Disclaimer: I have no legal claim to the 'Back to the Future' movies.

Author's Note: New chapter. I guess that was kind of obvious. Concerns Marty's return to the year 1985.

12: Chapter Twelve

To say that Marty was completely calm was a severe underestimation. However, he was not as much panicking as he could have been. The cause for that was to be found in his eternally sharp mind, which had, as always, already figured out a solution for what might have been a major problem otherwise. As Emmett had suggested the idea of talking with his older self about the issue – a notion that was otherwise completely ridiculous, given that after being shot, Emmett wouldn't even have another self anymore – an idea had come up in Marty's mind. While Emmett's suggestion of Marty talking with his older self after the shooting was quite ridiculous, approaching Emmett before his death was possible, and while it would require Marty to spend extra time in what would still be his past, the teen didn't care, as for the survival of his friend, he was willing to do anything.

As Marty looked up, he noticed he'd reached the line he had drawn earlier that afternoon. He had figured that, in order to properly see the exact spot where he should depart from, he would have to make a clear line, and thus, he had drawn a thick line of white paint with a width of half a foot. For clarity, he had also thought to write 'LINE WHICH HAS THE PURPOSE OF DEPARTING FROM IT' below it. It would cause Emmett some trouble to wipe it off later, but rain was expected that night, and his friend wouldn't be pleased at all if Marty had drawn an unclear line, causing him to miss the lightning bolt.

With a swift move, the teen scientist turned the car around and parked it on its proper place. He exited and took hold of the hook on the roof, putting it up as planned. Then, he went back inside, and turned the time circuits on.

"Let's see" the young inventor muttered to himself, as his thought processes went to work. "I know I can not arrive too early, as it would disturb history too much. Instead, my arrival time should be as close to my departure time as possible, while still allowing me to have enough time to make the necessary preparations. I originally intended for Emmett to acquire a bullet-proof vest, which I wrote in the letter. So, as to not over-complicate the process too much and remove Emmett from a place where he should be, the safest option to proceed would be to purchase the vest myself, then ceding it to Emmett. Taking into account the distance from my arrival point to the vest shop, eventual time needed to get a vest, and the distance to be travelled from there to the mall... fifty minutes should do. To be safe, I'll add a quarter... take into account that I must arrive before Emmett meets up with my younger self... and round it up, making it midnight. Destination Time: Saturday, October 26th 1985, 12:00 P.M." He put in the destination time, and the new coordinates appeared on the screen the next instant.

As he was just leaning back after accomplishing this, a shrill, high noise disturbed the peace. Marty didn't need a second's hesitation to think what it was, but immediately shifted his foot from the brakes to the gas pedal. The truck came to life, causing the alarm clock that had just gone off to almost fall off the dashboard as it did. Within moments, Marty's speed had increased significantly, and he was on his way to the Courthouse.

oooooooo

As Marty had raced off, Emmett's previous confidence melted like snow did when it was exposed to warm sunlight. Sure, he'd been serious when he told Marty that he would fix the mess, but now that his friend was gone, he wasn't sure at all whether he could do it, anymore.

The thirty-five-year-old looked up, and gulped. He wasn't afraid of heights... not too much, anyway... but this was very high, and his position there wouldn't at all be safe, possibly even more dangerous than Marty's was. But he had promised it, and couldn't go back on his words now. Not with Marty already on his way to the starting line.

Deciding that just staring at his target wouldn't get him anywhere and alarmed by the clock hitting 9:59 PM, Emmett went to work. He took the cable that remained, now unplugged from it's position, wriggled it free, and then ran with it to the steps.

It then occurred to him that while he could go through the inside, the cable couldn't – just imagine the cable electrifying the whole Courthouse when the lightning hit! – and he could hardly climb up there. Marty could help him in getting it up, but Marty wasn't around anymore and Emmett had neither the means or the time to call him back. Desperate, he stared up to the lions next to the clock... and got an idea. Glad that Marty's intelligence was starting to rub off on him, and thankful to his younger self for being intrigued with cowboys, the horse dealer-to-be quickly made a lasso out of the cable, and swung it up to one of the lions. It was a direct hit.

Pleased with himself for achieving this much success at least, Emmett quickly went inside and started running on the stairs. While he'd once climbed this route before in his youth thanks to a curiosity he'd never gotten rid of, he didn't remember it as taking this long. That was probably because he hadn't been in a hurry at the time, and had enjoyed it instead.

After a relatively short time – but still far too long, as far as he was concerned – Emmett arrived on top. He was frightened for a moment, but he pulled through, constantly reminding himself that he had to do this, for Marty's sake. Carefully, he went past the clock gears and arrived outside, where he saw his rope loosely hanging a few feet away. As he was just about to breathe a slight sigh of relief – at least it hadn't blown off in the wind just yet – he heard a noise, louder than what he'd ever heard in his life: the clock chimed 10.

For a moment, the thirty-five-year-old thought he would fall off and hurt himself severely, but luckily, he managed to get hold of the large lions next to the clock just in time. He covered his ears as best as he could, hoping that it would end soon. If not, he wasn't sure whether he could ever hear again.

Luckily, the noise ended soon. After remaining disorientated for a moment, Emmett pulled himself together and carefully climbed over to the other lion. The ledge wasn't exactly solid, and it trembled a little, but it held. He managed to get over to the other side in record time and carefully freed the rope from where he'd just thrown it to. He sighed in relief when he had it loose. Now, the job would just be plugging it in the place it should be.

That job was harder than expected. Not only was the other end of the cable hung very high, the wind was also blowing it out of the way. Muttering some angry words to Marty for having put the cable up on such a high spot, Emmett reached for it several times, but just couldn't catch it. He swung his arm towards the cable, but no avail. Frustrated, he stood on his toes, but it only brought him slightly closer. Finally, he did what he shouldn't have done: he jumped.

When he had done this action, there was one positive and one negative thing. The positive part was that he finally caught the stupid cable. The negative thing was that the ledge broke off, and that the cable was now the only thing stopping him from falling all the way down. The thirty-five-year-old shrieked, clinging to the rope end he held for dear life.

After a few seconds, as all the debris had fallen, Emmett kicked off with his feet to the right lion, swung across and managed to reach the small part of the ledge that was still intact. With all his clinging onto it, the cable had lowered, and it had lowered enough for Emmett to be able to hold it while standing (even if it remained very hard). Relieved, he took the other piece of cable out of his pocket, where he had stuck it into when the ledge broke off and he needed both his hands to hold onto the cable. After briefly holding it on his heart to calm the rapidly beating organ down, he then attempted to connect the two ends.

And attempting was all it would be. Despite fierce tries, all his attempts to connect the two pieces of cable were met with failure. They got close, but contact seemed impossible. Looking down, he soon discovered what the problem was. The tree branch which had fallen off was keeping the cable down, and it just wouldn't budge. Frustrated, the thirty-five-year-old attempted to pull the two ends closer. He couldn't give up, not now. He was so close, it was just a few more inches...

Suddenly, the pressure on the rope end went slack, and it moved to connect with the other half. By the suddenness of it all, Emmett almost fell backwards. However, he regained his balance, and smiled at the rope, clearly relieved. While at that, he happened to glance down, and saw something that made his heart stop ticking for a second. The rope ends below had gone loose.

Just as panic got a tight, chilly grip on him, Emmett suddenly got an idea that could've been thought up by Marty himself, and he knew exactly what to do. Holding a tight grip on the left lion, Emmett swung the cable up and down, trying to get the lower end loose of the tree branch it had stuck behind when its connection went loose. Fortunately, luck was with him this time and the rope sprung loose, moving closer to the Courthouse.

Happy that this part had gone to plan, Emmett started tugging on the rope, stopping to tug just as he had reached the part of the rope that had, until it was pulled up been the part where the cord hit the ground. Satisfied, Emmett took the rope and tied himself up with it, making sure that it was tightly shut.

Now, the hard part came, and the young man didn't look forward to it. He knew, though, that there was no other way of getting down fast. According to his watch, there were just 20 seconds to go until the lightning would strike, which was proven correct by the truck's headlight appearing in the distance. Emmett gulped. There was no other way to do this – it was now or never.

Takign a deep breath, he shut his eyes and jumped off. Gravity immediately pulled him down with such a force that he half expected to smack into the ground. Luckily, it was just his feet that landed, and after bouncing up, he was roughly at five feet above the ground.

The thirty-five-year-old untied the rope and fell down, landing as well as he could under the circumstances. He didn't take time to feel relieved, anxious to help Marty as he was, and immediately took the rope and ran towards the lamp post. As he arrived and took the other end, a quick look around told him that A – Marty would arrive in roughly five seconds and B – that there were just three seconds to go until the clock hit 10:04. Short said, time was of the essence.

Emmett looked up, and was just in time to see the clock hit 10:04. In an epic moment that no cinema could've reproduced – well, maybe they could in the future, but not now anyway – lightning struck it, with electricity racing down the cables afterwards. The future ranch owner connected the loose ends and jumped backwards just in time to avoid the current moving through them. The time truck connected with the cables right on time. A yellow flash lit up, a sonic boom shattered through the street, blowing Emmett into the bushes nearby, and the time machine vanished, leaving just fire trails in the wake of its path.

Perplexed at what he had just seen, Emmett got back to his feet, unsure whether he was dreaming or not. He ran through the fire trails, and, as he realised that Marty's plan had really worked, he cheered with delight, even making a little dance while at it. Normally, he wouldn't have done that, but this was no normal situation. It had worked. Marty was really gone.

Sighing, Emmett looked down. He would miss the kid, his only friend, and the thought of waiting thirty years filled him with intense sadness. He sure hoped that their meeting would come soon.

But even if it wouldn't, he was sure he could manage to wait. And it wasn't like he would be completely alone, after all. Eventually, he would get horses. He could talk to them too... at least then, he would be the smarter one. Grinning, he headed to the cables and started to remove them. The future looked bright.

oooooooo

"That was amazing! Incredible! The best thing I've ever seen in my whole life!"

Lorraine chuckled at the enthusiastic words George had just uttered. "Relax, George" she said. "It's been nearly a minute now since that bolt hit, and you haven't been calm ever since."

George blushed. "You're probably right" he admitted. "Still, you have to admit that it was a great sight."

They were standing at the entrance of one of the many shops in the Square, staring at the Courthouse and the street from where Marty had just disappeared. After the teen had departed from Hill Valley High School, George had proposed that they would follow him to see lightning strike the clock tower, as Marty had said it would. Lorraine agreed, and they had arrived at 10:02, right on time. Lorraine thought seeing the lightning bolt was a great experience, but that was nothing like what George thought of it, apparently. He just wouldn't calm down.

"I do, George" Lorraine said. "I just don't get as excited about it as you do."

George sighed. "I've always been fascinated with things like this. I suppose it's kind of strange, but that's just the way I am."

"It's not strange, George" Lorraine said. "We all have interest in different things, and… hey, what's that?"

"What's what?" George asked.

"Those papers that are being blown through the street" Lorraine said, pointing at said papers.

"I don't know" George muttered. He walked over to the papers and took them. He then examined them thoroughly, and after looking up from them, he frowned. "Hmm…" he muttered. "I think we have something to do."