One more time

Moment in time - On top of the cliff with the lighthouse, during the storm.

All was not well in Arcadia Bay. Quite evidently so as rain thundered down upon the town, and a menacing tornado crawled out from the sea, inching closer and closer to the heart of the bay, and the people residing within it. 

Though, amidst the looming chaos, up upon a staple of Arcadia Bay.... (look- it's just a small town, it doesn't have much going on. okay?)... was a cliff with a dimly lit lighthouse sat atop said cliff (which was currently being ripped apart- BUT ANYWAYS!). However, we are not focusing on some lighthouse, instead, it's the two average, little people shivering like dogs from all, but not limited to: horror, fatigue, mental damage, overstimulation, panic, horrid weather conditions, yada yada yada...

And Max Caulfield? Don't you forget about me...                                       

Never.

Max

I can only stare down at the polaroid, hold onto it... tight, that's number one concern currently. This should be my final choice...

Of course my mind is frazzled...

all of me is actually...

How could I not be?

A huge tornado/storm monster thing is coming straight at my hometown, and all of the people..!

Oh man... and I've only just gotten up from passing out after some really bad nightmare... eugh. 

Trialled and errored my way out of discovering, and witnessing things I couldn't have imagined not even a month ago,

and so much more...

Like just kissing my childhood/current best friend/maybe something more/okay probably something more, thee, Chloe Price.......... wowser.....

Okay, really, REALLY not the time Max! 

Shoot.......

I really can't choose this time...

Chloe

All I can do is pace back and forth and not look back. Don't look. Don't think about it. About anything. Whatever happens next is in Max's hands. Max's choice.

Oh, I'm so sorry Max...   

Jesus, I can't think straight! This is so fucked!! All so so so fucked!!! The dark room! Nathan Prescuntt! Jeffershit! Rachel!!!-

And this storm breathing down mine and everyone else's goddamn neck!

Talking about everyone else, they might all just DIE in the next hour!

Oh yeah! And the potential death doesn't stop there, it can stop with me!

I might be dead and have all of my memories and life from me almost getting domed in the chest up until this moment, GONE!

And this time round, I WILL get domed in the chest! Yay!! AND!- AND- And- and-...

I fell to my knees and pulled on my soaked hair.

A muffled yell that I was barely able to conceal left my throat, as I let my head drop to look at the ground, even though my eyes were squeezed shut.

Please, Max... I'm sorry... I tried to keep it together.

Do what you need to do, don't look back...

And please plug your ears for your own sake...

My breakdown was abruptly halted to a stop once I felt some familiar nerd arms wrap around my torso and tackle me completely to the ground.

"AAa- COUGH COUGH, GASP, SPIT " I sputtered and spat as I was now coughing up grass and mud hairballs from my throat.

I was what seemed to be, accidentally, scraped across the ever-so-damp and sludgy ground of the cliff. 

"Oh sorry Chloe!! s- so sorry!"

Max had quickly fumbled around to stop squeezing a hold of me,

Instead, giving my back some good whacks to help get rid of the unwanted bits of nature caught in my throat,

which luckily worked very well as I found myself able to slowly open my eyes and look back up to face Max.

She squeezed me again, which I returned and savoured, if not be it, concerned.

"....Max? Are you okay?... Sorry, dumb question... But really, what're you doing? We don't exactly have much time here for once..." 

Max was shaking her head back and forth as she held onto and listened to me.

"I- I can't do this Chloe! I'm sorry! This is too much!!! I won't let you die again, let alone allow you to die!"

Tears were coming down her face, the salty liquid mixed in with the storm's bitter downpour of rain.

"And neither can I accept everyone else dying! There has to be another way! I have to keep trying!" 

I had to hold back my own sobs,

which felt similar to holding back a sleigh's worth of bulls zoned in on a freshly painted red wall. 

Mustering up all of the remaining fight I have left in me, I place my hands on each of Max's shoulders and look her in the eyes, snot, tears and all.

"I know and I understand Max.

That's all I can say, there is no right choice we can make here, both are just so- ..."

I just about stopped myself from looking away.

"...unfair.

This is all so unfair, on me, on you, on everyone.

But we have to do something here... otherwise, everyone and ourselves are going to die here.

So please Max... as hard as it is... I want you to go back through that picture-"

I poke at the polaroid for emphasis.

"and choose the right thing... I'm meant to die, which fate seems so hellbent on that...-" I grumble "so to end all of this for good, and to save all of Arcadia Bay itself... You have to-"

*BAP*

Max

I punched her as hard as I could in my woozy and messy state, earning myself a squawk from Chloe. 

"NO! Don't you dare even finish that sentence!!! I'm not having it!"

Chloe looks at me in temporary shock at my outburst, but then her face falls downcast in understanding, mixed in with the emotional hopelessness of not knowing what to do.

She eventually speaks up once more in a much lower and defeated voice "...I don't know either, Max..."

We sit in silence.

On the squelchy, debris-filled grass that had literal chunks ripped out of it at this point, as the storm approached and gradually loomed closer and closer.

For a while.

Before. 

My face scrunched up with a newfound determination.

I have time powers, damnit!

I can fix this, I have seemingly unlimited time in my control, in my body.

Why was I given these powers if I weren't meant to screw with them?

I will find a way,

for Chloe,

for Rachel,

for Kate,

for Dana,

for Daniel,

for Alyssa,

...

For Victoria even!

There's a whole town relying on me, whether they know it or not, whether I know them or not...

And the animals too!

Think about what everyone is going through right now, Max. The storm is here, and at least one person or animal has most likely been affected already... 

"Uhm...Max?"

I'm knocked out of my thoughts and look right back at Chloe's now confused and somewhat suspicious face.

"Chloe..." I say and lean forward, closer to Chloe.

She looks at me oddly, I can see her brow twitch upwards, even through her drenched beanie "...yes?"

I lean even further, my freckled nose almost bumping into her pale one.

"I have-! Time powers! Time control! Time Travel!!!"

.....

"Yes?"

......

"CHLOE! I have been given these super ultra weird abilities, I can literally go back in time and kiss you all over again!"

"wha-"

"NEVERMIND THAT.

I can so totally figure SOMETHING out where you AND everyone else doesn't die, right?!

It would be unfathomable in terms of the chances if there wasn't a way!"

I've now sprung up to my feet with a hopeful and determined grin on my face.

Chloe is still sat on the grass, drenching her ass and ripped jeans through with grass water as she slowly processes what I'm is saying and preparing to do. 

After the little loading symbol was finally knocked off of Chloe's head, she skeptically stood back up as well.

There was some hint of faux confidence in her now, understandably so, not quite her full self.

"I uh- ...Wow Max. For someone who sure as hell's been through a rollercoaster of emotions, and could make about 17 separate movies out of what she's seen. You're oddly...chipper?"

Her own grin was slowly coming back to her as she eyed me up and down, in my, as she put it, 'chipper' state.

Her reaction caused me to almost laugh.

"Of course I'm 'chipper' Chloe! I'm being so serious!

For a solid few minutes there, I thought my only options were 'death death death depression!'."

Chloe seemed to find my comment amusing from the snort she made,

and how her hip bent,

and how she put more of her weight on one foot than the other.

I was even happier now that I knew I was also making Chloe happier...

"Alright then..." Chloe muttered,

"So..you sure seem to have a better idea and outlook than I do...

So spill the beans, Super Max, tell me what's going on in that brain of yours."

I rolled my eyes fondly at her and gave an eased nod.

"Well, Captain Bluebeard... As I've said, I doooo have time powers~?

And it wooooullllld be very unlikely that there is not a single reality where things can go by without anyone dying, and such~? Right?"

"Right."

"So no, Chloe, I am not going to either just stand here and let this ugly bastard wreck our also ugly town and its people!"

I took a moment to flip off the tornado, making Chloe's eyebrow raise once more in amusement.

(it'll get stuck like that one day, I swear),

"AND I am most certainly not going to use this polaroid shot to go back to that bathroom where you are SHOT,

just to sit there and let it happen!

I'll do my thing with the fire alarm once again,

and I'm going to go from there and-....."

I hadn't really thought this far ahead...

luckily, my brain could cooperate when it wanted to.

"...I'll- I'll find a photo of when Rachel was still alive and change things from there!

I know I haven't had much luck with photo jumping really...but I'll be damned if I don't try-!"

Silence...

Chloe blinked.

"Aye aye, Long Max Silver!" 

↺

The two talked for quite a while after that,

Max had to use her rewind a couple of times to stop the storm from interrupting them when it began to get too close.

Chloe was afraid for Max, but so damn proud of her too, Chloe herself knows she has been through A LOT...

But not what Max has been through,

what she has seen, what she had to undo, to retry, to view over and over and over...

And Chloe thinks Max is so cool for wanting to desperately through herself back in there from the beginning...well, a new beginning, again. 

She is afraid, though, knowing what Max will be putting herself through again, and what might happen this time round.

But it's not like she would tell her not to do what she's planning...

It's daunting for sure,

but it's better than the previous two options the pair thought they may have been limited to before... 

Although Chloe is largely concerned about what's going to happen to this version of her when Max photo jumps...

What their relationship will be now that Max is having to restart everything they have been through up until now...

This future Chloe would have no clue...

She would first of all be angry, angry and very surprised at seeing Max again in five years suddenly.

Will that Chloe be able to forgive Max like she, herself, did?

Hah.

Who was she kidding? She knows herself and how she felt during Max's hiatus away from her,sure, she was upset, but the yearning and bond she had for Max were always there, and always stronger than her stubbornness and grudges. 

Which means it's pretty fucking strong alright.

Chloe

Jeez Max... what're you doing now?

And to think you're the shy hipster one... 

"Okay... you ready?"

I said with furrowed, worried brows.

Max gave me a reassuring look, it was sweet...

Unfortunately, it didn't help me much.

"Yes, Chloe. I'm going to do this, I don't care if it takes multiple tries... I have to do this."

She tentatively reached for my hands,

which I didn't give myself a chance to think, as I immediately took them into my own hands

......... amazeballs...

"I'm going to make sure everything's as perfect as I can possibly make it... I'm going to make sure you're so happy, Chloe"

"Even more than I am right now?"

"Even more than right now. dork"

I gave her a light jab on the shoulder,

which we started trading for a solid minute before it actually started to hurt a bit. 

Max

I look down at the polaroid that caused it all.

A bucket and a blue butterfly...

I still find it to be a beautiful picture....

somewhat.

I look back up to Chloe with a torn smile, she returns it, and generously throws in a little thumbs up.

Dork.

I look back down to the polaroid....and focus on it.

I see the distortion taking place around me,

the mumbled familiar voices and words that give a strong feel of nostalgia,

I feel the world start to spin,

and it takes me with it.

When I know my choice is set in stone during those last few seconds, I don't forget about the woman,

a large part of me is doing this for.

N҉e҉v҉e҉r҉.҉

I҉'҉l҉l҉ n҉e҉v҉e҉r҉ f҉o҉r҉g҉e҉t҉ y҉o҉u҉,҉ m҉y҉ p҉a҉r҉t҉n҉e҉r҉ i҉n҉ t҉i҉m҉e҉.҉