Sins of The Innocent

Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/94918402
Diary 3---Entry 14 A Future Too Late

“Sorry she’s already gone out for the day!” Putting the phone back down, Mumei sighs heavily. She returns to keeping up the appearance of their home, tiding up the living room table and taking a couple empty bowls to the sink, preparing to start the dish washer. The second bowl only half eaten, her absent roommate only eating a little before heading to work for the day. She had to go into a neighboring town for a special job. It paid at a higher rate than the usual, so the girls decided it was worth taking, even if it meant Kronii would be home late. Not that time was ever an issue for Kronii. Even after the advent, she could hold some sway over the flow. Not enough to go back and prevent... it... but enough. The T.V. is on in the living room, just some noise in the background to make the place not feel as empty. The news is on, another day of reporting at ground zero. The site that changed the timeline irreversibly. Not that any of them will ever find out what happened. They'd need to get Kronii for an interview. And guess what! Kronii is booked for the rest of eternity!

Ring ring Ring ring Ring ring

Setting the bowls down into the sink, Mumei wanders back over to the phone. More popular than ever, Kronii’s maid service is in high demand. Even the worst of messes were cleaned up, in time, by the ultimate maid. She could do them in what seems like an instant, but she charges by the hour. So it usually takes all day to do a job. As the phone continues to ring, Mumei recites the line for the millionth time, “Sorry, she’s not here!” Unfortunately, Kronii doesn’t give out her personal number, so the calls always go to the house phone. That’s where her secretary takes care of things. Mumei reaches for the phone and answers the call, “AVE! Hello, Ouro’s Perfect Cleaning Service, we can clean it no matter what!” With her usual spiel, Mumei speaks, awaiting to deliver the news that Kronii can’t be reached.

“Hello. Mumei? It’s me.” Mumei’s eyes widen at the sound of the voice on the opposite end of the phone. She is happy to hear the voice but also slightly filled with anxiety by the possible reasons for the voice to contact her and Kronii out of the blue like this.

“Oh. OH! HEY! Wh-what has you calling us today? I mean…what’s up? How’s the life and such uh…going? Are you well? How is everyone else doing?” She shoots the questions out one after another in rapid succession, her feelings taking over the situation more than her mind.

The voice responds and in turn, asks a few questions of their own. The conversation flows until ultimately landing on the question Mumei had originally planned on answering.

“Ah. Kronii…She’s not here.”

“Would you pass the message on to her then?”

“Yeah…yeah of course. I’ll let her know you guys want to see her.”

“Thank you Mumei. Take care!”

“You too!”

Click

The call ends and Mumei breathes a heavy sigh of relief. She smiles, a face of hope that has long been hidden by the despair that weighs heavy on her, on every council member’s shoulders, current and former. Mumei picks the phone back up and dials for Kronii. Unsure of how Kronii will take it however, she’s not completely confident in what she’ll end up saying and secretly hopes Kronii will just let it go to voice mail. It’d be a bigger relief to talk to the robot voice than Kronii’s at the moment. After speaking to the voice mail, Mumei sets the phone back down and stares at the T.V.
"Give them a chance Kronii. It's been a long time..."

Walking out of the freshly cleaned house, a job completed! A fantastic job! A Perfect job! I gather my things and return to my bike, fitting the cleaning supplies on back and buck them in for security. I wave good-bye to the owners and start my bike up. Ah right. I got a message earlier. Well a message from Mumei, not like anybody is contacting me anymore. I get on my phone and look at the past messages. Oh...not a message..a voice mail. Miss me that much? I know, I know, hard to be away from perfection.

“Hey Kronii. Bae called from Aulis. She said she had a job for you. I’m not sure if she meant like, cleaning job or…job…job…but she asked me to send this message to you. How are Kronii? I hope you’re ok. I know you’ll be back late so don’t feel bad. I’ll order something tonight instead of cook since I’m not feeling 100% today. Have a nice day bye! No more messages.”

I put my phone into my bag and stare out into the world for a few moments. So broken…fragmented…shattered across time and space…just like us… Ah…heh…what am I thinking…Job’s done. I…suppose I could humor the request and see what Bae wants. Although…she was probably doing it on behalf of someone else…I start my bike up and head back towards home, it’s slightly helpful that Aulis is on the way back. Or at least sort of on the way back, just a small detour, nothing big. I make sure everything is packed in securely and tap the side of my bike, making sure my sword is still in place and drive off. Not that anything out here is a threat to me but…you never know. I put my goggles on and head out into the horizon, the sun starting it’s decent to the underworld and the moon stealing its place. I’ll have enough daylight, and if I don’t…I’ll make enough daylight. I check the mirror on my right, just out of habit. For a second…I swear…was there something standing off in the distance? People out in the middle of nowhere? Maybe…if they were trying to reach the city or something I guess. Not too uncommon…yeah…refugees or something.

The stinging in my left arm ramps up, I wince in pain for just a moment and blink.

Whirl
CRASH
DING

Before I reopen my eyes the sound enters my eyes and I reflexively freeze time. No chance for the usual fancy snap, what was that? An explosion? Where? I look from left to right, trying to see evidence of some sort of fall, explosion, something. Hmm not here, not there…then where? I look backwards, searching for something. But nothing is behind me either, how odd. Then the realization hits me, I never looked forward. I closed my eyes and then immediately checked to the left and right of me. Well let’s see what’s there…maybe I was just hearing things? In front of my bike, a few dozen meters at most, is a…a trident? A trident? Out here? Wh-aaaaaa. Damn…Arm hurts…

In the split second that my consciousness focused on the pain in my arm, I lose control of the flow of time and time started moving again. Rapidly approaching the trident, my bike still at full speed, I turn slightly to the left to avoid it and that’s where I see it. The same figure that I had thought I’d seen in my mirror. A clocked figure leaps out at me, it’s right hand extended out, as if it’s trying to grab onto me. Tough luck, you’re gonna need more than that to catch me. I freeze time once more speed ahead beyond the trident. What in the world is a trident doing out here? Am I actually losing it? Am I GWAK?!

I feel tugging on my skirt?! How? Time has frozen! That’s impossible! Only I can move will the world is frozen in stasis! Then she?! I look to the side and see a shadow! A shadow is still moving?! Is it because it’s not a real being? A creature of darkness? What the hell? What the actual hell?!
...

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...

"What?"

Did it just? Did this thing just speak to me? Alright this is creepy as hell, enough of this! I slam the side of my bike and my sword pops up. I grab it with my right hand, continuing to steer with my left. I swing it at the shadow, hoping it’ll do…something! It lets go of my skirt and leaps away. So it has some capacity for intelligence, leaping away from my attack. Well…if time stop doesn’t affect them I might as well cancel it since it could harm me more than help. Letting time flow normally once more I check my mirrors for the creature. So it can think and move while time is frozen, I guess I’ve finally met my match.

In my left ear I begin to hear some sort of whirling sound, like some extremely fast, and more than likely dangerous, is headed my way. Well from a predictable locations at least and it’s a physical object. I can stop time and get out of the way no problem. The sound gets closer and closer, it’s near, actually…the sound has slowed down…the object is slowing down. Guess it’s user didn’t account for physics, or maybe they over-estimated their strength. I don’t need to even stop time for this I can just dodge it. The object enters my vision and I know I’ll dodge it.

Whish…. I push my head forward and slightly to the left...just a bit... and smirk. Too easy. Amateurs probably think just because they saw a beautiful maiden all out on her lonesome that she’d be an easy target. Think again!

Ding… There we go, must’ve hit a rock or something to the side of me. Whatever. They’re not a threat. I look ahead…almost made it to Aulis. The shadow creature is curious but there’s no reason to worry. I’ve got this. I…

Whish… WHAT?! I turn towards the fallen trident. It’s returning to its master?! What the fu…
My words are cut short as the trident nicks my goggles, knocking them off of my face. A small gash splits my right eyebrow in half. I keep my eyes on the location that the trident is returning to. A girl standing up upon a mountain of stone, staring at me. I slow down to stop and then turn towards her. She expected me to dodge to the left because that's where I moved away from the trident earlier. She threw it based on that single moment... What a vicious predator.... Definitely not your average thug out here. My eyes meet hers for what feels like an eternity. What a smug look she has plastered over her face. She raises her hand and the shadow that was chasing me vanishes. She slams her trident into the ground, the sound echoes throughout the area like she’s claiming ownership of it. Hmph. So you got a hit on me, don’t let it get to your head! She turns away and starts sinking into the ground. Her bright white robes turn black…she must be of similar nature to the creatures she summoned. Well…for whatever reason…she left. What did she want from me? Bizzare…but…that was the most exciting thing I’ve done in months! Alright... just…get the hell over to Bae. I should just go home…ugh I don’t want to make Mumei look bad by not showing…whatever. I pick up my goggles, surprisingly, they’re not very damaged. That’s kind of odd…My face definitely was unfortunately...

I pull up to a home on the edge of the hills in Aulis. I guess this is where they’re at. As good a guess that I can make with the directions Mumei sent. I put my sword back into the side of the bike, locking it back inside. Baelz comes racing down the stairs to the house to meet me.

“HeyKronii!Longtimenosee!Haveyoubeenwell?How’sbusiness?Lifetreatingyouwellbuddy?” She rapid fires the questions out way too quickly. I'd blame this headache on her but it'd be unfair to dump some issues on her after seeing each other the first time in a long time. I think I caught the gist of it though. Same Bae, she’s still got that charm about her. Just can't dislike her.

“Yeah…hey…it has been a while huh? I’m well. I hope you have been too.”

“Yeah I’ve been well I’m glad you showed up. Let me show you up to the house and we can all talk there.” As I thought, Bae did this on the behalf of the others. They still can’t give it up can they?

“Right, yeah. Let’s head up then yeah?” Bae smiles at me and leads the way, walking me up the stairs and to the door inside. I return her smile with an uneasy one of my own.

“You first!” She brightly exclaims.
"Yeah… thanks Bae…and…sorry for doing this."
I enter the room and instantly freeze time. I shut the door and lock it, ensuring that she doesn’t have to see the ugliness that is about to ensue from the conversation that I’ll be having with the other two girls here.

I resume time and can hear Bae yelling outside the door. Yeah…sorry again Bae… I watch the door to the right of the living room open up. It’s them…

“Heh…I feel sorry for you, carrying her around.” I stare at nature, pushing space in. She’s a shell of her former self, sitting dilapidated in a wheelchair. Nature pretending not to notice the comment, but I know she heard me.

“The day of the explosion.” She calls out

“What do you want from me?” I ignore her words.

“I managed to escape with my life”

“What the hell was that thing after me?” I ignore again, not trying to make small talk here.

“Before the cala…” I cut her off

“I’m leaving.” I walk towards the door and reach for the handle before hearing one final call.

“We need your assistance Kronii.”

“Not interested.”

“I…we acknowledge that the council…owes the planet a lot. We…we made a mistake. It goes without saying that we’re the ones responsible for the sorry state…ahem the present state the world is in. It still is, however, our responsibility to set things right.” I turn back around at the two “council” members. A couple of shadows clinging on to the embers of a flame that has long since faded.

She stares down at the floor, still keeping her face hidden underneath her cloak. She raises her head only slightly when speaking. As if very carefully, she’s keeping her eyes hidden. I can only make out her lower jaw and lips underneath.

“We’ve already commenced an investigation to find her.” That voice calls out from beyond the door once more. Still can’t take a hint can you?

“We began around Atlantis.” The other council member now speaks as she stands stoically. Nature. Look at you now, guess you shouldn’t have left civilization to do it on their own huh?

“So what do you think we found there?” She remains silent for a few moments, perhaps hoping I’ll entertain her idea and feed her an answer. Not that she’ll get one, I’m done working with them. I’ve been done.

“Ahem…nothing. Nothing at all. So… you can relax. But we were…interrupted. By the same assailants after you. Gura. Gawr Gura.

“Gura?” That’s a name I haven’t heard before. So was it their intrusion that woke this.. thing up? Hmm…and if so…why did she come after me?

“It seems they didn’t want us to finish what we were doing …” She trails off…is she…no…she is. She’s hiding something from me. Not like she’ll tell me anyways.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“You’re our buddy aren’t ya?” The rat squeals from the outside but I ignore her words.

“Gura is young and violent, as dangerous as they come. So we find it in our…all of our…best interest in getting the gang back together.”

“Too bad. I’m just a maid now.” I look away and my eyes land on a clock on the wall. I gave that life up.

“Do maids have scars on their faces? What’s that cut above your eye Kronii?”

“Got it from that weirdo earlier that’s all.”

“And you didn’t…rewind time on the wound?” Her words dig into me. I bite my tongue, trying not to go off on her for that.

“Or perhaps…you don’t control the flow as powerfully anymore?

“Yeah so what of it. None of us hold our full power anymore. That’s the price we paid.” I reply angerly, she knows it just as much as I do. Probably wanted to get that rise out of me.

“I get it I get it. I apologize for my behavior but…You’re all we have Kronii. Look…you’re an ex-council member aren’t you.”

I let out a laugh for myself, is it out of self-pity or shame? “Heh…in my head maybe.”
I unlock the door, pull it open and see Baelz poking her face through the opening. “What’s this about a...Watson?” I ask them.

“Why? Did…Gura say something? Not surprising. Plenty of people have been shuffled in and out of the city with that name. That’s the world we’re living in. Apparently everyone is looking for this mysterious Watson.” The woman in the wheelchair answers my question and shoots me with a couple of her own. An annoying trait that tells me our conversation is just about over.

“All we want…Kronii…is to…rebuild our world.” She raises her right arm and opens up her hand. Is she…offering me…"We still consider you a member Kronii. Even if you aren't the Lord of Time. You still control the flow. You're the only person in this universe that can."

“Sana…sigh But I…” Trailing off I enter my own thoughts. We all know I'm not this timeline's lord...I thought I was but...sigh But she's right, I know she's right. To fix things…The balance needs to be repaired. I just…can I still even…the loss of humanity has had its effects on me as well. I know with each passing day I get weaker and weaker. My body giving up as time moves forward. Just copy...nothing like the original...My left arm still stings…It’ll probably be the first part of me to fade away.

“C’mon Kronii! Think about it! We could do so much together! We could even rebuild the council!” The high pitched voice intrudes from outside and stabs needles through my heart. Rebuild the council? Ridiculous! These fools….haven’t learned a damn thing. I turn to the door and exit this time.

“Not interested.” I walk out and down the stairs to my bike.

“BAE!” The two inside shout out simultaneously. I’m sure they’ll have much to discuss for her actions there. More importantly however…what am I going to do with this information? So a gang of creatures…monsters…are after…council members? Current and former ones huh…
I get back on to my bike and return to the city. The motor starting up interrupts the calm air of the…new…council headquarters. Or is it a secret base? Or is it a place to hide from the world? Whatever. It’s done. Let them do whatever they want. It’s all gone to hell anyways.

I fit the goggles over my face and begin moving out. The sharp pain starts crawling up my left arm. This is happening more and more often. Well…it’s not that bad. I’ve felt plenty worse. I pull my left arm away from the bike handle and leave the controls to my right. The road ahead is clear. Eh…mostly clear but I don’t think I’ll run into anything out here. Well…run into anything a second time. I dangle my left hand down on the side of the bike, feeling around for my blade just in case someone or something feels like testing its luck again. I’m not gonna let myself get jumped like that a second time. The sun starts to set over the valley, the temperature of the air is dropping. Feels a lot colder nowadays, I wonder if that’s also an effect of the calamity. We should have never let…her…take the limiter off…

I gaze from left to right, staring at the horizon…or at least what remnants of it that still exist. Some mountains far out in the distance. No…mountain isn’t the right word. More like a crater. Here we are in this messed up, remnant of a planet, hoping we…No…Not going to think like that. It’s gone. It’s over. Just get home and rest.

I pull up to my house and park my bike inside the garage. I pull my sword out of the side of the bike and slide it into a special case with the rest of my cleaning supplies. That's normal...Normal…enough. Yeah. Let’s go. I need to get inside for some well-earned R&R. "Heyyyy Mumei! Let’s do pizza tonight!"

Eschatology:
Entry 2