─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

hayden had picked up the jar of talons, inspecting it as deucalion spoke to franchie.

"starting to question where your loyalties lie?" deucalion challenged. "or, maybe... you're starting to understand your role?"

"what role?" fran quizzed.

deucalion paused for a moment. "why would theo leave you here? why not leave josh, or corey or even moonee?"

the two girls shared a look before frowning in confusion, which made deucalion smile.

"you're stronger and faster than both of the boys. and more fearless." deucalion pointed out. "a cheetah and a jaguar."

"well, moonee isn't really moonee." fran reminded him. "she's... changed. theo knows he can trust her because she genuinely cannot betray him."

"true, he knows she'll be on his side."

hayden sighed in defeat. "we know why we're stuck here with you."

"when it comes to scott and his pack, i'm a liability." fran sighed.

"hm?"

"scott and stiles, i've known them since i was little." fran continued. "and liam is our best friend."

"theo knows we're liabilities." hayden finished.

deucalion shrugged. "you could leave. no one has to know."

hayden chuckled in disbelief, giving him a look. "except for you."

"oh, i'm no friend to theo. you want to help liam?" deucalion questioned.

"yeah." franchie nodded, honestly.

"well, worry less about being a liability, and more about your ability to lie."

franchie was fighting to hide her smile, she was a sucker for cheesy things and puns.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

after everything that went down in eichen house, theo had left his pack there. with dark moonee laying unconscious in his arms, theo entered the operating theatre. he placed her on the metal table, beside the now empty syringe that had kanima venom in it.

"i said it was for emergencies only." theo seethed.

hayden shrugged, "i had an emergency."

she glanced over at fran and smiled, acting as if they didn't leave to help mason.

fran rushed over to dark moonee, "what happened to her?!" she touched her friend's face, about to comfortingly caress it, but her skin was boiling.

"she took more than she could handle." theo simply stated.

"don't worry, theo. a little dissension in the ranks is perfectly healthy!" deucalion joked.

theo didn't look amused.

"did you find what you were looking for?" deucalion asked.

the boy sighed. "no." he showed them the dread doctors' mask, that he stole from valack's workshop. "but i think i might have found something better."

he set the mask on the table beside dark moonee.

"a way to answer the question." he explained.

"who is the beast?" deucalion finished.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

unfortunately, the fire hadn't made any change to moonee, she was still under the dread doctor's control. however, she was well enough to play in the lacrosse charity game.

she had arrived at the school in the evening with the two girls. hayden and fran were sitting in the stands, watching her.

"coach?" dark moonee asked in disbelief as she grabbed her lacrosse stick. she hadn't seen the man in so long.

"you... you're still on the team?" coach bobby finstock joked.

"you-you're still sober?" she shot back.

"hey!"

dark moonee wasn't in the mood for his banter. she slid her helmet on and stalked away from the man. with the stick resting on her shoulders, she scanned the area.

"number 24!" a voice yelled out to her. she squinted to see who was coming over, but she couldn't make out who in devenford was running at her.

"brett talbot." she groaned in annoyance once he was close enough.

"hello to you too." the boy chuckled. "it's been a while."

"not long enough." dark moonee retorted.

"yeah... mason told me what happened to you." brett explained.

"what happened to me?" she raised her eyebrow. "i don't know why they're acting like i was in an accident. i've never been better."

"you've never been bitchier." brett quipped.

dark moonee tore her helmet off her head, her eyes flickering a blood orange shade as she gave him a mean stare. "what did you say to me?"

"woah." brett held his hands up in defence and backed away from her. "i was just joking... like normal?"

"is that... moonee?" liam asked scott from the bleachers.

the senior looked up to see dark moonee talking to brett, quite threateningly. scott's face softened at the sight of her. he knew she was doing fine, but he hadn't spoken to his sister in too long, he missed her.

deaton had been doing a lot of research to find a way to reverse the dread doctor's brainwash. but there was so much going on and he had no luck so far.

before scott had the chance to speak, coach blew his whistle which implied the game had begun. all the players got up from the benches, shouting in excitement as the crowd cheered for them.

dark moonee spent the first half of the game tackling anyone she could. she had no interest in this game at the moment, as there was a beast that needed to be found. she received many fouls as she knocked down the opposing team and her own team.

"you think they're playing a tad aggressive?" stiles asked scott, referring to kira and moonee.

the two boys turned around to see all the injured bodies on the floor. they then shifted back to see kira's eyes were glimmering a golden hue.

"we might have a problem." scott stated.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

dark moonee watched in amusement as kira used her lacrosse stick to smack brett in the face. his helmet flew off and he dropped to the ground.

the girl was kicked out of the game and she strode back into the school. dark moonee simply shrugged her shoulders and continued to play.

the next interesting thing that happened during the game was when the scores evened up and it was overtime. instead of celebrating, the beast had caught liam's attention. dark moonee watched as the beta charged at the beast.

"liam!" stiles cried out as the boy sprinted.

dark moonee was right on his trail, she had the chance to have a face-to-face interaction with the beast and she wasn't going to let it pass by.

both liam and the beast leapt into the air, and the connection was brutal. the beast had slashed liam in the chest, deep. it then threw the boy to the side, like he was nothing. as the beast stepped forward to take another hit at the boy, dark moonee had gotten in its way.

her usual chestnut brown irises were now an illuminating orange, nearly red. dark moonee's palms were burning hot, a red glow surrounding them. she let out a battle cry at the beast, surprisingly frightening it. the beast turned around, leaving the two and heading inside the school.

"liam!"

"moonee!"

stiles, fran and hayden ran over to the two. they saw liam laying helplessly on the floor and quickly went to assist him. dark moonee sealed her eyes and once she opened them, they were back to dark brown.

"what did you do?"

"was that the beast?!" hayden asked.

"you unlocked your fire ability?!" fran questioned.

dark moonee rolled her eyes at the girls' questions. she stayed silent as she led them into the school. they burst through the school's front doors amid the chaotic flood of students fleeing for their lives. dark moonee paused for a brief moment when they heard the beast roaring behind them.

stiles had his eyes on a nearby biology laboratory. "come on! come on!"

the five entered the room and fran made sure to lock the door.

"the desk! the desk!" stiles ordered. he left liam in hayden's arms and used his own to swipe everything off of the desk so they could lay liam flat on his back on top of it.

"okay, okay." stiles panted.

"liam..."

the boy groaned, "i'm okay! i'm fine."

franchie begin pulling away liam's jersey while dark moonee observed from the side, in silence. his jersey had been ripped to bloody shreds by the beast's claws, and they gasped in horror when they realised just how serious the wounds to his torso were.

hayden put her hand over her mouth to muffle her alarm, fran's jaw completely dropped and stiles looks as though he was about to either faint or throw up. liam saw the concern on their faces and tried to sit up to see for himself, only to fall backwards weakly.

"what? is it bad?" liam asked, desperately.

"no!"

"kinda."

"very!"

hayden gave both fran and stiles an exasperated look before continuing to pull liam's jersey out of the way. she did this so they could treat his wounds as the boy coughed hoarsely.

"okay. okay. what do you guys usually do when this happens?" hayden asked.

stiles looked woozy. "uh, i usually pass out... and i think i still might do that..." his eyes were on the torn, bloody flesh of liam's abdomen and he began to lose his balance.

fran pulled him up in irritation. "come on, stiles!"

"okay, okay. okay." stiles sighed. "scott did this with pain. he could trigger it. uh... pain makes you human."

"he's already in pain!"

"right! okay, but maybe adding a little more could help take away the pain?" stiles suggested, sounding unsure.

"take away his pain..." hayden mumbled. "or we could try stop it."

the three looked up at dark moonee, who was scanning liam's injury.

"moo..." fran spoke softly. "you have to help him, please."

"he could die, moonee." hayden added.

"moon, we need your help." stiles sighed.

dark moonee stepped forward. she peered down at liam, who was staring at her with pleading eyes. the two usually spoke with their eyes. but while his were filled with hopefulness, her eyes were void.

when he saw the gaze in her eyes, he knew that she wasn't going to do a thing. but the other three still had a slither of faith. dark moonee bent down, moving closer to his ears.

"i hope you rot." she said to him. it was extremely quiet, so much so that the others didn't hear a thing. dark moonee stood to her feet and silently exited the room, leaving fran and hayden to have to attempt to take the pain away themselves.

"moonee?!"

"moon!"

once she was out of the room, she flicked her hand backwards to slam the door shut.

⎯ ❃ neens speaks!

my poor girl is going to regret that so much :(

... but i don't ;p