Popsicles. Phendrana Drifts. Refrigerators. Mountain lakes backpacking with her dad.

Damn.
Chloe woke up freezing.

God damn it Max. Why did you have to steal ALL THE BLANKETS?
I knew you were the type.

Chloe poked around and found… of course… Max fucking Caulfield wrapped up in all the blankets on the other end of the damn bed.

Brief fantasies of filling a bucket of ice water and introducing it to her stupid face…

Brrrrr.

Chloe got up shivering and made her way to the window to shut it.

Oh my god…

She froze.

It's that doe…
The one Max said she'd seen.
What is it doing here?

The doe stood on the street outside. It radiated a soft golden glow which gently lit the street below it.

I have no idea what it wants… I should probably wake Max up…
No… she's been through enough. Whatever the fuck this is. I can handle it.

A chill went down Chloe's spine and she shivered.

I got this.

A quick moment to grab her coat and she crept out through the window onto the roof. The doe was waiting for her, standing eerily still in the street.

The air was crisp and very cold and the night was beautiful with the stars out in full. The moon cast a cool blue-white glow across the tops of the trees.

Arcadia Bay is... beautiful at night.

The doe eyed her warily as she approached and slowly backed away.
"H… hello?" Chloe called.
The doe stood still.

She walked warily toward it and the doe retreated fading into the darkness.
When she stopped… so did the doe. She could still see it's eyes gleaming in the shadows between the street lamps.

"Am I supposed to… follow you?" Chloe whispered.
The doe tossed it's head.

Chloe shivered and braced herself. I got this.

A dozen paces forward and she found herself standing by her old truck.

The doe stared intently at her and then tossed it's head at the truck.
"Do you want me to like… drive or something?"
The doe let out an impatient snort.

"Ok… This isn't weird or anything…. Just chatting with spirit animals... no big deal."

The fact that I'm monologuing about it means I haven't gone totally nuts right? Right...

Rust. Old leather.
The familiar sound of the engine filled Chloe's ears.
She wrapped her hands around the steering wheel feeling the thrum of the old motor.

My wheels. I got this.

The doe led Chloe up into the hills.

She passed the old post office. The movie theatre. The police station.
Then just winding roads.

Everything was quiet except for the whispering of the trees.
Below her to her left, the lights of Arcadia Bay spread out like a blanket of stars.

If this is a dream, it's fucking surreal.
Fuck… I think I know where we are.

The road had ended.
"This is the... old mill?" Chloe whispered. "Why would you lead me here?"
Haven't been back since Sera and…

Damon.

In the dark, the mill's shadow loomed high into the night sky. A fortress of the former drug lord of Arcadia Bay.
No signs that anyone had been here for years.

God I hope that's true. I'm starting to really wish I'd brought Max with me.

Chloe got out of the truck and stared intently at the doe. The doe stared back and then it's light disappeared. Swallowed into the yawning shadows inside the mill.

"Fuck… of course it goes inside…"
Chloe stared up at the mill... debating.
She could turn around and go home but it would mean one more weird ass thing that stayed a total mystery. One more thing that Max might have to deal with in the future.

I can do this.

"You don't have to do this..."
Chloe turned already knowing who it was. I guess it's just a night for ghosts...
"Hi dad. Long time, no see..." she said quietly.
"Hey sweetheart." William smiled warmly. "You haven't wanted to talk to me in a while..."
"Yeah... my bad... guess I was a little pissed at you."
William nodded.
"After everything that happened, I can't say I blame you."
William paused.
"We've been here before remember?" William put a hand on Chloe's shoulder.
"You braved this place."

Chloe smiled.
"I remember. Scariest fucking thing I've ever done. I can't believe Damon didn't kill me..."

"But you did it... and you saved Sera."
William squeezed Chloe's shoulder.
"I'm so proud of you."
Chloe's eyes shimmered.

"Dad..."
"Yeah?"
"Did you ever lose... lose someone you loved?"
William looked down.
"Everyone loses someone sometime sweetheart." William's eyes misted over . but the only alternative is to always keep everyone else shut out of your heart."
"I guess that was kinda my strategy..."
Chloe sighed.
"You tried to love no one?" William chucked. "Well I guess you failed at that one."

"Yeah I guess so... fuck it's scary though."
William nodded.
"It's the riskiest game... putting your trust in someone... that they'll make good decisions ... but it's the only game worth playing."
"What if I fuck it up again? I couldn't save Rachel."
Williams smile softened.
"Maybe it was never your job to protect her."
She turned to stare at him...
"Maybe Rachel was never yours to save..."
Chloe thought for a minute.
"What do you mean?"
William put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's not your fault if someone close to you goes off the rails."
Chloe looked down.
"Yeah I know."
"You don't believe it though. You're still punishing yourself for losing her."
A single tear shone as it fell. Chloe nodded.
"Someday sweetheart, I hope you can make peace with her memory. You don't deserve to walk around beating yourself up."

Fucking hallucination dads being stupidly right.

"Fuck it." She stared back the old mill. I've seen worse. Way fucking worse. A big scary building isn't going to stop me.

"You ready?"
"Yeah."
"You got this."
"I hope so."

In her phone's light, she could see where fire damage had gouged holes in the mill's walls.
Years of rain and worse had rotted through much of what was left and the ceiling had fallen in. What once had been a fortress of evil was now lonely and abandoned. A forgotten tomb being reclaimed by the woods.

She mustered all of her courage and held her breath… and stepped inside.
"I'm so proud of you..."

Memories. She could still hear Sera spitting defiance as Damon stood arrogantly over her with the needle.
The sharp gleam on his knife. The fear in Frank's eyes. "Damon what did you do!?"

Don't mess with Damon Merrick…

But I did and somehow I survived. And we saved Sera. That's what mattered.
I stormed the castle and we defeated Durgaron to save the princess. I just wish I could have saved Rachel too...

She could see the light from the doe but it was far away…
She moved deeper into the mill, stepping carefully.
"Damon what did you do?!"
"Rachel!"
"I'll kill him for this if it's the last thing I do!"
"Chloe run!"

Pulsing vibrating electric guitars. Arcing lights.
A raging crowd.
A creep who smelled like cigarettes and cheap beer.
"You don't know who I am do you?"

I don't give a shit.

A shout. And an angel appeared.
A knee to the balls and the creep collapsed.
And then the second best night of her life…
Rachel. Amber. A goddess made of fire and diamonds.

She wandered the old mill.
The place when she and Rachel had really met.
Frank had saved Sera here.
They had found Frank passed out in a pool of blood and rushed him to the hospital. Frank was tough. A fighter. He had pulled through...
...after consuming a metric ton of beans... (seriously who eats that much beans?)

Wandering...
The ruins of the old bar. The second floor had fallen in and blocked off one of the rooms.

Chloe found herself sitting on the old stage where Firewalk had played that night.
She stared up into the rafters. With no ceiling, the stars unfolded like a canvas of sparks above her. She felt like she could just drift upwards and never have to look down.
So peaceful...

A quiet snort.
Chloe jumped and spun around her phone raised.

The doe stood in the dark corner of the stage.

It stared fearlessly into the beam from her phone.
Chloe could see the light reflected in the doe's eyes.

What the hell...

The doe advanced and Chloe froze… but the doe only nuzzled Chloe's cheek gently.
It smelled like wildflowers and jasmine.
And a smell she could never forget.

Her smell…
Chloe blinked in shock and when her eyes opened…
Colors played over the doe. It shifted and transformed...

...into the form of a beautiful young woman.
Blonde hair flared out behind her. Ripped clothes. Flashing golden eyes burning with an inner fire.

Rachel.
Ohmygod. Rachel.
Rachel fucking Amber.

Her magnetism. Her flaring hair matching her defiant eyes. That night, Chloe had fallen for her in an instant.

She's here. She led me here.

"You came." Rachel breathed. Chloe held her breath.

Her voice. Like the first note to a melody you can never forget.

"Rachel... I... are you… are you real?"
Rachel's eyes flashed and her mouth curved into a wicked smirk.
"What do you think?"

Chloe reached out a hand nervously and touched Rachel's cheek. Rachel felt like...
A person. Here.

Am I going nuts?

"You seem pretty real to me."
"Chloe."
Rachel leaned into Chloe's hand and placed her own over it.
"I missed you so much."

Rachel smells like jasmine and love and joy and pain and loss.
Fuck is she here? She's either come back to haunt me… or I guess I'm fucking crazy.
This being Rachel Amber… it could go either way...

"Chloe I'm so sorry."

Rachel's tears sparkled like snowflakes as they traced down her cheeks.

"Chloe I fucked up so bad. Did you... did you read my letter?"

"Yeah... Sera gave it to me."
Rachel nodded and looked down at the floor.
"Did you already know?"
"Max and I found out about Frank and Jefferson. So yeah I sorta guessed."
"Chloe... I think I was honestly out of my fucking mind." Rachel looked down again her face a mask of shame.
"I was taking way to many drugs and I couldn't think straight. I was hurting you and lying to your face and playing you and playing Frank for drugs and Jefferson to get famous and it just became this nightmare that I didn't know how to get out of."
She sighed and more tears shone as they disappeared into the dark.

"I spun this web of lies and I was so scared the whole time that you would see through it and that you would see how broken I was and that you... you would leave. That's why I lied to you Chloe. I needed you so badly. That last time we fought, that's when my world ended. After that, I don't remember much. I took a lot of everything and I was basically a walking zombie at that point. I would wake up for short bits, take a shot or a pill, and then just go back to sleepwalking."
Chloe was crying too.
"I would have understood you idiot. You know I would have. Why didn't you just come to me? We could still have escaped together."
Rachel nodded.
"I should have come to you. I was so scared... scared you'd figure it all out and scared I'd lose you too. Just like... just like I lost my dad."
Chloe had eventually told her the truth about her dad trying to murder Sera. She couldn't have kept it in even if she had wanted to.
"The way he looked at me after that... I couldn't ever really sleep in that house again. That's when my world started to slowly collapse."
"Fuck your dad."
"Fuck him." Rachel agreed.

Rachel had raged for days after Chloe told her. She had smashed a hole in Chloe's window and stormed out. Chloe had found her hiding right where she expected... the junkyard.

"Chloe... being... dead." Rachel whispered.
"It gave me a lot of time to think. I want you to know that you were the best thing that ever happened to me. All of my happiest memories are of... us together."

"So... you're really... dead?"

With everything else that had happened. A little part of Chloe had started to hope that Rachel could come back.

Rachel shook her head sadly. "Yeah... there's no way I'm coming back from this one."

They rested their foreheads together. Chloe cried softly.
"I'll never forget you Rachel. You're the best part of me. I learned everything worth knowing from you."
Rachel laughed through her own tears.
"I was going to say the same about you."
Chloe paused for a long moment. Drinking Rachel in. Her scent. Her touch. Her hair.

...

They lay together on the stage staring up at the stars. Rachel had produced a lighter and they smoked together both enjoying how the smoke curled up into the heavens.

Chloe pointed up. "What's it like up there?"
Rachel sighed. "Peaceful... but I'm not quite ready for that yet."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Rachel grinned.
"Means I have some more hauntin to do before I'm ready to sign off for good."

Chloe mused for a second enjoying the soothing buzz from the nicotine.
"Does that mean you'll be back to bug me more?"
Rachel stuck her tongue out.
"Nah I got waaay cooler people to haunt than your sorry ass."
Chloe laughed.

"Remember when we cut school for the first time and rode that train across Arcadia Bay?"
Rachel smiled.
"And remember when we stole that bottle of wine? You almost made that dude kiss me. I knew you were a perv even then."
Chloe laughed.
"I can't believe Wells didn't get more mad at you. Somehow all of the trouble landed on me..."
Rachel stuck her tongue out.
"I'm the fucking princess of Blackwell... well I was anyway. How's Victoria holding up without any competition?"
Chloe shrugged.
"I have no idea. You got me expelled remember?"
"That was your fault. It was definitely not my idea to hot box Wells' office. You were flying solo on that one."

"You always were the compassionate one."
Rachel's voice grew sad.
"I really miss you guys... I miss everyone. Even Wells and all his petty bullshit. That school was a shithole but..."
Chloe nodded.
"It was kind of like your family when you didn't have a family anymore."
"Yeah a little... Mr. Keaton was really nice. He let me fall asleep in his car a few times... he never did anything weird. He just knew about my parents and how shitty they were being. He gave me food and gave me a little extra money when I couldn't go home.

"Wow I had no idea... he was at your funeral you know."
Rachel smiled.
"Yeah I know."
"You got to watch your own funeral?"
Chloe said in disbelief.
Rachel waggled her fingers.
"Ghostly powers and shit. I see everythingggggg."
"Drama queen."
Rachel stood up and then dipped into a ridiculously flourishing bow.
"The queen is here."
She cocked her hip to the side.

"Get up loser. I gotta show you something and I gotta got going soon."
"Fuckin make me."
Rachel sighed.
"Fine be that way... I can just go join the ghost ninja sex parties in the sky... don't need you anyway."
Chloe snorted and got up. It felt damn good to stretch.

My side is feeling a little better...

"Fine what have you got to show me?"
"Come on... follow me..."
Rachel grabbed Chloe's hand and led her through the debris of the old mill.
... and outside.

The sun was just starting to rise... its first rays creeping across the waves of the bay. In this light, the bay was still a deep blue with the faintest hints of red and gold.

It's... beautiful...

"Arcadia Bay is so beautiful from up here" Rachel sighed. "I haven't been back since the Firewalk show."

They both held hands and watched the sun rise.
Rachel turned to Chloe. "Chloe... I'm so sorry... for everything. If I had another chance, I would do it all so different."
Chloe stroked Rachel's cheek.
"It's ok... I can't stay mad at you. It's not fair what happened..."
Rachel nodded.
"So not fair... that I don't get to keep Chloe price in my life..."
They stared into each others eyes. Chloe could see the sunrise reflected in the tears hanging in Rachel's lashes.
She was very close.
They had spent so many hours just staring at each other like this...
Rachel reached out and gripped Chloe's other hand.
Chloe felt something cold and metallic and her hand closed around...

Rachel's lighter?

"So you don't forget about me... Just in case I can't come visit you again.."
Chloe sniffled.
"Because you're so forgetabble...". She said sarcastically. Rachel laughed with a hiccup.

She was so close that their noses were practically touching.
"Chloe... I... am really going to miss you. I'm so grateful we got to have the time we had."
Chloe shook her head "Stop fucking saying cliched goodbyes. Stop talking like I'm never seeing you again."
Rachel looked down.
"Sometimes Chloe, you have to give someone up." She squeezed Chloe's hand.
"Its not fair... but sometimes that's the way it is. You know I'll always love you. You're a badass... Chloe Price."
"You too..." Chloe's voice was very small.

Rachel leaned forward just as the sun cleared the hills.
Chloe felt the gentle caress of Rachel's lips on her forehead... and then she was gone. Washed away in the warm current of the sun's first light.

Goodbye Rach.
Love you.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Ache.

Chloe stared out across the bay as the sun rose. She could still hear the echoes of Rachel's voice.

I miss her so much...

Chloe pulled out her phone...
good. No texts from Max. Means she's not up yet.

She typed... hey Babe... went for a drive to clear my head. Don't worry if you wake up and I'm not there. Be home soon...

She took one last look at the old mill. In the rising light, it looked so peaceful. The fortress of a dark lord transformed into a temple of solitude.

That reminds me... been a minute since I played DnD with Mikey and Steph. Gotta get on that.

She turned around to look out over the bay. I can't believe how beautiful it is up here. I guess that's what Rachel wanted to show me...

Arcadia Bay is worth saving.

Rachel I'll never forget you...
Or the night we met.
Goodbye.

Chloe got into her truck and stared at the spot where Rachel had almost bled to death on her seat. I saved her life...
But I guess I only put off the inevitable..

Time to let go.
Throaty roar of engine. Tires on the road.
Watching as the sun's first rays danced across the bay.

Her phone buzzed and she glanced over at it.
Maxxxx: love u

Max. Love and warmth. Joy and gratitude for her best friend. A surge of desire for her girlfriend.
Max = yum.

This feeling... will never get old.

Sorry it took me so long with another chapter!

I rewrote a lot of this a couple of times over before it felt right. Originally, Max and Chloe would go visit Rachel together in the graveyard and then Chloe would get transported alone into a dream-like sequence. The dialogue between Max and Chloe as they both saw the doe felt weird to me so I rewrote it to have Chloe go alone. Then it clicked with Chloe facing down her own fear in returning to such a traumatic place reduced by the fact that she knows Damon is dead and the place is probably abandoned. The original BTS scenes where she takes on Damon had always seemed like a test of just how overwhelmingly brave Chloe is and I wanted to echo that here.

Adding William was sort of an afterthought but it seemed right since he visits her the second time she returns to the mill in BTS. He says some ghost dad shit and then disappears when Chloe focuses on her objective again.

One thing I was thinking about was how cool of a heroine Chloe is especially in BTS EP3. She basically goes alone to take on a psycho for someone she loves armed with nothing but some cash and I thought it seemed a little bit lame that Frank steps in and saves her... especially because you never see it. That's why I added the bit about Chloe and Sera saving Frank at the end. I wanted to heavily imply that if Chloe hadn't been there, Frank would have died of his wounds after killing Damon.

I wanted to tow the line between Max and Chloe and Chloe and Rachel since now Max and Chloe are together and Rachel knows it (this Rachel knows about every event in the original 5 episodes.) Originally, I was going to have Rachel and Chloe kiss at the end but that felt like it stilted it a little to far towards cheating. Chloe is so happy with Max and I didn't want to imply that she was still pining for Rachel in the same way she was before Max. She's mourning but she doesn't still want to be with Rachel.

One other thing that was on my mind a lot as I wrote this was answering the question: what happened to Rachel Amber's personality between LIS 1 and BTS. In BTS, she comes across (at least to me) as a huge sweetheart who's reckless but cares a great deal about Chloe while in LIS 1, she comes off (from other peope's stories) as kind of cold hearted. She's cheated on Chloe at least once (probably twice) and taken a whole lot of drugs. I wanted to make the jump between the two games without losing either game's version of her so I wove in the story about her slowly descending into dark drug addiction and it changing her personality. I also wanted to heavily imply that it's her dad who pushes her in that direction with his destructive and selfish behavior. Now that she's dead, the drug addiction has lifted and she's back the old Rachel who isn't numb on drugs anymore.