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Lacy here with our next Effie update. So, as you can see, there is no in between for season five and six. I tried to get something written, but everything felt forced. So I decided to leave well enough alone and just move onto the next season. This is Erased, Betrayed, Locked Away. This story is going to be different from all the others because, for most of the chapters, it'll be from Derek's point of view. Now, I don't want to spoil why, but it does have to do with Stiles being forgotten and the fact that Effie and Stiles are twins and bonded as Sparks. That's all I'm giving you. Read on!
Disclaimer: I own only Effie.
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It had been three months since anything went horribly wrong in Beacon Hills. And while Effie would love to say that she was happy about that, a feeling had settled over her in the last few weeks that told her the peace wouldn't last much longer. And Stiles shared the feeling. But the twins handled it very differently.
Effie was sketching almost non-stop. She wanted to be as prepared as possible and had been working more on calling forth her powers when she wanted. She'd learned in the last three months that when she got a reading from touching something, it was actually her magic reading residual energy left in a person's mind or in the aura around the person or object. It helped Effie focus her mind to know just what it was she was looking for.
Stiles, on the other hand, was dragging Scott all over town, sticking his nose into every police case he could pick up on his radio.
John, Effie and Derek had tried everything to keep Stiles away from police activity, but not even duck taping him to his chair worked. They still had no idea how he got out of that one.
So when he busted into the trailer Effie and Derek were staying in on the Hale property, to oversee the construction of the new house, and so Effie could ward it at night, neither blinked an eye. They were just glad they heard him coming this time. And were dressed.
"Impound." Stiles panted. Clearly he'd run. "Case. Smashed."
Derek looked at Effie. "Any idea?"
Effie held up her phone. "Text from Lydia. There's a car in impound with a smashed out windshield. Only the kid was found inside, parents are missing."
Derek frowned, flipping through Effie's sketch book. "This car?" he held up the sketch Effie had made three nights before.
Stiles grabbed the book. "Exactly this car." he flipped the page, showing a man on horseback with a gun. "And Scott saw this guy when looking through the kid's memories."
With a sigh, Effie stood and shoved her pencils and book into her bag. "I wanna see the kid first. See what I can get off him while Lydia checks out the car."
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The young boy, Alex, reminded Effie a great deal of Scott when they were all younger. Same floppy hair and intense eyes.
"Hey Alex," Effie sat before him in John's office. "I'm Effie, the sheriff's daughter and this is Derek," she motioned to the silent Hale behind her. "I know you've already been through a lot tonight, but we just wanna try one more thing to find your parents, okay?"
Alex nodded. "Anything to find them."
Derek pulled Effie's sketchbook and pencils out, squatting beside her with them in hand.
"Okay," Effie shifted in her chair. "I just need to touch you. A simple hand on the arm will do, but only if you're comfortable with it."
Alex nodded and pulled up his sleeve. "Uh, sure. But why?"
Effie smiled. "You'll see." Steadying herself, she reached out and laid her hand on Alex's exposed forearm. Eyes closed, she focused on anything lingering in Alex's mind or around his aura. Right away she could feel how afraid he was. How shaken by what he went through. Brief images filled Effie's mind and she reached for her sketchbook. Derek placed it in her hand and watched as she let go of Alex and started sketching. But the more she drew, the more frustrated she got. Her pencil strokes went from long and smooth to short and harsh.
"Ef," Derek put his hands over hers. "Stop."
Effie relaxed her grip on the pencil. "The more I try and draw what I saw, the more the images fade." she looked at Alex. "I wish I had more to help with."
"You tried." Alex said. "That's enough."
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Yearbook picture day. Another milestone signifying the end of senior year being one step closer. In a show of subtlety, and wanting to give her fellow shifters a laugh, Effie dressed in a loose, gray sweatshirt that slipped from one shoulder and had a wolf and fox entwined on the front. She tucked it into a pair of high waisted jeans, shrugged up the shoulder with her tattoo and smirked at the camera.
Lydia, who had been waiting for Effie to finish, was silently laughing as they walked away towards the table they left their stuff at.
"You are one of a kind, Effie Stilinski." Lydia said.
Effie laughed. "And I'm sure the world is thankful for that." The two pulled out their classwork as Scott joined them and they heard Stiles interrupting Malia's picture over and over again until she gave up.
"You ruined it." Malia said as they came to the table.
"Why would I want to ruin your yearbook photo?" Stiles asked.
"Maybe because you haven't signed up for your own photo yet?" Malia accused.
"Yes, I did." Stiles pulled a form from his pocket, showing it to them.
Effie looked over her shoulder and spoke with Malia. "It's blank."
Stiles frowned. "Uh,"
"Or maybe you're sublimating the stress of graduating by avoiding key milestones." Scott suddenly said. They all looked at him funny. "Psych paper."
That explained it.
"Hey," Stiles changed the subject. "The deputy searched the car. No slugs, no exit hole. And the address Alex gave my dad, it's an abandoned house." they just watched him. "Come on! Missing parents, suspicious guy on horseback, magic bullet. Who's comin' with?"
Even though she had drawn the car and the man on horseback, Effie was having a hard time finding a reason to ditch school. Stiles didn't look happy when she said so.
"I've got to retake my photos." Malia said.
"Yeah, not interested." Lydia declined.
"I cannot miss any more classes." Scott said.
"Scott," Stiles tried. "Scott,"
"I missed thirty-eight last semester." Scott explained. "And Lydia's mom is the only reason I'm still in school. I can go after school."
"You know what?" Stiles threw up his hands. "Forget it. I'll take Liam." They all turned and saw Liam. Or at least his body. His face was hidden by Hayden's. Or being swallowed by Hayden's. It was hard to tell. "Yeah, I'm not taking Liam."
"Hey," Sydney came over to them, her camera in hand. "Can I get a candid?"
"Uh, no." Stiles protested.
"Yeah, sure." Lydia and Scott grabbed Stiles and pulled him down between them. Effie turned, leaning between Malia's legs where she at on top of the table, and rested her arms on the coyote's thighs. She heard Stiles saying something about Scott explaining why something was blue, but ignored it in favor of looking at Sydney.
"Everyone smile." Sydney told them.
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Effie couldn't explain it, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus during history class. And not just because they were watching a documentary that John made his kids sit through at least a dozen times in their lives. Seriously, at one point the twins reenacted it while it was playing. John had not been amused.
Sitting behind Stiles, Effie found herself focusing on the tapping of her brother's thumb against his desk. She found her own pencil tapping out the same pattern on her notebook and before she knew it, she couldn't stop. The pencil moved around the entire page, over and over, tapping out little dots everywhere.
The bell ringing startled her out of her trance and she sat back with a gasp. Looking around, she saw Stiles and Scott were already gone, going to check Alex's address, and Lydia was standing motionless beside her desk.
Picking up her notebook, Effie moved to Lydia's side.
"Lyd," Effie touched the banshee on the arm. "Lydia."
Lydia gasped, looking at Effie. "Something's coming."
Effie held out her notebook. "I know." On the page, made entirely of little dots, was a rain storm. Stiles's face could just barely be seen through it. The rest of his body was vanishing within some kind of mist. "And it's coming for Stiles."
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Stiles wasn't his brother-in-law yet, but he was family. He was pack. And Derek was sick and tired of supernatural shit messing with his pack.
Pulling into the parking lot, he saw Effie, Lydia and Stiles running towards each other.
"Stiles!" he heard the girls shout.
"Lydia! Effie!" he grabbed them by the arms as Derek jogged over. "Derek. You know me. Oh thank god. You all know me."
"We do." Derek confirmed.
"But I think everybody else is forgetting." Lydia said.
Effie gripped her brother, panic running through her veins. No matter what, she was not going to forget her brother. Nothing could ever make her forget the one person who had been by her side since the moment they were born. All they'd been through, all they'd suffered, it was going to take a lot more than the Wild Hunt to make Effie forget.
'I will remember.' Effie swore to herself. 'No power in the natural or supernatural worlds can erase the memory of Mieczyslaw 'Stiles' Stilinski from my mind. I am a druidfox with the powers of a Spark, and I wish the Hunt luck taking him away from me.'
"Hey," Stiles pointed behind Lydia. "Do you see him?"
"See what?" Lydia asked as they looked around. Effie's eyes narrowed on a spot, but she couldn't see anything.
"The guy on the horse." Stiles explained.
"Stiles, if you can see him," Lydia looked at him. "They're gonna-"
"No, I know." Stiles stopped her. "I know. Okay. They're coming for me. So you have to get away from me right now, okay?"
"We're not leaving you!" Effie and Lydia protested.
Stiles turned to Derek. "Get my sister out of here." the alpha didn't move. "Derek, please."
Derek exhaled heavily, looking at Stiles for a long moment. "We will find you."
Stiles nodded, grabbing Lydia's hand. "Come on,"
Derek held Effie back as Stiles and Lydia ran.
"Stop!" Effie cried out. "Derek!"
"We'll find him." Derek swore. "The Wild Hunt will not get away with this."
"Stiles!" Effie screamed. "Stiles!"
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Minutes, maybe hours later, Effie fell from Derek's arms and onto her knees. She dropped her hands to the ground and pounded against it as she cried. Stiles was gone. She didn't have to go looking to know the Hunt had taken him. She felt the moment his presence left their world. Now she was just waiting for her memories to slip away and for her brother to fade from existence.
"Hey," Derek knelt beside her. "Tell me what's wrong."
Effie looked at him like he was insane. "Stiles is gone, Derek. My brother is gone."
Derek frowned. "Effie, what are you talking about? You don't have a brother."
Effie jerked back. "No, no,"
"Effie," Derek reached out. "Effie, what is it?"
"You forgot, too." Effie couldn't stop the tears flowing down her face. "It's only a matter of time until I forget, now."
Derek took her hand. "Forget wh-" he suddenly gasped, doubling over in pain.
"Derek!" Effie grabbed his shoulders. "Derek, breathe! What's wrong?"
Derek panted, lifting his head. His eyes were alpha red and he looked both distraught and angry.
"I remember." he said. "The moment I touched you, it all came back."
Effie stared. "You-" she thought of every memory she could with Stiles. None of them were fading or even hazy. "I still remember him. I haven't forgotten."
"Maybe you won't." Derek suggested. "You're twins, Sparks."
Effie swallowed. "Then you were right." the pair stood up, looking into the distance. "The Wild Hunt will not get away with this. We will get Stiles back."
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I'll be the first to admit, I hate when the show messes with Stiles. I think that's why this was so hard to write for Effie. That and any time something happens to her brother, she stops cooperating with me. Derek forgetting and then remembering once he touches Effie was planned from the moment the season premiered. And I have a very solid reason for why I decided to do that. But I'm not giving it away just yet. You'll see soon. For now, let me know what you think, flame policy, located at the bottom of my profile, stands and thanks so much for reading!
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