[ WP ] The US government sends Bob Ross back in time to help Hitler get accepted into Art School .

General Stone enters the oval office: `` Mr. President.'' 
 
 President Reagan: `` Come in General Stone.'' 
 
 Stone: `` Sir, Ross has finished his report on Valkyrie 9 and we've finished analyzing and quarantining him.'' 
 
 Reagan asks speculatively: `` Did he need to be briefed on our history?'' 
 
 Stone: `` No, sir.'' 
 
 Regan sighs and takes a moment to let this news sink in. `` That was our last shot. Our worst fears have been confirmed then General, there is no changing our fate.'' 
 
 Stone: `` I do n't understand. Should n't there be a butterfly effect?'' 
 
 Reagan: `` Our scientists had predicted 2 possible outcomes when using these time portals. Either we would be able to use them to alter the past and change the present-future as we know it, or we were always destined to use them. Now it seems almost as though they were using us.'' 
 
 Stone: `` I suppose that explains how they're so particular. Each portal only permits *one* use for *one* unequipped chrononaut, each chrononaut returns after *22* hours, and we've yet to find one that dumps at a specifically recorded place and time in history.'' 
 
 Regan: `` Yes, we have never been certain that we were changing anything. We've been mostly shooting in the dark. It's lucky we even found several instances surrounding a young Hitler.'' 
 
 Stone: `` Sir... I do n't know that I'd call that luck.'' 
 
 Regan: `` And why is that, General?'' 
 
 Stone: `` Sir, as you know, each time Ross has gone back he's arrived at a progressed date. That is, he has consistently arrived at a date later than his previous departure to the past. Ross has been following his mission to the letter: he impressed a young Hitler in art school and took him under his wing as his protégé. Whenever they met, Ross progressively tried to persuade Hitler that he had found his calling. But this last time Hitler seemed very upset with how'unhappy' his paintings, specifically his trees, came out and he seemed overall fed up.'' 
 
 Stone hands Reagan a folder with [ these pictures ] ( http: //imgur.com/a/AoFJt ) and some documents inside: `` We had even researched the paintings since and got professional artists to give tips to make the trees and the paintings overall 
 *better*. Ross was *supposed* to give these tips to Hitler in this last mission.'' 
 
 Reagan glances at the folder, closes it and hands it back: `` General, I do n't believe I need to be re-briefed.'' 
 
 Stone: `` Yes, Mr. President. What we know now is that this was a trap.'' 
 
 Reagan: `` A trap? How could we have been trapped 80 years in the past? These damn portals were only discovered 6 years ago!'' 
 
 Stone: `` Sir, this was our last portal that would give Ross access to Hitler. As a last ditch effort he violated the protocol and reached Hitler at his residence to tell him of his future, hoping to enlighten his younger self about the errors of his future ways and encourage him to be better. Ross also told Hitler that this was his last chance to save him, as all the other attempts failed to stop his tyranny. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Ross until it was too late, he had travelled back to an earlier date than he ever had previously.'' 
 
 Reagan: `` He's gone back more than 20 times, and that's *never* happened.'' 
 
 Stone: `` Yes, sir. By this point we were n't expecting it to be possible to go back 
 *further*, but we never had any way of knowing exactly *when* he'd be arriving back.'' 
 
 Reagan stands up and starts walking around the room to help process this: `` So you're now telling that when he met Hitler *for the first time*, he told him that he was destined to be a tyrannical world leader??'' 
 
 Stone: `` Yes, sir. It's confirmed now that Hitler rationalized that if he served as a protégé to Ross, he would be set on course to be a world leader and leave his legacy. He had no real interest in art other than to use it as a stepping stone in his already established fate. Then next time he saw Ross, he pretended it was their first meeting, which is why Ross had such an easy time impressing Hitler and taking him in: because Hitler recognized him first.'' 
 
 Reagan takes his seat again and stares out beyond the walls as though he could n't see anything in front of him but the truth: `` If what you're saying is true... then we're responsible for Hitler's reign... The Nazi's. The Third Reich. 60 million people...'' 
 
 Stone: `` Sir, if I may.'' 
 
 Reagan still stares off distantly, not shifting his gaze: `` Go on.'' 
 
 Stone: `` If what those scientists theorized is true, and it sure seems like it is, then not only could we not change the past, but we were always a part of it. What you said is true in a way:'it seems as though they were using us.' They were destined to die in the past.'' 
 
 Reagan looks up at General Stone: `` And what about Ross?'' 
 
 Stone: `` Mr. President?'' 
 
 Reagan pauses: `` It does n't surprise me that he would n't mention it even to those privileged to the information. He's not one to make others feel sorry for him.'' 
 
 Stone looks at Reagan puzzled. 
 
 Reagan: `` The portals are highly radioactive, and that radioactivity remains with chrononauts as long as they're in the past. Every other mission has been merely a field test, and each chrononaut only went on one mission. Ross insisted that he continued to go back and finish his directive. He said'The lives of 60 million people are greater than the death of one.' Though, I do n't think he knows just how much he means to the world. All he wanted was to make the world a better place. He dedicated his life to that. People will never have any idea of all the love he has for them, and for that he's now stitched into the very fabric of time.'' 
 
 Stone: `` But, sir, even though his death is n't part of the past yet, it's clear now that it was always destined to be this way. He had to go to the past. He was always meant to be there. So he had to wind up here, like this. When he arrived back and we got his statement, he said he knew that no matter what happened, it was destined to happen. He said,'We do n't make mistakes. We have happy accidents.''' 
 
 Reagan stares off to the side again looking at the truth, only in a different light than before: `` Happy accidents.'' 
 
 The President stands up, shakes the hand of the general, placing a hand on his shoulder temporarily as well as he escorts Stone to the door. 
 
 General Stone tips his head: `` Mr. President.'' 
 
 Reagan tips his head to Stone with a slight somber smile, and Stone then exits. 
 
 Edit: This is my first contribution to this sub, so hopefully this was worth the read. I've never really written a piece of fiction before but ***love*** the concept of time travel and of course the Bob. Also, I'm sorry if a General would n't be talking to a President, and would salute him or something, but I do n't think you're supposed to salute indoors... I really do n't know though.
