"Missing" by Evanescence

October 2017

Chloe sat at the counter of Indigo Ink, the small tattoo shop she had opened up in the strip mall a few blocks away from where Max and her rented their apartment. Scratching at her blue beanie, her indigo hair halfway down her back, she absently played with the strap of her old Misfit Skull tank straps as she eyed the scuff on her black leather jeans. Aside from two scheduled appointments and some university's sorority all wanting their nipples pierced, it had been a relatively slow day. Man, this is hella lame, Chloe thought as she sipped at the bottled water she kept in the micro-fridge behind the counter that had pictures of her artwork and the piercing jewelry on display. I should've brought my Vita, played some Corpse Party or Silent Hill. Ooh, Mortal Kombat!

Chloe groaned aloud as she spun on the stool and her employee and fellow artist Ash chuckled from the room she was using to finish up a customer's tattoo of a clockwork angel wing with razors for feathers. Chloe glanced over her shoulder, her body facing the sketching table that was up against the wall opposite the counter and flipped off Ash.

"What was that for?" Ash asked, pausing in her tattooing as she lifted the gun up and the slight hum of it was silenced.

"Dunno. Felt like it," Chloe grumbled as she pulled out her phone, "Is it 4pm yet?"

"…Ahh," Ash intoned with a sly grin on her face before she looked down to pick up where she had left off, a single tzzt of the tattoo gun followed by its usual hum as she went back to work, "You're waiting for yo' girlfriend~"

"Eat me."

"I thought that was her job~," Ash retorted, sticking out her pierced tongue just as there was the sound of someone entering the small lobby that led into the tattoo shop proper.

The electronic door chime went off and Chloe's entire body snapped around to face forward as the small entryway's single window gave a hint of chestnut hair and her entire body trembled before she bolted for the smiling girl already opening her arms out for her as Max Caulfield wrapped her up in a tight hug. She smelled of coffee, lavender, and the clove-infused hash oil of her cigar tube-sized vape; Chloe loved all of it. My Max, Chloe thought as she lifted up the diminutive hipster and smiled brightly at the sound of her girlfriend of four years giggling in amusement, All mine.

"Chloe, if you don't put me down you're gonna hurt your back," Max chided before wrapping her legs around Chloe's waist as she nuzzled her face into Chloe's neck for several small kisses, "Mmm, you taste as good as you look."

"Hella yes, I do!" Chloe affirmed, chuckling at Max's half-assed flirting. Four years and she's still awkward as fuck sometimes. Never change, Max. Well, don't change too much, okay? Setting her girlfriend down, Chloe gave Max a once-over despite having seen her off in the morning with a bacon omelette to split between them and some coffee.

Hair down past her shoulders, Max kept her bangs at the length they had been since Chloe could remember. It framed her freckled face nicely, and gave her a more mature, pretty appearance. Following it up with Chloe's sleeveless denim jacket, a band t-shirt from the live show they had seen the weekend before, Halestrom if Chloe remembered correctly, and jean shorts with her old Chuck Taylors, Max was a mix of old and new. The starkest contrast Chloe knew was the addition of the tattoos on Max's right forearm, a rosary-like weave of vines and ribbons that seemed to carry tattooed Polaroid photos, deer, and butterflies like a still-life display. The half-sleeve ran around Max's entire forearm in a colorful display, the only tattoo she had. So far, Chloe thought as she admired her handiwork

"Thirsty?" Chloe asked, walking behind the counter with Max waving at Ash before joining Chloe behind the counter to take the offered water.

"Parched beyond belief," Max said between mouthfuls of water, "Self-defense classes are no joke. I can't believe you convinced me to take them."

"Dude, it wasn't just me. You're dad's a U.S. Marshal and your mom is an Assistant District Attorney in Seattle. I'm pretty sure you would've ended up doing something sick like Krav Maga or whatever if you hadn't volunteered to start taking some type of self-defense training," Chloe half-joked, a smirk on her face for Max missing the obvious tease while she eyed Max's lean arms and the slight muscular definition that was starting to make itself known, "You a black belt yet? My little hippie gonna be my kickass ninja girlfriend?"

"They don't even have belts, dork," Max teased, poking Chloe in the side with a finger, "It's not one of those places where you can just pay your way up to a belt. It's about the training, not some achievement or colorful band around your waist. …A belt would be cool, though…and being a ninja does sound pretty hardcore…"

Chloe smiled at Max's last comment then put her water back in the micro-fridge and sat on her stool so that she was facing Max as the brunette faced her from where she was leaning against the counter, her camera bag dangling at her hip like it had done for so many years now. God, she's so fucking beautiful, Chloe thought as she took Max in before returning her attention to what had gone unsaid between them since Max had walked through the door. A continuation to their conversation that morning. A continuation that Chloe knew had to happen in spite of her not wanting to go there. Or there.

"Max, about this morning…," Chloe started, playing with her lip ring like she did when she got nervous as she tattooed arms together anxiously.

"…What's to talk about?" Max asked flatly, the disappointment on her face so blatantly obvious that all Chloe could do was sigh. It was clear to Chloe that the subject of their morning argument had stayed on her girlfriend's mind the entire day. "You said you don't want to go with me. That settles that."

"Yeah, but just because I don't want to does not mean I'm not at least a little willing to acquiesce to your request."

"Did you just say 'acquiesce'?"

"Hey, I have a hella sick vocab, Maxi-pad. That's beside the point. I know…I know how much this would mean for your portfolio…and how much it would mean to you. I dunno. Maybe I need it, too."

The hum of the tattoo gun was all that could be heard in the tattoo shop as Chloe waited for Max to react: Open her mouth, speak, squeal, snort, whatever. Chloe needed for Max to do something other than just blankly stare at her like she had just said something terrible.

"C-Chloe…," Max stammered out, her tone unreadable until Chloe caught the slight ire in the brunette's eyes, "I've been at you about this for weeks and you're just now admitting that maybe you need this, too?"

"Maximus, babe, look. You spent five years away, and I was there the entire time. You come back and there's…there's all the shit that went down. My mom is still rattled sometimes when I visit her here in town, never mind the added shell shock it gave David. Dude's like a fucking ghost after four fucking years, man, and he still won't talk about what went down at that bomb shelter."

"I…I know I'm asking a lot, Chloe. Wowser, a lot of a lot. I just think that it would help me…help us…if there was some real closure. I mean… We left, Chloe. We left and we never went back. Not even for the relief effort. We just holed up at my parents' until you could get into a college and then I was doing homeschool to wrap up high school while working a full-time barista gig…"

"I know, Max," Chloe said, lifting her butt off the seat to take Max's hands in her own as she brought the fingertips to her lips and kissed them, "I know, babe. That's why I'm…I'm saying that while I don't want to go I probably need to, like you do. It's time, Max."

"So, we're really doing it?"

"We're really doing it," Chloe said as she fished out her cigarettes and lighter while Max took a puff of her vape as they headed out the front door for a smoke, "We're going back to, well, whatever's left of Arcadia Bay."

"…Wowser…"

"Yeah. No shit, wowser," Chloe added, ruffling Max's hair as the electronic door chime went off from them heading outside.

The apartment door opened to the scent of that morning's leftover coffee and stale air, Max running to the kitchen to crack open the window with a grimace at the smell of the place easily visible on her face. Sweat, stale air, dirty clothes in need of washing, and old coffee – it was definitely her and Chloe's apartment, the two of them combined to create a never-ending battle between Chloe's disasterpiece mentality when it came to cleanliness and Max's self-admitted OCD toward ensuring that the place was as clean as she could make it while living in the same space as her cerulean-haired punk. Taking in a breath of the fresh air making its way into the apartment, Max looked at the dirty dishes and grimaced again before she started the faucet in the kitchen sink only to feel arms wrap around her from behind. Oh, no you don't, Chloe Elizabeth Price, Max thought as she ignored the soft touches and gentle hugging as her girlfriend's lean abs pressed against her back, You promised you'd clean up before you went to work.

"You promised, Chloe Price," Max intoned in a flat voice, eyeing her girlfriend from over her shoulder, "I'm happy beyond belief that you've agreed to take the trip back to the Bay with me, but this was something you had agreed to beforehand. What happened to 'No sweat, baby. I gotcha. Place'll be sparkly as fuck'?"

"Uh… Can I plead the fifth? Can I ask for a mistrial? All your evidence is circumstantial, anyway," Chloe said with a shaky grin, "After all, you have no witnesses to confirm this statement I allegedly made."

"One – you watch too much Law and Order while you're at work," Max said, smacking Chloe with a freshly-washed spatula, "And, ugh, you promised me that you'd clean before you left, Chlobear…"

Max knew her pout held considerable sway against Chloe, more so because she did not really pout all that much. She had not even realized that the pout was in full-gear until Chloe was trying to avoid looking directly at her with a look of slow resignation on her face. Oops, Max thought as she quickly tried to make her facial expression as non-pouty as possible to Chloe's visible relief.

"I'm still upset," Max warned, spatula in hand as Chloe started to smile, "You know that I plan on leaving tomorrow for Arcadia Bay and since you're coming with there's a list of things that need doing, Chloe. This… We could've been doing something nice like pizza, Netflix, and cuddles instead of cleaning up…"

"Dude, we still totally can!" Chloe insisted, the words pizza and cuddles seeming to spur her into motion as she began to gather all the clutter around the apartment and sort everything out at double-time to Max's sudden shock. Not questioning or choosing to ask about where the burst of energy came from, Max instead returned to the dirty dishes and thought about Arcadia Bay as she scrubbed, rinsed, and dried the motley assemblage in the sink of hot, soapy water.

Arcadia Bay, Max thought as she absently washed the dishes with Chloe left to her own devices, It would almost feel like a dream if the scars from that week weren't still around in some capacity. Chloe's need to be held in her sleep every night, the sometimes distant look on Joyce's face when we come over for dinner and she has to wheel herself around in the wheelchair when it's a bad day for her back. Max thought of David, the once energetic and nigh-unapproachable security guard broken down into a blank-faced shell of himself. The way he stares at everyone when he's mentally with us enough is just…just so creepy. I…I'm pretty sure I know why he's like this, but I wish that things could've been different. For so many people.

Max knew that people had gotten out of the Bay, or had at least found shelter. Aside from seeing Victoria in Seattle with Taylor, however, she had no clue as to who survived. She'd closed down her Facebook that day as they drove and had never bothered to look things up regarding Arcadia Bay. Neither had Chloe, Max thought, We just turned away because we knew what saving her had cost and we could only move forward. Going back now, after getting our lives together, our life together, feels like it gives us more of an advantage.

"Yo, Space Cadet!" Max heard Chloe say before she was startled by the sprinkle of dishwater on her face, "Hey, Max. You okay? You're trippin' out again, dude!"

"Uh, yeah. Just…Just thinkin' about tomorrow…and years ago…," Max said with a solemn tone to her voice before two blue-nailed hands cupped her face and she found a pair of lips desperately in need of kissing. Max let Chloe hold her for a while in contemplative, protective silence with her eyes shut to block out the world save for her girlfriend.

"Still awake?"

"Oh gawd, Chloe," Max said with a smirk as she buried her face into Chloe's shoulder, "I fell asleep in your arms once and you'll never let it go. We'd been up for hours waiting for The Force Awakens! How could I not have eventually crashed?"

"But…you fell asleep…in my arms…like a princess-"

"Stop it, you egg," Max said, gently pushing herself out of the embrace to inspect Chloe's work, "Wow. You shoved and carried everything to spots where the clutter is visually minimized. Nice."

"Soooooo…," Chloe said, traipsing her fingers up Max's sternum, "Do I get pizza and Netflix with my baby?"

"I dunno. You think you've been good?"

"Hella good. Super amazeballs freakin' wonderful. At this point, I'm like a goddamn patronus, protecting you from all the things," Chloe said, a wry grin on her face as she crossed her arms and pouted. Max loved the snake bite piercings on Chloe's lower lip, and knew that her tall girlfriend was playing that card.

"Pizza and Potter, then," Max said, emphasizing the last word in her best Lucius Malfoy impersonation, "Half meat-lovers, half pepperoni with all the spicy peppers."

"Ooh, do we get the chocolate-lava cakes? Pwease?"

"Uh, when weren't we going to get the choco-lavas?"

The drive had felt longer than it actually had been before they reached the part where the highway split off into the old blacktop that led to what had been Max and Chloe's childhood hometown. A pair of concrete dividers set up to block traffic with "CAUTION!" on an orange sign with a pair of red stop signs flanking the large, reflective, and garish display. Max braced herself against the door of their old Jeep Liberty and the dash as Chloe drove off-road and around the dividers before pulling back onto the surprisingly clear road that led into what had been Arcadia Bay. It's almost like nature has stalled, Max thought as she watched the scenery while Chloe rolled them along at a reduced speed, If it weren't years later it might have been maybe a day or an entire week. Weird.

"Am…Am I the only one getting hella creeped out right now?" Max heard Chloe ask, the brunette turning her head to see Chloe's hands gripping the steering wheel with a choke hold that might otherwise strangle a person to unconsciousness. Placing a hand reassuringly on one of Chloe's, Max felt her girlfriend's tension ease up a little.

"No, you are most definitely not the only one getting the heebie-jeebies from all this," Max said in a calm voice, keeping her own anxiousness to herself as best as she could manage, "It's like-"

"It's like nothing ever fucking happened, Max," Chloe said as they crested a hill and she pulled the jeep over to the shoulder before parking the vehicle, "I mean, fuck, just look at it. No birds, no deer or rabbits or animals, but otherwise this place looks just like how we left it when we peeled the fuck outta here, babe. Doesn't that make you wanna turn the fuck 'round and go take pictures of, um, whatever?"

"It…It scares me a little, but I think it's scary in general to be doing this. We're doing more than just going back to Arcadia Bay, Chloe. We're looking at what I chose," Max said, her last sentence coming out with a faltering voice as she looked down at her lap and the Polaroid camera that had once belonged to William Price.

"No. No, Max, don't you even fucking start that shit. You didn't ask to be given all those choices, to get fucked with like you did. You did the best you could and to hell with whoever says otherwise! I won't let you beat yourself up over a no-win scenario. You totally saved me, over and over, and we may never know if the storm was coming on its own or not-"

"But Chloe-"

"But nothing. I won't have you beating yourself up because of one thing in a lifetime," Chloe said, her ire raised enough that what inhibitions she'd had were subdued. Putting the SUV out of park and back into drive, Chloe and Max headed down the hill and closer to their destination.

Chloe brought them to the parking lot for the beach and switched off the ending after putting the jeep in park. Both girls climbing out from their respective sides, Max slung her camera bag and checked it's contents. A Canon EOS Rebel SLR with two 64GB memory cards and the old Polaroid camera Chloe had given her with packs and packs of film. Looking over to her partner-in-crime, Max watched Chloe sling a rucksack that held their drinks, first aid kit, and sandwiches that they had prepared earlier that morning. The creases on her girlfriend's forehead pursed Max's lips, but when she walked over and slipped her free hand into one of Chloe's the lines faded. I know you don't really want to be here, Chlo. Neither do I. Not really. This… It's just too good of a photography idea to pass up! It's like Nature itself has stood still here. No overgrowth, no dilapidation of any structures that were still standing. It's as though time itself has rejected the entire town.

"Where you wanna start, babe? You're the shot-caller," Chloe chimed in, snapping Max out of her own head with the same crooked smile that made her fall in love with the punk every time she used it, "Fire away!"

"Uh, how about the beach? Where the whales…where they hopefully were?" Max suggested, pulling out the Polaroid camera as she and Chloe walked down the sidewalk path that stretched along the beach, the lighthouse perched on the hill behind them as they headed opposite of it. A couple times, Max found herself nearly looking back at it, the garish half-building almost seeming to call to her. Wowser, Max silently thought to herself as she composed herself and began to take some candid shots and a couple selfies of herself and Chloe on their little expedition.

"Nice to see you relaxing a bit," Chloe said, a faint whiff of jealousy in the way she congratulated Max, "Wish I could get over this as easily as you, dude."

"It's not about getting over it inasmuch as it's moving past what led to all this," Max said, squeezing Chloe's hand with their fingers interwoven together, "What was it I told you back then? 'You are all that matters to me'? Still applicable."

"D'awww, you're hella cute when you get all reminiscent about the many ways in which you love me," Chloe said, tucking some loose hair behind her ear as a faint pink came to her cheeks, "I guess that's what I need. This isn't a bad thing, not really. It's just the two of us, moving on. We're at what remains of our old hometown, snappin' some photos."

"Exactly."

"Right."

Silence befell them as they reached the point where Frank Bower's RV had once been and they looked out from the small hill to see the tide slowly move up toward land only to pull itself back into the ocean. No whales, no debris, and no sign of life. Just like the ride past the small blockade, it was as if time had frozen. The small bits of grass were not overgrown nor were they long dead – they simply were. There was no sign of sea life, however, and as Max took photo after photo she could not shake the slight, nagging dread that they would only find more of this as they went along. It's like time has become stagnant, unmoving. What did you do, Max Caulfield, Max thought as she replaced the camera back in her back and pulled out the Canon SLR to take some higher quality shots while Chloe sipped at a water canteen. Taking a quick shot of Chloe with a mouthful of water, Max leapt back with a yelp of surprise when the other girl shot out a small stream of water between her pursed lips in Max's direction.

"C-Chloe…!" Max said, dodging yet another spurt of water, her agitation half-hearted as a giggle bubbled up from her throat, "D-Dammit, stop! Stop, Chloe!"

"That'll teach you to photo ninja me, Caulfield. Your Irish luck is strong, but not that strong. You are not a Jedi yet," Chloe said after swallowing what remained of the water in her mouth, an impish grin on her face, "We done here? Ready for the next spot?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I think so," Max said, shaking her head as she put the Canon back into her camera bag, "I… The lighthouse."

"You for reals?" Chloe asked, though the real surprise belonged to Max as she had not so much said it as felt that the words had been pulled out of her from somewhere else, "Uh, hella yes…?"

"Don't sound too excited, Chlo."

"It's just that there's a lot of mixed shit up there, Max. Like, good…bad…fucking terrifying… You really want to-"

"Not…Not want. More like have to,"Max said, hoping that she could wade through the verbal slush trying to pour out of her mouth, "It's like, um, where everything started. Besides, we're already here in the area…"

Max watched Chloe's face turn into a mask of concern and pensiveness. The lighthouse had been the first place they had really come back together as a pair all those years ago and the last place they had been in Arcadia Bay before leaving it behind for years. If anything, it would have made more sense for Max to select that place last. To bring it up among the first spots to visit, even if there was a logic behind it because they were relatively closer to it than the actual town, the lighthouse was still something of a mystery…and a reminder. All those people, people we never knew and people we did know. Who survived, managed to either get into shelter or get out of town? Max thought as she continued watching Chloe mull over the idea, Who…?

Who didn't survive? And why does it look like no time has passed here? This all makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

"Wowser…," Max mumbled to herself, reaching down to pick at an old flyer inviting people to a rally protesting the Prescotts' Pan Estates developmental project. It's been four years. This should be mulch, or whatever.

"Hey," Chloe said, laying a hand gently on Max's shoulder as the brunette got up from where she'd been kneeling, "If you're up for the lighthouse, so am I. We do this together, yeah? I'm hella ready."

"You're sure?" Max asked, sensing a slight inhibition in Chloe's posturing.

"Dude, don't stop the momentum while it's going. C'mon – let's just get this done. Then, we can go check out how bizarre the rest of the town is. If this spot looks untouched, imagine how hella weird the rest of the town is!"

Max smiled at Chloe's encouragement, forced as it might be, and nodded. The lighthouse was a trek up the hill on which it resided, but they were now both determined to make the climb. Slipping the Canon SLR into her bag, Max grabbed Chloe by the shoulders and stood on her tip-toes to give the blue-haired punk a kiss. Their lips connecting, then seeming to melt together as warm breath and warm tongues slid together for a moment, Max's tongue played with the tongue ring Chloe was sporting. Maybe I should get a tongue ring, too. Swear to Dog, the things she can do with that stud when we're…

"Okay, Mega-Max," Chloe said, pulling away, "Down, girl. There'll be enough time for that when we get home. Let's do this, a'ight?"

Wagging her butt ever so slightly as she took the lead, Max watched Chloe's spring in her step as the taller of the two girls headed toward the spot along the beach which led toward the lighthouse path. She's putting on a strong front, but we both know how hard this is, and the truth.

We're scared to be back.

"Come on, slowpoke!" Chloe cheered as she waited patiently at the small map of the hill trails as Max headed toward her from further back in the trail. It's always like this, Chloe mused with a wry smile on her face as Max looked up at her with a mockingly-cute pout, Max and me, well, more me leading the way on another adventure. Even with her school and my night classes and work, we find time to have adventures and movie nights…even if sometimes the adventures are in bed... Chloe grinned and held out her arms as a worn-out Max Caulfield practically fell into them. She'd get Max later for that, for so dramatically falling into her arms. Even if it's from exhaustion. You're no match for my teasing talents, my "wee Irish lass".

"Need a break?" Chloe asked, kissing Max on the crown of her chestnut hair as she ran her fingertips through the undercut and its trimmed hair, "Goddamn, Max, this is pretty sick! I am hella much loving this new look, not gonna lie. Epic."

"Mmm," Max replied nuzzling her face into Chloe's chest as the taller of the two girls continued with the impromptu scalp massage, "I think I'm in Heaven. Don't…Don't stop."

"Aww, babe…," Chloe said with another kiss, this one on the freckled nose of her girlfriend, before stopping, "We have to get your photography project done. Then we can go home and I can play masseuse to all your aches, wants, and needs."

"…Deal," Max said with a slight humph before tilting Chloe's chin down with her thumb and forefinger to plant a single kiss on the taller girl's lips, "I love you, you know."

"I know," Chloe said with a wink before taking Max's hand and leading her up along the path, "You hella love me."

"You're not gonna say it back?"

"Oh, I was doing a thing. Empire, remember? 'I love you' and 'I know'?"

"Ohhhh, so you were being a jerk because pop culture reference," Max teased, making it Chloe's turn to pout before Max giggled and moved to walk beside her along the trail, "I can tease too, dork. Remember, Remember, the ninth of October, the kiss that time forgot. I can think of no reason why that kiss wasn't pleasin', though a kiss back I received not…"

"Shaddup!" Chloe said, though the stifled laughter on her face said more as the two girls advanced up the hill hand-in-hand.

The warm glow of sunset spilled over the small landscape as the pair finally reached the top of the hill, sun rays between trees giving way to an open, sunlit space that was a reminder of where their journey had both ended and started. The lighthouse, looking as though it had been ripped in half rather than blown, stood with a jagged-edged opening as bits of it and the small shack cluttered the hilltop along with downed trees and various rocks. The park map, oddly untouched by either time or the years-old storm, felt worn and familiar as Max traced her fingers along its surface with Chloe paying attention to something just outside of the tree line.

"Max! C'mere!" Chloe called out to her girlfriend, waving the brunette over to a tree stump, "Check it!"

"What's this?" Max asked with an amused smile. Under the '2008' of their 'Max & Chloe BFF Pirates' were the numbers '201', "Chloe, for reals?"

Max giggled a little when Chloe handed her the butterfly knife and tried to dig into the wood with her own strength. Whereas Chloe's engravings looked as though it had been with relative ease, the trunk's bark alone did not seem to want to yield to Max's pressure or power. Grunting with a little extra effort, Max kept her eyes trained on where she was cutting but rolled them when she heard Chloe snicker. Ha ha, Chloe, so I hit a rough patch of the wood on this old stump, Max thought as she endeavored to make her own mark on the old knot of wood, It's not like I'm "Miss Feeble" from when we got back together, all shy and meek. Geez, give a girl some credit for growing up…well, growing up some.

With an additional amount of force and some curses under her breath, Max let out a gasp of suppressed laughter when she was finally able to start carving into the trunk. A few moments later and a jagged '7' was next to the '201' Chloe had left behind. Turning around, eyes closing at the cool breeze that washed over her, Max stood up and opened her eyes in one motion to find Chloe gone for only a moment before a pressure began to build in her head. A hand to her head, Max stumbled back and fell onto the tree stump, a grunt emanating from her lips when she landed on the misshapen top of the stump. The headache had come out of nowhere, and it felt to Max as though her head was being split into several pieces. God, this is just like…just like those headaches from back then… Max checked her nose, found no trace of blood; instead, rain battered her face in the blink of an eye and she watched from where she sat as Chloe Price, 19 years old, stood at the cliff's edge of the hilltop.

"W-What…?" Max stammered out, wiping the water from her face as she pulled the hood of her sleeveless vest up, looking over at an equally-perplexed teenage version of her girlfriend. A version that was all too familiar, "I'm…I'm back here, at the storm? How? I-I haven't had any powers since the storm-"

"Max…? Max? How…?" Chloe asked as she began to cross the distance between them, grabbing onto Max's shoulders as though to ensure that she were real, "Dude, I just saw you disappear or flicker or whatever and… Are you older…? Max, what the fuck is going… Look out!"

Max felt hands slam into her chest and was pushed back into the tree line as part of a building was carried up by the storm and landed where she had been only seconds before.

Where Chloe had just been standing.

Chloe.

"Chloe?! Chloe?!" Max screamed through the wind as she scrambled to her feet, unsure of what was going on but knowing that she needed to find out.

Chloe Price looked away from Max for a second as the diminutive girl struggled to leave her mark on their old stump and appreciate the coastal view. It had not been her decision to come back to what was left of Arcadia Bay, and a lot of what they had found so far had done nothing but wig her the fuck out, but Chloe was glad to be here if only because it meant she could appreciate it through Max's eyes. Looking out to the water, how the sun played along the rippling surface, it made Chloe think of old memories…some she would have liked to have kept buried…

Rachel, Chloe thought as she remembered the last time she and Rachel had gone out onto the beach, crashing a Vortex Club party with Justin and Trevor. Hella good times, Chloe thought in reminiscence before looking back to the stump to find Max gone.

"Max?" Chloe asked with a curious tone as she looked from side to side before turning around to look over and see Max sitting on the bench beside a restored lighthouse, "Dude, um, what the absolute fuck-"

"Chloe?" Max asked, and when the girl turned around to look at Chloe the punk felt her heart melt as the 18 year-old version of her girlfriend looked at her with eyes wide in wonder, "Chloe?"

"Th-This…This is epically crazy-balls," Chloe said as she began to back away when the teenage Max Caulfield got to her feet, "N-No, you…you stay there. I am not 4:20-ing, my dude, so this is some of your fucked-up time travely shit. Or something. Maybe. Fuck, I dunno!"

Before the teenage brunette could say anything, Chloe spun on the heel of her boot and was bolting down the hill. Nearly tripping over her own feet multiple times as she fought to make her way down as fast as physically possible, Chloe could hear but chose to ignore the shouts of her girlfriend's teenage counterpart from the hilltop. Please tell me I didn't just fuck up time, please tell me I didn't just fuck up time, Chloe thought over and over like a mantra as she skidded down the last straight swath of trail before veering onto the grassier, less used branching point which led to where their SUV had been parked. Feeling a knotting pain in her forehead before she reached the beach, Chloe closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose before opening them again to find the SUV waiting for her sans a 22 year-old Max Caulfield.

"Max? Max?!" Chloe called out, pacing down the beach with her hands cupping her mouth, "Maxine Caulfield! Mad Max! Maximus, c'mon! This weird-ass shit's not cool or pretty! I wanna go home!"

"…c…cHloE…," Chloe heard in an airy whisper from nearby and she looked over to see a water-logged, teenage version of her girlfriend. The sight brought an all-too real pain to Chloe's chest as she recognized not only what this Max was wearing but what state the girl was in. This Max…was dead….

Glassy-eyed, with dried blood leaving streaks from her nose, ears, and eyes, Max shuffled toward Chloe even as the taller girl backpedaled away from the dead girl while trying not to whimper from the sight. Th-Those clothes… They're from that day at the beach…the day of the storm... Chloe thought as she found herself pressed up against the SUV, Is this a place where Max…where the headaches and nosebleeds got more serious? Is this what could have happened to her if we kept using her powers?

Cold seeped into her when "Max" brushed up against her before Chloe could scramble out of the way, and her heart felt like it lurched into the pit of her abdomen as though to hide itself away from whatever was the source of that iciness. It carried pain with it, pain that spread like frostbite and felt both physical and emotional. Chloe nearly broke down into tears when "Max" had made contact with her.

"..c-c-chLoEEEE…!" It cried out, the thing wearing the face of Chloe's loved one. It was Max, but it wasn't. Not her Max. It…It can't be real! This can't be fucking real!

Not giving whatever "It" was another chance to touch her or even come near her, Chloe ran around to the passenger side of the SUV and climbed into the driver's seat through the other side, starting up and pulling out of the parking spot almost simultaneously. Ignoring the wail of agonizing despair that she heard emanate from back at the beach as she peeled out onto the road, Chloe found herself heading for town rather than away from it.

"Gonna… Gonna regroup, gather my fucking shit together, and then I'm gonna find Max. My Max," Chloe thought as she checked her reflection in the rear view mirror, not paying attention to the blue butterfly that had somehow gotten inside the SUV as it fluttered around in the back seat area.

"No. Nonononono, C-Chloe…!" Max let out in a mix of a shout and a whimper, her eyes tearing up as quickly as she made it to the collapsed wreckage of what had landed where a 19 year-old version of her girlfriend had just stood. She…She saved me, pushed me out of harm's way only to take the hit herself. Goddammit, Chloe, you can't be dead! You can't! "Chloe? Chloe, say something! Chloe?!"

Max began to toss the debris away from where she thought Chloe might be, board after board strewn past either shoulder as she furiously clawed at the splintered remains to find the girl who had just saved her life. The truth of the matter, that she was somehow back in October of 2013, was a dim spark in the back of her mind. The only thing that was at the forefront was a desperate need to save the blue-haired punk that she had fallen in love with so many times over the past four years. Sometimes for Max it was just a look from Chloe, or waking up to find that Chloe had been holding her through one of her rougher nightmares. Other times it was a shared laugh or something they did together that the taller girl had somehow made even more amazing and fun. Max could not count the times she had fallen in love all over again with Chloe Price – she only knew that with each time it was like their love for one another was even stronger. Chloe brought out Max's rebellious, empowered streak just as Max had cooled Chloe's temper into a means venting her pain into artistic expression. The illustrations had come easy to Chloe, so Max had convinced her parents to co-sign a small business loan for Chloe so that she could open a tattoo parlor. Business was steady for the azure-haired rebel, and they were both fixtures at local rock shows as well as at independent art galleries.

"Please be alive…," Max uttered to herself in a husky whisper, fingers and forearms scratched from the wood as she finally saw a mop of blue hair and a torn beanie after pulling away a half-splintered door, "C-… Chloe…? Chloe, can you hear me?"

"…Looks…Looks like it was my turn to save your life, M-Max," Chloe said before coughing up a mouthful of blood, her face a wrenched mask of pain for a moment when she tried to move, "I… I can't feel my legs. Oh God, Max, I think my back's broken! Max… Max, how are you even-?"

"Not now, okay?" Max asked as she moved, pushed, and pulled the rest of the debris on Chloe off and away. Moving to sit beside her, Max took the trembling hands in her own and kissed the bloody knuckles with lips wet from tears and the pelting rain, "God, Chloe, I'm so sorry. You… You shouldn't have-"

"Shut the fuck up, Max," Chloe barked with some pink spittle on the edges of her mouth, "Of course I'm gonna totally save you. You've saved my…my worthless ass…so many times… How could I n-not?"

Max held onto Chloe's hands as the injured girl began to convulse and spasm from what she could only imagine was terrible pain, tears and sobbing now both in full swing as she feared Chloe would slip away before her eyes. Chloe's eyes seemed distant to her for a moment, and then they cleared as they looked at Max with a pained but gentle understanding.

"I…I w-wish you'd came back sooner, dude. We… We could've had s-so much fun, M-Max," Chloe said before she cried out from the pain, "God, it hurts so fucking much! Max… Max, you need to go, before this storm rages any further. Run as fast and as hard as you can, okay?"

"No! No, I'm not leaving you to die, C-Chloe!" Max all but screamed back at the injured girl, "Don't you dare martyr yourself for me, Chloe Price! I'm… I'm still Super-Max!"

Her knees digging into the mud and splintered wood, she fought against the dead weight of Chloe's legs and pulled her girlfriend's younger self out of the wreckage and into the tree line before leaning against a tree herself. Max panted from all the exertion, her eyes hardening at the anger welling up inside her. This was her fault; coming back had been her choice and now everything was fucked up all over again. Letting out a throaty, raw scream, Max smacked the back of her head against the tree she was leaned up against and growled as she pulled out her cameras, both the Canon and the old Polaroid that had been William Price's.

"Fucking project…," Max grumbled as her hands shook with a camera in each. The thought of tossing them occurred to her for a moment before she angrily stuffed the Canon back in and just held William's old camera in her cupped hands, "I just had to come back here and take some goddamn pictures. Should've stayed the fuck away, like we had been for four motherfucking years…"

Slowly, laboriously, Max got to her feet and began to head back down the trail, rainwater and mud covering parts of her body as she shambled down the hill in a half-stupor with a shallow-breathing Chloe Price being carried on her back. Her mind partly gone from nearly watching a Chloe die yet again, it was like the immediate aftermath of the storm all over again. For weeks, Max had said little to anyone and hardly eaten anything. It had taken Chloe's tearful plea for Max to come with her to counseling to get Max's numb shell to crack. Now, Max could feel that numbness start to creep up all over again as she walked hurriedly down the too-familiar path with William's camera in her hands and a broken Chloe on her back.

"We'll…," Max started to say as the storm continued to bear down on Arcadia Bay and the nearby area, trying to collect something coherent from the miasma of thoughts in her addled brain as she caught glimpses of the tornado through the trees, "We'll get you some help, Chloe. There's got to be… The hospital! The hospital's clear on the other side of town, away from where the storm is! Maybe it's still open… Maybe I can still save you! Chloe…Chloe, everything's going to be, well, better! I'll get you to the hospital, I swear!"

Silence. No reply could be heard from the girl perched on Max's back. It was then that Max noticed the slack, the lack of strength, in the arms she was holding as she continued to heft Chloe on her back.

"Chloe? C-Chloe…?" Max asked as a shallow, breathy whisper began to emanate from the younger Chloe and yet not from her body.

"m-m-maXXXXXXXXXX…," a voice whispered through the gale winds, but Max's mind went blank and devoid of anything save autonomic function as she placed one foot ahead of the other while continuing to listen to the whispering, "I…I'm in so much pain!"

Unconsciously, Max looked over her shoulder and slipped in the muddiness of the trail as she landed on her butt before the crawling specter of the girl she had just been carrying. With legs unmoving and watery eyes, the ghost of the Chloe Price she was still carrying crawled down the path toward her at in jerking movements that left Max a shaking mess at how inhuman they seemed. N-No! No, not this, too! Chloe… Chloe, you can't be dead! W-What is this?! Nothing's making any sense anymore…! Max thought as her mind began to lose what grip on rational thought that it had been able to maintain. Scrambling backwards, digging into the trail with her heels as she pushed herself back with one hand and both feet, the young photographer pressed William's camera to her chest like a shield as the pale blue apparition grew ever closer.

"C-Chloe…Chloe, I-I'm s-so sorry…," Max cried pleadingly as she felt an iciness when one of Chloe's spectral hands passed through a foot, "P-Please… Please don't hurt m-me…"

"It hurts, M-Max…," the ghost of Chloe Price said, anguish on her face with watery eyes facing Max, "I-I cAN'T feel ANYTHING…! I-I cAN'T s-s-seeeeeee youuuuuu!"

Pushing herself away instinctively as the apparition of her girlfriend's younger self passed yet another hand through her in a vain attempt to find the photographer, Max accidentally dropped William's camera to the ground and the flash went off as it took a photo from the jarring impact of hitting the ground. The ghost whimpered and scrambled back from what looked to Max like pain or fear as the film developed. The…The camera…? Is it the flash, or the taking of a picture? Without thinking any further, her mind too much of a blurry mess to think that straight, Max took another shot and watched as the ghost of Chloe seemed to diminish. The pleading whimpering coming from the specter breaking Max's heart, Max nevertheless took one more shot and watched as the ghost flickered for a moment before seeming to burn away like she remembered how her vision would get as she would be drawn back into her own timeline when she had time powers.

All at once she was sitting on the ground in the dim light of a late autumn afternoon, the sky clear save for a few feathery clouds that left no sign of a storm or encroaching danger. Her breaths still coming in short, hard gasps, Max took a moment to orient herself as to where and when she might be. What…? Am I back? What was that, and how did I do that with the camera? Looking down at herself, noting that she was no longer waterlogged and muddied, Max cradled William's camera as she heard her phone go off in the camera bag. Setting the old Polaroid down, it's last shot of the younger Chloe Price's ghost still hanging from it, Max nearly choked on tears of happiness at the sight of a voicemail from her Chloe Price.

"Max! Max, I don't know where you are, o-or what the fuck is going on!" Chloe's voice rang through the smartphone's speaker as Max held it up in front of her, a smile of blessed relief on her face as tears ran down her eyes while she looked at her Chloe's contact photo of them together, "I'm… I'm heading into town, but there's some hella freaky shit going on here and we need to meet up if you get this. I'm headed to my old house, so meet me there if you can. God, I hope you can. Max… Max, I love you. Please… Please just come back to me, okay, and let's just go home…"

"Wowser," was all Max could muster as she hung up the phone and laid back in the dirt of the dry trail for a moment to catch her breath and collect her thoughts. William's camera now perched on her chest as she lifted her arm up to look at a picture of a spectral Chloe Price in the autumnal light, Max peered at it and again could only bring the word "Wowser…" to her lips.

I'm coming, Chloe, Max thought, all focus on reuniting with her girlfriend and figuring out what the hell is going on.

I'm coming.

Author's Note -

Home again, home again.

Hella jiggity jig.

Thus ends the first installment of Fatal Instant. A fair amount of set-up only to punch you in the gut with alternate realities, spirit photography, and ghosts! I know parts of this might have been emotionally hard to read, but this is the second version of Chapter One that I've written. Ask my friend summerfelldraws on Tumblr how emotionally gut-wrenching the first version was in comparison. She'll tell you.

I'd like to say that this will get updated once every week, maybe two weeks. It just depends on a variety of things - my medical appointments, my health, and whatnot. Much like "Intersecting Worlds, Interconnected Hearts", I don't know how long this story will go. I just know that it won't be over until it is over.

So, until next time...

Stay hella, Cinnamon Rolls! :)