"Tell me where you are, June. Tell me what you see."

I looked around, treading through water that didn't even feel very wet, much less cold. A river - a river in the preserve. It was dead at night, so why was I here?

"The bridge," I responded, staring at what was apparently the most ominous bridge I'd ever laid my eyes on.

"Keep moving," The voice instructed, his British accent familiar in a way that made my stomach clench in fear. "Describe what you find. Tell me what he did."

Quite suddenly, I felt a very sharp pain in my head. Blinking, I realized I was no longer in the preserve, but in fact strapped down to a bed. Doctor Gabriel Valack was staring back at me, sitting next to a tray full of bloodied tools and cotton swabs.

"What did you do to me?"

"I've amplified your abilities, something that might just save the lives of your friends." He seemed to ignore how my breathing had shallowed, and how much pain I was in. "Now focus on the bridge. On Theo."

I did as he asked, anything to avoid the pain that was creeping through my entire body. His words still echoed around me as I put myself back in the river, back in the preserve. "Why did he let his sister die?"

"I don't know."

"You don't see it yet," He corrected. "Search for it, June. Keep looking." Spinning around, I tried to find an answer, but I saw none of it yet. "Why did he let her die? What did he want?"

It wasn't until the answer in the form of Theo's sister lunged out from the water and grabbed my by the arms, and it was the first feeling of cold I registered in that preserve. In shock, I stared at her: her skin was grey, and her lips were blue. Her eyes were black and beady but the most terrifying detail was her chest cavity, as in she didn't have one. It was hollow, and from my experience of human anatomy, the place where her heart should be was gone.

"Her heart," I muttered, terrified. I found myself back in the bleak room next to Valack. I turned my head, the only thing I could actually move, and met his confused stare. "He wanted her heart."

Valack was quick to move, pulling out what I could only assume was a medical file on Theo. He flipped through it until he found what he wanted, and began talking to either me or himself. "There's no record of a heart condition. But a transplant - it would make Theo a genetic chimera like the others. The hypothermic conditions would keep the organ viable. But why him? Why choose a ten-year-old willing to kill his own sister?"

"Why do you care?" I asked, not understanding any of what this conversation's relevance pertained to.

"Because Theo was the first step in the right direction for the Dread Doctors. Think of who they are. Para scientists who have prolonged their lives and twisted the laws of nature in pursuit of one goal: the creation of the perfect killer. And now they've done it."

"But Theo doesn't know who the success is," I stated, not entirely sure how I knew that. "The last chimera."

"It doesn't matter. There's a reason they chose him, a reason he failed, a reason they changed their methods, and a reason that they finally succeeded. It all starts with Theo." He shifted the file in his hands and placed it back on the table. "When did you know for sure, that the Dread Doctors had succeeded?"

"Scott and Stiles found out that night."

"The night of the supermoon," He assumed, nodding slowly.

"But they really didn't know it yet. There was too much going on." Flashes of memories that weren't my own, and everything Lydia had told me while we were in New York relayed in my head. "Liam had almost killed Scott. Kira was still gone. Malia was trying to find the desert wolf. Lydia was trying to follow Parrish."

"You were missing," Valack added to the list.

"And Sheriff Stilinski was dying."

                                                                 *****

Stilinski was being wheeled in on a gurney to the operating room, blood staining everything he wore. His face had an oxygen mask that the paramedics and nurses and doctors refused to let him take off. By the time both he and his son had arrived, the doctors were scrubbed in and ready to save his life. However, by the time he was taken back for surgery, Stilinski noticed that his son was no longer by his side.

"Alright, we've got a liver lac and a perforated intestine," The sheriff hardly paid any attention to what Doctor Geyer was telling the nurses and doctors around him.

Instead, he weakly reached for the mask and called out, "Where's my son?"

"We're taking care of you, Sheriff, but you have to keep your oxygen mask on." It was the only reply he received from the doctor. Other nurses were busy setting up the anesthesia and IV, all while listening to Liam's dad's instructions. "Contact the blood bank and type and cross match for four units of O neg."

Everyone set to work, and didn't hear the drained voice of Stilinski over the sound of his heart monitor. "Where's my son? Where's Stiles?"

Just a few hallways over, Stiles was standing at a desk, wringing his hands in worry as he talked to the nurse to check him in.

"Stilinski, right?" Her name tag read B. Brenner, R.N. "You said his insurance is with the county? He's a deputy?"

Stiles didn't know how many times he would have to repeat himself, "No, he's the sheriff. He's the county sheriff, okay? He's covered. I mean - he - he should be covered." A saving grace in the form of Scott's mom came in with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He looked up and saw her nod in reassurance, "I'll take care of it." Brenner, the nurse, handed Melissa a clipboard, and both Stiles and Melissa walked off. "I texted Scott, he's coming as soon as he can. I can call June-"

"No, no, no." He had enough to deal with, he didn't want to face June just yet. Especially since he knew she would put everything aside to make sure he was okay. He didn't deserve that. "Don't - don't call anyone."

"Is there anyone else we need to notify?" Stiles turned around to face the nurse still sitting at her desk. "A next of kin?"

"No, it's me," Stiles answered, fear and anxiety consuming every possible thought. "It's just me."

                                                              *****

Scott threw down another rag that had been soaked through by blood. The wound on his chest wasn't healing. Theo killed him, he was dead for a span of time. When he came back, despite knowing how the rules work, he didn't feel like much of an alpha anymore. His mom told him before being called in to work that he would give his friends hope, but he sure as shit didn't see how he would.

He did his best to bandage himself up despite the multiple fits of anger and self-pity he threw. Shaking the sink, throwing things, he was frustrated. He took such a big blow, and his friends were scattered to the wind. He wasn't even sure if he could call them his friends.

It didn't matter, though. His mom texted him several minutes ago saying Stiles' dad was in emergency surgery. Theo had gotten to him and attacked him, and now he was fighting for his life. He would be damned if he wasn't at that hospital for Stiles. After everything he had said, everything he had been told, he now knew nothing was as it seemed.

He made his way out of his room and looked over to the hallway that led to the stairs. It suddenly seemed to grow exponentially, and his vision began to blur. Scott stumbled forward and began to clutch the wall for support. The view of the hallway began spinning, and suddenly, Scott fell forward into the depths of unconsciousness.

                                                          *****

Stiles didn't know how long he had been sitting in the waiting room. Multiple people had come and gone, and were off in their own heads. He wished for just a moment that he could escape into the mind of someone else, because his own head was a swirling storm of regret, fear, and worry.

"I am always going to be there for you, Stiles Stilinski. Always."

"You still got me."

"I love you."

He just was stuck in a constant loop of the things that had happened over the past forty-eight hours. Scott, essentially throwing everything they had out the window for something he didn't even understand. Not hours later Stiles did almost the same thing to June. He gave up everything. If he couldn't have Scott, why should he get to keep June?

As if the universe wanted to put the cherry on top of these disastrous last few days, Stiles' dad, the only person he had left in his life, was dying. He was fighting for his life.

                                                        *****

Parrish was surprised that Lydia was in his shower with him. He wasn't going to question it, but it was odd nonetheless. His feelings on the matter soon grew to be irrelevant, for Lydia placed her hands on the back of his neck and brought his face to hers. Their lips smashed against each other, and soon, Lydia began dragging her hands down his chest.

Parrish paused in their kiss when he felt the texture of one of Lydia's hands. Grabbing it, he pulled at her hand and began to inspect it for damage. What he found were several fingers cut open at the nail tip and bleeding. He looked up at Lydia, who pointed down towards the floor. He looked at all of the dirt and leaves that were on the shower floor and draining away slowly.

"What's happening?"

"You're a harbinger of death, Jordan," Lydia answered before raising her now healed hand up and pointing it at something away from both of them. Parrish's eyes widened when he saw June Child lying on the bathroom floor, breaths short and her body still. Her eyes were wide open.

"Don't you know?" Lydia continued.

"Know what?" It was difficult to focus on Lydia when June's expression was haunting his vision.

"Someone's dying."

Parrish awoke to the sound of a car horn blaring in his ears. He quickly shot up and jerked the wheel out of the way of the oncoming car. He pulled over to the side of the road that had a fence separating it from the preserve and began to shake his head. Something was wrong. If his dream had any sense of truth to it, there was something wrong with June. 

He quickly dialed Clark's number and informed her of what he thought was going on.

"What are you talking about?" There was no masking the confusion in her voice.

"I can't say how I know but June Child is missing."

"Parrish, you're missing. And some people here are very confused by your behavior, me included."

"I know, and I'm gonna try to explain it. But I need you to find whoever's available-"

"Parrish, no one's available! Do you have any idea what's going on? The high school sign somehow ended up in one of the hallways, the library is completely wrecked, there might be a prehistoric animal running around the streets, and I am starting to seriously think about a transfer."

Parrish was wasting time, he knew it. "Okay, listen. I'm gonna try and explain what I can later. But right now, I've gotta find June."

"Parrish-"

"I have to find her!" He was quick to hang up, and nearly jumped out of his seat when he turned to look out of his window. Lydia Martin was standing next to his door, looking on in worry.

He hopped out of the car, confusion on his face, "Lydia? What the hell are you - how did you find me?"

"I've been following you since you melted off the bars of the holding cell. Parrish, what - what's going on? What were you saying about June?"

"She's missing, Lydia. I had a dream about her - she - she's missing. She's in the preserve somewhere." Parrish walked around to the back of his car, pulling out a backpack full of things he would need and a flashlight.

Lydia's confusion melted off her face and a firm resolution replaced it. She couldn't mask the worry in her eyes, however, despite maybe trying. "Well then, what are we doing standing around? Let's go."

"It might be-"

"Don't try and dissuade me from helping you. She's like a sister to me, I'm going."

Parrish held his hands up, "I was just going to say, it might be better having more than one pair of eyes on the look out." Together, the two of them set off into the preserve, calling out June's name in hopes that she would respond.

Twenty minutes into their hike, nothing was found, nothing was brought to their attention. The only thing of concern was the fact that Jordan's batteries in his flashlight finally gave out. He whipped his backpack around and pulled out the flare he reserved for emergencies and lit it up. Lydia noticed that with Jordan being so close to the flame, something inside of him seemed to awaken. After that, it seemed he knew exactly where to go.

                                                     *****

"Stiles, you need to get up. You've gotta get up." Stiles inhaled sharply as he woke up from the nap he didn't realize he had taken. The waiting room was now only occupied by him and Melissa, who had just walked up to him.

"Hey," She whispered, and he sat up straighter. She held an arm out for him to slow down. "He's okay." Stiles looked like he hadn't heard her right. "Dr. Geyer is stitching him up right now."

"Okay, I wanna see him-" Melissa was quick to sit him back down after he tried standing up.

"Okay, okay. The anesthesia needs to wear off. It's gonna be at least two hours."

"Okay, yeah, but everything's gonna be okay, though? I mean - he's okay?"

Melissa smiled, "He's gonna be just fine."

Stiles sat back in his chair and raised a hand to his head in relief. His whole body seemed to drain of worry and fear. His dad was going to be okay. Shakily, he breathed out, "Oh, thank god."

                                                            *****

Scott could hear someone call out to him. Actually, make that more than one person. Voices mixed together as they called for him to wake up. His eyes snapped open as he breathed deeply.

"Scott, wake up!" He raised his head to see Parrish and Lydia both bending over him in concern. He glanced at them in surprise as Parrish asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," He answered, still in a daze. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Lydia looked down at his white shirt, "You're bleeding."

"It's not that bad," He assured her, then noticed the tear tracks on her face. "Why are you guys here?"

"We need your help," She answered, eyes fearful and upset.

"With what?"

Both her and Parrish moved out of the way to show Scott who they brought with them. June was standing stock still, eyes open and unregistering. Her head had dried blood caked on it, the skin on her hands was dirty and slightly bloody, hair was falling out of her braid every which way, and worst of all, her skin took a greyish color.

"We found her out in the woods," Parrish explained, although if Scott was really listening it was hard to tell. He was entirely focused on his friend. "Her body was freezing, she was practically hypothermic. But that wasn't even the worst part." He went over to June's hand and lifted it so Scott could see. Her fingers were cut open and bloody where the fingertip met fingernail. Most of her nail was gone, however, just leaving blood behind.

"She carved out a sheriff's badge on a rock."

"No," Scott corrected. "It's a warning."

"We can't keep standing around," Lydia spoke up, eyes not leaving June. "We need to get her to the hospital."

Parrish and June drove in his car while Lydia followed behind with Scott in her own. It was a tense silence, mostly because Lydia was consumed with worry while Scott tried to think of something to say.

"Lydia, I-"

"You need to call Ginny," Lydia told her. "Call her now, she needs to know what happened to June." Scott nodded, and pulled out his phone. He dialed the one number he wish he didn't have to and told Ginny what was going on. She was oddly quiet, and spoke tersely on the phone, but Scott could hear her sniffles before hanging up.

Parrish, Lydia, and Scott all jumped out of their cars before Parrish ran around to the passenger's side and picked June up. He ran while carrying her to the front of the hospital, and several nurses were already seemingly in action by the time they burst through the door.

"Help!" Parrish called out to the nurses wheeling an empty gurney towards them. "I need help. I've got an eighteen-year-old female, potentially hypothermic." While they were working on shining a light in June's eyes, Parrish and Lydia both looked up to see Scott at the nearest elevator. Scott looked back as the both of them nodded, signaling that they would handle June. He nodded back, his way of saying he would go take care of the sheriff.

The elevator let out at a dark hallway. Scott began creeping up along it, seeing Stiles talk to his mom and to Dr. Geyer. Something wasn't right, he could hear it, he could smell it. Before he burst through the doors where Stiles was, his attention was caught on the room to the right of him. Sheriff Stilinski was currently on a hospital bed, oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth, but there was something terribly wrong with him. His skin was bruised, and a sickly green color. Scott could hear without the monitor, Stilinski's heart was beating irregularly and slowly. He was dying.

                                                                    *****

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Stiles asked. Just two hours ago, he was told his dad was going to be just fine. Now they had to go and tell him that he wasn't. And they weren't sure why. "Two hours ago, he was fine. Now it looks like somebody took a baseball bat to his neck."

"There could've been some minor internal-" Dr. Geyer tried to explain, but Stiles shook his head in disbelief, not understanding what was being said.

"Did you say, 'minor internal'? Since when is anything internal minor?"

"Stiles-" Melissa was trying to comfort him, but he wasn't having any of it.

"I need to know what's going on with him, okay? Dr. Geyer, somebody needs to tell me what's happening." No one was saying anything, and Stiles reached his limit. "SOMEBODY NEEDS TO TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENING TO HIM!"

Melissa sighed, not sure at this point what she could do. "We don't know."

Stiles shook his head, looking over their heads and back down the hallway to where his dad's room was. Standing out front of the room was the very last person Stiles wanted to see. Scott was peeking in on Stilinski's room, observing what was happening to him. Watching the life slip from him and doing nothing about it.

Stiles, in a rage, strode towards Scott. At the last second, Scott saw Stiles and turned to him. This gave Stiles an easier opportunity to grab Scott by the collar of his coat and slam him up against the wall. Scott was too surprised to do anything as Stiles quickly spun him around and slammed him to the floor. He got nose-to-nose with Scott, breathing heavily. The last time he had done anything like this was when he slammed June into the glass cabinet while possessed by the nogitsune. He pushed that memory aside, as he had been doing with all memories of June.

"You trusted him? You believed him? So, where were you, huh? Where were you?" His tone was low and ferocious. Angrily, he cried out, "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?"

"Hey, hey!" Stiles barely registered Melissa's voice before he felt a vice grip pull him up and shield him from Scott. He glared at Scott from behind a doctor and a nurse. He assured them he wasn't going to do anything again so they'd get off him. Scott, panting, stared wide-eyed at his best friend.

"Your dad's not the only one who got hurt," He stated, dreading what he had to tell Stiles.

Stiles looked down at Scott's shirt. There was a splotch of blood, and a new wave of fury came over him. How dare he think that one little scratch could compare to his dad lying in a hospital bed dying?

"Oh, you'll heal," he spat spitefully.

Scott looked down at his shirt and zipped up his jacket. Sadly, he made eye contact with Stiles again.

"I'm not talking about me," He stated and Stiles allowed himself some curiosity.

"Who then?" Scott's face mirrored sadness and fear. Fear of what Stiles was already going through, and sadness for what he was about to endure. Stiles felt his stomach drop at Scott's expression. Please don't let him say-

"June." Scott saw what little color in Stiles' complexion vanish. Stiles was quiet for a bit, long enough for Dr. Geyer to back off and go back to the sheriff. Stiles' shaky hands only got worse.

"Where?" He asked quietly. Melissa walked over to him and put a hand on his back.

"Let's go find out." She walked him to the elevators and down a few hallways, all the way up to the desk in the emergency unit. She talked to a nurse asking about June's whereabouts while Stiles stood behind her. He was on the verge of a panic attack, and could barely listen to what they were saying. He recognized Melissa nodding, and she turned back to him.

"Well, where is she?" Melissa couldn't quite meet his eyes. Instead, she grabbed him by the hand and walked him down a hallway.

"She's at the end there. Ginny's with her. I need to get back to your dad, alright?" Stiles nodded, not looking at her, but instead at the door Melissa pointed at in her explanation. He hardly recognized Lydia standing opposite the doorway, tears falling down her face. He got tunnel vision as he walked closer to the door, and everything was drowned out by the pounding of blood in his ears coupled with the shallow breaths escaping his lips.

He pried open the door and his knees nearly gave out on him. There was June, eyes the size of saucers, expressionless, and staring up at the ceiling. Stiles slowly walked into the room and saw June had several fingers bandaged. There was a significant scrape on her forehead, and Stiles almost lost it all over again. His mind was racing until he saw speckles of blood on her pillow.

He approached, but his shuffling caught the attention of Ginny. Ginny had not left June's side since she got the call from Scott. When Ginny's eyes landed on Stiles, she cracked.

"No," She said, standing up abruptly, "Get out."

"But Ginny, I think I know who did this- "

"I know who did this: YOU DID!" She yelled as she pushed Stiles back. "Ever since she got to this town she's been in danger because of you. And then all of you up and left her when she needed you the most! This is all your fault!"

Stiles ignored the jabs, "Ginny, I just need to check the back of her neck- "

"No. Get out, GET OUT!" She finally ushered him out and slammed the door. As the sound died out around the quiet room, Ginny finally burst into tears. She took a minute to compose herself before walking back over to June. Sitting back down on her bed, she made to move some hair out of June's face. Ginny froze when she saw the blood that stained the pillowcase under June's neck. Slowly, Ginny moved June's head to the side and gently moved hair away from her neck. She gasped when she saw the bloodied claw marks embedded near June's spine.

"'I'll have a blue Christmas, without you...'" Ginny glanced up at June's face in horror. "'I'll be so blue just thinking about you...'"

Meanwhile, Stiles was standing outside of June's room, unable to focus. His thoughts were swirling with words he said to June and what Ginny said to him. She was right, he should have been there for her. He also couldn't help but wonder had he been there if his dad would still be alive. He felt guilt in silently asking June for her forgiveness for the fact that he was thankful that he got to his dad in time.

Stiles thought about yesterday and how June looked when he said all those hurtful words. Her face was twisted in despair, all because of him. He'll never forget how she told him she'd always be there for him, and how she was adamant on being with him until Stiles simply made it impossible for her to be. Now she wasn't there at all. June was catatonic, a shell of a human being.

"Stiles..." He heard Lydia call out to him, voice clogged with sobs trying to escape. He wiped at the tears he hadn't realized had been constantly streaming down his face since he saw June. "Stiles this isn't your fault."

Stiles shook his head. "It is my fault, Lydia. She's like this because I wasn't there. It's my fault, and it's my responsibility."

In that hallway, Stiles figured out two things. The first was that Theo was going to pay for what he did to everyone Stiles cared about. The second: he was going to do everything in his power to be there for June, just like she promised she would do for him. He owed her that much. With newfound determination, he walked over to the elevators and back to Scott, ready to figure out their next move, Lydia trailing after him.

I really couldn't wait to write this part. Did you think I'd leave you hanging for long? Love you all, welcome to 5B. Unedited. Xx.