"Oh, no, not this guy," Stiles whispered aggravated to Blair as he ran his hand across his face in aggravation - both him and Blair recognizing the man from their stay at Eichen House. Neither of them particularly having a good experience with anyone in Eichen especially Stiles who managed to get himself sedated by multiple guards. Blair was actually able to go unnoticed compared to Stiles besides when she knocked out a nurse - that was the only exception but in her defense, she was being controlled by a Valkyrie when she did that whereas Stiles got sedated when he was actually himself.
"What the hell are we running here? A bed and breakfast? You do not just open the door for anyone with a badge." Blair crossed her arms as she stood next to Stiles, both of them already fed up with his attitude since they had already witnessed and heard it before since he made himself known to all of the patients in Eichen.
"We need to talk to Meredith Walker. It involved a murder investigation." Parrish covered for them, trying to convince him to let them into the room to talk to Meredith. Parrish somehow trusted the three enough to convince him to take them to go talk to Meredith. Blair still confused about how they managed to do that but decided to take it anyway since they desperately needed Parrish's help to talk to Meredith. Lydia firmly believed that Meredith was the only way they were going to get the third cipher key - needing to crack the last part of the Deadpool so they could know the remaining people who were in danger.
"Well, you can talk to her all you want, but these three, especially those two, they're outta here." He pointed to Stiles and Blair at the end who stared at the man coldly, Lydia turning her head to the two confused since she barely knew any details about their trip to Eichen House since they rarely spoke about it besides to Scott or each other. The only other person who knew nearly the full story of that trip was Malia. Blair's mouth opening in offense considering she hadn't even done anything that could have offended him - deciding to blame it on Stiles's dragging her down with him.
"They're crucial witnesses in an ongoing investigation. I wouldn't have brought them here if it wasn't absolutely crucial." Parrish finished, Blair surprised that Parrish was actually fighting so hard for them to stay and talk to Meredith due to how apprehensive he was at the beginning of this entire plan.
"Okay, Deputy. How about you come back with a court order, then I'll listen. As for you, Mr. Stilinski, Ms. Hale, how about you come back with your payments in full." Lydia watched as Blair avoided the man's gaze - Lydia thinking that the reason she hadn't paid her bills was that the Hales had been robbed but the truth was Blair still hadn't even told Derek that she had ever checked into Eichen in the first place. Blair managing to hide all the bills from him as she tried to gather up all the money she could herself to pay for it before she had to tell him - thinking that she could save herself the embarrassment of telling Derek that she and Stiles had locked themselves up in Eichen when they were possessed.
"That's right. Daddy may be the Sheriff, but he's late on the bills. I guess those government jobs aren't as reliable as they used to be, huh?" He turned to Stiles as he directed his taunting onto him only, Blair clutching onto Stiles's elbow to calm him down in case he accidentally punched him in the face. Blair didn't need a super hearing to know that Stiles's heart was racing out of anger right now since she could hear his heavy breathing from beside her.
"But they do help when you need a favor. Like, how a month ago, Canaan P.D, helped you get home after blowing 0.1 on a breathalyzer." Parrish revealed, Blair and Stiles, letting out quiet laughs as they began to smirk at the man in front of them. Neither of them expecting Parrish to use a bit of blackmail to get them into to see Meredith.
"All right. I'm not against a little quid pro quo. Not at all. Not at all." He finished with a smirk before giving the keys to Blair, Blair holding the keys in her hand as the three turned to Parrish with proud smiles on their faces - definitely impressed that he had managed to get them the keys.
"You. You, I like you. I'm gonna keep you." Stiles commented as he clapped Parrish's shoulder gratefully, Blair passing Parrish the keys as Stiles talked so that he could open the door to Meredith's room since he was the adult after all.
"Buzzcut, stop scaring strangers. We need him, stop trying to make friends." Blair whispered to Stiles as she dragged him by the elbow into Meredith's room rather than letting him annoying Parrish since she didn't want to scare him off.
Parrish opening the door as the three stopped to see Meredith sitting on her bed as she stared up at the three. Blair guiding Lydia forward since she was the one here who was going to be doing the main talking out of the three.
—•–
"Meredith, what do you mean you can't tell us?" Lydia asked as she sat in the middle of Stiles and Blair - both of them wanting to make sure that Lydia wouldn't freak out on Meredith again like last time since they needed Meredith to stay calm down in order to get the information they needed from her.
"We just need the third key. You can give it to us in numbers, letters, hieroglyphs. Whatever you want." Stiles explained to her, trying to get Meredith to communicate the key in any way possible since they knew Meredith gave them messages in different ways - the last time she gave Lydia was the cipher key was through a phone number which Blair didn't even want to try and comprehend.
"Yeah, or even a different language." Blair pointed out to her, Stiles pointing his hand to Blair in agreement - the two of them trying to get Meredith to give them the last cipher key that they needed desperately. Blair trying to convince Meredith that it would be okay if she gave it to them in any way possible - wanting to be as gentle as possible when she talked to her.
"I can't." Meredith refused to help immediately, Stiles scratching his head at the answer while Lydia scoffed in disbelief. Blair wishing that maybe one of the two could be a little bit softer in their approach to Meredith since they were only growing more aggravated with her which was certainly not going to get her to trust any of them anytime soon.
"Then why did you give us the second key?" Lydia asked frustrated, not understanding why Meredith was refusing to help them this time since she was more than willing to help them last time.
"I wanted to help. That's what I want to do. I want to help." Meredith explained to them frantically why she had helped last time. Blair gave her a gentle smile at her answer, thinking that they were actually getting somewhere with the Banshee to helping them again since it was clear that all Meredith wanted to do was help them in some way.
"Great. So help us now. Okay? Give us the third cipher key." Lydia demanded at the end, her voice starting to change from the cautious tone she was first using with Meredith. Blair placed her arm gently on Lydia's shoulder in warning, trying to get Lydia's attention while the strawberry blonde who was too focused on the banshee in front of her to be distracted by Blair.
"Things have changed. I... I can't." Meredith starting stuttering out the end, Blair's eyes softening when she heard her voice cracking knowing that her friend's interrogation was starting to get to her. Blair didn't want to cause her any upheaval since all they were trying to do was help people - she didn't want to harm Meredith as a result of that.
"Why not?" Stiles asked Meredith, trying to figure out why she wouldn't help them this time compared to the last time when she had given Lydia the second cipher key.
"Guys, go easy on her." Parrish interrupted the conversation, sensing the same thing Blair was as Blair nodded in agreement with Parrish since she didn't want them to push Meredith so hard that she would refuse to even speak to them again.
"Parrish is right, guys. She's not going to help us if we make her cry." Blair pointed out as she whispered to the two beside her - both of them nodding begrudgingly as they agreed with Blair despite the fact they wanted to push for answers faster since they didn't have a lot of time to close this deadpool.
"I'm sorry. I can't. He... He doesn't want me to." Meredith interrupted Blair, the three snapping their heads to Meredith once they heard the words He - which confuses them even more since they didn't know who could possibly be manipulating Meredith into hiding the last cipher key.
"He? Who's he?" Stiles quizzed her, trying to figure out who Meredith was referring to as he leaned closer off the bed. All of them now invested in the breadcrumb of a clue that Meredith has just given them.
"Meredith, who doesn't want you to tell us the third cipher key?" Lydia asked her for clarification, Blair furrowing her eyebrows in confusion as she waited for Meredith's answer since she didn't know what Meredith could possibly be talking about either.
"The Benefactor," Meredith revealed to them, Blair's mouth parting in shock at the news. Stiles, Lydia, and Blair turning to stare at each in shock at the news - trying to process the news that Meredith actually knew who the Benefactor was.
—•—
"What's his name? You could just tell us his name." Lydia was now standing up as she paced the space between the two beds - leaving Blair and Stiles on the bed as they stared in front of Meredith in front of them. All of them desperate to figure out who the hell the Benefactor was now that they knew that Meredith knew who he was.
"Okay, you're shaking your head. What does that mean? Does that mean you don't know? Or you don't want to help us?" Stiles asked multiple questions at once, Blair trying to get him to stop talking once she noticed Meredith beginning to panic even more from the pressure of Stiles's questions.
"I can't... I can't help anymore." Meredith began stammering again, Blair biting her lip in worry that they were going to cause her to have another meltdown if they stayed much longer since she knew Lydia had nearly pushed her over the edge the last time she had talked to her as well.
"You did a lot to help us already Meredith but we would really appreciate it if you could help a little bit more. A lot of people would be grateful if you can just tell us his name." Blair tried to coerce her more gently than her friends, Parrish being grateful that out of the three questioning Meredith that at least one of them was trying to go easy on her. Parrish didn't want anyone to get hurt doing this including Meredith - he didn't even know why he was helping them but he trusted these teenagers sitting in front of him for some reason he couldn't exactly explain out loud.
"How do you know about him?" Lydia asked once Blair finished talking, Meredith beginning to shake her head repeatedly as Blair stood up on her feet immediately considering how much Meredith was starting to become overwhelmed with all the pressure she was suddenly getting from them.
"Guys, I think we better stop." Parrish began to step forward as Blair began to move behind Lydia - not wanting Lydia to potentially hurt Meredith if she kept trying to push her with these questions. Parrish shot Blair a warning look, silently communicating to get Lydia to back off Meredith a little. Blair nodding her head in understanding - the two having a clear understanding that they needed to diffuse the tension.
"Meredith, a lot of people are going to die if you don't tell us." Blair started to call out Lydia's name quietly, hoping Lydia would hear her and stop as Blair held onto Lydia's elbow. Lydia snapping her head in Blair's direction as she sank back slightly once she noticed the warning look on Blair's face for her to stop.
"I don't... I don't know. I don't know. Please..." Meredith began shaking as Blair brought Lydia back slightly as she made Lydia step beside her as they began to watch Meredith's full reaction to their words since it was clear she was beginning to react physically to their interrogation.
"Meredith, it's okay. You're gonna be all right." Parrish tried to comfort her but Meredith continued to shake more violently as she kept repeating that she didn't know - finally screaming as Lydia stepped back further, both Stiles and Blair catching Lydia before she fell onto the ground as she clutched onto her ears in pain at Meredith's scream.
"Stiles, her ear," Blair whispered to Stiles who turned Lydia's head to him as he noticed the blood dripping down from it. The group staring at Meredith who was now cowered in the corner of her bed. Blair staring at Meredith curiously as she wondered how she had managed to cause the damage to Lydia. Parrish turning to the teenagers who were currently standing in shock, all of them silently agreeing that it was time for them to leave after what had just happened with Lydia and Meredith.
—•—
"Okay, well, we know one thing. Both of the first two keys, Allison and Aiden, they're both names of the dead. Right?" Stiles went over the information as Blair and Lydia sat at his desk as they stared at the screen in front of them. Stiles letting Blair take the extra chair as she sat next to Lydia in front of the computer - the three already trying every single person they could think of that could be the cipher key.
"But we've already tried every other dead person's name we could think of. And if you hadn't noticed, there were a lot of tries." Lydia pointed out - the two using names from Erica and Boyd to everyone the Darach had sacrificed and even everyone Peter Hale had killed during his rampage. The girls managed to research everyone who had died in association with the supernatural as they tried to use their names - all of which came up empty when it came to cracking the last part of the Deadpool.
"Yeah, I noticed." Stiles agreed hesitantly as he stopped in front of his board, Blair leaning her head into her arms as she stared blankly at the laptop in front of her as tried to think of an answer as to what the cipher key could be. All of them starting to become tired of not finding anything that brought them any closer to cracking the rest of the Deadpool.
"You okay?" Stiles asked Lydia, Blair turning her head as she noticed how guilty
Lydia appeared - Blair figuring it was probably from the events that had transpired earlier at Eichen since she might have pushed Meredith more so over the edge considering she didn't look too good when the three had left Eichen House.
"The only other Banshee I've ever met. And I think I might have just driven her over the edge." Lydia admitted to Blair and Stiles, Blair holding Lydia's hand in hers as Stiles began to walk back over to the two to try and reassure Lydia that she hadn't done anything wrong.
"Lydia, it wasn't your fault. I was there, too. So was Blair. And you're probably not the only... Hold on." Stiles stopped his sentence as both Blair and Lydia lifted their heads to see what was wrong with him since he had stopped talking halfway through his sentence. The two not knowing if it was because he had figured something out or actually cracked the key.
"Banshees predict death. Right? So what if the third key is someone who isn't dead..." Stiles trailed off, as Lydia and Blair finally caught on to what he was suggesting as they both stared at Stiles. Both of their's eyes widening in realization, Blair starting to become filled with dread since whatever name Lydia typed out was basically a death sentence. Blair feeling herself become filled with nerves since she already knew what was coming - that whoever Lydia predicted was going to be someone close to them or possibly someone in the pack.
"But will be." Lydia finished for him, Stiles walking behind Lydia and Blair as he waited for Lydia's Banshee powers to kick in. Lydia closing her eyes as she let her hands drift across the keyboard as she began typing the name that came to her head. Blair gulping as she turned to Stiles, the two of them sharing a look when they realized that Lydia had written Blair's name out as the last cipher key.
Blair stood up immediately when she noticed Malia's last name was Hale on the dead pool and not Tate - something that everyone had neglected to tell her and Malia. Blair feeling her stomach drop when she realised that the only way she could possibly be a Hale was if she was Peter's daughter. Blair stepping up as Stiles grasped her arm, Blair taking her hand out of his grasp as she went to sit on the edge of the bed since she just got two bombs let dropped on her at once. Stiles staring at Blair as he tried to think of something to say to her since she had just found out she was a cipher key and the news about Malia all in the span of a minute.
"Call Parrish. We need to call Parrish." Lydia whispered to Stiles as she took out her phone to call the Deputy. Stiles diverting his attention to Lydia once she started talking to Parrish who was telling Lydia about Meredith's passing.
"What are you talking about?" Blair heard the words, not bothering to listen to the rest of the conversation as she jogged out of Stiles's room - Stiles listening to the conversation of Lydia finding out Meredith had hung herself as he missed Blair leaving the room.
—•—
Blair knocked on the door at the address Derek had given her, Blair holding her hands together as she waited - Argent finally opening the door as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at Blair showing up at his door since she was the last person he expected to be showing up at his door.
"I was wondering if I could ask for a favor?" Blair asked him, Argent not hesitating to nod his head yes as he let Blair into his apartment - one that he still owned from when he lived in Beacon Hills with Allison. Argent not knowing why Blair would show up here in the first place since they weren't exactly the closest of supernatural contacts.
"What do you need, Blair?" Argent asked, wanting to get straight to the point since he didn't want Blair to be out too late with professional killers roaming around Beacon Hills especially since she could be considered a target since she was an ex-supernatural.
"I need weapons. I was wondering if you had extra that I could possibly borrow? I don't exactly have a lot to protect myself with the assassins roaming about." Blair asked nervously, shrugging her hands in her pocket as she tried to be quick about what she wanted from the Hunter. Chris nodded as he began to walk through his apartment to his office, Blair following behind him as he began pulling weapons out of his hiding spaces.
"You can take as much as you like, I prefer guns anyway." Chris offered the weapons on the table to the young girl in front of him - knowing she would have more use of them than she would since he barely used them.
Blair managed to grab some weapons of the table, Blair stopping as she noticed the crossbow - Chris noticed his apprehension as Blair trailed her hands over it since she knew who it used to belong to.
"It was Allison's, you should have it. She would want you to." Argent offered Blair, Blair shaking her head no as she moved her hand away - Argent holding the crossbow up as he offered it to Blair since he knew Allison would want her friends to have her some of her stuff to remember her.
"Allison's friends were her family, I have lots of things from Allison. I know she would want you to protect yourself and your friends." Argent finally placed the crossbow in her hands before going to the closet as he grabbed some ring daggers for her and even put one of his guns in the bag - Blair placing the crossbow in it as well before finally zipping it up.
"Thanks, Argent. It means a lot." Blair thanked him. Argent nodding his head as he walked Blair out of the apartment - Blair making her way home to the loft as she spread the weapons out in front of her as Derek stepped into her room.
"Looks like you're building your own armory in here." Derek joked dryly as he stepped beside his sister as he held the crossbow in his hands questioningly since he didn't even know she could even use one of those.
"Think, I'm going to keep that one untouched. It was Allison's. Argent said I could have it since he prefers guns anyway." Derek nodded as he sat the crossbow back down on the bed gently before placing an arm on Blair's shoulder since he could tell something was off with her.
"You don't have to put any pressure on yourself to start fighting again and getting all these weapons to protect yourself. You're not a target on the dead pool, maybe take it easy on the weapons." Derek tried to reassure her but Blair shook her head, knowing she needed to find a way to always protect her friends - otherwise she wouldn't feel guilty for not doing enough.
"My name was the last cipher key," Blair stated to Derek as she turned her head to Derek who seemed shocked momentarily before hiding it from Blair. Derek trying to conceal his emotions about the news from Blair since he knew she didn't need him to burden her with his own worries.
"The last cipher key written by a Banshee, the first two were both dead people that we knew which means one thing..." Blair drifted off as she finally met Derek's eyes - Derek noticing how her eyes were beginning to water slightly as her voice grew shaky as she stopped talked talking.
"Your death got predicted." Derek finished for Blair as he let out a stressed out sigh as Blair nodded her head as she went back to cleaning up her weapons as she started storing them in her room. Blair trying her hardest to focus on something else other than the news that she was the cipher key.
Derek sitting in the chair in the corner as he leaned forward with his head in his hands - beginning to think that it might have been a good idea to turn down Blair when she first showed up in Beacon Hills. Maybe then her life wouldn't be in danger constantly and Derek could have been eased with the fact that he didn't give another teenager a death sentence just by knowing him.
"I'm not going to die." Blair suddenly turned around as he noticed how her eyes were still slightly filled with tears as she talked. He didn't need any other words to know that his little sister was still scared to die even if she didn't say it explicitly to him. The lingering fear of dying too young like her sister would always be in the back of Blair's head, no matter how hard she tried to shake it. Derek standing up from the chair as he slowly approached Blair before wrapping his arms around her and let her cry into his chest until she had finally stopped. Derek not letting her go until he felt her start to grow tired as he laid her in her bed and pulled her covers over her.
"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, Blair. Not again, I promise." Derek promised her as he kissed Blair's forehead - knowing that her safety was a top priority for him always.