JUUICHI —
" I said I'm fine! "
—
Her ears buzzed with white noise as she struggled to form a coherent sentence in the jumbled mess that was her mind.
" What— " Miya's mouth felt like cotton as her arms slipped limply from their place around Isaac's neck "— what do you mean Lyds is missing? " Stiles bit his lip so harshly he tasted the iron tang of blood in his mouth.
" I can't find her anywhere, " he said in a rush. " She went to find Jackson but he hasn't seen her, and I just— " he sucked in a shaky breath "— I have this feeling, Miya... " She could only nod jerkily, for suddenly she had it too. The dark forboding mass that sat heavily in the pit of her stomach.
" Okay, " she breathed, trying to assure herself than the pale boy.
Tearing her gaze away from the panicking human boy to settle them on the confused one she had her arms wrapped around not moments before.
A part of her prickled at the sight of his lost ocean eyes as he struggled to put together the pieces. If she hadn't been so wrapped up in Isaac and in the... things, he did to her, she would have never let Lydia Martin walk out of the gym alone. The more rational side of her, the side that was more human than wild animal, bit back her harsh words and glare for he didn't deserve them. It whispered to her that Isaac was not to blame for her mistakes— it was her failure and hers alone.
Her failure to watch Lydia. Her failure to keep a distance between herself and Isaac. Her failure to remain emotionally uninvested. Her failure of not taking Peter Hale's head that day in Macy's.
Most of all: her failure to remember exactly who... exactly what she was.
The fox that brings calamity.
Harbinger of chaos.
She-who-ended-a-thousand-lineages.
When had she become so... soft?
" Okay. " She repeated more surely. Evenly. Cold.
Nodding with some finality, she stepped back from Isaac and discarded whatever feelings he invoked in her.
Okay. The word sounded to Isaac more like a goodbye than a simple acknowledgment. He didn't know it then but that was exactly what she had meant it to be.
Nodding once more at Stiles, she turned her attention to the boy who had a stranglehold around her heart. For the first time, she didn't meet his searching blue eyes. The sly shine to them hardened into something Isaac couldn't quite recognize. Deep brown into impervious onyx... she was someone he could no longer recognize.
" I can't give you an explanation— " her voice was flat and lacked warmth "— but I need you to stay here. "Isaac swallowed hard, eyes darting between the stone figure of the girl he idolized and the twitchy boy who was always stealing her away.
" Miya, what's going on? " He had asked, trying to catch her gaze. She made no concessions for the pleading in his voice. He had tried to hold onto her but she slipped out of his grasp like mist between his fingers.
" There are some things better left unknown. " Her tone was hollow.
Then, as quickly as she had entered his life, she was gone in a flurry of jeweled obsidian fabric. Rushing after Stilinski and taking Isaac's heart with her.
—
" Where have you looked? " Miya asked as she and Stiles hurried down the darkened halls of Beacon Hills.
" I, I, um— " the hazel-eyed boy gulpped in breaths of air as his mind whizzed faster than his mouth could keep up with. " I checked the car park, the hallways near the gym, the-the, um, the girls' bathroom...! " His voice got higher and higher in his panic. Miya was sure he'd damn near hyperventilate himself into a coma and be of no use to her if he didn't calm the hell down. Grasping him by the shoulders, she anchored the boy to the ground.
" Stiles, " she snapped her fingers in front of his face to catch his attention. " Where would she go if she was looking for Jackson? "
" I...! She— Jackson...! " Stiles's eyes darted around.
" Stiles! " The fox snarled. The boy jumped in her hands. " You know Lydia better than anyone. Where. Would. She. Go. "
Stiles paused, eyes wide in the face of Miya's sharp eyes and set jaw, before forcing himself to take in a deep— albeit shaky— breath. Then in an epiphany:
" The field. " Miya was out of the doors before Stiles took a step.
The fox cleared half the distance to Lydia, who stood on the field as Stiles had said she would, eyes ablze when Peter Hale wrapped his slimy paws around the girl and bloodied his maw red with her friend's blood. Chrome fangs beared, she snarled at the wolf, her silver knife in hand.
" Nuh-uh-uh! " Peter tutted tauntingly, wagging a finger at Miya, pulling Lydia's limo frame closer to his chest as Miya paced forward threateningly. Reveling in the animalistic snarl that bubbled from her chest. " You move an inch? I'll snap her neck and, " he emphasized, a cruel smirk crawling onto his face, " I'll be sure to rough up your lover boy. The one with the... Curly. Dirty. Blond. Hair. "
Pride before the fall and, oh, Miya had fallen. She couldn't stop her sharp intake of breath as she realized just who the alpha was threatening. She might have left him alone and confused, swearing to cut all ties with the boy she'd inadvertently come to care for, but the mere thought of Peter coming close to Isaac sent a very human chill down the fox's spine.
" If you dare to lay a finger on him, I will peel the very flesh from your bones and feed it to the dogs! " The kitsune gnashed her teeth at him savagely.
Peter prickled at the sight of them, eyeing the creature before him warily but stood his ground.
" Will you risk it? Risk him? " He jeered. She gave no answer, simply glaring poisonously at him, and that pleased him. Laughing coldly, he jerked his chin up sharply. " Back up, Princess, " he ordered.
Miya simmered with barely contained fury but, nevertheless, she acquiesced. She snarled lowly as she took a few steps back. By this time, Stiles (Peter's true target) had reached the supernatural creatures on the field.
" Please... don't, " he choked as his eyes never left the bloodied form of Lydia Martin, " don't kill her. "
The boy bit the inside of his cheek so harshly that he could taste the blood that bled the same color as the alpha's scarlet eyes on his tongue. Shaking from head to toe, the human boy looked to Miya— his only hope, his only source of guidance, his only chance at salvation— to seek shelter in the calm, knowing smile she always held on her visage but he found no relief.
Gone was her ever-present mask of pleasantry. In its place, her eyes shone a glaring silver and her bared fangs gleamed chrome. If the elongated canines and pointed incisors hadn't erased the image of the high school sweetheart in his mind, then the look in her glowing eyes would have without a doubt. They shined with an unquenchable rage and a thirst for blood. Stiles was sure he would've dropped dead if she had directed that look upon him.
Shiny, beautiful Miya Yamato was gone. In truth, she never even existed. A fox might change her fur, her name, her location but not her nature.
Never her nature.
" Don't kill her... " Stiles pleaded once more for his love's life, tearing his gaze from his friend to their foe. " Please... " Peter laughed coldly.
" Of course not! Just tell me how to find Derek. " Peter grinned a grin void of goodwill. " Tell me, Stiles, how do I find Derek Hale? " Stiles swallowed, his anxiety pungent in the air.
" I don't know how to do that. How would I know that? "
" Because you're the clever one, aren't you? And because deception has a particularly acrid scent, " the alpha smirked. " Tell me the truth... or I will rip her apart. "
" Look! Look, I... I don't know, okay?! I swear, " Stiles pleaded, looking between the girl he loved and the monster that sought to harm them all. " I swear to God, I have no idea! "
Having grown weary of reasoning with the boy, Peter pounced. Dropping the girl in his arms, he lunged at Stiles with a growl only to be tackled into the wet grass by Miya. She snapped at his throat, missing a killing blow by a hair's breath when her throat was caught around the alpha's clawed hand. She didn't give him the satisfaction of a wheeze but instead glared savagely as she thrusted her blade forward into his side, catching him with a glacing bow when he manuvered to the side and plunged his free hand into her side.
There was a piercing yowl. Miya didn't realize until moments later as the crimson wet her ruined dress that it had been her's.
" What a surprise, " he laughed, dragging his hand slowly down her side and ripping open the remnants of her nearly closed stitches. " You're just as mortal as the rest of us, aren't you? "
" I— " the blonde choked out as she spat blood onto the wet grass " I... "
" Hm? You'll have to speak up, dear, " he cooed leaning closer to her. A growl rumbled in the back of her throat like thunder before lightning.
" I am going to remove the bones from your body, " she snapped her teeth around air as the wolf just barely moved out of her strike zone. Peter laughed once more.
" What a mouth you have on that pretty face, " Peter crowed. Turning his red-filled gaze away from the fox to the boy, he wiped his bloodied hands on Miya's ruined dress casually, he straightened up; leaving the fox in a rapidly growing pool of blood on the ground. " Now, now, Stiles, if you don't want to end up like your smart-mouth fox friend, who so self-sacrifically saved your hide, I suggest you tell me where Derek is. "
Stiles hesitated, caught between a rock and a bloodthirsty alpha. Eyes flitting between Lydia's pale form and Miya's pained visage; Peter soon grew tired with waiting.
" Tell me! " The alpha bellowed once more, growing impatient at the human boy. Miya snarled lowly in warning, causing the man to back up just a little bit.
Her silver eyes catching Stiles's hazel, the fox nodded slightly. With her encouragement, the boy spoke.
" Okay, okay, look... I—I think he knew. Derek, " Stiles clarified, " I think he... I think he knew he was gonna be caught. " Peter raised an unimpressed brow.
" And? "
" When they were shot— he and Scott— I think he took Scott's phone, " the boy swallowed thickly. " They all have GPS now. So, if he still has it, and if it's still on... you can find him. " Peter smirked.
" Now was that so hard? " He advanced forward, uncaring of the way the boy flinched from him, and grasped Stiles by the arm; dragging his unwilling victim away from the scene.
" No! I'm not just letting you leave her like this! " Stiles cried. " I won't leave them like this! " He made to move towards the girls but the alpha pulled him back with a crushing vice. In a moment of utter despair, he sagged in Peter's hold. " Just kill me, man, I don't even care anymore... "
Sensing Peter was reaching the end of his tether and would surely snap in his ill temper, Miya stepped in.
" Don't be so dramatic. " Her voice was stron, even when punctuated with a wet cough as she pulled herself up with some difficulty and pulled Lydia's form into her arms. " Go. I will remain with Lyds. "
Nodding shakily at the conviction in the fox's eyes, Stiles shucked his jacket off and extended it to the pair before Peter pulled him back once more. The alpha's amused gaze only dimmed when Miya spoke once more with a certainty that seemed almost prophetic.
" Peter Hale, " she breathed in a solemn tone of promise. " You're end is near. "
Shoulders tensed as she stemmed Lydia's wound with Stiles's jacket, she pressed the most fleeting of kisses to the strawberry blonde's forehead.
" The Gods of my father's day, heed my prayer as you did in the days of my youth... " the fox whispered feverently in her old tongue she heard the shouts and sirens draw near " ... and once again grant me vengeance. "
—
" I said I'm fine! " Miya snapped at the nurses for the umpteenth time. " The blood isn't mine. "
The skin of her side had just barely mended itself and she's lost at least two pints of blood but it wasn't like she could tell them that. There'd be tests and follow-ups and questions that she couldn't explain away. Besides, her own pain was the furthest thing from her mind as her friend— maybe her best friend— lay in the OR fighting for her life.
Instead, she stood stock-still like a sentinel, guarding the door as if from an assassin or a demon; pointedly ignoring the presence of a certain lacrosse player who was preoccupied with pacing the breath of the hallway.
" Hey, " the sheriff barked as he approached the pair, though the jock didn't pay him mind. " Hey! " Stilinski repeated in an even sharper tone, finally gaining Jackson's attention. " What the hell happened to that girl? "
" I, " the boy swallowed thickly, backing up a pace or two in the face of the older man. " I don't know! I went out looking for her— " The sheriff scoffed.
" What, you just happened to wander into the middle of that field and you just found her, found them— " Stilinski's eyes flickered to Miya for a moment "— there like that? Don't lie to me, son. " Jackson squirmed under the intense heat of the older man's gaze.
" No, I— "
" What happened to her?! "
" This isn't my fault! " Jackson snapped and this time the scoff came from Miya. The derisive sound garnering both men's attention. Jaw set and eyes chilling she glared at the high school boy from her place by the OR doors; covered in blood that wasn't hers.
" She went out there to look for you, Jackson, " she spat. " Lyds was looking for you. " A flash of what looked like shame crossed Jackson's chiseled features before it was swept away with the clench of his jaw.
" She didn't go to the formal with me— she is not my responsibility! " The defensiveness of his tone couldn't wash the edge of guilt and Miya jumped on it like a predator on prey.
" Then why do you look so fucking guilty, Jackson?! " She roared, pacing forward a few steps. Jackson was not one to back down.
" Stiles should have taken better care of her! " That had thrown the sheriff for a loop.
" Stiles? " He asked. " My son? " The interruption pierced through the tension in the hospital hallway, Miya rearing back and folding her arms... lest she be tempted to scratch Jackson's eyes out.
" She went with Stiles, " she admitted in a tight tone, unable to meet the sheriff's inquisitive look. Not only did she have Lydia to worry about but the twitchy but rather endearing human— another she had failed when she let Peter live.
" Somebody better find my son... " Stilinski murmured with an edge of worry as he paced away to make some calls. The fox took her opportunity then. Pacing forward threateningly, she lowered her voice to a chilling whisper:
" If she dies, I will never forgive you, " she breathed. " I'll kill you myself. " Jackson, to his credit, did not flinch away, though the unnerved look in his eyes gave away his trepidation.
" Is that a threat? "
" It's a promise. "
" Miya! " A familiar voice cried as the sound of sneaker on linoleum drew close.
Stiles. The blonde relaxed a tad upon seeing the boy, relatively unharmed. He raced forward, dodging hospital personnel to reach her.
" Are you okay? " The fox questioned, glancing over him.
" I'm fine! The jerkwad crushed my car keys and I had to run here but never mind about me— is Lydia okay? " At the mention of the strawberry blonde, Miya pressed her lips together tightly.
" They say she's having some kind of allergic reaction, " the blonde admitted lowly. In all her years, with all her knowledge of the supernatural, she hadn't happened across an instance like that. Even those wherein an alpha's bite failed to take... she shook that thought away.
" But she'll be okay... right? " Lydia was strong— stronger than many gave her credit for.
" Lydia Martin is nothing if not strong. " At her reassurance, Stiles nodded. Sparing the OR doors a single glance, he turned to go.
" Hey, where are you going? " It was Jackson who called after him, surprising. Miya and Stiles both.
" To find Scott, " he replied simply. He didn't even bother asking Miya if she was coming with him— from the way her jaw set and her eyes flitted to the OR ever so often, he knew (and was secretly relieved) that the fox would remain with Lydia.
" You don't have a car. "
" I'm aware of that, thank you, " Stiles replied sarcastically. Hazel eyes finding the fox who resumed her original position he asked— " Miya? "
" My car's at the school, " she sighed, shaking her head. Jackson puffed out his chest and straightened up.
" Here, I'll drive. Come on, " he announced in that brash voice of his. Stiles snapped at him before Miya had the chance to really lay into the boy.
" Look, just because you feel guilty all of a sudden doesn't make it okay, all right? Half of this is still your fault. " Jackson looked down, only for a moment, before his usual arrogance was back on his chiseled features.
" Look, I have a car, " he said. " You don't. Do you want my help, or not? "
" Fine! Did you bring the Porsche? " Jackson nodded dumbly, to which the other sophomore grinned sharply. " Good. I'll drive. " Too bad they were intercepted.
" Boys— " Chris Argent nodded towards the males, then averted his eyes to Miya " — Young lady— " he nodded her way "— I was wondering if you can tell me where Scott McCall is. " His smirk was wide and patronizing. Miya wanted nothing more than to rip it off. Instead of giving in to her baser instincts she forced a tired expression and shrugged.
" No clue, " she sighed, playing the part of the ignorant. " I honestly don't care though, Mr Argent, Lydia got attacked by soemthing at the dance and I just... can't right now... " Stiles followed, albeit with slightly less grace.
" Scott McCall? " He hummed then shrugged with a frown. " Umm, I haven't seen him since the dance. Jackson, you? "
" I... " Jackson fumbled. Stiles rolled his eyes.
" Oh, for the love of God, " he groaned in exasperation while Miya remained tight-lipped and stone-faced.
" Let's try this again, " Chris sighed, though that smug all-knowing look that Miya equated with hunter never left his features. " Where is Scott McCall? " The Argent asked, eyes flitting between the two boys— both of which he knew for a fact were... involved— though when no answer was given he snapped his fingers, his lackeys stepping up. " Come on, boys, let's go have a chat around the corner... Stiles, have you ever seen a rabid dog...? "
Watching warily as the group left, Miya settled back into her original position.
Something told her that whatever happened in Beacon Hills that evening...
... it was simply the begining.
—
Final author's note for the season!!
That's it for season 1!
I actually had something very different planned for the conclusion of the season but I realized it would be best to end it this way. I really wanted to set the groundwork for the relationships that are going to be tested in the second season. I also pulled a sneaky and added a juicy little morsel that's only gonna make sense in the next book that covers season 3.
Buckle up buds. It's going to be a trip.