chapter twenty-five.

            HUNTING IN THE WOODS is not how Arthur planned on doing the next day. Well, there's a lot of things that had happened in his life he hadn't prepared for. As of right now, Void and Stiles are two independent bodies wearing the same face, he also stolen Lydia while they were fixated at the Nogitsune vomit white bandages like a freakin' parlor trick - which brings them to present.

His signature Adidas slams into the fallen sticks and stones, heartbeat thumping in his chest maintaining the same running distance as the twins ahead of him. He thanks the supernatural for strengthening his hamstrings. They were all separated, Allison and Isaac searches for Lydia's car. The twins and Arthur explore the woods, Scott babysits Stiles at his house and Kira is at school with her father being a teacher, skipping school was not an option.

Aiden flips over a tree, Ethan slides underneath it and Arthur ducks, not being fast enough to hop or glide underneath, pausing behind them.

"Anything?" Ethan asks clearly not out of breath. Arthur pants hands on his head catching his breath, his eyes had been glued to the ground for footprints and trees for clue or material she could've left behind and the twins focused on catching scents and listening for distant sounds.

On his knees, Aiden glances around the woods and answers. "No scent. No tracks. Nothing."

"They can't they just disappeared." Arthur grumbles, scanning the area. What if he had her where he was? No, it wouldn't make sense because that's the first place they'd look. A click echoes in the silent woods, his shoulder tense, this could've been a ploy created by the trickster or worse, hunters but how could they have known they'd be here?

Aiden goes to stand but Ethan's hand on his back stop him, "Did you hear that?"

"It sounds like ━ "

" ━ a round being chambered." Aiden finishes.

"Crap." The blue eyed boy mutters. Shoots are fired and the boys sprint into action, Aiden is knocked down by a bullet in his back followed by Ethan who is hit in the chest and Arthur smacks begins a tree.

He glances at Ethan back against the ground panting, his hand tints black from the bullet lodged inside his chest. "Ah! Damnit!" Arthur shouts in anguish eyes glossing, clutching his right bicep a stabbing pain mixed with being pummeled by a rock flares, glimpsing down his sleeve feels damp with blood making him squirm uncomfortably.

"Wolfbane." Ethan mumbles glimpsing at his hand, eyes flicker to his knocked out brother ear bleeding and reaches out for him. "Aiden ━ " more bullets sore compelling him back down. Grunting, Arthur lays on his stomach left arm slithering against the sticks interlocking his fingers with Ethan and pulls him out of harm. "What about Aiden?"

"They most likely think he's dead." Arthur whispers his breathing shuddering, his heart rings in his ears making it harder for him to listen to the bullets his left shoulder rests on top of Ethan's. "We just have to wait it out. Don't worry, I'll somehow get us out of here."

"Careful Arthur," Ethan grunts biting his lip, glimpsing at his black palms then to him with a small smile. "I might actually think you care." Arthur rolls his eyes, peeking his head it's rolls back instantly as more bullets roar, he whimpers as throbbing races up and down his arm. The omega sniffs, "You were hit?"

"It's no big deal." The blue eyed boy lies it was only a graze, trying to wave off his concern barely able to lift his wrist. Ethan should be anxious about himself especially when poison is swimming inside his blood.

"Unlike my brother and I, you could bleed out before they run out of bullets." Ethan warns, tilting his head against the bark his eyelids squeeze shut in pain.

"Careful Ethan," Arthur mocks hoping to distract him from his ache. "I might actually think you care." The omega rolls his eyes.

*  *  *

           ETHAN WHEEZES COUGHING AS poisoned black blood pools in his mouth, Aiden laid against a rock blinking in and out of conscious terrifying Arthur at the thought of him closing his eyes and not opening them again. Their mission to find Lydia has been compromised by someone neither could catch a glimpse of, it could've been hunters or someone with a grudge against the twins, how they find them is a mystery to Arthur.

Being sliced by a bullet hurts like a bitch but would make a spectacular story to be told in the future but as of now, he has to suffer in ache with a ripped sleeve secured tightly around his bicep keeping the blood inside and oxygen out, his skin paled noticeable the last thing he wants is to bleed out without knowing if Lydia is safe.

"Keep your head elevated or you'll choke on that." Arthur advises Ethan, wincing when his arm grazed a rock he was trying to squeeze in between.

"Where are we?" Ethan mumbles lifting his head as Derek comes inside the den shielding them from any hunters.

"It's a coyote den." Derek answers. "Stay quiet or they'll hear you."

Aiden's poisoned blood drips on his chin like a beard and scarlet scratches lines his face. He ask, "Did you see the shooter? Do you know who it is?"

"No. I were a little bit busy." He retorts, sitting on a rock. "Who else did the two of you piss off?"

"We pissed of everyone." Ethan shaky replies, body trembling. "It was only a matter of time before someone caught up to us."

"Well, the bullets have wolfbane in them. So, if we don't get you two out of here soon," He stands. "The poison is going to spread. Stay quiet, I'll be back, you -" he points at Arthur. "Stay and don't let them die."

It's silent between the three besides the twins winces and grunts.

"For future reference; was I forgive you guys." Arthur comments, knees rests against his chest. "You know, for nearly turning me into a werewolf."

"We were actually trying to kill you." Aiden corrects, his head resting uncomfortable against a boulder eyes closed.

He smacks his lips together and scratches behind his ear, questioning. "Do either of you still want too?"

"Sometimes." Aiden says the same time Ethan says. "No."

"He's lying." Aiden replies shaking his head, his breathing shuddering. He looks to be suffering the worst between the two, it actually made Arthur feel bad. "You have a punchable face." Never mind.

"That's a new one." The human mumbles humored by the insult, he just hopes his constant blabber is enough to keep them from drifting off. "Black looks good on you too."

"Thanks." Ethan replies, a tedious smile on his bloody lips. His phone rings in his pocket, tucking it out he slides it at the sight of Scott's face.

"What's up." He answers.

"We found Lydia." Scott briefs. He feels like a balloon pumped with air on the verge of popping but deflects glancing around him at the twins, he couldn't leave them alone Lydia already has people coming to rescue her and they have Derek, anything could happen before he arrives in their fragile state. He doesn't want to risk it.

"Text me the address." Arthur replies heartbeats later, his arm tingles slowly numbing. "I might be a little late." He hangs up.

"You can go, you know?" Ethan breaths out, flickering his eyes to the human behind him. "We know how much she means to you."

"She does mean a lot to me, but I'd like my face to be the last thing you see." Arthur humors glancing down to his exposed arm scarlet begins to tint the sleeve. "Consider it a fuck you to you both." Aiden scoffs.

"You're not as pretty as you think you are." Aiden comments words squishing together, hand on his chest.

"If It wasn't coming from you I'd take it to heart." Arthur shrugs, shooting him a tight smile. He clicks his fingers,  "Also, before you choke on your blood could I have vocal permission to check your organs for a heart?"

Both twins chuckles quietly exhaustion weighs them like an anchor silencing him. Darkness falls outside, Arthur hadn't sleep at all, he couldn't. No calls or texts from the pack left his anxious his foot bounces in desperate need to pace but the roof of the den isn't tall for him to do so. For once he hopes their plan goes accordingly, no surprises or game changers, being on the sidelines suck he doesn't understand how Stiles can do this, he feels as useless as selling shoes to a snake.

The twins flinch in sync stirring awake, the blue eyed boy snaps his eyes crawling in between them he doesn't know how many minutes, hours or seconds they have left, he has no way to save them if the poison touches their heart. "What's wrong?" Arthur ask.

"Allison." Ethan mumbles voice sleepy, wincing when he tried to sit up.

His mouth dries and heart hiccups to the throat, he didn't want to ask his mind drifting to the worst possible situation. It has to be disastrous if it shook them awake especially from a far distance, "What's, what's wrong with Allison?"

Three heartbeats of endless silence, "She's dead."

*  *  *

             ALLISON ARGENT IS DEAD.

Allison Argent is dead. Allison Argent is dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. It sounds stupider and unbelievable the more he says it. How could she be there one minutes then gone the next like she wasn't even there, he should've been there. Maybe, something couldn't changed. Something else couldn't guaranteed her survival. He knows Allison wouldn't have hated him for not being there, she wouldn't have wanted him to leave them for her but still, he couldn't remember the last words she had said to him.

Because Derek didn't want him bleeding on his floors, he stitched his wound and the ache is nothing compared to the growing hole in his chest filled with nothing, the smell of burning flesh isn't enough to make him glimpse away from the dark windows, the twins will live. Arthur hands rake his brown hair, He should be weeping over her loss but he couldn't find it in himself to release a single tear, it's irritating. Yes, the pair weren't the closet but they were friends who kicked ass together, you can't break that bond.

"Should be fine in a couple of hours." Derek spoke finished blazing Ethan's skin together and flips his lighter close. "Unless whoever shot you manages to find you again." He should be Scott, who loss his first love and Lydia, who lost her best friend but he doesn't want to leave, not yet.

Aiden sighs dropping his elbow from the window ledger and walks to his brother. "Lydia's with Scott. We need to go."

Arthur scoff, not even looking at him and stating, "You're an actual wolf with it's tail between legs." Ethan shrugs on his ripped and bloody t-shirt.

"I'm gonna try and convince her to run and hide. Like any sane person would do." Aiden defenses.

Derek glimpes to Ethan with an eyebrow raised, "And Danny?"

"Allison's dead." Ethan says heavily.

His hands smacked the table ignoring the pain awaking in his bicep and stomps towards them, Derek holds him back as he sneered, pointing at finger. "Don't you fucking dare use her as an excuse for being a coward."

"I'm sorry, but Stiles is dying too!" Ethan counters, their instinct to keep themselves alive overpowering them. "What do you think?"

"I think Danny won't believe you." Derek answers, a lot calmer than Arthur.

"And Lydia would never run and hide." Arthur adds, his fingers ghosts the raw the scratches on his face.

"Because of you?" Aiden challenges.

"Because of Scott." Derek intervenes voice loud and clear raising his chin. "You've been trying to find a way into his pack. Trying to earn his trust," He stalks forth. "Trying to fight for him. You've had it wrong the whole time. You don't fight for a leader. You fight for a leader's cause."

"What cause?" Aiden asks shaking his head.

"Scott has always had one goal since the beginning : saving his friends. He'd do anything and everything to save the people he cares about." Arthur answered, his rage wasn't meant for them it but he couldn't help it. She shouldn't have died young, and the twins who have been desperate to join the pack decides to leave when they need them most is understandable in their case but him, it's bullshit. "If there's no chance of winning, he doesn't back down. When none has hope, he'll find another way. And when he's beaten down, he stands up again. You've been trying so hard to earn places in his pack when you don't even know what he's trying to do."

"You want redemption?" Derek inquires rhetorically once Arthur finishes. "Find another way to stand and fight."

*  *  *

           NIGHTTIME HAD FALLEN WHEN Derek arrives holding the triskele box - the one Scott needed to send the Nogitsune trap, cold rain thunders on the ground creating a sinister effect around the school and in the center, sat the trickster on the school steps, two Oni behind him. Tonight is when everything ends.

"Did you bring us a present?" Void Stiles taunts grinning, elbows on his thighs.

With his face transformed, he places the box in front of him and announces, "I brought three." The twins stand on either sides of him and Arthur behind, crowbar shimmering in its glory. The chance of the human being absent is slim to zero, the Lidocaine anesthetic on his arm blocks out his ache so nothing could stop him from defeating their foe.

"I've heard of an Alpha pack, Derek, but not a pack of former Alphas and a human." Void Stiles jeers, cranning his neck. "It's a little sad, isn't it?"

"I might not be an Alpha anymore," Derek spoke as the the twins and Arthur stride forth behind him. "But I can still fight like one." His steel blue eyes brighten, the Oni swing their swords and the werewolves roar in battle commencing the battle.

Arthur pounces on the cloest smacking his hammer into its head, it dodged it slicing its sword forward he hops back missing it narrowly and slams the hammer on the sword it hits the ground, and Arthur pummels his leg on its making the Oni stumble back.

"Where the hell are they?" Aiden shouts on the step, legs hitting their chest.

"The jeep's here." Ethan says, eyes a blinding blue. Arthur dives on his knees underneath a sword knocking his elbow back thumping the back of its knee. "They have to be somewhere."

"In the school!" Derek replies, his fist strikes the Oni knocking it the ground. "You have to get on the box. Someone get on the box!"

Arthur trips to his butt lungs begging for air as the sword slams down colliding into his hammer before it could slice his head. It disappears after Derek's words, he drops on the ground sucking in air his back damp with water and beads of sweat line his forehead, the Oni moves like freaking ninjas almost to rapid for him to keep up. Glancing behind, Aiden's stood in between the box.

Aiden huffs. "I hate ninjas." He roars walking forth and is sliced in the back. The human pushes himself back up the burns in his lungs calming and leaves the hammer: he's better with his fists anyway punches their back ignoring the throbbing pain. He nods at Aiden who nods back and together they battle the Oni.

The sword cuts his bicep blood springs to life surrendering his right bicep useless, a cry leaves Arthur's mouth in misery. Aiden grunts, teeth coating crimson. "We can't do this, we can't beat them."

"Take the box," Arthur shouts panting. "I'll hold them off!" His knee nearly touches his chest as he blows it into one's and dodges another's sword. Ethan winces at the sword stabbing his arm, Derek comes and thrust the Oni down the steps.

An Oni launches forward but is halted by a arrow whizzing through the air puncturing it's chest catching Arthur's attention. "Allison?" A bright light erupts from its chest making it burst. He spins back spotting Chris holding the bow, his heart sinks and raises again as Isaac flips on the concrete fangs bared and gold eyes shining prepares to fight.

"What was that?" Ethan inquires glancing back to Chris.

"Silver." The hunter answers, anger in his voice.

"Isaac, the box -" The blow to his stomach silences him, his body smacked into the concrete wall. Pain flared around his back like he hadn't felt before, his eyes twisted shut lungs burning as he spat out air in exchange for fire. He couldn't breath.  He found hard to climb on his knees each breath was a cold bullet in his throat, their feet stood in front of him glimpsing up his ending was coming so short and unexpectedly like Allison's. He never wanted something like that but Death does not discriminate when it comes people.

An arrow whizzes it creating a bright light in his face turning his assassin into dust, he chokes back and collapses against the wall wincing when his hand grazed his left ribs.

"Get the triskele box to Scott!" Derek demands, sprinting to the human lowering him slowly lowering to the ground. "Come on, I've for you."   Arthur cried out as Derek slid an arm around his waste picking him up on his feet, god this hurts so much.

"Aiden!" Ethan cries as blood drops down his brother's chin, snatching their attention to him as he races over to him tears pooling in his eyes.  He nearly lost his footing at the sight of Aiden dripping black blood on the ground clutching his stabbed abdomen, he just escaped Death so why he couldn't leave him alone?

"Does it hurt you as much as it hurts me?" Aiden whimper, crying softly forehead presses his brother's chin.

He nods. "Yeah."

Derek's grip loosen on his wrist, a tear slides down the corner of his eyes no matter who they were Death always leave a sting. He's dying like Allison died. People he seen everyday, talked with and laughed have died gone like they never existed. How is that fair, to him to them? They had so many things he dreamed accomplishing. Their ending is just red, on the battlefield and pooling around them. Death isn't poetic, it's just fucking red.

She had felt it before she saw it, the many voices of death whispers bursting in her head bouncing back and forth his name being shared knocking air out of her lungs. The Nogitsune was defeated, Stiles was saved but they still had one enemy they couldn't conquer. The warmth radiating his skin twisting bitter. Her drained legs was sprinting out the double doors ignoring her friends asking what's wrong, her banshee instincts was warning her repeatedly and she neglected it.

Her green eyes found his, safe and sound and ambled down the steps to him as she did she could hear Aiden struggling to keep his grip on life.   Despite the stabbing pain he fell into her arms trying to shield her from because he knew how much she cared him, she stumbled back nearly frozen he held her tighter. Everyone ripped away from her like toys.

Heartbreak wrecked her bones and she could feel Arthur holding her so tight, dampening her shoulder.  They might not be alright but they're still alive. They're still breathing at the same time as each other.

*  *  *

( author's note. ) This is the end of Bloody Knuckles!
I'm speechless that I had actually finished Arthur's story because I didn't
think this would happen anytime soon but when you have
a sexist mother who refuses to let you out - you can do anything...
I guess.

I honestly don't know what more to say but this is not
the ends!