Teen Wolf: The Alternate Path: Echoes of the Fallen

Liberation

Liberation

What happened next is difficult to put into words. The easiest way to describe it was a battle of wills. I collided with the might of the demon, his hatred of me apparent, but more so the fact that I had managed to catch him off guard, his fragile ego severely wounded.

Ultimately, I had no chance of winning outright and reclaiming my body, but that wasn't the plan. Tēolōtl had inadvertently allowed me to regain enough of my powers to bring the fight to him—my intention was sabotage.

Catching him off guard, my attack was more than enough to break his concentration. He flung my body about in a rage, trying to attack something that wasn't there, grasping at my head as if to squeeze me out of existence. But there was no use; I may not have had the power to destroy him, but I knew my body better than he did, and that gave me a decisive advantage.

Tēolōtl opened a portal to the human realm in a futile effort to escape, thinking my power must have been linked to the Wild Hunt. What I lacked in outright power, I more than made up for in will, and when it came to Stiles and my friends, I had an abundance of it.

We fell back into familiar surroundings, where Scott, Malia, Lydia, and the chanting Deaton waited. Whatever Deaton was doing helped; I felt the demon's concentration waver further, allowing me to press my advantage. My body yelled out in pain, yet I pressed further.

The climax of the struggle was fast approaching. I felt the corners of my consciousness begin to fade, along with Tēolōtl's. Just as we lost consciousness, I knew the demon sensed my victory as much as I felt his defeat, and it felt sweet.

Awakening

"Did we do it? Is he free?" were the first words I heard as the waking world came rushing back. Malia's voice, I think. "Not completely," said a voice I knew was Deaton's, "only time will tell."

My eyes opened, and I couldn't quite tell if I had opened them or not. The pack stood above me, looking down, each of them taking a cautious step back when they realized I was now looking up at them.

I sat up next, the pack instinctively taking another step back. It still wasn't clear to me if I had done it, or if it was Tēolōtl. I scanned the room looking for any immediate danger; apart from the pack, there didn't appear to be anything else.

"Andrew?" questioned Lydia, cautiously.

"No..." quickly retorted the demon, in disgust. Shit, I thought to myself.

"But...he is here," admitted Tēolōtl, for the first time, looking pained. "What have you done to me, druid?"

"Excellent," replied Deaton. "We haven't been able to free Andrew completely, but we have brought him to the forefront. He should have much more influence over Tēolōtl now. Think of them as a hybrid of both Andrew and Tēolōtl."

Well, that sounded promising, I thought to myself. As the aftermath of the confrontation continued to subside, I could feel more than I had before. The demon stood us up, wanting to lunge at the pack in attack, yet I could feel his hesitation. With my feelings and emotions now in full flow once more, I was able to stop him in his tracks. "No, I don't think so."

Malia and Scott had shifted into defensive postures at my sudden movement but looked on in confusion at my apparent hesitation. "You're all fools if you think this changes anything," spat Tēolōtl.

"Oh, I think it does," I thought, knowing full well that Tēolōtl could now hear me, though he pretended to ignore me. "This will merely delay the inevitable."

"Return Andrew to us!" demanded Scott.

"That is impossible without destroying myself," replied the demon. Not before we rescue Stiles, I thought.