☾

"So what are you?"

Mary Anne sighed through her nose at Scott's question, lips pursed. She proposed to walk home with Scott, to tell him about what Nik and Nessa told her, about their parents. "A pollá. It means 'many' in Greek."

"What do they do?" He asked.

"From what my Mom and Nik told me, I'm a mutated version of a witch. We're stronger and rarer than a witch, and we have more powers. We also have these people, who we meet when we're sixteen, which is the age when our powers manifest, that are important to us. A Protector, a male werewolf who is kind of like our protector. We have an empathetic bond with them, and whenever they receive a wound, we get it too. That part will fade away after a while, but I'm not looking forward to it. And whenever they give us an order, it will be almost impossible to resist it. The second person is a Soulmate, which is basically what it sounds like. We not only have an empathetic bond, but instead of wounds, we can sense when the other is in distress or hurt."

He mulled over it for a few moments, hands stuffed in the pocket of his hoodie. "They told you who they are, didn't they?" It wasn't really a question, more like a statement.

"Yes. You're my Protector and Stiles is my Soulmate."

"That explains why I've felt protective of you."

Mary Anne couldn't help but laugh at that, at the absurdity of the conversation. How had this become her life? Oh, yeah, she came back to Beacon Hills and fell in love with the best friend of a werewolf. "And why I've felt protective over Stiles," she chuckled, shaking her head lightly. "And everything else. I'm just worried about my birthday."

"That's when you get your powers, right?"

"Yeah, I have no idea what exactly happens."

"But you'll have Stiles with you. So maybe it'll make it easier."

"Hopefully."

"Hey, it'll be alright. If your Mom managed to go through it, so can you."

Mary Anne looked over at him as they approached her house, smiling gently. "I believe you." They stopped right at the end of the driveway and she couldn't help it, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug, cheek against his chest. She couldn't see it but Scott smiled, wrapping his own arms around her shoulders, finally getting to hug his second childhood friend after nine years.

"I'm glad you'll remember us," he said against the top of her head. "I missed you all those years."

"Me too. Even if I didn't remember, for all those years, some part of me missed you and Stiles."

"But now you have us back, and we have you back."

"Yeah, and I have a feeling that'll never change. Not again. I won't lose you two again."

☾

Mary Anne watched with an amused smile as the Sheriff took a bite out the veggie burger Stiles got for him and instantly grimaced at the taste.

Stiles had asked her if she could come and have dinner with him and his dad at the station, which she, of course, accepted. She liked the Sheriff and thought it'd be good for her to get to know her boyfriend's dad a little better. And Nessa was home and she wasn't ready to talk to her again for a while. When she was leaving, Nessa was trying to find excuses for her not to go but she stopped when Mary Anne pointed out she wasn't going to talk to her even if she stayed.

When she met him at the station, she saw what he got for his dad, and it wasn't their usual greasy hamburger. She just knew the Sheriff was not gonna like what his son got him, and as they sat in front of him, she got her answer.

"Oh, what the hell is this?"

"Veggie burger," Stiles answered, avoiding his father's questioning look.

"Stiles, I asked for a hamburger," Stilinski deadpanned.

"Well, veggie is healthier." He held up the salad he had gotten. "We're being healthy."

"Don't worry, sir," Mary Anne tried to console him. "I'd rather have a cheese burger right now." In her lap was a plastic container of salad Stiles got for her, which she already ate a quarter of.

Stilinski sighed and opened up a little container, only to find celery and carrot sticks. "Oh, hell, why are you trying to ruin my life?" Stilinski groaned.

"I'm trying to extend your life, okay?" Stiles corrected. "Could you just eat it, please? And tell me what you found."

Mary Anne somewhat understood his intentions, despite how odd it was. With everything going on, his dad's life was at greater risk, greater than an average cop. Well, a sheriff. And he wanted to try to help his dad, through eating healthy.

"No, I'm not sharing confidential police work with two teenagers," Stilinski instantly denied.

However, the two aforementioned teens looked at the board behind Stilinski that had pictures of the victims pinned to, arrows and other documents like crime scene photos.

"Is that it on the board behind you?" Stiles asked rhetorically.

Stilinski looked behind him at what they were looking at and then back at them, saying, "Don't look at that." But Stiles was already craning his neck to get a better look at it while Mary Anne sat up straighter in her chair, eyes flitting over the investigation board. "Avert your eyes."

Stiles shrunk back in his seat. "A'ight," he said, his eyes still on the board, head moving to examine it further.

"Hey!"

"Just — it's just — I see arrows pointing at pictures," Mary Anne stammered.

"Okay, okay, stop. Fine," Stilinski relented. Both teens looked at him, leaning forward with interest, Stiles' eyebrows lifted almost up to his hairline and Mary Anne's eyes wide with interest. "I found something. The mechanic, the couple who were murdered. They all had something in common."

"All three?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah. You know what I always say. One's an incident. Two's a coincidence."

"Three's a pattern," both teens finished. Mary Anne realized that her mother's old saying was from the Sheriff, something she probably forgot about.

"The mechanic, the husband, the wife —  all the same age. All twenty-four."

"Wait, what about Mr. Lahey?" Stiles pointed out. "I mean, Isaac's dad isn't anywhere near twenty-four."

"Which made me think that either, A, Lahey's murder wasn't connected, or B, the ages were a coincidence, until I found this," Stilinski pulls out a file from his desk and handed it over to Stiles, "which would be C. Did you know that Isaac Lahey had an older brother named Camden?"

Stiles opened the file and Mary Anne leaned over to see the words "died in combat" stamped in red on something she recognized to be similar to a discharge paper.

"Died in combat," Stiles read.

"But if he were alive today, take one guess as to how old he'd be," Stilinski prompted.

"Twenty-four," Mary Anne guessed, getting more of a bigger picture in her head, moving her container on top of Stiles so she could lean forward more, elbows on her knees. He set the folder back on the desk and sighed through his nose, already filing the information with the information they had about the Kanima, which was already limited to begin with.

Stilinski stood and the two followed instantly, going around his desk to stand next to him in front of the board, with Stiles on his left and Mary Anne next to Stiles on the other side of him. Her thick brows furrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest, examining the board again.

Stiles rubbed at his jaw. "Now what if same age means same class — I mean, did you think of that?" He asked, glancing at his dad briefly.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I would've. I mean, I — look, I just got Lahey's file two hours ago," Stilinski defended himself.

Stiles snapped his head towards his dad. "Two hours? Dad, people could be dying!" He stated incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that, thank you," Stilinski said dryly.

"Same class," Stiles said to himself but he and his dad looked at each other and Mary Anne knew what that meant.

"If they're twenty-four and from the same class, they'd be the class of 2006," Mary Anne informed them, having already done the mental math.

With that information, they found some files from the high school dating back a few years, placing them on the desk with the three surrounding it.

Stiles riffled through before finding a blue file, opening it. "Okay, this is it. Class of 2006." His eyes scaned over it while Mary Anne picked up another file, which she found was filled with useless information so far. "They all went to Beacon Hills."

Stilinski looked up from the file he was reading. "Including Isaac's brother."

"All right, but so what if they all knew each other, you know?" Stiles theorized. "I mean, two of them were married, so maybe they all just hung out."

"Well, they could have had the same classes together. They could've...." Stilinski paused and Mary Anne looked up from the paper she was reading.

"What?"

"Same teacher."

Mary Anne craned her neck and looked down at the black and white photo of Adrian Harris.

"Harris. They were all in his class?" Mary Anne asked, internally shaking her head. They kept finding connections that he had with everything and it was already confirming her beliefs that he was sketchy.

"All four," Stilinski confirmed. "Now I don't know how Mr. Lahey fits in it, but this — kids, this is definitely a pattern. Alright, give me the 2006 yearbook. These names, we need faces." Stilinski picked up the phone, to call who the two didn't know.

Mary Anne instantly moved to pick up some of the folders and then the yearbook. "Which ones?" Stiles asked, looking over her shoulder as she opened up the book.

"Everyone in that chemistry class. If the killer's not done killing —"

"One of them's next," Stiles finished, glancing up and then back as Mary Anne flipped through the pages, stopping at one in particular.

Stilinski picked up the phone on his desk and punched in a number, making a call. "Yeah. Yeah, it's Stilinski."

Just as the words left his mouth Mary Anne's phone vibrated in her back pocket. She put down the book, reaching into her pocket for her phone and clicked it on to see she got a text.

Scott:
Meet me at the clinic. Now.

Mary Anne looked up at Stiles with raised eyebrows. "Uh, I have to go. Nik needs me at home," she lied, but Stiles already knew what she really meant. "I'll see you later." She pecked her boyfriend's cheek and as she moved around the desk, swiping her closed container of salad and her bag, stuffing it in and rushing out the room.

"Bye!" She heard Stiles shout as she hurried out of the station.

☾

"Scott called you?"

Mary Anne glowered at the Alpha, ignoring Isaac who was behind him. "Texted, if you want to get technical," she smiled sardonically, following them towards the clinic entrance. She figured it was something that involved Jackson if Scott called her, Derek and Isaac.

Scott came into view as he unlocked the door and opened it for the three other werewolves. "What's he doing here?" He jerked his head towards Isaac as Derek walked in.

"I need him," he answered cryptically.

"I don't trust him," Scott stated as they walked by.

"Neither do I," Mary Anne added, glaring at the back of Isaac's head as she walked in behind him.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't trust you either," Isaac shot back.

Derek snapped. "You know what? And Derek doesn't really care. Now, where's the vet? Is he going to help us or not?"

"That depends." Mary Anne looked up from her spot next to Scott to see the man in question leaning against the doorframe of the examination room. "Your friend, Jackson. Are we planning to kill him or save him?"

As much as Mary Anne hated the dude, she couldn't let him die. He wasn't in control of his actions.

She and Scott said, "Save him." While Derek's answer contradicted theirs.

"Kill him."

Both Scott and Mary Anne looked at the Alpha and repeated their answer, more firmly, and Scott repeated it once more to his boss. "Save him."

The four of them followed Deaton into the examination room and surrounded the metal table, Mary Anne standing close to Scott on the left end of the table. Deaton grabbed a metal tray filled with small glass jars, emblazoned with symbols on the lids and sides, some she recognized. He grabbed one and Isaac reached for one, Derek's hand on his forearm stopping him.

"Watch what you touch," Derek warned.

Isaac leaned his forearms on the table. "So, what are you? Some kind of witch?"

Deaton looked at the tall Beta. "No, I'm a veterinarian. She's the 'some kind of witch'." He nodded towards Mary Anne. "Unfortunately, I don't see anything here that's going to be an effective defense against a paralytic toxin."

"We're open to suggestions," Derek responded.

"What about an effective offense?" Isaac suggested.

Derek immediately rejected the idea. "We already tried. I nearly took its head off. And Argent emptied an entire clip into it. The thing just gets back up."

"Has it shown any weaknesses?" Deaton asked the Alpha, eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, one. It can't swim."

"Does that go for Jackson as well?"

"No," Scott and Mary Anne answered in unison, and Scott added to it. "He's the captain of the swim team."

"Essentially, you're trying to catch two people," Deaton said, turning around and rummages in one of the drawers, holding up a silver coin with an intricate design. "A puppet. And a puppeteer." He placed it on the table, ad explained it further. "One killed the husband, but the other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?"

Mary Anne answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't think Jackson could do it. His mother died pregnant, too, and she was possibly murdered."

Scott cut in, taking the words right out of her mouth. "I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else."

"How do you know it's not part of the rules?" Isaac asked. "The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies, too."

"Does that mean your father was a murderer?" Scott questions him.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he was," Isaac answered honestly.

"Hold on," Deaton catches their attention. "The book says they're bonded, right?" Derek nodded mutely. "What if the fear of water isn't coming from Jackson but from the person controlling him? What if something that affects the Kanima," he grabbed a jar from the collection and twisted off the top, showing them the symbol. A vertical line with two lines attached horizontally, the bottom one bolder than the top line. "Also affects its master?" He poured a bit of the black dust around the coin. Somehow, Mary Anne knew what it was. Mountain ash. It was like another foggy memory coming up to the surface.

"Meaning what?" Isaac asked.

"Meaning we can catch them," Scott said. Deaton nodded a little, and he continued. "Both of them."

☾

The next morning, Stiles picked Scott and Mary Anne up for school, and they discussed what happened the previous night until they parked, the topic switching to the underground rave. She'd been unable to get any, just like them.

"There's got to be some other way to get tickets, right?" Scott asked as he got out of the jeep, Mary Anne right behind him.

"It's a secret show. There's only one way and it's a secret," Stiles deadpanned, reaching for Mary Anne's hand as they got onto the sidewalk.

"Hey." Her spine stiffened, head swiveling to the side to see Matt. "Any of you guys know why no one's getting suspended after what happened the other day at school?"

"Just forget about it. Nobody got hurt," Stiles brushed it off.

"I had a concussion," Matt pointed out.

"Well, nobody got seriously hurt," Mary Anne shrugged.

"I was in the ER for six hours."

"Hey, do you want to know the truth, Matt? Your little bump on the head is about this high," Stiles dropped Mary Anne's hand and crouched low to hold his hand an inch or two above the pavement, "on our list of problems right now."

Scott sighs and steps a bit closer to Matt. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now," Matt answered. "So you didn't get any tickets last night either."

"Are they still selling?"

"No, but I managed to find two online. You should keep trying. Sounds like everyone's gonna be there." He turned around and walked off, not noticing the couple boring holes into the back of his head.

"I don't like him," Stiles stated. "Hey, are you sure about this?"

"Last time, whoever's controlling Jackson had to kill somebody because he didn't finish the job, so what do you think he's going to do this time?" Scott answered with a question of his own.

"Be there to make sure it happens," Mary Anne spoke up, sighing and following the boys towards school.

☾

Isaac had managed to get the trio some tickets, apparently by beating up three guys after morning practice. Mary Anne considered it the only sign of help from the curly-haired Beta. And she found herself at the animal clinic with Scott and Stiles again after school.

"Ketamine?" Scott asked, looking at the vial Deaton was holding.

"It's the same thing we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage." He placed it, and an injector, on the table and Scott reached out to grab it. "If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time. This is some of what you'll use to create the barrier." He grabbed the same jar from the previous night, pointing at Stiles. "This part is for you, Stiles. Only you."

"Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure." He snatched up the jar and inspected it. "Can we maybe find a slightly less pressure-filled task for me?"

"It's from the mountain ash tree, which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural." He gestured towards the room. "This office is lined with ash wood, making it difficult for someone like Scott and Mary Anne to cause me any trouble."

"Okay, so then what?" Stiles asked. "I just spread this around the whole building and then either Jackson or whoever's controlling him can't cross it?"

"They'll be trapped."

Mary Anne looked up at Stiles, smiling encouragingly. "Doesn't sound too hard."

"Not all there is," Deaton cut in. "Think of it like gunpowder. It's just the 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," Stiles deadpanned. Mary Anne and Scott look at him with furrowed eyebrows and questioning looks.

Deaton smiled, amused. "Let me try a different analogy," he offered. "I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want to ball to go. They see it in their mind and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of their own will can accomplish."

"Force of will," Stiles said, sighing through his nose.

"Hey, if this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it."

The buzz-cut boy inhaled dramatically. "Hmm."

Mary Anne rolled her lips inward together and reached for his hand, squeezing gently. "You can do it," she smiled. "I believe in you."

☾

So this is more of a filler chapter, the real action comes in next chapter. So stick around.

Void_Stiles_is_Life xx