Theo could only remember flashes.

The devil had worn Tara's face. He didn't know if it was actually her or not. In the end, it didn't really matter.

She knew everything, every bad thing he had ever said or done, and she made him pay for it two-fold. She whipped him, poisoned him, stabbed him, peeled back his skin, taking out his every misdeed on his body.

She let him escape many times, sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for months, but inevitably her hand would grab his ankle and she would smile at his pleas for mercy as she dragged him underground. That hurt more than the torture, not even being able to trust his mind. Had he truly escaped? Or had she just made him think he had?

He burned, and endured.

He escaped again, finding Liam and Hayden standing in front of him. Liam looking concerned as he held onto a sword. Theo roared. Tara was trying a new tact, one designed to cut to the bone.

There was a threat, and Theo cajoled his way into remaining a little longer, convincing Liam to break the sword. If Tara wasn't dragging him back, there was no reason to pre-empt things. But still, he swallowed down every emotion, determined not to give Tara a single weapon to use against him. He would do no evil, not willing to risk further torture, but he would not give in to the feelings stirring in his chest.

Liam hauled him around like a toy, into danger after danger, and even though every inch of Theo's being was screaming for him to run, he stayed.

They pushed and pulled at each other in a familiar battle of wills, but Theo's heart wasn't in it anymore. What was Tara trying to achieve? What was she going to do to Liam? The thought of the beta being hurt was one that Theo was no longer willing to accept.

There were fights, which Theo mostly remembers. The spaces in between are blank. He has no idea what he did, where he went. But every time Liam called, Theo went running straight back into the fray.

The Ghost Riders were defeated, and there was a long darkness, interrupted by irate policemen knocking on the window of his truck. He vaguely remembers a spider, but it disappeared when he stabbed it from his body, and he is even more convinced that this is an illusion.

He nearly calls Scott, but changes his mind before he can press the button. What would be the point? None of it was real.

The only constant is the nightmares. Again, and again Tara pulls her heart from his chest. This was the reality. Everything else was the dream.

His phone rings, three times, and he picks it up, seeing Liam's name.

"Hey, baby wolf, what's wrong?" Theo said.

"Don't call me that," Liam growled, his voice piercing the insanity. Theo blinked, but didn't respond. "Sorry, nothing's wrong. Just wondering if you were free this afternoon."

Theo frowned. His dream had taken a weird turn. He rubbed his chin, and decided to run with it. Humouring figments of his imagination couldn't do much more damage at this point.

"So, just to clarify, no one is dying, you just want to know if I have plans?" Theo asked him, a tinge of amusement colouring his tone.

"Yeah," Liam replied. "Mason and I are gonna hang out, maybe play some Halo and grab a pizza. Want to join us?"

"Uh, sure," Theo said. "Why not?"

"Cool, see you later then," Liam said.

"Bye," Theo said. He disconnected the phone and stared at it.

Being around Liam like this burned in a way that was entirely new to Theo. Something ignited in his chest, a spark that grew with every long look and teasing word. He was drawn to Liam like a moth to a flame, unable to deny him anything.

He lay in bed after a pleasant evening with Liam, Mason and Corey, waiting for the ground to swallow him. Surely, Tara would not allow him this happiness.

Instead, he had heard Liam touching himself in the shower, the soft moans and whines he made a delicious kind of torture that made his mouth dry. He ached for something he could not name, and long after Liam's heartbeat had evened out as he went to sleep, Theo stared at the ceiling, wide awake.

Eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep, and Tara stalked him through the hospital.

She ripped his heart out of his chest and he stared up at her, black blood running from his mouth. "It's ok," he said. He understood now. His heart was much more valuable when it belonged to another.

As if he had summoned him, he heard Liam's voice. He panicked. Liam didn't belong here. He belonged in his dreams, not his nightmarish reality.

"Theo," he said quietly. "Theo, wake up."

He frowned, turning his head. Tara was gone, as if Liam had banished her. He could not see Liam anywhere.

"It's ok, Theo. You're safe. I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you," he said.

"Liam," Theo whispered. He could feel himself fading, but he looked up and down each corridor, searching for him. Why was Liam here? How was it possible?

"Follow my voice," Liam instructed, "I'm right here."

He tried to sit up. "I can't," Theo muttered. He didn't have the strength to get up. For once, he could not come running when Liam called.

"I'll find you," Liam said. "Stay there and I'll come get you."

"Ok," Theo sighed, slumping back against the wall.

Liam had appeared moments later from the morgue, rushing towards him. He tried to talk to Theo, and he must have replied, but then his eyes slid shut. The nightmare began anew, and this time when Theo forced his way out of the drawer, Liam was standing there.

No, she can't have him, he thought, panicked. But he could do nothing as she caught them and stole Liam's heart. He howled his pain as the nightmare began again. He was a sobbing mess. This was the worst torture he had ever endured, he wasn't sure if he even could. His heart broke in two as he clung to Liam, the ache in his chest far more painful than anything Tara had ever inflicted.

Still, Liam stood in front of him, placing himself between him and his sister, a solid pillar of strength and determination.

"You want him, bitch? You'll have to go through me first," Liam snarled. Theo could feel the rumble in Liam's chest against his hands and face, pressed desperately into his back.

"Liam," he whispered. A plea to the heavens. Let him live. He didn't deserve to rot in this hell alongside Theo. He deserved happiness, and warmth, and love, only light.

Somehow, Tara is gone, and Theo drifts back into the dream.

He lies in Liam's bed, awe thrumming through his body, tingling through his extremities. Everything is tinged with light as he laughs and teases with Liam, bantering and wrestling until they both fall asleep.

Theo didn't want it to end. They had breakfast the next morning and Theo dressed in Liam's clothes, wearing the other boys scent like armour. Nothing bad could happen while Liam was with him.

While Liam is at school he drifts around town, Liam's scent keeping him grounded, present in a way that he has not been in a long time. He buys the alcohol and nicks some wolfsbane to go with it, bemused with the whole situation. If this is a dream, it's the strangest dream he's ever had.

He would do anything for it to be real.

That night, they drink and flirt, and the spark in Theo's chest turns into an inferno as Liam kisses him. He never wants to wake, never wants to feel anything again other than Liam's mouth against his own.

His control was shot. Emotions pouring from him as he lay against the tree, panting.

"That was a hell of a kiss," Theo said, eyes wide, lips tingling. His heart raced in his chest, and Liam returned to kiss him again. It was the happiest Theo had ever felt in his life. The ground rocked underneath him, foundations crumbling, the true danger finally revealing itself.

Theo took every scrap of attention and affection that Liam threw at him, grabbing it with both hands. Tara was only biding her time, but in the meantime Theo would enjoy every moment. He would regret it later, but with Liam's mouth on his it was hard to care.

After a week of bliss, something finally ruins it. Pain and sadness swirls around Liam when Theo picks him up from school, and he can't stand it.

Liam demands answers that confuse Theo. It was a dream, what did it matter whether he liked Liam or not? Negative emotions that Theo had thought he had escaped overwhelm him, and Liam flinches back.

There is a stony silence between them as he drives Liam home. Liam is hurt, and Theo doesn't understand why, doesn't understand why he can't let himself be happy, even in a dream. He has ruined it somehow, tainted it.

He runs to the woods, turning into a wolf and howling his pain to the world, running and running, almost daring Tara to come for him now.

The blankness is gone, and his pain demands to be felt. It is days before he stops, exhausted.

Liam finds him. He is crying, his pain echoing what thrums in Theo's chest. He turns back into a human and apologises. He wants the soft dream back, the feel of Liam's hands holding him close. He tries to explain to Liam, that he doesn't know how to be happy, that he had tried to enjoy the dream, that he wants so badly for it to be real.

The world tilts on its axis as Liam's heart beats under his hand. Liam orients him in this time and place, and the fuzzy edges of the world come into focus.

"I am real, you are real, you are in the real world, Theo. You are not in hell, and you never will be again."

Theo doesn't dare to hope, but Liam wouldn't lie. Liam never lies.

Liam's heartbeat is steady as he confirms that it's real, that the nightmare of hell is gone, has been gone this whole time. He hugs Liam, holds him to his chest as his mind races. It was all real, every look, every word, every kiss. Theo's heart aches in his chest as he takes this in. He feels cracked open, utterly vulnerable, as this momentous realisation settles in his bones.

Tara was never coming to drag him back. He was safe.

He follows Liam back to his place and stands in the shower, water sluicing over his shoulders as he washes the dirt from his body.

I'm real, he mouths the words at his reflection. I'm real.

He walks into the pack's conversation and agrees with Lori, he is lucky, blessed beyond all belief. He has a pack, at last, people who will stand alongside him through thick and thin. Contentment sinks into him as he takes strength from Liam's warmth in his side.

He doesn't see the movie, too caught up in his own head.

Liam deserves some answers, and he follows him to the kitchen.

They argue back and forth for awhile and Theo stalks towards him, finally present in this reality. He wants to kiss Liam for real, and he does, enjoying the taste of him, lost in the way Liam's heart thuds against his and his hands shake as he runs them through Theo's hair.

When Liam calls them all back in for dinner, Theo basks in Liam's hand at his back, stroking softly. He is surrounded by the light chatter of the others as they enjoy the meal.

This is real, and he is home.