Chapter One: Other Worlds
Max and Chloe rode in silence down the road, looking at the devastation of the town around them. "Oh my God..." Said Max, feeling the weight of her decision to save Chloe. As bad as she felt... She wouldn't have made any other choice. She loved Chloe with all her heart, she could never hurt her and as long as she lived she'd never let her get hurt.
"Look..." Chloe said, breaking the silence. "I told you I'd stand by you no matter what you chose and I meant it. I don't think I was worth all those people but..." Chloe paused as if she was searching for the right words. "But if I am to you... then I guess I'm not really in a position to argue." Chloe was pushing out of her mind the fact that her mother had likely died due to all this. She'd deal with that when the time came. Right now she had to be strong for the one person in her life who had her back one hundred percent. Chloe looks over briefly and sees tears streaming down Max's cheeks. Chloe takes her hand and squeezes it. "You're gonna be okay. We all are." Max sniffled and dries her eyes on her sleeve. "As long as I have you I will be."
Eventually they got back to Chloe's, her house spared since it was a decent ways away from the shore. She and Max almost stumble in, both numb and yet warmed by each others presence. Max sighs and looks over at Chloe. "Do you think... once all this is said and done... we'll be able to actually have time to like, chill? And just... live?" Chloe looked at Max, the light from outside shining through a ray in the window and illuminating her just right to make her almost glow as she nervously rubbed at her wrist. Chloe grins and walks over to Max, then putting her arms around Max's waist and leaning in close to her. "I want to do a lot more than just live with you."
Suddenly there is a loud whooshing sound and then a bang before an eighteen year old boy is thrown through a flash of blue light, hitting the ground face first. He had medium long brown hair, was a bit skinny although he had some muscles, and wore a grey t-shirt with blue jeans. There was a bullet wound in his side and he had a few tattoos along his arm, and one on his neck that was a Japanese symbol. He groaned in pain, the bullet hurting quite badly. Chloe and Max looked at him shocked. "What the fuck!?" Chloe exclaimed. The boy slowly gets up a bit and raises his hand, his wound then healing itself as the bullet inside him pulls itself out and then hovers in the air, then falling harmlessly to the ground once he lowers his hand. He looks up, his face having a few freckles painted on it and his eyes blue. "That really hurt that time... Fuck."
Chloe and Max stayed quiet, shocked into silence by all this. The boy looked over at Chloe first. "Oh my God..." he puts his hand over his mouth and his eyes well up a bit with tears for a moment. "It's been... so long." He shakes it off after a second, sniffling it away before he looks at Max. "Wow... so that's how it is here..." He tilts his head a bit, then nodding a few times. "Not bad. Not bad at all." He then pulls a joint out of his pocket before he lights it, then passing it to Chloe almost knowing that she'd want some before asking.
Chloe takes the joint and brings it to her lips to hit it as Max finally says the first word. "Who... are you?" The boy steps forward closer to Max. "I'm a bit surprised you haven't figured it out." He looks down before he looks up again. "My name is Maxwell Caulfield. And I've come here to save your lives and timeline." At the mention of his name, Chloe coughs hard on the hit she'd just taken from the joint, Max stunned into silence again. "You don't even know what's going on do you?" Maxwell says, then pulling out his phone. He shows them pictures of his world, the sky turning black and giant holes opening in the Earth. "I'm going to stop this from happening to your universe... since I couldn't stop it from happening in mine." He looks away, his eyes growing moist once more.
"Where did you get the gunshot?" Chloe says, seemingly having gotten over this whole thing pretty quickly. "None other than your friend Mr. Jefferson." He says, looking down at the place where he was shot before. "I tried to come in and save you both before all that stuff ever happened... but... It didn't work out.. So I had to jump again and I finally ended up here at the end of it all... Sorry I couldn't stop everything." He looks down, his face racked with guilt. "No, it's not your fault. You tried hard and you even got yourself shot. You've put yourself on the line for us and we're not even from your own universe." Max says, putting her hand on his shoulder. It was a bit weird, touching her alternate self. It felt familiar yet not. A bit like a brother or twin. Chloe walked over and put her hand on his other shoulder. "Yeah. That's totally rad that you came here to save us. You're like the terminator!" Chloe says with a smile. Maxwell looked up at Chloe's eyes, clearly feeling something as his heart races in his chest. He starts to reach out to her before he stops himself. "I apologize... I forget... you aren't her." He looks down again. Chloe and Max look at each other. "S-so... in your world was Chloe the same as she is here?" Max asks.
"Well, if by that do you mean was my Chloe a guy? No. She looked just like yours. But... right when I got my powers and we met again something was different than when we were kids. We were still good friends but... we both looked at each other differently. We couldn't seem to look at each other straight if we brushed hands against each other... As we went around on our adventure I just grew closer and and closer to her. I..." He pauses. "I loved her. With absolutely all of my heart. But I changed too many things and my universe was doomed." He looks up at them.
Chloe was spacing out, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. In another universe Max was a guy and they were in love? That was crazy. She then raises another question. "Well how are you going to save our universe?" Maxwell just smirks. "Simple.. You guys know what a scapegoat is of course. That's essentially what I'll be. There will be a crucial moment in time when all this time distortion will have to go somewhere. I'm going to act like a conduit and let it all converge on me. It will destroy me but it will balance out your world... so when the time comes I'll right what's happened. He looks at them solemnly, then looking at Chloe. "I'm fulfilling the promise I made to you... even if you don't remember it." Tears filled up Maxwell's eyes.
"Shhhh it's okay. It's okay." Chloe says, leaning in and giving him a large hug. Maxwell breaks down and weeps as he leans against, her, lightly holding onto her. It broke Max's heart to see, knowing that could have been her just as easily. If it had been any other circumstance she would definitely feel jealous, but seeing this she just felt so sad. Tears started to well up in her eyes as well as Chloe's as they all realized the gravity of it. It easily could have been the other way around but it wasn't, Chloe looks over at Max who then walks over and puts her arms around Maxwell too, leaning against him supportingly. After about ten minutes Maxwell picks himself up and wipes his eyes. "Thanks... you don't know how badly I needed a moment like that." He then laughs a bit. "I wonder if I should rewind and have it again." Then cracking up and laughing louder and longer, Chloe and Max then shortly busting out laughing with him as well.