Redemption ain't easy, nor free

“Probably. Might thrive on nightmares or something. Wouldn’t be surprised if the residents of Beacon are plagued with them with everything that has been going on.” Their town had gone through so much that there had to be some people with trauma if they had been caught in the crossfire. They weren’t so lucky of keeping everyone away from harm’s way at times. She shook her head at him. “No, not comforting at all. But I’m done stressing for it for right now. I can’t do anything else, I’ve done what I’ve could. Is that giving up? I don’t know.” She shrugged. She didn’t have the same perseverance in continuing to research as her friends did. She hated research.

“Oh, shut up.” She rolled her eyes at him for his comment, knowing what he trying to get at. “But you have friends?” She raised her eyebrow. “Someone that isn’t me?” She wasn’t sure if she exact considered him a friend, but they were hanging out at the moment. “Who’s this friend?”

“No trouble. I am just watching Netflix shows or movies most days. Or bothering Talia at Sinema” She grinned.

“Yeah, I guess that everyone here has its own… And I can’t blame them.” Theo lowered his eyes. “I mean, I got a fair share myself… And I got raised by a trio of creepy ghost-like scientists…” Indeed, the creature would have a lot of material in case it decided to visit him one day. He liked to think himself as not easy to scare, after all the things he had seen and been through and yet, he knew that it wasn’t exactly true, especially his new self, that had so many more buttons to push. 

“Yeah makes sense, at least until we can figure out how to make the next move…” Or it does, which was much more likely and far from a relaxing thought.

“I do… honest here.” The young man smirked playfully again.

“Surprising I know.” He chuckled. 

“So that means we are friends?” Another smirk as his gaze met her own, it was a nice feeling, after all he had done, even the though that someone that knew him so well could have chosen to give him a second chance. “And yeah it surprised me too, it’s refreshingly normal though… I mean, friends, rooming up with someone, it almost felt weird at first.

“Name is Kole, he is a wolf too, so maybe you could have met him already, I mean it’s not like there are so many of us…” 

“Speaking of which, we should do a movie night sometimes.” He smiled. “I mean it would pretty much be the first one in my life, but I think I could handle it.” He laughed.

Mia was trying her best to be careful when she went out by herself from now on, so she was carrying a small swiss army knife in her pocket as she headed into towards the cemetery. She really wanted to pay some respects to her mother and Nate, and part of her wondered if maybe she could try to communicate with them. It was kind of optimistic considering she had no idea how to use her powers, but she came prepared. She had a backpack with some candles and a spellbook, as well as some herbs that she figured might be useful. It all felt very... cheesy, but she didn’t see the harm in it. When she finally got there, she set herself up and sat down in front of Nate’s grave first, then began to set the candles up in front of her. But as she lit the first one, she heard a branch snap nearby and froze as she slowly turned around. “Hello?” God, she was going to look crazy with this whole set up. 

“Not really. I’m the only necromancer in town, as far as I know.” Mia admitted with a slight shrug, clearly annoyed at that fact. It was definitely frustrating not being able to ask specific questions half of the time, even if there was a witch and a banshee she could go to. It just wasn’t quite the same, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever meet anyone else like her. It seemed more rare than being a wolf, that was for sure. “Not that I know of. I haven’t really tried messing with it all too much but I do know that there’s consequences for messing too much with the balance. Talking to spirits is one thing, but bringing them back is a whole other.”

Mia wanted to know why they were experimenting in the first place, but it seemed like a lot more than a one night conversation. And she didn’t want to be too scared to go to bed that night. So she simply nodded slightly and stayed quiet as she tried to process what he did tell her.

“No, you don’t. So I wouldn’t try it.” She insisted, but then he made a good point and she really wished he didn’t. She hated how nonthreatening she was, but she knew that it was basically impossible to change. Mia was just too nice. The way he was smiling at her was definitely annoying her, though.

“I.. Not much, actually. Just that you have a tendency to lie, and that you’ve tried to kill several of Scott’s pack members.” Mia hadn’t actually met Scott yet, but as far as she understood he was definitely one of the good guys. “How am I supposed to trust that?”

“Yeah I imagine there aren’t many.” Theo shook his head. “Maybe a druid or something…” Well, it wasn’t the same of course, but it was still magic after all. The subject matter was intriguing, that he would have to admit, but then again he didn’t know enough about it to be of any help.

“Makes sense, so it’s like… talking with ghosts rather than calling them?” He mused, made sense, he had seen many restless spirits, perhaps those that were actually gone had no way, or intention to come back, but ghost? Well that was another matter. “Did you… I mean… Did you see any at the grave before?” His sister maybe? Could she still be around.

“Of course… Besides, again, I wouldn’t harm a fly myself… I  mean, not without reasons at least.” Yeah, he imagined he wasn’t actually being very reassuring, but whatever, it was not like he had any ill intention.

“They have been right to warn you.” He nodded. “I mean, that’s how I used to be, there is no reason to lie about it. And I did try, in fact, I succeeded with Scott, but they brought him back.” Disappointing at the time, now though, he was almost grateful, the town needed Scott probably much more than he needed him. “I wanted to be an alpha… It’s a werewolf thing.” He explained. “I was misguided thought and I had to recognize it in time. It took me a trip to hell and some friends who actually gave me a chance…”

“Agree to disagree. I’ve tried to acquire the taste, but I seriously could not.” Malia had tried all different kinds to see if she even enjoyed one. Alcohol was seriously not as fun if you could not get drunk off of it. “I can just live through you drinking it. That’s enough for me.” She would continue to staying away from it

“Yeah, I know..” She sighed, wishing it would just leave on its accord. It had to be lurking around, continuing to thrive off people’s dreams. She just hoped not many people had to endure what she had gone through. “Seems to good to be true. What would it even be looking for in the first place? Wish we knew more about it so we could run it out of town already.”

“Guess you do have some perks.” She joked along with him. Malia pulled her car into the first open parking spot in the diner. She turned the engine off and shoved the key into her pocket. She picked a table in the corner to sit with Theo. It was less crowed in that area. She took a seat across from him. “So where are you now? You’re not in the preserve anymore..” She hoped he wasn’t, she felt bad when she found his camp.

“Fine for me…” Theo chuckled. “Then again, there would be something very wrong if either of us had really experienced how it feels to be drunk anyway.” Yep, neither was in their teen when they changed, so yeah… either they would have to have very neglectful parents, or worse. 

“I guess that there are worse sacrifices.” He smirked. 

“I dunno, but those kind of things, they are rarely around for no reason, I mean, we had seen that by now… It must be someone, or something it is after. Assuming it’s intelligent of course, maybe it just a beast feeding on fear or whatever.” He scratched his chin. “But from what you have described it looks like it can reason, myself, I wouldn’t hang around a place full of creatures that can potentially find a way to fight back unless I had a reason… or was completely confident that they couldn’t harm me.” He shrugged. “None are exactly comforting ideas aren’t they?” 

“I have plenty of those, you know?” He smirked playfully. 

“Nop, I’m rooming in with a friend.” He smiled fondly. “Who would have expected it right? I mean… it sounds like such a normal thing to do and yet…” 

“He is a kind guy… I honestly don’t know if I deserve him.” He furrowed his brows. “So far, I’m trying to stay out of troubles though… How about you?”

Mia was trying her best to be careful when she went out by herself from now on, so she was carrying a small swiss army knife in her pocket as she headed into towards the cemetery. She really wanted to pay some respects to her mother and Nate, and part of her wondered if maybe she could try to communicate with them. It was kind of optimistic considering she had no idea how to use her powers, but she came prepared. She had a backpack with some candles and a spellbook, as well as some herbs that she figured might be useful. It all felt very... cheesy, but she didn’t see the harm in it. When she finally got there, she set herself up and sat down in front of Nate’s grave first, then began to set the candles up in front of her. But as she lit the first one, she heard a branch snap nearby and froze as she slowly turned around. “Hello?” God, she was going to look crazy with this whole set up. 

“Supposedly as in I haven’t been successful with it yet. Not on purpose, anyways.” Mia had tried several times, but no luck so far. She had a feeling that it was a spell, and not just one of those abilities that she’d be able to use without saying a spell.

As Theo continued to explain what he meant by everything, she grimaced at the word “makers”. It all sounded very far fetched and science fictiony, but she couldn’t help but to believe him. It didn’t seem worth lying about. “Why even do experiments like that in the first place?” She asked hesitantly, not sure if she really wanted the answer to that.

Mia could tell by his reaction that she was acting weird, but she couldn’t help it. She was trying to be more cautious of people opposed to blindly trusting everyone. And then he said his name and suddenly fear ran through her. And then she started to wonder if he could smell it and that just made it worse.

She clearly hesitated at his words, not sure whether or not to believe them as she tilted her head at him. And then he laughed at her and her eyebrows furrowed immediately in anger. She may not look threatening, but him mocking her was just kind of annoying. “Okay, if you try anything I can seriously hurt you.” She corrected, her voice still not fully selling it.

“Trying to learn on your own? That’s commendable, aren’t there… I dunno teachers for your kind of arts I imagine?” He shook his head, not that he had any idea after all. “Although I dunno, maybe they don’t like to be called here… I mean the people on the other side right?” Who knows? It was tempting though, to think that it was possible, maybe find a way to talk with his sister, ask, beg for forgiveness… Not that deserved it of course, but it would put his mind at ease. Assuming that it wasn’t her already, what he saw in hell.

  “The story is pretty complicated…” Theo shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what they wanted to achieve, their last experiment… it turned on them…” Yeah and to think that they had dedicated a pretty much immortal existence in trying to bring the Beast back. “And in the end I imagine that so did their first.” Did he though? Maybe. Or perhaps he was still playing their game somehow.

  “Maybe you can… That I really have no way of knowing.” He gave her a friendly smile still. “Although, why would you? I have no ill intention see… and you don’t strike me at the type that would strike unprovoked… So I still feel safe you know?” Well.. somewhat at least.

  “What did they tell you about me I wonder? I don’t think I can change your mind, but I assure you, I am not that man anymore.” Well, at least that’s what he kept telling himself. He tried his best to sound confident though.

Mia was trying her best to be careful when she went out by herself from now on, so she was carrying a small swiss army knife in her pocket as she headed into towards the cemetery. She really wanted to pay some respects to her mother and Nate, and part of her wondered if maybe she could try to communicate with them. It was kind of optimistic considering she had no idea how to use her powers, but she came prepared. She had a backpack with some candles and a spellbook, as well as some herbs that she figured might be useful. It all felt very... cheesy, but she didn’t see the harm in it. When she finally got there, she set herself up and sat down in front of Nate’s grave first, then began to set the candles up in front of her. But as she lit the first one, she heard a branch snap nearby and froze as she slowly turned around. “Hello?” God, she was going to look crazy with this whole set up. 

“It’s okay, I never really met him so..” Mia sighed softly, hating that she’d gotten to town so late. Maybe if she’d decided to run away earlier and find her parents, things would be different. But she couldn’t change that now, she could only more forward. And what happened to her brother definitely seemed– permanent. She wasn’t going to mess with trying to bring him back, that was for sure. “I can communicate with spirits, supposedly.” She explained, realizing she was still giving too much information. Then again, how could anyone use that against her?

Her eyebrows furrowed when he mentioned that he brought some people back, wanting to know the full story. Part of her was curious as to whether or not he faced any consequences, since she’d been drilled in by Lydia that that was a huge if she were to bring anyone back the way Nate did. But it was clear by his tone that whatever happened, they probably weren’t fully back. And then he mentioned it was by science and she grimaced, wondering what he meant. “Science? So you’re saying that you weren’t like.. born or bitten like normal?” She asked, not really able to help herself.

“You can walk me home, sure.” Mia said automatically, not wanting to be rude about it. But then she realized that’d mean he would see where she lived and he very well could use that against her if he chose to. It was something she was trying to be more conscious of, so she decided she’d walk to a different house and hopefully he wouldn’t question her or wait for her to walk inside.  

But then he admitted who he was and she couldn’t help but freeze in her tracks as she stared at him, clearly scared. She couldn’t help it, based on some of the things she’d heard about him. “I–..” She started, not even sure where to start or what to do as she frowned. She decided to play the power card, hoping he wouldn’t call her on her bluff as she shook her head. “If you try anything I can kill you.” God, it sounded so nonthreatening coming from her mouth, but she couldn’t help it. Mia was the least threatening person she knew.

Theo nodded. He couldn’t know how she felt of course and yet, he could feel that there was a hint of regret. Death… He had always had a pretty unique relationship with it. From the day he was made into a monster, a life ‘sacrificed’ for his sake, it was easy… as long as it was someone else. But that was the past. Today he didn’t know what he would do if he learned of the death of one of his friends. Even the ones that still considered him a monster and didn’t want anything to do with him. 

“Supposedly?” He broke the silence after a few moments of contemplation. “Have you ever tried?” 

“I was born normal.” He chuckled. “You know when mom and dad loved each other very much.” he teased. 

“But yeah, wasn’t bitten, nor had it in my blood.” Well as far as he knew, he would have been too young anyway. He lowered his eyes, perhaps he should not go so deep into his past with a stranger and yet, it was too late now. “It was an experiment…My makers… well I was the first truly successful one.” Yep and much likely the last, as the doctors were gone and with them the secret to make new chimeras. Or that was what he liked to pretend. There was at least one person alive that had a few ideas on how it worked, he looked at him in the mirror every day. Not that he knew the full process in detail of course or that he was ever going to try it though No matter how tempted he was to make himself a new pack.

“ ‘ok…” He nodded. She didn’t trust him right? Whatever, if she didn’t want to see him again after they have gone back safely to her place, it was fine in his books. Just… He felt sort of responsible now.

 Theo sighed, his gaze shifting to meet her own. “Hey I’m not going to hurt you ok? I get it though, if you want to leave… I won’t follow. I know how it might sound, but I’m not that man anymore.” At least he hoped that he wasn’t. 

A chuckle escaped his lips at her bluff. “Sorry…” 

“You just don’t strike me as the killy type…” Another smile. “And that’s definitely a good thing, if you ask me.”

Malia rolled her eyes regarding his comment about the gym guys. “No, I don’t have them wrapped around my finger. You know, most of them actually barely spare me a glance because they’re actually there to work out. There has been a few who have tried to hit on me, but I shut them down easily. It’s easy to hurt their ego in a subtle way.” She smirked. After she turned them down, they didn’t try to bother her again. If they had, she definitely would have tried to scare them a bit.

“Yeah, it can be hard. Luckily enough, I really don’t get a lot of people talking to me besides if they’re trying to register with the gym or just coming in for a work out, it’s why I picked the job. If I was in retail or food service, I think I would get fired so quick.” She replied, looking over to him for a second. She was not one to hold back her tongue and knew it would have gotten her in trouble.

“I don’t think anyone ever says they like the taste of alcohol.” She laughed, shaking her head at him. Beer was disgusting and hard liquor burned your throat. She wished they could get drunk. It would be fun to go out clubbing and not be sober for a night. When they both their seatbelts on, Malia drove out of the gym parking lot and to Coffee Haus.

“No, no luck. It hasn’t appeared. It hasn’t been a little shit and come into my dreams again. I haven’t heard it messing with any of the other pack members either.” A small part of her wished it had just gone away because it was bored with their small town. It could find a bigger city to terrorize. “Yeah, well, I don’t think it cares who anyone is, we know it can get into your dreams and harm you physically. Not to freak you out.”

“Great.” Theo smirked. “They better behave… I mean not that I am jealous or anything.” Another chuckle, well maybe a little bit, but then again it was not like he had any right. “Besides, I don’t doubt that you can keep them in their place.” He conceded.

“Oh don’t tell me. I’m already struggling not to rip my boss’s throat… can you imagine? The whole day dealing with customers no thanks.” Well truth was, that no one actually trusted him with being in front of actual customer, much likely due to due to the whole ex-con, high school dropout thingie that had made finding a real job so hard for the young chimera. Himself he was confident that he could actually pull it off in sales. After all, it wasn’t that different from lying right?

“Maybe it’s just that I like what I can’t have.” He shrugged. Perhaps there was more than a little truth in his words. He was too young to have tasted alcohol before his change. So yeah, he would forever have only a second-hand experience about the feeling. “But I mean… it’s really not that bad.” He chuckled.

“That would be great.” He nodded. “Although… I fear it’s just wishful thinking. These kind of things rarely just leave… Trust me I know. Unless... “ He furrowed his brows. “Hey maybe it has found what it was looking for.” It could be right? “Dunno how much it’s better to think it that way though.” He chuckled.

“Yeah I know, I have been trying to sleep surrounded by mountain ash just in case.” That was when he was alone though. “Not sure if it does something, but I mean worth a shot right? Perks of being a knock off….”

“Don’t stress, it’s fine, I was keeping myself busy with my games on my phone.” Malia shrugged, lifting her phone up to show the app that was open. She closed out of the game app and placed the device in her back pocket. She crossed her arms over her chest.  “Old lady.. Did she keep you from leaving? Try to lure you into her house?” She grinned. “Well, I hope the rest of your deliveries weren’t to bad. Right when I was going to clock out, one of the gym members was trying to complain about the annual charge and I just want to pull my hair out.” The person had just had to come up when she was ready to leave.

“Drinks? Don’t really see the point when it doesn’t have the effect. We can’t get drunk. Or at least I can’t. Isn’t it the same for you?” She thought chimeras mimicked same abilities and weakness but she wasn’t too sure. “We can just stick to coffee. Come on, get in the car, I’ll drive us.” Malia turned away from him to get in the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, she definitely couldn’t resist my charm.” He chuckled. Well she actually had an endless list of complaints, but it was funnier to imagine it that way.

“What about you? I mean, I’m sure you’d have like half of the guys at the gym already wrapped around your finger.”

“They were ok.” He shrugged. “Although, who knew that mundane life would be so hard right?” He grinned though, whatever, he would learn eventually. “I mean, you got no idea about how many time I had to tell myself that I couldn’t just bare my claws or something with my boss.” And who knew, maybe one day he would do it, if he keeps making excuses about giving him a regular contract or something.

“I just like the taste.” He smiled. “Besides, I’d have no idea how it feels to get drunk.” Yep, he was too young when he changed anyway. “Who knew, maybe it would be fun… I must do an experiment once.” Yeah, the day he won the lottery or something, he would probably need to go through multiple bottles and at least for now, he didn’t have exactly that much to spare.

“So coffee it is… And thanks…” He grinned again as he joined her on the passenger’s seat.

“How are you doing?” He asked. “Any luck with the whole monster thing? Got none so far myself. So far it’s ignoring me, professional courtesy I imagine.”

Mia was trying her best to be careful when she went out by herself from now on, so she was carrying a small swiss army knife in her pocket as she headed into towards the cemetery. She really wanted to pay some respects to her mother and Nate, and part of her wondered if maybe she could try to communicate with them. It was kind of optimistic considering she had no idea how to use her powers, but she came prepared. She had a backpack with some candles and a spellbook, as well as some herbs that she figured might be useful. It all felt very... cheesy, but she didn’t see the harm in it. When she finally got there, she set herself up and sat down in front of Nate’s grave first, then began to set the candles up in front of her. But as she lit the first one, she heard a branch snap nearby and froze as she slowly turned around. “Hello?” God, she was going to look crazy with this whole set up. 

Mia hesitated to answer his question, since she didn’t know this guy after all. It just felt weird admitting all of this stuff about her powers, but ultimately she just didn’t really know how to keep her mouth shut. And she couldn’t help but to start to ramble. “I guess you could call it that, yeah.” She sighed as she glanced at him and shrugged. “That’s kind of what I was doing out in the cemetery. I mean, I was visiting my brother’s grave, but I was going to try something and then you were there so I couldn’t. But it still ended up going south anyways.” She wished she had a better hold on all of this, but that didn’t seem to be in the cards for her. Not anytime soon.

“I mean, there’s a way. But I can almost promise you that it wouldn’t be worth it in the end. Messing with the balance like that always has its consequences, from what I’ve been told.” Not that she’d messed with that stuff too much. She did accidentally bring a deer back to life fully the other day with Malia, but that didn’t seem to cause too many ripples. Not as many as it would if she brought a human back like her brother seemed to have done several times. “Sometimes things happen for a reason, you know?” She had no idea what happened to his sister, but still.

As they approached the cemetery it looked clear, which felt like a weight lifted off of Mia’s shoulders immediately. “No, I live in Crescent Ranch. The neighborhood by the school.” She explained as they continued to walk. But then he introduced himself and she felt like the name was familiar. It didn’t take her more than a few seconds before she realized that it was on Lydia’s list of people not to trust. “Like.. Theo Raeken?” She asked quietly, hating how small her voice sounded as she glanced nervously at him.

“Sorry for your loss by the way…” Visiting her brother’s grave? Was she there just to pay her respects? Or perhaps it had something to do with her gift? Who knows, even if she couldn’t bring him back, perhaps she could talk with someone from beyond the veil of death? That was intriguing, yet a bit ominous at the same time. “Trying something?” 

“Yeah I imagine… they do.” Theo lowered his eyes. “I mean… Myself… I did end up bringing some people back, but it didn’t end well…” Yeah, it wasn’t the full story though, as far as he knew his pack would have survived their resurrection with the Doctor’s serum, if it wasn’t for him. After all Corey was still alive wasn’t him? Not that he had seen the fellow chimera since his return though. “Wasn’t magic though, but some twisted science. Same one that made me into what I am.” He shrugged. It was a bit of a lie though, his choices made him what he was, the Doctors were just the ‘how’ rather than the ‘why’ of his predicament.

“Ok… let me know if you want some company on the way.” It was not like he had any place to go. “I mean, in a night like this, I wouldn’t want to be alone by myself.” He smiled. 

So she knew who he was, didn’t she? Someone must have told her. Fair. No matter how he craved for a fresh start, he didn’t deserve it. Not yet. “One and only.” He shrugged again. “It’s always nice to know that my reputation precedes me.” Well, not really, but whatever. “And If you are wondering if what they have told you about me is true, well it much likely is… could also be worse actually.” He admitted.

“Thank you and have a nice day,” he said as he handed a bag across the counter to a mom with her bratty daughter. It just seemed so weird that some parents let their kids behave like that. Still, it wasn’t his place. He was not a dad and he had met plenty of privileged kids at his old school. 

As soon as he finished with that customer, he headed to the back (after someone traded places with him) and turned in his till. He clocked out and headed out of the department store and into the mall itself. Kole spent some time looking at a video game store - wondering how much he would need to save to get a console and one game - before leaving again. He headed out of the mall and started his walk home.

@theofromhell​

“I’m glad your life is getting a kind of redo or something. I mean, bad stuff happens but everyone deserves to have good stuff happen to them. Unless they are murderers then I say absolutely not.” Of course Kole had a bad taste in his mouth for murderers and killing. Considering his past, it made a lot of sense to him. “I mean…murdering innocent people. I think there are times where…okay, I’m not going to get into this because this is a celebration.”

Kole nodded his head and finished his drink. “Yeah. go get your stuff and meet me back at the apartment. You can tell me some of what is going on or what happened before. Only what you want to tell me,” he told Theo. Kole stood up and pushed in his chair. “I’ll head back now.”

He left Theo and headed back to the apartment. He quickly got the extra blankets out and put them on the couch. He knew it wasn’t a lot but until Theo got a mattress he would just be staying in the living room. When he heard The return, he opened the door for his friend. “Put whatever in the extra bedroom. It’s yours now, after all.”

“I’m trying at least.” Theo lowered his eyes. “Don’t think I’ll ever make up for my past, not in a million years.” He took a deep breath. “But well.. That’s just too cheap of an excuse to just do nothing right?” He met Kole’s gaze. “I have decided that I’d just try and do my best and… a bit of that decision… I owe it to you man.” He added frankly. 

His heart skipped a beat when Kole mentioned the subject of murder… He definitely was guilty of that. It was his old self maybe. Before a visit to hell. But it was still him, denying it would be lying. And yet. How could he come clean with Kole. That would have meant throwing away everything. Still… Fuck…. 

“People died though and it was my fault, you deserve to know that. If… Well… if you choose not to have me around anymore because of it… I’ll understand.” Coward. That was definitely an understatement. And yet how could he?

“Great…” He wondered though, if Kole wouldn’t change his mind while on the way. The young werewolf, well, he was a good man, perhaps that would be enough. And yet how could he blame him if he decided that Theo wasn’t worth it? Fuck he himself wasn’t sure about it. 

Packing shouldn’t have taken much, after all, he didn’t have a lot to prepare, his possessions pretty much fit into a small backpack. But Theo still found his mind wandering away, maybe… maybe he didn’t deserve this. Kole… his fresh start… perhaps it was too much for him. He still had more than enough to pay for what he had done. 

When he finally got back at the apartment sometimes later, his stolen heart was racing and it had nothing to do with the run that had brought him there.

"Hey man..."

Mia was trying her best to be careful when she went out by herself from now on, so she was carrying a small swiss army knife in her pocket as she headed into towards the cemetery. She really wanted to pay some respects to her mother and Nate, and part of her wondered if maybe she could try to communicate with them. It was kind of optimistic considering she had no idea how to use her powers, but she came prepared. She had a backpack with some candles and a spellbook, as well as some herbs that she figured might be useful. It all felt very... cheesy, but she didn’t see the harm in it. When she finally got there, she set herself up and sat down in front of Nate’s grave first, then began to set the candles up in front of her. But as she lit the first one, she heard a branch snap nearby and froze as she slowly turned around. “Hello?” God, she was going to look crazy with this whole set up. 

Mia wanted to know what he meant by that last statement, but she wasn’t sure if she should ask. It seemed like it was more of a rhetorical statement on his part. Plus, she didn’t know if she even really wanted to know. It might just freak her out.

A faint smile tugged at her lip when he said she didn’t look evil. God, if only he knew. As far as she was concerned, everything about her abilities was evil and she didn’t really want much to do with them. But she knew that wasn’t an option and would only make it worse, no matter how bad she wanted to just give up.  “Well thanks, that’s good to know at least.”

“Like I said, I have no idea what I’m doing. I wasn’t.. I mean, I can control it, but I wasn’t actually that time. I don’t know how. So I guess it just kind of went crazy. I dunno, it wasn’t intentional, whatever it was.” Mia wished she could just turn it all off. It’d be a lot easier for everyone. She paused at his question and raised a single brow, wondering why he was asking. Probably because of whoever’s grave he was looking at back there, no doubt. “I think I can, yes. But I shouldn’t. Stuff like that has a lot of consequences that I don’t really want to mess with if I can help it.” She could tell from hearing about what happened to Nate that he got too intertwined with that sort of stuff and didn’t want to end up killed like he was.

“We can pass by there on the way to the parking lot.” She agreed, wanting to be sure that she hadn’t messed anything else up before they left the woods. The last thing she wanted was to read some news article about zombie deer being spotted in the preserve.

“Well, it’s true you know?” He tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Besides, it’s not like our powers decide who we are right? Even when they are a tad creepy.” He chuckled, but his eyes said another story. “In the end it’s our actions that matters…” Yep, it would have been too easy to just say that what he had done was in his nature, besides, his first ‘transgression’ happened when he was still human. 

“Still learning I imagine?” He tossed, made sense, he had no idea about how her powers worked of course, but they couldn’t have manifested that long ago right? “Maybe you just need some training or something… Dunno experiment a bit somewhere safe.” For her and for whoever might be stumbling on it. Now Beacon Hills had probably an higher density of horror than normal, but there were definitely still enough people that were not ready to stumble upon the walking dead. 

“Yeah guess you are right. I… Well, my sister is buried there… it’s tempting to think that she can get back somehow, but perhaps it’s better this way.” He lowered his eyes. Besides, he had enough of a reunion with her in hell. 

“Ok…” He nodded. “Do you live far?” He tossed while they were both on the way. Now it was not like they were friends or anything, but he would probably feel better knowing that he had escorted her home, especially after what happened. “By the way… I’m Theo.” Did he introduce himself already? Maybe? He wasn’t sure though, after all that had transpired.

Malia rolled her eyes at his cocky statement. “Yeah, yeah, we get it, you got abs, Theo.” She had seen without his shirt countless of times. “But I think you do needed start hitting the gym again, your arms are looking a little bit scrawny.” She teased to see if she could get a reaction out of him. He looked fine but it was just funny to try to see if he would question himself. “I’d get back in there asap. You’ve been slacking too long.” She finally let out a laugh at her antics. Malia thought his plan was a good idea. She found herself agreeing to it. “Okay, go finish your deliveries. I’ll wait in the parking lot in my car. See you in 20?” She began gathering her own stuff on her desk to get ready to clock out.

Twenty minutes later, Malia sat in her car waiting for Theo to appear. She hoped that it was actually twenty minutes and wasn’t going to be stuck waiting for longer. She didn’t like being at her work longer than necessary even if it was just the parking lot. She mindlessly played candy crush on her phone, waiting for the boy to arrive. Malia looked up from her phone time to time to see if she spotted him. After losing on a level, she looked up and spotted him. She waved him over to her car. She let down her window. “So what do you wanna do?”

Theo replied just with a cocky grin.

“Hey what?” He chuckled. “A bit scrawny?” He echoed her, with a faux-offended tone and flexed his muscles.

“I mean, might not go to the gym, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working out, you know?” Yeah, he knew that he must have sounded a bit vain, but whatever, it was mostly his pride talking.

“Deal… be back here in twenty.” Hopefully.

Theo was definitely a bit short of breath when he got to the parking lot. He was late, obviously, in fact he would have been way more if he hadn’t relied to his unnatural stamina and reflexes to accelerate his return at a speed that would have been impossible if he was just human. He checked his cheap watch, how much was it? Ten minutes. Acceptable, at least in his books.

“Hey.” He smiled, ruffling the hair on the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. “Sorry, got you waiting.” He lowered his eyes. “I really underestimated how much it would take, to finish the last delivery… it was like… this old lady…” Excuses, excuses. Then again, it was kinda of his first day after all, his times were still far from perfect and anyway, with no car navigating back to the gym on foot wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

“I’d start with coffee.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Or you know what? I think I might have enough for a drink or two…” He smiled.

“Thank you and have a nice day,” he said as he handed a bag across the counter to a mom with her bratty daughter. It just seemed so weird that some parents let their kids behave like that. Still, it wasn’t his place. He was not a dad and he had met plenty of privileged kids at his old school. 

As soon as he finished with that customer, he headed to the back (after someone traded places with him) and turned in his till. He clocked out and headed out of the department store and into the mall itself. Kole spent some time looking at a video game store - wondering how much he would need to save to get a console and one game - before leaving again. He headed out of the mall and started his walk home.

@theofromhell​

“That’s fine. We can wait until you have saved up enough. My couch isn’t too bad.” Kole understood where Theo was coming from. He wasn’t the type to take out handouts, either. Even when he was in the foster system, he made sure that no one knew if he needed anything. He just didn’t want to seem needy or like a charity case.

Was brothers too fast? He wasn’t sure. But he had been craving a relationship like this for so long that maybe he latched on. He had his sister who would always be his number one (until he was in love of course) but Theo was really cool. He just hated how they had first met. If only Theo had let him know that he didn’t have anything - and yet, he remembered how he didn’t like to take handouts so he knew that Theo would have probably freaked out on him even more than he did.

“Yeah, please don’t turn my place into any kind of party. I do not do good in large social settings.” It was probably from years of not being invited to said large social sessions but he just got really weird and awkward with people he did not know. Hell, he still got awkward with people he did know.

“Yeah. We can definitely go do that. Or you can. And you can meet me back at my place. I have some extra blankets so the couch should be comfortable enough.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s whatever you want to do, man.”

“Deal.” Theo replied enthusiastically. “Yeah I know… Not my first night there, remember?” He smiled at Kole, yep it was the night when the young werewolf picked him from the alley where he was bleeding out. It would definitely do. “Feels great you know? I mean… all of this.” He lowered his eyes. “It’s like… life is starting to tick back in place.” And it was thanks to you man… He left that unsaid, of course, he was too proud to admit it, but if Kole hadn’t ‘saved’ him that night, Theo wasn’t sure that he would have had the motivation to keep fighting for a normal life, wallowing in his guilt was perhaps more painful, yet so much easier. 

“I’m sorry man… too late to back out now.” He chuckled and gave Kole a playful nudge on a shoulder. “Now the parties might have to wait a tiny bit, I mean, it’s not like I’m super popular in town… As you might imagine. I…” He should tell him, right? Maybe not that day though, not in a crowded bar anyway. Still Kole was a fresh start… He didn’t need to know of his past. Yet, this man had just called him ‘brother’ he couldn’t build that on a lie. Not like his pack. That was the old Theo. Yet… it was so much easier. “I have done a few fucked up things in town… if you want to know… I…”

“Great… Give me like one hour or so then… Need to jog at the preserve and back. I don’t have a lot of stuff there, I think I can grab all of it in one go.” Yeah and he could hide his tent or something, in case it was ever needed again.

Mia was trying her best to be careful when she went out by herself from now on, so she was carrying a small swiss army knife in her pocket as she headed into towards the cemetery. She really wanted to pay some respects to her mother and Nate, and part of her wondered if maybe she could try to communicate with them. It was kind of optimistic considering she had no idea how to use her powers, but she came prepared. She had a backpack with some candles and a spellbook, as well as some herbs that she figured might be useful. It all felt very... cheesy, but she didn’t see the harm in it. When she finally got there, she set herself up and sat down in front of Nate’s grave first, then began to set the candles up in front of her. But as she lit the first one, she heard a branch snap nearby and froze as she slowly turned around. “Hello?” God, she was going to look crazy with this whole set up. 

Mia smiled very faintly at the joke when she started to consider it, knowing that both of them were probably just watching horror cliches. That’s what her entire life seemed to be turning into, at least. She just hoped this movie wouldn’t get too many sequels. She hated when they did that. “I am kinda glad I don’t have claws and fangs, I guess.”

“I think some people do, but just.. definitely not me. I’m new at this, if you couldn’t tell.” She was still pretty hesitant to give him too much information, but honestly she felt awkward just walking away and especially after traumatizing him with that dead deer fiasco. “I think I reanimated that. So it wasn’t technically alive, just being controlled by me. If that makes sense. But I didn’t have control so it was just kind of a mess.” She admitted, sighing as she shook her head at herself and then worriedly glanced back at the cemetery. “I think I’d feel it if there was. We should be in the clear. But do you want to walk to the parking lot together just to be safe?” He didn’t seem like he was ready to slit her throat or anything, and she was definitely very scared to walk there alone. At least if he went with he could fight whatever was lurking out there while she ran.

“Your loss.” He grinned. “They aren’t too bad.” Well, a bit conspicuous perhaps. “And it’s not exactly the only trick we can do…” Yep, then again, there was no need to go further with that. 

“Well, if it can help, you don’t look evil to me.” He smiled. Sure, he might not have been exactly in a position to judge anyway, but whatever. He found himself listening to hear heartbeat again. Was she ashamed of her gift or something? Perhaps… dealing with death wasn’t always easy. 

“You did? But it still came after you? That’s messed up.” He shook his head. “You did put that thing back down though, so no biggie.” Then he frowned. “Can you? I mean… Can you bring people back too? Not just reanimate them I mean.” Now that was tempting wasn’t it? And yet, it hasn’t exactly worked out when he had done the same himself, thanks to the Doctor’s miracle serum.

“Yeah… Just in case,... Maybe we should check if something in still there… I don’t think that the graveyard has many visitors at this time of the night, but I mean… “ Not everyone was a creature of the night that could stand toe to toe with a zombie, or whatever that thing that was chasing them was.

“I was ready to take anything after applying so many places and not hearing back, so I get it.” If she hadn’t gotten hired soon, she would have gone crazy. Thankfully, the gym stopped that from happening by offering her a spot. She laughed at his comment. “I know who would have thought. You? The boy who had an evil agenda. And me? The girl who spent most of life on four paws. Now we’re just a little bit more normal. Not completely though.” She replied with a grin on her face. There lives would never be completely normal. Or at least the normal that the world knew. Malia had accepted that a long time ago. “How do you know I’ll be on shift if you got a delivery here? Don’t get me the coffee.”

“Umm..” She grabbed her phone out of her back pocket. Her shift was almost over. She had been there for seven hours already. She was itching to get out of the building. “I only have like 15 minutes left. You still got a lot to do? If you do want to do something later, could just meet up like you said.” She shrugged. Malia had nothing else planned for today.

“Yeah… I’d say that you are still pretty extraordinary.” He chuckled. “But exactly, besides, at least speaking of me, it’s helping me out finding a place in the world, if you know what I’m saying...” Yeah right, all there was no escape from what they were, but that didn’t mean that either of them was forced to be defined by their supernatural side. Theo had fallen into that trap for most of his life and god if he knew that it didn’t make things better. 

“I had no idea actually, only found out when I saw you.” He shrugged. “I must admit that I haven’t yet managed to catch up with anyone of the gang…” Yep, perhaps for the best. “So no one told me of your new job. Still, who knows, maybe you’ll see me as a customer one day. I mean not that I need it.” He smirked. Not that he was gonna be able to afford a pass anytime soon though and anyway, he had found way to stay in shape regardless. 

“I got a couple left in the neighbourhood. I mean Beacons Hills ain’t exactly a metropolis I should be done soon… We can catch up here in 20 or something?”

“I didn’t know you were doing deliveries now.” Malia retorted with a grin on her face. She had seen Theo since their last adventure. Not long after is when she got hired and began spending most of her days at the gym training and working. “I just started a couple of weeks ago. That’s why I’ve been out of the loop. But my hours are finally come back down to a tolerable amount.” Her previous schedule didn’t really allow for much interaction with others. She would just be catching up on sleep before doing it all over. Now she had time to spend with friends while still getting a big enough paycheck for her liking. “So how you been? You ever run into the park ranger again?” She teased. Malia looked around to make sure no one was around before carrying the boxes herself to put them on the ground. She didn’t need her coworkers to question her supernatural strength. “Probably not the best time to catch up with you..you got a lot of deliveries left to make?”

“Me neither to be honest, it’s kinda the first time my boss trusts me with that.” Yep, story of his life it seemed. “Found something to do at a warehouse a bit out of town…. Ain’t amazing.” He lowered his eyes. “But it’s a start right, I mean I can afford to share a room now, sure it beats a tent at the preserve.”

“Well, look at us, both becoming productive members of society.” He chuckled. “Would you have ever imagined?” Himself, no not really, he hadn’t been made for the mundane world, since his change when he wasn’t even a teenager. And yet there he was. “Although, I can offer you a coffee one of these days now, so there definitely are plusses.”

“Well, I did, but fortunately he didn’t recognize me with my clothes on.” Theo laughed, the memory of the accident still clear in his mind. “Thanks god. Not that he was that happy to see me camping there though…” Yep. “And I kinda imagine that hunting in the preserve isn’t exactly legal, but I mean, can’t stop a coyote right, it’s just natural.” He chuckled again.

“Not many, still need to build up some confidence from my bosses… How long is your shift though? Maybe we can catch something later?”