Author's Notes:

And heeeere is my third story for LiS. I think that this one is gonna be a huge project, since I'm planning to rewrite the whole 5 years before the events in LiS. Yup, I'm that f***ing insane in my brain! ;-)

Truth be told, I had this idea while I was thinking about an end for 'The Third Option' and figured that a real story ending isn't that easy, because life goes on until death, which would be, regarding to Chloe and Max, at least 60 years. Uhm, no thanks. So I figured, it would be more interesting to know how everything would've developed if Max would've made different decisions during the last 5 years before this fateful week. Of course I had to to give her a reason to make these different decisions and I think visions are a very good tool, because they can be misinterpreted.

This first chapter is indeed short, but you can see it as a small teaser or prologue. I'll try to add a new chapter once a month, but I can't promise anything. Although, 'The Third Option' is almost finished now, I still have to write 'Martial Max' which is maybe halfway through, plus I got a lot of other high-priority stuff going on in my life (family, work etc.), but who hasn't?

To all the hardcore-fans who're already yelling at their screens that I left out that Future-Max visited this very scene and influenced it: No, I haven't forgotten this event. But since this story is based on the 'The Third Option'-AU, Max never interfered in this timeline, because the whole events of the game never happened.

As always, reviews, constructive criticism and ideas are appreciated.

Chapter 1: Gone

A Storm. Destruction. Chloe. A Hurricane. The Lighthouse. Chloe with blue hair. My Polaroid camera. Chloe, a bit older. The Storm again. A kiss. A strange man, grinning devilish. Arcadia Bay in ruins. A junkyard. Love. Darkness.

Max woke up with a start, bathed in sweat, breathing heavily, her heart pounding in her chest. She buried her head in her hands, because it's aching, every part of her body ached like a train had just run over her. 'Wowser, what a nightmare!' she thought, reaching for her camera. The girl held it in front of her face, pointing the lens towards her face and made a photo; her daily morning-selfie. The cam whirred as the instant picture came out. Max looked at it with distaste. 'Great, now I've got it officially that I look like shit.'

She stretched all her limbs, let out a big yawn and got up, feeling all dizzy and groggy. 'Damn, no horror-movie nights with Chloe anymore. Too much junk food and jump scares are a bad combination for me.' The girl walked over to her mirror in the corner of her bedroom with insecure steps and looked at her reflection. A skinny, 13-year old girl with freckles and brown, messy hair, resting on her shoulder, dressed in a white tee and pajama shorts looked back at her. 'Same old me. But I should cut my hair down again. Chloe suggested I should wear it longer, but it sucks styling it every morning. I loved my generic Bob; easy to cut; easy to maintain.'

"Maxiiine, breakfast's ready!"

Max rolled with her eyes as she heard the voice of her mother, chiming through the house. She hated it when she used her full name. "It's Max, never Maxine." she spoke to herself. Letting out another yawn, she grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. After undressing herself, she looked into the mirror again, letting out a big sigh. 'Still all flatlands up here.' she thought and her mind jumped to Chloe, her best - and sadly only - friend and captain. 'Chloe's only one year older and her boobs started to grow two years ago.' Max envied Chloe. Envied her for her body – all athletic and tall, showing already some curves; her smartness – she's a straight-A-student and doesn't need to learn for tests; her courage – she always protected her against bullies; and her face, her beautiful face – almond shaped, deep blue eyes and always a mockery smile on the lips.

"Maxine, your breakfast gets cold!"

"Max! Just Max." she said to herself with gritted teeth. "Comiiing!" she answered her mom and entered the shower, washing away the sweat and thoughts from last night's nightmare.

After Max finished showering and got dressed, she ran downstairs towards the kitchen and sat down at the dining table, where her father's already reading his newspaper. "Morning!" Max said in a happy voice.

Ryan Caulfield looks over the paper and gives his daughter a big smile. "Morning Max!" he said with is deep voice, a smile emerging from his beard.

Max opens a can of orange juice and pours some in her glass, as her mom – Vanessa Caulfield – comes over to her, a platter full with ham and eggs in her hand and puts it in front of her daughter. "Good morning, sleepyhead. Had a good night sleep?" she said, ruffling through the girl's hair.

'At least she didn't call me Maxine again.' Max thought, shook her head and said "Nightmares, mostly."

Vanessa put one hand to her hip. "You watched horror-movies with Chloe again, didn't you?" Her voice was reproachful. Max bowed her head, looking at her hands. "Dammit, Maxine. Why do you always listen to this girl?"

"She's my friend." was her answer. "And it's Max."

Her mother sighs. "No, your name is Maxine! Look at your birth certificate."

"Vanessa, you're getting late for work." Ryan's voice chimed behind his newspaper. Max's mom looked at her watch and cursed silently, storming out of the kitchen. It was Saturday, but Vanessa worked at the hospital as a nurse and had to do the weekend shift. The wall of paper dropped again and Max looked at her father, who was winking at her with a sheepishly smile. He knew that his daughter didn't need an argument about Chloe in the morning. Max smiled at him. "Are you already excited about moving to Seattle?" he continued.

Max nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait to get there and do my first shots! Art galleries, the Space Needle…it's gonna be so cool!" She gets more and more excited and the smile of her father grows even wider. He knew he'd made the right decision, taking the job in Seattle. All he wanted is his baby-girl to be happy. "Have you already told Chloe?"

Suddenly Max's heart dropped to her feet and her smile vanished in an instant upon the unpleasant topic her dad suddenly brought up. 'I know, I planned to tell Chloe weeks ago, but I never got the courage.' She shook her head.

"But you know that we're moving in two weeks?"

Max nods. "I-I wanted to tell her, but…" she sighed and got even sadder.

Ryan put his hand on her shoulder, reassuringly. "Max, I know this is going to be hard for you two and god knows it is even harder for you to tell her that you're leaving, but she deserves to know it. Tell her, maybe she will be sad at first, but she'll understand eventually."

Max looked into is brown eyes and smiled again, thankful for his support. "I'll tell her today, promised!" He nodded. "By the way, can I sleep at Chloe's tonight?"

Ryan laughed. "You're almost living there, why do you still ask?" And then nodded again.

After Max finished her breakfast, she packed some clothes, said goodbye to her mom and dad and headed towards Chloe's house, two streets away.

Max arrived at the Price's house some minutes later. Chloe's dad, William Price, started to paint it blue some months ago. But due to his job, he hasn't finished it yet.

The brunette heads towards the door and opens it. As soon as she had entered her best friend's home the lovely smell and warm atmosphere embraced her. Even though she's not at home it felt like her own. She looked down the corridor and her gaze fixed on a 14-year old girl with almond-shaped, deep blue eyes and long strawberry-blonde hair, bound into a ponytail.

Chloe Price smiled at her best friend warmly as soon as she saw her. She instantly ran toward Max and gave her a long and big hug. She was taller than Max and so the smaller girl needed to tip toe to get her arms around Chloe's neck and lay her head on her shoulder. "I missed you so much!" she whispered in her ear.

"Missed you too, Chlo!" the brunette answered.

Enjoying her closeness, Max took a deep breath, inhaling Chloe's smell. A warm feeling emerged inside of her; a feeling she never noticed before and surprised her. But before giving it a deeper thought, William Price came out of the kitchen to greet her daughter's friend.

"Well, well. If it isn't Max Caulfield! Haven't seen you for some hours now. Got lost?" he joked with a wink.

Chloe and Max separate. "Hi, Will!" Max answered.

"Da-ad, can Max stay overnight?" Chloe asked with a sweet voice.

William smiled at them both. "As if you have to ask. I even planned to give her our guestroom permanently and adopt her."

Both girls giggled.

"Hey Max, wanna play some Mario Kart?" Chloe asked her friend.

Max shrugged. "I don't know; you're always better than me."

"C'mon, I even play with one eye closed. Promised!"

Smiling impishly at her, Max shrugged. "You don't have to, 'cause today you're going down!"

Both girls ran into the living room and started to play.

"Now I've gotcha, hippie!" Chloe said, hammering the buttons on her controller.

"Ha, missed, dork!" Max answered, while evading the green turtle shell, which Chloe tried to shoot at her Kart in order to prevent her from winning the race. 'Today Max is gonna be the winner!' The finish line in sight, Max's joy grew even more, adrenalin rushed through her body. 'Just one last turn aaand…'

Suddenly a whole lot of images appeared in front of Max. A crashed car. Chloe and Joyce at a funeral. Chloe with blue, short hairs. The Price's house decayed, not well maintained as it is now. The images repeated themselves over and over again; spinning in Max's head, which started to ache.

"Max? Max?"

Max blinked and the TV, showing the game, came back into her gaze. Her Kart continued driving against a wall; Max still held the button for acceleration. Soon a text appeared on the screen, telling her that she lost the race.

"Max, are you okay?" Chloe asked with concern in her voice.

"Wh-what…what happened?" Max asked with confusion. 'That was intense. Like my dream last night. These images were so real, like they were some sort of memories.'

"You were about to win and then you completely zoned out and crashed against the wall."

The brunette thought about telling Chloe about her daydream. But decided against it and gave Chloe a sad face. "Well, looks like I'm not destined to win in Mario Kart."

Now Chloe hugged her beloved friend. "Don't worry, Max. At least you're a great friend and photographer and that means more to me than winning a stupid game."

"Chloe, Max. Can you help me preparing lunch?" William said to the girls and they headed for the kitchen.

Seeing Chloe and her dad together, making jokes and working side by side, always put a smile on Max's face. 'They both are so adorable. A perfect family.' The blonde girl suddenly hugs Max. "Say cheeeeeese!" she chimed and both gave William a big smile as he took a shot with his Instant-Camera. "That's a keeper." he said, looking at the photo.

Some moments later Joyce called, telling William that she needed a lift with some groceries. After he left, Chloe and Max were alone. The perfect timing for the smaller girl to tell her friend about the move to Seattle.

Max sat on the armrest of the couch, while Chloe set at the table, reading one of her magazines. "Uhm…Chloe?" Max started, her voice trembling with nervousness.

"What is it, Maxi?" she responded.

"I…uh…I need to tell you something." she continued, playing with her fingers while looking at them. She couldn't bring up the courage to look Chloe into the eyes. 'C'mon Max, don't chicken out, just tell her. As dad said, she'll understand.' "Some…Something came up with my dad's job and…"

Suddenly the phone chimes again. "Hold that thought." Chloe said and jumped to the telephone. "Price residence, your faithful Chloe's speaking." she answered with a joyful voice, expecting it to be her dad, telling his daughter that he and Joyce will be late, because he wanted another mocha.

But instead of happy chatter or some jokes, only silence occurred, making Max, who still worked on the right words to tell Chloe the future separation from her, to look at her best friend. What she saw startled her. Chloe leaned against the wall; her face was pale and grimaced by emotional pain. Streams of tears were running down her cheeks. She dropped the telephone, and slid down until she sat on the floor, her face buried in her hands. She cried out loud, screaming all the agony from her soul.

Instantly Max rushed to her friend and hugged her, eyes watery. She never saw her best friend in so much pain; so devastated. "Oh my god! Chloe, what happened?"

"Dad…my dad…he's…he's gone! My dad is fucking gone!" she cried out between the sobs.

Her words pierced through Max's heart. She hugged Chloe even more and joined Chloe's crying, lacking words. Everything else became unimportant. This day happiness, joy, jokes and the dream of a perfect family vanished from the Price's house.