𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗 - the accusation
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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 when Olivia woke up, her face was tight from the salty tears that had sunk into her pores. As she sat up, she caught sight of Matt, who for once, woke up before her. The tension between the two was thick and it made her feel like she was wading through a swamp as she made her way over to the sink and splashed cold water on her face.
"I'm uh-" Matt spoke, gaining Olivia's attention. "I'm going out, do you want to come?"
She ran her eyes over him, brows furrowing at his attire; he was wearing a large coat, his glasses, and had a cane clutched in his hands. He looked like an idiot. "No, I'll stay."
Matthew nodded his head and swallowed, not being able to find any words to say to the wolf. "Alright. I'll uh, see you later."
She watched him make his way up the steps and she managed to slowly drag her eyes away from his form, focusing on her own reflection in the mirror. She rolled her eyes at herself and pushed off of the sink; making her way back to the bed; falling onto it with a huff.
This had been the first time that Olivia found herself alone for a very long time. For over a year it had either been herself and Jess, Luke, Trish, Malcome, Derek, Peter, and now Matthew. She hated being alone. It was just spare time to think and for people like herself; that was never a good thing.
And so, she leaned over the side of the bed and swiped up her laptop from the bedside table they had been sharing. She opened the device and the screen turned on by itself, she was someone who never bothered to actually turn it off.
She swiped her finger across the mouse pad of her mac and clicked on the little video camera icon. The mouse immediately hovered above her brother's name and she clicked, waiting for his face to appear.
After three beeps his face popped up on the screen and matching smiles lit up each of their faces.
"Hey, Der."
"I was wondering when you'd finally call." Her brother spoke with a grin before he looked over his shoulder and raised his voice. "Peter!"
"What?" Was his only response; he turned back to Olivia and the two simultaneously rolled their brown eyes before Olivia grinned at the sight of Peter running down the spiral staircase behind Derek.
The eldest Hale let out a mock gasp as he caught sight of his niece, his hand flying to his heart whilst his other dragged a stray chair over to the table that Derek was perched at. "Little wolf, is that you?"
"Hi, Uncle Peter." She chuckled in return, as much as she used to hate the nickname; the more time spent away from her family, the more she learned to love and miss it.
"To what do we owe this call?"
"I just wanted to see you both. It's almost been two months since I last saw you."
Derek crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. "Well, if you didn't throw yourself into stupid situations, we wouldn't have to wait so long."
Olivia rolled her eyes with a sigh. "We're doing this? Again?"
"You owe us an explanation, Liv."
"He's right, little wolf." Peter drawled out as he leaned forward, his blue eyes glinting as ever. "You do owe your darling family an explanation."
Olivia shifted, lifting the laptop to cross her legs before setting it back down softly. "Yeah, I know... okay, get comfy."
It had taken roughly about three hours to fully explain the 'case' she had worked with Jessica, everything from discovering the case to everything that happened at Midland Circle.
Derek and Peter certainly didn't help the conversation move along any faster with all the questions and interruptions they provided for the youngest Hale.
Their questions usually held the same tome; things like 'why would you do that?' to 'wre you stupid?', to which she would give a deadpan look accompanied by an eye-roll.
"So... You've been staying in the basement of a church, making sure that the vigilante 'Daredevil' doesn't get himself killed?" Derek spoke slowly, as if trying to process the words himself.
Olivia bit her lip as she nodded, not quite knowing how to respond.
"Jesus, Olivia."
"I know."
"Do you?"
Olivia gave him a look as she rose her brows. "Yes, Derek. I'm not an idiot."
The man threw his head back, a sarcastic laugh echoing around his loft. "You could've fooled us."
She gave him a blank stare, her eyes drifting to look at Peter who had leaned back, a finger on his lips as he pouted in thought. "Anything to add, Peter?"
He leaned forward, his face coming so close to the screen that Olivia actually leaned back. "Just one teensy little thing." He spoke lowly, making his niece and nephew stare at him in curiosity. "Who is he?"
Olivia stared for a moment, her mouth open before she sighed and dragged a hand down her face. She didn't know why she had thought that her uncle would actually ask a serious question. "Yeah, I'm not telling you unless he lets me, sorry."
"Olivia Hale."
"Oh, whacking out the full name huh? Very threatening, four outta ten."
"I'm serious." Her uncle spoke, sounding completely and utterly... not serious.
"That's all you care about?"
Peter grinned; a grin that always looked like something you would see on a Disney villains face, "Yes. But-" He dragged as he leaned back. "If you want me to act like Derek and tell you how stupid you are, I can do that. But then I'd be a hypocrite, just like Derek... who also does stupid shit and has absolutely no room to judge you." He ended with a wink, whilst Derek gave Peter his signature 'Are you kidding me' look.
"You hear that Derek? 'no room to judge.'. Thank you, uncle Peter."
The family of three continued to bicker back and forth for about another forty-five minutes before Olivia finally called it quits when Peter and Derek began to ask more questions about 'Daredevil', questions that Olivia refused to answer. Being the ever-pleasant little sister/ niece that she was, she stayed silent with a shit-eating grin on her face as she hung-up on the pair.
She chuckled to herself as their protesting faces disappeared when the mouse clicked on the 'end call' button. Olivia sighed to herself as the room plummeted into silence once again and Olivia tried to come up with ways to entertain herself that didn't include worrying about Matt, taking up Sister Maggie's time, or talking to her family.
Her eyes slowly moved to where the makeshift punching bags still hung and she shrugged to herself; if the blind vigilante riddled with Catholic guilt could pull himself up and workout, then so could a damn werewolf. She was still flooded with anger, guilt, and memories of the emotional conversation she had with the Sister.
With a huff she pushed herself to her feet and rummaged through her rucksack and procuring a sports bra, she looked down and decided the black joggers she was already wearing would do. She slipped out of her jumper that was two sizes too big and shivered at the cold air that hit her bare torso before pulling the sports bra over her head.
And with that, she spent the next few hours punching and kicking a punching bag made of sheets, doing as many push-ups as she could and used her strength to throw in a few pull-ups.
Before Olivia knew it, the sun had set and her body was covered in sweat; which was somehow not actually her worst look. She continued on, pulling herself up and dropping herself back down; she kind of understood Matt; it was something to do, and punching the makeshift bag so hard it flew across the room did wonders for her anger.
When Matt finally made his way down the stairs after his day roaming the streets, she half expected him to say something about the fact that she had actually moved from the bed, but he didn't. And by the look on his face as he walked by her made the wolf inwardly cringe; not a good look.
As she landed back on the ground, she sniffed and caught the scent of fresh blood coming from the vigilante, "Matt? What happened?"
Before she received an answer, Sister Maggie joined them, her shoes clicking against the hard ground as she descended the stairs and made her way over to Matthew and examined the look on his face.
Matt ran his bloodied hands under the steady stream of water that fell from the tap as he turned it on, the water quickly shifted from being crystal clear to a deep red as it cleansed his hands.
"Well, at least you're upright..." Sister Maggie hummed before she too caught the dead-eyed look on his face. "Do I even wanna know?"
Olivia sighed as Matthew steered the conversation down yet another dark route; questioning the nun of whether she thought people could truly change, that he didn't believe people could change their fundamental nature.
"Well," The Sister breathed as she began to clean the cuts and scrapes on Matt's knuckles. "You'd actually have to try to know."
Matt chuckled lowly before he swallowed harshly. "I was talking about Wilson Fisk."
Olivia exhaled softly, she knew exactly who Wilson Fisk was; after all, she made sure to look into everything that had happened in Hell's Kitchen before she moved and the name Wilson Fisk was one of the first things to pop up, that, along with the fact that it was a certain vigilante named Daredevil that brought Fisk's monstrosities to light.
She could only imagine how the man felt. He finally managed to get his hearing back, just for the first thing he hears to be the fact that Wilson Fisk had been released. It really wasn't his... few months.
"Fisk claims to be helping out the FBI. But they don't know him like I do."
"Right." Sister Maggie nodded, "And according to you, people can't change."
Olivia walked over as Matt scoffed and took away the used cotton balls to throw them in the bin, "'Cause he's claiming to have changed over a woman."
The nun hummed, the corners of her lips twitching, "I see. Well, if there's anything that can redeem a lost soul-" She looked from Matthew to Olivia as the wolf joined her side, a subtle but obvious look being thrown to the woman, "-Love would have to be at the top of the list."
Olivia furrowed her brows as she watched the nun work on Matt's broken skin. Was she hinting at... no, surely not. The wolf wanted to wring his neck half the time, yes, granted they flirted like no tomorrow, but that was all fun and games and sure, she found him attractive, annoyingly so. Yes, she cared for him, but love?
Olivia wasn't the only one to notice the hint; Olivia may have seen the look on the nun's face, but Matthew could hear the shift in tone. His thoughts were similar to Olivia's; they barely knew each other and all they did was argue. Sure, the woman had been the only person to get him to laugh and joke so much, but how could he not when the wolf had such a sarcastic sense of humor.
Rather than continue with his train of thought, he scoffed, "Oh, come on. Even a monster like Fisk?"
"You're talking to a nun, kiddo. Love and redemption are pretty much out sales pitch."
"No, not Fisk," Matt responded plainly. Though it did spark a piece of hope within the nun that was doting on him, he had specifically mentioned 'Fisk' after all.
Olivia wetted her dry lips and crossed her arms across her chest as a small breeze blew against her almost bare top half. "So, what are you gonna about it?"
Matt's head moved to face her and his head tilted, "I don't know. Maybe I'll stop him." He clicked his jaw with a sniff. "For good this time."
Olivia knew exactly what he meant; he wanted to kill Fisk. She didn't know what to say, what to tell him. She'd be a hypocrite if she told him not to kill the criminal. But she didn't want the man to cross that line; Matt had never taken a life. The wolf had.
She knew what it felt like to listen to a man's heart stop beating; to be the cause of the organ's failure. It was something, that stuck with you, that followed you for the rest of your life. Once you crossed that line there was no going back.
Every time you faced an enemy, no matter their crime; the thought of taking their life, dealing with them for good would always flicker inside your head. It was a taunt and it was a punishment.
Matt's head twitched slightly as he heard the women's heart speed up.
"Well," The nun's voice broke the two of them out of their trances, "Just be careful that you don't become the monster."
Those words made Olivia shrink back with a small gulp; one that Matt heard. She exhaled sharply and shook her head before retreating to the 'bedroom'.
She ran a shaky hand through her hair and quickly removed the sweat-soaked sports bra and swapped it for another warm jumper, the sleeves engulfing her hands.
She took a seat in the middle of her bed, crossing her legs as she chewed on her bottom lip.
When the Sister took her exit after making sure Matt's hands were clean and properly cared for, she callout out a 'goodnight' to Olivia who muttered the words back to her before falling backward, her head colliding with her pillow.
Matt remained where he was for a moment, thinking over his conversation with the nun and how Olivia had reacted. Ever since his hearing had fully returned, he couldn't help but listen intently to everything. He could hear the minuscule skip in the women's heartbeat when the Sister had given her a look, and there was no way he could have missed the jump in her heart and the change in her entire demeanor when Sister Maggie had said the words 'be careful that you don't become the monster.'.
He knew their relationship was tense and rocky after she had saved him from his reckless night out, but something was clawing at him and urging him to talk to her.
His body moved before his mind was made up and slowly brought him to his own bed. He silently walked around his bed and settled on perching on the edge as he faced Olivia's direction. "Liv..."
He could hear the bed shuffled beneath her as she turned on her side to face him. "What is it?"
The words on his tongue were reckless, but he couldn't stop them from leaving his mouth. "You've killed someone."
It wasn't a question. It was a statement; one that made the wolf inhale deeply as if she had been expecting those words.
He could hear her hair brushing against her pillow as she nodded her head and the single word response came out in a short and choked breath, "Yeah- yeah, I have." She sniffed.
His mind reeled with the possibilities of what could have happened, what could have driven woman to have taken a life. "What happened?" He asked softly, in a way that surprised the wolf as she half-expected the man to act as disgusted as she felt with herself.
Olivia dragged herself up as she swallowed the lump in her throat. Her shoulders were slumped as she took a seat next to the man, cradling her hands to her chest as she fiddled with her ring.
"He was an alpha... An alpha is an incredibly strong werewolf and he- he was strong. He killed other alphas to take their power and he had an entire pack of alphas. He and his pack came to Beacon Hills; they wanted my brother to join the pack because he was an alpha at the time, even said they'd find me an alpha to kill so I could join alongside him" She scoffed, her eyes entirely focused on her hands,
"Neither of us wanted to join him, and so he terrorized us, killed members of our pack; people we cared about, and threatened others. It went on for weeks, Matt. I came home to find my brother impaled with a damn pipe. He-" She choked on her words as tears filled her eyes.
"He wanted me to kill Boyd, a member of our pack; to prove that I was strong enough to be an alpha. I tried to refuse, I tried to so hard but, in the end, they hurt me so my claws would come out, held my hands up, and pushed Boyd onto them."
Matt swallowed back the reassurance he wanted to offer. He had listened intently to every word, to the way her voice would crack and break. He could hear the tears that fell from her cheeks and splattered on her lap.
"He died and I felt his heart stop." The wolf's chin trembled and her claws dug into the palms of her hands as the sensation of feeling Boyd thumping heart slow to a stop ghosted her skin. She inhaled a breath and pushed it back out before she spoke up once again,
"Eventually we gained the upper hand. Derek, Scott, and I had him cornered. They hesitated and I could tell they were going to let him go with nothing but a warning and I- I couldn't stop myself. Before I knew it, my claws were out and covered in blood; I had slashed his throat, killed him instantly. Truly living up to the word 'monster'"
Olivia couldn't hold it in; her head was in her hands and a steady stream of tears dripped down her cheeks and trailed down her neck and before she could register what he was doing; Matt had pulled the woman to his chest as she sobbed.
A part of him wished he didn't ask; he didn't mean to drag up such an awful memory. Matthew heard the raw emotion in her voice the second she had spoken. He held the back of Olivia's head with one hand, cradling her to his chest as the other softly rubbed her back.
He had never witnessed the woman in such a way, the entire time he had known her she had been full of sarcastic jokes, flirtatious banter, and very strong threats. Never did he imagine that she had been holding onto something so big.
A flurry of thoughts and emotions filled his mind as he held the wolf, patiently waiting for her and not willing to pull back until she did. It had taken a few, short minutes before the wolf's shoulders stopped shaking and her tears slowed.
Olivia pulled back as Matt's arms stayed wrapped around her and she couldn't bring herself to look the man in the eyes. "Sorry."
His voice was low and soothing as he shook his head and released his light grip, "You don't have anything to apologize for."
She carefully fell back to her place beside the man and trailed her eyes to his face as she felt one of his arms wrap around her shoulders. She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes as she slowly lowered her head to rest on his shoulder.
They sat in silence for the better part of an hour; Olivia listening to the beating of his heart, the sound lulling her to sleep as Matt kept an ear on the woman's breathing, hearing it slow until she succumbed to her physical and emotional exhaustion.
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Much to her dismay, Olivia had awoken only half an hour after she had dozed off. She groaned as she heaved herself up, her brows furrowing as she looked down at the blanket that covered her; she was one hundred percent certain that she had not moved to her own bed before falling asleep.
It was then that everything she had spilled to Matthew quickly flooded back. She exhaled deeply as her shoulders slouched before she threw her legs over the side of the bed, socks connecting with the cold ground.
Just as she pushed herself up to stand, Matt came strolling in dressed in his 'civilian outfit' as Olivia liked to call it; His large coat, glassed and stupid hat that certainly wasn't winning him any awards in the sneaky department.
Matt paused as he realized she was awake. He didn't want to seem like he was walking on eggshells around her; she was a big girl and he was certain that she would want everything to remain normal. They were very much alike in that manner. "You weren't asleep long."
Olivia tiredly hummed as she rubbed her arms, thankful that he hadn't brought up the emotional conversation they had not two hours prior. "I couldn't sleep."
Matt nodded his head as he walked over to his bed, grasping the jumper he had been wearing and throwing it towards the wolf who muttered a small 'thank you' before slipping it on. "I'm uh, going to see Foggy, do you wanna come?"
Olivia's eyes widened; did she really just hear him correctly? "Uh, yeah, sure, gimmie a sec."
The wolf padded over to where her boots had been discarded and quickly slipped them on before rolling up the sleeve cuffs of the jumper Matt had given her; the jumper that smelt like rubbing alcohol with a mild hint of blood, not that she actually minded.
"Right," She yawned as she slipped her arms into her jacket, "Let's go."
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It hadn't taken the pair long to find Foggy Nelson, after all, pair a man and a woman who both have annoyingly impressive senses and there isn't much they couldn't find.
A bar. That's where they found Foggy, though Olivia had to hand it to the man, it was a much nicer place than the ones the wolf and the P.I would frequent at.
Matt made his way to the door, holding it open for Olivia who shook her head with a tight smile. "You're his best friend, Matt, he thought you were dead, I'll wait here for a bit."
Olivia huffed as the man hesitated so she gave him a small push and closed the door herself.
The wolf crossed her arms and leaned herself against the cold brick wall; she had come with Matt in the hopes that the man would finally step out of the darkness and reassociate with his friends, God knows he needed them, especially with the inner battle he was having with himself about how to solve the 'Fisk' problem.
However, as she tuned into their conversation, it was clear that Matt had no intentions in rebuilding and joining his old friendships. In fact, he had spouted the same words he has spoken to Sister Maggie; 'Matt Murdock isn't gonna be a part of me anymore. I'm leaving him behind.'
She wanted to smack him, perhaps it would knock some sense into the man. She understood some of why Matthew had been behaving the way he was but even so; the water scoff that left Foggy's lips made the wolf want to slam Matt's head on the counter of the bar.
Foggy cared for Matt, so damn much, as did Karen and they didn't deserve to be treated this way. Olivia understood wanting to keep them safe but the pair weren't stupid; they had all worked together to take down Fisk before and they could do it again.
Matt, however, had other thoughts. Rather than take time to catch up with his friends and reassure the man that he was okay, he decided to plunge the atmosphere into a somber hole and tell Foggy that he, daredevil, would be taking Fisk on alone, that he wanted both Foggy and Faren to stay out of it.
The annoyance on Olivia's face brightened a fraction when she heard Foggy try to put Matt in his place, "You don't get to show up like this and say something like that and expect me to be cool with it, you're my best friend, asshole."
"See, I was wrong to become your friend, Foggy. I... I put you in danger and it was selfish of me. I can't change the past, but I can stop making the same mistake."
Now, it was harsh but had Matthew had ended the sentence there, Olivia would have let it slide; after all, she and her brother had said similar things to the teens, especially Stiles, back in Beacon Hills when they had tried to throw themselves in danger. She understood wanting to protect people, but throwing away your friendship entirely was wrong. And Foggy was a grown-ass man, he was smart and Olivia was fairly certain that the lawyer would ignore Matt's advice anyway.
The sentence didn't end there. No, rather than leave it on a slightly bitter note, Matt decided to take the plunge and be a complete asshole; "We're done, buddy. It's over."
"There is something seriously wrong with you." Foggy had replied, his tone a mixture of sadness and anger.
"Yeah, I know. Stay clear of Fisk, tell Karen to do the same. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell her you saw me."
"Do you even hear yourself right now?"
"Goodbye, Foggy."
Foggy's voice became louder as he almost pleaded for his friend to speak to him, properly. "Matt! Matt!"
Olivia stood waiting with crossed arms; pissed on Foggy's behalf. She watched as Matt strolled out of the bar and walked past her, his head not looking back as he spoke. "You coming?"
"No, I'm not."
"What?"
Olivia scoffed as she glared daggers at the vigilante, her hair whipping around her head as a gust of wind passed them by. "You're an asshole Matthew. He thought you were dead and you couldn't even muster up the decency to-"
"-To what? To sit there and act like everything's normal? Fisk is out and I need to do something."
"No!" The wolf spat. "You need to pull your head out of your ass. Pretending you don't care about anyone or anything? It's gonna ruin you, Matt."
The devil chuckled with no humor as he took a step towards her, a large and empty gap still separating the two, "Is that so?"
"You're pushing him away."
Matthew scoffed, his hands flying out, "Yeah, I know. It's the only way to keep him safe."
"So why haven't you told me to leave?" She started, her anger growing, "Huh? Why am I still here?"
"You saved my life. You can handle yourself"
Olivia recoiled slightly, eyes falling as her voice lowered with a hint of disappointment lacing her words. "That's it? That's the only reason?"
Matthew gave one sharp nod, his voice plain. "That's it."
"Yeah, okay... well-" The wolf laughed with no mirth, her glare becoming smug as she stalked closer to the man until their noses were almost touching. "You're not the only one who can tell when somebody is lying, Matthew." She brought her hand up and harshly jabbed her finger against the man's chest. "Might wanna get your heart under control next time."
She spun on her heel, the tendrils of blonde hair smacking the man in the face as she headed towards the door of the bar, shaking her head as she called out with a scoff. "See you later, Matt."
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17-08-2020
𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨; 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬!