Author's Note:

Hey, just a fair warning here. This chapter contains some pretty heavy stuff. Some of you may not find some of the things talked about in this chapter easy to read. Please, if this chapter makes you feel too emotional and you feel like you need someone to talk to, do not even hesitate to send me a message. Even if it's angry.

"What the hell was that anyway?" Max spoke as the door slid shut behind her before placing her keys inside the lock and locking it.

"What, the music? Dude. You seriously need to step up on your punk game. Especially since you're dating one." Chloe smiled back at her girlfriend. "That was Becky by Be Your Own Pet. They were so bad ass."

"Were?"

"Yeah...they broke up after like two albums like 4 years ago or something. Too bad too."

Max smirked at the taller bluenette. "So...I'm bad at my punk game because I've never heard of some band that barely made music, then broke up?"

"Um, duh. They were hella fucking bad ass and you should be trying to find out everything possible about your girlfriend's likes and dislikes Maximus."

"Chloe" Max spoke plainly, "we've been girlfriends for like, two days?"

Smiling as she walked down the hallway, Chloe turned around and motioned to Max. "Come on, Max. I know you love watching me walk away, but you gotta try to keep up."

'...How do you even know?'

Max smiled to herself as she followed behind her tall, punk girlfriend and tried desperately not to glance down at her butt as she walked in front of her. The hallways were now almost silent once again, after spending half an hour in Max's dorm dressing and browsing through social media. Chloe was determined to catch up on every single thing she possibly could absorb, thinking that maybe it would give her some kind of idea on what exactly had happened, only to get almost annoyed at how boring a typical high school girl's news feed was.

The two girls walked not far from each other with a determination in their steps. Today was going to be the day that Chloe was going to find out everything possible about her life, since she had technically been dead, leaving even Max confused. Max had gone through entering a different timeline before and not understanding what exactly was happening, but this was different.

'When I saved William, I knew that he would be okay and alive, but I didn't rip him out of his timeline and into mine...I wonder if that-'

Max was instantly ripped out of her train of thought when she heard a quiet sob emanating from the showers to her left.

Eyes instantly found each others as Chloe spun around on her heel as the air around them instantly felt heavy.

"Max..." Chloe whispered as she closed the distance between them quickly.

"I know." Max whispered back. "I have no idea..."

"I don't know either. Dude, I think we should go in there."

Her eyes broke contact as she looked once again toward the sound of the sobs. "I don't know..." Max spoke as she bit the inside of her lip.

'The last time I interrupted something like this, Chloe was about to get shot. I don't want someone to get hurt, but I don't want to put Chloe back in danger...what do I do?'

"Come on Max, I'll be right behind you." Fingers quickly wrapped around Max's wrist as the two girls walked their way quickly to the girls showers, before slowly opening the door.

As soon as the wooden door opened, the soft sounds of someone sobbing amplified largely. The sound reverberated around and bounced off the walls. Somehow, the sounds of crying being amplified back at you made them sound even more heartbreaking. As if they were gaining sorrow with each echo off of a solid surface.

Max and Chloe stood motionless in the doorway, letting the door shut behind them. It was now that the door was shut that they could clearly hear the extent of the crying in the room. In the far corner of the last stall seemed to be the sounds of someone sniffling and extremely shallow breaths. The thought of saying something to let the person in despair know that someone was in here momentarily made it's way through Max's head, before she was once again ripped out of her thoughts. This time by Chloe yanking her arm and walking toward the sound at the end of the room.

With each step, the sounds of sobbing seemed to grow more and more intense, as every single wimper suddenly became more and more audible. Despair was beginning to work itself into Max's brain, threatening to bring her right back into the stupor that she had just recovered from, when she felt Chloe's thumb gently stroking her wrist as they walked; instantly washing away all the fear and sadness from within her.

Their footsteps must have been quiet enough to not alert the person, as even as they stood right outside of the curtain, the sounds of crying never seemed to cease, nor did they quiet one bit. Reaching her hand out slowly and gripping the plastic curtain with absolution, Chloe slowly moved her arm to reveal the stall.

"Hey! Someone is in here!" A voice said as the curtain opened. Her voice sounded forced, as if she was trying so hard to keep it from breaking.

"I know." Chloe said softly as she finally pushed the curtain open fully. It was Alyssa Anderson.

"Please...please leave me alone..." her makeup was smeared down her face, as her wet hair clung to her. She looked as if she had been in here for hours.

"Alyssa..." Max spoke softly as she moved past her girlfriend and got down on both knees next to her friend. "What's wrong? Come on...you can talk to me."

"No. No I can't. You wouldn't understand." She spoke through sniffles, refusing to make eye contact.

"Please! Look, I'm your friend, I promise. I know that I'm not your best friend, but I promise that I care about what happens to you. Please, Alyssa, talk to me."

She looked so broken as she pulled her knees closer to her chest. So helpless in the world, as if something crushing had been a plague on her and was just now showing itself. Manifesting after an eternity of hurting.

Silence befell the room momentarily as none of the three girls said anything. Chloe was thinking too hard on what exactly to say, Max was trying to give Alyssa time to feel comfortable talking, and Alyssa herself was trying to hide her secret as hard as she could.

"I just want to help..." Max said softly as she reached out and placed her hand on the top of Alyssa's knee, which she instantly jerked away from her touch. Max felt her heart sink in her chest for a brief second before she heard the slight metallic ping as a razor blade gently slid across the bottom of the shower toward Max, the sharpened edge freshly stained with blood.

The air felt still. Almost deathly quiet. It was a state of shock that pulsated through all three of them. None of them dared to move for seconds, which ticked away agonizingly slowly. Max finally broke the stillness of the room and looked up toward the girl now filled to the brink with tears, with tears of her own beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "Alyssa..." Max whispered, barely even audible, her voice finding it hard to press through the complex emotions spiraling throughout her.

Hugging her shins as tightly as she could, Alyssa buried her eyes into her knees and let out a few small sobs. The situation seemed to be escalating into a territory that Max had no idea how to fix. No idea what to say in. No clue where to even begin.

"Hey." Chloe said as she placed her hand gently on Max's back and slid down to her knees just slightly behind her, effectively lifting the weight off of Max's shoulders. "Alyssa right? Look, I'm sure you don't know me, because I don't honestly know you, but listen to me okay?" The words fell out of the punk girl's mouth with such care behind them, a certain softness to them that Max had rarely ever heard Chloe speak. It was as if she were speaking from a place that was completely naked and venerable inside of her. A voice that Max had only ever hear Chloe utter in times like when she told Max that no one would ever be good enough for her, except Chloe herself.

After pausing for a brief moment to allow Alyssa to comply to her request, Chloe continued; "I know that the world feels super fucking shitty right now. I know what it's like to be in such a horrible place where its so dark there doesn't seem to be a light. To like, drown in a pool of yourself that you don't feel like you could ever get out of. That the more you struggle..." the tears were beginning to form in Chloe's eyes and roll freely down her cheeks. "That the more you struggle, the more you sink. I know what it feels like to have the mindset that 'Life is like a movie, if you get part of the way into it and you hate it, you should be allowed to just leave.' But that is complete bullshit." Chloe wiped her eyes and sniffled before she continued. "It's bullshit because one day, you'll find that light." Instantly, her demeanor changed as her body seemed to loosen. "One day, something will happen to you that will rip you right out of that. It will feel like, fucking instant. You'll suddenly start to feel all these things you've never felt, things that you had forgotten how to feel." Smiling gently to herself, Chloe reaches out her hand and interlaces her fingers with Max's. "I promise you. Things will get better. I promise. You just have to fight all this bullshit until it does."

Pride was surging through the small brunette's body and she squeezed her girlfriend's hand.

'She's talking about me. I am her light. Me.'

"I just..." Alyssa began as she lowered her legs from her body slowly. "Every day is so full of bullshit. Everything that could possibly ever go wrong to me, does. I get toilet paper and footballs thrown at me, fucking knocked into a pool by people that call me an 'Epic Fail', people spray paint things about me on walls saying 'You're hard to want'."

'I...I didn't save her from any of that in this timeline...all of that happened because I don't have my powers...'

"I'm not trying to kill myself..." Alyssa spoke softly as she sniffled and finally lowered her legs all the way down to stretch them out in front of her, which made Max and Chloe instantly see why she was hiding them so harshly. There were what looked like a hundred scars of different sizes on the young girls thighs, some of them scabbed, some of them just a feint memory, and some of them completely fresh. "I just...I sometimes have to feel in control. I feel so fucking powerless. I act like I'm tough as shit, but I can't help feeling so useless and hurt all the time...so ugly..."

"Alyssa, no." Max spoke as she once again placed her hand delicately on Alyssa's knee. "You are not any of those things. You're so fucking talented, and you're really smart. You're well read and can quote poetry. You have the second coolest hair of any person here!" Max said in a lighter tone with a smile, effectively lightening the mood. "And you're seriously pretty. People in high school are just insecure fucking assholes, and none of them know how bad they hurt others. But I promise you, there's a lot of people here that love you and don't want you hurt."

Scoffing slightly, Alyssa wiped her eyes and picked up the razor, examining it as she spoke. "I feel like none of the guys here even see me. Like they just see a punching bag. I just feel so horrible all the time, and the rush of bleeding helps me feel...something."

"Dude, there's a reason that guy's don't see you here. They're all a bunch of fucking tools that think only with their dick's." Chloe said with her usual punk attitude. "Trust me there, most all of the guy's at this school don't notice you because you threaten them with the fact that you have a brain. They're intimidated by you because you're better than them! Once you get out of this town and move on to a bigger and better place, you'll have guys lined the fuck up to just talk to someone smart and shit that has cool fucking hair."

For the first time since the two of them had walked into the showers, they saw Alyssa smile ever so slightly. "I guess...but...that doesn't stop how I feel inside."

"I know dude. But that's why you have to find a way to get help." Chloe said with a pep in her voice, trying to get a fire started under the girl with purple tips in her hair.

"But...isn't therapy for people that are broken and useless?"

"Fuck no! There is nothing wrong about getting help. Nothing. Hey, I had to get help at one point. Just to stop me from doing the same shit you are." Chloe moved in closer and spoke quickly, trying to not let those words sink in too hard to anyone in the room. "If you want man, I'll...I'll help you. I'll fight through this shit with you."

"You would do that for me, Chloe?"

Chuckling slightly, Chloe nodded her head. "I will. Also, sorry that I don't remember you. To be fair though, I don't remember anyone but the assholes. So that's not really a bad thing."

Alyssa smiled. "Thank you guys...so much. I...I really really needed this."

"That's what friend's are for." Max smiled back as she stood up in the stall and pulled Chloe up with her. "Are you going to be okay here?"

"Yeah. I just need to...clean up."

"The road ahead is hard, but the road less traveled makes all the difference." Max said as she rubbed Chloe's hand with her thumb gently.

"That's my favorite poem." Alyssa said with a smile before Max pulled Chloe out of the showers and back into the hallway with a slight pep in her step.

Arms wrapped around Chloe's neck the instant that the two of them hit the hallway. "I am so fucking proud of you." Max said as she smiled sadly at her girlfriend. "What you said back there...I had no idea..."

"Max, look. Don't blame yourself. It was a lot of shit, not just you...I...I used to feel so cursed. Like I would never be happy. But I didn't ever want to..."

"But then..." Max said, cutting Chloe off with tears of joy brimming in her eyes. "You said something came along and gave you a light."

A flush instantly worked it's way across Chloe's cheeks. "Yeah...you."

The kiss they shared this time was the most slow, passionate kiss that Chloe had ever felt in her life. It was filled with so many complex emotions, so much feeling. Pulling away slowly, Chloe looked at Max and smiled a soft, compassionate smile. "I love you, Max. So much."

"I love you too, Chloe."

Hands never once parted as the two girls made their way down the stairs of Max's dorm and out to the courtyard. There was this energy between the two girls that neither of them could break. It was magic, and neither of them felt like they had to say anything. Max could swear that her heart was beating in unison with Chloe's for a moment. Like the two of them had become one. Gazing over to her girlfriend as she walked, Max began to admire the gorgeous smile that was plastered on her face. Her mind began to wander over to what thoughts must be swimming in that beautiful head of hers when suddenly, an extremely loud noise tore through the air. It was a noise that Max knew all too well due to her experiences with them as she tried to help Chloe solve Rachel Amber's disappearance. It was a gunshot.

Her eyes quickly shooting wide as she became hyper aware of her surroundings, Max and Chloe ran toward the front of the school toward the sound of the gunshot, when their feet planted suddenly as they rounded the corner of the boy's dorms.

Neither of them could believe the sight they were seeing. The sight of David Mansden, standing at the gate to the dormitories, a smoking gun in his hand, and Nathan Prescott lying on the ground with blood pouring out of his chest.

Author's Note:

Hey yo, welcome to chapter 2.

Let's talk about the thing I really want to talk about first. Self-Harm is a very serious issue, take it from someone who used to do it themselves. You are not alone. You are not weak, or stupid, or ugly, or unwanted. The simple fact of it is, you are unique. You are a beautiful, bright star in a sea of other bright and beautiful stars, sure, but without you, the constellations cannot form as easily. Without you, there's less beauty to behold. Without you, the world looses something that it didn't have before. You're worth something to someone, even if it doesn't seem like it. People just really suck at communicating their feelings. So stick in there and know that if you do decide to get help, you are not weak. Getting help is one of the bravest things you can do. If you ever need anyone to talk to, please don't hesitate to send me a message, even right now.

Okay, so, anyway. I hope you all enjoyed this little chapter. I know it wasn't horribly eventful, but I wanted to give Alyssa more character and show a more human side of Chloe, setting up a plot thread for a later chapter. Next chapter will be much more eventful, and will begin to start the unraveling of the threads to the entire season. So thanks again for reading. I'll see you next time! Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!

Until next time, stay golden.