When Avery walked back into the sheriff's station, Theo immediately noticed how she looked completely drained and so he called out her name but he received no answer as she placed her sword down on a metal table and went to get a snack that she took from her home a few hours ago.
Before Avery could could reach her bag that held snacks, Theo's hand reached out and grabbed onto her wrist causing her to stop and turn to face him. "What?"
"What's wrong?" Theo asked looking directly into Avery's eyes that stared right back at him. Avery dropped her eyes down to where Theo had his fingers wrapped around her wrist and tried to fight off the tears that begged to fall while she replayed the moment she watched her father disappear from existence. "Nothing, I'm fine." Avery muttered which was a clear lie and Theo knew that so when Avery tried to pull herself out of his grip he tightened it. "Avery, talk to me. I'm not letting go until you tell me what's wrong. I know you're not fine."
His tone was filled with worry and it was soft just like his eyes were when he looked at the red-headed girl in front of him who was currently trying not to crawl into a ball and let her tears fall. Avery shook her head and lifted her head to look back into his blue eyes. "He's gone." She whispered sadly which made Theo frown and ask. "Who's gone?"
Avery licked her lips that slightly quivered while she thought of who exactly was gone. The person who was always there for her. The person who would help her with her homework. The person who would take her out to get ice cream and to her favourite park as a child. The person who would comfort her after a long hard day at school and give her a big hug. The person who would laugh after finding out Avery had gotten herself into trouble at school with another student. Her father.
Avery's voice cracked as she spoke "My dad."
"What happened to him?" Theo asked softly.
"Mr Douglas used the ghost rider's whip to take my dad." Avery answered nodding along with her words to stop her tears that glossed over her eyes and blurred her vision but despite the movement, They fell and she found herself crying in front of Theo Raeken.
"I'm so sorry." Theo whispered letting his fingers loosen from her wrist but she didn't move as his arm fell back to his side, she just stood there and dropped her head before wiping away her tears while letting a saddened laugh to leave her pink lips. "It's okay. It's kinda funny actually because as soon as I watched my dad blow up into a puff of smoke, hunters came to see me."
"And what happened to the hunters?" Theo asked.
"They left after talking to me which is surprising because I thought they would do something but they didn't." Avery lied while shrugging but Theo caught that lie as her heartbeat jumped. He didn't say anything or do anything except look at her and wonder why she would lie and what really did happen with the hunters. "Avery?"
"Yeah?" Avery asked.
"Can you open the cell?" Theo questioned motioning to the cell door which made Avery frown. "Why?"
"Just do it please. I promise I won't run." Theo told her but she just looked at him like he was crazy. Eventually, she reached into her back pocket of her jeans and took out the card that could let Theo out. Avery swiped the card over the card reader and the cell door clicked as it unlocked.
Theo took a step towards the door and pushed it open slowly leaving the bars that blocked the distance between the two behind. He took small steps towards Avery until she and he were inches apart and could feel each other's breath fanning onto their faces but suddenly Theo moved his arms around Avery's neck pulling her closer to him while he hugged her for the first time in months. Avery stood there frozen in place not knowing what to do considering she hasn't gotten a hug in what felt like forever and she never realised that she needed one until now.
Avery felt herself slowly relax and fall into him more as she wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her chin on his shoulder. Her eyes shut and she felt like everything would be okay. Like every bad thought in Avery's brain vanished and the only important thing was that moment the two were in.
Theo placed his hand on the back of her head and just held her knowing that she needed a hug and some comforting but what he didn't realise was that he also needed a hug and it was helping him too. "I'm here, okay? And I'm not going anywhere."
Avery found herself gripping onto the back of his shirt like her life depended on it but she nodded in response and let her tears fall onto his dark blue shirt, creating small dampened circles. "I didn't do anything. I just stood there. I could've... I could've done something, but I didn't" Avery Sobbed and just by hearing her cry in his arms caused Theo to tighten his grip on her. "If you did something then you would've gotten hurt."
Everything that Avery bottled up inside over the last three months finally broke and couldn't control all the tears that fell down her cheeks. She was taught to control her emotions and that the feelings that she felt would get her killed but in reality, it was destroying her mentally and it felt like all the weight on her shoulders finally lifted off as she held tightly onto Theo.
He just held her until she was okay and had no more tears to spill and after a few minutes Avery's cries turned into small sniffles and the tears stopped running. Avery pulled away from Theo but kept her hands resting on his hips.
Theo let his eyes drift down to her wet cheeks and moved his hands to cup her face while he wiped away her tears with his thumbs.
Suddenly, he frowned and turned his head to the doorway and Avery immediately knew something was wrong. "What's wrong?"
"Somebody's here." He whispered and just as those words left his mouth a sound was heard by the door and Theo's hand shot up catching a small knife that was thrown in Avery's direction just as the blade brushed against her hair.
Avery's eyes widened in shock as Theo dropped his hand so he could look at the knife which gave Avery a chance to look at it, noticing a small imprint on the handle. An imprint Avery knew all too well. It was the Argent symbol.
She knew it wouldn't have been her dad or Gerard which only left Gerard's hunters and she knew that what was about to happen wouldn't be good.
Theo's eyes faded into a vibrant glowing yellow colour as he looked down at the knife and growled menacingly at whoever threw the knife. He flicked out his claws and dropped the knife, letting it clatter to the ground.
Avery didn't want Theo to get hurt and definitely not because of her so instead of letting him run out through the doorway and try to tear them apart she shoved Theo's chest causing him to stumble into the cell and flicker his eyes back to normal. Avery grabbed onto the door and slammed it shut and once it was closed and Theo looked at her with confusion written blankly across his face she slightly smiled at him. "I'm not letting you get hurt because of me." Avery whispered even though at the time it didn't really make sense.
"What are you talking about?" Theo asked but Avery had already grabbed her sword and headed towards the doorway. "Wait, Avery!" Theo called out worryingly.
Avery ignored him and ran out through the doorway letting her eyes skid across the room to try and see who was there with them. She took small careful steps across the room but there was no one in sight like whoever threw the knife was a ghost.
Avery softened her stance in confusion and turned around but as soon as she faced the other way, she saw a figure in the dark shadows just staring at her. Avery held her sword up high in their direction. "Who are you?"
The person walked out of the shadows revealing Rachel in a hospital gown covered in small cuts from Avery's fist. "Somebody who knows a lot about you." Rachel answered.
"Rachel?" Avery questioned in disbelief.
Rachel nodded as she walked slowly towards the armed Argent. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking. How is she still here and not in the wild hunt? Well, I have no idea why I'm still here but I'd like to call it fate. One second everyone is in the hospital, the next everyone disappeared into thin air leaving me in my room all alone but honestly, I don't mind because it gave me a chance to kill you."
"That's not what I was thinking but okay." Avery muttered with a small smile before taking a atep back when Rachel got a bit too close to Avery's liking. "I was actually thinking why you have my family's knife?"
Rachel's lips formed a big grin as she continued walking towards Avery which made Avery walk backwards. "You don't remember me?"
When Avery only frowned at her Rachel stopped walking towards Avery and shook her head. "Of course you don't. You know you would always beat me down within a second of standing in the fighting circle. Always. Gerard would look at you and be proud of who you were becoming but now he looks at me and is proud of who I'm becoming. I'm no longer in your shadow Avery. I won't be when I go back to Gerard holding your head."
"You're family was apart of the hunters." Avery whispered now remembering who Rachel was. She was one of the kids that were getting trained to be a hunter by Gerard when Avery was around eight years old. Avery remembers training with Rachel when she was young and winning every fight.
Rachel nodded. "Yeah, they were a part of the hunters but they're not anymore. That's thanks to you considering you killed my dad a few months ago and my mom went into a deep depression that she killed her own self. Thanks to you I'm an orphan. Thanks to you I saw my parent's lifeless bodies." Rachel's gaze hardened as she spoke taking another step towards Avery and when Avery took a step back, her back hit a wall behind her.
Avery shook her head. "Do you know how many people have come to me and told me that I killed somebody that they loved? Then after they give me the whole talk about how they want revenge they try to kill me which ends in me walking away obviously alive so if you want to kill me, just get it over already."
"My pleasure." Rachel smirked before kicking Avery's sword out of her hand and driving her fist towards Avery's cheek but before it could land onto her skin Avery ducked around her arm and shot her own punch at Rachel which landed perfectly. The force caused Rachel to stumble backwards which gave Avery a chance to run towards her sword but before she could reach it she felt a harsh kick to her ribs which made her fall to her hands and knees vroaning in pain.
Avery placed her hand onto her stomach and listened as the sound of her sword getting kicked away was heard. Avery grabbed onto a corner of a wall and picked herself up while Rachel was busy pushing away the sword out of Avery's reach.
What Rachel didn't know was that Avery didn't just have a sword on her. Avery slid her knife out from her sleeve and once Rachel turned back around she came face to face with Avery who looked like she was ready for a fight.
Rachel just smiled at the girl before running at her but Avery ducked under Rachel's arm once again and pushed her waist causing Rachel to hit a wall hard.
Avery didn't stop there as she went at Rachel and tried slicing her knife against Rachel's skin but before it could puncture into her neck Rachel caught Avery's wrist and used all of her strength to push Avery away but Avery was stronger and the knife got slowly closer to Rachel's neck and once the blade slightly dug into her neck, blood droplets dropped down onto Rachel's clothes. Rachel suddenly spun the two around banging Avery's back against the wall and kneed Avery.
Avery's knife was lowered from Rachel's neck from Avery bending over from the blow. Rachel went to punch Avery but before she could Avery sliced her stomach which made a hole in Rachel's shirt and blood to ooze out of the wound. Rachel screamed at the pain she felt from the small cut but her scream got cut off as Avery punched her.
Rachel snapped her head back to Avery after the punch she just received and grabbed onto Avery's shirt and threw her across the room which was near the door to where Theo was. Avery quickly scrambled to her feet but just as she got up Rachel's foot slammed against Avery's chest causing Avery to fall back into the room that Theo was locked in and once he saw her he felt more panicked then he already was. "Avery!"
Theo watched as Rachel walked predatorily towards Avery who was groaning on the ground and reaching for the knife that she had dropped once Rachel kicked her into the room. Avery's fingertips brushed against the handle but her body was rolled over by Rachel who now hovered over her.
Theo grabbed onto the metal bars getting more worried as the seconds past. "Leave her alone!" He yelled but Rachel just chuckled darkly flickering her eyes between Avery and Theo while her fingers wrapped around Avery's neck. "He is a cutie Avery. You have good taste. Maybe after I kill you him and I can have alone time." Rachel whispered to Avery who she was currently choking.
Avery gasped for air as it was getting taken away from her while she tried clawing Rachel's hands off of her neck but it was no use and Avery knew that so instead of continuing to try and do something that would do nothing, she reached back up to the knife desperately trying to feel it in her grasp.
Theo noticed how Avery was reaching for the knife and so Theo kicked his foot out to the knife and moved the knife closer to Avery and instantly she grabbed onto it just as black dots blurred her vision and she felt like she was gonna pass out. Avery managed to blurt out over the loss of oxygen going into her lungs. "Not a chance." Before stabbing Rachel's leg and not even a second later Rachel screamed letting go of Avery's neck and gripped the knife that was in her leg.
Avery pushed Rachel off of her and jumped back onto her feet as she took in as much air as she could. Avery looked around for her sword and found it by a wall so she went over to it while Rachel screamed some more as she pulled out the knife. "YOU BITCH!" Rachel watched her blood rush out of her wound at a rapid paste and felt anger bubble inside her.
Avery still felt dizzy from not being able to breath and so getting to her sword took longer than expected so when she was just about to get the sword Rachel had took a deep breath and headed straight towards Avery with the knife Avery had just stabbed Rachel with. Avery's fingers just skidded across the handle before Rachel got to Avery and grabbed her by the shoulder pulling her back up and pinning her to the wall and suddenly a loud gasp came from Avery's lips feeling a sharp pain in her stomach.
Theo's eyes widened as he saw the blade rip right through Avery's skin. "No!" He screamed pulling on the metal bars trying desperately to get out of the cell and help Avery.
Avery's head dropped to the knife that had the blade hidden beneath her skin and felt tears prickle in her eyes at the sight.
She felt like everything slowed just for that second and when everything went back to normal she could hear Theo calling out to her "Avery you're gonna be okay! Just look at me! Look at me, Avery! Please!"
Avery couldn't take her eyes off of the knife but when Rachel leaned forward so her face was inches apart from Avery's, Avery lifted her head to meet Rachel's eyes before Rachel whispered. "The Queen of death has fallen."
Rachel laughed before pulling out the knife and stepping away from Avery who let painful sounds out as she pressed her hands against her stab wound that immediately started rushing with blood and covered her hands in a deep red.
By now Theo had tears running down his cheeks as he continued to yell and pull against the bars while Avery slowly slid down the wall putting pressure on her wound.
Rachel jumped around excitedly with a big grin on her face as she watched Avery bleed all over her hands and floor. "Oh my God, I did it! I actually did it! I can't wait to tell Gerard! He's gonna be so proud of me! I mean everybody says that you're like Michael Myers, always coming back and never dying but I did it! I'm killing the unkillable!"
Avery was so scared and Theo could tell and he was so upset that he couldn't comfort her it help her. He just wanted to hold her and tell her everything should be fine and she would be okay.
"You know all my life everybody has always said Avery this and Avery that but after tonight and everyone comes back, everybody will be talking about Rachel Blake. The girl who killed the Queen of Death. And I will be special, not you Avery because you're not the hero, you never have been. I'm the hero. I'm the hero who defeats the evil. You Avery are the evil, the villain." Rachel spoke which just added more tears to Avery's eyes as they fell down her cheeks.
Avery took deep breaths and shook her head. "You don't have to do this. Killing me isn't going to bring your dad back and it's not going to make you feel special. All it's gonna do is give you guilt for the rest of your life, believe me, I know."
Rachel stopped jumping around and looked at Avery with disgust. "I don't need a lecture about killing somebody from the queen of death who has probably killed more people than she's met." She spoke causing Avery to look back down at her bloody hands and nod. "I know I've done bad things, but I'm not a villain and I'm not evil."
Rachel scoffed. "Let me guess. You're an eighteen-year-old girl who hasn't lived properly and still has a whole life ahead of you. You poor thing."
Avery shrugged with a small smile despite the pain she felt and how scared she truly was in this moment. "Look I- I know I'm probably gonna die but... It's okay." Avery whispered looking over at Theo who looked so heartbroken with tears running down his face. "It's okay." she repeated but to him that time.
Theo just shook his head not accepting it. "No."
Rachel nodded walking out of the room but not even a second later she came in holding an axe that she had brought with her and spun it around in her hands. "Irs funny actually because this is exactly how you killed my dad. An axe to the head."
Avery eyed the axe and more tears slipped from her eyes at the sight while Rachel walked slowly towards her until she was right in front of her. "Goodbye Avery."
Theo started banging on the bars which made his knuckles bleed but he didn't care because he just wanted to stop this all from happening.
Avery dropped her head once more but then her eyes landed on her sword that was beside her and just as Rachel lifted the axe in her hands and threw it down towards Avery's head, Avery grabbed her sword and lifted it up with the tiniest bit of strength she had left.
Avery's sword stopped the axe from going anywhere near her and that surprised Rachel as her eyes widened that were mixed with surprise and fear. Avery stared up at Rachel and whispered "I'm not ready to die." Avery suddenly lifted herself up to her feet again while groaning and grunting. She pushed hard against the axe and immediately Rachel stepped back and tried swinging her axe back at Avery but Avery dodged it and sliced Rachel's stomach before spinning around and kicking out her leg to Rachel and instantly Rachel went tumbling to the ground.
The axe Rachel held flew out of her hand and clattered to the ground.
Rachel held onto her cut on her stomach and groaned which gave Avery time to drop her sword and collect the axe from the ground. Avery walked back over and ignored the pain in her stomach as she towered over Rachel who practically begged for her life and forgiveness. "Please Avery! All I wanted was to feel special like you! I don't want to die! Please Avery I'm begging you! Stop please!" Stop!"
Avery raised the axe and muttered. "Say hi to daddy for me." Then the axe came down and connected with Rachel's face which made the girl go limp.
Avery let the axe stay planted into Rachel's face that was completely split in half and suddenly felt dizzy as the blood lose finally caught up to her and she started getting the effects of getting stabbed.
Avery collapsed to the ground and felt sweat droplets fall from her forehead. Theo's voice called out to her and told her to give him the key card and so she slowly reached into her pocket and slid the card to Theo who immediately picked it up and bolted to the door swiping the card over the card reader and pushing open the door so he could run over to Avery.
He fell to his knees and carefully picked Avery up and moved her so she leant up against a desk. He placed both of his hands onto her wound earning a small groan. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He apologised over and over but Avery managed to mutter "It's not your fault."
It may not have been his fault but he still felt as if it was and that he was the one stabbing her because he couldn't save her from Rachel.
"W-What do I do?" Theo asked starting to panic while he felt her blood cover his fingertips. Avery started closing her eyes and when he didn't hear an answer and looked up at her face noticing the way her eyes were closing his hands shot up to her face "Avery keep your eyes open."
Avery hummed trying to fight the darkness that tried taking over her consciousness. "There's a med kit in Stilinski's office." Avery whispered.
"Okay keep pressure on it." Theo told Avery grabbing her hands gently and placing them onto her wound and immediately Theo jumped to his feet and ran to the office searching for the med kit and once he got to the room he started throwing things around to try and find it but it wasn't anywhere in sight. "COME ON!" He screamed knocking over books and papers.
He came across a cabinet in Stilinski's desk and opened it revealing the med kit he had been looking for. Theo grabbed it and ran back to Avery who was still fighting to stay awake. "I got it!"
He fell back to his knees and opened the kit that had different things for different wounds but instead of looking through it he just tipped everything out and scanned his eyes over everything trying to find something that would help Avery and eventually he came across a needle and some thread so he picked it up and got it ready to stitch Avery up.
Avery reached for her bloody shirt which caught Theo's attention. "Take it off it'll be easier to stitch me up if it's off." Avery whispered and so Theo nodded putting down the needle and grabbing onto her shirt before lifting it over her head and dropping it beside her.
"I haven't done this before." Theo said getting more stressed as he grabbed the needle again and once he finished getting it ready Avery moved her hands off of her wound and weakly nodded to Theo and so Theo got into a comfortable position and with his shaky hands he stuck the needle into Avery's skin and threaded it back and forth to close the wound but his hands were too shaky sometimes that it felt as if it was impossible to do it and that caused him to yell angrily which woke Avery up a bit.
"Hang in there Avery." Theo whispered to the girl who was too weak to respond in anyway at the moment. He quickly finished it and tied it off at the end. "Okay. Okay I did it." Theo breathed out throwing away the needle and thread.
Theo grabbed onto Avery's waist and turned her around before placing her onto his lap. "You're gonna be okay." Theo whispered placing his hand onto her cheek to caress it.
"I don't wanna die, Theo." Avery sobbed letting tears fall down her cheeks. Theo shook his head "You're not gonna die, I won't let you."
"I'm so scared." Avery said which broke Theo's heart who nodded and wiped away her tears with his thumbs "I know. I know you are and that's okay. I'm here with you, okay? I'm not going anywhere." He whispered pressing his lips to her forehead and letting a tear slip down his cheek.
"It hurts. It hurts so much." Avery groaned grabbing onto Theo's hand for comfort and tightening her grip on him to try and help the pain.
Theo watched as Avery's chest rose and fell at an uneven paste and he felt like he had no idea what to do. But then an idea came to him and he tried focussing on it because he knew that he could help her.
Avery's groans and grunts suddenly disappeared and she felt confused from not feeling any pain at all and once she heard Theo groan she looked down at their hands that were intertwined and noticed the black veins that went from Avery to Theo as Theo took away any pain Avery had. Avery looked at him with such softness in her eyes that still had tears in them and whispered "Theo?"
Theo took away the last bit of pain Avery felt and looked back at her "Does it hurt anymore?"
Avery shook her head and smiled at him "Thank you." She whispered before her eyes slowly shut and her grip on Theo's hand loosened. Theo stared down at her and slightly shook her shoulders. "Avery? Avery open your eyes."
He continued to shake her but she didn't move an inch. "A-Avery?" His voice cracked as he whispered her name while tears formed in his eyes. "Princess?"
"Open your eyes. Let me see your beautiful green eyes. Avery please don't leave me." Theo whispered placing one of his hands on her pale cheek and the other in her red hair. "Avery!"
When she didn't do anything he completely broke and started sobbing as tears fell down his cheeks but he wasn't going to accept it so instead of just crying over her body he moved her head up and pressed both of his hands onto her chest and pressed down on it a few times before pinching her nose and pressing his lips to hers blowing air into her lungs.
He kept repeating that over and over again. He wasn't giving up and that was because if he gave up that meant he gave up on Avery and he would rather die than do that. "Come on Avery. You're strong. You can get through this." He said repeating the steps for the seventh time but this time he went harder while tears fell down at a rapid paste.
When he felt like he had lost hope he blew air into her lungs and he heard the smallest intake of air and he backed away flickering his gaze all over her body to see if he wasn't just hearing things and then his eyes caught sight of her chest moving up and down slightly which made him smile and sigh in relief running his hand through his hair just as Avery's eyes fluttered open slowly. "Avery." He whispered which made Avery look up at him. "Theo?"
"You're okay." He said with a smile and instantly Avery pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around Theo pulling him as close as she could.
Theo wrapped his arms around her waist and took everything in. "I thought I lost you." He muttered into her neck while a tear slipped down his cheek. Avery shook her head. "I'm right here. You didn't lose me."
Avery shut her eyes and breathed in his scent finding it comforting but then she pulled away looking right into his eyes. "What?" he asked.
"You saved my life... Again." Avery said making him smile and shrug "Yeah well believe it or not life without you is like no air and I can't lose you. I won't."
Avery smiled at him but then her eyes flickered over to Rachel. "What do we do with her?"
Theo turned around and said "We aren't doing anything. I'll deal with her."
"But-" Avery started but got cut off by Theo "No buts. You literally just died in my arms so you're not doing anything except resting."
Avery shrugged. "Fair point."
Theo grabbed onto her care skin on her waist and placed her down on the ground before getting up and dealing with Rachel's body.
~
Theo had dealt with Rachel and got Avery and himself cleaned up from all the blood now he was back in the cell and Avery was sitting on a chair looming down at the stitches Theo did to close her stab wound. Something was running around her mind and it wasn't letting her go to sleep even if Theo would tell her to go to sleep and so she finally just broke. "Theo?"
"Hmm?" Theo hummed looking up from the blanket that was sitting on his lap giving him some warmth.
"I need to tell you something." Avery admitted which made Theo frown in confusion. "What is it?"
"It's about how I got my nickname. The Queen of death."
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I sincerely apologize for this chapter and what I put Avery and Theo through
Even though this chapter was upsetting I hope you enjoyed reading it