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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳

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Meilani McCall groaned to herself when the light filtered in through the window and she buried her face into her boyfriend's, Stiles Stilinski, chest to block out the light. She had been sleeping at Stiles' house randomly the past few weeks to get away from her dad. Not too often so Isaac and Scott would be left alone with him, but enough to keep her sane and from snapping. Ever since she became a true alpha, Meilani had gotten even better at controlling her emotions. However, she didn't want to push her luck with that one.

Rafe had already tried to judge the tattoo that wrapped around her bicep that Derek Hale had done for her. Not like Rafe had the slightest bit of a say in what she did to her body or did in general. He lost that right the minute he decided that he wanted to walk out on his family like they meant nothing to him.

Stiles mumbled in his sleep and his arm wrapped tighter around Meilani's waist, tugging her closer to him as if she were keeping him anchored to the Earth. The past few times Meilani had slept with Stiles, he'd mumbled and tossed in his sleep. She had never seen the Stilinski boy have this many nightmares before and she wondered if it an effect of the sacrifice she, Stiles and Allison did to save their parents. It broke her heart to know her boyfriend was struggling and she couldn't do anything to stop it from happening.

Meilani glanced over to the clock and noticed that if they wanted to get to school on time, they'd have to leave soon. She shifted so her face was closer to Stiles' and placed her lips softly on his in the hopes it'd bring him some comfort as he came out of sleep. It only took a minute before Stiles finally reacted to the kiss, moving his lips against Meilani's and tugging her closer to his side if that were even possible.

Stiles slowly pulled away from the kiss and his eyes fluttered open to stare up at his girlfriend, the sunlight from outside creating a halo around her head. "Well, if this is Heaven, then I never wanna leave."

Meilani giggled and placed her chin on his chest, feeling her body relax as Stiles ran his fingers through her knotted curls. She stared at him for a long moment, noticing the bags that began to appear under his eyes from the lack of sleep he'd been getting. The nightmares were really starting to take a toll on him it seemed and Meilani brushed her fingers gently along the bags. "You have a nightmare again?"

Stiles exhaled heavily and he debated on lying to Meilani so she wouldn't worry about him any more than she needed to, but he also knew that Meilani could hear his heart beat. She'd know he was lying the second he opened his mouth. He just hated the thought of Meilani worrying over him after everything that's happened. She deserved a break from worrying about people and to just relax and have at least some peace. Something that Stiles wanted to give her more than anything, but couldn't. 

"Yeah, it was like a dream within a dream within a dream," Stiles eventually said, dropping his hand from Meilani's hair to her back. He rubbed her back soothingly and shook his head, trying to rid his mind of the visions he'd seen in his dream. "You know what sleep paralysis is, right?"

Meilani nodded and absentmindedly drew shapes into Stiles' chest, not realizing how much the action alone helped Stiles to relax. Then again, any touch from Meilani could get him to relax in about two seconds flat. She was like a drug to him and, if he was classified as an addict, he'd still never give her up. He wouldn't give her up for the world. "Yeah, when your brain wakes up before your body and you see all that weird crap that's not really there."

"It was kind of like that, except I was stood in the middle of magical tress where human sacrifices took place," Stiles explained, a small wave of anxiety could still be seen in Stiles' eyes after the nightmare. Meilani could still even smell the lingerings of it around Stiles, but it was going away the longer he rubbed her back and kept her close to him. "What if what we did that night is still effecting us? Like it means something?"

Meilani tilted her head as she considered Stiles' words. She did still feel the darkness that sat in her heart, but she usually just tried to focus on Scott or Stiles whenever she felt it get too much. Stiles, however, seemed like his darkness attacked him in his sleep instead. A thought that tore at Meilani's heart. "You think we have post traumatic stress?"

"I don't know, maybe. Know what's the scariest part, though? I don't even think this is real."

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Meilani bolted up when she heard the strangled screams of her boyfriend next to her. She grabbed onto Stiles who clutched at the sheets so tightly that his knuckles went white. The door to Stiles' bedroom burst open, Noah stood in the hallway and letting in the light into the darkened space of Stiles' bedroom. Stiles' heart raced so rapidly that Meilani was scared he'd have a heart attack if he didn't calm down. She brought his head into her chest and soothingly run her hands through his hair, kissing the top of his head.

"Baby, hey, it's okay. It's okay," Meilani whispered to him, rocking him back and forth gently while Noah walked over to them and squatted down in front of them to check on Stiles. "Baby, relax, it was just a bad dream. I'm right here, you're okay. You're okay."

Stiles whimpered as he clutched onto his girlfriend's arms that wrapped around him and tried to stop the shaking that took over his body. The images he'd seen in all of his nightmares that night were so real. So vivid. Almost like he was really there at the high school or the magical trees where humans were sacrificed. No matter how many times he's had these nightmares the past few weeks, they were always still horrific and terrifying every single time.

Noah brushed a hand over his son's hair and stared at him worriedly, never seeing Stiles have nightmares like these before. The questions he had could be seen visibly on his face and Meilani wished she could answer them, but she couldn't. They were questions that Meilani barely even knew the answers to because the worst Meilani had been was seeing her claws in her shadows even when they weren't out or just the random dark thought here or there. Never anything as drastic as this.

"Noah, he'll be okay," Meilani whispered, continuing her soothing strokes through Stiles' hair that was slowly getting him to stop shaking in her arms and relax. "I'll make sure he gets back to sleep."

Noah sighed, but nodded his head and stood to his full height. He bent down to press a kiss to Meilani's forehead, mumbling a thank you to her before he left the couple alone to try and go back to sleep after Stiles' outburst.

Meilani slowly laid Stiles back down on his pillow and when she went to move so she could make herself comfortable again to help Stiles back to sleep, Stiles' hand quickly latched around her bicep when he thought she was getting off the bed. "Stiles?"

"Don't leave me," Stiles whimpered and the brokenness in his tone created tears in Meilani's eyes. "Please, don't leave me. Don't die."

"What? Stiles, I'm not going to die," Meilani assured, loosening Stiles' grip around her bicep and laying down in his arms once again. "I'm not going anywhere. Ever."

Stiles merely clung onto his girlfriend and kept her in his side, eventually falling back to sleep again after a few minutes. 

Meilani, however, definitely would not be going back to sleep that night while Stiles' petrified screams and sobs echoed in her mind.

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The next morning, Meilani walked into the Stilinski kitchen to see Noah already there dressed in his sheriff's uniform, getting ready to head out. It was only around six forty-five and she hadn't been able to go back to sleep, so she had slowly and quietly detached herself from Stiles' arms and got herself ready for the day at school.

"Good morning," Noah greeted, smiling gently at the teen girl and held up a travel mug to her. "Coffee? You probably need it just as much as me."

"Would it be bad to ask the sheriff if it's spiked?" Meilani teased weakly, taking the spare mug from Noah and taking a sip from the warm liquid that burned her throat. She did welcome the caffeine that filled her system. "Not like I can get drunk anyway."

Noah chuckled quietly at Meilani's attempted joke, not wanting to wake his son who definitely needed the sleep right now. "Glad to know I'll never have to worry about you drunk driving." He took a sip of his coffee and gave Meilani an appreciative look. "Thanks for before, Meilani. I don't know if I would have been able to get him to calm down the way you did."

Meilani waved Noah off and shrugged slightly. "It's nothing, honestly. I just wish there was more I could do for him besides hold him until he calms down, but there's nothing I can really do. I think this will be one of those things that we have to let work its way out, you know? The darkness will always be there in our hearts, but Stiles is reacting to it differently than Allison and I for some reason. We aren't having nightmares the way he is, just the random and weird hallucination. It hasn't been that bad for either one of us yet, though."

"I'm just glad he has you," Noah said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're good for him, Meilani, and I'm so glad you're the girl my son chose to fall for. I don't think anyone else could have been better for him."

"Is it against the law to make sixteen year old girls cry before seven am?" Meilani asked, blinking away the tears that formed at Noah's heart felt statement. 

"I'm just speaking the truth, kiddo," Noah squeezed Meilani's shoulder one last time before he brushed past her to make his way out to work.

Meilani waited until she heard Noah leave in his squad car before she walked back upstairs to Stiles' room to wake him up for school. She paused in the doorway when she noticed Stiles up and dressed in a light and dark purpled striped zip up with a white t-shirt underneath and his jeans. He stood rigid by his desk with his history textbook in his hands and he ran his fingers gingerly over the text on the cover. 

"Babe?"

Stiles jumped at Meilani's sudden voice and turned to look at her, the book dropping on top of his book bag that rested on his desk chair. "Oh, um, yeah. I'm fine."

Meilani raised her eyebrows at Stiles, knowing fully well that he was lying to her due to his heart rate. "How about we try that again? You know, where you don't lie straight to my face?"

Stiles ran his hand through his fluffy brown hair and let out a heavy sigh. "Lani, seriously, it was just a nightmare, okay? I'll be fine. I promise."

"Why don't I believe you right now, then?" Meilani asked, not wanting to fight with her boyfriend. However, after what she had experienced just hours before, it still played through her mind like her own personal Hell. Stiles' screams still reverberated around her skull on a loop and she didn't know how to make it stop. Just looking at him made her want to cry because of the bags that were beginning to form there and the obvious sleep deprived look that were in his eyes.

It sucked.

"Babe, please? I need you to trust me," Stiles pleaded, taking her hands into his and offering her the best smile he could. "What I want you to focus on is going home later and not killing your father."

"You had a horrific nightmare just hours ago and you're worrying about me right now?"

"I always worry about you," Stiles said, rubbing his thumbs smoothly over Meilani's knuckles. "Is it wrong for me to care about the girl I love? Cause if it is, I don't wanna be right then."

"You do realize you being cute won't get you out the doghouse for lying to me," Meilani warned, losing the battle with the smile that fought its way onto her face to show she was merely kidding.

"Mmm, I'll take my chances," Stiles mumbled and leant down to press a kiss to Meilani's lips, pulling away after a minute. "I'm gonna go brush my teeth and then we can start to head out when I'm done."

"Okay," Meilani whispered and let her hands drop from Stiles', watching as he walked out of the room to head over to the bathroom down the hall. She sighed and turned to place her travel mug down on the desk so she could brush her hair quickly before they left when the sight in Stiles' opened laptop scared her. 

In the reflection of the laptop, Meilani could see the red of her alpha eyes looming back at her and her werewolf fangs poked out of her mouth menacingly. She gasped and stumbled back a step at the image, letting out a small scream when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Lani, you okay?"

Meilani blinked up at Stiles who looked down at her worriedly and she turned her attention back to the laptop screen to see her normal face look back at her. Her breathing was shallow for a minute until she quickly got her heart rate to slow back down, calming herself the best she could. It seemed like her hallucinations were finally beginning to settle in and gulped as a cold feeling settled in her spine.

Stiles, Meilani and Allison were now all beginning to get hallucinations - and the added nightmares for Stiles - and Meilani was worried about what that could mean for any of them. 

Just when she thought her supernatural problems were over.

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"Well, well, look who is no longer the crazy one," Lydia commented after Meilani had divulged to Lydia, Allison and Scott what happened to her and Stiles earlier that morning. Stiles had even admitted to seeing things that weren't there while Allison explained her visions of Kate from that morning before she arrived to school.

"We are not crazy," Allison defended, rolling her eyes at the strawberry blonde.

Lydia stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to face the pack behind her, pretending to consider Allison's words. "Really? Sleep paralysis? Hallucinating? Yeah, you guys are fine."

Scott shrugged and clutched onto the straps of his book bag that rested on his shoulders. "I mean, you guys did die and then come back to life. Deaton did say there would be side effects, didn't he?"

Stiles glanced up at the bell as it rang above the lockers that the pack stood nearby. "Alright, we just got to keep an eye on each other, okay? And Lydia, stop enjoying this so much."

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Meilani had nearly made it through her history class without a hallucination. They had new teacher named Mr. Yukimura, whose daughter, Kira Yukimura, was in the class with them. She was a pretty girl with black, curly hair and a kind a face. She had looked absolutely embarrassed when Mr. Yukimura called her out and said they'd been there for three weeks and she hadn't brought home friends yet. Scott's heart rate had lifted slightly when he had glanced back to the girl and Meilani had bit her tongue on teasing her brother about having a love at first sight moment when the girl.

Then, somewhere in the middle of Mr. Yukimura's lesson, Meilani had noticed a shadow loom out from under her desk. At first, it merely just a blob of shadow and didn't have an actual shape until it grew out more and formed into the shadow of a terrifying wolf. Meilani had clutched onto the ends of her desk, reminding herself that whatever she was seeing wasn't real until the shadow eventually dissolved and just showed her normal shadow sat in a desk.

Meilani had walked out of the class feeling slightly off kilter, but she just had to remind herself that none of it was real. It was just a hallucination that they can all probably over come after a while of getting back to how things were. 

"Maybe we need a little more time to get back to normal," Meilani voiced her thoughts to Scott and Stiles as they stopped in front of Stiles' locker so the Stilinski boy could get his books quickly.

"Yeah, try not to forget we hit the reset button on a supernatural beacon for supernatural creatures. There's a pretty good chance things are never going back to normal, Lani."

Meilani didn't notice the way her boyfriend fumbled with the lock on his locker, tugging on the lock multiple times with a shaky breath. She had been distracted by the conversation that Kira had with her father just down the hallway, walking in the direction of Meilani and the boys.

"I thought you said you wanted to make friends," Mr. Yukimura said to his daughter who looked anything but happy with him.

"Not like that."

"You said you wanted to be noticed."

"I could set myself on fire and be noticed," Kira argued back to her father, stopping him half way down the hall to shoot him an annoyed look.

Mr. Yukimura slapped his hands to his sides, not getting the point of Kira's joke. "Then you'd be dead, Kira."

"Exactly."

Meilani leant back against the lockers just as Kira glanced in her direction, hiding behind her twin so she wouldn't be seen by the Yukimura girl. Her twin, however, took the liberty to look in Kira's direction and smile, waving kindly at her. Typical Scott to show his inner puppy like nature to everyone he met.

"Baby, your eyes."

Meilani glanced up at Stiles whose eyes widened in horror at the sight of her. A sight that she never thought she'd see from Stiles, ever, because he only ever looked at her with this loving look that she quickly found comfort in whenever she saw it. "What about them?"

"They're red," Stiles whispered frantically, gesturing to his girlfriend's glowing eyes. "Meilani, you have to stop it before someone sees."

Meilani felt her heart spike as she felt her alpha side course through her veins like a drum. She took one glance to Kira who tilted her head at the McCall girl. It was quickly becoming harder and harder to control her shift, a feeling Meilani hadn't felt since her first full moon. Ever since then, she'd been able to control her shifts perfectly fine.

Scott grabbed Meilani's head and put it in the crook of his arm, hiding her face from the rest of the students in the hallway. He hauled Meilani into the closest empty classroom and waited for Stiles to close the door behind them before he let his twin go. Once Meilani was out of Scott's grip, she dropped her bag to the floor and threw off her leather jacket, stumbling away from the two boys who tried to call for her.

"Boys, stay back!"

"Babe, it's okay," Stiles tried to assure his girlfriend, wanting to make her feel comforted the way she had always done for him, especially that night when he had the nightmare. She always put others before herself and Stiles just wanted to give her whatever she needed. She deserved it.

Meilani panted as her canines and claws began to grow out, her eyes flashing a dangerous red at her twin and boyfriend who watched in worry. "I don't know what's going to happen. You ned to keep back." She looked to her claws and thought quick on her feet by jamming the claws into her palms, making them instantly coat in crimson from the wounds Meilani had inflicted on herself. She weakly dropped to her knees and cried out in pain until her claws finally settled back to her normal fingernails and she was her human self again.

Stiles dropped down before her, taking her face into his hands and checking her over to make sure she was truly okay. "I don't think this is in our heads anymore, Lani. This is real. It's starting to get bad for me, too. To get myself out of those nightmares, I have to physically scream myself awake. Half the time I don't even know if I'm actually waking up in the first place."

Meilani furrowed her eyes while Scott took her still bleeding hands into his to try and wipe up the blood with the spare t-shirt he usually kept in his backpack. "What are you talking about?"

Stiles chewed on the inside of his lip, avoiding his girlfriend and best friend's concerned gazes as he fiddled with his fingers. "You know how you can tell if you're dreaming? You can't read in dreams. More and more the past few days, I've been having trouble reading. It's like I can't see the words. I can't put letters in order."

Meilani felt her mouth go dry at the new information on Stiles and how he was doing. He was really more far off than her and Allison. She didn't know what it was about Stiles that made his situation worse, but it scared her what could happen to him if this continued. She clenched her hand around Scott's wrist as it brushed against her still slightly sensitive palm, her breathing hitching in her throat. "Li - like right now?"

Stiles shakily stood to his feet and his eyes scanned around the classroom from the words on the chalkboard to the posters that littered around the classroom's walls. As his eyes flitted across each words, Meilani could hear his heart rate pick up more and more with each word. His hazel eyes growing more and more desperate and fearful as the seconds ticked by, his body shaking like it had when he woke up from the nightmare. 

"I can't read a thing."

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The rest of the day had just dragged on for the pack and by the time Meilani got home from school - much to her dismay since she wanted to be with Stiles - she had collapsed on her bed. She didn't even remember falling asleep but she woke up to Isaac bursting into her room, stopping the flashes of images that she had seen in her dream. A knife going into someone's chest followed by an echoey scream that Meilani couldn't pin point. When she sat up on her bed, the sun had just started to go down and Isaac's face was illuminated by the light from the moon outside.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were still napping," Isaac sheepishly said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "I really need to work on listening to things."

"No, it's fine," Meilani yawned, pushing herself back so she could prop herself up against the headboard. "What's wrong?"

"Lydia just dropped me off after we took Allison home. She nearly took Lydia's head off with an arrow," Isaac explained, walking over to Meilani's bed and sitting down on the edge of it. "It was like she was in some sort of trance or something. It nearly went right through Lydia's head. Allisons said she keeps seeing visions of Kate. Whatever's happening to you guys is getting worse, Lans. If I hadn't showed up, Lydia would be dead right now."

Meilani rose an eyebrow at Isaac and crossed her arms, smiling in amusement at Isaac. "Isaac, what were you doing there in the first place, huh?"

Isaac awkwardly cleared his throat and smiled innocently at Meilani. "No reason, really. Just wanted to take a stroll through the woods as a normal werewolf does."

Meilani hummed and before Isaac could blink she flung him across the room, causing him to hit against the wall in the hallway and crashing to the ground with the painting Melissa had hung there.

"Meilani! This house does not have supernatural ability to heal like you and Isaac! So, knock it off!" Melissa called from downstairs with a groan.

Meilani smiled triumphantly at Isaac when he jokingly glared at her. "How about the truth this time, buddy?"

"Shut up, Lans," Isaac grumbled and hung the painting back up where it belonged before he walked back over to the girl. "You may be an alpha now and I may love you like a sister, but I'll still kick your ass."

Meilani hummed again and didn't give Isaac a chance to react before she flung him into the hallway again with a smirk. 

"Meilani McCall!"

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The next morning at school seemed a little bit better for Meilani, she hadn't had a hallucination once and she felt a little more rested than she had the night before when she helped get Stiles back to sleep. She had effortlessly ignored Rafe who tried to talk to her as she got ready to leave with Isaac for school since Scott had left early to speak to one of their teachers about an assignment. Stiles still appeared lethargic and sleep deprived, but he had forced a smile for his girlfriend and tried to keep upbeat so they can try and get through this rough patch of what they'd done a few weeks ago.

In Coach Finstock's class, Meilani had been paying attention to whatever Coach taught to the class when she noticed Stiles' head drop onto his arm that rested on his textbook. He had completely zoned out on the class and continued to furiously scribble across his notebook page, much like Lydia had when she kept sketching the Nemeton before they got rid of Jennifer Blake. 

"Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?" Coach Finstock called, noticing the boy hadn't been paying attention to a word he said. He squinted his eyes at Stiles and turned his gaze to Meilani. "Better McCall, what's up with your boy toy?"

"Just another normal day for Stiles, sir," Meilani weakly replied, trying to joke and get Stiles out of trouble. Though, Meilani should have known that wouldn't have worked.

Coach Finstock took the whistle that sat around his neck and blew harshly into it, startling Stiles out of his daze and the boy dropped his pen on top of his notebook paper. "Stilinski!"

"Uh-huh?" Stiles asked, chest heaving up and down as he shakily sat back up in his chair properly.

"I asked you a question."

"Uh... sorry, Coach. What was it?"

"It was Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?" Coach Finstock repeated for the boy.

Stiles awkwardly cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Oh, well, I am now, Coach."

Coach Finstock sighed and shook his head in disappointment at the boy. "Stilinski, stop reminding me why I drink... every night. Does anybody else want to try the question on the board?"

Meilani tore her eyes from Coach up front and looked to her boyfriend, worry settling heavily on her heart. She could feel the weight on her shoulders quickly making its way back after it had finally been lifted once again when Jennifer was gone and her mother, Chris and Noah were all safe and sound. Seeing Stiles go through whatever it was the darkness was putting him through scared her to death. She needed to figure out why Stiles was experiencing such a reaction to it.

"I'm okay, babe. I just fell asleep for a second."

Scott exchanged a look with his sister over Stiles' head, the teen boy never falling asleep. He had been perfectly awake the whole time, just spaced out on whatever he was scribbling into his notebook. "Dude... you weren't asleep."

The trio all glanced down to Stiles' open notebook to see the words WAKE UP written over and over again in a scrambled mess along the the page.

Seriously, what the hell was going on?

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At lunch, the pack decided they needed to get together and figure out what was going on with Meilani, Stiles and Allison. They knew it was a side effect of sacrificing themselves for their parents, but they needed to fully understand what was happening to their brains. Maybe if they knew what was going, they'd be able to stop it before it could get any worse than it already has.

"Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of seeing things?" Meilani asked the pack that sat around her on the bench outside. It was actually a beautiful day outside and the pack decided to sit out in the sun to try and keep themselves the slightest bit sane while they did some research.

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles added in, wrapping his arm tighter around Meilani's waist and bringing the girl closer to his side. The two had been extra in each other's faces as of late, which was different for them because they usually tried to keep the PDA to a minimum around their friends. They didn't want to make any of them feel weird, but right now, they both needed the other's touch to keep themselves anchored to the Earth.

"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison piped up, chewing anxiously on her thumbnail.

"They are all locked up because they are insane," Isaac mused.

Stiles shot Isaac a deadpan expression, not finding humor in his words at the moment. "Ha. Very funny, Isaac. Now can you at least try to be helpful, please?"

Isaac leant his arms on the top of the table and shot Stiles a look right back. "For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."

"Hey, dude, are you really still milking that?"

"Okay, can we please stop comparing dick sizes here, please," Meilani whined, throwing her head back against Stiles' shoulder.

"Hi," a small, timid voice said and the pack all turned to the right to see Kira stood next to their table with her notebook and jacket hugged to her chest. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help but overhear what you guys were talking about. I think I might actually know what you're talking about." She shyly explained to the pack and played with the notebook in her hand. "Uh, see, there's a Tibetan word for it. It's called Bardo. It literally means in-between state. The state between life and death."

"And what do they call you?" Lydia quipped, smiling up at the girl with a smile that Meilani knew all too well.

"Kira," Scott replied before Kira could respond herself and smiled kindly at the girl before them. When he noticed the looks he got from the pack, he merely shrugged. "What? She's in our history class, remember?"

Lydia hummed and diverted her attention back to the Yukimura girl. "So, are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?"

Kira slowly took the seat besides Scott and Meilani could smell the awkwardness that wafted off Kira in waves. She seemed rather shy to be talking to a group of new kids and Meilani offered her a kind smile like Scott had when the girl looked to her. "Either, I guess, but all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. You can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

"Wrathful deities?" Isaac repeated, twirling the pen in his hand. "And what are those?"

"Like demons."

"Demons," Stiles scoffed, slapping a hand gently against Meilani's arm. "Why not?"

"Hold on," Allison said, staring down at the notebook before her in deep thought. "If there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?"

Kira shrugged as if it didn't mean anything, when it really meant everything to the pack. Not that Kira even knew anything about what they were going through. "Death. You just die."

"Great."

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Meilani's second plan of action was just to go the source that probably knew more about any of this than any textbook or scholarly article can give to the group. Later that night, Meilani had dragged Scott and Stiles with her to the animal clinic once she knew that Deaton was done with his appointments for the day. He had given Scott and Meilani the week off and was surprised to see them both show up until they explained to him everything that Stiles, Meilani and Allison had been through as of recently.

"It sounds like your subconscious is trying to to communicate with you," Deaton informed, leading the trio into one of the back examination rooms. The same room they had done the sacrifice in.

"Well, how do I tell my subconscious to use a language that I actually know?" Stiles remarked.

"Do you remember what the sign language looked like?" Deaton questioned, referring to the dream like vision that Stiles had while in Coach Finstock's class. He had seen nothing but sign language from the students and Coach Finstock in the classroom, having no idea what any of it meant. "The placement and movement of the hands?"

Scott looked impressed that Deaton would have any idea of what the sign language could mean. "Deaton, you know sign language."

"I know a little. Let me give it a shot."

Stiles held up his pointer finger and with the other hand he made a circle around the pointer finger with his other hand.

"That's when," Deaton informed and crossed his arms. "What's the next one?"

Stiles held up his palms next to each other and pulled his right hand back quickly before putting it back next to his left hand again. "Then, it was that one twice."

"That's door," Deaton slowly said, sounding heavily confused.

Stiles made a fist, flicking his thumb beneath his chin. "And that in between."

Deaton furrowed his eyebrows, only becoming more and more confused by the second. "When is a door not a door."

"When is a door not a door?" Stiles repeated.

"When it's ajar," Meilani mumbled, noticing the riddle that had been in Stiles' dream. "Why is Stiles getting riddles in his dream?"

"When the three of you went under the water, when you crossed from unconsciousness to a kind of superconsciousness... you essentially opened a door in your minds."

Meilani ran a hand through her hair, trying to make sense of what Deaton was trying to explain to Scott, Stiles and herself. "So what does this mean, Deaton? The door in our minds are still open?"

"No, ajar."

"A door into our minds?" Stiles whispered, appearing even more freaked out than he had when they entered the animal clinic. Meilani didn't necessarily blame her boyfriend for that either because she could feel the heaviness that's been resting on her chest only weigh down greater, almost making it impossible to breathe.

"I did tell you it was risky."

Scott placed a comforting hand on both his twin's and best friend's shoulders, trying to offer them as much comfort as he possibly could at this point. Though, nothing could really calm Stiles or Meilani down until they knew how to stop it from happening. "How do they stop it?"

"Well, that's difficult to answer."

"Hey no, I know that look. That's the we know exactly what's wrong with you, but we have no idea how to fix it look," Stiles accused, pointing to the guilty looking expression that appeared on Deaton's face.

"One thing I do know is that having an opening like that into your mind, it's not good. You each need to close that door and you need to do it as soon as possible."

After that bone chilling explanation from Deaton, Meilani had pulled the boys out of the animal clinic so Deaton could close up and go home. He didn't have much more information that he could offer the trio so they had to figure out something for the time being until Deaton could figure out how to help them. If he could even help them, that is. When they stepped outside of the animal clinic to make their way back to Stiles' Jeep, Noah's SUV had pulled into the parking lot and he approached the trio next to Stiles' Jeep.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Stiles asked.

"I'm here because I could use some help," Noah responded and turned his attention to Meilani. "Actually... your help."

Meilani tilted her head in confusion and crossed her arms. "I'd love to help you, Noah, but why me?"

"Because eight years ago, almost an entire family died in a car accident. One of the bodies, a young girl named Malia, was never found. There's enough evidence to have me thinking that... that a werewolf could have caused the accident, and then dragged her body away. Sweetheart, if you can somehow get a lock on her scent if you could somehow help me find her body, it might provide the missing clues."

"But what if it was a werewolf?" Scott inquired, worried about what doing this could do to his sister. He knew she was an alpha - a true alpha at that - and was a lot stronger now than when she had first been bit. However, that didn't stop him from worrying about her well being. He was pretty sure he'd never stop worrying about her well being.

"Well, there's somebody out there who murdered an entire family. Someone who still needs to be caught."

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The next morning, Meilani and Stiles had taken a ride over to the Tate family house to see if Meilani could find the girl's scent anywhere. Scott had stayed back home to see if he could figure out anything for Stiles, Meilani and Allison to try with closing the door in their minds. She wasn't sure how much Scott would be able to do, but he had ran off with his laptop to Lydia's so Meilani hoped that they could figure out something together.

While Noah distracted the man that still lived in the house, Meilani and Stiles snuck around the side of the house to a side door that lead into a bedroom. Stiles had pushed opened the door, but no matter how slowly he opened it, it continued to squeak. So he decided to just push it open and the door let out one low creak before the two were in the room and the door was shut again behind them.

Stiles began to just toss random clothing items at his girlfriend with her catching each and every one, but nothing smelt like a girl's perfume or typical body scent. She was only getting an animal scent and that was it.

"I'm just getting an animal scent," Meilani informed Stiles as the boy brushed by her to get to the other dresser in the room.

"What kind of animal?"

Meilani slowly lowered the light green sweater she clutched in her hands to see a black dog with a brown patch of fur round it's neck. Its puppy dog eyes stared up at Meilani and she nearly dropped the clothing item at the sudden sight of the dog. "Dog."

"Hi, puppy. Get rid of it," Stiles whispered to Meilani, stuffing the clothing item he held in his hand into his gray zip up hoodie.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Glow your eyes at it, something. Be the alpha."

"What? I can't. I don't have control on my shifts right now," Meilani quietly argued back, not moving from her spot next to Stiles while the dog began to growl quietly at the couple.

Stiles tensed up as the growling became the tiniest bit louder, spooking him at the threatening look that showed on the dog's face. "Okay, babe, you're going to have to try something."

Meilani puffed out her cheeks, but took a cautious step forward with her hand outstretched to try and pet the dog. "Nice doggy...."

Before Meilani could place a hand on the dog, it began to bark loudly and viciously at Meilani and she stumbled back into her boyfriend's chest. He kept her up right while the owner yelled at the dog, Apollo, to shut the hell up. The dog instantly stopped barking and whined before it turned and jogged out of the room.

Stiles let out a breath relief and moved past Meilani to the small desk in the room, holding up a Series of Unfortunate Events book to her so she could smell it. However, Meilani still only got the dog's scent and nothing else. She was beginning to think she would never get the young girl's scent now. "Anything?"

"Just the dog still."

Stiles froze when he saw a photo of two girls sat on a picnic blanket dressed in winter coats. The younger girl held a baby doll in her lap while the older girl just tilted her head down towards the younger girl, a soccer ball placed just before her feet. He took a quick photo of the two girls to have as a reference. 

Looks like it would be the best the two would get out of the room.

A few minutes later, Noah, Stiles and Meilani had all driven away from the house and stopped about a mile away on a stranded stretch of road. Meilani and Stiles got out of the Jeep to meet Noah at the side of the squad car so they could talk about what happened back at the house.

"Noah, I'm sorry. I couldn't grab onto any scent. If it wasn't so long ago, I might have been able to do it, but all I smelt was the dog."

"It's alright. It was a long shot anyway. I never should have brought you guys here," Noah said, shaking his head sadly at himself. For having too much hope in a town like this. "Thanks for trying though, sweetheart." He hopped back into the squad car and waved to the couple before he continued off down the road.

Meilani felt bad that she couldn't help Noah out the way she wanted to with the case. It seemed like he really wanted to solve this case and bring peace to the man back at the house. "I feel really bad, babe, but don't a lot of cases go unsolved?"

Stiles nodded and exhaled heavily, feeling just as bad as Meilani did that they had to let him down. "Yeah, I just think this is one he felt like he could have figured out right now."

"Why is it so important now?"

"He wants to be able to solve one more while he's still Sheriff."

Meilani paused at Stiles' choice of words and tugged on Stiles' sweater sleeve to make him look at her. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet and Meilani knew he was hiding something from her. "Stiles, what do you mean still sheriff?"

"Meilani..."

"Stiles, what are you hiding from me?"

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Meilani had seen red plenty of times since she'd become a werewolf. A lot of things that set her over the edges, especially in the beginning when she was still working out her new inner aggression and animalistic tendencies. However, she had never seen red like she did right now after Stiles told her that Rafe had set up an impeachment to get Stiles father taken down from being sheriff of the town. It had taken a lot  of convincing from Meilani to even get Stiles to tell her. The spastic boy hadn't wanted to ruin the relationship between Meilani and Rafe even more than it already was.

Storming into the house, Meilani saw Rafe stood in the darkened kitchen about to make himself something to eat when she stormed into the room. He froze in his actions when he noticed the fuming expression on his daughter's face. Had she been a cartoon character, her face would have been as red as a tomato and smoke would be pouring out of her ears dangerously. She had to physically fight her alpha side that so badly wanted to come out as the anger pumped severely through her veins.

"You are seriously fucking unbelievable, Dad, you know that?" Meilani growled at her father, clenching her hands tightly into fists on either side of her. "You know, I shouldn't even be shocked that you'd pull an asshole move like this."

"First of all, Meilani, you better watch both your tone and language when speaking to me," Rafe chastised, pointing a finger in Meilani's direction. A finger that Meilani itched to snap in half with how angry she was. "Second of all, I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Don't you dare play innocent with me. I can see right through your little act, alright?" Meilani snapped harshly, taking another step into the kitchen just as Scott rushed into the room. He had heard the screaming from his room and decided to check on the two before one of them killed the other.

"What's going on?"

Meilani's fierce gaze didn't leave Rafe's face who looked just as pissed as Meilani. "Why don't you ask our dear father here why he's trying to kick Noah off the force? Why don't you ask him why he's trying to my boyfriend and your best friend's life? Why he always to ruin fucking everything he comes into contact with?!"

Scott took a tentative step forward to place a hand on his twin's shoulder to try and get her to calm down, but his touch was automatically shoved off. "Meilani, what are you talking about?"

"I want him to get the hell out! That's what I'm talking about, Scott," Meilani seethed, the redness in her vision only increasing as the seconds ticked past. 

At that moment, Melissa had walked through the side kitchen door after having just gotten home from the hospital. She noticed the fierce and intense gaze that Meilani shot to Rafe, the way Rafe stared down at Meilani like he used to when he thought she was doing something wrong and Scott who stood to the side, not knowing what to do since he didn't even know what was happening still.

"I am not doing anything to your boyfriend, Meilani. I'm doing my job."

Meilani scoffed and pressed her fingernails into her palms to stimulate the pain points before she suddenly wolfed out on her father. "Yeah, well much like you, your job sucks."

Rafe merely shrugged, not knowing what else to say to Meilani's words. "Some days I can't argue that."

"Okay, can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?" Melissa cut in, her eyes bouncing between her ex and her daughter.

Meilani let out a breath through her nose and turned to her mother, jabbing a finger in her father's direction. "He is trying to get Noah fired, Mom."

"Okay, no, that's not true."

"What are you doing?" Melissa asked in shock, her hands going to her waist as she looked up at Rafe in disbelief.

"Conducting a case of impeachment," Rafe defended.

Scott gaped at Rafe and his own look of disbelief and anger was shot towards Rafe. "That sounds a lot like getting him fired."

"The lack of resolution and ability to close cases is what is going to get him fired. My job is just to collect the information. It's the job of my superiors have given me."

"Your job sucks," Melissa said, agreeing with Meilani whose chest only began to heave more and more as her body began to shake out of pure anger. She noticed the way Meilani's hands suddenly flexed out and her claws grew out. 

Scott's eyes slowly followed to where his mother looked and quickly grabbed both of Meilani's hands before Rafe could see the inhuman like nails on her fingers. "Mei, look at me," he coaxed, lifting his twin's chin so she could look at him and flinched when he noticed the redness that began to glow in her eyes. "Okay, womb-mate, you're coming with me."

Without a fight, Scott pulled Meilani out of the room and Meilani heard Melissa mumble to Rafe that they weren't done before she followed her twins out of the kitchen. She grabbed her daughter's face as Meilani leant against the stairs that lead up to the second floor, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to reign in the shift that fought its way out. "Sweetie, I need you to let it go, okay? I need you to relax."

Meilani continued to blow air out of her nose as if she were a bull and cried out when her canines and hair on her face grew in. No matter what she did, Meilani couldn't bring the shift to stop. 

"Meilani, you told me you and Stiles learned a  way to control this. You find an anchor, right? Find your anchor."

Meilani's eyes instantly met with Scott's as his face appeared in her vision, remembering that both him and Stiles were her anchors. Stiles usually worked faster because of the deep connection the couple since they were in love, but Scott worked just as well. He took her face into his hands when Melissa had stepped aside and let her twins do what they needed to do.

"Mei, hey, look at me," Scott said soothingly, stroking her cheeks to add to the relaxing aura he was trying to provide for his twin. "Hey, remember that day at the park? Mom took us with Noah and you, Stiles and I had dared each other to see who could climb the monkey bars the fastest? Remember how when it was my turn, I was so scared to go because I didn't want to get hurt since I'd never done it before? Do you remember what you said to me?"

"To stop being a scaredy cat and just do it or I'd hang you from the monkey bars myself," Meilani panted, slowly starting to feel her shift reverse itself.

"And mom got so mad at you that you were the only that couldn't get ice cream," Scott chuckled and earning one in return from Meilani as her canines retracted and the hair retreated back into her skin.

"And I took Stiles' ice cream out of anger and wound up getting it all over my favorite princess shirt," Meilani recalled, smiling gratefully up at her brother for helping her through her struggle. "Stiles said it was my karma for being mean to you and then him."

Melissa relaxed visibly when she saw Meilani was okay again and pressed a kiss to the side of her head as Scott had pulled Meilani into his side in a hug. She ran a loving hand over her daughter's hair before she left the twins alone to go back and have what would probably be a long discussion with Rafe.

⏤⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤⏤

Meilani dragged Scott by his wrist once the two were off his bike and made her way straight to Stiles' room when she didn't sense Noah in the house. She pushed into the room and caused Stiles to sit up on his bed, shooting the two a confused look on why they were there. Scott had shrugged since he was just as lost as Stiles was, since Meilani didn't tell him what they were going to Stiles' house for.

"Stiles, we're looking for a body," Meilani informed, pulling the flashlight she had grabbed on the way out out of her back pocket and clicked it on. "A dead body."

Neither of the boys put up much of an argument - not that Meilani was taking no for an answer anyway - and they had piled into Stiles' Jeep to make their way towards the woods and search for Malia's body that had to be somewhere in the woods that had gone overlooked somehow. The three each had a flashlight after Stiles took two from his own house to give one to Scott and Meilani had serious flashbacks to when they went into the woods the first time right before she was bit.

It had been quiet between the trio for a bit while they each shined their lights along the wood floor for any sign of an eight year old body. That was, until Stiles decided to break the silence between them.

"You know, if my dad is right, that means that there is another werewolf in town that we haven't met yet."

"I know," Meilani sighed, glancing back down to her phone that had a map of the woods displayed on it.

"If it turns out to be something like triplets that form into, like, a three-headed hound of Hell, I'm seriously not up for that," Stiles ranted.

Meilani scoffed and couldn't help but agree more with her boyfriend in that moment. "Same here, especially since I can't even control my own transformation anymore."

A sound howl in the distance scared Stiles and he grabbed Meilani to pull her back, resulting in Meilani dropping her phone down to the puddle that rested beneath the small ridge she, Stiles and Scott stood on. She poked her tongue into her cheek and sent her boyfriend an unimpressed glare for ruining her phone.

"Sorry, baby," Stiles sheepishly said, quickly releasing Meilani before she could snap his arm in half. "I just hate coyotes so much. They always sound like they're mauling some tiny, helpless little animal."

Meilani effortlessly dropped down from the ridge and landing on the dirt below while the boys struggled to slide down the small slope that lead to where she stood. She bent down to pick up her phone and dried it off on her shirt, sighing in relief when she saw that the phone still worked and displayed the map she had been looking at. "It still works."

Stiles suddenly shined his light up ahead of them and froze when saw a small car laying on its roof, the windows and windshield completely smashed and bare. He slowly lead the way over to the car, shining his light around for a sign of anything. 

"Why would this still be here? Isn't it considered evidence?" Scott questioned, stopping before the totaled car in front of him.

"It's probably too much of a pain in the ass to haul out," Stiles replied, dropping to his knees by the passenger door and running his fingers along the claw like marks on the side of the door. "Check this out, guys. See these?"

Meilani walked over to her boyfriend and lightly ran her fingers along the claw marks, her fingers just too short to match up perfectly with the marks in the door. Odd.

"Animal claws would be closer together, right? Like... a lot closer?"

"Then it was a werewolf," Meilani breathed, dropping her hand back to her side. "Your dad was right, Stiles."

The three dropped down to their stomachs to shine a light into the car to see if anything was still inside the wrecked car. Meilani shined her light to the backseat where a bloodied doll like hand hung from the seat, she reached inside of it to release the doll from the seat and stood back to her full height with the boys. 

"I'm hungry," the doll suddenly cried in a robotic voice.

Stiles let out a girlish scream and scrambled away from Meilani and Scott, falling onto his ass just as Meilani dropped the doll out of shock that it had spoken. He breathed heavily as his eyes slowly met the judging stares of the McCall twins. "I think I just had a minor heart attack."

Growling was heard just ahead and Meilani's head snapped in the direction of the sound, gasping when she saw it was a brown haired coyote staring at them. She barely gave the boys a second glance before she shoved her flashlight into Scott's hand and rushed after the coyote. She followed it all through the woods and tried to shift mid-run, but she'd only get so far as her red eyes before her body would give up and she'd remain human. Thankfully, she still had her speed to her even when she wasn't shifted and continued to rush the coyote.

Meilani had to leap across a massive trench, but just made it to the other side, clinging to the dirt as the coyote stood in front of her. She lowered her head slightly, flashing her red eyes at the coyote to stop it from attacking her. The coyote whined for a moment before it lowered its own head and flashed Meilani bright blue eyes, the same ones that Derek had.

"Malia?"

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

WHEW, WELCOME TO A VERY ANGSTY START TO PART TWO! Can ya'll imagine that there are only ELEVEN CHAPTER LEFT of this series. It kills my heart to know that Meilani's story is almost done, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.

Meilani and the pack are all slowly losing their minds and it'll only get worse as we go, peeps. This part is gonna be dark and angsty and I am so ready for all of it. Also, the anger that radiates off Meilani whenever she is around Rafe is WILD and I LIVE for it. Her anger is all resulting back to when he left her, Melissa and Scott behind. She's still very upset and angry over the whole thing and Rafe just made her anger worse when he tried to come for Noah's job.  It won't end well for him oof.