"Nathan, you better open up right now, or I am calling the cops." Victoria slammed her hand repeatedly against the wooden door. It would likely wake the whole floor, but she didn't care.

Right before she gave up, the entrance flew open. She barely caught her hand before she accidentally slapped Nathan in the face.

"Here. I'm alive. Happy?"

'Alive' was the barest minimum she expected, and even that was a stretch. Nathan had clearly been crying, and she saw long, dull scratches of irritated skin up his arm. He only did that when extremely stressed.

Victoria didn't hesitate. She forced herself through the doorway and slammed it shut behind her. Without warning, she embraced Nathan and didn't let him go, even though he weakly fought against it.

"Don't you dare fucking do that again." The moment she had woken up and saw the message, she rushed over, pausing only to throw on random clothes. The entire way, she worried about what she might find.

"I'm fine, V. You know, sometimes I need my space."

Victoria still held him and shook her head in his neck. "This was different. I can tell. You scared me, Nate. What happened?"

"Don't worry about it. I... had someone there."

"Who?" The only person with that much power to get Nathan to do anything was Victoria herself.

"I'll explain later." A pause. "Can we hang out today? I want to be ready for the party tomorrow."

"Whatever you need."

That raised more questions than it answered, but Victoria was just thankful she would have time to ask them. She'd have to find out more later.

-October 9th

More and more the strands of time twisted in upon themselves. With care, they could be unraveled and fixed, but trying to press through with brute force would only lead them to snap back like a band.

She couldn't blame Max for not knowing. God only knew how long it took herself to figure it out. Still, ignorance did not solve problems.

It was hypocritical for her to say that of Max, when she knew that she knew little. Answers were few and far between, explanations even rarer than that. Reasoning was unheard of. All she knew was that things worked as they did, and she would have to accept it. Like a machine whose insides were locked away from prying eyes, yet worked tirelessly without fail.

Sometimes, she thought maybe it wasn't worth it. It started out noble, but like many quests, it veered into self-interest. Or possibly self-interest was where it began. It didn't matter. Once she started, it immediately became too late to stop. Nobility was an afterthought, and all that remained was survival.

Can you compromise with something that cannot think? And even if you could, what do you do when there is no middle ground? Conflict was inevitable.

Still, some things could be salvaged. All she could previously do was watch and wait, but now an opportunity arose. Unexpected, yet helpful. A second chance.

Her voice rusted with time, she spoke once more and forever. A single note that entropy beget.

"Oh. Welcome back."

•••

The voice called out to her, but Max could not see from where. There weren't many places to hide in this strange realm.

"Up here."

Max looked up and saw a figure sitting on the rock nearest to her. She couldn't make out who it was in the darkness, but she saw it shuffle around slightly. The figure pushed itself off of its perch and zipped toward the ground. Right before it would have impacted, it was suddenly safely standing in front of her, as if it had teleported the final distance.

Max's own face stared back at her. The other Max wore a gray hoodie over a pink Jane Doe shirt, but other than their choice of clothing, they were exactly the same. Even so, something seemed off.

"I didn't expect to see you again," the other Max said, "but honestly, I guess I'm not surprised. You can't just leave things alone, can you?"

"Again?" When had they met before?

"The last time you were here, remember?" Receiving only a blank stare, the other Max continued. "We bumped into each other right before you returned. It's rare I get surprised like that."

"I don't remember ever seeing you here." Max's memory of her previous visit was faded, like a dream, but she would definitely have remembered seeing another version of herself, right?

"Of course you don't." A pause. "Do you know who I am, at least?"

"You're Old Max?"

"That's right." She thought for a moment. "I know it's petty, but that's kind of a dumb name. Why not something like Alpha Max? Or Max Prime? Old Max just makes me sound like a grandpa."

"Uh... sorry?" Max said. She wasn't sure how else to respond.

Old Max shook her head. "It's fine. I guess it's technically correct. I am older than you. Anyway, I know you have questions, but with how this works I don't even have time to explain what I don't have time to explain. There's too much at stake here."

Max was not prepared for this. She had so many things she wanted to ask, but she wasn't expecting to have an interview with her past self. How long would she have here? Where even was here? Could she return if she wanted? Had Old Max been waiting here this whole time? If she was right that she would be gone soon-

"Max." Rapid finger snaps in front of her face startled her. "This isn't the time to zone out again. You need to pay attention."

She hadn't even realized she had gotten lost in her mind. Focus, right.

"I don't know exactly what this place is, but it's where I've been since you showed up. These floating rocks are either manifestations of other Maxes, or their memories. Honestly, I don't know which I would prefer.

"Other Maxes? How many of us are there?" As far as Max counted, there were only about four.

"Seventy-six. Well, seventy-seven now. Every time you carelessly use a photojump, it creates another Max. You shouldn't have done that."

"I only wanted to find out what happened," Max said as she crossed her arms. "I woke up knowing nothing and immediately finding out that I have superpowers. After reading my journal, I needed to know. Just one question. What happened to you?"

Old Max bit her lip. "Near the end, it got harder and harder to keep things in line. Most of my attempts were subtle, but sometimes I had to take matters into my own hands. She was scared, yes, but all that time I gave her was more than she would have had otherwise. I guess it is my fault, in that way."

Old Max admitted it, and the guilt was written over her face. She was the 'bodysnatcher', and another version of herself was gone because of it.

"What happened to her?" Max asked.

Old Max put her hand on the rock she jumped off of. "The same thing that happened every other time."

So many Maxes, taken away or lost. Was she planning to do the same to her?

"You don't need to worry," she continued, seeing the look on Max's face. "I couldn't take over again even if I wanted to. Believe me, I tried my hardest not to interfere. The storm is apocalyptic, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that. Thousands of people, dead in each one, and their number only grew the more I interfered."

"What... do I do about it?"

"Nothing." Old Max said plainly. It was a fact. "You do absolutely nothing. All those lifetimes I watched were spent solving this problem one decision at a time, and I succeeded. What you need to do is go back to your present, wait for Chloe, and live your life. I know you care for her, you always do, but your life is yours to live. Forget about all of this and move on. I've earned your happy ending."

"That's it? What about the things I can't remember? Or the sounds, the journal, my powers making me lose time? What if that means the storm is still coming?"

Old Max looked down at her feet. "Time travel isn't easy on the mind, Max. You took the brunt of it, and I got out unscathed, it seems. I don't know why you of all the Maxes were strongest, but you were. Still... Those journal entries really were there the first time you read it. You hear things that don't exist. Your powers have nothing to do with your periods of lost time. I don't know if you'll ever get your memories back, but if you've had nothing solid return yet, I wouldn't hold out hope. I'm sorry, Max."

Max wouldn't get her memories back. Half of her life, relegated to faint impressions and nothing more. All her friends, all those moments, words and sights and sounds. Gone forever, if this other Max was right.

She needed to sit. Max stumbled over in thought and crossed her legs in front of the floating rock. It hovered just low enough to rest her head against. She realized she easily could have been one of these memories as well.

Old Max sat down next to her, careful to leave space between them. "I'm sorry I was so rude at first. I haven't had too many conversations I haven't planned out several dozen times in a while. You deserve to be happy. Honestly. Even if this is the best I can give you. Trust me, there are some things you're better off not knowing. Still. Sorry."

"It's okay." Max didn't know if she said it truthfully. "What happens to you when I go back? You see everything that's happening, so do you just sit here and wait? Can you leave?"

Old Max shook her head again. "This place doesn't last forever. I don't know why, but the memories are disappearing, one by one. I'll be gone soon too, I think. For me to get out... it's best not to think about it." She paused, then suddenly sat up straight. "Looks like it's time for you to go. There's so much more I wish I could tell you, but it will have to wait. We'll see each other one more time. But for now, goodbye. This might hurt. A Max always has to come back."

"Huh? What does tha-"

•••

"I'm tellin' you, we should take her to the hospital."

"And I'm telling you, dude, we aren't taking her anywhere."

"Jesus fucking Christ. If she dies on my goddamn bed, I'm going to be pissed."

"Whatever."

The voices sounded muddy as if coming from several rooms over. Max tried to focus on the words, but it only made them more difficult to understand. She was laying somewhere soft while an off-white color dominated her vision. A numbness overtook her body; she couldn't feel her limbs.

"Don't 'whatever' me. How the fuck was I supposed to know your girlfriend would have another goddamn seizure in the middle of the forest? How long are you going to wait before I call the hospital to take her?"

"If you had just told us what we were walking into, maybe she wouldn't have been so overwhelmed. Trust me, she'll be okay."

"Trust you? If she has to spend another night here, I'm not gonna leave it up to you."

Suddenly, all feeling returned. In place of the numbness came pain. A searing hot flame melted through her head and sharp needles stung her fingers. Her mouth filled with a thick, coppery liquid, so bitter she choked on it. At some point, she had thrown herself into a sitting position, though she barely recognized the difference.

"Oh shit. Max, can you hear me? Nathan, grab a towel!" A slight shaking made Max feel worse. She wanted to puke, but even that slight effort was too much. "Goddammit Nathan!"

The shaking stopped, but several moments later a fluffy white object stuffed itself in her face. It stopped the flow of pennies into her mouth, but she could barely breathe around it. The needles in her extremities slowly faded into the cold of icy water as she thrashed to push the object away.

"...yeah she just suddenly sat up and started screaming and fuckin' flailing." The object in her face lightened up slightly. "No. She doesn't drink. No drugs, I think. She's a straight-edge."

"Can you please just hang up and help me out here? She's calming down. We don't need an ambulance, seriously."

Finally, color began to fade into Max's vision. Over the white object in her face, she saw a tuft of blue hovering over a plate of pink. More words were spoken, and she could barely understand them.

"Her friends, yeah. I don't think she can speak, but she's breathing. No, nothing like that."

"Hey, Max? You there?"

The blue solidified into strands of hair, and the pink condensed into a face. It took Max longer than it should have to recognize who was in front of her.

"Chloe?" Her mouth ached with the effort of the single word.

"Yeah, now she's trying to say somethin'," the formless shape at the edge of her vision said, "but get here as fast as you can. Max, if you can hear me, stay calm. We're gonna get you to the doctor's, all right?"

A doctor? That wouldn't work. The pain in her head was rapidly dulling to one of her normal headaches. A doctor would be as useless as last time.

"I don't need one." Her jaw didn't fit right in her mouth. She reached up and pulled the white form away from her face and threw the towel to the side. Her nose had stopped bleeding. "What time is it?"

"Uh-huh. Yeah, thanks, just hurry." Nathan revealed himself to be the other form in the room, and he lowered a phone from his ear and stuck it in his pocket. He turned to address Max. "Like shit you don't need one. You've been out of it for days."

"It's Friday morning," Chloe said. "After you passed out in the bunker, we took you to Nathan's. You've had a pretty gnarly fever, but it looks like it's done now." She put her hand to Max's head to check. "Oh, right. Which, uh, you are you?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow at the strange question.

"The same one," Max replied. "I remember going into the bunker, then I was back in that place with the floating rocks. I saw Old Max there, too."

"Old Max? How does that work? Did you talk to her?"

Max nodded her head. "She told me she was the one who a different Max was scared of in my journal. She wanted me to stop trying to find out what happened, in case I ruined things. So many other lifetimes she spent trying to stop the apocalypse."

"Okay, what the actual fuck," Nathan interrupted. "Apocalypse? Different Max? You talked to yourself? Maybe I was wrong, you are both high."

"Shut up, Nathan. We don't have time for this," Chloe said.

Max didn't have time to explain, but she couldn't let him waste time asking questions. If an ambulance was on its way, she needed to jump back before it got here. "There was a deadly storm coming to wipe out the town, and apparently I stopped it." She took a pause to breathe; the flurry of words difficult. "I talked to my past self, and now I'm back here. I need to tell Chloe this, so please let us talk."

"Wait, a storm?" Nathan continued over the stink eye Chloe gave him. "That bunker was a storm bunker. I remember my dad tellin' me it was important, and I'd know when it was needed. After I heard what happened, I thought he meant it had something to do with the Photography teacher, but what if he knew about the storm?"

"Your dad, did he work with Jefferson? Did he know what was going on?" Chloe asked.

Nathan gave a tight shrug. "I don't fuckin' know. All he told me was that he had that place just in case, and that he had someone he wanted me to work with. Then out of the blue, before he could explain, he dropped it. Said that the guy found someone else. This was all like last year, though. I know Max didn't have anything to do with that."

Max shook her head. "I was in Seattle, I think. But I found out that I threatened Sean Prescott anonymously at least once in September. I don't know what I wanted him to do. Do you know anything about that?"

"You threatened my dad? Not many people get away with that, even if they're tryin' to hide. But no, that's news to me."

"Thanks, Nathan," Max said. She turned back to Chloe. "So what do you think we should do?"

Chloe ran her hand through her hair. "Honestly, I don't know. If Old Max said to drop it, maybe we should? But then again, what if she's trying to hide something from us?"

"I don't think she is," Max said after thinking for a moment. "She seemed like she wanted to tell me more, but didn't have time. And I don't think she hurt any other Maxes intentionally. I've been thinking about this too. Every time I photojump, another me is created, and they act just like I do. But when I return, they're gone. Did I kill them?"

"That's..." Chloe took a moment to think. "They're all you, right? But does that mean that all those copies of me and everyone else in the world die too? It might be best not to worry about it."

Unfortunately, from the look on Chloe's face, worrying about it was all she was doing. Max wasn't the kind of person to drop something like this, but she might have to after what she learned. She couldn't afford to keep jumping around wildly looking for answers.

A series of heavy knocks from downstairs rang up before Max could respond.

"Thank fuck," Nathan said, moving toward the door. "You two got a lot to explain when we get to the hospital. I'm still not sure whether to think you're both crazy or there's something more goin' on that I don't know. I'll be looking for answers." He punctuated his last sentence with a glare at Max before leaving to head downstairs.

"So, are you going with them or heading back?" Chloe asked. She held Max's hand as she spoke.

"I need to go," Max decided. "I don't want to try to explain any of this to the doctor." All of her pain had subsided into a dull ache by this point. Whatever it was, it had passed.

"Good idea." Chloe reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. "I honestly don't trust those quacks. If you had seen what I did, how they were working, you wouldn't want to go back. Bay Medical is a joke, but I'm glad they didn't send you to Seattle."

"Thanks for being there, Chloe."

She quickly maneuvered to the photo of the two of them on her bed with Max falling through the background in a photobomb. A smile crept onto her face as she held the phone out to Max.

"Always, Max. Now I'm not gonna remember this, so you better tell me again when you get back." She leaned in and gave Max a soft peck on the cheek. "Now you get outta here."

Heavy footsteps pounded up what sounded like stairs outside the door. They would be here soon, but Max could waste a moment. Before Chloe could fully pull away, she reached in to turn her head and give her a deep kiss. Chloe quickly overcame her surprise and returned it. If the dried remnants of blood on her face bothered her, she didn't show it.

Max broke the kiss and pulled the phone up. Out of the corner of her vision, the door open and people rushed in, but the white light quickly enveloped them. Max was ready when the world faded away.

•••

Max returned to Chloe's room, back on that Wednesday morning.

"Never took you for such a photohog," Chloe said for the third time.

"I never took you as one for selfies, either," Max replied. This whole situation was silly.

"Touché, Caulfield."

The white border surrounded the room, as was to be expected. Fast-forwarding would get everything exactly as it was before, but she couldn't risk overshooting or being spotted dropping out of it again. She would have to do this manually.

First, she reached out and comforted Chloe as best she could. Going through this conversation again, there are some things she would have said differently, but she couldn't risk even the smallest change. Even so, it still pained her to know that Chloe was hurting.

Next was one cause of that hurt. Though the wall of white had advanced to only encircle the bed, she could still hear David's voice talking to them. Chloe tensed up, the same as last time, and Max held her until it was over. Max readied her next line, but there was no need to say it. The white rushed in to take her once more.

•••

Max came to her senses and saw that she was back in her room. At first glance, everything looked exactly as she left it. The only notable difference she saw was that it was slightly brighter outside. A quick check of her phone told her that it wasn't even a half-hour later than when she had left. Her messages with Chloe were exactly the same. From what she could tell, the past was back to normal.

Still, something seemed off. Nothing physical, but there was a feeling that not everything was right. It felt like... an itch.

That was exactly it. Max realized she still hadn't returned from her very first jump back. Even though she was back in her room, she was technically in a photojump. That itch of her power begging to return still remained, only she had ignored it for so long that she had forgotten about it.

Where would this take her? Would she jump back to exactly the same place? Possibly earlier, if her judge of time was right. She could probably stay where she was and keep going normally, but there was no telling of any side effects that might bring. Heck, she had already held it longer than she intended already.

For her third travel through time in less than ten minutes, Max raised her hand and let herself go. As she did so, only with the release of her power did she realize just how tense she was, and how much effort it took. She almost felt like she was flying as time took her, for hopefully the final time.

•••

Max didn't recognize where she ended up. It seemed like some sort of small house, only stuffed into the width of a large hallway. It was only when she looked past the curtained windows and saw a sandy beach leading into water that she realized it was an RV. Standing with her arms crossed to Max's left was a girl whose face only showed calm surprise. She wore a nice, probably expensive dress. It was a far cry from the casual wear she wore at the party.

"Victoria?" What was she doing here? Where even was here?

"Don't look at me," she said, raising a hand defensively.

"Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, girlie." This voice came from in front of Max, sitting in a chair in front of her. His dark clothes hid him in the barely lit interior of the vehicle. "You better answer my question. I don't like being made a fool."

Taking a better look at him, Max saw that he was a blonde man with a messy goatee. He looked fierce and even sitting down he towered over her. On the table behind him was a gun, easily within his reach, and the sight sent a chill down Max's spine.

"Come on, Frank. She doesn't know." Victoria said. Her voice was a mixture of annoyance and confusion, directed at the man. You and me both.

"Uh..." What was she going to do? "Can you repeat the question?"

Frank brought his hand over his face in an audible slap. "Holy fuck." He whispered a few other things under this breath that Max couldn't catch. "I said, what the hell are you doing back here? I told you if I saw you again you'd regret it."

Max didn't know how exactly she got here, and it seems she stumbled into another problem Old Max had left for her. What were the chances? This guy seemed like bad news.

The first option to her mind was to tell the truth. "Um. I don't know who you are. I'm sorry if I did something wrong, but I don't really remember much of the past few months. I was in an accident."

The man barked out a laugh at that. "Pretty convenient, isn't it?"

"It's the truth, Frank," Victoria intervened. "She has no idea what she did, and you need to lay off. You're scaring her."

Max never expected Victoria to be the one to come to her aid, but she was grateful she did. Frank didn't intimidate her, at least.

"She's the scared one?" Frank looked incredulously at Victoria, then back at Max. "I don't buy it. You don't break into my house and threaten me like she did, only to try to play this shit. I want an explanation."

"Well, she can't give you one. And since she's moved here, I know she isn't the kind of person to do anything like that. You must have her confused with someone else."

Frank shook his head, keeping his eyes on Max. "No. I remember that face. That kind of cash set me up for a year, and someone like her doesn't get that without doing a few illegal deeds." He popped the final words out of his mouth.

"A year?" Max finally said. That didn't add up. "When did this happen?"

"What is this, an interrogation?"

Victoria pressed him too. "Max only moved here a couple of months ago for school."

"Maybe she was on vacation," Frank sneered. "But fine. It happened last year, around July. I come home, find you waitin' here for me. I try to pull my gun up for an intruder but you somehow knock me flat on my ass. Then you hand me, I shit you not, a literal burlap sack full of cash, telling me how it's to pay a debt for one of my clients, except they hadn't made the debt yet. That's it. I got a guy to deal with cleaning it, but even after his cut, it was enough to have me sitting pretty. That's the story."

That seemed... odd, but not necessarily impossible from what Max knew of Old Max. The question was, who was the debt for, and why did she find it necessary to threaten him like that? Max would have to ask Chloe if she knew anything about this.

Naturally, Victoria dismissed it out of hand. "Yeah, that's a load of bullshit, Frank. You could have picked literally any other person, but you call out the nicest, most kindhearted person at Blackwell. Try taking a little less of your own stash next time."

"Fine, whatever." Frank threw his hands up. "It was some other karate know-it-all teenage rich bitch. Honestly, I don't give a fuck. I just wanted an explanation since you found it in your heart to just waltz on in here. But if that's how it's goin' to be, then get the hell out of my house."

Max was ready to leave; she needed to find out what else was going on, and how much time she had lost. Victoria tried to argue, but quieted when Frank grabbed his gun and slammed the door open. She followed Max out onto the beach. It was morning, from what Max could tell of the sun.

"So honestly," she began, and led Max over to the nearby parking area, "do you have any idea what he was talking about?"

Max shook her head. "No clue." Not entirely a lie.

"I know Frank's an ass, but don't let him scare you. Whatever he got into his mind, he'll get over. Still, it's best you try to avoid him, just in case."

"I'll keep that in mind." Another unsolved mystery.

Victoria pulled out her phone and quickly checked the time. "We need to get going. I have a thing with Taylor soon. I didn't expect that to take so long, and I couldn't even get what I needed."

Max felt for her own phone, but couldn't find it. Maybe it was in her bag, wherever that was?

They silently walked over to Victoria's car, a roomy, expensive thing, and Max hopped in the passenger's seat. On the floorboard beneath her was her satchel, and she dug through it to look for her phone. It wasn't there either.

"Victoria, have you seen my phone?" It was worth a shot.

She shook her head. "You said you misplaced it, remember? I would help you look for it when we got back."

"Right, sorry."

Victoria started the vehicle, and they drove off. Blackwell wasn't too far from where they were, so it wouldn't be a long trip. Though the question remained, what was she doing out with Victoria, and why did they go see Frank?

On the center dash of the car, a clock blinked, with the date shown just below. Sunday, November 10. Max had left on Friday morning, which meant that two whole days were gone. It seemed that all the time she had spent in the original photojump carried over when she returned.

"I'm glad we did this, Max," Victoria said, keeping her focus on the road. "We should make a habit of it, if you would like? Not the part with Frank, of course, but the rest of it. I can deal with him on my own time."

"Uh, yeah. I'd like that." Max wasn't sure what she agreed to, but Victoria seemed pleased by her answer.

"Good! Arcadia Bay doesn't have a wide selection of good food, but I'm sure I can find something else for breakfast next time. Or we could go for a bit of a drive somewhere if you're ever in the mood. I do enjoy spending time together, and I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you at first. You're better than most people give you credit for."

That was one of the nicest things Max had ever heard her say, and if she was extending the olive branch, Max was going to take it. "That's okay, Victoria. It's all in the past. It doesn't matter anymore."

Victoria gave a slight, practiced smile as she continued driving, and Max was relieved. Apparently, the two of them simply spent some time together as a treat, and Victoria was attempting to be friends after their chat. Thankfully, that meant that was one question solved.

Only hundreds more to go.

A/N:

We might need a flowchart for all this.

Also, 100k words! Way more than I ever expected that I would hit. Thanks everyone for all your support!

Thanks for reading.

Next Chapter: 1-18