The Death of Time

A flash from the past and a glimpse of the future...

Chronos was just starting to feel comfortable inside Ananke's mind again, feeling the edges of their overlapped psyches and relishing the prospect that he was gaining more control over the mortal's body. He still detested the idea of being imprisoned inside a female form, but it beat incorporeal existence hands down. His mind seemed to circle protectively around the part of 'nake that felt brittle and fragile from the encounter with her memory but she was unaware of that raw spot. Or at least doing her stoic best to ignore its existence.

Herald walked beside Ananke's body as if he were simply standing close because of the crowds around them and they were all doing their best to pretend that was the entire case. Herald was looking distracted, as if even he didn't entirely understand where the urge to kiss the mortal Ananke had come from. And it was too uncomfortable to acknowledge his earlier affection; Ananke still hadn't sussed out whether or not she had been the one in control of her body when she'd pushed Herald away or if it had been the god in her head. She instead of obsessing over it, she had simply taken charge, put a cart in Herald's grip and guided him around as she collected items off of the shelves. A set of parkas and several under layering items, and a few other not so obvious survival items.

You do realize you keep grabbing three of every item. I appreciate your concern Ananke, but I highly doubt I have to worry about frostbite, unless you plan on skinny dipping in the snow. Chronos pointed out with a mental laugh.

He felt Ananke's momentary surprise. I know that. I hadn't even realized I was grabbing threes. It just... felt right somehow. Her mental tone sounded thoughtful.

Trust your instincts. Your control over the pieces of Time seems to be intuitive at best, chaotic more often and rather undisciplined. But if something is telling you to have at least one set of spares, then go with it. Chronos offered in an almost back handed compliment.

 It makes me wonder if I'm buying spares or expecting company while we journey. Is there anyone you can think of whom would join us in this venture? Ananke's question made Chronos uncomfortable. He knew that they were leaving his Pantheon behind and so if there was anyone going to join them, he was likely to be as inexperienced with matters as the mortal he was cohabitating with. Even if he did have some insider's knowledge, it would still leave him in an advisory role at best. He hated the lack of control these next stages of repairing Time promised.

Be prepared. Regardless of what it is you have to prepare for, it'll still be of service. The Father of Time suggested sagely.

Thank you Scar. Ananke quipped and Chronos actually had to skim some of her unhidden memories to locate the reference she was making. And when he found it Chronos nearly sputtered in surprise.

You just made a joke? He felt the need to point out and Ananke shrugged her shoulders in response.

I used to have a sly sense of humor. At least I think I did. Ananke admitted. Chronos knew he wasn't supposed to hear the second part but he was more deeply immersed in Ananke than she expected him to be.

She was still assuming she could force him out at any time, like she nearly had in the earlier stages of their working relationship. It pleased Chronos to know that now it would be a greater struggle to try and rend his consciousness from this body they shared. Her heartbeat was becoming familiar now and he luxuriated in the sensations of being alive and solid. Distantly Chronos thought he could hear the rhythmic booming of some great drum, but the sound was slightly off, as if the drummer was losing the beat. Ananke shook her head and Chronos lost the trace of that drum, pulled from his mental musing to focus on what the body he shared was doing now.

They were both filled with a strange sense of impending dread. As if something monumental and unfortunate was about to occur. Ananke was trying to ignore it as sheer paranoia but Chronos recognized it as a type of emotional vision, a flash of the future that was inevitable and devastating. It was a strange sensation because although Ananke seemed to be blithely unaware of it, her body was already preparing its fight or flight responses in line with the building dread. Chronos could recognize the increase in her heart rate, the tension that washed over her skin, causing the hairs to raise and goose bumps to start to pill up on her skin and he was keenly more aware of the area around them as her pupils dilated and her nostrils flared, taking in more environmental cues. It was a very basic and primal response and although Chronos was concerned over whatever event was about to occur, he relished the exhilaration the moral adrenal response was giving him.

“Herald, is there anything you can think of to add to this?” Ananke asked, knowing that Herald might have a more complete grasp on the specifics of where they were heading beyond the Veil. She wasn’t entirely willing to trust her instincts on the whole Time sense she was following and she certainly wasn’t about to trust Chronos completely.

“There is someone staring at you.” Herald responded instead of answering her question. Ananke looked up from her list to frown at Herald. She was about to respond with ‘let them stare’, when she followed his gaze to see who exactly it was staring at her.

Chronos felt a terrible pain echo up from the core of the body he was sharing and even though Ananke physically had no response, said nothing; he could hear her suddenly scream. Chronos! For a moment he was immersed in a churning sea of agony and emotional embroilment and then Ananke went deadly cold inside. Without entirely understanding what schism had just occurred, Chronos swelled his awareness of ‘nake’s body and was suddenly the mind in charge while he protectively curled around the wound that was Ananke.

The glorious triumph of being in complete control of a physical form was quickly shunted aside as Chronos saw just why Ananke suddenly shattered. Standing not five feet away and staring at the body he wore was non other than Andru, Ananke’s ex husband. The look on his face was completely stunned as he was frozen in the spot and Chronos was not at all surprised to see that he was holding hands with another woman who was heavily pregnant. A small nugget of Ananke’s memory identified the woman as another member of the rescue team that she had worked with and Chronos suddenly understood a lot of the emotional trauma that this scenario gave the mortal woman. And he refused to allow this pathetic mortal male the chance to realize just how much he had hurt ‘nake.

“Oh, it’s you. Hm.” Chronos said the words, sinking as much dismissive shading into Ananke’s lustrous voice as possible. She was normally so empty of emotional content that it was strange to hear how much her voice could convey without direct words. Add the tone to the words Chronos used and he was not at all surprised to see Andru take a surprised step back.

“Ana…” Andru sounded strained but Chronos did not want to hear whatever it was the mortal scum had to say. His words would only hurt ‘nake and even though Chronos was in control of the body, she was still far too aware of the world around them both.

“Herald, we have some shopping to do.” Chronos turned the body to acknowledge the man standing in patient silence. And even though the once Titan was not terribly pleased with the undying Ambassador, he took Herald’s hand in his own, just to strike back at the mortals who had hurt ‘nake.

“We certainly do.” Herald agreed and walked in pace to the body Chronos wore. The two mortals they left behind were equally shocked and hurt by the unexpected dismissal, their silence filled with a plethora of emotional baggage.

They are but shadows and dust in Time. Their power over you is sundered and ended. You are more than they ever will be. Chronos comforted Ananke, not sure if she was receptive to his words in her current state.

He expected burning anger, soul crushing melancholy and a sea of self indulgent pity. Those would be the emotions he would experience and had donned in the past with frequency. Instead Ananke had thrown herself into the vast pit of bone shattering cold in her core and it was even beginning to numb Chronos’ own anger and resentment at those mortals. She was withdrawing from the world and even though this had been exactly what Chronos had wanted not even ten minutes ago, it was now worrying. Because as she receded, so too did the awareness of Time that this body harboured. It made the Father of Time want to snarl because it should have been in his control, and yet it seemed that he was doomed to work in tandem with the mortal woman and not be in command.

Chronos allowed Herald to guide the body he wore around, letting the form be passive as he tried to reconnect with ‘nake before she could doom Time itself in her emotional retreat. Instead of being immersed in her memory, Chronos found himself standing on her mindscape in a construct of his own body. It wasn’t real and yet he felt satisfaction in the ability to wiggle his own fingers and toes, draw in breath to the point where his chest hurt and feel the comforting weight of his male gender between his thighs. Simple things that were the foundation of reclaiming himself. He could see the figure of ‘nake standing still, staring out at a stormy sea of water and crushing ice and walked over to join her, not caring that he felt the deathly cold of the scene starting to penetrate his body.

A part of me knew it was coming. Ananke’s voice whispered in the wind around them and Chronos did his best to stay still and silent. She knew he was there but some instinct warned him that if he interfered at all, she would not remain this vulnerable with his present. And even though the god could be self centered, cruel and arrogant, he also knew how betrayal from someone you loved completely wounded like nothing else. So he allowed her this moment to grieve. I’d had micro visions, little warnings for months that there was something between them. I just didn’t want to believe it. For it to be happening meant my whole team would know if it and be allowing it and I never thought they would do that to me. And then one day I had to try and prove the visions wrong. To show myself that I was just being paranoid.

As Ananke’s voice whispered in the air around them, the visions danced across the foam and ice. He could see the back of Ananke walking up a flight of stairs. There was something odd about the way she was moving but he couldn’t really pin down what it was. Instead he was focused ahead of her, seeing what it was she was seeing. There was a discarded sweater lying in the hallway, in the otherwise immaculate house it stuck out and Chronos already suspected what it was Ananke was about to discover.

My parents had tried to keep me with them that day. At the time I didn’t realize it but later… I knew that they knew what he was doing every chance he could. Every time I wasn’t at home.

Chronos wasn’t able to see Ananke anymore, instead he saw the closed door to what he assumed would be the master bedroom. As the door opened he saw that all of his suppositions had been correct. It was the master bedroom, and Andru was inside with the woman he had seen in the store. They were in the bed, naked and asleep. The smell of musk and sex was in the air, the rest of their clothing scattered in careless abandon about the bedroom and for some reason Chronos could not help but notice that neither of them had even had the decency to put the picture of Ananke with Andru on their wedding day face down. As if they didn’t care that their actions made a mockery of the vow of fidelity. A memory of the pain Ananke felt in that moment stabbed into Chronos’ gut and he heard her retch in the memory at the sudden pain. Her sound of distress woke Andru and the man stared at her in dawning horror.

The vision of the memory cut off suddenly. Not at all forgotten but burned up in the sudden return of Ananke’s anger and her defense against the pain. I ran. He followed me and tried to stop me. Tried to explain or apologize or… It didn’t matter. I tried to get away and ended up falling down the stairs.  Ananke’s numb, emotionless voice explained and she turned to face the Chronos standing next to her on the mindscape.

He is a mortal fool. Chronos replied, not offering pity but the simple truth.

Ananke met his eyes and nodded. Shadows and dust.