Rachel was not in her right mind.

She was not sure of many things, but that is one thing she was absolutely certain of. A person in their right mind did not dream of an event before it happened; nor did they go on with their day as though there had been absolutely nothing strange about it. But Rachel wasn't in her right mind, therefore, she did exactly that.

Stiles was missing. Scott had begun knocking loudly on the wall seconds after she woke, and recruited both her and Isaac for his search party. Rachel got up, insisted she was fine to assist in the search, and went to the bathroom to change. She switched her night clothes for jeans and a t-shirt, and glanced at herself in the mirror, just as she'd done before. She stared blankly at herself for a few seconds, breaking from the script of her dream by not putting her damp hair up into a ponytail.

When she turned to open the door, in the corner of her eye she saw her reflection blink.

She opened the door and left the room without looking back.

Rachel was now standing in Stiles' bedroom, half an hour later alongside Scott, Isaac, Lydia & Aiden. The room had changed significantly since Rachel climbed in the window last week; the furniture was identical, but Stiles' murder board was no longer neatly situated in the corner. Pictures and articles covered the walls, with red yarn strewn about in the style of a spider web.

It was a maze to get any more than a foot into the room with the yarn stretching from wall to wall, but every strand led to the same place. A pair of scissors that had been stabbed into Stiles' mattress served as the anchor point for the red yarn.

"He uses red for unsolved." Rachel commented, her finger brushing a trail of red yarn. It was soft, too soft for something that signified so many mysteries. Barbed wire would have been a far more accurate representative.

"Maybe he thinks he's part of an unsolved case?" Aiden questioned. Rachel wasn't entirely sure why his presence was necessary here. She remained from voicing her dislike of him for the sake of Stiles, but didn't make an effort to hide her feelings from those who could sense them.

"Or is an unsolved case." Isaac shrugged.

"Or is the cause of all the unsolved cases." The chimera added. It looked more to her like the yarn leading from each unsolved case to Stiles was intended to signify that he wasn't a part of the cases, but instead the reason they were unsolved. It all led back to him.

"Hold on." Lydia cut in. "Is he still out there? You don't know where he is?"

"He said he was in an industrial basement somewhere, we came here to get a better scent." Scott informed her. How he didn't know Stiles' scent after all these years would forever be a mystery; Rachel would probably never forget it. He smelled like his jeep, and his jeep smelled like a smoothie consisting of oil, gasoline, french fries & cheetos. Sometimes with a hint of cheap cologne.

"What else did he say?" The banshee pressed for more information.

"Something's wrong with his leg." Scott responded.

"It's bleeding, and he's freezing. It's 21 degrees." Rachel huffed; Scott was too vague with his explanations. Why couldn't he just tell her everything all at once and speed things up? They needed to find Stiles now, not next Tuesday when he's a damn ice sculpture.

"What did his dad say?"

Rachel spoke again before Scott had the chance to reply with something slightly resembling an answer. "We didn't tell him because Stiles made Scott promise not to, and you know Scott— he listened. Scotty thinks we can find him by scent, but frozen things don't have a scent so we should really speed this up a bit if we're going with that prize winning plan."

"If he was sleepwalking he couldn't have gotten that far, right?" Sleepwalking, no. Sleep running, hell yes. Apparently Scott was unaware that people were also capable of running in their sleep, but Rachel had a feeling Lydia would soon clarify that for him.

"You didn't notice his jeep was gone, did you?" Even better. They had entered the house through the back door. "You promised you wouldn't call his dad. I didn't."

"I didn't either." Rachel added, unlocking her phone and tapping on the messages app. "Do you have his number? Or would 911 work..? It is kind of an emergency."

"Guys, wait. I can get more help." Scott pleaded; as dire as the situation was, he really didn't want to break his promise. "I can call Derek, Allison, everyone except for the cops."

"You guys remember she gets these feelings when someone's about to die, right?" Aiden chimed in, reminding everyone of how the duo had been there before anyone else courtesy of Lydia's banshee abilities telling her something was wrong.

"That's enough for me, I'm calling the cops." There was no way in hell Rachel was going to let Scott call Derek. For starters, he didn't know where she was and for enders, she didn't want him to know where she was because the last damn thing she needed was another intervention. She was holding her shit together with metaphorical duct tape and it was working for the most part; he had more important things to worry about.

As soon as Rachel dialled a 9, Scott put a hand over her phone screen. "You don't have to call. It's five minutes to the station."

—

The ride to the station was short & agitating; it consisted of nothing but Rachel listing off reasons for Scott not to call Derek; which he ended up doing anyways as soon as she & Isaac got out of the car. Rachel had been the one to break the news to Sheriff Stilinski, and although she had been an avid member of the "call the cops" club, she couldn't ignore the regret she felt watching the Sheriff bark orders at everyone in the station.

He was shaking but trying hard not to let it show. His only son was missing, presumably hypothermic and they didn't have the first idea of where to look for him. After giving every order he possibly could to the deputies, he then made time to talk privately with the supernatural teens in hopes they'd be able to supply him with more information; but they didn't have much.

Lydia knew he was missing, Rachel had a nightmare, Scott called Derek & Allison.. it could easily be considered just another day in Beacon Hills. When did Lydia not know something strange was happening? When did Scott not call Derek or Allison? The only unusual thing was Rachel having a nightmare, but the girl insisted it had to do with her own problems and didn't involve Stiles. If anything, he was only used as a pawn to lure her into the woods, so she wasn't entirely lying.

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt when Parrish (one of Stilinski's deputies) entered the room and informed them Stiles' jeep had been found at the hospital with a dead battery, assumably due to the headlights being left on.

"I don't like this."

"I don't like this either."

Rachel paused, looking out over the dimly lit town from the hospital roof. "Stiles missing, or whatever the hell I am?"

"Both." Derek responded.

Upon arriving to the hospital, Rachel had gone straight for the roof; not because she believed Stiles was up there, but because she doubted anyone else would be. Yet surprise, surprise, she was greeted by her brother as soon as she opened the door— he'd gotten there minutes before her and already declared Stiles had been there at one point, but no longer was. He, like her, knew the teen's scent all too well.

The brunette had managed to acquire what she believed were werewolf abilities through headache inducing concentration during the elevator ride up to the top floor and was now a somewhat useful participant in the search for Stiles; she couldn't do much more than the other three werewolves, but it was better than being a useless human.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Derek rudely interrupted the silence. Prior to having his voice in her ears, Rachel had almost been able to forget her situation and momentarily admire the view of Beacon Hills.

"Stiles is missing." The chimera deadpanned. "The only thing I want to talk about is how I can help find him."

Rachel could help. If only she knew how the fuck to turn herself into a specific supernatural creature— if she even could. Could she? Or was she playing a game of Russian roulette every time she tried? She had managed to turn herself into a werewolf. At least, she thought she had; she never really tested her theory. She could hear far better than normal and her sight was crystal clear. That was enough for her to assume.

"I know I can find him." Rachel sighed, her breath a cloud of fog in front of her. She inhaled deeply, the cold air filling her lungs & sending a chill down her spine. With that chill, came a realization. "I smell something."

"Chemo signals?" The older Hale questioned.

"Yeah." And blood. It was far away, but there was no denying the faint metallic scent that passed her with the wind. She knew it all too well. It wasn't Stiles. "I—"

Her sentence was interrupted by the door to the roof swinging open. It was Scott & Isaac, neither looking as though they'd found anything worth telling them about. Rachel knew when Scott didn't speak right away that Stiles was still missing, but a part of her still hoped. She wanted to follow the blood, to see if her worst fear could be confirmed, but she needed to find her friend.

"He isn't here." The chimera sighed, defeated. The disappointed look on Scott's face said it all (Rachel wanted to include Isaac in that statement, but he mostly just looked like he wanted to go back to bed, which was understandable).

"I'll go tell Stilinski." Isaac declared, turning towards the door he'd just exited but paused, glancing back at his girlfriend. "You staying here?"

"I— uh, yeah." Rachel answered. The teen wolf nodded in response, disappearing past the open door back into the stairwell. As the door fell shut behind him, Rachel's gaze shifted to Scott. "Nothing at all?"

Scott shook his head softly, wishing he could say something. Anything. But the only words that left his mouth didn't involve Stiles. "Allison isn't answering her phone, can you go & check on her? See if she's home or.."

"I.. Sure." Rachel agreed, hurrying for the door. She had no intentions of actually going to find Allison— her real plan consisted of bolting down the stairs quick enough to catch Isaac before he left & send him to find the huntress. Now was seriously not the time for a detour, but she had to follow the blood trail, she had to know.

The brunette hurried down the stairwell, practically leaping over each flight. She could hear footsteps below her, but she was hesitant on calling out in fear of Scott or Derek overhearing— if they knew she was going to venture off into the forest alone following a random scent of blood they'd never leave her alone. She looked down over the banister as she reached the second floor, seeing a shadow on the edge of the railing reaching for the door.

"Wait!" She called out, rounding the corner & jumping down the last flight of stairs. "Allison isn't answering her phone, can you go check on her?"

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Isaac questioned, confused. He'd heard Scott ask her to, as he was walking down the stairs; if not for that, he would've taken the elevator.

"I caught a scent up on the roof, I wanted to go check it out.." Rachel mumbled, looking down at the floor. The brightly lit EXIT sign above the door gave the room a red glow, and the door leading straight out to the parking lot bled freezing night air. The area smelled faintly of tobacco, the side exit being used frequently by those with an addiction as smoking was prohibited out front. "It's not Stiles, but I still wanna check it out, maybe I'll catch a trail leading to him on the way or something."

"But you don't want Scott to know?"

"I don't want Derek to know." The chimera corrected quietly. "He's worried about me and he doesn't need to be. I'm fine."

"You are far from fine." The teen wolf disagreed, vividly recalling the sight of his girlfriend with black eyes; people who were fine typically did not have demonic black eyes. Or a heart attack. "We can go tell Sheriff Stilinski the place is clear & I'll come with you."

Rachel shook her head. "I know you don't understand, but I need to go alone. I'll be fine, I just.. need to see something for myself. It's about the memories I got from my mom. I promise I'll explain everything to you if I'm right, okay? Everything."

"If you die, I'm gonna get Lydia to bring you back like she did with your uncle just so I can say I told you so."

"I would be a pretty pissed off ghost if you didn't."

"Ghosts are real?" Isaac questioned, sounding genuinely concerned by the seemingly legitimate revelation. This, of course, made Rachel laugh at him; not for the fact that he'd taken her seriously, but because at this point in his life he still didn't firmly believe in the existence of ghosts.

"Japanese warrior demons are currently roaming around Beacon Hills looking for someone possessed by a nogitsune and you're questioning the existence of ghosts?" The brunette raised a brow. "I mean, I've never actually seen a ghost but last year we fought a man sized Godzilla so I assume even the weirdest urban legends are true."

"Stupid question." The teen wolf muttered, now remembering that he was also a werewolf— and his girlfriend was.. something? God, he wanted to know. Whatever she was looking for, he hoped she was right about it so she'd finally tell him about it. What she was didn't even matter to him, he just wanted to know that it wasn't going to hurt her any more than it already had. "I should go find Stilinski."

"And I should go check that lead.." The brunette agreed, reaching for the door. "I— uh, see you later?"

"Yeah," Isaac nodded, following her outside. "I'll text you if there's any updates on Stiles."

Rachel paused for a moment, hesitating before taking a step forward & wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He seemed surprised by the gesture but hugged back nonetheless. She was cold.

"I know you think you know what's best for me, and you only want to help, but please don't tell them." She mumbled softly, pulling back to look up at him. He looked confused, but she could see beyond it— she'd heard the uncertainty in his voice when he spoke before and the unsteadiness of his heart beat. He wasn't going to let her go alone, because he cared too damn much to let her get herself killed doing stupid things alone. "They have enough to worry about."

"Why won't you let anyone care about you?"

In all honesty, Rachel didn't know the answer to that. Was it because everyone who cared always got hurt? No. They got hurt regardless of whether or not they cared about her. Everyone who knew her got hurt. She didn't just bring chaos with her wherever she went, she was it in every possible way. She was the personification of a hurricane. She destroyed things, she ruined lives, she ended lives; sometimes accidentally, sometimes just because she didn't think the person deserved to live because of their occupation. Because someone of the same occupation had ruined her life, she believed that gave her the right to ruin the lives of everyone who chose that path and it didn't.

To put it into the simplest of terms, she was a shitty person who didn't deserve to have people care about her.

But she wasn't going to tell Isaac that.

"Because they have more important things to care about right now." She answered. It wasn't a lie.

"You're important too."

"Stiles is freezing to death somewhere."

"Another five minutes won't kill him." Isaac shrugged. It was no secret that he didn't like Stiles all that much, and while he definitely didn't want the teen to die, he would prioritize Rachel over Stiles any day. The overly sarcastic teen didn't exactly have a history of being compassionate when it came to his suffering in life, so Isaac chose to be the same. Karma was a bitch (and so was Stiles).

"He's human." The chimera reminded, looking less than impressed. "I can wait. Go find Stilinski, I'll check the woods. I'm trusting you not to follow me, or send anyone else to. Don't make me regret it."

Rachel took a few steps in the opposite direction, stopping when she realized the only audible footsteps were her own. She looked over her shoulder at Isaac, still standing there looking like he was internally debating whether or not to follow her. She rolled her eyes.

"Go." She dragged the two letter word out for at least three seconds longer than necessary, trying and failing to recreate Scott McCall's award winning puppy dog face. "You're stalling like we're characters in a book and the author is trying to reach a word count."

If he wanted to know the truth, he had to trust her, even if he knew she was going to be putting herself in danger. He had to trust that she could handle that danger alone— of course he didn't doubt that she could handle just about anything on her own, but he didn't want her to. He wanted to be there and be able to help; the problem was Rachel never wanted help, even when she needed it.

She wanted to deal with everything alone, as she had done for so many years following the fire. She bottled everything up & used it as another reason to be angry at the world. Rachel had a system and it worked. She didn't want to change things now just because she had people who genuinely cared about how she felt and not just that she wasn't dead. If Scott & Stiles couldn't make her stop burying her problems (feelings— let's be real, they're problems), there was no way in hell Isaac could.

For 17 years, she dealt with things by herself, and she'd be damned if a habit as old as her didn't die hard. Problem? Fix it and don't tell Derek. Sad? Quit being a little bitch, at least you're not dead. Mad? Punch something. She may have turned Stiles into her own personal guidance counsellor this past year, but that didn't mean her ways had changed. The problems Rachel told Stiles about were mundane; Scott snores really loud, she almost ate the raccoon in Scott's attic as a midnight snack because she was too lazy to go get some crackers, Lydia keeps trying to get her to dye her hair blonde (which Rachel refuses to do because the blonde always dies first).. the list only grew more boring as it went on.

She didn't tell him about her real problem; being a chimera. She didn't tell anyone, because she didn't want to burden them with it too. Knowing what she was wasn't just that. If it was, she'd have no problem telling every supernatural creature in Beacon Hills. The name meant nothing. The story meant everything.

Knowing what she was meant knowing that the world truly did have infinite possibilities. Knowing what she was meant that the world was no longer just supernatural creatures, urban legends and folklore; genetically engineered beings meant that anything was possible. A werewolf with the foretelling abilities of a banshee, able to predict its death before hunters even began to track it. A wendigo with kanima venom laced claws, able to paralyze its victims before eating them.. The possibilities were endless.

Chimeras meant the rules of the supernatural didn't matter anymore, with science thrown into the mix there were no longer limitations to what could exist. Anything could become a reality, and that was truly terrifying. Even more so because Rachel was almost certain she wasn't the first experiment, nor was she the last.

"So..." Rachel muttered, forcing herself out of her thoughts. She couldn't dwell on the concept of chimeras for long or she'd find herself falling down a hole, forever thinking of new possible combinations, each always more horrific than the last. "Stilinski probably wants to know Stiles isn't here.. Derek & Scott aren't gonna stand on the roof talking about chemo signals forever.."

"Be careful." He sighed and turned to leave, but paused. "I.. really don't want to have to get Lydia to bring you back from the dead."

"Likewise." She could tell he was serious this time and no longer joking as they both had been before. It was a shame that she didn't have the heart to turn back and tell him what Lydia had done to resurrect her uncle wouldn't work on her, nor did she have the heart to tell him she was going to die regardless of how careful she was.

—

UNEDITED.

i dragged this out by accident but i felt like it was too important to backspace, it gives you guys some insight on why rachel is so reluctant to tell anyone she's a chimera. the world as she knows it has order and rules, but the existence of chimeras breaks those rules and scares the shit outta her— what she is scares the shit out of her because everything about it is just completely & utterly wrong.

ps. isaac is not jealous of stiles whatsoever, pls don't misinterpret anything. there is no love triangle. riles is purely platonic. isaac dislikes stiles because stiles is an asshole (rachel wasn't present for the scene at the picnic table where stiles basically tells isaac to stop using his childhood abuse as an excuse but it did still happen in this story). stiles is honestly a piece of shit to isaac, liam & malia, especially malia, no one can deny it. (all i want from 6b is malisaac tbh idc about saltine stilinski, give scott all his screen time)

also fun lil game: can you spot where i almost dropped a bomb in this chapter?