𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙁𝙄𝙑𝙀
ミ★ ( clairvoyant, act one ) ★彡

     Rory couldn't believe that Derek Hale was a murderer. He was someone she essentially grew up with, and the Derek Hale she knew was gentle and kind, and would always stand up for her if someone was being mean to her on the playground; but this just showed her that time really does change a person. Back then, she didn't know he was a werewolf—she didn't even know they existed. But, she found out a few years later when one of his siblings accidentally shifted in front of her.

Little Rory Carter wasn't prepared for her childhood friend to be a werewolf. She wasn't prepared to see the glowing eyes and fangs, along with the sharp claws coming for her. It took her a while to process what she had seen, but she eventually came to terms with it.

     As a child, she always did wonder if there were other beings out there besides humans. She loved mermaids and fairies; they were ethereal to look at in the books she used to borrow from the local library. She knew about Red Riding Hood, and the wolf pretending to be her grandma—it made her weary of her own grandma after she read it, and needed to be assured that it was in fact Margaret Carter in front of her, and not someone pretending to be her.

So, when her friend had explained the werewolf nature, her perspective of the world changed with it.

Back then, she used to be scared of Derek Hale; even if he was nice to her, his powerful aura—even at a young age—was enough to intimidate her. Eventually she grew out of the fear and saw him as somewhat of a friend, but now her perspective had changed once again and she was terrified of him. He was a murderer now.

Rory couldn't even look him in the eye; she was so scared. She was grateful that he couldn't see her, but even looking at him was enough to freak her out, because all she could do was wonder why. Why would he kill her? Why would he kill that other girl? So many questions ran through her brain, trying to understand what made Derek Hale snap. All she could pinpoint was the Hale house fire.

Losing his entire family in a freak accident would be enough to set anyone off, but Rory assumed he would've gone after the people responsible for the fire, if there were any; or even just the people that didn't help. Rory did not set the fire, nor did she have anything to do with the aftermath. She was a friend to the Hales, she mourned the loss with him. She didn't think that would make her a target to him.

They would find the answers soon enough after deputies drag him to the station for questioning. She would get her answers there; she would get his motive and find out why he tried to kill her.

Rory stood beside Stiles as they watched Derek get marched out of the Hale house by the deputies. Derek looks over at Scott with a scowl that causes Scott to look down at the ground with an expression of mixed guilt and shame as Derek is pushed into the back of a deputy's cruiser.

A moment later, Stiles began walking from where he was stood—which was on the edge of the woods, far away from the commotion—toward the cruiser, which was unattended now that the rest of the deputies were checking out the crime scene itself.

Rory's mouth gapes open in shock when she realises what Stiles is about to do, just as Stiles looks back at Rory. Rory immediately tries to get Stiles to stop by mouthing her response at him, "No!" She exclaimed, motioning with her hands to stop.

"No!" Scott muttered at the same time.

Stiles ignored the both of them and darted toward the passenger door to the cruiser and opens it so he can talk to Derek, causing Scott to groan in exasperation.

"Oh, God." Rory covered her mouth in pure astonishment at how stupid he was while Scott turns away from them, unable to watch but not wanting to draw more attention to what Stiles was doing.

Rory quickly appeared in the driver's seat of the car while Stiles was sat in the passenger seat. He turns around so he can face Derek and speak to him through the caged window that was installed between the front and back seats; dividing them and providing protection.

It's obvious that he's nervous, and Derek knows it too, "Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you." Stiles began.

"Liar." Rory fake coughed while Derek's head was tilted down, but his eyes move up to look at Stiles through his eyelashes with a scowl that immediately terrifies Stiles.

"Okay, maybe I am. Doesn't matter. I just wanna know something." He says while shifting nervously in his seat, "The girl you killed? She was a werewolf." Derek continues to scowl blankly and silently at Stiles, who keeps talking, "She was a different kind, wasn't she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf, and I know Scott can't do that. Is that why you killed her?"

Derek finally lifts his head to speak, but his tone of voice is understandably irritable due to the current situation of him being arrested, "Why are you so worried about me, when it's your friend who's the problem?" Derek jerks his head toward where Scott is standing for emphasis, and Stiles moves back away from Derek a tiny bit, "When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do, huh? Just keep cheering him on?"

Stiles gulps in anxiety, knowing that Derek isn't exactly wrong and he got flashbacks from getting attacked in the locker room, "I can't stop him from playing, but you can..." Derek leans forward so his face and Stiles' are only inches apart as he lowers his voice to a whisper, "And trust me—you want to."

"One more question," Stiles adds, trying to change the subject of Scott and his possible murderous tendencies, "Why would you try to kill Rory Carter?"

Rory turned to look at Derek expectantly, expecting to see an evil smirk before he gushes about his motive to kill her and how he planned it all. But instead, all she saw was confusion on his face.

Before anyone had a chance to process the question, the passenger door opens, and a hand yanks Stiles out of the car.

Noah Stilinski grabbed him by the right arm and dragged his son away from the car, with Stiles groaning the whole way, "Ow. Ow. Ow."

Stilinski finally stops and lets go of Stiles before standing in front of him so they can have a talk, "There. Stand." Stiles exhales loudly and finally meets his father's eyes as Stilinski prepares to scold him in an exasperated tone of voice, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Stiles scoffs, "I'm just trying to help!"

Stilinski placed his hands on his belt, "Okay, well, how 'bout you help me understand exactly how you came upon this?" He questioned, gesturing to the Hale house and the unmarked grave that they dug up.

Stiles realised he was in trouble from the look on his father's face, and he knew he had to try and talk himself out of a grounding, "We were looking for Scott's inhaler..."

"Which he dropped when?" Stilinski impatiently interjected.

"The other night..." Stiles responded hesitantly.

Stilinski's eyebrow raised when he caught onto the lie, "The other night... when you were out here, looking for the first half of the body and you found Aurora?"

Stiles nodded, "Yes."

Rory scoffed, "Idiot." She said, wondering how Stiles has ever gotten through life when he can't even lie properly.

"The night that you told me you were alone and Scott was at home?" Stilinski asked again.

"Yes." Stiles answered again before cringing, realising he just outed himself and Scott, and tries to backtrack, "No!" His father gave Stiles a hard look, and Stiles realises he's been caught and sighs, "Oh, crap..."

Stilinski stared at his son intensely, exhausted and out of patience as he stated, "So, you lied to me."

"That depends on how you define lying..." Stiles hesitantly responded.

Rory groaned, "Just apologise, Stiles!" She told him, "You're only making this worse with your big mouth."

"Well, I define it as not telling the truth." Stilinski responded, "How do you define it?"

"Um... reclining your body in a horizontal position?" Stiles gestures with his hands to emphasise his point. Rory ran a hand down her face at him.

"Get the hell out of here." Stilinski dismissed him irritably.

Eager to get out of this tense conversation, Stiles wastes no time doing exactly as he's told for once, "Absolutely."

     Stiles was speeding out of the woods in his Jeep with Scott in the passenger seat and Rory in the backseat, unbeknownst to Scott while he was trying to research on his phone. After a moment, he impatiently speaks up, "I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial."

      "Just keep looking." Stiles urged while keeping his eyes on the right corners of the road, "Maybe it's like a ritual or something? Like, maybe they bury you as a wolf." Stiles thinks about it for a moment, biting on his tongue as he does so, before he offers another theory, "Or, maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like, something you have to learn?"

      Scott rolls his eyes and and sighs before muttering under his breath, "I'll put it on my to-do-list, right underneath figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight."

     Rory rolls her eyes at Scott, "Is lacrosse all he cares about?" She asks Stiles, who secretly nodded.

     "Maybe it's different for girl werewolves..." Stiles continues to think out loud, completely unaware that Scott has been growing increasingly irritable throughout their conversation.

     He finally loses his patience entirely and snaps at Stiles, "Okay, stop it!"

     "Woah." Rory mumbled uncomfortably at his sudden change of mood.

     Stiles frowns in confusion, "Stop what?"

     "Stop saying werewolves!" He yells irritably, "Stop enjoying this so much!"

      Stiles' frown of confusion turns to one of concern at Scott's mood swing, "Are you okay?"

     "No!" Scott answers him on a dark tone of voice before doubling over in his seat, as if he was in pain, "No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

     "No shit." Rory agrees quietly to herself as she watches Scott, trying to give him a pat on his back but her hand went right through him. Looking at Scott in intrigue when she saw the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when she did so through the sweat that began to coat his skin.

     Scott began to hyperventilate, "You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scott. Sooner or later." Stiles says to him.

     Scott doubles over more and begins panting hard as he groans, "I can't." He says.

     "Well, you're gonna have to." Stiles tells him.

     Rory looks at Stiles, "I don't think this is the time for that speech."

      "No! I can't breathe!" Scott elaborates and both Stiles and Rory's eyes widen in alarm as Scott groans loudly in a voice that has a dark undercurrent.

     Scott thumps his hand against the roof of the Jeep and can no longer take it as he yells again, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

     Stiles swerves his car out of shock, which only causes Scott more pain, "Ah! Pull over!"

     "Why? What's happening?" Stiles asks in shock.

Scott's nose then picked up a scent and he grabbed the backpack in between them to open it. He's horrified to see the wolfsbane plant and the rope with the flowers attached to it are inside. He and Rory looked at Stiles incredulously, "You kept it!?" They asked in unison.

"What was I supposed to do with it!?" Stiles yells exasperatedly.

"Leave it at the crime scene, stupid!" Rory answers him, matching his tone while Scott continued to get more sick due to the proximity to the wolfsbane.

He groans loudly again, as though he's about to transform, before he shouts, "Stop the car!"

Scott looks at Stiles, who turns to look back at him and is horrified to see Scott's eyes turn bright gold. Stiles' eyes widen as he immediately slams on the brakes, "Okay!"

As soon as the car is in park, Stiles grabs his backpack and throws himself out of the Jeep, running toward the edge of the woods and tossing the bag as far as he can throw it to get as much distance away from Scott as possible. Once it's out of eyesight, Stiles throws his head back and sighs deeply before turning back toward the Jeep, "Okay, we're good, you can—" Stiles looks up at the Jeep and is confused when he sees that Rory was the only one left in the car, "Where'd he go?"

Rory only shrugged, "As far away from the wolfsbane as possible, probably." She answers him, "He didn't exactly stop and tell me where he was going."

Stiles rolls his eyes at her remark before checking out the surroundings of the car, "Scott?" He calls out for him when he realised that Scott had most likely shifted in broad daylight; and fearful of the possible things Scott could do while not in his right mind, Stiles plaintively calls out for Scott one last time, "Scott!?"

"He's gone, Stiles." Rory says, "And from the way he took off... he's probably long gone by now."

"Shit!" Stiles exclaims as he jumps back into the car and begins to speed down the road through the woods, calling the police on his phone.

As if they recognised his number, the dispatcher says upon answering the phone, "Stiles, you know you can't call the dispatch line when I'm on duty." She says impatiently, like she's used to him constantly calling her.

"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls?" Stiles asks while his eyes scan the woods and roads in front of him for Scott.

Rory's eyebrow raised, "You mean besides this one?"

Stiles sent her a look from the corner of his eye as the dispatcher asks, "Odd, how?"

"Uh, like, an odd person, or..." Stiles struggles to come up with an example that doesn't sound completely insane, especially after he notices the look that Rory was giving him after proving her point, "A dog-like individual roaming the streets?"

Rory ran a hand down her face at him, "I'm hanging up on you now." The dispatcher says, completely out of patience and assuming he was trying to prank call her.

"No!" Stiles protests, "Wait!"

"Goodbye." The dispatcher hangs up.

"Good one." Rory comments.

"Shut up." Stiles says before angrily turning off his phone and throwing it onto the passenger seat, where Scott has left a stack of Stiles' research sitting there.

     Rory ended up leaving Stiles alone and she returned to her hospital room where she stood watching herself sleep for what seemed like hours, anxiously waiting for something to happen—like she would wake up.

     Stiles walked through the door later on, "I thought I'd find you here." He sighs in relief, glad to have found someone since he failed horribly in finding Scott.

     "Did you find Scott?" Rory asks him and he shakes his head. Rory licked her lips, "I thought with Derek in jail, that I'd wake up... I don't know, it's silly." She shook her head sadly, "It just doesn't make sense. I don't get why you can see me."

"Maybe I'm to help you?" Stiles shrugged to his own suggestion, but his facial expression showed that he wasn't even convinced by his own theory, "But I wouldn't even know where to start." Rory's idea was good—maybe she needs justice to help her cross to whatever side she's needing to go on, whether that be death or her staying alive.

     "I just want to wake up." Rory slumped her shoulders, burying her face in her hands in a moment of stress, "The doctors don't know why I haven't woken up. They know my body's gone through trauma but I should've at least shown some signs of improvement. They... they think I'm brain dead."

     Stiles' eyes widened at the term, more so when he sees the tears in Rory's eyes. She was feeling pure fear, "Doesn't that mean...?"

     "That they'll pull the plug?" Rory finished for him, licking her lips and nodding her head, "Yeah, that's exactly what that means. If I don't show any type of improvement... they're going to make the suggestion to my parents t—to start the process."

Stiles could only frown.