Gone
AN: To celebrate my return and the Season Finale tonight, I've decided to post another chapter. We are at the point of the chapters getting longer. For those concerned, the majority of cannon changes start at chapter 10/11.
Steve heard a knock at the door. A few hours had passed, but Steve hadn't moved since he got home. The door opened and Stiles walked in. "Hey," he said softly.
"How'd you find where I lived?" Steve asked stare at the ceiling
"I may have looked it up at the sheriff's station," Stiles paused. "I heard you had your vision."
"Yeah."
"Mind if I hang out here a bit?" Stiles asked sitting on the chair across the room.
"Why?" Steve turned his head towards Stiles, his eyes still glowing red from earlier.
Stiles flinched a bit, but stayed in the chair. "I heard yours was pretty rough. I want to make sure you're alright." Steve turned back to the ceiling without answering. "It's what we do. I know we didn't exactly leave on the best of terms after our last conversation." Steve continued to stare at the ceiling in silence.. "I think I realized that what you said that night might be true."
"What?" Steve asked.
"Maybe Scott would rather me die than to have Donovan be dead."
Steve sat up and looked at Stiles, his eyes began to fade to their normal blue. "I don't that's true. That was the opposite of my point. You're feeling guilty cause it's the first time you caused a death, even if it was an accident."
"It wasn't the first death I caused though." Steve looked at him surprised. "About a year ago, I was possessed by a dark spirit. The Nogitsune. Scott and everyone were doing everything they could to save me. And then during one of the fights, the Nogitsune ordered the Oni to kill Scott's ex-girlfriend, Allison. It felt like I commanded them to kill her."
"I heard about that. I didn't know the Nogitsune possessed you though. You didn't give the command, the fox did. Besides if Scott wished for you to be dead, why did he work so hard to save you?
"No, but I still felt it all. I hurt a lot of people during that time," Stiles paused for a moment. "I dunno, maybe you're right. How did you know about Allison?"
"My pack has a complex history with the Argents. Allison stayed with us for a few weeks though. She had a pretty big impact on us."
"How so?"
"protegimus illos qui neqeunt protegere se," Steve recited. Stiles looked at Steve confused. "It's Latin. It means we protect those who cannot protect themselves. Allison brought it up a few days before leaving after while hunting with us. She changed my view on hunters. When she died were adopted her code for ourselves."
"Wow, uh what was the rest of your past with the Argents?"
"Bloody," Steve stated. "My pack had allied with a family of hunters a long time ago. We formed a group of sorts with them. The Argents came to town one day looking for help with some wendigos near us. Chris left for here after a body was discovered and he left Kate behind. Gerard arrived shortly after."
"And they started to hunt you guys too?"
"Yeah, a lot of my pack died."
"Is that how you got the scar on your face?"
"No, that happened a few months later. Kali kicked me, slashing my face. The alpha pack, heard about Scott and came here looking a true alpha. Instead of finished me off, they gave me a deadline to kill my pack."
"You didn't though, did you?"
"No, we couldn't afford to turn on each other anymore."
"'Cause you turned on your alpha." Steve paused for a moment, the red that had faded from his eyes came back. "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that."
Steve took a breath before talking. "I know. It's just a sensitive topic right now. Blake, my alpha was going to give Gerard the bite to cure his cancer, and wanted what was left of the pack to come as an act of peace. I knew it was a trap but he wouldn't listen to me, he said the only way to stop him was to kill him, so I did. We fought against the remainder of the Argents. We noticed there weren't as many around. We found out Kate had died earlier that night and Gerard had left for Beacon Hills, taking most of his men with them."
"I see." Stiles paused for a moment, "Sounds like we got a lot of your sloppy seconds," he added, lightening the tone a bit.
"You guys conveniently saved our asses a couple of times." After a brief chuckle from the two there was silence, for a moment.
"Do you want to talk about what you saw?" Stiles asked. Steve looked down and shook his head. "Would it be okay if talked about mine?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Steve was still looking at the floor.
"When I was nine, my mom was dying from a disease called frontotemporal dementia. She blamed a lot of the symptoms on me. I guess, she would tell my dad I was trying to kill her. One day she wandered to the roof of the hospital and I followed her. I had blocked it out, but she attacked me screaming that I was going to kill her. My dad was able to stop her before she seriously hurt me though."
"I'm sorry, Stiles."
"Yeah. It wasn't really her though. She died shortly after it happened," Stiles inhaled. "Once I came out of the vision though, a chimera was attacking me. Theo showed up and pulled him off me. They fought until Theo killed him. He held the chimera against the wall and slashed his throat."
"We need to tell Scott."
"We can't. I can't say anything," Stiles sighed, "He knows about Donovan. If I tell Scott about what happened, he'll tell Scott about Donovan."
"Stiles, he's blackmailing you."
"I know, but he killed him in self-defense like I did, right?"
"Maybe, but it sounds like he would have been able to hold him off until help came. And it was intentional, not on accident, like what happened with Donovan."
"I guess. He said he got there right after we left. But before the body was taken. Did you sense him there at all?"
"No, I wasn't paying attention to scents that night."
"I figured as much. He also told me that you tried to kill him earlier, after your vision."
"That's not true, necessarily."
"Your vision wasn't about him then?"
"No, I only met him when I came here." Steve took a moment. "When I was a kid, before I was a werewolf, my life was kind of shitty."
"Steve, you don't have to—" Stiles started.
"It's fine. Charlie, one of the other wolves in the pack, and I were captured by some creep. He did some stuff to us. A lot of stuff. Then we were rescued by Blake. We were in bad shape, so he gave us the bite to help us recover. And I always felt I owed him my life. I should have realized the connection, all of us had messed up background," Steve sniffed as a tear started to roll down his face.
Stiles got up and sat on the couch next to Steve, he put his arm around him. "It's okay," he said calmly.
"Blake," Steve said through choked sobs, "had been using the man who captured us to find potential kids for him to turn after the man finished with us. Blake would buy us off the man, like we were property. Charlie figured it out. Blake wasn't able to completely erase the memory since he was a bit older. But he never told me about it."
"He probably didn't want to ruin the life you had created after it all."
"It didn't matter. I know now." Steve sobbed, "He should have told me."
Stiles embraced Steve as Steve sobbed into his shoulder. Steve breathed in collecting himself.
"What made you attack Theo afterwards?"
"Like I said, I didn't really. It's hard to explain, but my pack shares a mental link. It's how Blake was able to distort our memories without us knowing. It's pretty strong, and at time can be used to fight each other as training. After the memory, I was enraged and started to fight with Charlie through the link, but, because of my anger, the fight didn't stay in our minds. So, everything I did in my head, I did against Theo and Scott."
"Yeah, Scott said he was pretty worried about it. Mainly that it seemed like you were going for the kill."
"That was the goal," Steve admitted looking at the ground.
"Maybe we won't tell Scott that detail. By the way. I may have tried to track your phone first, but found it on the side of the road." Stiles set the cracked phone on the table. "Um, a guy named August called. He said he was heading down here, I guess."
"Do you normally answer other people's phones?" Steve laughed.
"I mean, he called like eighty times between the sheriff station and here. He a part of your pack?"
"Sort of, he's a hunter."
"We could probably use the backup."
"Why's that?" Steve asked.
"We found another chimera, and the Dread Doctors are after her. I think Scott plans to fight them tomorrow."
Steve looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly five in the morning. "It's late, you can crash here if you want."
"Oh, wow," Stiles said looking at the clock. "Yeah, that wouldn't be a bad idea."
"There's a second bedroom upstairs," Steve said pulling of his shirt. "I'm going to jump in the shower, let me know if you need anything."
"You went through all that pain for a lightning bolt?" Stiles asked looking at the tattoo on Steve's upper arm.
Steve looked down, frowning, and traced the outline of with his hand. "It's a symbol of my pack. I got it after the alpha pack left."
"Hey, wake up," Stiles said walking into Steve's room. "We've gotta go to the school."
"Alright," Steve groaned as he got out of bed and got ready. "What for?"
"Scott has a plan. Let's go, I'll drive."
Scott met them near the entrance. He paused when he saw Steve. Stiles gestured for Steve to wait a second and went over to Scott.
"You trust him now?" Scott asked.
"You trust Theo, so I can trust him."
"Theo hasn't tried to kill us."
"Not yet. Besides, you said yourself that you didn't think he was trying to kill you guys."
"No, but I'm pretty sure he wanted to kill someone," Scott said peering around Stiles to look at Steve.
"Well, I trust him. And if we are going through with this plan, then we need all the help we can get."
"Fine." Scott resigned. Stiles waved for Steve to follow.
"I'm glad you only trust me to get back at Scott for trusting Theo," Steve whispered when he caught up with Stiles.
"Shut up," Stiles retorted. They made their way into the library and Scott pulled out a map. "Back to telluric currents."
"The Dread Doctors didn't like coming to Eichen House because of them. Maybe we can use them to protect Hayden." Scott answered.
"Okay, so besides Eichen, where is the strongest convergence?"
"You're standing on it," Scott said pointing to the high school on the map.
"You want to hide her in the high school? For how long?" Stiles asked
"If we have to, all night."
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Steve asked.
"Liam convinced Hayden not to say anything to her sister, yet. She's working a double tonight. She can say she's stay at a friend's."
"But it's a school though. I mean it's not exactly a fortress." Stiles stated.
"Lydia's got an idea for that. Remember how Valek quoted Tesla?"
"Frequency. Vibration," Stiles repeated.
"She thinks he wasn't saying that just to sound smart. She thinks maybe it was a clue."
"To do what?" Steve and Stiles asked in unison.
"Disrupt their frequency. Parrish took three cell phone jammers from the station. He thinks he can broaden their range of frequency. It's a long shot, but it's the best we got right now."
"And if that doesn't work, we fight them?" Steve asked
"Hopefully it works," Stiles said.
"They were able to take down me and Malia last night at the hospital," Scott told Steve.
"Granted, you had an asthma attack, so maybe Steve would stand a chance." Stiles said.
"I don't think so," Scott said, "something happened. It's like you seem weaker than before." Scott replied.
"Makes me less of a threat, I guess," Steve said. Stiles looked at him surprised.
"I'm gonna tell everyone else the plan and get ready for tonight. Best case scenario, we protect Hayden and capture one of the Doctors." Scott left the library.
"What did he mean when he said you seemed weaker?" Stiles asked Steve once they were alone.
"I closed off the connection between me and the pack last night after the fight. It' And now, I can't open again."
"And a wolf's strength comes from his pack."
"Yeah."
Stiles's phone buzzed "Apparently I'm going to the clinic tonight. I'm on body duty with Theo."
"With Theo? Do you want me to help?"
"No, Scott will need you at the school. I don't see Theo trying anything. He wants to be in the pack. Plus, it will give me a chance to talk with him at least."
"Okay, if you need help let me know."
"Right," Stiles nodded and headed out of the school.
Steve's phone buzzed. It was August, he was almost here. "Meet at my house," Steve replied to the text before walking to his place.
August pulled up to the house and got stepped out of the SUV. Steve was waiting for him by the door.
"I tried to sneak away, but the others caught on while I was on my way. They're getting ready to come down here," August said, pulling out a bag and tossing it to Steve.
"Tell them to stay put, we need someone to stay with Kaia."
"Why don't you tell them?" Steve held up his broken phone. "Yeah, I heard you threw it in the road." August lobbed a replacement at him. "heard you mind was a bit broken, don't have a replacement for that." August added. "My dad and the others can keep an eye on Kaia."
"Why'd you come down here?" Steve asked sensing August's anger as another bag hit Steve's chest.
"Worried I might distract you?"
"No, just surprised you were the one to come."
"If Charlie came you'd probably rip his head off. Fiona's staying with him. Jay and Leonard wouldn't be as useful as me in a fight. And," August said shoving another bag into Steve, "I'm worried about you."
Steve shook his head and filled August in on what was happening and what the plan was for tonight.
August spent the rest of the afternoon preparing, by the time he was finished he was armed with two pistols, his bow and arrow, and an assortment of knives under his jacket. "Let's head out then, don't want to be late," he said after he finished.
The two headed towards the school. They met Scott in the locker room as Lydia and Parrish were setting up the cell phone jammers.
"You're sure these will work?" Steve asked.
"They could," Lydia said. "You brought a friend? And he brought friends." Lydia gestured to the pistols.
"Lots of friends," August said opening his jacket and revealing the knives."
"The bow seems a little out date though don't you think?" Lydia commented.
August pulled out an arrow, "PPSU arrow heads. No metal in arrow. If the Doctors are adapted to frequency as we think, then their electrical field is heightened."
"Meaning that could access magnetism and deflect metal," Lydia finished. "He's smart," she added looking at Steve.
Scott seemed on edge. "This is August, he's a hunter and he's here to help." Steve told both of them.
"Okay," Scott said still uneasy.
Liam and Hayden joined the group after moving a locker in front of the door. "That'll be effective," Steve commented.
Hayden headed towards the back corner. "Could you maybe not freak her out more than she already is?' Liam growled.
"I'm sure this plan is foolproof," August commented.
"Well I came up with most of it, so it kind of is," Lydia said.
"I would have recommended some improvements," August said.
"You guys are free to leave if you want," Scott added.
"No, stay," Lydia replied. She leaned into the August, "I don't think it's foolproof either. It's our best bet right now, and we could use the help if things go south."
"We'll stay," Steve announced.
Parrish headed out to his car while Malia patrolled the halls. The rest stayed in the locker room.
"Is it me, or is Liam not aware of the second part of the plan," Lydia whispered to Scott.
"Well, I'm still not sure if there's gonna be a second part."
"Or if it's going to work?"
Scott nodded in response. Steve came over to the pair. "If it doesn't work we have three werewolves, a werecoyote, a banshee, and a hunter to protect Hayden. Besides, she's not defenseless either."
"So now you're confident in the plan?" Scott said.
"No, the plan is half-assed at best. I am confident in us though." Steve returned to the bench next to August, Lydia went to check out one of the windows for any movement.
Hayden's breathing picked up behind them. "Don't worry, you'll learn to control it," Liam reassured her.
"I'm not like you," she responded, "I wasn't bitten by a wolf, I was somebody's science experiment. This is so bizarre," she added after a moment.
"I know, but you're gonna be okay. I promise."
"What am I?" she asked.
"You're Hayden," Liam told her. The two shared a look.
"By the way, if you get me out of this, I'll forget all about the sixth grade."
Scott perked up and started walking towards the showers before Lydia interrupted him. "Scott, I was just thinking since we can't use our phones, we can't check in on Stiles and Theo."
"I didn't even think about that."
"Me either," Lydia replied, "So we're standing here waiting for guys in masks in breathing tubes to show up. But who, or what, are Stiles and Theo waiting for?"
Steve started to get anxious about what was to come for the rest of the night.
Everyone settled back in. Hayden started to fall asleep and Liam got up to stretch his legs when he stumbled across a duffle bag. He opened the bag and found a pile of chains. "What're you going to do with these?" Liam asked.
"I brought them just in case," Scott answered.
"In case of what?"
"In case we have a chance to catch one of them," Lydia turned towards the beta.
"If we can't make the school a fortress, then maybe we can make it a trap," Scott added.
"They're coming for her," Liam nodded towards Hayden who started to rouse, "does that mean that she's the bait?"
Scott didn't answer as the Liam and Hayden stared at him in disbelief.
"Liam, we brought her here to protect her." Lydia said.
"And now she's bait," Liam responded.
"Am I?" Hayden asked.
"No," Scott told her, "No one's bait. But we can't be bodyguards to ever one every night."
"Then why aren't we talking to Stiles's dad? Why aren't we doing something better than hiding in a school?" Liam asked, his anger rising.
"Because we still don't know anything about them or what they want. Okay? They're winning and we don't even know what the game is."
"What if they come in here and those things don't work? What if you have an asthma attack again? What if Steve decides to attack one of us again? What're we gonna do?"
"I don't know," Scott answered.
"We fight and hope we can keep them away from Hayden," Steve said from the bench. "And I don't plan on attacking anyone today."
"This plan sucks."
"You got a better one? Kids are dying and she's next," Scott shouted, "So somebody has to do something. Somebody has to save everyone. So, somebody's gotta be the bait!"
Lydia closed her eyes while Liam and Scott stared each other down.
"Scott, promise me, you'll do everything you can to save her," Liam pleaded. "Scott, promise."
"I'll do everything I can. I promise," Scott replied.
Guys, I think I might need a little help right now. I forgot my pills, I have a bottle in my locker. I can get them, but—."
"I'll get them," Scott said, "what's your combination?"
"I'll come too," Steve said moving to the door, "We'll be able to hear if anything happens and can come right back." The two stepped out of the locker room and into the hall. "Someone needs to check on Stiles," Steve said as they walked to the locker.
"We can't send anyone. You heard what I promised to Liam," Scott replied.
"What if someone shows up for the body?"
"He's got Theo."
"Yeah, that doesn't make me feel any better."
Scott held Steve against the lockers after they rounded the corner, "What's you deal with Theo?" Scott asked. "He's done nothing but try to help us since he's come to Beacon Hills. Meanwhile, you've not only attacked him but you've been complaining about this plan since you got here.
"I sense something is off about him," Steve said, wrapping his hand around Scott's wrist and removing it from his chest, "And I didn't attack him, you've already said it. Once to Thea and once to Stiles. And this plan is horrible, Scott. You don't know if the Doctors work outside the frequency that you're jamming, the school's current is not as strong as Eichen."
"You knew about the plan before coming here tonight."
"Yeah, and I thought you would have brought something better than chains to trap the Dread Doctors with."
"Well, it's all we have available to us," Scott slammed his fist into a locker. Steve could feel Scott's breath as he tried to calm himself. "What made you attack Theo last night? What caused you to try and kill whoever it was you were fighting."
"It's not something I want to talk about."
"Well maybe that's the problem," Scott said his anger growing again, "You haven't really wanted to talk about anything since you came here. Not why you're here, or who you are, or anything."
"I told you I came to see if you could help,"
"Help with what?" Scott asked. Steve remained silent. "I don't understand how Stiles can trust you but not Theo," Scott muttered.
"Well, he does, so I'm going to go make sure everything is okay," Steve said pushing past Scott, "Because his alpha is too busy using his pack as bait."
Scott growled in response, "I'm doing everything I can to protect my pack."
"By dangling them in front of the enemy to maybe get some information?"
Scott fell silent as he watched Steve head down the hall towards the exit.
"They've been gone a while, wasn't the locker right around the corner?" August asked Lydia.
"Yeah, I should probably check on them. Scott and Steve don't seem to be getting along very well," Lydia commented.
"Can't really blame Scott. Steve's not always the easiest get along with."
Lydia opened the door and peered outside, "Scott?" she whispered. A roar erupted from down the hall.
August rushed out the door, "I didn't think he was that hard to get along with. Which way did it come from," he asked staring at the fork.
"I don't know," Lydia whispered, "You go left, I'll go right?"
August nodded in response. After rounding the corner, he heard Lydia run up the stairs. He turned to go after her, but heard a noise behind him. "Wendigo," he muttered drawing back an arrow. The wendigo dodged the arrow and tackled August to the ground. August held the bow against the wendigo's chest and it tried to might him.
Steve was halfway down the hall when he heard a gun cock behind him. He spun around as Kate fired a round into his leg. Steve collapsed on the floor, feeling the wolfsbane enter his body. "I hope you remember how much I enjoy playing with my pets," she said as she approached him and fired another shot into his arm. Steve roared from the pain, helpless to defend himself as Kate dug the hot barrel into the fresh wound.
The Dread Doctors made their way into the building. Stepping over Steve writhing on the ground alone, August trying to push the air away from him, and Lydia frozen on the ground looking up the stairs. They stepped into the locker room.
Kate disappeared and Steve was shocked to see his wounds had vanished. He ran back to the locker room and saw August and Lydia standing with the same dazed look. Malia joined them a second later and they headed back to the locker room. The cell phone jammer had been smashed and Hayden and Liam were both missing.
Scott and Mason joined them shortly. "They're gone," Lydia stated as they walked in.
"Hayden and Liam are gone." Malia said. Everyone was frozen, except Mason who moved to search the locker room.
"We'll find them," Scott assured Mason, "All of us."
"And Corey's next on the list," Mason stated, causing the others to turn to him.