Disclaimer: I don't own Life is Strange.

A/N: Sorry that this is later than the other chapters guys! I had a busy weekend and literally only finished this the now. Hopefully you'll still enjoy it.

We Are Forged In Fire (We Will Never Fall)

Chapter Four: Fierce Words, Fiercer Weapons

[10/07 1.31pm Chloe]: Hey hippie, Prescott's agreed to talk to us

[10/07 1.31pm Chloe]: And by agree, I mean I threatened his entitled ass until he stopped ignoring me and started threatening me back

[10/07 1.32pm Max]: Chloe, are you sure that was a good idea?

[10/07 1.33pm Chloe]: What? It got us a result, didn't it? And threats are the only language that dick understands

[10/07 1.34pm Chloe]: Well, that, and elitist asshole, but I don't speak that

[10/07 1.35pm Chloe]: Regardless, we're meeting him in the spare classroom on the 2nd floor, after class finishes at 4pm – let's get some fucking answers

[10/07 1.36pm Max]: Definitely

xxx

"Alfred Hitchcock famously called film "little pieces of time", but he could be talking about photography, as he likely was –"

Max isn't sure she's ever been this nervous in Mr Jefferson's class.

I mean, of course, I've been nervous in his class before, but that's mostly because I'm worried about looking stupid in front of him because I don't know the right answers. Or being so shy and nervous that I wind up looking stupid regardless.

This time it's because she's well aware of the confrontation that she, Kate and Chloe are going to have with Nathan Prescott is in less than fifteen minutes time and for once, she's finding it next to impossible to actually focus on Mr Jefferson's lecture, no matter how interesting it is.

Max glances across at Kate, who's looking a lot more composed than Max feels. Only the fingers of her left hand, nervously worrying at the hem of her skirt, give away her unease. After a long argument, they had decided to hang off reporting Nathan to the Principal and the police until they'd spoken to him themselves.

(In the end, it had been Kate who'd decided the argument. "I want to speak to him," she had said quietly, her voice threaded with rarely-seen steel, despite her trembling hands. "I want to look him in the eyes and ask him if he hurt me."

There had been no more disagreement after that.)

Max had also been astonished to hear of Victoria's visit to Kate this morning. The video was a horrible surprise (both in its distressing contents, and that it existed in the first place), but the revelation that Victoria actually cared, in her own backhanded, awful-at-expressing-it way, was almost equally shocking. Max had hoped that Victoria might eventually come around, but her sudden act of kindness – even disguised with a show of bitchiness and bad temper – had thrown her for a loop.

Kate on the other hand, had looked the happiest Max had seen since the night of the party. "She cares, Max," she had said, hand finding her cross necklace instinctively, clasping it tight. "She's awful at showing it, but she does care, deep down. And we have an empathic bond," she adds, something like wonder creeping into her tired eyes. "I don't know – I mean I think, with hindsight, I felt a little of it over the last couple of weeks – but it's unmistakeable now."

This revelation leaves Max pondering empathic bonds too. She did a ton of research after she and Chloe developed their own, but it's far from an exact science. No one can even agree if soulbonds themselves are biological, spiritual, or some combination of both – and naturally everyone has their own, sometimes very vocal, opinion on the subject. Empathic bonds are largely agreed to form over long periods of time between soulmates with extremely close relationships, or sometimes as the result of trauma, or intense emotional upheaval, for one or more of the soulmates involved in the bond.

And sometimes, Max thinks, contemplating some of the weirder examples she'd found in both the history and social science textbooks, it just seems to happen for no reason at all. Law of averages, I guess?

"Max? What about you? Can you tell us?"

Max jolts in her seat at the sound of Mr Jefferson's voice saying her name, and looks up. She is immediately horrified to realise both he and the entire class are looking at her expectantly. Oh shit! He must have asked me a question! Fuck! "Um, I'm sorry, Mr Jefferson, I don't know," she says hesitantly, feeling a hot flush of shame. I don't even know what the question was.

He sighs and she kind of wants to fold up and disappear at his clear disappointment. "Make sure you're keeping up to date with your reading, Max. Does anyone else know?"

He turns his attention away from her, and Max catches Kate's sympathetic look as she sinks into her seat in embarrassment. God, he must think I'm a loser. Way to impress one of your idols, Max.

"It was the Daguerreian Process that gave birth to the first self-portraits, which was invented by Louis Daguerre. It gave portraits a sharp reflective style, like a mirror."

Max glances over at Victoria as she answers Mr Jefferson, and her embarrassment fades into surprise at the realisation that Victoria is looking back at her. Instead of mocking however, her expression is oddly contemplative, like she can't figure something out.

"Very good Victoria! The Daguerreian Process brought out fine detail in people's faces…" Mr Jefferson continues, but Max's attention is immediately drawn away again by the quiet buzz of her phone.

[10/07 3.55pm Chloe]: Hey, got out of class slightly early – gonna go scope out the classroom, see you there

Max stiffens in her seat, alarmed at the thought of Chloe going ahead alone.

[10/07 3.55pm Max]: No wait we'll be out in 2 mins

She types hurriedly under the desk, hastily hitting send before Mr Jefferson turns around. To her increasing concern, there's no reply, and she spends the last few minutes of class tapping her foot with increasing agitation. She can't feel much of anything from Chloe, except the low-key impatience and anger she's been emitting for most of the day, but it's not terribly reassuring.

The minute the bell rings, she shoots out of her seat, pausing only to snag Kate's arm on the way to the door. Max thinks she hears Mr Jefferson call her name but pretends she doesn't over the general clamour of scraping chairs and raised voices, hurrying herself and Kate out the door as fast as possible without actually running. It makes her feels guilty but not enough to stop – Chloe is her priority right now and she has an awful feeling of dread curdling in the pit of her stomach.

"What's wrong?" Kate says as they take the stairs two at a time.

"Chloe's went ahead on her own," Max says. Suddenly Chloe's emotions spike sharply, a ripple of rage and suspicion, and she is running now, pelting down the corridor, her heart in her mouth and Chloe's name a drumbeat in her head –

She arrives at the door to the disused classroom, Kate at her side, in time to hear Chloe's voice rise in familiar anger. "Bullshit! You drugged Kate, you fucker, and I bet you had something to do with Rachel too – did you think no one would notice shit happened to them both at your stupid little rich kid club parties?"

Almost in slow motion, Max sees Chloe stalk forward aggressively, crowding Nathan, even as his own face contorts in rage. "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about, you stupid dyke, you have no idea –"

"Oh, I think I have plenty of ideas about what you're doing. You're a sick fuck, you know that Prescott? You're going to tell me what happened to Rachel, and you're going to tell me right now –"

And then suddenly there is a gun pointed at Chloe's head and Max's heart is seizing in her chest, as Chloe's sudden fear joins her own, undercutting her anger. "What the fuck? Get that gun the fuck out of my face, Prescott," she snaps, her voice unsteady. "What's your plan, shoot me? In the middle of campus, in broad daylight? Even you're not that fucking stupid –"

But Nathan seems beyond reason, shaking and furious. "Don't ever tell me what to do, I'm sick of people telling me what to do, trying to control me –"

His finger trembles on the trigger, the gun weaving wildly, and Max can't hold it in any longer, screaming "Chloe!" just as her soulmate shoves Nathan violently away –

A bang echoes through the room.

Max is vaguely aware of Kate's horrified scream beside her, but all she can focus on is Chloe; Chloe falling to ground, Chloe with crimson rapidly spreading across her white tank top, Chloe's terror and horror pouring across the bond, a perfect match to her own –

Max stretches out a hand helplessly, uselessly, desperate to do something, to save the love of her life –

Suddenly there's an odd pulling sensation, like she's grasping something she can't quite see –

– and then the world flows backwards.

"Oh, I think I have plenty of ideas about what you do. You're a sick fuck, you know that Prescott? You're going to tell me what happened to Rachel, and you're going to tell me right now –"

Max can only stare, trembling and utterly shocked beyond words at the rewound scene before her. Chloe is alive. Alive and whole and crackling with fury, and her brain has stalled on the sheer impossibility of it all. Then Nathan pulls out the gun again, and terror and adrenaline flood her system, kicking her into action.

Not again, you fucker!

In desperation and inspiration, Max throws herself forward, slamming her entire body weight against one of the stacks of chairs filling the room. It sways and topples forwards as Max cries out a warning. "Chloe, move!"

Her soulmate wastes no time scrambling away from the gun and the falling chairs, barrelling towards the door, even as Nathan tries to dodge the chairs himself, yelping "What the fuck?"

"You're a fucking psycho, Prescott!" Chloe yells over her shoulder, bravado layered over fear, even as Max grabs both her and Kate's hands, pulling them away as fast as is humanly possible.

"Run now, insult later Chloe," Max manages to say as they pelt down the corridor, torn between overwhelming relief and residual terror. The feel of Chloe's hand in hers is warm, her grip tight, and with every beat of her heart, the pulse point in her wrist seems to say, alive, alive, alive.

"You've got it the wrong way round, Max," Chloe laughs, high on adrenaline. Max can feel the fear and elation running through her in equal measure, but all she cares about is that she can feel it, feel Chloe. She was a hairsbreadth away from losing her forever, and only – only what saved her?

Something impossible.

xxx

They report Nathan immediately afterwards.

("Yeah, nobody innocent brings a gun to a conversation like that," Chloe had growled, as they all tried to catch their breath in the foyer. "He's definitely got something to hide.")

Principal Wells is not very helpful, his disbelief of their accusations clear. Max pulls Kate away from his office afterwards, as the blonde girl blinks back tears. "Why doesn't he believe me?" she whispers. "Why doesn't he believe us?"

"Because he's in the Prescotts' pockets, that's why," Chloe says, moodily. "You've got a lot to learn about supposed 'authority' figures. I doubt the police will be any better, since Nathan's father's money pretty much owns this town – that's why we need to handle this ourselves. Or find absolute proof. Or shit, both would be fucking great."

"Then that's what we'll do," Max says determinedly, if a little distractedly.

During the conversation in the Principal's office, she'd realised that what had happened in that classroom hadn't been a one-off fluke. She'd reached out again on impulse and pulled, and suddenly they were beginning their conversation with Principal Wells all over again. She'd done it again twice more, just to prove it to herself, and she could still barely believe it.

I can actually rewind time. This is completely insane.

"Guys," she begins hesitantly, immediately drawing their attention. "I think there's something I need to tell you…and it's going to sound completely crazy."

xxx

Warren's semester at Blackwell has been surprisingly good so far.

Class has been great and the bullies haven't been as awful as usual and – most importantly – he's finally found one of his two soulmates.

Max is kind and sweet and just as geeky as he is when it comes to movies and TV shows, and finding out they were soulmates had almost made him believe in some sort of higher power after all. He spent a good week and a half in a sort of happy daze, trailing after her like a lovesick puppy, convinced that they were meant to be, before Kate had pulled him aside.

He can feel his cheeks starting to heat up just thinking about that conversation again. Kate had gently pointed out how close Max and Chloe were, and how exceedingly unlikely it was that Max (or anyone for that matter) had more than one romantic bond, and Warren had suddenly realised why, exactly, the blue-haired girl seemed to glare at him so frequently. He hadn't even realised he was treading on her toes.

Man, that was so embarrassing. I made such an idiot of myself without even realising. He'd been a bit crushed, naturally, but he'd eventually bounced back. Common sense dictated that there was a still romantic soulmate out there for him; he just had to be patient. And it's not like I have to stop spending time with Max. She's still my soulmate and an awesome person – I just have to convince my crush to go away now, and everything will be perfect.

Warren sighs, his head falling forward to thump against his desk. Easier said than done.

His phone chimes next to his ear and he jumps.

[10/07 4.45pm Max]: Hey, you busy?

Warren grins, unable to help the buzz of happiness at the sight of Max's text.

[10/07 4.46pm Warren]: Well, I was doing homework, but I suppose I'm happy to be distracted. Are we doing movie night?

[10/07 4.46pm Max]: I wish. No, I've got something important to share with you. And it's kind of unbelievable. Meet me downstairs so I can let you into the girls dorms.

Warren's a bit ashamed of the way his mind immediately jumps in the gutter. With a little effort, he drags it back out again and, as his brain begins to turn over her words properly, he starts to frown. I wonder if this is anything to do with last night?

He'd been startled to receive a frantic phone call from Max about 8:30pm last night, asking him to meet Chloe accompany her while she hunted for Nathan Prescott of all people. He'd received quite a lot of the story, in the form of angry ranting from Chloe (which was quite intimidating), but Max had filled him in fully when they'd returned to her room later, after completely failing to find Nathan.

The thought of Kate, drugged and alone at that Vortex Club party had made his stomach clench up in knots, like he might be physically sick. It's a horrible thing to happen to anyone, but Kate is so kind and gentle… Nathan Prescott is a dick, and a bully, and he's far from my favourite person, but I never thought he'd do something like that.

[10/07 4.47pm Warren]: You got it. Is this anything to do with last night?

[10/07 4.48pm Max]: It's everything to do with last night – but also so much more. I'll give you the full story in person.

[10/07 4.48pm Warren]: Curiouser and curiouser. ;) I'll be there in 2 minutes.

He makes it down the stairs in record time, and sure enough, Max is waiting by the door that leads to the girls' section of the dorms. "Hey Max," he says, unable to help smiling at the sight of her. Reign in the butterflies, man. "I admit, you've got me intrigued – what's the big secret?"

She returns his smile, but he notices that she looks distracted and a little pale. "Hey, Warren. A lot of things went down this afternoon – like, an absolutely crazy amount of stuff. We should probably talk inside –"

The creak of a door opening comes from somewhere behind Warren, and Max abruptly falls silent, paling a little as she stares over his shoulder.

"Max Caulfield, right?" The voice behind him is low and full of barely-repressed anger, and far, far too familiar.

Oh shit.

Warren turns and sees Nathan Prescott stalking towards them, his eyes fixed on Max. He shoulders Warren aside, hard enough to make him stagger into the wall, and then crowds Max, his body language radiating aggression. "You're one of Jefferson's photo groupies."

Warren pushes off from the wall, glaring at Nathan as he does so, anger welling inside him. He's got a lot of nerve acting like this, especially after what he's done. Even through the anger though, something about the other boy's words tickle his mind, like he's heard them before.

"I'm one of his students, if that's what you mean," Max says evenly, her chin tipped up, holding his gaze. The only sign of tension is in her clenched fists.

"Whatever," Nathan snarls, even as Warren steps forward, reaching for Nathan's shoulder. "I saw you this afternoon, with that punk bitch –"

Then it suddenly clicks in Warren's brain, just as Nathan abruptly freezes; at the same time Max's eyes widen in shock, and she takes a step back, staring at Nathan like she's never seen him before.

Those words…

All Warren can think about suddenly, is that moment two weeks ago when their group had been discussing soulmarks during one of their lunch breaks. At Chloe's urging, Max had rolled up her t-shirt sleeve, to display the mark at the very top of her right arm, the only one that remained unspoken.

"Holy shit. I don't believe it – you're her last soulmate?" Warren blurts out, into the sudden ringing silence.

Nathan's head whips around so fast Warren can almost hear his neck crack. His face is blank with shock as he stares at Warren, shaking his head. "What – how is this possible – how can you be –"

And suddenly it's Warren's turn to feel like he's been punched in the stomach.

Those shaky, uncertain words are inked across his ribs in an untidy scrawl, and his mind stalls, filled with nothing but white, buzzing shock.

Nathan still looks like he's seen a ghost, but incredulousness and something that looks oddly like fear is beginning to twist up his face. "This is – this isn't – I don't understand –" His voice is a near whine as he shakes his head, beginning to step back; then in a rush of movement, he's gone, door banging in his wake.

Max and Warren are left staring at each other, in shared disbelief.

xxx

Nathan Prescott is my last soulmate.

The words echo around inside Max's head, but they still don't make any more sense than they did a minute ago. And I thought Victoria was bad.

The last few minutes feel like some kind of bizarre, hyper-realistic dream (or nightmare) and she opens her mouth to check with Warren that they're both awake, when the door behind her suddenly flies open and an agitated Chloe spills into the hallway, trailed by a worried-looking Kate.

"Max! Are you okay?!" Chloe demands, striding forward to grab her hands and scan her from head to toe. "Do I need to beat the shit out of someone?"

With a start, Max realises she must have been broadcasting very loudly and tries to bring herself back under control. "I – no – it's okay," Max takes a deep breath, trying to reorder her thoughts. "Let's – let's go to my room. I guess there's even more to share now."

Warren nods in agreement, still looking rather dazed, and a few minutes later, they're all safely ensconced in Max's room, door locked securely behind them.

"Okay, spill," Chloe demands. "What the fuck just happened out there?"

"I –" Max tries to find a way to make it sound better, but can't. "I – Warren and I – Nathan Prescott is our soulmate."

There's a single moment of complete silence, and then predictably, Chloe hits the roof. "What the fuck?!"

Kate doesn't say anything, but pales rapidly to bone-white, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

"Are you sure?" Chloe asks, somewhat redundantly; Max knows she can feel her certainty through the bond. She nods regardless, and Chloe swears again, clenching her fists. "How can that fucking asshole be your soulmate – either of you!"

"Maybe – maybe I was wrong, then," Kate sounds shaken. "Maybe he's not what he seems. He could have been helping me after all."

Max frowns, her stomach lurching at Kate's distress. "No, Kate, don't doubt yourself like that –"

"Yeah, and remember this afternoon," Chloe growls, pacing around the room. "If he had nothing to hide, why did he bring a gun to threaten me with? Does that seem like the action of an innocent person to you?"

"Whoa, whoa, what gun?" Warren breaks in, looking shocked and Max remembers he's still not heard any of this part of the story yet. "What exactly went down this afternoon?"

They recount the meeting with Nathan, and Warren's frown gets deeper and deeper as they go on. "– and I'm pretty sure that's what he was about to threaten me over downstairs," Max finishes, twisting her fingers together agitatedly. "Over the meeting this afternoon, and for knowing about the gun. And I suppose for reporting him to the Principal for having the gun, and for drugging Kate."

She meets Warren's gaze and he looks about as sick as she feels. What does it say about me – about us – that we have someone like that for a soulmate?

Kate is the one to break the silence that has fallen between them. "Either way, this doesn't have to change anything, does it?" she says hesitantly. "We're still investigating what happened – and on the subject of Nathan, well," she falters a little, then presses on. "Innocent until proven guilty, I suppose?"

"He looks pretty fucking guilty from where I'm standing," Chloe mutters, even as she twines her fingers with Max's and gives her hand a gentle squeeze, clearly able to feel her distress. "But hell yeah, we're keeping going with the investigation."

"There's a small problem with that though." Warren speaks up, frowning a little. "Unless you guys have missed out some details, wasn't Nathan our only lead?"

There's a beat of silence.

"Fuck," Chloe summarises.

It's then that Max remembers what she'd originally gathered her friends to tell them about, something that she'd totally forgotten in the unexpected shock of finding out that it was Nathan Prescott's words she had inked across her upper arm. "Actually guys," she says hesitantly. "You know that thing I wanted to tell you about earlier? I think it might help us get more leads…"

xxx

It's official. Chloe has the coolest soulmate in the world.

Not only is Max a superhero, she's a time-travelling superhero, which is totally fucking awesome. I mean sure, Max needed to demonstrate a few times first, but that's a reasonable response to your best friend claiming she can rewind time, right?

("…Okay, you're not crazy, but you are on something, right? You've not got a contact high from being near Prescott have you? That guy is doped up to fuck all the time –"

"Chloe! No, I'm not high, here, let me show you –")

Of course, Warren is even more excited than Chloe, overflowing with eagerness about the prospect of a real life superpower. "Why do you think it happened? How does it work? Oh man, this so cool," he enthuses, and Max laughs, bright happiness blooming from her for the first time in this entire shitty day.

Kate, on the other hand, looks oddly pensive after Max proves her abilities are the real deal. "Maybe God has blessed you, with something out of the ordinary," she says finally, her eyes brightening. "Maybe it's to help bring whoever is hurting people to justice."

Chloe's never been much of a believer in religion of any sort, but bringing people to justice is the kind of sentiment she can get behind. "Amen to that," she agrees, grinning. "And regardless of whether it's science or God or magical bullshit, you're right Max – we can totally use your new power to find out the truth about what happened to Kate and Rachel!"

The exhilaration that races through her makes her want to jump and run and whoop, but then Warren speaks.

"Rachel Amber?" he questions, and Chloe suddenly remembers he doesn't actually know this part of the story. She'd shared it with Kate yesterday, but she'd neglected to mention it when they were filling Warren in. "Isn't that the girl who vanished from campus last year?"

Chloe exchanges a look with Max, before taking a deep breath and stepping forward. "She was my soulmate too," she says proudly, defiantly, as she bares her arm. Warren makes a sound of shock at the sight of the silver-white words looped around her wrist; a Faded mark is not often displayed. "She was one of my best friends, and I loved her, and no matter what the police said, her death was not an accident. That I am hella fucking sure of."

Warren stares at her like he's seeing an entirely different person, and after a moment, Chloe feels a little self-consciousness creeping in. She straightens up, and looks away, acting nonchalant even as she feels like she should be shaking from the depth of her emotion. "That's what we have to prove anyway."

After that, they settle into a serious brainstorming session, and several hours fly past before Chloe finally kicks them out at 10pm.

"This is my dorm, Chloe, you can't just kick people out," Max says, amusement and exasperation bubbling through the bond in equal measure.

"You thank me when you get you get your beauty sleep," Chloe tells her, grinning. "See you dweebs tomorrow at eight!" she calls after Kate and Warren, before shutting the door.

"I can't believe you're excited about getting up early," Max says laughing as she gets ready for bed.

"Hey, even I can get excited about an early start if it's because we're testing out our soulmate's supercool superpowers!"

It's no time at all before they're curled up together in dark, nestled comfortably in Max's sea of pillows. Chloe's on the verge of drifting off to sleep, when she feels a tremor in Max, feels the slide of her emotions towards something trembling and raw. She comes fully awake again when she hears Max make a little gasping sob and feels what is unmistakably a tear splash on her hand. "Max?" she asks, concerned, moving to pull her soulmate closer.

"Sorry," Max whispers back, embarrassed even as she accepts the embrace, tucking her head under Chloe's chin. "It's just – it's just I saw you get shot today, Chloe. I know I undid it…but it still happened for me. I nearly lost you."

Chloe's arms tighten convulsively around Max. Yeah, that had been an unpleasant surprise when Max had shared that bit of information earlier, but as far as Chloe was concerned, it was something that had never come to pass. She is far more worried about the effect of seeing her fatally wounded had had on Max. "I know," Chloe says, her stomach clenching at the thought of her words on Max turning silver, like Rachel's had for her. "But I'm here. I'm real."

Here, in the cosy darkness of Max's bedroom, it's safe to let herself relax, away from judging eyes. It's safe to let her affection and love flow outwards, with only a hint of embarrassment for being so mushy. And it's entirely worth it for the way Max sighs and relaxes so quickly it's like she's suddenly melted, curled bonelessly against Chloe's chest.

"It's like you're hugging my feelings," she slurs sleepily and Chloe can't help but laugh.

"You sound completely stoned," she teases and Max just hums in response, eyes closing as she curls in even closer.

It doesn't take Chloe long to fall asleep after that either, slipping contently into sleep with her soulmate in her arms.

xxx

The darkness is vast and overwhelming and it feels like terror and drowning, like tar filling her lungs and eyes and nose and ears and mouth and she can't breathe can'tbreathecan'tbreathecan'tbreathecan'tbreathe –

"Max!" Chloe's terrified cry is what breaks through the rending darkness, and suddenly Max is squinting against blinding light. A second later, her eyes adjust and she sees Chloe hovering beside her, an uncharacteristically frightened expression on her face. "Max, are you okay? That must have been one hell of a nightmare you were having."

Chloe's tone is a shaky attempt at bravado, but Max can't focus on it, because she's still feeling it, feeling that overwhelming terror and it's not her own. It's not Chloe either, her bond is warm and familiar, even if it's radiating fright and concern in equal measure right now – this is something else, someone else –

Her phone suddenly buzzes, vibrating with an incoming call, and Max startles so badly she nearly knocks Chloe off the bed. Her nerves feel absolutely shot, and she reaches for the phone with a shaking hand, but Chloe beats her to the punch, scooping it up and scowling down at the screen. "Warren? What the fuck is he doing, calling at two in the fucking morning?"

"Let me answer," Max says, feeling a sudden sense of foreboding. Chloe glances at her, but doesn't say anything, placing it in her hand.

Max taps accept and holds it to her ear. "Warren?"

"Max, oh thank God you picked up." He sounds as shaken as she feels and there's something like a sob in his voice as he speaks. "You're the only person I know apart from Kate with an empathic bond and I think – I think –"

"You just developed a bond with Nathan Prescott," she finishes, her mind racing ahead of the conversation to snap the final connections into place.

"What?" His voice is startled. "How do you know that?"

"Because," she says grimly, even as Chloe tenses beside her, shock and disbelief radiating across their bond. "I think I just did too."

A/N: You know that estimate I made in chapter one about this being about four or five chapters? Well, that was clearly wrong, forget I ever said anything. xD Hopefully you guys enjoyed Nathan's debut and the Warren POV on the situation – some Nathan POV next time and that means all our principal cast will have had a turn. xD

Thanks again for reading guys, I appreciate the time you take and the comments you make, it encourages me so much!

P.S. Also, I meant to say at the end of last chapter, even as I was writing this I noticed how much the butterfly effect came into play just by introducing the concept of soulmates, even with things I never intended – the biggest one so far being that Nathan never drugs Chloe. Max stays in contact with Chloe/is planning to return to Arcadia Bay even before Rachel dies, so Chloe's need to escape isn't so overwhelming, so she doesn't borrow money from Frank to do major overhauls to her truck (plus she's on much better terms with Frank on account of being Rachel's other soulmate and knowing about it). This has the knock on effect of Chloe not needing to swindle cash out of Nathan, and therefore she never ends up drugged in his room! There's still a confrontation with him on account of the Kate situation, but it's obviously for different reasons this time.