...
Scott, Stiles and Y/n stand in an empty office in the Sheriff's station, Y/n's phone on the table with Allison on speaker. "If Jackson doesn't know what he's doing, then he probably doesn't know someone's controling him."
"Or he doesn't remember." Scott added.
"What if it's the same kind of thing that happened with Lydia when she took off from the hospital?" Stiles asked.
"Like a fugue state." Y/n said.
"He'd have to forget everything. The murder." Scott said.
"Getting rid of the blood."
"But he had help with one thing." Stiles pointedout. "The video. And someone else helped him forget that."
"Whoever's controling him."
"Are you sure Jackson has no clue about any of this?"
"He thinks he's still becoming a werewolf and that being with Lydia delayed it all somehow." Y/n said.
"So do we try and convince him he's not?"
"If it helps us find out who's controlling him, then yeah." Scott nods.
"Do you think he'll talk to us after what we did?"
"Yeah, it's us. He'll talk to us. Right?" Stiles looked at Y/n.
"Eh." She scrunched up her face a bit.
"You will not go within 50 feet of Jackson Whittemore. You will not speak to him. You will not approach him. You will not assault or harass him physically or psychologically." Noah drops the clipboard he was reading from on the metal table that the three teens were sat at. Melissa, Alan, and Mr. Whittemore also standing around the room as they were read the restraining order.
Stiles glances at Mr. Whittemore and then looks at his dad. "What about school?"
"You can attend classes while attempting to maintain a 50-foot distance."
"Okay, what if we both have to use bathroom at the same time and there's only two stalls available and they're only right next to each other?" Every adult but Alan folds their arms at Stiles' ridiculous hypothetical.
"Stiles. Now's not the time." Y/n quietly says to him while his dad looks unimpressed.
"I'll just hold it."
"Do I need to remind you how lucky we are that they're not pressing charges?" Noah asks his son as soon as they're cleared to leave the room.
"Oh, come on, it was just a joke."
"A joke?"
"Yes, I didn't think it would be taken this seriously. Dad, humor is very subjective, okay? I mean, we're talking multiple levels of interpretation here."
"Uh-huh."
"Uh-huh."
"Okay, well, how exactly am I supposed to interpret the stolen prison transport van, huh?"
"We filled the tank!"
Melissa leads Scott into the hallway then while Y/n and Alan stay where they just came from. "Y/n, what is going on?" Alan asked her.
She sighed and rubbed her face. "So much."
"All right. Let's start with why you three kidnapped Jackson."
"It was for his own good. Remember the kanima thing I told you about? Well, it's him. We were trying to protect him and others."
"By stealing a prison transport vehicle and cuffing him in it?"
"It was the best we could come up with at the time."
Alan nods a bit. "I mean, it makes sense, I guess. I'm just not happy about your new found criminal record."
"Neither am I."
"I won't ground you because I know there's something more going on beneath the surface. I can't say the same about Scott or Stiles though."
Y/n winced sympathetically for the boys. "Yeah." Alan left soon after and Stiles and Y/n went into the hall where Melissa was talking to Scott.
"I have to ground you. I am grounding you. You are grounded."
"What about work." Scott asked.
"Fine... Other than work. And no TV."
"The TV's broken."
"Then no computer."
"I need the computer for school."
"Then no, uh..." She glanced back at Scott's friends. "No Stiles."
"What- no Stiles?" Said boy seemed upset by the restriction, going forward to argue.
"No Stiles!" Melissa yelled firmly making him jump back into Y/n. "And no Y/n." The girl 'aww'd' in disappointment but didn't dare argue with Mama McCall. "And no more car privileges. Give me your keys." She held her hand out. When he didn't respond right away she stomped her foot to make her point. "Glve 'em to me!" He pulled them from his pocket and put them in her hand. She was so upset she couldn't make her fingers work enough to get the car key off. "Oh, for the love of God." She grumbled.
"Mom, you want me to-"
"No."
"Mom, come on, let me just- mom. Mom!" He put his hands over hers making her stop.
"What is going on with you? Is this about Allison?" Stiles shook his head from behind Melissa. Scott looked at his mom for a moment. "Do you really wanna know?"
She nodded. "Yeah." Scott wanted to tell her the truth. Y/n was nodding in encouragment while Stiles was vehemently shaking his head telling him no. Scott glanced at them. "Is this about your father?" Y/n was shaking her head no this time while Stiles was nodding yes and he glanced at them again. "It is, isn't it? Okay, you know what, um... We'll talk about this at home. I'm gonna go get the car." She walked passed him and Scott moved closer to his friends.
"I'm the worst son ever."
"Well, I'm not exactly winning any prizes either." They all looked over to see Mr. Whittemore angrily yelling at Noah about Stiles' bathroom quip.
...
Allison walked into the library at school the next day. Being mindful of the new camera she goes over to the shelves where Scott, Y/n and Stiles wait on the other side out of view. She slipped a tablet through the shelf and Scott grabs it on the other side. He turns it on and reads what was translated. "It's everything Lydia could translate. And trust me, she was very confused." Allison said.
"I didn't know Lydia switched to Archaic Latin or else I would have thought of asking her to help me." Y/n shook her head. "It might have been easier if I had. She says I do weird things all the time."
"Yeah, what'd you tell her?" Scott asked.
"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."
"I am part of an online gaming community that battle mythical creatures." Stiles said making Y/n smile at him.
"Oh. Great."
"Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling him?" Scott asked.
"Not really. But Stiles was right about the murderers."
"Yes!" Stiles silently cheered earning a look from Scott.
"It calls the kanima a weapon of vengeance. There's a story in there about this South American priest who uses the kanima to execute murderers in his village-"
"All right, see? So maybe it's not all that bad." Stiles jumped in.
"Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to." Allison finished.
"All bad, all very, very bad."
"Here's the thing, though. The kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But it can't be-" She trails off as someone comes up behind her to put a book up.
"'Until it resolves that in it's past which manifested it'." Y/n read from the tablet. "It's similair to what my grimoire said."
"What if... It has something to do with his parents? His real parents."
"Yeah, does anybody actually know what happened to them?" Scott asked.
"Lydia might." Y/n said.
"What if she doesn't know anything?"
"Well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me, so... I'll talk to him myself."
"Okay, what do I do?"
"You have a make-up exam, remember?" Scott looked at his friends but they just gave him looks of agreement with what Allison said. Allison reached through the shelf and took Scott's hand. "Promise me."
"If he does anything, you run the other way."
"I can take care of myself."
"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me. If he does anything..."
"Like?"
"Anything... Weird or bizarre- anything."
Stiles stuck his head through the gap. "Anything evil!" Y/n rolled her eyes and pulled on his collar just as Allison pushed his face back. "Ah... Ow!" He complained.
While Allison goes to talk to Jackson and Scott takes his make-up test Y/n (followed by Stiles) goes to Lydia and asked her about Jackson's birth parents. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone." Lydia said as they walked through the halls.
"Come on, anyone who ever says 'I'm not supposed to tell anyone' is always dying to tell someone, so tell us!" Stiles said.
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Lydia, we wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important. You know I could care less about Jackson's past, but we need to know." Y/n said.
"I can't say anything." She insisted.
"Lydia." Y/n stopped her and lowered her voice. "This is really important. It involves that hard to explain and confusing stuff we were talking about before." She gives her a meaningful look. "It's important."
Lydia sighed and looked a bit regretful. "I'm sorry, Y/n. I really can't say. I can't betray his trust like that."
Y/n sighed but nodded. "Okay, I get it. Thanks anyways." Lydia gave her a smile before walking off. Suddenly Erica rushed up and pushed Y/n against the wall with her claws on her chest. Y/n grunted a bit from the action. "Hello to you too."
"Why are you asking Lydia about Jackson's real parents?" Erica asked.
"Why are you showing off the manicure on camera?" Y/n nodded towards the device pointed near them. Erica looked back and quickly removed her hand. "Yeah, gotta be a little more discrete now, hun." She brushed past Erica and grabbed Stiles' hand.
"If you're wondering about Jackson's real parents, they're about half a mile from here." The couple stopped and turned at this. "In Beacon Hills Cemetery." She walked off then and Stiles went to follow but Y/n stopped him.
"She can tell us something."
"She's fishing for information for Derek."
"We need to know." Y/n groaned but let herself be dragged by Stiles. "Okay. Wait! Do you know how they died?" He asked her as soon as they caught up.
"Maybe. If you tell me why you're so interested." Stiles is silent but Erica apperantly doesn't need him to tell her as she realizes it herself. "It's him, isn't it?"
"What? Who? Him who?"
"The test didn't work, but it's still him. It's Jackson."
Stiles gapes because now he's inadvertently given her the answers she wanted while Y/n gives him a look. "I told you." They followed her to the locker rooms where she was heading for Jackson.
"You can't tell Derek, okay?" Stiles said to her. "There's a lot more to this that you don't know about."
"And just because you got the Alpha Bite makeover doesn't give you a license to go around destroying people." Y/n added.
"Why not?" She rounded on them just outside the locker room. "That's all anybody ever used to do to me."
"I know and I'm sorry that humans suck about 90% of the time."
"Tell me about it."
"That doesn't mean you should add to the 90." Just then something caught Y/n's eye, something that Stiles also noticed. Water was spilling out from under the locker room door. A moment later the door is thrown open and Scott lands on his back in front of them. Jackson comes out in shorts and reaches down for him. Y/n jumps in and shoves Jackson away, taking advantage of his stumble to push him against the wall with her arm against his neck. Erica rushes over to help hold him still while Stiles helps Scott up and holds him back from rushing the blonde boy. Allison also comes out from the room.
"What the hell's going on?" Mr. Harris rushes down the hall to see what the commotion is. "Hey! Enough! Enough." Allison's bag has fallen over and the tablet had come out, something Matt had noticed making him crouch down and pick it up. "What do you idiots think you're doing? Jackson! Calm down!" The girls let the blonde go. Matt turns on the tablet and sees the translated pages of the bestiary.
"Mr. McCall, you wanna explain yourself?" Matt quickly sends the file to himself while everyone is distracted. "Stilinski! L/n?"
"You dropped this." Matt offered the tablet which Mr. Harris took.
"You and you-" he pointed to Scott and Jackson. "Actually... All of you..." He gestures to the three girls and four boys, including Matt. "Detention. 3:00."
At 3:00 Scott, Stiles, Y/n, Allison, Matt, Jackson, and Erica file into the library where Mr. Harris was waiting for them. Matt, Jackson and Allison went to one table while the other four sat at the one just next to it. "Oh, uh... We can't be in detention together." Jackson points out. "I have a restraining order against these tools." He gestures to the other table.
"All of these tools?" Mr. Harris asks.
"No, just us tools." Stiles points between himself, Scott, and Y/n.
"Fine. You three, over there." They move to the adjecent table while Harris goes to the desk. Jackson seems unsatisfied by this resolution.
"I'm gonna kill him." Scott says after a glare at the blonde.
"No, you're not." Stiles denies. "You're going to find out who's controlling him and then you're gonna help save him."
"No. You're right, let's kill him."
"Oh... No."
Y/n sighs. "Hey, big bad Scotty. No murdering my friend's ex in school, okay? Cool it."
Scott pouts because he can't do the murder while Stiles watches Matt. "Hey. What if it's Matt?" He says quietly and the two look at him. "I mean, this whole thing comes back to the video, right?"
"Danny said that Matt was the one who found the two hours of footage missing." Scott pointed out.
"Exactly! He's trying to throw suspicion off himself." When Y/n thinks about it she realizes it would be a great way to disuade attention and she nods in agreement.
"So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's Hunters, and the mechanic working on your Jeep?"
"Yes!"
"Why?"
"Because... He's evil."
"You just don't like him."
"The guy... Bugs me. I don't know what it is. Just look at his face." They look over at Matt as he offers Jackson some of his chips which he denies.
"I gotta agree with Stiles on this one."
"You're only saying that because Stiles is your boyfriend."
"That's not the only reason. He honestly gives me the creeps." Y/n lightly shivered to prove her point.
"Any other theories?"
Just then Jackson starts to wince in pain, touching his forehead above his eye. "Are you okay?" Matt asks him.
Jackson gets up and grabs his bag. "I have to go to the bathroom." His voice shakes slightly as he starts to leave.
"Are you all right?" Mr. Harris asks. "Hey, you don't look so good."
"I just need to get some water." He leaves and Harris gets up to look at the students.
"No one leaves their seats." He turns to follow Jackson. Y/n holds her hands up to the boys, waiting until Harris is gone and the door is shut behind him, before she nods and all three move back to the table with Erica. Y/n sits next to her with the other two across from them. She smirks a bit into her notebook.
"Y/n and Stiles say you know how Jackson's parents died."
"Maybe."
"Talk."
She sets her book and pencil down. "It was a car accident. My dad was the insurance investigator, and every time he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche, he makes some comment about the huge settlement he'll be getting when he's 18."
"So not only is Jackson rich now, but he's getting even richer at 18?" Stiles asks.
"Yep."
"There's something so deeply wrong with that."
"You know what? I could try to find the insurance report on my dad's in-box. He keeps everything." Erica opens her laptop and begins to type away.
"Scott McCall, please report to the principal's office." Mrs. Argent calls over the P.A. system. While Scott answers his summons Jackson and Mr. Harris return but the teacher doesn't seem to notice (or care) that some people have moved.
"Don't forget the dates." Stiles says.
Erica finds the correct report and clicks on it. "'Passengers arrived at the hospital DOA. The estimated time of death 9:26 P.M., June 14, 1995'."
"Jackson's birthday is June 15th." Y/n informs.
After a bit Mr. Harris zips up his bag and goes over to the door. Assuming they're free to go everyone gathers their things until the teacher chuckles. "Oh, no, I'm sorry. Uh, yes, I'm leaving. But none of you are. You may go when you're done with the re-shelving." He lightly pats the two return carts full of books that need to be put back. "Enjoy the rest of your evening."
Y/n sighs and heavily rolls her eyes. "That guy is such an asshole." The teens get up and get to work. Allison, Y/n and Stiles work in the same row until Scott returns. Erica was in the next row by herself and Matt and Jackson were in the row after her. "You know, if those stupid cameras weren't here I could have these put back in a snap." She lightly grumbled, snapping her fingers for emphasis.
"What about Matt seeing you?" Allison wondered.
"I could easily make him forget he saw anything." She shook off her irritation when Scott finally returned and then she and Stiles informed them of what they learned.
"It means he was born after his mom died- by C-Section. They had to pull him out of her dead body."
"It's awful." Y/n frowned.
"So was it an accident or not?" Allison wondered.
"The word all over the report is 'inconclusive'."
"Then his parents could have been murdered?" Scott asked.
"If they were, then it falls in line with the kanima myth." Stiles agreed. "You know? It seeks out and kills murderers."
"But for Jackson? Or whoever's controlling him?" Allison asked.
"We have to talk to him. We have to tell him." Scott insisted.
"He's not gonna li-" But Scott already turns to go to Jackson, but pauses when he sees a book on the ground at the end of Jackson and Matt's row. He slowly walks forward and looks to the left to see Matt face down on the ground, a cut on the back of his neck. Scott kneels next to him to check on him just as Jackson, half shifted, jumps over the top of the shelves and wrecks one of the light fixtures. Scott covers himself and Matt from the books and debris that fall, looking back a second later with his eyes glowing.
"Y/n! Erica!" He warns. Erica roars in alarm just as Jackson jumps over her row.
"Get down!" Y/n yells just as Jackson jumps over them, destroying another light fixture. Her eyes glow as she keeps the debris from hurting Allison and Stiles. Jackson jumps down behind Erica. She screams as she's cut and she falls to the ground paralyzed. Scott comes out of the row and turns to find Janima. They growl at each other and when Scott goes to attack Jackson shoves him into one of the return carts. He gets up after a moment and looks to see the other three. They all crouch down to watch Jackson as he stands in front of the blackboard. He moves stiffly and unnaturally as he grabs a piece of chalk and writes on the board. When he's done he lets the chalk fall and jumps out of the window. The four slowly stand and see what was written by the kanima's master.
STAY OUT OF MY WAY OR I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU
Scott, Stiles and Allison go over to it. Y/n was about to follow when she felt something in the other row. She look over and rushed to Erica when she saw she was shaking. She got to her knees behind Erica and held her as she convulsed. "Guys! She's having a seizure." Scott and Stiles went to help her while Allison checked on Matt.
"He's alive." She informed.
"I can't do anything to help her here."
"We need to get her to a hospital." Stiles said.
"D-Derek. O-only to Derek." Erica managed to get out.
"When we get her to the hospital-" Scott's cut off by Y/n.
"To Derek."
"Go." Allison urged. Scott goes around to her and Stiles calls after him.
"Hey, Scott!"
"I'm staying here with you." Scott kneeled with Allison.
"They can't take her alone. Not like this. And Matt- l-I've got to call an ambulance for him, just go."
"This doesn't feel right."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not. No, it's not right."
"It doesn't- it doesn't mean anything."
"But it feels like it does."
"Scott, go. Go." He kissed her forehead in parting before he goes back and lifts Erica into his arms.
They rush to the railway depot and get Derek. They gather in the train car and lower her to the ground, Y/n props her up on herself as she works to help. "Is she dying?" Stiles asked.
"She might, I-" Y/n cuts Derek off.
"No, she's not. Just hold her arm." Derek does as instructed. "I'm sorry, Erica, this is gonna hurt." Her eyes glow as she holds her hand over Erica's arm, a cut appearing on her forearm. Erica cries out. "I'm encouraging the healing. But I still have to get the venom out." Scott and Stiles flinch as Erica screams more, the process of drawing the tainted blood out painful. When she's done Erica slumps back into Y/n, panting from the exhaustion. "It's okay. It's okay. It's done now. I'm sorry." Y/n's eyes fade as she moves some hair back from the girl's face.
Erica looks up at her tiredly. "Y/n... Thanks, for not adding to the 90."
Y/n gives her a small smile. "No problem."
...
Y/n sighs in exhaustion when she gets home, only leaving Erica when she was sure the girl would be okay. She goes up to her room and sits on the edge, burying her face in her hands. She could still hear Erica's cries of pain in her head. She could have done better, she could have made it painless. When she looked up she was almost surprised to see the image of Peter again, almost. But he's been following her for a while now, she's come to realize, and she was too tired to care at the moment.
"You know, that girl would have been in less pain had you had more experience in blood magic."
Y/n lightly shook her head. "I'm not ready to do that yet."
"You could be." She closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened her eyes he was gone, but his words still lingered no matter how much she wish they wouldn't. You could be.
~~~
Published: 2/17/21
Edited: 4/12/22