What if I Stayed? (Thiam Fic)

Chapter Twenty Seven

"How come you're alive?" Liam asked, pointing to Satomi as he stopped his pacing for a second. "Are you immune?"

"I don't know." Satomi answered honestly, her knuckles turning white as she tightened her grip on the metal tray. Her dead beta lay on there, black blood covering his mouth, throat and chest. His claws were bleeding too, his hands covered in a weird rash. "That's what we need to figure out to save your friends."

"Could it be Alphas survive it somehow?" Melissa suggested, clearly secretly hoping that was the case. Of course she wanted her son to be okay, Liam understood that. It made him slightly angry though at the idea of Theo dying. And the others of course.

"No, we found an alpha. Dead like this too." Derek clicked his tongue, clearly irritated and deep in thought. 

"Plus, I don't think even an Alpha's immune system could withstand this." Deaton was delicately looking and investigating the dead werewolf, clearly trying to understand whatever had happened in more detail. "This is probably based off that virus that killed all those wolves."

"It is." Braeden looked weak, sitting on a chair and nursing a bullet wound. Derek kept looking over to her with concern written all over his face. "That's why it killed them so violently. It destroys their ability to heal."

"Then how am I still alive and fine?" Satomi asked, looking around the room. "I never even got sick."

"So it's immunity." Deaton said, "I'm sure Melissa here would agree with me that that sounds like immunity and not a cure."

"So what made her immune?" Liam demanded, feeling his desperation rise and fall with every breath. He needed to help Theo and the others. He even felt bound to Scott, maybe those were his beta instincts finally kicking in. Liam was still more worried about Theo though. "How can we use it to help the others?"

"I don't know." Melissa threw her hands up, grabbing her phone. "But I'm calling Stillinski so we know what's happening." Melissa walked out of the room. Liam wished he could follow. He hated being in a room with a dead body, let alone a goddamn morgue filled with dead bodies, just all out of sight. It made his skin crawl.

"What?" Derek asked Satomi who was staring at him, "I got something on my face?"

"No, you just remind me a lot of your mother, Talia." Satomi had gotten a soft smile on her face, lost in the past. "You have her eyes, smile and her determination."

"Thank you." Liam wanted to yell at them to focus before remembering that Derek's mom was dead. His whole family was and his last girlfriend had tried to kill all of them. Maybe he could let them catch up while he kept thinking away. "I remember you. You used to come by my house a lot to talk with my mother. You always had that purple tea that smelled awful."

"Reishi mushroom tea." Deaton's head whipped up from the dead body he'd been investigating. "Your mother and I's favourite."

"That's it." Deaton snapped his fingers and Liam felt joy overtake him. Melissa walked back in the room at this exact time, as if sensing the good news. "How much of that tea do you drink Satomi?"

"A lot. It's a traditional tea." She responded, "Why?"

"Reishi mushrooms are known to have healing and magical properties. You're immune yet it's also a cure." Deaton's face seemed to fall, "Sadly, they're rare over in the west."

"And no one can get in or out of the school." Melissa added, "So even if we could get these mushrooms, we couldn't get it to them."

"Actually, my mom always kept some in the vault." Derek looked around, a smile on his face. Liam was probably smiling just as wildly, he couldn't tell though. The adrenalin was rushing through him like blood through veins. "There's an entrance in the school."

"We can save him!" Liam said, not noticing his words were projecting his thoughts of only Theo. "They're not going to die."

"Guess I've got another call to make." Melissa smiled, pulling out her phone and beginning to make another call. A better one this time.

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Theo's condition was worsening. He wasn't as bad as Malia but it was obvious he was doing worse than Scott and Isaac. Scott walked over to him, kneeling beside him to talk softly, praying that no one would hear.

"We need to talk about the money." Scott said and Theo groaned.

"Now?" Leave it to Scott to want to have an important conversation on death's doorstep. At least one thing was consistent.

"Yes, now. I'm worried Stiles might take it." Scott scowled, slumping next to Theo.

"Let him dude. You both need that money, don't lie to me." Theo was too tired to actually think as he spoke. "He needs it for the hospital bills and you need it for the regular bills. I've been at your house when your mom does budgetting. You make minimun wage Scott."

"I mean," Scott pondered, unsure of what to do, "Yeah. It's bad. It's always been bad but now it's like extra bad. And I know you also need money to take care of yourself."

"Also, wasn't this all bearer bonds? We could take it." Theo chuckled bitterly, black blood dribbling down his chin. "Bearer bonds? Those things are old dude. Ancient, non-existent."

"How did someone even convert them to cash?" Isaac murmured. Maybe Theo had overestimated how well Isaac was. He looked like absolute dogshit, his face sunken in and shaking like a leaf. His claws kept retracting and extending again and Theo didn't miss the way he slightly winced every time this happened. "That's crazy."

"Isaac." Scott said, rushing over as fast as a sick werewolf could. He sat next to him, the shelf shaking slightly as he did so. Theo couldn't help but smile. He didn't know much about soulmates or mates but he did know that Isaac and Scott made sense. Malia and Stiles made sense in that same way and a part of him wondered if it was possible for Stiles to have a soulmate or mate as a human dating a werewoyote.

Theo refused to let his mind wonder to who his soulmate could be. He didn't do relationships or commitment. That wasn't his thing. His thing was cute guys who wanted to casually hookup every so often or guys who's first names he didn't even know. Lots of werewolves didn't mate on purpose. Derek hadn't since Paige's death, Peter hadn't ever done that nor did he want to and he'd heard plenty more stories of werewolves who were just fine not finding their mate-soulmate thingy. 

Theo closed his eyes and rested his head against the shelf wall behind him. His body hadn't felt this ill, this weak, for a year but slowly, it was like falling into old habits. He knew the breathing tricks, the ways to make people think you're okay, all of it. All he had to do was hold on for a little bit longer. A part of him knew that holding on was useless, of course it was. This was clearly meant to kill them and there wasn't a cure or a way out. He was going to die in a vault, that used to be filled with money that was currently being offered to kill him. Irony was a bitch.

When Theo opened his eyes, he was confused. He was 99% sure he'd open his eyes but he was still only seeing darkness. Terror overtook him as he tried to control his breathing. He was blind. He couldn't see anything. It reminded him of... no he couldn't go there. Not now, trapped in a small room with his friends.

"Malia don't." Scott croaked out and Theo was desperate to understand what was happening but it was like his ability to speak was taken with his sight.

"I can't see." She responded, her voice breaking with fear, "Scott, I can't see."