Aoi wakes up to see himself in a futuristic-like city..with a crowd of people wearing clothes not from any present timeline, they are all pointing their phones at him, flashing photos.
He realizes that he's in the middle of the street, holding The Chrono-Savior while he's unconscious with a life threatening wound.
Besides all of that, he begins to stand up, barely, and takes a look at his surroundings. A version of New Eidon rebuilt as a sprawling neon metropolis.
"Where's the nearest hospital?!" Aoi yells into the crowd.
"Nearest one is on your left-" a voice that comes from the crowd, and when they start walking through, everybody moves aside. Aoi originally thought it was going to be Kira again..but those were probably just because of his previous encounter with her…
Instead it's a man. A man with a futuristic body suit on, along with a katana on his back. Neon glasses and a confident smirk. "I'll take him."
Meanwhile….
Prime Aoi had instead traveled to Timeline: Artificial (Also known as Timeline: 00000). An unnamed timeline where the TRA held prisoners such as other Aoi variations who broke the "Time Laws" that Prime Aoi had sent.
Prime Aoi walks inside the prison, it's a max security prison, they had prisoners restrained at ALL times. And they even kept the Aoi variant's Chrono-Watches away.
"Just more dogs who decided to run away from their owner." He says to himself, making sure to take a look at every single prisoner he saw.
Kira appears in front of Prime Aoi, concealing her sword, kneeling before Prime Aoi. "We couldn't catch the Aoi variant. Matter of fact, I let him go."
Prime Aoi's relaxed expression quickly turns into a irritated one. "Your job was to capture Aoi and The Chrono-Savior, and put them in the Dimensional Prison. But instead, you let your feelings get in the way of the task at hand!" He raises his voice a little, before grabbing Kira by the neck. "The truth is, your only purpose is to help me in my journey in conquering time. WHY DID YOU LET HIM GO?!" Prime Aoi says, his Chrono-Gauntlet whirring.
"I'm sorry-" those were the only words she could say, balling up her fist. No matter how much she wanted to fight back, she knows that the consequences of fighting back, would be more dangerous than that.
"I should lock you up in that cell with the rest of them-" Prime Aoi lets go of Kira's neck, letting her fall back down to her knees before walking past her.
"After all…you're replaceable."
Meanwhile..
Aoi was able to get Chrono-Savior to a hospital, the doctors seeing Chrono-Savior as the only man who can protective all of the timelines, took him in quickly.
Aoi followed the doctors until they went into another room, telling Aoi to please wait until further notice. He sits in a chair outside the room, he can only feel regret for what he couldn't do.
"If only I just balled up my feelings and fought Kira back there.." Aoi balled up his fist, before making one final decision, he got up from the chair and moves past the doctors nearby and leaving the hospital. He was so fed up with the Chrono-Watch, he just wanted to go home.
Walking along the streets of timeline 5503, his expression can't be described as he looks at his Chrono-Watch, to be honest..Prime Aoi was the only reason he didn't die back when he broke his last Chrono-Watch. The death of Kira played over and over again in his head everytime he thought about this new Kira variant..
Suddenly, the man from before walked up to him. "Hey, you good man? I got you this-"
He hands Aoi a light white jacket. "Your clothes are getting dirty, we can talk more at my place-" The man wrapped his arm around Aoi's shoulder with a friendly grin.
The two arrived at the man's apartment, where he states that his name is Jason, and that he's usually Chrono-Savior's "side-kick".
"So..how old is Chrono-Savior right now..? Since he's another version of me.." Aoi says as he takes a seat.
"Well, the Aoi in this universe is 24 years old." Jason causally says, the statement shocks Aoi, only being 19 years old.
"Wait..So if you're here..then there's someone like you in every universe..?" Aoi is clearly affected by Kira's words, thinking everyone around him can be copied in every timeline.
"Look, if you're concerned for Chrono-Savior, you shouldn't worry all too much, their hospitals are the most advanced in all of the timelines. He should be up and going soon-"
Jason reassured as he went to go grab a soda from his fridge.
"Wow..things are a lot better here than any other timeline I visited…"
"Why don't we visit your timeline?~" Jason suggests lazily, drinking his soda while looking at the television screen, constantly switching between channels.
"You know how to choose what timeline you go to?!" Aoi's eyes brighten up, the chance to talk to his mother, to explain his recent absence, to finally get a chance to think about his father.
"Yep, as long as you know what timeline you're from-" Jason stands up, before throwing his soda can into the trash can.
"I don't know any names to any timelines..I mind as well kiss my dreams of being back at home goodbye.." Aoi sighs, looking at his Chrono-Watch in disappointment as it ticks every once in a while, like an actual watch.
Jason, after looking at Aoi and his Chrono-Watch, the way it's built. "Your Chrono-Watch…" He paused, letting his words linger, "It's still in its early stages."
Aoi's expression changed, he always questioned the fact on how most important Aoi variants had a…"different" version of the Chrono-Watch. "Early stages..?" Aoi said, letting the words sink in before he thinks on his next response.
"Have you experienced any weird events, like visions..or something more supernatural involving your Chrono-Watch?-" Jason asked, remote still in hand as he turns off the television, the constant noise cutting off in a instant. Silence hangs in the air for a bit, a bit too long.
Aoi began to remember what he experienced when he tried one of the Chrono-Watch prototypes back in a previous timeline. The constant whispers, calling him names.."You could say that..When dealing with this Warlord version of me..I saw something, someone, like my younger self. It's like, i could SEE what changed him. what made them go down that path."
The words struck confusion but also interest in Jason's expression, crossing his arms like Aoi's situation isn't something he's seen before, looking at Aoi, his concern, and most importantly his Chrono-Watch. "You're different.."
Meanwhile..
Chrono-Savior opened his eyes, devices hooked up to his body, the hospital lights, and most importantly, he realized his Chrono-Arm his gone. He tries to get up but instantly struggles. There's a pain in his stomach that can only be desribed as a empty hole. He raises the blanket and lifts up his shirt to find bandages around his stomach, whenever he touched it, it reminded him of what kind of damage Kira inflicted upon him.
"That other version, what kind of connection did he have with Kira in general for him to not at least fight back..I almost died for him." Aoi mutters to himself, empty compliants that reached no one.
The door slowly swings open to reveal a doctor with a tablet of some sort in her hand, walking into the room with a professional and calculating glare and introduced herself as Dr. Elise Maren."Two hours. Unconscious for two hours. That's the first time you've been knocked up this hard. Not even The Tyrant would fight with you for this long to get you this hurt.."
"Where's the Arm?" The Savior asks with growing concern, grunting slightly in pain everytime he moved. He didn't care about his own condition, just the thought of the power he wielded..the power he lost with.
"We decided to take it for research reasons, to see if such a stress-inducing situation from you can affect how it functions, seeing as how the Chrono-Watch is bonded with its host, the arm malfunctioned, maybe due to the near death experience, or maybe due to the damage it had to take." Dr.Maren calculated, her words echoed through the room, the noise of nearby doctors and nurses passing by, Chrono-Savior's expression morphed into one of irritation.
"Stole something of mine without permission?! Do you know the possibilities on what could've happened, the Chrono-Watch IS dangerous, as much as I use it, it affects time, it bends time, it pierces through time! You people thought you could understand that concept and benefit it into something more, knowing the government nowadays, I'm not surprised they tried to." Chrono-Savior sits on the edge of the bed, a tired but irritated expression still plastered on his face as he rested on hand on his stomach.
Meanwhile, Timeline: 00000
Kira strolls through the halls of the dimensional prison, making sure her last patrol around the cells really sticks.She carries herself with a quiet, unshakable calm, her expression unreadable. There's an almost icy stillness in her gaze, as if she's been tempered by hardship and learned to keep her emotions locked away. Her presence feels distant, as if she's perpetually observing the world from behind an invisible barrier, detached and guarded. After checking up on the prisoners, she walks the other way, walking through a different hall, walking past other TRA agents with a distant expression, Prime Aoi's words flashed through her mind countless times.
There was rooms in the next hallway, all numbered for different TRA agents, and for generals, were by name.
"Kira Yuunagi." Was written above the door with professional writing.
Throughout all the thinking..her thoughts began to focus on the one variant that truly stuck. "Variant 00042: Aoi Takamura." She whispered to herself, There was nothing different about it, no title, no detail about his abilities/talents, just his name. Her stoicism softens just a bit, his words, showed that there was actual emotion behind them, actual care for others.
For a moment, she was convinced that..
"That's not the Aoi Takamura's I know of.."