...
Lydia held an ID card that Liam and Corey had found a few night back which belonged to Jake Sullivan, a sophomore that had some shared classes with younger members of the pack and who Corey and Mason had witnessed being taken by the ghost riders. "It's a relic." She named for Malia, Y/n, and Scott.
"What's a relic?" Malia asked.
"An object with a fixed association to the past. Jake's ID was left behind after he was taken."
"Phoebe's bracelet was abandoned on her bedroom floor." Y/n added.
"How can someone be erased, and still leave something behind?" Malia wondered.
"A conservation of mass." Lydia explained. "The total mass of any isolated system remains constant."
"It's like energy. It's not created or destroyed, just shifted, moved, but always there." Y/n said.
"So even the ghost riders have a weakness." Scott realized.
"A relic would prove that Stiles existed." Malia grabbed the card from Lydia.
"And maybe we can bring him back." Y/n couldn't help the hope and anxiety that was squeezing at her insides. She didn't really understand why she cared so much, and she didn't know why the thought of not getting back this 'Stiles' made her feel like she just might crumble to bits.
...
Y/n had taken the ID to Noah with a peculiar request. "You want to search my house?" He repeated.
"The victims of the riders are leaving things behind." Y/n began to explain as she stood in front of his desk. "So if Stiles left anything-"
"Why- why would it be there?"
"People can't just be erased. They always leave something behind. This is your family's nickname, that can't really be a coincidence. Can it?" She was practically pleading with him to at least consider the idea, and it seemed to work.
"I couldn't sleep last night. So, um, I got up, figured I'd do some paperwork. The files were in the back of my car. So I- I go to the garage, and some junk has fallen off a shelf and I- I stubbed my toe on an old baseball bat. Without thinking I yelled a name."
"Stiles."
With just a bit of skepticism Noah let Y/n go to his house so she could try to find something that seemed out of the ordinary for a married couples home. Y/n glanced around the living room, eventually moving to the fireplace where a few photos of Noah and Claudia sat. "Is there anything I can do to help?" Claudia asked suddenly, Y/n turned to face her.
"No, I think I've got it, Mrs. Stilinski." Y/n denied.
"Well, good luck. I'll leave you to it." Claudia smiled before leaving the room, leaving Y/n to frown after the woman. There was just something nagging at the back of her mind. Something felt almost... Empty about her. Y/n lightly shook her head, that's not what she needed to focus on now.
"Alright, what did you leave behind?" She muttered to herself, glancing towards the hallway where she had seen the old woman and decided that was a good place to start. She went up the stairs and found herself pausing in front of that same wall that the woman had been staring at. Her eyes glowed as she examined where the wallpaper met in the middle, reaching out with her magic to try and find any trace of energy. She could feel something, but it was faint, like smoke on the wind. Her eyes dimmed as movement to the side caught her attention and she saw a teenage boy with messy curls and dark circles under his eyes standing across from her.
"You didn't see it, did you?" He asked, voice echoing with a rattle in her ears.
"What do you mean?"
"It's right in front of your face." He snapped, and she looked back to the wall, her hand coming up to touch the slightly textured surface. When she glanced back the boy was gone, so she stepped forward a bit to look closer at the paper. Some of the edge was coming up and she had a fleeting thought that it shouldn't have been there in the first place. Without thinking her fingers managed to grip a piece of the paper and peel it back a little.
She gasped in shock when a hand harshly gripped her wrist and halted her actions. "What are you doing?" Claudia snapped.
"Don't touch me." Y/n wrenched her arm out of the woman's cold fingers. Claudia reached up and pressed the wallpaper back into place with a frown. "There's something behind there." She claimed.
"Yes, it's called a wall. I think it's time for you to go." Y/n's lips drew together in a thin line. She didn't want to leave, but she didn't want to cause any more trouble with the Sheriff's wife, so she left without another word.
Later Y/n was in her room, propped against the headboard of her bed and idly messing with her necklace while waiting for any news from anyone really. Anything to stop her mind from spinning in circles. She barely glanced up when her mother knocked on her doorjamb. "Why did I get a call saying that you were tearing up Claudia Stilinski's wallpaper?"
"Because I was." Y/n responded plainly.
"And you were doing that because?" She drew out the word.
"There's something going on over there. There's something... Wrong. At least, I think there is. It just doesn't make sense." Y/n huffed as she rubbed her head.
"Sometimes the supernatural-"
"Doesn't make logical sense, I know."
M/n nodded and moved to sit on the bed in front of her daughter. "So instead of telling me what you think, tell me what you feel."
Y/n was quiet as she took a moment to focus on the sensations swirling around inside her. "For a while now, I've felt like there's a... A hole that's been punched out of my chest. And I can't help but feel like Stiles is the one who fills it. I feel that he's real. Stiles is real."
M/n gave her a gentle smile as she laid a hand on the girl's knee. "That sensation in your gut, that you assume is just a feeling, follow it. It will lead you in the right direction."
"Right now it's telling me that there's something I have to find in that house."
"Then you'll find it. For now, I think you should try to make amends with Claudia."
"That's another thing." M/n gave her a questioning look. "Something is telling me there's something wrong with the Sheriff's wife. Lydia is looking her up for me, trying to find something that would tell me why I feel that way."
"Good. Now, while she's doing that, I seem to remember some friends that could use your help in protecting people." As soon as she finished speaking Y/n's phone buzzed with a message.
She jumped to check it, but it wasn't a message she was expecting. "Shit."
"What's wrong?"
"It's Scott. Four people are missing from the bunker and he said they plan on playing in tonights lacrosse game. I gotta go." Y/n hopped up from the bed and grabbed her bag.
"Be careful!" M/n called as she watched the teen rush out the door.
"I will!" Y/n promised just before she disappeared from sight. M/n's brows drew together as she gazed out into the empty hall, a frown pulling down the corners of her lips.
Y/n rushed to the school where she quickly met up with Scott, Liam, Mason, and Corey and fell into step with the Alpha as they figured out what to do. "What's the plan?" Liam asked the older boy.
"Convince Okafur, Steinbach, and Wallace that playing tonight is a bad idea." He paused just outside the locker rooms and turned to Mason and Y/n with realization. "You two have read everything there is to know on the ghost riders."
"Yeah." Mason agreed.
"And you're the only one of us who's figured anything out. Have you come across anything that could stop them?"
Y/n shook her head and looked to Mason. "Not yet. But I can try."
"Do that."
Y/n reached into her bag and pulled out her grimoire. "I marked everything I found about ghost riders with yellow post-it's."
"Why yellow?" Mason asked.
"It's a system thing I do. Yellow means 'I'm working on it'." She explained as she handed the book to him, a handful of yellow post-it's sticking out from the edges.
He took it with wide eyes. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Yes, it is, and I normally wouldn't let it out of my sight, but I trust you."
"I won't let anything happen to it." He promised as he held it tightly in his hands.
"Good, because you'd regret it if you did." Her eyes flashed in warning before she turned and followed Scott and the others towards the locker rooms.
"Intense." He took a steadying breath before pumping himself up. "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this."
Scott and the others squeezed passed a few lacrosse players as they exited the locker rooms, effectively emptying the room of anyone. Except for Coach who tossed a helmet to Scott. "You're late, McCall!" The man scolded. "Why aren't you people dressed? Get your asses moving. Everyone on the field! Hustle! Hustle! Hustle!" He shouted into the boys faces as he walked by them. "You too, L/n, if you have any love for this team at all. There's some spare equipment in my office."
"But, Coach, I'm not on the team."
"You are tonight!" He called over his shoulder as he left the room.
"We'll never get them back into the bunker now." Liam complained.
"Get dressed." Scott ordered, a new idea coming to mind.
Liam slowly nodded as he caught on to what Scott was thinking. "Because there's only one way to keep them safe."
"Play the game."
"I'll keep an eye out from the stands." Y/n said, only for Scott to deny her.
"Actually, it might help having you on the field as well. We can each stay on one of them."
"Fine." Y/n sighed, not arguing against the Alpha because she did agree it was a good plan. She made her way into Coach's office and went scrounging around for the pieces of equipment she would need. When she managed to find all the pieces, setting them on the desk as she grabbed them, she figured she would need to borrow one of the unused numbers to look like she was an actual member of the team. She found them in a folded pile in a cabinet and began to shuffle through them, trying to find one that, to her knowledge, wasn't being used. She was about to settle on using 13, it being one of her lucky numbers, until her eyes were drawn to a crumpled jersey in the back that she hadn't noticed before. Out of curiosity she reached in and pulled out the maroon fabric, unfolding and holding it up to reveal it was the number 24. She tilted her head as she stared at it, eyes seeming glued to the bold white numbers. She liked the number 24, although she can't really recall why. Shrugging she tossed it over her arm and gathered the gear, making her way to the girl's locker room to get dressed.
She met up with the boys on the field as they kept their eyes on the four they needed to protect. "Y/n and I'll take Steinbach and Wallace. You take Gwen. You're on Okafur." He directed the last to Corey.
"What if I see ghost riders?"
"Yell." Liam said.
"Then get ready to fight." Scott added.
"Who knew my first time playing lacrosse would be so exciting?" Y/n commented, looking to her boyfriend and expecting a witty remark of his own, but all he did was smile in amusement. A bitter disappointment made her stomach twist into a knot and she covered her confused frown by putting a helmet on.
The referee blew the whistle and the game was on, although they weren't doing that well. Corey ended up being knocked onto his back by Okafur, the boy telling him to get his own space. The guest team scored a goal, then Liam collided with Gwen, sending both of them to the ground. "You wanna back off?" She asked as she got up and walked away. The guest team scored another goal. Scott then somehow managed to run into both Steinbach and Wallace.
"Come on, man."
"There's no ghosts out here, McCall." They complained before picking themselves up.
Y/n jogged over and held a hand out to Scott, helping him up as he looked after the players. "Are you okay, Scott?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."
A third goal was scored and Coach was seething. "What are you doing out there? I'm gonna kill the three of you." He promised.
"I don't think Coach is good." Y/n mused.
"Nope."
A bit more time passed and the opposing team got their fourth goal, although that was starting to become less of a concern for the players as agitation steadily grew and they got more aggressive. Two players had run into each other and one took a swing with his lacrosse stick, the other ducked and tackled him. They began to wrestle on the ground until the referee threw a yellow flag and rushed over to break up the fight. Scott took off his helmet, watching as Liam shoved off a player who was being too rough with him. "Yes, Dunbar! That's the kind of passion I want to see. Unleash hell!" Coach praised as Liam took off his helmet and went over to Scott.
"What's gotten into everyone?"
Scott looked around. "What if it's the Wild Hunt? What if it's affecting everyone?" Thunder rumbled overhead and the wind picked up.
The extra aggressive game continued, Y/n somehow found herself with the ball, and with Coach's very loud encourgement she ran it to the goal. She managed to launch the ball past the goalie, scoring Beacon Hills' first point. "That's what I'm talking about, L/n! Keep this up, I'll put you on the team permanently!"
Just as she was about to deny his offer she noticed one of the opposing players was barreling right for her. Instincts kicking in she sidestepped and hit him away with her lacrosse stick, earning more cheers from Coach. She pulled off her helmet as she looked around, feeling the charged energy in the air, the tension that seemed to be reaching a crescendo. Underneath it all, she could sense a shift, a fast approach and she knew they were coming. "SCOTT!" She yelled as she ran across the field to get to him, making him take his helmet off as she skid to a stop beside him. "They're here." Not even a second after the words left her lips did the first drop of rain fall, swiftly followed by a steady downpour.
Corey hurried over and confirmed her claim causing Scott's eyes to widen. "Liam!" He called.
The Beta took his helmet off beside Gwen. "I see 'em!"
Y/n shifted her eyes, her amethyst gaze piercing through the rain so she could see three riders sitting across the field. Lightning caused the electricity to go out and the referee blew the whistle, calling off the game for safety reasons. "Oh, come on, ref! This is barely a thunderstorm!" Coach complained.
Y/n, Scott, Liam, and Corey were quick to drop thier loose equipment and remove thier gloves, then Liam ushered Gwen over to the group. Scott looked to make sure they had everyone. "Okay. We've got all three, right?"
"Scott, there were four." Liam reminded.
"No!" Y/n shouted before she started to run forward.
"Y/n, don't!" Scott caught her by the arm, knowing there was nothing they could do for Wallace, and that they had to stay together to protect the other three. He then grabbed Corey's wrist so he could see what they were seeing. The missing Wallace was screaming as he was being drug across the field by a rider with a rope around his ankles. In a moment he vanished in a puff of green smoke.
A few riders approached the stands, several people stood in shock at the sight before they began to run, not knowing that it was already too late, that they were marked. "Oh, my God! They're real!" Okafur exclaimed.
"We got to get out of here!" Steinbach said.
"Stay together. We'll protect you." Liam shouted over the rain.
"How?" Gwen asked.
Three riders ran up to the group. "Run!" Scott ordered, but when they turned four more joined in and circled them.
"Stay close!" Liam yelled.
More riders joined the circle, one of them taking aim with his gun and shooting Okafur, the boy disappearing in a green cloud just like Wallace had. Corey darted forward, and when Scott lost his hold he looked around in surprise. "I can still see them!" When another rider began to aim for Gwen, Liam half shifted, eyes shining and fangs bared as he roared. He jumped and tackled the rider off of his horse, both tumbling to the ground. "Liam!" Scott wanted to rush to the Beta's aid, but he couldn't leave the other two. Liam punched the rider a few times before he was thrown off to the side. The rider stood, aimed again and fired.
The bullet was blocked by a pillar of water, the object now floating harmlessly in the liquid as Y/n held her hands out. She swiftly moved them to the side and the water warped to follow her command, knocking the rider back like wave. She turned, doing the same to a few others. She kept using the rain to their defence, creating barriers to block a few more shot attempts and then sending them out to keep the riders back. She wasn't sure how long she could keep it up, but she would hold out as long as she could. Four riders had come around and tried shooting at the same time, but she blocked them with a wall of water. With a yell of effort she threw her arms forward and the wall rushed out, pushing the riders back. While she was distracted with that two riders managed to wrap their whips around her hands, forcing her to stop and face them.
The material over their mouths seemed to stretch a little, allowing a low warbling screech to escape. To the others it sounded like nonsense, but Y/n could understand their every word. "Take the witch and be free of the hunt. Resist and you hunt with us forever." Before she could even wonder what they were talking about the riders snapped their whips making her cry out as they sent her sprawling to the ground.
"Y/n!" Scott yelled as Corey came forward to help her. She gasped in pain as she pushed herself to her knees. She looked down to her hands to find fresh gashes across her palms, blood mixing with rain water. Smoke lightly seeped out of the wounds, green tinted with purple, and she could feel that whatever they did to her was going to affect her magic for as long as it took for the cuts to heal. Y/n's eyes flickered, shifting back to e/c and when she looked up she found she could still see the riders without her gift. A warning, stay out of the fight or they'll have no choice but to go through with the mark.
Now unhindered a rider took aim and took Steinbach. "We can't stop them!" Liam realized.
"Protect Gwen!" Scott ordered. He half shifted and roared at the attackers.
Being protected wasn't Gwen's plan. Instead she pushed herself past the werewolf barrier and stared down the riders. "Come on!" If she was taken like Phoebe was, then maybe she could find her sister wherever she ended up at.
"No!" Scott rushed forward a moment too late, and caught Gwen just before she vanished as well. "No!" He looked around, but there was no one left to protect, and then no one left to fight as the riders disappeared.
"Scott." His eyes found Y/n as she looked up at him with a helpless gaze. "They're gone." She then turned her sights to the sky, the rain swiftly ending and marking the end of their battle.
Scott helped Y/n to her feet and the four made their way back inside the school. After gathering themselves again Corey and Liam went back out to grab their abandoned equipment. Mason and Hayden found them and together they walked back into the school, coming around the corner to the locker room to find Y/n and Scott just after he finished up with a call. "Everyone from the bunker has been taken."
"Everyone?" Mason asked. "How?"
"It doesn't matter how." Liam denied.
"Argent was hurt so Malia took him to the hospital." Y/n said.
"My mom's with them." Scott added.
"Scott. Tonight..." Liam trailed off.
"No. Hey, it's not your fault." Scott assured. "It's mine. We should have done both. Defend the bunker and use a lightning rod. It would have given us a better chance." Liam didn't really feel like he wasn't to blame at all, but he still nodded.
Scott turned and started to leave, Y/n going to follow, but pausing to look back at Liam. "You did good, Liam." She gave him a small smile before following the Alpha to the hospital.
...
Scott and Y/n, having shedded most of the lacrosse gear and wearing their gym clothes instead, got to the room just as Melissa was wheeling the bed with Chris into it. "Is he okay?" Scott asked.
Melissa sighed. "He has force trauma to his temporal bone, three broken ribs, and multiple surface lacerations which seem to be from... Whip marks?" Chris winced and Y/n lightly clenched her hands. She could sympathize. "What he needs is a lot of rest."
Melissa continued pushing the bed into the room as Lydia arrived, speed walking over to her friends. "What happened?"
"The ghost riders took everyone. We barely slowed them down." Malia informed.
"Did you find anything?" Y/n asked Lydia, unable to help the hopeful tone.
"I found out Claudia never had children. So, Stiles can't be her son."
"What about a relic?" Malia looked to her sister, only recieving a reluctant shake of the head. "There never was a Stiles, was there?"
"It doesn't even sound like a real name." Scott added.
"No, that doesn't make sense." Y/n denied. "We all have the same feeling of someone missing, why would we have that if there was no Stiles?"
"We can keep looking." Lydia offered, seeing how much her friend cared about this. "Check the school records again. Or call Scott's dad-"
"We're fighting the wrong battle." Malia said.
"We're trying to bring Stiles back." Y/n argued.
"The ghost riders came back. We still have no way of stopping them. And whatever they are, they're real. We can't keep chasing someone who isn't."
"But he is real. I mean, things can be changed, records can be altered."
Scott made a face, his silent agreement with Malia's statement. "He didn't leave anything behind."
"He left me-" Y/n snapped until she caught herself. "He left us behind. Isn't that enough?" Her brows drew together as she looked between them. When she received no answer she huffed in disbelief, lightly shaking her head as she turned to leave, ignoring Lydia's calls to come back.
...
Y/n wrapped fresh gauze around her hand, making sure it was as snug as the other one while she sat on her bed. She had returned the lacrosse equipment to Coach, including the jersey which she was a little reluctant to do, and then gone back home, avoiding M/n and Alan by rushing up to her room where she treated the cuts on her hands. She suddenly picked up her head and looked towards her window, frowning slightly before getting up and going towards it. She swiftly opened it and poked her head out, catching Scott by slight surprise as he steadied himself on the trellis on the side of the house. "What are you doing, Scott?"
"You weren't answering your phone, and I wanted to check on you." He gave her a lopsided hopeful grin, and she couldn't say no to his sweet gesture, so she waved him in before moving to sit on her bed again.
Scott pulled himself through her window, and when his feet touched ground again he found himself frozen in his spot, not quite sure what he should do now. He settled with a simple, "Hey."
"Hey." She gave a slight wave and that's when he spotted the bandages.
"How are your hands?"
"They're healing. Slowly, but they're healing. They should be gone by tomorrow. I can't really use my magic until then."
He titled his head. "How come?"
"The riders did something when they cut my hands with their whips. I don't know what, but it's blocking most of my magic for the time being."
He slowly walked over, and when she didn't deny him he sat on the bed across from her. "Does it hurt?"
She shrugged. "It stings, but it's manageable." Scott gently took her hands in his, taking a breath as the veins in his hands turned black while he took her pain. "Thanks."
They lapsed into silence, the uncomfortable kind, and he decided to go ahead and break it with a discusion they needed to have. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"You just did." She quipped, lips twitching into a half smile when he chuckled, before she nodded. "Go ahead."
"Why are you so sure there was ever a Stiles?"
She was quiet for a minute, debating on if she should tell what's been going on inside her head, almost afraid he'd think she was crazy or something. But this was Scott, she reminded herself, he wouldn't judge her. "Because the idea of him not existing just feels... Wrong somehow." She finally admitted.
His eyes narrowed a bit. "I feel like there's something you're not telling me."
"If I'm being honest, us being together, it doesn't feel right. We've been so awkward around each other. It's like we don't know how to act around each other anymore. Haven't you noticed it?" He half shrugged as he nodded in agreement. He's felt the unease between them, and it wasn't something he liked. She suddenly held up her hand to show him her forefinger. "You see this ring? It's been one of my most prized possesions and I've worn it constantly since I got it. I remember someone making me a promise when I got this ring. Someone I... I think I loved."
"It was me, wasn't it?"
She shook her head. "No, because when I got it, you were with Allison. And this necklace. Why would you give me this necklace, Scott?" She hooked her thumb on the chain of her necklace to show him the silver pendant shaped like a Jeep with blue gemstone wheels.
"As a graduation present."
"But why a Jeep? You drive a motor bike and I don't even have a car, Scott." She dropped the chain, huffing a breath as she tried to get him to understand what she was saying.
Scott's brows drew together as he pieced together what she was getting at. "Are you trying to say you don't want to be together anymore?"
"I'm starting to question if we were ever together in the first place." She admitted. "I mean, I... I remember falling in love with my best friend. But I don't think it was you."
"That's why you're so insistant about Stiles? You think it was him?"
She sighed as she dropped her gaze to her lap. "I don't know. I'm just going with what I feel. What do you feel?" She looked back up at him.
"I feel... That maybe you're right. About us not being together, I mean. You're my best friend, and I love you, but I don't really know how to act as your boyfriend."
She held his hand. "Then let's stop trying. Let's forget about the whole boyfriend/girlfriend nonsense and just go back to being best friends. I think that's where we fit best."
He smiled as he nodded. "I think so, too." She grinned as she pulled him into a hug, his arms going around her easily, both no longer worried about what was right or appropriate, just happy to settle back into their usual dynamic that they've had since they were young.
~~~
Published: 3/29/23
When I mentioned "possible heartbreak is on the horizon" I didn't mean Scott and Y/n's inevitable breakup, that was always going to be an easy ordeal. I guess I should have said "pain is on the horizon" instead ð
Anyway, did I forget to tell y'all I've got an Instagram now? I've technically already had it since it was more of a personal account, but it already had the "taeswolfie" username so I figured might as well convert it :) besides a few pictures I had posted years back it's basically brand new XD So, if you'd like to, feel free to follow or whatever if you'd like. I'm not sure what kind of things I'd post or share besides random shit on my story, but we'll figure it out along the way ð¥°
Also, if you saw Teen Wolf: The Movie, what were your thoughts on it? Did you like it? I personally actually really did enjoy it. It was nice seeing everyone together again, even if Dylan O'Brien wasn't part of it, it wasn't a deal breaker for me. And while there were some things I thought were weird or I didn't agree with them (Derek, my baby ð) I enjoyed the overall experience.