A/N : Merry Christmas to all my faithful readers. Please find below your present!
Epilogue
It had become her morning ritual. She remained there, sitting quietly while looking at the Pacific Ocean. It had been five years since that day; five years since Prescott's final assassination attempt at the graduation ceremony. Five year of wandering, trying to find a reason for all that had happened.
And now she was back. Back in Arcadia Bay, the place that had seen her born, the place that had nearly seen her dead. The place that had given her so much and taken so much more from her. She had been back for a couple weeks now, coming back for a new job.
She had hesitated when she had been approached with the offer. It was not like the place had given her nice memories, but some of her friends had also returned to the small town and she needed their stabilizing presence.
She smirked a bit at the idea of Kate and Victoria being a stabilizing influence. The girls had remained together, of course. In fact, they were to be married soon. They also had plunged a bit deeper in their little kinky world, to a point she had been shocked when she first visited them.
She had seen them in passing during the five years, and beside the red leather choker – well a choker officially, because there was no pretense it was really anything less than a collar at this point – she had not seen anything out of the ordinary.
Sure, Kate's style had turned a bit sharper, with nice suits, her face adorned with finely applied make up and her long hair tied in a tighter bun. She had the look of a no-nonsense businesswoman, which was completely opposite to the kind and caring persona she still harbored.
But Victoria still dressed the same. She was a bit softer now that her insecurities had been dealt with by her caring lover, but otherwise she remained the cultured and knowledgeable artist she always had been.
Well, that was for outside consumption at least. She had been surprised when the same Victoria had opened their house door – nearly a manor at that size – wearing nothing but a maid apron, some cat paw like booties, cat like ears and more shocking of all a cat tail that, judging how it was hanging between her well-shaped buttock, had to be coming straight out of her ass.
And there it was. Victoria's secret! At home she was a cat girl maid/slave to her lover Kate Marsh. And let's not talk about the stuff they do in the privacy of their bedroom, thank you very much!
I hope her bosses never find out or she's toast!
She shook her head at the memory, fighting a laugh.
A beeping drew her attention to the pocket where her mobile phone was. It was time.
Discarding the cigarette she had been smoking, she reached forward and retrieved her helmet, putting it on her head making sure not to trap her long hair in a painful way. She then reached down and turned the key in the ignition, bringing the dashboard to life before pressing the 'start' switch.
The Four in Line engine of Japanese origin roared to life before purring idly. She gripped the clutch handle and shifted into gear.
Kate Marsh was standing, her arms crossed and her foot tapping lightly on the ground as she waited impatiently for her friend.
"I can't believe her!" she muttered as she looked again at her watch.
As if summoned, the roar of the now familiar bike began to reverberate around the buildings of the Blackwell Academy campus. The bike leaned to the side as its driver took the final turn to reach the parking, shooting straight for the handicapped parking spot, both of them.
Some things never seem to change. Kate thought with a bit of nostalgia as she remembered how a certain pick-up truck used to park the same way. Many things happened since the day she graduated from that same school. She still remembered learning that the officer who had pushed her aside had not survived, the guilt of knowing someone had given his life for her. Sean Prescott of course had been charged with killing a police officer. No need to say it had been the final nail to his coffin. The prosecution did not even need to add the conspiracy to commit murder – although they had not relented from doing so with the help of the hired killer who decided life in prison with his injuries taken care off were better than he could probably get if he had not given up his boss. They also added a pile of other crimes that came to light once they began investigating the businessman thoroughly.
Such as the true circumstances of the traffic accident that took the life of one EPA Agent in charge of following the Panestate project, William Price. No need to say that when the Price-Madsen's learned that William had been targeted for refusing to take a bribe so as to misfile the report showing that the land where the project was planned was actually a protected land under the National History Protection Act, due to its nature as a Sacred Ground for the now extinct Tillamook tribe; the uproar had been heavy.
Not that they had needed it. Trying to kill Max and Chloe had been enough to make David and Ryan ready to take arms if needed to 'lynch the bastard' if the Court did not do its job. Needless to say that the news of Sean Prescott would not be leaving his cell before the next century – actually not before the next three centuries – had come as a great relief.
Especially as when it came, Max's status was still uncertain. She had not been hit by any bullet as they originally thought, thank God! But for some reason, she was brought to the hospital with severe cerebral hemorrhage and a brain tumor the size of a golf ball.
It took hours for the surgeons and specialists to operate and plug every leak while removing the tumor. Hours during which they had to restart her heart a few times. Hours after which none could advance an estimate as to when she would wake up, if ever.
It had been hard for everyone, but especially Chloe. The Punk had turned into a shadow of her former self. It took weeks for Kate, Victoria, Stephanie and almost every of their friends to drag her out of the hospital room, make her eat more than a few packets of chips, and even have a shower.
She went back to work for a bit; tried to live a more or less normal life with the support of her friends and family, but Kate had seen how zombie-like she was turning.
It had not been easy to pull her out of the room though. Tensions grew between her and Vanessa, even if Max's mom had been the one preventing the nurses to kick the punk out of Max's room. Tensions had also built with Joyce and David, the girl starting to blame him for failing to protect her Max. Kate suspected Chloe knew she had been unfair, but the punk was hurting and when Chloe hurts, she bites.
Thankfully, Azumi had been the one solving that last part by giving her trailer to the girl. Not a real surprise at that time, the Japanese teacher had decided to turn sedentary and move in with Steph. They were the first gay couple to marry in town when the law finally allowed them to.
In the end, everyone had gone on with their life, students leaving for college; couples formed or broke.
Warren and Brooke lasted for a while, several years in fact. Or to be more accurate, they had been so intensely focused in their respective research project and studies they did not notice the breakup until years into it.
Justin and Courtney had dated a bit, but they both had too different fashion ideas to stay a couple for long.
Dana and Trevor had gone and gotten married; they had their first kid after they graduated college. Last Kate heard, which was that same morning, Dana was only a few months from her second.
Most surprisingly, Juliet and Taylor were still together. They had no plan to get married, and both had occupations that prevented them to be with each other every night; but they actually found that they really loved each other and when Juliet's first book came out, Taylor had taken a sabbatical to follow and cheer her lover all across the US of A for a signing tour.
But it had still been long gruesome months as they waited to know if Max would live or not. Expecting to get a call every day to either learn that she had woken up or that she had died. Kate had expected Chloe would have been crying in both cases.
In the end, Max's fate was decided after nearly six months. The call came. They all learned the news. A few months later, a trailer left Arcadia Bay, hitched behind a Ford F150 Raptor. It had traveled across the states for years, its occupant living through odd jobs.
Until it came back in town. And its occupant had gotten hired by Blackwell Academy as a teacher.
And gotten close to be late on her very first day! Kate growled to herself as she walked to the girl that was still wearing her helmet as she moved toward the building.
"You are late!"
"Good morning to you too, Kate." The rider responded with sass.
"Don't sass me! It's your first day and you are late! How am I supposed to trust you will be on time for the wedding tonight!"
The rider chuckled in her helmet. "Relax Kate! No need to snap your whip on me. I'll be there to see you finally put a big iron lock on your kitten's collar!"
The girls kept exchanging banters as they entered the building.
The classroom was abuzz. Students had heard the school had decided to expend on its artistic curriculum this year and a new teacher had been hired. All of them pondered who they would get. The well-known teachers, at least for the student, were famous for their various oddities, such as Mrs. Gingrich-Kurosawa and her very punkish look and her carefree attitude, or Mrs. Marsh and her very strict librarian look, her gentle care yet stern control of her class; and they all wondered if the new teacher would be just as much as an oddball or more normal, like the fiancé of the drawing teacher and known Arcadia Bay professional Photographer, Victoria Chase.
One thing was certain thought, the new teacher did not seem to be very focused on punctuality. The bell had been rung eleven minutes ago when they entered the room. And every students were surprised when a woman – and the tight leather motorcycle jacket did not hide the few curves that showed it – still wearing a pink helmet and carrying a satchel entered the room at brisk pace, her boots hitting the wooden floor with loud tapping sounds.
She walked straight for the desk, speaking through her headgear. "Sorry about the delay, I know I'm late, but I was admiring the view of the coast and doing some meditation." She sat her bag on the desk and every student saw as she leant a cane with bright coloured flames against the furniture.
The student expected her to remove her helmet but instead, she reached at her collar to open and remove the heavy jacket – or at least it seemed heavy judging at how the chair nearly collapsed when the teacher put it on its back – revealing the heavily tattooed arms and shoulders, the design disappearing under a black tank top with a blue butterfly design.
"Translating, for those who don't really like official reasons, I was simply daydreaming while watching the sunrise." She added wryly before facing them and reaching through the helmet's open visor.
As the classroom chuckled she pulled a pair of thin rimmed glasses from the helmet and then pulled the headgear up, revealing her pink and purple coloured hair in a side cut that fell down to her shoulder on one side but let the other side fully visible, trying to hide a scar on one side of her head while displaying several silvery loops in her opposite ear.
She put the helmet on the desk and placed her glasses back on her freckled nose before reaching for her cane and walking with a barely noticeable limp around the classroom.
"My name is Max Caulfield. Those of you who sleep in the dorm might have seen my name on a plaque somewhere so yeah, I am that Max Caulfield." She pursed her lips a moment in thought. "At least, still for the day." She smiled. "You can call me Mrs. Caulfield, or Max if you want. You don't wanna call me Maxine though, not if you want your questions answered and don't want your next assignment docked."
She shook her head. "No seriously… I hate that name. Anyway, I'm here to teach you photography. More precisely, nature and scenery photography for Art. Which basically means, I'll be there to show you how your camera work and send you out to take lots of pictures and push you to send them to be published or for contests." She scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, all the things I never had the balls to do when I was a student here myself. Talk about being a hero, right?"
She turned to go and sit on her desk. "Okay, let's get on with today's class. I have already been reminded I have a very important meeting after class, by Mrs. Marsh – namely her and Mrs. Chase's wedding ceremony and more importantly, seeing we are having a double wedding, my own getting hitched with the new body art teacher, that will arrive sometime this afternoon if you want to see her." She rolled her eyes. "The punk did not have morning class on her first day, lucky bitch!" She laughed. "Anyway, I don't wanna make Mrs. Marsh angry at me, so we gotta finish on time."
She gave a fake shiver smiling at the faint groan coming from the door. "So… introductions… You know about me, but let's learn more about you. I want you to…."
THE END
A/N :
Yes, it is true. After over 1 year and 300 000 words, Life Has no Meaning Without You has reached its end.
I set up into writing it after reading various fanfiction (Ouroboros, Hospital End, and more…) and hitting a kind of slump into my moods following several plays of the games which never brought the closure and satisfactions I needed. Now don't mistake me, Rowan, Tomorrow and others (so many I can't count so I'm quoting the two main) did help me in coping with their great writing. But even their stories did not fit 100% of what I would want. So I wrote this one.
I never expected it to turn so big. In fact I was the first surprised by the reviews I got first on FF then on AO3. I also got very surprised when I reached over 200000 words. And this only happened thanks to you all. I could never have gone that far without your support.
I have to admit I'll miss your reviews a lot! Hopefully you will keep following my other stories! I know at least one person is. Husky has joined up about half way through the writing of this fanfic and became my betareader. He's proofing every chapter for my 3 stories (maybe more) and lazying around on writing his own Sound of Silence story (yeah Husky get down with it I know I'm not the only one waiting!) So anyway Cudos to him!
As for Life has no meaning without you, I told all I really wanted to tell in that story. I know some might want to see more of the chasemarsh developement and so on, but to me it was mainly a side story, never part of the plot I had settled on. In fact, I often added stuff on the spur of the moment and Husky called me on the "un-katishness" of what I was writing. The story is told, however I may one day add some bonuses, some extra chapters, or simply rewrite the chapters to correct mistakes or simply put more details into them.
As usual, I'll be reading your reviews, sometimes answering (okay on this one I probably will answer most of them). You can also come chat with me on discord at /6YJPZnB
I hope you had fun reading this story. Merry Christmas and Best wishes for 2020