▸ Canals - All Time Low

"This could be a good thing." Scott said as he drove the jeep. Stiles gave him a look of disbelief.

"That we saved helium?" Stiles asked. I stifled a giggle in the back seat. Scott chuckled.

"I mean," Scott started. Stiles and I stared at him. "That they don't need us anymore."

"Okay, well, they need us." Stiles scoffed. I smiled softly and placed my hand on my boyfriend's shoulder. He turned to face me and forced out a small smile. "They just don't know it."

"We're all going off to college soon. So Beacon Hills is gonna have to survive without us."

"Beacon Hills will burn down to the ground without us." Stiles informed Scott.

"Stiles." Scott shook his head and looked at Stiles. "They don't need us."

Stiles pouted at Scott's statement. A phone vibrated caught our attention. I leaned forward to try and read who was calling.

"Who is it?" I asked, looking up at Stiles. Stiles sat up straighter and held up the phone for both Scott and I to see. The word 'Dad' was on the screen.

"They need us!"

▷

"Alex, you know we're having trouble locating your parents." Noah kneeled in front of the scared boy. "And since you can't remember anything, we have a method, an unusual method that might help you remember. But I need you to be okay with it. I also need you to know that it's probably gonna hurt."

"I don't care." Alex told the Sherriff. "I just want to find my mom and dad."

Noah turned to face Scott, Stiles and I as we stood near the doorway. With that, we walked into his office and stood a few feet away from the younger boy. The Sherriff drew the blinds closed. I stood next to Stiles, anxiously biting my lip. Noah walked up next to us as Scott kneeled down in front of Alex. Scott patted the boy's back.

"You ready?" Alex nodded at Scott. Scott placed his hand behind the boy's neck and flicked his claws out. He then inserted them into Alex's neck. The boy jumped from shock and stared up towards the ceiling. A few minutes later, Scott gasped and jumped back. Stiles his hands on Scott's shoulder and pulled him back. Alex bowed his head.

"What'd you see?" Stiles asked.

"I saw a guy on a horse." Scott replied.

"Horse?" Stiles retorted.

"He had a gun." Scott added, looking at Stiles and I.

"Why would the guy be on a horse with a gun?" I questioned, crossing my arms.

"Okay, a guy with a gun. That sounds like my department, not yours." Noah informed us.

"What about his parents?" Stiles asked. "What happened to them?"

"I-I don't know. That's all I remember." Scott said, softly shaking his head. "But, I got this feeling."

"Feeling?" I repeated. "Good or bad?"

"What kind of feeling?" Sherriff Stilinski questioned.

"They're coming back." Alex spoke up. We all turned to face the younger boy. Alex looked up to us with fear. "They're coming for me."

▷

I watched as Lydia gently ran her hands over the broken windshield of Alex's family car. She stared at it before she opened the driver's door and went in. I held back a groan and followed her motion, opening the passenger door. With a sigh, she placed her hands on the steering wheel and closed her eyes. She opened her eyes and looked at the rear view mirror.

"Hmm." Lydia hummed, still staring at her reflection.

"What is it?" I asked.

"What?" Stiles popped out of the back seat. I jumped from surprise, holding back a shriek.

"Stiles!" I smacked his arm. "You scared me!"

"This is a perfect shade for me." Lydia said, ignoring me. She dabbed at her eyeshadow, still staring at her reflection. "Forget the name."

"Can we please stay on topic here?" Stiles leaned forward and did a slight nod.

"He said please." I said with a sheepish smile. Stiles gave me a smile and pecked my temple. I chuckled.

"I'm not getting anything." Lydia told my boyfriend, trying her best to hide a smile.

A coyote's howl echoed throughout the car junk yard. Malia, in coyote form, jumped over the fence and ran towards us. I reached for the spare clothes in my bag and handed them to Lydia. The three of us got out of the car as Malia shifted back into her naked human self. Malia stood up from her crouch, her eyes fading their glowing blue. Lydia walked up towards her.

"I don't think they're dead." Lydia said, handing Malia her spare clothes.

"They're dead. Probably torn apart." Malia shrugged. "The only thing I don't get is why there's no blood."

"They're not dead. If they were dead, I'd sense it." Lydia told her.

"If there were alive, I'd smell it." Malia countered, putting on her loose white shirt.

"Yeah, I'm not getting anything either." Scott agreed. Stiles turned around to face him.

"Scott, what are you talkin' about?" Stiles told him. "You were in his head for four minutes. I timed it."

"Of course you did." I chuckled, shaking my head. Stiles squinted his eyes at me. I sent him a cheeky smile.

"Well, it's not an exact science. And he's a kid. Maybe he's too freaked out to remember." Scott said.

"Why does it matter if they're dead? Dead is dead." Malia held up a pair of brown shorts before she put those on.

"Okay, if it's just a robbery, we can't help them. And if it's something supernatural, my dad can't help them." Stiles informed us.

"It sounds like you want it to be supernatural." Lydia looked at Stiles.

"It's been, like, three months since anything's happened." Stiles said.

"And Cerberus warned us about something else coming, too." I added. Stiles smiled at me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pecking my lips.

"You. You are the best." He told me.

"Yeah," Lydia ignored us, "and once a week you drag me out of bed like I'm some sort of supernatural metal detector."

"You what?" I asked, looked up at my boyfriend with a perked eyebrow.

"Okay, it was way more often than that." Stiles corrected. I sighed, holding back the urge to pace palm. "You can't tell me that you think this is just some series of impossible coincidences."

"What I'm saying is maybe that wouldn't be so bad." Lydia said before walking off. Malia looked at us and flipped her hair over her shoulder before she followed Lydia. Stiles dropped his arm and took a step forward. He turned around to face Scott and I. Stiles scratched the outer corner of his lip.

Stiles sighed and walked towards the car. He opened the door and sat in the driver's seat. Scott looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged, following my boyfriend. I sat in the passenger seat. Stiles leaned forward and stared at the broken windshield.

"What are you doing? Do you see something?" I asked, trying to find what he's seeing.

"You're starin' at a broken windshield." Scott said, standing near the driver's door. Stiles sighed and pursed his lips together.

"There's something wrong with it." He told Scott.

"It's broken. And it wasn't a magic bullet." Scott leaned against the car.

"Maybe it was." I looked up at Scott.

"It was a regular bullet. That blew out a regular windshield. Just like that one, and that one," Scott started pointing out all of the cars with bullet holes in the windshield. I furrowed my eyebrows as I saw the difference between this windshield and the others. This one was completely broken, the others had a bullet hole. Scott whispered the few words. "And that one."

The three of us looked at each other. Stiles licked his lips and reached for a shard of the broken windshield. He held it up in front of him, narrowing his eyes.

"Magic bullet."

▷

I watched as Stiles ran up to Malia, who was getting her picture taken. The flash went off as Stiles photobombed the snap.

"My bad, sorry, go ahead, look pretty." Stiles walked off the set. Malia smiled again, showing off her pearly white teeth. Stiles walked into the shot again, Sydney snapping another picture. "Once-oh."

"That was a good one." Sydney sighed. The line of students started to chatter. Lydia looked at me.

"That's your boyfriend." She told me, flipping through her textbook.

"I know." I sighed, trying to hide behind workbook. Lydia laughed at me, nudging my shoulder. Scott ignored the two of us as he worked on his homework.

"Stiles!" I heard Malia scold. "Nevah! Get your boyfriend."

"Now, I know how Annabeth feels with Percy. You can't control them." I groaned out, the small breeze messing up my hair.

"You're still in the photo." Sydney told Stiles.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"You ruined it." Malia groaned out, stomping towards us.

"Why would I want to ruin your yearbook photo?" Stiles looked at her in confusion.

"Maybe because you haven't signed up for your own photo yet?" Malia told him as she sat down on the picnic table next to Lydia.

"Yes, I did." Stiles took out his form and showed it to Malia.

"It's blank." She told him.

"Uh, maybe I grabbed Nevah's instead." Stiles said making faces at the blank form.

"I'm sorry, what? Mine?" I asked, looking up at him from my spot in between Lydia and Scott.

"Yeah, I grabbed you a form, too." Stiles sheepishly smiled at me.

"Stiles, I said I didn't want to have my photo taken." I gave him a small smile. "But thank you."

"Or maybe you're sublimating the stress of graduating by avoiding key milestones." Scott said, turning to face Stiles. We all turned to look at Scott. "Psych paper."

"Oh." Lydia mumbled as she nodded.

"Hey, the Deputy searched the car." Stiles said, stuffing the blank yearbook photo form into his back pocket. "No slugs, no exist hole. And the address Alex gave my dad, it's an abandoned house. Come on! Missing parents, suspicious guy on horseback, magic bullet. Who's comin' with?"

"I've got to retake my photos." Malia shrugged.

"Yeah, not interested." Lydia shook her head.

"I can't skip on the first day back at school, Stiles." I told my boyfriend. He gave me a desperate look. "Sorry. You know I would though."

"I cannot miss any more classes."

"Scott." Stiles stared at him.

"I missed thirty eight last semester."

"Scott."

"And Lydia's mom is the only reason I'm still in school. I can go after school."

"You know what? Forget it. I'll take Liam." Stiles turned to look for Liam out in the field. Stiles pulled a face, pursing his lips. The rest of us followed his gaze. Sitting on a bench, Liam and Hayden were making out. My nose scrunched up in disgust. "Yeah, I'm not taking Liam."

"We're not that bad...right?" I asked. The pack all looked away from me, trying to hold back smiles. "We're that bad?"

"Hey, can I get a candid?" Sydney interrupted.

"Uh, no." Stiles started.

"Yeah, sure." Scott said, pulling Stiles down. I giggled and scooted over, making room for him.

"Okay, fine. If you can explain to me why this is blue," Stiles took out the shard from last night and handed it to Scott. "I'll let it go."

Scott grabbed the shard out and examined it. Lydia and Malia got into position to smile at the camera. Stiles wrapped his arms around my waist and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Everyone smile." Sydney said. I smiled at the camera as Sydney took the shot.

▷

"Thirty-nine?" Stiles asked Scott as the three of us walked towards the school's door.

"Thirty-nine." Scott whispered, pushing open the doors. I walked behind them, adjusting my backpack. I stopped and turned around as soon as I saw Mrs. Martin. I can't get caught.

"Crap." I heard Stiles mutter. Mrs. Martin grabbed the two and led them back into the school.

"Neither one of you are going anywhere. Thirty-eight classes, Scott. I had to beg the superintendent." Mrs. Martin said. Stiles narrowed his eyes at me as I stood in front of them with a smile.

"Mrs. Martin, Scott is the sworn protector of Beacon Hills." Stiles told Lydia's mom. She stopped and stared at the three of us.

"He can protect it at three thirty. And you, Nevah." I gave her a cheeky smile. "On your first day back, seriously?"

"I love your dress." I sheepishly said.

"Get back to class."

"Yup, got it." I turned around and caught up with Stiles and Scott.

"We're not waiting till three thirty." Stiles whispered as we walked back to class.

▷

"Shattering the goal ninety minutes before H-hour." The TV blared. I was in the world history class with the seniors, being that this was one of the classes I was currently taking back at Goode. "Combat teams, each on a schedule, continued their unloading into assault boats. There would be little time between the first assault wave and the second."

I let out a groan, hitting my forehead against my desk. Some students looked at me with a bored expression. With a huff, I placed my chin on my hand and glared at the TV. Stiles turned around to face me, an agitated look on his face.

"I know." I mouthed. I sighed, so much for us leaving before three thirty.

"-smashed up the enemy's gun batteries farther inland. Yet, so ingeniously-" The school bell rang. I shot up, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and followed Scott and Stiles out.

Okay...I couldn't wait any longer. I just had to finish up episode one. It's split into two parts, so the next chapter should be up very shortly.

Hope you guys liked it :)

Be prepared for the next chapter, I cried.

much love,
Lux xx