Chapter 5 ~ Ikigai

In her mental world, Max had her hand locked around Rachel's wrist as well, trembling from fear and determination. She heaved in a few deep breaths, then let go again. She backed up a bit from the astral girl to gaze into her own hands and fingers, the same ones that created and destroyed, and clenched them into fists.

Finally, she dared ask the nagging question. "One more thing before we do this." Rachel angled her face sideways a bit, worried with whatever she was going to request. "If I don't make it..." Max paused to swallow. "Will you take me to wherever it is you went?"

"You mean...?" Rachel clipped her tongue before she could say the rest of that sentence in front of Chloe outside; she understood what she was asking.

Max just nodded. "If my powers are gonna pose a threat to anyone else again, then they should die with me otherwise."

Rachel bowed her head, sadly recalling when she watched the two at the lighthouse as some invisible omniscient being. Around the time, she was just a floating piece of matter that broke off from the storm to observe them indifferently, but now, after materializing and remembering everything before, there was emotional weight.

She listened to how Chloe had pleaded with her friend to sacrifice her life to save all the others, and now here Max was asking her the same thing.

"I should be the last casualty, if that's what this so-called universe wants." Max finished, and released all those bottled-up emotions in a slow exhale.

Without answering verbally, Rachel nods grimly to her request; she had to wonder in the back of her own mind what choice she would have made in Max's place, but she shook it off.

They couldn't waste any more time.

Back out in front of the diner, Rachel's time-hold over the cops finally relented, and they slumped to the ground like puppets that had their strings severed. They weren't unconscious to say the least, but they weren't responsive either to each other or anything around them anymore; they were all just staring blankly forward.

Inside, Frank lowered Pompidou back onto the floor and proceeded cautiously towards Rachel and the others while his canine companion tailed behind him quietly; he had to see for himself.

Chloe sharpened her eyes when she noticed Frank approaching her way and mouthed at him, "Get the fuck away from us."

Frank half-complied; he slowed down but refused to stop. He had recently gained a certain ounce of respect for the two girls, but he still wasn't going to let the punk have her way.

The punk's face darkened as he drew closer; she feared that this idiot would try to do something to reach out to his 'girlfriend'. Frank sensed her apprehension and raised his hands to let her know otherwise as he then squatted down a minimal distance next to the form of his former fling, or lover .

Chloe settled herself soon enough, but was still iffy about him being here too, especially at the way he was then studying her features intently. Nevertheless, Max was still the number-one priority right now.

With Max's hand still on Rachel's wrist, the entity edged closer and moved the frail girl's other hand to her cheek to mirror each other.

"Follow my lead." Rachel whispered soothingly.

A moan of thunder pushed away the silence that filled the shadowy void above as the two girls sat opposite each other, cross-legged, knees touching, and their hands braced to form a ring between the two.

"Our powers should be stronger while we're connected."

Max followed suit when they next leaned their heads in until they touched over the small gap between them, and they closed their eyes.

A streak of lightning slashed across the sky, causing Max to flinch, though she didn't relent on her concentration.

"Hush. It's okay."

Max took another deep breath.

"Now reach into yourself. Let go of everything around you. Find your demons. Find your angels. Find your Ikigai."

"What's an Ikigai ?"

" Concentrate . No more questions."

Max sealed her lips shut from leaking any more questions and worked to dig deep within herself.

"Look for your light." Rachel's voice echoed through the woods and then travelled away. "They will shine through the darkness."

No longer feeling Rachel's presence, Max opened her eyes to find herself alone, and in a completely different setting.

No longer was she on a still surface. No longer did crisp trees surround her. No longer was there any land in sight; she now found herself sitting in a boat squirming in the middle of a pastoral ocean. Only the atmosphere inked with gloom remained consistent with its dark clouded sky.

"Rachel!?" Max perked to look all around her. "Rachel! Where are you?"

"You've reached in." Her voiced rumbled from the heavens. "Does your boat look familiar? Or does it just represent something important to you?"

Confused, Max proceeded to scan the inner surroundings of her little boat. Despite the dimness of the infinite night, she could make out a small sail that was strung around the mast; it was actually just a small blanky tied around a standing branch that was placed here to look like a pirate ship.

Her eyes wandered down further to spot three accessories; an eye patch and a wooden sword that closely resembled the one she wielded when she used to play pirates with Chloe when they were kids.

"Go pirates..." Max uttered as she fondly recalled those childhood memories, those much simpler times, when the realization dawned on her. "Chloe and I always wanted to sail in our own boat."

"She told me. In fact, she at one point considered taking all three of us around the world across the seas, even if she had to steal a ferry."

Max chuckled at the thought. "Yeah, that's totally her. Did she also bring up her fantasies of having a threesome?"

Some silence paused their conversation before Rachel replied. "I'm sure she thought of it, that girl. Right, Chloe? "

Chloe threw up a perplexed look at Rachel, then to Max, wondering what the hell they were talking about.

Hearing Rachel calling out Chloe, a new wonder flew at her face. "Hey! Can Chloe hear us?" Hoped filled her.

"No, but she can hear me . Why, you want me to pass a note to her?"

"Yes." Max nodded finally. "I want her to know where I am, where I was, and where I will go next. You're my witness, aren't you?"

"Yes, I indeed am."

"I want this to be like a memoir." Max licked her lips to moisten them again. "Can you start by telling her how much I love her? And how sorry I am to everyone for letting this all happen? How I wish I could take it all back?"

"I will. But let me ask you," Rachel's tone turned more serious. "You still can , but would you really ?"

Would you really, what?

Rachel decided to state it clearer for the listeners. "Would you really go back to sacrifice Chloe for the sake of all others?"

The whole diner fell silent, so silent in fact that anyone could hear a pin drop. Chloe and her parents especially were taken aback by the entity's question.

"What does she mean?" Joyce asked no one in particular with fear.

Chloe realized now that Rachel was prodding Max with tough questions, the same third-degree she used to give her during their rough spots.

"There's no wrong answer." Rachel continued. "Just the truth."

Chloe cradled her arms around Max's face more endearingly, waiting like all others for the answer to come from her.

After another share of deafening silence, Rachel finally voiced her answer. " Abso-fucking-lutely not , she says."

A couple of tears dripped from Chloe's face onto Max's, and she rested her head against hers. "Max..." She could feel many eyes turning on her, but she didn't want to know the looks they could be giving her; they could be resenting her about now. "Max? Are y—you in there?" She murmured between fresh new sobs. "Where are you?"

"She's on a boat, playing pirate." Rachel answered her, somewhat directly.

"Without moi ?" Chloe expressed to Max, half-comically. "How dare you, you bitch? We're supposed to be partners in crime."

"And partners in time." Rachel added for her.

Chloe reverted to her emotional state. "You have to come back, Max. Please . I need you here."

The vibe of their situation shifted again when Rachel's face tightened, now showing some struggle.

Max could swear that she heard another familiar voice coming from the sky before another roll of thunder drowned it out. Next, she could feel her head and shoulders getting pelted what she initially thought were thick flakes of ice that fell like rain rather than snow.

She picked up a piece that fell into her boat to find that they were all instead jagged shards of glass . She quickly flung out the piece she was holding when one of its corners pricked her finger, drawing a pint of blood.

The girl hissed and sucked on that little cut as the horde began to escalate. Max's uneasiness seeped back into her, as she now could no longer feel Rachel's vigilance over her.

As this unusual storm advanced, every new piece that fell towards the sea increased in heaviness, thickness, and sharpness.

Before Max could realize it, stinging sensations all through her body attacked her; at first, there were like small nuisances such as ant bites or splinters before they grew more into wasp-like punctures.

Max scrambled in her small wooden confines to find anything to shield her from the oncoming hail with; her skin and clothes were now soaked in patches of blood blooming from gashes and cuts sketched all over her.

She managed to tear off the blanky from the mast and threw it over herself, surely painting the cover ink red as well. Max trembled under the sheet as she could feel the load steadily piling up around her in her boat; she was tempted now to just throw herself into the sea just to avoid any more of those lethal projectiles.

"Rachel?" She groaned through the pain. "Where are you?"

Her blanket could only do so much as soften the blows, but for how long?

On the floor, Max was panting furiously as she jolted up and down through her body, as if she was getting tasered in different parts. Chloe tried to keep Max's head steady while David and Joyce pinned down her arms and legs.

All began to fear that another seizure could be underway.

Under her shell, Max began to hear multiple voices, all shouting, and all crying in protest.

"You left us to die."

"No."

"You chose Chloe over us."

"No!"

"You destroyed everything!"

"Stop it!" Sobbing again, Max pressed her palms into her ears, but it was pointless; they were rattling from inside her skull.

"All I wanted to do was Go Ape with you!" That voice was Warren's . "And you decided to kill me!"

"No! That's not true!"

"You only ever thought of yourself!" That sounded like Alyssa. "I bet that if a bullet flew my way, you'd just let it hit me!"

"No! I—I care about all of you!" Max stumbled on her words; she was unsure anymore if she even believed it herself.

"LIAR!" They all cried in unison, causing Max to bowl over completely.

"Please..." She begged. "I'm sorry..."

After another moment, she was licked by another familiar voice, menacingly distinct from all the others. "Oh, Max. If you could see yourself right now."

"No... not you ..."

Jefferson .

"We're just the same, you and I."

"No, we're not!" Max shrieked in a mix of fear and anger.

"Think about it, Max. Your time powers are like your photographs. You keep going back until your get your shot the way you want it." Jefferson chuckled to himself. "And the way you want your world to be is to have it with Chloe, and her alone ."

"I am not like you!"

"Oh, sure. I killed only a number of innocents while you slaughtered thousands at the whim of your hand."

Max coiled even tighter; she was unable to bear the nagging truth he was hammering into her.

"If I had known then, or better yet, had those powers myself, imagine what I could have done with you!"

"Go away!"

"I could have rewound time over and over again just to capture the innocence of all those girls, over and over again ."

"Rachel! Help me!"

Jefferson clicked his tongue pitifully. "Rachel isn't here, Max. She abandoned you." Now he howled in laughter. "Now, it's just you, me, and all the souls you've condemned. And since we're all inside your head, why don't we have some fun with you?"

At that moment, something in the water started battering against the boat and getting it to rock more violently; it felt like a barrage of hands patting against the wood to try and swamp her.

Finally, Max forced herself out of her cover to find out exactly what it was. She froze in horror when she saw that there were people in the water, but not just that, they were people she knew, and were presumed to be dead . She saw Warren in the forefront, attempting to pull down the rim of her boat.

"Warren?"

Behind her, there was Alyssa, and Charlotte, and so many others. These had to all be the people who didn't survive the storm; they were all grey hollowed pods, lacking any clothes whatsoever.

"Help us, Max!" Warren began.

"Don't let us die again!" Howled another. "PLEASE!"

Max remained petrified until Jefferson appeared right behind her on the boat, arms around her waist, and licked the side of her face, prompting a drilling shriek out of the girl. "Come on, Max! We're just getting started!"

Ultimately, the boat tipped over, sending Max careening into the ocean of undead corpses.

Her head had a hard smack against the surface that nearly broke her neck, and then there was nothing. Her eyes were shut tight as she was carried further under the water, further into the abyss, by many hands that overpowered her. In between bubbled screams, she attempted to hold her breaths while fighting these countless hands that were then trying to rip off all her clothes.... she was powerless to stop it.

"Let's go for another round behind the lens." The art teacher's voice echoed through the depths.