THE MOMENT
Linus realized time was frozen. He noticed a time-locked bird stuck in mid-air first, and then he realized the classroom was still. The teenager did his best to disrupt the eerie silence, going so far as to try and force time to move again by sheer force of will. It wasn't lost on him that he could move when no one else could and he reasoned maybe he was the one responsible. He was scared to wander too far out of the class at first. He did not want to get in trouble for being out of his seat should time resume. But, then he saw movement outside.
It was an unusual sight, especially when no one else could move, and he decided to brave the trouble of leaving his seat. He ran through the empty halls and made it outside and dashed toward the strangers. It was two people, walking freely through the school's courtyard. One was a teenage girl that could've been a freshman at Linus' school, she had a streak of golden blonde in the bangs of her chestnut hair; and, the other was an ancient man. He looked older than Linus' grandfather; but, he dressed about the same. He wore his shining silver hair pulled back, away from the bald spot, into a small ponytail. He had on a black button-up shirt with orange detailing on the front, orange shorts, and sandals with black socks pulled up his shins. The pair moving through stalled time was unusual enough, but they also had a golden orb hovering in front of them as they chatted. All in all, it was a scene Linus felt obligated to investigate.
"Whoa, hold on. We got one!" the girl said once Linus was close enough to hear and be noticed. But, she spoke to the golden orb in a way that hinted to Linus it was a camera of some sort, as the old man turned and looked at him with a smile.
"Hello, young man," the elder said.
"Hi!" the teen girl added. "I'm Jubilee and this is Tim," she introduced them both.
"Time is stopped, how can you move?" Linus didn't bother with the pleasantries, he had to know. But, he immediately felt bad after they both greeted him with a smile and now that his question was out, he decided it would be okay. "My name's Linus," he nodded.
"A lot like you can," Tim chuckled with his answer and Jubilee giggled.
"Oh! You're on stream, do you mind?" Jubilee asked him and she gestured at the orb. Now that Linus was close enough he could see a lens and it confirmed his initial thought.
"You're streaming? To who?? Time is stopped?"
"That's just on this Earth," Jubilee answered. "I've got viewers from across the multiverse watching. I'm interviewing Tim," she said.
"What...? How....?" Linus had a lot of thoughts and no idea how to communicate them; all his questions were trying to leave his mouth at once. "What...?"
"I can stop time," Tim said. "You can too, you just haven't realized it yet. That's why you're able to move. Jubilee wanted to see what a normal day is like for me, when I'm not partying, and here we are," he shrugged.
"He visits different Earths and stops time to see if anyone notices," Jubilee gave Linus the helpful explanation.
"Then, if you do notice, I give you one of these...," Tim nodded as he offered Linus a transparent glass card. "It's called a 'node' and it'll tell you about yourself."
He accepted the gift, unsure what else to do, and it lit up with the time in his hand. The display was so clear that the bright red numbers seemed to hover in the air. As he marveled at it, the minute counted forward by one. Then, he realized the time was wrong; it was two hours behind the time he started the test. Linus needed some way to ground himself, and the two seemed friendly enough to take a bit of snark.
"Wow. Super advanced technology from another Earth.. and the time's wrong," he said. "It shouldn't even be moving, right?"
"Oh, no," Jubilee shook her head. "It defaults to SST when time is stopped. The multiverse is always moving forward," she said. "You can adjust the settings in it like a regular smartphone."
"What's SST?" he asked. "What's a smartphone?"
"Huh," Tim commented and glanced around the school grounds to take it all in. "Oh, wow, that's kind of strange. It's 2017 here and your Earth doesn't have smartphones? Hold on a second," he said. Linus blinked. When he opened his eyes again he saw a large tower in the distance that wasn't there before.
"There, that's better," Tim nodded. "You'll still have to learn how to use them on your own; you're a Unique Soul, so I can't change your history," he said.
"What happened?"
"He rewrote history so your Earth is more or less caught up where it should be around this time," Jubilee answered. Though, part of her explanation was aimed at the camera. Linus felt out of his depth again; but, he was getting used to it.
"You can do that..? Can I do that?"
"I can do that," Tim nodded with a grin stretching the wrinkles on his face.
"You can't," Jubilee shook her head.
"Maybe after a few hundreds of billions of years," Tim added with an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
"The universe isn't even that old...," Linus was trying to keep up by slowing them down.
"Not this one," Tim nodded. "I've been around for a few big bangs."
"Also, he's a dragon," Jubilee interjected with a broad smile.
"And, also, I am a dragon," Tim nodded. "Officially, my title is, the 'Flying Temporal Dragon of the Chrome Court," he shrugged. "I like 'Tim' a lot better."
"Oh! We need to talk about the wedding!" Jubilee said suddenly. Tim nodded.
"We have to continue our interview, what will you do?" Tim asked Linus.
"Uhh... I'm in the middle of a test..," Linus gestured back at the school.
"Well, carry on then," he said. "I'll give you a couple of minutes...," he gestured at the node. "... before I start time again, then you can study the node at your leisure."
"Okay...," Linus had a lot of questions, but it had been too much. He was eager to get back to a sense of normalcy. "Thanks for everything," he waved and dashed off back to his classroom.
"Uh oh," Tim said suddenly, "I might've made a mistake...," he sighed. "The poor kid isn't going to know a single answer for the test now. Ah well, he'll get by," then, he turned to Jubilee with a smile. "So, let's talk about Minerva's wedding!"