Max's head was stuck some place between a manic sprint in a thousand different directions and simply crumpling into a pile of thick, slow horror. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. The muscles in her back were pulled taut as she looked down at the girl sleepily smiling at her. It was, without a doubt, Chloe Price. But not the same Chloe Price she knew. Not the one she'd kissed and held. Nor the one she'd pledged her life to with far off dreams of marriage. Everything around her, from the threads of the sheets to the very air occupying the room felt distinctly wrong. A funhouse mirror of all she knew.
What...is going...
"How long have you been up?" Chloe asked, propping herself up on her elbow. When Max didn't answer, she smiled slyly. "Oh, you still being quiet after last night?" She giggled and sat up, the blanket falling to her waist and revealing her bare chest. "Look," she said with a seductive whine, "I'm sorry I made you self-conscious about your little mishap in the dark, but it was way too cute to ignore." Despite the horrified look on Max's face, Chloe moved toward her and purred. "Can I make it up to you?" She slid her hand beneath the blanket, her fingers grazing along Max's leg.
Wait... Wait! This isn't right!
"Wait," Max said, but the word was strangled. Chloe advanced, getting to her knees and leaning closer for a kiss. "Wait, wait," Max repeated, planting her hands on Chloe's chest. She pushed, far harder than she meant to, and the girl sprawled backward onto the mattress. She gazed up at Max with a wounded look. It was an expression that seemed to signal the unlocking of many, many tortured thoughts and heavy doubts that had been hidden away with a great deal of effort. Max shook her head and reached forward in a wordless attempt at an apology. "Chloe, I'm not..."
And suddenly, every word Chloe had ever spoken about alternate realities broke open and became real. Every tear she had shed lamenting the confusion and despair that came with knowledge not meant to be known was alive in front of Max, running down her spine like burning oil. Something she never thought she'd have to say. Something she spent so much time saying the opposite of. It was now real.
"I'm not..." Max said, struggling for words, "I'm not your Max."
It was a simple string of words that would have carried almost no meaning to anyone else in the world. Just a strange, confused collection of sounds that would have been met with an awkward smile. But to Chloe...to all Chloes, it meant something very, very specific. Chloe stared at her for a long moment, unable to understand. And then she did something that actually managed to make Max smile, small and somber as it was – she yanked the blankets up around her, covering her chest.
And it was that small, simple action that brought to light just how...different everything was. It underlined just how much Max simply didn't know this Chloe. They were virtually strangers. In October, when Max saved William and met the dying, beaten down Chloe trapped in a chair, it didn't feel as jarring. She'd only been reunited with Chloe for two and a half days, so encountering a different iteration of her wasn't nearly as upending. But seven months later, she and Chloe had built a strong, loving relationship. A life together. That Chloe belonged to her. She was hers. But the one across from her nervously clutching blankets to her chest with mostly blonde hair simply...wasn't.
"You're..." Chloe swallowed, then inched forward. Cautiously, she reached for Max's cheek, as if checking to see if she were real. "You're not?"
"No," Max whispered, noticing the impossible way the contact on her skin felt so familiar yet alien at the same time. "I'm...sorry?" She shook her head, at a complete loss. "I...can't tell if I'm dreaming or not."
Is this a nightmare? Or...am I in another timeline for real?
"Um, I...hope not," Chloe said, frowning, "that would be the most fucked up dream anyone's ever had." She thought for a moment, then furrowed her brow. "Max, are you fucking with me? This isn't funny."
"I'm not," Max replied, her eyes misting up and blurring the details in the room before she blinked it away. "I don't know what's going on." She felt a chill in her blood, the sort that comes with fight or flight response.
"Okay..." Chloe twitched her fingers together, her eyes sweeping over the blanket in front of her. "So...where did you come from?"
"My...my timeline?" Max said, every bit as unsure as her face showed. "Where are we?"
"Uh...New York City," Chloe replied quietly, still keeping her eyes aimed down. Max took in a sharp breath and hurried to her feet, taking the briefest moment to inwardly sigh at the realization that she was also nude, and went to the window. With a rough tug, the blinds shot upward, revealing a bustling city. Max's head spun and she braced herself against the windowsill.
Holy shit. Holy shit. Okay, okay...calm down.
"Fuck," Max mumbled. Then, something odd above her caught her attention. She leaned forward and looked up, making a contemplative sound when she saw the sky was made of a bubbling, orange color.
Huh... I...guess that's reassuring? Does that mean it's temporary? But...what IS this place? What happened here?
"Um," Chloe cleared her throat, "do you want to...?" Max turned to her and couldn't help but chuckle just from the absurdity. Chloe was shielding her eyes, looking away. "There's some clothes..."
"I, uh," Max lightly touched her nose, feeling the absence of her piercing. "I think you might be more familiar with this body than I am." The timid joke fell flat, floundering on the ice instead of breaking it. She scooped up a shirt and pair of sorts off the floor and pulled them on. "Okay, there. Dressed."
What do I do?
"Okay," Chloe replied, slowly lowering her hand. She pouted and pulled the blanket more tightly around herself. "What's going on?" she asked, her face pulled tight and pained. Her eyes were glistening, fearful. Then she sighed and pressed a palm hard into her eye as she shook her head. "Dammit, Max. Did you try to fix it again? I thought..." she looked back up and her lip quivered, "I thought we were passed that."
Fix it again? What?
"Fix what?" Max asked, sitting back down on the bed. "Listen, I didn't go through any photos. I swear. Things are really...weird with time stuff and I think I might have, I don't know...slipped? It's like..." Her lips scrunched to the side as she analyzed Chloe's lack of response, instead maintaining a terribly sad expression. "Chloe," she whispered, "fix what?"
"You..." Chloe gulped, refusing eye contact, "you really don't know? You don't know about any of it?" She brought her hands to either side of her head. "How could you not know?"
"Know...what?" Max asked, a feeling of dread washing over her.
"About the storm?" Chloe glanced at her very quickly, then looked back down. Max's breathing hitched in her throat.
Oh no... No way...
"What about the storm?" she asked with a hollow voice.
The storm... Did...?
"It...it wiped out everything," Chloe responded, the sounds barely there. She took a deep breath, regaining her composure. "Wiped out everyone."
"I..." Max ran her hands through her hair, trying to latch on to too many different thoughts, "I chose you?" Chloe perked an eyebrow and stared for a long moment, then nodded somberly.
"So...you didn't where you're from," she said. It seemed like she was doing her best to hide it, but Max could still hear the hurt plain in her voice.
"No, no, it's just...it's more complicated than that," Max replied, suppressing the urge to take Chloe in her arms. The girl kept a straight face, but there was so much in her eyes that spoke of insecurity and defeat. As if it was the expected answer. "Chloe, the storm hit Arcadia Bay?"
What exactly is going on in this timeline?
"Yeah," Chloe said, then her jaw moved around loosely, "it was...fucking crazy. They still don't have any answers for it. It didn't make sense."
"What do you mean?" Max asked, then a horrible thought struck her. She gasped as she clawed her phone up from the sheets. "Wait, what do you mean it wiped everyone out?"
No, no, no. This cannot be happening. It can't be...everyone...
"Everyone," Chloe whispered, as if directly responding to Max's thoughts. Her eyes were far away, lost in memories that were etched into her like scars. "It wasn't...it wasn't a regular tornado. There was something wrong with it. Somehow, everyone was..." She trailed off as her eyes flickered back to Max.
"You can't literally mean..." Max typed in her password again, though it was still incorrect. She tried again. And again.
"I do," Chloe said simply with iron conviction. It was the tone of someone who used to be unsure. Someone who was once caught in the darkness of denial. And someone who had since come to terms with an unbearably heavy truth. She reached for Max's phone. "Here..." She entered the password, then handed it back. She smiled sadly and shrugged. "0311."
"Your birthday," Max sighed with a touch of sweetness. She navigated through the phone, bringing up her text messages. The only people she had an ongoing conversation with were Chloe, her parents, and someone named Alex. There were other threads after that, labeled with familiar names. They were all dated back in October. She rocked forward, then clapped a hand to her mouth. "Everyone?" she squeaked between her fingers.
How...how could that happen? Why!?
"Hey," Chloe said soothingly, lurching toward her out of what seemed to be habit. She hesitated, then brushed her hair behind her ear, followed by a gentle swish of fingers below Max's eyes. "None of that, okay?" Her voice was stern, but caring as she shook her head. "Those eyes have paid their due in tears. No more."
"But I don't understand," Max cried. Chloe chased away more tears.
"Nobody does," she responded. Still quietly. Still comforting. "All this time later, nobody does."
"But...but..." Max hung her head, "no..."
She knew she was in a different reality. As in, this reality was not hers to worry about. She might even be sure somewhere deep down that it was all temporary. She'd leave it behind eventually. But that didn't make it any less real. The knowledge that everyone had died in the storm clutched her heart viciously. No, it couldn't have truly been everyone... It was too hard to accept. She thought of all those she knew and loved. Even those she didn't. The people of Arcadia Bay. Her family. To think that none of them were still alive... She sobbed once again.
That's so fucked, no. No!
"Listen," Chloe said softly, "I'm sorry. I've...always been sorry. But..." She lowered herself to see into Max's eyes. "I'm really confused and trying really hard not to freak out. I...I have a lot of questions."
"Fuck," Max muttered, running the back of her forearm across her nose, "right. Sorry. Um..." She looked around her. "I don't know what happened, but I think it might make sense. Things are...really fucked up where I'm from. But," she pointed at the window, "I don't think this is permanent. I don't know how long I'll be here."
"How do you know?" Chloe asked, following Max's gesture with her eyes.
"The sky is...there's this orange stuff?" She shrugged, frustrated at the difficulty in explaining. "It always shows up when I go through time." Chloe perked an eyebrow, got up and came around the bed, keeping the blanket wrapped around her.
"I don't see anything," she said, craning her neck as she looked up.
Yeah... Of course not.
"People never do," Max responded. "It's always there when I go through a photo. Like, it locks off the memory or something."
"But..." Chloe turned back to her, a bit of frenzy in her voice, "but you said you didn't go through a photo."
"I didn't," Max assured, holding her hands up, "but it's shown up other times too. In nightmares and stuff? I don't really know how it works."
"So..." Chloe clutched the edge of the windowsill, her posture coiling tightly like a spring of anxiety. "So, if you're here, where is my Max?" Max's throat constricted.
Oh fuck. Her Max?
Of course. She hadn't ever given more than a second's thought about what happened to the 'other' her when she took control of her body. She merely thought of them as vehicles. It was never a point worth stressing before, but now she was talking to a Chloe who knew how all of these things worked. Seven months worth of bonding and attachment with a different Max that was now...gone. It didn't take a genius to conclude they were romantically involved, and so Max had theoretically stolen this Chloe's lover away and stored her...somewhere else.
"I don't know," Max admitted, a sense of remorse swirling through her. "She'll be back. Once I'm gone. That's how it works..."
"I'm familiar," Chloe said, letting out an exhausted sigh. "Okay..." She backed away from the window, still visibly tense. She scooped some clothes off the floor and Max looked away, mostly for the sake of Chloe's comfort. "Okay, okay. I'm good," she said after a moment. It wasn't entirely clear if she was referring to being dressed or her emotional state. Max turned back to her. "So, uh, you come from a timeline where I..." she stopped to compose herself, "where I died?"
Max was suddenly overcome with a terrible bolt of guilt. How could she possibly explain to this Chloe, who had lost everything, that she came from a place where everything had worked out? Impending universe destruction aside, anyway. It seemed...cruel to give her that knowledge. And Max feared instilling this Chloe with the same existential agony that had come with her own Chloe's dreams. She hated seeing how it affected Chloe, and the thought of inflicting that upon yet another pained her. Still, there was something in her... She couldn't bring herself to lie to anyone with those eyes.
How do I go about this? ...fuck.
"Uh, actually," Max took a deep breath, "where I come from, you went through time with me. Back to the start of it all in the bathroom. You, um, moved at the last second. Nathan shot you, but it wasn't fatal..." Chloe's eyes grew wide. "The storm never came."
"So..." Chloe looked around slowly, her thoughts grinding around in her head, "so, everything was...okay? Nobody died?"
"No," Max shook her head apologetically, "everyone's alive. Everything is...um, fine."
Sort of. I don't know.
"Oh wow," Chloe chuckled joylessly, dragging a hand down her face, "wow. That's...that's good. Um, that's great news. That's awesome." Robotically, she went over to the door of the room and jammed a towel in the crack separating it from the floor. She came back and braced herself on the TV stand for a moment, as if dizzy, then picked up a pack of cigarettes. "Do you, uh, want one?" she asked, holding it out to Max.
"I...don't smoke," she responded, staring at the cigarettes.
"Right," Chloe snickered, this time with a more jovial inflection. "Makes sense, I guess." She placed one between her lips. "You stole some of mine one night when I was sleeping to try and calm down your anxiety." She lit it and took a puff, her eyes fluttering in relief. "I was so fucking pissed. I screamed at you. Like, really, really screamed. I'm not sure I've ever been so angry with you..." She trailed off and nibbled her lip. "Hey, um, this is weird, but are we...?"
"Together?" Max asked, an involuntary grin spreading through her cheeks. Chloe only sheepishly looked at the floor. "Yes," she said, and Chloe met her eyes with some surprise. "We're together. We have been since then. Seven-ish months, going strong." Chloe smiled warmly.
"That's...fucking incredible," she said. "That's crazy. That makes me so happy."
It makes me happy to see it worked out here, too. That feels right.
"Pretty cool, right?" Max said. She was acutely aware of the war waging in her mind. One half was maintaining conversation, almost automatically. It was casual, as if nothing were odd. The other half was screaming, beating against the first half to acknowledge the truth of the situation. And somehow, the two met in the middle, allowing just the right amount of each. "Um," Max looked around her once again, "where are we, by the way? I know you said New York, but..."
"A hotel," Chloe replied, leaning against the wall as she took another drag of the cigarette. She shrugged at Max's look of confusion. "We stay in a lot of hotels. Lots of traveling."
Traveling? That's kind of cool, but...why? And...
"Oh..." Max thought it over, a more prominent question taking presence on her tongue, "how do we afford that?"
"You...use your powers," she said with a slight wince, sensing it might not be the desirable answer. "I don't think we've actually spent a cent since the storm. We just keep adding to it." She laughed. "We're actually pretty well off. I haven't counted in a while but..." she moved her head back and forth, letting her big eyes and smile insinuate that it was probably a much bigger number than Max could guess.
That's...morally ambiguous, but I guess I'd do it in a heartbeat if I had to. I never really thought about how rich we could get with my powers... Hm...
"So, I'm still using my powers here?" Max asked, fiddling with the phone still in her hands.
"Yeah," Chloe confirmed with an expectant nod. "You don't in your timeline?" Max shook her head. "Huh..." She blew out a heavy breath, then pressed a palm hard into her eye. "I can't believe there's a reality where everything's okay. That's..." she bared her teeth in a wince, making her distaste apparent. "I'm sorry, but that's kind of fucked up." She gestured around her, and Max only then realized just how lavish the room was. "Don't get me wrong, I'm...happy with what we have. But Max has...er, you have gone through so much guilt. So have I, you know? It's just a little..." she cut it off and sniffled, "sorry."
"Don't apologize," Max said, once again reaching out in a sign of comfort. "I...I understand. It isn't very fair."
That's an understatement. It hurts knowing this is going on...somewhere.
"I spent so many nights just fucking..." Chloe shook her head, unsuccessfully holding back her tears, "trying to help her. Trying so fucking hard to save her from her own head. It took so, so long." She took two quick puffs of the cigarette. "And me, man, I was just fucking broken. I was..." She looked away and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault."
"I said don't apologize," Max repeated. "Please don't, okay? I don't blame you at all."
"I know..." Chloe grabbed the doorway to what was presumably the bathroom and the quiet sizzle of an ember being extinguished could be heard. Somewhat timidly, she came back over to the bed and sat down. She opened her mouth, then hesitated, glancing at the window once more. "How long do you think you have?"
"I'm not sure," Max replied with a tiny shrug. She flushed a bit, feeling bad about trespassing into this other Chloe's life. She didn't blame her for wanting this to be over as quickly as possible so she could have her own Max back.
"Okay..." Chloe look at her, her expression uncertain. "Um, can you...tell me about it?" Before Max could ask for clarification, Chloe waved her hand loosely. "I don't know if that's a bad idea or something, but I'm really curious. I...I want to know what it's like."
Oh...
"Are...you sure?" Max tried to make her eyes hard, stressing the gravity of the request.
"I am," Chloe said with a single, sharp nod.
I guess I owe her that much.
"Okay..." Max nervously brushed a finger against her cheek, "where do I even begin?"
"How's my mom?" Chloe asked quickly, almost before Max had finished speaking. There was desperation in her voice. "Is she okay?"
Oh. I can't...imagine what it must be like. For Joyce to be... Fuck.
"She's good," Max said, her voice tight in her throat as she thought about it. Then, she managed a small chuckle. "She's great. Really. Your entire homelife got totally turned around, actually. Even David. You guys are really close now." Chloe raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Seriously, you're a...well, a family. You even call David 'Dadvid.'"
"No...fucking way," Chloe said in awe. "I don't believe that. I can't even imagine that. Me and David? Cool? There's no way. You're fucking with me, Maxers." With the last word, the feel of the room relaxed greatly.
Same nicknames...
"I swear." Max held a hand up as if placing it upon a bible. "We all celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas together. It was really...nice." Max shook her head, realizing how crazy it actually was. "Wow, I've gotten so used to it, but yeah... It's nuts. Joyce is so over the moon with it all. There's like, no screaming. No...hate. And David's been so good. We even finished painting the house in honor of your dad. It was his idea."
"Really?" Chloe took in a slow breath and a faint smile crossed her lips. "Wow. And, uh, are they cool with...?"
"Us?" Max asked, then giggled when Chloe nodded. "Yes. They're very cool with it. They're so happy you're happy. It's all they care about." It looked as though Chloe might protest, but instead she frowned.
"Woah..." She looked down at her hands. "Ah man, that sounds awesome. Insane, but awesome. I'm so glad to hear she's okay. David, too. I really miss...uh," she gave a quick shake of the head and met Max's eyes again, "what else?"
How do I make this hurt as little as possible? It must be so conflicting.
"Well...you got a job," Max said, trying to weave through the painful details. Chloe formed an 'O' with her mouth. "Three guesses where?"
"You're joking." Chloe waited for an admission of jest, then laughed and grabbed her head when she didn't receive one. "No!I became a waitress!? What the fuck, man!?"
That's pretty much still your reaction in my timeline, too.
"And you actually like it," Max teased, bringing her legs underneath her. In spite of everything, she was finding slivers of enjoyment in the oddity of the conversation. "You're great at it, too. And you hook me up with free food all the time." Chloe smirked, acknowledging the 'of course' nature of the fact. "Oh, and you got Frank a job there, too. You and him are cool again." She raised a hand in explanation. "We all are, actually. We spent New Year's Eve with him."
"Holy fuck," Chloe smiled, "that bastard got a real job? That he can do in front of police?" Her smile faded and her jaw tensed. "That...makes me happy. I didn't like the way things went down between us. We used to be friends. He...cleaned up his act?" Max nodded. "Wow, good for him. I'm proud. That's awesome."
"You helped him do it," Max said, gesturing to Chloe to properly give credit. "You were really there for him after...everything with, um..."
Shit. Everything leads to hurt.
"Rachel," Chloe replied easily. "It's okay. That was, ah, the first one I dealt with." She tapped her temple.
"Right, yeah," Max said with a shade of pink her cheeks. "He was really rough after her funeral, but you pulled him out of it. We're friends and he's sweet and he buys us alcohol and gives us weed." Chloe snorted and raised an eyebrow.
"You smoke weed?" she asked with a lazy smile.
"Oh, uh, occasionally?" Max returned the smile with mock guilt.
That's an interesting distinction. Huh.
"Better than cigarettes, I guess," Chloe chuckled, burying her face. "But he doesn't deal anything else?"
"Nope," Max responded. "Those days are long behind him. He actually looks a bit younger, too. I guess less stress?" She gave a dismissive shrug. "But he's just one of our friends. We're surprisingly social. It's so exhausting."
"Who?" Chloe asked, planting an elbow onto each thigh and propping her chin up in her hands. Her smile was excited and curious.
Oh god, how do I explain this circus?
"Oh jeez, okay... Well, Justin, Trevor and this whole little skater posse," she said, her eyes angled up in thought. "Trevor's dating Dana Ward, who is also one of our best friends."
"That definitely makes sense," Chloe snickered, "and explains some things. I bet they're still a bunch of burnout troublemakers." She made a 'hm' noise. "I didn't really know Dana. She seemed cool, though."
"They are, you have no idea," Max giggled. "And yeah, she's awesome. She's always flirting with us..." Max smiled sweetly. "And there's Kate Marsh, of course. You fucking love her. You're so protective of her and it just melts my heart."
"Oh," Chloe blushed and rubbed the back of her neck, "that's cool. She always seemed really nice. Especially from what she...uh, you, told me."
"And here's the kicker!" Max held up a finger. "She's dating Victoria Chase. We're friends with her, too. And Taylor and Courtney. That whole Mean Girls clique. They're our close friends."
"Wait..." Chloe's brows knitted together, "the bitchy girl who made her want to kill herself?"
That feels so long ago... It's hard to remember that happened in any reality. It's so different now.
"Yeah, but it wasn't just Vic that did that," Max said, "and things are so, so different." She waved her hands away from each other slowly, as if doing magic. "She never tried to kill herself and once Victoria learned about everything, she was just crushed with guilt," she said, ignoring the look on Chloe's face at the word 'guilt.' "And of course, me being nosy like I am, I encouraged them to get together. You did, too. It was like a little game."
Man, that's so weird to think about. To go from one extreme to the other... So weird.
"I don't even know either of them that well and that sounds off as hell," Chloe replied with an amused twinkle in her eyes. "With the whole religion thing and... Damn, that's cray cray."
"Oh yes," Max agreed with a roll of her eyes, "the religion thing has presented its share of problems. Kate's mother didn't take the news very well and she hates us too. But the rest of her family is...okay-ish. She has a little sister that we've basically adopted and..." Max gasped. "Oh! Warren!" She quietly cackled. "You act like his mom, it's so funny. Actually, he knows about all the time travel stuff. I told him and he's..." Max stopped at Chloe's sober expression. "What?"
"Warren," she said quietly, as if she were talking to someone else.
That look...
"Chloe?" Max leaned to the side, trying to read Chloe's eyes.
"Warren, uh," Chloe said, then she gulped, "he was one of the first we found. You...you just fell apart right there. It was so, so horrible. He was... His..." She slowly touched a hand to her neck, then dropped it back down as she snorted with disdain. "It was fucked. He helped us. It felt so...like, of course he'd be the one we found. Like a fucking taunt from...whatever that fucking thing was..."
Oh no, Warren...
"He's, um," Max shrank a little, trying not to picture anything other than him smiling, "he's doing really well. Dating Brooke Scott and...you know, he's our boy and..." Suddenly, one thought connected to another and she tilted her head curiously. "Hey... How are you feeling?"
Is it not happening?
"A little bit of everything," Chloe answered. "Happy, angry, sad..."
"No, I-" Max sighed, "I mean, physically." Max brought a hand to her head. "Your head?"
"Oh, I'm fine," she responded, then quirked an eyebrow, "why?"
Okay, don't need to get into this. Yet, anyway...
"Just wondering," Max said, "I'll explain if we have the time..." She glanced back at the window, watching the orange aura dance in the sky. Max puckered her lips. "How...long did it last?"
"I don't know," Chloe said, understanding without further elaboration, "maybe two hours? Three? Not very long. But it was just so...vicious." A small, sickly smile appeared. "Only place it didn't hit was the lighthouse. Everywhere but us. It just went through the whole place like a wrecking ball." She rubbed her own arms, fighting off an uncomfortable chill of remembrance. "I can still see it so easily. It's always just off to the side in my head." She bundled her lips to the side. "Then it just vanished once it reached the edge of town. Tore up the Prescott's place and then...poof."
Wait, what? That's...what?
"It disappeared right after it destroyed the Prescott's property?" Max asked, her twitching hands falling to her sides.
"Yeah," Chloe scoffed, "the only upside to that fucking thing was hearing about how gruesome Sean's death was." When Max didn't say anything, she continued. "They said they found him under this fucking statue of one of his relatives. Smashed his head like a fucking watermelon..."
"Woah..." Max said, staring down into the blankets.
"Hella woah," Chloe replied, and Max instinctively smirked at the word. "The last bit of karma in the world. I'm glad it was cashed in wiping that fucking family off the face of the Earth." She squinted. "How did all of that shake out in your timeline? Nathan and...and, um, Jefferson, and all that?" It was clear by the way she said his name that her Max had told her the extent of her time in The Dark Room.
I can't imagine that went any better over in this timeline...
"Arrested," Max responded, "both of them. Nathan got caught as soon as he shot you and then he ratted out Jefferson. And Sean is under investigation..."
Sean...
"I kind of prefer my version," Chloe said with an acidic chuckle. "Dead... Feel bad for the worms, though. They deserve better food."
"I know," Max nodded, still uncomfortable that such an ugly feeling held favor in her mind. It sometimes scared her how much she hated them. "Uh, anyway...I don't know. There's just so much to tell you."
"I'm sure," Chloe replied. "It sounds so...awesome. I just..." She clenched a fist tightly, then let it relax. "I am happy for you. I really, really am. I promise."
"Thanks." Max accepted it as humbly as possible, but it still felt woefully inadequate. Then, she found she was no longer able to hold off her own curiosity. "Hey, if you don't mind..." She huddled her knees to her chest, resting her cheek on one of them. "Could you tell me about you guys? What...happened?"
"I guess that's only fair, huh?" Chloe nodded. She quickly bounded from the bed and snagged the pack of cigarettes before returning. The motion was frantic and the look on her face was reminiscent of when someone takes a shot to settle their nerves. "Right, right... Okay..."
"If it's too hard..." Max offered, but Chloe shook her head, flicking the match to vanquish its flame.
"No, I can do it," she said. With a long pull on the cigarette, she muttered indiscernible words of encouragement to herself. "So...okay. When we were up at the lighthouse, I told you to go back through the photo to the start of the week. And instead of doing it, you just...ripped the picture. You let the wind take it away." There was a quiet sniff. "The storm took everything. Even that."
I did that? I...really almost did, too. Why didn't I? Why did the other me?
"Were you mad?" Max asked. As petty as it was, that was one of the biggest things that factored into her decision.
"Not mad," Chloe said, "not really. I was mostly just...shocked. I never, ever expected you to choose me. In my mind, it wasn't really a decision." Max glanced down, ashamed that she couldn't say the same. "We watched the storm run over the town until we just...couldn't anymore. So we hid out on the other side of the lighthouse where we couldn't see." She huffed sharply. "The rain was so fucking cold. It was so goddamn cold... And then, like I said, it just stopped." The ember of the cigarette burst vibrantly. "It was surreal. The clouds disappeared. The sky turned so blue... It was beautiful." Her head moved left and right, only just barely. "It was the most beautiful sky I'd ever seen. It was fucking awful."
That's so weird. Like...magic, almost.
"The storm really wasn't normal, was it?" Max asked. It had always seemed to be the case, but now there was an eye witness to confirm it.
"No," Chloe answered coldly. "No, it wasn't."
"What happened then?" Max pressed the home button on the phone, looking at the wallpaper of her and Chloe somewhere nice and warm.
Wow, we really did travel around.
"Well, once it was clear, we hurried back into town to check on everyone..." She made a pained expression. "It was in ruins. Everything was so fucked. There were people, uh..." She squinted at Max, who nodded, allowing her to skip over the details. "Anyway, after a few hours of searching, it just got quiet. Neither of us could talk. Or scream. Or cry. Or..." She shook her head. "We just...left."
"Where did you go?" Max shivered, whether from the A/C or the story, she didn't know. She stuck her feet under the blanket.
"We went straight to her...ugh, your parent's place," Chloe said. "The storm was all over the news and rescue teams were headed to Arcadia Bay, so it felt like we'd just be in the way. And..." She pouted and sighed, "and we barely talked the whole drive." She chuckled sadly. "It was crazy. Completely crazy. You picked me over fucking everything and...it all got destroyed. And we couldn't even talk to each other?" She looked at Max with a confused smile, as though she might be able to explain.
"It must have been a total system shock," Max said. "I can't even pretend to know... I don't think I'd know what to say."
I'd have no fucking idea.
"Yeah," Chloe responded. "When we got to your parents', that's when it all came crashing down. Crying and shouting and...god, just everything. All four of us. They kept saying it was a miracle that we made it out, but that felt so...cruel, you know? But then, that night..." Chloe plucked at the blanket and a loving smile came to her lips. "We were still having trouble talking. I just remember, it was so fucking quiet. All I could hear was my own heart fucking screaming." She pressed a hand against her chest. "I guess you must have heard it too..."
Max watched as Chloe's cheeks flushed, her voice growing quieter as she spoke. She might not have known this Chloe as well as she knew her own, but she knew enough to see that this was the behavior of someone madly in love. So in love that it didn't seem real, that she needed to remind herself over and over that she was even capable of such an enormous stroke of luck. It was then that Max was sure, without any trace of doubt, that across every possibility, across all timelines, realities, rewinds... She and Chloe were in love.
"I was trying not to cry," Chloe continued, "trying and failing so fucking hard. I felt so lost. I didn't know how bad you regretted your decision. I didn't know if you wanted me there or if you wanted me to leave or...I don't know. I wasn't sure about fucking anything. But you..." Chloe sniffled, her smile growing wide enough to show her teeth. "You hugged me and looked me right in my red as hell eyes. You'll never believe what you said."
"What?" Max asked quietly, completely enraptured.
"You just said 'I'm sure.' You said it like you were reading my fucking mind," Chloe said. "And then...you kissed me. You kissed me! And that's when I knew that, as fucked up as everything was, it was going to be okay." She laughed. "I knew I was sure, too."
Wow.
"That's so..." Max glanced around her, snickered, "that's so romantic. Is that weird to say?"
"Maybe a little narcissistic," Chloe chuckled, returning the playfulness. "But you're right. It was the most magical moment in my entire life. Everything was ruined and fucked and terrible. Except...her." She gave a knowing smirk. "You."
"That sounds very familiar," Max replied, relaxing back onto her palms. "What happened from there?"
"Oh, right," Chloe stamped out the cigarette and lit another. Max noticed how much more appealing they seemed from the gaze of her new body, which was a very strange feeling. "So, we stayed with your parents for a few months. They were so, so great. They treated me like a daughter immediately and did everything they could to try and take care of us." She narrowed her eyes and made a tight smile. "Made us go to therapy, but...we definitely needed it."
"I'm sure," Max said. She wondered how difficult it must have been to talk with someone and not be able to mention time travel or any of the experiences that came from it. "Therapy is good."
"It was..." Chloe released a brusque gust of breath, "difficult. But, yeah, good. It helped deal with all the attention." Max looked at her curiously. "Well, the storm was a big fucking deal. Global news. And we were the only two survivors..."
Oh fuck. That's...a bad recipe.
"God, please don't tell me..." Max started.
"Interviews, articles, scientists..." Chloe grumbled. "We did a few before it was way too much to deal with and stopped." She gained an offended look. "People wanted to turn us into celebrities! Like I didn't just lose my family and my home. And it's not like we could explain that it was some kind of fucking...time tornado." She growled a bit. "They were fucking relentless. Thankfully, your parents handled that, too."
God, I want to retroactively pull a Victoria and punch them out.
"That's so fucking infuriating," Max muttered. She sighed and rubbed at her face. "I'm glad that got taken care of..." She looked around the room. "So, why...aren't you guys still with my parents? Did something happen?"
Please tell me things are still okay on that front.
"Well, we still kind of are?" Chloe shrugged. "Nothing bad happened or anything, they're just letting us do our own thing for a little. Max or me call them twice a day to check in." She nodded at the phone in front of Max. "Like I said, we've been doing a lot of traveling. That picture is from Florida." She grinned somewhat dreamily. "Ah man, that was a fun week. We went parasailing! And I touched a dolphin on its little nose."
"That's...woah," Max clicked the button again to look over the picture once more.
That sounds fun.
"Another really good trip was, uh, we went to Cali..." She held her hands up excitedly. "There was this big parade and we got stuck in it by accident! It was so scary!" She laughed wildly, and Max couldn't help but join in.
"A parade for what?" she asked, laughing.
"I have no clue!" Chloe's eyes were wide. "It could've been for fucking anything, seriously. There were lots of cars involved?" She shrugged innocently.
"That's so dumb but so us," Max responded, planting a palm on her face as she shook her head. "So, why are we here?" she asked once they had both calmed down.
"Oh..." Chloe brought one leg up and touched her chin to her knee, looking as though she had a secret. "We're actually here looking at schools..."
"Wow," Max couldn't help but jolt a little, "really? Here?"
"Mhm," Chloe responded. "NYFA? For photography, obviously. They expressed a lot of interest in your...her...work." She snorted. "This is getting really confusing."
"I understand what you mean," Max assured with a smile.
"Right, okay," Chloe chuckled. "But, um, yeah. We're meeting up with people there tomorrow. Figured I'd try my hand at graphic design. Been drawing a lot lately."
"Woah!" Max clapped her hands together excitedly. "That's awesome!"
Holy shit, I'm so proud of...us?
"Yeah," Chloe agreed timidly, "I hope it goes okay. I'm a little nervous." She looked up at Max. "What are you guys doing for school?"
Oh. Hrm...
"Uh...I'm actually taking a gap year to figure it all out," Max replied. She knew it was silly, but she felt a little embarrassed that another version of her that had to deal with much more adversity seemed to have more concrete plans than her.
What's that say about me, I wonder... Then again, if they had the option, I'm sure they'd like another year in Arcadia Bay.
"Huh. That's cool," Chloe said, lacking any sort of judgment. She grinned and gestured around her. "Well, if you need inspiration..."
Pfft, copying myself. That's trippy.
"That's...pretty weird," Max giggled. "But maybe it's something to think about. I'll definitely let Chloe know if we can..." Max frowned, suddenly remembering the current stakes and likely the very reason she was even having this conversation.
"If you can...?" Chloe repeated, trying lure out the rest of the thought.
Oh man. Okay...
"Like I said earlier, things are a little fucked up where I come from," Max said. She sighed and buried her face in her hands. "Really fucked up," she amended.
"Is that why you're here?" Chloe asked, nervousness creeping into her words.
"I think so..." Max looked around her, taking in the details of the room. "I don't even know how to explain it, but we're possibly dealing with the end of...uh, the world? Or...everything, I guess?" She shook her head, the sentence sounding far too casual to her ears. "They...er, a version of me, said that we broke time and now timelines are mixing together or...something..."
"What do you mean the 'end' of everything?" Chloe's spine went rigid, her eyebrows raised high in her face.
"The universe? Existence?" Max laughed dryly. "That everything's going to go into some kind of cosmic blender and burn up the gears? I have no fucking idea."
"Uh..." Fear scattered through Chloe's eyes. "Does that include like...this?" At first, Max didn't understand. But then her head snapped up in realization.
Holy shit! I didn't even think of that...
"I...I don't know," Max admitted with a frown, "I guess it might..."
"Wow, that's..." Chloe swallowed audibly, then nodded, "yeah, that sounds pretty much our style, doesn't it?"
"Have you noticed anything weird going on here?" Max asked. Chloe shook her head no, then pointed at Max as if saying 'well...this.' "And your head didn't hurt whenever I told you about the other timeline?" Again, Chloe shook her head. "That's weird... Why is that?" The last part was mostly for herself.
"Should it have?" Chloe flipped the lid of the cigarette pack open and close so that it created a rhythm. "I mean, I feel fine."
Why isn't it affecting her?
"That's how it works where I'm from," Max mused, "but it looks like it's different here... For some reason." She shrugged. "When someone finds out about other timelines, their head gets all crazy. Or..." The image of Chloe lying on the floor, shrieking in pain as she bled from her nose, mouth and eyes struck a dark chord. "Or sometimes its worse."
"Well, uh," Chloe shifted herself so her back was against a large pillow, "how are you guys going to fix it?" Max let out a loud, involuntary laugh.
Dude, if we knew...
"We're...working on it,"she muttered.
"That's good," Chloe said. When Max cringed, she held up a hand. "No, seriously. I mean...it is good. It's like taking matters into our own hands." She held hers up and flipped from palm to back a few times. "Our hands are your hands, right?"
"I guess so, yeah," Max replied, managing a small smile. "You're being pretty calm about this."
"Ah, I don't know," Chloe clicked her tongue, shrugging casually, "in a lot of ways, I think I already went through the whole end of the world thing. It feels like familiar territory."
That's...fucking awful...
"Yeah, of course," Max said quietly. She drew a circle listlessly in the sheets, then looked up at Chloe. "Our only lead right now is the Prescotts. Nathan knows about the storm."
"Wait, wait, wait..." Chloe rubbed one of her eyes roughly. "What the fuck? What do you mean?"
"He...I don't know, he said something to Victoria about a storm," Max responded. "I'm still not sure what it actually means or if it's helpful, but it's all we have right now." A heavy, quiet noise sparked in Max's throat. "Chloe... The storm might not have been my fault."
"...what?" Chloe's eyes went wide. "It wasn't?"
"I'm still...so unclear," Max said. "But it might not have been."
"If...if that's true..." Chloe looked down at her hands, "then that means all of this..."
It would lift a huge weight off their shoulders. At least knowing they didn't cause it...
"I still don't know for sure," Max clarified. "It's hard to tell what's true and what isn't anymore."
Rather than respond, Chloe's eyes glazed over in thought. A silence swept through the room, though it was hard to call it entirely unpleasant. It was more just...conflicted. Difficult truths had been spoken from each of them. Truths that had weight and occupied space. Max's head was certainly bursting with all she'd learned, and she could only imagine Chloe's was ten times as crowded. That's why, when Chloe finally spoke, it was a relief.
"Uh, hey, do you..." Chloe let go of a breath that rattled her lower lip, "do you want to grab some coffee or something?" Max arched an eyebrow. "I know that's weird, but I could use a donut and caffeine." She narrowed her eyes as she chuckled. "I do kind of have a hangover."
Ahhh okay, that's one mystery solved.
"That explains why my head hurts," Max laughed. "Wait, let me check something..." She stood up from the bed and went back over to the window. The orange filter was lower now, covering the tops of the tallest buildings the way clouds obscured mountain peaks. But, notably, it lacked any of the walls it usually had. The space 360 degrees around her didn't seem to be locked off. "I guess I might be able to."
Well, that's new. I'm just going to get smushed from the top.
Max collected a less winkled set of clothing and disappeared into the bathroom. She looked them over, interested in what sort of style another version of her had come to favor. Once she was dressed, she looked in the mirror and twisted her hips side to side, deciding she was quite jealous of the cute shorts. She made a mental note to find a similar pair once she returned to her timeline. She was then reminded how making plans for anything beyond 'fix time' was a dangerous practice. She ran a hand through her shorter hair, much more reminiscent to her older style, and left the bathroom.
Chloe was already waiting by the door. Max noticed a guitar case leaning against the wall beside her, and the thought that she'd presumably played for Chloe brought a warmth to her chest. Warmth, chill, happy, sad... If nothing else, the rapid switching between emotions was incredibly taxing. With a smile, she nodded, letting Chloe know she was ready.
"This is too crazy," Max said once they were outside, her eyes flicking wildly around the city. She'd at least gotten used to the general feel of a city atmosphere during her time in Seattle, but New York was an entirely different beast. In fact, just the realization that she was all the way on the other side of the county made her mind spin almost as much as the chaos around her.
Did we...drive this whole way? God, we're so far. Oregon is like a million miles away.
"It's cool, right?" Chloe gave a subtle nod to herself. She then slowly reached for Max's arm, ready to pull away if necessary. When there was no protest, she found a soft grip in the crook of Max's elbow and started leading her down the street. "So, there's this, uh, little place just a few blocks down. We've eaten there pretty much every day. You really like it."
"Sounds exciting," she responded, giving her a smile. "It's weird that you know that and I don't..." She looked at Chloe a little more closely, then rolled her eyes, feeling a bit silly.
"What?" Chloe asked.
"Nothing," Max replied, "it's just...your hair looks nice. It's still super blue where I come from." Hesitantly, she reached beside her and flicked a blonde lock of hair. "Just goes to show, you can rock any style you want."
I sometimes forget how pretty her natural hair color is...
"Oh, thanks," Chloe chuckled, "I just haven't kept up with it." She scrunched her nose, glancing sideways at Max. "Are we flirting?" Max let out a loud 'ha!'
Oh gosh!
"I don't think so," she said with an easy laugh. She took note of Chloe's grasp on her. "I think this is just how we are?" Deciding to test this Chloe's brand of humor, she gave her a playful nudge. "I'm spoken for, and I'd never cockblock myself. She has full ownership."
"Pfft, ownership, okay," Chloe scoffed, then she wiggled her head back and forth. "Alright, yeah. Ownership."
After several precarious jogs across the street, Chloe brought them to a stop in front of a quaint shop. She pulled the door open and stepped back, gesturing for Max to go ahead before her. This made Max laugh and give an exaggerated bow in thanks as she moved into the building. She stepped up to the counter and waited for Chloe to join her.
"Hey," Chloe said, snagging the barista's attention, "can I get a large black?" He nodded before she was finished speaking and didn't even bother to look at Max. "And uh, two...whatever-the-fuck donuts you have today."
That's definitely Chloe. No doubt about it.
"Apple crumb," he replied. Chloe snapped and pointed at him.
"Apple, totally. I should know this by now." She dug out her wallet and cracked it open, angling it toward herself so others couldn't see. Max could, however, and she marveled at the enormous bundle of cash. Chloe flipped through to the back and pulled out a twenty, handing it to the barista. "And of course," she continued, sliding a five across the counter for him. With a grin, he nodded, then turned to begin working on their order.
"So,I guess you guys must tip like fiends," Max chuckled, sitting across from Chloe in a booth. The bakery was different from the Two Whales in just about every conceivable way. Rather than keep up with the traditional diner aesthetic, it was almost sickeningly hip, with vinyl records lining the burnt orange walls. Still, there was an unmistakable familiarity in sitting in such a place.
"Well, I mean," Chloe rolled her hand around on her wrist, "if we have it to spare..."
"You know what's funny?" Max leaned forward with her elbows on the table. "The other you would be super grateful for that."
Grateful is an understatement. She's liable to jump on the table and dance at a tip like that.
"That is...weird." Chloe grimaced in jest. "I'm such a fucking sellout, damn. You should slap her on the wrist for me."
"I gotchoo," Max snickered with a wink.
Before anything else could be said, the barista was over at the table setting their drinks in front of them, followed by a paper bag in the center of the table. He flashed a wide smile at Max, then retreated back behind the counter.
"He has a crush on you," Chloe explained with an impish smirk. Max turned back to the counter and caught him glancing away. "Don't worry, he's cool though. I've done enough for him to know you're not available."
"That I can believe," Max laughed. "You're the same way in my timeline. Always with the PDA." Chloe let a thoughtful 'hmm' rumble in her throat.
"So, can you tell me about..." she tapped her index finger against her cup, then smiled awkwardly, "me?"
About Chloe... My Chloe.
"I don't even know where to begin," Max sighed dreamily, "she is everything to me. I never even knew it was possible to feel about someone the way I do about her." The exchanged a quick look, wordlessly stressing the absurdity of the discussion. She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip. "I don't know, she's just..." Max looked down at the cup. "What is this? It's amazing!"
"Oh Christ," Chloe huffed, throwing herself back against her seat. "You wouldn't believe how much I've had to listen to you fucking orgasm about that goddamn drink. It's so fucked up that you can't even have that difference!" Max burst into laughter and Chloe followed suit. It was loud enough to draw attention, but neither cared. "It's some fucking weird cappuccino thing with charcoal and white chocolate."
Wow, what.
"That's...obnoxious," Max said, her snicker bouncing off the lid of the drink as she took another sip. She set it down and planted her hands on the table. "Anyway, the other you..." Chloe nodded. "So, like I said, you work at the Two Whales. The morning shift." Chloe flared her nostrils and bared her teeth. "I know, I know. Usually, as soon as you're done, we hang out. Either at Blackwell or your place."
"Spending time at Blackwell on purpose..." she mused. She flitted her hand for Max to continue.
"We kind of just spend time doing...whatever," Max said. "But no matter what it is, it's where I want to be. Nothing has ever felt as right as when I'm beside you, as corny as it sounds. It's never boring."
God, I really do sound like a bad romance movie sometimes. It's so gross.
"Dude, trust me, I know," Chloe responded with facetious dryness.
"I guess you would," Max chuckled. "You're really laid back, but also still a total smartass. I love it so much. You always have something slick to say, no matter the circumstance." Chloe smiled, pride glowing in her features. "But you're also so...loving. You always take care of me, make sure I'm alright. You drop everything if you think something's wrong. But not just me. It's like I said with Kate, you're just this walking bundle of sweetness."
"You make it sound like I'm some kind of mother hen," Chloe said, amused.
Yeah, if the nest fits.
"Not far off, honestly," Max replied. She took another sip, then reached into the bag for her donut. "I'm so hungry..." She looked at Chloe inquisitively. "When did I eat last?"
Hm. I wonder...
"Last night," Chloe answered. "We had...uh..." her eyes angled up in thought, "spaghetti? You ate like a total piglet. Why?"
"I don't think I ate like a piglet," Max said with certainty, then she laughed. "But you once went on this tirade about what eating would be like after time traveling... I was just wondering if I could find an answer for you."
"I have always wondered about that," she said, her voice dipping into quiet contemplation.
Ha! That's cute.
"This is crazy good too," Max pointed at the donut.
"It is," Chloe agreed, tearing off a piece of her own and popping it in her mouth. "Now I'm wondering if my Max will be hungry when she comes back."
"Not if I have a say in it," Max giggled, eying the counter with dreams of second helpings. She turned back to Chloe and smiled. "But, I don't know, it's hard to explain you. Especially when you feel the way I do..." She trailed off, mentally cupping her hands around the flame of her thought to protect it.
"No, I understand," Chloe said. She absentmindedly ran her finger along the paper bag that once held their donuts. "I understand..." She looked at Max, her eyes suddenly heavy with emotion. "It's been so hard..." Her voice was a whisper.
"I'm...sorry," Max replied. 'I know' didn't seem like a fair response.
"Don't be." Chloe waved the apology away. "It's just... The storm took everything." She switched to picking apart the donut in her hands. "My home. My family. Everyone and everything I knew. And, to know that it could've been prevented if only she'd chosen differently..." She looked around her at the scattering of other patrons. "It's so hard not to want that sometimes, you know? Not...not that I'd want to die, but..."
"Chloe," Max shook her head sternly, chopping off the thought.
"Exactly," Chloe chuckled quietly. "You're there with your...needing me. It's so frustrating. Wanting to evaporate but knowing you can't because you love someone else more than you might hate yourself." She gave Max a long, searching look. "My entire life crumbled into dust and death. I shouldn't be okay. But...I am. Because of her. Because of you." Her lips tightened and she sniffled. "I don't know, man. On the day that everything fell apart, you made me laugh. You kissed me. You somehow made the worst day of my life also the best." She shook her head. "That's incredible. No one should be allowed to be that bright in the darkness."
...wow...
"Chloe," Max said again, this time much softer.
"So, there was this one time," Chloe continued, sniffling and taking on a more conversational tone, "we were in Seattle. And I mean, you know how it is there, fucking rainy all the time." She collected a bit of the destroyed donut and put it in her mouth. "It was storming its ass off. The sky was so black and angry and I was..." she gave an embarrassed laugh, "I was terrified. I was shaking like crazy." She lulled for a moment, and Max was about to tell her how she'd had the same problem, but Chloe pushed on. "And then, like some kind of psycho, you opened the window in your room and climbed out onto the roof..." Max had gone completely still, watching her with intensity as something prickled at her memory. "So, of course, I freaked. I didn't want you out there. But you wouldn't come in, so I had to follow you out..."
Max could almost picture it playing out perfectly. It seemed so familiar.
"And we get out there," Chloe said, "and it's pouring fucking rain. There's thunder, there's lightning. And we're on the roof like these two dumb fucking lightning rods..." She laughed, shaking her head. "You just...held me so close. Like you were showing me again that you wouldn't let me go." Chloe smiled, her eyes shining. "I guess it seems kind of small, but I could never forget that moment. You took this big, scary thing and made it nothing. You just replaced it with...you." Her eyes fell half-lidded. "The craziest thing is that it just so happened to be-"
"Our one month anniversary..." Max said automatically. It wasn't even a guess. Chloe sat up straight, her mouth open and eyes narrowed.
"Yeah..." she said slowly. "How did you know that?" Max didn't immediately reply, but something in her face must have given her away. Chloe simply stared in awe, then she grinned. "Really?"
"Except it was the other way around," Max responded. "I was the one who was scared."
"Did I fix it?" Chloe asked. Max looked outside for a moment, carefully sifting through different memories. She thought of all the times Chloe had fought and defeated that which plagued her mind. She turned back to Chloe and smiled.
"You always do," she said softly.
They stayed in the shop for almost two hours, long after their food and drink had disappeared. They talked more about each others experiences, trying to steer clear of the sadder parts, but still touching on them when needed. Even when listening to the endless horror she and Chloe had gone through since the storm, she found an extraordinary amount of happiness in their relationship. It was so similar to her own. Wonderful, lively, chaotic. She supposed that if she had to admit that anyone had as special of a connection as her and Chloe, she'd prefer that it'd in fact actually be her and Chloe.
Eventually, when it seemed like they'd spoken of all the good parts that could come to mind, they decided to move on from the little cafe. They stepped outside and Max looked up. The bubbling, orange aura was sinking along the buildings at a faster rate than before. It washed over the windows, the pigeons in mid-flight, the especially high billboards. Chloe followed Max's gaze, even though she was unable to see anything herself.
"Is it almost time?" she asked. Her tone had a conflicted feel about it.
Looks like it.
"I think so," Max responded. She smiled at Chloe. "You're...gonna have your Max back soon."
"I'm...excited," Chloe admitted bashfully. "We don't spend much time apart, so it's weird... I miss her after just this little bit of time." Though not its intention, that did register as complimentary to Max. Chloe sucked her teeth, her face becoming serious. "Should I tell her about this? About...how everything is in your timeline?"
Ah. That's...difficult.
"I...don't know," Max replied. "I don't think we should lie to each other, no matter the universe. But...I don't know how I'd react to that. After everything she had to go through. Even if it wasn't my, or our, fault."
"Yeah..." Chloe continued staring into the sky, at the aura she was unable to see. "I can't do that to her." Max turned to her, not entirely surprised by the decision. "It's just... I can't rip those wounds open. I can't do that to her. And I mean," she shrugged, "maybe things are fucked up. Maybe they could've gone better. But I'm still... I still love her with every fucking ounce of my heart." She sniffled, then brushed away a stray tear. "I don't want her to think I'd ever, ever prefer anything other than the life I have with her right here, right now." She smiled brilliantly as she finally looked at Max. "Because I don't."
Chloe being Chloe... I can't believe I got this lucky in more than one universe.
"If it counts," Max said, "as her surrogate, I understand. I think she would, too. And whatever you do end up deciding, I know you'll be able to get through it." She looked back to the sky, the lava-like orange falling faster. "I think I believe in fate."
"Yeah?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah," Max nodded. "Seeing how you two are. Seeing how you were in the timeline where William lived. We just...we fit together. I think we're always supposed to."
Two halves of a whole.
"I'll buy that," Chloe chuckled quietly. "Maybe we're the one thing that never changes." It seemed very unlikely to be true, but Max nodded easily as if it were. She believed it, anyway. She turned her gaze back upward. It was closing in, only ten feet or so above them.
"I have to go," she said, turning back to Chloe. Without any of the shyness from earlier, she stepped forward and took the girl in a hug. "Give her a big hug when she gets back," she whispered. "I can literally guarantee she'd love it."
"Will do," Chloe returned the whisper. She clutched Max tightly, then stepped back. "I'm...glad I got to meet you." The playful smirk danced on her face, admitting her uncertainty in how to actually word the experience. Then she grew a bit more serious. "Hey, good luck with that whole...end of the world thing. I know you guys will figure it out." Max gave a nod in promise. Chloe smiled, then leaned in close to her, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.
And then everything was a haze.
Max opened her eyes. It was soft and slow, not at all like when they were torn open from a bad dream. She immediately recognized the wall across from her as the one in Chloe's room. She felt arms around her waist, and could tell without even looking that they were the ones she belonged in. Carefully, she reached for the phone that was close to falling off of the edge of the bed. She clicked the home button and was greeted with the wallpaper she was used to. Though, her brow did crinkle with confusion at the clock. It read 12:01AM, just a breath inside of the day she had already lived. Then, the clock changed. Only, it rolled backwards to 12:00AM. The start of the day.
That's...interesting. So did I not really miss much time?
"Babe?" Chloe rasped, and Max could feel the weight leave the pillow beside her as she picked up her head. "Are you alright?" With a smile, Max set the phone down and rolled over.
She even sounds just a little bit different. A little more...mine.
"Yeah," she whispered, gently brushing Chloe's cheeks with her knuckles. "I love you so much."
"I love you too," Chloe replied, resting her forehead against Max's as she secured her grip around her waist. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"No," Max shook her head, "something else..." Part of her thought she should keep everything for the morning, to allow Chloe a comfortable night sleep. There was no telling how many of those they'd have in the coming days. But she thought of the other Chloe and her decision to not tell the other Max. She understood the choice, and thought she might be able to make up for it on her end. "I went to another timeline."
"What?" Chloe asked, panic eking into her voice as she sat up. Max didn't. She simply rolled onto her back, took Chloe's hands, and held them to her chest.
"It's okay," she said soothingly. "It's okay. I promise." She brought Chloe's hands to her lips and kissed each one. "Do you want me to tell you now or in the morning?"
"Now sounds good," Chloe responded quickly, clearly unsettled. Max nodded and sat up.
"What happened at the party?" she asked. "The last thing I remember is going out to the big room after talking to Dana about school."
How much DID I miss?
"Really?" Chloe's eyes darted around the room. "Uh, I don't know... We stayed longer than we planned, but not too long. There was, uh, I don't know. They played games and we just watched. Hung out with Dana, Justin, and Trevor after he-"
Quick as lightning, a collection of images filled Max's head. It was like a flipbook, where the still images moved so quickly that they became animated. She remembered Trevor losing his fifth match in pong. She remembered watching one of the girls spill a cup of red wine all over her white shirt. She remembered Dana leading her and Chloe outside, where they talked more about where the future would direct them. She remembered looking at the stars, and the glowing moon, and the way Chloe hugged her tightly. She remembered all of it.
"Oh," Max said, interrupting Chloe's retelling of the night's events. Max smiled and leaned forward, kissing Chloe on the nose. "The stars... They really did remind me of you." A squeak escaped Chloe's throat.
"You remember?" she asked.
"I do," Max answered, bringing a hand beneath her nose to catch the small trail of blood. Seeing this, Chloe once again grew a frantic look, but Max waved her hand. "I'm okay. I'm okay." Chloe slipped out of bed and collected a bundle of tissues.
"Let me see," she said quietly, pulling Max's hand away. Lovingly, she dabbed the tissue under Max's nose. "What happened, Max?"
"I woke up somewhere else," Max began, "somewhen else..." She snickered at herself. "I was in bed in a strange room, and there was a girl next to me I didn't recognize." Chloe's eyebrows angled sharply and Max laughed. "No, no," she insisted. "It was...you. But a different you."
"What?" Chloe's voice was ghostly as all of her fears relating to alternate realities flooded into her mind.
I hate when you have that look. My poor Chloe.
"It was a different timeline," Max said, tenderly stroking Chloe's cheek. "A timeline where I chose you at the cliff." She shook her head sadly. "The storm... It destroyed everything." A question danced in Chloe's eyes, and Max nodded. And that was all that needed to be said about it. "But listen," she moved closer until one of her legs was overlapping Chloe's, "we were together. You and me. We were together and in love and... It was the same as here."
"We were?" Chloe asked, still struggling to project any volume into her voice.
"Yes." Max issued several kisses to Chloe's cheeks. "Yes, we were together..." Max smiled wide, looking deeply into Chloe's eyes. "I told you. No matter what reality, you and me are together. I'm yours all the way through." Chloe's shoulders slacked, releasing a tension that had been straining her for months.
"This...this is crazy," Chloe said. She set her jaw as her eyes fluttered shut, and when she opened them again there was calm. "Tell me about it?"
"Of course," Max responded.
And so Max relayed everything. No detail went untold, and there were moments of pain, of laughter, of love. Several times, Chloe cried, but she smiled even more. All the while, they tangled together. Closer and closer until their hearts beat against each other. Their voices fell to whispers not even time could hear. The words were breathed, not spoken. Kisses were noiseless, soaking through skin to take root in soul. And when she was finished, when the story had been told in full, neither of them thought of the world ending. They could only think of their love continuing.
A/N: Oh hey! Happy Valentine's Day! I figured, hey, since love is the trending topic, why not talk about a love that transcends time and space? I hope you liked the chapter, I've been quite excited to write this one for a very, very long time now.
Fun fact: Many, many, maaaaaaaany moons ago, this chapter was titled... Play Crack The Sky. Had to change it though because reasons ;p
Anyways, as I said, I hope you liked the chapter! I'll see you guys again sooooooon? Maybe. Who knows!