Chapter Text
The Hand of Time.
Is what people refer to him as. For a name like that manifest the kind of authority he holds over time itself. Besides, it has a nice ring to it.
With time, you have progress, you have evolution. Because time is what moves the universe forward. So to be an elemental master of time, one would have a very crucial role to manage, and the many responsibilities that comes from wielding this sort of power. And it's not an easy role. Kronos knows all about it. Being the Hand of Time himself.
Or has been, at least.
A wise elemental master of time shouldn't try to abuse their power to stay immortal. For even the master of time is - like most elemental masters- still a human, and like all mortal beings, they will cease to exist. Even as an elemental master of time, Kronos knows better than to ty escaping this inevitable fate by using his powers. Trying to tempt fate will only cause fatigue and tire out an elemental master of time, and it will lead to the same result anyway, whether said master likes it or not.
Kronos learned long ago from the history of his ancestors not to tempt fate. Their arrogance was their doom, and he vowed never to wind up like them.
As a mortal elemental master, Kronos was well aware of the fact that his power will eventually pass down to someone after his generation. Not unlike the time masters before himself, aka, his ancestors, he would rather it be someone from his own bloodline.
Xiomara, a fierce, skilled warrior Kronos used to be married to years ago, is raising the new elemental master of time at this very moment. His child.
His children.
Kronos has made the mistake of leaving her before knowing she was expecting, and Xiomara, ever the stubborn woman, refuses to reunite with him for the sake of their offspring.
He recalled the argument he had with her from seven years ago when he was still an elemental master.
"This child you carry is going to become the new Hand of time! You'll need me, Mara!" she shouted at his former wife.
"You cannot be sure of that! Elemental powers can sometimes skip a generation. WE won't need you." Xiomara retorted.
"Regardless" Kronos gathered every ounce of control he could muster from his body to calm himself down. But he may have as well continued yelling at her because he was fuming, and therefore, the words that came out next sounded manacle: "I am the father. You have no right keeping my child away from me."
"You lost your chance of being a father when you abandoned me. You don’t care what becomes of me or MY child! You only care about what becomes of your powers!" she seethed at him, although Kronos could observe a hint of sadness in her voice.
And it's understandable. They haven’t parted at the best of terms. But he still hoped they could make some sort of arrangement for the sake of the new Hand of Time.
But Xiomara was having none of it.
"I can only hope the kid never takes after you because having you around is more than I can handle at the moment." The warrior sighed tiredly, resting her left palm at her belly. She suddenly seemed exhausted, which isn’t a surprise given the size of her belly is of a watermelon in spite of her being only 17 weeks pregnant.
How big is this baby? Kronos mentally cursed at himself for being so easily distracted. He frowned at her. As if suddenly became aware of her situation. He's never used to seeing her look defeated. She's a fighter, and a good one at that! Seeing her fragile is an alien concept for him, but he knows better than to test her. After all, her right hand is still griping at her katana from the beginning of this conversation.
He sighed. Now trying to weigh his options. He's well aware of the fact that he is not fit to be a father. He hasn't got the patience for that. Besides, he's never been great with children. They're so unexperienced and in need of full guidance in every step of the way for them to simply grow up.
But would he really force himself into his ex-wife's life just because there is a possibility of this child becoming the next Hand of Time?
A possibility is all it was, after all.
And even if it turns out their child will become an elemental master, will they really need him?
Xiomara is the strongest fighter he knows, albeit not being an elemental master herself. But she more than once proved herself to be of great importance; both inelegant and capable.
Perhaps his child will be fine with only having her in its life.
Or maybe you're just a cowered he forced the negative thought out of his mind. As the Hand of Time, he has a lot of enemies, and people from all sorts after him. He had enough to worry about as it is. He needn't add a child to the mix.
And just like that, the Hand of time decided, right then and there, to abandon his child (which seemed to satisfy Xiomara until he added his one term.)
He told her that there will be times that he'll come to visit unannounced, and it won't matter where she hides because he'll always find her. "I have all the time in the world." He'd said to her, choosing to ignore how much he sounded like his ancestors.
She wasn't very impressed at that, but agreed as long as these visits remain short and once a year tops.
He seemed content at that. (it's not like he's planning on visiting the first few years anyway, so it's good to have extras in the bank. Which he plans on using against her later.)
The Seven-year-old Hand of Time was currently living with both his mother and identical twin brother.
Kronos only met the boy twice: the first was at his birth. Although it was quit the shock when he found out that three minutes after his first born arrived to this world, he was followed by another one.
There is one in two possibility. He thought at the time, not quite sure how to feel about that.
The second time he visited was four years ago, the twins were three during that visit. Both had thick locks of black silky hair similar to that of their mother's (although theirs looked messier from probably playing around, Kronos assumed.) Unlike his fiery red hair that turned grey over time (the irony wasn't lost on him.) They even inherited their mother's eyes: those strange shade of hazel that almost looked like amber that he once admired so much. Really the only thing they had in common with him was probably their face structure. It was vague when he first saw them after they were born, but at the moment Kronos could see his own features grow on his sons' faces, and he took comfort in that, sort of.
During that visit, something intrigued him.
While his kids were playing, the younger twin, Acronix, seemed to have broken his brother's toy. What it was? Kronos wasn't sure. But it seemed important enough to have set the older twin to throw a tantrum.
Xiomara wasn't in the house at the moment. She said she would go run some errands and return with dinner (Which she made it clear that it was only for the three of them, excluding Kronos himself. Hinting that his visiting duration will be over once she's back.)
Kronos wasn't surprised that she didn’t feel the need to worry about leaving him alone with Krux and Acronix. Knowing full well that he has no intention of raising them all by himself but he won't let harm near his own kids.
However, it frustrated him at the time. He didn't and still doesn't know much about children! He found himself flustered when Krux started wailing over some dumb broken toy.
Kronos didn't know what to do with him, and Acronix running for some reason to what Kronos suspected was Xiomara's bedroom wasn't helping.
While the elder of his sons was grieving his now damaged toy, Kronos decided there was not much he could do but ignore him and check on the other child.
As he feared, the three-year-old was holding one of his mother's daggers (Kronos may not be an expert on children, but he knew that leaving weapons where they can be easily accessed isn't considered a suitable environment for kids.)
As he snatched the weapon from his son, the little rascal started kicking him. Before Kronos could do something about it, he noticed that the crying from the sitting room had stopped so abruptly that he found it rather suspicious.
After he placed the dagger someplace out of Acronix's reach, he dragged the younger twin along with him to where Krux was, and what the former Hand of Time saw made him froze.
Krux's hands were glowing with the familiar yellow blaze he recognizes as one of his own old powers; the ability to turn back time. But, how?
Bemused, he muttered “Fascinating.”
His son was basically a toddler, right? Isn't this too soon? Shouldn't he do something to try and settle the situation-
"Let go!" cried Acronix, clutching at his father's hand, trying and failing to pry the grip off of his arm. Kronos let loose slightly, giving the younger twin an opportunity to escape to do who knows what.
Kronos was so in awe at the scene in front of him that he forgot about whatever mischief Acronix was up to. Krux had, apparently, used his ability to move time backwards in order to fix his broken toy- (Even as it got repaired, Kronos still hasn't a clue what it was.) As Kronos was about to approach Krux, he heard Xiomara angrily yell at him from outside the house.
"KRONOS! you were supposed to be watching over them! Why is Nixy playing with a dagger?" the angry remark was quickly followed by an angry Xiomara barging into the house with her retrieved weapon and a bag of groceries, followed behind her was his troublesome son smirking at him with a childish glee. As if he was planning on getting him in trouble and succeeded. Seriously? Kronos just drifted his eyes off of him for a moment. How had he managed to get in the bedroom then outside the house that fast, let alone how he even reached the damned blade in the first place.
Kronos didn't want to argue with her about THAT right now. There was a more important matter to discuss with her. " Krux is the new Hand of Time." He blurted out.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, I just saw him use his elemental power to reverse time!" He answered, feeling irritated.
At that she avoided looking at Kronos and sighed, putting down the stuff in her hands and reached for her more energetic child. Still refusing to look at the former elemental master. "Yeah, he's been doing that for a while now." She said after what seemed like a lifetime later.
"And when were you planning on telling me, may I ask?"
"Why does it matter if I tell you or not? You were gonna find out eventually." She said defensively, now pulling Krux (who was happily playing with his now good as new toy) close to her and Acronix, shielding them as if he was about to take her sons away from her. Kidnap them. Which honestly only irritated Kronos more. "Besides, you don't need to worry about training him." She continued, "When I start teaching them both how to fight, I will tend to his needs to help better understand and control his abilities." She said with an earnest tone that dictated the matter was settled. Because there was nothing he could do that would change how things were.
And from the look she gave him, he knew his visiting time for the year has come to an end.
Interesting. That has been the first indicator that an offspring of his was guaranteed to become an elemental master. Too bad he wasn’t allowed to overstay his welcome. Despite having to leave Krux now, Kronos couldn’t deny himself from drowning in his own pool of absolute content and glee.
Maybe wait until the boys were old enough? Maybe then, he could start training him. And he would do it with or without Xiomara's approval.