Gail was running through the woods. She didn't have any real idea where she was going, she could no longer see Blackwell Academy rising above the treeline. It was dark, very dark. Her only thought was "find Chloe". She wasn't even sure what had led her to such a drastic action. Fear that Chloe would vanish again. That she would take off, or something terrible would happen. She knew if she slowed down she would start thinking, so she didn't. She pushed herself harder. She had lost her bearings twenty minutes ago, but she kept running. As she ran, conflicting thoughts, memories, filled her head. They threatened to overtake her entirely. So she pushed them away as hard as she pushed herself to keep running, occasionally tripping in the dark woods. Arcadia Bay could have a sinister feel at night, and it did. She didn't know if it was the darkness, the forest, or her own sense of impending doom.

Gail ran and ran. She was out of breath. Her lungs burned, she imagined this is what Chloe's lungs must feel like all the time, with how much she smoked.

No, then she would never be able to react...or overreact...as quickly as she does…

But was this an overreaction? Considering the circumstances, no. But she should have waited. Gail had been deciding whether or not to switch sides and agree they should go, before Chloe went off on her own.

But would she have taken me? No. She thinks i'm weak….no...she's just trying to protect me….but...maybe she does think i'm weak. Does she?

Gail choked back tears and tried to push these thoughts away, but it was getting more and more difficult. As difficult as keeping her frantic pace. Gail was far from out of shape, but she wasn't athletic in the least. She had no idea how she'd kept this up for this long.

Adrenaline.

She kept running, dodging the occasional tree, but she knew her pace was slowing. Rachel had been right, it was a longer way than it looked. If she was even still going the right way.

I am. I have to be. I just have to get there. I just have to protect her, I just-

Her thought was cut off, she tripped, and this time she didn't catch her balance. She hit the forest floor, hard, ripping her jeans and scraping a knee on a tree root. She tried to will herself to get up, to keep moving, but she couldn't. She pushed herself too hard. Instead the tears came freely. The cold began to creep up on her. She managed to pull herself into a fetal position.

What is this….why did I do this…why am I like this...

"Chloe…", she whispered.

She laid there on the ground for a moment longer, before pulling herself up. She didn't get very far before sitting down, with her back to a large tree. It was dark. She was lost. But that isn't what scared her. What scared her wasn't even just the idea of Chloe going to prison, or worse. Her mind was coming apart. For the first time, due to guilt over her overreaction, doing such an underhanded thing to Rachel and Alain, she was starting to question what it was about Chloe. What could possibly drive her to acting to extremely.

Because...I love her. I love her more than anything.

But...why does she love me?

Gail had been content just knowing she did, before this. Even with the Rachel drama, she was okay with just knowing she loved Chloe and that Chloe loved her. She remembered things that Max had done, but not a full picture. What led to this inexplicable, apparently time-breaking bond? The feeling...no, the knowledge, that they were meant to be together, and always had been.

Sure, Chloe had given her the story...but it wasn't the whole story, it couldn't have been with how short it had been, and it also seemed that she skirted around or avoided some subjects entirely. Like Max's absence in the years during which she met Rachel. Chloe had just said that Max left, and later on came back, and that when she came back, she realized Max had always been the one she was waiting for. The one she needed. But that was it, as far as details went. She also really never said what happened after that. Again, bits and pieces.

"The younger girl had to make a choice, to save her best friend...maybe more than a friend...or save an entire town and then some. It was one, or the other….and the older girl had enough peace, from this short time with her friend to be okay with sacrificing herself, so that everybody else wouldn't be killed by the storm, but it was a horrible choice to have to make, for anyone. And the younger girl didn't know what to do. She knew she could never live without the other girl again, but she also knew how many people, most far more innocent than the older girl, would die if she didn't let the older girl go...there was no winning. Either way, her life would be destroyed, but it came down to whether she could face life without the girl, or face the destruction and death with the girl...with the guilt both of them would carry…."

Gail recalled Chloe's story, the one she'd told on the beach, what felt like a lifetime ago.

Max….Max was the one with the power. You...Chloe, you were the one that was supposed to die...Max...I….saved you...and kept saving you...until…the storm...I remember a storm...but...I can't remember….I can't….

"Which did she pick?"

"That's not important….the story should have ended there."

It didn't end there, Chloe. Did it?

"I can't make this decision…."

Gail could hear the voices,but she couldn't remember specifics. It was cold. Very cold. She shook, as she brought her knees to her chest and put her arms around them.

"No Max, you're the only one who can…Max...it's time…"

"Not anymore…"

"Max...i'll always be with you."

"Forever."

She looked up at the night sky through the sinister looking branches of the trees she was surrounded by. There had been some sort of trail, no doubt made by generations of Blackwell stoners, but she'd lost it. The fear was beginning to creep up, like the cold. She was alone, in the dark, in the middle of the woods. She couldn't use her phone. She shook, and not just from the cold. She hugged her knees even tighter. She missed the comfort of Chloe's necklace, always there, right near her heart. She missed Chloe.

"Chloe…", she sobbed.

Why did I run off...why did Chloe have to go off on her own again? Why, why, fucking why? I thought we were passed this. We were in this together. Do you not trust me, Chloe? Do you think i'm weak? What is it? How can I show i'm good enough? How? Is it because i'm not Max? But...aren't I? Am I not Max enough for you? I'm sorry. I can't help that. I'm just...me, whoever that is. But me loves you, Chloe. All of me. What if you get caught? What if Nathan….

What if Nathan….

What….if…..Nathan….

Gail had a horrible recollection in that moment. Two, actually. The first was of Chloe being drugged, blacking out, waking up on Nathan's floor, kicking him and escaping, but he tried to...to-

No...I don't want to see this….

The second, Chloe was in the bathroom at Blackwell, Gail was there too, but not as Gail. Chloe was arguing with Nathan, something about cash.

Nathan pulls a gun...I cower in the corner. I don't realize it's Chloe...I try to intervene but by then there's already a shot and….no...no...NO...NO NO NO NO-

"NO, NO, NO, NO", Gail screamed to the empty forest, screaming hard enough to hurt her throat.

"No...Chloe...no…", she panted, out of breath. The tears were so quick, so much, so hot, that she didn't know how she could physically still be crying. And there was another wetness. It was too dark to see it, she didn't notice until she wiped at her face. Her fingers came away wet, wet with something thicker than tears. Straining her eyes in the darkness, she made out a dark, wet spot on the finger she'd wiped under her nose with. She only then realized her nose was bleeding again.

"Chloe….", Gail gasped weakly.

Her vision, what little she had in the dark was blurring, she felt vertigo. She was sure she hadn't hit her head on the way down, not that hard anyway. She knew she couldn't stay here, nosebleed or not. It was dark, it was cold, and she was lost.

She stood unsteadily, with great effort, only to take three steps and fall again. This time it didn't hurt, she was out as soon as she hit the ground.

"Gail", a voice said. A soft, caring voice, "Wake up, Gail."

"Chlo….Chloe?", Gail whispered, she couldn't open her eyes, couldn't move, she was too tired.

Gail didn't get an answer, just the soft touch of a hand on her shoulder.

"Wake up, Gail."

Gail slowly opened her eyes, it took a few moments for the world to come into focus. It was still dark, but there was a light coming from somewhere.

The moon? No, it was so dark before...how long have I been out? Is...is it morning?

"No, it's not morning", the voice said.

What the fuck…

It was also warmer, not hot, but not the bitter cold it had been. Gail's vision focused in the twilight, but she didn't immediately look for the source of the voice that had woken her. All she could think about was Chloe, who the voice did not belong to. She struggled to stand up, but had trouble, as if she'd been in a coma for a considerable amount of time. The same hand that had been placed on her shoulder took her own hand and helped her up. Whoever it was, they were directly next to her, but Gail actually struggled not to look. Somehow she knew who this person who helped her up, and was now steadying her so she didn't fall again, was.

She took a deep breath, then another. Her nose had stopped bleeding. She slowly turned to face herself. Or, herself with shorter hair, a pink t-shirt with the name "Jane", with a doe beside it, a grey hoodie, the same camera bag and jeans….she turned slowly to face Maxine Caulfield.

"...how…"

Max said nothing, she just shook her head, a bit sadly. Her expression was hard to read. Before Gail really had the chance, Max turned and began walking, obviously expecting Gail to follow.

Gail did.

She followed herself, or this other version of herself, through the forest, which was lit in a surreal twilight. Every so often she thought she saw a doe on the treeline, or caught a blue butterfly in the corner of her eye, a blue jay on a tree branch, whenever she tried to focus on them, they were gone. She followed Max closely, out of fear and confusion. Her mind could not even begin to process how this was possible. Where she was. Who she was.

Max pressed onward, still not speaking. Eventually they came to a clearing in the trees. There was a pond, beautiful in the twilight. Now deer were clearly grazing in the clearing, one drank peacefully from the pond. The water was crystal clear. Too clear for modern Arcadia Bay. There was a gentle slope, that led down to the pond. Eventually Max sat down on it, and gestured for Gail to sit beside her.

Gail had stopped at the edge of the clearing, taken aback by the beauty of the strange place. She eventually snapped somewhat to her senses, as much was possible here, and tentatively took her place next to Max. There was silence for a moment. Gail had too many questions to settle on one. Was too lost. Max looked like she was struggling with the same problem, or she just didn't know how to start whatever it was she was going to say. Eventually she spoke.

"Gail, we have things to discuss."

"...like...how this is possible? Why you're here? Why i'm here? Chloe? Rachel? Arcadia-"

"Wowser, okay, Gail….slow down. This is possible because i'm you. Or, you're me. I'm here because you need me. And as for who...what...I…", Max trailed off, like she didn't want to broach this subject.

"It's...about Chloe, isn't it?"

"In a way."

"Well…"

"It's more about Rachel."

"What about Rachel?"

"There's...a problem."

"Does this have to do with what I did with her? I'm sorry, Max. I didn't-"

"No. It doesn't. I still can't believe you did that...or that Chloe did that...well, actually okay, yes I can."

"You don't sound mad."

"I'm not. You aren't mad about it, and i'm you. I feel what you feel. But I don't nessacarily know what you know, and vice versa...or...something like that."

"...Is this a dream?"

Max didn't answer this question, she just gazed out at the clearing, the pond.

"There's going to come a time when a decision has to be made, Gail."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"It already happened once before, but Chloe...my Chloe, my blue rebel badass, with too big of a heart for her own good, stopped it."

"...Rachel?"

"Time is broken, Gail. This should have never happened, any of it."

"What exactly are you saying, Max?"

"That...we can't keep laughing in fate's face. The consequences are going to be even worse, this time...if this continues."

"Consequences? This time?"

"The storm. It happened. It was real, Gail. Only Chloe remembers now, and she won't for very much longer. Maybe that is best for everybody...but, the storm isn't all Chloe is forgetting, though she doesn't realize it yet."

"What else is she forgetting?"

"Me."

"...what?"

"In your time, I never existed. I've become tangent. I exist in you, but not all of me. I'm fading. Look", Max said, sadly holding her hand up.

It was translucent.

"...what caused it, the change to the timeline, Max? What was it really?"

Max grimaced and turned away. Gail already knew the answer.

"Rachel."

"But how?"

"I was never in the same place as Rachel. Not while she was...with us. We couldn't both be there during that week. God...reality...fate, whatever it is, had to fix itself, since Chloe warned her about Jefferson this time."

"...but what does that have to do with me...or you?"

"The timeline was diverted wildly off course. I never came back. I never even existed, not as myself. Cause and effect. Rachel already figured this out a long time ago."

"Did she...know? Like, before…"

"I don't know."

"You...said something about a decision...that's already happened once. You...can't mean…"

"It will happen again. And this time it's going to be very different. I myself can't know exactly how, but things are not going to get better, Gail. Not from here on out. And you...Chloe, will have to make the decision to ride it out...or fix it."

"Are you asking me to kill Rachel?"

"No. I've seen so much death. And she means so much to you. And to Choe. Besides, that wouldn't fix anything. No...this is...more complicated."

"And you can't tell me what the fuck you're talking about?"

"No. Because then you would never let it happen."

"Are you just saying this because you want to come back? Want….Chloe?"

"I have Chloe, Gail. Every time you see Chloe, I see Chloe. You touch Chloe, I touch Chloe. I am you."

"But not completely."

"It's complicated."

"It always fucking is, isn't it?"

"You have no idea, Gail. And I hope you never do. But before this is over, you might."

"Am I completely insane? Is this real? It can't be real."

"You decide."

"So if you can't tell me what you're talking about, explain how we're both here, why do any of this at all?"

"You tell me. All I am is another part of your mind, Gail. I'm here because you let me."

"What is this place?"

"Arcadia Bay, the woods, at dusk. In another life."

"Your life?"

"Maybe. Hard to say."

Despite the foreboding tone of Max's words, every word carried a care. A kindness. Max didn't like this situation any more than Gail did. She was only the messenger, and it clearly pained her greatly.

What could she mean...let it happen? A decision? Worse than the...storm?

"I can hear you, you know, Gail."

"Stop that."

"I can't, you dork."

"Why can't I hear your thoughts?"

"Because they're your thoughts."

"Dude…"

"Hella weird, I know."

"Hella?"

"Chloe has a way of rubbing off on you. A good bad influence."

"...yeah, she does. And is."

"Take care of her, Gail", Max said with a dead seriousness.

"Always."

"And no matter what you choose, or she chooses, i'm sure it will be the right decision."

"I wish you would tell me-...Max? MAX?"

Max was gone.

"Say cheese", Max's voice came from behind her.

"What-", Gail started, turning, barely registering the camera in Max's hands before the flash went off, then everything went black.