The Titan's Second Life
Clockwork is Kronos
What many people don’t know is that Kronos had always known most of the Time-lines. He played with Time, since he learned he had that power.
The moment he first laid eyes on his newborn daughter, Hestia, he knew what would come next. The visions came to him just as he was about to eat her and seal her in his stomach.
They showed him all the futures in fragments. Like the hands of a clock moving forward, he saw his life as Kronos - from that moment on, his other 5 children, his downfall, Rhea's betrayal, the war, and how he ended up in Tartarus with his body cut into thousands of pieces.
It was an inevitability written into the fabric of time and time itself. And as Titan of Time, he would know best.
Once he tried to fight his fate. In his paranoia, he had devoured his children in the desperate hope of stopping the cycle and the prophecy. But now he remembered.
Not just glimpses of the future, but memories of an entirely different existence - one he had had long after his fall on Grace, one that was beyond even the immortality of a Titan.
He also remembers his future, of being, Clockwork. An Ancient of Time, in his new home, the Ghost Zone. His Titan soul and body had been destroyed and rebuilt in this place, so that he hardly looked the same. He wasn't even sure if he was still the son of Earth and Sky as Clockwork.
And he remembered the young Halfa, the young Daniel Fenton/Phantom.
Kronos allowed a small smile to creep across his face, remembering how he had reacted when he had learned who he really was while still alive.
Danny hovered in front of Clockwork, staring at the Ancient Ghost with wide, skeptical eyes. "Huh? You're the King of Titans Kronos!" His voice was incredulous.
Clockwork's ever-shifting form barely responded, the red glow of his eyes steady. "Yes, young Daniel. I was the Titan you read about in school."
Danny gave a low whistle. "Wow... So you really were crazy!" He laughed and shook his head. "Wait-hold on. How much meat is on a baby god?"
Clockwork tilted his head slightly, anticipating the question. "Why do you ask?"
Danny shrugged. "I mean... if you really were the Titan, and Kronos ate his children and a stone, how come you never tried to eat me?"
Clockwork's expression remained unreadable. "You have no flesh."
Danny frowned. "And a baby god does?"
Clockwork's grin was almost imperceptible. "Have you ever seen one?"
"Trust me. They have more."
Danny opened his mouth, then promptly closed it, clearly not sure what to say, but he knew he had lost. In the end, he decided to let the whole baby-god-snacking thing go. "You know what? Never mind. I even had an idea for a new adventure!" He grinned and floated closer. "I was thinking... Maybe you could take me back in time? You know, help me out with my history class?"
Clockwork chuckled, his staff shifting in his grasp. "Ah, history. You may find it more complicated than your textbooks suggest, young Daniel."
Danny grinned. "Yes, but that only makes it more fun."
Clockwork sighed and shook his head in amusement. "Very well. Let's see where time takes us now."
Yes, as he found out. He just made some new jokes and that was it. Still saw him as the same mentor as before.
Kronos was still looking at baby Hestia when he left the room. He would not eat her or any of the others. He shouldn't change the timeline that much. He needs them for destiny.
Instead, he ignored them. He did still his old hobby or well future hobby of looking into Timelines.
His siblings did notice, him doing that much more. Rhea after a time gave up to pull him away from doing that or being in his laboratory. While he didn't treat her like before, she is happy he didn't tried something like their father on their children. With that prophecy... But this way.
Hestia grew up in the shadow of his disregard and her mother's care, learning to keep herself. Demeter was left to flourish with the plants and crops, fairly untouched by her father's coldness, she learned quickly to ignore it. Hera felt the sting of his lack of interest, but she was strong-willed and sought comfort more from her mother, Rhea.
Hades, the brooder in his last life, took it with stride and retreated to the underworld to build his own kingdom with the help of his uncle Iapetus. And Poseidon, the youngest of them at the moment, found solace in the vast oceans and swam in Ocaenus' kingdom.
Zeus then was born last, and by then all his children, long accepted their father and king's indifference to them. He barely glanced at the baby, his gaze lingering only briefly on the tiny fingers and toes that would one day wield thunderbolts. He knew what was to come, and he let it happen without a fight.
He was to be Clockwork, the keeper of time, not a player in the game. And he was able to notice, his titan body too did took the changed. The titans noticed how his Golden Eyes turned Red, and his hair turned white. Same with his skin to change color to Blue.
Years passed, and the children grew into their power.
After talking to others about their father. They saw their father's lack of concern as a lack of fear, a sign that they were not important enough to be considered a threat. Little did they know the truth behind those unblinking clockwork eyes.
As Zeus approached the teenage years for a god, Kronos said it was time. He knew it was time for his children to challenge him.
Kronos did not plan to stand in the way. He had seen his end, and it was not at the hands of his own children.
One quiet evening, King Cronus called his children to him for the first time since their birth.
They came, curious and wary. "I have decided to abdicate my throne," he announced, his voice echoing through the halls of the throne room.
Their eyes widened in shock. Hestia stepped back, her hand to her mouth. Demeter clutched the arm of her brother Hades. Poseidon looked out to sea, his mind racing. And Zeus, always the strategist, felt the first spark of hope in his chest.
"You are all strong in your own right," Kronos continued, his gaze sweeping over them. "I trust you to rule when I am gone."
The children and Rhea, like his siblings, didn't know what to say or had time to say anything.
For Kronos had disappeared, leaving them all to fend for themselves again.
Zeus had stepped forward, his blue eyes blazing as he looked at his siblings. "Let us show him what we are truly made of," he said, his voice resonating with newfound power. "We will not be ignored."
Iapetus would stay to help, moving to the underworld with Hades to serve as an advisor to the younger immortal.
In time, a new kingdom was built as they left behind their father's kingdom. And they built their own, now called Gods, as the Titans retired and moved on with their lives.
For thousands of years, no one was sure what happened to Kronos, for they could never find him. And most of his brothers searched for him.
They talked about how Kronos must have done something with his experiments with time. They were never sure if he was still Kronos, or if he had messed up his time control too badly.
For Kronos, his body had changed, the familiar gears of time reappeared within him, and soon he was Clockwork again.
It was what he had chosen. The freedom of the Ghost Zone, his lair, had already appeared.
Clockwork smiled to himself. Here, in the Ghost Zone, he would watch time and move with his life.
Clockwork stood before a time portal, watching the swirling flow of moments. His past as Kronos seemed distant now, at least to him.
Danny Phantom entered the room and Clockwork's face lit up with joy. "Ah, Daniel. It's good to see you again."
Danny smiled. "You didn't think I'd be back so soon! You did! I surprised you!"
Clockwork chuckled quietly. "Time has a way. I knew you would come, but not right now, maybe 1 or 3 minutes later or earlier..." He watched as Danny settled down nearby.
As the portal flickered again, Clockwork looked at him as he whispered, "All is as it should be.
