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It’s the same sound she’s heard countless times before. Timekeeper Cookie, or at least a version of her, is here in her time pocket.
“Hello there, Flow.” She says. Ruler of the Ephemeral Flow!Timekeeper doesn’t even need to turn around. She knows that it’s Save the Future!Timekeeper. For what seems like the millionth time.
“…What do you want?” She whispers, refusing to look in her other self’s direction. She doesn’t deserve her attention. She doesn’t deserve anyone’s attention. “Are you here to pester me again? Do you not know when to give up?”
“The existence of all of us is at stake, dear Flow!~ Why would I give up, when in such a dire situation?” STF smiles, carrying her Sonic Embroider in her hand. “All I want, all we want, is for you to step out. Even for one minute. You do not even need to stay for long! Simply come out for once, and you will have reset our timer!”
It’s been like this for a while. Versions of her appearing through a rift, straight inside of her time pocket, begging her to leave for once lest all of them eventually be erased.
She had learned a lot about time pockets from being in one. It took an ordinary cookie around an hour to start disappearing from other timelines when being stuck in one. And when they got out, no matter the amount of time they spent stuck in one, they would always feel uneasy and nauseous.
It was different for what were essentially time gods. She had spent… she couldn’t even count how long she had spent in this one time pocket. Yet not a single Timekeeper had been erased.
Why? Why couldn’t it just… happen already?
There was no need for all of these different versions of her. Cookies who, despite overseeing a place dedicated to fixing timelines, broke time themselves. Cookies who had too much knowledge of time, so much that they should have crumbled millennia ago. Cookies who, just for fun, warped time to their every whim.
There was no need for that.
“No matter how hard you beg, I will not leave.” Flow grumbles. “Why not accept it? You will all disappear. And who will care? I will not.”
STF’s stupidly cheeky expression doesn’t change, but Flow can tell that she’s getting annoyed.
“We are both losing our patience.” She says. STF doesn’t reply, instead stepping back inside of the rift she made.
She doesn’t even bother to fix it, much to Flow’s annoyance. She has to move herself to fix the rift.
“Good riddance.” Flow says, before moving back to the middle of the time pocket and laying down. It was better this way. Nothing could change her mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flow would never admit that she was lonely. Not in a thousand years. Not in a million. Not in a billion.
A being like her didn’t deserve companionship. She deserved to wallow in her own pity.
Poor Croissant. It was all her fault that she was gone, wasn’t it? If only she stayed and helped them longer, then she would still be alive. Their timeline would still be alive. She should have left some time ago, left to see her favorite little engineer and make sure that she was okay…
And now her dear engineer, then Director of the TBD, was lost for good.
Once, a Croissant much like her tried to coax her out of the time pocket. She didn’t fall for it. She kicked her out herself. How dare they? How dare those stupid TBD directors attempt to pull at her heartstrings like that? Did they think she was a fool?
There were a lot of cookies that tried to get her to leave. Maybe it wasn’t just Timekeepers in that collection of TBD Directors anymore. She remembered when she used to be a part of them. They all met in a timeline they had taken over. Except, it wasn’t exactly taken over. Because it was a completely empty timeline. Other than the occasional clockbot.
She remembered helping everyone fix it up to their liking. A gear here, a gear there, and soon they had made it into a safe haven for TBD directors.
There were some baffling visitors to her time pocket. She saw a version of the interdimensional criminal once, except she was wearing attire much like other Timekeepers. How she even managed to become a director, let alone be accepted into the Director Rift, was completely lost on her.
What fools.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flow hears the sound of a time rift opening again. She braces herself for another conversation with STF, but this seems… different.
“…You are Ruler of the Ephemeral Flow Timekeeper, correct?” The voice behind her says, and she turns around to take a look at the new visitor.
She likes seeing new versions of herself. It just reminds her of how desperate the Directors are getting. It’s satisfying, in a way.
This one hurts her eyes. She’s covered in pink and hearts. Her visible eye is pink, and the time rift is covered by a pink heart eyepatch. Her clothes are blindingly white, and she’s holding her own Sonic Embroider, pink and heart shaped. She sticks out like a sore thumb in her time pocket.
“…It is not Valentine’s Day.” Flow mocks the other Timekeeper. She simply smiles.
“I know that.” The other Timekeeper replies. “My name is Timeless Love Timekeeper. It is quite nice to meet you!~”
“I am not leaving, Timeless.” She refuses to call the other ‘Love’. “Tell the other Directors that I am not leaving. You are not going to do any better than them just because you are pink and cutesy looking. In fact, you will probably do worse. You are already hurting my eyes.”
“That is not what I am here for, silly!~” Love giggles to herself. Flow doesn’t react. This is another trick, isn’t it? She’s going to try and get on her good side so that she’ll leave. She won’t let her. But she will humble her attempt.
“…Fine. What is it, then?”
“I wish to talk with you! It must be so lonely in this time pocket, so I thought talking to you may lift your spirits! You do not have to leave, I simply wish to talk.”
Sure, whatever. Whatever she was going to talk about, Flow’d let her ramble. There was no chance she would actually *listen*, but it wouldn’t hurt to have someone to talk to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“My TBD is quite the place to be!~ We protect timelines from love! That is, to say, that we prevent lovestruck cookies from ending timelines because of silly crushes.”
Flow wasn’t sure when she finally tuned into Love’s rant. At first, she tried to block it out by thinking of other things, but she was just… too loud.
“It is a very specific job, but we do well! Why, last week or so, I had to prevent some cookie from giving up their entire timeline branch to power some revival device! Such silliness. Don’t you agree?”
Flow almost opened her mouth to respond. Why did she want to respond so bad? She didn’t care about whatever the Time Balance Department in another timeline did. All of them were dead to her. Some day, an employee in Love’s TBD would go against their entire reason for working there and sacrifice timelines for their own love, and there would be no going back. That was just how all TBDs were. Incompetent fools.
So why did she almost respond?
“…That is fine, I suppose. You do not have to actually… listen. I simply wanted to rant to someone. I never had a Croissant of my own, afterall. Nor a String Gummy.”
“…You don’t… have a Croissant?” She instinctively responds.
Damnit.
It was a question she was actually interested in, to be fair. Even with the other Timekeepers, she had never heard of one who didn’t seek out their past self. She had even heard of several of them getting with their past self, which she had to admit she had thought of before. Before, well…
“Oh! So you *are* listening, hm?” Love pipes up, eye lighting up with excitement. “And here I was, thinking that I was talking to a ghost!”
“Shut up. Just tell me why you do not have a Croissant.”
“Can do, Mx. Grumpy.” Love scoffs. “I never felt the need to find my past self! Witnessing fools in love was all the fun I needed. I just never had the urge to play with a Croissant Cookie. Besides, when I was her… I would rather not go back.”
Was that a flash of shame on the other Timekeeper’s face? Flow saw her cheery mood falter for just a second before it returned.
“Why, you should have seen my face when I first came to the Director Rift! I was so confused, I even asked them all how their timelines had not been broken due to instability! Oh, to go back to when I first mastered my powers…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Do you still desire to eat?”
Flow was still sitting on the floor of her time pocket. This was the fifth time Love had come to say hi. She appreciated the company. Although she would never admit it.
“…I have no urge to eat. I have eaten the same sandwiches so many times that I do not care for the taste anymore. I have eaten everything I could think of. I have even eaten other cookies. All taste is simply meaningless.”
Love blinks, her eye going narrow.
“…That is… certainly something to admit!” She perplexes. “…Anyways, I brought us two sandwiches! They are from the Sandwich Cookie in my timeline. Her sandwiches are simply delicious.”
Love slides the bag of food towards Flow, watching as Flow slowly turns her head towards it.
“…It would not hurt to give them a taste!” Love pleads with her to eat them. She would usually not comply, but… something about Love’s face is getting to her. She looks so happy. So excited. Is she getting soft?
“Fine. I shall try.” Flow reaches into the bag and pulls out a sandwich. She can see that it’s different from what she enjoyed in her timeline. It’s filled with strawberries, peaches, and other fruits. No vegetables.
She takes a bite out of the sandwich and… she doesn’t feel strongly about the taste. It’s fine, she supposes. She wouldn’t go out of her way to get another bite, but she doesn’t hate it either.
“Is it good? I love these sandwiches!~” Love cooes, taking a big bite out of her own. Crumbs are floating around the time pocket now. She’s going to have to clean that up later. That’s why she never eats anymore.
Flow looks at her face. She’s just so excited to share something she loves so much with her… So eager to see her reaction…
“They taste fine.” Flow says.
She takes another bite.
She is getting soft, isn’t she?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Flow- Flow, please, where are you?!”
Flow hears the unmistakable voice of Timeless Love!Timekeeper once again. Except this time, something’s wrong. She sounds scared.
Not much can scare a time god. It’s almost impossible to do so. Even if something bad’s about to happen to someone they love, they can just steer them away from that future.
“…What do you want, Love?” Flow asks. She doesn’t realize that she’s subconsciously used ‘Love’ instead of ‘Timeless’.
“I- I was attempting to get a Croissant of my own and… Mechanic!Timekeeper went insane and…”
Love was fumbling over their own words.
“They killed her right in front of me! I watched my own self die! She was screaming for me, begging for Mechanic to stop, and… we had to kill Mechanic ourselves. Me and STF.”
Flow didn’t exactly care much about Mechanic’s death. She was just a Timekeeper that never stopped tinkering around with machines. She reminded her too much of her past and her Croissant. Call it morbid, but she didn’t mind her death.
“…When we got Mechanic under control, I reversed time back to before I ever met that Croissant. And then I left her alone. I do not want a Croissant anymore! I do not want to witness myself like that!”
Love was shaking violently. It was so strange to see a Timekeeper so uncomposed. She was breathing heavily, clutching her pink Sonic Embroider like it would fly away at any moment.
“My Continuum Cog, little Infinite Affection… They were by my side. But- but I wanted to tell you. It is good company, yes, but it is much better to talk to someone who knows you inside and out…”
Flow reaches a hand out for Love’s. She grabs her glove and sits down next to her.
“How did you deal with it? How did you watch your Croissant disappear? How do all of the other Timekeepers deal with their Croissants being so fragile! They are not like us! They cannot fly into time pockets willy nilly, or stay in time rifts without horrible effects to their bodies, or know when they are in danger… I have forgotten how weak we used to be!”
“I did not deal with it. I miss her. If I had only left this time pocket to see her sooner… maybe, she would have survived. It is better for everyone if I stay here. If I could not save her then, there is no use now.”
Love sighs, leaning into Flow.
“…I suppose that we are both Croissantless. I appreciate not being alone.”
Flow would have laughed at the absurdity of the word ‘croissantless’, but it was clear that Love was still horrified. She placed a hand around the pink Timekeeper, before pulling her into a hug.
“…Thank you.” Love says.
Flow smiles. A genuine smile. Not the neutral one she always wore. The hug felt nice. She had hugged people millions of times before. But there was something about this one, something about it made her smile. Why was she so worried about Love? Why did she care?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Flow!”
Love was here again. Flow gets up from the floor of the time pocket and turns to the direction that the other usually opens the time rift in.
“Hello there, Love. Do you wish to talk more?” She tilts her head. She really enjoys the other’s company. There was something about her, something about her that made Flow care. Every other Timekeeper could rot for all she cared about. But her? She didn’t know why.
“No, I actually want to show you something!~” Love purrs, grabbing Flow’s wrist. “But you must leave your time pocket first. And I will not force you to.”
This was inevitable, wasn’t it?
She knew from the start that Love would eventually try and coax her out of her time pocket. Then, she had decided that she wouldn’t fall for whatever the other tried. She wouldn’t leave the time pocket no matter what.
But now… now she was doubting herself.
“If you do not wish to leave, I can simply continue talking to you. But I wish to show you something I love.” Love was already stepping out of the time rift, anticipating Flow to refuse.
“Fine.”
Love’s eye widens in surprise.
“Oh my! I could have never predicted this!~”
The other Timekeeper gestures for Flow to follow her out of the time pocket and into the time rift. Flow moves to follow her, but stares back at the spot she was just standing at mere seconds before.
Why did she want to see whatever Love wanted to show her so bad? She wasn’t curious. Whatever it was couldn’t be anything interesting. She had already seen everything, already done everything, nothing had any meaning anymore.
She should stay. She should change her mind and go back. She should just sit back down on the floor of the time pocket and let every other Timekeeper vanish. That was for the best.
But then Love would disappear too.
Why did she care so much!? She wanted to pull what was left of her raw, doughy hair out. There was nothing special about this version of her. She was just another cookie who gained a power she should not have gained. It would be for the best if she disappeared like everyone else. It would make the timelines safer.
But how could she think such thoughts about her? Every time she saw the pink Timekeeper’s face, she felt warm. The time pocket was always so cold. And she made it feel warm. Every time the other giggled, laughed, spoke up about her days, it made Flow want to stay and listen. For what purpose? She wasn’t interested in anything the other was saying. But the way she spoke was so passionate, so charming…
“Are you coming or not?” Love asks. Flow snaps out of her own thoughts.
She follows Love out of the time pocket for the first time in… there was no discernible time in a time pocket. Even giving a rough estimate would be inaccurate.
The time rift led onto a cliff, overseeing the sun. A sea of soda was underneath them. Love had placed a blanket underneath the time rift, and Flow flops onto it quite embarrassingly.
“Ha! Have a nice fall?~” Love teases. Flow puts a hand to her head and gives her a playful glare, readjusting herself to sit on the blanket as Love sits beside her.
The brightness hurt Flow’s eyes. She was blinking rapidly, she hadn’t been outside in so long… Everything from when she was outside the time pocket felt like a blur. But here she was, finally out of it.
“Watch,” Love instructs, pointing to the Sun. It was setting over the ocean, turning the soda into a pinkish hue.
“Sunsets are always pink in my timeline.” She says, staring at the setting sun.
Flow didn’t think it was impressive. She had seen much more beautiful sights before. And even those were now meaningless. She didn’t get any joy out of watching things. She didn’t think that she deserved any joy.
But Love’s face…
Her eye is closed as she kicks her feet, face content and calm. Flow doesn’t look at the sunset. She looks at Love instead. That’s all she cares about. That’s all that matters.
“The sunset is always my favorite thing to watch! I have gone back in time over and over simply to see it. I wait for it now, just so I don’t get bored of it, but I would see it a million times if I knew I had no chance of ever getting tired of it.”
“…I guess it is nice.” Flow mumbles, still focused on Love.
The two sit in silence for a minute. Flow is getting soft. She’s getting so, so soft. It’s almost embarrassing. She left the time pocket because of Love despite adamantly stating that they wouldn’t. What a fool she was.
As if Love could read her thoughts, she chuckles.
“I got you to leave the time pocket, did I not?~ Aha, I finally did it! I did what everyone else could not!”
Flow simply nods her head. “I suppose you did.” She says.
She wants to stay here forever.
“…I guess it is nice.” Flow mumbles, still focused on Love.
The two sit in silence for a minute. Flow is getting soft. She’s getting so, so soft. It’s almost embarrassing. She left the time pocket because of Love despite adamantly stating that they wouldn’t. What a fool she…
“Flow!” Love shoots up. “I know you reversed time!”
Flow simply grins in response.
“I thought you didn’t care about the sunset, hm?” Love puts her hands on her hips, smirking. “Oh my, have I finally found something you like?”
Flow shakes her head. “It’s not the sunset I care about.”
“…Oh? If not the sunset, then…” Love asks, confused.
Flow disregards everything she has ever thought of prior to this moment. Every thought of futility, every emotion of hatred towards other Timekeepers, every dream of finally ridding the timelines of herself.
She kisses Love.
She kisses Love on the lips, holding her sides as the other Timekeeper’s eyes widen. When the shock fades, she kisses back, her arms moving to Flow’s side as well. Flow melts into the kiss. It’s the best she’s ever felt in an infinitely long amount of time. It’s the only thing she cares about right now. Not the sunset, not the pink sea, not the admittedly soft blanket…
“…Oh…” The two finally pull away from the kiss and Love speaks up, blushing profusely. “Oh my. I was supposed to control love, not fall into it myself!”
“And I was supposed to stay in that time pocket forever. And look where I am now.”
Love grabs Flow’s gloved hand in her’s. The world doesn’t seem so meaningless anymore.
Flow has finally found something to care about.