My sleep was riddled with dreams of my family, but they were good dreams. Dreams of what life would've been like with everyone alive, my brother, my parents. Of course, I remembered telling everyone in that room that I murdered my brother, and I knew there was bound to be repercussions for that, probably thanks to inquisitive Stiles. I didn't know if I was ready for the questions, but it was because of the memories I'd spent my life trying to squish down. I loved my brother, but I didn't want to think about him.
I couldn't talk to Scott because he wasn't here, and I definitely couldn't talk to Stiles because there was no way he'd understand. There was only one person I was craving right now. So, despite my brain screaming for me not to, I went to his house.
I climbed up to the roof of the window I knew was his and rapped lightly on it with my knuckles. It took a minute, but Liam finally came to the window, his hair lying flat on his head with sleep. He opened his window, rubbing his eyes.
"Y/N, is everything okay?" he asked groggily. It probably should've been weird that I was here, but it seemed like neither of us found it strange.
"Yeah..." I muttered half-heartedly as he helped me inside before closing the window. I watched him yawn widely and I frowned. "I'm sorry I keep showing up like this."
"Bad dreams again?" he asked.
I shook my head, frowning as I looked at the ground. "No. Good dreams, bad memories."
"You want to sleep here?" he asked. I only then realized he was shirtless, but I couldn't care less. There was no attraction there, so it didn't matter.
"No."
"Then what do you want?" he asked tenderly.
"Can we play that game again?"
Liam chuckled and nodded, already moving to his TV set to set up the playstation. Dark Souls II was already sitting out like it had been waiting for me, and I unraveled Liam's controllers, plugging them in. I hadn't even been there five minutes and I was already starting to feel better. This was the effect I came for. Liam just had a way of calming me I'd never felt before. It was different than Stiles in some way I had yet to figure out. But Liam also had a way of scaring the shit out of me, but luckily for me, now wasn't that time.
The screen shone blue, then faded to black as the game started. Liam and I settled on the floor, leaning back against his bed with the controllers in our hands. I peeked over at him with a small smile.
"I'm still gunna kick your ass this time," I challenged.
Liam laughed arrogantly. "You say that every time, and every time you still lose."
"I'm just going easy on you."
"Oh, really? Prove it."
Liam and I stared at each other with daring smiles on our faces as the game booted up, filling the room with dramatic music.
"Okay," I said. "Loser buys breakfast in the morning."
"You're on. I hope you have your wallet because I want IHOP."
I sent him a playful glare before turning my attention to the screen. I was totally gunna kick his ass.
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Liam got a call from Scott while we were eating breakfast at IHOP. He first asked if he knew where I was, then upon hearing that we were together, he urged us to get to his house quickly. Right... The plan. I'd forgotten about that. And that was the end of chill time. I slapped 30 dollars on the table and we quickly rushed out. That was, of course, after Liam finished shoving the entire last pancake into his mouth like a taco. Dork.
We walked into Scott's house, both of us laughing about a stupid joke, and the tension in the air made us stop. Well, made him stop. The reason I stopped laughing was because Stiles' eyes were narrowing at me with suspicion.
There were three laptops on every side of the table, one in front of where Liam and I stood, one in front of Stiles, and one in front of Kira. Stiles was across from me, still giving me that same look. What was his issue?
"Is three enough?" Kira asked.
Snapping out of it, Stiles said, "Depends on how many cameras they have."
"We counted every camera in that place twice. Unless we missed something, three should be enough," I added, turning on my business woman façade.
"Are we really doing this?" Liam asked, uncertainty in his voice.
"We're doing it. Tonight," Scott replied firmly.
"But isn't it kind of dangerous?" Liam retorted. I pat his shoulder gently, hoping he knew that I'd never let him get hurt again. Stiles glowered at the action.
"Yeah, it's incredibly dangerous. And borderline idiotic," Stiles grumbled.
"Have you guys done something like this before?"
"Something dangerous or something idiotic? Yes, for both. Scott's ideas are usually dangerous, Stiles', idiotic," I answered, pointing to each of them. Stiles frowned at me and I shrugged. It was true, wasn't it?
Scott shook his head at me, talking before Stiles could open his mouth to argue with me. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
"I'm not scared," Liam replied.
"Well, then you're borderline idiotic," Stiles smiled, shooting him a wink and a finger gun. I rolled my eyes, but Liam seemed to take it as a joke, smiling to himself. "If we do this, we don't know what's coming for us. You know that, right?"
"How do we even know something's coming?" Kira blurted.
"Because the tape from Garrett's bag said visual confirmation required," Scott answered.
"Simon said the same thing," Stiles added.
"I don't remember much from my deaths, but I remember Garrett and Violet having a conversation about needing to dig me up to take a photo of my body. They'd tried before, but the Benefactor wouldn't pay them because he knew I wasn't dead. These people, they aren't doing this for the kill. They're doing it for the money. Without the confirmation, they don't get the money. They're coming," I said confidently.
"So the idea is, what if you kill someone on the dead pool, but you can't send the proof?" Scott said. I still hated this stupid idea. It could go wrong in so many ways, and it could result in death.
"But how does that get us any closer to the Benefactor?" Liam questioned.
"He still needs to know if the target is really dead." Scott didn't look to keen on his idea either, and it only further proved my point of Scott's ideas usually being the dangerous ones.
"Especially if it's someone high on the list," Stiles added, though it wasn't enthusiastically. It was clear he was worried, we all were. But I wasn't scared.
"So, if he wants visual confirmation..." Liam started.
I finished it for him. "He'll have to come see for himself."
"You ready, Kira?" Scott asked her, his eyes locking with hers. She nodded and the two of them, plus Liam, walked up the stairs to his room. Mrs. Yukimura was waiting up there to teach Kira how to use her power to stop his heart. It was a stupid plan.