Chapter II: Catching Up
AN:
Heya y'all. This was supposed to be part of last weeks update, but I deleted it in that 'fit of pique'. I'm kinda happier with this version, but I'm not quite happy with how I handle the reveal. I think Chloe goes from Skeptical to Believing kinda quickly, but I'm not sure how else to do it and I've written the scene about 5 times and I really can't go through it again. Let me know what you think, bitte.
I don't know about any of you, but I'm really loving my little picture-spell idea. It's inspired by this 'selfie-staff' a player had in one of my D&D games. I loved the idea of Max's photography extending into her new powers, thus was a new power born.
Also, some more recent news. Geek and Sundry recently started a little fantasy writing competition over on Inkshares. For those of you who don't know, Geek and Sundry is the company Felicia Day spends her time producing internet videos for. They also make Critical Role, which is frankly the greatest boardgame RPG thing I've ever seen online, and I'm including Old Man Henderson in that. Matt Mercer is a fucking God. Anyways, I'm planning on entering a couple of stories into it, so there won't be an update next saturday because I'll be devoting my week to writing a couple of sample chapters for them.
If you want to submit a story of your own, the link is in my profile.
I'm still trying to work back up to writing larger chapters for this. This one is a little longer than the stuff in last weeks update, so hopefully I'll be writing 25K+ words a week like I'm aiming for. (That's 5K per chapter for each individual story, if anyone was wondering.) I'm actually enjoying writing all 5 of the stories I've got going now, so I'm thinking I'm going to finish each one, then pick some more from the list when I'm done.
I know it seems like I'm taking a lot of stuff on, and honestly I am. I'm up for 20 hours a day and my A-Level results day is in like, 2 weeks, so I'm basically just desperately trying to keep my mind off that for 140 hours a week, hence the workload. Also, it's just fun. :D
Anyways, thanks fan-fic-folks and, as always, please review.
Therazzle: Oh, too bad. It's really a fucking awesome series. And thank you, I hope the plot continues to hold your interest. I've got some… interesting plans for this story.
Lotheon: Sort of. She's Dresden's apprentice, yes, but she's not gonna share all the deets with Molly. I tend to pick and customise a lot, so there will definitely be many differences. I'm glad you like the idea though. Like I said in the main AN, I'm definitely going to keep going with this till the end.
Lycan13: A lot of folks seem to agree with you. :) Luckily, I'm continuing both! Maybe I'll bring you around on this story later.
Darquan0: I realise this probably doesn't clear up a lot, world-wise but, like I said in the main AN, I'm trying to work back up to writing my full load again, so it's gonna be slow going for a couple of chapters. Hopefully I'll start to flesh out the story and the world a lot more soon enough though. I definitely have a plan for where I want this story to go though, it's just a matter of working out how I want to get there. :) Hope you enjoy it. Life is a journey, the door is ajar, right? :D
MaxNeverMaxine: Thanks! I'm enjoying writing it. It's fun to have a Max that can turn invisible and throw fireballs rather than just shoot people. I do love crossing over LiS with all the other fandoms I can possibly think of. :) I even have an idea for a Darkness crossover soon. (Like the game, not the Band.)
I gaped at her. Max was just... there! First she wasn't, then she just... was! What the fuck?
She looked down at herself. "What? Did I get something on me?" She looks behind her. "Shit, did I break something? Crap, Chloe, I'm so..."
Ok, so I said that last bit out loud. Woops. I interrupt, trying to stop the word vomit. If I let her keep going, she could go on for hours.
"You didn't break anything, it's just generally regarded as kinda fucking weird when you just, y'know, appear out of thin air."
Max nods. "Oh. That."
She shrugs. "Well, that's magic."
I roll my eyes. "Why do I even fucking ask?"
"Seriously. Magic." She waves a hand, all mystic-like. "Wizardry, y'know? Subtle and quick to anger, all that stuff. It's all real. You remember the tall guy from Seattle? He's kinda my teacher. We travel around and fight monsters, like the thing in the alley."
I stare at her. Oh fuck... My first mate went crazy up there. Maybe all the fairtrade coffee and hipster art galleries went to her head or something. "You're kidding, right? You don't seem high, or drunk. So, you gotta be joking."
"No joke, Chloe. There's a whole world of shit just underneath all the 'normal' people. Faeries, werewolves, Wizards, Elves, all the stuff from the old stories and even more besides. It's all real. They've got politics and flags and everything."
I kinda decide to just go with it. I mean, that's how you deal with crazy people right? Through the delusion? Fucked if I know, I just... It can't be real?
"So, there's a whole army of monsters living around us and what... nobody but you knows about it?"
She shakes her head. "Nah. Plenty of people know about it. They just don't talk about it."
I frown. That seems kinda unlikely. "Why not? I mean, how fucking cool would it be to meet an Elf?"
She snorts. "Not as cool as you're thinking, believe me. And think about it. What would happen if I drove you down to the station and you told them you'd just been attacked by a monstrous bear-scorpion thing in an alleyway on the way home from a bar?"
Good point. That thing must've been fake or a science experiment gone wrong or something though, right? I know we're finding new bugs all the time, but no fucking way we'd miss anything that big, so it couldn't be real. But hey, play along, right? She's right though. They wouldn't do a thing. "Not much."
She finger shoots me with a little 'Pyowng' sound. "Exactly. Supernatural stuff happens all the time. People just don't talk about it. Every family has their little ghost story, right? Some little event that's impossible to explain? But they never talk about it afterward. Everybody knows, monsters aren't real. If they start saying they are, all they get is funny looks and an invitation to the padded rooms."
"So, everyone, every time, just... forgets about it?"
She shrugs. "Pretty much. The supernatural don't advertise." She cocks her head. "Well, the boss does. He's in the phonebook under 'Wizards'. But even the people who buy into it enough to come to us move on when it's all done. They pay the bill and they walk out, determined to get back to the life defined by the shit they see in National Geographic and Junior Scientist."
I frown, actually kind of getting into this now. Sure, it's crazy, but it'd make a hell of a book. "How could somebody do that?"
She smiles. "Because it's fucking scary. Think about it, Chlo. The kinda stuff we deal with, like the thing in the alley, it's scary. People don't wanna deal with a jungle where they're the lowest rung on the food chain. The modern world thinks it's the biggest, baddest thing out there and they wanna keep it that way."
She flexes one of her gloved hands. "Imagine, you find out that monsters exist, they're bigger and tougher than you, and there isn't shit you can do about it. Rather than live in fear, you get out of the situation. Eventually, you rationalise what you can, forget what you can't and get the hell on with your life. Dresden gets all cranky about it sometimes, but I don't blame them. Sometimes, I think I'd be happier doing the same thing."
"So, what, you're saying all these scientists and everyone are what... in denial about magic and monsters existing?"
"Not just in denial. Hella wrong. It's happened all the way through fucking history. People didn't believe in germs until years after they were discovered. Biologists denied tales of rabid beast men in africa despite dozens of eyewitnesses until someone dropped a gorilla corpse on their operating table. Humanity has an amazing ability to deny facts."
"What about if it was on TV? Seeing is believing, right? If you just went and did magic on the news..."
She laughed. "Beaten you to it, Chlo. Remember that video of the two people fighting a big dog thing on the news awhile back? That was us. And everyone that wasn't screaming it was a hoax was complaining the special effects looked shitty."
She waves over at me. "Hell, Chloe, you're my best example. A couple of hours back you were attacked by a big rhino-bear thing and you're still arguing with me about whether or not this shit is real."
I blinked. Because... "Because I don't want to believe it."
She shrugs. "Bingo. It's not a bad thing. Like I said, it just makes you human."
Shit. Is it bad when the crazy person makes sense? Does that make me crazy too? Fucked if I know. All I know is, I'm sticking with Max.
She grins. "Scared?"
I nod. "Kinda, yeah."
"Good. That means you're smart."
I grin back. "Joyce would hella disagree after I got expelled from school."
We spent the rest of the night catching up. She laughed at my stories and I gaped at hers. It was kinda fun. My Max was still there, but she was more like me now, too. I guess Punk was popular up in Seattle, too.
"Oh, shit..." I groan. Hangovers are never fun. I roll over and squint around the room, looking for Max. I see her sat, eyes closed, back straight as an arrow sitting cross-legged in my chair. She fucking slept like that? Fucking hell.
As I spin over and bury my head back into the pillow with a thud, I must've made a loud sound because I can hear Max start to move. I roll back over and blink up at her through the light streaming in through the window. "Urgh. Morning."
She rolls her shoulders and unfolds from the chair. "Morning, Chloe."
I groan and roll back over. "Aarghlfarglewibble."
She laughs. "Hungover, right?"
I grunt, listening to her move about. "Gimme a sec."
I feel her hands settle on each side of my head, both of 'em start to get really fucking warm. Then... wham. Hangover gone.
I pause for a second, feeling it out. Yup. Definitely gone. I sit up and stare at Max's smug bitch grin. "How the fuck did you do that?"
She waves a hand again. "I told you, Magic."
I run my hand across my face. "Fuck. I am too hungry and too decaffeinated for this shit. Can we get noms?"
She laughs. "Sure, Chloe. Even magic couldn't change your fucking pit of a stomach."
I shrug. "Nothing wrong with a healthy appetite."
An idea suddenly pops into my head and I grin. "Max, can you do the appearing trick on Mom? I bet we could scare the shit out of her!"
She freezes. Like, the room actually gets colder. "Chloe, you still can't tell anyone about this. I was serious when I said anyone you told would disappear."
I frown, confused. "But you said..."
She grabs my arms and holds me still, focusing her eyes on mine. "Chloe, I broke, like, a dozen rules telling you this shit. You have to promise me you won't tell."
I waft her off me. "Fine, fine. I promise. Sorry, Max. I just got my best friend back and she's a fucking wizard! Can't blame me for wanting to play around with that, right?" I grin.
She rolls her eyes. "I suppose not. But it doesn't change anything."
I roll my eyes back, even harder. "Jeez, Maximilian the wizard is no fucking fun at all. Come on then, let's go see if Mom's downstairs."
Mom wasn't in the house, so we headed to the diner for Noms. We wandered in and took our old booth. I grinned when I saw the little Chloe + Max 4-eva 2004 I'd carved into the table. Maybe I'd have to do another one now we're together again. I slid into the booth and lounged back. Max took the other side.
"Mom's gonna be so stoked to see you. 'Specially with the new hair!"
Max smiled. "Same." She cocks her head. "Speaking of…"
Mom scurried over from behind the counter, pulling out her notebook and pen. "Hey Chloe, who's your friend?"
She frowns and blinks at Max for a second and grins. "Well, I never. If it isn't Max Caulfield. It's good to see you, kid."
Max smiles. "It's awesome to see you too, Joyce. You look exactly the same."
Mom leans back and puts a hand to her hip. "Like I'm still a waitress in a crummy diner after all these years?"
Max frowns. "No, like you're still pretty. I hope I look as pretty as you when I'm your age! And this place isn't crummy, it does the best fucking waffles in two states!"
Mom's grin gets bigger. "Nice save, kid. You're still smart, I see. Got Chloe's foul mouth though."
She rolls her eyes at Max's hair. "And apparently her taste for hair dye too." She shakes her head. "So, what can I get you two?"
"Well, I've been dying for some of your belgian waffles again. Nobody in Seattle can make anything even close."
Mom smiled. "Coming right up. What about you, Chloe?"
I shrug. "Sounds good. Waffles for me too." Mom walked away to get our food.
"So…" I turned to Max. "What's it like?"
She frowned. "What's what like?"
"Y'know…" I trailed off. "The…" I waved my hands and whispered. "Magic."
She smiled. "Oh. That. It's…"
She cocked her head. It's something Max always used to do when she was thinking. It was hella cute. "It's hectic, mostly. Long periods of doing fuck all followed by short periods of doing fucking everything."
She shrugs. "We're not really any stronger or faster than mundies, that's you guys, we're just a lot sneakier. If we've got time to prepare, we can beat most things. So, we spend a lot of time preparing for when shit finally goes down."
I lean in. "So, what kinda shit can you do? Like, is it just the invisible girl trick or can you do other stuff as well?"
She nodded. "A few tricks. I'm still an apprentice, so…"
I might have pushed a little more. "Like what?"
She cocked her head again. "Um. Mostly illusions and stuff. Making people see things. I'm a little sensitive for battlemagic."
I frowned. "Sensitive? Whadda ya mean?"
"Magic… It's based a lot on emotions and energy. I'm good at picking up that stuff. But in fights, that all gets too fucking much to deal with. So, I tend to stick to the support stuff."
Aww. Little Maxie is a sensitive soul. It's kinda cool though. Magic sounds hella complicated. We shut up as Mom walks over with the food. "Here you go, girls. Enjoy. I have to go check on another customer."
She turns and heads off, waitress smile switched on. I turn back to Max. "Come on, dig in!" I wave my fork menacingly towards her waffles. "If you don't, I'm gonna have 'em!"
Max points her fork straight at me. "No. You stay away from my fucking waffles."
"Then get eating, Maxie. Or I'm coming for them." I grin.
The minute we're finished eating, I grab Max's hand and we rush out. "Come on, Maxie. I know a place we can hang for a while."
"Isn't this awesomesauce? Totally reminds me of when we were kids!"
I turned back to Max and rolled my eyes. Fuck, how slow is she? I wave back at her. "Come on, Slowpoke!"
She was looking around at all the nature and shit. I guess she'd gotten used to the whole urban sprawl thing up in Seattle.
I headed up the slope to the lighthouse. Damn. Those Vortex Asshole's had been up here again. I grimaced at the campfire and the shitty beer bottles scattered about.
I slunk past it all and sat down on the bench, looking out over the bay. Fucking place.
I looked back over my shoulder to see Max running her hand over the bay map. Heh. I remember when we put that marker for our treehouse on there, so we'd never get lost.
Damn. If only I'd known a month later my Dad was gonna die and Max was gonna fuck off to Seattle. I shake my head. No, Chloe. You're not doing this.
Wait, what's she doing? Max was standing next to the map, eyes closed, one hand pointed out at the bay and the other hovering over this piece of paper. Is she doing magic?
The paper suddenly dropped and her eyes flicked open. She bent down and picked up the paper, grinned and turned to me. "Hey Chloe."
"Heya slowpoke. What's on the paper?"
She sits down and hands me the paper. "Just a picture."
Holy shit. It's a picture of the bay. I peer closer at it. The fucking detail on this thing is awesome!
"Fuck, Max. This is awesome!"
She shrugs. "It's nothing special. Just a little spell."
I roll my eyes. "You're too fucking modest, Max. This is so hella cool!"
I hand the picture back, but she puts out her hands to stop me. "Nah. If you like it so much, you keep it."
I grin. "Like a memento of us two hooking up again! Thanks Max."
Max wiggles her eyebrows. "Us two hooking up, huh? I like the sound of that."
I smirk and lean back, crossing my arms. "Seeing you after all these years feels like…"
Max grins. "Destiny?"
I jump up from the bench and stomp over to the cliff edge, glaring out over the bay. Max follows and stands next to me. "This shit pit has taken away everyone I've ever loved…"
I can feel myself getting pissed off at this shithole again. Fuck, I almost growl. "I'd like to drop a bomb on Arcadia Bay and turn it into fucking glass."
There's a cry of pain from beside me as Max suddenly falls to her knees, holding her head. I rush over. "Max, what's wrong?"
She winces when I put my hand on her shoulder. "Sensitive, remember? Could you just fucking calm down, please?"
She snapped. Max just fucking snapped at me. Holy shit, she really has changed. Five years Max, I never even heard her raise her fucking voice.
Wait, wait, wait. I'm making her like this? I take a couple of deep breaths and try to calm down. I watch Max as I do. As I get calmer, she seems to get better. It's oddly fucking cool to watch. We're even more in-sync now than before.
Her phone buzzes. "Shit. I need to go, Chloe."
I stare at her. You have gotta be fucking kidding me. "You're leaving me? Again?!"
She sighs. "Chloe… I'm not leaving forever. Tell you what." She waves her phone at me. "You can put your number in here. That way we can keep in contact. I can come visit you, you come visit me. If you want, I mean. I know I screwed up before, but I wanna do it right this time."
I shrug, but inside I'm doing fucking cartwheels and I don't even fucking know why. It's not gonna be the same as having her here again. But she asked for my number! That's gotta mean something, right?
I take the phone and give her my digits. She grins at me when I hand the phone back and I find myself grinning too. "Fucking A, Chlo. Let's go. You can drive me there."
We pull up by the beach and hop outta my truck. I look out over the beach to see Tall, Dark and Brooding standing by the shittiest piece of crap Bug I've ever seen. The main body was blue, but one door was white, one was green and the front trunk door was red.
I look back at my truck. Then again, at least it doesn't look like Tetanus City. I love my old truck, but fuck if she isn't a rustbucket. I grin roguishly to myself and drawl "But she's got it where it counts, kid."
Max snorts. "Whatever you say, Solo."
She wraps her arms around me. "Bye Chlo. This was fun. We should do it again. Maybe without the monster next time though."
I laugh and hug her back. "It's a plan, Maxwell Super Hammer."
She pulls away and wanders off to Tall, Dark and Brooding. Shit, that's too long to say, I'm just gonna call him TBD. She walks up to him. They chat for a second, then get in the car and drive off.
I watch them go.
(Change to Max POV, just in case of confusion or missing the context clues. :) )
The minute I sit down in the Beetle, the Boss asks "So… did you get her number?"
I glare at his smug grinning face. "Yes, actually."
He laughs. "Congratulations." He paused. "So, what did you tell her?"
I try to look offended, but he just eyes me and my shoulders slump. Fucking hell. If mind magic wasn't against the Third Law, I'd almost think the asshole was using it on me. "How did you know?"
"I can see it in your face, grasshopper." He smiles. "Don't worry kiddo, I've done stupid things for women before too."
I snort.
He eyes me again.
I smirk.
He looks back out onto the road. Damn good timing, I was just about to tell him to do that. No way in hell I'm being in another car crash. That Dryad still hasn't forgiven us for breaking her tree. "She knows to keep quiet, right?"
I roll my eyes. "Yeah, Boss. I told her how the big bad people we work for would come after her if she told anybody."
"Good. Hells bells, Max, I hope so. We're screwed if she doesn't."
I roll my eyes. "She will! Don't worry so much, Boss."
He grimaces. "I can't help it. Being under the Doom doesn't exactly make me calm and laid back."
Yeah, I know the feeling. It's pretty fucking scary. I stare out the window, watching the world whisk by. "So, any new clients?"
He shrugs. "Just the one. A 'Ms Sommerset'. She wants to meet as soon as we get back."
I nod. "You want me there?"
He shakes his head. "No thanks, Grasshopper. You go home, see your folks. And get that homework done!"
Goddamnit. I'd forgotten about that. I had to read some book about 'the fundamentals of magical application and theory'. The boss had leant me this battered old copy that I still had sitting by my bed at home.
I nodded. "Sure thing, Boss. As soon as we get back."
(And Back to Chloe again.)
I open the door and sneak into the house. It's late and no fucking way do I wanna deal with step-douche right now. Luckily, I make it upstairs without a creak and head into my room.
Shit... What a fucked up couple of days, huh? I get chased by a monster, and I still need to ask what the fuck that thing was, I meet up with Max again, I find out she's a fucking wizard and all these weird and hardcore scary monsters exist…
No wonder I'm fucking tired. I change into my PJs and head to bed, throwing my phone onto the cardboard box I use for a bedside table.
Just as my eyes were about to close, my fucking phone buzzed. "Fucking hell…" I groaned and rolled over to check it. I had a text.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Hey Chlo. This is Max. :)
I rolled my eyes. Fucking emoji!
