WARNING: This story will contain violence, swearing, mild sexual/adult content, and discussion of suicide

PROLOGUE

Timeline 1

Max Alone

Max sat silently on the edge of her bed, her eyes closed as a tear streaked down a freckled cheek. Her hands were folded gently in her lap, having no strength left in them to do more than stay in place.

"Wow Max…this…this is insane but…I think I believe you…"

Max glanced up at the boy. "Really?"

Warren sighed and nodded. He reached a shaky hand up to loosen the tie around his neck. "Yeah…I think I do. I don't know why…logically, everything you just told me is impossible. But I believe it anyway."

Max exhaled and smoothed out her dress as she stood. It had only been a few hours since the funeral, but Max felt she had already outgrown the black dress she had…awoken to find herself wearing on the bench by the lighthouse just hours before.

"Thank you, Warren. This means a lot to me…really."

Warren seemed to take the hint that it was now his time to go. He stood from the chair at Max's desk.

"Will you be okay, Max?"

The girl sighed. "Eventually…I think. I don't know. Right now, I just need some time to myself, please."

Warren nodded and headed to the door. He reached for the handle, but stopped short before making contact will the cool metal. He turned to face Max.

"Listen, Max... if what you're telling me is true, then that means…that means I owe Chloe big time," he began. He stepped towards her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"I really owe her. She did that…to save all of us. And she doesn't…didn't even know it here. No one else knows it…except us two."

Max's eyes brimmed with fresh tears as he spoke. Warren moved his hands past her shoulders to engulfed her in a hug. She broke down, once again, into heart-wracking sobs, her face pressed into his shoulder.

"I'm going to make sure that I am worthy of that sacrifice, Max. I promise."

Timeline 2

Max and Chloe

Chloe's eyes remained locked on her feet as she raised the cigarette to her lips, her hand momentarily pausing before reaching its destination. She took a long drag and exhaled it back out. She noticed then her cigarette was coming to its end, and with a sigh she let it fall to the concrete and crushed it under her boot. She leaned back against the cold brick of the motel wall and rubbed her arms for warmth. The brisk October morning air sent chills throughout her body and forced goosebumps to rise on her skin. She wore only her jeans and tank top – she could easily step back in and quietly slip her jacket off of the back of the chair, just inside the door and wrap it around her uncovered shoulders, but right now she needed to think, and the cold kept her mind alert.

Besides, she didn't want to wake Max – the girl had just fallen asleep after a long night of tossing and turning and silent weeping. Not that Chloe had gotten much sleep either, with images of the tornado ripping apart Arcadia Bay still seared into her mind from the previous day. Thoughts and worries for the few people she did care about tore at her. The destruction they saw was cataclysmic, and Chloe knew it would haunt both her and Max for years to come.

Chloe took one, then two steps forward towards her truck, which she had parked just outside of the first-floor motel room they rented. She stood silently and stared long at it, contemplating this new path that has been lain before her. She had come to a fork in the metaphorical road of her life. Now she had to make a choice.

The blue haired girl was so deep in thought that she did not hear the quiet creaking of the door behind her. But she did not flinch at the sensation of warm, slender arms wrapping around her waist or the increased pressure of a head resting gently on her back.

"Chloe…"

Chloe turned in the embrace and put her own arms around the shorter girl. She pulled the brunette tightly to herself, welcoming this new source of warmth and comfort. She realized that Max was wearing her jacket over the short sleeve shirt she wore to bed– good, no sense in it sitting unused.

"Chloe, why are you out here alone? It's freezing out here."

Chloe sighed. "It's not that bad…I needed to think. Well…I've been thinking all night, honestly. Couldn't sleep. I needed some fresh air."

"I know what you mean," Max replied quietly. "Whenever I close my eyes…I see that tornado, or I see…him. Or I see your mom, and Warren and – "

"Max, stop," Chloe interrupted. She held Max apart at arm's length and brought her hands up to cup either side the shorter girl's face.

"Listen to me, Max. Don't blame yourself for any of this, okay? All of this is on me."

Max opened her mouth to protest but was quickly cut short by the blue haired girl.

"Max… everything happened because of me and my recklessness. When you had to rewind because I was hit by a train, that was because I got my foot stuck like an idiot. When I was killed by Jefferson, it was because I let my anger get the better of me and rushed head first into a trap. When I was killed by Nathan…God, Max, I was trying to blackmail that nutjob!"

Chloe took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Max…I need to go back to Arcadia Bay. I need to start putting things right."

Max was visibly surprised by this statement. "Chloe…why? You don't need to do this to yourself. This is not your fault!"

"No, Max. I do. It is. I have to go back. I have to start taking responsibility for once in my life. Arcadia Bay will be a wreck, but there may be people who will need my help, if there's any way I can help them. I'm…I'm not worth the sacrifice of that town, Max."

Max again started to protest, but Chloe again silenced her by holding up a finger.

"But one day Max, I will be. I promise."

The two stood silently for a moment before Chloe spoke again.

"Listen…I understand if you aren't ready to go back. Or if you never want to. I can drop you off at the bus station in the next town, you can go back to Seattle and – "

"No," Max interrupted. "No, I am not leaving you, Chloe. Never again. We'll face this together, work through this together. Together forever, right?"

Chloe pulled Max into another embrace and placed a gentle kiss in soft, brown hair.

"Together forever."

Timeline 3

Chloe

Chloe watched Max turn away and raise the photograph, the storm raging on. Chloe wondered what it would feel like to die. Would she feel pain? Being shot sounds like it would be painful. Would she suffer? Or would it be fast? She hoped it would be fast.

She shut her eyes and allowed a tear to roll down her cheek, hidden by the harsh pattering of rain against her skin. The storm howled all around her, the rushing wind howling in her ears. She desperately hoped that last kiss would be her last memory - oh God, would Nathan's angry, leering face replace that?

She stood firmly, fists clenched and eyes squeezed shut as she awaited her fate. Terror held her heart in a vice grip, but she knew this was the right thing to do.

"It's done."

Terror ebbed away into confusion as Chloe opened her eyes. Max was facing her, a small, strange smile on her lips. The brunette took several steps forward.

"I-I don't understand," Chloe said.

How could it be done? The tornado still raged on, cutting a deadly path towards the town, and she was certainly still alive. Max continued to approach.

"Max, I don't understand…the storm is still here, I'm – "

She was interrupted by lips crashing viciously onto her own. Chloe tried to pull away in surprise, but Max closely followed her retreat, continuing her fervent attack. Chloe finally had to grasp Max's shoulders and push her away.

"Max, wha- this isn't an appropriate time for this!"

"No time like the present," Max answered with a wry grin. She put her hands on Chloe's hips and pushed, causing her to trip on some unknown object and fall to her back. The brunette straddled the punk and again brought her lips down to those of the blue-haired girl pinned beneath her. Chloe bucked and threw Max sideways off her then scrambled to her feet.

"Max, what the hell? What's gotten into you? Why is the storm still here? Why am I still here? What's going on?" Chloe demanded as she gestured to the madness surrounding them.

Max rolled onto her knees and pushed herself up, the grin still plastered on her face.

"I did what you asked, Chloe. Now you're dead – in another timeline. But we can be happy together here – forever. Just you and your Maxine. What, did you think that everything here would just vanish, once I looked at the photograph?"

Chloe's blood turned to ice as she stared and listened to the girl. She let out a shaky breath.

"You're not Max."

Max – no, Maxine's sneering grin grew wider. "What are you talking about, Chloe? Of course I'm Max! Who else would I be?"

As Maxine stepped forward, Chloe did the only thing she could think of – she turned and ran as fast as she could back down the hill, away from the lighthouse. She dared not look back to the dark, booming laughter behind her as she fled.

I AM dead, she thought. I've died and gone straight to Hell.