Chapter Text
Kronii is perfect. She’s known this since the moment she came into existence and has never once faltered in this belief in all her years of living.
She doesn’t make mistakes. She doesn’t break a sweat. She’s never second guessed herself.
Her fellow concepts may call her cold, a machine even. They don’t understand what it takes to be perfect.
She holds them at an arm’s length despite their attempts to get closer to her. Most, if not all, of them had given up and finally left her alone.
Not that she feels any remorse over it, she’s never encountered an issue that she needed them for. Until now that is.
“Kid. Come here right now.” Kronii tried to keep her voice even, but her mask of indifference was already cracking. The girl’s irritating giggles as she narrowly blipped away before she could be grabbed only made it harder to stay composed.
The girl stuck her tongue out at Kronii. “Make me.”
Kronii had been tending to her duties, monitoring the state of the timelines and surveying for potential threats, when she felt it–a breach in the time stream from an unwanted visitor.
She wasted no time in blipping to the time and location of the intruder, finding herself on a random star drifting along the cosmos. Her internal clock read that she was currently around a billion years after the big bang.
Why would an anomaly come here? Why now?
She could feel herself getting closer to the temporal interference, readying her blades in case she needed to fight. She stopped in her tracks when she spotted a little girl.
Her golden blonde hair stood out against the inky backdrop of space. She was turned away from Kronii, kneeling to inspect a space rock, by the looks of it. Kronii dispelled her weapons, striding right up behind the girl, who remained oblivious.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?”
The girl jumped, falling on her butt. She looked up at Kronii with wide eyes, probably not expecting to run into someone. Scrambling to her feet, she kept her head down and hid her hands behind her back.
“I’m Amelia.”
“Kronii. Why are you here?” Kronii asked firmly. Amelia opened and closed her mouth a few times, much to the annoyance of Kronii.
“I don’t know how I got here. All I remember is running away from the shadows. Everyone around me was screaming and the buildings were falling into the ground. I was so tired and wanted to take a break, but my uncle told me not to stop. When I looked back for him, no one was there, so I just kept running.”
Before she could continue rambling, Kronii cut her off pointedly.
“What’s the last thing you remember before coming here?”
Amelia held out an elegant, golden pocket watch in front of her.
Kronii’s eyes widened at the sight of the artifact, the same one that should have been contained in her domain right now. She snatched it from the girl’s hands, ignoring the girl’s offended cry, and blipped back to her domain.
Before she could even begin to inspect it, the artifact had vanished from her grasp. Kronii let out a deep sigh and blipped back to Amelia, who was standing with her arms crossed and an angry expression on her face. The watch had made its way back to her hand.
“Did you just try to steal my watch?!”
“Your watch? That’s not yours kid, it doesn’t belong to anyone.”
“Then why does it have my name on it?” Amelia countered smugly. Kronii tried grabbing the watch again to see, but Amelia moved her hand away.
“Just let me see it, I promise not to steal it.”
Amelia begrudgingly handed over the watch, allowing Kronii to give it a once-over.
Amelia H. Watson.
That’s weird, she was sure she hadn’t seen an inscription on it when she first contained it. She handed the watch back to Amelia.
“Where did you get this?”
Amelia hummed in thought, a hand on her chin.
“I ran up a hill, with a big tree on it. I looked around and saw that the shadows had eaten everything. They were slowly coming towards the hill to eat me up too! I thought I was a goner, until I found this on the grass next to the tree. As soon as I picked it up, there was a big flash of light and then I was somehow here!”
Kronii sighed, realizing this problem wasn’t something she could simply kill or contain. She offered her hand out for Amelia to grab.
“Come with me, I need to examine the artifact. See if it’s similar to the one I have.” Amelia didn’t take her hand though, instead backing up warily.
“My uncle told me not to trust strangers, and I don’t know you.”
“Well, do you have a better plan to get out of here?”
Kronii grabbed Amelia’s wrist before she could think twice and blipped them both back to her domain.
“Whoa, where are we?” Kronii ignored the question and strode towards the artifact room, Amelia closely following behind.
“What do you do here?”
“Did you make all this yourself?”
“Is it just you here?”
Are all children this annoying?
Kronii finally found the display stand for the artifact she was looking for, but paled when she realized it was missing. Impossible. Truthfully, it had been a while since she last checked the artifacts in this room, but no one else had access to this room besides herself, not even the other concepts.
Kronii turned to the girl, who was busy inspecting another artifact.
What should I do with her now?
She could leave her with one of the other concepts, but that would necessitate having a conversation with them, which she’s actively avoided for millennia.
She could send her back to the timeline she was from, though even for her that was a little heartless. She felt partly to blame since it was her job to deal with anomalies before they could destroy a timeline, even if it was Amelia’s Kronii that had failed her.
Kronii let out a deep sigh. “C’mere kid. I’ll show you around.”
“Do I get to live here!?” Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
“For now. Until I can find a better situation, I will allow you to stay here.”
Amelia grabbed Kronii’s hand, leading her forward as if she were the one giving the tour. Kronii’s domain was structured to resemble a massive clock, a room placed where each hour would be, and a large garden in the center of it with an open roof that showcased the starry backdrop of space. The artifact room was located at the Ninth, and they were moving clockwise to the Tenth now.
“You didn’t answer my question earlier, is it just you here?”
“Yes.”
“Woooow, must get lonely in a place as big as this.”
“Not at all. I enjoy my solitude.”
“What’s a solitude?”
“I like being alone.”
Amelia hummed skeptically as they entered the Tenth. “Is this my bedroom?!” The girl ran off and jumped onto one of the many beds in the room.
“Yeah, this used to be the guest room for visitors to sleep in. There haven’t been any in a while though.”
The room hadn’t changed one bit from how she remembered it–perks of a timeless domain she supposes. It still feels like the other concepts are in here, giggling to themselves as they set up a surprise sleepover that they didn’t bother asking Kronii for permission over. Kronii shook the thoughts away, heading towards the next room without saying anything.
“Hey, wait up!” She heard the sound of Amelia’s small steps rushing to catch up to her long strides.
“I haven’t touched that room in ages. If you want to change anything about it, just let me know and I can have it done.”
“Were those your friends?” Kronii looked down at Amelia with a confused look. “The ones in the painting?” That’s right. Kronii forgot all about Sana’s artwork that depicted all of the concepts together.
It was a gift for Kronii, who had been amazed at how lifelike and realistic Sana was able to depict them. The only unrealistic aspect she pointed out to Sana was that she was smiling alongside the rest of them, but Sana had proclaimed that the painting depicted them in the future.
“My colleagues. We work together.”
“What do you do?”
“We… oversee important parts of the universe. Each of us is in charge of something different. I’m the Warden of Time, meaning I deal with any time-related issues.”
“Cool! Does that mean you can go back in time like in the movies?”
“What’s a movie?”
“Umm, there’s a bunch of actors who act out a cool story and there’s a ton of effects and plot twists that keep you on the edge of your seat.”
“Like a play?”
“Yeah I gue-” Amelia paused, eyes looking in amazement at the room they were entering.
“Is this a desert!?”
“Yep, not a normal one either.” Kronii waved her hand, a large hand forming from the sand that waved at Amelia.
“What else can you make!?”
Kronii focused and made a giant version of Amelia, although it looked more like a cartoon caricature of the girl since Kronii had little artistic ability.
“How’s that?”
“Awesome! Can I do that too?” Amelia scrunched up her face and held her arm out like Kronii did.
“These are the sands of time, only I have control over their form.”
“Aw man, that’s no fun.” Amelia pouted.
Kronii was reminded of someone else who reacted much the same when they were told they couldn’t control the sand. The pouty expression and bratty tone was all too reminiscent of her.
“Oh, oh, lemme guess. Is it a demon?”
Kronii looked at what Amelia was referring to, gasping when she locked eyes with the Nephilim. She immediately released her power and watched it crumble to the ground.
“Let’s go, the next room is mine.” Kronii grabbed Amelia’s hand and tugged her along.
“Was that your friend from the picture?”
Are all children so perceptive?
“My colleague, yes.”
“Can I meet your call-leagues? They look fun to play with!”
“No, they’re far too busy to take time out of their day to play with a child.”
“I’m not a child! I’m six!”
Kronii scoffed, releasing Amelia’s hand once they stepped into her room.
“This is your room? Why’s it so empty?”
She’s right. The only things inside were Kronii’s desk, her throne, and her bed.
“I’m a minimalist, I don’t need things without function.”
Amelia jumped onto her bed, rolling back and forth.
“This bed is huge! Why do you need one this big?”
Kronii ignored the question, laying down and forcing Amelia to move over to make space.
I haven’t slept in this bed in a while… not since with… not since then.
She closed her eyes, trying to stop the unwanted memories that were replaying in her mind. No matter how hard she tries to forget them, she clearly remembers each and every one of them as if they happened yesterday.
Amelia let out a loud yawn, then snuggled up to Kronii’s arm. Within minutes, the girl was out like a light, softly snoring.
It’s been some time since I let myself rest. I didn’t want to get used to this feeling again, but just this once can’t hurt.
As Kronii drifted off to sleep, thoughts of mirthful purple and blue eyes and mischievous giggles filled her head.