chapter twenty-two
❝ she's turned the villain to the victim ❞
fury

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"So this kid's the real killer?"

Sheriff Stilinski looks at the photo of Matt Daehler. Stiles nods. "Yeah."

Sheriff shakes his head. "No."

"Yes!"

"No."

Stiles springs out of his seat. "Dad, come on. Everybody knows that the police look for ways to connect victims in a murder, okay? So all he had to do is, like, look through their transcripts and figure out which class they all had in common."

Sheriff nods, "Yeah, except for the fact that the rave promoter Kara wasn't in Harris's class." Kennedy sits on Stiles's bed, wrapped in a blanket, still in her dress and Stiles's orange sweat shirt. She watched them all, her mind still processing the fact that Matt had been stalking her this entire time.

Stiles pauses, "All right, okay, you're right, sorry. Then I guess they dropped the charges against him?"

"No, you know what? They're not dropping the charges. But that doesn't prove anything." Stiles goes to argue with his dad, but Noah turns, "Scott, do you believe this!"

Scott looks over at Kennedy, who had nothing to say. "It's really hard to explain how we know this, but you just gotta trust us. We know it's Matt." He explains.

Stiles nods, "And he's been stalking Kenny for months." Kennedy looks up, "He has photos of her, Dad. Hundreds." Noah nods slowly in thought. "Yeah, he took Harris's car, okay? Look, he knew that if a cop found tire tracks at one of the murders, and that if enough of the victims were in Harris's class, that they'd arrest him."

Noah nods, "All right, fine. I'll allow the remote possibility, but give me a motive. I mean, why would this kid want most of the 2006 swim team and its coach dead?"

Stiles huffs, "Isn't it obvious?" All of them look at him, "Our swim team sucks! They haven't won in, like, six years. Okay, we don't have a motive yet. I mean, come on, does Harris?"

Noah looks at Kennedy, knowing at the very least he could get the guy on a stalking and assault charge. "What do you want me to do?"

Kennedy stands up, "We need to look at the evidence."

"Yeah, that would be in the station, where I no longer work."

Stiles speaks up, "Trust me, they'll let you in." He states.

Noah holds up his hand, "Trust you?" The man says.

Stiles points behind him, "Trust, trust Scott and Kenny?"

"Scott and Kenny, I trust." Noah says. Kennedy smiles as he walks out of the room to grab his things.

Scott and Stiles turn to Kennedy. "Are you sure you're up to this?" Scott asks.

Kennedy nods. "Am I up to kicking this stalker murdering creeps ass? Hell yeah." She says as she walks towards Stiles's door. She slowly turns to them. "Once I get some new clothes."

༺❀༻

Kennedy follows Noah, Stiles, and Scott into the Sheriffs Department. She was now in a fresh change of clothes; a leather jacket, tank top, and jeans. The deputy on shift look at the four of them expectantly. "It's 2:00 in the morning."

Noah sighs, "Believe me, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't extremely important."

"We look at the hospital stuff first, okay?" Stiles whispers to Scott and Kennedy.

"Why?"

Stiles speaks up? "Because all the murders were committed by Jackson, except for one, you remember?"

Kennedy speaks up, "The pregnant girl, Jessica." She says, feeling bad for Jessica and her unborn baby.

"Yeah. Since Matt had to kill her himself, somebody from the hospital could've seen him."

Noah speaks to the deputy. "Thank you. Boys, Kenny." The three teens sheepishly follow the Sheriff to the back.

It's not long until they're all looking at hospital footage. "I don't know, guys. I mean, look at this. There was a six - car pileup that night, the hospital was jammed."

Stiles sighs, "All right, just keep going. Look, he had to have passed one of the cameras on that floor to get to Jessica, okay? He's gotta be on the footage somewhere."

"Oh, hold on, stop!" Scott says, "Did you see that? Scroll back."

Noah scrolls back, and Kennedy sighs as she sees Matt's familiar jacket. "That's him, that's Matt." She says quietly.

"All I see is the back of someone's head."

Stiles looks over, "Matt's head, yeah. I sit behind him in history. He's got a very distinct cranium, it's weird."

Noah stares at his son. "Are you crazy?"

"All right, fine, then look at his jacket, huh? How many people do you know who wear black leather jackets?"

"Millions, literally."

Kennedy waves her hand at the Stilinski's, "Okay, can we scroll forward? There's gotta be a shot of him coming at one of the cameras, right?" Noah nods, going forwards.

Stiles speaks up. "Right there! Stop, stop! See, there he is again."

"You mean there's the back of his head again."

"Okay, but look. He's talking to someone."

Scott looks at the footage, "He's talking to my mom."

Kennedy pulls out her phone. "I'll call Melissa." She says. Scott sighs, now worried that Matt had also been talking to his mom.

Melissa answers on the fourth ring. "Hey, Kennedy, what's going on?"

"Mom," Scott butts in, "We need to know if you talked to someone on the day that Jessica girl died."

"Scott, you know how many people I deal with in a day?"

Scott leans forwards, "This one's 16 he's got dark hair, looks like a normal teenager." He explains.

"Yeah, he looks evil." Stiles blurts.

"Scott, I already talked to the police about this."

Scott pulls out his phone. "Okay, mom, I'm gonna take a picture and send it to you." Kennedy runs a hand through her hair. "Did you get it?" Melissa replies with a yes. "Do you recognize him? Do you remember him?"

Melissa shrugs in thought, "Yeah, I did. I mean, I remember I stopped him because he was tracking mud in the hall." She says. She frowns in confusion. "Scott, what's going on?"

Kennedy speaks up, "It's nothing, Melissa. We'll explain later. We gotta go."

Noah flips through the files as Kennedy hangs up. "We've got shoe prints alongside the tire tracks at the trailer site."

"And if they match, that puts Matt at the scene of three murders. The trailer, the hospital, and the rave."

"Actually, four." Noah says, "A credit card receipt for an oil change was signed by Matt at the garage where the mechanic was killed."

Kennedy looks up, "When?"

"A couple hours before Stiles got there."

Stiles looks at Kennedy, remembering that she was there that night too. "All right, dad, if one's an incident, two's a coincidence, and three's a pattern, what's four?"

"Four, plus what he did to Kennedy, is enough for a warrant." He says finally. Kennedy smiles softly. "Scott, call your mom back, see how quick she can get here. If I can get an official ID, I can get a search warrant. Stiles, go to the front desk. Tell them to let Scott's mom in when she gets here."

"On it." Stiles's curries off as Scott pulls out his phone. Kennedy leans against the counter, and Noah suddenly puts a hand on her shoulder.

Noah leans towards Kennedy, "You alright, kid?"

Kennedy smiles softly. "Yeah. Yeah, I am." She mumbles. "Just want this asshole to get locked up."

Noah chuckles. "I hear you." He says. He sighs as he looks at the files. "Ben's trial is next week. Are you going?"

The werewolf girl looks at Noah in thought. "He was my father figure for five years, but he lied about so much. It's hard to forgive him after what happened to my real dad." She explained. She looks at her painted white nails. "But maybe I should. For closure."

"She's on her way here." Scott blurts as he lowers his phone. Kennedy smiles, but she watches as Noah looks past her. "Sheriff?" Kennedy turns around, watching as Stiles is pushed into the room by Matt. Her heart drops to her stomach as she sees Matt holding a gun. Stiles walks towards Scott and Kennedy, and instantly both boys push Kennedy behind them.

Noah Stilinski stands up. "Matt? It's Matt, right?" The teenage boy nods in annoyance. "Matt, whatever's going on, I guarantee you there's a solution that doesn't involve a gun."

"You know, it's funny you say that, because I don't think you're aware of just how right you are."

"I know you don't wanna hurt people."

Matt smirks, "Actually, I wanna hurt a lot of people. You three weren't on my list, but I could be persuaded. And one way is to try dialing somebody on your cell phone, like McCall is doing." Scott pulls his hand out of his pocket. "That could definitely get someone hurt. Everyone." He says, waving his gun. "Now!"

"Come on." Sheriff says, everyone putting their phones on the table.

Matt grabs Noah, pushing him along. The four of them are lead to the cells, where Ben Stallard stands. Matt pushes Noah to the seat in front of Ben's cell. "Lock him up." Matt orders Stiles.

Ben stands up, "Kennedy? What's going on-"

"Shut up!" Matt cuts in. Kennedy jumps slightly. Matt looks back at Stiles. "Tighter."

Sheriff looks at his son. "Do what he says, Stiles."

Stiles obliges, and the three teens are pushed back out of the room. Scott stops when he looks down a hall, seeing everyone who was on staff that night, brutally slaughtered. "What, are you gonna kill everyone in here?"

"No, that's what Jackson's for. I just think about killing them, and he does it." Matt says. Suddenly, he grabs Kennedy, pushing her against his chest as he points a gun at her head. "Now do what I say, or she dies."

༺❀༻

Scott and Stiles delete everything about the case, and anything that can tie Matt to it. Kennedy sits next to Matt, the gun pointed at her. Scott looks at Matt. "Deleted. And we're done." Stiles says, "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?" He says, "So I'll just get my dad and Kennedy, and we'll go, you know? You continue on the whole vengeance thing. Enjoy the kanima."

A vehicle pulls up slowly, and Matt tilts his head. "Sounds like your mom's here, McCall."

Scott shakes his head. "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."

The door opens, Matt chuckles, "If you don't move - now, I'm gonna kill Stiles first, and then your mom."

Kennedy stands up, Stiles and Scott following suit as they walk to the entrance of the Sheriffs department. Matt looks at them. "Open it."

"Please." Scott begins.

"Open the door."

Kennedy exhales sharply, grabbing the handle. She swings it open, revealing Derek. "Oh, thank God." She breathes. However, Derek looks up, before falling over completely. She looks up, seeing a half Kanima Jackson looking at them. "Not thank God."

Jackson walks around them, and Derek looks up. Matt studied Derek's face, and Derek eyeballs his little cousin. "This is the one controlling him? This kid?"

"Well, Derek, not everyone's lucky enough to be a big, bad werewolf." Matt bitterly says. "Oh, yeah, that's right. I've learned a few things lately. Werewolves, hunters, kanimas. It's like a frickin' Halloween party every full moon." He says, before looking at the human boy. "Except for you, Stiles. What do you turn into?"

Stiles shrugs . "Abominable snowman. But, uh, it's more of, like, a wintertime thing, you know, seasonal." Suddenly Jackson swipes the back of Stiles's neck. "You bitch."

Derek grunts as Stiles falls on top of him. "Get him off of me."

Matt kneels down, "Oh, I don't know, Derek. I think you two make a pretty good pair. 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." He says slowly. "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." Derek threatens.

"Yeah, bitch." Stiles slurs.

Another car begins to pull up. "Is that her?" He huffs. He stands up, looking at Scott and Kennedy. "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!" Stiles says.

Matt grabs Stiles, flipping him around and placing his boot on Stiles's throat. "This work better for ya?"

Kennedy shakes her head. "Okay, just stop! Stop!" She pleads.

Matt glances at Kennedy. "Then do what I tell you to." He takes his foot off Stiles's throat, "You, take 'em in there." He says to Jackson. "You two are with me."

Melissa walks into the Sheriffs office, looking around for any sign of her son. Scott and Kennedy walk out. "Mom?" Scott mumbles. Melissa turns to see her son.

"You scared me, where is every-" She stops when she sees her son standing next to Kennedy, Matt holding a gun to his head.

"Mom, just do what he says. He promised he wouldn't hurt you."

Matt shrugs, "He's right."

Suddenly, Matt lowers the gun, firing into Scott's side. Kennedy and Melissa scream, and Kennedy looks at Matt. Her eyes flash gold, and before she can even react Matt fires a bullet into Kennedy. She shouts in pain, falling next to Scott. Kennedy gasps as she looks down. He had shot her after she went to defend Scott. She hisses in pain, her body screaming at her.

"Scott! Stiles! What happened?" Noah yells.

Ben pulls on the bars of his cell "Kennedy!"

Matt raises a brow, "But I didn't say I wouldn't hurt you." He says slowly.

Melissa steps forward. "Wait, baby," Matt screams at her to get back, and Scott pleads for her to listen.

"I said get back!

"Mom, do it. Please, mom." Scott pleads. Scott and Kennedy groan in pain, their bodies trying to heal.

"Get up, McCall."

Sheriff calls out, "Matt? Matt, listen to me-"

"Shut up! Everybody shut the hell up! Now, get up, or I shoot her next!" Melissa looks up at Matt as Scott pulls himself off the floor, helping Kennedy.

"Please, he needs to see a doctor." Melissa pleads as Matt pushes her into the jail cell with Ben. "They both do."

Matt hums, "You think so?"

"Hey, hey, you listen to me!" Noah yells.

"It's all right. We're okay." Scott says to his mom.

Melissa shakes her head. "No, honey, you're not okay."

Scott leans against the wall, Kennedy gripping her side. "It doesn't hurt, mom."

"Cause that's the adrenaline, okay? Please, let me just take a look at him, okay? I mean, I can help stop the bleeding."

Matt looks at Scott and Kennedy. "They have no idea, do they?"

Melissa cries, "Please. Let me just take a quick look."

Suddenly, a gun shot rings through the air, and everyone screams.Kennedy looks over, seeing Ben Stallard fall to the ground. "Dad!" She cried, rushing to grab him.

However, Matt pulls her away. "Shut up! If you keep talking, I'm gonna put the next bullet through his head." Matt snaps, pointing at Scott. "Back to the front, McCall."

The two werewolves walk back out to Stiles and Derek. Kennedy leans down to Stiles, feeling bad for him.. "The evidence is gone. Why don't you just go?"

Matt huffs, "You think the evidence mattered that much, huh? No, no, I want the book."

Scott shakes his head in confusion. "What book?" He asks.

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

Kennedy shakes her head. "We don't have it. It's Gerard's." She tells him.

"What do you want it for, anyway?" Scott asks.

Matt huffs, "I need answers."

Scott shakes his head, "Answers to what?" He snips, annoyed.

Matt lifts his shirt. "To this." Kennedy and Scott look down, seeing a scale pattern spreading though Matt's side.

"Oh, that's gross."

༺❀༻

Kennedy cries softly as Matt pushes her and Scott to a separate room. She doesn't care about her own wounds anymore. Ben is dead. Her other father, literally, is dead. "You know, I feel sorry for you, McCall, 'cause right now, you're thinkin', how am I gonna explain this when it heals?" He smirks at them. Kennedy rolls her eyes. "And the sad part is, you don't even realize how incredible it is that you actually are healing. 'Cause you know what happens to everyone else when they get shot? They die."

Kennedy doesn't listen anymore. She can't. She closes her eyes tightly as she tries to think of anything. Anything at all.

Kennedy quickly pushes Derek off of Peter, kneeling down, tears roll down her face, memories of the man that raised her flashing through her mind, "I'm so sorry, Dad." She whispers, cupping his burnt face. Stiles bit the inside of his cheek, completely lost, but all he could feel was empathy for his friend.

Peter let out a struggling breath, taking his daughters hand. "I love you, Bunny," He whispers. Kennedy smiles, holding his hand tightly. Peters eyes snap to the side, "You've," Peter struggles to breathe, "Already, decided." Kennedy sniffles, looking up at Derek. Derek's face was emotionless as he stared down at his uncle. Peter gripped Kennedy's palm, causing five claws to retract out of her fingertips. "I can smell it on you!" His eyes glow red as he sticks Kennedy's hand in his chest. Kennedy gasps in shock, her gold eyes glowing bright.

"Wait! No, no!" Scott shouts ad Derek grabs Kennedy, throwing her off her dad. "Don't!"

Kennedy rolls to Scott's feet, looking up "Derek!" She screams in horror as Derek slashes Peter's throat. Kennedy screeches in pain, emotional, and physical, as Scott pulls her to her feet. She watches as blood spews out of Peter. The memories burned into her mind.

Kennedy gasped as she looked up. Just as the power suddenly goes out. "What is this? What's happening?" Asks Matt. Kennedy looks around in confusion.

"I don't know." Says Scott.

Suddenly, bullets fly throughout the building, and Scott pushes Kennedy to the ground. Kennedy's eyes flash gold. "Scott?"

"Kennedy, you have to control it."

"Not today, I dont." She says before standing up. Kennedy let's out a loud growl as she leaps out of the smoke. Scott sighs, pushing past Kennedy.

The two of them reach Derek and Stiles. "Take him! Go!" Derek says.

Kennedy looks at Scott. "I'll stay back."

"They could kill you!" Scott says.

Kennedy shakes her head. "They don't know who I am!" She tells him. Scott sighs, picking up Stiles and running off.

"Derek, we have to go." She says slowly. Derek pulls himself up slowly. Kennedy rolls her eyes. "DEREK!" She screams, a wolf like growl lacing her voice. Her eyes glow yellow as she looks at him.

Dereks eyes turn red as he stands up, his face contorted into a wolf. "Get of here." She says slowly.

The Hale shakes his head. "What about you?"

"I need to find Matt." She mutters. Derek frowns in confusion. Kennedy looks down, "Derek, there's a lot you don't know about Matt-"

Derek speaks up, "He was stalking you." He blurts. Kennedy nods slowly, knowing it wasn't hard to piece together. "What else did he do?" Derek asked honestly, worried about his cousin. Kennedy stood silent, looking up at him.

"Nothing that you need to know." Derek watches as Kennedy leaps out of the room.

Allison struggles for air as Jackson strangles her. "Allison!" The Argent watches as Kennedy lets out a loud roar, tackling Jackson. Allison falls as she watches the two go head to head. Jackson roars as his claws go for Kennedy's face, but she deflects them. She slashes at his sides, when he slashes at her bullet wound. Kennedy falls back, landing next to Allison.

"What are you doing here?" Allison asks Kennedy.

The Stallard sighs, "You know, dealing with this." She says as they watch Matt walk up to them.

Matt looks down at Kennedy, "You should've given me a chance." He laughs to himself. Allison and Kennedy watch him as he smiles. "Cause remember how I said I'm not the kind of guy who would say something like, well, if I can't have her, no one can." He shrugs, "It's not totally true because, Kennedy, if I can't have you, no one can!"

Something causes Matt to look up, needing to walk away. Kennedy breathes heavily, turning to Allison. "We got to get you out of here," She whispers.

"I will." Kennedy turns her head to see Chris Argent. He kneels down, "Get everyone out of here."

Kennedy frowns, "Chris, what's going on?" She asks. There was no way they knew about Matt, so why are they here?

Chris studies Kennedy's features, realizing she really didn't know. "Derek bit Victoria." He answers. Kennedy leans back, surprised by his words, "She's dead."

Guilt settled in the girls chest, and she exhales sharply. "Get Allison out of here, I'll find Matt."

Melissa McCall screams as Matt hits the back of Noah Stilinski's head. "Matt? Matt, please, listen to me. My son has been shot, Kennedy's 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?" The woman pleads.

"How totally clueless are you people?" Matt asks in annoyance.

Derek growls as he walks into the room. His eyes red, his face changed. "What did you do to Kennedy?" He growls. Before Matt can answer, the Kanima comes in. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose when Derek and the Kanima begin to fight. Matt makes a run for it, and the two creatures of the night continue their fight.

Kennedy runs down the hall. "Kenny!" She turns around, seeing Scott run over. She sighs in relief, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Wheres Derek?"

They hear loud sounds, including roars and hisses. "Probably that way." Kennedy says. Her eyes glow gold as she hears Derek. The two teens rush over, their faces changing completely. The Kanima leans its face towards Melissa, ready to go after her. Suddenly, Scott and Kennedy rush in, Scott's claws digging into its back. Kanima screeches, just as Kennedy grabs it and throws it back.

"Oh, God, Scott?" Melissa calls. Kennedy looks over at Scott, knowing things weren't going to be the same if they turned around. "Ken, Scott, you okay?" Scott slowly looked back at his mom, his face the form of a werewolf. Kennedy stood up, the two of them looking at Melissa McCall. Her face was covered in confusion and horror. She shook her head in disbelief, and Kennedy looks down at her dead dads body.

Scott's hear shatters as he watches his moms shame.  Kennedy looks down, reaching for Scott's hand. He looks down at it, before looking at Kennedy. She smiles softly, letting him know that he wasn't alone. Then, they run.

"I'll go this way." Kennedy says, going down a separate hallway. She runs, Matt's scent fresh.

༺❀༻

Matt runs to a bridge, looking around. His eyes widen as a car pulls up in front of him. Kennedy, in the brush, growls as she goes to leap at him. But someone grabs her. The Stallard turns around, seeing Peter Hale. He stood in all of his glory, the moon baring down at her. "Dad?" She whispered, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

Peter gives a mischievous smile. "I'm home, Bunny." Kennedy grins as she hugs him tightly, the two Hales now finally reunited completely. Peter looks up, watching Gerard Argent grab hold of Matt. "Want to watch revenge, Darling?"

Kennedy turns her head, watching Gerard shove Matt into the water. She watches as Matt drowns, no remorse in her bones. Kennedy felt numb. Like nothing in that moment could phase her after the man who caused her so much torment was finally dead. Peter rose a brow as he watched Gerard walk out of the stream. "No longer afraid of the water?" Peter and Kennedy looked at one another in confusion. "Well, you don't have to be afraid of anything, my friend." Gerard held up his hand. "Especially me." Kennedy and Peter watched as the Kanima crawls to Gerard Argent, their hands coming together.

Peter grabs Kennedy, "Come on, Princess. We have lots to catch up on."

NATALIA'S NOTES
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hello! this chapter was a MESS, huh?

i promise the last few chapters of s2 and what i have for s3 so far are better (not by much but..you know)

i was writing a future chapter (3x08) , & i was thinking how i don't know if i've ever fully explained the difference between my peter & canon peter

the primary difference is motivation. you'll recognize in a lot of peter's antics, kennedy is usually purposely moved out of harms way. as much as i love getting my main characters in to near death experiences, i made the decision that peter wouldn't want to do anything to hurt kennedy. this will be a usual thing throughout the entire book, and there's a reason!

when kennedy was born , peter was SO thankful. she was his pride and joy. think klaus mikaelson when hope was born. like he might've sucked but he was good for her. when the hale fire happens; he loses his only source of humanity, leading to the villain arch he has in the show.

originally; peter does what he does for himself. he's selfish, as we know. i do keep that (as we notice) but a part of what he does is also for his wife who was murdered, and his daughter who he lost for many years. so he is a bit different in the sense he's okay with killing everyone except his daughter. & i think he's different with her vs malia because we'll he RAISED kennedy & they already have that bond. if that makes sense.

that's kinda all i wanted to tell y'all, i hope you enjoyed this chapter & i'll see you soon!