A/N: >:)

Olivia's POV:

"Dr. Travis, you have a visitor in the main lobby. Dr. Travis, a visitor in the main lobby."

I blankly stare at my blood-smeared hands, sitting in the waiting room chairs for any sort of news from the nurses about everyone else's conditions but my mind couldn't help but replay the moment before they pulled me away.

ONE HOUR AGO

"Olivia, you have to keep still, okay?" My mom warned, keeping her hand pressed against my dad's abdomen and I nod, trying to heal my dad's and Mason's wounds that were grazed by the bullets. "Just until the other ambulance arrives."

"I'm running out of energy." I tiredly rasp, forcing my eyes to stay open.

The door slams open and I turn around to see two EMTs each wheel in a gurney, causing me to quickly retract my hands away with a sigh.

"I tried to stabilize as much as the blood loss but just like I told Janice and Marcus who took the other victims, I couldn't do it all at once and Melissa was--" My mom hurriedly tried to explain as they carefully placed the boys in each gurney before quickly wheeling them outside.

"They gave us the rundown on the way here." The woman EMT answered with a firm nod, carefully wheeling in the gurneys inside the ambulance.

"What about you and your daughter?" The man worriedly asked.

My mom waved her hand dismissively. "They need to get to the hospital as soon as possible."

"The other ambulance is already on its way here. Just a precaution check-up in case of minor injuries." He said before they close the doors to the vehicle and drive off to the hospital.

I tiredly lean against my mom with a sigh and she pats my back with a grateful smile. "Nice work, Liv." She whispered and I weakly smile. "How are you feeling?"

"After sealing the other wounds from Argent, Mason, Melissa, Lydia, and Dad, I'm completely drained." I mutter before I nod my head towards my car. "Once we're done with our check-up, we need to drive to the hospital to meet the others there. Phoebe's already on her way."

She simply hummed and I turn to her in concern.

"Are you okay?" I worriedly ask.

"Yeah, it's just..." She cleared her throat, keeping her grip on my arm. "I think I hit the ground too hard. Might be a concussion since I feel sort of dizzy, that's all."

I nod, using my fingers to shake my hair to get rid of the glass. "Yeah I covered Allison and thankfully she didn't get hurt." I say, lifting my shirt to reveal some of the shrapnel cuts that struck my skin. "I'll heal in a couple of hours."

"Let's get the hell out of here and start walking." My mom nodded her head towards the street, resting her hand on her hip. "We can have them check-up in the ambulance so they'll drop us off at the hospital."

"Yeah, okay. Let's do that." I say and start to take a step forward but I feel her hand on my shoulder.

"L-Let me just...give me a second." My mom whispered and I turn around, seeing her hand coated in blood which causes my eyes to widen.

Oh shit.

Before I knew it, she collapsed to the ground but I quickly catch her, carefully lying us down in the grass. "Mom? Mom?" I worriedly ask, moving back some of her hair away from her face. "Shit!"

"Sorry, I-I just...I feel a little dizzy." She weakly smiled, unaware of her chest rising up and down to catch her breath. "I think I have a concussion from hitting the ground too hard."

"I-I'll just help you get to the car and I'll drive us to the hospital, okay? I'm right here." I whisper and she slowly nods. "Or we'll take our time if you just want to wait for the ambulance to get you checked out?"

I carefully lift her hand away from her stomach and my heart sinks at the sight of the three bullet wounds coated in blood. I look behind to where we started walking out of the house, seeing some of the droplets of new blood trailed towards where we stood.

How did I not notice? How did she not notice?

"Honey?" My mom broke me out of my thoughts. "I don't think I can get up. I feel...kind of tired."

I quickly shake my head, ignoring the burning tears that trickled down my cheeks, and press my hands against her wounds. "Come on, I know I have a bit of energy left over. Please." I plead under my breath. "Don't do this to me, Ophelia. I need your help!"

"Your greatest weapon to fight the hunters isn't your superpowers, okay?" My mom whispered but I frantically shake my head, wanting her to conserve her energy. "It's your humanity."

"Stop it, stop it. It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay. Just stay with me." I whisper, cupping her face in my hand with a shaky breath as I hear the faint sounds of sirens approaching closer to our street. "We're gonna come home, we're going to sit down and have our Flores buffet for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or whatever, and just have one normal day, yeah? I'm right here."

She nods with a smile, placing her hand over mine to give it a small squeeze. "Yeah...that sounds nice. Just me and you?"

I tearfully smile, moving aside her hair behind her ear and I nod. "Just me and you." Her grip on my hand finally loosens as her eyes blankly stare into mine until her hand dropped to her side, causing my heart to sink. "Mom? Talk to me. Mom?" Tires skid behind us but I didn't bother to turn as I shook my mom lightly. "Mom, please. I can't do this without you, I need you! Please for god's sake, say something!"

A pair of hands pull me away and I try to fight their grips, watching helplessly as the two EMTs grabbed ahold of my mom's body and placed her onto the gurney, placing a mask over her face.

"No, no, no. Mom, please! Let me go!"

"Ma'am we need you to check for—"

"Mom!"

NOW

"Excuse me?" I look up from my hands, seeing the grim expression from the doctor. "You're Olivia Flores, I presume?"

I quickly nod. "I'm here for Thomas Jimenez and Elizabeth Flores. Are they okay?"

"Thankfully, the bullet missed the vital organs in Mr. Jimenez's body. He's going to be okay." He assured and I felt some of the weight drop from my shoulders. "He's just gotten to his room but you'll be able to see him."

"And my mom? What about her?" I worriedly ask.

He slowly shook his head and just the gesture made my knees buckle back into my chair. "I'm so sorry. We tried everything we could but the damage to her organs and the blood loss from the bullets were worse than we thought by the time we got her. If it were sooner--" He continued to explain but his voice faded into a blur as I held my head in my hands. She's gone.

She's really gone.

"I'm so terribly sorry Ms. Flores. I know this is a hard time to process for you but your mom, she was an incredible woman--"

"Can you show me to my dad's room?" I cut in and he reluctantly nods.

"Right this way." He gently spoke before stepping away so I could follow behind him to the rooms.

He twisted the handle and pushed open the door, seeing as a nurse injected a needle inside his IV bag and she turns to us with a small smile. "You have about a minute before the sedative kicks in." She explained to me and I nod as I walk towards the chair next to him. "Once it does, let him rest."

She shuts the door behind her and my dad tiredly smiles as I take a seat. "I'm glad to see you're doing okay, Olive." He whispered but I wince at his words, feeling tears spring in my eyes. "I tried asking the nurses about your mother but they insisted for me to rest. Have you seen her?"

I slowly shake my head, reaching my hand over so he could place his on top of mine. "She's gone, Dad."

His eyes soften and he closes them for a brief moment, letting out a deep breath before squeezing my hand. "How are you feeling? Are you doing okay?"

I accidentally sniffle but I quickly pull my hand away to wipe my eyes with my sleeve. "I should've listened to you."

His brows furrow into confusion. "What? No--"

"If I had listened, you, Lydia, Melissa--"

"Liv don't even--"

"Mason and Argent wouldn't be here. Mom wouldn't have died!" I exclaim. "I should've left Beacon Hills with Allison when I had the chance to."

"Olivia, listen to me." My dad tried to sit up from his bed but he let out a groan and laid back on the bed. "This is exactly what Gerard and Monroe want. The one thing they want more than to get all supernatural creatures out of Beacon Hills is to show that all supernatural creatures are to be feared, to show they are untrustworthy to protect the town because of an incident that happened to us tonight. You did the right thing by not listening to anything I said. They don't understand the trouble and loss you and your friends have been enduring by protecting this town. You save lives, Olivia."

I sadly shake my head. "I didn't save mom."

He placed his hand over mine. "You two saved everyone else." He firmly stated, his eyelids slowly beginning to shut. "Knowing your mom, I doubt she regretted saving us. Don't..."

"Get some rest, dad." I whisper and try to pull my hand away but he held his grip. "Dad--"

"Don't lose hope." He whispered. "Don't run from your problems because it'll bite you one day, trust me. I would know. Promise me that you'll fight back. P-Promise me you'll...you will..." He slurred, letting his head fall back into the pillow until his eyes finally shut.

I squeeze his hand with a sob, leaning forward to press a kiss against his forehead before placing his hand back on his chest.

I step out of the room but immediately bump into a smaller form. "Olivia." Phoebe sighed in relief before pulling me into a tight hug. "The doctors just told me about--"

"Dad's asleep." I gently cut in, stepping away from her embrace. "I'll be back in a bit since I want to check in with the others."

She slowly nods but she tilts her head to the side in concern. "How are you doing?"

"I really don't want to talk about it, Phoebe. Not now." I whisper and she reluctantly nods, stepping around me to head inside the room.

"I know exactly how you're feeling." She spoke up before I could leave, causing me to pause in my steps. "It makes everything feel worse if you keep it all inside so please...don't shut anyone out."

I shut the door behind me before making my way toward the lobby. In the middle of the hallway, Scott was in the middle of a conversation with Sheriff Stilinski, and the two turned towards me, seeing as I walked up to them.

"Scott, I got a pretty good idea how you're feeling right now. But the whole Sheriff's department is gonna be on this." Sheriff Stilinski tried to assure him. "I am gonna find out who did this."

"You already know who did this." I harshly remark as I pushed past the two. "Most of them almost died."

I hear footsteps follow close behind and I turn to see Scott trying to match my pace. "Liv, I'm sorry about your m--"

"I'll have my energy back in about an hour but I need to change out of these clothes." I interrupt, gesturing to the dried blood stains on myself as we turned to the next hallway. "Did Malia bring her car?"

"I think so but we have to talk to the others first." Scott said, gesturing to Malia and Allison who were already waiting for us in the lobby. "But Liv we shouldn't rush--"

They look up as they hear our footsteps come close and immediately jump to stand from their chairs. "Hey we were just talking about you--"

"Now that we're all here, I'm done with the peaceful route." I interrupt Allison, making sure Scott and Malia were paying attention. "No more peace summits, no more running, no more half-measures because they are clearly not working in our favor and I'm sick of it."

Allison's eyes widen. "Do you have a plan?"

"I do." Scott spoke up. "We fight back."

Malia sighed in relief. "I'm good with that plan."

"And Gerard? Monroe? The Hunters? We take them all on." He continued and I nod in agreement.

"Then we're gonna need more firepower." Malia insisted.

"An army." I add, ignoring the worried looks from Allison. "Let's start with an old friend."

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

"You know my fighting days are over." Deucalion answered as he entered through Scott's backdoor, observing the mess from last night.

"That's hard to believe." Scott countered. "You once said you'd kill any living thing that got in your way."

"And didn't you call yourself Death, Destroyer of Worlds?" I add before taking a dramatic breath to impersonate his voice and holding my arms out. "The Demon Wolf!"

He held up a hand and I awkwardly move my arms down. "I said a lot of things. But eventually, the bodies pile up so high that even a blind man can't ignore them."

"So, what? You moved into a cave and took a vow of uselessness?" Malia bluntly asked, causing Allison to smack her shoulder with a stern look. "What?"

"I changed. We should all try it." He corrected with a shrug. "And I live in a condo."

"I liked the old Deucalion better." Malia muttered under her breath.

"Well, maybe you've changed, but Gerard hasn't. And he's not going to stop with Beacon Hills." Scott explained.

"With the map we got from the warehouse, he circled places like Toulouse, Brasilia--"

"Logashkino, Zhengzhou." Deucalion gently cut off Allison. "Nemetons of the world."

Scott took a step forward. "You know him. You can out-think him. You can read him."

He raised a brow. "You've beaten him before."

"He's got a lot of help now. Actually..." Scott tilted his head to the side. "he's got pretty much everyone."

"You think Gerard's turned you into a pariah? Your power does that." Deucalion scoffed. "You'll always be an outsider because of your abilities. Gerard wasn't the first person to capitalize on the general public's fear of the 'other.' And he won't be the last."

"So help us stop him." I plead, taking a step forward as well. "Look around. He already sent most of our friends to the hospital. I lost..." I trail off before I shook my head with a sigh. "We can't lose anyone else. Help us out before it leads to something worse."

Deucalion's eyes look between Scott and I before letting out a puff of air. "I think you've realized that stopping Gerard now means killing him. I'm sorry, Scott. That chapter in my life is over."

As Deucalion headed to the front door, Malia lets out a scoff which causes him to pause in his steps. "So, that's it? You're just a pacifist now? What's gonna stop me from slashing your throat?"

Deucalion faced her with a small smile. "Plenty."

She lets out a roar before lunging at him with her claws extended but he steps out of her way, keeping their backs pressed together. "How'd you do that?"

"It's Bagua. A martial art that takes the path of least resistance." He casually explained as the two cautiously spun around.

"You think you're going to beat me without fighting?" Malia asked in disbelief.

"I think you're going to beat yourself." He retorted.

"His eyes." Scott mouthed to Malia and she gave a short nod.

She swiftly spins and swept her hand across but he takes a step back again with a hardened expression. She lunges forward but he easily steps to the side, slamming his arm against her back which causes her to fall flat on her stomach with a groan.

I wince at the sight, watching as he offered his hand for her to grab and pull herself up but she slapped it away in annoyance. "Okay, so you can protect yourself." She grumbled, pushing herself to stand to her feet. "But what about everyone else who doesn't know Bagua? They're just gonna get their eyes stabbed out?"

Deucalion looks off to the side with a saddened expression before shaking his head. "Look what that war turned me into. I'm not afraid to lose my eyes again." He glances where the three of us stood. "I'm afraid to lose my soul."

"You won't help us?" Allison softly spoke up as he headed to the door once more.

"I didn't say I wouldn't help you. I can offer you guidance." He explained, keeping his hand on the doorknob. "And, my first piece of advice? You might need to lower your standards for allies."

"I thought I was." Scott muttered.

Deucalion smiled in amusement. "Lower than me."