'go ahead and live with your head held high. no matter how devastated you may be by your own weakness or uselessness, set your heart ablaze. grit your teeth and look straight ahead.' Kyojuro Rengoku, Demon Slayer.

season 1, episode 7
School Night

Does guilt ever go away? Does the crushing reminder that you didn't do everything you could ever soften?

In Malikai's opinion, it doesn't. The same with regret, grief, anger, and every other emotion; it doesn't leave. It doesn't even fade, other things just overpower it. Nearly six years after the fire, and every day Malikai walked with guilt like an accessory only he saw. His actions only added more, weighing him down to the grave he dug himself.

When he was eleven, he experienced the phase most people went through, hating everyone and everything. He chose to let his anger guide him alone, as his twin sister and her two friends went to a birthday party for Cora Hale. He remembered how much time they put into setting up the party, inviting people, and getting the right gifts and decorations. Jealousy consumed him.

By nightfall, his anger settled, and he found himself walking down the road to the Hale house. Smoke brushed against his nose, but he didn't think much of it. Bonfires and barbecues were normal for the Hale's to do for a celebration.

And then he saw it.

The blazing fire consumed the house. People screamed for help, for their suffering to end. People he grew up with, people who helped raise him, people who went to his soccer games and bought him pizza to celebrate after. They all burned and all he had left of them was the smell of the fire taking them away.

And you're probably thinking: Malikai was only eleven, a child, what could he have done against something unpredictable?

Except it wasn't unpredictable.

Nature has its ways of taking back what is owned and taking what they want. Nature works to bring balance. And when there is an imbalance, everything connected to nature would feel it.

Malikai felt it.

The flames festered into anger, blinding him with rage that he couldn't explain. Waves of caution by nature. He should have known; the super part of the supernatural altered everything to be better. Dialing up the natural, to be incredible.

But in a child, someone inexperienced and naive, it infested and consumed in the face of jealousy and wrath.

The next day, he was left with that guilt of knowing he felt nature correcting its wrongs and did nothing. He was left with only a mother as his last family member. He was left with being the last nymph to protect Beacon Hills. He was left knowing he failed at the very thing he was born to do.

And ever since then, he refused to fail again.

He refused to lose another sister. He threatened Stiles and Scott not to bring Neviah into what they uncovered the night after Scott was bitten. He tried to keep Harley in the dark, but she always had a knack for getting into things she wasn't supposed to. It only grew in the presence of Scott and Stiles. Her questions aimed at Malikai to the truth he couldn't give.

Her memories of this life were taken from her by Malikai's mother for the better. A spell casted upon her and Neviah after the fire. Neither needed to be haunted by the knowledge of it all. They didn't need to. Both humans—too pure for this side of life. As humans, they had a chance to never be reintroduced into his world. Then someone had to ruin it. Turning Scott against his will and leaving him to deal with the consequences. Malikai had no choice but to attempt to guide him. He did a poor job. Scott became unsure if he could trust Malikai. Stiles and Harley followed.

At least Neviah had a chance. She would get through high school without noticing the lies he spun to protect her and move on from Beacon Hills. She would get the future she deserved.

A future he would never get to experience.

He found it funny; he grew to hate Derek before the fire. His eyes turned gold to icy blue, and things began to change for them both. Today, Malikai saw himself becoming more like him. Hiding in the shadows with lies and secrets. Dancing around the people he cared about to keep them alive. Derek learned with only Laura to teach him. Malikai hoped he could offer him the same guidance.

As he and Derek pulled into the school parking lot as Scott requested, he spotted Scott's usual partners in crime. Derek looked at Malikai.

"Don't look at me. She's too stubborn to not be involved with this."

Malikai stepped out of the car and heard the personification of annoyance.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Stiles blurted, gesturing towards Malikai. His body faltered at the presence of Malikai's glare. "Hi-Hey, Mal."

"Where's my boss?" Scott questioned, tuning out his best friend.

"He's in the back," Derek answered. The trio peered into the back window to find Deaton with tape over his mouth and rope tied around his wrists.

Malikai's guilt returned. He took charge in capturing Deaton. He did it as gentle as he could, even told the man himself he needed to kidnap him. Deaton was the closest thing to a mentor to Malikai. Druids and Nymphs were one in the same. Only Druids were humans who passed down knowledge, whereas Nymphs were personification of nature. Deaton understood the circumstances despite Malikai giving him little information to go off of.

It was all a trick to find the real Alpha. He had to stay one step ahead of Derek somehow.

Stiles pulled back. "Oh, he looks comfortable."

"Would you like to join him?" Malikai's eyes narrowed, glued onto the buzzcut boy. Scott and Harley pulled him away before he could let his feat be vocalized.

Out of the three idiots, Malikai didn't think Stiles would be the reason Neviah came close to revealing the truth. He assumed Harley first. Their petty aggression dissipated with Laura's death. Harley could have easily confided in Neviah about her troubles. She nearly did the morning Derek got arrested. He assumed Scott second, out of accident. Neviah's eyes were glued onto him since his turning. His newfound strength couldn't fill himself with enough confidence to not falter if she asked the right questions.

Stiles came as a surprise. Neviah's scent lingered on him, as his on her. Malikai hated the thought of the two. Mostly because of Stiles. Not out of jealousy, just because he was Stiles. Annoying, persistent, hard-headed, Stiles Stilinski. He thought it'd always stay a one-sided crush.

"Woah, hey. What are you doing?" Derek inquired as the teenagers' faces contorted with suspicion.

"You said I was linked with the Alpha." Scott faced the school. The intercom. "I'm gonna see if you're right."

After an excruciatingly long wait, an excruciating result blared out from the school's speakers. Mal clamped his hands over his ears. A buzzing sensation found a home in his hands. Scott's attempt at a howl was expected of him. Weak.

"You've got to be kidding me."

A minute later a stronger attempt was made. A mistake, in fact.

Derek and Malikai made eye contact.

When the trio returned, bright in smiles and minds clouded in ignorance, Derek let his threats run rampant. "I'm gonna kill both of you. What the hell was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?"

They seemed proud of their action. They never tried to understand how much bigger the world they stepped into was. Too complex for their minds. And that's exactly what Malikai wanted. Every attempt he made to search for the Alpha came up empty handed. He sensed the Alpha's presence, but nothing more. It was like there wasn't a soul connected to the creature.

He needed Scott's ignorance to bring the beast out of hiding. The Alpha only ever appeared completely shifted. The human beneath had a special ability to shift completely into a beast. It was unlike what Malikai knew. Talia Hale had the ability to shift into a wolf. She managed to balance her connection to humanity and wolves to be able to become either. A beast like the Alpha was something different. Whoever was beneath took the form of a monster. They had to be one under. Malikai just needed to force them to shift back to human.

"Sorry, I didn't know it would be that loud."

"Yeah, it was loud. And it was awesome," Stile sang. They laughed. They didn't understand.

"Shut up," Derek instructed, focusing on what he heard. He glanced at Malikai for resolution.

A chill ran down his spine. The sensation of eyes watching his every move. Inspecting his being, awaiting him to react. The Alpha was nearby.

Malikai shook his head at Derek.

"Don't be such a sour wolf," Stiles responded, still basking in his friend's "awesomeness".

Malikai stepped forward, causing Stiles to drop his happiness and zip his mouth. If a noise in the distance hadn't echoed, Malikai would have figured out a way to permanently shut Stilinski up. Scott's face shifted as he heard what the other two heard. A soft growl in the distance.

"What'd you do with him?" Scott asked, peering back into the back window where Deaton was supposed to be. The trunk was empty. Good. Malikai didn't need anymore people to watch over.

"What?" Derek looked at the back seat and then back to the teenagers in front of him. An intangible hand wrapped around Malikai's esophagus. A warning without words. "I didn't do anything."

A dark figure rushed forward from behind Derek.

"Derek!" Malikai called out, holding his hand towards the man he grew up with. His eyes widened at the sight.

It was too late. The Alpha dug its claws into Derek's spine, lifting him like a trophy as he let out a true howl. Blood spilled out of Derek's mouth, brimming at any open orifice.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Harley's hands clamped over her mouth; her eyes expanded in fear. The boys acted swiftly. Malikai grabbed Harley's hand, pushing her forward. They sprinted towards the school with the others behind them. They stumbled in, clattering their shoes onto the floor.

Scott and Stiles held onto the doors as if they would do anything against an Alpha. Especially one who could transform fully. They were idiots and Malikai was left to protect them.

"We need to run now!"

And for once, they listened to him.

Canvas shoes squeaked against the vinyl flooring. The sound of their shoes and gasping for air reverberated over the lockers. A flashlight bounced across the walls, floor, and ceiling. The four teenagers slid into a classroom as a howl echoed into the night.

"Desk!" Stiles pointed out. He and Scott pushed it against the door without hesitation.

Harley clawed at her chest, trying to remove the burning from her lungs. Malikai didn't mind any of them. He ran through all the possible reasons this was happening. It all began with Laura's death—the death of an Alpha. Whoever killed her was now chasing them.

But who the hell would follow her all this way to Beacon Hills just for the status? It had to be someone who understood lycanthropy. Someone born, not bitten.

"The doors not gonna keep it out," Harley told, stopping the idiots in their process. They took a breath.

"It's your boss," Stiles accused. Scott disagreed loudly. "Your boss!"

"No!"

"Yes, murdering psycho werewolf!"

"That can't be."

"Oh, come on. He disappears, and that thing shows you 10 seconds later to toss Derek 20 feet through the air? That's not convenient timing."

"It's not him!"

"He killed Derek."

"No, Derek's not dead. He can't be dead."

"Oh, my god," Harley gasped, scratching her collarbone. Blood pricked her skin. "He's dead."

The three boys looked at her. Tears welled in her dark eyes. The moonlight turned her purple. Her voice cracked as she parted her lips, "He's dead."

"He's not dead," Malikai swiftly shot down. He locked eyes with Harley, attempting to assure her. Falling down the endless pit of guilt never helped anyone. Turning towards the others, his eyes narrowed at Stiles. "You shut the fuck up. He's not dead. I would have felt it."

"Felt it? What are you a Ouija board?"

"I'm the only person here who has a damn clue on what's happening." His heart pounded in his chest, despite his tone. Fine-tuning his skills without a mentor was hell—that's why he continuously tried to help Scott. It was also why he helped Derek. Some part of him believed Derek could have helped him. "You three have been in this shit for a month—this has been my entire life!"

The three flinched.

"Your eyes," Scott weakly noted. Brown eyes turned a glowing forest green.

"What the hell are you?" Harley asked, wincing once it left her mouth. "I mean—"

"It won't matter 'cause we'll be dead if we don't do something."

"We get to my Jeep," Stiles suggested, fear in his eyes and words, "we get out of here, you seriously think about quitting your job, good?"

Speed walking to the windows, Scott attempted to pry the windows open. They weren't meant to be opened.

"No, they don't open. The school's climate controlled."

Scott's eyes widened at Stiles' words. "Then we break it."

"Which will make a lot of noise," Harley said in a whisper. She held herself tightly.

"Stilinski," Malikai swallowed the bulb in his throat. "What the fuck happened to your Jeep?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."

"It's bent," Scott added to Malikai's claim.

Stiles shot forward to attempt to see with his weak human eyes. "Like, dented?"

"That's bent," Malikai continued. He slapped the sides of his temple with a groan. Fear rose inside of him, but he could not reveal it. Not with the state of Harley and the weakness of the two other idiots.

He couldn't feel the Alpha's presence. Not anymore. The Alpha was blocking him. Like he knew how to. Not many people had the ability to block out a Nymph's connection to nature. Only the experienced ones, and those who had Nymph in their own pack. Or wanted one.

Glass shattered above them. Malikai took Harley under his chest as the sharp objects rained over. A car battery flattered and slid across the flooring.

Now on the floor, the four gazed forward at the object.

"We're fucked," Harley whimpered.

"We need to move." Stiles attempted to do as he suggested.

Scott pulled him back down from the line of sight. "He could be right outside."

"He is right outside."

"Just let me take a look," Scott attempted. No one denied him. The Alpha was his leader, whether he knew that or not. He wouldn't kill his own. Yet at least.

He found nothing in sight. It was more terrifying than if he had spotted something. They decided to relocate into the locker room. Fewer windows and one entrance. The only issue was that it was the only exit.

Malikai stuck by Harley. He made sure she stayed close and ahead of him. Not that she complained.

The waft of sweat and teenage boys filled their noses. It would mask their scent. Hopefully, used to confuse the Alpha.

"Call your dad," Scott instructed.

Stiles looked at his best friend oddly. "And tell him what?"

"I don't know, anything. There's a gas leak, a fire, whatever." Scott's nerves were amplified by his supernatural state. It made him ten times more punchable. "If that thing sees the parking lot filled with cop cars, it'll take off."

Malikai winced, cocking his head. "We can't call Stilinski."

"What?" Scott and Harley whisper-shouted. Stiles thanked him but stood confused. Scott furrowed his eyebrows at Malikai. "Give me one good reason why?"

The Alexander boy winced again. Too many variables ramped up inside his mind. His heart matched its tempo. Derek was gone, an arrogant, asshole who at least understood. Maybe he was wrong for springing this on Deaton before running his idea by him. But how else was he supposed to learn to take charge if he kept seeking advice? "I can't tell you, but we just can't."

"That's a great answer. Thanks, Malikai for your years of wisdom," Stiles exclaimed with a light clap.

He glared daggers at the shorter boy. "You think the Alpha's just gonna run when he sees the cops? Super speed, super strength, and super healing. You're a nerd—humans can't beat Superman."

"Then...then we have to...we have to find a way out and just run for it," Scott told as a last attempt.

"There's nothing near the school for at least a mile."

"What about Derek's car?" Scott questioned, turning his sight to the unnatural blond.

"It could work," Malikai contemplated. He bit the tip of his thumb. "The keys are on his body."

Once agreed on the plan, they stared towards the exit. A mechanical whirl churned inside Malikai's head. His skin rose, as did the hair on his neck.

Scott stopped Stiles' hand before it touched the handle.

"I think I heard something," Scott announced, uncertainty written all over his features.

"Like what!" Stiles urged. A little too loud.

"Hide," Malikai told in a whisper before taking Harley towards a locker. Her body shook as he held her tightly. "I won't let you get hurt, okay?"

"Then you'll die too. You can't die, too."

He stared down at her. After the years he left her alone, thinking she would be fine as she pulled herself away from him and Neviah for a reason. She was hurting all the same. Grief and guilt were not his emotions alone. It festered inside of the others.

"I won't. I know what I'm doing."

Hiding in their own lockers, the teenagers waited. And waited. The doorknob turned. The door creaked. A pale face came into view of the locker slits.

Scott's door was opened, as did his mouth with a girlish scream. Malikai busted his door open with his shoulder. His hand grasped the unknown person. His other curled into a tight fist. Tightly under his hand, the man told them to get out.

"Quiet my ass, what the hell are you trying to do, kill me?" The janitor put his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. "All of you out!"

"Just listen for a half a second, okay?" Stiles tried.

And failed.

"Not okay. Get the hell out of here now."

He shoved Scott and Malikai forward. Stumbling out of the locker room, Harley used Malikai to stabilize herself. She looked back, gasping for air.

The janitor told them off once more. He readied to pull back to clean the room, only to be yanked back by a large force. The door slammed shut. Hands pressed against the fogged glass. Blood smearing in a desperate plea.

His screams were muffled by the room. His cries. Death by the claws of something unknown.

Scott attempted to save the man but there was no use. The Alpha dug into the innocent man with no mercy. The macabre scene before them reminded the teenagers that they never should have entered this world. If only the world was kinder.

Stiles pulled Scott off of the door as Malikai and Harley began to run. They didn't know where. All they knew was to run.

They tried an exit, only for it to be blocked by a dumpster. The terror rose. The Alpha was placing them into a corner. Stiles, Scott, and Harley began to argue about why the werewolf was around. A chill ran down Malikai's spine. Eyes caressing his skin.

Red eyes glowed on the roof. A direct line of sight for the teenagers. The beast ahead bared his teeth, smelling his prey. It felt familiar.

The Alpha leaped across the roof. The teenagers skidded on their feet. Stomping with wide strides for safety. Malikai knew he needed to call Damian. He knew it the second Derek dragged him into this. But the man had his own pack problems to deal with. He couldn't come and rescue Malikai any chance he needed it. Whoever took the Hale pack from Laura was Derek's problem to solve.

A fight between Alphas wouldn't end well. Word would catch wind. People had already believed his family held too much power in Washington. No one would stand for him growing a pack in California.

The laws of the Supernatural gave the boy a headache.

Sprinting down the stairs into the basement was an idiotic idea. But Malikai was fresh out of good ones. He was a protector. He was the final wall of protection when things went bad. His life was dedicated to protecting the supernatural within the nemeton's barriers. Nature wouldn't let him die until he took his oath.

Keeping nature in balance was his job.

A soft growl traveled down the hallway into the room they were in. They followed Scott's instinct—regretfully by Malikai. Then he let Stiles act. Releasing his keys across the way before they sprinted forward.

The Alpha fell for it. Scott and Malikai rushed to tip over a set of lockers. Both ends pressed against the wall and the door, locking the creature inside.

"We go," Malikai stated as he took a deep breath. "Now."

But Stiles failed to comply. He wanted to look at it. Crawling over the lockers, he gazed into the room.

"I'm not afraid of it!"

The Alpha lunged at the door. Stiles fell backward onto the cement floor. Cracking sounded above them as Stiles regained his footing. The beast crawled above them. The ceiling creaked, panels bending at the weight of the beast.

"You idiot!" Harley exclaimed, slapping Stiles in the chest. This urged them to move. They would never be faster than the Alpha, but they could try.

A buzzing began in Malikai's head. It happened with humans. All day, every day at school. White noise he became accustomed to. It now grew. He overlooked the sound with the janitor, thinking it was Stiles. But he knew better.

"Wait. Do you hear that?" Scott asked, stopping them in their tracks.

"Hear what?"

"Someone's here," Malikai announced. He wasn't blessed with super hearing. Only noises and sensations he was forced to differentiate. Humans sounded like flies. A crowd of them turned to electricity. It began to crackle.

"It sounds like a phone ringing," Scott groaned, hearing the sound ricocheting in his head. "I know that ring! It's Allison's phone."

Rushing his best friend, Scott stole Stiles' phone and called Allison. Still, Malikai's head rang. He was missing something, and nature was trying to warn him. His body grew warm, burning up his spine and around his chest. Circling him like the Alpha. If he could focus, maybe he could have pinpointed the call.

Scott pried the answers out of Allison. He instructed her to meet them in the lobby. As they began towards there, Malikai winced.

"What's happening?" Harley asked quietly not to startle the others. She looked at Malikai with such curiosity. The fear she had against him earlier subsided—or was replaced by the great beast chasing them. She slipped her way into the supernatural world once before. Cora revealed her werewolf abilities out of anger. By the time the adults found out, Harley's relationship with the other girls had intertwined with the supernatural. Kory's spell would require Harley to forget them all—she was lucky to be able to keep some memories after the fire.

"I don't think it's just Allison."

Busting the doors open, Allison stood in the lobby. "Why did you come? What are you doing here?" Scott spewed out questions to his girlfriend.

Her pale face scrunched at his questions. "Because you asked me to."

"I asked you to?"

Allison revealed the message from Scott's phone. An urgent message to meet him at the school. The Alpha.

He was smart, Malikai would give him that. He knew what he wanted and knew how to get it. Make Scott risk what he cared for to show how far the Alpha will go to get him.

"Why do I get the feeling you didn't send this message?"

"Because I didn't."

Nervous at the lack of signs from the beast, Stiles blurted, "Did you drive here?"

"Jackson did."

"Jackson's here, too?" Malikai asked, raising his hand to his head.

Allison swiftly added, "And Lydia. What's going on? Who sent this text?"

Her phone rang as she spoke. She answered it before the first ring ended. "Where are you?"

The doors sounded. Lydia and Jackson strutted through. For the first time since knowing her, there was terror all over Lydia's face.

She masked it well. "Finally. Can we go now?"

A heavy thud echoed above. Harley flinched, sinking behind Malikai. He reached for her hand, grasping it tightly.

"Run!"

The beast shattered the ceiling tiles to fall onto the ground. The teenagers sprinted up the stairs. Running to the end of the hallway, Malikai used his shoulder to bust the door open. Two French doors led to a wall of windows.

The fucking lunchroom.

Scott and Jackson rushed to stack as many chairs and heavy objects as they could.

Questions began to fly. Stiles' annoying voice about the grand wall of windows. The static grew louder. It crinkled inside his skull like paper. Harley attempted to call out to him, but her voice was drowned out.

They were all nothing under the sounds nature composed and forced Malikai to deconstruct. Each sound, no matter how small, had a purpose. A life connected to it. Static for humans. Thuds for werewolves. A pack sounded similar to one running in the forest—paws pounded into the ground in a naturally occurring rhythm.

He held his head between his palms. Squeezing his eyes shut, he attempted to focus. Deaton explained to him that nature wouldn't be kind to him for not taking his father's place. He had to learn a completely new composition than the one he grew up with. Deciphering the sensations was where he failed to comprehend. A warning for a human? No. Something greater. Something that would shift the balance of the scales. Not the Alpha. No. He had already tipped it to one side after the death of Laura. No.

Allison's voice poked through Malikai's sound barrier. She cried to Scott in confusion, begging him to make something clear. Derek's name slipped through. Scott's voice. Jackson's arguing with Stiles over the police.

Then he heard it. Waves lapping.

"Shut up!" Malikai shouted, turning to face the cacophony in front of him. Their mouths finally closed. "Alison, give me your phone," Mal ordered, rushing towards the scared Argent as her phone rang. The others jumped at his rough tone.

Allison stayed still, not making any effort to grab her phone or to move. "Allison! Give me your goddamn phone, right now." This time she listened. She stuttered something Mal didn't care to listen for. He ignored the others as they questioned him.

They didn't matter.

His finger answered the call. He put it on speaker. His body heated up from his spine, growing as each ring sounded in his ears. Getting hotter and hotter as the confused stares grew. Right until it reached the base of his neck, resting in his throat. He needed to scream.

"Hey, Allie, I have something super important to tell you--" Neviah sounded happy for once. A smile could be heard through the poor-quality speaker. Malikai had made a mistake. Allison let out a cry. "Hey, hey what's wrong?"

Neviah's voice echoed in the room. The others began to mutter, telling Malikai to hang up the phone. He had failed.

"Neviah, where are you?" Mal asked in a softer tone. The others grew silent.

Her hand slapped her skin. Eyes probably rolling. "School, because someone forgot to come pick me up."

"Shit"

"Malikai, what the fuck?" Harley gasped, as did the others.

"Is that Harley?"

Her friends went silent, staring at each other. Unsure what to do. Malikai had let Neviah slip his mind. As he had ever since Derek dragged him into all of this. Forgetting her, abandoning her. Now, Neviah was roaming the halls of the school without knowing there was a killer. He was too busy trying to solve a problem that wasn't his to answer.

He would be the reason she died.

"Is that you down the hallway?" her voice sounded, uncertainty lingered with each word.

Stiles snatched the phone out of Mal's hands. The protector could feel his heart squeezing inside his chest. It began harder to breathe. "Neviah, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," she weakly answered. Silence hung on both sides.

"You need to run and hide, now, okay? Please," Stiles begged, clutching onto the phone as if it was Neviah herself. "Someone's trying to kill us. Neviah, you need to run!"

The phone clattered. Stiles attempted to call out to Neviah. The sound of paws pounded the ground. Then the line went dead.

Malikai took a step towards the barracks door only for something to shove against it on the other side. Then again. With great force, it nearly knocked the chairs down.

Stiles swiftly sent a voicemail to his dad for help.

Malikai was shoved upstairs. Running with the people that distracted him. He pushed Harley forward to quicken her pace.

Lydia opened a door to a science lab. Everyone piled in. Everyone except for Malikai.

"What the hell are you doing? Get in here!" Jackson shouted, trying to reach for the boy he thought of as a friend.

Malikai took off down the hall. The others argued before the door closed, and locked. His Converse clapped against the vinyl floor. Heart pounding in his chest.

The protector stood in the center of four hallways, gasping for a breath. Machinery churned. His fingers reached to the back of his head—hair poking his fingerprints.

Turning his head, a shadow loomed over a janitor's door.

"Salacia"

༻❁༺

The voice rang inside her head as the world spun around her. It blurred. Being taken from a safe haven to outside. Her father's arms wrapped around her, asking her questions that fell on deaf ears.

Her vision focused on something that wasn't there. Not really.

The figure stood in the parking lot, away from the police and citizens who followed for curiosity. She stood alone. Pale with dark hair that dangled over her bony shoulders. Beady black eyes gazing at Neviah.

Watching as she watched the figure, sitting in the back of an ambulance.

A gray soot spread along the figure. A pale pink dress covered in ash. Her sash deteriorated. Splotches of fabric disintegrated. Burned. As was her flesh. The words were incomprehensible, but Neviah knew what it spelled out. Birthday girl.

"You left me to die."

Neviah tore her eyes away, shaking her head. Fingers lifted it back up. A bright light shined on her face, exposing everything she hid. Flashes for an orangery flame, engulfing a house. A hand grasped her forearm.

The teenage girl flinched, pulling away from something that wasn't real. "Let go of me!"

Eyes turned to her in ways she despised. Pity. Judgment. Disgust.

Hands touched her once more, gently. She still flinched. "Neviah, baby, it's just me."

Focusing her eyes on him, Damian cupped his hands around his baby girl's face. Her eyes widened. Red with tears brimming her waterline. She was cold to the touch.

She yearned for safety. She threw her arms around her dad, clutching onto him as if he would disappear if she let go.

Feeling his arms encase her frame, she broke. A sob escaped her lips. Tears flooded her eyes. Alone and afraid. She became nothing more than a child in his arms. She needed him to expel the monsters that haunted her. She needed him to save her.

In front of a crowd. They watched as Damian waved away the EMTs. His eyes grew dark at the sight of three teenagers arguing with Sheriff Stilinski.

They grew quiet.

"Where was she?" Harley dared to ask, fighting back the urge to go after Neviah as her dad led her into his truck. She wanted to do something, anything. But if Malikai couldn't, how could a human like her?

Noah inhaled sharply. "Malikai found her. Brought her to us as soon as we got here."

Hesitancy filled Stiles. His hands twitched. He found comfort in squeezing his own hand with a harsh force. "Was...was she hurt? What happened?"

"She's physically fine, only when she came out, she was unresponsive. Cold. Like she was in a meat locker."

Stiles observed as Malikai walked across the parking lot. His mother in toe, probably trying to stop him. He called out to Damian.

Shutting the passenger door, Damian Degrace glared at Malikai. His gaze could be felt like the burning blaze of the sun. He bore the face of the sin of wraith reincarnated. A man who looked the way he did, it was known he could hurt others. He never showed it. Not unless he had a reason to.

"Go home, Malikai." Damian reached for the door handle.

"I just want to talk to her, okay? I didn't mean to leave her there. I-I was—"

"You failed. That's what you did."

"Damian," Kory Alexander muttered but did not try to stop him. She knew her son needed to hear this. Falling in line with Derek had its consequences. With unnecessary victims.

"You go home, and you don't go near her again."

Malikai stood there as Damian drove away. His shoulder sunk with the fact that sang in his mind—he wouldn't have to deal with one angry Alpha, but two.

"How do I fix this?" he begged his mother like a child. She knew more than him yet offered no guidance. The road was his alone. A witch couldn't guide a nymph; they spoke different dialects of nature.

She looked at him, finding his father rest in his features. Lost and afraid as he had been nights leading to his death. "Let nature guide you, don't try to guide it."

as an apology for abandoning this fic, i offer four new chapters in one day, and Derek Luh being casted as Malikai! Please enjoy.

i am sorry for leaving this fic for so long, but i think it was for the better as i managed to write four chapters in one day since rekindling my love. I also feel like my writing has gotten better as well as life happening, so this fic will come out better than it would have been if sixteen year old me was still writing this. 

i hope you all enjoy, and are excited for the return of this beloved fic. please tell me your thoughts, theories, ideas, and more. I love hearing from my readers.

Until next time <3

Edited: 11/13/2024

I can't wait to delve into the relationship between Nymphs and Druids. Its so complex, and unfortunately won't be looked in detail until season 3