Battlefield

Stiles sat opposite the guidance counselor, Ms. Morrell as she twisted a ribbon around her fingers thoughtlessly. Her dad had ordered her to take at least one session with the woman after the discovery of Matt's body a few nights after the hostage situation at the station, there was another rather grim discovery during that time but no one dared to voice it as Stiles was already snappish and short with Scott. It didn't help that her powers decided to make her suffer a little more and Stiles ended up living out how Matt died. Derek found her as she ended up convulsing on her bedroom floor, coughing up the murky river water, he had only wanted to tell her that Peter used a spell to connect his soul to Lydia's so he could use her to bring him back. Instead, he ended up holding her as she sobbed from fear and pain.

"Stiles, I can't help you if you don't talk to me." Morrell pressed gently, Stiles liked the woman she was vague at times but she was never cryptic or spoke in riddles – she was blunt and direct.

"You know when you're drowning, you don't actually inhale 'til the very last second before you black out. It's called voluntary apnea." She stated, wrapping the ribbon around her finger and focusing on the white moonstone that sat on her index finger. "No matter how much you're freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is too strong and you won't open your mouth until it feels like your head is about to explode. And when you do finally let it in, it stops hurting and it's not so scary any more. It's actually kind of peaceful."

Morrell nodded slowly, her intelligent dark eyes raking over Stiles and taking in every miniscule movement as if it would tell her everything she needed to know, "Are you saying that you hope Matt felt some peace at the end?"

Stiles' head snapped up as she scoffed, "No, I'm saying he was in immense agony and I'm glad he suffered." She was glad she was able to lace her violent words with just the right amount of sarcasm to not sound so serious. "I don't feel sorry for him, everything that he done… there was no logical reason behind it. He knew what he was doing and he enjoyed it."

"Could you feel sorry for the nine-year-old Matt who drowned?" Morrell countered; Stiles tried not to sneer.

"Just because some drunk teens did something stupid doesn't give him the right to the go around murdering people. He was definitely riding the crazy train before nearly drowning when he was a kid and maybe that's what set him off but this was inevitable – Matt was just…" Stiles trailed off with a heavy sigh going back to twisting the ribbon into a Celtic knot, she wanted to say Matt was unfortunate but really she was glad he was gone even if that meant the Kanima was now in the hands of Gerard.

"Your father told me about what was found in Matt's bedroom. The pictures of you went back at least three years, how do you feel about this discovery? That Matt believed you were in a relationship with him?"

Stiles shivered at the mention of the pictures, she'd seen the walls plastered with her image. Most of the pictures where either photo shopped with Matt or had the faces of other people scratched out, it made her sick, anxious, terrified and relived all at once.

"Gross. I feel like I'm suspended in this slimy liquid and I can't breathe or move." She answered honestly. "It's like everything around me has been dialled up to eleven, I'm waiting for something to happen and I don't know what that is or what to expect. And then there's the tension between my dad and me when we talk, it's like since that night there's a wall between us that's stopping us from seeing one another properly. Same with Scott."

"Have you spoken with Scott since that night or the discovery at Matt's?"

"No, he has his own problems to deal with." Stiles shook her head, tying the Celtic knot with finality. "He hasn't spoken to Allison either but I think that's more her choice, her mom's death hit her pretty hard. Jackson hasn't been himself at all lately, I honestly kind of miss it. The funny thing is, it's Lydia who's the most normal right now, she seems so happy. Like the weight she's been carrying since the formal has suddenly been dropped."

"And what about you, Stiles?" Morrell asked, leaning forward with a pressed smile. Paige who had been leaning against Morrell's desk watching the session with interest finally straightened, slinking behind the chair Stiles was sitting in, tapping her fingers against the armrests, the hyperactive girl watched the deceased with narrowed eyes. "Feeling some anxiety about the game tonight?"

"No. I mean... I don't know..." She stuttered, her head whipping around to face the French teacher, knowing she'd seen Stiles following Paige with her eyes even though she was getting pretty good at not reacting when something abnormal happened, there were times she slipped up. "I just feel like something is going to happen tonight, something bad and... there's this knot in my chest that keeps tightening as it gets closer. It doesn't help that three of my friends have disappeared."

"You mean Isaac, Erica and Boyd." Morrell clarified. "The three runaways, you haven't heard from any of them, have you Stiles?"

"Why isn't she taking notes, aren't therapist supposed to take notes in their sessions?" Paige piped up causing Stiles to tense, she hadn't seen or spoken to her semi-constant shadows since Laura in the sheriff's station.

"Yeah, how come you're not writing any of this down?" She asked, redirecting the conversation slightly.

"I do my notes afterwards. How about we get back you, Stiles, how are you feeling?"

"I told you, I'm fine. Besides the constant feeling like something terrible is going to happen, like I can't breathe."

"Like you're drowning." Morrell finished; her head tilted to the side. "So, if you're drowning and you're trying to keep your mouth closed until that very last second. What happens if you choose to not open your mouth?"

"You have to, the choice isn't really a conscious one." Stiles shrugged. "It's a compulsion, a reflex to end the pain, like squinting your eyes when the suns obscuring your vision."

"But if you can hold off until that reflex kicks in, you have more time, right?" Morrell insisted as Stiles chewed the corner of her lip, she felt like they weren't talking about drowning anymore. "You'd have more time to fight, to be rescued."

"More time to be in agonising pain, is more like it." Stiles countered blandly. "Did you forget the part where you feel like your head is exploding?"

"If it's about survival then isn't that little bit of pain worth it?"

"Yeah, I guess." Stiles relented, "But that's working on the presumption that it'll get better what if it just gets worse. Like it's agony now but it'll just be hell later on."

"Then think about something Winston Churchill once said 'if you're going through hell, keep going'. Even if it hurts now, you should know that things eventually even out Stiles because the world needs balance."

Stiles knew that there was some underlying meaning behind Morrell's words and nodded, accepting them gratefully. As she got up to leave, she frowned at the fivefold knot she'd been twisting the ribbon into during her talk before she dropped it on Morrell's desk, something was telling her that the guidance councillor needed to be warned about it.

Later that day, Stiles headed home and was only slightly surprised that her dad wasn't home the biggest shock was Isaac patiently waiting for her as he lounged in her computer chair, flipping through her book of shadows curiously. She wondered how long he'd been sitting there as she closed the bedroom door and regarded the baby wolf with a questioning look. Isaac slowly pulled his attention away from the spells and rituals to look up at Stiles with wide, pleading blue eyes.

"They're leaving tonight. After the game." He stated, nervously wringing his hands. "Erica and Boyd, they don't want to be part of this anymore, they're scared."

"Why are you telling me this, Isaac? What do you think I could possibly do to help?"

Isaac shrugged a little, ducking his head submissively. "Because your you and you have this way with our pack, with Derek and the others. You're not a werewolf but Derek treats you like your his equal, you're still part of the pack and I don't want to lose anyone else; I just mean... can't you talk to them? Make them understand that we're better off staying together, we're safer and stronger."

"Isaac..." Stiles spoke softly as she crouched down in front of him. "Isaac, look at me please, I can't tell them what to do or think. It's unethical to manipulate someone like that but if you want, I can see if I can talk to either of them about it at some point."

Isaac pouted but nodded in understanding, he knew that despite Stiles' reputation of lying and twisting the truth she wasn't callous enough to warp someone's own thoughts and choices, she was strong, loyal to a fault and, in Derek's own words, perfect (not that his betas were supposed to know how he thought of the sheriffs' daughter). Stiles was good for the pack, for their family and it made Isaac feel just that twinge of guilt for going behind his alpha's back to speak to Scott, his face morphed into a mix of guilt and annoyance as he remembered Scott and his boss 'teaching' him about taking away pain.

"Is there something else bothering you?" She added noting how Isaac's expression twisted. Isaac glanced up at her before quickly ducking his head as a flush of embarrassed guilt crawled up his neck.

"It's just I..." he peeked up through his lashes at Stiles' waiting expression. "Before coming to see you I went to the animal clinic, to speak to Scott about the pack – Derek said that he was supposed to be with us so I thought it was a good idea to get his opinion first. I just feel... I don't know, like there's been something crawling under my skin since I left the clinic, something..."

"Malevolent?" Stiles suggested, given that Isaac was a werewolf he'd be a little less knowledgeable about when a spell was cast over him especially if said spell was intended on twisting his mind against his basic instincts. "Isaac, when you were at the clinic did Deaton do or say anything odd? Or was he paying any particularly close attention to you at any given time?"

Isaac frowned in thought as he recalled every second of his time in the clinic from when he first arrived to talk to Scott to leaving shortly after Scott showed him how to draw a little pain away from the sick dog. Deaton was hovering over the two of them constantly, paying extra close attention to what Isaac was saying as he messed around with some surgical tools and herbs.

"No I... I don't think so, I mean... he was there and he heard everything but he's the vet, there was a sick dog so he had to be in the room." Isaac floundered growing more frustrated as he tried to put his memory in some sort of order but every time, he thought he got an answer for his second alpha it warped itself into something else and Isaac was left with his windpipe sealing shut and his teeth clenched in agitation. "Why can't I recall it right? He was there in the room and I know that but it's like when I try to remember if he was doing anything weird I just... it doesn't make sense."

Isaac was quickly working himself into a frenzy, his beta eyes shining brightly in the orange light beaming through the window. Stiles reached over him into the desk drawer to grab a jar of purple powder. She unscrewed the jars lid and tipped a pinch of the ground up lavender into the palm of her hand before she gentle blew in Isaac's face. The werewolf jerked back startling slightly as the powder went up his nose, he shook his head and scrunched his nose up before sneezing, he blinked uncomprehendingly at the spark his jaw slack. Stiles smirked a little.

"You were freaking out; lavender helps to calm your natural energies or something." She shrugged moving away from Isaac as she stood up and crossed the room – the game was nearing and she still had the tightening knot in her chest, all Stiles was sure of was that Gerard was going to kill someone.

"Thanks." She heard Isaac mutter bashfully as she grabbed a shoulder bag and moving around her room grabbing what seemed to be random objects – a handful of white stones etched with runes, a couple of shuriken, a silver athame embedded with white gems and a hand gun. "Why do you need all that stuff? Is something going to happen?"

"I don't know, I like to be prepared for the worse."

"But you're a spark, Derek says your power is practically limitless." Isaac said, his curiosity piqued as Stiles raked through her vanity drawers for extra bullets and glass vials of different coloured liquids. "Can't you just... zap the bad guys?"

Stiles paused in neatly putting everything into her purse as she looked up at Isaac with a stony expression, "Sure, maybe. If I had more control over said powers and they didn't drain my core energy. It's nothing like being a werewolf, Isaac, besides I've been trained with different weapons since I was a kid." She shrugged as if it were no big deal while glancing down at her phone that chimed with a text from Scott.

'Jackson is the game. Something bad is going to happen.'

Stiles scoffed with a roll of her eyes, of course something bad was going to happen. Jackson was practically the winter soldier, a vicious killing machine that was mind whammyed enough to have a skewered sense of moral rights and wrongs, only with scales. She didn't reply, instead dropping her phone into her bad and grabbing a red hoodie.

"Let's go Isaac." She said, heading for the door. "We don't want to be late."

Isaac nervously trailed behind her as they left the house and headed for the jeep, he said nothing about how he wanted to run away with Erica and Boyd. Stiles could feel the nervous energy pulsing off of the wolf in waves as they drove to the school in silence, the second she pulled into a parking space Isaac practically ran from her and into the changing rooms and Stiles made her way in after him to find Scott watching Jackson with eerily narrowed eyes. Stiles remained near the door of the changing room as Melissa slipped in and froze at seeing her.

"Hi, Mrs McCall." She mumbled with a nervously smile, Stiles couldn't think of anything else to say to the woman after her less than stellar performance in the station where she no doubt scared the hell out of Melissa, seconds before she found out her own son was a werewolf.

"Stiles." She replied cordially albeit hesitantly, before either of them could say anything coach entered from his office and spoke into his megaphone.

"Good morning." He started, looking around the players in seriousness. "In less than an hour, aircraft from here will be joining others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind."

Stiles pressed her lips together in boredom as the team chattered excitedly amongst themselves and Melissa looked around confused.

"Mankind – that word should have new meaning for all of us today."

"Stiles!" Melissa hissed in the teens ear. "What the hell is he talking about?"

"Oh, don't worry about it too much. Coach does this every year; he gets very into it."

"Seriously?" Melissa huffed as Stiles hummed.

"We are fighting for our right to live!" Coach said loudly, Melissa turned to Stiles with a slack jaw as coach was met with cheers.

"Don't tell me this is...?"

"It's the speech from Independence Day." Stiles cut in, not taking her eyes off the spectacle as Gerard stepped through coach's office. "It's coach's favourite movie."

"But as the day the world declared in one voice WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT!" Coach raised his voice through the megaphone so that he was heard over the cacophony of excitement. "Today we celebrate our Independence Day!"

"Doesn't he know any sport speeches or something?"

"I don't think he cares." Stiles sensed more than saw Melissa tensing, a small gasp of fear escaping her as Gerard stepped into the room and making his presence known. "Melissa maybe you should head out to the field, my dad will be down there soon."

Melissa stared at Stiles for a few long seconds before she gave her a kind smile and slipped out. Stiles smiled to herself as tuned into Gerard's words.

"...No denying my pride in having a winning team for this school. I know you'll all be brilliant tonight, even with only one co-captain on the field." Stiles tensed at the implication behind this statement and distinctly heard Scott growl in annoyance. "Now, as your principal I should say you should just enjoy yourselves out on the field tonight – you've all done so well in getting this far. But as a fan I won't be content to just watch you merely beat this team. Go out there and murder them!"

Well... Stiles mused blandly as everyone cheered and rushed onto the field for the game. That wasn't worrying or anything. Please let this game go okay with minimal injuries or murders. She begged the triple goddess that she seriously hoped was real and listening to her, Stiles went out to the field and immediately found Lydia standing among the spectators to watch the game she caught the redhead's eye and wiggled her fingers playfully in greeting. Lydia smiled widely, her eyes shining with pure happiness as she returned the gesture, Stiles turned away to sit on the bench next to Scott who was sulking about being left out of the game while hid knees bounced with anxiety. He was mumbling, his hands covering his hands as he spoke to Stiles. At least she presumed he was talking to her but she had decided to keep her attention on Jackson who was in the middle of the field.

"... and it's not like you can do the things we can do, Stiles. The other night, you and your dad could've gotten really hurt and I can't let that happen." Scott was saying his voice becoming slightly more audible. "We're playing a losing game and I don't know what to do about."

"Maybe stop stacking the odds against yourself." Stiles drawled only sparing him a flickering glance, he appeared both nervous and affronted. "You could also, now I know this is a crazy idea but hear me out, but you could stop literally sleeping with the enemy and actually try working with Derek. Or maybe just listen to your best friend when she tells you that identity of the murdering psycho stalker before things spiral out of hand."

Scott huffed and turned away from her with a dark look, growling lowly. "I don't trust Derek. He doesn't know what he's doing, he's not an alpha."

Stiles scoffed rolling her eyes, "As if you're suddenly the epitome of a perfect werewolf specimen, completely understanding the complex inner-workings of the hierarchy that you seem so fond of not only exploiting to your exact need when you see fit but totally disregarding as the natural social order of the supernatural society."

Scott blinked dumbly, uncomprehendingly and Stiles knew she lost him somewhere between epitome and hierarchy. She didn't necessarily but it really irked her that Scott believed that everything she was doing was for the greater good and that it was a necessary evil – she may not know everything that he is doing behind her back but she knew it wasn't for anyone but himself and Allison. She wondered vaguely as the game started whether or not Scott paid any attention to the Harry Potter series she'd gently nudged him to read, Dumbledore had it all wrong cause what he perceived as being the greater good was vastly different from what the general wizarding population thought was the greater good and in the end it resulted in an orphan being abused in more ways than one.

"Are you okay?" Laura's concerned tone snapped her out of her inner musings about Harry Potter and her second least favourite character. Stiles raised a brow questioningly – she wasn't about to start talking to thin air, people would think she was crazy. "Sorry, I know it's not ideal to be showing up unexpectedly in a crowd but it isn't like I have control over the whole popping in and out thing."

"Maybe it's something to do with me," Stiles coughed into her hand, trying her best to make it look somewhat natural. "When my emotions are... frazzled."

Laura's expression turned contemplative as the sheriff slinked down from his seat to gently place a hand on her shoulder, "You okay, kid?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Stiles lied with a grimace, "Just a dry throat is all."

Noah moved back to sit next to Melissa and Lydia and Stiles focused back on the game where, after nearly twenty minutes, a suspicious amount of their own players were being body checked or brutally knocked to the ground by Isaac. She watched with narrowed eyes as Laura sat next to her, mulling over the possibility of her appearance and Stiles' emotional state. Said girl finally had enough, jumping from the bench as Isaac took out another one of their players.

"Lahey, get over here now!" She yelled, several of the cyclones froze as the meek, shy boy scurried over already knowing what he was going to face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Scott wants to be on the field so he can keep an eye on Jackson."

"You're on the field, perfectly capable of doing that. Scott doesn't need to also be on the field, he only wants to play the stupid game."

"But..." Isaac trailed off as Stiles' eyes lit up with barely suppressed fury as she gripped his forearm, black trails of magic running down her arm and up Isaac's. It travelled up his arm and across his shoulder as it stretched over his neck and flecks of silver lit up in his eyes before the shattered, flickering out of existence.

"Scott is not your alpha Isaac, Derek is. What will he want you to do?"

Isaac ducked his head, looking up through his lashes, "Listen to you, and stop messing around."

"Good. Get back out there and win the game, preferably with all our team in one piece."

He grinned before running back out to the field to take part in the game, Stiles sat down with her spine straight and her head held high, the rush of power still coursing through her veins at breaking whatever spell or enchantment was messing with Isaac's head. Scott glared at her obviously having heard what she had said to the beta and unhappy about, she ignored him until he huffed and turned away his nose wrinkling as he listened to something she couldn't hear.

"You know there is a spell that can let you hear what he's listening to, it only lasts as long as you will it to or until you break concentration." Laura chimed running her tongue along her teeth. "Obviously I'm not a witch but we did live next to a few in New York, it's a simple chant."

Stiles knew what spell she was talking about, she'd come across it in the book of shadow's it had been marked as rudimentary – simplistic and easy to use. "Ears of mine now you hear all the sounds crystal clear; be they far or be they near. All creation crystal clear, range and resonance will grow; this is my will, now make it so."

It was shaking and echoic at first. Stiles was only able to pick up a few words here and there before it cleared and she was able to pick up exactly what Gerard was saying to Scott and it made her magic sing with the promise of bloodshed. Usually the thrill running down her spine would've made her stomach turn but with what she was hearing, Stiles was willing to make an exception.

"...do everyone a favour and kill that ridiculous coach? It's up to you, Scott. But you're going to help me take down Derek because if you don't I'll have Jackson rip someone's head off right in the middle of the field and drench everyone you've ever cared about in blood..."

Stiles jerked with a wince as a sharp pain pierced her leg causing it to spasm but she barely had time to investigate before the same pain was felt in her shoulder, abdomen and stomach. Her hands clenched in effort to not show any visible signs of her synthesised pain, she had a feeling that was coming from Erica or Boyd as neither of them nor Allison was at the game. She scanned the field to find Isaac on the ground unable to move, he was quickly taken up by the EMT's took him away on a stretcher.

"You want to play chess, witch? Then you better be willing to sacrifice your own pawns." She heard Gerard snarl before he focused back on talking to Scott, not knowing that Stiles was also listening. "Don't you know what you're really bargaining for, Scott? It's Allison, she's been the real offer on the table this whole time. Give me Derek and I'll let you have Allison."

To say Stiles was livid was a gross understatement especially when she noticed Scott wasn't only contemplating it, he'd actually decided to give up Derek for a chance to be with her. Stiles forced herself to watch the game, to watch Jackson's every move as Scott ran off to the changing rooms, she knew it was stupid but she trusted him to not let the geriatric hunter slice Isaac in half when he had no way of protecting himself.

There was thirty seconds on the clock and both teams were fighting a large huddle at one side of the field, not knowing that the ball was at the other side of said field. At least until Greenburg scooped up the ball and started running like his life depended on it, which it sort of did if Coach had anything to say about it. He froze at the net making eye contract with the opponent's goalie who tensed, ready to defend his position.

"Greenburg shoot the damn ball before I shoot you!" Stiles eventually shouted, and the lacrosse player did so on instinct. The ball hit the back of the net and the crowd lost it, all screaming in jubilation as the Beacon Hill's Cyclones won state finals for the third year in a row.

Stiles screamed for another reason as the knotted band of tension in her stomach finally snapping sending her to the ground with a trembling, sickening wrenching tore through her abdomen. Stiles crumbled to her knees as the field flood lights shut off and darkness swallowed the field, the crowd of spectators fell into chaos for the brief twenty seconds that the field was shrouded in shadows. Stiles tried to fight her way through the crowd only to be grabbed by two individuals that gave her no time to fight as a sharp prick in her neck caused her vision to swim, Laura's face twisted and warped in contrite before she vanished along with Stiles' control over motor functions and everything went black.

So, thoughts on this chapter? Some discord between Stiles and Scott, and Stiles is learning more about her powers with the added bonus of spells. Sorry it took so long to update.