Epilogue

Three Days Later...

'Life is shit.' Those three words had summed up the last six months at a bare minimum for Chloe Price. And that wasn't counting the four and a half years before that. But this last six months had been especially cruel. Rachel Amber, the one person who could shine like a beacon of hope through the deluge of crap she'd endured all this time, had vanished without a trace. At first she thought the lioness had bailed on her. But then as time passed, Chloe realised that was probably an optimistic outlook. So out had come the stapler, the reams of paper and the design software to make a Missing Person poster. She'd lost count of how many she'd printed.

To make matters worse, she owed money. A lot of money. And she'd been so deep in it that she'd tried to rip off Nathan Prescott of all people for a chunk of it. It had backfired epically and her attempt to blackmail him over it didn't go much better since he brought along a gun of all things. The encounter had left her more shaken than she'd cared to admit. So she put her feet up on the dash of her truck and then started checking the news on her phone. Part of her was hoping for a Rachel Amber sighing. Part of her was just hoping to hear that someone out there had it worse than her.

She was disappointed on both counts. Arcadia Bay was a pretty quiet place. If something went down, the residents would start gossiping about it before the local papers did. But News America turned up shockingly little, too. That said: Seattle had it pretty rough over the last few days. A young boy had apparently been blinded in a vicious acid attack and a set of human remains had been found in what appeared to be the remains of an old amusement park in the middle of the city.

Chloe paused and did a double-take, clicking on that one to read it. The ID card on the remains listed the deceased as Ana Nagakawa. Something about that name and the mention of an amusement park seemed somewhat familiar. But for the life of her she couldn't place it. No. There was no sense in mulling over it. The name meant nothing to her. How could it? She'd never really been outside of Arcadia Bay unless it was to see family. Certainly not to Seattle. Although she'd like to. Her family always had an interest in travelling. Her dad had called them all 'free-spirited' or something like that. They were saving up for a trip to Paris way back when, but...

Chloe was snapped from her thoughts by a commotion nearby. Nathan Prescott. Of fucking course it had to be him! And he'd gotten into a very one-sided fight with another boy- Warren, she seemed to remember his name was- and another girl. Chloe didn't recognise her at all. She was quite slender with a hoodie and a messenger bag on and shoulder-length brown hair. And both of them clearly needed saving. Without a second thought, she fired up the engine and pulled the truck out; rolling over just as the girl was thrown down in front of her. She just caught the tail end of Nathan's rant as it happened. Because of course he was ranting like a madman.

"-Not my parents, not the principal, or that whore in the bathroom!" The girl was picking herself up as Nathan was bringing a hand to scratches she'd apparently left on his face, his rage only intensifying. But in that split second, the two girls were focused on something else entirely. Their eyes had met and- even though they both looked nothing like they did back then- each of them knew exactly who it was.

"Max?"

"Chloe?"

"No way." Nathan said, his voice dangerously calm. "You again?" He started to advance, but was tackled from the side by Warren, both of them tumbling to the ground. Nathan was on him in an instant, landing blow after blow as he tried to block it.

"Warren!" Max called out, perhaps hoping to offer him a rescue as well. Chloe knew there was no time. If Nathan had him, he was finished.

"Go! I've got this!" he shouted back amidst the raining bows. But that in turn caused the onslaught to cease. Nathan had realised the primary target of his rage was about to get away. And he couldn't have that.

"Get in, Max!" Chloe threw the passenger door open. Safety was right there. Knowing that Nathan was back up and after her, Max jumped in not a second too soon. Nathan swung a kick at the truck that only managed to close the door behind her. But half a second sooner and it would have easily broken her ankle.

"Get your punk asses out of there now!" he screamed as Chloe started to pull away and speed off. "Don't even try to run! Nobody messes with me! Nobody!"

Chloe was already gone. The truck sped from the Blackwell parking lot as she saw David running over in the rear-view mirror. Even she had to admit, while David wasn't good for much, he set a positively glowing example as a member of Blackwell security. He was totally incompetent, and always late to the action. Why did security always show up after the fights were over? But it didn't matter. What mattered was that she and Max were away.

Max... She and Max... Max and her... The thought made her head spin. For five years, she was left alone with nothing. Max kept in contact for maybe a month and a half but that was the last she'd heard from her. She'd always sworn to herself that if she ever dared to show her face again, she'd take Max back in a heartbeat. But that being said, she couldn't just let it slide.

"Man, Nathan Prescott is messed up. And dangerous... This day never ends..." Max sighed. That was it? Not even a thank you? That was it. Chloe was giving her a mental slap right now.

"'Oh, and thanks, Chloe!' After five years you're still Max Caulfield." Max's face dropped visibly. Chloe knew it had worked. Now she had to boost her back up. Keep her walking that knife edge between guilt and relief. There were things that needed saying, otherwise they'd hang over her forever. But she couldn't afford to drive her off. Not so soon after getting her back. "Don't give me the guilty face. At least pretend you're glad to see me."

"I am seriously glad to see you." Max nodded. From the tone of her voice, Chloe believed her. "Oh, and thanks, Chloe. It makes perfect sense I'd see you today." And it really did! Chloe didn't have to think about it to know that the way things were going this turn of events felt so natural.

"Yes, it's been that kind of day. So what did that freak want with you?"

"Hopefully nothing after today." Max sighed. "So how do you know Nathan?"

"He's just another Arcadia asshole." Chloe knew she hadn't fooled Max for a second, but there was no need to dump all her problems on her at once. She'd drip feed it to her. If she had the stomach for it, she'd stick around. But she changed the subject for now. "Your friend really took a beatdown for you."

"Warren? Yeah, I owe him big time."

"You're not the only one in debt." Chloe muttered. "And you're already causing trouble." That in itself was enough to trip her out. Max would have never caused trouble of any kind before. For a second, it almost left Chloe wondering if she'd picked up the wrong girl. Then again, it wouldn't have been the first time that had happened.

"I thought it would be quiet here." Max said. "Feels so weird to be back." Oh, Max... She had so much to learn about how much Arcadia had changed.

"So I guess Seattle sucked hard?" Chloe asked. But even as she spoke, images ghosted across the back of her mind. Graffiti murals on walls, trash heaps, a night club... An insect hive? Why an insect hive? Or was she interpreting the image right? And how did she know all of this? She'd never been to Seattle!

"I guess." Max shrugged. It was cool, but... I felt kind of lonely. Out of my league." Chloe hated the way her heart jumped as she'd heard that. She hated that Max had felt lonely, Of course she did. But the clingy part of her made her hope that it would be enough for her to stick around again. But at the same time, she wasn't the reason Max had come back in the first place. As evidenced by the fact she hadn't said anything.

"I would think you'd fit right in with the art school hipsters."

"You look like the cover of Hipster Girl dot com." Max countered. Fair. She knew she'd had a style change since Max had seen her last. And the fact that Max still had her humour was a source of hope.

"At least you're still a smartass."

"That's why I'm here." Now that one did leave a bitter taste.

"Please, girl. You came back for Blackwell Academy." Her tone brooked no argument, but it still stung when she didn't even try to deny it.

"Of course. It's one of the best photography programs in the country... And my favourite teacher, Mark Jefferson. That bitterness intensified. Chloe hated it, but it was something that needed to be worked through.

"So you came back to Arcadia for a teacher... Not your best friend."

"Don't you think I'm happy to see you?" Max looked almost hurt at that. Fucking why? She herself just said that her best friend wasn't on her mind when she returned.

"No. You were happy to wait five years without a call or even a text." No sense shying away from it. And it had the desired effect.

"I'm sorry." From the weight in Max's voice, Chloe knew she was. "I knew things were tough on you when I left."

"How do you know? You weren't even here." It was harsher than Chloe had intended. For a second she worried she'd gone too far. But Max had some bite in her too.

"I didn't order my parents to move specifically to fuck you over, Chloe."

"You've been at Blackwell for almost a month without letting me know. 'Nuff said." At that, she could see Max visibly deflate. She found herself desperately hoping Max didn't think she hated her.

"I just wanted to settle in first and not be such a shy cliché geek. I totally would have contacted you..."

"I bet you don't use these say excuses on Mr Jefferson... Don't use them on me, Max." Knowing that she'd lost, Max flopped back in her seat. Apparently she then decided to take a selfie to lift her spirits because she reached forward again and grabbed her bag, going for her camera. Or what was left of it, anyway. It must have happened when she was thrown down in front of the truck.

"Broken. Oh man, are you cereal?" In an instant, a rush of blissful nostalgia came flooding back. All the memories she and Max had made together as kids. Those days had been amazing and all wasn't lost. They could have that time back. Chloe would do her best to make sure it happened. If Max was willing, that was.

"Wow, haven't heard that one in a while..." She was trying to play it neutral but she knew she was breaking out in a grin.

"Not everything changes." At that, the spark of hope within Chloe grew just a tiny bit. "Except my camera has officially taken a shit."

"My step-douche has a boatload of tools. Maybe you can fix it at my place..." She didn't know what she'd been expecting when she said that. Or hoping for. Obviously she was taking Max back to hers anyway since there was no better place. And that was saying something as to how much the town had nosedived. But was she expecting Max to burst into happy tears and jump into her arms? Maybe not since Max was too introverted for that; and she was also smart enough not to do that when Chloe was driving.

"I need very specific, tiny tools."

"Nerd alert!" For a second, Chloe had to catch herself. That tone and that expression were both straight out of 2008. For a split second it actually was just like when they were kids again. "My stepdad has a fully-stocked garage." Ouch! Had she just referred to David as her stepdad? That just showed how far her guard was down. Only Max had that power. "And he actually is a tiny tool." It was an afterthought, but it allowed her to save face.

This was good, though. This was proof that for the first time in half a decade, she could have back a glimmer of what had been lost. They both could. And once they found Rachel as well, things would be better than ever. This was it. This was the moment she broke away from the path life had set for her in all its cruelty and finally started carving a new path.

"Welcome home, Max."

End!

Author's Note: And here we are! This is the end of Carving a New Path. Thank you so much to everyone who showed their support over the course of this story. It's meant the world to me to hear your feedback over the course of this story. This was outside my usual comfort zone since it was a new setting in a new writing format. Since it seems to work so well, I can confirm that this will become my new format for Life is Strange stories. It may be some time until my next upload. Mainly because this was my last story I had immediately ready to go up. I do have a story to go up for the Wednesday fandom, so if anyone's interested then please feel free to go and check out what I have up over there. Other than that, I wish everyone happy reading and I hope to have more Life is Strange content for you soon.