"I'm a murderer, I'm not a hero! Ugh, and I didn't even want to!"

Wait, what?

---

"Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean you 'didn't want to'?"

She burrowed her face into her arm and growled. "I - I didn't want to kill him... I mean, I absolutely hate him," she scrunched her face and mimed scratch marks, "But I didn't want to kill him. I just thought - I don't know... That maybe it was the reason I had this curse. That k-killing him would lift it and bring my brother back..." She groaned. "Ohh, I really let him down..."

There's so much she still doesn't know. But now I know, her heart was in the right place. Or close to it, at least. "Oh, but what if I tell you, he doesn't actually have to be dead?"

She shot her head up to look at me. "Are you saying we can bring him back?!"

"Yes."

"I - I -" Her face filled with sudden fear at this possibility. She contemplated for a moment. "Look, I know I'm going to pick the right choice eventually, but I can't forgive him just yet. I can't."

I simply smiled. "Don't worry. There's still much for you to process of course. We have eternity in this place. You can take your time."

She took a breath as she collected herself. "I can't believe it. This seems too good to be true. Thank you, truly."

I put my hand on her shoulder. She didn't shrug it off. "You can thank me by becoming the hero your brother always knew you were."

She smiled then, a true smile of courage and determination. "I will!! I will, I promise. My name's Sue, by the way. And I want to be a hero."

-----

We spent a long time there. By the way, I call that frozen state Stock-Still, because I find it weird to say 'there' when technically it's not a specific place. And in honor of memory itself, I decided to number every time we entered Stock-Still, to see how far we've gone. Of course, that long first time was Stock-Still #1. We shared stories and simply talked. The truth was that there was a lot for her to learn about these powers. When I taught her how to use her cloak and knives as steps so she could climb into the air, she spent a solid fraction of eternity gloating about being taller.

Eventually I taught her about paradoxes, and how to make it so an action never existed in the first place. She showed the strength Meg saw in her that day, when she forgave the man who killed her brother. I proceeded to make sure he was later arrested for homicide, burglary over $5000, and indecent exposure.

We're on Stock-Still #829, and it's been a blast. I really enjoy having someone so full of life around. Back in Stock-Still #44, we made a deal with Chronos to lift the curse once he realized I had kept his son Chaos from invading Earth, and I made his other son Aether (the sky) laugh when I sneezed. Then in Stock-Still #229, he punished Sue for stealing one of his Dodo Birds, and that was hilarious. We saved the world a few times just the two of us (127, 214, 315, 388, 450). By Stock-Still #525, she started forming her own team! In #778 she met a guy, a time traveler. In #780, she forced me to unbanish him.

She's the best daughter in the world. Thank you, Meg. You healed another broken heart.