Warning: Unmarked spoilers for Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange: Before the Storm follow.
''Beyond the Storm''
is a Life Is Strange fanfiction by Meshakhad, based on the San Francisco timeline seen in Episode 5, only the tornado has been averted after all and Chloe accompanies Max to San Francisco. But even though it seems like Max has everything she wants, there are still scars to heal from and consequences to deal with.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Principal Wells is portrayed as somewhat nicer and more reasonable than in the game. Possibly justified by guilt over letting Mark Jefferson into Blackwell.
- Adaptational Sexuality:
- Principal Wells is heavily implied to be gay (although there is no mention of his sexuality in the game).
- The story clarifies Max and Chloe's sexualities from the game. Max is bisexual (and has been out for some time) while Chloe is a lesbian.
- Kate comes out as gay.
- Big Damn Kiss: After Max confesses her love, Chloe responds with a kiss, marking their Relationship Upgrade.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Blackwell girls intervene to save Kate from the transporters.
- Closest Thing We Got: With Jefferson in jail, Blackwell obviously needs a substitute photography teacher. However, they've always had trouble finding substitutes even for more common subjectsnote , so they get David to run the class, given his experience with photography in the military. Of course, simply knowing his way around a camera does not make him qualified to actually teach photography, so David doesn't even try, instead setting up a system where students take photos based on prompts and then discuss them in class.
- Closet Key: Victoria is this for Kate.
- Coming-Out Story:
- In Chapter 9, Max and Chloe tell Joyce and David that they are now in a relationship. Joyce is surprised but accepting. David, on the other hand, has a negative reaction, requiring Max to rewind in order to prevent David and Chloe from coming to blows.
- Averted when telling Max's parents. Max came out to them as bisexual some time ago. They even had a bet over whether Max would end up with Chloe or Warren.
- Kate asks Max questions about her sexuality and what it's like to have a crush on someone, heavily implying that she has feelings for another girl. She does. It's Victoria.
- In Chapter 21, Kate comes out to her parents (and Courtney Wagner).
- Creator Cameo: Ms. Angelo, Max's history teacher, is explicitly a self-insert for Meshakhad, who is also a history teacher and a lesbian.
- Cry into Chest: Max does this a lot with Chloe.
- Chloe does this with Max during and after Rachel's funeral.
- Death of Personality: A mild example. As Max is from an alternate timeline and has a Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory, she is not exactly the same Max who Chloe has been hanging out with or who took the picture of Kate that won the Everyday Heroes contest. Both Max and Chloe are troubled by the question of what happened to that Max.
- Empty Shell: Downplayed with Victoria. She's still a functional person, but her guilt over how she treated Kate has effectively stripped away her Alpha Bitch persona without anything replacing it.
- Feeling Your Heartbeat: In Chapter 2, when Max is sobbing while Chloe holds her what breaks her out of it is hearing Chloe's heartbeat, proving that Chloe is alive.
- Fire-Forged Friends: David and Chloe, in a weird way. While their relationship had already improved during the story, after the Battle of Blackwell, where they fought side by side, David tells Chloe how proud he is of her, even giving her a hug.
- Happy Ending Override: Played with. The story begins with a happy ending, and then imagines what comes afterwards. Realistically, even if everyone is alive, Nathan and Mr. Jefferson are in custody, and Max and Chloe are together, Max is still horribly traumatized, while both Max and Chloe have to deal with homophobia.
- Heel Realization:
- David has one in Episode 10, questioning the basis of his homophobia.
- Victoria went through one during the previous week.
- So did Taylor and Courtney.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All chapters have one-word names (unless you count deja vu as two words).
- Lighter and Softer: While not entirely composed of fluff, and still dealing with the events of the game, the tone seems to be much more Slice of Life.
- Noble Bigot with a Badge: David is homophobic, but not to an extreme. When Max and Chloe tell him that they are together, he blows up, forcing Max to rewind. However, when Joyce tells him in private, his reaction is more subdued, and he's able to remain civil with Max and Chloe later. He even begins to reconsider his own prejudices, admitting to himself that he would have no objections to their relationship if Max was a boy. By Chapter 17, David has concluded that Chloe being with Max is the lesser of two evils compared to Chloe getting into trouble on her own, even tolerating them having sex in the house. By Chapter 22, David seems to have abandoned his prejudices entirely.
- Relationship Upgrade:
- Max and Chloe officially become a couple in Chapter 2.
- Warren and Brooke hooked up over the weekend.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Plays a major role. Max wakes up on the plane with no memory of what happened over the week after she warned David about Mr. Jefferson. She relies on Chloe to keep her informed about the events in question and has to give an explanation of a photo she doesn't remember taking.
- Shout-Out: A few minor OCs are named for characters from other media, usually featuring lesbians:
- In Chapter 14, a student sitting with Hayden is named Willow.
- In Chapter 17, the last person to sign in at the security office was Marian Alston-Curlelo.
- There Is Only One Bed: Justified. The reservations at the hotel in San Francisco were made before Chloe decided to join Max, so she and Max share a room, and a Model United Nations conference has taken all of the rooms with double beds. Max and Chloe, as in canon, are perfectly happy to share a bed. Of course, they then get a Relationship Upgrade almost immediately.
- Villainous B So D: Victoria's guilt over how she treated Kate, combined with the shock of the revelations about Nathan and Mr. Jefferson, has catapulted her into severe depression, to the point that Max is genuinely afraid that Victoria might be suicidal.
- Wham Episode:
- Chapter 9: Max and Chloe come out to Joyce and David. While Joyce is supportive, David is not. This in turn forces Max to use her rewind power for the first time since the start of the story. In the process, she discovers that she can bring people back with her if she is touching them.
- Chapter 20: Four men try to kidnap Kate and take her to a troubled teen camp, only to suffer a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on behalf of the entire girls' dorm (plus Chloe and David).
