Author's Note

In the beginning…

Where to begin when discussion my mini-series prequel to After the Storm titled The Lost Daughter? Truth be told, I never guessed I would even do a prequel to After the Storm to begin with. Until when I had written Rachel into the main story, that's when I felt a prequel could be necessary to answer the questions and plot holes of how Rachel was still alive and why only until episode 2 of After the Storm she returns to Arcadia Bay. Thus, that is when my work on The Lost Daughter had begun. Let us discuss my experience in writing this story.

Episode 1: Requiem

The episode opens with Crosby in his office with Hendricks discussion the incident of the Arcadia Bay storm and the progression on the Lazarus program being performed on Rachel. Then later transition to a more unrecognizable environment from the Life Is Strange universe. La Paz, Bolivia where a presidential and governmental coup is in motion by a terrorist cult named El Eterno. Lead by the main antagonist of the story Hugo Alvarez. Which I had all written as a prologue for the episode and set up as a plot device for the rest of the story.

How I resurrected Rachel was all inspired by how Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 2 was resurrected. Having Jefferson deliver Rachel's real body to Chrysalis while Chrysalis find a body double to bury in the junkyard to manipulate the public of her false death. Then Chrysalis beginning a Lazarus program to reset Rachel's life from scratch within a six-month period. After the six-month progress, she awakens. The whole sequence of Rachel waking up to a mercenary attack in the building while Dr. Hendricks guides her through was pretty much taken from Mass Effect 2 as well. And then Rachel meets the deuteragonist of the story Cayce Foley.

When coming up with the character of Cayce, I wanted a character in the story to look at for Rachel and make her comfortable during her time with Chrysalis. As well as a friend for Rachel to have and a temporary love interest in the story too. And of course, Rachel's trainer. Writing the chemistry between him and Rachel wasn't as easy as her chemistry with Chloe. While the dating scene in this episode was nice and lovely to write, I kind of forced Rachel's romantic interest for Cayce and the chemistry didn't land quite as much as the chemistry between her and Chloe. All and all, the relation between Rachel and Cayce was taken from Jodie and Ryan in the PS3 game Beyond: Two Souls. Which is a reference from that game I used to help myself write the characters from the training sessions to the date night in the first episode.

Episode 2: New World Order

This episode was a bit of a struggle for me to develop and write through. There were so many directions I had in mind for this episode to go in and I kept brainstorming until I made the final decision in making a full-on nod to Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and one portion of this episode is a nod to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. From the scenes of Rachel and Cayce infiltrating Copacabana to the lost city of Lima was where the Uncharted references came from. The scenes of Rachel and Alpha Team pursuing Vladimir Ranikov was where the Call of Duty references came from. I'd be lying if I said this episode wasn't flawed. Which it was. And that's where I'd like to address the issues of this episode.

Not only did I rely upon Uncharted ninety-percent of the time to set up the plot structure but the pacing of this episode was a bit meandering to read through. Even some scenes I felt were unneeded when writing this but decided to write in the episode anyway. This was only an issue for this single episode but for the story as a whole.

One issue when writing this was that Rachel was interacting with forgettable characters who didn't have as strong chemistry with her nor as strong character development as the characters from Arcadia Bay she interacts with. Other than Cayce Foley, Captain Cage, and Derrick Crosby, none of the other characters are developed properly. Side characters I created such as Logos, Newblood, Heard, Lynch, Dr. Hendricks, Captain Mendoza, and Commander Rivera, were only characters I wrote for them to either fight by Rachel's side or help Rachel get through her day away from the bay. I tried seeing the Chrysalis side characters as the Blackwell side characters like Justin and Trevor, Evan, Alyssa, Brooke, Juliet, Dana, Hayden, Logan, Zach, you name 'em. But side characters like those have better chemistry with a character like Rachel since they're high school kids just as Rachel once was and a high school prodigy and a team of Chrysalis soldiers just couldn't mesh with each other. Despite Rachel being trained to do so. And for those who have been reading my Eternity War story, you'll David has greater chemistry and relatability with those side character who recurs in that story. But that's a different story.

As for the character of Cayce, it wasn't until the later chapters of episode 2 when I ended up fleshing out his character and developing him by giving him a backstory he tells to Rachel to make the reader care about him more. Where Cayce in his youth had lost a father to a harrier crash and was replaced with an unambitious and sadistic step-father who would beat and attack Cayce's mother and eventually provoke Cayce to shoot and kill his own step-dad in self-defense. Which is when Cayce is sent away to Blackwell Academy for his high school education.

Then we have the main villain of this story Hugo Alvarez. When writing the character, I never had any big ideas to make him as likable, memorable, nor as well-utilized as Derrick Crosby in After the Storm and reading this story shows. Thus, Alvarez was a pretty undeveloped villain for my part and every one of my readers. But Life Is Strange has had its fair share of underutilized antagonists before. Damon Merrick, Elliot Hampden, Brett Vaughn Foster, Hank Stamper, etc. Jokes are on me. There was also another supporting antagonist in this story as well such as Alexei Ranikov, Vladimir Ranikov, and Damien Almagro. When writing them, I thought at least one of the minor antagonists could've been cut like Almagro for instance. Most of the supporting antagonist I wrote was only there to either throw punches, spray bullets, or set as minor plot devices for the story. I originally thought about getting rid of Vladimir during the helicopter scene in episode three until I decided to get rid of him during the chase scene through the small town in the episode. Just to get rid of Almagro in episode 3 instead. Alexei would have to remain alive in this story since he isn't killed until the events of After the Storm.

One missed opportunity about this episode I have is a backstory of Rachel going to Mount Hood with her father James during her youth. Backstory chapter that I'd write between present-day chapters which I've done in my stories before. And it could've made the episode a bit more interesting to read than it was. Perhaps that can be done for my one-shot stories if and when possible to make up for the opportunity. But as of now, that matters less.

Episode 3: An Evil Empire

There's really not much to go on with this episode. Other than this being the planned endgame for how Rachel stops Alvarez and El Eterno to earn her freedom and go home. Another thing I'd like to address for this story is the connections between this story and After the Storm. Such as the Elysium Forge becoming the MacGuffin for the Lost Daughter and later in the mid-credits scene becoming Crosby's key to completing Project Elysium as read in After the Storm. Plus, the longevity of the episode didn't meander as much as the last given the number of chapters and lesser story left to tell.

The last chapter of the episode was beautiful to write for me and even got teary in some part writing it. Such as when Rachel see her own tombstone and witnesses a memory of her own funeral. As well as the part in the junkyard when Rachel see Max and Chloe finding her burial that was dug out in the events of the first Life Is Strange game. Another favorite part of this episode was the end-credits scene of Rachel confessing her true story and reconciling with her dad. Then ending it off with "Rachel will return in Life Is Strange: Eternity War".

One last thing to comment about this episode and the story as a whole is the Rachel and Cayce relationship. And the game-like choice I wrote in this episode of either becoming Cayce's lover or breaking up with him. I wrote this final choice in the game so Rachel would choose to break up with him and hook up with Frank as she does in the main story. At first, I had thought of alternate final choice for this story that was either choosing to go back to Arcadia Bay to see Chloe and Frank or to San Francisco to see James and Rose. That's when I felt it made more sense for the shipping or breaking up with Cayce choice to happen. There are also the Jefferson hallucinations in this story I like to comment about, but I don't feel as if I should. So I won't.

In conclusion…

Even though this story was the mediocre of the bunch, it still had its moments like the rest. And though I didn't enjoy writing this as much as After the Storm and Eternity, I'm still proud to have gotten through with it. And now, back to writing Eternity War! Until next time, stay tuned and golden! Thank you!