A knock at the door wakes her up. It is time. Instantly, the door is blown off and a silhouette enters, calling her name. "Hello, Elizabeth." For the first time in a while, she doesn't tremble when she hears that. "It's time to move. The La Bete plan has reached its final stage and it's working out faster than I could even imagine."
She swallows hard when she hears it. But it's the Supermoon tonight, after all; things had to start moving. "Is Hayden dead already? This means that your plan to turn Liam against Scott, having them kill each other, did not work."
Theo just grins. "It hasn't happened yet. But I won the dwarfie. It is not long until he'd attack Scott. Truth be told, Liz, I think we've talked about this before, about the things one would do for the loved one."
"We both knew Liam would fall in this trap. I would too. Any of us would, but..."
"I wouldn't," he finishes for her and turns around leaving. "I've got things to take care of. Do whatever you want to do, but stick with the plan. If you know the location, I'll see you there." With that, he leaves. After five more minutes, she goes out too, with a pretty full agenda.
Scott looks at his inhaler and is completely angered by how useless and powerless he is. A few years ago, he was a stupid sixteen-year-old teenager who got bitten by an Alpha and was turned into a werewolf. Slowly, slowly, he became powerful, somebody else. A year and a half ago, he became a True Alpha, one of the strongest werewolves ever, and ever since then, he's been strong enough. He's defeated Deucalion, the Alpha of Alphas, survived Nogitsune and all sorts of assassins, turned Liam and now he's powerless. What he feels is not just sadness, it's fury. He clenches his fist, breaking the inhaler still in his hand. A pink powder dissolves in thin air and then it hits him, what that is. "Wolfsbane..." This guy, Theo, has got under his skin all this time and slowly separated him from the pack. That son of a...
Behind him, another werewolf makes his appearance. Without looking, Scott knows it's Liam. Theo must have given him the idea of turning Hayden. Liam wouldn't have thought about it on his own. And right now, Liam wants to get Hayden a bite, even if it means killing him, getting the Alpha spark and biting her himself. It was all part of Theo's agenda. "Did you lie to me?" The Beta asked, showing off his sharp fangs, pure anger being read on his face.
"I've never lied to you."
Liam moves around him, as his nails grow longer, becoming claws. "You promised you'd save her."
Scott knows it's useless to try to talk with him, but tries anyway. Reasoning with a Beta with anger issues is a tough job. "I can't save her, not with the bite. If you'd just think for a second, you'd see that."
Liam snorts, his eyes glowing murderously. "I am thinking. I'm thinking about alternatives."
Scott looks at the moon that appears from behind the clouds. It seems it's laughing at him. "The supermoon, it's feeding your anger. It's making you more aggressive."
"It's making me stronger." And with that, Liam jumps at Scott, attacking him with all he's got. But before getting at him, he is hit by something else.
A weak fist against his stomach has him step back. The surprise makes him stop, but, as soon as he realizes who is between him and Scott, he proceeds towards his target again. "You're not like this, Liam," she screams at him, raising one arm in the air to stop his claws from coming any closer to her hand.
Liam roars. "Guess I've changed, Liz. I'm not the only one, anyway."
She smiles. "Did I?" And steps back. Then turning to Scott, she adds: "What do you think Scott? Isn't this something of a deja vu?" Scott looks at her perplexed. But he realizes it's not the first time she's put herself between him and somebody else. This time though, it's going to be bad. Something, a small spark in her eyes, tells him she can't fight Liam, but also that she's ready for whatever. Elizabeth loses her focus for a while and doesn't see Liam landing a punch right on her stomach. He knows too well that is her most vulnerable spot. "I'm happy you've moved on from me. But do you think this is what Hayden wants to see you as?" In the end, Elizabeth learns the same conclusion as Scott: trying to talk a anger-issued Beta out of his murderous plans is a freaking hard thing to do.
"At least she'll live." Then he punches his ex right in the face, sending her three steps backwards. She is one step away from falling off the roof.
"Liam, stop!" Scott adds, but it's again useless. His target now is that female Beta and he isn't going to even pay attention to the Alpha until Elizabeth is down.
"Why don't you fight back? If you really want to protect Scott, show your sharp claws and fight properly." He is visibly annoyed by her hesitant fighting style. It's like she only wants to distract him. Anyways, to finish his job and force Scott to keep his promise, he should better hurry and end the affair with her.
But in Scott's mind another question makes his appearance. 'How could she pass over the mountain ash seal? Unless she's too... Elizabeth has been kept and performed on by the Doctors. They could've... turned her into something else too...' Raising his head, he sees her smiling. Something in the expression she's got on her face makes him understand. But Liam doesn't. The Beta hits her again, cutting over her abdomen, five new scars, another history-repeating moment. She spits out blood and falls to the ground.
Tears falls down on both's cheeks. "I'm, in fact, quite happy about how things turned out. Don't worry, Scott, you'll be able to defeat the Doctors and Theo too, just like you've defeated the others. Believe me."
He looks down and does that he didn't do for Stiles a few hours ago, he believes in her words. He's got to fight back himself and win it all.
But the tear that goes down Liam's face is full of something else, regret. "Why won't you fight me? Answer me, Liz. You'll die this way, stepping back and receiving every single hit."
"Coming from you, all punches, all kicks, all hits are hugs to me. And anyway I am going to die." Elizabeth lowers her head and spits again. This time is blood and a silver liquid. They immediately know what it is.
"Mercury...," Scott mutters. He looks up again and sees the moon glowing and smirking devilishly at them. He hears how it whispers to Liam's ear to end that fight that hasn't even begun. Elizabeth grins again. It slowly turns into laughter.
Liam swallow hard and roars again, his fury fed up by her reaction. "Stand up. Fight me. Why won't you?" She does that and as soon as they're at the same level he raises his hand into the air. It is as fast as a lightning bolt, when his claws go through her chest, piercing the heart-shaped thing there. They both know it's the end.
"Because you'll always be my Baby-Wolf." Elizabeth smiles with warmth. A few drops of mercury come out of her eyes, like they are some kind of tears. She is still standing, but going backwards. Unwillingly, her body takes that one step needed and she falls off. Looking down at his hand, Liam sees both mercury and blood. He knows what he's done. But then again, the thought of Hayden dying and Scott not willing to help feed further his anger. The supermoon's spotlight is right on him. He turns to Scott, shining his eyes brighter than ever.
"You killed her." Scott is obviously more shaken. "You used to love her. Did the supermoon make you forget that?
Liam turns to him, breathing in and out heavily and gasping. He snorts, saying: "Used to?! You know what, Scott, you are right. I lost her. That's why I mustn't lose Hayden as well." The Beta jumps at him. Scott still hopes he can get him back, by talking. It isn't going to work. But Scott can't let Liam kill him.
Mason passes the library's door in a hurry. He needs to get to Liam. But the monstrous screams, were-roars, do not sounds very promising. As he enters, he calls his friend several times. "Liam, Liam, what are you doing?" He sees the Beta leaning on towards Scott, ready to stick his claws into his Alpha's neck. He gasps, stopping, and raises his head to see a deadly shocked Mason. He doesn't know him as a monster, but as a werewolf. He shouldn't be a monster. But that is exactly what he has been for the past hour, attacking Scott, killing Elizabeth, messing everything up. He looks directly into his friend's eyes and reads the bad news. "She's gone. Hayden died a few minutes ago. She's gone."
The feeling freaking hurts. Everything he thought he was right to do is in fact stupid. Elizabeth would have not died in vain if his goal had been achieved. It doesn't matter anymore. What matters? Hayden is dead.
Just as Parrish disappears into the shadows with Hayden's body in his arms, Liam lowers his head. It's all gone. It's all been in vain. He looks down at his own hands, finally realizing what he's done with them that day and what he hasn't. He has killed Elizabeth Hale, his first love, has attacked Scott McCall, his Alpha, had shown the face of a true monster to Mason Hewitt, his best-friend, and has let Theo Raeken, a son of a..., trick him, but hasn't been next to Hayden Romero, his new girlfriend, while she was fading away, into the darkness.
The pack is broken.
Hayden is dead.
Elizabeth is dead. He's killed her himself.
And it's all his fault. Liam clenches his fist and shoves it into a wall, punching the concrete as hard as he can. He feels pain and sees his knuckles and fingers bloodied. But the wall felt nothing. Because it is a wall. It is not human. It cannot feel anything. That is the thing that makes everybody human: feelings. Things don't feel. Monsters can't feel. At least this pain, as meaningless as it is, reminds him he's still himself.
Pain is some kind of anchor. But physical pain eventually becomes manageable. After three seconds, it doesn't not hurt anymore, the only proof that he's really hit that wall being the blood in his hand and the crevasse-like crack in the wall. Everything else doesn't exist anymore, after only three moments. The kind of pain that lasts is emotional. And most people learn it the hard way. Liam realizes that the supermoon-fuelled anger, combined with his I.E.D., should make him want to tear the building down, but that is not happening. The sadness and regret for both Hayden and Elizabeth are tearing him down.
Had he known Hayden was to die anyway, he would have not even touched Elizabeth, would have not tried to hurt Scott, would have not shown Mason how a real monster could look like. So many regrets and so many 'if's, but they are all worthless.
Liam stands from his place. He needs to go somewhere. He needs to leave that place, where the smell of a dead body, Hayden's, can still be felt. It burns his nostrils, his senses, twisting the knife in the already big and bloody wound. He needs a place, somewhere clean, where he can let it all out. It is not his home; it's something beyond a parent's understanding. 'Hey, mom and stepdad, I've killed my ex and my current girlfriend died while I was trying to hurt my friend.' Under normal circumstances, the thought would make him laugh, but right now, Liam doesn't know what hope and happiness and love feels like.
Elizabeth is dead.
Hayden is dead.
The pack is broken.
The young Beta has lost mostly everything he would die for. And even this thought hurts him because 'dying for something you love and not in vain' is Elizabeth's manifesto, something he's learnt from her, besides the art of lie-detecting. He would have been half of what he's now, hadn't it been for her. He loved her and he killed her. He loved her and he killed her. She loved him back and let him do that. To her, he was worth dying for.
And what hurts the most is that he isn't sure that he would have died for her. A year ago, when she's met her, she was just another werewolf, one of the crazy nutjobs from that night at the Martin Lakehouse. When he was afraid he was just a monster, she showed him how a werewolf is totally opposite from such a creature. And that mattered a lot. By the end of the adventure, before the trip to Mexico, something changed in both of them and it was unthinkable and unbelievable, but also perfect. It was the big L-word. He'd fallen in love with her and so had she. And last summer still is the best he's ever lived. She won't be in his next.
However, after the start of the new school year, senior year for her and Scott and Stiles and the rest, while he and Mason and Hayden were just sophomores, things changed. It isn't that she behaved strangely, but she disappeared then came back and was just different. He was the bad guys' side. Or that's the impression he's got. She was talking to the Doctors like she could change their minds, but that did not happen. So they were not allies or anything. And if Elizabeth wasn't their ally, it means she was their enemy. And the pack's enemies' own enemy would be an ally. A few minutes ago, Scott asked him to think for a second and he was thinking about alternatives. But if he had thought about it for a second, if he had done some simple logics and maths, Liam would have figured out that she was still with them. And that is also the reason why she's once again thrown herself in a battle to protect Scott. And by protecting Scott, Liz also protected Liam, from doing something he wouldn't have really wanted to do. And he's killed her. That is incredible.
Liam punches again a wall and this time something cracks in his hand. He doesn't hit with the werewolf superstrength, but as a simple human. Werewolf from head to toe, but he's still human. And in his fist, his emotions and feelings and regrets and hopes are mixed together.
Her image reappears in his mind. She is smiling. She is strong. She is Elizabeth Hale. She is Liz. She is his Liz. And with that her words ring in his ears, like the loudest musice he's ever heard, a powerful piano piece that starts down, in a minor scale, but then rises up in a beautiful crescendo. He also remembers that she used to like Beethoven and Brahms. 'Because you'll always be my Baby-Wolf'. That is what she said. Liam has tried for a while to believe something else, but the truth is that he could have never given up on her. The truth is that he still loves her. He loved her and he killed her. He still loves Elizabeth, but he has killed her. The same thing can go for Hayden. He still loves her, but she is dead.
Soon, two papersheets come before his eyes. He almost steps over them, unable to care less than he does, but then he notices the handwriting, ugly and beautiful at the same time. Elizabeth's handwriting, he'd recognize it anywhere at any time. It's a letter from her. He looks at it, unable to understand any bit of it. But that doesn't matter, holding it into his bloodies hands hurt a lot. It hurts. That is because the dead cannot be forgotten and you cannot stop loving them just because they are not with you anymore. Some people do not even die. They are still there, guiding you on a better path, or are somewhere else, where they're starting their new life, a brilliant, happy one. Either way, people cannot just fade away. This is how oblivion is impossible. That is another one of Elizabeth's many manifestos. But they all are right.
Liam bites his lower lip and raises his head. He knows for sure that Elizabeth is part of the first category and Hayden is part of the second. They may be dead, but they are not gone. And he loves them and he misses them, but they are not gone. They are just as alive as they can be, in his memories. Hayden and Elizabeth...