WARNING:

All characters and the story upon which this fanfiction is based are property of Dontnod Entertainment and Square Enix. I don't own anything.

As this is my first story to be published here, I will be happy about every reviews - both good and bad as only so I can know what I have to improve. :)

Rated M for crude and strong language at times, violence and mature content.


- Roulette-


How could this be? She couldn't really deny the feelings she had developed for the young woman lying next to her, still cuddled close in her arms. Feelings she knew were growing every day and with increasing intensity. But at the same time – how could that be? Had she really abandoned her best friend, the one she loved for so many years now, in just under a week, because the woman in question had just lived her own life unaware of how Chloe had felt for her? Because Max had showed up and shown her support and given her strength? Because the rocker-girl had had an even worse life after leaving Arcadia Bay? Because she had hurt Max and wanted to make up to her? Or because they had shared their moments and had kissed a few times before? Because they had had sex just a couple of hours ago? Or was it that she felt so abandoned and betrayed all this time that she would have jumped on anything that'd give her hope?

Had she already replaced one friend with another? Had she already given up on her love for Rachel? Had really already discarded it, like Rachel left her? So easily? Could she be really sure? And despite what had just transpired between her and Max, could she really know it was love what she felt?

The guilt and the confusion Chloe felt over her own feelings for the young blonde woman she had called her best friend for years and the feelings for the rocker-gal had plagued her dreams and now continued even more intensely, when she was awake.

It was barely three in the morning. She more felt the sleeping, still naked form of Max's body next to hers, than saw it. She could feel the young woman breathe in and out slowly, deeply as the heaving of her chest and belly indicated, reminding Chloe again that sometime during the night they had fallen asleep in a position, where her hand again rested on one of Max's breasts.

'Damn, this is becoming a habit or what?' The punk-girl thought in wry amusement, but couldn't bring herself to smile. Not even the thought of the blissful moments they had shared just a couple of hours ago could do that… especially not those memories… not now at least, for in the dead of night her thoughts had become an equally dark place of self-loathing, guilt, fear and confusion as the night itself.

'Best thing to do in such cases – distract myself.' Grudgingly Chloe untangled herself from the sleeping rocker-girl and got out of her bed. She got dressed as quietly as possible in order not to wake the young woman with brown-red hair and sat on her table, hoping the desk-lamp would not disturb the sleeping girl. However, regardless of how much she tried to think of something different or work on something different, her thoughts would always make full circle and return to the two women she felt so strongly for – Max and Rachel. She booted up her laptop after having finally decided to get started on piecing together everything she and Max had dug up about the cases of Rachel and Kate.

But despite trying to concentrate on the issue at hand, namely Rachel's disappearance and the possibility of it being connected to the case of Kate getting drugged, the guilt she felt was still there. The confusion she felt was still there. The self-loathing was still there. And trying to figure out something about her missing 'best friend' was not helping her at all, as it was a constant reminder for her thoughts to why she had this inner conversation of doubt and guilt with increasing frequency and force in the first place.

'So much for distraction, eh?' The thoughts brought up by the guilt she felt for the umpteenth time made her stomach turn into knots, as they spiralled from bad to worse by the minute.

She nearly jumped a foot in the air, when suddenly something bolted at her and nearly tackled her from the stool to the ground. It was only after a short, fruitless struggle to pry herself free from whatever was holding her in an iron-pincer like grip that she noticed that it was actually a slightly shaking, still naked Max, who had partially wrapped herself in the blanket.

"Whoa, easy there Max!" Chloe exclaimed at the young woman, who had buried her face in her lap. The thoughts of guilt nearly immediately yielded the front-stage to those of worry for the rocker-girl, leaving Chloe a bit time to wonder even more, why it was like that.

"Chloe…" Max breathed out in a muffled voice. "Chloe you're here! Oh, my God! This is real... You're here. Oh, thank God!" It seemed that the physical contact somehow calmed the brown-red haired woman.

"Hey, are you alright? Max?" The punk-girl asked her best friend herself getting slightly agitated as the thoughts of the rocker-girls condition and her friends' ability to rewind time might be affecting her friends' mind manifested in Chloe's head. The fact that the woman currently pressing herself against her lower body in a half-crouch was actually completely naked didn't really help either, as suddenly she was very effectively reminded of what had happened a few hours ago and getting agitated over a completelly different matter.

"I'm- I'm just so glad that you're here! Please. Let me stay like this for a bit?" Chloe could actually hear that the rocker-gal's voice was a bit shaky as well and decided not to press the issue.

"Well… okay, for some reason that sounds kinda creepy, so I'm a bit concerned, but if this is helping then sure – help yourself. I get a free nearly four o'clock grope, so I'm not complaining." She replied slipping back to her usual 'let's make light out of serious situations if the option exists to use it as an excuse not to deal with it'-demeanour. It was only after a few more minutes, before she realised she was stroking the younger woman's hair. 'Shit! I really don't have any self-control, do I?' But it really seemed to help calm down the rocker-girl from whatever had disturbed her in the first place. The whole day had been a mess (well, before 'things' happened), but she couldn't possibly fathom what it was that had caused this sudden outburst of emotion, so she decided to blame it on a nightmare. That was the easiest to find reason, even if deep down she somehow doubted it was that… or at least not entirely.

"So? Are you feeling a bit better now?" She asked after a while, noticing that the other woman's breath had become steady again and she didn't shake anymore.

"Yeah, but I doubt I'll be able to sleep tonight…" Max answered as she finally let go of the blue-haired woman and made to stand up, still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the nightmare she had had. Or was it the memories of the other time-lines? Of the other 'pasts' and 'presents' she had lived through? She shuddered a bit and added quietly, so that even Chloe might not have heard it, "Not without you by my side anyways…"

"In that case, maybe care to grab some coffee and join me in playing 'CSI: Arcadia Bay'?" The blue-nette offered, instantly regretting it, as the thoughts of guilt started to again worm their way through her mind. "Maybe we could piece together what we know about Rachel's and Kate's case." She didn't even know why she had to blurt this out and wanted to plant her face on her desk, when she saw the obvious glimmer of hurt and loneliness cross the eyes of the younger woman standing next to her. But the other woman seemingly got a hold of herself as the glint in her eyes turned to that of determination, which somehow surprised the punk-girl.

"Right. We need to find out what happened to both of them - Kate and Rachel." Chloe couldn't help but notice how the other woman put Kate first and only then added Rachel. The odd part was that deep down in her heart a small part of her was incredibly happy, as she could have sworn that for a few seconds Max's eyes flared alive with something akin to jealousy, although for some reason there was also genuine worry in them as she mentioned Rachel. "Still, I suppose I better get dressed. I mean, who knows - after what happened and with you seemingly being completely able to move again – maybe you'll attack me this time around." The punk-girl's thoughts were again sent for a wild ride as they were ripped from their brooding-spot and thrust to concentrate on the fact that indeed a rather ravishing young woman was standing next to her clad in just a blanket.

"Yeah, right! Dream on. I'll get the coffee." She huffed as she stood up and left her room for the kitchen, leaving the other woman to dress, still smiling about getting Chloe worked up like this with just a bit of teasing. She could feel that her face was probably as red as a beet right now. 'And damn you for planting that thought in my head now, Max! You really love to mess with my brain, don't you?' The thought had really remained stuck and it was rather tempting, she had to admit that, even if another part of her was still trying to whitewash it and blame it on her being affected by the whole situation and by what had happened a few hours ago…

By the time the sun had risen above the horizon and the clock in Chloe's laptop stated it was something after nine o'clock in the morning the two girls had gone through nearly everything they had dug up regarding both cases, the Prescotts, the Vortex Club and everything that could be mildly related to some of it. To Chloe's great surprise the rocker-gal had shown every bit of dedication to find any clues about both Rachel and Kate's cases and had poured in an unbelievable effort in sorting all the info on a cardboard they had taken from the garden to pin all the various clues on. Still, what surprised her even more was the fact, that, while she had dreaded that she herself wouldn't be able to really handle anything of this, due to her thoughts and feelings of guilt giving her a hard time, she hadn't had a single thought about it until she let her mind wander and somehow it was way easier to bring herself back on track with Max around, who would often speak or read aloud when she thought she might have found something important and would discuss it with the punk-girl.

"Damn. I feel like we're missing something important." The rocker-girl with the nose-piercing exclaimed sounding equally annoyed and frustrated at the same time. She had actually taped, pinned and drawn everything they had on the cardboard connecting every bit of information that was somehow related to each other with red, yellow and blue threads. "Fuck!" She sighed heavily before she continued. "Okay, listen, Chloe. We have to do three main things."

"Right! Um, what things?" Max's outburst had ripped the punk-girl from her brooding over the fact that she felt so at ease when she was with the rocker-gal, over the fact that she felt so secure and well… needed, wanted, loved in the other woman's presence. And over her own confusion, over the contradicting feelings, over her own inability to make herself face the facts and make a decision.

"For starters – decipher Frank's logbook." The other girl started to count on her fingers as she marched up and down the room in a slight mock-impression of a general. "Second, we've gotta get Nathan's phone to find out where he's been during the Vortex Club parties Rachel and Kate went to. And see if there is anything incriminating in the messages he should have on it, if he hasn't deleted them. If that doesn't work – we gotta find that prick and you leave the rest to me – I'mma make him squeal…" She said it so lightly, but Chloe had no doubt that given how she saw Max manhandle the pole in the junkyard – she'd probably rip the young Prescott a new one – with or without him saying anything they needed. "And three – I'm gonna talk to your step-douche. He knows shit and I want to know what exactly he has on Frank, Kate and 'the Dark Room'."

"Well, we could always beat him down a notch, as I do have a gun now…" The look on Max's face made her change her mind rather quickly. "…but I guess after you kinda calmed things down yesterday, we can try talking first. Maybe he'll even listen to what you have to say…" The punk-girl sighed. "Try to get some info out of him and see if you can dig up some dirt in the garage. I'm going to cyberstalk some names and see where that leads us… or to whom." The still seated girl said to the rocker-gal crackling her fingers as to indicate 'I'm gonna be serious with this' and already half-turning towards her laptop, when the younger woman strolled over to her and hugged her lightly, before she placed an affectionate, warm kiss on her forehead.

"You got this, Blue-Jay." Max's voice had lost its previous edge completely. It made Chloe's heart beat loudly in her chest and at the same time it and the kiss spread a warm cosiness in her, that made her want for her best friend to remain a bit longer like this, but before she could reply or actually order her thoughts enough to speak up the hug and the closeness was over. "Time to get to work, my dear Watson. I'll call when I have something, so you better be ready." The rocker chuckled a bit over the reference and winked at her over her shoulder as she walked out of the room and went down the stairs, suspecting that David would already be there, even if it was rather early in the morning.

'Damn, if that was not motivating, then I don't know what is…' the blue-nette thought. Still, it did take while until Chloe completely could concentrate on what she had supposed she should and would do, while her best friend would chat up her step-father and gather info in the garage.

Max was hardly surprised to see the former military man already working in the garage, but what surprised her was the rather kind demeanour in which he greeted her.

"Anything I can do for you, Max?" The security-officer turned from whatever he was working on to see the young woman in the eye.

"You seem awfully relaxed to see me, Mr. Madsen. Taking into account you weren't really thrilled to see me here again last time around." The rocker-girl said, crossing her arms before her. "And actually yes, there is something you could do. Remember when I said I wanted to talk to you about Rachel Amber?"

"Ah. I'm sorry about my initial rudeness yesterday, but in my defence – I haven't got much sleep in the last few days and with everything that is happening in Blackwell, this last incident caused even more stress for me." He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, but he sounded sincere. "Still, I owe you one for yesterday. That has been the first time in years since where there hasn't been a quarrel in this house. So – thank you for that. I know full well how quickly that situation could have escalated and I was not really helping it either… And you are Chloe's friend and she seems more happy than I have seen her in months… So – thank you for that too. I can't approve of you skipping morning classes, but as I said – I owe you one, so I'll let it slide this time. And, yes, I remember. I did promise you could talk to me whenever you needed to. However, Rachel Amber is a topic you should better keep away from. You and Chloe better be careful where you wander around. There are a lot of dark places in Arcadia Bay…" The ex-soldier looked somewhere in the distance over Max's head. There was genuine worry in his voice.

"What do you mean by that? What do you know?" This had peaked Max's attention. Maybe this would get her somewhere with what she wanted to know.

"I can't tell you everything that's going on at Blackwell. And you've seen too much already." The security guard crossed his arms now too. "Look, Joyce told me about your mother and I can guess you have a lot on your plate already, so please – for your own sake – stay out of this, Max." Something must have shown on the young girl's face as it prompted the man to let his arms fall to his sides and add apologetically, "I- I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. I know how hard it can be to lose someone…"

"Too late for that." She said in a strained voice. The memories of her mother, of her failing to save her, all those terrible memories she had from those alternate 'pasts' and 'presents' and of course the 'original' bubbled up in her and she could feel how a supressed rage accompanied them. "And it's too late to ask not to get involved. I already know too much. For example about you working for Sean Prescott. Found the documents. Pan Estates. Surveillance and security. Ring a bell?" She knew she was becoming a bit snappy, but hell… the memories of her mother's death which she had experienced over and over again due to her trying to change her fate, was not something one can easily put aside.

"Goddamn. You're a good detective." The former army man sounded actually impressed, even if slightly surprised. "But I didn't get hired if that is your question. I gave Mr Prescott an estimate for my own reasons…" He crossed his arms gain, leaning back a bit defensively, clearly not wanting to expose to the young woman what those reasons were.

"To be honest – you can keep your reasons for that. All I want to know is what you know about what happened to Kate and possibly to Rachel Amber too." The anger in her voice seemed to slightly worry the older man, but he didn't back down from his position.

"I know you're concerned with what happened to your friend." The look David gave her was filled with honest concern. "But you did save her and that is all that counts. You saved her like a real hero. You even made it to the roof before me or anybody else. While I left the goddamn dorm roof wide open… I knew Kate was feeling desperate, but it seems me trying to help has caused even more damage…" The young rocker-girl could actually tell that he was beating himself up about not having been able to prevent what had happened to Kate and probably other Blackwell students she didn't know about. "Still, I know what's happening and this is really not a thing you or Chloe can handle. I promise you, I will get to the bottom of this, but I have to be a hardass and tell you and Chloe to stay the hell out of this. Things are gonna only get uglier and despite what Chloe thinks – I care for this family and for her." He sighed heavily and put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Look, Max, I'm currently working on a new surveillance system for the Academy – to prevent things like this from happening. To prevent more students ending up like Kate Marsh or Rachel Amber. Although you are like a one-man surveillance system yourself, it seems… But I cannot in good conscience tell you something that could possibly endanger you or Chloe…" David started to turn towards the workbench.

"A friend of mine tried to kill herself and might as well have been abused for all we know, and you expect me to do nothing?" The young woman demanded harshly, seething with anger.

"Listen, this is not your fight, Max! And definitely not a fight you can win on your own! I know you can take care of yourself, and I know this is frustrating but I'm not going to let you and Chloe just run around and put yourselves in danger." The man turned to face the young rocker, again crossing his arms over his chest, his voice stern.

"This is exactly my fight!" The rocker with the tongue-piercing shot back. "Kate is my friend and I might not know Rachel, but God knows she means a lot to Chloe and I will find out where she is or what has happened to her! Because Chloe means a lot to me!" She pocked the man in the chest repeatedly as she emphasized every single word of the last sentence.

"No. And I will hear no more of this. Now, if there is anything else you would like to talk about, I'll be more than happy to listen and give you advice, but otherwise – I'd like to get back to my camera." The security guard said as he turned towards the workbench indicating that the conversation was over if Max didn't have anything to say anymore.

This was indeed frustrating. So much actually that she was ready to punch something, preferably the man standing before her, but a rational part of her mind suggested another way to handle the situation.

But this new approach should prove as futile as the original. After several rewinds and different approaches the success was rather limited and she hadn't got any really useful information out of the veteran. The man was adamant on not telling her anything, but from all the takes on the conversation Max noticed one rather peculiar thing – whenever he would say, he couldn't say exactly what he knew, his eyes would always wander over to the locker in the garage for a few seconds.

'That's a serious padlock you got there, Rambo. Les'see whatcha hidin'!' The girl with brown-red hair thought eyeing the locker, as she remembered the rather unorderly stacked envelopes of photos of Kate and other students that she had found during her first visit to the garage. Her anger subsided somewhat as she thought of what she would probably find in the locker and how to open the lock.

She took a few more tries, moving ever so slightly in the direction of the locker, just to make sure that her suspicion was right. Every time she could see the obviously growing worry on the man's face depending on how she handled the situation or where she turned the conversation to as she moved closer to the locker. She rewound again and went for the 'options chosen' as in the 'first' conversation she had with the security guard, as after the brief but heated exchange of words he had solely concentrated on the camera he was working on.

'Time to bust a lock, Max the Destroyer.' She struggled to keep a sly, evil grin from appearing on her face. 'The easiest and fastest way to get the lock open would be the keys, which are probably with David, so no luck there… but this thing seems to have a code on it too, so let's give that a shot. And if that doesn't work… Well, let's see if there is anything I can use to crack it open.' She took her time looking around in the garage for a way to get the code for the padlock, but didn't really find anything. It seemed the ex-soldier had been quite careful to sort his stuff this time around. 'Well, not completely careful.' She mused as she looked over a few print-outs from what seemed to be emails from the local police station. Apparently someone had noticed Chloe's truck in the parking lot of the Academy during the night they had broken into the principal's office and reported it. 'And here you thought that guy is a complete douche, huh?' The rocker-gal smiled wanly as the second printout she found revealed that Chloe's step-father had got word of it and sent a message to the local police department with a rather cover-up story. 'Point for you, Mr Madsen… Maybe I'll consider taking you off the list earlier than intended if you keep this up.' Still – no combination for the four cipher lock. Maybe she could use some tools to break it, but that would be too loud and who knows if she could rewind back before the security guard got to her after that…

She was getting worked up again and was ready to punch the damn locker, when her eyes fell on a small object lying on the workbench.

"You gotta be shitting me!" Max muttered under her breath as she looked at the keyring conveniently lying on the workbench, a bit out of reach of the older man. He would still probably notice her if she simply took them, but with a small distraction… A quick scoop around the garage gave her an idea. 'No beat-down for the security today.'

'Blue will probably be pissed, but hey – no pain, no gain.' With the preparations done, she hit the switch and took out a fuse of the fuse box. 'Out go the lights.' Immediately she could hear angry shouts from the second floor, where a certain blue-nette was getting frustrated over the power-outage and was blaming it on her step-father, who, while Max had already gone around the first floor to the door leading to the garage from the living room, was looking for the issue of the blackout.

The rocker-girl quickly snagged the keys from the workbench, just as the lights went back on indicating that the security officer had found the missing fuse, and made a full circle as she went back into the garage through the door from the hallway. Luckily the veteran seemed too preoccupied with continuing to work on his surveillance camera and as the radio in the garage blared into life he didn't hear her unlock the padlock.

'Bingo!' The girl with black-brown hair pumped a fist in the air as she went quickly through the notebook, some of the papers and envelopes stacked in a pile in the locker. 'Maps, notes, coordinates, photos… Fucking jackpot, baby!' She quickly pocketed what she could (which was practically everything as she just took the whole lot under one arm) and walked out the way she came, before closing the padlock again and placing the keys on the locker.

"Yo, Chloe! Gotta bail! I have to get back to my dorms before midday-classes. You remember you said you'd give me a lift?" The rocker-gal shouted, when she stood in the hallway of the first floor.

"Oh, shit! Right!" She could hear the rumbling and a muffled stream of curses coming from the upper floor, as the punk-girl hurried to get ready. It didn't take long, but still, Max couldn't supress a small smile from appearing on her face. She liked this a bit lazy, but at the same time super-focused side of Chloe. It was one of the things that made her the adorable young woman she was. The smile widened as the blue-haired girl practically stumbled down the stairs, her boots still untied and the beany sloppily put on her head. She held her jacket in one hand.

"Now let's get out of here, before he finds out his precious is missing." The rocker-girl urged her friend towards the door and before the security guard even noticed, they already were out of the house and in Chloe's truck and on their way towards the Academy.

"We hit the score bigtime." The rocker with the nose-piercing said, when they had pulled out of the driveway in front of the house. "Secret file stash of the year – Kate, Nathan, Rachel. It's all there. Plus some location coordinates. Have to admit – David might be a surveillance fetish, but he sure as hell knows how to gather data."

"That doesn't make step-douche more likable." The blue-nette replied with a frown, concentrating on the road, but clearly excited, if a little bit unnerved, by what her best friend had found in her step-father's garage.

"True, but this makes it one of the three things we need to do today." Max shrugged, but had to admit that knowing what she knew about the security officer now – he didn't seem all too bad. He could be a shit-bag, there was no denying it, but he seemed to mean it well, even if the methods he used weren't as efficient or reasonable as one might want.

"So next up is Nathan, right? We have to find out what he's hiding." Chloe intoned, getting back on track of their to-do list.

"Yeah, that's right. Oh, I'm so gonna enjoy busting his ass. Dipshit's better looking out not to cross my path." The rocker-gal smiled evilly and the sight made Chloe rethink if they shouldn't do something else instead of going to the dorms. Regardless of how much she hated the young Prescott – Max appeared to be in a mood where everything could happen and she was not so sure she would be either willing or even capable of holding her friend back if it came to a confrontation.

"Be as it may… before we break into that assholes room, I'd really like to see Kate... Chloe, I have to know how she's doing." The shift in the other girl's mood was so instantaneous that it took the punk-girl by surprise. She had seen that Max got mood swings, but this was a bit more than that. There was a deep set worry in her voice and Chloe couldn't help but think that there was more behind it – it was like she needed to confirm that the strongly religious girl was really there and alright. She remembered what the rocker-gal had told her about her own past clearly. "It's not like I intended to attend midday classes today anyways…" The girl with brown-red hair smiled weakly, clearly an effort not to make this already uncomfortable situation more so, but Chloe could tell - this must be something that weighed heavy on her best friends' mind.

"Sure, no problem, Max." The punk-girl replied solemnly as she changed their course towards the hospital.


-Blue-


It didn't take them long to get to the hospital. Since the death of her father Chloe had hated hospitals, but compared to what she felt, the rocker-girl next to her must have had some very bad memories about hospitals as she had turned as white as a sheet of paper.

"Hey, you ok, Max?" The blue-haired woman asked, somehow getting the vibe from her best friend that she at the same time wanted and desperately didn't want to be at the hospital.

"Yeah… yeah, it's fine… hospitals just kinda really freak me out." The answer worried the punk-girl even more as the distant look in the other woman's eyes didn't change a bit.

"I hear you… I feel the same." She patted the rocker-girl's shoulder and indicated to get out of the car. "Come on, Max. Let's go. Kate will be stoked to see you. And the sooner you see her, the sooner we get away from the hospital."

"I hope you're right…" The rocker-gal replied weakly as she got out of the truck and made for the hospital. They found Kate's floor and room easily, but despite how bad or anxious she felt about being at hospitals, Chloe couldn't help but notice how her friend's movements seemed to cost the younger woman extreme amounts of willpower, becoming even more stiff and reluctant the further they went.

"It'll be fine, Red Max." The young punk-girl had to swallow the anxiety she felt in order to encourage the other woman to enter the room before her. "Just go in there and be her friend. I'll wait out here, so you can chill by yourselves. And… I'm sorry. I was a total dick for blowing a fuse when you answered that call from Kate back there the other day… It's a good thing you shut me up there and ignored me… I had no idea what shit she was going through. And you saved her… like me..." She had wanted to encourage the other girl, but it seemed like going down memory lane had not been the wisest choice and now she had soured the mood even more. The young rocker-gal just looked at her, before giving her a nod and a small, but warm smile that made the blue-nette's heart tighten in her chest. 'How can you not lo-… like someone as kind-hearted as her?' She smiled back weakly glancing sideways at her best friend, who already was pushing down the handle and entering the hospital room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. 'Let her know we're going to string Nathan up by his balls for what he did, sista.' She cheered her friend on in her mind as the door closed behind Max.

"Hey, Bible-girl." The rocker-gal with the nose-piercing said to the young woman sitting in her hospital-garments on the side of her bed drawing something in a sketchbook. Max's voice seemed to startle her a bit as she sat up straight instantly and looked to from where the voice had come.

"Max!" Her eyes lighted up immediately, when she saw the woman with brown-red hair and the rocker-attire. She practically rushed over to where the other woman was standing and embraced the rocker-girl in a tight hug. "I thought I'd never see you again. I feel so ridiculous… I'm so sorry…" The young religious woman couldn't help herself as tears welled up in her eyes as the tough looking rocker-gal returned the hug and stroked her back reassuringly.

"You have exactly jack-shit to be sorry about, you hear me?" The rocker with the tongue-piercing said. The fear and obvious anxiousness Kate had seen in her eyes only a moment before were quickly replaced by her usual confidence and anger. "Other people do… And I swear to God or the gods or the-fuck-ever I'll make them pay!" While driving to the hospital, Max had had flashbacks of various memories of the other 'pasts' and 'presents' again – of what she had done, of what she hadn't done, of how it had interfered with Kate's fate as well… of how she had failed her religious friend during her various attempts to save her best friend from a fate worse than she could bear to live through… Now seeing Kate again had brought it all up again – the self-loathing and the unbound fury over what had happened to the sweet and kind young woman and not only in this 'present'. She sighed heavily before she continued, hoping not to show her anger in her voice as to not upset her hospitalised friend. "Is it a stupid question if I ask how you're doing?"

"Now that you're here, I'm doing even better." The other woman replied as she finally released Max from the hug. "I'm so grateful to you for coming up to the roof to talk me down…" She smiled weakly at the rocker-girl but the slight quivering of her voice proved how much strain this actually put on the girl. "Max, I felt so lost and alone, but when I saw how much you cared, how hard you were trying, you made me realize I wasn't alone. Thank you." She hugged the rocker-girl again for a brief moment, before letting her go again.

"Yeah… I know exactly how that feels to be alone, lost, scared, scarred and broken…" Her voice was faint as she replied looking the young woman in the eyes, memories bubbling up in her mind. "There are so many people who love you and want to help you, Kate, that I actually am a bit jealous. And I just know that life will smile at you with the same bright, warm smile that you have." She allowed herself to grin a bit. "But I don't make hollow threats and neither do I make false promises. I told you – I am here for you, and so I am and will be. And I told you – I will bury those who did this to you, and I will do so." This last statement prompted the young woman in front of her to look at her in slight worry, before she too started to smile again.

"I know. But I also think violence is not the right answer." The blonde girl replied. "And I know, that I'm not alone now. You should see all the letters and postcards I received… I gave most of the flowers to the other patients here because they need them more than me, but I'm keeping the balloons, though." She gestured over to her bed where a few balloons were tied at one side of it. "And believe it or not, Taylor came the other day to see me and brought even some pens and crayons, as well as a sketchbook so I could do some drawings. She- She apologised for everything and I felt that she meant it genuinely… She has her own problems, even if it doesn't justify her actions, I can see that she meant it when she said she wanted to make up for all she had done… but although I don't know what to think of it right now, I believe in forgiveness and redemption and with time I'll be able to forgive her completely. She even took care of my bunny and my plants for me… She also said she liked my illustrations, though they got kind of dark there for a while, but it gave me an idea for a new children's book about bullying." She continued as she walked over to the small table and picked up the sketchbook to continue her latest drawing. "I was thinking of having some photographs in there too… maybe, if you'd be interested or if you have time for that… maybe-… would you like to take those photos?" It took the blonde woman quite a bit of courage to ask her friend.

"I'm really not the best you could get, Bible-Kate, but I have your back and if it means I'll have to start paying attention in class so I can make some awesome photos to go along with your drawings – hell – I'll do it." Max winked at the young girl who had set down in the chair next to the table and had started drawing again.

"I'm going to be here for another day until my family comes out to visit." The tone of the blonde girl changed a bit to a more solemn one, as she broke the news to her friend.

"Are they treating you alright?" The concern in the rocker-gal's voice and the look she gave the young woman, were enough to prompt an immediate answer.

"They treat me like they need to protect me forever, and I mean in a good way." The religious girl explained. "They're so upset and I know they feel guilty, even though they didn't do anything…" Max's look, now that one of anger, made her quickly continue and change the topic a bit. "I was surprised how many students from Blackwell wrote me, and I don't mean just Taylor, who sent at least half a dozen cards alone even after she had come to visit… Daniel, Mr. Jefferson… Even Victoria wrote me a very sweet note… and I believe she was being real."

'Yeah, right, like that two-faced cunt can be real!' Memories of different 'versions' of the blonde with short hair popped up in Max's head. 'I know that she can, but that was not 'this Victoria'… so, I'll be damned if I believe that shit… Queen-bitch is still on my hit-list and no 'past' or 'present' is gonna change that.' She actually had also quite some nasty 'new' memories of the rather snobby young woman from the Blackwell Academy.

"Myeahm… At least one of us is a believer." Max teased a bit as she noticed how gloomy the mood had got. "Still, we should hang out more and finally drink some 'tea'."

"Yeah, but real tea, Max." Kate smiled at her, knowing exactly what the rocker-girl had offered before this whole incident on the roof. "Maybe we could even make a tea-tour through Portland or something. And you could take Warren along too…" This seemed to surprise the rocker-girl, not something the young blonde had expected.

"Warren? What does he have to do with this?" The rocker-gal raised a brow and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Uhm… You know he likes you…" The young woman offered, but as realisation washed over the girl with brown-red hair, all she could do was take a deep steadying breath before saying what had to be said.

"Look, Kate. I'm glad you're looking out for my love life, but it's not the way I swing, if you get my drift." She looked the blonde woman straight in the eyes and her look was unapologetic, honest and filled with confidence, which only comes when one knows exactly what one feels. And though it might have seemed just like a bit under a week, she, who had seen and gone through so much in these last days, in these last years of this and other timelines, knew exactly how she felt. Even if she couldn't be sure that the other felt the same. "I already have someone I like. A girl. Chloe Price, if you remember her. She was a student at Blackwell too for some time… Now I know this is a lot to drop on you and I'm not going to apologize for what I feel, but I also don't want to hide such things. Not from the few people I actually trust in this world and whom I can call friends…" The silence that followed stretched on for a few more moments, but the woman with the sketchbook quickly regained her composure and this time it was Max's turn to be surprised as a warm and caring smile appeared on the religious girl's face.

"Oh, Max, I had no idea. That is – I'm really happy for you!" Kate practically beamed at her friend.

"You- you don't condemn it? We're still friends right?" The rocker-girl was a bit shocked and dumbfound. She knew Kate was rather tolerant despite her upbringing, but this was something she hadn't expected.

"Of course we are friends! And why should I condemn it? Just because my parents might not understand it doesn't mean that I cannot understand it." The blonde girl replied. "Why should the love between two men or women different form the one between a woman and a man if the feeling is there, is real and the same? 'John 4:7 – Let us love one another, for love comes from God.' So if you truly love her, then there is nothing wrong with it, and you can always count on my support, Max."

"Wow… I didn't expect that- I mean – thank you… for understanding and not judging… It's just that this is not a really popular or open opinion in many parts of the US or the world actually..." The rocker-gal stated a bit taken aback, but Kate just continued smiling at her with warmth in her eyes that Max hadn't seen for quite some time now.

"Anyways… have you told her already?" Kate just couldn't resist asking.

"Well… Yes and no… It's kinda hard to explain…" She had said it to Chloe, over and over again, but those were other 'pasts' and 'presents'. "You could say I didn't say it in words actually." She smiled a bit sheepishly at the surprisingly open-minded religious woman before her, feeling that her cheeks grew a hot as she remembered just what had happened the night before, but spared the still recovering girl any details. "I just don't want to push her too much. She too has a lot on her plate right now, so, I guess, I'm just waiting for the right moment or such…"

"And it will come, Max. I just know it will. But until then - 'Ephesians 4:2 – Be humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.'" The young woman in front of her quoted again, before adding with another bright smile. "I'll be rooting for you."

"Heh… Thanks, Kate." The rocker-girl smiled at her friend and ducked in to give the other girl a quick but warm hug. "It really means a lot to me."

"Even angels need angels sometimes, right?" The religious woman returned the hug.

"Yeah, I guess so." Max let go of the young blonde before looking over to the door behind which she knew a certain blue-nette was waiting for her. The affectionate smile on her face only diminished, when the thought of what they still had to do, bubbled up in her mind again.

"I wanted you to know that I'm this close to getting all the info we need on Nathan." She said unconsciously balling her fists. "That fucker's gonna pay for what he did." Menace and anger were back in Max's voice. "I did get his ass suspended already, though."

"You did? Oh, right on, Max!" Kate smiled a bit though being reminded of what had put her in her current state was putting a lot of strain on the girl. "I love how fearless you are."

"Fearless – naah, but hella angry and that dipshit is about to become a human punching-bag if I run into him." The rocker-gal grinned evilly.

"So what is going on with him now?" The blonde woman inquired.

"If I was in charge he'd be talking to the worms, but not gonna lie to you - I assume he'll show up at the Vortex Club party tonight like nothing happened." Thinking about the whole incident alone was enough to make the rocker-girl's blood boil. "That fuckturd has it coming. Just have to find his room number, get inside, get the clues I need and then he'll be taking a nice hike to a cosy place six feet under… or to the police station, if he's makes it so far." She added rolling her eyes at the look the young blonde gave her, indicating that she'd consider not right-out murdering the young man when she saw him, even if she was only half-joking.

"Max, please let me help! I can get the number and I'll text it to you." The young woman offered, even as the slightly concerned and stern look in her eyes remained for a bit longer, while she watched her friend clenching and unclenching her fists. "But we have to do it the right way, okay?"

"Fine, fine!" The woman with brown-red hair threw her arms in the air as if frustrated, but grinned at the other woman, who still held her ground on this matter. "If you really want to go all 'Batman's one rule' on this, then I guess I can play along with it… for a while."

"Please, Max. Be careful, okay?" The woman put the sketchbook away to give her friend a goodbye-hug before sitting back down and taking up her drawing again.

"Right. I'll be waiting for your message then, Bible-girl." The rocker replied gracing her friend with a small, warm smile, before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

"How is she?" The blue-haired punk-girl asked when she saw her friend come out into the hallway.

"She's still Bible-Kate." Max smiled at her. "I was really glad we came to see her." She walked over to where Chloe was standing with her arms crossed before her chest, leaning against the wall of the hallway, and placed her head against the slightly older girls' shoulder. "Thanks for being here for me. I really hate hospitals…" She murmured, before straightening up again. "Okay, now, let's get the hell out of here. We still gotta pay a visit to dipshit a.k.a. Nathan Prescott."

"Right. That little prick is not going to be glad when he sees us…" Chloe said as she started to walk alongside her best friend.

"Oh, I'll make sure of that." The girl with brown-red hair said lazily placing a hand around the punk-girl's hips slightly dragging her closer. And although there were still those conflicting thoughts in her head about what to feel, what to think and how to react, Chloe wouldn't have traded this moment and show of open affection from the shorter woman for anything. This small gesture had immediately wiped away all the anxiety she had felt while waiting in the hallway of the hospital. All the bad memories – replaced by the feeling of warmth, spreading from the palm of the rocker-girl's hand on her hip and making her mind focus on the woman next to her, and not on the reasons why she couldn't stand hospitals. She dropped her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze. It came to her so naturally that her mind registered it only when she had to let go of her best friend so that they could get into her truck and get on their way to the Academy. As she started the accelerator and made to drive off, she snuck a glance at her friend with the nose-piercing and a thought struck her, which she knew was the truth about what she felt, even if she didn't dare to formulate it any further right now. 'I just… don't want to let go of her… Not ever again…'


-Wollt Ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen-


It did not take long for them to reach the Academy, which was more due to Chloe driving a bit over the speed limit than anything else. Still, it was not even eleven o'clock when they arrived there and already quite many students were up and about their daily business. Nobody really bothered them as they covered the campus grounds and headed for the dorms, though judging by the looks the few passer-byes gave them (or Max to be precise), they either were scared of the short rocker-girl or didn't want to have to do anything with her. Only a few people greeted Max, and even those did so mostly by either nodding or raising a hand in a silent greeting.

"Damn, Mad Max… you're just strolling through the campus and everybody acts like you're a mob-boss or something." Chloe couldn't contain it for much longer and blabbed out what was on her mind as another student (this time a guy from the football team) made a wide range around them.

"Hmm… Yeah, I don't mind it though. Actually feels nice, you know? Nobody bothers me really and I can just chill with those, who are actually close to me." She gave the punk-girl a lopsided grin, but her mood soured, when she saw the photography teacher approaching them from the opposite direction. "Ugh… What does Creep-for-Pros want now?" She didn't bother to lower the volume at which she was speaking for a – the teacher was still quite a bit away from them, and b – she couldn't care less if he heard it or not.

"Hey, Max! How are you doing?" The teacher inquired in a rather friendly demeanour as he halted just in front of them, just behind the gate to the territory of the dorms.

"What do you want, Mr. Jefferson?" The rather brusque and short reply was all the indication Chloe needed to discern that the anger her friend was carrying inside her was already starting to bubble up in the shorter woman. It really seemed that Max couldn't stand the man even if he seemed kind of cool for an art teacher. A bit of a retro hipster, but cool in a way.

"Max, please. I'm not here to lecture you or anything. I'm just inquiring about the well-being of one of my students." The man sighed and put up his hands in a calming gesture, but seemed to be a bit taken aback by the hostility in the young rocker-girl's voice. "I know you have a lot on your plate, so I was just wondering how you are feeling today."

"Yeah, I'm fine." The rocker-girl with the nose-piercing replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Fucking strange that the teachers and other students seem to be doing just fine even after what happened and what shit they pulled, though."

"I know, but lame as it sounds – life has to go on." The teacher seemed to be happy with just this much of a response from his student and now turned his attention to the blue-haired girl standing next to Max. "And who might you be?"

"That is Chloe, my friend." Coming from Max's mouth the words sounded like a threat, like in 'dare to look at her and you're dead'. The punk-girl could actually imagine the shorter woman saying just the exact same words.

"Yo." She said quickly as a means of introduction, when she noticed that it was her turn to say something.

"Chloe, why isn't somebody as cool as you going to Blackwell?" The photography teacher seemed to try lifting the heavy mood.

"I was way too cool for this school. It's a long story. In actual files here." The punk-girl with blue hair replied, amused by the daggers she saw her friend glaring at the teacher in front of them. 'Oh, man! If looks could kill, that guy would be already ripped to shreds.' She had to supress a chuckle and a smile that was trying to spread on her face.

"I can imagine." The teacher said, before again refocusing his attention to the rocker-girl. "On that note – Blackwell duty calls. Remember, I'm going to announce the winner of the 'Everyday Heroes' contest tonight at the party, so I hope you'll be there to celebrate. Even though I'm sorry you didn't enter a photo, I understand your reasons. You can't force an artist to work…"

"Yeah, right…" The young woman still didn't seem to relax even a bit in the teacher's presence. "Though I didn't intend to participate in the first place. Other priorities."

"I understand. It's sad, but at the same time, I'm proud of you for caring so much for a troubled friend." The teacher sounded sincere. "And I take hope in the fact that you have plenty of time to find your way… You really could become a top-class photographer if you'd just pay a bit more attention in class to raise your grades and get into the habit to put your work out there…"

"Will think about it." The woman with brown-red hair seemed to pay little mind to what the teacher said.

"Well, as I said. I hope you will attend the party and you could take your cool friend here along with you." The teacher said, before sighing and making his way towards wherever he was heading to, after the rocker-gals' expression remained as unchanged as stone. "Be seeing you."

"You really do hate his guts don't you? Even if he's kinda cool." Chloe teased her friend as they too continued their way to the dorms.

"Gross. And you could call it more of a gut-feeling." The rocker-girl offered her a smile at her own pun and punched her lightly on the shoulder. "But yeah, can't stand Jeffer-creep. Neither him, nor his stupid contest."

"Well, whatever you say, but I'd have to agree with him – you do have talent, when it comes to photography." The punk-girl meant what she said. She really liked the photos Max took. Especially the three she had been carrying with her these days. Especially the one Max had taken of them together, with the quote written on it. It made her somehow giddy just thinking about it.

"I do have a particular set of skills." Max said, grinning at her own reference. "Now let's see if the Prescott-bastard is on the campus, get what we need from his room and let's be on our way out of here."

When the young man in question was nowhere to be seen on the campus grounds before the dorms, they decided to just go for it and get to his room, though once they were inside the boys' dormitory Max insisted on Chloe staying on the lookout and giving her a signal if Nathan or anybody else should show up, arguing that so she could always rewind making it seem that they had never been there in the first place.

"I won't let you down, BatMax!" The punk-girl said as she stayed behind at the entrance of the dorms, while Max made her way to find Nathan's room. Luckily though she didn't have to search long as Kate indeed had found out the number and had just sent it to her. After quickly texting back to the hospitalised girl, she made her way to the room in question. She didn't bother to see if the door was open or not – she just busted it with a fire extinguisher that was standing on the ground in the corner of the hallway.

'Voila, and nobody give a shit about either the noise or the fist sized hole in the door.' She thought a bit sarcastically. 'Like someone would actually give shit about anything here… Can't say I do, though, too…'

Without further ado and without much care she started to search the room for anything that could give them any clues about what Nathan was up to. And although she did find out quite a bit about Nathan from searching his room, logging into his computer and going through some mags, ads and papers he had lying on the floor, the room was way too clean and a tad unsettling. It did take her some time 'till she noticed the marks on the floor before the couch. 'Secret stash, here we come.' The rocker-gal thought as she moved the couch a bit, at first thinking that something might be tucked underneath it, but to her surprise a plastic bag containing a cell phone and what seemed to be a list of names was neatly taped to the back of the piece of furniture. 'Well hello there, little phone! Are you up for an adventure? Cause you're coming with me if you want it or not.' She smiled a little – so far the plan to get Nathan's phone and some clues had gone as smoothly as possible, still – it couldn't hurt to take another look around the room. She did a quick sweep of the room and the shelves for any additional things, notes or anything really, that could give them more clues, but she didn't find anything of use. Happy with what she got already the rocker-girl made for the door and it was only by an impulse that she decided to take a look inside the young man's closet. The light smile that had graced her face for these additional minutes of searching was wiped from her face the instant she found a particular picture. Having to see that the bastard had somehow snagged one of her own pictures, a selfie (which was even more creepy as Max made those very seldom) and taped it to the wall had been enough to want to wreck his room, when she found it before tearing it off and putting it in her pocket, but this…

The picture showed Chloe, clearly out of it, frightened, helpless, lying on the floor of this very room, curled up in an embryo-pose, her beany torn from her head, taken by someone standing over her. Memories, too many to be from one and the same time-line, popped up in her head. Memories of what Chloe, or various Chloe's had told her. Various versions of what had happened, just as this Chloe had told her back at the lighthouse… It was as if hundreds of pictures, images and voices tried to all fit in in the same spot, but the 'original' preserved, though the afterimages of the most horrid scenarios lingered on in her mind's eye…

She barely registered how she swung open the door and stepped into the hallway, or even how she rewound to the point where the door was unscratched again. It was like she was in a haze… Her mind was fighting for some control over the rage that threatened to overwhelm the rocker-girl, but it was all for naught, when she heard the voice of the young Prescott as he started to yell at Chloe. Every thought of possibly rewinding was lost to her. Actually every rational thought was lost to her in that moment. She rushed along the hallway towards where she had left her blue-haired friend to keep a look-out. She barely registered that she was moving at all… It was as if a red film had settled before her eyes, obscuring the surroundings. She knew this feeling. She knew it all too well…

"What are you doing in my dorm?" She heard the young man ask rather loudly. "You fucking bitch have not enough? You want some payback?" He said right at the moment, when Max turned around the corner of the hallway. He noticed the rocker-gal and turned towards her showing the blue-nette out of his way with such force that the young woman staggered and fell backwards to the ground.

He opened his mouth to say something to the fast approaching girl with short-cut brown-red hair as he was about to pull out a new gun, but anything he might have wanted to say was cut off as he suddenly had to gasp for air and ring for balance as he himself was nearly sent flying backwards. The brand new gun fell to the ground uselessly.

Without uttering a single word the young woman had pulled a kick to his stomach which would have made Leonidas from '300' proud. The only thing that was missing was for her to scream 'This is Sparta!'. But she didn't. There was no room in her mind for any thoughts like that. She was mostly acting on muscle-memory as she stepped in and turned in a fluid motion to deliver a heavy blow with her shin to the side of the young man's torso, before spinning and hitting him again just as he was already collapsing to the ground, completely losing his balance. In the blink of an eye she was on top of him and jabbed him hard in the face as the man tried to fend her off. It became immediately clear that he was no match for the enraged Muay Thai boxer as she ruthlessly beat him again and again, and he went from trying to land himself a hit on her to just trying to cover his face from her vicious blows. Max didn't really notice though. She just crashed one hard hit to his face or the exposed torso after another. She didn't notice when her hand started to come away bloody and the resistance the young man put up started to grow weaker and weaker being replaced by whimpers of pain and pleas to stop. She didn't even notice that those pleas were not only those of Nathan, but those of Chloe and Warren as well. It took quite a while before her mind registered that she was being forcefully dragged off the young man, who was still lying on the ground whimpering, crying and trying to cover his beaten face with his hands.

"Please, stop… Stop… I'm sorry…" His nose appeared not broken but was without a doubt bloodied. A cut on his cheek was an indication with what force the young, but rather strong woman had punched the man. He seemed to have slight trouble breathing – she might have cracked a few of his ribs.

"Max, stop it! He's down! Snap out of it!" It was only now that she noticed Chloe's pleading voice, heavy with worry. Warren, Trevor and Dana were trying to hold her off from lunging at the beaten young man again.

"Come on, Max. It's over." The red fog in her mind hadn't subsided completely, when an equally frightened and worried Warren ushered her to move along and out of the boy's dorms. Trevor and Dana weren't following them out, exchanging worried looks before scramming for the boy's room.

"Yeah, we have to go." Chloe let go of her friend, who was still completely silent and had a straight face, to quickly grab the new gun the young Prescott had tried to pull on them, sparing him a single concerned look, before rushing after the nerd who was still firmly gripping the young rock-girl's arm as if worrying she might run back to finish what she started at any moment. As much as she had wanted to see the bastard beaten – this was way more intense and scary than she had ever imagined…

It was only when they were at Chloe's truck that Max seemed to finally regain her senses. Warren had let her go and was looking at her with an expression that was a mix of fear and awe.

"Damn, that was intense, Max! I know you broke the fingers of Adam back at the beginning of the semester for trying to smack your butt, but this was just fucking brutal." He was blabbing, slightly fidgeting as he looked for something for Max to wipe her knuckles. "I mean – you literally handed Nathan his ass there. You went kinda crazy there…" He finally found a handkerchief and handed it to Max, who started to clean her hands, but didn't seem to notice the small cut on her right hand, which she had probably got from hitting either the ground as Nathan had tried to move his head out of harm's way or from hitting his cheekbone. "So… Should I call the cops on Nathan or something, or should I stick with you, just in case you get your Hulk on and need someone to stop you?" The rocker-girl remained silent, her gaze was somewhat unsettling and the young man unintentionally took a step back.

"No cops! Not now at least… Trust me, I got this covered." The punk-girl with blue hair said as confidently as she could, even as she didn't know if she could hold her friend back all on her own. It had taken all four of them after all to get Max to stop after all… "And no offense, but me and Max have to do this on our own."

"It's cool. Whatever I can do to help…" The young nerdy man offered straightening himself a bit.

"What you can do is find out anything you can about Nathan's father…" Both the punk-girl and the young man turned to the rocker-gal, who was studying her knuckles. The tone in which she spoke was warm enough, but it still held an edge that both found somewhat worrying.

"I-I'm on it." Warren replied taking the bloodied handkerchief back, when Max extended her hand to give it back to its owner. "Between the snow and the eclipse, I'm assuming the apocalypse is around the corner. Damn, you could actually stand as one of the riders if you ever intended to do cosplay – you would be an awesome personification of War… Um… I'll call you later." The young man turned and walked back in the direction of the dorms after Max didn't really reply other than with a nod. He seemed kind of downcast by that, but tried not to show it.

"Man, that guy sure has a sweet spot for you in his nerd-heart…" Chloe mused not at all amused by what she had seen in the eyes of the young man, when he had looked at her best friend. "Regardless of that, I have to agree with him. Max, what did just happen? I mean, thank you for defending me and all, but you went seriously 'Mortal Combat' on Nathan… Not that I'm complaining, though… but still this was kinda scary, I have to agree on that one with nerd-boy. It was like you had totally lost it…" She tried her best to explain just what she had felt in the moment she had seen the rage-filled expression on the rocker-girl's face as she had relentlessly rained down punches on the young Prescott. "You went full alpha there…" The look on her friends face was an unchanged mask and it started to seriously bother her. It was like the rage she had seen had only subsided for a little bit, just enough to make the rocker-gal receptive to speaking and such.

"I found this." Max said as she pushed a photo into Chloe's hand, before turning and clambering into the truck without another word. Seeing the photo of herself made the punk-girl's stomach turn and her own anger boil up in her.

"That fu-…" She didn't finish her sentence, when she saw the rocker-girl hunched over in the passenger-seat, and instead quickly got into the car herself. The woman with brown-red hair was covering her face with her hands and was trembling, but whether it was due to her rage or due to something different Chloe couldn't tell from this point of view. "Max, I'm okay. You gave that motherfucker a beat down he won't recover from so quickly, and you defended and saved me. It's alright now…" Well, it wasn't really, but for her friends sake she tried to push the thoughts of what might have happened back then if she hadn't regained consciousness as quickly as she had from her mind.

"I should have simply crushed his scull…" Max muttered in a quiet voice, clearly strained by her trying to hold in tears and her anger, and Chloe was painfully reminded of what had happened to the rocker-gal herself once in Seattle. "Seeing the photo… I remembered all what you had told me and what-… I couldn't take it…" She could see the rock-girl was on the verge of either breaking down, but whether it would be crying or getting out of the car to go and finish what she started, the punk-girl couldn't tell as both rage and sadness were clearly showing in the shorter woman's eyes. "And when I saw him yelling at you, threatening you… I just snapped…" Somehow the punk-girl couldn't help but think that the girl, who had just beaten one of the main bastards of the whole Academy to a pulp, was not talking about only 'her' in a sense. It was weird, but the feeling remained…

"Fuck, Chloe, I just cannot take it any longer. I just can't. I-" The young rocker-girl was interrupted from continuing what she wanted to say as the taller girl wrapped her in a tight hug and pressed her own lips on those of her best friend. Chloe didn't really think what she was doing. It came naturally to her. All she knew that she just wanted to somehow sooth and comfort the rocker-gal. And somehow, when the idea of just kissing the shorter girl had popped up in her head, it seemed like the most logical thing in the world, blanking out anything else. 'I mean, hell, if I was down or stressed out, or something, I'd like to be kissed by Max… repeatedly.'

It did seem to take the rocker-girl's mind of what she had been thinking about, as she eased into the kiss, returning it hungrily, as if this was nourishment for her soul. And despite her intention to only kiss the rocker-gal once, this 'kiss' soon turned into a quick, but rather heated make-out session as their tongues wrestled for dominance and their hands pulled them as close to one another as possible, slightly wandering, but with them both trying to restrain themselves. By the time where they broke it off to get some much needed oxygen back in their lungs it had turned into something full of tender, but still greedy passion.

"Damn, Mad Max…" Chloe said between gasps of air. "Phew… I mean, you really know how to turn situations on their head completely don't you? I'm not complaining, but we are still on the campus grounds, you know… Calmed down a bit?" She asked half-jokingly, but her mind was racing on full-speed. 'Okay, okay… Just stay calm, Chloe. It's not like you hadn't kissed her ('and done more than just kissing' a rebellious voice in her head reminded her of that) before… but what the actual fuck, just happened? For once brain and heart – explain this to me!' She felt like on a rollercoaster as her mind was sent stumbling headlong into an argument about what she had just done, why she had done it and what it actually meant to her. Still, she couldn't deny being happy about the closeness to the girl with brown-red hair and about the quick make-out session they just had… Max's voice pulled her up from the depths of her mind, when the shorter woman rested her head against the crook of the blue-nettes neck.

"Yeah, I'm calm. I'm good now." The shorter girl said actually seeming calmer, if a bit dazed for once. "But it was you who started it even with us being on the campus grounds..."

"Well, I had to take your mind of things somehow, so I just figured, why not do it literally?" The punk-girl laughed a little, trying to mask her thoughts and actually trying to ignore the internal conflict raging in her completely. It was easier to concentrate on their initial task… "Max… I hate to be that girl, but we still need to make a date with Frank, if we want to clear this up…" And just as that she had again ruined the moment they just had…

"Right… Last time went well, so what could go wrong now, eh?" The rocker-gal's mood soured a bit, but she waved a hand at her friend as she settled back in the passenger seat, indicating that she didn't really mean it. "Do you think he'll answer you? With me in tow?"

"Frank always answers when he wants money." The punk-girl tipped in a quick message on her phone. The answer was nearly immediate. "Like I said, Frank wants to see me right now."

"Let's get this over with." The rocker-girl sighed, but smiled when she felt her best friend's hand giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "'No, lollygagging.' It is then."

"Okay, now that annoying reference I got!" The blue haired woman said rolling her eyes at her friend as they pulled out of the parking lot and drove for the beach, where the dealer had said he'd be. It was more out of habit that she turned on the radio just as they started driving. The first thing that they heard was Chester Bennington singing the Linkin Park song 'Easier to run'. The blue-nette rolled her eyes again. 'Ugh, you have to be fucking kidding me!'


-Nobody's listening-


"I hate seeing these poor whales like that." Chloe intoned as they pulled up at the parking lot near the beach, where they already could see Frank's RV standing. "I just think of their families in the ocean out there looking for them." The girl next to her didn't reply. She had gotten silent again the moment they got near the beach, as if she was somewhere far away, deep in her thoughts. "Well, that asshole is going to help us find Rachel." Chloe added, checking the second gun she had taken from Nathan this week.

"Or what? You shoot him? I get my rage on and beat him to a pulp? Chloe, let's just get over this, okay? I don't know how much I can handle today… and I don't know if we can really count on my rewind powers… Seriously." The young rocker looked pained as she was staring at the stranded whales.

"I get it, Max. And I'm obviously not counting on your rewind powers. That's why I have a gun." Chloe intoned somewhat jokingly, hoping the rocker-gal would see that she wasn't serious. "And I might even save you someday."

"That'd be nice… like a prince on a white horse." Although she still didn't look away from the whales, the punk-girl could tell that the rocker-gal was enjoying this thought, as she smiled to herself, even if that smile was a bit sad for some reason.

"Hey, know what? When this is over, let's just all go on a road trip to Portland or L.A. With the leftover money from what I have to pay Frank back we could totally make it." The look on Max's face just made Chloe want to get her to think of something nice. Of course – nothing went as she really wanted, when a voice in her head prompted her to blurt out what something before her brain even registered it. "You, me… and Rachel!"

"That'd be great… So let's play it cool, okay? Get the code for the book and then bail." The rocker-girl said as she got out of the truck and started to walk towards the RV. Chloe didn't miss the look on her friend's face. As she followed suit and walked over to the RV another voice in her head berated her. 'Right, you had to mention Rachel, just after the girl, who stopped Nathan from pulling a gun on you again and beat him bloody, had a near-break down and with whom you made out in the truck a short while ago. Just fucking bravo, Chloe! Damn… I really can fuck up just about everything, right?'

"C'mon, Blue. Let's get this done." The shorter girl said as she reached up and knocked on the door of the dealer's RV and stepped back. After a short moment the door was opened and the man in question stepped out of his mobile home.

"Oh, look… The Wonder Twins. You should have come alone." He said turning to the blue-haired girl.

"She's my partner." The punk-girl replied with some confidence, but tried not to make a big issue out of this. 'Play it cool, Price. Just like Max said.'

"Yeah, or your fucking psycho bodyguard." The older man glared at the brown-red haired girl, but didn't step much closer. He could handle quite a bit and knew how to throw a punch. Hell, he had been in quite a few fistfights before, but this short, but obviously ripped woman was something else. Even if right now she didn't seem to be out for his head and actually looked somewhat lost in thought, the ruthlessness he had seen in her eyes back at the junkyard, combined with the fact, that she actually hadn't even flinched when she pulled the trigger and nearly shot his leg, plus the fact that she could act just as normal if not out-right nice seemingly on a whim, was unsettling him. He could fully well imagine that the young woman in front of him could make the threats from back at the junkyard come true. "So let's get to business. Where is my fucking money?" He focused on the blue-nette again. It surprised him somewhat, when the young punk-girl looked over to the other girl, as if asking what to do. The woman with the nose-piercing and the black boots nodded. Without saying anything the punk-girl reached into her pocket and produced an envelope, holding it out to him in her hand so he could take it. Besides being surprised by the fact that Chloe, the girl who was almost always broke had the money, he was even more stunned to see that it was the right amount down to the dollar.

"Oh, why, thank you! That wasn't so hard, now was it?" He couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark, even if he didn't really mean it. Not at the moment at least. "And let's not do anymore business again." He shot Max a weary glance. "Now, if you'd excuse me."

"Frank…" Chloe intoned in a somewhat pleading tone, just as he was about to open the door to get into his RV, making him slightly turn towards her. "Could we ask you a couple of quick questions?"

"You have some serious ladyballs." He laughed without any real amusement, but turned towards the two girls anyways. "No." The reaction from Chloe was again something he hadn't expected. Well, to be truthful, he hadn't even expected her to have the money, not to mention the tone in which the blue haired punk talked to him. It felt like something was not right. The girl looked downright sullen and sad at his answer, like he had just spat her in the face or something. The rocker-girl with the crossed arms before her chest just stared at him blankly. There was no menace in her look, but something like a silent judgement, which was even worse. "Jesus, okay, okay. But I'm not getting you high."

"Frank, we're not here to get high." It was the first time Max spoke up in the conversation.

"No? Are you really sure that's not why you're here? 'Cause if it is you can just scram. So, now. What do you Hardy Boys want?" He crossed his arms over his chest, but didn't move from the spot.

"We need the names of some of your clients." The rocker-gal sighed, letting her arms fall to her sides, as if she was anticipating his reaction.

"Oh, is that all?" This was again something he hadn't expected, but also something he wasn't too happy about to hear. "Well, why didn't you just tell me? How about I just give you the keys to my RV while I'm at it?"

"Listen, Frank. Trust me, we don't want to be here any longer than we have to, but this is important." The shorter woman replied, pinching the bridge of her nose, as if concentrating on what to say and not letting her emotions rule over her.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything is important these days." He mustered the girls and could tell that they were actually serious. "But I can tell you're not bullshitting me."

"There's no time for that, Frank. All we need is just a little bit of information and then we're gone." The young rocker looked him directly in the eyes.

"Yeah, yeah… well, it all starts with just a little bit, doesn't it? Chloe here knows all about that, don't you?" He didn't really feel like arguing with the two teenage women, but one has to draw a line somewhere, right?

"Come on, Frank. This isn't about me now." Chloe jumped in angrily, riling him up too.

"Yeah, right, okay. Both of you are giving me a headache. No deal!" He shot back just as angrily.

"Seriously, Frank. We didn't come here to fight." Max sighed again heavily, giving her friend a serious look.

"You… you come in peace?" Now this was just getting beautiful. "After you aimed a fucking gun at me and nearly shot me in the leg? After you threaten me?"

"You held a knife on my best friend, whom I had just seen again after five years and after going through some serious shit. As I said back then – I don't have anything against you particularly, but nobody threatens those dear to me in my presence and gets away without even a little scare." The rocker-gal shrugged, but actually managed to say it all in a way that it sounded apologetic. And she actually meant it. She didn't need any more enemies in the world.

"Well, you sure did pull a number back there…" The blonde man calmed down a bit. He didn't really want to fight with the girls. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought that knife to a gunfight."

"Look, Frank, you were scaring me and I had gotten enough of that the day before… Besides Max doesn't need a gun anyway… so are we cool? Please?" The taller woman with the blue hair asked.

"Okay, we're cool for now, but my dog isn't." He let his arms drop too, but was still weary of the shorter woman. "And if you try any shit, he'll bite your head off. He's done it before."

"Frank, we're only here to talk. I wouldn't mess with your dog." Max said again looking the dealer straight in the eyes. He could see she was honest with him on that.

"Shit, you wouldn't have time… You like dogs?" It was as much a peace offer for now as he would make.

"Yeah, even had one myself …" She felt like something had hit her in the stomach and her head hurt. Memories from different 'pasts' and 'presents' flooded her mind as one after another replayed another incident she had tried to forget. But was it really something from this timeline? It was getting hard to focus on one the memory she thought was the original… It was like her mind was blurring things together, but some facts remained unchanged in every memory. "I had Chad-boy for little over a year… before two winters ago some motherfucker with a red van hit him as we were crossing the road. That fucker didn't even stop… He wasn't dead on the spot, you know… And when the vets came, they said they couldn't do anything for him… Have you ever seen a dog cry?" Anger made it impossible for her to speak for a while, but the dealer and the blue-nette remained quiet. One – feeling sympathetic to the rocker-gal, starting to think that he understood a bit better from where all her aggressiveness came from; the other – not knowing what to do or how to react as her friend revealed another aspect of the many traumatic experiences she had lived through after moving to Seattle. "The police never found that bastard as it was too dark to see the number on the number plate…" Her eyes focused on the here and now again as she drifted back from her bitter memories. "Never had another dog afterwards."

"Shit. I'm sorry for your loss. Hope that fucker rots in hell…" Frank finally broke the silence that had fallen over the trio after a few moments.

"Yeah, I hope so too. But if I ever find him…" There it was again, the look in the rocker-girls' eyes that made him so uncomfortable. But it vanished surprisingly quickly as the shorter woman even managed a wan smile. "Pompidou's lucky though. Heard you rescued a bunch of fight dogs and took him in. He seems like a big, cuddly goofball." He had to admit – he was a little bit amazed by how much the young woman actually knew, but then again – he hadn't really made a secret out of it.

"Yeah, that's how I got to own Pompidou… It was just the right thing to do." The dealer said as he looked at the girl with the nose-piercing, who again seemed to slightly drift off in her thoughts. "I just couldn't stand to see those poor animals treated like slaves…"

"Hope you gave whomever owned them before hell…" The rocker-girl said earnestly, looking him directly in the eyes, before taking a deep breath as if to gather hear thoughts. "But that is not the story we're here for… Could we focus on rescuing Rachel again now?" This surprised both the man with the dirty blonde hair, as well as the blue-haired punk-girl, who didn't know how to feel or react, as her feelings and thoughts were sent for another tumble. She knew that Max was doing this to help her, but how could she pour so much energy into this, when it should have been Chloe herself, who should have done the talking, the questioning, and the research? In little under a week since the rocker-gal had shown up in her life again she was now closer to finding her missing best friend than ever before ('former' or 'still' – she hadn't yet decided on that though after finding out what she had…).

"Rachel? Is that why you're really here?" Frank asked, looking downcast by speaking the name alone. The rocker-girl nodded.

"Yes. We're so close to finding her, Frank. But we need your help on this one." Chloe spoke up for the first time in a while turning towards the older man.

"You and Max don't know Rachel like I did and I couldn't even help her…" There was hurt in the man's voice. "You're in way over your heads. Why don't you just go play in your clubhouse?"

"It's like you said, Frank. You knew Rachel almost better than anybody." It was only fain, but there was something heavy in Max's voice. The man standing in front of them didn't seem to notice, but Chloe heard it clearly. It was like a hidden sneer saying 'Well, I knew her too'. It was somewhat disturbing, as it felt, like the Max she was looking at right now was a bit different, but then again – her best friend could rewind time. Maybe she had snooped around a bit or something… But before the punk-girl could drift too far in her thoughts Max's voice tore her back to reality. "That is exactly why we came to you. Together we could find her… Do you have anything to lose?"

"When Rachel vanished, I pretty much lost everything…" The man crossed his arms over his chest, but his voice grew lower in volume and somewhat choked. "I can't stand not knowing where she is… not hearing her voice… or her laugh… anymore."

"Help us find her, Frank. Please… we really need your client list." This time Chloe's mind focused on the task at hand, as some old feelings welled up in her, when she saw that the man in front of her could actually help them. Silence settled again between the three of them as the man pondered about the situation for a short moment.

"If there is a chance in hell you two punks can find Rachel… I'll take it." He finally said looking at the two young women. "My dog isn't barking at you, so I guess that's a good sign." He added, muttering, as if talking more to himself than them, before he took out a crumbled old note from his pocket and handed it to Chloe, as she was standing closer to him.

"Thank you, Frank. Seriously." Chloe mumbled gratefully, as she stuffed the note in her own pocket.

"It's hard to decide if I can take you seriously, but I want to… Your friend here is ruthless, that's for sure and if she can pull what she did on me, than maybe you two can really get to the bottom of this." He said in a surprisingly mild tone. "Good luck." With that the man turned and got into his RV, leaving the two women standing outside.

"Wow… I don't know how to really feel about this, but we actually did it." Chloe said when she finally reached her truck and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Yeah… like with the sixth try, Blue-Jay." The rocker-gal replied as she closed the door on the side of the passenger seat.

"Wait, what?" This stunned the blue-nette a bit. It worried her too, thinking that something had happened that caused her friend to rewind. "What happened?"

"Let's just say that you really need to watch your mouth sometimes." The shorter woman waved her hand dismissively. She looked tired and a bit distraught. "Let's get rolling, Chloe… We still have a shitload of work to do if we really want to bet to the bottom of this."

"Yeah. You're probably right. On both accounts." The punk-girl replied as she turned the keys and the engine roared to life.

"You know I am right. Always have been on such things. And that is why you love me, dontcha, Blue?" The rocker-gal asked rhetorically and nonchalantly, but gave her stunned, blushing friend a tired lopsided grin, before turning back to look out of the window as they drove out of the parking lot onto the road. And while the girl with brown-red hair drifted off into her thoughts and the jungle of her memories, the other woman's mind was a warzone between two factions – one that was fiercely trying to ignore the whole situation and concentrate on what they had to do, namely finding Rachel, and the other (the winning side) – that just couldn't stop thinking about that one phrase her best friend had just said 'that's why you love me'…


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey, guys and gals. I'm sorry that this latest chapter is bing published so late (pun intended), but work and other issues got in the way of me writing it and I think the quality has suffered from it quite a bit too. So, please be ruthless and truthful in the reviews and say opnely if this one is worse than the previous ones and how I could improve. I hope that I get the next ones done faster, but taking into account how life seems to know just when to mess with me - I kinda doubt it (still, I hope it will be done before the next weekend).

With that said - cheers and have a great day and rest of the week ;)!