Disclaimer: I don't own Life is Strange.
A/N: Well, Before the Storm has pulled me right back into the LiS fandom (although this my first time actually writing for it) – that, coupled with a whole slew of Avengers soulmark fics I've read recently were my inspiration for this story. xD
We Are Forged In Fire (We Will Never Fall)
Chapter One: No Matter What, We Will Always Have Each Other
Max meets her first soulmate when she is five years old.
It's the first day of kindergarten and Max is all but hiding behind a tall, broad oak tree, completely overwhelmed by the noise and clamour of the busy playground, wishing that she didn't have to go to school at all. She's so distracted, she doesn't notice the other girl until she's virtually right next to her.
"Hi! My name is Chloe Price! What's yours?"
Max freezes in shock for a moment, before whipping around. The smiling girl next to her has choppy strawberry-blonde hair held back in a ponytail, and the brightest blue eyes Max has ever seen. "It – it's you! You – you said my words! You're my soulmate!"
The other girl's eyes widen in shock for a moment, then an even broader smile breaks over her face, her entire expression lighting up. "Oh man! You said mine too! This is so cool! Oh wow!" And then Max finds herself engulfed in a hug, spinning around as Chloe twirls them both around in dizzying circles, squealing in delight, and Max finds herself laughing out loud, joy fizzing inside her like lemonade on a summer's day.
Maybe school won't be so bad after all.
xxx
It is most common for people to have one or two soulmates. Three is more unusual, four even moreso, and five is rare. Six or more is nearly unheard of, although there is a documented case of a Frenchman with ten marks born in 1962.
Soulmarks come in two forms, platonic or romantic. It is up to the individuals to determine the nature of their bond. Some soulmates also develop an empathic connection over time, although the strength of the bond varies depending on the individuals in question –
"When do you think we'll meet them?"
Max looks up from her Social Science homework, across the table at Chloe. "What? Who?"
Late afternoon sunshine slants in through the windows of the Prices' patio doors, bathing the living room in rich golden light. Chloe's Chemistry homework lies untouched in front of her, and she's examining her right arm again, where her second soulmark sits, wrapped around her wrist like a delicate bracelet. "Our other soulmates of course. I can't wait to meet 'Come with me if you want to live!'" She grins across at Max. "They sound super interesting. And you have four other people still to find!"
"Maybe we'll meet them in high school," Max says, closing her book. She can hear Joyce bustling around the kitchen and the smell of roast chicken is starting to float through the house, making her mouth water. "I think we've introduced ourselves to virtually everyone in middle school."
"True," Chloe groans, slumping over. "Not gonna lie though, Max, at least one of your soulmates kinda sounds like a dick."
Max can hardly argue with that. 'Yeah, I've seen you in class before. Why don't you do yourself a favour, and just stay out of my way?' doesn't sound like a friendly person. "What about yours?" she asks, to distract herself. "You're either going to have a crazy-adventurous life when you're older, or your other soulmate will be a massive Terminator fan."
"Or both!" There's an unholy gleam in Chloe's eyes and a wicked smile on her lips, and Max is struck suddenly by how beautiful she looks, lit by the mellow golden glow of late afternoon sunlight and hopes she isn't blushing as obviously as she feels like she is.
"I wonder when Joyce will find her second soulmate," she says, mostly to distract herself.
"Who knows." Chloe rolls her eyes. "With a soulmark like 'I'll have the maple and bacon pancakes, with black coffee' Mom could literally bump into them at any possible time, given where she works." She leans back in her seat, watching Joyce moving around the kitchen and an affectionate smile tugs her lips. "They better appreciate her. And get along with Dad too. Soulmate or not, if they don't like Dad, I'm kicking them out the door."
Max laughs and smiles at Chloe. "I'm sure they will. How could they not?"
(Less than a year later, Joyce is standing outside the supermarket, a pile of grocery bags at her feet, when the neat black lettering on the back of her left hand changes colour to the faded silvery-white of an old scar. Half an hour later, Max falls off the sofa in the Prices' living room when Chloe's scream reverberates through the house and a grief not her own tears through her like a cannon blast.)
xxx
Leaving Chloe behind is the worst feeling in the world.
Max's mother's company offered her a fantastic promotion and pay rise if she was willing to relocate to Seattle, and Max does understand, she does but –
She's leaving Chloe behind.
The whole thing was already in motion when William died but now it feels twice as awful, to leave when Chloe needs her most.
A small guilty part of her is almost a little bit relieved though – their empathic bond could not have come at a worse moment. Chloe's constant black grief weighs on Max's heart, dragging her down like a millstone around her neck, but with every passing mile, that weight lessens a little as the bond is stretched thin over the vast distance separating them.
Max adjusts to life in Seattle and for a few weeks Chloe is a distant buzz at the back of her mind, as she explores and goes to school and tries her best to make new friends. (And always, always she looks for her remaining soulmates, the other pieces to complete the jigsaw that she and Chloe began so long ago.) Then her phone buzzes for real and Max stares down at Chloe's name flashing on the screen.
For a moment, she shies away from answering like she has done for the last couple of days, not sure if she can take the renewal of misery, of the grief that sings between them, for temporary separation and permanent loss alike. But in the end it is that same misery that makes her pick up the phone, because Chloe's pain is like a black rainstorm in the distance and she can't let her bear it alone anymore.
Max curls up on her bed with her phone and shares the every single detail of what's been she's been doing for the last couple of weeks, deliberately keeping her voice light-hearted, deliberately not focusing on how quiet Chloe's replies are, and how rough her voice sounds from the crying she's been doing.
(Chloe isn't anywhere close to her normal vibrant self and the conversation is every bit as painful as Max feared – but in the distance, she feels the storm clouds lighten just ever so slightly, and knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is the right thing to do.)
xxx
It is two years later and Chloe has seen Max four times in that period.
It is not enough – it is never enough, but they still bask in each other's presence, utterly inseparable, barely stopping touching for more than a few seconds the entire week they're together. They greedily hoard their precious time, knowing all the while that Max will have to go back to Seattle at the end of her stay.
Even now, Chloe can feel a faint trace of Max in the distance, fainter because her emotions aren't spiking with anything particularly strong at the moment, and has to banish the sudden wild surge of painful longing. It's not forever, she tells herself. Max is trying to persuade her parents to let her come to Blackwell Academy for her senior year, remember? It'll be fine. It'll work out. Plus, as Mom keeps so helpfully reminding me, it's motivation to keep my grades up.
Chloe rolls her eyes and snorts in disgust to herself, as she walks along the forest path. Her grades are barely passing muster (it's so hard to care about something so pointless anymore), but it would be cool to go to school with Max again. (It actually doesn't matter what it is we do. As long as it's together.) Her soulmate was the one bright point in her otherwise shitty life (let's not even touch the whole fucking David situation, I still can't fucking believe he's Mom's other set of words).
The thud of distant music breaks into her darkening thoughts and Chloe grins, speeding up as she catches sight of lights up ahead, signalling that she's found the Firewalk gig. C'mon future, hurry up and arrive!
(Less than an hour later, a beautiful blonde girl with clear hazel eyes and bright blue feather earrings throws a bottle at a thug's head and then grabs Chloe's hand, grinning at her with a wicked smile. "Come with me if you want to live!" Dazed with shock, all Chloe can do is follow, and then, as the lingering fear begins to wear off, something bright and happy starts to well in her chest instead. Two point of light now, instead of one.)
xxx
Max would be lying if she said wasn't at least a little bit jealous. Rachel Amber is beautiful and clever and kind, but most importantly she's Chloe's other soulmate, and Max can't help but feel a little inferior.
She bites her tongue though, concentrating on Chloe's overflowing excitement and telling herself to stop being selfish. Chloe will have to share her with four other people too, so frankly she has no right to be jealous of Rachel.
She's still disappointed though when they finally speak through Skype and they don't have each other's words. Rachel has two soulmarks aside from Chloe's, one of which belongs to some guy named Frank (who Max gets a sense that Chloe disapproves of, but she hasn't said anything outright) but Rachel's last set of words remain unspoken. It would have been so much better if she and Rachel could have been soulmates too (but when is the universe ever that convenient?)
She can tell Chloe's disappointed too, but she recovers quickly and as the conversation flows smoothly between the three of them, Max finds herself relaxing. She listens to Chloe and Rachel falling over each to tell the story of last night's prank on Rachel's neighbours, choking back their laughter all the while, and smiles to herself. This might work after all.
(Max only ends up meeting Rachel four times in total, on each of her biannual visits over the next two years, but those four weeks leave a lasting impression. She can't deny she's still sometimes intimidated by the sheer force of Rachel's personality, and still sometimes a little jealous of the fact that she gets to spend every day with Chloe, but Rachel is undeniably a wonderful person, one that Max genuinely likes, independent of her status as Chloe's soulmate.
It makes it twice as hard when, on the 21st of April 2013, mere months before Max is due to rejoin them, the words adorning Chloe's wrist abruptly fade to silver-white. Max is brought to her knees by the scream that echoes over the hundreds of miles separating Arcadia Bay from Seattle, a raw, keening, agonised wail that keeps on going and Max is left curled on the ground, her forehead touching the sidewalk as tears stream down her face. She's barely aware of the hands on her shoulders, the concerned shouts of people around her, but all she can do is sob until her lungs ache and her vision blurs, because she's gone, she's gone, she's never coming back, Max, Max, please don't leave me too, Max please –)
A/N: I don't know how many chapters this will have, but I'm estimating about four or five? We'll see, with any luck my inspiration will hold. Thanks again for reading, if you liked it please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. :)
P.S. Obviously, I've fudged Chloe and Rachel's meeting just a tiny bit, mostly because I couldn't resist that quote. xD