Note: Readers discretion is advised. This is the fifth part to a series. If you have not read the previous episodes, please do so now. Thank you.
Previously on Life is Strange: After the Storm...
"The trial of the people of Arcadia Bay versus Max Caulfield is now in session."
"What we do need for such protection is men and women with the greatest power and greatest responsibility to take the fight for themselves. The kind of people who are capable of achieving the imposible so we can all grow old and live happily together with our friends and family year after year. The ones that our self-esteemed District Attorney here is so desperately attempting to conquer, Arcadia Bay needs these people. We need...heroes."
"You know what, this bullshit! This court is trying to tell everyone how much of a genocidal lunatic Max is! I won't take any shit from Mr. Prescott if I'm going to be politically insulted for such a really screwed up reason!"
"Chloe, shut up! Now!"
"Jesus, Chloe. If your going to start another 'poor me' conversation, spare me. Alright?"
"No, it not alright. In fact, it's worse than I thought. Nathan almost kills me in a bathroom, Jefferson shoots me to death in a junkyard, and Max almost sacrifices me for everyone's greater effect. All because of the sinister influence of this so-called Neo-Chrysalis. I don't believe I'm actually admitting this."
"You do know your not the only victim in Arcadia Bay whose had her life sabotaged by terrorist. People have lost their friends, their families, and as usual your only thinking about yourself."
"When we find the fuckers who made Max a criminal and ruined our lives, make sure to bring a good supply of guns and ammunition. Because when we see them, I'm gonna find...and I'm gonna kill...every last one of them. I'll be sure to make them pay and make them wish they had left us the fuck alone."
"The time has come for you to learn what will be and will be not."
"What...what are you...talking about? What do you want...from me?"
"You have the potential to stop what's coming, traveler. You have the power to prevent time from coming to it's end. The end of time is coming sooner than you can imagine. The question remains. Do you have the will to stop the universe from ending it's cycle? Or will you except your world's imminent fate as it will? When the day arrives, the choice will be yours."
"I give her the photo she took in that bathroom before the fight between me and you-know-who. She would be able use that picture to change everything that happened that week. Assuming it would prevent that storm and prevent those six-hundred deaths that were caused by it. Instead, she tore that photo away and let everyone die just so I can live longer. If you all think for one minute that Max and I don't know how it feels to be sadistically sacrificed in vain, we damn well know how it feels precisely. I just want to say that if any one of your loved one were alive, I would not be."
"I'm sorry if this is bad timing, but Rachel's the only one would can do all the heavy duty while I have to be in court to support you."
"Do even want to know how it feels to be monster who has so much blood on her hands just to keep the love of her life alive? It's really ironic how the death of a young punk-girl can not only prevent the deaths hundreds, but also the shit storm Arcadia is suffering because of my selfishness. This...this is what selfishness looks like!"
"My family's name was once Loomis. Before it was changed to Prescott. After my Dad founded Chrysalis with Crosby, my family was under the leverage of terrorist."
"Terrorist? What terrorist? What do you mean?"
"They didn't want to work for them, Max. They were forced to. My Dad had made a deal with them in order to protect the family. To protect me. My Dad did everything he could to take pride in bringing balance and order to Arcadia Bay for the greater good. Yet the corruption these terrorist brought to family too great for them to sustain."
"So your family is taken hostage by terrorist for years and Jefferson kidnaps a bunch of girls including Rachel, Kate, and me for the interest of terrorist? Why?"
"I don't know, Max. They had this plan about this end of time sort of thing. That when it came, they would somehow destroy the world by saving the world from the end of time. And where the tornado comes in, they orchestrated that storm, Max. They not only used it as a set for you, but also as distraction to keep people from knowing about their plan with the end of time. That is why they set you up."
"How did they create that storm Nathan? How did it really come to be?"
"I'm the one who helped them construct that storm, Max. It was never your powers that did it. It was me."
"My name is Maxine Emily Caulfield, and I shall tell everyone in this court to go fourth, do the right thing to prevent the wrong, and to bring the hope to the good people of Arcadia Bay. From this moment forward, we will tell ourselves, life is hard. Life is unfair. Life is strange."
Chapter 1 The Dark at the End of the Room
Rachel
April 21st, 2013
9:55 PM
5 Miles From Arcadia Bay
Dark Room
Insomnia, blackness, weariness, and agony. It felt like my body shut itself down. My drugged state had not been pleasant. After two hours of passing out, I slowly lift my eyelids open and moan a little. Beginning to awaken myself from my unconsciousness. While doing so, my blurry vision awakens me into a white light, a vivid flash, and a monotone voice I hear as I barely adjust to my consciousness.
The voice I hear is a familiar one. As the voice is speaking, I appear to be lying down on a clear floor in front of a person kneeling down with a camera in his hand. Somehow I could barely move my hands and legs. They feel like they're tied down and clenched together with something.
"Oh, yes. I just might make a model out of you yet, Rachel," said the voice of the man with the camera. "I just might make a model out of you yet."
When my eyes are fully open and vision is straight and clear, the man is revealed to be my Blackwell mentor. The only man I ever knew who always attracted the ladies at Blackwell. Myself included. It was Mark Jefferson.
"I'm not sure about you Rachel, but you manage to exceed my expectations in your beauty for something picture perfect," said Jefferson. Still holding his camera and taking snapshots.
It would have appeared that when I was unconscious, Jefferson had abducted me into this room filled with photography equipment and portraiture. I lye down on a white screen feeling numb and limp. I may be conscious, but my body feels like it was squished down into a meatloaf. The drugs must still be wearing off.
My shirt and shoes are removed leaving me with only my tang-top on and my feet bear- foot. My hands and legs are tied down with duct tape. Despite being wide awake, my whole body feels asleep. What the hell was I drugged with at the party? And why has Jefferson brought me to this weird place? The man himself appears to be shooting pictures of me lying down and tied up. Just what the fuck does Jefferson think he's doing? And who the fuck does he think he is to do this to me and bring me here?
"You know, Rachel, this was to be our little trip together for a dream of a lifetime," said Jefferson. Still taking shots of me. "Who needs to travel so far away when we can have this whole room to ourselves? Never in my Dark Room have I had the best poser yet. It's no wonder you've been such a sagacious student of mine up until now."
"W-What the hell is this?" I say in a very weak voice. "W-Where am I?"
"Don't move! You'll screw up my shots."
I had jerked a little bit when I spoke. I feel so weak, the drugs had numbed my voice as well. Whatever the hell this was, I lay still for Jefferson and don't say another word. Whatever this was, I just laid there helplessly. Jefferson must've drugged me could just to make sure I don't move around that much. There was no use succumbing to my drugged state whatsoever.
"It's no shock to me your confused what I'm doing, but you should be thankful. You wanted to live a dream of fashion and beauty. And I'm giving it to you right now. Though I should apologize for stalling you at the party so Nathan would drug your drink, there is nothing more divine than your collateral insomnia. As there is for such attraction of a beautiful young woman being posed in her sleep."
Jefferson stopped taking shot of me for a second to skip through all the other shots on his camera. What the hell have I got myself into? Pedophilias? Pornography? This is not the great Mark Jefferson I have known since the beginning of my Blackwell education. I had no idea what he was doing or why he had brought me to wherever I am, but this was too fucked up for words to explain.
"I have to admit, your appeal is just too great, I can't even decide which one of your headshots is the best," said Jefferson. "Victoria would be envying you by now. If I had to chose between you and her, I'd chose you. And I have. Consider this the beginning of our new apprenticeship, Ms. Amber. You and I have a lot of catching up to do."
Jefferson put his camera down for a moment to reach for something on a cartwheel shelf. I had no idea what the fuck Jefferson was up to, but I didn't like it. Not a single bit of it. Before Jefferson could reach something on the metal cart, I kick the cart away from him with my bear-feet aggressively before he could reach it. Whatever the reason I had been kidnapped by my mentor, it was already making me sick.
"You little bitch!" he snarled. "I do you one favor. One favor! And this is how you repay me!?"
Jefferson stomped his way over to the cart I just kicked over to reach for a syringe on the shelf. Now I've just pissed him off when he told me to hold still. Now what was he going to do?
"I work my ass off for you, Rachel. I work so hard to put everything together and to fulfill this opportunity and this is what you do! You leave me no choice, but I must do this to keep you out of trouble."
My mentor rushes his way back to me and roughly injects the syringe into my neck. I holler out in pain feeling the sharp needle plunge through my throat. It's what happens when a needle is pressed down into your skin carelessly. Then I feel myself getting sleepy again. I must've been drugged with a sedative or something. Then my eyelids shut down again and I fall back into unconsciousness again.
April 18th, 2014
11:14 AM
10 Miles From Arcadia Bay
Kettle Lake Lodge
I gasp myself awake in the computer room in my lodge. I have awaken myself back to reality. I must've taken a nap in the middle of searching through the files looking for proof of Max's innocence. I just had nightmare reliving through the beginning of Jefferson torturing me in his Dark Room on the day of Max's testimony in court.
Wake the hell up, Rachel. Max is counting on you. Chloe is counting on you. I just only hope the verdict hasn't been made yet. Otherwise, Max would probably receive the prison sentence or death penalty. Chloe would blame me for not finding anything for Max's innocence and she'll wish I hadn't been born.
Damn you to hell, Jefferson. I'm so glad Max and my ex-girlfriend took you down. The death sentence Jefferson was given was perhaps the best vengeance I could've hoped for after what he did to me in his so-called Dark Room. Damn him to hell.
Note: This is it readers. I'm only two episodes away from completing my season two fan fiction and I'm already getting hella hyped for almost finishing what I've started! As I've said before, this story will be six episodes long so this episode shall be the second to last episode as far as this author is concerned.
And yes, this episode will feature another back story for Rachel featuring her Dark Room abduction. I wanted this first chapter to be the beginning of it and it should be good as this episode progresses. The next few chapters will focus on the present day and eventually I'll have at least a few other chapter retelling Rachel's Dark Room incident. Like I have been doing for every other back story segment in my fiction. Making flashbacks for her was a real big missed opportunity for Dontnod in season one and my additional fan service to make up for that opportunity has never disappointed anyone until now.
Until next time, stay golden!