CHAPTER TWO: Blood
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learnt about life: it goes on."
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With an ice pack held to her head, Luna struggled for what felt like an unnecessarily long time trying to climb into the backseat of the Jeep. Sadly, the car didn't have any backdoors. It was a rough climb over and an even rougher landing, enough for her to groan out loud and sprawl out across the seat afterwards.
"If you guys hadn't called me, I wouldn't be dealing with a concussion right now," Luna muttered, her free hand coming up to weakly wave at Stiles and Scott who were waiting for her to get in before they did. It was the only thing they could see of her from her current position hidden behind the seats.
Stiles just scoffed, pressing his own ice pack against his head as he slipped in behind the wheel. "You're a freaking witch or something, and yet you still passed out because of a needle. I think that says more about you than about me." He slammed his door shut unnecessarily hard and both of them groaned.
Meanwhile, in the passenger seat, Scott seemed much more preoccupied with eying the bandage on his arm than taking part in Luna and Stiles' pettiness. His fingers came up to scratch at the wrapping and he let out an unexpected hiss of pain.
"You okay?" Luna questioned, worried that maybe they picked a shady tattoo place. She definitely didn't trust their judgement when it came to important matters like a permanent life-long tattoo—the needle could have been unsterile for all they knew.
"Kinda burns," Scott replied with a grimace.
"Yes, you just had your skin stabbed about a hundred thousand times with a needle," Stiles deadpanned, earning a nod of agreement from Luna. Well, she had to admit that he's got a point. Scott literally signed up for it as well.
Maybe he was just overreacting and being a wimp about it. But then again, she's literally seen him get stabbed and clawed and generally fucked up by all sorts of things back when the Kanima was still around, surely he'd be able to handle a little tattoo.
"Yeah, but I don't know if it's supposed to be like this," Scott muttered, his discomfort becoming more evident as he shifted uncomfortably. Suddenly, he sat up, a sharp wince crossing his face.
Just as alarmed, Luna sat up as well, ignoring the dizzy spots in the vision to stare incredulously at him.
"Oh, God," Stiles mumbled in disgust as he watched Scott poke at the wrapping nervously.
"No, it's definitely not supposed to feel like this," Scott said through the pain. "I think—I think I gotta take it off!"
Luna's jaw dropped open as Scott started to pull at the bandage, very clearly intending to rip it off. Maybe he was just having an allergic reaction or something, but surely during a time like this, he'd call his nurse mom before doing anything himself.
"You can't just—" She quickly interjected, reaching out to try and stop him, but it was too late. He was already ripping the bandage away.
Stiles groaned in the background, turning to face the other way just before he caught sight of the bandage peeling off. The last thing they needed was for him to pass out again. "Oh, Scott. Please stop!" he practically cried.
Beneath the bandage revealed red and raw skin surrounding the two dark lines of the tattoo. But more alarming were the black veins rippling across the tattoo, snaking around the lines. Both Scott and Luna watched in wide-eyed shock as the tattoo started to actually fade in real-time, slowly but steadily vanishing from his arm until it was simply and utterly gone and there was nothing left but unblemished skin.
"Wow," Luna whispered, poking the now clear skin in disbelief. She literally saw him get the tattoo—well, sort of. She had passed out first, but she saw it when she woke up again!
What a complete rip-off. They should have checked the place's reviews before going there.
"Oh, no. What? Come on!" Scott whined, sounding genuinely crestfallen. It was almost endearing, his puppy-like demeanour shining through. "It's healed."
And maybe they should've taken Scott's insane werewolf ability to heal even the smallest wound into consideration before. Scott basically just gave his money away at that point.
But even in the midst of Scott's despair, Stiles let out a relieved sigh. "Ah, thank god. I hated it," he admitted, slumping in his seat as if a huge weight was just lifted from his shoulders. Scott frowned at him, and Luna reached out to snatch his ice pack away as punishment. "Sorry," Stiles mumbled.
And instead of poking any more fun at Scott, he started the car and pulled away from the curb they were parked at.
As they turned away from the shop, Scott dejectedly rubbed at the spot where his tattoo should've been, and Luna settled back against the seat, now equipt with two ice packs—one pressed against her head and one pressed against a particularly tender spot on her hip from Stiles' less-than-graceful fall on top of her.
It was safe to say that she already regretted coming along with them.
____
"So, did you ever end up calling Allison?"
Stiles was the first to break the lingering silence in the Jeep, his gaze shifting from the road to Scott in the passenger seat who was still examining his arm, and then up at Luna through the rearview mirror. She shot him a withering glare, but he just grinned back at her with dimpled cheeks and bright eyes.
A week after Allison left for France and Scott was plunged into a constant state of depression, Luna and Stiles had made a promise not ever bring up Allison again in front of him. There were only so many times someone could listen to Scott recite absolutely terrible poetries and soliloquies without wanting to throw themselves out a window. Not only did it ruin the vibe, with Scott moping around for however long the three of them hung out, but it also put Luna in an awkward position as someone who was in regular contact with the girl right under Scott's nose.
Luna was already forced to hide everything about Derek and the Pack from Scott. She even had to keep it all from Stiles after a certain point when the boy would groan and moan about it whenever she brought it up. It was like she was hiding a part of herself from the two and it was actually one of the biggest reasons why she kept her distance from them the past two weeks.
Aside from her mandatory dinners with the McCalls of course.
They didn't even know the extent of her training yet and the things she was capable of doing now. And that wasn't because Luna purposely kept it a secret, it was because they just didn't want to hear it.
"Nah, we agreed to give each other the summer. No text, no calls," Scott replied, much to the surprise of Luna. Normally, Scott would say something along the lines of 'No, but do you think I should?'.
Perhaps more things had changed over the two weeks than Luna originally thought. Maybe Scott finally moved on.
Interesting.
She caught Stiles' suggestive eyebrow in the mirror again and rolled her eyes.
"So, how do you know that she won't be back at school?" Stiles questioned, and Luna leaned forward just enough to kick the back of his seat. It was as if he was baiting Scott to dive into a pathetic pit of emotional turmoil. One wrong word and Scott would start blubbering away about how sad and pathetic life was without her.
Luna honestly didn't know how she overlooked Scott and Allison's relationship before. It was almost funny now that she's had time to recover from it all. How she actually thought there might have been something more between herself and Scott.
"After everything that happened? I'm not sure she's coming back at all," Scott sighed.
"I think she is," Stiles chimed in suddenly. "I'd say pretty definite, you know. Like, one hundred percent." Stiles babbled on, his attention now focused on something outside the window just past Scott.
Luna followed his gaze to a car stopped directly beside them at the red light. Immediately, she ducked her head down and almost knocked herself out all over again in the process. Because there, in that familiar blue Prius Luna was sat in only a couple of hours earlier, were Allison and Lydia.
Whom she bailed on with the excuse of relaxing and was now about to be caught red-handed out and about with Scott and Stiles.
"What? What's wrong?" Scott asked, looking for who Luna was hiding from. When he finally noticed the same thing, he stopped breathing.
Nonethewiser, Allison visibly threw her head back in a laugh at whatever Lydia was saying.
And while Luna's first move was to duck away, Scott's gaze remained locked on Allison's figure. His eyes traced the lines of her smile and the crinkles near her eyes, taking in the face of the girl who he hadn't seen in four long months. He didn't say anything, just stared, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief. And just when Luna was about to kick the back of his seat to try and get him to hide and avoid an awkward interaction, his eyes widened and he turned back toward the front with his spine completely rigid.
"Oh my god, oh my—" Scott gasped, having already made direct eye contact with Allison. He tried hiding from her sight like Luna was, but it was no use. When he pressed backward, his hand dropping to the bottom of the seat in search of the lever that would recline him back, there was none to be found. His hand just scrambled for nothing.
Stiles and his shitty jeep, he wanted to scream.
"Drive, Stiles, just drive—"
"It's a red light," Stiles protested carelessly, his head fully turned to just blatantly stare directly at the two girls in the other car. Out of all of them, he had the least to lose.
"Stiles! Just go! Your dad's the literal Sheriff!" Luna exclaimed loudly from the back, her head peaking up just enough to catch Lydia's eye and she promptly threw herself back down. "Oh, my GOD! She saw me!"
Because out of everyone, Derek, Peter, hell even the Kanima, Lydia Martin's fury and wrath had them all defeated. Luna once accidentally broke the heel off of a shoe she borrowed from her, and Lydia proceeded to actually try and stab her with it.
Granted, the shoes were really expensive, but still! The picture never left Luna's mind, it was like flames were coming out of the ends of Lydia's strawberry-blonde hair and foam was frothing at her mouth, she literally had nightmares about it on more than one occasion.
The only reason Luna escaped without any injuries was because she blurted out that she was dating Stiles and Lydia was distracted enough by the new gossip that she no longer cared about maiming her.
But, Stiles obviously didn't seem to agree with Luna's fears. He just reached for the window handle, careless of the plights of both his friends. "I think we should talk to her. I just think we should say something."
"No, no, no, Stiles. Come on," Scott whined, even as Stiles leaned over him to grip the lever.
"I'm going to say hi!" Stiles declared, and Luna, in a last-ditch effort to intervene, jabbed her hand in the gap between the seat to try and stop him. She managed to grasp his hand, prompting a surprised yelp from him. However, once he realized it was Luna, he attempted to bat her hand away. "You're friends with them, why are you stopping me?!"
And then it was a battle of pushing and slapping, with Stiles leaning directly over Scott, wrestling Luna's grip, bumping unceremoniously into Scott, and yelping when Luna's nails dug into his skin.
"Oh, my god. Dude, no!" Scott cried one last time as Stiles, amid all of Luna's grabbing, successfully rolled down the window.
"Heyyyy—"
Lydia floored it, leaving Stiles smiling at an empty lane, and running the red light in the process.
And Luna couldn't help but snort in amusement, because despite the current predicament, that blatant rejection was just too funny not to laugh at.
"You know, they probably didn't see us." Stiles sighed, purposefully ignoring Luna's giggles as he hit the gas as well, the light turning green for him just moments after.
"They definitely saw us," Luna countered, running a hand through her hair and readjusting her ruffled clothes. Then she pulled out her phone to start up the apology text to the group chat with Allison and Lydia. Maybe if she mentioned wanting to go shopping with them on the weekend, they'd let it go.
"What are you doing!" Scott suddenly shouted.
"I'm driving," Stiles answered, not giving a fuck about what Scott was freaking out about.
"We're right behind them." Scott panicked, gripping the handle above the door and beginning to hyperventilate.
"Okay, well do you see any turns?" Stiles shot back. "We're on a road that goes two ways, Scott. Forwards and back."
"I don't want it to look like we're following them!"
Luna exchanged an exasperated glance with Stiles through the rearview mirror. Because what's done is done, and if Lydia was going to bite her head off then so be it. She accepted her fate. Allison was much nicer than Lydia anyways, she would never confront Scott about anything.
Besides, the only way from the shops back to their neighborhood was the road they were currently on so it was pretty obvious that they weren't following them anyways.
"Well, what do you want me to do?" Stiles rolled his eyes.
"I don't know, anything!" Scott whined.
"Just fall back a little and let them get some distance," Luna suggested and Stiles took her advice and stopped. Well, no, he didn't just stop. He practically rammed his foot on the brakes hard enough to make the jeep slam to a halt and for Luna's head to slam against the seat in front of her like a chain reaction. She looked up so she could yell at Stiles, only to realize that Lydia and Allison were also stopped up ahead. "Why did they stop?" She asked.
Now, the situation was somehow even more awkward, both cars just sitting stationary in the middle of the road. And all of a sudden, Luna felt a weird tugging sensation in her stomach. It wasn't exactly painful but it was enough for her to flinch slightly in surprise. Before she could say anything about it though, the next thing they knew loud screams were piercing the air, accompanied by the sound of shattering of glass. The blue Prius in front of them lurched backward as if struck by something.
Car doors swung open not even a second later, and Scott and Stiles were out of the Jeep, sprinting toward the other car, where Allison and Lydia stumbled out, glass fragments falling from their clothes.
Meanwhile, Luna had to scramble over the front seats to reach them. By the time she arrived, moments after, Scott already had Allison in his arms, and Stiles was comforting Lydia, both of them checking the girls over for injuries.
"Are you okay?" Scott asked Allison.
"It came out of nowhere," Lydia gasped, her eyes wide with shock.
"Are you hurt?" Luna asked, only to be ignored.
"It ran right into us," Lydia replied. It was as if she was in a trance.
"Are you okay?" Stiles asked this time.
"I'm okay." Allison breathed out.
Catching her breath, Allison looked right into Scott's eyes, both of them noticing his hands on her arms a little too late and recoiling back as if burnt. And taking the opportunity, Luna went over and grabbed Allison's arm in a reassuring grip. "Are you sure you're both all right?" She asked, surveying the wreckage. The cause of the crash was clearly the lifeless deer lying still over the crumpled hood of Lydia's car.
Allison nodded, but Lydia shook her head, pulling away from Stiles. She gave him a weird look before glancing over at Luna, who was too preoccupied with the deer to notice.
"Well, I'm not. I'm totally freaked out!" Lydia started, brushing herself off. "How the hell does it just run into us?" She continued, sidling up next to Allison as Scott walked around the front of the car and started petting the deer. "I saw its eyes right before it hit us. It was like... it was like it was crazy." She rubbed her arms a little, tears prickling in her eyes.
Curiosity sparked within Luna as she observed the deer more closely. There was something peculiar about it, although she couldn't pinpoint exactly what felt off. While collisions between cars and deer weren't unheard of, this situation had an oddity to it. The car was completely still and she's never heard of a deer rampaging straight down a road before.
And with all of the stuff happening with the Alpha Pack, it was definitely suspicious. Luna was gonna have to tell Derek about this, and she really didn't look forward to the scolding she'd inevitably get.
"No, it was scared," Scott mumbled, gently stroking the deer's fur. "Actually, terrified..."
Luna sighed, her free hand moving up to run across her cool cheeks and through her hair. But the feeling of something wet on her upper lip stopped her movement. Instinctively, she touched her nose, only to pull her hand away and find it stained. She quickly covered her face again.
"Wait, what the hell?" Stiles said from beside her. With a swift and gentle movement, he reached over and grabbed the hand covering her face before she could dodge him, pulling it away so he could get a closer look. "You're bleeding."
All eyes turned toward Luna, and Allison's grip on Luna's arm tightened.
"Your blood is black."
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Rewritten as of August 10, 2023
It's weird. When I first wrote this with ScottxLuna in mind I had a difficult time finding anywhere to put some romance and interactions between them. But now that I'm writing this with StilesxLuna in mind I feel like I'm focusing too much on their interactions and not enough on Scott or anyone else. I've already written a rough draft for a couple of chapters ahead and I'm afraid I might be too quick with the StilesxLuna relationship (btw what should their ship name be I can't find a cute way to mix the names lol).
Anyways, I'll probably update early soon just because I really like the next one! Also, please vote and comment! I read every comment and it means a lot more to me than you guys know <3