Warning: Unmarked spoilers for Life Is Strange.
Ouroboros
(AO3) by TomorrowHeart is a Life Is Strange Continuation fanfic, in which the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending goes differently; Chloe ends up traveling in time with Max, and when the confrontation between Nathan and Chloe in the bathroom takes place, Chloe manages to predict the outcome and make Nathan's shot non-fatal. In the end, Chloe survives while Nathan and Jefferson are apprehended all the same, creating a seemingly perfect Happy Ending scenario where nothing needed to be sacrificed. However, the consequences of this double time travel prove to be far more devastating than they could assume, and now partners in crime (and time) will have to face an even greater adversity than before.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Cosmic Horror Story: Especially after Chapter 66. Distortion of time and space continuum becomes so bad that elements from countless alternate timelines begin merging into one another. Items, peoples' appearances, entire buildings, and even large events change randomly while nightmares and nosebleeds become an everyday occurrence. And nobody actually notices or remembers these changes.
- Enemy Without: One of the key antagonists is the "Other Max" (from the nightmare diner scene in Polarized) which represents Max's constant self-doubt and fear of constantly making things worse.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Downplayed. Samuel constantly communes with his "spirit animals", and they basically use him a mouthpiece for their cryptic messages. Though, mad is a stretch, constant contact with the supernatural did make him less mentally sound.
- Played much more straight with Chloe and Max. Violent, agonizingly painful episodes of "time-PTSD", usually accompanied with a Psychic Nosebleed, become more and more frequent as the story goes on. Warren suggests it’s because a human mind is not meant to withstand stuff like time travel and parallel universes.
- Happy Ending Override: Basically the point of the entire fic; first it establishes an Everybody Lives scenario, then proceeds to viciously deconstruct it.
- Interface Screw: On several occasions, entire paragraphs are written in bold italics to highlight the severity of the situation.
- Psychic Nosebleed: An almost guaranteed side effect of time-PTSD episodes or nightmares. And it's the one lesser things to worry about when such a thing happens.
- Spared, but Not Forgiven: A non-lethal variation. Nathan Prescott is spared from going to jail with Jefferson, he’s still largely hated by the cast for his part in Jefferson's crimes. Even Max, kind-hearted as she is, is very ambivalent about whether he deserves forgiveness of not.
- Wham Episode:
- Chapter 5 - Rachel Amber 4 Ever, where Max's first "time-PTSD" occurs.
- Chapter 66 - Something Wicked... This chapter takes all the esoteric horror of the original game and yanks it up to eleven. Distortion of reality becomes even more severe than before as unstable alternate timelines begin merging into each other. Not to mention the "all timelines will collide and collapse and the universe itself ends" scenario.
- Wham Line: In Chapter 14."The squirrels told me to thank you on their behalf." [Samuel] removed his glasses and began to wipe them against the cloth of his shirt. Max shot Chloe an amused look."Thank me for what?" She chuckled. "Did I leave some food outside?" He shrugged."They were afraid all of their nuts would be washed away in the storm," he said. Max felt her blood turn frigid.
