Back to the Future Fan-fiction

Chapter Sixteen || Turning Point

The bond Marty had to Seamus's family was impeccable.

Sure, they had no idea who Clint actually was. To Seamus, Maggie, and William— Clint was a stranger who just happened to fall onto their barn and just happened to sleep in their barn for a night. Besides from outsmarting the town's biggest bully, there was nothing particularly special about the smart young boy. But to Seamus, there was.

And he needed to find out what.

It was that night that Clint saved the Blacksmith with a pie plate. Tannen and Emmett, 'Blacksmith Brown', had gotten into a duel-style fight. Then Mad-Dog had pulled out a fun, and Marty just had to intervene...

"No. I damn you... I damn you to hell!" Tannen had screamed, lifting his pistol to shoot. But before the bullet could pierce through Doc, Marty thankfully had a good eye and sharp ears. He took the pie-plate, labeled "Frisbee", off the table and flung it at the bullet. And just by a miracle, it misaimed and threw the bullet off the lodge. Tannen stared evilly at Marty, who then challenged him to a duel. Marty obliged and said he'd meet Tannen at 8:00 o'clock Monday morning, not realizing the repercussions of his future.

He didn't think what challenging Tannen to adore would really mean. Of course, he assumed he would be on his way back to the future by that time, but what if...? Seamus and Maggie walked up to him after, explaining to him his situation.

"You could've had him, Mr. Eastwood!" Seamus exclaimed, frustrated with Marty's antics.  "You could've just walked away, and nobody would've thought the less of you for it. All it would've been was words, hot air from a buffoon. Instead you let him rile you, rile you into playing his game, his way, by his rules."

To this, Marty scoffed. Why did Seamus care? He had dealt with the Tannen's before, and besides-- he'd be gone by Monday anyway. "Relax, Seamus, I know what I'm doing," He reassured Seamus, who had a concerned expression on his face.

To that, Seamus and Maggie exchanged a familiar-looking glance. It was almost like they've heard that before. "He reminds me of poor Martin," Seamus told his wife knowingly. Maggie agreed, and told Marty the story of a man who was shot due to his persistent attitude. Marty was shocked to hear such a story; he never knew who he was named after or that he had died. "Had a brother. Martin used to let men provoke him into fightin'. He was concerned that people would think him a coward if he refused. That's how he got a bowie knife shoved through his belly in a saloon in Virginia City. Never considered the future, poor Martin, God rest his soul." Jeez, Marty wondered to himself. He had died?

Maggie nodded and turned to face Mr. Eastwood before heading off. "Sure'n I hope you're considerin' the future, Mr. Eastwood." She scolded.

Marty looked after them as they walked away, a slight sense of irony, concern, and knowingness in his expression. Quite literally and not... maybe, he realized, he should be more careful about what he said and thought.

"I think about it all the time."

-

So I know this is from part 3, but I wanted to write a unique perspective from Marty's POV. I wrote this to symbolize a 'turning' point in Marty's career, hence the name-- I feel like it was around this point in the movie where Marty began to think about the consequences of his future actions. Enjoy.