third person
SHERIFF STILINSKI SHUTS THE door behind him, having agreed to talk to Scott McCall about Stiles.
"All right," Stilinski continues their already began conversation. "You heard a voice coming through the radio, and now you're convinced that it's the voice of-"
"Stiles," Scott finishes. "Your son."
"Uh-huh. And maybe it's just a random signal cross?"
Scott sighs and grabs the Jeep keys out of his back pocket, slamming them on the desk.
"Peter gave us the keys of the Jeep and it started right up. Claudia's Jeep."
"Oh, wait, wait, so now I'm supposed to trust Peter Hale?" Sheriff's voice raising at the information.
Scott fires back, "I want you to trust me. And Luna. She remembers Stiles. Stiles Stilinski. I heard Stiles on that radio, I'm sure of it. If you had heard it too-"
"Well, I didn't."
"Yeah, but if you had-"
"Enough, Scott! Enough!" Scott falls quiet at his command. He pushes the keys back towards Scott who picks them up reluctantly and leaves the Sheriff's station.
Malia and Lydia are in the school's library discussing a dream Lydia had about Canaan.
"You saw a carousel?" Malia asks her, staring at her computer screen.
Lydia nods, "And a big sign that said 'Canaan.' And people disappearing in clouds of smoke."
"Do you ever have nice dreams?" Malia asks, scrunching up her eyebrows.
"We need to go to Canaan," Lydia tells her. Malia shuts her laptop.
"It will be helpful if we knew anything about the place. I keep calling the number for City Hall, and no one answers. The only map I can find it on is thirty years old." Malia reaches in front of her to grab the map she'd found. She unfolds it as she speaks. "So far, the only thing I know about Canaan is where it is." She points at the name on the map circled in red, not too far from Beacon Hills.
Lydia stands and stares at Malia.
"That's all we need to know," she says before taking the map with her.
Hayden, Liam and Luna are walking down the hallway in another part of the school. Liam's trying to figure out a way of catching a Ghost Rider.
"Scott, Malia, and Lydia are going out to Canaan," Liam says. "He said to go through with the plan as long as it doesn't destroy his house."
"What plan?" Hayden asks.
Liam glances between his girlfriend and his best friend before keeping his eyes on his girlfriend.
"Your plan."
"I don't have a plan."
"Well, you said you had all these ideas about how to catch a Ghost Rider."
"I had one idea. It was pretty bad. And then I had another really bad idea."
"Anything that could help?" Liam asks.
As he says this, Luna and Mr. Douglas shuffle to get past each other, both of them sending the other a polite smile. Once they're through, Mr. Douglas sends Luna a nod and they go on their way. At least, Luna does. Mr. Douglas listens in on the couple's discussion.
"Yeah, but it's terrible," Hayden says.
Liam nods, "Great. Let's do it."
"Of course you want to do it," Luna says, interrupting whatever Hayden was going to say. "The plan may be terrible, but as long as you've got a plan. Might as well go for it." Luna ponders for a moment. "I guess that's how most of our plans go."
Hayden and Liam shake their heads at Luna's mumbles with a smile playing on their lips.
Hayden continues, "We need to break into the faculty storage room."
"To save the whole school from Ghost Riders? No problem," Liam says and turns to Luna. "Do you want to help after school?"
"Can't," she replies, making the two stop. "Charlie told me this morning he wanted to talk to me."
"About what?" Hayden inquires.
Luna shrugs and says, "I don't know. It must be serious though if he pre-planned it."
"Tell me later?" Liam asks.
Luna nods, "Yeah. And, hey, don't hesitate to text me if you really need help, okay? Either of you."
They both nod and all of them go their own way.
At the end of the day, Luna climbs into the passenger seat of her truck. Charlie forces a smile towards his little sister, not wholeheartedly ready for what he was going to tell her tonight. As he pulls out of the parking lot, Luna turns the dial to volumize the song playing on the radio. Coincidentally, the sibling's favorite song had just started a few seconds before Luna had gotten in. The pair look to each other before belting out the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Being too focused on the song, Charlie didn't notice he was veering off the road until the tires skimmed the gravel. Quickly, he pulls the truck back to center all the while the two of them laughing loudly.
They carried on like this the entire ride home, singing and laughing. Just all the way around getting along. Charlie was glad they were having such a great time. Maybe it would soften the blow for what was to come. He only has time to switch the truck into park before Luna's opening the door and running inside the house. Charlie chuckles to himself and follows her inside.
"Is your favorite ice cream still triple chocolate with brownie bits? That's all I get nowadays. Do you want a cone or a bowl? I'm getting a bowl, I get more."
Luna keeps rambling on about how much better ice cream is in a bowl and Charlie tries to get her attention multiple times.
"Luna!" he finally shouts, ending it with a laugh when she jumps. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be eating ice cream? You're acting like you've had a bowl of sugar already."
Luna gives him a look, "Ice cream's always a good idea."
Charlie sits down at the island as Luna works on getting the ice cream ready.
"Luna, I need to tell you something," Charlie says through a sigh. Luna nods distractedly as she continues getting bowls out of the cupboard and spoons out of the drawers. "And I think you should be sitting when I tell you."
"Can't this wait until after ice cream?" Luna asks stubbornly. Tara had shown up in the short moment she had her back turned to get the bowls and it was dragging her mood down tremendously.
"Yeah," Charlie smiles. "Yeah, of course."
Liam and Hayden find themselves in the sewers once again. They'd spent most of the school day speaking to Mr. Douglas about building a lightning rod after finding him in the basement faculty room trying to build a taser to use against the Ghost Riders. After explaining to him about wanting to catch one, they made their way up to his classroom to discuss the physics of it. By the end of the meeting, they figure out they need something to absorb a lightning bolt. This lead to Liam thinking of the worst idea to ever pop in his brain.
"Almost there," Hayden says. "Last chance to bail."
Liam sighs, "If we're gonna stand a chance, we have to do something drastic."
Hayden scoffs, "There's drastic, and then there's this."
"I know, it's not the perfect plan. But we need the bad part of the plan to make the good part work."
The two of them round a corner.
"You think she knows it's a bad plan?" Hayden asks.
The person in the tunnel speaks before they see her.
"Anyone would know this is a bad plan," Kira's mother says, having listened to their conversation since they turned down the tunnel on the other side of the wall. She pulls Kira's sword and the kids watch as it grows longer. "Which is why I have to ask you one more time, are you sure you don't want to change your minds?"
"We don't know what else to do," Liam states, stepping forward. "It's like the Ghost Riders are unstoppable."
Hayden follows Liam.
"They are unstoppable," Noshiko warns them. The two stop. "They've been riding the storm and taking souls since long before I was born."
"Yeah, we won't survive them," Liam retorts, stepping closer to Noshiko until he is standing right in front of her. "Not without your help."
"Kira entrusted me with her sword while she's with the Skinwalkers. And now, I'm trusting you because I believe she would want me to. Do not mistake this for me agreeing with your decision."
Liam nods, "I understand. Kira just stabbed her sword into the ground."
He points to a place behind Noshiko.
Noshiko says, "If you want to do this, you'll have to do it yourself."
She holds the sword out in both of her hands and bows her head to Liam. Liam, being the awkward person he is, clears his throat and bows his head also, taking the sword in his hands. He turns the sword carefully so as not to hurt anyone. Wearily, he steps around Noshiko to a more open space to do what he has to do.
"Once it's done, whatever happens will be your responsibility," Noshiko warns.
She leaves the two teenagers to go through with their plan. Liam walks slowly before completely stopping to where he feels is right. Hayden watches him from where they'd stopped the first time, worried they might be making a huge mistake. Finally, Liam takes a deep breath before stabbing the sword into the ground.
At the same time he does this, Hayden yells, "Liam, wait!"
Theo's waiting for his sister to show up as he walks down the hall of the hospital. He checks inside each room he passes, knowing she'd come out of one of them at one point or the other. In the back of his mind, he thinks about Luna and her smile. The way her lips moved against his and how her body fit perfectly in his as they slept—and in other ways. He would give anything to see her again. Maybe even be lucky enough to hold her in his arms for at least a moment, just to feel her arms around him and her hands bunch up the back of his shirt.
In all of his life since leaving Beacon Hills, Theo never thought he'd crave someone's touch if it wasn't in a sexual way. He never wanted anyone if it wasn't physical and dump them if they wanted more. Now, he was the one who wanted more. He wanted the late night talks, the cuddling through the night, and the adventures to get milkshakes. But he also wanted the back and forth quips and the empty threats to rip his throat out.
The sound of crawling reaches his ears, tearing him away from his thoughts. His heartbeat quickens as he sees the sopping wet hair of his sister in front of him. His feet carries him back the way he came, and he keeps his eyes on her. She speeds up to catch up with him, but the speed startles him into tripping up and landing on the tile. He doesn't have time to stand up before she's on top of him. They stare at each other, her ribcage on full display.
"It's okay. You don't have to stop," he tells her.
She doesn't. She pushes through his ribcage and grips his heart. Theo has enough time to see his heart in her hands before he dies and wakes up back in the freezer box. However, this time the door is replaced with, what looks to be, ground. Either way, Theo fights through it to get out and when he finally fights through the last of it, his hand busts out on the other side with his claws out.
Liam and Hayden watch as the ground cracks just like it did that night three and a half months ago. As the crack ends, a person's clawed hand breaks through the ground. He grunts as he lifts himself up onto the platform. Once he's through, the crack reseals itself making Liam's decision to bring back Theo all the more real. Theo stands up, exhaling a deep breath, and opens his eyes to find Liam and Hayden staring at him. His canines protrude from his mouth and his eyes are glowing yellow as he stares at them, every breath is a hearty growl the resonates through his chest. He growls slightly at the two of them.
Liam approaches Theo slowly, unsure on how Theo will take to seeing them. He wasn't entirely ready for Theo to attack him as he's pushed up against the wall with Theo's forearm on his neck.
"Theo!" Hayden shouts. "We're not trying to hurt you. We're the ones that brought you back."
There's a crazed look in Theo's eyes as he searches the tunnels for his sister. To Liam, it seems like he didn't know if he was actually here.
"Where's my sister?" He asks, staring right at Liam.
"Your sister's dead," Liam reminds him. Theo growls to warn Liam not to lie. "She died a long time ago."
Hayden speaks up, "You killed her, remember? Then blamed it on Luna."
Theo breaths through clenched teeth and snarls, "I'm gonna kill you, too. I'm gonna kill all of you."
"Okay," Hayden says. "Send him back."
Liam lifts the sword into Theo's view and asks, "You know what this does?"
Liam pants as Theo glances from the sword to him. He lets go of Liam's shirt and steps back, a frightened look in his eyes replacing the crazed one.
"We need your power to help us," Liam tells him. "Then you can kill whoever you want. But if you do kill us, you're gonna end up worse off than ever."
Theo glances down at the sword and says, "There's nothing worse than what I've been through."
"You ever heard about the Ghost Riders?" Liam asks.
〰〰〰
The three of them wait for Mr. Douglas to show up with the supplies to absorb the lightning bolt. It doesn't take long for him to arrive and it takes less time to set up the equipment. Mr. Douglas asks Theo to stand next to the long wire hanging from the ceiling. The teacher fiddles with the knobs on the box he's holding, looking like a young kid trying out his science project.
"What makes you think this is gonna work?" Theo asks, averting his eyes from the wire to Liam.
Liam answers, "You took Josh's power. You can do it."
Theo looks away from Liam, knowing he doesn't have Josh's power anymore. He had lost both Tracy and Josh's power after being sent to Hell. Either way, he grips the wire because the only other choice was to be sent back down.
"Here we go," Mr. Douglas says. Theo's breathing unnoticeably quickens as he keeps his fingers wrapped around the wire. Mr. Douglas turns the knob and sparks fly from Theo's hand before he screams and is thrown down the tunnel. He lands with a loud grunt and the rest of them stand there dumbfounded.
"Hey, what the hell?" Liam asks.
Mr. Douglas looks down at his box, "That was only one billion joules."
"Only?" Theo grumbles loudly, standing up slowly.
"Well, how many joules are in a bolt of lightning?" Liam asks Mr. Douglas.
"Five billion."
Liam turns to glare back at Theo as he approaches the group again.
"Well, I'm fine, by the way. Thank you for your concern," Theo says sarcastically, lifting his arms out before bringing them down to hit his thighs.
"You don't have Josh's power anymore, do you?" Liam accuses.
Hayden steps over to Theo and lifts his claws to examine them. She brushes her fingers under his claws. Theo rips his hand away from her.
"Or Tracy's," she announces.
Theo shrugs again, "Guess I'm back to Classic Theo."
"Maybe you should try some remorse," Liam starts, Theo glares in his direction. "since you killed them for their powers."
"I just put them back the way I found them," Theo defends.
"Okay," Hayden says as her temper rises. "Send him back."
Liam steps forward to do so, but Theo puts his arms out to stop him.
"Hold on. I can help," he tries. "I know about the Wild Hunt from the Dread Doctors. I also know about things I'm betting you don't."
When he says the last part, he stares directly at Mr. Douglas. The two glare at each other, Mr. Douglas' eyebrows making him look sinister before he breaks eye contact.
"I'm with Ms. Romero on this one," Mr. Douglas says. "Send him back."
Theo panics as Liam prepares the sword, "Who's making decisions around here? Where's Scott? Luna? Where's Stiles?"
Liam drops the sword, but doesn't let go of it. The couple are surprised to hear the name leave his lips.
"You remember Stiles?" Hayden asks.
"Why wouldn't I remember Stiles?"
Liam speaks, "Maybe he's useful after all."
Luna and Charlie had finished their ice cream hours ago, and have found themselves sitting on the couch entertaining Luna's cat. The figure in Luna's dreams had disappeared awhile ago like a flicker of a light. It through Luna for a loop since she'd never seen her disappear like that. She has been waiting for Charlie to talk to her about what he'd been waiting all day to say, but he has yet to build up the courage. Luna figures she'll have to take things into her own hands now.
"So," she begins, "you needed to tell me something?"
Charlie sighs and nods.
"About what?" She prompts, hoping it'll get her closer to what he wants to say.
He runs his hand through his hair as the tension in the air thickens. Luna pulls Cleo onto her lap and shuffles so her feet are under her butt on the couch.
"About why I came back to Beacon Hills," he says finally.
Luna sighs and lets Cleo run away from her to play with her mouse toy.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
There's a moment of silence.
"I should've known you didn't come to see me," Luna states.
Charlie snaps his head towards her so fast, she thought she heard it snap. He shuffles closer to her on the couch and grabs her hand.
"I did want to see you, but before a few weeks ago there was no way I could convince dad otherwise to let me come," Charlie pleads. "It's actually complete bullshit why I had to come back. It should've never been under these conditions."
Luna watches as tears build up in her brother's eyes. The sight tugs at her heart and she reaches forward to pull him into a hug. Charlie does the same thing Luna had done to him the night he came back to town, he pulls away and shakes his head.
"No, Luna. I need to tell you this and I don't know how you're going to feel after I tell you."
Luna scrutinizes his expression, but there's no hint as to what he could possibly have to tell her that's making him break down.
"Okay. I'm listening," she urges.
Charlie takes a deep breath and begins his overly prepared speech, "Rosa was only four or five years old when we left."
"Yeah, she was five," Luna clarifies. "She was so confused why I couldn't come with you guys and was very adamant that she was against the whole thing."
Both of them chuckle.
Charlie nods and continues, "That didn't stop as she grew up. She went against everything dad said. If he tried to tell her she had to follow his orders, she'd bring up you and the conversation would end there."
"What do you mean 'bring up me'?"
"She just brought up the fact that we'd left you and you didn't have to follow his orders anymore. Anyway, Rosa really wanted to make it back to you, but the rest of us were too afraid to go against dad to take her to you. So, she decided to find her own way."
Charlie takes another breath that sounds a lot like he had water in his lungs. It takes a moment for Luna to comprehend what he'd said and she lets go of his hand. Her little sister tried to come see her? Where was she? Shouldn't she have gotten here before Charlie?
"Charlie, that doesn't make any sense. If Rosa tried to find her way without you, shouldn't she be here by now?"
The confusion etched on his sister's face and the heaviness on his heart releases the tears he'd kept a bay. His throat closes up, dreading what he would have to say next.
"She snuck off in the middle of the night and made it to the next town. There, she found a trucker who said they were on their way to California. Rosa must've thought that was her free ticket here and got in the truck-"
"No!" Luna shouts. The realization dawning on her. "Please, don't-please! Don't tell me what I think you're about to tell me. Charlie."
"She got in the truck, Luna. A few days later, Dad, Jonah, and Asher were all able to track her body in the middle of a desert. She-She didn't have any clothes on and her-her face-Jesus Christ." Charlie fell into his hands as he thought about his smallest sister. "The only way they knew it was her was from her scent, and then they double checked with her finger prints to confirm it."
"Stop!" Luna stands up, tears are streaming down her face as she pictures a small, innocent, blonde girl lifeless under a pile of sand. "Not-Not Rosa. Okay, she's perfectly fine at your house. You have it wrong, Charlie."
"Luna, you and I both know scent doesn't lie. Neither does DNA," he tells her as he stands up.
She rounds on Charlie, not entirely angry with him, "Tell me they caught the bastard. At least. Tell me they ripped whoever it was to shreds and buried him across the desert. Tell me the sick son of a bitch is dead."
Luna knew as she continued to speak that none of that happened by the expression on Charlie's face. Her thoughts went back to Rosa, she remembers her tea parties with her disfigured stuffed animals sitting across from her and how she'd invite Luna to join with a beckoning of her finger. Luna's knees buckle under her weight and she tumbles to the floor. Charlie rushes over to pull her into his chest and she lets him hold her this time. She cries and mutters profanities as the thought of her sister being gone keeps running through her mind.
She doesn't have time to calm down before she gets a text from Liam. It said that he really needed her help over at Scott's house. Luna stands up and brushes the tears away from her eyes.
"Where are the keys?" She asks, glancing around the living room.
Charlie stands up also and says, "On the kitchen table. Why? Where are you going?"
"Liam needs me. I've gotta go," she tells him as she catches sight of them on the table.
"Are you sure you should be driving?"
"I told Liam if he really needed me, I'd be there. I'm not letting him down."
Luna grabs the keys and heads out the door without another word. The drive to Scott's house took longer due to the numerous amount of times Luna had to pull over in fear of crashing. Just when she thought she could make it without crying, she remembers another thing about her sister and a new wave of tears rushes over her. Almost half an hour later, she pulls into Scott's driveway and takes a minute to compose herself. She catches a glance at herself in the rear-view mirror and sees that her cheeks are pink enough for her friends to notice. It didn't matter, she'd taken too long to get there and now she had to go.
Once she gains enough courage, Luna gets out of the truck and heads inside.
"Okay, Liam. What did you need my help with?" Luna asks as she enters the living room. Liam and Hayden come out of the kitchen with guilty expressions.
"You might want to see for yourself," Liam asks, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.
Luna rolls her eyes as the couple sits down on the couch. She makes her way into the kitchen and her eyes feast upon a figure facing away from her. He's wearing a jean vest with a grey sweatshirt underneath it and dark blue jeans. The person turns around and locks his eyes on her. Luna quietly gasps when she sees the face of a person she never thought she would actually see again. All of this happens within a second and she turns right around to go back into the living room.
"Liam! What the hell did you do?"
Hi, guys! Sorry for the super late update, I have a reminder set but I must've dismissed it and forgot.
THEO'S BACK !!! How does it feel to finally have our favorite asshole back? But of course, when something happy happens, I've gotta throw in something horrible. How do you feel about Charlie's news? Is it worse than the theory that Charlie is just Luna's Claudia?
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please vote or comment what you think!
- chelsie
word count: 4182