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The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

Summary:

After countless failed attempts at repeating the Week Of Hell to stop the Storm and avoid those fateful choices up on the lighthouse cliff, Max tries something different. She decides to utilize her newly gained wealth of knowledge about Chloe's years without her by jumping back even futher, to the time when Chloe first ran into the mysterious Rachel Amber. But when Nightmare Max intercepts her mid-jump, she finally realizes that her actions have consequences and has no choice but to compromise a last chance at success by sharing this new timeline with a younger version of herself, instead of overwriting them like she's always done.

So, the question now is... in this deadly game of chicken, who will give up first? An experienced time-traveller who can bend time to her will, and an anxiously depressed teenager; or a stubborn universe hell-bent on upholding fate and destiny, no matter the cost? Welcome to The Final Timeline - Before The Storm.

Notes:

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's the first chapter of hopefully three new fanfics that I plan on releasing over the next few weeks. Like I said at the end of Pricefield - Time Warriors, I will be doing a staggered weekly release until I reach the end of my written backlog for this (and the other fics), at which point there will be no set release schedule and further chapters will simply come when they come. However, my new year's resolution is to finish at-least one of these new fics by the end of the year, but with my terrible luck, that's probably not gonna happen. Only time will tell. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to:

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm.

Enjoy! :)

Chapter 1: Reflection

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 1: Reflection

 

The first few seconds of a photo jump are always mildly disorienting. At-least, all of them have been so far, with the exception of this one. Never this one. I've jumped back to this point so many times now that I've lost count. So once my surroundings had begun to bleed through the pure white in my vision, the sound came next. Upon hearing the click and whirr of my all too familiar polaroid camera, I pocketed the photo before looking down and glaring at the butterfly perched on the metal bucket. I could feel it judging me, taunting me over my countless failed attempts at stopping the events leading up to the Storm and the fateful choices up on the clifftop.

 

So I kicked the bucket with as much force as I could muster, sending it crashing into the wall. I watched as the butterfly lazily rose into the air before my foot had even made contact with the bucket and flew its way across the room to perch on a sink. It flapped its wings at me, unharmed and unphased. If it could speak, I was sure it would be saying something along the lines of, "Is that the best you've got?".

 

Resisting the urge to throw my camera at it, I instead leaned back against the wall and groaned. Nothing I have done so far has changed the end outcome, the Storm always comes and I always have to make the choice to kill Chloe or kill Arcadia Bay. I've seen a lot of shit thanks to what basically boils down to trial and error, though I refuse to give up until both Chloe and this hellhole of a town are safe.

 

Unsurprisingly, I heard the sound of the bathroom door being opened. I didn't need to look to know it was Nathan anymore, so I froze everything to give myself more time to think. The problem is, I'm starting to run out of options; things to mess with that might have a realistic possibility to change the outcome. In the original timeline I'd chosen to save Chloe, considering I'd gone through all the crap that week specifically so that I could keep her alive. Why would I take it back after only five days, just so that she could die while still hating me, thinking I abandoned her for five years and not even getting to say hello or goodbye one last time before being murdered in a school bathroom? So yes, I sacrificed the town for her. We left straight away and didn't look back. We were struggling heavily with the guilt, of-course, but we had each other and that's all that mattered.

 

Sadly, even after decimating an entire town, it turns out the universe still wasn't happy. There was no more apocalyptic-sized Storms or other unnatural happenings, but shortly after leaving the ruins of Arcadia Bay behind, Chloe somehow found herself in constant danger. To keep it short, let's just say that I had to rewind an insane amount of deaths that increased in ridiculousness with each passing day. The universe, destiny, fate, whatever the fuck it is, was relentless in it's pursuit to kill Chloe. It very quickly got to the point where Chloe died merely from stubbing her toe on a fucking rock and once we realized that it didn't seem to have an end in sight, Chloe eventually made me consider the fact that as much as I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to rewind every little accident forever, especially if we wanted to live a normal life. She finally convinced me to go back and let her die in the hope that it'd at-least stop the Storm, though once I went back, obviously I couldn't go through with it and instead vowed to find a way to keep her alive even if I had to repeat the Week of Hell over and over again.

 

So here I am now, back in the very same bathroom after a shit-ton of retries. Over the last few, I started looking deeper into Chloe's life, at first just to get through the boringness of a week repeating itself, but as my options dwindled I began looking for any little thing that might help. I practically interrogated her about how her life was without me, as much as it pained me, and no doubt her, to do so. It took me quite a while to get her to start opening up about Rachel, which I had to ask about before we would come to find her dead in the Junkyard otherwise she'd be too broken and interested in revenge to discuss it. She told me all about how her and Rachel first met. All the crazy shit they got up to. It made me think about all the times she said we'd be "Hella Best Friends Forever" and wish that could be true.

 

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in my head. Why couldn't we be "Hella Best Friends Forever"? I can travel through time, for fuck sake! The more I thought about it, the more possible it seemed. My powers have grown somewhat since I first got them; I've jumped through a lot of photos at this point, even been able to stay in them if I wish, which is how I managed to make a few hard to get changes during the Week of Hell which were previously impossible due to the photo-jumping boundary and time limitations. I'm pretty much out of things to change now though, so why shouldn't I try going further back? I can't believe I never actually thought about this until now; I've always wondered what it'd be like to see Rachel in the flesh, well now I can. Maybe she's the key to stopping the Storm. Maybe she's not. Either way, it's worth a shot. After-all, in the words of Chloe, time's my bitch. I just have to save Rachel to save Chloe to save Arcadia Bay and live happily ever after.

 

With a bare-bones plan in mind, I hoped that I had a photo that could take me back to the right moment in time, then unfroze the world around me and full on sprinted out from behind the stall. Now that I'd already decided this was a dead timeline, nothing mattered besides getting to my dorm and tearing through my photo collection. So when Nathan had barely managed to step foot into the bathroom before I had reached him, there was no time for either of us to move out of the way. Not that I had any intention of stopping anyway. I reached up with my arm and 'accidentally' elbowed him hard in the face when I collided with him, swiftly grabbing the gun from the back of his waistband while he was stunned before racing off down the hallway and bursting out of the front doors.

 

Of-course, my timing is impeccable, as always; I was now face to face with Chloe who had just reached the steps to the front door. She didn't seem to have recognized me just yet. Resisting the urge to jump all over her, I instead silently pulled out Nathan's gun and thrust it into her arms before muttering, "You'll need this. Give him hell." then I hurried away towards the dorms before she realized who I was. Upon reaching the dorm quad, I spotted Victoria and her cronies sitting on the steps like always. With no fucks given, I ran right at Victoria, fully intending to stand on her if she didn't move. I didn't have time for her bullshit. The sight of me running right for her must've been an unexpected surprise, for sure, because she shrieked and very quickly jumped out of the way before angrily yelling what I assumed to be a series of swears at me as I headed into the dorms.

 

The inside of the dorms were empty, so I made my way down the hall uninterrupted, giggling to myself as I went inside my room. The instant the door shut behind me, I launched myself towards the bed and reached under it, pulling out a few boxes containing every photo I'd ever taken that didn't get thrown away the instant I looked at them. It took me forever but I finally found one that matched up with the day before Chloe and Rachel supposedly met. I pulled it out of the pile and studied it. Just a generic-looking photo of 14 year old me in my Seattle bedroom looking bored and depressed. I felt a twinge of anger rise up in my chest towards my parents and gripped the photo tighter. This one should be good enough. I have a day to convince my parents to let me go to Arcadia Bay and actually get there in time. Even if they don't, there's no fucking way my parents are stopping me, not this time, not now, after everything I've been through.

 

Determination renewed, I began focusing on the photo. Then I heard shouting coming from the hallway and perked an ear up long enough to hear someone say that Nathan had been shot. I couldn't resist the smirk that crept onto my face and muttered, "Karma's a bitch, Nathan." before everything around me went white.

 

While waiting for the whiteness to dissipate, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my stomach, before being violently dragged further into the white. It was like someone had stabbed me with a hook and used it as a leash. Before I even had the chance to process it, the white in my vision turned to black. I felt myself get tugged one more time, then suddenly my feet were on solid ground, not that I could see anything beneath them. I blinked and looked up to see that I was now standing in a replica of the Two Whales Diner. Still trying to catch my breath, I growled in frustration now that I realized where I was. The same place from my Nightmare 'vision'. I've visited this place against my will a few more times since that first 'vision' in my many attempts to fix the timeline, though I still haven't figured out what it's supposed to be, or why it's always the Nightmare Max who speaks to me. This is the first time it hurt to come here and I've never been transported while I'm in-between timelines before, so that raised even more questions.

 

As if on cue, I heard a very familiar cough coming from behind me. I spun around to see Nightmare Max sitting in mine and Chloe's favourite booth, like every time I've come here. I sighed and made my way over to the table before sitting down across from her.

 

Nightmare Max smirked at me. "I hope you enjoyed the ride."

 

I rubbed at the sore spot on my stomach and frowned. "It fucking hurt."

 

Nightmare Max glanced at my stomach and laughed. "Oh, it hurt? How careless of me, I'm so sorry. Not!"

 

I shook my head at her. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

 

Nightmare Max rolled her eyes. "I'm you, shouldn't you know the answer to that?"

 

I groaned. "Why am I here this time?"

 

Nightmare Max shrugged. I wanted to see if I could bring you here mid-jump. It seems I can."

 

I slammed my fist into the table, not in the mood for her shit. "Every time you bring me here, you never say anything useful. You always give cryptic answers or insult me for something I did. What is the fucking point of any of this? Actually, don't even bother replying, I know you can't keep me here. I'm leaving."

 

Nightmare Max smiled deviously at me as I stood up from the table. "I wouldn't if I was you."

 

I snorted and started walking towards where the bathroom is, which was usually the way out. "Just try and stop me. Oh wait, you can't!"

 

Nightmare Max giggled from behind me. "If you insist."

 

I ignored her and grabbed the bathroom door before pulling it open. Nightmare Max was suddenly standing on the other side, glaring furiously at me. Before I even had time to question it, she sucker punched me so hard that I landed flat on my ass on the tiled floor of the diner. I blinked, trying to recover from the shock. I looked up to see Nightmare Max standing over me, fist still clenched.

 

I gulped. "You've never been able to touch me before, nevermind hit me. How the fuck..."

 

Nightmare Max cracked her knuckles menacingly. "I've been in this place for quite some time now. I've learned things. Gotten stronger. So unless you think you're strong enough to fight back, I don't think you're going anywhere until I say so."

 

I warily pulled myself to my feet. "What the fuck happened to you that caused you to be such a bitch?"

 

The look of utter surprise on her face suggested she never expected me to ask that question.

 

Nightmare Max slumped down into the nearest booth, suddenly looking very broken.

 

I knew that look all too well. It was the look of heartbreak. I knew it because she was me, and I'd seen that exact same look on my own face in the mirror, not only when I abandoned Chloe five years ago, but after I euthanized the paralyzed version of Chloe. I felt it everytime she died. Even if I'd rewound it, it still broke my heart every single time. That was the missing piece I needed to finish the puzzle.

 

I slowly reached my hand out and put it on her still-enclosed fist. It was enough to get her to look at me. "You're her, aren't you? Maxine, right?"

 

I watched as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but nothing came out. Instead she settled on a single sharp nod.

 

I closed my eyes, exhaled and reopened them. "Hit me again."

 

Maxine blinked several times. "Wait, you want me to hit you? Why?"

 

I shook my head sadly. "Now that I finally know you're not just my subconscious taunting me, it all makes sense. I killed your Chloe before you could even say goodbye and you couldn't do anything to stop me. That's why you keep telling me to let Chloe die, so that I feel what you felt. You want revenge and if things were reversed, so would I. So hit me again, it's the least I fucking deserve."

 

I watched as Maxine raised her other hand and held it in the air for a few seconds, glancing between it and me. Then she lowered it and looked down at my hand which was still covering her other fist. She sighed and uncurled it, instead gently gripping my hand in hers. "I wish I could. Believe me, I wish I could. But it suddenly doesn't feel... right, anymore. What you've gone through is worse than anything I can do to you, I think you've suffered enough. Fuck, we both have."

 

I furrowed my brow as Maxine angrily swiped at a tear on her cheek. "Change of subject then. Will you actually tell me what this place is supposed to be?"

 

Maxine stared out of the window in contemplation before turning back to me. "Are you sure you want to know?" When I nodded, she continued, "Well... the simplest explanation would be that this is a place either in-between time or at the end of the universe. Not sure which. We get dragged here when you swoop in from a different timeline and 'overwrite' us. We are forced to take a backseat and watch you do whatever it is you do before jumping back to the timeline you came from, leaving us to deal with the consequences of your actions. I'll spare you the details of how Joyce and William reacted to me, or rather you, killing their daughter. However, suffice to say... this place also doubles as what can only be described as a 'Max graveyard', but only for those versions who have been taken over by you at some point in their lives. It's weird and hard to explain it any better than that."

 

All I could do is look at her in horror. "Wait, this place is a graveyard? Does that mean you..."

 

Maxine smiled sadly, then lifted her head up and pulled down the collar of her shirt to show what I can only assume was rope marks on her neck. "Yes, I'm dead. Honestly, I was fucked regardless. My life was over the moment you flipped that dial to 11."

 

I started curling in on myself. "I'm... sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't think..."

 

Maxine sighed. "No you didn't think. At all. You always thought about yourself and took that stupid power of yours for granted. Well, now you know the consequences your actions have; everytime you visit a new timeline, that verson of Max is left to fix your mistake and doomed to spend their afterlife in this empty shithole."

 

Maxine must've seen the way I was closing myself off because she suddenly got up and sat in the booth next to me. "It's okay, I'm not beating you over the head with this to be mean. I'm saying it to get it all out in the open while I still can. I have no idea how I'll be the next time you come here, or if there even will be a next time."

 

I looked up from my knees at that. "What are you talking about?"

 

Maxine snorted. "Well, to put it bluntly... you and that power of yours is causing the universe to split itself apart so that it can stay in control. That's probably what caused this place to exist in the first place, it's the universe trying to contain the situation. Not even I have fully figured out how this place works yet, though as far as I can tell, I am somehow the strongest 'Max' in here. It's how I'm able to drag you into this place. This time, though, when I realized I was strong enough to pull you in while you were in-between timelines and that I was able to hurt you in the process... Since I couldn't do anything before, I couldn't resist the urge to finally get a tiny slice of revenge, hence the punch. I'm sorry for that. You might not believe me, but when I'm able to look past my anger and bitterness, I'm actually on your side."

 

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh so now you tell me... really?"

 

Maxine shrugged. "Really. I wanted you to suffer, but never Chloe. Chloe is Chloe, no matter the timeline she's from; I don't want her dead anymore than you do. The universe can go fuck itself as far as I'm concerned. You didn't ask for that power, fuck knows how you got it, but if the universe isn't okay with letting one person escape death then I hope it rips itself apart trying to stop you because I've watched you enough to know you'll never stop until she stays alive."

 

I smiled at her. "Damn right I won't."

 

Maxine crossed her arms. "Just one problem. Now that you know what happens when you jump into a new timeline... what are you going to do?"

 

I groaned. "I don't know. Is it possible to, like, take control of them without completely kicking them out? So that it's... I don't know, two Max's in one body?"

 

Maxine blinked. "I'm struggling to imagine how that'd work even if it was possible. When you overwrite us we end up watching you from this place. So if you can go in and share their body somehow without them ending up here you should be okay. Fuck that hurts my brain just thinking about it. However, they're your powers not mine so it's ultimately a question of, do you think you can do it?"

 

I shrugged. "Maybe? Obviously I've never done anything like that before. I've never needed to until now. Then again, my powers are considerably stronger than they were when I first got them so perhaps I can make my entrance into the new timeline a lot more, uh... gentle?"

 

Maxine huffed. "Please do. Being kicked out of your own body is not a nice feeling. By the way, where were you jumping to before I grabbed you?"

 

I sighed. "Well, I don't know how much you've been watching but I pretty much ran out of things to change in the Week of Hell so I'm going back further, to when Chloe first met Rachel."

 

Maxine furrowed her brow. "Ah, Rachel. The... dead girl, your Chloe's friend, right? I remember she was missing in my timeline too but I didn't know anything other than that. My Chloe replaced me with someone called Megan, I think."

 

I winced slightly. "Do you, uh... Know about the Dark Room? At-least from my timeline, I mean."

 

Maxine shifted uncomfortably. "I only saw a little. Why?"

 

I exhaled slowly. "In my timeline, Rachel was a victim taken to the Dark Room. If she was missing in yours, I assume it happened there too. When I investigated the bunker, I'm pretty sure I saw a binder with the name 'Megan' written on it. No idea if it's the same Megan as your Chloe's friend, or if it even happened in your timeline, but I just thought you should know. Both our Chloe's friends got fucked by the Dark Room... Myself included. And if I hadn't done what I did to you..."

 

Maxine shuddered. "Are you saying that Jefferson could've been planning on targetting me?"

 

I shrugged. "We'll never know, obviously. I have no idea how you managed it, but you were in the Vortex Club, right? Well he seemed to prey on Vortex Club members, or at-least use their parties as a hunting ground. In my timeline he got a whole bunch of others, Megan, then Rachel who I believe was sort-of in the Vortex Club, then Kate who is admittedly the complete opposite, then he grabbed me for getting too close after I figured out he was targetting Victoria next."

 

Maxine suddenly shot bolt-upright, a mix of anger and fear on her face. "If he hurts my Vic I swear to god, I don't care if I'm dead and stuck here, I'll find my way back to my timeline and cut off his balls myself."

 

I raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "My Vic, huh? I suppose that explains how you ended up in the Vortex Club. Care to explain?"

 

Maxine groaned. "Fuck, I walked right into that one, didn't I? Fine. Well, obviously me and you have completely different personalities. Or rather, I'm assuming you never bumped into Victoria while you was up in shitty Seattle?" I shook my head, so she continued, "I did. I was lurking around the Chase Space and by some miracle she approached me, actually talked to me. She was nice, or as nice as you could imagine Victoria being at 14. We talked and became friends over our love of photography before she had to go back to school at Blackwell. We talked a lot over the years and met up every summer, then I finally got into Blackwell for the extended senior year program and joined her. Living right across the hall from her turned our friendship into a friends with benefits kind of deal very quickly, though we made it official after a while, but kept that part private. She pulled me out of my shell of depression and anxiety... but I still couldn't visit Chloe after her accident. I just couldn't."

 

I nodded, taking it all in. "Wowser. In my timeline Victoria was nothing but a massive bitch and a bully, though I understand her reasons for it. She's not a bad person, just insecure. Despite all my attempts at changing my timeline, the closest I could ever get to Victoria over five days was semi-friends and even that was incredibly hard to achieve. As for Chloe... well we both royally fucked that up, there's no denying it."

 

Surprisingly, this time Maxine put her hand on mine and muttered, "At-least you have the chance to fix yours."

 

I smiled at her. "She may not be from your timeline but like you said, Chloe is Chloe. They're all ours. I'll fix it for both of us and hopefully help this new Max do the same, assuming I don't end up overwriting her like the others."

 

Maxine stood up and motioned for me to do the same. "I think I have a pretty good grasp on how to keep you connected to this place, so how about you use me as an anchor. I'll keep hold of you once you leave to finish your jump into the new timeline and ease you into it. Like you said, if you can enter gently then it might work and I can pull you back here if it doesn't seem to be going well. Is that okay?"

 

I pondered it for a moment before agreeing. "I don't have a better idea so... sure."

 

Maxine walked over to the Diner bathroom with me in tow. "Just a fair warning, if it hurt you being pulled here mid-jump then it'll probably hurt keeping you connected. I didn't even expect it to hurt you when I tried it, so it's not something I have control over, sadly."

 

I shrugged. "Remember, it's the least I deserve."

 

Maxine shook her head. "No, Max. You deserve happiness. You're the one with time powers. As far as I know, all us other Maxes are normal. You're the main Max, for lack of a better word. If you can't achieve happiness even with time powers, then the rest of us are fucked. Anyway, I'll be watching every now and then and if this works, hopefully this is the last time we meet. Unless you do anything to hurt Victoria, or of-course if the universe implodes, in which case i'll drag you back here to kick your ass myself."

 

I snorted. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

 

Maxine rolled her eyes. "Until then, good luck. Teach the universe a lesson it will never forget – Do not fuck with Max Caulfield. Any Max Caulfield. Go save our Chloe."

 

I smirked. "With pleasure. If we're lucky, this will be the final timeline."

 

With that said, I put my hand on the bathroom door then resolutely nodded at Maxine one more time before throwing it open and stepping out into the black void. It instantly turned white as I was thrown back into the area in-between realities. I could feel Maxine's 'hook' in my stomach again, which was now reduced to more of a tense feeling rather than one of violent pain. The anchor, tether, rope or whatever you want to call it was slackening as I got closer to the new timeline and I just hoped that this works because I'm not looking forward to being dragged back to that place again anytime soon even if I now know the truth about it.

 

After what felt like an eternity due to being slowly 'lowered' towards the new timeline, I finally reached the edge. Instead of smashing straight through the borders of this photographic reality, I cautiously pushed forward, breaching it as carefully as possible until eventually, I broke through.

Chapter 2: Bipolaroid

Summary:

Max makes first contact with her younger self in the final timeline.

Now they must adapt to the strange situation they find themselves in and blindly trust each other.

Luckily, they have the most important person in common which should make things a little easier; their best friend, Chloe Price.

Notes:

Hey everyone, welcome to chapter two of The Final Timeline - Before The Storm!

This is where you will find out just what I meant by there being two maxes sharing the timeline... in one body, and yes, I meant it literally.

Enjoy! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 2: Bipolaroid

 

The instant I was through the border, everything began snapping back into place just like it did when I normally photo jumped into a new timeline. Except when the whiteness cleared, I realized that it was far from normal. I could see, but I wasn't able to move. I could hear, but I wasn't in control. I had all my senses, just no way of moving the body I was now inside. In-fact, as far as I could tell, I wasn't in the body at all, rather than in it's mind. Almost as if it was an out of body experience. It was an incredibly disorenting feeling and I'd have probably panicked if I wasn't expecting something like this to happen. With phase one seemingly complete, now I just needed to convince this new Max she isn't crazy to have another Max in her head and for her to switch places with me so that I can try controlling her body. Somehow. Easier said than done.

 

Seeing no way to ease into it, I instead decided to dive right in and spoke, or rather thought, "Hello?"

 

I felt as this new Max froze in place, having just dropped the recently taken photo, and glanced around her bedroom.

 

I tried again. "Just say yes if you can hear me."

 

I felt her freeze again and she was silent for several seconds before whispering, "Yes."

 

Well, at-least it was working. "Good. I want you to clarify for me, are you hearing me from inside your head or does it sound like I'm speaking to you from somewhere in the room?"

 

Max stayed silent for a minute as she pondered my question. Eventually she replied, "It sounds like you're in my head. How is that possible?"

 

I heard her wondering if she was crazy and decided to cut it off before she could say it out loud. "No, you're not going crazy, and yes I did just hear your thoughts. Sorry. For now I really need you to just roll with what's happening and treat this like I'm a normal person having a conversation with you. It'll make this a lot less awkward."

 

Max stood up and went to close the bedroom door before sitting back on the bed. "Okay, then. Should I ask who you are? Or are you going to say you're me and I really am crazy?"

 

I took a few seconds to decide how to answer, settling on telling the truth in the hope that if it doesn't backfire, it'd result in me being more trustworthy having not lied upon making first contact. "You're not going to like my answer, but I actually am you. I swear to you, you're not going crazy. I can explain how I'm you but that opens a whole other can of worms way too soon. It might be easier for you to handle why you're hearing me instead."

 

Max huffed. "Fine. Please do tell me why the hell I'm hearing and speaking to someone or something inside my head that is claiming to be me."

 

I opted on taking the direct approach. "Three words. Chloe. Elizabeth. Price."

 

I heard and felt it as she groaned before flopping down onto the bed. "Great. Apparently my brain has stepped up it's guilt-tripping game by making me talk to myself. Mom and dad are just going to love this."

 

I decided to be gentle with my response. "I'm not guilt-tripping you. Far from it. Yes, you left when she needed you the most. That sucks more than you know. Just answer this one question truthfully. Don't lie, regardless of if I'm you, or just your brain making you talk to yourself, I'll know. Now, do you want to see Chloe again?"

 

Max responded immediately with, "Of-course I do."

 

Good, now we are getting somewhere. "Okay. Now put all your fear and anxiety aside for a split second. If you could go see Chloe, right now, would you?"

 

Again Max's response was immediate. "Yes."

 

Now for the kicker. "Then do it."

 

Max sighed. "I can't though. Even if I got past my fear and anxiety long enough to ask for the hundredth time, my parents would never allow it. They always say no."

 

Just a little more. "Your parents are the reason why you are depressed. You've always had anxiety but Chloe took it away. When your parents dragged you away from her as brutally as they did, right after William's funeral, they made everything a thousand times worse. I know how much you secretly hate them for ruining your friendship with Chloe, for ruining your life. You need to make them see how much you're hurting without her. Convince them to let you go back to Arcadia Bay, hell I'm sure Joyce would let you live with them, she's always been like a second mother to us. Chloe needs her best friend."

 

Max stood up and started pacing around the bedroom. "I don't understand. Sure, you know all that if you're just my brain talking to me but how do you really know Chloe needs me? I tell myself that all the time but it doesn't make it true. Why are you trying so hard to get me to go back, why now?"

 

Realizing I trapped myself in a corner, I decided to reveal my hand. "I didn't want to tell you this so soon but fine. I know that Chloe needs you, just like I knew everything else, because I literally am you. I'm you from the future. 2013 to be precise. If I tell you anymore than that so soon your head will probably explode, so please let me be cryptic from now on."

 

Max snorted. "Wowser, I didn't expect that to be your answer. Okay, future Max, let's say I believe you for a second. Why exactly are you in my head?"

 

I figured I'd try to use this opening to see if she'd let me take control. "That itself is a very long story. Anything I tell you now, you probably wouldn't even believe. I know I'm giving you as little information as possible and it's probably not making me sound any better. I also know you have no reason to believe what little I've already told you, or to even trust me for that matter. So I want to try a trust exercise, for lack of a better description. I'm talking inside your head because my body is, uh... the simplest way to explain it is that my body is stuck in the future. My consciousness comes back, my actual body doesn't. Which is where you come in. If you let me, I'm pretty sure I can take control of your body... Basically, we would just swap places, I think. I'll have everything you have right now, and you'll be... well, in your own head, I suppose?"

 

Max moved towards the mirror and looked at her reflection before speaking. "Assuming you're telling the truth in the first place, you do realize how ridiculously shady that sounds, right? You want to take control of my body. Like you said I have no reason to trust you, why would I let you do something that sounds so dangerous for me as some kind of a trust exercise?"

 

I responded with the truth. "I'll be upfront with this. I have no intention of forcing it, if you don't want to give me control, it won't happen. Honestly, this is the first time I've done it like this. I've gone back in time a lot but I recently learned the way I went about it before had unexpected consequences for the version of me that I'd taken over. Think of it as a complete takeover, you wouldn't be in control or even in your own head like I am now. It would only be me with full control of your body while you watched from the sidelines until I was finished. I didn't do it out of malice or anything, it's just how I first started doing it and I never realized there was anything wrong with it until now. The reason I'm telling you all this is because even if you don't ever trust me, I want you to at-least know I'll always tell you the truth about the things I can safely answer. So here I am, asking for you to let me take control of your body. Yes, as a trust exercise but also as a test to see if I'm able to actually take control from this backseat position in your head since like I said, this is the first time I've done it this way."

 

Max frowned at her reflection in the mirror. "I must be the worlds dumbest person to even think of saying yes to that. But look around, it's not like you could make my life any worse by taking control of my body, even if this is a trick-"

 

I immediately cut her off. "This isn't a trick. I can't tell you everything, at-least not yet, but I will say that I am here because Chloe needs me, I need your help, and you need Chloe." I heard her wondering if I'd even leave until she said yes. "I don't actually know if I can leave at this point. Everytime I've jumped through... time, I've done it while controlling a body, so you'd probably have to say yes just to get rid of me. Anyway, we need to be back in Arcadia Bay tomorrow, one way or another. I know that's short notice but I only learned the problem of my previous way of doing this when I was already mid-jump, so I didn't have time to alter my plan. I'm sorry for pressuring you like this, Max, but I, or rather we, can't get started unless you let me take control. I'll give it back as soon as I know it works. I'm fine staying in the backseat for the time being if you can follow my instructions."

 

I watched her reflection in the mirror reach over to grip her elbow. "I'll do it. For Chloe. If there's any chance you can get me back to her, I'll take it. But how, uh... do I give you control?"

 

Finally. If I could breathe a sigh of relief right now, I would've. "I'm not entirely sure. Just take a deep breath and relax. I'll start trying to push my way in once you're ready. I don't know how it will feel for you once the swap happens so just brace yourself. If it hurts, let me know because I don't want to hurt you."

 

Max sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath. After a moment of silence, she muttered, "Ready."

 

I really wanted this to work without hurting her or anything going wrong, so I forced down my adrenaline rush and started slowly pushing my way out of her head. I heard her gasp once she felt me spreading into the rest of her body but she gave no request to stop, so I kept going. Eventually, it felt like I was locked in and gave one last push to switch places with her.

 

At first, I didn't even realize the switch had happened but then I felt the need to blink. I cautiously began to move limb after limb, testing everything, making sure I had full control. Once I was satisfied, I carefully stood up and made my way back to the mirror to look at the reflection. I was now controlling this 14 year old Max's body. That's when I realized she hadn't said a word yet.

 

I coughed and cleared my throat before speaking, addressing the reflection in the mirror like she had done before. "Max, are you there? Can you hear me?"

 

After a few more seconds of nothing, I spoke again. "If this worked, you should be inside your own head, sort of. Speaking doesn't seem to work because I control that, so try thinking instead. I think you share a part of your brain with me which I suppose allows you to communicate with me by thinking. At-least that's how I assume I did it."

 

I waited again. Finally, I heard something quiet echoing in the back of my head. It was extremely disconcerting. "Do that again. Try to think... louder."

 

All of a sudden I was practically deafened by her thought exploding in the back of my head, "CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

 

I winced and covered my ears, not that it helped since it came from inside my head rather than outside. "Shit, yes I can hear you now. Don't do it that loud, please. You almost blew out your own eardrums."

 

The next thing I heard was, "Crap, sorry. Wowser this feels so weird. Can you hear literally everything I'm thinking now?"

 

I shook my head at the mirror reflection. "No. I think when you're in the backseat, you communicate with me by thinking at me, if that makes sense? If you just think to yourself I can't hear it. You can probably hear my thoughts though, like I could hear yours when I was in the backseat. Repeat this if you can hear it. Then I thought to myself, "I am stronger with Chloe."

 

Almost instantly followed by, "I am stronger with Chloe."

 

I groaned. "This is going to make keeping certain things from you a lot harder than it should be. I'm not doing it to be sneaky or to trick you, it's just... there's some things you really don't want to know or shouldn't know yet. I mean, who knows... the universe might explode if you do." Then I stuck my tongue out at the mirror.

 

Max responded with, "Fine. I get it. You've got experience, since you're apparently a time traveller. You've probably seen things that would give me nightmares, huh?"

 

I sighed. "That's a massive fucking understatement, to say the least." Then I finally took in my surroundings and smiled sadly at the completely bare white walls. "I forgot just how much we hated it here. No reason to decorate. Why bother? Chloe was everything and she's not here. This never felt like a home. Home was always in Arcadia Bay. With Chloe."

 

After a slight bit of silence, Max replied. "Yeah, pretty much... Do you really think I can convince my parents to let me go back?"

 

I turned back to the mirror and frowned. "Hopefully. If they don't then you could just let me talk to them. I've got quite a lot to say on the matter and it's about time I finally let them hear it. But they're your parents so it wouldn't be right for me to blow up on them, I'll leave that to you since I'm fairly sure you have a lot to say aswell, you're just too anxious to speak your mind but I've got your back, Max... They won't stop you, or us, from getting to Chloe this time."

 

Max's response was hard to hear. "Thanks... I think. If we're really going to do this, what is the plan? Please tell me you actually have one."

 

I smirked into the mirror. "Oh I do. There's a reason I picked tomorrow. I won't tell you why though, I want it to be a surprise... for you and for Chloe. Basically, plan A is to convince your parents to let you go back to Arcadia Bay and stay with Joyce. Permanently. Frankly, there is nothing keeping you here in Seattle except for your parents who like I said before, are the reason you are like this in the first place. You are stronger with Chloe, not them. I'm not saying forget about them, they're still your parents, but what they did is something that will never be forgiven and it's better if they learn the consequence of that now. So, assuming they let you go back to Arcadia Bay and live with Joyce, of-course they'll have to ask her but we both know she'd accept in a heartbeat, the problem is keeping it hidden from Chloe until we actually get there tomorrow. If all goes well, we can surprise her. As for school, it's fairly perfect timing too since you could probably start as a freshman at Blackwell Academy in September. Much better than being alone and bullied up here in Seattle. At Blackwell you'd have Chloe to watch your back, like she used to when you were kids. However, if your parents flat out refuse and don't allow you to go no matter what you say to them... then plan B is to simply say fuck them and run away, they had their chance to do the best thing for their daughter. I'm fairly sure you've got plenty of money saved up, all we ever spend it on is polaroid film anyway, so you can easily get a bus or something and figure the rest out once we get there."

 

Max was silent for a minute while she absorbed what I'd said, before she replied, "That's going to be one hell of an adjustment but... screw it. I'm in. Can I, uh, get my body back now, please?"

 

I sighed. "I wish I didn't have to but I told you I would so I will. Hold on a second."

 

I moved to sit back down on the bed, then I forced myself to relax before slowly withdrawing from her body, curling myself up into the backseat in her head. Once I was all out, we swapped places and then she was back in control of her body while I was stuck with the disorienting out of body experience again.

 

Max stood up and shook life back into her body, testing everything. When she was done, she muttered, "Thanks. I'm kind of surprised you actually let me back in."

 

Now that I was in her head, she couldn't see my smug smirk so instead I responded with, "I told you I would. Trust works both ways, Max. I can't do this without you since not only do I need you to move me around while I'm in the backseat but I also need you to trust me enough to let me take control when it's neccessary, and you need me to give you the kick up the ass required to get back to Chloe. Things could go very wrong very fast if we don't trust each other with this really... strange situation we're in."

 

Max rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't trust you just yet, I still barely know anything about you besides the fact you're supposedly me from the future and you're here because of something involving Chloe. Like you said, trust works both ways, so I hope you don't plan on keeping me in the dark forever."

 

I decided to stick to the truth. "Don't worry, I'll most likely be revealing a lot of it once we are reunited with Chloe, so you'll be able to hear it at the same time as her. That way I don't have to repeat myself."

 

Max walked over to the mirror again and fake-pouted at the reflection. "Nice to know I'm still lazy in the future."

 

I opted to tease her. "If you start hanging around with Chloe again, we both know that won't be true. You know what she's like. You'll be dragged all over the place against your will but you'll still go along with it without complaint just because it's Chloe."

 

I watched as her reflection narrowed it's eyes before sticking up her middle finger at the mirror and walking over towards the door. I felt her stop short of opening it and mutter, "I just realized... How is this going to work for, you know, bathroom stuff?"

 

I hadn't even thought of that. I very quickly tried 'closing' my eyes but since she controlled them, nothing happened. "If you don't want me to see anything, I think you'll have to keep your eyes closed since I only see through them. But, I mean... We're literally the same person so I don't think it really matters, does it?"

 

Max groaned. "You're from the future, 2013 you said, right? I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're 18. You do realize how creepy that is, don't you?"

 

I couldn't really come up with an adequate response to that. "Yeeeeaah. My only defense is that I've already seen everything. Sorry... All I can do is just try to tune out when it comes to bathroom stuff."

 

I felt her shake her head and heard her swear under her breath before opening the door and heading towards where the bathroom is. Well, at-least this lack of privacy will get her used to the Blackwell dorm showers in the future pretty quick. The amount of people who threw open your shower curtain while you're in it was ridiculously high.

 

With the short bathroom break done with, we decided to tackle the parents straight away so that we had as much time to prepare as possible if they refused and forced us to sneak out at night. Which meant heading downstairs to the living room where they were currently watching tv. The feeling of walking down a set of stairs while having no control over it yourself is not nice at all. No doubt one of many things I'll need to get used to while I'm in the backseat. Thankfully, we made it down the stairs without tripping, though once we reached the bottom I was certainly tripping in the figurative sense. I definitely would not recommend walking downstairs without the feeling of limb control, it's not a fun experience.

 

As we approached the living room, I could hear the thoughts buzzing through her head and decided to leave this conversation to her. If it didn't end well, I could always rewind. Though that would need me to be in control since I need to use my hand to actually trigger the rewind... and that raises the question of if it will work well with her in the backseat. Shit. I probably should've tested it beforehand but I don't want to scare her with it so soon unless it's absolutely neccessary. Hopefully this works, if not then we'll try Plan B first. Then a rewind.

 

Max coughed once we were behind the couch. They both turned around and once she had their attention, she spoke. "Mom, Dad... I want to go back to Arcadia Bay. To see Chloe. Tomorrow."

 

I watched as our Dad's eyes softened in sympathy, whereas our Mom frowned instead. She was the first to reply. "Maxine, I'm sorry but you know what the answer will be. Just like every other time you've asked it. No."

 

Max countered with, "Please, Mom. I just need to see her."

 

Our Dad sighed, but stayed quiet. Mom on the other hand shook her head. "We came to Seattle for a fresh start. You need to move on, Maxine. You're not going, and that's final."

 

I could feel her shaking with rage and heard the many angry thoughts running through her mind, so I decided to give her some encouragement. "Max, it seems we have to do this the hard way. iI's time they heard the pain you feel. Let it out, don't hold back."

 

Max took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, our Mom physically recoiled, presumably from the glare she was now recieving. "You just don't fucking get it, do you?-"

 

Our Dad finally spoke up, immediately cutting her off. "Max, you don't talk to your mother that way! And watch your language, please."

 

Max immediately shot back with, "No, Dad, I won't! I'm done with you two pretending nothing's wrong. You know I've always struggled with my anxiety; Chloe was my only friend and she was the only one who ever made that go away, even a little bit. Until you dragged me away from the only friend I knew, up to this hell-hole of a city that I knew nothing about and had no friends in. Yet you wonder why I'm locked up in my room all the time. It's because of you! I'm like this because of you, and you refuse to acknowledge the pain you caused! You pulled me away from William's funeral before I even got the chance to say goodbye properly, nevermind to Chloe. Do you understand what that did to me? It broke me. I can barely even look at Chloe's name in my phone anymore because of the guilt of abandoning her when she needed me the most, and that's all thanks to you guys. I may only be 14 but you ruined my life the moment you decided to move to Seattle without even asking for my opinion first, and I'm done holding this in. It's time you heard the truth."

 

Mom crossed her arms. "Oh, and what's that, Maxine? You're only 14, like you said, so you'll get over it eventually and learn to enjoy life here in Seattle."

 

I could feel her clenching her fists so hard that the nails were digging into her palms. "Okay, the truth. So be it... I hate you. Both of you. So fucking much. I will never, ever forgive you for what you did, neither will I get over it or move on. What kind of parents thinks the best thing for their child is to drag them far away from the only thing they've ever been comfortable with? Well, you guys kept telling me to be more independent and learn to get past my anxiety, right? This is me doing exactly that, by finally standing up to your bullshit. I stopped thinking of you as my parents the second you took me away from Chloe and now I only see you for the monsters you are. Mom, you're nothing but a control freak, plain and simple. As for you, Dad? Well, I admit I'll always have a soft spot for you, but you never stand up to Mom, you always go along with what she thinks is best and for that I simply can't forgive you."

 

Max took another deep breath before saying something I never expected to hear. "You know, I've had plenty of time to think over the past year and a half I've been stuck here on my own, and I finally realized why it hurts so much... In the end, I thought of Chloe as more than a best friend. Way more. So nothing will stop me from seeing her again, especially not you two. Do you understand now?"

 

Mom just sat there, stunned at what she was insinuating, leaving our Dad an opening to voice his opinion. "Oh, honey... I'm sorry. If you'd have told me all of this sooner..."

 

He made a move to reach out and hug her, but she stepped further away. "Too little, too late, Dad. I... Love Chloe. More than you two. So if I have to choose, I'm picking Chloe. Every. Single. Time. I'll gladly pay that Price."

 

Then she spun on her heel and stormed off back up the stairs to her room, ignoring our Mom's demands to come back. She slammed the door behind her and screamed.

 

I could feel the rage building inside her and decided to cut it off before she got urge to trash the room. "Max, listen to me. You did good, considering the circumstances. I wish I had the balls to admit what you did when I was still 14... Anyway, Plan A failed so it seems they've forced our hand. Plan B it is. I wouldn't recommend trashing your room because we could probably take a bunch of this stuff with us when we sneak out tonight. Just take a deep breath, calm down."

 

Once she did so, I continued, "Okay, now I assume you still have that old duffel bag in the closet? Grab it and start packing now, before they figure out what we're planning. Bring anything you want, but don't forget our one-eyed Captain, we can't leave him behind all alone in this prison cell."

 

Max giggled, then stood up and got to work throwing things into the bag. Toiletries, clothes, random bits and pieces. Then came the single box containing photos of our childhood with Chloe, completely ignoring the new ones taken during her time in Seattle. Then she reached under the bed and removed a piece of the wooden flooring where we hid our secret snack storage, emptying the contents into the bag. The last things she packed was a flashlight, all her pocket money, and the Captain.

 

She collapsed onto the bed and yawned. "I think that's everything. What now?"

 

I did a quick mental recap of everything she packed. Satisfied, I replied, "Now you go to sleep. You'll need the energy for what's coming. Set your alarm for midnight, we'll make our escape when the parents are sleeping. The further we get before they realize we've gone, the better chance we have of this working in the end."

 

Max nodded, then swiftly curled up under the covers, not bothering to get undressed since all the other clothes had been packed away. Now the big question was, could I 'sleep' while in the backseat, or would I be awake and aware of everything while she got to pass the time by sleeping?

Notes:

Since the dialogues in this fic might be a little confusing due to there being two Maxes, I've created a handy little guide so you know exactly which one is talking and how:

Normal font dialogue = Whichever Max is currently control in is speaking out loud.

Italic font dialogue = Old Max is not in control and is speaking, or in this case thinking, to Young Max in their head.

Bold italic font dialogue = Young Max is not in control and is speaking, or in this case thinking, to Old Max in their head.

Chapter 3: Plan B

Summary:

Plan B is a go.

Ryan Caulfield finally finds his spine.

Both Max Caulfields return to their rightful home.

Joyce Price unofficially becomes a mother to another daughter, or in this case, two of them.

Notes:

Hey guys! There's no long-winded note about this chapter today.

Enjoy! :)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 3: Plan B

 

Thankfully, it turns out I fell asleep at the same time Max did, and we were both suddenly startled awake by the sound of the alarm going off, signalling it was midnight already. She quickly reached over to turn it off, then groaned. "Do we have to go now? I want to sleep some more."

 

I mentally rolled my eyes. "Get your ass up, Maxine Caulfield. Chloe is waiting."

 

That was enough for her to rise into a sitting position. Grumbling under her breath about her name being Max, never Maxine, she reluctantly got to her feet before pocketing her phone, then slipped on her shoes, grabbed her keys and opened the bedroom door. She cocked her head to the side, presumably listening for sound coming from our parents' room across the hall. Upon hearing our Mom snoring away, fast asleep, she began sneaking towards the stairs. So far so good. Next came the hard part, getting down the stairs without standing on the many creaky steps along the way. It was slow going, and very stressful, but we eventually made it to the bottom without stepping on a single one.

 

With the front door now in sight, we cautiously made our way towards it. As soon as we grabbed the handle however, a shuffling sound came from our right, towards the living room. We turned to face it, and saw our Dad sitting there in the darkness staring right at us. If it wasn't for the lack of light, I could've sworn he was smirking. "Going somewhere, kiddo?"

 

I had no idea what to do and she simply stayed silent, glaring at him.

 

He stood up and made his way over. He put a hand on her shoulder and sighed when she flinched away from him. "What you said earlier made a lot of things snap into place for me. I understand you hate me, and your Mom especially, for what we did. I get that. The way you talked about it made me remember my own attempts at rebellion when I was your age, for similar reasons, actually. My parents didn't want me dating a girl who I loved very much, and did everything they could to keep me from her. So I ran away, which is why I had a gut feeling to wait down here in-case you had the same idea. Now, ironically, the girl I ran away for was your Mom. So now that I understand she's doing the same thing to you that my own parents tried to do to me when I wanted to see your Mom... Well, as your father I completely disagree with what you're about to do, I think it's incredibly dangerous, reckless, and stupid to go off on your own at 14. On the other hand, I realize this is due to your mother making you think you have no choice, and I don't want to lose you by stopping you from doing the very thing I did myself, now that I understand just how much Chloe Price meant to you."

 

He dejectedly shook his head and wiped at his eyes before reaching into his pocket. "Here, some extra cash for the journey. I won't wake your mother or tell her of this conversation. You stood up to her, and it's time I did the same. Just promise you'll stay in contact with me. If anything happens, anything at all, I want you to call me and I will be there for you, even if your mother won't. Stay safe. Now, uh... Do you want me to call Joyce and tell her you're coming?"

 

Max finally snapped out of her silence long enough to grab the money out of his hand and say, "No. I'll do that myself. I want it to be a surprise for Chloe."

 

He nodded and smiled. "She'll be in for one hell of a shock. Please tell her I'm sorry for what we did. Had I known then what I do now, I never would've allowed your mother to tear you two apart. I'll regret that for the rest of my life. Now go, before your mother wakes up. Oh, and Max... I'm proud of you."

 

Max stood there, frozen on the spot with her hand on the door. I could hear her fighting with herself over whether to hug him or not, so I gave her a push. "Do it. Fuck, I kinda really want to hug him myself right now... I never knew any of this either, if I had... I probably wouldn't have been so hard on him."

 

That was enough for her to launch herself at him and attempt to give him one of his own signature bear hugs, before muttering, "Thanks Dad. This means more than you will ever know. I'll call you once I get to Arcadia Bay."

 

He untangled himself from the hug, then swiped at his eyes again before shooing us out of the front door. Once he closed it behind us, that was it, we were free. Not wanting to waste any time, we practically sprinted off in the direction of the nearest bus terminal. Unfortunately, the closest we could get to Arcadia Bay by bus at this time of night was Portland, so I made a snap decision to freight hop the rest of the way there.

 

Surprisingly, nobody was too concerned about a 14 year old travelling alone across state lines at midnight, so the ride to Portland was fairly boring. Once we were almost there, I spoke up. "We should probably call Joyce now. I doubt we'll have signal once we start freight hopping."

 

Max huffed. "I know we said we'd call her but are you sure doing it in the middle of the night is a good idea? What if Chloe wakes up and answers instead?"

 

I thought for a moment before replying, "I think she might be doing a late-night shift at the Two Whales Diner so we could try calling there first? Somehow I still remember the number for the Diner's phone."

 

Max snorted. "That's because Joyce drilled it into us to remember it in emergencies. Clearly it worked." Then she nervously cleared her throat. "Do you, uh... want to do this? I don't know what to say to her and, well... my anxiety isn't happy right now."

 

That was fine by me. "If you're okay with me taking control, sure. It works better if I can lead this conversation anyway. Also thanks for reminding me of the emergency thing, I might be able to use that to our advantage. Uh... Whenever you're ready, Max."

 

Max nodded to herself, then began to relax her body. Now that we both knew how the process worked, the swap went much faster this time around.

 

Once I had control, I overexaggeratedly stretched, glad to be able to move again. Then I navigated through her phone and dialed the number for the Two Whales Diner.

 

It rang a couple of times before being picked up. "Hello, this is Joyce at the Two Whales Diner. How may I help you?"

 

Bullseye. I smirked to myself and prepared to reply but before I could, Max piped up from inside my head. "Just remember, you're 14 not 18. I don't know what your plan is but try not to make me sound like an idiot, okay?"

 

I just rolled my eyes at her worrying, and rushed to speak before Joyce hung up. "Um... Hey, Joyce. It's Max. Max Caulfield."

 

The loud gasp on the other end of the line stopped me from getting any further. "Oh my goodness, Max! It's so good to hear from you, how are you doing?"

 

Heeding Max's reminder, I replied with, "It's great to hear your voice again, Joyce. I'm... honestly, not doing so good. I remembered how you always told us to call the Diner in emergencies so... yeah."

 

The concern was thick in Joyce's response. "Max, what's wrong? You can tell me anything, you know that."

 

I smiled at that. "Well, first you might want to sit down."

 

There was shuffling on the other end of the line, before Joyce spoke again. "Okay, hon. I'm ready. What is it?"

 

I exhaled slowly for dramatic effect, then said, "When my parents tore me away from you and Chloe at the end of William's funeral, I left Chloe a really crappy goodbye message. Most of it turned out to be a complete lie, that's on me, but I swore to her that we'd always be together, even when we were apart; we were still Max and Chloe. So I'm coming back to where I belong, Joyce. Chloe is and always will be my home."

 

The silence from Joyce was a little worrying, until I heard her sniffle. "You're... really coming back? To Arcadia Bay? How?"

 

I ignored the happy tears running down my face, and answered, "I am. A year and a half too late, but I'm keeping my promise. I'm on my own, on a bus outside Portland. I figure I'll reach Arcadia Bay in a few hours at most."

 

Joyce was full-on crying at this point. "On your own? You're only 14 though, right? Max, what about your parents?"

 

I snorted. "Fuck my parents. Uh... Sorry. The situation with them is a little complicated right now. Listen, Joyce... You've always been like a second mother to me, and as far as I'm concerned, a better mother than my own. So please, don't call my parents. Don't tell Chloe I'm coming, either. I want this to be a surprise for her. Will you still be at the Diner in a few hours when I arrive? Give me a chance to explain everything first before throwing me to the wolves."

 

Joyce sighed. "Since I know how much you and Chloe mean to each other, fine. I'll hold off on sounding the alarm. Just get here in one piece, alright? I don't want to explain to Chloe or your parents how you got hurt trying to run away to Arcadia Bay."

 

I mock-scoffed. "Please, Joyce. You think I'd go to all this trouble just to fall at the first hurdle? Nothing will stop me from getting back to Chloe, nothing."

 

Joyce groaned. "Okay, Max. I'll be waiting here at the Diner. See you soon, hon."

 

I put as much warmth into my next words as possible. "Thanks, Joyce. I can't wait to see you again. Goodbye for now."

 

Then I hung up and settled back into my seat with a sigh. "Was that good enough for you, Max?"

 

Max responded quickly. "Definitely. I think you sold it a little too much, if you ask me."

 

I shook my head. "I needed her to see just how serious I was, otherwise no doubt she'd have called our parents immediately if she thought we were half-assing an escape attempt just for the sake of it. Speaking of which, is it okay if I stay in control for a while longer? We stand a better chance with me at the wheel if we run into any problems, you know?"

 

Max was silent for a moment before replying, "If you insist. This is me trusting you with free reign, so don't make me regret it."

 

I smirked and nodded. "I understand. Thanks."

 

It didn't take long after that to arrive in Portland. On the way there, I'd spent some time finding the nearest stretch of freight line running west towards the coast. Once we were off the bus, I went in the general direction of where it was supposed to be. Thankfully, we managed to avoid the majority of late-night drunks and creeps, with the few that we couldn't simply looking at us funny. Eventually, we made it to the area of tracks I'd picked out, it was unsupervised and an easy spot to jump on undetected. Apparently we were almost right on time as a few minutes later, a train came blasting through with several open box carriages. It was close, but I managed to launch myself inside one before the window of opportunity had passed. I curled up in a far corner against the chilly night air, and now all that was left to do was wait.

 

We had to switch trains a couple more times but thanks to my planning on the bus, it wasn't much of an issue to change at the right times. Unsurprisingly, the final freight hop involved a certain train that I had a personal hatred towards. Train #1337 to be specific, the very same one I'd seen plow through Chloe countless times in the future. Not that I told Max this, and it took a lot of effort to keep myself from actively thinking about it.

 

After what felt like an eternity, the train passed by the spot where Chloe got her foot stuck in the tracks, and even now I half expected her to materialize out of nowhere in-front of us. Thank fuck she didn't. A few seconds later, we'd reached the Junkyard and I hurried to jump out of the carriage before we went too far.

 

I glanced around at the sight infront of me. Welcome to American Rust. Chloe's home away from hell, Rachel's graveyard, and another one of my personal nightmares. Unfortunately, this was as good a place as any to lie low, and since Chloe wouldn't come across this place for a couple of days... Well, this time, Max was here first.

 

I casually wandered over towards the future hideout and asked aloud, "Hey Max, did you pack a marker or something I could use to, you know, draw?"

 

Max replied with, "I think so. Check one of the side pockets on the bag, there should be something in there. Why?"

 

I grinned to myself and rifled through the bag's side pockets. "I just wanted to mark the occasion. We're home, Max. You're home. You did something I wasn't able to do for... quite some time."

 

Max's response was fairly quiet. "If you hadn't turned up to give me a push... How long did it take you?"

 

I sighed. "Five years of practically zero contact. I only managed to return in September of 2013 because I got accepted into Blackwell on a photography scholarship. The rest... you'll find out later."

 

Max stayed quiet, presumably thinking over how much of a fuck up I was, or she would've been. Not that I blame her.

 

I finally found a black marker pen, and to distract myself from thinking about the exact same things, I rushed inside the hideout and got to work tagging the wall with 'MAX WAS HERE' then stood back to admire my simple work of art.

 

Max piped up with a snarky, "Really?"

 

To which I shot back with, "Yes, really. It may seem stupid now but trust me, it isn't."

 

Since the hideout wasn't made into a hideout yet, there wasn't anything else to do or look at, so I went back outside and wandered through the piles of junk while trying to ignore that feeling of being watched when I walked into Jefferson's trap in the future. I began looking for differences between this version and the one I knew. Most noticably was the addition of Chloe's deathtrap of a truck, sitting in the middle, looking lost and forgotten. You won't be like that for long, my friend.

 

Then I caught a glimpse of that spot, under the dim moonlight. The one spot I will never be able to forget. I found myself making my way towards it, against my better judgement. I quickly glanced around. No ghostly Doe hanging around. No disturbed ground. No buried treasure. No Jefferson.

 

I crouched down and put my hand flat against the spot on the ground that I'll never be able to see as anything other than Rachel's grave, and muttered with as much determination as I could muster, "I won't let you end up here this time. I promise."

 

Max cautiously spoke up. "Who? What happened? Does Chloe..."

 

I immediately cut her off. "No, not Chloe. This is... something else. Sorry, Max, I can't say. Spoilers."

 

I sensed frustration in her reply. "This is stupid. The universe won't explode if you tell me, since you just told me I would've ended up at Blackwell on a photography scholarship and everything's fine."

 

I sighed and stood up. "Please just trust me. There are some things you really shouldn't know until you absolutely need to. Surely you've realized me being here isn't as simple as just 'Chloe needs us', right? It's a fuck-ton more complicated than that. Now come on, let's go to the Two Whales before Joyce thinks we got murdered or something."

 

Max stayed silent again.

 

It took a few minutes of walking along the roadside before I came across a bus stop that still ran at this time of night, this far on the outskirts of town. I spent twice as long standing there and waiting for the damn thing to arrive, and when it finally did, I dived into it practically freezing my ass off.

 

Once I'd sat down, I decided to offer Max an olive branch. "You can take back control now, since you haven't seen Arcadia Bay for a year and a half, you deserve to be able to take it all in. I'll let you reintroduce yourself to Joyce, too."

 

Max responded with a simple, "Fine."

 

She's still annoyed at me, that's okay. I would be too, so I'll take what I can get. We quickly swapped places. Max got to admire Arcadia Bay's limited attractions, while I got to enjoy reading her thoughts at seeing all the changes to the town over the past year and a half she was gone. A win-win situation as far as I was concerned.

 

Sadly, Arcadia Bay was still a pretty small town, so the ride was over before we even realized it and now we were standing across the road from the Diner. It seemed empty, with the exception of Joyce who was still standing at the counter looking incredibly bored and more than likely woried for our safety. She hadn't noticed us yet.

 

I could sense Max's anxiety starting to spike so I spoke up. "Max, it's okay. Remember, it's just Joyce. She's nothing but warmth and kindness, unlike our actual Mom. Just go in there and reconnect, be yourself. Dont worry about messing anything up, I can always take control and talk my way around it if neccessary."

 

Max nodded and took a deep breath, then walked resolutely across the road and into the Diner.

 

Joyce glanced up at the sound of the door opening and at first did a double-take before gasping. She immediately rushed around the counter and I smiled mentally when Max threw herself right into Joyce's open arms. "Oh, Max. Honey, I can't believe you're actually here. I've missed you so much. Did you have any trouble getting here?"

 

Max sniffled. "It went fine. And I told you I'd come... but I should've come sooner. Fuck, I never should've left in the first place, damn it. I should've fought harder against my parents, Chloe needed me, you needed me... and I just abandoned you both. I'm so... so sorry, Joyce."

 

By this point she'd already broken down into a sobbing mess, so much that Joyce had to guide her into one of the booths so that she wouldn't just collapse to the floor. Honestly, I felt her pain. I shared her grief. But this was for her, not me, so I stayed quiet.

 

Joyce had started crying now, too. "It's a shame we don't have a swear jar anymore, otherwise I'd be charging you for those. Christ, Max. Please don't blame yourself. William's death, and what happened afterwards was hard on us all, that includes you. Sure, things would've been easier for everyone, Chloe especially, if you'd stayed... but you were just 13, and not even my attempts to convince your mother to let you stay was enough.

 

Max's head shot up so fast I could've sworn I felt light-headed. "Wait, you actually tried to get her to let me stay... and she said no? I can't believe it. That... fucking BITCH!"

 

The sudden outburst made Joyce jump, but surprisingly, instead of telling her off, she rolled with it. "Yeah... She refused to let you stay a second longer than you had to, that's why you left before William's funeral had even finished. She didn't want to give you the chance to talk to Chloe afterwards. So as much as I should probably scold you for calling your own mother a bitch, I cannot in good conscience do so, because I sadly have to agree with you. I even can't imagine how you must be feeling right now."

 

Max nodded, working her mouth open and shut trying to find the right words. Eventually she settled on, "Right now, the first thing that comes to mind, is that you care about my feelings. She never did. You are a much better mother than she will ever be. She's nothing but a control freak, but I guess you figured that out long ago." She glared down at the table. "When we lived here, she seemed to tolerate Chloe just fine and I was too young to really suspect anything, but looking back at it now I know the truth... she didn't want me anywhere near her, which I suppose explains why the possessiveness went crazy when my Mom told me about the move to Seattle. She just wanted me all to herself."

 

Joyce reached over and put a hand on one of her enclosed fists. "Turns out all she did was drive you further and further away, huh?"

 

Max snorted. "Something like that. Living in Seattle was hell. I mean, you know how bad my anxiety gets. Chloe helped massively. Without her, I never left my bedroom. I'd only ever known Arcadia Bay, so to be moved into a place as big as Seattle, without Chloe, was way too fucking much to handle, so I shut down. Nothing my Mom and Dad did helped. My Mom's obsession with controlling my every move meant that for a long time she was fine with me being stuck in my room all the time since I was close to her. Only when it got... really bad, did she finally try 'encouraging' me to be independent, do things on my own now that Chloe wasn't there to hold my hand. Of-course the only thing I was interested in doing was seeing Chloe again, but everytime I asked to come visit, she flat out refused."

 

Joyce sighed. "Oh, hon... that must've been horrible for you. But all that matters now is that you made it, in spite of her."

 

Max shook her head sadly. "Maybe, but I made it far, far too late. Over a year and a half too late. Hell, I'm only here now because my Dad let me sneak out after I..." She blushed slightly. "Finally admitted something. He realized just how much I was hurting by being away from Chloe. Apparently he saw himself in me long enough to decide to stand up to Mom. She has no idea I'm here yet. Which leads me to wonder what happens next."

 

Joyce rolled her eyes with a knowing smile on her face. "You don't even need to ask, you're welcome to stay with me and Chloe. If your father is supporting you then it's his, yours and my good word against your controlling mother. And if Chloe finds out, I have no doubt she'll gladly give her an earful. We'll see how it goes, okay, Max?"

 

Max audibly gulped. "Oh god. I haven't even asked about Chloe. How is she? Is she okay?"

 

Joyce's brow furrowed. "Well, I won't lie, the past year and a half without you by her side has been very hard for her. She barely talks to me anymore. I feel like you understand Chloe better than I ever will, which makes me think I'm not as good a mother as you make me out to be, Max."

 

Max reached over and patted Joyce's arm. "Of-course you are. Now that I'm back, assuming Chloe doesn't just tell me to fuck off back to Seattle, I'll give you a few hints on how to make things easier for her once I figure out just how bad it is."

 

Joyce smiled. "Deal. I'll hold you to that, Max. So, you said on the phone that you wanted to surprise Chloe. Does that mean you're coming home with me tonight so that you can scare her while she's sleeping?"

 

I caught her wondering what to say, so I gave her a hand. "Tempting, but no. We've already got something planned out and Chloe needs to stay in the dark."

 

Max hummed, playing it off as if she was thinking of an answer. "As tempting as that is, no. I already have a plan so I can't go home with you tonight. Don't worry, I've already found a place to hide. I just don't want Chloe to have any idea I'm back... for now. Please don't tell her. Just act like everything's normal until she suddenly comes running to tell you about me, because no doubt she will."

 

Joyce raised an eyebrow in response. "Alright, Max. I'll trust that you know what you're doing and won't say a word. Just remember to call me if you need anything."

 

Max groaned. "Speaking of which, I promised my Dad I'd call him when I arrived. Sorry."

 

Joyce nodded. "It's okay, hon. Go ahead. Hardly any customers at this time of night but I'm sure I'll find something to do."

 

Max giggled, then stood up along with Joyce who went to stand back behind the counter. She pulled out her phone and called our Dad.

 

He answered almost immediately. "Hello? Max, are you okay? Are you in Arcadia Bay?"

 

Max laced her voice with sarcasm. "Wow, Dad. You sound worried. Almost like you care."

 

He sighed on the other end of the line. "Ofcourse I care, Max. Come on, I know you're pissed at me and I deserve it, but never joke about that again. I let my 14 year old daughter run away in the middle of the night because I care. Which to anyone else would sound like the complete opposite, but I trust that you know what you're doing. Judging from your tone, I'll assume the answer is yes to both of my questions. I thought you should know, your Mom is still sleeping so you have a head start, but once she wakes up in the morning... there will be hell to pay, for both of us. You know that, right?"

 

Max growled in anger. "Sorry in advance, Pop... But I'd like to see that bitch try to drag me out of Arcadia Bay a second time. I was too young and stupid to know why it happened the first time around, but now I'll fight her with every bone in my body if it means staying by Chloe's side. So when she wakes up, tell her to think long and hard about what she wants; she can have me all to herself, forever depressed, all alone, and hating her guts for the rest of her life... Or a chance at redemption and a relationship with her daughter. Because from this moment on, she lost the right to call herself my mother. I want nothing to do with her, only if she comes begging at mine and Chloe's feet for forgiveness and mercy will I even consider letting VANESSA back into my life. Do you understand?"

 

He was silent for almost half a minute before a sniffle registered over the line. "Loud and clear, Max. You can count on me to be in your corner this time, kiddo. I promise."

 

Max nodded into the phone. "We'll see how true that is when the time comes. Oh, by the way, Joyce is in my corner too and in just the last 15 minutes has proven to be a far better mother than Vanessa ever was, I just thought you should know that."

 

He half sobbed, half chuckled into the phone. "She was like a second mother to you so I'm not surprised at all. I always liked Joyce... and William, for that matter. Good friends, good neighbours, that we never should've abandoned like we did."

 

Max cleared her throat and raised her voice enough to catch Joyce's attention. "Speaking of Joyce, tell Vanessa that if she tries to contact Joyce, she won't get an answer." Joyce smirked and nodded in understanding. "She's welcome to call me directly if she dares, I won't block her number, though in doing so she's guaranteed to be told to go fuck herself, especially if Chloe catches wind of the real reason she pulled us apart, which I have no intention of hiding from her. Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Chloe Price."

 

I mentally snorted at just how true that was.

 

This time he managed a proper belly-laugh. "I don't doubt it. I really hope I'm there to hear that conversation, if it ever happens. I'd ask to talk to Joyce but it's getting really late, I need to catch some sleep before the fallout in the morning. Enjoy your freedom, kiddo. Just don't do anything stupid, be careful, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill by now. I'll call you tomorrow... I love you, Max."

 

Max stayed silent for a few seconds before she replied, her voice breaking. "...I love you too, Pop."

 

Then she hung up and pocketed the phone, then wandered over to the counter to see Joyce staring off into space.

 

Max coughed. "Everything okay, Joyce?"

 

Joyce blinked. "Yes. No. I don't know. It's just... when you refused to call Vanessa your mother and addressed her by her name... Well, Chloe does that with me. It just makes me wonder if I already lost her and didn't even know it."

 

Max's eyes softened. "I can't say with 100% certainty since I've been gone the whole time she's been struggling, but I just don't see how Chloe would discard you after losing William and me at the same time. You've been the only person on her side since then, I'm guessing. I doubt she'd willingly throw that away, even if she acts like it. You know she's never been good with feelings. She'd rather ignore them and bottle it up until she explodes in anger. It's just how Chloe works through things, that's all."

 

Joyce sighed and nodded. "I hope you're right, Max. I don't want to lose Chloe like Vanessa seems to be losing you. I'm... barely holding on here as it is."

 

Max reached across the counter and put a hand on her arm. "I know, Joyce. But you're not alone anymore, neither is Chloe. I'm back and I'm here to stay. If there's ever a hill for me to die on, Arcadia Bay is it."

 

I winced internally at her poor choice of words, but stayed quiet.

 

Joyce smiled sadly. "Thanks, hon. Now not to mother you or anything but I'm fairly sure it's past your bedtime and since I don't know where you are sleeping, I'd suggest you go there and get some rest. You look exhausted from the journey here."

 

As if on cue, Max yawned. "Ugh. You're not wrong there, Joyce. I think I'll do that. And if Chloe doesn't want to do this, I will; Take care of yourself... Mom."

 

Then she turned around and headed outside. The last thing we heard before the door swung shut was Joyce trying and failing to choke back a sob.

 

The journey back to the Junkyard was a silent one. I was too stunned at the fact Max had decided to claim Joyce as our new Mom so soon to make conversation. Not that I blamed her, I just didn't expect anything like that to happen since I never got the opportunity for any of this when I was still 14. This was uncharted territory for me. I mentally rolled my eyes. If only I'd gotten my own personal future Max to kick my ass all the way back to Arcadia Bay...

 

Eventually we arrived back at the Junkyard and quickly settled down into a corner of the hideout. It was cold and uncomfortable, but it'd have to do. Tomorrow everything changes. Not just for both of us Maxes, but Chloe and Rachel too.

Chapter 4: Another Great Day In Arcadia Bay

Summary:

The Maxes lay eyes on a younger version of Chloe Price for the first time.

Hiding their secret proves to be harder than they thought.

Vanessa Caulfield finally calls.

Max puts her foot down.

Notes:

Hey all! Not much to say again today, except that it seems the end-note for the previous chapter glitched out for some reason and is displaying an old one. When I try to edit it, it doesn't even show an end-note at all (because I never actually wrote one for the last chapter), so I can't seem to change it. Oh well. *shrug*

Enjoy! :)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 4: Another Great Day In Arcadia Bay

 

We were startled awake by the sound of a train passing by. Presumably the same one we arrived on, which was also the one that turned Chloe into a pancake multiple times over. That fucking train is going to be taunting me for eternity, isn't it?

 

Max groaned and opened her eyes long enough for me to see it was light outside before she closed her eyes again and curled up further into the corner.

 

I spoke up, careful to keep the previous thought locked away. "Sorry Max, we don't have the luxury of sleeping in, we have somewhere to be."

 

Max grumbled, "Do we have to?"

 

I smirked on the inside. "That depends, do you want to see what Chloe looks like?"

 

Max bolted upright at that. "Okay, okay, I'm up!"

 

Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. It was 6:27am.

 

I quickly recalled one of my Chloe interrogations where she explained the details of her life around this time. "If my intel is correct, Chloe will be leaving her house to take the school bus around 7am. We've got plenty of time to catch a bus from here into town and hide across the street from her house before she leaves. We don't want her to see us just yet though so you might want to throw on a hoodie, just in-case."

 

Max huffed and rummaged through the duffel bag for a hoodie. "That's fine by me, I'm freezing to death here without one."

 

Once she had put on a hoodie, we left the Junkyard and waited for a bus to arrive down the road. Eventually, one came and Max got to sit back and experience a second ride along the shores of her home town, only this time during the golden hour. We had only just managed to catch a glimpse of the Two Whales in all it's morning glory before the bus turned inland and then before we knew it, we were standing a couple of streets away from where Chloe's house was. We walked the rest of the way in tense silence, though the closer we got, the more anxious Max became.

 

I cautiously reminded her, "Max, we're hiding across the street, not actually meeting her face to face yet. But if this is too much for you, I can take control."

 

I felt Max shake her head as she muttered under her breath, "I know... but no, I can do this. I have to. Whatever happened to her is my fault, I left when she needed me the most. I have to see the consequences for myself."

 

I groaned inwardly. She's punishing herself. Not a surprise since I'd be doing the exact same thing in her place. Hell, I still kind of am, even after all the things I've been through. I have an extra 3 and a half years of guilt to make up for and being here now hurts me just as much as her.

 

I decided to stay silent after that.

 

We finally reached Chloe's street and slowly began to make our way towards her house. A few people were already leaving their homes for work or school, though Max was smart enough to not draw attention to herself as she walked past, atleast. She decided to take up a hiding spot in the shade behind a large tree that was directly across from Chloe's house. A perfect line of sight. Now all we had to do was wait.

 

The remaining 10 minutes seemed to crawl by. Max kept checking the time on her phone impatiently and with each minute that passed, I could feel her anxiety starting to peak.

 

I spoke up softly so as to not startle her by accident. "Max, trust me, it'll be okay-"

 

I was cut off by the sound of Max inhaling sharply and realized that Chloe had just opened the front door and sat outside to wait for the school bus to arrive.

 

Max reluctantly poked her head out from around the tree and we both simply stared at her, drinking in her appearance for the first time. The differences between this Chloe and what she became in my future was shocking. No blue hair, no tattoo... just a plain young Chloe before the world crushed her to the point of open rebellion.

 

Max muttered under her breath, "Oh god, she looks exactly like I remember her a year and a half ago. She hasn't changed at all."

 

I snorted to myself. "Not yet."

 

I felt Max frown as she whispered, "What's that supposed to mean?"

 

I mentally facepalmed. "Uh... let's just say that she doesn't look like this in my timeline's future. The rest is a spoiler for later."

 

Max rolled her eyes and returned her focus back to Chloe.

 

I could sense that she was having an internal battle with herself. She desperately wanted to rush over and talk to Chloe, as-well as stay hidden because of her anxiety. I gently reminded her, "I know exactly how you feel right now. She may not be the Chloe I remember but I never got to see her at this point in time either. As much as I want to go over there, we can't. Not yet."

 

Max growled in frustration. "She's right there! How much longer do we have to wait?"

 

I winced inwardly. "Until later tonight. I promise."

 

Suddenly our view was blocked by the arrival of Blackwell's school bus, so all we could see was the top of Chloe's head through the windows while she made her way inside and sat down. We stared at the back of the bus as it drove off until it rounded the corner out of sight.

 

Max huffed, "So, now what?"

 

I mentally shrugged. "Let's go say hi to Joyce while we have the time, see how she's doing after last night, since there's not much point following Chloe to Blackwell. That'd be a boring wait for both of us."

 

Max yawned and briefly stretched before stepping out from behind the tree, then crossed the road. As we made our way towards the front door, she glanced up at the rest of the house and noticed that it was still only half-painted blue.

 

I sighed to myself. "In my timeline it stays like that until 2013. Just one of the many things we're going to make right now that we're here, Max."

 

Max frowned slightly at that but nodded in agreement. She took a moment to compose herself before knocking on the door.

 

Joyce must've been cooking in the kitchen since it didn't take long for her to open it. "Oh, Max! There you are, I've been worried sick. Chloe's not here though, she's gone to school, you just missed her."

 

Max smirked. "That was intentional, Joyce."

 

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "What was? Making me worry, or missing Chloe?"

 

Max blinked for a moment. "Uh. The latter. I didn't mean to make you worry about me."

 

Joyce chuckled before stepping aside to let us in. "I know, honey. Still, I'm a mother, it's in my nature to worry about my daughters."

 

Max spun around and stared at Joyce in surprise as she closed the front door. "Please Joyce, are you trying to make me cry? It's too early for me to start crying."

 

Joyce smiled sadly and patted her on the shoulder before heading into the kitchen. "I assume you're hungry, Max?"

 

Max sheepishly peeked around the doorframe. "Kinda, if it's not too much trouble. I haven't eaten anything since running away from Seattle."

 

Joyce tutted at that and pointed towards the dining table. "Well you're in luck. There's some freshly made pancakes over there which Chloe refused to eat... again. They're still warm and all yours."

 

Max sat down at the table and greedily rubbed her hands in anticipation. "How could Chloe not eat these? They look amazing." She took a bite of a pancake and hummed in delight. "You're still a fantastic cook, Joyce."

 

Joyce leaned against the kitchen counter and sighed. "Thanks honey, that's high praise coming from you. Honestly though, I think Chloe doesn't eat because she's avoiding me. She just goes straight to school... I only hope she eats something while she's there."

 

I winced to myself. "If the canteen food is as disgusting now as it is in the future, I highly doubt that."

 

Max sighed and stopped eating. "Okay Joyce, I told you last night I'd help you out but first I have to ask, why do you think she's avoiding you?"

 

Joyce sat down in the chair across from us and groaned. "Hell if I know, Max. I'm trying my best but it's been... hard, without William around."

 

Max frowned at that, unsure how to respond.

 

I spoke up. "I've got a few ideas, do you mind if I take over?"

 

Max simply shrugged and sat back in the chair before relinquishing control to me.

 

Before I had even managed to get full control of Max's body, Joyce suddenly exclaimed, "Max, what just happened?"

 

I blinked a few times and realized she was looking at me with an odd expression on her face. "Uh, what do you mean?"

 

Joyce leaned across the table slightly and stared right at me, as if she was looking for something. "I'm not sure. I could've sworn your eyes just... changed. Or something. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, or I need more coffee, I barely got any sleep after my shift at the diner last night."

 

Then she stood up and silently made her way back into the kitchen to make coffee.

 

Max spoke up in the back of my head, startling me a little. "That was unexpected. Do you think she actually saw something happen when we swapped places?"

 

I furrowed my brow. "Maybe. It's worth testing it out, just incase. If we have a 'tell' then it could become a problem in future."

 

Max replied with, "Okay, but let's say we do have a 'tell', if Joyce can see it, how do we explain it?"

 

I looked up in thought for a moment. "The truth, I guess? It's not really ideal, the less people who know about this the better, but we can trust Joyce. Besides, it might make it easier for us to help her with Chloe if she has an idea of how we'd even know certain things that would be impossible to explain otherwise."

 

Max was silent for a few seconds before responding with, "Okay, if you insist. When she comes back, I'll take control and then give it back to you again so that we can triple-check that she actually sees anything. I just hope this doesn't make things... awkward, to say the least."

 

I tucked back into the already half-eaten pancakes infront of me while waiting for Joyce to finish making coffee. Once she was done, she poured some out for me as-well before sitting back down again.

 

I eagerly took a few sips of my coffee before tentatively speaking up. "Uh, Joyce... I know this is gonna be a little weird but you said you saw something change in my eyes, right? Could you humor me and see if happens again?"

 

Joyce looked up from her coffee and raised an eyebrow curiously before nodding.

 

Once it was clear she was watching, I relaxed and began to let Max back in.

 

Joyce hummed and narrowed her eyes as she focused on our face. "There! I swear it just did it again."

 

Max rubbed her eyes. "Okay Joyce, one more time just to be sure."

 

When Joyce nodded, Max relinquished her hold so that I could retake control.

 

The instant I began taking over, Joyce stood up from her chair and shouted, "It happened again! I don't even know how to explain it but it's something with your eyes. They don't actually look any different, it's more like I can just... sense that they've changed. Max, honey, what the heck is it? I'm starting to get a little creeped out here."

 

I groaned under my breath. "Fuck. This is gonna be a problem."

 

Joyce crossed her arms. "What is, Max?"

 

I sighed in frustration. "Joyce, there's something you need to know, since its obvious I can't hide this as well as I'd hoped."

 

Joyce looked worried. "Hide what?"

 

I took another sip of coffee while I quickly thought up the best way to explain it.

 

After putting the coffee back down, I crossed my arms on the table. "Okay, I'll just say it straight. I'm not Max."

 

Joyce sat back into her chair, confused. "What do you mean? You look like Max, you talk like Max. Let me guess, you're an alien in disguise? This isn't a funny joke, Max."

 

I smirked. "No, I'm not an alien, Joyce. I am however from another timeline."

 

Joyce raised both her eyebrows. "Timeline... as in, you're a time traveller? This is real life, not doctor who, Max."

 

I snorted at that. "I'm surprised you know what doctor who even is."

 

Joyce rolled her eyes. "You do realize Chloe's still a science nerd, right? She might try to hide it but I've had to watch plenty of doctor who episodes with her while she pretends not to be questioning everything that happens in them."

 

I giggled. "That sounds like Chloe. But we're going off topic here. I should rephrase, I am Max, but not your Max."

 

Joyce hummed. "Then where is she?"

 

I smiled at her and tapped a finger on my head. "She's in here."

 

Joyce frowned. "She's... in your head? So there's two of you? You know what that sounds like, right?"

 

I nodded. "I see how you could think I have some sort of split personality or mental illness. Well, besides the anxiety, I mean. But no, there really is two of us in one body. I travelled through time and asked for Max's permission to inhabit her body. It's purely voluntary and works on a basis of mutual trust. Only one of us has control while the other... watches, for lack of a better word. We can allow the other person to take control though, and presumably that switch is what you were somehow able to notice."

 

Joyce sat in silence for a minute while she absorbed everything before speaking up again. "I don't know about there being two of you but I'm going to need some proof that you're a... time traveller, Max."

 

Max muttered in the back of my head, "Well you should've seen that coming."

 

I snorted to myself. "Ofcourse I saw that coming. Everyone needs proof."

 

Max replied with, "Careful you don't say anything I'm not supposed to know..."

 

I rolled my eyes at her. "Passive-aggressive sarcasm doesn't suit your disembodied voice, Max."

 

Joyce suddenly cleared her throat. "Max?"

 

I turned my attention back to Joyce. "Sorry, I got distracted talking to your Max."

 

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh."

 

I looked up in thought for a moment before replying with, "I don't suppose you know a David Madsen, do you?"

 

Joyce raised her other eyebrow at that. "Yes, yes I do. How do you know him?"

 

I smirked. "I'm a time traveller, remember?"

 

Joyce frowned slightly. "A time traveller from where, exactly?"

 

I simply replied with, "2013."

 

Joyce sat forward upon hearing that. "So you're from 2013... and you know who David is? Why tell me that?"

 

I straightened up and stared Joyce firmly in the eye before deadpanning, "Because your Max said she'd help you out with Chloe and I want to do the same, so with that in mind, I am being very serious when I say that if you are having problems with Chloe then David is a massive reason why. You need to realize that now and listen to her concerns before it gets much, much worse."

 

Joyce narrowed her eyes. "What exactly are you implying, Max?"

 

I sighed. "Look, I assume you really like David, and it's not my place to say if you should or not. However, it will affect Chloe and clearly already is. You said in the diner last night that it feels like you're losing her. Well, that's why."

 

Joyce looked away, deep in thought. "I know Chloe says she doesn't like David but I don't understand why. I like him, so why can't she? What does she have against him? He only wants to help."

 

I shook my head at that. "The first thing I want to point out is that Chloe is still grieving for William. David's personality is completely the opposite to what William was like. William was kind and funny, a massive goofball. To put it bluntly, David is heavy handed and controlling, plain and simple. Chloe hates authority as most teenagers do, but she sees the soldier in him as the ultimate authority figure that wants to replace her father and she sees his offer to help as just a way to control her every move, which she despises him for. Now, I understand why David is like that, but you need to communicate properly with Chloe so that she understands that is not the case, and also with David to set some very clear boundaries and get him some much needed therapy, so that Chloe has the safe space she needs to continue mourning William and express herself without feeling trapped in her own home. You're pretty much my mother now Joyce, and I love you, but you have no idea how far I would go to protect Chloe, so the most important thing you can do is listen to what she says, no matter what. You are the only person she has left except for me now, so if she tries to tell you there is a problem, do not ignore it. Chloe comes first. Always."

 

Joyce slumped back into her chair in silence for quite a while as she processed everything I'd said.

 

I winced and quickly apologized. "Sorry for dumping all of that on you."

 

Joyce slowly shook her head. "No, Max. It's fine. I'm probably going to regret asking this but I think I need to hear it... If you don't talk sense into me, what happens?"

 

I sighed heavily. "You're already thinking of having David move in, aren't you? Well, I didn't return to Arcadia Bay until 2013, so Chloe only had you to turn to but you didn't listen to her issues with David, you let him move in and then listened to his supposedly helpful advice to control her even more, thinking she needed a firm hand when all she needed was you to listen and give her space. Instead, in her eyes you picked him over her, and it pretty much destroyed what was left of your relationship. Because of David's untreated PTSD from his time in the military, his means of controlling Chloe eventually turned... physical. I don't know when it started or how many times it happened but I personally saw it with my own eyes, he hit her once when he thought she was alone. I didn't want to tell you this because I don't want to ruin your image of him based on something that happened in my future, as I'm specifically trying to avoid my future from happening in the first place, but I will say that eventhough I haven't forgiven David for what he did, something else happened in my future which gave me a certain level of respect for him. He does care about Chloe, in his own way, so he's not completely bad. He just needs help, which is why I said to make sure he gets some therapy."

 

Joyce just sat there with a look of pure shock on her face and muttered under her breath, "How could I fail my daughter so badly..."

 

I squirmed awkwardly in my seat and suddenly became aware of a thudding sound coming from inside my head. "Max...?"

 

Her response made me wince. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Look at what you did to her! We're supposed to help her, not make things worse!"

 

I rubbed my temples before snapping back. "I know! I didn't want to tell her the consequences of fucking up but she asked. I figured it'd be better if she understands what would happen if she doesn't get it right this time, rather than just knowing that she needs to do better without knowing the importance of why."

 

She countered with, "You might be right but I don't give a shit, I need to fix this for both of us. Give me control. Now!"

 

I sighed guiltily and switched places with her.

 

Max immediately got up and went to Joyce's side before grabbing hold of one of her hands to get her attention. "Hey, Joyce, listen to me. It's your Max here now. I'm so sorry, I didn't think she'd be so... blunt about it. Hell, I didn't even know about any of that, she's keeping me in the dark about a lot of things until it's 'time' for me to know. However, I do know one thing... You may have failed Chloe then but now that you know what's at stake, you will not make the same mistake twice. Especially now that I'm here, I won't let you. I promise."

 

Joyce slowly turned and blinked a tear out of her eye before pulling Max into a hug. "I know, honey. It hurts but I needed to know. Maybe this time it'll be different. Thank you, both of you. I don't mean to sound rude but I need some space to think. I need to come to terms with all of this before Chloe gets back from school. You're welcome to stay for a while in Chloe's room though, if you'd like to."

 

Max nodded in understanding, then her eyes lit up in excitement once she realized what she'd said and practically sprinted off down the hall.

 

I quietly spoke up. "Before you trip and fall, you might want to tell her to go easy on Chloe if she stays out late tonight because we'll be with her."

 

Max spoke over her shoulder. "Joyce, future Max wants me to tell you that Chloe might be staying out late tonight and to go easy on her if she does because we'll be with her. Chloe doesn't know that though, it's a surprise reunion, I guess."

 

Joyce coughed and cleared her throat before replying with, "Sure, Max. She's still going to school tomorrow, no matter how late she tries to stay out, so keep that in mind. But I trust you, both of you, to keep Chloe safe."

 

I spoke up with determination. "Always."

 

Max responded solemnly. "Always."

 

I replied with, "Jinx."

 

Max rolled her eyes and started heading upstairs before muttering, "Shut up you insensitive idiot."

 

She stopped abruptly once she reached the top of the stairs, with her hand hovering near the door handle.

 

I cautiously spoke again when she didn't keep going. "You okay?"

 

Max exhaled slowly. "Just wondering how different it's going to look. And trying hard not to think about how I have no right to step foot in her room after I abandoned her like I did."

 

I sighed inwardly. "You're not the only one who abandoned her, remember. This will be new for both of us. Open it!"

 

Max nodded, then grabbed the handle and slowly creeped the door open before stepping inside.

 

Her first reaction was, "Wow."

 

I replied with, "Wow indeed. It's messy, but not as bad as I expected. Very Chloe."

 

Max stepped further into the room and started looking around, taking in every detail.

 

She gasped upon noticing the string of photos hanging above the desk. "No way. She... she kept my photos? I thought she'd hate me."

 

I responded sadly. "She's still holding out hope that you'd come back into her life. I didn't, and these were not in her room in my future. She lost hope by then, but she hasn't yet. She might not want to completely eviscerate you upon first contact, so that's a plus."

 

Max snorted. "Gee, thanks. That totally doesn't make me feel any less anxious about it."

 

I mentally rolled my eyes. "It'll be fine, Max. She might be angry at first, but she's Chloe. She'll take us back in a heartbeat. Especially once she finds out that it's Vanessa's fault that we abandoned her, and not ours."

 

Max groaned. "I hope you're right..."

 

Before I could respond to that, our phone started ringing.

 

Max took one look at it and groaned loudly. "Speak of the fucking devil. I wondered how long it'd take before Vanessa decided to call. What're the odds she actually apologizes for what she did?"

 

I snorted to myself. "Unlikely. But hey, you did warn dad that if she tried to call she'd get told to fuck off. Now's your chance."

 

Max took a deep breath and answered the phone.

 

Before she could even get a word in, Vanessa was already screaming on the other end. "MAXINE CAULFIELD GET BACK HERE IMMED-"

 

Max cut her off with a frustrated growl. "Nope. This is not how this conversation is going to go. Let me pre-empt whatever bullshit you're going to tell me by saying that I am not leaving Arcadia Bay, I am not leaving Chloe Price, and I am not going to speak to you again until you apologize for the hurt you caused to both of us. Am I clear?"

 

Vanessa sneered into the phone. "I will NOT apologize for doing what was best for my daughter! Now young lady, don't make me call the police to bring you back, because I will."

 

I felt the anger surging through Max, as she replied with an eerily calm voice without stopping to take a breath. "You didn't do what was best for me, you did what was best for you. Like always. And if you even think of trying to call the police, I can tell you right now that I will no longer consider myself as your daughter, and you will lose the right to call yourself my mother FOREVER. That'll be the end of your imaginary happy family. So stop thinking of yourself for once because I am about to hang up, and when I do, you will have one more chance to call me back with a sincere-as-fuck apology otherwise I am cutting all contact and never speaking to you again. Also, Dad, I know you're there – you promised me something last night – it's time to prove it. And don't bother calling me again until tomorrow, at-least. I won't answer if you do, so I suggest you use that time to really consider how your selfishness has affected me. Goodbye Vanessa, and fuck you."

 

She hung up before Vanessa could say anything else, then promptly threw the phone at Chloe's bed as she shook with rage.

 

I awkwardly spoke up with, "That went about as well as I expected..."

 

Max huffed in annoyance. "No shit. You do realize if she actually calls the police we're kinda screwed. I am still only 14 afterall, I'm not an adult like you."

 

I mentally shook my head. "We'll just have to cross that bridge if we come to it. Here's hoping Dad steps up for once and manages to convince her to leave us alone."

 

Whatever retort Max was about to give got cut off by a loud yawn.

 

I snickered inwardly. "You're still tired, huh? Why don't you crash on Chloe's bed for a while? I'm sure Joyce wouldn't mind. Just set your alarm for, say... 2pm just in-case, so that Chloe doesn't come home to find us asleep in her bed. That'd be hella awkward."

 

She nodded to herself and grabbed the phone to do just that, then collapsed onto Chloe's bed and curled under the covers before inhaling sharply into the pillow.

 

There is no way I could pass up the opportunity to tease her. "Max, did you seriously just sniff her pillow?"

 

Max sheepishly scoffed. "What? No, don't be ridiculous."

 

I mentally chuckled. "Uh huh. It smells like Chloe, doesn't it?"

 

She quietly muttered under her breath, "...Exactly how I remember."

 

It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, clutching tightly to the pillow as if her life depended on it.

 

Chloe always was our lighthouse in the storm, a safe harbor where our anxiety couldn't reach us. We were home again, three and a half years ahead of shedule, assuming nothing else went wrong...

Chapter 5: Firewalk With Me

Summary:

The Maxes observe a day in the life of Chloe Price.

Future Max finally shows off her rewind ability to Young Max and fiercely defends their Captain, with mixed results.

The Maxes and Chloe are reunited again.

Notes:

Hey everyone! It's time to thrash to Firewalk!

Enjoy! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 5: Firewalk With Me

 

I expected to be woken up by the sound of Max's alarm going off, but instead we were dragged from our peaceful slumber by the sound of Chloe's door being opened.

 

Max sat bolt-upright, panicking for a split second until the grogginess faded and she realized it was just Joyce, carrying a tray of food.

 

Joyce winced slightly. "Sorry hon, I didn't mean to startle you. I figured you might've fallen asleep since you didn't come back down so I decided to make you some lunch."

 

Max took one look at the tray of food and her stomoch grumbled in response. "Thanks Joyce, I'm starving. You're a life saver, I swear."

 

Joyce chuckled at that. "At-least I know there's one person who still appreciates my cooking. And actually eats it."

 

I cautiously spoke up. "Can you let me have control for a second? I want to apologize for earlier."

 

Max reluctantly agreed, and relinquished control to me.

 

I awkwardly cleared my throat. "Hey Joyce. It's future Max again. I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have been so harsh on you. I just don't want Chloe to feel like she's alone this time."

 

Joyce sighed and sat down on the bed next to us. "It's okay. You aren't wrong. If what you said about her future is true, then I needed to hear it. David will still be moving in soon, because I do love him. But perhaps it's time for a proper sit-down between myself, David and Chloe so that we can have an open conversation for once."

 

I nodded. "That's a start. However, you should probably have a one-on-one talk with Chloe first. Get her to tell you how she's really feeling, and don't hand-wave it away as teenage rebellion. Listen to her. Make sure she understands that you're still on her side, and then bring David to the table before you have him move in. Otherwise she'd probably see it as some sort of intervention and fly off the handle."

 

Joyce blinked. "Good idea. I assume you'll want to be there too? To mediate?"

 

I snorted. "Ofcourse. Um... I feel like I should give you a warning though, there's some events that I need to play out the same, so Chloe might also be skipping school tomorrow. She has a good reason and it can't really be avoided. Unfortunately it will probably result in a very pissed off Principal Wells on the brink of kicking her out. Please don't say anything to her about it. I'm going to try and make sure that she doesn't get expelled... this time anyway, since I'd really like to be able to go to school with her again, but either way just try to be understanding because In my future, that's when you decided to have David move in so that he could 'fix' her, and it obviously went downhill from there."

 

Joyce pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. "Damn it. Why does she insist on throwing away her scholarship?"

 

I winced. "I think it's just her way of lashing out. But now that I'm back, I'll do everything in my power to make sure she stays at Blackwell. I know she's still a smart-ass science nerd at heart, she just feels like there's no point in trying to be that person when the rest of her life has already fallen apart."

 

Joyce sighed. "Oh Chloe... How could I have been so blind?"

 

I patted her on the arm. "You're still grieving for William too. So is she, in her own way. We just have to make her see that she's got support now."

 

Joyce nodded and stood up. "Yeah... Anyway, your food is probably going cold now so I'll leave you alone."

 

I smiled. "It's fine, if anyone could make cold food edible it's you. Thanks Joyce. And we'll be out of your hair before Chloe returns from Blackwell, we can't spoil her surprise by revealing ourselves early."

 

Joyce chuckled. "She's going to be over the moon when she sees you again thats for sure."

 

Once she'd left the room, Max spoke up in my head. "So, Chloe gets kicked out of school in your future?"

 

I should've known she'd pick up on that. "Yes she does. And that's all you're getting out of me, because you'll find out the reason why soon enough. Although I plan on trying to make sure that doesn't happen this time, because unlike in my future, we'll be there too."

 

Max responded with, "Fine, if you want to be so secretive, at-least let me take control again so I can eat Joyce's amazing food."

 

I rolled my eyes at that before relaxing so that she could regain control of her body.

 

Max practically inhaled the food in front of her, then began exploring the rest of Chloe's room and being an even bigger snoop than before.

 

I felt her raise an eyebrow at the rainbow statue of a middle finger and decided to state the obvious. "Yes, she's into girls. And yes, I can already hear the fantasies running through your head right now. Welcome to the 'I'm gay for Chloe' Club."

 

Max groaned into the palm of her hand, spun around and headed over to the standing mirror before sticking up her own middle finger at the tomato-faced reflection.

 

Then she spotted the pirate hat sitting on top of the mirror and begun stroking it reverently, immediately getting lost in the memories of our childhood.

 

I smiled to myself. "The adventures of Captain Bluebeard and Long Max Silver are far from over, trust me."

 

She nodded at the mirror reflection. "I hope so."

 

I snickered inwardly. "I know so."

 

Before she had the chance to call me a dork, the phone alarm went off, signalling that 2pm had arrived.

 

Max quickly cancelled it, then huffed. "So, now what?"

 

I mentally sighed. "Now we say goodbye to Joyce and go back to the tree across the road. I know it's boring but there's not much else for us to do except wait and watch at this point."

 

She whined at that. "But what if I need to pee?"

 

I responded with, "Then I suggest you become one with nature."

 

Max frowned. "Yeah no, fuck that. I'm gonna go pee right now and just hope I can hold it for the rest of the day."

 

After a quick trip to the bathroom, we headed back downstairs with the empty tray of food.

 

Max put the tray in the kitchen, then wandered into the living room to give Joyce a hug goodbye. "We're heading out now. It's stake-out time apparently."

 

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Spying on something nice, I hope."

 

Max nodded. "Yep. Chloe."

 

I could feel the heat radiating from her face once she realized what she'd just said.

 

Joyce just gave her a knowing look and patted her on the shoulder. "Take care, hon. Remember I'm one phone call away if you need anything. I'll make sure Chloe doesn't answer it." Then she added, "Oh, and Vanessa tried calling earlier, while you were asleep. I already gave her an earful and slammed the phone on her. I couldn't help myself. I blocked the number now though, don't worry."

 

Max grinned at her. "You're amazing. Thanks again, Joyce."

 

She chuckled and shooed us back down the hall.

 

Once the front door closed behind us, Max headed across the street towards the tree we hid behind this morning, then sat down and began the waiting game.

 

It didn't take long for the Blackwell school bus to arrive. We watched Chloe hop off and spin around with both middle fingers flying in the air at someone still sitting on the bus before she trudged up to the front door and went inside.

 

Max giggled in confusion. "What was that all about?"

 

I mentally shrugged. "No idea. Probably just Chloe being Chloe."

 

Moments later, we saw Chloe walk into her room and vanish from view for a second before returning to the window. She opened it and climbed onto her desk to sit sideways in the window frame with something in her mouth.

 

Max leaned out from behind the tree and squinted so that she could see what is was. "Is she... smoking cigarrettes?"

 

I smirked to myself. "Sure looks like it. Just be glad you didn't find her weed stash when you were being nosy earlier."

 

Max raised her eyebrows. "Wait, she smokes weed too?!"

 

I snorted inwardly. "Relax. It's all part of the new Chloe Price charm. You'll soon associate the smell of weed with Chloe, just like I do."

 

She frowned at that. "If you say so..."

 

We sat in silence and continued watching as Chloe smoked away in her window for what felt like hours, and indeed the next time Max checked her phone, it was already almost 6pm.

 

When Max looked back up at Chloe, we saw her spot something further down the street and even from across the road we could her the string of curses she was muttering before scrambling back inside her room.

 

Max poked her head around the other side of the tree and watched as an ugly blue muscle car drove towards the house and parked in the driveway.

 

She furrowed her brow in confusion as a man stepped out, went up to the front door and knocked. "Who's that?"

 

I mentally groaned. "That would be David Madsen. The guy I talked about with Joyce. The one that Chloe hates with a passion."

 

Max nodded. "I don't blame her. Just looking at him makes me want to hate him. He looks so... mean."

 

I just responded with, "He's certainly not nice. But most of that is due to his time spent as a soldier. He takes everything way too seriously, he's paranoid, clearly has untreated PTSD and in the future he eventually starts hitting Chloe..."

 

Max ground her teeth together at that. "Not this fucking time he won't. If he so much as touches her I'm gonna drive his car into the fucking bay. Or stick my foot so far up his ass he won't be able to shit ever again."

 

I grinned to myself. "Ah so that's what I sound like when I'm being over-protective of Chloe, good to know."

 

Max rolled her eyes, but she didn't try to dispute it.

 

I soon realized her gaze was fixed on Chloe's window again, and quickly noticed that Chloe was in the middle of changing her clothes. While standing in full view of the window. Typical Chloe.

 

I whispered teasingly in the back of her head when Chloe was stood there in just her bra, "Like what you see, Max?"

 

She just mumbled under her breath, "Shut up." and continued watching, ignoring how red her face was.

 

Once Chloe was wearing a fresh set of clothes, the outfit that I recognized as the one she would be wearing to Firewalk tonight, Max had to scramble back behind the tree so that we didn't get caught peeping when Chloe started climbing through her open window and parkouring to the ground.

 

Max had to stifle a laugh when Chloe gave David's car a dirty look and flipped her middle finger up at it, I assume out of habit, as she walked past and started heading up the street. "Uh... where is she going?"

 

I mentally rolled my eyes. "Why don't you follow and find out? Just keep your distance, we don't want her to spot us."

 

Max nodded and stood up, waiting for Chloe to get further up the street before she stepped out from behind the tree and began following.

 

Several streets later, we watched as Chloe went inside the local skate park to hang out with the skaters.

 

Max crouched behind a row of thick bushes and peered over the top with a clear view of the skate park. "Who's that she's talking to?"

 

I only recognized one of them. "Skater friends. One is named Justin, he's a fellow stoner and goes to Blackwell. I don't know the rest."

 

Max raised an eyebrow as Chloe scoffed at something Justin said and snatched his board out of his hands. "I forgot about Chloe's mild obsession with skateboarding. I wonder if she's actually learned how to do it now."

 

We watched in surprise as Chloe immedately started shredding rails and showing off her skills, much to the shock of Justin and the others.

 

At-least until she tripped and faceplanted into the ground.

 

I violently shoved down the natural instinct to rewind whenever Chloe gets hurt, hoping Max didn't notice anything.

 

Thankfully she didn't. She was too busy wincing and laughing at Chloe's bruised ego. "Oh man, that looked painful. But she definitely deserved it."

 

Chloe just brushed herself off and pretended it didn't happen. She jumped back on the board and kept going.

 

Justin quickly stole a board from one of his friends and raced to catch up with her, now in fierce competition.

 

Chloe spent the next couple of hours at the skate park while we giggled at her antics, but eventually she had to leave. There was a certain secret concert that she needed to attend, after-all.

 

Max quickly stood up from our spot behind the bushes and started following her again after checking the time on her phone. "It's 8:30pm, where the hell is she going now?"

 

I smirked to myself. "Keep following and you'll find out. But I hope you're prepared to hike for an hour."

 

Max groaned. "Another hour of walking, are you cereal? Why couldn't you have warned me this morning?!"

 

I mentally chuckled. "Because I know how lazy you are. Trust me, it'll be worth it though."

 

Max grumbled under her breath. "It better be."

 

We followed Chloe to the edge of town, bypassing the road turning into the Junkyard, until she reached the train tracks. She followed it into the heart of Arcadia's woodland while we stuck to the treeline and hoped we didn't accidentally step on a fallen branch or something.

 

Eventually we reached the outskirts of the Old Mill and watched Chloe stupidly playing chicken with the train. Once again the very same train that we arrived on, and the one that I had to rescue her from in the future. God fucking damn it, Chloe Price! It was a good job Max was still in control because my urge to either rewind, shove her out of the way, throttle her or some combination of the three was overwhelming. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to fall into the memory of Chloe being pancaked again. If Max noticed something wrong, she at-least didn't say anything.

 

Thankfully, one round of train-chicken was enough for Chloe and she headed off towards the crappy gate that lead to the Old Mill. We could hear the thumping of the music even from here.

 

Max whispered under her breath so that Chloe wouldn't hear. "What the hell is this place?"

 

I chuckled to myself, "Isn't it obvious? It's a secret underground concert with free beer and shady guys that are likely to murder you for looking at them wrong."

 

Max grumbled at that. "And we followed Chloe all the way out here because...?"

 

I mentally rolled my eyes. "Because Chloe's gonna need her ass saving. Well, not really, but we can assist. Surprise reunion, remember?"

 

Max froze. "What do you mean she needs saving?"

 

I gently replied with, "Don't worry, she'll be fine. But this is one of those times where I need to take control. For safety reasons. You're still only 14, after-all."

 

Max gulped at that, but reluctantly nodded and switched places with me.

 

Now in control, I laughed quietly from the gate as Chloe got her terrible fake ID rejected by the bouncer.

 

Max spoke up in the back of my head. "Really Chloe? You had to know that wouldn't work."

 

I smirked at that. "Now she'll switch to her back up plan and reveal the classic Chloe Price backtalking skills. Watch and learn, Max."

 

As I predicted, Chloe started arguing with the bouncer. It didn't take long for him to laugh and back away, letting her inside despite the obviously fake ID.

 

Max responded with mild surprise. "Seriously? That's one shitty bouncer if he's letting her in even if he knows she's underage."

 

I shrugged. "We both know Chloe can take care of herself. Most of the time, anyway. Now let's see if we can get in as-well."

 

Before she could voice her opinion on that, I vaulted over the gate and walked purposely towards the bouncer.

 

He took one look at me and shook his head in amusement. "Not a chance little girl."

 

I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, this little girl doesn't even have a fake ID to show off but I watched you let the last one in even-though you obviously knew she was too young to be at a place like this. Don't be such a hypocrite and let me go in too. I didn't come all this way for nothing."

 

The bouncer crossed his arms and frowned. "Sorry kid, I can let one in but not two. My boss would literally kill me if he found out. This place is dangerous. Go home."

 

I huffed in frustration and walked away, sitting next to the fire pit for a moment while he turned his attention away from me.

 

Max spoke up sarcastically. "Great job embarrassing ourselves, Max."

 

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again. I could totally get past the bouncer by rewinding, but there was no point when I already knew there was an unlocked and unguarded side entrance. Besides, I still hadn't tested it out or even told Max about it yet... and I don't have time to bring it up now that we're on the clock. I just hope it works if I need it.

 

Before I went inside, I glanced at the familiar RV behind us and walked around the other side to see freshly written graffiti and chuckled at Chloe's handiwork. Too bad she didn't know it belongs to Frank yet. Poor guy.

 

Then I headed back around the RV and crept towards the side entrance of the Old Mill before sneaking inside.

 

My ears were immediately assaulted by loud music blasting from the room next door.

 

Realizing how close-quarters the inside was, I quickly flipped up the hood of Max's hoodie and settled for observing from the corner of the room, hoping Chloe wouldn't recognize us just yet.

 

I watched as she attempted to buy a Firewalk t-shirt and swallowed down the urge to intervene when he tried getting handsy. Thankfully it wasn't neccessary since Chloe got revenge by releasing the parking brake on the guy's car, sending it rolling down the ramp and crashing into the loading area outside, much to Max's surprise.

 

I snorted to myself when Chloe reached into the trunk to steal a t-shirt and all the guy's money while he was distracted, then she used that same money to pay off her debt to Frank and purchase some extra weed before she grabbed a bottle of beer from the nearby bucket and attempted to head into the next room to watch Firewalk.

 

Max spoke up again, "Who was she talking to just now?"

 

I sighed. "That would be Frank. Chloe's drug dealer. In the future he gets pretty aggressive but he seems to be a chill guy now. I've got a pretty good idea about what changes him, though."

 

Before she could complain about me not giving her all the details again, I rushed past Frank and up the broken stairs, stopping just before reaching the top so that I could watch Chloe's first encounter with the skeevy assholes that future her had warned me about.

 

Once she walked away from them unscathed, I knew she would be coming upstairs to thrash to Firewalk in peace, at-least until those two dicks came looking for a fight, so I quickly crouched behind a piece of rotting furniture in the corner and waited for the right moment to reveal myself.

 

Chloe came up and went over to the broken edge of the floor with a perfect vantage point over the crowd and band.

 

I had to stifle my snort when Chloe started acting like a total goofball, thinking she was alone.

 

Then I heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs and knew shit was about to go down.

 

I quickly whispered under my breath, "Okay Max, it's show time. You're probably about to see some things I've kept hidden from you so try not to freak out."

 

I took this opportunity to see if I still had the ability to rewind time and raised my hand. Thankfully, I could feel the familiar sensation of the stands of time within my fingertips. Good. It would've been a nightmare if I had to endure this timeline without my powers.

 

Max spoke up, a little louder than I expected which made me jump. "Uh... Max, what the hell was that?"

 

I raised an eyebrow in the darkness and now that the skeevy guys were walking past us I had to respond with my inside voice. "You can feel it? Huh. Well, that my young padawan is the feeling of time itself weaving between our fingers. What kind of time traveller would I be without the power over, you know, time? All I need to do is grab hold of it and pull, then the timeline plays out in reverse."

 

Max was silent for a moment before replying incredulously. "So... you can actually turn back time? Wowsers."

 

I snorted quietly to myself. "Yeah. I call it the Rewind. Though I haven't used it before in a situation like this, so just as a fore-warning, I don't know how it'll affect you, or us."

 

After that, I turned my attention on the douchebags who had just interrupted Chloe's Firewalk experience.

 

When their conversation quickly became heated and they started backing Chloe into a corner, Max interrupted again. "Aren't we, you, going to do something? Don't let them hurt her!"

 

I frowned as one of them smashed a beer bottle and started waving it around. "Of-course we are. But I'm only going by what future Chloe told me about this event, so I need to see it for myself first before getting involved. Besides, I don't think she'll really need us. Keep watching."

 

I gritted my teeth in anger when one of them grabbed Chloe's arm and hoped the cavalry would arrive on time.

 

Luckily, it did. Right as the guy was about to shank her with his broken beer bottle, a voice shouted from the staircase we came from, just around the corner out of sight. It was enough of a distraction for Chloe to escape, and she ran past us, down the stairs with her saviour as the two guys followed in hot pursuit.

 

Once they'd passed us, I muttered under my breath and extended my arm, preparing to rewind. "See, she didn't need us. But we're going to get involved anyway, to make this one hell of a surprise reunion. Are you ready?"

 

Max responded with a simple, "Ready."

 

I nodded to myself, then grabbed hold of time beneath my fingers and pulled.

 

Immediately, there was a flare of pain in the back of my skull so unexpectedly strong that I almost blacked out. The only comparison I have for it is when I froze time trying to save Kate in the first timeline, except like ten times worse. This is what happened whenever I tried to rewind while holding onto another person, and I'd hoped the fact that Max and I was inhabiting the same body wouldn't be enough to trigger it. Unfortunately I was wrong. However, the last time I'd tried to take a person back with me was many, many timelines ago; the pain was so excruciating at the time that I never bothered attempting it again, but since then my endurance levels have grown exponentially. So beyond the initial stab of pain that almost knocked me out, I managed to push through it with relative ease and the world soon began crawling backwards.

 

I let my focus drop slightly so that I could think again, hoping Max was still there. "Hey Max, are you still with me?"

 

No response.

 

I tried again. "Come on, talk to me Max. Don't tell me that I just erased you from existence."

 

Still nothing.

 

I was about to stop rewinding when I felt another jab of pain lance through my head. But this was different, more like the few times when Max used her emotional thoughts to smack the inside of my skull after I pissed her off by saying something stupid.

 

Finally, I heard her. Like a whisper carried by the wind. If the world wasn't completely silent I would've missed it. "...I'm still here. Feels like I got thrown into a wood chipper though."

 

I winced at that, but kept rewinding now that I knew she came along for the ride, going slightly further than when the skeevy guys walked up the stairs before dropping my hand.

 

I instantly whispered to myself in concern. "Are you okay, Max?"

 

She was silent for a few seconds before I heard a groan inside my head. "Ugh. I'm recovering, let's leave it at that. Is rewinding always so... painful?"

 

I shook my head. "No. I've never been able to rewind while holding onto another person before because it hurts too much, like there was a wall blocking me from doing so. I'd hoped you wouldn't count towards that, but I'm much stronger than I was the last time I tried that and managed to break through. There was no pain afterward, so hopefully next time it won't be a problem."

 

She grunted again. "Can't say I'm looking forward to a next time..."

 

I rolled my eyes as the skeevy douchebags walked past us again and used my thoughts to reply. "It'll be fine. But i'm not sure how smoothly this intervention is gonna go, so I apologize in advance for what you might be about to see. Please stay quiet and let me concentrate now, and once this is over I'll let you take control so you can enjoy the rest of the night."

 

Thankfully she decided not to question me, understanding the situation we were about to be in.

 

I watched and waited for the assholes' conversation with Chloe to become heated again.

 

As soon as they started backing her into the corner and threatening her, I vaulted smoothly over the furniture we were hidden behind and put my game face on.

 

Thanks to future Chloe, I already knew their names and I called out to them from the shadows with barely contained calmness, "Sheldon Pike, Peter Gillespie, leave her alone and you won't get hurt."

 

The one closest to her, Sheldon, jumped in surprise and spun around to face the direction my voice came from. "What the- Who's there?!"

 

I took a step forward, just beyond the shadows so that they could see my silhouette. "Do as I say, and leave her alone. I won't tell you again."

 

Sheldon looked me up and down before scoffing. "How old are you, 14? Get the fuck outta here kid, this doesn't concern you."

 

I flipped my hood down so he could see my face, then shot him a deadly glare. If looks could kill, he'd be a puddle of meat and bones right now. "This 14 year old is going to kick your ass if you so much as lay a finger on her."

 

The other guy, Peter, laughed. "I think she's calling you out, dude."

 

Sheldon frowned at that, and held up a finger, waving it at me tauntingly before turning back to Chloe and slowly stretching his arm out towards her.

 

I clenched my fist in anger and snapped at him. "Do it and I'll break your fucking finger."

 

Chloe had been staring at my display of nonchalance with a look of awe and confusion up to this point, so when Sheldon's finger prodded her hard in the chest, she unexpectedly stumbled back and almost slipped off the wooden beam she was precariously balancing on.

 

That was enough for me to see red. "Don't say I didn't warn you, asshole."

 

In one swift movement, I charged towards him. Sheldon tried to swing the beer bottle in his other hand wildly in my direction but I dived under his arm, before using my momentum to spring up and kneeing him as hard as I could in the balls. He fell to the ground clutching his groin. Now that he was momentarily stunned by the pain, and before he could even register what I was doing, I gripped his wrist with one hand before grabbing the finger that he used to prod Chloe with, then true to my word I yanked it back with as much force as I could muster. Admittedly, I relished the sound his finger made as it broke, and the scream of agony that erupted from his drunken mouth, a little too much.

 

Now that he was sat there clutching his broken finger instead of his groin, I figured he was sufficiently incapacitated for the moment and looked up, realizing I was face to face with Chloe, who had finally recognized who I was up close.

 

Chloe's mouth hit the floor as she stared at me in disbelief. "Max?!"

 

I grinned at her. "Fancy seeing you here, Chloe. You know, I did warn him. Nobody touches my Captain."

 

Unfortunately, that conversational distraction was enough of an opening for Peter to decide he wanted to get involved and he grabbed me from behind, squeezing and lifting me into the air, threatening to throw me down into the mosh pit below for what I did to Sheldon. There's no way I could risk rewinding with him holding onto me, even if it might be possible to push through that painful barrier again, but thankfully Chloe came to my rescue. In the blink of an eye, she swiped at his head with her own empty beer bottle. It didn't smash, but the force of the blow was enough for him to release me and stagger away holding his head where the bottle had impacted.

 

I coughed and turned back to Chloe. "Thanks for that."

 

She shrugged. "Nobody touches my First Mate either."

 

I quickly glanced around to take stock of the situation.

 

Peter was still shaking the stars out of his eyes, while Sheldon smashed his beer bottle against a wooden pillar and slowly got back to his feet with a look of absolute fury on his face.

 

We were both still cornered with them blocking our escape and now we'd lost the element of surprise.

 

Sheldon stepped forward with his uninjured hand holding the broken beer bottle, aiming directly at me, "You're gonna die for that, you bitch!"

 

I was about to rewind since I didn't want to risk experiencing my first time at being stabbed just yet or god forbid, having to watch Chloe get stabbed instead as I felt her starting to edge in-front of me, when a shout finally came from the staircase across the room. "Hey assholes!"

 

I turned to look in the direction the voice came from and froze.

 

There stood Rachel Amber in the flesh, wearing her bad-ass punk rocker outfit, just like future Chloe had said she would. Better late than never, I suppose.

 

Chloe's jaw dropped for the second time tonight. "Rachel?!"

 

Rachel took in the scene with a swift look around the room and now that the two skeevy douchebags were temporarily distracted by her arrival, she waved us towards her. "Come on!"

 

We didn't need telling twice. I quickly shook off my doe-eyed look, then Chloe and I scrambled through the gap between Sheldon and Peter before they could grab us, sprinting back down the stairs with Rachel. They quickly gave chase though, and followed us down. Luckily, Frank noticed what was happening and stepped in, allowing all three of us to give them the middle finger before we rounded the corner and slipped into the next room, pushing through the crowd towards the front of the stage, where we immediately began thrashing to Firewalk without a care in the world.

 

Max had stayed silent for that whole confrontation, partly no doubt because she was probably terrified of how casually and viscously I'd decided to break Sheldon's finger.

 

I couldn't risk speaking to her out loud in-front of Chloe and Rachel without looking like I was crazy, so I directed my thoughts to her instead. "Max, I'm sorry for what you just saw. I know we'll need to talk about, well, everything. But for now, just enjoy the rest of the night. Those guys won't be an issue anymore. The floor is yours. Have fun thrashing to Firewalk and reuniting with Chloe, you've earned it."

 

Then I relaxed and allowed her to sit back in the driver's seat, not saying a word for the rest of the night.

 

Thanks to all the timelines I'd gone through trying to save Chloe, I knew my overprotectiveness was dialed up to 11. I had spent much of the boredom between the important timeline events by learning self-defense techniques and I was pretty capable at kicking ass in a straight fight without relying on my rewind if I needed to. I'd done much worse than a single broken finger, but Max didn't have to know that. Not yet, anyway. Hopefully I wouldn't need to do anything like that again. I just needed to ensure that I integrated Max into Chloe's first meeting with Rachel, no matter what, and it's not like I could let those assholes hurt Chloe. So, a broken finger will have to suffice.

 

After several hours of dancing the night away with Chloe and Rachel, not to mention drinking, which surprisingly Max also tried to partake in – probably as another consequence of me breaking Sheldon's finger, if I had to guess – the three of us stumbled back outside and began the journey back home.

 

Halfway down the tracks, Rachel said goodbye and split off to go back to her house which was located in the richer side of town, while Chloe dragged us back to her house, insistent that we sleep in her room for the night. We were too drunk for any serious conversation to happen right now, so the explanation of what the actual fuck we were doing back in Arcadia Bay and why we were at a Firewalk concert would have to wait until morning.

 

Well, when I say we were too drunk, really I just meant Max. It seems the drunken buzz didn't affect me, so the perception of my senses through Max were still fully functional, even if she was pretty much wasted and could barely stand, which was an interesting side-note of our joint collaboration.

 

The sight of two drunken teenagers trying to climb onto the roof of Chloe's house would've had anyone breaking out in a fit of laughter, if anyone were to see us, besides myself, that is. Honestly, by the time we'd managed to crawl through Chloe's bedroom window and collapsed onto her bed, it was a miracle David didn't hear us and come barging through the door or something since I knew he was also staying the night.

 

Max and Chloe, despite initially facing in opposite directions, in all of their drunken exhaustion, they still ended up naturally gravitating towards each other. Just like we did when we slept in the same bed as kids. They both fell asleep within minutes, safe and content in each other's arms. Firewalk was a success, Max and Chloe are reunited once more, and tomorrow is a new day... for all of us.

Notes:

Unfortunately, this is the end of my backlog for this fic. The next chapter is half-finished but I haven't gotten around to completing it yet, I've been a little too distracted over the past couple of weeks with questioning my identity and stuff (on top of the usual crap). The next chapter might be out next week, maybe, but as I said before, I'm not sticking to a weekly schedule from here on out so really it'll come when it comes. I'll see you all whenever that is! :)

Chapter 6: One Hangover Cure With A Side Of Emotional Whiplash

Summary:

Young Max experiences her first hangover.

Future Max saves the day by making breakfast.

The Maxes put David in his place.

Chloe just can't resist keeping her mouth shut.

Notes:

Hey guys, I'm back! Not completely, though. Consider it more of a slow-roll to ease myself back into things, starting with finally finishing this half-finished chapter for ya'll. I have nothing else written beyond this just yet, so new chapters for this (and my other fics) will be few-and-far-between, but they will come. Just be patient with me, like always. I'm sure my old readers are used to this concept by now. :P

Enjoy! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 6: One Hangover Cure With A Side Of Emotional Whiplash

 

When Max woke up, the sun had barely started peaking over the horizon. She was unfortunately too hungover to truly appreciate the way Chloe was currently curled into her, with her head buried into the crook of Max's neck and one arm stretched across her stomach. I wasn't though. Max however, was desperate for a pee and quickly managed to wriggle her way out of Chloe's grasp without waking her up before shuffling like a zombie over to the door and across the hall into the bathroom.

 

While she was mid-way through doing her business, I couldn't resist teasing her. "Good morning, Max. How's the hangover?"

 

Max must've been so out of it that she forgot I existed, because she almost fell off the toilet in surprise upon hearing my voice in her head. After using the wall to balance herself, she groaned out, Ugh, don't be so loud!"

 

I snickered to myself and tried to respond quieter. "It's not my fault you decided to get drunk last night. Was that your first time?"

 

She hissed at the sound of my voice. "Actually it was your fault. And yes it was also my first time, unless you count those wine-tasting sessions we used to have with Chloe."

 

I'd briefly forgotten about my actions last night and mentally winced. "Shit. I'm sorry. Um, just so you know, I can't feel the hangover you currently have, and it was the same when you were drunk. The sensations I have through you are perfectly normal right now, so it seems only the one who's in the driver's seat can be affected by things, if that makes sense? Anyway, my point is, I know how to handle a hangover, unlike you, so we can switch to give you a break, if you want."

 

Max finished washing her hands and stared at our reflection in the mirror before muttering, "Damn, we look like crap. I'm never drinking alcohol ever again. I'll gladly let you deal with this instead."

 

Taking that as my cue, I slowly pushed my consciousness outward into the rest of her body until we'd swapped places. As soon as I gained control of her body, I had to force down the urge to vomit when the slight nausea from slipping into the driver's seat combined with the effects of Max's drunken hangover hit me like a ton of bricks.

 

Confident I wasn't going to be sick, I shambled over to the cabinets to see if they had anything to relieve the headache that was threatening to split my head open.

 

It didn't help when Max's disembodied voice echoed loudly on the insides of my skull. "Woah, you were right. I don't feel drunk any-more. Everything's clear now. This is really... weird. Oh well, enjoy the hangover!"

 

I grunted in response and finally found something for the headache, quickly taking a couple of pills before replacing the bottle and leaving the bathroom.

 

didn't want anyone to wake up from the sound of me talking to myself, so after quickly checking the time on my phone, I headed downstairs while talking to Max with my inside voice instead. "We have a little while before the others are supposed to wake up, I think. Since food will help with the hangover, why don't we go make breakfast for everyone? Chloe's probably gonna need it."

 

Max responded with, "Sure. What are we making?"

 

I snorted to myself while opening the fridge. "Eggs and bacon, of-course. That way we have an excuse to wake Chloe up with Joyce's favourite phrase for once. And we both know she can't resist devouring the bacon."

 

I heard a faint giggle in the back of my head. "Something something hungry like the wolf."

 

I smiled at that as I started gathering up enough of the ingredients to feed everyone in the house. "You know, that's one thing that didn't change in the future. She'll always be hungry like the wolf."

 

After that, I focused on the task of actually cooking the eggs and bacon, all while Max made sarcastic comments about how I was doing it wrong. I have an extra four years of experience over that little shit. I can make eggs and bacon just fine, damn it!

 

We managed to get about half-way through when there was sound of movement upstairs. Someone must've heard the noise we were making, or smelt the bacon. Either way, whoever it was, were slowly made their way down the stairs.

 

We were obscured from view by part of the kitchen wall that connected to the hallway, so we didn't know who it was until a stern voice grumbled out in the hallway. "I didn't think you even knew how to cook, Chloe."

 

David stepped through into the kitchen and finally saw us cooking, and not Chloe. His eyes immediately narrowed. "Oh. And who the hell are you?"

 

Max spoke up in the back of my head, clearly worried. "Okay, I really don't like this guy. Try not to piss him off."

 

I rolled my eyes at that. "I know how to handle David. At-least, the future version of him. I was hoping to talk to him at some point anyway, to see how much of a dick he is. No time like the present, I suppose."

 

Then I walked away from the island counter and past David, pointedly ignoring him as I checked the stove.

 

David frowned when I didn't answer him. "Excuse me missy, I asked who you are."

 

Satisfied that the food was cooking along nicely, I turned to face david and leaned back against the countertop with my arms crossed before speaking, my voice laced with determination and a slight hint of bitterness. "I don't know if Joyce or Chloe have ever mentioned me to you, but my name is Max Caulfield. THE Max Caulfield. Childhood best friend of Chloe that got forced to move up to Seattle after her dad died."

 

David's brow furrowed slightly. "Hmm. I think I've heard your name a couple of times. But what are you doing here? Joyce didn't tell me there was someone else staying over."

 

I sighed and moved to sit back at the dining table, gesturing for David to do the same. "I ran away from home in Seattle so I could come back here to be with Chloe again. It was kind of last minute but Joyce already knows and said I was welcome to stay."

 

David folded his arms on the table. "Is that so? You look even younger than Chloe. I imagine your parents wouldn't be too happy with this."

 

I scoffed. "Oh they aren't. But I couldn't give a single fuck what they think."

 

David frowned. "Language, missy."

 

I rolled my eyes at him. "Listen, David. Yes, I know who you are. I also know the reputation you have when it comes to Chloe. She hates you, and from what I know about you, I can't say I blame her. You see, my parents, or my mother specifically, is a lot like you. My mother pulled me apart from Chloe because she wanted me all to herself, so that she could control my every move. I didn't realize this at the time, but now that I know the truth, I resent her with every fiber of my being for that."

 

Max loudly interjected. "You've got that fuckin' right."

 

David opened his mouth to speak but I held up my hand to cut him off. "Before you say anything, let me finish, please. You have to understand, Chloe is still in the process of mourning her father, who was completely different to you. He was kind and easy-going, which is why she hates you so much. She sees you as a stranger that's intruding on her already messed up life and you act like an authority figure who's just trying to control her, so she lashes out and rebels all the time. What she really needs is people to support her and listen to her without judgement instead. Which is exactly what I plan to do now that I'm here."

 

David was silent for a moment before he just said, "...I see."

 

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't think you do, David. I know Chloe even better than she knows herself. You just think she needs a firm hand to make sure she behaves or whatever, but trying to push her will only make her shove back twice as hard against anything you do or say to her. I know you were in the army, and that's probably why you are the way you are, but you can't treat Chloe like that and I damn well won't let you. So if you really care about Joyce, and actually want to have a chance at forming a relationship with Chloe, then you'll have to adapt and try to be more understanding to her admittedly shitty situation."

 

David's shoulders slumped as he muttered, "I know... it's just, after the things I saw and did during my time in the army... it's really hard to let my guard down. I can't help it."

 

I exhaled slowly. "PTSD, right? Believe me, I understand. Lets just say I'm a lot more... mature than I look."

 

David looked up and stared into my eyes. "Is that why I can smell alcohol? You've been drinking."

 

I shrugged. "Why do you think I was down here making breakfast? This hangover is a bitch."

 

Max spoke up quietly. "I'm the one who was drinking last night, not you. But... you're not lying, are you?"

 

I pointedly ignored her probing and focused on David, who surprisingly snorted at my comment before his brow furrowed again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

 

I shook my head. "No." After a few seconds of silence, I glanced up at him again and continued. "But in the interest of supporting Chloe, I'm going to do something that she can't – be honest and trust you. Just... try to be understanding, like I said."

 

David raised his eyebrows. "Okay. I'm listening."

 

I crossed my arms and took a deep breath. "Chloe snuck out to a Firewalk concert at the Old Mill last night. I had a feeling she would, and decided to follow her so that I could run into her there for a surprise reunion. As you can see, it worked. I know we're both underage, and yes, we were both drinking, and I know it was dangerous, but we're teenagers. Rebelling against the rules to blow off steam is a natural part of growing up, especially when you've had a tough childhood like Chloe and me. At-least now that I'm around, she doesn't need to do it alone, and I would NEVER let anything bad happen to her."

 

David pinched the bridge of his nose. "Thank you for coming clean. Since you've acknowledged that it was wrong, I'll skip the lecture and just say I was a lot like that growing up. It's part of the reason why I try to put my foot down. I don't want to see her get hurt."

 

I nodded. "The thing is, you can't really stop her. If she wants to do something badly enough, she will find a way. Chloe is just incredibly pig-headed like that. Which is why putting your foot down just makes her rebel even more. So as stupid as it sounds, you've got to give her space to do what she needs to do, and trust that if anything does go wrong then she'll learn from her mistake and won't do it again."

 

Then I snorted a few seconds later. "Who am I kidding, this is Chloe we're talking about, of-course she'd do it again."

 

I felt a vibration echo through my skull which was probably Max laughing her head off.

 

David's mouth twitched into the beginning of a smile. "She's definitely stubborn, that's for sure."

 

I hummed in agreement and got up to check the stove again. "Breakfast is almost ready. Would you mind waking up Joyce for me?"

 

He grunted affirmatively and made his way back upstairs.

 

When they both returned a few minutes later, I was in the middle of plating it all out.

 

Joyce stood in the kitchen entrance with a hand on her hip. "You didn't have to do this, Max. I'm perfectly capable of making breakfast."

 

I smirked at her. "I know you are, Joyce. But you cooked for me yesterday when you didn't need to, so I'm just returning the favor, even if it's not as good as your cooking."

 

Joyce shook her head in amusement. "Well it smells wonderful, hon. Thank you."

 

She helped me carry all the plates over to the dining table before raising an eyebrow. "So, who wants to wake up the bacon thief?"

 

I giggled. "I got this, Joyce."

 

Then I put on my best southern accent and shouted up the stairs. "Chloe! Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!"

 

I returned to the table and sat down just in time to hear heavy footsteps thudding around upstairs as Chloe scrambled out of bed.

 

A few seconds later, she raced down the stairs and swung around into the hallway, freezing up at the sight of me.

 

It took her a moment to get her mouth working. "Holy shit, last night wasn't a dream."

 

I sat there with my arms crossed and smirked at her with a smug expression. "No, it wasn't. I distinctly remember saving you from getting your ass kicked."

 

David bristled across the table. "Wait, what?!"

 

I put a hand out to placate him. "It's fine. I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to her."

 

He sighed and forced himself to relax again.

 

Chloe took a few steps towards the table, glancing around at all of us apprehensively. "How are you even here, Max?"

 

I rolled my eyes at her question and dodged it. "Chloe, are you going to sit down and eat the breakfast I made for you or not?"

 

She finally walked the rest of the way and slowly lowered herself into the chair furthest from David, pointedly ignoring him. "You made this... for me?"

 

I snorted. "Well, not exactly. Let me put it this way – You can stop hiding your hangover. You weren't the only one drinking last night. Now eat."

 

Chloe looked between Joyce and David, confused. "Why aren't you two reading me the riot act?"

 

They both glanced at each other, then at me.

 

I smiled at Chloe. "Because I talked some sense into them. Or did you forget about my powers of best friendship?"

 

She raised her eyebrows for a moment before shrugging and diving into her plate of eggs and bacon, wolfing down most of the latter first.

 

Joyce cautiously spoke up. "So, Chloe, did you two have fun last night?"

 

Chloe froze and eventually replied, "...Yeah?" As if she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

Joyce hummed. "Good. Because you missed the damn bus again."

 

Chloe groaned. "Okay, it's not my fault that the school bus schedules are complete bullshit. They're almost always early or late, they never come when they're supposed to."

 

Joyce shrugged. "Well, either way, David's taking you to school today." And there goes the other shoe.

 

Chloe instantly scoffed. "Like fuck he is."

 

Before Joyce could respond, David spoke up. "Chloe, If it makes you feel better, I'm sure Max wouldn't mind tagging along. Right, Max?"

 

I blinked for a moment in surprise, not expecting David to be the one who extends an olive branch first. "Uh... sure. I was about to suggest the same thing."

 

Chloe was already too worked up to just accept it. "Fuck that! It's bad enough you give me shit but I'm not letting you do the same thing to Max!"

 

I glared at her. "Chloe Elizabeth Price!"

 

Chloe's head whipped around to face me, stunned that I dared invoke her middle name.

 

I softened my gaze and reached across the table to put a hand over one of hers. "Trust me, Chloe. I'll be fine. We both will. Okay?"

 

Chloe stared down at our touching hands for a moment before muttering, "I still hate this."

 

I made eye contact with her and nodded in understanding. "I know you do. But you're not alone now, and I am never leaving you again. Do you hear me, Chloe? NEVER."

 

A pained expression flickered across her face for a moment before she pulled her hand away and bitterly retorted, "That's exactly what you said last time, Max."

 

I flinched and stumbled to my feet. It felt like she'd just physically slapped me. After I'd gotten so used to the resentment of future Chloe over my own five years of abandonment, I stupidly thought that this younger version of her wouldn't hold a grudge yet and had let my guard down. I was clearly wrong, and that realization completely blindsided me. Combined with a painful thud in the back of my head which was presumably from Max's own surprised reaction after being strangely silent ever since Chloe had come downstairs, and it was enough to make me burst into tears.

 

I quickly rushed down the hall and back up the stairs, ignoring Chloe as she called after me. Only once I entered Chloe's room did I allow myself to fully break down, curling up into a little ball on the floor as the floodgates of the bottled up emotions from countless timelines finally came crashing down.

 

The next minute was a blur, to say the least. I was only vaguely aware of Chloe stood frozen in the doorway, as she watched me cry on her bedroom floor with no idea what to do. I was so overwhelmed by my feelings of guilt and grief that I didn't even register the fact that Max had forcefully pushed her way back into her body to take control of the situation and give me time to recover in peace until the out-of-body sensation hit me and the sobbing abruptly stopped.

 

Chloe must've noticed the sudden change in behaviour because she finally found her voice. "...Max? Are you okay?"

 

Max's head snapped up and she glared at Chloe so harshly that she recoiled, subconsciously stepping backwards out of her own room. "Do I fucking look okay to you, Chloe? You don't seem to understand that you weren't the only one who struggled after William died. You know he was just as much a father to me as he was to you."

 

Chloe's automatic retort fired out of her mouth before she could stop it. "Then why the fuck did you abandon me?"

 

Max didn't even flinch, if anything that just make her even angrier as she dragged herself back to her feet and shouted at Chloe. "I didn't abandon you!"

 

The momentary shock of Max raising her voice vanished and Chloe decided to match it. "Yes you did, Max! Not once did you try to call me, and every text you sent took longer than the last until you just stopped completely! You clearly never gave a shit about me and must've been glad to finally move on, huh?"

 

Before Chloe could even blink, Max had closed the distance between them and snarled. "Shut the fuck up and listen to me for once, Chloe!" Then all her anger and frustration dissipated in an instant, as she grabbed a fistful of Chloe's shirt in desperation. "I know you're hurting, but not everything is about you. I would never abandon you, Chloe. You've always been the most important person in my entire world. Losing William and then losing you after I moved to Seattle... it was just too much. It broke me."

 

I was too stunned by Max actually standing up to Chloe, for both of us, to voice my agreement on that.

 

Chloe just shook her head. "Then why didn't you keep in contact with me? I don't understand. You claim to care but your lack of actions makes it hard to believe."

 

Max looked into her eyes and spoke gently. "You want proof? Roll up my left sleeve."

 

Chloe hesitantly reached for the arm that Max was holding out and began rolling up the sleeve of the hoodie she was still wearing from yesterday.

 

Chloe didn't have to go far before her breath hitched as she saw the small collection of scars on Max's forearm – a couple of them were only a few days old – and I myself had completely forgotten that around this time was the beginning of our cutting phase. Hopefully, dragging Max to Arcadia Bay like this is enough for her to not continue with it, because I had no such luck in my timeline and had kept at it for quite a while... It was a good thing they'd all mostly healed by the time I moved into the Blackwell dorms.

 

Chloe hissed and pulled the hoodie sleeve back down. "Fuck... I'm so sorry, Max. I didnt-"

 

Max cut her off by covering Chloe's mouth with her hand. "Don't you dare apologize. You have every right to be angry. I wasn't there when you needed me. When I moved to Seattle, I was grieving for William just like you, but I was also scared and way out of my depth in a big city like Seattle without you there to keep my anxiety under control. At first, I admit the lack of contact was my fault, since my anxiety returned with a vengeance. I thought you would hate me for leaving you at such an important time so it got harder and harder to find the courage to send a text, never-mind call you up. But the truth is, you're angry at the wrong person. I didn't move to specifically fuck you over, Chloe... It's my mother who did that."

 

Chloe absorbed what she'd said for a moment before frowning. "...What do you mean?"

 

Max sighed. "You know that we moved to Seattle because my dad got a better job up there, right? Well that was true, but I was too young and naive to look beyond it and the real reason only became clear after we'd already moved." She took a deep breath and clenched her fists before continuing, "The truth is, my mother organized the move to Seattle on purpose to split us apart. She wanted me all to herself and my friendship with you kept getting in the way, so she decided to move us into an entirely different state and tried her hardest to make sure we never saw or spoke to each other again."

 

Chloe's jaw dropped and her voice cracked from shock. "So the reason you stopped contacting me is because your mother wouldn't let you? What the fuck!"

 

Max nodded furiously. "That's why I'm here now. I... desperately wanted to see you, anxiety be damned. But for the hundredth time my mother said no, and I'd had enough of her controlling every move of my depressed and lonely life, so I ran away to come back here. To you." Then she grabbed Chloe's hands before lacing her voice with determination and continuing, "William really was like a second father to me, so you should know I'm deadly serious when I say this; Chloe Elizabeth Price, I swear on William's grave that I will never leave your side again. I may only be 14 but I won't let that controlling bitch split us apart this time, do you hear me?"

 

Chloe was silent for a while before she answered, "I'd like to believe you, Max... but it's gonna be hard. You know how stubborn I can get, and I spent the last year and a half convincing myself that you'd ditched me. It'll take a while for the truth to really sink in, you know? But starting now, that's all in the past. So..." She gestured to Max's left arm and growled, "If you ever think about doing that again you better tell me, so I can kick your fuckin' ass all the way from here to the lighthouse and then throw you off the damn cliff myself. Understood, Caulfield?"

 

I'd managed to pull myself back together enough to mentally snort at Chloe's over-protectiveness poking out.

 

Max winced and mumbled, "...Yeah. And I'm sorry you had to see that, I... kinda got lost in the moment. Please don't tell Joyce."

 

Chloe groaned. "Hey, if I can't apologize then neither can you so stop it! There's no way in hell you'd have been able to keep it hidden from me for long, anyway. But we're in agreement about Joyce... we don't need her to worry, 'cause that's my job now, apparently."

 

Max shuffled uncomfortably for a moment but she was saved from speaking by the sound of Joyce calling from downstairs. "Since I don't hear you girls shouting at each other now, you should get back down here before your breakfast goes cold!"

 

Chloe sighed and pointed at the stairs. "After you."

 

Max shook her head. "You go, I need to pee first. I'll be down in a second."

 

She waited for Chloe to head back downstairs, then wandered into the bathroom and closed the door before speaking to her reflection in the mirror. "Hey. Are you okay?"

 

I was silent for a few seconds while I considered my answer. "Not really. Better than I was five minutes ago though, so... thanks for the save, I guess?"

 

Max shrugged. "No problem. I wasn't actually sure if I could take control without you 'allowing' me to, but it seems I can if you're, um, vulnerable like that. And I assume it works both ways." She smiled into the mirror before continuing, "So. Do you want to tell me why you turned into a puddle on the floor back there? If anything I expected that from me, not you."

 

I wasn't really interested in opening up. "I thought you needed to pee?"

 

Max rolled her eyes. "Nice deflection. No, I don't... I only came in here to check on you, but if you don't want to talk about it, then-"

 

I reluctantly cut her off. "Not now, but later. I promise. If everything goes to plan, I'll be coming clean about a lot of stuff today, so can you just wait a little longer?"

 

Max squinted at her reflection for a moment before huffing. "Okay, fine. I'll hold you to that!"

 

I decided to question her this time. "Since you asked me, now it's my turn. Would you care to share why you were so silent at the dining table before?"

 

Max absent-mindedly scratched at her left wrist while she spoke. "Well, I kinda just got a little overwhelmed at seeing Chloe again without the feeling of being hungover, and then I was focused on watching how she interacted with Joyce and that other guy, David. That's all. Now we better get back downstairs to make sure Chloe hasn't started world war three."

 

I grimaced to myself. "Yeah. knowing her, she's probably caused a nuclear winter already and doomed humanity."

 

So imagine my surprise when we went downstairs and saw Chloe sitting silently at the dining table with Joyce and David as she finished off her breakfast. There was no arguing, or stink-eyes being thrown. Just Chloe eating. It was such a bizarre sight.

 

Once Max sat back in her seat though, Joyce immediately turned to her with a concerned frown. "Are you alright, Max? I hope all those tears didn't hurt your youthful eyes."

 

Max blinked at her in confusion for a moment before she understood what Joyce was talking about. "Oh. I'm okay, Joyce. And uh... don't worry, my eyes are still young, for now."

 

Joyce nodded and casually got up to wash hers and David's plates.

 

Chloe frowned at Max, completely lost. "Well, I'm just going to ignore how weird that all sounded."

 

I winced internally at how terrible Joyce was at being cryptic and was glad that she didn't plan on pressing further, because that'd be one hell of an awkward conversation to have before it was time to really come clean about everything...

 

Eventually, Max – the slowpoke that she is (and yes, I just dissed myself too) – had finally finished eating the rest of her own breakfast, so now there was no way for Chloe to delay the inevitable. A few minutes later, we both followed David outside and Max awkwardly climbed into the backseat of his muscle car, along with a very unhappy Chloe.

Notes:

To preserve my original author's note I posted in this chapter about my hiatus, I'll mention it here so that the comments from before don't look out of place.

So basically I went on hiatus cos I felt like shit (nothing new there) but then my dog, who was my best friend in the entire fuckin' world, also had to get put down. To say I was in no shape to write after that is an understatement. I still aren't really... oh well, lets just see how things go, shall we?

 

This chapter's dedicated to you, Buster. I'll see you on the other side, old friend. <3

Chapter 7: A Stalker's Worst Nightmare

Summary:

Chloe gets ambushed with a hella awkward conversation during David's torturous drive to BlackHell Academy.

Young Max comes face to face with the one person that she was ever willing to be violent towards.

The Maxes confront said person who reveals something shocking.

Future Max decides to deliver the beat-down herself.

Notes:

Hey ya'll, sorry again for the delays! My writing is still going at a crawl, but at-least it's going. Something, something, slow and steady wins the race, right?

Nothing else for me to say here, except Happy Pride Month!

Enjoy! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 7: A Stalker's Worst Nightmare

 

We'd only been driving for a couple of minutes and the awkward silence was already suffocating. If Max had a knife on her, she'd probably be able to cut the tension with it, but alas we were knifeless, so it was eventually David's voice that shattered it.

 

He cleared his throat and kept his eyes fixed on the road as he said, "So, Chloe-"

 

She didn't even give him a chance to say anything else before cutting him off with an annoyed huff. "Can't we just sit here and stay quiet all the way to BlackHell? Being in this shitty car of yours is torture enough already."

 

David sighed to himself and shot a glance at her through the rearview mirror. "Sure, but before we do that I have a question for you, and I want you to answer it truthfully. In other words, for once don't just blurt out whatever your knee-jerk reaction is. I'll even let you stay silent for the whole drive if you want, so long as you actually think about it and give me your honest answer by the time we arrive at Blackwell. Okay?"

 

Chloe groaned at that but eventually agreed. "Ugh, whatever. Ask your damn question already so we can get this over and done with."

 

Max almost jumped out of her skin when she suddenly felt Chloe's hand discreetly finding its way into her own, where it was resting idly on the seat between them. She almost panicked and pulled away, but Chloe obviously felt like she needed the support, so she forced her hand to stay put.

 

And its a good thing she did too, because David's question caused Chloe's grip to tighten in an instant as he rather bluntly asked, "Why do you hate me so much?"

 

Of-course, I knew that was one hell of a loaded question, so it was no surprise when Chloe wasn't able to hold in her knee-jerk reaction and immediately spat back at him, her voice dripping with venom. "Because you're a fuckin' asshole, and-"

 

That was as far as she got until Max apparently took a page out of my book by slamming her free hand over Chloe's mouth to shut her up, before whispering into her ear, "That's not helping, Chloe. You might think he's an asshole but it's not the real reason you hate him. I know you well enough to know that's just your anger talking, so please just think about it first like he asked and give him a proper answer for a change. It might do you both some good if he finally understands why you actually have a problem with him."

 

Chloe glared harshly at her for a few long seconds before exaggeratedly rolling her eyes and grumbling out something that sounded like a muffled, "Fine!"

 

Max removed the hand from Chloe's mouth, which allowed her to turn and glare out of the window instead, though her hold on Max's hand remained vice-like for the next few minutes, something that she subconsciously attempted to soothe by gently stroking a thumb over the back of Chloe's hand, without even realizing that she was doing it.

 

After what felt like an eternity, Chloe decided to pull her head away from the window and sat up with a sigh, which was enough to draw David's attention.

 

The simple answer Chloe came up with should've been obvious even to David, but it still made him flinch. "You are not my dad, and you never fucking ever will be, no matter how hard you try to replace him with your stupid military bullshit. The sooner you accept that, that sooner you can fuck off out of my life. I don't want you in it, and I never have."

 

David just shook his head in response and carefully pulled over to the side of the road before turning around to face us both. "Chloe, it was never my intention to replace your father, and I'm sorry that you think that's what I'm trying to do. I mean, yeah I would like to become a father-figure to you, and in the future perhaps even a step-father because I really do love your mother very much, but it would be impossible for me to take the place of your real father." Then he glanced at Max for a moment before scratching at his moustache and adding, "Actually, if it wasn't for Max here talking some sense into me, I'll admit that my response might've been something stupid about you having had enough of a vacation from having a father-figure-" Then he held up his hand to pre-emptively stop whatever Chloe's scathing reply might've been to that so he could explain further.

 

Meanwhile, I winced internally, since Chloe had once told me how this car ride originally went down so I knew just how spot on that bullshit phrase was. However, I tried not to voice my thoughts about it in-case it prompted Max to say something, because fuck knows I really wanted to myself and from the disbelief running through Max's head so did she, but doing so would just make things worse for everyone right now.

 

Tuning back into the conversation, I managed to catch the tail-end of David's explanation. "And like I said, if it wasn't for Max, I wouldn't even know just how different I am to your real father. Because I don't know if you've noticed but your mother doesn't really like talking about him, and obviously you wouldn't want to bring it up with me either, which I totally understand. Believe it or not, I've lost people too. So I never knew the kind of man your father was until this morning when Max told me, and I see now that I could never even hope to be like him; I'm simply way too uptight, that's just how my own parents raised me to be, but I also have way too much baggage from my time in the army that makes it difficult to let my guard down sometimes, and-"

 

Chloe rolled her eyes at him impatiently. "Can you just get to the point already?"

 

David's expression soured for a second before he grunted. "The point is that I now understand why you resent me so much, and although I am definitely not your father nor will I ever be, I still love your mother. She's good for me, and I'd like to think I'm good for her too. I don't expect us to suddenly become best buds or anything, but you are going to have to get used to me eventually, even if you don't like me." Then he cringed and added, "So from now on I'll try to give you some space and not be such an asshole, alright?"

 

From the look on Chloe's face, I got the distinct impression she had just bitten her own tongue to stop herself from mouthing off, instead she shrugged and muttered, "Whatever you say, dude. I definitely won't be holding my breath, though."

 

For a minute there I thought David was going to try pushing his luck, but he seemed to accept defeat and focused on pulling the car back onto the road.

 

I decided to speak up in the back of Max's head now. "Well, at-least that's progress, I suppose. Not much, but I'll take it."

 

Max hummed quietly to herself in agreement, responding with her inside voice. "Yeah, it's a start. But we'll just have to wait and see if he actually tries to keep his word. If he doesn't, then I'll make good on mine instead and drive this stupid car of his into the sea."

 

I mentally snorted at that. "You'd need to know how to drive first before doing that, which I'm pretty sure is something you don't understand how to do."

 

Max rolled her eyes. "What, and you do?"

 

...Touche, you little shit.

 

I didn't actually let her hear that though, so when I didn't respond, I felt her grinning at her reflection in the passenger side window. "Wow, does the time-travelling bad-ass future me really still not know how to drive?"

 

Bitch, why bother when I had Chloe to act as my chauffeur? Besides, I had more important things to worry about than learning how to fucking drive, jeez!

 

She's damn lucky she didn't catch that either, and once she realized that I wouldn't dignify her bullshit with a reply, she instead settled down and enjoyed the silence that David had agreed to give Chloe for the rest of the drive.

 

It didn't take much longer before we'd arrived at Blackwell, though in that time Chloe had somehow managed to fall asleep, so David had to raise his voice as he called out, "Hey, Chloe? We're here."

 

She woke up with a start and frantically glanced around the car for a moment before relaxing.

 

Max frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"

 

Chloe huffed in response. "I'm just fuckin' peachy. Come on."

 

Then she flung open the car door and stormed off, leaving us to scramble out after her.

 

By the time we'd caught up to Chloe and her freakishly long legs, she'd already reached the top of the stairs leading to the main campus.

 

Max was about to ask her what the rush was, when a strangely familiar voice called out Chloe's name from behind us.

 

Chloe groaned under her breath and turned around to talk to them. "Oh, hey, Eliot."

 

Ah, so this must be the Eliot person that future Chloe once mentioned to me... but why did his name make Max stop in her tracks, and why did his voice sound so familiar?

 

Max must've come to a conclusion before me, because she suddenly growled in disbelief. "No. Fucking. Way."

 

She abruptly spun on her heel to glare at him and I finally got a good look at his face, causing all the pieces to fit into place as I realized exactly who this Eliot was, which made me reflexively attempt to freeze time.

 

The fact that it actually worked while I was still in the backseat took me by surprise, but not as much as it did Max, who was already mid-stomp on the way towards Eliot when everything around us went still.

 

Max stared at the various frozen students milling around campus in confusion. "Uhh... What the fuck is going on?"

 

That was enough to snap me out of my own shock, as I awkwardly replied, "Sorry, that was my fault. It's another one of my powers. I froze time on a reflex. I didn't expect it to work, but at-least I managed to stop you from probably doing something crazy."

 

Max rolled her eyes and gestured at Eliot. "Are you serious right now? Last night you broke some guy's fucking finger without so much as a blink. You do remember who this asshole is, right?"

 

I mentally huffed in response. "Now that I see his face, yeah I do. I'd been informed that there was an Eliot during this time, but I didn't realize it would be Eliot fucking Hampden. He wasn't around in my future so I didn't expect to run into him here. Had I known, I would've already insisted on being the one in control for this."

 

Max just scoffed. "Screw that. We're both protective of Chloe. But while I might not enjoy being violent like you seem to, there is exactly one person who I would willingly fight to the death with to keep her safe, and he's standing right there in-front of us!"

 

To be honest, that didn't surprise me one bit. In-fact, that's exactly why I had tried to freeze time in the first place. While I already had to deal with a certain moster of a teacher and an unstable rich kid in my timeline, nevermind whatever else might happen in this one, the only 'bad guy' this version of me knows about is Eliot. Boy is she gonna wish he was her only problem. So while Max stood there and seethed over her greatest enemy, I took a minute to recall the Eliot Hampden that we knew.

 

You see, before we became friends with Chloe back in elementary school, we were the typical six year old loner kid that people bullied for being shy and quiet. Which of-course, just made our introverted asses shut down even further, making the cycle worse each time it happened. We were an easy target, so everyone bullied us... except for Eliot, who was the only person that was ever nice to us. But as time went on, he started paying more and more attention to us, to the point of obsession. Sadly, at six years old we didn't really understand the concept of a stalker, but looking back he fit the description perfectly, and we were at-least weary enough to see that his behaviour wasn't good. At one point, he actually tried to ask us to be his girlfriend, and wouldn't take no for an answer when we refused (because surprise, even six year old us knew we were gay... probably?).

 

Luckily for us, that's when Chloe came into our lives like a bat out of hell and she easily managed to scare him off, thinking he was just another person trying to bully us. He kept his distance after that, and even more-so once the tales started spreading around the playground about Chloe relentlessly beating up all the bullies in defence of us, especially the ones that dared to challenge her. But still, Eliot was always there in the background, just... watching, until one day when we were eight years old, for some reason his attention shifted away from us, and onto Chloe instead. I don't know why. After we noticed he suddenly only had eyes for her, that's when we swore to protect our protector if he tried to pull the same crap with Chloe that he did to us.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't actually drum up the courage to invervene until almost a week after we'd turned thirteen, when we caught him creepily following us home after school. This was the day before William ended up dying, and by that point we already knew we were moving to Seattle, so if we were ever going to put Eliot in his place, it had to be then. So, since Chloe's house was further down the street than ours, we pretended to head inside and waited for him to walk past, then doubled back to keep our eye on him. Honestly, I have no idea if he would've done anything to Chloe, but once he started getting closer and closer to her on the sidewalk, that's when we decided to make our move and struck.

 

Now, back then we weren't very strong, and Chloe had always been the fighter, not us; but we managed to pull enough strength out of our asses to drag him into a nearby alley without Chloe having any idea what'd occurred just a few steps behind her. Once we had him all to ourselves, we straight up threatened him, and told him to leave her alone. Lets just say that he might've gotten a little cocky and resisted, asking what we were gonna do about it if he didn't, since he still thought we wouldn't stand up for ourselves, or at-least for those we cared very deeply about, such as the girl we knew by now we had a huge crush on...

 

How did we respond to that, you ask? By using a move that Chloe herself had 'proudly' taught us, which we'd never had a reason to put into practice until that point – foot, meet groin; Eliot, meet pavement – simple and effective. Then we explained to him that we'd be leaving for Seattle soon, but we promised we would come back one day, and if we found out that he hadn't listened to our warning, we'd do a lot worse than just kicking him in the balls. We left him there curled up in the alley like a baby while we went to play over at Chloe's house for one of the final times during our childhood. As far as we knew, Chloe never did find out about what we'd done, and I was inclined to keep it that way.

 

So yeah, given the context, even just Eliot talking to Chloe right now was reason enough for me to throw his ass into a fucking wood chipper for all I cared. But if that's how I felt after five years of forgetting about him, then it's no wonder that Max was on the verge of stabbing him with a very sharp-looking pencil which was sticking out of some random student's backpack nearby.

 

I mentally steeled myself for what probably going to happen next, then spoke up. "So do you want me to take control when I drop the freeze, yes or no? This is your last chance to let me deal with it instead."

 

Max scoffed at that. "Fuck no. We both made a promise to Eliot, but I fully intend to keep mine."

 

I sighed inwardly at her Chloe-like stubbornness. "Okay, Max.... then first thing's first; we are not going to kill him, no matter how much we might want to. Got it?"

 

Max rolled her eyes. "Why the fuck not?"

 

My response was simple. "Because you're too young to be corrupted by such acts of violence this soon. And last I checked, you don't know how to fight anyway, whereas I do, thanks to the shit I've had to deal with in my future – which I'm keeping from you for a damn good reason – but suffice to say that Eliot here is a small fry in comparison to that. If he's really a threat to Chloe, I will kill him myself without hesitation, not you. Besides, I'm pretty sure kicking his ass right in-front of Chloe would raise more than a few questions that we can't answer without her finding out what we did to Eliot that day in the alley. So, if we're going to confront him at all, it needs to be while she's distracted. Just hold your tongue and wait for the right moment to strike. And if you can't handle him, then I'll take over and do it for you. Agreed?"

 

Max remained silent for a moment while she thought it over, before reluctantly nodding her head. "Fine, lets just see how this goes first. I'm ready."

 

I took that as my cue to relinquish my hold on time, which was hella weird to do while in the backseat when I'm so used to using my hands to physically trigger my powers.

 

Time resumed it's normal flow without skipping a beat, as Eliot opened his mouth to talk to Chloe. "I heard you had a hell of a night. I mean, people are talking about it."

 

Chloe scoffed right as Max stepped up beside her. "Oh, I'm sure they are. Firewalk was awesome. Except for the part where I got harrassed by a couple of skeevy douchebags, anyway."

 

Eliot was about to say something else when he glanced at Max and his eyes went as wide as saucers in recognition. "Oh shit, Max... you came back?"

 

Max mustered the deadliest glare possible and levelled it right at him before replying in an eerily calm tone. "You're damn right I did." Then she spoke to Chloe without taking her eyes off Eliot for even a second, "Those fuckers thought they could ambush you in a two-on-one fight. They were wrong. I told them that if they so much as laid a finger on you, I'd break it. They thought I was bluffing, but I most certainly wasn't."

 

Chloe frowned at that. "Yeah, you really came out of nowhere like a knight in shining armor and saved my ass. I'm glad you did, but... that's not like you."

 

Max shot an evil smirk at Eliot. "Isn't it? Those two assholes thought that they could fuck around with my best friend and get away with it. Anyone who thinks I'll allow that is sorely mistaken."

 

Damn, she was really playing up to my role here and somehow pulling it off. If the panicked expression on Eliot's rapidly paling face meant anything, then he certainly got the message.

 

Even still, the dumbass tried to shoot his shot right in-front of us. "Right... So uh, Chloe... I was thinking, the Tempest-"

 

Apparently, Max had already noticed the flyer on the noticeboard advertising the upcoming play while we were in the freeze, because she barked out a laugh and cut him off before he could finish. "Yeah, no. Not a chance. She's going with me."

 

Then before he could say anything else, she threw an arm over Chloe's shoulder and practically dragged her away from him while Chloe muttered in confusion, "Wait, what? I am? Since when?"

 

Once out of earshot, Max rolled her eyes and let go. "I mean, only if you want to. I just figured I'd save you from the embarrassment of having to turn the poor guy down."

 

Chloe raised an eyebrow at that, seemingly oblivious to Max's sarcasm. "And what makes you think I would've said no to him?"

 

Max stopped and turned to face her before dead-panning, "I've seen the rainbow statue in your room, Chloe. I'm not that dense. So if you try to deny it, I don't believe you."

 

Chloe deflated instantly. "Shit. I'm not- Damn it. Can we, like... please talk about this later? Or never. That would be great."

 

Max snorted. "Sure, Chloe. Now weren't you gonna give me that tour?"

 

Chloe blinked a few times. "Oh. Yeah. But I just need to grab something real quick first, over by those tables."

 

Max looked where she was now pointing, at a table with two people already sitting there, then hummed. "Well, I guess that gives me some time to explore by myself. I'll come find you when I'm done, okay?"

 

Chloe nodded at that and walked away towards the table, giving us our chance to confront Eliot.

 

Max quickly spun around to see where he'd gone in the less than half a minute she'd had her back turned, and spotted him trying to slink away towards the parking lot unnoticed.

 

She scoffed to herself and gave chase. "Oh, no you don't!"

 

I snorted inwardly and spoke up in the back of her head. "Run little piggy, run. The big bad wolf is gonna eat you alive, Eliot!"

 

Max couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up and soon had to stop over by the path to the parking lot, while cursing me and muttering something about a stitch. Crap.

 

I mentally facepalmed. "Sorry, but you're gonna have to suck it up, buttercup. He's getting away!"

 

Max groaned. "Jeez, can you give me a moment? Nobody's watching, so you can just rewind enough for us to catch up."

 

Since I was the one who fucked it up, I reluctantly agreed. "Fine, but just to clarify, in future try not to rely on my powers for everything. I mean, why do you think I learned how to fight? Rewinding time may give you an advantage, but it can only get you so far. Especially against other people."

 

I gave Max thirty seconds to recover before attempting to activate my powers again, now that I knew it could be done while not in control of her body. Rewinding time from the backseat was even stranger than holding it at a stand-still, and a lot more imprecise than my usual rewinds. I didn't seem to have as much control over it from here, which might explain why my hand always felt like a neccessary component in making it work properly, as if it was acting as a stabilizer or something. The flow of time without it was hard to describe. It certainly didn't feel very smooth, and it kind of... jumped around roughly every few seconds. It was still functional, just a lot less pleasant to look at and made it a little harder to judge when I needed to stop, but at-least I knew it would work in an emergency.

 

Once we got to the point where Eliot had just reached the top of the stairs leading down into the parking lot, I disengaged from the more than a little sloppy attempt at rewinding, allowing Max to set off again in hot pursuit.

 

Eliot was practically right in-front of us now though, so he barely even managed to step a foot down the stairs before Max caught up to him and grabbed the back of his shirt. He yelped in surprise as Max dragged him by the collar, taking him around the corner towards the side-entrance to the pool building before slamming him up against the wall.

 

She visciously snarled at him. "You just couldn't do as you were told and leave Chloe alone, could you?!"

 

Eliot snorted despite being pinned to the wall. "I can do whatever the fuck I want, she doesn't belong to you."

 

Max frowned at that. "She doesn't belong to your creepy stalker ass, either! Did you seriously think I wouldn't return and make good on my promise?"

 

Eliot scoffed. "Oh, no... I'm so scared, not! We both know that you're not gonna do a damn thing. Besides, I could take you any day, but a gentleman doesn't hit girls."

 

I cringed to myself at his nice-guy bullshit, while Max tilted her head in consideration and grinned at him. "Well, that's too bad for you, because I just got some crazy dejavu here. Did you already forget what happened the last time you thought I wouldn't do anything? Perhaps you need a reminder-"

 

Then she swiftly brought her knee up, and connected squarely with his groin, in a move that she probably copied from me last night.

 

Eliot winced in pain, but glared back at her all the same. "Is that really the best you can do? Because I don't care, I already achieved what I wanted to all those years ago."

 

Max bared her teeth at him, she was growling so hard. "What the hell are you talking about, asshole?"

 

The evil grin that appeared on his face told me all I needed to know without him saying anything else, but Max was still oblivious. "Well, her dad died and you abandoned her. Even her mother ignored her. She had nobody left in her life that cared. But I did. I stuck by her when no one else would – and she was grateful, oh so grateful for me being there – that she was begging for a way to repay my kindness."

 

Now Max seemed to catch on, as her eyes went wide. "No- No... Please, tell me you didn't-"

 

Eliot's smirk got wider. "Oh, I did. Newsflash, your precious Chloe isn't a virgin any-more. It was so easy. She was practically giving it away, and she was more than happy to let me take it. In-fact, she loved it so much that she even became my girlfriend for a year, and I was able to claim her as my own. Because, guess what? You weren't around to stop me like you said you would. So, Chloe belongs to me now. I won. You lost."

 

Max just stood there and stared at him in absolute shock while Eliot stared laughing like the sadistic piece of shit he was. She didn't seem to react, at all. It was like he'd broken her with just those few words. Which only enraged me even further. Unlike the younger version of myself, I was well aware of the horrors that boys and men were capable of. And with Max seemingly frozen like a deer caught in headlights, I'd heard enough and decided to deal with this bastard myself.

 

There was zero resistance from Max as I took control of her body, and the abrupt change in my expression was enough to silence Eliot's laughter.

 

My voice came out cold and calculated. "So, you admit to taking advantage of a grieving girl just to satisfy that tiny limp dick of yours, huh? Not only are you a creep and a stalker, you're also basically a rapist. I'm so sick and tired of monsters like you thinking you can just do shit like that and get away with it. Well, this time there is going to be consequences. You just made the biggest mistake of your life and bought yourself a one-way ticket to hell, Eliot Hampden... because if there's one person I will gladly kill for without hesitation, it's Chloe Price."

 

The look on his face once I'd finished speaking was priceless, pun most definitely intended.

 

He didn't get a chance to say anything though, before I'd started dragging him further down the path, and all the way around to the back of the gym building facing away into the endless forest, free from prying eyes.

 

I'll spare you all of the details. But I didn't kill him. I told Max we wouldn't, no matter how much I wanted to. But that didn't mean I couldn't make him suffer, so by the time I'd finished with him, he was a battered and bloody mess on the ground... though still very much alive. If I had to guess at my handiwork, he likely had at-least a couple broken ribs, his nose looked like it now belonged to a pig, and both his lips had been split wide open. Since I couldn't also cut off his dick and shove it down his throat to make him choke on it without him probably dying from the blood loss, I had to settle for stomping on it a few times instead. I'm sure it still worked... probably. If not, oh well. He didn't deserve to be making babies anyway.

 

Barely satisfied with my work of art, I picked Eliot's pathetic ass up off the floor and shoved him up against the brick wall, with my arm pressing tightly against his throat as I hissed menacingly, "If you thought I was actually going to kill you, I'm sorry to burst your bubble like I did with your balls just now. Killing you would be too easy, and you deserve far more than what I've given you, but I want you to always remember this moment; you got your shit kicked in by a girl called Max Caulfield, and if you ever so much as come within ten feet of myself or Chloe, or even any other girl at this school – I can promise you just like I did that day in the alley – that next time I will shatter every single bone in your body and make sure you have to eat through a straw for the rest of your life. Oh, and if anyone asks what happened to you, I suggest you say that your dumb-ass accidentally fell down a flight of stairs... or twelve. Doesn't matter to me, no one would believe you anyway, because I made sure to leave no evidence. I know how to cover my tracks, so don't even bother. Nobody hurts my Chloe and gets away with it. Nobody."

 

Then I effortlessly tapped into my powers and rewound us back around five minutes or so, bringing him along for the ride now that I could actually do it without the pain barrier thing getting in the way.

 

Eliot had apparently managed to pass out on the way, from the effects of the rewind I assume, which was probably a good thing, since he wouldn't be aware of my powers. So once I dropped my hold on time, I launched one final kick into his stomach to wake him back up, then promptly walked away and left him leaning there against the wall, as I casually headed back towards the main campus like I hadn't just brutally assaulted a guy. At-least there were no bruises on my knuckles, since I'd been smart enough to use my feet for the majority of the beatdown, so people wouldn't be able to connect the dots.

 

When I reached the edge of the parking lot, I whispered under my breath to the still-silent Max. "Hey, I'm sorry that you had to see me being violent... again."

 

I barely even caught Max's whisper of a response in the back of my head. "Well, I'm not..."

 

I frowned at that. "Seriously? Are you okay? That was quite a bomb he dropped on you."

 

She remained quiet for so long that I thought she wouldn't reply, until I was almost deafened by it. "He got off way too fucking lightly!"

 

That made me abruptly stop in my tracks and glance at my reflection in one of the notice-board windows. "I agree with you. But... I don't want you to become like me, Max. I know the shit I'm capable of, and it even still scares me sometimes. I can't promise you won't get some mental scars with the things that are coming in this timeline, though when this is over I still want you to be able to live a normal life. I'm only here to make sure everything else turns out okay – but I'm damaged goods – and I know that I'll probably never get that myself. I accepted it long ago."

 

The sharp thud that connected with the inside of my skull made me wince. "Idiot, you do realize we're basically the same person now, right? So unless you can figure out a way to get out of my body afterwards, we'll have to find some way to co-exist without looking like we're completely insane, because me having a normal life kinda hinges on you not fucking it all up!"

 

I just sighed to myself and didn't bother responding to that, instead I continued focusing on my quest to find where the hell Chloe had disappeared to while we had been busy dealing with the stalking rapist shitbag known as Eliot Hampden.

Notes:

Just a quick FYI before anyone starts worrying about the Maxes being too out of character here; in regards to Future Max, she's gonna be far more blood-thirsty than even the version I wrote in Pricefield - Time Warriors, because don't forget, this one has gone through a practically endless number of timelines, repeating variations of the Week Of Hell over and over again, changing anything and everything that she possibly could, failing each time to get the outcome she wanted. So lets just say that I don't think boredom was her only reason for learning how to fight... As for Young Max's sudden interest in kicking the shit out of Eliot despite her aversion to Future Max's actions during Firewalk, well, those were just random douchebags to her, but how would you like it if you were bullied by everyone at your school for years and the only person who seemed to care turned out to be a stalker who then turned their attention towards your new protector/best friend/crush? If there was ever one thing that could make an introvert like Max grow a spine, surely it would be the possibility of Chloe being in danger from someone she knew could be a threat. It's just too bad that her first try in the alley wasn't enough to scare Eliot off. Here's hoping Future Max's second attempt did the trick, huh?

See ya next time! :)

Chapter 8: Campus Confrontations

Summary:

Chloe the secret nerd gets caught red-handed.

The Long Max Silver twins decide to mutiny against Captain Bluebeard.

Future Max reluctantly defends the murderer of the love of her life.

Teenage hormones almost ruin everything.

Notes:

Hey ya'll! Apologies for the lengthy absence again, some jerk called depression put a horrific spell on me which turned me into a lazy sloth for most of last month, but I'm still alive and kickin'. Also doesn't help that I was hit with a bad case of writers block on all of my existing fics, even for the most simple of things (for example, its a lot harder than it looks to write the two Max's having a discussion without it interrupting the flow of conversation with other people at the same time), but I finally managed to get past it and complete this chapter. However, since I'm a little rusty from being away, there might be an over-abundance of fluff involved; which if it wasn't incredibly obvious by now to most of my readers, fluff is simply my go-to piece of kryptonite that never fails to get me back into the swing of writing, so you'll just have to deal with it.

Oh, one last thing; I corrected and clarified a minor error in the previous chapter which was pointed out to me regarding Max & Eliot's backstory, along with formatting the whole thing to look a lot nicer. It doesn't require re-reading unless you've forgotten the plot to this fic during the time I've been gone, but I'll retroactively mention the change here to save you some time: Max met Eliot when she was 6 years old, Eliot turned his attention onto Chloe when Max was 8 years old, and then Max only got the courage to intervene when she was 13 years old the day before William died (which I put as 8 for some stupid reason last time).

Okay, now that's out of the way...

Enjoy! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 8: Campus Confrontations

 

As it turns out, It didn't take very long for me to find Chloe, since I'd easily spotted her still sitting at the same table which she'd pointed out to us earlier, and once I got closer to it, my eyes almost fell out of my head when I saw what she was doing.

 

Chloe turned to me as I came to stand next to her, and she quickly attempted to hide the figurine in her hands while exclaiming, "Oh, shit. Max, this isn't what it looks like!"

 

The other girl at the table, wearing a white beanie and partially hidden behind a board, snickered at her reaction. "It's exactly what it looks like, Chloe. You're playing D&D with the nerds. Accept your fate." Then she turned to me and held out her hand with a smile, "Hey, the name's Steph. Steph Gingrich. I haven't seen you around here before."

 

I shook her hand, mirroring her introduction. "And I'm Max. Max Caulfield." I pointed a thumb at Chloe and added, "Unfortunately, I'm also this one's babysitter and gi- best friend, who's supposed to be giving me a tour of Blackwell right now."

 

Oh crap, that was close. I almost slipped up there. Stupid muscle memory! I needed to be more careful, this wasn't the usual timeline of events I was used to, and Chloe definitely wasn't my girlfriend here. Though while Chloe and the other boy at the table didn't seem to catch it, I'm pretty sure Steph did, if the slight eyebrow raise meant anything. Thankfully she didn't comment on it, and nor did Max so hopefully she didn't notice it, either.

 

Instead, Steph nodded at the boy across from her. "Right, nice to meet you. And this little twerp is Mikey, by the way."

 

Mikey scoffed. "That's Elamon to you."

 

Steph grimaced at him. "Ugh, and you wonder why we're always sitting here alone."

 

Mikey rolled his eyes and waved awkwardly at me. "Heh. Hi there. So are you... interested in playing with us?"

 

Max chose this moment to speak up like a giddy little child. "Can we, Max? Oh, please say yes. Please!"

 

I'd forgotten just how excited we used to get over playing D&D with Chloe, but unfortunately for Max, Steph shook her head. "She can't, I only had one extra character on hand for Chloe to sub in with, and you two just brutally murdered Duurgaron, so I'm all out of material to use right now. But she's more than welcome to join us next time." Then she looked at Chloe and added, "Actually, you both are. Chloe's penchant for none-stop dick attacks really cracked me up. It's been a long time since something made me break character as the DM."

 

I couldn't stop myself from giggling as Chloe glanced at me sheepishly. "I see some things never change, huh? My fondest childhood memories were when the two of us played our own D&D campaigns, so since Chloe here is clearly still a nerd at heart, I think we'd both gladly join your next game. Right, Chloe?"

 

Max's cheer echoed loudly around the insides of my skull. "Yaaaaaay!"

 

Chloe groaned exaggeratedly at being put on the spot, and placed her head into her hands before grumbling, "Fuck. Alright, fine." Then she glared at Steph and Mikey, "But if word about this gets around, I'll be using those dick attacks on you two instead."

 

Mikey scooted down the bench away from her in horror, causing Steph to snort. "Sorry Chloe, I don't have a dick. Your attacks would be ineffective."

 

Chloe gave Steph a look that made her gulp. "Trust me, I have it on good authority that being cunt-punted hurts us just as much as it hurts the guys, if not more."

 

I rolled my eyes at that and yanked her arm so that she fell off the table and ate a face-full of grass. "Bad Chloe, stop terrorizing the poor innocent nerds!"

 

When Chloe got to her feet, I thought she was going to throttle me for a second there, but she was distracted by Steph who exclaimed, "Oh, I really like this one. You've got yourself a good friend there, Chloe. Anyway, enjoy your director's cut of Blade Runner and I'll be sure to text you the details of our next D&D session once we've figured it out."

 

Steph's sarcastic use of the word 'friend' definitely wasn't lost on me; I could practically hear the air-quotes as she said it. And as I watched Chloe pocket the clearly-pirated director's cut of Blade Runner, I groaned to myself- no doubt she'll want us to watch it at some point, but if she tries to torture me with Blade Runner one more time, I swear to dog I'll snap the damn disk in half!

 

Meanwhile, Chloe took that as her cue to leave, mumbling under her breath about 'stupid fucking nerds' as she roughly dragged me away, which was easily stopped by a simple shove to the shoulder. However, Chloe decided to retaliate, but not with another shoulder shove like I was expecting, no... the bitch tried to trip me up!

 

If it wasn't for my self-defence training automatically kicking in and allowing me to rebalance myself at the last second, my normally clumsy ass would've gone flying into the bushes that lined the path along the front of the main building. This was one of those times where I wished my power was super-strength instead, so that I could pick her lanky butt up and dunk it straight into the fountain like she deserved, and she's damn lucky it was so far away from us, otherwise I'd have at the very least pushed her into it head-first. Grr!

 

I could almost feel Max's evil grin as she spoke up. "You know, if we really wanted to get Chloe wet, we could always throw a bucket of water on her tonight when she's in bed."

 

Damn, she must've caught that stray thought, which made me wonder if she'd heard any others but remained silent on purpose so I wouldn't know... but I'll deal with it later if so- and okay, I'll be honest; I'm not ashamed to say the only words in Max's sentence that my brain registered at first were 'get Chloe wet in bed', and it took a great deal of effort not to tease her with one hell of a dirty joke, since she was clearly unaware of the innuendo in what she'd just said.

 

Rather than do that though, I instead filed the potential prank away for later and focused on getting immediate payback for Chloe's little stunt, because even if drop-kicking her into the fountain wasn't an option, I still couldn't let her get away with it. So while she stood there smirking at me, thinking I was still recovering from her sneak-attack, I decided to use it to my advantage and swiftly took her by surprise. Chloe barely had time to blink before she realized that I was now running full-sprint towards her, nor was there any chance for her to dodge out of the way, as covered the short distance between us and used my momentum to spear right into her mid-section.

 

At-first, I thought I'd vastly miscalculated the force of my attack when Chloe's body literally lifted up into the air as if I'd just done one of those over-exaggerated super-uppercuts you see used fighting games. But no, that was just her stumbling ass-first over the head of some poor girl that was sitting against a tree behind her; who until now had been buried nose-deep into a book that she was reading, obliviously minding her own business. Whoops. Chloe's back landed with a dull thump onto the grass for the second time in as many minutes, and she groaned out in annoyance while staring up at not just my triumphant face smirking at her, but also the face of the curiously-shy girl that she'd just given a face-full of ass to on the way down.

 

Max's laughter bounced around in the back of my head. "Oh no, Captain Bluebeard's fallen overboard! Whatever shall we do?!"

 

I quietly snorted and replied with my inside voice. "Absolutely nothing. Our plan to steal the captaincy has been a long time coming, and I think I'd call this a successful mutiny, wouldn't you?"

 

Rather than respond with words, Max's laugh morphed into an eerily perfect impression of an evil cackle, which pinballed around the inside of my brain with such an unexpected force that it was impossible to hide the wince it caused. Though since I was still suffering from the remnants of Max's stupid hangover, that was probably the reason why the painful feeling was being multiplied by tenfold. Regardless, if Chloe noticed it she didn't say anything, so she most likely interpreted it as just my reaction to her falling over.

 

She then glanced between me and the other girl for a moment before deciding to address her first, with an embarrassed look on her face. "Uh, hey Samantha. Didn't see you there."

 

The girl – Samantha, who I now recognized as the one that future Chloe mentioned had some sort of crush on Nathan – closed the slightly crumpled book in her hands with an almost-imperceptible sigh before answering with, "Clearly not. Um... are you alright, Chloe?"

 

Chloe sat up and glared in my direction. "Who, me? I'm awesome. Never better, thanks for asking."

 

I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm. "Don't mind her, she's just being a grumpy cat who's finally learning that its prey can fight back. You might even say that its become the predator instead."

 

Chloe scoffed at me as she got back to her feet. "Please, Max. I could still kick your scrawny white ass any day."

 

Max couldn't help but voice her opinion on that blatant flasehood. "If I was still in control of my body, sure. But after what I saw you do to Eliot, she doesn't stand a chance against you in a fight. Not that we'd ever actually fight her, of-course."

 

I hummed affirmatively to that and raised an eyebrow at Chloe in response. "Right... says the girl who just got put on her own lanky ass twice by said scrawny white ass. Trust me, Chloe – I could beat you with both hands tied behind my back – I'm not the weak girl I once was."

 

And speaking of which, I took a peek over Chloe's shoulder and just so happened to spot Eliot limping past us, heading towards the dorms. And man did he look worse than I thought, those stairs he fell down sure did a number on him... and it was at this point when he chanced a glance in our direction, right as Chloe bent over to brush the dirt off herself, and once he saw the deadly ice-cold glare that I sent his way, he wasted no time in attempting to oh-so-slowly speed-limp out of my sight lest I gave him another beatdown right there in public for all to see.

 

Then I turned back to Samantha and apologized, as if the sight of me hadn't just caused Eliot to do a pathetic imitation of the road-runner. "I am sorry, though. It's my fault, I thought there was nobody else around us. Chloe's fat ass didn't hurt you, did it?"

 

Chloe loudly objected to my unflattering description of her ass (which was actually sexy-as-fuck, truth be told), while Samatha simply shrugged at me. "No- It's okay. I've, um... had worse-"

 

Whatever she was about to say got cut off as she suddenly frowned at something else, followed by a frustrated growl. "Seriously? Why can't people just leave him alone?"

 

Both Chloe and I followed Samantha's gaze and noticed a commotion over by the entrance to the main building. Ah, the argument between Nathan and... Drew, I think his name was? The one that Chloe was supposed to be intervening with right now.

 

Chloe just shrugged at it though. "Eh, I know Drew's a meathead jock- but Nathan's a rich douchebag who kinda deserves it if you ask me."

 

Samantha abruptly stood up then and shot a glare at the back of Chloe's head. "No he doesn't! I know everyone hates the Prescott name, but that's Nathan's family, not him. He's done nothing except be born with that cursed name and everyone just assumes he's bad, but he's not like that."

 

Damn it, this sucked. They were both right, in their own way. I still haven't forgiven Nathan for the things he did in the future, and I doubt I ever will, but I also understand that everyone used him. They took advantage of his mental issues and twisted him into the psycho he became. And the first step to avoiding that outcome would be to continue this altercation along a similar path to the one in the original timeline; with Chloe intervening, as much as a not-small part of me wanted nothing more than to stand there and watch Nathan suffer.

 

Reluctantly, I turned to Chloe and crossed my arms. "You hate bullies, Chloe. Just imagine if that was me over there instead of Nathan. You'd have already given this Drew guy a broken nose by now."

 

Chloe frowned slightly at that. "Yeah, but it's not you, so-"

 

I huffed in exasperation and cut her off. "So if you're not going to help him, then I will. Lets see just how quickly you get involved if I become the bully's target, huh?"

 

Then I stomped off towards Nathan and Drew, ignoring Chloe's yell of, "Max, wait!"

 

As expected, it only took her a couple of seconds before deciding to follow after me, along with a hesitant Samantha, apparently.

 

Max's confused groan lanced through my skull. "Are you seriously going to defend a Prescott? What the hell for?"

 

I wasn't going to respond to that, because the last thing I wanted to do right now was actually defend Nathan after what he'd done in my future. But for all I knew, not getting involved in this conflict at all could cause Nathan to go off the rails much sooner than he was supposed to; the possible timeline divergences that could come from it were far too unpredictable for my liking, compared to if I tried keeping the events running along a similar path to that of the original timeline. So, personal opinions aside,. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

 

As I approached Nathan and Drew, the latter was clearly too distracted by taunting Nathan with what was unmistakably his photography portfolio, holding it out of reach above his head, to see me coming. So all it took was for me to walk past them and up a couple of the steps behind Drew leading to the main entrance of Blackwell, then using that extra height to make up for my own embarrassingly short size by leaping back down towards him; easily snatching the portfolio right out of his outstretched hand, while also managing to stick the landing like some kind of parkour pro.

 

I know that I only jumped over a couple of steps, but not faceplanting into the ground... well that was a first for me, and I could practically sense Max rolling her eyes as she said, "Ugh, you're such a show-off."

 

There was no time for me to reply to her snarky tone though, because upon having the portfolio unexpectedly ripped from his grasp, Drew quickly turned his attention to me and exclaimed in surprise, "Woah, what the- who the fuck do you think you are?!"

 

I defiantly stared back at him while keeping a tight hold on Nathan's portfolio. "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just a fellow photography lover, who hates it when bullies like you never want to pick on someone your own size."

 

Drew crossed his arms at that. "Hey now, I'm not a bully! It's just-"

 

Chloe snorted and protectively placed herself between us, not that I needed her to protect me anymore, though it was still adorable to watch. "It's just what, Drew? Because to me that looked like textbook bullying behaviour, and believe me, I know exactly what a bully looks like."

 

Drew responded by angrily jabbing a finger in Nathan's direction. "Yeah well, twitch here can't just buy his way onto my football team and expect me to be okay with it. I mean, look at him- he'll get snapped like a fuckin' twig out on the field!"

 

Nathan, who up to this point had been silently seething to himself and clearly fighting the urge to grab his portfolio out of my hands while he still had the chance, just scoffed in disbelief. "Don't you think I know that?! Do I look like the kind of person who gives a single fuck about playing football? But I don't have a choice, because my asshole father is the one who forced me onto the team, and he wouldn't listen when I told him I wanted to stick to my photography instead!"

 

Drew suddenly growled at him, now furious. "Oh, so it wasn't enough for your father to close down the shipyard where my dad worked, and ruining my family's lives by making my dad and my little brother homeless; now he's got to destroy my chances at a football career too by forcing us to have your useless ass on the team?! Fuck this shit, I'm out of here before I do something I won't regret. And you can keep your pervy picture book, but rich daddy or not; if I catch you lurking around the locker rooms again like a fucking creep, I'll break your stupid camera over your head, Prescott!"

 

Then he stormed off without another word, leaving the rest of us standing there, as a sickening feeling developed in the pit of my stomach at the last thing he'd said. Hopefully that was just Drew being an ass, but with Nathan... well, anything's possible.

 

Once Drew has vanished from sight, Samantha decided to join the conversation and timidly asked, "Um, are you okay, Nathan?"

 

He clenched his fists and hissed back at her like an angry snake. "I don't need your fuckin' pity- give me my stuff back and leave me alone, all of you!"

 

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but we saved your ungrateful ass anyway. You're welcome, Dickscott."

 

I glanced down at the portfolio in my hands and huffed to myself. "Nathan, I helped because I really do have a passion for photography, just like you. Besides, it seemed like he was about to throw your portfolio into the fountain, and I know all too well how it feels to have bullies ruin all your hard work, so I couldn't just stand there and watch him destroy it."

 

Nathan scowled at me. "Who the fuck even are you? I've never seen you on campus before and I definitely don't remember asking for your help! I don't want it-"

 

I cut him off with a sigh. "I'm not a student, just someone who wishes I'd accepted help when it was offered to me. You might not want it but trust me- it's a dumb idea to turn it down when it's standing right in-front of you. I understand that you might prefer to suffer alone right now – because I know I certainly felt that way – but don't make the same mistakes I did; you'll probably change your mind in the future and wish you had someone to turn to when it all becomes too much to handle, so wouldn't it be better to know that there's at-least one person willing to be on your side, just in-case? Because if that does happen, it'll help to know that there's already someone there for you to fall back on when you need to." Then I gingerly held the portfolio out at arms length for him to take, really not wanting to say my next words. "And... just so you know, I'm actually planning on coming here to Blackwell in September for my photography, but I haven't had an opportunity to mingle with others like me yet- so I'd love see your photos and compare notes with you some time, if that's okay with you?"

 

Nathan took a few seconds to mull over my words before quickly grabbing the portfolio, and most likely disregarding everything I'd just said, then he furrowed his brow apprehensively at my unexpected request. "Really...? Well, uh, I don't know. I've never shared my work with anyone before either, so... maybe- I'll think about it."

 

After that,. he abruptly turned on his heel and walked off in a daze, not even bothering to say goodbye, or thank you, which of-course didn't surprise me in the slightest. And as I watched Nathan get further and further away, I was already beginning to regret the olive-branch that I'd offered to him; words of encouragement were one thing, but the thought of committing to spending time with someone who I knew would eventually become a drugging, kidnapping, murdering psycho and the killer of the most important person to me? That was too much too soon...

 

Even just hearing his voice had caused a bunch of my memories to resurface, of the practically infinite number of times I had to listen to him as he raged in the bathroom while directing hate-filled words towards a panicking Chloe, seconds before firing a fatal bullet right into her gut- and remembering that made me want to rewind and slam my fist into his face a thousand times over. So how the hell I was supposed to actually treat him like a normal person and keep my cool when September rolled around, I honestly had no idea.

 

Apparently, I must've zoned out and gotten too wrapped up in my own thoughts, because the sound of Chloe's voice whispering dangerously close to my ear almost made me jump out of my skin. "Yo dude, what the hell was that all about?" Then she genuinely facepalmed and added, "Oh shit- You were referring to your scars, right? Nevermind, I'm stupid."

 

Luckily, Samantha had decided to wander off and go back to reading her book while my mind was elsewhere, so she didn't hear Chloe pretty much blurting that out loud. However, it took me more than a few seconds to get my mouth to work, because I had to pyhsically force myself to remain still otherwise she would've clearly noticed the unmistakable shiver that went straight down my spine, since she'd inadvertantly stumbled across one of my weaknesses- damn you, Chloe!

 

But before I could even answer her, Max also decided to chime in. "Well, considering those are my scars, I'm going to assume that Chloe's guess is wrong, so are you going to tell us what that weird heart-to-heart with a Prescott was really about?"

 

I was unable to suppress the frustrated groan that followed as a result and shook my head. "Actually Chloe, it's not about those. But I'll tell you later, okay?" Then when she of-course opened her mouth to argue, I made sure to reiterate my point so that both her and Max got the message, "Not. Now. I'll tell you later!"

 

At this point I was getting very sick and tired of having to repeat myself. But Chloe's a naturally impatient person who hates things being kept from her, and I already know how much of a nosy bitch I can be sometimes, so I could understand why me refusing to explain things would frustrate them; though if they'd experienced even half of the shit I did during my countless attempts to make things right, they wouldn't be so eager to talk about it, either...

 

Thankfully, the look on my face must've been enough for Chloe to drop it. "Whatever. Come on, I was supposed to be giving you a tour of this shithole before my classes start, remember?"

 

As she lead me back towards the stairs going up to the front of the main building, my eyes scanned across the campus one last time, where they landed on a strangely familiar blonde-haired girl with a pixie-cut standing next to the fountain. I slowly looked her up and down in disbelief. No way was that-"

 

Chloe's hands suddenly gripped both my shoulders as she roughly spun me around with a knowing smirk plastered on her face. "Max, you do know that when you want to check someone out, you're supposed to be subtle about it, right?"

 

I scoffed indignantly. "Chloe, stop looking at me like that. I was not checking her out!"

 

Infuriatingly, Max agreed with her. "Lie to Chloe if you must, but I had a front row seat. You were definitely checking that girl out."

 

I closed my eyes for a moment in annoyance. "Thats not- Ugh! Shut up. I just recognized her from my future, and I wasn't expecting to see her around here yet, that's all."

 

To be fair, they both might've been kinda-sorta right; when Nightmare Max confessed to me about her relationship with Victoria before I travelled here, I'd be lying if I said that knowing it was possible hadn't put a few thoughts into my head which until now had been nothing more than impossible daydreams about my future number one photography rival. But whether those dreams are possible or impossible doesn't really factor into the equation, because that's all they were ever going to be- Chloe will always be the girl to have my heart... even if she didn't end up having mine in this timeline.

 

Then I opened my eyes back to reality – along with Chloe's still-smirking face – and decided to prove that point by getting my own back right when we reached the top of the stairs, as I slyly stated, "Besides, even if I was checking her out, which I wasn't, why do you care so much? Are you jealous, Chloe?"

 

Just like I was hoping for, the bluntness of my words shocked her so much that she stumbled on the final step, but I managed to grab her arm in time and pulled her back against me, holding her tight so that she couldn't lose her footing- and also for... other... reasons of-course; which if the redness of Chloe's ears combined with the lack of a sarcastic retort told me anything, then my trap had worked perfectly.

 

So now it was very much my turn to smirk back up at her. "Oh, what's wrong? Cat got your tongue, Chloe?"

 

I don't think her brain was firing on all cylinders anymore, and the way she kept wordlessly glancing between my eyes and lips was making me really, really, really want to dive in for a kiss, regardless of the consequences. But I knew I couldn't – shouldn't – no matter how much I wanted to. Then again, if Chloe kept this up, I might have the choice made for me anyway...

 

And I could tell that the anticipation must've been killing Max too, if the jolts of pain in my skull, from her presumably bouncing all over the place, were any indication. But unfortunately for the three of us, right when it seemed like Chloe was going to be the one to lean in (unless that was just my over-active imagination), we were brutally clam-jammed by the front doors flying open next to us and revealing none other than Rachel Amber herself standing there.

 

Everything seemed to freeze in that moment, as our faces were mere inches away, and I had to mentally ensure that I hadn't triggered my powers by accident, as Rachel blinked in surprise at the sight of us for only a split-second before recovering and acting like she hadn't just potentially burst an intimate moment, by exclaiming, "Oh good, you're here!" then she grabbed hold of both of us and dragged us inside Blackwell without a second thought.

 

While I knew that Chloe was meant to run into Rachel exactly like this – well, obviously not exactly like that – I didn't think it would be right there and then, nor did I expect her to bring me along with them so willingly. I assumed that I would have to play the 'I'm her childhood friend' card or something first to convince her, but I guess maybe drunk Max managed to make a good impression on her last night at Firewalk, so perhaps this damn hangover was worth it after-all.

 

However, unlike Victoria, this time I couldn't resist actually checking Rachel out, as she lead us down the halls of Blackwell. Mostly due to the fact that I knew Chloe was doing the same thing, because speaking of Firewalk- although Rachel looked like a completely different person, she was still just as beautiful now as when she was dressed up like a punk-rock chick at the Old Mill. And from the few photos I'd seen of her in the future, plus seeing her in person last night, and now including whatever the hell this costume thing is that she was currently wearing, Rachel seemed to have an uncanny ability to pull off literally any outfit flawlessly... whereas I had to settle for my boring old generic hoodie and jeans all the time. I'm absolutely not envious about that or anything...

 

Max interrupted my thoughts again. "Hey, so I'm not exactly complaining but, uh... if you could stop making me stare at her ass before she turns around and thinks I'm a perv, that'd be great."

 

I blinked and realized my eyesight had somewhat intentionally gotten stuck on that one particular location while I was spaced out again, so I quickly shifted my gaze beside me to Chloe, only to see her staring right at it too, causing me to silently huff and respond with, "Maybe you should be saying that to Chloe instead."

 

The sarcasm in her reply was obvious. "Well, I would, except I don't seem to be the one in control of my eye-sight at the moment, much less my mouth, so why don't you tell her for me, you gigantic horndog?"

 

I over-exagerratedly rolled my eyes, then gently elbowed Chloe in the ribs and muttered, "Chloe, stop staring, you're practically drooling right now."

 

As Chloe's head whipped around to glare at me in horror, and one of her hands attempted to wipe away drool that didn't actually exist, I'm pretty sure I heard Rachel snorting under her breath. Then I noticed her ass not-so-subtly shaking even more out of the corner of my eye, so either Rachel heard me say that, or my mind was playing cruel tricks on me, and considering the fourteen year old body I was inhabiting... well, I couldn't discount the effects of raging teenage hormones, either. And having to dealing with that shit again is no doubt going to complicate things even more, but judging by how I almost threw myself at Chloe a minute ago, I'd say it already has.

 

Chloe and I continued to walk in hella awkward silence after that, simply pretending that the last two minutes never happened, while we followed Rachel towards what I could only assume would be the drama classroom. She was showing no signs of being uncomfortable with us though, so if my mind really wasn't messing with me, then Rachel was probably toying with us on purpose, and if that's true, then I really shouldn't be surprised if she wasn't finding this awkward...

 

And now I was finally starting to understand just how Chloe managed to fall for Rachel so hard, so fast, and I don't think I truly realized what I was going to be getting myself into until right at this very moment; me becoming the third-wheel in a brand new friendship-slash-relationship, which involved someone as openly-teasing as Rachel, alongside Chloe who I knew never, ever, turned down a dare, meant that this could quite possibly end with disaster- in more ways than one.

 

I just suppose that it's a damn-good thing I still have the power to bend time to my will, because I get the feeling that I'm going to be needing it for whatever chaos lies ahead...

Notes:

If any of you is concerned about the fluff feeling out of place or whatever, don't worry. Even if I might not have been originally planning to write this chater with such fluff, I still wouldn't have done it without there being a way to explain its existence, you just have to be able to read between the lines. But if you need further explanation, then here's my thought-process on the whole thing for you:

Firstly, Victoria; I think Max herself already explained that pretty well to be honest, so I'll just say that there's no need to panic about any unexpected ChaseField happening in this fic, because there won't be any.

Regarding Max and Chloe; Well, Chloe still thinks she's the alpha of their friendship, but she's never been more wrong, and Max is already proving that she's capable of kicking Chloe's ass. *insert evil laugh here* Now, as for their almost-kiss scene, if you think something like that was way too soon, well, normally you'd be right because they literally only just reunited the previous night. However, the Max in this fic has repeated the Week of Hell so many times that she's gotten to know Chloe in a lot of different ways in the process, and learned things about not just Chloe, but also herself, that she never knew before. So, to use what I already wrote as an example; Max is already very much aware that she has a weakness for Chloe's voice whispering juuust right into her ear, (I mean, don't we all? Thanks a lot, Ashly Burch!) along with other things that I won't spoil, teehee! And she's also learned that Chloe might be overly-susceptible towards her unexpectedly bold advances, at-least future Chloe was, even if the younger version of Chloe doesn't quite realize that herself yet. But most importantly, this Max did in-fact choose Chloe over the town at the end of the very original timeline, and yes, they had become girlfriends of a sort during that short period of time before she was forced to let go of it. Not to mention, who knows what else might've happened in the more intimate parts of the Week Of Hell during some of the boring timelines that followed... ;) Anyway, getting back to the almost-kiss scene; it shouldn't really be a surprise that they might've kissed in the moment knowing all of that, especially when you throw teenage hormones into the equation too ( which if anything, that's probably gonna be my default answer to any and all out of place things from now on lol) Unfortunately, sorry to burst your bubble but Chloe didn't actually lean in for a kiss, that really was just Max's imagination getting carried away. Still, they did get caught appearing like they were just inches away from doing such a thing by Rachel, so who knows what complications and awkward questions could result from that down the line...

As for Rachel; I'll admit the ass-shaking thing felt a little weird to write and I'm not really happy with it, but I didn't know how else to represent her teasing nature in a situation like that. Besides, they were both staring at her ass after-all, and she definitely did hear what Max said to Chloe, so... how else was she supposed to keep teasing them, y'know?

Okay, I think that's everything. I probably didn't need to actually explain any of that, but I wanted to anyway. Its fun to share.

See ya'll next time, whenever that is! :)

Chapter 9: A Captivated Audience

Summary:

Chloe experiences gay panic.

Young Max catches a crush.

Future Max struggles to keep her composure.

Rachel enjoys having a captivated audience.

Notes:

Hey y'all! Surprise! No, you're not seeing things. This is in-fact a new chapter! Eight months later is better than never, right? This is what happens when you have a billion fics on the go and not enough time in the day to write them all. Though at-least I finally managed to finish this fluffy chapter, so...

Enjoy! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 9: A Captivated Audience

 

My suspicions about where Rachel was taking us were all but confirmed when she lead us down an entirely unfamiliar hallway towards the far-right end of the building, which was apparently labelled as the 'Drama Department', if the already-peeling sticker on the wall was to be believed. During my short month of attending Blackwell in the future, I'd never actually been near this part of the school, nevermind inside any of the drama classrooms, because I never had to take Drama as a subject.

 

As a student in the Extended Senior Year Program, I was only required to take the bare minimum of essential subjects, alongside my main Photography classes that my scholarship placement got me into, plus one other subject of my choice which ended up being Life Drawing, due to me not knowing what the hell else I was supposed to pick at the time. Though I presume if I got into Blackwell this September as a regular Freshman student, my schedule would be jam-packed with all the pointless and boring subjects that are being taught under it's standard curriculum, since they haven't yet begun transitioning to the Senior-oriented Academy that exists in the future. Yay!

 

So, when we followed Rachel inside one of the drama classrooms, I really wasn't sure what to expect. Part of me assumed that it would be a giant empty room with a stage at the back, or something like that, but no- well, I'd gotten the empty bit right, more-or-less, however the room was otherwise small and cramped; with no real space to act things out. Which is probably why the other two somewhat familiar-looking students already inside the room were simply standing there and reading from a script, as if they'd much rather be doing literally anything else with their free time.

 

While the three of us stood there and listened to who I soon realized were extremely cute baby-faced versions of Dana and Hayden, as they struggled to recite the cringiest words known to man, I very quickly found myself zoning out. I mean, Hayden was obviously terrible at it, yet Dana was trying her absolute best not to show any embarrassment on her face, and I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for her. Honestly, drama never really was my kind of thing anyway; I was always too much of a shy and clumsy disaster to ever be confident enough about my lack of acting skills- although according to the throbbing headache I was now receiving, at-least Max seemed to be finding their attempted exchange incredibly hilarious.

 

All of a sudden, Rachel stepped forwards, instantly re-capturing my attention as she disrupted the scene by saying, "Mr Keaton, sorry to interrupt, but does this look better? I had my mom take it in a bit."

 

She began gracefully spinning on the spot to show off her outfit, and... well, it – she – looked fantastic. On the second spin, she shot a wink at Chloe, and I could practically feel the gay panic radiating off of her- she immediately went slack-jawed, almost melting into a puddle right there on the floor next to me. Seeing her reaction in person was so much better than how future Chloe awkwardly tried to explain it, that's for damn sure.

 

The thing that really threw me though, was that Rachel then unexpectedly went in for a third spin, yet this time she also fired off a particularly saucy wink in my direction, and it took a hot second for that to actually sink in- oh dog, Rachel Amber just winked at me... Me! What the hell? This wasn't supposed to be part of the plan!

 

Luckily, unlike Chloe, I was able to keep my composure, mostly because being winked at by Rachel didn't affect me as much as it obviously had done to her, since I only had eyes for Chloe. Okay, I'd be lying if I said it didn't stir something within me... though that was nothing compared to my younger counterpart's reaction... or rather, her very suspicious lack of one.

 

I was vaguely aware of Rachel continuing her conversation with the rest of the room while acting like nothing had even happened, so I took this opportunity to turn my thoughts inward and poke some fun at my now-silent observer. "Max, oh Maaaax... why so silent, huh- you didn't faint on me, right? Don't tell me a simple wink is too much for you to handle."

 

Max's reaction was so delayed that I thought she really had somehow fainted at first, until it eventually filtered through in the form of an almost-inaudible sqeak which was far more befitting of a mouse, as she just said, "...Shut up."

 

That was really all I needed to hear, and I barely avoided spontaneously bursting out into a fit of laughter in-front of everyone, when I came to an abrupt realization; my young apprentice was totally crushing on Rachel. Ha!

 

Max's indignant response caught me by surprise. "I do NOT have a crush on her!"

 

I knew it- I fucking knew that she was hearing more of my thoughts than she let on, the sneaky little shit! "Well Max, considering you just blew your cover to protest that – of all things – I'm pretty sure you do in-fact have a crush on her- and that's okay. The problem is, so does Chloe, and us trying to insert ourselves as anything more than friends to either of them could screw up a lot of things in the future... Besides, even if that wasn't an issue, you'd still have to compete against Chloe if you truly wanted it to go anywhere, so-"

 

The frustration was obvious as Max cut me off. "So she's off-limits, I get it. But you do know that goes double for Chloe as-well, right?"

 

I frowned to myself. "Uh... what are you saying?"

 

I could almost feel her rolling her eyes. "I'm saying, I've caught enough bits and pieces from the thoughts you've tried to keep hidden from me, to know that you're constantly pining over Chloe. And if Rachel is off-limits to me because her and Chloe's relationship is so important to preserving whatever future you come from... then clearly, Chloe is also unavailable to us – I mean you – isn't she?"

 

My retort came out a bit harsher than I'd intended. "Yes, I'm very much aware of that fact, but thanks for reminding me about how I have to let Chloe fall for another person, 'cause it fucking sucks! And by the way, we are SO gonna have to talk later, about what exactly it is that you've been overhearing from my thoughts."

 

Max decided not to respond to that, and it's a good thing too, since Rachel's voice chose that moment to pull me back into the here-and-now, as she sighed, "Yeah, that is hard. We've talked about that line forever. We need a fresh perspective."

 

Then she looped an arm around both mine and Chloe's shoulders, while she lead us further into the classroom, much to Chloe's horror. "The question is: are Miranda's feelings of instant passion for Ferdinand just inexperience and dramatic circumstances or... has she actually just met the love of her life? What do you think?"

 

Shit. Even with my rewind powers, I still hated being put on the spot like this. As I said, drama never was my thing, and I had literally no idea what the hell they'd been discussing before now, so I basically froze up like a deer caught in headlights.

 

Thankfully, Chloe must've noticed because she attempted to answer first. "Miranda's an idiot because falling in love is stupid. What is she, twelve?"

 

Unfortunately, those words managed to wound me deeply, since I knew from future Chloe that she first realized that she'd developed feelings for me when she herself was twelve, so to hear her say that made it feel like she was unintentionally stabbing me right through the heart. And indeed, the glance she sent my way afterwards pretty much told me that she was thinking of me when she said it. Ouch- I suppose that despite Chloe knowing the truth about my abandonment and claiming all was forgiven, some things would take longer to heal than others...

 

There was no time to dwell on that pain and regret though, as Rachel simply hummed at Chloe's interpretation of the situation, though before Mr Keaton could voice his opinion, she turned back to me. "So, what do you think?"

 

I gulped and awkwardly cleared my throat. "Well, I don't know much about drama but this is one of those times where I'll have to disagree whole-heartedly with Chloe, because- sometimes when you meet someone who's going to change your life, you just know it, I guess..." Luckily I'd memorized those words from when Chloe had cringingly explained her original answer to me, and so I purposely stared her down, since she was now looking at everything except me, as I resolutely added, "Even if it takes longer to get there than you first expected, it doesn't mean it's not real." Quickly returning my gaze to Rachel, I finished with, "Also, you've got parents coming to see the show, right? At twenty bucks a ticket, it's got to be true love."

 

Rachel snorted at that last part, while Dana nodded in approval and exclaimed, "Wow, a romantic and a cynic. That actually kinda helps me, thanks."

 

The bell rang then, signalling five minutes until lessons started, resulting in Dana and Hayden wasting no time as they rushed out of the room, glad to finally be done with their pre-class drama practice. Mr Keaton was hot on their heels, complaining about having to teach first period improv to a class full of Freshmen next. Which meant that if we got into Blackwell in September, we'd also probably be forced to take those same classes, and I certainly wasn't looking forward to that strange man being our teacher. Then again, at-least he wasn't Samuel-the-janitor levels of weird... and now I was imaginging that poor guy trying to teach us drama classes instead- oh dog, he'd be so out of his depth!

 

When it was only the three of us left, Rachel sauntered off towards what I assumed was the dressing room while saying, "I'll just be a minute..." before popping her head back around the corner a second later and pointing across the room. "Oh, could one of you grab my belt for me? It's in my bag over there."

 

While Rachel disappeared to get changed, I glanced at Chloe and winced at the sheer distress written all over her face. She was probably realizing the implication of fetching Rachel's belt – which meant that she'd have to get up close and personal with her – because she seemed to be on the verge of passing out right now. Wowser, this was so embarrasingly adorable- and here I thought I was the gay disaster!

 

Deciding to tease her a little, I nudged her shoulder on the way towards Rachel's bag, and muttered under my breath, "Sheesh, I wasn't aware that you'd become deathly allergic to belts- take deep breaths, Chloe... In and out, you can do it."

 

Man, if looks could kill... I would've disintegrated on the spot, as she growled at me. "Very funny, smart-ass. Since you're so calm and collected, why don't you go deliver the belt, huh?"

 

Crap. That can't happen- for all I know, the simple act of Chloe not handing Rachel her belt – and losing their initial awkward sexual tension – could result in their relationship never forming.

 

Max piped up, clearly having heard my thoughts again, damn it. "Alright, now I definitely have to see this. Make it happen- preferably without Chloe vomiting all over her in the process."

 

I barely resisted snorting aloud at the image that conjured, while grimacing in sympthy when I noticed how pale Chloe was as she crouched down to rifle through Rachel's bag, and so I decided the best course of action was to meet her in the middle. "You're the one who knows her, Chloe... I don't- It'd be a bit weird if I was the one to give her the belt. So how about we compromise instead? You give her it, and I'll be standing right next to you when you do- y'know, for moral support. And that way I can be there to literally support you, after you inevitably faint from all the blood rushing to your head."

 

Chloe responded to that by flipping me the bird, and grumbled, "Ugh, fine. You jerk." then she mumbled to herself, "I'm pretty sure the blood would be going down though, not up..."

 

Either she didn't mean to say that out loud, or I wasn't supposed to hear it- regardless, as much as I wanted to call her out on it, I decided to pretend she didn't say anything, and silently raised an eyebrow when she pulled out a folded-up photograph from Rachel's bag. And Chloe calls me the nosy one!

 

Watching her unfold it, I tried to keep my expression neutral when I saw that it depicted Rachel standing next to her asshole of a father, which was made a lot harder when she hummed, "She looks so happy here..."

 

Oh, Chloe... if only you knew what was in store for her today. And although part of the plan I had involved revealing the truth to them both very soon, I still doubted it'd do much to dampen Rachel's oncoming shitstorm of fury. Well, there's only one way to find out, I guess...

 

Shaking my head, I reached a hand into the bag and retrieved Rachel's belt, casually holding it out to Chloe with a smirk while she carefully replaced the photograph. "Here you go, Chloe- it's all yours. Break a leg!"

 

Chloe gingerly grabbed the belt between her thumb and forefinger, keeping it as far away from herself as possible, yet at the same time holding it almost reverently... like she had no idea what to do with such an important item. Oh my dog, she's such a gay freaking dork.

 

Following behind as she all but stumbled her way into the dressing room, I ended up walking face-first into her back when she abruptly stopped in her tracks, staring apprehensively at the thin divider that blocked Rachel from view. If I had to guess, she was probably calculating the optimal trajectory to toss the belt over the top without having to walk around and give it to her... but where's the fun in that?

 

Once she went to throw it, I grabbed her arm to stop her and hissed, "Woah, are you trying to give her a concussion? Just hand it to her like a normal person, for dog's sake!"

 

Chloe groaned under her breath before reluctantly nodding, then she took a tentative step forward, and the next thing I know, she'd grabbed the front of my hoodie to drag me right along with her, as she oh-so-casually wandered around to the other side of the divider... and what I saw next made my mouth go completely dry.

 

Why, you ask? Oh, no biggie... it's just that Rachel was entirely topless. Sure, her back was to us, so we couldn't see anything, but that didn't stop my face from heating up as my imagination dove straight into the damn gutter. Curse these fucking teenage hormones!

 

When Max spoke, we were apparently so in sync that I assumed it was my own thought at first, as she simply said, "Wowser..." and I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from saying the exact same thing out loud, which would've undoubtedly drawn attention to our presence before Rachel could actually put her bra back on.

 

I observed – because what the hell else was I supposed to do right now – as she slipped her pale-blue bra on and attempted to clip it into place, missing the rings several times until she eventually succeeded. And that little struggle made Rachel seem all the more relatable- especially considering how everyone in my timeline constantly praised her like she was some sort of infallible goddess. But the truth is, she's a boring old human like the rest of us... Go figure.

 

Once Rachel's bra was properly secured, she suddenly spoke up without bothering to turn around, seemingly amused as she asked, "So, did you enjoy the show?"

 

Oh, shit! Okay, I take it back- perhaps Rachel isn't human, after-all. She must have super-hearing, or something. Fuck... is it worth rewinding to delay our arrival by a few more seconds so we wouldn't get caught like a pair of freaking perverts?

 

Rachel spun around then, with a shit-eating grin on her face, causing my blushing companion to choke on her own breath as she followed up with, "Did you at-least bring me flowers?"

 

Thankfully, Chloe managed to recover before things could become even more awkward, and limply held out the hand holding Rachel's belt while stuttering slightly, "N-no, just your belt, but... m-maybe next time?"

 

I winced internally at that, and Max matched it with, "Ouch... the second-hand embarrassment, it hurts so bad! Or... wait, wouldn't it be more like third-hand embarrassment for me, since I'm technically feeling it through you?"

 

Yeah, so... I might've been a little too busy trying not to openly stare at Rachel's bra-clad chest to answer that question. My only saving grace was Chloe seemed to be having the same problem. And although Rachel didn't call us out, there's no way she didn't notice. The smirk on her face spoke volumes. Ugh!

 

Rachel looked at me and planted a hand on her hip. "Y'know, I don't think it requires two people to bring me my belt..."

 

I gulped and mumbled, "I- I'm just here for... um, moral support?"

 

She glanced over in Chloe's direction and raised a single perfectly-manicured eyebrow, while dryly responding, "Naturally." Then she snorted, "Well, I sure do enjoy having a captivated audience..."

 

The drama-speak was obvious, yet I couldn't help thinking she meant it in an entirely different way. I mean, we hadn't exactly moved since she'd turned around, nor had she put her shirt back on, either. Was she waiting for us to leave first? Oh, dog... she probably was, wasn't she?

 

I was just about to physically drag Chloe away to give her some space, when Rachel proved me wrong by reaching for her shirt and throwing it on without a care in the world. Next, she grabbed the belt out of Chloe's outstretched – and very much frozen in place – hand and looped it through the hoops on the waistband of her jeans, before tightening it significantly until was able to hook the pin through the third hole.

 

Once Rachel was satisfied with the way it was fastened, she silently strode past, leaving us no choice but to awkwardly chase after her, as she veered towards the dressing room tables to check herself out in one of the wall mirrors, and exclaimed, "So. Last night was amazing. Right?"

 

Chloe nodded a little over-enthusiastically. "Definitely. That was my first time seeing Firewalk live- I think I've found my new favourite band."

 

Rachel smiled at that. "Same here. We'll have to do it again some time, for sure." she hesitated for a moment before adding, "To tell the truth, I went to bed last night wishing it never had to end. But then I thought: why? Why does it have to end?"

 

Despite this not being about me, I was a bit miffed that they weren't including me in the conversation, however... that vanished when Chloe stumbled over her reply. "Maybe it doesn't. Have to end."

 

At this rate, I might actually need to hold her upright to stop her from fainting after-all. Chloe's gay panic was real right now. Her eyes kept darting all over the place; she couldn't hold Rachel's gaze for more than a second, and she appeared to be trying her hardest to avoid looking at me. I hope she doesn't think I'd make fun of her for it. Because I absolutely will. But if she's worried that I'll have a problem with her liking girls, then she's gonna be in for quite the surprise...

 

Rachel's eyes lit up. "Exactly!" she pursed her lips in thought, then continued, "How would you like to join me on a little field trip?"

 

And just like that, Chloe suddenly remembered I was there, and unfortunately came to her senses. "Uh, I would – I mean, I was practically born to ditch – though I kinda promised to give Max a tour of BlackHell before class this morning..."

 

Her face fell, and I mentally slapped myself for it – because why the fuck did I ask for a tour when I knew this was going to happen? I'm such an idiot – then I cleared my throat to get their attention. "I- I think I can make an exception this once, Chloe. There'll be plenty of time for you to give me a tour later."

 

Chloe frowned. "Wait, Max... you're okay with me ditching school? Seriously?"

 

I shrugged at that. "No, not really- but it's not like I have the right to tell you what to do anymore, is it? And besides... I'd be quite the hypocrite if I did, since I literally just ran away from my home in Seattle to come here."

 

Rachel clearly didn't understand what I was talking about, yet her eyebrows shot up in surprise at that last part. "Wow. After what I saw you do at Firewalk, I knew you were hardcore... but damn, that's super hardcore. So even-though we only met last night, you're more than welcome to join us. I'd love to get to know you- both of you, actually."

 

My face warmed at the unexpected praise, and I forced myself to look away from her intense gaze while doing my best to shrug non-chalantly. "Eh, sure- why not? I have nothing better to do, anyway."

 

The excitement in her voice was unmistakable. "I hoped you'd say that." she paused, and I could feel her eyes continuing to burn into me, as she asked, "Hold on- what's that? Hey, Max... could you do me a huge favour, and take off your hoodie?"

 

I froze on the spot – subconsciously clutching at my left wrist – while sending a panicked glance over at Chloe, who thankfully caught it and must've realized why I definitely didn't want to do that, because she sharply interjected, "No. She can't. Why?"

 

The tone in her voice threw Rachel off for a moment, although she quickly recovered. "Um, can you at-least pull down her collar, then? I think I saw something on her neck, that's all."

 

Chloe did as she asked, albeit confused, though when she yanked down my collar, whatever she saw there made her eyes go wide. "Oh, shit."

 

I gripped my elbow self-consciously. "What's wrong?"

 

Rachel pulled a face and stepped around me, as she put her hands on my arms. "Here, see for yourself..."

 

Then she turned me to look at the mirror, and my jaw dropped at the sight of the hand-shaped bruise around my neck. "Woah, where the hell did that come from?!"

 

Max winced in my head. "Jeez, that looks painful..."

 

Chloe grimaced. "That skeevy asshole last night- the one who picked you up from behind after you stepped in to help me. You're such a skinny short-stack that he only needed to use one arm to lift you. The other... well, he grabbed your throat. Why do you think I smacked him in the face with my beer bottle?"

 

I blinked in surprise. "Huh. I didn't even feel it at the time. I mean, I was kinda busy trying not to go splat in the mosh pit down below."

 

Rachel shuffled her feet guiltily. "Ugh, this is... partly my fault. I should've intervened sooner."

 

I frowned at that. "What do you mean, sooner?"

 

She groaned under her breath. "Those two dickheads had been trying to start shit with other people all night. I saw Chloe bump into them and go upstairs, then I overheard them talking about going up there to mess with her, so I followed. I was about to call them out when Max materialized out of the damn shadows and beat me to it. I didn't even know anyone else was up there. And when you casually threatened to break one of their fingers, I just... froze, I'm not really sure why. Curiosity, I guess? I kinda wanted to see what someone as small – no offense – as you could do to two brutes like them. Everything happened so fast after that; by the time I realized you actually seemed to have some sort of death wish, and I had managed to find my fucking voice... I honestly thought I was about to watch you get thrown off and die. I never should've let it get that far, and I definitely shouldn't have frozen like I did. Seriously, I don't feeze- ever. So... I'm sorry."

 

Well, I certainly hadn't been expecting her to confess something like that... and I simply shrugged in response. "It's fine. I've had worse. And it doesn't even hurt, really. I wouldn't have noticed it if you didn't point it out."

 

She pursed her lips for a moment, and was probably about to question what I meant by 'I've had worse', when she hesitated, then instead asked, "Will you at-least let me cover it with some makeup? It's... the least I can do. Besides, my makeup skills are legendary. Please?"

 

I was going to refuse at first, because I've never been a fan of wearing makeup, but when Rachel pulled off an adorable impression of sad puppy-dog eyes – something that I never expected to see from her – my resolve crumbled way faster than I was comfortable with, and I reluctantly nodded in defeat. "O-Okay... fine, I guess. You win."

 

Rachel smiled. "Great choice. I promise you're not gonna regret it. As long as you stay still, that is." then she glanced at Chloe and added, "Hold her collar down for me, would you? I don't want to get any makeup on her hoodie by accident."

 

Chloe complied, and shot a cheeky wink at me while Rachel was busy trying to find the makeup she needed.

 

I just rolled my eyes in response. I wasn't gonna let her turn me into a blushing mess right now. Or should I say, make me an even worse blushing mess than I already was. Damn it, at this rate, keeping my distance from Chloe – and Rachel – was going to be much harder than I thought...

 

Eventually, Rachel found what she was looking for and returned with a ridiculously large amount of makeup caked onto her fingers- the only warning she gave before pressing them to my neck was, "Remember: be a good girl and don't move."

 

Okay, so I might've built up a resistance to Chloe's ability to make me blush, but when Rachel said that... well, I'm pretty sure my face resembled a tomato now. Gah, would these bullshit hormones just go away already? Now was not the time for me to be losing my cool! Thank dog I wasn't able to see my reflection in the mirror, since Chloe was currently peering over Rachel's shoulder – a lot closer than she probably should be – and blocking it from my view, while also sticking her tongue out at me like the infuriating brat that she is.

 

As Rachel began delicately applying the makeup to my throat, Max decided to get in on the teasing as payback for my earlier comments. "Damn, that's nice... isn't it? And don't even bother pretending it's not, I won't believe you for a second. Rachel has the magic touch- if you don't want to experience it, let me take over so I can feel it for myself."

 

I scoffed internally. "And have you melt into a puddle on the floor before she's even half-way finished? Not a chance. We can't risk your little crush on her messing up the timeline somehow. So until you can get a handle on it, I think it's best if I stay in control for a while. I have the maturity to survive their intimacy and joking around, you don't."

 

She snarked back in return. "Uh huh. And how's that going for you so far, Miss Tomato Face?"

 

Not well, clearly. But I wasn't going to tell her that. I just had to sit there and endure it, hoping Rachel couldn't feel how fast my heart was beating. Although she probably could, considering her fingers were pressed directly onto the pulse-point of my neck at the moment... which may or may not be a very sensitive spot for me. So to say that the feather-light stroking of her fingertips was starting to drive me a little crazy would be a vast understatement. Oh dog, please be almost finished- otherwise I might actually be the one melting into a damn puddle soon. And if that happened, Chloe would never ever let me forget it...

 

Finally, after what felt like a literal freaking eternity, Rachel pulled her fingers away, then stepped back to let me check out her handiwork in the mirror, and my eyes widened at the now-invisible bruising. "Wowser, your makeup skills really are legendary. I can't see the bruise at all anymore. Or tell that I'm even wearing makeup, for that matter. This wasn't neccessary, but thank you."

 

Rachel gave me an overly-dramatic bow, before wiping her hands clean. "You're welcome. So, ladies... are we ditching this shithole or what?"

 

Chloe fist-pumped the air, because of-course she did. "Hell yeah! Let's get out of here. Preferrably before Miss Grant pops up and tries to drag me off to Chemistry class."

 

I raised an eyebrow in her direction. "I thought you used to like science and chemistry?"

 

She shrugged. "If it's not a practical class, I couldn't give a fuck. Miss Grant is a nice teacher, don't get me wrong... however, the non-practical 'sit down and read a textbook for an hour' classes are so boring that I'm almost guaranteed to fall asleep in the first ten minutes. I love blowing shit up, you know that."

 

I shook my head in disbelief, as we left the drama department behind. "Yes, because blowing up the barbie dolls that you were too old to play with in the middle of your bedroom using a firecracker of all things was such a brilliant idea, Chloe..."

 

When we exited Blackwell's main building, Rachel and I had already formed an unspoken agreement to mercilessly make fun of Chloe's penchant for explosives for the entire duration of our trek through town, all while she fruitlessly attempted to quiz Rachel on where we were going. Naturally, I already knew the answer, yet Chloe didn't... and despite being insanely long-legged, the walk was already tiring her out. Aww, such a poor lanky baby!

 

She immediately stopped complaining after I dared to ask if we needed to carry her the rest of the way, though; Chloe's pride wasn't gonna let that happen unless her feet actually fell off- even then, she'd force herself to walk on the bloody stumps rather than admit defeat, especially to the likes of me. I swear, Chloe could be ridiculously stubborn sometimes, just like her mother...

Notes:

I'm not sure if my current writing priorities have shifted just yet, but this one is starting to grab my attention again so if you're lucky, maybe it won't take another eight months for the next chapter. Hopefully.

See ya'll next time, whenever that is! :)

Chapter 10: Two Truths And A Lie

Summary:

The Maxes join Chloe and Rachel on a mysterious train ride.

Future Max gets dragged into Chloe and Rachel's infamous game of Two Truths And A Lie.

Young Max turns out to be an insightful little shit.

Teasing and awkwardness ensues.

Notes:

Hey, ya'll- look who's still alive! Happy belated Storm Week (and birthday to me), folks! I was kinda hoping to get this out in time for Storm Day, except I had some last minute edits to make, so here it is a week later than planned. And it only took six months to release this time! Ugh. At-least it wasn't eight months like the previous chapter, though. That's still an improvement, right? Oh, and to make up for yet another lengthy writing absence, this chapter will be a bit longer than normal, so...

Enjoy! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

 

Chapter 10: Two Truths And A Lie

 

Once we reached the northern outskirts of town – hitch-hiking along the exact same route I'd taken on the bus from the Junkyard into town earlier this morning – a hauntingly-familiar water tower came into view, standing tall above the tree-line in the distance, and I shuddered at the unrelenting onslaught of memories that it threatened to bring back to the surface.

 

And of-course, because I have such terrible luck, Rachel pointed directly at it. "That ugly monstrosity over there is our destination. Or should I say, step one of the journey towards our proper destination."

 

I couldn't help groaning. "Are you sure you don't want to just grab the bus? There's a stop right down the road. It would make this so much faster."

 

Rachel shook her head. "Nope. If we're gonna go rogue, we're doing it right." She turned around to walk backwards, and asked, "So I take it you're not a fan of the outdoors, then? That's a shame. I kinda think there's something peaceful about being one with nature."

 

Chloe mock-gagged. "Oh no- Max, run away, quick! I figured it out: she's trying to take us camping!"

 

I snorted at her antics. "Hey, that's fine by me... because I do enjoy the outdoors, actually. All this cardio on the other hand? Not so much."

 

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Calm yourself, Price. We are not going camping- we'd need tents and shit for that, anyway. Although, that's certainly an idea for another day. It can be incredibly relaxing to sit and watch the stars at night, you should try it some time. And it'd be nice to have company for a change."

 

Chloe scoffed. "You'd have to get me very drunk before that ever happens."

 

She raised an eyebrow response. "I'm sure that can be arranged. But in the mean-time, I guess I'll simply have to invite your companion instead. What do you say, Max? Are you up for a little stargazing- tonight perhaps?"

 

Well, shit. I didn't see that coming. If I say yes, it'll upset Chloe. But if I say no, it'll upset Rachel. And she did say she wanted to get to know me – us – better, and I can't deny that I also wanted to find out what made her seem so... ethereal to everyone back in my timeline...

 

So against my better judgement, I shot her a smile. "You know what? Screw it, I'm in. I've never gone stargazing before." then I narrowed my eyes at Chloe, trying not to let the betrayal on her face affect me, as I added, "So I suppose Chloe will just have to get herself drunk and join us... unless she'd rather be left out, that is?"

 

Chloe hissed at me. "Ugh, fine! Damn you, Max- you dirty stinkin' traitor!"

 

The glare she was giving me made my fingers itch for my polaroid camera so I could immortalize and frame it forever. Which reminded me- it wasn't that far away; we were close to the turn-off into the Junkyard now, where Max had ballsily decided to leave our messenger bag in the Hideout next to our duffel bag of other essentials – what, you thought she didn't bring it from Seattle? Hah! That camera is our most prized possesion, and it coming with us to Arcadia Bay was already a fore-gone conclusion, since it was even more important than our trusty teddy bear Captain – so I opted to take a detour and go get it. No doubt there'd be plenty of opportunities to use it where we were going, and quite frankly I felt naked without it.

 

I cleared my throat. "Uh, guys... I need to grab something real quick. It'll only take me a minute- keep going, I'll meet you at the water tower. Don't worry, I know the way there."

 

Then I sprinted off before they could ask where I was going, or how I knew how to get to that damn water tower on my own. Thankfully, they didn't try to follow me, either. Otherwise that would've ruined the surprise reveal on the way back from... you know, Rachel's true destination. Sorry, Max. Spoilers are spoilers.

 

As I sped past the American Rust welcome-sign, I almost tripped over my own feet from the force of the thump that came from inside my skull. "I'm really starting to get annoyed at being kept in the dark. It feels like you're doing it just to be an asshole now, so knock it off. And you better not have been lying about the truth coming out today, or I swear-"

 

I rapidly cut her off, while jogging inside the Hideout. "Sorry. I wasn't- I promise. I'm not sure exactly how much I'll be revealing to Chloe and Rachel straight away, but this so-called field trip we're being taken on has an ulterior motive; one that will definitely require me to divulge at-least some information that I've become aware of from the future. So brace yourself, because this day is probably gonna go downhill soon, even with my helpful intervention. That's all I can say for now."

 

When she didn't respond, I swiftly grabbed the messenger bag – double-checking our camera remained safely inside it – and high-tailed my ass towards the train tracks that ran past the Junkyard, following them all the way to the right until I reached the water tower. Which coincidentally, just so happened to be the place where Chloe got her freaking foot stuck in the tracks. Because the universe was clearly doing its' best to torture me at this point. Dog motherfucking damn it!

 

Surprisingly, I was the first to arrive. So either going through the Junkyard turned out to be a weird shortcut, or Chloe was dragging her feet. Most likely it was the latter. And as much as I tried to ignore it, I was unable to tear my gaze away from that spot- you know, the one where Chloe got pancaked several times over before I could find the right solution to stop it from happening...

 

I was so distracted by staring at it, that I almost jumped out of my skin at the sound of Chloe's voice next to my ear – I hadn't even heard her coming – as she said, "Jeez, Max- if you glare at those tracks any harder, you'll melt them and destroy the remains of Arcadia Bay's already-dead wood-cutting industry. What's the problem?"

 

It was a herculean effort to pull my eyes up to meet hers. "Nothing... I- I'm fine."

 

Rachel walked into view and furrowed her brows in concern. "Are you sure?"

 

I shook my head roughly, in an attempt to dislodge the scene that'd been playing on a loop, and mumbled, "Y-Yeah. It's just... uh, please stay away from the tracks, okay?"

 

When they both nodded in confusion, I headed up the incline towards the small building, and made damn sure they stayed there while we waited for Rachel's supposed 'ride' to turn up. Unsurprisingly, it was the train itself... though not just any train- it was #1337 to be precise; the very same train responsible for pancaking Chloe in the first place, the one we'd originally arrived on yesterday, and also the one Chloe was playing chicken with last night. So I guess the wood-cutting industry really was dead, if there's literally only a single functioning train left in service. No doubt thanks to the Prescotts and their relentless choke-hold on the town. I'll simply have to add it to the list of things I need to fix, now that I'm here...

 

Rachel was the first to leap into the open carriage as it passed by – flawlessly, might I add – and I was adamant that Chloe went next, just incase she slipped and... I dunno, got her leg snagged under the train or some bullshit, which honestly wouldn't have shocked me in the slightest if she did. Thankfully, no such thing happened- although I certainly didn't envy how hard her stomach had collided with the edge, as she quickly scrambled inside.

 

Then it was my turn. You know- Max Caulfield, the clumsy disaster extraordinaire... And need I remind you; it was literally pure luck that I'd managed to get into the moving train on my own last time when we were fleeing from Seattle, yet now I had to do it all over again with an audience, and preferrably without abusing my powers. So yeah, this totally won't go horribly wrong, will it?

 

To my extreme surprise, however... I managed to succeed without making a fool of myself. Sure, Chloe and Rachel still had to help pull me up – and I might've also smacked my knee pretty damn hard on the side of the carriage in the process – but at-least I made it in one piece. No rewinding necessary- I'd call that a win.

 

Chloe groaned as I climbed unsteadily to my feet. "Where does this thing go?"

 

Rachel hummed, unsure. "North? Maybe we'll end up in Seattle."

 

I scoffed at that. "Nah, you'll have to switch trains a few times just to reach Portland from here, never-mind Seattle. The furthest this goes is... Astoria, I think?"

 

Chloe raised an eyebrow in my direction while attempting to drag a box closer to the one Rachel was perching on. "And you know that, how?"

 

I shrugged in return. "How do you think I got here, Chloe? It's not like my Dad dropped me off in the car. I had to catch a greyhound to Portland, then freight-hop the rest of the way. I actually arrived in town on this exact same train, believe it or not."

 

Rachel studied me for a moment. "So... you really ran away from home?"

 

I grimaced. "In the middle of the night, yeah. Okay, to be fair, it was half-sanctioned by my Dad; who caught me in the act and decided to let me come here anyway. My... Mom... on the other hand, had no idea I was gone until she woke up this morning. That certainly wasn't a fun phone call, is all I'll say."

 

Hoping to avoid more questions on the topic, I busied myself with inspecting the contents of the carriage. It's not that I didn't want to explain to Rachel why I – or we, if you count my younger counterpart – ran away to Arcadia Bay, it just... wasn't important right now. This train ride was about her and Chloe, and I didn't want to risk derailing things, so to speak.

 

A minute of uncomfortable silence went by, and I watched in my peripheral vision as Chloe anxiously shuffled in place on her new-found make-shift box seat, before she abruptly blurted out, "It's nice Rachel we're having."

 

Rachel chuckled at her in surprise. "What?"

 

It took Chloe a hot second to realize her mistake, and she rushed to correct herself. "I mean weather! It's nice weather."

 

Rachel nodded in disbelief, as she stared over Chloe's shoulder at me. "It sure is."

 

Upon catching her eye, I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer and crumpled to the floor in hysterics, barely avoiding knocking a stacked crate over. Jeez... I knew Chloe was most likely going to say that, but holy shit- no amount of mentally preparing myself would've been enough to hear it person and .still manage to keep a straight face.

 

Chloe's ears burned scarlet, as she whirled around to glare in my direction. "Are you fucking finished?"

 

I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt, and it was all I could do just to squeak out, "O-obviously... n-not..." in-between bouts of giggling, while I quite literally rolled around on the floor like a little child.

 

Max spoke up, sounding incredulous. "Oh my dog... please tell me we're never gonna let her live that down, 'cause it was freaking hilarious."

 

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from distractedly responding to her out loud. "No, we most certainly aren't letting her forget it. Future Chloe might've told me about this particular exchange, and... even hearing her explain it then made me cringe with second-hand embarrassment. Poor Chloe, she was – and is definitely gonna be – hella nervous for this entire train ride. It's so adorable."

 

Rachel looked between us with amusement, and my laughter must've been infectious since she eventually started snickering again herself at the increasingly indignant yet mortified expression on Chloe's face, as she proved my point by asking, "Nervous much?" Though when Chloe went to refute that, she shrugged, "I get it. I mean- it's kinda weird that we're hanging out."

 

Chloe frowned at her. "Because I don't hang out with anyone and I don't have friends?"

 

Rachel instantly gestured towards me, whilst I struggled to drag myself back into an upright position. "You have friends."

 

Chloe chewed on the inside of her cheek, before slowly shaking her head. "Max... doesn't count. Or, she didn't until last night." She quickly threw me an apologetic glance. "Other than her, I really don't have any friends- Max was the only true friendship I'd made growing up, and that didn't change even after she moved away to Seattle..."

 

Rachel nodded in understanding. "That sucks."

 

The three of us lapsed into another awkward silence for a few seconds, until it was suddenly pierced by the obnoxious sound of several loud hiccups being fired in rapid succession... which came from me, because of-fucking-course it did. Insert groan here.

 

Chloe gave me a smug grin. "That's what you get for laughing, you jerk."

 

Max teasingly jumped in. "Yup, this our karma alright. Maybe you shouldn't have overdone it by rolling on the floor so much?"

 

I huffed in defiance; more at Max's comment than Chloe's, because if the concept of karma actually existed then the universe was absolutely making sure it all fell on my head and nobody else's as a punishment for what I was attempting to do. "Oh, come on – hic – it was funny! Right, Rachel?"

 

She casually inspected her fingernails. "Well, she's got a point, Chloe. And besides, I'm never gonna shoot down such a nice compliment. Sorry, I couldn't resist."

 

Chloe exaggeratedly rolled her eyes. "Ugh." Then she cleared her throat. "Hey, so... I want to say thanks."

 

Rachel blinked in confusion at the subject change. "For pulling you out of school?"

 

Chloe snorted. "No, dummy. Thanks for last night."

 

Rachel simply said, "Ah."

 

Chloe sighed. "If you hadn't shown up..."

 

Rachel pursed her lips. "Like I said earlier: assholes abound in Arcadia Bay."

 

Chloe hummed in agreement. "I owe you, that's for sure. So does Max."

 

Rachel frowned. "Is that why you came along?"

 

Chloe scoffed at her. "Are you suggesting I should need a reason to ditch school?"

 

Rachel leaned forward. "I bet you're wondering what we're doing."

 

Chloe nodded. "The thought occured, yeah."

 

Rachel fidgeted with her feather earring before answering. "Well... I wanted some company."

 

Chloe's eyebrows raised. "That's it?"

 

Rachel non-chalantly shrugged. "That's it."

 

Chloe crossed her arms. "Try again. I'm gonna need more to go on than that."

 

I couldn't stop myself from butting in. "Yeah – hic – ugh, sorry- me too."

 

Rachel tilted her head inquisitively. "Joyrides with me aren't fun?"

 

Chloe shot back with, "Joyrides to where, again?"

 

Rachel planted a hand on her hip. "Life needs a little mystery, Chloe."

 

Then she moved to sit on the floor instead. "Let's do something fun."

 

Chloe casually retorted with, "V-Card's been punched, Rachel. I'm sorry."

 

Her dumb joke caught me so off-guard, I stupidly choked on my own breath, and it took me a while to register how my hands had curled into fists at the reminder of what Eliot had done to her. Thankfully, Chloe didn't notice it... however, I got the feeling Rachel caught the expression on my face for the split-second it was there before I'd managed to hide it. Whatever- I'll deal with it later, if I had to.

 

Rachel's eyes widened as her gaze flicked from me to Chloe, and she dramatically exclaimed, "Wow!"

 

Chloe snorted. "Too far?"

 

Rachel laughed nervously, her usual confidence momentarily slipping. "Well, I don't know..."

 

Chloe rubbed her hands together in anticipation. "Okay, something fun. I'm all ears."

 

Rachel's idea of fun was exactly what I thought it would be. "Two truths and a lie."

 

Although, Chloe must not have seen it coming, because she simply questioned, "What?"

 

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I think we should play two truths and a lie. It's a game where each person offers up three facts about themselves, two of which are the truth, and one of which is..."

 

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "A lie?"

 

Rachel nodded in confirmation. "Right. And then the other person has to guess which is which. But since there's three of us, perhaps we should change the rules a little; if all of a person's facts are correctly guessed, then they must also confess an additional fact at the end of the game – one they weren't comfortable admitting otherwise – and unlike the rest, they aren't allowed to lie about it."

 

Chloe joined Rachel on the floor. "Sounds fun. You're on. Get your butt over here, Max."

 

And just like that, my anxiety spiked. I hadn't expected them to want to include me in their game, yet in hindsight I probably should've. Regardless, I can't say I liked that extra rule; I didn't plan on cheating – well, not exactly – usage of my powers was out of the equation, yet the knowledge I'd gained from the future wasn't something I could actively ignore, so I certainly had the upper hand compared to them. Still, if they got all of my facts right, I was basically doomed...

 

I reluctantly shuffled across the floor to sit sideways between Chloe and Rachel, facing the wilderness outside as it sped past in a blur of greenery. "I'm probably gonna regret playing this, but screw it... you only live once, right?"

 

Rachel's eyes gleamed. "Now that is my kind of language. I like you, Max- we're gonna get along great."

 

Infuriatingly, I blushed heavily at that. Fuck these stupid shitty hormones!

 

Max's snarky comment made me want to launch myself out of the damn train. "So, how long do you think you'll keep blaming your own feelings on my body's hormones? And before you deny it, remember- we're literally the same person; you might be older, and have more life experience than I do, though it doesn't change the facts: we're both crushing on the two girls in-front of us. The difference is, I'm not trying to hide it..."

 

You've got to be kidding me. There's no freaking way I had a crush on Rachel! Sure, she was a thousand times more beautiful in person than her pictures in the future made her out to be, and yeah, Chloe had already fallen hard for her at this point – she'd told me as much – but what my younger counterpart was claiming is quite frankly ridiculous. I was madly in love with Chloe; I always have been and always will be, so the idea of having feelings for Rachel was absurd. Why would I? I mean... I was here in the past, doing this whole thing, just for Chloe. Because my love for her transcends time itself. Heck, I'm even doing it despite knowing in this timeline she'll be happy and alive with Rachel- that's how strong my love is for her, I'm willingly giving it up so she can be happy without me, for fuck sakes!

 

And because she was an annoying snoop, Max responded directly to my inner-most rambling thoughts. "Maybe you're right and it is just the hormones. But what if it isn't? Think about it; you say you've always loved Chloe, and I totally agree with you since I do too, yet you've held onto our crush on Chloe for... four years more than I have, right? So, if you've only ever had eyes for Chloe until now, then perhaps you're noticing your reactions to Rachel because it's something new and different. You might've gotten used to your feelings when you're around Chloe, unlike me, though neither of us can say the same when it comes to Rachel. Thanks to that extra time, you simply love Chloe far more than I do, which is why I have no issue admitting the fact I have a crush on both of them. The problem is, if you refuse to accept your feelings for Rachel, it could make it a lot harder to achieve whatever it is you're here to do. After-all, we know what happens when we encounter uncomfortable situations... our anxiety convinces us to avoid them entirely- like we did to Chloe..."

 

I groaned inwardly. "Ugh... I didn't realize I was such an insightful little shit at fourteen."

 

The smirk in her reply was impossible to miss. "Yeah, well... if I was in control of my body, I'd be sticking my tongue out at you now. Seriously though, you know I'm right, don't you? Go on- be honest."

 

Before I had the chance to confirm or deny such a bullshit claim, Rachel's honeyed voice snapped me back to the present. "Earth to Max, are you still with us?"

 

Blinking rapidly, I sheepishly grabbed my elbow when I saw both her and Chloe were staring at me. "S-Sorry, I was... uh, miles away."

 

Chloe snorted. "Not everything changes, I see."

 

Rachel smiled at me. "With how zoned out you were, I hope it was somewhere... nice."

 

I felt my cheels heating up then, and I almost slapped myself in frustration. Why the hell did that make me blush? She didn't even say anything inappropriate!

 

When all I did was silently shrug in return and stare into my lap, I watched her lips quirk upwards in my peripheral vision – so she no doubt noticed my face turning into a tomato for no fucking reason whatsoever – as she cleared her throat. "I'll repeat what I was saying for Max's benefit; I'm starting, and my facts are as follows: First, I'm ambidextrous-" She theatrically waved her hands at us, and continued, "Second, I was born in New York, the land of fashion and broadway, to which I will one day return when my heinous exile here in Arcadia Bay comes to an end-"

 

Chloe interrupted her before she could finish. "New York, huh? I've never been."

 

Rachel leaned back against the box she'd been using as her seat. "Not a world traveller?"

 

Chloe shrugged. "Not yet, at-least."

 

Rachel raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Russia, Greece... Kathmandu?"

 

Chloe hummed in thought for a moment, then answered, "Kathmandu?"

 

From the way she said it, I couldn't quite tell if it was a statement or a question- either way, Rachel boldly responded by claiming, "One day, I'm going to climb Everest."

 

Wowser, and here I thought moving away from Arcadia Bay was ambitious... yet even so, I glanced down at my rewind hand and vowed to myself; bold or not, I was gonna make damn sure she had the chance to try this time.

 

Chloe stretched her legs out on the carriage floor, nudging Rachel's foot. "What's your third thing?"

 

She frowned in confusion. "My third thing?"

 

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Two truths and a lie. You say three things-"

 

Rachel eyes widened as reality dawned on her- apparently I wasn't the only one who got distracted sometimes. "Right! I'm a Leo. Meow."

 

Her hand turned into claws, and she pretended to take a swipe at us. Which I can't deny, it was utterly freaking adorable, and... oh, okay- fine! Maybe I did have a slight crush on Rachel, damn it. Are you happy now, Max?!

 

Luckily, she didn't answer me. Probably because she could tell I wasn't in the mood for an 'I told you so'. Still, I could almost sense the shit-eating grin she would've give me, had she been able to.

 

To be fair, Chloe was practically swooning from Rachel's power-move, though she chose to act like it hadn't affected her and focused on recounting the facts. "Okay, so... ambidextrous, born in New York, and a Leo. Gotcha."

 

Rachel nodded. "So, which is the lie? And I should've said this earlier, but you'll both need to agree on it before I accept an answer."

 

Chloe tapped her chin in thought. "Hmm... I'm not sure I buy the ambidextrous claim. What about you, Max?"

 

I didn't actually know the answer to this one, but since I already knew the lie was New York, there was a pretty good chance of it being true. Unless Rachel was cheating. Although she seemed like the type of person who took these games seriously.

 

So I shrugged in response. "Hey, it could be possible, you never know. And I'm inclined to believe her- call it a gut instinct."

 

Rachel just sat there, amused and stony-faced, giving absolutely nothing away to show I was right.

 

Chloe huffed. "Alright, I guess I'll go with you on this, since you've always been more observant than me. So, what about her being a Leo? She seems way too lucky to be one, if you ask me."

 

Well, I happened to know exactly when Rachel's birthday was, and she was technically on the cusp of being both Cancer and Leo, but I doubt she was considering such a technicality when she said it. And besides...

 

I shook my head at her.. "Nah, she's definitely a Leo. I mean, come on- there's no way she didn't rehearse that cute imitation of a cat in the mirror at home several dozen times in preparation for the day she finally got to tell someone her zodiac sign. It was a little too perfect."

 

That got a rise out of Rachel, as she raised a single perfectly-manicured eyebrow at me. "Cute, huh?"

 

Shit... I didn't mean to say that part out loud. Damn it- don't blush, don't blush, don't you dare fucking blush!

 

Max decided to pipe up. "Oooh- you walked right into that one."

 

I groaned inwardly. "Please, as if you weren't thinking the exact same thing."

 

Chloe grinned out of the corner of my eye. "Hey Rachel, do you have any eggs on hand? I could probably fry them on Max's face from how hot it is right now."

 

Rachel giggled. "I'm all out, unfortunately." Then she smirked mischeviously and added, "So, you think Max's face is hot?"

 

Chloe sputtered in surprise. "What? No! I mean, yes... but not like that- ugh!"

 

I peeked up to see her own face had turned a similar shade of crimson to mine, and couldn't help the snort that slipped out. "Ha! That backfired on you, didn't it?"

 

Chloe wordlessly glared daggers in my direction, promising retribution.

 

Max grumbled in my head. "Pfft. Our face isn't hot..."

 

I snickered to myself. "Oh, Max- if only you knew. It's the freckles... they tend to have this effect on her. One of our best features, as far as I'm concerned."

 

At-least Rachel was merciful enough to not tease either of us any further, and gave us a few seconds to compose ourselves before clearing her throat. "Anyway... where were we? Ah yes, you were about to decide on my third fact. So...?"

 

Eager to get a little payback, I forced myself to make eye contact with her. "New York is the lie."

 

She tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "And what makes you think that?"

 

I non-chalantly shrugged, continuing to stare her down. "You just don't strike me as someone from New York- I'd say you're more of a Cali girl. In-fact, I bet you grew up in Long Beach, and love constantly saying the word 'Hella'. Am I right?"

 

Rachel's jaw dropped- I'd hit the nail on the head and caught her completely off-guard; the expression on her face was something I'd never forget – the time I bested the enigmatic Rachel Amber at her own damn game – as she shakily gasped, "H-How... how the fuck did you do that? Literally nobody in Arcadia Bay knows where I grew up. You two were going to be the first... I was gonna tell you, but only if you guessed the lie correctly, so how could you possibly already know I'm from Long Beach?!"

 

I smirked back at her. "Oh, I dunno... maybe if you get all my facts right, you'll find out."

 

She narrowed her eyes challengingly. "You're so on. But in that case, we'll save yours for last-" She recomposed herself and turned to Chloe. "Okay, you're up, Price."

 

Chloe stared at the roof of the carriage in thought. "First fact. Right..." After a moment, she answered, "I once broke my hand punching Stephanie Kowalski in fifth grade."

 

Rachel's eyebrows raised. "No way."

 

Chloe shrugged. "Bitch took my Yoo-hoo. Knocked her the fuck out."

 

I barely managed to hide my incredulous expression, because I was there for the Stephanie Kowalski incident- that is absolutely not what happened, and she knows I know it. Ugh, I hope she's not trying to give easy ones on purpose to test how much I remembered of our friendship while I was in Seattle...

 

Max's disappointed sigh made me wince. "She probably is. Though it's kinda impossible not to remember 'The Kow'. I mean, she was literally the only girl at school who could beat Chloe in a fight, and the stolen Yoo-hoo incident proved it. Chloe didn't knock her out at all; it was practically the opposite... if we hadn't stumbled upon their fight when we did and tried to get involved, I shudder to imagine what could've happened to Chloe. Good thing that bitch wasn't one of our usual bullies."

 

The memory of that day flashed in my mind, and I cringed. "Ah yes, our first fight. Certainly not a fun one. I seem to recall earning a bloody nose in our attempt to help Chloe, but it was absolutely worth it. I believe that was the event which truly cemented our friendship, since it'd gone full circle at that point; she was always the one who defended us from bullies, and yet in the moment we didn't even hesitate, did we? We could've stayed on the side-lines, or ran away entirely, like we always had before. Instead, we jumped straight in to protect Chloe from her own bully. And from then on, we became inseperable..."

 

Rachel's gaze fell to Chloe's hand, interrupting my musing as she stated, "I see you like to write notes to yourself."

 

Chloe awkwardly tried to hide it from view, while replying, "Helps me stay focused."

 

Rachel nodded knowingly. "Also, sweet scar."

 

Chloe cleared her throat, hesitating briefly before giving her second fact. "I used to love country music when I was a kid. Now it makes me want to throw up. Literally."

 

Rachel binked in confusion. "That's... weird."

 

Not to me. I knew exactly why it would have such an effect on her; William always – and I mean always – played country music on the radio in his car, so there's no doubt he was listening to it when he died, and I visibly grimaced at that. Oh, Chloe...

 

She must've known I was seconds away from trying to hug her and ruining the game, since she quickly moved onto her final fact after shooting me a sad smile. "I used to want to be a pirate when I grew up. I kind of still do."

 

Rachel's eyes lit up. "Arrrrr."

 

Huh- I'd been expecting her to scoff or laugh at that one. Interesting...

 

Then she gently reached out to take Chloe's hand. "You're hella mysterious, Chloe Price."

 

Chloe frowned slightly. "Uh... hella? You actually say that?"

 

Rachel glanced suspiciously in my direction. "Apparently so, yes... It's a Cali thing. Anyway, I think I have your number."

 

She almost-reluctantly pulled her hand away, and hummed in thought, "I'm not sure why country music makes you throw up..."

 

Chloe simply responded with, "I'm a complex girl, Rachel."

 

I couldn't stifle my chuckle that time, and Chloe threw an annoyed look my way, before turning back around to face Rachel.

 

Once she'd regained Chloe's attention, Rachel continued, "But I think it's probably true. Also, I kind of like the Dixie Chicks."

 

Chloe groaned. "You and David, both. No accounting for taste."

 

Rachel's brows furrowed. "Who's David?"

 

Unbeknownst to them, I winced at her question. Damn it, Rachel. You just had to go and open that can of worms, didn't you?

 

Chloe shifted uncomfortably. "He's, ah... the guy my Mom's seeing, I guess."

 

Rachel blinked in surprise. "Oh." She tilted her head inquisitively. "And you don't like him?"

 

Chloe sighed awkwardly. "It's still... so weird that she's dating someone. My Dad and my Mom... they were totally in love. You can tell how fucked up she is now, just by how she's settling for David. He's this total hardass ex-military jag-off type. Like, the opposite of my Dad."

 

Rachel's expression filled with sympathy. "Oh, that sucks."

 

Chloe shrugged a shoulder. Yeah. David has no respect. He acts like I'm some kind of problem to solve. Sometimes I am a problem, though."

 

I bristled, ready to shut that shit down, yet Rachel's gaze suddenly hardened, and she managed to beat me to it. "That's a load of bullshit."

 

Chloe's eyes widened at her sharp tone. "What do you mean?"

 

This time I interjected before Rachel could answer, and reached forward to tentatively place a hand on her forearm. "You're not a problem, Chloe. You're a person. And my best friend.".

 

Max spoke up in agreement. "You're dog-damn right she is."

 

Chloe huffed dejectedly. "Yeah, sure- you're only saying that because you're my best friend. You have to tell me that. But it doesn't make it any less true."

 

Rachel's hand abruptly shot out to mirror mine on Chloe's opposite forearm, while she growled in disbelief. "Well, if you won't believe your best friend – who already took the words out of my mouth – then believe me instead, a complete stranger, when I reiterate: You are not a problem, Chloe. You. Are. A. Person." Her lips curved upwards, and she leaned over to whisper in my ear just loud enough for Chloe to catch, "And a hella sexy one, too. Am I right?"

 

Chloe's throat bobbed with emotion just as she overheard the last part, causing her to choke on her own saliva and splutter out an indignant, "Hey- no fair!"

 

Rachel placed her free hand on her chest and adopted an innocent look. "What? Apparently common sense wasn't working on you, so I figured you'd be more inclined to listen to the truth when your ego was being stroked at the same time."

 

I snickered at the scandalized expression on Chloe's face, before bluntly saying, "And for the record, she's right- you are hella sexy."

 

Chloe narrowed her eyes dangerously in our direction, seemingly oblivious to the way her ears were burning. "Okay, now you're both just fucking with me, aren't you?"

 

Rachel smirked. "Depends. Are you willing to believe us yet when we say that you're not a problem, or should we keep stroking your ego some more?"

 

I shook my head at her. "It's probably best if we stop now, Rachel. Her head's already big enough as it is."

 

Chloe shoved me hard enough to make me fall over backwards, as she grumbled, "Alright you brat, any more cheek from you and I'm gonna throw you out of this fuckin' train."

 

I propped myself up on my elbows and scoffed, "Oh, please- you wouldn't dare throw me out of a moving carriage."

 

The glare I received from her in return told me she would, in-fact, dare to do that.

 

Thankfully, Rachel moved to sit between us before she could actually try it, giggling at our antics as she pretended to hold her hands out to keep us apart. "Okay, children... no more fighting. Perhaps we should get back to the game, yeah?"

 

When she turned to give Chloe a firm stare, I stuck my tongue out at her over Rachel's shoulder.

 

Chloe reluctantly decided to ignore my taunt, and rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine- the game, then. I think you were about to get started on guessing my second fact, right?"

 

Rachel nodded. "Indeed." She paused for a beat, and continued, "Of course you wanted to be a pirate. Sail the open seas..."

 

Chloe put on her best pirate accent. "Buckle swash..."

 

Rachel immediately fired back. "Plunder secret treasure..."

 

Chloe grinned. "Did I mention my love of booty?"

 

Max practically squealed in my head. "Oh my dog, she's so freaking gay!"

 

It took everything I had to avoid cackling aloud. "Yeah... I don't think the flashing neon sign above her head can get any brighter at this point, that's for sure."

 

Rachel laughed, the sound like music to my ears. "So, pirate? Obviously true."

 

Chloe opened her mouth to say something else, but she must've spotted the goofy smile on my face from the other side of Rachel, because she hesitated for a moment before switching track and asking her, "Maybe you'd like to join my crew?"

 

Rachel's eyes lit up. "Oh, are you accepting applications?"

 

Chloe shrugged non-chalantly. "Considering it." She glanced at me for confirmation. "What do you think, First Mate?"

 

I tried my hardest not to squee at the fact I was still the designated First Mate, as Rachel's head whipped around to face me, and I forced myself to make a show of slowly scrutinizing her from head to toe.. purely for no other reason than to assess her suitability on becoming one of us, of-course.

 

Surprisingly, Rachel seemed to blush ever-so-slightly under my attention, and she had to clear her throat a little before questioning me, seemingly nervous. "Well? Am I good enough for you?"

 

Dog, yes. And I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from blurting it out like a dumb-ass. Again, hormones? Really?!

 

Rather than straight-up embarrass myself, I pretended to tap my chin in thought. "Hmm... I suppose you are. And we've been needing a new Quartermaster for a while now, so... how does that sound?"

 

Rachel smirked, then flipped her long blonde hair back over her shoulder in an over-exagerrated move, one which simultaneously stole both mine and Chloe's breath away in the process. "That sounds like a dream come true to me. Plus, Quartermaster Amber has quite a ring to it, don't you think?"

 

Chloe managed to find her voice first, and casually rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah... there's no need to oversell it, you already have her seal of approval. You're a part of our pirate crew now, Quartermaster Amber. Welcome aboard the Bane of Arcadia; I am the fearsome Captain Bluebeard, and this tiny scallywag is my loyal First Mate, Long Max Silver- don't question her about the name – she's never said what it means – but if you ask me, she's clearly compensating for her height." I shot her a death-glare but Chloe acted like she couldn't see it, while she finished her recruitment speech with, "Serve us faithfully, and ye may receive a generous share of our booty. Attempt to mutiny, and ye shall be walking the plank to sleep with the fishes for all of eternity."

 

Rachel stared us both down. "I would never do such a thing, pirate's honor. Or, y'know... what little of it a pirate usually has to their name." She curiously cocked her head to the side. "Although... If you don't mind me asking, what happened to the ship's previous Quartermaster?"

 

The smile on Chloe's face instantly soured "Ah. Quartermaster Bongo, also known as Pogo the Pirate, was... slain in battle several years ago. He was the best of us, and a friendly companion that we couldn't bring ourselves to replace. Not until we found someone who was truly worthy of honoring his memory."

 

Rachel's expression softened. "Why do I get the feeling this Bongo wasn't fictional?"

 

I sighed heavily. "Because he wasn't. Bongo was Chloe's cat. He'd been in her family since before either of us were born, and from the moment we'd met as kids, he was always there... like a silent third accomplice for all of our childhood shenanigans. We – I – loved Bongo dearly; he was seriously just the sweetest thing, and he never failed to make me feel better after a shitty day at school. Until the accident, anyway..."

 

We appeared to have Rachel's full attention now. "God, I'm so sorry. Sincerely. And you don't have to answer this unless you want to, but... what actually happened to him?"

 

Chloe's hands balled into fists as she bitterly spat, "Max's tenth birthday party happened, that's what. We'll tell you the details another time. I'd prefer not to ruin the mood of this mysterious outing you've dragged us on."

 

Despite knowing she didn't blame me for what went down, I still flinched at her harsh tone, because I absolutely did blame myself – it was my birthday party, after-all – especially since I now had a huge, horrible, sinking feeling that I knew exactly who was responsible for Bongo's untimely demise...

 

Some of my thoughts must've filtered through to Max, since her voice butted in, thick with shock. "Are you... suggesting what I think you are? Because if so, holy fucking shit- I'd never even considered that it wasn't an accident..."

 

I chose not to respond to her probing- I didn't dare to confirm what I was truly thinking right now. That would make it real; and if I was right, then... well, Chloe's heart won't be the only one being broken all over again.

 

Rachel nodded at us in understanding. "Of-course. No problem. I didn't mean to push- I'm just a big fan of cats, that's all. Comes with being a Leo, I guess."

 

Chloe's lips quirked upwards. "Well, duh. Why else do you think I agreed to give you the Quartermaster spot without making a fuss?"

 

Rachel placed a hand on her hip. "Um, because I'm pretty?"

 

Chloe snorted. "I seem to recall Max being the one who called you that, not me."

 

Purposely ignoring the way my face heated up at the reminder, I couldn't resist the chance to tease Chloe once more – if only to stop myself from dwelling on my potential revelation about Bongo – and leaned forward to raise a skeptical brow. "What, so you're saying you don't think she's pretty? Ouch, Chloe."

 

She was quick to refute my insinuation. "Woah, hold on- I never said that either!"

 

At this point, Rachel's smirk was firmly back in place. "Oh? Let me get this straight, then. You don't think I'm not pretty, but you also don't think I am pretty, either... so just what exactly is it you're thinking about me right now?"

 

Chloe began to flounder like a fish out of water under Rachel's intense gaze, until she eventually threw her arms into the air and frustratedly blurted out, "I think you're beautiful, okay?!"

 

You could practically hear a pin drop in the ensuing silence, and it took everything in me to violently quash the surge of jealousy, which reared its' head like a venomous snake in response to Chloe's incredibly obvious statement. And I was expecting Max to say something about that, or at-least comment on what Chloe had said, but apparently she'd been stunned into submission by it. Not me, though. I knew it was stupid and selfish of me to feel this way considering what I was here to do, but I couldn't stop myself- I desperately wanted her to be calling me beautiful instead of Rachel...

 

And I'm damn sure Rachel sensed it too, because the first thing she did was look over at me to gauge my reaction, before replying to Chloe. "Really, you think I'm beautiful? Not Max?"

 

Chloe crossed her arms defensively, avoiding my eye as she attempted to double-down on her compliment since it was too late to take it back. "You asked me what I thought about you, not her. I answered. And besides, it shouldn't be such a shock; everyone else at Blackhell already thinks you're beautiful, Rachel- I mean... seriously, have you looked in a mirror recently?"

 

She barked out a laugh at that. "As a matter of fact, I did- right after I got changed at school... yet I suppose it's not surprising you don't remember it, given how distracted you were at the time. Honestly, of all the nicknames I've heard for you over the years, I never thought 'Price the Pervert' would apply to me."

 

Chloe choked in disbelief. "What the fuck? That is not one of my nicknames!"

 

Rachel produced a sickly-sweet smile. "No, but... it definitely is now. It's my special secret nickname just for you, Chloe. You can thank me later."

 

When Chloe responded by flipping her the double bird, I had to hide my snickering behind my hand so Rachel wouldn't see it, otherwise she would've probably tried to give me a similar nickname, knowing my luck.

 

Thankfully, she didn't notice. "Anyways... back to the game. Again. If we keep getting side-tracked, we'll never finish it before we reach our destination." Then she cleared her throat. "Now about this broken hand story. It's not that I don't think you could knock Stephanie Kowalski out. A bitch takes your Yoo-hoo, she's gotta get got."

 

Chloe nodded. "Damn straight."

 

Rachel tilted her head in thought. "But, you didn't get that scar from punching someone."

 

Chloe raised a brow. "Oh?"

 

Rachel shot her a smug grin. "That scar is from a distal radius fracture."

 

Chloe frowned. "So you're a physician, now?"

 

She shrugged. "Last summer I performed a one-woman homage to Doctor Who entitled 'Weeping Angel'."

 

Chloe's eyes widened. "Wait, what-"

 

Max's laughter bounced around my skull. "Woah, they're both Doctor Who fans? No wonder they become friends. They're gonna get along like a house on fire."

 

I rolled my eyes inwardly, and cryptically replied, "Oh, you have no idea just how right you are..."

 

Rachel plowed ahead, unperturbed by her nerdy reveal. "The point is, I know that the scar you've got comes from breaking your wrist when you fall... like from a skateboard?"

 

Chloe was too stunned to do anything except admit defeat. "Yeah."

 

Rachel hummed, not quite satisfied with her partial answer. "I'd guess... six years ago?"

 

I whistled under my breath, and confirmed for her. "Seven, actually. Well, shit- Chloe always thought she was a good liar. Not that she could ever fool me, of-course, but still. I'm impressed. It's not often someone other than me is able to knock her down a peg."

 

Rachel moved closer to Chloe and playfully bumped her shoulder with her own, before sneakily winking back at me. "Good thing we both think she's sexy then, isn't it? If nothing else, at-least she has that going for her."

 

Fortunately, she didn't have a chance to catch me blushing again, because Chloe growled in frustration and retaliated by elbowing Rachel in the ribs, hard enough to send her sprawling to the carriage floor.

 

If it hurt her, Rachel didn't let it show, and simply took a leaf out of my book by sticking her tongue out at Chloe from where she laid. "Ugh, maybe I deserved that. Note to self: Avoid Chloe's elbows in the future."

 

I snorted. "Yeah, that's a lesson I learned the hard way long ago. One time at school she elbowed me so hard, she broke a freaking rib. I'm not even joking."

 

Chloe scoffed. "No, you're just exaggerating. I didn't break anything, it was a tiny hairline fracture. Which was actually a result of your clumsy ass falling off the bench we were sat on and not using your hands to catch yourself before you landed on the playground floor. My elbow had absolutely nothing to do with it."

 

I wasn't happy to have my accident-prone nature pointed out in-front of Rachel – and from the painful jolt in the back of my head, neither was Max – so I sent a displeased glare in Chloe's direction. "Yes it did! If you hadn't taken me by surprise with your damn elbows of steel in the first place, I would've totally caught myself in time, and you know it."

 

Chloe opened her mouth to retort, when Rachel got there first and cut our argument off at the knees by coughing loudly. "Ahem. Speaking of knowing things, I believe it's your turn to tell us three facts about yourself, Max. And if it wasn't clear by now, I'm hella good at this game. So I suggest you give me your best shot, 'cause I fully intend to win and get the truth out of you... one way or another."

 

Ah, fuck. I was really hoping she'd forgotten about that. But judging from the determined glint in Rachel's eyes, there was a whopping zero percent chance of her letting this go without answers; and since I couldn't lie worth shit, I already knew I was screwed. Ugh. It looks like my younger counterpart was gonna get her wish and learn my reason for upending her life today, after-all. Oh well- here goes nothing, I guess...

Notes:

Some good news, everyone: I've managed to more-or-less outline my plans for the rest of this story now, or rather for the 'Before The Storm' portion of it. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to handle the plot post-BTS yet, but at the very least it means this 'arc' of the fic should get finished. Eventually. I simply have to actually find the energy to sit down and write it all out. So if you're *really* lucky, it'll only take four months for the next chapter to arrive this time. That is, if my sarcasm didn't just jinx it...

See ya'll next time! :)