History Fanfic / TheMatrixRewinds

** Rachel's red-pill name, Prospera, is a nod to the role she played in ''Theatre/TheTempest'' during the events of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'', which are indicated in Chapter Four to have still happened to some extent.

** While David Madsen was an {{abusive|Parents}} [[{{Jerkass}} asshole]] and a paranoid ControlFreak, he still wanted to be a good stepfather to Chloe and meant well as far as everyone's safety was concerned, even if he was terrible at expressing or achieving either goal. Here, it's revealed that he's a program, the Arcadia Bay equivalent of an Agent, that would kill the red-pills on sight given the chance.

* WhoWritesThisCrap: Chloe is less than amused that the {{Cyberpunk}} [[CrapsackWorld hellhole]] she wakes up in all centers around a "[[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]" narrative everyone believes in, let alone that her childhood friend is the One. Rachel/Prospera points out how it was created by the machines in the first place as a XanatosGambit to eliminate the problem residents, only for Neo's HeroicSacrifice to change the game and leave the machines more divided than ever.

* AscendedExtra: Alyssa Anderson, Stella Hill, and Courtney Wagner were all minor characters from the first game. Here they're red-pills -- Manic, Astra, and Elle respectively -- pretending to be Blackwell students to help Max/Noir undermine the Arcadia Bay program.

** While David Madsen was an {{abusive|Parents}} [[{{Jerkass}} asshole]] and a paranoid ControlFreak, he still wanted to be a good stepfather to Chloe and meant well as far as everyone's safety was concerned, even if he was terrible at expressing both. Here, it's revealed that he's a program, the Arcadia Bay equivalent of an Agent, that would kill the red-pills on sight given the chance.

* RefugeInAudacity: While the Matrix was meant to be a perfect prison, which made [[AGlitchInTheMatrix its flaws and inconsistencies more noticeable to potential red-pills]], one of the more insidious aspects of Arcadia Bay is that it has nothing ''but'' flaws by design. Humans unfortunate enough to be there are surrounded by logical inconsistencies (a limited age demographic, timetables that make no sense, gaps in their memories) so that when something genuinely unusual happens, [[WeirdnessCensor they're less likely to notice]].

* SuperpowerLottery: Being the One, Max Caulfield, now going by Noir (short for "[=NoirAngel=]", [[DoNotCallMePaul though she dislikes that as much as she does "Maxine"]]), has all of the PhysicalGod abilities unique to her ''along'' with her canon counterpart's TimeRewindMechanic, which no other iterations of the One ever had. It's [[AdaptationalExplanation explained here]] as a form of Neo's ability to read and alter the Matrix's code, specifically tied to its universal clock; notably, Noir has yet to develop the full version of that ability, nor can she fly or stop bullets yet. [[spoiler: In Chapter Eleven, she starts being able to sense the machines in the real world just as he could at the end of ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', using it to retrieve Victoria before they're caught.]]

* SuperpowerLottery: Being the One, Max Caulfield, now going by Noir (short for "[=NoirAngel=]", [[DoNotCallMePaul though she dislikes that as much as she does "Maxine"]]), has all of the PhysicalGod abilities unique to her ''along'' with her canon counterpart's TimeRewindMechanic, which no other iterations of the One ever had. It's [[AdaptationalExplanation explained here]] as a form of Neo's ability to read and alter the Matrix's code, specifically tied to its universal clock; notably, Noir has yet to develop the full version of that ability, nor can she fly or stop bullets yet.

* AdaptationalExplanation: Numerous details of the original ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' that were never actually explained (be they due to deliberate ambiguity or just poor planning on the developers' part) are given proper grounding in the world of Film/{{the Matrix}}. Arcadia Bay's various inexplicable details are revealed to be features of its design meant to keep its inhabitants from seeing through the lies and becoming red-pilled, while Max's TimeRewindMechanic is stated to be an extension of her powers as the One.

** [[spoiler: Four of the ''[[LifeIsStrangeTrueColors True Colors]]'' cast -- Eleanor (Lotus) and Riley Lethe (Gantry), Ryan Lucan (Birdcall), and of course Alex Chen (Aura) -- appear in Chapter 11 when the rescued Victoria is transferred to their ship, the ''Typhon'' (itself a nod to the corrupt mining company from that game). Alex/Aura is also revealed to be one of the Oracle's former wards, here explained as children who developed special Matrix abilities due to the machines' efforts to keep recreating the One, hence her empathy powers, which have allowed her to help Max/Noir cope with the pressures of her duty.]]

* MythologyGag: Though this story takes place in an AlternateContinuity from ''Film/TheMatrixResurrections'', it does feature Bots and the [[DefectorFromDecadence defection of machines]] [[HeelFaceTurn sympathetic to humans]] in the wake of [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions Neo's sacrifice to stop Smith and end the war]]; a few of the latter serve aboard the ''Chrysalis'' alongside their human crewmates.

* RashomonStyle: People who live in Arcadia Bay routinely have their memories altered as part of the illusion it casts over its residents, often making them think they've always lived there or erasing memories of the red-pill's presence and replacing them with mundane explanations. This is also one reason why Rachel/Prospera refuses to pick up where she and Chloe left off since the last time they saw each other; their memories of themselves and each other might not match, so they may as well not know each other at all.

** [[spoiler: When an Agent arrives to fight the ''Chrysalis'' crew as they're trying to extract Victoria, he refers to Manic/Alyssa as "Miss Anderson" much like how Smith always called Neo "Mr. Anderson". Noir/Max even wryly {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this, likely having heard the story from Morpheus.]]

* {{Gaslighting}}: While the machines controlling Arcadia Bay regularly engage in this to keep their prisoners compliant, poor Kate gets hit with it ''hard''. It turns out the infamous video of her at the Vortex Club party was faked to not only cover up Nathan and Jefferson drugging and kidnapping her, but also drive away any allies she may have had and leave her despondent enough to [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]]. [[spoiler: When Noir and Elle later infiltrate Blackwell in an attempt to extract Victoria, they learn that the machines have faked Kate's death to cover for her escape.]]

* {{Gaslighting}}: While the machines controlling Arcadia Bay regularly engage in this to keep their prisoners compliant, poor Kate gets hit with it ''hard''. It turns out the infamous video of her at the Vortex Club party was faked to not only cover up Nathan and Jefferson drugging and kidnapping her, but also drive away any allies she may have had and leave her despondent enough to [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]]. When Noir and Elle later infiltrate Blackwell in an attempt to extract Victoria, they learn that the machines have faked Kate's death to cover for her escape.

* SuperpowerLottery: Being the One, Max Caulfield, now going by Noir (short for "[=NoirAngel=]", [[DoNotCallMePaul though she dislikes that as much as she does "Maxine"]]), has all of the PhysicalGod abilities unique to her ''along'' with her canon counterpart's TimeRewindMechanic, which no other iterations of the One ever had. It's [[JustifiedTrope explained]] as a form of Neo's ability to read and alter the Matrix's code, specifically tied to its universal clock; notably, Noir has yet to develop the full version of that ability.

Rachel Amber was drugged and captured, only for a group of fashionable teens with strange abilities to come in and save her.

Rachel Amber was drugged and captured by Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson, only for a group of fashionable teens with strange abilities to come in and save her.

Six months later, Chloe Price has been searching for Rachel with no hope of finding her. One day, she receives unusual texts that promise to give her answers. They bring her and new companion Kate Marsh to her childhood friend Max Caulfield, now sporting fashionable black attire and superhuman abilities, and things just get weirder from there.

** Rachel's red-pill name, Prospera, is a reference to the role she played in ''Theatre/TheTempest'' during the events of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'', which are indicated in Chapter Four to have still happened to some extent.

* ContinuityNod: Max/Noir's texts to get Chloe's attention refer to Kate's pet bunny, Alice, in a nod to Morpheus's "follow the white rabbit" message to Neo from the first movie.

* MythologyGag:
** Rachel's red-pill name -- Prospera -- is a reference to the role she played in ''Theatre/TheTempest'' during the events of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm''.
** Though this story takes place in an AlternateContinuity from ''Film/TheMatrixResurrections'', it does feature Bots and the [[DefectorFromDecadence defection of machines]] [[HeelFaceTurn sympathetic to humans]] in the wake of [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions Neo's sacrifice to stop Smith and end the war]]; a few of the latter serve aboard the ''Chrysalis'' alongside their human crewmates.

* AscendedExtra: Alyssa Anderson, Stella Hill, and Courtney Wagner were all minor characters from the first game. Here they're red-pills -- Maniac, Astra, and Elle respectively -- pretending to be Blackwell students to help Max/Noir undermine the Arcadia Bay program.

** Though this story takes place in an AlternateContinuity from ''Film/TheMatrixResurrections'', it does feature Bots and the [[DefectorFromDecadence defection of machines]] [[HeelFaceTurn sympathetic to humans]] in the wake of [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions Neo's sacrifice to stop Smith and end the war]]; several of the latter serve as members of the ''Chrysalis'' crew alongside their human comrades.

** Though this story takes place in an AlternateContinuity from ''Film/TheMatrixResurrections'', it does feature Bots and the [[DefectorFromDecadence defection of programs]] [[HeelFaceTurn sympathetic to humans]] in the wake of [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions Neo's sacrifice to stop Smith and end the war]]; several of the latter serve as members of the ''Chrysalis'' crew alongside their human comrades.

** Though this story takes place in an AlternateContinuity from ''Film/TheMatrixResurrections'', it does feature Bots and the [[DefectorFromDecadence defection of programs]] [[HeelFaceTurn sympathetic to humans]] in the wake of [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions Neo's sacrifice to stop Smith and end the war]].

* AlternateContinuity: In this version of ''The Matrix'', after the events of ''Revolutions'', there was an uneasy peace between Zion and the machines for five years, but it was ruined by [[DefectorFromDecadence the mass defection of programs who sympathized with humanity]], leaving only the evil programs in charge. The story begins five years after the war broke out again, with the humans having moved to New Zion and several characters who were killed off between ''Revolutions'' and ''Resurrections'', particularly Morpheus, being still alive. Arcadia Bay is a smaller version of the Matrix created as a prison for all those deemed most likely to rebel against the system and become red-pills, filled with deliberate inconsistencies to keep any of its inhabitants from realizing the false nature of their reality.

* TailorMadePrison: While the Matrix was created by [[DemiurgeArchetype the Architect]] as a method of keeping the majority of blue-pilled humans in a dream state, Arcadia Bay is a specialized version created by the Artist (implied to be [[MadArtist Mark Jefferson]]) to contain people whose psychological profile makes them most likely to become red-pills, separating them from the rest of the population.

* MythologyGag: Rachel's red-pill name -- Prospera -- is a reference to the role she played in ''Theatre/TheTempest'' during the events of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm''.

* SuperpowerLottery: Being the One, Max Caulfield, now going by Noir (short for "[=NoirAngel=]", [[DoNotCallMePaul though she dislikes that as much as she does "Maxine"]]), has all of the PhysicalGod abilities unique to her ''along'' with her canon counterpart's TimeRewindMechanic, which no other iterations of the One ever had. It's [[JustifiedTrope explained]] as a focused form of Neo's ability to read the Matrix's code, specifically tied to its universal clock; notably, Noir has yet to develop the full version of that ability.

* SuperpowerLottery: Being the One, Max Caulfield, now going by Noir (short for "[=NoirAngel=]", [[DoNotCallMePaul though she dislikes that as much as she does "Maxine"]]), has all of the PhysicalGod abilities unique to her ''along'' with the TimeRewindMechanic her canon counterpart had, which no other iterations of the One ever had. It's {{justified|Trope}} as a focused form of Neo's ability to read the Matrix's code, specifically tied to its universal clock; notably, Noir has yet to develop the full version of that ability.