God, this whole thing was a cluster fuck. Her powers had been gone for years since Arcadia, now suddenly- they were back. Two timelines, one where Safi’s murder already happened, one where she could stop it.

So, fucking confusing. And a lot of snooping.

——-

“So, I don’t know who took your phone, but it wasn’t Diamond.” Max started as she approached Vinh in the courtyard,

“..Holy shit. You figured all that out? With like- zero clues?” Vinh asked in mild amusement,

——-

“Just- knew the right people to ask. And how.” Max shrugged slightly, Vinh nodded, “Now about my question-“ She started,

Rewind had come back out of nowhere, and Maxine didn’t know what to do.

——-

”My powers may not last.”

”That’s okay, we will.”

————————

“Chloe!”

”Whatever choice you make, I know it’ll be the right one.” Then the storm. The choice- all of Arcadia bay wiped out, most of its residents dead. God. They’d left that night, amidst the carnage, in Chloe’s old junker of a truck. Max had been gripping Chloe’s hand like a vice the entire drive.

————————

They’d been on the rode since the storm, moving place to place- seeing the world.

It didn’t erase what had happened, not by a long shot. But Chloe stuck around, and that made her feel a bit better. Then- a representative from Caledon had seen one of her collections. ‘Artist in residence’.

————————

But then she and Chloe had that blowout. Chloe wanted to move forward, Maxine was still trying to figure out the past-

And the trauma, hell, Maxine couldn’t even sleep in the rain anymore. And Chloe couldn’t stand being photographed after..the way she’d had pictures taken of her- by Mark Jefferson, back in Arcadia.

————————

So they decided for..space. Maxine went off to- fancy caledon, while Chloe stayed in Seattle. A- ‘break up’, for lack of better words. But neither called it that, and neither lost any feelings.

————————

But right now- Rewind was back with a vengeance, and now there were..timelines, she could jump through- God, she just- she needed Chloe.

Especially when the rain started that night, she hated the rain. Hated how it made her think of the storm. “Come on, come on..” Maxine muttered under her breath as she dialed the familiar number, curled up in her bed in her dorm- please pick up, Chloe.

————————

Please pick up. Chloe was the only person she could tell about rewind coming back-

Chloe was the only person. Her person.

————————

She knew Chloe- mentally, had been a wreck since Oregon. And she knew, part of her knew it was selfish, calling when she needed something.

But maybe..maybe someone needed to check on Chloe too.