I was thinking about "The Returned Queen", but that doesn't sound quite right....

Crono lands in a clearing on a hillside. Little blue goblins attack him as he tries to leave. After the battle, ambient sounds of nature replace the music. Leaving the hills, Crono finds himself on the edge of a village that strongly resembles his own. 1-9 風の憧憬 (Longing of the Wind) plays. The village is a bit too small to be Truce, and the hills are where Leene Plaza should be. Hoping to get his bearings, Crono tries talking to one of the villagers.

400 years in the past? That explains why the village is both so familiar and so different. On a side note, the world map now says "A.D. 600" instead of "?". And now that that's established, I'll note that Longing of the Wind always plays on the A.D.600 world map, rather than saying so every time. Crono finds the town's pub in the same place as in the present, and checks inside for more information. Two soldiers are deep in conversation.

As they're talking, someone with strange and travel-worn clothes walks in and sits down. Crono tries talking to him.

Toma: Are you an outsider too?
I'm Toma the explorer.
If you treat me to a drink,
I'll give you some good info.
How 'bout it?

TOMA: Are you a stranger here, too?
I'm Toma, the explorer.
If you're buying, I'll tell you a story.
How about it?

Crono decides to humor him, at least for now. Any unusual news could help him find Marle.

Toma: Thanks for that. Now....
About how Leene-sama went
missing....
I think that abbey they say was
built to the west is suspicious.
Huh? You say Queen Leene was
already found in the back hills?
Huh.... really....

TOMA: Thanks!
It's about the missing Queen.
She disappeared while visiting that
cathedral to the west, and...
Beg your pardon?
WHAT!?
They found her?
Never mind...

Since the only lead he's had is the queen's mysterious reappearance, Crono tries going to the castle.

The castle is right where it is in Crono's time. The interior is stone, sparsely decorated with suits of armor and royal purple carpets. 1-13 ガルディア城～勇気と誇り～ (Guardia Castle ~Courage and Pride~) plays. Two soldiers stop Crono immediately upon his arrival.

SOLDIER: Halt!
Who goes there!

Soldier: I've never seen this guy.
And what's with that getup?
Maybe he works for Magus's army?

SOLDIER: Check out that hair!
Where're you from, son?
Are you one of Magus's troopers?

Soldier: But I doubt such a wuss
would be in Magus's army.

SOLDIER: Hardly! This kid never would
have made the cut!
Show us your stamp collection, son!

Soldier: Go on, get lost!
Stick around here too long
and we'll arrest you!

SOLDIER: Har, har!
Now beat it, shrimp!

The queen approaches. She has long blong hair and looks quite young, and oddly familiar....

Queen: That person is one to whom I am indebted.
Make him welcome, as a guest.

QUEEN: Show your manners!
This is a friend of mine!

SOLDIER: But there's something odd
about him!

Soldier: Surely not!
Feel free to pass!

SOLDIER: Forgive me, my lady!
Please enter, Sir!

The queen giggles (giggles?), and walks back where she came from. Crono is, of course, rather confused. How does she even know him, much less be in his debt? Anyway, in the throne room, the king wishes to speak with Crono.

King: Ah, it's you.
The one Leene is indebted to.
I thank you from my heart!
But what happened out there?
Leene hasn't been quite her usual self.
She even seems to have lost the coral
hair ornament she always wore.
And she treasured it so much....
Oh, pardon me.
I shall tell the Knight Captain about you.
Rest in the Knights' room in the left basement.

KING: Sir!
I understand that you are the one
who saved my dear wife, the Queen!
But can you tell me what happened?
Leene's acting rather odd.
And she seems to have lost her coral
pin, which is something she guarded
with her life...
Forgive me! You must be tired.
We can talk about this later.
Please rest in the Knights quarters,
downstairs, to the left.

After a quick rest, Crono goes all the way up the right tower to see the queen. An elite guard meets him at the door.

Two handmaidens attend to the queen in her room.

QUEEN: Ah!
There you are.

She turns to the attendants.

Queen: Please remove yourselves.
I would speak with this person.

QUEEN: Please leave us.
I need to talk to this individual.

The servants leave Crono and the queen alone together. The music fades out.

She turns around for a moment and stifles a giggle.

Queen: Just kidding! You came for me,
Crono!

It's clear what's going on now, right? 3-9 クロノとマール～遠い約束～ (Crono and Marle ~Distant Promise~), which sounds like a music box, plays.

Marle: Right, it's me!
Everyone calls me "Leene" for some reason.
But I'm glad.
Even though we were only together for just a
little while at the festival, you came for me.
Crono....
Thank you....

Marle: It's me!
But everyone calls me, Leene!
I'm so relieved you're here!
We barely know each other,
but somehow, I knew you'd come for
me...
Thank you, Crono!

The music fades out. Crono doesn't notice anything strange, but Marle....

Marle: Wh, what!?
!!
Wh, what IS this?
It's like my mind's going to pieces....

Marle: S, something's wrong!!!
W, what's happening?!
It feels like...I'm being torn apart!

It gets worse. She starts to look increasingly odd, like she's fading out of reality or something.

Marle: I, I'm scared!
It's like I'm going to disappear....
He, help me, Cro....

Marle: Help me, Crono!
I'm scared!!!
Please... Crono
...h, help me!

Crono moves as though to save her, but he doesn't even know what's happening. She vanishes without a trace, without even a rift in space-time to explain it. The music doesn't start again until Crono heads downstairs. Someone calls out as he reaches the ground floor.

Lucca runs up, clearly out of breath.

I wonder how she got past the guards....

Lucca: haa, haa.... looks like you're safe!
More importantly, what about that girl?

Lucca: Huff, puff...you're okay!
Did you find the girl?

Lucca: GONE?!
Whadd'ya mean she's gone?!

Lucca: When that girl disappeared, I could
have sworn I'd seen her somewhere.

Lucca: This IS the kingdom, but it looks
like the kingdom from quite long ago.

Lucca: And this looks identical to
the castle in OUR time!

Lucca: That means that girl was
mistaken for her own ancestor.
That girl's nobility even in our era....

Lucca: I'll bet they mistook
that girl for her ancestor...
You see, she's a member of the royal
family in OUR time!

This is why the pronounciation of her name matters. The full name given here is exactly the same, but with 'dia' added. And that's pronounced 'dee uh', not 'dye uh', making the full thing sound roughly like 'marldia' because of the weak vowel. Not only that, even if you named her something different, the game will actually take the first three characters of that (or the whole thing if shorter) and tack 'dia' onto it, so it works out regardless, though you could get some rather odd names. The NA version always makes her name "Nadia" no matter what the player picks, and even the default name "Marle" only vaguely resembles it. The JP version makes it impossible for both versions to be identical (the long name is too long), but the NA version allows selecting "Nadia" as her short name.

Crono looks shocked at the news. It explains a lot, though. And Lucca's not finished explaining yet....

Lucca: Marle, that is, Princess Marledia,
is a descendant of this era's queen.
This era's queen was kidnapped....
The way it was supposed to end up
after that is that someone saved her.
But we've changed history....
In other words, since Marle appeared in
this era and was mistaken for the queen,
the search for the real queen was called off.
If the queen were to be killed....
Marle's existence would vanish....
But we're still in time!
If we can help out the queen even now,
history shoud go back the way it was!!

Lucca: Marle, that is, Princess Nadia,
is a decendant of Queen Leene!
Queen Leene has been kidnapped.
As I recall, someone was supposed to
have saved her.
But history has been changed!
Marle looks so much like Leene,
that they probably called off their
search when she appeared here.
But if the real Queen is killed...
... Marle will simply disappear.
There might still be time!
If we can save Leene, history as we
know it should remain unchanged!

Lucca: In all likelihood, something's
happened to this era's queen.
That's why the very existence of
that girl, her descendant....

Lucca: Something must have
happened to the Queen in this era.
As a result, Princess Nadia
ceases to exists!

Lucca: In any case, we've got to search
for the true queen's whereabouts!

Lucca: Hurry!
We have to find the real Queen!

Remembering what Toma said earlier, Crono decides to investigate the abbey to the west.