EPISODE THIRTEEN, SEASON SIX
Avery had been told that Brett was missing and she immediately jumped to questions about the disappearance to Lori who in response showed her his bloody and broken lacrosse stick. Lori had told her that she needed all the help she could get to find her brother and so Avery promised her that she would help and do everything she can to find him. Even though half the time Brett was an asshole, she would help. It would be her way of apologising to him for yelling at him a few hours ago.
So now Her, Lori, Liam, Malia and Scott ran through the woods trying to track him down and get to him before whoever is hunting him gets to him first. It would be a close call but Avery believes that they can do it. Avery had been a hunter along side her father and grandfather so she knows how to track and that comes in handy at times, including now as she drops to the ground and inspects the ground covered in dirt and leaves. The leaves have been flattened and pushed around which tells Avery that he was there, running.
The others stop behind her as her fingers brush across the ground collecting small speaks of dirt that she quickly brushes off on her leggings as she stands up and points straight ahead. "This way." She continues running and the others follow close behind. Avery notices sticks from trees broken and tilted by Brett's escape. So far it's been really easy to track him and she just hopes that whoever is hunting him is new and has no idea what they're doing.
As they run they trample on dead leaves and flick up dirt but their quick movements suddenly stop as Avery's eyes land on an arrow embedded into a tree. Deep in the bark. Liam jogs over to the object and places his hand on it. He slides his hand across it until it slides off and into the air but continues his hand movement until he is pointing off into the distance. Avery's eyes fall to the ground once she catches up to him and points at a phone which was Brett's. "Here."
Lori, Scott and Malia run up to them and Lori lifts the phone off the ground. Brushing off dirt from the back of it and looking at the device in her hands.
Liam points at the ground as he tells them his theory. "I think he set a trap." He nodded along with his words, being confident with his theory. Avery nodded as she thought it through. Agreeing with him silently.
"He's fighting back." Scott says looking between the phone, the arrow and Liam.
"Now we know he's alive," Malia says relieved, moving her arms out to her sides showing that she is relieved by the news.
Lori steps to the tree that they currently stand next to and grab hold of the arrow tightly. She yanks it out letting a small grunt slips past her lips as it comes free. "But he's still hurt. We need to find him, he needs to know we're here." She goes to howl to let her brother know that she is coming for him but Malia's terrified expression stops her. "Do you want the hunter to know we're here, too?"
"He's new," Liam exclaims turning to Scott before continuing. "We can take him."
Avery shakes her head, not approving of the idea of making a sound. "What if Brett howls back? He will lead the hunter right to him."
"No, we can find him first. There's no human that can track sounds faster than we can." Scott tells Avery motioning with his hands at the other supernatural creatures around her. "And we've got the advantage, we've done this before. We know what we're doing, guys."
Avery nodded. It did make sense that they would be able to get to him first but they didn't know if whoever is hunting him is indeed a new hunter.
Lori hands the arrow to Liam who inspects it in his hands.
Malia's eyes squint in suspicion. "How come I can't catch his scent?"
"He's masking it," Lori answers truthfully.
"Can someone tell him not to?" Malia asks as Avery walks around the tree, looking around to find a clue as to where he had gone. She walks back around to the group but her eyes land on a puddle of blood. The blood soaked into the leaves and grass. The crimson red dotted further away into a direction that gave Avery the answer as to where Brett went off to next. "He went this way," Avery says pointing to the direction where the blood drizzled off to.
Liam and Lori don't waste any time as they snapped their eyes to where Avery was pointing and bolt off between trees and out of sight.
Malia and Scott stay behind which causes Avery to as well, looking at them with a knowing look that they return. "His trap didn't work." Avery says. The few words that were in all of their minds as they looked down at the blood and tree that once had an arrow in it.
"Maybe this hunter is not such an amateur," Scott says looking between Avery and Malia who were both in deep thought.
"Or maybe he's learning." Malia adds.
~
"The trails gone." Malia says as Avery looks around trying to find the blood trail that was helping them find Brett. It was gone. And it frustrated Avery to the core.
"Uh, maybe he just stopped bleeding," Scott suggests but it sounds more like a question than a statement.
"Maybe. But there is a possibility that this was a miss direct. So that the hunter would go the opposite way of where he actually went." Avery tells the group pointing the other way from where they were heading.
Liam sighed. "God, I think we should split up. Lori, Avery and I go this way-" He points in one direction. "You guys go that way." He points in the opposite direction where he had just pointed.
"Or maybe we go in five directions," Lori suggests but Avery immediately shakes her head not liking the idea of splitting up. "No, we should stick together. It's safer."
Liam's eyes land on Avery and even though he knows that she has made her mind up and that she won't change it, he still tries to tell her that it will make things easier. "We have the advantage, it's five against one."
Before Avery can tell him that it's a stupid decision to split up, Malia does it for her. "Not if we split up."
"Right." He mutters under his breath before placing his blue eyes on Malia who stands next to Avery with folded arms. "I've been doing this the past three months without your help. I think I can make a decision."
"Well, if you're deciding to do something stupid and die, then go ahead," Malia tells him before placing her gaze onto Scott who had bent down and inspected the ground while the others talked amongst themselves about splitting up. Two against it and two who want to do it.
"It's one hunter, one amateur who doesn't know what they're doing." Liam continues, not backing down and still willing to split up but Avery just shakes her head at the younger teenage boy. "Liam, you don't know if it's just one. There could be multiple hunters out here looking for Brett and if they see one of us by ourselves roaming the woods, they won't hesitate to shoot. Believe me, I know. I've witnessed that too many times to count and I would rather all my friends walking out of here without holes in their heads."
Liam drops his eyes to the ground thinking it through and eventually, he nods. He knows that she was probably the most intelligent with hunting considering her whole life she has been dragged along on hunting trips and she herself has hunted.
It was funny to Avery because she could track a wolf in the woods in the middle of the night but she couldn't find her boyfriend who was kidnapped. The only thing she could hold onto was some stupid bullet and it pissed her off.
Avery's eyes drifted down to where Scott was and she instantly noticed the footprints underneath the dirt that Scott was carefully swiping away with soft fingertips. Avery dropped down next to Scott and helped him brush away the dirt to reveal the footprints.
Liam noticed it too as he took a step toward it. "The hunter. He's covering his tracks."
Avery continued wiping away dirt only to find that there was another pair of footprints right next to the one they had found first. She breathed out a small laugh. "I guess I was right. There's another."
"Two of them?" Malia questions. Contorting her face up in confusion and surprise.
"Maybe more," Scott whispers, looking up at the girl in front of him.
"How many hunters have you seen out here before?" Lori asks looking at each person individually but Scott is the one to answer as he nods with his words knowing that it is true. "A lot."
Malia turns her attention to Liam and mutters. "Still wanna split up?"
"We can deal with it," Liam says moving his arms around at the ground as he says his next words. "We just need to find Brett's trail."
"No, we don't." Lori suddenly tells them which makes everyone's eyes fall onto the blonde girl who stares at a pile of bloody rocks stacked on top of each other. "Rock balancing. Satomi taught us." She turns to the small group in front of her and nods. "It's him, and I know where he's going."
~
The small group walk through a tunnel under Beacon Hills but Lori's fast strides slow as she notices a puddle of black gooey liquid. Avery watches her as she bends down and slides her fingers into it before meeting Avery's eyes. "He's been poisoned."
"That's why he's not healing." Scott says staring at the poisoned blood on the cement ground.
Lori quickly gets back on her feet. "What if he only has a few hours to live?" She questions, skimming her eyes over the teenagers.
Liam drops his eyes to the ground, deep in thought. "Well, if we howl, we can find him."
Malia is quick to shut Liam's idea down. "That's too risky."
Lori shakes her head, taking Liam's side on the situation. "Who cares about the risk? He could be dying." It was true. Brett was slowly dying and with each second that they all talked about whether or not to howl, he was slipping from their grip. Avery didn't want to find a dead body and the thought of finding him lifeless made her shiver. He may not be the best person at times, but he doesn't deserve to die. He's only a teenager and he has a whole life ahead of him that he deserves to live through.
Avery's eyes moves to the puddle of black blood and notices that there are droplets of blood dotting further down the tunnel and disappearing around the corner which meant that he was still moving and alive. Avery motions with her hand to the droplets of blood sitting on the ground. "Well, he's still moving. That's a good sign."
"We just need time to think," Scott says letting his eyes drop to the puddle of crimson red below their feet. But Lori has made up her mind about what she wants. "I need him to know that I'm here, that I'm coming for him."
"Yeah, Lori's right. He has to know we're here." Says Liam before turning away from the group and taking a big intake of air, ready to howl and let the beta know that they are coming for him.
"Liam, wait!" Malia yells in warning but it is too late, his loud roar echoes off the tunnel walls making metal poles that clung to them rattle. Avery's hands shoot up to her ears cringing at the high-volume howl.
~
Avery follows Lori as she hurriedly walks through the tunnels clearly on a mission but so is Avery as she whips her head around every now and then to see if anybody is following them. Her fingers would clench around her bow that is still hanging on her shoulder every time they would walk around a corner. Brett didn't make a single sound to tell them that he was okay and show them where his whereabouts were which to Avery made complete sense but it only worried Lori more and that was evident as she asks. "Why didn't he answer?"
"Maybe he didn't hear us," Liam suggests trying to ease Lori's and his own nerves.
"Maybe he can't." Malia says which would make sense considering there were hunters looking for him and it was clear that they weren't looking for a nice chat about how their day went. Scott turns to glance at Malia while they all try their best to keep up with a concerned Lori who holds a fast paste as she and the others walk around another corner.
"Lori no!" Scott suddenly screams making Avery's heart jump by the loud warning. Avery's eyes fly down to where Scott is looking and immediately notices the tripwire that Lori's foot tugged on by accident.
A mechanical sound then comes from beside Avery but before she can even turn to catch a look at what was making the sound, hands shove Avery out of the way just in time as a large sharpened metal bar flies out from the concrete wall and plunges into Scott's stomach.
Avery grunts as her body hits the ground, her hands flying up and catching herself. She flips herself over so that she can see what had just happened only to see the spiked bar buried deep inside Scott's flesh making her mouth part and eyes widen in shock. Scott had shoved Avery out of the way and took the hit for her. If Scott hadn't pushed her out the way, then she would've been the one with half of a metal bar in her skin and there would be no chance of her surviving it. Scott had saved her.
"Scott!" Avery yells as she jumps to her feet and runs to his side while he backs himself up against a wall and places both of his hands beside where the bar is sitting deep within him. As soon as she is next to him, she places a hand on his shoulder and bounces her eyes from his pained expression and the lodged piece of metal in his skin.
Everybody quickly joins Scott's side and they all place a hand on the metal bar and Scott. Avery wraps one hand around the object that is getting covered in Scott's blood and keeps her other hand firmly placed on his shoulder. They all tug on the spiked bar while Scott grabs onto a pipe behind him and grunts quietly with shut eyes. Avery pulls hard on the metal and it swiftly comes out not a second later, Scott is falling to the ground feeling an unbearable pain shooting through his body.
Malia kneels in front of him and places a piece of fabric onto his wound making him squirm around and groan loudly. Avery falls to her knees beside the wounded boy and grabs his hand to give him comfort. Sweat dots along his skin as he grumbles under low groans. "They knew we were coming."
Malia and Avery share a quick glance with one another before Malia rests her eyes on the Alpha and says. "Don't talk, just heal, and let us figure this out."
Scott then decided that he wasn't going to listen to Malia as he whispers. "They've been a step ahead of us the whole time."
Avery's eyes land on Lori who turns her head glancing down the tunnel and it was clear that she was holding back the urge to bolt away to look for her brother. "I'm sorry, but i can't wait around. We have to go."
Liam looks up at Lori, the same look evident on his features. "We still have the numbers, four-to-two. We're faster, and we're stronger.
Avery drops her gaze onto her hand that is intertwined with Scott's as she mutters softly. "They're smarter." Which was the truth. Whoever was out there, they were smart. They had covered their tracks, set up traps behind them and they were in front of them which wasn't good. At all. And as Avery kneels beside Scott and holds his hand while he tries his best to heal, she feels the sudden urge to run off and go after the people who hurt Scott, the people who were hunting Brett. But instead of doing that, she clenches her jaw and holds her fury tight in her grasp and locks it in a cage so it can't escape and create hell.
That's the thing with Avery, if you mess with her friends, you mess with her and god help whoever messes with the Queen of Death because it never ends well. Usually it ends with near death or death and it is messy.
Lori shakes her head and speaks up making Avery snap out of her thoughts and look up at the girl. "I don't care who's smarter or faster or whatever, my brother's going to die."
"Something's not right. That arrow, the trip wire, the poison. These aren't amateurs." Says Scott in a hushed tone. To Avery, he looked like he was getting worse and the talking was probably not helping.
Liam shrugs a shoulder. "But they've never fought us before."
A sigh breaks free from Avery as her eyes meet with Liam's bright blue ones. "And you've never fought hunters, Liam."
Scott nods, silently agreeing with her. "We need to stick together."
"I need to go." Lori says showing how she was barely holding onto a thread from running off but Liam shakes his head. "No, you're not going alone. I'll go with you."
"Liam, you don't know who they are or what they're capable of," Scott warns the beta but Liam doesn't budge as he bends down to Scott's height and says. "Look, I know who we are. We never give up, especially when it's someone innocent, when it's someone alone, when it's one of our friends."
Scott sirs there in silence for a few seconds trying to collect his thoughts and wondering if letting Liam and Lori go was a good idea but eventually he nods. "Okay, go, go. All of you, I'll catch up."
Lori and Liam don't waste any more time as they both run off while Avery's eyes follow them down the dark tunnel until they are out of sight. Her attention is brought back to Scott as his hand squeezes her hand weakly. Her eyes meet his and she knew exactly what he was about to say just by looking into his begging eyes. Begging her to go with the two betas and make sure that they would be safe. She nods in understanding before he could even part his lips. "Okay. Be safe." She whispers, squeezing his hand one final time before letting go and running to catch up with Liam and Lori.
~
"Shit," Avery whispers to herself as she stops running and soak in her surroundings. There are three ways she could go and she had yet to find Liam and Lori but the thing was, she has seen this three-way section before. Four times to be exact which meant that she was lost and had no idea where she was. Avery let a frustrated sigh slip from her parted lips as she pinches the bridge of her nose. "You had one job, Avery." She grumbles to herself, getting more frustrated and annoyed with herself as time slips by.
Every single bad thing that could have happened tonight has happened and it was teasing Avery's wrath. Avery was about to have a full-blown meltdown, throwing her fist at the concrete wall which would surely do more damage to her than the wall but even though the thought was tempting to let out a slither of her heated rage, she drops her clenched fists to her sides and marches on through the middle section hoping to God that somehow it would show her the way to the beta's she was supposed to be with but instead she was by herself in the dark tunnels with murderous hunters.
Even though she knew there was danger lurking, she wasn't scared. Maybe it was because she knew that she knew what she was doing when it came to fighting or because she was more scared of herself than anything in the tortuous world. Her guess was the second one. After all, she was the reason people stayed inside at night with locked windows and doors.
Avery walks around corners and down corridors but she is met with nothing but pure silence. No life was around her and it made her feel alone but she knew that somewhere in the dark were people. People who she trusted and cared for but also people who wouldn't waste a second to make a bullet a nice home in her or her friend's brain. The thought that her friends could get injured while she was separated from them made her quicken her paste.
As she rounded a corner a low groan was heard and before she could retreat back around the corner to hide thinking that it was possibly one of the hunters, she found out that she didn't need to hide because she had found the reason why she and the pack had gone in the tunnels in the first place. "Avery?" A soft whisper comes from a boy sitting on the ground with dark veins protruding out from beneath his pale skin. Black poisoned liquid slips down his cheeks and neck from his eyes, mouth, nose and ears. His hair sticks up in different directions covered in a cold sweat that also dots his forehead.
Relief fills Avery at the sight in front of her. Even though he didn't look his best, he was alive and that was all that mattered to Avery, along with getting him to safety. "Brett." She whispers back.
One second she was standing staring down at Brett and the next she was by his side on the ground with a relieved smile stretched across her face. She places one of her hands on his thigh and the other on his cheek, wiping away some of the black pouring out of his eyes.
"Has my hero come to rescue me?" Brett says but it sounds weak and broken which cracks at Avery's heart. Knowing that when he said 'my hero' he was talking about her, she nods. "Yes. Your hero is here and she is so sorry for snapping at you."
He waves a weak hand at her as a smile lifts his lips. "It's fine. I deserved it." He dismisses her but she wasn't going to let it slide. She just couldn't do it. "No, you were trying to help and I-" He finishes her sentence for her while wrapping his fingers around her wrist and pulling her hand away from his face. "Did the right thing."
Brett's eyes fall behind Avery and immediately they warm as he looks at the two figures behind her. Avery turns and catches sight of Liam and Lori running to Brett's side. "Brett!" Lori calls falling to her brother's side and placing a hand on his shoulder.
He smiles at his sister. "You found the rocks." He whispers. She nodded breathing out a small laugh. "Yeah, I found the rocks."
Brett moves his eyes up onto Liam. "Liam."
Liam nods and holds his hand out for Brett to take. "Hey, we're gonna get you out of here." Brett slips his hand in Liam's. "You're a dumbass for doing this." He groans as he was lifted back to his feet.
Avery jumps to her feet and stands beside the two boys while Lori stands in front of her.
Liam smiles slightly and places his hands on Brett's shoulders. "Oh, is that your way of thanking me?
"No, that's my way of calling you a dumbass. But, thanks." Brett says mirroring Liam's small smile but both of their smiles drop as a flash of light blinds them in the distance and smoke ignites, swallowing the tunnel as the smoke expands.
"They're coming!" Lori exclaims not bothering to show how scared and concerned she was in the moment. Avery flickers her eyes between the smoke and Brett, thinking of her next move but Liam is quick to respond which helps Avery decide what she was going to do next. "Okay, go, I'll hold 'em off."
"We'll hold them off." Avery corrects Liam which earns a thankful nod from Liam, silently thanking her that she was going to help him. Suddenly all three werewolves cover their ears and Liam turns to the siblings in a sudden movement. "Go, go!"
The Talbot siblings quickly run away leaving Liam and Avery by themselves along with the hunters that Avery was about to make them wish that they never messed with Brett or the others.
Liam roars and that was all that Avery needed to hear as she swings her bow into her hands and places an arrow onto it before running into the smoke with Liam right behind her with glowing eyes and claws on display.
A light flickers on and off in the distance and Avery's eyes harden, knowing exactly what it was as she runs up to the device and slams an arrow into it making the light and noise vanish.
The smoke seemed to also vanish as the noise did which gives them both a clear view of where the hunters were but to their dismay, there was nobody there.
"There's nobody here," Liam whispers spinning on his heels to glance around trying to spot the hunters that were nowhere to be seen.
Avery stares at the device she had just destroyed before turning to Liam with small faith and her heart falling to her stomach as realisation dawns on her. "Which means..."
He knew immediately what she meant. "Lori." he whispers before the two were back into a fast sprint as Avery followed Liam and Liam followed the heartbeats and scent.
They didn't stop for a breath even when their chests felt heavy and they felt like they were drowning in exhaustion. Another loud device was pinned in between two pipes on a wall and Liam called out. "Lori No!"
Avery ran as fast as she could. Pushing her legs to the maximum even when the muscles begged her to stop. She could see Lori's legs at the top of a ladder as she pulled herself up onto the ground. "Lori Wait!" She begged but her legs soon disappeared from the ladder as Brett helped her up.
Avery's heart pounded against her chest and echoed in her ears as she practically jumped onto the ladder and started climbing as fast as she could. "Lori! Brett!"
Avery grabs onto the top of the ladder and lifts herself up but as soon as she gets to her feet and her eyes land on the scene in front of her, her lips part in shock as a quiet gasp slips past her slightly parted lips. Lori and Brett hand in hand. The headlights of a car shining brightly on them as it comes speeding towards them but no matter how fast the car is speeding, time slows and Avery was left standing in the middle of the road as it all played out in front of her like a horrible heartbreaking movie scene.
The car didn't stop or slow down and before Avery could push them out of the way or call out their names, the car slammed into them causing Avery to flinch harshly as the Talbot sibling's bodies tumble to the ground in a heap. The car screeches to a stop but Avery couldn't hear it, the only sound that pounded in her ears was her heartbeat. She couldn't even hear the scream ripping through her lips and into the silent night. "NO!"
She couldn't hear Liam jump up onto the concrete road but she watched him walk slowly toward the siblings. Brett laid on the road not moving an inch while Lori crawled her way to her motionless brother. She grabbed onto his hand and tried taking his pain away. "Close your eyes," Lori whispers in between small sobs as tears rapidly fall like a waterfall.
Brett didn't answer and he didn't move. His chest stayed still and it showed that his life that Avery held firmly in her hands slipped from her grip and she was left there standing with shaky legs that were barely keeping her up and eyes that burned as tears swelled in her green eyes that were filled with panic and terror.
Lori placed her head on Brett's chest and looked up at Avery and Liam with tear-streaked cheeks. "I couldn't take away his pain." She whispers before shutting her eyes for the last time and letting her shaky breaths calm and come to an end.
Brett had called Avery his hero and that she had come to rescue him but now all Avery could think about was that she had failed him. She wasn't his hero. Heroes were supposed to save people but she didn't save him. And she didn't save Lori.
Her eyes fall to her trembling hands which are still covered in poisoned blood. Brett's blood. Her breath hitches as she takes in the liquid on her hands. She had failed, Failed to be a hunter, Failed to be an Argent, Failed to save two innocent lives, Failed to be a good person and Failed to be a hero.
Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Failed. Her head wrung the word over and over and over until she couldn't take it anymore and knew exactly what she was or what she thought she was. Failure.
Avery's lips wobbled and she had the sudden urge to let her knees collapse to the ground and let all the tears she wanted to let go out but instead, she held it all back and hid all the tears and emotions away in a dark corner so hopefully, she will never see it again and let it out but Liam was the opposite. His pained roar echoed in Avery's ears and just by hearing Liam break beside her, she had trouble keeping it all together.
Avery turned to Liam and whispered in a broken voice that would break anyone's heart even if you didn't even know who she was. "Liam." Her eyes fall back onto the bloody car that had hit Brett and Lori and watched as a man in a black jacket hop out with no remorse or guilt on his expression which angered Avery to the core. She was consumed by her deadly wrath but as she took a step toward the man, all the noise came back and she could hear panicked murmuring from people around her. She spun around seeing people surround her and Liam staring with terror.
Avery thought they were just looking at the puddle of blood from Brett as his and Lori's motionless bodies lay in the middle of the road but she noticed that their eyes weren't on the ground but were on the boy next to her. Avery moved her eyes onto Liam and realised why they were looking at Liam. His eyes glowed brightly beneath the headlights of cars and his claws and fangs were hard to not notice. They were terrified of him.
Liam growled as he turned to look at everyone still shining his bright yellow eyes and showing them to everyone. Avery had promised herself that she would protect Liam from everything that could cause him harm and that promise made Avery take a few shaky steps towards him. Her mind was replaying how Brett and Lori's bodies came in contact with the car and it was making it hard to do anything but she had to do this. For Liam.
Liam turned to Avery noticing that she was moving and once Liam got within reaching distance of Avery, she reached for him and pulled his head down to her chest to hide him from everybody. She kept her hand on the back of his head and the other wrapping around his trembling body. The people surrounding them were scared but Liam was terrified. He let out a few sobs as Avery held him close to her body. His own arms wrapped around her as all chaos fell around them but it didn't matter. Not to them. Because to them it was only them, two friends clinging onto each other after watching two people they knew vanish into thin air.
Avery's eyes were shut tight as she felt Liam's body move with each sob he made but she let her eyelids flutter open but once she did her eyes met a pair of dark ones that haunted her and her menories. She took in a deep breath as she stared back into his eyes. Her body straightened and tensed under his gaze as fear ran through her body.
As she watched a smirk form on Gerard's lips from the distance, she felt her heart hammer against her chest begging her to run and hide but she couldn't move, she was frozen in place staring straight into the eyes of the man that had ruined her life. He was back and she and her friends were screwed.
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I want to give Avery a big hug and never let go of her because she deserves so much better than what she goes through but because I can't hug her I'm gonna get Theo to hug her when he comes back :)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was probably badly written and sad and I hope you had a good day or night ❤️