Hi thanks for taking the time to give this a read and please feel free to leave reviews
So here's the background to the story and please be advised this is very AU and I apologise for any inconsistencies.
This story is set after the events of 'Life is Strange' where Max chose to sacrifice Chloe to save Arcadia Bay and includes Max being unable to save Kate Marsh.
Chapter 1 – Saving Rachel Amber
Vortex Club Party – 11:24pm March 28th 2013
Getting into the party hadn't been difficult.
Finding Rachel before Nathan did. Now that was proving to be a challenge.
Slipping between the drunken members of the Vortex Club, Max searched desperately for the blonde. With her rather boring attire of converses, black jeans and grey hoodie Max knew she was beginning to attract the wrong kind of attention from the pretentious snobs that made up the clubs membership list, the ones who were sober anyway. She stuck out like a sore thumb and if she didn't find Rachel soon there was no doubt in her mind that someone would call her out as being a non-member and throw her out.
Ducking so she missed being clocked in the head by someone's insane interpretation of dancing a familiar flash of blue attracted her attention to the other side of the pool.
Rachel?
Focusing on the colour, Max recognised the blue feather earring to be the same as the one Rachel Amber wore in the missing person posters printed by Chloe in her timeline. The girl wearing it now had to be Rachel Amber.
Something heavy gripped her shoulder, drawing Max's attention away from the blonde and towards none other than a pissed off looking Logan Robertson.
"Who the fuck are you? How'd you get in here?" he demanded, eyeing up Max.
"Look I'm just here with a friend" stated Max, backing away slightly and glancing between him and Rachel.
Crap Rachel's on the move. I can't let her out of my sight.
"I don't think so. I've never see you around Blackwell before so I reckon you must've found out about our party and snuck in"
Is this guy cereal right now? Really do not have time for this.
"Look I'm here with Rachel Amber. Not here to cause trouble" stated Max as she glanced back towards Rachel. Max felt her heart stop as she watched Rachel head towards a door leading away from the party with someone.
Oh god please don't let that be Nathan.
"Why would Rachel Amber bother with someone like you, you look like a punk ass little hippie to me and I'm dragging your ass out of here now!"
Thinking fast, before he could grab her Max slipped around him and pushed him into the pool.
Darting around the pool Max dodged through the crowd of dancing teens and rushed towards the same door that Rachel had gone through.
Bursting through the door Max took in the sight of Nathan Prescott holding Rachel's weakly struggling form against him as he pressed a needle into the skin of her neck.
"Let her fucking go!" barked Max as she ran forward.
Startled by the interruption, Nathan released Rachel and pushed the blonde towards Max. Catching Rachel in her arms Max crashed to the ground. Max panicked as Rachel stared up at her with dazed brown eyes.
Shit what if I'm too late?! What if he's already overdosed her?
Looking up from Rachel's limp form, Max watched as Nathan glared at her with a knife in his hand.
Where did he get that knife from? I don't remember him every carrying one.
"Who the fuck are you to interfere with what I'm doing?! Don't you know who I fucking am?!" he bellowed at her. Letting go of Rachel and gently putting her on the floor Max stood up with her hands held up peaceably.
"Nathan I need you to listen to me..." started Max but that just seemed to set him off into a blind rage.
Yelling out angrily Nathan launched himself at Max, swiping at her with the pocket knife in his hand. Jumping back Max let out a cry of pain as the knife sliced into the top of her leg as it was brought down. Falling back to the floor, Max gripped her leg as blood started to flow from the wound.
"No one...tells me...what to do!" he bellowed as he viciously kicked Max as she lay on the ground clutching her leg, the first few kicks striking her ribs causing her to curl into herself.
Shit Max think, you've got to do something otherwise he's gonna end up killing both of us. Gonna have to use what's left of my powers. This is such a bad idea.
The next strike caught the side of her head, sending a horrific pain through her skull as her neck whipped to the side.
The raging Prescott stalked away from her at this point and began pacing.
"Stupid, stupid...there wasn't supposed to be anyone else, no one else was meant to interfere..." as he paced and muttered to himself Max slowly returned to her senses.
Concentrating was difficult but at the end of the day she didn't have a choice. With her left hand clutching her bloodied leg she reached out with her right and focused on freezing time.
Her head exploded with excruciating pain as blood poured from her nose while a pained whimper escaped from her lips as time came to a halt.
I don't need long. Just...long enough to do something about Nathan.
Her vision was blurry and she struggled to get herself to her feet. Her left leg buckled and gave out forcing Max to fall against the wall. Blinking rapidly to try and work through the dizziness that assaulted her Max noted that time had indeed come to a stop, what with Nathan frozen mid pace.
Right, come on Super Max; find something you can use to knock this sick fucker out with so you can get Rachel out of here.
The closest object she could find that would probably do the trick was the fire extinguisher.
That'll have to do.
Limping towards the object and grabbing hold of the extinguisher Max released her hold on time and with as much strength as she could muster she swung the object at Nathan's head. The collision made a sickening sound and Nathan simply dropped to the floor while Max released her grip on the extinguisher and fell to the floor as well.
Fuck! This really fucking hurts!
After a few moments of struggling with the pain, Max rolled onto her front and forced herself to crawl the small distance towards Rachel's unconscious form.
Come on Rachel don't be dead, please don't be dead.
Pressing a finger to the blondes neck Max didn't realise she was holding her breath until she felt the steady pulse beneath her finger tips.
"Oh thank god" gasped Max as she let out a relieved sigh. The steady rise and fall of the blonde's chest was also an obvious sign of life but right now Max didn't care enough to berate herself for the oversight.
Rachel Amber was alive and that was all that mattered.
Glancing down at her leg, Max winced at the bloodied sight. The cut was diagonal and went from her hip down to her mid-thigh. It didn't appear to be too deep given that there wasn't a lot of blood escaping from the injury but it still hurt like hell.
Gonna need something to wrap it, I can't just bleed all over the place.
Pulling herself towards the nearest wall Max pulled her bloodied hoodie over her head to reveal a patterned top underneath. Luckily, Max had had the foresight to wear multiple layers as she took off her top before quickly putting her hoodie back on. Wrapping her top around her leg, Max hissed as she tightened the knot over the injury.
Right, now that that's out of the way time to get Rachel back to her dorm where it's safe.
Blackwell Dormitories – 1:34am March 29th 2013
"No much further, come on Max you can do this" wheezed Max as she struggled to keep the unconscious form of Rachel Amber upright. With the blondes arm wrapped around her shoulder Max carried the unconscious teen through the silent, dark hallway, towards room 224. Max stumbled awkwardly; barely able to keep them for clashing to floor as her leg protested painfully but finally, after what felt like an eternity, she managed to stand in front of Rachel's room.
Panting from exertion Max lowered the unconscious teen to the floor, propping her up against the wall.
"You know...for someone so small...you're really heavy" panted Max as she knelt beside Rachel. Wincing as her ribs throbbed; Max reached forward in search of Rachel's dorm keys. Searching the blonde's ripped jeans pockets first, Max nearly jumped up in fright as her fingers skimmed across what must have been the blonde's phone receiving a message as it vibrated. Her heart racing, Max pulled the small device out from her pocket and noted that there were at least ten messages that had gone unanswered from Chloe.
No doubt the punk was terribly worried about her crush. Max felt her heart ache terribly in her chest at the thought of Chloe worrying.
Unlocking the device, Max searched through her contacts for Chloe's number. Upon finding it Max called the number and placed the phone to her ear.
"Rachel! Fuck are you okay? You had me seriously worried there for a bit"
Max smiled as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. Just hearing Chloe's voice again...
"Rachel you okay?"
Wiping her face with the sleeve of her hoodie Max grimaced as the fabric came away bloody.
"Rachel you're starting to really freak me out now. Has something happened? Are you hurt?"
"Come to Rachel's dorm now" stated Max
"Who the fuck is..." Max ended the phone call before Chloe could finish her question. Right now no one, especially Chloe, needed to know that she was in Arcadia Bay. It was just better this way. The familiar sensation of pain lanced through her skull, most likely a result of her time travelling and interfering with the past by interacting with vital people.
Doing her best to ignore the pain in her skull, Max switched the phone off and placed it back inside Rachel's pocket; Max found the key to the blonde's room and quickly unlocked the door.
No doubt Chloe was already on her way so she didn't have long.
Ignoring how her body protested, Max once again wrapped Rachel's arm around her shoulders and lifted the teen up. A low groan escaped from the blonde, indicating that the drugs injected into her by Nathan Prescott were wearing off at last. Dragging Rachel into her room Max gently eased her onto her bed before placing her keys on the bedside table.
"Don't worry, Chloe will be here soon to look after you" stated Max as she turned and limped out of the room. Shutting the door behind her Max turned towards the exit.
"Are you alright?"
Freezing in place, Max recognized the soft voice as none other than Kate Marsh. A sudden wave of dizziness hit her as the very familiar pain in her head spiked. Leaning against the wall and bringing a hand to her head to rub her temples Max was certain blood had started to drip from her nose.
Don't pass out. Don't pass out.
As the pain in her head subsided ever so briefly Max pulled her hood up to at least attempt keeping her identity a secret and limped towards the exit without so much as a glance towards the sweet girl who had been one of her best friends in her original timeline.
"Is that blood? Are you hurt? Hold on you don't need to leave"
No I really do.
Pushing through the door Max grabbed onto the stairwell banister and rushed down them as quickly as her injuries would let her. She needed to get away fast. If she was going to protect the three girls who were in danger from Jefferson and Prescott then she couldn't risk them getting close to her and by extension involved in the situation.
Exiting the building Max wiped away the fresh blood that coated her face before putting her hands in her pockets and limping away from the campus.
With Rachel now safe Max needed to focus on the next step of her plan.
And so that's the end of chapter 1! Again please note that this is very AU and the characters may seem very OC - I do apologize for this but I quite enjoyed writing this and I hope you will all enjoy where I take this :)
Please Please Please review :)
Until next time