Aurora's outfit:
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Chapter Eighty-Six
⚔ Genotype ⚔
Malia, Aurora and Lydia walk into the hospital morgue and Aurora walked over and opens the cubby that contains Halwyn's body in a black body bag. She glanced at Malia and Lydia before unzipping the bag. He looked just like he did when he was killed by Monroe. A large bullet wound is in the center of his head, and his chest is covered in claw gashes from his battle with Liam.
"Well, it's still here. Still dead. What else were we supposed to do?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Figure out how a Hellhound led me into the woods to find another faceless body while being technically dead." Lydia said and Aurora raised her eyebrows.
"Technically?" She asked and Lydia nodded, "I don't think I would have been led out there if he was fully dead." Lydia said and Malia made a face as she glanced down at the body. "I don't think we should be hanging out here waiting for him to spring back to life." She said.
"We don't have to wait if we can figure out how he was able to reach me." Lydia said and Aurora raised an eyebrow, "How do we do that?" She asked and Lydia looked down at him and shrugged slightly, "We're just going to have to ask him."
Lydia lays still on a steel autopsy table with her eyes closed and her hands folded over her abdomen. Her head is inches away from Halwyn's in his autopsy cubby. After a moment, Malia, who was crouched down next to the table, peeks her head up by Lydia and Halwyn's heads.
"Anything yet?" She asked making Lydia's eyes fly open, and she rolls them irritably before she responds in a terse tone of voice, "As opposed to when you asked three minutes ago? No." She said before groaning and standing to her feet.
"Ugh. It's not working." Lydia said, "Maybe you should touch him?" Malia suggested and Lydia scoffed and rolls her eyes again, "That's ridiculous. There's no way-" She started to say but Malia grabs her hand and plants it on Halwyn's arm making Aurora cringe slightly before standing up from where she sat on a stool.
"Anything?" Malia asked and Lydia made a face, clearly not happy about touching a corpse. "Nothing." She said. Malia grabs Lydia's hand and places it on Halwyn's clawed-up chest, "What about now?" She asked. Lydia makes a noise of disgust, clearly grossed out, and rolls her neck as Malia holds her hand down, "Nope."
Malia takes Lydia's hand and places it on Halwyn's chin this time, much to Lydia's exasperation, "Now?" She asked as Aurora raised her eyebrows slightly when Lydia gave her a look. Lydia yanked her hand away from Halwyn and Malia and gives her a look, "Okay, stop."
Malia makes an equally grossed-out face as she gently turns Halwyn's head to the left, exposing the back of his neck to them. She then looks at Lydia and Aurora, "I could try it?" She said and Aurora instantly shook her head.
"You could damage his brain, probably even more than that bullet already has." Aurora said and Lydia nodded making Malia look slightly relieved by this answer and gingerly returns Halwyn to the prone position before beginning to pace around the room.
"How did it work last time?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Last time, I was unconscious." Lydia said and Malia nodded slowly. "Unconscious..." She mumbled as she looked around the room, eventually finding a large steel surgical hammer and smiling, "Okay, we can work with that!" She said making Aurora's eyes widen and look at her horrified as Malia banged it against the autopsy exam table to emphasize her point after explaining her idea.
"See? It will be quick!" Malia said and Lydia shook her head,"No. Mmm-mmm. Not like that." Lydia said making Malia frown. "You want me to knock you out, right?" Malia asked and Lydia shook her head, "Render unconscious. Preferably without pain." She said.
"I'll do a spell. The spell I use to put people to sleep will hopefully last long enough and doesnt have any side effects." Aurora said and Lydia nodded, "Good idea." She said and Aurora walked up to her. "Ready?" Aurora asked and Lydia nodded before Aurora raised her hand and her necklace started to glow.
"Somnos." Aurora whispered making Lydia's eyes roll back before she started to fall. Aurora grabbed her before gently blowing her to the ground then stepping back. "How long do you think she'll be out?" Malia asked, turning to Aurora who shrugged slightly, "Maybe ten minutes." She said.
A little while later suddenly gasps awake making Malia and Aurora run over to help Lydia. "He's not dead!" Lydia said then pauses briefly to catch her breath, "Halwyn's not dead... And I know how to save him." Lydia said, glancing over at her friends.
⚔
Aurora, Lydia and Malia, in navy blue scrubs, masks and cap, wheel Halwyn on a gurney into the radiology wing. When they make it into the room where the MRI machine is located, they remove their masks and caps while Aurora checked the hall before nodding slightly.
"Step one, complete." Aurora said as she walked over to Lydia and Malia, "Now, how do we turn this thing on?" Malia asked. Lydia pulls out her phone and holds it out so that Malia and Aurora can see the screen, which reads "MRI Technical Operations Manual". "We read the manual." She said and Aurora nodded, "Good enough."
After a few minutes they move to the observation room, where Lydia typed something into the computer. Malia and Aurora watched over Lydia's shoulder as she used the controls to put Halwyn's body into the MRI machine. After a moment, imaging of his brain comes up on the screen, which Lydia uses to show them the bullet.
"Look- see that image artifacting? That means the bullet is ferromagnetic. Probably steel. It'll react in the MRI. We'll increase the magnet's power, and the machine will pull the bullet right out." She said and then turns to look at them wide eyed, "Ready? It could get messy." She asked and Aurora raised her eyebrows m.
"I think we've all seen messy." Aurora said and Malia nodded, "Go for it." She said. Lydia extends her index finger and is about to hit the start button when Aurora noticed something on the screen. "Stop. We can't do this." She said making them look at her.
"What are you talking about?" She asked and Aurora shook her head slightly, "The bullet- it's not just steel." She said then points at one of the images on the screen. "Those fragments around it... That's silver. The bullet was coated with it. Silver won't react in the MRI. We pull that bullet out, and he'll start to heal." Aurora explained and Malia nodded, "Healing is good!" She said and Aurora shook her head.
"Not when he's a Hellhound. He'll heat up and when he heats up, that silver is going to melt." Aurora said and and realization crossed over Lydia's face as she slowly nodded, "And seep right into his brain." She said.
"So, what's a little silver?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed softly, "Argyria. Silver poisoning. And we have no way of getting it out." She said and Malia looks at Halwyn with a defeated expression. "So, if we take out the bullets, he dies again." She said and they nodded.
Malia anxiously looked out of the small window in the door to the MRI room to ensure that there is no one coming who could blow their cover. After a moment of seeing nothing, she returns to the observation room with Lydia and Aurora, who both is clearly conflicted by their dilemma.
"There has to be another way." Aurora said and Malia nodded, "Yeah... If we had more time, I'm sure we could figure something out, but we don't. Someone is gonna come through that door any second now and bust us. Our last shot at figuring out how to beat the Anuk-ite might be laying on that table, so we need to make a decision right now." Malia said.
Lydia rolled her eyes and gives Malia an exhausted but exasperated look, "You don't mean "decide"- you mean "do it."" She said and brushes past Malia and begins pacing as they talk. "Yeah, I think it's the right decision. If it were Parrish, he'd want us to do it. He would sacrifice himself for everyone in Beacon Hills." Malia said and Aurora shook her head.
"Jordan would be able to make the decision himself. We don't know what Halwyn would do." Aurora said and Malia thinks for a brief moment, "We kind of do." She said making them look at her with raised eyebrows.
"He built Eichen. He froze himself for years so that he could be ready to fight the Anuk-ite. The first thing he does when he's unfrozen is start hunting the thing. If that's the only thing he's ever cared about... Then he'd want us to do this." Malia said and Aurora thought for a moment before sighing, "She does have a point." She said looking over at Lydia.
Lydia hesitated for a moment as she placed her fingers on the sliding switches for the magnetic component, eventually getting the nerve to slide them up all the way to increase the magnetism and remove the bullet.
The girls watch as the the MRI machine begins to revive Halwyn by pulling the bullet out of his brain. After a moment, Malia frowns worriedly, "Something's wrong." She said making Aurora look at her, "What is it?" She asked and Malia focused on her hearing.
"His heartbeat... it's too fast, and erratic." Malia said and then suddenly, Halwyn begins seizing, his muscles spasming painfully as the MRI continues to do its work. The girls all look at each other with alarm as Aurora tapped Lydia's shoulder, "Turn it off."
Lydia wastes no time hitting the buttons on the keyboard in an attempt to turn off the machine, "Hurry!" Malia said. Lydia manages to successfully turn the MRI machine off, but it takes a few more moments to fully power down, which is just enough time for it to forcibly yank the bullet out of Halwyn's brain.
Halwyn, now conscious, stops seizing and instead roars in pain at the top of his voice, his eyes blazing with fire and his fangs extended. The lights flickered for a moment before completely shutting off, sending the whole hospital into a blackout a brief moment, the back-up generator kicks in.
The girls ran into the next room and stare open-mouthed at Halwyn, who had just stood weakly to his feet. It soon becomes obvious that his fire-based healing power is already starting to kick in to heal him of his wounds, as a steam-like aura can be seen around his body. Halwyn turns towards to them and growls under his breath.
"Where is it?" He growled before trying to lunge toward them, but ends up getting woozy and falls into them, forcing them to gently lower him to the ground, leaning his back against the wall. Panting for breath, he frowns in confusion, "What's happening?" He asked and the girls share a grim look before Malia speaks up.
"The Anuk-ite is destroying our city, that's what's happening. And we need you to tell us how to kill it." Malia said and Halwyn looks overwhelmed by this news, and Aurora's face fell slightly as she tried to get Lydia and Malia's attention, "Guys..."
Malia ignores her and continues to question him, "Does it have any weaknesses? Is there a weapon that we can use?" Malia asked. "Guys!" Aurora said louder making finally stop talking as she and Lydia look at Aurora, who nodded to Halwyn's face.
They all looked alarmed once they saw molten silver beginning to pour out of his nose. Halwyn brought his hand up to his wipe and wiped some of it off before looking down at his finger then back at the girls with wide eyes, "What did you do to me?"
"I'm sorry... It was the only way to revive you." Aurora said and Halwyn chuckled darkly at her, "Revive me so I can die?" He asked making them sigh. "No, so you could help us. Tell us how to stop it." Malia asked and Halwyn, who is now bleeding silver from his mouth as well, sighs defeatedly, "You can't stop it. You can't kill it." He said and Aurora furrowed her brows. "But you did..." She said making him look at her, "I trapped it." He corrected.
"Well, how do we do that?" Malia asked impatiently, "Don't let it find its other half." He said. "How do we know it hasn't found it already?" Lydia asked and he looked at her grimly, "Because you wouldn't be alive to tell me." He said before pausing to take a deep breath.
"Keep them apart. It's still weak." He said, "One of them isn't so weak- it's supernatural." Lydia said making Halwyn look at her with wide eyes. "A shapeshifter?" He asked and Aurora nodded, "A Werewolf." She said making him look at her.
"You can't let the two halves merge. If you do, you won't be able to catch it." He said and silver begins to bleed from the gunshot wound in his forehead, and he groans in pain as the silver poisoning spreads throughout his body. The girls looked at each other with guilty expressions, clearly saddened by what they've done, "We shouldn't have done this. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Lydia said.
Aurora took a deep breath before grabbing his hand as her necklace glowed. "Accipere dolorem suum." Aurora said in a low whisper making him sigh softly as the pain started to disappear. He looked at her thankfully as silver now pours out of both of his ears and his right eye as well as his mouth, nose, and open wounds.
"Okay, listen to me. If it finds its other half... if the two become one... do not look at it." He asked and his eyes start to flicker orange-red with fire as more molten silver runs from his eyes like tears, and he starts gasping for breath.
"You can't. It will kill you with a look." He said before taking one last raspy breath as his body goes weak and limp. The girls look devastated by what happened to him and their role in it and share a grieving expression.