I do not own Life Is Strange or the characters or places from the game please support the official release
Time After the Storm
Chapter 1: Surviving the Storm
As Max awoke from her nightmare she realized that she and Chloe were up at the lighthouse. Things were still a little blurry to her but she soon adjusted to being in reality again. The storm was closer than it had been when she first went into the nightmare and it was only getting closer.
When they fell to the ground she herd Chloe say "I see that the real Max is back, don't leave me like that again."
"I'll try not to." Max responded.
Seeing as how the storm was getting closer Chloe hesitantly stated "It seems even fate does not want us to be apart."
While Max was in nightmare land Chloe had some time to think even though she was staring at a tornado from hell that was supposedly created by Max saving her. It was hard to believe that just because she had not died in that bathroom that this storm was happening.
Max was having tears come up from the sight she was seeing. She exclaimed to Chloe "This is all my fault. Look at that thing. This is happening all because of me."
Chloe had a sharp pain go through her heart as she listened to this. She responded "Don't you dare do this to yourself. You were given this power for some unknown reason so don't beat yourself up over this. You had no idea this would happen. You are Maxine FUCKING Caulfield and you did what you thought was right."
Max said "Yes but Chloe look at that tornado."
This whole time Chloe knew it was there but all she could think about was how Max was beating herself up over the fact that she was responsible when she was given a power with no explanation. It was at this moment that she realized what had to be done. Chloe spoke up with tears in her eyes "Max, maybe you have just been delaying my inevitable fate."
"What are you saying?" Max asked.
Chloe was struggling to get her words out. After a few moments she said "I... I... Oh shit. Max I think that I'm the reason the storm is coming not you." Chloe then pulls the photo of the blue butterfly on the bucket out and hands it towards Max. "All it will take is for you to... to..."
As it hit Max she told Chloe "No fuck that no way. You are my number one priority right now. You are all that matters to me."
These words made things even harder for Chloe. Hearing that her best friend the woman she loved was just as enamored with her as she was with her. Chloe replied "I know that. Al this week you have been so good to me.
Even though I'm just some ungrateful bitch who does not deserve your attention or care. Or your love for that matter that's why you have to do this."
Max was now full on crying, she said "Chloe i do love you thats why I cant do this."
Chloe was doing the best she could to not cry. She told Max "Max there are so many people in this town that do not deserve to die because of me. My mom deserves better than to die in in some shit hole diner. Even David does not deserve to go through this."
Max softly said "Don't ask me to do this. I can't make this choice."
"No, you're the only one who can make this choice." Chloe told the smaller girl.
As Max took the photo from the blue haired girl she looked deep into her blue eyes. After a few moments the two moved their faces closer together, and without any words the two kissed. It was a long slow kiss with massive amounts of emotions from both of them.
After about a minute they broke this kiss and Chloe started to slowly back away. As she did she told the brunette "Max Caulfield don't you dare forget about me. Now do it before I freak out." Chloe was now in tears.
Max reassured the blue haired punk "Never." Max then turned around to stare at the storm. As she looked upon the storm she raised up the photo and tore it in half. As she did this she stated "Never agian I'm done with time traveling. I've made my choice and I choose her."
Chloe was surpised by what Max had just done. She had condemned a town to a fate just to be with her. Chloe slowly walked up to Max and grabbed her hand and told her "I'm never leaving you Max. I'll always be by your side."
"Forever." Max said softly.
Together they stood at the cliff side of the lighthouse and watched as the tornado cam threw Arcadia Bay. The town that they were both born in. The town that had so many great and bad memories for the both of them.
As they stood there watching the town get hit by the tornado they caused Max had trouble accepting what she had just done.
After a few moments she curled up into Chloe's grasp and buried her head into the taller girl's shoulder.
Max felt as if she could hear the pain and agony of all the people in the town suffering. It was to much for too bear at the moment so she just broke down into tears, crying into Chloe's shoulder. Max knew that what she had just done was selfish of her to do. But every time she rewound things just got worse. Also over the past week they found out just how corrupt most of the town was anyway.
In the end it did not matter as soon as she started crying the nightmare Max showed up in her consciousness again. Trying to make her feel even worse about what she just did.
Nightmare Max told her "You really just went and did it didn't you. You really sacrificed a whole town just for her."
While battling her inner demon Max said to her nightmare self "There will be survivors not everyone can possibly die."
Nightmare Max then said "That may be true but how many will suffer because of what you just did. All to be with your worthless punk. It won't end well you know that right?"
"I don't care what you have to say!" Max yelled inside her own head at the nightmare form of herself.
It was quiet in her head for a while. She heard the sound of buildings being torn apart, an explosion here and there. All Max could do was clutch to Chloe as she accepted the choice she made not that long ago.
This decision was hard for Max. She did know that there was a lot of innocent people in the town that did not deserve to have to go through this but she had no other choice. Each time she went back in time and changed something nothing would work out well. She just could not deal with it anymore.
After a while the nightmare told her once again "I told you things would not workout. Just you wait and see."
As Chloe stood next to Max watching the tornado do its work she could not but help ponder her feelings as she watched the destruction of Arcadia Bay.
She was happy that Max had chosen to save her but did not know how to deal with all that will come with it. How will she help survivors if there will be any. How can she help Max cope with the decision she made. Chloe wondered to herself how the hell she could be there for Max knowing what she just did for her, basically saying that she was worth more than an entire town full of people.
How do you deal with shit like this she thought to herself. As she was pondering this question she saw an explosion come from the two whales diner. Chloe's heart sunk when she saw this. She immediately wondered if her mother was there at this time.
The blue haired girl immediately tightened her grasp on the smaller brunette girl an little at this sight.
A few moments later she saw a few cars get flown around and one flew into a building. Tears were now pouring out of Chloe's eyes. All the while she herd max sobbing into her shoulder.
Chloe felt sad for Max. She knew that this must be hitting her way harder than it was hitting her. At the same time she had to wonder why Max would choose her over the entire town. As she thought about this she knew that Max must really love her to make that choice.
All the while a few more buildings got destroyed and Chloe's heart sank more. Seeing all of this destruction was too much.
But she sat there and watched all of it. Chloe felt that even though it did not mean much she would not look away from all this chaos and destruction, not even for one second.
She watched for what felt like an eternity.
Chloe and Max stood up by the lighthouse until the storm had subsided. The two stood in silence for a while afterward.
Chloe finally broke the silence by asking Max "Um.. Hey are you... you know ok?" She immediately felt like an dofus for asking such a stupid question at a time like this.
Max responded "No. But thanks for asking. It's just going to take a lot of time to accept the fact of what I just did."
"Well I'm here for you. You know that right?" Chloe asked.
Max assured her "I know you are. I'm happy that you are. It's just..."
Chloe put her hand on Max's back and that was enough to let Max know that Chloe understood. The two of them collapsed onto their knees and Max started to cry again. Chloe just held her tight and cried with her. Chloe was at the same time telling herself she wishes she could take all the pain that Max is feeling and just put it on herself. It hurt Chloe to see Max cry like this.
After about twenty minutes Max brought her crying down to a sob. She ten looked at Chloe and said "I guees we should probably go and look for survivors."
"Yeah I guess we should." Chloe agreed. With that the two started down the path to get back to Chloe's truck. Chloe had a short thought about hoping her truck was not damged enough to get them to where all they needed to go.
Authors note: Thank you for taking time to read this story. This will be my first lengthy story for life is strange. That being said there will be a decent amount of both good and bad times ahead. I know that this type of story has been done so many times but I feel that this was a god place to start.
That being said I do have two other stories in mind that I want to work on witch will be different in their own ways. Once again thank you for reading and any feedback is appreciated.
