We're just about half way through the season!
Riley is about to face off with Stiles and Scott, and I'm emotional.
Question of the Chapter: Was there a supernatural creature you wanted to make an appearance during the show?
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♧♤♢♡
✧･ﾟ:*Riley*:･ﾟ✧
Iris had sat down and told us all about her pack. Even Josie, who was apparently made aware of what was happening in Beacon Hills also.
They had been located in the next town over, and were all killed by hunters. All except Iris, who had only just managed to escape using her ability.
She got into contact with Deaton after it happened, hoping to find refuge. That was when he had told her about about the 'McCall Pack', as we were apparently known as.
Mentions of Beacon Hills inhabiting a True Alpha, Banshee, Sylph, werecoyote and Kitsune had spread quickly throughout the supernatural community. And then with the Deadpool and how much we were all worth, more people began to know about us.
"Sorry you didn't get the chance to meet Scott yet," I said as I slowly turned the mug in my hands. "If it's okay with you, can it wait until tomorrow, maybe?"
"Of course, take your time," Iris insisted.
Charlotte smiled, "Well, in the mean time you're welcome to use our spare room, since you're not from town."
"Thank you so much, that would be amazing actually," Iris grinned towards my sister. "And maybe I can teach you a thing or two, Riley."
I thought about the offer for a moment. Maybe Iris could be the tutor that my mother didn't get the chance to be. And maybe I'd finally learn proper control over my ability, not just my sad attempt at it.
"Thanks, Iris, I'd appreciate that."
I stared down at the Deadpool, seeing my name on it again. It still didn't feel real. And then realising that Stiles had already known about it; I think that was what made it worse.
"Do you mind if I hold on to this?" I asked, holding it up so she knew what I was talking about. "There's just someone I need to show it to."
The woman nodded, "Of course, I made a copy of it anyway."
Folding it, I slipped it into my pocket. As I did so, my fingers hit my phone. Grabbing it out, I saw that I had left it on silent all afternoon.
(11) missed calls
(23) new messages
A few were from Scott and Isaac, but the large majority were from Stiles.
The lacrosse game; I'd forgotten all about it. They probably thought something had happened to me. Something did.
I quickly sent a text to Stiles, telling him I would be at Scott's in ten minutes. I didn't bother to reply to any of his other texts, they would have all been the same, asking where I was.
"Sorry to be rude, but I need to go somewhere. I'll be home later," I told everyone, standing up from the table.
Charlotte frowned, "Are you sure you're okay to drive?"
"I'll be fine," I said, attempting to smile. "I'll text you later."
The most recent text said that he was going to Scott's house, so that's exactly where I went when I got in my car. I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I had to talk to them.
I didn't want to jump to conclusions, I needed to hear it from them that they knew about this. I was glad that he was at Scott's because then I could talk to them both at them same time.
Isaac would be there, too. I wonder if he knew also?
I arrived at Scott's a couple minutes later than I had told them, taking a deep breath. When I pulled up out the front Stiles, Scott and Isaac were all out on the porch. I could only imagine they were waiting for me, unless they were expecting someone else at ten o'clock at night.
Getting out of my car, I began to walk over to them. As soon as his eyes had fallen on me, Stiles was rushing towards me.
"Thank God you're okay, I was so worried," he said quickly, preparing to hug me. Scott and Isaac trailed behind him, coming over to make sure I wasn't hurt or anything like that.
I put a hand up, getting him to stop before he could reach me. Scott and Isaac came to a halt behind him, all of them looking confused.
Stiles looked me up and down, possibly looking for injuries. "Riley, are you okay? What happened?"
Without a word, I pulled the Deadpool out of my pocket and slapped it to his chest. Shocked and confused, Stiles removed it from beneath my hand, unfolding it.
It was almost amusing how fast the penny dropped when he saw what was on the page. When he looked up at me, I felt fire in my veins, making my blood boil.
"Where did you get this?" He asked quietly. He didn't even act like he didn't know what it was.
"You said the one in your room was the Deadpool. The one that said 'Winters'," I ground out, feeling my hair lift from my shoulders. "Is this the real Deadpool, Stiles?"
His eyes flickered across my face, probably looking for a crack in my offence. He wasn't going to find one. He opened his mouth a couple times to start, but never said anything. I wasn't looking away until I got an answer out of him, though.
I could see him watching me carefully; watching how the leaves on the front lawn were beginning to move, my hair swaying as my emotions brought on a breeze. He had better hope that it stay that calm.
Eventually, his face softened and he lost eye contact with me. "Riley. . ."
My chest tightened, knowing Stiles well enough that his hesitation wasn't a reason to feel optimistic right now. I didn't need a mirror to know that my eyes began to glow as I felt a surge of anger rush through me.
"Stiles, tell me the fucking truth. Is this the real Deadpool?" I almost begged.
I prayed that he said no. That my mind was playing games with me and he hadn't kept this from me. But nothing was ever that easy.
"Yes," he whispered.
I found myself taking a couple steps away from him, shaking my head. "How long have you known?"
"Lydia only told me a couple of days ago, I swear."
I felt myself hitting his upper body before I even knew what I was doing, my anger getting the better of me. The air was moving faster now, even the boy's hair beginning to shift against it.
"You liar! You fucking liar!"
I noticed Isaac stiffen and Scott wince as I hit the boy's torso, but I didn't care at this point. We weren't supposed to keep secrets from each other; especially not things this big.
My pace of breathing began to pick up as I stared at him, dropping my hands. Nothing felt right anymore. I glanced past him to look at Scott and Isaac. "Did you two know as well?"
Isaac looked lost, putting his hands up, "Riley, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."
Reaching forward, I ripped the Deadpool back out of Stiles' hands, walking over and giving it to Isaac. As he read, I made eye contact with Scott.
His jaw clenched as his eyes fell to the grass, "I found out just before Stiles. I'm sorry."
Isaac held the Deadpool out to me, shaking his head, "I didn't know, I promise."
Stiles looked pissed that Isaac was leaving him and Scott out to dry like that, but I couldn't have cared less. Right now, I needed answers from them.
My shoulders were heaving as I breathed heavily, turning to Stiles. "So that copy of the first third of the Deadpool you let me see that said Winters. . ."
Stiles bowed his head in shame, his voice low, "I changed it."
"You changed it?" I repeated, watching as he nodded. Stiles seemed to step back when he noticed my eyes glowing again. "That, was when you should have told me. How was that not the opportunity right there, Stiles?" I yelled, tears biting at the backs of my eyes.
"I know!" He yelled back, running a hand through his hair roughly. "I know."
"I can't even look at either of you right now," I whispered to Scott and Stiles through the sobs I was holding back, blinking my eyes back to their natural brown. Stepping past my boyfriend to go back to my car, I refused to cry in front of them; to appear as weak as they apparently thought I was.
"Riley, wait," Stiles said quickly, grabbing my arm.
My eyes whipped from his hand to his face, my eyes glowing their silver blue, "Let me go, now, Stiles."
I could see the pain in his face, "No. You won't hurt me, Riley-"
"But, I will," Isaac growled, having walked over to us. His eyes were glowing and his fangs were bared as he focused on Stiles. "She said let go."
My boyfriend glared the wolf down, his jaw clicking. "I bet you're loving this."
None of us said anything, until Stiles reluctantly let his fingers slide off of my arm and fall down by his side. "I never wanted to hurt you. I was just trying to protect you," he told me as I walked away.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't always need you protecting me! Any of you!" I made sure to direct the comment at Scott and Isaac also.
"This was something that I needed to know, Stiles. How can you not understand that?"
"Ri-"
"And Scott, what the fuck?" I almost laughed. "You're supposed to be my friend."
"I am your friend," he insisted. "But like you said with Malia, it needed to come from someone you trust. And then. . . we just couldn't figure out the right time to tell you."
"Do not compare those circumstances. We have been friends since we were kids. One of you should have told me. I shouldn't had to have been told by a stranger!"
I got into my car, slamming the door behind me. I didn't watch Stiles as I drove away, just focused on holding onto the wheel to remind myself not to crumble like everything around me.
♧♤♢♡
✧*:･ﾟStiles･ﾟ:*✧
"Fuck!" I shouted as I walked over and punched the porch banister. I swore again under my breath as I rubbed my knuckles, feeling them beginning to bruise already.
I should have told her. I should have told her as soon as I found out. I was a complete idiot, and now I'd gone and fucked it up.
She had trusted me, and now I didn't even know if she would look at me again.
"Stiles," I heard Scott say from behind me. "It's going to be okay."
"You don't know that, Scott. You're always so confident everything is going to work out, but you don't know that it's going to be okay," I growled, walking over to my jeep.
"Where are you going, man?" he sighed.
"I'm going after her."
"She doesn't want you to," Isaac bit.
I turned, walking up to him, "I don't remember asking for your opinion. Last time I checked, she dumped you. She is my girlfriend."
Isaac scoffed, rolling his eyes, "Not if you keep lying to her."
"Oh, that's real rich coming from you."
"Enough," Scott said firmly, stepping between us. "Stiles, she loves you, okay. You've both been through worse; you'll work this out. But right now, you need to give her a minute to breathe."
"You don't understand. She's one of the only good things in my life," I told him, running a hand through my hair, pulling at the ends slightly. "I can't lose her."
Scott frowned, "I do understand. More than anyone might."
I bit the inside of my cheek when I realised what I had said. Allison. She had been that for Scott and he had lied to her multiple times, but just like Scott had said, they made it through.
Would Riley and I be the same?
"I can't lose her," I mumbled again.
Scott put a hand on each of my arms, forcing me to look at him. "Then don't. Show her how much you love her, be there for her, and that will be enough. The way she speaks about you, Stiles. . . no one just moves on from that. Not even someone as stubborn as Riley."
We both chuckled sadly, I even saw Isaac smile a little. I hoped that he was right. I needed him to be right.
"I'm going home," I told Scott. "Lydia and I are going to go and talk to Parrish about the Deadpool and visiting Meredith in the morning. Riley was supposed to come, but I doubt she will now."
Scott nodded, seeming disappointed, "Okay. Call me after and let me know what happens."
I agreed, before getting in my jeep and driving to my home.
♧♤♢♡
✧･ﾟ:*Riley*:･ﾟ✧
Scott, Stiles and Lydia had all known and none of them had told me. I wanted so badly for the list that Iris had given me to be fake, but it wasn't. And now, I was alone.
This wasn't like them not telling me they didn't like the shirt I was wearing. This was bigger, and was about my identity, and they had kept it from me.
I had planned to drive home, but my subconscious had other plans. Before I knew it, I was parked outside of Malia's house. It was like I was drawn there.
I had knocked on her door, and the look on her face was of pure annoyance. She, for obvious reasons, hadn't been expecting me at her house at eleven at night.
Letting me in, she lead me to the kitchen where I sat as she made some tea. She said coffee at first, but the last thing I wanted was to be awake all night.
"Riley, it's almost midnight. What are you doing here?" She asked as she made the drinks.
I thought for a moment, thinking through what I wanted to say.
"There's something important I need to tell you, but I need you to hear me out and let me finish before you say anything. It will make more sense that way. Hopefully."
Her eyes squinted somewhat as she looked at me, but she nodded anyway. When she passed me the mug, I allowed the drink to warm up my hands. I used the heat from the mug and the air around me to help keep myself calm, and began to tell Malia everything.
♧♤♢♡
"Riley, you're not making any sense," Malia said, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Look, I don't have any physical evidence to show you right now, but I swear I'm telling you the truth. Lydia found out and she's never been wrong about things like this before," I attempted to explain.
After she nodded, I kept going. It was time she knew. Our pack had enough secrets.
I tried to keep it as simplistic as possible so that it didn't take to long to explain. I went through the basics, that Lydia had gone through Talia Hale's memories, finding that Peter had had children, and that we were those children. We had separate mothers, but as far as the Benefactor was concerned, we were both Peter's daughters.
"I've known for a while, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But Scott said he would and I didn't want to overstep."
Like Lydia with Stiles.
"Why didn't they tell me?" She asked, an edge of anger to her voice. "Why didn't they tell you?"
I felt my jaw click as I looked down at my name on the list in her hand. "They thought they were protecting us."
"By not giving us an option in whether or not we knew about him? How is that fair?"
"It's not."
We sat in silence for a few minutes, glancing at each other every few moments. A thought came to me at that point, "You know, the fact that I'm kinda your anchor makes a bit more sense now. Even when we got to know each other in Eichen, something felt different. Familiar."
She shrugged, staring at my phone. "I guess so. I never really thought about it until now."
I had another half-sister.
My blood ran cold when I dug deeper. If Malia was my sister, that meant that Charlotte wasn't.
Only by blood, I reminded myself. And blood isn't what makes you family. Charlotte is still family. Just like with dad. Mum made sure to put that in the letter.
"I'm sorry that I had to be the one to tell you," I offered when she didn't say any more. She was still having trouble expressing her emotions in a healthy way, and I didn't want to lose her friendship over this.
She met my eyes, a small smile on her lips. "You're my anchor. And, according to these, we're sisters. I couldn't think of anyone else I'd want to hear this from," she told me sincerely.
Some of my anger melted away at her words. "I wish I'd known sooner," I admitted. "Finding out that one of my best friends is also my sister is probably the only good thing to come of this."
Malia gave a small laugh, nodding her head in agreement. I was glad she wasn't mad at me.
Malia didn't seem all too angry at all, more shocked than anything else. All these years she had been clinging to her family to keep her going, and suddenly, they weren't who she thought they were.
The werecoyote's face darkened again as she continued to stare down at the Deadpool with my name on it. I hoped that they got the last third soon so that she could see.
"They should have told us as soon as they found out."
"I swear, I did try to get him to tell you when I found out. If I had known that I was as well, I wouldn't have waited for Scott."
"Riley, I'm not mad at you. They lied to you, too, so you're off the hook."
"Thank you?" I said, although it felt like a question. I couldn't even imagine how pissed she would be if our last names weren't the same on those pieces of paper.
We spoke for a bit longer, just trying to narrow down how we both felt about this. Anger was a common theme; and a hatred for Peter.
Malia hadn't known him as long as me, so she didn't know half of what he was capable of.
Thinking back on moments with him, my heart sunk. He had known I was a Sylph, he had known about my mother, he had spoken about her as if he knew her, he had never really harmed me.
I mean, besides when he was an Alpha and scratched my arm. But to be fair, he was dealing with burn trauma at that time.
Not that that excused what he did.
The thought that his blood ran through my veins made my stomach twist.
"Hey, could I possibly stay here tonight? I mean, only if it's okay with you, don't feel pressured or anything. I just would rather not be alone. Charlotte is home, but she doesn't understand. Not really."
Malia gave me a small smile, nodding and saying that it was okay. Considering social situations weren't exactly her forte, she was handling this situation rather well. I mean, she was annoyed at the boys and Lydia as well, but that was a given.
As we finished our drinks I sent Charlotte a text, apologising and saying that I wouldn't be home after all. She replied almost instantly, telling me that it was okay and that she understood.
She didn't though; how could she?
I appreciated that she was trying, though.
After putting the mugs in the sink Malia lead me back to her room where she got out some old clothes for me to sleep in.
We laid next to each other silently, both of us still processing everything that had happened today.
"Am I on the Deadpool yet?" Malia asked quietly.
I shook my head as I rolled over to look at her, "No, not yet. Lydia hasn't found the third cipher key yet, so there's still a chance you're on it."
Malia didn't seem all too bothered by this. I think the waiting concerned her more than actually being on the list. But it didn't matter, because just like before, we had each other.
I just kept thinking about how insane our lives were; everything that we had been through that lead us to here. But out of everything, this had to be one of the strangest days of my life.