A/N: Heyoo, Caeden here with my first multi-chapter story on this account. I recently finished playing Life Is Strange - and let me tell you - it is easily up there on my top 3 list. But anyway, I have to say, I absolutely love Pricefield, and I could not resist doing some of my own. A quick note; this is my first time with LIS characters, so I apologize in advance if they seem a little OOC. I promise that I'll try to stick in character with them as much as a can!
Full summary:
She still remembers that day, 10 years ago, from which she stepped away from the life of a shifter and into the world of a human. Many new things to see, to experience, to feel, to love. And though 10 years has passed, she still is slowly coming upon these things. And this doesn't change when the girl that she saved ten years ago reappears within her life. Only, she's changed, broken, and Max decides that she wants to help pick up the pieces.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the read!
The shifters and the humans have been at war for as long as man can remember. A constant clash between those who walked with the wolves, and those who were destined to remain human.
As time advanced, and the world slowly embraced modernization, some of the shifter population believed that the war was pointless, and began to blend into human society, starting a life of their own.
While some shifters and humans remained clashing, in a battle that seems as if it is never going to end.
10 years ago
The sun hung dangerously low in the sky, the normally blue backsplash now a blend of soft pinks, purples, oranges, and many other appealing colors mixed together. A chill was present in the air, and the ground was covered in a thin sheet of snow.
A father and his daughter were currently huddled around a fire, laughter echoing throughout the small clearing within the forest they were currently in. Behind them, a tent was half-built, a rifle lying precariously on its side in case shifters were to come about.
The girl was about 16, her brown hair was a tad long, resting on her chest. A black beanie was on her head, and she wore a parka, her hands shoved in her pockets and shivers running down her spine as the wind brushed against her with the desire to seep through.
"Chloe, I can't believe that you managed to drag me out here," her father spoke, laughter lining his voice and the smile on his face that caused wrinkles to appear at the corners of his eyes.
"I mean, why not? It's nice out, and I'm sure that the shifters won't come out at this time of year," Chloe shrugged, the smile on her face only continuing to grow the more that she spoke, as it was growing harder and harder to maintain.
The man only shook his head at his daughter, and the two spent the rest of daylight talking over the fire. As soon as the moon was in the sky, a gentle light illuminating the area, the two retreated into the tent they had finally finished building, each in their separate sleeping bags.
At last, the night was still. The fire had long since died, the only reminder that there had ever been one was the remaining wood, charred black, as well as the ashes that scattered about.
By the edge of the clearing rest several bushed, crowded together and obviously quite the mess. Dead leaves rest on the ground surrounding them, and soon, massive paws took steps down on them, claws piercing the fragile plant, and the leaves crumbling beneath them.
At the lead of the pack was a massive black wolf, grey hairs scattered across his face from age, and patches of skin were scars were plentiful danced across his body. Following behind the wolf were 3 others; a female, as white as the snow beneath her paws, a male, golden brown, and another female. This one held a tawny color, smaller than the three wolves in front of her, and anxiety blending with fear evident in her gaze.
The words slipped into the tawny wolf's mind as if they were her own, however, she knew very well by then that it was the pack-link allowing her to hear the voices of her packmates projected within her head.
"Maxine, are you alright?" the voice whispered within her mind, and she flinched involuntarily, bringing her gaze to the black wolf who had paused in his steps, and glanced back at her, his mouth open ever so slightly and his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted a bit, the air in front of him a cloud of cold air.
The tawny wolf shook out her fur nervously, and proceeded to become as confident as she could, "I'm fine," she replied, pushing the thoughts towards the Alpha as his gaze lingered for a moment, before he gave a soft grunt and continued in his steps.
The 4 wolves were soon gathered around the tent, being as quiet as possible. It wasn't often that humans dare venture into the forest, and the fact that two happened to be residing in the territory appeared to the pack as a threat. Mark Jefferson - the alpha - decided that a scout would be ideal. They wouldn't attack unless necessary, and at the time it seemed that it wouldn't be.
However, panic settled in the wolves when a light flickered on within the tent, and the silhouettes of the humans within were projected on the fabric of the tent. The man seemed to be staring, and his hands moved to grip something tightly within his hands. He barked a command towards the second human accompanying him, before the tent opened and the man stepped out.
Jefferson's lips pulled back in a snarl as he moved to stand in front of his pack mates, his snarl low and holding an obvious warning. He didn't want to attack unless absolutely needed, and now, it seemed that he might just have to.
William slowly cocked the rifle, the click of him preparing the gun the signal for Jefferson to lunge. As soon as he did, a shot rang throughout the clearing. While the three wolves attacked William, Max herself was completely unsure of what to do. She had been told there might come a time where she would have to fight, but honestly, the tawny shifter thought that time would never come. She couldn't kill a person!
The shifter was frozen on the spot, watching as her parents - the two other wolves who had followed along - went into the tent to grab the second human. She came out on her own, cursing profusely and moving away as fast as she could. However, as luck would have it, she seemed to lose her footing and toppled over. Almost instantly, her three packmates were on top of her.
Max watched as Jefferson's teeth grazed over her arm, the girl flinching backwards. A single bite was all it took to change a human into a shifter... if they were to survive, that is. And he seemed to have the intention of doing this.
However, Max's mind seemed to snap back into focus, and she let out a hesitant snarl of her own, moving to push between Jefferson and the girl, and standing over her protectively. A hostile, annoyed look passed through the alpha's gaze, "Max, what are doing?" he demanded, letting out a growl and moving his head from side to side.
What was she even doing? What was her goal in this situation? She would've moved and given away her uneasy feeling, however, she remembered the girl beneath her by the stench of fear that flooded her senses, and the heavy breathing.
"Just... Just let her go," she found herself saying as calmly as she could, and she could practically feel the annoyance rolling off of him in waves.
"Why is that, Max? And don't you dare try to back out on this," he demanded, and Max forced herself to keep her gaze locked with his. She didn't want to face the gazes if her parents, which she felt burning into her.
"Don't put her through the pain of being a shifter," she pleaded, hoping the alpha would take her words into consideration... though doubt and hesitation seemed to cloud his eyes, and she continued to speak, "She'll only be an outcast, and you know very well that some of them go insane, rogue."
He finally took a step back, and closed his eyes tightly. Max could imagine him in his human form, pinching the bridge of his nose as he pondered the situation. However, she expected to be able to get away safely, but his next words betrayed that thought.
"You can take her back to Arcadia City. However, if you take her, you are not to come back. Or you can leave her here, we can take her back to the pack, and you can stay," he declared, and almost instantly Max's mother held an alarmed look, moving forward as if to confront Jefferson, however, he simply turned his head toward the white wolf and growled a warning.
Dread seemed to fill Max instantly. Though, regret was still non-existent. Despite the fact that she seemed to have made the worst move in her life, she would still do it countless times again. Only because she just couldn't stand around to see a human go through the pain of becoming a shifter.
It started with the sicknesses; the fevers, the flu... then a possible reaction that was similar to silver poisoning. It drove you insane, you wouldn't be able to get a firm grasp on your mind. Next was the uncontrollable shifts, the pain of bones changing, scraping against each other... It was a long, painful process, and despite the fact she didn't know this girl, she didn't want her to go through it.
And Max stood firmly with her thoughts. She finally glanced toward her parents, and the look in their eyes simply disgusted her. She could tell that they just wanted her to leave the girl, come back to the pack and stay safe. But that's not who Max was. She would never be that type of person.
Finally moving off of the girl, the tawny wolf lowered her muzzle and pressed her wet nose to the girl's hand, a silent gesture telling her to stand up. The scent that hit her was immediate; a mixture of the forest, pine trees, flowers. However, the response from her was immediate and the scent was torn away, the human's hand jerked away and she brought herself to her feet. Max caught her gaze moving towards her father's dead body, and guilt settled inside of her. While she didn't do the attacking herself, she was still partially responsible for this due to the fact she just simply let it happen.
Max's ears twitched at the soft growling she heard coming from Jefferson, and moved her eyes to meet his, the annoyance that settled within them blatantly obvious. However, he didn't project anything towards her. The black wolf simply turned around and began to leave the clearing, her parents casting her a final glance before following behind him.
Max watched as her pack mates left, her family, and she felt as if her stomach was twisting and flipping within her. The urge to follow became overwhelming, but no, that would possibly lead to the death of this human. Who - she noted - seemed to be on the verge of tears, and the tawny wolf lifted up her head, tugging at her sleeve of her parka with her teeth. This caused the human to nearly kick her, and the shifter stumbled back, quite a bit alarmed.
"What the fuck do you want?" Chloe spat, the tears that threatened to spill slowly building up in her eyes, a few slipping through the cracks and running down her face.
In any other circumstance, Max would've used this as a time to assume her human counterpart. But she simply nodded towards the woods in the opposite direction of Jefferson and her parents. The human spat a few more venomous words towards the shifter, yet reluctantly followed as Max proceeded to walk away.
The two made their way through the forest in silence, though at first Chloe seemed to want to provoke the shifter, and Max simply tuned out her words, finding the act completely amusing. As soon as they reached the border of the forest and Arcadia City came into view, the wolf stopped in her tracks and gave Chloe a questioning glance. The girl cast her an annoyed look, though beneath it all, Max could see the anguish, the anger, the lust for revenge. But, the wolf simply ignored it, nodding her head in the direction of the city, and the human didn't say another word as she left, pulling up her hood over her head.
And Max swore that she could hear the human sobbing once she turned back into the woods.
Max was well aware the she couldn't return to the pack. By now she would be announced dead. Even though she was still breathing, her heart was still pounding, by doing what she had done she had sentenced her wolf counterpart to death. She was now a rogue, she had no home, and she could never return.
She heard stories from pack mates that there were shifters in the city. And at the moment, she was scouting the outskirts, where the trees began to become far and few in between, and houses came into view. The distant sound of car motors hit her ears, the faint smell of food, smoke, and other mingling scents invaded her nose.
Shifters had their own unique scent. Even if a shifter only walked alongside their wolf counterpart when sent into a forced shift, the scent always remained, and it was only identifiable by other shifters. So when Max caught the faint scent of a shifter, relief flooded her, and the tawny wolf was careful to steer clear of humans as she headed towards the scent.
Luckily, the source of it seemed to come from a house on the outskirts, so she wouldn't have to venture very far into dangerous territory in order to find what she so desired to find.
The house that came into her view was a small one, a single story. The bricks that stood as its foundation were a soft tan, appealing to the eyes. The roof was black underneath the random masses of snow that appeared across it every now and then, and the backyard faced the woods, fenced in quite decently. Perfect. It was well hidden from view, and Max would be able to hide from prying eyes.
The tawny wolf stayed hidden from view up until she reached the wooden fence. It took her a few minutes of trying, but soon she managed to scale the fence, landing quite ungracefully on the ground and giving a slight groan of pain. Despite the fact the scent of fellow shifters emanated from the household, what she was doing was quite risky.
Deciding the best thing to do would be to take on her human counterpart for now, the wolf began to shift. Bones scraped against one another, some seeming to vanish completely while others shrunk or stretched. And soon a girl stood in the place of the wolf.
Max was on her hands and knees, her body fully exposed to the cold air and causing shivers to course through her. Her light brown hair was short, cut unevenly on the ends due to the fact she wasn't able to get it professionally cut like humans were able to. Her ocean blue eyes were shut tightly, and she was struggling to catch her breath, the air in front of her coming out in clouds of white.
After the pain passed over, the girl stumbled towards the door, her feet quickly beginning to become painfully cold as she did so, and began to knock on the sliding glass door as much as she could.
Finally, after a few long, painful moments, the door slid open and a confused girl stood in front of her. Her hair was up in a messy bun, she wore one of those cheesy ugly sweaters that looked as if it was made by her grandmother, and pajama pants hung loosely around her waist. However, despite the fact Max was a total stranger, the other teenager ushered her in.
"Oh, oh my, come in," she seemed to babble, waiting until Max came in. The shifter was well aware that she wasn't wearing anything, and it made her quite nervous and embarrassed, but was thankful when the teenager passed over a blanket, "I'm Kate," she exclaimed while leaving the room and passing into the kitchen the next room over, seemingly preparing something while looking over to the living room occasionally as if worried Max would drop dead any second.
"Max," the shifter mumbled, pulling the blanket around herself tightly and rubbing it up and down her skin.
"My parents and sisters aren't home right now, they're at the local church helping with a charity, but I'll be sure to text them and tell them what's going on," Kate explained, finishing with the preparation of what seemed to be hot chocolate and moving to the couch and handing it to Max, who took it and gave a small murmur of thanks.
As Max took small sips from the hot liquid, Kate left the room with the intention of finding clothing for Max, and the shifter took this as the opportunity to take things in around her. Next to the sliding glass door from which she entered, the wall was lined with a bookshelves, filled with all sorts of books.
Between the kitchen and the living room rested a fireplace. A few pictures rested on the mantle, and a cross stood in the corner. The rest of the room was barely decorated, though Max could easily take on the homey feeling that it held.
The girl was startled from her thoughts when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and glanced toward Kate. The girl held clothes a bit haphazardly in one hand, and she was texting with the other. Eventually, she sent the phone down and made her way to Max, who took the clothes gratefully and a genuine smile crossed her face, "Thank you, Kate," Max said, though inside she was still finding it quite surprising that the other shifter seemed to be welcoming her so easily.
"So," the girl sat down beside Max as she pulled on the clothes, thankful that they seemed to fit quite well, "What happened? Shouldn't you be with your pack?"
Max bit her lower lip and soon gave a sigh, explaining what happened to Kate, and the other girl listened carefully, nodding every now and then. Though in the end, she seemed quite in awe with Max's decision, but didn't comment.
Later that night, Kate's family returned, and the group questioned Max in a similar way. And in the end, her parents offered hospitality, and she eagerly agreed.
While she wasn't quite used to human customs entirely, in a way, she found it reassuring and quite comfortable. The environment was welcoming compared to the harsh camp of her now previous pack. Though, there was no doubt that she would have to grow used to some things, and she wouldn't mind that.
And over time, Arcadia City would become her home.