Side B
Chapter 5"Welcome back, Alex."
Alex is seemingly back in Dr. Lynn's office from the start of Chapter 1, telling her about her time in Haven Springs...until Alex looks up to see that Dr. Lynn isn't there; these are Alex Chen's Adventures in Comaland. After solving a puzzle to open and tune her guitar...
...Alex temporarily regains consciousness, finding herself bruised and bloody on a wooden board partly down the mine shaft. She sees a ladder and tries to reach for it, only for the board she is on to break and for her body to tumble right back to the bottom of the shaft, and her mind to go right back to Unconsciousland.
Alex finds herself in a hospital, with Gabe sitting next to her; she embraces him, but is confused how he is with her if he is dead, which he doesn't seem to mind too much. The next few scenes has this spirit of Gabe guide Alex through a retelling of the important events in her life, asking her to "play her part".
When Alex and Gabe were children, their mother Wendy was diagnosed with a severe illness that meant that the family spent most of their time in the hospital; this seems to have also caused their father John significant mental distress. The event shown in the game is that of a ten-year-old Alex speaking to her mother for the last time, where Wendy gave her daughter her locket and asked her to stay strong for her father and brother.
Wendy's death led to a great amount of strife in the Chen household; the next scene has an eleven-year-old Alex trying to drown out one of John's and a thirteen-year-old Gabe's constant fights. On this day, their argument spilled over into the house, in Alex's presence; Gabe revealed that John had lost another job and they were broke again, and despite Alex's best attempts at reconciliation, the two men were pushed to blows. In a rage, John tried to punch Gabe but accidentally hit Alex; hurting his daughter made him so remorseful that, right then and there, he packed a few clothes into a backpack and walked out on the children, taking with him Wendy's locket that Alex threw at him while begging him to stay.
When Alex was twelve, a sixteen-year-old Gabe was sent to juvie for stealing a car. As the years went by and Alex grew older, she went everywhere - orphanages, group homes, a few foster homes - and realized she was completely alone. At this time, her powers began to surface, causing her quite a bit of grief; it was medically incurable, and caused her to, among other things, freak out on her friends causing them to not want to talk to her anymore, get into fights, and have prospective parents repeatedly reject her.
At this point, Alex asks the spirit of Gabe why he is making her relive all these traumatic memories. Gabe's response is simple; she needs to know what she has overcome, to not blame herself, and to not give up on living. She has a gift that she can use to help the world; now, she has to get up and fight!
Alex wakes up at the bottom of the mine shaft, in extreme pain and unable to see beyond the moonlit area. She sees a lantern and finds Gabe's old matchbook in her pocket, using it to light the lantern and venture deeper into the mine. This works for a while, until she enters a large cavern and a draft blows out the lantern, leaving Alex in complete darkness...until she sees a red light in the distance. Turns out that red light isn't a light, but an aura, an aura of rage so strong that the memories of the moment play spontaenously.
In a few moments, she realizes what Typhon was trying to bury and why Jed was willing to kill her to bury it. The cave-in that Jed had supposedly saved his fellow miners from had actually been caused by Jed's overconfidence in digging too deep; after water started pouring in, he had left seven of his fellow miners to die of drowning and had Typhon cover it up. As Alex digests all this, she finds the source of the red aura - the locket that John had taken with him when he left their home; Alex is enraged as she realises that Jed had caused the death of both her father and her brother. As she walks her way out of the mine, she reaches the gate to the mine near the building she, Ryan and Gabe had visited while trying to rescue Ethan in "Side A" into the daylight.
The Black Lantern is closed for business due to a Haven Springs council meeting; present are council president Jed and other elder Haven Springs residents - Charlotte, Duckie, Eleanor, Pike - as well as Steph and Ryan. The council is discussing the proposal presented by Diane for the extension of the partnership between Typhon and the town, planning a vote which seems to be a mere formality...until a broken and bruised Alex walks into the Lantern, rage in her eyes towards Jed and Diane. Steph and Ryan try to help her, but Alex waves them off for now; something far more important has to be done.
Alex reveals the truth behind the mining accident, the attempted cover-up, and the reason for the blast that killed Gabe. The council is quiet...and Diane denies the accusations, saying that Alex has no proof for her allegations and that they are just a coping mechanism for her to deal with her brother's death. Jed denies them as well, saying that this is simply an outburst caused by her trauma and expressing sadness at how Alex is lashing out at the people closest to her. Alex then turns to the rest of the people present at the meeting, asking them for their support.
- Steph supports Alex no matter what.
- Charlotte supports Alex if Alex didn't take away her anger in Chapter 3 (though Diane will get her to keep quiet if she signed the settlement in Chapter 2); if Alex did take away her anger, she will tell Alex that she doesn't want to get involved, as going after Typhon wouldn't matter as it won't bring Gabe back.
- Eleanor supports Alex and asks for an investigation if Riley never found out about her Alzheimer's diagnosis, whether by Alex not telling her about Gabe's death in Chapter 2 or by Alex telling Riley about the diagnosis in Chapter 4. If Riley stayed, Eleanor will tell her that she might be struggling mentally.
- Duckie supports Alex, also asking for an investigation, if Alex danced with him in the Black Lantern in Chapter 4. If she didn't, he believes his long-time best friend Jed over her.
- Pike supports Alex if she took away his fear in Chapter 4, confronting Diane about the contents of the flash drive and declaring that he isn't afraid of Typhon anymore; this leads to a massive argument among all council members present. If she didn't, Pike simply reminds her that she signed the affidavit and his hands are tied.
- Somewhat understandably given the gravity of the accusations leveled at his father, Ryan is the hardest to convince; he supports Alex only if Charlotte, Pike, and at least one of Eleanor and Duckie supported Alex, confronting Jed about the possibility of the accusations being true. If he wasn't convinced, regardless of whether he was romanced, he lashes out at Alex for accusing his father of such a heinous crime, declaring that he does not believe her.
Regardless of who supported her, in the cacophony of voices, Alex, overwhelmed, says "Stop."
An explosion of colours releases from Alex, making the whole room dark. An invisible force pulls Jed's attention to Alex, and she embarks on among the most quietly brutal The Reason You Suck speeches in franchise history.
Alex tells Jed she knows why he tried to kill her; it was easier to not consider the people who died because of him as people to salve his conscience, but that was impossible with her given that she was the daughter of one of those men, a man who, no matter his character, was a human being. In trying to bury his catastrophic mistake, he also caused the death of Gabe, a troubled young man who had started building a life for himself. Finally, he tried to kill her, all to avoid having to face the truth about himself: that he is a coward, or a pawn of Typhon, or selfish. She knows that he hates himself for what he did, and for what he had to do to cover it up, and, having seen the worst parts of him, she either forgives or condemns him. This is too much for Jed to bear, and he starts to cry (in relief if Alex forgave him, in agony if she condemned him) and collapses onto the floor.
Some time later, Alex is lying on her bed, plucking at her guitar. The radio in the background reveals the aftermath of the council meeting: Jed confessed to causing the deaths of the miners, as well as the details of the cover-up that claimed Gabe's life; Typhon's CEO has also resigned. Alex, having taken some time to recover from her injuries, decides now is a good time to move from the bed to the rooftop. After possibly roaming around her room, she can go up to the rooftop...unless she met either Steph or Ryan on the rooftop in Chapter 4, in which case they will knock on the door first.
- Steph has visited to say that Alex's actions at the council meeting were the bravest thing she had ever seen, and made her realize something: she wanted to be with Alex no matter what, even if it meant not touring or playing music again; while she wants those things, she only wants them if she can be with her (going so far as to tear her bus ticket in half, to Alex's shock). Alex acknowledges this, and Steph leaves.
- If Ryan supported Alex at the meeting, he just needs a hug; if Ryan didn't support Alex at the meeting, he has come to apologise to her for not believing her, and Alex can choose whether she wants to forgive him. If she is willing to at least try to forgive him (or he supported her), he asks what's next for them, saying that he's willing to go wherever she goes as there is nothing for him left in Haven Springs unless she stays.
Alex heads up to the roof, sitting on the chair she sat on all that time ago drinking beer with Gabe...only to see Gabe again seated on the chair he had sat on. Alex asks her brother what she should do next, and Gabe says that she has two options: to stay in Haven Springs, or leave and pursue a musical career in touring. He goes on to describe a foretelling of what life for Alex in Haven Springs would look like, along with what would happen with her romantic partner of choice. He does, however, state that the path of a touring musician is also appealing; concluding that, no matter her choice, "the only promise is the adventure". Alex makes the final massive choice, turns to Gabe, and sees that he has disappeared.
Stay in Haven Springs
While the ending itself merely involves Alex sitting at the dock before leaving as the sun sets, Gabe's description of her life in Haven Springs essentially describes her future in the town. Alex begins running Haven Springs's record store, either together with Steph if she was romanced, or by herself if she was not (Steph suddenly leaves Haven Springs in all endings where she isn't romanced). She still plays often as part of the Spring festival, as well as for her love interest. As normalcy returns to Haven Springs, we see Alex on the bridge entering the town (either alone or with her love interest), happy to have a home at last.Pursue Music
Alex and her love interest get on a bus leaving Haven Springs, sent off by several Haven Springs residents.An unspecified amount of time later, Alex is preparing to play in an unknown location, receiving best wishes from several friends; a pan of her guitar case shows her travels, including several photos with her love interest and others. She walks onto the stage and introduces herself, before the game ends.
