...
Y/n stepped into the doorway of the sheriff's hospital room, glancing at the man who was currently asleep in his bed, before her eyes then went to Stiles who was still awake. He hadn't noticed her presence yet and she took a moment to look at him. He was visibly relaxed, the weight of his father's impending doom lifted now that he was no longer being poisoned. It was nice to see him calm, and it was even nicer to be able to feel it for herself. She had never felt so disconnected from everyone and everything than when her magic had been slowly stripped away..
Stiles' eyes had drifted towards the door, flitting back in surprise when he saw Y/n there. "Hey." He greeted, his tone quiet to not disturb Noah.
"Hey." She spoke just as softly. "How is he doing?" She nodded her head towards Noah and Stiles nodded.
"Good. He's recovering pretty fast."
"That's good."
"Yeah." Stiles nodded, lips tight in a smile while he turned his gaze away, trying to escape from the awkward tension. Truthfully he was the only one feeling the tension at all and that was due to his guilty conscience. The harsh words he had spoken to her still rung in his mind, still made him feel terrible. But she acted almost as if nothing happened and that made him feel worse if that was possible. "I'm sorry." He suddenly spoke, voice even softer than before, unable to stand the silence any longer.
"What for?" She asked, but she already knew what he was talking about. There was only one thing he needed to be sorry to her about.
He quickly glanced at her. "For everything said. The whole... Wrench thing. I- I didn't mean anything that happened. You're one of the strongest people I know and most likely could help everyone even if you were just human. I'm sorry." He fiddled with his fingers as he continued to avoid looking at her, that is until he saw movement in his peripheries and looked up to see Y/n standing in front of him with a kind smile.
"I know you are. And, honestly, I forgave you almost as soon as you said it. It was just the heat of the moment, the culmination of all those bad feelings in one final explosion. I understand emotions very well, and I understand how they can make you act when they're especially strong." He leaned back a bit as she moved to sit on his lap, draping her arms over his shoulders as his loosely wrapped around her waist. "I will admit, it did hurt. But I'm fine now, and I'm not upset about it."
"You're not?" He looked at her with the saddest puppy dog gaze she had ever seen from him.
She shook her head as she ran the back of her finger against his cheek. "No. I promise." She started to gently card her fingers through his dark locks, making him take a deep, slow breath. His body automatically relaxed against her touch despite that small voice in the back of his mind saying he didn't deserve her comfort or forgivness so easily. He had never said anything like that to her before, and he couldn't help but still feel a little guilty for everything. Her face suddenly reflected slight annoyance right before her soft touch turned into a light smack over the head, making him whine in protest. He lightly glared in confusion at the offending appandege before looking at the witch connected to it. "Stop that." She scolded making him even more perplexed.
"What are you talking about? Stop what?"
"Feeling sorry for yourself. You seem to forget, I have my magic back and I can feel everything that you're feeling." She reminded.
"Everything?"
"Everything." She moved her hands up to his cheeks, gently cupping his face as she looked into his eyes, giving him a serious look laced with love. "I mean it, Stiles. I forgive you. Now, please, forgive yourself, yeah? For me?"
How could he say no when she was looking at him so lovingly and holding him so gently? It's moments like these where he swears he would agree to anything she asked for, and so he does. "Okay." He nodded in her hold, his chest feeling warm when she smiled at him.
"Okay." She quietly repeated, pulling him closer to press her lips to his, a kiss full of warmth and gentleness and the promise that everything was really okay.
With that all settled Y/n had decided she would go ahead and leave the Stilinski men alone, but Stiles kept a hold of her and asked her to stay. She obliged and they sat in the chair together, toggling between talking about nothing and cuddling in silence. Eventually they fell asleep, Stiles' arms wrapped securely around her while her head rested on his shoulder.
Everything was calm for a while, but it doesn't last long. Y/n's once peaceful expression suddenly scrunches, contorting almost as if in pain, fear, or a mix of both. Her hands clench, fingers twitching as they unconsciously hold onto Stiles' shirt. The movement stirs him awake, the groggy boy looking down at her until he noticed his dad's bed was empty. Suddenly alert he gently nudged Y/n awake to be able to slip from under her to investigate.
She watched him as he looked both ways down the hall before going right. She listened as he took the elevator, faintly hearing the bell ding as he reached his destination. She could hear as Noah started to talk to Stiles about what happened with Donovan, guessing that what Theo told him was true, but it happened to Stiles instead.
She stopped listening to the conversation, deciding to give them their privacy even if they didn't know she was slightly invading it. Being alone with her own thoughts for a bit, they drifted to the feeling she had before Stiles had woken her up. She thought she might have been having a nightmare, altough she couldn't remember what she had been dreaming, just a feeling of anger, sadness... grief? Movement at the door suddenly caught her attention and she saw Scott who had just walked in.
"Hi, Scotty." Y/n greeted with a smile.
"Hey." He returned the gesture before looking around. "Where's Stilinski? And Stiles?"
"They're in the morgue. It's probably best to leave them alone for right now." She suggested. Scott focused on his hearing, listening as the Stilinski's spoke, and silently agreed with the witch that now wasn't the best time for him to talk to Stiles.
"Have you talked to Malia lately?" He asked instead.
She shook her head. "Not recently, no. She's been busy with... Something important." His brows drew together in silent question. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know much, but even then it's not for me to say. All I really know is it's a personal matter. You might get more out of her is you ask her yourself, but that's all I can suggest."
He nodded in understanding. Malia was her sister, and it makes sense that she would keep her secrets for her. He was quiet for a moment as he tried to think of the right thing to say. "I'm sorry. For what happened that night. I shouldn't have just went off of what Theo said. I should have gotten your side of the story first."
"Yes, you should have. But, like you said before, he got to us all. I'm over it now, but it's Stiles you should be talking to. All I did was keep his secret. He's the one who's going to have to learn how to live with this from now on."
"I will." He promised, and without much else to say he left her alone, leaving the hospital to prepare to head to Malia's house.
Y/n wasn't alone for long as the Stilinski's made their way back to the room. After a while they had gotten another chair for Y/n to sit in because, while he enjoyed seeing his son happy, Noah didn't feel like seeing so much PDA from the couple. After the sun had risen well into the sky Stiles had went out into the hall to get something from the vending machine. While doing so, two hospital staff push a gurney past him, an occupied body bag on it's surface. Curious about this he goes back to the room and grabs his father's computer, wasting no time in typing away and pulling up the CCTV footage of the crime scene.
Noah glances over after a while and furrows his brows. "Is that my laptop?"
"Yep." Stiles answers.
"Do you have my password?"
"I have all your passwords." Y/n quietly snorts at how casually he revealed that. "You know they just brought in another body from last night?"
"Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't find out." He winced as he adjusted in the bed to reach toward his son. "Now give me my damn computer."
Stiles turned his body to move farther away. "Hang on, hang on. I think there's some footage missing. Or something missing in the footage."
"I think there's something missing in your head." Noah reached again only for Stiles to move away again.
"You need your rest." Stiles claimed as the keys clacked once more. He squinted at the screen, watching the large, black creature run out of the communications station faster than any normal animal. After a little bit he turned the computer towards Y/n and asked her to watch. When she saw the large creature herself she felt a pang of fear and surprise, yet it was gone as soon as it came. She quickly wrote it off as just a result of shock. "What do you think of that?"
"That isn't like anything I've ever seen. I think we should talk to Scott about it." He looked about ready to argue against the idea, but was swiftly silenced by a look from her. "I have a feeling that we're gonna need strength in numbers against this thing."
...
Scott stood shirtless in his bathroom, tossing a red and black stained tissue into the sink before grabbing a clean one and dabbing at his still healing wound. He turned his head when he noticed he had two new guests, nodding his head in greeting towards Y/n and Stiles. "Hey." Stiles said, eyes glancing to Scott's wound making the Alpha himself look down as well. "Still not healing?"
"Sometimes it just takes a little longer." Scott responded as he reapplied the bandage. While that was true, Y/n knew there was another reason Scott wasn't healing, and why he kept refusing her help. It was like when they had been fighting the Alpha pack and everyone thought Derek had been killed. Scott blamed himself for Derek's 'death' and the wound he had received then didn't heal and almost killed Scott in turn. Y/n imagines that's what Scott's going through again. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked as he grabbed a shirt.
"Did you hear about the man who was killed at the communication towers?" Y/n asked to which Scott nodded.
"I think we may have figured something out." Stiles added.
"What, you want my help?" Scott asked, surprised.
"Yeah, well, you said you can find the clues that I can't." Scott didn't point out that when he said that Stiles had claimed that's why Y/n was with him, instead just being grateful that Stiles even came to him at all. "Here, take a look." Stiles held his phone so Scott could see the CCTV footage that he had procured. "This is when the technician first arrived. You see him go in? Then Deputy Clark goes in. Then something really big and really fast comes charging out. And now comes Clark. Eventually, technician's body is carried out by paramedics." Stiles put his phone away as he finished his presentation, turning to Scott expectantly.
"Okay, what am I missing?"
"Two people went in, and three came out." Y/n pointed out.
"I checked all the footage." Stiles said. "Not a single person enters that building before the technician the entire day. So where does that something really big and really fast come from?"
Scott thought for a moment, his eyes widening slightly as the answer quickly came to him. "There's another way in." With the revelation the three traveled together to the communication towers to find this other entrance.
They weren't looking for long when they found a large metal object knocked onto it's back next to some blood stains. "You see that?" Stiles questioned as he pointed his light down.
"You mean the claw marks or the blood?" Y/n asked.
"Look where it leads to." The blood led under the object, suggesting that this is what they were searching for. Scott went over and crouched down to try to lift it up, but after much strain it hardly moved. Scott panted as he tried again, gaining similar results until Sitles and Y/n moved to the other side and began to help Scott lift it. With all three of them it wasn't that much of a struggle and the thing was righted after a moment. After a quick breather they turned to find a grate, or at least it used to be. The metal has been broken and twisted leaving only a hole in the floor that lead to tunnels.
One by one they dropped down and slowly investigated the path in which the mystery monster had come from. Stiles had shone his flashlight around before he switched to a UV light, now looking for any traces of mercury. The invisible vapors were soon revealed and Stiles looked to the two supernaturals before following the wispy trails. They stopped at an intersection, the source being words formed under a large cement pipe. "What is that?" Scott asks.
"It's Latin." Y/n identified, a little surprised to find this particular phrase down here.
"What does it say?" Before she could answer, Stiles suddenly dropped to the ground with a groan and his hand to his neck. They turned at the hissing sound behind them and found a resurrected Tracy glaring at them with fangs and claws bared.
She charged at them, deciding to go for the Alpha first as Y/n ducked away. Stiles noticed the also resurrected Josh trailing electricity coming up behind them and called out. "Guys, behind you!" Y/n caught his wrist as he tried to swing his own set of claws at her, magic working to safely channel the electricity as she spun to hold his arms behind his back. Scott then managed to catch Tracy's arm and shove her claws into Josh's chest. Tracy flew back as she was electrocuted and Josh fell paralyzed next to Stiles. "Sucks, doesn't it?" Josh didn't reply to Stiles.
Scott, with eyes shifted and fangs out, turned to the rapid heartbeat he heard against the wall. Y/n turned her attention there and, with the help of her own shifted eyes, saw Corey staring wide eyed as Scott growled right at his invisible form. She flicked her wrist and made Corey stumble to his knees as he became visible once again, quickly jumping to his feet and backing away.
"Okay!" Theo called, making them turn to his voice. Scott's eyes and teeth go back to normal as Theo walked up from another tunnel. "Maybe they're not ready to take on an Alpha and a witch. Especially ones that can smell fear." He directed the last comment towards Corey.
"He's got fangs!" Corey gestured to Scott in his own defense.
"What did you do?" Scott asked, glancing at Tracy and Corey as they helped Josh up.
"I found some new friends. I don't take rejection well."
Tracy and Corey carried Josh away and Theo stepped further into the tunnel, looking down at Stiles. "Hey, Theo!" Stiles mocked enthusiasm as he nodded in greeting.
"Stiles." Theo followed the UV light's illumination and spotted the words penned in mercury. He stomped his foot, cracking the cement and dispersing the vapors, destroying the words. "You're going to leave here thinking that you need to worry about me. But you're wrong. We're actually back on the same side. Because that thing... That's what we need to worry about. Your pack and mine. We're gonna go back to school and pretend like we're normal teenagers, but at night, we're going to be fighting for our lives."
"What is it?"
"It's not a chimera."
"But it's just a kid underneath." Scott pointed out. "Someone like us."
"Not anymore." Without another word Theo turned and walked away, his little ragtag pack following behind. When they were alone Y/n and Scott moved to help Stiles sit up, the witch using her magic to help push away some of the kanima venom in his system and ensuring he'd get feeling faster. Scott sat next to Stiles while Y/n sat in front of them, Scott glancing at where the words once sat. "He knew what it meant and I can't remember the words."
"Damnatio memoriae." Y/n repeated. "It means, 'damnation of memory'."
"So that means that whatever the Dread Doctors created, whatever this last chimera really is, it's not something new." Stiles thought aloud. "It's something old. Really old."
"So they didn't create a new creature." Scott said.
"They resurrected one." For some reason that fact made Y/n's stomach twist, the feeling a type of dread she had never felt before. It chilled her to the bone and made her mouth dry. This thing, it almost seemed familiar, like a story she had been told before, yet her memory was a little muddled from everything happening lately.
She's pulled from her thoughts as Scott reaches down and draws a small circle into the dirt. "We need help." Scott says as he looks at Stiles, knowing he's the one that he needs to convince. "If Theo's got his own pack now then we need ours. We have to get the others back."
"The others?" Stiles repeated. "You mean Kira who's currently battling a homicidal fox spirit inside of her, Malia who's hardly speaking to Y/n, let alone either of us, Lydia who's stuck in Eichen House, and Liam who almost killed you?"
"Also known as our best friends."
Stiles lightly rolled his eyes, yet he nodded. "Okay, how."
"One by one." He looked down the circle as if waiting.
"You're not seriously gonna make me do it?"
"You're part of the pack, right?"
"Okay."
Y/n quietly chuckled, feeling happy at the sense of familiarity at the banter. Things between the three of them may not ever be like how they were before, but this was almost better, in a way. Stronger in the sense that they have been faced with the worst and have made it to the other side, together again. "Here, we'll do it together." Y/n offered, reaching over to place her hand over Stiles' own, letting him move their hands to draw the larger circle and completing the McCall pack symbol.
"We need to find Kira." Scott said as he and Y/n got up and each grabbed one of Stiles' arms, helping him to his feet and supporting him as he walked.
"I still hate that tattoo."
"I know."
~~~
Published: 7/20/22
Quick question for those who are a fan of IT 2017/2019.
Between Mike Hanlon and Ben Hanscom, who do you prefer?
I'm just curious because I have an idea for a possible future story with the Losers and it would work with either Mike or Ben, but I can't choose between them. I did have Bill Denbrough in the mix before, but as I noticed, and as someone else pointed out, there's a lot of Bill fics and not many Mike or Ben fics, so he's out of the race.