The Death of Time

...Is not wasted

Getting so late so soon…

When Ananke opened her eyes, it was to realize that Chronos had piloted her body while she had fallen apart over a memory. They were no longer in the store, nowhere near those people that had hurt her and Herald was sitting protectively close to her. Gone was the sexual feeling to his closeness though, instead he hovered like a mother bear does over her cubs. They were in the back of another anonymous taxi, with bags crinkling beside her and letting her know that although she’d taken a short jaunt away from reality, Herald had completed the task at hand and they were equipped. It was time to leave the country again and Ananke was more than glad at the opportunity to put space between her and the actors in her past.

Chronos was staying silent, reviewing the memory he had witnessed and holding onto every precious detail like a miser does gold coin.  There was more to that memory than just what Ananke had let him see, he was sure of it. Some reason she had allowed her anger to burn out the image before he had seen what had happened for himself. And the Titan god was just honest with himself to admit that the curiosity to see what had happened next was going to eat at him until he worked his way past her defences to view the whole memory. Even though she clearly didn’t want him in the know.

“Thank you.” Ananke said softly to Herald and the undying man looked down at her a little.

“It’s my duty. I apologize for the incident on the plane. I am not normally moved to demonstrative excesses like that. There was an unusual pull from you in that moment. It is gone now though and I hope our relationship can return to the normal parameters of before.” Herald offered, the words almost clinical but with a human emotion in them all the same.

Ananke nodded, not needing words to agree to that sentiment. Their current task at hand would be made much simpler by not having to worry over her travel companion’s emotional advances. It was hard enough to bear the burden of Chronos’ extreme conflagrations of passion and ire.

And what exactly is that supposed to mean? Chronos demanded, unaware of the irony that her words made him smolder with irritation.

That you burn hotter than phosphorous. Ananke immediately replied and the Titan god felt her faint sense of smugness. He had been trying to root out the rest of the memory he had witnessed, so he could see what she wanted to hide from him, but her words had successfully derailed his search. She might not have realized what he was doing, but she knew enough to try and distract him.

We should not delay with another night in this place. Take us to the airport and get us to our next location. Chronos barked out, trying to see if he could command the body they shared once again. To his frustration it was just out of his control still, seeming to never belong to him unless the mortal woman relinquished her dominion.

Instead of fighting with the raging Time god, Ananke simply relayed the command to Herald and seemed satisfied to allow the immortal Ambassador the chance to take the lead. Her emotional calm now seemed at odds to the maelstrom her ex-husband and team mate had roused earlier, and yet it held the weight of exhaustion and not numbness. She was trying to stay alert and focused, wanting to keep her control absolute from the one sharing her body and yet it also seemed like she was falling into a fugue state where despite her best efforts, nothing really stayed in her focus.

Chronos drifted with her, not realizing that she attention had left the world around them to settle deeper, or maybe he did recognize that but some part of him was hoping to reveal more of her past. He didn’t quite know which was right and wasn’t honest with himself enough anyways, to admit one or the other. Instead he felt her attention let go and turned inwards with her, sinking into the strange mindscape she held within. What felt like lifetimes ago he had shared a nightmare with her involving blood water and thousands of rocks on the shore. Each rock had been written with the word Aeon on it and he had seen Ananke fondle similar rocks in the real world enough to know they held some sort of importance.