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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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014.
MEMORIES NEVER FADE.
THEY HAUNT.
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——

Lois tied her shoe lace and adjusted her hair tie.

After the events with Boy and Cora, her father hadn't made her go to school. It meant that her lunch detention had been moved to the next day, but it had also meant that could she and Scott could catch up with Stiles, Luna, and Lydia, and figure out all that had happened on their end.

Turns out, Lydia had found herself at the pool without knowing why. The last time that had happened had been when Peter got her to subconsciously resurrect him from the dead — that made it slightly more worrisome, and she and Allison were working on a way to try and figure out why she had been able to do it. As for the situation with Stiles and Luna, Melissa McCall had called them into the morgue and gotten them to take a look at the injuries that the boy from the pools had sustained. The injuries were all very suspicious under the circumstances, and blatantly not the result of a wolf attack, which meant Boyd and Cora weren't killers; rather, someone — or maybe even something — else had killed him.

Heather had been found, unfortunately not alive. Stiles had been the one to identify her. But he hadn't time to grieve for his friend, upon realising she had the same injuries as the boy from the pool.

A sliced throat, strangulation marks, and a blow to the head.

Another girl had gone missing — Emily, the girlfriend of the girl they had saved from Cora in the woods, and she had been found the morning after. She had sustained the same three injuries, and it became clear to the group that they were dealing with an entity much bigger than they had originally thought. Now, there was a pattern. Three animal incidents, three deaths, three virgins. These were human sacrifices, and Lois dreaded to think what would be next. She selfishly hoped it was something else...

She was a virgin.

Now, it was the next day, and Lois had gotten to school earlier than usual. Her car had been fixed — she thought that it would never happen — and she was in the girls' locker rooms, getting ready for cross country tryouts.

Lois had wanted to pick up a new hobby. While shooting was good fun, it wasn't a hobby that her father condoned. Plus, she had gotten pretty good as running over summer break; Lois was faster than most, and she had put up a fight in keeping up with Isaac's speed in the woods. She was no werewolf, but she was a teenager that had been running with the wolf pack for a year.

Lacrosse players had to take cross country as a mandatory sport that came with being on the team. This meant that Scott, Stiles, and Isaac were also running, while Lydia, Allison and Luna had opted to try and figure out a few things. Why Lydia had found a dead body, why Ms Morell had been at the bank, and why three victims had been found in the exact same state. They also wanted to figure out what would come next. If this was a pattern that ran on a cycle of threes, then there would definitely be a next. If they could figure it out soon enough, that meant that they could try and stop it from happening before it inevitably did. As for Lois? Well, Lois was trying to take up running in hopes of clearing her very jumbled mind, and she was trying not to concentrate on her own virginal status — all the while trying to be a good daughter.

She rubbed her face and took in a breath, and made her way out of the locker room and towards the track. It was harder than it looked.

On the pitch, Lois noticed Scott and Stiles talking about what could have been anything in hushed voices. The girl rose a brow and went to greet them, but was intercepted by carbon copies.

"Didn't know you ran track," Aiden smiled at her.

"We've known each other for three days; there's a lot you don't know about me," Lois grinned.

"What he means—" Ethan rolled his eyes at his brother and gave him a gentle nudge, "—is Peter never mentioned it. We asked if he was coming to tryouts, but he wasn't up for it. He never said you were, though."

"Pete doesn't run," she shrugged, "And I needed a new hobby."

"As opposed to an old one?"

Lois peered up at Aiden coyly, "I used to skate."

"Skater, huh?" He crossed him arms and leant back on his heel, his eyes raking over her. Lois knew that he was interested in Lydia and she had no interest in Aiden, but from what she had heard the two weren't exclusive yet. Apparently Lydia was working on it. Lois wasn't sure what that meant; although, judging by the wink she had paired with the statement, they were well on the way to being close. "You know any cool tricks?"

"I was a skater," Lois gave him a light shove, "Not a damn show monkey."

The twins laughed at her, and she rolled her eyes. Honestly, she quite liked them. They were friends of her cousin Peter which had already put them in her good books, plus both Danny and Lydia had made their claims — to Lois, that had meant they were worth something. And by the way that Danny was looking over at them, he looked really into Ethan. Lois bit back a smile.

"So, what about you guys?"

"What about us?"

She giggled, "Know any cool tricks?"

Isaac ground his teeth.

From his position kneeling to tie up his laces, he listened to Lois giggle and laugh with the twins. He hadn't got a good look at them yet, but he had decided that they weren't all that great.

At least, not great enough for Lois Lane to like them.

He ran a hand through his hair and huffed, hearing her laugh once again, and he concentrated on his trainers. It bugged him.

Soon enough, coach's whistle blew.

"You ready, losers?"

Lois scowled at Finstock and stepped away from the twins as they headed towards the front of the crowd, where she noticed Isaac was kneeling. She hummed, wondering why his shoulders looked so tense, but ultimately shrugged. Strange.

While coach shouted a few things that she didn't care for, Lois stretched out her limbs. It was only cross country, but the girl still wanted to do well and make the team. With all that was going on, she needed a distraction now more than ever. Without something to occupy her, Lois was positive that she would only end up driving herself mad. From the crazy, vivid — and borderline psychedelic — dream she had about a river last night, she needed to get out of the house more and worry about the supernatural less. She had started imagining things, for goodness sake! There weren't any rivers in Beacon Hills's preserve; she knew that there weren't.

Her stretches had been short but she wandered over to find a place in the crowd, and shook out her hands.

Coach blew the whistle and then she was off.

Lois had made it to the front of the pack, rather quickly. Her pony tail thwipped back and forth as she ran, not to her full speed but fast enough. Aiden and Ethan were a little ways in front of her and she briefly wondered where Scott was — he was one of the fastest runner than she knew, though she assumed he was keeping Stiles' company from somewhere near the back.

Scott McCall was a werewolf of a runner, Lois Lane was pretty good at keeping up with him, but Stiles Stilinski... Stiles Stilinski wasn't so good.

It seemed that Aiden and Ethan had gotten quicker; they were soon out of sight, almost unnoticeable blobs in the distance.

But Lois had no time to question it.

A hand grabbed her elbow and she was twirled around. She stumbled and pulled herself to a stop, crashing into the person's chest and placing both hands on their shoulders for balance.

"What—?"

"Slow down!"

Lois blinked up at him, "Slow down?"

Isaac nodded at her. She peered over his shoulder and saw the gap between them and the rest of the group, so large that Lois nearly didn't see the rest of the group at all, although she didn't miss Scott as he raced to catch up with them. Lois scrunched up her face and looked back at Isaac, what was going on?

"What's happening?" She interrogated, "Isaac—"

He ignored her and shook his head, holding her elbow tighter and giving her a little shake.

"You need to slow the hell down, okay?"

"Why?"

As she spoke, Isaac turned them so that she had her back now facing the crowd and he was closer to the twins. "Shut up, and slow down, Lane!"

Lois narrowed her eyes, "Don't tell me what to do!"

"Lois—"

"Why do I have to slow down? Tell me—!"

"Jeez— are you stupid?" His eyes glowed, "Just slow down!"

"Okay!" The girl yelled, shoving him back roughly. Isaac let go of her arm and returned her glare, but began running to catch up with Aiden and Ethan, nonetheless. Lois rubbed at her arm and and sent him another nasty look, "Fine!"

Isaac shot out of sight. She was left to glower at him, suddenly more annoyed with the beta than she had been in months. Lois was almost seething as she started up into another run, still in the lead and aiming to keep her best. Why had he acted, that way? It was rude; the Isaac Lahey that she had known when he had tried to kill Lydia. He wasn't the Isaac Lahey that she had beta-sat two nights ago, the Isaac that had her back when fighting the kanima and certainly not the Isaac that had saved her in the school. This was a different Isaac, his regular asshole self, and he had gotten on her last nerve.

"Lo—" Scott appeared at her side, "—are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" She snapped, catching him off guard. "What the hell is his problem?"

"It's Aiden and Ethan," he told her. They ran together for a short while before he cursed, ears perked, and amped his speed to one that left her behind, "It's them! They're the ones who attacked him and the girl!"

Her eyes widened.

Despite Isaac's instructions for her to slow down, Lois sped up. She ran as quickly as she could, trying to follow them closely, but she quickly lost sight of both werewolves. They had run off course and were no longer on the track, and Lois hoped that if she kept on going then she would inevitably catch up with them somewhere along the lines. So, she continued to follow the cross country route they had been given. She rapidly regret it, though.

A blood curdling scream echoed through the air.

Scott and Isaac's heads snapped up, watching Ethan and Aiden scurry out of sight, and they shared a concerned look. Both of them made for the direction it came from. They knew that scream.

It was Lois.

"Lois?" Scott yelled, "Lois!"

Isaac got to the scene first, "Lois—?"

He skidded to a halt, nearly falling on his face as he took in the sight. A corpse was tied to a tree, bleeding from his neck wound.

And Lois Lane was a few metres away, a heap on the floor.

Sobbing.

• • •

"Hey, get out of the way! Get back!"

Lois sniffled and rubbed at her face. It was red and blotchy.

She hugged herself tightly, avoiding any sight of the scene that she had found, digging her nails into the back of her neck. Seeing that body had brought up memories of Derek's sister, the janitor, Jackson in a bodybag, her mother. For a moment she thought that she was going to throw up or faint, but Lois brought herself back to reality by clawing harder at her skin.

"Get this area cordoned off, before they trample every piece of evidence!" A familiar voice instructed, seeming faraway.

"Back up! Everyone back!" A different voice.

"Get these kids out of here!"

"Dad, just come here!" Stiles called, waving the man towards him, "Look, look—! Look at it. It's the same as the others— you see?"

"Yeah, I see that." He sighed, "Do me a favour — go back to school, yeah?"

Stiles deflated slightly, stepping back in line with Isaac and Scott. He didn't want to go back to school if he could be of any help to his father, but he couldn't exactly object. His dad had told him to.

Truthfully, Lois hadn't really noticed herself shaking. She had been too entranced by the face of the corpse fresh in her mind. It seemed that every time she blinked, it was there, and so were the others. Every time she blinked, she saw them. Him. Blink. Derek's sister. Blink. The janitor. Blink. Jackson. Blink. Her mother. All of their faces were there — their dead, lifeless faces. All of them had stuck in her mind and circled around, flickering between images like a broken record, and she couldn't get them out.

The faces slowly started to merge, and instead of them, Lois saw Matt. She saw him with a gun in her face, the blood on her hands, Scott on the ground. Lois could smell the smoke and hear the gun shots; she could feel the shattered glass beneath her knees as each shard lodged itself through her jeans.

Her arm started to ache and she could hear the squawks of birds — birds? Where were they coming from? She couldn't see any.

Lois' breaths became erratic and wavering.

It felt like she was drowning, and she was certain that the water had encased her limbs and was slipping into her mouth. Lois was certain. She knew what drowning felt like. This was it; Lois knew this was it. This was it! She was drowning! She was going to die!

Her knees gave way and she sank to the floor. She gripped at her neck and felt a sticky substance under her nails, but she paid no attention to the blood, or the tears on her cheeks, or the itching all over her body. Lois was choking, and spluttering, and swallowing water that wasn't really there. The girl could hear shouting and yelling and screaming, and it all felt miles away. Above surface. It was watery and inaudible, and she forced herself to concentrate on the air barely making it to her lungs. Lois could hardly breathe, she could hardly think. Those same images kept swirling in her mind and the gun shots were right in her ears; they turned into cruel laughter and the clicks of a camera. Someone was taking a photo of her, and it sounded with a click! Another, then another, a third. Those clicks kept on coming, and the image—

The image changed.

She was looking at Matt. He was dead.

"Lois? Lois, can you hear me?"

A hand landed on her shoulder and she jumped in fright. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest! Her ribs would split in two!

"Lois, honey— hey, can you hear me? You've gotta breathe, okay?" She knew the voice; she recognised it to be Noah. "It's alright... Stiles! Stiles, get over here!"

Noah carefully pulled her hand away from her neck and sighed at the blood on her palms. It wasn't much, but it was still there.

"It's alright, Lois." He gently coaxed, "Just breathe."

Somewhere within her, Lois found the ability to do so. She took in a deep and rattled breath, more of a wheeze, and swallowed it greedily. It was hard to get the air down, but she managed to do it again, and again, and again.

A scuffle of feet came from her left. Lois didn't jump — she knew it was Stiles; she knew his new trainers and the sound of his footsteps. He kneeled down next to her and his father, looking at her with soft eyes. Stiles knew not to touch her in fear of making her panic even more, and held out a hand for Scott and Isaac to do the same. They stood and waited. And slowly, but surely, Lois started to breathe easier, and her chest wasn't so tight.

She looked up with watery eyes, "Uncle Noah—?"

"I'm here, kid." He nodded, "You're alright, everything is fine. Okay?"

Lois wiped her face with shaky hands.

"We need to clear the area!" Noah Stilinski told his partner a second time, and she nodded and went to waft the teenagers in the direction of their school. He looked at Finstock, "Coach, can you give us a hand, here?"

"You heard the man!" Coach blew his whistle, "Nothing to see here. Probably just some homeless kid,"

Scott cringed, "Coach..."

"Yeah?"

"He was a senior."

"Oh—" the man frowned, "He wasn't on the team, was he?"

A scream came from somewhere to the left. It made Lois jump out of her skin but she calmed when Stiles placed a hand on her arm, now that she was no longer gasping for air.

Lois tried to block out the screams of the girl that called for the dead senior — Kyle — by squeezing her eyes shut. Another tear fell down her cheek as the girl was dragged away, and the rest of the crowd slowly dispersed. She felt awful. Kyle had lost his life and the girl had lost a friend, a lover, whoever he was. She had lost him and Lois knew how that felt. Lois Lane knew it all too well.

"Lois, do you need me to call your father?"

She peered up at Noah and shook her head swiftly, "No— no, don't call him. I—I'm fine, he doesn't need to come get me."

"Are you sure?" Stiles seemed doubtful, "Lo..."

"I— I'm fine, really." Lois straightened up, "I'll be fine."

A silence.

"I promise."

Noah finally gave in. He and Stiles helped her off of the floor and he gave her a tissue to wipe her hands and her face, which she thanked him for with a small smile. When she was up and far less wobbly, he gently ushered them to get back to school.

"You see the way the twins looked at him?"

"Yeah— you mean like they had no idea what happened?" Stiles turned to Isaac, his arms crossed.

Confused, Lois frowned at the pair. She rolled her eyes when Isaac looked at her — she was still irritated with him for talking to her and bossing her around like she was trash. A gentle hand was placed on her lower back, and Lois' eyes flickered over to find that it belonged to Scott. She smiled.

"No, no—" Isaac denied, "—they knew."

"The kid was strangled with a garrote, alright?" Hissing in a lower tone as to not trigger Lois, Stiles scoffed. "Am I the only one recognising the lack of werewolf—itude in these murders?"

Isaac crossed his arms in challenge, frowning. "Oh— you think it's a coincidence they turn up, and then people start dying?"

"Well, no— but I still don't think it's them. Scott?"

"How about you?"

Scott let out an awkward breath.

"Uh—" he shrugged, "I don't know, yet..."

"You don't know, yet?" Shocked, Stiles widened his eyes.

"Well, he's got a point!" The omega pointed his free hand at Isaac as the four slowed down and stood still, no longer moving so that Lois could take a moment to compose herself. "Seriously, dude? Human sacrifices?"

"Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glow sticks, okay?" His friend started to lost of a series or valid points, while the others listened to his rambles, "Hair literally grows from your cheeks, and then will immediately disappear. And if I were to stab you, right now— it would just magically heal, but you're telling me that you're having trouble grasping human sacrifices?"

All of them thought about it.

Scott grimaced, "That's a good point, too..."

"I don't care." Isaac shrugged. He took several strides ahead only looked back at them once, "They killed that kid, they killed the girl that saved me. And, now?"

They watched his eyes glow amber, for a brief second.

"I'm gonna kill them, too."

——

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