Author's Notes:

Hi there, dear LiS fanfic readers!

So, I've been thinking and working on a new story/AU for LiS and wann put out some chapters to see, if you wanna read more of this or not.

I'm already looking forward to your reviews and thoughts!

A little warning: If you've already read my other stories, you should be aware that they have a tendency to turn a bit dark, though I try to don't overdo it here...yet.


Opposite Madness

Chapter 1

The fury storm whipped cold rain droplets right into her face. She was already drenched to the bones, but Max Caulfield didn't care. The small, skinny brunette with the chin-long hair and freckles, dressed in her simple blue jeans and a grey hoodie over a black shirt was just too mesmerized by the vast tornado that was heading straight towards her hometown, Arcadia Bay, ready to destroy everything in its way.

Beside her, stood her best friend, Chloe Price. Like Max, the blue-haired, lanky punk-girl witnessed this object of pure destructive power. In contrary to Max, she was taller and dressed in some ripped jeans and wore an old leather jacket over a lose top.

"It's time, Max!" the bluenette said, her voice brittle and full of fear, before reaching her best friend a picture.

The smaller girl took it and glanced at the wet photo, which showed a blue butterfly on a bucket, for some seconds. Hidden by the heavy rain, big sorrowful tears rolled down Max's face as she glimpsed for one last time at her best friend.

"I love you, Chloe!" she eventually confessed her feelings. Feelings, which had been built up for these fateful last five days. Five days that had changed Max's life forever. But fate wasn't done yet. As if the universe wanted to mock her, Chloe leaned in and placed a soft kiss on the brunette's lips, followed by four much wanted words.

"I love you, too!" Then, she walked a few steps back, signing that the decision and therefor their eternal separation was final. "And don't you dare forget about me!"

"Never!" was Max's determined answer. The task was simple, yet so hard, but there was no other option. Swallowing down that vast lump in her throat one last time, the brunette girl focused on the picture in her hands.

The apocalyptic sound of the storm around her started to fade, while the picture seemed to come alive. She felt the pull. The force that was sucking her into the photo. Back into the past, when everything had started. She felt that the transition was almost complete, as suddenly, everything was flooded by a white, blinding light and searing pain.

Max screamed out loud as the lightning struck her. Her senses overloaded and all her body could do was to shut down.


A soft melody filled the silence that had been surrounding her. She knew that song, back from her childhood with Chloe. It was relaxing. Calm. Yet it reminded her of these last five days and her feelings for her best friend. Especially that kiss.

"Mmh…Chloe?!" groaned Max silently and hoped so much to get an answer, which came right away.

"Wow, finally awake, sleepyhead?"

Max would've recognized this voice under billions of voices. Slowly, she opened her eyes and shut them right again as she was blinded by the bright daylight. But as soon as she got used to it, she gazed at her best friend, who laid right beside her, smoking a joint.

Just being glad, seeing Chloe alive and no storm around, Max immediately embraced the strawberry-blonde tightly, who was taken aback by this amount of affection.

"Whoa, down Maximus! 'sup with the mush?"

Backing away, Max barely managed to stifle a sob.

"It worked, Chloe! I-I don't know how, but it worked!"

"Uhh…o-kaaay…What worked?" replied Chloe, gazing at her friend pretty dumbfounded. Just now, Max realized that her best friend looked different. She was younger, her hair had its original strawberry-blond color instead of blue and the skin on her right arm was bare, missing any sign of ink on it.

'Wh-what happened?! Why does Chloe look different? And why am I not in the girl's room at Blackwell? Did I fuck up reality again? What if I made everything worse? I need to know more!' thought Max, already feeling some panic crawling through her mind.

"Chloe, what day is today?" she asked, and wonders why her voice sounded kind of strange.

"Uh, Friday?" This time, Chloe got up a bit and looked at Max with a skeptical frown. "Dude, we're always chillin' on Friday, remember? Your once-a-week rule? Ringing a bell?"

'Chillin' always on Friday? Once-a-week rule? What the heck us going on here?!'

Before Max could even gather her thoughts and was able to ask some more questions, Chloe let out a big sigh, pressed the joint's remains in her ashtray and stood up, stretching her limbs.

"Damn, Maximus, you should make it a once-a-month rule or cut weed entirely. You don't have to smoke that shit, just to spend some time with me, 'kay!" she said and grabbed her jacket. "Anyway, I'm off to Eliot. Don't wanna let him wait too long. Y'know your ways 'round. So, see ya!"

Entirely overwhelmed by this flood of information, Max stayed stunned in her place, not even able to reply something before Chloe left.

Groaning out loud, she slumped down on the mattress again and evaluated her current situation.

'Okay, reality-check-time! Chloe's alive and well. No wheelchair 'n' shit. I'm still her friend and…well, looks like I started to smoke weed. Ugh, better stop taking that stuff right away, 'cause I'm feeling like shit!'

'(sigh) I better head back to Blackwell and try to make some sense out of this mess by reading my diaries.'

Slowly, Max sat up and let her gaze wander around the room. It was much cleaner and not that shabby like the other Chloe's room, yet the first graffiti and punk-rock posters were scattered all over the walls. Aside from that, it pretty much looked the same.

'Where's my cam bag?' Max asked herself, not being able to find it or anything else she could call her own. Shrugging with her shoulders, she got up, stretched her limbs and left the room. Somehow, her body felt strange. Actually, everything felt kind of strange, but Max simply blamed the drugs for that.

'No. More. Drugs!' she chided herself and went to the bathroom in order to relieve herself. She closed the door, opened the toilet's lid and unbuttoned her rather lose pants, frowning once more as she realized that she wore boxer shorts. But the biggest surprise came after she had slid them down as well.

With a loud gasp, Max stumbled backwards, only to fall onto the toilet seat. And there she was, looking with wide open eyes at the penis between her legs.

'What the…?! What…?! No! NO! What happened?!'

Ignoring that her pants were still down, Max jumped up, tripped over the trousers around her ankles, fell face first to the ground with a groan, got up again and took a glimpse in the mirror. Once more she got startled as the reflection showed the face of a brunette boy with freckles in his face. His hair was a few inches long and combed to the left side. Along with his blue doe-eyes, this boy looked pretty much like Maxine Caulfield, beside that his lineaments were more masculine.

"Oh my god!" said Max, shaking her head. "How could this happen? I-I…I'm a boy. A fucking boy!"

'Okay, Max, calm down! There has to be an explanation and definitely a way out of this. I just have to keep a low profile and don't fuck up too much until I found a way back to my reality. So, I better head back to the dorms now and barricade myself into my room until I've figured things out! But…well, first things first.'

Still feeling the need to pee, Max took position in front of the toilet again, but then asked herself how boys urinate.

'Should I stand or sit down? When I was camping with Mom and Dad, Dad always peed standing next to a tree, but…there also wasn't a toilet around. Ugh, better just do it. Need to figure it out sooner or later, anyway. Just think positive. You got this, Max!'

Gulping down her nervousness, Max touched the – for her – new attachment on her body, which felt pretty strange, then tried to take aim and let it flow.

"Shit!" she hissed as the spurt hit the rim of the porcelain bowl. Panicky she wanted to adjust her aim, but ended up sprinkling her shoes and pants. "Dammit!"

Eventually, Max managed to hit her target, yet she still had a lot of cleaning to do after she had pulled up her pants again.

'Okay, Max, next time, sit down!' she chided herself while washing her hands. She was about to leave the bathroom as Max almost collided with another person.

"Whoa! Easy, Max!" said a very familiar, male voice, which let Max freeze on the spot. Cautiously, she raised her sight and gazed into the friendly, smiling face of William Price. This faltered in an instant as he saw Max's startled demeanor. "What's wrong, Max? You look like you've seen a gho-…" His expression changed once more from worry to anger as he begun to sniff on Max. "Have you been smoking pot again?!"

Lacking any answer or even excuse, Max just manages to stammer a weak "I-I…" before she got interrupted.

"Max, you know how Vanessa reacts every time she finds out. I thought we had a deal? This time I won't cover for you. Bad enough, Chloe always smokes this stuff. Now go to your room and wait until your Mom gets back home!"

Whispering a quiet "Sorry," Max wanted to head downstairs and back to Blackwell as, suddenly, William grabbed her shoulder and signed at the door beside Chloe's room with his index finger.

"Max, this is no joke. Now, go to your room! And if you see or hear from Chloe, tell her that she's in big trouble, too!"

Now entirely puzzled and just nodding, Max decided to just go with the flow instead of making everything worse and entered her room.

It was way smaller than Chloe's, yet tidier and cleaner, especially for a boy's room…or at least what Max already had experienced with Warren's room, back in her reality.

'Guess my tidiness sticks with me through time and space.'

But apart from that, the entire style wasn't Maxine Caulfield at all. Instead of art-literature, science-fiction and fantasy books were filling one part of the shelves. The other parts were occupied by DVDs, videogames and schoolbooks. Pictures were rare and only casual family photos, signing her that in this reality, she sadly hadn't chosen photography or arts in general as her passion.

'No photography?! Ugh, let's hope I find a way out of this hell, soon!'

After letting out a groan of frustration, Max went on to the desk, searching for a diary or something equal that could give her some more hints about her life in this reality.

On the wall beside the desk she found a schedule from Blackwell Academy.

'Seems like, I'm still a student at Blackwell, but obviously not an Arts major. Though, it's strange that I have classes like Literature or Creative Writing, nonetheless.'

Then, she opened the first drawer, finding some more pictures of Chloe and the male Max, which painted a soft smile on her face.

'No matter what, Chloe and I will always be best friends. Though, my male self should be more careful with photos, 'cause these are already pretty dirty, gross!'

'Let's see what else we got.'

Rummaging some more, she brought forth a pile of paper and read them.

'Seems like notes for a play or…stories. Is my counterpart writing stories? This would explain the literary classes. Well, not all hope is lost for this Max!'

'That's it with this drawer, let's try the other one!'

In the next drawer, she found mainly electronic devices, like headphones, charging cables, batteries and a box of tissues, but to her disappointment, still no diary.

'Curses! No diary or something even close to it! Maybe I've hidden them…wait!'

Comparing the two drawers again, Max used her detective skills and realized that, despite that they should be the same size; the first one had much less volume then the second one. She emptied the upper drawer again and saw that the bottom's wood was different than from the entire desk. Finding a little gap, Max managed to remove the false bottom.

'I had a dog and his name was…BINGO! Let's see what…holy shit!'

The first thing, Max pulled out, were two smut magazines. With some disgust and a scrunched up nose, she put them aside, trying not to look at them.

'Eww! That's so gross!'

Next, there was a new bunch of paper sheets with some scribbled pictures and poems.

'Aww, so cute! Looks like, this Max has a crush on someone. Not that it makes things easier for me.'

"Jackpot!" she eventually cheered as she finally held a notebook in her hands.

'If that's not a diary, I don't know what else it is. Let's check the last entry!'


October 7th 2010

It's now been six months since everything got even worse. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that William and Mom found together and married after all this messed up shit that had happened. Joyce gone, Dad bailing on us. They deserve to be happy, yet…it fucked me over entirely.

I still crush on Chloe, but now that we're siblings, she's untouchable for me. Let alone that she chose to get together with this creep, Eliot.

I hate this guy! Whenever I hang out with Chloe in school, he looks at me with his death-stare. Not that I give a fuck, but sometime I wish to be Darth Vader and choke the shit out of this motherfucker!

I don't know what she finds in him, but I know that, sometimes, when Chloe comes home late and thinks everyone's asleep, I hear her cry. Once, I even caught her with some fresh bruises all over her body. Okay, walking in on her in the bathroom was kinda embarrassing and she raged on me, but nonetheless it worried the shit outta me, so I asked her about it. Of course, it was just a skate accident and none of my business, but I know that she hadn't stepped on a board for over a week, so it obviously was a lie.

But though she hasn't told me anything, I know that Eliot has something to do with it! And I swear, if this bastard is even breaking one hair on my Chloe, I'm gonna kill him!


Max read this rather dark entry more than once and tried to make some sense out of it, almost falling desperate.

'Mom and William married?! Joyce gone?! Dad bailed on us?! 2010?! What the fuck is going on here? I've traveled three years further back in time. I'm a boy now, who has a crush on a 16 years old Chloe. A-and Eliot…? Chloe once told me that she booted him out of her life after he had become kind of a stalker and creeped the heck out of her. But here, in this reality, he's her boyfriend.'

'Th-this doesn't make any sense at all! Why's this happening?! (Sigh) I ask myself, if I can even tell Chloe about this shit!'

She was just about to search her phone – hopefully she had one – as her Mom's angry voice called through the entire house.

"Maximilian Caulfield, move your ass into the kitchen, right now!"

'Oh boy, even in this reality, Mom can still be a dragon. Better don't let her wait!'

"Coming, Mom!" Max yelled back with her deeper, male voice and made her way downstairs, where Maximilian's mother and William were already waiting.

Differently from her reality, Max's mom, Vanessa Caulfield, wore her brown hair short and had a business suit. Actually, the whole house looked entirely different. The kitchen and the living room's furniture were pretty much new and somewhat fancy, which meant that both, Vanessa and William seemed to earn good money.

But right now was not the time to space out or to reminisce about the house's interior.

"Uh…hi Mom!" said Max with a forced smile, but Vanessa just crossed her arms, unimpressively.

'Oh shit! So not good!'

"Don't you hi, mom me, Maximilian! William told me, you've been smoking grass again. I thought I made myself pretty clear last time, but I think it was mistake to just take your word for it."

"B-but Chloe…" the young boy with Max's conscious inside stammered, trying to start at least a conversation and therefore gaining some more information, but was not even given the chance to speak an entire sentence as his step-father spoke up.

"Don't make this about Chloe! You have your own mind and are responsible for your actions, not Chloe. And don't you think she'll get away without punishment."

Both grown-ups then shared a short glimpse, like they were two silent judges, discussing Max's sentence telepathically.

"I think two weeks grounded should be enough for now," Vanessa eventually said, facing her son again. "This means, you go straight to school and come straight back again. No detours, no dawdling. If you wanna have some fresh air, use the backyard. We clear?"

Not wanting to cause anymore trouble, Max answered with a sighed "Yes, Mom!" and went upstairs to her room again.

'Wowser! Poor Maximilian knows how to piss off Mom. Can't even remember the last time I got grounded. Anyways, I should use the time to read the rest of this diary and try to find a way out of this mess!'


Ecstatic moans were filling the softly enlightened room. On bed, two young teenagers were giving in to their desires and raging hormones, which peaked into a louder groan from one side and was soon replaced by heavy breathing.

A ball of tissue with a condom in it fell to the ground, then another one. Chloe laid on her back, watching how Eliot Hampden, a brunette 16-year-old, slim boy, cleaned himself and put on his boxers.

"Hey…uh, Eliot. Mind, getting me off, too?" asked Chloe softly with a frown as she realized that, at least from Eliot's side, the fun was over.

"Sorry, but I'm pretty exhausted, Chloe. Good night!" he answered and laid down again, facing his girlfriend with his back, which infuriated the blonde as she still felt a big need in her crotch.

"Dude, what the fuck?! I just got you off, twice!"

Now angry as well, the brunette boy turned around, hissing back "I had a very stressful day and it's not my fault that you take forever to finally come."

This brought Chloe over the edge. Flipping her boyfriend the bird and calling him "Asshole!", the young girl stood up and was about to get dressed as she got spun around violently and received a smack in her face.

"What did you just call me?" chimed the threatening voice of Eliot above her. But poor Chloe wasn't even able to answer as she got harshly grabbed on the back of her neck, which let her groan in pain. "I just told you politely that I'm busted from the day and you little, selfish bitch dare to call me an asshole?!"

"E-Eliot…y-you're hurting me!"

Another smack hit her, which let Chloe crumble to the ground, where she curled up into fetal position and started to sob as her tormentor continued his rant against her.

"I told you once that I'm not gonna put up with your bitchy punk-bullshit attitude!" From one second to another, Eliot calmed down from his rage, kneeled down and combed through his girlfriend's hair, his voice as cold as ice. "I love you, Chloe, but you didn't want to listen, now you feel the consequences! So, if you wanna get off, then use your fucking hands!"

Once more, Eliot went to bed and laid down like nothing had happened, leaving Chloe all alone. After some minutes, she managed to get up again. Still a bit dizzy from the beating, the blonde slowly picked up her clothes and headed for the Hampden's bathroom. There, she broke down again, and then pulled out a photo of Maximilian from her wallet.

"I'm so sorry!" she eventually whimpered and started to masturbate.