Pricefield - Time Warriors

Chapter 1: The Third Option

Max Caulfield stood on the clifftop beside the Lighthouse, seemingly oblivious to the heavy raindrops and claps of thunder overhead. Even the massive swirling tornado heading towards her home town, Arcadia Bay, didn't catch her attention. No, her eyes were glued firmly to her childhood best friend, fellow pirate, and who she only recently realized was her first and only crush; Chloe Price. Max was listening to her friend who was in the middle of struggling to give her a speech over the deafening sounds of the Storm. Having only caught half of what she was saying, she finally realized what Chloe was trying to tell her when she pulled the Butterfly photo from her back pocket and offered it to her.

"Max, this is the only way..." She sounded so broken and defeated.

I stared at her in shock, reeling from what she was asking me to do. It took several seconds for my brain to catch up to my mouth. "No Chloe. No. I can't make this choice. Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do here? I saved you, Chloe. If I went back now, not only would I be letting you die, it would be like I'm literally killing you myself. There's no way I'd be able to handle being responsible for the death of my best friend, not after I abandoned you for five years... I probably wouldn't last a week without you."

Chloe's eye widened and she pulled me into a hug. "Shit, Max, I'm so sorry. But as much as I'd love to run away with you right now, we both know that the destruction this Storm causes will be on us. We won't be able to handle this, either. So... We need a third option."

I reluctantly pulled myself from her grip so I could get a better look at her. "I suppose I could go back, just to restart the week all over again. Knowing what I know now, we could get ahead of everything and hopefully have the time to figure out a way to stop the Storm."

Chloe tilted her head in thought for a moment before replying. "Max, could you try taking me back with you? Maybe, I don't know... If it works, I could make the choice never to enter the bathroom? Since I don't have any rewind powers, who knows, maybe fate or whatever the fuck this crap is will think I was never meant to enter the bathroom in the first place so there's no death-reversing anomaly to cause the Storm."

I raised an eyebrow at her in response. "That's kind of one hell of a leap, you know that, right? But sure, I guess we could try it."

Taking the photo from Chloe and grabbing her hand, I continued, "How will I know it worked, though?"

Chloe shrugged. "Just haul ass out of the bathroom and wait for me to show up. Either I try to enter the bathroom like an idiot, or I... Well, you'll just have to wait and see."

Rolling my eyes at the stupid smirk on her face, I then asked, "Okay, so what do I do if it doesn't work? How do I stop you from entering the bathroom? You would probably enter it purely to spite me for abandoning you for five years." Feeling guilty, I stared down at my feet.

Chloe looked out towards the tornado getting closer and closer to the town, clearly struggling to find a way to convince her old self to listen to me. After a minute of silence, her face lit up in excitement and she turned to me grinning. "Max. We used to be the Pirates of Arcadia Bay when we were younger. Do you remember all those ridiculous rules we came up with? Well, there's one that we swore we would never forget and would always obey if one of us mentioned it, even if we stopped being friends one day. Sort of an emergency get out of jail free card that we never had the chance to use before you moved away. Max, we can finally test how strong our Pirate bond is!"

It took a fair few seconds for me to pick through our childhood memories to find what she was talking about. "Oh crap, I remember it now! It was a code-phrase that 8 year old us came up with so that nobody else would know what we meant, if we ever had to use it in secret. I believe the rule said that we each only got to say it once so I won't risk saying it back to you here just in-case I somehow ruin it, but I remember it perfectly."

Chloe laughed. "Yeah it was pretty dumb, though it will probably work. It's definitely the last thing I'd expect you to say when you show up for the first time in five years." She cleared her throat, "Arr! The Bane of Arcadia sets sail once again! Let's kick some booty, First Mate!"

Giggling, I replied, "Aye-aye Captain! The most fearsome Pirates of Arcadia Bay are back in action!"

Then, I turned my attention to the photo in my hands. Taking a deep breath, I began to focus while holding tightly onto Chloe's hand and desperately wishing for her to come along with me. After a few seconds, the picture blurred and my vision went white.