The Butterfly Effect

Disbelief

"Wait, so you're telling me that in another timeline, Lui tried to take your eye out before he tried to take out Valt's, but you shut your eye before it got taken out and you were left scarred, and Valt knew what would happen, so he didn't get scarred in that timeline? And you wound up going to the Snake Pit in that timeline because you hated Lui so much?"

"Yeah." I don't completely understand why Rantaro feels the need to recap everything I just told him, but it isn't that important.

"And you felt so bad about what you did that your Beyblade decided to talk to you, and it told you that it could stop your guilt, and then in your dream that night it sent you back in time to when you first got scarred and altered what happened so you never got scarred. But it came with the price that Valt went down the path you did, so now you're trying to figure out how to stop Valt from going to the Snake Pit or throwing everything away for revenge?"

I sigh. It sounds incredibly stupid when he puts it that way. "Yeah."

"That is so cool! It sounds like something right out of a movie! Hey, do you think Ragnarok could do that!?"

I can't help but crack a smile. "The only reason Spriggan did it was because my emotions affect the way it feels, and the guilt was driving me crazy. Unless you do something that you regret that horribly, I don't think Rangarok would waste its power sending you back in time."

"Dang it! I wanna go back in time! So wait, it was like, it felt like a dream, you said?"

"Yeah. Spriggan told me to fall asleep, and then in my dream I was battling Lui again. You know that weird 'this isn't quite right' feeling you get when you're dreaming? That's kind of what it felt like, so I figured I was just dreaming it, but then I woke up and my scar was gone, so I knew it really happened."

"No kidding, that's awesome!"

I'm partly baffled, partly amused. "Wait... you believe me?"

"Of course I believe you, dude! I know you, Shu. You wouldn't make something like this up. The only reason you would ever tell anyone about something like this is because it actually happened. You're not the type to come up with some wild story for no good reason."

That is so relieving. I kind of figured Rantaro would believe me. This is someone who believes in ghosts and unicorns and every other mythical being in existence, and he's also seen what Beyblades are capable of. He watched me get possessed by Requiem.

Wait, no he didn't. At least, not in this timeline. Speaking of timelines, that's the other thing I wanted to ask him about, so I might as well do it now.

"I'm glad you believe me, but... now I have another problem."

"What is it?"

"I have no clue how to get back to my original timeline."

"Ooh... yeah, that's gonna be hard." He pauses for a second, and then perks up again. "Okay, I think I figured something out about the way your time travel worked. Oh, this is so cool, seeing what actually happens when you change timelines."

I crack a smile again. "What do you think happened?"

"Okay, so you said that when you first traveled your memory was all foggy and you could remember two different pasts for yourself, right?"

"Yeah."

"Think about it this way. There are a billion different possible timelines out there. Every time you make a decision, timelines branch off and create a bunch of alternate universes where this happens and that happens and all of that. Typically, everybody sticks to their one timeline. Nothing gets out of place, nothing goes out of whack, but you altered it. You went back in time and changed your course of events. So, what that did was instead of sending you to another timeline and making you forget your other past, it instead merged the two timelines. So, now you remember both pasts. Think about it: it would create a huge paradox if it took you from one timeline and put you in another, because your original timeline still exists even if you're in a different one. I don't know, call me crazy, but I think the timelines merged. It's the only thing that makes sense, cuz Shu, if I'm being honest with you, I can distinctly remember a scar over your right eye even though I've never actually seen it."