Note: Wow, I am really happy right now. Hey folks! I managed to finish this chapter way earlier than planned, and see no reason to make you wait. It's my longest yet, and I'm pretty happy with it. Hints of Pricefield ahead, we're getting there my lovely shippers. Let's dive in!
Chloe stood in front of the house, tapping her leg nervously. It wasn't as big as she'd expected, about the same size as her place was. Before it was probably blown to pieces. For some reason, Chloe had always thought of Max living in some kind of mansion, which had always made it a little easier to stay mad at her. This seemed so... Normal.
"Yo, Chloe!" Max called, standing by the door, "Come on, stop daydreaming." Chloe shook herself, and jogged up next to her.
"Sorry. Was just remembering something," Chloe explained, then opened the door.
"Don't you knock?" Max hissed.
"You live here nerd. You don't need to knock, and if you don't need to, I don't need to." Chloe stepped over the threshold, and shouted, "Hey, trouble's here!" She ignored Max lightly hitting her arm, and waited.
The scrape of chairs came from the kitchen, and Ryan and Vanessa Caulfield hurried into view. Chloe glanced down, her face burning, "Oh man. I haven't seen them in five years, they've been scared shitless and I just barge in going 'Trouble's here'? What the fuck Price?" Max's parents went straight for her, and an awkward group hug soon ensued, while Chloe just stood there awkwardly, "Fuck this." she thought, and cleared her throat, "I'm here too!" she said, trying to sound playful.
The tangle of Caulfields separated, and Chloe suddenly found herself being hugged tight by Vanessa, "What the hell?"
"We're so glad you're alright too Chloe." Vanessa murmured in her ear, "We've been so worried about you two." Chloe felt an unexpected rush of emotion, and embraced her roughly.
Eventually, the two of them separated, and Chloe made sure her eyes were dry, before she was then being hugged briefly by Ryan, and while that was slightly more uncomfortable, she still secretly welcomed it.
"It's good to see you again Chloe," Ryan said, smiling through his thick beard, "When we moved, Max had hoped to see more of you, but... Well, life happened. I'm glad you and Max are together again, even in these terrible circumstances."
Chloe forced a cocky smile, "Me too. It's nice to run around being pirates again."
"You two must be exhausted, come in!" Vanessa exclaimed, "Get those shoes off, and Max can show you to the living room. Ryan will make you girls a snack, yes?"
"I'll get right on it," Ryan bustled back into the kitchen, and Chloe heard the fridge get opened before Max nudged her. She slipped out of her boots, and followed Max to a room with a dark blue couch in front of a small TV. They sat together, and leaned on each other, glad to be off the road.
"Ugh, my feet stink." Chloe complained. "One sec," She pulled off her socks, and then grabbed at Max's.
"Excuse you!" Max squeaked, "My feet are ticklish and don't appreciate your help!"
"Oh you're fine," Chloe ignored Max's restrained giggles, and pulled off Max's socks too, "See? Less stink. Also gives me a weapon if I need it."
"Should've known you weren't being chivalrous," Max muttered warily.
"Chivalry is for dead old guys. I'm much more fun."
Before Max could respond, Ryan came in, holding two plates with sandwiches, chips and fruit. Chloe snatched her sandwich, and began devouring it ravenously. Ryan raised an eyebrow, and Chloe resisted the urge to flip him off as a joke, "Hey, I haven't eaten since Portland, okay? That was like ten hours ago."
"Three." Max corrected, and took a piece of fruit.
Vanessa slipped in, and sat in an armchair next to Max, "I looked in the back of the truck, I didn't see any bags."
Chloe tried to swallow and answer in the same breath, and started choking. Max patted her back, and shook her head, "We left in a hurry. My stuff's still at Blackwell, assuming it's still standing. Chloe..."
Chloe slapped Max's arm away, "Dude, I don't need to be burped!" She looked at Vanessa, trying to seem nonchalant, "I didn't have any of my stuff with me, and I wasn't in the mood to go look for what's left of my house."
Vanessa nodded slowly, then said, "We've been watching the news pretty closely. There's a lot of people still missing, your parents included. Blackwell was mostly untouched, it was too far away from the town proper. But people have hope that they're going to find people. It's only been a day since the storm, and the damage wasn't as bad as they expected. Once the tornado hit land, it lost a lot of power."
"Max didn't tell you the details, did she?" Chloe interrupted, "The diner my mom worked in blew up. I went in, I found three bodies. My mom's not missing, she's dead." Chloe knew her voice was too harsh, but she didn't care. She sat on the edge of the couch, avoiding looking at anyone.
"Chloe, I-" Vanessa started, but Chloe jumped to her feet.
"Look, I just need some time to myself, okay?" She said suddenly, struggling to keep her voice controlled.
"Of course," Ryan stood and pointed down a hallway, "Max's room is right there, first door on the right." Without saying anything else, Chloe brushed past, and slipped into Max's room, closing the door behind her.
Max's style hadn't changed much. Chloe even recognized posters and pictures from her old room in Arcadia Bay. She walked over to her dresser, and picked up a picture frame. One photo was Max with a guy and a girl, standing in front of the Space Needle. A flicker of jealousy ran through her, "So this is who Max hung out with when she went AWOL."
She glanced at the other picture, and blinked. It was an old picture of the two of them, standing outside Chloe's house. Chloe's hair was still blonde back then, and she ran a hand through her blue punk style. The biggest change though was how happy the two of them looked, grinning brightly, not a care in the world.
It was all too much, and Chloe finally broke down, and sunk to the ground, clutching the picture to her chest, shoulders shaking silently. Chloe felt a hand on her shoulder, and she wiped at her eyes angrily, "I said I wanted to be left alone, alright?"
"Chloe, look at me." She did, and saw Max's blue eyes were shining with excitement, "You said you found three people, right?"
Chloe sniffed, "Yeah, and Frank's stupid dog."
Max gripped Chloe's shoulder's hard, "Chloe, there were four people when I was in the diner. Frank, Warren and Joyce were there, but there was some guy I never recognized, so I never mentioned him." Chloe's head spun, as she tried to process what Max was saying, "Something's different in this timeline Chloe. Something we did changed something, and it might have gotten Joyce out of that diner."
"Yes, I know, but I have an eighteen year old girl trying to find her mother right now!" Max could hear her mom in the other room, arguing with one emergency service or another. She'd been on the phone for almost an hour now, had called hospitals, the police, the fire department, with no luck. Max and Chloe lay together in Max's room, both trying to sleep, neither succeeding.
"Remind me again how you convinced your mom to keep calling?" Chloe whispered, her breath warm against Max's ear.
"I didn't really do anything Chloe!" Max sighed for the third time, "All I said was that we weren't sure Joyce was at the diner, and she grabbed the phone." Max glanced at the clock next to her bed, but instead ended up at the back of Chloe's head, "Hey, what time is it?"
"Time to get a watch."
"I have one. Your head is in the way."
"That's a clock, hippie. If you had a watch, my head wouldn't be a problem."
"Chloe..."
"It's a little past eleven. Happy?"
"Not particularly." Max rolled onto her back, and watched her fan spin around and around, blowing a gentle breeze through the room. Max blinked, and the breeze changed to wind that ripped at her clothes, the fan a swirling tornado, heading right toward her. "No!" Max screamed, and just as suddenly as it had come, the fan was now gently twirling above her.
"Max, what's wrong?" Chloe had sat up, and was looking at her with concern.
"I-" Max started, but a knock on the door cut her off, and Ryan stuck his head in, "You girls okay?"
"Yeah," Max said shakily, "Chloe just surprised me, poked me in the side. Sorry, Dad."
"Alright. You two should try and sleep, we'll wake you up if there's any news." With that, he waved goodnight, and closed the door.
"The hell Caulfield?"
"Hey, I took the blame for some weed for you, you can take a poke."
Chloe sighed, "Fine. What the hell was that though?"
"Nothing." Max said quickly, "She'll just think I'm going crazy. Hell, I think I'm going a little crazy."
"Max, that was not nothing," Chloe said sternly, "Come on, you can tell me."
"I- Okay, fine. Just. Promise you won't think I'm crazy?"
Chloe rolled her eyes, "First of all, too late for that. Second, goddamn time travel powers remember? You got something to top that?"
"Oh." Max said, "I guess not."
"Didn't think so. So come on Mad Max, spill!"
Max swallowed, trying not to literally spill her guts all over Chloe, her stomach rolling, "The fan. I looked at it, and it suddenly. I thought it was moving as fast as the tornado, I thought the wind was back, I thought-" Max broke down sobbing, and Chloe pulled her close, letting her cry on her shoulder.
"The fuck is going on with you Caulfield?" Max didn't answer, and she felt Chloe begin stroking her hair, "I mean you gain superpowers, kiss me, and now this?"
"You dared me to." Max sniffed into Chloe's shoulder.
"I meant-" Chloe started, then cut herself off, "Yeah. Yeah I guess I did."
Max didn't trust herself to speak. It was the closest either of them had come to mentioning the kiss on the cliff. Max had been struggling with it ever since it happened, but right now was not the time to deal with it. Instead, she burrowed into Chloe's shoulder, finally letting herself fall asleep in her best friend's arms.
Max woke to a bunch of blue hair in her mouth, "Ugh, come on Chloe," Max thought, and moved her head back. "Oh, right. Sleeping." Max laid back against Chloe, enjoying how warm she was, "You're a great big heater Price."
Her mind still groggy, Max's thoughts drifted back to the last time they had slept like that, after breaking into Blackwell. Then her thoughts drifted to that morning. Finding her picture on Chloe's phone. Chloe daring her to kiss her. Her face when Max actually followed through. Max snuggled a little closer, and she knew she was grinning like an idiot, "Fuck, I'm hopeless." Max thought.
"Max! Chloe! Wake up!" Max jumped, banging her forehead into Chloe's chin.
"Fucking hell!" Chloe groaned, and pushed Max away from her, "What the actual fuck Caulfield?"
"Sorry..." Max muttered, "Nice going, Max. Very romantic.
"Really? You want to wake her up romantically?
"No! Shut up!"
"Alright, we're dealing with that later too." She rolled over, and looked up at Vanessa, who was holding her phone tightly.
"We found her. I've got Joyce on the phone." Vanessa said, and held out the phone for Chloe, who grabbed it, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Mom?" She asked, her voice shaking. Max heard Joyce's voice, muffled but recognizable against Chloe's ears, and she saw Chloe bite her lip, trying not to smile.
Max squeezed Chloe's hand, and whispered in her free ear, "I'll give you some privacy." Chloe smiled at her, an actual genuine smile, and Max hurried out of the room with her mom.
"Thank God she's okay," Vanessa said, collapsing into the armchair. Max sat on the couch, looking at the floor.
"Yeah. I- I don't know how I could have lived with it if she died." Max said quietly, and pulled her knees up to her chest.
Vanessa gave her a strange look, but nodded, "Chloe's been through much, and losing both parents- Well. It'll be alright.
"Yeah, right." Max thought sarcastically, "And everyone will magically be resurrected, and Chloe won't hate me for destroying her home." They sat in silence after that, waiting for Chloe to finish with her mom.
After about only fifteen minutes, Chloe emerged from Max's room. Max hurriedly stood, and walked over to her, "How is she?"
"About as good as you can expect." Chloe said tiredly, "When David went to arrest Jefferson, she decided to stay home, take care of us. Of course we ended up going out, thinking she was already gone." Chloe sighed, and drummed on the couch next to her, "David's still missing, and she's not going anywhere until they find him. The police station got hit pretty hard, and they're just going through the wreckage now. Personally, I think he might have headed back to the Dark Room, been a paranoid detective. Mom's gonna have them go check it out."
"What's the Dark Room?" Vanessa asked, glancing between the two girls. Max glanced nervously at Chloe. She hadn't told her parents anything about their adventures, or their personal involvement with Jefferson.
"We'll explain in the morning," Max said carefully, "It's a long story, and I don't think any of us are up for it right now."
Vanessa pursed her lips, but nodded, "Alright. I don't want to push, I can't even imagine what you two girls have been through."
"You have no idea," Max thought.
"But I do need to know what happened. I have a feeling it's serious."
"It is." Max said, "And we'll tell you all about it tomorrow."
"Agreed." Vanessa moved over to Max, and gave her a kiss on her forehead, then, to Chloe's evident surprise, did the same for her, "Good night girls. Sleep well."
"Come on," Max took Chloe's hand, and together they went back to bed. They settled in, and nestled together again, taking comfort in each others presence.
"Good night Super Max." Chloe said softly.
"Night Che. Sweet dreams."
Max stood in front of a stone tower, nearly thirty feet high. She looked around for Chloe, or her house, or anything familiar. Instead, she found herself standing in the middle of a forested graveyard, stretching as far as the eye could see. "What the hell is going on? This doesn't feel like a dream." Then, a nasty similarity emerged from the back of her head, "I said the same thing about my tornado vision. Fuck. Alright, I need to find some clues, figure out where I am."
Max decided to start by examining the tower. It was surrounded by a black fence, which matched the door leading into the tower. Above it was a worn stone carving, and Max squinted, but could only make out four letters at the beginning: MACL. Above that was a dark glass window, but Max couldn't make out anything through it. She looked more closely at the door, and nearly yelped in shock.
A ghostly doe was standing in the entryway, blending in with the black metal. It was staring right at her, then turned, and disappeared straight through the door. Max hurried after it, opening a gate in the fence, then pulled the door open just enough to slip inside.
When the door creaked closed, Max realized there was no source of light in the tower. She glanced up to where she had been sure she had seen the window, but couldn't find even a hint of sunlight. Max pulled out her phone, using her screen as a flashlight, "Oh shit."
The floor had turned into some sort of sinkhole dropping straight down nearly ten feet. Max barely caught sight of the doe's tail before it disappeared down a tunnel in the earth.
"Well, I'm already in this deep," Max thought nervously, and hopped down into the pit. As she hit, her foot twisted, and she fell onto her side, "Dammit," she thought, holding her ankle, "Fucking typical," She slowly pushed herself up, and gingerly put weight on her foot. She knew how a twisted ankle felt, and expected the sharp sting of pain. When none came, she tried standing normally, "One benefit of being in a crazy dream I guess." Max shone her phone down the tunnel, and saw a huge gateway carved out of rock, leading even deeper.
"What the hell." Max said, and walked through the archway. Then, all of a sudden, a deafening roar erupted from all around her. Max now stood in the middle of the junkyard, American Rust. The wind screamed around her, the trees groaning, and she saw an enormous tornado ripping through Arcadia Bay.
"You failed, Max!" Max froze, the voice horribly familiar, striking at every nerve in her body. She slowly turned, and saw Mark Jefferson standing there, glasses cracked but gleaming, a crooked half smile on his face, "It was all for nothing, you couldn't save anyone. Not even your precious Chloe."
Max began backing away, her breath quickening, "No. No, this isn't real, it's a dream. I'm dreaming!"
Jefferson laughed, and it was then Max noticed he was standing right over where Rachel had been buried, "Come on, you're smarter than that." He slowly began advancing on her, hands in his pockets, looking like he hadn't a care in the world. But Max knew better, knew that beneath his charming demeanor was a reservoir of untapped rage. Suddenly she noticed that she had a gun clutched in one hand, and she lifted it to point straight at Jefferson.
"Stay back!" Max said shakily, "I'll shoot you, I swear I will."
Jefferson stopped, and scowled at her, "Empty threats don't become you Maxine. Though I have to say, I love to see how much of an effect I've had on you." He stopped and spread his arms wide, "So go ahead! What have I always told you? Always take the shot." He leered at Max, his face totally confident, "Kill me Max. Show me how corrupted you've become."
Max swallowed, her hand shaking. She still had the gun trained on Jefferson, but it was wavering more and more frequently. Faster than she would've thought possible, Jefferson was right in front of her, and he smacked the gun away from her, "So, so close." He scowled down at her, "Ah well, I guess I'll just have to break you a little harder this time." Max cowered, and Jefferson gripped her shoulder tightly, "Don't be scared Max. Time's on our side this time around."
She stared in horror at his eyes, which gleamed with malevolence. Looking closely, she saw Jefferson's glasses weren't actually cracked, but were reflecting his eyes, horrible, pure white, and broken, "What- What's wrong with your eyes?" Max stammered, and Jefferson let out a small laugh, "So observant, just like always. I really do like you Max. It's almost a shame that you're going to die." Just as he began to pull her closer, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and Max sat up in her bed.
"No..." She whispered, tears streaming down her face, "Please, not again." She pushed the covers off, and Chloe stirred, grumbling in irritation.
"Max, what're you doing, it's like..." She squinted at the clock, then flopped back into bed, "It's hella fucking early, what the fucking hell is wrong with you?" Max ignored her, and rushed out the door, heading straight for the living room, "The fuck is going on Max?" Chloe called, but Max continued ignoring her.
She grabbed the TV remote, and flicked through to the news, then stopped, and stared at the TV in horror, "Oh God no. Please no."
Chloe wandered in, rubbing her eyes, "Max, did you drink like fifteen cups of coffee when I wasn't looking or something?" She followed Max's eyes, and her breath caught. "Shit."
"People as far as Portland are being asked to report any sightings of this man, Mark Jefferson to the police immediately. For those of you just joining us, in the destruction caused in Arcadia Bay by a large EF5 Tornado, this man, Mark Jefferson, who had been arrested by police, with his charges going from homicide to rape, has escaped and is currently on the run. He is assumed to be armed and dangerous. Do not approach him for any reason."
"I won't have to," Max said hollowly, "Jefferson will be coming after me."
Note: I know I said it in the summary, but PLOT TWIST! Jefferson's return is something I'm very excited about, though know up front I'll be using him sparingly. He's a tool that needs to be handled with care, or this story could very quickly become a horror story D: We've also the return of the doe, and of Joyce. I had originally planned on killing her, as that would be the most likely outcome Canonwise. However I also thought it would make Chloe way too messed up (As she's already pretty bad). I'd rather focus on other things since we've seen that in the game already. This also gets rid of at least one method Chloe has for guilt tripping Max, which she'll hopefully grow out of. Though who knows? (The answer is me, fyi. I like having the answers). Anyway, as you can see, my projected publish dates can be pretty off, so bear that in mind. I'm planning on having Chapter 5 take Chapter 4's deadline, though that one may take a little longer. I've had this chapter planned from the beginning, while the next one I have no idea what I'm going to go with yet. It'll either be short and early, or really long and late. Anyway, thanks for reading, and putting up with my really long ending notes. Just want you to have an idea what my thought process is. Talk to you again soon, dear readers...
P.S. I realize I'm saying this at the end of the fourth chapter. But. If you are so inclined you can skip these notes. Nothing essential will be mentioned other than my projected publish date for the next chapter. If it bores or annoys you don't read them! They'll all be like this. However, if they amuse you, do read them! Cause. Why not?