She finally forgave him, and then he left, and these chapters are making me emotional.

Question of the Chapter: Do you think that Liam could have become a True Alpha one day?

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♧♤♢♡
✧*:･ﾟStiles･ﾟ:*✧

I was rushing through the school, making my way back towards where everybody was being quarantined. I could feel the sweat coating my face as I stumbled into the room in search of Kira's father.

When I got to the room though, I didn't see him. Instead, I found Ms. Martin. Figuring that she may know where he is, I made my way over to her.

"Stiles, you're not looking so good, maybe you ought to lie down," she suggested.

I wasn't feeling good either, but I needed to find a way to save my friends.
"It's okay, have you seen Mr. Yukimura?"

"Yeah, he's fine, he's helping the other students."

"Okay," I breathed, turning to leave, when I spotted Coach in one of the quarantine isolation rooms. But why was he in there? So far, it had only been students.
"Is Coach the only adult who got sick today?"

"As far as I know," Ms. Martin told me, giving me a confused look.

"Why is he. . ." I mumbled, thinking out loud.

"Stiles? I think you should lie down."

When she touched a hand to my arm, I snapped to my senses. "Yeah, no, it's okay. I'll be back, I'll be right back."

I ran out of the room, the question of Coach being sick still on my mind. Why was he the only adult who had gotten sick? It made no sense.

There had to be a clue somewhere; something that could tell me what was causing this. And maybe if I found that, I'd know how to save them all.

Searching the whole room, I was throwing things everywhere. I didn't have time to be careful with Coach's belongings. I'd come back and clean up my mess later.

I went to his desk and began to rifle through its contents. I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking for, all I knew was that the illness had originated at the school and Coach was patient zero. Which meant, hopefully, that there was still something here that tells me what happened.

Slamming the drawer shut, I rested back in his chair for a moment, trying to think. What else was there?

My eyes drifted down to his desk, where there were permission slips that had been stamped recently. Picking them up, I began to go through them one by one.

Each red stamp of approval began to fade, the ink running out as Coach used it. And then suddenly, the approval stamp was different.

Instead of an alarming red, it was a solid black. The rest of them were all done in black ink.

I was about to brush it aside as being paranoid, when I noticed Coach's mustard yellow mug. Picking it up, I brought it to eye level, to see black fingerprints pressed onto its surface.

Coach had gotten the ink on his fingers. The same colour ink which we had used to sign in to the PSATs.

It all began to fall into place slowly.
The test administrator. The strange guy who knew so much about diseases. He was the only piece that didn't seem to fit.

"I was wondering how that idiot got sick," A voice said out of no where.

I practically threw the cup as I jumped to my feet, hearing it smash as I looked for the source of the voice. The test administrator. The assassin.

"I'm also wondering where your friends are," the man stated, slowly twisting a silencer onto the gun in his hand. "Since in order to get paid by the Benefactor, I need to have proof they're dead."

"Visual confirmation," I mumbled, my temperature still rising, slowly making it more difficult to concentrate.

The man raised his eyebrows with a smile as he lifted the gun to point it at me, "Exactly."

Walking over to me, he grabbed my arm and pushed me out of Coach's office and into the locker room, pressing the gun to my spine.
"Still a bit feverish, Mr. Stilinski. But you should know something, the virus doesn't kill humans, you'll get better. So don't you think you should tell me where they are? Shouldn't one of you get to live?"

I didn't have to turn back to know that the gun was still pointed at me. But there was no way that I was about to give up all my friends.
"I think I saw them in the library. Or it might've been the cafeteria. It was definitely one of those two."

"I'm going to count to three, and then I'm going to kill you."

When he said this, I turned around. If I was to die, it wasn't going to be from someone shooting me in the back. I'd been through worse and made it out alive, we all had. I wasn't about to let some guy who got a bit too excited with his chemistry set think he had power over me.
"Think you can scare me?"

"No, I think I can kill you. I just thought the countdown would make it more exciting. So. . ."

He pressed the end of the gun to my head, and my mind seemed to go blank. All I was thinking about was my parents.

"One. . ."

Scott.

"Two. . ."

Riley.

I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the final number. The final second of my life. The final second of regret.

Regret that my dad would be alone. That I wouldn't get to see my best friend again. That I wouldn't get to tell Riley one more time how much I love her.

And then a gun went off.

♧♤♢♡
✧･ﾟ:*Riley*:･ﾟ✧

Stiles had been gone for a while now. It was hard to keep track of how long it had been, because thinking was becoming a struggle in itself. My breaths were further apart and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't regulate them.

"Hey, you need to stay awake," Isaac reminded me softly, shaking my shoulder.

"I. . . don't know. . . if I can," I told him through shallow breaths.

"You need to concentrate, okay? I told Stiles you'd still be alive when he got back, and I feel like him angry isn't something I want to see," Isaac said jokingly, trying to keep me from closing my eyes.

I choked out a laugh at the thought of the two of them fighting. Isaac was right, Stiles could definitely hold his own. Plus, he knew how the supernatural world worked, so I wouldn't count him out.

"I can't see," I heard someone gasp from across the room.
Malia had a piece of paper in her hand, but she was beginning to panic. Her eyes were wide as she glanced to where she thought we were. "I can't see anything."

I noticed Scott begin to stare at his hand strangely, he was beginning to have trouble also. Which meant we were all about to be struggling.

"Are you okay?" I asked Isaac, looking over at him.

The boy was squinting down at me, eyes flitting as he tried to focus. He shook his head quickly, letting go of me as he held his hands up in front of him. "I- I can't see either."

Kira had collapsed to the ground at this point, hands searching the ground. I got to my knees to crawl over to her to help her, when the world started to spin around me.

Every movement I made caused the world to swirl more, everything beginning to grow blurry. I decided to stop, hoping that maybe that would get it to stop, but it just kept going, my vision clouding over.

From what the others were saying, their vision was completely gone. For me, it was just really clouded over and on top of that, my breathing was still growing more shallow.

"Guys. . . what's. . . going on?" I gasped, hands sliding across the floor.

"Scott? I can't see," I heard Kira tell the Alpha in a panic. "I can't see."

I could see what I thought was Scott's shape moving, but I couldn't be sure.

"Where is. . . Stiles?" I asked, heart rate speeding up as I crawled over to a wall, tugging his jacket tighter around me. "I need him."
He was my anchor and I needed him so desperately, no matter my grievances with him. He should be back by now.

When Scott didn't reply, I did the only thing I could think to do. Since I couldn't see or move, I tried to focus on my hearing. It was difficult, and the noises were echoing, but I did my best to find Stiles' voice.

"I think I saw them in the library. Or maybe it might've been the cafeteria. It was definitely one of those two," I heard him say.

Who was he talking to right now?

"You think you can scare me?" He asked.

"No I think I can kill you," someone replied.

My heart dropped at the words, every part of my body growing numb. I tried to latch back onto his voice frantically, every fibre of my being begging for my Sylph side to be stronger than whatever virus was attempting to kill me.

I knew my eyes were glowing as I dragged myself to my feet using the wall, and I was using up more of my limited supply of oxygen to draw his voice towards me, but I didn't care.

Finally I found his voice, just in time to hear the gunshot.

"No!" I screamed, the word shredding my vocal chords. Tears were falling uncontrollably as I collapsed back to the ground, my knees hitting the cement harshly.

I fell to my side, bringing my knees to my chest as sobs wrecked my body. Someone had shot Stiles.

Someone had shot him and killed him.

One of my friends was trying to get my attention, none of them having heard what I had just heard. Their words went right past me, though, the sound of my heart beat drowning out every other thing in the room.

I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, and I couldn't breathe.

Every breath burned and I knew that if someone didn't do something soon, I wasn't going to make it out of here alive.

Someone's hand had found my shoulder in the darkness, squeezing it. I tried to say what I had heard, but any time I opened my mouth the only thing that came out was a sob. And even then, it was barely a sob. I could feel my lungs shrivelling within me, my throat burning as I tightened my knees to my chest.

Just as everything began to go dark, a strange smell hit my nose. Taking a breath, I noticed that it was becoming easier to breathe again.

I took my first deep breath in what felt like hours, drawing the air into my lungs, filling them once more. My body reacted, taking breath after breath, the air sweet, healing my body with each intake.

Opening my eyes, the world began to solidify once more, shapes making more sense.

Pushing myself to my knees, I looked around. Isaac was by my side rubbing his eyes, Malia and Kira were sitting together checking that the other was okay, and Scott was at the door with his arms around Stiles.

Stiles.

"Stiles!" I gasped, climbing to my feet carefully. I ran over to him, stumbling as I did so. He was quick to let go of Scott and catch me as I fell, wrapping his arms around me. Tears were in my eyes, falling uncontrollably.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm back, I told you I'd come back," he whispered to me, holding me tight.

"I heard a gunshot," I told him, not letting him go for a second. "I thought. . . I thought. . ."

"I'm okay," he told me. "I'm okay. I'm right here."

Pulling back for a moment I pressed a kiss to his lips, taking him by surprise. After a moment, I sat back to look him in the eyes, "You can't scare me like that, okay? You just can't. I can't lose anyone else."

He placed a hand on my cheek gently, his jaw clenched. "I know."

I thought for a split second, before I realised that I didn't need to think. He was here. We were both alive.
"I love you, Stiles. I love you so much, and I'm sorry for pushing you away."

"Don't apologise to me," he said as he drew me back into his arms, breathing a relieved sigh. "I love you, too."

♧♤♢♡
✧*:･ﾟStiles･ﾟ:*✧

It had been a day since the chemical attack on the pack at the school, and Riley hadn't left my side. We had gone to see Charlotte so that she knew Riley was okay, but when I went to leave, she asked me to stay.

We were laying in her bed, listening to music and just staring at each other. The way her eyes watched me made me feel a bit nervous, every now and then her teeth dragging her bottom lip up to bite it gently.

"Riley?" I said softly.

"Yeah?" She replied, just as quietly.

"Back in the vault, when you said you forgave me and you loved me, was that true or were you just saying that because, you know. . . we almost died?"

The hurt that reached her face could have ran me through, "Do you really think that?"

"No."
I took a moment, before leaning forward and kissing her gently, "I missed you so much."

"We were barely broken up a week. If you would even call that broken up," she laughed gently, taking my hand in her own. Her warmth ran through me, making me feel nervous to be beside her again.

"Well, it felt like a lifetime to me," I told her, running my fingers through her short hair with my free hand.

She traced a finger down my cheek where the blood from the Chemist had been.
"How are you doing?" She asked softly.

After we left the school Riley had helped me wash the blood away as I told her everything that had happened. The fact that she had heard part of that and thought that I had been shot crushed me.

Last night, when I closed my eyes, I felt the barrel of the gun pressed to my forehead, causing me to wake up sweating. Riley was by my side, helping me through the panic attack.

I hadn't had one of them since I thought my dad was going to die, so it was a shock to my system to wake up to one.

After a while, I fell back asleep in her arms, praying to get through the rest of the night.

"I'm doing as well as I can be, I guess. But when I close my eyes, I feel it. The gun against my forehead," I told her honestly.

Her eyes softened as she shuffled so that she was closer to me. She lifted a hand carefully, gently touching her fingers to my forehead. I shivered at her touch, which she noticed.

Riley went to take her hand away, but I caught it quickly, leading it to my chest. "I'm definitely better with you here."

A small smile reached her face as she chuckled, "Stiles, you're probably the strongest of all of us. You don't need me."

"Yes, I do," I said without missing a beat, nothing but a sharp seriousness in my voice. "I'll always need you."

She bit her lip, smiling, "Well, it's a good thing that I don't plan on going anywhere then. Not again."

"I'm holding you to that, Winters."

♧♤♢♡
✧･ﾟ:*Riley*:･ﾟ✧

"Is three enough?" Kira asked as we placed the laptops on Scott's kitchen bench.

Stiles sighed, "Depends on how many cameras they have. But I think so."

"Are we really doing this?" Liam asked. I was surprised to see him here after everything that had happened with Garrett. The teenage assassin had attempted to kill the boy, stabbing him with wolfsbane and leaving him at the bottom of a well to die.

But thankfully, Scott had found him in time and helped him out. Now, for some reason, he was here helping us instead of reconsidering his choice to be a part of this pack. He was definitely becoming accustomed to being a werewolf, I'd give him that.

"We're doing it. Tonight," Scott told him without a hint of doubt in his voice.

"But isn't it kind of dangerous?"

"Yeah, it's incredibly dangerous. And borderline idiotic," My boyfriend agreed.

"Have you guys done something like this before?"

"Something dangerous? Or something idiotic?"

"I think it's a yes to both," Kira stated.

I nodded, holding back the urge to laugh, "Oh, it's definitely both. I can guarantee you that."

As Liam looked away, Scott gave me an annoyed look. I whispered a small sorry as I stepped closer to Stiles, almost hiding behind him.

"You don't have to be part of it if you don't want to," Scott reassured Liam.

"I'm not scared," The beta almost snapped.

Stiles dropped a hand on the boy's shoulder with a smile and a wink. "Then you're borderline idiotic."

Liam seemed to loosen up a bit at this, even smiling a little. I took a hold of one of Stiles' hands, squeezing it gently, telling him he'd done well.

Stiles smiled down at me, before focusing back on the plan. "If we do this, we don't know what's coming for us. You know that, right?"

"How do we even know something's definitely coming?" The Kitsune asked.

"The tape," I reminded her, thinking back to the audio tape that Scott and Stiles had shown me.

Scott nodded, "The tape from Garrett's bag said visual confirmation required."

"Simon - the Chemist - said the same thing." Stiles confirmed, recalling when the man had held him at gun point. "He couldn't get paid by the Benefactor until he had proof that you guys were dead."

"So the idea is, what if you kill someone on the Deadpool, but you can't send the proof?"

"You don't get paid," Kira answered.

"But how does that get us any closer to the Benefactor?" Liam asked, looking for flaws that could cause this to go wrong.

"He still needs to know if the target is really dead," Scott told him.

"Especially if it's someone high on the list," Stiles tacked on from beside me, his voice sounding nervous.

Liam nodded, "So, if he wants visual confirmation. . ."

"Then he'll have to come and get it his damned self," I ground out. I was completely over this Deadpool, having to look over our shoulder at every turn for assassins.
"I still think this is a bad idea," I whispered to Stiles.

"Well, it's the only one we've got right now," he answered, my worry mirrored on his face.