Levi Hale's arrival at Beacon Hills Hospital was met with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. The text message she had received, summoning her to the hospital to meet with Lydia, Malia, and Scott had left her with more questions than answers - especially since they were just supposed to be checking out the nemeton. How had a trip into the woods ended up with them in hospital?
As she entered the hospital lobby, the familiar scent of antiseptic and the distant murmur of conversations among staff and patients filled the air. It was a stark reminder of the many times she had found herself in this very place, surrounded by the extraordinary and the unexplainable. Her eyes flickered to the elevators at the end of the corridor, a reminder of Deucalion, Jennifer Blake and Gerald's army flickering through her mind.
She hadn't stepped a foot back in the hospital since...
Her thoughts were interrupted as a familiar voice called out her name from beside the reception desk. Her heart raced as she approached the desk, trying to mask her unease. She knew she couldn't avoid this meeting any longer. She had to face her past, her old friends, and the secrets that had kept her away for so long.
"Levi," Kira said, her voice warm but tinged with a hint of tension. "It's been a long time."
There was an uneasy beat of silence before Levi cleared her throat, realising that she hadn't replied to the kitsune. Levi nodded, her throat dry. "Yeah, it has."
Kira offered a tentative smile. "Come with me. They're upstairs."
Things with Kira hadn't been left on a good note... or even any note. Levi had just ghosted her completely, cutting the girl out of her life in the same way she had done for Scott, Isaac and Chris. Her contact with Stiles and Lydia had been less than the bare minimum, and Melissa hadn't heard from the girl since she'd dropped off a box of Scott's clothes without any explanation.
It was safe to say that the last place Levi wanted to be was in Beacon Hills Hospital.
Levi followed Kira as they made their way to the elevator, the awkwardness between them palpable. There was so much left unsaid, so many memories buried beneath the weight of their past. The silence told Levi that things were going to remain unsaid for the time being.
As they ascended to the upper floors of the hospital, Levi couldn't help but wonder what had brought them all back together. Sure, she knew it was the glimpses of Allison - but what had caused that? The last time she had been in this hospital, with Scott, Lydia, Kira and Malia, they had been a tight-knit group, bound by their supernatural abilities and the challenges they had faced together. But Levi had shattered that bond into irreparable pieces, and then had walked away, unable to bear the pain any longer.
When the elevator doors opened, Kira led Levi down a brightly lit corridor and finally stopped in front of a room. Levi's heart raced as she saw her old friends gathered outside, their expressions a mix of surprise and uncertainty. She couldn't quite seen whose room they were outside of, but she was relieved to see the three of them - and Melissa - were in one piece.
Lydia was the first to notice Levi's arrival. She rose from her seat and approached her old friend, her eyes locking onto Levi's with a mixture of relief and apprehension. She looked her over once, as if she was concerned that something had happened to the alpha before hugging her tightly. Levi wasn't sure what was going on, since she had seen them only hours before, but it looked like they were having major concerns about something.
"Levi," Lydia said, her voice soft but tinged with emotion. "You came."
"You asked." Levi nodded, unable to say anything else as she looked at the friends she had left behind.
Lydia had red eyes, a sign that she had been crying at something. Malia offered a small nod of acknowledgment. And then there was Scott, who Levi had always been great at reading. His expression was a mask of unreadable emotions.
"Levi," Scott said, his voice strained.
"Scott, hey."
The tension in the room was palpable, the weight of their unspoken history looming over them. Nine years was a long time to be apart, and she wasn't sure where to begin. She wasn't sure any of them really knew where to begin. They still weren't even sure where Levi stood on supernatural issues these days, and Lydia was starkly aware that she wasn't even sure if her friend was still an alpha.
"What's going on?"
Scott and Melissa shared a look as Melissa went into the room and pulled the curtain back, the figure in the room being on display for the window on-lookers to see. Malia gestured toward the hospital bed in the center of the room, and Levi's eyes widened in shock. There, lying unconscious but undeniably alive, was Allison Argent.
Levi's heart pounded in her chest as she stared at the woman who had once been a close friend and ally. The memories of her loss were still fresh in Levi's mind. To see her alive again, seemingly resurrected from the dead, was beyond comprehension.
"Allison," Levi whispered, her voice filled with awe and disbelief.
Scott stepped forward, his gaze never leaving Levi. "We don't know how this happened, Levi, but she's back."
Levi's mind raced with questions. "But how? Why?"
"We're still trying to figure that out. But we couldn't keep this from you. You deserve to know." Lydia shrugged, her expression troubled. Levi's eyes flicked between her old friends, the emotions churning inside her almost overwhelming. Lydia could almost see Levi's fight or flight instinct gearing up.
Kira, who had remained silent throughout the exchange, finally spoke up. "We're running tests to make sure she's okay, but so far, she seems healthy. It's a miracle, really."
Levi couldn't tear her gaze away from Allison. Memories of their adventures, their battles, and the bond they had shared flooded back. Scott, who had been standing at a distance, finally approached Levi. There was a wariness in his eyes, a tension that hadn't been there before.
"Levi, we've all changed. A lot has happened since you left."
"I know, Scott. I've changed too."
Scott's gaze softened, and for a moment, the distance between them seemed to fade. "We missed you, Levi. I've missed you."
Levi's heart ached at his words, yet she said nothing back. Her body turned away from him to face Allison again, a bit of dread in her stomach. She'd thought a lot about how she wished she could bring Allison back, but there was something so unnatural and uneasy about this situation. Allison's return had brought them back together, but it had also unearthed long-buried secrets and wounds.
Lydia's voice broke the silence, noticing that Levi had ignored Scott's admission and already seeing this falling to pieces before it had even begun. "We're going to need each other now more than ever. The supernatural world is still a dangerous place."
Scott nodded, his determination resolute. "We're a pack, Levi. We always have been, no matter how far apart we've been."
Levi met Scott's gaze, and for the first time in seven years, she felt a glimmer of... something. The past couldn't be changed and it was clear Scott was willing to move on from it all, get back to what they had been before it had happened. Levi wasn't.
"We aren't a pack."
"Levi-"
Malia stopped talking as Levi turned on her heel, walking down the corridor and into one of the break rooms. She watched her cousin go, knowing that she had at least experienced this side of Levi more than the others had. Any hope she had of Levi returning as the only Hale alpha and leading her pack had been squished a long time ago for Malia, and she wasn't surprised by the girls actions.
"I'll go after her," Scott said, but Malia gripped on to his arm and pulled him back.
"Don't bother," Malia said, no frustration or anger in her voice. Just acceptance. "She won't change her mind. Levi left pack life behind a long time ago."
____
The night hung heavy with tension as Levi stood amidst the wreckage of the warehouse, her chest heaving with exertion. Bodies lay strewn across the cold floor, their lifeless eyes staring blankly into the void. The scent of blood and death filled the air, an overwhelming reminder of the violence that had transpired.
Warm blood dripped across her body, her skin being coated in the thick red liquid. It dripped from her face, her hands, her claws... all over her and the ground underneath her. The smell of sawdust had long been replaced by the overwhelming metallic smell of blood - the blood of her victims as they covered the ground.
She had killed them all, every last one of the supernatural hunters who had dared to invade her life, to threaten her pack. The rage that had consumed her had been relentless, a torrent of fury that had swept away all reason and compassion. The hunters had paid the price for their intrusion, but at what cost to Levi's humanity?
She'd ignored their cries, their begs, their pleas of innocence. She'd even enjoyed it - relished in the sound of their whimpers and cries as she picked them off one-by-one. She wanted them to feel more than one hundred times the amount of pain she had felt, when they'd pinned her down and made her watch as Alec, her first beta that they had reunited with after defeating Gerald, was killed slowly and painfully right in front of her.
Every minute since he had died, she had dreamt about this revenge. Scott and the rest of the pack had opted for a less violent approach, Scott having been able to convince his dad to arrest any hunters that they found and pinning it as a human-related reason, rather than supernatural. Levi didn't want justice - she wanted revenge.
Revenge had been what convinced Levi to slip out of Beacon Hills, luring the hunters to her location with fake prompts on a phone she'd gotten from the first one she had killed that night. She didn't even regret it, she felt proud of herself once it was over.
As Levi took a moment to catch her breath, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the warehouse. She turned, her eyes narrowing as she saw Scott McCall, her co-alpha and husband, approaching. His expression was a mixture of disbelief and disgust, his eyes locked onto the lifeless bodies that surrounded her. The betrayal on his face was evident as he realised what had happened, noticing the way she was standing calmly in the middle of the chaos.
Two more sets of footsteps joined the mix, Isaac and Kira sliding to a halt behind Scott as they looked around at the scene and realised what had happened here. Isaac was speechless, having known that Levi had been ruthless in the past (like when she had slit Braden's neck when ordered by Deucalion all those years ago) but not having expected to ever see her like this.
"What have you done?" Scott's voice trembled with a mix of anger and sorrow.
Levi met his gaze without a hint of remorse, her own eyes cold and unfeeling. "I did what needed to be done, Scott. I did what none of you were willing to do."
Scott's face contorted with frustration and disbelief. "Levi, we don't take lives. That's not who we are."
Levi's lip curled into a bitter smile. "And who are we, Scott? The moral guardians of the supernatural world? The protectors of those who seek to destroy us? No. I don't care. I'd do it over and over again without any guilt."
Scott's anger flared, his voice rising with righteous fury. "It's not about guilt, Levi. It's about responsibility. We have a duty to protect the innocent, even if they're our enemies. You swore by Chris and Allison's motto, remember? We protect those who cannot protect themselves."
Levi shook her head, her resolve unyielding. "This IS protecting others. Now they'll never know the harm that we've known, never know the pain that Alec felt. Responsibility, duty—those are just empty words, Scott. Power is what matters. Power to protect ourselves, to seek revenge for what they've done to us."
"This isn't who we're supposed to be. Being an alpha means more than just having power. It means leading with compassion, with empathy." Scott's eyes bore into hers, the pain in his gaze cutting through the darkness.
Levi's laughter was bitter and hollow. "Compassion and empathy won't save us, Scott. They won't keep us alive in this world."
"Levi, this isn't you," Kira said, speaking up for the first time. Levi scoffed, looking at the girl who had recently came back into their lives after Scott had called up their old friends for help in locking up the remaining supernatural hunters that had been brought into their lives by Gerald.
"You literally do not know me," Levi snapped back, rolling her eyes. She turned to look at Isaac who was about to say something else. "And you can't say shit, since you ghosted us for years and ran away when we were all hurting."
Their argument escalated, harsh words exchanged like weapons in the night. Scott pleaded with Levi to remember their humanity, to cling to their moral compass even in the darkest of times. But Levi remained unyielding, refusing to see the world through his compassionate eyes.
Scott's voice cracked with desperation as he implored her to understand. "We can't let our anger and our thirst for revenge turn us into monsters, Levi. That's not what it means to be an alpha."
Levi's eyes flashed with defiance. "Monsters are what we need to be, Scott. It's the only way to survive."
_____
In the ten years that followed that night at the warehouse, Levi had begun a journey on a solitary path, her actions haunting her every step of the way. She had left Beacon Hills behind, severing ties with her pack, Scott, her friends and her family, and had become a lone wolf, a hunter of her own making. But the ghosts of that fateful night had never left her, a constant reminder of the choices she had made and the darkness she had embraced.
As time went on, she had started to understand what Scott had truly meant. No matter how many hunters she killed, nothing got better for her. The grief was always there; maybe even stronger than before. Her coldness turned into pain, her anger into guilt. She'd lost a lot of herself that night and in turn, she cut off Lydia and Stiles too. She stopped responding to Chris Argent, stopped responding to her brother for a period of time too.
The only thing that brought her back was Cora, Derek and Eli. She'd visited a few times, but very rarely. Every time she looked at Eli, she was reminded of the monster that this life had driven her to become. She thought about the story Derek had told her about how Eli had freaked out when seeing Derek shift in front of him before, and Derek was a good man.
Levi wasn't good. She was tainted, she was buried under her own actions.
She couldn't help but feel the weight of her past bearing down on her once again, now that she was back in Beacon Hills. The argument with Scott had been the breaking point, the moment when their paths had diverged irreparably and being back here, where he was so clearly open to just moving on without acknowledging their past was too much at once for her. She had chosen power and revenge over compassion and responsibility, and it had cost her everything.
As she sat alone in her the hospital break room, the memories of that night haunted her, the echoes of their argument reverberating in her mind. Levi knew that if she was ever to find her way back to the light, she would have to confront the darkness within herself and the choices she had made. But whether she could ever truly make amends remained a question that lingered in the shadows of her soul.
The distant hum of conversations and the steady beeping of machines provided a backdrop of normalcy in a place that was anything but ordinary. Levi had been lost in her thoughts about her humanity and what it means to be an alpha when she heard hurried footsteps and voices growing louder in the corridor outside.
Curiosity piqued, Levi pushed the door open and stepped into the hallway. There, she found Lydia, Malia, and Scott gathered in a hushed conversation, their expressions a mixture of worry and confusion.
"What's going on?" Levi asked, her voice tinged with concern.
Lydia turned to face her, her green eyes filled with urgency. "Allison woke up and is gone."
Levi's heart skipped a beat at the news. She honestly thought at this point that nothing would surprise her anymore, but she should have known she was stupid to think this would work without an issues. Nothing ever went right for them.
"Where the hell does she think she's going?" Malia snarked, rolling her eyes as they opened doors along the corridor to try and find Allison. They had to give it to the resurrected girl, she had certainly moved fast.
"She's probably slightly confused."
Malia's response was typically blunt. "Supposed to be slightly dead."
"We need to find her, and fast," Scott said, snapping Lydia and Malia out of their back and forth. His eyes flickered to Levi for less than a second before he turned his attention back to the other two. "Split up. If you find her, yell."
With a shared sense of purpose, the group dispersed, fanning out in different directions in search of their missing friend. Levi moved through the hospital's labyrinthine corridors, her senses on high alert. The hospital was a place she knew well, and she relied on her supernatural abilities to guide her in the search.
As she turned a corner, Levi spotted a nurse who looked frazzled, her eyes darting nervously as if she had seen something she couldn't explain.
"Excuse me," Levi said, approaching the nurse with a calm but firm demeanor. "I'm looking for a friend who woke up here earlier. Do you know where she might have gone?"
The nurse's gaze shifted nervously from side to side, as if afraid of being overheard. "I saw her leaving her room, but she was moving so quickly. I tried to stop her, but she just...vanished."
Levi's brows furrowed with confusion. The nurse's description didn't make sense. "Vanished? How?"
The nurse shook her head, her voice trembling. "I don't know, but it was like she disappeared into thin air."
Levi's supernatural instincts went on high alert. This was no ordinary disappearance. If there had been any doubt about Allison keeping her memories, Levi had no concern that she hadn't remembered her hunting abilities. Allison had always been quick when they were friends and she was alive, and Levi hated to think how quick she'd be with fight or flight instincts in overdrive.
Thanking the nurse for her help, Levi continued her search, moving deeper into the hospital's corridors. Her senses sharpened, and she could hear the faintest sounds of footsteps and loud voices echoing through the sterile hallways.
She rounded the corner just in time to notice Allison slam Malia over her shoulder and straight down on to the ground. Scott paused for a brief second to try and check on Malia, but Levi urged him to go on while she bent down to help her cousin up from the ground.
"Fuck me, man," Malia wheezed, allowing Levi to haul her to her feet. She rested her hands on her knees, motioning for Levi to go after Scott and Allison while she tried to regain her breath after getting a surprise at Allison attacking her. They hadn't really known each other well, so Malia couldn't even be that pissed off about it.
Levi rushed down the stairs, hoping she could catch Allison if she managed to make it to the hospital exit. She skidded round the corner just as Allison stepped out of the lift, both girl's making eye contact with each other and Allison's eyes turning cold as they locked on to Levi's. Levi felt her blood freeze as she noticed that the former hunter had no recognition in her eyes, a lump forming in her throat as the girl spun around and almost smacked straight into none other than Chris Argent.
Levi could only watch as she took off, Scott grabbing on to Chris and telling him that his daughter was back from the dead. Deaton's eyes looked at where Levi was standing, raising a little in surprise at her being there. Chris and Melissa had failed to mention that surprise to him in the minutes they'd been in the hospital together.
"Allison, she's alive! She's back"
"She's not the only one."