This is late because I am a host unto myself.

Chapter Twelve - The Sky Above or the Ground Below

Nora stepped out onto the curb, holding her shoes in one hand and her overnight bag in the other. The emergency sign at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital glowed an angry red above her.

She shut the door of Ben's car and turned to him. He was leaning against his car, braced against the doorframe.

He should leave.

Whatever happened next, whatever happened to Scott or Stiles or Lydia, Ben should not be there to see it. It looked like he could tell.

Something wound around her ribs, forcing Nora to fight for her breath. Was this her life now? Forcing people not to see the things she couldn't look away from?

She wanted to ask him to stay, to not have to walk into the hospital alone, to face whatever was inside with nothing but her heels in her hands.

"Thanks for the ride, Ben." Nora said, her voice was low.

He nodded, looking slowly between her and the hospital doors. Ben sighed.

"If you need me, let me know." He said.

Then, with very obvious reluctance, Ben got back into his car.

Nora watched him drive away, glancing back into his rearview mirror a few too many times. Her eyes burned and she turned to stare back up at the sign. Whatever this evening had been, Ben didn't have much of a place in it anymore.

Nora strode towards the doors, unsure how much of a difference it made that she knew the truth about Beacon Hills either.

It didn't take long for Nora to figure out where Lydia was all she had to do was follow the trail of Sheriff's deputies. She stepped out of an elevator and into a waiting room. Her eyes fell on the first hospital room she could see, and Lydia, lying still in the bed. There was nothing to indicate she was alive except for the heart monitor that said she was.

Nora's stomach lurched.

She glanced at Sheriff Stilinski and Jackson, who was backed up against a wall.

"Don't lie to me son!" The Sheriff shouted.

Jackson opened his mouth to say something, but Noah clearly didn't want to hear it. He seized him by his collar and shoved him harder against the wall.

"What happened to her?" He asked.

"This isn't my fault!" Jackson said, glancing at her, something desperate written all over his face.

Nora didn't care.

"She's your girlfriend that's your responsibility!"

Nora wasn't sure about that.

"She's not, okay?" Jackson spat out. "She didn't go to the formal with me."

"Then who'd she go with?" The Sheriff asked.

"Do you really wanna know?" Jackson asked him, some of his infuriating arrogance coming back to him.

"She went with Stiles." Nora said before Jackson could.

Noah turned to her, still keeping his hold on Jackson.

"What?" He asked

"Stiles took her." Jackson told him.

Noah let him go and looked back at Nora.

"Where is he?" He asked her.

"I don't know." Nora said flatly, forcing down the terror she felt as she said those words.

She couldn't say that she knew he didn't do this, that whoever did probably had him, because how would she explain something she couldn't prove?

"You don't know?" Noah pressed, incredulous.

Nora couldn't help but scoff.

"We aren't exactly close anymore Sheriff." She snapped, stepping past him to join Jackson at the window into Lydia's room.

Noah didn't say anything else, and Nora ignored the pang of guilt in her chest. She used to call Stiles' father by his name. She listened as his footsteps disappeared down the hall, the other deputies with him. She turned back to Jackson, her heartbeat roaring in her ears.

Jackson was already looking at her, his eyes glazed over with tears. He was terrified, and Nora would admit that she was to. But she was terrified for Scott, and who had put Chris Argent on his trail?

For a still moment she and Jackson were staring at each other. Thoughts raced through her head, she caught pieces of them, things she could say that might hurt Jackson, that might make him feel a fraction of what she felt.

Nora came up empty.

There was one thing that might put her rage quite eloquently. And before she could think better of it, Nora let her shoes tumble from her right hand and she slapped Jackson across the face, hard. The sound was soap opera worthy, but lost under the bustle of doctors and nurses. Nora's palm stung, and she would have rather punched him, but she wasn't breaking fingers on Jackson Whittemore's hopeless looking face.

Without another glance at him, Nora picked up her shoes and set off to find a bathroom.

Nora got changed in a cramped stall, nearly screaming every time the fluorescent light above her head flickered. She hated them. Though right now, Nora couldn't think about much she didn't hate.

She hated Lydia for going looking for a boy who as far as she knew, didn't want her.

She hated Allison for either being naive to what her family was doing, or too weak to do anything to stop them.

She hated Jackson for being unable to grasp how he could hurt other people, or for not caring.

She hated Stiles for the same thing.

She hated Scott for relentlessly trying to protect everyone.

And Nora hated herself for how useless her anger was, for how useless she was.

Hatred didn't suit her, rage didn't suit her, and she didn't think either feeling had much of a purpose. But she felt them, she felt them writhing underneath her skin and clouding the thoughts in her head.

Just leave, you can't do anything.

She yanked her t-shirt on over her head, her carefully done hair.

Find Jackson and hit him again.

She tugged on her jeans.

Scott can take care of himself.

She fought to get her socks and sneakers onto her feet.

Stiles doesn't deserve your worry.

Nora repacked her bag, neatly folding her dress and placing it inside. She stepped out of the stall, facing the mirrors opposite to her.

What would happen if she just went home?

She stared into the mirror, exchanging a cold look with herself. She was powerless, or at least she felt like it.

So?

Didn't everyone feel that way?

Nora picked up her bag and strode back out into the waiting room; Jackson was nowhere to be seen. Standing at Lydia's window was Allison, the only still figure in the bustling hallway. She stood out, but maybe only to Nora.

She watched Allison place her hand on the glass. Nora came up beside her.

"Do you know?" Nora asked quietly.

Allison turned to Nora, a look on her face like she was seeing her for the first time.

"You did?" She asked.

Nora nodded and looked back to Lydia, unable to see her without seeing her lying on the field wet with her own blood.

Footsteps came up behind them; Nora could have guessed who it was before she looked. It was Kate Argent, looking almost smug.

"Do you get it now?" She asked, her eyes on Allison. "This is what they do."

For a moment Nora thought about disagreeing, at making a last ditch effort at changing Allison's mind, hell, saving her soul. She thought better of it.

"And they can't help it." Kate added, looking at Nora now, studying her.

Allison shook her head slightly, turning around to look at her aunt, just as wide eyed as ever.

"All of them?" She asked.

Nora seized the memory of Scott chained to his radiator and screaming at Stiles.

"Yes, Allison." Kate told her. "Even Scott."

Nora felt Allison look at her, she kept her eyes on Kate and her jaw set into a hard line.

"You haven't seen him like I have." Nora said, the words came easily.

It was true, Allison didn't know Scott like she did. Nora knew Scott would never hurt anyone, not on purpose. Allison didn't. Allison was being made to believe otherwise, and Nora was helping.

"Who's the alpha?" Kate asked her.

Now she had to lie.

"Scott and Stiles wouldn't tell me." Nora said, forcing a hard edge into her voice. "They said they wanted to keep me safe."

"Boys." Kate said with an eye roll.

So that was how Kate did it, she was friendly and relatable Aunt Kate, the closest thing to a best friend Allison probably had.

Nora looked back at Lydia, who she did like, but not enough to kill for.

"I don't care who it is." She said. "I want it dead."

Kate considered her for a moment. Her eyes flicked between Allison, who couldn't tear her eyes away from the floor and Nora, who was trying her hardest to look furiously determined.

Kate put a hand on both of their backs and started to lead them towards the doors.

"I think I can help you with that." Kate said.

Stiles sprinted into the elevator, nearly careening into the two nurses inside as he forced himself through the doors. Both of them pretended not to notice him. It was a nice attempt at perceiving his dignity, but Stiles couldn't care less.

He'd left Lydia bloody on the field.

He'd left Nora with no idea what was happening, and hopefully it had stayed that way.

Stiles shot out of the elevator and right into his father. He caught him by the shoulders as Stiles tried to race for Lydia's room.

"It's a good thing we're in a hospital because I'm gonna kill you." His dad hissed.

Stiles could barely hear him over his heart pounding in his head. He could see Lydia. She was alive. She would be okay. Wouldn't she?

Fuck.

"I'm sorry- I lost the keys to my jeep." Stiles choked out through the tightness in his throat. "I had to run all the way here-"

"Stiles!" His dad shouted, cutting him off. "I don't care!"

He wasn't surprised. Something had happened to Lydia, but no one could tell his dad what. Stiles wished he could.

"Is she gonna be okay?" He asked weakly, peering past his father to Lydia's pale face and to Natalie Martin at her bedside.

His father turned and sighed.

"They don't know." He said. "Partially because they don't know what happened. She lost a lot of blood but there's something else going on with her." His dad explained.

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked.

"The doctors say it's like she's having an allergic reaction, her body keeps going into shock." He said.

Stiles looked down at the floor. If Lydia wasn't turning she was dying, her body was fighting the bite.

"Did you see anything?" His dad asked. "Would you have any idea who or what attacked her?"

Stiles looked up at him, the words on the edge of his tongue. He could just say it; he could spill everything and hope that his father believed him. But if he did, what could his dad do? He'd feel like he had to go after Peter Hale and the Argents, and Stiles couldn't put his dad in that kind of danger.

Though he could put himself in it just fine.

"No." he lied. "No, I have no idea."

His father didn't look surprised.

"What about Scott?" He asked.

Had something happened to Scott?

Stiles couldn't think about that right now.

"What do you mean? What about him?"

"Did he see anything?" His dad pressed.

Stiles stared at him, Jackson caught his eye. Jackson, the hopeless bastard who had told Chris Argent about Scott.

"What? Is here not here?" He spat out.

His dad frowned.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, gesturing vaguely towards the doors. "I've been calling him on his cellphone and I've gotten no response. The only one of your friends I've seen is Nora and I have no idea where she went." He said.

Stiles looked over at Jackson, who shrugged at him. There was an angry red mark on his face. Stiles looked back at his dad. His heart fell into his stomach.

"What about Nora? Where'd she go?" He asked, starting to wrestle his phone out of his pocket.

With a sigh his dad started out of the room, but Stiles followed him.

Knowing Nora, she'd gone and done something stupid.

It also looked like she might have hit Jackson.

His dad put his hand on his shoulder, steering him back towards the waiting room.

"Stiles, listen just go wait with your friends." he said. "Alright?"

Stiles wanted to scream at him that he didn't know where any of his friends were, but he couldn't find any words.

At best Nora was at home worrying herself sick.

At best Scott was not impaled by an arrow.

Stiles doubted that either of them were experiencing their best case scenarios.

"Dad tell me, you know it has something to do with Derek." He pushed, picking up a conversation that he had his father had been having for days.

"Hey dad what's up with the animal attacks?" "Stiles, go to school."

His father glanced around, eyeing a group of nearby doctors.

"I thought you two said you barely knew him." He said.

Stiles was tempted just to shrug and say "I've been lying to you about everything, all the time, for weeks."

"We might know him a little better than that." He admitted.

Glancing back at the doctors, then to him, his dad grabbed by the back of his neck, like he might a cat.

"You do realize I'm elected to this job? Right?" He said, walking them further down the hallway.

"And that if I help you figure this out you'll be reelected." Stiles offered.

And I won't feel like I'm sitting around waiting for my friends to get themselves killed or, by some fucking miracle, not do that.

"Am I right?" Stiles continued. "Dad, come on."

He held his father's gaze. They were keeping things from each other, and they both knew it. His father looked back down the hall.

"That girl in here has nothing to do with a six year old arson case." He muttered.

Stiles felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on him.

"When did you decide it was definitely arson?" He asked.

His dad gave him a look that very clearly said "keep your stupid voice down" as a nurse strode past.

"Well, we got a key witness." He said. "And no, I'm not telling you who it is. But yeah, we know its arson."

Stiles kept quiet, knowing that if he did, his dad would keep talking. They shared that quality, if no one shut them up, they wouldn't shut up.

"And it was probably organized by a young woman."

"What young woman?" Stiles asked before he could stop himself.

He could only think of one woman he knew who might burn down a house full of innocent people, and she was the same one who'd shot Derek.

"If I knew that she'd be in jail." His dad said.

"Was she young then, or is she young now?" Stiles pressed.

How old was Kate Argent? If she and Allison were close, she couldn't be much older than thirty, could she?

"She's probably in her late twenties." His dad told him, picking up his phone as it rang.

"You don't know her name?" Stiles kept going, his dad had to know more, he always knew more.

"What is this? Twenty questions?" He said. "All we know is that she had a very distinct uh- what do you call it? A pendant." He told him.

"What the hell is a pendant?" Stiles asked.

"Stiles do you go to school?" His father was incredulous, gesturing at his neck. "A pendant, it's a necklace! Now can I answer the phone?" He asked him.

Stiles let his dad walk away and ran his hands over his head. It was Kate Argent, it had to be.

Stiles looked down at his phone, forcing his shaking fingers to dial Nora. Her phone rang once before being sent straight to voicemail. She had hung up on him.

Nora had hung up on him.

Even when they weren't speaking, when Stiles was calling her desperately hoping she'd pick up, she had never hung up on him.

The dread Stiles had been fighting crept up his spine in full force. His phone rang, it was her.

"Hey, where the hell are you?" He said, not caring to hide how desperate he sounded.

"What? Do you care all of a sudden?" She snapped.

What the fuck?

"Nora, what the fuck-"

"Stiles, I'm sick of this bullshit with you and Scott? Okay? So if you're going to listen, you can do it now or I'm hanging up on you again." She said.

Stiles stared at the wall in front of him. His heart was beating wildly in his chest. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Stiles tried to imagine Nora standing in front of him, saying those words. He couldn't. He felt pinned, pinned by her gaze even though she wasn't there, pinned by the countless things he wished he could do or say but couldn't.

What the hell was happening?

"Are you listening?" She spat.

"Yes." Stiles said, his voice was barely a whisper.

"Tell me who the alpha is." Nora said. "Because he's going to pick it over us, over everyone. We need to know who it is and where to find it, no more of this "protecting me" bullshit. I can take care of myself."

Stiles' heart hammered against his ribs.

"Stiles, you're supposed to be smart." Nora continued. "You can't help Scott, but you can help me."

Nora had left the hospital, and Stiles was getting a good idea about with whom.

"It's Peter Hale, and he's going to his house." He told her. "He's trying to find the sociopathic bitch that burned it down."

Nora hung up.

Stiles could have hurled his phone at the wall. He wanted to scream. He wanted to rip his hair right out of his skull. Lydia was dying. Scott was being hunted by Argents. Jackson was in the room next door. Nora was with Kate. And Stiles didn't know what he could do about any of it, but he had to do something and at least he knew where to look.

Nora slipped her phone back into her pocket, careful to hide the tremor in her hands. She hadn't wanted to call Stiles back, but Kate had asked. Really, Kate had told her to. Now Stiles would probably come to the Hale House, the last place either of them should be. It was too late for Nora to do anything about it now. She was in the back seat of Kate Argent's car, dividing her attention between the murderer who was driving, and the silent girl beside her. Allison was probably thinking about Scott, about how if Nora believed he was a monster, than it had to be true.

They turned off the road and into the woods, Kate stopping the car close to the clearing where the Hale House stood. Nora knew she was around the same place where she'd parked to save Jackson. Maybe this time, she'd actually get shot.

Something cold crept through her veins as she stepped out of the car and Kate popped the truck, revealing enough weaponry for a small army.

Kate could shoot her, and if Nora had her way, Kate would want to.

Kate handed Allison her bow and held out something like a cattle prod to Nora. She took it without a word, listening as Kate explained that using the prod was as simple as flicking the switch on the side. Kate didn't grab anything from the trunk, but Nora didn't ask. She was probably already armed.

Kate led the way into the forest. Nora fell into step beside Allison, trying to read her still face. Kate had said they had come to catch Scott and Derek. Nora doubted it. If Stiles was right, Kate had burned the Hale family alive. Nora wasn't going to let herself think she wouldn't finish the job.

They stopped on the edge of the clearing, watching two shadows move through the dark. Kate leaned close to Allison, and Allison drew back her bow and fired. The larger of the two shadows, probably Derek, fell to the ground. The other one was still, watching them, peering across the clearing at Allison.

Scott.

It took every bit of will Nora had not to scream his name.

He was frozen as Allison fired another arrow, this time into Derek's leg.

Then she realized Scott wasn't only seeing Allison there with a weapon pointed his way, he was seeing her to.

Allison fired a flash arrow, and Scott fell to the ground.

Derek seized Scott, trying to pull him towards the house.

"Natural talent." Nora heard Kate say to Allison as she stood up, crossing the clearing to the two werewolves.

Allison followed her aunt, wearing the same look of grim determination that Nora had forced on herself earlier. Except Allison's didn't seem faked.

Fuck.

Derek collapsed on the ground, screaming at Scott to go. Scott didn't move.

"Allison I can explain." He said, his eyes flicking between the two of them.

"Stop." Allison said. "Stop lying."

Nora's fingers hovered over the switch of the cattle prod; she wondered what this would do to a person, to someone who couldn't heal like Scott could.

"For once stop lying." Allison continued as she strode towards him.

Nora wanted to scream. He had been lying to keep her out of this bullshit, to do the one thing for her that her family never would have.

"I was gonna tell you the truth at the formal." Scott said. "I was gonna tell you everything. Everything that I said, everything that I did-"

"was to protect me." Allison cut him off.

"Yes." Scott told her, looking up at Allison with wide eyes.

"I don't believe you." Allison said.

Nora stared at Scott, forcing herself to look at him while he looked back at her, a question all over his face.

He'd know the answer soon, Nora hoped.

"Oh thank god." Kate moaned, walking lazily towards them. "Now shoot him before I have to shoot myself."

There it was.

"You- you said we were just gonna catch them." Allison said, looking at Kate with the same doe eyed looked she'd had when she said that Jackson was better than he seemed.

"We did that." Kate said. "Now we're gonna kill them." She pulled a gun from her side and shot Derek with a shrug. "See? Not that hard."

She walked over to them, standing over Scott.

"Oh no." She said, looking at Allison's shocked face. "I know that look, that's the 'you're gonna have to do it yourself look."

She aimed her gun at Scott.

"Kate? Kate? What are you doing?" Allison asked.

Nora didn't give Kate a chance to answer. She flicked the switch on the cattle prod and drove it underneath Kate's jacket, making sure to make contact with skin. Kate fell to the ground writhing. Nora stepped over her jerking body without a glance, keeping her finger on the switch; she held the baton up to Allison, only inches from her face.

Allison didn't move, her eyes were on her aunt, who had now gone still. She looked at Nora, almost like she was sorry, like she hadn't meant to do any of this.

Nora didn't care.

Kate let out a low moan.

"Nora?" Scott said.

She didn't look at him; she just stood between him and Allison and had no plans on moving.

"You think you love Scott?" Nora snapped, taking a small step towards Allison, tightening her grip on the cattle prod. "Not like I do."

"I-" Allison began but stopped, she just stared at Nora.

The mask of rage Nora had worn earlier was gone, replaced with something real, and something cold had settled into her chest.

"Whatever you're going to say, I don't believe you." Nora said, surprised at the edge in her own voice.

For a moment she wondered if the Allison Nora had met at the beginning of the semester would recognize the Allison she was now. For that girl, archery had probably just been a hobby.

Nora wondered the same thing about herself. If someone had told her three months ago she'd find herself in the woods, threatening a girl's life for Scott, would she have believed them?

Honestly, she probably would have.

A gun clicked behind her.

"I didn't think you had the guts." Kate said.

She almost sounded impressed. Nora knew she would be, if her cattle prod was pointed at someone else. If she wasn't standing between Kate and her prey.

"Kate!" A man's voice cut through the woods.

Nora turned around to see Kate on her feet and pointing a gun at her, barely a few feet away. Chris Argent stepped into the dim light of the clearing.

"I know what you did." He said. "Put the gun down."

There was an authority in his voice that Nora would have obeyed, but Kate was past that.

She looked back at the gun, pointed squarely at her chest. She could die.

Even when she had been locked in the school hiding from the alpha, Nora had believed she could die.

Even when Derek and Peter had been tearing at each other in the hospital, Nora had believed she could die.

Maybe it was because none of it seemed real, werewolves couldn't kill her, and it was hard to believe they existed at all. The thin line between what was real and not real had still been protecting her. Other people had gotten hurt, but not her.

A gun was different. Cold, hard metal met cold, hard reality. Kate Argent could kill her with the squeeze of a finger.

"I did what I was told to do." Kate said, her voice was low, almost petulant, a girl defending her choices to her big brother.

Nora wanted to be sick.

"No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in that house, ones who were human!" He said, looking pointedly at Nora. "Look what you're doing now, you're holding a gun at a sixteen year old girl, and a boy, with no proof he's spilt human blood!"

Nora was fifteen. She wouldn't be sixteen until May. She might not ever be sixteen.

"We go by the code." Chris said, before saying something in French.

"We hunt those who hunt us." Allison whispered.

Nora realized she was still holding the cattle prod up to Allison's face. She looked back to Kate, holding her gaze. Nora wasn't going to move. She wasn't going to lower her arm. She wasn't going to step out of the way of Scott.

"Put the gun down." Chris said again, raising his own gun at his sister.

A shot rang out. A bullet zipped through the small space between Nora and Kate and burrowed into a tree.

"Before I put you down." Chris finished.

Kate lowered her weapon.

Nora let out a shaking breath.

The front door of the Hale House creaked open.

"Allison, Nora get back." Chris said.

Nora didn't need to be asked twice.

"What is it?" Allison asked.

"It's the fucking Pope, Allison." Nora hissed.

"It's the Alpha." Scott said.

Nora watched his fingers curl into claws, and Allison drew her bow.

A shadow whipped out of the house, Peter Hale, moving so fast he was a blur. Chris Argent was thrown to the ground. Allison was next, her bow falling. She watched as Scott's feet were pulled out from under him. Nora tried to brace herself. Painfully, he seized her by the ankle and threw her down like a ragdoll. The air was forced out of Nora's lungs as she hit the ground. Her whole body ached, but she wasn't dead.

The cattle prod had flung from her head as she fell. Nora scrambled for it, black dots clouding her vision as she did. She could hear Kate taunting Peter.

She wondered if he'd kill her quickly, or make it slow.

Her eyes flicked to Derek, still limp on the ground. Could that bullet really have killed him? It didn't seem likely. But if he wanted to play dead and pretend none of this was happening Nora wasn't sure she could blame him.

Gunshots went off, each of them felt like it was splitting Nora's head in two.

If she had a concussion, she was going to be pissed.

Kate let out a scream. Nora rolled over in time to watch Peter drag her inside the house.

"No!" Allison screamed, forcing herself to her feet and racing after them.

It was that sort of brazen stupidity that Nora knew she'd be a hypocrite for chastising Allison for. But she wasn't going in after her.

Nora crawled to Scott's side.

"Allison." He said, turning to the house.

Nora grabbed Scott's shoulder, trying to keep him where he was.

"Scott forget her." She said, her head pounding with every move. "She would have shot you, Scott."

Scott stood up.

"I can't let him kill her." He said and raced up the broken stairs into the house.

Nora stayed on the ground, her jeans wet with mud and leaves. Her head spun.

"I can't let her kill you." Nora said even though she knew Scott wasn't there to hear her. It was more like a promise to herself, to anything that was listening, to whatever was beyond the stars over her head or under the ground.

Stiles had always wanted to drive a car like Jackson's. But careening towards the Hale House in the dead of night, armed with nothing but a few Molotov cocktails, with all of his friends' lives in danger, was not part of the fantasy.

"This isn't exactly an all-terrain vehicle." Jackson protested as Stiles accelerated even more down the dirt roads of the preserve.

He wondered if Jackson had given Nora this much shit.

"Yeah? Did you pay for it?" Stiles asked him.'

"No." Jackson sighed.

Stiles had expected as much. Jackson didn't seem like he had ever paid for anything.

"Then shut up." Stiles snapped.

To his surprise, Jackson did, at least for a moment.

"Do you think they're dead?" He asked flatly.

Stiles debated veering the car into a tree, but that would probably kill him as well as Jackson. And if there was one person Stiles didn't want to die beside, it was Jackson fucking Whittemore.

Stiles didn't say anything, he just kept driving. He couldn't explain to Jackson that he hadn't stopped imagining what might have happened at the Hale House while they were googling how to make a Molotov cocktail. Everyone was dead. No one was dead. Peter had convinced Scott to kill the Argents. Kate had convinced Allison to kill Scott.

But no matter what he imagined, Stiles could figure out how Nora would fit. She wasn't a hunter or a werewolf, and neither was he. So what place did they have in any of this? Other than not wanting to see his best friend impaled by an arrow, Stiles didn't care what happened. Maybe he should want to save everyone.

But he'd settle for Nora and Scott.

They pulled into the clearing; Stiles hurled himself out of the car before it had really stopped. He threw one of the beakers towards the Alpha as hard as he could.

Peter caught it.

For a moment, Stiles was sure the world stood still.

Nora was on her hands and knees next to Allison's dad, squinting at him, almost like she couldn't believe he was there.

Peter roared. Stiles reeled back.

"Allison!" Scott screamed, diving for her bow on the ground.

In a flurry of movement, Allison notched an arrow like she'd done it a million times before, and fired. The beaker exploded, and flames crawled up Peter's arm. He screamed, in pain or fury, Stiles couldn't tell. Jackson threw the other beaker, and it hit Peter square in the chest.

Peter moved towards Allison, Scott forced him back.

Stiles looked back at Nora, who was shielding her eyes from the fire.

Peter shrunk, shifting back into his human self. He fell to his knees.

Stiles choked at the smell of burning flesh, gagging as Peter collapsed backwards. Without another glance at him, Stiles sprinted across the clearing to Nora.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Nora glanced at him, her eyes almost colourless in the dark. She looked back at Allison.

"If I ever trust her, do me a favour and shoot me." She said, leaning back against him.

Stiles looked over at Allison. She was kneeling in front of Scott, and they were kissing. Nora gestured weakly towards them.

"Like, it's really not the time." She muttered.

Stiles scoffed, watching Scott and Allison. Nora looked away from them. She shot to her feet and almost toppled over. Stiles stood up and looped one of his arms around her. But Nora wasn't paying any attention to him. Her eyes were on Peter, and the figure stalking towards him.

It was Derek.

Derek stood over Peter, somehow still clinging to life. Scott ran towards them.

"Wait!" He shouted. "You said the cure comes from the one who bit you! Derek, if you do this, I'm dead. Her father, her family- what am I supposed to do?"

Stiles' heart crawled up into his throat and Nora, Nora actually started laughing, low and pained. But she was laughing.

"There was never a cure was there?" She said, her voice weak and wavering, still carried across the clearing. "We should have let you die."

Derek answered her by raising a clawed hand and bringing it down across Peter's throat. Scott was still screaming at him not to do it. Nora slumped against him, kicking her toes into the dirt. Derek turned to face them, his eyes glowing red.

"I'm the alpha now." He said.

Stiles watched numbly as Derek turned and strode into the woods, Scott staring desperately at his back.

Nora crept into her room close to dawn. After she'd piled into the Porsche with Stiles, Jackson and Scott. After she'd let a nurse make sure wasn't going to have a hematoma. After she'd thrown up in the hospital bathroom until there was nothing left in her stomach but bile.

She could still smell Peter's burning flesh.

She could still see Kate's gun pointed at her heart.

Nora wrestled off her jacket and jeans and collapsed onto her bed. Peter Hale was dead, but now it felt like they had a million more problems that Nora couldn't quite name.

Derek was an alpha. A few weeks ago, Nora didn't think she would have cared. She would have assumed he would go be lonely in his decrepit house in the woods, just with red eyes. Now, whatever version of him, a friendlier one, they'd known was gone.

Lydia was clinging to life, not turning or dying. Nora didn't want to know if there was another option or what it was.

Allison was grieving now. Whoever Kate had really been, she'd been someone else to Allison. Nora wondered what would happen to her; she supposed she'd have to find out.

Stiles was Stiles. He was still a tangled mess of feelings and memories and the want for things to be right again, now more than ever. She would sort it out. The breakup was a dull ache now, a painful memory. But Nora could never look at him the way she had before, not again. Not being in love with him wasn't enough; she had to trust him again. She did with some things. She'd trusted him to understand that phone call.

Nora ran her fingers as best as she could through her tangled hair.

Maybe they're whole relationship had been a mistake. Maybe it was never meant to be. But it felt like it had, it had felt right. It had felt like everything Nora could ever want.

But it hadn't been.

She reached for the water bottle that sat on her bedside table, knocking off an envelope as she did. Nora bent down and picked it up. She knew that Isabelle like to bring in the mail and put it where it was supposed to be. Bullshit in the garbage, bills in their father's office, cards in the living room, letters to whom they were addressed. But Nora never got mail. The handwriting on the envelope was familiar, a lot like her Aunt Lily's. The return address was in Encinitas, but it wasn't her Aunt's home.

Nora put her head in her hands, and let the envelope flutter back to the floor.

Her mother had sent her a letter.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE HERE PLEASE READ

Per usual, feedback is appreciated, however, i have some unfortunate news. I think I have hinted at this a bit but I spend my summers in the woods with no internet connection so there's going to be a bit of a wait before I get to season 2. Because I am moving halfway across my country (Canada) to move to university at the end of August, and want some time to adjust, I'm thinking that mid to late September is the current return date for this story. I'm not pleased, I'd write all summer if I could, but I can't so… I hope you'll all be able to forgive me by the time I do get to season two because I have some interesting stuff in mind. I know people are wanting to have an idea of who Nora will end up with romantically and I'm telling you guys right now, I don't think season two is going to be the time when we find that out. (I don't think, haven't written it yet so..) Nora is going to have some other priorities (no, not just her mother). Anyway, I'm very excited to come back to this story and I think that taking this break might actually be good for it. I want to thank everyone for all of the support and I'm so happy that people have been enjoying Nora and her story, it's not over yet :)

Also there will be other POVs in the next part, I'm pretty sure so stay tuned for that ;)