Kronos (Book Two)

Four Months

The atmosphere of Tartarus falls upon Penelope Watanabe's household.

They were waiting for him to come home on Nov 22, but unease settled in. Hikari noticed an unstable change in energy that made her nervous. Karisa was crying loudly for her dad.

"It's okay. Everything will be alright", Penny tried to calm her daughter.

Hikari saw something happened that made her heart drop. A small line deviating from the current line. Her little brother just jumped backwards in time. She turns off the video camera to hide her expression. She didn't want to worry Penelope and everyone.

She then sees the end of the current line growing faint and it stops just like the previous lines. Where or what time is he jumping to? It was going slowly on her end. She types up some notes about what she saw.

How long will this take?

"Hikari, did something happen to him?", as Aiko heard her typing away.

"I can't say."

"Please tell me!", Penny demanded. Nicholas holds her baby while Delphine holds her.

"Penny, he....jumped backwards in time again", Hikari told her with a heavy heart.

"But why? He said he was coming home soon", Misha questioned.

"Could it have been that uneasy feeling? Did something stop him from coming through to us?", Greg asked.

Aiko sits down with Delphine comforting her. Her mind swirls from the possible monsters that got in his way.

"If he jumped backwards, then he is still alive", Delphine reassured.

"Maybe it will be short just like with the October dates. We just have to wait", Hikari mentioned.

"Since he's alive, we will wait for him. He should be here by Thanksgiving time", Penny hoped.

Misha is worried and hugs Penny tightly.

"Everything will be alright. I know it."

More of his messages and pictures come through and they go through each one to catch up on his journey. Penny plays her voice message.

"........I hope you are eating popcorn with the chocolate pieces. I liked how those nights with just us would end up in the bedroom...."


She quickly stops it and takes it off speakerphone.

"So that's why we aren't allowed to stay the night when that happens", Misha joked.

Penny coughs and goes to the bathroom to finish the message.


"....I miss holding you in my arms. I miss your light snoring on our bed. I promise to never let go of you again. I love you."

"Just wait until you get home. We won't stop until we drop", Penny replied.

She played a video message from her husband and her eyes widened and showed some relief. She finishes it and returns to the table to play the videos. There were some videos of him training with aura and this validated Hikari's belief that the energy comes from a living being.

"That is so cool! Imagine what he can do when he comes back", Greg mentioned.


"A real-life superhero", Misha concluded.

Penny sees another message from Taki and takes it off the speaker to hear what he has to say. She hides her face from her loved ones as she gets up to the bathroom.

"Guess what I'm looking at. The photo of you and that costume. It's too bad I can't take care of myself because Artemis will hear it."

Penny's blood warms up from his words. She decides to go to the night that made her heart pound with love. She heard him recite the poem.