Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross Explained

Story of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross

65,000,000 Years Ago (Pre-History)
Humans and Reptites are at war. Only one of the two species will be able to live on and become the dominant race of the planet. Crono and his friends interfere in this time period, but interestingly enough, this is probably the one time period (besides the old 2300 AD) where they have the least effect on history. No matter what happened here in the past, the planet's life was fated to split along two paths.

The Human Path ~ The Path That CT and CC Occur Along
Ayla and Azala duke it out. Whether Crono interferes is irrelevant; with or without his help, Ayla and Kino survive (we know this because Ayla and Kino are the uber-distant ancestors of the Guardia royal line). Lavos (Ayla's word: La "fire" and vos "big") crashes into the Reptite fortress, ensuring Azala and his race lose the evolution race. Lavos burrows underground and begins feeding off the planet. In the process, Lavos also affects the development of humanity, which the party realizes at the end of CT-thus the comments that all human history, art and culture was manipulated just so Lavos would have a tasty meal in the end.

The Reptite Path ~ The Path That Intersects in CC's Backstory
Ayla and Azala duke it out. Crono never appears in this version. Why? Because Lavos never lands on the planet, meaning Crono never sets out on his quest. But it isn't Crono's absence that is meaningful-it's Lavos' absence. Without Lavos to interrupt the feud, Azala and his Reptites eventually win the battle, wiping out Ayla and the rest of humanity. In this parallel timestream, the Reptites eventually evolve into a caretaker race in tune with the planet. In the far future, they construct Dinopolis, a massive, nature-based computer/"god" capable of monitoring and altering space-time.

12,000 BC (The Dark Ages)
We only know the Human Path version of this era; it's assumed that Reptite-evolved civilization continues to flourish without any problems in the Reptite Path. But on the path we know, following (and due to) Lavos' descent and impact, the world has slipped into an ice age. One group comes into contact with Lavos' leavings and gain the ability to use Magic. This group creates a series of floating islands above the snowstorms, which they power with the Sun Stone. This is the origin of the magical kingdom of Zeal.

As time goes on, the residents of Zeal look down on the Magic-less humans living on the surface, the so-called Earthbound. What's more, residents of Zeal come into contact with Lavos' mind, and Queen Zeal goes mad with the lust for power. She decides to build the Ocean Palace, and Zeal stops relying on the Sun Stone for power, instead opting to use Lavos' power instead, which just cements Zeal's doom in the long run... but hey, you know what they say about hindsight.

From here, we have two slightly different outcomes, though both with the same result.

The Pre-Crono Path (Before the Events of Chrono Trigger)
This is the original form of this era. Queen Zeal completes the Ocean Palace and forces her daughter Schala to commune with the Mammon Machine through her pendant while Janus and the three Gurus (Belthasar, Melchior and Gaspar) watch on in horror. Melchior has fashioned a "Red Knife"from the same Dreamstone that comprises the Mammon Machine, and either he or someone else tries to defeat Lavos with it. It's no good, though the Red Knife is transformed into the Masamune.

Lavos goes mad and a rift in the timestream is opened. Melchior is sent to 1000 AD, Belthasar is sent to 2300 AD, Gaspar is sent to the End of Time and Janus is sent to 600 AD. (Note that these are all circas, not exact years-for example, Janus has been in "circa 600 AD" for probably ten, fifteen, maybe even twenty years before Crono and crew actually meet him in 600 AD. Likewise, Melchior has his own well-known shop when the party meets him in 1000 AD, and Belthasar has lived out what's left of his life when they see him in his last days in 2300 AD.)

Schala doesn't escape a hard fate, either-Schala is drawn into the Tesseract, a.k.a. the Darkness Beyond Time where, had time continued in its original form, she would have been trapped for all eternity. Lavos destroys the magical kingdom of Zeal, letting the continents rain down on the Earthbound ones.

Afterward, the Earthbound ones and some survivors from Zeal begin to rebuild civilization on land, ultimately leading (over several thousand years and a massive climate change) to Guardia, Porre, Medina, etc.

Interestingly enough, it would seem that for one reason or another, Queen Zeal and the Ocean Palace/Black Omen are dealt with in this version of events, possibly by Lavos itself. There is no Black Omen existing throughout time until after Crono and his friends interfere in this time period. Could Lavos have been originally planning on eliminating Queen Zeal, but then decided to allow Zeal and the Black Omen to run wild in order to throw another bump in the party's path? That seems the most likely explanation.

The Crono Path (The Results of the Events in Chrono Trigger)
This is the form this era takes due to Crono and crew's mucking around in the timestream. Magus is drawn through a timegate to 12,000 BC after his defeat in 600 AD, where the Lavos-summoning ceremony goes awry thanks to Crono and crew. Remember, Magus is simply Janus Zeal as an adult, and so he remembers this point in time all too well. Magus disguises himself as "the Prophet" and uses what he knows of this time period to become Queen Zeal's closest confidant. It is Magus' every intention to change history at this point. Most likely remembering that it was the use of the Red Knife that provoked Lavos in the first place, Magus has the three Gurus banished, and even goes so far as to have Melchior sealed away on the Mountain of Woe. All indications are that Magus is trying to prevent the rift in the timestream that flung he and his sister into the far reaches of space and time to begin with.

Crono and crew arrive here as well, though they are unable to prevent the completion of the Ocean Palace. They do, however, make one significant change (or from another perspective, help undo what would have been a significant change) by rescuing Melchior. Melchior creates the Red Knife and gives it to Crono and crew. They infiltrate the Ocean Palace and use the Red Knife. Again, it's no good, and the Red Knife is transformed into the Masamune.

From there, Lavos still goes mad. Magus reveals himself and tries to prevent what's coming, only to learn too late that he's no match for Lavos. Lavos steals the majority of Magus' powers, leaving him helpless to stop the same tragedy he's witnessing as a child at this very moment. History refuses to change, and a rift in the timestream is opened. Melchior is sent to 1000 AD, Belthasar is sent to 2300 AD, Gaspar is sent to the End of Time and Janus is sent to 600 AD (again, all circas, mind you). Crono tries to save Schala, only to be destroyed himself.

Intervention 1 ~ The Time Egg
Later on, Marle and the others receive a Time Egg (an artificial Chrono Trigger) from post-time rift Gapsar in the End of Time. They climb to the top of Death Peak and use the Time Egg to travel back to the point in time right before Crono was destroyed and replace the living, breathing Crono with a doll that looks exactly like him. Thus, Crono never dies and is instead brought back through time to the future, where his friends are waiting for him.

Schala uses the last of her powers to transport the party (minus Crono) and Magus back to safety above the sea. She is still drawn into the Tesseract, a.k.a. the Darkness Beyond Time where, had time continued in its original form, she would have been trapped for all eternity.

Intervention 2 ~ The Chrono Cross
Okay, this is a long one, so hang on! After the party defeats Lavos in 1999 AD, the old 2300 AD is tossed into the Tesseract/Darkness Beyond Time, the same place Schala ended up. Part of this time is a Lavos Spawn. Schala and the Lavos Spawn merge, becoming the Time Devourer, a being that will eventually destroy all time. However, post-Crono's victory Belthasar (in a much happier and healthier future) finds out about this and initiates Project Kid. Project Kid involves manufacturing a set of events that leads Serge, the hero of CC, to a point in time and space where it will be possible to save Schala by casting the Time Devourer out of existence. Serge does just this through the use of the Chrono Cross. As a result, Schala is no longer trapped in the Tesseract for all
eternity, nor does she become the Time Devourer and destroy all space-time. Instead, Schala becomes one with her "daughter-clone," Kid, and eventually meets Serge in the new Time Devourer-less timeline after 1020 AD. Serge and Kid/Schala go on to marry, and the diary we see at the beginning and end of CC is written by Schala "Kid" Zeal in this timeline.

After the Ocean Palace disaster, the Earthbound ones and the Zeal survivors try to build a new civilization just as before. Dalton gets in the way with the Blackbird (did this happen in the original timeline...?), but the party defeats him and regains the Epoch. Dalton is sucked into wherever the Golems come from. The party (again, minus Crono) watch helplessly as the Ocean Palace rises from the waves, but transformed into the Black Omen thanks to Lavos. The party meets Magus, and here they have the option to kill him or let him join their party. The Chrono timeline follows the path where the party accepts Magus into their ranks, as demonstrated by Lucca's letter to Janus in CC.

As you can see, in this version of events the Black Omen does exist, and the party can actually enter it in any time period from 12,000 BC to 2300 AD. The Black Omen seems to break some of the laws of time, and effectively exists in all time periods at once. Thus, no matter when the party enters the Black Omen, when it is destroyed the event occurs in
12,000 BC. To put it another way, it's entirely possible that the party could enter the Black Omen in 2300 AD, defeat Queen Zeal and destroy the Mammon Machine (Zeal's link to Lavos), and then find themselves in 12,000 BC upon leaving the wreckage behind. The Black Omen may manifest in all times, but 12,000 BC is its "base" time, so once it's destroyed it doesn't appear in any other time period, and indeed no one outside of the party and the residents of 12,000 BC has any memory of it ever appearing, despite the fact that it exists in all time periods before being destroyed (and again, regardless of the era the party enters it from)-as far as the timeline is concerned, it never was in any time period except 12,000 BC.

All this is simply a long way of saying that the Crono crew does eventually defeat Queen Zeal and destroy the Mammon Machine, severing the Black Omen's connection with Lavos. The power of the magical kingdom of Zeal still falls in the long run, and again, the Earthbound ones and the survivors of Zeal go on to create the world the party will eventually know once the climate changes and the waters of the ocean recede over
thousands of years.

(Just a little commentary here before we go on. It's interesting to note that, while most people would think of CC as the "deep" story in the Chrono universe, CT had its share of makes-you-think parts too. The Zeal scenario is a good part of that. Keep in mind that if Crono and his friends hadn't interfered by freeing Melchior and using the Red Knife
against Lavos, there's a good chance that Lavos never would have been provoked to create the rifts in time. In other words, it's very possible that, though Magus still probably would have met his end here, Melchior, Belthasar, Gaspar, Janus and Zeal also probably wouldn't have ever been flung to the winds through time and space. That would have meant no more Masamune to defeat Magus in 600 AD... not to mention no Magus in 600 AD to begin with! It also would have meant no Schala lost in the Tesseract, no Gaspar to guide the party in the End of Time, and quite possibly a very different 1000 AD... would Crono and friends have even ever existed, let alone traveled through time?

In short, if Crono and friends hadn't performed as they did in the Ocean Palace after Magus already began changing things {remember, if anything, Crono's actions eventually bring history back closer to its original form instead of allowing the massive changes Magus had in mind}, you would have seen the creation of an entire alternate universe where Janus and Schala either inherited, overthrew or were killed off by Queen Zeal's empire... or where perhaps Lavos dealt with them all, as it's quite possible it did in the original version of history. It's just very interesting how, once Crono and crew began interfering with history, they actually had to continue interfering with history up to a certain point just to create a future where they'd be able to begin interfering with history in the first place. The Chrono universe is ripe with this kind of quantum physics irony.)

7,600 BC (Lavos and the Planet Intervene)
This is some time after the fall of the Zeal civilization, at a time when humans are still trying to establish lasting civilizations on a much warmer planet than in recent ages past. On the Reptite side, this would just be another time period when all was probably good in the world... no Lavos, no problems.

The Pre-Crono Path (Before the Events of Chrono Trigger)
To the southwest of the Zenan Mainland, out in the middle of the sea... nothing is happening. Just empty water without any consequence to anyone. Simpler times.

War of the Realities (Due to the Events of Chrono Trigger)
For reasons still not entirely understood, Lavos decides to flex its muscles in this era. Apparently, Lavos has some kind of plan to either defeat Crono and his crew or, possibly, a way to change time back to its liking in case it is defeated. To whatever end, Lavos draws Chronopolis from 2400 AD back into the past, to this era. Of course, the strange thing here is that Chronopolis comes from the timestream that exists after Lavos is already defeated. So how in the world is this possible!?

Here's how: remember, the Chrono world works with the idea that when you change time, it's not simply an objective change in time. Instead, you're creating a new dimension. The old dimension (version of time) is tossed into the Tesseract, and the new dimension takes its place. This is why there is no grandfather paradox in the Chrono universe. You can experience something in a time, then change the past to send that time to the Tesseract. All the same, that time/dimension still exists in a sense, and thus it's still a valid point of reference. As an example, Crono, Marle, Lucca and Robo see the original 2300 AD, then change the future by defeating Lavos in 1999 AD. The old 2300 AD goes to the Tesseract, but Crono and crew's actions aren't negated; that old 2300 AD still existed at one point. At the same time, as far as the time stream is concerned, the new version of events is the way "it always has been," and you see any changes throughout history take effect immediately. Anyone who doesn't exist outside time (in other words, the time travelers who caused the change) is completely unaware that a change took place.

What am I getting at? This: After Crono and crew defeat Lavos in 1999 AD, they create a new future. In this new future, Chronopolis is constructed and, in 2400 AD, initiates a Time Crash, drawing Chronopolis into a temporal vortex. In one sense, this future doesn't exist until after Crono's victory and Lavos' death. On the other hand, once Crono is successful, this future has "always" been the "real" future, and 2300 AD is just a discarded possibility that never was. In short, we have created a new dimension through the defeat of Lavos. And in this dimension, Lavos is fated to be destroyed and can look ahead to a future where Chronopolis exists. And again, this can't actually happen until after Crono defeats Lavos in 1999 AD and the Chronopolis future becomes the "real"
future.

In short, Lavos in 7600 BC can only draw Chronopolis back as a contingency in case of defeat after Crono has altered the future by defeating Lavos in 1999 AD and ensuring a Lavos-free future where Chronopolis can be created. A little nuts? Yeah. But does it make sense when one considers the multi-dimensional aspect of the Chrono universe? Yeah.

In any event, the planet reacts to Chronopolis' arrival in 7,600 BC by drawing its own warrior. The planet reaches into the Reptite Path of the planet's history and draws out Dinopolis. Now, Chronopolis houses FATE, a modified version of the Mother Brain computer that houses the Frozen Flame to manipulate space-time. Likewise, Dinopolis houses the Omni Dragon, a living computer with similar abilities. As you might imagine, the two go to battle pretty quickly. The humans of Chronopolis win, and FATE uses the Frozen Flame to split the Omni Dragon into six separate "dragon gods," one for each element. Dinopolis ends up sunk beneath the waves and, in years to come, will be called Sky Dragon Island.

Afterward, we see a few things happen that, remember, actually never occurred in the past that Crono and his friends initially knew. For one thing, FATE decides to guide humanity and history to ensure its own creation; after all, the changes made already thanks to Chronopolis and Dinopolis' presence could, in theory, result in Chronopolis and FATE never being created, and that would result in a massive paradox. To ensure time isn't caught in a nasty fix, FATE constructs the artificial archipelago, El Nido. The humans pulled with Chronopolis into the past have their memories erased and are released into the world at large. FATE sets up several Records of Fate around the world to monitor and control human behavior and decision making, all to ensure its own creation in the far future (or more to the point, to ensure that Chronopolis' presence in the past does not somehow change the timeline and result in a massive paradox where Chronopolis is never created in the first place). How does a mere computer do this? With the power of the Frozen Flame, of course.

Now, what about the dragons and any surviving Reptites from Dinopolis? Well, the dragons are, of course, the six dragon gods of El Nido. As long as FATE still holds the Frozen Flame, the six are unable to become one again. To say that the dragons are miffed at humanity in general would be quite an understatement. However, they see no present way to break FATE's power and get their revenge. As for the Reptites, all indications are that they come to be known as the Dragonians, who worship the six dragon gods and use a brand of technology either developed in the planet's alternate Reptite Path or developed in the "good" Human future to create Elements from power spots in El Nido. The Dragonians go on to create and build several structures in El Nido, including Fort Dragonia. We know that the Dragonians eventually go extinct, though we don't know exactly why. It wouldn't be surprising if FATE had something to do with it, though-after all, the Dragonians were the descendants of Dinopolis, the only power in this time period capable of even comprehending, let alone standing up to, Chronopolis and FATE.

In any event, the Dragonians die out in time, but leave behind a legacy that didn't exist in any previous version of history-the ability to create and use Elements, not to mention the sleeping dragon gods of El Nido.

600 AD (The Middle Ages)
Humans are again at war with another species, this time the Mystics of Medina (a race of demihumans, most likely related to the demihumans of El Nido-or more to the point, it's likely that demihumans from Medina probably immigrated to or will immigrate to El Nido at some point in history before humans begin poking around). The Mystics have nominated a dark wizard known simply as Magus (a.k.a. Janus Zeal, who ends up being sent to the Middle Ages by Lavos in 12,000 BC whether Crono interferes or not) as their leader, and are determined to overthrow the kingdom of Guardia.

The Pre-Crono Path (Before the Events of Chrono Trigger)
Queen Leene is kidnapped and taken to a cathedral, where the beast Yakra intends to kill her. Frog (a.k.a. Glenn, friend of the deceased hero Cyrus and bearer of the Hero's Medal) infiltrates the cathedral, defeats Yakra and rescues Leene.

From here on, events get a bit sketchy. It's highly unlikely that Frog goes on to claim the Masamune, let alone bear it into battle-after all, the Masamune has been destroyed, and the only one who can repair it won't be around for another 400 years. Does Frog go on to defeat Magus anyway? Again, not likely, since the Masamune was needed to break the seal on the Magic Cave leading to Magus' fortress. More likely, Frog probably helps defend Guardia in what seems to be a losing battle against Magus' forces until, remarkably, the Mystics seem to suddenly lose their backbone.

And what would cause that? Magus is the leader of the Mystics, but he has no interest in their war against the humans. Magus is simply using the Mystics to gain power so that he might summon Lavos and take his revenge for what happened in 12,000 BC. He's telling the Mystics that he's out to summon Lavos to wipe out the humans, but that's bull. Without anyone to interfere, Magus succeeds in awakening Lavos... only to find out too late that he's completely outclassed. All indications are that Lavos destroys Magus in this time period, then goes back to sleep again-it's not time to destroy the world just yet. Without Magus around, the Mystics are left with no one to lead them but Ozzie, and let's face it, that's a death sentence for their war plans right there. Guardia wins the war against the Mystics, though no one ever knows the truth behind the sudden turn of the tide.

On a side-note, Ozzie does survive, and his descendants rule Medina afterward. Even in 1000 AD, there's still a great deal of hostility between Guardia and Medina as a result.

The Crono Path (The Results of the Events in Chrono Trigger)
Queen Leene is kidnapped and taken to a cathedral, where the beast Yakra intends to kill her. ...But then she's found in the woods, and the search is called off. Of course, this is actually Marle, a.k.a. Princess Nadia of 1000 AD, who just happens to look remarkably like her ancestor. Crono follows Marle into the past, only to see Marle cease to exist right in front of his eyes. Lucca explains that Marle has ceased to exist because history has been changed and Queen Leene has been killed in his time period. To restore history and bring back Marle, they need to make sure that Leene is still rescued in this time period. Crono and Lucca team up with Frog to defeat Yakra and rescue Leene, restoring Marle to existence. Frog leaves, having failed to protect Leene on his own.

Later on, Frog loses the Hero's Medal, but the party recaptures it and finds the ruined Masamune. They have Melchior (Guru of Life from 12,000 BC, remember?) restore the Masamune in 1000 AD and bring it back to Frog in 600 AD. With the Hero's Medal and the restored Masamune, Frog leads the party through the Magic Cave and to Magus' fortress. There, the party defeats Magus' henchmen and interrupts Magus right in the middle of his ceremony to summon Lavos. Magus is defeated, and the ceremony goes wild. Crono, Marle, Lucca, Robo and Frog are thrown through time back to 65,000,000 BC, while Magus is thrown back to 12,000 BC. Though the cause is different, the situation is now the same as in the original version of 600 AD-Magus is gone, the Mystics are left without leadership, and Guardia goes on to win the war.

On a side-note, the party comes back to this time period again much later and defeats Ozzie once and for all. As a result, Ozzie's descendants never rule Medina, and in the future there is an age of peace between Guardia and Medina as a result. The party also discovers the Rainbow Shell, which is stored in Guardia Castle's treasury thereafter. And finally, once Lavos is defeated, Frog (eventually) regains his human form and is knighted.

It's important to note that in the original and altered versions of this timeline as shown in CT, El Nido does not yet exist. Again, El Nido will not exist until after Crono defeats Lavos. So does El Nido exist in 600 AD? Yes. Just not in the 600 AD Crono travels to in CT. Does your head hurt yet?

900 AD (The Colonial Age)
It's still a century before Crono, Marle and Lucca will embark on their adventures. Guardia and Medina are still the two world powers. But believe it or not, this is actually a major branching point in the story.

The Pre-Crono Path (Before the Events of Chrono Trigger)
Nothing special happens in this time period because El Nido doesn't exist. Lavos hasn't been defeated, so there's no Chronopolis or Dinopolis pulled from 2400 AD. Lavos sleeps deep below the earth's surface, content that 1099 years in the future, it will be time to feed.

The Crono Path (The Results of the Events in Chrono Trigger)
Gotcha. Nothing that happens during CT affects this time period at all. During CT, El Nido still doesn't exist, because the world is still headed toward the Day of Lavos.

The Post-Crono Path (The Results of Events After Chrono Trigger)
Here we go. After CT, when the new non-Lavos future exists (meaning, as shown above, Lavos can pull Chronopolis from 2400 AD and the planet reacts by pulling Dinopolis from an alternate universe), we finally arrive at a version of 900 AD where El Nido exists. Of course, as far as people in Crono's time are concerned, this is "the way it always was." Indeed, in this new dimension, Crono and his friends will (according to time, if not their memories, mind you) be born into a world where El Nido exists as part of the world they save when they defeat Lavos in 1999 AD; one would think they were probably baffled by this change. But if you pull out CT and play it, you won't find El Nido because it didn't exist yet when Crono went on his quest and created the "good" 2300 AD; it only exists in subsequent versions of the timeline after the "good" 2400 AD can happen. ...Anyway, let's stop going around in circles.

About this time, Porre begins exploring and colonizing El Nido. Early human settlers kick the demihumans off the large central island, resulting in the creation of Guldove and Marbule. The remants of Dragonian culture, still held in tradition and worship by the demihumans, are either integrated into human civilization (for example, the creation and use of Elements), destroyed or completely forgotten (such as Divine Dragon Falls). Termina apparently starts out as a colony subservient to Porre, but in the long run becomes more independent once the Viper Clan takes up governance of El Nido. Does this make the dragon gods happy? You bet your sweet bippy it doesn't. If anything, it just pisses them off more.

1000 AD (The Present From Crono's Perspective)
While this is where Crono's story starts, luckily things aren't too complex in this time period. The Guardia kingdom rules most of the known world, while the Mystics have holdings to the east and Porre exists (but is pretty quaint) to the south. The world is peaceful and celebrating Guardia's Millennial Fair.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
We can only surmise that, for the original 2300 AD to exist, there must be a version of the timeline where Crono and his friends did not intervene. In other words, time flowed through once before the planet decided to pull Crono and his companions through the Gates and into matters of space-time. So in short, if nothing else Marle's pendant never reacted to Lucca's invention, the Gates were never discovered, and Crono, Marle and Lucca never had their adventure. 999 years later, Lavos destroys the world. Ouch.

The Crono Path (The Results of Events in Chrono Trigger)
Crono heads to the Millennial Fair to check out his friend Lucca's new invention. On the way, he meets a girl named Marle. When Marle volunteers to test Lucca's invention (a matter transporter a la Star Trek), Marle's pendant has a strange reaction, and Marle is pulled into some kind of black hole! Crono grabs her pendant and follows. Upon studying this new singularity and deciding it's a "Gate" that allows time travel, Lucca develops a "Gate Key" and follows Crono.

After rescuing Marle from a nasty paradox in the past, the trio returns, and Crono ends up on trial for kidnapping. Lucca helps bust Crono out of prison, and with Marle they escape through a Gate to 2300 AD.

Returning much later, after the party finds the Rainbow Shell in 600 AD, they find that Marle's father (Marle, of course, is actually Princess Nadia of Guardia) is on trial for selling the national treasure, the Rainbow Shell! The friends prove that's just not true and expose a plot by Yakra XIII (descendant of the monster whose plans they foiled by
rescuing Leene in 600 AD at the start of their adventure).

The Post-Crono Path (The Results of Events After Chrono Trigger)
Crono, Marle and Lucca return to their own time after defeating Lavos. Lucca draws Kino from 65,000,000 BC, King Guardia from 600 BC and Doan from 2300 AD-Marle's ancestors and one of her descendants-to tell the present King Guardia just what Crono has been up to. King Guardia realizes he had Crono all wrong and throws a parade in Crono and Marle's honor to wrap up the Millennial Fair. Crono, Marle, Lucca, Robo, Frog, Ayla
and Magus say their good-byes, and everyone returns to his/her proper time.

After things settle down a bit, Crono and Marle get married in a huge royal wedding. Aww. Unfortunately, things won't be so happy for long.

Also, we can probably assume that when Crono, Marle and Lucca return to 1000 AD after defeating Lavos, they find that a new chain of islands called El Nido has appeared-and according to the people in their present time, it's "always" been there, and Porre began colonizing it about 100 years ago.

1004 AD (Kid's Childhood, Part I)
Just a quick note here:

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
We can generally assume that life goes on for our heroes as it always did. Crono never took his journey through time and space, and the world is peaceful. Kid never exists.

The Post-Crono Path (Due to the Events of Chrono Trigger)
While walking through the woods one day, Lucca notices an infant lying on the ground. The infant comes with what looks to be a Zeal pendant. Lucca takes the infant in and raises her at the Ashtear orphanage. The infant turns out to be a baby girl, whom Lucca names "Kid."

1005 AD (The Fall of Guardia)
Bad news ahead.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
There's no reason to believe that anything of note happens in this time period.

The Post-Crono Path (Due to the Events of Chrono Trigger)
Hoo boy. Someone breaks into the Guardia treasury and steals the holy sword Masamune, then goes on to murder several people. Not long afterward, the southern nation of Porre, suddenly (by Crono, Marle and Lucca's perspective, though not necessarily by time's perspective-see below) militaristic and sporting advanced weaponry (which Masato Kato himself has confirmed came from outside the normal timeline) invades and conquers Guardia. Crono and Marle are apparently killed during or shortly after the invasion. Guardia ceases to exist, and its holdings become part of the Porre Empire.

This, of course, is where we see how time travel can really bite you in the rear end. Had Crono and Marle never changed time by saving the future, they would have lived happy, full lives. Instead, by changing the future so that humanity can live on, Crono and Marle also create a new timeline where they meet violent ends just five years after their adventure.

However, and this is important... this is not necessarily the final form of 1005 AD, nor was it necessarily the first post-Crono form of 1005 AD. As said above, someone else is manipulating time, and the result is Crono and Marle's deaths. But when Lucca brought Doan back from the future after defeating Lavos-that means she would have brought Doan from the new, post-Crono future, follow? Meaning that, in 1000 AD, a future timeline was in place that had Crono and Marle leaving behind children so that Doan could exist in the future. There's no mention of Crono and Marle having a child, and let's face it, they were killed before it was probably "meant" to happen. In other words, the timeline in which Crono and Marle die was not the timeline the planet had in mind to begin with.

Of course, the one big change here is the Time Crash. Remember, Crono, Marle and Lucca returned to a 1000 AD where Porre had been colonizing El Nido for the past 100 years, despite El Nido's not existing prior to Lavos' destruction. So while Porre may seem to have "suddenly" become powerful and militaristic, that's not necessarily the case. A hundred years of colonizing a resource-rich chain of islands (not to mention harnessing Elements in an age when magic is all but forgotten) would make Porre a potential power in the new, adjusted post-Crono timeline. Chalk it up to the law of unintended consequences.

Long story short, do Crono and Marle die in the 1005 AD that results from the defeat of Lavos? Yes. But nothing has to be permanent in the Chrono universe, and especially with the way Chrono Cross ends, we may yet see Crono and Marle alive and well again some time in the future... or past, or present, or whenever. We may just still find that "our planet's dream has not yet ended."

1006 AD (Serge's Childhood, Part I)
Just a quick note here on a very important event.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
El Nido doesn't exist at this time, so of course what we're going to mention here can't happen either.

The Post-Crono Path (Due to the Events of Chrono Trigger)
In this version of 1006 AD, El Nido has existed since 7,600 BC. Serge is three years old and living in Arni village on the main island with his father, Wazuki, and his mother, Marge. One day, Serge is attacked by a panther demon. Though the panther demon doesn't kill him in the attack, the venom left behind seems ready to do the job. The doctors in Guldove and Termina are helpless to save Serge, so Wazuki and his friend Miguel (Leena's father) decide to take Serge to Marbule.

It is at this time that, across time and space, Schala Zeal (who is yet to be completely absorbed by the Time Devourer) hears Serge's crying and tries to help him. To do so, Schala creates a massive storm that engulfs all of El Nido. Wazuki and Miguel are blown off-course and into the Sea of Eden, where they land at Chronopolis. Thanks to the storm, Chronopolis' systems are temporarily shut down, and Schala calls to Wazuki through the Frozen Flame, entreating him to bring Serge quickly.

At this time, while FATE is temporarily disabled, the six dragons combine their powers to create Harle, a seventh dragon who will work toward freeing the other six.

Back in Chronopolis, Serge is healed by Schala via the Frozen Flame. Chronopolis' systems come back online, and FATE makes a horrifying discovery. The Prometheus Lock kicks in, denying access to the Frozen Flame to anyone except the "Arbiter." And who is the Arbiter of the Frozen Flame? Why, the one who just had contact with it, of course-three year old Serge.

Before FATE can act, Wazuki escapes Chronopolis with a healed Serge and returns to Arni. Unfortunately, Miguel is not so lucky. FATE traps Miguel in the Sea of Eden.

For now, Serge is safe and completely unaware of his connection to the Flame. Wazuki has escaped with his life and his son, but FATE begins slowly corrupting him, bit by bit, as the next few years pass.

1009 AD (Kid's Childhood, Part II)
More bad news.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
Again, there's no reason to suspect that the world isn't just fine and dandy.

The Post-Crono Path (Due to the Events of Chrono Trigger)
Lucca is working on her inventions (and by this time has invented the Prometheus Lock), and her family home (where she still lives with her mother, Lara, though her father Taban seems to have passed on) has been converted into an orphanage. Kid lives here. Lynx and Harle come here (from another time, or just from El Nido?) in order to kidnap Lucca. FATE needs Lucca to release the Prometheus Lock so that the Frozen Flame can be accessed. Lucca refuses and all indications are that Lynx and Harle murder her in response. Kid does manage to escape the burning orphanage, and afterward wants nothing more than to avenge the death of her "Sis."

The Serge Path (The Results of Events in Chrono Cross)
Using the Mastermune and Kid's pendant, Serge travels back in time to the night of the kidnapping. He's unable to stop Lynx and Harle from kidnapping Lucca, but he does help Kid escape the orphanage, and in doing so frees her mind in the present day so that she can rejoin the party.

1010 AD (The Creation of the Two Dimensions)
This is the big one, folks.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
And yet again, there's no reason to suspect anything's wrong... except for the coming doomsday in another 989 years.

The Post-Crono Path (Due to the Events of Chrono Trigger)
Hoo boy.

Let's do the easy one first, alright? Radius and Garai are assigned on a mission to the mainland (Zenan), where they discover the whereabouts of the Masamune, missing for the past five years. Radius takes it despite Garai's qualms. Unfortunately, the Masamune has been corrupted and draws out the negative impulses of the bearer. Radius is jealous of his friend, and as a result, the sword compels Radius to murder Garai. Afterward, Garai is buried on a northeastern island back in El Nido, and the Masamune is laid to rest with him, where it's hoped that the curse will be nullified. Unfortunately, Garai's resentment instead transforms his resting place into the Isle of the Damned.

Now the fun one. Serge is seven years old and swimming at Opassa Beach when he's pulled out by the tide. Wazuki is there watching Serge, but FATE has corrupted him enough to control him, and Wazuki simply watches as Serge drowns, unable to act.

This is where we have another 50/50 chance occur in time, much like the split in 65,000,000 BC:

In one 50% possible set of circumstances, Serge drowns and dies.

In the other 50% possible set of circumstances, Belthasar sends Kid back in time to rescue Serge from drowning. She succeeds, and Serge lives.

And what happens when two events with exactly a 50/50 chance of going one way or the other meet in space-time in the Chrono universe? You guessed it: dimensional split.

In the world where Serge drowns and dies, Wazuki is driven mad by his failure to act. FATE takes complete control of him, and Wazuki becomes Lynx ever-after. Marge moves away from El Nido. Unfortunately for FATE, this fails to release the Prometheus Lock, but FATE is still able to exert control over this version of reality. This is called, from Serge's perspective, Another World. That said, this is actually the "true" reality.

In the world where Kid saves Serge from drowning and he lives, Wazuki is driven mad by his failure to act. FATE takes complete control of him, and Wazuki becomes Lynx ever-after. Marge stays to raise Serge in Arni. Due to Serge's survival, the world's future changes, and the Sea of Eden changes immediately to reflect this, becoming what will later be called the Dead Sea. FATE loses all control over this version of reality. This is called, from Serge's perspective, Home World. That said, this is actually the "anomaly" (due, of course, to its existing solely because Belthasar sent Kid back in time at that crucial moment).

Now here's something we can argue about. At exactly the moment that Serge lives in Home World, Home World's Sea of Eden is transformed into the Dead Sea. What we are seeing is a direct example of a law in the Chrono universe-the law of the most probable future. In other words, when one travels forward in time in the Chrono universe, one will always arrive in the most probable future from one's starting point. As an example, traveling to 2300 AD before Crono and crew defeat Lavos takes us to a barren, lifeless version of the planet, while traveling to 2300 AD after Crono and crew defeat Lavos takes us a lush, hi-tech version of the planet. As an in-game example, look no farther than Belthasar. Prior to CT's events, Belthasar winds up in the first 2300 AD, goes crazy, and dies. After CT's events, Belthasar winds up in the new 2300 AD, founds the Time Research Lab, discovers what happened to Schala and initiates Project Kid. In both cases, Belthasar traveled from the same starting point (12,000 BC) to the same ending point (2300 AD) and is initially unaware of the change (he becomes aware through his research in the new 2300 AD). All that changes is the most probable future of the planet, thanks to Crono's actions in 1999 AD. We already discussed the same effect earlier in regards to Lavos drawing Chronopolis back to 7600 BC only after Lavos' defeat in 1999 AD becomes the most probable future thanks (again) to Crono's actions.

So what am I getting at? Simple. With Serge dead, the most probable future (as reflected in Another World) is that in which Chronopolis is created and the Time Crash occurs. The Time Devourer would still eventually destroy all space-time, but if nothing else humanity does progress to 2400 AD.

But with Serge alive, things change. Somehow, should the Arbiter of the Frozen Flame live, he is "fated" to take the Frozen Flame one day. This could happen for any number of reasons. Perhaps he hears about his father and Miguel from Marge and goes to see the truth for himself. Perhaps the Flame (or Schala through the Flame) calls to him. Perhaps he meets Kid, begins searching for the Frozen Flame with her, and ends up finding it. In any event, Serge takes Home World's Frozen Flame. He is then absorbed into the Time Devourer. With Schala, a Lavos Spawn and now the Frozen Flame and its Arbiter combined into one super-being, the Time Devourer destroys the world ahead of schedule. Home World never even comes close to 2400 AD-the Time Devourer annihilates Home World long before then, and 2400 AD in Home World is "a future annihilated before it
even had a chance to be born" that, thanks to the Time Crash (which itself has now become exactly the paradox FATE was trying to avoid), ends up condensed into the geographical region of the Sea of Eden instead of being hurled into the Tesseract-the Dead Sea. This is the most probable future in a reality where Serge, Arbiter of the Frozen Flame, survives past 1010 AD. The area surrounding Chronopolis, a direct reflection of the year 2400 AD, immediately changes upon Serge's survival past his fated time of death to reflect the new most probable future.

Of course, in Home World, as soon as FATE saw what happened to the Sea of Eden, it would realize the massive change in the timeline Serge taking the Frozen Flame would entail. Unfortunately, with the Sea of Eden and Chronopolis transformed into the Dead Sea, FATE no longer has any power whatsoever in Home World. All that's left is FATE's human agent, Lynx. In Home World, then, Lynx would probably try its damnedest to take the Frozen Flame from the Dead Sea-not just to regain its own power, but to prevent Serge from taking Home World's Frozen Flame. And Lynx does just that, recruiting General Viper and the Dragoons to head to the Dead Sea, where they all (Lynx and Harle included) end up frozen in time.

In Another World, where FATE still has power, it would also like to prevent Serge from taking Home World's Frozen Flame-but without access to Another World's Frozen Flame, FATE in Another is helpless to reach across the dimensions.

1020 AD (The Present From Serge's Perspective)
Holy freaking crap. You thought ten years ago things got interesting? Take a look at this.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
Ah, nice and uncomplicated. Armageddon takes place in 980 years.

The Post-Crono Path (Due to the Events of Chrono Trigger)
Okay! We now have had ten years of history in two separate dimensions-Home and Another. Let's skip the side-events for the most part and focus on what actually matters in the long run. We could be here all night otherwise, and since both these dimensions get kicked into the Tesseract anyway...

In Home World, Serge and Leena visit Opassa Beach. There, Serge gets a calling from beyond time. It's Kid (from the future, mind you), who at Belthasar's instruction is calling Serge and drawing him across the dimensions. Needless to say, Serge is confused when he winds up in Another World and discovers that he's dead. FATE has seen Serge's arrival, and Lynx orders Karsh, Solt and Peppor to capture Serge. Now that the Arbiter is in Another (where, remember, FATE still has power-as opposed to Home where FATE is helpless thanks to the existence of the Dead Sea), Lynx hopes to steal Serge's body and access the Chamber of FATE, finally regaining control of the Frozen Flame.

Kid (from the present now) intervenes. Serge eventually teams up with Kid to infiltrate Another Viper Manor, where he meets Lynx, who calls him the Assassin of Time and the Chrono Trigger. (Assassin of Time? In Home World, as part of the Time Devourer, yes. Chrono Trigger? As in one who creates the potential for change, yes.) Kid is injured, and Serge escapes just in time.

In Another Guldove, Serge can choose to travel between dimensions to save Kid or not. Either way, Kid eventually rejoins the party before Serge follows Lynx to Fort Dragonia. In Fort Dragonia, Lynx betrays General Viper and uses the Dragon's Tear stolen from Another Guldove to steal Serge's body, leaving Serge in Lynx's body. Dark Serge (Lynx in Serge's body) murders Kid and sends Lynx-Serge into the Dimensional Breach.

With Harle and Sprigg's help, Lynx-Serge escapes the Dimensional Breach and arrives back in Home World. Unfortunately, the dimensional rift between Home and Another will no longer respond to Serge. Why? Because, with Lynx's body, he is no longer a "missing piece." In other words, as Serge, there was reason for him to exist in both worlds. Now that Lynx has stolen his body, as far as the dimensional rift is concerned, Lynx is Serge and Serge is Lynx. And as things stand, Lynx is not a missing piece. Lynx-Serge is trapped in Home World. To return to his true self and also return to Another World to help his friends, Serge must travel to the Dead Sea, and thanks to the Sage of Marbule, he's able to do just that.

Now, when Lynx-Serge enters the Dead Sea... it's still the Dead Sea. In other words, the most probable future in Home World is still one in which 2400 AD never gets a chance to exist. After all, Serge is on a direct path to the Frozen Flame, and if the theory (which in-game events and Masato Kato's comments seem to support) holds true, it was Serge obtaining the Frozen Flame that doomed Home World in the first place. So despite Serge losing his body, the Dead Sea is still the most probable future, because Lynx-Serge is just as likely to claim the Flame and be absorbed by the Time Devourer as regular never-crossed-over-to-Another World Serge was.

Lynx-Serge and his allies explore the ruins of the Dead Sea. They arrive (through a Gate) at Leene's Bell. There, ghostly images of Crono, Marle and Lucca blame Serge for the destruction of the future. And yes, in this dimension, they're right. Serge is directly responsible for the state of the Dead Sea in Home World, as we've established above-at least at this point in time. Miguel chases the ghosts away and challenges Serge. Lynx-Serge defeats Miguel, opening the path to Home World's Frozen Flame.

...Ah. Except for one thing. With Serge's body, Dark Serge (Lynx) has already entered the Chamber of FATE in Another World, meaning Another's FATE can once again reach across the dimensions. So before Lynx-Serge can claim Home World's Frozen Flame, Another's FATE attacks the Dead Sea from across the dimensions. This assault is aimed at destroyed the Frozen Flame. Destroy Home's Frozen Flame and Serge can never claim it-meaning Serge can never take Home's Frozen Flame and bond with the Time Devourer-meaning the Time Devourer doesn't awaken early in Home World and ensure Home never even reaches 2400 AD to begin with-meaning that the Dead Sea is no longer a reflection of a denied future.

A quick note, though-this DOES NOT mean that the Time Crash fails to occur in Home World's future due to the destruction of the Flame. The Frozen Flame inside the Dead Sea/Chronopolis came back in time from 2400 AD. In other words, this is the future's Frozen Flame. The present's Frozen Flame still exists somewhere in the world of 1020 AD, and evidently won't be discovered for some time to come.

But it was the future's Frozen Flame Serge was fated to take. Serge has no more access to the present's Frozen Flame than anyone else, and so it isn't a threat. Without the future's Frozen Flame, we no longer have to worry about the Dead Sea being created.

...So why doesn't Chronopolis appear in Home World? After all, the Sea of Eden and Dead Sea Ruins should be exact replicas of each other, both reflections of 2400 AD, with Serge's fate changed. There seem to be two explanations here:

1) Without Home's Flame, Home Chronopolis is somehow taken to the Tesseract, but it still existed at one point in time. Chronopolis has gone from being a valid object in a valid time period to winking out of existence because the object that stabilized it in the present, the Frozen Flame, has been removed.

In short, this suggests that the unique properties within the Sea of Eden/Dead Sea are a direct result of the Frozen Flame's power. That idea is never presented in the context of the story, however, and actually runs counter to the reappearance of the dimensional distortion at Opassa Beach. So here's the second explanation:

2) Without Home's Flame, Home World avoids a fate wherein Serge bonds with the Time Devourer, and the future (as reflected in the Dead Sea Ruins) is peaceful. However, the removal of FATE's guiding hand (via the Records of Fate) from Home World leads to exactly the paradox FATE feared-in the future of Serge's world, Chronopolis will never exist. Thus, the Dead Sea Ruins of Home World stand empty.

This suggestion seems the far more likely. For starters, it "fits" with the story and themes of the Chrono universe. In a way, Another FATE is echoing Crono and crew's actions. To prevent an undesirable future, Another FATE acts in a way that completely nullifies its cause. Whether or not FATE understood the implications of destroying Home's Flame, it's hard to say.

Let's say, theoretically, that it was possible to ensure that Serge would never take Home's Flame, and yet Home's Flame could be allowed to continue existing in the Dead Sea. At that point-again, according to the working theory of the "most probable future"-Home's Dead Sea would become a mirror image of Another's Sea of Eden. We know that, in Another, Chronopolis is most likely able to keep people in line well enough to ensure its own creation, even without access to the Flame. This is demonstrated by its continued existence in the Sea of Eden, which reflects the most probable future of Another. So theoretically, even had FATE never been able to access Home's Flame again, as long as Serge couldn't reach the Flame, Home's Chronopolis should also have been ensured to exist in the future.

I'll say it again-so long as Home's Flame existed, it was theoretically possible for Home FATE's control over its own dimension to be reestablished down the line. Creating a situation in which the most likely future was no longer one in which Serge took Home's Flame should have reinstated Chronopolis and the Sea of Eden, replacing the Dead Sea.
But the moment Another FATE decided to destroy Home's Flame, it also became impossible for Home FATE to ever ensure its own creation. Possibility zero. Home World, which was already exceptionally divergent from FATE's plans (as demonstrated by the differences between the two dimensions-Another where FATE is in control and Home where it isn't) would continue to change and evolve along a different chain of events, which (as evidenced by the empty Dead Sea Ruins) don't involve the creation of Chronopolis.

In short, by destroying Home's Frozen Flame, FATE in Another prevents both the denied future Serge's taking the Flame would have caused in Home, but also prevents the Time Crash in 2400 AD in Home because Chronopolis will never exist. And you thought Home World was an anomaly before?

Of course, now that there is no FATE in Home World (and never can be, and never was), Lynx's body becomes a "missing piece" just as Serge's was, and the dimensional distortion appears once again on Opassa Beach. The three "Fate Distortions" also appear in the Dead Sea Ruins, and match up to the three spots where Another's FATE reached across the dimensions to destroy Home's Frozen Flame (in other words, Another FATE bored through the veil between dimensions to attack Home's Flame, creating the Fate Distortions in the process-which then means Serge can follow the Fate Distortions back to their dimension of origin once he has a little help).

(As an aside bit of commentary, let's discuss for a moment the grandfather paradox in the Chrono world. The classic grandfather paradox is "I go back in time and kill my grandfather so that I'm never born. Can I still go back in time and kill my grandfather?" Due to the multi-dimensional way the Chrono universe is set up, the classic grandfather paradox doesn't apply. And yet there is still a form of grandfather paradox. Allow me to demonstrate.

Take the possibility of FATE being wiped out but El Nido still existing. This does not result in a grandfather paradox. Why? Simple: In the Chrono world, you cannot, through your own actions, negate your own existence. In order for the Frozen Flame to be destroyed in Home World and thus prevent Home El Nido from existing, Serge must first exist in Home World's El Nido and travel to Another World's El Nido. Serge's existence is a pre-requisite for El Nido to never exist, and El Nido's existence is a pre-requisite for Serge to exist. In the Chrono universe, such a self-referencing paradox does not result in nullification, because again, you have to exist to nullify your own existence. Or as they put in Chronopolis, time is stabilized by your viewpoint.

But as we said, the grandfather paradox is possible to a degree. For another example, take Marle's dilemma in CT. Marle is transported back to 600 AD, where she is mistaken for her ancestor. As a result, her ancestor is killed and Marle ceases to exist. In the Chrono world, you can, through the actions of others, have your existence negated. For another example, look at all of the old 2300 AD. Thanks to the existence of the Tesseract, it is entirely possible to use a time that no longer exists as a reference for changing another point in time to begin with.

To put it more simply, in the Chrono universe:

If Larry hates himself, and he travels back in time to kill his own grandfather, he will not cease to exist because his existence is a pre-requisite of his own non-existence. You can't just throw Larry into the Tesseract, because at the point his original, nullified time is tossed into the Tesseract, Larry is existing in another, valid point of time. Of course, if Larry then returns to his "own" time, no one will know he ever existed, because he is actually entering a new dimension where he was never born-but he will still exist.

If Bob hates Larry, and he travels back in time to kill Larry's grandfather, Larry will cease to exist. Larry's existence is not a pre-requisite for Bob's trip back in time, because the old timeline where Larry existed is still a valid point of reference-it's just been tossed into the Tesseract. Of course, when Bob returns to his "own" time, no one will ever know Larry existed because Bob is actually returning to a dimension where Larry was never born-and he never existed.

{Note that the first scenario is most like what Robo would have faced going back to 2300 AD after Lavos' defeat in 1999 AD. The second is more along the lines of Lavos' defeat in 1999 AD after Crono and crew see its handiwork in 2300 AD.}

This is all just a long-winded way of saying that, yes, Home El Nido continues to exist despite the Time Crash being nullified in Home World thanks to the destruction of Home's Frozen Flame, all because Serge must exist in Home World's El Nido in order for Home's Frozen Flame to be destroyed. It's a paradox, but because it's self-referencing, it doesn't result in El Nido and Serge's nullification.)

Back in Another World, Lynx-Serge learns that Dark Serge is causing trouble and has already accessed the Sea of Eden. Lynx-Serge wants to follow Dark Serge, but to do so will need the blessings of the six dragon gods. He also needs to get his body back. Upon getting the blessings of all six dragon gods, Lynx-Serge takes Home's Dragon Tear to Home Fort Dragonia and becomes normal Serge with his own body again.

Serge goes to the Dead Sea Ruins in Another and uses the dragon's blessings to travel through the Fate Distortion, winding up in the Sea of Eden in Home. Serge enters Chronopolis and opens the Prometheus Lock to enter the Chamber of FATE. FATE deletes Prometheus (possible only once Serge's presence drew him out) and decides Serge is now a threat that has outlived his usefulness. Serge destroys FATE, leaving Another's Frozen Flame free. Kid tries to take it, and the Flame awakens, only to be stolen by Harle. With FATE no more, the dragon gods recombine into their original single entity and, with the Frozen Flame backing them up, decide to take revenge on humanity. Thanks a lot, Serge.

(In short, it seems that, had Serge not gone to Chronopolis, the Prometheus Lock would have stayed in place to a certain degree. Granted, FATE has demonstrated it has already regained some control over the Frozen Flame just using Serge's stolen body, but it's also obvious that the continued existence of Prometheus within FATE's system is a problem. So if Serge had stayed put, FATE could have used the Frozen Flame to a certain extent, but the Prometheus Lock would have probably prevented any serious issues, while the dragons would have stayed put and helpless. ...Of course, until the power of the dragons was unleashed, it seems that the creation of the Chrono Cross was impossible, so it would seem Serge's mistake was part of Belthasar's plan in any event.)

In any event, it's now that Serge can use the Tear of Hatred (the shattered Dragon's Tear from Another World) and the Tear of Love (the shattered Dragon's Tear from Home World) to create the Chrono Cross at Divine Dragon Falls. Serge also uses the Mastermune (recovered from Dario in Home World, where he lives after the events on the Isle of the Damned, and then improved thanks to Doreen's influence) to bring Kid out of her coma. Together, they invade Terra Tower (the resurrected ruins of Dinopolis, which had previously been known as Sky Dragon Island) and defeat the Lunar Dragon, which has already been corrupted by the power of the Frozen Flame. Along the way, Belthasar and the ghosts of Crono, Marle and Lucca again appear to Serge from a spot outside normal space-time. This time the ghosts seem a bit friendlier-after all, the destruction of Home World in the near future thanks to Serge bonding with the Time Devourer is no longer the most probable future. Once the Lunar Dragon is destroyed, Belthasar hands Serge the Time Egg.

Back in Home World on Opassa Beach, a new gate has appeared, as have Crono, Marle and Lucca once again. Crono, Marle and Lucca explain to Serge just what's been going on, and reveal that Kid is actually Schala's "sister-clone," created as part of Project Kid. Serge uses the Time Egg to travel to the Tesseract and confront the Time Devourer. He plays the song that binds time with the Chrono Cross, freeing Schala and preventing the Time Devourer from ever destroying space-time (or existing, for that matter).

As part of this process, the two dimensions are recombined back into one, and the events of the last few days are erased in the new, resulting timeline and dimension.

The Post-Serge Events (After the Events in Chrono Cross)
Serge passes out on Opassa Beach when he travels there with Leena. When he awakens, his head is full of all kinds of hazy memories about weird things like FATE, dragons and Terra Tower. But in this new (singular) dimension, it never happened! Serge apparently gets to live out the rest of his lazy summer day with Leena, though we do know that he'll eventually meet, fall in love with and marry Schala "Kid" Zeal. As far as what else changes or stays the same in the new 1020 AD, we're still waiting to hear on another story in the Chrono universe.

1999 AD (Apocalypse... Or Not)
Short and simple, we have two versions of this era:

The Pre-Crono Path (Before the Events of Chrono Trigger)
One day, totally unexpected, the ground begins to shake, then shatters. The alien lifeform called Lavos, which has slumbered beneath the planet's crust for over 65,000,000 years, is awake, and he's ready to eat. This is the Day of Lavos, during which all of human civilization is wiped out and the planet begins its slow march toward death.

The Crono Path (The Results of Events in Chrono Trigger)
At long last, Crono and his allies stand ready to face their greatest challenge. They meet Lavos head on when he first appears in 1999 AD, before it can even begin its assault. Crono and his friends utterly destroy Lavos, preventing the horrible future they witnessed first-hand.

2300 AD (The Future)
The are two major versions of this era to account for. In the original version (and we're still talking Human Path), Lavos destroyed civilization 301 years ago. The world is a barren wasteland where the few remaining traces of life are just sitting around waiting to die. Depressing? Yeah. This version of the future ceases to exist when Crono and friends
defeat Lavos. The new version which exists later then leads to the events of Chrono Cross.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
As said, the world was attacked, decimated and transformed all in one day 301 years ago when Lavos awakened and had its hissy fit. There is constant cloud cover, and nothing seems to want to grow. The people have forgotten what the word "healthy" means. Humans survive using Enetrons, which restore one's vitality but does nothing for the sensation of hunger. Mutants and psychotic robots (most under the control of the Mother Brain computer, which has been corrupted and turned against its creators) hunt down and destroy the few survivors. Several Lavos Spawn exist here, feeding until the time comes for them to migrate to (and destroy) new worlds.

Belthasar, Guru of Reason, arrives in this utterly destroyed future and spends his last few years slipping further and further into madness. Just before he dies, Belthasar completes his "Wings of Time," the Epoch time machine. Sadly, he never gets to use it, and presumably the Epoch rusts in this dying world.

The Crono Path (The Results of Events in Chrono Trigger)
Crono, Marle and Lucca travel to 2300 AD accidentally, where they meet Marle's distant descendant Doan, meet, repair and befriend an android called Robo, and learn of the world's destruction in 1999 AD by a being called "Lavos." This is what sets the friends on their journey through space and time to change the planet's future. Later on, the party also confronts the Mother Brain, and in doing so learns that Robo (originally "Prometheus") and his girlfriend Atropos were programmed to infiltrate and murder the humans before Robo was shut down.

Belthasar, Guru of Reason, still arrives here and goes completely mad, but again, not before completing the Epoch. The party takes the Epoch off his hands and uses it in their quest to fight Lavos.

The Post-Chrono Path (The Results of Events After Chrono Trigger)
The previous version of this era ceases to exist altogether due to Lavos' destruction in the past. The old 2300 AD is thrown into the Tesseract (but, unfortunately, includes a Lavos Spawn). Robo returns to this version of the future and finds his girlfriend Atropos alive, well and happy to see him. Aww.

Belthasar, Guru of Reason, arrives in this prosperous, hi-tech future. He becomes very well known for his research into space-time at the Time Research Laboratory, where he expands upon the theories of one Lucca Ashtear from the eleventh century. Part of Belthasar's success comes from his revival of magic, which is a lost art in 2300 AD.

Through his research at the Time Research Lab, Belthasar discovers Schala's fate and finds records of the other abandoned timelines cast into the Tesseract. Belthasar realizes that, should Schala and the Lavos Spawn from the old 2300 AD be allowed to bond as one creature (the "Time Devourer"), all space-time will eventually be consumed. At the Time Research Lab, Belthasar creates the initial version of FATE, with Robo's matrix included as "the Prometheus Lock," a fail-safe system designed by Lucca. This is the beginning of "Project Kid," through which Belthasar intends to create the necessary situation and set of circumstances for Schala to be freed and the Time Devourer stricken from existence. After setting the necessary technology in place (and, presumably, leaving behind an outline of the Counter-Time Experiment), Belthasar begins cruising the timestream in his newly-built Neo-Epoch, manipulating events here and there to ensure that Project Kid is a success.

2400 AD (The Time Crash)
Like 2300 AD, this future is divided into a couple of distinct possibilities.

The Pre-Crono Path (Events Before Chrono Trigger)
We can safely assume that the decay of the planet has progressed even further. It's hard to say if any lifeforms would be left on the globe by this point.

The Post-Crono Path (The Results of Events After Chrono Trigger)
One hundred years progress from the time that Belthasar founds the Time Research Laboratory, designs the initial version of the FATE computer (with the Prometheus Lock hidden inside), and then just disappears without a word to anyone.

One of the world's governments founds a secret colony in the relatively-empty El Nido Sea. The official name of this colony is the Chronopolis Military Research Center. The secret is that this isn't really a military facility at all. Chronopolis is a center devoted to researching, harnessing and ultimately controlling time. Experimenting based on the theories of Belthasar and Lucca Ashtear, and using the Frozen Flame through the FATE computer system that Belthasar designed (which again, contains the Prometheus Lock circuit Lucca developed), Chronopolis' stated goal is to finish what Belthasar started-the Counter-Time Experiment.

What the researchers-and even FATE itself-fail to realize is that the Counter-Time Experiment is and always was a set-up; it was never meant to work in the first place. The Counter-Time Experiment is an utter failure, resulting in the Time Crash, which sends Chronopolis into a temporal vortex. From there, Chronopolis is drawn (by Lavos) back to 7,600 BC.

This was Belthasar's intention from the beginning. One way or another, Belthasar (now calling himself the "Prophet of Time") has determined that by initiating the Time Crash, he has set a series of events in motion that will culminate with Serge creating the Chrono Cross, traveling to the Tesseract and using the song that binds time to free Schala from her bond with the Lavos Spawn, annihilating the Time Devourer in the process. How did Belthasar predict the chain of events in advance? That we don't know, but we have it from Lucca herself that it was Belthasar's doing, and it was all done purposefully. I suppose they don't call him the Prophet of Time for nothing.

The Time Devoured World (The Results of Serge Taking Home's Flame)
Note that after the dimensions split in 1010 AD, this time period is destroyed. In Home World, Serge is fated to take the Frozen Flame, bond with the Time Devourer and destroy all existence ahead of schedule. Thus, we never reach this time and space-all existence is nullified before the Time Crash can occur. Oops.

Divergence ~ No FATE
Note that there's actually a divergence here. After Home's Flame is destroyed, Serge is no longer fated to take the Flame (duh) and join with the Time Devourer. That means 2400 AD can actually happen in Home World again. However, without FATE's influence through the ages, a paradox occurs, and Chronopolis is never constructed, meaning the Time Crash never occurs in Home.

Quick and Easy, To the Point:

Pre-CT
Lavos arrives in 65,000,000 BC
Lavos destroys the world in 1999 AD
2300 AD sucks as a result
Belthasar arrives in the crappy 2300 AD
Schala ends up alone in the Tesseract for all eternity
CT
Crono and the gang travel to 2300 AD and learn about Lavos in 1999 AD
Crono and the gang defeat Lavos in 1999 AD
Because of CT
A Lavos Spawn from the crappy 2300 AD that will never be appears in the Tesseract
Schala and the Lavos Spawn become the Time Devourer
Belthasar, who has arrived in the good 2300 AD, finds out about Schala's fate
Belthasar initiates Project Kid
Time Crash in 2400 AD sends Chronopolis back in time
Chronopolis creates El Nido
Serge born in El Nido
Serge becomes the Arbiter of the Frozen Flame
Serge lives/dies, splitting the dimensions
CC
Serge begins crossing the dimensions
Serge creates the Chrono Cross
The Chrono Cross frees Schala and prevents the Time Devourer from existing
Because of CC
The dimensions become one again and Serge's adventure never has to happen