Summary: Krux is left alone with Baby Wu and his thoughts while Acronix is out.
A/N: It was supposed to be a Father’s Day oneshot, but obviously I worked on this at the last minute and I posted it two days late. Oh well, have it anyway.
Warning: mentions of violence, a little bit of angst and just enough Papa Krux Fluff.
He kept being called that. He wanted to hate the title. He wanted to hate it so much. He wanted to forget about it and about... them.
The old former master of time looked to the clock. Acronix had only left an hour ago and he didn’t expect him to come back until later. Hopefully before dusk.
His younger brother had rushed out at the second to last minute of the event he spoke so fondly of and Krux actually had to help him with the necktie that belonged to his suit back in his Dr. Saunders’ days. He yelled at Acronix to not ruin it while he was out. Of course his sibling yelled back that he won’t.
Krux sighed at him and shook his head, but smiled at his enthusiasm. He’d never seen Acronix so excited before. Not ever since he dropped from the Temporal Vortex the first time in forty years. They both got stuck in it again, but dropped off a few months after the events. The Vermillion were gone with the Iron Doom and the Time Blades, but it’s only a matter of time until it drops.
Now, Acronix had adjusted much faster to the world than Krux has and as it turned out he met someone. This person had made Acronix so happy and Krux couldn’t honestly have been more happier that his brother was spending more time with someone than with a piece of technology.
Now he left to go on a date with that person and until then, Krux was stuck with a certain someone. And if his timing is still right, then he should go off in... three.. two.. He began hearing the little infant cry from the bedroom. There he goes. The old man sighed and got up, grabbing the unfinished bottle from the warm water it was sitting in.
He followed the crying to the bedroom and opened the door where there was a crib with a hanging mobile of origami dragons. Krux insisted on making one instead of buying one and, to his surprise, Acronix agreed understandably. He approached the crib, looking down and seeing the little one. Funny how this little infant was once his enemy, Wu. The old fool grabbed the Reverse Time Blade by the powered end and he began de-aging until he was an infant that knew nothing of the situation or of who they were.
“Hello, little Wu.” He greeted him. The infant kept on crying and reached up to him, obviously wanting to be held. Krux rolled his eyes at him and picked him up. “You are so clingy.” He held him in one arm. “Of course you always have been when it came to certain people.” Baby Wu just sniffled before sneezing. Krux sighed, already pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the excess mucus off his little face.
“I really wish Acronix paid attention to the weather channel... Even though he doesn’t like the news very much.” He said, gently shifting the infant in his arm to hold him better, sitting down in the rocking chair that he never got rid of. What? The rocking chair lasted much longer than the other things he had. “Not that I blame him. The news that morning had been bad and I was glad you slept through it surprisingly.”
He distinctly remembered the news that day was about a family shop being robbed by a group who only left a purple “UV” initials spray painted all over their glass windows. Krux had turned the television off by Acronix’s requests which was surprising to him. Then again, Acronix never liked bad news when they were children so it shouldn’t be surprising that he also hated the news on TV.
The baby hummed and squirmed a little. “Oh. I almost forgot.” He moved Wu back and gently placed the nipple on the bottle close to his lip. It took a minute before he finally latched on it and began suckling on the tea bottle. Strange that Wu still liked tea even as a baby, but then again, once more, he couldn’t blame him for hating the so called “formula” the Twins bought and agreed to throw it out after figuring out that it made Wu sick. Of course it was only after a few bottles of it, a load of laundry which consisted of rags and a few shirts that got sacrificed.
Honestly Krux was still disappointed in modern society for the things they had, the technology took over way too fast in his opinion, the people were being more careless by the day... and how they treated mothers too. He leaned back in the rocking chair, gently using a foot to rock the two of them back and forth while his mind took him back.
‘It was twenty years before the time could come. Twenty years before his brother could ever return. The world around him was slowly changing. The only thing that didn’t change for him was the history museum, so he decided to stay there.
The room he occupied was abandoned and forgotten about over time. He already had snuck in the Vermillion Eggs into this secret room and no one suspected a thing. Figures since their security wasn’t even all that good from the beginning.
He hadn’t expected anything to change within the museum at all... but then... she came in. A single mother much like his own with a daughter and she looked few months pregnant too, if he learned anything from the woman the Elemental Master of Earth was married to. When he looked around though, there looked to be no sign of a father.
She was wandering around, letting her daughter look over the exhibits in marvel. He smiled at that. It was nice to know that someone other than himself liked history. When he looked to the mother though, he could tell that she was trying to keep her mind off something. A hand went to her swollen abdomen and she closed her eyes, gently holding her daughter’s hand tighter.
He wondered what she was thinking. Should he ask?... A part of him told him no, he shouldn’t waste a single moment for someone like her. His brother was more important than anything. He needed to cover everything in their plan to take over Ninjago and make sure there were no flaws.
Another told him something else... It reminded him of how difficult his own mother had to work. She worked until she dropped dead-tired. It made both him and Acronix worry for her well-being. She often told them that she was fine, that it was worthwhile to work as long as it kept a roof over their heads and food on the table for them. She worked hard on their dinners and often ate after them. The two of them felt awful when she got sick and still had to work. They couldn’t do much about it when they were children.
What made it even worse was that she pleaded desperately for them to not go to war when they got called for the Elemental Alliance. Mind you, the Elemental Alliance was the last resort against the Serpentine that attacked and the Time Twins had every right to go, especially after that one Serpentine who left his mark on their mother at first before it got left on Krux’s back after he reversed Time and shielded her from the attack. Acronix used his ability to fast forward himself and grab the neighbor’s wooden rake before swinging it at the snake’s head, making that serpent lose one of his fangs and leave a nasty scar across his snout. It honestly made him easier to find when they met him in battle.
They caught the eyes of Garmadon and Wu, the Sons of the First Spinjitzu Master, and offered them a place in the alliance. Their mother though, feared losing them the same way she lost their father and didn’t want to have them gone too.
When they finally convinced her to let them go, she only asked for them to come back home... and Krux hadn’t. He couldn’t go back to their mother without his brother. It would break her heart even worse than anything. And he was certain that Wu and Garmadon had told her what they plotted behind their ally’s backs. For him, there was no going home to their mother. At least... not until after it was all over.
Krux looked back to the pregnant mother and her daughter... Was he willing to let another single parent suffer much like his own? And considering the time period they were evolving from, he wouldn’t doubt that she would be frowned at and whispered about much like how his own mother was.
The man in the red museum outfit made his decision and approached her. He gently adjusted his mustache before he spoke out in his accent to her. “A fine afternoon it is, yes?” She jumped at his voice and spooked her daughter but gave a small forced smile, nodding at him.
He was snapped back into reality when he heard Wu begin coughing softly. Krux pulled the bottle away, seeing it was a quarter full before setting a rag on his shoulder and sitting the infant’s chin on him. “Shh.. Easy there, little Wu. Easy...” He hushed, gently rubbing his back in circles, trying to soothe him before his body decided to force him to cough anything up. That usually left a mess, made the baby cry even worse, and made it even more difficult to calm him down for sleep.
Krux slowed down the rocking chair to a gentle stop, making himself stand up. He held Wu in one arm and held the bottle in his other hand. The infant had stopped his coughing but was still whimpering. The older Time Twin actually felt bad for him. He wouldn’t have had Wu been older like he was before but now that he’s an infant who had no memory of them, he felt bad.
Why wouldn’t he be feeling bad? The infant was sick from the rain that happened a few days ago. He was only slowly getting better through rest and no big activities. Of course he was kept hydrated more often but Wu didn’t mind waiting for tea to be made. At least he had more patience than Acronix did.
Krux shook his head, having already left the room with the infant in one arm and the bottle in his other hand. “I have to keep your tea in the kitchen and then we’ll head back to see if you need to be clean. Alright?” Baby Wu only hummed. Krux sighed softly.
‘He grown accustomed to seeing her. She was a frequent visitor at the museum. The little girl was especially excited to see him, telling him her day, what she did in the schoolyard, and so much more he couldn’t keep count but he cared enough to listen.
One day, that changed. She looked down into her hands and it concerned the man when her mood changed. “She won’t tell me what’s wrong.” The mother told him. He decided to find out for himself and he surprised the woman when he gently pried the answer out of her.
“There’s... someone at school... He..” She held a hand on her arm. He could already guess what happened but he just had to confirm it. “May I see your arm, little lady?” He asked. Hmph. His accent was no good in this type of situation. He had to work on that. She rolled up her sleeve and he could see a bruise on her arm.
A part of him wanted to be angry, but she looked scared. He remembered a time when someone grabbed his brother too hard and he screamed at him, flailing and attempting to hit him. Krux came on the scene and it unfairly got the twins punished when all he did was defend his brother, but unfortunately no one was going to support their story.
He only looked up at her, wanting to ask who did it to her. Instead he kept himself calm and gently lent a hand. “Come on. I have some things that could help the bruise.” The little girl just grabbed his hand and gripped on it as if she was scared that he would leave her. The mother sighed and held her daughter’s other hand, trying to give her comfort.
Had it not been for the little girl with sad eyes and the mother’s worried expression, he was certain that the moment would’ve been picture perfect.’
Krux had already made sure the little infant kept clean. Wu just hummed and reaches for his nearby rattle. The old man sighed and handed it to him, letting him shake the little instrument. It was honestly amusing to see him entertained. At least he didn’t throw his rattle at him unlike how he did to that one person when they were out for a walk.
Krux was uncertain how to feel about the person but Baby Wu had thrown the rattle at them from the stroller. Acronix forced himself to keep from laughing but he obviously had trouble doing so while Krux was amused. They left before they could cause a scene and Acronix had to lay on the ground because he was laughing so hard. Krux leaned on the stroller and chuckled, covering his face with a hand. He hadn’t seen his brother laugh like that ever since they were children.
‘The little girl was worried for her mother and he couldn’t blame her. It had been a few months since they first met. He got promoted to being the girl’s babysitter when he wasn’t working while the mother was at her job. He often helped the little one with her homework, especially the history homework.
He rolled his eyes when there were inaccuracies within the text, and he told her a more correct version of what the teachers told her. She listened to everything. It’d been a while ever since he had someone listen to him so intently. His brother and mother were the only two that usually listened to him.
It upset her when she got a terrible grade and it infuriated him when he went up to that teacher and interrogated them on why she had such a failing grade. He could go into details about them heading to the principals’ office, demanding that he knew what he was talking about because unlike the teacher, he was actually there for the event though he worked around the details of where he was in the historical pictures.
In the end, he overwhelmed the teacher and the little girl was happier about the grade change. A problem from school hadn’t came up then.. except for that bully in the playground. It ended when the boy pushed her down and he glared at the boy with such anger. Can’t blame the old man when all he could think of was his six-year-old brother being pushed and covering his face with his arms to protect himself.
The little girl kept her brightness and her mother had calmed down, knowing she was alright. He was glad to lift some weight of someone’s shoulders. The mother had lightened up and she seemed so bright at times. Other times her mood swung fiercely, but he managed to help keep her calm and deduct why she was frustrated. Turned out it was mostly her job that caused her frustration.
He didn’t know how but it went from a talk about work, the little girl, and it turned into a conversation about names for the next child. He had no idea how it happened but...
Baby Wu has inevitably grown bored of the toy and reached up for Krux. The old man sighed and picked him up, setting him in the makeshift baby carrier. “Perhaps you need something to help you keep calm.”
Wu smiled and cooed with big eyes. It’s like he understood what he meant. Krux chuckled and took him into the room where the piano was in the middle. Nothing else, save for wooden chest that he warned Acronix not to open. He growled at Blunck and Raggmunk for being curious of it and told them to back off, having the chest hidden away by then. At least until now and he knew that his brother wasn’t that nosy. Or he hoped so.
Wu got even more excited when he recognized the room they were in. Krux smiles at that. He hadn’t had anyone this excited since...
‘Her daughter had been excited over her sibling’s arrival coming so soon. It honestly only felt like yesterday when he first met them even though he met them months ago. The mother was more swollen than the Master of Earth’s wife, but he still did what he could to help.
He even made himself relearn piano for their entertainment. Like how he and his brother played the piano when they were children. They sometimes played more complicated pieces together. Other times, they competed on the piano before the whole masterpiece got ruined and they tumbled to the ground with the wooden bench. They ended up laying on the ground and apologizing to each other.
Her daughter even wanted to learn piano like him and he couldn’t even tell her no. A part of him liked seeing them as his audience but he didn’t mind having a protege. He liked seeing them happy.. their smiles... their laughter... He found himself liking it a little too much.’
He sat at the piano, playing a piece of music that he knew from long ago. Wu hummed and curled up on him, listening to the soft music that left the piano. He smiled at the little one’s audience and kept pressing the keys.
‘He told himself he would leave them when she had a hold of life herself. He told himself his brother was more important than anyone. He told himself to not get attached to the small family. He told himself that it was an accident when the little girl called him her father when he obviously had no relation to her.
That changed when he heard two baby cries instead of one.’
Krux faltered in his movements and sighed at the memory. He looked down, seeing Wu had fallen back to sleep. He got up and left the room, shutting the door behind him before finally heading to the bedroom down the hall. He opened the door, seeing the crib again.
He was ready to set the little boy in there but he felt a little hand grip on his shirt. Like he was scared that he would disappear forever if he just left him in bed.
It made Krux pause his actions before he sighed and just kept a hold of him, heading to the rocking chair and set himself down. He gently used his foot to rock them back and forth. The infant hummed and kept his hold on his shirt.
Krux gently shushed him, leaning his head on top of the infant’s gently while he rocked them a little slower. It always comforted his brother and surprisingly it comforted Baby Wu as well.
‘Much like how it comforted her boys too.’
“Papa.” Baby Wu hummed in his sleep. Krux wanted to argue with him but it was no use. He wouldn’t listen. It was the first word Wu spoke and Krux couldn’t get him to stop. It was no use to try to argue with an infant.
‘Her boys called him that too and even then he couldn’t tell them no. In fact, he ended up smiling at them.’
