Alternate Ending

After their horrific ordeal, after the nightmares they had to suffer, both Max and Chloe were safe at last, but not yet out of the woods — there was one last dilemma hanging over their heads.

Does Max choose to sacrifice her long life to get rid her curse?

Or...

Does she simply promise never to use it to mess with time again, no matter how tempted she could get?

When Chloe took her best friend into the bathroom of her hospital room, she stood leaning against a wall opposite her while the latter sat on the toilet, her hands and elbows supporting her head on her knees — Max's mind was screaming bloody murder as she weighed these options; it contrasted starkly with the silence within this tiled interior.

Watching her locked in despair, Chloe stepped out to break this silence. "What are you thinking, Max?" She squatted so that their eyes perfectly aligned. "Talk to me."

Max opened her mouth, her voice creaking like worn wood. "I don't know... I don't wanna know." She forced herself to look up at Chloe. "I'm so tired of it all."

Scared yet wanting to encourage, the older girl took her frail hands and kept her gaze.

"I fucking hate myself!" With that, Max's floodgates reopened.

Chloe cupped her face, as just as immediately, they were hushed before its tears could drown her.

"Don't ever say that again!" She commanded. "I don't want you to ever do this to yourself after everything Rachel and I did to bring you back!"

With a shaky sigh, Max wiped her eyes. "I'm s—sorry."

They hugged, neck to neck, until her quiet sobs settled. Remaining like this, Chloe had to ask her the dark question once more, in her ear. "What do you want to do?"

Max pulled away and let her eyes rest blankly to the floor for a minute, Chloe awaiting her answer eagerly.

"Just know... that if you decide to do... that other choice... I'll be left alone again." The blue-haired girl spoke up again, wanting to resort to her old guilt-tripping tactics as to dissuade her friend from making the option she was surely leaning towards. "I can't lose you too, Max."

Max knew her friend too well to know what she was doing, but as she sunk into those pleading watery orbs, she almost wanted it to work.

"Also, think about how your parents would feel." Now it was her turn to crack. "I've experienced — am still experiencing — what's it's like to lose a father." Chloe averted her face as her own tears came. "Can you imagine how they would feel... to lose a daughter?"

She was tugging the right heartstrings; Max had initially considered sacrificing her own life to save others from her destructive weapon. Now, thanks to Chloe, she found herself backing away from that option, but she still didn't want to give in.

"I know what you're doing." Max pointed out calmly. "This is hard for me too."

"What does that mean!?" Chloe turned back to her incredulously, her voice raising. "What is the harder decision!?"

"I don't know if I can trust myself!" Now Max was on her feet. "What if you die again, and I feel like r—rewinding just to save you?"

"Then don't!"

"How!?"

"I'll be more careful!" Both girls were almost out of breath. "I'll be better to myself so you won't have to ever use your powers again!"

"Swear it!" Max demanded, finally gaining some footing.

"I'll cut my own hand and swear a blood oath!"

"Let's not go that far!" Max grabbed Chloe. "I've had to watch you bleed to death too many times already."

"I'm sorry, Max." She hid her face shamefully. "I caused this."

"No, Chloe, you didn't!"

"Yes, I did!" Her outburst echoed off the surrounding tiles. "My shitty decisions triggered your powers, and as a result, all this fucking chaos!"

Silence filled the small void afterwards while both the teens allowed themselves a moment to catch their breath; they both needed this to recollect themselves before this turned into a fight.

Once things have calmed again, their tear-stained faces pointed back to one another, the bluenette coming to her senses.

Chloe swallowed a lump before speaking again. "It's your choice, Max." The muck in her mouth gave a salty taste. "I'll respect whatever it is and... hella stick by you until the very end."

Max looked to the floor, tracing their cast shadows for some reason. Her conscience was being put through a wringer — should she doom a potential future with her true love, or make another selfish choice for the sake of it? From what Chloe described, the latter choice seemed much crueller because of the devastating impact it will have on everyone dearest to her, so maybe it wasn't so selfish after all.

She also couldn't fathom what her passing would do to her parents — what would become of them, she didn't want to envision.

Finally making her decision, Max dove forward into Chloe's lips strongly before she pulled back with a wide grin.

"What does that mean?" Chloe asked, stunned.

"What's a superhero without her damsel in distress?" She responded.

Joy began to overfill the older girl. "More like my partner-in-crime."

They kissed once more, passiomately, until a knock on their door from outside broke them apart.

"Is everything okay in there?" It was Vanessa.

"All good in here, Mrs. Caulfield."

"We were just making out!"

The slow and silent response from outside thereafter had both girls nearly dying on the floor in laughter.

The worst was behind them, and together, whatever obstacles would come barrelling their way, Max and Chloe would take them on as an iconic duo.

In the months that passed, Rachel Amber's spirit followed her two friends back to Seattle with both families to recover from such an occasion; she made herself an invisible presence on purpose as to let them adjust back to normalcy without her intervening.

While relieved by the time-bender's choice to spare her own life, it gave her a heavy heart at the same time; she had to watch her girls suffer the aftermath through nightmares, panic attacks as well as unwanted attention from outside parties like the press or view-hungry vloggers who stalked them around endlessly.

Despite that, Max and Chloe managed to keep each other on their feet through all this.

There were some cases, however, where Rachel was close enough to reach into their dreams to provide comfort and love; she would even talk to them sometimes so they could relay their encounters to each other.

After some time, Max and Chloe developed the great idea to travel the globe, away from everything and everyone, to fill out their scrapbook.

But first, Max returned with Chloe's family to Arcadia Bay to help the community reform their fishing town; their set goal was to fulfill the late William's promise, which was to repair the house and paint it all blue.

It took a span of months that bled into the following year where Chloe used her magnificent art skills to paint murals on the front walls, with her mother's approval, while Max helped with the interior design.

But it was during this movement that everyone got their ultimate surprise — standing in front of their finished residence, Joyce made the big announcement that she was expecting another child.

Chloe, much to the surprise of her stepfather, couldn't be happier for them as they all rejoiced in a group hug.

William was the name given to her baby brother when he was born; it was David's suggestion.

Holding her newborn sibling for the first time, she fell in love. Along with Max, they gushed and doted like a couple of overzealous aunts. For everyone, little William symbolized their new beginning, a brand new chapter of their lives.

All these dear moments, Rache distantly observed with a sad smile; to her, time passed as easily as striding through a corridor, each room she opened storing those memories.

With that in mind, she turned away and left them for the final time to let their lives take their natural course without her.

There was one last stop that the duo needed to make before they departed for their big journey, which was the refurbished cemetery.

Bringing a bouquet of flowers, they were on their way to Rachel's grave when they saw a man coming towards them from that direction. From the redness on his tear-stained face and the way he carried himself as he left, there was nothing in his skin but emptiness. As he passed the girls, his grief prevented him from looking either of the two in the eye, especially Chloe.

Max commected the dots but asked her friend anyway. "Is that... Rachel's father?"

Chloe nodded solemnly. "That was James Amber, alright."

"He looked destroyed."

"Yeah, but we're not here for him."

Chloe didn't share Max's empathy for that man — they had a history that went way back around the time she first met Rachel... but that was a story for another time.

Laying their flowers at the gravesite, they joined hands while they took in a moment of silence to pay their respects.

Without actually needing her friend's powers, Chloe replayed their fondest memories.

The first time they bumped into each other in that rave.

Their first argument at the junkyard.

Standing by her side during that one time she set the whole forest on fire.

When she proposed to her in that Tempest play.

Their first kiss right after.

And everything else that followed.

Chloe knew the best and worst of Rachel Amber, more so than anyone else, and she loved her for it. Her memories would always remain. After all, they had their whole lives ahead of them now.

It was time forget the horrors... to leave it all behind.

One evening, a blonde woman in a cream-toned summer dress stood on the hilltop where the lighthouse was, facing the sunset while tears rained down her soul.

For years, she had to carry the guilt of a failed mother. When she heard of what happened to her daughter, she blamed everyone who was responsible, but mainly herself.

Sera Gearhardt was this woman's name.

Here, she stood on the edge, a smoking cigarette hanging between her fingers, as she contemplated stepping off so she could see her again.

Her addictions drove her family, and because of that, she couldn't be there to save Rachel. In her mind, this was her punishment.

Throwing her last smoke away, Sera shut her eyes and exercised deep breaths as the wind picked up against her face, as if trying to blow her back.

"I'm s—sorry." She choked. "Forgive me."

She spreaded her arms wide, like wings, and prepared to timbre off the cliff to her death when a mystical whirr from behind stopped her.

"Mom?" Called a young girl's voice.

Who on earth could call her a mother?

Peeling her eyes open, she stepped away from the steep drop and crankes around to see a golden ethereal figure standing there — her face, the woman found impossible to mistake nor believe.

"R—Rachel...?"

When her daughter's face smiled back at her, she was convinced now that she must have jumped, either that or she was high again.

Falling to her knees, she grovelled on the grass and crumbled. "I'm sorry, dear!" She wailed. "I failed you! I failed you all!" She wanted to lay like forever. "It's all my fault! I don't deserve you!"

Rachel said nothing as she knelt down and took her mother's face. "Everything will be alright." She whispered, and then they embraced under the watchful gaze of the waning sky.

Author's Note: After the final episode of Before the Storm was released, it gave me so many ideas! In this canon, the events if that prequel did take place, but it was only afterwards that Rachel discovered her powers, but I decided not to explore that too much.

I know it looks like I'm trying to farm for reviews and follows, but that's not the case. I've decided that for the sake of keeping my collection neater, I would make more sense to put this at the end of my main story like I did in Wattpad (yes, Wattpad).

My original ending is still canon, but you readers, of course, can decide otherwise. Thank you!