˗ˏˋ⋆ H E A V E N L Y ⋆ˎˊ˗
↳ 𝒙𝒊𝒙. 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆
𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘧, 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰
(ℜ𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱)
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"SO IF JACKSON DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING, THEN HE PROBABLY doesn't know that someone's controlling him," Gracie said into her phone, finishing her explanation to Stiles and Scott, where he had called her from the police station.
Apparently Jackson had beat them to Stiles' dad and they were in a lot of trouble with the sheriff and Mr. Whittemore.
"Or he doesn't remember," Scott's voice sounded through grill.
"What if it's the same kind of thing that happened with Lydia when she took off from the hospital?" Stiles suggested.
"A fugue state?" Gracie asked, remembering Allison had mentioned the diagnosis the doctors gave when Lydia was found, which sounded like absolute bullshit in her opinion.
"He'd have to forget everything. The murder––" Scott started.
"––Getting rid of the blood," Gracie filled in.
"Yeah, he had help with one thing though –– the video," Stiles reminded them. "And someone else helped him forget that."
"Whoever's controlling him," Gracie guessed.
"Did Jackson believe you guys when you tried to explain what was going on?" Scott asked.
"No," Stiles sighed. "He thinks he's still becoming a werewolf and that being with Lydia somehow delayed the whole thing."
"Really?" Gracie rolled her eyes at that. "So what do we do now? Do we try and convince him he's not?"
"If it helps us find out who's controlling him, then yeah," Scott confirmed.
"Do you think he'll talk to us after what we did?"
"Yeah, it's us," Stiles assured the Hale girl. "He'll talk to us. Right?"
It turned out that they were wrong.
Stiles and Scott weren't going to be able to speak to Jackson. Not if the restraining order that his dad presented them would somehow disappear. It was ridiculous that Jackson and his father were doing this to them; they were just trying to help Jackson.
It wasn't their fault he was a murderous lizard with a bad memory.
"You will not go within 50 feet of Jackson Whittemore," Noah read the last paragraph of the restraining order that Mr. Whittemore filed. "You will not speak to him. You will not approach him. You will not assault or harass him physically or psychologically."
"What about school?" Stiles asked innocently, glancing at Melissa and Jackson's father as the Sheriff dropped the clipboard on the table they were sitting at.
"You can attend classes while attempting to maintain a 50-foot distance," his dad said sternly.
"Okay, but what if we both have to use the bathroom at the same time and there's only two stalls available and they're only right next to each other?" Stiles gestured, acting out the situation with his fingers as his dad glowered at him. "I'll just hold it."
After Stiles and Scott had signed the restraining order, agreeing to keep away from Jackson, Noah practically dragged Stiles out of the room.
"Do I need to remind you how lucky we are that they're not pressing charges?" His dad said sternly as he pulled him to one side of the hallway, allowing Melissa and Scott to walk past them.
"Oh, come on, it was just a joke," Stiles huffed.
"It was a joke?"
"Yes, I didn't think it would be taken this seriously. Dad, humor's very subjective, okay?" His son told him, lying through his teeth. "I mean, we're talking, like, multiple levels of interpretation here."
"Uh-huh."
"Uh-huh."
"Okay, well, how exactly am I supposed to interpret the stolen prison transport van, huh?"
"We filled the tank!"
Noah angrily pressed his lips together and Stiles fell silent, seeing the vein throbbing at his temple.
"Get out of here," Noah said slowly and quietly.
"Yes, sir," Stiles said quickly. "Bye, love you."
He didn't wait for a response as he left his dad, walking down the hallway in the direction that Scott and Melissa went. When he found the McCalls, Scott was in the middle of a lecture from his mom, who was shaking she was so angry.
"I have to ground you. I am grounding you. You are grounded," was the first thing heard.
Scott winced at her. "What about work?"
"Fine," Melissa sighed. "Other than work. And no TV."
"My TV's broken."
"Then no computer."
"I need the computer for school."
"Then no, uh..." She trailed off, looking around and spotting Stiles behind her, who was clearly eavesdropping. "No Stiles."
"What?" Stiles objected. "No Stiles?"
"No Stiles!" Melissa exclaimed as Stiles flinched, backing away from the angry mother. She turned back to Scott. "And no more car privileges. Give me your keys. Give 'em to me!"
Scott scrambled to pull his keychain out of his jeans, handing them over to Melissa. She picked up the car key and struggled to take the key off the ring.
"Oh, for the love of God!"
"Mom, you want me to––?"
"No," Melissa pulled away harshly as Scott reached for the keys.
"Mom," Scott sighed. "Come on, let me just...Mom."
He grabbed her hands, stilling them. Melissa sniffed and looked up at him.
"What is going on with you?" She asked him quietly. "Is this about Allison?"
Stiles perked up at the question and wildly shook his head at Scott, drawing his attention.
"Do you really wanna know?" Scott asked, and his mother nodded.
"Yeah," she confirmed. Stiles shook his head again. Scott hesitated and Melissa took that as a no. "Is this about your father?"
Stiles nodded jerkily, silently telling Scott to agree.
"It is, isn't it?" Melissa asked, but Scott didn't answer. "Okay, you know what, um...We'll talk about this at home. I'm gonna go get the car."
Stiles walked up to Scott's side as Melissa left the station, giving him a sympathetic look.
"I'm the worst son ever," Scott sighed heavily.
Stiles looked back at the interrogation room and could see Jackson's father berating his dad for Stiles' comments.
"Well, I'm not exactly winning any prizes either," Stiles said sadly.
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GRACIE WALKED INTO THE LIBRARY, TRYING NOT TO DRAW ANY TO herself, turning down one of the aisles as she left the camera's view. With Gerard becoming the Principal, the Argents had taken over the school. For now, Gracie and her friends just had to act like everything was okay.
Finding Allison, the two girls turned down the classical fiction aisle where Scott had told them to be. They stopped in the middle of the aisle to look through the bookshelf where Scott and Stiles were on the other side.
Allison pulled out a tablet and handed through the shelf to Scott.
"It's everything Lydia can translate," Allison whispered, acting casually. "And trust me, she was very confused."
"Yeah, what'd you tell her?" Scott asked.
Gracie laughed. "She told her that we were all part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."
"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures," Stiles blinked at her, not understanding what was so funny about it.
"O-oh," Gracie rose her eyebrows at him, sharing a shocked look with Allison and Scott. She nodded at Stiles. "...Great."
"Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling him?" Scott whispered to them.
Gracie shook her head. "Not really. But Stiles was right about the murderers."
"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed, fist-bumping the air. Gracie smiled, shaking her head.
"It calls the kanima a weapon of vengeance," she continued. "There's a story in there about this South American priest who uses the kanima to execute murderers in his village––"
"––All right, see?" Stiles perked up, thinking that maybe the kanima wasn't as evil as they thought. "So maybe it's not...all that bad."
"You didn't let me finish," Gracie said hauntingly. "Apparently, the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to."
"All bad," Stiles nodded in realization. "All very, very bad."
"Here's the thing, though. The kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf," Gracie told them. "But it can't be––"
"'––Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it,'" Scott cut her off, reading the text on the tablet.
"Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that myself," Stiles commented unhelpfully.
"What if it has something to do with his parents?" Allison spoke up. "His biological parents."
"Yeah, does anybody actually know what happened to them?" Scott wondered.
"Lydia might," Gracie suggested, knowing that other than Danny she used to be the closest to him.
"What if she doesn't know anything?" Scott asked.
"Well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me, so... I'll talk to him myself," Allison volunteered.
"Okay, what do I do?" Scott looked down the aisle where Allison was hiding and then back at Gracie and Stiles.
"You have a make-up exam, remember?" Allison told him. "Promise me."
"If he does anything, you run the other way," Scott warned.
"I can take care of myself."
"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me. If he does anything––?"
"––Like?"
"Anything," Scott said, giving her a shrug. "Weird or bizarre––"
"––Anything evil!" Stiles interjected loudly, sticking his head through the shelf.
Gracie sighed and reached through the shelf, pushing his forehead back.
"Ah! Ow!" He winced away from her, rubbing the spot as if she hurt him.
Despite the fact that Gracie and Stiles practically begged her to spill the beans about Jackson's biological parents, Lydia was not budging.
"Lydia, wait!" Stiles called as the strawberry blonde walked off towards her next class.
"Ah!" Gracie gasped when she was grabbed by the arm and pulled into an empty classroom.
Thrown into the wall with her shoulders forced back, she groaned when she saw Erica, who she hadn't spoken to in a couple of days. She hadn't talked to the rest of the pack either. She told her brother that she needed some time until she came back.
"Hey, Erica," Gracie grunted, squirming against the blonde werewolf's grip.
"So..." Erica smiled sweetly. "Why are you asking Lydia about Jackson's bio-parents?"
"No reason, really," Gracie shrugged.
"Huh," Erica hummed, sounding unconvinced.
"How about you get your hands off of her?" Stiles suggested, his voice hard. He had popped into the classroom, looking around when he found that Gracie wasn't behind him.
The Hale girl bit her cheek, trying her hardest not to smile.
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𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄:
So that's chapter nineteen. Again, I really liked writing this chapter –– and this entire episode in general. What do you guys think? If you really liked it, please vote, comment, and share.