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——

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TW: SUICIDE, WATER

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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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019.
IT GETS WORSE.
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——

MOTEL
GLEN CAPRI

Lois wrinkled her nose.

"I've seen worse," Scott told them, trying to be optimistic.

He was now standing on his own and on the road to healing up completely. It was a relief to all of them — the last thing that they had wanted, or needed, was for Scott McCall to die.

"Where have you seen worse?" Stiles scoffed.

"I don't think this could get any worse," nodding, Lois crossed her arms over her chest. "This is literally the definition of worse."

The two boys seemed surprised that she had spoken. Lois had been silent for most of the trip, sinking down low in her seat next to Isaac while Lydia, Luna, and Allison had joined for the rest of the journey, being that their severe lack of petrol was going to get them nowhere. Since the physical altercation with Ethan — to whom Danny had told her was sorry, in over a million texts — she had been quiet. Scarily quiet. Not like Lois Lane kind of quiet. They had heard nothing from her, or from Isaac for that matter, with Scott's advanced hearing. It seemed that she had shut down, with nothing to say. All that Scott and Stiles knew was her cheek hurt; she kept on rubbing it, and then sighing.

"Listen up!"

She fell in line with Isaac and Boyd on her left, Scott, Stiles and Luna on her right while Allison and Lydia were grabbing their bags. They all looked to coach and waited for him to speak. He had a stack of keys jingling in his hand as he waved.

"The meet's been pushed till tomorrow," he sighed, "This is the closest motel with the most vacancies, and least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves." The students sighed but coach didn't care, "You'll be pairing up! Come on— choose wisely." He handed out the keys, glaring at the kids. "And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants! Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves!"

While she was yet to figure who she was sharing with, Lois went to take a key from coach. He quickly snatched it back, making her raise a brow. Coach looked down at her and sighed, "I don't know what happened earlier— but I know you're a better kid than that, Lane. What the hell's going on with you?"

Lois pursed her lips, and shrugged.

"But I gotta admit, I like you most of the time, kid. Your awful name gives me profound joy," the man noted.

She squinted up at him awkwardly, "Thank you...?"

"And I saw him hit you, first. Well, actually, Lahey hit him first, so I guess he started it... anyway—" realising he had gotten way off topic, as he usually did, coach huffed another large sigh. "—I'll just be sure to call it what it was: an accident."

Pursing her lips to hide her smile, Lois took the room key that he handed her with a nod. It wasn't often that Finstock acted like he liked his students, especially not friends of Stilinski, but it had all warmed her heart, in a weird way. Their coach wasn't a bad guy, just irritating and unhelpful, and louder than necessary. Though, she had a feeling that he might have just redeemed himself.

"Nice punch, kid." He patted her shoulder.

The girl smiled, "Thanks, coach..."

"Now, go find a damn room! Before I lose my mind!"

The moment was over, and Lois rolled her eyes as he walked to reception to get more room keys. She turned around and looked at the teenagers around her, realising that every other one of them was holding a key in hand. Allison had taken ahold of Lydia's arm before Lois was able to pair up with the strawberry blonde, giving Lois a pleading expression that she didn't understand — at least, not until she noticed Luna tucked under Stiles' arm, a room key in hand as they smirked at one another, while Scott stood at the side without a key at all. Lois shook her head and scoffed.

"No! No— you two are not gonna go have sex, and leave the rest of us in this creepy, disgusting motel to fend for ourselves!" She ranted. Stiles' face dropped as she said, "No— not happening."

Taking Luna's hand, Lois tugged the blonde away from her whining boyfriend. She swiftly tossed her key over to Scott.

"Have sex with each other, if you're that desperate!"

With that, Lois Lane made her way into the motel and Luna Thomas happily followed. She was bummed about not being with Stiles, sure, but it had been a while since she and Lois had hung out or spent time together. It seemed that junior year had been busier than sophomore, if that was possible, and they had barely seen each other — they had been really close over summer, with Lydia too. The girls hadn't expected to be thrown back into a life of the supernatural. Really, they had expected to do homework, eat food at sleepovers, and talk about all the boys that Lydia that had been seeing in her spare time. At least, that was what they usually did; it was definitely a big change in pace.

Upon reaching their room, Lois unlocked it and threw the door open, immediately cringing at the sight of dust-laden dressers and old bedsheets.

But, Lois was too tired to really complain.

After her fight with Ethan, her body ached. Her knuckles were a pretty shade of blue and her lip was slightly scabbed. All that Lois really wanted to do was sleep — but, she had to call her dad, first, and tell him the change in plans. The thought made her groan out loud as she threw her body onto one of the beds, with a thump!

"You alright, Lo?" Luna asked.

"I have to call my dad."

"And, that's a bad thing?" The blonde frowned, taking a seat at the end of Lois' chosen bed.

"No—" she sighed, "—but I just wanna sleep."

Luna hummed in understanding and patted her friend's knee, the gesture kind and motherly, then stood up and stretched out her limbs. "Well, I was gonna get Stiles to buy me a snack from the vending machine. I'll get him to call your dad, so you can sleep."

"You, Luna Thomas, are an angel."

Luna winked, playfully.

"I know."

   She tucked Lois into the covers as she left, and kissed her on the cheek. It made her absently smile and sink into the bed. When the girl had actually left was a mystery to Lois, because she had fallen asleep without so much as hearing the door click shut. How long she had slept for was also a mystery — it could have been minutes, or hours, or perhaps even seconds. Lois couldn't have been sure. Either way, she had been barely awake when there was a knock on the door, and she was forced to get up and answer it.

    "Lu? Did you forget the key?" She yawned, stumbling to the door with a hand over her mouth. There was a chorus of knocks, louder than the first, and Lois narrowed her tired eyes. "Alright— alright! I'm coming!"

   Irritation ran through her veins; they didn't stop knocking.

    "I said I'm coming!" Lois yelled, "Calm your—!"

   When she saw who was stood on the others idea of the door — the culprit, per say — her brows cinched.

    "Isaac?"

   He didn't say anything, he simply rose his head from the ground and stared. His eyes were dark, darker then she had ever seen a set of eyes to be, and the girl sucked in an involuntary breath.

    "What..." she stuttered over her words, "What are you—?"

   But, her words were cut short.

    "Can I kiss you?"

   Her eyes shot open, wide and unblinking, as Isaac Lahey placed a hand on her hip and tugged her towards him. The beta's were shut, his lashes tickling her cheeks, and she could see each freckle painted upon his skin from so close. Lois' first instinct was to push him away and to ask him what he was doing, and she nearly did — although that feeling had soon floated away and a light hum had passed her lips, instead. She felt herself melt into him, ready to put her lips to his.

   Until, she didn't.

   Lois came to her senses and sent her hands firmly into his chest, shoving him back.

    "What are you doing?" She asked, voice low. Their faces were so close, so close.

    "Can I kiss you?" Isaac repeated. His thumb brushed across her bottom lip, and something deep within her stomach flipped. The boy looked into her eyes, as though searching for permission, and he laced their fingers with his spare hand. He pulled her to him.

    "Isaac, I told you not to kiss me," she said, her stubbornness too much for her to ignore. She wanted to kiss him, she really did, but she didn't want to give in. Lois was stubborn. 

    "Did you mean it?"

   She paused, thinking about it, then shrugged.

    "Never."

Their lips were connected, and Lois didn't pull away.

She couldn't have been certain why she hadn't. Maybe it was his arm as it wrapped around her waist and pressed her body against his chest, or maybe because Isaac's lips were hypnotising. It could have been the fact that she let the loneliness from prior nights get to her, or maybe even because she simply didn't want to. Hell, she knew she didn't want to pull away.

Lois had been craving the feeling of his lips upon hers, without even knowing it. Since the underground rave, since he had kissed her in the hallway, since he had saved her from the kanima. As she sank into his embrace and ran a hand through his hair, Lois wondered if there had ever been a day where she hadn't wanted to feel Isaac; to touch him, to hold him. Ever since he had kissed her for the first time, maybe she had wanted to kiss him, again. That might have been it — or, maybe it wasn't. Either way, Lois Lane was kissing Isaac Lahey and she had completely forgotten that she had ever told him not to. Why had she ever told him, that?

Isaac kicked the door shut and stumbled further into the room, his fingers squeezing her sides. When she gasped, he smiled to himself.

"Jump," he murmured. "Jump, Lo."

She did as told and he caught her, his hands gripping her thighs while he turned around and sat on the edge of her bed. Lois had hardly recognised that he had used her nickname — something he had never called her. She was too preoccupied.

The two were a mess of limbs and heavy, panting breaths. Lois' mind was a mess, although it was undoubtably the most beautiful mess that one could ever find. Her body was numb; her skin was ice cold under his touch, yet internally she was alight. Flames of fire tiptoed along butterfly wings, flickering hot within the depths of her stomach. It was exhilarating. It was a sensation that she had never felt, not even once.

His kisses were like winning the lottery, if not better — and he, too, was much like a drug in that moment.

Isaac Lahey was addictive.

If he was the closest to her body that he possibly could be, then Lois didn't feel like it. She wanted him closer, and it was as if Isaac sensed that. Both hands on her hips, he pulled her flush to him.

Lois' own hands were either side of his face, holding his cheeks.

The kiss was fiery, and it was quick, and desperate.

It was over, fast.

They sprang apart when the door flew open, the old doorknob hitting the wall with a smack! Lois jumped off his lap and tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear. Her cheeks were a violent red and the blush only worsened when she saw who was at the door.

"Boyd?" She tried to catch her breath, "Boyd, why—?"

"You kissed her?"

Boyd's eyes were narrowed into slits as he looked at Isaac, and his fists were tight. He spoke even louder, now. "You kissed her."

"And?" Isaac said, "I've kissed her, before."

A growl passed Boyd's lips.

"You kissed the one girl, that I—" he shut his eyes tightly. The girl hoped that she hadn't heard him right, that he had meant it in a different way.

"The one girl that you, what?" She asked.

They watched Isaac stand up to leave, sparing Lois one last look. With that look his eyes flashed a bright amber. Then, he looked away. Her lips parted, then her heart fell, but she pulled herself together — what was going on?

The two betas glared at one another and for a minute, Lois was certain that Boyd would rip Isaac's throat out. But the blonde had ducked through the door and walked back to their shared room, as if nothing had even happened. The girl was confused, so terribly confused, and she shot across the room to snatch Boyd's shirt in her fist before he could follow. He couldn't just leave her, like that!

"Boyd! Boyd—" Lois tugged his shirt, "Wait! Please..."

He turned, "What?"

"What the hell was that?" She hissed.

"You know what it was, Lois." Boyd shook his head, "Don't play dumb. You're not dumb — you and I both know it."

It was true. Lois Lane was many things, but dumb wasn't one of them. She knew what he had meant; Boyd had meant that she was the one girl that he had ever liked, perhaps even loved, and Isaac had kissed her. His own friend, his fellow beta, had kissed her. And judging by the misery in Boyd's eyes, Isaac had known.

"When?"

"What do you mean, when?"

"When did you—" sucking in a breath, Lois tried to come to some logical train of thought. She didn't find one. "I just mean, you— I always... I don't understand, Boyd. We—"

"You always hated me, I know." He nodded, "And I know that I was annoying, and I bugged you. But I always bugged you for a reason, Lois. I wanted to annoy you — because... 'cause when I did that childish crap to you, it made you notice me." A sad laugh, "I never hated you; you hated me."

A silence enveloped them.

Lois didn't want know what to say, to that.

"You like him— don't you?"

"Wait— what?" Lois frowned at the beta, "Who?"

Boyd sighed in disbelief, turning on his heel to walk out. His shoulders were hunched and his head was hung low, eyes down.

Face crumpled, the girl raced after him, "Boyd! Please just wait, okay? Please?" She caught up with him in the hallway and reached for his arm, "I'm sorry, I didn't know—!"

She cowered away when his eyes glowed amber and he gave a sharp snarl. A look of regret adorned his face, but it vanished as soon as it had arrived, and he was back to the stoic, angry Boyd that he had always been. Lois' eyes welled with tears of guilt as she watched him go. Boyd liked her. He liked her. How had she never noticed? Lois had always thought that he was rude and would pick on her at skating practice because he didn't like her, not because he had always harboured a crush for the Lane girl. But she had been so wrong — Lois had never been so wrong, in her life.

• • •

The trickle of water filled Lois' ears.

It was slightly brown and mirky, but she didn't particularly care as she cupped it in her hands to splash on her face. Lois scrubbed at her skin and gripped the basin, looking into the dirty mirror.

Lois couldn't recall a time that she had looked so awful. In fact, she wasn't sure she had ever seen herself such a mess. It looked like she hadn't slept in a month, with her skin tired and gaunt, the bags under her eyes looking dark enough to make her look dead. Lois looked totally corpse like — her hair was a mess and her eyes were red and bloodshot, and the bruise on her cheek was blossoming a deep purple. Honestly, Lois looked as terrible as she felt.

   A sob passed her lips before she could stop it, and she raised a trembling hand to try and muffle the sound.

It felt as if Lois Lane was breaking apart at the seams. She was cracking, shattering into pieces, and the girl had no idea how to patch herself back together. Her life had gone down hill again, so rapidly down hill after a summer that had almost mended her, so down hill that she knew she would go crashing to the very bottom if no one pulled her up.

   Summer had been easy. Summer break had nearly fixed all the chaos around them, and Lois had been on her way to repairing each broken part. There were no supernaturals and no murders, and none of her friends were dying — Lois had gotten away from her stalker, the boy who had been controlling Jackson and tried to kill her when they figured it out, and she had been able to sleep at night. Nightmares of her mother had even died down for a while, Scott had been given time to get used to his new life, Stiles and his girlfriend were happy, and Lydia hadn't felt insane. Lois had spent time with her father and her friends, and she had gotten a job and learned to drive. For the first time in months, they hadn't been on the run from the threats posed at each and every corner.

   But that was summer, and now things had changed, again.

She felt like she was going mad. People were dying in threes, as human sacrifices, and alpha pack were trying to get to Scott. The alpha pack had killed Derek Hale and now they were worming their way into Scott McCall; angering Isaac and Boyd, messing with Lydia, becoming friends with Peter. It was all intentional.

   Just like last year, innocent people were dying and the pack was being toyed with. Derek was dead, for goodness sake! Erica was dead, Derek was dead — all of those innocent teenagers were dead, and they weren't coming back.

   And the pack didn't know how to stop it.

   Lois had no idea how to save people, how to end it.

   Lois had no idea what had just happened, from the time she had gotten onto the bus until she had entered the shared bathroom.

   Scott had nearly died, bleeding out in self-blame, she had fought Ethan in a fist fight, Isaac Lahey had kissed her and then Boyd had revealed that he liked her.

   Boyd had never liked her. No, she was certain. Boyd had never liked Lois before, wouldn't she have noticed? How hadn't she been able to tell? Lois wondered how she had been so blind. Since they were young, Vernon Boyd had liked Lois Lane and she had hated him. She felt so stupid. He was Boyd! Boyd! Boyd liked her and Lois had shoved it in his face, every time Isaac had kissed her. Isaac had known that Boyd liked her, and he still did it! That was evil. The look in his eyes was evil. When he had left, they had been amber. Isaac's eyes weren't amber — only when he turned.

   Why had Isaac kissed her?

   Lois whimpered, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.

   She wanted to go home. Lois wanted to get out of this rotten motel and go home; she wanted to hug her father, to sob into his arms and never let go. Lois wanted to grieve. She wanted to grieve for the loss of Erica Reyes, for the kids that had died at the hands of the murder in their town. She wanted to grieve for Derek Hale, who had been an asshole, but one of the best.

   Derek had become apart of them, and he hadn't deserved to die. No one deserved to die; they couldn't stop it. She wanted it to stop. It was all too much for Lois — she felt like she couldn't breathe.

   You found it, didn't you?

   Her eyes shot open, and she whipped around to look at the door behind her.

   You're it.

   She didn't understand. What had he been talking about?

   Deucalion had told her that she was it, that she had found it, but Lois didn't know what either it was. Lois wasn't anything. She was just Lois, human teenager by day and night, and she hadn't found anything that the others hadn't found with her. What did he mean?

   Letting out a shaky breath, Lois turned back to the mirror and sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

   What she saw made her scream.

   Lois' eyes were blue.

   They were a piercing blue, almost a pale crystal, and they were glowing. Last time she had checked, her eyes weren't blue — her eyes were brown, and they definitely didn't glow.

   She quickly looked away and reached to run the faucet again. Taking the water in her shaky hands, Lois scrubbed her face even harder than the last time, ignoring the pain in her cheek when it started to ache. She scrubbed at her eyes so roughly that they felt as though they would be pushed back into her head. But Lois did not stop; she rubbed, and she scrubbed, and she prayed that she was going insane. That when she opened them, they would be the normal brown that they had always been. They wouldn't be blue.

   Unfortunately, Lois wasn't that lucky.

   When she looked back, her eyes were still blue. She blinked, and the colour flickered, and then they turned brown. Lois sighed a breath of relief, but it didn't last long. Her relief became panic as she twisted the faucet off, and the water kept on pouring. Even as hard as she tried, the flow of water wouldn't cease.

    "Shit!" She hissed, "Shit, shit—"

   No matter how hard she twisted, the mirky water continued to pour into the basin. Lois went to pull the plug, but it wasn't there.

   Without a plughole and a functioning faucet, the water had soon filled the basin and started to overflow. It trickled onto the tiles and the girl reached for the bathroom door, unsure of when it had shut itself, and fumbled for the doorknob.

   It wasn't there.

    "What the—!" Lois yelled, "What is going on?"

   Lois went back to the sink but slipped on the wet floor, landing in the water that had risen above her ankles. Her head collided with the tile with a crack!

It felt like a dream, a dazed and hazy dream.

   It was a bizarre moment of colours and sparkles, and she was positive that a glowing blue arrow had taken over her vision. Lois didn't see the ceiling, or water — in that moment, the world had slowed and Lois saw blinding light and blue. Blue, blue, blue.

   Was she tripping? Lois recognised that blue. She knew that blue from somewhere, and it felt so suddenly familiar.

Her fall had been in slow motion, like something out of a book or a film. She watched the tunnel of blue travel through the air above her, neon lighting the bathroom and then slowly dissipating, before another one had followed in suit. The blue streaks were the same as she had seen, somewhere else; mesmerising. It looked as though it had set the ceiling to watery flames, and the light was as bright as the ones that lit the bathroom. Brighter, even.

Then it stopped.

    "Lois? Lois—!"

When Lois came to, she was choking. Water spluttered from her lips and she was rolled onto her side, allowing the mirky liquid from the sink to dribble down her cheeks and onto the carpet.

   She wasn't in the bathroom, anymore. Rather, Lois was on the ground by her bed. Stiles and Luna were by her side, rubbing her back and combing strands of wet hair from her face, and sharing looks of concern. Actually, Stiles looked horrified — it was like he had seen a ghost.

    "Lois? Can you hear me?" Luna asked, gently.

   Unable to speak just yet, Lois nodded and coughed.

    "Why— why would you do that?"

   She looked up at Stiles, "What?"

    "We came in, and the water was running, and when we looked in the bathroom you— um..." he stuttered, "We went in, and..."

   His eyes pooled with tears. Stiles ran a hand through his hair and his face crumpled, and Lois felt sick to her stomach. Her best friend was in tears. What happened?

    "We went in, and your head was in the basin..." the words came out in a shaky sigh. Her brows cinched, and Luna helped her sit up while Stiles tried to finish. "Your head was in the basin, and it was filled with water— you tried to drown yourself in the basin, Lois. When we came in, you— you were drowning."

    "What...?" Lois breathed. "No— no, that's not..."

   Turning to look at the bathroom, her words were sucked from her. When she looked at the bathroom, it was dry. Perfectly dry. There was no sign of an overflown basin, the faucet was turned off, and the tiles weren't wet. The door had a handle and it was wide open, not shut, and the bathroom barely looked used. The only sign of water was the water that remained in the basin, and the past ten minutes suddenly seemed to no longer exist. None of it felt real, and Lois wondered if it had been. Had her mind been playing tricks on her? Lois clearly remembered slipping and then hitting her head, but when she felt the area there was no bump.

   If she had tried to drown herself— why?

   Lois was terrified of water, of drowning. It didn't make sense for her to black out and waterboard herself in the basin. There were too many traumatic memories that came with water. Lois didn't try to kill herself, there was no chance.

   If she had tried to drown herself...

   ...then why did she remember it, so differently?

——

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