Chapter 57 - Loopholes

Theo Raeken was lost in his own sphere. His body still on a hospital bed, but his mind couldn't possibly stray further from that place; operating at full throttle, but not to keep him serene... In fact, it was doing just the opposite of that.

Perhaps it was the so easily recognizable odor of hospitals, that haunting smell that filled his nostrils as he ran through the hallways of that building, desperately trying to evade the rath of his late sister. It reminded him of his darkest nightmare, where he was stuck, constantly running from his sister, only to have her catch up to him by the end, and mercilessly rip his heart out of his chest, over and over, again and again.

He... Could never truly blame her for it though; he felt he deserved that more than cold treatment from her. He thought that the pain of having his heart grossly ripped out, couldn't possibly come close to fair against the sick pleasure he felt when he'd watched her agonise for hours and beg him for help before her death. Sure, it happened when he was only a nine year old but at that moment... It made no difference to him whatsoever.

Stuck in his nightmare, he'd lost count of how many times she'd already caught up to him, of how many times the loop repeated itself. He woke up in a cold sweat again on his bed, hearing her threateningly whisper his name... Again. He got up, ran out of his room as fast as he could. Only this time, he wasn't greeted by the sight of a gloomy empty hospital hallway, this time, his eyes landed on a familiar figure. He immediately halted, "Scott? What are you doing here?" Theo asked out of breath.

"It's time to leave this place behind," Scott replied in a calm tone.

"I... Can't, you know I can't," said Theo, his tears threatening to fall.

"Sure you can. This way," said Scott in the same tone as before, he then turned his gaze away from Theo.

Theo followed Scott's gaze, towards the end of the hallway which oddly enough began to seem... Enlightened, a lot less dark than it previously looked to Theo, but his eyes weren't the only part of his body that took the hint about something new. His ears caught a new sound, a familiar scream, it felt as though it was calling for him and guiding him. Theo followed Lydia's voice and Scott's figure in good faith and then... He woke up in his hospital bed again, for the last time.

He sat up quickly, worried that he was still stuck in that loop, but then he began to take in the informations that his surroundings offered. The entire atmosphere was different; it no longer felt off, it felt just normal, then he heard what sounded like an amalgamation of voices and noises. From where he sat, it seemed like there was a struggle taking place a few rooms away from his own.

He stood up, slowly and cautiously approached the door. Once out of his room, he turned to face the direction the sound was coming from; the more he walked forward, the closer he got to the source of the clamor. When he neared a corner, he finally slowed down, believing that whoever was fighting was right around that same corner. He peaked beyond just in time to see three men dressed in all black, force their way through what appeared to be a mountain ash barrier, only for a loud shriek to blast them back out; they hit their backs to the wall then landed on the flour.

"Put it back up!" Theo recognized that voice to be none other than Mason's.

"I can't, I used up all the mountain ash," That voice belonged to Melissa, he thought.

"Well, I guess we have no choice. Let's get the hell out of here," said Noah Stilinski, before he exited the room, followed shortly after by Lydia, Melissa, Deaton, Mason and Corey, plus two other women that Theo couldn't identify.

"Go! we can hold them back for a while," said Lydia.

"What the hell is going on here?" Theo chose that moment to finally announce his presence, but they were coming his way regardless.

Instead of a reply to his question, he got a panicked shout from Corey, "Watch out!"

It seemed like Theo didn't sense the creature standing right behind him, brandishing its sword, ready to end Theo's life. But none of that happened, the Oni stood unmoved for a few seconds before disappearing in an intense golden hue, leaving place to who stood behind the demon.

"Satomi-san?" said Deaton.

"Glad I wasn't late for this one,"

"Wh...? How...?" stammered Melissa.

"We can all be shocked later, we still have these three to deal with," said Mason, referring to the three remaining Oni.

"I wouldn't worry about those," said Maylee in her usual enigmatic fashion.

"What do you mean?" asked Stilinski, but before getting any answer, he watched the Oni as they went up in puffs of golden dust. They simply vanished under everybody's eyes.

"Sun is up, the night is over," stated Rosalie in a relieved tone.