The wind swirled through her head, gnawing at the edges of her sanity. She stood by the lighthouse overlooking the bay, watching as the storm barreled toward the town. Her stomach knotted, flaring out a dark, dull pain through her abdomen. The electricity in the air tugged at her hair, pulling it toward the black sky. Whimpering and daring not look away, she felt beside her. A hand eased itself around hers, gripping protectively.
"Max, I'll always be with you..." The grip slowly tightened into a vice, crushing her knuckles together uncomfortably. Wincing, she tried to jerk her hand free, spinning to the side in panic. "In our Dark Room," Jefferson said with a serene, lifeless smile.
"No!" Max shrieked as she sat up, flinging the covers off of her. Her body heaved with sickness as she breathed heavily, her eyes scanning the room around her. Suddenly, her room lit up, followed by a loud crack of thunder. Her heart fell through her stomach. "Oh god, oh no, fuck. Fuck!" She leaped from her bed and to the window. She tore on the drawstring, ripping the blinds to the top of the glass, revealing a vicious storm. She clapped a hand to her mouth as she sobbed.
This can't be happening! This cannot be fucking happening!
Shaking, she grabbed her phone and dialed Chloe's number. With each passing second of unanswered ringing, her chest grew heavier, the world around her growing blurrier and further away.
"Max?" Chloe finally answered, her voice sleepy but concerned. "It's like two in the morning, what are you doing up?"
"Are you okay?" She cried, watching as the poster on the wall melted into colors with no shape. "It came back, Chloe! It's fucking back! Please, tell me you're okay!" There was a stunned silence that seemed to drag forever.
"Max..." Her voice was more alert, but low. "It's just a regular thunderstorm. They've been calling for it for days. It's just a normal storm..." Max shook her head, her lips bundling up as she cried.
"No, Chloe! I had a dream! It's real, it's back! It came back for me!" Her toes spread out slightly, digging into the carpet beneath her feet.
"I'm coming," Chloe said. Max could hear her shuffling through her room.
"You can't! It's too dangerous!" She hugged herself with one arm tightly as she sobbed.
"Baby, please, listen to me..." Her voice was so tender and pleading. "I'm coming to you, okay? I'll be there in a little, just hang tight. Can you go to Warren's until I get there? I don't want you to be alone." Max cringed as her room lit up again, her fist binding so tightly that her nails broke skin.
"It's back, Chloe," she repeated, her voice merely a whisper.
"Go to Warren's, please. I'm begging you." Max heard drawers opening and slamming shut. She closed her eyes as she chewed on her lower lip. "Max, are you there?"
"Please be careful," she said, turning toward her door.
"I will, I promise." Max walked toward her door, each step feeling like her bones were made of gelatin. All she could hear besides Chloe were steel raindrops. "Max?" Chloe said.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Having little control of her nerves, her knocks on Warren's door ranged between slams and light tapping. She glanced about wildly as she clawed into her ribcage, feeling for something she could hold onto for support. After a dreadfully long moment, the door swung open.
"Whazzit who?" Warren asked, half asleep. The lack of lighting obscured the dire look on Max's face.
"Warren..." Her voice cracked. "Can I please come in? I think I'm going crazy." She imagined the Other Max from her Nightmare dancing and holding her arms out, twitching her wrists in a putrid attempt at jazz hands.
"Aaaaand Bingo was his name-o!" She could hear her saying.
"Uh...yeah, for sure, come in." He shuffled to side and allowed her entrance. He closed the door and turned on the light, recoiling in horror as he saw her. "Holy shit, Max, are you okay? What happened?" He grabbed her shoulders tightly, causing her to wince, and examined her face.
"The storm..." She said quietly. "It was supposed to happen? The weather people talked about it?" He furrowed his brow in confusion and shook his head.
"What are you talking about? Max, you're covered in blood!" Her eyes sparked wide as she reached a finger to her nose. As she felt the viscous liquid on her face, the rest of her senses zoomed back to her. She was suddenly very aware of the metallic taste in her mouth.
"God dammit," she hissed, pressing her palm to her lips and closing her eyes.
Of course. I'm just fucking losing it.
"Will you please tell me what happened?" Warren asked. He exhaled as realization dawned on him. "Jesus, is this a time thing?"
"Yep," she said bitterly, shaking her head in disgust. "Just losing my mind, no big deal." Her eyes trailed to the floor as she shrunk in embarrassment. "I'm sorry I woke you up. Chloe told me to come here. She's on her way over."
"Dude, what? Don't even worry. I just...is there like, anything I can do for you?" He snagged a box of tissues from his dresser and handed it to her. "What happened?"
"I just had a nightmare," she said, dabbing her face. "About the timestorm. It was..." She shivered. "Not cool."
Fucking Jefferson. Why did it have to be him?
"And just that's enough to make your nose bleed?" He guided her to his couch and sat down with her.
"It doesn't take much." She felt beneath her chin, her fingers prodding along sticky, drying blood. "I thought the storm was back." He sighed as he rubbed her back.
"Well, I mean, it's kind of understandable that storms could cause anxiety, and that's a big thing with dreams...you probably subconsciously heard the weather and just filled in the gaps. Like when you hear a song in a dream that's actually playing in real life." He thought for a moment. "The storm we're having right now has been in the forecast for days. It's only going to last a couple hours."
"Okay," she conceded, peeling the tissue away from her face. "Just a normal storm."
"Right." He nodded. "Max..." He shook his head with worry. "This is really serious. That's a lot of blood. We've gotta figure out how to stop it."
"How?" She asked, holding her hands in front of her. "There's not a lot of time traveler news in the medical journal."
"Well, you're not wrong." He took the tissue from her, crinkling his nose as the blood touched his hand. "But there's gotta be something we can do to fix this." She spread her fingers, grinding her teeth in disgust as the stickiness offered resistance.
"I don't know, Warren. It's not like I can find whoever...whatever gave me these powers and tell them to knock it off." She plucked another tissue from the box and wiped her chin.
"But this sucks," he frowned.
"You think?" She asked, turning to him with a knowing look. "I wasn't sure but now that you've put it out there, I think you might be right." He chuckled quietly.
"I deserved that." A roar of thunder shook the room, causing Max to press into him as she shuddered.
"Just a normal storm," she repeated to herself.
There was a single, sharp knock at the door.
"Warren? Max? You guys in there?"
"Yeah," he said. "Come in."
Chloe burst through the door, soaked to the bone, and rushed over to Max. She knelt down in front of the girl, taking both of her hands.
"Are you okay?" She asked, clutching both of the brunette's hands together and kissing them. Max nodded slowly, then shook her head, sliding off of the couch and into Chloe's arms.
"I'm so broken," she whimpered, pressing into the punk's wet clothes.
"And I'm your glue, remember? It's okay. Everything's fine." She gently rubbed her back, rocking back and forth. Chloe regarded Warren and nodded. "Hey, dude."
"Hi," he responded with a grim expression. "She uh, had a nightmare." He looked down to the pile of bundled up, bloody tissues in his lap. "Are all of your nosebleeds this bad?"
"It depends." Max was holding on to Chloe's shirt so tightly that her knuckles burned. "Sometimes it's like nothing, but sometimes it's just...way, way worse."
"Do you think there's a reason for that?" He asked.
"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore." She could feel the tears on her cheeks.
"Well, at least we have some common ground there," Chloe lightly laughed, stroking Max's hair. "Who has any idea what's going on?"
"I sure as fuck don't," Warren said with a smile.
"I thought it was back," Max whispered to Chloe. The punk sighed and pressed their foreheads together.
"It's not back. It's never coming back. It had its chance and we beat it, fair and square." She pointed to the window. "That's just normal, dumb rain. No tornado or flying debris or witches on broomsticks. Just average, boring rain."
"And boring is good!" Warren offered with his thumbs up. "We like boring."
"I like boring," Max agreed, her voice small.
"Trust me, cutie, I'm all the excitement you'll ever need." Chloe nibbled at the top of Max's ear, causing the girl to instinctively giggle.
You're all the excitement I'll ever want.
After a few more moments, Max's breathing finally evened out and she released her death grip on Chloe. The punk continued to cradle her, though she looked at Warren with a small smile.
"So, uh, what've you been up to?"
"Ooooh, you know, little bit of this, little bit of that." Chloe quickly nodded at the brunette, glancing back and forth between her and Warren. "I, uh...got this rare mount in World of Warcraft today."
"Oh, really?" Chloe asked with grandiose interest. "What is it?" Her grin grew wider as Max twitched in her arms.
What the fuck are they talking about?
"Oh, you know, it's this fucking badass phoenix is all! Took me like six months to get." He smiled too, his eyes darting to Max and back at Chloe.
"So badass! Wow!" She hopped in place, jostling the brunette with her. "That's super cool, man. I bet you can kill a million goblins or orcs."
"Actually, I'm Horde, those guys are on my side, but gnomes on the other hand..."
"What the fuck, guys!?" Max finally shouted, pulling away from Chloe and looking at her grumpily. "Why are you talking about WoW?"
"To distract you, ya little dork," Chloe beamed, ruffling her hair. Max reeled in her anger and blinked confusedly. She looked at Warren as the blue haired girl kissed her temple.
"Oh," she said flatly. She held up her hands and noticed the shaking had stopped. She burst into laughter, lightly slapping Chloe on the cheek. "You guys are dumb."
"It worked though," Warren said, winking at Chloe.
"It worked," Max admitted. She narrowed her eyes at Warren. "Did you really get the Ashes of Al'ar?"
"Swear to god!" He held his right hand up. "I really did." Max pursed her lips in thought, giving a loud, inquisitive 'hmmmm.'
"You want to see it, don't you?" Chloe asked, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, please," she mumbled quietly, batting her lashes.
"Okay, I'll log in," Warren laughed.
The two girls huddled around Warren as he sat at his desk and brought up the game. Chloe kept a watchful eye on Max, though now the brunette was completely focused on the screen.
"Of course you play a hunter," Max snarked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, fuck you," he chuckled. He clicked through a few buttons and poof, his character was riding a flaming bird.
"Woooooah." Max reached for the screen. "I'd heard the legends."
"Pretty cool, right?" He held out a hand and she high-fived it, though she noticed him frown at her bloody palm. Chloe groaned in jest.
"You guys are ridiculous." She draped an arm across Max's shoulders. "Sweetie, you ready to go?" Max recoiled in surprise, a toothy smile filling out her face.
"You sound like a waitress," she chided, poking Chloe's ribs.
I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN.
"That was super waitress-y," Warren droned, still maneuvering his character on screen. Chloe stared at her with a crinkled brow.
"You'll regret that, brat." She leveled an index finger at her. "I will make you pay." Max bent down and kissed her outstretched finger.
"Can't wait," she said with a smirk. She glanced through the window then sighed. "Yeah, I'm ready to try and get some sleep."
"Sounds like a plan. Thanks for being here, Warren." Chloe slapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Uh huh," he said quietly, completely enraptured in the game.
Aaaand we've lost him.
Chloe looped her and Max's arms together as they made for the door. She turned around as she opened it.
"Hey, Warren?"
"Yo," he answered on autopilot, feverishly clicking.
"I like your boxers, dude." The clicking ceased as the boy looked down at his lap. He shrieked and crossed his legs, forcefully pushing his palms over his crotch. The punk cackled as the two girls stepped into the hall.
"You know, I wasn't going to say anything," Max whispered to her.
Max was smiling as they walked down the hall arm in arm.
Chloe and Warren to the rescue! That...actually wasn't so bad.
A thunderous bang rumbled the building, immediately spiking Max's breathing and anxiety. She stopped in her tracks, beginning to tremble. Her nerve began to leave.
Fucking storm.
"Max?" Chloe wrapped her in a hug. "Baby, it's just thunder. You know, god bowling or...whatever they used to tell us." She sighed as she rested her head on Max's shoulder.
"I'm just going to freak out any time there's a storm?" Her tone was so defeated.
"No," Chloe said with conviction, perking up, continuing to pull Max along. "Just have to figure out how to..." She stopped as they entered the stairwell. She bit her lip as she looked down the flight of steps, working it nervously in thought. "Max, I have a stupid and possibly reckless idea, as usual. Will you indulge?" The brunette couldn't help but snicker at her honesty.
"Sure," she said. "Why not?"
Anything for a distraction.
"Sweeeet." She smiled and gave Max's hand a tug. "Allons-y." She began climbing the stairs heading up.
"You and fucking French," Max laughed, already feeling comfort at the blue haired girl's touch.
"Someday," the punk grunted as she climbed the steps, "we're going to go to Paris and you'll be so happy I can speak like eleven words of French." She flashed a smile over her shoulder.
"Where are we going?"
"Mmn, it's a surprise? A bad one, but hear me out..." They continued up the stairs until they reached the door to the roof. Max moved herself in front of Chloe with a stern look on her face.
"No way," she said. "I'm not going out onto the roof in a thunderstorm. For like...a million reasons."
"Overwrite saved data," Chloe said as she ran a hand through the girl's hair. "We're going to win back your tolerance of poor weather just like we did photography." Max's expression softened as she looked to the floor. "I know you're nervous." Chloe brought her arms around her. "But I'm with you." She slipped an arm from the brunette's shoulder, clutched the door handle and twisted, opening themselves to the storm.
Kate never came up here...they never thought to lock the door. Wonderful.
"Chloe, I'm not sure about this..." She took a few steps backwards, shaking her head. The punk found the girl's hand and laced their fingers together.
"I'm with you," she repeated. "Come on, baby, you can do this." She stepped out and was immediately engulfed by the rain, her outstretched arm connected to the dry Max. "Feels hella nice," she shouted with a smile, stomping her feet playfully. Max took a deep breath and stepped out to meet her.
The rain quickly erased any hint of dry cloth, skin or hair, soaking her. She cringed at the sensation, feeling as though each drop burned her. Slowly, Chloe led her to the center of the roof and snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her close.
"The last time I was up here..." Max began, but the punk jostled her.
"No, stop. That's a good memory, we're keeping that one. You saved your friend's life." The sky exploded in a shriek of white, causing Max to jump.
"No, Chloe, I can't do this. This is just fucking dangerous!" She winced as the corresponding thunder rolled in. "Can't we just go back inside? Please?"
I can feel that same electricity...
"We can in a minute," she responded, holding Max tightly. "Do you know what today is?" The brunette shook her head. Chloe gained an open mouthed smile, something that registered as fake shock. She began to laugh like a maniac. "Wow!" She yelled, acting incredulous. "I can't believe you forgot already!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Max waved her hands in frustration, pulling herself away from Chloe. The punk drooped her head to the side, issuing a small, loving smile. She cupped Max's cheeks with both hands.
"Today is the eleventh of November. The one month anniversary of the storm...and of us being together." She enveloped Max in a kiss, flinging her body into the smaller girl's. As their lips met, the rain falling upon them began to feel...cleansing. Max dug in deeper, snatching Chloe by the waist as she coerced her mouth open. The memory of the two of them at the lighthouse burned bright in her mind. She saw that moment, the one that was meant to be their final farewell. The decision that would pull them apart forever.
"You're thinking about it too, right?" Chloe asked as they broke the kiss. "Our first...well, technically second kiss." She backed up at and beamed at Max. "I guess it'd be the fourteenth by your count, huh?" She took a deep breath and stared out over Blackwell. "This has been the happiest month of my life, Max, and it's all thanks to you. You're the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I sleep. And if I'm being totally honest...I could be struck by lightning right now and I'd be pretty cool with it. You've made me so, so happy."
"Don't say that," Max scolded, her heart aching at just the thought. Chloe laughed quietly and nodded, taking Max's hand.
"Don't worry," she said as Max followed her gaze. "Max, I'll always be with you."
And it was just like that, the ritual was complete. Hearing those words, the same ones Jefferson dared to say in her nightmare. Hearing them in her voice, knowing the situation was so much different and so special. The rain suddenly felt less heavy on her skin. The thunder seemed soothing instead of raging. The storm before her and the one behind her no longer harassed her thoughts. Her lips curved into a smile as Chloe's thumb playfully swatted at her palm. A single word, as if preprogrammed, burst into her mind with sparkling exuberance, a torch to burn away all doubts.
"Forever..." she said.
A/N: 20 chapters holy cow what
This one's a bit on the shorter side, but it's sort of my tribute to the Bae ending, which I actually really love!
Hope you guys enjoy and thanks again for all your continued support! You guys rock socks like no joke.