A/N:

As previously promised - the updates will become more regular. I know I ask for too much, but some reviews would be great, even though I don't deserve them seeing as I might have lost a bunch of you during my lack of updates. However, for those who stuck around, I love so very much for being so patient. I hope the story is living up to your expectations so far. Enjoy!

"I'm fine."

Stiles protested over and over again as Eva's eyes flickered across his chest hurriedly – Stiles was sitting at the edge of the ambulance's rig outside of the school. No one had gotten hurt, except for the girl who made the bomb – that girl was dead.

And when they'd found Stiles, he was passed out on the ground – with a gash hidden underneath his messy hair that bled visibly across his forehead. Of course, that was enough to freak the hell out of Eva. "Shut up." She muttered, her hands moving over his shoulders and tracing down his arms, before she looked up at the paramedic who was treating the gash on Stiles' head, one that would need to be stitched once they got to the hospital, "Are you sure he's fine? No other cuts? No suspicious bruises?"

"Eva-" Stiles started protesting again, "Shut up." Eva whispered again as she looked up at the paramedic, a persistent frown on her face begging for confirmation. Eventually, the woman was done and turned to her, "He's okay. We'll just take him back to the hospital and make sure the hit on his head wasn't that serious and stitch him up." She assured her, and Eva nodded slowly before she glanced back at Scott, who visibly let out a relieved sigh, then nodded at her slowly.

"You guys are worrying too much." Stiles insisted as he pulled on his plaid shirt and buttoned it up, "We shouldn't even be worrying about any of this right now. We should be worrying about something else." Stiles pointed out, trying to blink away the headache that came with the local anesthesia that numbed his scalp.

"How could I possibly worry about anything else when I saw you on the ground, bleeding?" Eva protested as both she and Scott took Stiles' hands to help him up on his feet then into the ambulance. Stiles glanced sideways at her, a small smile curling on his lips, before he took a deep breath and let the smile drop quickly before she saw it, "Obviously, we need to be looking into the fact that she kept saying riddles."

Eva's concern was of course clouding her thinking – her mind couldn't exactly follow what Stiles was saying. Scott, however, had had a look of realization wash over his face, "Like the man in the preserve, and that guy in Eichen House."

Eva and Scott had just helped Stiles sit on the stretcher, before Eva sat down beside him and pursed her lips, almost ashamed the thought hadn't crossed her mind. In that moment, Eva was too concerned with Lydia and Stiles' safety, and with Malia's too – Malia who disappeared with the doll. Malia, whom they needed to help. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, "I can't think of this right now, Stiles. You're hurt." Eva whispered as she looked up at him, her eyes pleading for him not to start with this, not now at least.

Stiles stared at her, the thoughts bouncing inside his head, begging to be freed, before he eventually heaved a sigh that made his head pound again. "Right, of course." He nodded once, and Eva took a deep breath, before she tried to force a brief smile on her lips. She turned away just as the paramedic told them that only one of them was allowed on the ambulance with Stiles, and Scott immediately got off, smiling at the both of them as the doors were shut.

"Your dad will meet us by the hospital." Eva assured Stiles as she reached out to take his hand, "He just had to rush off and take a report of what happened." Eva explained as she looked up at Stiles, before she frowned when she saw the way he looked at her, "You know that's what he's doing and you don't need reassurance." She finally deduced, and licked her lips nervously before she looked down, "I'm sorry, I'm just…when I saw you on the ground-"

"I'm fine, Eva, okay?" Stiles started again as his grip on her hand tightened, and he reached over to tuck his index finger underneath her chin to lift her gaze to his, and he let that same loop-sided grin appear on his face, "Now you know." He teased, and Eva scowled as she reached over to slap his hand away. Stiles laughed, before he feigned a hurt expression. Eva eventually scooted close to him so she could wrap her arms around his torso. Stiles smiled to himself as he laid on arm around her shoulders, his cheek resting against the top of her head, reciprocating the paramedic's awed gazes with genuine smiles of his own.

The trip to the hospital was not a long one – but seeing as the 'patient' on it was not an urgent case, they didn't need to siren their way through the crowds and the afternoon traffic.

Melissa was the one who met them by the door, a worried expression taking over her face as the rig's doors opened, and the paramedics insisted on wheeling in Stiles on the stretcher. Eva waited until he stubbornly got off the stretcher and hopped onto the cot in the emergency room on his own, before Melissa proceeded to assess the wound.

"It won't take a lot of stitches, but I'll have to give you another round of anesthesia because it's fading away now." She mumbled, before she glanced around and called for one of the residents to work on the gash on Stiles' head. "I am not allowed do the stitches because I'm just a nurse myself." She explained apologetically, and she could Eva's face visibly fall, so she quickly assured her, "Don't worry, he'll be fine."

"I keep telling her that." Stiles grinned, almost sounding giddy at the fact that Eva was so worried. Eva shook her head slowly as she reached out to take his hand again when the resident had gotten around, "Can you not…I'll be fine." Stiles started insisting now, even though Eva could see his eyes widen at the sight of the needle. Her eyes flickered to Stiles' face again, and he quickly shook his head. "Fine…Just…holler if you need me." Eva muttered as she leaned over to kiss his cheek carefully and stepped away.

The first thing she did was search for Scott, who didn't arrive yet. She stepped out of the emergency room and glanced around the parking lot just as she saw the dirt bike appear in the distance, closing in at the entrance of the parking lot.

"Hey, are they stitching him up now?" Scott asked hurriedly, his eyes flickering to the hospital before he looked down at Eva again, tucking his helmet onto the clutch.

"He didn't want me to see him get the stitches." Eva shook her head slowly, fairly irritated by the fact before she started, "What took you so long to get here?" She asked first, pulling her brows into a frown.

"I was making sure Lydia was okay." Scott started, and Eva stared at him, almost appalled she completely forgot to ask about Lydia, "Lydia…yeah, is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. Kira took her home." Scott nodded quickly, and tilted his head when he saw the expression on Eva's face. "What about…Malia? Lydia said she...it...She was there."

"She was." Eva whispered, her eyes drifting to the ground as she chewed on her lower lip. "I pushed her out of the way, away from the explosions, and she...left. She licked my cheek and left with the doll." Eva explained and looked up at Scott again, "We need to find a way to help her." Eva started, "We need to figure out the connection between all of these people killing themselves."

"I thought you said you were too worried to think about this now." Scott frowned, and Eva shook her head slowly, "I didn't want Stiles to get involved. It's going to unnecessarily hurt his head and I think he's had enough of that."

Scott chewed on the inside of his cheek, "He's not going to like us playing Sherlock without him."

"We'll fill him in once I make sure my boyfriend doesn't have a concussion or a brain bleed." Eva protested, stomping her foot a little to get her point across. "We need to gather information about all of them. How do we do that?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked up at Scott pointedly.

"By looking through their social records." Scott nodded, gazing off into the distance as he struggled to catch up to what Eva was saying.

"And where can we find their social records?" Eva pressed, watching as Scott frowned, reaching out to scratch the back of his head. "Medical records, Scott. Especially ones that were made postmortem."

"Mom." Scott breathed out, and Eva nodded, breathing out a small sigh.

"Would that get her into trouble?" Eva asked, "We can't ask Stiles' dad because…" Eva let her voice trail off, and Scott nodded solemnly as he looked down, "Because my dad is trying to put him out of a job."

"And you know I don't want your mom to get into trouble cause of a suggestion I made." Eva started again, and Scott pressed his lips into a thin line, "My mom has done a lot crazier things that pulling up records is actually…nothing in comparison." Scott muttered, before he frowned to himself, "I need to get my mom away from this."

Eva waited patiently for Scott to make his decision, looking back at the glass doors every now and then to catch a glimpse of Stiles, eyes shut tightly as the resident hovered above his head.

"Okay." Scott finally breathed out, "You're right. We need to figure out what this all means, and we need to collect information to make the links."

"We also need to figure out a way to bring back Malia." Eva added to the list, biting on the corner of her lips.

Scott nodded slowly, thought she could already tell that he had something stirring up in his head. "We need to go check on Stiles." Eva whispered as she reached over to nudge Scott's arm, and he eventually nodded.

"Hey, Scotty!" Stiles exclaimed as the two of them approached him, and Eva's eyes widened, her eyes flickering to the resident. "He's on a high dose of pain medication; he wouldn't stop complaining of the pain once I started stitching." He explained, "He's pretty much high." He cleared up as he wrote something into the file in his hands and left.

"Stiles?" Eva tilted her head as she stepped towards him, "Eva! Evangeline! My beautiful girlfriend!" Stiles hollered as he reached out to brush her hair behind her ears despite his state, "You're so beautiful." He sighed as he stroked his thumbs across her cheeks. Eva let out a small laugh, glancing sideways at Scott who had his fist pressed against his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Oh, don't be sad, Scott! You're beautiful too…" Stiles slurred as he dropped his hands and reached out for Scott, who shook his head slowly as he reached out to grab Stiles' arms, "I think you need to lie down, man."

"I really think you do." Eva agreed as she wrapped one arm around Stiles' shoulders so they could ease him back into the bed.

"But I don't want to sleep." Stiles sighed dramatically, and Eva smiled a bit as she peered up at Scott.

"You probably should sleep a little to kill time." Scott's mom announced her presence, "And we'll move you to a private exam room. It'll be hours before you get that MRI – it's completely backed up now and you could use the rest."

"I thought he shouldn't be unconscious until you guys make sure he's completely fine." Eva started worrying again, and Scott's expression shifted too as he turned his attention to his mother, who took over for Scott, helping Stiles lie down. "His blood work came back balanced and he did well on the initial tests. He probably just needs to rest now." Melissa assured them as she lifted the covers to bring over Stiles' figure, "So you should just close your eyes and sleep for a while, okay kid?"

"Yeah, okay." Stiles eventually pouted, before he closed his eyes and pulled the blanket up to his chest so he could lay his arms over his chest, "Thanks, Mom."

Eva's eyes flickered down to Stiles, almost completely asleep now, his lips slack and his eyes shut – but there was a small smile curled on his lips as he fell asleep. Her eyes moved up to Melissa's face, which twisted a little in pain, before she forced a soft smile as she brushed Stiles' hair back, then moved so she could move the bed from the curtained compartments to the private rooms, both Eva and Scott helping her.

Melissa tucked Stiles' folder into the door as she closed it quietly, before she turned to Scott and Eva and smiled briefly. It took them a moment before someone could actually break the silence, "Mom…" Scott coughed as he scratched the back of his head, "We kind of need your help with something." Scott peered at his mother almost shyly, and Eva almost immediately started wringing her hands together as she waited for Melissa to react.

The first thing Melissa did was move them away from the room's door, before she turned to them, the maternal expression on her face gone, replaced by a tactical one, a very serious one, "How can I help?"

"Well," Eva started as she swallowed thickly, "As you know…I've been at all the recent suicides." Eva whispered, that girl, Scarlet's, words ringing in her head. Eva had to close her eyes to stay focused, "All of them, they seemed to keep…saying those riddles." Eva started, "The boy at Eichen house, the guy at the camp, and apparently the girl from the school, the one who caused the explosion."

"So there has to be some kind of connection between them." Melissa deduced, and Scott nodded once, "I don't think it's random, and I don't think they're suicides either." Eva started again, "Something is doing this."

"Can something cause people to do this?" Scott asked, frowning, and Eva shrugged once, "There could be." Eva started again, "I need to start looking, but I need to have the information first." That's when Eva turned to Scott's mom with a small frown on her face, "I don't want you to get in trouble and I don't even know if we'll find anything but it could be something. There could be a clue." Eva almost sounded desperate, and she didn't understand where all that desperation came from, but it was there, and it was gnawing at her.

"Of course I'll help you." Melissa muttered as she looked between the two of them.

An hour later, they had the files laid out on the ground, Eva and Scott hunched over them. Melissa had left them in there and locked the door, and no one has tried to come in ever since.

"Nothing." Eva looked up at Scott again, "They have absolutely nothing in common." Eva ran her hand through her hair, tugging a bit at it before she sat up, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"So they're random? That doesn't make any sense." Scott started as he looked up at her, his hands moving the files aside. "Did you read the postmortem reports?" Scott muttered after a long silence, his eyes moving over a paper that Eva was sure she hadn't looked at. She scooted closer to him, "No, no, I haven't, what's in them?"

"They found a strange looking bruise on all the bodies." Scott muttered as he glanced sideways at Eva, "All of them?" She lifted both brows, eyes widening as she reached for a file to look at, then handed it to Scott to take the one he had and read it.

"We need to see those bruises." Eva started as she set the file she had in her hand on the ground, and Scott frowned. "That could be our clue, Scott."

"But what if it's just a different bruise?" Scott asked, and Eva stared at him, "Three suicides, all whispering riddles before they killed themselves and now they possibly can share the same odd looking bruise? It's not really a longshot."

Scott eventually sighed, "You're right." He looked at the ground before glancing sideways at Eva again, "You're aware these bruises are on dead bodies, right? Bodies that are in the morgue."

Eva gulped and nodded slowly, "I'm aware." She looked down before she started arranging the files just the way they were before she pushed herself up off the ground, "We need to see those bruises." Eva muttered as she looked up at Scott who'd stood up as well.

As if on cue, the door's lock clicked, and Scott nodded once to assure Eva it was his mom.

"Did you find what you need?" She asked as she walked in and closed the door. Eva glanced up at Scott, before the boy nodded. "Kind of." He muttered, "We need to see their bodies." Eva nodded wordlessly, but quickly, her eyes wide to stress the seriousness of the situation. Melissa flickered her gaze between them before she heaved a sigh as she reached for the files to put them back where they were, "You kids have seen too much dead bodies at such young age."

Eva and Scott glanced sideways at each other, the weight of Melissa' statement falling on them, and they frowned simultaneously. It was true – they'd been through way too much for kids their age, and even when Eva had just hopped onto the roller coaster, it alarmed her that she could barely remember what it felt like to just be a high school student, a normal teenager.

But they eventually followed Melissa out to the elevators down stairs, "The bodies are still here because the funerals are still being planned." Melissa explained, "One of them was supposed to be moved to a funeral home by the end of the day." Eva looked up at Scott, who widened his eyes and breathed out a small sigh. Those bruises needed to be the key to what they needed because this was probably their last chance.

Eva almost hesitated as she stared at the sign that said, "Morgue." Before she took a deep breath – it wasn't the first body she'd seen, and she had a sick feeling those three wouldn't be the last. She walked in, the coldness of the room running shivers up her spine as if someone had poured a bucked of iced water on her. Eva wrapped her arms around herself as she followed Scott's mom inside, watched as the woman put on gloves and handed each of them a pair.

Eva stood opposite from the first 'drawer', "This is the boy from Eichen house." Melissa started as she looked up at Eva, before she pulled out the body, and Eva pursed her lips as she tried to control her gag reflex, her eyes staring down at the boy's face, paled, his lips blue. She realized she'd been staring at his face too long when she felt her vision blur with the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"Eva? Are you okay?" Melissa started, reaching out to cover the body again.

"Wait," Eva whispered, her voice barely over a whisper. She closed her eyes in attempt to contain the tears, "Let's just see that bruise." Eva muttered hurriedly as she looked up at Scott, who nodded quickly. Scott too lost color from his face, but he didn't seem as shaken up as Eva was. He reached over the body to hold his fore arm and turn him on his side just as Eva leaned down to eye the 'odd' bruise on his back.

Odd was definitely an understatement.

Eva was staring at a line that ran vertically along the center of his back, just above his spine. Not exactly a line – it was…cut off at various spots, then completely erased with only dots remaining to keep the line there. It was almost as if someone was trying to draw on this boy's back with a pen that barely had any ink left in it. Eva quickly brought out her phone and took a photo, before she stood up again and turned away as Scott adjusted the body and Melissa pushed it back into its place inside the compartment.

Eva had to take a deep breath and cover her face momentarily, before she tried to shake out her arms and swallow down the lump in her throat. She could do this, she had to do this. "Eva, are you okay?" Melissa insisted as she stepped towards her, and Eva nodded as she turned back to her, "I'm fine." Eva answered her, her voice croaking, before she cleared her throat and started again, sounding clearer this time, "I'm fine."

Next was the man in the camp – one that Eva actually talked to and could have saved. This one was harder to look down at and acknowledge. But she did it – she swallowed down the nausea and the guilt and took the photo of very much the exact same bruise on his back.

"Jane Doe?" Eva asked, recalling that the girl from the class room was named Jane Doe in the file.

"She's…unrecognizable." Melissa muttered as she opened the compartment and pulled out the body. "But her back is unscathed." Melissa looked up at them before she took a deep breath. When Eva mimicked her, she was hit with the sickening scent of burnt flesh, but there were chemicals in the mix that made it smell like as if it were rotting when it wasn't. The smell made Eva's stomach churn, both she and Scott turned away as Melissa uncovered the body.

It was Melissa who lifted the body on its side so Eva could take the photo. But for some reason, Eva didn't turn away when Melissa was covering it again. "Oh god…" Eva let out a weak whimper as her hands moved to cover her mouth, her eyes welling up with tears that finally spilled over as she stared down at the girl. Melissa quickly pushed the body back in just as Scott wrapped his arm around Eva's shoulders to guide her out of the morgue.

Scott sat Eva down on one of the seat rows scattered in the hallways, before he knelt down in front of her. "Mom," Scott called out when he noted the loss of color on her face, and her shoulders rising and falling quick, as well as her heart that couldn't find a steady rhythm.

"Eva," Melissa hurried quickly to kneel down in front of her, Scott scooting out of the way watch Eva with worried eyes. "Eva, sweetheart, open your eyes, sweetie. Look at me." Melissa started, her voice holding the concern and authority of a mother. She reached out to hold to girl's face in her hands, her brows creasing when she felt the cold sweat that had broken out on her body. "Eva, open your eyes."

"I could have saved them." Eva breathed out as she opened her eyes, her wide hazel hues finding Melissa's gentle brown ones, "I could have saved all of them."

It was as if seeing their bodies was the confirmation Eva needed – the situations would have been different if she'd actually known how to use her powers. Or if she had the instinct to do so. But she didn't. Eva was weak and vulnerable, and completely helpless and useless to people around her.

She could barely even acknowledge Melissa' words of comfort or Scott's worried gaze. It was all clear in her head now. Eventually, Eva's eyes focused on Melissa, who was struggling to get the girl's attention, "Is Stiles still asleep?" She whispered, and Melissa frowned before she nodded slowly.

"Okay…" Eva got up slowly, even though her knees were almost knocking together, she refused the help. "We need to figure out what those bruises mean." Eva looked up at Scott, who still stared down at her in concern, "I'll send the photos to you and you take them to Deaton."

"What about you?" Melissa asked, and Scott too turned to her, both of them staring at her with the worried gazes. Eva's eyes flickered between the two of them before she took a deep breath, "I need to know whether someone else is going to get hurt or not. And if so…then I need to know how so I can stop it."

"How are you going to do that?" Melissa frowned, but Scott seemed to get it. He turned to Eva and breathed out,

"Lydia."