The next morning, Sydney Stilinski awoke to her brother harshly shaking her shoulders. Groaning and swatting his arms away, she rolled over and buried her head into the pillow. The night before, she had stayed up until midnight, talking to Mason and coming up with the most reasonable excuse that she could think of. The two friends seemed to be on good terms now, and she was thankful for that. Judging by the amount of sunlight that shone through her curtained windows, Sydney knew that it had to be only around 9 in the morning.
"Sydney, get up." Her brother's breath hit her ear as Stiles leaned closer to her, only causing yet another groan to fall from her mouth.
"I'll take the bus." She wasn't exactly aware of what she was saying- if she was, she would have literally slapped herself across the face to mentioning it. Though, thankfully, Stiles only laughed at her sleepy voice and poked her shoulder once more.
"Last time I checked, there wasn't a bus that goes to Mexico. Especially for the cost of the small, fifteen-year-old budget you're on."
At his words, Sydney sat up in bed and stared at her brother, suddenly feeling wide awake. "Mexico?" She repeated and raised an eyebrow, half hoping that she heard her brother wrong. It was nearing the end of the year, which meant final exams were coming up, and she sure as hell couldn't afford to ditch school to go to Mexico.
"That's right, baby sis." Stiles tugged her arm and forced her into a standing position beside him, patting her back gently. "Pack your bags and put on your claws and fangs, because we're going on a rescue mission... in Mexico."
"Does dad know about this?" Sydney questioned as she stood in the doorway of Scott's bedroom. Stiles had managed to get inside the McCall household using a key he had made- why, she had no idea, nor did she plan on asking, as she knew that knowing would be much more disturbing. Now, her brother and Malia were currently searching through Scott's room for something that they could catch his scent with, while Sydney only stood in the doorway, keeping watch for Melissa McCall or Scott's father.
"Uh- yeah, of course," Stiles stuttered nervously, handing a shirt out of Scott's closet to Malia. "Here, try that." Malia grabbed the shirt and smelled it, her face scrunched in concentration. She sighed, throwing the shirt on the ground with a look of defeat. "Fabric softener."
"Stiles, you should know by now that you're a horrible liar," Sydney said with a roll of her eyes, tapping her foot on the carpet beneath her. "Won't he be worried?"
"He'll know where we are, at least. I talked to him about it last night. He knows that I want to go to Mexico, but he's not gonna be too happy about it." Scott disappeared into the bathroom, reappearing a moment later with a pair of Scott's dirty underwear in his hand. He smiled awkwardly and handed them to Malia, who only scrunched her face in disgust. "Remember, Scott's life is on the line."
Her eyes rolling in their sockets, Sydney abandoned her post in the doorway and walked over to Scott's unmade bed. She picked up a pillow, raising her eyebrows at her brother, before handing it to Malia.
"Yeah." His eyebrows furrowing, Stiles pursed his lips and nodded. "Yeah, that works, too."
"Oh! Liam, go home." At the mention of Liam's name, Sydney pushed past her brother and squeezed into the kitchen, her eyes widening at the sight of Liam leaning against the island in the middle of the room. His face brightened as his eyes locked with the girl's, his lips pulling into a small smile.
"I'm not going home," he protested and crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. "I'm not letting Syd go to Mexico without me. Besides, I want to help save Scott just as much as you do."
Stiles made a noise that was similar to a gagging sound in the back of his throat. "I'm her brother, Liam. She's gonna be perfectly safe with me. You're not coming with us."
"Why not?" Liam's lip stuck out in a slight pout and his shoulder sagged slightly. Unable to hide the smile on her face at his expression, Sydney approached the boy and leaned against the island beside him.
"Because it's the full moon," Stiles stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, flailing his arms around in the air. "And I don't feel like driving down to Mexico just to have you rip my throat out, or even worse, my sister's. Judging by the wounds you inflicted on her last time, I don't plan on letting you get anywhere near her."
Glancing at Sydney guiltily out of the corner of his eyes, Liam asked, "You can lock me up, right? Chain me down to the backseat or something?"
"You tore through the last chains, remember?" Malia stated flatly, clearly bored with the kid's begging.
"Yeah," Stiles agreed with a nod. "We would have to freeze you in carbonite to get you down there."
Sydney rolled her eyes at her brother's Star Wars reference, though Liam clearly didn't get it. His eyebrows pulled together determinedly. "Okay, then where do we get carbonite?" He questioned. A groaned falling from her lips, Sydney buried her head into her heads, waiting for her brother's upcoming rant.
"Seriously, you haven't seen it either?" Stiles muttered disapprovingly and shook his head. "What is up with this generation?"
"Hey, Stiles." Sydney interrupted her brother's fit of inaudible mutters, grabbing his attention by flicking her wrist to reveal her inch-long claws in a swift movement. "Remember that you have a very mature werewolf traveling with you. Let Liam come, alright? I'm sure I can keep him under control."
Stiles eyes widened as Sydney sent a wink in Liam's direction, who had a smirk playing at the corner's of his mouth. "Excuse me while I go through up. Never say that again, please."
>>
"Remember what we're dealing with." Peter Hale's voice echoed through the empty warehouse as he spoke, leaning against one of the vehicles with his arms crossed over his chest. "It's not just Kate, it's Berserkers. You might see human eyes behind those skulls... but do not assume that there's any humanity left."
Liam's grip tightened around Sydney's hand, swallowing nervously at the mention of the monsters that haunted his dreams and reality together. Sydney set him a look of sympathy, rubbing her thumb over the pad of his hand comfortingly.
"Oh," Peter's gaze suddenly turned to Liam, his eyebrows pulling together as he took a step towards the pair. "This little one is terrified of them, aren't you?"
Sydney narrowed her eyes at the suspicious man, leaning closer to Liam as he continued to talk.
"Don't worry, my friend. It is that fear that will keep you alive." With one last look at Sydney, Peter backed away from the pair, addressing the whole group once more. "A reminder to everyone: You do not fight Berserkers to survive, you fight to kill."
The full moon was beginning to rise into the sky, only just visible through the windshield of the prison transport van in which Sydney was currently riding in. Liam was twitching uncomfortably in his seat beside her, his hands balled into fists as he struggled to contain himself. Sydney wrapped her hand around his fist, leaning closer to him so that her lips were only inches away from his ear.
"Don't loose control, okay? I'm right here."
Stiles made a sort of gagging sound, turning away from the pair and focusing on Derek as he pulled a familiar, circular object out of his pocket. The Hale handed it to Liam, who clutched it tightly in his free hand and struggled to labor his breathing.
"This has been in my family for centuries. It's a very powerful, supernatural talisman," Derek explained slowly, keeping his eyes trained on the young beta as he spoke. "We use it to teach Betas how to control themselves on a full moon." He raised his eyebrows and looked between the two Stilinski's as if he were expecting them to say something.
"Yes, it's powerful," Stiles said and cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck.
Sydney found herself smiling at the memories the triskelion held. "Very powerful," she agreed.
A grunt of pain suddenly fell from Liam's lips, and blood began trickling over the triskelion and down his arm, "Whatever you are going to teach me..." He said in between heavy breaths, his eyes beginning to glow beta yellow. "I think you'd better start."
Derek swallowed nervously, eying Sydney's hand as she tightened her grip around Liam's fist. "Okay, look at the triskelion. See the symbol? Each spiral means something- in our case, alpha, beta, omega," he explained quickly, shifting around on his seat uncomfortably. "It represents the idea that we can always rise to one and fall back to another. Betas can become Alphas."
"Alphas can fall to Betas," Stiles added with a nod towards Derek.
"And Alphas and Betas can fall to Omegas," Sydney finished as Liam let out another groan.
"All you have to do is say the three words. And with each other, you tell yourself you're getting calmer, more in control," Derek instructed with a look towards Sydney. His gaze locked with hers, a small smile forming at the corners of his lips at the memories that were being shared between the two. He then turned back to Liam, the smile falling from his lips. "Go ahead."
Liam sucked in a deep breath, "Alpha, Beta-"
"Slower," Sydney whispered in his ear, squeezing his hand comfortingly.
"Alpha... Beta..." Liam breathed out the words, his whole body convulsing as he spoke. "Omega..."
The young beta continued to chant the words over and over again, though instead of growing calmer each time he said it, his voice only grew more and more monstrous every time. Soon enough, Liam was struggling against his restraints, roaring and slashing around in the back of the van, causing Braeden to swerve off the road.
"I don't think your powerful talisman of self-control is working!" Stiles groaned, ducking to avoid Liam's clawed hand as he swung at him.
"Sorry, but do you know any other mantras?" Derek snapped sarcastically, struggling to tear Liam's grip from his throat.
"Screw the fucking mantras," Sydney muttered and grabbed onto Liam's shoulders, pulling him off of Derek and forcing him to look at her. She then did the stupidest thing that she could have ever done by pressing her lips to Liam's. Almost immediately, she felt him relax under her touch, his claws that were digging into the skin of her back slowly sinking back into his fingertips. Liam wrapped his arms around the girl's body, smiling into the kiss, and pulled her onto his lap. Sydney pulled away, pressing her head against his forehead and laughing lightly as Stiles and Derek only stared at the two in disbelief.
"Did that seriously just work?" Derek breathed out, his eyes widening and a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "Sydney, you may just be the new beta teacher."
"Oh- oh, my God," Stiles made a gagging sound and buried his head into his hands. "That was so disgusting... I think I may puke. Sydney, I never wanna see you kiss another guy again."