Everyday Hero.
"You're my hero, Max." Rain poured down, soaking them to the bone. Thunder boomed across the clouded sky. Wind whipped about wildly, blowing the hair of the two girls atop the hill all around. Both were crying, with bloodshot, red, hurt eyes, tears streaming down their cheeks and falling below to mix with the downpour of never-ending water.
"I..I'll m-miss you, Chloe!" Max stuttered out, trying her best not to sob, her voice cracking and shaky. The tornado spun and spun, water swirling up about it, heading straight for their town.
Chloe held out the photo towards her, trying to give an encouraging smile, to be strong for Max, and nodding towards her.
Max took a hesitant step forwards, reaching out towards the photo.
I can't, she thought to herself. Her best friend. Her faithful companion. Chauffeur and sidekick. The girl that had been by her side through everything that had happened this past week. It's not fair.
She glanced towards Arcadia Bay, then. All those people… It wasn't fair for them, either. They didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve to die. Joyce, always so kind and gentle and caring, there for Max and welcoming. David, the tough man with the softest of hearts, that would do anything to keep his family safe and happy, who had saved Max. And…
Warren.
Oh, Warren, she thought for an instant. The boy that had become more of a man in this past week. The guy that was there for her and never asked for anything in return. He took a beating, gave a beating, and trusCted her. Trusted her. "For good luck." She had kissed him, then. "I..I want you to know.." "I know." He had believed everything she had to say, without hesitation. He didn't deserve to die. It was one life to save many, she knew it was the right choice, the 'greater good'.
But it didn't feel right.
Instead of taking the photo, she threw her arms around Chloe and hugged her tightly. "O-Oh, Ch..Chloe..I c..I can't just—I.." Chloe wrapped her own arms back around Max, holding her tight and closing her eyes. Max kissed her on the cheek out of love and affection, before burying her face against her blue-haired friends shoulder, crying into the already soaking shirt.
Chloe took a breath, composed herself, and tried to make herself strong, her voice stable, for Max. "You can." She paused, and then, for the second time, "You're the only one who can."
Max shuddered at those words, taking a very small step back, still holding her hands to Chloe's arms. "Please.." She muttered, her voice cracking.
Please what? She did not know. Nearly hysterical, she did not know.
It's not fair. It isn't fair!
"All those people down there, Max…You know it's the right thing." Chloe said sadly, but smiled lightly. "Now go." She shoved the picture into Max's hand.
Max stifled a sob, and brought the picture up, staring at it. After a few moments of attempting to focus, she found that she couldn't, her attention drawn over towards the tornado and Arcadia Bay again.
The greater good. My best friend! But..All of those people! I can't—I have to—
Max shut her eyes, brought her hands to her head and yelled.
"STOP!"
It took her a few seconds to realize the silence. The wind had stopped. No rain was hitting her, anymore. She sniffled, and slowly opened her eyes, to find that time had come to a stop, life frozen in place as it was. Chloe was stuck looking at her with worried, caring eyes, also full of fear. The leaves, previously swaying wildly, were still. The tornado, stopped in the ocean, debris hanging about it like decoration ornaments. It was like that time when she almost broke down at the sight of Kate about to jump to her death, she realized. She also knew she likely couldn't hold this for very long, but it seemed a bit easier than that time.
A rustling was suddenly heard in the deafening silence, footsteps padding along some leaves and sticks.
Max snapped her head around, wide-eyed, looking for the source of the noise—and there it was. The doe.
A soft, blue color, transparent, its gentle eyes locked onto Max, watching her. One of its ears flicked, curiously. An eerie peacefulness had taken over the hilltop. The tornado, frozen in time, was like a great sculpture cast up by some god above, or life itself at work, as a great symbol for everything, chaos, uncertainty, the beauty in nature and destruction alike, the fear of the unknown.
The doe cocked its head, eyeing her watchfully, before turning and beginning to pad down the path that she had walked so many times before.
"Hey…W-Wait!" She called out, wiping the tears from her cheeks. It didn't respond, other than a brief glance back over its shoulder towards her, as if to say 'what are you waiting for?'.
After a moment, she went. Following it down the trail, she found that it had become a dozen or so meters ahead, and it stopped halfway down by the tree line, waiting for a moment, looking at her, before heading through the bushes and trees.
"Hang on..Wh-What are you?!" She called out, and she could swear she saw it shrug its shoulders, but it was already gone. Approaching the trees it disappeared through, something caught her eye up above her.
A squirrel. As blue as the water and the doe that came before it. Unmoving, upon its branch, other than watching her and swishing its tail about gently. Samuel, she thought for a moment, before continuing on through the trees. The bushes and branches that she pushed aside stayed where she pushed them behind her, in her wake.
She emerged upon the top of the cliff, halfway up towards the lighthouse, the vast ocean below, the view of the tornado and town visible once again.
Upon the cliff, before her, laid a tree. The tree had fallen from the storm, and had been in the motions of rolling down towards the edge of the cliff, before it had frozen as it was. And upon that fallen tree sat a figure.
Chloe, she thought immediately. But not her Chloe. The younger one. That which she remembered from when they were just children. The one that had been so full of life, happiness, so sweet and funny and innocent.
Max cautiously walked around the frozen tree, half expecting the world to unfreeze any moment and have it topple her over the edge. Young Chloe looked up towards her and offered a soft smile. "Hey, Max!". "How..?" Max began, but Chloe waved her hand softly to shush her, before patting the middle of the trunk beside her. Hesitantly, Maxine sat down beside the Chloe from years past.
What felt like both forever and an instant passed before Chloe finally spoke. "What do you see there, Max?" She gestured her hand vaguely out towards the bay.
Max turned her head, considered. "Um..A tornado?" What answer did the child want?
Chloe giggled softly for a moment. "No, doofus. Over there." She gestured her hand again, further to the left.
"A..Arcadia Bay?" Max responded this time.
Chloe waved her hand in a circular motion, as if asking for more, raising one eyebrow.
Max squinted. "Arcadia Bay…" The buildings were broken. Downed power lines. A great fire burning near the diner. Warren and Joyce were near there… She bit her lip, trying to stop herself from crying again. "B..Broken. It's..Broken." All those bodies I saw down there. "They're…They're going to die, aren't they?"
Chloe nodded her head. "Yes, they are." She said with a somewhat sad, regretful tone now, before smiling encouragingly towards Max again. After a pause of consideration, she asked,
"Is this the Arcadia Bay you know? The one you love?" Max was going to respond, but Chloe added on a third, more important question.
"Is it the one you remember?"
Max looked out towards her town again. No. She used to come up to the lighthouse all the time, and look out at the town with the sun setting, seeing life bustling about down there. It always comforted her, knowing that everyone she knew and loved was…right there. Responding to the question, she shook her head.
Chloe nodded. "Is it the one you want to remember?"
This hit Max hard. She bit down on her lip again. Could she bear remembering Arcadia like this? Destroyed? All of those people, gone? Another shake of her head, and a shaky, "N-No.."
Chloe smiled, this time. "Here's the important one. Is it how you want to remember me?"
A hit to her gut. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of Max. Oh, she had not considered that. Oh no. Chloe.
If she sacrificed this town, this childish image of Chloe would never be what she remembered her as again. The memories of this past week would be completely overshadowed by what condition Chloe would be in if she sacrificed all those people. Chloe…
By the look on Max's face, young Chloe seemed to understand, and smiled softly. "Now you're getting it."
Finally, Max spoke up. "B-But..Everything that's happened this past week…It will have all b-been.."
Chloe waved her hand, hushing her again. "For nothing?" She finished the sentence for Max, before raising her right hand, extending her index finger, and poking Max on the forehead. "Nothing?" She giggled. "Doofus."
Another female voice suddenly chimed in from the right of Max, this one familiar too.
"Would it have been nothing to you?"
Max turned her head, and saw…Herself. Her young self, the one from when they were just kids, her hair tied back, smiling lightly. "Wh-What..?"
"Come on, silly. Everything you've gone through will never mean nothing. Even if everybody else forgot, you'd remember when you went back, wouldn't you? You're changed. You're you."
Max hadn't realized that, either. She had changed so much over this past week. Saw people, and life, in a whole different light. She knew now, that choices weren't to be taken lightly, and that she had to make the most of the time that she had, always, because you didn't usually get second chances. Victoria, the ice queen that she had helped teach to love again, and to accept herself. David, the toughie that just needed a bit of friendship and help, and Nathan, how much he changed with that last voicemail. No, not for nothing.
The two children smiled, and in unison, wrapped their arms around Max, hugging her. She closed her eyes, and in unison, the two of them spoke as one, single voice.
"Go, then. Do it right. And don't make it worth nothing."
When she opened her eyes, they were gone, as were their arms around her.
A faint smile began to cross her lips, and she exhaled in relief, before she stiffened as a third voice rang out from behind her. Her own voice.
"Oh, come on, Max. You really believe any of that?" It was her. The fake Max. The one she had met in the nightmare-vision, earlier. The real max stood and turned to look at her. Was she the real Max?
The fake Max continued before the real one could formulate a reply. "Chloe doesn't give a damn about you. She just wanted to use you to find Rachel Amber. She stopped caring about you the moment you abandoned her here, idiot!" She turned, gesturing her hand down towards the town. "And all of them? None of them care about you. Don't you remember how bullied you were? How much people always humiliated you and put you to shame? You never felt at home. And Warren is just a lost puppy clinging onto anybody who gives him attention, just like you're clung onto Chloe blindly-"
"STOP IT!" Max shouted at the imposter. She walked forwards towards her, and the fake seemed taken aback. A step backwards, her eyes for the first time showing fear.
"You're wrong!" She shouted, nearly at the top of her lungs, pointing at her. "Chloe..Everything we've been through, she cares about me! She loves me! We're best friends, forever!" Who even says that anymore? She thought wildly for a moment-"And those people down there?!" She pointed her hand towards the town, without looking. "They matter! THEY ALL MATTER!" She sniffled, trying to compose herself, her eyes shut tight now-"And..They changed! They learned to love, and care, and-and-I can't let them die!"
Silence. She opened her eyes, and the fake Max had disappeared. Gone. She had made her choice.
The doe seemed to have re-emerged from nowhere during this scene, she noted, spotting it over by a patch of trees atop the cliff, watching her silently, standing almost proud. It then turned its head, and gestured it gently towards the town, and down the path. Max walked over, swiping tears from her face, and looked down...
There was a figure down there. Down on the start of the path, frozen in time, as they were heading up the path. Who..? She squinted her eyes, trying to get a closer look...
Warren.
Was he crazy? Why was he coming up here in the middle of the storm?! He was in the diner, helping Joyce, and his family was somewhere in town, so why-
Max's eyes widened. The doe, turning its head, looked up at her, its ear flicking gently, and it bowed its head softly.
Maxine turned and ran.
.
.
.
.
Time unfroze as she came to stand back in front of Chloe again. Chloe noticed the faintest of jolts in Max's posture, as if she had glitched to a mildly different position, still holding the photo. "Max..?" She started, but her friend cut her off first.
"Warren is coming up here."
Chloe's eyebrows raised, her eyes still bloodshot. She swiped at tears, the rain pouring down again, the tornado swirling, inching towards the town. It was nearing the beach. "What?! Why? Is he crazy or something?!"
Max smiled lightly. "Crazy, or stupid, or.." In love, she thought.
"Max!" His voice called out over the thunder and rain. "Wait!"
They turned to look towards the voice. Warren came over the top of the path, onto the hill. "Max-!" He began to call again. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed. With a crack, a tree was struck and snapped, falling towards Warren-
Rewind.
"Warren, tree! Dive!" Max yelled out suddenly.
"Wh-?!" He began, before thinking better of it, having full confidence in her. He dived forwards and tucked into a rough roll. Lightning flashed. Crack. The tree fell two feet behind him, smashing into the mud, water spewing up in all directions in a great splash. Warren was covered in mud now, but he didn't seem to care, getting up and running towards Max. "Saved my ass..!" He called out.
Max walked to meet him, and threw her arms around him wordlessly. "Warren.." She muttered briefly, smiling. He came all the way up here.
He hugged her tightly in return for a few moments, Chloe smiling lightly in the background, before he pushed her away gently and looked down at her. "I need you to listen to me and trust me, right now."
Max looked up at him, and immediately nodded. Just like he had. "Okay. Go. Listening." Chloe, too, looked rather intent on focusing her entire attention on the boy, walking up beside Max.
"I've been thinking about everything you told me, back at the diner." Max nodded. "We figured that you were the cause of all of this, right? That your power being used messed up everything in some weird time-space distortion, causing a chain reaction?"
She nodded again, glancing back at Chloe. "I-It's...It's because I saved her...I've been s-saving her all week, like the universe..Like it wants her.."
Warren grabbed her shoulder gently, nodding. "Okay. Listen. That means it's like, this..destiny, right? That she's meant to die or something?" Max nodded, and Chloe frowned, but followed with a nod as well. "Well, I thought about it, and-Destiny can't be solid. It can't be..Concrete, or a straight path with only one outcome-Look."
He turned and pointed towards the town, towards the tornado. "You see that? We could stand here. Right now. And let that tornado kill everybody. You, me, Chloe, we-she'd still be alive up here, right? At least for the moment."
Max nodded wildly. What was he getting at? What was this about?
"Then that must mean that destiny isn't fixed. If she was meant to die, then she would be dead. There would be absolutely no way-"
"I wouldn't have these powers..." Max said, realization dawning on her. "If destiny was impossible to change, we wouldn't be up here right now...Those powers never would have.." Her eyes widened. Chloe's eyes widened as well, as she began to understand.
"Wait, are you saying there's-There's a way to save my ass?!" Chloe called out, taking another step forwards, and gesturing for him to go on. "Tell us, idiot! Spit it out!"
Warren nodded slightly. "I..I don't know for sure, okay? I don't have these powers, I'm not some crazy magic scientist who knows everything-"
Max pressed a hand against his chest. "Warren. Tell us what you think. Please."
He took another breath, nodded, and so he spoke.
"I think that destiny is getting altered, by little things. The subtle things. And I think that everything we do changes destiny, or, or..Shapes it, like clay. It's there, it exists, but it can be..Bent, formed, right? It's still up in the air what's going to happen until something causes something else to happen-"
"Something happened that made my destiny death." Chloe interrupted. Her mouth hung open slightly, and Max thinking hard
"Exactly. Something, at some point in time, moulded the..The destiny...Puddy! Moulded it in such a way that it set you up to die, and now it's causing all of this because Max tried to save you, but-"
"But if I go back and find that point in time and change it.."
"You save Chloe. And we stay alive."
Max glanced back and forth between Warren and Chloe rapidly, before smiling widely. She had never thought of-"Warren, you're a genius!" She threw her arms around him again, laughing. She had no idea what the point in time was, or how she was going to do it, but gods be damned, it was a chance. This was the third option.
"Max..Max listen to me-"
"Wont we forget all of this, though?" Chloe asked suddenly. Warren looked over at her, and nodded his head solemnly before speaking.
"Yes...Unless..."
"There's an 'unless'?" Max asked, incredulous, looking up at him again.
"Unless you fix whatever it was, but still do everything else exactly the same. It's a game of variables, like math class, understand? Or a game of chess. You have to find that one part of the formula, change it, but still keep the rest intact. You have to find the move that makes checkmate, but keep every other move the same."
Max bit her lip. Could she do it? Could she even find such a specific point in their life? What would have caused Chloe to be destined to die? If she could fix it, though...Destiny would be unshaped, and none of this would have ever needed to happen.
"Okay...Okay, I'll...I'll try." She said reluctantly, looking back down towards the photo.
"Max..." Chloe began, walking forwards. "Max, if you...If this doesn't work...I..I forgive you. Make sure you..Make the right choice, no matter what, okay?" She said it in a near whisper, and in a moment she had thrown her arms around the brunette. "I'll miss you too." She whispered ever so softly.
Max almost began to cry again at this, hugging her tightly for a moment. "I have to..I have to go.." The tornado was just about to hit the bay. It was crossing the beach. She released Chloe and turned to Warren. "Warren, I..."
"For good luck." Warren said, before he stepped forwards. She stepped forwards, too, as if by pure instinct, and they met in an embrace, their lips pressing together more firmly than their first. When they broke apart, the last words he said to her, with a smile on his lips, passion and hope in his eyes, were simply...
"I believe in you, SuperMax."
She smiled widely, then, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Warren, I.."
"I know."
Biting her lip, she looked down onto the photo...And focused.
.
.
.
.
A/N: I'm currently writing the next chapter for this story. I wanted to release it all at once, but I decided this was enough to start on and figured I'd release the first part for people to read at least. Hope you enjoy it, post any reviews you please-but don't bother suggesting places for this story to go, because I know exactly where it's going. It's going to be one hell of a ride. Buckle your seatbelt, because it's going to get a tad confusing-I'm drawing a little inspiration from an old fanfic for a different game I read once, and the rest is all from my head.
