♙𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄♙

( SELENE HAYDES )

𝐓𝐖𝐎: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄?

death was a simple thing to handle for the haydes women. it came and passed. death was accepted amongst witches and believed to be necessary to pass over and avoid pandemonium. it didn't make it any easier to handle though. it didn't stop the overbearing feeling of having your guts twist and tear when hearing that someone you love is gone, and never coming back.

"selene!" the voice repeated in her right ear, her soul returning to her body as she whipped her head round to see isaac giving her a concerned look.

"what?" she asked softly, her voice still only returning after the major breakdown she had suffered the prior night. resulting in her puffy eyes, red nose and cheeks and swollen lips.

death was never easy.

"there's nothing either of you can do about it" isaac repeated looking between her and boyd. everyone handled death differently. some with sadness and some with anger.

"we should've done something" she muttered under her breath. ethan's voice being heard a few seats in front besides danny.

"derek's dead and we didn't do anything"

――――

"mccall, not you, too?" coach yelled out to scott, the boy wincing at the back of the bus. nicholas and stiles knew better than to believe that scott was alright with his recent injury and knew better than to just believe it would heal so quickly.

"no coach i'm good" the pain in his voice evident enough to anyone paying enough attention, someone like selene.

"i see blood" nicholas whispered lowly as he kept his eyes swapping between scott and coach not wanting anyone to know what was up.

"and don't tell me that it's just taking longer to heal, okay? because I'm pretty sure that "still bleeding" means "not healing," like, at all" stiles interrupted before a pain ridden scott could reply, his hand shooting up quieting him.

"he's listening" the boy said making all three heads turn to face ethan who was still listening to danny speak.

"well is he gonna do something?" nicholas asked, his eyes turning to see selene who had her head resting against the window deadly still. he hadn't had the chance to speak to her since the accident and thought it best he do it soon before she crumbled.

"not in front of this many people" scott reassured his two friends. one who had been with him since childhood and the other who had gained their trust in no more than a year.

"okay, well, what about the two ticking time-bombs sitting right near him?" stiles asked as he stared at isaac and boyd's head.

"three" nicholas quickly corrected nodding towards selene

"three ticking time bombs" stiles corrected. every one knew better than to underestimate how much selene cared for derek, and how badly she reacted to death.

"no, they won't-- not here." scott said hesitantly, stiles and nick sharing a look"okay, well, what if they do? are you gonna stop 'em?""if I have to."

――――

"you've been good to me" the teenager thanked the alpha who stood in front of her with a beer in his hands.

derek spared her a glance with a sly smile once turning away, he'd have never admitted it but he had let her in past his barriers. he hadn't done that in a long time and admittedly it felt good. it felt good to let someone be there for you.

"i mean it. my "dad" died and you were there for me when isaac was missing. you kept me grounded der"

derek thought selene worried too much, he knew she'd make it out alive. it was destined from the beginning that she'd survive, just by looking at her you knew she was one of the lucky ones. he didn't think the same for himself but would never admit it to the girl.

with a grunt derek changed the subject, he hadn't asked her round for her to thank him. he had called her round because of the other constant worry in his life besides death. isaac. "selene what's going on with you and isaac?"

the girl pulled her face in a questioning manner but dropped it quickly after the look derek gave her "we're good. good good friends..." she chuckled taking a sip from the beer that she had stolen from the fridge.

"friends? huh" derek shook his head.

"listen, i just don't wanna break his heart. i mean i like him, i like him a lot. like a lot a lot. but i could die tomorrow, he could die tomorrow. derek the lives we live are so dangerous. i don't want to put him through that kind of pain"

"so you'd rather keep leading him on?" the older man asked, folding his arms.

"i'm not leading him on!" selene asked as she pushed herself off the counter, an offended look taking over.

"sure seems like you are" derek shrugged with a head tilt, a small smirk taking over his features.

"isaac knows i don't want a relationship now, if it bothers him so much he could just leav- he could just end it now" the dreaded word nearly escaping her lips making her shake.

selene haydes had been left a fair amount of times in her life. by her father, he mothers past boyfriends, her father again. it didn't change either. maybe abandonment issues could've described the situation best but selene didn't have abandonment issues. selene just had a fear of being alone.

――――

the students had been stuck in the same spot for the past half an hour, no movement in traffic meant risk of missing the meet. the meet which the pack hadn't even wanted to attend after the prior nights events.

"jared, I'm warning you, I'm an empathetic vomiter-- you throw up, I'm gonna throw up right back on you, and it will be profoundly disgusting." coach yelled to the spectacled eyes boy in the middle of the bus.

"please don't talk about throwing up... It's not good..." the poor boy argued back well trying to keep his insides inside.

"i might throw up on you just to make a point, jared." irritably coach replied, selene's eyes stuck to the agreement with slight amusement

"now, the rest of you, don't think we're gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam... a minor tornado warning... jared... we're gonna make this thing. nothing is gonna stop us!"

stiles' hand shot up rapidly with a worried look "stilinski, put your hand down." coach rushed out

"you know, there's, like, a food exit about a half mile up. i don't know, if we stop, and then maybe--" his tone making selene worry slightly "

"we're not gonna stop." coach shut down the idea quickly

"okay, but if we stop--" stiles tried again. it was at this point selene knew something was wrong, the girl turning to see a pale scott.

"stilinski! shut it! seriously! it's a little bus! stop asking me questions!"

"i hate him. did you call deaton?" stiles asked turning to nicholas who held scotts phone

"voicemail" the boy said with worry, selene's eyes not leaving the trio catching Isaac's attention.

"that's it. i'm calling lydia and allison" stiles said, nick nodding in agreement with the idea.

"how are they gonna help, back in beacon hills?" scott's obliviousness making nick chuckle as he pulled his phone out

"scotty boy, they've been right behind us this whole time" the boy said as he stood up and looked out the back window to see their car in the traffic.

――――

"hey, stiles! yeah, we're just about to walk into a movie! uh, you know, the popcorn, and--" lydia's anxious voice was cut off by stiles.

"i know you guys are right behind us. put me on speaker and add selene" the boy said before adding selene to the line

"okay..." the strawberry blonde muttered well pulling the phone away so allison could hear as well.

selene pulled her phone out with scrunched eyebrows after seeing the caller id's but pulled the phone to her ears well giving a quick glance to isaac and boyd.

"okay, look, scott's still hurt." stiles said quickly

"what do you mean, "still?" he's not healing?" allison's worried voice asked, her care for the boy betraying her

"no, he's not healing. I think he's actually getting worse. the blood's turning, like, a black color..."

"what!" selene whispered harshly as she stood up from her seat quickly "and you didn't say this earlier why?"

"i don't... do I have a ph.d. in lycanthropy? how am I supposed to know that?" stiles argued back pettily making selene roll her eyes

nick grabbed the phone from stiles turning it to speaker well speaking with force "none of that matters. need to get him off the bus. now."

"and take him where, a hospital?" lydia asked confused on what they were meant to do

"if he's dying, yeah. stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up. tell the coach to pull over."

"yeah, I've been trying..." stiles replied bitterly which nick nodded in agreeance to .

"reason with him" allison tried again.

"reason?" have you met this guy?" stiles asked with a frown

"he has a point ally" nick agreed earning a sigh of relief from stiles.

"just try something you two!" selene cut them off, her voice raising a bit making a few eyes turn to her on the bus before she ended the call.

――――

"you could've handled that better" selene muttered to stiles with bitterness as she coughed out trying to let some clean air into her lungs.

nick beside her nodded well stiles threw his arms up exasperated on what he was meant to do. jared throwing up caused the bus to pull over to the rest area. the whole time annoyed and tired at this point.

nick and stiles began to haul scott into the toilets, dropping the boys pale body against the wall. the girl rushing in a second later.

"why didn't you say anything?" selene asked as she began to lift the boys shirt which was stained with blood up. the sight making her stomach slightly turn but she didn't have time to worry about herself.

"okay, juts give us a second alright?" allison asked as she joined selene's side. the girls looking at the wound with pained eyes.

"this shouldn't happen right? he's been through worse" nick worried as he paced around the bathroom, none of it was making sense to the teenagers.

"what? do we call an ambulance then?" stiles asked, the nauseating smell of blood filling their senses.

"what if it's too late? what if they can't help?" allison asked, selene's hands going on top of the wound trying to stop the bleeding.

"you know, it could be psycholoogical" lydia spoke up for the first time, her voice shaky from worry, all heads turning to her.

"what do you mean? like psychosomatic?" stiles asked confused, selene's brain beginning to start working as she caught onto what lydia meant.

"you feel guilty don't you?" she whispered to the boy as she pushed harder on the wound earning a grunt from him.

"somatoformic" lydia clarified

"som-" stiles tried still trying to understand what she meant

"a psychogenic cause?" nick asked making stiles eyebrows furrow as to how he knew what she meant.

"my two bestfriends are nerds what do you expect?" he asked with a shrug as he glanced between lydia and stiles

"it's all in his head" lydia said with a sigh, she knew what he wasn't letting himself heal from and she didn't know if he would let himself heal from it anyway.

"all in his head? ...because of derek. he's not letting himself heal 'cause derek died." the mans name still bringing a jab to selene's chest

"so what do we do?" allison asked knowing time was ticking

"stitch him up" lydia said quickly as if it were obvious. the looks she recieved though showed everyone's uncertainty "i'm serious! maybe all he needs to do is just believe it's healing."

"just do it, it's our only option!" selene yelled at the dejected girl on the floor besides scott, her worry consuming her once again.