I'm in the dark room. My hands and feet are bound tight to my chair. Luckily I feel pretty lucid now. Good, he hasn't drugged me just yet. He stands in front of me, his camera flashing away as he takes shots. He mutters to himself as he works, though whether he's talking to himself or me is hard to know.

"Yes, yes, just like that. Good job, Max. I've waited so long for this moment. To have you here, my perfect subject. Wait..." He pauses, his camera lowering in his hands.

"No, no, no, no!" He screams suddenly, flinging his camera onto the sofa beside him. I shrink back in my chair at his outburst, try to draw in on myself afraid of what he might do.

"This won't do at all! You're supposed to be my perfect subject Max! The essence of innocence ripe for the taking." The anger melts away as quickly as it came. He looks at me, a measure of curiosity and amusement on his features now.

"But you Max, you're not innocent at all are you?" He asks. He's walking towards me now. I can't move away from him, I can only watch as he stalks closer.

"No Max, not after what you've done. Especially after what you did to poor Chloe," he says. What? After what I did? This doesn't make any sense. He's the sick freak that shot her.

"No, you're...you're the one who killed her!" I scream as he closes in.

"Why Max," he says. He's so close now. I can't see anything but his face. "We both know that isn't true." He pulls away and we're no longer in the dark room. We're in a bathroom. The girl's bathroom inside Blackwell. Chloe lays on the floor, blood flowing from the wound in her stomach. She looks at me, her face contorted in pain and confusion.

"Why...Max?"


"Chloe!" I scream, awakening on the floor of my room. My heart is going a mile a minute. I try to calm down. It was just a dream. Nothing more, just a dream.

"Why Max."

Just a dream. Nothing to worry about.

"We both know that isn't true."

"Fuck you!" I scream at the top of my lungs. My eyes go wide. Crap, that probably wasn't the smartest thing I've done.

I nearly leap out of my skin when I hear the knock at my door. My first instinct is that it's Kate, but no, her knock is more timid. There's nothing timid about this knock. I stare at the door from my spot on the floor, not knowing what to do. I don't feel like talking to anyone. Maybe they'll just go away.

The knock sounds again, even louder this time. I try to call out, to tell them to go away, but my throat is too dry. I swallow painfully as the knock sounds again.

"I'm fine," I manage to croak out. There's a pause outside and for a moment I think they went away. Then the door flies open and Victoria Fucking Chase waltzes right into my room. She's dressed in a gorgeous pair of pajamas I can only assume are made of pure silk while I'm still sporting the hoodie I was wearing yesterday. She looks down at me curled on the floor, her face an impassive mask.

"First it's hours of crying, now you're screaming bloody murder. How is a girl supposed to sleep in this dorm?" Victoria asks with a vaguely annoyed voice. I slowly pick scramble into a sitting position. I know I should be mad at her, but I just can't seem to care. I'm too tired and strung out to feel anything really.

"Stop staring at me like that Max. You know, before the funeral I almost felt like we were becoming...well maybe not friends, but something." Victoria shakes her head as if disappointed in me. Wait, was Victoria Chase attempting to have a heart to heart with me in our pajamas? Was this really happening? I know me and Victoria had had a moment in the other timeline, but I never considered we were close in this one. But...we had been friends in timeline where William was still alive, and she had come to Chloe's funeral...My head is spinning, time travel is a mess.

"Earth to Max," Victoria says.

"...Sorry," I manage to get out. Victoria glances at me and rolls her eyes. She moves over to my bed, brushes some of the Polaroids out of the way and sits down. She pats the bed and gives me a look that brooks no argument.

"You have a bed Max, how about you try using it. Unless hipsters are too cool for modern comfort," she says. Part of me wants to scream at her, kick her out of my room, and...well I don't know what I'd do after that. I don't want to go back to sleep, that nightmare saw to that. I think I'm too dehydrated to keep crying. I settle on sitting on the bed.

Victoria is silent for a moment as I sit next to her. Her eyes glance around my room, taking in every embarrassing detail. Finally she glances at me.

"I'd say the new bracket doesn't match your style, but you've never really even had a style so it works somehow," she says looking down at Chloe's bracelet on my arm. I glance at it and then back at her. I can't muster the energy for a reply. She leans back against the wall and we stay like that for awhile.

"This place looks like a twister tore through a hipster's wet dream," she says suddenly. She picks up one of the Polaroids and flicks it onto the floor. "We're cleaning this place up right now," she says. It takes me a moment to process what she said. I turn towards her.

"...Fuck you," I say quietly. One of her eyebrows raises.

"I guess Max Caulfield is hiding in that zombie stare somewhere, " she says and she stands up with a flourish. "Come on. I'm not kidding, we're doing this right now. I'm not leaving till we finish so the sooner we get done the sooner you can go back to moping." I sigh, have I mentioned I don't have the energy to deal with her? What does she want with me? Well, she wants me to clean my room apparently. Who does she think she is, my mother? Not knowing what else to do I stand up without a word. Slowly I amble towards one of the numerous piles of clothes and start to sort through it. Victoria nods in satisfaction and turns towards my selfie wall.

"So, is there any order to this Polaroid wall thing?" she says with a wave at what remains of my selfie collage. I shrug in reply.

"Right…I can tell you're going to be a lot of help. I'll just...wing it." And with that she starts reattaching all my Polaroids back to the wall. In entirely the wrong order. I don't correct her, what would be the point? I just want to get this over with.

The night continues like that for some time. Victoria tries her best to put my room back together, but she has nothing but my zombie responses to guide her. Surprisingly, she remains pretty calm about the whole thing.

"Did your guitar go here?"

"No."

"Over here?"

"No."

"Over...fuck it. I'll...just put it here."

I keep expecting her to blow up and storm out in frustration, but for some reason she seems persistent. Eventually my dorm starts to look like someone might actually live here. It's not how I would have arranged it. It looks more...hip somehow. I hate to admit it, but Victoria might be better at arranging my dorm than I am.

With the last of my things put away I turn towards Victoria and stare, silently willing her to finally leave. It's gotta be like two in the morning or something. Doesn't this girl sleep?

Victoria ignores me as she takes one last glance around the room. Her eyes settle on the box on my desk marked Chloe. It's the only thing still out. My stomach clenches as she takes a step towards it. Without even realizing it I've stepped across the room, one arm out blocking her from getting any closer. She stops. She doesn't try to push past me, just turns to look at me with a frown on her face.

"Those Chloe's things?" She asks. I stare in response, not lowering my arm. Victoria sighs.

"Listen, how about this Max. Why don't you introduce us," she says. I blink in confusion, not understanding.

"Look, I went to the girl's funeral but I barely knew her. How about…" She points between the box and herself. "You show her to me. I'm curious. She must have been pretty amazing to reduce Max Caulfield into a sobbing, zombie girl." I stare at Victoria hard for a moment before slowly lowering my hand.

"She was," I say quietly. Victoria nods and walks up to the box. My stomach is still in knots, but I let her. She immediately picks up William's camera, inspecting it closely.

"Okay, even I have to admit this thing is pretty fucking cool," she says as she looks through the viewfinder. "Was Chloe a Polaroid hipster too?" I shake my head no.

"It's not Chloe's, it was William's, her father."

"Yeah, makes sense. She didn't seem the type," she says. She points the camera at me and before I can react the flash goes off.

"Hey!" I protest, but she's already taking the new photo across the room. She attaches it to my selfie wall.

"I kinda get why you like instant film. It's simple, no computers or editing or printing, just pure photography. It's kinda elegant." She looks back at me and smirks. "So is this where hipster Max was born, playing with William's camera?"

"Sort of," I say. I didn't want to explain how the first vivid memories I have were posing with Chloe for William's camera, how special that made kid Max feel.

"See, educational already," Victoria says. She walks back to the box and places William's camera beside it. "Let's see, what's next. Lots of Polaroids go figure. Oh, this one looks recent," she says as she reaches into the box and pulls out a photo.

"Don't touch that!"

My hand flashes out and rips the photo from her hands, bringing it back to my chest. I glance down at it, a pretty blue butterfly and my partial reflection. My eyes instantly start to water up. If I stare at it a little longer…I rip my eyes away and press the photo against my chest. I breath quickly, willing myself to calm down. My chest hurts so bad, but I manage to keep it together. I look up at Victoria. She's frozen in place, her hand still outstretched as if holding the photo still. Her eyes actually look a little shocked.

"I'm…sorry Victoria," I manage. "I know I'm a minefield right now."

She slowly lovers her hand.

"It's fine, I'm used to it. I was Nathan's friend after all," she says with a mirthless smile. That hurt. She might as well have punched me in the stomach. Did she just compare me to Nathan? Holy crap, I really have lost it.

"You…can keep going. Its just that this photo is private," I say lamely. Victoria shrugs and digs back into the box. She laughs suddenly as she pulls out another photo.

"Pirates?" She asks, showing me a photo of a young Chloe and I decked out in our pirate garb.

"Yeah, we were obsessed."

"You haven't changed much, but I barely recognize Chloe."

"She…had a hard five years."

"Oh?" Victoria remarks as she digs back into the box, pulling out photo after photo. "A lot were taken awhile ago."

"Yeah. William…died when Chloe was fourteen. I moved away not too long after. Chloe lost her father and best friend at once. She didn't take it well." Victoria pauses and looks at me. She studies my face intently.

"I take it you didn't stay in touch?"

"Never even called. Next time I saw her was in the bathroom," I say flatly.

"So, this…" She waves her hand at me as if indicating my entire disposition. "Is a guilt thing?" I almost break out into hysterical laughter, I can feel it bubbling at the edge of my mouth, but I hold it in. Don't need to scare her even more. Guilt Victoria? You have no idea.

"Kinda," I say instead. Victoria nods and digs back into the box, looking for the next treasure We go through everything, examining and commenting on each and every item. We talk about pirate forts, pancake breakfasts, sleepovers and movies. It ends up covering a lot of Chloe's life, pretty much everything but the five days that never happened. I feel a little guilty. I can't help but feel like Chloe would kill me if she knew I was showing Victoria Chase all her stuff.

But, in a way, it feels so good to finally go through all of it. It's like Chloe's right here laughing and crying with us, almost like I could reach out and touch her. I can even hear some of the comments she'd say. It's the most alive Chloe has felt since she died.

And it's also awful. As awful as I knew it would be. Because the good feelings are just for this moment, and like every other moment, it will pass. And when it does, Chloe will go back to being dead. After I go through our memories together its over, there's nothing else. Chloe and I can't make any more. When I pack up this box, it'll be like I'm burying Chloe all over again.

And finally the moment passes. We reach the end of the box, there's nothing else to say.

"Thanks Max," Victoria says.

"Of course," I say, suddenly feeling awkward. What we shared had been so personal. More personal than I'd ever imagined being with Victoria. Victoria reaches out and rests her hand on the box, touching it almost reverently.

"Goodbye Chloe. It was nice to meet you," she says quietly. I can't help it. I sniff once, and then the tears begin to fall all over again. I thought I had no more tears tonight. I was wrong. Victoria turns to me and slowly, awkwardly, raises her hand and rests it on my shoulder. She gives it a gentle squeeze.

"What do I do now Victoria? What do I even do?"

"Fuck Max, I'm not a phycologist," she says seriously. "You…only you know what's going to help you Max, what you need to do. And you need to do it soon because you can't keep this up." I nod and she gives me one last, hard squeeze. She lets go and walks back across my room. She pauses at the door.

"And Max, get some rest and then take a shower. You look like shit." And with that she's gone.


We lay in Chloe's bed, her feet by my head and mine by hers. She's got long blond hair and an eye patch. I'm sporting my Captain's hat.

"What do you want to do when you grow up?" I ask her.

"Pfff. That's a stupid question Max. Obviously I'm going to be a pirate." I bust out laughing. Of course. "And you Maximus, you're going to be a world-renowned photographer."

"Yeah right."

"I'm serious. You've got mad talent Mad Max."

"Okay, but only if you're there to inspire my greatness. We'll travel the world, go to exotic locals, I'll take pictures and you plunder the crap out of them." I laugh, but stop when I realize I'm laughing by myself.

"Chloe?" No response. I look up, but I'm the only one on the bed.


My eyes flash open. My breath comes fast and hard, but I slowly get it under control. It's okay, just a dream. My heart feels empty, but I'm used to the feeling by now. It's bright and sunny in my room, well past dawn. My room looks even better in the sunlight, far more improved than my mood. Guess that means Victoria really did visit last night. That had been real at least.

I lay in bed, just enjoying the morning. My mind wanders between my dream and the things Victoria had said last night. Something about it just won't let me go.

"Only you know what's going to help you Max, what you need to do."

I exhale deeply. Dog, growing up sucks. I guess I can't just mope today. Which means I have to actually do something. And just like that I know what it needs to be. An idea pops in my head. It nestles there, refusing to leave. It formulates, grows, until the idea becomes a plan. I roll over and check my clock. 9:15am. It's time to get rolling. First thing first, gotta take a shower.

I grab my shower things and throw open my door. To my surprise the hallway isn't abandoned, Kate stands near her door. She looks worried, but her face lights up with a smile when she sees me. It's…actually really cute. Like, heart-melting cute.

"Kate?!" I say as she walks up to me with a wave. "What are you still doing here?"

"I didn't have class this morning. How are you doing Max?" This close I can tell she's worried about me for some reason. It breaks my heart.

"I'm…doing." I say. Suddenly a thought strikes me. "Oh no, I didn't keep you up last night did I? I'm so sorry."

"No, you were totally fine," she quickly reassures me. "I was actually going to check on you last night, but then Victoria went barreling into your room. I thought I'd give you two privacy but I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Oh Kate, you're such a better friend than me," I say. Before she can argue I pull her into a tight hug. When I pull back her face is a little pink. "Don't worry Kate, Victoria was actually pretty cool…in a Victoria kind of way." She sighs in relief.

"That's good Max. I'm surprised, but happy."

"Actually I'm glad you caught me. I won't be able to make it to lunch today Kate, I've got some plans."

"Oh yeah?" She asks, surprised. "That's good to hear Max!" I give her a smile.

"Thanks for all you've done Kate. Seriously."

"Of course Max, you'd do the same for me," she says, a little confused.

"Okay, I seriously need a shower," I say before she can ask too many questions. "Have an awesome day Kate."

"You too Max!"

I hurry past her towards the shower. Once inside I strip down and turn on the water. The hot water feels like heaven on my skin.

Did I take a shower yesterday? The day before that? Fuck, when was the last time I took a shower?

I shampoo my hair. I take out my razor and get to work. I scrub myself pink. I want to look nice today. Finally satisfied I dry off and hurry back to my room.

I find an outfit that's mostly clean, jeans and a hoodie still, and throw it on. I grab my bag and empty it before slinging it on my shoulder. I pull on the sturdiest shoes I own, which isn't saying much. I'm ready.

I walk out of the dorms and head across the lawn and down onto the street. I briefly consider the bus, but change my mind. I've got time and the sunshine might do me some good. I head into town and hit up the gas station. I buy an iced coffee (sorry Kate, no tea today), a gas station mystery sandwich, and a pack of cigarettes. I pay for it with some leftover birthday money, briefly feeling guilty about using Mom and Dad's money to buy cancer sticks.

Supplies acquired, I hit the streets again, walking further across town. I nosh on my sandwich, which turns out to be decent, and enjoy the noon warmth. It feels a little strange being out on my own in Arcadia Bay like this. Even when I lived here I'd usually chill at home unless Chloe drug me out. I'd hardly gone anywhere without her. She'd always been the adventurous one.

Finally I arrive at the cemetery, be-lining for her grave. You can tell its new. They planted grass over the fresh dirt, but it hasn't melded with the rest yet. I look at the tombstone.

Chloe Price

03/11/1994-10/07/2013

"Hello Chloe," I say to the air in front of me. I walk up next to the tombstone, pull the cigarettes out of my bag, and place the pack on top.

"I don't remember what brand you smoke so I just bought the cheapest pack they had. It seemed like the Chloe Price thing to do," I say with a sad smile.

"Listen Chloe, I don't know if you're here or somewhere else or anywhere at all, but I felt like I should explain to you first. I miss you. I really miss you. I…don't think you realized how much I'd miss you. I'm…I'm not…I'm not sure miss you even covers how I feel." I take a deep breath. Here it goes.

"I've been doing some thinking. About what I want to do with my life. Actually, you won't believe this, but Victoria Chase of all people got me thinking about it. I know, hella weird. I just want you to know that I made the right choice. Have anyone else in the world make my choice and we'd still be right here. I mean, what sane person sacrifices an entire town for one punk girl." I blink tears out of my eye.

"But it wasn't up to just anyone. It was up to me. Max Caulfield. And I'm not feeling sane these days. I'm sorry Chloe. I know it took too long and I know you're going to be hella pissed with me, but I figured it out. I made the right choice but it wasn't my choice. I choose you Chloe." I take the picture out of my bag. I haven't used my powers since creating this timeline. I'm not even sure I still have them, but I know this will work. It has to.

"Do you hear me God, or spirits, or aliens, or whoever the fuck gave me these powers!" I scream at the top of my lungs, not caring who hears me. "I change my mind. I'm going back in. You let me undo every other choice I ever made, so you sure as fuck are going to let me change this one."

I look at the photo, focusing on my reflection in the bucket. I focus…but nothing happens.

No, no, no. I have to change this. If I can't…

I feel the flutter of the butterfly wings. Each flap sends shock waves through my whole body. The edges around the picture start to blur. Just before the graveyard vanishes and I'm flung into the past again, I swear I see a blue butterfly land on Chloe's tombstone, settling in beside the cigarettes.


A/N

Firstly, thanks to everyone who read my first chapter. I'm glad that at least some of you liked it. ;) (No Emoji!) Please continue to comment and what not, I love hearing your feedback. Secondly, holy cow Victoria was more fun to write than I expected. I loved writing her scene so I hope you enjoyed reading it at least half as much. Lastly, Mad Max Blasts to the Past! What's she going to get into this time, and what will be the consequences? Let's find out shall we. Till next time my friends.