Author's Note: If you have not yet watched the YouTube video "Life is Strange | Chloe's Meltdown," you need to. It is the most emotional thing about this game I have watched. The quote in the story "...I would go all the way back and change everything..." actually came from this video. It was something the devs decided to cut out because it revealed too much, but it really was an actual thing. So go watch it. And enjoy this chapter. Stay awesome, friends. :)

Chapter 4: Reunion

Chloe's voice faded in and out of Max's ears. She couldn't focus on the picture enough.

Stop being selfish, Max, she thought to herself, What if Chloe doesn't want the life she had? What if she would trade her full mobility for her father's life?

Max remembered Chloe's meltdown in her old, worn truck just moments before the picture-jumping ordeal.

"Do you know what it's like to wait for your father to come home when you're a kid? And he never does?"

"No, of course not. But I was with you that day... It was just a terrible accident..."

"I wish that made me feel better. But ever since he died, my life has been dipped in shit."

"You don't want to hear this, but you're still here. Alive. With me. And that is no accident."

"You're right. I don't want to hear this."

"Chloe, I can't do this out on my own. I need you with me. And Rachel needs you..."

"Max, if I had your power I would go all the way back and change everything... Everything!"

Chloe's last words played over and over in Max's brain like a broken record. I would go all the way back and change everything... Everything! Is this really what Chloe would want?

There was really no way for Max to ask her this question. What was she going to do? Go to the Chloe of this realm and say "Hey, I'm definitely from the future, and I just want to know. Would you rather...?" No. That would be horrible. This was a choice Max had to make on her own, and it was possibly the most difficult one in her lifetime... Chloe's destiny lie in her hands.

Keep Dad and make Chloe handicapped, or let Dad die and bring the old Chloe back? Max knew that Chloe would be happier if William remained alive, but the thought of being the very reason she became disabled made her cringe. Max also knew that the old way of life was the original way, and altering realities was not a good thing. But what was she to tell Chloe when she made it to the other side? How would her best friend react, especially after blowing up earlier that day about her father's death?

Max decided that it was for the better if she went back and erased her mistakes. She concentrated solidly on the "Chloe and Max: Pancake Adventure" picture in front of her. This time, when she heard the squeaky voices calling out silly words, she stayed focused on the faces until the room went blank.

This had better be worth it.

Max roused in the 2008 Price kitchen. The air smelled of pancakes and bacon.

Nostalgia... Keep it together, Max. All you're here to do is relive this awful moment. Try to help Chloe through it.

Max wondered if she would actually be able to talk her best friend through something like this. She herself had never had to deal with the tragic death of anyone in her family.

The telephone rang and William answered it, same as before.

"Excuse me, ladies, I have to go rescue yonder Queen at the Sav-Mart," he quipped, "She doth have many bags of delicious grub for us to feast upon!"

"You are ridiculous!" Chloe teased.

William went on a search for his keys, and eventually found them thanks to his KeyFinder from SpyGuy electronics... Max wondered if this really was the right thing to do. This was her last chance to rewind and save Chloe's dad.

Max watched William walk out the door and finished making pancakes with her best friend. She remembered, once again, Chloe's words before she kicked Max out of her truck.

Max felt like shit.

Was this really the right thing to do?

The world dissolved into shades of white and red and light blue. Max witnessed every happy memory that Chloe and Joyce had of William burn up in her face. She reached out to save one, but her hand shot right through it... This felt both wrong and right.

Max just hoped what she did was good.

Chloe got out of her old beaten up clunker and slammed the door. Could this day get any worse? She stormed through the front door and upstairs to the bathroom.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on Max, she thought, She was just trying to help, I guess.

She'll get over it.

Chloe searched the drawer under her sink until she found what she wanted.

Fluoxetine* Tablets, USP

10mg Rx ONLY

She popped two in her mouth; she would need an extra dosage today... Chloe looked at her reflection in the mirror.

What the fuck are you doing? Dad is gone, Max bailed on you, Rachel betrayed you... Everyone in your life just lets you down. Fuck everybody!

The blue-haired punk girl fled to her room and plopped down on her bed. She stared at the ceiling for a moment and then sat up to grab her "therapy drug."

Just blaze for a moment and clear your mind. She pulled her thin Bic lighter from her back pocket and inspected the colorful skull design on it. Max would like this, she thought, If she used lighters. Thinking about Max made her replay the blowout the two of them had in the truck earlier that evening.

Maybe Max was right, she considered, The only reason I'm alive right now is because of her. Maybe I'm here to help guide her. And for Rachel...

Max found herself sitting on the edge of her old bed in her old dorm room. She was grateful to have her old everything back.

Well, I did it...

She checked her phone for any texts from Chloe. Her inbox was filled with nothing but messages from Warren. No one important.

Max tapped on Chloe's picture and shot her a quick SMS.

Max: Hey Che. I'm sorry about what happened today. Do you want to hang and talk about it later?

Chloe's phone buzzed on her desk and she got up from her bed to read it. She huffed and threw the cell back down.

No response. Max didn't expect one.

Whether Chloe liked it or not, however, Max was going to meet her that night to right her wrongs. She looked at herself in the mirror and hurriedly brushed her hair before leaving to the bus. The last one would be arriving in just about 10 minutes, which was hardly enough time for her to shoot out and make it across the Blackwell campus.

Max disembarked the lonely Blackwell bus and walked down the street towards the Price house, taking in the beautiful atmosphere around here. The sun was almost setting, she could see it out over the glassy blue ocean.

Max paused before moving up to the front door. Chloe's car sat parked alone in the driveway. David and Joyce must both be working night shifts tonight. She turned her gaze to Chloe's window, illuminated by the tall floor lamp near her closet.

Here I am. Chloe's same old, rundown house from before. If only David would keep up with the house as well as he does his precious spy cameras...

Even though she knew Chloe was the only one home, Max still knocked on the door before entering. She shambled up the stairs and stopped in front of the punk's door.

* knock knock *

"Chloe? It's me, Max... I want to talk."

Chloe glared at the door. This girl doesn't give up does she? A faint smile peeked out of the edges of her lips. It was good to think Max cared about her as much as she did. That she would actually come all the way out just to talk after everything.

The smile immediately disappeared as soon as she spoke. "Come in." Chloe's voice reflected a sad anger, even though she was somewhat glad to hear from her little brunette.

"Hi," Max mumbled. As much as she wanted to throw herself unto her blue-haired punk and tell her how much she had missed her, she couldn't. Chloe didn't know about any of this and, for the time being, it was better that she didn't. There was no telling how she would react, and with all of this crazy shit going on it would just be one more thing to add to her looming tower of problems.

"What do you want now, Max? Come to tell me more about Rachel and that disgusting pig Frank?"

"No, I-"

"Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore." Chloe looked down at the ground in distress. She set her weed and Oregon ash tray aside and put her palm up to her forehead, running her fingers through her fading dyed hair.

Max noticed her discomfort and walked across the room to sit beside Chloe. She put her hand up to the rebel's back in sympathy.

"I really am sorry that you had to find things out like that. I'm sure Rachel would have told you, she just didn't want to upset you..."

"It's not just about Rachel, Max," Chloe threw her hands down and looked around the room. Her voice wavered as she tried to hold back tears. "Everyone lets me down. They all just pretend to care, until they don't. I can't trust anyone anymore. My dad left me, and now he's gone forever. My mother clings to step-fucker, you bailed on me, and Rachel lied... Everyone..."

Max didn't know how to respond. Chloe was so sad, depressed... Tortured... Was this really the right thing to do?

Surely she could just go back, and... And...

"Chloe, not everyone is out to get you. Nobody just wakes up every morning and thinks, 'Hm, how can I ruin Chloe's life today?'"

"You don't get it, Max. No one does." Chloe pulled away from Max's hand on her back.

Great. Max came here to apologize and make amends and what does she get? Another argument. But maybe this needed to happen. Maybe Chloe needed to hear what Max had to say this time... To really listen.

"No. You don't get it. You know sometimes, Chloe, you're just so god damn oblivious to everything that everyone else does for you! You think I don't care? You think I want you to feel this miserable? I try my hardest to-"

"Just stop, Max." Chloe shook her head and sunk into her palms again.

The two girls sat in an awkward silence for what felt like an eternity, both thinking about how they could possibly turn the situation around. Neither had ever noticed, but each of them deeply cared about the other. They just had odd ways of showing it...

Max and Chloe knew that they cared about each other greatly, but neither knew to what extent. From their first few months of friendship, Chloe felt unusual feelings for Max. As a thirteen-year-old girl, she never acted upon them...

Max was Chloe's first love.

Max never recognized any of Chloe's feelings for her over their years of friendship, not even when she came back to Arcadia Bay after leaving. Subtle hints were hidden all over Chloe's house, but she never did pick them up. Chloe saved all of her favorite childhood memories with Max in a drawer in her blue desk, one that the two of them just so happened to paint together before Max left. What a coincidence. She had a box filled with pictures of her and her cute little pirate together as kids. She even ate the same cereal they did in 2007-2008, just to remember Max while she was gone...

Nothing was detected by the blind Blackwell "Ninja." Some detective.

Max, on the other hand, was just discovering her blossoming feelings for the lovable blue-haired rascal. Being eighteen was hard, and she was only beginning to discover herself. Max may have saved Chloe thrice over with her mad rewind powers, but Chloe saved her every day. Maybe that was what drove her to return to this reality... Maybe all Max wanted was to be with her cute punk forever.

And that big ass swirling vortex of death was still on its way to smooth out Arcadia Bay. Maybe Chloe and I could just run away and escape forever together...

You know you shouldn't have been so hard on Max, Chloe thought, At least she actually cares enough to come out here and argue with you.

"I-I'm sorry, Max. For all the shit I said earlier. And in the truck." She was shit at apologizing, but at least Chloe was trying. She looked at her shoes and turned her head towards Max. "I just blow up sometimes and I can't control myself."

"It happens. I understand. And I'm sorry for raising my voice at you. I just really care about you, is all. I don't like it when you get upset like this."

God, Max is so hella adorable. I can't stay mad at her. Damnit. Chloe flopped into Max's arms and exhaled deeply.

"Thanks, hippie. Still love me?"

"Of course, Che." Max replied.

I'll always love you... A small grin creeped from the edges of the brunette's mouth.

*Fluoxetine is the name of the drug that Chloe (or Joyce) has in the bathroom upstairs in the Price house in-game. Fluoxetine is an SSRI that treats depression, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), and other disorders. Some brand names are Sarafem or Prozac. Please keep in mind that I obtained this information from a quick Google search. I am not a doctor, and I have never had the need to take these types of pills, so I will not make any assumptions about the pills or those who take them. Remember, there is nothing wrong with needing to use this type of medication. I am just explaining what type of drug this is for those who are unaware. :)

One More Note: If you didn't read the description up there ^ for Fluoxetine, go do it. Did it? Okay. Good. Now, to explain why I completely changed the end of this chapter, I felt like it just needed a little bit more character development. Don't worry, they'll kiss eventually. But right now is about exploring each of the girls' attraction towards one another. :3

One More One More Note: I love seeing the reviews you guys post! They inspire me to write more and more, and our little community is slowly growing. Thank you for your continued support!

One More One More One More Note: **SPOILERS for Ep. 4 Launch Trailer** So I have a theory. After watching the trailer I'm wondering if Max returns to the old reality and Chloe is gone. Like, she moved or something. Because the house is empty and the Price family was definitely there in the alternate place. I don't know though, I really have no evidence other than the snap from the trailer. What do you guys think?