Chapter Text
Theo Raeken was an enigma, in Liam’s honest and humble opinion.
There was just something about the older werewolf that made him feel as if he were a moth drawn to a bright and alluring flame. It didn’t matter to him if the boy’s sudden appearance in town was only days before a supernatural with glowing bright blue claws almost manages to kill his alpha. Nor how his past didn’t always make the most sense or how chaos followed the older boy with the stubbornness of a shadow on a hot and sunny day; there was no escaping what was to come.
Though, considering how he had lived in Beacon Hills, California for most of his life, he should have expected what eventually would come to pass.
And yet, Theo still managed to captivate him with his mirth filled emerald green eyes and his cocksure playful smile.
Liam didn’t understand how interwoven their lives had and would become when they met on that cold September night. He just remembers how instantly he became addicted to him; they haven’t even officially met and he was already lost on him from his scent alone. And when his conflicted blue eyes met the brilliant green of the elder’s own, he was taken aback from what he saw, because for the first time in his short but long life someone looked at him as though there was more to him than anger. More than just an uncontrollable disorder he never asked for, more than just the burden the people he called his pack saw him as. As someone who had an enormous amount of inner strength that was buried deep underneath a mask, one that would shield that part of him from the rest of the world; a mask that the boy managed to snap in two within the first two minutes of meeting.
Something that just made this entire sinuation even more confusing.
And then Beacon Hills did what it does best, it went batshit crazy.
Theo Raeken came to town in the middle of a hurricane and left it in a tomb of his own making. He finds himself starring at where the ground swallowed up the older boy as his long lost (and dead) sister sought her revenge. He can’t make himself look away, half expecting the hysteretical chimera to crawl back up towards the surface with a fiery vengeance. But when his best friend, who’s covered in blood, begins to pull him away from what is now a seventeen-year-old boy’s grave; it feels as anticlimactic as it does final. And he doesn’t know how to feel about it all.
Theo Raeken always managed to confuse him it seemed.
He learns to move on, lets life carry on as much as it could for a sixteen-year boy whose life was turned upside down as it had.
He goes to school with whoever managed to survive the last few chaotic months and he still finds himself holding his breath; waiting for the other shoe to drop which always seemed to happen in the town of Beacon Hills, California. Watches his best friend, his brother in all things but blood, fall in love with his other half and it makes him feel things he wished he didn't. He let his hair grow out and he starts to fill out and grow into the body of a werewolf in the early stages of adolescence.
He starts to date the girl he almost murdered his alpha for. She was kind, and she was smart, and she was always a step over the edge. Just one more thing to happen in their small town and she would ultimately leave, it could be seen from miles away. She loved him as much as he loved her, but they weren't ‘in’ love with each other; it was just a puppy love whirlwind romance with a sprinkle of teenage hormones mixed in. And before he knew it six months had passed since they murdered a boy who deserved it at the time.
And then the next 'big bad' waltzed its way into town and messed everything up.
People had been disappearing left and right, snatched away into the night with a sound of a gunshot being fired and followed by a gut reaching scream. The entire pack was loosing their collective minds over a boy who may not even exist and he’s forced to be the one who has to pick up the pieces. Leaving him to turn down the only avenue they had left; releasing Theo Raeken from wherever the hell they’ve kept him hostage all this time.
He doesn't remember much of that moment besides what it felt like to split earth in two, the loss of blood flow in his fingers from how tight he was gripping the sword, the shortness of breath that came when his eyes met the shifted yellow one’s of the chimera of death.
It was just as exhilarating as it was terrifying.
Theo shoves him up against the cold concrete wall with as much force as a wild animal in the midst of a hunt. His irises moving in every which direction, as if they were trying to find any oncoming threat, and for a second he wants to know what caused the boy he used to know to become this afraid.
Then came the utter stillness Theo brought to life by asking for a girl who has long since been dead. His stolen heart skips a beat when he sadly realizes that he and Hayden were telling him the truth; Liam can’t even begin to identify the plethora of emotions that from within him when the chimera’s addicting scent turns sour with guilt at the mention of Tara Raeken.
Maybe it was the stress of the situation they found themselves in or the animosity he felt now towards the chimera, but no matter what he did the older could do no right in anyone's opinion; especially Liam’s own. He had none of the powers he ruthlessly killed others for, just the sight of him just put everyone on edge, he had that 'look' in his eyes that Liam now knew as a sign that the chimera of death knew more about something then them; and with finding out who Douglas was he finds that he was right for making that assumption.
But then they were at the hospital.
Harsh words are thrown at each other like daggers, words that were made to burn hot enough to scar their very souls. He knows he succeeds in his attempt to hurt Theo, just as how he did by his betrayal, with how violently Theo reacts to what he feels about the punishment he was condemned for his crimes. His eyes became hollow within only a few seconds, and Liam could hear Theo’s teeth gritting against each other to the point he knew it had to be painful.
But then the eerie hallways were swarming with phantoms driven by their need to hunt, their prey being them, and they fought together.
Falling in sync with one another without even realizing it until they managed to save each other at the same exact time, it affects them so much that they forget they were only temporary allies instead of friends. They go to fist bump each other in an act of solidarity, but alas their moment was interrupted by more riders and Liam instantly knew they were done for, so might as well go down fighting right?
Well…
He was wrong since within moments he found himself engulfed in the arms of the older boy and thrown onto the linoleum floor of an all too familiar, and miraculously open, elevator.
Liam couldn't fathom why Theo would risk his life for Liam’s own.
Why in the moment of being able to make a run for it, and possibly live a few more moments, would the chimera of death through all his efforts in making sure an angry teenage werewolf would make it out alive?
Theo just smirked and said back the words Liam used as a threat minutes before and when the doors closed, leaving a titanium wall separating them, he pushed himself up against them as hard as he could and listened to Theo Raeken's last moments.
Another thing to add to his recurring nightmares, along with the boy’s screams as a vengeful ghost dragged him to the very pits of hell and of the monsters wearing the skins of bears and wore the ruby red eyes of Scott McCall.
By some higher power, Theo made it back in time to save him again. Allowing him to run off into the sunset on a horse, an animal he's never been within a hundred of ever in his life, as he stayed behind; wearing a lovesick smile that Liam would never learn existed.
They saved the day and then the boy got lost in the chaos of the pack moving on from Beacon Hills and the dust falling from Hayden’s departure.
He gets wrapped up in the mood swings and depression that come with being dumped by a significant other, even if the split was obvious as day. And he starts the second half of his sophomore year as the substitute, he's not even sure if that's the right to describe it, alpha of Beacon Hills while the older pack is practically dragged by their hair out of county lines so that they could finally start their next phase of life without the chaos that the hills of Beacon bring.
It didn't last of course, lasted only like three months before everything went to absolute shit again.
He needs to stop being so surprised he tells himself.
He never listens of course.
It was the first time he learned what it was like to lose someone.
He and Brett, in addition to Lori, never got along when they both went to Devenford Prep together. He and Brett butted heads so much that they couldn't be left alone with one another for even a moment without fists flying like missiles directed at a target. But they were getting better! Yeah, Brett was still…
Well…
Brett...
He was still an asshole and he knew it with the way he smirked, but with Liam in a different school -and no more of the tall werewolf taking out his aggressions on him in the barren cages of an abandoned zoo- they were starting to become rivals; it was almost nice.
And then it was stolen from them, their lives taken for what? Absolutely fucking nothing! He had never experienced pain like this before, he felt it in every bone, every cell in his body. The pain was so excruciating, so dense and endless it seemed like there was no way for him to get through it; let alone get past it. He lost control, even he could admit how much he fucked up in that moment -but could you blame him? - and he let his blue ocean eyes fade to bright dandelion yellow and his fangs drop as he aguishly howls at the moon; his ache felt by any supernatural creature within a fifty miles radius.
After that it was like his anger was more out of control than usual, he couldn't tell if it had something to do with the Anuk-Ite or not. He just wanted to destroy everything and anyone who got in his way. Liam couldn't understand why they were being hunted.
For fucks sake they weren't bothering anyone!
Wasn't that the hunter -not including Argent of course- code? ‘We hunt those who hunt us?’ They were highschoolers! Brett and Lori were just sixteen-year-old and fourteen-year-old kids who had their entire life ahead of them and now they were dead. And now he, along with the rest of Beacon Hills high, walked the halls in fear. He couldn't stand it. And no one could answer him for why this was happening.
Scott would just give him a patronizing smile, like a parent talking to a child, and walk away. It infuriated him to no end. Malia and Lydia were no better, Scott's beta was Scott's problem in the end it seemed. They would give him an annoyed look before Malia would say something irritating while Lydia's eyebrow began to rise on the one side, then they would follow after Scott.
It was more humiliating than one could even imagine, made him want to gouge his eyes out and scream his head off.
But it all came to head when they were blockaded inside the sheriff's station and he meets a familiar pair of brilliant emerald green eyes; the same eyes that a part of him missed more than anything, not that he would ever admit that outloud. And it suddenly becomes to much as he completely loses it, he no longer has any control of his emotions.
He knows his words were downright cruel, that they hurt the other boy more than a stab to the chest; but he couldn't find himself to care about that when he was about to explode. And it somehow gets worse when an arrow blasts through the supposedly bulletproof window; attached to it was a piece of blood-stained green fabric that belonged to a boy he was in the middle of mourning.
He feels his humanoid eyes slip into that of his supernatural ones, and his claws lengthen, something none of them needed in this instance. Which fortunately for him, Theo seems to know this without being it being voiced aloud. He takes his wrist between his own cold fingers and drags him towards the bathroom. Funnily enough, Theo Raeken will always be Theo Raeken, regardless of the physical and mental scars the boy wears. So, he digs, his words hurt and it sets Liam over the edge in a way that feels like it's giving him back control of himself; he should have known from this moment on how twisted their lives would become.
It's a symphony of chaos and tranquility all in one breath, it's as alarming as it is calming and he can’t even begin to interpret what this means for either of them. Has no hope at all in how to wrap his mind around it, let alone to pull the threads lose and learn what it entails.
Liam breaks the older boy’s nose out of annoyance more than spite, the chimera heals within minutes of course, and he leaves Theo on the floor as Liam rejoins the others. When Theo comes back he almost immediately begins to flank his left side. The chimera of death becomes his shield, his protector, and when Theo follows his lead in unsheathing his claws he becomes his warrior as well. They come out of it alive somehow, the two of them taking ephemeral glimpses of the other when their heads are turned; the both of them denying they looked at all.
It somehow gets stranger, which at this point should be the town motto, as they are tasked with being the distraction team once again.
Except this time Liam leads them to the abandoned zoo that reminds him of a certain curly blonde jackass in more bad ways then good. The tiny hairs at the base of his neck stand up in preparation of the possibility that lacrosse balls will be thrown at him with as much force as bullets. He's severely overwhelmed, way past being able to find an anchor in the storm of his once again endless emotional turmoil; and somehow Theo knows this.
Just as he always does.
He takes his wrist, just like he did what was only a day or so ago, in his chilled hands. Pulling him away from the oncoming threat of hunters in order to get his head back on straight. And when Liam fails to do so, he stops him from doing something he would regret.
"It's progress," Theo tells him. Liam doesn't believe him about this particular topic, not one bit.
It's not the only time Theo says this to him, he does so again when Liam has a boy's face slammed up against a shattered locker room mirror. He doesn’t even care at this point that he’s using enough force to draw blood.
Then Theo makes some type of joke, something regarding the both of them getting away with murder in a way that sounds way more complicated than just letting the asshole who almost killed his brother go. It pisses him the fuck off, but he reseeds and Gabe the hunter falls pathetically to the vinyl floor as he takes it up with Theo.
Because once again the boy who he hated more than anyone -so not true by the way- has somehow become his knight in shining armor. He can't stand it! Makes him want to break his nose a few more times; that or watch as the older boy face lightens as Liam tells him all the random history facts running around his head.
'Not the time!' He tells himself as sternly as he can.
But Theo looks at him the same way he did when they first met, hesitant and observing at the same time, recognizing that there is more to Liam Eugene Dunbar than whatever the fuck the Anuk-Ite is forcing him to be.
It's…
Liam doesn't know how to describe it to be frank, he remembers all the times he lost it before he met Theo Raeken.
Of Derek throwing him up against a row of lockers and the older man’s deranged laughter.
Of Stiles’ condescending huff at the fact that they now had him to deal with on top of everything else.
Of Scott looking at both of them lost, treating Liam almost inhuman like with the way they all ignore who he is for a disorder he didn't ask for.
Theodore Karl Raeken has seen many things in his short eighteen years of life -he was raised by a couple of century old mad scientists so that was kind of obvious- but he wants… No, he needs to know what those mesmerizing emerald eyes see in him.
Liam finds himself in the arms of the older boy in that stupid elevator once again; in a hospital that should have been burned down at this point from all the shit luck it's had in the past few years.
Liam looks at him with a tightened jaw and clenched fists. He doesn't want to die, he's too young for it, and neither does Theo it seems when he voices his contradictory words, along with a slip in the older boy’s rhythmic heartbeat that makes Liam look away. But then Liam has an idea: the idea. Fighting with each other, solidifying the bond that's been forming between them since the last time that they were in this blasted hospital together.
And Theo looks taken aback; his eyes widening in shock and he's practically speechless with how his mouth hanging open. But then he says ‘okay’ and Liam feels something click into place, something that feels like it's always been there but hidden at the same time. And maybe Theo feels it too because when those doors open they charge forwards into battle as if they were a single being instead of two entirely separate entities. He jumps just as Theo ducks and vice versa. It's absolutely breathtaking; it’s to the point that if he weren't actively living through this, he wouldn't believe it was happening to begin with.
Then Gabe, it's always Gabe it seems, has a gun.
It's large and it's loaded and Liam takes a stuttered breath because he knows there's a high possibility of neither of them living. And as Nolan screams to get down, Theo is grabbing him and pushing forward with a hand on his wrist and the other on the smalls of his back.
And then the hunter is impaled by numerous bullets that he has no chances of surviving.
He drags his body painfully inch by inch until he is sitting up, he has tears in his eyes and he's crying out in pain. Before Liam, or anyone really -because Mason and Corey (oh hey guys) join Nolan and Melissa at his side- can blink Theo is on the floor.
The chimera wears a look on his face that Liam has never seen grace the elder’s face, one he doubts said boy has even realized is there. Theo takes the dying boy's hand between his own as rivers of black flow from the soon-to-be dead boy to the living one, a feat Liam isn't even capable of half the time and he's been a werewolf for almost a year at this point.
He hears Mason take a shocked breath, something he will definitely ask about when this is all over and they can finally get some adequate rest.
"Does it hurt?" Theo asks, his voice filled with determination.
"No," Gabe admits as his breaths begin to slow to a stop.
"Good," Theo replies. His eyes not leaving the hunter until the light of his soul dies in his hazel irises and there is nothing but a corpse in its wake.
Liam forces himself look away, even though every single part of him dreads the action. He picks up a walkie talkie, the frantic voice of Monroe is what meets him. He turns it on just as Theo takes up his usual position of standing behind him.
"You lost," Liam says before he turns it off. And at sixteen years old he manages to survive a full-blown war.
"Let's go," Theo says kindly. His hand lands on his shoulder to urge him to get up and follow the older boy, Liam does but he's extremely confused.
"You guys too," Theo announces as he points to Mason, Corey, and surprisingly Nolan.
Melissa raises an eyebrow in confusion, wanting to point out the obvious bullet wounds still in his own and Theo's body and for some reason decides against it.
Theo leads them like a duck and its children to his hazardously parked truck, that in any other circumstance the chimera would be given a ticket for, and ushers them inside. Mason is squished between Nolan and Corey in the back, while he takes up the passenger seat in the front. The ride to wherever they are going is quiet. All of them processing what they just barely survived.
Theo sends him a kind look and he smiles in return; butterflies fill his belly for some reason and if he had more energy he knows he would flush bright red.
Eventually Theo parks them in front of a building he wishes he wished he would never see again; the entrance to the tunnels.
"Theo," he asks uncertain and the older boy just smiles and nods; voicelessly asking him to get out of his truck.
They all do but at a varying pace, injured and tired does not make one equipped to go one random after battle adventure.
The tunnels are just as creepy and eerily silent as the last time they were there. Theo ignores their questions and doubts, just shows them the way to what used to be the Dread Doctors' evil lair; now turned triage for…
"Brett?" Liam gasps in shock at the older boy sitting on the concrete floor along with a bunch of other supernatural beings.
The blonde looks up when he hears his name being called and instantly moves, Lori moving to help him stand and Liam runs to them to lessen the strain on both of them.
They don't hug, they aren't there yet; maybe one day. But they shake hands firmly as they look at each other straight in the eye.
Liam tilts his head to the side, his blue ocean eyes falling onto a now sheepish chimera in silent question. Theo shrugs nervously just as Corey gasps in shock. Liam looks at the chameleon with questioning eyes as he calls Theo a 'son of a bitch.'
"Are you confused?" Nolan asks Mason in an attempt at a whisper, "cause I sure as hell am."
"You had more of that stuff?" Corey accuses the other with his finger pointing at him in fury. "Since when?"
Theo shrugs again; suddenly speechless now of all times.
And that's when Liam understands when Corey means, Corey was dead but Theo brought him back. Brett and Lori were dead, Theo brought them back with something they all thought lost with the arrival and fall of Douglas.
"Why?" Liam manages to whisper.
Theo looks up slightly, Liam only catching a minor glimpse of his tantalizing emerald before the chimera once again looks at the dirt covered concrete.
"Don't know," Theo decides but they all know is a lie from the way his heart skips a beat. His cheeks darken into a crimson red from embarrassment. Then he opens his mouth again and says, "didn't want you to do something you'll regret."
It's only eight words, well technically less because the older boy mumbled the entire thing; he's only able to understand it due to his werewolf hearing.
But the words mean so much more than anyone else could ever realize; it’s something for only the two of them to understand.
Liam smiles and Theo grins back, it's a nice look on him; one he hopes to see again (spoiler alert he definitely succeeds a multitude of other times). And he walks over to him. This time it’s him who takes the other’s hand and he wordlessly interlaces their fingers together; it's just the beginning for them.
Liam Eugene Dunbar still finds Theodore Karl Raeken an enigma, one he wants to learn every part of; he can't wait.
He should've known that good things never last in the town of Beacon Hills, California. Epically for a werewolf….