CHAPTER THREE: pack mentality

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CASPIAN THADDEUS FOLLOWED SCOTT AND STILES INTO THE SCHOOL, LISTENING TO SCOTT TELL THEM ABOUT THE NIGHTMARE HE HAD.

"So, you killed her?" Stiles asked.

Scott shrugs exasperatedly. "I don't know. I just woke up. And I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that before."

Stiles raises his eyebrows at Scott. "Really? I have." Stiles shrugs as he gestures with his hand to emphasize his words. "Usually ends a little differently..."

"You're disgusting," Caspian says after a second of silence, realizing what Stiles meant.

"A) I mean I've never had a dream that felt that real, and B)--" Scott looks at Stiles with a disgusted expression. "Never give me that much detail about you in bed again."

Stiles shrugs as though he gets it. "Noted," Stiles then takes a deep breath before speaking up about something he knows Scott won't want to hear. "Let me take a guess here--"

Scott cuts him off before he can continue. "No, I know-- you think it has something to do with me going out with Allison tomorrow, like I'm gonna lose control and rip her throat out."

"Maybe you should wait until you have more control. Or at the very least, not having those kinds of deans anymore," Caspian tells the older one.

Stiles gapes at Scott as though he's offended by what Scott's implying. "No, of course not." Stiles shoots a look at Caspian, before seeing the two's look. "...Yeah, that's totally it."

When Stiles sees Scott sigh with a glum expression, he scoffs and tries to cheer him up. "Hey, come on! It's gonna be fine, all right? Personally, I think you're handling this pretty freakin' amazingly. You know, it's not like there's a Lycanthropy for Beginners class you can take."

Scott raises his hands at Stiles before he frowns and thinks for a moment before getting an idea. ""Yeah... not a class, but maybe a teacher."

"Who, Derek?"

When Scott continues to stare at Stiles, Stiles sputters incredulously before smacking him on the back of the head like a misbehaving puppy.

"We got him arrested, you do remember that, right?" Caspian asked.

"Yeah, I know, but chasing her, dragging her to the back of the bus... it felt so real."

Stiles rolls his eyes in disbelief and responds sarcastically. "How real?"

Scott shrugs. "Like it actually happened."

The three simultaneously push the back doors open to walk toward another building before they're both stunned speechless and stop dead in their tracks. Bus number a hundred in sixty five had it's back door ripped off it's hindges, barely holding on and it was completely bent out of shape, blood tainted the windows and the outer section of bus. The back seats had splatters off blood.

"I think it did," Stiles says.
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Caspian was quickly walking behind Scott and Stiles, Scott was frantically searching for Allison.

"She's probably fine-" Stiles started.

"She's not answering my texts, Stiles."  Scott starts to frantically looks around at all of the students in the hallways, trying to see if Allison is among the crowds milling in the halls, while Stiles and Caspian continue to reassure him.

"It could just be a coincidence, all right?" Stiles suggested.  Stiles, realizing that the evidence makes this somewhat unlikely, adds to his previous statement in a somewhat defeated voice. "A seriously amazing coincidence..."

Scott turns to look at Stiles with a panicked look on his face. "Just help me find her, okay?"

"She could just happen to have a doctors appointment!" Caspian tried to suggest. "Of a dentist. Or maybe, she's still unpacking boxes-"

"Do you see her?" Scott interrupted.

"No," the two replied at the same time.

Scott continues to look, anxiously running his hand through his hair while he does, until he finally speeds up and turns around the corner, losing control. Stiles and Caspian, now panicked as well, scrambles to follow him but gets lost in the crowd.

"Where did he go?" Caspian asked, searching the crowd.
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Caspian had heard how they had found a man in the bus, sever injuries. Apparently, a few classes had been able to see the man sit up, screaming in pain and terror as he was rolled away on a gurney.

Caspian had rushed to get to lunch, happy that he had lunch with Scott and Stiles. He quickly sat down at the table, smiling.

"During the full moon, he wasn't changed. He was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night, attacking some totally innocent guy," Scott told Stiles. "Hey, Caspian."

Stiles sighs, not wanting to believe that is the truth. "Caspian," he greeted before he turned to Scott. "You don't know that."

"I don't not know it."  Scott pauses, biting his lip as he thinks for a moment before sighing in defeat. "I can't go out with Allison. I have to cancel."

"Maybe it's for the best rig-" Caspian starts.

"No, you're not cancelling, okay? You can't just cancel your entire life! We'll figure it out," Stiles interrupted.

Lydia appears behind Scott, looking at him curiously before slamming her lunch tray down on the table to Scott's left to get their attention. "Figure out what?"

Stiles, startled by the appearance of his crush, especially considering she's choosing to sit next to them at lunch, stammers nervously. "Ha... Uhh..."

"Just, uh, homework..." Scott says when he saw Stiles struggling.

Stiles nods in agreement. More people begin to pile up in the seats. While Lydia is distracted by someone passing the table, Stiles leans forward to whisper to Scott. "Why is she sitting with us?"

Scott just gapes at Stiles and shrugs. Caspian nervously glanced around, seeing Danny sit next to him.Scott turns to see that Allison is sitting down on his right and smiles before moving his backpack so she can sit down. "Thanks!"

A girl-Harley, Caspian believes is her name- sits down on Stiles' left, and he chuckles at the sight of her, causing Harley to roll her eyes. After a moment, he rolls his eyes himself and looks at Scott, clearly annoyed that their Werewolf-related brainstorming session has been interrupted by all of these popular kids. He turns the other way and accidentally makes eye contact with Danny, causing him to flick his head in greeting, only for Danny to roll his eyes as though Stiles is the most tedious thing he's had to deal with all day. Stiles turned to Caspian, acting as if he was greeting the youngest at the table.

Caspian muttered under his breathe, looking around frantically as Jackson approaches the table and stands next to the unknown kid, glaring at him intensely before ordering him away. "Get up."

The male student groans in annoyance. "How come you never ask Danny to get up?"

Danny, who is in the middle of eating a green apple, smirks at him. "Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot."

Caspian makes a disgusted face, causing Stiles to laugh, stopping when some had turned to look at him. The student ends up standing up.

"So, I hear they're saying its some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar," Danny speaks up.

"I heard mountain lion." Jackson says.

Caspian looks at him, tilting his head. "So, I know how I was able to skips a grade, but, how weren't you helped back?"

Lydia, staring at her tray, speaks up in an annoyed tone of voice. "A cougar is a mountain lion."

Jackson glared at Caspian as Stiles, Scott and Allison laughed. Before Jackson turned to Lydia, staring at her blankly, surprised by this answer. Lydia, realizing she's dangerously close to revealing just how smart she actually is, tries to backtrack. "...Isn't it?"

Jackson raises his eyebrow and scoffs. "Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."

"Everyone's gonna die," Caspian points out.

Stiles, who had started to look up the case on his phone, suddenly speaks up when he gets more information. "Actually, I just found out who it is. Check it out." Stiles pulls up a video on his phone and turns it so the others can see it.

It's from a news website, and a reporter can be heard narrating the story; "The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, did survive the attack. Myers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition."

Scott gasps when he recognizes the name of the man identified as the victim. "Wait, I-I-I know this guy."

"You do?" Allison asked, shocked.

"Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver," Scott speaks.

Scott and Stiles share a pointed look before Lydia speaks up in a bored, annoyed tone of voice.

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like..." Lydia gasps when she gets an idea and turns to talk to Allison, talking right over Scott, who is seated between them. "Oh, where are we going tomorrow night?"

Allison and Scott's brows furrow, making it clear they have no idea what she's talking about, so Lydia clarifies.

"You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow, right?" Lydia asked, clarifying.

Allison raises her eyebrows and gulps nervously, realizing exactly what Lydia's about to do and trying to keep it casual in hopes of Lydia staying out of it. "Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do..."

Allison looks at Scott apologetically, knowing Lydia is about to invite herself and Jackson into their plans, and Stiles' eyes widen when he has the same realization. Predictably, Lydia does just that. "Well, I am not sitting home again, watching lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun."

Scott, completely stunned at this turn of events, gapes helplessly. "H-H-Hanging out? Like, the four of us?"

"You know, there's this restaurant in the next town over," Caspian speaks up. "I've heard that they've got really good food."

"Yeah, well, no one asked for your opinion," Jackson told the youngest one.

Scott turned back to Jackson, briefly. "Don't talk to him like that." He glared.

Allison looks between the heated glares, speaking up to break them. "Yeah! ...I guess... Sounds fun..."

Jackson's annoyed expression gets more annoyed, it clear that the only person excited about this double date is Lydia, and he sounds extremely irritated as he raises his fork in the air to emphasize his point. "You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."

"Please do. I think you'd look much better. We wouldn't have to see your ugly-" Caspian starts.

"Who-" Jackson starts moving forward.

Danny leans forward, blocking Jackson from Caspian and Stiles panicked, wrapping a hand around the bottom of Caspian's chair and pulling him closer.

Lydia, annoyed by his rudeness, grabs the fork out of his hand, Lydia ignores Jackson and continues planning their date like he hasn't spoken. "How 'bout bowling? You love to bowl."

Stiles shoves a french fry into his mouth and tries to get Scott's attention, shaking his head wildly as if to communicate that Scott needs to put the brakes on this plan as soon as possible. Caspian glared down at his tray.

Jackson scoffs in annoyance. "Yeah, with actual competition."

Allison, now offended on behalf of her and Scott, speaks up, trying to keep her tone of voice friendly. "How do you know we're not "actual competition?"" Allison turns to Scott. "You can bowl, right?"

Scott shrugs, his reply coming out hesitatingly. "Sort of..."

Jackson gives Scott a pointed look and leans forward, hands intertwined, arms laid out in the table. "Is it-is it "sort of," or "yes?""

"Is it sorta murder if I don't get caught?" Caspian snapped at Jackson.

Scott clearly doesn't want to be shown up by Jackson or made to feel any more inferior, glared back. "Yes." Scott straightens his back to appear more confident. "In fact, I'm a great bowler."
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The three walked down the steps.

"You're a terrible bowler!" Stiles yelled at Scott, as if he needed to remind him.

Scott groans, agreeing with Stiles' assessment. "I know! I'm such an idiot."

"Hey, maybe you can find a way to use your werewolf abilities to cheat, like you do in lacrosse," Caspian speaks up.

"God, it was like watching a car wreck. I mean, first, it turned into the whole group-date thing, and the out of nowhere comes that phrase--"

Scott rolls his eyes so hard he throws his head back. "I don't cheat." He muttered, back at Caspian. "'Hang out."' He repeated the phrase.

"You don't "hang out" with hot girls, okay? It's like death. Once it's "hanging out," you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out," Stiles rants.

Scott groans again before he speaks. "How is this happening? I either killed a guy, or I didn't."

Stiles is suddenly distracted by his mention of Danny and starts going off on a tangent, completely ignoring Scott's anxious train of thought. "I don't think Danny likes me very much..."

"Who does?" Caspian teases.

Scott, just like Stiles, ignores him in favor of continuing to worry about his own predicament. "I ask Allison on a date, and now we're "hanging out...""

"So fix it. You and Allison give Jackson and Lydia a different location," Caspian says.

"Am I not attractive to gay guys?" Stiles asked.

"No! Because your too judgmental and annoying," Caspian responded.

Stiles gasps, gapping at him in offense.

"I make first line, and the team captain wants to destroy me, and now..." Scott looks at his phone and sighs when he sees the time "Now I'm gonna be late for work." Scott rushes out the door, eager to make it to work on time.

Stiles, annoyed at having been ignored, exasperatedly calls out after him. "Wait, Scott you didn't-- am I attractive to gay guys--"

"I answered it. You just didn't like my answer," Caspian says.

"You're walking home," Stiles told him, walking away.

"Wha-wait! Come on! I'm sure your attractive to some gay guys. Like, blind ones!"

"You're walking home!"

"I'm sorry! If I get kidnapped I hope you feel so much guilt that you start to fail your classes!" Caspian muttered about purposely skipping school tomorrow. And ignoring all of Stiles's calls, letting Scott and Noah-as well as Melissa-in on the plan about him faking he disappeared.
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Stiles drove Caspian home.
To the Stilinski residence.

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Caspian grinned widely, even though he had been forced to sit in the backseat. They had gone back to the school, it was dark outside now. Scott gets out of the car, only for Stiles and Caspian to follow after him, leading Scott to instruct the two to stay back. "Hey, no-- just me. Someone needs to keep watch."

Stiles stops in his tracks and scoffs, clearly offended at being left out. "How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?" Stiles, ignoring him, starts climbing up the chain-link fence between where they parked and the school bus bay, but Scott grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him down.

"Because there's only three of us! And I'm not leaving Caspian alone!" Scott told him.

"That's sweet of you? I guess?" Caspian spoke, confused.

Stiles steps back down to the ground level before pointing at Scott in an accusatory tone of voice. "You're more worried about Caspian that you are me? why's it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin?"

"Who am I?" Caspian asked.

"You and I are Robin." Stiles tells him. "I don't want to be Robin all the time! And I'm sure Caspian doesn't either!"

Scott, equally exasperated now, argues back in response. "Nobody's Batman and Robin any of the time!"

Stiles is now both offended and disappointed by the resolution of this argument. "Not even some of the time?"

Scott sighs before giving his final order in a stern tone of voice. "Just stay here."

"Yeah, Robin," Caspian speaks. "stay with the other Robin. Come on! I'll even let you pick what Robin you are."

"Nobody's Robin!" Scott yelled back, now on the other side of the fence. "Stay there."

"At the very least, we would need to figure out which Justice League member we are," Caspian says. "Oh! Can I be either Superman or Martian Manhunter?"

"Why did you choose two of the aliens?" Stiles asked. "I thought aliens freaked you out?"

"I told you that was when I was five! And they were! They were breaking into people's houses! And then trying to manipulate the owners into believing that they were in the wrong!"
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"I'm just saying! I'd rather fight the Batman seven times then fight Alfred!" Caspian says, ranting.

"How did we even get to this conversation? We are trying to figure out which Robin we are!" Stiles sighed, before he sits up, noticing the light in the distance. He honks on the horn. "Just into the back." Stiles ordered Caspian as he continued to honk the horn.

Scott came running out, jumping on top of a car and jumping over the fence. "Come on! Come on! Stiles rushed.

Scott jumped into the car, the door which Caspian had left open so Scott could simply jump on. "Go! Go! Go!"

Stiles pulled back, driving away. "Did it work? Did you remember?"

Caspian stares out the window, making sure they aren't being followed. He makes sure to listen in on the conversation.

"Yeah, I was there last night. And the blood? A lot of it was mine."

"What? Are you okay?" Caspian turned around. "Are you still injured?"

Stiles' eyes widen in alarm. "So, you did attack him?"

"No." Scott answers Stiles. "I- I mean, I'm fine. And, no, I didn't attack him. I-I-I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren't mine-" Scott's eyes narrow, and he frowns when he tries to put the pieces together of what he just saw. "It was Derek."

"Where the eyes the same color as yours?"Caspian asked at the same time Scott announced it has been Derek. "Oh, shit."

"What about the driver?" Stiles asked.

"I think I was actually trying to protect him." Scott confessed.

Stiles thinks about this for a split second before finding a hole in Scott's logic and frowning. "Wait-- why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

Scott shakes his head, not knowing the answer either. "That's what I don't get."

"Maybe it wasn't him," Caspian says.

"He's the only other werewolf," Stiles replied, making a hand gesture as if Caspian was clueless. Scott frowns in confusion, his voice getting calmer now that he knows he's not actually the killer. "It's gotta be a pack thing."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"Like an initiation. You do the kill together."

"Because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?" Scott sarcastically questioned.

"Yeah, but you didn't do it! Which means you're not a killer! And it also means that--"

Scott smiled, excitedly. "I can go out with Allison!"

Stiles shoots him an offended look. "I was gonna say it means you won't kill me and Caspian..."

Scott, realizing he hadn't even thought of that part yet, looks at Stiles and Caspian sheepishly. "Oh, yeah. That, too."

"Where would I be able to purchase wolvesbane?" Caspian asks.

Scott turned to him, wide-eyes. "I'm sorry!"
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"Are you staying over tonight?" Stiles asked Caspian. "You're parents back from their vacation?"

How do you know about their vacation? He knew questioning it would seem odd, it seemed as if everyone was figuring out that they had gone on 'a vacation'. So, he smiled back at Stiles. "Yeah. It's their anniversary. So, they decided to extended it, since both their anniversary of getting married and meeting are in the same month."

"So, my house," Stiles says.

"I wouldn't want to-" Caspian started.

"We can finish the debate on who's which Robin," Stiles faked a smile.
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Noah frowned when he had seen Caspian lying on the blow up mattress in Stiles's room, going down the steps, he had just gotten a call to leave for the hospital. He had out the portfolio away, the one he had digged up on Caspian.

Once again, his parents were gone. Caspian, in the beginning, would say it was an important meeting, or an anniversary.

He figured out the truth recently.
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"Caspian! Caspian!" Stiles shook the younger one.

"Hmm?" Caspian hummed tiredly, turning around to face him, he rubs at his eyes.

Stiles realized, that, Caspian almost always looks tired. And he-whenever Caspian slept over-would catch him either silently whispering, or seeming to struggle in falling asleep, if the way was he kept rolling around was a sign. Stiles didn't know is if he was just having trouble falling asleep or if he was having a nightmare.

"Stiles?" Caspian asked, confused.

"I have to go pick up Scott," he lied. "One of his tires popped."

"Okay-" Caspian moved forward.

"No. You stay sleeping. I just wanted to make sure you know. Since, you know-"

"Derek Hale is out of jail," Caspian nods. "Okay. Goodnight, again." He moved again, pulling the blanket over him.
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