what comes, before retiring for one last night for those who have loved ones...
From here, everything is the same as the normal ending path until the battle with Lavos Prime.
Instead of incinerating Kale, Lavos impales him and tosses him across the room, leaving him for dead. The fight continues as normal before Lavos uses its incineration attack to shatter the seal around the Gate of Ahura Mazda and escapes through it. Undeterred, the party follows it through the Gate. After a seeming eternity in temporal freefall, they break through the surface of Zurvan, witnissing the majesty of the Sea of Dreams. A flash of light later, the party ends up on the same beach Lark and Schala meet up upon in the Dreamscape.
Suddenly, the roar of Lavos Prime is heard. Bursting through the water, a gigantic mass of parasitic matter, grows until it eventually envelopes and devours the Entity. Without any hesitation, the party begins ascending the massive structure, becoming separated in the process. After a few solo fights for each, the party reconverges at the summit to fight Lavos Prime's second form (a homage to the original second form fight from the first game).
The second form crumbles, but the crystal stasis in its chest cavity bursts open. What emerges is an amalgum of Schala, Saffira, its own alien biology, and the frozen Flame. Lavos' interperetation of Humanity's and Dragonian's evolutionary zenith, either ironically or purposfully invoking Kale's image of his 'divine goddess'.
Normally, it is at this point that the Schala of old would have tried reasoning with it, but the current Schala knows it is a pipe dream. In the end, Lavos' thought process is far too alien for any sort of reconcilliation, nor would it care, just like its 'master'. For the last time, humanity takes up arms against the alien parasite.
*cue World Revolution*
(For this fight, regardless of battle party, all seven characters take part, with the other four on autopilot. It will go through eight phases, but instead of utilizing the abilities of bosses, it will copy the abilities and weapons of each party member randomly, with the exception of Lavenda as it will use Gilbert's techniques instead. Schala will always be the last one copied.)
Amazingly, Lavos Prime ends up on the ropes. At that moment images of people past, present, future, living, and dead surround the battlefield. Every life that had existed on this planet, all that had been affected in some way by Lavos... the dreams of everyone surge through Schala (as Lark's Amulet glows yet again) as she delivers the final blow. The parasitic mass surrounding the Entity crumbles to dust. Back in te corporeal world, reality reasserts itself as Lavos fades into oblivion.
They did it. Humanity has won.
The party awakens back at the Gate of Ahura Mazda, though they wonder how they're going to get out now that the Gate back has most likely disappeared. As they leave, nobody notices...
Kale's body has disappeared from where it had been left.
Schala feels a sudden tension as the party heads back to where they entered. Looking upwards, she sees Kale, having ripped an iron bar from somewhere preparing to toss it like a javelin. Realizing he's aiming for Lark, Schala pushes him out of the way, taking the hit instead.
Kale's dreams have been shattered, his once chance to bring back what was lost is now gone for good. All that is left is hatred.
Easily batting aside a charging Lark, he proceeds to rampage against the party, the latter being too spent from the fight with Lavos. Fighting through the pain, Schala lets a desperate teleportation spell fly at the others before Kale can incinerate them. In response, he wrenches the bar embedded in Schala's midsection, attempting to force her to go into shock. An instant burst of fury has Lark tackle Kale from the precipice, sending them both into the lower depths of Angra Mainyu.
No matter what Lark does, Kale will not stay down... but neither will Lark (indeed, Lark will still be able to fight even after his HP reaches 0). Kale eventually gets Lark on the ropes, but Schala (having freed herself and barely healed her wound) blindsides him, causing Kale to toss them both through the wall into the next chamber.
From here, Lark holds off Kale while Schala finds a way to submerge the Dragonian into the Dead Sea. Once that is done and the two reach safety, Lark collapses from his wounds. Before Schala can tend to him, the ground opens up beneath her, a great force launching her into the air. Bursting from the floor is Kale, now in the form of a giant dragon. Just as she's about to be helplessly devoured, Masa, Mune, and Doreen empower her with their own life essence.
With the help of a levitation spell, Schala is forced to lead Kale, eventually tricking him into submersion a few more times. After a last-minute assist from Lark, the two reach a particular alcove and collapse. Kale and Schala's chase has caused quite a bit of damage to the 'city', and the Dead Sea is no longer still. A storm brews in the black skies above.
However, despite all odds, Kale emerges once more from the floodwaters, but in his regular form. The Dead Sea has taken its toll on him - blood no longer flows from his wounds, but salt... yet he is still whole. Spite is the only thing keeping him corporeal, but it is only a matter of time.
The final battle is a war of attrition. Lark is too wounded to move, and the dream spirit's life force is nearly spent... but after all is said and done, Schala is able to outlast the creator of Lavos.
As Kale slowly dissolves into salt, he attempts to crawl towards the two for one last parting shot, but he never makes it.
It's not over yet. Schala and Lark still need to find a way out of the crumbling Angra Mainyu... but every path they try leads to a dead end. Not like this. After everything they've done, after all they've accomplished to get here, this can't be how it ends... but there is no way out.
Lark, possibly as a way to lessen the blow of their impending doom, begins a conversation they originally had months ago, one concerning the possibility of being parents. As he remembers, they never did settle on a name for their first child, but that was only because they argued about its potential gender - Lark kept insisting their first child would be a girl while Schala thought otherwise.
Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work as hoped. Schala becomes overwhelmed. She doesn't want to die in a place like this. She wants to grow old with the man she loves, with her friends at her side. She wants to see the world - truly see it for the first time, not behind a gilded cage nor traversing from battlefield to battlefield. She wants to be a mother, to give her children the life she had before everything went wrong, to see them grow strong and kind.
Schala: I want to live!!
And so, it happens.
Lark's amulet glows with a blinding light, engulfing them both before finally shattering.
Back in the real world, the eclipse forms in the sky. On the cape overlooking where the Parasite Palace once stood, the others gaze in shock as Lark and Schala literally appear before them out of thin air, looks of confusion on their faces. Schala looks at the remains of her husband's amulet and realizes the truth.
It had been teased slighty throughout the story many times, but Lark's Amulet is a Time Egg, one of Lucca's prototypes to be exact. Discovered by Kid, reworked into a jewel, and sold to one of Lark's ancestors by Serge. Schala can only smile quietly at the revelation.
Two weeks later, Lark has been recouperating in Guardia, the wounds inflicted by Kale during the last battle too much for even healing magic. It hurts to move, but he's expected to make a full recovery eventually. Tamlen is oversseing affairs in Medina until Lark is fit enough to travel.
Meanwhile, preparations have been made for a massive celebration while workers have been hard at work restoring Leene's Square. Nadia's Bell has been restored and is now ringing out across the kingdom. It is proof that although life can sometimes find a way to derail them, dreams don't necessarily die.
It is a new start for the world, and the Moonlight Parade is the perfect event to kick things off.
After Schala wanders about the city, chatting with everyone, the group meets up at Nadia's Bell. Roas and the other future Dreamers are there as well. Schala wonders what they'll do now.
Roas hypothesizes that Schala using the Dragon Tear created a divergent timeline. Unlike Chrono Cross, this situation ends up being a benign case, as the normal ending timeline is necessary for giving Schala a reason for her journey. He also believes that as a result of the divergence, the time loop in that reality has been broken. Using a device salvaged from the Epoch, Schala's surrogate family opens a Gate. After a tearful goodbye, Schala makes sure to ask them to say 'hi' to Fin for her.
Back in 2486 AD, Roas' group returns to the site of the prologue. Roas' hypothesis proves coreect as everyone who had ceased to exist from Shald's actions runs up to them, including Fin, who asks them where Schala went off to. Roas says it's a long story...
As the credits roll, we see life returning to the world.
We see Schala leading Lark, who is using one of his spears as a crutch, through the gates of Medina. The city becomes aflutter with activity as the Chancellor welcomes the royal couple home.
Schwann is first seen at Gilbert's memorial giving a prayer to his departed colleage. He is then seen with Maria and Annette, fiddling with his new ring, implying that he and Maria decided to throw caution to the wind and marry in spite of possible objections. Finally, he plants the Einlanzer into the ground before his fellow Devas, then prepares for a battle to name his potential successor as Grandmaster.
We see Laura in royal garb, her sword and shield in hand. She kneels and lays them both before three graves, implied to belong to Chrono, Lucca, and Marle. We then see her overseeing the reconstruction of Guardia Castle.
We see Lavenda on one of the highest points of Dinopolis... only to get nearly knocked over by a swarm of dragon pups who proceed to fly off into the distance, followed closely by her two closest retainers. Of course, this means war, so she follows them all... in dragon form.
We see Reika at the entrance to Marbule, giving her little brother a hug before waving goodbye to the city to follow Tamlen onto a nearby ship, implying that she going to become the official go-between for Medina and Marbule. Indeed, her next scene has her in Medina, asleep at a desk, surrounded by books. Schala comes in the room, sighs, and puts a blanket around the girl.
We see Glenn in a similar scene in Choras, about to nod off himself. Various bankers and other officials surround him. Suddenly, a small goup of mercenaries barge into the room. Immediately, Glenn gets a burst of energy, grabs his guns, and leaves with the mercs, implying that the Zweibrecht Company is still around and a force for good.
After the credits finish, we see one final scene. It is several years later as Lark walks through Medina's palace, being followed by something. A very small, very energetic something. Lark catches his five-year-old daughter in the middle of her tackle-hug, smiling... and according to the nearby royal portrait, they finally settled on a name: Kalia.
We then see Schala sitting at a very familiar desk, closing a very familiar book. On the desk is not only Kid and Serge's wedding photo, but a picture of the two of them with Magil, who has finally shed his mask... plus a recent one of the party if the prescense of Kalia is any indication, implying that everyone still keeps in touch. Lark enters the room with Kalia riding atop his shoulders.
Schala reaches for another book and joins them at the edge of the bed before she starts reading. The final shot is of a clear sky.
(The End)