Amara's outfit:
Chapter Ninety-Eight
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Malia, Amara and Lydia walk into the hospital morgue and Amara walked over and opens the cubby that contains Halwyn's body in a black body bag. She glanced at Malia and Lydia before unzipping the bag. He looks just as he did when he was shot and killed by Monroe. A large bullet wound is in the center of his head, and his chest is covered in claw gashes from his battle with Liam.
"Well, it's still here. Still dead. What else were we supposed to do?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Figure out how a Hellhound led me into the woods to find another faceless body while being technically dead." Lydia said and Amara raised her eyebrows.
"Technically?" She asked and Lydia nodded, "I don't think I would have been led out there if he was fully dead." Lydia said and Malia made a face as she glanced down at the body. "I don't think we should be hanging out here waiting for him to spring back to life." She said.
"We don't have to wait if we can figure out how he was able to reach me." Lydia said and Malia raised an eyebrow, "How do we do that?" She asked and Lydia looked down at him and shrugged slightly, "We're just going to have to ask him."
Lydia lays still on a steel autopsy table with her eyes closed and her hands folded over her abdomen. Her head is inches away from Halwyn's in his autopsy cubby. After a moment, Malia, who was crouched down next to the table, peeks her head up by Lydia and Halwyn's heads.
"Anything yet?" She asked making Lydia's eyes fly open, and she rolls them irritably before she responds in a terse tone of voice, "As opposed to when you asked three minutes ago? No." She said before groaning and standing to her feet.
"Ugh. It's not working." Lydia said, "Maybe you should touch him?" Malia suggested and Lydia scoffed and rolls her eyes again, "That's ridiculous. There's no way-" She started to say but Malia grabs her hand and plants it on Halwyn's arm making Amara cringe slightly before standing up from where she sat on a stool.
"Anything?" Malia asked Lydia made a face, clearly not happy about touching a corpse, "Nothing." She said. Malia grabs Lydia's hand and places it on Halwyn's clawed-up chest, "What about now?" She asked. Lydia makes a noise of disgust, clearly grossed out, and rolls her neck as Malia holds her hand down, "Nope."
Malia takes Lydia's hand and places it on Halwyn's chin this time, much to Lydia's exasperation, "Now?" She asked as Amara chuckled when Lydia gave her a look. Lydia, who has clearly had enough, yanks her hand away from Halwyn and Malia and gives her a look, "Okay, stop."
Malia makes an equally grossed-out face as she gently turns Halwyn's head to the left, exposing the back of his neck to them. She then looks at Lydia and Amara, "I could try it?" She said and Amara instantly shook her head.
"You could damage his brain, maybe even more than that bullet already has." Amara said and Lydia nodded making Malia look slightly relieved by this answer and gingerly returns Halwyn to the prone position before beginning to pace around the room.
"How did it work last time?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Last time, I was unconscious." Lydia said and Malia nodded slowly. "Unconscious..." She mumbled as she looked around the room, eventually finding a large steel surgical hammer and smiling, "Okay, we can work with that!" She said making Amara's eyes widen and look at her horrified as Malia banged it against the autopsy exam table to emphasize her point after explaining her idea.
"See? It will be quick!" Malia said and Lydia shook her head, "No. Mmm-mmm. Not like that." Lydia said making Malia frown. "You want me to knock you out, right?" Malia asked and Lydia shook her head, "Render unconscious. Preferably without pain." She said before an idea popped into her head.
"Okay, this is what we're gonna do. You're going to press against my chest- hard- constricting the flow of blood and oxygen to my brain. It'll drop my blood pressure and render me unconscious." Lydia explained and Malia and Amara looked at her wide eyed, "That sounds unsafe." Amara said and Lydia nodded in agreement.
"Oh, extremely." Lydia said and Malia raised her eyebrows, "Are you sure?" She asked. Lydia sighed and closes his eyes for a moment, clearly conflicted about this plan, "No. But let's go." She said before clearing her throat and takes several deep breaths to psychologically prepare herself.
"No, no, no. Absolutely not." Amara said making them look at her, "I can take away the heat from your body. It'll bring your temperature down to nearly hypothermic and you pass out. After a couple minutes I have to warm you, but with this you actually have 100% of waking up." Amara said and Lydia nodded. "Okay, have you done this before?" Lydia asked and Amara shrugged, "Once." She said and Lydia nodded.
"Okay, good enough." She said and Amara kissed Lydia's cheek before taking a deep breath and gently grabbing her face. Amara's eyes started glowing her yellow-red as orange veins started to trail from Lydia's face to Amara's arms. A moment later, Lydia's eyes slowly rolled back and fluttered close and her head leaned back against the metal morgue doors.
Amara gently lowered her girlfriend to the ground before glancing at Malia. "How long until she wakes up?" Malia asked, looking away from Lydia and at Amara who shook her head slightly. "In two minutes I have warm her up and from then, it's all up to her." Amara said.
A few minutes later, Amara was holding Lydia's hand as her hands glowed a dim red before Lydia suddenly gasps awake. "He's not dead!" Lydia said then pauses briefly to catch her breath, "Halwyn's not dead..." She said as Amara pulled her up. She leans on the autopsy table for support as she looks down at Halwyn's motionless body. "And I know how to save him." Lydia said, glancing over at Amara and Malia.
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Amara, Lydia and Malia, in navy blue scrubs, masks and cap, wheel Halwyn on a gurney into the radiology wing. When they make it into the room where the MRI machine is located, they remove their masks and caps while Amara checks the hall before giving them a thumps up to signal no one suspected them.
"Step one, complete." Amara said as she walked over to Lydia and Malia, "Now, how do we turn this thing on?" Malia asked. Lydia pulls out her phone and holds it out so that Malia and Amara can see the screen, which reads "MRI Technical Operations Manual". "We read the manual." She said and Amara nodded, "That works."
After a few minutes they move to the observation room, where Lydia typed something into the computer. Malia and Amara watch over Lydia's shoulder as she uses the controls to put Halwyn's body into the MRI machine. After a moment, an imaging of his brain comes up on the screen, which Lydia uses to show them the bullet.
"Look- see that image artifacting? That means the bullet is ferromagnetic. Probably steel. It'll react in the MRI. We'll increase the magnet's power, and the machine will pull the bullet right out." She said and then turns to look at them wide eyed, "Ready? It could get messy." She asked and Amara chuckled.
"We've seen messy." Amara said and Malia nodded, "Go for it." She said. Lydia extends her index finger and is about to hit the start button when Amara notices something on the screen that making her grab Lydia's hand. "We can't do this." She said making them look at her.
"What are you talking about?" She asked and Amara shook her head slightly, "The bullet- it's not just steel." She said then points at one of the images on the screen. "Those fragments around it. That's silver. The bullet was coated with it. Silver won't react in the MRI. We pull that bullet out, and he'll start to heal." Amara explained and Malia nodded, "Healing is good!" She said and Amara shook her head.
"The opposite. He's a Hellhound, he'll heat up. When he does, that silver is going to melt." Amara said and and realization crossed over Lydia's face as she slowly nodded, "And seep right into his brain." She said.
"So, what's a little silver?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed softly, "Argyria. Silver poisoning. And we have no way of getting it out." Lydia said and Malia looks at Halwyn with a defeated expression. "So, if we take out the bullets, he dies again." She said and Amara nodded.
Malia is anxiously looks out of the small window in the door to the MRI room to ensure that there is no one coming who could blow their cover. After a moment of seeing nothing, she returns to the observation room with Lydia and Amara, who both is clearly conflicted by their dilemma.
"There has to be another way." Lydia said and Malia nodded, "Yeah... If we had more time, I'm sure we could figure something out, but we don't. Someone is gonna come through that door any second now and bust us. Our last shot at figuring out how to beat the Anuk-ite might be laying on that table, so we need to make a decision right now." Malia said.
Lydia rolled her eyes and gives Malia an exhausted but exasperated look, "You don't mean "decide"- you mean "do it"." She said and brushes past Malia and begins pacing as they talk. "Yeah, I think it's the right decision. If it were Parrish, he'd want us to do it. He would sacrifice himself for everyone in Beacon Hills." Malia said and Amara sighed.
"But Jordan would be able to make the decision himself. We don't know what Halwyn would do." Amara said and Malia thinks for a brief moment, "We kind of do." She said making them look at her with raised eyebrows.
"He built Eichen. He froze himself for years so that he could be ready to fight the Anuk-ite. The first thing he does when he's unfrozen is start hunting the thing. If that's the only thing he's ever cared about... Then he'd want us to do this." Malia said and Amara thought for a moment before nodding slowly, "She's got a point." She said looking over at her girlfriend.
Lydia sighs, knowing Malia is right, and walks toward her. She hesitates as she reaches to place her fingertips on the sliding switches for the magnetic component, eventually getting the nerve to slide them up all the way to increase the magnetism and remove the bullet.
The girls watch as the the MRI machine begins to revive Halwyn by pulling the bullet out of his brain. After a moment, Malia frowns worriedly, "Something's wrong." She said making Lydia look at her, "What is it?" She asked and Malia and Amara focused on their hearing.
"His heartbeat... it's too fast, and erratic." Amara said and then suddenly, Halwyn begins seizing, his muscles spasming painfully as the MRI continues to do its work. The girls all look at each other with alarm as Amara anxiously taps Lydia's shoulder, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" She said.
Lydia wastes no time hitting the buttons on the keyboard in an attempt to turn off the machine, "Hurry!" Malia said. Though Lydia manages to successfully turn the MRI machine off, it takes a few more moments to fully power down, which is just enough time for it to forcibly yank the bullet out of Halwyn's brain.
Halwyn, now conscious, stops seizing and instead roars in pain at the top of his voice, his eyes blazing with fire and his fangs extended. The lights flickered for a moment before completely shutting off, sending the whole hospital into a blackout a brief moment, the back-up generator kicks in.
The girls run into the next room and stare open-mouthed at Halwyn, who has just stood weakly to his feet. It soon becomes obvious that his fire-based healing power is already starting to kick in to heal him of his wounds, as a steam-like aura can be seen around his body. Halwyn turns towards to them and growls under his breath.
"Where is it?" He growled before trying to lunge toward them, but ends up getting woozy and falls into them, making them to gently lower him to the ground, leaning his back against the wall. Panting for breath, he frowns in confusion, "What's happening?" He asked. The girls share a grim look before Malia speaks up.
"The Anuk-ite is destroying our city, that's what's happening. And we need you to tell us how to kill it." Malia said and Halwyn looks overwhelmed by this news, and Amara expression is devastated as she tries to get Lydia and Malia's attention, "Guys..."
Malia ignores her and continues to question him, "Does it have any weaknesses? Is there a weapon that we can use?" Malia asked. "Guys!" Amara said louder making Malia finally stop talking as she and Lydia looks at Amara, who nodded to Halwyn's face.
They all look alarmed when they see molten silver beginning to pour out of his nose. Halwyn brought his hand up to his wipe and wiped some of it off before looking down at his finger then back at the girls with wide eyes, "What did you do to me?"
"I'm sorry... It was the only way to revive you." Lydia said and Halwyn chuckles darkly at her, "Revive me so I can die?" He asked. "No, so you could help us. Tell us how to stop it." Malia asked and Halwyn, who is now bleeding silver from his mouth as well, sighs defeatedly, "You can't stop it. You can't kill it." He said and Amara furrowed her brows. "But you did..." She said making him look at her, "I trapped it." He corrected.
"Well, how do we do that?" Malia asked impatiently, "Don't let it find its other half." He said. "How do we know it hasn't found it already?" Lydia asked and he looked at her grimly, "Because you wouldn't be alive to tell me." He said before pausing to take a deep breath. "Keep them apart. It's still weak." He said, "One of them isn't so weak- it's supernatural." Lydia said making Halwyn look at her with wide eyes. "A shapeshifter?" He asked and Amara nodded, "A Werewolf." She said making him look at her.
"You can't let the two halves merge. If you do, you won't be able to catch it." He said and silver begins to bleed from the gunshot wound in his forehead, and he groans in pain as the silver poisoning spreads throughout his body. The girls look at each other with guilty expressions, clearly saddened by what they've done, "We shouldn't have done this. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Lydia said.
Amara glanced down at his hand before slowly taking it and squeezing it. He weakly squeezed back as black veins trailed from his hand to hers making her cringe slightly. He looked at her thankfully as silver now pours out of both of his ears and his right eye as well as his mouth, nose, and open wounds.
"Okay, listen to me. If it finds its other half... if the two become one... do not look at it." He asked and his eyes start to flicker orange-red with fire as more molten silver runs from his eyes like tears, and he starts gasping for breath and Amara took more of his pain away making him look at her
"You can't. It will kill you with a look." He said before taking one last raspy breath as his body goes weak, and his hand goes limp in Amara's as the black veins disappear. The girls look devastated by what happened to him and their role in it and share a grieving expression.
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In the library, Liam, partially transformed, quickly runs and jumps from tabletop to tabletop using his superhuman strength, speed, and agility to lunge toward the two halves of the Anuk-ite, "Aaron" and "Quinn."
When Liam reaches the last table, he uses all of his momentum to leap into the air in order to hit the two shapeshifter halves, only for "Quinn" to punch him in the gut with such force that he flies all the way back to the entrance of the library.
"Aaron" and "Quinn" then turn their attention back onto each other, once again intently staring at each other for a long moment before taking a step toward one another. "Quinn" raises her left hand and raises it so that it is cupping the side of "Aaron's" neck, while "Aaron" clasps her hip with his right hand. When the two began kissing, the Anuk-ite's spiders can be seen scurrying in and out of each others' mouths.
After several moments, the two pull away from each other, each of them with a smirk on their faces as they continue to grip each other's forearm. "Aaron" squeezes her arm hard enough that his hand quivered, and though she initially plays it cool, she ultimately head-butts him in the face, revealing that their merging involves one half dominating the other.
"Aaron," now furious at the discomfort the blow caused, throws a right cross, which "Quinn" blocked, followed by a right hook to the gut that knocked the wind out of her. She ducks to avoid his second right cross and returns it to him by hitting him right in the jaw. They finally grab each other in a choke-hold, with "Quinn" shoving them into a nearby bookcase.
It looked as though "Quinn" had the upper-hand due to her cutting off "Aaron's" airway, but at the last moment, he gathered all the strength he had and used it to snap his other half's neck, killing her instantly. "Aaron" then kneels behind "Quinn's" body and places his left hand on her face, absorbing all of the rest of the spiders within her.
His eyes blaze the same color purple as hers were earlier, and as soon as the spiders flood back into Aaron's mouth. He stands to his feet and starts doubling over in pain as the merging of the Anuk-ite's two halves begins in a cloud of purple and red smoke and light. While the Anuk-ite is tucked into an aisle of bookshelves, Liam, still recovering from the fight with "Quinn," uses the nearby check-out desk to pull himself to his feet. He briefly sees the transformation underway before "Aaron" stumbles further away from him in the library.
Liam, panting for breath and clearly terrified, tries his best to watch as "Aaron's" body morphs into a very tall and thin humanoid being with what looks like irritated read flayed skin, a sealed mouth, and hollow eye sockets with swirling purple light illuminating the sclera of his eyes.
The Anuk-ite, sensing Liam's presence, skulks through the aisles of bookshelves toward him. Liam, bracing for another fight, starts to shift again, his golden eyes blazing when suddenly, someone appears behind him and yanks him backward before he can move any further.
Amara pulls him out of the library through the double doors while the Anuk-ite hears them and looks around, but isn't able to see them. Liam looked at Amara wide eyes before noticing Lydia in the hallway as well, "We have to run!" Lydia said and Amara nodded. The girls grabbed each others hands while Amara grabbed Liam's shoulder and pulls him along with them.
"What are you doing? Quinn and Aaron merged. We have to stop them!" Liam said and Amara shook her head, "You can't." She said. The the rush past the adjacent hall, "You can't look at it. If you do, it'll kill you!" Lydia said.
A little while later, Amara, Lydia and Liam have reconvened in the hallway, where Amara was crouched down next to what seemed like statues a hunters. "How do we fight something we can't look at?" Liam said making Lydia sigh, "I have no idea." She said as Scott and Malia walked up to them.
"We have to learn to fight without our eyes." He said making Malia at him incredulously, "Fight without seeing? That means..." She trialed off and Amara sighed, "Deucalion."
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Amara sat against the headboard to Lydia's bed while Lydia sat in between her legs, her back against Amara's chest. Neither of them where talking, just sitting in silence, holding each other's hands. "Do you think we're all gonna survive this?" Lydia asked and Amara raised her eyebrows in amusement, "You tell me, you're the Banshee." Amara said. "I hope we do." Lydia said and Amara slowly nodded in agreement as she thought for a moment.
"There's been a lot of us since all this started... and a lot of us weren't lucky enough to make it to see their graduation. I think we owe it to them to try our hardest to survive this so then their deaths weren't for nothing." Amara said and Lydia smiled softly and nodded before looking back at Amara.
"I just realized we all skipped prom because of the Ghost Riders." Lydia said and Amara hummed slightly and smiled slightly. She started to pull away from Lydia making Lydia sit up and look at her confused. "What are you doing?" Lydia asked as Amara put some music on before turning to Lydia, holding her hand out.
"Dance with me." Amara said and Lydia raised her eyebrows, "Is now really the time for dancing?" Lydia asked Amara smiled. "Hey, if we don't survive all of this, you'll deeply regret not dancing with me when you had the chance." Amara said making Lydia chuckle before grabbing her hand and getting up.
The second Lydia stood up, Amara raised her hand to spin her around making Lydia laugh. They smiled at each other as Amara pulled Lydia closer before Lydia pulled away doesn into a kiss.