[seven]
currents

ALEX BLEW OUT a breath as she crossed her arms. "Stiles, you don't need to be inches away from me at all times, I'm fine, I promise."

"Yeah, well, can you blame me?" Stiles replied, Alex's eyebrows raising.

She placed her hands on Stiles' shoulders, her gaze flickering between Stiles' eyes intently. At this, Stiles slightly blushed. Alex didn't notice.

"Stiles, I'm fine." Alex emphasised, Stiles sighing but nodding anyway. "Okay?"

"Okay." Stiles blew out a breath.

"Got it?" Alex asked.

"Got it." Stiles answered, nodding again.

"Good." Alex gave Stiles a small smile, patting his shoulders softly, then taking her hands off them.

"Is it true? What you said?" Stiles asked.

"Hm?" Alex frowned.

"About wanting to..." Stiles let his voice trail off, however, Alex knew what he meant.

The girl sighed, glancing at the ground. "Yeah."

Stiles frowned, his heart dropping at how Alex had gone through a period of time where she had felt so distraught that she wanted to end it all.

"But that was a long time ago." Alex added, glancing at Stiles. "Before I met you and Scott. Like I said, Scott, and you, helped me through it and made me feel...valid."

"Have you ever felt like that since?" Stiles questioned softly.

"No. Never." Alex shook her head. "Well, except for when my dead mom haunted me yesterday. But I wasn't in my right mind, so..."

Stiles' gaze flickered between her eyes. "You don't deserve to feel like that at all, Lex."

Alex sent him a small smile. "Thanks, Sti."

••••

"So what are you saying?" Stiles frowned as he faced his dad, the police sirens blaring in the background. Alex crossed her arms from her position next to Stiles and Scott.

"Hang on, hang on." Noah backtracked. "They were both in the car?"

"No, dad, they were trying to tell you that it was two seperate kidnappings, okay? Two doctors, both gone." Stiles explained.

"So who's car is this?" Noah frowned.

"Doctor Hilyard. The on-call doctor." Melissa replied, glancing at Noah. "The E.R. attendant is the one that never made it in."

"Let me just focus on getting your story first, alright?" Noah spoke to Melissa.

"Yeah." Melissa nodded.

"Kids, can you give us a second?" Noah asked, turning to the trio.

They all nodded, walking over to the side.

"These are definitely sacrifices, right?" Scott asked quietly.

"Yeah. There's one Deaton mentioned. Healers." Stiles sighed.

"Wait, what about Danny?" Alex frowned.

"Yeah, he threw up mistletoe, that's not a coincidence. And if he hadn't been with Ethan, he probably would have died." Scott added.

"Danny's obviously not a healer of any sort." Alex spoke, glancing between Scott and Stiles.

Stiles sighed, then glanced at his father, who was on the phone. He frowned. "Hey, can you guys hear that?"

Both Alex and Scott turned around to face Noah, listening to the conversation.

"They found a body." Alex spoke as her and Scott faced Stiles again.

••••

"Good morning." Ms Blake started as she spoke to the class, glancing around the room. "As you all know, Mr Harris is still missing- I mean sick. Anyway, uh, I'm filling in while we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place. Okay, so, let's get started, shall we?"

"Hey, my dad said the E.R. attendant wasn't strangled, but did die from asphyxiation, they just don't know how." Stiles whispered to Scott and Alex.

"Do you think the on-call doctor could still be alive?" Alex whispered back.

"I don't know. But guys, there's gotta be at least twenty other doctors in that hospital. At least, you know?" Stiles replied quietly. "Any one of them could be next."

Suddenly, Scott's phone buzzed, Scott quickly answering it, whispering. "Hey, doc, sorry, I'm in class right now, can I call you back later?"

"Unfortunately, no. I honestly thought I might never have to burden you like this. But, I'm afraid, at the moment, you're my only hope." Dr Deaton replied from the other end. "I'm going to be taken. I need you to find me."

••••

"Alright." Noah started, lightly tapping Scott's shoulder.

Stiles and Alex both had their arms crossed, Stiles' fingers tapping his own arm.

"We're gonna do everything we can." Noah continued. "Right now, the best thing you can do is go back to school." He walked away from the trio, sending Scott a sympathetic smile.

Scott gestured for Stiles and Alex to follow him. The two followed the boy into an empty room.

"We have to tell him." Scott spoke to Stiles after he closed the door.

"You mean like tell him, tell him? Or tell him something else that isn't telling him what I think you wanna tell him?" Stiles frowned, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"You know what he means." Alex sighed.

"You remember how Scott's mom reacted?" Stiles glanced at Alex before glancing at Scott again. "She didn't look you in the eye for, like, a week."

"And she got over it." Scott replied. "And it actually made us closer."

"I don't know, guys, I mean, come on, look at him, he's completely overwhelmed as it is." Stiles sighed, glancing at his father, who looked exasperated.

"He's overwhelmed because he has no clue what's been happening." Alex started. "He's got people dying in his town, the town that he's supposed to protect. And it's not his fault that he doesn't know what's happening. He's gonna find out sooner or later."

"Okay, but is now really the right time?" Stiles asked, glancing between the two.

"What if not telling him now gets someone else killed?" Scott replied, trying to reason with Stiles.

"What if telling him gets him killed, huh?" Stiles spoke quietly. "I mean, okay, look, I get that Deaton's been like a father to you. I get that, okay? But this my- guys, this is my actual father. I can't...I can't lose both of my parents, alright? Not both of them."

Alex looked at the ground at what he said, sympathising with the boy. She knew how it felt to lose both her parents. "You're right." Alex sighed as she glanced at Stiles.

Stiles sighed. "No I'm not. I'm not right. "I'll tell him."

"We'll help you." Scott replied, referring to both him and Alex. Alex nodded in agreement.

The trio walked out of the room, only to find the guidance counsellor, Marin Morrell talking to a police officer and the sheriff. "Do whatever you need, however you can help my brother."

The sheriff and the officer both left the clinic, Ms Morrell walking up to the three. "Listen closely, all three of you. No sheriff, deputy, or detective is going to be able to find him."

"You don't have to ask us for help." Scott replied with a frown.

"Actually, I'm trying to help you." Marin spoke. "Because if you're going to find my brother, you have to use the one person who might actually have the ability to seek out the supernatural."

Stiles, Alex, and Scott shared a glance as Stiles sighed. "Lydia."

••••

"A ouija board?" Lydia frowned as Stiles placed one on the table.

"Also called a spirit board." Stiles spoke. "It's worth a shot."

"A shot in the dark." Lydia replied.

"Could you just try it, please?" Stiles asked. "Let's not forget who this is for. Scott's boss, the guy who has saved our collective asses on more than one occasion."

"Wait, should we all do this?" Cora questioned.

"Yeah." Stiles nodded.

Alex blew out an annoyed breath but placed her hands on the planchette anyway. Stiles placed his hands right next to hers, his fingers lightly touching Alex's.

Cora and Lydia put their hands on the planchette too.

"You guys ready?" Stiles asked, glancing between the girls.

"Yeah." Lydia sighed.

"Yes." Cora replied, annoyed.

"Yep." Alex blew out a breath.

"Where's Doctor Deaton?" Stiles asked the board.

The planchette didn't move whatsoever.

Stiles, Alex, and Cora glanced at Lydia.

"Aren't you gonna answer it?" Stiles frowned.

"What? Oh, I don't know the answer." Lydia started. "I thought we were asking some sort of spirit."

"Well, do you know any spirits?" Cora frowned.

Lydia glanced at Cora, then glanced between Alex and Stiles. "Is she for real?"

"Okay, these are Deaton's keys for the clinic." Stiles moved on, taking out a pair of keys. "Close your eyes, and I'm gonna put them in your hand."

"Basically we want you to try and feel out his location." Alex summarised.

"It's called psychometry." Stiles added.

"I'm not a psychic." Lydia replied.

"Well, you're something." Alex spoke, glancing at the strawberry blonde.

"Lydia put out your hand." Stiles sighed.

Lydia closed her eyes and held out her hand. Stiles put the keys in her hand, Lydia humming quietly.

"What?" Stiles widened his eyes.

"They're cold." Lydia replied simply.

Stiles narrowed his eyes, trying to stay calm. "Lydia, concentrate, please? We're trying to save lives here, for the love of god..."

Lydia closed her eyes tightly, trying to find a location, however, nothing was working.

"What is it? What do you see?" Stiles frowned.

"Nothing." Lydia sighed.

Stiles pulled out a pencil.

"Automatic writing?" Lydia frowned in question.

Stiles nodded, Lydia taking the pencil from his hand. She began drawing a strange tree.

"Lydia, what are you doing?" Alex frowned.

"What the hell is that?" Stiles added, frowning as well.

"A tree." Lydia replied simply, Stiles sharing a glance with Alex.

His eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance. "A tree- Lydia, you're supposed to be writing words, like in sentences, something like a location, something that would tell us where he is!"

"Well, maybe you should have said that..." Lydia spoke.

"Isn't she supposed to be some kind of genius or something?" Cora frowned.

"Genius, yes." Lydia snapped. "Psychic, no...honestly I don't even know why you're bothering with me anyway, I mean, since it's obvious you should be talking to Danny."

"What? Why Danny?" Stiles frowned.

"Because." Scott started, entering the room. "Last night he was a target. But he wasn't a sacrifice."

••••

"But isn't Danny still in the hospital?" Cora frowned.

"Yeah, that's where we're going right now." Stiles replied.

"I'll meet you there." Scott spoke.

"Why?" Alex frowned as Scott showed her the phone. He got a message from Allison saying that she found something.

••••

"Danny, you awake?" Stiles whispered as he and Alex walked into Danny's hospital room. He gently shook Danny's body, trying to see if Danny was awake. He began to lightly slap his face.

"Would you stop?!" Alex whisper shouted to the boy. "We don't want him to actually be awake, that just makes this so much harder."

Stiles jumped back at the sound of Danny inhaling a breath.

"What did you expect?" Alex whispered, rolling her eyes.

Stiles shrugged, beginning to open Danny's bag, Alex glancing at him.

"What are you doing?" Danny groaned.

Alex's eyes widened as she whispered to Stiles. "Nice one dumbass, you woke him up."

Stiles placed a finger on his mouth in a 'shh' motion. "I'm not doing anything, Danny. This is just a dream that you're having."

Alex rolled her eyes, knowing that what Stiles was saying wasn't believable whatsoever.

"Why are you going through my stuff?" Danny asked weakly.

"Right, but only in the dream, remember?" Stiles replied, trying to be convincing. "Dream...dreaming..."

Alex sighed, whispering. "Oh my god..."

"Why would I dream about you going through my stuff?" Danny groaned, Stiles getting impatient.

"I don't know that, Danny, okay? It's your dream. Take responsibility for it. Shut up and go back to sleep." Stiles snapped, looking through Danny's things again.

He pulled out Danny's physics project, showing it to Alex.

"Danny boy, you might've actually found something here." Stiles whispered.

••••

"What does this kid's homework have to do with finding Deaton?" Cora frowned.

"Because it's not just homework, okay? It's a project on geomagnetic fields. They flow through the earth and they can even be affected by lunar phases." Alex explained as Stiles laid out the project.

"Look at this. This is a note from Harris on Danny's proposal." Stiles added, showing the group the note.

"I strongly advise you to choose another subject. The ideas here while innovative and thoughtful, border on pseudo-science. Not suitable for class." Lydia read the note out loud.

"Harris wasn't just a sacrifice, he knew something." Scott realised.

Alex pulled out a map. "Allison's dad wasn't the only one with a map, Danny had one too." She laid out the map on the table so everyone could see. "He marked all the telluric currents."

Stiles nodded. "The weird thing about Beacon Hills is that it's actually a beacon. You wouldn't believe how much energy flowing through this earth is flowing through this town."

"Look, the maps match." Scott spoke, glancing down at the aligned maps. "Alright there's three places, right? Where they're kidnapped, and then the place where their body was found." Scott circled parts of the map.

"Wait, that's right on the telluric current." Lydia pointed out.

"So maybe where he was sacrificed was somewhere in between." Scott replied.

"Let me see that." Stiles spoke, Scott handing him the pen. "You said there's six more bodies to be found. Deaton's one of them. It's gotta be somewhere in between, right?"

"Stop." Cora guided his hand to the place where the vault was on the map. "He's in the vault. He's in the same vault."

The group began to hurriedly pack away the items, getting ready to leave.

"Wait, guys, hold on." Lydia stopped them.

"What? Lydia, we don't have time." Scott replied.

"It's Boyd. The plan didn't work." Cora voiced. "They cut the power."

Lydia, Stiles, Alex, and Scott shared glances.

"It's just like he said." Scott realised. "Go. I can save Deaton myself."

"Wh- Scott, what about us?" Stiles frowned.

"Cora and Alex can get there faster without you. Go." Scott replied quickly. "We can save both of them."

"Alright, let's go." Stiles spoke, him, Alex, Lydia, and Cora immediately leaving the clinic.

••••

"Okay, what do we do?" Stiles asked as him and the three girls approached the power device.

"Pull them. Pull all of them." Cora spoke, beginning to pull the switches, the rest of the group doing the same.

Stiles texted Isaac, letting him know that they were turning the power on.

They ran into the loft, only to find Boyd dead, and Derek on his knees, silent tears pricking his eyes.

Stiles and Alex ran to Derek, Alex engulfing the man in a tight hug, Derek still in shock to hug the girl back.

Cora ran to Boyd's dead body, beginning to cry.

Lydia ran up to the entrance, shocked at what she saw.

Derek's hands shook as Boyd's blood stained them.

Alex hugged Derek tighter, trying to comfort him. Stiles placed his hand on Derek's shoulder in sympathy.

••••

a/n:

heyyy I'm back with another chapter :)

just letting you all know, the next one is gonna be pretty short, considering it's a flashback episode, so don't expect it to be good or anything.

also, because the next one is short, I'm gonna write another chapter and post it (hopefully) on the same day so it works out.

thank you all for reading, voting, and commenting 💓💓

—voidelmslie 💌✨