The Butterfly Effect

Distrust

"So you time-traveled? Is that what you're telling me?"

I sigh. "Yes, I time-traveled. At least, that's what I think happened. My memory of my other past is really foggy right now, but I can distinctly remember having a dream where I was back fighting Lui again, and then waking up in a different place with my scar missing."

"That's... that's really weird, Shu. But..." I hear him take a deep breath. "I believe you. I know you wouldn't make something like that up."

I feel so relieved. "Thanks for believing me. I know the whole thing seems kinda unbelievable."

"It really, really does, but I can't imagine why you would tell me something like that if it wasn't true. I could see other people trying to trick me like that, since I'm pretty gullible, but... not you. You're not mean like that."

I'm still not sure why I feel the need to tell all of my friends about my time-travel. For some reason, though, I feel like I should. This isn't something I should keep to myself. This is something everyone needs to know.

"So..." Kensuke says after a little bit, "what should we do about it?"

"I... I have no idea." I shake my head. "I've been trying to convince Valt to not do anything stupid, and he promised me he wouldn't, but I don't know if he'll keep that promise."

"There's no way of knowing."

Kensuke takes a breath, and then speaks in the Ker voice. "He better not do anything stupid, or we'll personally hunt him down and chew him out!"

"If he does end up in the Snake Pit," he adds in the Beus voice, "I'll probably start to cry."

The sound of the puppet voices actually makes me smile. "I still wonder which puppet is the real you."

"Neither of them are," Kensuke says in his own voice. "This is the real me. Ker and Beus are just... Ker and Beus."

"That's the best answer I could've gotten." I pause, not sure where to go next. "I'm actually out at a restaurant with my team right now, so I should probably get back to them."

"Oh, okay. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"Will do. Bye."

"Bye."

The call ends there, and I'm forced to walk back out and join my team. They're all talking, laughing, having a good enough time. All except for Valt, who's mindlessly eating his food and staring off into space. I feel bad for him, but there isn't much I can do. I could try talking to him, in theory...

"I'm back," I announce, as if nobody could see that.

"Hey, Shu," pretty much everyone says. Everyone except for Valt.

I look across the table at Valt. "You haven't said much. Is everything alright?" I ask him.

He glances up at me. "I'm fine, Shu. Just thinking about something."

That voice, that doesn't sound like Valt. Honestly, it sounds like... An image of myself as Red Eye flashes in my mind, and I blink to clear it away. No, that can't be who Valt sounds like.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask with a smile, trying to keep everything lighthearted.

"What do you think I'm thinking about? Lui, obviously." He stabs a piece of his food and violently tears it off the fork. "I have to take him down, Shu. I can't stand the thought of him being so high up there when he does things like this."

He gestures rather harshly to his covered eye, and the thought makes me wince. "Get your revenge, just don't do anything stupid," I tell him.

"You said that to me already, and I already promised I wouldn't do anything stupid." He puts his fork down and glares at me. "Do you want me to just forget about it? Is that it? I can't forget about it, Shu. It hurts, nonstop, every day, and every time I feel it I think about Lui and his smug face after he did it."