𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚-𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 | 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝔂'𝓼 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻

𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘜𝘱 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘔𝘦

AFTER A FEW MINUTES OF sitting together in a comfortable silence, Lydia sighs and begins to undo her braid. She runs her fingers through her hair and glances to her sister. "Have we got any Tylenol?" Her fingers massage her temple and she closes her eyes. "I'm starting to get a headache..."

Charlotte leans over to the bedside table on her side and shakes the small, white bottle. She kisses her teeth once finding it empty. "Of course we don't have any." She gives the girl a warm smile. "I'll go out and grab some for you."

As the blonde jumps off the bed, Lydia quickly follows suit. "I'll come too," she says, grabbing onto her ivy green coat. "I need to get out the house."

Her eyes flick over her sister's face in worry. "You sure?"

Lydia smiles and grabs her phone. "Yeah. Lottie, I'm fine," she reassures her. "Honestly."

Charlotte sighs and shrugs. "Midnight adventure, why not?"

With the radio quietly playing in the background, the twins make their way to the nearest gas station. It's the only place open at this hour, anyway. The strawberry blonde glances up from her phone and out the window to find the full moon brightly gleaming up above them. "Can we skip school next week?" Lydia questions seriously. "Just stay home and have a giant movie marathon or something?"

Charlotte's brows raise in surprise. "I'm sorry, did you just say you want to skip school?" Lydia rolls her eyes. "Absolutely. You know I'm always down to go anywhere but that place..." Her sister chuckles and she smiles. However, her lips dip into a frown as her eyes flick down to the map displayed on the screen within the console. "I'm going the right way, aren't I?"

Lydia looks up at the road before them and nods. "Yeah, we are." She clears her throat. "So, um... you talked to Deaton?"

"Last night," she replies with a brief nod. "He thinks he has some idea what might be going on with me- well, us."

Leaning her elbow on the door of the car, Lydia looks to the driver with curiosity. "Did he say what he thinks is going on?"

Charlotte briefly takes her eyes off the road to glance to her sister. She heaves a sigh. "No, he wanted to look into something first. Research probably. The only thing he did say was that he thinks it's possible the bite awoke something in us, something supernatural." Her eyes slightly widen as she remembers part of her conversation with the veterinarian. "Oh, I told him about the screams. The moment on our birthday?"

Lydia nods and leans her cheek on her palm. "I remember," she says. "Is it anything to worry about? Considering it's happening to both of us, I mean."

She shrugs cluelessly. "He looked worried. I just don't know what it could mean..." Charlotte's fingers tap against the steering wheel as she makes a decision that she probably should have made months ago. "Um, Dee, have you been drawing?"

"You know I paint..." Lydia replies with squinted eyes.

"No, not as in stuff for art class." She grimaces. "More like, finding random drawings?"

Lydia turns to stare at her in confusion. "Okay, what's going on? And don't say nothing because something is clearly going on."

"Shit. Yeah, okay. So during the whole Jackson thing, when the psycho man was haunting us, I'm just gonna call him Voldermort for both our sakes..." Lydia nods with a small smile, but she tries to maintain a serious face for her sister's sake. "I was finding these pictures that I had drawn."

"Okay?"

"The thing is, I don't remember doing any of them." She glances to her sister once more to find Lydia's eyes open wide. "I know I'm the one that drew them, I can tell. I would find them, or I'd be broken out of the trance, and then I'd realise that I was in the process of doing it. Most of them were reptiles."

The car is silent aside from whatever song is currently playing. Then the realisation washes over the younger Martin. "Holy shit," she whispers in shock. "This was at the same time as the Kanima?" When Charlotte nods, her eyes widen further. "When did they start happening?"

"That day you had said you liked my drawing in class, but I thought I was taking notes. That was the first one. Then they started to happen more often. I guess I finally connected the lizards to the Kanima. But what's really fucking weird is that the first drawing happened before I had even seen the damn thing."

Lydia's lips part in disbelief. "Almost like you were predicting the future," she murmurs.

Charlotte slowly nods. "That's what Scott said. There were a few non reptile ones, like a car garage and the hospital. Then after I was shot, they all stopped."

"Wow," Lydia says slowly, trying to wrap her head around what she's just been informed of. But after everything they've been through, finding out that her sister has been drawing things in something that could be akin to a fugue state? No, the Kanima definitely still tops the cake.

"I found one before you screamed," she adds. "As in half an hour ago."

"That can't be a coincidence..."

Both girls share a look filled with concern and Charlotte presses her foot down on the gas pedal a little firmer. "Yeah, I didn't think so either," she agrees. "I think we just gotta try and keep track of this stuff somehow.

"What was it?" Lydia asks. "The drawing."

"A pool," she responds. "The public swimming pool." As the Toyota finally pulls to a stop, both the twins unclip their seatbelts and get out the car. Closing her door behind her, Charlotte locks the vehicle and pockets the keys.

"What the fuck?"

At her sister's soft gasp, Charlotte lifts her head to look at their surroundings. Her body freezes in shock and her eyes widen considerably. "This isn't the gas station," she points out in confusion. "I was heading the right way though..."

Lydia nods to confirm her comment, equally as confused as her as they turn around. "No, you were. Well, I thought you were." She shakes her head. "Maybe we both got lost?" she suggests.

As Charlotte's eyes dart around the pool, a chill runs down her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she is paralysed by a sudden fear. Where they are, it's identical to the drawing, right down to the mist floating over the large mass off water and the lone towel hung over a railing. "Maybe I am predicting the future," she whispers.

Lydia shuffles closer to her, partly from the cold and partly because she's just as frightened that they've managed to travel somehow nowhere near their destination without either of them realising it. "This is creepy," she mutters. She grabs onto the girl's hand.

Charlotte nods as their arms brush against each other. "Agreed." Her eyes narrow as she spots something in the distance; a lump near the edge of the pool. Her grip on Lydia's hand tightens. "What's that?" she questions, her voice coming out as a quiet squeak.

The strawberry blonde swallows thickly and they hesitantly walk closer to the unidentified object or being. "Oh, my God!" she exclaims in horror.

The twins jump back away from the pool in terror at the sight of a body floating inches away from them, face down. "Holy shit," Charlotte says. Trying to get a handle on her anxiety that has suddenly spiked, she casts a glance to her sister, her eyes pleading. "Can we please go?"

Lydia's wide eyes lock with her blue ones and she shakes her head, whispering, "You know we can't."

Charlotte groans in frustration. "No, you're right." She takes a deep breath. "I'll do it." Breaking away from Lydia, the heels of her boots click on the cement as she cautiously moves towards the motionless body bobbing up and down in the water. Glancing over her shoulder to Lydia, her sister nods encouragingly. "Fuck me," she mutters to herself. Of course they're the ones to find something even remotely like this. "Please don't be dead... Please don't be dead..." She crouches down and takes another deep breath before reaching out and tapping their arm. Her hand snaps back to her side as she studies the body, trying to spot the rise and fall of their chest.

"Turn them around!" Lydia calls out.

"I'm going to! Just give me a second..." Charlotte's breath catches in her throat as she finally builds up the courage to grab onto the arm furthest away from her and flips the body around. Her shoulders drop in relief as she shakes her head with a chuckle. "It's just a dummy!"

Lydia sighs heavily and walks over to her sister. "Thank God. Okay, now we can leave."

Charlotte uses her hands to push off the ground and stands up with a faint smile. "Let's get the fuck out of here." But when her twin doesn't move, her eyebrows furrow in concern. "Lyds? What's wrong?"

She gulps. "Y-your hands," she utters.

"For fuck's sake, what did I do now..." However, as soon as she looks down, Charlotte's eyes widen in dread. Both of her palms are painted in blood. "Oh, my God!" she shrieks in alarm. "Oh, my God, I'm bleeding!"

Lydia grips onto her upper arm, her own breathes coming out shallow and short. "No, not you," she corrects.

The sisters direct their gazes onto the floor and stare at the large puddle of red, the substance beginning at the edge of the pool right where the blonde had previously been crouching down. With their hands clutching onto the other's in a bone-like grip, they follow the trail of blood upwards to the lifeguard chair. Charlotte Martin's heart lurches into her throat when her eyes meet the cold, lifeless ones of a teenage boy slumped in the seat.

Then they both scream.

»»———-　　———-««

Charlotte paces up and down the length of the pool, desperately trying to avoid her eyes landing on the dead body a few metres away. "How long did the cops say they would be?" she asks her sister frantically.

Lydia runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "Ten, maybe fifteen minutes?"

She goes to reply, however, her words are cut off as she grimaces, momentarily blinded by the bright headlights quickly approaching them that shine directly into her eyes. "Did you call someone else?" Charlotte questions in confusion.

The Jeep screeches to a stop and Stiles jumps out the vehicle in a flurry whilst yelling their names. "Charles? Lydia? Are you guys here?"

Lydia's eyes widen in surprise. "I texted him!" she protests. "I didn't think he would come to us..."

Charlotte sighs. "Well, here's a lesson for you, dear sister. If you text Stiles that we found a dead body, he will always, and I mean always, come to you." Lydia rolls her eyes.

As soon as he spots them huddles next to one another, his eyes widen further in concern and he runs over. "Oh, thank God, are you guys okay?"

The blonde-haired girl nods. "We are," she replies, gesturing to herself and her sister.

Lydia blindly points over to the deceased. "That over there? Not okay!"

Stiles follows where she's pointing and his jaw drops in horror once he spots the boy in the lifeguard chair. "Holy shit. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna call my dad," he declares, his eyes still wide as he looks between the body and the twins who are still visibly shaken by the discovery.

Charlotte quietly scoffs at his words. "Do you seriously think we haven't?" she retorts. "Of course we already called nine-one-one."

"You called the police before you called me?" he questions incredulously.

Lydia finally looks up to Stiles, her cheeks stained a light grey from the mascara that has mixed with her tears. "So we're supposed to call you first whenever we find a dead body?"

Blinking quickly as he finds the question absurd, Stiles raises his hands into the air as he shrieks, "Yes!"

As he moves to make a phone call, presumably to Scott, Charlotte places a hand over her eyes as she finally notices the dull throb within her head. "I can't believe this is happening," she murmurs. "Now I have a headache."

Lydia gives her a weak smile. "I'm honestly surprised you aren't still angry at him."

The girl arches a brow. "Angry? Oh, I'm angry." Lydia looks at her with a little amusement, but her sympathetic smile masks most of it. "But you know, I'm just slightly distracted by the dead body over there. The anger will resume tomorrow." Catching part of Stiles' phone call, she bites the inside of her cheek in an attempt to hide her giggles. She's not going to let him see her crack.

"Throat ripped out, blood everywhere- it's like 'The-fucking-Shining' over here! If two little twin girls come out of the woods and start asking me to play with them forever and ever, I'm not gonna be surprised."

The corners of Charlotte's lips twitch upwards as she watches him continue the phone call, and she leans into Lydia as she whispers, "Do you reckon we have enough time to run to the woods?"

Lydia looks at her in exasperation. "You want to re-enact a movie at a crime scene?"

"Obviously."

Despite her façade being annoyed, Lydia finally giggles and shakes her head. "Of course you do."

Charlotte grins. "Come on, Dee, thank about it! I get my payback... we're all distracted, a bit of humour... Happy days!"

"Happy days?" Stiles repeats. "That guy is not happy..." He sighs and pockets his phone as he stares at the corpse.

He takes a step towards the boy but Charlotte's hand flies out and grabs onto his wrist. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she questions in disbelief.

"Scott wants to make sure it was definitely Cora and Boyd..." Both the girls look at him with confusion and his eyes widen. "Shit. Long story. They found Boyd in the vault with Derek's not so dead sister, Cora. Allison let them out to save Scott's life and now we have two murderous, psychotic, fully transformed werewolves loose in Beacon Hills. Actually, not a long story..."

Lydia's eyebrows raise in surprise as she nods her head over to the body. "You think werewolves did this?"

"Well yeah... Who else is going around ripping throats out?"

Charlotte frowns and instead of Stiles, she warily makes her way over to the chair. Her eyes narrow as she scans the body and mentally counts the different visible injuries. Gash created from a ligature around his neck. Blood from the back of his head. Her frown deepens. Any one of these injuries could have been this boy's cause of death. If they're following Stiles' theory, she's now beyond confused. What kind of werewolf would be doing this? She spots a glint in the corner of her eyes and finds the silver ring fitted on his right hand. "Look, it says 'Purity,'" she calls back. "What the fuck is this?"

Stiles joins her side with a frown that mimics her own. "I don't know..."

»»———-　　———-««

With five minutes left on the journey home, Charlotte glances into the rear-view mirror of her car and chuckles. "He's been following us the whole way," she says in amusement.

Lydia turns around to look behind them. "He does know we have a police escort, right?"

"Oh, I'm certain he does," she confirms. Charlotte takes her eyes off the road and glances to her sister with a small smile. "He cares about you a lot, you know? That's why. He wants to make sure you're okay." A faint smile makes its way onto Lydia's face and Charlotte shakes her head with a laugh at the girl's obliviousness.

When they finally do reach the Martin residence, Charlotte breaks away from Lydia and Stiles to have a moment alone. She giggles as she watches him follow her sister inside like a lost puppy. Lingering outside, she leans her back against the car door, ignoring the slight uncomfortableness it provides.

She sucks in a deep breath of cold air and stares up at the moon as she thinks over the last hour. "How the fuck did we find a dead body?" she asks herself quietly.

After counting to one-hundred, Charlotte makes her way to the front door and lets herself in. She beelines straight to the kitchen with the plan to make two steaming hot mugs of tea for herself and Lydia. As the kettle boils, she opens her phone and checks it for the first time since she had gotten home from Derek's loft. Her eyes widen at the hundreds of missed calls and messages. She doesn't even glance at Scott's.

Alli ➴♡
The bruise matches the logo of the old bank, I'm gonna check it out
Alpha pack's here
Call me
Boyd and Cora are loose, Stiles will explain when he gets to you. Hope you're okay
I'm so sorry about Erica. Call me if you need, love you

She ignores the earlier messages from the Argent, her eyes locked on the most recent. The whistle of the kettle echoes throughout the room, however, to her it seems distant. Like she's underwater. As a result of her hands beginning to shake, the phone clatters to the floor. She hears footsteps run into the room and she looks up to meet the concerned eyes of Stiles. "Hey, are yo-"

"Is she dead?" she questions him suddenly. He stills. "Isaac's vision thing was real?" Stiles takes a deep breath and slowly nods, keeping a careful eye on her reaction. Charlotte could have sworn her heart just stopped beating. She swallows and her voice comes out as a faint whisper. "How did it happen?"

He searches her expression, frowning in concern when he finds it void of emotion. It's like a blank canvas. "Scott called me, he... h-he said that one of the Alpha's killed her."

She nods and tries to form the words in her head into a coherent sentence. "Yeah okay. Um, I'll see you at school. Thanks, Stiles."

He takes a small step toward her. "Hey, do you want me to stay?" he asks her, voice full of worry. "I can if you want, or I can call Allison?"

A strained smile stretches onto her lips. "No, it's okay," she dismisses. "I'm actually really tired, I'm just gonna go to sleep. Thank you though."

A crack runs through Stiles' heart at how heartbroken she is. Even though he can't visibly detect that anything is seriously wrong, he just knows. It's his job as a best friend. As a brother. "I'm so sorry," he speaks softly. "About everything. You don't deserve any of it."

Instead of responding, Charlotte darts forward and pulls him into a tight hug. Stiles squeezes her back and misses the tear that slips down her cheek. As dramatic as it sounds, a small piece of her died when Erica left Beacon Hills. An even bigger piece has died finding out that the girl is really gone this time. And this time, there's no chance that she'll ever be coming back.

»»———-　　———-««

The next week is a mess. A complete and utter mess. Since they had learned Charlotte had found out about Erica, all of her friends were worried. Really worried. Over the past eight days, she had seemed fine: perfectly normal even. Charlotte had continued going about her days as if nothing had happened, apart from still ignoring Scott, Stiles, and Allison; obviously. And that's what she was going to keep on convincing herself. Because if she even thought for a second that Erica Reyes is really dead, she's not sure if she would be able to keep herself together. Like Stiles says, avoid the problem until it's no longer a problem, until it just disappears. Maybe she'd just have to live her life in denial until her last breath.

And a part of pretending like nothing had happened is going to school. The blonde-haired girl opens the door of her locker and frowns at the chemistry textbook staring back at her. She makes a split-second decision to skip the class. Actually, more like the rest of the day. She'd just find something else to do. Charlotte sighs as she throws her backpack over her shoulder and slams the locker door. However, as soon as if closes, she yelps at the body leaning beside her. "Tyler! Holy shit," she exclaims with a hand over her racing heart.

The boy nods his head to her bag with raised eyebrows. "Skipping?" he assumes, amusement lacing his tone.

"Yeah." She rolls her eyes at his mock stern face. "How have you been fitting in?"

Tyler smiles and falls in step beside her as they walk towards the entrance. "Pretty good," he replies. "Everything's fairly similar to my old school." He glances to her and takes notice how the usual spark in her eyes is gone. "Hey, um, I heard about your friend," he brings up hesitantly. "I'm so sorry, Lottie."

She gives him a weak smile. "Yeah, me too."

Charlotte Martin is too distracted to question how Tyler McCall had known: Erica's death hasn't been made public yet, nor called into the police. After all, it would be a little hard to explain to the Sheriff that the girl had her throat clawed out by a... bear? Couldn't exactly say homicidal werewolf. Maybe it'll be too late when Charlotte realises that the boy isn't who he says he is at all.

Taking a deep breath, she clears her throat and tries to make her smile seem as natural and genuine as possible. "So, when are you gonna introduce me to the friends you're staying with?"

He doesn't point out the topic change, it's obvious she doesn't want to talk about it. Tyler holds open one of the doors for her, lowering into a dramatic bow as she walks past him. She rolls her eyes once more. "They're kinda like family to me, to be honest," he answers. "Mom and Dad aren't around as much anymore."

Charlotte's eyes squint at his attempt to avoid the question. "They are real, right?" she asks. She stops walking to give him a sympathetic look. "Because Ty, if you don't have any friends aside from me, Scott, and Stiles, that's totally fine. Completely fine. You don't need to lie!"

Tyler chuckles and throws an arm around her shoulder as they start walking again toward the parking lot. "Fuck, man, I missed you."

She grins. "I know you did." But her lips dip into a frown when he goes silent, suddenly somewhere else. "Hey, you okay?"

He quickly blinks, snapping out of his daze, and looks to her with a small, nervous smile. "Yeah, sorry. Uh, actually, speaking of..." He nods his head to the side. "That's one of them there."

Charlotte follows his pointed finger to an older woman with dark hair and honey coloured skin standing beside what she presumes to be his car. It doesn't take her long to find the pair of teenagers watching her, and she warmly smiles at them as she waves them over. "Tyler!" she calls out. "Come introduce me to your friend!"

When the boy doesn't budge an inch, Charlotte rolls her eyes for what feels like the millionth time today and grabs onto his arm. "Oh, come on," she tells him. "I'm sure she won't bite."

He smiles at her and begrudgingly follows along before lowering his voice to mutter, "You have no idea..."

With Tyler in tow behind her, the blonde strides over to the adult and holds her hand out. "Charlotte," she greets with a polite smile. "Tyler's old bestie. Well, renewed bestie." Now it's his turn to roll his eyes playfully.

Her dark brown eyes twinkle and she reciprocates the smile as she shakes her outstretched hand. "Kali," she introduces herself. "It's lovely to meet you, Charlotte. I've heard lots about you."

The girl arches a brow curiously. "All good things I hope." She smiles proudly when Kali nods.

Tyler uncomfortably shifts on his feet and rubs the back of his neck. "Look, Kay, it's not what it looks like..."

Kali's eyes flick between the two. "Skipping school?" she suggests.

"Yes."

"No."

Charlotte grins. "We are definitely skipping school."

Tyler groans in frustration and diverts his eyes onto the ground. "Shit," he mutters.

Whatever he was thinking was going to happen turns out to be the opposite. With an amused chuckle, Kali waves her hand at them in dismissal. "Go, be teenagers." He sighs in relief. "I'm just here to give you this," she says, holding out a black duffel bag. "You forgot it."

Tyler takes the bag off of her and nods appreciatively. "Thanks. See you later."

"Bye, Tyler. Nice to meet you, Charlotte."

They watch the woman get into her car a few bays down and drive away with another smile sent their way. Pursing her lips today, Charlotte's eyebrows raise as she turns to her friend. "I don't know what the hell you were so nervous about, she's really nice."

Tyler adjusts the sports bag on his shoulder and clears his throat. His smile falters. "Yeah. A bunch of us live together, I guess you could say we're like a pack." Immediately, her thoughts trail off to her best friends that she hasn't spoken to in days. Tyler looks at her with concern. "Hey, Charles? You okay?"

She quickly shakes her head when she finally registers the fingers snapping in front of her face. She slaps his hand away, quietly giggling when he feigns a wince. "What's the bag for?" she questions him, swiftly diverting the conversation once again.

"Trying out for the lacrosse team." Tyler frowns. "Weirdly, I've missed Coach."

"Good luck with that, there's a few spots that need filling in. And it's not weird. Everyone loves Coach."

He laughs. "Speaking of, this reminds me... I've got a last-minute trial for the team in half an hour." He gives her an apologetic smile as he slowly backs away. "So I can't skip, but have fun for me?"

She grins. "I always have fun, McCall. Break a leg!" Her eyes follow him as he runs back over to the building they had only just exited from and she sighs as she turns around to head to her own car. However, her brows draw together once she spots a figure leaning against the vehicle. As she gets closer, she realises it's one of the people she's been avoiding. She isn't sure whether to feel angry, nervous, or relieved to see her.

Allison smiles at the sight of her best friend and brushes strands of hair out of her eyes. Before Charlotte can protest anything, because she knows that's exactly what the girl will do, she quickly strides over to her and wraps her arms tightly around her waist. Charlotte's eyes widen in surprise, but her body quickly relaxes at the familiar feeling. She grips onto Allison just as tight. She's missed her. They've missed each other. "I haven't seen you much this week," the brunette points out softly. "How are you holding up?"

Clearing her throat as they unwrap themselves out of the embrace, Charlotte rolls her eyes in annoyance as she feels her nose burn; a tell-tale sign of incoming tears. Just what she needs. "No," she admits quietly. "I am so far from okay." As she looks back up to Allison, she realises that she can't find any sympathy on her face. It's a welcome surprise, being around someone that doesn't feel sorry for you.

Instead, the Argent gently grabs onto her hand and leads her down the lot. "Come on, I have an idea. I think it'll help."

»»———-　　———-««

As Allison's car pulls into a driveway in the warehouse district, Charlotte stares at the large building before them in confusion. "Uh, do you wanna tell me where the fuck we are?" she questions her friend. "Because this looks like the perfect place to kill me if you wanted to."

Allison laughs and clicks a button on one of the keys attached to her keychain. "It's my dad's old firearm dealership," she says, slowly driving inside the warehouse. "He still keeps a few weapons in here for the occasional sale, but it's mostly empty now."

Charlotte nods, but she's still just as confused. "Okay, and what are we doing here?"

The roller door behind them shuts and Allison turns the ignition off as she turns to her friend sitting beside her. "We're going to fight," she responds simply.

If it's possible, Charlotte's even more confused than a second ago. "What? Fight who?"

Allison smiles as she gets out of the car. "Each other."

And it's then that the devious grin adorns her face. "Oh, fuck yeah."

After changing into a pair of activewear that had been kept in one of the spare rooms, Charlotte walks out of the bathroom as she sweeps her knotted hair into a ponytail. Whilst seated on a crate as she ties her shoes, she finally looks up at the sound of footsteps to see Allison moving over to a table. Once she joins the brunette, her eyes widen at what's on the surface. Dozens of knives glisten in the bright lighting hung above, with arrows and their bows grouped together on the opposite end.

"What made you want to do this?" Charlotte asks her curiously. 

"I've noticed how distant you've been," she says hesitantly. "And I know you think people aren't noticing, but I have." Allison places her hand atop of the girl's and their eyes meet. "I can't imagine how angry you are right now, and you need a healthy way to get it out."

Charlotte arches a brow. "Take it out on you?"

"Absolutely," Allison confirms, fully serious.  Her next words are more playful. "I don't know how much you'll actually 'take it out on me,' but it's the thought that counts."

The girls giggle and Charlotte heaves a sigh. She swallows and forces herself to look back up at her friend. "I'm sorry I haven't talked to you. I'm telling myself that I'm okay. I just..." A few tears drop down her cheeks and she's fast to brush them away. "I keep thinking that I could have done something," she whispers. Allison's face falls. "We were in Paris while they were kidnapped and probably tortured."

But the brunette quickly shakes her head and grabs onto both of her hands. "It's not your fault," she says firmly. "None of us could have done anything. It wouldn't have mattered if we didn't leave, they still would have been caught. They both left, okay? We couldn't have done anything."

"I-I just wish I tried to convince her to stay. If she never left, she wouldn't be dead and I-" A sob cuts off her sentence and Charlotte clasps a hand over her mouth.

Allison watches her with tearful eyes and moves around the table to pull her into another tight hug. "You said that it's what she wanted, right?" she asks her softly. "Lottie, you let her go because you wanted her to be happy. This is not your fault, you hear me?"

Charlotte wipes away the rest of the tears and nods. "Yeah," she mutters. Then she nods again, but this time she's less hesitant about it. "Yeah," she repeats.

Allison gives her a small smile and bumps her hip as she leads the blonde through a row of plastic curtains and into the open space. She brushes the dust off her hands and nods. "Now take that anger and hit me," she instructs firmly.

Pursing her lips together, she begins to rethink her decision. "Mmm... Now that we're actually here, I'm not totally sure I want to do that..."

"You're angry at me for not telling you about Peter, right?"

Charlotte's eyes widen in shock. "Wait, you know I know?" she questions.

"Of course I know," Allison confirms. "And you're angry, right?"

After a second, she nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"And you're angry about Erica."

Charlotte takes a deep breath as they begin to circle one another, her gaze not leaving Allison's face. Her eyes narrow in determination as she clenches her fists together, her knuckles turning a starch white. "I hate Scott for lying to me," she starts out quietly. "I hate Stiles for not having the courage to tell me." Her voice raises. "I hate you for going along with them. I hate Tyler for leaving me. I hate Peter for ruining my fucking life!"

Allison nods in encouragement. "There you go, what else?"

"I hate those fucking egotistical dogs for killing Erica!" Without any warning, Charlotte lurches forward in a burst of rage and throws a fist, successfully hitting Allison's shoulder.

Caught off guard, the brunette stumbles back a step with a grunt. "Damn, you've improved since France," she praises in surprise.

"Shut up and fight me."

Allison chuckles and returns to her previous stance. A thick layer of tension hangs in the air as both girls study each other's movements; the twitch of a hand, the smallest shift in their footing. They wait for the other to make the first move. Charlotte squares her shoulders as soon as she notices Allison shift her weight onto her left foot, and she quickly swerves to the side as she dodges the expected kick.

Her chocolate eyes narrow in a hint of annoyance and she quickly darts forward once more to land her fist onto Charlotte's jaw. The girl stills in shock at the sudden wave of pain that hits her, but before she can fully register it, she moves again, this time targeting Allison's unprotected stomach. After the second attempted punch hits the area, she mutters, "Bitch."

"Likewise," Charlotte agrees.

Minutes pass of the same actions, but both of them block the attempted punches and kicks thrown either way. Allison takes a step back and sighs. "You're not getting angry enough," she says.

Charlotte blows a sweaty strand of hair out her eyes and scoffs. "Yes I am."

She shakes her head. "No, you're too afraid to hurt me."

As the blonde opens her mouth to retort something else, she's too slow to notice how Allison discreetly grabs two small ring daggers hidden within her socks. The girl jumps forward and Charlotte yelps as the knife swipes her upper arm. Blood quickly pools within the fresh wound and begins to drip down her arm. Her jaw falls slack in shock as she stares at Allison in disbelief, her hand reaching up to gently touch the cut. She winces. "Hey, what the fuck?"

"Your anxiety is overpowering the anger," the Argent tells her. It's like a teacher disciplining a student. "We're not trying to kill each other, so hurt me."

Taking a deep breath, she pushes the slight uncomfortableness of the injury to the side. She frowns and points to the glinting weapons twirling in Allison's fingers. "You have knives," she points out. "This is totally unfair."

Raising her eyebrows, Allison smiles. She tosses one of the daggers into the air and her smile widens when Charlotte swiftly catches the hilt. "Now it's fair. All the anger you've kept inside this year? Release it."

"Release it but control it," she mutters back. She nods to herself. "Okay, Charlotte, fight her." Remembering her training sessions in France, Charlotte remembers Chris telling her that his daughter favours her right side. Inhaling another a few deep breaths, she keeps her eyes locked with Allison's before she jumps forward.

Charlotte's dagger draws a long, shallow wound in the pale skin, and Allison hisses beads of blood begin to drop to the floor. But she's quick to ignore the wound and smile proudly. "There you go!" Retaliating, Allison uses her opponent's moment of recovery and swipes her legs out from underneath her. Charlotte collapses backward onto the training mat beneath them with a grunt. Allison clicks her tongue. "Never let your guard down."

Heaving for breath, Charlotte realises that she's lost the grip of her dagger when she had fallen. "Aw, shit," she whispers to herself. She watches Allison walk over to her and quickly strike her leg out, trying to use her position on the floor as an advantage. Charlotte flinches and quickly turns her body ever so slightly to avoid the kick.

Allison's lips lift into a small smile as the blonde-haired girl inhales a deep breath and pushes herself up, making quick work to block each punch that's thrown her way. As they lock eyes, they share a smile as they breathe heavily in sync with each other.

Then Charlotte twists her body and brings her leg up, her foot firmly colliding into Allison's torso. Losing her balance, the brunette stumbles backward, similar to how her friend had done minutes before. But she makes sure she doesn't forget about the dagger.

However, much to Charlotte's inner delight, the knife flies past her, only grazing exposed shoulder before burying itself into the wall behind her. She ignores the multiple parts of her body that sting and throb in pain and runs over to straddle Allison on the floor. Her fist meets her cheek.

Allison grits her teeth and grips Charlotte's hips tightly before flipping them around. And as the girl with her back to the ground watches the brunette above her ready herself to throw yet another punch, her eyes widen. "Okay, wait!" Charlotte holds her hands up in alarm. "You win," she concludes.

With a satisfactory smile, Allison exhales deeply and winces at the cut on her side. "You've been practicing," she says in approval.

As they share another smile, mischief twinkles within the ocean blue eyes. Allison's too late when she notices it and finds herself back in her initial position. Charlotte bends down to lay her arms on either side of her friend's head and she smiles. "I lied. I win."

Allison scoffs and rolls her eyes. "You cheated," she corrects.

Charlotte shrugs. "Not if you call cheating taking some advice someone told me a few minutes ago."

Their laughter slowly dies off as they realise just how close they are. Their breaths mix together as they stare into each other's eyes. Allison pulls her lip in between her teeth. "Well, it was really hot," she whispers.

Caught off guard, Charlotte's eyes widen a fraction as she watches the girl beneath her flush a dark pink. Feeling a burst of courage, she lowers herself down to the point where her lips graze Allison's ear. "I know," she murmurs back.

𝘞𝘏𝘖𝘖 𝘐𝘛𝘚 𝘏𝘖𝘛 𝘐𝘕 𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌. 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺'𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘗𝘌𝘙 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘺𝘸 🫶