Chapter Text
Max stared out her window solemnly. It was three weeks after Chloe’s funeral and her mind was still spinning. There was no way she went through a week, actually more than a week technically, of pure hell just to give up everything and still lose. It made no sense, none, so why? Why after all the bullshit she had to suffer was everything still ripped away from her?
“I was overdosed, bound and mentally fucked by a psychopath, forced to live through my worst nightmares and make possible the worst decisions of my life.” She growled to herself as she felt tears streaming down her face. “What the fuck did I do to deserve this? What was the point?”
Looking away from the campus she turned to face her wall. Her eyes scanned over all the photographs she’d collected over the year and in a blind rage she started tearing down all of them. Ripping them up and littering them over her floor like fallen snow. She was deaf to the world, her sobs, and screams lost to her as she destroyed her world.
What good were they if they couldn’t change the past, only remind her of it?
“Max! Max, honey stop!” She fought the arms that wrapped around her until she couldn’t anymore and fell into them sobbing. Kate held her close and shushed her, soothing hands on her back as she cried out her anguish into the reserved girl.
“I couldn’t save her, Kate! I couldn't save either of them!” She screamed into her shoulder.
“No one could have saved Chloe, Max. I didn’t know her or Nathan, but he was bad news. If you’d have done anything you would have gotten shot too. It wasn’t your fault.” Kate hushed her.
“Not Nathan! Rachel! And you don’t understand, I could save them. I know it! I just...I just don’t know how…I don’t know how,” Max felt as though all her energy was being sucked out of her. Her tears stopped falling and her shoulders slumped. All she wanted to do was fall asleep and wake up from this nightmare.
“Let’s get you to bed, you need to rest this away for tonight. I’ll check on you in the morning okay?” Standing them up Kate guided them to Max’s bed, gentling pulling the covers back she nudged the other girl to lay down. “New day will bring new light. God has a plan, Max, you just have to wait for His sign.”
And with that and a monther-like kiss on the head, she shut the lights off on her way out the room. It took no time for sleep to claim Max’s consciousness. For the first time in what felt like years nightmares didn’t flash behind her eyes as she rested. She slept soundly through the night and her mind felt at peace finally.
Waking up Max felt the stone in her heart as she looked around the room at the mess she had made the night before. Years of work ripped away and scattered on her floor. Sighing, she got out of bed and pushed her bangs out of her face looking around. She walked over and grabbed the waste bin in the corner of the room and started to pick up all of the torn photos.
“I guess it’s time for a fresh start..” She muttered to herself.
She didn’t pay much attention to what she was doing, too afraid to see what she had ruined. After about five minutes of cleaning her eye accidentally fell across a picture without a scratch on it. It was her sitting in her room in Seattle, her dad had taken it right before he gave Max the yellow instant camera she loved so much. Smiling softly at the memory she flipped the picture over and came across her dad’s sharpied handwriting.
‘June 2nd, 2010’
Suddenly she was hit with an insane idea, one that surely wouldn’t work.
It couldn’t work…
She swore she’d never even try to use her powers again.
But what if…
There was one plan she and Chloe never even tried, or considered. Maybe in order to save Chloe…
She’d have to go all the way back and save Rachel.