INHERITANCE 

chapter eighty-five; radio silence
[ season six - episode five ]

Slamming herself through the rusty double doors again, her chest rattled as she began to lose her breath. A werewolf losing her breath, that was how many times she had repeated this same motion of running through the same doors only to end up on the same platform. Or morgue. The more time she spent here, it was hard to tell the difference. Both were cold, both full of bodies of people who didn't, or couldn't, walk and talk. None of them batted an eyelid at the teenage girl who'd run multiple laps around them since she arrived. They didn't seem interested in trying to get out of this labyrinth disguised as a train station, she was the only one who seemed to feel the sense of doom of being stuck here. 

She wondered if they knew what they were really doing here, if they knew this wasn't actually a train platform and they weren't doing their daily commute to work. Did any of them have a clue that they had been taken by the Wild Hunt? Their entire existence erased from Earth? Were they all just frozen in fear? Were they all really that fooled by the occasional train announcements she had heard echoed through the building?

There had been a few times in her life that Kinsey had questioned if she was in Hell, but this time it felt like a much more real question. She had lasted perhaps five minutes in this pit before she had convinced herself that she could just walk around and find Stiles, that perhaps Hell wasn't a big place at all. She had stupidly not given up since. It didn't matter how many times she ran into those doors only to see the same business man with his newspaper, she continued hoping that it would somehow be Stiles in front of her instead. 

She had experienced loneliness in her life. Desperation. The feeling of being at her widths end. But she had always had someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on. Now she just had mannequins that would rather watch paint dry than try to help each other get out of here. 

For a moment, she stood still, hunched over in the middle of the platform, her eyes narrowed at the double doors in front of her, taunting her. Maybe she was the only stupid one in this place. The brunette sank against one of the walls, a hand running through her sweaty hair as she took a deep breath. Her eyes scanned the platform, looking at the kind of people stuck in here with her. None of them looked anything but ordinary. Businessmen. Mothers. Children. Nurses. No one in here looked like they deserved to be stuck in Hell, if anyone looked out of place, it was her. The girl's heart ached as she continued to look around all of them, until it dropped at the sight of an undoubtedly familiar face. She scrambled to her feet as she rushed over to the woman that she'd once seen in the back of her class, sitting beside her, as silent then as she was now. Kinsey stood over the woman who didn't seem to notice her. She looked at the blue writing on her stark white lab coat. Dr. Sandra Hugo. It was her. It was most definitely that same woman. 

"Where are we?" she asked the woman, testing her luck. Frankly, not expecting much back from a woman who hadn't ever spoken a word in their now multiple times of passing. To her surprise, the doctor looked up at the girl. "Train Station 137." she answered casually. She wasn't sure how long she had been here, or why she was wearing her scrubs from work either. As Dr. Hugo began to think about it, she stared off, returning to her silence.

"At least six hours." The man beside them chimed in. Kinsey looked at him with a furrowed brow, waiting for him to say something else, only he resumed back to a statue-esc pose too. If six hours was the time for all of them, this had been the longest six hours of her life. 

She wandered off from the pair, returning back to the spot in front of the double doors. "None of this is real. This is all just some big mind game. You've beat mind games." she talked to herself as her fists clenched, attempting to pump herself up. "You've beaten a god damn Nogitsune. This is light work. You just have to imagine yourself there. You're gonna walk through that door one last time, and that will be it. Stiles will be there. He will help you figure out the rest." she confidently told herself, taking deep breaths.

As the girl's foot lifted from the ground, another one of those obnoxious chimes sounded. Kinsey turned to the crackling speakers as they announced that the following stops had been cancelled; Hollatine, Baddon, Bay Burry, Deer Ridge, Red Oak, Trenton, Anderson, King Springs. People had began to stand up from their seats as she looked around with a furrowed brow, watching them as they headed toward the tunnel marked "to trains". She shouted over the bustling crowd that ignored her, trying to figure out which train was coming.

Wind began sweeping through the tunnel, bringing leaves with it as the sound of horses riding grew louder and louder. The Ghost Riders returning. The people around her in the waiting area began to panic, all jumping from their seats as they began to flee, taking refuge behind the rows of pews as the Riders entered the train station, dumping a tied-up man onto the floor. The man's bonds disappeared in a puff of green smoke, releasing him into the fortified hell they were all stuck in. The riders began tearing through the station again, knocking people down as they rode through it, leaving people screaming, almost trampled on by the horses. As the commotion rose, people began clamoring again, everyone being pushed in every direction.

Kinsey slowly backed away in fear, heading back towards the doors she had forgotten existed for a moment. Her eyes screwed shut as she fell through them, toppling over her own feet as she fell to the floor with an echoing thud but nowhere near as loud as the sound of her heartbeat in her own ears. The sound of chaos and panic had dulled to silence. God, she had missed that once so uncomfortable silence. Kinsey turned her head, prepared to see the same businessman she had seen the past 78 times she had completed a lap of this train station. Only this time, he was gone. Replaced by an elderly lady who patiently waited with her purse in her lap.

Her eyes widened as she frantically looked around, she was surrounded by new faces. Everyone here was new. No businessman with his newspaper. Doctor Sandra Hugo was gone. Somehow, she had finally done it, she had finally managed to find herself in a new, equally old, quiet, dusty train station, but a new one at that. 

Slowly, the girl began walking around, looking over all of the new people, wondering if anyone in this train station was more helpful than the ones in the last. She kept praying that she would see Stiles' face amongst the crowd. Perhaps he had tried running around through double doors too, becoming as bored of it as she had, and finally, he decided to become one of these people, sitting and waiting, never knowing how long the wait was. 

She approached one of the women sitting alone, a seemingly kind-looking woman. Carefully, the teenager tapped the woman on her shoulder, clearing her throat as she looked up at her in a daze. "Hi. Sorry. Have you, uh, have you seen a brown-haired boy, about 18? Flannel shirt. Messy hair, looks kind of awkward and anxious?" she asked as the woman stared at her blankly. Failing to answer, the woman looked back down, ignoring the girl again.

"Kinsey?" 
His voice sounded like a taste of heaven. It lifted a weight from her shoulder as her heart skipped a beat. She paused, convincing herself for a second that this place had finally made her lose her mind. This place had finally turned her into one of the zombie-like people that sat around her. In complete doubt, the girl spun on her heel, unable to hide the smile on her face as she saw Stiles with his messy hair, flannel shirt, and awkward stance standing right behind her with a face that told her it was real. That this had just flipped his world too.
"Oh, my God!" the girl squealed with relief, rushing into the boy's arms as she held him tightly, refusing to let him go until neither of them could breathe from the tight grip they held on each other. "You don't know how insane I've been going looking for you," she mumbled into the boy's shoulder as he finally put her down. Before the boy could speak, telling her how glad he was to see her too, Kinsey caught a glance of the man behind Stiles, patiently waiting for the two of them to halt their reunion. When she thought that Stiles was the most shocking person she could find in this place, she had been proven very wrong. Stiles stepped aside, allowing the girl a clearer look at the man. "Dad?"

Peter wrapped the girl up in a hug, brushing his hand through his daughter's hair. "Hey, Angel." he whispered softly. As though nothing had ever happened between them. Right now, the girl couldn't care less about what had happened. She was relieved to see two people she knew. Two talking, real, moving people. 
"What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling back from the hug. 
"I'm here to catch a train." her father casually replied. Kinsey glanced at Stiles with a furrowed brow, he had clearly had this conversation too as he shook his head at the girl. 
"How did you get here?" the teenager asked again.
Peter shrugged, now that he thought about it, he couldn't quite remember how he had gotten here. "I probably took a cab." he guessed. "Can you step aside, dear, I need to check the board." he said, moving the girl aside to look at the departures. "I'd like a little warning before my train arrives." 

As the two teenagers moved out of the man's way, Kinsey stared at Stiles in awe, confused as to what was going on with her father. He didn't seem to remember anything about the Ghost Rider who had taken him, he knew nothing about the Wild Hunt. He thought he was just catching the train back to Beacon Hills. This was normal to him. Stiles shrugged, he had been through it all with Peter before she arrived, he didn't understand it either, but he hadn't quite had the nerve to break it to the man, he didn't want to risk getting his head torn off in the middle of this station of delirium. 

Kinsey cleared her throat, sitting beside her father as she placed a hand on the man's shoulder. A smile grew across the man's face, placing his hand on top of hers. "Do you happen to remember the last time you saw me?" she asked her father. The man's brow knotted slightly as he tried his best to recall the time, but he came up empty, guessing last week at his apartment. "Dad... the last time we saw each other, you were still locked away in Eichen House," she said gently. Stiles winced as he watched the man, waiting for him to lash out and call them liars, instead, the wolf became lost in thought, seemingly, his daughter had caused him to recall the truth about how he had gotten here.

"I was in Eichen," he muttered in a daze. "Because of you," he added, looking at the boy with a slight snarl.
"Actually, because of your daughter because you tried to kill her best friend. Again." he corrected as he pointed at the daughter in question. "Can you remember how you got out? They discharge you?" he asked, doubting it,  he assumed Kinsey would have been told if they had released him.
"The power went out," Peter recalled. "And I ran like hell."
"You just ran?" Kinsey asked, shocked by Eichen's lack of security.
"Yes. That's it. I literally just ran from the insane asylum that was holding me hostage." he said as his voice raised, growing angrier at the thought. For a while, the man sat and stared in silence as his mind reeled. He replayed it all, step by step. The lights going out at Eichen. The fighting of all of the guards and all of the creatures that had escaped. He remembered standing there, freezing for a moment as he stood there, swearing to God that it felt like he could feel his two daughters in the building, but still, he ran. A few weeks later, he was getting into his car outside of his home about to travel back into town to see his daughters and make amends, and then, the lightning struck and there they were. By the time he snapped back out of it, Kinsey and Stiles were sitting down, growing sick of waiting for the man to finally realize that he wasn't here waiting for a train at all. "How long have I been here?" he asked the two teenagers.

"The lockdown was three months ago." Kinsey told the man.
"I've been missing for three months and no one came for me?" Peter asked, appalled by it, and a little disappointed in his daughter. 
"That's what they do. The Ghost Rider's erase you." Stiles deadpanned.
"Ghost Riders?" he repeated. "Ghost Riders of the Wild Hunt?" the two teenagers nodded, both of them curious to see what he knew about them. As much as Stiles hated the man, he had come in handy sometimes with his knowledge of the supernatural legends of the world. "They ride the lightning. They are an unstoppable force of nature. But, I promise you, they don't make pit stops in train stations. I've escaped one prison only to land in another." he scowled, looking around at the pit of hell they sat in. "And this looks like the underground lair of a depressed bureaucrat."

"There's gotta be a way out of this place, right? Did you try looking around? Have you talked to anyone?" Kinsey asked, looking between both her father and Stiles, hoping that in the time the two of them had been here, they had made a little more progress than her.
"If this is The Wild Hunt, there is no escape. We're all doomed to ride the storm forever."
"We're not in the storm. We're in a train station. But we can get out of a train station." Stiles said confidently, though the two Hales weren't so sure.
"We can't get out of here, Stiles. Because this place isn't real." Peter barked at him. "Beacon Hills doesn't have a train station."

Stiles' face dropped in realization, unsure of how he hadn't remembered this before. Then, as it had for Kinsey, panic set in for him as he rushed to the nearest door that was chained shut. The boy helplessly tugged on the chain hoping in a place this old it would just crumble off before he looked at the two werewolves for assistance. Kinsey placed her head in her hands, shaking her head while her father stood up. She didn't bother wasting her breath telling them it would be a waste of time, perhaps they would have better luck than she did of going through doors, but she doubted it highly.  Peter removed the chain in a split second, standing by as the boy pushed into the doors, reappearing through another set of doors behind them. No, he didn't have any better luck than her. This was still a labyrinth. A maze of torture. Hell.

Much like she did, Stiles tried again and again. The fourth time, Peter finally made the comment that Kinsey had been waiting for. It was in her father's DNA to be sarcastic, to always be the first to make unhelpful comments. Sure, try again. This time for sure. He had muttered before Stiles snapped at him that he wasn't exactly doing anything to help them get out of here. As he went to step through the doors again, Peter grabbed the teenage boy's arm, pulling him closer so he could whisper to him.

Kinsey's head quickly raised. "Left shoulder, against the pillar. Don't look." Both teenagers began to glance in the direction of the man Peter was referring to before quickly snapping them back. "I said don't look." he growled. "He's watching us." A little more discreetly this time, they looked at the young-ish boy again as he leaned against the pillar, still closely watching the two standing at the doors. So? Stiles asked, unsure of what point the man was trying to get to. "Every person in this station is either comatose or catatonic. He seems very interested in keeping an eye on us."

Together, Peter and Stiles glanced over at him again. Only this time he didn't stand alone, as the girl who was just sat on the bench had now decided to approach him, giving neither her father or friend any warning before approaching a suspicious stranger. The stranger quickly straightened up from his position, slipping behind the pillar in an attempt to avoid her but her reflexes were a lot faster than that of a nervous boy. "Why are you watching us?" She asked, soon joined by her father and Stiles as they stood behind her. 

"You tried the doors." He said, looking at Stiles. "Nobody ever tries the doors"
"Sounds like you have." Kinsey pointed out, to which he admitted he had, at least the ones that he could, not the ones that needed chains breaking off them which the man accompanying the two of them did with a little too much ease. He'd tried everything, he claimed, to which Peter had pointed out that he hadn't tried everything, he was still here after all. "But you have a plan." Kinsey said with narrowed boys, slowly working out the boy that she finally loosened her grip of.

"Why don't you tell us?" Stiles asked, expecting more of a fight. The boy shrugged, he could tell them, but it didn't mean that they could do it. Stiles began to chuckle as he looked at the pair of werewolves next to him. One not only a werewolf, but one of the strongest creatures the Bestiary had ever held. He was confident that they could do it. Well, the two of them could do it. It's right in front of your face, the boy told them, nodding toward a dark archway that he assumed none of them had paid attention to. They had seen it. It was the direction the Ghost Riders came from, the pitch black emptiness which summoned them, that they quickly resided to after terrorizing all of them a little more.

He asked them why they bothered running through the doors while the exit was so clearly there, but it was a rhetorical question, he knew why. It was because it was all part of the illusion. And, a more obvious point, they were afraid. The Ghost Riders wanted them to be afraid. His words had struck a chord with Peter who stood up tall, pushing out his chest as he insisted he wasn't afraid. He began storming toward the dark archway as the three teenagers quickly followed, coming to a halt right at the entrance.

"Can't do it can you?" the boy asked. "He can't do it" he insisted, turning to the man's daughter and Stiles.
"We really should kill him." Peter mumbled, widening the poor boy's eyes as he looked to Kinsey, who was quick to reprimand her father with a sharp hiss of his name. "Push me." Peter told her. A hint of fear was clear in his tone, he couldn't do it, the boy was right, not off of his own back at least. He quite literally needed a push. 

Nervous herself, Kinsey's hand slowly settled on her father's shoulder. He still flinched under her gentle touch, taking another shaky breath as she jolted him forward without notice. As soon as he was over the threshold of the archway, it was as though he disappeared, it was too dark for a silhouette of the man to be made out. Luckily, they could still hear him as he called for the three of them to follow, some needing more convincing than others. While Kinsey and the stray they'd picked up stepped into the darkness, Stiles lingered for a moment, only stepping through when Kinsey's hand pulled him into it.

Sticking close to one another, the four continued to pursue the dark tunnels of what Peter called the Phantom Train Station. Trent, who Kinsey had finally learned the name of, was quite brave for a non-supernatural, or for someone who'd been around them for a couple years, like Stiles, a boy who was yet to let go of Kinsey's arm. Partially, because he was scared, also because he was concerned for the girl's safety, as he always had been. But mostly the former. After some walking on the tracks, they stumbled upon another platform, not so different from the one they'd left. All of the people sat there were still and quiet too.

Trent pointed straight ahead. The way in, and the way out, he explained to them. From here, the exit looked like nothing more than a black hole. Another one. Like the last seemingly black hole, they assumed that there was something beyond this one too, hopefully, home. Trent warned the other three that they should probably stay off of the tracks, about to warn them further before he was interrupted by a crash of thunder and the sound of neighing horses. They're coming, the boy warned them with wide, fearful eyes. He quickly jumped off of the tracks, and none of them hesitated to follow him, hiding behind the pillars as they peeked around the corner of them for a glimpse of the Ghost Riders arriving at the station.

Just like when they had taken someone, when they appeared there was a flash of green light, a puff of dark smoke, and then they were here. One by one they jumped through what looked like some kind of portal between here and the real world. The four of them quickly hid again as they rid the horses past them, toward the platform they had just left. As soon as the sound of horses galloping and whinnying grew more distant, they came out from the shadows, staring at the wall the Ghost Riders just materialized from.

"How in the hell are we supposed to that?" Peter flailed his arms around. 
"We jump." Trent casually retorted.
"Jump?" The Hales repeated together in shock. Trent nodded, they had to jump on the back of the riders as they came back through. Kinsey and Peter looked at one another, both on the same track while Stiles listened intently. Were they the only ones who thought this sounded insane? It wasn't feasible. They couldn't just jump. Still, Trent continued. He had been timing it, they could jump from here just before the Ghost Riders go out. "I think you're confusing your pronouns. We aren't going to do anything" Peter stopped the boy. "But you should absolutely give that a shot."

"Do you not want to get out of here?" Trent asked them.
"Alive, yes." Kinsey nodded, but this plan he forged didn't seem to make their survival likely. "I mean, how do you know this would even work? There seems like a lot of room for error." Stiles agreed, a lot could go wrong with this plan, and it seemed to rely on physical ability, he wasn't great in that area. 
"Look, I can't stay here. I'm losing my mind in this place." Trent pleaded.
"I think you have an excellent grasp of the situation." Peter argued. "I say go for it." he urged the boy, much more willing to have him try and fail than his daughter, or even Stiles for that matter. Why not sacrifice a stranger than he had already forgotten the name of?

The sound of horses became loud again, making it clear the Ghost Riders were returning and it was their opportunity to test out the madness that was Trent's plan. He began preparing himself as he stood on the edge of the tracks, standing behind a pillar on his own while the others keenly stuck together behind another. Stiles turned to Kinsey, questioning if they were really letting the boy do this. She looked at him, unsure of what else to do. What if Trent was right? Stiles turned to Trent again, insisting that they would find another way to get out, there had to be something else they could do to get out of here. Trent shook his head, he had been looking for months, this was it. Were they coming or not? 

Peter insisted that this was all him. Stiles was about to run and stop the boy, but Peter pulled him back, telling him to let the boy try as he held him still, each of them watching the riders go past. They all winced, watching him run alongside them on the track before leaping onto the last horse, gripping onto the Ghost Rider who tried to shrug him off. It seemed like it was working. It might just happen. Kinsey, Peter and Stiles gripped onto one another as the horses approached the wall. The first two going through the rings of green light before the last one made it through, only Trent didn't. He ricocheted from the wall, dropping to the floor where he screamed in pain. He rolled around on the tracks, beginning to turn into a green light himself, tapping his body as if he was trying to put out a fire until he disappeared into nothingness.

Kinsey and Stiles were silent, their jaws on the floor. "Somehow I don't think that went the way he was hoping for." Peter commented. Stiles jumped back down onto the tracks, rushing to the spot where Trent was just lying. "Stiles, he's dead. Did you see his face? Trust me he's gone." He urged the boy, any attempt he was about to make at bringing back Trent was useless.

"You knew he would die." Stiles shouted at the former Alpha.
"I didn't know. I mean, I assumed."
"You could have warned him!"
"He was gonna do it anyway. Now, we know." Peter insisted. "We're stuck. We are trapped. That was our only way out." Kinsey spoke up, finally deciding where she stood on the matter. It wasn't the only way, it couldn't be. She joined the two of them on the tracks, proposing that maybe the Ghost Riders just wanted them to believe that was the only way out. Her father was frustrated, all of them were. "What? What is it with you teenagers?" He asked them, clenching his fists as he tried, and failed, to contain his anger. "You think that you're so special?" she asked as the two of them stood side by side, Stiles slightly in front of the girl, protecting her from the father she was much more trusting of than he. "That the rules don't apply to you? Do you get it? We are dead and buried."

Peter reached into Stiles' pocket, pulling out his wallet as he emptied it. Money, driving licenses, credit cards, it was all meaningless. He hung the keys to the Jeep in front of their faces as they jingled. Did you think you were gonna drive us out of here? He asked. "Don't you get it? We don't exist. And we are already forgotten."

"Somebody's gonna remember us." Kinsey swore, stepping between her father and the boy. "We are going to be remembered. Lydia, Scott, Isaac, Malia. Someone. They're gonna find us. They'll come for us." she prayed.
"You couldn't even remember your own father." Peter said lowly, knowing he shouldn't say it, he shouldn't revert to being hateful, to being the man she loathed once. He had made progress. But in anger, he would reverse it all. Kinsey's face dropped in disappointment, eyes welling slowly. "You give me a call when your high school sweethearts conjure up a plan to get you out of here." He stopped there, turning his back to the two of them as a tear rolled down Kinsey's cheek, the boy beside her quick to try and comfort her. Both of them knew it was stupid to hope, to believe this wasn't the end. How could they not hope after everything they've been through? After all of the unbelievable things that had happened to them, who was to say that this wasn't another?

Deflated, Stiles and Kinsey sat amongst the catatonic passengers waiting for the train, bowing their heads as they both waited. For something. Anything. They didn't know if anything would ever come, and the more they sat here, the more the two of them considered that maybe Peter was right after all. This was the end. They were forgotten. They didn't even exist in the minds of all the people they had left behind anymore. Any sign of them was gone. 

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Isaac stared blankly into the nothingness of the car park outside the classroom window, Mrs. Finch hadn't seemed to notice that her newest student wasn't paying attention to a word that she said despite his promises to be a good student. He couldn't say what today's lesson was all about, he hadn't listened for a single minute of it, the moment he had sat in this chair his mind was away with the fairies. 

They had all been actively trying to find out more about Kinsey and Stiles, trying to figure out a way to confirm that all of this was real, and their findings were coming back thin. It was hard for them to think about anything else when it was possible that two people they loved were taken by some mythical creatures, pulled into a world of nothingness. They didn't know where Kinsey and Stiles were, if they were anywhere at all. They didn't know how it worked, and for the most party they didn't want to either. Nobody wanted to imagine the pain that they could be enduring wherever they were.

He had kept the engagement ring close by at all times, refusing to let it out of his sight, scared if he did, he would forget about Kinsey entirely. This was the relic that might just allow them to get her back, he would protect it like his life depended on it.

For a moment he tried to focus back on Mrs. Finch's class, he made a promise to himself when he returned to Beacon Hills to concentrate on school this time. He was a little misguided during the first part of high school, and understandably so with everything that happened with his dad, and then being dragged into the supernatural world. This time he swore things would be better. It was senior year, his last chance to make something of his high school career before setting out into the wider world when all of them would become adults, making something of themselves. If he failed now, he could fail for the rest of his life, with the help of Argent and the new life that the man had given him he couldn't do that, he couldn't disappoint the man who had helped him get his life back on track. 

Perhaps he had been a little optimistic when reapplying to the school, deciding to follow Scott's lead and take AP classes, but there was a time he was once good at school work. He didn't have much choice then, his homework was his only escape from everything else that was happening around him at home. He just had to get back in touch with that smart, dedicated part of himself that he hadn't seen for a little while. 

As he heard someone's phone buzz from across the classroom, he quickly became distracted yet again, staring off into another daydream as he began thinking about his own phone. He regularly checked the number that he believed was Kinsey's, hoping that one time he would try it and he would actually reach her, that her voice would come through the phone and she would tell him that she was okay. But every time, it failed to ring. Not even a voicemail with her voice on. It was as though the number never even belonged to anyone. All of this was driving him insane.

Legs of a chair grated across the tiled flooring of the classroom, creating a sickening sound that made Isaac's blood curdle, but finally pulled him out of a daydream. He caught a glimpse of long strawberry blonde hair dashing out of the door, her heels clicking quickly as she excused herself from the classroom. Instinctively, himself and Scott jumped up to her, apologizing to Mrs. Finch as they insisted they were just checking up on the girl. Speechless, Mrs. Finch watched them all disappear, wondering if students had forgotten that classes weren't optional.

They found the redhead outside, her hand pressed against a rusty blue Jeep as she argued with the man who was trying to tow it. It had been abandoned on the parking lot, they wasn't sure of how long it had been there or who it belong to, but it was clear that it had been long enough for the school to want it gone, and the owner not to be a student here. Lydia and the mechanic were going back and forth whether she was the one the abandoned car belonged to, which it wasn't, but she didn't see why it mattered. She didn't quite know why she cared about this haggard old car either, but she did, and she didn't want to see it taken away.

Scott and Isaac rushed up to them, the Alpha slamming has hand on the Jeep, taking ownership of it himself. Neither he nor Isaac were going to question why Lydia was trying to save the car, at least not right now. But if Lydia was trying to stop it from getting towed there had to be a reason for it, and a good one. Scott reassured the mechanic that he would move the car as soon as he'd gotten the keys. From his locker. When the man had left. Isaac and Lydia squirmed slightly, Scott had never been a great liar, he wasn't quick enough on his feet to come up with a feasible story. He tripped over his words as he tried to come up with one, and the mechanic saw that too.

The man apologized, once it was on the hook... Lydia was quick to stop the man before he came out with his companies predictable and corny catchphrase. He didn't try to fight it, he turned to the vehicle, glad that they understood they were now on the hook for the car, and that it would be coming with him.

"There's got to be something we can do." Isaac pleaded with the man as Scott enthusiastically nodded along. "Sign something? Call someone?"
"Pay someone?" Lydia proposed in annoyance, she knew exactly where this was going. Money could change a situation completely and this man's eyes had just lit up.
Drop fee's $150, the man smiled. Cash. With a roll of her eyes Lydia pulled out her purse while Scott still reeled over the amount of cash it would take to save the piece of trash that was worth not even half of that amount. It was garbage. He could see it falling apart. He wasn't even sure it would start if they tried it, perhaps that was why it was abandoned. As Lydia urged the two boys to give her what cash they had on them, Isaac stopped the girl to pull out his own wallet. Scott's eyes widened at the amount of cash in the werewolf's wallet, watching him slam the cash into the mechanic's chest. He wasn't sure when it happened, but Isaac really was an Argent now. He had gone from being homeless, sofa surfing between his house and Derek's apartment to having the wallet of a pimp.

Both he and Lydia shared wide eyed glances, but neither commented as they turned to the tow mechanic, hoping that he wouldn't begin asking for more. The money wasn't in his hand for any more than a second before he walked toward his truck to dismount the Jeep, satisfied with the interaction entirely. Scott reminded the redhead that none of them actually had the keys to this car, which she nodded, understanding completely, but she was still convinced it was useful to them for some reason. But at least they had a Jeep now.

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Kinsey's head only raised as she noticed that the older woman sitting beside Stiles had began to talk to him, proving that there was still some life form in some of these people. It was clear Stiles wasn't up for much of a conversation, not even if it proved someone else in here was of an able mind, but still, he entertained the woman. She explained that she was waiting for the train to go and see her grandchildren, she had seven of them, she claimed, but she had been waiting here a while now. Stiles nodded, confirming that it was probably just running a little late, he didn't feel the need to bring the woman down with him, telling her that she would never see her family. An innocent smile drew across the older woman's face before she asked who he was going to visit, a simple question, but one that felt like a dagger to his chest. He glanced over at Kinsey who gave him a weak smile, not knowing what else to do before he told the woman he wasn't going to see anybody, though the furrowed brow she gave him didn't imply that she believed him.

Before the old lady could ask another question, another announcement sounded, listing again all of the stops that had been cancelled, the same as every other time it had announced them. As it echoed through the platform, Stiles stood up, approaching the speakers on the wall. With a raised brow Kinsey followed him, wondering what he was thinking as he stared at them. The boy began following the wire attached to it with his eyes, slowly trailing it across the platform while Kinsey silently followed him, unsure of what the plan was. He stops at a door, the wires leading into whatever room was behind it.

Intercom, Peter spoke, startling them both as they turned to the man leaning against a pillar. He had been forgotten about again momentarily, neither Stiles or Kinsey wanting to think about a man who had withered away the hopes that they had left. His daughter barely glimpsed at him, still stung by the man's words as she turned back to Stiles, proposing that it could be a radio, to which he nodded. It was a possibility.

Peter scoffed once again at their hope, which this time, the two of them explained there was a theory behind since the Ghost Riders caused magnetic disturbances. He still thought that it was unbelievable after they explained it thoroughly to him, a few magnetic disturbances and photos being pixelated didn't mean they could use a ham radio to communicate through a supernatural barrier. Though it wouldn't stop them from trying. Kinsey had already kicked down the door into an old, disused radio room filled with cobwebs more than anything else. Both she and Stiles had begun searching over each of the equipment, hoping to find something of use while Peter trailed along, shutting down anything they had come up with. Ghost Riders couldn't be seen, heard, or remembered, he told them, they weren't going to leave a gadget around that they could use to call their friends.

In a huff, the man turned a random dial, releasing a high-pitched squeal that made them quickly cover their ears, praying for it to end as he quickly tried to turn it back down. When the tinnitus had died down Peter and Stiles released their hands from their ears, turning to the were-angel on the floor, the one affected the most by noise with her even more inclined ability to hear. Her hands moved slowly from her ears, revealing a small trail of blood leaking from both of them.

Malia rushed through the school, quick to find the classroom she knew Scott and Isaac would be in, the two boys coming out of it just as she arrived, the same puzzled look on their faces as hers. Out of nowhere a high-pitched squeal had sounded through the school, almost deafening them in the middle of class. They couldn't help but yelp slightly, causing their peers to stare at them in confusion as they tried to play it off. It was clear no-one human heard it, just those who had the sometimes, like now, unfortunate ability to hear things from miles away. The werecoyote had no doubt that she needed to find Scott and the others, hoping one of them knew where it had came from, which they didn't know, not for sure, but Scott had an idea. 

He followed the scent of their redhead friend outside, assuming that if anyone was going to have a clue where that high-pitched sound came from, it would be the girl who could make sounds as horrifying herself. Sure enough, Lydia was stood outside, standing still in front of the Jeep she'd swore would be of some use to them eventually. Admittedly, they had been a little doubtful until now.

Upon further inspection, Isaac noticed a police band radio inside, clearly the source of the noise they could all hear. He tried the handle of the Jeep, hoping whoever left it here was thoughtless enough to have also left it open, but clearly, there was some safety involved in the abandoning of the worthless car. Lydia told the werewolves to break it, after all, it was technically Isaac's car now, at least in the eyes of the mechanic they'd paid off. Scott nodded, agreeing as he tugged on the car handle, breaking it off with ease. With the door open, the annoying muffle only became louder, indistinct voices coming through the untuned radio. 

Stiles sat down at the radio, turning the dial as he tried to find a station that worked. Meanwhile Kinsey pressed every button in sight, trying to figure out how to turn the microphone on. Kinsey had never claimed herself to be good in terms of technology, but her work now was abysmal. It wasn't easy trying to figure out a machine that looked older than her unhelpful father that told them sarcastically to take their time. There was no rush at all. The only thing at stake was any evidence of their existence, soon to be lost. Forever.

"Not helping." Kinsey snarled at the man as he raised his hands in defense. She turned back to the radios with a shake of her head, pressing another button hoping it would make the radio static come to a sharp halt. Instead, she was met with the sound of horses galloping, both she and her father's head whipped toward the door of the radio room in a panic. A Ghost Rider was approaching, and fast. 
Peter quickly grabbed the two teenagers, rushing them out of the room and hiding behind one of the pillars just as the Rider appeared. The Rider looked straight at the radio room, seemingly knowing that someone had been in there. He tightened his hand around his whip, leaving all of the passengers cowering behind the chairs as they all watched him approach the room, kicking the door open with a thud before searching it. "In case you're keeping count that's twice I've saved your life today." Peter whispered to Stiles, who, despite knowing he was right, didn't feel the need to thank the man at all.

As the brother of a police officer, the other three nominated Isaac to try and figure out the police radio in the Jeep while Lydia sat as passenger, rummaging through the car to try and find some of the owner's belongings. So far, she hadn't, but she had found three rolls of duct tape beneath the seat. Isaac was clueless as he flicked a bunch of switches, some making the static worse than the last, he wasn't sure where the logic was in making him do this, Parrish didn't exactly teach him how to work one of these when they were reunited. They were a little busy trying to grasp the fact that they were brothers at all, bonding over police business was still on their to-do list, a long, long way down it.

With another flick of the switch, the radio static finally stopped, causing Malia and Scott to jump up from their places in the back of the Jeep. Scott had been searching for something useful too, and Malia, well, she was just sat glad to have an excuse to miss some of math class. They turned to the werewolf in charge of the radio who raised his hands, unsure if he had broken the radio or helped them. Lydia wasn't sure what had happened to it, but she flicked the master switch back and forth, though it didn't seem to do anything now. It was completely silent.

Scott began sniffing loudly, drawing the attention to him. "What?" he mumbled to himself, not understanding how that was possible. He'd caught a scent. Their scent. All four of them. They'd been in this Jeep before. Malia shook her head, she'd never been in this Jeep before, until that piercing squeal, she had no idea this Jeep even existed. Scott didn't believe he had ever been in it before either, and nor did Isaac as he shook his head, only Lydia seemed to understand, they'd all been in it before, they just didn't remember. 

Malia groaned. "I thought we were done with that."

"Uh, yeah, Lydia, Parrish checked the VIN number. There's no record of owner." Scott reminded the Banshee.
"Well, the Jeep didn't just drive itself here." She argued back. Scott looked between the two girls who both made good points. Malia questioned who's side he was on here, and while he wasn't so sure, Isaac was quick to point at the Banshee, choosing to believe that someone left this Jeep here, and that it had to be one of the two missing teenagers. Scott quickly sunk into the back of the Jeep again, refusing to be a part of the debate again.
"He's not real. Trust me." Malia reassured the girl. "And neither is she." she added, turning to the werewolf before he had any further input. Frustrated, the redhead continued searching the car, opening the glove compartment this time while Malia continued to try and reason with the two of them. "I've lost a lot of people in my life. It's a long list and I don't feel like adding to it."

Lydia's eyes widened as she found something in the compartment. "You might not have to." she said hopefully. "Not if we get them back." she said, holding up a registration from 1996. Although it had no name, it did have an address. 129 Woodbine Lane. An address very familiar to Lydia. 

The Banshee and Isaac stood at the front door of the house, the girl a little nervous after coming here last time. She wasn't sure Mrs. Stilinski would ever forget about that, or forgive her. She had certainly had some stern words with her mother since about it all. But she couldn't let that get in the way of trying to find some answers now, one of the Stilinski's had to know something useful about that Jeep and why it had ended up on their school parking lot.

Much to their surprise, Mr. Stilinski welcomed the two of them graciously into his home. It wasn't clear whether his wife had told him what had happened on Lydia's last surprise visit, but if so, he didn't seem to be holding a grudge against her. He brought the two of them into the living room where Claudia was sat, she greeted them, asking how she could help, seemingly calm about the strange redhead being in her home again as she offered them a seat.

Lydia didn't waste time in handing her the papers, explaining that they had found the blue Jeep in the school parking lot. As soon as the words Jeep had left the girl's mouth the two Stilinski's seemed to know the car that she was referring to, but even so, they didn't know how to answer the questions that Isaac and Lydia had for them. Claudia stared down at the registration papers. "I don't know what to tell you. I haven't seen that Jeep in... almost 18 years." she huffed, turning to her husband beside her in search of an agreement. Sheriff Stilinski turned to Isaac and Lydia, nodding that it had to have been at least that long. The two adults explained that it was stolen back then, unsure of how it ended up at the High School, but according to the man, the car was a junker back in the day, they couldn't imagine who would want it now. Claudia proposed that someone had dumped it there, that perhaps it had finally given up on whoever stole it, they sure as hell had their fair share of problems with it.

"Is there any way to trace the history of the Jeep after it was stolen?" Isaac asked the Sheriff. He shook his head confidently, telling them that there wasn't. Not even the Sheriff could figure out how to get that kind of information. Again, Lydia was beginning to grow frustrated with it all, the overwhelming feelings causing tears to grow in her eyes again as she proposed maybe there was some fingerprints in it that perhaps he could trace.
"Lydia..." Stilinski sighed as he sat forward, seeing the concerned look on his wife's face too. She was doing it again. "Is this about Stiles?" Just at the mention of his name her lip quivered, it was clear they still thought she was insane, that they still didn't believe anything she had told them. "Honey, don't you think you've taken this far enough?" Claudia asked, handing back the papers. "I don't really know what's going on with you lately... but maybe it's a good time to talk to your mom." she suggested as gently as possible.

With a weak smile and a tear rolling down her cheek, the redhead nodded, agreeing that the two of them were right. Sheriff Stilinski asked the girl if she was alright, which she obviously wasn't, but the girl brushed it off, apologizing to them, asking if she could quickly use their bathroom so that she could compose herself. Embarrassed and defeated, Lydia rushed out of the room as her tears became more prominent, leaving Isaac to entertain the two Stilinski's alone. Which thanks to his brother, was much easier, the two simply questioned if he planned on following Jordan in becoming a police officer, making for plenty of conversation to kill time while Lydia was gone.

The redhead's breath was shaky as she rushed through the house to the bathroom Claudia had directed her to last time, but she didn't make it that far as she stopped in the hall yet again. She pressed her hand against the peeling wallpaper that she had caused, sinking against it, burying her head in her knees, crumbling apart as she allowed the tears to overcome her. Leaving her in the Stilinski's hallway, sobbing, questioning everything. 

Kinsey threw her head back against the wall she sat against. "I don't know how much longer we can do this, Stiles." she said, turning to the boy beside her. "When do we give up? How much of this is too much? At what point do we admit to ourselves that we're stuck here?"
Stiles didn't manage to give the girl an answer before their heads were drawn to the dark again, the sound of galloping horses echoing and chaos rising in the passengers as they all fled and hid from the Ghost Riders. Stiles quickly pulled the girl behind the benches that Peter had jumped behind already, all three of them cowering as the Ghost Riders shot their guns into the air, louder than the screams of the terrified passengers. They peeked around the benches, watching as one of the Riders pushed someone wearing their lacrosse jersey off of their horse with a green flash as they thudded onto the floor.

The player scrambled to remove their helmet, revealing themselves to be Gwen, a girl that both Kinsey and Stiles recognized from school. Her sister, Phoebe, recognized her too as she jumped to the aid of her sister, pulling her into a hug as the Riders shot their gun into the air again. The two young girls cowered, but refused to let each other go as the horses galloped around, scaring the passengers a little further.

Peter noticed the sign on the board, a penny finally dropping as he turned to his daughter. "This isn't a train station. This is a way station. It's not gonna stop." He said, peeking back at the arrival board again before releasing a heavy sigh. 
"What are those places? Bannack? Canaan?" Kinsey asked her father. "What do you know?"
"We gotta get out of here." Her father urged. "Nobody is safe. Not here. Not in Beacon Hills. Your friends, family, everyone you've ever known. They're gonna be taken." Peter panted, he grabbed his daughter's wrist, pulling her with him as he snuck towards the track, leaving Stiles to fend for himself and follow as he eagerly tried to catch up.

"What did you see up there?" Stiles asked, chasing the pair. "The towns. What did it mean?"
"I just told you." Peter insisted. "They're never gonna stop."
"What's the plan then?"
"I'm goin' through the portal." He said confidently, storming toward it.

Kinsey stopped, shaking her head in confusion, questioning what he meant. Nobody got through the portal, he had said that himself. He corrected her, no human could, but he was better than a human, and so was she. They would heal. Stiles stopped too, realizing that Peter's plan was no different from any of his other plans, it was selfish, it was every man for himself. At least the man had considered getting his daughter out of here this time, but he still planned to leave him alone in here.

Peter turned, looking at the teenage girl. "Let's not have a moment. You know what needs to be done." He urged before turning to Stiles, hoping that once he had gotten over the little bit of hurt he felt, he would see the sense in this too. Stiles turned to the girl, agreeing with her father, if the two of them could go, they could bring him back from the other side. Kinsey could find Scott and the others, she could help them to remember him.
"You have to tell them about me. They're not going to remember me so you have to tell them. I'll be fine, okay?" he reassured her, holding onto her shoulders to try and get through to her.
"No. I'm staying. I'm not leaving you here." Kinsey refused. "You can find them. If you survive this you can find them, you can tell them about us." she told her father.

The werewolf scoffed, clearly disapproving with his daughter. "When we survive, we're going to get as far away from Beacon Hills as we possibly can. And if we happen along one of your below average friends and it doesn't inconvenience me, I might mention his name." he said, nodding at the teenage boy. "But you're coming with me." he insisted, pulling the girl along.
"And what about Malia?" she questioned, stopping again as she resisted his strength. "You want to just leave her like you left us before?" she asked. "Like when you broke out of Eichen, when you know you could feel us in that building and you still left us? When you just ran away from us and your responsibilities again?" Kinsey shouted at the man who kept his back facing her. "I may be your daughter but I am not going to be like you. I am not going to abandon the people I love at the first sight of danger or just because it's a little hard. So go, run. Be the man I always knew you still were."

"I'm doing this for you." Peter snarled at his daughter. "Everything that I have done for the past two years has been for you. For Malia. For us." he said with an accusing finger pointing at her. "However misguided that it might have been, it has always been for the right reason." he said as the anger on the girl's face slipped slightly. The distant sound of horses returned, signaling that the Riders were coming back. He rushed toward his daughter, planting a kiss on her forehead as a final goodbye. "Stall them." 

Unsure of how they would do that, Kinsey and Stiles turned to look at the tunnel behind them, the tunnel the Riders would appear from any second now. Peter rushed off, ready to attempt his escape. Stiles looked at the benches waiting by the tracks, suggesting they push them onto the tracks, quickly they shoved each one into the way of the Ghost Riders, hoping it would stall them for even a split second before they both hid.

Now running a little slower, Peter had the perfect chance to jump on the back of one of them like Trent did. As they approached him, he leapt, gripping onto the Ghost Rider as they tried fighting him off of them. Peter kept a good grip on the man, keeping a tight hold on the creature. Kinsey and Stiles peeked slightly out from behind the pillar, trying to see whether the man succeeded in his attempt, but in doing so, one of the Ghost Riders noticed them. He swung his whip toward the teenage boy, wrapping it around his neck, pulling him onto the tracks as the girl screamed his name. The Ghost Rider immediately let him go, the boy seemingly unharmed as he lay on the floor, watching the three Riders continue on. 

Kinsey jumped onto the tracks, rushing to his aid as they both watched Peter reach the wall. As the green flash of light appeared again, they waited for it to happen again, for the werewolf to be thrown off of the horse, tossed onto the floor and screaming in agony until he dispersed into a puff of smoke. But he didn't Each Rider went through the wall, taking him with them. "He did it." Kinsey muttered in disbelief. "What now?" 
"We hope that you really did the impossible." he muttered. "We hope you changed Peter Hale."