Pricefield - Time Warriors

Chapter 25: Spirits Within

Once we arrived at the well-hidden path leading to our secret base, Chloe turned off the engine and exited the truck. We waited for a few seconds until Brooke and Warren reached us before reminding him to grab the blankets and pillows from the back of the truck, then Chloe and I headed off into the overgrown bushes with everyone else rushing to keep up.

The walk through the trees was quite dangerous under the cover of darkness, but we managed to make it into the clearing without anyone tripping and breaking their neck.

Warren glanced up at our Pirate Tree Fort and exclaimed, "Damn, that's cool."

I snorted. "I'm glad you think so, Warren."

Chloe smirked. "Just wait until you see the inside."

Then she lead the way over to the base of the tree where our rope ladder was and began climbing, while the rest of us followed one by one.

Chloe was waiting for us by the 'door-bridge' as we so aptly named it when we were younger, and once we had all reached the top, she dramatically lowered it, revealing the inside to Warren and Brooke for the first time.

Predictably, Warren's jaw dropped in surprise before he muttered quietly under his breath, "That was awesome."

Brooke simply rolled her eyes at him and stayed silent, clearly not very impressed by our Pirate Fort design.

After that awkward display, we all went inside and began setting up the blankets and pillows that Warren had to carry up all by himself, pointedly ignoring his excitement over seeing the swords that were hanging on the wall... until he tried to pick one up, that is, at which point Chloe grabbed the back of his shirt and roughly threw him onto one of the blankets before hissing, "Keep those icky boy-germs away from our precious swords unless you want to lose a hand!"

I chuckled at the shocked look on his face. "And that, Warren, is why we've had a 'no boys allowed' policy in place since our dads built the Fort. Chloe gets scarily possessive when it comes to our treasure."

Chloe huffed. "Well, they don't call me Captain Bluebeard for nothing, Long Max Silver. My fighting nature is why you've always been the First Mate. You just don't have it in you to do the things a Captain must do for the good of her ship and crew."

I raised an eyebrow. "After everything I've been through since I saved your ass, let me repeat that again, since I saved your ass, I think it's time to re-evaluate our power structure."

Chloe mock-glared at me. "You dare challenge Captain Bluebeard?"

I walked over to the swords on the wall and grabbed one before turning to face her. "I'll do more than challenge you. I call Mutiny."

Chloe stomped towards me and picked up the other sword and growled. "Arr, you'll be walking the plank when this is over, traitor!"

After that, the conversation immediately turned into a pitched battle for control that resulted in ten minutes of tense sword-fighting around the room as everyone else laid down into their blankets and watched.

Ultimately, the Mutiny ended in a stalemate, mostly due to Rachel's constant worrying about the Fort collapsing from all of our jumping up and down. Though I clearly had the upper hand, much to Chloe's surprise considering she always won our sword-fights when we were younger. But in the end, we agreed on an equal power structure and Co-Captaincy of the Bane of Arcadia before placing the swords back on the wall and settling down for the night along with the others.

While everyone else seemingly fell asleep almost instantly, I spent the next several minutes tossing and turning. I was still too pumped from the sword-fight to sleep. So I reluctantly whispered to Chloe who was laid next to me, "Hey Chloe, are you still awake?"

She rolled over. "You can't sleep either, huh?"

I yawned. "Guess not."

She grunted at that, before slowly climbing out from under the blanket we shared and offering me her hand. "Let's get some air then. We didn't have our dads build a fancy balcony on this thing for nothing."

I whined slightly. "But it's freezing out there."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "That's what the blanket is for, you dork. Come on."

I sat up and groaned, then grabbed her hand so that she could pull me up.

I followed her out of the 'door-bridge and back onto the balcony before throwing the blanket over our shoulders and staring up at the night sky.

Chloe shivered from the cold, instinctively side-stepping closer and wrapping an arm around me under the blanket. "You know, we never really got the chance to have any down-time, just me and you, I mean. Since we met in the original timeline, the only time we had to ourselves before everything went to shit was when we were on the tracks back at the junk-yard, and we both know what happened after that."

I hummed under my breath. "Don't remind me."

I felt her wince next to me. "Sorry. I'm just saying that, since then it's been one crazy roller-coaster ride after another. I know we talked briefly about, well, us... and we've teased the shit out of each other since then, but we haven't been able to just stop and take it all in."

I snorted. "So that's why you dragged me out here? To be romantic?"

Chloe blushed under the darkness. "Well, we did confess our love for each other in the shower, in-case you forgot-"

I grinned. "Oh I didn't forget."

Chloe cleared her throat. "Yeah, well, no offence but you were kinda a mess when that happened... So I just want to say it again while we have the chance to just be ourselves for once-"

I sensed it coming and turned to face her, quickly blurting it out before she could. "I love you, Chloe Elizabeth Price."

Chloe blinked at me, momentarily surprised, before muttering, "Damn it."

I smirked at her. "You said it first last time, it's only fair."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Whatever, dork. I love you too."

I smiled to myself. "So, girlfriend, what now?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "From what I recall of my previous failed attempts at romance, I think this is when you're supposed to kiss me, Max."

I blushed heavily at that, then stepped up on my tiptoes, leaned in and kissed her without a second thought.

When we eventually broke apart, Chloe stood there completely stunned, before looking down at me and dead-panning, "Wowser."

I had to shove my fist into my mouth to stop the laugh from escaping, and once I'd recovered, I mock-pouted at her. "Please never say that again."

Chloe grinned. "So long as you promise to never say 'ready for the mosh pit shaka bra' again either."

I huffed. "Fine, you have a deal."

Then I sneakily leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before resting my head on her shoulder and staring up at the stars with her in silence.

Finally, we got to share a genuine moment together, without being interrupted by the world falling apart around us.

Unfortunately, our peaceful moment of romantic stargazing was just that – a moment – soon shattered by the appearance of a certain blue Butterfly casually fluttering into the clearing.

Chloe saw it first. I could feel her grip on my shoulder suddenly tighten and the gasp that escaped her lips was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up; I glanced up at the worried look on her face just in time for her to whisper, "Max... It's back."

I already knew what she was referring to. There was only one thing that could scare Chloe like this after everything that'd happened to us. I realized that I had completely ignored it's presence when I jumped back to the Blackwell bathroom in this timeline, and no amount of mentally steeling myself could prepare me for seeing the thing that seemed to be nothing less than the messenger of Chloe's death. Nevertheless, I hesitantly turned to look in the same direction as Chloe, leaning slightly over the balcony to see down below.

There it was. I instantly knew it was the exact same blue Butterfly because it was letting off a very distinct glow against the darkness as it slowly flew up towards us.

I stared at it in disbelief. "No. No fucking way. This isn't happening..."

Something about the way it flapped it's wings, almost tauntingly, seemed to snap me out of my brief daze. In that moment, I wasn't even scared. I was furious. Furious that it dared to show up when we were this close to beating Jefferson – the Prescott's – hell, even fate itself. I wasn't about to let it take her away from me now. I already made my choice on the cliff – I refused to play it's game – but I would destroy Arcadia Bay if it meant keeping Chloe alive. I couldn't do it then, but if it wants to force my hand this time... so be it.

My fury boiled over as I continued to glare at it. Eventually vowing under my breath, "I won't let you take her."

It still kept flying towards us.

I repeated myself, growling at it this time. "Did you hear me? I won't let you take her."

No response.

I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate, and so I just let it all out while I still could, screaming at it with every ounce of willpower I had. "GO BACK TO WHATEVER REALITY YOU FLEW OUT OF AND LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE! I WILL BURN ARCADIA BAY TO THE FUCKING GROUND BEFORE I LET YOU TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME! DO YOU HEAR-"

Chloe promptly put a hand over my mouth and hissed, "Shh, Max, you'll wake the others!"

At that point I just collapsed into her, unable to keep myself under control.

Chloe quickly removed her hand once she noticed I was having an anxiety-panic attack, cursing to herself when she realized she couldn't take care of me and keep an eye on the Butterfly at the same time.

Thankfully, or if this were under different circumstances, very suspiciously, everyone else come rushing outside onto the balcony to see what was going on. It was almost like they were standing right on the other side of the door and eavesdropping on our conversation instead of sleeping...

Warren took one glance at me on the floor and attempted to rush to my aid, very quickly dragged away by Brooke so that Kate and Rachel could help me instead. I would've laughed, if I wasn't struggling to breathe.

Rachel glanced between me and Chloe before pointedly asking, "What the hell did you do this time, Chloe?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Really Rach? You think I set her off? Go look over the balcony you ass."

Rachel stood up and leaned over the wooden railing before responding with just, "Oh. I see."

Chloe sighed at her, while absently stroking my hair. "Yeah. Looks like I'm about to die again huh?"

Feeling Chloe's hands in my hair was certainly nice. It grounded me enough to at-least know that she was still there with me. Kate noticed the contented smile creeping onto my face and giggled at it.

Chloe's head snapped around to stare at Kate. "What the fuck Kate, that's not funny."

Kate slapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry! I wasn't laughing at that. Just... Keep doing what you're doing, I think it's working."

Chloe looked down at what Kate was gesturing to and realized what she was doing. She blushed slightly and shrugged it off, continuing to stroke my hair.

Rachel turned around after a moment and rolled her eyes. "Did you two really forget what I said back at the Junkyard – that the Butterfly is probably your spirit animal? Now that I can see it in person, I'd say it definitely is. It's not here to kill you, Chloe."

Chloe scoffed. "Well the last time it showed up, I actually fucking did die though, didn't I? So forgive me, and especially Max, if seeing that thing doesn't automatically scare the shit out of us."

Rachel nodded at that, then turned back to look over the balcony for moment before humming to herself.

She quickly came over to kneel next to me and turned to face Chloe. "If its your spirit animal, then its here for a reason-" Chloe opened her mouth to respond but Rachel anticipated it and cut her off. "No, not to kill you. But it seems to have stopped moving, you should go see what it wants."

Chloe blinked at her. "What it wants? How am I supposed to know that?"

Rachel pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just... go see."

Chloe grumbled at not getting a clear answer but hesitantly went to stand up before being yanked back down by my grip on her arm.

All I could mutter was, "Not letting you out of my sight."

Chloe's brow furrowed in thought. "Then I guess you're coming with me." She gestured to Kate and Rachel, "Help me get her up."

Together, the three of them stood me up and walked me over to the balcony railing so that I could lean my weight on it.

Chloe groaned to herself and mumbled, "Well here goes nothing." before leaning over the railing to see where the Butterfly was.

I quickly did the same, and managed to see that it indeed was simply floating in mid-air, almost like it was frozen. There was no movement except for the synchronized flapping of it's glowing wings.

Chloe began to stare at it, and I swear I saw it turn to look in her direction.

Her gaze was fixed on the butterfly for several minutes, not saying a word. If it was anything like my encounter with the Doe, it must be talking to her.

Eventually, she frowned at it then glanced at me, before turning back to it and nodding.

It immediately began flying the rest of the way upwards until it was at eye-level, then I watched in horror as Chloe extended a hand out to towards it.

My anxiety instantly spiked again and I cried out, "Chloe don't! I can't rewind in this state, if it kills you, I cant-"

Chloe turned to look at me directly in the eyes. "Max, do you trust me?"

I whimpered slightly but nodded. "Always."

She smiled at me, then turned back to the Butterfly and we both watched as it flew closer, coming to rest in the palm of her hand.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then its wings began to glow even brighter.

I braced myself for the inevitable.

The inevitable never came.

However, when Chloe turned to face me, I swear I saw her blue eyes also glow, just for a split second. It could've been a trick of the light, a reflection from the Butterfly's glow, but... I saw it.

Chloe took a step towards me and casually asked, "Max, can I kiss you?"

I rapidly blinked at her in confusion. "Uh. What? Why?"

Chloe grinned. "It's a simple question. Can I kiss you? Yes or no?"

The timing of this seemed very strange, but I eagerly nodded at her. Anything to distract my spiralling thoughts. "Yes, of-course you can."

Then I remembered everyone else was watching. Needless to say, there was no hiding the blush on my face in the glowing light of the Butterfly...

Thankfully, Chloe chuckled and cut off my internal worrying by diving straight in for a kiss.

Right in that moment, my brain pretty much short-circuited. I could feel every drop of stress and anxiety instantly draining out of me, replacing it with nothing short of pure bliss. The kiss only lasted a couple of seconds but it felt like an eternity.

When she pulled away, I definitely saw her eyes glow this time. Then she winked at me, and it vanished.

I just stared at her, completely speechless.

Chloe's brows furrowed in concern when I didn't say anything. "Max... Are you okay?"

I glanced back and forth between her and the Butterfly before whispering, "How the hell did you do that?"

Chloe shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. From the bits I could understand, according to this thing-" She jerked a thumb towards the Butterfly which was now sitting on the balcony railing next to us, "I have an... innate ability to make people feel 'better'. I know, sounds stupid, right? Me, make people feel better? Usually it's the other way around. Well, it felt... sorry, and decided to give me a little boost, I guess."

I shook my head at her. "That's not stupid at all. Before William died and everything went to shit, you were such a sweet and caring person. Hell, even now deep down you're still a pile mushy goop."

Chloe scoffed. "Bullshit." Then she blinked. "So, how do you feel?"

I casually bit the corner of my lip and dead-panned, "Like I need you to touch me more often because that was amazing."

Chloe wasn't expecting that and broke out into a slight coughing fit.

Once she recovered, Chloe responded by growling and cupping a hand to my cheek.

I instantly felt a surge of warmth flooding through me. There really were no words to adequately describe it. I instinctively closed my eyes and melted into her hand, involuntarily letting out a very loud moan.

Chloe quickly pulled her hand away, causing me to whine and glance back up at the bright red blush on her face. She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. "Okay, it's a good thing that Brooke dragged Warren back inside because I won't lie, that was incredibly hot. But maybe you should save the orgasms for the bedroom, okay Max?"

I blinked at her in confusion for a moment before realizing what'd happened, then I groaned and covered my face in embarrassment, wishing the ground would swallow me up.

I stood there mentally planning a way to protest the fact that I most definitely didn't orgasm when Chloe chuckled and spoke up again. "Relax, Max. I'm just messing with you. At-least now we know this thing has quite the kick to it. Note to self – don't use it unless you actually need to feel better." Then she smirked and continued, "Or if I want to give you spontaneous orgasms."

Rachel snickered and cleared her throat. "Sorry to interrupt this amazing experience, but you don't need to kick her while she's down, Chloe. Now, did the Butterfly say why it felt sorry enough to give you that power boost or whatever it was?"

Chloe frowned at the sudden change in topic and looked up for a moment to gather her thoughts. "Well, from what I understood, in the spirit world the Butterfly is like a gatekeeper of reality and time. Its job is to make sure things go the way they are 'supposed' to. For those that have it as their spirit animal, it follows them to the end of their journey before making its presence known right when their time is up. It's kind of an obligation to witness the end of those who represent its qualities, I guess. So, it was there in the bathroom in the original timeline because I was 'supposed' to die to Nathan that day. But imagine its' surprise when Max comes along and saves me. It was pissed. The only other spirit animal with the ability to manipulate the timeline like Max suddenly had was the Raven, being a trickster and all. Which I suppose explains how Rachel was able to get it and pass it onto you without even realizing she had it. Anyway, it went searching for answers and confronted the Raven, who explained that it had intervened on behalf of one of the people it represents. When asked why, the Raven brought up the Storm that would arrive at the end of the week and that even if Rachel didn't respect the Raven, it didn't want one of the people it represents to have to watch her best friend die, on top of being responsible for not only the deaths of a lot of the people in town, but also her best friend's best friend who would be killed by the Storm-"

Rachel interrupted by quietly mumbling one word under her breath, "Fuck."

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Wait, what? I was supposed to die in the Storm? Why the fuck did you leave out that bit of information when you were explaining your story to us, Rachel?"

Rachel stared at the floor, refusing to look up. "Because I was hoping nobody would find out. Nobody but me... and apparently my spirit animal. Why do you think I chose to give you the time powers and not Chloe? It's bad enough to know I could've killed the town, but knowing that Chloe would die in the same room as her best friend without knowing she was there, and who would also die because of my fuck up... that was too much. I couldn't let that happen."

Chloe huffed. "Well neither could the Raven. It sensed what you wanted and discreetly attempted to help; it gave you it's very own time powers to give to Max, but that's all it could do. It couldn't permanently change the timeline like the Butterfly, who was quick to point out that Max saving me wouldn't have made much of a difference and when the Raven directly asked for the Butterfly's help, it declined; the Storm would still arrive as it was now supposed to since its job was to maintain the rules, not break them. However, the Raven and Butterfly had always been at odds, and this was the first time the Raven had ever actually asked the Butterfly for help. It was curious and decided to take a closer look at the situation-"

She stopped and turned to look at the Butterfly for a moment before continuing, "It went back through the timeline to observe the lives of Max, myself and Rachel for context, then watched us navigate that week of hell with Max's powers rather than just take it all away. When Max's spirit Doe revealed itself under Rachel's control, the Butterfly realized that she was still desperate to help us stop what she'd started, even without any further intervention from the Raven on her behalf. It began to understand just how shitty and unfair all our lives had been, and why we were rebelling against fate so strongly. Only when we stood on the clifftop did it truly understand, though. Even with the Storm right on top of us, we both refused to give up. We didn't know if we would be able to stop the Storm by going back in time but the Butterfly knew we couldn't since only it could – yet we still went back anyway. It saw that we were willing to put ourselves through even more torture after everything we'd already been through in our lives, and especially in that original timeline, ultimately for nothing. It couldn't let us do that to ourselves, but it would've also been cruel to wipe the slate clean and just have me die in the bathroom again when one of it's main traits is rebirth. So the only course of action it had left was to give us all a well-deserved second chance, by bending its own rules for the first time in forever. It was the Butterfly that stopped the Storm, and also allowed myself and Rachel to cross over into our bodies, in this timeline. But that's all it's done. Everything else that was meant to happen would happen without it's intervention, though it let us keep our powers so that we had a fighting chance against all the other crazy shit, after-all, it didn't want its own rule-breaking to go to waste. As for why it's sorry, well, It's sorry that we went through what we did, it's sorry that it had a hand in prolonging it, and it's sorry that we were scared of it. It never expected Max to react like she did when it appeared and wanted to apologize by making her not feel worried about it's presence here."

I blinked at her, slowly absorbing the information. "There's no way you memorized all of that."

Chloe snorted. "Fuck no, its been talking to me this whole time, I'm just relaying the parts I understand."

Kate hummed. "Why is it here, though? What does it want?"

Chloe shrugged at that. "Good question." Then she turned back to the Butterfly to listen to what it had to say.

She raised an eyebrow. "Apparently its waiting for something."

I frowned. "Waiting for what?"

All of a sudden, a loud caw sounded from above, soon followed by the Raven bursting through trees and flying into the clearing.

Rachel groaned. "That."

At this point, the Butterfly flew into the air and began heading back down into the clearing below, followed by the Raven.

I glanced at Chloe in confusion. "What are they doing?"

Chloe shrugged a shoulder. "No idea."

Warren spoke up next to me and I practically jumped out of my skin – when the fuck did he and Brooke come back outside?! – He pointed down into the clearing, "Guys, there's something else down there."

We all leaned over the railing and looked down. He was right, there was a third shape standing on the ground. I recognised the silhouette and exclaimed, "Oh, it's the Doe!"

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "Why are all three of our spirit animals visiting us?"

I nodded. "Yeah, the Butterfly said it didn't want me to be worried about it being here, and yet this happens. How can I not be worried?"

Brooke hummed. "Are they... sitting on each other?"

I glanced back over the railing in surprise, straining my eyes against the darkness just enough to see the Raven perched on the Doe's head, and the Butterfly now sitting squarely on the Raven's beak. "Huh. It sure looks like it."

Rachel scoffed. "I didn't know we'd won a free trip to the circus."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "They don't seem to be doing anything though. What are they waiting for now?"

I sighed. "Us. Obviously. I think we've got to go down there too."

Chloe groaned. "Seriously, at this time of night? Do they want us to fall off the ladder and break our necks?"

I shook my head at her. "Chloe, we've gone up against gun-wielding monsters and survived. The damn ladder isn't going to kill us."

Rachel snorted and was the first to start climbing down the ladder. "Famous last words, Max."

To Chloe's apparent surprise, we all managed to get down the ladder safely and made our way towards where the three spirit animals were still sitting on top of each other.

Once we were standing in-front of them, Chloe turned to me and muttered, "Now what?"

I shrugged, and turned to look at my spirit animal. "Why are you all here?"

The Doe blinked at me, but that was it. No communication at all.

Only when the silence was starting to get uncomfortable did something happen.

The Butterfly at the top began to glow brighter, like it had done before, but this time the Raven seemed to glow too, quickly followed by the Doe. The separate blue-black-orange glows of each spirit animal slowly melded together and soon became an unrecognisable blob of light encompassing the space that each of them had taken up. It quickly started to change, morphing into what looked like the shape of a human body.

I stared in horror as I watched the spirit animals turn into what was now very clearly a version of me. Not just any version, though – I recognized this one immediately – It was the Max I inhabited in the alternate timeline. The one that I created by saving William, and subsequently ended by killing Chloe. The one I'll never forgive myself for.

I glanced at Rachel. "Rach, please tell me this is you using your vision powers to screw with me."

Rachel shook her head. "This isn't me. It's not the Max I made in your nightmare vision, I don't even recognize this Max."

I groaned. "Yeah but I do..."

Chloe furrowed her brow. "Which one is it?"

I could barely look at her as I simply muttered, "William's."

Chloe went wide-eyed and instantly understood. "Ah shit." Then she side-stepped closer to me, carefully grabbing my hand and locking our fingers firmly together before whispering in my ear, "I'm here, Max. Whatever happens."

I could feel her newly boosted power, if we can really call it that, already taking effect and soothing the rising spike of anxiety before it could overwhelm me again. Just from holding my hand. Wowser.

I didn't have much time to enjoy it though, as the glow around the alternate timeline Max was starting to recede, soon leaving nothing but Max herself.

Then she blinked and looked around at her surroundings before exclaiming, "Holy fuck that actually worked!"

I could barely get my mouth working but eventually coughed out, "What worked?"

She was startled by the sound of my voice and snapped her attention towards me. Upon realizing who I was, her face contorted into one of absolute fury and I knew what was coming just before it happened.

Thankfully, Chloe sense it too. She had already jumped in-front of me and glared at the now-charging form of Alternate Max, heading straight at me. "Back the fuck off! There will be no Max-on-Max action while I'm around."

Alternate Max instantly stopped in her tracks. She quite literally froze like a deer in headlights when she heard Chloe speak. "Chloe...?" was the only word she could utter through the sudden onset of strangled sobbing before she collapsed into the dirt.

I could tell Chloe wasn't expecting that, and now she was torn; there were two Max's that needed her help. I already felt guilty enough as it is, so I gently pushed Chloe towards her.

She glanced back at me as if to ask, "Are you sure?"

I just shrugged at her. "I took her Chloe away... she needs one right now. I'll be okay."

Chloe nodded and went to go kneel by her side.

Before she could even get a word in, Alternate Max had begun clawing desperately at Chloe's shirt, trying to ground herself by confirming that she was actually real. Eventually squeaking out, "I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm so sorry."

Chloe sighed. "I'm not your Chloe, but I know what happened to yours. And I know that if she were here right now, she'd say the exact same thing; you have abso-fucking-lutely nothing to be sorry for."

She hiccuped into Chloe's chest. "But I never even got to say goodbye to her."

I took a cautious step forward. "Max, I'm the one who should be sorry. Not you."

Alternate Max's head snapped back to me with fire in her tearful eyes.

I held my hands up in surrender. "You have every right to hate me. I still hate myself for what I did to your Chloe, and that was before I knew that it would actually have... consequences... for that timeline."

Alternate Max scoffed. "You're going to use that as an excuse? You didn't know?"

I shrugged. "It's not an excuse. Just the truth. At the time, I thought the timeline I jumped into and changed was still my own. I didn't realize they'd actually split and become their own realities where time carried on, you know? I ended your Chloe's life because she begged me to, and as much as it hurt me to do that, I did it partly under the assumption that I was going to reverse the change that put her in that state in the first place so none of it would even happen."

Alternate Max sniffled quietly. "Yeah well, I didn't even get to mourn her..."

I frowned at that, then took a deep breath and walked the rest of the way, kneeling down alongside Chloe before she could say anything. "Why?"

Alternate Max balked at that simple question, before simply muttering, "I died."

I was stunned. I certainly didn't see that coming, so after silently staring at the top of her head for a moment while I gathered my thoughts, I carefully grabbed her chin and lifted it so that I could look her in the eyes. It was like staring at a reflection of my own broken self in the mirror; her eyes were dead, void of any happiness, much like my own when shit hit the fan. But what I saw reflected back at me was much worse. Terrifying.

I hesitated slightly before speaking again, "Max, please tell me what happened. I want to know... I need to know the consequences of my actions."

Alternate Max searched my eyes, to see if I was being sincere.

After a moment, she slowly nodded. "Okay, I'll start from the beginning. From my point of view, one minute I was chatting shit with a bunch of the Vortex Club, then the next I was sitting beside Chloe's lifeless body. Do you have any idea how crazy that is? I almost lost my mind trying to figure out how I got there, and what the actual fuck happened. I didn't even realize Chloe was dead at first, and tried waking her up to ask what was going on. Then the sounds registered in my brain and... well, I panicked. I ran out of the house before William or Joyce could stop me. My best friend was dead, probably by my hand, and I had no memory of doing it or how I even got there. I just kept running, trying to figure out what the hell to do. I thought about going back to Blackwell, to Victoria, she might've understood... except as far as I knew, I'd just vanished into thin air in-front of her and the rest of the Vortex Club. I didn't know how to explain that to myself, much less her-"

I held up a hand to stop her. "Sorry. Um... Why Victoria?"

She blinked for a moment before the corner of her mouth twitched into a smile. "Oh right. Timeline differences, I forgot. We are, or were, in a relationship. Sort of. Its complicated."

Chloe snorted. "How'd you pull that one off?"

I traded glanced with Kate. "I have an idea, but I'm curious. Do tell."

Alternate Max rolled her eyes. "She didn't expect me to stand up to her on my first day at Blackwell. Our rivalry became intense. Lets just say things escalated one day and we ended up hate-fucking in her dorm. Several times. Until Taylor walked in on us and, well... the secret was out. I'll give her credit for not spreading it around the rumour mill though, but now we'd been caught, we had to acknowledge a few things, like how similar we were. So we quickly went from enemies to friends... with benefits, of-course, and we ended up sharing everything with each other. I trusted her more than anyone else at Blackwell."

Chloe pretended to vomit. "I really didn't need the mental image of Max and Victoria hate-fucking stuck in my brain, thanks."

Alternate Max shrugged. "Well, you did ask."

I giggled. "Sounds like Kate has a lot to look forward to."

Alternate Max's eyes went wide, and she glanced around to look at Kate. "Oh shit. Kate. I almost forgot-" Then she stood up and unsteadily made her way over to Kate before squashing her in a hug.

Kate, confused, returned the hug while asking, "What's the hug for?"

Alternate Max pulled back, looking guilty. "I was a massive bitch to you in my timeline. Now that I know the truth about, well... everything, I'm sorry."

Kate stiffened slightly, before smiling at her. "I forgive you."

Alternate Max nodded. "And thank you for saving her from... him. Promise you'll take good care of her for me, okay?"

Kate grinned. "I promise."

Rachel chimed in then, "Hold on, just how much do you know? About, you know..."

Alternate Max spun around to face her. "Ah, nice to finally meet the popular Rachel Amber." Her gaze softened before continuing, "It's bullshit that they never found you in my timeline, even with the fucking FBI included in the search."

I raised an eyebrow at how she completely avoided the question but I decided to not to push, instead opting to say, "Oh right, I read about that when I was there. How the fuck do two teenage girls do a better job than the FBI? More importantly, why were the FBI involved in your timeline but not ours?"

Rachel hummed. "If I'm right in assuming that in her timeline, Chloe never even met me, then that means I didn't drag her out of school to follow my father, so I never found out about how he was keeping my bio-mom away from me, and it never destroyed my relationship with him. So when I went missing, he pulled every last resource to find me rather than just assuming I'd ran off to LA at the beginning to get away from him, like I'd so often ranted about doing."

Alternate Max shrugged. "Whatever the reason, the FBI being involved only made things worse... much worse."

I frowned. "How could that be possible?"

Alternate Max sighed. "I suppose I better carry on with my story." She looked up in thought for a moment before continuing, "Well, like I was saying, I didn't know what to do after running away from Chloe's house. Victoria was out of the question, and I didn't trust any other students at Blackwell. Calling my parents was stupid, besides I wasn't on the best of terms with them. So I turned to the only other person I could think of-"

It clicked for me just before she finished her sentence. I gasped in surprise, "You went to him, didn't you?"

She turned around to face me before nodding once.

I stumbled back, in shock. "Fuck. It's my fault. If I hadn't tried to mess with the timeline, you wouldn't have gone to Jefferson..."

Alternate Max shuddered heavily at his name before shaking her head. "Yes it's your fault, but... not really. It would've happened sooner or later anyway, I'm sure of it."

Warren cautiously interjected, "...Why?"

Alternate Max rolled her eyes. "Ah so the nerd with a crush can speak after-all!"

Warren opened his mouth to protest but Alternate Max put her hand up. "Sorry, I know you already got slapped down in this timeline, I'm just teasing you. I was much... much harsher on you in my timeline. Frankly I was a bitch to everyone, though a lot of that was due to the Vortex Club's influence. Anyway, to answer your question... Well, you know how Nathan was his trainee in this timeline? In mine, I was his trainee..."

My jaw dropped. "Wait... how?"

She snorted. "Victoria and I were the best in his class. Even when we were together we were still rivals at photography. So one day he give us a special offer to work under him, build up our own portfolios, jump-start our photography careers with his help, that sort of thing. Only one of us could have it, though. Victoria, bless her, she decided to let me take it since she had plenty of connections already through her parents, and I needed the leg-up more than her. I will say, the shoots he invited me to were all professional, as far as I was aware there was no hint of foul-play. I guess he wasn't prepared to involve me in the darker side of his photography like he did with Nathan in this timeline."

She paused for a moment to take a deep breath before muttering, "But I'm so glad it was me and not her."

I winced at what I was about to ask but I had to be sure. "Max... hearing his name triggers you, doesn't it?"

She looked me in the eye. "Far more than it triggers you."

I gulped. The way she said that made alarms go off in my head. I saw it in her eyes before, but now I was certain... whatever she experienced was worse than what happened to me.

Brooke cleared her throat impatiently, not catching onto the vibe like I did. "So how did you go from working under him to being one of his victims?"

Alternate Max huffed at that. "I went to his house, to explain what happened to me, to Chloe. I hoped he would at-least be able to help me make sense of it. He let me in, poured me some strong alcohol – I'm not averse to drinking like you Max, plus I really fuckin' needed it – and started telling him what happened. At some point in my story, I'm not sure when, he must've slipped something into my glass. I don't know why he chose that moment to strike, perhaps it's because he realized through my rambling that I'd probably go to prison for killing Chloe regardless of the circumstances that lead to it. Either way, he used it to his advantage and drugged me. I woke up tied to that stupid fucking chair in the Dark Room that I'd photographed countless professional models sitting in. A lot of what happened after was a blur, since he kept me heavily sedated, most of it I inferred afterwards by watching it happen to you in this timeline, Max. But the parts I do remember... I..."

I saw the tell-tale signs of an anxiety-panic attack coming on, and stepped forward so that I had her attention and grabbed her hands – careful to avoid the wrists, knowing full well how much that used to trigger me – then muttered, "It's okay, Max. Just breathe."

She snorted slightly, "Easier said than done." Then she shut her eyes tight and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't finish. Not with everyone else here. I just... need you to hear it. Just so that someone knows what happened to me. Please."

Those alarms going off in my brain? Yeah, those were air raid sirens now.

I nodded and wordlessly lead her over to the other side of the clearing, putting my hand up to stop Chloe when she started following us.

Once we were sufficiently away from the others, I stopped and squeezed her hands. "Max, before you tell me the rest, I want you to hit me."

She blinked in confusion. "Uh... What?"

I sighed. "Whatever happened to you, you do still blame me, at-least partly. And I blame me. So just hit me already, you wanted to when you first saw me, right? Hell, it might make you feel better if you release some of your anger."

Alternate Max raised her eyebrows. "You can't be serious."

I looked her in the eye. "Max, you died because of me."

She frowned at that. "Is this your way of punishing yourself? By making me hit you?"

I huffed. "Maybe. I don't care. Just hit me."

Alternate Max cocked her head in consideration. "...Where?"

I shrugged. "Wherever you think is most fitting."

She took a step back and looked me up and down. "Well, just remember you asked for it."

I braced myself, expecting a punch to the face, or something.

The last thing I expected was to be kicked in the fucking groin.

I instantly folded over and collapsed to the ground. The pain was blinding. I'm pretty sure I saw stars.

I groaned out through gritted teeth, "Can I rewind and change my mind? Why the fuck would you kick me there?"

When she didn't answer, I forced myself to sit up, ignoring the pain radiating through my entire body.

She was staring down at me with those same lifeless eyes and doing that old self-conscious arm-grabbing tick which must be a universal Max thing.

Despite the intense pain I was in, a separate shiver ran down my spine as I managed to put the puzzle pieces together.

I looked up at her in horror. "He raped you."

She gave the smallest of nods, without blinking.

I tried to stand but my body was still in shock from the kick. Instead I opted for grabbing her hand and dragging her to the ground with me, pulling her into a hug. "Holy shit, I'm so sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

That was all she needed to hear before completely breaking apart. Everything she'd been holding back, holding inside, came spilling out. I just sat there and held her as she cried her heart out onto my shoulder. We stayed like that for several minutes before she recovered enough to pull away.

She wiped her face with her sleeve. "Uh... thanks. For that. I don't really know what to say now."

I grimaced. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but as far as I can tell he's not that kind of a monster, at-least in this timeline-"

She cut me off mid-sentence. "Wait, you don't believe me, do you?"

She went to stand up, stunned.

I yanked her back down before she could get very far. "I said don't take it the wrong way. Of-course I fucking believe you. I'll believe anything after the shit I've seen. Or did you already forget that I was one of his victims too? Obviously not to the extent that you went through, but I completely believe you. If you had let me finish, I was just going to say that he doesn't seem to have done anything like that to his victims here, so what could've possibly made him act so differently in your timeline?"

She reeled her disbelief back in and shrugged. "Fuck if I know. Uh... I'm just going by the timeline differences here, but it could be the fact that the FBI got involved in the search for Rachel. That might've had a knock-on effect. I mean, in your timeline, he sends his shitty photos to the Prescott's, right?"

I nodded.

She hummed. "Well, I don't think that happened in mine, or at-least if it did, their partnership ended when the FBI got involved. The extra heat probably made Sean Prescott unhappy so he pulled out of their arrangement. Which meant Nathan no longer worked under him, leaving the spot open for me. As time went on, and the FBI still hadn't found Rachel or linked anything back to him, I'm betting that he started getting cocky. He was uncatchable, and could do whatever he wanted now that he was free from the Prescott's rulebook."

I shivered. "That... actually sounds possible. In this timeline, he's nothing more than a tool to Prescott. A dangerous, murdering, predatory tool, but still a tool, one that he can control. If he's free from that control... I can definitely see him becoming a cocky bastard."

Alternate Max looked away for a moment and scratched her arm. "He didn't just rape me, you know. Well, that was the worst of it, besides killing me. But before that, he... worked his way up to it. It seemed to start out as any other photo-shoot – minus me being drugged and tied to a fucking chair – then he stepped up his game. Undressing me. Piece by piece. Taking photos as he went." She shuddered at the memories but pushed forward, "He kept it professional-like... for a while. But I guess eventually he'd taken enough photos. Then he said to me, word for word, I'll never forget this – 'I got the photos I wanted, I'm going to have to kill you now, Max. But first, why not have a little fun? It's not like anyone will ever know.' – right before he raped me. And then killed me. All in the span of, like, a day."

I was sickeningly furious. "Well he was wrong about that. Now I know. The Jefferson in this timeline may not be like yours, but I'm going to string him up by his fucking balls just the same, I can promise you that."

She smiled slightly at me. "Thank you."

I sighed. "I know you said you couldn't tell me in-front of the others, but... do you want me to tell them? Not now, but later."

She shrugged. "Now that it's out, I'm not all that bothered. I just wanted someone to know what happened to me, so I'll leave it up to you. If you want to tell them, I'm okay with it."

I looked back across the clearing where everyone else was still standing around, chatting, occasionally glancing in our direction. "Are you feeling okay to go back over there?"

She snorted. "I think I should be asking you that question. Can you even stand yet?"

My rage had momentarily dulled the pain pulsing through me, but now that I was paying attention to it, the feeling returned as soon as I attempted to move.

I grunted, "It still fuckin' hurts, but yeah. Couldn't you have kicked just a little softer? I'm probably not gonna pee for a week."

Her mouth twitched into a half-smirk. "Well if it makes you feel better, kicking you did make me feel better. Just a little."

I growled at her. "Bitch. At-least help me up, would you?"

She chuckled, then stood up and held out a hand for me to grab.

Once I'd pulled myself to my feet, we slowly made our way back to the other side of the clearing with me holding onto her for support.

About halfway, Chloe noticed and sprinted over to help, immediately getting in Alternate Max's face. "What the fuck did you do to her?"

Alternate Max shrugged. "Nothing she didn't ask for. Trust me, I made sure."

Chloe huffed and took over for her. A few steps later and she rolled her eyes before promptly picking me up and carrying me the rest of the way.

When we reached the others, I giggled. "Chloe, you should carry me around more often."

She groaned. "I'd rather not, you're way too heavy now, unlike when we were kids."

I scoffed and looked down at my body. "Dude, I'm tiny. You know, I bet Warren could carry me just fine, isn't that right, Warren?"

Warren took one look at me, glanced at Chloe and backed away. "You leave me out of this. I don't want my arms breaking, thanks."

I grinned. "I doubt she can break your arms if she can't even carry me for more than five seconds." then I turned to Chloe. "When was the last time you even went to the gym?"

Chloe looked up in thought. "How the hell would I know? I've been too busy over the past week or two, lets see... getting shot by Nathan, run over by a train, almost murdered by Frank, actually murdered by Jefferson, almost swept up in a Storm... is there anything I missed? So yeah, please forgive me if I haven't had time to work on my guns."

I grumbled at that. "Meanwhile I just got kicked in the lady-bits."

Chloe shot a glare at Alternate Max. "Ah so that's what happened. Do you want me to kiss it better?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were saving orgasms for the bedroom?"

Chloe facepalmed. "Damn it. I keep forgetting you're better at teasing than me now."

Rachel cleared her throat. "Moving on... Are you going to tell us what was so important to talk about that you had to walk away?"

I caught the frantic glance that Alternate Max fired at me and shook my head at Rachel before giving her a look that said 'drop it'. "Nope. Next question."

Rachel nodded and turned to Alternate Max. "Okay then, uh... Why did you decide to show up here now? I know you said you died, and I'm going to assume it was at the hands of Jeffershit.. but what does that have to do with us? In-fact, how the fuck are you even here anyway?"

Alternate Max snorted. "That kinda ties into the last question you asked, but you are right about how I died, so... I guess I just wanted you guys to know, and I'll leave it at that. As for how I'm here... that's complicated. You see, in my timeline, I died on Friday. The next thing I saw when I woke up, for lack of a better word, was a Doe. Just standing there, staring at me. Apparently it was my Spirit Animal, but I suppose you already knew that. It gave me the answers I needed, about what happened to Chloe, to me. Then it told me about another Max with rewind powers. Naturally, I wanted to know more, so it let me watch the timeline you created, this one, as it was happening. I've pretty much seen everything up to now, and I was listening earlier when the Butterfly was trying to explain things to you, but I know a couple extra bits and pieces that it didn't want to mention thanks to the time I spent poking around behind the scenes – you know us Max's, we're all nosy-"

I protested weakly at that. "Am not!"

She just raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh. Anyway... Well, it turns out that there normally isn't supposed to be more than one timeline existing at once, but Max made quite a mess by jumping through all those photographs, each one creating their own timeline with a pre-existing history and future determined by her actions before leaving. Which I guess means I wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for you, Max. And that's weird because I remember my past from before the point where you entered, so it definitely happened to me. Whatever. All these new timelines caused chaos in the Spirit world and meant that for the first time ever, the Spirits had to work together rather than against each other, otherwise from how I interpreted it, the universe would've probably imploded. That's how I got here by the way – they had to combine their energy just to create enough power to transport me from the Spirit world, because just watching you guys from up there wasn't enough closure for me. I needed to see Max, face to face, do something more than just watching. But not even the Spirits knew if the process would work, since I'm the first person to even go from one timeline, to the Spirit world, and then crossover into a completely different timeline."

I stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "Obviously it worked since you're standing here."

Alternate Max rolled her eyes. "Well duh. But unfortunately it's only temporary, I can't stay."

Chloe frowned. "Why not?"

Alternate Max sighed. "Because this is not my timeline. And I'm dead, remember? I'm only here for closure-" She smiled at me before continuing, "Closure that I've now gotten."

I shook my head at that. "But taking down Jeffershit is just as much your fight as it is ours."

She shrugged. "Maybe. But it's yours most of all – You are our champion, Max. You started this, and you'll be the one to end it. For those of us who can't be there in person. I believe in you, all of you."

I nodded resolutely. "We will. And again... I'm sorry."

Her eyes suddenly turned into slits as she stared at me. "Break him. Then I'll forgive you."

I straightened up at that. "I'll do more than break him."

She looked upwards and sighed. "Good. Now I think it's time for me to go." Then she gazed around at everyone one last time and her eyes went wide upon reaching Chloe. "Shit, I almost forgot, I was supposed to pass on a message."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Alternate Max glanced between Chloe and I with a giant smirk on her face. "Bloody Bill wants you to know that he's still bloody proud of you. Both of you. William, your William, he's watching. He always has been. You should've seen the rampage he went on upstairs when he heard the truth about his death, it was glorious. He wanted to come down here himself but the Spirits wouldn't let him, it's a good thing he bumped into me otherwise he'd have probably tried to bust his way out or something. That's how much he cares."

Hearing that William was still looking out for us hit like a ton of bricks.

Looking up at the stars, I muttered under my breath, "Sorry we couldn't save you William..."

I watched a single tear trickle down Chloe's cheek as she sniffled out, "Thanks Dad."

Alternate Max tilted her head in consideration for a second then stepped over to me before crushing me in a hug and whispering in my ear, "Good luck, Max. Take care of our Chloe, okay? Victoria too, though I assume Kate probably has that handled."

I chuckled and hugged her back. "Chloe's always our top priority, even when she's not our girlfriend, huh?"

She pulled back enough to look me in the eyes. "Damn straight. I might have failed mine, but I know you won't." Then she let go and stepped backwards, putting some distance between us before waving goodbye.

Before I could even respond with my own, she'd already started glowing with that same blinding light from earlier, suddenly vanishing in-front of our eyes and being replaced by the three Spirits still stacked on top of each other.

They quickly separated, then made their way closer before coming to a halt once more.

I got the distinct feeling that they were communicating with each of us, and if I was interpreting what the Doe was saying correctly, it sounded something like, "Finish what you started, then voluntarily surrender your powers. If you succeed in your mission you will be free to live the lives you feel you deserved, without our interference. We acknowledge the lengths you are prepared to go to ensure the survival of yourself and your friends, and we now understand why. We have agreed that a return to the status quo is preferable to the utter destruction of everything we have created by continuing to oppose your goals. We already stopped the Storm, now the rest is up to you. In short: You win. Goodbye."

Then in the blink of an eye, the Doe, the Butterfly and the Raven all disappeared, as if they were never there to begin with.

I looked around at the others, bewildered. "Did... you guys all hear the same thing?"

Chloe snorted. "If you mean the words 'you win', then sure."

Rachel hummed. "Surely they wouldn't just give up that easily, right? We're, like, ants to them, aren't we?"

I shrugged. "Ants with powers that they apparently can't take away by force despite the fact they gave them to us in the first place. Isn't the Butterfly the one who has to maintain the timeline or whatever? Maybe it can see into the future and knows that I won't give up that easily, either."

Kate spoke up, confused. "Could you tell the rest of us what they said? Because we didn't hear anything."

I blinked. "Oh. Basically, once we deal with Jefferson and Sean Prescott, they'll stop interfering and let us live our lives. The catch is that we have to give up our powers too. Which is the only thing that seems to be causing them to back off in the first place. What happens if they change their minds afterwards?"

Rachel shook her head. "Yeah, fuck that. We aren't giving up the one thing that scares them. If they want to return to the status quo, then it'll have to be one born from mutually-assured destruction. If they fuck with us, we'll destroy everything, but if they leave us alone, we have no reason to use our powers."

I casually inspected my rewind hand and nodded. "The thought of no longer having the rewind power and then Chloe just spontaneously combusting the very next day without me being able to reverse it is enough to make me agree with you."

Chloe furrowed her brow. "They should've expected this, though. After-all they are our Spirit animals, they represent the personality traits we have, or whatever, right? They had to know we wouldn't fold like that."

I shrugged a shoulder. "I don't get why they tried giving us a thinly-veiled ultimatum right after the Butterfly boosted Chloe's new touchy-feely thing so that we wouldn't be afraid of it. Maybe the Spirits haven't figured out how to properly work together yet? Whatever. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. We have more urgent matters... like beating Jefferson at his own game."

Warren yawned. "Can we please talk about that tomorrow? The dirt is looking like a pretty comfy bed right about now."

Brooke checked the time on her phone and groaned. "It's just past 3am... again. Factor in the rewind to save Victoria and that means we've technically been awake to, what, 5am? And all we got was a half-hour nap before that..."

I rubbed my eyes. "Yeah. Lets actually go to sleep this time. We can discuss what happened here in the morning."

Warren grumbled. "Thank god we we still have a free first period."

I facepalmed. "Thanks for reminding me. You guys might be able to sleep in but I need to have a little chat with Nathan during the free period, coordinate a few things for the party trap."

Chloe nodded. "And I need to check with David to see how the fuck Jeffershit has access to the dorms. So no sleep for me either, and you know how much I love my sleep."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Plus, I've got to check on Victoria."

Rachel buried her head in her hands. "So basically, we have to take Jefferson down with barely any sleep. That's just great. I guess I'll use that time to iron out a few things with my dad then too."

I grunted at that, then silently shuffled my way over to the ladder that lead up to the Pirate Fort, looking, and feeling, like a zombie. The others quickly followed.

After a brief discussion on how early we should wake up, we decided to skip having breakfast and opted for eating lunch together at Blackwell instead, so I set the alarm on my phone to go off at 9:30am. That should give us enough time to wake up and return to Blackwell before kicking off the laundry-list of things we needed to do during the hour-long free period.

Then we settled down into our respective blankets and pillows before swiftly falling asleep.

Well, everyone except me, unfortunately. Despite being snuggled up in Chloe's arms, it seems her new-found ability to soothe with touch had already lost the boost provided by the Butterfly. I could still feel it working, so she hadn't lost it completely, but the effect was nowhere near as strong as it was earlier. Meaning the short sleeping time was even shorter for me due to constantly tossing and turning once more, this time thanks to the lingering pain of Alternate Max's kick to the groin. I sincerely hope I never have to experience that ever again – it really fucking hurts – but that's the least I deserve for being the one to drive her right into the hands of an even worse version of Jefferson...