𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

As I sit on the school bus which is headed towards the cross country meet, I sit sideways on my seat due to the fact no one is next to me and I listen to Stiles quizzing Scott in the seat behind me.

"Hey, yo, Scotty?" Stiles snaps his fingers, waking up my brother "Still with me?"

"Yeah, sorry" Scott replies.

"You good, bro?" I ask in concern, laying my head back on the window.

"I'm fine" He answers, looking back to Stiles "What's the word?"

"Anachronism" Stiles declares.

"Something that exists out of its normal time" Scott explains.

"Nice. Okay, next word is incongruous" Stiles speaks.

"Can you use it in a sentence?" Scott asks.

"Yes. Yes, I can" Stiles answers "It's completely incongruous that we're sitting on a bus right now on our way to some stupid cross country meet after what just happened, incongruous"

"Out of place, ridiculous, absurd" Scott replies.

"Perfect. Okay, next word...um, Darach" Stiles says and we both look at him in surprise "Darach, it's a noun. We have to talk about it sometime, okay? And we're gonna be stuck in this thing for, like, five hours, so why not?"

Scott lays his head on the window, ignoring his best friend and I sigh, looking down at the bandage on my arm to cover the gash under it. I pull the sleeves of my leather jacket back down over my forearms and pull my legs up to my chest, resting my chin on my knees.

"Next word, intransigent" Stiles huffs out.

"Stubborn, obstinate" Scott says before the bus goes over a bump.

My brother groans in pain, grabbing his stomach and I perk up in worry.

"Oh, buddy, you okay?" Stiles asks and Scott's face screws up in pain "We shouldn't have come. I knew it. We shouldn't have come"

"We had to" Scott grunts "There's safety in numbers"

"Yeah, well, there's also death in numbers, okay?" Stiles retorts "It's called a massacre, or bloodbath, carnage, slaughter, butchery, wow, that's..."

"Shut up, Stiles" I groan.

Scott let's out another pained whine and I look at him, getting more and more concerned by the minute.

"All right, Scott, I'm telling Coach that-" Stiles gets cut off by Scott who grabs his arm.

"No. No, no, no" Scott snaps "I'm all right"

"You don't look all right, Scotty" I frown.

"Would you just let me see it?" Stiles huffs, trying to pull up my brother's shirt but he shrugs the Stilinski boy off.

"I'm okay" He states.

"Just let me see it, okay?" Stiles pleads in worry.

"Okay" Scott nods.

He pulls his shirt up and I grimace at the large bloody claw marks on his body.

"Oh, dude" Stiles mutters.

"I know it's bad, but it's because they're from an Alpha. It'll take longer to heal" Scott explains.

"What about you?" Stiles asks me.

"I don't have supernatural healing, dork. It's gonna scar" I tell him and he winces.

"How come Boyd and Isaac are fine then?" Stiles asks.

"They didn't get caught as bad" I answer with a shrug.

"I can't believe he's dead" Scott frowns, looking out the window "I can't believe Derek's dead"

<<flashback>>

I storm into the Hale apartment and the first thing I see is Cora, Peter, Derek, Boyd and Scott gathered around the table.

"Scheming without me?" I ask teasingly and they all collectively roll their eyes.

I pad over to the table and see the table is littered with blueprints, making me raise a brow.

"What do we have here?" I hum.

"Is it obvious? The schemers are scheming, coming up with a coup de main, better known as a pre-emptive strike" Peter explains and I cross my arms over my chest.

"You're going after them?" Scott asks in disbelief.

"I assume we're talking about the Alpha pack" I comment and Cora nods at me.

"Tomorrow. And you two are gonna help us" Derek declares.

"I've already told you, Derek, she's not ready!" Cora protests, glancing at me in worry.

"And I've already told you, Cora, she's as ready as she'll ever be" Derek retorts.

"What do you say, Sabrina Spellman?" Peter asks me.

I share a small smile with my best friend before looking to Derek and Peter.

"Count me in" I smirk.

<<end of flashback>>

"Two of you back in your seats!" Coach whistles, waking me from my short nap.

He stops to talk to Jared about his travel sickness and I sit up, running my fingers through my hair.

"McCall, not you too!" Coach groans and my brother sits up straight.

"No, Coach, I'm good" Scott assures the man.

"Hey, Scott, you're bleeding again" Stiles states and I lean over the seat to see the red stains on his white shirt "And don't tell me that it's just taking longer to heal, okay? Because I'm pretty sure that is still bleeding"

"Scotty, you're not healing" I say, worry lacing my tone.

"He's listening" Scott declares and I turn to see who he's looking at.

I notice Ethan with his ear turned to us and I sigh, turning back to the boys.

"Is he gonna do something?" Stiles asks.

"Not in front of this many people" I assure the dorky boy.

"Okay, well, what about the two ticking time bombs sitting right near him" Stiles then asks, pointing at Isaac and Boyd.

"No, they won't. Not here" Scott answers.

"Okay, well, what if they do?" Stiles counters "Are you gonna stop them?"

"If I have to" Scott replies.

<<flashback>>

"They're one floor above them in the penthouse, right above Allison" Derek announces.

"Is she gonna be safe?" I ask in concern, glancing at my brother.

"That's not our main concern" Peter answers, causing me to shoot him a glare.

"So kill them first, that's the plan?" Scott asks, looking unimpressed.

"They won't even see it coming" Boyd elaborates.

"Why is the default plan always murder? Just once, can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?" Scott explains in annoyance.

"You never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you?" Peter scoffs before turning to Derek "Not that I disagree with him"

"I do. Why do we need this kid?" Cora retorts and I roll my eyes.

"This kid helped save your life" Derek tells his sister before looking at Scott "And you know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move"

"You can't beat a pack of Alphas" Scott declares.

"That's why we're going after Deucalion, just him" Cora replies.

"Cut off the head of the snake and the body dies" Boyd adds.

"Only this isn't a snake. It's a Hydra. And like Scott says, they're all Alphas" Peter explains.

"Deucalion's still the leader" Derek argues.

"Let's hope so" Peter responds "Because you know what happened when Hercules cut off one of the heads of the Hydra?"

"Two more grew back in its place" I answer.

"Somebody's been doing their summer reading" Peter smirks.

"Not at all. Just a fan of Greek mythology" I shrug.

<<end of flashback>>

The bus comes to an abrupt stop and I jerk sideways, hitting the chair in front. A groan of pain leaves my lips and I pull my arm to my chest.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asks me in concern and I nod, waving him off.

Scott jumps up and I turn to him in surprise.

"What?" I ask curiously.

"Scott, where are you going?" Stiles asks.

"Boyd. He's gonna do something" Scott tells us in a rushed tone.

"Okay, what? How do you know that?" Stiles rambles out.

"Look at his hands" Scott states and I do just that.

I watch in worry as Boyd's claws extend and he digs them into the seat in front of him. Scott pushes himself out his seat and makes his way down the bus towards Boyd. He sits opposite the boy and they start talking in hushed voices.

"Are you sure you're okay, Natty?" Stiles asks me and I turn to him.

"Seriously, Stiles, I'm okay" I assure him.

"Is it just your arm?" He asks curiously.

"Yeah. That bitch Kali got me good with her nasty toe claws" I grumble, making Stiles grimace in disgust.

Scott appears next to me and I turn to my brother.

"Crisis averted?" Stiles asks.

"Mmhm" Scott nods.

"Okay, good. Cause we got another problem" Stiles explains as Scott squeezes past him to sit down in his seat at the window.

"We do?" I ask and the Stilinski boy nods.

"Ethan keeps checking his phone, like, every five minutes. It's like he's waiting for something, you know, like, a message or a signal of some kind. I don't know, something evil though, I can tell. I have a very perceptive eye for evil, but you know that" Stiles rants tirelessly.

"I don't like him sitting with Danny" Scott states.

"Yeah, neither do I" Stiles agrees before pulling out his phone "I'm gonna see what he's waiting for"

"What are you doing?" I ask curiously.

"I'm gonna ask" He answers simply.

Danny checks his phone and turns to us. Stiles smiles, shaking his phone and Danny shakes his head, mouthing the word 'no'. Stiles frustratedly types on his phone again, messages flying back and forth.

After aggressively slamming his finger against the screen repeatedly and then looking up, both Danny and Ethan turn to look our way. The boys duck behind my seat and I awkwardly wave at them.

"That wasn't very subtle" Stiles mutters as Danny and Ethan turn around to the front.

"You're not kidding" I scoff sarcastically.

The boys sit up properly again and Stiles' phone chimes. He turns the phone and I read the message from Danny.

Danny
Someone close to him is sick. Might not make it through the night.

"Ennis?" Scott mumbles.

"Most likely" I nod in agreement.

"Okay, so does that mean..." Stiles trails off.

"He's not dead" Scott finishes.

"Not yet" Stiles adds.