Ch.1

The sunset painted a pink masterpiece above the cold, gray graveyard. The gray clouds were far up in the sky, not blocking out the sunlight, yet helping the skyline look painted. It was almost perfect, serenity with the macabre. It was almost as if the universe was begging to be photographed. But that didn't really seem to matter, Max was in no mood to capture this moment. The April winds gently blew across her chest, sending small shivers down her spine. But she pressed on, unwilling to zip up her gray hoodie, for now.

This day was special. Today was exactly 6 months after Chloe saved the Arcadia Bay from the impending storm. 6 months since the hardest decision the young girl ever had to make, and probably would ever have to. Max was here just as she was every anniversary, with a bouquet of assorted blue flowers in her hands, standing in front of the large tombstone for her best friend that she shared with her father.

"Hey Chloe, hey William." Max said as she walked directly in front of the large piece of stone "sorry it's been so long since I was here. Blackwell makes it hard to get away sometimes. Homework is crazier than ever right now, and school drama never seems to cease. No matter how hard I try to just ignore it." She was trying to force a smile and keep the tone of her voice from dropping. Right now – on the inside anyway – she was completely in shreds. But she had to try to stay strong.

"William, I know that you and I have a lot of catching up to do, but can I talk to Chloe alone? For just a few minutes." Max joked and smiled to herself. After a few moments had passed, - enough time for William to give the two privacy – Max got down on her knees and sat on her feet, angling the bouquet right in front of Chloe's name. "Hey Chloe" Max whimpered out, still trying desperately hard to keep herself from crying. "Things are going good. I'm still passing all my classes, but I don't think I'll get any higher than a 3 with my GPA. I can't seem to catch a break and get anything higher than a B on anything anymore. It's just...become so hard to concentrate."

Max paused for a moment and smiled gently to herself. "Shut up, not all of us can be naturally smart like you, girl. I really am trying, it's just so hard to motivate myself..."

'Come on Max. Keep it together. Chloe wouldn't want you to be bringing her down here. She would want you to be happy.'

"Other than that, I can't say much has changed with school. Still no one around to replace Mr. Jefferson. So I don't know what is to become of my photography career...but I guess it's for the best. I don't think I've taken a single picture since October...it just hasn't felt right."

Max perked her head up a little "oh, and speaking of Jefferson, his trial finally ended. He-he's going to get the death sentence." Her shoulder involuntarily slumped back "I feel so guilty for being happy about that. I don't really like the idea of someone dying...but...I feel like he deserves it for all that he's done. Not just to me, but to everyone he tortured."

She picked up a flower from its paper-wrapped enclosure and began to pick away at the petals. Anything to try to distract her mind.

"How is Rachel anyway? I mean, I figure you two have been hanging out a lot more now. At least I hope so. Promise me that you'll never make her your first mate. That rank is mine for life. Hell, it's especially mine for death. So sorry Rach, you'll have to settle with second place this time."

'I hope that she doesn't mind being second place. From the way Joyce talked about Chloe, she probably never ever came in first...'

"I have something completely awful to tell you though Chloe. I...I did end up going ape with Warren. Wait! Wait a second! Don't get mad, please let me explain. Nothing happened. Literally. I had to have him drive me home less than half way through the first movie. He told me it was going to be a sci-fi fest, and the first movie happened to be Blade Runner. I just couldn't do it. He looked so confused the entire ride back to school, but once I told him why I couldn't stay, he understood. He had been asking me for so long to go with him, and I don't hate Warren, so I decided I would give it a chance. I do have to say I am glad that he didn't try anything though. I will never consider him anything more than an older, dorky brother. Although, nothing close to how dorky you could be."

By this point, Max had gotten to the last petal on the flower and plucked it away. Staring at the pedals for a few seconds, he brain got a little poetic on her. 'It's so crazy to think how fragile everything beautiful is. I guess Chloe was an excellent example of that.'

After spending a few more seconds staring at the pedals, Max scooped them up and began to decorate the tombstone with them. She spent extra time spreading each of them out equally and all in the same direction. Just as she finished spreading them all out, a sudden gust of wind came and blew them all astray.

"Goddamn it! I can't even have a moment here with you without nature fucking with us. Something out there is always tearing us apart and-"

A single tear escaped the small brunette girls eye, which she wiped away quickly with her jacket sleeve. 'Keep it together Caufield, you have to be strong. For her as well as yourself.' The wind was pressing against the slightly exposed skin. But she would not zip up her hoodie. She wanted Chloe to see the shirt she was wearing today.

"So, since you haven't said anything about my shirt, I'm going to have to guess you don't remember it. It's the 'No Fucks Given' shirt. Remember?" Her eyes were puffy and red, but she couldn't help but to laugh at the memory. "We had to convince my parents so hard that day to get it for me, making me promise never to wear it anywhere but at home. Another win for Arrr-cadia Bay's pirates." Max smiled and laughed slightly at her own joke. "I know that the last time I wore this it was the day that you lost William, but I thought that since you two were back together that it would be alright. You better count yourself lucky my mom never got rid of this thing. She hated it so much."

Her knees were beginning to feel a little sore from sitting on them for so long, so Max rearranged herself and sat crossed legged and slid her fingers into the grass surrounding her, gently balling her fists and letting the blades of grass intertwine with her fingers.

'I wish I could actually hold hands with you again, instead of pretending the grass above your fucking grave was your fingers."

"Joyce is finally starting to do better. She actually went back into the Two Whales yesterday. Oh my dog Chloe, you should've seen it. I swear half of the town was there to welcome her back. The entire police force was there with a huge sign that said 'Waffles Please'. Your mom almost broke down crying completely, but she just smiled and said 'I don't know if I have enough seats for everyone.' I swear though, she looks so much better now. You can still see the sadness in her eyes, but she's finally getting out and actually talking to people. But...I honestly have to stay away from her, still. Every time she looks at me she just seems to remember you and..."

Her fists were trembling as she clenched them so incredibly tight, ripping grass from the ground before tossing it aside and bringing her hands to her face. Small little sobs escaped her as she tried desperately to hide her tears. It wasn't working.

"When will this ever get any easier?" Her voice was just above a whisper. "Chloe..." Her eyes were stinging horribly now as she tried to force her tears to stay inside her eyes. "I can't fucking do this Chloe!"

Her voice grew louder as she removed her hands from her face. "I miss you so much. I can't fucking do this anymore. I need you." Every single word she uttered was dripping with pain, her words were completely unwavering however. "It's not fucking fair! You're a hero to everyone and they don't even know what you did. You don't even know how much-" Her voice was catching in her throat, as her brain tried so hard to keep her voice from coming out.

"You don't even know how much I love you. That I was in love with you, I was too scared to tell you. My heart hurts every fucking day that you're not here. I was willing to give up everything for you! But you don't even know it. You thought that I had left you...that Rachel abandoned you. That David hated you. It's not fair Chloe! Why did it have to be you!?"

The pain in her chest was becoming far too much to handle at this point. It was as if her heart was breaking all over again. She had learned to let go slightly in these past few months, but right now she felt as awful as she did 6 months ago. When she had to relive Chloe getting shot. Acting on it's own, her body leaned forward and buried her face into the grass below her as she cried softly. She thought back to every single great moment they had in that week. Words echoed in her head, from the pool, breaking into the principal's office, when Chloe dared Max to kiss her. It was almost as if she were reliving the nightmare all over again. It was something she dreamed almost every single night now.

"I would give anything to see you one more time. Anything." It was just at that very moment that Max lifted her head up to look at the headstone again. That's when she saw it. There, resting directly above Chloe's name, was a blue butterfly. The blue butterfly.

She was completely frozen. 'Is this even possible?'

Her heart was fluttering in her chest as she raised her index finger out toward the insect, begging for it to land. After a few moments, the butterfly landed gently on her finger and slowly opened it's wings.

"C-Chloe? I-is that you?"

The butterfly began to flutter its wings softly, before fluttering it's way back to Chloe's name on the stone. Max had no words. She simply watched in awe as the bug walked its way down to the flowers before once again fluttering it's wings.

"You're welcome, Chloe." Max smiled. It was the first time in 6 months she smiled like that. Somewhere in her mind, she was sure that it was all just a coincidence. But the rest of her didn't care at all, right now, that was Chloe, and she was getting to spend time with her.

Finally.

Author's Notes:

Hello there everyone, glad to see you read my story! Thank you for that. So, where to begin. I know that was horribly sad, I promise it wont always be that way. There will be PriceField in this. But, honestly, I am treating this story with the utmost seriousness. In my eyes, this will be what the sequel to Life is Strange should be. That being said, it will sting, it will hurt, but it will be lovely, I promise. I won't promise it will be as good as the official game, but I am striving to make it so. So please strap in, because I have quite the story to tell you.

Until next time, stay golden.