𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

As I'm running, I bump into a figure and I look up, my brows furrowing in confusion.

"Dad?" I mumble.

"I'm so disappointed, Natalia" He frowns and my heart drops.

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone" I tell him, my bottom lip quivering.

"When why do it? Why kill them?" He asks.

"Who?" I ask, unsure of what he's talking about.

"Them" He says, pointing behind me.

I turn around and a sob escapes my lips. My mom, my brother and all my friends stand there, even Peter and Derek. Each of them are so bloody that they're barely recognisable, some have missing limbs while others are impaled or severely hurt.

"No" I choke out, tears spilling down my cheeks.

"Why did you do this to me, Natty?" Scott asks, a chunk of glass protruding from his head in a way that not even a supernatural could heal from.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" I sob, reaching out to grab his face but he moves back.

"You're a monster, Natalia" My mom tells me, a disappointed look on her face "You are evil"

"No, I can be good. I promise. I can be good, Momma" I cry out but she just shakes her head at me.

"You're mother is right. You are just darkness, pure and unfiltered darkness" Derek tells me and I shake my head.

"You're wrong" I argue, taking a step back "I'm good. I'm one of the good guys!"

"Then why did you do it?" I hear my father ask and I turn to him.

He stands in front of me, covered head to toe in blood, with a scowl on his face and I heave in breaths.

"Please believe me, Daddy" I desperately beg my father "I didn't mean it. It was an accident"

"You are going to die alone" I hear a voice say and I turn around to see Stiles, glass sticking out from his body "No one will ever love a monster like you"

"Stiles, I'm sorry" I whimper, my heart shattering like the glass poking out of his bloody skin "Please don't leave me alone. Please, Stiles. I can't be alone"

I reach out to grab his hand and he disappears into thin air. A loud wail escapes my lips as I watch each of my loved ones disappear, one by one.

"No!" I scream in agony.

"Natalia! Hey, snap out of it!" I hear a distant voice yell and my eyes suddenly snap open.

The first thing I see is Stiles and Lydia looking at me in horror, but I let out a sigh of relief to see that they're alive.

I feel something scratching my throat and look down to see I'm standing on a chair. My gaze then slowly travels up to see a rope tied to the ceiling fan and I shakily reach up to my neck, a sob escaping my lips when I feel the rope around my throat.

"Nat, don't move" Lydia warns me as they slowly walk towards me.

"I'm scared, Lyds" I choke out "I'm really scared"

"Everything's gonna be okay" Stiles assures me "Just stay very still"

"I-I can't remember what happened" I cry.

"I think that whatever is affecting the werewolves is affecting you too" Lydia explains as Stiles carefully loosens the rope around my neck.

"Did you find the others?" I ask, trying to distract myself as Stiles removes the rope.

"Yes. Boyd tried to drown himself and Isaac was hidden under one of the beds" She tells me.

"What about Scott? Where's my brother?" I ask in concern.

"Allison went to get him" She answers.

I hear the rope hit the floor and I let out a breath of relief, looking down at Stiles.

"Come here" He says, holding out his hand.

I completely ignore his hand, throwing myself at him and wrapping my arms around him, snuggling my face into his neck. He hesitates but wraps his arms around me and rubs my back soothingly as I sniffle.

"I thought you were dead" I whisper, squeezing him tightly "It scared the shit out of me"

"It's good to know you care" Stiles replies teasingly and I don't even have the energy to reply as I pull away from him, hugging Lydia.

The strawberry blonde hugs me tightly, stroking my hair and rocking me gently. She grabs my bare arms and pulls me out at arms length with a frown.

"God, you're freezing" She states.

"Here, take this" I hear Stiles say and I turn my head to see him pull off his zip up hoodie.

"Thanks, Stiles" I smile gratefully, slipping the green hoodie on over my yellow crop top and internally cursing myself out for wearing a denim skirt.

Allison abruptly enters the room with a worried look on her face and we all look at her, waiting for her to speak.

"I can't find Scott anywhere" She declares and we all rush out the room.

"It's happening to him too, isn't it?" Stiles asks as we walk down the stairs.

"It has to be" Lydia answers "But didn't you say there was another flare on the bus?"

"Yeah, I'll get it" Stiles nods.

We turn the corner and I swear I feel my heart drop out of my body as I see my brother standing with the last flare in his hand. My eyes wander to the floor and I see a gasoline bottle, leading me to believe the liquid Scott is currently soaked in is in fact flammable.

"Scott" Allison is the first to speak as we walk around him so he's facing us "Scott"

"There's no hope" Scott says, his voice sounding sad and lost.

"What do you mean, Scott? There's always hope" Allison argues and I feel a hand grab mine.

I turn my head and through teary eyes I send Lydia a grateful look, squeezing her hand tighter as I turn back to my brother.

"Not for me...Not for Derek" Scott replies.

"Derek wasn't your fault" Allison assures him "You know Derek wasn't your fault"

"Every time I try to fight back, it just gets worse. People keep getting hurt. People keep getting killed" Scott states.

"Scott, listen to me, okay? This isn't you, all right?" Stiles speaks up, taking a couple steps forward "This is someone inside your head telling you to do this. Okay?"

"What if it isn't?" Scott asks and a tear rolls down my cheek "What if it is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else?"

"It all started that night, the night I got bitten. You remember the way it was before that? You and me" Scott continues and Stiles nods, tears falling down his face too "We were...We were nothing. We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse. We weren't important. We were no one"

"Maybe I should just be no one again. No one at all" He finishes, lowering the flame down slightly and my eyes widen in fear.

"Scott, just listen to me, okay? You're not no one. Okay? You're someone, you're...Scott, you're my best friend. Okay? I need you. Scott, you're my brother...All right, so- So if you're gonna do this" Stiles tells him, taking a hold of the flare so that they're both holding it while standing in the pool of gasoline "Then I think you're just gonna have to take me with you"

Scott cries, shaking his head and Stiles pries the flare out of my brother's hand before throwing it behind him.

Relief fills my body as I watch the flare hit the ground and I almost let my guard down until a gust of wind blows the flare, causing it to roll towards the gasoline on the ground.

"No!" I scream, sprinting forward and tackling the boys onto dry ground.

The pool of liquid goes up in flames and I look down at my boys, relief finally setting in when I see that they're okay.

❦ ❦ ❦

"I don't want to know!" I hear Coach's voice boom, waking me up "I really don't want to know!"

I pry my eyes open and realise that I'm curled up on Stiles' lap. Yawning sleepily, I sit up straight and see that it's now daylight.

"In case you missed the announcement, the meet's cancelled, so we're heading home" Coach declares.

"Pack it in. Pack it in!" He adds, rushing everyone onto the bus.

Ethan is the first to walk on, the Alpha sitting down next to Scott who looks at Stiles and I in surprise.

"I don't know what happened last night, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life" Ethan starts.

"Actually, I saved your life" Stiles buts in.

"And I helped" I grin tiredly.

"But not that it matters that much. It's a minor detail" Stiles shrugs, butting back out.

"So I'm gonna give you something. We're pretty sure Derek's still alive" Ethan reveals and Scott's eyes widen in shock "But he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen. Either he joins our pack..."

"And kills his own" Scott adds.

"Or Kali goes after him, and we kill him. That's the way it works" Ethan explains.

"You know, your little code of ethics there is sort of barbaric, just FYI" Stiles sasses the Alpha as he walks away to sit next to Danny.

I elbow the Stilinski boy and he shoots me a glare, poking my ribs. Just as I'm about to slap him upside the head, I get distracted by Lydia who jumps out her seat.

"Coach, can I see your whistle for a second?" She rushes out, grabbing the man's whistle from around his neck.

"Hey! I'm gonna need that back" He tells her before walking to the back of the bus.

Lydia sits down in the seat opposite Scott and covers the back of the whistle with her hand before blowing into it. She then pulls her hand away and shows us her palm which is covered in purple dust.

"Wolfsbane" Lydia elaborates.

"So every time Coach blew the whistle on the bus, Scott, Isaac, Boyd..." Stiles drawls off.

"And Ethan" I add.

"We all inhaled it" Scott realises.

"You were all poisoned by it" Allison corrects.

"So that's how the Darach got in their heads. That's how he did it" Stiles states in disbelief.

The boy quickly snatches the whistle from Lydia and leans over me, opening the bus window and launching the whistle outside.

"Hey, hey, hey! Stilinski!" Coach hollers as the bus starts moving.

The coach shoots Stiles a dirty glare before sitting down in his seat knowing there's nothing to be done about it now that the bus is heading back to Beacon Hills.

"What I don't understand is how the Darach got into Natalia's head" Allison speaks up and they all look to me "You're not affected by wolfsbane, right?"

"No. It's for wolves" I answer simply.

"So, how'd he get to you if wolfsbane doesn't weaken you?" Lydia asks and I turn to look out the window, ignoring their stares.

"Maybe I'm already weak" I breathe out.