The Dread Doctor's Pet

     “It’s alright; everything’s okay. It’s good that we missed the train, I promise.”

“it was only a dollar fifty, I promise it’s not going to put Mason into bankruptcy.” he shook his head. Corey really was just so pure, it was no wonder he didn’t work out in his pack. Moving over to the chair he’d slide back down, “I found it. That’s why it took me a while to get back.” he confessed even though it was a lie. He leaned back in the chair, allowing his eyes to slide shut. He wouldn’t sleep however, he was there to keep an eye on the other after all. 

“….try to get some more rest. you’ll heal quicker if you do.” the other’s wounds were deep and probably would take quite some time to heal, even with his inhuman ability to regenerate. After all it had been The Wild Hunt and Garrett that set him up to a supernatural conductor. 

“It’s not the amount that I’m worried about. It’s a precedent.” Corey said. He was mostly sure that was the right word- that because it happened once, it could happen again with much less arguing and fighting. Because it was fine before, it should be fine again. “If I take one thing, I can take another and Mason has that way with money. He bought all those multihundred dollar books on whims. I don’t.. I don’t want him spending like that on me.”

He leaned back watching carefully as Theo closed his eyes. Was it a trick to lul Corey into security? If Theo was sleeping, he couldn’t hurt anyone. 

“Is that true for every chimera?” Corey asked quietly. There was no way to know. A werewolf could ask another werewolf about his potential limits. But Corey-

Corey could only ask Theo and hope for the best. “I’m glad you found the bathroom.”

    “You don’t know what?”

     “i’m just      i’m glad you’re okay.”

Theo nodded when Corey mentioned wanting some water. With that he’d slide out of the room, wandering around the halls for a bit. He didn’t actually need to use the bathroom, just needed a moment to breath and steady his emotions. Once he’d felt mostly collected he’d get Corey a water bottle from the machine and headed back to the room. “Sorry. I couldn’t find the bathroom.” he explained once entering the room, making his way over to the bed and holding out the bottle. 

“You... you didn’t have to buy a bottle.” Corey said after a moment. The nurses would come by sometimes with the little paper cups, he was sure Theo could have found some water somewhere for free. “Maybe you can ask someone where the bathroom is, if you need it.”

He took a long sip, enjoying the feeling on the back of his scratchy throat before he lay back down with a yawn.

Theo nodded slightly, the chimera moving up to stand, “…are you thirsty, or hungry? It’s a bit late, the cafeteria is probably closed. but Mason left me with a few dollars in case you woke up before morning…” to be fair, he needed a breather. “I need to go use the bathroom anyway, I could grab you something while I’m out?” making his way over to the door and pausing, glancing over still waiting for Corey’s reply. 

“If... if you could just get me some water, that would be fine.” Corey said. He didn’t need anything, and he especially didn’t need Mason spending even more money on him. He nodded, before shifting back down on the bed with a sigh, rolling his shoulders as he tried to get comfortable

“You want the truth? Probably not.” Theo answered honestly. He was horrified of the changes, he was horrified that maybe they wouldn’t last. “…I’ll probably end up hurting someone else someday…but I don’t want to.” he sighed, “…do you want me here?” his voice flat. He didn’t want his new found emotions to get a hold of him, not here. He could feel himself crumbling the more they spoke about what he’d done. He knew it wouldn’t just go away, he knew it would haunt him for the rest of his life. His sister’s death had. 

“I can call Liam, or Scott. If you don’t want me here, all you have to do is say so.” All he wanted to do was help, to help Corey. If him keeping his distance was what the chameleon needed, then he’d provide. He’d leave him alone. 

Corey nodded. It made sense. It took so much for a person to change- he just had to remember Lukas to know that. The boy had been so sweethearted, and it took the Dread Doctors to give him the headstrong confidence to come on to Corey first. It hurt to think maybe Theo would still hurt people, but it wasn’t surprising. 

“I don’t mind yo being here.” Corey shook his head. Theo was still a reminder maybe somewhere out there, there was someone like him. “What’s the worse you’d do to me tonight?”

A part of Corey still consider Theo his alpha? That surprised the part wolf coyote. He blinked, watching the other shift and move about. He shook his head yet again. “I’m sorry it had to be me…to be the only other chimera…the doctors were good at that though. Killing off their so called failures.” he sighed lightly. “I don’t want to hurt people anymore…I know it’s probably hard to believe, but it’s the truth.” he knew he’d probably end up hurting someone eventually, this change in him, it couldn’t be a permanent thing, could it?

The doctor’s had said he was the purest evil and that was why he couldn’t be what they wanted. They’d thought it was evil they needed, when in the end it had been the opposite. Mason, Corey’s boyfriend, was the complete mirror to Theo’s evil. He was the purest good. He was what the Doctor’s had been looking for, but luckily hadn’t succeeded. At least Mason wasn’t like them, wouldn’t have to live with the feeling of being incomplete, not being one of something. 

“It didn’t have to be you.” Corey said, narrowing his eyes in the slightest. Josh didn’t have to die a second time, and neither did Tracey. They could have made it. “We could have stuck together. We could have worked out, I think we could have. I know Josh thought of us like family. We didn’t have to be cut in half like this. The doctors seem like they’re just fine with killing us only once.”

He frowned, glancing at Theo up and down. He seemed almost sincere- seemed. But how could he know? Mason trusted him, at least enough to go home and sleep while Theo was here. It had to mean something “You really think you can change like that?” 

Theo sat up rather quickly as Corey began to move, brows knitting together with obvious concern. He knew the other healed quickly however, they both did. He remained where he was, still not approaching as he wasn’t sure it was allowed. He watched the other closely however, keeping a weary eye in case he needed to get Melissa. “…I….” he began when Corey mentioned the pack. To an extent it was true, but none of them had fully trusted him, well there had been one. She’d even loved him, he was pretty certain.

“You feared me Corey…” he corrected, “you did what I asked, because you were afraid.” he sighed. Josh had never trusted him, had even challenged him. Hayden, well she was much more interested in Liam and helping Scott’s pack because of it. Theo shook his head, “…I wasn’t an alpha. I shouldn’t have done what I did.” but he supposed, if he hadn’t, Corey wouldn’t be here now. 

“You’re not the only chimera left.” he didn’t want to say Corey had him, why would Corey want that? After everything that had happened. But at least, he could live knowing he wasn’t the only one. Each chimera was unique and in a way, one of a kind. They were all alone, or at least, he and Corey were. But Corey had Mason. He had someone. 

He dropped one hand down from his legs, leaning it behind him for some extra support. There had been too many wires in him- the strange drug or magic, whatever that green stuff was that kept him down now kept him just a bit tired. At least enough now he was willing to admit in front of Theo he needed his arm down to keep himself propped up.

“I feared everything.” Corey said. “My boyfriend turned into a scorpion and died in the same night. An alpha jumped into my brain, I went Frankenstien. I bled mercury, and I was murdered, alone and scared. And you... you came, and you woke us up and you had all the answers we couldn’t ask for. That we all want to know but we can’t say because... god it’s sick. We’d be dead without you. We all knew that. But you just... sauntered right by Scott, who said he was an alpha just like you and you weren’t scared of him. So... that said something. And ... you gave us life, Theo. There’s a lot I’d do for a guy who saved my life.”

He took  a deep breath. “You told us you were our alpha. A part of me still feels that.” He shrugged. “No. You’re here, so ... I guess that means there’s two chimeras left.”

Mason looked around the bathroom and took a deep breath as he got cleaned up. “I’m hiding in a bathroom, how hard can it be?” He asked and looked at his shirt.

“for what the Dread Doctors did to all of you…for the pack, for Josh…Tracy…” he shook his head, looking away and leaning back in his chair. He wasn’t good at this, someone couldn’t just say they were sorry for killing people. It wasn’t how it worked, was it? He deserved to be locked up, or worse. “…I was promised a pack…I grew up as their lab rat for 9 years, and that had been the one thing I’d ever wanted from them…and I ruined it.” it wasn’t about the power, even though at the time that’s what he thought. He knew now, it was because he’d wanted a family. “….you have every right to hate me.” 

“Josh and Tracy could still be here.” Corey said. He didn’t want to talk about what the Dread Doctors did to them. He didn’t want to think about it. After Scott clawed into his brain, he didn’t stop dreaming about the operating table for months.

It seemed heartbreaking that Theo could have gone through that, raised like that. But he wasn’t sure what to believe. Corey sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees with a wave of nausea. He wasn’t sure he should be moving, but hey. That’s what being half-supernatural was for, right? “I did everything you told me to. You had a pack, we made a pack for you. You threw us away.”

Corey looked down at the tops of his knees. “I don’t know if I hated you. I hated being the only chimera left.”

He looked at the door and pushed it open. His shirt was covered in grey, not to mention his lips and chin. He sniffled and looked at him. “They’re gonna come and kill me. Like they did to you and Hayden, and Josh.”

“Hey.” Corey said. Okay, it didn’t look good, but he wasn’t going to say that. “Remember the mess I made?”

“Please just come to the bathroom.” His voice was panicked and almost upset. He was sitting against a wall, mercury dripping from his nose into his lap and onto his shirt. “It’s an emergency.” 

“Okay,” Corey said, since Mason couldn’t see him nodded. He darted off to the closest bathroom, checking until he found Mason’s fancy sneakers under the door. “Mason?”