Chapter Text
„You can't be serious, Liam!”, Scott fumed, shaking his head in disbelief. “You actually wanna do this?? After all he did to the Pack??”
The beta exhaled slowly, collecting himself. “Look, I know what a risky step it is, Scott. Believe me, I do. But what the hell should we do otherwise?? Kira is gone, and Theo is the only one with those powers. And we have to summon the Ghostriders. Do you really want to leave Stiles alone wherever he is, forgotten and with no chance to return? We have nothing, Scott! That's our only chance! In order to get something we have to risk something else sometimes!”
He was panting now slightly, standing there with tension written all over him, waiting for his Alpha's reaction. He really couldn't understand, why Scott hesitated. How could he be so controlled and calm anyway?? They basically were about to decide Stiles' fate right now. Stiles', who was Scott's best friend after all.
Finally, the Alpha seemed to give in, his shoulders slumping a bit.
“Right. Yeah, you're right, Liam, I get that. And maybe, just maybe we don't have another choice indeed. But Liam, you should know that Theo is not to be underestimated. Hell, he crawled his way inside your head last year. He made you do things you can't just blame on yourself entirely. 'Cause you weren't yourself under his influence. Trust me, I've seen that look in your eyes as you were about to kill me..”
The beta hung his head slightly in shame. Yes, he definitely still remembered. He hadn't been able to look Scott in the eyes a whole week after his attempt to try to murder his Alpha. And yet here he was, trying to convince Scott to let Theo free from the Skinwalkers' Prison. The very same Theo, who was responsible for Liam nearly becoming a murderer.
But still, Liam's decision had been made. They simply didn't have a choice.
“I know, Scott, I know. But please let's just give it a try? If you want, I'll even take the whole responsibility on myself and will take Theo under my watch. I mean, now that we know how shady and dangerous he is, we'll be more careful. More prepared. And if something goes wrong again, we'll just send him back underground”
Scott found himself nodding against his will at that.
“Yeah ok”, he took a deep breath, pointedly looking Liam in the eye. “No matter what, I'm going to support you”, he promised. “But you really have to do this on your own, Liam, I'm deadly serious right now. Meaning that you have to free him on your own as well, got it? I will be there to help you if something goes wrong, but you'll be the one to do it, ok? And you're gonna watch him all the time, we can't risk anything as dangerous as Theo getting out of control right now”
At some point of the Alpha's speech, Liam began to nod enthusiastically. He was glad he was getting a chance to help. After the Dread Doctors and Theo tricking him into nearly killing Scott, the beta couldn't help but feel guilty which he still did. He still felt so. This is why he silently had promised to himself to do anything in his might in order to help this Pack from now on.
***
Originally, they were planning on using Kira's sword to pull Theo free. In the end it turned out Kira's mother didn't even have it anymore. She told them the sword had gotten taken by the Skinwalkers at some point. They just had said they wouldn't return it to any of the two kitsunes as long as Kira hasn't learned to master her powers.
So here they were, trying to come up with an alternative solution. Luckily for them, Deaton happened to know a spell that would open up the bridge between their world and the underworld – at least this is where they thought Theo had been sent to.
The spell could be performed only once a month during a full moon though. And only with the blood of a True Alpha.
Luckily the said Alpha was desperate enough to gladly offer his blood at this point.
“Ok”, Deaton announced, looking between Scott and Liam, who stood opposite of each other, the bowl with a magical liquid between the two of them. The rest of the Pack were standing in a circle around them. They were here in case anything was going to go wrong. Nobody trusted Theo after all. “All I need from you two is just a couple drops of blood”, he said, handing them a knife.
“Yeah right”, Liam swallowed nervously, hissing at the sharp sting when he cut his palm slightly open, pouring some of his blood into the bowl. Beside him, Scott did the same.
They didn't have to wait long for the liquid in the bowl starting boil, a stark white fume rising high into the air. Moments later, a thin bright yellow lightning emerged from the earth, followed by the loud noise of the earth being creaked open, before a clawed hand made its way onto the surface. A moment later, the dusty form of Theo Raeken stood there, the chimera's eyes glowing and his teeth snapping slightly.
“Theo?”, Liam tried unsure. He had thought everything through, except for what he was gonna say the moment he first saw the chimera. To be honest, he didn't even know how Theo was going to react to them freeing him.
But the chimera began to growl now, looking all around himself with a noticeably growing irritation. When he finally spotted Liam, he stilled, frowning deeply, before he suddenly lunged himself onto the beta.
“Where is Tara?!”, he roared, clutching tightly at Liam's shirt and looking short from ripping his windpipe out with his bare teeth. “I said, where the hell is my sister??!”
“You killed her, you freak!” It was Malia speaking now. The chimera turned to her instead, his eyes glowing with madness and even more bewilderment.
“What the hell IS this?!!”, he snapped.
But before he could say more, the lightning from before reappeared. In fact, it seemed to multiply with every passing second, hitting the earth all across the area where Liam and Theo were still clutching each other.
“What the-?”, Scott frowned, taking a cautious step back and eyeing the bowl with the liquid in alarm. The water in it was boiling even more now, the thick smoke covering the area and preventing any of them to see properly what was going on.
“Something isn't right”, Deaton shouted back to Scott, as if it weren't obvious. “The spell … I didn't know it would have such an effect. Liam, stay away from those lightnings!”
But the beta couldn't understand anything through all the noise and thuds from the lightening anymore. Deep inside, though, he knew something wasn't right. He needed to get out of here.
“Let me go!”, he hissed at Theo, who was still clutching at his shirt tightly. The chimera was still dazed and bewildered though, growling and adjusting his grip instead.
“I SAID, LET -”
But then, he suddenly felt like his eyes were about to be blended. The sudden sparkle of bright yellow light sending a fit of headache through him before he felt his head spin. A sharp pain quickly began to spread in his chest and back, and judging by a pained cry from Theo, the chimera wasn't doing any better.
“-the fuck?!”
But then he felt a great dizziness wash over him, before everything went dark.
***
Scott was laying in the dark, panting. His hair was bathed in cold and uncomfortable sweat, as the same mind numbing image was replaying over and over in his chest.
It was about Liam, the beta's silhouette disappearing in a bright yellow light. He was hit by one of the lightnings. Theo was hit by it too. The two of them vanishing instantly God knows where.
That was yesterday. And the image of his beta vanishing was now haunting his dreams.
Scott knew he had failed Liam. He didn't care about Theo vanishing as well, but Liam … He was his beta and Scott had failed him. He shouldn't have listened to him suggesting to free Theo. Theo! That damn bastard! It was always him being involved into bad situations! At that, Scott couldn't help but feel angry towards the chimera. Again. Except that he was angrier with him right now than he ever had been.
Deaton explained that the spell didn't work right because of them trying to disturb the balance of the supernatural world. So the supernatural force restored things by sending Theo back to wherever he came from. Unfortunately Liam went with him too, simply by just standing too close to the chimera.
Scott knew Theo was trouble! He went against his own judgment and here was the outcome! The Alpha cursed in his thoughts at that. He wouldn't try to free Theo from the underground ever again. Lesson learned.
And the worst thing was, Liam was there with him too. And it would take them another four weeks to finally be able to free him. Because they needed the full moon for the spell to work. Damn it! A whole day had passed already, and Scott was really afraid to even think about just what his beta was going through right now. Was he even in the Skywalkers' prison anymore?
***
The day before …
Liam blinked, slowly regaining his consciousness. He was pleased to notice the world around him finally stopping to spin, but his head was still killing him nonetheless. Frowning, he tried to recall what had happened. He knew something bad had happened. Something, that had left his heart pounding in alarm. But what??
Just then, the crazed face of Theo Raeken suddenly flashed through his mind, sending him into another fit of panic. What the-
A low groan just a few meters beside of him startled the beta out of his musings. With his heart pounding wildly in his chest, Liam turned to look.
...Only to freeze on the spot.
He recognized him immediately. Theo Raeken was gracelessly lying there in wet dirt, seemingly having landed in a puddle of muddy water. He seemed to be waking up himself now, groaning in discomfort.
Liam blinked again in bewilderment. Huh. So he hadn't dreamed after all. He recalled talking to Scott about freeing Theo, then doing the spell ceremony and then something went wrong and then ...
Holy shit, it was because of Theo that he was here now! The freak had clutched him tight and wouldn't let him go no matter what!
The sudden wave of rage rushed through Liam like a lightening, sending him into the direction of the still lying lump that was Theo. He wasn't even afraid of that monster! He just wanted answers! And revenge too!
“WHAT THE HELL?!”, he growled, harshly tugging at Theo's pullover.
The said chimera jerked back in shock, seemingly not having expected anyone coming from behind. Upon seeing the seething beta, the older boy began to hyperventilate now, true panic written all over his face. It surprised Liam. And disturbed too somehow.
“Stop playing with me, Theo!”, he hissed instead, his anger rising further nonetheless. “You know really well that you playing a victim and crying fake tears won't do you any good nomore!”
But yet again, Theo's reaction kept surprising him. The chimera had his eyes shut tightly now, his lips moving soundlessly in what seemed like a silent praying. His body was shaking and his heart was pounding in his chest wildly. That's when Liam knew one couldn't fake THAT reaction.
With his grip finally loosening, Liam studied the chimera's face for the first time ever since Theo came back from Hell. He couldn't even remember the last time he looked at him that closely. Maybe never. He'd never known Theo particularly good.
The older boy's face was partly covered in mud. Despite his tightly shut eyes Liam could already tell how tired Theo looked. Usually he was used to seeing him with his signature asshole smirk. That fake kind of smirk that just didn't sit right with him somehow. That kind of smirk that always seemed to hide his true emotions. It was just that. A smirk. No actual joy, no pain, no fear.
But now, Liam couldn't help but notice the differences. There were dark bags under his eyes, and his lips white and trembling. On top of that, Theo seemed being lost in his own world at the moment. It was the most vulnerable state Liam has ever seen him in.
With his brown scrunched up in concentration, Liam slowly leaned in to hear what the chimera was whispering.
“Please, you don't have to stop. It's ok, you don't have to stop”
Liam frowned deeply. Huh, that was new. The chimera's voice was hoarse and tired. On top of that, he was looking like he was anticipating a blow coming his way any minute now. Hence shut eyes.
With a sudden dread in his stomach, Liam finally realized who Theo was afraid of. He was afraid of Liam. He was thinking Liam was about to hurt him.
And damn it, if Liam ever was going to do it, his anger directed towards Theo suddenly gave way to a slight feeling of pity now. He suddenly remembered that Theo had been in Hell before. The fact was, he only learned him before his trip to Hell. But now that he was out of Hell though ...
Speaking of Hell, where the hell where they right now???
With that, Liam stood up and looked around. Apparently they had landed in a desert. There was nothing there besides of lonely, dry silhouettes of small trees. There also were some larger stones that one could sit on. Everything seemed gray and there was no sun. Even the earth was gray and muddy. Just like on a random rainy day. Without rain, but with water puddles. In a desert. Interesting.
Was this what Hell looked like? Where was Tara then?? He really didn't understand.
But maybe that wasn't even the priority right now. Liam had to think rationally. He needed to do some things first.
With that he mustered Theo with one last pitiful look and gathered some of the mud water in his hands, immediately dripping it on Theo's face with his nose scrunching up in disgust. The chimera groaned, still not opening his eyes. But he winced. Well, that was a progress, Liam thought, rolling his eyes.
Instead, he slapped him in the face slightly, hoping to get a better reaction.
“Hey asshole, I'm not gonna stand here with your lazy ass lying in the mud all day, you know??? Now stand up and start talking already!”
The slap seemed to have made the trick, as the chimera gave a slight wince before slightly opening his eyes.
After staring at the beta for several moments, Theo's eyes slightly parted. “Liam?”, he croaked hoarsely.
Liam huffed derisively. “Yes, for fuck's sake! So glad you joined me in the world of living! ..Or not living! Where the hell are we anyway??”
Theo's frown deepened, before his gaze seemed to clear.
“Are .. Are y-you real?”
That made the beta stop in his tracks. Huh, Maybe Theo was more damaged than he initially had thought. Still didn't mean he was less annoyed by him.
“YES! Now will you PLEASE stand up and tell what the hell is going on??? Are we in hell??? Are we NOT in hell??? What the hell had even happened?! I just wanna go home!”
At the beta's outburst, Theo simply let out a groan, covering his ears.
“Will you PLEASE shut up now?”, he moaned. “My head's really killing me”
“No, I will NOT shut up until you tell me where the fuck have you got transferred us to!”
“I DON'T KNOW, OK?!”, the chimera finally exploded, and suddenly Liam was reminded that Theo was still a murderer. The realization finally hit him. Oh god, he was stranded hell knows where with a murderer! Damn it! Just his luck as ever! What if he finally had gotten Theo so mad that he was planning on murdering the beta in his sleep now???
“I'm thinking about it!”, the said chimera gritted through his teeth, and with shocking realization Liam knew he had spoken the last thought out loud.
“And here I was thinking you have finally learned some things in Skywalkers' prison or something”
Theo let out a frustrated growl at that.
“Maybe I have, maybe not. What is it to you anyway?”, he hissed annoyed.
Suddenly Liam got really brave. “Oh I don't know”, he smirked darkly. “Maybe I just wanted to see what remorse looks on your face like?”
Theo's eyes flashed slightly in warning, before he abruptly helped himself up from the earth.
“Fuck you, Dunbar!”, he spat. “You don't know shit about me”
“Believe me, I know enough”, the beta just grumbled icily, before storming off into the direction of what seemed to be a lake nearby.
“I can hear water rushing, might be a lake. You could use a wash btw, you're stinking”, he then said dismissively, scrunching up his nose in disgust. And it was true.
“Yeah whatever”, the chimera replied as icily, rolling his eyes, but trailing anyway after Liam in the direction of the lake.
***
For such a place, the lake water was surprisingly clear, even if a little bit cold. And Liam had every intention on using this to his benefit.
“Think one could drink it?”, he asked Theo, all of their previous antagonism momentarily forgotten.
Theo huffed slightly. “Well, I doubt there's any better choice you'd have”
“Right”. With that, Liam grabbed a handful of lake water and hummed contently at how clear and tasty it was indeed. Only now did he realize how thirsty he'd been all along.
At his fifth mouthful of water, though, the said water kind of stuck in his airways as soon as he'd spotted Theo. Who was standing there shirtless, currently happily attempting to pull down his muddy jeans along with his boxers.
“Whoa! What the hell, dude?!”, Liam exclaimed, causing Theo to look up in confusion.
“What the hell what?”
“You! Undressing! Jesus, could you warn a guy before you do it, at least??”, Liam groaned, already covering his eyes, a light blush spreading across his cheeks now.
And of COURSE, Theo wouldn't be Theo if he hadn't picked up on his embarrassment. Damn it!
“Aww, is our little puppy embarrassed now??”, he asked in a very clearly taunting tone. “I mean, I know I'm gorgeous, so please don't stop looking on my behalf”
That stopped the beta in his tracks. Because what the hell?? Not only was he shocked by the fact that he himself was suddenly anxious about seeing Theo naked, but also by the fact that somehow Theo had apparently decided to FLIRT with him now???
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that”, Liam huffed in annoyance instead, feigning nonchalance. “I just think I would not rather stare at your prick, since I was just drinking water. Wouldn't want it to rush out of me again, you know? Anyway, why are you bathing right beside me when I was so clearly drinking?? EWW!”
Theo paused, smirking for a few moments. “Oh c'mon, Liam, don't be such a kid. In fact, you should take a bath too. You do realize you kinda stink as well, right?”
“I HATE you!”, the beta simple mumbled, not raising to the bat. “ I will NOT let you tell me what to do!”
Theo gave him a sly grin at that. “Well, it's ok. Neither will I”. With that, he all but sank his jeans WITH his underwear to his ankles, gracefully stepping out of them before going into the water butt-naked.
Upon seeing his state (and unfortunately witnessing more than he bargained for), Liam let out a small shocked shriek, which only provoked a loud laughter out of Theo. It left Liam fuming. The damn bastard! He knew EXACTLY what he was doing! The better question was, why?
“Because it's really fun to rile you up!”, Theo called in a sing-song voice, not turning around to face him. And once again, the beta cursed himself for his apparent inability to keep thoughts to his own mind.
Just when he was starting to consider to just join Theo in the water (in his clothes of course), the said chimera suddenly let out a shocked and loud shriek.
“THEO?!”
With that, Liam stared in shock at the chimera's wildly trashing body, clearly writhing in agony, while the water around him turned bloody red at a rather fast pace. The beta's heart jumped high into his throat in alarm. There was something wrong. Something was happening with Theo, and Liam wouldn't be Liam if he didn't help him right now.
“Theo?? Hang on, I'm coming!”
But the shock and panic written all over Theo's face grew only stronger with every passing second. On top of that, he suddenly began to drown. Something was clearly tugging him down onto the bottom of the lake, and suddenly he abruptly vanished from the surface alltogether.
“THEO!”, Liam screamed in desperation, already swimming into Theo's direction. Murderer or not, he wasn't about to let anyone die. Especially not, when theoretically, Theo was his responsibility now. Or so he had promised to Scott.
Without any further thought the beta dove head first under the water and started swimming towards the rapidly forming red puddle around the place where Theo had vanished. The water was so red now that he could barely recognize anything underneath.
But finally, his body bumped into something soft. With relief he recognized it was Theo's naked body. But what he saw next, shocked him beyond his belief.
A fat fucking Piranha fish of the size of a crocodile peered at him with one sharp eye. In its teeth it was holding something fleshy and bloody. Upon recognizing what it was, Liam wanted to puke.
Nonononono! He thought in his head. This was NOT happening now! Maybe they HAVE landed in Hell after all!
But at least, the monster fish seemed to have been satisfied with its price. After giving Liam another blank look it just turned around and swam into the opposite direction, leaving the boys alone.
That is, what was still left of Theo.
With his heart rapidly sinking into his stomach, Liam watched the now not moving body of the chimera aimlessly sinking towards the bottom of the lake. On top of that, his left leg was nearly gone now, leaving a teared up looking stump instead. Liam cringed, but didn't have time for any further analysis, his body and heart spiked with adrenaline instead.
Three minutes later he had finally managed to fish Theo out of the water and into the safety (or were they even safe here anymore??) of the shore. He quickly took in his state, but all his hopes came crashing down as soon as he realized that Theo, indeed, had no heartbeat.
“Nononono!”, Liam pleaded. “Theo! Damn it!”. Without a single further thought the beta then bowed down, clenched the chimera's nose shut and gave him a quick series of CPR.
“Breathe, damn it!”, he roared after the tenth attempt of reviving him, fat tears stinging his eyes now. “You annoying peace of shit!! If you don't servive whatever the hell it was, I swear to God I'm killing you myself!!” With that, he swung his fists high into the air and gave a last and violent hit directly onto the chimera's chest.
Suddenly Theo roared, nearly splitting Liam's ears in two. Not having awaited any reaction anymore, the beta violently jerked, springing onto his feet and aside. But upon seeing Theo's eyes fluttering open, he all but rushed to him again, quickly kneeling down and swatting him across his chest again, just for good measure.
“You ASSHOLE!”, he hissed. “You scared the SHIT out of me! I thought you were DEAD!!”
For a few moments the chimera just mustered him in a silent bewilderment, before his face scrunched up in what could only be obvious pain. He let out a groan, while the first tears appeared in his eyes.
“It .. h-hurts, Liam”, he croaked, trying to look down his body. “Wh-why-?” But upon seeing his bloody body and a missing leg, he let out a shriek of horror.
“W-what?! What the HELL?!!!”
With that, Theo began hyperventilating. But Liam could literally see him getting weaker and weaker at this point, the blood loss making him nearly delirious. Within two minutes of Liam fusing over his injuries, which mainly consisted of him wrapping his soaked shirt around Theo's stump for now, the chimera had calmed down, his voice getting horse from screams and exhaustion.
“Theo!”, Liam pleaded, gently but pointedly slapping his face. “You gotta stay awake, c'mon, damn it!”
The chimera's eyes were half closed now. “I … I'm so … t-tired”
“NO! You're NOT! Who is gonna annoy me if not you?? Stay awake so you can annoy and rile me up later! Anytime you like! C'mon, asshole, you're NOT dying because of a fucking Piranha bite!”
Inwardly Liam knew that no matter how hard he tried to blame Theo for all of this situation, it was HIM who was to blame on. After all, he had suggested Theo going to do a wash up in that damn lake in the first place. He should have known better. He shouldn't have trusted this shady place that easily. Especially not when he didn't even know where the hell they were or how to get out of here.
“You sound like you're riled up right now … so w-worth it”, Theo's weak muttering pulling him out from his thoughts. He growled.
“Fucking IDIOT!”, he huffed in desperation. In truth, he REALLY wasn't mad at him anymore. He just feared Theo wouldn't make it.