29: Revelations

The sound of two gunshots makes Ariel's head whip up from where she was helping Stiles sit up against the wall whilst he was still paralysed.

Her eyes flash, "Sky --" she breathes as she stands up.

"Ariel, no, you can't go out there," calls Derek from his position on the floor.

"Remember? Matt said if you left the room at all he'd shoot Sky in the head!" exclaims Stiles. "Also, that," he looks to the door to where Jackson stood.

Ariel pauses, "You said to trust my instincts," she argues to Derek.

"Just stay with us until we can move and we'll go together," reasons Derek. She nods reluctantly, casting worried glances at the door.

***

Melissa rushes to help her children, but Matt trains the gun onto her, forcing her to stop.

"Back, back!" he barks.

She barely listens, looking frantically between the twins.

"Mom, stop!" begs Scott from his slumped-over position by the wall as he stares at the body laying in front of him with wide eyes.

"I said get back!" Matt repeats, hand tight against the gun.

Melissa almost ignores him and continues to look at Sky, just waiting for her to move.

"Please, mom," Sky whispers as she tries to look towards them from where she'd fallen on the ground, trying her best not to scream out from the pain in her chest. "Do it."

Despite her instincts saying not to, their mom inches back from them once she sees that they're both alive.

Once happy with the distance, Matt focuses back on the twins on the ground, "Get up, McCall's," he orders, ignoring the Sheriff's shouts from the other room.

"Matt, listen to me --"

Matt shakes his head in anger, "Shut - Shut up! Everybody shut the hell up!" he waves his gun around with a manic look in his eyes. "Now, get up, or I shoot her next!" he points the gun at their mom.

Sky scrunches her eyes up in pain as she pulls herself up, frowning when she sees Scott staring at her, "What?" she asks weakly, keeping pressure on the bullet wound on her chest.

"There's blood on your mouth," Scott mumbles, leaning forward to quickly wipe it away. "Don't let mom see."

***

Matt backs their Mom into an empty holding cell as she cries, locking it shut after she's in.

She moves as close as she can with the bars stopping her, "Please, they need to see a doctor," she begs.

Matt smirks knowingly, "You think so?"

"Hey, hey, you listen to me!" shouts Stilinski.

Scott shakes his head at Melissa, "It's all right. I'm okay," he looks at Sky in question and she nods. "Sky's okay."

Melissa almost sobs, "No, honey, you're not okay."

"It doesn't hurt, mom," Scott promises, already knowing they would be healing.

"'Cause that's the adrenaline, okay? Please, let me just take a look at them, okay? I can help stop the bleeding,." she glances at the blood that now stains their hands.

Matt laughs darkly, looking back at the two, "They have no idea, do they?" The twins stay silent.

"Please," Melissa begs. "Let me just take a quick look."

Matt scowls, "Shut up! Shut up!" he shouts. "Lady, if you keep talking, I'm gonna put the next bullet through your daughter's head!" he warns.

Melissa steps back in surrender, "Okay. Okay."

Matt starts to usher them out of the room, "Back to the front, both of you," he demands.

Sky cocks her head to the side, "After you," she gestures, trying not to show him how much he had hurt her. Matt's jaw clenches but goes nonetheless. Scott and Sky follow, leaving Melissa and the Sheriff staring after them helplessly.

***

Matt shoves them forward past Jackson, who's guarding the door to the office that's holding Ariel, Stiles and Derek. They stop in the offices.

Scott looks at him in defeat, "The evidence is gone. Why don't you just go?"

Matt scoffs, looking between them, "You think the evidence mattered that much, huh? No, I want the book."

Scott looks confused, "What book?" he asks.

"The bestiary. Not just a few pages, I want the entire thing," demands Matt.

"We don't have it," Sky tells him.

Scott nods, "It's Gerard's. What do you want it for, anyway?" he wonders.

Matt sighs, "I need answers."

"Answers to what?" they ask.

Matt pulls a face of disgust at them before rolling his eyes and lifting his shirt up, "To this."

Sky's eyes widen. Scales, exactly like the Kanima's, are covering his side.

***

Stiles glances at Jackson guarding the door before looking at Derek, "Hey," he whispers. "You know what's happening to Matt?"

"I know the book's not gonna help him," Derek says. "You can't just break the rules, not like this."

Ariel frowns from where she's sat next to Stiles, "What do you mean? Break the rules?" she asks.

"Universe balances things out. Always does."

"Is it because he's using Jackson to kill people who don't deserve it?" asks Stiles.

"And killing people himself," Derek confirms.

"So if Matt breaks the rules of the Kanima, he becomes the Kanima?" clarifies Stiles.

"Balance."

"Will he believe us if we tell him that?" wonders Stiles.

Ariel sighs, "I doubt it," she frowns.

"Okay, he's gonna kill all of us when he gets that book, isn't he?" mutters Stiles.

"Yep."

"Probably," adds Ariel.

Stiles swallows, "All right, so what do we do?" he asks. "Do we just sit here and wait to die?"

"Unless I can figure out a way to push the toxin out of my body faster. Like triggering the healing process," says Derek.

"Wha --" Stiles starts to ask before they see Derek digging his claws into himself, making him bleed, "Oh, what are you doing?" he gags. "Aw, gross."

Ariel shakes her head, whispering, "But even when you can move, how will we get past Jackson?"

They all glance to the door.

***

Sky turns to her brother and takes the hand that's putting pressure on his wound, "Let me see," she whispers.

Scott shakes his head, "You're worse than me --" he lets go with a pained gasp as she checks on the wound as Matt watches.

Matt smirks, "You know, I feel sorry for you two, 'cause right now, you're thinkin', "how am I gonna explain this when it heals?" And the sad part is, you don't even realize how incredible it is that you actually are healing. 'Cause you know what happens to everyone else when they get shot?" he says, pointing to Sky's chest. "They die."

"Is that what happened to you?" Scott asks.

Sky looks up from Scott's wound, "You drowned," she stated without question.

Matt nods, a faraway look in his eye, "He shouldn't have let them drink."

"What do you mean?"

"Lahey!" Matt snaps, "He shouldn't have let them drink," he repeats.

"What, who was drinking?" Scott presses.

"The swim team, you idiot!" Matt shouts. "I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know they had just won state, and Lahey, he's letting his favourites come over to have a couple of drinks to celebrate. Who cares if they're seventeen, right?" he scoffs.

"Were you at Isaac's?" asks Scott.

Matt nods, "He had this first edition Spider-man, or was it Batman?" he shakes his head. "And we were gonna make a trade. But then I'm over there and I hear music. And everyone's having a good time, and I see Sean. He throws Jessica in the pool. And then Bennett goes in and --"

Scott cuts him off, "Bennett? The hunter?" he clarifies.

Matt nods again, "And then Camden. Isaac's jarhead brother, he grabs me. He thinks it's funny," he grits out.

Sky stares at him, "They threw you in," she guesses.

Matt looks at her in surprise, but nods, "I yelled that I can't swim, but nobody listens. I go under and I swallow water, and no one cares. And I see these bodies underwater. I see Jessica's got her hands down Sean's board shorts. Tucker's grabbing Kara. And I'm drowning. I'm dying, and they're laughing." he takes a breath. "All of a sudden, I was lying by the pool. And Lahey is right there, right above me, and he says "You tell no one!" "

Matt continues, "He says, "You tell no one! This, this is your fault! You don't know how to swim? What little bastard doesn't know how to swim? You say nothing! You tell no one! No one!" "

Matt's face turns expressionless, "And I didn't. I didn't tell anyone. And I would see them at school, and they wouldn't even look at me. I'd wake up in the middle of the night. I'd gasp for breath. And my parents, they thought I was an asthmatic. They even gave me an inhaler. They didn't know that every time I closed my eyes, I was drowning. You know about that little white light that they talk about, you see when you die? Well, I didn't see anything. Just darkness. Everything was dark."

He then smiles slightly, "But then came the Argent's funeral, and everything changed. I was taking some photos, and then, purely by accident, Lahey gets in one of the photos. I look down at the screen on my camera, and I just had this unbelievable rage that fills up inside of me," he looks to Sky. "Have you ever felt that before?"

Sky clenches her jaw, "Yes," she admits.

"And I just look at him," Matt continues. "And I wanna see him dead. And the next day, he actually was. You know, Einstein was right. Imagination is more important than knowledge. It was like something out of Greek mythology. Like the furies coming down to punish Orestes," he pauses at the confusion on their faces. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Sky's eyes widen, "Um --"

"Was he the guy who stabbed out his eyes?" guesses Scott. Sky grimaces.

Matt rolls his eyes, "God, that's Oedipus, you dumbasses! The furies are deities of vengeance. Their tears ran of blood, and they had snakes for hair. If there was a crime that had gone unpunished, the furies would do the punishing. Jackson is my fury. You know, when I saw him the next night, it was like this bond had been cemented between the two of us. I knew he had killed Lahey for me, and I knew he would do it again. So I went to Tucker's garage. I even paid for an oil change. And guess what? He didn't even recognize me. So when he wasn't looking, I took a shot of him from my camera. And in a few hours, he was dead."

Matt smirked, "So I took more pictures. All I had to do was take their picture and Jackson would take their life," he finishes.

***

"So is that hypothetical situation we talked about getting any less hypothetical?" wonders Stiles as they wait for Derek's paralysis to wear off.

"I think so," Derek grunts. "I can move my toes."

Stiles groans, "Dude, I can move my toes!"

Ariel crawls forward and takes a breath before flicking her own claws out, looking at her hand in surprise when it worked so easily.

"Hold still," she warns Derek before clawing his wrists.

***

Scott and Sky freeze as the lights go out in the building, surrounding them in darkness.

Matt looks at them, "What is this? What's going on?"

"I don't know," Scott admits.

Suddenly, the windows burst inwards, fragments of glass showering down on them. Scott grabs Sky as they duck down away from the gunfire raining through the windows. When smoke starts to fill the room, they move towards the Sheriff's office.

***

With smoke starting to fill the area, Jackson moves to abandon his position, only for Scott and Sky to appear out of the smoke, barrelling into him, each of them taking a side. They slam him through the door and he crashes into the lobby.

Straightening up triumphantly, the twins turn to one another and high-five with matching smirks before going into the Sheriff's office, where they find Ariel trying to help Derek stand up faster.

Derek spots them first, "Take him!" he gestures to Stiles. "Go!"

Sky and Scott each grab one of Stiles's arms and haul him up, only to spot Jackson heading towards them, eyes bright and claws dripping with venom.

"Move, move, move," Sky ushers as they drag Stiles into another room and Ariel shuts the door behind them as they move to the next room, a snarling Jackson smashing through the door behind them as they hurry.

Finally, they get to the interrogation room just in time, Ariel shutting the steel door and locking it as Jackson slams into it. She reels back, all of them gasping for breath as they listen out, only to hear nothing.

They set Stiles down on the floor, "Don't move," says Scott, pausing at Stiles's incredulous look. "You know what I mean."

Ariel turns and blanches at the sight of blood covering the front of Sky's shirt, "The gunshots --" she trails off, rushing forward.

Sky steps to Ariel and holds her arms, "I healed," she reassures. "Please, stay with Stiles. Make sure nothing happens to him."

Ariel looks into her eyes for a moment before nodding, "You better stay safe, McCall."

Sky kisses her forehead in response before she and Scott slip quietly out the door.

***

The twins walk cautiously down a dimly lit corridor, turning a corner only to almost bump into Allison, who has a crossbow trained between them.

"Fuck," breathes Sky, looking at Allison in confused suspicion.

"Allison?" says an equally surprised Scott.

Allison shakes her head at them, "Where's Derek?" she asks.

Sky keeps her jaw clenched shut as Scott's eyebrows furrow, "What are you doing?" he asks.

Allison frowns, "If you're not going to tell me, then get out of my way."

"Allison --" Scott tries.

Allison ignores him, "Where is he?" she repeats.

"What happened?" he asks, noticing her keeping her bow trained on him to keep distance between them.

"Scott, you need to stay away from me right now. I need to go. Just stay out of my way," she states before stalking off, seemingly on a mission.

Sky keeps hold of her brother's arm as he watches her walk away.

***

Meanwhile, in the interrogation room, Stiles starts to move around.

"What are you doing?" hisses Ariel.

Stiles grunts as he tries to crawl, "Help me get to my dad."

"But --"

"Please."

She sighs before pulling an arm around his shoulders and hauling him up.

***

As they reach the corner by the cells Melissa and Stilinski are held in, Ariel and Stiles peer around only to flinch in shock as Matt hits his father over the head with the butt of his gun, sending him to the floor. Stiles desperately tries to move forward to help him, but Ariel holds him back against the wall, desperately shaking her head at him to tell him that was the wrong move. She was there to protect him, and letting him drag himself to his father, half paralysed, would just get him shot. She just knew it.

In the room, Matt turns from Stilinski to Melissa as she tries to reason with him, "Matt? Matt, please, listen to me. My children have been shot, and I've heard other gunfire, and I don't know what's happening, but can you please just let me see my kids?" she begs.

Matt just laughs, "How totally clueless are you people?"

But then Melissa's eyes widen at something behind them and Matt turns to see Derek standing there, fully transformed and snarling, ready to take out Matt, but a hiss makes them look over to see the Kanima in the opposite doorway, ready to protect its master.

With a shriek, the Kanima charges at Derek, who moves fast and grabs it, slamming the creature down onto the floor.

Matt angrily retreats as they fight, slipping out of the door.

In the midst of their tumble, the Kanima grabs Derek and throws him backwards, before jumping onto the bars on Melissa's cell and hissing at her as she screams in terror --

Two sets of clawed hands grab both sides of the Kanima and yanks it back away from the cell with a harsh force, causing it to shriek in pain.

It looks up to see Scott and Sky, fully transformed, staring down at it furiously as they stand side by side.

"Oh, god," breathes their Mom. "Scott? Sky? You okay?"

The twins look at each other, before slowly looking back at their mother, whose eyes widen as she looks between them in the terror of seeing their true form. She backs away and Sky feels her heart drop at the horrified look on her face.

Pushing the heartbreak aside, they turn back to the Kanima as it scrambles up and Derek joins them once again as he rises from the floor and they all try to fight the Kanima, chasing after it as it tries to slip away.

Before she leaves, Sky looks sadly back to her mother who is now huddled in the corner of the cell crying. She turns and rushes after her brother.

***

Running into a dark corridor, a now human Scott bumps into Gerard. Sky, who was not far behind, stops just out of sight to listen.

"What are you doing here? It wasn't supposed to happen like this," says Scott. Sky frowns in confusion.

"Trust me," Gerard replies. "I'm aware of that."

"I've done everything that you've asked of me. I'm part of Derek's pack, I've given you all the information that you wanted, I told you Matt was controlling Jackson --"

Gerard interrupts him, "Then leave him to us. Help your friends. Leave Matt and Jackson to me. Deal with your mother. Go!" They both move to leave but something clatters to the ground.

Scott bends down to pick up the object and hands it back, "You dropped this."

Gerard snatches it back -- his pills -- ushering him away, "Go!"

Scott turns and jogs away, rounding the corner only to be shoved against the wall by Sky. His eyes widen in shock.

Sky immediately turns her furious look onto her brother, "You better tell me what the hell is going on and what the fuck you've been doing with Gerard or so help me god --" She fists the front of Scott's shirt.

Scott sighs in defeat and nods, "I have a plan . . . "