Music boomed through the small speakers inside of Max Caufield's ears. Her forehead was gently pressed against the cold glass of the bus as she stared out the window and let the soothing melody of Melancholy Hill by the Gorillaz fill her ears and put her brain in a slight trance. As each yellow line passed her field of vision against the faded gray asphalt, she could swear that it was coinciding perfectly with the beat of the song. It may have been just her imagination, but that would not be the first thing today that very well could have been her imagination.

'Was that really Chloe? Is it really possible? Do I even care if it wasn't? It was just nice to see her again at all, even if it was just a butterfly.'

The bus came to a slow halt, causing Max to lift her head up from the road and onto the opening door of the bus. Here was her stop, her home away from home for this past year, Blackwell Academy.

Headphones quickly found themselves wrapped up and placed in the small brunette's pocket as she stood up an worked her way around the worn leather of the seats. As she walked her way to the front of the bus, Max couldn't help but to notice that she was the only passenger on this trip. It must've been something she just hadn't noticed as she came to sit earlier, but she had far more important things on her mind. Making her way through the metal doors of the bus, Max suddenly realized that the trip she had taken had gone on for far too long, as the sun was now in the furthest reaches of the sky, threatening to set any minute now. She could have probably figured this out without looking due to the extreme drop in temperature, bringing the outside air from a slightly chilly, to a slightly too cold.

'I guess I better hightail it back to my room, don't want to freeze my ass off out here. Even though that would be a truly interesting thing to see.'

The scenery of Blackwell was just beginning to spring itself back to life. Trees that were scarcely placed around the front of the school were just beginning to bring their green leaves back into existence, flowers were beginning to sprout back in the carefully groomed gardens decorating the front of the academy, and the grounds of the school were once again filled with a pleasant green. Max couldn't help but to feel relieved once the winter snow finally seemed to melt away; the cold, blankness of the snow was honestly starting to get to her, and could have been a contributing factor to how awful she had been feeling for the past few months. That and losing the one person that meant the most to her in the world, that too.

Without hesitating, Max began to hurriedly make her way up the stairs and toward the girls dorms to the right side of the school. The girl was still lost in thought. It was a rare occasion that the brunette girl ever walked around and wasn't completely lost in her own mind. No matter the situation however, it seemed that her mind was always attached to one thing and one thing only, Chloe. Especially since that fateful week last year.

Right now, her mind was wandering into the things that her and Chloe would be doing if she were still here. Thinking things like spending the last few months inside and keeping warm with blankets and really horrible sci-fi movies. Max would have been enjoying a delicious, foamy cup of hot chocolate right now, looking at her blue angel and listening to her go on about how crazy awesome the giant ants that sprayed fire were in the movie they were watching. They would have enjoyed just being with each other, laughing and growing with each other, finally getting time together without anything else in the entire world there to break them apart. Max was just beginning to imagine how wonderful that would have been when she was suddenly knocked straight to the ground.

It was her butt that first made contact with the pavement below, thankfully cushioning most of the fall, before the rest of her body rocked back and rested itself on the cold, rocky concrete.

'Thank god that it didn't freeze off. That would've been much more painful.'

Hesitating for a second, Max sat up and opened her eyes slowly, here face contorted slightly to try to deal with the pain that was growing from her rear end, to see Justin standing above her holding his hand out.

"Dude! Holy crap man, are you okay?"

Letting off a weak smile, Max took the skater's hand and let him help her stand, steadying herself before completely letting go.

"Yeah" Max said, gently rubbing the first point of contact. "What happened?"

Looking over at his friend sprawled out on the concrete, Justin laughed, "freaking Trevor. He was trying to show off a new trick he learned. I guess he's just an idiot and can't skate after all."

"I'm sorry Max" Trevor said as he slowly scooped himself off the cold sidewalk and shuffled to his feet. "I was checking to see if this 'Pro Camera' thing was on and I wasn't paying attention to where I was skating. You cool?"

"Yeah Trevor, I'm okay. As a camera hippy though, I am disappointed that you didn't think to turn it on before you started. That's like, lesson one." Max smiled to herself as she made a slightly snide remark.

"So" Justin said as he popped up Trevor's board and rested it on his side; "I saw you getting off the bus. Where did you just get back from? Not that I'm stalking you or anything."

'Should I really tell them the truth? I mean, it wouldn't hurt to say where I was. But, everyone here did just stop asking me if I was okay every single day.'

"I..." Max began, before inhaling sharply through her nose, letting her mind try to calm itself down enough to allow the words to press from her throat. "I just got done visiting Chloe."

"Oh shit." Trevor spoke before looking down at his feet sullenly.

"Today is the day that it happened huh?" Justin asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"6 months ago today, yeah." Max's words began to trail off at the end, letting her voice show off the sorrow building up inside slightly.

"I feel so bad about not visiting her more often. I think I'm gonna go over a little later. I need to drop off my board first." With that, Justin made a gesture over to his friend to follow him back to his room.

"No, don't!" Max interjected, holding her hand out toward the two, causing them both to look back at the brunette girl. "I think she'd probably love to see a board again. She is kind of a skater girl after all."

"Good point Max. I hope you're doing better, I know you've been taking this harder than anyone." Justin said as he pat Max's shoulder gently and reassuringly.

'The saddest part is, you'll never know why.'

"Yeah, thanks guys." her nerves were beginning to get the best of her, as she caught herself grabbing her elbow and holding her arm close to her body unconsciously. After hesitating a second to chew on the inside of her lip, Max decided that the cold air and the way this conversation was the perfect reason to retreat back into her room. "I better get going, don't want to freeze out here. That would just give you guy's another grave to visit." Max was trying to keep the mood light, even if it wasn't working whatsoever.

"Go inside and warm up dude, we'll catch you later." Trevor said with a smile as he ripped his board out from under Justin's arm and began to skate toward the bus stop.

Max simply gave a small nod and wave before treading back into her dorm, still slightly rubbing her butt from the fall.

'No one will ever know the sacrifice you made for them Chloe. They'll never be able to thank you for it, never know that you're a savior. But knowing you, you wouldn't want them to remember you like that, would you? You wouldn't ever want someone tarnishing your perfect punk persona, you big dork.'

The walk back to her dorm was a rather quiet one, as no one really seemed to be outside at this moment, the weather was just cold enough and the lighting just beginning to dim outside enough for everyone to retire back to their own rooms. It wasn't until Max opened the door at the top of the stairs that she even began to hear voices again, making the walk that she had from the front of the school to her dorm's almost sinister.

Once the doors opened however, the light chatter of the girls in her hall filled the void, giving Max something to distract herself from her mournful thoughts. She could immediately see to her right that Dana's door was wide open, with sounds of her and Juliet laughing loudly. It was almost a bittersweet sight to see.

'If I didn't love Dana and Juliet so much, this would probably make me upset. But they've been just so amazing to me that I can't even be jealous.'

A bit further down the hallway were Stella, Brooke, and Alyssa all standing around the bulletin board next to the bathrooms, looking at something on the wall with complete interest.

'Any other day and I would care what the three of them were looking at, but today, I really just can't seem to find it in me.'

Max pulled the keys to her dorm room out of her pocket and began to slide her key in when she heard a soft voice calling her name over her shoulder. It was not a voice that she felt could ever be mistaken, it was the soft and sweet voice of Kate Marsh.

Max spun around to face the girl and smiled a genuine smile at her friend. "Oh, hi Kate."

Walking a few steps across the hall, closing the distance between the two of them, Kate smiled back at Max. "How did the visit go? Are you doing okay?"

'Sweet, kind, lovable Kate. Always looking out for me.

"It went okay. I'm still finding it hard to come to terms with it though." Max leaned her back against the wall before resting her head on it. "I'm sure that sounds kind of pathetic though. It has been 6 months..."

"Max, the heart knows no time, only that it aches. I know that Chloe was your friend, maybe your heart is just really having a hard time dealing with all that happened between you two. It will get better Max, you can take it directly from me." Kate looked at Max with a larger smile before pulling the girl in for a hug.

'My dog Kate, you're a life saver. Even after all you've been through, you're still here for me and have such amazing words of wisdom. Dammit Max, why don't you tell her that?'

"Kate" Max said as she pulled away from the shorter girl "thank you so much. I know how hard everything has been on you lately, and the fact that you're still able to talk to me and make me feel better is really amazing. You always know exactly what to say, I really appreciate you."

"It's no problem, Max. You did the same for me when I was in pain. You seemed to be the only one who really cared about me, I could easily say the same things about you."

Max couldn't help but to smile widely, Kate had that kind of effect on her. She was like a walking pick me up, always so kind and so forgiving. Max was glad that she could had a friend like her, and that she was able to be standing here in front of her.

Her mind began to slightly wander back to that day back on the rooftop. She could still feel the crushing defeat as she watched her friend walk off the ledge in front of her. Not wanting to let that memory drive her further down into a stupor, she shook it off and instead tried to focus on the now.

"I'll have to catch up with you later Kate. I just..." Her brain was having a hard time finding the proper words to exclaim how she felt, without giving too deep of a look into her own mind.

"Say no more. When you're ready to come talk later, I'll be here okay? I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks. I'll see you later." Max smiled as she stepped into her room and locked the door behind her.

She would be lying to herself if she said that talking to Kate hadn't made her feel better. It may have only been the slightest amount, but it was an amount that was noticeable. Walking into her room, Max took a seat on her couch and gazed over at the mess it was perpetually in now. The once clean, organized area was now a place of little care. Books were strewn all over, as were empty food wrappers and crumbled up papers and tissues.

'Some day, I promise I will get back to being tidy. But until then, call me Max Slobfield.'

Her eyes wandered up toward her photo wall, trying desperately to not focus too hard on any of the pictures in the room; terrified of having her mind flooded with sadder memories, as well as the returning of her powers.

In this timeline, Max had never used her powers. She had never tried to alter the course of anything. In this timeline, everything was going smooth enough honestly, and the thoughts of using her powers were not something Max often ever even thought about. Never once during the passing months had she even attempted to see if they still worked. Part of it was the fact that ignorance is bliss, and the second part being that using her powers felt like a betrayal to Chloe. She had to die just to keep everyone else alive, and playing around with time again and summoning another humongous storm just felt disrespectful to her memory and sacrifice.

Just as Max was about to get sentimental and began to let her mind wander back to the best week of her life that never got to happen, there was a rather quiet knock on her door.

"Hey, Max. Open up. I need to talk to you for a second." A muffled, but clearly audible voice called from the other side of the door.

'Wowsers. Two people begging to talk to me in one day. I guess this is what it feels like to be famous.'

Walking over to her door and unlocking it, Max swung the door open slightly to see Victoria standing outside the door with both of her hands behind her back.

"Hey Victoria." Max greeted with a light smile.

"Yo hipster. Just wanted to make sure you weren't drowning in your own sweet sorrow. I know that you always get super bummed out on these days, so I decided to get you a little something." Extending her arm that was cleverly concealed behind her, Victoria handed over a small, salmon colored wrapped box with a bright green bow atop it.

Max couldn't help but grin.

'I'm so glad that Victoria and I are better friend's in this timeline. So much better than we were...in the timeline I left behind...'

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know, but I have no need for the shit, so you're stuck with it, Caufield. It also wasn't cheap so you better be grateful hippy."

Without anymore hesitation, as the suspense was getting to her nerves slightly; Max tore into the paper around the box and opened the flaps on the top. Her face visibly lit up once she saw what was inside.

"There has to be hundreds of dollars worth of film in here!"

"I still don't understand why you'd want to be stuck all retro and hipster when it's so fucking expensive to photograph with this shit. But you do seem to be able to take at least some good pictures with this, so whatever." Victoria said with a wink. Last October, Max would have been confused as to if the blonde girl was being cruel or not; but as time progressed, Max seemed to be able to tell the sarcastic charm that Victoria used on a daily bases. Which believe it or not, made the girl far more tolerable.

"Thank you so much. You really didn't have to do this."

"I know I didn't, I wanted to. Think of it as a way of saying 'thanks for not being a bitch and taking out your frustrations on me for the school year.' I expected you to return my bitchiness back at me, and then some for what Nathan did..." Victoria could no longer keep eye contact, her eyes were starting to sting and fill with tears.

As hard as she tried to, Max couldn't seem to hide her crestfallen frown. "None of that was your fault. I could never be mad at you from what your friend did. Whether I ever forgive him is a different story."

Victoria looked almost shaken by those words. "If I would have just paid closer attention to him, maybe I could have fixed all this. I was always so shitty to your friend too, maybe if I...if I..." Her lips were beginning to quiver as her voice was beginning to shake.

"Victoria!" Max spoke, stepping forward toward the girl, desperately trying to keep her from falling apart. "We already talked about this before, none of this is your fault. Nothing you could have done would have ever stopped that! You're not a bad person."

"...I have to go. Enjoy your present. Just don't use them all on your tacky fucking selfies." Victoria was now wiping tears away from her cheeks as she ran back into her room directly across the hall.

'Poor Victoria. I can't help but to think I should follow her and say something. But I'd rather not make things potentially worse, we're already on our way to being actual friends, especially with all of this film!'

Looking down at the box and picking up all of the packs of film, Max couldn't help but to smile.

'Maybe...maybe it's time I tried again. I'll never get any better if I don't try to pick up the pieces. After all...looking at all of this film is giving me an itchy trigger finger.'

Walking over to her desk, Max grabbed the shoe box resting directly to the left of her desk and brought it close to her chest. Just having the box was a small token of the girl she had lost.

Max slowly walked over to the couch and sat down, letting her fingers trace the sides of the worn cardboard. She could remember when she found this hidden under Chloe's bed while helping Joyce clean out her daughters room. It was filled with pictures of the two of them as kids. Memories mixed themselves in her mind, flashes of the sorrow with digging through all of her deceased lover's belongings, and the memories of making breakfast with her best friend and her father. It was bittersweet, kind of how Max felt today had been going today.

Flipping the box open slowly, the smell of old paper began to fill Max's nose, a smell that was instantly nostalgic. Polaroids were strewn out all over the box, in the middle of the box was the camera that Chloe had given Max last year, placed in there along with a few of Max's own photo's to help keep everything together.

'The last birthday gift I'll ever get from her...at least it's an amazing gift. I'll never forget it, never.'

Max picked up the small, instant camera and smiled a forlorn smile. She had never really taken the time to examine the camera fully. To see all the nicks and scratches on it, the places where the plastic was worn and smooth from usage. She had never taken the time to really, truly appreciate all of the memories that this camera was there to capture, All of the experiences it had endured, the things it had been through. In a small way, the camera felt like an extension herself, with all she had seen and experienced as well mimicking the life of the small, black camera. Just as Max was getting the nerve up to finally stick her new Polaroids inside and begin to try to pick up the pieces of her former life, glancing back inside the box, a worn photograph caught her eye. It must have been hiding directly under the camera in her hands, as she hadn't seen it before. Her hands began to shake as the picture encompassed her sight, as if it were the only thing in existence. Just before the young brunette, was the photo of her and Chloe as pirates. Back when they were happy, back when things were easy.

Back when Chloe was still alive.

Her eyes began to sting and burn with an absolution as tears began to force their way out, now with nothing at all being able to hold them back. All of the struggles to keep herself together today had melted away the instant the photograph made its way into her eyes.

'It's not fair...it's so fucking not fair...'

Her small quiet sobs were quickly evolving into loud weeps, causing her entire body to mourn. Fingers were curling themselves into fists; her chest was heaving in as she attempted to take in sharp, harsh breaths; muscles contorted in her back to cause her to lurch forward and completely collapse to the ground with a loud thud. At this very moment, her body was attempting to let out months of frustration, sorrow, pain, grief, and angst all at once. It was as liberating as it was imprisoning, as painful as it was comforting, as bitter as it was sweet.

Max was all but sure that right at this moment, her cries were loud and painful enough to be heard by her entire dormitory, but at this moment, she could give a shit. Her body thrashed around involuntarily as her lungs screamed out questions aimed at no one in particular, all broken apart by loud sobs. Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks to the floor below her, where they began to soak into the 'Keep Calm' rug strewn across her floor. Something inside of her hoped that people could hear her distress, that they too would feel some guilt for being alive, that knowledge would somehow seep into their minds on the sacrifice her blue haired angel had made for them. No matter how reckless that thought actually was.

Thoughts of Chloe were flooding the poor brunettes mind as she writhed in pain. Thoughts of Max promising to keep her safe, thoughts of Chloe telling her in her own ways that she was in love with Max too, thoughts of the last conversation that the two ever had where Chloe actually confirmed that she was.

After what felt like an eternity of wailing on the floor, Max finally unclenched her eyes and looked around her room. For a brief moment, everything in her room seemed to be completely normal. The sunset was beaming through her window, her computer was left on her email screen on her desk, the pictures on her wall were all still hanging as were the lantern lights strewn across it. Everything around her seemed to be completely and totally average, until she looked back behind her at the couch she had just fallen from. She expected to turn around and see copious amounts of photograph's spread around the floor. For the small black camera to be flopped down on the rug not far from where she had her breakdown. She expected the universe to work just the way it was supposed to, but she was wrong. Completely wrong.

The box of photos had nearly cascaded down on the floor, but yet, somehow completely frozen in mid-air. As if in mid free fall, laws of physics ceased to exist. Max would've questioned this, but something felt...familiar. As if she had felt this before.

"No...oh please...no..." Realization was beginning to wash over her slowly as she stood up from her spot on the floor. The air around her felt...stiff. Almost as if it weren't moving at all. Looking outside of her window, Max saw something she was greatly wishing she didn't see, something she was hoping internally for the entire short walk over to her window. Directly outside was a small, blue bird, completely frozen in mid-air.

"Is...is time really frozen again?" Her gaze fell slowly down to her hand, which was spread open, almost ready and determined to find out for itself. Fear and anxiety were bubbling inside of Max's stomach as her mind drifted toward testing her powers once again.

Her fingers twitched gently as her arm carefully raised itself to shoulder height. An all too familiar tingling sensation ran it's way up Max's arm as everything around her seemed to be traveling backwards. She watched as the shoe box made its way back to its previous home for half a year, and as the blue bird outside made it's way out of her sight.

Throwing her arm down, Max began to feel another familiar feeling, a throb in the back of her head. The moment that she lowered her arm, everything around her felt right again. She could hear the sounds of Dana and Juliet laughing all the way down the hall, could see clouds slowly moving their way across the sky. Just as the blue bird found it's way back in front of the window to her room, time went back to it's frozen, dead state.

"Shit." Was all Max had the heart to say.

Author Notes:

Hey yo, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you didn't cry too hard! I can promise you that the next one wont make you cry for sure, it's going to be a little different though. But I have a lot of really cool things coming folks, so be sure to stay tuned! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!

Until next time, stay golden.