CHAPTER NINETEEN
CORRUPTED
valencia had practised, and practised, and practiced, until she couldn't practice anymore. literally. she was pushing herself, she knew she was, but there was no time. she had to do this for her friends, her family, for the town of beacon hills.
she collapsed onto the bed in exhaustion, it was late in the afternoon and soon her and theo would be leaving to meet with liam and scott to save mason.
"you okay, val?" theo asked in concern, going to sit on the bed beside her where she was. the girl let out a dramatic groan and ran her hands down her tired face, staring up at the ceiling. "i take that as no."
"i am so tired from practising and i'm scared that i won't know what to do and it'll be all my fault if anyone dies. i'm- im losing it, theo." valencia began to ramble on quickly, shooting up from her spot and sitting with her legs crossed instead. "like what if it comes down to the moment and- and the thing deucalion was taking about, the like person that takes over my body when my powers are activated, what if that doesn't happen? or what if i die? what if i use too much of my powers?"
theo leaned forward, placing his lips gently on valencia's, her rambling finally stopping, making the room go silent. theo pulled away and cupped valencia's cheek with a small smile. "valencia malin. you can do anything, i promise you. i believe in you."
a smile slowly crept onto valencia's face and she nodded her head slightly, pecking theo's lips once again. "thank you, theo. but if you're wrong i will slap you silly." theo held out his pinky for valencia to shake and the girl chuckled. "i feel like a five year old."
valencia wrapped her pinky around theo's and theo pulled it over to his lips, placing a kiss upon them. the two looked back at each other again with smiles on their faces.
"god, you are a such a simp."
•••••
"where is he?" scott asked as the four of them made their way through the dark, cold forest in the middle of the night.
"i thought we were looking for him," theo said to the mccall who walked alongside him. valencia walked beside liam, the two not even bothering to speak to one another.
"you know who i'm talking about," scott added with a sigh escaping his lips and he looked over to theo.
"deucalion?"
"you shouldn't trust him," scott tried to tell theo.
"and you're the one who let him live," theo shot back at the boy but he didn't turn around, he stared straight forward into the misty trees of beacon hills forest.
"i'm not a murderer," scott muttered and valencia let out a scoff to which scott and liam ignored but theo smirked slightly at the girl.
valencia looked down at her arms, feeling goosebumps bumps from the cold temperature of the night. she lifted up her hand and held it over her skin. without even realising, her eyes shone like a bright flame and her skin began to heat up.
though she stopped after a moment of beating herself up, knowing that she needed to learn control over her powers in case they got out of hand. because like deucalion had said, once her powers were activated, it was like a whole other person would take over her body.
"you still think you're gonna get through all this without killing anyone?" theo asked the alpha, looking for a genuine answer.
"i didn't say that," scott muttered back and looked down at the leafy grass below them.
liam stopped which made everyone else stop and turn to look at him. he stared down at his shoes with a frown, "we're close."
"you get his scent?" scott asked his beta to which liam looked up and nodded his head at scott. theo and valencia shared a look as silence fell upon the group of four.
"which why?" theo asked and looked in between scott and liam curiously.
silence again.
"you think you're going to leave us behind?" theo realised and began to question the two werewolves. valencia placed her hands on her hips and decided it was best not to speak so she stayed quiet.
"liam..." scott whispered and looked over at the beta.
"look, they want to kill him!" liam tried to make an excuse for valencia and theo not to go with them.
"i just want his power." theo corrected the young sophomore. "you want to fight someone that actually wants to kill mason? go fight parrish."
"who did you see when you put on the mask?" liam asked theo as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"i already told you, it wasn't mason." theo repeated what he'd said to them earlier in the locker room.
"who was it?" liam snapped.
theo turned back to scott, "i saw a man dying in the snow. he was impaled on a spear."
"it's called a pike. lydia told us the story." scott comfirmed to liam, looking from theo to the sophomore.
"then both of you know what it means," theo stuck his arms out. "time's running out. where is he, liam? what direction?"
liam took a minute to look at scott who nodded his head. liam began to walk forward and he whispered something while doing so, "he's this way."
theo, valencia and scott began to follow after the dunbar boy through the dark, misty forest. liam guided the trio through a large pathway of trees just as they reached a hut in the middle of the trees.
just as liam was about to grab the door knob, scott placed a hand on his shoulder. "listen." the alpha whispered and all four listened in for something, anything.
a heartbeat.
"it's him." liam comfirmed and opened the door, not even hesitating before he ran into the darkness and quickly disappeared from the sight of the others. theo looked down at valencia who nodded her head.
the pair followed after scott who ran in after liam, leaving the door open behind them. it'd be stupid to close it as there was a chance they could get stuck in the hut.
the four made their way down the stairs and valencia sensed something really off with the place the moment she got down the stairs. a shiver shot up her spine, she had an eerie feeling once she reached the very bottom.
and there, sat on the ground, leaning against a large tube of green liquid, was mason. liam and scott instantly rushed to his side down on the floor. he was unconscious, that they could see, a large metal pole went through his back, connecting him to the tube of green liquid.
"it's connected to him," scott realised once he saw the long tube connecting him to the green liquid. and inside of the green liquid container must've been a person. or what was left of one.
"what is this thing?" liam whispered as he stared at the metal thing which was stuck through masons flesh.
"i don't know," theo answered, him and valencia standing not too far away from the others.
"liam, i can feel it." mason suddenly mumbled, his voice shaky. he let out gasps on pain, almost like a cry. "it's in my skull." liams head shot up and he looked between the green liquid to the metal thing in masons back.
"don't move!" liam ordered with worry both written all over his face, and laced in his voice. "what are they doing to him?" liam quickly turned around to theo.
"i don't know!" theo exclaimed at the boy, valencia looked at mason worried. she never had any bad memories of mason, but she barely had any good ones. he was a good kid and valencia didn't want him to die.
"guys, let's focus." scott ordered the two bickering. valencia slowly found herself crouching down beside mason who kept his head down in agony.
scott looked at valencia with furrowed eyebrows, gulping. he wasn't going to admit it, but he still had hope for the girl, he hoped that one day she'd come back to the pack, he hoped that one day he'd have his best friend back.
"mason, we're going to get you out of here." scott told the boy reassuringly, though he was definitely not reassured and neither was liam. "hold him still," he told liam and valencia.
valencia placed once hand on his shoulder and the other on his leg, careful not to press down too hard. meanwhile, liam placed on his other shoulder and the other slightly on his waist.
"let me know if it hurts," scott told mason as he placed a hand on the metal thing on masons back. he slightly pulled at the metal, earning loud screams of pain from mason.
"it hurts!" he yelled out and let out loud groans in agony. "it definitely hurts," he breathed out. valencia frowned, rubbing her thumb along his shoulder comfortingly.
valencia then heard a clicking and a static sound from not too far away and her head slowly turned in the direction, as did everyone else's but masons. valencia came to look at a dread doctor in the corner and she let out a strong exhale.
she knew that now, she was going to have to use her powers, the thing that she did not want to do. she'd barely practised, having spent only about three hours doing it.
"they wanted us here." theo muttered to scott and valencia who began making their way over to the boy to stand next to him. valencia turned her head and noticed another dread doctors stood on the stairs.
"liam, try to get that thing out of mason's neck." scott told the young boy who was still crouched down by mason, refusing to leave his side.
there was a hissing sound as another dread doctors entered the room. "theo..." the raspy voice spoke, "theo raeken."
"he's coming with us," theo told the dread doctors, referring to mason. the dread doctor began to approach theo.
"failure... theo raeken."
valencia's heart dropped at the words and she protectively stepped infront of the boy, her eyes flashing a bright firey colour, an amber colour with a tint of crimson red.
"i'm not a failure." theo shook his head at the dread doctor nearing the three of the supernaturals.
"not a complete failure. we learned from you."
the dread doctor turned a corner and started to get closer and closer with each footstep it took. valencia let out a snarl at the dread doctor, she felt her skin beginning to burn as fire got ready to make its way up her body which a shocked scott and proud theo noticed.
"theo, he's trying to get to you. this is what they want, don't give it to them." scott turned to theo and warned him, glancing from valencia back to him. "we can't beat them."
"the mark of a true failure. repeating the same mistake again and again."
"we're taking mason." theo turned his head and looked at the mccall boy beside him with a serious face and scott looked down at the two sophomores on the ground. "then i'm taking what's mine," theo took out his fangs and his eyes shone yellow.
"let him go," theo ordered the dread doctor and he stepped infront of valencia to get closer, careful not to touch her, thinking back to what deucalion said.
'one touch of their skin, and you're dead.'
"you have the entitlement and narcissism typical of your generation. in that, you are a profound success."
all heads whipped in mason and liams direction when a excruciating, agonising scream came from mason.
liam yelled for scott after trying to take the metal from out of masons back. "scott, i-
i can't get it out... i don't know what to do." scott looked between the dread doctor and valencia before rushing down to masons side.
"but your failure taught us one thing. the banality of evil. that you were and would always be an ordinary evil."
"you think i'm ordinary?" theo tilted his head and spoke through gritted teeth, flashing his sharp, white fangs at the dread doctor.
"we believed that to resurrect the perfect killer we had to start with the perfect evil. from you we learned true evil only comes by corrupting something truly good."
valencia stared into the back of theo's head before he turned around and sent her a look. valencia then stepped forwards to stand beside theo, facing the dread doctor.
"valencia stilinski malin. from you we learned that even the greatest memories cannot overpower the bad memories with the people you love. and so we took them away and now you've been corrupted by the evil side, the greater side."
valencia furrowed her eyebrows confused as she let out hot, heavy breaths. she could feel the burning sensation throughout her body, waiting for the perfect moment to completely activate her powers. she felt confused, angry.
liam and scott looked at one another with a knowing look, finally having found the real reason to why valencia had come back alive and joined theo. they'd finally figured out what had happened to their valencia.
"her memories..." liam and scott both whispered at the same time, making sure that theo nor valencia could hear them. both boys felt anger and shock at the discovery. all this time they had blamed themselves for everything, whenever valencia had really been brainwashed. her life had been taken away from her, the truth.
a dread doctor appeared from behind valencia and theo, the boy shooting around and pushing the dread doctor backwards. valencia raised her hands and felt the fire beginning to cover her whole body.
valencia felt her powers take over her body, her breath feeling hot, her blood boiling, flames running along her arms and her legs magestically.
and just like deucalion said, it felt as if somebody was taking over her body. though she still had control, she now knew exactly what to do, like a voice was guiding her.
valencia hadn't even realised when she'd taken steps towards a dread doctor which stared down at her. valencia lifted her hand up and the fire that shot out of hand, shot across to the dread doctor, lighting the fabric of its sleeve on fire.
valencia watched smugly as the dread doctor tried to slowly pat the fire with its hand but failed miserably. valencia reached her hand out again, twisting it around so that the metal on the dread doctor began to melt.
valencia couldn't hear a thing, it was like the whole world had gone silent... she watched as the dread doctor struggled to put out the fire, the hot metal burning and melting onto the skin on the inside of the suit.
valencia smirked slightly and watched the dread doctor fall to its knees. valencia's eyes shone even brighter than before and she started to turn around, until suddenly something hard hit her across the head before she was sent to the wall.
the flames on her body began to disappear, fading away just like her eyes which turned back to her normal green colour. valencia let out heavy breaths, sitting herself up against the wall.
once she finally zoned back in, she heard the continuous screaming from mason and her eyes shot in his direction. he was now standing up from the ground and he'd managed to finally pull the metal from out of his back.
"transformation..."
black mist began to surround mason and valencia pushed herself off the ground to get back up onto her own two feet.
"transformation without frequency."
"mason!" liam yelled as the black most engulfed the young boy and his eyes shone a deep, dark blue colour.
"that is not my name," a distorted voice came from mason as he disappeared into the mist and growls came from him.
valencia rushed towards to get to theo, realising that now stood where mason hewitt was seconds ago, was now a large beast, the one she'd seen when she was with theo and zoey at the school.
the beast let out a loud roar and valencia gulped in fear. valencia knew that her powers were greater than the beasts, but her strength, not so much.
the beast threw things across the floor and ran straight for a dread doctor, digging its claws into the doctor before throwing it down to the ground and letting it bleed out. theo grabbed a tight hold of valencia as he stood and watched the beast walk over to a second dread doctor.
the pair watched as the beast impaled a dread doctor, right after killing one, and ripped its head off of its body, it landing down beside valencia's feet.
the girl hadn't realised the beast began to approach them until she looked up. valencia stepped infront of theo subconsciously, earning a yell from both scott and liam who sat and watched the beast get closer to the girl.
and there it was.
the beast swiped its sharp claws across valencia's stomach, earning an ear-piercing scream from the young girl. valencia would've dropped onto her knees if it weren't for theo catching her.
"why would you do that?!" theo yelled at valencia who smiled and patted his face, theo crouching down so that he could hold her more comfortably on the ground.
"better me than you," valencia let out a large breath, her head falling back. "well that was fun, don't you think?" theo stared down at the girl seriously, in no mood for jokes. "okay sorry."
"don't you ever do that again, val." theo tried to calm down a bit, heavy breaths leaving his mouth as he put his head down so that his forehead was leaning against valencia's.
liam and scott ran over, standing over the girl whom they once called their best friend.
"is she okay?" scott asked with a concerned look across his face, although she was no longer his best friend, he was still worried about the fact that she got hurt, still having faith for the girl.
"don't act like you care," valencia muttered and didn't bother to look up at the two. liam and scott shared a sad look before they rushed off to see where the beast was headed.
"you idiot," theo shook his head and placed a kiss upon valencia's forehead.
•••••
low-key loving writing valencia's new powers, i cannot wait for her to learn her full potential.
alsooo thought i'd clarify, when val does go on fire. her underwear does remain on, just like parrish's does
this is the second last chapter of
season 5 omggg