Marty had insisted to meet Doc in person, so Jennifer drove him to his lab.
She rang the doorbell. Few second later, the door opened and Doc invited them in.
Time had left its mark on Emmett Brown. His face had got thinner, his body had got weaker, and even his way of talking was not as energetic as it used to be.
His lab was, if possible, even messier than usual, with scientific and technical equipment scattered all over. In front of the big sliding door was the Delorean time machine. This particular version had no Mister Fusion installed, and instead sported the yellow cap of the plutonium reactor.
"Please, sit down" said Doc. "Marty, you sounded so upset on the phone. What's wrong?"
Marty remained up. "Everything's wrong!" he exclaimed. "Reality is wrong!"
Doc's face made a slight twitch, as if anticipating something.
"Ever since that day you took me to the future, I have been looking forward with hope to the times to come" continued Marty. "Knowing what would happen in the future gave me confidence. I knew that Jennifer and I would get married. I knew we would have two children, Marlene and Marty Junior. I knew I would still be healthy. I knew my parents would age gracefully, and they would still be alive and well. I knew I would see a world where energy is free and clean, where everyone can go anywhere on his own, in his flying car. I knew the Cubs would sweep the Miami Gators today, and win the World Series! I even placed bets on that result, 'cause that's not something you forget!"
Doc interrupted him: "Marty, you know no one should know too much about their future..."
Marty continued his tirade. "And don't think I ever stopped hoping! No! I always hoped! All this time, I made my decisions around that glimpse of future I saw, in an effort to make it real! I married Jennifer because that's what I saw! I bought that house in Hilldale because that's what I saw!"
"So what's the problem?" Doc asked.
"Nothing of what I saw came to be, that's the problem!" exclaimed Marty. "All my hope was in vain! I got Parkinson's in 1989! I was just 21, for Christ's sake, and I lost the ability to play the guitar or ride a skateboard! When I realized I would never be a musician because my tremors would only get worse, I even got a Ph.D. in Physics, because I wanted to make that future real, yet the only paying job I found was teaching in high school! And there's more! My dad died with cancer in 2002! My mom died with Alzheimer's in 2014! There has been no energy revolution, no Mister Fusion, we still depend on hydrocarbons! Where are self-adjusting jackets, hoverboards, flying cars? Why do Jennifer and I have no kids? Why am I still sick? What happened to the timeline?"
"The future has not been written yet. No one's has." replied Doc.
"No. Don't give me that philosphical bullshit, Doc! You're a physicist, and so am I, because you inspired me to become one!" roared Marty, now mad with rage. "Give me a physicist's answer! Give me equations! Tell me precisely when and how the timeline was deviated from what we saw, to this... this... abomination of mankind!"
"You should really try to look at the positive side." Doc insisted.
"What positive side?" insisted Marty in turn. "What should I be like? Ooh, I'm so happy for my parents' death! For pollution! For my disease! For 9/11! Is that what you want me to say?"
Doc stepped closer to Marty and put a hand on his shoulder. "Marty, you know I have always been honest with you." he said. "You have to believe me when I say that everything happened for a reason."
Marty's rage seemed to subside a little. "What reason?" he asked. Then, a terrible thought entered his mind. "Oh no." he said. "It's my fault, isn't it? That night, November 12, 1955, I didn't really stop Biff from using that almanac. Before I could take it from him, he must have copied some results and placed some bets anyway. I didn't prevent the Hell Valley timeline, I only delayed it. Right?"
"No!" exclaimed Doc. "Don't even think about it! I can say with absolute confidence that you were not, in any way, responsible for how the events unfolded in this timeline."
"How can you say that?" asked Marty.
"Because... I was." answered Doc.