And this is the one you've ALL been waiting for, well some of you anyways.
First a question, How do you go from reading a letter to landscaping a garden...read on for the answer.
JIVERB
Chloe sat on the edge of her bed, wiping the tears that rolled down her cheeks as she stared at the letter. Even with everything going on, Vanessa had never forgotten her. That realization meant much more to her than she had ever expected it would. Vanessa had been a second mother to her and she missed her greatly. Nearly as much as Max. Knowing that she was… that she would never see her again stung. She swallowed hard, trying to pull herself together. Crying wouldn't solve anything.
Once she had composed herself, she took the necklace from her pocket and looked at the inscription again. She ran the word over and over in her head, trying to make some sense of the alien word. The more she did, the more she was convinced it was a name… who's, she didn't have a clue. But why would Vanessa put this in with the letter? Unless... Chloe's eye went wide with sudden realization. Was this what Max needed, an Auralite crystal?
Placing the necklace back in her pocket, along with the picture of the three babies, she went to leave the room. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly recalled Joyce's story of how she found out about Vanessa. Grinning slightly, she turned around and began rummaging around in her wardrobe for some spare clothes. She didn't think Max would appreciate standing around butt naked with an audience. Rachel might, finding it a hilarious anecdote to regale, but Max… no chance.
Finding a clean pair of Rachel's jeans and flannel shirt, she grabbed the blanket off the bed, bundling everything together and headed downstairs.
"You ok, Chloe?" Kate asked as the young vampire entered the living room, her cheeks still red from crying but wearing a slight smile. Max was curled up on the sofa with Kate, nursing a cup of tea, while Rachel and Joyce were going through the photo album.
Dropping the bundle of clothes next to the sofa, Chloe strode over to Max. Kneeling down beside the sofa, she wrapped her arms around the wolf's neck. Burying her face into Max's neck, she sighed deeply. "Thank you, Max," she whispered. In response, her friend just pressed her head against the punk's in silence.
"Chloe?" Joyce frowned at the sudden and unexpected display of affection. It wasn't like her daughter to be so open and public with her emotions like this.
"I'm ok, mom," Chloe replied, giving her mom a gentle smile. "Oh, by the way, I think you're missing a picture." She removed the picture of the three babies from her pocket, handing it over.
Taking the picture and looking at it, Joyce uttered a gasp as she ran her fingers over the image. "Chloe, where did you get this?"
"Vanessa. She had Max here leave me a letter. Judging by the state of the envelope, it was before they left," Chloe deduced, picturing the aging envelope in her head. To think, such an important letter was right under her nose.
"Is that…?" Rachel started as she peered over to get a good look at the picture, frowning. It couldn't be.
Joyce nodded, smiling at the return of the once lost picture, "That's you, Chloe and Max, a month old in this very house no less. I haven't seen this picture in nearly 10 years."
"Turns out we've known each other all our lives," Chloe announced, gaining some comfort from that fact.
"Not sure it counts if you don't remember it," Rachel added wryly. This was an interesting discovery, for sure.
Chloe simply shrugged. "Don't care. I'll still take it. Which reminds me… Mom, who's Jiverb?"
Joyce frowned at her daughter's question. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. The frown faded, though, as Chloe withdrew the purple tooth shaped crystal from her pocket, holding it up by the string.
"I don't believe... Vanessa, you little liar. You told me you lost it," Joyce chuckled, taking the necklace off Chloe and turning it over in her hand. Her index finger traced over the wording, all eyes on her. "You're half right, Chloe. It is a name. Korean, if I recall correctly. We spent nearly two weeks trying to figure out that acronym. It was Vanessa's 21st birthday present from all of us. It's simply all our initials arranged into a word."
"Is that… what I think it is?" Kate asked, eyeing up the purple stone.
Joyce nodded, already knowing what the young empath was about to suggest. "Yes, Kate. It's an Auralite crystal. I can only assume your mother meant for you to have it, Max. I guess she knew she might not be coming back," she sighed sadly before giving Max a gentle smile. "Always thinking of you. So like her…"
Getting up off the armchair and picking up the bundle of clothes, Joyce shooed the other three girls into the dining room before returning to Max on the sofa. Unraveling the blanket, she placed it over the wolf, setting the other clothes Chloe had got next to her.
Kneeling in front of the wolf, Joyce held up the necklace in front of her. "You ready, Max?" she asked.
Max eyed the necklace for a moment before closing her eyes. Instinctively, she moved her head forward as Joyce placed the necklace around the wolf's neck. Pulling the sheet over Max's head, she stood up and joined the other girls in the dining room to give her some privacy.
As Joyce and the girls waited in the dining room, the older woman noticed Kate looking a little disappointed. "What's wrong, Kate?" she asked softly.
Rachel glanced at Kate with a cheeky grin. "She's disappointed she's gonna lose her new snuggle buddy," she teased playfully, causing the young empath to blush slightly.
"I can't help it. She's like a giant, sweet smelling teddy bear. Just with actual teeth," Kate mumbled as she tried to hide her embarrassment, without much success.
Kate could feel the tension in the room. Joyce was about to see her second daughter for the first time in five years. Chloe was nervous to see her childhood friend after five years. Rachel was about see the girl she had heard so much about from Chloe and Joyce and apparently knew when she was much much younger, babies even. However, it was Max's nerves that stood out above all others. Unsure of herself, as well as not liking... what she was, self-loathing. It was difficult to tell what with Akira's conflicting emotions thrown into the mix, not that it would matter soon. She would be able to ask Max herself.
After a few minutes of shuffling under the blanket, a head of long blond hair. A pair of deep brown nervous eyes poked up from behind the sofa, the girl they belonged to anxiously biting her lip.
"Hi," Max whispered nervously.
Kate's expression was confused. The girl looking at her wasn't who she expected, but instead, the blonde girl that entered the classroom yesterday afternoon. Chloe was trying to put the face she remembered from five years ago to the girl looking at her now. Rachel just gave a warm smile. She half expected this. Max wasn't exactly brimming with confidence.
Max's gaze fell on Joyce, who was scowling at the young girl. Her scrutiny caused Max to duck down slightly behind the sofa. Sensing the sudden increase in nervousness, Kate glanced at Joyce feeling some annoyance from the older woman, as well as the frustration coming from Akira towards Max.
"Joyce?" Kate asked curiously.
"Don't you even try hiding from me, young lady," Joyce spoke as though telling off a child, taking a step towards Max. "I want to see my other daughter, not some illusion. You don't need to hide in this house, Max."
Max lowered her head in defeat, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. A light shimmer flickered over the girl as the blonde hair receded turning a brunette color. Two pointed black ears poked through, laid slightly back. Light brown freckles peppered the young girl's face across her nose to her cheeks, fading as they disappeared down her neck. Her eyes flickered open, revealing a pair of deep blue eyes with a light emerald green encircling the irises.
"There's my daughter," Joyce proclaimed with a smile as she took another step forward, holding her arms out to the young girl.
Max's ears pricked up, a watery grin appeared on her lips as she sprung over the back of the sofa into the older woman's arms. Her two black bushy tails followed effortlessly behind her, her blue orb clinging one of them like a magnet.
"I've missed you so much," Joyce cried as the young brunette sobbed into her chest.
Chloe stood stunned, staring at the new girl in front of her. If she ignored the rather cute ears and tails, it was Max, right down to the freckles. She just looked a little taller, not much mind. She was still shorter than the vampire, but then most girls were. There was no denying the pull that was there, this was Max no question about it. Chloe closed the gap between herself, her mother and Max, joining the two in their emotional embrace.
"I'm so sorry, Chloe," Max blubbed as she turned her head to face her blue-haired friend, wrapping one of her arms around her.
"I've already told you, I don't blame you… or Vanessa," Chloe sighed as she fought back her own tears.
Max's ears folded back into her hair as she shook her head. "I mean, last night... if I had done something sooner."
Sensing the guilt, Kate stepped forwards, placing a reassuring hand on the Ahri's shoulder. "Max, it wasn't your fault."
Shaking her head solemnly, Max corrected her. "Yes, it was. I could have prevented it. I could have…"
Before she could launch into a huge monolog of blame, Chloe took her head in her hands, forcing Max to look directly into her eyes. "Max, it wasn't your fault. Besides this way I can keep up with you now."
Not seeming convinced, Max let out a deep sigh. "It just seems that everywhere I go, people get hurt or killed. I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of me."
Chloe allowed herself a slight smile as she let Max's face go. "Technically, I got myself hurt. You can't take all the credit."
"I suppose that's partially true," Max muttered, suddenly frowning as she remembered something, a flicker of annoyance washing over.
Kate, sensing this, sneakily backed off and made her way to Rachel's side with Joyce raising an eyebrow. Without warning, Max took a step back from Joyce and flicked her orb. The orb itself turned a solid black as it hit Chloe square in the shoulder, knocking her over and backward a couple of feet.
"OW, Max what the hell?!" Chloe demanded angrily, gritting her teeth and feeling her newly elongated fangs pierce skin.
"Willing to let yourself die… was it really that bad, Chloe? You have your whole life ahead of you. Friends that care about you. A mother that would do anything for you." Max sounded hurt and disappointed, although there was a significant flicker of anger in her voice too.
"Is this true, Chloe? You wanted to die?" Joyce shot Rachel an accusing glare for a moment before turning back to her daughter.
Seeing Joyce scowl, Rachel took a step backwards with Kate, who was still hiding behind her looking nervously at Max. She was pissed, there was no other word for it. Backing off slowly, Chloe's eyes were locked onto the young brunette's. The emerald green around her eyes was much more prominent than it was a few moments ago. She had never seen Max this pissed at her before. Before she realized it, they were outside in the garden.
Max leveled her with a stare, determined to get to the bottom of this, to understand. "Tell me, Chloe, why did you feel that was your only way out?"
"Max, you don't understand." Chloe realized too late that that was the start of the wrong answer as Max's black orb slammed into her shoulder, again knocking her on her ass.
"Max," Joyce pleaded sympathetically.
"I won't break her, Joyce, but I wanna know why," Max said firmly, a mix of anger and sadness on her voice.
"Pfft, as if you could." The words left Chloe's mouth before she could stop them. "Wait, I didn't mean... shit." She just managed to dive out the way as Max's football sized black orb slammed into the ground beside her, sending dirt and grass flying in all directions. As the dust settled, the young vampire's eyes bulged at the three-foot crater left behind. Swallowing hard, she nervously looked back at Max.
Max was stood but a few feet from Chloe, her orb a solid black resting on her tail. "Next time I won't miss. Now tell me why you thought your life wasn't worth living? Did you ever stop to think how I felt? I've been with you and William since FOREVER, and then I have it all ripped away with no explanation. Did you even think how Joyce would feel if you died, or Rachel, or Kate... or me? So why, Chloe?" By this point, Max was beside herself, tears following like waterfalls. She had to choke out the last few words, struggling to make coherent sentences.
Joyce stood in the doorway, awaiting her daughter's answer. She didn't have anything else to add. What else was there to add? In that short outburst, Max had already asked every question she herself could think of.
"I didn't have you." Chloe slumped her shoulders, hanging her head in admission as tears ran down her cheeks. "I didn't have you, ok."
Max stood frozen to the spot, her orb slowly returning to its neutral blue color as she took in her friend's words. Kate was a little taken aback by Chloe's admission. Sure, she knew Chloe cared for Max, but the way she just admitted it put it in a whole new meaning. She was leaving herself very vulnerable right now and it scared her. Max, on the other hand, slowly regained some control over her emotions. Chloe's admission had all but extinguished her anger. That feeling of control gave way to uncertainty and questions, so many questions.
Chloe stood there, just waiting for a reaction. Something… anything to end this unbearable silence. She couldn't take much more. Just what was Max thinking right now. Before, when the were kids, Chloe could read her so easily. Now was different. She had no idea what was going through her friend's mind. Had she gone too far? Said things she wasn't supposed to? She didn't regret it, but…
Just as that doubt was about to swallow her up, Max took a step forward and pulled her into a fierce hug. For some time, the bluenette stood there as she clung on tight. Finally remembering she had arms, she wrapped them around the smaller girl. It felt familiar, safe and… right. Like this was where she belonged. From the way Max was clinging onto her, so tightly like she would never let go, she could only assume she felt the same. That realization brought about a whole new set of tears. Max's hug was nearly crushing, but she didn't care. Anything to validate that this was really real, not just a figment of her imagination. The girl she had been searching for all those years was finally back.
As for Max, she couldn't think of anything other than how much she had needed Chloe. The way she felt now proved that much. Like she was home.
"Don't mean to interrupt, but…" Rachel began, reminding them that other people were here… just in case.
Finally remembering they had company, the two girls broke apart, looking a little awkward. Max cleared her throat, cheeks a light shade of pink. "W-well, um…"
"Shall we head back inside?" Chloe asked hesitantly, saving her friend the trouble of trying to come up with an understandable sentence.
"R-right, yeah. Good plan." Max agreed, stuttering slightly. She ignored the very obvious smirk from Rachel, walking past her as quickly as possible.
Entering the dining room through the sliding doors, Max looked at Joyce guiltily. "Sorry about your lawn."
Joyce cocked her head as she looked at the new hole in her garden, smiling to herself. "I always wanted a pond."
"I can always make it bigger if you like," Max offered half-jokingly.
Joyce allowed herself a smile. "Maybe later. It's a bit late for excavations, I think."
In the living room, the four girls bunched up on the sofa, with Kate taking her usual spot beside Max claiming one of the brunette's tails, running her fingers through the thick black fur. Chloe took the other side of Max with Rachel balancing on the arm, leaning on the young vampire.
"Looks like you've got a cling on there, Max," Chloe poked playfully.
Kate blushed slightly as she shrugged, "Have you felt how soft her fur is?"
"I've felt how hard she hits," Chloe commented rubbing her shoulder.
Max gave a small chuckle. "Sorry, Chloe. Rachel was right, I was going easy on you," she said offering a sympathetic smile.
"Remind me not to piss you off... again," Chloe muttered under her breath.
"Max," Joyce spoke slowly as she took her seat in the armchair, offering the young Ahri a sympathetic smile. "I know this is going to be painful, but..."
Max let out a gentle sigh. She had known this conversation was coming. Didn't make it any easier to talk about, though, but Joyce of all people deserved to know. She was, after all, her mother's best friend. "You want to know what happened to Vanessa and Ryan, right?"
Joyce gave a small nod. Max took another breath and braced herself as she began to tell her side of the story.
Max is back :D, Human Max that is
Let us know what you think so far, anyone figured out the stories influence,
Things get interesting from here on in, Next one's a heartbreaker (Or I'm just a soft sap) Either way hope your enjoying it so far.
See you on Saturday
Peace out