I love this season, but I am so unprepared to write it
Not in the sense that I don't know what I'm going to write, because I do, this season just makes me sad
Thank you to everyone who is still reading, it means the world to me
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"What in the hell were you four thinking?"
Scott, Stiles, Isaac and I were currently standing beside an ambulance as one of the paramedics put a brace on Stiles' wrist. We all turned at the question, to see the Sheriff climbing out of his patrol car with a tired, unsurprised look, on his face.
Scott shrugged, laughing awkwardly, "We were just trying to help."
"Why don't you try and help me understand. . . what the hell happened here?" The Sheriff hissed.
Wincing, I turned to my boyfriend, "You wanna take this one?"
He blinked a couple of times, before turning to his father. "Right, well, we were trying to gently persuade him to pull over. . ."
I bit my lip at his choice of words, thinking back to what had happened. We had been following a man we believed to be a threat. He had gotten into a car and was getting away, so Scott had jumped onto the hood, claws out and eyes glowing. The man had been screaming, swerving to try and get the boy off of his car.
"Yep, gently," I nodded in agreement.
When the Sheriff was looking at us in doubt, Scott spoke up, "He was getting away."
"He got away," the Sheriff corrected, reminding us of how the encounter had ended.
Stiles was quick on the defence, backing up our sorry. "Right. Because obviously, he's some sort of criminal mastermind, Dad."
The Sheriff walked past us to the back of the man's van, opening the doors. "Uh-huh. You want to guess what the stolen merchandise is?"
Looking into the back of the van, we saw that it was filled with tanks. Leaning forward to read one of the labels, I cringed when I realised the mistake we'd made.
"Critical life-saving medical equipment?" Stiles suggested, guessing as his father had asked.
"No."
Isaac decided to give it a go, shrugging, "Poison gas?"
"Nope."
"Filled with drugs?" Stiles guessed, scraping the bottom of the barrel at that point.
His father leaned forward slightly, "Helium."
"Helium?" Stiles repeated slowly, confused.
"Killer clown?" I offered up, hoping that the Sheriff would reconsider how mad he was.
Brows raised, he cocked his head to the side, "Nice try. All of you, leave. Now."
"Got it," the man's son said, grabbing my hand and leading me over to the Jeep, Isaac and Scott not far behind.
We had been on a few little missions like the one that had happened tonight. It had been so quiet for so long, and it felt strange. We had never gone this long without fighting for our lives.
"Shotgun," Isaac called as we reached the Jeep.
I went to argue, before scoffing and climbing into the backseat beside Stiles. Since my boyfriend was unable to drive with his wrist in a brace, Scott was in the driver's seat starting the engine.
As we drove to Scott's house to drop the two werewolves off, the alpha broke the silence. "This could be a good thing."
"That we saved helium?" Stiles asked from beside me.
Scott laughed as he looked out at the road, "I mean, that. . . they don't need us anymore."
Stiles immediately shook his head, scoffing. "Okay, well, they need us. They just don't know it."
"They don't need us," Isaac responded. "Or they would've actually asked for our help. Which they didn't."
"Yeah, well, I didn't ask for your help, either," Stiles countered.
I reached over and took ahold of his hand, squeezing it gently. He had been having trouble adjusting again after the defeat of the Beast. Over the years we had become so accustomed to being needed by the police and the town, that them not needing us had Stiles in a bad way.
"We're all going off to college soon," Scott reminded Stiles. "So Beacon Hills is gonna have to survive without us."
"Beacon Hills will burn to the ground without us," Stiles said from beside me.
I shook my head, "No, they won't. And besides, even if we're not here Liam and the rest of them will be."
"They don't need us anymore, man," Isaac agreed from the front seat.
Not even two seconds later, Stiles phone began to ring. He quickly grabbed it out of his pocket, holding it up to show us that his dad was calling, stating triumphantly that they do need us.
♧♤♢♡
We turned around immediately and headed straight for the sheriff's station. All four of us went inside, standing at the door to the sheriff's office as he spoke to a young boy sitting in a chair.
The Sheriff knelt before the boy, talking softly, "Alex, you know we're having trouble locating your parents. And since you can't remember anything, we have a method, an unusual method that might help you remember. But I need you to be okay with it. I also need you to know that it's probably gonna hurt."
The young boy spoke up, determination in his voice, "I don't care. I just want to find my mum and dad."
The Sheriff looked back at us all, permitting us to enter the office. We did exactly that, closing the door behind us. We went around the room lowering the blinds so that no one would see what we were about to do before all going over to stand before the boy.
This time, Scott was kneeling in front of him, a hand on the boy's shoulder, "You ready?"
The boy looked nervous but hid it well behind a wall of resolution as he nodded. He just wanted to see his parents again and was willing to do anything.
Scott reached his hand further up and behind the boy's neck, before bringing his claws out. Without hesitation, he dug his claws into the back of the boy's neck.
Alex immediately reacted, legs going stiff as he straightened up in the chair, eyes wide. Holding one of Stiles' hands, I felt my other tapping at my leg nervously.
Scott had only done this a handful of times, and it wasn't really an exact science. All we could do was wait and hope that he didn't hurt himself or the boy.
A few minutes passed before Scott removed his claws and stood up gasping. Stiles took ahold of his arm to help steady him, getting his attention. "What'd you see?"
"I saw a guy on a horse," Scott told us, eyes narrowed in thought.
"A horse?" Isaac repeated. "Seriously?"
"He had a gun."
The Sheriff stepped forward, "Oaky, a guy with a gun. That sounds like my department, not yours."
"What about his parents?" Stiles asked, ignoring the light suggestion that we should leave. "What happened to them?"
Scott stumbled at this, "I don't know. That's all I remember. But. . . I got this feeling."
"What kind of feeling?" The Sheriff asked, already looking like he regretted the question.
However, Scott didn't get the opportunity to answer as Alex took the chance to do so instead. "They're coming back. They're coming for me."
All five of us shared a glance, not one of us feeling in any way confident at that moment. I couldn't explain it, but I could tell that this wasn't just the Sheriff's department. This was something bigger.
♧♤♢♡
We called Malia and Lydia to meet us at the yard where the car belonging to the boy's family sat wrecked. The front window looked like it was blown in, paint scraped away off of the hood from whatever had caused the accident.
I sat in the car's passenger seat while Stiles was in that back searching the floor of the car for any evidence or clues. So far we hadn't had much luck in figuring out what had taken Alex's parents.
Lydia climbed into the driver's seat beside me, quietly grabbing ahold of the wheel and taking a moment. Looking in the mirror, she hummed to herself.
Stiles was suddenly sitting up, grabbing the chairs to move forward. "What?" he asked quickly, practically jumping at the chance that this could be supernatural.
"This is the perfect shade for me," Lydia stated, looking in the mirror and assessing her make up.
I peered a bit closer, before nodding, "It does look good. Which shade is it?"
"I forget the name."
"Can we please stay on topic here?" Stiles requested.
Lydia looked at my boyfriend over her shoulder, looking rather frustrated. "I'm not getting anything."
The sound of a coyote's howl caught my attention. Getting out of the car I picked my backpack up and unzipped it, pulling out a handful of clothes. Heading over to Scott, I got there just as Malia shifted back.
I handed her her clothes as she stood up, Lydia and Stiles walking up beside me.
"I don't think they're dead," the Banshee claimed.
Malia's face scrunched in confusion as she began to get dressed. "They're dead. Probably torn apart. The only thing I don't get is why there's no blood."
"They're not dead. If they were, I'd sense it."
"If they were alive, I'd smell it."
Isaac nodded in agreement, "I haven't been able to catch a scent."
"Yeah, I'm not getting anything either," the Alpha chipped in.
Stiles turned to him, confused, "Scott, what are you talkin' about? You were in his head for four minutes. I timed it."
"Well, it's not an exact science," Scott reminded him. "And he's a kid. Maybe he's too freaked out to remember."
Malia threw her hands up, looking at all of us, "Why does it matter if they're dead? Dead is dead."
"Malia, we've talked about this," I said with a sigh. "Empathy."
Stiles nodded, "If it's just a robbery, we can't help them. And if it's something supernatural, my dad can't help them."
"It sounds like you want it to be supernatural," Lydia pointed out as she looked at him.
My arms crossed against my chest as I turned to him, brows raised expectantly. I thought as much due to how on edge he had been all day, I just hadn't wanted to be the one to bring it up with him.
Stiles took a moment, thinking his reply through. "It's been, like, three months since anything's happened."
"And once a week you drag me out of bed, along with Lydia, expecting her to be able to find something," I pointed out.
"I'm not a supernatural metal detector," Lydia told him firmly.
"Okay, it is way more often than that," Stiles replied as if that made it better. "You can't tell me that you think this is just some series of impossible coincidences?"
"For once, couldn't it be?" I asked quietly. Stiles' expression softened as he looked down at me. Things had been good since the defeat of the Beast. I know he wanted mystery and an adventure, but I just wanted to get through this last year of high school without losing someone.
Lydia nodded her head, "What I'm saying, is I agree with Riley. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it was just a coincidence."
Lydia then turned on her heel, heading towards the exit of the car yard. Malia and Isaac followed, leaving Scott, Stiles and me by Alex's family's car.
Stiles looked at Scott, only to see the boy shrug silently. I pursed my lips when his gaze fell on me; I had already told him what I thought.
He sighed, walking away from the both of us and climbing into the driver's seat of the car. I slammed the door closed behind him, putting his hands on the wheel.
Scott turned to me, frowning. "You should talk to him, he'll listen to you."
"I'll try my best," I offered with a small smile.
Scott nodded, smiling appreciatively, before following after the rest of our pack.
I walked around to the other side of the car, opening the door and taking a seat in the passenger's seat. "Hey."
He looked over at me, before sighing again and turning back to the windshield. "I know what you're all thinking."
"That you're staring at a broken windshield?"
"Well, yes," he replied. "But, there's more to it. There has to be."
"Why, Stiles?" I asked, feeling exasperated. "Why can't we have just one normal year? We're graduating, and I would like to be alive to see that."
"Me too, obviously," he said quickly.
"So you see? It's not a magic bullet. It's a normal bullet, that blew out a normal windscreen."
I pointed towards other cars that had their windscreens broken from a bullet, "Just like that one, and that one, and that. . ."
My words trailed off as I started to notice a pattern. The other windshields had their bullet hole and then cracks spiderwebbing out from the epicentre across the entirety of the glass. But none of them was blown out like the windshield of the car that we were sitting in.
Stiles noticed my hesitation, looking across at the cars I had been pointing to. It took him less than three seconds to pick up on what I had noticed.
Leaning forward in his seat, he reached out and picked up a piece of the broken windshield, examining it. He looked over to me with wide eyes, "Magic bullet."
"Okay, I take it back," I said as I looked at the windshield. "You might be right."
♧♤♢♡
The next morning at school we had our school photos. When Malia had gotten her taken she went to go and join our friends over at a table nearby. I stepped up, taking a seat on the stool and positioning myself to face Sydney's camera.
As Sydney raised the lens to face me, I could see Stiles approaching me out of the corner of my eye. Figuring he would wait until the photo was done, I smiled towards Sydney.
Just as Sydney took the photo, Stiles was at my side grabbing my shoulder, "Hey, so-"
"Stiles!" I hissed.
He stepped back, hands up, "Sorry."
I looked back to Sydney, smiling once more. Just as she hit the button, Stiles had stepped forward again. He proceeded to do so three more times.
"You're still in the frame," Sydney told the boy, who stepped back apologetically.
A moment later, he was getting in the way again, "I just thought-"
"Stiles, seriously? Five seconds, please?" I practically begged.
"That was a good one, too," Sydney complained.
He moved out of frame, hands up, "Sorry, my bad. Keep smiling, you look really pretty."
I rolled my eyes with a laugh, before facing Sydney. She went to take the photo when Stiles stepped into the frame again.
"You're in it again," Sydney complained, completely unimpressed.
"Okay, that's it," I sighed, standing up and facing Sydney. "I'll come back for my photo later."
"No worries, Riley," she nodded, understanding that Stiles wasn't going to let this happen right now.
I grabbed my boyfriend by the arm and dragged him away so that the next student could take a seat and get their photo taken. "What the hell, Stiles? Why are you trying to ruin my yearbook photo?"
"Why would I want to ruin your yearbook photo?" he scoffed.
I let go of him so that I could take a seat beside Malia at the table. "Maybe because you haven't signed up for your own photo yet?"
"Yes, I did," He countered, grabbing a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolding it to show me.
I skimmed my eyes over the form, to see each section hadn't been filled out. "Stiles, it's blank."
Stiles pulled the sheet back towards himself looking confused as he looked over the form. He seemed surprised to see that I had been telling the truth.
"Or maybe you're sublimating the stress of graduating by avoiding key milestones," Scott said from the end of the table where he was taking notes from a textbook.
We all looked over at him expectantly, hoping for him to explain where he'd gotten that from.
"Psych paper," he informed us.
We all nodded before Stiles shrugged, "Hey, the Deputy searched the car. No slugs, no exit hole. And the address Alex gave my dad, it's an abandoned house."
"Even I've got to admit, that's pretty weird," Isaac said, voicing his thoughts.
Stiles nodded, "Come on! Missing parents, suspicious guy on horseback, magic bullet, me and Isaac agreeing. Who's comin' with?"
"I've got work to catch up on before I fall behind," Malia frowned.
"Homework," Isaac shrugged.
"Yeah, not interested," Lydia said plainly.
"I need to get my photos retaken," I told him.
"I cannot miss any more classes," Scott said.
Stiles frowned, "Scott."
"I missed 38 last semester."
"Scott."
"And you and Riley missed a heap as well," Scott reminded the boy. "Lydia's mum is the only reason any of us are still in school. I can go after school."
"Same here," I smiled.
Stiles threw his hands up, "You know what? Forget it. I'll take Liam."
We all turned to look for the Beta. Liam was sitting by the soccer pitch on one of the benches, Hayden by his side. They were interlocked in a make-out session, neither of them noticing the six of us looking their way.
"Yeah, I'm not taking Liam," Stiles said flatly.
"Hey, can I get a candid?" Sydney asked as she approached us, smiling with her camera in her hands.
"Uh, no."
"Yes, go for it," I smiled, grabbing Stiles arm and pulling him down to sit beside me. "It's the least you can do since you interrupted her photo session," I told him softly.
"Fine," he sighed. "If you can explain to me why this is blue, I'll let it go."
Stiles grabbed the shard of windshield he had been looking at last night and handed it to Scott. Even I was caught off guard; it hadn't been that colour last night, had it?
Or maybe I just hadn't been able to see it properly in the dark. Scott frowned as he looked at the shard, silent, not knowing what to say.
"Everyone smile," Sydney said as she lifted her camera.
Scott lowered the glass long enough for all of us to smile at the camera, allowing Sydney to take the photo. After it clicked, I got up from my seat and went over to Sydney.
"Hey, do you mind if I sign up for tomorrow's photo session? Something's come up," I said apologetically.
"Yeah, of course," she smiled.
I thanked her, preparing to leave when a thought came to me. Stopping her once more, I asked "Can I also get a copy of that photo?"
"Sure thing."
Thanking her once more, I went over to Stiles. "I'll come with you on one condition."
"What?" he asked.
"If this isn't supernatural, then you need to drop it. No more for the rest of the year."
He thought for a second, before smiling. "Deal," he smiled, leaning forward and kissing my forehead, "Love you."