Beating of Hearts

by Amateurhuman

Max goes back in time one last time to set things right once and for all. She finds that Arcadia Bay is not without its troubles even in this new timeline. The story begins a couple of weeks after the end of the original Life is Strange game. Part 1 in the "A Better Tomorrow" series.

1. Prologue

Message from the author: Hey! I have started writing on this again after a couple of months silence. I added a prologue and have rewritten all old chapters, mostly added details and color, but also some more important things here and there. It is still the same story.

Prologue

Max had never felt brave. Even during the worst and most gut-wrenching situations that had happened the last week, she had felt alone, sad, panicked, disgusted, afraid, even happy and in love, but never brave. You really couldn't feel brave. You just did what you had to do, and if anyone was left to judge you afterwards, then they might consider you brave. But if you erased everything that had happened and replaced it with a new reality, there would be no one left to judge you for your choices and actions of the old one. Only Max herself could. And she did.

Max stared out at the horizon with the setting sun above. She stood beneath the lighthouse, with the town at her back and the vast ocean before her. She had wanted to get up here before the funeral, Chloe's funeral. Max was not sure if this would be the last time she would stand here, or the first in one of many in this old new reality. Maybe she would go up here every time she wanted to remember Chloe the way she was just before their roads had parted forever. Their rekindled friendship, finally in full bloom. And their love. Their first, and last, real kiss. All this had been theirs, if just for an instant, now lost in time.

Right now the pain she felt at the memories was just too much, and she doubted she would ever set foot at the lighthouse again. But time heals all wounds, right? But time also destroys everything and kills everyone. It's just a matter of time. Everything is.

Now time was up.

With a heavy heart, Max turned away from the setting sun. This whole situation seemed surreal, dreamlike, and she just wished she would wake up from this slow-burning nightmare. But all her wishes were in vain. This nightmare she had to live through, because it was real.

Despite her reluctance, Max's feet led her down the winding trail from the lighthouse down to the parking lot below, where her parents sat waiting for her in their car. Chloe awaited her for one last time.

It was time.