(mentions of suicide, abuse and triggering topics. if any of these things bother you, then skip it. i will put ** at any part that it mentions these topics.)
As night came around, they were still on the bus. Asher was starting to get restless, she wasn't used to sitting this still for so long. She turned to look out the window and saw they were pulling into an old motel names 'Glen Capri'. Asher looked at Ethan beside her, who is now fully healed, and sent him a small look of disgust. He just shrugs back, not really caring. The bus comes to a stop, doors opening and students filing out.
"I've seen worse." Scott says once he exits the bus.
Asher looks at him, confused.
"Where have you seen worse?" Stiles asks his best friend incredulously.
Coach blows his whistle. "Listen up. The meet's been pushed 'til tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancies and the least amount of good judgement when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves."
Asher looks offended. "Degenerate?" She mouths sadly. Danny notices from beside her and pats her shoulder. He gets a small smile in return.
"You'll be pairing up. Choose wisely." Coach finishes.
Asher looks around for a moment, not seeing anyone she would want to pair with, and decides to grab a key for herself. She grabs it from Coach and walks away, going to find her room.
"And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants." Coach tells them, still handing keys out. "Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves!"
Asher chuckles. "Yeah, got that, Ethan?" She taunts her brother.
He shoves her head away a little. "Shut up, Ash." Ethan laughs.
"Hah! You laughed, I win!" Asher exclaims before leaving him and Danny alone.
Asher is about to walk up the steps when she hears Lydia's voice from where the bus was.
"I don't like this place." Lydia says fearfully.
"I don't think the people who own this place like this place." Allison laughs. "It's just for a night."
"A lot can happen in one night." The red head says.
Asher sighs and walks up the stairs to her room.
--------------------
The Lewis girl unlocks the door to her motel room, turns the knob and walks in. She steps across the threshold and immediately looks around. There's two beds against the left wall, matching sheets and covers on them. On the far back wall is a dresser. There are nightstands beside both beds with lamps resting on them. Asher walks over and turns one of the lamps off, not liking so much light. Then she walks to a door, opens it and enters the bathroom. She goes to stand in front of the mirror when she hears something.
The girl turns to her left, but she doesn't see anything. Asher sighs and runs a hand down her face. She looks back in the mirror, her face looking tired. A sound come from her right this time, making her look over again. Asher walks over to the window where the sound came from. She flicks the blinds open and peeks out.
"What the hell...?" She starts.
There's nothing there. There's nothing anywhere.
Asher rubs the tired out of her eyes. She looks back in the mirror, staring herself in the eyes. Asher's eyes start to shine a bright yellow, her teeth growing fangs. She feels claws coming out of her nails and her ears growing points. Asher looks down at her fingers, then back at the mirror to see a tan color growing from the tips of her hair. She stares at herself, watching. Once she's fully shifted, Asher growls a little. She hasn't shifted, at least not fully, in a while. The girl opens her mouth to examine her teeth. The fangs are bigger and sharper than a werewolves, taking up a bit of space in her mouth. Asher sighs and returns to her normal self before walking back into the bedroom.
She sits down on one of the beds, taking her shoes off so she can lay down.
"This was your fault." She hears, making her sit up quickly.
"What?" Asher asks.
"You know what you did to deserve this..." The voice says again.
Asher stands up, turning in circles trying to see who it is. "What? Who are you?" She asks, getting more confused.
"Shut up! You know..." It says, taunting the girl.
Asher groans, getting tired of whatever the hell this was. "Oh, screw you!" She says before flicking her claws out and digging them into her palm.
Blood spills out, dripping onto the floor. Asher watches as the red liquid slides down her hand. After a few minutes pass the voice stops and she takes her claws out of her skin. The girl sighs before going to find a towel to wipe her hand on.
"I should've pushed Danny down the stairs and made Ethan room with me." Asher grumbled.
--------------------
Asher decided to take a walk. To where? She didn't know. She started down the stairs when she notices a red head walking across the parking lot with a stack of towels in her hand. Curiosity getting the best of her, Asher made her way over to the girl.
"Lydia!" Asher called as she jogged towards her.
The mention of her name made the girl stop and turn around. Lydia noticed Asher coming towards her, so she waited.
"Hi, Asher." Lydia said, walking again when the brunette caught up.
Asher studied the girl, her body language in particular. "Are you alright?"
Lydia looked over at the girl as she readjusted the towels in her hand. "It's just this place."
The lion sighed, opening the door to the office for Lydia. "Tell me later. Don't wanna upset the owner, do we?" Asher smiled a little.
Lydia's mouth turned up into a small smile. "No, we do not. Thank you." She walked in the office, looking back at Asher as she does.
The two girls walk up to the desk with an older lady behind it. Lydia drops the towels onto the counter. Asher walks up beside her, putting her elbow on the wood and leaning on her hand.
"Excuse me? Uh, the card on the dresser says we have a non-smoking room but..." Lydia inhales. "Somehow all of our towels reek of nicotine."
The lady behind the counter turns to face them. "Sorry about that, sweetheart." She says.
Asher notices the device in her neck, leaning back a little. She glances at Lydia, who also seems to have noticed it. The red head averts her eyes and looks around, landing on a number on the wall above them.
"What's that?" She asks. "That number?"
Asher looks up, a confused expression over taking her face.
**
"It's a kind of inside thing for the motel. My husband insists on keeping it up." The lady says.
"What does that mean?" Asher questions.
The lady looks over at her. "It's a little bit morbid, to be honest. You sure you want to know?"
The girls glance at each other momentarily. "Tell us." Lydia answers sternly.
"We're not gonna make the top of anyone's list when it comes to satisfaction." The woman starts.
Asher scoffed. "Would we be here if you were?"
Lydia gave her a look. Asher shut up.
"But we are number one in California when it comes to one disturbing detail." She continues.
The brunette was going to make another comment, but decided she didn't want another one of Lydia's "shut up" looks.
"Since opening, more than any other motel in California, we have the most guest suicides."
Asher's face changed to disgust. She didn't understand how anyone could possibly flaunt the deaths of those souls. Those souls that couldn't find anything else to live for. Those poor souls who just needed help.
"One hundred and ninety-eight?" Lydia hesitantly asked.
The woman smiles. "And counting." She laughs kind of creepily.
Asher takes a deep breath to stop her self from punching the old lady. She feels fangs poke at her gums making her tighten her lips. Asher grabs the counter, forcing herself to relax.
"You are a disgusting person." Asher remarks before turning around, shoving the door open and walking out.
**
She felt the cool air hit her skin the second she left the office. She sighs, not even waiting on Lydia as she makes her way back to her room. She walks quickly and angrily. The girl just wants to go lie down, a headache now pounding through her skull. As she reaches the stairs she can hear someone faintly calling her name.
"Asher!"
She can barely hear it, which confuses her because she literally has supernatural hearing. Asher blames it on her headache. She makes her way to the top of the stairs, turning down the hall to her room. The girl takes her key out, unlocks it and walks straight over to her bed. She flops down on her back. Asher brings her hands up to eyes and rubs them, feeling tired. She furrowed her brows as all the sound around her stopped. It just stopped. Closing her eyes to get rid the her headache, Asher also worked on trying to get her sound back.
When she opened her eyes she wasn't in her motel room anymore. She was in the middle of the woods. The Beacon Hills Preserve to be exact. Asher looked around, trying to find the way out. The girl looked down at her feet, noticing a small pair of converse on her feet and old blue jeans on her legs. Which was not was she was currently wearing. But it did make Asher realize what was happening.
Well, actually, when was happening.
--------------------
"One hundred and ninety-eight?" Allison asked from the bathroom as she was drying her hair.
"Yes." Lydia replies from one of the beds. "And we're talking forty years. On average, that's four point nine five a year, which is... actually expected."
Allison walks out of the bathroom and walks over to a dresser to get something from her bag.
"But who commemorates that with a framed number? Who does that? Who?" Lydia continues, looking down at her hands. "Bet that's why Asher practically ran out"
**
"All suicides?" Allison questions.
"Yes. Hanging, throat-cutting, pill-popping, both-barrels-of-a-shotgun-in-the-mouth suicides." Lydia explains rather vividly. "I don't know about you, but me, I..." She stops.
Lydia tilts her head a little, her eyes going back and forth. "Did you heard that?"
"Hear what?" Allison asks.
The redhead turns her head around to a vent on the wall above them. She stands up, still staring at the vent with a look of pure horror on her face. Lydia steps up on the bed she was on and clambers closer to the vent. She just stands there, staring, as if she's listening to something. The girl starts to shake a bit, scared.
"Lydia?" Allison approaches her best friend.
She suddenly gasps and jumps back, her hand over mouth. She's shuddering as if she had just heard the most horrible thing ever.
"What is it, Lydia? What happened?" Allison asks urgently.
"Didn't you hear that?" She questions.
"Hear what?" Allison's eyes were wide.
Lydia was gasping for breath as she dropped down off the bed. "The two people in the other room, the shot each other."
**
Allison's jaw drops for a split second when Lydia rushed towards the door. She walked out and started down to the next room, Allison following.
"Lydia." Allison says.
The red head just ignores her friend and walks up the door. She quickly opens it, letting the door swing open as Allison reaches her.
"Hello?" Lydia calls out.
She tries to flick the lights on, but has no such luck. Lydia walks into the room, using her hands to lead her.
"Lydia, what are you doing?" Allison whispers.
Lydia, once again, ignores her. "Hello?"
She walked further into the room, feeling around for any source of light. The girl found a flashlight and switched it on, bright yellow light flooding the room. The two looked around the room. Which was currently under construction.
"It had to be right here." Lydia spoke. She walked further into the room. "It was a guy and a girl, and they sounded younger, but..." She sighed and turned back to Allison. "They were here."
"I believe you." Allison encouraged. "After everything we've been through, I believe you."
Lydia looked towards the ground, sadness etched across her features. She sighed as she turned around, looking at the walls closely. Lydia started towards it. She got in close as she noticed something on the walls.
--------------------
(flashback/wolfsbane hallucination)
**
A little girl was running through the woods, dodging and weaving through trees and bushes. She needed to get away as fast as she could. Something was chasing her, she didn't know what, though.
Early in the day, the little girl had decided to run away from home. Most kids her age would go back home after some hours, but she couldn't. She couldn't go back there, never again. The girl had gotten in trouble with her parents and got quite the punishment.
Beaten and thrown in her bedroom without food for the entire day. Quite the punishment for dropping a glass, isn't it?
**
So, here she was, running through the woods at night. Running for her life. Running to a life. Getting tired, the girl stopped at a tree to rest. She leaned against it, catching her breath. The girl let a few tears drop. She knew it was stupid, but she had to get out of there. Letting out a sigh, she turned back, making sure whatever it was wasn't there anymore. The girl smiled a little when she couldn't find it.
But it found her. Or, more like, he found her. She just didn't know it.
After a while, the girl started to walk through the woods. She didn't know where she would go, but she knew she had to go somewhere. She turned her head, hearing something from her right. The girl didn't stop, she just walked faster in hopes of getting out of the woods and away from everything. She was hungry, tired, thirsty, and most of all, scared. She was only eight years old. Eight! And she was all alone.
Well, until some random dude came out in front of her. "Hello, little miss."
The girl jumped back, going to run away when he grabbed her shoulder. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked menacingly.
She was breathing heavily as she tried to yank herself away from the man. "Let me go! Please!" The girl begged.
She managed to pull away from man, but it landed her on the ground. The girl was on her back, trying as hard as she could to crawl away. But yet again, the man grabbed her. His hold on her leg was strong and firm, he wasn't letting her get away this time.
"Who are you?" She was crying by this point.
The girl just wanted to get away from all the pain. And now this man was giving her more.
"Me? I'm the person that's going to help you realize how special you are." He insisted.
She thrashed her legs around, but he was not letting go. "What do you mean? I'm not special!"
The man just chuckled. "Oh, but, sweetheart, you are." He insisted.
Her eyes widened at the sight in front of her. She's never seen anything like it. She watched as his eyes turned a bright red and his teeth grew bigger and sharper. He started smiling and lowering himself to her calf.
She started screaming. "No! No! Please!"
The girl was thrashing harder and harder, but it did no good. This eight year old was getting the bite and she couldn't do anything about it. She let out a scream as the man's teeth penetrate her leg, causing blood to instantly flow down her leg. She was sobbing and trying to shove him off, but it was no use. He was locked onto her leg. And it hurt like hell.
The girl doesn't know when, but she must've passed out. When she woke up, it was becoming morning. The early sun shone through the trees, causing the girl to squint. She looked down at her leg, seeing the big bite mark on it. She started to remember what happened before she passed out, causing her to quickly stand up and looked around her. And that was when she saw it. Or, him.
The man that bit her was leaning against a tree, watching her. "I've been waiting for you to wake up."
She didn't want to wait for him to say anything else, or do anything. So, she ran. Ran as fast as she could. Well, as fast as she could with a huge bitemark on her leg. Surprisingly, the little girl knew exactly what it was. She knew what bit her. Yet, she didn't want to be one. She really didn't. So she just ran faster and faster.
"You can run, but I'll find you!" He yelled. But as the years passed, he never did.
Eventually it faded into the early afternoon. She had taken a few breaks, but other than that the girl hadn't stopped running. She knew she needed to, but she was terrified. The girl needed water and something to eat, it had been too long since she had eaten or drank anything. So, against her judgement, she stopped, leaning against a tree. The eight year old sunk to the ground. Her hair fell in front of her face, dirt falling into her eyes. As she tried to rub it out, she started getting frustrated. Which caused her to cry. Out of anger, she was crying. She was tired and scared and just overall done.
She sat there crying for a while, getting it out. As she finished crying, her breathing was heavy. The girl looked down at her wound, reaching down to touch it when a hand grabbed her. She gasped, thinking it was the same werewolf from last night, but it wasn't.
"I wouldn't touch that. It isn't fully healed, could hurt." The masculine voice told her.
She pulled her hand away and stared at him, as she wasn't used to the soft touch. "Um, who... Who are you?" The little girl hesitantly asked.
He looked the girl in her eyes softly. "I'm Ennis." He said. "It's alright."
She shook her head. "No! No, you're probably with him. I can't trust you. You will hurt me." She ranted.
Ennis smiled a little and shook his head. "I mean, I can't force you to trust me, but I'm not going to hurt you. I'll help."
The girl swallowed, looking down as he held a hand out. "I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." Ennis promised.
She was considering it. She didn't have anyone to go back to, or just to. She had absolutely no one. And since the girl had gotten bit, she could just run away again if she wanted. Faster this time. The girl slowly put her hand in his.
"Okay." She nodded. "I'll come with you."
Ennis squeezed her hand. "Okay, kid. Here, get on my back. We can go faster."
She did as he said and they started their way out of the woods. "How did you find me? And why are you helping me?" The girl asks.
"Right place, right time, I guess. And I'm helping you because you're just a kid, you need the help." Ennis replied. "Now, what's your name, kid?"
She sighed from his back. "Asher Lewis."
--------------------
"Last time I saw Scott like that was during the full moon." Allison said to her friends.
"Yeah, I know. He was definitely a little off with me, too." Stiles responded. "But actually, it was Boyd who was really off. I watched him out his fist through the vending machine." He said as he punched the air a little.
"See, it is the motel." Lydia insited. "Either we need to get out of here right now or someone needs to learn how to do an exorcism ASAP before the werewolves go crazy and kill us." She opened a drawer beside her and pulled out a bible.
"Okay, just hold on, alright?" Stiles holds his hand out. "What if it's not just the motel? The number in the office went up by three, right?"
"You mean like three sacrifices?" Allison asks.
"What if this time it's three werewolves?" Stiles questions.
"Scott, Isaac and Boyd." Allison realizes.
"Maybe we were meant to come here." Stiles continues.
"Exactly! So can we get the hell out of here now?" Lydia pleads and walks closer to Stiles. "Please?"
Stiles looked at the book in her hand. "Wait, hang on. Let me see this."
He opened up the book and started flipping through the pages. He found a clipping of paper and held it up to read.
"What is that?" Allison gets closer.
**
""28 year old man hangs himself at the infamous Glen Capri"" He quotes and puts it on the bed.
Stiles flips through more pages and finds another one. And another one. And guess what, another one. He shakes the book, making all of the clippings fall out. The three look at the papers, reading them all.
"No. Look at these two. They both mention room two-seventeen." Lydia points out. "These are probably all the suicides that happened in this room."
"So if every room has a bible..." Allison starts.
"There could be articles in all the rooms." Lydia finishes.
The three stand up straight, looking at each other. "That's a beautiful thing. Most places leave a mint under the pillow." Stiles gestures with his hands. "This one leaves a record of all the horrible deaths that occurred."
"What if the room next door has the one about the couple?" Lydia proposes.
The other two look at her, then they all look towards the door. Stiles then sprints towards it, the girls following after. They walk up to the door next door and Stiles tries to open it. But it's locked. He rattles the door handle, trying to see if it will magically open.
"Wha- That was not locked before." Lydia says.
"Forget it. We need to get Scott, Isaac and Boyd out of here." Allison states.
Stiles goes to walk away again, but stops when the sound of a power tool comes from the inside of the room.
"I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?" The red head asks.
"It sounds like someone turned the handsaw on." Her best friend states.
Stiles comes up behind them spastically. "Handsaw?" He asks incredulously.
Once they get the door open, Stiles rushes through with the other two behind them. The sight the see is not a pretty one. Ethan holds the handsaw up, preparing to put it to his stomach.
"Hey, no, Ethan, don't!" Stiles yells, going to stop him.
They struggle against each other for a minute. Stiles pushes Ethan, while Ethan pushes Stiles. Behind them, Lydia looks down at the cord for the handsaw. Ethan pushes the smaller boy down, the handsaw with him. Luckily, Lydia unplugged it before his face made contact with the saw. Stiles fell back to the wall, Allison coming behind him and catching him. They watched at Ethan flicked his claws out, ready to slash his own stomach. Allison and Stiles jumped towards him, each grabbing an arm and pulling. They fought each other, not getting anywhere. As Ethan fought against them, he pushed a little hard, getting thrown onto a heater in front of them. He screams as he hits the ground, his arm sizzling. The three of them watch him stand up.
**
"What just happened?" Ethan interrogated.
When he doesn't get an answer fast enough, he bolts out the door.
"Ethan!" Stiles calls, going after him.
--------------------
**
Asher was still in her memory when she started to walk towards her room's door. She opened it, and made her way to a set of stairs. Not the stairs that go down, but the stairs that go up. Towards the roof. She wasn't aware of what she was doing, she didn't even know she was awake. But as she made her way to the roof, she was remembering all of her memories as a child. The bad ones, especially. The ones from before she found Ennis, or well, when Ennis found her.
Asher walked up to a door and entered another stairwell inside. She made her way up and walked out of one more door, onto the roof. Then she woke up.
"What the hell..." She started.
Asher looked around, taking it all in. She had no idea how she got up here. Last she knew, she was laying down with a headache. The girl furrowed her brows, going to turn back around and head back to her room when a voice infiltrated her head.
"Now, Asher. You know what you need to do." It says.
Asher stops, looking around. "What?"
"You know you want to. You have since you were a little girl."
The Lewis girl takes a deep breath, trying to resist. "I'm over that. I- I don't want to anymore." She says.
The voice chuckles. "It's okay, Asher. It will make it all better. No more worrying, no more violence, just no more."
The girl shakes her head. "No. My pops, he needs me. I need to be there."
"You don't know do you?" It taunts. "He never wanted you. He never wanted to help you. All he saw was a helpless little girl and knew that if he didn't help her, he would feel bad. Out of pity. He never cared."
Asher swallows, confusion written across her face. "What? No. No. He loves me and I love him. H- He's my dad!"
"Oh, Asher. Nobody loves you."
**
--------------------
"Didn't you hear what I just said? I don't know how I got there or what I was doing." Ethan argues as he pulls his shirt across his chest.
"Okay, you could be a little bit more helpful, you know." Stiles says, following him down the stairs. "We did just save your life."
Ethan turns to look at him. "And you probably shouldn't have."
Then he goes back to his room, leaving Stiles, Allison, and Lydia alone again.
"What now?" Lydia sighs.
"I'll find Scott. You guys grab Isaac and Boyd." Allison tells them from the stairs. "The best thing we can do is get them out of this place." She walks away.
Lydia starts to go up the stair, but notices Stiles isn't following her. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Oh, no. I- Uh" He stutters.
"Stiles." She insists.
"Alright, Lydia, I didn't want to say anything, but this, everything we're going through, we've kind of been through something like this before, a lot like this." He tells her.
Lydia just looks confused. "What do you mean? When?"
"Your birthday party." He breaks it to her. "The night you poisoned everyone with wolfsbane."
Lydia looks around, slightly worried. But she snaps out of it and walks away from him.
"Lydia, I'm sorry, okay?" Stiles apologizes. "Look, I didn't mean that you're trying to kill people, okay? I just.. I just meant that maybe, maybe you're somehow involved in getting people to kill themselves, you know?"
She gives him a look.
"Which now that I say that out loud, it sounds really terrible, so I'm gonna stop talking."
"Stiles." Lydia stops. "Do you hear that?"
"What?" Stiles looks around.
The red head crouches down to a drain in front of her, looking through it.
"Lydia, what do you hear?" Stiles asks.
"A baby crying." She leans down closer. "I hear... I hear water running." Lydia gasps. "Oh, my god. She's drowning the baby!" She exclaims. The girl stands up, tears in her eyes. "Someone's drowning!"
--------------------
**
Stiles pushes open the door to Isaac and Boyd's room, him and Lydia seeing the bathroom door wide open with Boyd under the water in the tub. The tow run over to him, Stiles pushing his sleeves up in the process. The brunette goes to unplug the drain, but something's blocking it.
"He blocked it. He blocked the drain with something. I can't get to it." Stiles says frantically.
"What do we do?" Lydia worries.
"Here, help me." Stiles urges, going over to the safe on the werewolves chest.
They try to lift it off of him, but they aren't strong enough.
"Is he dead?" Lydia asks, still trying to lift the safe. "How long can a werewolf stay underwater?"
"You think I know that?" Stiles strains. "It's too heavy."
Stiles walks back, looking at the scene in front of him. "Ow!" He winces as his arm hits the heater on the wall. He looks at the heater, then at Boyd, realization hitting him. "Wait a sec, the heater. Heater. Ethan came out of it when he touched the heater."
"What?" Lydia asks.
"It's heat, fire. Heat does it, alright? We need something..." He exclaims.
"He's underwater!" Lydia yells.
"Yeah, I'm aware of that." Stiles replies.
"Wait, wait. The bus. On the bus, they'll have emergency road flares." The girl points out. "They have their own oxidizers. They can burn underwater."
"Are you serious?" Her friend asks.
"Yes, go!" She yells at him.
Stiles quickly exits the room, running towards the bus as fast as he possibly can. Lydia continues to try and get the safe off of Boyd's chest. She strains and strains, but she just can't get it off him. Lydia looks at his face, worry radiating off of her. The girl stands up, backing away with panic. She makes it to the bedroom, but hears something from one of the beds. She slowly walks over to the side, getting on her hands and knees to look under it. As she lifts the blanket up, Lydia comes face-to-face with Isaac, who has a scared look on his face. He pushes himself farther away from her as she stands up. The girl feels a hand on her arm, gasping as she turns around.
"I got 'em." Stiles holds up the flares he took from the bus. "Uh, what do I do? How do I do this?" He fumbles around with one.
"The cap, it's like a match. The cap is like a match." Lydia explains urgently.
Stiles takes the cap off and tries to light the flare. He does this a good four times before Lydia starts getting impatient.
"Stiles!"
"Yeah, I'm trying." He yells. Stiles finally lights it. "Whoa!"
He runs into the bathroom, Lydia following. He comes up to the side of the tub and immediately shoves the fire underwater at Boyd. The two jump back as a safe flies out of the water. The flare hits the ground and Boyd sits up, roaring. They watch as he gets up and out of the water.
**
Once they make sure Boyd is okay, Stiles goes to the bed that Isaac is hiding under. "Hey, Isaac. Got something here for you." He says softly.
Then Isaac gets a flare to the face.
--------------------
**
Asher's been fighting against the voice in her head for around half an hour. Though, without noticing, she's been getting closer and closer to the edge.
"Just jump, Asher. You won't ever have to feel anything after that. Everything will be okay." The voice urges her.
"Everything will be okay..." She mutters.
The girl steps up on the ledge, looking down at the parking lot. "I'll be okay."
**
--------------------
"I can't find Scott anywhere." Allison says as the three go down the stairs once again.
"It's happening to him, too, isn't it?" Stiles asks.
"It has to be." Lydia answers. "Wait, we haven't seen Asher at all, either. Not since I went to get new towels."
Stiles sighs. "She could just be in her room. It might not be affecting her." He proposes.
**
They notice Allison stopped. "No, I think it is." She points up at the roof.
Asher's on the ledge, looking like she's ready to jump.
"Oh, god." Lydia mumbles before turning around and running up the stairs.
"Wha- Lydia, wait!" Stiles calls after her.
Allison and Stiles run after her as she heads to the roof where Asher is. Lydia pushes the door open and runs over to her.
"Asher!" She yells.
Asher doesn't say anything, just stares down into the parking lot. She goes to take a step forward and down, but Allison grabs her. The girl fights against her, determined to jump.
"No! No! It will make it all better. Everything will be okay!" Asher pleads.
Stiles comes up to help Allison. "Can't let you do that, Asher. The twins will kill me, and if I'm being honest, that doesn't sound very pleasant."
Lydia comes up in front of her. "We need another flair! Do we have another flare?" She panics.
Stiles reaches to his back pocket, pulling out the last one. "I was kind of saving this for Scott..."
The red head groans and grabs it. She ignites it on the first try and sticks it to Asher's wrist, which is the only part of her skin that is visible.
**
Asher lets out a scream, shoving everyone off of her. "Damn! What the hell?" She holds her wrist to her chest.
"Sorry, had to wake you up." Lydia tells her.
Asher looks around. "What happened?"
"Long story. One of which we don't have time for. We need to find Scott." Stiles says.
The Lewis girl nods, lifting her head up higher. "Got him. C'mon." She starts down the stairs.
"What?" Stiles starts. "Oh, yeah. Super senses."
--------------------
**
The four make their way to the parking lot, stopping when they find Scott covered in something and holding the flare from the bus.
"Scott." Allison says, walking towards the teenager.
The other three follow her, rounding to his front. "Scott." She says again.
As they get completely in front of him, they notice the empty gasoline can to the side. Asher takes a deep breath. Scott looks up at them, sadness all over his face. The four just look at him in horror, not liking where this could go.
"There's no hope." Scott says.
"What do you mean, Scott? There's always hope." Allison smiles sadly.
"Not for me." He pauses. "Not for Derek."
"Derek wasn't your fault." Allison assures her ex-boyfriend. "You know Derek wasn't your fault."
Scott looks up at Asher. "Every time I try to fight back, it gets worse." He looks back at the ground. "People keep getting hurt. People keep getting killed."
Asher shakes her head, quilt filling her thoughts.
"Scott, listen to me, okay? This isn't you, alright?" Stiles walks to his best friend. "This is someone inside your head telling you to do this. Okay, now..."
"What if it isn't?" Scott asks. "What if it is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else?"
Asher feels Lydia grip her arm. She takes her arm away, putting around the girls shoulder. Lydia leans against her, scared for her friend.
"It all started that night, the night I got bitten. You remember the way it was before that?" Scott speaks to his best friend. "You and me?"
Stiles nods, tears filling his eyes more and more.
"We were... We were nothing." Scott chuckles sadly. "We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse." His breathing is heavy. "We weren't important. We were no one."
Stiles lets his tears fall as he watches Scott.
"Maybe I should just be no one again." Scott looks up into Stiles' eyes. "No one at all.
He holds the flare out, ready to drop it when Stiles starts to talk again.
"Scott, just listen to me, okay? You're not no one." He keeps going closer. "Okay? You're someone, you're..." Stiles takes another step. "Scott, you're my best friend. Okay? And I need you."
Asher watches as he gets closer to the puddle of gasoline Scott's in. She holds Lydia tighter, getting a little worried herself.
"Scott, you're my brother. Alright, so..." Stiles steps into the gasoline. "So if you're gonna do this, then I think you're just gonna have to take me with you." He says as he grabs ahold of the flare.
Lydia starts shaking while she cries, as she watches her friends in the gasoline. Allison's sobbing quietly and Asher just hopes Stiles has a plan.
He does.
They watch as the boy pulls the flare from Scott's hand slowly and throws it across the parking lot. The boys stare at each other, Scott breathing heavily and Stiles just grateful his friend is okay.
**
Asher feels Lydia's head turn against her, making her turn as well. The two watch as the wind blows the flare towards a pool of gasoline. Lydia pulls away from Asher.
"No!" She screams and runs towards the boys, tackling them.
Allison runs forwards as well to avoid the fire. They all hit the ground, Lydia looking up and watches the fire spread. She see's a figure sprout from it, the face all slashed and disfigured.
Once they know they're okay, they all stand up.
"Wait, wasn't Asher with you, guys?" Scott asks, looking around and not seeing the lion.
"Yeah, she was." Stiles answers.
The four look around, not seeing her. "Asher?" Allison calls out.
She turns when she hears coughing from the other side of the fire. "I'm good!" They hear.
Asher comes around the other side, patting her clothes to make sure she wasn't on fire.
"Why didn't you come to this side with us?" Lydia asks breathlessly. "You could've died!"
The girl just shrugged. "I just kind of pushed myself up against the bus. I had plenty of room, plus I thought the whole jumping over a huge puddle of gasoline kind of dramatic."
Stiles gives her a look.
"No offense, Lydia. You did the right thing, but I was fine over there." Asher said.
"Well, I'm don't really want to be in that motel any longer." Allison says.
"Bus?" Stiles suggests, looking at the other four.
"Bus." Scott answers.
--------------------
The next morning Coach opens the doors to the bus and walks aboard. He notices the 7 students aboard. Scott in one seat, Stiles behind him, Allison and Lydia in another, Asher all the way in the back, and Boyd and Isaac both in their own seats in front of her.
"I don't want to know. I really don't want to know." Finstock says, waking the teenagers up. "But incase you missed the announcement, the meetings canceled, so we're heading home. Pack it in! Pack it in!"
Ethan walks to where Scott is seated. "I don't know what happened last night, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life." He tells the boy.
"Actually, I saved your life." Stiles corrects from behind them. "But not that it matters that much. It's a minor detail."
"So I'm gonna give you something." Ethan continues, Asher listening from the back. "We're pretty sure Derek's still alive."
Scott's jaw drops, looking back at Stiles then back at Ethan in shock.
"But he killed one of ours." Ethan states.
Asher's eyes widen, zoning out of the rest of the conversation, quickly pulling her phone out to see four missed calls and one message from Aiden. She opens her phone and see's it.
"He's gone Ash. I'm sorry."
She gasps, gaining Danny's attention from across the aisle. "Asher?"
The girl looks up at him, tears in her eyes. "Remember that family member?" He nods. "He didn't make it." She chokes out.
Danny comes over to sit beside her, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so sorry."
Asher buries her head into his chest, enjoying the comfort. She hold her tears back, not wanting to lose control. Eventually, Ethan makes his way towards them and takes her from Danny.
"You heard me?" He whispers.
"I was too busy trying to kill myself to check my messages. It's been hours and I didn't know he was gone." She whispers back.
Ethan rubs her hair, holding her tighter. "I know, but don't worry, we're gonna get Derek for what he's done."
Asher's claws dig into her palms. And she starts to silently cry. Harder than she's ever cried before, on a school bus. A tear falls from Ethan's eye, too.
"I'm going to kill him myself." Asher says, sitting up and wiping her tears. "He has no idea what he's taken from me."
Ethan looks at her in shock. "Ash, was that a threat? From you?"
"No. It was a promise." She says.
But, Scott heard it all. He felt bad, of course, but he couldn't lose Derek again. He didn't even know Ennis and Asher were that close. He looked over to Stiles, who has a questioning look on his face. Scott nods his head towards them, making Stiles look over, too.
"That's not good, is it?" Stiles asks, seeing the look on Asher's face.
"I don't think she's going to help us much, anymore." Scott answers."
"Great." Stiles says sarcastically.
--------------------
authors note:
Asher is MAD! also, as promised, some of Asher's backstory.
she stopped blaming Scott for a while, but now Ennis is dead, so no more ms nice asher.
yes, she's gonna help with the trying to kill derek thing and she will be there for the killing boyd thing, but she doesnt actually kill anymore. my bby could never.
she comes super close when she finds out who really killed ennis though.
thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed!