･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎ 𝑴 𝑬 𝑹 𝑪 𝒀 ▎
CHAPTER NINE ━━ ouroboros

OPHELIA sat chained to a pole, wolfsbane and vervain covered the chains and her wrists. With a groan she fluttering her eyes open, adjusting to the lighting of the room she looking around the room. Seeing that they were in what looked like to be a basement. Tubing littered the walls, wet substances covered the floors and walls. She looked up through her lashes seeing a wide eyes Liam Dunbar, who was chained to the floor across from her.

"Lia?" She heard his faint voice.

"Liam?" Her voice cracked, her voice scratchy form not having anything to drink. And the burning sensation from the wolfsbane and vervain in her bloodstream. She looked up, her hair that was shielding her face as a curtain, moving to the side as she did so.

"Yeah, t-they have Hayden." Liam grunted in pain, looking across from them to Hayden. She frantically looked up seeing the Chimera strapped down and stretched out on a table. She struggled against the restrains, whimpering as the metal dug into her exposed skin, vervain burning her more. She looked to Liam, who was sprawled out on the floor, chains dug into his arm preventing the beta from moving.

"Her condition worsens." A robotic voice echoed through the room. Ophelia looked up noticing the Dread Doctors across from her hovering above Hayden. The hybrid pulled harder, as her bones cracked and sizzled from the chains and herbs.

"Stop! Let her go!" She yelled out as did Liam. "Stop hurting her!" Liam pleaded. He pulled harder and growled out only to be kicked in the face, making the Original release a growl and rumble from within her. Her eyes shown ambient, veins running beneath her eyes, she pulled harder on the chains. They dug into her bloodied wrists, the vervain and wolfsbane burning her vanilla skin.

She let her claws out slowly, as she tried to dig them into the chains, as Hayden was thrown to the floor. The Dread Doctors left the trio, exiting the room. "Hayden." Ophelia grunted out.

"It hurts." She panted out, Ophelia looked down seeing blood splattered across the Chimera's shirt.

She looked to Liam who nodded, "Give me your hand, there's something that Scott does. He can take the pain away. I-I've never done it before but I Can try." He stammered holding her hand tightly. Only for nothing to happen.

"Why are they doing this to us?" Hayden grunted looking to the two.

"I don't know." The two held hands, the hybrid to smile faintly at the two.

Ophelia looked down to her lap, calming her heart beat, fluttering her eyes shut, breathing in slowly. No more innocents, she thought. Tuning the couple out, she inhaled sharply.

"Henrik Mikaelson, Finn Mikaelson, Lorenzo St.John, Stefan-" she grunted pulling at her wrists that were bound by chains, her bones cracked; echoing the room. Blood and vervain seeped to the floor beneath her.

"What's she doing?" Hayden looked worried at the hybrid.

"Anchor." Liam whispered in awe, looking towards the Original.

"-Salvatore, Vernon Boyd-" She panted. She pulled on her wrists, one more pull and they would be free, she thought to herself. "Allison Argent, Erica Reyes." She released a growl and grunted ripping her wrists out of the chains. Her chest heaving, blood pooled from her wrists which were slowly healing. She stood on shaky legs, looking up to the beta and Chimera.

She walked towards the two, kneeling beside Liam. He nodded his head and looked up to Hayden. Ophelia ripped out the chains as he screamed in pain. She bit into her wrist offering the beta her blood who gratefully took her wrist and drank. Hayden looked in confusion and disgust. "My blood it will heal you." She smiled to the frightened girl, who nodded her head in astonishment.

After Liam pulled away his wounds healing faster then they normally would, she held her wrist to Hayden, who hesitantly took it, drinking slowly. Within seconds the Original was yanked from Hayden and thrown to the ground roughly. The Dread Doctors held the trio down shoving needles into their necks once again, all three engulfed into darkness.

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LIAM awoke before the two girls. With a groan he turned over on his side, he widened his eyes at the two passed out females beside him. He reached over gently shaking the two. "Hayden, wake up?" He whispered to the Chimera. "O, come on." The two girls awoke with a groan, looking around the abandoned room in confusion.

"Where the hell did they take us now?" Ophelia grumbled sitting up.

"I don't know." Liam mumbled, slowly getting up walking towards the fence that caged them in like wild animals. Ophelia and Hayden held on to each other, looking towards the beta.

Only for him to be flung backwards. A chuckle startled the trio causing them to whip their heads around to the source. "Sorry, I probably should've warned you."

Liam moved in front of the two girls causing the Original to roll her eyes. "Who are you?"

"My name's Zach. And I think the better question is... What am I?" The three looked to one another in worry. "It's okay. I'm just like you. One of the experiments." The trio looked into the shadows, confusion written on their faces. "Hey, maybe you could help me with something. The guys, in the masks-" he spoke as he crawled to them, the trio warily eyed the boy.

"They took something from my back but I can feel part of it still there." He explained.

"You want us to look?" Liam questioned.

"Is that okay?" Zach asked the beta with hopeful eyes. The trio nodded to one another. The chimera turned around revealing his back to show them two protruding wounds where wings should have been placed.

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OPHELIA stood by the fence looking to the electric fence in confusion. She hesitantly raised her finger tips to the fence only to pull them back as they were shocked. She frowned at the fence. She paced back and forth, wondering if the pack was looking for them or on their way at least.

She didn't know how long they had been gone for she assumed a day at least, or maybe hours. She was starting to become irritated with waking up in unknown places, every couple of hours. She didn't understand why they wanted Liam and her anyways. Hayden sure, but them two? She thought to herself.

Liam glanced at the Original in worry, who looked to be in engulfed in her own thoughts. Zach released a sigh. "We're not getting out of here."

"You could be a little optimistic." Hayden spoke up irritated by the boy.

"It's kinda hard when you watch three people get dragged out of here screaming." Zach retorted.

"What happened to 'em?" Zach looked sadly to the beta.

"They were failures. That's all they said." He looked down, Ophelia looked to the boy in sadness, at what he had to endure being here. They had been there for a short amount of time, she frowned at the poor boy who had most likely been there longer. "First, you forget. You don't know who you are or what you're doing. Then you get violent. I watched two of them almost kill each other. One of them had a nasty looking cut just like that." Zach nodded to Hayden's waist, to which she covered it up frowning. "Don't worry. Black is okay. It's only really over when you start bleeding other stuff." Zach explained.

"Silver." Ophelia spoke up looking to the boy.

"That's when they know you're really a failure." He nodded to the hybrid with a solemn look.

"How many more failures are there supposed to be?" Liam asked.

"Who knows? But doesn't it make you wonder what the success is going to look like? I mean what are we turning into? Something with claws and fangs?" Zach asked.

"Something with wings?" Liam glanced to the boy.

"Or worse." Ophelia mumbled from beside the fence.

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OPHELIA and Hayden had their heads rested on Liam's shoulders. Drifting off to sleep, until they heard rattling from outside. "They're coming." Zach spoke up in fright. Ophelia looked to the boy whose nose was now bleeding mercury. "Oh, God." He wiped his nose quickly. "No, no" The doctors dragged the failed chimera away as the trio was trapped behind the fence. "Help me!" Ophelia shut her eyes tightly. She blocked out his cries as Liam held her hand in his lager one.

After sometime, buzzing was heard once again, gaining the attention of the three teenagers.
"They're coming back." They stood up, getting ready to fight.

"Ophelia? Liam?" Theo called out, walking towards the hole seeing the bloody and dirty trio. He looked towards the Original and rushed up to the fence.

"Wait! Theo! Don't-" She was cut off as electricity shot through the boy, causing him to fly back like Liam did earlier. "Theo?" She called out to him. "Are you okay?" She looked through the fence down at the boy, who grunted sitting up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He stood up on his feet and looked at the worried Original then to Liam.

"Did you bring help?" Liam questioned.

Theo tilted his head. "I am the help."

"Well, we're doomed." Ophelia huffed. Theo looked to the hybrid in amusement. He slowly walked up to the fence, as Liam dragged the hybrid back to Hayden. The trio watched as Theo gripped the fence, electricity sparking everywhere as he broke the fence. His canines out as he roared through the pain, walking through towards the three.

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OPHELIA sat in the passenger seat in Theo's truck, fiddling with her bracelet every so often. She definitely needed a shower after the adventures that had taken place. She frowned looking down at her ripped clothes, she laid her head back on the seat rest. She looked through the rear view mirror seeing Liam and Hayden holding hands, she smiled to the two. Finally she thought.

Feeling a burning gaze on the side of her face, she glanced over seeing Theo quickly look away. "Thank you." She whispered to the blue eyed boy. He whipped his head back to Original, she was pretty sure he would have gotten whiplash if he weren't a supernatural being.

"Uh, it was nothing. I mean it was something. You guys needed to be rescued but I mean- you know what I mean." He stammered, Ophelia giggled quietly at the stuttering boy.

"I know what you mean, Theodore." She smiled up at the blue eyed boy. Whose cheeks tinting a light shade of pink hearing the hybrid use his full name. He shook the feeling away, glancing to the girl every so often. Ophelia furrowed her brows, looking closely into his eyes as she remembered something.

━━━

𝐹𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 -

I got ready for bed, walking towards my window, seeing a black shadow behind the trees, that lead to the Beacon Hills preserve. "What the hell?" I mumbled, I looked closely seeing their golden eyes. Wolf. I furrowed my brows, knowing it isn't Brett, or Liam. Hell not even Derek-

━━━

No. It wouldn't be him. Why the hell would he be there? He barely knew her, it was probably someone else or an actual wolf . . . But his aura feels the same - She thought to herself.

She was snapped out of her train of thoughts hearing Hayden and Liam conversing to one another.

"I'm not healing. Not like I did before." She furrowed her brows. The hybrid looked to Theo in worry. "It means I'm a failure doesn't it." She looked back with wide eyes seeing Liam and Hayden kiss in the back seat, as he took her pain away. She felt a hand grasp her small one, she looked up meeting warm blue eyes. "It's gone. The pain's gone. How did you do that?"

"I don't know." He whispered back.

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OPHELIA sat on Scott's couch quietly awaiting for her friends to arrive. Theo stood behind her, leaning. Hearing the door unlock the two looked up seeing Scott, Stiles, and Malia walk in. Upon noticing the Original, they ran over to her engulfing her in a hug.

"You're okay." Scott whispered to her she nodded to the Alpha, who sighed in relief. He then looked towards Liam and Hayden, relief flooding his features. Stiles and Malia held her close to them, watching as Scott and Theo hugged one another.

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THEO drove Ophelia down to her home. The ride had been a comfortable silence. The two listening to one another's heart beat. Theo hated the way she made him feel even without talking; he didn't understand what was happening to him. Coming to a halt he parked his truck outside of the large white mansion. Ophelia nodded a thanks to the boy who, hopped out of his truck walking around the truck. Ophelia smiled faintly and exited the truck. He walked her towards her front door.

Looking up nervously she inhaled sharply. "It's you. Isn't it?" She questioned, nerves and butterflies spreading throughout her stomach. A feeling she hasn't felt in a while, since Erica. Theo tilted his head in confusion to the red head. "The wolf." She whispered, looking into his blue orbs.

Theo looked away as his face flushed, then back into her doe eyes. "Yeah." He affirmed hesitantly.

Scared she'd be frighten or tell the pack he'd been watching over her at night; when he couldn't sleep, and wanted to see if she was having nightmares or crying herself to sleep. Truth is the one girl in front of him, was what was making him want to change. But he knew he couldn't, that still didn't stop how he felt when she would hold Liam, or Stiles, even Scott. Or how she looked at Brett.

How Scott, and Brett looked to her. He knew he was to far gone, and that she would despise him when she finds out the truth about him. It pained him knowing he'd be the reason for another heartbreak and grief story for the girl. She was probably the only one in the pack who could understand him.

His past, what he has done to survive. The hatred he had bottled up. But he knew once she found out, she would never look at him again wether it was friendly or more. He hated how she made him feel with just a glance, her laugh, smile, the way she spoke about everyone. Even her temper, stubbornness, everything about her. It terrified the Chimera. He never knew what love was or what it felt like, he never even liked someone romantically, the confusion made his anger rise.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt soft lips pressed to his cheek. He looked down with widened eyes to the red head in confusion, butterflies erupting within him. "Thank you." She whispered. What she said next, killed those butterflies within seconds. "I think the pack trusts you and-" She bit her lip, "I do to." She felt heat rush up to her cheeks and nerves hitting her all at once. "Don't break that trust." She warned him. "Goodnight, and thank you for rescuing us. And for looking over me." She spoke softly, before walking towards her front door and disappearing into the darkness of her house.

Theo looked down, bringing his finger tips to where her lips were pressed not even a minute ago. 'Don't break that trust.' He swallowed down a lump in his throat. 'I'm sorry, angel.' He thought to himself as he walked towards his truck, millions of thoughts clouding his head.

AN 🦋✨🧚🏼‍♀️

OK so that cheek kiss was totally unexpected, I was listening to the song above aka the song that was played when Kira left. My baby. And I was just writing and I ended up writing that. And I love the song and how the scene meshed well, even though my ginger snap is going to be broken afterwards.

Listen to the song when Theo is dropping Ophelia off, I think the lyrics match perfectly with their 'relationship' and how he's feeling towards her.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭, 𝟐𝟕𝟎𝟎