EDIT: For those of you wondering about La Dolce Vita, I have writer's block for the story. Since reader's response for that story declined, I've been unmotivated to continue writing it. However, I will try to get an update for that out on Veteran's Day (my next day off).

AN: So sorry for my infrequent updates. Anyone still remember this story? I wouldn't be surprised if everyone forgot all about this by now.

The Butterfly Effect: a metaphor that encapsulates the idea that if one were to make small changes, while going back to the past, the resulting changes to the present would be large and various.

Troy breathed heavily, dodging objects as he turned a corner and sped down a corridor. He had been running from his assistant Nikki for the past five minutes, hoping to get rid of her while at the same time find Jason's new assistant. If Jason's assistant was on task, he would have to be inside Room 666 of the multistory building.

Walking through the hallway of the sixth floor, Troy's blue eyes scanned the room numbers until he spotted the correct room. Glancing over his shoulder once more to make sure Nikki was not dead on his tail, Troy let out a sigh of relief when he saw no trace of Nikki. He raised his knuckle to knock gently against the wooden surface of the door. His ears heard the soft murmur saying, 'Come in.'

Troy's hand twisted the knob, slowly pushing the door open. Stepping inside the room, Troy's eyes landed on the back of a figure sitting in a chair. The man in the swivel chair spun around to face Troy, flashing him a wide smile.

"Hello," The man's squeaky voice greeted Troy. Troy raised an eyebrow at the man's high pitched voice and his appearance. The man wore glasses, a dress shirt, a bow tie, khakis, and mismatched shoes. The man had bushy eyebrows and a mini Jew-fro - an afro that could never rival Chad's, Troy noted. As the guy stood up to shake Troy's hand, Troy also observed that he was a few inches shorter than him.

"Troy Bolton," Troy stuck out his hand to shake the man's hand.

"Moses," The man's answer caused Troy to chuckle dryly.

"So, you're Jason's new assistant..."

"You bet I am!" The quirky man replied before sniffling, digging into his pocket for a handkerchief, "Graduated from Stanford in '10."

Troy stiffened as the mention of the school stimulated more distracting thoughts of Gabriella.

"Heard you went to Berkeley!" Moses snickered. "Our schools were rivals."

"Yeah," Troy remarked offhandedly. "I know."

The grin on Moses' face slowly faded as his face contorted into a serious expression.

"All right Mr. Bolton, I'll cut to the chase. I have a favor to ask of you. I have been running some experiments in my lab as of lately in order to finalize my plans for a certain invention. I was explaining the idea of my innovation to Mr. Cross earlier this afternoon but he seemed rather skeptical of my suggestions. He insisted that I get a second opinion on the matter from you," Moses explained. "And so I request that you take some time to listen to my idea."

Troy's eyes cast down upon his watch to check the time. Shrugging his shoulders, he replied, "Well, the only event I was scheduled for today was the presentation. And since I already screwed that up, I have nothing better to do so... why not."

Moses's eyes brightened at his response and his mouth formed into a wide smile.

"Great! Thank you Mr. Bolton! Take a seat," Moses ushered him into the seat across from his table. Troy complied, walking around his desk before plopping down onto the chair.

"You now have my undivided attention," Troy proclaimed.

"Spectacular!" Moses exclaimed before clearing his throat and adjusting his 'fro. "I'll start this off with a general question - do you believe in alternate or parallel realities? You know, the belief that several parallel universes coexist within our own existence?"

Troy stared blankly at the man whose doe eyes stared at him with curiosity.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Troy responded. "That wasn't a rhetorical question?"

Moses took another deep breath. "Look, I know you probably think I'm some nutcase right now but please, all I ask is that you hear me out on this. Back to alternate universes - the formal definition of one would be universes that are separated from one another by a single quantum event. As you may know, this is a very hot topic that scientists have been looking into for the last few years. Substantial evidence has been accumulated to support this theory, leading me to experiment ways in which to... well... you could say 'mess around' with the order of the universe."

Troy blinked, unable to formulate a response. Holy shit, Jason hired a psycho.

"You must know what I'm going to say next, don't you?" Moses smiled weakly. "Humans have tried to do this for centuries and the possibility of this has plagued the minds of physicists since the development of the twin paradox. Mr. Bolton, I do boldly declare that after years of research with some of my old colleagues, I may have developed a gadget that allows one to do the impossible - time travel."

Troy stood up, heading for the door.

"I think I've heard enough, Moses. I have not been feeling particularly well this after noon, so if you'll excuse me-"

"NO!" Moses sprang out of his seat, running to block the exit from his office. "WAIT, JUST LISTEN TO ME. I know this sounds outrageous-"

"Ridiculous," Troy spat, lifting his hand to move Moses out of his way. "Time travel is impossible. I've seen enough Back to the Future movies to cement my belief that such a thing is nonexistent."

"I know that as of now, it may seem ridiculous but please Mr. Bolton, I beg of you, stay! If you have your doubts, let me at least prove it to you that I am not kidding about my development. My findings are very legitimate and I was hoping to undergo a test run sometime this week-"

"Moses," Troy muttered his name in a gruff tone, "Today is really not the day for this."

"Why not?" The level of Moses' tone rose as his nostrils flared in anger. "It has not even been five minutes and you're already attempting to escape the room. You haven't even heard me out yet!"

"You are absolutely insane."

"Maybe I am!" Moses cried out. "But you'll never know for sure lest you at least get a glimpse of my machine."

"You have a machine?" Troy laughed sarcastically, "Oh, this is rich. Jason fired the blonde for some dillusional nut."

Moses sighed deeply, realizing that he must change his tactics if he wanted any recognition.

"Look, haven't you ever done something you regret? Do you ever wish you could fix an error or, better yet, erase the past?"

"Yes," Troy answered firmly. "I've wished this every single day of my life but that doesn't mean it's possible."

"What if it was, Troy? What if you really could go back in time and fix something? Physics has never proved this impossible. In fact, recent findings have only rendered evidence that state that this is in fact possible!"

Troy sighed in annoyance, his hand rubbing his burning temple.

"Look, Moses. If you're so certain that you have created a 'time traveling machine' then why don't you find another guy to prove it to? I have a long drive to Albuquerque tonight, and I could really use some time to rest before it."

"Albuquerque?" Moses cocked an eyebrow, pursing his lip. "Why are you driving there?"

Troy's face remained stolid. "To visit a certain someone who I visit on this day every year."

"Please, Mr. Bolton. Let me just prove to you that I'm not crazy. Come with me into the lab room and I'll show you the invention I speak so fondly of. I promise you that if at any time you feel that my invention's a hoax, you can urge Mr. Cross to fire me on the spot."

Troy remained silent, simply staring at Moses' pleading face.

"C'mon, Mr. Bolton. What have you got to lose? I can prove it to you that this is real. In fact, I can prove it to you in less than two minutes. I promise I will take up no more than five minutes of your time!" Moses folded his hands and attempted to pull the puppy dog eyes trick on him.

Troy shoved his hand in front of his face, stopping Moses.

"Please don't even start with that. That look has worked for only a few people in my life and you're not one of them."

Moses' pout faded as his sad face was replaced with an angry look.

"You know what, fine. If you're close minded enough to reject my offer of showing you something that may become an integral part of our future and, perhaps, even a commercial product fifty years from now… then so be it," Moses grumbled. "I'll find another less shortsighted individual to give me a second opinion."

Right as Moses was about to turn his back around, Troy gave in.

"Moses, wait-"

Moses eyes lit up in hope as he focused on Troy, silently hoping he would finally change his mind.

"Oh, what the hell. Show me the machine," Troy said in a monotone.

Moses smirked, clamping his hands together in satisfaction, "Why certainly, Mr. Bolton. I thought you'd never ask."

"A copy machine?" Troy asked incredulously as Moses nodded vigorously. "Your so called 'time machine' is a copy machine."

Troy scoffed, "I knew you were a sham."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're way too bitter and hostile for your age?" Moses remarked, using his fingers to dial numbers in the machine.

"I have my reasons."

Moses bit his lip in concentration, plugging in wires. "So what terrible ungodly thing happened to you that made you so jaded?"

"You were born."

Moses narrowed his eyes, not appreciating the jab. "Ha-ha, funny," He replied sarcastically. "But I'm serious. What in the world turned you into such an unpleasant human being?"

Troy sighed dejectedly, leaning against the copy machine with his elbows propped up against the machine.

"Today's just not a good day for me, all right?"

"Is it cuz you fainted?"

"Sure."

After finishing the set-up, Moses flicked the on button in the machine, causing it to light up and vibrate. "Voila!"

"Now, I'm going to put in an object into this machine. I've already put in the time and date, so the object will disappear and then reappear after the time has elapsed," Moses explained, grabbing the pen that sat in his pocket and placing it onto the machine.

"Ookay," Troy said with a hint of skepticism as he leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms.

After pressing a few more buttons, Moses slammed the cover back on the copy machine. The machine rumbled as smoke emitted.

Troy's eyes widened at the sight of the steam coming from the machine.

"Holy crap, that looks as if it's going to blow up-"

"No worries, my prediction included excessive steam," Moses stated nonchalantly, smiling. "Actually, this probably isn't helping the fragile environmental state our earth is in right now," Moses paused in an afterthought. "I hope it doesn't start snowing out of nowhere tomorrow morning."

"Moses, this isn't funny-"

"Will you relax? I set the time 1 minute into the future. The pen should miraculously pop out of thin air within," Moses glanced down at his timer, "30 seconds."

"I still have my doubts."

"Well, those doubts are about to be erased when the falling pen pokes your eye out."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Troy remarked dubiously.

"Splendid, I'm highly confident that this will work," Moses scanned the scribbles written on the sheet of paper on his clipboard which contained his calculations. "I'm 99 percent sure that the pen will fall in three, two, one-"

As the timer hit one minute, a pen reappeared and plopped down on the floor. Troy's mouth hung dumbly as his eyes remained fixed on the pen that disappeared and reappeared within his sight.

Losing his composure, he stared at Moses, frightened. "What kind of fucking magic trick was that?"

Moses merely chuckled, bending his knees to lift up the tangible object that made the trip through time. "There's no need for the coarse language, Mr. Bolton. There's no magic involved. It's simply science."

"Oh, I know science. Trust me, I've been surrounded my people whose lives revolve around science. And that," Troy pointed at the object resting in Moses' hands, "Is not science."

"You're still in denial," Moses declared.

Troy deadpanned, "I'm either hallucinating or still dreaming. Maybe I never woke up from when I fainted and this is all part of some nightmare."

"This is not a nightmare, Troy," Moses yelled, addressing him by his first name for the very first time. "This is a scientific breakthrough! I've just proved to you that my results are legitimate and that this machine is capable of traveling back and forwards through time. Can you even fathom the significance of this? Why, it will change the world! When Gizmos Inc learns about this, it will no doubt become the top corporation in the United States! Hell, in the world!"

Troy's migraine sent ripples of pain through his forehead.

"I have to go. I need some Advil before my drive and some fresh air," Troy muttered before opening the door and exiting.

Moses followed after him, screaming, "I know you wish you could change the past, Troy! We all wish for it! You'll be back – I know you will!"

Troy said nothing as he ran a hand through his light brown hair and walked slowly out of the doors, knowing fully well that Moses was right.