Disclaimer: I do not own Life is Strange or any of its characters. This story is for entertainment only.

Chapter One

"You're up late," Max says, glancing over her shoulder. Her friend is sprawled out on the bed, messing around with something on her phone. It's almost two o'clock in the morning and usually Chloe would have crashed at that point, but instead she still seems to be wide awake in Max's dorm room.

The blue-haired girl doesn't even spare her a glance. "So are you."

Max scoffs in response and turns towards Chloe, throwing her a look. The other girl looks up and rolls her eyes. "Right, I forgot. You're a fucking night owl or whatever you wanna call it."

She laughs. It's less about being nocturnal or preferring to be awake at night and more about not needing much sleep in the first place. Of course, Max doesn't—or rather, can't—tell the punk that. Instead she just asks, "Why are you still awake?"

Chloe shrugs, putting her phone to sleep and tossing it aside. "I dunno. Just not tired, I guess."

"Well, I'm probably gonna have to kick you out soon," Max says with a sigh, closing the composition book full of notes on her desk. "I need to cram more for a test tomorrow morning and I'd prefer to get more than just a couple hours of sleep." The prior is true, and in a way the latter is too. She can get away with no rest whatsoever—she's done it many times before—but she finds that sleep does seem to help in terms of feeling better and more energized. It's especially nice when she's got important things going on at school.

"But Max," Chloe whines, drawing out her name. "It's so cozy here," she continues, pulling Max's comforter up to her chest and snuggling into the sheets. "You're seriously gonna kick me out and force me to sneak past security? It's hella cold out there too!"

Max stares at Chloe as she finds herself on the receiving end of an impossibly cute puppy dog pout. "Fine," she groans and then rolls her eyes as the other girl does a fist pump in the air. "But you've seriously got to stop crashing here. You're not even supposed to be here." Considering that Chloe is a former Blackwell student but was expelled two years prior to Max attending, it could probably get her in trouble for harboring someone who technically wasn't allowed on the campus. Then again, Chloe was constantly looming around the school and no one seemed to care, so maybe it isn't that big a deal. Regardless, Max doesn't want any unnecessary attention drawn to her.

"Whatever, I know you like having me here," Chloe says, a shit-eating grin on her face. Max huffs out an exasperated sigh, but there's a tiny smile on her lips nonetheless. She does enjoy the blue-haired girl's company, even if her personality conflicts with Max's own introverted one a little. Really though, it's nice hanging out with her again.

Honestly, it feels like just the other day they were jumping around and playing like the little kids that they were, even though it had been a whopping five years since then. Max finds herself slipping into a trance, walking through her thoughts and reminiscing about the past times she'd shared with Chloe. There were so many good memories in her head, and so many of them had occurred... before all the weird changes to her body, some of which she still doesn't fully understand.

She sighs ruefully, still feeling guilty about leaving all those years ago. In many ways, she had abandoned Chloe. Granted, she had good reasons for running away from Arcadia Bay (or in this case, begging her parents to move). It was right around the time that Max had started sleeping less and less, that her reflection started to fade away in the mirror and on some days her normally straight teeth would instead display sharp and noticeable canines instead.

At the time, she had panicked internally. Gradually, she no longer felt like she could stay at Arcadia Bay, and it began to feel less like home and more like a prison where all she could do was hide her condition from everyone each and every day. It got to a point where she couldn't stand living there anymore and she eventually broke, lying to her parents and telling them that she was being bullied. They had tried to contact the school but after much begging on her behalf, she finally convinced them that what she needed was a change of pace. New scenery, new school.

And so they had moved to Seattle. In retrospect, Max realizes that packing up and running probably wasn't her most thought-out plan... but she had been young and so confused by the things happening to her, and she had to admit that a new city where no one recognized her did help a little bit in the process of figuring out what was going on and coming to terms with everything. It had pained her so much not being able to tell anyone, especially her best friend, about it.

A pinch of sadness runs through her heart as Max thinks about it. She had probably withdrawn from Chloe the most during that time. After all, if someone was going to notice the little things that were different about her, it would have been her best friend. And the idea of Chloe finding out that she was some kind of freak had scared the shit out of her.

Max runs a hand through her hair, pondering over her thoughts. She doesn't think she's a freak anymore, just... different. Back then, it had taken her a while to realize that all her "symptoms" pointed to one thing, and when she did, naturally she fell into a pit of denial for a while. It wasn't until she was forced to drink blood for the first time that she fully came to terms with it and began to accept what she was.

She shakes her head a little. Even now, uttering the word in her head still feels a bit strange and surreal.

Vampire.

She isn't worried about Chloe figuring out what she is anymore. Over the years, she'd become pretty damn good at hiding her true nature from the world. Now, pretending to be human is just like breathing to her. In many ways she still considers herself one, even if it isn't particularly true. But that doesn't change the fact that she hates being unable to tell Chloe the truth, even now. She despises that she can't offer her friend a proper explanation as to why she was such a terrible friend all those years ago.

With a sigh, Max glances over at Chloe, who seems to have finally dozed off. She looks peaceful, her breathing soft and steady.

Max smiles at that. She's so grateful that she was able to find Chloe again and re-establish their friendship. Really, it had been mere chance—or perhaps fate—that they'd bumped into each other at the gas station almost two months ago. Admittedly, from the moment she arrived back in Arcadia Bay, she'd been thinking about contacting Chloe to see if she was still in the area. However, each time she wrote a text, she got nervous and overwhelmed with guilt, unable to bring herself to hit the send button.

She's just glad things worked themselves out. It's only natural that she still feels terrible about how things had gone down, and catching up with Chloe had made her feel even worse about it. Hearing of William's death in a brutal car accident hit her pretty hard. She had liked him a lot, mostly because of how nice and kind-spirited he was; it was fair to say that he'd been family, even. Seeing how it changed her friend had been alarming too, at first.

But now she knows that the same Chloe is still there, and she thinks that's why it was so easy for them to reconnect. Their conversations are as smooth as butter and it's boiled down to hanging out and laughing, just like the old days. It's so refreshing after her dull life in Seattle. Not that Seattle itself isn't awesome—because it is—but it's not like she had friends there. At least, she hadn't been close to anyone due to fear of being discovered.

Max sighs again as she stands up, smiling slightly. She didn't manage to do any more studying because she had been so lost in thought, but she figures that she'll be fine for the test tomorrow. She changes into her pajamas and turns off the light before slipping under the covers with her friend, appreciating the warmth that radiates off Chloe. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

And for the first time in a while, there isn't any fighting with herself to slip into unconsciousness. There is no staring at the ceiling for hours or constant twisting and turning before rest finds her. That night, she falls asleep almost effortlessly.

Author's Note: Yay for exposition chapters, yeah? I hope you guys enjoy it so far! I'm going to try to have updates be a weekly thing, although sometimes it might be a little longer, so I have time to keep writing ahead and not feel bad about not finishing a chapter haha.