Chapter Text
Life was so weird right now. Like, if finding out you could rewind time, had just saved the life of your ex-best friend and it’s now snowing is 10/10 on the weird scale, then right now Max was feeling that she was about nine and a half on that scale.
Out of all the things that freaked Max out right now, the storm was without a doubt her biggest concern. For a week or two, it had almost felt like they had gotten away with it, and somehow cheated the system and escape unscathed and storm less. Now, Max was beginning to think it had just been wishful thinking. After getting into a fight on her way to see her parents, Max had rewound time to get her and Chloe out of trouble. Even after swearing to never use it again, as soon as there was a gun around Max had freaked out and abused her powers. That same night, she had another vison of a new storm hitting Arcadia Bay in a few days’ time. The doe had been there again, and while it had suggested that something else was to blame for the storm, Max had a lot of doubts about that. What if she had caused all of this again? What if she had to make that choice??? It was that fear that had turned her into an almost terrified wreck. If it wasn’t for Chloe’s presence, Max wouldn’t have had the strength to make it through this.
“You OK time warrior?” Chloe asked quietly as she took hold of Max’s hand. Max gave her a grateful smile in response. Somehow, no matter how dark Max’s mood was or how freaked out she was, Chloe always found a way to make her smile. It was even more impressive to Max that Chloe was still worrying about her, today of all days. In Max’s mind, Chloe should be the one freaking out here, the storm had been intent on killing her last time, not Max. To make matters even worse, today was the day for the unveiling of Rachel Ambers memorial.
In this timeline, Max had thought they had escaped fate by Max interrupting Nathan in the restroom, with Max being shot instead of Chloe. Luckily, the bullet hadn’t been fatal, and in an attempt to stop Max from taking the Prescotts to court over it, they had agreed on a deal. One of Max’s conditions had been that the Prescotts pay for the construction of a memorial to Rachel Amber. That had been about a month ago now, and the Precotts had invited everyone in town to the unveiling of the memorial, right outside of Max’s dormitory at Blackwell.
“I’m holding up. How about you?” Max replied to Chloe, trying to put on a brave face in front of her girlfriend. It wasn’t that she felt like she needed to hide her worries from Chloe, but right now Max felt like she needed to be the strong one, at least for today.
“I’m fucking exhausted. First you rewind, then your vision, now this? Can’t we catch a break already?” Chloe said. Max nodded in understanding. After everything that had already happened to them, couldn’t they catch a break?
“Hey, we’ll get through this, together.” Max said and squeezed Chloe hand tightly. This time Chloe nodded, then took off her beanie and put it on Max’s head.
“Bit big on me Chlo.” Max said, but she didn’t take it off. It was warm and smelled of Chloe.
“I know, it’s frikkin’ adorable. Come on, Rachel would be pissed if we get there late.” Chloe said, then led them out of Max’s room.
“Aren’t you like, the master of late?” Max said with a grin as they walked down the corridor.
“Goes out with a literal time traveller, and I’m still late all the time? Sounds like your problem Super Max.” Chloe replied, finally giving Max a grin in return. Max was about to reply, but in front of them the door to Kate’s room opened, with Kate coming out and smiling at both of them. Max coughed and changed the subject. Kate didn’t know about the rewind after all.
“Hey Kate, you coming to see the memorial too?” Max asked.
“Hey Max, Chloe. Yeah, I never got a chance to meet Rachel, but everyone here seems to speak so highly of her, I have to have a look.” Kate replied, then turned to look at Chloe.
“You OK Chloe? I know you were really close with Rachel.” Kate said. That was one nice thing that had come out of all this. Max had kinda forced all of her friends on Chloe, and somehow Chloe had befriended all of them. She had even become friends with Warren, at least once Warren started going out with Brooke and stopped asking Max to go out with him.
“Thanks Kate, I’m good. Got out all of that mushy stuff at Rachel’s funeral.” Chloe said reassuringly. Max knew Chloe was trying to reassure Kate. First the storm, Rachel and the Prescotts again, it wasn’t going to be easy for either of them. The three of them headed out of their dorm and into the courtyard. As a cold wind blew past them, Max was suddenly glad for Chloe’s beanie. It was November now in Arcadia Bay, meaning that it was getting colder. It was a cold, grey and dreary day for the unveiling. Considering everything that had happened, it seemed almost perfectly appropriate.
As soon as the girls left the dormitory, their attention was brought onto a large covered object in the middle of the courtyard. It had to be the memorial itself. Rachel Amber- the girl Max had never met, but spent a huge amount of effort searching for. Rachel had gone missing about six months before Max had returned to Arcadia. But despite never having met her, Max felt… a kind of kinship with Rachel, like their lives were linked together by everything that had happened. In the week of rewind, Max and Chloe had taken two goals; stop the storm and find Rachel Amber. When Max had been shot by Nathan, she even had a dream with Rachel in it. Even now Max wasn’t sure if that had been some kind of crazy coma dream or another vision, but she still felt a certain kinship with this girl she had never met. A smaller, darker part of Max realized that she was still jealous of Rachel, but that was mostly out of guilt over leaving Chloe for five years, something she would never forgive herself for even after everything had happened. Max’s musings were brought to an abrupt close as Chloe spoke up.
“Why do they have to be here?” Chloe asked angrily, inclining her head over at a small group of people standing next to the statue.
“Who are they?” Kate asked. Max looked over at the people in question. There were three of them, and Max quickly figured out who they were.
The first one was a man she recognized, Jeffry Kensington, the Prescott lawyer who had arranged the deal with Max for this statue to be built. The man was wearing a brown suit similar to the one Max had seen when she first met him, and was talking quietly with a man Max hadn’t met before. He had a large jawline and was of large bearing, but neither portly nor overly strong. For a moment Max wondered where she recognized him from, and with a start she realized that she had seen his picture before; it was Sean Prescott, Nathan’s father and head of their family, also a complete monster from what Max had heard. As Max glanced over at them, she briefly met his eyes. Sean’s eyes showed a complete lack of empathy as he seemed to be evaluating her in a single glance, as if calculating what effect she would have in his web. Max had heard a lot of bad things about this man, and that one glance confirmed it in her eyes. Max broke his gaze and looked over at the girl next to him. She didn’t look too much like Sean Prescott, but she looked a lot like an older female version of Nathan. It was probably Nathan’s sister Kristine, come back from Brazil. She looked really sad, but then smiled slightly as she noticed Max, Chloe and Kate looking at them.
“Those are the Prescotts; Sean, his daughter Kristen, and their lawyer. They paid for all this.” Max explained.
“But they’re the ones that did this. They should have got someone else to do this bit.” Chloe said, and Max could almost feel the anger shaking through Chloe. Max put a hand on Chloe shoulder in silent understanding. While he wasn’t here himself, Nathan Prescott had been one of the ones responsible for killing Rachel. Max understood why the Prescotts would want to be here for the unveiling of their own memorial, but like Chloe Max wished that they weren’t here either. It was hard enough to think about Rachel and the week of rewind without being reminded of Nathan’s involvement in all this. For a moment Max was silent, thinking about what she could possibly say to cheer Chloe up. Just saying pointless niceties wouldn’t work, Chloe wouldn’t care. Whatever Max said had to be heartfelt.
“I know babe. But what would Rachel think about all this?” Max said, indicating the courtyard and all the people around them. This time, Chloe’s face lost her anger and she smiled ever so slightly.
“She’d freakin’ love this. Rachel always loved being the center of attention. And she’d want us to smile too. Hell, she’d want us to thrash out and turn this into a party.” Chloe said.
“Maybe we can try something like that once all the teachers and rich people leave?” Max suggested, indicating at the large group of Blackwell staff led by Principal Wells on the left of them. Max had never actively wanted to go out and party, she was too introverted and socially anxious for that. But right now she hoped the thought of it would cheer up Chloe at least. Maybe with Chloe there Max might even like it?
“Now that sounds like a plan.” Chloe said, but next to them Kate gave Max a slightly worried look, and Max inwardly cursed. She was an idiot. Of course Kate wouldn’t want to go to a party after what had happened last time!
“Sorry! We could just have a chill time and watch movies or something instead?” Max suggested. At first Chloe looked confused, then saw Kate’s expression and nodded.
“Right. It’s not like Rachel’s here to party anyway, and it would be better to chill out with all you nerds.” Chloe said.
“That sounds nice. But not in my room, all the noise would scare Alice.” Kate said, Alice being her pet bunny.
“No problem, we can do it on my room, or even at Chloe’s house if things are too loud here.” Max said. The three of them were silent for a moment, and Max had another look around the courtyard to see if she recognized any other faces. All of her dorm was out now. Juliet and Dana waved at her, as did Brooke, Alyssa and Warren from across the courtyard. Max soon spotted Victoria, Courtney and Taylor, but she didn’t greet them this time. Considering the company she was keeping, as well as the rivalry Victoria had apparently had with Rachel, Max didn’t want to cause any fights. Samuel was skulking in the corner by his tool room, no doubt worried about all the noise scaring the squirrels. Now that she thought about it, Max hadn’t spoken to Samuel since the week of rewind. Then again, that wasn’t a bad thing. Not that Samuel was a bad person, but Max really didn’t need to get freaked out more than she already was. As Max continued to scan the crowd, she noticed a few more unexpected faces.
“Hey, isn’t that the homeless lady from the Two-Whales?” Max asked Chloe, nudging Chloe then indicating with her head over at the woman.
“Oh yeah. Guess Rachel must have spoken with her while we hung out to eat. How do you know her?” Chloe asked curiously.
“I spoke with her during the uh… a few weeks ago.” Max said, almost mentioning the week of rewind in front of Kate but stopping herself just in time.
“Rachel did know how to make friends with just about everyone.” Chloe commented, the slightest trace of bitterness still in her voice. Before Max could say anything more, Kate nudged them both and pointed as Kristen Prescott stood up and walked in front of the memorial. A few moments later and the courtyard was silent, except for the cold, depressing wind that blew through the fallen tree leaves around them.
“Hi everyone. I want to thank you all for coming.” Kristen said after everyone had settled down.
“Rachel Amber was a brilliant person, one that made everyone around her a bit brighter with her presence…” Kristen stopped for a moment as she briefly looked at the memorial. While Max didn’t know her, it was clear that Kristen was truly saddened by this. Considering that Rachel had been friends with Nathan before everything happened, it seemed possible that she had been friends with Kristen too.
“It’s not fair that she was taken away from us, but life isn’t fair, and she would want us all to smile and move on. I’d like to present this memorial to Rachel Amber.” Kristen finished, then pulled off the covering.
It was a statue. Smaller than the one in the Blackwell fountain, and more modern. What looked like dozens of small metallic bronze ribbons stretched up from its base to form a stylized image of Rachel, complete with a small blue metal feather earring. Next to her, Max could hear Chloe sniff, and turned to see her girlfriend looking at the statue with tears in her eyes. Max didn’t say anything, but silently took hold of Chloe hand. Chloe smiled at her and rested her head on Max’s shoulder. There was no applause for the unveiling, everyone else seemed to be taking a moment to remember Rachel as well. It was a bit strange for Max, who had never met Rachel, or at least… probably? There was that one moment she spoke to Rachel just after she got shot, but she was fairly sure that it had just been a crazy dream. There was an eventual round of applause, then everyone started talking again. As the people around them spoke, Kate, Max and Chloe were quiet for a bit longer.
“It’s beautiful.” Kate finally said, her voice quiet as she looked at the bronze statue. Max nodded in agreement.
“It’s not fair…” Chloe whispered, her bright blue eyes still fixed on the statue of Rachel. This time, Max knew exactly what she meant. As much as it hurt to think about it, Max knew that Chloe felt guilty that she was happy and alive while Rachel wasn’t.
“Life isn’t always fair.” Max replied sadly. While Max considered it the greatest blessing in the world that Chloe was here with her, she understood how hard survivor’s guilt would hurt someone like Chloe. For another moment, the three of them were quiet again, then Chloe abruptly stood up, and made to leave. Max looked in concern at her, then made to follow her.
Then, things started getting crazy. As Max stood up, the world suddenly blurred around her, like she was inside a watercolor painting melting around her. A strange ringing sound dominated her senses, and the people around her all started moving backwards. Next to her, Max watched in shock as Chloe back stepped and sat back down in her seat. Max would have assumed she was seeing things, but she knew from experience exactly what this was. Time was rewinding, but Max wasn’t the one doing it.
Almost as soon as it started, it was over. Life moved back along at its regular pace, as if nothing had happened.
“It’s beautiful.” Kate repeated quietly next to her. That just about confirmed it. If Max could predict what people were saying around her, then it really had been a rewind and not her mind playing tricks on her. Panic gripped Max as she turned to look at Chloe, waiting to see if Chloe would repeat herself too.
“It’s not fair…” Chloe whispered once more Max’s eyes widened as her fears were confirmed. How had it happened? What the hell was going on? She was sure she hadn’t used her rewind, but it had happened nonetheless. Chloe stood up again, and Max gripped her arm.
“We have to get out of here.” Max said quietly to Chloe. Chloe glanced over at Max, her eyes first angry, then turned to worry as she saw Max’s panicked expression. Chloe nodded in agreement, then turned to Kate.
“Sorry, we gotta escape for a while.” Chloe said, and Kate nodded. At least they could make a convenient exit, since it just looked like they were overwhelmed at seeing the statue. Max and Chloe quickly made their exit from the Blackwell courtyard. As they walked out, Max looked around the area once more, wondering what had just happened. Just before they left, Max’s eyes wondered over to the Tobanga Totem. That thing always freaked her out, now even more so than usual. Was this something to do with the totem, or Rachel, or something else???
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“What happened? Max, you with me?” Chloe asked her as soon as they got into Chloe’s car.
“I’ll always be with you.” Max responded almost automatically, then shook her head. “I think that time got rewinded for a second back there…” Max replied.
“What? What happened that you needed to rewind for?” Chloe asked.
“No, I didn’t do anything. It was like… it just rewound around me.” Max said, and looked down at her hand. When Max rewound time, it took her conscious effort, and left her with a headache or nosebleed after. No, she would know if she had done it. This was something else.
“So what? Time just rewound itself? Maybe someone else did it?” Chloe suggested after a moment. Max’s eyes widened at that possibility. What if someone else could rewind time? They could cause a huge amount of trouble with a power like that.
“I hope not. It was bad enough with just me doing it.” Max said.
“Not to mention it could literally be anyone there. Did something happen to make them rewind?” Chloe asked. Max thought back to that moment. Nothing noticeable came to mind.
“I don’t think so. You had just got up, and I got up to follow you.” Max said. As the two of them spoke, Max could feel her worries building once more. Chloe knew fully well that Max was still suffering from the week of rewind. What she might not know that Max’s main nightmares and fears were not of all the bad things that had happened, but her fear of losing Chloe and her other loved ones. Max could not make that choice again.
“I thought you sorta shifted then. So when time was rewound, you still weren’t affected? Maybe whoever did it was trying to find you?” Chloe said. After a moment, Max nodded. She had just been standing up at that moment, if anyone had been watching out for her, they would have seen her.
“If they did then they would have seen me. Fuck, how are we meant to deal with this?” Max asked, the desperation clear in her voice. This was too much for them to deal with. Last time it had just been Max messing around with powers. How were they meant to deal with someone or something being able to do it as well? Maybe her PTSD was just making Max go crazy and she had been the one to rewind? They really were in trouble if that was what Max was hoping her. Chloe must have noticed Max’s panicked expression, and put her hands on Max’s shoulders.
“Hey, look at me.” Chloe commanded. Max immediately stopped and focused on Chloe’s face, looking her girlfriend in the eye.
“Last time this happened, we only just met again, you barely had any friends and had no idea what you were doing. Now, you’ve like, mastered your powers like some kind of Jedi, got loads of friends, and you’ve got me. Well deal with this, together.” Chloe said. Max looked her in the eye for a moment longer, then nodded. Chloe always did know how to calm her down, even back when they were kids. Max suddenly smiled as she had a thought.
“Jedi aren’t allowed to have proper relationships. Can’t I be a Sith instead?” Max replied after a moment, and Chloe laughed.
“I just made a hella dramatic speech and all you got out of it was some Star Wars reference? You’re such a dork.” Chloe said, this time making Max laughed.
“Hey, the Dork side has cookies.” Max replied. Though they were joking around again, Max was glad that Chloe had cheered her up. She was right too. Even if things didn’t look great right now, they would get through this together.
“Thanks Chloe. You’re right, we’ll get through this together. Max and Chloe, taking on the world once more.” Max said determinedly.
“Please, it’s Chloe and Max. Nobody says Max and Chloe.” Chloe replied.