Kid (Fate of)
Contents
Inquiry[edit]
The most persistent mystery of the ending of Chrono Cross is the fate of Schala and Kid. The conclusion of the game is hopelessly ambiguous, and both character seem to appear in the closing. Before mulling over possible solutions and outcomes, let us first review the facts to form a logical foundation for analysis.
1. Kid and Schala are independent persons, the former being created through unique conditions.
2. Schala and Kid seem to both be present at the Darkness Beyond Time when the Chrono Cross is used.
3. The following text appears:
Serge...!
Don't go yet, Serge...!!!
It's alright.
Everything is alright now.
Time, which has been divided,
will be unified again now.
The time for farewells has come...
You will lose all memory of
this whole adventure
and return to your own time.
But this time, you will be able
to live your own life!
We alone do not have the power
to heal the world's woes,
or to solve all its mysteries.
And yet, even then...
It was bloody good
knowing ya, mate!
Thanks for being born
'"you,"' Serge!
I guess now's the time to say,
'"see ya later, mate!"'
But...
I'll find ya...
Sometime, somewhere...
I'm bloody sure of it!
No matter the time period,
no matter the world ya live in,
I'll find ya!
I'm sure...
I am sure I will find you...
~
Thus the curtain closes on another tale.
An eternity has passed...
Fleeting dreams fade into the distance...
All that is left now
Is me and my memories...
But I'm sure we'll meet again,
Someday, you and I...
Another place, another time.
It's just that we might not realize
That you are you and I am me...
Let us open the door to the great unknown,
Come across another reality,
And live another today...
Even when the story has been told,
Life goes on...
Until we meet again,
Take care of yourself, my friend...
Forever yours,
Schala "Kid" Zeal
4. Serge returns to Opassa Beach with supposedly no memory of what happened, with Kid nowhere in sight.
5. A picture exist on Schala's desk of Kid and Serge married.
6. In various endings, Kid still seems to exist as a unique entity, appearing at the dock in "General Kid" and "The True Hero."
With these observations in mind, we have the following questions.
1. Did Schala and Kid unify into one being, as evidenced by the diary-signing 'Schala "Kid" Zeal'?
2. Where did Schala, Kid, or both go after the events came to a close?
3. Who married Serge; Schala, Kid, or the unified being?
4. What does Schala mean that she will search for Serge (or someone else), when she should know exactly where he is (1020 A.D.)?
With these questions and observations in mind we can begin analyzing and creating a framework. By far, the heaviest question is whether Schala and Kid merged into one being or stayed the same. The evidence for the former is found in Schala's signing her diary with the "Kid" nickname and also speaking like Kid at the Darkness Beyond Time. Since no definite conclusion is given, let's explore frameworks for either case.
Theories[edit]
Schala and Kid Don't Merge[edit]
Let us discuss what might be the case if Schala and Kid don't merge.
Where did they go after the dimensional unification?
Under this idea, Schala's lines about searching for someone could be interpreted to mean that she is looking for Magus, her brother, who she probably knows to be looking for her. This would adequately resolve Magus's absence from the story; he was going to be in Chrono Cross until the developers judged his storyline too hard to integrate and simply made Guile an independent person. Meanwhile, Kid would remain in El Nido. This possibility is supported by the endings, in which Kid seems to stick around after the Time Devourer is defeated. Presumably, Kid and Serge would again meet.
Who would get married?
Kid and Serge would wed, while Schala searched for Janus in time. This is supported by the nature of the photograph on the desk in the closing and opening cutscenes. It is not a clear, crisp photo, but rather appears to be a daggeurotype, most likely suiting it to the technological state of the world in 1020 A.D. The only issue is, how would the photograph come into Schala's possession? This is remedied by the possibility that perhaps Schala visited them or attended the wedding, and kept a keepsake. Schala's search for Janus explains the person walking around a modern day city looking for someone in the ending cutscene.
Concerning her signing the diary "Schala "Kid" Zeal," keep in mind that either woman could sign in this manner. Lucca notes in her letter than someday, Kid will know her "true name and heritage." This suggests that Kid's proper name is Schala Zeal.
This wraps this framework up. The only rough spots include Schala's speaking in Kid's dialect at the ending, owning a photograph of Kid and Serge's marriage, and searching for Janus despite the context of her words suggesting she would search for Serge. This framework is finally supported, conversely, by Masato Kato's statement in the Procyon Studio interview:
But I think this really concludes everything, once and for all. Or... I guess maybe you could say that with this, Kid and Serge can finally begin their true "journey". Heh heh.. (the meaning behind this statement, including my suspicious little chuckle, lies within the ending of Cross... so please look forward to it.)
The Argument Against
by gabble
1. Kid is vehemently against the idea that she IS Schala, and Lucca says that Schala would have wanted it that way. This suggests that Kid is, in fact, her own being, independent of Schala, and that Schala would respect this. This is a bit tenuous, since we don't hear Schala say this herself; however, given that Kid and Schala are similar, Kid's opinions would be somewhat akin to Schala's, no? Either way, I think Schala would take a benevolent view of Kid's identity, and allow her to be her own person, if possible.
2. I don't think that Schala, having experienced aeons of suffering after fusing with the various entities in the Darkness Beyond Time, would forcibly merge herself with Kid, if she could prevent it. And we're told that Kid is a copy of Schala, not a part of her, so it may not have been necessary for them to fuse at all.
3. Belthesar is very careful in his dialogue when he appears in Terra Tower. He states that it is Kid who travelled back in time to save Serge at Opassa beach, creating the dimensional split, and that it was Kid who called Serge across the dimensions. He also states that Kid traveled from ten years in the future to accomplish both aims, from the year 1127 A.D. Given this, I would say that the entity known as "Kid" must still exist in the future, and is capable of autonomous movement.
4. Some of the strongest evidence against the idea of Kid and Schala existing as independent beings appears in the credits of the "good" ending: in this ending, we see someone with a more feminine appearance than Kid's at Opassa beach, assumably to summon Serge into the other dimension. Also, the journal is signed "Schala 'Kid' Zeal". But I don't think these two things mean that Kid and Schala have become one. Rather, I think they mean the exact opposite! Remember, we're dealing with events ten years in the future. In 1117 A.D., about the time that Chrono Cross takes place, Kid is only 16, and she's a pretty headstrong youth. It's fair to assume that by 1127 A.D., Kid has grown and come into her own; many people have similar experiences as they grow up. This would explain why she would appear so different without necessitating her merging with Schala.
As for the journal...it is wholly possible that Kid, having no real name besides "Kid", would eventually come to terms with her identity as (at worst) Schala's clone, or as her daughter, and take on Schala's name. But this would still allow her to retain her own name. Lucca alludes to this in her letter to Kid. Also, if they didn't merge, Schala would have no reason to take on Kid's name, since she was never called by it.
5. Further, we see Kid traveling in her thief's costume some time after the events of the game. To me, this suggests that someone with Kid's persona is traveling with some intent, which goes along with the idea that Kid finds Serge after the events of the game. I don't know whether she is leaving El Nido or returning to it, or whether she is just traveling through it (since a large vessel is needed to traverse the currents to leave the archipelago at certain times of the year). Simply put, we don't know where Kid would have been left after the final battle. Everyone else would have returned to where Serge found them, with some variances, given that they would then be in the Ideal Timeline.
However, this raises a question: where is Kid? She never appears in Home World; even when we visit Guldove in Home World, her place in the clinic has been taken by Orlha's sister, Tia. We are never told what became of Kid is Home World; for all we know, she was killed by Lynx and Harle. That, or she's on the mainland. Given this, it's safe to assume that Kid returned to either the mainland or El Nido, and began to search for Serge. After all, there's no reason for her to forget everything; in fact, it would create a paradox, since it's a future Kid who is supposed to create the dimensions and save Serge.
Schala and Kid Merge[edit]
Here is what might happen if they did merge.
Where did she go?
Schala "Kid" Zeal's destination is apparently a mystery. She notes that she will search for Serge, though it should be obvious to her that he is in El Nido at 1020 A.D. She also has a photograph of her marriage with him, which also is inconsistent with a need to search for the hero. However, this can be remedied by a somewhat stretch of an idea. Perhaps at the time of the diary's entry, Schala and Serge had long since been married, and Serge had died. Schala's entry would suggest she believes in reincarnation, or that perhaps Serge fell into some kind of temporal or dimensional distortion, and that she must find him.
Other Dimension[edit]
One possible remedy of the above two theories is that, whether or not Kid survives, Schala is shunted to another dimension apart from the Keystone Dimension (the name given to the universe in which the main Chrono Trigger > Chrono Cross continuity occurs). This theory relies on the Darkness Beyond Time possibly being multidimensional, a scenario explored in Principles of Time and Dimensional Travel. Under this idea, Schala, at the end of Chrono Cross, would be thrown to a different dimension. She would still search for Serge, hoping that some version of him might exist in the world. This explains the person walking around a modern day city looking for someone in the ending cutscene. This theory does not exactly take into account the presence of the wedding photo on Schala's desk. That can be explained away if one simply considers the photo to have been taken during the events of Chrono Cross, and taken by Schala as a keepsake. This theory does resolve how Serge and Leena could continue loving one another in the Keystone Dimension, and Serge and Schala / Kid could marry in a new dimension.
Other Considerations[edit]
Boat Cutscene[edit]
At the end of the game, we see what appears to be Kid sailing the seas on a boat. Who is this person, and where are they going? There is nothing definitive concerning this mystery. The simple answer is that it is meant to represent Kid arriving at El Nido, as she did before Chrono Cross to search for the Frozen Flame and exact revenge upon Lynx. An alternative theory is that it depicts Kid / Schala leaving El Nido. However, this is not consistent with the search for Serge and the white gown that a possible "Schala "Kid" Zeal" wears in another cutscene.
Leena[edit]
The above effectively concludes the known facts and analysis concerning Schala and Kid's fates. However, one more facet of Chrono Cross's Resolution remains untouched -- Leena's predicament. Signs point to a long relationship between Leena and Serge; they are confirmed boyfriend / girlfriend by a third party in Arni, have known each other since childhood, and even speculate about having children and living together. It thus seems harsh and somewhat inconsistent for Serge to run off and marry Kid after the events of the game, especially considering that Serge returns to Leena upon Opassa Beach. Notwithstanding, the Home World Leena is absent for most of the game, and Schala may have had her mind set on Serge for a long time (she saved him from the panther demon by causing the magnetic storm, after all). Still, it is unclear how the Leena situation could be completely dissolved in favor of Kid after Chrono Cross concludes. Barring Leena's outright unfortunate death, something would have to change, or the photo would not be of Serge from the Keystone Dimension (or Serge at all, though this goes against concept art).
Even if it were meant for the version of Leena who grew up without Serge, the Fortune Teller's advice may hold true for the real article:
It says, you will not find a boyfriend for a long time. Fortunetelling is such a merciless thing...
From: Theory (People)