It had been a day - one measly day, and Luna was no more at ease.

"Luna, sweetheart? Stiles is at the door…as per usual…he wants to speak to you…again, as per usual!" Elsa called out to her daughter from somewhere in the hallway. Luna looked up from her homework and sighed, swinging her slender legs out from under her desk and making her way over to the hallway.

There stood an exhausted looking Stiles, albeit apprehensively. His eyes were full to the brim of pure worry and concern.

"Hey Stilesy," Luna smiled tiredly, leaning herself against the wall.

"Hey, you. How ya feeling? I noticed you weren't in school today, and I text you but you didn't reply, then I tried not to freak out at the fact that you didn't reply," Stiles frowned, taking a small step over to her. "Is…I mean, is something wrong?"

"Not totally. I mean, I was so…freaked out from the sudden nosebleed yesterday and then the whole crow saga that I didn't wanna go in. So…Mom very kindly kept me home," Luna explained awkwardly with her eyes trained on the ground, as her mother shot her a comforting smile from where she was breezing past them with a bundle of washing in her hand.

"Yeah, I understand. It…it was pretty scary for me too, seeing you like that. I'm…just glad you're okay now," Stiles grimaced, causing Luna to smile at him with an added shy shrug. Stiles shot her a comforting smirk before his eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey, are you going to Heather's party tonight?"

Luna blinked a few times and her mother did the same, poking her head out of the living room doorway.

"Heather as in the one that we knew?" she frowned, chucking her tea towel onto her shoulder. "The same Heather that lived at No.24? Penelope Martin's daughter? That Heather?"

"That very same one, yup," Stiles nodded slowly. "Unless…you know of any more?" Elsa looked relatively amused, but it was quite clear that Luna could not care less.

"I mean I didn't get the invite - and I'm absolutely fine with that," Luna shuddered to herself. She and Heather weren't exactly the best of friends growing up - there was always this odd, almost unspoken rivalry between she and her on who Stiles' best friend was.

It was all so ironic, though, because whilst Stiles only spoke to Heather here and there these days, he could rarely go a full day without speaking to Luna - so, in a way, it was as if she won.

"I don't know if you've forgotten, Stiles, but we pretty much never got along. Ever," she added in with a small smirk.

"Okay yeah, true - but I still think you should come with me as my plus one. Maybe it'll help get your mind off things? Plus…it's literally just a house party at Heather's. She's not exactly a wild child - what's the worst that could possibly happen?" Stiles challenged her lightly, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Well.

That same evening, it had only been about ten minutes since they'd arrived, and Luna was already wishing that she had stayed home and gotten a takeaway or something - because the minute Heather answered her front door and saw Stiles stood there, she decided to pull him in for a kiss.

A very, deep kiss - one that appeared to literally take his breath away.

Before she could register what was happening, Luna's heart crumbled into dust - and that scared her.

It was Stiles, her best friend, the one that she grew up with side by side for most of her life - why the hell would she care?

"I…uh…brought Luna-" Stiles tried to splutter once they'd finally broken apart for air - but Heather certainly wasn't listening, nor did she particularly care.

That much was true.

"Come down to the cellar with me, and help me choose a bottle of wine," she was breathing hotly all over his face, barely even glancing at Luna and Scott who were stood awkwardly behind him. Stiles nodded hurriedly and allowed himself to be dragged away, leaving them both there without another word or so much as a glance back.

"…wow," Scott mused with a risen brow, somewhat impressed by her forwardness. Luna glanced over at him and scoffed.

"Hm. Do you really think they'll just be 'cHoOsInG a BotTlE oF wInE' down there?" she mocked Heather coldly.

"Nope. Hopefully they're down there having hot and heavy sex, for Stiles' freakin' sake," Scott smirked as if it were that obvious. Clearly that was a mistake - Luna's head physically jerked back and she turned to face him accusatorially, as if she couldn't believe the words that just came out of his mouth. "…what?" Scott blinked in confusion.

Then he realised - and his eyes grew wide.

"Oh no. Luna, for the sake of all that is good in the world - please don't tell me you're jealous?" he groaned with an eye squinted shut.

"Jealous? Of those two?" Luna grimaced back in disgust, flicking her long white wisps hair over her shoulders. "No, I have Isaac - don't know if you remember?"

"…you mean the same Isaac that you've confirmed you don't actually think you're in a relationship with anymore because he disappeared on you again, and hasn't tried to get in contact with you since…again?" Scott clarified in an amused tone whilst he made his way over to the drinks table. "Who, by the way, is very much alive and healing at Derek's-"

"Alive and healing and yet, as you said, hasn't tried to see me once," Luna blinked back blandly, following him to join him there. "In true Isaac fashion, mind you. That is exactly why we won't be speaking anymore."

"He was abducted, Luna!" Scott broke it down simply, passing her drink too. "He didn't mean it-"

"Yeah. Well. Even if Stiles and I did try something…together…I very much doubt that it would work. We're best friends. And best friends don't work once that relationship splits into something more serious. And I…I couldn't lose him like that. In fact, Scott, I'd hate myself forever if I ever lost Stiles like that, because it is just so…unnecessary," Luna mumbled miserably, her eyes seemingly welling up with tears at the thought of it. Scott just about managed to open his mouth to tell her to give it a try anyway, as he knew how much Stiles secretly adored her - when he swiftly spotted Luna's nose.

Bleeding again. Thick, pulsating, deep almost black blood.

"Luna!" he exclaimed with widened eyes, dragging her to one side before anyone else in the room could notice. "Your nose…!"

"Wha- again?" Luna gasped as she immediately clamped her hand over her nostrils. "Shit, Scott can we leave, please? I don't people to start staring-"

"Yeah of course," Scott nodded, taking her by her shoulders and steering her out of the large house, leaving the pumping music and unanswered questions on what Stiles was doing with Heather in the cellar behind them. As soon as Luna stumbled outside she threw her head back, feeling the wooziness slowly begin to creep up on her all over again as her senses started to go numb once more.

"Noooo, no I don't wanna go through this again-"

"Woah, Luna are you okay?!" came the voice that Luna had already placed as Lydia's from somewhere in the distance.

But Luna couldn't respond - her senses were already completely muddled.

"I'm f-f-freaking out!" she mangled to gasp out, finding her body sinking itself down onto the pavement as she buried her face in her hands. She took deep, shaky breaths in and out, desperate to regain control over her own body whilst harshly wiping her bleeding nose with her sleeves.

"Where's Stiles?!" came another voice that irritatingly sounded a lot like Allison.

Where was Stiles - it was an excellent question.

"N-no, no Stiles," Luna suddenly spluttered for air, startling them all. "Please d-don't call S-Stiles." He was finally seemingly getting the love story he deserved - she didn't want to be a hinderance to him. What kind of best friend would do that?

So she simply clasped her trembling hands together as Lydia knelt in front of her, placing her cool hands on Luna's quivering face to keep her steady.

"Oh god. L-L-Luna, your eyes are glinting…silver," she murmured in horror.

"WHAT?!" Luna groaned loudly, startling them all again. This was a terrible sign. She yanked her compact mirror from her pocket and looked over at the reflection before groaning, throwing her head back and squeezing her eyes shut. There it was, a silver tint to her eyes, and she knew damn well this was a red flag. "Okay, now I really gotta get to the hospital."

"I'll take you there - I really don't like how that's looking, you've already lost so much blood," Lydia offered speedily, taking Luna by her wrist before she could protest. "Scott, you go to your weird vet guy to look at what Allison and I have on our wrists via the picture we took - we have no time to wait for Stiles anymore, Luna's already going pale. Someone can update him later!"

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Scott nodded, as he and Allison split off to go and see not his vet as Lydia requested - but Derek.

"So Luna, remind me - how exactly did you do this?" Ms McCall asked Luna curiously as she inspected inside her nose with the torch she carried in her pocket.

"Do…what?" Luna frowned back.

"Get all these nosebleeds. You're saying this is multiple in 24 hours?" Ms McCall reminded her lightly. "I don't mean to sound dramatic but sweetie, that is far from normal."

"You're right. But I personally think it could be down to stress due to starting new classes and stuff - don't you think, Lydia?" Luna asked for backup, nudging her side discreetly. Lydia's doe eyes widened and she cleared her throat.

"Yeah, I agree," she beamed sweetly. "I personally don't think there's anything to worry about-"

"So why did you bring her here?" Ms McCall blinked.

"Because we still needed the expert to tell us what we already know in order to be sure that there's nothing to worry about. And sadly…that's what you've already done," Lydia explained brightly, picking up on Luna's cues almost immediately. "So attend away, doc! I'll be outside, I gotta go…uh…feel something."

…

The next day, Luna was barely in the mood to speak to anyone. She was terrified of having another nosebleed because of how disorientated it made her, and as if that wasn't enough, she had no idea where any of her friends were, and she could greatly do with some of their company to take her mind off of the looming sense of destruction and devastation that was growing within her.

She sat there leaning on her palm in the library, trying her hardest to study, just to keep her mind at ease - when she heard a sudden bang of commotion coming from down the hall. Her head flew up and she grabbed her backpack before practically flying out to see what it was.

To her immediate surprise, she was faced with a scene that took the wind right out of her sales. There was Scott holding a quivering and seemingly terrified Allison to safety, and a certain someone else cowering on the floor.

Isaac.

Luna clenched her jaw and took a step back at the sheer sight of him, with this being the first time in months. As soon as Isaac spotted her, his own panicked eyes widened even too, as if he'd completely forgotten she even attended that school.

"L-Luna?"

"What happened?! Did he hurt you? Are you okay?" Luna asked Allison directly, her steely eyes darting over to her instead of responding to him.

"He…uh…someone locked us in the closet and he kinda freaked out. I-I'm okay though, it was just an accident, I'm fine - he didn't mean to hurt me," Allison spluttered out back.

Luna ran her tongue over her teeth and her eyes darted back to Isaac again, who she noticed was now, for some reason unable to look her in the eye.

"Well," Luna sniffed weakly, glancing over at Scott who could only give her a sympathetic grimace back.

He knew exactly what she was thinking.

"I…um…I'll leave you guys to it. Isaac…thanks for telling me that you were back, you moron."

And with that, she let out one last sniff and manoeuvred herself away again before she burst into tears in front of all the people that she was meant to be the strongest for.

…

Luna knocked on Stiles' door repeatedly, tears welling up in her eyes as she waited for him to answer.

Naturally, Stiles did, as soon as he spotted that it was her through the keyhole.

"Luna?" he frowned as he opened the door for her. "You…you okay…?"

"Am I okay?" Luna repeated weakly, stepping inside before Stiles could even move aside to let her do so. "No! I don't feel right and nothing is making sense anymore. I don't understand what's happening, my nosebleeds are now so big that I have blood pulsating down straight into my mouth. I am SCARED."

Stiles couldn't handle it, though - he freaked out.

"Alright Luna, I need you to calm down, because you're usually the calm one and seeing you not calm is immediately making me not calm and you know I don't do well with NOT BEING CALM!" Stiles hissed, grabbing onto Luna's slim shoulders and shaking them slightly.

Luna clenched down on her jaw and nodded, biting back her tears of frustration. To Stiles, her behaviour was unexpected. She usually kept him strong, she was the one that always knew what to do - so seeing her unravel like this just made it so much worse for him.

"Hey," he frowned, looking at her properly. "Nosebleed-s? You've had more than one?"

"I've had a couple," Luna sniffed, leaning against the hallway. "Bad, ominous things are happening, Stiles. Whatever those murders, those sacrifices are that your Dad is looking into, I think they're linked to me and I'm freaking out-"

"Have you told the Moon Council?!" Stiles hissed, knowing his father wasn't far.

"The Moon- no, no I haven't told the freaking Moon Council," Luna snapped back, her bright blue eyes going wide with horror.

"WHY NOT?!" Stiles snapped.

"Because it hasn't escalated to that point yet, and when I tried to flag it they said it was nothing," Luna hissed back.

"Wh- you just told me that your anxiety has been everywhere," Stiles frowned in confusion, "how is that not you...feeling the…Luna, you literally blow my mind." Luna simply slumped onto the floor, drawing her knees to her chest and leaning her chin on them.

"I don't know if it's just the murders that has me on edge like this, okay?" she muttered back. Stiles froze and blinked at her in confusion.

"Wha- Luna, please try and make more sense," he pretty much begged her - before suddenly freezing as it clicked in his mind. "Oh. Let me guess - this has something to do with that loser Lahey?" Luna's eyes darted up to Stiles and shook her head weakly.

"I'm not saying it's him that's making my brain go haywire, but I am saying that his indecisiveness when it comes to me and where we stand as a couple is…not helping," she admitted awkwardly.

"Luna! You never used let a guy get into your psyche. Why does Isaac being as flaky as Isaac usually is have this massively, uncomfortable effect on your life?" Stiles squinted at her, genuinely confused.

"If I knew that, he wouldn't be having this massively, uncomfortable effect on my life," Luna groaned back in exasperation. Stiles shoulders slumped and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You- okay, if your anxiety is compiled of a number of things not allowing you to think straight, then we need to eliminate each element one by one until you can think straight again," Stiles sighed, sitting on the floor beside her. "Obviously we have no idea what's doing all of the killing, so we gotta park that to one side and leave that to…well, I'm hoping Lydia. Maybe…maybe you're gonna have to deal with Isaac and finally figure out where we stand."

Luna gave him a little glance and Stiles grimaced.

"I'll call the asshole over," he grumbled with a roll of his eyes.