𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞
"𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬."
𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭
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Wind howled through a quiet loft in the waking hours of the morning. Besides the cruel wind that slid through every crack of the uneven bricks all that could be heard was the shallow breath of a dying teenage girl as her brother and uncle sat at her bedside, watching her condition worsen with every passing minute. In the hour that the three had found themselves retreating in the loft, her olive skin had turned to a pale white, hours away from resembling glass.

Things had never gone well for them in their years but never had things turn bad so quickly as they had tonight. In the ten minutes that Derek had been unconscious in an elevator things had changed drastically. While he awaited his rescue things had been taking a turn for the better, a plan had been established, everyone was safe, most somewhat unharmed, and there was hope. By the time he'd woken up to Stiles's fist edging towards his face, everything had changed. Most of the plan had been carried out, most parts of it had been successful, it had been in the final few steps that it all went wrong, as people began coming to terms with what was there all along.

His cousin had disappeared. Melissa had been taken. Scott had left to side with Deucalion, with the hopes it would change all that went wrong tonight. Peter had run for the hills, abandoning Cora with Isaac at the sight of the Argents, which he couldn't quite be blamed for, the last time he had seen the two of them had been when he murdered Kate, and they proceeded to burn him alive. They wouldn't provide him with the same treatment in his daughter had, which wasn't quite forgiveness, but acceptance that her mother and father were both bad people whose past had hurt more than just her. Both of them were well past being good people, two many lives had been ended by their hands, all she could do was hope that her father would try to change for her at least if he wanted to be a good father like he claimed.

Nobody had seen or heard from the girl since she had left the rooftop leaving Stiles stood on his own in cruel darkness, both of them abandoning him, for the first time, the three of them all felt truly alone, not even able to depend on the comfort of each other. Stiles waited in the hospital for when the cops come, hoping to hold them off for the sake of everyone else, they were going to wonder how the hospital had come to be in the state it was from a storm, a storm couldn't explain blood smeared against the walls, missing drugs, claw marks on floors, shapes of fists carved into cabinets. He didn't precisely have an explanation for any of those things, he planned on using Derek's excuse against whichever cop he was met with, that he had been stuck in an elevator during the entire evacuation with no way out. How could anyone argue with that? There were no cameras to prove him wrong, they'd all been cut out by the electricity. It was foolproof.

Derek and Peter's heads raised as the loft door opened, revealing a petite silhouette with a bowed head. Neither had to question who it was, the silhouette was enough to identify her, the combined smell of rainwater, blood, and perfume was merely a confirmation that it was the girl who had disappeared from the rooftop without a word. As Kinsey walked into the loft with heavy eyes, hoping to sit beside Cora just like the other two Hale's were Peter stood up from his seat, he marched towards the girl, clearly in a much better condition than when she had left the man in the ambulance with Stiles. She looked at her father with red puffy eyes.

"Peter, I don't need a lecture-"

Her words were cut off as her father wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her head into his chest as he held her tightly, resting his chin on her head. He kept her there for a few moments, letting her sob into his chest, it was clear it was what she needed, a shoulder to cry on, or more so a chest. She'd watched her best friend walk away from her, teaming up with the enemy when he had lost all hope in himself and the people who surrounded him. Part of her wished she had followed him, taken the same offer that she had been offered by Deucalion, knowledge, help, for them and the people who they would have left behind. But it was too late. There was no way of finding either of them, Scott wouldn't be out in the open, he would be working with the Alphas, hidden away somewhere like they always were. And now, there was nobody left for them to fight with Jennifer missing. Who knew when she would next show her face if she ever would.

After a few minutes, Peter pulled away from his daughter as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and a slight sniffle before she approached the bed that Cora lay on. She stood beside Derek, a hand on his shoulder as he gave her a weak smile, placing his hand on top of hers. All the three of them could do was hope she would pull through, or that somehow, without coming into contact with them, Jennifer would follow through on her promise and heal Cora in the attempt of proving that she was at least a half-decent person. It was a painfully optimistic outlook after she had left Derek unconscious and had taken another person, but stupid hope was all they had.

Kinsey had only been in the loft for as little as twenty minutes before the loft door opened again, a much taller, a broader silhouette stood in the doorway as she and Derek turned their gazes away from a coughing Cora. Once again, neither of them had to question who it was, and unlike the brunette girl who had entered, he hadn't stumbled in, rather, he marched in, straight to the girl he hadn't seen in hours, who had disappeared once again without saying a thing to him, a habit he really wished she would snap out of soon.

In the time he had been searching for her around town, struggling to catch a scent, he'd been preparing all of the things he would say to her. He was prepared to give her the lecture that everyone wanted to give her deep down, but nobody ever managed to, all she had to do was look at them with that light in her eyes and they would melt, unable to find all of those words inside of them again. Nobody ever had the heart to argue with her when it was obvious all she was trying to do was the right thing, desperate to not become like her parents. This time he thought it would be different, that she had pushed it too far, that it had to be now or never, because the next time she may not be so lucky to be able to just walk away with a few self-administered stitches, because it would have gone too far. Even when he saw the girl in the loft, stood between her father and cousin he'd been prepared to say it all. Then, as he reached her, it happened again. He'd lost the words, his trail of thought. Kinsey had only held his gaze for a moment before she turned to look at Cora as she coughed weakly again.

It wasn't the right moment for him to unleash hell on her. It never was. All that Isaac managed to spit out as he stood at the foot of the bed was "She's dying, isn't she?" in a mumble, he looked at Derek for his answer, the one who he saw claimed most of the responsibility for all of this. Isaac may have felt slight anger towards Kinsey for the way she had acted tonight, for how careless she had been, how reckless, but that anger routed from nothing but care. His anger towards the Alpha, however, was nothing more than plain, simple anger.

"I don't know," Derek spoke through the fist that was pressed against his mouth.

"So what are you gonna do?" He asked with a less than soft tone. Kinsey had looked at him with knitted brows, noticing the hostility in his tone, it wasn't something she was used to seeing on the wolf. Even the way he looked at the Alpha was hostile, his eyes filled with hatred.

Derek took a moment to answer, to consider what he could and would do. He was left with the same answer to his beta's previous question. "I don't know."

Isaac looked away from the wolf in disbelief, his hands running through his damp, slightly curled hair as he tried to contain himself from blowing his top at the Alpha, he knew it wasn't right, his sister was practically on her death bed inches away from him, and Kinsey wouldn't be happy with him, but unlike how nobody could face telling her the truth, someone had to do it to Derek. Unlike the brunette girl, he wasn't doing things with good intentions, he wasn't risking himself to help others, he couldn't have been doing more of the opposite.

He couldn't help as he snarled his comment. "Wanna figure something out?" Kinsey looked at the wolf, her eyes widening as she listened to him. "Because while Kinsey, Scott, and Stiles were out there trying to stop people from being killed, you were in here rolling around the sheets with the actual killer." He continued, now that he had begun, he was unable to stop himself. He didn't care whether he was talking about the girl beside him as though she wasn't there, the words rolled out of him, frankly, he didn't want to contain them. He'd been waiting weeks, months even to finally spit it all out. "Do you get how many people she's killed? She almost killed Kinsey. Erica and Boyd are dead, Cora is dying, and you are doing nothing!" He began to yell in Derek's face, the Alpha wasn't even able to look him in the eye as he sat taking it all.

"Isaac-" Kinsey muttered weakly.

"Why'd you do this to us, Derek?" Isaac asked, his voice lowering, there was less hatred in his tone, more sorrow as his eyes began filling with tears. "Was it all about the power? Were you bored?" He continued to ask, he leaned closer to the wolf, confronting him further as Derek continued not to look at the disappointed look on his face. "Were you lonely?" He questioned.

Derek finally looked at his beta, his eyes just as glossy as Isaac's were. "Maybe." Isaac couldn't listen anymore as he straightened his back, his hand running through his hair again as he began walking back towards the loft door. "I told Cora I wouldn't leave. I'll help the others when I figure out how to help her." Derek spoke over his shoulder, to the wolf's back.

Isaac's voice raised again as he spun around to shout at him again. "There's no time!" He yelled at the maximum capacity that his lungs allowed him to. "The full moon's coming. The Sheriff and Melissa are going to be dead, so I'm gonna try and help them. You can sit here and perfect the art of doing nothing." He snarled at the wolf before exiting the loft, slamming the door behind him leaving all of them in silence. Both Derek and Peter, who sat on the stairs of the loft, enjoying the exchange he had just watched, looked at the brunette girl, waiting for her to make her choice. It didn't need to be said for her to know that she had one. The choice between the Hale side of her family, sitting and waiting to help Cora, or to go and help everyone else. Both her mother's side of the family and what she felt as though was her "found family." The ones who'd been there for her when the only family she thought she had were Chris and Allison.

"Go," Derek mumbled to her as she watched the door. At first, it was a soft nudge, he knew that she wanted to go and follow Isaac, he knew more about her than anyone probably thought he did. But as she hesitated, standing there for a few more moments, a nudge became a demand. "Go!" He snapped at her, startling her as she began heading for the door. He would've rather she stayed with him and Cora, acting as their comfort, but she was more of use to the rest of them than she was sitting perfecting the art of nothing as Isaac called it. By using false hostility, he made her choice for her, making it easy for her to choose, without her feeling guilty for whatever choice she made. If she didn't feel wanted, she would leave and focus on helping the others. It was what everyone needed her to do. Himself included.

By the time Kinsey reached the outside of the loft Isaac was already long gone, he'd rushed down the stairs faster than light itself, his anger had helped push him further. Now it was her turn to be left unbeknownst to where he was, for the first time in six months she didn't know where he was at all times, now she knew just how annoying it was, how worrying it could be not knowing what he was up to, whether or not he was in danger. But if she knew anything about the art of disappearing without telling anyone where they were going, it was that there was a reason nobody knew, because they didn't want to be found. So she headed home, prepared to confront the other half of her family who she hadn't spoken to since disappearing without any explanation, her specialty at the moment when it came to the two of them and Isaac.

When she had pulled up outside of their block of apartments Allison and Chris were only just climbing out of the SUV, both of them looked exhausted after a sleepless night, the sun had rose and the storm had completely passed. She could assume how the two of them had spent the past few hours since she had seen them last, looking for her. Chris and Allison turned around at the sound of a car door shutting behind them, neither of them had it in them either to have a go at the girl for disappearing or to even ask where she had been, the two had heard about her exchange with Scott and Deucalion on the roof, her disappearance, though it worried them, was valid. They would have wanted some alone time to think had they been in her situation too. As Kinsey approached the two of them with a weak smile Chris opened his arm to his niece, pulling her under his wing as he sighed, walking towards their home, prepared to spend the remainder of the day figuring out a way to find Jennifer, Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa. They had no time to catch up on sleep when lives were at risk. It appeared that now more than ever, their promise to stay out of werewolf business was non-existent, they'd all broken it, and they were all still here in Beacon Hills, the place that never failed to rope them into danger.

Just as they were about to enter the building another car door shut behind them, turning all of their heads as a frantic, out-of-breath Stiles rushed towards them, begging them to wait for him. What he had to tell them couldn't wait a minute longer, and especially not the time it would take them to reach the apartment and then buzz him in. Once he'd reached the Argent's he wasted no time beginning his explanation of how their name had been written on one of the elevators at the hospital, he didn't think that needed any further explanation. None of them had written it, so it was clear who had. It was a sign, even Kinsey and Allison had agreed. From the foyer of the apartment door right to the front door of the apartment, the three teenagers took turns to explain to the man exactly why their name spraypainted on an elevator door meant that he was going to be the next Guardian that Jennifer came for. Not only did he tick the box for a parent when it came to Allison, but he was a literal Guardian to Kinsey too, the man was practically the definition for the entire group of sacrifices. Not taking him would almost be offensive.

"The word is "guardian", girls. More than anyone, you two know that's a role I haven't exactly lived up to lately." Chris brushed off their comments as he lead the three teenagers into his home office. He wasn't accepting their explanations, no matter how simple or elaborate.

"But she took Scott's mother and Stiles's father. That's not a coincidence." Allison continued.

"Yeah, I'd also consider the fact that someone put your name up in large block letters on the elevator doors," Kinsey added, emphasizing a point Stiles had already made, the entire reason he was in their home in the first place.

"That kind of felt like a warning to me," Stiles commented under his breath.

"I think it might be Morrell," Allison suggested. "She knows a lot more than she lets on, and she might even be trying to help us." She continued, looking at Kinsey and Stiles to see if they agreed. The two of them were also aware that Morrell knew a lot more than she ever let on, both of them had been there when Peter told them she was the emissary to the Alpha pack, and the girl had also heard from her cousin about when the woman had been at the bank. She wasn't the innocent-looking guidance counselor and French teacher, contrary to the belief of most teenagers', teachers really did have a life outside of school. A shocking revelation, truly.

"Well, she needs to work a little faster on that." Stiles scoffed. "Seeing as the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away." He sighed, throwing himself into one of the many seats available in Chris's office. Considering it was the first time the boy had ever been in their apartment the two girls were surprised he'd actually had the guts to sit down, usually anyone who had never been before standing awkwardly, scared to touch anything for a few moments. At least that was how it went with both Scott and Isaac.

Chris tried to comfort the young boy who sat in his office, telling him not to give up hope, which was easier said than done, most of them already had given it up, if not lost the majority of it. It was hard not to when nothing had worked in their favor. Everything they had tried had failed, there was no saying any further efforts they made wouldn't end up the exact same way. Stiles wasn't one for optimism, that was the wrong best friend, he was the painfully honest one who had no other choice but to admit that his father could be dead as they speak. Chris thought otherwise. He explained that there was something about Jennifer's tactics, how it seemed as if she was still positioning, still moving pieces into place.

"Your one of those pieces." Kinsey deadpanned, leaning on her uncle's desk.

"Then let's not wait around to find out her next move," Chris suggested as he pulled out his map, laying it out on the desk in front of him. "Everything she's done has been on a telluric current. So Melissa and the Sheriff have to be somewhere on one of these currents, right?" He explained to his niece and daughter who were actively nodding from the other side of the desk, the boy in the room however was still sitting in the chair twiddling his thumbs as he sat forward. "Stiles, if we're gonna find them, we need your help."

"You seriously wanna go after her? I mean, what if she just takes you like the others, huh? No offense, but what's the difference between you and them?"

Chris picked up his gun from his desk, loading it as he looked straight into the boy's eyes, knowing that it would both emphasize his point, and maybe even threaten him a little. He hadn't forgotten about the little facade of a fake relationship that he'd played with his niece to put him off of the scent of her being out in werewolf business. He knew that it probably wasn't as fake as the two of them pretend it was either, he didn't have to be told to know that his niece and the boy in front of him were trying to figure out where they stood with one another.

."I'm carrying a .45" The man said with pride. "Maybe she can heal from a shot to the leg and a few slashes to the face, but personally, I'd like to see how she holds up with half of her skull blown off." He explained, his tactic had definitely worked on Stiles who had a lump grow in his throat at the sight of the loaded gun, and the threat he felt was laced into his words. He hadn't forgotten about the whole facade he and Kinsey had played last year either, or the fact they had edged to making it real. "We've got one priority right now, and that is to find Melissa and your dad. We've got a map and every clue we need to figure this out. The only thing we don't have is time. Which is why I need all three of you."

He looked at Stiles, waiting for him to agree, he didn't need to question whether his daughter and niece would be up to the task, they were probably planning all of the weapons they wanted to use against Jennifer themselves. With a sigh, Stiles agreed, asking the man where to begin.

Chris needed nothing further, with the three teenagers gathered around his desk, all looking at the map that he'd been working on for months he began his plan. In the past few months of tracking the sacrifices, he'd found that the places where the bodies have been sacrificed have been different from the places where they had been found, he believed the placement had something to do with the strength of the current. The school, the animal clinic, the bank.

Kinsey interrupted the man's explanation. Questioning on whether Jennifer would use the same location twice to sacrifice someone, a specific thought in her mind. She thought back to a time, the only time that they had been successful in saving someone.

The man caught onto what his niece was hinting at with her question, agreeing that if she hadn't succeeded the first time she could and would try there again. He slammed his UV light down on the map where the marking for the Beacon Hills First National Bank sat with the very same thought that she'd had, Allison and Stiles had caught on to, all of them remembered an attempt of sacrificing that the woman had failed to complete. Deaton. Her only failure, which Chris suggested could mean something.

"That's just one place so far. We're gonna need a lot more help." Stiles admitted.

"What about Lydia?" Allison suggested.

"Lydia?" Chris raised a brow. "What can she do?"

"Uh, Lydia's got sort of a talent. She's a little like Kinsey, but... not like Kinsey? We don't know what exactly she is, but she's something. And the two of them together, well they find a couple of the bodies, without, um, actually looking for them." Stiles explained as the girl beside him nodded wearily. She hadn't in fact told her uncle she'd been finding dead bodies scattered across town, waking up in the middle of the night to find them. She tried to limit the details of her life because well, most of them involved Stiles, it was too soon to bring her uncle into the picture, she didn't know what was going on with them yet, telling her uncle about Stiles made it all too real, when she knew the situation between the two of them, then she could.

"So if she's not like you, what is she?" Chris asked his niece. "Psychic?"

Kinsey shook her head, she couldn't remember the name that Jennifer had called her, so much had happened since then, no matter how much she racked her brain she struggled to remember all of the things Jennifer had said to her, besides the fact she was about to be murdered, the woman had bored her to the point where she would much rather think about all of the bad things in her life than listen to her quote every possible book she'd ever read. What mattered was that with Lydia's help, the two girls may be able to find Melissa and Sheriff Stilinski before it was too late, the two of them were their strongest when they were together, even without the supernatural talk. Kinsey may not have remembered everything about last night in complete detail, but what she did remember was how Lydia had screamed, shrieked, the very same as she had when she found a body, and it had triggered her own scream. The two of them had a connection beyond that of two best friends, that connection may very well be their last hope.

With that, it had been decided that at least one person had to go and see Lydia. It wasn't even a question of who that would be, the entire reason for involving Lydia was so she could be paired with the other girl who happened to find dead bodies scattered around the town, of course, the brunette girl would be the one to go. If it wasn't for their shared connection it would still be the young girl to go, she was the one who was with Lydia last night, the one who'd left her, even if it wasn't alone she had to know that her best friend was fine after going through that. Stiles had volunteered himself to go with Kinsey, it seemed like the better option between that and the man with an entire arsenal of guns. Speaking of that man, Chris and Allison would be heading to the only other place they knew to look, the vault at the bank.

Stiles stood back as he watched the three Argents lay out their entire arsenal out in front of him, Chris rested his large selection of guns on his desk, Allison her different arrowheads, and Kinsey with her array of daggers. He thought that she only used the Chinese ring daggers as she had heard her refer to it, but apparently, she had a lot more than just that. In front of him sat a million different kinds of daggers, all shapes, and sizes, some extremely sharp, some looked a little blunter, he assumed those were the ones she used more often. It didn't matter what weapon he looked at around the room, all of them incited a newfound fear inside of him until a lump had grown so large in his throat he felt like a cat with a hairball.

"That's uh..." He cleared his throat. "That's a lot of weapons you've got there." He mumbled, pulling the collar of his shirt as he looked around the room. "Is it hot in here? I think it's..." None of the three hunters paid attention to his mumbling as they heard themselves up. Chris pulled out one of his larger guns, pointing it straight towards Stiles as he looked through the sight, he looked straight at the boy who had lost all color in his skin. "Whoa."

Kinsey spun her daggers around her fingers, a smirk appearing across her face. Her best daggers were the ones that Chris kept locked away, for a good reason, every time she spun them around her fingers preparing to use them she got that same smile across her face, a frankly, terrifying smile, it was like an inner killer came out of her as she looked down with them. But to the girl, it was simply when she felt at her most confident, confident in herself and in her hunting skills. Much like Chris, it was a sight that terrified Stiles as he questioned them.

"I thought you guys retired." He asked, looking up at the two girls who would rather he didn't mention that, the reminder might have just caused Chris to realize how irrational this all was and he would pack the whole arsenal back up, they couldn't be having that. For the past two months, they'd been deprived of their beloved weapons, they needed at least a day with them.

"Retired, yes. Defenseless, no." Chris stated simply. "Now both of you make sure your phones are on. If either of you hears from Scott you let us know immediately."

The two both nodded as they pulled out their phones, making sure that they were both on and on loudspeaker so the minute they got an update, they would know. Stiles admitted as he looked down at his phone that he doubted either of them would hear from Scott after the way that he had looked at them last night, how it seemed as though he didn't even hesitate to go with Deucalion. Chris reminded them all that Scott believed that he was doing what was right, but his inspiring speech on friendship and misguided decisions was interrupted by the sound of the floorboards creaking in the hallway. The three occupants of the apartment knew exactly where in the apartment that creaky floorboard came from, right by the front door, which none of them had remembered to lock when they entered a little over an hour ago. All four heads had looked at the door, wondering who'd stepped into the apartment, only to see a tall werewolf in the doorway, one who Kinsey didn't expect to see so soon.

"I can't shoot a gun, or use a crossbow, but... Well, I'm getting pretty good with these." Isaac offered his help as he raised his hands, extending his claws as he looked across the four faces. A slight smile came across Kinsey's face as she looked at the wolf who stood in the doorway he had clearly calmed down since the outburst at Derek's loft, now he was prepared to do what he said he would, help everyone else in their search for Melissa and the Sheriff.

Chris accepted the wolf's offer, they weren't in the position to refuse help, as Stiles had said, they needed all the people they could get if they were going to have a chance at finding his dad and Melissa. The man gestured for the wolf to come into his office as he continued setting up his arsenal, explaining the plan that the four of them had already established. He gave Isaac the choice of who he would rather join, himself and Allison as they went to the bank vault or Kinsey and Stiles who were going to find Lydia and see where that would take them. Isaac hesitated to answer as he looked at the brunette girl who stood behind her uncle, with nothing but a look he questioned her on what he should do, whether she wanted him to go with them again, risking her uncle killing him this time for being a werewolf a little too close to his niece and daughter.

But Kinsey simply shrugged, leaving the choice to him. He'd made it through the whole night without Chris killing him, she was sure he could make it a few more if he decided he wanted to go with them. After she had disappeared last night she assumed that she would already know his answer, at least one of them was going to want to keep an eye on her, and if Isaac had the option he was sure to take it. And he did. But protecting the brunette girl wasn't the only reason he had taken the chance of going with her and Stiles. As he had been thinking he'd glanced at Stiles, noticing the disapproving look across his face, it was clear that he would have rathered be alone with Kinsey, that way he got to be alone with her the entire day. But that part of him that had feelings for the brunette girl took over, his decision fueled by jealousy, and a slight hatred for Stiles, he wasn't going to let Stiles get his own way, he would make sure he was by Kinsey's side every minute of the day with a smug grin to rub it in his face if he could, apparently, lack of sleep turned him into quite the petty person, and he quite enjoyed it.

·❥·

Kinsey, Isaac, and Stiles scattered themselves around the redhead's room as they caught her up on everything that she had missed while in the hospital. The explanation was mainly given by Stiles who leaned on the chair that opposed Lydia's while Kinsey and Isaac sat on the couch perched by her window, adding some of the more minor details that Stiles had missed while he had been hiding in the ambulance with Cora. Kinsey couldn't help but notice how well her best friend looked, practically untouched if she averted her gaze from the strangulation marks around her neck, ones that she had chosen not to cover up with concealer as she usually would have with any slight blemish to her otherwise perfect, clear porcelain skin. For once, the redhead didn't feel it was necessary to cover it up and hide the truth, this truth being that she was a survivor against a sacrifice, against Jennifer, a Dark Druid, she felt no shame in admitting what had happened to her. She knew that she would be stronger for it like she had been after the formal, it had just taken this long for her to realize it. But now she did, she felt empowered.

Stiles ended his explanation with Scott, how he and Kinsey had watched as the wolf left with Deucalion, they tried to remember Chris's words as they recalled that moment, how Scott just believed he was doing the right thing for them and everyone else, even if they disagreed.

Lydia was just as shocked that Scott had left with Deucalion, insisting that he couldn't be, maybe something had gotten lost in translation somehow, anything that could possibly explain a viable reason for Scott going with the very person he'd been trying to keep them away from for the past two months, the person who Kinsey had hoped to avoid for the past six months. There was a reason why she and Isaac had been sworn to secrecy over the Alpha pack, and that wasn't so Scott could go with them, side with them, leaving all of his friends behind when they were all so prepared to help him find his mother, even if it meant not sleeping and putting their own lives at risk like they had all done last night.

"You didn't see the look on his face, Lyds." Kinsey shook her head. "It was..." She couldn't find the words, she'd never seen such a look on Scott's face, it was more than just a boy who'd lost all faith and hope, it was much deeper than that, deeper than even the most complex of minds could possibly comprehend.

"Then what can I do?" The redhead asked, looking between the three of them, prepared for any of them to give her some kind of instruction. Like them, she was more than willing to help, even if she wasn't quite sure how to do it. "I mean, I get that we're some kind of, like, human Geiger counter for death. But I don't know how to turn it on and off yet." Lydia said desperately as she looked at the fellow human Geiger counter, who also didn't quite know how to turn it on and off, despite knowing what she was, unlike Lydia, she still felt as though she knew nothing at all. "All I know is that she tried to kill us because of..." Lydia's face dropped as she remembered, the very thing that Kinsey had been struggling to remember, and the thing that she had too while being wrapped up in processing it all, some of the details had been forgotten. Until now.

"Because of what?" Isaac and Stiles asked in unison, the wolf sitting up in his seat as Stiles stood straight up, believing that they were getting somewhere. "Hey, Lydia, what?" Stiles repeated as the redhead girl continued to stare blankly, Kinsey was still sitting trying to remember what had been said to her last night when Jennifer had tied the two of them up, but her memory seemed spotty as if she had involuntary blocked out the worst parts of it all. Maybe because of the head injury that she and Lydia had sustained from Jennifer.

"When she called me a Banshee." Lydia deadpanned, Kinsey's eyes lighting up. That was it. The word she had been scouring her brain for. "She was surprised by it, she was surprised by Kinsey. She didn't know what we were. So, what if that's not why she tried to kill us?"

"Then why did she?" Stiles questioned them.

"That's what we need to find out." Kinsey nodded, taking the words straight out of Lydia's mouth as the two of them shot up out of their seats.

Both of them knew exactly where to start, with Lydia's closest connection, her only connection, to the Alpha pack, the very people Jennifer was trying to take down. Aiden. All four of them were in agreement that they would search the entire school to look for either Ethan or Aiden, either of them would suffice, maybe one could lead them to the other. They needed to know exactly what Jennifer assumed that Lydia would know, something that she could have only learned from the Alpha she had been hooking up with for months. On the drive, both Stiles and Isaac struggled to see the correlation between the reason Jennifer wanted to kill Lydia, and why she wanted to kill Kinsey. The two girls weren't sure of that either, but both had assumed it had something to do with the connection that Jennifer had kept referring to as she talked about them, or maybe, she had simply assumed that if Lydia knew something, she would immediately tell Kinsey. Jennifer wouldn't have been wrong in that assumption, because Lydia did in fact tell her everything, more than she told anyone, including Allison. But this time, neither of them could think of anything they knew that would be enough of a reason to kill them both, when it came to the Alpha pack, neither felt as though they knew a lot about them. Kinsey knew how they were in a fight, Lydia knew how Aiden was in bed.

The four of them had searched the entire school for Aiden, peering in every class whether it was empty or not, narrowly escaping running into the very classes that they were supposed to be in. So far, the four had stuck together as they roamed the halls, Lydia checked all of the usual places that she found Aiden lurking, where he would pull her into a dark corner for a mid-day hook-up, Isaac and Stiles checked every toilet stall and locker room, everywhere that the two girls were unable to look. Every crevice of the school had been searched, not a room unturned, but they'd found nothing. Not even Ethan. Eventually, the four found themselves in the middle of a hallway, running out of options as they tried to think of where else they could look, who else they could look for that might have seen either of the Alpha werewolves.

"Aiden is texting me back." Lydia sighed as she looked down at the blank notification screen on her phone. "Where else do we look? We've been everywhere." She asked, looking at the three of them for a suggestion.

"What about Danny? He and Ethan, they're like a thing, right? Maybe he knows where they are." Isaac suggested with a slight tilt of the head as he looked for approval in his words, both the two girls and Stiles nodded in agreement that Danny was a good place to start looking.

Before Isaac could argue against it Lydia had grabbed a hold of the wolf's hand and was dragging him through the halls in search of Danny, he didn't give him the chance to argue about being with Kinsey or leaving her alone with Stiles like the very thing he wanted to avoid. The girl was too stubborn, and she had quite the mean grip as she pulled him down the hall as if it was effortless for her. She must have taken pointers from Kinsey because it was unlikely for two girls who were a foot shorter than him to both be able to drag his werewolf weight around. Kinsey turned back to Stiles as they both remained in the middle of the hall, the two of them having to figure out their own plan of action to find Ethan and Aiden while Lydia and Isaac took the Danny approach to the situation. As they stood there, both trying to think, Stiles's phone vibrated in his pocket, he pulled it out quickly hoping that it was Chris or Allison to say that they had found his father and Melissa, or at least were closer to finding them. But it wasn't that. It couldn't have been a worse text message to receive. He looked down at it with tears already beginning to swell in his eyes, his hands felt weak around the blue cellphone as he read the text message over and over, hoping it would somehow change, autocorrect maybe.

Kinsey, who'd been looking around them, turned back to look at the boy, noticing the look on his face, as if his whole world had just fallen apart right in front of him.

"Stiles?" She mumbled weakly, expecting the worst. He didn't answer, his teary stare remained on the text message from Allison, his hand shaking more profusely with every scan of the words. "Stiles, what is it? What happened?"

"It's from Allison..." He stammered. "Jennifer, she... She has Argent. She took him. She's got all three now." Stiles muttered weakly as he looked at the girl whose eyes were wide with concern, pain, knowing that her uncle had been taken.

Allison had to have watched him be taken, and she had been alone in that. She should have gone with her or insisted that Stiles or Isaac did. Now, Allison was alone, who knew where after watching her father be taken as a sacrifice. Stiles's shaky hand put his phone back in his pocket as he began breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down, but the more he thought about it the worse he became. A frantic Kinsey tried to do the same as she ran her hands through her straight hair, looking around the halls of the school where the busy normal teenagers walked past them. She tried to think of what they did next now that Jennifer had all three of them. All three of her Guardian sacrifices, clearly, the bank hadn't been where Jennifer had been keeping Melissa and the Sheriff, now her uncle too. Now, they were back to square one, further back than even that. Kinsey tried to comfort both of them as she insisted that there was still time, frankly, she didn't know if there was, but she had to say something from stopping her from breaking down and going insane right in these very halls. The brunette girl turned back to Stiles whose eyes were on her, but it was as if nobody was behind them, he began gasping for air as he tried to speak to her, nothing was coming out, nothing but a desperate need for air as he began losing his footing, stumbling across the halls as she grabbed a hold of his arm to hold him up.

Her voice echoed in his head as he tried to stand still, collect himself as she asked him if he was okay, even though it was clear that he wasn't. It felt as though the room was spinning around him, but in reality, he was the one spinning, spiraling as he turned around on the spot with a gasp every time he tried to catch a breath. Kinsey kept talking to him, trying to calm him down but it was as though he couldn't hear her, he was too in his own mind, unable to see the outside world that surrounded him. He was crashing, hard.

Finally, he was able to spit out a sentence. "I think I'm having a panic attack."

Those words had incited panic in the brunette girl herself as she realized she had to help him, she grabbed ahold of the breathless, spiraling boy and guided him to the locker room, the only place she could depend on being empty for them, it was the closest place of retreat that she could think of in such a short amount of time. The two of them crashed through the door of the boy's locker room as Kinsey kept talking to him, trying to reassure him that everything was going to be fine, words she struggled to believe herself, but now, she had to be the strong one for both of them. They were in the same deep mess, she finally knew how it felt to have someone in Jennifer's possession, wondering if they were already dead. She'd already been worried for the Sheriff and Melissa, but knowing her uncle was with them too made it all too real. Stiles dropped his backpack at the door as he stumbled across the locker room, falling into one of the mesh lockers until he collapses on the floor. Kinsey dropped in front of him almost reaching his point of panic as she tried to think of how to get him through a panic attack.

"Just try and think about something else. Anything else." Kinsey suggested.

"Like what?" He asked in short gasps.

"Anything." The brunette tried to think, even she was struggling to think of anything that could take his mind off of it all, what kind of thought would help him forget the fact that his father was or already had been sacrificed, along with his best friends mother and her uncle. "Happy things." She spat out uselessly. "Good things. Uh, friends, family..." Stiles looked up at her through his gaps for breath, narrowing his eyes as he questioned if she had really told him to think of family when that was the very reason he was sitting in front of her having a panic attack. "I mean, not family. Don't think of family. Oh, God. Okay... uh, come on Kinsey. Think."

Kinsey tried to try and slow his breathing though it was harder than it sounded, instead, his breaths became shorter, gaspier as he shook his head, telling her that he couldn't do it as he held onto his chest. His gaps for air turned into hyperventilating.

The brunette girl cupped his face in her hands, raising his head until she was looking at him as she tried to calm him down, repeating that he needed to look at her in a soft voice. Her thumb stroked across his cheek as she talked slowly and softly, his breathing down slightly. It was as they looked deep into one another eyes, the sun shining on them both turning a usual chocolate brown into pots of honey gold, both of them becoming enchanted with each other's gaze that she had a thought, an instinct. She told herself she would follow instincts. Even this one.

Without another thought, she pressed her lips against his,her hands resting on his cheeks as she held him as closely as they could possibly get. His eyes grew wide with the long, lingering kiss until he melted into it without a single regret, for months on end he'd wondered what it felt like, all of the time he had considered making the first move until they ended up just like this, wrapped up in one another. In a moment.

It was something both of them had thought about, wondering why they'd never had the guts to do it when their had been so many opportunities, neither expected it to be like this, it was much greater than they thought, a weight lifted off of their shoulders. There had been moments before where they both had considered pressing their lips against the other, sometimes, they hadn't realized it was a moment until they had been lying awake in bed at night thinking about it, wondering what if. Now, there was no what if. It had happened. And neither of them could quite describe the feeling it had left lingering inside of them. Granted, neither had imagined it would happen inside of the boys locker room while Stiles was having a panic attack, but with all of the troubles they had faced together, the chaos of their relationship it seemed fitting that the first kiss they shared would happen in just as much of a chaotic scenario.

Things couldn't be denied any longer, a kiss was just one of the things that acted as the line that broke apart a friendship and a relationship, they weren't just friends anymore, or even two teens trying to figure out where they stood. They'd taken that extra step now, sooner than either had thought it would be taken.

Their kiss broke apart as the two of them looked at each other with soft eyes, both of them not knowing what to say, both of them were left speechless, their gazes still locked once more. His breathing had calmed, returning to a usual pace as he looked at the girl, realizing he was fine, all of his worry had faded as he became entirely, completely, and irrevocably wrapped up in the girl that was in front of him.

"How'd you do that?" He asked softly.

Kinsey struggled to speak as she bit onto her lip. "I, uh... I read once that holding your breath could stop a panic attack." The girl explained in a coy mumble. "So when I kissed you, you held your breath."

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did." Kinsey nodded. Neither of them had broken their eye contact, she wasn't sure she had even blinked as she looked at him, concentrating on all of the different colors in his eyes, how much they changed in the sunlight. She had never noticed it before, she didn't know how. So much lay beneath the surface. Of his eyes. Of them.

With an adoring gaze, Stiles nodded at the girl, his lips slightly pouted. "That was... That was really smart." He smiled at her, her face dropping slightly. She'd been called many things in her life, but that was never one of them. She'd never been called smart, and she didn't know why, but it coming from him felt as though it meant more than it would coming from someone else. He was one of the smartest people she knew, she had been the one who come to him with help for studying, working her way through her highlighted books, and yet, he saw her as smart.

And their moment ended. Relaization sank in as Kinsey thought about what came next, about the effects of what she had done, helping Stiles had only done so much good, with kissing him came more problems than she had thought about. Until now, she hadn't thought about what would happen to Stiles now that she had officially pulled him into her life, involving him more than he had ever been involved now. A relationship with her wasn't like a friendship with Scott. Scott didn't have the werewolf father, the werewolf hunter family, the drama that came with it all, the chaos and the pain. Suddenly all of those thoughts she'd had when she left him alone in his bedroom that night before she packed up and left for France came back, why she'd pushed herself away, those reasons were still reveleant now. Being with her meant him getting hurt. If she knew that, if she was so desperate to protect him still, why did she feel like she couldn't run this time? How did it somehow feel so right?

The locker room door burst open as Isaac and Lydia stood breathless, the two of them had run through the entire school, both in their search, as well as to follow Kinsey's scent when they'd reached a revelation of their own. As soon as the door had barged open the two sitting on the locker room floor had grown apart, looking at the two in the doorway innocently.

Lydia could sense the tension in the room, even without the ability of enhanced senses, something had happened, she could see it in their eyes, but she digressed, instead, she focused on what she and Isaac had figured out while running around the school to look for Danny. The redhead had joked about needing counseling after what she had been through last night, which made her think of the one person who may have been able to help them, a thought that Allison had had this morning, but neither Kinsey nor Stiles had thought to pursue it. And now, they were as all four of them ran to Morrell's office, very much in need of guidance. And a lot of it. All four of them together were bound to be like Christmas for a guidance counselor, they all had issues.

As the four of them crashed into the office with as little as a knock on the door they were all met with a girl sitting opposite Morrell's empty chair, a knitted brow as she looked across the faces of the three frantic teenagers. None of them had ever run so much as they had, none of them had ever been told to slow down as much as they had while running through the halls today, every teacher they had come across yelling at them as they all slowed into a speed walk until the said teacher was out of sight, then the running resumed.

"Are you here for Ms. Morrell?" Stiles asked the girl sat staring at them.

"No, I thought this was gym class." The girl deadpanned.

"Sweetheart, we're not in the mood for funny." Kinsey snapped at the girl. Usually, she would've appreciated the girl's comment, maybe even sniggered at it, but right now, the last thing she was in the mood for was remarks that were less than helpful. "Do you know where she is?"

"If I did I wouldn't be waiting here for 20 minutes." The girl said as she gestured around the room, clearly, she wasn't in the mood for her counseling session to be interrupted, even when it hadn't even started. "So how about you all back out the door and wait your turn." She spat back out at Kinsey who Isaac had pulled back before she started an argument with a girl who already needed counseling, who knew if her issues were anger issues that she would take on the more than fragile girl who was clearly forgetting about the self-administered stitches in her stomach. But she had taken more than enough pain killers to forget about them without making herself feel as high as a kite, instead, she could feel it when she moved too harshly, but other than that, she was more than prepared to fight a girl she had just met in a counselors office.

"We're not here for a session." Isaac butted in.

"Well, I am. And I've got some serious issues to work on."

Stiles had been staring at the girl since they entered, trying to work out where he knew her, he was sure that he recognized her from somewhere, and it wasn't around school, most of the people in their grade he had grown up with, majority of them had gone through every grade together, in fact, other than the twins, Kinsey and Allison, he was sure the rest of the junior year were all born and raised in Beacon Hills. This girl in front of him, he knew her, he just hadn't been able to figure it out for a while. Until it finally clicked. Danielle. Heather's best friend, he'd met her at the party, for a split second before the blonde had whisked him away. With Stiles's revelation Kinsey remembered too, how Heather had introduced her to the girl as her best friend along with all the stories she had shared about Danielle even before that party. She'd tried to block that night out of her memory, it still filled her with that same nausea.

"I was Heather's best friend." Danielle corrected. "We've been working on that issue three times a week." She sighed as she gestured towards Morrell's empty desk chair.

"Hold on." Lydia held a finger up. "Did you say Ms. Morrell was 20 minutes late?"

"And I don't know why either. She's always on time."

Lydia and Kinsey looked at one another, both agreeing that in all of their times of having sessions with the woman she had never once been late, and between the two of them, they were in this room almost daily with the woman. That left only one conclusion, she wasn't late, she was missing. As Isaac had pointed out, they may not have been the only ones who thought that she knew something, and if someone else had come to that conclusion, it may just explain her absence. With that concerning thought, Stiles insisted that whatever Morrell knew, he wanted to know, he didn't even think about what he was doing as he brushed past Kinsey and Isaac to get to Morrell's desk, frantically digging through it as he threw papers everywhere. He was quickly joined by the werewolf himself as he took the other side of the desk, hoping to find out sooner.

Danielle sat up in her seat as she question what the two boys were doing as Kinsey and Lydia watched them in astonishment, there were so many problems with what they were doing, but Danielle had pointed out the main one; confidentiality. Both the redhead and Kinsey agreed with her until Stiles held up both of their files for them to read if they wished, then all concern for privacy had gone out of the window, both of them snatching the files out of his hand. Kinsey stepped back as she flipped through her file, scoffing at all of the comments Morrell had written about her, how she acted, how she refused to talk, and would brush off all of the things Morrell had said to her. And then she saw something circled in bright red ink.

"Mommy issues?" Kinsey scoffed offensively. Then she listed all of the things that Morrell had written down to justify her conclusion. Trust issues. Difficulty in showing vulnerability and/or affection. Difficulty with commitment. "Wow, she really hit the nail on the head." The girl sighed as she threw the file on the desk beside Lydia who stood flicking through her own file.

Stiles looked up at the sound of Kinsey's file hitting the desk, his eyes looked straight at Lydia's open file, seeing a drawing of a tree that had caught Danielle's interest too, though the girl had just complimented it, Stiles had seen something more. He quickly jumped up from behind the desk, Isaac following his lead. He emphasized how her drawing wasn't just a tree but it was the "same one", none of the other four quite knew what he meant by that until he instructed both Lydia and Kinsey to pull out their notebooks, Issac was already way ahead of him as he dug through the brunette girls bag for her, pulling out her book that was filled with various drawings, most revolving around nature of all kinds like the crows and deer, and then once he had gotten so far into the book, page after page was filled with trees, the same tree, different sizes, different ink, but all of them the exact same tree. A mirror image of the book that belonged to Lydia as Stiles flipped through all of her pages, both of the girls became horrified as they looked at all of the trees they'd drawn, even Danielle, a girl who knew nothing about what was going on could see that it wasn't good. She quickly grabbed her bag from the chair, offering them all her session as she rushed out of the room, her legs couldn't get her away from all of them quick enough.

Isaac, who was standing on the opposite side of the desk compared to Stiles and Lydia, was able to see the drawings at a different angle. He quickly stopped Stiles from flicking through the pages of Lydia and Kinsey's book, watching as every page in their books was identical. Isaac spun both of the notebooks around until the two of them could see the same angle that he had.

"It's not a tree." Issac insisted. "It's the root of one."

Stiles looked up from the page. "I know where they are."

Kinsey knew too as she muttered the name under her breath. The Nemeton. All of them packed up the papers on the desk, all of the various tree drawings that Kinsey and Lydia had drawn over the past couple of months. For the first time today, or even in months, the four believed that they were finally getting somewhere, that they had a lead on finding the three missing parents. With no other choice, the four planned on heading to the loft to question Derek on the root cellar that they had found all of those years ago, Isaac wasn't thrilled over the idea of seeing them again after the exchange this morning, but he focused on the important things. As they walked through the halls Kinsey texted Allison to meet them there, she couldn't leave the girl alone any longer than they already had, she had to be driving herself insane while she waited for one of them to text her, with Stiles's panic attack nobody had texted her back. It was as the four charged through the halls that someone shouted Stilinski, down the hall stood a tall man with an FBI badge hanging around his neck, the four of them had frozen as the man had begun approaching them. Stiles turned his back on the approaching man, insisting that they all go and talk to Derek and find out where it was, that he would get back to them as soon as he could. But for now, he had to deal with the man who'd shouted him.

"Who was that?" Lydia asked, peering over her shoulder as Isaac quickly guided the two of them away from Stiles and the FBI agent who had finally reached Stiles, the two of them talking as they stood in the middle of the hallway.

"Rafael McCall." Isaac deadpanned.

"McCall? As in Scott?" Kinsey questioned him. "Oh, my God. Is that Scott's dad?"

The four teenagers stood at the loft door, it seemed as though the younger brunette girl was the only one who wasn't having second thoughts about being stood here. Isaac worried that, unlike this morning when Derek had sat and taken all of his anger, he would get his payback now when he had let all of the comments sink in and he could have built up his own anger against Isaac. Allison wasn't particularly thrilled about seeing either of the men, she never would be, even if they were Kinsey's family she would never look past the past that their families shared. While the redhead on the other side of her was worried about seeing Peter, a man she hadn't seen since he had used her to bring himself back from the dead. Even in the four months of summer when Kinsey was trying to form a relationship with the man they now knew to be her father, she had steered clear of any interaction with him, she had no purpose to see him until today, even after all of this time, she still wasn't prepared to see him. For months he had been in her mind, driving her insane. The man's daughter reassured her that it was unlikely Peter would still be at the loft, he never stuck around for this long, he'd grow too sick of being surrounded by Derek and the teenagers he didn't father, he'd end up retreating back to his downtown apartment for a few days or weeks until he was needed, or he felt as though it had been too long since seeing his daughter. After the way that Kinsey and Isaac had left this morning, the two thought it was only appropriate that they knocked rather than walking straight in as they usually did, questioning Derek would work much better if Derek willingly let the three of them in. When the loft door had opened the brunette girl realized that her assumptions about her father had been wrong, Peter stood on the opposite side of the door, his eyes widening at the sight of the redhead girl beside his daughter. For a moment all they did was stand and stare creating quite the tense situation.

Kinsey, Allison, and Isaac stood awkwardly, watching as Peter and Lydia stood staring at one another, each of them wondering whether either of them was going to speak anytime soon, or if they just planned on standing on the doorstep until one of them did instead.

"You." Lydia muttered.

"Me." Peter followed.

"You."

Peter sighed as he looked down at his feet. The reminder of why his daughter would never fully accept him, at least one of them, was stood right in front of him, besides his daughter herself. The two of them hadn't spoken about what he did that night of the formal, from attacking Lydia to kidnapping her and Stiles, it was a gray area for them both. Just one of the subjects they both chose not to talk about for the sake of their own sanity and relationship. His daughter squared her eyes at him waiting for him to do something like, well, apologize for almost killing the girl. But he didn't. He turned his back to the piercing stare of three teenagers announcing to Derek that they had visitors before he let the three of them into the loft.

Everything about the interaction between the three teenagers searching for the Nemeton and the two Hale's, the only two people they were able to ask about it, had been painfully awkward. Despite how much Lydia wanted answers, she couldn't stop looking at the man she had brought back to life, her stomach churning and goosebumps raising on her skin with every thought that came back to her from that time in her life. How she had been driven to insanity, how she had poisoned her best friends at her birthday party, all of the horrible things he had made her do just so he could be brought back to life. Even if she did feel some slight happiness for Kinsey in her finding her father, she'd never be able to think about the man without being reminded of all of those cruel things. Part of her questioned whether Kinsey had been able to move past it all and if so, how, but it wasn't something the two of them talked about, the brunette girl never was fond of diving into detail regarding her family, either side, her extent was Allison, even most details of her uncle Chris was something she didn't share. Though she could understand that given their hunter lineage, some things were best kept quiet.

While the redhead and Allison had been staring at Peter, Isaac had been at Cora's bedside, trying to keep his stare on her or Kinsey, but it was hard when he could feel Derek kept looking at him, wondering whether Peter had been right to assume that the boy was changing allegiance from him to Scott, even if the boy wasn't yet an Alpha yet, he had to wonder. He couldn't blame Isaac, he wouldn't be the first to not want him as their Alpha, Erica, and Boyd had said the same.

Meanwhile, Kinsey sat in between all of them, looking at anywhere but any of their eyes, she knew out of all of them it would end up being her breaking the ice, but she had to at least hope that one of them had the guts, or the pride to speak first and put the very large amount of past behind them all so they could find out where the nemeton was and save the Guardians.

Eventually, she had to cave. She referred to what Peter had told her, Cora, Stiles, and Isaac that night, how he had talked about a root cellar, emphasizing just how important it was that he tells her its exact location and where to find it. Something that neither her father nor cousin could do.

"You don't know where it is?" Lydia groaned. "I thought you'd been there."

"We have." Peter deadpanned to the redhead who clearly didn't quite understand all of the complications that came with the werewolf life. "But after a few memorable experiences there, Talia, Derek's mother, and my older sister, decided that she didn't ever want us going back. She knew how dangerous it was, and took the memory of its location from us."

With a tilt of Peter's head, they had all the answers they needed, or more so, all of the answers they were going to get, which were none. All of the people who could possibly tell them, and none of them knew where it was, or, they were off being sacrificed in a root cellar that nobody knew the location of. As the four of them were heading out of the loft on the verge of giving up, Kinsey's phone began to ring, Stiles, he had a plan B.

Spirits hung low in the animal clinic where six hopeless teenagers gathered, there to seek guidance from an emissary whose very purpose was to provide them such a thing, though it had originally been to a different pack, it was clear that this was the pack he was meant to guide now, he'd known it for a long time, and since knowing the six teenagers that surrounded him he had tried to work behind the scenes, act as the man behind the curtain, but now he knew that wasn't working anymore. All of them needed clear guidance, they needed him to stand before them and tell them the solution rather than guide them to it. He had once saw six teenagers who had light in their eyes, a teenage glow to them, bubbly personalities, and normal problems for a teenager, of course, some of them had experienced only some of the worst things in life, things that nobody should have to experience, let alone a teenager. But even those carried a light in their eyes, an innocence. As he looked around the room tonight he didn't see that light, not even a dim one, it had been stripped away from them, quicker than they had even realized it. Now, all of them were just six people trying to survive. They couldn't be called teenagers, the only part of them that matched that description was their age, in mind, they were adults who'd had an unfair life. There was nothing young and innocent about the lives of these kids. That was what they were supposed to be. Kids. He could remember the times Scott would come to work after school and his main concern would be lacrosse, or how a random girl in their grade had smiled at him that day, how he talked about his lack of experience in life. Now, when he came to work, he was left to talk about werewolves, druids, old legends, battles, death, chaos.

The six of them, as well as Scott, were part of something bigger than any of them would ever be able to comprehend. It didn't matter how many bestiaries they read, how many supernaturals they came face-to-face with, battles that they thought, each and every one of them would never truly know the dangers that they would face every day. Even the humans in the room, none of them would never escape this life now. As he was sure they knew, not even death allowed an escape from this. They were knitted deeply into an infinite web of torture. One that so far, in the past ten months since it had begun for them, they had only seen the tip of.

Deaton stood before them, six faces waiting for him to confess how they may be able to find the nemeton. He knew as soon as the words left his mouth he would regret suggesting it, he knew that with his words, every ounce of worry he felt for them would worsen, all of the things that he had watched them go through, would seem like nothing compared to what would follow this.

"It's dangerous." He muttered, looking across the faces of them all, none seemed threatened by that, none of them willing to retreat with those simple two words. Danger was all that they knew now, between the six of them none of them knew what it meant to feel safe and secure, whether it was behind a locked door, in an apartment filled with weapons, because they acquired claws. None of them knew, or would ever know security. So he proceeded. "We're gonna need Scott."

Everyone was sent on their separate missions for Deaton's plan to work, he didn't give them a detailed explanation, instead, the six of them were left to assume based on the instructions he had given them. Lydia and Isaac had been requested to stay at the clinic and fill up three baths of ice, hearing that had been enough to stir up some ideas in the three teenagers who'd been here to experience it once before when the werewolf had been plunged beneath its depths. It was just the beginning of their fear for what the rest of the night had in store for them. While the two carried out their tasks, Deaton and Stiles had arranged to meet Scott, informing him of his own requirements, as well as giving the two boys a chance to retrieve the necessary items from their homes, the same task that the Argent girls had been given as they headed back to a sparse apartment that both of them would have rather avoided until Chris was back, if he came back.

When Deaton had requested for the two to find an item of the man's that held great significance to him and them, the two brunettes had looked at each other, nodding in agreement, the two knew what possession Chris was most proud of, he had told them about it many times. When he had first begun training them he had sat them down one night, telling them the story of his own first training session with Gerard, and how it lead to the very item they were planning of bringing back to the clinic with them. Though neither had quite wanted to be involved in hunting when he had told them the tale, now both of them awaited the day that they would have one of their own, a prized possession that they held dear to their hearts. A reminder that through all of what had happened to them in the past few months, both of them, all of them had made it through it, together. For the two girls, it would symbolize that, not that they were fully-trained huntresses.

Allison walked straight into the apartment, she didn't even wait for Kinsey as she headed to her father's office, knowing that his most prized possession was kept in the safe that surprisingly, he had allowed them access to, to keep their own most prized possessions in. Kinsey trailed behind her cousin, shutting the door softly behind her, on the drive over, knowing that ice baths were involved in tonight's plan, she was able to piece together an idea of what would be happening, at least she had a guess. Until they returned to the clinic she couldn't be sure she was right, but in the chance that she was, she knew there was something that needed to be said.

"Allison," Kinsey mumbled softly as she stood in the doorway of the office. Allison poked her head around the open cupboard as she typed in the passcode to the safe, her brows raised as she wondered what the brunette girl wanted. "You know what we're going to have to do, right?"

With the silver bullet in her hand, Allison shut the cupboard door, nodding. "Yeah, I know." She admitted with a weak smile. She'd worked it out too, at least, she thought she had.

"Then I need you to know that if we are right, it's going to be me." Kinsey insisted, in the most serious tone she had ever used against her cousin. Any bubbliness in her tone, any softness had all melted away, she needed the girl to know that she was serious, that there was no changing her mind, she was already set on it. "If we do have to sacrifice ourselves, I'll be the one to do it."

"No." Allison shook her head with a scoff. "Kins, it's my dad, it has to be me."

"You know that's not true." Kinsey disagreed. "We both have a close enough connection with him for it to work. It doesn't have to be you that goes through with this."

"I can't let you-"

"You're not letting me do anything. This is my choice, I want to do this." Kinsey said with tears swelling in her eyes, even at the thought of not being with Allison past tonight. Deaton told them his plan was dangerous, they both knew the kinds of risks it carried. "I'm the supernatural one between us, maybe I can't do the kind of things that Scott and Isaac can do, but neither can you. I'm the one who is soles purpose, is quite literally to do this. So whether you like it or not it has to be me, okay?" Allison didn't want to agree, how could she ever want to agree to let her cousin risk her own life, and for her, so that she didn't have to and that she could continue living a long life, one that would frankly, be worthless if she wasn't able to carry out all of the things that the two of them had planned to do with their adult years together before they planned on settling down and doing what all people hoped to do with their lives. Neither had to speak it and make this even harder than it already was for the two of them, but there was a mutual understanding, that if the worst did in fact come true, Allison would live for her, fulfill everything they wanted to do, all of the things that the younger brunette wouldn't be able to do for herself.

The two brunettes wrapped themselves in each other's arms as Allison held on tightly to the silver bullet in her hand, holding it close to them both as they embraced what could be their final minutes alone with one another. It was the last time the two of them could be stood in the apartment together before Allison was forced to mourn another loss, it didn't matter which one of them decided to put themselves at risk tonight, both of them were put at the risk of losing yet another person in their family, pushing them entirely over the edge.

"Thank you for being the sister I never had," Allison mumbled into the girl's shoulder.

"I always will be."

When the two girls arrived back at the clinic they were the last ones to return. In the corner of the room stood Scott and Stiles, their glances lingering on the ice baths in the middle of the room, awaiting to have three teenage sacrifices lying in them, it was clear the two of them were nervous, as were the two brunette girls who had just walked in with their hands intertwined, hoping it would bring them a sense of comfort, and it had, until now. Deaton helped Lydia and Isaac add the final few bags of ice into the baths before he began the process, out of the six teenagers he had only given a proper explanation to Scott and Stiles, they'd been the only ones to know exactly what they were doing, but the other four had all figured it out too, in their own ways. Deaton could see that by the look on their faces, how all of them awaited their inevitable and dangerous fate. The four he hadn't explained it to didn't know the minor details like the reasons for the items they had retrieved, but they understood the overall idea of tonight. And that was what mattered most.

Deaton emptied the last bag, instinctively, the six teenagers drew together as they all stood by one another. Lydia stood on the far side of the room, closer to the bath she had been filling, the other five had ended up closer to one another. Scott beside Stiles. Kinsey in between Isaac and Allison, both tried to comfort her with their touch, even if the wolf didn't know that she would be the one who went through with the sacrifice, in fact, none of them did other than Allison. Kinsey had a feeling that even though she hadn't told Deaton, he too know that it would be her, the way he looked at her when she had walked through the door had told her.

With a heavy breath, he began. "So what did you bring?"

Stiles was the first to speak up as he brushed his thumb across his father's badge. It was crushed thanks to Jennifer, he'd tried to hammer it out before he got here, Deaton reassured him that the quality didn't matter as long as it had meaning and that it did. Great meaning. Scott went next. He opened his hand revealing the small pocket watch that belonged to his mother, he explained that his father had given it to her when she was first hired at the hospital, now, she joked about how it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked. A faint smile across his face as he spoke. Kinsey looked at the wolf, wondering whether he knew that his father had returned after years of abandoning his son, she'd heard of the man from Scott, but until today, she had never seen him, she never thought she would after what Scott had told her. She turned her stare to Stiles who shook his head, he knew what she was thinking, and Scott had no idea about his dad.

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Deaton asked, nodding at the bullet in Allison's hand.

"Yeah, my dad made it as kind of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code." She explained, gripping it tightly once more before she handed it over to Kinsey with a nervous smile across her face. She hoped the smile would reassure her, but instead, it made her feel an undeniable guilt.

Confusion spread across the other four teenagers as they watched the two exchange the bullet, all of them had been under the impression that it would be Allison completing the sacrifice, now they realized that wasn't the case. Kinsey held the bullet in her hand tightly as she looked at Deaton, nodding her head to confirm her decision.

"Okay." Deaton sighed, prepared to begin. "The three of you will get in. Each of us will hold you down until you're essentially, well, dead." He tried to speak gently, but they needed to know the harsh details of what they were going to do, he had to be thorough. "But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back. Someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether." Lydia faintly smiled at Kinsey, stepping forward as she assumed that she would be paired with the girl, though Allison and Isaac stood beside her, Lydia believed that she'd be the one to hold Kinsey back. Their supernatural kinds were bonded after all, and though that was true, Deaton had other plans in mind for the pairs that the six of them would be put into. "Lydia. You go with Stiles."

"Are you sure?" Kinsey asked. "I mean, we have the whole psychic, dead body finder thing." She poorly described, but the man knew what she meant, he remained adamant as he nodded at them. Stiles and Lydia looked at one another with a worried look, worried that she wasn't a good enough emotional tether to him, that she wouldn't be able to pull him back, but she had no other choice other than to trust the instincts of the man guiding them through it.

He then declared that Allison would be Scott's emotional tether, and Isaac with Kinsey. Stiles and the brunette girl looked across the room at one another, his heart had dropped hearing that Isaac would be her tether, he knew how Isaac felt about her, that was enough to make her his tether, but there had to be something in return for Isaac to be her tether too. She weakly smiled at the boy, trying to reassure him as much as she could, but it didn't quite work, there was no way of reassuring a boy who might die that if he didn't come back and she did that she may end up in Isaac's arms rather than his.

There was a moment of awkwardness between the two exes as they come to terms with Deaton referring to them as each other's emotional tethers, a few moments had been shared between them since the breakup, but neither would have quite have thought of one another as an emotional tether. Kinsey seemed to have the best options between all three of the sacrifices, she was lucky enough to share a close and strong bond with everyone in the room, she could see each of them being her emotional tether. Though something about it being Isaac rather than Allison brought her more comfort, she wasn't sure that the last face she could look at could be the sad face of Allison, but rather with Isaac, she would be reminded that even when her life felt as though it was falling apart, she managed to make some great friends. Family.

With the badge, bullet, and watch in hand the three teenagers stood at the head of the metal bathtubs, their jackets and shoes stripped, ready to plunge into cold temperatures none of them had ever experienced before. Each of their emotional tethers behind them. Before she stepped into the water Isaac placed a gentle hand on Kinsey's arm, turning her head around to say what could be his final words to her. Rather than leaving him at a lingering touch, Kinsey had turned to completely face him.

"Don't die on me, okay?" Isaac laughed softly, moving the hair out of her face.

Kinsey nodded with a smile, knowing she would try her hardest to make it through whatever was about to happen to them. She turned back to the icy water, she dipped her foot in it, allowing the cold temperature to send waves of shock through her body as she took a shaky breath, quickly retreating for a moment. Giving herself a few more seconds before she tried to step into the water again. The brunette girl turned to look at Scott and Stiles, three nods as they all chose to do it together, with their items tightly clutched in their hands, they all stepped in, slowly singing their bodies beneath the water. Unlike Scott and Stiles who had somewhat more comfort in their t-shirts and pants, Kinsey had made the mistake of remaining in a dress, the cold water immediately hitting her tanned legs.

All three of them breathed heavy breaths as they sunk down until the water reached their chins, their bodies quickly turned into shivers, desperate to become adapted to the new temperature. Stiles turned to Scott, prepared to say a few final words of his own.

"By the way, if I don't make it, and you do... you should probably know something," Stiles said as he looked at the wolf who wasn't sure where his words were going. "Your dad's in town."

Before Scott had too much time to process what he had been told, Deaton instructed the three emotional tethers to step forward. It was time. The three sacrifices all looked at one another once again, for the final time, none of them knowing who'd come back if any of them would. It didn't take long for them all to avert their gazes, unable to face the pain in each other eyes. The three tethers rolled up the sleeves of their shirts and jackets before placing their hands on the arms of the sacrifices, prepared to hold them down as they struggled and well, essentially died. With a deep breath, the three tethers began to submerge them into the water. Kinsey and Isaac locked eyes as his arms pushed her down, only breaking it when her face was pushed beneath the water. She could feel the urge to fight, to struggle against Isaac's strong grip.

And then, it all stopped. Everything went dark. Quiet. Peaceful.