“I didn’t mean to hurt them!” Elsa Fuller yelled the moment Dr. Mundo opened the door. She pleaded from her shackled seat as the doctor stepped into the room.
“Their corpses say otherwise,” Dr. Mundo sat down in front of Elsa. The woman in a straight jacket shook her head.
“I can control time! I made a savepoint…,” Elsa hung her head. “…but I don’t know how to restart it.”
“Oh,” Dr. Mundo flashed a quick smile at the woman, then stood from her seat. “That was easy.” She walked behind the woman and began undoing her straight jacket.
“You believe me?” Elsa asked. She felt her arms loosen up and wiggled her shoulders.
“Not only do I believe you; I can tell you how to fix it.”
“How!?” Elsa sat up straighter. She watched the doctor return to the seat in front of her.
“First I need to explain what you are.” Elsa shrunk back in her seat.
“What I am?” Dr. Mundo raised a single eyebrow at the woman.
“Humans don’t normally stop time, do they?” Elsa shook her head. “You are what’s known as a Unique Soul. There are few different kinds but you’re #14, La Muerte.”
“Am I supposed to know what that means?” Elsa asked. Dr. Mundo gave her a stern look with cold eyes.
“I’m telling you what it means. Don’t interrupt.”
“Sorry,” Elsa apologized. She sat up again and rested her arms on the table to listen.
“#14 La Muerte is,” she paused, then pointed at Elsa. “You are able to stop time. You’re also able to age people, but let’s focus on the time thing for now. All Uniques are ranked on how powerful they are. Higher ranks like A and S class Muertes can save at any point; I’m thinking that’s you.”
“Wow,” Elsa smiled. “I have to be an S-class! I’m so powerful I can’t even control it,” she giggled while looking at her hands in a new light. Dr. Mundo shook her head.
“You can’t control it because you haven’t been ‘Awakened’ yet. Your power is sealed inside you, but it leaks out sometimes.”
“How do I do the, uh… Awakening I guess?” Dr. Mundo pulled a small pocket knife from her lab coat then placed it on the table in front of Elsa.
“You unlock your powers by having a representation of your number on you,” Dr. Mundo shrugged. “Tattoos are usually preferred, but since you can’t walk out of here to get a tattoo you’ll have to be more creative.”
“!4, right?” Elsa asked. She grabbed the small white pocket knife and opened the blade. Dr. Mundo nodded. Elsa held the blade in her right hand while she picked a spot on her left. She made hissing sounds as she scratched the number into the back of her hand. When she stopped the ’14’ began to glow with golden light.
“It’s working! I can feel it!” Elsa closed her eyes and smiled as she felt the energy coursing through her body. Suddenly, as if she understood things in a new way, she knew how to reset the loop.
“I got it! Thanks, doc,” Elsa dropped the knife on the table without opening her eyes. “No offense, but I hope I never see you again.” She reset the flow of time then opened her eyes.
She saw Dr. Mundo sitting in front of her with an amused smirk on her face.
“What happened!?” She yelled. “I did it! I know I did it!” Dr. Mundo nodded.
“You did. Those people that you killed are alive again. You’ve never been arrested.” Elsa looked around the same small room she was sitting in before she reset time.
“Then what am I doing here? Why are you still here?”
“Check your phone,” Dr. Mundo suggested.
“You guys took away my phone!” Dr. Mundo shook her head.
“Where did you have the phone when you created the savepoint?”
“In my pocket,” Elsa said. She reached into her pocket as she answered and found her phone there. “What’s going on?” Elsa checked the date on the phone. It showed the same day she created the save point before she started killing people.
“Uniques like you…,” Dr. Mundo put a hand to her chest. “…and me kind of live outside of time. Think of time like a river. The fish in the river are normal humans, we call them Zeros; and, we’re like fishermen that can wade into the river. Time flows around us, and some Uniques, like you, can control the river’s flow. Being tied down to one time-stream can get pretty inconvenient if you’re hopping between universes.”
“Hopping….. between universes?” Elsa asked. “I can do that too?” Dr. Mundo nodded.
“Yeah, but I can’t help you learn that,” Dr. Mundo stood from her seat. She opened the door for Elsa. “You should go get some Chinese food downtown. There’s a great place called Donna Chang’s. Just show up and she’ll help you out.”
“I can just leave?” Elsa still seemed unsure, but Dr. Mundo nodded.
“Yeah. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
