Nabina's outfit:
On The Road -
Flashbacks -
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Chapter Seventeen
⊚ Frayed ⊚
"Am I getting too close?" Allison asked as her, Lydia and Nabina sat in the car, following behind the school bus which held the track team. "I'm getting too close, aren't I?" Allison asked and Lydia pursed her lips, "That depends... Are you just following the bus, or are you planning on mounting it at some point?" She said and Allison cringed slightly.
"Yeah, I should back off..." She and Nabina shrugged slightly as she leaned forward from the backseat, "Well, that depends. Do you mean the bus, or the ex-boyfriend you're currently stalking?" She asked and Allison shook her head. "Well, after what happened, I'm not letting him out of my sight." She said, making Nabina and Lydia both hum and glance at each other.
"And, by the way, this all started when he came knocking at my door." Allison said making Nabina furrow her brows, "For what?" She asked and Allison sighed.
** "I know where they are." Scott said as he ran into the loft making Nabina, Derek, Peter, Boyd and Cora look back at him. "We know, same building as the Argents." Nabina said and Boyd nodded, "Cora, Nabina and I followed the twins." He said, making Scott's eyes widen.
"Then they want you to know." Scott said and Peter shrugged slightly, "Or, more likely, they don't care." Peter said as Scott walked up to the table to see a bunch of blueprints, pictures and notes. "What is this?" Scott asked and Peter raised his eyebrows slightly, "Isn't it obvious? The schemers are scheming." He said.
"We're coming up with a coup de main- better known as a pre-emptive strike." Nabina said, making Scott glance at all of them, "You're going after them?" He asked and Derek nodded.
"Tomorrow. And you're gonna help us... They're one floor above them, in the penthouse right about Allison." Derek said and Scott raised his eyebrows slightly, "So, kill them first? That's the plan?" Scott asked and Boyd nodded. "They won't even see it coming." Boyd said, making Scott look at him, "Why is the default plan always murder?" He asked before looking at Derek.
"Just once, can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?" Scott asked and Peter scoffed, "You never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you?...Not that I disagree with him." He said. "I do. Why do we need this kid?" Cora asked as she gave Scott a dirty look making Nabina roll her eyes as she turned to Cora.
"This kid helped save your life." Nabina said and Cora just rolled her eyes slightly, "And you know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move." Derek said. "You can't beat a pack of Alphas." Scott said and Nabina nodded slightly. "Scott's got a point. Its five alphas, two of which turned into one giant alpha. They're not easy to kill." She said and Cora shrugged slightly
"That's why we're going after Deucalion- just him." She said and Boyd turned to Scott, "Cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies." He said and Nabina shook her head. "Except this isn't a snake, it's a Hydra. And, like Scott said, they're all Alphas." Nabina said and Derek shrugged, "Deucalion's still the leader." He said.
"Let's hope so... Because you know what happened when Hercules cut off one of the heads of the Hydra?" Peter asked and Scott nodded, "Two more grew back in its place." He said, making Nabina look at him impressed before chuckling slightly.
"Someone's been doing their summer reading." **
Lowering a book titled 'Thermodynamic Asymmetry in Time', Lydia glances to the dashboard. "So, is that whole "not letting them out of your sight"-thing literal, or more like a general rule?" She asked, making Allison glanced at her as she followed behind the school bus, "Why?" She asked.
"You're running on fumes." Lydia said, making Allison look down at the gas gauge needle to see it was right on empty, making her groan. "Yeah... And I'm pretty sure that bus holds a lot more gas than this Toyota." Lydia said and Allison glanced at her, "What if we stop?" She asked.
"Is it really that big of a deal? I mean, so we lose them- we know where they're headed." Lydia said and Allison sighed and shook her head. "You didn't see what happened." She said and Lydia raised her eyebrows as she highlighted something in her book. "I know who started it..." She mumbled, making Nabina raise her eyebrows, "Is that what Aiden told you?" She asked.
"Aiden?" Lydia asked, looking back at Nabina in amusement before realization crossed over her features, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second- is that why you guys invited me on this whole road-trip-thing?" She asked and when Allison didn't say anything she raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, my gosh! You're keeping an eye on them and me..." She said before glancing back at Nabina, "You both are." She said and Nabina raised her eyebrows. "You're telling me there's nothing going on between you two?" Nabina asked, making Lydia scoff slightly. "I'm appalled by the insinuation! And here I thought we were finally friends." Lydia said and Nabina and Allison both looked at her in amusement.
"Nothing?" Allison asked and Lydia nodded, "Nothing." She said as she pulled out her lipstick. Lydia looked into the mirror as she absentmindedly re-applied her lipstick, until she noticed Allison and Nabina looking at her with raised eyebrows.
"What?" She asked and Nabina looked at Allison, "Hey, Allison. Is it just me or do you smell that?" She asked and Allison smiled and hummed. "Smell what?" She asked, "It smells kinda like bullshit." Nabina said and Allison nodded. "I definitely smell it too." She said and Lydia rolled her eyes at the two of them.
A little while later Lydia's phone started ringing making her pull it out to see Stiles calling her. "Hey, Stiles! Yeah, we're just about to walk into a movie! Uh, you know, the popcorn, and-" She said awkwardly until he cut her off.
"I know you guys are right behind us. Put me on speaker." He said, making her purse her lips and nod, "Okay..." She said before putting him on speaker. "Okay, look, Scott's still hurt." Stiles said, making the girls glance at each other, "What do you mean, 'still?' He's not healing?" Allison asked.
"No, he's not healing. I think he's actually getting worse. The blood's turning, like, a black color..." He said and Lydia furrowed her brows, "What's wrong with him?" She asked."What's wrong with him? I don't... Do I have a Ph.D. in lycanthropy? How am I supposed to know that?" He said sarcastically, making Nabina roll her eyes.
"We need to get him off the bus." Allison said and Nabina raised her eyebrows, "And take him where, a hospital?" She asked and Allison nodded. "If he's dying, yeah. Stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up. Tell the coach to pull over." Allison said and Stiles sighed, "Yeah, I've been trying..."
"Well, reason with him." Allison said and Nabina could imagine the look on Stiles' face, "Reason? Have you met this guy?" He asked incredulously. "Just try something." Allison said before Stiles hung up.
⊚
Stiles and Allison hurriedly carry Scott into the rest stop men's room while Lydia shuts and locks the door behind them. Scott slumped down against the stained tile wall and Allison kneeled down in front of him, lifting up his shirt to reveal his wound.
"Oh, my God..."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Allison asked and Scott gave her a weak smile, "Sorry..." He said weakly. "Okay, just give us a second, okay?" Allison says before pulling Nabina, Stiles and Lydia aside to whisper. "This shouldn't be happening- I've seen him heal from worse than this." She said and Stiles nodded.
"Okay, what do we do, then? Do we just call an ambulance?" Stiles asked and Allison sighed worriedly. "What if it's too late? What if they can't help?" She said, "We gotta do something." Stiles said before turning to Nabina. "You got magic, can you heal him?" He asked and she shook her head, "I haven't learned that magic yet. It's a hard one to learn." She said and Lydia raised her eyebrows.
"You know, it could be psychological." Lydia making them all look at her confused, "What do you mean? Like, psychosomatic?" Stiles asked. "Somatoformic." Lydia said and Stiles squinted slightly, "Som-" He tried to say making her roll her eyes.
"A physical illness from a psychogenic cause?" Lydia said and Allison and Stiles still looked incredibly confused making Nabina sigh, "She's saying it's all in his head." Nabina said and Lydia nodded in agreement. "Because of Derek. He's not letting himself heal 'cause Derek died." Stiles said, making Nabina suck in a deep breath while Allison nodded, "So, what do we do?"
Lydia opened her purse and pulled out a travel sewing kit, "Stitch him up." She said and Allison and Stiles raised their eyebrows. "I'm serious! Maybe all he needs to do is just believe it's healing." Lydia said and they glanced back at Scott. Breathing, becoming more and more labored, he holds his hand tighter over his shirt, blood seeping between his fingers.
A few seconds later a lighter flame licked the tip of a sewing needle, sanitizing its point. Clicking the lighter off, Allison tossed it back to Nabina. Stiles pulled out every paper towel from the dispenser, surrounding Scott with them as Allison cleans the blood from the wounds. "He's gonna need another shirt. Where's his bag?" Allison said and Stiles nodded.
"Um, I'm gonna get it. I hate needles anyway, so...Uh, do you know what you're doing?" Stiles asked and Allison nodded, "Yeah, my father taught me." She said. "I mean, how fast are you gonna...? I mean, the bus, like... the bus could leave."
"Well, you just make sure it doesn't leave." Allison said and Nabina nodded before grabbing Stiles and Lydia's arms, "We got it." She said before her, Stiles and Lydia walked out of the bathroom.
** Scott slipped his jacket on before grabbing his helmet and going to walk out his room but jumped when he saw Nabina and Issac standing in the doorway. "Whoa..." He said and Nabina smirked and raised her eyebrows, "Where are you going?" She asked.
"Uh, I was gonna go get some food to eat..." He said and Isaac and Nabina glanced at each other, "Oh, cool! We'll come with you." Isaac said and Nabina nodded. "I'll drive." She said and Scott shook his head, "Nah, guys. It's okay. I can eat alone." Scott said and Isaac raised his eyebrows slightly.
"What are you getting?" He asked and Scott looked at a loss for words, "Uh... Mexican...?" He said and Isaac smiled. "Oh, I love Mexican!" He said and grabbed Nabina's hand and went to walk out but Scott stopped them.
"Guys, I can eat alone. It's okay." He said and Nabina smiled, raising her eyebrows as she walked over to him and grabbed his helmet. "You're not going alone." She said as she set the helmet down while Isaac nodded and Scott smiled softly, "Come on. I'm driving." She said as she walked away.
"We're going to talk to him. Try to reason with him. That's it." Scott said as they got out of Nabina's car. Isaac nodded with a thoughtful look as he closed the car door, "What?" Scott asked and Isaac just shrugged, "It's just- I'm actually kind of hungry now." He said. "So am I." Scott said and Nabina nodded in agreement, "Me too." She said before the three of them started walking. **
A little while later Nabina, Lydia and Stiles leaned against the bus when Coach blew his whistle. "Let's go! Back on the bus!" Coach called out, making them look at each other with wide eyes, "We can't leave yet." Lydia said and Nabina thought for a moment. "I have an idea." She said before glancing around, "Hey, Isaac!" She called out, making her boyfriend walk over to her. She pulled him down and whispered something in his ear making him look at her.
** Nabina, Scott and Isaac cautiously walked into the bowels of an abandoned mall, the structure both bare and foreboding. Standing just outside one shaft of light, Deucalion cocked his head, listening to their approach. "You didn't come alone." He said and Scott nodded and glanced back at the couple, "Yeah... this is Isaac and you already know Nabina."
"I'm not talking about Nabina and Isaac." Deucalion said and just then the crunch of boots made them look over as three silhouettes step into the light. Nabina sighed and shook her head when she saw Derek, Boyd and Cora walk out of the shadows.
"You knew I'd do this." Scott says but Derek doesn't look at him. He passes through a shaft of light and into darkness. When he steps into the light again, he's a werewolf, fangs bared, red glowing. Cora and Boyd transformed behind him, they approached, steady and fearless.
"Derek, don't. You can't do this and no one gets hurt. If someone dies-" Nabina said but Derek cut her off and pointed at Deucalion, "Him. Just him." He said and Deucalion raised his eyebrows in amusement.
"Just me? Now how's a blind man find his way into a place like this all on his own?" Suddenly the sound of claws scraping made them all turn to see Kali sliding down a pillar by her claws. And soon enough Ennis and the twins made an appearance as well. **
A whistle blew over a crowd outside the bus where a fight has broken out as Coach desperately tries to pull the teenagers apart. Stiles turns to Scott who arrives helped by Allison and Lydia. "What's happening?" Scott asked, "They went after him. Nabina told 'em what was happening with you, and they just went after him!" He said. "Who, Boyd?" Scott asked and Stiles shook his head.
"Isaac! Isaac! Isaac! Back off! Stop!" Coach yelled trying to break up the fight but Isaac still swings his fists even as Danny struggles with him. Isaac got another hit at Ethan and the twin took the beating with a disturbing smile. "Rai, can you please stop your boyfriend?" Coach said, glancing at Nabina for a moment before taking a double take.
"Rai Q, when did you get here?" He asked, making her raise her eyebrows, "That's for me to know and you to not know." She said and he stared at her for a moment before nodding. "Fair enough." He said before Scott ran through the crowd.
"Isaac!" Scott's voice thunders through the crowd, turning every head and shutting every mouth. Whistle hanging off his lip, even Coach fell silent under the young man's commanding presence. Lowering his fist, Isaac looked at the healed Scott and finally backed off.
** Snarling, Derek rushes Deucalion. But Kali launches toward him, feet slashing. At the same time, Ennis quickly takes both Boyd and Cora to the ground. Above, Ethan and Aiden leap off a platform. Two feet land below, the Twin Alpha formed. The creature roars, turning to face Scott and Isaac, both now transformed and charging into the fight. Nabina sighed before moving to help Cots and Boyd with Ennis.
But as bodies hit the floor, limbs crack and blood flies Ennis wrapped his powerful arms around Isaac, Kali shoved Cora to the floor with a foot over her neck while grabbing Nabina by the neck, making sure that her claws are in the perfect position to rip Nabina's throat out whenever she wanted. The Twins dragged a struggling Scott into a vise-like hold. Spitting blood, Boyd tries to push himself up from the cement floor as Derek turns to find him lying at his feet.
"Kill him. The others can go." Deucalion says making all eyes look to Derek as Boyd peers up at him while still trying to find the strength to rise. "You're beaten. Do it, Derek. Take the first step." Deucalion said. Scott and the others look at Derek and the choice presented to him.
"Are we serious with this kid? Look at him. He's an Alpha? To what? A couple of useless teenagers?" Kali snarled. "Some have more promise than others." Deucalion says, he turns slightly, almost as if he's looking at Scott. But the others keep their eyes on Derek.
"Let him rise to the occasion then. What'll it be, Derek? Pack or family?" Kali asked as her eyes glowed a fierce red as she pushed her foot down on Cora's neck, threatening to break it before smirking. "Or your teenage best friend?" She said as he tightened her grip on Nabina's neck, drawing drops of dark red blood as her claws dug into flesh making Nabina grit her teeth in pain.
Derek looks from his sister to Nabina to Boyd, an impossible decision. Until, his ear picks up a familiar sound.
The drawing of a bow string.
Derek ducked down as a flashbolt arrow whistled past and struck the Twins, exploding against them in a blinding flash. Scott slips free as Ethan and Aiden break apart, bodies tumbling back. "Your eyes- cover your eyes!" Deucalion yelled, making Kali let go of Nabina and Cora. Nabina quickly threw her arms out, making Kali fly into the wall before Nabina ducked down to grab Cora, covering her eyes in the process
As Derek pulled Boyd to his feet, Ennis dropped Isaac and charged like a battering ram toward Scott. But astonishingly, Scott dropped his shoulder and rushed in to meet the Alpha. As they claw with brutal force, for the briefest second, Scott's eyes glow red-the eyes of an Alpha. Nabina watched in shock, seeing the color change but Scott tumbled back.
Eyes returned to yellow and not recovering nearly fast enough when he saw Derek get pulled to his feet by Ennis. Scrambling forward, Scott swiped at Ennis's ankle, catching him right in the Achilles' heel. Ennis staggered forward. Derek's feet hit the floor, but he stumbled as well, Ennis's hands still locked on him and both werewolves tumble backwards.
Derek looked at Scott as both men went off the side of the escalator platform. Their bodies fall, slamming to the pavement with a terrible cracking sound. Nabina flinched slightly as her eyes widened.**
"So how did it feel?" Nabina asked as she leaned against Isaac's chest, his arm around her shoulders. Everyone was back on the bus, heading towards the track meet. "How did what feel?" Isaac asked and Nabina looked at him, "Getting to beat the crap out of one of the twins." Nabina said and Isaac smiled slightly.
"It felt really good." He said and Nabina groaned slightly, "I'm so jealous." She said, leaning her head back on his shoulder while he chuckled.