She didn't know quite how she'd ended up there, but Rachel managed to find herself in the right place at the right time.

Not to find her sister— she didn't know where Cora was, but she knew by the lack of pain in her skull that the girl wasn't in any imminent danger for the time being— but to find Boyd, and stop him from doing something he'd forever regret. Two kids, neither looking to be older than ten, had been out catching fireflies in the preserve, and out of control from the full moon, Boyd had been out searching for anything with a heartbeat to tear to shreds. Rachel didn't even have time to question the existence of bioluminescent fireflies in California before she was hurriedly dragging the two children along with her & shoving them in the backseat of her Porsche (Jackson would kill her for calling it that, but she didn't have time to care about that either).

As she sped off far away from the woods, one was shaking like a chihuahua, the other was on the verge of sobbing, but neither spoke. Rachel had zero experience dealing with children, but she knew them being quiet was not a good thing. It meant they were scared; after all, she'd technically just kidnapped them. But she had also saved them from a bloodthirsty werewolf, and she planned to return them safely to their home— so it wasn't kidnapping. It was borrowing from danger & returning to safety.

"So.." Rachel mumbled once she'd gotten a few blocks from the preserve, her foot easing off the gas pedal. She was sure she'd been flooring it for the first stretch of pavement; she was too scared to check her mirrors & see if Boyd was following her. Now that she had found him and knew he was okay, her only goal was to prevent him (and Cora) from killing anyone until sunrise. She didn't want to have to fight either, especially not her own sister. "Can either of you tell me where you live so I can drive you home?"

Rachel glanced back at them. The girl looked like she was about to say something before her younger brother cut her off. "W-We're not supposed to tell strangers where we live."

"What if I tell you my name? Then I'm not a stranger." The brunette suggested, pulling the car over on the side of the road next to a convenience store so she could turn around & speak to the kids without worrying about hitting a werewolf. "I'm Rachel."

"I'm Breanne." The girl spoke shakily, looking at her younger brother who was glaring, despite still being as white as a ghost from fear. "T-That's Billy. Why did you stop?"

"I can't drive you home if I don't know where you live."

"Can you p-please keep driving?" Billy asked, toying with the seatbelt nervously. "The monster—"

"It didn't follow us." Rachel assured him, despite not being absolutely sure. She doubted Boyd & Cora would leave the woods, not like this. It still felt odd to her, thinking of her sister alive; the only time she'd had to even attempt to process it had been cut short by finding Boyd. Rachel was almost scared of what would happen when she finally saw her— would she even recognize her after all these years? Did she still look like her? Did she still love chocolate chip cookies? She had so many questions for her, all of which were forced to the back of her mind as she dealt with the imminent issues. "If it did, I won't let it hurt either of you."

"But—"

The sound of Rachel's phone ringing stopped Billy from questioning her ability to fight the monster, the girl debating for a moment on how necessary the call was. As soon as her eyes scanned over the screen & saw Scott's contact name, she answered. "Scott?"

"Rachel? Where the hell are you? Stiles has been calling me non-stop & Peter won't stop texting Derek emojis.." Scott informed her, his voice rushed as the sound of Derek's phone beeping from another text sounded in the background. "Stiles said something was wrong. Are you okay? Peter said you weren't."

"I'm fine. Peter is a lying little shit. I-I mean not shit. Don't say shit, shit is a bad word. Bloody hell. Crap! Don't say hell either, that's bad too." Rachel struggled to avoid swearing, smacking a hand against her face as she sighed loudly. She could hear the kids in the back giggling softly— at least they weren't terrified anymore. "Sorry, I- I uh,  I left the loft to come find you & Derek, but I ended up taking a bit of a detour when I found some kids catching fireflies in the woods. A monster had them trapped in a shed. I'm just driving them home, I'll come meet you after."

"Boyd?"

"Yeah."

"Did you see—"

"No, I didn't." Rachel snapped. "Have you seen her?"

"Isaac did." Scott replied, his tone now full of worry. Rachel wasn't sure if it was because of her sudden anger, or something else. "She was going to kill two campers."

Now Rachel felt like shaking in fear— but she stayed still as the kids watched her, the reflector keeping her expression as relaxed as possible. "Did he hurt her?"

"No."

"So she got away." Rachel mumbled, half thankful, half terrified of who else her sister may try & kill. Cora was not and would never be a killer, not if Rachel had anything to say about it; she had to get Breanne & Billy home so she could help. "Good. Look, I have to drive these kids home, but I'll find you, okay? Tell Stiles I'm fine & tell Peter to.. Uh, F-U-C-K himself."

"I know how to spell fuck." Billy muttered from the backseat.

"No you don't." Rachel responded, ending the call & likely leaving Scott as confused as ever. "Don't forget to tell me where to turn. I've gotta get you guys home, your parents are probably worried sick."

"Is there another monster in the woods?" Breanne asked her.

"No." The reflector told her, her grip on the steering wheel tightening as she sped off, nearly giving herself whiplash from the quick acceleration. "There's only one monster in the woods, and I have to get you two home so I can help my friends find him."

"Then who's the girl in the woods?"

"My sister." She spoke through gritted teeth, hoping the girl didn't notice how hard she was trying not to be angry at the questions. It wasn't like she could tell her that what she saw wasn't a monster, but a werewolf who'd been turned into a monster against his will. "My brother is looking for her, while my friends & I are trying to find the monster so he doesn't hurt anyone."

"Are you a monster hunter?" Billy inquired. Rachel looked in the mirror at him to see if he was joking, but it seemed to be a genuine question; one she couldn't help but laugh softly at, despite not finding any humour in the situation whatsoever.

"No, I'm not." She explained. Monster hunters are the ones who got me into this mess. "I'm just one of the good guys."

"And the monster is the bad guy!" Billy announced, now obviously seeing the situation as an action adventure movie. "Are you gonna kill it?"

"No, no." Rachel quickly clarified, taking a deep breath to calm down. "No. The good guys don't kill people. You might not think it right now, but the monster you saw is actually one of the good guys. I know, shocking, right? He was like me, a good guy— until the bad guys took him & locked him away in the darkness. I have to go find him & make sure he doesn't accidentally hurt anyone until what the bad guys did to him wears off & he's back to normal."

"But won't he hurt you?" Billy asked, looking confused. "He's super strong!"

"I'm super strong, too." Rachel forced a smile as Breanne tapped her shoulder & gestured for her to turn left. The brunette turned into what looked to be a subdivision neighbouring the edge of the preserve, not too far from where they'd been catching fireflies. "So are my friends. My brother's the strongest. But I'm really fast— fast always beats strong. I have another advantage, too. I can mimic people— however strong they are, I can be that strong. And if they have any other special abilities, I get those too. That way the bad guys don't stand a chance."

"Are you a superhero?"

"Superheroes aren't real, dumbass." Breanne grumbled, smacking her brother in the back of the head.

Rachel laughed softly at them. This time it was a genuine laugh, at how much they reminded her of herself & Derek. "No, I'm not a superhero. I'm just different. Are we close to your house?"

Breanne nodded. "It's at the end of this street."

"Okay, good." Rachel muttered, thinking of something else to say to fill the silence. She could have turned on the radio, but she knew the last thing she'd played was something from her Tiësto CD— and the volume was on full blast. She didn't want to give anyone a heart attack on top of the preexisting trauma. "What you both saw tonight, or whatever you think you saw— a monster, a man— don't think too much about it, okay?" She waited for one of the children to say something, but they both remained quiet. "I know it scared you, and it'll probably leave a lasting effect, but don't let it haunt you."

"What was it?" Billy asked her curiously, now seeming less afraid. He believed every word she said, there was no doubt about that— even Breanne looked to believe her, and they'd believe the truth. But Rachel couldn't tell them that— they were two innocent kids, neither of whom belonged anywhere near her horrible world, snd she wasn't about to welcome them into it. They'd caught a glimpse, that was far too much already. Once they knew the whole of it, there was no going back.

"If I tell you, you'll recite every last word to your future therapist & likely land us both in Eichen House." She joked, secretly half serious. There was also the slight possibility that Billy & Breanne's parents could be hunters, and telling them would get her killed. There was a list as long as the perimeter of Beacon Hills full of reasons why she was not going to tell the kids anything about the supernatural. "I will tell you this, though. Not everyone like him is bad— but not everyone is good."

"That's confusing." Breanne commented.

"Okay, do either of you have a phone? Or a piece of paper & a pen?" Rachel asked & Breanne nodded, retrieving a small slide phone from her jacket pocket. The girl was like ten & she had a phone? When Rachel was ten all she had was— nothing, because Kate Argent burned it all. That reminder stung. "This is my phone number." She proceeded to recite the ten digits slowly so the girl had time to correctly type it in. "If you ever see something with red glowing eyes, you call me, okay? Don't you ever go looking for it— you do not want to find them, trust me, but if they find you, call me."

"But the thing we saw had yellow eyes." Billy argued, back to looking fearful. She already regretted telling them as much as she had, but she hoped giving them an emergency number would provide some reassurance that they weren't going to die.

"Yellow can't hurt you." Yellow can't turn you into a monster. "Red isn't all bad, but the bad guys have red eyes. So if you see them, call me." The alphas who've turned killing into a sport have red eyes, and it would be really nice if you'd let me know if you see one of them wandering alone so I can tear them apart. "And if you ever catch a glimpse of silver, just know someone's watching over you & keeping you safe." If you ever seen silver, it means I had some free time & decided to come make sure an alpha hasn't eaten you yet.

Billy nodded, whilst Breanne spoke up. "It's that house." She pointed to the last house on the left.

"Gracias infierno." Rachel mumbled under her breath, hoping neither of the children spoke Spanish. She pulled over in front of the house. The driveway was already filled by two cars, and a worried looking man was seated on the front deck— she assumed him to be the kids' father. Through the curtains of the large front window, she could see the shadow of a woman pacing. "Okay, we're here, home at last. Your parents look like they're about to call the police, so don't forget to tell them I didn't kidnap you, I saved you from uh— just say it was a wolf or bear or something. Don't say monster. And please, for the love of God, don't go back into the woods at night, not until I tell you the bad guys are gone, okay?"

"Okay." They both replied, climbing out of the car & running over to their worried father. Their mother quickly joined him on the deck, both of them wrapping the kids in a hug as though it'd been years since they last saw them rather than hours. Rachel drove off before the parents had the chance to walk over & question her. It probably made her look more like a kidnapper, but she didn't have the time to care— she had to find her friends.

—

A half an hour later, Rachel had ditched her Porsche.

She'd ended up following Scott's scent to a grocery store parking lot, where she found Scott at gunpoint in a parking lot with her favourite former hunter (note the sarcasm) Chris "father crossbow" Argent. Seeing as how if he was willing to keep a gun pointed on Scott, she was almost certain he'd just shoot her, she opted to park far away & lurk in the darkness— her lurking had unfortunately been cut short when the door of the car she'd been hiding behind had opened & someone pulled her inside.

She ended up landing on top of whomever decided to drag her into the SUV, her fist making contact with their face as a form of payback. It took no more than a second of being inside the vehicle for her to recognize the familiar scents, and proceed to hit the idiot who was still holding her a second time before shoving him away & sliding back towards the door. "What the hell?"

"Shut up." Derek muttered, never looking back from the front seat where he sat watching Scott & Chris talk.

"How are you, Rachel?" She mockingly asked herself aloud, glaring daggers at her brother. "I just stopped Boyd from tearing apart two little kids, I'm pretty sure they're going to need a few thousand hours of therapy, but I made sure they got home safely. I also found out via eavesdropping on a phone call that my dead twin sister is actually alive & currently a bloodthirsty killing machine. So, in other words, I'm fucking amazing."

"Are you sure? 'Cause you sound a little upset." Isaac commented, intentionally missing the sarcasm mixed in with her rage. "That hurt, by the way."

"Oh, I'm a hell of a lot more than upset." Rachel grumbled, hardly even acknowledging Scott— who still had a gun pointed at his head. She knew Argent wouldn't shoot him, because if he did, Allison would never forgive him; and Allison was all he had left. "And it was meant to hurt. I'm so beyond mad right now, I can't even begin to express it— but if you want to drag me into a random SUV without any warning instead of sending me a freaking text, I can be motivated to try. I just found out after seven years of thinking that my twin sister was dead, that she's actually alive, and I can't even make an attempt at being happy that, because of what the alphas did to her. They locked her in a vault for months, turned her into a monster & tried to make her kill Derek. If I see one of them, I'm tearing them apart. Don't you dare try to stop me."

Her grey eyes glittered under the moonlight that shone through the window. Faint flecks of silver glowed brightly for a few seconds, before fading slowly as the brunette sat in silence, careless of why neither werewolf had commented on her rant. She soon realized it was because they were watching Scott get in the car with Chris Argent, who, thankfully, was no longer aiming a gun at him as far as she could see.

"Is he brain dead?" Rachel asked, her question completely serious. Getting in the car with someone who'd just pointed a gun at his face was definitely ranked in the top five stupidest things she'd ever witnessed Scott do. Number one was still & would likely always remain his bright idea to call the alpha to the high school last year with a dying cat screech. She missed the good old days when her only problem was her psychotic uncle.

"He had a plan to get Argent to help us." Derek mumbled, starting the engine of the SUV— Rachel wanted to ask where the Camaro had gone, but she couldn't be bothered. While she did like it better than this vehicle & would miss it if he sold it for this, she only cared about her CDs that'd previously been stored in the glove box. As soon as she'd gained ownership of the Porsche, they'd been moved there; therefore, she no longer needed to care.

"So that's a yes."

—

UNEDITED

hello friends! i wanted to make this a lot longer but it's 4am & i don't want to make you guys wait another day, so i hope this is okay. i'm so excited to write the twin reunion, but i'm even more excited to write motel california (cue the evil laughter). so close. i've been planning motel cali since the start of season two. it's one of my favourite episodes of all time (& by far my favourite episode in 3A) next to insatiable, echo house & parasomnia (although i'll likely never get to write paranomnia for this series).

as always, opinions?