warning: long chapter.
i also skipped stiles' part because it was kind of boring and too much to write so✨beware✨

—

Austin stood with Ryder's head in his chest, his hand combing through her hair as they waited impatiently to find out what was going to happen.

Stiles spoke up, "Bet they're thinking smallpox."

"Highly doubt it." Austin muttered.

"Not likely." Their heads snapped to the man behind the desk, "Smallpox was eradicated worldwide in 1979. We've only managed to completely eradicate two viruses in history. The other was rinderpest. It killed cows."

Stiles furrowed his brows, "So we should be comforted by that, right?"

"Unless it's something worse."

"He's weird." Ryder's voice came out muffled, though she knew they were silently agreeing with her.

"Whatever it is, they're taking it pretty seriously. They're a lot of cars and trucks out there." Malia said, glancing at her boyfriend, "Your dad's with them."

"Hey, I should probably call him." The Stilinski went to get his phone, immediately getting stopped by Simon,

"Don't bother. They would have shut off any access to all outside communication by now. No cell service, no WiFi. No one starting a panic. Looks like we're all just going to have to wait here and see what happens."

•••

While Ryder went to take care of herself in the bathroom, while Austin stood in line with Malia and Kira. The three teens were waiting to get injected by a CDC Doctor to ensure that they weren't sick. The George teen cracked his knuckles as he kept glancing back at the girl restroom to see when his lover would exit and if she needed any kind of help.

"Kira, do you ever get the feeling that Scott and Stiles aren't telling you everything?" Malia's voice caught his attention.

Kira cleared her throat, "What do you mean?"

"Like they hide stuff." The Tate girl elaborated.

"I think if they did, they'd probably have a pretty good reason." The Yukimura inhaled softly, avoiding eye contact.

Austin frowned, he didn't want to call Kira out, but he was intrigued to know what Malia could be talking about, "What do you mean?"

"Do you know what they're hiding in the bag under Scott's bed?" She looked at Austin.

He raised his hands in defense, "I didn't even know there was a bag under Scott's bed."

He wasn't lying.

And even if he did know what they were hiding, Austin didn't feel the need to lie. If either of the girls were to ask him something and he had the information they needed, he wouldn't see any point in not telling them the truth. He wasn't under oath to protect Scott and Stiles from losing their girlfriends.

Maybe that's why he wasn't told what was under Scott's bed.

"What? No, I've never been under Scott's bed. Or in it. Just on it..." Kira spluttered, "Wearing clothes."

Malia and Austin shared a look as the raven haired girl stepped forward, Malia went to further question the George teen, only to soon gasp as electricity crackled the second the needle touched Kira's arm.

"Kira!" Malia grew panicked, "Kira!"

"Let's go."

•••

"It's still happening."

Malia looked down at her claws, "I can't make them go back."

"Obviously the virus is affecting the two of you in a way it won't hit any human being." Kira's father, Ken Yukimura, said.

"You guys have to stay out of sight. We have to quarantine you from the quarantine." Stiles said as Austin let out a short cough, clearing his throat before wrapping his arms around Ryder.

"Yeah, but where? I mean, what if they get violent? Like on a full moon." Kira asked.

"We shouldn't stay in here. Not in the locker room."

"A classroom is not going to hold us."

"What about the basement?" Kira suggested.

"Too many ways out. We need something secure. Somewhere nobody can find us."

"We're open to ideas, Scott." Austin said, his voice coming out a bit sarcastic, "Since it seems you're fully ready to shut everything down."

Last thing he wanted was to be rude, but he was growing a headache and all the talking wasn't easing anything. He also wasn't too happy that the girl in his arms was burning up and they have yet to get her any help.

"The vault." Stiles perked up.

"The Hale vault. The Hales always have an escape route. Like their house. There has to be another way in."

Stiles began to move around, "This is where the school sign is, so the vault's got to be right about here."

Mr. Yukimura spoke up, "I suppose if there's a second entrance, it would probably be accessible from the basement."

"It's probably somewhere in this hallway. West corridor." Stiles stepped past Ryder, stumbling a bit, "Whoa."

"It's happening to you too. You're getting sick. You all are." Ken said, looking over at Austin to see the teen cheeks flaring red.

Kira shook her head, "I don't feel sick."

"I think it's affecting you differently, neurologically." He pulled out the paper she was previously taking her test on, "I found your test answers here in a pile with the others."

"Hey, guys..." Stiles called out, taking Ryder's attention off of Kira's oddly organized test responses, "Over here. Look at the cracks in the wall. It's like the entrance outside, it only opens with claws. Anyone's claws, right?"

Scott seemed to hesitate, glancing at the Miller who looked like she could hardly stand on her own, "Um... Malia, can you try?"

"Why me?"

Austin also wondered that. In his eyes, only a Hale would be able to open a vault that was literally named after the family. Ryder's claws weren't out but she wasn't incapable of doing it and the only other person was Malia. Austin could only assume that Scott didn't want to bother the redhead as she looked ready to pass out where she stood, but it was still weird to him.

He was unaware of the wide eyes glancing in his direction the longer he thought it over.

"I-I don't have control." Scott said.

"Okay. I'll do it." Malia shrugged, "But first tell me what you've been hiding from me."

Scott and Stiles stammered, awkwardly glancing between Malia and Ryder, the Miller teen too busy groaning in pain in Austin's chest to notice,

"I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it. I know I'm on the list."

Stiles' eyes widen, "Yes..."

"So how much?"

"How much what?"

"How much am I worth?" She pushed.

"Four million."

Malia grew silent, concerning Austin a bit, but nothing compared to the expressions she received from the other three conscious teens,

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Scott's worth 25, Ryder's 21, Kira's six. They'll take you guys out way before me." She shrugged, pushing past them to open the door.

"That's progress. That's progress." Stiles whispered, jumped as Austin patted his shoulder while stepping past him,

"It's not."

•••

"You know, this is where it all started. That's where the money was. 138 million in bearer bonds." Stiles broke the silence.

It hadn't even been quiet for five minutes before he started speaking again.

"How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?"

"Bank, I guess. They just let it sit here the whole time collecting dust. You know bearer bonds are basically extinct?"

Kira furrowed her brows, "Why does it matter?"

"You know how many problems that money could solve?"

"For you?"

"Me. My dad... The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him."

"Mom does this thing, she writes down all the items in our budget, and how much they cost, then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until... We lose the house."

A short silence fell over the room as Scott's words sunk in. No one really knew what to say to the McCall.

"That sucks." Ryder's words receive a short chuckle from Scott. She may not have been the best at comforting others but she always knew when someone needed a laugh.

Even if it were at their expense.

•••

Ryder let out a whimper as she rolled on her side, moving in towards the hand that gently rubbed her face. She was growing worse by the second, it didn't help that she couldn't contact her family.

Her phone was left back in the classroom and she was almost sure that even if she did get ahold of her family, there wouldn't be much they could do.

The last thing Ryder wanted was for any of them to risk getting hurt just to save her.

She felt horrible that she had gotten herself in such a situation while her mother was pregnant. She could only silently pray that they would all be okay if she didn't make it.

Ryder had been sick plenty of times in her life. There have also been times where she's self diagnosed herself and was convinced she'd die. But now more than ever was she sure she wouldn't see her family again.

"Hey, Ry."

Her eyes flutter as Austin's voice fill her ears, while it was a bit blurry, that didn't stop her from seeing her favorite color in his eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

She let out a breath, "Horrible."

"I thought so." He chuckled sadly as he watched her eyes fill with tears.

He was going to let her know that he was going out with Stiles to -hopefully- find something to help but he didn't want to leave her. Not when he wasn't one hundred percent certain she'd be okay when he got back.

She looked...dead to say the least. She could hardly move, she was barely coherent. But he knew that if he didn't leave to find the cure, there was a chance he wouldn't see her again.

"Austin." Stiles waved him over, "Are you ready to go?"

"Wait. Where are you going?" Ryder stopped him.

"We're going out to find something to help you." Her and the others, but he wasn't too worried about them at the moment. "It'll be quick. I'll be back as soon as I can."

The crack in his voice was enough for Scott to regret asking him to leave her, even if it were only for a few minutes. Had he known that Allison was going to die the night that she did, he wouldn't dare to leave her side and now he was asking Austin to do it.

He felt bad and it wasn't just because he could hardly breathe.

Movement from behind her alerted Ryder of Malia's presence, the were-coyote snuggling up against the girl with Stiles' jacket around her shoulders.

"We'll take care of each other." Malia coughed out, "Be quick."

Ryder felt Austin press a kiss to her forehead, "I'll be fast. I love you, Ry."

"I love you more."

•••

Ryder was woken up by the sound of paper crumpling. At first, she wasn't too concerned with what was happening until she heard the panic in Scott's voice,

"Malia... Malia?"

The girl in question began to pant heavily, "I can't see. I can't see anything."

Ryder's eyes snapped open at her words, soon realizing she also couldn't see. Maybe she shouldn't have ignored the way her eyes blurred over when she looked at Austin.

"What's happening to us?"

"Scott? I can't... I can't see..." Kira stuttered out.

"Ryder?" Scott called out, "Ryder, are you okay?"

"No."

"No?" Neither of the girls could see, but the confusion in his voice was evident, "What's wrong?"

"I can't see, jackass."

Before he could say anything, banging on the vault doors startled the supernatural teens,

"Hey, Scott? Scotty? In the vault, in there with you. It's called reishi mushrooms. Scott? Scott, open the door!"

"Ry?!" The girl sat up as straight as she could at the sound of her boyfriend's voice. "Ryder, baby, open the door!"

"It's in there with you. It's in a jar, it's on one of the shelves. Scott! Scott, can you hear me?"

"Ryder!"

"Reishi..." Kira muttered, "Scott, I saw it. In a jar on one of the shelves."

Taking the risk of possible stepping on anyone that stayed on the ground, Ryder stumbled around in hopes of making contact with one of the shelves Kira's mentioned.

"Reishi..."

The sound of something crashing made her jump.

Ryder inhaled deeply, coughing a bit as she realized she maybe too eager to finally get her senses back.

The sound of the cemented doors opening followed by the pounding of Austin and Stiles' feet rushing in echoed in her ears as her heart beat slowed down a bit.

She could feel Austin's arms wrap around her as he whispered softly into her hair. She could feel his tears soaking the top of her hair as he rocked them side to side.

"Hey, Malia?"

The couple broke away from their hug, turning to see Malia handing Ryder a paper before she numbly exited the room.

Ryder could feel her anger slowly taking over as she looked down at what Malia handed her.

Malia Hale 4m

What made it worse was Stiles' handwriting in parentheses.

(Ryder's sister)

"What the fuck."

—
A/N: old cats that pee everywhere but the litter box will be the death of me—or them if pee ends up on another pair of my shoes 🤦🏾‍♀️😒
last part is a joke. i don't condone violence against animals :)