THE MOMENT
"I can't yet! I still have more to do!" It'd been a confusing few minutes, but there was only one reason the white & orange-haired teenager could have been there. Time was still stopped, and not only could she move freely, she asked him about it directly. She had to be there to put an end to it and Fabian didn't want that in the slightest.
"What?" Quinn, as she introduced herself, tilted her head.
"I can't unfreeze time yet! I can only do it once and I'm not ready." She obviously wasn't a normal teenage girl; but, she still looked like one and Fabian hoped things didn't turn violent. He would fight to keep the Earth locked in time. He'd grown accustomed to the pleasant solitude while still being able to see a friendly face every now and then.
He'd stopped keeping track just after a few hundred years; but, he was sure he at least doubled it. By now he explored every inch of his continent and he was in the planning stages of an ocean-wide bridge just because he had the time. It was a project that he enjoyed, and something to keep him busy enough to never even think about time.
"What's your favorite number?" Quinn asked.
"Is that like... a normal question these days?" Fabian asked. Quinn smiled and shook her head.
"No, sorry, I was just checking something. Why are you telling me you're not ready?" she asked.
"Because you asked me if I stopped time...," Fabian answered. "I did; but, I'm trying to make the most of the one shot I have," he added. "Don't make me start it again." Quinn smiled.
"I'm not going to make you start it again," she shrugged. "I don't actually care that it's stopped, I'm just making sure it's intentional. Accidents happen and there's always someone trapping themself in a time loop. But, if you've got it under control, it's fine," she said.
"You don't...," Fabian shook his head trying to make sense of it. Was she really there by chance? "Where did you come from?"
"Somewhere else," Quinn smirked. "This Earth is just one in an infinite multiverse. There's been some weird time stuff happening and I'm looking into anything that looks kind of strange. Turns out, everything here is pretty normal, so you're good," she said.
"Multiverse...?" Fabian's eyes went wide. "... I didn't know! I didn't mean to stop time everywhere!"
"You didn't, can't," Quinn replied. "I told you, this is all fine," she gestured at the time-locked people perpetually browsing the downtown shops. Fabian had been taking a walk when he first saw Quinn, and she approached him instantly.
"Are you sure?" Maybe there was a kernel of regret somewhere in the back of his mind. "It's been .. maybe a thousand years, or more...," he said.
"Oh, definitely more," Quinn nodded. "But, yeah. It's not a big deal. Keep doing whatever you're doing, I've got other leads to check out," she said.
"Are you sure..?" he asked. He was willing to accept her authority on it just because there was no one else around to give him permission.
"Watch," Quinn raised her hand in front of his face then snapped her fingers. It was unexpected, but something about the gesture made him blink, almost like he flinched.
"... and, you just missed 1000 years," she grinned. "You'd never even know it, if I hadn't told you." He didn't want to believe her; but, at the moment, his one-time use was still intertwined with the timeline. He could feel that a large chunk of time had passed, even if everything looked exactly the same.
"Wait. So, time is stopped here, but still going in a parallel universe?" Fabian asked.
"Yeah, each Earth has its own separate timeline," Quinn replied. "Nothing you do here can change anything else. It's like I said," she smiled again. "You're fine doing what you're doing." For a moment, that put him at ease, until he remembered why she was there.
"Then.. what about the 'weird time stuff' you said you were looking for? I thought other Earths couldn't be affected?"
"YOU can't," Quinn clarified. "And, altered time on its own isn't a very big deal. But, the problems start when someone rewrites the entire multiverse."
".. what?" Fabian was completely dumbfounded. He'd grown used to the idea that he stopped time, and without anyone to tell him otherwise, he'd started to feel rather powerful. But, not only was he unaware of the multiverse; she seemed to hint that someone had the capability to rewrite it. "...that can happen? Who can do that sort of thing??"
Quinn giggled and shook her head with a shrug.
"Enough people that it takes some investigating," she said as a black hole appeared beneath her and rose up to swallow her. "It isn't even the first time." She wished him well as she disappeared; but, now he knew too much. "Have fun!" she waved.
Fabian sighed and moved to a bus stop to sit down. Then, time started again. There was no point in keeping it paused. There were greater forces in the universe and he knew about them now. Reality could be reset at any moment without warning, or without him knowing. There was no point to anything anymore.