Chapter 40: Past Returns

It was the middle of the night, streets pretty empty in the area, until three SUV's went and pulled up in front of an apartment complex where one of the first to exit from them was the renowned alpha of the Pawshroud Pack, Oscar. He let himself look at the building and the surrounding area with nostalgia as he went to close his eyes and breathe it all in.

"Home sweet home," he uttered more to himself than to his pack.

"Nine days is a long time Oscar," his second Dean said, stepping on over to him. "We hadn't planned for that."

"No. We were gone a little longer than I planned but that last full moon created more developments than I could've imagined. Between all the activity out west, and these recent rumors popping up about the hunters, they needed firm attention. But, thankfully, things have stabilized somewhat, at least enough to come back here and start the next phase. Speaking of which," he then moved to lean in closer to him. "How is everything going with our...asset?"

"No change. The Hales are keeping him close. He's under as careful a watch with them as ever."

Oscar let a light smile creep up on him. "Good. These are dangerous times. Children should be given top priority, especially that one."

"Considering who his father is," Dean added suggestively. "Thanks to Ruben we now have tangible proof. Not to mention, if the rumors are true, he is now packless. Why not move on him now?"

"No." Oscar placed a calming, but firm, grip on his Second's shoulder. "Not just yet. The boy is still in transition but, from his reputation, these new developments stirring up around him will sure drive him to gain a tighter hold on his new power. When he does, that's when I'll make my move on him. Because, what choice would someone like him have?" Dean let a small smirk creep up on his right side as Oscar returned it. "Speaking of, where is that tiresome young Ruben anyway?"

"He said that he had to go and grab some things of his back at his foster's place but he said he would be back before dawn."

"Well, I have no interest in chasing after moody teenagers. Stress to him to not become a hindrance or everything promised to him, could still be taken away."

Dean nodded resolutely. "Don't worry, I'll be happy to."

Off to the side, listening in, was Charlie Harris. He was facing away from them, trying to look like he wasn't listening in, but his eyes were unfocused as he let his wolf ears pick up their words. He nearly jumped when one of the other betas snapped their fingers at his face to get him to move on into the building with them. Charlie tried to play off being tired and absentminded as he moved on. Once inside the penthouse Oscar owned, he quickly ducked into the bathroom and yanked out his phone to begin texting.


"Parrish?!" Stiles grunted as he pushed himself to his feet.

He grit his teeth as he watched Parrish apparently go full hellhound. The guy was far different from other supernaturals he had come across in the past. While his eyes let off a fiery, orange glow not too unlike a werewolf's shifted eyes, but that seemed to be the only thing that was the same. His clothes had mostly burned away and he was now covered in a thin layer of their ashes. Fangs were now visible though Stiles could see they were somewhat different than a werewolf's. It was made further out of place by Parrish's current facial expression, it was point blank. His ash covered torso was emitting a fiery glow in places like there was a fire roaring in his body and its light was peeking out through cracks in his skin. Waves of heat were radiating off him, hot enough to make Stiles brow quickly get sweaty, and it reminded Stiles of the night that he and Theo had stood guard outside the animal clinic. Back then, Theo had been on the receiving end of Parrish's wrath. Now, it looked like it was going to be his turn.

Parrish wasn't saying anything. He was just standing there, staring down at him, his fire like eyes almost searing into him as he locked onto Stiles' eyes. The deputy then started to slowly step for him and Stiles felt his heart speed up as a familiar itch traveled to his fingertips, demanding he release his claws and let loose on his attacker.

"No stay back. Don't make me have to hurt you." But that didn't make the deputy stop. He just kept moving for him. His claws then quickly extended from his fingertips. "Stop," he tried to warn him.

But Parrish only picked up the pace and grabbed for him. Stiles bat his hand away and then moved strike at Parrish with his other hand but the hellhound moved to catch it by his wrist. His hand then seemed to light on fire and Stiles grit his fanged teeth as a wave of heat started to burn into his skin. He quickly moved his free hand and clawed at Parrish's arm and the hellhound let him go. Stiles quickly leapt back, breathing in quickly and deeply, each breath sounding almost like a growl. Stiles looked at the red, blistered skin on his right wrist. The heat was so intense that some of the skin still searing and even bubble a bit. The heat from it began to travel from his wrist, up his arm, right to his head and his vision seemed to be going red.

Parrish's glowing eyes looked down at the four deep claw marks that had been cut onto his arm. Instead of blood, it looked like small embers were spilling out of the wound instead. At the sight, his blank, passive face suddenly started to go into a frown. His hands then tightened up into hard fists and he let out a low, but threatening, animalistic growl.

As for Stiles, he suddenly saw red as his face fully shifted and he let out a hard roar in retaliation. They both let their glowing eyes lock on to each others before moving to charge at one another. Stiles' claws were eager to strike, to tear his prey apart.

The two were a moment from colliding, when there was a sudden shockwave that made all the lights in the lot start to blink and shoot off sparks while Parrish's van started to sound off its alarm. In the corner of Stiles' ear, he heard a scream. Lydia's scream, and he suddenly stopped in his tracks. The burning rage and red vision he had seemed to ebb away and he felt himself wake up.

"Lydia," he mumbled to himself.

Parrish also seemed to freeze in his tracks as he turned to look off towards Eichen House. His face slowly softened and the glow of his eyes dimmed until they went back to normal. They started to blink rapidly as he gasped as Jordan Parrish came back under full control. He narrowed his eyes in confusion as he then looked down to see that he was half naked, out in the parking lot. He looked on a head and saw the shrinking figure of a familiar teen as he was running away.

"Stiles?" he mumbled to himself before he stepped forward.

Yet, he stopped as he felt a sudden burning itch at his arm. He saw that it was from claw marks that were now lightly bleeding.

What had just happened?


Scott was lightly dabbing a swap of alcohol dipped cotton against a small cut that was above Deaton's left eye.

"Nice to see your technique hasn't faltered while I've been gone," Deaton humored lightly to him.

Scott gave him a small smile. "Yeah, well, it's too bad I'm not really going to be able to do much with it now."

He then stuck on some medical tape and went to toss the bloodied cotton in the trash.

"Scott," Deaton said simply but it still made the young alpha freeze in his tracks. "I know things haven't exactly been going the best way for you these last few weeks. It's okay to let yourself feel the weight of it all, just don't lose yourself in it."

Scott sighed heatedly as he turned to face the man. "But I did lose Deaton. Everything. Everyone," he muttered a little more to himself than Deaton.

"Not everyone. From what I've seen, it looks like you still have at least three."

"Kira, Liam and Malia?"

Deaton nodded. "They clearly want to stay with you. I think the real question is, do you want them to?"

Scott went to lean back into the nearby wall. "I don't know. I mean, I don't know what I'm even supposed to do about what's going on. What with the Dread Doctors still out there, and Theo with his new pack. Then there's the Beast of Gevaudan now. And...Stiles."

Deaton's face fell a bit. "It must not be easy for him, getting cast out by both his alpha and his best friend." Scott's eyes widened a bit. "Corrine told me," he explained. "Thought to taunt me with how my charge was doing in my absence. She has a certain sense of amusement." He stood up to lean up on the opposite side of his examination table, facing him. "I take it the pain in everyone's hearts have started whenever Stiles is in proximity."

"You know about that too?"

"It's what happens when the Second of the pack is banished. I did warn you Scott that the Second was not a position to give away lightly," he said with a stern tone. Yet it softened a second later. "However, I probably should've also warned you that it wasn't a position to take away lightly as well. I also take it that you are feeling a lack of emotion or empathy for Stiles when he's close by as well."

Scott nodded. "But, it's not happening like it's supposed to. It happens only for like a split second when we see him. Satomi, she told me that its probably because I died during the Supermoon, even if it was for a few minutes."

Alan Deaton stiffened a bit. It seemed that, yet again, Scott and his friends were pushing the boundaries of the conventional rules of the supernatural world.

Scott continued. "She also thinks that I can't get Stiles back. Is...is that really true?"

Scott wasn't sure he wanted to hear what Deaton's answer really was. Part of him was full of hope but there was another part that told him that he knew the answer and it would crush what hope he had left.

"Well, do you really want Stiles back?" he softly asked him.

"What? Of course I want him back." He wondered why Deaton would ask him such a silly question.

"Then why did you banish him to begin with?" he asked him, again softly. "Why did you cast him out?"

"I didn't want to," Scott quickly defended. "No! I just...Theo tricked me. It was all part of his plan."

"Well, it wasn't a very hard plan for him to execute if, after one story, you were ready to turn on your best friend. What made you believe him so easily?"

"I thought...Theo told me that Stiles killed Donovan, and I...I didn't think I could have Stiles be around me or the others anymore. I don't know why I even believed him."

"Scott, I think you do. Deep down, you know exactly why you believed him. You are just either lying to yourself or are in denial. And until you can answer that for yourself and accept it, you can't begin to try and make things right with Stiles. As his alpha or his friend."

That made Scott tear his eyes away from the man and look down forlorn at the shadow of himself on the table. His hands began to grip to edges nearly hard enough to begin bending them.

"You're saying I have to be honest with myself," he mumbled off. "It's not the first time I've been told that lately."

Deaton narrowed his eyes in thought. "Satomi," he mumbled before his eyes widened a bit in realization. "Ah, so I see you've spoken with her emissary."

"You know Ms. Ramsey?"

"Yes, though I call Izzy. It's short for Isabel." He broke into a small chuckle. "She is quite a critical one, isn't she?"

He thought back to his times with her, as a teacher and an emissary. Scott nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she is."

"Izzy wasn't that way when I first met her. Back when she was training as an emissary, she had quite the optimistic outlook. Always found ways to smile and make others smile."

"Ms. Ramsey?" Scott coughed out. He couldn't imagine that woman like that.

Deaton nodded with a hearty chuckle. Then he started to sober. "Satomi soon chose her to be her pack's emissary and it was shortly after that when her outlook changed."

"Why?"

"Well, she started to...become involved with one of her betas. It started to affect how she advised Satomi and it made him start to put Izzy before the pack. One day, a wandering Omega came into their territory and started causing trouble. Satomi moved to find and stop him with her pack but it was Izzy and her love that found him first. The Omega managed to hurt Izzy and while she told him to stop him, her lover instead grabbed her and got her out of there. He wanted to make sure that she was safe above all else. Later that night, the Omega attacked and killed a father and his 10 year old daughter. Nearly killed another member of the pack as well before he was stopped."

"Oh, wow," Scott said, sad about the turn of events.

"Izzy soon felt that she had become too emotionally attached and it had begun to hurt the pack, and their ability to protect and maintain their home and territory. She went and ended the relationship and closed herself off from the pack, except from Satomi. Felt that as an emissary, the best way she could serve her role was to be an impartial, detached figure."

"What about her boyfriend?"

"Well, he wasn't happy about it but he agreed. That all changed him as much as it did her. He became more serious and dedicated to protecting the pack. So much so that Satomi eventually chose him as her Second."

Scott's jaw slacked open a bit as he understood. "Wilson."

Wilson was the beta that Ms. Ramsey had been in love with. But they sacrificed their relationship with each other because they thought it was best for the pack. And then Wilson had been killed...by Theo. Who Scott had trusted and brought into his pack. Which had been allied with theirs. Now Ramsey's feelings and critiques against him were starting to make more sense.

"In the last year," Deaton said, continuing. "She would often tell me that I was letting myself get too emotionally attached to advise my charge properly. While I believe that her way may be somewhat excessive, recent events may be showing she might have had a valid point."

"What do you mean? You've been a great emissary. Everything you've said and done has only helped me." His face softened. "You've been like a father to me."

Deaton gave him a sad smile. "Thank you Scott. I would be lying if I said that I hadn't come to think of you as the son I never was able to have. Yet, it pains me when I think about how it all came to be. That it started on underhanded and deceitful terms."

Scott felt something fall in his stomach. "What are you talking about?"

"Scott, did you never stop to think that it was all ever too easy or convenient? That the man you had worked for since you were 12 just happened to be an emissary, ready and waiting to help you right after you were bitten by a werewolf."

Suddenly, Scott remembered the times where Stiles felt that Deaton was hiding something from them. Scott would always brush it off but Stiles insisted that his boss wasn't telling them something important. It seemed that his instincts had been right after all, again.

"Wait, what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying, it wasn't exactly a coincidence Scott. The truth is I've been watching over you for years. Since you were a small boy actually. After you and your dog Roxy had that accident, I decided to hire you but it wasn't just to help you move on. I thought it would help me keep a better eye on you."

"Roxy?" Scott mumbled. He then started blinking his eyes rapidly. Scott remembered. Valack's book about the Dread Doctors had made him see that day. "Wait," he said suddenly. The book had made him see something else, here. "Laura Hale...she was here."

"What?"

"I remembered...I had met her before. When she came back to Beacon Hills, before Peter killed her. I thought the night that Stiles and I found her body was the first time I saw her but it wasn't. It was here, at the animal clinic."

"You remembered?"

"Valack, his book. We read it to try and remember anything the Dread Doctors made us forget but it didn't work the way we thought it would. All of us started remembering things we didn't even know we knew. Me, I started remembering my asthma. After I saw me in the hospital after Roxy's accident. And then here, I saw me speaking with Laura...after she came to see you."

Deaton nodded. "Yes. She had come to see me to tell me that she was coming back to try and reclaim Beacon Hills and start up the pack again. Asked if I would serve as her emissary like I did for her mother. And we talked about you."

"Why would Laura want to talk about me?"

"Yes, well, not just you. We also talked about Stiles as well."

Scott's eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets. "What? Why would she care about me and Stiles? She didn't know us."

"Well, she did. From what I understand, as children, you and Stiles caught her attention. I'm not sure of the specifics but Laura was impressed with the two of you. She believed that you and Stiles would make great additions for the pack when she became alpha."

A Hale wanting him and Stiles in their pack. This was sounding a little too familiar. The conversation he had with Laura replayed in his mind. They had talked about him, and Stiles. Scott realized that she had been fishing around about their lives. She wanted to know as much as she could about them. "She was going to turn me and Stiles? She planned on making us werewolves since we were kids."

Deaton held his hand out. "Scott, it wasn't like that. Laura wasn't going to just go and turn you against your wills. In fact, she felt that you weren't ready. After speaking with you that day, she felt you were a caring and compassionate kid who liked helping those in pain. She wanted that to be a part of her pack but felt you were still too young to be involved with the aspects and burdens that came with being a werewolf. She wanted you to have a chance to grow up some more and keep a watchful eye over you until she felt you were ready."

"She did?"

"Yes," Deaton nodded. "Perhaps here, at your current age, she would've approached you with the offer of the bite, and while she hoped you would say yes, if you said no, she would've respected your decision."

Scott was completely thrown by all of this. For the longest time, he thought that he had just been randomly thrown into all of this but it turned out that this had been hanging over him since he had been a little kid. A part of him was starting to wonder what it would've been like if Laura Hale hadn't died. If she had been able to go through with her plan. To let him go through these last two years as a normal kid before she brought all this to him. If she did, would he have said yes? He honestly didn't know.

But that wasn't to be. And there was still one more piece to all of this. Stiles. He had been in the same boat as him. At the thought of a boat, something came back to him.

"S.S. Mischief?" he uttered.

Deaton gave him a confused look. "I'm sorry?"

"Derek, he had a box of Laura's stuff at his loft. In it, there was a drawing. It was one of Stiles' drawings. It was of a ship, they were his mom's favorites. He used to do them all the time. She must've got it from him."

"Yes, I suppose she did."

"She wanted to wait with me. What about Stiles?"

"Well, with him, she considered approaching him as soon as she was settled in. From what I told her of him she felt he might be ready for all of this then."

Scott had to admit, he agreed with her. Stiles was ready to handle all of this from the beginning.

"She wanted to go and turn him then."

Deaton's jaw tightened up. "About that Scott. I recently found out something significant about that night that you and Stiles were out in the woods. Something that might just change everything."

But before Scott could ask what that could be, his phone started to ring.


Lydia was lifted off from her cot and led off to the showers by two orderlies. One of them was cynical of Lydia's far off, fugue state and was sure that the whole thing was an act. The other one brushed off her accusations.

'Her eggs are hard boiled and scrambled', he had said to her but it sounded like a whisper to Lydia.

Lydia was placed under the running showerhead, barely reacting to the water that was flowing over her. She was left there for a couple of minutes before the doubtful orderly returned to collect her.

"All right. You've had long enough. Let's go." But Lydia didn't move a muscle. "In case I didn't make myself clear before, I'm not buying your whole catatonic act. So don't think I'm going to be dropping my guard." Still, Lydia didn't move a muscle and the orderly began to get frustrated. "I know you can hear me," she spat.

She lost her patience and grabbed at Lydia forcing her out of the shower by the face, which still had a blank look on it. After getting her dressed, she and her friend from earlier began to march Lydia down the halls, back for her room. As they passed the glass doors of some of the rooms, the 'patients' all watched Lydia walk by with the same kind of deadpan look that she was wearing. When they made it back to her room, Lydia was prepped for injection. The orderly from before told the nurse to up her dosage, bitterly saying that if she wanted to play catatonic then she could be catatonic. Yet, when she was about to be given her injection, Lydia suddenly shot herself up and let out a loud scream. All around them, the lights and fixtures all started to spark and explode. The force from it also made the nurse fall back, covering his ears as her scream pained him so much that he collapsed.

Lydia ran out of the room where she quickly saw one of the other orderlies run for him. He moved to grab her but Lydia went and kicked him back with a surprising bit of strength. Another orderly was coming at Lydia by her blindspot and she went and let out a hard scream. Soundwaves shot out and blasted him right off his feet and fly down the hall. Lydia let herself revel in the results of her training before she ran off for the open gate and left Eichen's 'special' wing. She managed to get out of the building and started to head out for the main gate. It was pouring quite heavily but Lydia wasn't deterred as she moved to get to the exit. Halfway there, three security guards came and tried to corner her. Lydia quickly moved to fight them off. Every punch and kick she threw, she moved to send a scream to intensify her hits. The guards all flew off their feet and rolled off a couple of yards when Lydia struck them. After she had fought them off, she darted off and made it to the front steps but froze as someone was calmly walking up them, towards her. Her eyes widened as she saw his face, one she never expected to ever see again.

'Aiden?' she thought as he made it to the top landing.

He gave her a sad look. "I'm sorry Lydia. Your treatment's not done. Not yet."

With that, Lydia felt a jolt run through her as some guards hit her with shock sticks. The sudden pain brought her to her knees as the guards moved to restrain her. Lydia looked back up as Aiden was completely apathetic to her plight.

"Please," she pleaded to him. "I have to warn them. My friends. They're going to die. Everyone is going to die."

"I know," he said. Aiden then took a step closer and Lydia vision seemed to blur a bit before she saw that it was Valack now standing before her. "But that's not my concern at the moment. You are."

She was then led off back into Eichen House with Valack having a small curved smile after her.


The window creaked open as Ruben opened it from the other side like he had done multiple times before. He skillfully stepped inside without making much noise to wake his foster parents. He made it into his room and started to gather some of the things into the duffle bag he had on hand. Some of the personal trinkets and money that he had hidden away. Once he felt he had everything, he zipped the bag up and started to head on out. Ruben let himself look towards the closed door of his foster parents room for a moment before he moved to go out through the window he had crawled in through. He ducked out though the yard and was about to head off for the street when he felt something collide with him. He was thrown up against the side of the house as a growl was let loose at his face and a pair of golden yellow eyes glowing at him.

"Hey there Ruben. Long time no see."

Ruben let his eyes regain full focus and was able to fully make out his attacker. "Cora?!" he gasped out. "What the hell?"

"I should be the one saying that, don't you think?" she growled at him.

"How did you find me? Have you been staking out my foster house?"

"Don't flatter yourself Ruben."

He looked down at the hand grabbing at him shirt and saw that the claws were out. "I'm still not used to seeing those."

Cora held her left hand to the side of his face, her claws caressing roughly against his cheek. "Well then you won't be used to feeling them either."

Ruben nervously swallowed as he moved to stare her square in the eye. "I'm sorry Cora."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're sorry. Well then, that just makes it all better, doesn't it? You got close to me, just so you could spy on me and my family. You played me Ruben."

"No, Cora...look, it started out that way, yeah. But, it's not like that. I really do like you. You're not like any other girl I've met before."

"Oh, I'm flattered. That didn't stop you from selling me out to Oscar."

"I didn't have a choice," he said lowly.

"You're just hitting one douchy cliche after another, aren't you?"

Suddenly, the fear and sadness he had was replaced by rage. "It's not a cliche Cora, it's my life," he growled back at her.

Cora wasn't deterred though. "Oh, what, did they threaten you? Say they would kill you if you didn't do what they wanted?"

"No...they offered to save me. If I found out just one thing. That's all."

That got Cora to lighten her grip on him somewhat. "You mean your condition?"

Ruben widened his eyes. "How do you know about that?"

"Your foster parents. They told me and my brother all about it. You inherited some kind of genetic defect in your blood from your birth father. You found out about it over a year ago. It was causing you to act out and get into trouble."

"Yeah, well, how would you take it if you found out that you would be lucky if you lived to see 30?" Angry tears were starting to gather up in his eyes. "What's the point of working for or worrying about your future when you don't even have one?"

"And what does that have to with what you did by spying on me and my family?"

"So I can have what you do."

Cora took a step backward. "He's going to give you the bite. Oscar is going to turn you so that you won't have to succumb to your illness, isn't he?"

"It's my only hope Cora."

"And you think it's okay that your 'only hope' is to threaten my son's life?"

"No. Your son's life isn't in danger. Neither is yours. Your brother Derek is safe too. You're all fine. Oscar doesn't want to hurt him. Any of you. He just wanted to know who your baby's father was, that's all."

"And you told him." Ruben nodded. "What's he going to do now."

"I don't know. I swear. All I do know is that he needs to see to some things first before he goes to him."

"Well, I can't help but notice that you are suspiciously lycan free right now. Didn't you get what you worked so hard for."

"Oscar isn't going to turn me yet. He wants me to wait until he turns 18 first. He has rules about turning underage people. My birthday is almost two months away. I'm going to stay with them until then."

"Oh, bully for you then."

"Cora, I really am sorry."

She went and gave him a good right hook across the face before she went and stormed off. Ruben gasped and held onto his now bleeding nose from the recoil in time to see Cora run off into the dark.


Scott made his way into the Sheriff's station and Deputy Clarke immediately pointed him off towards the interrogation room and told him that he was expected. When he stepped inside, he saw Sheriff Stilinski was pacing the length of the room as Parrish was sitting and staring down the table's edge, stiff as a board. Scott quickly picked up a hint of of smoke and ash through the air and a faint scent of blood. Stiles' blood.

"What happened?" he quickly asked them. "What's going on?"

The Sheriff sighed and Parrish cringed a bit right afterward.

"Stiles...he was attacked."

"What? Is he okay?" Scott quickly asked.

"He's fine. He called a little while ago to tell me that he made it home and was fine. But he asked me to keep an eye out for Parrish. I went on the radio and dispatched all deputies to look out for him but he went and came down here himself instead."

"Well, what happened? Who attacked him?"

"I did," Parrish answered out with a mutter. "I...I didn't even know what I was doing, Sheriff, I swear, I would never choose to try to hurt Stiles."

"Yeah," he nodded. "My son told me that he doesn't think you were...yourself. He said that you had a blank look on your face. Like the night you came in here after Haigh. He also said that you burst into flames out of nowhere."

"It was the hellhound," Scott realized. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well...one minute, I was just waiting in my car for Stiles to come out of Eichen House, the next I'm standing out in the street without my clothes and covered in soot. I could make out Stiles running away and found that I had a few of these claw marks," he said, pulling his right sleeve back to show faint, thin scar lines on his lower arm.

Scott gave it a closer look. For claw marks that were made just a few hours ago, they seemed pretty faint now. "Seems like they're healing fine."

"Yeah, but it's not happening as fast as before. I mean, other times when I got hurt, I always healed up pretty fast. You wouldn't even know I had even gotten hurt. Now, it's been hours and I still have these marks."

"Because Stiles made these," Scott answered for him. "Wounds from an alpha's claws take longer to heal. I guess for a beast. it's the same thing."

"Do any idea why he would just go and attack my son?"

Scott let his mind flash to the mural he uncovered at the Dread Doctors' lab. The one that showed the Hellhound and the Beast, fighting each other over a mass of corpses.

"That's just it. He didn't attack Stiles. The hellhound did."

"Why?"

The mosaic that they found flashed through Scott's mind. That of the hellhound fighting with the beast. Or rather, a beast.

But Scott shrugged. "I don't know...but, there may be someone who does."

"Who?" Parrish eagerly asked.

"Gerard," he answered stiffly.

The Sheriff's eyes widened. "Gerard? Gerard Argent?! As in the man that beat and stabbed my son and left him to bleed to death in a basement. What is he even doing here? I thought he was rotting away in some hospital out of state."

"Yeah," Scott huffed out. "I did too but he's doing a lot better now. Argent brought him back to try and help stop the Beast."

"Which one did they have in mind exactly?" the Sheriff asked a bit hostilely.

While it seemed that Stiles' dad was a bit more amicable with Chris Argent these days, it was clear that didn't extend anywhere near his father Gerard.

"Sheriff, I know you don't like it. I don't like it. But, if we're going to get through this, we're going to need what he knows to stop this thing. And, from the sounds of it, he may know something about the hellhound too."

"So you want to bring Parrish to him?"

"He has a point Sheriff," said Parrish, standing up from his chair. "If this guy could help me understand what is going on with me, I need to know."

Sheriff Stilinski's jaw tightened. He was already starting to bend on a couple of things but this felt like a whole new level. "Fine. But, make sure that bastard knows this. If I catch him just looking at my son the wrong way, I'll be the one to leave him beaten and bloody on the floor."


Virgil was in the process of pouring the jar of mountain ash in a giant circle around Stiles as he stood patiently watching.

"Make sure that you believe it will do as I said it would," Stiles instructed him.

"You can grow fur, fangs, claws and a tail. Zach can grow claws and wings. I think I'll believe anything right now," he muttered as he was now finished with half of the circle.

"So, how does this magic dust work?" asked Zach, who was sitting in the armchair off in the far end of the room.

"You'll see in a minute," Stiles said just as Virgil went and completed the circle.

Virgil went and stepped back a few steps as they watched Stiles close his eyes and take a deep breath. He then opened his eyes and determinedly leap forward. There was a flash of light as Stiles was thrown back when he hit the edge of the barrier.

Zach jerked at the impact and stood right up. "How did it do that? And where can I get some?"

"Mountain Ash," Stiles grunted as he pulled himself to his feet. "It can be used to trap and keep away from supernatural beings. Well, most of them."

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Most? Does that list happen to include the Beast of Gevaudan?" he asked, fearing the answer.

He let out a hard sigh. "I...I don't know. Probably not. It doesn't work on the chimeras the Dread Doctors made. Even if they did bring this thing back, it might follow the same rules."

Zach went over and passed his hand through the air above the ash line. It passed through with nothing happening. He then let out a heated breath. "Of course. Why would any of us catch a break now? So, what is the point of this?"

"This isn't for the Beast. Well, that one at least. This one's for me. I have to find a way to break through."

"Why? What's this all about?" Virgil asked him.

"There's a friend that's trapped and needs my help. If I want to get her out, then I need to get passed the ash."

"Can you?"

Stiles answered by running for the edge of the barrier again but was slammed back like before.

"Ouch," Zach cringed out.

Virgil shook his head and took a step for him but Stiles held his hand to stop him as he pulled himself back to his feet. "Stiles, if this stuff works on people like you, then how do you know you can even do this?"

"Because I've done it before."

He would get through the ash, after all, he had done it before. On the night of the Supermoon, his father had been injured and left behind a barrier of mountain ash left by Theo. Stiles had gone down to the basement, hoping to find and tap into an event scar left behind and learn more of what happened. It was life, death, despair, pain and desperation all around that night so he knew that the chances of one being left behind there were pretty good. He was happy to be right, when he found it and seen everything. He had passed through and broken the mountain ash barrier to save his father.

Stiles narrowed his eyes as he stared back at the concerned faces of Virgil and Zach. His irises shifted and lit with their sapphire blue glow. "And I will do it again," he told them and himself, determinedly. 'To save Lydia,' he thought as he took in a hard breath through his nose.

He then growled before he charged for the barrier's edge again.


Oscar was sitting at a desk, in front of his laptop, as he was scrolling through some pictures. One was a photo of Scott McCall. Another was that of Stiles Stilinski. Then he pulled up one of Satomi Ito. His mind was considering every possible outcome with these players on the board and the best ways to use it to his advantage. However, he stopped when a certain scent violating his nostrils. He got up and went over to the entrance to his penthouse as Ruben was shown in by Dean.

"Oscar," the boy muttered, surprised at seeing the alpha.

He could see there was traces of dried blood around his nose. He could smell the lingering scent of it as soon as the boy got off the elevator. His eyes also noticed a scratch at the boy's cheek, where he could pick up another scent hanging off.

"Who were you with just now?" he asked him.

"No one," Ruben quickly said. "I just fell sneaking back into my foster parents for my things."

AT that, Dean grabbed the back of the boy's neck. "A tip Ruben," Dean growled. "Werewolves can tell when we're being lied to. And we don't like it."

"Yes, and there is someone else's scent on you. A werewolf's scent. And it isn't any of us. So, again, who were you just with?"

Dean's hold on him tightened and Ruben flinched. "Cora Hale," he gasped out.

"What?"

"She found me as I was leaving. Ambushed me because she was mad I was spying on her."

Oscar narrowed his eyes for a moment before he nodded over to Dean. The beta let his grip on the boy go.

"So, the Hales found out about our...relationship," Oscar decided to put it.

"What exactly do they know?" asked Dean.

Ruben rubbed the back of his neck. "Everything. They know I told you about who the father of her child, Jason, is."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Wait, how did Cora Hale know that she could find you at your old house tonight?"

"I don't know. I think she was staking it, waiting for me."

"For over a week? I doubt that. No, she had to have known you were back, and where you were going. She and her brother. But how? I mean, we know Maggie has sided with them but not even she knew we were coming back today."

"Isn't it obvious Dean?" said Oscar. "We have a mole."


"So, you're this Gerard I've been hearing about."

Jordan Parrish had been brought to meet both Chris and Gerard Argent in the bunker that they had set up for themselves. Needless to say, given everything that he heard, the infamous hunter was not what the deputy was expecting. Still, the Sheriff told him to keep his guard up at all times around Gerard and he wouldn't take that warning lightly.

The elder hunter nodded. "Yes, my reputation precedes me. As does yours, the infamous Hellhound of Beacon Hills."

"Yes, at least now we know why you were on that deadpool," Chris put in.

"But how? How am I a hellhound?"

"Well," started Gerard. "To my knowledge, hellhounds are made. What can you tell us about your life Mr. Parrish."

"I was part of an E-O-D team in Afghanistan. Explosive Ordinance Disposal. We handled IED's."

"And what about before that?" Chris asked him.

"High school," he shrugged. "Nothing out of the ordinary really. Certainly nothing like the Sheriff's son and his friends. After my service was done, I came to Beacon Hills."

"Because you were drawn here," said Gerard. He then moved to take out a book and opened it to show an illustration of a man being cornered by what seemed to be an animal.

"What's that? A werewolf?" asked Jordan.

"No, that's a hellhound," Gerard told him.

"Tell us more about Afghanistan," said Chris. "What do you remember?"

Jordan let himself think back to his last IED disposal mission. The one where the bomb had detonated with him in the blast radius but he had miraculously survived.

"You were drawn here to Beacon Hills," Gerard said, breaking Jordan's train of thought. "Hid the bodies of the chimeras."

"And you have a resistance to fire," added Chris.

Gerard then brought out a blowtorch. "Yes. Now we're wondering, just how flame retardant are you deputy?"

He then lit it and Jordan tried to back away but Chris moved to restrain his arms and held him still.

"What the hell are you doing?" he cried out at them.

Chris kept him still as his father moved the flame from the torch at Jordan's face. The flame was practically a hair away from touching him when Jordan's eyes lit up with their fiery glow and he broke free of Chris' grip. Gerard backed away as Jordan growled out, showing off his new fangs to the hunters. The young man caught sight of himself in the mirror and he seemed entranced at the reflection it was showing him. He stared at it for a moment as he seemed to get back to his senses and then shift himself back to normal.

"Hellhound," he realized. Then he rounded on Gerard. "What if you were wrong? Would you have burned my eye out?!"

"Yep," the man said, nonchalant about the risk.

"This guy's your father?" he asked, rounding on Chris.

"Wasn't my choice," Chris said in his personal defense.

If anything, Jordan was thinking that everyone had been underselling him about Gerard Argent.


After dropping off Parrish with the Argents, Scott, along with Kira and Liam, were sitting around in various places of Scott's bedroom as they listened to Malia recount her story from the fort. She was sharing with them the sudden flux of power she felt that helped her heal from Theo's buckshot and helped her get the strength to fight her mother to save her dad.

"You sure it was Lydia?" Kira asked her.

Malia nodded. "Yeah, I heard her. I felt her. It was Lydia."

"How is that possible?" Liam asked her.

"Banshee," shrugged Malia.

"We need to get her back," Scott told them.

"How?" asked Liam. "Her mom took her to Eichen House, right? To try and get her help."

"That place won't help her," Malia said insistently. "That place doesn't help anybody."

Scott stood up from where he was sitting at the side of his bed and turned to face them all. "Then we have to get her out of there ourselves."

"How?" asked Kira. "How are we going to do that?"

Scott shook his head. "I...I don't know."

Eichen House was practically a fortress. And where they were keeping Lydia, no doubt the 'special wing' was the most secure part of the entire place. He didn't know where to even start.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Liam spoke up. "We need Stiles."

He, along with Kira and Malia, went to look over at Scott.


Theo was turning the jar of talons around in his hands with a satisfied gleam in his eyes. Deucalion was seemingly just lost in his own thoughts before he just let off an irritated huff out of nowhere.

"How long do you intend to stand there and pat yourself on the back there Mr. Raeken." That made the young chimera look over to him. "You've been standing there, secreting self-satisfaction for a while now. It's starting to irritate me."

"Would you rather I be nervous and helpless on the floor next to you?"

The blind alpha's lips curved. "Now, what gave you the idea that I'm nervous or helpless?"

"Do you not see where you are?" Theo then rolled his eyes. "Oh, right, sorry," he snorted out.

"Such a bland sense of humor," he replied dryly. "Don't believe that just because you're standing there with your prize that you are the one in control of the situation. One thing you need to know young man, appearances can be deceiving."

"Then tell me what the real situation is blind man."

"Simple. That you believe you are on your way to being king, or alpha in this case, when you are really a delusional boy playing pretend."

Theo grit his teeth and glared down at him. "Why, because my eyes aren't red?"

Deucalion moved to chuckle under his breath. "It seems I've hit a sore spot. Perhaps you don't want to admit there is some truth to that claim."

Theo took a deep breath and settled down. He moved to go back to his signature smug smirk. "You know what, it doesn't matter. I don't care about being an alpha anymore. I'm going after something better."

"Yes, you want to be a beast. The ultimate apex predator. It's good for a young man to have a good, healthy degree of ambition. But the question is if you have the fortitude to reach it?"

"I do, and I will, once you tell me how."

"If you want that then you already know what you need to do to get it. Yet, you've just been standing there for hours patting yourself on the back. That's not fortitude young man. Unless of course you believe that Scott will just hand you his eyes if you ask him for them." Theo narrowed his eyes and though he couldn't see him, Deucalion smiled up at him. "From my personal experience, when the danger aimed at him and those he cares about is made clear, Scott McCall becomes quite a force to be reckoned with. And with the Dread Doctors, you and especially Gevaudan out there, for him everything has been made crystal clear."

"Too bad he doesn't have a pack anymore. They've all left him and he kicked out Stiles. He's all alone."

Deucalion let himself lean back a bit. "Do you really think that someone like Scott will let that stop him?"

Theo took a deep breath as he kept his eyes narrowed down at Deucalion for a moment before he pulled out his phone and left to go and make a call.


After two solid hours, the barrier in the Stilinski's living room had yet to be broken. Stiles though hadn't let up in his attempt to get out of mountain ash circle that he had Virgil trap him in. At first, he just kept trying to break through by running headlong at the barrier, only for it to keep knocking him back as soon as he hit the edge. After nearly an hour, Stiles had stopped to take a breather.

'This isn't working,' he thought to himself as he tried to catch his breath.

What was he doing wrong? The night of the Supermoon, he had kept going at the mountain ash wall until it finally collapsed. As he thought more on what he had seen, he remembered that he had finally been able to do it when he had gone full beast mode. Was that answer? Could he only do it when he was fully shifted? Stiles hoped not as he still hadn't even got that yet. He then shook it off. No, he had managed to break through before at the rave long before he ever got that. As he thought back further on that night, he remembered when he had gotten inspired by that Einstein quote bumper sticker. Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Stiles was just using mindless brute force. He was forgetting what he had learned all the way back then. The power of belief and the sheer force of will. That was the key to making the mountain ash work. That must be how it worked to get passed it too. He just needed to trigger it somehow. He then remembered that he and Scott weren't the only ones to get through mountain ash. The Oni did as well, back at Scott's house. They put stress on the barrier until it became weak enough for them to push on through. A good a place to start as any. So stood straight and stepped to the edge of the barrier and then laid his palms against it and start to push.

That was how Stiles had been the rest of the time. Zach had lost interest watching his attempts a small while ago while Virgil was still watching him keep struggling from the opposite side of the room. The Sheriff's son was really giving it his all with this whole thing even when it seemed painful, aggravating and exhausting for him to keep going. Virgil hadn't met many who had that kind of persistence and he couldn't help but respect that. He decided to do a reading and whipped out his grandmother's tarot cards. He whipped out Stiles' soul card, The Magician and pulled out another card. The Nine of Wands and it was upright. Virgil let his mouth curve up a bit.

"How long can he keep this up?" he heard Zach mutter from where he was sitting in the next room.

Virgil shrugged. "I guess as long as it takes."

"But it's been hours. What if this whole just doesn't work? Maybe, he should just give up."

At that, Stiles seemed to lean himself harder against the barrier by now pushing his head against the edge and his pained grunts grew louder.

Virgil shook his head as his eyes brightened a bit. "Yeah, I don't think that's an option for him," he said with a degree of respect in his tone. He then went over to Zach and took note of all the pieces of wire and parts spread about on the table in front of him. "What exactly are you working on here?"

"Oh, it's something to help hide me from the Dread Doctors."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Liam told Stiles that the Dread Doctors are able to track us through our frequencies. It like a natural bandwidth and signal we all give off. But if frequency gets blocked or scrambled, then we'll be invisible to them."

"And all this junk is going to do that?" Virgil said, giving the mess on the table a doubtful look.

"It's not junk. When it's finished, it's going to be a way to cloak that signal."

"A cloak? That actually sounds pretty cool. But can you really make something like that?"

"I'm a gamer who works a tech kiosk at the mall," he said a little brightly. Virgil flashed him a doubtful look and Zach deflated a bit. "It'll take a little while but I think I can do it."

"And you came up with all this yourself?" Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said, sounding a little offended. Virgil didn't let up his doubt. Zach let out a small huff. "Okay, Stiles is the one who got the signal jammer and a sonic emitter. But, he just thought I could just use them together at the same time to try and hide me. I was the one who thought it better to take them apart and use them to build-" But he stopped there.

"What?" Virgil asked, confused as why he stopped.

"I hear someone coming to the front door."

A moment later, there was knocking over at the door.

Virgil rose his eyebrows. "Okay, cool trick."

Since Stiles was busy, Virgil went off to answer it for him. He opened it to see that it was Scott McCall.

"Hey," he said, surprised to see Virgil before he remembered that he and Zach were staying with Stiles and his dad for a while.

"Oh," Virgil said back to him a little stiffly. "What brings you here?"

Scott narrowed his eyes a bit. It seemed that Virgil looked a bit more hostile from the last time that they had met. There was a hint of bitterness leaking from out of him. But Scott shook it off.

"Stiles. I have to talk to him."

Virgil went and looked a bit to the side, in Stiles' general direction before turning his gaze back to the apparent alpha of this town. "He's kinda busy right now."

"With what?"

They then heard Stiles let out a hard pained growl and Scott quickly moved to shove Virgil out of the way as he charged on in. He then came upon Stiles struggling in the middle of the room, pushing against a mountain ash wall. The moment he saw him, blankness came over him and when it faded, he let himself feel concern as he saw Stiles on his back, panting.

When Stiles had heard Zach talking about him giving up, he went and tried to push harder against the wall. He added his head to the strain and suddenly, Stiles felt his eyes burning as he started to visualize himself looking through the window of a door where he could see Lydia strapped to a table as doctors stood over her preparing a drill. Her eyes were weeping in fear and helplessness as the drill was turned on and began moving for her temple. Stiles struggled to get through that door and get to her and he could feel the door creaking and even starting to bend a bit from his power. At the same time, the barrier was starting to bend and Stiles was beginning to push on through. He let out a hard growl as he moved to try and give that door everything he had but then his eyes caught sight of Scott's face and he suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his heart. His focus gone, the door bent right back into shape and the barrier went and knocked Stiles right onto his back.

"Stiles?" Scott panted out. He then looked over at Virgil, coming back in after closing the door and then to Zach as he was standing awkwardly in the next room. "What did you do?" he asked accusingly, thinking they trapped him on purpose.

"Scott," Stiles cut in. "It's okay. I asked him to."

He then looked over to Virgil and gestured over to the ash. Virgil understood his silent request and then moved to kick some of the ash away, breaking the barrier. The teen wolves went on to relocate themselves up into Stiles' room so they could talk privately. As they left, Virgil moved to draw a new card from his pouch as he looked at Scott's retreating back. He saw that it was The Fool, reversed. His eyes went a little flinty as he shook his head in disapproval.

"Stiles, what the hell? Why did you trap yourself in mountain ash? What were you thinking?"

Stiles let out a heated huff. "I was thinking of teaching myself to break it."

He couldn't help but feel deeply annoyed right now. A few moments ago, it felt like he was getting close. He was pushing through. It really looked like he was really about to do it. But then Scott showed up and that broken bond came and the internal pain broke his focus. Then the barrier had the chance to repair itself and push him away.

Scott's eyes widened. "What? Why?" Scott then let his eyes wander over to Stiles' desk and saw that there was a map open on it as well as a log book of Eichen House. "You want to get past the mountain ash at Eichen. You're going to get Lydia out."

Stiles nodded. "Yeah. I am."

"But, how do you know it will work?"

"Well turns out, I was able to get to my dad at the Supermoon because I broke through the mountain ash he was being kept behind."

"I thought you blacked out on what happened that night. Are you saying that you remembered?"

"No, I uh...saw it," he said rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Saw it?" Scott blinked before he realized what he meant. "An event scar."

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, well, I went back there and I saw myself getting through the ash and break the line. If I did it before, I could do it again."

"But Stiles, that could've just been a fluke or even the Supermoon making you stronger. Or both. I mean, I've broken through mountain ash before too. And that night, I couldn't through the ash line I was trapped in. Maybe it's just a one time thing."

"But it happened twice to me, remember? The rave?"

The events of that night back in their sophomore year came back to him and he realized that Stiles was right. "Yeah."

"Werewolves aren't supposed to cross it at all, but we did. Remember what my dad says. One's an accident. Two's a coincidence."

"Three's a pattern," finished Scott. "What's the pattern?"

"Us," Stiles answered. "What about us is different from other werewolves?" he asked him.

"I'm a true alpha and you're a beast," Scott answered back.

He nodded. "So, maybe we're the exception to the rule. Maybe we do have it in us but we just got work at it. Practice. Like we did when we were learning how to do everything else."

"Practice," Scott mumbled almost to himself. The whole thing sounded crazy but when it came to Stiles, a lot of what he came up with usually was. But, more times than he could count, his crazy ideas work more than they didn't. "So you needed to know where exactly the mountain ash was so that's why you and Parrish went to Eichen last night."

That finally broke Stiles' silence as he turned back to look at him. "What? How do you know that?"

"Because I was with your dad and Parrish earlier at the station. They told me about what's been happening. That you shifted into the beast a few times but couldn't control it or remember anything while it happened. So you went to visit Peter Hale hoping he could help you learn more about them. To get control of them."

Stiles dropped his gaze to his feet. "Yeah."

"But you hate Peter and you said you would never trust him."

"Yeah, and that hasn't changed. And it turned I was right. He didn't give me anything really useful. Just more questions." 'And a hell of a bombshell,' he added mentally. "Anyway, after that, I managed to sneak off and found Lydia but I learned that she's getting ready prepped for some kind of treatment."

Scott didn't like the sound of that. "What treatment?"

"Ms. Martin said they're going to give her some kind of electroshock. But, from the hair they cut off from her scalp, it looks more like they're getting ready to drill into her head."

"What? Are you serious?"

"They've done it before. When I was at Eichen House with Malia, we found the files they kept hidden in the basement. They had pictures of what their patients looked like right after they did it to them. If the same thing happens to her...I don't even want to think about it."

"Yeah," Scott mumbled. He didn't want to think about it either. "But, are you sure you're not just jumping to conclusions?"

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "My dad thought the same thing at first, but he checked and found out the name of the doctor that is going to oversee the treatment. Dr. Fenris."

"Fenris? Wait, that name...isn't that-"

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, it's a wolf in Norse mythology. It's obviously a fake."

"It might not be," Scott tried to point out.

"In Beacon Hills?"

Scott sighed. "Yeah, that's a good point. So who do you think it is?"

"Well, if I had to guess, it would be someone that has a knack for drilling holes in people's heads. Maybe a guy who has first hand experience."

Scott's eyes widened. "Valack? But he was locked up."

"Yeah, but when you went to see him, he wouldn't help until Lydia gave him a recording of her scream. And last night, I could hear her scream when Parrish attacked."

"Malia said she heard her scream too."

"Now there's suddenly some doctor with a crappy alias interested in drilling a hole in her. There is no way that's a coincidence."

"When is the operation supposed to happen?"

"In a few days."

"So, that's why you're training so hard to get through mountain ash. To break into that secure ward and break her out?" He took Stiles' silence after that as a yes. "You don't have to do this alone Stiles."

"Why not?"

"Because Kira, Liam and I, we can help. That's why I'm here. We need your help."

"But what if he doesn't need yours?"

The two of them looked over to see Virgil standing there at the doorway with Zach awkwardly lingering behind him.

"Except, it's not about us. It's about Lydia. She's our friend too. She'll be needing all of our help."

Stiles let himself look over to Virgil and Zach for a moment before turning back to Scott. He tightened his jaw for a moment before he deflated.


A/N: Let me take this time and say that I am sorry for the long wait. These last few weeks had been busier than I expected. And I had also recently gotten quite sick, thankfully not Covid related, and it took some time to recover. This was also a pretty hard chapter to write, made a lot of cuts and revisions here and there. But I hope it is good enough for you all. The next chapter will be everyone beginning their trek to freeing Lydia from Eichen.

A little bit of tarot trivia for you, the card that Virgil picked out in Stiles' reading and smiled at was the Nine of Wands. It symbolizes the path of someone struggling but prevailing in pursuit of the goal through hard work and perseverance. It was telling him that Stiles would succeed as long as he didn't give up.