Chapter 05: The Truth Beneath the Rose

Standing statue-still, the comforting numbness faded from Max, eaten away by a profound regret. She knelt down on the grass, no longer having the strength to stand. "Chloe…"

The back of her hand swept across her eyes, pulling free the tears that threatened to fall. "You're a fucking hero. Did anyone ever tell you that?" Max stared up, blinking rapidly, but it was futile to hold back the flood. "Arcadia Bay and everyone in it. You saved them all. You gave up everything for this shithole that never gave a damn about you."

Max glanced over at the polished stone, feeling a powerful urge to destroy it—to pulverize it to dust. "You deserve better," she said, reaching out and touching the smooth, cold gravestone. "Arcadia Bay should've made you a goddamn monument."

She hung her head, letting her tears flow down her cheeks. "Why!" She screamed at her. "Why did you have to ask me to sacrifice you!" Choking on her sobs, Max struggled to breathe. "We could've just… We could've found a way to move on, but I can't live without you."

Take her back.

Max's hands clenched tightly enough for her nails to dig painfully into her palms. "You stay the fuck out of this!" she screamed at the voice. "Not here! Not in front of her!"

This is cruel fate's victory.

An image flashed through her mind. Chloe turning around and raising David's gun, only for Jefferson's gunshot to rip through her skull, leaving her lifeless corpse on top of Rachel.

Use your spark.

That familiar pressure formed in her head as time spun backwards.

Take her back.

Max raised her camera, taking Chloe's picture as she danced on her bed with reckless abandon.

Conquer hungry fate.

The howling returned, with the tornado crashing through Arcadia Bay, lifting whole buildings into the air and shattering them into countless pieces.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Max covered her ears with her hands. "Just leave me alone!"

No.

Time is short.

There is work to be done.

You must unseat mighty fate.

"I can't!" Max snapped back, stumbling to her feet as she tried her damnedest to shake the voices from my head. "Everyone will die!"

She is already dead.

Chloe lay before her on the bathroom floor, blood pooling beneath her.

The power is within you.

Reality bent and distorted as the contents of a photo became real.

Do not let clever fate outwit you.

Jefferson stood over her as all of her strength faded.

She is worth it.

Chloe flashed her that breathtaking smile as they leaned against the edge of Blackwell's pool together.

Max gasped for air as she stumbled away. Her grasp on the present floundered as her memories assaulted all of her senses. A glance up, and she saw Frank approaching in the distance with Pompidou. She reached out, intending to shout for him to help, but the present flowed away again.

Your strength is greater than merciless fate.

Everything became still, just like a photograph. Everything but Max.

She is waiting for you.

She saw Chloe leaning against her junker puffing on a cigarette. The moment she saw Max, her whole face lit up.

Defeat bloodthirsty fate, for all the fallen.

A series of memories flashed by. William walking out the door to his imminent demise. Max being ushered by her mom into the packed car just before they left Arcadia Bay for the final time. The smell and awful sight of Rachel in her shallow grave. Chloe's anguished cries.

You can still change the outcome.

The image of the blue butterfly inside a Polaroid shimmered before her, begging for her to jump into the past.

"I don't even have the photo anymore!" Max screamed. Her voice fell into nothing.

The present didn't return. Max found herself alone. Alone in an endless, black void. Everywhere she looked, nothing. The only sounds to reach her ears were her own tumultuous heartbeat and her unsteady breaths. She felt so small, and so very, very alone in an infinite nothing.

"It is a rare soul," the sound of Max's own voice greeted her. Although it was her voice, it sounded so… calm. Serene and confident. Nothing like Max at all. Before her, that ghostly doe appeared. It gazed at Max, and she heard her own voice, "Usually, when one is in the unending abyss, they think themselves the universe itself. All that exists."

"You're… me?" Max managed to ask.

"No. I am your spirit animal," the doe replied in Max's voice. "I am here to guide you to the truth."

"What truth?"

"Your truth."

The deer faded away. It took a second for it to register that she was all alone again. "Wait!" Max shouted at nothing. "Aren't you supposed to guide me somewhere?" No answer came, and she wrapped her arms around herself. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Go to her." Before Max, light shone through the darkness. A flickering like an old home movie reel projected before her. It showed her riding shotgun in Chloe's truck, smiling and talking to her. She could almost hear the conversation.

"I… I can't!" The images faded, descending back into the nothing. Her words hung in the air. Unanswered. Max drew a heavy breath in and out as it started to dawn on her. "My truth…" Nodding she spoke again, "Okay, was there a way for me to prevent the storm from appearing?"

"Yes." This time, the darkness opened to show a still image: Chloe's grave.

Max turned away. "I meant… was there a way without…?"

The blackness returned. "Fate chose her. To strip her bare and consume her. So long as fate is denied, it will lash out with all its might."

Again she stood at the lighthouse, bearing witness to the tornado leveling Arcadia Bay.

"Why!"

"I know not."

A stark realization washed over Max as she watched the violent whirlwind fade, consumed by the darkness. Looking down at her right hand, Max flexed and relaxed her fingers. "I… didn't create the tornado with my powers?"

"Every decision is made. Going back and choosing a different one ultimately changes nothing. That decision was already made and not made. But, a decision was made—one that could not have possibly been made." The abyss opened, showing Max herself as she bent time backwards for the first time, stopping Chloe's death.

"So… it was me?" Max screwed her eyes shut, trying to block out the memories.

"Fate chose her, and you defied fate. The storm was not the result of your power, but fate's will manifest."

Max shook her head. "I don't understand!" Her spirit animal remained silent. "Talk to me!" Nothing. Max panted, not realizing how hard her heart pounded in her chest until this moment. A deep breath in and out, she tried to calm herself, but she couldn't. Max balled her hands into fists and stomped a foot on the endless nothing. "Why don't you talk to me!"

"I have not come here to talk to you."

Hearing her own voice again helped to quell her fears. Her spirit animal hadn't abandoned her. "Right. Guide me to the truth. What, that means I have to ask questions?"

"Yes."

Now she was getting somewhere. "Okay. So why did fate try to destroy Arcadia Bay? Chloe and I were safe!"

"Fate tried to take her." Images flew by, one after another. Nathan shooting Chloe. Chloe accidentally shooting herself. The train bearing down on Chloe. Jefferson shooting Chloe. Chloe trapped on the beach as the storm rapidly approached.

"Fate could not overcome your power, so it tried to manipulate you directly." Images of Jefferson and the Dark Room flitted by.

"It could not even tempt you away." The Everyday Heroes showcase appeared, with everyone surrounding Max and giving her praise.

"You would not be deterred, and you would not allow fate its prize. Your discretions, however, showed fate that you could be swayed. The omnipotent power of fate could not sever her life before your ability, but all it took for you to let her go, was a request from that very girl." Max watched as she rose from her chair at Chloe's bedside and turned the IV up to the max.

A chill ran through Max and a ball of disgust formed in her gut, nearly making her puke. "It was a bluff? And… and I fell for it? It was a trick to make Chloe feel like she needed to sacrifice herself!"

"Fate does not bluff. Had you refused Chloe…" This time, there was no tornado. Nor was there an Arcadia Bay. Just a view from the lighthouse of what used to be a town, but was now just a shore swept bare.

Max sunk to her knees, then fell back on her ass. For a moment, a glorious, fleeting moment, there was a mote of hope that she really could just snap back and save Chloe. But, if what everything that was shown to her was true, then… "So that's my truth? It… doesn't matter? Chloe really did die to save Arcadia Bay. If she lives… everyone dies."

"You forget your power, child." The nothing changed again, showing Max as she stumbled toward the dorms in a time-frozen courtyard.

"It's not… Even if I had that much control, I could never get everyone out safely. Besides, I can't change what I did. It already happened for me. I stay with Chloe at the lighthouse and everyone dies!" After her tirade, only silence met her.

I didn't ask a fucking question.

Alone in the dark, Max asked a question she feared the answer to. "Was that… my truth? I couldn't save her?"

"It was not."

She breathed out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. That would explain why she was still trapped in the dark oblivion. Closing her eyes, Max tried to find a line of thought that would get her somewhere. Here she was, communing with her spirit animal. She could probably discover the secrets of the universe, if she asked the right questions.

"My… power. Why do I have this power?"

"I know not."

"Okay. How did I get it?"

"I… know not."

Well, this is going nowhere fast.

"How about fate, then? Why does it want Chloe…?"

"I know not."

"What if I refused Chloe? If Arcadia Bay is destroyed, will fate still try to kill her?"

"I know not."

Slumping down, her hands met an invisible barrier in the darkness. Beneath her fingers it was perfectly smooth like glass, but felt neither warm or cold. She could only assume it was the "ground", whatever that was in this empty nothing. Just asking questions obviously wasn't working. She needed to find her truth, but what was that supposed to even mean?

"What is my truth?"

"You must discover your truth to determine your destiny."

"That… doesn't help." Of course, her words fell into the empty abyss. Would she be trapped in here forever if she didn't ask the right question? In the real world, her body was probably sprawled out over Chloe's grave. Her stomach churned, as her brain showed her Chloe's corpse falling into Rachel's grave.

"What is my destiny?" she asked the first thing that came to mind, trying to outrun her own thoughts.

"You are the master of your destiny. It is for you to decide."

"Give me a break. I'm barely a C average student. Can I get a hint?"

"What does your heart desire?"

"Chloe!" Max answered, far too quickly. Of course, no reply came. "Is it possible for me to see her again—without the storm coming?"

"No."

"Shit." Max closed her eyes. Or at least she thought she did. It was hard to tell in this nothing. "Is it possible for everyone to live? Chloe, Arcadia Bay, everyone?"

"All living things must die."

"I mean… Is it possible to save everyone from the storm?"

"It is possible."

Her heart clenched tight in her chest. "How!"

"It already happened." The black nothing opened to reveal Chloe's grave.

"What? But I…" Max leaned back so she could press her hands against her eyes. This was so infuriating! "I meant, is it possible for Chloe to live and everyone to survive the storm?"

At first, no reply came. Then, Max's voice sounded again, "I know not."

Max let out a frustrated scream. "All I want is Chloe! I want Chole and I want everyone to be okay! Is that too much to ask for?"

"With your strength, there is never too much to ask for."

"Then that's what I want!" Silence greeted her. "How do I get that?"

"There is only one way to overturn Chloe's demise."

All around her, Polaroids appeared. They circled her, floating by in ribbons. After several seconds, they stopped. The one directly in front of Max was a familiar selfie. She was dressed in Amber's clothes, taking her own picture in the mirror. Reaching out with an unsteady hand, she grabbed the photo. But her hand passed right through the image. It shimmered and vanished. The rest of the Polaroids also faded away, swallowed by the dark nothing.

It dawned on Max that she was going in circles. "I already told you. Even if I could figure out a way to convince Chloe to not sacrifice herself—before I even reunited with her no less—then when I return to the present, Arcadia Bay will be… gone. How does that help?"

"Then do not return."

Max's brow furrowed as she contemplated the words. She shook her head. "My powers don't work that way. I can only spend a few minutes in the past." Silence. "You know what, fuck this stupid ask questions game of yours! Tell me how to get Chloe back! That's what I want! That's my truth!"

"If your power is not enough, borrow some from those who wish to see you succeed."

All at once, the darkness around Max fell away, replaced by an all-too-familiar stinging rain and a haunting roar of wind. The present eluded her as she found herself again tormented by the storm. Then, pain. Searing, unbearable pain tore through Max. She tried to call out, but could only manage a throaty groan.

"Max! Oh, God, Max!"

Opening her eyes, she found Chloe's face above her. Worry and panic occupied every inch of her perfect features, and the rain slicked those wonderful blue locks against her face. God was she beautiful.

"Jesus, fuck! Your arm!"

Max reached up, her arm protesting the movement every inch of the way. It felt heavier than the whole rest of her body. Her fingers caressed Chloe's cheek. It felt so warm. As much as she wanted to stay just like that, forever, the weight of her arm became too much, and it slipped away, leaving a crimson trail along Chloe's face.

Having run out of strength, Max's head fell to the side. There she saw it. Just off from the Arcadia Bay docks. The tornado. It was coming right for her. Right for Chloe.