Theo was casually draped over a chair in the animal clinic when he heard the familiar chittering that signaled only one thing. He knew he must be in for important information, for it was still daylight outside. He left Josh's side and walked around the corner to see the Surgeon standing past the mountain ash.

"Checking up on me?" Theo asked. Despite how they were creatures of few words, Theo still got the message. He turned to face Josh again. "You can't tell me you don't want to know who's taking the bodies."

"Inconsequential," The Surgeon breathed.

"Why?" Theo apparently seemed to think this was a larger problem than his counterparts. "You don't care that someone's running off with your little failed science experiments?" Theo was met with a silence, but he could just begin to smell out the truth. "You already know who's taking them. Did you forget that you're supposed to be keeping me in the loop on everything?"

"Inconsequential," Was all Theo got in response.

His eye twitched, "Not to me!" His practically one-sided conversation was cut off at the sound of car tires rolling into the parking lot. Theo took his eyes off the Surgeon for two seconds and when he tried to find him again, he was gone. He shook his head, walking toward the back garage, where Stiles had just arrived.

"What's going on?"

"Whoever's stealing the bodies probably isn't going to do it while we're standing guard over one of them."

"So you've got a better idea?"

Stiles ignored the jab and perched his phone on top of one of the shelves overlooking the body. He made sure the camera faced Josh in just the right manner so he could witness everything else around him. Both Stiles and Theo walked out of the clinic and sat in the jeep. Stiles fiddled with the watch that was connected to his phone and displayed what the camera was filming inside. He then placed it on his rearview mirror to watch.

"What happens now?"

"We wait."

"Do you want to take shifts watching?"

Stiles smiled artificially, "No, I want to spend some quality time with you."

Theo smirked, and it was genuine, "Sounds good to me."

*****

The sheriff tapped the book on the desk, "This book. This is what I keep coming back to, again and again."

Melissa nodded, staring at the book, "But still no leads."

"Nothing. Which makes me wonder if I've been coming at it from the wrong direction."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the whole time I've been looking at this, I've been thinking: science fiction. But they're not Dread Scientists, they're Dread Doctors."

"So, now you're looking for a medical connection?" Melissa was catching on.

"Or a medical condition. Something that Lucas, Tracy, and Donovan could've all had in common."

Melissa glanced to both sides to make sure that no one was looking their way, "You're not asking me to hand over medical files without a court order, are you?"

Stilinski hoped he conveyed his double meaning correctly, "I would never ask you to do that."

Melissa nodded, "Good. Because they may take away this key card-" She held up said piece of plastic to show the sheriff- "which allows me access to medical records. Do you want to see how the key card works?"

The sheriff smiled in sheer appreciation for Scott's mom, "I would love to see how the key card works."

"Follow me."

*****

Stiles was pondering over the texts he had received earlier, multiple coming from Scott, Malia, and Lydia about how they were all setting up at the school to protect Hayden. He understood that for the plan to work the cell phone jammers needed to be turned on, and he wouldn't get word until tomorrow morning. But so far so good, for now. He had also sent a text to June before placing his phone in the clinic, updating her on where he was and that he hoped she was feeling better. He knew she wouldn't get that text for a while either.

"Is she okay?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"June, after what happened at the hospital, did she remember anything?"

Stiles pursed his lips, "Yeah. Yeah she experienced her memory. It was about something that happened in New York."

Theo scrunched his eyebrows together, "What like her being cast out?"

Stiles shook his head, "Nah, it was something else. How'd you know about her being cast out?"

"She mentioned it in passing. What was the memory?"

Stiles narrowed his eyes fractionally, "Not really sure I'm the person who can say. It wasn't good, that's all we really need to know."

He seemed to get the message across to Theo, for he nodded slowly, "Okay, then. So is she out helping Scott and the others?"

"What?"

"June. Is she with the others at the school?"

"Uh - no. No she - um - she's taking a knee."

"Are we sure that's a good idea? Isn't she like beyond powerful? Couldn't she help stop the Dread Doctors?"

"She won't be very helpful if she's not in a stable mindset, let's just put it that way," Stiles' tone suggested that that was the end of the conversation about June. He didn't like what he saw on June's face when he left after spending the night. From what he gathered (or what Ginny had texted him), the Child household had turned into a temple of some kind. Ginny was guiding June on a meditation getaway of sorts. All June needed was to balance her mind out. Stiles hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

Theo seemed to want to veer the conversation from bad to worse, "You still want to know why I haven't told Scott?"

"Maybe," Stiles kept his eyes glued to the watch on his mirror.

"You think I've got some kind of ulterior motive, then?"

"More than likely," Theo had barely finished his sentence when Stiles answered.

"Would you believe me if I said that all I want - all I've ever wanted - is for you guys to trust me?"

Stiles bit back on his retort to Theo's cliche response. Instead, all he opted for was a firm, "Nope."

"So you're here because you're never gonna trust me."

"Yep. Glad we had this talk," Stiles nodded, gripping the steering wheel fractionally tighter.

Theo smiled, "You know who you remind me of?"

Stiles sighed, "Theo, I don't care."

"My sister." Theo answered anyway. Stiles shifted in his seat, and Theo could smell how creeped out he was. "She was smarter than everyone else, too. And a pain in the ass like you. But she always looked out for me. The same way you look out for Scott."

Stiles acknowledged his comment, and was secretly a bit grateful someone noticed. Then Theo had to keep going with the sob story.

"You know, I was the one who found her body. She'd fallen into a creek, broken her leg. They told us she would've been okay if it wasn't one of the coldest nights of the year. If it wasn't for the hypothermia. And when I found her, all I could think was that I should've known. That I should've been looking out for her."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you because even if you don't trust me, and even if you don't like me, I'm still gonna be looking out for you. The way I should've been looking out for her."

*****

"There's a full moon coming," Melissa pointed out as she gazed at the lunar phases chart on Stilinski's cork board.

"I know," He pointed to the chart, "I put that up there when I realized just how much bigger the job had gotten."

Melissa's stare fell farther down to a mugshot of Donovan, "You don't think he's still alive, do you?"

"I wish I could say yes."

"You wish? Isn't this the kid that threatened to stab you? Stab Stiles and June?"

"Yeah," Stilinski sighed, "But he was just a kid. More than anything else, a victim of circumstance. I mean, the day his father was shot, Donovan jumped on his motorcycle to get to him. He was hit by a car two blocks from the hospital." Melissa's face fell in pity. "So when his father was finding out that a bullet had severed his spine, Donovan was being wheeled into surgery for internal bleeding."

"Hold on," Melissa could almost hear the lightbulb turn on as she looked over Donovan's medical records, "Didn't you say something about a skin graft?"

"Yeah. That was Tracy. Deaton said there was a graft on her shoulder." The two of them compared notes over the desk.

"Donovan had one too."

*****

He had to follow the leash. The leash with blood dripping from it, he had to follow it. He had to find Roxy.

"Scott."

Scott was snapped out of his trance as he heard Lydia's voice calling out to him. He blinked to see her standing directly in front of him in the dark locker room. She seemed a mixture of suspicious and worried.

"I was just thinking since we can't use our phones, it means we can't check in on Stiles or Theo or even June."

"I didn't even think about that."

"Me either. So we're standing here waiting for guys in masks and breathing tubes to show up. But who or what are Stiles and Theo waiting for?"

Scott's face morphed into one of worry. Realizing there was nothing left to do, he simply had to hope for the best.

*****

"You know I saw his teeth," Stiles turned his head away from the watch and back over to Theo. Theo met his confused expression and clarified, "Donovan. He was a - uh - wendigo, wasn't he?"

"Yeah."

"That's the cannibal one, right?"

"Native American. The myth says that if you ate human flesh, your punishment was to turn into a creature that constantly craved it."

"Not in your everyday mythology Wikipedia page, I guess."

"June told me about it after a family of them were killed here a few months ago."

"Is there anything she doesn't know?"

Stiles sighed, "A few things, I'm sure."

Theo nodded, "It seems like a pretty judgmental myth."

"Well, I didn't make it up."

"What if it was the only way to survive? I mean, you ever hear of the Donner party? I'm pretty sure they didn't turn into wendigos."

"Well they didn't live in Beacon Hills."

"Good point. So what's the punishment for killing a chimera, then?"

Without batting an eyelash, Stiles answered, "You spend five hours in a car with Theo Raeken." Stiles stared pointedly at Theo and he smiled. "Look, I know what my punishment is. I'm gonna lose my best friend. I'm gonna lose Scott."

"And June?"

He turned back to Theo, "What?"

"Aren't you worried you're gonna lose her too? I mean if you guys are as close as you say..."

"June's not like that. She doesn't - she doesn't misconstrue things. She's the kind of person who finds every last detail before she makes a judgment."

Theo smirked, "So she's told me. But if that's the case, why haven't you told her?"

There was a long silence, "Because I couldn't look at her and see what she would see."

Crinkling his nose, Theo was perplexed, "What would she see?"

Stiles ran a hand through his hair, "Someone who killed another person, and still be able to love them the same regardless."

*****

Malia was pacing the same hallway she was assigned to patrol when she stopped in her tracks. Tilting her head, she whirled around when she heard the very distinct sound of Parrish's truck engine start. Her eyes then narrowed in confusion.

"Parrish?" She walked quickly to the doors. "Where the hell is he going-?"

Malia found that she didn't much care where Parrish was going when she felt the bear trap close around her leg. Eyes widening, Malia screamed out in agony. Leg not moving, the rest of her body collapsed to the ground. Her adjustment to the situation barely had time to consume her brain when yet another wave of pain encompassed her thoughts, this time originating from her arm. Looking over to her left forearm, Malia found that a second bear trap had grasped at her, pinning her down to the floor.

As if the situation desperately wanted to show her how much worse it could become, a sharp blade pierced through the back of her neck and exited her body through the front of it. Malia was left choking and sputtering for air. All the while terror flooded her system.

Malia found herself helpless due to all the horror and pain locking up her limbs. She was essentially paralyzed, rooted to the spot while she struggled to overcome what was happening to her. For the moment, she could see no way out of her bonds, and that frightened her the most. What she didn't notice was the three Dread Doctors that paced right past her, further into the school.

She especially didn't notice that had it not been for her fear, she would see that the bear traps weren't there at all.

*****

"Sorry," Melissa and the sheriff were digging through the seemingly endless piles of medical records, "No skin grafts for Lucas."

"It can't be a coincidence," Stilinski implored, "What else is there?"

"The only other thing I noticed was that he was born with congenital glaucoma. But that's nothing like a skin graft."

"Okay. What do they do for that, the glaucoma? Uh, did he take medication?"

"It says here that they did a corneal transplant a few years ago. It's a fairly routine outpatient procedure." She double checked the notes on the procedure. "It was an allogeneic transplant taken from a recently deceased donor." Melissa took a step back from the medical records in deep thought. Sheriff Stilinski asked her what she was thinking about.

"Tracy's skin graft was allogeneic. That means taken from individuals of the same species." The sheriff was on the move grabbing at Donovan's records to compare.

"So was Donovan's," He confirmed.

"Both skin grafts and the cornea were taken from outside donors," The pair were coming to a quick and specific realization. "Donovan, Tracy, and Lucas had two sets of DNA."

"Chimeras," The sheriff agreed.

"They were all genetic chimeras to begin with."

*****

"If - if Scott really gave up on you for some piece of crap like Donovan, then he wouldn't be a true alpha, would he?" Stiles was tired of hearing Theo's justification. He ultimately wanted to sulk alone and in peace over what he'd done. But he guessed his luck never was on his side.

"Or maybe that's the definition of one: someone who doesn't put up with murder."

Theo shook his head, "It sounds like you guys need to look up justifiable homicide."

Eyebrows already near his hairline, Stiles scoffed, "Did you seriously just say that to the son of a cop?"

"A werewolf's eyes are supposed to change color when you take an innocent life," Theo flashed his golden eyes, "Do mine look blue to you? It was self-defense. For me and for you."

"Or maybe you just don't feel all that bad about it," Stiles argued, and whether it was to reason with Theo or just for argument's sake at that point was difficult to distinguish, "You can't say that one life is objectively less innocent than another one. What if they turn blue cause you feel guilty?"

"So it's up to interpretation?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Okay. Well then here's my interpretation of what happened with you and Donovan: Not guilty." It did little to comfort Stiles that Theo seemed to think he was innocent, he was far from it. "Did you feel bad about it?"

Stiles whipped his head over to Theo, who understood the look conveyed, "Not now. I mean right then. Right when it happened. What were you thinking the moment you knew he was dead, and there was no saving him?"

There was no point in lying, Theo had super hearing abilities. If he was being truthful, Stiles felt a heavy tension fall off his shoulders when he muttered, "One word: Good."

Theo nodded, resting back in his seat. He nearly relaxed when he caught a whiff of a peculiar scent. He started inhaling deeper, trying to grasp what it was. Stiles looked over to him and asked, "What is it?"

"A scent. Like smoke. Something burning." A large bang sounded, putting the boys on edge. Theo turned to look out his window when simultaneously a figure of a person appeared next to him. The most alarming part was that whoever they were, their entire body was on fire.

Not much else could be said, for the flaming figure threw their fist out directly in front of them, colliding it with Theo's jaw. Blood splattered as Theo's head whipped around to face Stiles, effectively spraying him with more blood than he wanted. Before anyone could react, Stiles watched Theo be dragged out of the jeep and thrown back to the ground.

Things were moving too quickly to recover. The next thing Stiles knew was that he was being slammed up against the steering wheel as the jeep was lifted partially into the air. Shouting for whatever was causing this to stop, they did no such thing. Stiles tossed and turned trying to escape, but fell victim to gravity, along with his very heavy car. Slammed against the ground, Stiles succumbed to unconsciousness, impervious to the deputy who walked straight past him and set his car aflame. Moments later, Jordan Parrish emerged from the vet's clinic with the body of Josh, walking away to the nemeton, exactly like in his dreams.

*****

Mason had not-so-subtly been following Corey around all day after seeing him shelve the book on miraculous healing in the school library. June had previously told him all about the known symptoms of the Dread Doctor's creations, and he figured he should go with his gut on this one. The fact that Corey was attractive was merely an added bonus.

Regardless, Mason found himself standing in Sinema, watching Corey guzzle down drink after drink at a worrying pace. He decided he wasn't going to figure out anything if he merely stood and watched. He needed proper reconnaissance, and the best way to do so was to just go up and talk to him.

He approached Corey after seeing him down the rest of his drink. Mason couldn't tell if it was the burn of the alcohol that put the look on Corey's face or if it was him mourning Lucas's death, or even if he was simply drinking away his confusion on what was going on with him. "You okay?" It was a stupid question, but the best Mason could conjure up.

Corey's forlorn expression was wiped off his face when he saw Mason. Smiling, he met Mason halfway and answered, "Better than ever."

He dropped the glass he was holding and eliminated even more distance between both him and Mason. Leaning forward, Mason almost was sucked in to his charm, but took a step back.

"Uh - it healed," He referred to Corey's arm, which had not days ago been torn open and deteriorating. "Didn't it?" Corey seemed to regain some sobriety as he stared down at Mason's hands, which had a hold of his arm. Mason rolled back the long sleeve to see perfectly smooth skin. There weren't even scars to mark the occasion, it was like nothing at all had happened.

*****

Stiles woke up coughing. Everything in him fought to breathe, to expel the smoke that had resided in his lungs for several minutes. He ignored the taste on his tongue as he gathered his surroundings. The last he knew, he was in his jeep, and now, he was several feet away from it, Theo Raeken standing right above him with a fire extinguisher.

Blood dripping from his mouth, Theo wore a forlorn expression as he quietly announced, "The body. The body's gone." Stiles and Theo rushed into the animal clinic. It seemed Theo was right, the body was indeed missing from the makeshift morgue.

{+}

Ginny and I had just left the Richard Rodgers Theatre and were now making our way to Bryant Park, one of my favorite places in Midtown. While there, we picked up some bao from Kaya and found an empty table on the grass. Placing our things down, we silently munched on our food while gazing at the skyscrapers and started people watching, one of our favorite things to do.

"How are you feeling?" Ginny asked me carefully, like I might break if she asked the question too soon.

"Less overwhelmed, honestly. It's just one more to add to the list of people who've tried to kill me." I shrugged, fiddling with my water bottle.

"It's okay to want to talk about it, we're in a safe space, you know."

"I mean I think I said all I want to on the subject. I had a tutor in New York who tried to kill me, my life here wasn't as sheltered as I believed. A stupid thought, really, I mean in the city I used to live in, there was bound to be someone who tried to kill me. Statistically speaking, anyway."

"Yet you're still curious."

"I mean I'll always be curious, Ginny. It's integrated into my personality at this point. I'll always want to know what he saw. What could frighten such a logically driven man to the point of murder is what intrigues me the most. If he was as smart as you say, I mean surely he wouldn't've relied on a vision so heavily."

Ginny took her eyes off the other people picnicking in the park to look at me, "For someone so smart, you sure do spend a lot of time contemplating things that have happened in the past."

I kept my face towards the people, but glanced sidelong at her, "I'm a historian at heart, Ginny. Contemplating things that happened in the past is sort of what I do."

"Then as a historian, you should know that you can't change what happened in the past. It happened, and all we can do is look back on it. We can't act upon something that is over and done with."

"I just feel like I would be entirely different if I remembered him. If I remembered what he did to me."

"Different in a better way, you think?" I sighed, knowing she was right. "June, Christian moulded you into a bright, and intelligent being. Don't you think that remembering what he had done to you, after everything he did for you, don't you think it would collapse who you became altogether?"

I didn't want to admit she was right. Knowing what had happened to me then wouldn't have done any favors to my character and who I was today. In fact, thinking about retrospectively, would I have any similar relationship to my friends or Stiles if I knew? Maybe erasing what had happened from my mind led me down the path I'm on today. Granted, this path has been filled with blood and death and loss, but would I really take it back?

"I wouldn't be the same," I finally assented, seeing Ginny nod in agreement.

"Who knows, maybe you wouldn't've explored your newer magic had this not happened."

"I might not have fallen in love with Stiles."

"You might not have fallen in love with Stiles."

"I still think I would've been cast out," I shifted in my chair, soaking up the sun that peeked through the clouds.

"Do you?"

"Well, yeah. That much was inevitable, it had nothing to do with Chéroux. I guess the same thing about who I am as a person could be said about you deciding to move us to Beacon Hills."

"Neither of us would be the same. Could you imagine, us having normal lives?"

"Too quiet for my taste, if I'm being honest." There was a moment of silence between us as we listened to the familiar sounds of New York. I didn't want to admit it out loud, but there was still a sharp pang of homesickness as I looked around at the familiar buildings. There were days where I missed it horribly, and today was one of them. Being here was almost therapeutic, but also reminded me that I couldn't be in New York for another four years.

"Why did you choose Beacon Hills anyway?"

"Well, you knew how I grew up in Rome back upstate, right? After finding that job in San Francisco, I wasn't really ready to move from one major city to the next. I figured a nice compromise would be a small town, where you could have time to lay low and I could have time to recuperate after what went down. Beacon Hills seemed perfect on paper."

"It always does, doesn't it." I smiled, thinking how nice it might seem to the outsider. "Do you have any regrets, or things you think changed you?"

"Well I wish I hadn't dated my high school boyfriend through most of college, he was a total killjoy." I scoffed, kicking her chair.

"I meant after you met me."

Her face grew somber, and she made direct eye contact with me, "I wouldn't change a damn thing in my life if this was where it led me."

Suddenly everything stopped, the people stopped moving, the wind stopped rustling through the trees, even the sounds of traffic halted. Ginny and I looked around, unsure of what was going on.

"Is this-?"

"I don't think it's me," I answered, just before a deafening sound rang through the park. Clasping our hands over our ears, it was hard to focus on anything else besides the words that amplified through the city.

"'I've been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine, some men say that I'm intense or I'm insane...'"

Ginny's eyes widened, "Is that-?"

"My ringtone," I shouted, "It's my ringtone."

Suddenly I found myself back in Beacon Hills, sitting on the floor of my living room, Ginny right beside me. It didn't take long for us to gather our surroundings, for my phone sounded off again with the Schuyler sisters interrupting the harsh silence. Ginny went to go blow out the candles that encircled us while I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"June! What's going on, I've called you like five times?"

"Mason? What's wrong?"

"Aside from the fact that I've been trying to reach you for the past ten minutes, everything. Scott's plan didn't work, okay?"

"How? What - what happened?"

"I mean that the Dread Doctors somehow got into everybody's heads and walked right into the school. Hayden, she-"

"Is she gone? Did they get to her?" I found myself looking for a pair of shoes to put on and my car keys. I froze when Mason replied back in a terrified tone.

"It wasn't just her, okay? Liam's gone too."

Okay, so this was really hard for me to write. I have no clue why, it was just tough. But I don't want you to think I'm giving up on this story, I have plenty of ideas, I think I'm just more excited for 5B than I am for these next two or three chapters. But that being said, you guys are in for it, so buckle up! Mostly unedited. Xx.