Manipulator

III

Kronii was tossing and turning in her sleep, bullets of sweat on her skin. She was breathing heavily with her eyebrows furrowed.

Inside her dream was the Earth being wiped out, black smoke everywhere and fog blocking her sight. Everything was a mess, it was dark and she was all alone. She looked around, this was normal... she saw this a million of times before. Nothing new, she told herself, trying to calm down.

'Just one more time... one last time.'

Her eyes opened and her sight was welcomed by a familiar ceiling, she was back in her room. She sat up and buried her face on her hands while panting.

"Damn nightmare." She muttered curses, her heart still beating loudly inside her chest. She was struggling to catch her breathe, it was like she ran a marathon.

"Fuck..." She sighed and stood up, heading straight to her bathroom to take a bath.

She needed to clear her thoughts, she doesn't want the others to see her like that. While she was bathing, her head started throbbing like her skull was cracking in half.

"This again." She mumbled, closing her eyes shut and leaning against the wall with the shower still on.

The headache didn't last long which Kronii was thankful for. After showering she came out of her room and went to the kitchen to get some caffeine that might help her.

Sitting down and holding her cup, she decided to skip work for today. She really didn't have anything due soon she just liked burying herself in mountains of work. Taking a day off to clear her mind might be a good choice.

An hour of complete silence with just the sound of the clock's ticking. Kronii drifting deeper in her thoughts, thinking of unlimited possibilities.

"You're up early." Bae said when she entered the kitchen and saw Kronii drinking coffee.

"Yeah." The warden responded making Chaos raise a brow.

Kronii looked like she was thinking of a lot of things all at once, she was drowning in her own thoughts making the other girl worried.

"You okay?" She asked.

She waited for Kronii to reply but it seems her thoughts ate her up. She looked like a mess, a big mess, and Kronii isn't really the type to look messy considering her narcissistic personality.

Bae sighed, there were things Kronii knew that the rest of the council doesn't. It was like an unspoken rule to never ask what the other was thinking so deeply about, Kronii was a lot older than them so she probably saw a thousand things that can break one's sanity.

She's time so she probably knew what will happen in the future.

"Hey Bae..." Kronii called making Bae look at her.

"Yeah?" She sat down in front of the Warden  waiting for her to speak.

"...nevermind, it's nothing." She sighed sounding a bit frustrated making Bae tilt her head to the side slightly.

"You alright?" Chaos asked making Time frown.

"Do you want me to be honest or not?"

"You decide."

"Of course I am." Kronii said trying to give Bae a small grin which made the other girl cringe.

Bae shook her head and sighed. "I can see that."

"Last night..." Kronii sucked in a huge amount of air.

"You know what nevermi—"

"You were with Mumei on the roof, right?" Bae asked with an eyebrow raised making Kronii slowly nod her head.

"How'd you know?" She asked making Bae laugh.

"I know everything." She grinned. "Kidding, she asked me if I saw you, told her to try looking there." Bae said pointing upwards.

This made the Warden nod. "Honestly Kronii, you should take things with her to the next level. You've been in love with her for like... centuries!" Bae said making Kronii shake her head immediately.

"No."

This response made Bae groan. "Confessing is the hardest part but after that everything's just gonna go smoothly, I'm telling you to try it! It's pretty obvious that Mumei likes you too." She pointed out.

Kronii shook her head again, pushing away the idea. There was no way she was confessing to the brunette. She had already formulated at least a hundred of outcomes, most of it bad... maybe all of it. Kronii knows that she tends to overthink everything in front of her and she has hard times making decisions.

Of course the thought of confessing to Mumei ran through her head more than one time but her brain always decided against it. There was always this lingering fear inside her, fear of rejection, fear of severing their friendship, fear of losing grasp of Mumei.

Kronii was fine with Mumei being at arm's length, she could still reach the girl. She was okay with that, she didn't want to be greedy.

After all... she already went through this, she already made the same choice a couple of times before.

***

Mumei layed on her back, staring at her ceiling with a hand resting on her chest. It was still beating fast but it was okay, she knew why it was doing that.

She called that the 'Kronii effect'. She always felt like that when the other girl was around. She felt conscious of her appearance whenever Kronii was there and she always wanted to make Kronii impressed.

Mumei looked over Friend who was snoring lightly beside her, she giggled. Whenever she closed her eyes the image of Kronii laughing fills the darkness. She tried thinking of other things but it always comes back to Kronii's face.

Mumei's memory wasn't really that good, so there were times at night that she'd suddenly feel pathetic. Her thoughts becoming toxic, shadows whispering inside her brain. On unlucky nights like those, a small voice echoing on the back of her mind wakes her up.

In her every memory Kronii was there, she was always there. Beside her, behind her, holding her hand, talking to her. Time was always there with Civilization, refusing to leave. She said that Mumei might cause an accident and this and that but that only shows how concerned she was for the brunette.

Kronii's small acts of kindness towards her always painted a smile on her face and put butterflies inside her stomach.

In her dark times with shadows whispering venomous words, mocking her, teasing her, she'd always hear her voice and it wakes her up from those nightmares. For Mumei, Kronii was her hero, her safe haven, her best friend.

"I love Kronii..."

Would she even realize what the feeling she has for Kronii was? Or would she continue to believe that the love she has for Kronii was just a normal, platonic feeling?

****

A/N: Couple of errors ik and I'm too lazy to revise.

Tried so hard to write this and I'm trying to find an inspiration to continue writing this. I have a very short attention span and I can't focus on one thing, my mind just drifts somewhere else.

Sincerely quacking,
Doooochidoo.