Chloe took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Just on the other side of this door was her impromptu meeting with Nathan Prescott. Just get in, make a few threats, and leave a rich woman. God, it would be so easy to threaten this prick with Rebel Soul…

C'mon, Chloe, you know you can't use the Keyblade like that!

"God damn it, Ruby…" Chloe muttered under her breath. Why was that particular friend still getting under her skin? She had barely thought about Max the past few years. Then again, Ruby didn't abandon her by choice. Maybe that's what kept the other wielder on her mind.

Deciding she had waited long enough, Chloe finally burst through the door into Blackwell Academy's women's restroom. Nathan was hunched over one of the sinks in all his weasel-faced glory, muttering to himself. Chloe took it upon herself to check a few of the stalls. A blue butterfly fluttered past her eyes as she turned back to Prescott. "All right, let's get down to bid-ness."

Nathan didn't turn away from the mirror. "What do you want?"

Chloe leaned across the sink next to him, getting into the side of his face. "You know what I want."

"I have nothing for you!"

"Wrong! You've got tons of cash."

Nathan shook his head and pushed past Chloe towards the door. "My parents have cash. Not me."

Chloe blocked him by slamming her palm against the wall by his head, effectively pinning him without touching him. "Oh, boohoo, poor little rich kid… I know you pump drugs around campus. I bet your respectable family would help me out if I went to them. Man, I can see the headlines now…"

"Leave them out of this!" Nathan shouted, suddenly pulling a pistol on the punk girl threatening him.

Chloe's eyes widened and she backed up slowly. "What the hell!? It's just money, man, put that thing away!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Nathan screamed, "I am tired of people trying to control me!"

"Just put that thing down!" Chloe shouted, reaching for the weapon.

BANG

Chloe looked down to her stomach. Red began to seep out of her gut. The shock and pain turned her legs to jelly, and she fell to the ground, bleeding out…

"Wait a minute," Ruby interrupted, "you just… let yourself get shot?"

"Hey, I haven't been at this Keyblade thing as long as you," Chloe reminded her. "Plus, I had spent months actively trying not to use magic. So I'm sorry I didn't think to have my defenses up against a normal human being in a school bathroom."

"What about after? You know Cure, right?"

"Oh, let me just shoot you in the stomach out of nowhere and see if you can think through the shock and the pain long enough to pull healing magic out of your ass!"

"Aright! I get it, I'm sorry! Jeez…"

"Anyway, I was bleeding out, I'd probably be dead if it weren't for what happened next…"

For a moment, Chloe thought she had also been shot in the head. The pain inside her skull was intense, and she could have sworn the world around her was blurring. This is it… this is how I die…

Then it all stopped.

Chloe suddenly found herself in the halls outside of the bathroom with the fire alarm blaring. She looked down to her stomach to double check. No blood, no bullet wound. I was just shot… wasn't I? She clearly remembered being shot, and she didn't think she would ever forget it. But she also clearly remembered the fire alarm going off and distracting Nathan long enough for her to successfully push him away and escape the bathroom intact.

She looked back to the bathroom in time to see Nathan leaving the bathroom. He shot her a dirty look before heading out through the front doors. She also spotted David Madsen, the school security guard and military-minded d-bag dating her mother, coming up the hall. Not wanting to deal with either of them, Chloe headed for the back exit instead. She pushed through the doors, breathing in the sweet air of freedom. And then she opened her eyes and froze.

"What the hell…"

A series of beady yellow eyes shot her direction at the sound of her voice. This was the first time Chloe had seen Heartless in person, but even a poor student like her had enough time in the castle library to have seen pictures. The still air lasted a single heartbeat before the first Shadow leapt at Chloe. Rebel Soul instinctively appeared in her hand as Chloe swung, knocking the monster out of the air. She followed through quickly, not wanting to give the beasts time to group up.

Chloe's form was not quite as refined as her fellow student's, as emphasized by her standing stance of having her Keyblade casually slung over her shoulder. But the wide, heavy swings that resulted worked for her, and was certainly more than enough for the weaklings she currently faced. She swung in through one monster, out through the other, and hit the third with an uppercut that sent it into the air. As it came back down, she formed up like her Keyblade was a baseball bat and sent the creature flying across the field into the final one.

The fight was quick and easy, even for her. But that still left her with the issue of what those monsters were even doing here. She had been in Arcadia Bay for months with no sign of them, and her entire life before that without even knowing they existed. All she knew from her short-lived studies was that them being here meant bad news.

"What are the Heartless doing here?" Ruby interrupted again.

"How would I know?" Chloe shrugged.

"You haven't been looking into it?"

"Hey, I've had my own crap going on, you know?"

"Crap that's more important than the lives around you?"

"Screw you! And where would I even start!?"

Choe's attitude made Ruby hate to admit she had a good point. "Fine. So what happened next?"

"Well, I had to go back for my truck. Since I was trying not to use magic, I couldn't use my Glider to get around town…"

Chloe rounded the corner and the parking lot came into view. She hesitated to move forward at the sight of Nathan Prescott b-lining for some other poor girl. He wasn't pulling out his gun, it seemed even he couldn't get away with that in broad daylight. But he was still getting into that girl's face. Chloe wasn't exactly the savior type… but she was a bit vindictive, she'll admit. She got into her truck, deciding to help this girl out if only because it would piss Prescott off.

Nathan pushed the girl over as Chloe hit the gas. The girl got her feet just in time to slap the hood of Chloe's truck as it stopped in front of her, finally giving the punk wielder a good look at her. "Max?"

The girl seemed just as surprised to see her. "Chloe?"

They were immediately reminded of Nathan's presence when another boy came out of nowhere and sucker punched the rick prick to the ground. "Go! I got this!" The boy shouted.

"Get in!" Chloe ordered of Max, and order Max swiftly followed. Chloe peeled out of the parking lot, sitting next to none other than her oldest childhood friend…

Max let out a breath she must have been holding since Nathan showed up in the parking lot. "Man, that guy is messed up. And dangerous."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "'Oh, and thanks for the rescue, Chloe'! After five years, you're still Max Caulfield." Max's eyes found her feet after that comment, giving Chloe and uncomfortable mixture of disgust and shame. "Oh, don't give me the guilty face. At least pretend you're glad to me."

"I am seriously glad to see you," Max pleaded. "Thank you, Chloe." The silence only lasted a beat before becoming uncomfortable. "It makes perfect sense that I would see you today," Max stated to break it.

"Yeah, it's been that kind of day," Chloe sighed. "So… what did that freak want with you?"

"Hopefully nothing after today. How do you know Nathan?"

"He's just another Arcadia A-hole."

The silence returned. This time, Chloe broke it first. "So I guess Seattle sucked hard?"

"Not at all," Max smiled. "It felt like a real city for artists, big and bright. Great for taking pictures."

Chloe glanced at the old-fashioned polaroid camera in Max's hand. For some reason, Max could never really get behind the newer camera technology. At least being interesting in making art with old tools gives her a chance to carve a niche, Chloe supposed. "Must be hard coming back to a hick town like Arcadia Bay, then…"

"Not after seeing you," Max attepted to reach out.

Chloe just shook her head. "Please, girl. You came back for Blackwell."

"Of course," Max shrugged. "It's one of the best photography programs in the country...and my favorite teacher, Mark Jefferson."

Max likely didn't intend for that comment to sting, but Chloe still flinched. "So you came back to Arcadia Bay for a teacher. And not your best friend."

Max finally started to take offense to Chloe's attitude. "Don't you think I'm happy to see you?"

"No," Chloe admitted plainly, "I think you were happy to go five years without a call, or even a text."

Max sighed. "I'm sorry… I know things were tough on you when I left."

Chloe scoffed. "How would you know? You weren't here."

"I didn't order my parents to move specifically to fuck you over, Chloe," Max shook her head.

"You've been at Blackwell for almost a month without letting me know," Chloe reminded her. "'Nuff said."

"I just wanted to settle in first and not be such a shy cliché geek. I totally would have contacted you..." Max insisted.

Chloe could only scoff again. "I bet you don't use these sad excuses on Mr. Jefferson... Don't use them on me, Max."

Max sensed the conversation would only go in circles from there and decided to drop it. She looked down to her camera, finally noticing how it had been affected from Nathan knocking her over. "Broken!? Are you cereal?"

Chloe blinked, brief images of silver eyes and a red cape flashing behind her eyes. "Wow, I think I've heard maybe one other person in the universe say that unironically."

"Well, I'm sorry I'm such a retro cliché, but this sucks!" Max complained.

"Calm down," Chloe told her, unsure that she believed what she was going to suggest. "Look, my step-hole has a bunch of tools and crap. Maybe you can fix it at my place."

"I need precision tools. Very specific, tiny tools," Max clarified.

"Well, you're in luck! I'm pretty sure David actually is a tiny tool," Chloe chuckled at her derisive own joke. "I'm sure you'll find something," she added in a more serious tone.

"Thank you, Chloe," Max offered sincerely.

"You were a bit harsh to her, don't you think?" Ruby pointed out.

"She left me behind when I was in a bad spot. How was I supposed to take it?"

"Did you forget you left Arcadia Bay as well? If the Land of Departure wasn't attacked, you'd still be gone when she got back."

"That's not the point!"

"Right, of course it's not," Ruby shook her head, slowly getting a better idea of the girl she called her best friend.

"Anyway, in no time at all we were back at my place…"

Chloe roughly opened the door to her room, storming straight for her bed while Max hesitated in the doorway behind her. "Come on in, don't be shy," Chloe waved her in as she collapsed. Max stepped inside, but still simply stood awkwardly, not knowing how to act.

Chloe sighed. Why was she leading their entire reunion? Perhaps Max didn't even want to be here. That thought tracked. It also depressed Chloe more than she already was. "So," Chloe made conversation if only to distract herself, "what does Max Caulfield do for fun now that she's a grown-up?"

"Party all night," Max said quickly, though chuckled to herself at the obvious joke.

"Not Little Miss Wallflower," Chloe caught the joke as well. "I bet you've never even been to a party."

"I went to your birthday blowout," Max reminded her.

Chloe paused to think on that. "You mean when I was twelve? That's... sad. You should stick to taking photos."

Max finally felt comfortable enough to take and adventurous look around the room, her gaze settling on an open tin half-under Chloe's bed. She investigated, pulling out a picture Chloe had taken with a familiar-looking blonde stranger. The picture was quickly snatched out of her hand. She looked up to see Chloe was not happy. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be nosey…"

"I'm sure," Chloe rolled her eye, setting the picture down at her desk and sitting there herself.

"That's Rachel Amber," Max suddenly stated. "Her missing person posters are all over Blackwell."

"Yeah, I put them up," Chloe revealed. "After my real dad died and you abandoned me, she picked up the pieces. Saved my life. She… was my angel."

"I had no idea."

"Well, you never made much effort to find out," Chloe pointed out yet again, "I was 14, we were best friends."

"I never forgot," Max reiterated, "Even if I was an asshole and didn't keep in touch. But you had Rachel!"

"We had each other's backs," Chloe reminisced. "You would laugh at how different we were... She wanted to be a star. That was our plan. Get the hell out of this place, make it big somewhere…"

"So, what happened?" Max wondered, "did your folks, your mom, try to stop you?"

Another scoff. Chloe realized she was doing that a lot. "My mom was too busy hooking up with Sergeant Killjoy. No, we were trying and then Rachel vanished. Without a word, without… me…"

Max frowned. "What about her parents?"

Chloe shook her head. "They weren't exactly seeing eye-to-eye already. Long story, let's just say her dad is a prick. They think she just ran away. They didn't even stay in town themselves, they left after I- after their house burned down."

Thankfully Max either missed or let slide Chloe's near confession. "Do you actually know anything?"

"Before she left, she said she met somebody who changed her life," Chloe explained. "Then, poof." The punk wielder had enough of this subject, turning to point to her door before it could continue. "David's tools are in the garage. That'll be your best bet for fixing your camera."

Max took the hint. "Thanks."

With her old friend out of the room, Chloe turned her attention back to the photo of her and Rachel. After a few seconds of beating herself up, her gaze drifted to an ashtray buried under some desk-debris. She dragged it close to her, taking up the untouched joint and examining it. Marijuana hadn't exactly been close at hand at the Land of Departure, and since she got back she hadn't picked the habit back up if only to avoid more debt with Frank.

She was sure David didn't believe she was clean for a second, especially since he seemed to assume her months away were spent at some kind of hippie drug and sex orgy. Still, 'clean' didn't mean 'untempted'. And it wasn't as though she was inherently against the stuff all of a sudden. And after a day like today… she figured it was finally time. She put the joint in her mouth and grabbed a nearby lighter.

A piercing headache took her off guard. The joint fell from her mouth as she gripped her head with one hand. The pain was gone as quickly as it came. Just like… Chloe quickly looked around the room but saw nothing out of place. She didn't have any conflicting memory, though she had a strange feeling of deja-vu. "What the hell…"

The marijuana lay forgotten as Chloe stood and went straight for a duffel bag by her bed. She zipped it open and let the feeling of the magic wash over her. Despite not being accustomed to it for long, the feel of the enchanted clothing was oddly comforting to her. She reached into the bag and took out the glove with her armor switch. She had just slipped it over her wrist when Max reentered the room.

"You found the tools?" Chloe asked quickly before Max could find a question of her own. The other girl simply held up a small box. "Cool. You can use my desk."

Chloe walked carefully around Max's side, stopping near her bag. "Hey… have you been getting any headaches lately?"

"Apart from the one my camera is giving me?" Max huffed in defeat, "No… why do you ask?"

"No reason," Chloe deflected. Her eyes found Max's bag, and a photo hanging out of it. Deciding it was her turn to snoop, she picked up the picture. Her eyes widened. She recognized that butterfly! And Max's reflection in the janitors bucket it was sitting on. A bucket that looked a lot like the one kept in the Blackwell restroom...

Before Chloe could properly process what that meant, a slam downstairs announced someone else had now entered the home. "Chloe!? Are you in your room?"

"David!" Chloe cursed.

"Chloe, I know you're here! Your truck is in the driveway!"

"Max, you need to hide!" Chloe demanded.

"What? Why?" Max questioned.

"Cuz David will flip if he knows someone's here!" Chloe insisted. "I'm supposed to be hella grounded, and he has a hard-on for keeping me locked up!"

"Grounded for what?" Max asked.

Chloe heard David's footsteps coming up the stairs and raced to the door to hold it closed. "I'll tell you later, just hide!"

The door jerked. Asshole didn't even knock! "Chloe, open this door! We need to talk!"

"No, we don't!" Chloe insisted.

"You think you can vanish for six months and tell me what to do!?"

"Six months!?" Max whisper-shouted.

"Hide!" Chloe whisper-shouted right back.

Max gave up and quietly rushed toward the closet.

"Are you talking to someone?" David accused through the door. "What are you doing?"

"I'm… changing," Chloe invented quickly.

David didn't buy it. "You're stalling."

"I'm changing!"

Max wrenched open the closet carelessly, resulting in a lamp and some boxes toppling over to block her way.

"I'm not screwing around, soldier," David's voice was firm. "I'm giving you exactly three seconds to open the door."

"Soldier?" Ruby questioned.

"I know, right?" Chloe laughed. "But this is the best part…"

David started to count down.

"Three."

There clearly was not enough time for Max to move the collapsed furniture and make it into the closet before he kicked the door down.

"Two."

Chloe only shook her head, not having any ideas herself.

"One!"

Max shook her head and raised her hand…

The splitting headache returned. Chloe stumbled and was easily cast aside as David burst through the door.

"Chloe? What's the matter with you!?" David shouted.

"I don't… I…" Chloe shook away the lingering phantom of her head pain and looked to the closet. It was securely closed, with Max nowhere in sight.

"Chloe!" David continued to vie for her attention to no avail.

The punk wielder just stared at the closet. Once again, she found herself with two sets of memories. Max was just standing there a moment ago, but she also made it into the closet just in time, after moving the lamp. As if she knew it would fall if she didn't…

"Chloe!" David grabbed her arm to finally get her attention. "Are you high again!?"

"What? No," Chloe stood, ripping her arm out of his grasp. "What, do you want a urine sample?"

David scowled at her. "I ordered you never to go through my files. You obviously have."

Chloe only barely heard him as she was still trying to figure out what had just happened. "What? I could care less about your 'files'. And ordered? Stop treating me and my mom like some platoon."

"I am just trying to instill some order around here! Order you clearly need..." David sighed and turned away. "I don't want us to be enemies, Chloe."

"Then stop treating me like... again?" Chloe's rebuttal died in her throat as, for the second time today, little black creatures interrupted her mid-step. Her eyes widened at the sight of the heartless appearing in her room. She quickly looked back to David, who's back was turned to the creatures. Chloe took the opportunity to push David out of her room and slam and block the door before he could see them.

"Chloe! You do not lay hands on me! Open this door!"

She elected to ignore David, turning back to the monsters to notice their attention was focused on the closet where Max was hiding. She ran to her desk and picked up the first thing her hand landed on. "Hey, you little freaks!" she shouted, throwing the object and shattering it against one of the monsters.

She succeeded in capturing their attention. They leapt at her, and she dodged beneath them to reach the closet herself. Chloe yanked it open and grabbed Max. "Time to go! Out the window!"

Max didn't argue. She just wanted to be away as quickly as possible. The creatures decided not to let them go so easily, and jumped at them again. There was a flash of light. The offending heartless was destroyed mid-jump, and Max saw Rebel Soul in Chloe's hand.

Chloe led the two of them, weapon in hand, destroying monsters as the moved to the window. Everything happened so quickly, Max barely even noticed as she herself climbed through the window, hopped down off the roof, and ran across the yard. Chloe was close behind her. Neither girl stopped to breath until they were sure there wasn't a monster in sight.

"So this 'Max' has something to do with the time spell?" Ruby asked.

"I suppose," Chloe shrugged. "I haven't seen whatever it was you saw up there."

"And she saw you fight off heartless. That's how she knows about the Keyblade?"

"Well, I couldn't just stay quiet after that display," Chloe pointed out. "Especially not if I wanted to ask her questions myself."

"So where did you two end up?"

"Right here, actually…"

Chloe and Max made their way up the lighthouse hill, each having gathered their thoughts on the way here and finally had the time to talk.

Max was the first one to break, "what in the world was that? What's going on? What's with that sword!?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Chloe countered, "what happened with the closet? Or the bathroom at school?"

"At school?" Max wasn't expecting that to come up.

Chloe took out the photo she pocketed, the one with the butterfly. "Max… did you see me get shot?"

Max's surprise grew. "You… remember that?"

"You were there! Did you do something!? Did you…" Chloe stopped herself from shouting and took a deep breath. Her next words came out much softer. "Did you save my life?"

Max shifted uncomfortably. "I… don't really know what I did. I had this weird dream in class, and then I saw you get shot. I raised my hand, and then… I lived that morning all over again. It's like I can 'rewind' a little bit and change things. Small things…"

"But big enough," Chloe added. "You saved my life."

"But… no one else remembers when I change something," Max told her. "So why did you?"

It was Chloe's turn to shift her feet uncomfortably. "That probably has something to do with the magic, if I had to guess."

"Magic…" Max stuttered.

Chloe nodded and summoned her Rebel Soul. "This is a Keyblade. It lets me do all kinds of fun stuff. Gives me some natural defenses against outside magic as well, so I guess that's why I keep my memories. And get a wicked headache when you change something."

"Do you? Sorry," Max offered. "What about those creatures?"

"The heartless. Don't worry about them, that's what the Keyblade is for!" Chloe assured. "They seem pretty rare around here, anyway. That's only, like, the second time I've ever seen them in town." No need to tell here both times were the same day.

"Okay…"

"Any other questions?"

"Yeah, actually… David said something about you disappearing for six months?"

"That's the one I was waiting for…" Chloe groaned. "Shortly after I got this thing, somebody came to get me. They took me to a school for Keyblades, how awesome does that sound?"

"Way awesome," Max agreed. "But… did you just leave without telling anyone?"

"Who was there to tell? The school I got kicked out of? Sergeant Killjoy? You?"

"What about Joyce?"

"Mom didn't need me," Chloe frowned. "She had David. She was fine."

Max was about to say something else, but she was distracted by something cold landing on the back of her hand. She and Chloe both turned their eyes to the sky to witness the start of a snowfall in eighty-degree weather. Then Max collapsed. Chloe barely caught her, letting the girl convulse in her arms for a moment before she calmed down and opened her eyes. "Holy crap, Max, are you alright!?"

"I don't like this… it was the same dream… no, vision."

"Vision of what?"

"A massive tornado, heading right for Arcadia Bay," Max explained. "The same vision I had this morning. This snow…"

Chloe didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to press for more answers. But the 'Ruby' in her mind was starting to become too loud to ignore, screaming at her that Max needed rest and to get her mind straight. "Alright, alright, jeez Rubes…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Supermax," Chloe assured her. She lifted the girl up and held her arm over her shoulders. "I'll walk you back to Blackwell, alright? Get some sleep, and we'll continue this tomorrow morning. Sound good?"

"Yeah, actually. Sleep sounds amazing."

The walk happened in silence, though Chloe's mind was louder than she could ever shout. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew one thing for sure. Between her and Max's new powers, she was certain they could figure it all out. This 'tornado', the heartless appearing, and, of course, Rachel Amber.