chapter fifty-four
❝ it's bittersweet to think about the damage that we do ❞
orphaned

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Kennedy and Stiles were in the vet clinic with Derek, holding down a seizing Brett who was foaming at the mouth. Kennedy groaned in disgust, seeing the yellow fluid land on her plastic bag wrapped shoes. "What the hell is happening to this kid?" Asks Stiles.

Deaton walks around Derek. "He's been poisoned by a rare wolfsbane. I need to make an incision and you need to hold him as still as possible."

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

Derek rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm not the only one here with werewolf strength." He muttered.

"If you can't hold him still, the incision might kill him."

Kennedy rolls her eyes. "Do I need to sit on the guy?"

"No!" Both Stiles and Derek yell at once. Stiles struggled to hold the guy down. "Derek, he's slipping. I don't think I can hold him." Brett roars as he hits Stiles, sending the human boy into his girlfriend. Kennedy and Stiles tumble to the ground, Stiles catching himself above her.

Kennedy shamelessly checks him out. "You look hot at this angle," She compliments. The two teens crawl to their feet as Brett springs off the table, running for the exit.

Suddenly, Peter walks in, punching Brett. Peter's eyes glow blue as Brett falls to the floor, unconscious. Kennedy stays close to Stiles, her and Derek giving the eldest living Hale unreadable looks "I guess I still have a little werewolf strength myself." He chimes.

Derek rose a brow. "Yeah, maybe more than a little." He said. Peter smirked, and Kennedy looked at Derek, who's arm hadn't yet healed.

"Hey, Doc, I don't think he's breathing." Stiles says, him and Deaton kneeling down. Deaton used the blade to cut through Brett's chest. Kennedy scrunches her nose as a yellow smoke erupts from the wound. "Is he okay?"

Deaton shrugs, "I think he'll be fine, but probably out for a while." Kennedy glances at Derek, seeing his cut had now healed.

"The sun..." Brett began to whisper, everyone listening closely. "The moon...The truth." Kennedy remembers the saying, Demarco had said it before he died. "The sun...The moon...The truth..."

Deaton looks up. "Three things cannot long be hidden. The sun, the moon, and the truth." He says, turning to look back at Derek and Kennedy. "It's Buddhist." Unsure, Kennedy looked at Derek. The cousins slowly turned there heads, looking at Peter as he still stood there.

"Satomi."

༺❀༻

༺❀༻

"Your dad should be back within the hour. You want to wait in his office?"

Stiles and Kennedy walk in together, Lydia close behind. "Actually, we want to talk to you." Stiles says.

"Privately." Lydia follows. Jordan Parrish looks between the three teens in confusion. He agrees, and they all gather in Noah's office, where they show him the dead pool.

Parrish looks up, "This is a hit list?"

"We call it a Dead Pool." Stiles says, "Recognize any of the names?"

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

Kennedy looks at Lydia, "Show him the other thing." Lydia reaches over, flipping the paper. The deputy's eyes widen, seeing his own name next to the number five.

"Okay. That's kind of terrifying." He says, sighing. "What's the number?"

Lydia stands next to Kennedy, "That's how much you're worth." She answers.

Jordan spins around, "I'm worth five dollars?" Kennedy held up a finger.

"Five million, actually." She says, "Taken from the money dad saved for my future wedding, thank you." Stiles looked at Kennedy for a moment. Who needs five million dollars for a wedding?

Parrish looks at them in surprise. "I only make 40,000 a year." He looks at the paper. "Maybe I should kill myself."

"Or I should kill you so I can get my wedding money back.

Ignoring Kennedy, Jordan shakes his head. "I don't get it. Why am I on this?" He asks, looking at the three teens.

Stiles clasps his hands together. "Honestly, that might be a question for another day. Right now, there's still another third of the list we gotta crack." He tells the Deputy.

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

Deputy Parrish frowns. "From who?"

"Meredith." Lydia says awkwardly.

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

Lydia raises a brow. "Almost."  She pointedly says.

Kennedy looks at Stiles. The human boy excuses the couple, moving to the corner of the room. "Okay, judging by the look on your face, I have a feeling you don't wanna go to Eichen House." Stiles says slowly.

The Hale shook her head. "Stiles, the last time I was there, possessed you tried to kill me with a literal drill for peoples heads." She says softly. "I am still having nightmares about the fire and I would really enjoy if they weren't joined with a Nogitsune." Stiles shushes her, running his hands over her arms.

"I understand, okay? Lydia and I will go to Eichen, and we'll all meet up at my house after, okay?" Stiles offers. Kennedy slowly nods, giving Stiles a peck on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you too," Kennedy whispers, watching Stiles walk out of the office. Her phone begins to ring, and Kennedy looks at it. It was Liam. She sighs, clicking the green button. "I don't know about you, but I'm really tired of hearing your voice."

The voice on the other line is what catches her off guard. "Oh, Kennedy, what about mine?" The voice was unfamiliar, but it was definitely not Liam.

The Hale's face grew serious. "Who the hell is this?" She says lowly.

"Come on, Kennedy, take a guess?"

Kennedy turned away from the window, leaning against Noah Stilinski's desk. "What do you want, Garrett?" She asks coldly.

Garrett chuckles on the other line. "Your friend, Scott, is going to help me get Violet, and in return I'm giving him back Liam."

"Why the hell are you telling me this?"

"Because you're going to help us."

༺❀༻

Kennedy sat in the backseat of the car, glaring at Garrett. "I hope you know I don't actually care if Liam dies." She deadpanned. Garrett was driving, and Scott sat in the passenger seat. Kennedy almost wished she was with Stiles and Lydia.

"I know," Garrett sighs, "You're here for Scott." The McCall froze. "You may be an Alpha, Kennedy, but you're no leader. Not like Scott." Kennedy looks down, shrinking in her seat. "Maybe that's why your family is filled with Partenaire's, cause you're all incapable of holding your own." Scott slowly moved his head, looking back at Kennedy. She had an unreadable look, and Scott felt bad. "There's a stop sign half a mile ahead."

Scott looked ahead at the police car. "So I take out the tires with my claws?" He asks in confusion.

Garrett scoffs. "Teeth, claws, heat vision, whatever. Just stop them. You ready?"

Kennedy looks ahead, seeing a black car tipped over. "Garrett, stop the car." She says, "Stop the car!"

The boy steps on the breaks, Scott and Kennedy running out to the people on the pavement. "Dad!" Scott yells. Kennedy runs to Noah Stilinski, both he and Rafael in rough shape.

"Scott," Sheirff breathed. Garrett climbed out of the car, triggering the blade on both sides of his lacrosse stick.

"She's not in the car. Violet's gone." Scott tells the boy. Garrett kept waking over, whirring his stick.

"Scott, listen to me." Scott and Kennedy look down. "They're still here. They're still here."

Kennedy's werewolf senses trigger, and a familiar scent causes her to tense up. She spins around, seeing one of the Berserker's. "Oh, shit-"

"You want me?" Garrett shouts. "Come on. Come and get me."  He jumps forward, swinging the lacrosse stick around. The Berserker didn't move. Kennedy and Scott slowly stand. "Yeah, that's right! You're not so big. You're not so big-" Suddenly, a second Berserker from behind digs it's claw through Garrett's chest. Kennedy and Scott's eyes widen. That was the end of Garrett, Kennedy thought to herself as the boys body so disregarded.

Kennedy snaps her head, her face changing into a full werewolf form. She lets out a roar, running forwards. The first Berseker tosses its hand, sending her to the ground. Scott runs forward, but soon follows the same fate.

Kennedy rolls onto her back, looking up slowly. The Berserker looks at her, and she expects it to do something. Kill her, maybe. But he doesn't. Instead, the two bone creatures walk away, leaving the injured Kennedy, Scott, Noah, and Rafael. And a dead Garrett.

Kennedy groans, pulling out her phone. She clicks on Deatons name. "Kennedy?"

"Hey," She groaned as she sat up. "Look, um, long story, but," The Hale breathed heavily as she looks around. "I think I need your help."

༺❀༻

After leaving Scott with Deaton, Kennedy drives to the Stilinski house. Lydia and Stiles weren't there yet, thankfully. Kennedy used her spare key Stiles made her to get inside. She rushed down the hall to Stiles's bathroom, turning on the light. She looked at her reflection, seeing her auburn hair slightly messed up, and the large gaping cut on her forehead.

"God, I hate when this happens," She mumbled. Kennedy reaches down, grabbing a wash cloth and something to clean her cut. Kennedy winces as the stinging sensation. She looks at herself in the reflection, watching the cut finally heal.

"I got you, Bunny, I got you."

Kennnedy clutched onto her dad, hearing him scream as his body burns in the flames. He protects the little girl, who clutched her bunny tightly. As he carried her away, Kennedy saw the basement. The bodies everywhere. People her family knew. Her face was covered in tears as she saw Auntie Talia, who was severely burnt. Kennedy's eyes landed on a familiar face.

Her mom.

"Momma!" Kennedy screeched, reaching her hand out. Peter felt tears well up in his eyes, wishing he could've prevented the little girl from seeing that. Sloane's body leaned against the wall, the fire beginning to take her over. She had died from smoke inhalation, but the fire wasn't much help
either. Kennedy screamed and screamed as she realized everyone was dead. Her aunt, her cousins, her friends, her mom.

Everyone was dead.

The Hale snapped back into reality, dropping the wash cloth into the sink. She exhaled sharply, looking around. She was exhausted. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to fix the tangled mess.

"Kennedy!"

She snaps at the sound of Stiles's voice. "In here," Kennedy calls out. Lydia and Stiles walk over, freezing at her expression. "Sorry, I had a run in with Kate's bone people," She whispered.

Stiles's eyes widen in alarm. "Are you okay?" He steps forward, studying Kennedy for any injuries.

"Yeah," She shook her head. Stiles didn't seem convinced, but knew Kennedy didn't want to talk about it, "What did you guys find out?"

The three teens sat in Stiles's room. Well, actually, Stiles paced back and forth while Lydia sat at his desk and Kennedy sat on the bed. "Okay, well, we know one thing. Both of the first two keys, Allison and Aiden, they're both names of the dead. Right?"

Lydia shrugged, "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."

"Yeah, I noticed."

Kennedy looks over at Lydia. "You okay?"

Lydia shook her head, "The only other Banshee I've ever met. And I think I might have just drove her over the edge." She said softly.

"Lydia, it wasn't your fault." Kennedy says, standing up and walking over to Lydia.

"I was there, too. And you're probably not the only-" Stiles trailed off in thought. "Hold on. Banshees predict death. Right? So what if the third key is someone who isn't dead,"

Lydia looks at Stiles. "But will be." She mumbled. Kennedy closes her eyes softly, Kennedy and Stiles walking over to the computer. Her fingers began to drag across the keyboard, clicking on certain letters. Kennedy watched as Lydia spelled out a familiar name.

Derek.

Kennedy looks at Stiles for a second. Lydia clicked the enter key, and names began popping up. Kennedy looked at the floor in disbelief. Did this mean Derek would die? "Liam is on the list," Lydia reads. Stiles eyeballed Kennedy, but the Hale hadn't even read it herself. Instead, she paced the room back and forth at the thought that Derek was the third name to break the code. Which was a good thing, considering Malia's last name was Hale on the list.

"But Kennedy isn't."

The three teens looked at each other. "What does that mean?" Kennedy asks, looking between Lydia and Stiles. "Why am I the only supernatural in Beacon Hills that isn't on the list?"

Lydia looks at the list again, seeing Meredith's name. "Call Parrish. We need to call Parrish."

Kennedy grabs her phone, handing it to Lydia. The Martin stands up, dialing the Deputy herself. Stiles and Kennedy stand next to one another. "Why am I not on the list?" The Hale asks, horrified.

Stiles shrugs, "Maybe because you were only revealed to be supernatural a year ago?" He offers, unsure.

"But Liam was turned a few weeks ago. This doesn't make any sense," Kennedy ran her hand through her hair, nervous.

"Maybe it's a good thing. Nobody's trying to kill you right?" Stiles asks, trying to see the bright side.

Kennedy shook her head. "But why not?"

"What are you talking about?" Lydia's voice catches them off guard.

"Lydia, Meredith's gone." Parrish says. Kennedy uses her wolf senses to hear everything. "They found her an hour ago in her room. She hung herself. I'm sorry."

Lydia hung up the phone, looking over at Stiles and Kennedy. "Lydia, I'm so sorry," Kennedy whispered softly, pulling the Martin into her arms. Stiles watched as Kennedy comforted her best friend. Kennedy ran her fingers through the girls hair. Lydia's arms wrapped around the Hale, trying to find comfort after everything.

NATALIA'S NOTES
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hello my loves<3
i hope you all enjoyed this chapter. it's not very entertaining but kennedy's definitely very funny.

in other news, i have added a book to the kenny-verse (i'm calling it that now), & it's a book about kennedy if she was in the vampire diaries. the first chapter is already out, & i would really appreciate it if you all went to read it! it doesn't have any connection to this book aside from kennedy & sloane, but i'm not even including that they're from beacon hills or anything like that in it. the *main* love interest is stefan salvatore but we're gonna see kennedy with other people (& even a woman because it's so obvious kennedy is not straight). i hope you guys go check it out because i'm super excited for it.

outside of the world of kennedy, i've been reading my mutuals fics recently & can i just say it's so hard not to comment like "omg kennedy & luna would be dating" LIKE HELLO SELF NOT EVERYTHING IS AB KENNEDY? anyways go read safeguard by slutblues because luna & i are married.

i also am finally rewriting the 4x12 chapter that got deleted, so that's partially why i'm updating. i am at a writers block (again) with season 5 & i'm trying to decide stuff about it so might just make edits for tiktok all night instead<3. anywhore i hope you enjoyed this chapter, i love you all so much, & i'll see you soon!

toodles!