Chapter Text
Max focused on the photograph, the same butterfly she'd seen what felt like an eternity ago, this time glistening with raindrops from the storm, as Chloe's kiss still lingered on her lips. Then she felt the pull, the same pull she always felt when she rewound time, backtracking through scenes like an old movie cassette, as her vision blurred and a wicked headache started to come on.
The school bathroom looked just as she remembered it lit up by her camera flash, as the butterfly startled away. Scattered all over the walls were Chloe's irreverent doodles, an eerie reminder of her presence. Chloe made Arcadia Bay, and there was nothing here without her.
The fabric of time and space could be shredded into a million pieces for all Max cared, the universe damned to hell.
She was going to save her.
Max grabbed the hammer as fast as she could, hidden under the cleaning cart, her knuckles turning white from holding onto it so tight. She merely watched as Nathan came in, raving to himself, clearly unhinged.
Chloe bursted in like lighting, throwing open the door of every stall, never checking behind the corner where Max was.
"I hope you checked the perimeter, as my step-ass would say. Now, let's talk bidness..."
Hearing Chloe's voice again was bittersweet, but as soon as the sick bastard started threatening her, before he even had time to pull out that damned gun, Max smashed the glass case like her life depended on it, because it did, sending shards of broken glass flying in her direction. But she didn't care. Because then she was hitting the alarm as fast as she could, the loud, usually obnoxious sound being like music to her ears, as it drowned everything out, even the noise of the heavy hammer hitting the floor.
Max bolted out of her hiding spot, not caring if Nathan saw her leave. He shot her a surprised look that quickly turned into rage, but she couldn't give a shit. This could all still fail, Chloe could still die in so many different ways, and there was no way Max was going to let that happen.
A few feet away, a distinctive head of blue hair made her way down the hallway, and Max caught up with her just as she was leaving through the main entrance.
When Max came to, she found herself sitting in a truck. Not an ordinary truck at that, but Chloe's beat-up pickup, as lovely and prehistoric as Max remembered it, with its chipped paint and worn leather seats. The afternoon light was shining through the windows, the sky just the perfect mix between cloudy and clear, as sunbeams shone fragmented through each cloud. The trees outside passed by in a blur, and glimpses of the sea were starting to peek through as they drove. The radio was on, and some soft, folksy music like the kind Max liked was flowing smoothly through the speakers, and the smoke from Chloe's cigarettes was floating around, making shapes and spirals on the roof, filling the air with a very familiar scent.
And there, like an apparition, was the infamous girl herself.
And Max could have kissed her right then and there.
Chloe had one elbow rested on the open windowsill, relaxed, her hand reaching out sometimes to feel the wind on her palm, when she wasn't pulling out her cigarette to blow a new wave of smoke, the other hand wrapped loosely around the wheel. She had removed her signature beanie, which laid discarded on the dashboard, so strands of her neon blue hair were flowing in the wind. She looked like the perfect picture of freedom, a thoughtful expression on her face, and at once Max's hands were itching for her camera to capture the moment.
She felt the truck reaching to a stop, and at once she recognised where they were, the lighthouse standing lovely against the clear blue sky, the seagulls hovering around without a care in the world, oblivious to everything.
Max tentatively looked to her left, simultaneously afraid to look at Chloe directly and scared that she would somehow disappear if she looked away, startling away like a butterfly. And yet there she was. Max felt herself gasp involuntarily as Chloe killed the engine.
That drew her attention "Hey, what's--Jesus, you okay? Your nose is bleeding like crazy", Chloe said after she took one look at her
Max drew a hand to her nose and it did, in fact, come out all bloody. Not that it was surprising. She'd gotten pretty used to bleeding profusely through the nose every time she time-traveled, but she understood it could seem quite, well, grisly to say the least.
On Chloe's face was a twinge of concern "Did you use your powers or somethin'?", she said as Max wiped her bloody nose on the sleeve of her hoodie
"You know about that? How..."Max trailed off in confusion, before thinking better of it "No, no, wait, what day is it?"
"What day? Uh, I dunno, I think maybe the 10th, or was it the 11th? It's Saturday, though, if that's what you mean."
Saturday. It was Saturday.
But then that would mean...that would mean...
Max was almost too scared to ask about the implications of it all.
A little smile was tugging at the corners of Chloe's lips "Yup, no storm in sight. You can officially chill, Max. Though I know that's kinda hard for you to do"
Max couldn't help herself as she wrapped her arms around Chloe, drawing a surprised chuckle from her. Chloe's arms reached tentatively around Max, careful not to burn her with the cigarette she'd been smoking.
"There, there" she said somewhat awkwardly and Max got the impression that she didn't comfort people very often. But it didn't matter, because Max was holding onto her fiercely, relieved tears stinging at the back of her eyes "You okay, girl?"
It was strange. All that Max cared about, all that she loved, was right there in her arms. She could faintly feel the steady thump of Chloe's heartbeat, so familiar and comforting.
She smelled like cigarettes and just...Chloe. The smell Max had gotten so used to this past week, and she was so...alive. So unbelievably alive. Hearing her snarky remarks and seeing her beautiful pissed off face again was priceless.
After a little while, Chloe cleared her throat, "Uh, Max? Listen, I don't want to ruin the moment, but my hand's kinda burning here"
That made Max chuckle "Oh, right, sorry", she said as she drew back from Chloe
Her friend put out her nearly burned out cigarette on the surface of the dashboard before tossing it out the window without a care in the world. Though to be fair, littering was the last thing on Max's mind at the moment.
"Chloe? How, I mean--" she started, before shaking her head "Just tell me what happened last week"
Chloe's her eyes widened "Damn, so it's all true, then. Everything you said. Not that I didn't believe you but, you know."
The suspense was kind of driving her crazy, but Max simply waited for Chloe to continue. Her friend lit a new cigarette, and took a long drag, the familiar smell flooding the car once more.
"Okay. Okay. So, Monday, you came after me, remember? Well, guess you don't, huh. But you found me in the parking lot, and you just, told me everything. All the crazy sci-fi shit and everything that" Chloe paused to exhale another cloud of smoke, her voice turning somber "happened with Rachel"
"At first I was like 'what the fuck is this girl sayin', you know? I mean, you sounded insane. Like, actually batshit crazy. Plus, you came back after, what, five whole years and that's what you had to say for yourself? Like, please"
Chloe took another long drag before flicking the ashes out the car window, shaking her head "But you looked so...desperate. Yeah, you looked like you'd been to hell and back, yanno? Like you were fighting for your life. And you were so weirdly happy to see me"
She paused to look at Max, and Max wondered what she saw. Probably a pathetic, crazy girl with puffy eyes and a bloody nose. Even she had to admit she felt pretty insane, clutching onto a butterfly photograph for dear life, running around nearly identical dimensions, frantically searching for the one where Chloe could be saved. Only to fuck things up even further.
But then Chloe cracked a smile, to Max's surprise "And you saved me, you dork. I fuckin' owe you, big time", she said
"You really don't, though."
I'm the one that owes you everything, Max thought to herself grimly, If only you knew...you'd never be able to look at me the same.
Chloe put an a hand on Max's shoulder, "So...You really don't remember last week? Like anything?", she said, shaking Max out of her guilt-ridden thoughts and making her heart skip a beat at their sudden closeness.
Max had to admit she was dying to know what happened last week "Nope, I was kind of hoping you would, uh, enlighten me on that?", she said
"You wish." Chloe finished her cigarette with a chuckle before flicking it out the window "Come on, let's get the fuck outta here"
The loud grumble of her old machine made Max unbelievably happy, and as she watched their surroundings fade away, feeling safer by the second, she dared to hope she might actually have made things right this time.