"With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it- does not."

Arms crossed, her eyes narrowed at the sign. She couldn't tell what it was, but it was haunting and it made her feel uneasy. Indigo stared at it until they passed it, but even when they did, a flyer on the front doors held the same anxiety-inducing letters that were enough to make her heart pump and her palms sweaty.

    PSAT.

Indigo grimaced, almost as if in pain, as they walked through the front doors, her eyes glancing to the line running from one classroom doorway, all the way to them. She huffed and followed everyone else: Scott, Stiles, Kira, and Malia. Instantly, Indigo tried to relax on the lockers, leaning her head around to gaze at the person at the front of the line. Most were talking to each other, some standing silently. She bit her lip and her leg began bouncing.

Stiles eyebrows furrowed at the noise of slight rattling and looked to Indigo, seeing her heel click against the bottom locker as she peered around him at the front of the line. He took a quick glance as well, before looking back to her as he placed his hand on her thigh. Indigo's leg stilled instantly, snapping her attention to him, eyes wide.

"Are you nervous?" He asked, joking a little- even adding a small smile. But Indigo only leaned off of the locker, shaking her head.

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

His smile turned to a small side-smirk, his hands taking place on either of her shoulder, getting her to face him head on.

"Indigo, you don't have to be nervous. You can always take it again-"

Indigo sighed, shaking her head at her boyfriend. She couldn't tell if she was nervous about the test, or not. Her chest felt tight and her shoulders felt heavy.

She licked her lips as she looked back to the front door. "Lydia would agree with me. Where is she?"

Stiles dropped his arms and crossed them. "She took it freshman year."

Both Indigo and Malia turned to Stiles with bewildered looks, before Malia scoffed, "Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?"

"Guys-" Scott huffed. "Both of you, you studied. Harder than any of us."

Indigo raised an eyebrow and immediately turned to Stiles, who was nodding in agreement, until he saw her look. He stopped and gave her a questioning look in return.

"I'm not so sure I would have called it studying. . ." Indigo trailed off.

  Her legs were crossed as she sat on her bed, Stiles lying next to her with his legs sprawled on her pillows and his back on her mattress. He looked over as he twirled the extra pencil in his hand, watching as her eyebrows cinched while she looked at his explanation.

"Stiles- this doesn't make sense." Indigo sighed, shaking her head at the practice book, looking down to him. He smiled, tilting his head.

"When you move 5x and combine it with 7x, you have to move it to the right side to leave it with the 2x squared-"

Indigo interrupted him. "But with equations, aren't you supposed to combine and separate like-factors and put the 'x' on one side and the exponents on one so that when you're simplified you can divide and solve for x, which you can plug into the 'y' equation?"

Stiles let her words process, his lips parted slightly- she was completely right. The mathematical terms flowed from her lips as if it were natural and Stiles couldn't help but love the sound of intelligence coming from her mouth.

"God, I love you."

Indigo became confused at the sudden confession, but she was soon surprised with Stiles' lips on hers, his body quickly leaning up to meet hers as he instantly began kissing her. She hummed in approval, closing her eyes as she put her pencil down and cupped his jaw, enjoying their possibly fifth or sixth break from studying.

Stiles blushed a bit at her jab at their form of 'studying', as he leaned into her to make a snide remark, "Hey, if there was an anatomy section-"

He didn't get to finish before Indigo quickly backhanded his bicep, causing him to step away, hissing at the sudden shock.

Not paying attention, Malia continued on, rolling her eyes at Scott's attempt at optimism. "Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."

"See?" Indigo nodded, gesturing to Malia to emphasize her great point. Malia nodded back to her in return, a smile plastered on her face. Indigo looked back to Stiles who winced a little, and shrugged.

"What is it?"

"Well."

Indigo and Malia's confused glances made Stiles continue.

"It's- It's do well, not good." Stiles mumbled a little. The two girls' eyes widened, looking to each other.

"Oh my god." Malia groaned. Indigo placed her head in her hands, looking down to the tile floor in despair.

"Okay, okay-" Scott held his hands out, trying to ease the two. "You're both doing this, because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. I mean, if I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college."

Kira nodded in agreement, the two girls now looking to her. "It's three hours. We can survive three hours."

Indigo raised her eyebrow at the girl, but Kira continued to give her a hopeful look. Indigo groaned and leaned over, allowing her forehead to smash into Stiles' chest. Stiles stumbled, only a little, before he sighed, wrapping his arms around her. She continued to slump, feeling Stiles' hands run smooth circles on her back.

‡

Indigo stepped up to the desk when Stiles was done pressing his finger to the card. She gave the man a small smile, but he didn't return it. Awkwardly, Indigo puffed her cheeks before letting the air out, as she placed her thumb in the ink and made her thumb print on her paper. The man handed her paper and two test pencils, before directing her to her seat.

Nervously, she quickly made her way there and no longer than a few moments later, Scott sat next to her. Alphabetical order, horizontally. Indigo peered over her left shoulder, not seeing Stiles, before looking over her right and seeing him tap his desk with both pencils as the same time.

Stiles looked around before finding her gaze. He gave her a smile and a nod, only receiving a frown from her. Stiles shoulders slumped.

'You'll do fine.' He mouthed to her. Indigo slowly nodded, hoping that taking his word for it would somehow make her perform better on the test. She turned around just as the man up front began to speak.

"Please do not open the test booklet until you are instructed to do so." He huffed. "This test is two hours and ten minutes. There will be two 25-minute critical reading sections, two 25-minute math sections and an essay writing portion that will last 30 minutes-"

Indigo turned to Stiles, a small bit of fear in her heart at the sound of an essay, his eyes meeting hers apologetically.

"Please keep your eyes forward." The man sternly stopped his speech to indirectly-directly tell Indigo to face the front. With a blush, Indigo slumped in her seat and turned back around, letting him continue.

"There are supposed to be two teachers monitoring this exam." He looked over to Ms. Martin, Lydia's mom. She gave a small nod, stepping closer to him to speak.

"I know, it's Coach." She sighed. "He's not exactly punctual. Um, let me just try him again."

She grabbed her phone from the table and left the room, leaving the class in silence. It was only about a minute, until she walked in, a tight smile on her face as she looked to the man.

"I can't find him, but Mr. Yukimura is upstairs grading papers. Do you want me to try him?" She suggested. The man shook his head.

"We have to start. We can ask for his assistance during the first break."

The man looked back to his little instruction booklet, before looking back to the class with a stopwatch in hand.

"You may now open your test booklets and begin."

Indigo heard the shuffle of everyone's test, but hers still remained closed. She sighed and nervously looked to it, biting her lip as she twirled the pencil in her hand. Finally, her fingers reached for the corner and opened to the first reading passage, which took a moment to go from large blur of words to actual paragraphs. Indigo blinked a little and sighed as she already began to become warm. She rolled up the sleeves of her shirt a little, fanning her face with her left hand as she began to read.

Gasps were heard, until someone collapsing caught Indigo's attention. She spun around and found that the girl next to Stiles had fallen to the floor. Indigo's eyes widened and watched as Ms. Martin rushed back to her.

"Sydney!" She hurried, helping the girl up. "Are you alright?"

The girl took a deep breath, nodding lightly. "I'm okay. I just- got kind of dizzy."

Ms. Martin sighed, before her eyebrows furrowed and she turned Sydney's wrist over.

"Sydney, how long have you had this?"

Indigo edged in her seat a little to attempt to catch a glimpse, but nothing. Sydney shook her head as she shrugged.

"I don't know."

The man spoke, looking to Lydia's mom. "Ms. Martin, do I need to stop the test?"

The woman took a few moments to answer, before she quickly shook her head, dropping Sydney's wrist.

"No, um, it's fine."

Ms. Martin let Sydney sit back down before she rushed back to the front and grabbed her phone again.

"Everybody stay in your seats. I'll, um-" She gulped, grabbing the door handle. "I'll be back in a minute."

Indigo watched as she leaned into the man and listened intently as Ms. Martin whispered, 'Nobody leaves this room.'

Indigo froze and watched as Ms. Martin left the room. She refused to focus on her test, listening as Ms. Martin walked down the hallway for a minute, before running back.

"No, no! Get back! Do not come in here! Get back outside!"

Indigo rushed with everyone else, piling out of the door just in time to see kids leave the front doors and Ms. Martin looking to all of them with wide eyes.

"Back to your seats."

A few went back in, but some remained, including Indigo, Scott, Stiles, Malia, and Kira.

"Now." Ms. Martin emphasized.

Indigo looked back to Scott and Stiles behind her, seeing both of their concerned faces and feeling a little relief that she wasn't the only suspicious one. Stiles met her gaze and gestured back to the classroom. Indigo nodded and walked in front of him, feeling a gentle squeeze on her hand before she split off back to her seat. Her head spun to watch as Stiles sat back down, seeing him give a small smile, doing his best to assure Indigo. She let out a long breath, relaxing in her seat for just a moment.

   "I need the number for the CDC."

  Indigo listened to the phone call happening in the hallway, focusing on Ms. Martin's voice and rushed heartbeat.

   "Yes, the Center for Disease Control."

Instantly, Indigo looked to Scott who looked to her in confusion. She didn't feel good about this and wondered if this is what she was worried about earlier.

But what did she have to do with diseases?

‡

Large containment areas were soon replacing the testing room and large tarps covered the windows. Some students sat within, especially Sydney who was being watched closely. Indigo leaned next to Stiles on a desk, Malia and Kira standing in front of them.

"What is it? Why are we suddenly prisoners?" Indigo whispered, looking to all of them. Stiles looked to her eyes, explaining.

"Center for Disease Control is trying to contain the disease so that it doesn't spread, in case it's deadly. But, it's probably just small pox."

"Not likely."

They all turned to the man who was registering the test, seeing he was calmly sitting at the front desk as he just now looked to them.

"Small pox was eradicated worldwide in 1979. We've only managed to completely eradicate two viruses in history. The other was rinderpest. It killed cows."

"So, we should be comforted by that, right?" Stiles asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he shrugged, assuming. The man didn't look too relaxed.

"Unless it's something worse." The man answered.

Stiles pursed his lips and nodded, turning back to the girls. Indigo didn't like the idea of something worse in here and being contained with it.

"Whatever it is, they're taking it pretty seriously." Malia nodded, watching the hazmat suits walk around from area to area, kid to kid. Indigo turned and watched for a moment, continuing to feel uneasy. "There are a lot of trucks and cars out there."

  "We're doing the best we can."

Indigo turned to Stiles. "Your dad is out there."

Stiles quickly nodded, standing up. "I should probably call him."

He began to rummage through the box of bagged phones, before the man interrupted him.

"Don't bother. They would have shut off any access to all outside communication by now. No cell service, no WiFi, no starting a panic. Looks like we're all just going to have to wait here and- see what happens."

Slowly, Stiles backtracked to the desk next to Indigo. He only took his eyes off the man for a moment, looking to Indigo as he slid his fingers in-between hers. Indigo relaxed a little and leaned her tired head against his shoulder.

A pressure began in her head and she winced. Indigo sat up straight again and ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to mess with the headache, but it wasn't just that. Her gums hurt and the tips of her fingers ached. She clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to make the feeling go away but it just kept growing.

Stiles noticed when she pulled her hand away, looking to her expression and fidgeting. He leaned over, trying to peer at her face that was facing down, focusing on her fists.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She became confused. Indigo didn't know what she was feeling. It felt like she was shifting, but holding back- except she wasn't. She wasn't trying to shift at all, why would she?

"I don't know." Indigo became nervous, glancing to Stiles. "It's like- somethings happening, but not. . . at the same time."

Stiles thought for a moment. With no answer, he looked around for Scott, but nothing. His head spun around and around looking for his best friend and her brother- but nothing.

"Where's Scott?"

Indigo's eyes widened. "Scott, Scott- It's him. Something's happening to him. Where is he?"

Stiles shrugged. "That's it, I can't find him."

Indigo became worried, before she spoke under her breath. "Scott? Scott, can you hear me? Scott?"

There was a bit of silence, until his voice echoed in her ears. "Tell Stiles to come to the locker room. Now."

"Screw that, we're both coming." Indigo huffed. She stood and grabbed Stiles' hand, pulling him along as she looked to Malia and Kira.

"Tell us if anything happens out here." She pleaded. Malia nodded, allowing Indigo to rush out the classroom door with Stiles. They both made a straight b-line for the locker rooms. Just before they entered, the door opened and Mr. Yukimura was a bit surprised when he found the two already at the door. Scott had told him to get Stiles.

"He's between the lockers." He nodded.

The two rushed in, Indigo's head peeking around the aisles of locker, before finding Scott curled on a bench, head leaning against the actual lockers.

"Scott, what is going on?" Indigo hurried, sitting down in front of him as Stiles stood in front of them. He was shining with sweat and his fists were clenched. He looked up to her and instantly, his Alpha red eyes shined for a quick moment, before disappearing.

Indigo furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you shifting?"

"I don't know. . ." He breathed out, heavily. "I'm not trying."

Indigo sighed, having trouble keeping her eyes on a struggling Scott. She wanted to help but nothing, she couldn't do anything. She had no idea what was going on.

"You're not- sick, are you?" She wondered.

Mr. Yukimura answered, shaking his head. "Scott wouldn't get sick, neither would you. Not being supernatural."

Indigo huffed, running her hands over her face in annoyance.

The sound of the door opening again caught everyone's attention, footsteps rushing their way, but they all relaxed when Kira and Malia appeared at the lockers. Both of them moved in and took deep breaths, looking around to all of them.

Scott took more and more deep breaths, before looking back to Kira's dad hopefully. Indigo watched as his eyes continued to flash, Mr. Yukimura shaking his head.

"It's still happening."

A sigh came from Malia, as she lifted her hands up revealing her coyote claws. "I can't make them go back."

"Obviously, the virus is affecting you both in a way it won't hit any human being." Mr. Yukimura spoke up. Indigo looked down to her fingertips and ran her tongue over her teeth-  normal.

"You guys have to stay out of sight." Stiles nodded, glancing between them. "We have to quarantine you from the quarantine."

  "Yeah, but where?" Kira asked, curious. "I mean, what if they get violent? Like on a full moon."

"We shouldn't stay in here." Scott sighed. "Not in a locker room."

  "A classroom isn't going to hold us." Malia shook her head as she crossed her arms.

"What about the basement?" Kira wondered.  Scott shook his head, gulping.

   "Too many ways out. We need something secure. Somewhere nobody can find us."

There was a pause, before Stiles mumbled. "The Vault."

Indigo looked to Stiles, confused a bit before nodding.

Stiles looked to everyone else, explaining. "The Hale Vault."

     Scott quickly nodded. "The Hale's always had an escape route. Like their house."

He paused, thinking hard for a moment.

" There has to be another way in."

‡

Mr. Yukimura quickly rolled out the map of the school on Coach's desk, everyone huddling around. Indigo did her best to watch, but her headache was back. She thought it was Scott at first, feeling his forced shifting, but this one was worse, sharper. This was her headache. The pain made her sweaty, but she was already feeling warm before, in the locker room. The trip to Coach's office was almost exhausting, and now, she leaned on the desk.

"This is where the school sign is-" Stiles pointed his finger to the map. "-so the vault's got to be right. . . about. . . here."

Kira's dad slowly nodded. "I suppose if there's a second entrance, it would probably be accessible from the basement."

Stiles leaned more, pointing to a hall. "It's probably somewhere in this hallway. West corridor."

He continued to point, until his body stumbled into Mr. Yukimura, his eyes fluttering for a moment, before he caught himself. Indigo's eyes widened, knowing that wasn't just clumsy.

That was getting sick.

"Woah." Stiles mumbled, standing back up. Indigo watched him carefully, quickly accessing him and listening to his heartbeat, just in case. Stiles lifted the sleeve of his jacket slightly, revealing a gross pink rash on his wrist. Indigo became confused and worried all in the same moment.

"It's happening to you, too." Kira's dad sighed. "You're getting sick. You all are."

Kira shrugged. " I don't feel sick."

Her dad unfolded paper from his pocket, placing it on the table. "I think it's affecting you differently, neurologically. I found your test answers here in a pile with the others."

Indigo looked over the paper and Kira had bubbled in next to the actual bubbles. She looked up to the girl and found a worried expression on Kira's face. She sighed, hating the feeling of not being able to do anything for any of them. They all were getting sick, even Stiles. Although, Indigo hated the idea that it was her fault due to their blood connection.

Was she making Stiles sick?

‡

Their feet rushed down the stairs of the basement, Indigo's side slamming into the wall at the end of the rail, a wince making its way on to her face. Her tired eyes watched as the others rushed around, looking for the vault, Stiles making his way back over to her with wide eyes.

"Indigo, are you okay?"

"Just tired, is all." She nodded, catching her feet again. Stiles carefully walked with her, glancing to her every so often to make sure she didn't collapse behind him.

The two searched the shelf for any sort of indication of a vault or key, or something. Indigo sighed when she found nothing. She began to move away, until Stiles' caught her arm, bringing her back to it.

"What?" She asked.

Stiles pointed back behind the entire shelf, "Look." He moved something out of the way, revealing a lock on the wall. Scott peered along and Stiles quickly moved to one side of the shelf, Scott following and the both of them pushed it out of the way.

Indigo instantly recognized the carving in the wall, showing the Hale pack symbol.

"The cracks, in the wall." Stiles pointed out, feeling the indentation with the tips of his fingers. He touched the lock, tapping it. "It's like the entrance outside. It only opens with claws."

"Anyone's claws, right?"

Indigo shrugged and nodded. Scott looked to Stiles, who paused and turned around to Malia. Indigo furrowed her eyebrows, watching. Scott took a deep breath, turning around.

"Um, Malia, can you try?"

"Why me?" She wondered. Indigo was wondering the exact same thing. Scott lifted his hand, showing his normal fingers.

"I don't have control."

"What about Indigo?" Malia shrugged.  The girl nodded and showed her own claws. Stiles bit his lip and winced, walking over to Indigo quickly.

"Her- her claws are shaped. . . differently. It was two points, where yours have one."

Indigo looked to Stiles in confusion, wondering where any of this was coming from. She glanced at her claws and questioned if that would really make a difference.

Malia gave in anyways, nodding. "Okay. I'll do it."

Stiles and Scott both nodded in sighs of relief, until Malia spoke again.

"But first, tell me what you've been hiding from me."

Indigo froze and looked to the two. Had they been hiding something? Did they know something and not tell her? Stiles met her eyes for only a split second and when he looked away instantly with a skip in his heartbeat, Indigo's shoulder fell in the realization that there was something that was being kept between the two of them.

"I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it."

The two buys stuttered between each other and Indigo watched with a sense of pride as they struggled for a lie.

"I know I'm on the list." Malia spoke up.

Scott and Stiles slowly nodded, before quickly accepting it.

"Yes . . ." Stiles spoke.

"So, how much?" She shrugged.

"How much what?" Stiles furrowed his eyebrows. She scoffed.

"How much am I worth?"

Scott spoke up. "Four million."

Indigo eyes widened. Malia was on the list? She was worth four million dollars? She got over her shock, looking to Malia.

"Are you okay?"

Malia was quiet for a little, before nodding. "Yeah. You're- well, Everly's worth 30, Scott's 25, Kira, six. They'll take you guys out way before me."

Indigo huffed, eyes shutting for a moment at the statement. She was right, obviously, but the bluntness was something Indigo had been attempting to help her with.

Stiles caught her gaze and shrugged in unison. "That's progress."

Malia stepped past them, inserting her claws into the mechanism and turning it a few times, before the wall began to slid to the side, revealing the Vault. The five walked in, Indigo taking in her remembrance of the last time she was in here, the whole reason the dead pool was being funded. The bearer bonds stolen straight from the Hale Vault.

When they crossed the threshold, the door began to close again, leaving them within. Indigo took a deep breath, taking some solace in the fact that no one was getting in. Besides, maybe Derek. But the list of reasons he would be at the high school on a Saturday was really slim.

Taking another step in, Indigo was winded and her head suddenly felt like twenty pounds. Her sight fluttered and she hurried to a crate she saw on the ground, bracing her hands on it. Footsteps rushed after her and she felt the familiar hands of Stiles Stilinski on her waist. Indigo attempted deep breaths, but her lungs felt like stiff balloons.

"Here, come on." Stiles eased, taking a seat against the crate as he eased her to the ground, as well. Her body shivered involuntarily, besides the fact that she was sweating. Stiles' hand helped her sit on the ground and Indigo, wanting anything other than to sit up, began to curl into Stiles. He propped his knee up and her head rested on his chest, her back against his thigh. She looked up to him with exhaustion and barely felt his hand move strands of hair from her face, even wiping away a few beads of sweat.

Malia nodded, grabbing a pillar as she began to sink to the ground. "Good idea, Indigo."

Scott took his seat on a crate, elbows rested on his knees. Kira felt no need to sit, but just continued to walk around, almost pacing. Indigo felt Stiles move his arm, placing it over her as he held her arm. He looked around with a shake of his head.

"You know, this is where it all started." Stiles' voice echoed. His head gestured to the safe on a table. "That's where the money was. 117 million in bearer bonds."

"How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?" Kira furrowed her eyebrows, messing with things on shelves. Stiles shrugged gently, not to disturb Indigo.

"The bank, I guess. They just sit here the whole time, collecting dust."

  Stiles didn't like the silence, and he wanted to talk about it anyway. "You know bearer bonds are basically extinct?"

"Why does it matter?" Kira shrugged, finally taking a seat next to Scott. Stiles scoffed.

"You know how many problems that money could solve? For you?" He looked to Scott. "Indigo? Me. My dad- The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him."

Stiles looked down when he felt a hand slowly reach his chest, looking down to see Indigo with a defeated look.

"Our mom-" Scott brought up. "She does this thing. She writes down all the items in our budget, and how much they cost, then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until- we lose the house."

Indigo was tired anyway, but now she really didn't want to talk. Especially not about how it was her fault they were going bankrupt. She was causing the bills, she was causing the strain, and now- she was even causing Stiles sickness.

She continued to look up at Stiles as he looked around the vault. His image was a bit blurry, but she did her best to focus on him. But, the longer it went on, the worse her sight got and Indigo could tell she was falling asleep. She could barely raise her arm, she was so exhausted.

Without any movement, Indigo's eyes closed and she fell asleep.

‡

"Indigo."

"Indigo, hey. . . Wake up."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she did her best to take a deep breath as she woke up, letting it out slowly as she opened her eyes. It was blurry at first, before she focused, finding Stiles kneeling in front of her, not sitting under her. She wondered how long she had been asleep. Indigo felt Stiles' hand on her forehead and she realized she was lying on a blanket. She looked up to him, confused.

"Hey, I'm gonna leave for a few, okay?" Stiles spoke quietly, eyes flickering between her own. Indigo shut her eyes, cinching her eyebrows as she began to sit up. Stiles did his best to help, but she demanded to sit up instantly. Which was a bad idea, when her head began to feel like a swing.

"Where- where are you going?" Indigo sighed, her hand ghosting the air before his hand found hers.

"Whatever's happening, it's worse for you guys. That means it's not just people getting sick, it's another assassin."

Indigo frowned at the thought of him going out if there was another assassin, her head shaking on its own. Her body shook a little, doing its best to find heat in the blanket. Stiles quickly felt her and was worried, since a few moments ago her forehead was burning, but her arms were freezing. He instantly removed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, untucking her hair from the collar.

Indigo shook her head, trying to sit up even more. "I'm- I'm coming with. . ."

"Indigo," Stiles shook his head, holding her down. "I'll be right back. You can hardly keep your eyes open."

"You're- you're not going. . . alone-" She persisted with a croak, grabbing his bicep weakly. Stiles shut his eyes, really wishing right now was the last time she would be stubborn about something.

Scott spoke up this time. "Indigo. . ."

For some reason, tears developed in her eyes at the thought of him going out alone. Once again, she couldn't do anything. It's not like if Stiles just decided to get up and leave, that she would be able to stop him. Just like he said, she's barely awake.

Stiles saw her lip quiver and he cupped her jaw, bringing her head in as he pressed a long kiss to the crown of her head.

"You're coming back." She whispered. Stiles smiled and nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I'll always come back, Indigo."

Indigo let a smile fall on her face, her hands gripping his jacket and cuddling into it. Although, her other hand stayed on Stiles all the way until he fully stood up. Her hand fell to her own lap as she continued to watched him leave. He walked all the way to the door, passed the threshold when it had opened, and looked back. Stiles watched slowly as Indigo relaxed back into the blanket, her legs curling up. He chewed the inside of his cheek nervously, until the door cut him off, leaving him on the outside.

‡

Stiles' hands rushed and rushed all throughout Coach's office, after seeing him in the quarantine. Nothing in the closets, nothing in the cabinets, nothing in the drawers of the desk. Stiles slammed the last drawer shut in anger and leaned in the chair, biting his thumb nail in frustration. All he could think of was that the longer he took, the closer everyone- including Indigo- was to death.

His eyebrows furrowed at permission slips, some stamped 'approved' in red and some in black. Stiles shuffled through, watching the red become more and more opaque until it turned to black ink. His eyes found Coach's coffee cup, finding black fingerprints on the side. Stiles' eyes widened at the same ink everyone had used when signing into the PSAT this morning. The one the man had given out.

"I was wondering how that idiot got sick."

Stiles jumped from the chair at the voice, the coffee cup smashing to pieces on the floor when Stiles found the same man from the PSAT. The man twisted a gun in his own hands and Stiles' heart dropped.

"I'm also wondering where you're friends are." The man spoke again. "Since, in order to get paid by the Benefactor, I need to have proof they're dead."

Stiles' jaw felt tight. "Visual confirmation."

The man smiled and nodded, raising the barrel towards Stiles.

"Exactly."

The man stomped over and grabbed Stiles, yanking him into the locker room with a smirk on his face as Stiles obliged.

"Still looking feverish, Mr. Stilinski." The man spoke. Stiles felt his heart race and his palms sweat at the thought  of the man behind him with the gun pointed at him. "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?"

Stiles stayed silent, jaw purposely tightened. The man sighed.

"She's somewhere in this school, Mr. Stilinski. 30 million dollars. Is it hard to believe what people would do for that kind of money?"

Stiles grew angry at the thought of this man getting to Indigo. He turned around, facing the man now.

"I'm going to count to three, and if you haven't told me where they are, I'm going to kill you." The man raised the gun towards Stiles forehead. Stiles gulped, but kept his glare.

"You think you can scare me?" Stiles asked the man. "There's not a thing you could do to me to get me to tell you where any of them are, especially her."

"No, but Mr. Stilinski- word travels in this community. With recently discover of her being not one- but a combination of rare things- we know a few things."

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows at the man.

  "When I pull this trigger and the heart in your chest stops beating and the blood in your veins stops pumping- she'll die off of starvation anyways."

Stiles couldn't help but let his eyes widen a little bit. A thought like that had never crossed his mind but he had no argument. If he died, Indigo had two choices: starve to death or force herself to drink someone else's blood. And something told him Indigo would choose the first option in a split second.

The man readied the gun. "Now, I'm going to kill you."

"Why not do it already?" Stiles almost snapped. The man smirked.

"I just thought a countdown would make it interesting." He shrugged.

"So, one-"

  Stiles let his eyes close and almost blocked out the world. This was is it. He wasn't coming back. He had told Indigo he would, and at the first chance, that was broken. Stiles gritted his teeth to hold tears at the thought of his last goodbyes never containing a single 'I love you.'

"-Two-"

A bang went off and Stiles flinched, awaiting darkness, or pain. All he felt was- wet. He touched his forehead and opened his eyes, looking to his fingers to find blood. Stiles looked up and found the last person he expected.

Agent McCall.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Stiles spoke, spitting out whatever he felt on his lips in fear of tasting blood. Agent McCall took off the hood of the hazmat suit he was wearing, shaking his head at the teenage boy.

"Stiles, listen." He spoke carefully. "I got a call from Melissa. I don't know what it means. She said there's an antidote. It's in a vault, reishi mushrooms."

"Wait-" Stiles shook his head. "What in a vault?"

"It's in a jar on one of the shelves." Agent McCall rushed. Stiles' shaking body quickly nodded.

"She said to tell Scott, it's in the vault."

Stiles took off running, crashing into walls, almost tripping down the stair cases as his eyes darted to the wall. He cursed to himself, not being able to get in from the outside. He continued running until he ran into the wall, the bang ringing loud for the supernatural in the vault-

All the ones who couldn't see a damn thing.

The virus was spreading and black leaked from their noses and ears, their eyes frantically looking around at nothing. Indigo was sure that she had now crawled away from her original spot, but God knows wherever she was now. She heard the bang and the sound of Stiles yelling outside. She sighed in relief, crawling towards the noise.

"Hey, Scott? Scotty!" Stiles shouted. "In the vault, in there with you! It's called- reishi mushrooms!"

Stiles slammed his fists on the wall, getting angrier and angrier at the sight of it between him and saving them. His forehead leaned against it as he continued to shout.

"Scott? Scott, open the door! It's in there with you! It's- it's in a jar, it's on one of the shelves! SCOTT! Scott, can you hear me! INDIGO!"

Her hearing perked at her name and soon she felt her hand on the door. Indigo almost cried in joy, feeling the wall and hearing his heart beat so close.

"Stiles!" She yelled.

On the other side, he sighed in relief and the sound of her voice. He kept punching and punching, smashing the wall. God, if he could just get to her! Tears pricked his eyes, knowing she was a mere foot of wall away from him, but there was nothing he could do about her dying. He grunted and yelled, until his fist was pulsing in pain. He slid to the floor, back leaning against the wall.

Indigo felt her body become even weaker and she knew the crawl to the door had made it worse. Her yell was the last of her energy and her voice only made it out in mere whispers.

"Stiles. . ." Her breath barely carried. The echo of glass smashing snapped her out of it for a moment, her forehead still resting against the wall in exhaustion. She was cold again, since earlier she had given up the coat to Malia who was freezing when Indigo had begun to feel burning hot.

"Stiles. . ." The name hardly came out this time.

She heard gasps from Scott first, his breath finally entering his lungs normally. Then, Kira began and even Malia. Indigo grunted at a wave of pain, still not feeling anything. A scent filled her nose and the pain in her head subsided, only slightly. Her heated body began to return to normal and felt her lungs begin to cry in some sort of relief.

Indigo felt hands on her face, but her eyes deceived her and gave her nothing. She was still unable to see.

"Indigo-" Scott spoke, almost up to feeling normal. He tried to hold her up against the wall, keeping her from lying down. "Come on, Indigo."

She mumbled. "Stiles. . ."

Scott's eyes widened and he rushed to open the door and instantly, it began to slide to the side. He heard movement and quickly, Stiles' face appeared. His gaze caught Scott's in relief, before he looked down to a still sick Indigo. His eyebrows furrowed and he rushed to her, pulling her into him as he shook his head.

"No, no, no-" He frantically mumbled. "It's- it's the mushrooms. The mushrooms. Why aren't they working for her? Why aren't they working?"

Scott watched in horror, having no clue as to what to do. Stiles was right. The mushrooms were the antidote, why didn't they work for her?

"She's-" Stiles gulped. "She's not sweating anymore, her breathing isn't short anymore. So- so, something- we just need something more!"

Scott looked into the vault for anything. His eyes scanned shelves again, and even Kira began shuffling around things. Scott was looking and looking for something more-

He turned back to Stiles, seeing his friend begin to break down at the sight of Indigo still not returning to normal.

"More-" Scott repeated, catching Stiles' attention. "You, Stiles."

Stiles was confused at first until he looked down to his hands. It was the quickest he'd ever rolled up his jacket sleeve, revealing his pale wrist which held the pink bite mark scar.

Instantly, he held it out to Scott. "Cut it."

Scott was thrown off at first, but Stiles wasn't up for wasting time.

"Scott, make a cut!"

Scott's claws instantly popped out and he made a mark which instantly turned red. Retracting his claws, he watched Stiles push her jaw apart and press his wrist between her lips.

It was a scary few moments, until Indigo's hands reached up and held Stiles' wrist to her mouth. Stiles sighed in relief and leaned against the doorway, holding Indigo to his chest as she took from his wrist. It was only for a few moments until she pulled his wrist away, taking sweet, deep breaths as she looked up to him. Stiles looked down to her, and felt the same euphoric relief when he could know that she was going to be okay.

Indigo relaxed into his chest, relishing in the feeling of his arms around her. She was okay. He was okay. Everyone was okay.

Both of them stood up, including Scott who walked over to Kira. Indigo turned around and instantly found Malia, who was sitting against a crate, Stiles' jacket still around her. Her eyes were trained on the ground and Indigo walked over, hoping she was okay now.

"Hey, Malia." She eased, kneeling in front of her. Malia didn't meet her gaze, only staring off into some corner. Indigo furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head.

"Malia." Indigo spoke again and this time- she looked. Malia had small tears in her eyes and Indigo was startled. What was wrong? Why was she crying?

"What is it? Malia, what's wrong?" Indigo hurried. Malia licked her lips and handed a folded piece of paper to Indigo, before standing up. Indigo stood up as well, but Malia walked away, taking off Stiles jacket, pressing it into his chest and leaving the room.

Indigo was confused, and worried for the Tate, as she quickly unfolded the paper. She recognized it instantly, it was more of the dead pool. The one Lydia had crack recently. Indigo hadn't looked at it, but maybe she ought to start to if Stiles and Scott were going to start hiding what was on it.

Because Indigo wasn't worried about Malia Tate.

She was worried about Malia Hale.

The letters were printed in bold, in capital letters. So, Malia- a Hale?

Indigo looked up, to find no other surprised faces. Only remorse. Regret.

Indigo finally looked directly at Stiles, her jaw clenching. Why? Why hide it? Why not tell her? Why not even tell Malia? When did everyone start keeping secrets from each other? Was this the only secret? Did they know anything about her that she didn't know?

"Indigo. . ." Stiles started, but he didn't exactly know what he was trying to say. He just knew he didn't want to her to leave the room. He didn't want her to go.

She licked her lips slowly, folding the paper back up. Indigo walked over to Stiles and the boy's heart rate picked up. Both of them could tell. Indigo grabbed his hand and Stiles was relieved for a moment, until he felt her place the paper in his hand and take hers out of it. His lips parted and he looked up to Indigo.

"I hope you have a good explanation for me someday." Indigo sighed, looking into his eyes. "But, until then-"

"I have a Hale to console."

A/N::

uh oh uh oh uh oh 7260 words because i wanted this to be longer for you guys because all of you are so patient with me (,:

god, i do love this episode though, it was fun to write. but uh oh, stiles kept a secret from indigo. . .

so how did you guys like it? eh? eh?

let me know!

thank you so much for reading and i love you so much!