Disclaimer: Don't own TW. Only my OC: Zarina.

I didn't sleep that night. When the sun rose, I was still sitting in the same position, laying face up on my bed, covers strewn about around me. I raised a hand to cover my eyes from the sun's rays and shifted on the bed slightly. Boyd was gone. I couldn't even cry anymore. I'd spent literally the entire night doing so, even when Stiles insisted that I stop.

My brother was at work, and for once I was grateful for his extremely long shifts. I didn't want him to see me like that. He'd ask questions that I couldn't answer no matter how badly I wanted to. Then I'd have to pretend that I was okay and I knew that'd be unconvincing. All I could think of was Boyd' bloody body. So drained of the life he was just beginning to get back.

It could've been hours or minutes, but my door burst open and I sat up on my bed to find Stiles standing in the doorway with my favorite ice cream. He had a small smile on his face as he held up the cartons.

"Thought you might need some company," he said.

I nodded and he set the ice cream down on my bedside table before kneeling in between my legs, examining my face in concern.

"Did you sleep at all?" I shook my head. "Zarina…"

"I'm just tired of seeing people die," I confessed.

"Me too," he agreed. "But in order to stop more people from dying, we have to figure this out."

"I know," I sighed. "You're right. It's just getting really hard to deal with this on my own."

"You're not on your own. I'm here," Stiles argued.

"You've always been there," I smiled lightly.

"And that's how it's going to stay," he concluded, grinning. "Whether you want it or not."

The window behind us started to open and I shot to my feet, turning to it. Isaac emerged from the open window and I felt relief fill me; at least it wasn't a burglar. Isaac looked up at us and raised an eyebrow, staring pointedly at Stiles and I coughed.

"Uh, Stiles, you should wait downstairs," I turned to him and he was about to protest but I cut him off. "It's okay. We just need to talk. I'll be fine."

He pursed his lips and sent a glare in Isaac's direction before walking out my door and shutting it. Isaac and I sat on the edge of my bed and silence blanketed the room.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, glancing over at his face. "I mean, after Boyd…y'know."

"I should be asking you that," he let out a puff of air. "You're the one looking like you haven't slept all night."

"It was just a bad night," I told him. "But I'm assuming that's not what you're here to talk about, though."

He shook his head. "No, not really. I just thought we should talk about us."

"What about us?" I brushed hair behind my ear, already anticipating his next words.

"We should probably go back to being just friends."

There it was. I'd been waiting for those words to leave his mouth since we started going downhill. Somehow, it stung more than I thought it would. I couldn't cry, but I felt a strange sense of anger flow through me.

"It's funny, I thought you'd actually fight for me," I laughed humorlessly. "Still, I knew this was going to happen, so I don't even know why I feel so bad. Like someone punched a hole through my heart."

"It's okay to feel heartbroken," he muttered. "You act like this is easy for me to do."

"That's probably because it is, Isaac," I shot back. "You said that like it was asking me what I wanted for Christmas."

"Well how do you want me to say it?" he retorted. "Sorry, but I don't love you the same way, so we should probably just stop being together? Is that what you want me to say?"

"If that's what you feel, then yes!" I burst out. "You know what, you're right. We should be friends. Because at this point, if you still can't even tell me what you really feel, then this relationship had no depth at all."

"You know I'll always love you," he said, calmer.

"Just not enough to stay," I replied. "I get it, Isaac. I shouldn't have gotten mad, I'm sorry."

"So am I," he agreed slowly. "What happened to us?"

"I wish I knew," I looked down at my hands sadly.

Isaac lifted my face and placed one last chaste kiss on my lips. We pulled away slowly and I looked up at him. He had tears shining in his eyes.

"So this is it," I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Yeah, it is," Isaac said softly. "I really do love you, you know."

He kissed my forehead and went towards the still open window, looking back at me sadly before jumping out of it. I emotionlessly went to my door and opened it. Stiles stumbled into my room, having had his ear on the door the whole time.

"I was not listening," he started nervously, but then noticed my tear-filled eyes. "Aw, ZZ." I looked up at him and my lip quivered.

"I think I could use that ice cream now," I suggested weakly. "And a lot of chick flicks."

Stiles chuckled lightly and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Anything for you."

Stiles and I were driving to the school a few nights later. Lydia had texted me saying to meet her at the school and that she may have found a dead body. At first I was reluctant to find another person dead. I didn't know if I could do it, but I swallowed my fear and immediately called Stiles with the new information.

We parked next to Scott's bike and hurried to where we saw Lydia standing with Allison. She looked shaken up.

"Lydia?" I started cautiously.

"It's the same thing. The same thing as the pool. I got into the car heading somewhere completely different, and ended up here," she motioned to the school. "And you told me to call you if there was a dead body." She looked at Stiles.

"You found a dead body?" he questioned.

"Not yet."

"Not yet? What do you mean 'not yet'? Lydia, you're supposed to call us after you find the dead body," Stiles reminded her.

"Oh no, I'm not doing that again," she shook her head, reluctant.

"How are we supposed to find the body?" I pitched in. "I'm completely out of commission and you're the only one who's capable of doing this right now."

"Guys, I found the dead body," Scott spoke up and we looked over to where he was staring.

A deputy was dead and hanging on the 'Beacon Hills High School' sign. Another person I had to find dead. Another person we couldn't save. It made me sick.

"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes. All tools the writers use to tell their story," Ms. Blake lectured, walking down the aisles between the seats. She walked up behind Lydia, who was absently drawing on her paper. "Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."

"You and ever guy I've ever dated," she snorted. I forced down the smile on my face as the teacher shrugged.

"Um, well, that was an idiom, by the way," Ms. Blake pointed out and Lydia didn't look very impressed. She continued to walk around the class and I saw her give Scott and Stiles a meaningful look.

"Idioms are something of a secret to the people who knew the language or the culture. There are phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying 'jump the gun' is meaningful only if you know about a starting gun in a race, or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board'," she explained.

Ms. Blake looked over at me and as she did so, I felt a kind of darkness gather behind my eyes, where I usually felt the burning when I used my powers. It was like the darkness was blocking things out. She looked away and the feeling disappeared, though I was more aware of the thin veil of darkness that lingered in that area.

"Like chess," Stiles murmured and she brightened.

"That's right Stiles. Do you play?"

"Oh, no, but my father does," he shook his head. I knew he wouldn't be able to sit through that game with his ADHD. Hell, I was perfectly fine and I couldn't even sit through an entire chess game.

"Now when does an idiom become a cliché?" Ms. Blake continued, but Scott caught Stiles and I's attentions.

"I think I can get to Ethan. I'm pretty sure I can make him talk."

"Maybe we should just hurt them. Slowly," I suggested, still furious that they'd killed Boyd.

"We're not killing anybody," Scott hissed. "We don't want anymore blood to be shed."

"What do you even want to talk to him about?" Stiles questioned.

"The druids are emissaries, right? So what if the Darach was an emissary to the Alphas?"

"Okay, first of all, I can' believe that we've gotten to a point where a sentence like 'what if the Darach was an emissary to the alphas?' actually makes sense to me," Stiles said sarcastically. "Second of all, we're going to have a huge problem getting to Ethan."

"What's that?" Scott raised a brow.

"Getting through Aiden," I answered for him. "Since they've been back to school, they're attached at the hip. Danny can't even get to him. I don't think it's possible to separate them, unless…"

I trailed off and looked back at Lydia slowly. Scott and Stiles understood and followed my lead. When she noticed us, she sighed in irritation.

"What now?"

"Why are you even talking to me?" Ethan groaned. Scott was directly in front of him while Stiles and I hung back. "I helped kill your friend, how do you know I'm not going to help kill the other two?"

Stiles scoffed as he turned to us. "Is he looking at us? Are you threatening Zarina? Okay, you know what I'm going to do if you even touch her? I'm going to break off an extra large branch of mountain ash," he inched closer to the Alpha, "wrap it in wolfsbane, roll it in mistletoe, and shove it up your freaking a-"

"Stiles!" I put my hand on his chest and pushed him backwards. "We get it. Point made."

"We're talking to you because I don't think you wanted to kill Boyd," Scott reasoned. "And I think that if something like that happened now, you wouldn't do it again."

Fear seemed to flash in his eyes and I knew Scott had hit a weak spot. "You don't know what we owe them, especially Deucalion. We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't Alphas."

"What were you?"

"Omegas," he admitted after a second of hesitation. "In actual wolf packs, omegas are the scapegoats, the last to eat, the one who has to take abuse from the rest of the pack."

"So you and your brother were like the bitches of the pack," Stiles offered.

His jaw ticked. "Something like that."

I pushed Stiles farther away from him. "What happened?"

"They were killers," his voice shook. "I mean, people talk about us like monsters. Well, they were the ones who gave us the reputation and our Alpha- he was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you just fight back?" I asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, like form Voltron Wolf, you know? Kick everyone's asses," Stiles added. Our eyes rolled simultaneously.

"We couldn't! We didn't know how to control it back then," he shot back.

"And Deucalion taught you," Scott deducted.

"And then we fought. We took down the whole pack, one by one, and by the time we got to the Alpha, he was begging for his life," he explained, taking a deep breath. "And we tore him apart. Literally."

"What about your emissary?" Scott asked and the Alpha looked down. "They're all dead? Kali and Ennis' too?"

"Everyone's except Deucalion's."

"You mean Morrell," Stiles corrected.

"But why would he need her if he's as powerful as he says he is?" I was thoroughly confused. None of it was adding up.

Then, Ethan held his stomach in pain, crying out.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Scott asked in concern. Of course, he even cares about the enemy.

"Not me, my brother," he clarified. Someone must've found Lydia and Aiden. No matter who it was, they were in danger, Lydia especially.

We tore through the hall and I slammed open the door to the locker room to find Aiden raising a weight above his head, about to slam it down on Cora's head. Ethan rushed past me and pulled his brother away from her, making him drop the weight in the process.

"The Hale came at me!" Aiden snarled. "She deserves this!"

"It doesn't matter!" Ethan retorted. I followed Stiles to Cora and began inspecting her wounds. "Kali gave Derek until the next full moon. You can't touch him or her!"

I looked over at Lydia, who had a completely terrified expression on her face as she stared at the twins. Ethan gave us a nod and dragged his brother out of the locker room.

"I think she's seriously hurt," I told them and Lydia helped me sit her up on the ground. Cora waited a few minutes before she walked over to the sinks to clean up her blood. Then my phone buzzed with a text from Allison.

Found something. Think you might need to see this. My house.

"I have to go, but call me if you need something okay?" I looked at Stiles and he nodded reluctantly. I smiled at him and ran out of the school, thankful that I'd taken the car, and started to drive towards the Argent's apartment.

I stared in awe at the map laid out in front of me on the desk. "Your dad did this?" I ran a hand across the paper, examining every little detail.

Allison nodded and pointed to the circle that had 'Guardians' written inside of it in bold letters.

"Guardians, they're the ones being taken next. Who knows who could be next?"

"The sheriff," Isaac muttered behind us and I whirled around to face him.

"I have to call Stiles," I immediately dialed his number and put the phone to my ear. "They killed a deputy the other day. This has to be it."

"Maybe it's someone at the school," Isaac suggested. "It could be a teacher or a student, but wouldn't we notice if a dark druid was at the school?"

"We didn't know Jackson was the kanima," I argued and Stiles answered his phone.

"Hey, Z, I'm taking Cora home right now. What's up?" he greeted.

"Allison found a pattern in her dad's study," I relayed the things she'd told me when I arrived earlier. "Philosophers and Guardians are next, Stiles. This has to be connected to your dad somehow, okay? Especially since we found that deputy last night."

I paused, not really wanting to tell him the next part, but I had to. "You have to tell him. Whether it's the truth or a lie, but you have to let him know that he's in danger somehow."

I heard him sigh over the phone. "Okay, okay. I'll go now."

"I'll meet you there," I immediately replied.

"Are you sure, you sound-"

"I said I'd be there for you whenever you need me," I reminded him and he stayed silent. "See you in a few." I hung up and put my phone in my back pocket.

I turned and saw Allison looking up at a board and Isaac looking down at her in the awe-inspired way he'd taken to doing often since the night at the school. I felt too many conflicting emotions to only pick out one, so I decided to play nonchalant.

"I have to meet Stiles at his house. He's going to tell his dad about everything," I picked up my bag and started walking out the door. "I'll talk to you guys later."

When I finally pulled up to Stiles' house, I went in through the front door using the key he hid under the mat and went into his room. Cora was seated on his bed and Stiles and sheriff were seated on either side of a chessboard with post-it notes on it.

Stiles scooted over in his chair when he saw me arrive and I sat in the empty space with a grateful smile.

"Scott and Derek….are werewolves," the sheriff was saying as he rubbed his neck tiredly.

"Yes," Stiles confirmed. I guessed that they'd been doing this for a while.

"And Kate Argent was a werewolf."

"Uh, hunter," I corrected shyly.

"Yeah, purple's hunter," Stiles gestured to the purple sticky note.

"Along with Allison and her father," Cora added from the bed.

"And my friend Deaton is a…kanima," he guessed.

"No, no, no. He's a druid. We think," Stiles told him.

"Then who's the kanima?"

"Jackson."

"No, Jackson's a werewolf."

"No, Jackson was the kanima until Peter and Derek killed him and he came back to life as a werewolf. Now he's in London," Stiles explained rapidly.

"Zarina's an Oracle?" the sheriff looked at me and I waved.

"Yeah, that's me," I smiled.

"Okay, then who's the Dareach?"

"Darach," Stiles corrected.

"We, uh, we don't know yet," I answered.

"But he was killed by werewolves," the sheriff reverted back to the topic of Jackson.

"Slashed out and left for dead," Stiles agreed. His dad sat back in his chair and sighed.

"Why was Jackson the kanima?" he asked.

"Sometimes the shape you take on reflects the type of person you are," I tried to explain.

"And what shape would an increasingly confused and angrier by the second father take?" he looked over at his son, face contorted in anger.

Stiles opened and reopened his mouth for a second before responding. "That would be more of an expression. Much like the one you're wearing right now."

"Yeah," the sheriff agreed and stood up. The two of us shot out of the chair and tried to stop him.

"She's one of them," I pointed to Cora. "We're not joking, we swear!"

"Yeah! We can prove it, okay? A werewolf-"

"Stiles!" he yelled. "That's enough." He pointed a finger at his son and walked past us towards the hall.

"Dad, can you please just hold on?" Stiles pleaded. The sheriff stopped. We looked over at Cora and she got to her feet. "Alright, Dad, just watch this." He motioned over to Cora.

Then, he pushed us out of the way and we saw that Cora was passed out on the floor.

"Call an ambulance," he instructed us and I did so, watching as her face turned increasingly paler by the second.

Once we reached the hospital and admitted Cora, I went to the bathroom to rinse my face off. I was feeling increasingly stressed, especially since both parts of the Stilinski family were on edge with each other. The entire car ride to the hospital was filled with tension that I couldn't break.

I looked up at the mirror, water dripping down my face when I saw a black figure blur behind me. I whirled around and looked side to side. Nothing.

Then I heard a cackle and my heart stopped in my chest. Slowly, a chanting that I was familiar with started to play in the background and my eyes widened as I looked around more frantically.

"Who's there?" I called out, voice echoing against the walls of the bathroom. "What do you want?"

"You," I heard someone say. The last thing I remember was Ms. Blake coming towards me with a blunt object before my world went dark.

When I came to, I saw that I was in a classroom. My hands were tied behind my back and my legs were tied to the chair's legs. I glanced to my side and saw Lydia tied up similarly to me. I struggled against my bonds and glared up at my English teacher, who made a disproving noise.

"Struggling only makes it more difficult, sweetheart," she cooed.

"You did this," I accused. "All of this. The sacrifices, taking my powers away."

"Oh, I didn't take them away," she replied. "I merely…restricted them. I couldn't have you ruining everything before it even happened, now could I?"

"You're insane," I growled. "What are you going to do to me?"

"It seems that restricting your powers isn't going to do much anymore. You and this one," she nodded over to Lydia, "know too much. Killing you both off would be knocking out two birds with one stone. No more Oracle to get in my way and no idiot girl to tell everyone my little secret."

"Let us out," I growled.

"Or what? You'll burn me to death?" she mocked. "Even if you could, you wouldn't. You're too innocent."

"Don't push me," I shot back. "I'd kill you if it meant ending all of this shit."

Beside me, Lydia returned to consciousness and looked around in fear.

"Lydia, calm down, it's just the classroom," I tried to mollify her. Ms. Blake simply laughed and walked behind me, pulling a cord around my neck.

"Let's get rid of you first, shall we?" she muttered into my ear, pulling the cord tighter. I choked and started coughing harshly.

"Leave her alone," Lydia whispered.

"You don't realize this, but it has to be done, Lydia. I'm sorry," Ms. Blake apologized, though it definitely wasn't sincere.

The cord was starting to close off my throat and I could feel myself gasping for breath, but I knew it wasn't coming into my system. Black dots filled my vision as I struggled.

Then, Lydia let out the most high-pitched scream I'd ever heard in my life. It pierced my eardrums and if I weren't a minute away from death, I would've flinched.

"Unbelievable," Ms. Blake said from behind me. "You have no idea what you are, do you?" Lydia glanced up at her, then back at my blue face. "The Wailing Woman. A Banshee right before my eyes. Just like me, Lydia. Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."

Lydia was crying at this point and it was getting increasingly difficult to even look at her, or anything for that matter. The dots grew and I knew for sure that I was going to die.

"Drop it!" I heard the sheriff, aka my savior, command her. She launched her knife at the sheriff, sending it straight into his chest and he fell to his knees.

Scott then came in and attacked her, forcing her to released her grip on the cord around my neck. It loosened and my airways opened up, letting me cough and gasp in the air I'd been so desperate to breathe. I keeled over in my chair, trying to regain my breath. My neck was stinging and I felt an oncoming bruise form.

I turned my head to the door and saw Stiles approaching the class, but Ms. Blake put a desk in front of it before he could enter. The sheriff had somehow gained enough strength to grab his gun and was now pointing it at her as she stalked towards him.

"There was a girl years ago," he stated. "We found her in the woods, her face and body were slashed apart. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Maybe I should've started with the philosophers, with knowledge and strategy." She got shot in the leg, but it rapidly healed. "Healers." She twisted the knife and he yelled out in pain as she pushed him against the chairs. "Warriors." She crushed his badge in her hand effortlessly. "Guardians, virgins." She pressed her lips against his. I swallowed my disgust.

"No, wait," I called out hoarsely as she burst the windows open, glass exploding everywhere.

Stiles finally ran into the room after finding a way to move the desk and looked around for his father.

"Dad?" he called out and looked at me pleadingly.

I shook my head sadly. His dad had disappeared. With the Darach.

Stiles untied me while Scott untied Lydia. His eyes glistened as he did so and once I was free, I flung the cord from my neck heaving heavily. Scott announced that he was going to take Lydia back to her car and left the two of us in the classroom.

I stood shakily and Stiles immediately engulfed me in a hug, face buried into my neck.

"I thought you died," he sounded so hopeless. "When we couldn't find you in the hospital, I thought she killed you."

"I'm okay Stiles, I'm right here," I soothed and flinched lightly when his face brushed my bruise. I held him at arms length and put my hands on each side of his face, forcing him to look at me. "See? I'm not dead, alright?"

He nodded weakly. "What're we going to do? She- she has my dad, Zarina."

"We're going to find her and your dad, I promise. He's going to be fine."

"I hope you're right," he wiped at his eyes. "No, you are right. We'll find him."

"Exactly," I smiled lightly and my hands fell from his face. He looked down at my neck and ran a thumb over my bruised neck.

"Does it hurt?" he asked childishly.

"A little," I chuckled. "Could've been worse."

"How are you so optimistic right now?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "Someone has to be. Or else we'll all lose hope and everything we've done so far will have been for nothing."

"But you almost died," he countered.

"If I did, at least I could say I tried to save people, even if I failed," I replied.

"Don't talk like that," he said, voice low and I was surprised at his tone of voice. "Don't talk about your life like it's just something you can afford to lose. You can't do that to me. I need you, okay? You don't seem to get it, but it's true. So don't you dare talk like that."

I gaped up at him. I didn't really know what to say to that. So I didn't say anything. I kissed the part of his neck that I could reach and leaned my forehead against his chest afterwards, feeling him shiver.

"I won't."

AN: And yeah. That happened. idek what to say other than omg stirina feels i can't. I love them together so much it's great for me to write! I added a dark!Zarina one-shot to my tumblr (cl4ustrophobe) if you wanna check that out. It's tagged under "thatl" if that helps you find it quicker lol.

Thank you all so immensely much for the support! Your reviews make me afdjg;sgj and I cannot express how much I love you all.

Please continue to review/fave/follow because it's a great motivator to write. Especially since I'm going through a really bad time at the moment and my motivation to write is slowly decreasing as it gets worse. But you guys make it better, so I can't complain much.

xx.