"Max Caulfield, I have heard so much about you."
Max didn't respond. She was having...difficulty understanding. It didn't make sense for Rachel to appear in any of her nightmares or, once again, whatever the fuck they actually were. She knew everyone else that had shown up. She knew how they moved, how they spoke, what they looked like. But all she had to go on with Rachel were pictures. A surprisingly small amount of pictures at that. How could her brain construct a replica of her without Max ever having met her? How would it know what voice to give her?
"Quiet," Rachel said with a hint of amusement as she observed Max. "She always did say you were quiet. Spent a lot of time in your own head."
"I, uh... I..." Max struggled to string together a complete sentence.
Rachel took a final drag of her cigarette, then flicked it away. Instead of landing in the grass where it could possibly start a fire, it was snagged out of the air and destroyed by a whip of darkness. With a single, smooth motion, she sprung off the Tobanga and onto her feet. She gave Max a quick look up and down and laughed softly, then threw her arms around her in a crushing embrace.
"Damn, I just... It really is so great to finally meet you," she said. Her body was warm, so much so that Max felt as though she'd never left the sunlit bench by the lighthouse.
"Wait, hang on," Max whispered, as though speaking too loudly might invite danger. She didn't force Rachel away, but she didn't reciprocate the hug either.
"I know you're confused," Rachel reassured, "and I promise I'll explain as much as I can. Just...let me hug you a little bit longer." She squeezed tighter, and even nuzzled her cheek against Max's. Finally, she released her hold and giggled, though it seemed to be born from embarrassment. Flush in the face, she looked down and let out a single, awkward cough. "Uh...sorry."
"It's okay," Max droned, not entirely sure how to respond. She took the cloth of Rachel's flannel and rolled it between her fingers. "Are you...really her?" She shook her head. "No, that's impossible."
"It's me," Rachel placed a hand over her heart, "I swear. It's really me."
Unconvinced, Max searched around her, but all she could see was the overgrown, verdant plant life and hundreds of fireflies bouncing through the air.
"It's a trick," she murmured to herself, squinting as she checked for anything lurking in the shadows between the trees. "Just like everything else. It's a trick."
"No! It's not a trick, Max! I'm..." Rachel huffed and rubbed at her forehead. "Shit. I should have thought this out more. Of course you're suspicious. Why the fuck wouldn't you be? All this time to figure it out and I..." She began mumbling to herself in irritation, then took a deep breath. Cautiously, she reached for Max's hand. "I...I know it's been cruel and it's been scary, but I promise I'm not going to turn into a monster or fuck with your head or anything. I'm on your side. I promise."
"But..." Max allowed her hand to be taken, and she used the contact to once again try and decide whether Rachel's touch felt 'real.' Her eyes were drawn to the bullet hanging from her necklace. "But you're...dead. ...aren't you?" Despite everything, she felt like a bit of an ass for asking such a morose question.
"Umm," Rachel thought for a moment, then clutched at the air in search of an answer, "it's something...in the middle. Alive and, uh, not?" She relaxed and laughed quietly. "A little of column A, a little of column B. Honestly, I'm still not really sure."
"You're not sure?" Max asked somewhat pityingly. How could that be the case? "I can't believe this," she surveyed her surroundings once again, "I don't understand how this is possible. What is this place? Am I-" She had hundreds of questions racing to her tongue in an effort to be the next, but they were all silenced as her eye snagged on the doe. Still lying next to the Tobanga, it watched them without blinking. She looked at Rachel and shook her head in confusion. "Wait, why...are you here with them?" After all, as far as she knew, the animals were the true cause of Rachel's death.
"Oh, they're..." Rachel pursed her lips, then gently squeezed Max's hand. "Hey, walk with me?" She nodded ahead at the path that cut through the forest. "There's a lot we need to talk about."
"Uh, right, okay," Max replied after a moment of hesitation. Rachel offered her a smile and laced her fingers between Max's. Together, they began walking along the path.
It was quiet for some time but, as usual, just how long 'some time' actually was, Max couldn't tell. It wasn't a particularly awkward silence, though. Still somewhat in a daze, Max admired the beauty of the forest around her. She'd never seen leaves quite so green or breathed air so invigorating. A song swelled through the branches, comprised of both familiar and entirely new wildlife sounds. There was something of an itch in her mind and she found herself wishing she had her camera.
"So," Rachel finally said with a hint of nervousness in her voice, "Max Caulfield. The Max Caulfield. Wow."
"Rachel Amber," Max responded, then let it linger for a moment before adding, "The Rachel Amber."
"Ah, sorry if I came on a little strong back there," Rachel tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and snickered, "I was just excited. I probably seem like a weirdo, huh?"
"I..." Max scrunched her nose and, without warning, burst into a surprisingly sincere laughter, "I have absolutely zero concept of what weird means anymore. I am so out of touch with normal."
"Okay, cool," Rachel laughed with her, "then let's pretend I'm totally cool and normal." Suddenly, her expression turned gloomy. "Max... I can't imagine how much you must be hurting."
"A lot," she admitted, still chuckling, "I kind of don't want to be here or...anywhere..." She came to a stop and covered her face as the laughter decayed into noiseless sobbing. She felt Rachel's arms around her once again, but this time she hugged her back. "Rachel, can you please tell me what's going on?"
"Yes," Rachel replied as she thumbed a tear off Max's cheek, "where do you want me to start?"
"Fuck, I don't know. Anywhere?" Max sniffled and then let out a big breath as she composed herself. "Where are we? What is this place?"
"We're outside," she said, "of...everything, I guess. Or maybe in between? I'm not sure which. It could be both." She sighed and gave Max an apologetic look. "I'll answer your questions as best as I can, but you should know there are still a lot of things I don't know or understand." It wasn't the most reassuring thing to hear, but Max nodded.
"But...why are you here?" she asked. "I've never met another actual person here. They've always been, well, fake. Like puppets or something."
"Huh?" Rachel perked an eyebrow. "But I thought you just..." Her eyes went wide for a moment. "You didn't know? He didn't tell you?"
"Tell me?" Realization struck her, and she looked back the way they came. "Wait, that was really him? No way. That's impossible."
"It was," Rachel said. Overcome with the urge to run back to the lighthouse, Max had to actively fight to stay put. There was so much more to say to him. If only she'd known, she wouldn't have squandered the opportunity. "We're here because we want to help you. We've been...trying to help you." A look of shame flashed across her face. "Trying."
"But how do you go from, um, what happened to you to...here?" Max asked. Something bright caught her eye, and she glanced behind her to find a flaming trail of footprints. She watched as Rachel's foot met the ground, searing another imprint of her shoe into the path. She'd swear they weren't there just a moment ago. Unsurprisingly, the flames didn't seem to pose much threat to the forest. "I know this is kind of a fucked up question but are you, I don't know, the Rachel from my timeline? Or are you...more than that?" She wasn't quite ready to put all of her eggs in the 'afterlife' basket just yet, which left only one other alternative. "Are you like, different Rachels mixed together?"
"I'm just...me," Rachel replied with an small shrug. "I don't feel like anyone other than me. What that actually means, I'm not sure." She looked down and studied her own body. "I don't eat anymore. I don't even think about it, really. Maybe I'm a ghost." She pointed to the branch of a nearby tree where a plump, unknown fruit hung. "There is food here, though. So...that's neat."
"Huh..." Max examined it for a moment, then looked back to Rachel. "A ghost... But I'm not?" She held her hands out, half-expecting to be able to see through them. Instead, she only saw the faint glow of the cuts in her palm.
"Like I said, I'm not sure if I am. But you're definitely not," Rachel said. The talk of ghosts brought Max back to one of her previous questions.
"What were you doing with the animals?" she asked. "Why were you just sitting with them like they didn't do anything wrong?" A thought occurred to her, and she decided to add another question. "So, okay, just to be clear... Are you the, uh, doe?" She searched for signs of the creature, but they had left it behind long ago. Or maybe it hadn't been all that long.
"Am I the d-" Rachel's grim features softened as she cracked a smile. She began to laugh, but cut it short when she noticed Max's cheeks turn red. "Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you. It's just a...cute idea, I guess." She looked ahead as she walked, a contemplative hum resonating in her throat. "No, the doe is just... I don't know, she's very attached to you. Maybe she thinks you're a kindred soul? Or she's just your...guardian?" She came to a stop and picked at her lip as she thought. "Okay, how to explain this... Um, I guess you could almost think of the doe as my...coworker?"
"Your what?" Max cocked her head, giving Rachel an incredulous look. Of all the possible descriptors the girl could have used, 'coworker' was certainly one of the most unexpected. "What the hell do you mean?" She gestured behind her. "Wait, like, just the doe or all of the animals?"
"All of them," Rachel replied easily.
"What?" Max repeated, furrowing her brow. "That makes no sense. They...fucking killed you, Rachel! They tried to kill Chloe and hurt Kate Marsh!"
"They did," Rachel said, narrowing her eyes. "They definitely did. Fucking assholes. But-" she moved her hands in front of her as if smoothing a surface, "but I've had a lot of time to make my peace with that."
"How? How could you ever make peace with that?" Flabbergasted, Max clutched at her hair and took several steps away.
"It's just different now," Rachel explained, "I can't really get myself to be upset about it. I mean, I literally can't. It just feels like I'm...one of them." Somewhat uncomfortably, she shrugged again. "I died in Arcadia Bay. I think I just belong to it now."
"That's...that's crazy," Max responded, spinning back toward her. Knowing that there wasn't much point in trying to persuade Rachel's opinion, she reluctantly moved on to the next question. "Okay, then... You said the animals are your coworkers. Right. So then, what exactly is your job?"
"My job is..." she glanced away and rubbed her elbows as if fighting off a chill, "was to try and stop it from happening. I guess I...wasn't good enough."
"I can't believe it's just...gone," Max said, blinking a new batch of tears from her eyes. "I tried so hard, Rachel. I really did."
"I know you did," Rachel nodded, "I know. You were great. I'm just sorry I couldn't do more."
"I just can't wrap my head around it." Max ran a hand across her cheek and shook her head. "I don't think my brain will let me." A movement to the right of her caught her attention, and she saw a bright blue bird dart through the trees. "If you have a job, then do you have a...boss?" She was fairly certain she knew the answer to that already.
"You could say that," Rachel replied with a tint of uncertainty. "I'm not sure what you'd call it. I've never seen it or...interacted with it. I just know because I know." Despite how esoteric the statement was, Max fully understood what she meant. She'd been experiencing the same sensation.
"Arcadia," she said, knowing there was no need to make it a question. Rachel nodded. "What...is it? Why did it do all of this? I don't understand why we had to get wrapped up in all of this bullshit with the Prescotts."
"It's a..." Rachel scratched at her head, "it's a force. A..spirit? I seriously don't know." She looked around her, sizing up the different trees and flowers. "It might even be a place. It's just...everywhere."
"That doesn't answer why it did this to us," Max responded sharply. She was careful to not aim the disdain at Rachel herself, though it seemed the girl wasn't too concerned with it. "Why did it have to fucking wait so long to get its revenge and then use you and Chloe and Kate as its weapons?" She let out a disgusted chuckle and clawed at her eyes. "Fuck, I mean, even Jefferson was a tool and he had a lot of fucking binders that weren't you and Kate."
"I know, but that's the thing," Rachel rubbed her hand along Max's arm in an attempt to soothe her, "it doesn't think like we do. It wasn't being malicious, it was just...being." She gestured once again to the forest. "I don't think it was waiting. There's no time here, remember? And it definitely does not get older." She moved her jaw around as she found the right words. "I mean, as far as its concerned, it might have happened instantly, you know? Things aren't linear here."
Admittedly, the explanation made Max reel a bit. It took a moment to settle in before she could assess it properly. She'd become used to abstract (or as she was starting to believe, worthless) concepts but that didn't make it any easier to keep up with each new development.
"And it just so happened to pick you three to do this?" she asked. "Rachel, you aren't even from Arcadia Bay. What's the point of setting up all of these pieces? Why couldn't it just deal with the Prescotts in a more direct way?"
"That's what I mean, though," Rachel said, "from its perspective, it might have been direct. Just a...snap of the fingers. It's impossible to tell when anything has actually happened." She shrugged, as if acknowledging the truth wasn't as satisfying as Max had been hoping. "All I can think is that, somehow, it decided this was the best way to exact revenge on them."
"Well, that went great, didn't it?" Max flailed her arms in frustration. "It got Nathan locked up, yeah, but Sean was still free. Nothing was going to happen to him until Chloe and I found his fucking bunker!" Max's brows knitted together. "Wait, if all it needed was Nathan to get arrested, then why was the storm still coming in the reality where I saved William?"
"Oh, um..." Rachel closed one eye as she thought it over, "it just wasn't what it...wanted." She placed a hand on Max's shoulder once again, preemptively trying to relax her. "There's a difference between Jefferson getting caught with Nathan as an accomplice and Nathan actually shooting someone. One affects Sean himself much more than the other."
"I..." Max rolled her eyes, "fine, okay, that makes sense. But I still don't understand why it used all these goddamn bells and whistles. Why not just sic a pack of wolves on Benjamin at the start of everything and be done with it?"
"I don't know," Rachel said, shaking her head, "there must have been something to it. Some sort of...chain of events that would come from that specific outcome."
"Awesome," Max scoffed, "I'm really glad we're going to get to see how that plays out. Oh, wait..." She looked around her. "I guess we won't have that chance now that everything's fucked." She took a deep breath and looked into Rachel's eyes. "Why did this happen? What could I have done differently?"
"Done differently..." Rachel repeated quietly. A tiny, sad smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Like I said, you did the best you could, Max. I don't think anything could have stopped this from happening. I wish there was a way, but..."
"But then...now what?" Max asked. "Am I just stuck here while everyone else is...gone? What about Chloe? I can't do this if I know that she's..." Unable to finish the sentence, she roughly scrubbed at her eye. "I just want them back. I want to know why I have these stupid fucking powers. Why me?" She took a quick glance at the luminescent sores in her hand, then balled it into a fist.
"Truthfully, I don't know why you're here," Rachel admitted. "I...knew you would be, but I don't know why. There must be some reason." She drooped her head to the side and gave Max a knowing look. "If it brought me, William, and you here, I don't get why it didn't bring anyone else." Before Max could comment, Rachel continued forward with a quickened pace. "As for your power," she said over her shoulder, "that's something I'm not sure how to explain yet."
"Well, I guess we have all the time we need for you to figure it out," Max responded meekly. She made a 'tsk' sound. "How does that work? We can take as long as we want to talk and walk through this place, but there's not actually any time. That's...paradoxical."
"Doesn't really make sense, does it?" Rachel replied. "I've tried to keep track, but I can't." She spun around to Max and held up her hands. "I can count how many fingers I have or how many trees I can see. I can count the freckles on your face, but... as soon as you try to assign a unit of time to those numbers, it falls apart." She squinted and conjured a little smirk. "She talked about your freckles sometimes."
"Really?" Max asked. She gently touched her fingers to her cheek and felt her heart beat for what seemed to be the first time in ages. "Did she really talk about me like that?"
"Oh man," Rachel playfully rolled her eyes, "she would not shut the fuck up about you. At first, it was completely annoying, but eventually I actually looked forward to it, if you can believe that." She reached above her, skimming her fingers along a low hanging branch. "Chloe spent a lot of time being really sad and really angry. But when she talked about you, it was like she was someone else." Her smirk had bloomed into a full smile. "I loved when she'd get like that, so I learned to just sit and listen."
"Wowser..." Max could feel the heat build in her cheeks and she was both amazed and sickened that such a reaction could happen given her current circumstances.
"Hey, look," Rachel said, pointing ahead of them. Max followed her finger and saw a rather large pond about a hundred yards away. "Come on, we can rest for a bit."
"I don't think I'm tired," Max responded, shaking her legs to test her theory, "but...I guess there's no harm."
They continued forward until they reached the pond. The water was humming with a neon glow and full of all manner of fish. There were some Max recognized, and even more that she didn't. A few were so bizarre, she had to actively focus on them in order to fully understand their appearance. Somewhat absentmindedly, she bent forward and dipped her fingers in the water. Several small, orb-like fish with six eyes scurried to her and harmlessly nipped at her skin. When she stood back up, she found Rachel sitting on a nearby rock.
"Do you think the real Arcadia Bay was like this at some point?" Max asked as she sat beside her.
"What do you mean?" Rachel replied.
"Like, this...I don't know, nice," Max said. "Ever since everything with the animals started happening, it's seemed so...wrong." She held a hand out in explanation. "Stuff that didn't seem like it belonged. I mean, I'd hear things that just didn't make sense. Things like roars that didn't quite sound like a bear, but more...catty."
"Hm... like a lion, or a tiger, but maybe a bear?" Rachel giggled. "Oh my."
"Yeah," Max snickered. "I guess it's just, when I see it like this, I can almost understand why Arcadia wouldn't mind starting over. If it meant bringing this all back, then I don't know if I could blame it."
"I see what you mean," Rachel said, pulling her legs up onto the rock and tucking them beneath her, "although, for the record, I will admit that the whole 'town destroys itself' thing still feels a bit dramatic." She tilted her head. "Did you know I was in the drama club?"
"Yeah, I heard you were great," Max responded. "Chloe said you wanted to be a model, but that you were interested in acting, too." She thought about Rachel trying to escape Arcadia Bay in pursuit of her dreams and how doing so meant Chloe would be left behind. She took a deep breath, then turned to her. "I think she loved you, you know."
"I know," Rachel replied, looking down at her lap guiltily. "But she didn't. Not really. I could see that, but she couldn't." She sighed and dragged a hand across her forehead. "I never intended to abandon her. It was just...I felt so trapped. Every night, I'd lie in bed and hear the call of bigger and better things." She picked at the frayed tear in her jeans. "She wasn't ready to leave. Again, she thought she was, but she just...wasn't. It always seemed like she was waiting for something and didn't want to risk missing it." She side-eyed Max with a smile. "Or waiting for someone."
"I...really wish you'd been able to chase those dreams," Max said quietly. "It's not fair."
"Most things aren't," Rachel chuckled. "I was stupid. I'll totally own up to that. Desperation makes you do crazy things."
"Oh, trust me, I know," Max laughed. "I know very, very well." She thought for a moment. "Hey, Frank misses you like crazy."
"Aw, Frank..." Rachel sighed again, this time with even more force behind it. "I still don't know what that was or what it meant to me. At first, I was just having fun. Then things got complicated and feelings started happening and I got even more scared. It just made me want to leave faster."
"He knows it wasn't going to last," Max said, "but he fell for you pretty hard. You meant a lot to him."
"Yeah..." Rachel leaned back and looked up. Max did too, and for the first time, she noticed the multicolored stars. "Sometimes I feel like I just ran through everyone's life like a wrecking ball. I didn't mean to, but..."
"Hey, it's okay," Max patted her on the hand, "you can join the club. I think me and Chloe can both relate to that." She frowned as the static of reality hop around her skull. "Well, I guess it really is true in my case. I really did destroy everything." She clicked her tongue against her teeth and regarded Rachel curiously. "Just for clarity's sake... I noticed you're not correcting me. It really was my fault, wasn't it?"
"There's a lot more to it than that," Rachel assured. "It's hella complicated."
"Hella," Max repeated with a quiet snicker, "it's really nice to hear that again."
A lull settled in the conversation, and for a time, the only sounds were those that came from the forest. The swishing of water and occasional 'glub' of a bubble reaching the surface appeared between the constant music of the insects and exotic bird calls. Finally, Rachel slid off the rock and stood up.
"Shall we continue our stroll?" she asked, holding out a hand. Max nodded and took it.
"Why the hell not?" she said.
As they followed the path, they shared stories and secrets, many of which consisted of Chloe's apparently ravenous pining for Max over the five years she was absent. It was only a hint of silver lining, but Max was truly appreciative that she was finally getting to know Rachel on a personal level. In a way, it seemed to make up for the guilt of being unable to save her.
And then suddenly, everything ended. Not Max or Rachel or their being present, but that the forest itself came to a complete stop, as if it'd been cleaved with a blade. They found themselves in a void, with unending darkness stretching in all directions. The path, however, remained under their feet and continued on over the pit, though it took on a more winding, zigzag pattern. Max turned to Rachel and was surprised at the confusion on her face. She had simply assumed the girl was in control of their surroundings. Far off in the distance, a light came to life, revealing a clunky silhouette in the path just ahead. A sense of familiarity washed over Max and, without saying anything, she took a few steps toward it. A spotlight burst from underneath the shadow and illuminated its details.
It was her and Chloe sitting on the hood of a rusted, broken down car. Max was leaning forward with an uneasy expression as Chloe watched over her in concern. It all seemed like a piece of art on display at a museum.
"Just...give me a minute," said Max's voice from the direction of the statue.
"Too much action for Arcadia?" Chloe asked.
"Maybe not enough," Max replied, "this is kinda fun. Scary and stupid, but fun."
The light dimmed, once again dousing the scene in darkness.
"What's this?" Max asked, looking at Rachel.
"I'm not...sure," Rachel responded, bewildered at her own lack of understanding. She seemed genuinely surprised at the turn of events.
"This happened before," Max said, continuing slowly along the path. She stopped and waited for Rachel to catch up to her. "The first time I had a nightmare, this exact thing happened. It was like...snapshots of moments I shared with Chloe."
"Interesting," Rachel muttered with narrowed eyes.
They approached another shadow, this one even stranger in its outline. Like the last one, it lit up and revealed Max, Chloe, and Max's parents sitting around a table. She recognized it as the game of Cards Against Humanity they'd played.
"Nothing says 'I love you' liiiiike..." Chloe's stand-in said, "Running on a treadmill." She made a 'pfft' noise. "Nothing says 'I love you' like not making me exercise."
And then it went dark again.
"I don't...understand what the significance is," Max remarked. "I sort of got it before, but this is...weird." There was a quiet 'oh' beside her and she turned to Rachel. "What is it?"
"It's..." Rachel hesitated, then pointed ahead, "I get it now. Let's keep moving." Unsure of what was happening, she simply did as she was told.
Not far from the previous memory, a new one hovering over the abyss was unveiled, showcasing Max and Chloe in the truck.
"I could be like, the antichrist or something," Chloe's voice said. "You could be finger-fucking the antichrist."
"Then fine, whatever," Max's voice answered, "I'm perfectly content with that." There was a disgusted snort. "Chloe, I know I sound like a broken record at this point," her tone was somewhat mocking, "but seriously, I'd run laps in hell if it summoned you to our earthly realm."
Suddenly, Max felt a pressure spread through her chest. It was crushing, as if something were squeezing her soul. It was also unmistakably familiar.
"Wait, that's..." wide-eyed, Max turned to Rachel, "is it here?"
"Yes," Rachel responded. Max couldn't decipher what emotion the girl was wearing. It wasn't what she'd consider positive, though. Rachel nodded ahead. "Come on, we have to go forward."
"Rachel, I'm...not sure what's going on here," Max said, an uneasy tremor bouncing in her voice. Something that was somehow both far away and very near shifted in the emptiness, causing the pressure inside of her to tip over and spill throughout her entire body. "God, this feeling..." Rachel didn't respond. She just kept walking a bit ahead of Max.
Soon, another memory to the right side of the path became clear. It was her and Chloe sitting on Max's bed in Seattle.
"I'm...really excited to be here with you," Max said. "It feels like, kind of a 'step,' if that makes sense?"
"More of a step than flying through time together?" Chloe chuckled.
"Our relationship progress is very...Escher," Max remarked, "but you know what I mean."
There was yet another just a few steps away. As she got closer, her head swam with a noise that seemed to physically spin through her thoughts. She could feel it in there searching for something to attach itself to. Her hands suddenly hung heavy at her sides and chills ran up and down her spine. The next memory was torn from the shadows, revealing her, Chloe, and Samuel.
"It's hard for Samuel to pick one voice out," he said, "they all speak at once. There is...weight and attraction and going away." He aimed his gaze at Chloe and shook his head apologetically. "Samuel cleaned up your blood. So much of it."
Rachel had slowed a bit to match Max's pace. She'd gone eerily quiet as she simply observed the set pieces around her with interest. In the air, just a bit above them, a moment became visible. Max sighed dreamily at the sight of it.
She sat on Chloe's bed, guitar in her lap and severe look on her face, while the other girl squeezed a pillow to her chest. A tune flowed down from the statues.
"A kiss destined to drown the Earth
With all the rain that you are worth
Come hell or high water from the shore
I'll keep you safe and close to me
Break every...goddamn reality
I...I won't let them take you anymore"
"That was pretty," Rachel said, finally breaking her silence. "I wish I had a hot girlfriend to write songs about me." Max managed a fraction of a chuckle as she accepted the compliment, but she was drawn back to the next memory that lay ahead.
It lit up to reveal her and Chloe on their knees with their foreheads touching. Max could tell by her face that they must have just kissed. It was the only thing that could make her look that way.
"Listen to me," Max whispered, "just...listen to me. My voice. You can hear me, right? I'm telling you, we're together. We are together. Nothing else matters. No matter what anyone else tells you, you belong here with me. That's what I say will happen. That's what I decide."
As Max tried to move onward, she was brought to a stop as the oppressive feeling seeped into her bloodstream. It was becoming harder to tell what was going on with her own body. Her heart throbbed from what felt like several spots, and for a moment, she wasn't sure whether or not she still had anything from the waist down.
"Fuck," she hissed, trying to steady herself.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, taking a light hold of her arm.
"I'm fine, it's just...weird," Max replied.
A bit further, yet another memory was unveiled. It was only Max this time, and she was on her knees in the dirt. She had one hand wrapped around the stem of a strange, red flower. Her eyes were brimming with fire.
"You have no idea what I'd go through to be with her," she said.
The force tumbled in her stomach, making her clench her eyes and shake off the accompanying dizziness. When she finished, another preserved moment was waiting for her. This time, she and Chloe were back in the truck.
"You're not gonna rewind anymore?" Chloe asked.
"Why would I need to?" Max replied. "This is the best possible outcome."
"I'm still kind of lost," Max whispered after it had gone dark, unsure of whether or not she should feel embarrassed.
"I think it'll make sense," Rachel said with a comforting sense of certainty.
"Okay," Max nodded. Before continuing, she took Rachel's hand. "I'm...glad you're here."
"I am too," Rachel responded, offering a bright, beautiful smile.
Soon, another snapshot appeared. Chloe held a CD in one hand while the other was placed on Max's shoulder. Her expression was one of amusement. Max's, on the other hand, seemed flustered and she had her arms out wide.
"I mean, it just seems kinda soon doesn't it? I mean, in her eyes we've only been back with each other for a week. She doesn't know about all the crazy shit that connects us," Max's crazed voice said.
"Maxers," Chloe said, with a light snicker. "It's still under two weeks, even with our time traveling."
Fighting through the strange, indescribable feeling that infested her, Max reached another memory. This time, it was of her and Chloe propped up on the edge of Blackwell's pool.
"Maybe I'm just stumbling back and forth in time...for what reason?" Max asked.
"You didn't stumble when you saved me, Max," Chloe replied.
The noise in Max's head began to compress, becoming something she could almost comprehend. A flicker of understanding came to life and she felt the rumble of something far off.
Without realizing it, they'd come to the end of the path. It split out into a small T shape, lining up three more memories. In quick succession, they illuminated.
On the left, she and Chloe were wrapped in blankets and there was enough exposed skin to insinuate they were nude. Their faces were extremely close, as if they'd been stuck between a flurry of kisses. The scene on the right side was nearly identical, once again placing the two of them in bed during an intimate moment. Chloe had a hand pressed near her ribcage as Max hovered over her.
The third memory stood in the middle. It was vastly different from the other two. Chloe was nowhere to be found. Instead, it was Max and Nightmare Max staring into each others eyes. Max's expression was one of fury, though Nightmare Max's held a devious smile. It was fresh. Perception of time aside, Max knew it had 'just' happened not long ago.
Rather than projecting voices into the air, the three statues remained quiet. Again, something twisted itself in the darkness, pulling at the strands of Max's ability to think. She was suddenly overcome with the compulsion to walk to the very edge of the path. She shot a glance at Rachel, who only looked on with that same indecipherable expression, and then peered down into the darkness.
There was nothing but an abyss. Just a bottomless pit of emptiness. Or... No, there was something there. It was near impossible to see, but deep blow, there was something even darker than the pure black of the void. It was as though the darkness itself was bright enough in comparison to light up the shape. It was enormous. Bigger than anything Max had ever seen.
The shadow writhed in several directions at once. The movements were smooth as they weaved back and forth, the mass of the figure slipping over and under itself as if coiled into different layers. Then, there was the faintest glow, sliding over the figure in a cross-hatch pattern that reminded her of scales. She looked at her hand and found the light in her wounds to be the exact same.
A voice broke her from her thoughts and she turned back to the memories.
"I don't know what I'd do without you," the Max on the left whispered. "You know I would keep trying, right? I would never let you go. Ever."
Without missing a beat, the memory on the right continued.
"You're my literal hero," Chloe said, "and...I really do think that, um... I hope it's not selfish to say this, but I think if I did die in the bathroom, you would've...you would've come back for me."
"I know I would have," Max responded, "it's not even a question."
And then, there was the memory in the middle...
"I refuse to choose," she said with a strong, defiant tone. "I shouldn't have to. It's not fair. There's no reason for me to only have one or the other. I'd keep trying until I had both."
"You'd keep trying!" Nightmare Max replied, and the sound of her snapping her fingers rang out. The wild, mocking laughter flooded the space around them. "That's what I thought you'd say."
"W-wait..." Max took a step back and her foot met the air, causing her to nearly fall off the path. She turned around and looked back down into the darkness. The sounds in her mind were still unintelligible, but they struck her with an explosive realization. The shape gyrated below, exerting its power throughout the broken shards of reality.
Max spun back to Rachel. Her eyes were wild, while Rachel's were something of a compassionate sadness. She was clearly awaiting the next question.
"R-Rachel..." Max whispered with something fearful swimming in her words, "how...how many times have I done this?"
A/N: Because it's called Ouroboros.