"I spend every day showing people the power of history. But history only has the power you give it."
― Barry Meltzer

Episode 1: letoH aidacrA

Chapter 1: On A Dark Desert Highway

"Lost nowhere with your eyes shut and your hands over your ears while you run." The old woman said as she sat against the remains of what looked like a trailer. "Haven't seen you in a while. I was starting to think you found your way out."

Looking at the woman was like looking in the mirror. For some reason it both terrified and gave Chloe comfort. She spoke her bleak news nonchalantly, "There is no way out. I tried to walk to the highway, but it gets foggy and…" She held her left forearm in her right hand nervously. "I end up back in the middle of town. You've been here a long time, what do I do Miss Ophelia?"

Ophelia's aged face formed a smile when her name was mentioned. "Chloe Geoffrey, you're really trying to butter me up aren't you? In a thousand years, you've only called me that when you're truly desperate for help."

Confusion sat upon Chloe's tongue as she spoke. "What do you mean? A thousand years?"

"You don't remember. That's a side effect." She shut her eyes and listened to the howl of the wind briefly. "We'll do business as usual, Chloe. Bring me my cereal, and I'll share something with you. Who knows…we may meet officially."

Chloe silently accepted her task. She left Miss Ophelia alone and wandered off into Arcadia Bay. She found her grandmother's house, though it looked vastly different. It was much smaller and constantly flickered from its past self to its present size until Chloe set her hand on the door. It froze in time and constructed itself to a full physical build.

Chloe paused when she heard an aged masculine voice echoing through her mind. "How can I tell her this?"

She knew the voice. She turned around and saw her grandfather sitting frozen in time out front in his car. His facial features alone, even from afar, told the tale of his disappointment.

Chloe was drawn away from the door and carefully walked beside the vehicle. Her hand phased through the window as she touched her grandfather's shoulder. She felt a rush of adrenaline and a cold sensation in her blood upon contact. The world around her exploded into a room of endless white and reconstructed itself as an office. There was a doctor now seated across from her grandfather and they were in the middle of a discussion.

"We think it's best for her if she's moved to an assisted living facility." The doctor said. "Her delusions are getting stronger. She needs around-the-clock assistance."

"They're not delusions." The old man sighed and leaned each elbow onto the desk. "Max is complicated. She's not sick, but she's not well either. I can take care of her, because I know how to handle her behavior. I was there when it started."

"And…when did it start?" The doctor adjusted himself in his seat with his pen in hand to add new notes to his pile of information.

"2013." The old man sighed after he spoke. "No one else will believe her or me. She doesn't need medication, she needs me. She needs an anchor for this time period so her mind can stay in it."

"Mister Graham, with all due respect," The doctor spoke as calmly as he could. "A woman her age having delusions about time travel to her teenage years over, and over again needs serious help. We can't ignore this any further. Think of the damage it could be doing to her brain if—…"

"I know." The grandfather spoke grimly. "I know. It's going to kill her if she keeps going back to that exact moment in time. Reliving the stress, the sadness, the loss. I'm there with her…but unfortunately I don't have her ability." He went silent and narrowed his eyes on the doctor. "Married, right?" He motioned his head to the doctor's wedding ring. "How would you feel if you had to tell the woman you love that no matter what she does or tries to do, she can never accomplish her one life's goal. Ever."

"What is her life's goal, sir? This is important we know, for her mental health-…"

"To save everyone." Mr. Graham chuckled. "She's getting so close, now. Last we talked about her time travel, she let Chloe go. Acceptance is a good sign."

The world changed again, this time with the man hugging Max while standing. He squeezed her as if she would die if he let her go.

"I won't let them take you away from me. I'm here to help you until the very end." He whispered in her ear.

"Warren…" Max said quietly. "Thank you…"

"What happened this time?" Warren asked while remaining tight against his wife.

"Everyone is…gone. Chloe and I drove away…and I don't remember what happened next." Tears built up in the corners of her eyes. "Oh god…Joyce…she…"

"The Price family isn't that cold." Warren explained. "Chloe wouldn't want you to sacrifice her mother for her. She wouldn't leave without looking for her. You know how painful it was for her to lose her father."

"But it happened. I was there. I remember…"

"If that's what you remember, that's what happened. I'm not going to upset you."

"Why hasn't anything changed? I…I fucked everything up, Warren. I have to go back. Back to Blackwell. "

"I'll be there. Waiting for you."

"I need to find the picture. I…I couldn't find the album." Max sobbed quietly. "I think I tore it…"

"We'll look for it tomorrow. Together."

"We have a grandchild. She's…in the other room"

"Grandma? Are you awake?" Chloe heard her own voice before the vision faded into dust. Once again, she found herself back in Arcadia Bay with her hand on her grandfather's shoulder. Once she pulled away, she turned toward the house.

("These visions…I never know if they're from the past…present…or future. But Arcadia Bay opens her mind to me. She lets me see what I need to see. She gives me a task I have to change. At least…I think.")

Chloe entered the house and everything was as it was before…only frozen in time with everything rippling slowly as if submerged in water.

First, she found the spare room she and Ray were sleeping in. They looked so peaceful together, and it made her smile.

("He's a great guy…I hope he doesn't…feel like my family's too weird. I honestly don't know if I can go a day without him at this point. It's...just so hard to say that without feeling like a deer in the headlights. If love is blind…I'm seriously Matt Murdock right now.")

She then turned her attention to herself.

("Sleeping peacefully. I can't help but look at myself and wonder if I should let my inner-artist out. Neon blue hair, tattoos, a few piercings…*sigh*…who am I fooling? I'm too afraid of needles.")

She left the room and phased through her grandmother's door. She wasn't there, oddly. Chloe searched the house until she realized the attic door was opened. She entered the attic and found her grandmother sorting through a chest of her belongings. She seemed winded, but kept searching until she ultimately failed to find what she sought.

("She's looking for a photo album. Did that happen already?...Or is it about to happen soon? Maybe I can lend her a hand…")

She left her grandmother for now, and traveled back downstairs. In the kitchen she found a particular brand of cereal her grandmother always kept around on top of the fridge. It was the kind Miss Ophelia wanted, for sure.

No matter how her hand reached for it, she just passed through.

("Damn it…well. I'll have to try it the old fashioned way.")

Chloe shut her eyes tightly, and within seconds, her physical body woke up. She carefully shimmied from her boyfriend's grasp and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed the box of cereal and quickly sat at the dining room table. With one hand on the box, she lay her head down on her curled arm and within a few seconds, she woke up standing beside her sleeping body.

She held a copy of the box in her hand, oddly enough, while the real version remained in reality.

("This doesn't work for very long. Everything I touch can only cross over for a few minutes. I have to hurry.")

She raced out the door and found her way back to the old homeless woman's spot…only to find it totally vacant. She looked high and low, and circled the trailer time and time again for any sign of her…but all that she found in her place was a can of spray paint.

("What the hell…?")

Chloe held the can and left the cereal box behind. She wandered into the trailer, which turned out to be an old diner of some sort. It was desolate inside. There was some graffiti inside the bathroom already— some in red paint that read:

"The 7th sign: The sea and sky will turn black, and living things will die because of it!"

The other was a doe near what appeared to be some of old-styled hand-drier.

("Well…if this is a tag station, I don't see why I shouldn't add my own flare.")

Chloe shook the can and began to spray along the bathroom wall. It felt like hours had passed before she finished. The spray bent to her will without a stencil, and helped her create a larger doe head portrait near the smaller one. Next to it, she tagged 'CHLOE WAS HERE' next to it. Maybe the old woman would see it whenever she felt like defacing desolate property, or so she assumed.

("I think I'll keep this mystical paint. A wizard doesn't just leave you a wand and you never use it.")

With the old woman nowhere in sight, Chloe willed herself awake in the dining room. It was there that she heard her grandmother entering her bedroom carefully.

A Memory Has Changed

Max, in her youth, left the Two Whales Diner bathroom and returned to find Chloe still sitting at their booth. Once Max sat, with her brow knitted and her lips slightly parted, she spoke low and with worry. "Dude, you spray-painted the bathroom?"

"What? No! Why the hell would I do that? – I mean, I haven't gotten that mad yet." Chloe entertained the thought, but she looked at Max with confusion. "Uh…what happened? What makes you think that?"

"I saw it, okay. I saw what you wrote in there, and it's…seriously good, but it's not cool to do that where your moms works." Max scolded. "What if Joyce sees that? How would she feel about it?"

"Okay, easy." Chloe held her hands up in defense. "I didn't spray anything. Can you show me what you're talking about, because clearly you think I'm fucking Picaso or something."

"Not Picaso, but…" She sighed in defeat. "I'll show you. Your name is even on it."

Once the two entered the bathroom, Max pointed directly at the Doe and the 'Chloe Was Here' tag. "See?"

Chloe stared at it, then looked all around the bathroom. "Max…?"

"Unless there's some kind of spray-tagger named Chloe around here…?"

Chloe gave Max a firm pat on the shoulder. "…The entire bathroom is uh…empty? So…I don't see a drop of spray paint anywhere." She backed out of the bathroom slowly. "It's probably a super-power side-effect? But screw it, dude. Let's talk about some serious shit. No more games, okay?"

Max stood in confusion. All of the graffiti she saw in there, and Chloe didn't see one…?

Author Notes:

Welcome to my LIS fic! I'm trying to force myself out of my writer's block and this caught my eye. Let me know your thoughts so far, and feel free to ask any questions you'd like. I'll do my best to answer them either in inbox or in my next set of notes/chapter. I don't know how many episodes this may end up being, but I have a pretty good idea where I'm going with this!

Thanks for reading! Read & review, please!