Melanie was speechless.

And considering she was quite the chatter-box, being speechless was pretty hard for her.

But of course, sitting in a car with your ex that you dated for over a decade could do that to somebody.

Melanie and Liam were on their way to the Sheriffs Station to meet up with Lydia and hopefully find Noah and the whole car ride had been relatively silent, only the car radio at a low volume being the only thing they could hear.

Melanie was getting sick of the quiet. She'd rather jump out of the car whist it was moving then sit in silence any longer. "How have you...been?" Melanie asked, looking at Liam for a second before quickly turning away. Liams hands tense on the wheel as he cleared his throat.

"I've been good. I've been living with Mason at his place. A couple of weeks ago I started getting restless being here and I hopped on a plane to Japan." Liam said as he kept his eyes on the road. Melanie's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Really? Japan?" She asked, not expecting Liam to say that.

Liam chuckled at Melanie's shock, nodding his head as he kept his eyes on the road. "Yeah, I remember loving it when we went for a ten year anniversary. Figured it'd be nice to go again. While I was at a bar when a cloaked man walked in and started fighting with the bartender for the nogitsune. That's how I knew to come back."

Melanie smiled at the memory of their ten year anniversary. They saved for over two years for that trip and they absolutely loved it.

"What about you?" Liam asked, turning his head to really get a look at Melanie. Her hair was longer than the last time they were together and it was in its natural wavy state instead of the straight hair Melanie kept making with her flat iron.

Liam always thought she looked nice with her natural hair.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts when Melanie started to answer his question.

"I'm still at the apartment. Had to get roommates to help with the rent though." Melanie said and she could hear Liam chuckle. If she focused hard enough on the window, she could see a faint reflection of him.

"Roommates?" Liam asked, emphasizing on how she said roommates and not roommate. "It's a two bedroom apartment." He chuckled out, making a small laugh leave Melanie's lips. She turned her head to face Liam, her laugh only making Liam chuckle more. "Oh, I'm very aware. It's the number thing Corey and Theo fight about. Tempted to get them a bunk bed so they shut up about it."

Liam laughed at her words, not expecting those names to come out of Melanie's mouth. "Your roommates are Corey and Theo?" Liam chuckled out and he could faintly see Melanie nod.

"Is that why Theo came back with you?" Liam asked. Melanie nodded, pulling her lips into a line.

"Yeah, Scott called saying he wanted backup for this plan to get Allison out of bardo incase it went South. I figured the more help the better. I offered both of them to come, but Corey was worried he'd see Mason so he..." Melanie's words slowed as she started to look out the window, watching what they were stopped next to at the red light. "Backed out."

Liam looked to see why Melanie's speaking slowed and saw her looking out the window. Looking at the cemetery. Liam bit his lip nervously, regretting taking this route to the station immediately. "Have you visited her yet?" Liam asked, finally turning to face Melanie.

Melanie shook herself out of her thoughts, she turned to Liam and when their eyes met, she felt all of her butterflies she got when she was fifteen all over again. "What?" She asked and Liam frowned. "Have you visited Belle since you've been back?"

"Oh..." Melanie looked back out to the cemetery just as the light turned green. Melanie watched all the gravestones pass by her in a grey blur as she shook her head. "No. Not yet."

When the cemetery was no longer beside them, Melanie turned her head a few mere inches to watch the place from her rearview mirror. "I flew in this morning. Haven't had time yet. I'm planning on going once all this is done with." She muttered and Liam nodded.

It was quiet for a couple seconds before Melanie slowly turned her head to look at Liam. "Have you visited her since you've been back?" She asked as she really got a look at Liam.

His hair was shorter than the last time she saw him. He had it grown out when they were together. Nothing too long, but it has definitely been cut. And his stubble had grown out.

Melanie always thought he looked nice with facial hair.

Liam turned to Melanie for a second before he turned back to the road. "I have... Only once or twice. It's hard to go, I guess. I start thinking about how long she's been gone and it fucks with my head." Liam said and Melanie nodded. She turned to look back at the road just as Liam pulled in to the sheriff stations parking lot.

"Thirteen years." Melanie mumbled as Liam pulled into a parking spot. Liam parked in a parking spot a couple of cars away from Lydia's car. He turned off the car and sighed. Liam looked over to Melanie and frowned at the sight of her running her fingers over Belles bracelet. After she passed away, Scott suggested she kept it so she'd always have a part of Belle with her.

"You ready?" Liam asked quietly and Melanie turned to look at him. He noticed the tears in her eyes before she could blink them away. Liam felt his heart hurt at the sight of it as Melanie quickly tried to compose herself and nod. "Yeah. Yeah, let's go."

The two of them got out of Liams car and slowly walked towards the station. They both felt weird being back, almost like getting hit by deja vu.

Liam pushed open the station doors like he had thousands of times before as Melanie ran beside him, looking around the empty station.

As Melanie went to step further into the station, Liam reached out and grabbed Melanie's hand to stop her. Melanie froze, her heart skipping a beat as looked up at Liam. She noticed his chin was a little higher in the air than it normally was. Even after over a decade of not having to deal with the supernatural, Melanie knew Liam had smelt something.

"What do you smell?" She asked as Liam's hand that was in front of her to stop her from walking, dropped and grabbed her hand. "Fear." He whispered. Melanie barely heard Liam answer, her mind on his hand in hers.

"That would be me." Jackson announced, startling the two as he walked out of the cell area. Melanie and Liam jumped at Jackson's sudden presence, their hands ripping away from each other as if the other was on fire and their hand was burning.

Lydia sped out of the room after Jackson, a sigh of relief leaving her lips when she saw Melanie, but Melanie could've sworn she saw a small smirk on the strawberry blondes face when she saw who Melanie was with. "You're gonna want to see this." Lydia said as she walked back into the cell room.

The fact that Lydia only looked at Melanie and not her and Liam, worried her. Without looking at Liam, Melanie followed Lydia. She skidded to a stop when she got into the cell room and saw a Deputy dead on the floor, leaning up against the cell.

Melanie felt something in her chest as she looked at the man. Her eyes started to glow bright green as she slowly walked towards the body and crouched down in front of him. "He was a kitsune, probably didn't even know it." Melanie whispered as her eyes turned back to their normal brown. She turned her head back to look at Liam, Lydia, and Jackson. "If the Nogitsune murdered him, then he did it to steal his tails."

"The tails only get him one thing." Lydia said and Melanie nodded in agreement. "The Oni."

Jackson watched Melanie and the dead man in front of her with wide eyes. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I have a tail. No one's planning on stealing my tail, right?" Jackson asked worriedly, his voice higher than Melanie's heard it before. Melanie grew annoyed with the boy, starting to understand why Stiles and Belle always complained about him.

"Different kind of tail." Melanie snapped, startling Jackson. She bit her lip in worry at the sight of the dead man before she got up and turned to face the three. "If anything he'd be after me next." Melanie said as she looked over the group. She knew she was right and she was a little terrified. She hadn't worked on anything supernatural in almost a decade so if she'd be going against an ancient spirit, she'd be a little rusty.

Melanie noticed Liam shift on his feet at her words and Melanie knew that was one of his tells when he was nervous. Thinking that maybe Liam was worried about her, Melanie tried to change the subject off of herself. "There's more going on and I think it's all connected." She said and Lydia almost immediately nodded. Lydia leaned forward and grabbed Melanie's arm, pulling her towards the Sheriff's office.

Melanie's jaw dropped as she looked at the crime board created on Noah's cork board. "Someone's been setting fires." Lydia explained as Liam and Jackson came in to the office. Melanie read over every sticky note written on the board as Liam came up beside her, their shoulders brushing.

"Yeah, the fires all happened right after the jar was taken from Japan." Liam said as his eyes scanned over the board before Melanie noticed his eyes widened. He leaned forward and pointed at a photo of a hooded man taken from a security camera. "That's him. That's the guy who stole the jar, the one who freed the Nogitsune."

Melanie's eyes widened at his words. She looked up at Liam just as he looked down at her. "He's the one setting the fires." She whispered and Liam nodded in agreement.

"And not the Nogitsune? Why don't we catch him and kill the Nogitsune? That sounds like a pretty good plan to me." Jackson asked, shaking Melanie and Liam out of their thoughts. Melanie turned her head to Jackson, partially annoyed as she answered his question. "Well, the Nogitsune's not a person. It's an ancient power, so old it's practically elemental. It might not be possible to kill him."

Jackson rolled his eyes at Melanie's attitude, looking back to the board with an angry sigh. "Well, I'm willing to give it a shot." He muttered.

"We're wasting time." Lydia groaned out, turning away from the board and to the door of the office. Liam sighed, turning to the three as they turned to him. "You guys can figure out who's starting the fire. We need to find Scott." Liam said to Lydia, Jackson, and Melanie before he put all of his attention on just Melanie. "Come on." He whispered, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room. As Melanie was being dragged out, her eyes landed on Lydia, who had a small smirk on her face and raised eyebrows.

Melanie followed Liam to his car nonetheless. It was quiet throughout the ride except the sound of Melanie's phone ringing as she tried to call Scott.

After trying to call Scott for the fifth time and being left with voicemail, Melanie groaned and hung up the phone.

A loud pop followed by the car shaking made the two gasp. Liam stretched his arm out in front of Melanie, being used to her never having a seatbelt on as he struggled to stop the car and pull over.

"Shit!" Liam cursed under his breath as his car came to a stop. Melanie wasted no time getting out of the car and running towards the back passenger tire. Her hand ran over the large slash in it as Liam ran over. Once he was standing above her, Melanie looked up at Liam, his eyes on her instead of his tire. "It was done by a sword."

A sound of a sword being drawn made Melanie shot up off the ground. Her and Liam turned their heads and watched as four shadows walked towards them. The four shadows turned into the Oni as they emerged from the fog.

Melanie made her katana appear in her hands, grateful that it was made of silver as Liam let his claws and fangs grow, his eyes shining yellow. He roared as he and Melanie ran at the four Oni.

Two of them ran at Melanie while the other two ran at Liam. Melanie rose her katana to strike the Oni in front of her but she was blocked by both of them. One of the Oni threw their katana out and Melanie jumped back just before they could slice her neck.

The two Oni went back and forth trying to stab Melanie, but Melanie blocked every single one with her own katana. She was visibly struggling fighting the two Oni at once and started to think about how Liam might be doing. She licked one of the Oni in front of her in the gut to give herself enough time to look at Liam.

Worry started to bubble in her stomach as she watched one of the Oni he was fighting sweep his feet and knock him down onto his stomach.

Melanie let out a yell to build up her anger. She raised her katana and stabbed the Oni in front of her. As she watched the Oni freeze and slowly turn to dust, Melanie didn't notice the Oni she had kicked away come up behind her.

Liam pushed himself off the ground, hoping he'd be able to get up and save Melanie from the Oni she didn't see, but the one standing above him pushed him back onto the ground with his foot.

The Oni raised their katana and stabbed Melanie through her back and out of her stomach, empaling her. Melanie groaned at the pain, her sword falling out of her hands.

Liam felt his heart stop as Melanie collapsed to the ground once the Oni removed their sword from her abdomen. She gasped at the airy pain she felt and weakly looked up at Liam. His eyes were still yellow, but Melanie could've sworn she could see tears in them. A small frown pulled on her lips as the pain started to leave her body.

"I'm sorry, Liam." Melanie whispered as her whole body started to feel lighter. Her eyes closed as she started to feel herself getting pushed through the breeze, barely being able to hear Liam's screams.

—GUYS THEY WERE DOING SO WELL
until the oni showed up😒
BUT THEYRE GONNA GET BETTER‼️

GUYS... WHY DO I WANT TO MAKE ANOTHER LIAM FIC...
i just... dylan🫶🤞

THEO WILL BE BACK NEXT CHAPTER AND OMFG WE WILL GET EVEN MORE MELLIAM‼️