Welcome to Animus.

I recently played through Life is Strange, and found myself drawn in very deeply by the story. It was a story where I went in with a certain expectation for the game at hand, only to have the entire thing turned on its head shortly thereafter. The character growth and interaction were phenomenal and it was a true joy to play.

And while I liked the open ending to the game, I do feel that the game left a lot of room left for exploration that would not feel like the story was being drawn out. And that niggling feeling has persisted in my head for some time. So I decided to try and put into words a fun possible continuation and explanation for events in the game.

So Animus was conceived. I won't make any promises about regularity of updates or length, since I know that plans can change in writing fan fiction. But in an ideal world this will be a long story, focused on the mysteries of Arcadia Bay as well as the relationship between Chloe and Max in a world where Chloe lives but the bay was not entirely destroyed. The mysteries of what happened to cause the storm and Max's power remain, and the end of the game is not the end of trouble for this town.

I hope you all enjoy this first chapter. This is a short one to just set the stage. Let me know your thoughts.

Clear skies,

Rylkan

'You brought me back here, and I can't lose you again. I won't!'

The promise made in a pocket of time echoed through Max's head. The conviction she felt when she tried to convince Chloe to not go after Nathan was still there, but the sound of Arcadia bay being destroyed just a quarter mile down the coast threatened to drown out all other thought. She had kept her promise, but in return she had doomed countless people to die due to her actions.

Her arms tightened around Chloe, and she felt the girl do the same, providing her with support as she felt her own strength begin to give out. The past week had been so tiring that she could hardly summon the energy to think, let alone process what she had done. So she just waited there, her face buried in Chloe's shoulder as the storm continued to rage around them. She could feel Chloe's chin on her her head, her gaze looking out toward the Bay, every few moments her grip tightening around Max.

As Chloe begin to tighten her grip, Max felt as if something bigger was coming. Hearing a large cracking sound, she looked up just in time to see on the outskirts of the city, the Blackwell dorms collapse under the force of the wind and the trees carried along. She watched as the building gave way beneath the weight of the storm and countless students and friends met their sudden end.

Max let out a horrible loud, her legs giving out as she fell to the ground, Chloe dropping to a knee with her, her body still wrapped around her own. Reaching out a hand in a clutching motion towards her school as an ache in her chest struck her at the sudden loss. And in that moment she felt the stab of a terrible pain in her head, and watched as the rain began to slow to a halt. Hanging in the air like it did the day she saved Kate on the rooftop. And then ever so slowly the raindrops reversed direction, the rubble of Blackwell dorms placing themselves back into a proper building, and the hurricane itself slowly retreating back into the ocean, before everything just halted.

Max let out a gasp at the effort, feeling her nose begin to pour blood down her chin. But the last of her attention was on Chloe, who continued to hold on to her as her world went black.

Chloe was in shock. She knew the signs by now.

The first time had been when she had learned that her father had died in a car accident. She was run to her room and locked herself in for days. She knew that Joyce probably thought she had cried most of the time, but she had spent the time just staring at the walls of her room. She vividly remembered every detail of that time. The trauma burning the memory into her with such clarity she could still count the spots on her wall to this day.

The second had come only about a week later when she head that Max would be moving away. Joyce had delivered the news, pulling Chloe into the living room to explain that the Caulfields had to move from Arcadia Bay. Joyce had stressed that Max didn't have a choice in the matter. But Chloe could still feel the hurt and betrayal of that news if she focused on it. She knew it wasn't her fault, but the need of a friend in the wake of her father dying, and the ache of her growing confusing attraction to her friend being cut short, brought out the same response of shutting down. She had just stared past Joyce's shoulder as she kept trying to find the right combination of words to bring some understanding expression to her daughters face, her mind just taking in the pictures and bookshelves around her, escaping the moment.

The third and final time had been no more than two days ago, as she dug through the soft rotten soil of the junkyard to uncover the face of Rachel. She had broken down then and cried, but she could still remember the smell of the dirt, the sound of the wind in the junkyard, and the feel of Max rocking her body back and forth.

Chloe knew that feeling of withdrawing in a place where she just idly took in the world. And despite the crazy rush of relief that Max had saved her life by tearing up the photo that started this crazy week, watching the hurricane destroy Arcadia Bay was almost too much for her to process. The familiar haunts where she grew up destroyed, her mother and countless others likely dead or dying. Her mind could hardly handle the strain of the sight.

It was only the girl in her arms that was shaking harder than she was herself that kept her grounded.

Max had practically tore down time itself to keep her alive. And she had payed for it again and again with the things she saw and whatever terrible memories she carried of Jefferson's dark room.

That thought was the lone warm light of hope inside of her chest. And so she just tightened her arms around the brunette and tried to let her know that she wasn't alone. All the while she just memorized the sight of Arcadia Bay being destroyed.

Seeing the hurricane make landfall had been hard. It appeared to be heading toward the edge of the city at first, before shifting and making landfall further south, right along the beach where she knew Frank liked to park his RV. And then the hurricane headed up the coast, taking out a narrow swath of land just along the coast until it reached the stretch of town right near the Two Whales. She flinched at that, cursing the storm in her mind. At this point, she was fine with attributing an almost free will to the storm. The thing seemed to be intent on hitting those spots that would hurt the two of them the most. Tearing into their beloved diner while ignoring other buildings like the warehouse a few streets west.

From there she watched as the hurricane began to slowly work its way through the town towards the North West. Different parts of the town would become rubble in the wake of the storm, whereas other parts remained relatively untouched. Throughout it all, the storm appeared almost focused in its destruction. Its path inexorably headed towards Blackwell on the outskirts of town. Squeezing Max tight to her chest, she hissed as the hurricane seemed to pass over the school and head the quarter mile further west to totally decimate the dorms.

Feeling Max shift beneath her chin, she saw the girl staring wide eyed at the scene. Feeling her body go heavy, she fell to a knee, trying to keep the brunette from crashing into the ground fully. Her heart breaking at the look of loss and disbelief Max was showing, and she choked back her own tears at the sob Max gave.

And then she watched as a trail of blood began to trail from Max's nose, and the rain around them began to slow. In shock, she watched the rain retreat into the sky and the hurricane move back through the city as if it were a video in rewind.

Looking down at shock at Max as she rewound time, with her along for the ride this time, she saw the flow of blood from the girls nose quicken as her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

"Oh god." Not sure what to do, she tore off part of her tanktop near the bottom, shoving the cloth into the girls nose to try and stem the blood. Looking around desperately, she saw that everything was still frozen in that single moment in time. Even as Max was unconscious in her arms. She moved to stand up and get her bearings when she saw a blue butterfly land on her forearm, stopping her movement. Looking at it in confusion, she watched as it flew up towards the path leading up to the light house. She watched as it landed on the head of a single doe, staring at Chloe intently. It turned its head to look down the trail for a moment before looking back at her intently.

Moving to stand and approach the creature, Chloe stopped as it suddenly beat its hoof against the ground. Unsure at why it had done so, she stopped for a moment. Watching at the creature looked between Chloe and Max with purpose. Pulling one hand away from Max slowly, she watched as it stomped its hoof again.

Realization started to dawn on Chloe. "Ooookay. You telling me to keep a hold of Max?" The doe seemed to nod its head slightly and took a few steps down the trail before stopping and looking back at her.

"Right. Keep hold of the Max and follow the doe in the weird pocket in time. No big dude. " Chloe murmured, trying to psyche herself up as she felt herself being overwhelmed by the situation. Making sure to keep a hand on Max through the entire process, she managed to get the girl into a piggy back position before moving closer to the doe. "What the fuck is going on here? I thought only Max could do this crazy time warrior shit, and she was saying she had to focus real hard to keep time paused to save that Kate chick. But she is out like a light."

The butterfly took over from the doe, landing on Chloe's shoulder by one of Max's arms as the doe just moved its head forward slightly, its nose touching Max's side before bounding off down the trail towards the town.

Chloe had never been so confused before in her life, even counting the oddities of the past week. But whatever was going on, the small girl on her back who had broken the world to save her seemed to be pulling one last miracle out of her bag. Even if she was unconscious for the trick. So it was her turn to try and make herself useful for once.

And so she took the first step down the trail towards the bay.

And so Chloe was pulled back in time with Max. I always thought that if Max could take objects through time with her, a person might not be an impossible reach. Difficult sure, but within the realm of possibility. And when you mix that with a knee jerk reaction to fix something emotionally jarring, you can get interesting outcomes.

See you all again soon.