❛ And let me crawl inside your veins. It's not like me to be so mean, you're all I wanted. ❜

SEASON 1, EPISODE 12
code-breaker

"STILES," WILLOW MUTTERED, raising her hand to point in the direction of the lights turning on one by one. "Should those be on?"

⠀⠀⠀"No," he muttered. "Come on."

⠀⠀⠀Willow and Stiles ran across the parking lot and out onto the field. Willow nearly tripped a few times as her heels sunk into the grass while Stiles sprinted ahead as he saw Peter Hale approaching Lydia.

⠀⠀⠀"LYDIA! RUN!" Stiles screamed at her, but they were too late.

⠀⠀⠀Before either of them knew it, Lydia was lying in the middle of the field, blood smeared across her skin and dress. Peter stood over her as Stiles fell to his knees beside Lydia, but Peter growled until he moved away.

⠀⠀⠀Willow stood two steps away from them, beginning to cast fireballs under her breath, but a second later, Peter's claws were caressing Lydia's cheek. He looked up at her with a smirk, knowing he held the upper hand. Peter was still human, able to control himself like Derek, but the skin of his face that had been scarred the last time had healed. He had healed after years of living with it.

⠀⠀⠀"I wouldn't even try, Willow," Peter told her smoothly, his words gentle as he turned to look back at Lydia. "My reflexes are much than yours. The second you start shooting your little flames at me, Lydia's throat will be ripped to shreds."

⠀⠀⠀"Don't kill her," Stiles pleaded with him, his voice shaking as he looked to Peter. "Please."

⠀⠀⠀Willow kept her hands up in defense, the fireballs heating her palms until they started to blister, but she didn't put her guard down. All she could do was wait until Peter did something other than taunting them.

⠀⠀⠀"Of course not," Peter assured him, smiling. The blood streaking down his chin made the smile he gave Stiles menacing. "Just tell me how to find Derek."

⠀⠀⠀"W-What?" Stiles asked.

⠀⠀⠀"Tell me how to find Derek Hale," Peter pressed.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know that," Stiles shook his head. "How would I know that?"

⠀⠀⠀"Because you're the clever one, aren't you?" he retorted, then looked to Willow almost expectantly. "And Willow, feel free to chime in; I know your mother could find people with a silly little pendulum. Should we go find her?"

⠀⠀⠀"No," Willow hissed at him. "Either way, you need something of sentimental value to find him like that. Have anything handy?"

⠀⠀⠀Peter scoffed, shaking his head.

⠀⠀⠀"I will never understand magic," he stated, looking back to Stiles. "So, what's it going to be? Tell me the truth, Stiles, or I rip her apart,"

⠀⠀⠀"Look—Look, I don't know, okay?" Stiles frantically told him. "I saw—I swear to God, I have no idea."

⠀⠀⠀"TELL ME!" Peter screamed, his voice echoing through the field and drumming in their ears.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay, okay, okay, look, I-I think he knew—"

⠀⠀⠀"Knew what?" Peter asked impatiently, interrupting Stiles before he could even finish.

⠀⠀⠀"Derek, I think he—I think he knew he was gonna be caught," Stiles explained.

⠀⠀⠀"By the Argents?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah."

⠀⠀⠀"And?"

⠀⠀⠀"When they were shot, he and Scott—" Stiles tried to explain, shaking his head and trying again. "I think he took Scott's phone."

⠀⠀⠀"Why?"

⠀⠀⠀"They all have GPS now," Stiles explained. "So, if he still has it and if it's still on, you can find him."

⠀⠀⠀"Okay," Peter nodded, his smile returning. "Now, was that so hard?" he asked, standing to his feet. He adjusted his suit and looked between the two with raised brows. "Let's get going."

⠀⠀⠀"What about Lydia?" Stiles asked, standing as well with furrowed brows.

⠀⠀⠀Peter pulled out a cloth, wiped the blood from his chin, and looked at Stiles.

⠀⠀⠀"She stays here."

⠀⠀⠀"No!" Stiles exclaimed. "I'm not letting you just leave her here."

⠀⠀⠀Peter glanced at him with a disappointed frown, but one that knew just exactly how to get him to cooperate.

⠀⠀⠀It felt like he had teleported now standing behind Willow, his hand over her neck and claws digging just enough into the skin to produce blood as a threat.

⠀⠀⠀"You don't have a choice, Stiles," Peter told him sternly, his words brushing against her ear. She could feel her heart pounding, and her eyes locked onto Stiles' devastated expression. "You're coming with me."

⠀⠀⠀"Just kill me," Stiles begged, unable to keep his composure any longer.

⠀⠀⠀Willow thought that Stiles falling in love with Lydia all those years had broken her heart completely, but hearing Stiles say that. To hear him give up just to try and save them had utterly shattered her. Not because she was jealous or didn't care if Lydia lived or died, but because she didn't think she could lose Stiles. After all, they've gone through these past couple of months, losing him would be the final blow.

⠀⠀⠀Willow closed her eyes, trying to mutter a spell without Peter knowing, but the advanced hearing had nothing on her. His hand moved from her neck to her mouth, claws now digging into her cheek, and he stretched her neck, so she had to keep herself balanced on her toes.

⠀⠀⠀"Uh, uh," he cooed, dragging her back into his chest to keep her close. "I know what you're capable of, Willow. It's not much but better to be safe than sorry from the little damage you can do."

⠀⠀⠀Peter turned his head to look at Stiles expectantly.

⠀⠀⠀"Do as I ask or your friend and your date dies tonight," Peter told him simply. Willow could feel the telling of Peter's smirk against his hair, then the exhausted sigh as Stiles still hesitated. "Call your friend. Tell Jackson where she is. That's all you get."

⠀⠀⠀Peter held Willow's right arm, directing her towards the woods while Stiles hastily called Jackson trailing behind them.

PETER SAT IN the backseat with Willow, his hand still over her mouth, and, to be honest, she was getting sick of it. She stared at the rearview mirror when she noticed Stiles constantly look back at her nearly every other second. Just watching him seemed to calm him some rather than when she was staring out the window.

⠀⠀⠀Peter seemed to pick up on the tense silence he had created and tried to comfort the two in his own twisted way.

⠀⠀⠀"Don't feel bad. If she lives, she'll become a werewolf," Peter explained like he had done her a favor.

⠀⠀⠀Willow turned her head slightly, ignoring the pinpricks of his nails, and glared at him. He looked back at her and smiled.

⠀⠀⠀"She'll be incredibly powerful," Peter finished.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, and once a month, she'll go out of her freaking mind and try to tear me apart," Stiles retorted, readjusting his position in his seat.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, actually," Peter muttered, thinning his lips as he looked back to him. "Considering that she's a woman—twice a month."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles and Willow both balked at his comment, understanding what he was insinuating, not sure how to feel about the fact that both cycles could end up affecting her.

STILES PULLED INTO a parking garage, pulling his seat forward, and somehow Willow and Peter stumbled out without even a hiccup in him, keeping his hand over her mouth. Willow was pulled with Peter to a sleek black car not too far from Stiles' Jeep. He pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and opened the car.

⠀⠀⠀"Whose car is this?" Stiles asked.

⠀⠀⠀"It belonged to my nurse," Peter explained.

⠀⠀⠀"What happened to your n—?" Stiles began, but as Peter lifted the trunk, they got their answer as the woman laid dead in the back. Peter stepped closer, forcing Willow to move with him as well. She could smell her even with Peter's hand over her nose. It seeped into everything and made her close to throwing up.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, my God!" Stiles screamed.

⠀⠀⠀Peter looked at him and shrugged.

⠀⠀⠀"I got better."

⠀⠀⠀Seeing that nurse, knowing she was dead, had Willow closing her eyes. Young witches don't learn how to cast without saying the spell aloud so that the magic has a conduit to move through. As they got older and refined their skills, it became easier not to say the spells out loud like Starla. But, even for them, some spells still needed the spoken word to be more effective. Although, for Willow, even if she wasn't to that part in her casting, there was one spell she could say without speaking. And, that was thanks to Peter, funnily enough, trapping them inside the school with people who didn't know her secret.

⠀⠀⠀Willow closed her eyes, focused on the energy around her, and pin-pointed Stiles' aura. She watched as her energy fell away from her and moved toward Stiles, wrapping the protection charm around him to keep him safe. When Willow opened her eyes, she could see Stiles staring back at her. His eyebrows furrowed in concern, but she nodded ever so slightly to assure him he had at least a little bit of armor.

⠀⠀⠀Peter handed his bag over to Stiles.

⠀⠀⠀"Pull out the MiFi and the laptop," Peter demanded. "I kind of have my hands full."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles scowled, digging through his bag, and pulled the phone out.

⠀⠀⠀"You're a Mac guy?" Stiles asked. "Does that go for all werewolves or just a personal preference?"

⠀⠀⠀"Turn it on," Peter stated, ignoring him. "Get connected."

⠀⠀⠀"You know, you're really killing the whole werewolf mystique thing here," Stiles muttered but did as Peter told him to. When he opened the laptop, Stiles frowned and turned to Peter with a shrug. "Look, you still need Scott's username and password, and I'm sorry, but I don't know them."

⠀⠀⠀"You know both of them," Peter corrected him.

⠀⠀⠀"No, I don't."

⠀⠀⠀"Even if I couldn't hear your heartbeat, I would still be able to tell that you're lying," Peter told him simply with a small smile.

⠀⠀⠀"Dude, I swear to God—"

⠀⠀⠀Peter took his other hand that was free and raised it with claws out to Willow's neck, tilting her head back ever so slightly. Stiles could see as he dragged them over the skin, red dots beginning to bead from the minor cuts.

⠀⠀⠀"I can be very persuasive, Stiles," Peter hissed at him. "Don't make me persuade you."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles let out a frustrated noise then turned back to the laptop, typing quickly. After a moment, Peter recognized Stiles was complying and removed his hand from hovering over Willow's neck. He returned her head back to look straight ahead, her breathing becoming more ragged from the fear she had just been put into.

⠀⠀⠀"What happens after you find Derek?" Stiles couldn't help himself to ask.

⠀⠀⠀"Don't think, Stiles," Peter hissed. "Type."

⠀⠀⠀"You're gonna kill people, aren't you?" Stiles asked, looking at Peter then Willow to see if she was okay.

⠀⠀⠀"Only the responsible ones," Peter assured him.

⠀⠀⠀"Look, if I do this," Stiles told him sternly, turning away from the computer again and back to Peter. "You have to promise to leave Scott out of it."

⠀⠀⠀"Do you know why wolves hunt in packs?" Peter asked rather than answering Stiles. "It's because their favorite prey is too large to be brought down by one wolf alone. I need Derek and Scott. I need both of them."

⠀⠀⠀"He's not gonna help you," Stiles told him.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, he will," Peter assured him with a thin smile. "Because it'll save Allison. And you will because it'll save Willow and Scott, your best friend whom you know so well. You even have his username and password."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles, finally convinced there was only one way out of this, turned to the laptop and typed in Scott's username.

⠀⠀⠀"His username is Allison?" Peter asked, unimpressed and slightly disgusted at the sappy puppy dog love Scott was in.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles then typed in Scott's password.

⠀⠀⠀"His password is also Allison?" Peter deadpanned.

⠀⠀⠀"Still want him in your pack?" Stiles retorted.

⠀⠀⠀They waited for the computer to load, and then finally, the GPS popped up with Derek's location.

⠀⠀⠀"Wait, what the—" Stiles muttered, narrowing his eyes at the screen. "That's where they're keeping him? At his own house?"

⠀⠀⠀Peter paused a moment, also confused, before realization dawned over him.

⠀⠀⠀"Not at it. Under it. I know exactly where that is," Peter explained. There was a second of silence and then the sudden roar of wolves howling back to one another. Derek and Scott. Peter turned to look outside and frowned. "And I'm not the only one."

⠀⠀⠀Peter hurriedly told Stiles to pack his thing before taking them and throwing them into the back of the cars.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm going to release you now," Peter assured Willow, removing his nails. "Do you promise not to try and cast a spell on me?"

⠀⠀⠀Willow shakily nodded her head up and down. Then, finally, he fully removed his hand from her mouth and stepped away from her.

⠀⠀⠀Willow smiled thinly, holding her hands up, and said, "Igni—"

⠀⠀⠀Peter flung his hand out, snapping it off the side of her neck, and she slumped to the ground.

⠀⠀⠀"It's non-lethal," Peter assured Stiles as he rushed to her side. "It keeps her out of my way, and she should wake up soon enough. Just a pressure point. Now, give me your keys."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles checked Willow's pulse, still feeling it there as Peter talked. Stiles stood, sighing, and held them out for him when he asked for his keys.

⠀⠀⠀"Careful, she grinds in a second," Stiles muttered. "So, you're not gonna kill us?" he asked, then watched as Peter clenched his hands around his key ring and bent all of them. Stiles frowned, taking them back as Peter held them back out to him.

⠀⠀⠀"Don't you understand yet? I'm not the bad guy here," Peter tried to convince him, frowning.

⠀⠀⠀"You turn into a giant monster with red eyes and fangs, and you're not the bad guy here?" Stiles retorted.

⠀⠀⠀"I like you, Stiles," Peter said suddenly, taking Stiles off guard. "Since you've helped me, I'm going to give you something in return.

⠀⠀⠀He paused, and Stiles wasn't sure what Peter would say next. Well, he really thought Peter was just going to snap his neck in return, but instead, he asked:

⠀⠀⠀"Do you want the bite?'

⠀⠀⠀Stiles stumbled over the question.

⠀⠀⠀"What?"

⠀⠀⠀"Do you want the bite?" Peter repeated himself. "If it doesn't kill you—and it could—you'll become like us."

⠀⠀⠀"Like you," Stiles repeated.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes, a werewolf. Would you like me to draw you a picture?" Peter asked, cocking his head to the side. "That first night in the woods, I took Scott because I needed a new pack. It could've easily been you. You'd be every bit as powerful as him. No more standing by his side, watching him become stronger and quicker, more popular. Watching him get the girl. You'd be equals. Maybe more."

⠀⠀⠀Peter reached out and took Stiles' arm, lifting it to his face. Stiles watched him do it without pulling back. He didn't know what he wanted.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes or no?" Peter asked him.

⠀⠀⠀And he thought about it. He thought about it. He questioned if he got the bite, would his life be more than what it was? Would he stop sitting on the sidelines? Would he be stronger, quicker, more popular? Would he get the girl?

⠀⠀⠀He barely knew what he wanted between two girls he was pining over. How could he choose between being average and a werewolf?

⠀⠀⠀Peter edged closer to him, teeth-baring as he nearly bit into his skin. Stiles ripped his arm away before it was too late.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't want to be like you," Stiles answered him.

⠀⠀⠀Peter turned from where he had been, about to bite into Stiles' arm, and flared his nostrils, his teeth still bared.

⠀⠀⠀"Do you know what I heard just then?" Peter asked, unrelenting. "Your heart beating slightly faster over the words 'I don't want. You may believe that you're telling the truth, but you're lying to yourself."

⠀⠀⠀There was a second of pause.

⠀⠀⠀"Goodbye, Stiles."

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

Um, are you kidding me? One more chapter and then we're done with act one / season 1??? I'm so excited! Especially to get into season 2! So, much is about to happen but I think it starts off a little slow.

Some things to look forward to though is Blair and Willow dating, Rowan Gallagher (the sisters' brother) is introduced and I love he, Bisexual Stiles, and more! I think I only write for nine episodes so next act will be eighteen chapters instead of 20 like this act.

SONG: Hostage by Billie Eilish

Thank you for reading! Leave comments telling me your thoughts on this chapter, but however you interact, know that I really appreciate you reading. I hope you enjoy, and until the next one.