"damnatio memoriae"

WHEN THEO MET CASSIE OUTSIDE of the hospital, the girl thought that he would be annoyed at her, but when he smiled at her appearance, the girl let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't done anything wrong — she might have let slip that someone had brought her back to life, but she never said Theo's name, and that's all that mattered. "Is be okay?" Theo asked, wanting to know if her father was okay after the horrific accident. The girl smiled at his question, finding it nice that he cared so much about wether or not her dad was okay, nodding her head as Theo wore his own smile back at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and bringing her close to him as he guided her away from the hospital, knowing what he had to do next. "I know you've been having your doubts about me, Cass. I just want you to know that I don't want to hurt them, in fact, we're protecting them from what's about to come, you know that, right?" He asked, using his soft tone again that he knew Cassie would answer to, when she nodded, he carried on, "Which is why you just need to trust me, because what we're doing next, isn't what you think. Like I said before, we're protecting them. You trust me, right?" He asked, the girl eventually nodding her head again.

And that's when he knew he had her wrapped around his finger.

Cassie could tell that Corey was worried about this whole situation, and she was, too, but neither could voice out their worries with Theo near them, listening into everything they say. Theo had said that they needed to check out the scene in which that creature had come out of, after the girl had told Theo what happened that night when she was talking to Liam, Theo knew that he had to hide the evidence, or get the upper hand on Scott. What he told the others, or more importantly, Cassie, was that they weren't going to hurt them to the point where there was no coming back, they just had to hold them off until Theo can destroy the evidence. Because that's what he wanted, the upper hand, he wanted Scott to beg for the information he didn't have, and Theo wasn't going to give in, no matter how much he begged.
"It's going to be okay." Cassie told Corey, as the two waited for Scott to show up; she had noticed the fear irradiating from him, and she knew that Scott was going to be able to smell it. "You've got to calm down, I can smell your fear." She said softly, knowing that he didn't exactly want to be here.

Corey didn't answer, instead, turning invisible against the pipes as the girl sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to fight, so hiding was the right thing to do; the girl was going to spring into action when she smelt Scott appear, but froze, when she smelt her brother, and heard him talking with Scott with no care in the world. Now, Theo had promised her that Stiles wouldn't be injured, but she would be the one to carry that out — just because Stiles had betrayed her, didn't mean that she would idly sit back whilst her pack hurt him. So, when Tracy paralysed Stiles, Cassie didn't waste any time in grabbing his falling body and making sure he didn't hurt himself hitting the ground, and Stiles was even more confused than he was before, when she lowered him to the ground and let him lie down, the boy unable to move. "Cass?" He asked, confusion clear as day on his face.

Cassie ignored him, standing up to find Scott pushing Tracy's claws inside of Josh, the two of them falling to the floor as Scott had pushed them down — now, Theo had told Cassie that she had the upper hand because Scott wouldn't want to hurt her, but looking at him right now, she felt nothing, she didn't see the boy she used to see as another brother, she simply saw the boy who abandoned her. When she rushed forwards and emit flames into her fingertips, just like Theo had taught her to, Scott successfully dodged it, not hitting her like he had with the other two as he didn't want to hurt her, but Cassie didn't give up; with her eyes flowing a vibrant orange tint, she carried on swiping at him, even with his bright red eyes glaring back at her, even with her mind telling her to back down, she didn't, because she didn't want to disappoint Theo. Scott rolled backwards as Cassie jumped towards him, but when he pushed her back, she hadn't expected it, so she went flying into the pipes behind her, her back groaning in protest as she landed on the floor, Scott instantly getting back up to apologise and help her up. "Okay!" Theo shouted out, before Cassie could see the regret in Scott's eyes. "Maybe they're not ready to take on an alpha."

Now, Stiles had told Scott that Cassie was alive, but how, neither of them knew, but standing right here and looking at all of the teenagers whom had supposedly died, they knew that the person Cassie was talking about, was Theo.. "What did you do?" Scott asked, watching in anger as Theo lifted Cassie up off of the ground, the girl clinging to him to keep herself up, like she trusted him. After everything he had done, he didn't know how the girl could trust Theo, which made him believe that he had done something to her..

"I found some new friends. I don't take defection well." Theo said, still holding onto Cassie as she started to heal from the hit. He looked down at Stiles with a smirk on his face, knowing that Stiles wanted him away from his sister, it just made him slip his hand down to the girls waist. "Stiles." He greeted, a knowing smirk on his face as Stiles glared up at him. Then, he smashed his foot down onto the concrete, smashing the words away so they couldn't get a picture of it. "You're gonna leave here thinking that you need to worry about me. But you're wrong. We're actually back on the same side, because that thing, that's what we need to worry about." He explained, still keeping his hold on Cassie, even when she attempted to move away from him, not liking the way Stiles and Scott looked at their interaction, she didn't want them to get the wrong idea.
Cassie couldn't look at Stiles, she felt guilt all over, feeling like she had let them down, no matter how much she tried to push it back, it wouldn't leave, and Scott could smell it, furrowing his brows in confusion, his theory coming to light that Theo had something against her to make her work with him. "Your pack and mine, we're gonna go back to school and pretend like we're normal teenagers, but at night, we're going to be fighting for our lives." He explained to Scott and Stiles.

"What is it?" Stiles finally spoke up, trying to push back the anger at how Theo was touching his sister like that.

"It's not a Chimera." Theo said, not giving any more information.

"But it's just a kid underneath." Scott said, not knowing how they could hunt the thing without helping whoever was stuck inside. "Someone like us." He added, hoping that he could get through to Theo.

"Not anymore." Theo said, having to push back his excitement at finally being in charge and knowing more than Scott, and holding onto Cassie just spoke volumes, it said that he was winning.




——




Cassie snuck out. She knew that Theo had been keeping tabs on her, and had told her that she couldn't do anything without asking him first, but she needed to talk to Liam, she needed to find out what the hell was going on, and what had really gone down on that night with the blood moon, the night she died. Theo told her that Liam had gone to kill Scott out of anger, but with the way that Theo had been acting lately, using her as a pawn to annoy Scott and Stiles, she didn't know what to think anymore, it was like she was finally opening her eyes to what Theo had been up to. With the way he acted with her a few hours ago, she knew that there was more to his plan than just protecting the town, and she was scared that she had been put in the middle of it; the only person she could actually think of seeing right now, was Liam. So she tracked him from the school, towards the vets, where he was banging his fists against the door, calling for Scott to come out and talk to him, but Cassie knew he wasn't even in there.. When the girl came out of the shadows, Liam paused, instantly turning around, face to face with Cassie, who didn't actually know how Liam would react to seeing her, since she had left him with a broken back a few days ago..
"What are you doing here?" Liam asked in confusion, having thought that she never wanted to see him again.

"I came to talk." Cassie eventually spoke up, her guard up just in case Liam would send her away. Seeing him again was doing all sorts to her heart, this was the boy she loved, and no matter what Theo said to her, or ordered her to do, she just couldn't get rid of that feeling. She missed him, and no matter how hard she tried to not miss the boy, her thoughts constantly transferred back to the beta, the boy who had been there for her when no one else was.

"Is that okay with Theo?" Liam asked, not meaning to sound spiteful, but he just couldn't understand why Cassie was with him, after everything Theo had done to break apart Scott's pack. Theo was the one who told Liam to go after Scott, he had put that idea in his mind, not himself, and he wasn't even sure if Cassie knew that.

"No. But he doesn't know I'm here, and I'd like to keep it that way." Cassie told him truthfully, knowing that he was the only person that wouldn't judge her for being with Theo. Not like Scott and Stiles had, giving her those looks of disbelief and shame when they saw her by Theo's side a few hours ago. Cassie still hadn't gone home, she didn't want to face anyone.

Liam nodded, not knowing what to think about her words about Theo, "What do you want to talk about?" He asked, still confused as he thought that the girl wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Liam didn't want to fight with Cassie, when he found out that she was alive, he was the happiest he had ever felt in his whole life, his anchor actually being here instead of in the ground, dead, but when she had started shouting and arguing with him, the happiness was quick to fade away, the boy believing that she hated him, but here she was, talking to him again.

Cassie sighed, looking down at the ground as she began to play with her fingers, not wanting to look up at him as she spoke, "I wanted to say sorry for leaving you the other night. That was wrong of me, and I was just angry about what happened. It got to me." She explained, her words coming out fast as she didn't exactly like apologising, but she thought that Liam deserved it, since he had saved her. When she looked up at Liam's shocked face, she carried on, "And I came to find out exactly what happened on the blood moon." She stated, not using the statement of her death day because it was still hard to talk about, the fear still being there whenever she spoke about it.

Liam shook his head in confusion, knowing that she already knew what happened that night, "You already know what happened." He stated, not knowing where the girl was going with this.

Cassie shook her head, crossing her arms across her chest as she looked at him, "I know what Theo told me, I haven't heard your side, yet." She told him, having thought about it for some time, and realising that she should listen to Liam's side of the story, having just heard Theo's, and at this point, she just didn't know if she could believe that boy, even if he was the pack leader, and he did save her life, why had he? He must have some reason behind it all, and Cassie just didn't believe that it was because he was a nice person for saving them all, there was more to the story.

Liam sighed, looking down at the ground as he was afraid to meet Cassie's eyes, afraid that if he said the truth, that she would hate him again, and he couldn't live with himself if the girl he loved hated his guts. "Theo told me that I should kill Scott. And I was angry enough because he didn't save you, that I just lost it." He admitted, looking back up at Cassie in worry of her expression, but as she stood there, she didn't give him a look of disgust or anything like that, she was actually listening to him.. Liam sighed again, "I've not been able to stop thinking about it since it happened, the guilt has been eating me alive, Cass. I never meant to leave you like that, but just the idea that I could get Scott to save you was enough for me to loose control, and with the blood moon, there was no way I was coming back from it. I haven't said it yet, but I want you to know that I'm so sorry for leaving you; I love you so much, and I never meant to hurt you." He explained, the tears forming in his eyes as he did so.

Hearing this was something that Cassie needed, in order to break the wall that Theo had put in her mind, the wall that stopped her from seeing reason, and the wall that stopped her from seeing any bad coming from that boy. She believed Liam, she didn't think he would lie to her at a time like this, and she knew Liam, and she could just tell that this wasn't a lie, "I was alone, Liam. I didn't even have Ellie by my side because you never called her, or Stiles or my dad." She said, her voice quiet as she tried to keep her tears at bay, the last thing she wanted was to cry in front of him again. She was done crying.

"I know." Liam said, his own voice breaking as he couldn't believe he had left her to die like that, "I know, Cass. And I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say." He admitted, knowing that he could apologise over and over again, but his guilt and regret would never change.

"You hurt me." Cassie said, as Liam slowly moved towards her, not wanting to make the wrong move, but just wanting to touch her, to feel that she really was alive and not a part of his imagination, like everyone else had been wondering. When he reached his hand out and cupped her cheek, the girl couldn't help but lean into his hold, comfort instantly spreading through her at the feel of his touch, something that she didn't know she had been needing. "Liam. I'm scared." She finally admitted, having not said it to anyone around her yet, afraid that Theo would hear her and punish her.

Liam frowned, pulling the girl into his hold and sighing in relief when Cassie didn't push away from him, instead, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning into him like he was her saviour. He held onto her, pushing his face into her hair as he had missed everything about her so much, hating how she was saying this to him, hating how he couldn't prevent his girlfriend from being scared. "Scared of what?" He asked quietly, the two standing in front of the vets, in each other's arms, and hoping that no one interrupts them.

Cassie sniffed, looking up at Liam through her teary eyes, before finally saying the name of whom she was terrified of. "Theo." She whispered, sending chills through Liam's body. The second his name came from the girls mouth, he wanted to kill Theo for scaring her, for manipulating her, for controlling her — but he knew that Cassie wouldn't do anything about it, in her eyes, Theo owned her now, since he had brought her back from the dead, she felt like she owed him in some way, and being a part of his pack was just that, and until she has fulfil Theo's wishes, she was going to stick with him. "Can I stay at yours tonight?" The girl asked hesitantly, not knowing if Liam would actually let her, but knowing that she didn't want to go home, and she definitely did not want to go to Theo's hideout where he would be waiting on her and wondering where she had been all night.

"Of course you can." Liam answered before almost immediately, knowing that she definitely wasn't going to turn her down, he was hoping that even the two of them could rekindle things, and she would forgive him for what he did. But he knew that it was a stretch, and he would have to wait for her to forgive him, and he would wait for fifty years if it meant getting back together with Cassie. He couldn't loose his anchor.