...

Alan was in the living room when he heard the door open. Assuming it was Y/n he started talking to her. "Y/n, I thought you'd be staying at Lydia's tonight."

"Alan." Her voice, barely above a whisper, trembled and he looked up in worry. She was leaning heavily on the wall. "I... I did something." She started to collapse from exhaustion and he lept up to catch her before she made contact with the floor.

"Y/n. Y/n, look at me." Her head lolled back a bit but she managed to look at him with heavy lids. She was pale and her skin was coated with sweat. Her eyes flickered between e/c and purple, her magic trying to help her but she's burned herself out. "How much of your energy did you use?"

"Almost all."

"Come on. You need to rest." He lifted her up into his arms and carried her to the couch where he laid her down. She couldn't keep her eyes open. Alan quickly went to work to help her, making a drink that would help her regain some of her spent energy. The liquid was bitter but she still drank it when he put the cup to her lips. "What did you do?" He asked when she was a little rested.

"I practiced blood magic. I helped bring back Peter Hale." She tiredly admitted.

"Why would you do such a thing?" This isn't like her. She's insisted she wasn't ready for such powerful magic, why would she suddenly practice it?

"He spoke to me. He said it would prove to everyone that I'm not weak. That I was a powerful witch."

"Y/n." Alan sighed. "You don't need to perform such a dangerous ritual to prove your capabilities. You don't need to prove anything to anyone because you are powerful."

"I'm sorry."

Alan shook his head and gently ran his hand over her hair. "What's done is done. Just rest now."

"Derek. He's still at the Hale house."

"I'll take care of him. Rest." She slowly nodded and easily fell asleep. Bringing someone back from the dead was tiring. Meanwhile Alan went to the Hale house to help Derek.

Derek was unconscious, floating in a white nothingness. A voice started calling out to him. "Derek... can you hear me?" The voice was distorted, sounding normal one second and then painfully slow the next, overlapping each other. "Derek... can you hear me? I need you to answer me Derek." A high pitched sound slowly faded into his ears following the voice. "We don't have much time." It suddenly became too much and Derek squeezed his eyes shut with his hands over his ears.

Derek gasped awake on the floor of the Hale house, Alan crouched near him. He slowly got up. "That sound... What was it?" Alan held up a dog whistle and smiled making Derek scoff. Derek stood up and stumbled, Alan quickly helping to steady him.

"You're gonna be weak for several hours."

Derek looked at his arm where the puncture marks still reside, his and Y/n's blood still staining his skin. He then noticed the hole in the floor, the memory of Peter bursting through it replaying in his mind. "It actually happened."

"Don't worry. You're still an Alpha. But, as usual, not a particularly competent one." Alan put the whistle over his neck.

"Why did she do this?"

Alan knew who he was talking about. "Peter was haunting her. His spirit was connected to her and it seems he wormed his way into her head, convinced her to go along with his plan. He preyed on her insecurities and her need to protect those she cares about."

"Where is he?"

"I wish I could tell you."

"How about you tell me what you're doing here, and why you're helping me."

"Helping your family actually used to be a pretty important part of my life. Helping you was a promise I made to your mother."

"You're the one my sister talked about. She said you're a... Kind of advisor?"

"She was right. And I have some advice that you need to listen to very closely right now. What Peter managed to do doesn't come without a price. He'll be physically weak, so he'll rely on the strength of his intelligence, his cunning. He's gonna come at you, Derek. He'll try to twist his way inside your head, preying on your insecurities like he did to Y/n. He'll tell you that he's the only way you can stop Gerard. Do not trust him."

"I don't trust anyone."

"I know. If you did, you might be the Alpha you like to think you are. And unfortunately, the one person you should trust doesn't trust you at all."

"Scott."

"He's with Stilinski right now. You need to find him, you need to find him as fast as you can. I've known Gerard for a long time. He always has a plan. And something tells me... It's going exactly the way he wants it to."

...

Scott and Stiles had went to Noah and told him that Matt is the actual killer. When they convinced him to go to the Sheriff's station and look at the evidence they figured out that Matt can be placed at all four crime scenes. One's an incident, two's a coincidence, three's a pattern, and four is enough for a warrent. Scott called his mom to the station so she could give a statement since she had seen Matt at the hospital where the wife was killed and Stiles had went to let the front know to let her in when she arrived. But the officer at the front is dead and Matt is there with a gun. They go back to the Sheriff's office where Noah tries to talk him down but he's not having it. He makes them leave their phones on the desk and then takes them to the holding cells where he makes Stiles cuff Noah to the wall above the bench. Matt leads the boys back to the office but they pause at the sight of three dead officers in the adjoining hall. When Scott asks if he's going to kill everyone in there, Matt responds that that's what Jackson's for, he thinks about killing them and he does it.

Matt holds them at gun point while Scott shreds the paper evidence and Stiles deletes the files from the computer. "Deleted. And we're done. All right, so, Matt, since all the people you brutally murdered deserved it because they killed you first- whatever that means I think we're good here, right? I'll just get my dad, and we'll go, you know? You continue on the whole vengeance thing. Enjoy the kanima." Stiles tries to get him to let them go when car lights shine in past the window.

"Sounds like your mom's here, McCall." Matt comments.

"Matt, don't do this. When she comes to the door, I'll just tell her to leave. I'll tell her we didn't find anything. Please, Matt." Scott tries to plead but the front door squeaks signaling someone's entry.

"If you don't move... now, I'm gonna kill Stiles first, and then your mom." He makes Scott and Stiles walk to the front. "Open it."

"Please."

"Open the door." He commands more firmly.

Scott reluctantly does so, but instead of Melissa, it's Derek on the other side. "Oh, thank God." That thanks is short lived when Derek falls onto his back in front of them, Jackson half shifted behind him had paralyzed him.

Matt leans over to look at Derek. "This is the one who's controlling him? This kid?" Derek asks unbelieving.

"Well, Derek, not everyone's lucky enough to be a big, bad werewolf. Oh, yeah, that's- that's right." Matt straightens up and looks at the teens with a grin. "I've learned a few things lately. Werewolves, witches, Hunters, kanimas. It's like a fricken' Halloween party every full moon. Except for you, Stiles. What do you turn into?"

"Abominable Snowman. But, uh, it's more of, like, a wintertime thing, you know, seasonal." Matt gestures with his head and Jackson nicks Stiles.

"Hey!" Scott protested but when he went to move Jackson holds up a finger, waving it side to side, warning Scott.

"You bitch." Stiles complains as he falls right onto Derek.

"Get him off of me." Derek demands.

"Oh, I don't know, Derek. I think you two make a pretty good pair." Matt crouches down.

"I have a girlfriend, not like you'd know about that." Stiles' remark is muffled by Derek's shoulder, Matt glances over it.

"It must kinda suck, though, to have all that power taken away from you with just a little cut to the back of the neck. I bet you're not used to feeling this helpless."

"Still got some teeth. Why don't you get down here a little closer, huh? We'll see how helpless I am."

"Yeah, bitch." Stiles is ignored again.

Another car pulls up drawing Matt's attention. "Is that her?" He stands and faces Scott. "Do what I tell you to and I won't hurt her. I won't even let Jackson near her."

"Scott, don't trust him!" Matt rolls Stiles onto his back and presses his foot into his throat, cutting off his air.

"This work better for ya?"

"Okay, just stop! Stop!" Scott yells, Stiles' face turning red.

"Then do what I tell you to."

"Okay. All right. Stop!" Matt finally lets up and Stiles coughs as he's suddenly able to breathe again.

"You, take them in there." He instructs Janima. "You... With me."

Y/n sleeps on the couch, seemingly peacfully. Suddenly her brows furrow and she frowns.

Her breath hitches like she's trying to take a breath but can't. She stirs restless and suddenly sits up, gasping for breath. "Stiles!" Something is terribly wrong. She quickly jumps up from the couch, catching herself on the arm and forcing the dizzyness aside. She has to get to Stiles.

Melissa has shown up to the station only to find Scott being held at gunpoint by Matt. Matt suddenly shoots Scott in the stomach and Melissa screams. Scott tells his mom he's okay and to just listen to Matt. She's locked in a cell near Noah as Matt and Scott go to the office where Derek and Stiles lay on the ground. "The evidence is gone. Why don't you just go?" Scott asks him.

"You- you think the evidence mattered that much, huh? No, no, l-I want the book."

"What- what book?"

"The bestiary. Not just a few pages, I want the entire thing."

"I don't have it. It's Gerard's. What do you want it for, anyway?"

"I need answers."

"Answers to what?"

"To this." Matt lifted up his shirt to expose his side which now had kanima scales slowly spreading across his skin. Matt texted Allison for the bestiary from Scott's phone and left Jackson to watch over the paralyzed two while they waited for it in another room.

"Hey. You know what's happening to Matt?" Stiles whispered to Derek.

"You know, the book's not gonna help him." Derek whispered back. "You can't just break the rules, not like this."

"What do you mean?"

"Universe balances things out. Always does."

"Is it because he's using Jackson to kill people who don't deserve it?"

"Killing people himself."

"So if Matt breaks the rules of the kanima, he becomes the kanima?"

"Balance."

"Will he believe us if we tell him that?"

"Not likely."

"Okay, he's gonna kill all of us when he gets that book, isn't he?"

"Yep."

Stiles sighs. "All right, so what do we do? Do we just- do we just sit here and wait to die?"

"Unless we can figure out a way to push the toxin out of my body faster. Like triggering the healing process."

"Wha- oh, what are you doing?" Stiles manages to look down and see Derek digging his claws into his own leg. "Aw, gross." Stiles sounds like he'll be sick.

Scott ends up getting Matt to tell him what happened to him, why he was killing. He had gone to Isaac's house to make a comic book trade with the youngest Lahey, he didn't know the swim team had just won state and that Mr. Lahey was letting his favorites celebrate with drinks. Some jumped in the pool, and Camden, Isaac's brother, grabbed him and tossed him into the pool too, ignoring his yells that he couldn't swim. He was drowning and they were laughing. Then he's suddenly by the pool, Lahey over him.

"-Lahey is right there, right above me, and he says..."

"You tell no one!"

"He says, 'you tell no one'!"

"This, this is your fault!"

"'This, this is your fault'!"

"You don't know how to swim?"

"'What little bastard doesn't know how to swim'?"

"You say nothing! You tell no one! No one!"

And he didn't. Matt kept this horrible secret since then. He'd see them at school and they wouldn't look at him. He'd wake up gasping for breath in the middle of the night. His parents thought he was an asthmatic and gave him an inhaler. They didn't know he was drowning everytime he closed his eyes. Suddenly at the Argent's funeral Lahey accidently got in one of the shots. Matt was filled with rage and he wanted to see Lahey dead. The next day he was. He compares it to Greek mythology, to the furies who would swoop down and exact vengeance. If there was a crime that went unpunished the furies would do the punishing. Matt says Jackson is his fury. The next night a bond had been cemented between the two. Matt knew Jackson killed Lahey for him and he knew he'd do it again. He went to Tucker's garage, paid for an oil change, and took his picture when he wasn't looking. Hours later Tucker is dead. He took more pictures then. The Hunter, the husband and the wife, the promoter for the secret party. All he had to do was take their picture, and Jackson would take their life.

"So is that hypothetical situation we talked about getting any less hypothetical?" Stiles asked Derek.

"I think so. I can move my toes."

Stiles sighs. "Dude, I can move my toes." Suddenly the lights go out, emergency lights turning on a moment later with a siren blaring. Matt panics and asks Scott what's going on but he doesn't know either. Car lights shine in and the windows are blown out with gunfire. They take cover while the several clips are being emptied. The Hunters are there for Matt, the kanima, and Derek. They throw in smoke bombs and Scott uses it to ram Jackson out of the way and get to Stiles and Derek.

"Take him!" Derek orders as he moves more. "Go!" Scott puts Stiles' arm over his shoulder and carries him away. Jackson pursues them. Scott closes doors after him to slow down Janima but he kicks them open just as fast. One, two, three doors kicked down until Scott gets to a fourth that is made of metal with a sliding lock. That seems enough to deter Jackson.

Noah pulls on his restraints, trying to pull the metal from the wall. Derek manages to get to his knees, using a chair to help. He shifts and he growls. Y/n leans against a door and pants. She shouldn't be moving so soon, but she needs to get to him. She pushes herself off of the door and uses the wall to steady herself as she follows her invisible string that would lead her to him. She found Scott just as he set Stiles in a chair in an interogation room.

"Don't move." Scott says to him. Stiles gives him a look. "You know what I mean." Scott leaves the room and runs into Y/n.

"What's happening here?" She asks.

"A lot. Just stay with Stiles. I'll explain later." He rushes off and she lets him. She goes into the room and closes the door behind her.

"Stiles!" She kneels next to his chair and holds his head up so she can look at him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She didn't really know what she was apologizing for. For bringing back Peter, for not being here when he needed her, possibly all of the above.

"Y/n? What are you doing here?"

"I felt you. You couldn't breathe. I was so worried." She put her hand on the back of his neck. She shouldn't use her magic but she has to help him. Her eyes flash as she pulls some of the toxin from his blood and heal the wound. It was painless, she made sure of it. She would never hurt him. She droops a bit, sweat coating her skin again, but she holds herself up so he won't worry.

"What happened to you earlier? You disappeared, where did you go?"

The memories of what she did flashed through her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head to be rid of them. "I'm sorry. Stiles, I'm so sorry. I did something. But I'll make up for it, I promise."

"What- what are you-" She cuts him off with a kiss, rushed and desperate. She pulled away with a frown.

"I'm sorry." He furrowed his brows in confusion when she presses a kiss to his forehead, gently letting his head back down before she leaves, ignoring his call of her name. Y/n finds Derek and he lets her help him. He understands her motivations of helping Peter, no matter how misguided it seemed to be. She used her magic to push the rest of the toxin from his system. It was painless for Derek too. Seems Peter was right about her having better control of something like this, even with just one spell.

Noah has almost pulled the metal from the wall, Melissa encouraging him. Stiles has made it out of the room and struggled to crawl his way towards the holding cells, barely getting to peek around the corner. Noah has successfully gotten free, but it doesn't last as Matt comes up behind him and pistol whips him, knocking him out. Melissa screams.

"Matt?" Melissa calls. "Matt, please, listen to me. My son has been shot, and I've heard other gunfire, and I don't know what's happening, but can you please just let me see my son?"

"How totally clueless are you people?" He asks when breathing catches their attention. Derek, still shifted, emerges from the hall, eyes glowing angrily, Y/n leaning on the wall behind him. Derek growls and snaps at Matt. Hissing from the other hall makes them look to see the fully shifted kanima. The two creatures roar at each other and then attack. Derek blocks a swing from the kanima and throws it onto a desk. Matt runs while the two fight. Y/n can't do anything to stop him, she can barely stay upright. The kanima hits Derek in the chest and makes him fly back. Derek flips into a crouch. They growl and hiss again. The kanima swipes, but Derek ducks under it's arm and grabs the metal chair, using it against the kanima. The kanima also grabs the chair. The two struggle until the kanima pushes back and makes Derek flip and fall over the desk. Derek gets back up and rushes it, but the kanima grips the cell bars and kicks Derek back into the wall, stunning him.

The kanima dangles on the bars and hisses at Melissa who is terrified. Scott runs up, shifted, and impales the kanima in the back with his claws. The kanima screeches in pain. Scott throws it aside and crouches protectively in front of the cell. The kanima scitters away with Derek hoping over the desk to chase it. "Oh, God, Scott?" Melissa calls. "Scott, are you okay?" She cries. "Scott?" Scott slowly looks back at her and she sees that he's not exactly human anymore. She gasps and slowly starts to move away as he stands to face her. She cups her hands over her mouth. "No!" She starts to cry, freaking out about what she's seeing. Scott looks down before he runs off.

Y/n stumbles to her knees next to Noah, her eyes flashing as she heals him. He'll be fine with some rest. And that's it. That's all her body can handle. She collapses from over exertion. Scott runs into Gerard in the hall, now back to normal. "What are you doing here? It wasn't supposed to happen like this." Scott says.

"Trust me, I'm aware of that." Gerard responds.

"I've done everything that you've asked of me. I'm part of Derek's pack, I've given you all the information that you wanted, I told you Matt was controlling Jackson-"

"And leave him to us. Help your friends. Leave Matt and Jackson to me. Deal with your mother. Go!" Scott steps around him when something falls. He bends down and picks up Gerard's pill container.

"You dropped this." He offers it to the man.

Gerard takes it. "Go!" Scott runs off and right past Derek who was right around the corner. He heard everything. His head picks up when he hears Melissa calling to Y/n in worry. Melissa had seen her eyes and what she did and she's scared, but her nurse instincts tell her to check on the very pale girl.

"Y/n? Y/n, can you hear me?" Melissa kneels as close to the bars as she can and reaches through to check her pulse through her wrist. It was there but slow. Worryingly slow. Y/n was coated in sweat and her chest rose and fell with shallow breathes. Melissa scitters back again when she sees Derek approach, his face back to normal but she could still see his wolf-like features in her mind. Derek crouches down and lifts Y/n into his arms, straightening up and carrying her. "What are you doing?" Melissa blurted despite her fear.

"I'm getting her help." Is all he said before he walked away with the unconscious witch. He took her back to Alan where she can be treated.

~~~
Published: 3/17/21
Edited: 4/12/22