Hi everyone :)! Ok, I've been meaning to say this for the past couple of chapters, but I kept forgetting, so sorry! Thank you thank you thank you for all your positive support and reviews :)! I really enjoy writing this story, and I'm glad you enjoy reading it! Sorry if this took a while; I've been quite busy this week and haven't had much time to sit down and write, lol. Also, I was originally planning to continue this chapter, but upon reading it over last night, I realized that this was kind of a good stopping point. So Tracy's fate will be incorporated into the next chapter. When that will be, I have no idea :P.
The title is inspired by Ed Sheeran (of course, #MusicNerd :P). I absolutely LOVE writing this new power of Scott and Stiles in and am looking forward to utilizing it in the story's future. I especially enjoyed writing the voice of one certain disturbing flashback character. Hope it sounds just as creepy as it did in Season 3 ;). Again, some Season 5 events are included and are in fact the main focus of this chapter. Like I said though, plot points will have to shift around a little for the flow of the story (and also because it would take too long to write out EVERYTHING that's happened this season :P). I know, I know, I haven't written in Liam yet. Gosh, why is my writer's mindset avoiding him so much? At some point, I am going to put him in. It just has to happen. He's way too awesome and adorable for it NOT to happen :D! However, I know for a fact that Theo will NOT be in this story; his character is still too confusing and creepy as heck for me to want to deal with him in my story XD.
By the way, Stiles staring at the mountain ash is a small dedication to all the fans who've been speculating nonstop about what that stare could have meant in Season 5 episode 3 ;). Personally, I didn't think much of it; sometimes things on screen are just an actor's or director's choice and might not necessarily mean anything significant about the character. Luckily, in this story, it does :D.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, definitely not Season 5, which is still blowing my literary mind out of the water :) :) :) :).
Chapter 5: Thinking Out Loud
"Parasomnia." Lydia stated.
"Gesundheit?" blurted Stiles, his logic being temporarily impaired by his anxiety and by the bluntness of Lydia's statement.
The banshee rolled her eyes slightly before continuing. "According to my mom, Tracy's been having night terrors for a while."
"She told you that?" Scott asked.
Lydia made a deliberating face. "Ehh, no. My mother won't disclose that, not even to me. But I did do a little eavesdropping." Her mouth widened in a smirk.
"Ok, well what does that mean for Tracy then? Why was she in a classroom she clearly was not supposed to be in?" Stiles interrogated.
Lydia pondered for a moment. "Well, from the looks of her, she didn't seem to be aware of where she was. My guess is that she still thinks she's dreaming."
"She's still in a night terror," Scott concluded somberly. The three were standing near the front doors of the school. Scott and Stiles had managed to get the poor Senior out of Mr. Yukimura's class and to Ms. Martin's office. They got in contact with Lydia, who agreed to find out the situation and meet the boys at their current location. Now they stood nervously, not quite sure of what to do.
Lydia broke the silence. "So, you think she might be a supernatural creature?"
Scott replied, "Yes…and no."
"What do you mean no?"
"Her scent, it was different. It was sort of familiar, but at the same time, it was unlike anything I've ever smelt before. Supernatural that is."
Lydia frowned. "So she's a different type of creature then? Like Parrish?"
"Who cares?" Stiles exclaimed suddenly, "If she doesn't realize what she's doing, then who's to say she's not about to do something really bad?" His breathing started to quicken. "We need to keep her somewhere, make sure she doesn't hurt anybody."
"Stiles! We don't know that. Maybe she's recently discovered her powers and is just freaking out about it, and that's what's causing her night terrors." Sure, that wasn't Lydia's best rationale, but seeing her friend's growing stress was starting to concern her.
She became more alarmed when Stiles gave her a very dark glare. "Oh, so when you discovered YOUR powers, it wasn't Peter influencing your every move; it was just you "freaking out" about it."
Scott stepped forward to defend the banshee. "Stiles, that was different and you know it. What's important right now is to get to the root of the problem and find out why Tracy is acting like this in the first place and what it means."
"Yeah, we'll do that, AND we'll be extra careful about it. Trust me, I have a really bad feeling about all this…" Stiles's voice started shaking now, and Scott became more and more worried, wondering what in the world was making his best friend talk like this. Then, something suddenly flashed into his mind.
"Stilesss…"
That voice. It was so chilling. So haunting. And so, disgustingly familiar. Scott nearly collapsed from the surprise of it. Unnoticed by the other two, he looked around, searching for the source of the voice and hoping it wasn't who- or rather what -he was thinking of.
"Stilessss…" the voice hissed again, "We're going to have some fun now. We're going to killll them, Stiles. Killl them alllll. And we're going to take their PAIN. We're going to become POWERFUL. And it's going to feel sooo GOOOOOOOD."
And that's when Scott realized the voice wasn't coming from anywhere around him, or outside himself for that matter. He turned to face Stiles, now understanding the human's fear and slowly feeling that fear himself. Without warning, his chest started to constrict; his breathing became short and strained. Which didn't make much sense, since he shouldn't be getting asthma attacks anymore. But knowing the circumstances, he knew what he was actually feeling.
Stiles was starting to have a panic attack.
Scott moved forward and placed a firm hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Hey, Stiles. It's ok. She'll be ok."
Stiles looked up at the werewolf. When their eyes met, the former knew that what was on his mind was on Scott's as well. Again he cursed their stupid bonding powers, but a small part of him was indeed feeling grateful that Scott understood. The alpha continued comforting him. "We're going to take care of her, ok? We're going to find out what's going on, and we're going to make sure she gets freed from it. She's NOT going to hurt anyone, including herself, not under our watch, ok?"
Scott's heart slowed down as Stiles's panic attack started dying away. The human slowly breathed, nodded, and gave a small smile. "Thanks, Scott."
Scott smiled back. "Don't mention it."
Lydia, sensing something was up, also offered a consoling hand. After thinking for a minute, she asked the question that was troubling her the most. "Is there any chance the doctors who attacked at the hospital might have anything to do with this?"
Stiles perked up, his previous worries now replaced with a fresh one. "Crap, I forgot all about them!" His eyes widened in horror. "What if THEY'RE the ones who turned Tracy into…whatever she is? They- they could be using her to finish us off or something…" His breathing increased again as his worry grew.
Scott couldn't help let some of that worry infuse his own emotions. "That could explain why her scent was so strange; she isn't actually supernatural."
"Wait, you mean Tracy wasn't turned traditionally? It was by synthetic means?" Lydia asked in a horrified tone.
Stiles nodded gravely. "Like I said at the hospital, it's not magic-"
"-it's science," Lydia finished in understanding, looking absolutely stressed right now.
Scott patted her arm comfortingly. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out soon. Let's just go home for now."
Lydia nodded, put on a strong face, and walked through the school doors, leaving the two boys alone. Stiles was frowning, seeming to be lost in thought. He opened his mouth, as if he was about to ask a question, but decided against it. He turned away from Scott and faced the lockers, brows knit together in concentration.
Scott grew nervously curious. "Stiles, what's up? What are you thinking?"
Scott didn't see it, but an ever so small smirk twisted the corner of Stiles's mouth. Scott just stared, becoming more confused, until another voice seemed to appear inside the back of his mind. "You tell me."
He knew then it was Stiles's voice, so he didn't think much of it. "Stiles, I know you're worried-"
"Did you read my mind? And I don't mean figuratively, I mean did you actually hear my thoughts?"
Scott paused, wondering where this was going. "You're worried about the Nogitsune, aren't you? You're worried that what happened to you is the same thing that's happening to Tracy. Stiles, what are you saying?"
The human then turned back around to face Scott, a seemingly innocent expression on his face. "Scott, I haven't said anything."
The werewolf was taken aback. "Wha- yes you did! You were just asking if I could read your mind."
The human maintained a stoic expression. "I haven't opened my mouth at all."
Scott was puzzled; he could have sworn it was Stiles's voice he was hearing in the back of his head, asking him if he could hear his thoughts… Then it clicked. Scott's eyes widened as he looked at Stiles. "You mean…" he started, alarm being replaced by wonder.
"Scott…" Stiles said warningly, noticing the corners of his friend's mouth start to rise.
"We can read each other's minds?"
"Ok, don't get all excited now," Stiles pleaded, desperately trying to keep his own expression from matching his best friend's.
But Scott's face had now broken into a giant grin. "DUDE! How cool is that? We can communicate, anytime and anywhere we want, and no one will hear us at all!" Stiles tried to remain serious, but Scott just laughed, "Oh give up the act already. I know you're excited; you've been wishing for telepathy as long as I've known you!"
Stiles didn't crack, but Scott had one more trick up his sleeve. He leaned against a row of lockers, crossing his arms and looking directly at the other teen with a confident smirk. Without even parting his lips, he spoke his mind, literally. "Come on, tell me this isn't one of the coolest things that's happened to us."
And Stiles couldn't take it anymore. His face finally broke into a goofy grin. "Yeah, it is kind of cool," he agreed. But he then forced another serious expression. "But you better not be nosy about this. No snooping through my personal thoughts, ok?"
Scott merely chuckled. "Okay," he responded unconvincingly.
"Scott McCall, I mean it!"
"All right, all right! I won't be nosy! Geez…" He attempted to feign offense, but failed terribly. Stiles chortled.
"You know, maybe this "alpha bond" thing isn't so bad after all," the young human admitted with a cheeky grin.
Scott returned that with a smirk of his own. "Glad to see you're finally getting somewhere," he teased. But he soon sobered up his expression. "Seriously though, I have a feeling that with what we're up against, whatever we have is going to be useful. VERY useful."
"""
Stiles stared, frozen in fear, as the mountain ash magically floated to the ground, encasing the pack members and affiliate in a circle of "safety". A few days after Tracy's condition was discovered, the poor girl ended up in a bizarre situation where she vomited black blood and raven feathers during a meeting with Ms. Martin and promptly passed out. Luckily, the Senior pack members were able to sneak her away before the counselor could pull her to the nurse's office. And so that brought them to this moment, where Stiles, Scott, and Lydia were surrounding the table holding Tracy in Dr. Deaton's office. In order to protect any enemies from getting in (and Tracy from getting out), the emissary immediately spread a handful of mountain ash around them.
"Um, Dr. Deaton, I'm not sure mountain ash will help this time," Stiles said shakily, "We don't think Tracy is exactly supernatural, which means she could cross the barrier…"
"That is a point, but it won't hurt to try, just in case. The only issue is that the others can't get out. You and I can, but Scott and Lydia won't be able to."
At that, Scott and Stiles made eye contact, both thinking the exact same thing. The last time they were here, the doctor had told a story about a couple who defied all boundaries of the supernatural. Stiles knew he was still a human being, but he wasn't sure if his newfound abilities kept him human enough to cross this barrier of ash. If Deaton told him to run and found out that he couldn't… He forgoed the thought and turned his attention back to the doctor in question, who was busy examining the unconscious Senior.
Deaton had performed quite a few tests and was baffled with his results. "This gets stranger by the minute. She has many of the properties of a werewolf. But at the same time, she doesn't seem to be a werewolf." He stopped as he noticed something on the side of her neck, something ominously bubbling under her skin. He frowned. "Lydia, could you turn her over for me please?"
Lydia obeyed, and was shocked by the creepy sight that met her eyes. It wasn't just the neck but the entire spine of Tracy's body that had some unusual object shifting under the skin. It slithered side to side, releasing a hiss that seemed to grow louder by the second. Scott and Stiles moved closer to the girl, anxiously curious as to what was going on.
Without warning, Tracy's back split open, unleashing a large, grotesque appendage that made first contact with Stiles's face, whacking him to the ground. Suddenly, Tracy bounced up from the table, fangs protruding sharply and eyes glowing a sickly yellow. Scott and Lydia tried to ward her off, the former now turned into werewolf form. Meanwhile, Stiles lay on the ground, unable to move an inch. He tried to speak, but in his panic, all that came out was a blubber of noise. He was confused and scared and aggravated; he was on the ground, helpless, with a suspicious sticky substance on the side of his face that he couldn't even wipe off now. Hold on, he was paralyzed, with a sticky substance…
And the realization hit him, why Tracy was in random places without knowing it, why sometimes she just didn't seem like herself. He tried again to speak, to yell out a warning, but in his position, he didn't have enough breath to support his voice. Then an idea struck him; he couldn't warn the room, but he could at least warn Scott. He closed his eyes and maintained firm concentration as he thought.
"Scott, it's the kanima."
Seconds later, and he heard a reply. "Wait, what?"
"She hit me with venom that paralyzed me; Tracy is a kanima! Scott you've got to be careful; don't make any contact with her!"
Scott immediately heeded the warning. "Guys! She's a kanima! She can paralyze-" But it was too late; in the next instant, the alpha was knocked to the ground, and Lydia and Deaton encountered the same predicament. Tracy then proceeded to leap across the ring of mountain ash, scattering the particles like they were worthless pieces of dirt, and she rushed outside the clinic and into the darkness, howling at the night sky above.