Even though the mug smashed only a few centimetres from Al’s face as it collided with the wall behind him, the bastard still didn’t flinch.

Zoe, on the other hand, had flinched. Spectacularly.
When she recovered, she coughed awkwardly, sighed and then—

Voila! A moment later the mug was in my hand again, haphazardly glued back together, but I could still read its legend: THEY MADE ME DO IT.
I looked up at Zoe.
“Did you do your bullet time thing?”

“Indeed,” she said. “Pay me back later for the trouble it took me to put that together again, you dick.”

“Fair enough.”
I sighed, and recollected myself.
“Al…please tell me what the point of all this was.”

“The events that occured in your lifetime before you went in the In-Between occured as they did with your Future self. But he deemed it neccessary to change the events of his Past, otherwise it would be likely that Letrodacta would kill his – and your – family and friends, all over again.”

I was taken aback.
“But…I don’t have a family…”