WHO: Chloe Price & Max Caulfield. WHAT: Rescuing Chloe. WHEN: Saturday. WHERE: In town. WARNINGS: Low-ish. STATUS: Closed/Completed gdoc.
Chloe knew very well to stay inside a snowstorm as big as this one. No matter how restless and bored she got, she knew better than to go out But there was hardly any food in the fridge. They hadn't gotten the chance to refill it before the storm hit and they could probably ask someone to bring them something, but they all seemed busy. Besides, there was a convenience store nearby and surely nothing would happen if Chloe stepped out for a second to grab a few things. So after leaving a quick text to Max, she headed out.
Which she kind of regretted immediately. It was absolutely cold out and she wished she'd gone back in where it was warm. Then she kept hearing the snow crunching behind her, but as she turned around, she saw nothing but a couple snowmen. Which was odd because she could've sworn they weren't there before. Oh well. She kept walking, but only made it a few feet when she felt something hit her in the back. It only took her a second to realize it was a snowball and she turned around to see the two snowmen advancing towards her.
"What the fuck?" She was too stunned to move, not expecting them to come alive, let alone attack her. She got her mind together, though, and bolted off as they snowmen gave chase, throwing snowballs in her direction. She ended up going into an alleyway in hopes of shaking them off, but it was no use. They had followed her and pelted her with snowballs. Too many and Chloe could do nothing but simply cover herself as they continued hitting her.
It had been some time since Chloe had left to go buy them more groceries and Max was starting to worry about her girlfriend. Bundling up, Max headed out, making her way to the small convenience store nearby. The time on the text was almost an hour now and Max was definitely starting to panic. Had something happened? Had this place finally taken Chloe back? Back to a possible death?
Though awkward, Max started to run, scanning the area for any sign of the blue-haired girl, but there was nothing. Oh, damn it!
“Chloe!” Max shouted “Chloe!”
She rounded a corner and that was when she spotted the snowmen advancing on an alleyway. Could it be Chloe? Max ran over, peering between the large frozen bodies for any sign of Chloe.
She was there, covering herself from the pelting snowballs. Max knew there was only one thing she could do. She could reverse time and possibly grab Chloe before the snowmen spotted her. Raising her hand, Max took a deep breath and invoked her abilities. Immediately, time shifted in reverse. The snowmen were pulled back from the alleyway and Chloe shifted back into view. Thankfully, the snowmen were slow and Max stopped the time reverse, a bit of blood trickle from her nose as she ran over to Chloe.
“Hey! Come on! Let’s get out of here before they start catching up to us.”
The snowballs kept hitting her and all she could do was just cover her face and head as the snow piled up around her, almost burying her. She was regretting going out to get food on her own, even though they needed it. Why didn't she just ask someone to teleport whatever they needed to them? Now she was possibly going to get killed by living snowmen.
She could've sworn she heard Max yell her name, but she didn't get the chance to know for sure. Because time was rewinded. The snowmen moved away from her as did the snow that they almost buried her with. Even Chloe herself had gotten up and ran backwards as if on a video being on rewind. But she had no awareness of any of this. To her, she felt like she was just now running to the alleyway to hide from the snowmen like a few moments before, with the moments of being pelted by snowballs being non-existent.
"Max?" When she saw her girlfriend, she was confused since Max had been home the whole time. Then she remembered being chased and nodded. "Right, let's go," she ran towards Max. When she got close, she noticed the blood. Which was a sign she'd used her time powers, the only reason Chloe knew now that she did. "Oh hey, you're bleeding. You okay?"
Rewinding time never ceased to amaze and awe Max despite how many times she had done it. People, animals, and things all moving backwards with as much ease as when they had been moving forward. Max hoped Chloe would still be decently ahead of the snowmen when she rewound time. Luckily, her girlfriend had remained ahead and Max was able to reach her before the snowmen caught up. Not surprising, Chloe was confused at Max’s appearance.
“Yeah. I followed you after you didn’t come home,” Max replied in a hurry. “I was worried.”
Max hadn’t even noticed the blood dripping from her nose until Chloe pointed it out to her. It could have easily been melting snow for all Max knew. She lifted a gloved-hand and blotted at her nose. As she pulled it away, she noticed the blood staining her glove. She’d overdone it with her abilities. Moving time back so far took a lot out of her; she would recover, but seeing her own blood still freaked Max out a little.
“I’m fine. I just over did it with the time rewinding,” Max replied, forcing a small smile. “Let’s just get out of here before they catch up.”
Max reached for Chloe’s hand and tugged her forward.
It was a good thing Chloe was quick and had managed to good distance between herself and the snowmen. It was also good that Max picked a good time to invoke her powers, so now they had plenty of time to get moving and put more distance between themselves and the snowmen. Maybe even find a place to hide for the time being.
So Chloe had didn't protest when Max told her they should get going and Chloe followed. "Yeah, no kidding," she frowned at the blood. She was never aware of when Max used her powers. She didn't feel any difference to the flow of time. The only way she knew was because of the blood in the aftermath.
Before she could say anything else, she turned the corner but stopped immediately, pushing herself and Max back against the brick wall of the alleyway. There was a snowman walking along the street. Chloe peeked and this time, the snowman was coming towards them. "Shit," she cursed. "C'mon, let's hide in here."
She grabbed Max's hand and pulled her towards a door. Thankfully, it was unlocked and they hid inside just before the snowman could see them.
As they took off, Max blotted at her nose one more time, hoping to staunch the blood flow for the time being. As long as she didn’t have to invoke her abilities again, she should be fine. Of course, given how many snowmen were appearing, Max knew she might not have a choice. Not like she would hesitate, she would always protect Chloe at all costs.
Chloe suddenly stopped and pushed Max back up against the brickwall of an alleyway. Crap. Max watched Chloe peek out and curse second after. It was clear the snowman had spotted them. Before Max could even consider using her abilities, Chloe grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a door. Her girlfriend pushed it open and tugged them inside, shutting it before the snowmen could see them.
Max took a deep breath. They were safe for now.
“Good thinking,” Max replied, giving her girlfriend a small smile. “Maybe we can hear him when he shuffles by and slip out once he’s gone.”
Chloe did appreciate Max saving her. She really did. But she also worried about her whenever her powers made her nose bleed. When they got home, she would be yelling at Max for letting herself get hurt like that. Then apologize and tell her it was only because she got worried and Chloe wasn't great dealing with that.
But that was for when they were home and safe. For now, they'd have to get back there first.
"Sounds good," she nodded. "Hopefully, he'll be gone soon." In the meantime, she glanced around the place they were hiding in, noting tons of boxes piled up. "Wonder where we are," she muttered and opened one of the boxes, seeing a bunch of handmade soap. "Huh, looks like we're in that handmade soap store." What was it called? Something Soaps and Such?
Max knew she would be receiving a lecture when they finally made it home, but she didn’t care. It would always be worth it to save Chloe. It was something that happened whenever Max saved Chloe and there was blood involved. She knew Chloe wasn’t great at dealing with emotions.
“I guess they at least gave us a chance to see a store we’ve never gone to before,” Max offered with a weak smile. There were worse places to be trapped than the custom soap store. Max scooted closer to the door and put her ear against it to listen if and when the snowman passed by the door. There had to be a shuffling noise when he moved, right?
After a moment, Max picked up on the sound outside the door. There was a brief pause before it continued on. Max breathed a sigh of relief.
“I think we can get going,” Max said after a moment. “We should be okay.”
Chloe certainly wasn't and most of the time, her emotions made her all confused and out of sorts. Max seemed to be one of the few who could help her to just stop and think before making any rash decisions. Of course, it didn't work all the time but without Max, she would've been way worse.
"Guess so," she returned with a grin of her own. She picked up one of the soaps and sniffed it, but made a face. The scent was too strong her tastes, so she tossed it back into the box while she waited for the coast to be clear.
She stayed silent until Max spoke. "Alright, let's go then." She opened the door and quickly peeked. Once she felt it was safe and no snowmen were around, she nodded to Max before heading out and making her way to the apartments.
Once Chloe verified there were no snowmen outside, Max followed Chloe outside once more and the two of them made their way to the apartments. Max was prepared to stop time again if needed, but they didn’t run into anymore trouble for which Max was grateful. It unnerved her whenever her powers caused her to bleed from her nose. It reminded her that while her powers were helpful, they also came with a cost to herself.
“Looks like we made it back without any problems,” Max replied once they arrived at their building.
“Let’s just have things delivered until the snowmen are gone.” Hopefully, that wouldn’t be long.