Knives are a No-Go!

It's been a day since I woke up in the hospital, and my anxious waiting has finally paid off. A letter arrived, formally stamped by a fancy V crest that I now knew meant Vanille, as in the mayor. Inside was a short, formal, and to-the-point message written in cursive.

{Imagine an old, elegant man sitting in a darkened room on a lavish armchair by a fireplace sipping a cup of tea with a monocle is reading this}

Dear Chrono Family,

It is with great honor that I accept the formal request for Trivia Vanille's freedom of travel to and fro our abodes. As she is my only child I will be sending the head of our security staff to accompany her. While with you, she may do, say, or go as she pleases, but outside she is to be under vigilant supervision. Any outings towards the city limits and beyond are to be brought to my notice so I may be prepared to send reinforcements. Cromwell, head of security at Vanille Manor, will carry a communications device built with the sole function of notifying the proper channels of his location and threat level; he has been instructed to demonstrate its use in the case of his death. I shall leave the communication details for further visits to Cromwell and at your discretion.

With Regard,

Jimmy Vanille

{Now imagine the lights slowly fade away to our main character : ) }

'Do people even use this way of speaking anymore…? I don't know what kind of person the mayor is, but he seems to either be trying very hard to seem educated, or he might just be more eccentric.' After having access to the letter once my parents were done with it, it finally occurred to me that the two girls would meet each other eventually if Trivia is going to be around as often as it seems she might be, and I can only hope that the two get along well enough to be friendly.

"Argento! Dinner is ready!"

"Coming!" Smelling my parents' heavenly cooking, I put the letter down and ran in for the steak and creamy-chicken noodles with steamed broccoli. Settling down in my seat, my mother places my plate in front of me and proceeds to draw the steak knife to cut it into manageable pieces. This was normal, no matter how much I had protested before, but as I saw a glint in the knife from the sun's reflection I clenched my fork. The sound of the knife cutting through the steak reverberated within my skull in the form of a knife cutting through human skin. My shoulder began to pound to the increasing tempo of my heart as my breathing became shallower and quicker. My eyes refused to become unglued from the steak knife, even after the first chunk was cut off.

"..o…rgen… Argento!" It was after this chunk that Amelia noticed my whitened knuckles, fast breathing, and increasingly unhealthy pallor as she traced my sight to the blade in her hand. With a sudden realization and guilty look, she skillfully pulls my plate away from me and not even a second later the knife is gone, the steak is cut, and she is grabbing my cup of water.

"Here, drink this and breathe slowly."

"Thank you…" As I began focusing on my breathing and the cup in my hand, Maxwell and Amelia shared a concerned look between the two of them. To see their child going through something only adults should ever have to made their hearts ache, but the best they could do at this point was to do their best to make me feel better. It was through these efforts that they hoped they could remove my fear of blades, because if they could not then the world would not hesitate to remove the last of the Chronos, now their son included.

As I began eating my food, I could taste nothing but bland mush from the usually amazing food that is made for me. I could perfectly remember my body freezing when I saw the knife cut through the steak, and it was pretty easy for me to tell that I had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This was an issue because as much as I would love to continue through life with my new loving family without a care in the world, I knew that soon enough the world would be thrown into more and more chaos as canon unfolds. Speaking of…

'Now that I think about it, when does canon start?' For some reason, the memory of when something in RWBY happens slips my mind, and even the specifics of the event itself are shrouded in a fog I can't quite see past. 'This could become problematic later.'

As my body began calming down and my food began to gain some taste again, the somber atmosphere slowly transformed into the loving, joyful feeling that dinners normally are in the Chrono household. Once we were finished with dinner and my parents began cleaning up, our doorbell rang. Recognizing the sound, I was the first to the door, and upon opening it I saw the Cassinova parents lightly chatting with the guard, who I can now safely assume is Cromwell, and two tiny figures, one animatedly talking to the silent other.

At the sound of the door opening the conversations stopped, but before I could welcome them inside a small tackle caught me off guard, and if not for Amelia's timely arrival I would have fallen backward. "Hello to you too Ivy" was all I could think of saying, as I let my mother deal with the adults. As Amelia ushers everyone inside and towards the living room, I begin to smell the fragrant scent of baked goods and warm drinks. 'When did she have the time… ah whatever, I'll never question cookies magically appearing!'

Without even realizing it, my thoughts and worries began to slip into temporary nothingness as I got lost in the delicious goods and joyful atmosphere; this led to the most childlike day I've ever had, even back on Earth. I would say I feel embarrassed for how lost I got in the moment, but it all felt so… natural; like something in me just melded into being the child I was. Trivia, Ivy, and I continued to play through the evening, while the adults talked in the living room. Trivia may have been very silent about it, but I could tell from the healthy flush and the bright, shy smile on her face that she was genuinely enjoying every bit of it.

"So, how is he doing?" Sipping gently at the tea that was provided for her, Laela transitioned into doctor mode as she looked toward the Chrono couple.

"Well, we thought he was doing fine, but during dinner, as I was cutting his steak, he seemed to have a small episode of PTSD. I may not be a doctor, but I've seen my fair share of comrades who can't continue due to it." With a sad, slightly distant look in her eyes, Amelia unconsciously scooted a little closer to Maxwell, grabbing his hand in the process.

"Yeah, I was going to ask about that. I didn't know you were a Huntsman." Having heard the events from his wife, Deagon Cassinova had wondered why they hadn't heard of their Huntsman status before.

"Ex-Huntsman, actually. We decided to put down the weapons once she became pregnant, as we didn't want to risk Argento losing one of, if not both of his parents." With a small, supportive smile, Maxwell happily took his wife's hand and held her as close as she wanted. "Though there are some things we would rather not talk about, we would happily share some of our adventures with you two, if you're ever interested, while the kids are playing. Maybe some of them we could make into storytime for the children?"

"That sounds lovely Max, though speaking of storytime it is pretty late. I guess it's time for us to go." As Laela says this, she stands up with Deagon and Cromwell.

"I agree with Mrs. Cassinova, I think it might be getting about that time for the Little Miss to head to bed." With that said, the Chronos lead the way to my room, but at the door, they all stop, and smiles couldn't and wouldn't be stopped from appearing on all of their faces. On my bed were the three of us cuddled together in our sleep, obviously having tired ourselves out from the day filled with playing. Getting a sudden idea, Laela gently grabbed the handle of my door and closed it.

"How about we have a little sleepover? I can come and pick Ivy up tomorrow. Plus, having close friends help him, even unknowingly, would be a great step to curing his PTSD. How about it Cromwell?"

"I'm more than happy to leave the Little Miss in your care for the night, and at some point tomorrow I can come and pick her up." With joy that seems to stem from some other reason, the trio looks for the confirmation of the hosts.

"Well, if it's okay with the three of you and Mr. Vanille, we would happily have the little ones over for the night," Amelia replied with a radiant smile. As Amelia and Maxwell said their farewells to the other two adults, they made their way to the room the children were sleeping in again. Tucking them in and turning off the lights, they efficiently cleaned the aftermath of the get-together and made their way to their room.

After a short period of silently reading his book, Maxwell's contemplative look was replaced with a more serious one. "I think it might be time we started."

"But he's only 4!" Even if she knew this was coming, Amelia still wouldn't accept it. It was too early!

"Yes, but did you ever jump into a dangerous alley, fight several armed men, all for someone you didn't know; all at the age of 4?" Amelia had no response to that. Even if she wanted her son to have a life of no worries, the Chronos tended to end up in the middle of it all, one way or another. This same sort of thing happened to her at 11, because this was the average age of the Chrono-Bravery, as it was optimistically termed.

It wasn't actual bravery, it was just a sugarcoating name; in reality, it was the tendency to have a momentary lapse in self-preservation, becoming so fixated on one goal that it was all they could think of achieving. The bigger in scale the goal was, the easier it was to take a step back, think, and do other things. But for smaller goals, in my case saving a girl from a group of armed men, there is practically nothing that will stop a Chrono from finishing their goal, or dying trying. It was as effective as it was dangerous, because even if the nonstop pursuit of goals regardless of personal loss or injury was something to be feared for how well it would be done, that same disregard for personal safety has led to mortal danger more than once with just Amelia and Maxwell alone.

"I know he had his early, but at least give him until his 6th birthday. I want him to have a childhood that lasts at least a little longer than either of ours did!"

After thinking on the subject for a little, Maxwell slowly nods his head. "I would have preferred his childhood to be normal, but I guess it was just wishful thinking on my part. We will wait until he is 6; unless he does something like that again, in which case we must prepare him earlier."

"Okay, I can agree to that. I'm tired, and in the morning we have to take care of three children instead of the usual one, so no staying up unnecessarily late for you, because I will force you awake, and you know I can!"

"Yes, dear." With a smile and a kiss goodnight, the loving couple set off for the land of dreams, where their worries faded into nothing more than afterthoughts.

[A/N:

So I've been thinking about it, and I'm not sure how much of his childhood I want to go through. I have plans for when he turns about 12ish, but until then it's mostly just childhood.

So on this topic, I would like to ask your opinions. I was thinking of doing a couple of time skips so that it doesn't take forever and a half just to get to an actual turning point, or we could go with my original idea and jump straight to the point where I have AU canon 'start'.

This whole collecting general ideas thing is more so in the case I really can't decide, so treat it more as a backup to make sure I do upload within a reasonable time frame in case I can't decide what I want to do with this portion of the story.

I do believe that's all, and next time I upload I'll have moved across the country for my University studies, so yeah, that's happening.]