Little over a year ago...
Chloe woke up somehow both hungover and still drunk. Through hazy vision she could barely make out the junkyard shack she and Rachel took over. She must have spent the night here. Again. It's not like David can get even more mad at me than he usually is. The punk girl slowly forced herself up from her position laying on the 'reclaimed' couch. She cursed as she knocked over her still half-full beer in the process. While reaching for a new one, her eyes passed over the nearby stack of missing posters…
Rachel had already been gone for weeks. No one was out looking for her, not even her parents. Though, Chloe couldn't blame them for thinking Rachel ran away. Not after the falling out they and Rachel had. Sure as hell can blame them for a lot of other stuff, Chloe added bitterly in her head. But the one thing no one seemed to understand was that Rachel wouldn't leave her behind. After everything they talked about, everything they were… Chloe fully believed Rachel wouldn't abandon her.
She wanted to do something. She had to do something. She hated doing nothing. But she couldn't think of anything to do. So, Chloe drank her days away until she thought of something better. Maybe I should just leave, Chloe thought for perhaps the millionth time. Not like there's anything here for me.
Chloe stumbled outside into the junkyard proper. She brought the bottle to her lips to realize, sadly, that it was already empty. What the hell am I doing, Chloe scowled. Wasting away… What do I do? Rachel would know… she always knew… Her grip on the bottle tightened. "Where the hell are you!?" Chloe screamed and threw the empty as hard as she could. In her inebriation, the throw unbalanced her, and she fell to the ground. Her visit to consciousness proved short lived as blackness seeped across her vision.
Falling was the first thing she felt. Not just falling… it was as though she was being pulled downward headfirst. Suddenly she was being flipped around and her feet landed on solid ground, although the mixture of alcohol and the speed of her descent meant she didn't have a chance of staying on her feet. Sprawled on the ground, she was finally able to open her eyes. She had a hard time understanding where she was.
A massive tower in an empty void, with a stained glass effigy for a floor shining with some unknown light. The picture showed her, flanked on either side by two other girls. One was obviously Rachel. The other was familiar, but she really couldn't place her. It sat on the tip of her tongue until she simply gave up. "Ugh, what kinda dream is this…?"
It's more than a dream
"Huh?" Chloe looked around for the source of the voice, but there was no else. Then again, did I actually hear anything? What's going on?
Don't be afraid
"Uh, why?" Chloe warily found her feet, "what do I have to be afraid of?" As if to answer her, black creatures began to rise from the ground. "What the hell!?"
Don't be afraid
A bright light charged in from the void around the tower, crashing into the monsters and dispelling them one by one.
I'll protect you here
"Wait a minute…" Chloe looked at the light. "Are you…?"
The light faded into a semi-transparent image of a doe.
"Rachel…?"
Your fate is a cruel one, Chloe Price. You are fated to learn what happened to your friend, then doomed to die having never learned a thing. But that fate can be changed.
Chloe had no idea what was going on, but she did catch one thing. "I can figure out what happened to you?"
The doe turned away, once again turning into a shapeless light.
You only need to follow the key
When the light faded, it left behind a door.
"A key?" Chloe wondered aloud, "what key?" Hearing, or feeling, or whatever, no answer, Chloe cautiously approached the door. Opening it brought yet more blinding light. As it faded, the first thing Chloe noticed was that the door vanished. There was no hallway or separate room. Then she realized the image on the floor changed. She was still in the center, but she was wearing a strange outfit and flanked by portraits of people she truly did not recognize.
"I like the jacket, but can I really pull of all plaid pants?" Chloe noted. Movement distracted her from the image, and she was preparing to see those monsters again. Instead, the doe had returned. Chloe was starting to get fed up with the situation. "Can you just tell me what's going on!? With plain words, not this riddle wordplay crap!?"
The doe approached, changing once again. Chloe's rage faded as the visage of Rachel Amber herself came into shape. "It really is you… But does this mean you're…" 'Rachel' only smiled. She reached for her own ear with one hand and Chloe's hand with the other. Follow the key was repeated in the air as 'Rachel' placed her feather earring in Chloe's hand.
Chloe's hand seemed to lock in place as yet another bright light, emanating from the earring in her grip, began to blind her once again. This new light seemed to be taking shape, but before Chloe could determine what, it became too bright to keep her eyes open.
When Chloe opened her eyes, she was treated to the view of a nearly cloudless blue sky. She raised her left hand to her pounding head. No longer drunk, she was now facing the full force of her hangover. "Uggh… what the hell kinda dream was that…? 'Follow the key'? Yeah right…"
It was as she put pressure down on her right hand to get up that she noticed something new was there. She looked down to see something… swordlike in her hand. With a handguard designed like white feathers and a long 'blade' that appeared to be an antler with the forks jutting out to one side near the top. Connected to the handle by a length of some white braid was Rachel's feather earring.
Her earring…
"Was it a dream…?" Chloe wonders, holding up the strange object in awe. "What the hell is this?"
Rebel Soul
The words appeared in her head, and she knew it was this weapon's name. But she didn't feel like it was her that came up with it.
Casting that thought aside, Chloe wondered how this could help her find the 'key' or whatever that would lead to Rachel. Her first thought was to go to Rachel's house. Her parents hadn't let her inside since Rachel vanished, but if she could wait until the place was empty… well, it was a lot easier to bash in doors with a weapon like this.
It only took two days for Rachel's parents to decide to eat out. In that time, they almost caught Chloe staking them out a half-dozen times, but she always slipped away before they could become concerned. Finally, though, the house was empty. Though there wasn't any way a place this fancy didn't have an alarm system, so Chloe still wouldn't have long.
Chloe used her new weapon to bash away the back door's doorknob. She smiled at the ease that she broke the door. Her smile failed when she stepped inside at looked at the wall close to the door. Sure enough, an alarm system was already counting down. Chloe couldn't stop it without the code, so she ran upstairs and into Rachel's room.
"Key, key, key… where's this key… what is this key…?"
Chloe completely tossed the room looking for anything that could help, but it seemed Rachel didn't even keep a diary. There was a pang of nostalgia seeing the Tempest costumes, but nothing else worth note in the entire space. "Damn it! What the hell is this 'key'!?" Lights distracted Chloe, and she looked out the window to see the Ambers' vehicle closely followed by a police car. "Oh, crap!"
She quickly bolted downstairs in time to see a police car pull up by the open back door. Obviously, she couldn't leave through the front. Panicked, she headed back upstairs. "Okay, okay… what do I do…" she paced Rachel's room. Her eyes found the strange weapon in her hand. "Can you do something? Anything? You literally came to me in a dream, doesn't that make you magic!?"
Rebel Soul remained idle in her hand.
"Of course it wouldn't be that easy…" Chloe groaned. She began swinging it randomly while shouting things like, "teleport! Portal! Move! Transform, ANYTHING! FIREBA-!" The last one was interrupted by an actual fireball bursting out of Rebel Soul's tip and striking the wall near the stairs. A startled Chloe dropped her weapon and fell onto her butt. From the floor, she could only stare as the fire began to spread.
The police downstairs began screaming about the fire, and Chloe could hear everybody rushing out. The thought of her being able to escape was enough to break her stillness as she rushed back downstairs. The cop had to move his car away from the backdoor, thankfully clearing the backyard. Chloe wasted no time sprinting all the way into the trees beyond the Ambers' yard.
She didn't stop to look back until she was well away. When she did look, she wished she didn't. The fire had quickly spread out of control, and the entire house was consumed. Chloe could hardly even believe it. "Holy crap… what the hell have I done…?" She decided to run back to the junkyard, ignorant until she got there that she left Rebel Soul on Rachel's floor.
Hers wasn't the only pair of uninvited eyes on this incident. In another part of the forest, a tall figure with spiked hair watched silently. "'Just a quick pick up' they said, 'what could go wrong' they implied? Even when they're trying to give me somethin' easy, I end up with an icky one. Must just be my luck, then."
AMBER HOUSE BURNED DOWN! ARSON SUSPECTED!
Chloe read the article carefully before tossing it aside with a sigh of relief. It seemed they had no idea who set the fire or how. Any forensics were burned away. Still, that was way too close. She stood and strolled the junkyard, thinking on the strange weapon. She didn't know whether or not the police were just being coy, but there was no mention of it in the paper. Somehow, Chloe got the feeling it would survive a house fire.
Still, her continued freedom didn't change the fact that she still had nothing on Rachel. Chloe could feel her anger bubbling up again. She thought she had a lead, and now she had nothing. That's what I get for following a damn dream! "Dammit!" Chloe threw her fist at a nearby post. There was a flash of light, and the post had been cut in half. In her hand was Rebel Soul.
"What the wow…" Chloe smiled. She quickly devised an experiment where she stuck the weapon into the dirt and took a few steps back, holding out her hand. Sure enough, a flash of light and it teleported right back to her.
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?"
Chloe's smile vanished and she spun to face the voice. Leaning against the shack was a lanky man with green eyes and insanely spiked red hair. His sleeveless jacket reminded her of the one she was wearing in the second stained-glass image. "Who are you!?" she demanded, raising Rebel Soul.
The stranger smirked. "I'm someone who knows a thing or two about that weapon you're pointing at me," he told her, taking a step toward her. "I can even take ya' somewhere to train for it, if you so fancy."
Chloe scoffed, "I'm supposed to believe that? What, ignore the 'free candy' painted on the side of your windowless van as I get in the back?"
The stranger's smirk never faltered. He answered by raising his hand and summoning his own weapon. One that looked a lot like Rebel Soul, except this one had fire instead of an antler.
Chloe kind of felt like she got gypped.
"What you're holding is an ancient and powerful legacy," the man continued. "And I can deliver you straight to bona-fide Masters who can teach you how to use it properly, instead of, well…" He held up his own copy of the morning paper to punctuate his point.
The paper made his point, but also reminded Chloe of why she couldn't leave. As many stray thoughts as she had about abandoning Arcadia Bay, she couldn't leave Rachel behind. Her face set. "And if I say no?"
The stranger's smile finally dropped. "Then I'm afraid I have to stop being friendly. See, the truth is, I can't in good conscious just let ya go. Maybe I would have before last night, but we tend to look down on things like burnin' someone's house down. So you're comin' with me, conscious or not."
"You think I'm afraid of you?" Chloe growled.
"Look, if you don't want to learn how to use that weapon, fine," the man spat. "But I can't leave without at least beating how not to use it into you! So this is your last chance to keep things peaceful, kid!"
"You don't know anything about me if you think I can be peaceful," Chloe smirked. "Come and try me, old man."
The stranger groaned. And then, of all things, he smiled. And laughed. "Haha! You know what? I think I like you. You kinda remind me of me! So tell you what? If we're gunna fight anyway, let's bet on it. If you win, I'll leave and never come back. And you can make allll the horrible life decisions you can think of."
"And if you win?" Chloe asked.
"Then you come along quietly to train, no complainin'," The stranger somewhat predictably suggested.
Chloe narrowed her eyes, but she was dug too deep to back out now. "Fine. Come at me, old man."
The man became a blur, and before Chloe could even register that he moved, the stranger struck her from behind and threw her across the Junkyard. Chloe jumped to her feet and tried to get sight back on the man. She noticed her wasn't even holding his weapon properly but using the closed handguard to spin the damn thing. Show off.
At least it told her she wasn't beating him with swordplay. So she pointed Rebel Soul at the stranger and yelled out, "Fire!"
The fireball flew straight and true toward the stranger's face, until he batted it away with his weapon without a second thought. "Impressive, considerin' how long you've had to learn that. But you aren't hurtin' much more that houses with magic that weak." He raised his weapon straight up into the air, "Thundara!"
Chloe looked up in time to see a yellow bolt strike her with the energy to lift her off the ground. While she was airborne, the stranger's weapon flashed and changed into flaming somethings that he threw at her. They struck before she could hit the ground and exploded her backward into the shack wall, completely knocking the wind out of her.
She managed to get up onto one knee, coughing. "Time out!" she suddenly called. "Did you just turn your sword into a pair of spiked discs that were on fire!?"
"They're called Chakrams, but yeah?" The stranger answered causally.
"Why can't I do that!?" Chloe shouted. She looked down to Rebel Soul in her hand, "are you holding out on me!?"
"Look, can we just call it? How much more do I have to show ya?" The man insisted, exasperated.
Chloe shook her head. He was right, trying to fight him harder might even get her killed. "Fine, okay! You win…"
"Good. Glad we got on the same page," the man shook his head and started walking toward the edge of the Junkyard. "Seriously, though, I don't what the big problem is. You clearly do want to know more about the Keyblade."
Chloe blinked. Then blinked again. "…The what?"
The man stopped mid-stride. "Did I not say the name this whole time?" he asked himself. He held up his weapon, pointing to it with his other hand. "This is called a Keyblade. Yours too. Got it memorized?"
Chloe gave her weapon another once over. Keyblade. "Does that mean… are you the 'key'?"
The man took a step closer to her, "what are you mumbling about?"
"Nothing," Chloe smiled, standing up and feeling better about the whole situation. "So, where are we going anyway?"
The stranger seemed taken aback. "Huh? Just like that? Really?"
"What?" Chloe did her best to look offended. "I did make a deal. No complaining."
"Yeah, but, you can't really tell me you weren't thinking of causing some grief?" The man pointed out.
Chloe crossed her arms, "are you really telling me you're looking gift horse in the mouth?"
The stranger opened his mouth, thought a moment, then smiled. "You got me there. I'll take the easy win, whatever caused it, uhh… we never got around to names, huh?" He held out his hand, "Axel. Got it memorized?"
"Chloe Price," Chloe accepted the handshake. "'Got it memorized?'" she added with a mock voice.
"Alright, smart aleck. Let's go," Axel gestured toward the woods with his head. "It's this way to my, whaddya call it? My windowless van," he chuckled.
Chloe made to follow him, but couldn't help but look back toward the town. "Hey, how far are we going, anyway?"
"You'll see," Axel spoke as he turned, only noticing Chloe's mood after. He added, "far enough away that if you have people to say goodbye to, you probably should."
For a brief moment, Chloe thought of her mother. Then the thought of David got in the way. Besides, what would I even say? Some spikey haired wierdo is going to teach me how to use a magic sword? I'd be in a straitjacket within the hour… She looked to Rebel Soul, this time to the earring hanging off the back of the weapon. "No. There's no one."
Axel nodded slowly. "If you're sure. C'mon."
…
"Is that a spaceship!?"
"Ha! I thought you might like that!"
"Chloe!"
"Oh! Uh, Xion, right? What's going on!? Where's Axel, where's anybody!?"
"I think it's too late."
"Too late for what?"
"I'm sorry, Chloe. Just… stay safe, okay?"
"Stay safe? Xion? Xion!"
Chloe's eyes shot open. The last thing she remembered was Darkness everywhere, the Land of Departure literally cracking beneath her feet. Then blinding light, because it's always blinding light, I swear I'm going to need glasses before I'm twenty, and now she was waking up on some beach somewhere. But where?
She heard someone approaching her, and figured she was about to get an answer. Hopefully it was one she could understand.
"Chloe…? Chloe Price, is that you?"
There was an answer she could understand, for better or worse. Somehow, she was back in Arcadia Bay. And judging by the voice, being approached by the second worse person that could have found her. "Frank?" she turned to her old dealer.
"Holy crap, Chloe Price," Frank laughed. "You're a moron, Y'know?"
"Excuse me?" Chloe scoffed.
"When you left all those months ago, I thought you finally grew some balls," Frank goaded. "But coming back? That's stupid. Don't think I've forgotten what you owe me, Price. I don't know how you bounced before, but trust me, I'll be keeping a very close eye on you this time. Get me my money." With that, Frank walked away.
Chloe's head hit the sand again. "I'm back for two seconds and this town already makes me wanna puke. Doubt Frank will accept little yellow orbs, either… Great…" She finally forced herself to her feet and felt her pocket. Then she started feeling her other pockets in a panic. "Oh, crap, did I leave my Gummiphone in my room? Does my room even exist anymore!?"
She started to hit the armor switch on the back of her hand, but she managed to stop herself. Her eyes panned up to where Frank was still visible in the distance. "Eh, the junkyard's probably empty enough. I'll do it there."
Chloe suited up and tried to head back to the castle, but there was nothing there. She was sure she had the right place, which could only mean the Land of Departure was gone. Not knowing where else to go, she returned to Arcadia Bay.
So, this time I can give you fair warning that the next chapters may take some time, and for good reason! I kinda need to actual watch, or play through myself, Life is Strange for the sake of the next few chapters. Remind myself of details so I can more accuratly represent the world and characters. I may try and have the entire Arcadia Bay arc written and finished before I upload a single chapter, just to make sure I have everything right.
On a happier note, images of Chloe's Keyblade and Keyblader Gear should be up on IG and Tumblr in the near future!