* Tuesday, October 14, 8:15 a.m., After the Storm *

Tapping on glass wakes Max up. A broken branch hangs from the roof, wedged there in the storm. The wind shifts it again, causing another staccato of noise against the glass.

Friggin' sun. Friggin' weather. Friggin' everything.

The warmth of the arms around her try to lull her back to sleep. The heat coming from lips nestled against her neck. A sigh and a nuzzle into her collar bone. The slight sway as the chest behind her fills and empties.

Just don't keep-

The sharp crack, like a distant gunshot, as the glass pane receives another line of breakage causes three of the four girls to sit bolt upright.

Max ends up sprawled on the floor.

Friggin' everything.

'The HELL was that?'

'Vicky, stop yelling.'

'Max, are you okay?'

Blue eyes, blue hair, a barely contained smile among pale features. A dancing smile, moving from lips to eyes and back down.

Waking up isn't too bad. Just abrupt.

'Yeah, I'm f-'

'Shit! Did you bust your nose?'

Max finds a crusted texture just below her nostrils, followed to the right edge of her chin.

'N-no. No, Chlo, I'm fine. It's nothing now.'

'Shit. Shit balls. You had a dream?' Chloe looks to the other two girls, both still in the process of waking. 'Sorry Katie.'

'Sokay.'

A hand pulls Max upright and begins to bring her out of the room. 'Let's get you cleaned up Maximus.'

The same basin as last night refills with warm water. A camping lantern clicks on, casting weird shadows from it's place on the bath edge. Dipping into basin, Max starts cleaning her upper lip, working downward. Chloe stands behind the smaller girl, embracing her from behind, worry painting her features very pale in the artificial light.

'You know I can do this on my own Chlo.'

'I know. It's just... crap. I'm super worried right now and I need to try and help.' The bluenette breaks eye contact in the mirror, looking away. 'Even if I can't.'

'You're helping.'

'How?'

'Keeping me warm.'

A sneaky kiss causes Max to flinch.

'Crap. Cheek still hurt?'

'Yeah.'

'That was really dumb last night. We are going to have a real talk about that soon.'

'...sure.'

The silence is back.

I am getting so tired of living in my head.

Finishing up, and leaving another bloody rag in the sink, the two head down stairs. The smell of something like coffee, though not quite the same, greets them at the bottom landing.

Kate and Victoria loiter around the much cleaner kitchen counter, silent except for the groans of pleasure due to the hot beverages they both sip. The little string peaking from Kate's mug proudly displays 'Earl Grey' while Victoria is spooning in more sugar into her instant coffee-like concoction. The teakettle is already whistling, signaling to Max that this morning is on track to get better.

'So, Max, feeling better?'

'Yeah Katie. I'll talk in a minute. First, tell me the coffee is drinkable.'

Victoria seems to have finally settled on her calories-to-caffeine ratio. 'Enough sugar and it's will do the trick.'

'Sweet.' Why did I just pun?

Two cups later and all four are standing by the kitchen island, basking in the combined steam. 'Max, you good now?'

'Yeah...' Sip. 'Screwed-up dream is all.'

'Like, dream-dream, or vision-dream?'

'A, uh, vision...'

Two pairs of eyes stare at her expectantly. Victoria, for some reason, couldn't look up.

'It's pretty fuzzy. I remember pieces. Not the whole thing, but I do remember a few things. It was still at the lighthouse. And color was all messed up. Red and blue, back and forth. Like I kept changing eyes on one of those old 3-D glasses.'

Chloe steps in. 'You mean what, exactly?'

'Remember how I said everything looked red?'

Kate nods along.

Yeah, she saw the first one.

'It kept alternating between a red and blue tint. Or maybe it was both at the same time.'

Victoria mouths that last to herself. Same time...

'Yeah, I know. Sounds weird. But think of it as... as a double exposure. I could see both versions of the world. When I focused on one, I saw it. But the other remained there.'

I sound flat out crazy.

'I- don't know how to better explain it. It was, like, competing visions.' A look of trepidation stares back from the three girls. Or at least two of them. 'Vicky, what's wrong?'

'I just-' She shakes, starting with her head but rolling down her whole body. 'I just don't know how this sh- stuff can be real. Stopping time, visions of the future. It seems...'

'Like a B-movie plot.'

'Yeah. Made for TV.'

I thought she believed.

'I mean, come on Max. Would you believe me if I said I could control your fate.'

Wait, when did fate enter the equation? 'Vicky, who said I control fate?'

Worry colors Victoria's face. And even some... anger?

'Max, be serious. You get to redo the same thing over and over. You get people to respond exactly how you want. We do exactly what you want. You get infinite tries to set everyone on the path you choose.'

No.

'It's not like that! I'm not-'

A mug is slammed on the kitchen counter. 'Max! It's exactly like that!' A hand is shrugged off her shoulder. 'I will not stop, Kate.' Refocusing on Max, she continues. 'Max, you get to make all the choices around her. We're fucking puppets.'

That's not what I do.

'You're a god.'

That's not who I am.

Chloe tries to rescue Max from the onslaught. 'Chase, dial it back. You know Max isn't like that.' Protectively stepping in front of the brunette. 'You're making Max sound like some sort of monster.'

'I never said monster. I said god. She controls our fates.'

I am not...

'You have already told me how you and Max convinced Frank to give you information, or got into the principal's office. How Max saved Kate...'

'Yeah? We did good. You think Kate not jumping was a bad thing?'

'No. That's not my point. My point is, when having a conversation or needing something or... anything Max is doing, she has no limits. Max doesn't ever have to face consequences.'

A small voice steps forward with it's owner from behind Chloe's back. 'Yes I do.'

She doesn't get it.

'I have to deal with all the world I left behind.'

She only sees me erasing time.

'I may not have the outside repercussions to deal with...'

She doesn't understand I keep that time with me.

'But I have to deal with it all. I remember. The only thing in life we have are memories. That's who we are. You don't have to deal with the dark room, or killing your friends, or that shit-stain touching you. I do. I can't-' Max's hand, of it's own volition, covers her mouth before she can say more.

'What? None of that happened. You got away with so much-'

The ringing intrusion of Kate's hand interrupts the argument.

Fortunately, it's the counter that receives the blow.

'Vicky! Really, you don't understand! You don't get it, for a minute, what Max went through. What she's still going through. Darn it, what do you think this is to her? To us? A game?'

Taking a step back, Victoria sours. 'Kate, you don't get it-'

Again a crack on the counter. 'What I get is that you didn't understand everything that happened last night.' Kate steps around to place an arm around Max, protective. 'Max literally bled to get her. She saw people dying in front of her, people she loves, over and over. She -'

'SHE KILLED COURTNEY!'

The silence rings, the accusation repeating itself.

A moment to calm.

'She killed Courtney. And Warren, Brooke. Daniel. Stella. Four hundred people.' A finger. A cementing of the accusation. 'She killed so many people for her. How is Chloe more important than four hundred and thirty one people. Or a hundred. Or twenty. Or even just one. Who the fuck is Max to decide who lives and dies?'

She rounds on Max.

'Who are you that you get to choose fucking life and death? What gives you the right?'

no one

'You have this power and you just let people die.'

i wasn't given the chance

'You killed all those people. Now what? Anyone who gets in your way, you just arrange things so they're gone?'

i don't want to choose anymore

'Am I going to have an unfortunate accident one day?'

i don't want this responsibility

'Because I am not going to let you do something like that again.' Victoria steps forward, ignoring the cringe flowing from Kate and the fury boiling from Chloe. 'Even if it kills me, I won't let you do something like that again without trying to stop you.'

'i had no choice.'

'Oh, you had a choice! You could have saved all those people!'

'and killed anyway.'

Max finds her reason, here. She finds out why she chose this path. The words of last nights dream ring in her ears, briefly illuminating in their meaning.

And then gone. Except for a spark of that knowledge.

How do I put it into words?

'Victoria. I have this power. I have it, whether it was given to me or I've always had it and it just... awoke. I used it. Unconscious at first, but I used it even when I knew it screwed things up. People got hurt. People died. I did it for one reason.'

'Don't give me that love bullsh-'

'No! I did it to save another life. Chloe. I chose to save Chloe. Do I regret other people died? Of course.' Max turns her head to stare the bluenette in the eyes. Borrowing strength. 'I'm never going to have an easy night's sleep again. I will never be free from a day without the pain of the people I k-killed.'

'You should be locked up for-'

'I didn't just sit there and push a button! I didn't pull a damn trigger! I fought against whatever sent the goddamn Storm! Think it through!' Max takes a step toward her (adversary? enemy? victim?) and tries to push through. 'The Storm was coming to kill the town no matter what. As long as Chloe didn't die in that bathroom the Bay was doomed.'

'Well, yeah. You saved her and stopped the timeline from progressing-'

'No! Before that day. When I saved William. The Storm was still coming. Whales still dying, snow still falling. How could it be some sort of screwed-up butterfly effect if five years of history changed but the future didn't. I changed so much more in the alt reality but things were happening exactly the same way. Jefferson still came here. Nathan still killed Rachel. Kate still got drugged. It wasn't just me stopping that one event that led to the Storm. Something, very specifically, wanted Chloe to die. In that bathroom, at that time. It wanted Nathan to pull that trigger. It wanted... I don't know. I don't know what it wants.' Shit! 'Chloe was dying there too. She died in this world four more times! But it had to be that specifically death that changed everything.'

Reaching into her back pocket, Max pulls out a small square. Without hesitation she reaches past the pixie blonde to slap it on the counter.

'Look at this!'

Two smiling young girls, barely in their teen years, smile toward the photographer. Full of happiness and innocence. Full of joy.

No loss or anger to mar their expression.

'This is the photo I used to travel back five years. I burned it. It should be less than ash now. But that's not the most fucked-up part.'

Deep breath. Exhale. Another breath.

'We found it in my room. My dorm room. When it should have been in the scrapbook upstairs. Or random atoms in the wind. We found it under my bed.'

This is the proof.

'Something doesn't just want Chloe dead last Monday. It's messing with me. It's causing the whirlpool. It brought the fog. It gave me the first vision before I ever used my powers.'

No ringing in this silence.

'Maxaroni. Maybe it's... I don't get it. Are you saying you really believe someone else is behind all this?'

'It has to be. Something- or someone- has been pushing me all along. Why give me the photo? Why give me the first vision, before I ever entered the bathroom? Why still make the Storm in the alt world? There's no cause for that effect.'

'You're right.'

Victoria is no less angry now. No less ready to throw down against a person she knows there is no chance of defeating.

'You are right. There is a lot more going on with all this. Dammit Max. I still don't like you right now. I don't know if I could ever forgive you. And I most certainly won't forget it. But you aren't the only one to blame. Something did this to us. You were just a tool.'

wow. so masterfully rude and condescending at the same time.

'The why the hell are you here, Chase? If you're going to be hella obnoxious about it all. If you don't like us, if you don't think Max is at fault, why be here?'

'I don't really know!' Hands clench. Frustration pushing in to add to the anger and confusion. 'I know now. I can't walk away. I can't close my eyes to this.'

'Do you wish we never told you?'

'Yes? Maybe. It's just... so much complication has entered my life in the last few days. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.'

I can relate.

Max realizes she needs to voice this. 'I can relate. How do you think it felt for me? All of a sudden I went from quiet high school to a Scooby-Do episode written by Tarantino. I still have no real idea what's going on.'

'...that is not giving me confidence.'

'And now you know, Vicky. This isn't a straight point to point mystery. Last week is a snarled up pile of string that only unraveled when Chloe died and I ended up taped to a chair. I don't think I'd ever know it was that... guy unless he actually showed up.'

'And the Storm.'

Yes! 'And the Storm. We couldn't figure out the why until it was too late. And, really, we still don't know all the whys.' And now the Whirlpool.

'And now the Whirlpool.'

She's reading my mind. 'Yeah. And we know it's not my fault.'

'...it could be...' Kate looks sideways at Max, apologetic. 'I mean, it could be more stuff, you know, overflowing from last week.'

'I... I don't think so. I think... last week wrapped itself up. I didn't do anything to time until I proved it to you, Victoria.'

No response.

'So if the Whirlpool was my fault I had to of done something. And I know I didn't do anything. It all started before I started using my powers again.'

Still no response.

'And all that points to is someone else with powers. Powers that are probable just like mine.'

And now...

Still nothing.

'Girls, you have to give me something here.'

A pair of arms snake themselves around Max's torso, clutching across her stomach. There is a tremble to them, the body tense against her back. Chloe whispers in her ear, audible to everyone but barely so.

'Max. That's terrifying.'

What?

The look on the other two faces confirms the sentiment.

'W-what do you mean Chlo?'

Kate answers. 'Max, I- I think you've established how powerful you are.'

I mean, yeah... But I have my limits.

'Imagine you without the restraint.'

...whoa...

'Yeah. Max, you saved me. I'll always trust you. But...'

Yeah, but...

'How do we stop someone like you?'

Shit. Then that girl on the edge with us...

Max feels weakness enter her knees as puzzle pieces start fitting together. 'I know who- no, I don't know who the other time traveler is. I did see them though.'

...

'The FUCK?'

'Victoria...'

'Sorry. But Max, what the... heck do you mean?'

'My vision. I never finished explaining. I saw us at the lighthouse. All of us. The vision changed from step to step, like it wasn't a firm future, or it might have been several parts of the same future. I don't quite remember most of them.'

I do remember...

'There was a moment where you and Kate were trying to get me into the lighthouse. And there was a woman there. Brown hair, a little longer than shoulder length. Tan but still light skinned. A bit shorter than Chloe and not as skinny. I didn't... didn't see her face.'

The shaking in the arms enfolding her doesn't abate.

'You were arguing with her, Victoria, I think. And there was the voice. My future voice.'

'What did it say?'

'That I have to decide? I don't get it, not fully. But the future me said that I was choosing but not deciding.'

Fearful, still angry, but now pensive, Victoria mulls the idea aloud. 'Decide? What's the difference? They're the same thing.'

'Obviously not, or I wouldn't be telling myself they were different. I mean, it could be some subconscious thing but I'm not really sure.'

'You mean, not just little subconscious voices in your head, now one of them is working against you.'

'i really hope not.'

'Hang on, though. What about the girl?'

'I don't know. If there is a second traveler, she probably knows something. Or is the person we're up against.'

Why does it feel like Chloe's trying to shake me apart?

'Chlo, what's wrong?'

Instead of answering, the bluenette retreats. The click of her boots sounds loud as she paces for a moment behind Max before head to the front door. 'I need a smoke.'

Three confused and scared girls stand in the kitchen, trading looks. Picking up her and Chloe's mugs, Max takes them over to the sink and rinses them out. 'I'll get her. Just... get ready to head out.'

The front of the house looks exactly the same, ruined by the small patches of destruction. The wall of fog still stands against the outside world. It's thinner, though, as it's slowly burned off by the sun. At this rate, the fog should be gone in a few hours.

'Chloe, what happened?'

Turning, her cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth. Hands in pockets. Slightly angled towards Max. 'It's just... no one's tried to kill me before.'

A deep pull of her smoke colors her words the same haze as the surrounding backdrop.

'Don't get me wrong, I haven't been a saint. But in the last week three different guys have tried to shoot me. Hell, they all did shoot me. They killed me. If it wasn't for you... blah blah blah. But.'

Another pull.

'Max, people came after you because of me. Nathan, Jeffershit, they attacked you because of what I was doing. You wouldn't have been on that sadists radar if it wasn't for me.'

'Chlo-'

'Meanwhile all the people trying to kill me were doing it because of what I did. Frank shot me because I pulled a gun on him. Nathan because I blackmailed him. That shit because I was so bent on revenge. I'm the reason I keep dying.'

Glassy eyes finally meet Max's. No tears fall, but they want to.

'And now we find out that isn't even the whole story. Sure, I piss people off and I can be hella hard to deal with, but some stranger? Some random bitch wants me dead? No reason why, just that someone broke space and time to try to kill me.'

'Chlo, this isn't the first time I've brought this up.'

'Yeah, but it's the first time I've believed you. Too much of it seems to make sense. And that terrifies me.'

Now the water falls.

'Someone wants to kill me. And I don't even know why. Someone with powers like yours, someone who can cause natural disasters. Someone who didn't just try to get me killed, but tried to have someone murder me.'

The trembling of the taller girl threatens to break her apart. Max embraces her. Grounding her. Forcing the shaking to subside.

'I don't know what to do Max.'

Neither do I. Not yet.

'And that's not the only thing. Your visions. Do you remember anything else?'

'Uh, no? Nothing else.'

'Then I think we have a problem. Because you never said I was there. And if I'm not there, I'm probably dead.'