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moonee had been bedbound ever since the incident, although she wasn't complaining. scott had left to take his psat at the school and melissa was at her work shift.
the girl was bored. franchie had out of school tutoring, mason was busy and... those were her only two friends. for a split second, she thought about hanging out with liam, but the idea made her stomach churn.
so when lydia came over, telling her about the virus spreading in beacon hills high school and offering to take her there, moonee hastily agreed.
when the two girls arrived at the school, they were greeted with bright lights, policemen, infection control and other worried students and parents.
with her hand tightly grasped to moonee's, lydia ran straight into the commotion, "sheriff! sheriff!"
the two were immediately held back by a policeman. luckily, lydia's yells had caught the attention of sheriff stilinski and agent mccall.
"whoa, hey!" sheriff called out to his co-worker.
rafael stepped forward, "that's my daughter." he announced.
"we know these girls. let them in."
"sorry, sir."
"my mom's in there." lydia whispered to sheriff, "what's happening?"
"moonee, what are you doing here?" her father questioned, he had been told she was unwell.
"we're working on it..."
"came to check on my brothers and their girlfriends." moonee stated.
"your mother said you were sick." rafael continued.
"sick, tired, exhausted, ill?" moonee listed, "they're all the same words. perhaps you got them mixed up."
"go home, moonee." rafael ordered, "it's not safe here."
"you're right, it isn't." moonee shook her head, "but i'm not leaving until, scott and everyone else in there can too."
rafael took a deep breath, he knew there was no point trying to send her away, she would stay either way. "fine." he groaned, "just, don't leave my sight."
"all right, dad." moonee nodded.
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moonee had left her dad's sight moments after that. she waited for him to be in deep conversation with another member of staff before she slipped away.
as she ran around the building, she had one thought that clouded her mind: she needed to get inside. moonee approached a side entrance to the school, but it was guarded by a policeman. the girl took a deep breath and tried to think of a plan.
she began to twirl her fingers around in a slow movement, creating a harsh but gradual gust of wind towards the man in an attempt to scare him off. however, the officer looked around in confusion and stayed in his place.
"okay, this isn't working." she whispered.
moonee quickly grew frustrated and threw a heavy blast of air at him, propelling him at least six feet away from his original post. promptly, the mccall girl dashed to the door and opened it. the second she entered, she was hit with an overwhelming feeling of sickness.
brushing it off, moonee carelessly ran through the corridors. as she sprinted, a larger body came in contact with hers and knocked her down.
"watch it!"
"i'm so sor- moonee?" the person spoke.
moonee quickly got to her feet and looked at who had barged into her, "oh, hey stiles."
"shouldn't you be resting?" stiles questioned as he pulled her into the nearest room - bobby finstock's office.
"shouldn't you be taking your psats? oh-" she shot back at him.
"alright, i got it." stiles rolled his eyes.
moonee placed her hand on his sweaty face to see he was burning up, "i think you should be the one resting."
"no, don't touch me!" he quickly smacked her hand away, "the virus going around is harmful to supernatural."
"you aren't supernatural." she pointed out.
"and non-supernatural!" stiles uttered, "you probably already caught it when you came inside, it's going to start effecting you soon... moonee? moon?"
the girl had disassociated from the conversation, she promptly felt fatigued and her eyes shut closed. when she opened them, she could feel they had shifted into a different colour. her right eyes vision had a light grey hue, while the other had blue.
"no, no, no." he groaned, she had already started to shift, "just, stand here."
moonee stood still in the corner of the room as stiles rummaged through the drawers. she silently watched as he scanned coach's coffee mug.
"moon, come here." stiles ushered her over.
she moved to the table he was sat at and stiles quickly clutched her arms. he inspected her hands and fingers and she gave him a look.
"what are you doing?"
"how..." he muttered to himself as he saw faint, black ink on her index finger, "what have you touched since you got here?
"the door handle outside and your face." she confessed.
"my face?" stiles questioned, "is there any ink on my face, moonica?!"
"don't call me that." she rolled her eyes, "and yeah, on your right cheek-"
"i was wondering how that idiot got sick." the chemist, simon, spoke aloud, his eyes fixated on coach's mug, "i'm also wondering where your friends are... since, it order to get paid by the benefactor, i need to have proof that they're dead."
"visual confirmation..." stiles mumbled as the man twisted his sound suppressor gun around.
"exactly." the chemist grinned before pointing the gun to moonee, "and it must be my lucky day because i was secretly hoping you'd come save your brother, elementum."
moonee's heart dropped, he was going to kill her.
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"still a bit feverish, mr stilinski?" the chemist queried as he held the gun to stiles' back and pushed moonee onto the locker room ground, "but, you should know something... the virus doesn't kill humans. you'll get better."
on the floor, moonee was violently sweating under her long sleeve, burgundy henley shirt as the murderer spoke to her and stiles.
"however, miss mccall, it's not looking too good for you." the chemist chuckled.
all she could do was give him a mean glare, as she had no energy to use her abilities.
"so, don't you think you should tell me where they are?" the chemist started to talk to stiles again, "shouldn't one of you get to live?"
"i think i saw them in the library..." stiles lied through his teeth, "or, it might have been the cafeteria. it was definitely one of those two."
"i'm going to count to three, and then i'm going to kill you." the chemist threatened.
"you think you can scare me?" stiles challenged.
"no... i think i can kill you." the chemist explained, "i just thought the countdown would make it more exciting. so-"
"wait." moonee croaked out, her vision blurring as she shakily got to her feet, "he's not the one you want. you kill him and nothing. you've killed him for nothing. i mean, he's a little annoying-"
"moon."
"but if y-you kill me, you get what? fifteen million dollars." she continued as her hands aggressively trembled in fear and her voice wavered, "so, which would you rather?"
"now that is an intriguing deal." the chemist smirked.
"it's a deal that's not happening." stiles shook his head as he pulled moonee beside and slightly behind him.
"your loss." the chemist shrugged, "someone in this room is being shot, it's your choice."
stiles didn't move, so the man pressed the cold, gun barrel to his head. he began to count down: "one... two..."
stiles trembled, squeezed moonee's hand and shut his eyes tight as his life was on the line. the girl also had her eyes closed due to her having no energy for them being open.
a gunshot was fired and a sob escaped from the girl's lips. crimson blood splattered over her and stiles' shaking faces and they quickly opened their eyes.
as the chemist's dead body fell to the ground, stiles quickly pulled the younger girl in his arms as he panted in shock. rafael mccall stood behind the door in a yellow hazmat suit and a gun in his hands.
"where the hell did you come from?"
"moonee! i thought i told you-" rafael began to scold her.
"dad?" the girl slurred.
rafael huffed but remembered there was important information he needed to disclosure, "stiles, listen, i got a call from melissa. i don't know what it means. she said there's an antidote? it's in a vault. reishi mushrooms-"
"wait, what in a vault?" stiles investigated.
"it's in a jar on one of the shelves. she said to tell scott, it's in the vault."
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despite rafael's yelling and protests, stiles dragged moonee all the way over to the hale's vault. they reached the stone door, and stiles sat the sick girl down beside it.
"hey, scott? scotty? in the vault, in there with you- it's called reishi mushrooms." stiles yelled out as he slammed his palms against the door, "scott? scott, open the door! it's in there with you! it's in a jar, it's on one of the shelves."
"stiles..." moonee mumbled, "stiles, i-i can't see."
"scott, please!" stiles continued, "scott! scott, can you hear me? your sister, moon, she's been infected. scott! it's affecting her ten times faster than it did you!"
when he got no response, he began to cry out and frantically hit the door. he eventually grew tired and slid down to the floor in tears. he repositioned moonee so her head was laying comfortably in his lap.
"moon, i'm so sorry." the boy whispered to her barely conscious body, "i'm sorry for getting you infected."
"i'm sorry for touching your infected face." she spoke scarcely audible, making him sadly chuckle, "am i going to die?"
"no, moon. you're not going to die before i do." stiles reassured her, "what you did... was incredibly stupid."
"you'll have to be more specific." the girl panted, "a thousand things came to mind."
"you trying to get youself killed instead of me."
"oh. yeah that was very stupid." she agreed, "but i'd do it again. for you, for any of you."
"you can't think like that, moon. you're fourteen."
his voice drowned out in her ears as her breathing became slower. thankfully, the door slid open and scott fell out. in his hand was a reshi mushroom. when he caught a glimpse of his sister, he immediately placed it into her mouth.
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
moonee and stiles' sibling dynamic in this chapter makes me so sad. they're the exact same person and although they hardly get along, they would do absolutely anything for each other.
also also the promo for this chapter is on tiktok!!