In my mind, one of the most dramatic moments of LiS S1 is the confrontation between Max and “Evil Max” at the end of Max’s nightmare in E5. It represents Max facing her fears and doubts and overcoming them, because of her love for Chloe.

I wrote a piece of fanfiction based on the idea of “Evil Max” breaking free and coming back to haunt Max and Chloe. As you may have guessed by the title, this is a crossover between Life is Strange and Alan Wake. This is because a place featured in the Alan Wake games - Cauldron Lake - has the known property of spawning evil doppelgangers of the people who come into contact with it.

I am first and foremost a Life is Strange fan, so that component of the story is much more prevalent, but I feel I did justice to Alan and Alice Wake too.

This is a complete work. I separated it into four chapters for ease of reading.

It’s a little bit horror-y, but only a tiny bit. And I don’t think it even counts as a spoiler if I tell you that no character is killed, that Evil Max gets her comeuppance again and that Max and Chloe drive off into the sunset together at the end.

This story is a follow-up to both the LiS comics and the game “Alan Wake’s American Nightmare”, but honestly, even if you’re familiar only with Life is Strange Season 1, you’re going to understand everything that’s going on.