...

Derek, Y/n, and Stiles were struggling to hold a convulsing Brett on the metal table in the animal clinic as the yellow wolfsbane coursed through his system. Yellow foam started coming from his mouth. "What the hell is happening to this kid?" Stiles yelled.

"He's been poisoned by a rare wolfsbane." Alan explains as he comes up to them with a scalpel in hand. "I need to make an incision and you need to hold him as still as possible."

"Hey, Derek, how about a little werewolf strength?"

"Yeah, I'm not the only one here with werewolf strength." Derek retorted.

"Not the time to be bickering." Y/n said, her eyes glowing as she tried to match, if not overpower the strength Brett was using.

"If you can't hold him still, the incision might kill him." Alan warned. He went to try to make the cut, but it wasn't going to work.

"Guys, he's slipping. I don't think I can hold him." Stiles said, right before Brett opened his yellow eyes, looking around in a panic. In a wild swing Brett pushed all four back and jumped off the table. Before he could run Y/n rushed forward and pressed a hand to his back, using her magic to freeze him in place.

"If you're gonna do something, do it now. I can't hold this for long." Y/n strained out. It was taking everything in her to restrict every muscle in his body from moving. A moment later Peter came in and punched Brett in the face hard effectively knocking him out. Brett fell to the ground and Y/n was free to release him and breath. She sighed and leaned against the table to catch her breath.

Everyone looked at Peter as his eyes shifted back from the glowing blue. "I guess I still have a little werewolf strength myself."

"Yeah, maybe more than a little." Derek commented and Peter smirked. Derek looked down at his arm, the scratch Brett gave him having not healed yet.

"Alan, he's not breathing." Y/n said as she knelt next to Brett. Alan took the scalpel and made a vertical incision in the middle of the werewolf's chest. Brett instantly started to breathe again as yellow vapor escaped from the cut. Peter noticed Derek look at his arm again as the scratches finally healed.

"Is he okay?" Stiles asked, and Alan answered.

"I think he'll be fine, but probably out for a while." Brett started to mutter something, repeating it under his breath.

"Guys, can you hear that? I think he's saying something."

Y/n listened as Alan leaned in. "The sun... The moon... The truth..."

Alan leaned back when Brett repeated it. "Three things cannot long be hidden. The sun, the moon, and the truth. It's Buddhist." He glanced at Derek who looked to Peter, only one person came to mind when they heard that. One person that Peter then named.

"Satomi."

...

"Your dad should be back within the hour." Jordan says as he leads Stiles, Y/n, and Lydia into the station. "Do you wanna wait in his office?"

"Actually, we want to talk to you." Stiles responds.

"Privately." Lydia adds. Jordan frowns but leads the three into the Sheriff's office where they gave him the second part of the list.

"This is a hit list?"

"We've been calling it a dead pool." Y/n says.

"Recognize any of the names?" Stiles asks the deputy.

"Yeah. The Sheriff had me run a bunch of these through the system last night. But we couldn't find any of them."

"Show him the other thing." Stiles gestures to Lydia and she takes the list from Jordan's hands and flips it to show the bottom half where it was folded, revealing his own name.

He stands in shock and unfolds it to look at the whole thing. "Okay. That's kind of terrifying. What's the number?"

"That's how much you're worth." Lydia answers.

He turns back to face them, seeming a little insulted. "I'm worth five dollars?"

"Five million." Stiles holds up five fingers.

"I only make 40,000 a year." He glances down at the list again. "Maybe I should kill myself. I don't get it. Why... Why am I on this?"

"That's the five million dollar question, isn't it?" Y/n quips. "But that's gonna have to be a question for another day."

"Right now, there's still another third of the list we gotta crack." Stiles adds.

"We need the third cipher key." Lydia says. "But we need help getting it."

"From who?" Jordan wonders.

"Meredith."

"The girl from Eichen? The last time you saw her, you almost gave her a nervous breakdown."

"Almost."

"It'll be fine. I'll make sure she stays calm." Y/n said. If she was honest, she didn't think was a good idea, but Lydia, and even Stiles now, were insistent on visiting the girl. She knew they wouldn't change their minds at this point, so she figured she might as well tag along. She could at least act as a buffer in case something were to happen.

"And how can you do that?" Jordan asked.

Y/n shrugged with half a smile. "There's just something about me, I guess."

...

Jordan managed to get himself and the three teens into Eichen to visit Meredith saying they needed to question her about something important. An employee was trying to find the right key in the many keys on the giant ring in his hands. A door creaked down the hall and Stiles glanced that way to see Brunski turn the corner. "Oh, no, not this guy." Stiles grumbled and Y/n looked over to see the man walking up to them.

"What the hell are we running here? A bed and breakfast?" Brunski asked as he came up to the man and snatched the keys from him. "We do not just open the door for anyone with a badge."

"We need to talk to Meredith Walker." Jordan informed. "It involves a murder investigation."

Brunski dismissed the employee and turned to face the deputy. "Well, you can talk to her all you want, but these three, especially that one-" He pointed to Stiles and Y/n glared at the man. "They're outta here."

"They're crucial witnesses in an ongoing investigation. I wouldn't have brought them if it wasn't absolutely... Crucial." "Okay, Deputy. How about you come back with a court order, then I'll listen. As for you, Mr. Stilinski," he stepped closer to Stiles, "how about you come back with payment in full."

"How about I tell you where you can put your payment?" Y/n stepped forward to give a demonstration, but Stiles grabbed her wrist to hold her back.

"Don't." He muttered. He appreciated the sentiment, but he didn't want to risk doing anything that would possibly make the situation worse.

Brunski smirked as he watched the girl reluctantly take a step back. "That's right. Daddy may be the Sheriff, but he's late on the bills. I guess those government jobs aren't as reliable as they used to be, huh?"

"But they do help when you need a favor. Like, how a month ago, Canaan P.D. helped you get home after blowing a 0.1 on a breathalyzer."

"No..." Stiles quietly gawked before looking very amused with himself at Brunski's misfortune.

Brunski smiled and became more friendly. "All right. I'm not against a little quid pro quo. Not at all." He pressed the keys against a still smirking Stiles' chest. "Not at all." He turned to walk away then, Lydia swiftly and discreetly giving him a double bird.

"Bye-bye, Brewski." Y/n called after the man, smirking at the irritated tense in his shoulders as he turned the corner and left them to do what they wanted.

Stiles patted Jordan on the shoulder and pointed at him. "You. You, I like you. I'm gonna keep you." Jordan smiled as he got the right key and opened the door to Meredith's room. The girl in question looked up from her spot on the bed.

Y/n, Stiles, and Lydia sat across from Meredith on the unoccupied bed. Lydia asked if she could help them with the third key like she did last time, but her answer wasn't what they expected. "What do you mean you can't tell us, Mer?" Y/n wondered.

"We just need the third key. You can give it to us in numbers, letters, hieroglyphs. Whatever you want." Stiles said.

"I can't." Meredith responded.

"Then why did you give us the second key?" Lydia asked incredulously.

"I wanted to help. That's what I- I wanna do. I wanna help."

"Great. So help us now. Okay? Give us the third cipher key."

"Things have changed. I- I can't."

"Why not?" Stiles asked.

"Guys, go easy on her." Jordan said from by the door.

"I'm sorry. I can't." Meredith's voice cracks with emotion. "He- he doesn't want me to."

Stiles frowns. "He? Who's he?"

Y/n went over and sat by Meredith, putting a comforting hand on her knee. "Meredith, who doesn't want you to tell us?"

"The Benefactor."

"You know who the Benefactor is?" Meredith hesitantly nodded.

This upset Lydia. All this time Meredith knew who was doing this, and she didn't say. But that's now going to change if Lydia has anything to do about it. "What's his name?" Lydia stood up. Meredith lightly shook her head and Lydia sighed in exasperation. "You could just tell us his name." Meredith started to get upset, shaking her head more.

"Lydia, take it easy." Y/n frowned up at her friend. She understood Lydia's urgency, but hounding Meredith wasn't going to solve anything.

"Okay, you're shaking your head. What's that mean? Does that mean you don't know or you don't want to help us?" Stiles asked Meredith.

"I- I can't- I- I can't help anymore." She stammered.

Lydia glanced back at Stiles before asking her own question. "How do you know about him?"

"Guys, I think we better stop." Jordan spoke up again, yet he went unheaded by the strawberry blond.

"Meredith, a lot of people are going to die if you don't tell us."

"I don't- I don't know. I don't know. Please..."

Y/n stood up and held a hand up to Lydia in warning. "Lydia, you need to stop. This isn't helping." She didn't need to see Meredith shaking her head more aggressively to know how frantic she was getting, the witch could feel it.

"Meredith, it's okay. You're gonna be all right." Jordan tried to assure.

"Please."

Y/n turned and leaned down to try and catch Meredith's eye. "Mer, just breathe."

"I don't- I don't- I don't know. I don't-" No matter what Y/n said, it was too much for her. She could feel it coming and she couldn't stop it.

"Meredith, don't!" But it was too late and she knew it. The scream was coming.

"I said, I DON'T KNOW!" Y/n held Meredith's head to her chest, absorbing the blow of the banshee's scream, taking it all on herself so the others wouldn't get hurt. When Meredith stopped Y/n stumbled back, but was caught by Stiles before she could fall. He held her face as she recovered from the hit and saw her ears had bled. She coughed into her hand and when she pulled it back there were light blood spatters in her palm. Taking on the full brunt of a banshee's scream caused some internal bleeding. Meredith scrambled back into the corner of her bed. She didn't mean to hurt the nice girl, but she just couldn't help it.

...

Y/n was asleep on Stiles' bed while Stiles and Lydia tried to figure out the third key. Stiles paced and bit at his thumb, glancing at her every few seconds. He knew she would be okay after a bit of rest, her magic working to heal her as we speak, but he was still a little worried.

Lydia sat at his desk, the computer on and list ready to be decoded, while Stiles paces besides her. "Okay, well, we know one thing." Stiles starts. "Both of the first two keys, Allison and Aiden, they're both names of the dead. Right?"

"But we've already tried every other dead person's name we could think of. And if you haven't noticed, there were a lot of tries." Lydia responded.

"Yeah, I noticed." He stops pacing and looks at her, noticing her troubled expression. "You okay?"

"The only other banshee I've ever met. And I think I might have just drove her over the edge."

"Lydia, it wasn't your fault. I was there, too."

"Y/n warned me. She told me to lay off." Lydia glanced at her sleeping friend, disappointed in herself for how she acted.

"She's not gonna blame you either. And you're probably not the only..." He trailed off as he got an idea. "Hold on. Banshees predict death. Right? So what if the third key is someone who isn't dead..."

"But will be." She caught on. She faced the computer again and took a breath, closed her eyes, and focused on listening like Y/n taught her to. Slowly, one by one, her fingers pressed five keys, her eyes fluttering open as the last letter of the name was entered. She pressed enter and the last third of the list was finally revealed.

C://KEYWORD: DEREK


SATOMI ITO 10
Y/N HALE 17
MALIA HALE 4
LIAM DUNBAR 3
MEREDITH WALKER 1
PATRICK CLARK 500
BREE LEVERETT 500
KAITLYN SCHAAR 250
GENEVIEVE PIERRE 3
ANGELIQUE FAIN 250
LORELEE RHOR 250
BRITTANI KEGLEY 250

Lydia's finger trailed the list, stopping next to her fellow banshee's name. "Call Parrish. We need to call Parrish." She said before she grabbed her phone to do exactly that. But when she got ahold of the deputy, she wasn't ready for what he told her. "What are you talking about?"

"Lydia, Meredith's gone. They found her an hour ago in her room. She hung herself. I'm sorry." Lydia let the phone fall from her ear and Stiles hugged her, knowing how upset she now feels after how she was not long ago.

After a minute Lydia sat back down and Stiles looked over the list. He was upset and scared. Not only was Y/n worth a hell of a lot if she were killed, she's also listed as a Hale and so was Malia. He wasn't ready to tell Y/n what he knew. He needed more time. Time to figure out when to tell her, how to tell her, and why it took so long to do it in the first place. Stiles closed the computer. "We can't let her see this. Not yet." He muttered.

"We're gonna have to tell her eventually." Lydia said. She felt bad keeping it to herself in the first place, but it was worse knowing for so long and not saying anything.

"I know. I know. Just... Just not yet."

~~~
Published: 1/12/22
Edited: 4/12/22

Just a warning, I haven't been able to do much writing lately, so if I have to skip a week I'll try to warn you before hand. I'm sorry about that, guys :(

☽︎𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒆☾︎

☽︎𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘☾︎