Chapter 18- You Can't Save Her
Isaac silently drove the car down the road, his mind going back to earlier. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the imagine of a gun pointed at her head from his mind.
His worst nightmare; losing her, was almost made a reality right in front of his face and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't calm down after that. He felt the need to hit something, to do anything, to get his feelings out.
He felt like he failed her, here he was; a big, strong werewolf, and he couldn't even keep her safe. He already felt helpless enough, not being able to save her from her own mind, but now he couldn't even save her from henchmen with guns either. Little by little, he felt like he was losing her and there was nothing he could do to change that.
He glanced over at her for a moment, watching her silently look out the passenger side window deep in though. She was right beside him, but it still felt like she was too far away.
He turned his eyes back to the road and reached out to lay a hand on her knee, causing her to jump, before she turned her head toward him with wide, watery, eyes.
She had been trying so hard to silence the voice in her head, she had forgotten for a moment where she was or that he was with her.
"Sorry." Isaac mumbled. He removed his hand, placing it back on the steering wheel, as he added,"I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's okay." Teagan softly said. She reached out to grab his hand, pulling it back toward her, as she gripped his hand and laid it in her lap; just needing that connection to stay grounded. "I was just lost in thought and you surprised me." She added.
"What were you thinking about?" Isaac questioned, as he glanced over at her for a moment, as he turned on to her street.
Teagan released a breath, as she said,"Just stuff. Diff-Different stuff."
She knew he had tons of questions and wanted to know what happened, and she wanted to tell him, but it was all still so fresh in her mind; the gun pointed at her, her mom screaming at her to shoot. Even now her mother was yelling at her, telling her she failed, but there was still time.
She was worried if she began to open up to him, there would be no stopping it. If she began to break down, she feared she would never be able to pull herself back together. She could feel that she was slipping, but was trying so hard to hang on.
Isaac parked the car in the empty driveway, then turned in his seat to face her; planning to talk to her, to get her to open up, but before he could say a word, she opened the car door to step out.
She took a deep breath, holding it in her lungs a few extra seconds, before releasing it; being stuck in the car with her thoughts was almost making it too hard to breathe. There was too much hitting her at once, she didn't know how much longer she could do this, how much longer she could hang on to herself.
She laid a hand on the side of her head, grabbing a hand full of her hair, as her mother's voice began to get louder and she began to show her violent imagines; things she wanted Teagan to do, the things she thought Teagan needed to do to gain her life back. The pictures flashed in her mind like a picture book, then for a second everything went back to normal; the imagines were gone, the voice was gone. Everything was eerie silent.
Her eyes nervously jumped around, wondering what was going to happen next, when suddenly it all come back in a rush, her mother showing her what she wanted her to do now to Isaac as she screamed at her. The commands overwhelming her and causing her to crack.
Isaac lowered his eyebrows in confusion, seeing her bent over, her breathing labored and the heel of hands pressed against her eyes; like she was trying so hard to push some imagine from her mind.
He threw the car door opened and rushed over to her and laid a hand on her back, slowly moving it around to comfort her, as he asked if she was okay.
"I can't-I can't stop... I can't stop." She panted.
"Can't stop what?" Isaac asked confused.
"I can't stop picturing it. All the-All the violence. There's too much and I can't-"She tried to say before her voice trailed off in a sob.
"Shh, it's okay." Isaac whispered out, as he continued to rub her back. "Teagan, it's not real. Just remember it's not real. It can't hurt you, okay? I won't let it hurt you."
"It's not-It's not okay. It's not okay." She cried out, as she shook her head from side to side. "She wants-She wants it to be real. She wants me to... but I can't-I can't do what she wants me to. I can't!" Teagan yelled, as she fell down her knees on the ground. Her fingernails dug into the dirt, pulling clumps of grass up, as she cried out against something he couldn't see.
"Your mom? Is it your mom again?" Isaac questioned, as he went down to the ground beside her and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her toward him, trying to comfort her the best way he knew how. When she nodded her head at his question, he continued,"What does she want you to do? Teagan, what is she saying?"
Teagan snapped her head up, her eyes locking with his and an eerie calm look on her face, as she stated,"She wants me to kill you."
Isaac nervously licked his lips, for a moment he felt like he was looking at a stranger, as she titled her head to the side; looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Then in a flash it was like she was herself again, as fresh tears filled her eyes, and she stared at him looking scared out of her mind.
"Come on, let's get you inside." Isaac offered, as he tightened his hold around her waist, helping her back up to her feet.
"N-No. You-You have to stay away. Stay away from-from me." Teagan choked out, as she pushed away from him and ran toward the front door of her house. After all the things her mother showed her and yelled at her, she was worried about the imagines coming true; that she would slip and hurt him again.
He saw her struggling with unlocking the front door and made his way over toward her, ignoring her earlier plea. He stood behind her, placing a hand on her side, letting her know he was there for her, that he wasn't leaving. Just like he had promised over and over again.
She breathed out a sigh, then leaned back against him, needing his comfort now more than ever. He laid his forehead against the back of her head, the two standing still for a moment, enjoying the others presence before he reached forward, taking the key from her hand and unlocking the door.
Teagan pushed the door open and stepped away from him to take a few steps inside. She wrapped her arms around herself, like she was holding herself or possible holding herself back from doing something bad.
She closed her eyes for a moment, a pained look on her face, as the imagines began to flash in her mind again; different scenarios of ways she should hurt Isaac. Tears filled her eyes as she heard his cries in her head each and every time she hurt him. She couldn't stop seeing in her mind the look in his eyes; seeing the love and life leave them, every time she killed him.
She took a shaky breath, then turned around to face him, as she said,"You should leave."
"You're joking, right?" Isaac stated, as he walked toward her. "I almost lost you tonight, Teagan. There was a gun to your head and now you're having some kind of break down. Do you honestly think I would leave you alone after that?"
"You have to." Teagan softly said, as she glanced down at the floor. She closed her eyes again, another pained look on her face, as she tried to fight against her mother's voice. She was trying so hard not to slip up, not to give in to the demands, but the longer he stood in front of her, the harder it was.
Her eyes snapped opened, as she looked back at him, and said,"You can't be here. I can't-I can't fight her anymore." Tears streamed down her face, as she tearfully admitted,"I don't know if I want to anymore. It's too hard fighting it, I'm not that strong."
"Yes you are." Isaac argued. He stepped forward to stand in front of her, laying his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look at him, as he stated,"You are stronger than you know, Teagan. You can fight her. You have to fight her!"
"I can't... I can't." Teagan whimpered, as she squeezed her eyes shut. She could faintly hear Isaac pleading with her, trying to get through to her, but all she could really hear was her mother's voice as she said the same thing over and over again, until she finally mouthed the words quietly to herself,"Tuer ou être tué."
While Isaac was distracted looking at her, she reached inside the jacket she was wearing; pulling a dagger she got earlier from Allison, from the pocket. She mouthed the words from her mother again, as she began to raise her arm, the dagger in her hand, all she could think about was stabbing it in his heart. It was like she wasn't even in control of her own thoughts anymore. She wasn't herself and was too tired to fight against it.
Isaac lowered his eyebrows in confusion, seeing her mouth something to herself, then saw her hand out of the corner of his eye. He quickly gripped her wrist to stop her, he applied a little pressure, not enough to hurt her, but enough to make her drop the dagger.
Hearing the weapon clatter to the floor, Teagan gasped, as she pulled back from him, feeling like she was coming out of a daze. With wide eyes, she looked at him, then down at the floor where the dagger was laying.
Her eyes flickered back up to him, as tears filled them, she placed her hand over her mouth in shock at what she almost did. "Oh, my God. I didn't mean- I-I didn't want to do it. I just-Oh God!" She cried out, as she turned and raced for the stairs, not trusting herself around him any longer.
Isaac watched her flee from the room to rush up the stairs, almost tripping on her own feet. He heard her bedroom door slam shut, then saw Aspen began to walk down the stairs, after she kicked him out of the room. He gave the dog a pat on the head, then led him into the kitchen to let him out in the fenced in back yard.
He snapped his head up to the ceiling when he heard noise coming from her room. At first he was confused until he heard more crashing noises and realized what she was doing. She was trashing her room.
"Shit." He mumbled to himself, as he ran to the stairs, taking them two at a time, and raced to her bedroom door. He could hear her screaming on the other side, as she threw more things across her room.
"Teagan!" Isaac yelled out, as he beat on the closed, locked, door. When he heard another loud crash, followed by her yelling again, he slammed his shoulder into the door, using all his werewolf strength to force the door open.
His eyes widen in surprise when he saw the condition of her room. Every picture frame or knick knack that was on her dresser was now in the floor. Any picture or poster on her wall, had been ripped down. Her room was completely destroyed.
"Teagan?" Isaac said, as he held up his hands and cautiously took a step inside the room. "Babe, hey, look at me, okay? You need to listen to me, you need to calm down." He added.
"No!" Teagan screamed, as she moved her arm across the top of her desk, knocking everything in to the floor. She turned back around to face Isaac, as she yelled,"Don't you see? This is me, this is your Teagan now! This is who I am."
"This isn't you!" Isaac argued.
"Yes, it is!" She yelled back. She turned toward her bed, grabbing a picture frame from the bedside table. She looked down at it, seeing it was a picture of her mother, then screamed out,"Leave me alone!" Before she slammed it on to the floor, causing it to shatter on impact.
Isaac flinched when she grabbed the alarm clock by the bed and flung it across the room, barely missing his head and hitting the wall with a loud bang. He saw her turn to face him, then grab the side of her head, pulling at her hair in frustration. He was about to rush to her, to comfort her, but before he could make a move, she began talk.
"I'm the girl going out of her freaking mind. I'm the girl who is hearing her dead mother in her head, telling her to do terrible things. To do awful things and the really terrible part of it all, is I want to do those things. I want to do every single bad thing to you that she is begging me to do." She reached up to wipe away the tears that fell from her eyes, as she cried,"I want to hurt you. I want to hurt you so bad, and I'm fighting against her everyday to not do that and it's so hard. And I'm so tired. I can't-I can't do it anymore. I can't fight anymore. Isaac I can't do it!"
Seeing her break down, Isaac stepped over the broken glass and shattered objects on the floor, to stand in front of her. He grabbed her arms, holding on to her, as she tried to push him away; scared she would hurt him again. But no matter how hard she tried to push, he wasn't letting go. He laid a hand on the back of her neck, pulling her toward him as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him.
"No, hey, listen to me." Isaac called out, as she continued to fight against him, trying to get away, forcing him to just hold on to her tighter. "You can fight this, Teagan. We will fight this together, okay? It's you and me, remember? It's always you and me. No one can change that, no one will change that, nothing can drive us apart." He said, as he kissed the side of her head.
At his words, he felt her give in, accepting his comfort and melting into his embrace. He held her a few more minutes longer, then pulled back to look at her, wiping the tears from her face, feeling his heart break when he saw the broken look on her face.
The last time he saw her this broken was when Aleine took her dad, and Avery had left with Deucalion. For a split second, he was worried she would never come back from that, but he vowed not to give up on her, to pull her back and he would continue to do that. He wasn't going to give up, like before, he would have enough hope for the both of them.
"It's always you and me, babe, always." Isaac softly said again. He would say those words ever how many times she needed to hear it, until he finally got through to her.
"Stop." Teagan whispered, as she took a step back from him, suddenly needing her distance. She placed her hands on the side of her head, as she yelled out,"Stop it... Stop it... Stop it!"
"Teagan, don't listen to her, whatever she is saying, you have to fight it." Isaac stated, assuming she was hearing her mother again.
Teagan shook her head, a strange look appearing on her face, making her look nothing like the girl he knew. "I'm talking about you." She snarled. She took a step toward him, jabbing a finger in his chest, as she continued,"Stop with your pathetic declaration of love. Nothing you say will change anything." She laid back hands on his chest, pushing him backwards, as she screamed out,"You can't save her! It's too late, you can't save her!"
"Teagan?" Isaac questioned, as he looked at her closely, feeling like he was speaking to someone else. "Who? Who can't be saved?" He asked.
Teagan blinked her eyes, seeing the confused and concern look on his face. She took a quick step back, glancing around in confusion for a moment, before she looked back at him, and stuttered out,"M-Me. I meant-I meant you can't save me. You can't make it stop. No one can make it stop."
"No one can make it stop." She quietly repeated to herself, as she turned around, looking at the state her room was in. Seeing something shining on her bedroom floor, she rushed over to it; falling down to her knees, as she grabbed the bracelet.
She stared down at the infinity bracelet that once belonged to her mother; remembering all the times it popped up out of nowhere in the beginning, when she first started hearing from her mother. She had also used it in the sacrifice, making her think in her mind that it was the bracelet's fault. Maybe if she destroyed it, everything will stop and she will be herself again.
With that thought in mind, she began to pull on it from both ends, trying to rip it in half. "Make it stop, make it stop." She whimpered, as she pulled harder, then cried out in frustration when nothing happened.
"Teagan, stop!" Isaac stated, as he dropped down in front of her, taking the bracelet from her hand and dropping it back to the floor. He grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze, and laid his other hand on the side of her face, forcing her to look at him.
With tears in her eyes, she stated,"It started with the bracelet. I have to destroy the bracelet. If I destroy it I'll-I'll be okay, I'll be normal again."
Isaac shook his head, as he said,"It's not the bracelet." He thought back to the times when she hallucinated and the bracelet was nowhere around. It might have started with the bracelet, but this was bigger than that now. This was something else.
He wiped the tears from her face, as he continued,"I don't know what is causing all of this, but whatever it is, we'll figure it out. I promise you, I won't give up on you."
Teagan sat back on her heels with a sigh, her eyes dropping down to the floor, seeing a shard of glass from one of the picture frames she broke earlier. She heard her mother laughing in her mind, telling her to pick it up and shove it in Isaac's neck.
"No, no... I won't. I won't do it." Teagan whimpered, her hands shaking, itching to grab the glass. "Don't make me do it, mom please, don't make me do it." She cried out, as she began to move her hand toward it against her well.
"Teagan?" Isaac questioned, as she began to cry harder, pleading with her mother in her mind.
Teagan gasped as she cut her eyes to Isaac, her breathing labored and a pained look on her face. "Go. You got to go, please go now, Isaac. Go before it's too late." She quietly pleaded with him, almost as if she was scared someone would overhear her.
"No." Isaac stated, as he shook his head, refusing to leave her alone during this.
"You're a fool." Teagan said with a slight chuckle, as she titled her head to the side, sounding nothing like herself.
In a flash, she reached out to grab the piece of glass, then stood up from the floor. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when Isaac stood up with her, standing in front of her, making no move to leave the room.
"So what are you going to do, Isaac? Hmm? How are you going to save poor, little, Teagan?" She asked sarcastically. "How are you going to get the girl back that you fell in love with?"
She looked down at the glass in her hand, then cut her eyes up at him, as she added,"What are you going to do if I stab this in your heart, hmm? I mean, I know werewolves can heal, but what if I was to rip your heart out? I doubt you can survive that, am I right?"
"This isn't you, Teagan." Isaac said, as he shook his head. "This is your mom. She is making your do these things, to say these things. I know you don't want to hurt me." He added, as he held up his hands and took a step closer to her. "Teagan, you would never hurt me."
"You don't know how wrong you are, Isaac." She said, as she moved her arm toward him, planning to cut him across the stomach with the glass.
Isaac quickly jumped back, avoiding the glass, then reached out to grab her wrist. He saw her raise her other hand, planning to punch him, forcing him to grab her other wrist. He moved forward, walking her across the room until her back slammed against the wall, causing her to laugh out loud.
"Wow, who knew you had in it you." She said with another chuckle, as he squeezed her wrist like before, making her drop the glass.
She titled her head to the side, as she clicked her tongue, then said,"What are you going to do now, Isaac? Are you going to hurt me?" She laughed again when she saw his eyes flash and felt him applying more pressure to her wrist, she knew she was making him mad. She knew exactly which buttons to push to set him off.
With an evil smirk on her face, she continued sarcastically, "Are you going to show me what your daddy taught you? He would be so proud if he could see you now."
She saw his face fall at her words, as he glanced down, seeing how tightly he was holding her wrist. He could already tell it was going to leave a bruise later the worst part is at the time he didn't even realize he was doing it.
Isaac dropped her wrists, then took a quick step back, as he took several deep breaths, trying to control his anger and disappointment in himself. He had hurt her, something he never wanted to do, and what scared him the most was how easily he slipped into that anger. No matter what she said, or better yet; what her mother forced her to say, he never should have snapped like that.
"Isaac?" Teagan breathed out, getting his attention.
He turned his head to look at her, seeing the girl he loves staring right back at him, but at the moment he didn't feel like he deserved that love. Not after what he just did to her.
He saw her slide down the wall, almost if the last little bit of energy she had was now gone. She pulled her legs up to her chin, as she softly said,"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Isaac shook his head, wanting to tell her it was okay, but couldn't find the words. All he could hear was her taunts from earlier and the feel of her wrist as he squeezed it too hard.
Suddenly needing some air, he took a few steps back, almost tripping on his own feet, then rushed out of the room and make his way downstairs. He jerked the front door open and rushed out onto the porch, leaning against the railing, as he took several deep breaths.
He turned around, sinking down to the ground and pulling his legs up, as he rested his head in his hands. He knew the things she said wasn't her fault, but he had no excuse. There was nothing he could blame his actions on.
When he heard her crying from the upstairs bedroom, he reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. Feeling at a loss on what to do to help her, he called the one person he hope would know what to do.
~()~
Isaac stayed on the porch, his back against the railing, as he ran his fingers through his hair, still beating himself up for what he did earlier. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a car door slam shut, causing him to turn his head toward the drive way and seeing Avery rushing over toward him.
All he told her earlier when he called was that something was wrong with Teagan. That was all she needed to hear before she ran to her car and drove to her best friend's house.
"Hey, where is she? What's going on?" Avery questioned, as she walked up the porch stairs.
"She's-She's freaking out and I don't know what to do." Isaac said frantically, as he stood up. "I just... I made it worse. I screwed up." He admitted, as he looking down at his hands; remembering what he did.
"Wait, what? What do you mean? What happened?" Avery asked concern. She could tell by the look on his face that something bad happened, something worst than the usual hallucinations Teagan had lately. She could tell whatever was going on, he was beating himself up badly for it, blaming himself for something.
"Hey, Isaac, look at me." She said, as she reached out to lay a comforting hand on his arm. "Whatever you think you did, however you think you screwed up, I can bet it is not your fault. Now tell me what happened."
"It's her mom. It's getting worse." Isaac said frantically. "She's getting stronger, we need to do something, Avery. Or I'm scared... I'm scared we are going to lose her."
He filled her in on what happened that night. He started with earlier, telling her what happened at Katashi; the parts that he knew at least. Then told her what happened after they arrived at her house. The way she was acting, the things she was saying. He looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed, as he admitted to what he did.
"Hey..." Avery said, getting his attention. She shook her head, as she continued, "It was an accident. You would never hurt her. I know this, okay? She knows this, and she would hate seeing you beat yourself up like this. You can't blame yourself, if you want to blame someone, blame her mother. She is doing this to Teagan, it is not Teagan. It's her!"
"I know, but I don't-I don't know how to save her." Isaac stated helplessly. "All I can do is stand there and watch the girl I love slip away, and I don't know what to do."
"Okay, okay, let's think about this." Avery mumbled, as she ran a hand through her hair. "When me, Scott and Stiles talked to Deaton, he mentioned a door being open, being ajar. Maybe her door is still open." She stated, then continued, "I mean, when he first mentioned it, it seemed like she was better, but maybe that was just like, the calm before the storm, and now Lisa can get to her cause of that door. If we shut the door, she'll go away."
"How do we shut the door?" Isaac questioned.
"I can do it." Avery suddenly said, an idea hitting her. She had done it before, with her own mother and Deaton, back when she got into their minds. It wasn't going to be easy and it was going to be painful, but she was sure it would work, it just had to. All she knew was they couldn't lose Teagan.
"What do you mean?" Isaac asked confused.
"Follow me." Avery said, as she headed for the front door. The quicker she could do this, the quicker they could get Teagan back.
The two made their way upstairs, walking into the bedroom, Avery's eyes widen when she saw how the room looked. Isaac told her Teagan had destroyed the room, but she didn't really believe it until she saw it. Losing your temper and trashing a room, was the type of thing she did, not Teagan.
"Teagan?" Avery softly said, as she stepped further into the room, seeing her best friend sitting on the floor, her back against the wall and her legs pulled up to her chin.
Teagan raised her head, tears rolling down her face as she looked at them. Since Isaac left the room, she kept her head down, trying to forget the things she did and said, but seeing him again now made it all come back.
Her eyes landed on him, as she softly cried,"I'm sorry. I didn't-I didn't mean-"
"It's okay." Isaac whispered back, interrupting her. "That's not why we're here. We're here to fix you."
"You are?" Teagan questioned with a hopeful look.
"I am." Avery stated, as she walked closer to her. She sat down on the floor in front of her, then reached out to lay her hands on the side of her head until Teagan jumped back, asking her what she was doing.
"I'm going to go into your mind, and close the door." Avery explained.
"What? You-You can do that? How?" Teagan questioned.
"I'll explain later. Let's get you fixed up first, okay?" Avery said back.
"Is it going to hurt?" Isaac asked, as he nervously stood behind Avery.
Avery looked over her shoulder, glancing up to look at him, as she said,"I'm going into her head, poking around to look for a 'door', it's not going to feel like a walk in the park."
"And this will work? This will make her nor- I mean, she'll be better?" Isaac nervously asked. Staying away from the word 'normal'. Using that word make it seem like she wasn't normal now, but she was. She was still the girl he fell in love with, she was normal, she just needed a little help.
"Let's hope so." Avery mumbled, as she turned back to look at Teagan; who had went silent while they talked. She didn't have any energy to speak up, the last little bit she had left was used to hold her mother back.
Avery looked at her best friend, watching her closely, then took a deep breath, feeling her fingers tingle. She knew this would probably hurt her, and she hated hurting her, but it had to be done.
Avery released the breath she was holding, then placed her fingertips on the side of Teagan's head, as she cleared her own mind to get inside her best friend's head. Isaac glanced up for a moment when he saw the lights flicker a couple of times, then looked back down, watching the two girls, waiting to see if this would work.
When nothing happened, he opened his mouth to ask what was going on; was it working, was the door shut, but before he could say a word, Avery screamed out as the light above his head blew, the shattered light bulb falling down around him.
He saw Teagan's eyes flutter shut as she whimpered out in pain. It felt like the worst migraine you could ever have. Her head was throbbing, as Avery searched inside her mind, looking for the so-called door to shut.
Avery opened her eyes, seeing that she was standing in the middle of a long, dark, hallway. She cautiously took a few steps, as she looked from side to side, wondering where the hell she was.
When she got to the end of the hall, her eyes widen in surprise when she saw a door wide open. "Must be the door." She mumbled to herself, as she reached out to grab it, but before she could push it closed, she heard a voice from behind her.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Lisa asked.
Avery turned around, surprised to see the older woman. She knew Teagan had seen her mother, but she never thought she would see the woman again.
"Didn't expect to see me, huh?" Lisa questioned, seeing the look on the blonde's face.
"You came through the door. You're actually here, on this side, with us." Avery stated, everything making more sense. Teagan wasn't just being haunted by her mother cause of a open door, somehow Lisa came through the door and was actually in her daughter's mind, trying to force her to hurt her friends.
"Yes, and I'm not going back. Not until I save my daughter." Lisa stated. She took a step closer to Avery, as she continued,"I know what you are, Avery. I know more than you could ever imagine." She smirked at the younger girl, as she added,"But it doesn't matter what you are or how powerful you are, you can't stop me."
Without another word, Lisa laid her hands on Avery's shoulders, pushing her backwards and out of Teagan's mind. Avery gasped as her eyes snapped open, seeing that she was back in Teagan's bedroom.
She was already feeling weak after holding back the oni earlier at Scott's, but now the last little bit of energy she had was gone. She wasn't expecting for Lisa to actually be in Teagan's mind and push her out.
Avery raised her head, panting for breath, and saw Isaac sitting beside Teagan on the floor. He had his girlfriend pressed against his side, as he stared at Avery with a concern look on his face.
"What happened?" He questioned, as he shifted Teagan around to rest comfortably against him. After battling her mother and then having Avery in her head, she could barely keep her eyes open.
"She was there." Avery answered, as she tried to stand up, but felt the room spinning, causing her to sit back down. "Lisa was there. I didn't think- I didn't expect her to be there. She's stronger than we thought. She's too strong."
"Are you okay?" Isaac asked, seeing how pale and weak she looked.
"I'm-I'm not..." Avery began to say, as she laid a hand on her forehead to rub it. She took a deep breath, then slowly released it, as she dropped her hand and raised her head to look at him. "Yeah I'm fine." She stated.
"You're not fine." Isaac argued. He stood up from the floor; with Teagan in his arms. Realizing she had fallen asleep, he carefully laid her in her bed, tucking her in, then turned to look at Avery as he continued,"You are not okay, Avery."
"I am." She lied, as she stood from the floor, staggering on her feet for a moment until she caught herself. "I just need to get home. Get some sleep."
"You're not going home." Isaac said, as he folded his arms across his chest. "Teagan would kick both of our asses if you left and something happened. Why don't you go rest in the guest room for a few hours, then you can go home?"
"Okay." Avery softly said, not having the energy to fight about it any longer.
She began to walk toward the bedroom door, carefully stepping over everything laying in the floor. She glanced over at the bed, seeing Isaac standing by it and staring down at Teagan. He had his hands in his pockets, like he was afraid to touch her, afraid he might hurt her again.
"I'm sorry." Avery mumbled so low no one could hear, no one but Isaac; who turned his head to look at her.
"It's okay." He quietly said back.
"No, it's not. I failed her. I always promised that nothing would harm her and I've broken that promise again and again." Avery said, as tears filled her eyes. She shook her head, wiping away the lone tear on her check, as she stood up straight, refusing to break down now. She had to be strong for Teagan, she had to be strong for Isaac, but later in the room, when she was alone; that was the moment she could break down, but not a second before.
"We'll save her though. I'll save her." She added, giving him a little bit of hope to hold on to. At the moment, she didn't know how to save her, but she didn't want to see him give up. Teagan needed them both to believe she can be fixed. They needed to be strong for her.
She turned to leave, then turned back around, as she said,"Oh and one more thing... stop beating yourself up and just hold her. She needs you, Isaac. She needs your love and your strength. Nothing else matters."
Without another word, Avery walked out of the bedroom and down the hall to the spare room. Once inside she shut the door, then leaned back against, sinking to the floor as silent tears rained down her face, feeling at a loss on what to do, as she watched her best friend slip further and further away.
She couldn't save her best friend, even after tapping into something she knew she wasn't suppose to. She could feel the power swirling around inside of her, begging for more, wanting her to draw in more power, but she knew she couldn't. The more she did it, the more she could feel a piece of herself slipping away.
But maybe this was her fate, and if it saved her friends in the end, even if she lost herself along the way, maybe it would all be worth it. Her friends could be saved, there was still hope for them, but not for herself. She couldn't be saved.
~ A Teen Wolf fanfiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn.~
A/N- Thanks for reading! ^_^