A/N: I recently replayed through LIS & BTS, and I spent a while afterwards reading many great stories on here but I was never perfectly satisfied with how things turned out. So here is my alternative interpretation on events following Episode 5 (this first chapter is actually a huge deviation to the last scene in the game, in order to set up the rest of the story).

This is my first attempt at a large piece of creative writing (outside of dm'ing); most of my day-to-day writing is scientific so I apologize if areas of this piece are a bit clinical.

Please note that text in singular quotes are thoughts.

I am standing on the cliff by the lighthouse watching the storm tear towards my old home, to the homes of those I've recently got to know and importantly, towards the family home of the one I love.

I look towards her now. She has tears in her eyes as she tries to convince me to undo the past week, to undo all of the happy moments we shared.

I have lost count of the number of times I have stood here in this exact moment. I have repeated parts of my life over and over again, trying to find a way to stop the destruction. Now I'm back in the 'original' timeline, with no other options before me.

The repetition of the past week has been a lesson in torture. I have suffered the sight of her death over and over again but I endure it for her. The extra 'time' has had it's benefits though; it has given me the chance to practice with my powers. Early on I discovered I could combine my rewind and photo-jumping to jump back to certain points in my life, rather than temporarily visiting. I have grown used to the pain and dizziness and can tolerate rewinding for longer (and quicker). I also discovered that, if I don't stop rewinding, I can immediately fast forward again back to the original point. I can not fast forward into my future though, a power I wished I'd had in...

"Chloe...", I say weakly, "that... it doesn't work out like that." It doesn't. I have tried it a few times. Not at first, of course. I couldn't even consider letting her die alone on that bathroom floor, thinking that nobody cared for her. But the devastation that ripped through Arcadia Bay always destroyed her in the end. I was only trading a quick death by gun shot with a slow one through grief and self-blame. In a few of these cycles she forced my hand to go back to the bathroom, back to the place where I learned of my abilities. Each time I let her die was agony without purpose, as it only delayed the storm by a few weeks.

"It's not here for you Chloe." I turn back towards the storm. "It's for me. I created this and it's not just here and now, it's in every timeline I visit! Even if I travel back there now, what I have done in this timeline still somehow counts." I don't know if I fully accept or understand this reasoning, but it forms the best guess that Warren, Stella, Rachel and I have come up with in other timelines. 'Oh Rachel... I am so, so sorry that you're not in this timeline.' I consider moving to a timeline where she survived but the one I am in holds a special place in my heart. I want to say goodbye to my original Chloe, the one with whom I shared my first kiss.

Chloe grips at my hands now and gets my attention. "Max, what are you talking about? It's me that should have died back then, it was my destiny!"

"Chloe..." I butt my head against her chest "you are the centre of my universe... " I lift my head back up and look into her blue eyes. "but I'm sorry to tell you the actual universe doesn't care about you or any of us. I'm sure the universe doesn't have some unholy beef against you. There's no such thing as fate or destiny, it's all bullcrap!" I see a little smirk form around her lips. "Listen... I was given an enormous gift and I wasted it on... on... " 'don't say shooting bottles, Max' "manipulating people and saving girls from... from flying toilet rolls! I'm the selfish one here, I just wanted people to like me. I just wanted you by my side." I sigh before continuing. "You said it yourself Chloe, I have more power than an army and I totally misused it. This storm is... it's after me." Tears start to run down my cheeks, lost to the rain fall.

"What are you talking about? You didn't waste your powers Max, you've saved my life so many damn times, you saved Kate and I found Rachel because of you! Max, you're my fucking hero! You're Arcadia's hero!" She plants a soft kiss on my forehead. "You're my SuperMax."

"and that's the problem" I mumble, speaking louder I say "As long as I exist I would do it again and again because I love you Chloe. In a shitty way, that storm is heading to our home because I love you. I love you so so much that I would tear the heavens apart to just to keep you alive and happy for one more day."

"Max..." she has her eyes closed. I struggle to remember if I declared my love for her in this timeline, did I say it a few minutes ago, or was that another time?. I used to be so scared of telling Chloe how I felt about her. I would worry about making things awkward or her rejecting me. If I've learnt anything from this though, besides not to mess with time, it's that there is one universal truth in every timeline; that Chloe and I crazy for each other.

"wait... what do you mean 'as long as you exist'?"

I bite my lip and take my hands back. "I'm tired Chloe. You've only been with me for the past week but I have been with you for weeks... months now." It could even be years; it's really difficult to keep track of the time when you keep resetting it. I see the confusion on her face but I am too tired to explain properly. "They have been the best and happiest days of my life" 'mixed in with some really shitty ones' "but I can't do this any more. I can't keep watching you die. I can't keep watching you lose your parents. I love you too damn much to watch you suffer."

I turn away from Chloe, her expression unchanged, and walk closer to the ledge overlooking the storm. I pull out my journal and flip through the photos I have in there. There is a pouch in the back where I keep old family photos. The earliest I can find is one where my parents and I are cuddling on the old sofa. I guess I am around six years old in the picture, so that would be two years before I met Chloe. Six is pretty young but I reckon I should be grown enough to do what I intend to. Before I can properly concentrate on the photo I feel a pair of arms surround my waist and the weight of a head resting on my right shoulder.

"No, I can't let you abandon me again Max!" I know she doesn't intend to hurt me but the words are jagged and cut deep.

I loosen myself from her grip and look towards her, photo still in hand. "Chloe... this is the only way to stop the storm, please let me be your hero... one last time." I know I don't need to reassure her, I know that all of this will be undone and she will not remember me. She'll never have known me. I still make the attempt. Because I love her. I love Chloe Price so damn much. I do not tell her that I am undoing our entire friendship, that I believe her life will be better if we'd never met, or that without my abandonment her life will hopefully lead somewhere other than the cold floor of a Blackwell bathroom.

As Chloe starts to form a reply I start to look back to the photo in my hand but I notice something strange. The storm in front of me suddenly leaps forward a few hundred metres and partially engulfs the town. I watch for a brief moment as the storm destroys everything in its path. I know from horrifying experience that the 'Two Whales' will have already exploded. I feel my stomach twist and turn from guilt. 'How did it jump like that?'

"Did you see that? Chloe?" I turn back towards her and see a ghostly pale expression. "Chloe?"

"Max! Don't jump through the photo, it doesn't work. Future you said to try holding the storm or some shit." Now it was my turn to be confused. I had no doubt that some future version of myself had travelled back here. I know that Chloe would never lie to me like that. My memory is fairly jumbled; it's a struggle to remember all the small differences between one timeline and the next. 'I am fairly sure though that I didn't take a selfie in the past few minutes, so how could future me travel back here?'

I avoid that line of thinking and instead focus on the rest of the message. 'If Warren's theory is right then my final plan wouldn't have worked anyway, as I still would have used my powers in this timeline. So future me's plan is to hold the storm? What does that even mean?' The cogs slowly turn in my head as the storm tears through the town undoing the lives and livelihoods of the residents there. In my head I imagine the screams but I try to shut it out. Chloe still has her arms around me. "Chloe... did she say anything else?"

"Umm... not... not to you..." as she looks down. If I didn't know my Chloe any better I would imagine her blushing. I could easily guess what she meant though as I have done it myself a few times; it is nice to travel back to happy moments with her.

I realize the photo is no longer in my hand or in my pockets. Insurance I suppose.

"Chloe, I'm going to try something else but it sounds really dumb. I don't know if it'll work."

"Max I trust you... and future you."

I know she can't be touching me during this so I ask her to let go and for her to take a step back. I turn to the storm and hold up both hands. With my left hand I reverse time until the storm is back in the sea, undoing all the suffering but with it the past few moments; the advice, the hand-holding, the declaration of love. Over the wind I hear Chloe in the distance "Do it before I freak." 'So I'm at that point again'.

I wave my right hand slightly in the air. 'I can hold the storm... this is silly. A storm is a storm, it's a mess of wind.' As I continue to wave my hand I feel a slight pressure on my fingertips 'but this one isn't very natural, how can it be in every timeline?' I follow the direction of the pressure with my hand until I feel something hard. It surprises me and I immediately pull my hand back. I look at the space where my hand was and see nothing. I breath in, close my eyes and try to feel once more. My right hand finds the pressure again and follows it to the object. I do not pull back this time but rather move my fingers around it. It feels like a string tied between two points; one on ground and the other in the sky. I follow it some more until my hand bumps into another string, this time flowing horizontally. As I continue to move my hand I feel more and more strings. I decide to open up my hand and gently push, closing it around a bunch of taught strings. I am firmly holding a bunch and immediately, with my left hand, continue to reverse time.

Through the dizzying haze I see two storms; one of them moves further away and decreases in intensity until it becomes no longer, while the other remains stationary in front of me. Tied to me.

I let go one of the strings and continue to reverse.

The clouds clear up and I see a second moon quickly fade in and out of existence.

I let go of another string.

The sun rises in the West and starts to move rapidly Eastwards.

Another string.

The stationary storm becomes clearer in the day light. It seems less intimidating. Day turns to night and night to day.

Another string.

The ocean swallows the beached whales. I feel wetness on my upper lip and a dripping on my shirt.

Another string.

Another day/night cycle. My head gets fuzzier and fuzzier. I have never travelled this far back with a rewind. The pressure in my head is enormous but my determination to save Chloe is greater. I feel my shirt getting wetter.

Another.

Snow forms on the ground and floats up into the air.

I let go of the last string.

Before I stop reversing, I fast forward. The pressure in my head is increasing, the stain on my shirt is growing, I am feeling dizzy and it becomes a struggle to stay awake, to stay focused. 'You can rest soon Max' I reassure myself. My right hand is now gripping my head as I try to keep my brains in my skull.

Time moves forward, quicker than usual. As day becomes night and day again the snow reappears, whales beach themselves, a twin moon blinks in and out of existence. Dark clouds form and with it a disastrous storm. It descends on to Arcadia Bay but then suddenly disappears. I have reached the limit where I can no longer fast forward and I let go.

Consciousness escapes me and I collapse to the ground, resting in the still air.

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you found it entertaining.

The next two chapters are mostly written out already but needs fine-tuning triple-checking first.

(Without getting into spoilers, I want to assure you that any paradox created in this story is intentional and will be addressed.)