❛ Feeling paranoid, true enemy or false friend? Anxiety's attacking me and my air is getting thin. ❜

SEASON 1, EPISODE 4
magic bullet

WILLOW WAS WALKING from her last class of the day, Latin, that she also had with her sisters. She had been asked to stay behind to discuss her latest test results. Willow couldn't help that she only cared about spells and not the culture of the Roman peoples or the declensions that words were supposed to be in.

⠀⠀⠀Either way, she was failing.

⠀⠀⠀Mr. Davidson assured her that she could retake the test next week when he was holding makeup exams. That was reassuring, at least. First, however, she needed to study if she wanted to move onto Latin III.

⠀⠀⠀While walking down the halls thinking about how she should bring her grades up, she noticed a familiar man slinking through the halls. His skin looked pasty and glossed with a thin sheen of sweat. Teenagers ready to go home moved past him like he was nothing, but Willow paused, staring at him.

⠀⠀⠀"Derek?" she asked, a couple of feet away from him still.

⠀⠀⠀A couple of weeks ago, the werewolf she had gotten arrested was now at her school looking a foot in the grave. Willow hesitantly walked towards him as he looked up at his name. He took another step forward but faltered and fell forward. Willow reached her arms out, catching him like they were doing a trust fall. Her legs were shocked by the pressure, immediately beginning to crumble with the weight. She spread her legs wide to try and keep her balance and shakily pushed them back to their feet together. She pulled his arm over her shoulder and turned to look at him with a frown.

⠀⠀⠀"Willow?" he muttered, turning to look at the side of her face. His eyes were unfocused as he furrowed his brows, looking at her in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

⠀⠀⠀Willow looked back at him in confusion as well. They hadn't talked in all the times Scott and Stiles had come across the aggressive werewolf. She had only been there that time they had gotten him arrested. She doubted Stiles had let slip her name but also didn't put it past him.

⠀⠀⠀Willow shook her head, ignoring the fact he knew her name, and instead focused on the fact Derek looked like he was about to pass out.

⠀⠀⠀"I go to school here," Willow told him, beginning to put one foot in front of the other. Derek followed her lead, his feet dragging. "What are you doing here?"

⠀⠀⠀"Looking for..." Derek muttered, glaring at the stairs as they slowly walked down them. "McCall. I need him."

⠀⠀⠀Willow looked both ways as they made it to the parking lot. They started moving again and got halfway through the road when Derek stopped. He raised his hand at the car approaching and looked like he was about to throw up. There was a moment of anticipation then he was falling backward, dragging Willow with him.

⠀⠀⠀"Willow!" Stiles exclaimed as he jumped out of his Jeep and over to the two on the ground.

⠀⠀⠀Willow sat up, pulling her arm from beneath Derek's head, and rubbed her own head in pain. Cars full of teenagers grew impatient, honking incessantly for Stiles to move.

⠀⠀⠀Scott came running from the bike rack, seeing everything that had happened.

⠀⠀⠀"What are you doing here?!" Scott exclaimed, squatting beside Derek and looking frantically between him and Willow.

⠀⠀⠀Derek pulled himself up as well to glare at Scott.

⠀⠀⠀"I was shot," Derek stated simply.

⠀⠀⠀"He's not looking so good, dude," Stiles commented, raising his eyebrows as he stood above the three.

⠀⠀⠀Scott looked over Derek for the first time, noticing the pale skin and heavy breathing. He frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together in worry.

⠀⠀⠀"Why aren't you healing?" Scott asked him.

⠀⠀⠀"I can't," Derek stated. "It was—It was a different kind of bullet."

⠀⠀⠀"A silver bullet?" Stiles asked, widening his eyes, but the glare Derek sent him made him shut his mouth.

⠀⠀⠀"No, you idiot," Derek hissed.

⠀⠀⠀"Wait, wait," Scott muttered, his eyes darting around as he recollected something. "That's what she meant when she said you had forty-eight hours."

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Derek asked, suddenly looking more alive than he had before at Scott's statement. "Who? Who said forty-eight hours?!"

⠀⠀⠀"The one who shot you," Scott explained.

⠀⠀⠀Willow noticed Derek's eyes start to glow a bright blue before dulling down to their usual green and then shifted multiple times after that.

⠀⠀⠀"What are you doing?!" Scott exclaimed. "Stop that!"

⠀⠀⠀"I'm trying to tell you," Derek hissed at him in frustration. "I can't."

⠀⠀⠀"Derek," Willow called, catching his gaze. "Come on, I'll take you to my mom. She's a witch, and she might know something."

⠀⠀⠀Derek took in a deep breath, looking at her and relaxed. Then nodded.

⠀⠀⠀"Help me," Willow hissed at the boys, beginning to pull Derek up but struggling to lift him off the ground.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles took the other side while Scott took Derek from Willow. She nodded, thanking Scott in a rush, then headed to Stiles' Jeep to climb into the back.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, what?" Stiles asked from behind her as she opened the door. "We're taking my car?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yes, your car," Willow told him, rolling her eyes.

⠀⠀⠀Willow climbed into the back seat while Scott took Derek entirely and helped him into the passenger's side. Stiles moved around the Jeep and got into the driver's seat. Before they could head out, Derek stopped Scott from walking off.

⠀⠀⠀"I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used," Derek told him.

⠀⠀⠀"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Scott asked, clenching his teeth.

⠀⠀⠀"Cause she's an Argent," Derek explained, nodding his head behind them. Willow turned to see Allison stepping out of her car and approaching them. "She's with them."

⠀⠀⠀"Why should I help you?" Scott hissed.

⠀⠀⠀"Because you need me," Derek seethed.

⠀⠀⠀"Fine," Scott sighed, turning to look at Allison then back to them. "I'll try. Hey," he called to Stiles. "Get him out of here."

⠀⠀⠀"I hate you for this so much," Stiles told Scott before peeling out of the parking lot.

⠀⠀⠀Willow pulled out her phone. Her sisters had been dismissed with the rest of the class while Willow had to stay behind. So they were most likely still waiting at the car. She dialed Laurel's number and raised it to her ear.

⠀⠀⠀"Willow," Laurel greeted. "Do you have to stay after to retake the test?"

⠀⠀⠀"No, I'll meet you at home. Stiles is giving me a ride because—"

⠀⠀⠀"Stiles is giving you a ride?" Laurel interrupted her, there was a pause, and Bridgette said something Willow couldn't make out. "Bridge says she saw Scott with Allison. So, you're with him. Alone. I thought you hated his guts."

⠀⠀⠀Derek laughed under his breath, his head leaning against the window.

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Stiles asked him, narrowing his eyes. "What are you laughing at? If this is a trap to try and trick Sc—"

⠀⠀⠀"No," Derek said, his words slurring from the exhaustion. "No, they're just talking about you."

⠀⠀⠀"Talking?!" Stiles exclaimed, turning back to look at Willow as she glared back at him. "Why are you talking about me?"

⠀⠀⠀Willow rolled her eyes and instead responded to Laurel.

⠀⠀⠀"We have an emergency," Willow explained to her sister. "That's why I'm with Stiles. That, uh, that werewolf that's been stalking Scott is like dying in the Jeep right now."

⠀⠀⠀"Derek Hale?" Laurel questioned, and Willow rose an eyebrow at the fact she knew his name as well. "Alright, Bridgette and I will be home soon."

⠀⠀⠀Laurel ended the call, and Willow removed the phone from her ear, staring at it for a second in confusion. She frowned, then put it into her bag.

⠀⠀⠀Derek pulled off the leather jacket he had been wearing to cover the bullet hole. Derek's arm was smeared in red blood as it dripped from his wound and caught in the sleeve of his jacket. The bullet wound was deep and had an exit wound on the other side.

⠀⠀⠀"Hey, try not to bleed out on my seats, okay?" Stiles asked him as Derek handed his jacket to Willow to hold onto. "We're almost there."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles came to a red light, stopping, and turned to look at Derek, who didn't respond. All Derek did was stare at the bullet hole underneath his shirt sleeve. Stiles turned away immediately, turning as pale as Derek.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, God," Stiles groaned in disgust. "Is that contagious? You know what, you should probably just get out."

⠀⠀⠀Willow and Derek ignored him. Willow leaned over the seats to get a better look at the wound and frowned.

⠀⠀⠀"I'd try and help, but I don't know what that bullet was made of," Willow explained, looking up at Derek. "I don't want to make it worse."

⠀⠀⠀"It's alright, kid," Derek assured her, a small smile coming up to his face.

⠀⠀⠀"Stiles, the light is green," Willow commented.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles looked back at her and then back to Derek with his mouth open wide like he had been betrayed by her.

⠀⠀⠀"Drive," Derek reiterated, glaring down at his lap. "Now."

⠀⠀⠀"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look, okay?" Stiles told Derek. Willow rose an eyebrow at him and his sky-rocketing confidence when talking to Derek. "In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf ass out into the middle of the road and leave you for dead."

⠀⠀⠀Willow rolled her eyes, leaning back in her seat.

⠀⠀⠀Derek turned to look at Stiles with a startling glare, baring his teeth as he hissed, "Drive, or I'm gonna rip your throat out... with my teeth."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles continued to stare at Derek for a solid second before turning away, defeated, and lifting his foot off the brakes to begin driving.

⠀⠀⠀"How do you two know each other, anyway?" Stiles asked, pointing between the two passengers in his car. "Kind of weird that you guys are all chummy after we got him arrested. Is this—?"

⠀⠀⠀"Stilinski, if you ask that question again, I am going to curse you to only ever be able to say those words for the rest of your goddamn life," Willow hissed at him, crossing her arms and glaring at him through his rearview mirror.

⠀⠀⠀"That's not what I was going to ask!" Stiles exclaimed, laughing under his breath nervously.

⠀⠀⠀It was definitely what he was going to ask.

⠀⠀⠀"Then," Willow began, a flicker of a smile coming to her lips. "What were you going to ask?"

⠀⠀⠀"Um, I was..." Stiles started to stumble over his words, turning stiffly into her neighborhood. "I was going to ask... Hm, you know what? I don't actually remember what I was going to ask. ADHD brain, sorry."

⠀⠀⠀There was a moment of silence.

⠀⠀⠀"So, how do you two know each other?" Stiles asked again, sinking into his seat when he received two pairs of glares.

⠀⠀⠀"I... don't actually know," Willow muttered, looking at the side of Derek's face.

⠀⠀⠀Derek smiled faintly.

⠀⠀⠀"Before I left Beacon Hills, our moms used to be close," Derek explained, more so to her than to Stiles. "You used to come over to our house all the time, but it was a long time ago."

⠀⠀⠀No one spoke for a moment as Stiles pulled into the Gallagher's driveway. Finally, Stiles got out of the driver's seat, pulling his seat forward for Willow to get out, and the two moved around to Derek's side and pulled him between their arms.

⠀⠀⠀They made it to the front porch as Laurel and Bridgette pulled in behind them. They ran up the front yard and opened the door for the three of them to get inside.

⠀⠀⠀Derek was hunched over, bleeding all over the wood floors as the two teenagers dragged him into the house and through the living room. They stopped at the kitchen where their mom was standing, working on more potions for her store.

⠀⠀⠀"Mom!" Willow exclaimed, her eyes wide as Derek started to weigh her and Stiles down, gradually forcing them to the floor with him.

⠀⠀⠀Starla turned, her bright smile fading instantly as her mind stopped for a second before going into red alert.

⠀⠀⠀"We need your help!" Willow exclaimed, Derek, beginning to drag her and Stiles down to the floor.

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

Yay! We're finally getting to where it gets good!!! I like this chapter and the next too since I kind of change how the episode goes with them going to the Gallagher's rather than the animal clinic.

SONG: Sweating Bullets by Megadeth

Thank you for reading! Leave comments telling me your thoughts on this chapter, but however you interact, know that I really appreciate you reading. I hope you enjoy, and until the next one.