Chapter Text
It was a wonder to Thea how she ever became a detective.
Back at the police academy, she was known for being a bit of a weakling, the “little flower” of the cadets, and it did not help that she was the shortest out of all of them. Thea hated everything to do with any amount of blood and gore, and while she learned how to use a gun, she never had (and likely never would) shoot at a live target with it, and to add all on top of that, she had no combat skills whatsoever.
She was not half bad at the deduction courses, anything about knowledge and critical thinking coming easier to her, but where Thea really shined was her skill with people.
Not so much with interrogations, unfortunately, the stress of the situation often getting to her, and the fact that she was probably the least intimidating person in existence, but with the people that came into the station. Thea was the one that the officers sent all of the grieving families toward, saying that she always seemed to know the right thing to say, but she never felt like she did. She just gave them a shoulder to cry on, and did her best to stay calm when they were not as receptive, knowing that she was seeing them on what was likely the worst day of their life.
Thea had been told constantly that she would never fit in with the big city cops, but she never let that bother her, because as soon her training was complete, she knew she was going back home to Wayhaven.
Her promotion to detective was a complete surprise to her. She had assumed Tina would get it because she had been there longer, or they would bring someone new in. Thea was only two years older than Douglas, and she had not been an officer for an incredibly long time. Part of her wondered if she had gotten it just because of her father, but at first, she was able to push this away, trusting that she got it on merit.
Then Unit Bravo came to town, and the doubts started to settle in more and more. What was she going to do against an angered supernatural, talk? Thea had poured herself into research about the supernatural world, but even with all of the knowledge she had acquired, she never felt like she belonged in the team. All of the others had their own specific skill sets that all added something, but Thea did not feel like she had anything to offer to the team.
Which is why she was surprised when Adam asked her to do the first sweep of the mission with him.
Felix had been against the idea of the two of them separating, and truthfully, she was as well, but she decided to go with Adam’s plan anyway, curious as to why he would ask her to go with him.
So now she was here, outside of one of the run-down houses in the woods in Wayhaven, freezing, following Adam through the dark. Thea was out of her normal sundress, with a sweater and jeans instead, but it did not do much against the chill of the night. Her small flashlight was the only light she had, and she supposed she had Adam’s night vison as well, trusting him to lead the way through the dark.
Thea tried to look at the house with the little light she had. It was half crumbling at this point, and the owners of the land no longer lived in Wayhaven, so here the house stood, in the middle of the woods, with chipping white paint and black shutters starting to look crooked from the passage of time. They had been notified of a potential hostage situation in the area, which is why the team decided not to send all of them at once, but Thea was not quite sure what she would offer over one of the others.
“Detective”.
“Yes?”, she called back, going to stand next to Adam, who had stopped just outside the front steps.
“Be as cautious as you normally are”, he said, “We don’t know what we are walking into”.
Thea gave one last look behind her, almost hoping to see a pair of amber eyes gleaming in the dark, “I will”.
Adam nodded, seeming satisfied with her response, and they strode off to the front door, quickening her step to keep up with him.
The front door was unlocked, which is struck her as odd, and even if the grip still felt foreign in her hands, she grabbed her gun, despite knowing it would not do much against the supernatural, and they made their way inside.
The owner of the house had left shortly after his wife died, and the house was left to sit as it was. Light blue curtains had become shredded over time, with the furniture full of scratches and water stains, the wooden floor rotting in some places. It was probably not safe to be walking through the house with these conditions, but there was not much else that they could do.
“I’m going to look down the hallway”, Adam said, “You take the main room”.
“Sounds good”, Thea said in response, and started looking around the room. In most parts of the room, everything was covered with a layer of dust, but she noticed the kitchen table did not. In fact, it looked like someone had put something on top of it recently, making almost a shape, but it was hard to tell what it was in the dark, and the electricity had been cut to the house ages ago.
She continued to look through the kitchen, opening the drawers to see if anything was there, but Thea did not find much more then normal kitchen appliances, and her chest fell.
I guess whoever was here took everything they had with them.
A loud crack of wood, followed by a scream that was definitely not Adam broke through her thoughts, and she raced back to where he had gone.
Thea found Adam outside of the very back backroom, a heavy lock on the ground, broken into two, the wood splinters from the door all over the ground, his knuckles bruised, but healing as she ran up.
“What’s going on?”, she asked him, turning her flashlight to face him in the dark, and when Adam did not answer, seemingly in disbelief, she looked inside the room with the now broken door.
Inside the dingy back bedroom, the room empty besides a single blanket and camping lantern, was a little girl. Though Thea was not quite sure, she looked like some sort of fae, with bright green hair that fell to her shoulders, her eyes completely blue, with a small shimmer of white ,her skin almost having an orange tint, and she was dressed in tattered hides that were similar to the ones that Felix was wearing in the memory from the carnival, and her heart tightened at the thought. She looked about four years old, but there was really no telling how old she was due to how supernaturals aged differently them humans. Thea looked back at Adam, who the first time in the time she knew him, seemed at a lost of what to do.
“Hey”, she said, smiling sweetly and kneeling down to her eye level. Thea them realized she might not know English, and while she knew several other languages, the native language of the echo world was not one of them, but she continued anyway, “My name is Thea, and this is Adam. We’re here to get you out of here.” She used Adam’s name, even though she knew that he would not likely appreciate that in order to create some level of familiarity with her.
“Out?”, she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, looking back at Adam with frightful eyes.
“Yes”, Thea said, “You never have to come back here. I promise”.
“Is there anyone else here?”, Adam asked.
The girl said nothing is response, seeming even more on edge after he spoke.
“I think whoever was here is long gone by now”, Thea said, turning back to Adam, “But we need to get her back to the others”.
Adam nodded, “I can. I still haven’t checked the master bedroom, and it seems to be best if you did.”
“I want to go with you”, the little girl’s voice cut in, moving closer to Thea and putting her hand on top of hers.
Adam shook his head, “Fine. I’m going to wait to process the rest of the house until the rest of the team gets here. One of us needs to stay behind in case they come back.
Thea nodded, and she got up from off the ground, and offered her hand to the girl, who took it, and she carefully led her out of the house together.
As they walked onto the porch of the house, it struck her just how dark it was, and how the small flashlight she did have was barely doing anything to light up the vast expanse of the forest.
“I’m scared”, she heard the girl mutter, who started hanging onto her leg, and Thea gently brushed her hand through her hair.
“It’s okay to be scared”, Thea said, “But I’m going to be here every step of the way”.
She picked her up, letting her head rest on her shoulder, as she trudged through the forest, trying hard to fight the urge to run, instead taking careful steps, keeping the flashlight steady, and thinking about seeing the team again after this moment of fear, especially one in particular.
Thea finally made it to the main road where the rest of Unit Bravo was waiting, the streetlights adding some warm amber glow to the surroundings, and let herself breathe as she saw the others.
“Thea!”, said a voice that never failed to make her smile. Felix stopped pacing, and almost ran up to her, and she could feel the girl move her head at the voice, “You’re back!”.
“I am”, she smiled, and both Nate and Mason came walking up to her as well.
“Where’s Adam?”, Nate asked.
“Still back at the house”, she replied, “He wanted me to get the rest of you before he finished processing”.
“Any sign of anyone else there?”, Felix asked, “And I’m guessing she’s the hostage we were told about?”
“Someone was”, Thea said, “But they are long gone by now. And as far as hostages go, she is probably one of them, but there is reason to believe there may be more than one.
“I don’t know”, Thea sighed, and she slowly set her down on the ground, her still holding onto her leg.
“We should get going”, Mason interrupted, and Nate nodded in response, then turned to Thea.
“Are you staying behind with her?”
“I am”, she said, looking back at the girl.
“Can I stay with Thea?”, Felix asked.
Mason snorted, and opened his mouth to say something, but Nate got there first.
“Yes. It’s better if none of us are out her alone”.
Felix beamed at that, and as Nate and Mason walked into the woods, he walked up to her, throwing an arm over her shoulders.
“Glad to see you’re okay”, he grinned, and even though it was said lightly, it was meant more serious than he had intended.
“The same to you”, she said, trying to fight down a blush on her cheeks.
He smiled at her again, a softer one this time, and then looked down at the girl, “What’s your name, kiddo?” He then paused, and then repeated his question in echolian, and Thea noticed that he frowned slightly as did so.
“Arethusa”, she whispered, and Felix smiled back at her, before turning to Thea.
“So, what happened?”
Thea went through it from the beginning, and told him the story, describing the house and finding Arethusa, and he stayed silent and listened to her, which surprised her a little, expecting him to say something, and it started to worry her about how quiet he was being.
“Do you think she’s from the echo world?”, Thea asked him, and he could feel him tense at the question.
“Probably”, he shrugged, not meeting her eyes, and Thea gently grabbed one of his hands, and at the gesture he grinned back at her, but it struck her as a masking one.
“Are you okay?”, she finally asked, and Felix gave a small laugh.
“Of course, I am”, he said, giving her a smirk, “When am I not?”
Thea could feel herself raising an eyebrow at the statement, which caused Felix to sigh.
“I’m okay, Thea”, he whispered, “I promise”.
She did not fully believe him, and not quite sure what to say, she ran her thumb over his wrist the same way that he had down the same for her countless times, and he gave her a genuine smile that never failed to fill butterflies in her stomach, letting herself get lost into his amber eyes.
“When are we leaving?”, Arethusa suddenly said, and it jolted Thea out of the moment, feeling awful for forgetting about her for a second.
“Whenever the rest of my team gets back”, she said, looking back into the expanse of the trees, as if expecting them to turn up then.
“And when will that be?”
“Hopefully not much longer”, Thea responded, not sure if she was saying that for Arethusa or for herself.
And to the luck of the three of them, it was not long afterwards that the rest of Unit Bravo came through the trees.
“Anything?”, Felix asked as they walked up.
Nate shook his head, “No. Someone was using the master bedroom as a base of operations of sorts, but they were careful enough not to leave anything behind.”
“What’s going to happen to the girl?”, Mason’s voice cut through, sharp, and Thea could feel Arethusa’s grip tighten around her leg at the sound of it.
“We’ll take her back to the Agency”, Nate said.
“She can ride in my car”, Thea brought up, “We’re all going back to the warehouse after all”.
“What’s going to happen to her?”, Felix asked.
“We’ll figure it out later”, Adam said, “Let’s get back first”.
Felix gave her hand a reluctant squeeze of goodbye before going to the others, and she heard a voice that she never expected to hear say her name.
“Thea, can I speak to you?”
“Yes”, she said slowly.
“You did good work”, he stated simply, “It would have been hard to complete the mission without your help”
“Uh, thanks?”, she responded, never would have expected that to come from him.
He nodded, and then turned to go walk back to the rest of the team, as if that was all that needed, and as Thea thought about it, she decided that it really was.
Arethusa climbed into the backseat of her car, and Thea drove off, following the Agency car where the others were, and she allowed herself to smile, finally starting to feel at ease with the fact that maybe there was something she had to offer this team.