chapter nine.

ANOTHER BODY FOUND last night dropping crimson blood on the school sign, the late Deputy Tara but the school acted oblivious and continued with its day. Don't they ever get tired of being clueless, Arthur wonders. There are a lot things wrong with this place but everyone brushes it off like a minor inconvenience, it isn't normal? His mother and sister has been trying to connect the pieces without realizing, but Arthur noticed.

Himself and his friends were always involved, the lingering stares and bitten lips holding back their questions because they knew what he was hiding would destroy the little bubble they lived in. But one day their eyes would be pried open to the real world, like he was when he stumbled into the locker rooms on Sophomore year when Scott nearly tore Stiles to pieces. But he doesn't want them to live like he does, unable to turn your back to someone encase they'd have a knife, constant quick peeks over your shoulders, it drains you.

His mother already has enough on her plate with the overwhelming amount of cases in the kitchen glass cabinet and Josie is far too young to be worried about death, he refuses to let her catch a glimpse at the darkness surrounding them.

His fingers combed back his hair they fell back in place seconds later, Arthur laid his head on top of his arms. Ignorance has never been bliss to him, people around him live everyday not knowing they're sitting next to their executioner or their savory, supernatural or not. It sounds like hell to him because at least, he has a chance at beating death.

His side stings like he's been scratched by death himself but survived, he shifts in his seat.

"⏤ Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes," Ms. Blake begins, strolling around the classroom. "All tools the writer uses to tell their story." She pauses at the strawberry, her eyebrows arched amazed, "Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."

A grin takes over the cherry red lips covering the pen sketched tree, "You and every guy I've ever dated."

Arthur snickers, Ms. Blake blinks her smile faltering, "Oh, um, well, that was an idiom, by the way." She continues, "Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words." Her heels stop between Scott and Stiles' table, brown eyes flickering between the three boys, she gulps. "Saying "jump the gun" is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board'."

"Like chess." Stiles mumbles.

Ms. Blake smiles at the freckles boy, stopping at his table she praises, "That's right, Stiles. Do you play?"

Stiles shook his head, fiddling with his pen on the table, "Uh, no. My father does."

"Now, when does an idiom become a cliche?"

Scott twists his body towards his friend gathering their attention, Ms. Blake out of sight, he proposes, "I think I can get to Ethan. I'm pretty sure I can make him talk."

"What, are you going to lecture him on morality until he talks?" Arthur teases. It isn't the right time for jokes, Arthur knows that. Boyd being gone, someone he wouldn't consider his friend still doesn't feel, it could've been Arthur they targeted. They could've killed him that night but hadn't, why hadn't they? Because Boyd had significant, and Arthur? He has none, he's just there.

"Why do you want to do that for?" Stiles inquires instead, eyes squinted.

"The druids are emissaries, right?" Scott explains, "So what if the Darach was an emissary to the alphas?"

Arthur smiles impressed Scott had thought of that before either of them had.

"Okay, first of all, I cannot believe that we've gotten to the point where a sentence like 'what if the Darach was an emissary to the alphas'." Both hazel brown made eye contact, one shooting him a 'serious' look making him think it over, "Actually makes sense to me. Second of all, we're gonna have a huge problem getting to Ethan."

"What's that?"

"Going through Aiden." Arthur replied, his voice lowering when Ms. Blake's walks in between their tables. "Ever since he came back, they're always together. How are we gonna separate them again?" Scott and Stiles' eyes widen, spinning behind to Lydia who looked gorgeous today in Arthur's opinion, he curses under his breath.

"What now?"

Arthur's tongue touched his cheek, trying hard not to say anything but couldn't help it. He blurts a pout on his lips, "I don't like this plan anymore."

* * *

CORNERED BY THEM, Ethan, alone, could easy leave but choose to stay and listen ( unlike his brother who's probably thirsty for another bloodshed ) on top of the stairs during their free period. "Why are you even talking to me? I helped kill your friend and hurt your human friend." Ethan nodded at Arthur, the bruise from their fist still clear as night on his cheekbone. His tongue poked his cheek, Stiles pursed his lips and Scott narrowed his eyes. "How do you know I'm not gonna kill or hurt another one?"

Stiles pushed himself off the wall like a boxer getting ready for a match, pointing at himself defensive, "Is he looking at me? Are you threatening me? You know what I'm gonna do?" The human stands straighter on the school steps eyeing the alpha, "I'm going to break off an extra large branch of Mountain ash, wrap it in wolfsbane, roll it in mistletoe, and shove it up your freaking ⏤"

Laughing, Arthur catches Stiles' fist before it could rise higher and Scott pushed his chest back a bit.

"Whoa, Stiles, okay. We get it." He turns back to Ethan, all humor gone. "We're talking to you because I know that you didn't want to kill Boyd. And I think that if something like that happened now, you wouldn't do it again."

"You don't know what we owe them, especially Deucalion." Ethan defends himself, "We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't alphas."

Arthur's face scrunches blurting out the first word that came to his mind, "Omegas?" Remembering when he found werewolves were real, he spent on entire night studying them and their weakness, and silver definitely isn't one of them. He learned that the hard way by Scott.

Ethan nods crossing his arms, "In actual wolf packs, omegas are the scapegoat, the last to eat, the one who has to take the abuse from the rest of the pack."

"So, you and your brother were, like, the bitches of the pack?" Stiles confirms in the only way his witty mind could understand. Arthur rolls his eyes, they were victims, remembering those days could be painful enough for Ethan but talking about? And Stiles finding joy wasn't the worst, they killed Boyd and Erica, he shouldn't feel remorse for them.

Offended, Ethan clenches his jaw but nods. "Something like that."

"What happened?" Scott questions bringing them back on topic.

"They were killers. I mean, people talk about us as monsters." The alpha reminisces, twitch of fear in his voice, "Well, they were the ones who gave us the reputation. And our Alpha was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you guys just fight back?" Stiles wonders, hands moving with his lips. "Form voltron wolf, you know? Kick everyone's asses?"

"We couldn't, we didn't know how to control it back then." Ethan defends them frustrated.

"Deucalion taught you." The beta realizes.

"And then, we fought. We took down the whole pack, one-by-one. And by the time we got to our Alpha, he was begging for his life." Ethan sucks in a breath. Arthur swore he saw remorse in his eyes, but when he blinked they were gone. "And we tore him apart. Literally."

"What about your emissary?" Arthur questions, remembering the original reason they came to talk to them. The alpha shook his head, deflating the balloon of hope they had. "They're all dead? Kali and Ennis' too?" His head shook again.

"All of them except for Deucalion's." Scott concludes.

"You mean Morrell?"

Ethan's hand fly to his chest, features twisting in pain. "Ah!" The trio share a look of confusion.

"What?" Scott stands straighter, concern lacing his voice, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Ethan leaned against the hallway wall, shaking his head in pain, "Not me, my brother."

Ethan made a run through halls, the boys following him into the boys locker room where Aiden stood on top of a beaten Cora with a weight over his head prepared to finish her, but Scott and Ethan pulled him back while Arthur fell to the ground checking Derek's little sister.

"You can't do this!" Ethan roars at his brother.

"She came at me!" The twin retorts, the rage dying down.

Arthur took Cora's face in his hands, "Hey, hey, look at me." Her features twisted in agony unable to keep herself up, she pushed his hands away from her. She tries to push herself up and collapses on her back.

"It doesn't matter! Kali gave Derek until the next full moon." Ethan scolds Aiden ignoring the injured wolf. "You can't touch him or her."

Her head rested on Arthur's lap, he usually carries bandages but he left it in his bag wherever he dropped it, he pushes back a strands of her chocolate hair noticing the gash is still bleeding, it set warnings in his head.

"Hey, guys, I think she's badly hurt." Arthur announces to them, the twins gone leaving them to deal with the reckless werewolf.

* * *

CORA WIPES HER bloody forehead with a wet crimson stained rag, Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Arthur watching the youngest Hale with concern as blood continues to drip. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip, restraining himself from soaking the rag with cold water and cleaning it properly.

"You okay?" Scott inquires, doe brown eyes holding genuine concern.

"She doesn't look okay." Lydia retorts before Cora could reply.

"She isn't," Arthur pipes up arms crossed over his chest, "I'm ninety-nine percent sure she has a concussion."

"I'll heal." Cora replies, her voice slightly slurred. His teeth sunk deeper, eyeing her let go of the sink standing on her own, she doesn't last long. Her legs wobbly and hand flies to her throbbing head, Arthur latches onto her waist.

"You can't even stand straight." The hazel brown complains, her head leaning on his chest.

Her fingers dig underneath Arthur's pulling them away, she insists she's fine he doesn't need to hear her heart to know she's lying.

"Do you realize how suicidally crazy that was?" Stiles scolds. The words he's been holding back escaping his lips, "What were you thinking going after them?"

"I did it for Boyd." Cora hisses, her eyes narrowed on Stiles flickering between the four harshly. "None of you were doing anything."

"We're trying." Scott's replies, his voice delicate.

"And you're failing. You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed." Cora snaps. "But all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies."

Arthur blew out air, her blows leaving a stinging in his chest. They are trying, but while they're trying the Alpha pack and Darach are ahead winning two separate battles with one common enemy. How the fuck are they suppose to win, they aren't machines programmed for dealing with supernatural shit, but they're all Beacon Hills has.

"She's definitely a Hale. Mm." Stiles muses awkwardly, following after her. "I'll make sure she gets home."

* * *

HIS THUMB SLIDES accepting a call from the huntress who knows he supposed to be in class but isn't at the moment, Biology is interesting mostly when experiments are involved, but today their teacher is punishing them by taking down notes instead and Arthur needs a break.

"Arthur, you need to tell your mom about everything." Allison's usual calm voice held a panic.

His eyebrows creased hoping she didn't mean what he thinks she means. He chuckles forcefully, "What do you mean?" He leans on the toilet stall door behind him.

"Philosophers and guardians, which after last night has to mean something like law enforcement, right?" The huntress explains. He rakes a hand through his hair the pieces coming together.

"And my mom's a prosecutor, fuck Allison, I can't, I can't tell her!" The smoky eyed panicked, his thumb between his lips biting his nail. This could wreck everything for her, for them.

"You don't have to tell her everything, just enough to warn her." The huntress comforts her voice softer but firm.

He sighs. "Alright."

"But, she's going to find out soon whether you like it or not."

He sighs again, his head hitting the stall eyes squeezed shut begging for another way to save her despite what she has done. "That's what I'm afraid of."