Bleed Your Heart Out

Responsibility

It was a bust. The whole mission. It was a bust, a complete and total waste. The two omegas were dead, their ears displayed like a prize. And all of Gerard's weapons were gone, dispersed amongst the town. The only thing they found was a damn map, proving that Monroe, Gerard, and her hunters were working towards something bigger.

It was... something. But it wasn't enough–not to Liam. Definitely not enough to justify losing Theo.

"He knew the risk," Malia shrugged when Liam had first told them about Theo's current... predicament.

The others were kinder–but they all shared the same sentiment: there was nothing they could do.

"They're heavily armed. Some of them are well-trained. All of them will shoot to kill if they see you," Argent explained, perhaps for the tenth time, as the pack gathered in the McCall living room. "It's too dangerous to go on a rescue mission–especially when that is exactly what they expect us to do."

"I don't care." Liam said, his voice steady, but low–dangerous. "He is my responsibility."

"Liam." Scott sat down on the couch beside him, resting a hand on the Beta's shoulder. "I know that this is hard, but you need to trust me. We'll figure out a way to save Theo. It's just going to take some time."

Liam shrugged off Scott's hand, anger flaring. "You don't know anything." He pushed off the couch, turning to face his Alpha. "He could rot there, for all you care. You're probably happy he got caught–one less problem for the True Alpha to take care of before he goes off to college. Right?"

Scott frowned. "Liam–"

"You hate him. I get it. We all hate Theo."

"Do we?"

Liam jerked his head to the side, towards the stairs, where Lydia was leaning against the railing. The strawberry blonde was watching him with careful eyes–not judgmental, but definitely calculating.

Liam frowned back at the Banshee. "Yes," he said... even when deep down, something inside was whispering–feverish and desperate–"no." "I haven't been sucked into his lies, if that's what you mean."

"No one's saying that," Scott said. "But–"

Liam turned his head back to Scott. "I don't care about Theo Raeken, okay? But you weren't there. You don't understand."

Liam paused, the mental image of Theo collapsing to the ground with the kanima venom covered arrow still held in his hands rushing to his mind. The mental image of Theo grasping on to the arrow desperately, like if he let it go it would continue careening through the air–continue straight into Liam's skull.

Liam swallowed hard. "I just..." It could've been me. It could've been my dead body. It almost was. Liam squeezed his eyes shut. "He's my responsibility."

"Stop saying that like it means you have to protect him, or be his savior, or whatever." Mason crossed his arms, glaring at Liam from his position in the arm chair. "I'm sure living with the Dread Doctors taught him how to protect himself. He doesn't need you to protect him. Your 'responsibility' was to make sure that he didn't kill anyone."

"And he didn't. He hasn't!" Liam said, a little desperately–a little pleadingly. "He had every chance to let me die during the Ghost Riders attack. He saved me. Risked his own life, to save me. Doesn't that mean anything?" He looked around the room, but staring back at him were nothing but unimpressed faces. "Doesn't that mean anything?" He shouted, the pulse of the shift slamming against his chest as his anger grew.

"Of course!" Scott practically jumped off the couch, then slowly moved towards Liam like he was approaching a wild animal capable of attacking at any moment. Maybe he was. "Of course, it matters. But Mason's right. Theo knows how to take care of himself. He can handle being there long enough for us to come up with an actual plan."

"He was already captured once. He was there for days. And... and, what? He saves himself, just to be sent back to that place to be... be looked after by Gerard of all people?" Liam shook his head, resisting the urge to let out an irritated growl. "If that were me–if that were any of us–you wouldn't let us just sit there and endure that. You'd be making sure we wouldn't have to!"

"This isn't about Theo. This is about Monroe, and Gerard, and the fact that it is dangerous for us to even be here, in my own home. Okay? Every neighbor, every person on the street, every random person in this town, they could be on their side. They're afraid of us–of what we can do. That many people, with all this... this fear? It's dangerous." Scott said.

"You said it yourself: Gerard is using Theo as bait." Mason added, quieter. "He wants you to feel like this: all panicked and rushed. He wants you to go run to save Theo without thinking, without caring."

Liam did his best to not glare at his friend, tightening his hands into fists. He could feel his nails start to dig into the palms of his hands. Mason had a point, of course–it was stupid to think that he could rush out and save Theo right now when every hunter in Beacon Hills was probably there guarding over the compound, just waiting for them to strike. And they weren't likely to fall for another distraction, not so soon after their first one. Still, just because he could see Mason's reasoning, didn't mean he liked it. The beast inside of him hated it, he hated it, that he was starting to see–starting to agree–because it meant that Theo...

"This is such bullshit!" Liam turned to leave, to storm out before his anger got the better of him and he hurt someone, but Scott grabbed his arm.

"Liam, come on. We shouldn't be fighting with each other. We need to work together."

Liam laughed bitterly. "You're really going to pitch togetherness right now, Scott? Right now, when you just said that Theo needed to help himself?" Liam jerked his arm away, aggressively. "You know what? Fuck you. Fuck all of you!"

"Liam!" Scott shouted, but it was too late–Liam was already out the front door and walking out into the now-dark night. 

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A/N: A quick special thank you to a_written_simulacra for offering her opinion on the first few chapters of this fic, especially on her opinions on the dialogue between the pack. I'm not sure I would've had the courage to