The Calm Before The Storm

~Prologue~

~Chloe~

I struggle to walk up the cliff, balancing my unconscious friend in my arms.

No... I can't call her my friend.

Max is so much more than that.

We've been through hell together this week, and now we're closer than we ever have before.

By the time we get up the cliff, both of us are drenched and shivering from the rain.

"Don't worry Max, we're almost there," I tell her.

Still no response.

She's been out cold since she passed out on the beach about half an hour ago.

Other than few incoherent mumbles, she's been absolutely silent.

"Please say something" I beg, but still nothing.

We're only a few feet away from the clearing at the top of the cliff when I finally lose my grip on Max and we both fall to the muddy ground.

To my surprise, she catches herself.

"Max... Max, can you hear me? Please... say something!" I beg.

"Chloe..." She says, "I... I must have passed out... sorry," she mumbles, stumbling as she tries to get up.

"Oh, thank god... Don't you ever scare me like that again", I say, pulling her to her feet once I get to mine.

"I swear, But that nightmare was so real.. So horrible".

She walks towards the edge of the cliff and stares at the storm for a moment, her shoulders sagging at the destruction before her.

"This is my storm.... I caused this... I caused all of this. I changed fate and destiny so much I actually did alter the course of everything, and all I really created was just death and destruction!".

I step up to her and grab her, angry that she would ever think that this was her fault.

"Fuck all that, ok? You were given a power, you didn't ask for it... and you saved me! Which had to happen, all of this did. Except for what happened to Rachel" I tell her, "But without your powers, you wouldn't have found her! Ok, so you're not the goddamn Time-Master, but you're Maxine Caulfield.... and you're amazing,".

I lean in and grab her by the shoulders, giving her a light shake as if expecting her to believe all that.

She looks at the tornado again in utter distress and I know she still believes this is all her fault.

I sigh and take a step back, what I had just said giving me an idea.

"Max, this is the only way,".

I hand Max the photo she had given me earlier that week, the one she had taken just before discovering her power.

She takes it and holds in anxiously in her snaking hands, studying the photo closely and realizing her reflection is shown in the bucket.

"I- I feel like I took this shot a thousand years ago," she says, walking to towards the storm again.

"You. You could you that photo to change everything right back until you took that picture... all that would take is for me to... to...".

I can't finish my sentence and bury my face into my hands as I start to cry.

We both know what her reflection means.

It means she can travel back in time and prevent herself from stopping Nathan.

It means she can let me die...