Hope you enjoy the chapter!
"What did you think was going to happen?"
Max stared at the blurry photo shaking in her hands. "Why isn't it working?" She asked her counterpart who sat across her. The diner was now empty, unlike the reality she drifted from.
"It worked Dumbass." Nightmare Max gave her an amused smiled. "You did travel through the photo and jumped into a new timeline. However, whenever you use photos, you leave a version of yourself behind and you my dear, are the one left behind. Ironic, isn't it?"
This can't be happening.
That was the only thought haunting the time traveler.
"I'll just have to try again-"
"And you will get the same result." The nightmare cut her words and leaned closer, her eyes as hard as steel. "People are meant to die, Max. It is part of life. How long would it take you to learn that?"
"I can't just watch people die when I know I can change it!" Max's voice became higher with every word. "Why would I get these powers if they were for nothing?"
"Well, life sucks. End of the story!" Her counterpart's palms slammed against the table in anger and frustration. "You're not a fucking hero! You're just a brat who never learns from her mistakes! Do you want to know how this will end? You will die again! It is the same thing over and over!"
"What do you mean?" Max's voice lost it's force, and it was replaced with confusion.
"You start, you die, and then you rewind. You are stuck in the same loop. You always end up dying." Her other self explained and felt satisfied when she saw the despair in her mirrored eyes. "Look at the storm heading towards Arcadia bay. You broke time and caused it. If you were dead, this would have never happened."
"You're lying!" Max's anger came back, as she yelled at her reflection. The storm can't be her fault. She wasn't responsible for it. She did everything to help others, so why was she portrayed as the villain? "I saw the storm before I even got my powers!"
"It is because there are two storms. The first one didn't come for some reason, but the second was created when you broke time in the dark room." The nightmare smirked at her and leaned back in her chair. "How does it feel? To know that so many innocent lives will be taken away by you?"
Max's vision blurred as she started to come back to reality, and instead of her reflection's smirking face, it was Warren who was looking at her with concern.
"So, what is supposed to happen?" He asked, confused and scared. The storm and the revelation of her powers were a bit too much for him.
Max came her to use the photo to warn Chloe and stop Jefferson, but here she was, surrounded by people she was trying to save, only to cause their deaths because she couldn't keep her emotions in check.
"I… it didn't work." She answered honestly and looked down in shame.
"Oh." Warren looked at her with pity before watching the storm through the window. "We can still reach the shelters before it comes. You're not a super hero, Max. You did everything you could." He gave her an encouraging smile and she just stared at him with a mix of sadness and surprise.
Warren was comforting her, even though she knew he was scared.
David was still in the Dark room investigating, and even Nathan was helping in his own way.
And in another timeline, the version who left her behind was trying to fix this mess.
She couldn't stop now, even if it meant that she will end up dying like her counterpart said.
She stood up, startling the boy. "I am going to fix this."
"Max, you can't stop a storm!" He followed her.
"I am the only one who can stop this storm!" She turned to him, and saw that he wanted to stop her, but she wasn't going to give him the chance.
She stopped time and this time it came so easy to her. She could see the cracks in the air, the glass at ever corner. She had to fix this.
She sighed and ran towards the storm, ignoring her bleeding nose.
What could Chloe say to her if she was here? She'd probably try to convince her that this wasn't her fault. That this wasn't her responsibility. But Chloe wasn't here. She was killed.
No one else was going to die because she was reckless. Never again.
She stopped at the beach and stared at the horrifying tornado. It all felt like a Déjà vu, maybe it was. Maybe she faced the storm and ended up dying.
She tried to collect her thoughts and find a way to stop it.
Her powers would usually do something when she needed them, but there was nothing.
What was she thinking? Coming all the way here without a plan?
How could time travel stop a giant tornado?
"You never listen, do you?" She turned to face her alternate self, who stood there with crossed arms and an indifferent expression. "What are you going to do?"
"I…" Max started, but her resolve died as she stared helplessly at the storm. "I don't know."
"You're so pathetic. I can't believe we are the same person." Nightmare Max mocked her, and her expression became more amused as she watched her enemy about to break down. "It always ends with a thread."
"When did the first storm disappear?" Max asked suddenly, which caught her other self off guard.
"I don't know." The nightmare answered, but then she decided to test a theory. It might be a helpful one, but it was still a way to destroy her counterpart. "Actually, I sensed something was off in the dark room, well, aside from you fucking up time and space. The dark room might be the key to the storm. But that's only a thought. I could be wrong because things got mixed up with the second storm."
Max's eyes widened. "What do you mean something was off? When?!"
Nightmare smirked, then pressed her finger against her forehead before starting to disappear. "I'm afraid I can't stick for longer. I'm going to join the other you who left you in this situation, it can't be helped that I can only be connected to one version."
"You can't just leave now!" Max yelled at her, and the desperation was obvious in her voice. "Tell me! What stopped the first storm!"
Nightmare Max only smiled. "See you in hell."
The time traveler was left behind.
She kept repeating what happened in the dark room in her head. She was being photographed by Mark Jefferson, then he was going to kill her. As luck would have it, Nathan was there, and he brought David with him. Jefferson and David were fighting, and the teacher was reaching for the gun and…
Realization hit her.
Her counterpart pointed to her forehead, which was the same place where the bullet went through.
That was where she shot Mark Jefferson.
Max looked at the palm of her hand, and for some reason, she wasn't surprised by the vortex mark that appeared on it, as if she saw it before.
Maybe in another time, in another place.
"I have to stop him, to stop the storm. Is that it?" She asked herself, trying to muster up her courage. What she was going to die was a risky move, but if it worked, it would stop both storms. "I'm asking you to help me, one last time." She referred to her powers then looked at the tornado before lifting her rewind hand.
This was it. This was her last chance.
The world became nothing but a blur of voices and memories replaying in reverse. The red liquid was dripping on her face, and her whole body was being crushed by the weight of the rewind.
She was going to rewind as far as she could and prevent this from happening.
She relived the last hours, from the diner to the dark room to the junkyard.
And then she stopped and she fell on her knees, grasping her chest and trying to breath. Her body felt numb from all the pressure. She looked around and found herself in the same spot, except it was a sunny day, not an apocalyptic one.
What caught her eyes, was a truck in the distance, and two teenagers walking towards a RV.
The two teenagers were Chloe, and herself.
They were there for Frank's client list.
Max closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, to accept what just happened. This rewind didn't take her back to her previous self, she went back whole and now there were two Maxes in the same place.
What would happen next was obvious.
But maybe it was for the best.
She took her phone and sent a text to David about the dark room. She didn't bother to delete it.
She pretended not to notice the cracks in her body. She pretended that she didn't care about her fate.
It always ends with death, but this death wasn't in vain. This Max Caulfield might disappear, but the one currently talking to Frank will stay, will live, and grow old. Chloe won't die, and Jefferson will be in jail.
Few hours later, there was nothing but dust where she was sitting.
Another thread was cut, and the storm never came.