Disclaimer: Just as yesterday, I still don't own BTTF.

Author's Note: New chapter. A bit shorter than yesterday's one, which was really long for a 'short chapter' format. This one is at least under the 2000 words. Please read and review. Don't suggest - I got an outline made up, already.

Any questions, just review or PM me, and I'll answer you.

The Author. (That's me)

2: Chapter One

September 7, 1885
06:00 AM PDT

Alternate Marty felt a really weird feeling come over him. As he blinked, he saw that he was lying at the bottom of a ravine – and that Sarah, Local Marty and Local Sarah were lying right next to him. Right at that moment, he saw a huge flash in the dark sky – and heard a loud sonic boom. Crawling to his feet, he looked up, as another sonic boom appeared. This one was even louder than the first. With the third sonic boom, a bright flash of light appeared, and a DeLorean flew through it. The Marty's and the Sarah's watched in amazement, as the car flew down, and smoothly landed at the bottom of Shonash Ravine. Marty guessed this had to be Jules and Verne.

His guess was confirmed, as the gull-wing door on the left opened, and a young man with white hair stepped out, and looked around. Just then, the door on the right also opened, and a 17-year-old teenager with dark blonde hair stepped out. Marty felt himself nervous. As he realized that neither of them could see him, he still felt uncomfortable. Luckily, Jules and Verne didn't appear to notice him. The machine really worked well.

"I can't believe this!" Verne exclaimed, looking around. "We really are in 1885! I guess the ravine was still Shonash Ravine, at this point in time?"

"I believe it was, yes" Jules nodded. "Clint Eastwood… Marty… won't 'fall in' until later today." He then checked his watch, pressed a few buttons, and looked at the sky. "Let's see, sunrise should be in around forty to forty-one minutes. You go uptown, track down someone who knows where Buford's camp is. Someday today…"

"Old Buford will show up, I know I know" Verne sighed. "I just hope we'll get back home soon. My internal clock is a bit out of synch. And all we wanted to do was buy a little Christmas present for Dad in 1935!"

"Don't complain on me, Verne!" Jules said. "It wasn't my fault that we ran into the younger version of Dad, while we were there. Also, you were the one who took so long to discover all the stores, allowing us to meet Father, allowing the time machine to be unguarded for so long. I know the future is exciting, brother, but next time, please keep it to our necessary things."

"Well, let's go, now" Verne said. "Every second Dad's dead in that horrible world hurts me like hell. Correction – that world is hell."

Jules frowned slightly at the last line, then dug into the DeLorean's back. "All right" he said, pulling out a walkie-talkie. "Take this, then we'll be able to contact. We'll proceed according to schedule. I'll wait here, and study the newspapers for further information."

"You mean you'll do nothing" Verne stated.

"I'll also recheck the time circuits, and thank you very much for the compliment" Jules said, sarcastically. "A track-down Last Time Departed display could come in handy. Maybe one day the time machine gets stolen by someone who isn't as stupid as Old Buford to leave the Last Time Departed on his real departure… not that we noticed, but anyway… but first travels to the last date seen on the display before returning the time machine to the future. In this case, that would've been December 23, 1905, 10:53 PM." He stared at the display. "Maybe with the right tools, Dad and I could build that… once this mess is all over."

"Anyway" Verne said, taking the walkie-talkie. "I'm off. See you later, bro." He started to climb up the walls of the ravine, sighing with every step he took. The mind travellers watched him amusedly.

"Poor Dad" Local Sarah chuckled. "I guess he'll be having a hard time to get the history book away from Buford. Maybe even harder, than it was for your Grandpa's, to steal the sports almanac away from Biff. After all, Buford is much rougher in that kind of things."

"I wonder where Gramps is" Alternate Marty said. "I mean, he should be at the campfire. Doc should be at the saloon, telling stories." He flew up, higher and higher, along the wall of Shonash Ravine. "I guess we all have to follow Verne, to see where he's leading us. I am kind of curious to see what Hill Valley is like by now. The first time I saw it was in 1925, and that's 40 years from now. I think that by then, it resembles 1955 more than 1885."

"Dad told me that the Courthouse was still in construction by 1885" Alternate Sarah said. "Well, I was just five when he told me that – but I still remember his tales about the past. He really wanted to fix what Griff had done to the world, until he was shot in 2034. And just a little over a decade later, I ended up taking over the mission, along with Alternate Marty here, and his Grandpa."

"Well, that sure sounds interesting, then" Local Marty said, seeing that Verne had finally reached the top of the ravine. "Let's fly into Hill Valley, now." As the teenagers started to hover above the road, they wondered where Verne was leading them.

oooooooo

Verne Brown felt nervous, as he entered the city limits of Hill Valley by passing the station. However he'd grown up in this kind of town for 17 years, he wondered how the city would be a full three years before he was even born. He smiled, as he realized that today was the big day for Dad, as he would meet Clara again. Of course, today was also the day that he last really saw Marty. He felt himself almost crying, as he knew how good friends his father and the teenager were.

As he then walked through the dirt roads, he looked around with amazement. There was a banner in the air saying "Hill Valley Festival: Saturday September 5th 1885". He recognized the old Palace Saloon from his youth, as well as the Marshall's Office. He then also realized that his parents were currently not together – as Clara had broken up with Emmett the night before. He would better not interfere with the train accident, or else he might possibly erase himself from existence. Anything that would bring his father directly back to 1985 would most likely erase him anyway. Gulping, he realized how much of a hard task he had, here in the past.

As he entered the saloon, he found himself feeling another wave of nostalgia. He remembered going there for the first time, back in 1900. He wasn't allowed to drink any alcoholic drinks, yet, as the legal age in the future for that was 21. He did always think of the interior as kind of creepy, though. Now he was 17, though, his father wouldn't be able to control what he did, as he didn't know Verne yet. Smiling, he went to sit at the bar, next to a man with a hat on his head and a full glass of whiskey in his hand. Verne wondered why the man didn't just drink it up.

"Hey, blacksmith!" one of the people at the tables then screamed, surprising Verne. "Why don't you tell us more about that future of yours?"

The man snorted. "I don't care for my future anymore" he said in a strangely familiar voice. "After all, I lost it just this night. After Clara dumped me, I don't have a future anymore – so what could I tell you about?"

Verne felt really shocked. This man was Emmett Lathrop Brown, his father! He gasped with amazement, turned his head the other way, and nervously started to move away. He certainly didn't want to cause a paradox…"

"Hey, stranger!" Verne looked up at Chester, the old bartender. "Whadda ya want? We're not here for people that don't order anything. So, why don't you tell me – what do you want to have? In here, we serve sarsaparilla, whiskey, and other strong stuff. If you want water, though, like that Eastwood fellow last week – you'd better go out to drink of the horse through. In here, we serve whiskey!"

"Don't insult my friend" Doc protested. "Marty just drunk from the horse through because all you serve isn't really for kids like he is." He stared a long time at his whiskey glass, before looking up again. "You wouldn't want a young boy like him to get an alcohol disorder, would you? He's only 17… and in the future, the legal drinking age will be twenty-one in the United States."

That caused another burst of laughter to arrive. "What kind of a stupid drinking age is that!" one of the men called out. "Those future idiots you're talking about must be crazy. Drinking's good for a man. It makes you stronger. So just drink it up, blacksmith!"

Doc took another stare at his glass, and raised it up. He was about to taste it, as one of the other men distracted him again. "So, what's it, smithy?" he asked. "Why don't you just drink it! That's better than the horse's through outside, huh?"

Doc frowned, setting the glass down again. "I'll drink whatever I want" he said. Verne thought this was a good moment to get away, and sneakily headed away from the bar. "Why are you so judgemental and harsh to me and Clint? I lost the love of my life – nothing's left for me."

Verne watched his father from a distance, as he headed out of the saloon. He felt sorry for his father, as the older man really seemed to be love-struck. As much as he liked his mother, he felt that she'd been really hard to his father. Then again, when somebody told you time travel was true, and that he was from a full hundred years in the future, would you believe it? Want to, yes, but actually believe it?

The seventeen-year-old shook his head, and headed out of the door. Getting food here was useless – and besides, it wasn't that wise either. According to the Courthouse clock, it was 6:43am, after all… time to go find Buford Tannen. The boy shivered, thinking what life would be if Buford actually was to keep the history book…

Trying to breath easier, he started heading towards the east. He had no clue where Tannen could really be, but this was his best guess. Dad had always told him that Buford arrived from that side, according to Marty, and knowing his father, his guess was almost always accurate. Humming a tune, he started heading out of Hill Valley, California.