...
Y/n sits in the chair besides Stiles in his dad's office. She had been invited by the Stilinski's to have dinner, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't say no to Stiles' big brown eyes. Noah takes a bite of his burger but is disappointed by it's contents. "Oh, what the hell is this?"
"Veggie burger." Stiles says.
"Stiles, I asked for a hamburger."
"Well, veggie is healthier. We're being healthy." He shows off his salad then glances at Y/n. "Well, most of us." The girl looks up at that, a french fry hanging half way out her lips before she munches it.
Noah then lifts the paper lid on his other container that holds celery and carrot sticks. "Oh, hell, why are you trying to ruin my life?"
"I'm trying to extend your life, okay? Could you just eat it, please?"
"Tell you what, Sheriff." Y/n leans forward. "I will trade you five fries for a celery and two carrot sticks, and you stop complaining and eat your food. Deal?" She raises a brow at him. Noah thinks about it for a second then nods.
"Fair enough." Once the trading of items is finished Stiles speaks up again.
"Tell us what you found."
"No, I'm not sharing confidential police work with teenagers."
Stiles looks at the board behind his dad. "Is that it on the board behind you?"
Noah glances at it while Stiles cranes his neck to see it better. "Don't look at that."
"A'ight." He sits down again but moves right back to looking.
"Avert your eyes."
"Okay."
"Hey!"
"Just- it's just- I see- arrows pointing at pictures."
"Okay, okay, stop. Fine." The teens perk up a bit. "I found something. Mechanic and the couple who were murdered. They all had something in common."
"All three?" Y/n asks.
"Yeah. You know what I always say. One's an incident."
"Two's a coincidence." Y/n had been around them long enough to know this phrase.
"Three's a pattern." Stiles finishes.
"The mechanic, the husband, the wife- all the same age. All 24."
"Wait a minute, but what about Mr. Lahey? I mean, Isaac's dad isn't anywhere near 24."
"Which made me think that either A) Lahey's murder wasn't connected or B) the ages were a coincidence, until I found this, which would be C." He hands Stiles a folder and Y/n leans to look over his arm as he looks at it. "Did you know that Isaac Lahey had an older brother named Camden?"
"'Died in combat'." Y/n read from the file.
"But if he were alive today, take one guess as to how old he'd be."
"24." Stiles says. All three get up to look at the board closer. "Now what if same age means same class- I mean, did you think of that?"
"Yeah, yeah." Noah nods.
"You sure?" Y/n asks teasingly and he hesitates.
"Well, I would've. I mean, I- look I just got Lahey's file two hours ago."
Stiles looks at him in shock. "Two hours? Dad, people could be dying."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that. Thank you."
They look at the board again. "Same class." The Stilinski's look at each other and suddenly Y/n is dragged over to the desk where Noah puts some books and files down. They look through files and Stiles picks up a blue folder. "Okay, this is it. Class of 2006. They all went to Beacon Hills."
"Including Isaac's brother."
"All right, but so what if they all knew each other, you know?"
"Two of them were married." Y/n agrees.
"Maybe they all just hung out."
"Well, they could have had the same classes together. They could've..." Noah trails off when he sees something.
"What?"
"Same teacher." He moves a paper around for them to see that it shows Mr. Harris.
"Harris." Y/n grimaces. She really doesn't like the guy.
"They were all in his class?" Stiles asked.
"All four. And I don't know how Mr. Lahey fits in, but this- kids, this is definitely a pattern. All right, give me the 2006 yearbook. These name, we need faces." He starts calling someone as Y/n grabs the book.
"Which ones?" She asks.
"Everyone in that Chemistry class. If the killer's not done killing..."
"Then one of them's next." Stiles says.
"Yeah." Then he gets an answer on the phone. "Yeah, it's Stilinski." After a bit of her and Stiles finding the people in Harris' class she got a message from Scott saying he needed her at the clinic.
"I gotta go." She said once she looked at it. "I gotta help at the clinic for a bit tonight."
"That's fine. Thanks for the help, Y/n."
"No problem." She smiles at the Sheriff and then turns to Stiles. "I'll see you later, yeah?"
He nods. "Yeah."
"Great detective work, guys." She gathered her things and then gave Stiles a quick kiss. "Love ya!" She called as she dashed out the door.
Stiles looked after her wide-eyed for a moment with a little love sick smile before he looked back at his dad who was smirking at him. He realized that his dad just saw and heard that and he busied himself with the files again. "Shut up." But he still had a smile on his face.
...
Y/n got to the clinic just as Scott left the room to open the front door for someone. "Hey." She greeted Alan. "Meeting with Derek Hale?" He nodded. "This should be fun."
"What's he doing here?" She heard Scott ask.
"I need him." Derek answered.
"I don't trust him."
"Yeah, well, he doesn't trust you either." Isaac's voice said then.
"You know what? And Derek really doesn't care. Now where's the vet? Is he gonna help us or not?"
"That depends." Alan leans on the doorjamb with Y/n next to him. She nods her head in greeting to the newcomers. "Your friend, Jackson. Are we planning to kill him or save him?" Derek said 'kill him' at the same time Scott and Y/n said 'save him'.
"Save him." Scott eunuciates at Derek before looking back at Alan. "Save him." They all go into the back room and stand around the metal table, Y/n and Alan on one side, the werwolves on the other. Y/n places a tray of glass bottles filled with various things on the table.
Isaac goes to grab a bottle to look at it when Derek grabs his wrist and yanked it back. "Watch what you touch." He warns. While Alan looks through the bottles to find something hopefully useful Isaac leans his arms on the table.
"So what are you? Some kind of witch?" He asks Alan.
Y/n smirks at him. "That would be me." She flashes her eyes at him and he raises his brows a bit in surprise. "He's a veterinarian." She nods her head at Alan.
"Unfortunately, I don't see anything here that's going to be an effective defense against a paralytic toxin." Alan puts down a bottle.
"We're open to suggestions." Derek says.
"What about an effective offence?" Isaac offers.
"No, we already tried. I nearly took it's head off. And Argent emptied an entire clip into it. The thing just gets back up."
"Has it shown any weaknesses?" Alan asked.
"Well, one. It can't swim."
"Does that go for Jackson as well?"
"No. He's the captain of the swim team." Scott says.
"Essentially, you're trying to catch two people." He opens a drawer and grabs an item, closing the drawer and turning back to the group. "A puppet." He holds up a pendant depicting the horned god Cernunnos. "And a puppeteer." He puts the pendant on the table. "One killed the husband, but the other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?"
"I don't think Jackson could do it. His mother died pregnant too, and she was maybe murdered. I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else."
"How do you know it's not part of the rules? The kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies too." Isaac theorises.
"Does that mean your father was a murderer?"
"Wouldn't surprise me if he was."
"Hold on. The book says they're bonded, right?" Alan asks Y/n and she nods. "What if the fear of water isn't coming from Jackson, but from the person controlling him?"
Y/n gasps a bit as she catches on. "So what if something that affects the kanima also affects it's master?" She grabs the bottle of mountain ash, dumping a bit in her hand, and pours it over the pendant making the ash form a perfect circle around it. Alan smiles at her.
"Meaning what?" Isaac asks.
"Meaning we can catch them." Scott answers. "Both of them."
...
Stiles pulls into the school parking lot and parks near where Matt is locking up his bike. "There's gotta be some other way to get a ticket, right?" Scott says as he, Stiles and Y/n climb out of the Jeep.
"It's a secret show. There's only one way, and it's a secret." Stiles says.
"Hey." Matt suddenly calls and the three turn to look at him. "Any of you know why no one's getting suspended after what happened the other day at school?"
"Just forget about it. Nobody got hurt."
"I-I had a concussion."
"Well, nobody got seriously hurt."
"I was in the ER for six hours."
"Hey, do you wanna know the truth, Matt? Your little bump on the head is about this high on our list of problems right now." Stiles bends down and holds his hand an inch above the ground.
"Okay, settle down, tiger." Y/n makes him stand up straight and holds his hand, the action seeming to calm him a bit.
"Are you okay?" Scott asks Matt.
"Yeah, I'm fine now. So you didn't get any tickets last night either."
"Are they still selling?"
"Uh, no, but I managed to find two online. You should keep trying. Sounds like everyone's going to be there." Matt walks away.
"I don't like him." Stiles says.
"Me either." Y/n makes a face towards Matt's direction.
"Hey, are you sure about this?" He asks Scott.
"Last time, whoever's controlling Jackson had to kill somebody because he didn't finish the job, so what do you think he's gonna do this time?"
"Be there to make sure it happens." The three walk into school.
...
"Katamine?" Scott questions. Alan holds a vial of the drug up for the teens to see.
"It's the same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage." He explains and sets the bottle and a large syringe on the table. "If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time." He grabs the bottle of mountain ash. "This is some of what you'll use to create the barrier. This part is for you and Y/n, Stiles." He sets the bottle down. "Only you two."
"Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure." Stiles picks up the bottle. "Can we maybe find a slightly less pressure-filled task for me?"
"You'll be fine, Stiles." Y/n assures and plucks the bottle from his fingers. "This is from the mountain ash tree."
"Which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural." Alan adds. "This office is lined with ashwood, making it difficult for someone like Scott to cause me any trouble."
"How come Y/n is able to use it then if she's also supernatural?" Stiles asks curious.
"Witches are like the bridge between the natural and supernatural world." She explains. "We're supernatural enough to not be human, but human enough to not be affected by certain things."
"Okay, so then what? We just spread this around the whole building and then either Jackson or whoever's controlling him can't cross it?"
"They'll be trapped." Alan nods.
"Doesn't sound too hard." Scott tries to assure Stiles.
"Not all there is. Think of it like gunpowder. It's just a powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles."
"If you mean light myself on fire, I don't think I'm up for that. And why aren't you saying this to her?"
"Because I already know how to use it."
"Let me try a different analogy. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish."
"Force of will." Stiles nods, but he still seems unsure.
"Here's another example." Y/n offers. "It's kinda like pixie dust, you need to believe it will work or else it won't."
"If-" Alan moves his head a bit to make sure Stiles is looking at him. "If this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it."
That night Stiles pulls up outside the secret party after picking up Scott and Y/n. They all go to the back and Stiles opens it up. "You okay?" Scott suddenly asks Stiles as he grabs a bag of mountain ash.
"Yeah, why?"
"You just didn't say anything the whole way here."
"No, I'm fine." Y/n could tell that was a lie. Something was bothering him, she could feel it. Something at home. But she had been waiting for them to be alone to say anything about it. "Grab the other bag, please." He asks her which she complies.
Scott suddenly takes a few steps away as he hears something. "Not here, not now." He says just before he rushes away.
"What- Scott?" Stiles called after him, but it's to no evail.
"Let him go. We'll be fine." Y/n gives him a reasurring smile. He goes to start pouring the ash before she stops him. "Hey." He gave her a questioning look. "What happened earlier?"
"I don't know what-"
"Stiles." She sighed. "I know when you're lying. It's not just the upticks in your heart either, I just... I just know, okay? So, please, don't lie to me."
He sighed and looked away. He was so quiet she thought he wouldn't speak until he did. "My dad was fired." He finally said, although it was a near whisper. "And it's my fault."
She lightly shook her head and hugged him, he practically wrapped himself around her for comfort as the bags were left momentarily forgotten on the ground. "It wasn't your fault." She spoke just as quietly. She pulled away and made him look at her by putting a hand on his cheek. "It wasn't, okay?" At her insistence he nodded a bit. "It'll be okay. I promise." When he managed a small smile she gave him a soft kiss, nothing rushed or heated, but slow and promising she'll be there for him.
When they pulled away his smile was more genuine. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She suddenly grinned as she stepped away from him. "Now, let's catch some baddies." She hauled up the bag of ash and took his hand. "Come on." He grabbed his own bag and she led them to the other side of the building. "I'll go this way, you go that way and we meet in the middle."
He nods with a deep breath. "Sounds like a plan." And then they start pouring the ash, going opposite ways to meet back around at the Jeep. It took a bit but not as long as it would have with just one of them pouring it. Y/n got back around before Stiles had. She figured he was going fast but slowish to make sure he poured it well enough. Y/n caught the last handful of ash in her hand and tossed it forward, finishing her last twenty feet of her half.
She was leaning against the Jeep, waiting for Stiles and keeping an eye out for whoever was creating that gunfire. She had a feeling it was Hunters but the wolves seemed to be holding their own for now. She heard shuffling and turned to find Stiles as he caught his last handful of ash. "Oh, no." He whined. "What are we gonna do?" He immediatly started going into panic mode. "Y/n, I don't know what to do. There's like 50 feet of ash left and I'm hearing gunfire and werewolves-"
"Stiles, calm down. It's okay."
"How is this okay, Y/n? I've got a handful of magic fairy dust left and it's not enough. It's not enough."
"Stiles!" She snapped once she was in front of him. "It's enough. You have to believe." She said more softly. "Remember what Alan said? Just picture it. Believe and picture it working."
"I don't know-"
"Believe in me." She took his hands in hers, carefully curling her hand over the one holding the ash while intertwining the other. "If you can't fully believe in this, then believe in me. I know it will work. Trust me. Picture it." His eyes darted over her shoulder to a bumber sticker with a quote. Imagination is more important than knowledge - Einstein. He looked into her eyes, shining with determination and faith. He trusted her with anything and he believed in her unconditionally. If she believed that the ash was enough, then it was enough.
He took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. Just- just imagine." She nodded and took a step back, taking more when he followed. He kept his focus on her eyes, not paying attention to the slow trickle of mountain ash slipping though their fingers until their hands were open and empty. He looked down, half expecting the line to still be incomplete, but when he saw it was indeed intact he laughed in excitement. "Yes!" He threw his hands up while Y/n smiled at him. He suddenly jumped onto the back of a car but hopped right back off when the alarm started going off.
Y/n rolled her eyes with a head shake. Her eyes flashed and she snapped her fingers, the car stopped blaring and Stiles continued his happy dance. "Told you."
"You are amazing." He quickly kissed her, making her eyes widen in surpise while he cheered some more.
She shook her head fondly with a smile before grabbing his hand. "Okay, that's enough celebrating. We still have someone to deal with." They made their way to the small area where they agreed to take Jackson when they got him.
Erica and Isaac anxiously watched over Jackson when the door opened. Stiles immediatly putting his hands up when Erica almost lunged at him. "No, no, no! Just us, it's just us." Y/n closed the door behind her and then looked at Jackson. He was seemingly passed out, slumped in a fold out chair.
"Is he okay?" Y/n asked.
"Well..." Isaac went over to him. "Let's find out." He pulled out his claws and went to swipe at Jackson.
"Isaac, wait-" Y/n tried to warn, when suddenly his arm was caught. He grunted in pain and fell to his knee when Jackson's grip was too strong. He managed to pull his arm free and go back over to the group.
"Okay, no one does anything like that again, okay?" Stiles ordered. Erica nodded while Isaac was still in pain.
"Give me your arm." Y/n asked. Isaac hesitantly looked up at her but still held his arm out for her. She gently held her hands over where he was injured, her eyes glowing as she encouraged his healing and healed a bit of it herself so he was in less pain.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
"I thought the ketamine was supposed to put him out."
"Yeah, well, apparently this is all we're going to get." Stiles said. "So let's just hope that whoever's controling him decided to show up tonight."
Jackson's eyes opened but he was staring in to space. "I'm here." He spoke but it wasn't his voice. It was distorted and sounded like more than one person was speaking. "I'm right here with you."
Y/n took a step forward, but Stiles grabbed her wrist and gave her a worried look. She nodded in reasurance and he let her go. She crouched down in front of Jackson, keeping a safe distance. "Jackson, is that you?"
"Us. We're all here."
She quirked a brow, glancing at the three behind her. "Are you the one killing people?"
"We're the ones killing murderers."
"So all the people you've killed so far-"
"Deserved it."
"We got a little rule book that says you only go after murderers."
"Anything can break if enough pressure's applied."
"That can lead to unforseen consequences most often than not. Are all the people you're killing murderers then?"
"All. Each. Every one."
"Who did they murder?"
"Me."
"What?"
"They murdered me." Erica and Isaac got anxious as Jackson's eyes shifted to his kanima ones. "They murdered me."
"Y/n, get back here." Stiles asked when Jackson's claws came out. She stood and backed up to him. "Okay, all right. More ketamine. The man needs ketamine. Come on!"
"We don't have any more." Isaac held up the empty bottle.
"You used it all?" Y/n asked incredulously. Erica anxiously tapped Y/n's arm and they looked over to see Jackson standing up. Y/n would have tried compelling him back to sleep if someone else hadn't already had control of his mind right then. Jackson screeched at them, half shifted. "Okay, out, out, everybody out."
The four rushed out of the room and piled against the door to hold it closed. "Okay, find something to move in front of the door." Stiles instructed. Another screech rang out and a second later the fully shifted kanima broke through the wall and ran away.
"Well, shit."
Stiles and Y/n go back out to the Jeep in the flow of people leaving the party. They step over the line as Derek comes up to them. "Hey, um, so we kind of lost Jackson inside, but it's-" Stiles cuts himself off when Erica and Isaac come out, but they pause when they sense something. Isaac crouches down to look at the ash line, glancing up at Erica. The two look nervous and confused because they can't cross. They haven't experienced mountain ash before. "Oh, my God. It's working! Oh, this is- we did something." He brags to Derek.
Y/n's eyes widen when she and Derek hear Scott's sudden roar. "Scott." She takes off and Stiles looks after her confused.
"What? Where are you-"
"Break it." Derek orders quickly.
"What? No way."
"Scott's dying!"
"Okay, what? How do you know that? Is that why Y/n-"
"Yes! We just know! Break it!"
Stiles drops to his knees and waves his hands down, making a rush of air that dispersed the ash and broke the line. Derek rushed after Y/n as soon as he could. He caught up to her just as she went into the room. She spotted Scott as soon as she went in and darted to his side, dropping to her knees beside him. Derek was on her tail but paused just behind her, the wolfsbane in the air having an affect on him. Victoria came from the shadows and stabbed Derek in the back. He groans in pain and turns around, catching her arm before she could stab him again.
Y/n looked up in fear and without thinking she threw her hand up, her eyes flashing as she forced the knife from the woman's hands. Victoria stumbled from the sudden action but recovered as Derek went for her. They struggled and ended up by the doors where the strobing lights filtered in. Derek growled and bit her in defense before she managed to toss him aside. She ran before he got up. When he saw the Hunter was gone he quickly went to help Y/n carry Scott out of that room.
Scott was layed out on the metal table in the backroom of the clinic. Alan had just finished helping the werewolves with Y/n's assistance. Derek sat in a chair against the wall, watching them. Alan lightly petted Scott's head in reasurance. The teen would be fine. "Thank you." Derek said. Y/n looked up at him and smiled.
Alan walked out into the front of the clinic, turning at the sound of a familiar voice. "I can't decide if l admire your sentimentality or despise it." Ms. Marin Morell sat in one of the waiting chairs and looked at him.
"If I want your opinion, I'll make an appointment with the guidance office."
"From the state of things, I think you could use a little guidance. Are you really going to leave all of this up to a couple of kids?"
"They're more capable than you think."
She looked away in thought then. "And are you going to tell them what's coming?"
He glanced towards the back room. "They've got enough to worry about."
Y/n sits against the wall of the clinic, resting a bit as she watches over Scott, Derek seemingly doing the same as he rests his head against the wall with his eyes closed. She closes her eyes and copies Derek's position, trying to get some type of rest. It doesn't seem like she'll get it, however. She knows he's there before she even opens her eyes, which she doesn't. Peter sits against the wall next to her. "You know, you could do so much more. If you practiced a bit of blood magic you'd be so much more confident in your abilities. You'd be a force to be reconed with."
"I'm not ready." She muttered.
"You keep saying that, but are you really not ready? Or are you just too scared to try?"
She quickly looked over with furrowed brows but he was already gone. She couldn't help but think of what he said. Was she scared to try?
~~~
Published: 2/17/21
Edited: 4/12/22