❛ Maybe I'm too busy bein' yours to fall for somebody new. Now, I've thought it through, crawlin' back to you. ❜

SEASON 2, EPISODE 6
frenemy

WILLOW AND ROWAN had parked the transport van in the woods and waited for about an hour until Stiles, Scott, and an unconscious Jackson were pulling up.

⠀⠀⠀"How'd you even steal a prisoner transport van?" Scott asked once he and Stiles put Jackson into the back of the van. Stiles had to put pants on Jackson while Scott chained him to the wall, and now they stood outside discussing what was next.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, I know a guy," Rowan explained, winking at Scott. "And witchcraft always comes in handy."

⠀⠀⠀"So, what kind of powers do you have?" Stiles asked curiously.

⠀⠀⠀Willow knew why he was asking, she had explained how her sister's powers worked, and he was a naturally curious person himself.

⠀⠀⠀"I dabble in a couple," Rowan explained, flicking his hands up and producing a dark energy around his hands for the two to see. Both of their eyes widened as they followed his hand. "I've worked with 'dark magic,' necromancy, but I specialize in alchemy."

⠀⠀⠀"You didn't say anything," Stiles said, still sounding dazed. "Willow always has to say something."

⠀⠀⠀"It's a learned ability," Rowan explained with a small smile, extinguishing the magic in his hands and putting them back at his sides. "I only recently got a full grasp on it, but it sometimes takes other witches long into their thirties or forties to finally master the skill."

⠀⠀⠀"What Rowan is trying to say is that he's the favorite child," Willow cut in with a small smile.

⠀⠀⠀"Not for long," Rowan sighed dramatically, turning to look at her with a pout. "You, Bridgette, and Laurel will have to fight for that spot once I go home, and mom and dad find out what happened."

⠀⠀⠀"STILES! MCCALL! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Jackson screamed, interrupting Willow from replying.

⠀⠀⠀The four turned to look at the van warily, not having gotten this far in the plan, and stood idly for someone to make the first move.

⠀⠀⠀"I guess someone needs to go check on him," Stiles sighed, volunteering himself when saying that.

⠀⠀⠀"I'll go with you," Willow stated. When Stiles looked at her, she continued. "In case he tried to kill you."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles frowned at that but dismissed it, picking up his backpack and leading her to the back of the van. He opened it with Willow walking in behind him and closing the door.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay, I brought you some foo—" Stiles started, sitting down across from Jackson.

⠀⠀⠀"Let me out, now!" Jackson screamed at him, trying to reach across the van to grab Stiles.

⠀⠀⠀Willow slapped his hands down as she moved from the door to sit by Stiles. Jackson glared at her as she sat.

⠀⠀⠀"You know, I put those pants on you, all right, buddy?" Stiles snapped at him as he pointed an annoyed finger over at Jackson. "One leg at a time. Being all up close and personal with your junk wasn't exactly the highlight of my day. So, don't think this is fun for me either. You know, we're actually doing you a favor."

⠀⠀⠀"This is doing me a favor?" Jackson hissed at them, looking frantically between Willow and Stiles.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes," Stiles stressed. "You're—you're killing people. To death. And until we can figure out how to stop you, you're gonna stay in here. I'm sorry."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles turned to Willow and pointed at the backpack he had put down that was now on the other side of her.

⠀⠀⠀"Will, could you get my backpack?" he asked, and she nodded, handing it over. Stiles smiled and dug through it before holding out two sandwiches. "Now, you want the ham and cheese or the turkey club?"

⠀⠀⠀"You actually think my parents won't be looking for me?" Jackson sneered at Stiles, sitting back against the side of the van to continue to glare at them but down his nose this time.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles tossed him the ham and cheese sandwich before pulling out Jackson's phone from his pocket.

⠀⠀⠀"Uh, well, not if they don't think anything's wrong," Stiles stated with a smug grin, holding the phone out for Jackson to read it over. "Yeah."

"SCALES?" JACKSON ASKED, unconvinced by the things Willow and Stiles were telling him. "Like a fish."

⠀⠀⠀"More like a lizard," Willow corrected him.

⠀⠀⠀Jackson's eyebrows lowered in annoyance at her comment, and he turned to glare at her like he had been for the last fifteen minutes. She shrugged in response, amused.

⠀⠀⠀"They're not the same," she continued.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, and your claws have this liquid that paralyzes people," Stiles explained, adding onto her explanation. "And you have a tail."

⠀⠀⠀"I have a tail?" Jackson asked, no emotion in his voice completely falling off the idea of believing them.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah," Willow nodded. "Like a lizard."

⠀⠀⠀"Mm," Jackson nodded, thinning his lips as he looked at her, then Stiles. "Does it do anything?"

⠀⠀⠀"No, not that I know of," Stiles commented, turning to look at Willow to see if she might know something he doesn't.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, since you're like a tiny version of Godzilla," Willow commented, and Jackson's face fell again to annoyance. "It's probably to help with balance, locomotion, store extra fat in case you start to starve to death."

⠀⠀⠀"Can I use it to strangle you?" Jackson asked, moving quickly to throw his hands toward her. Willow only returned his previous emotionless stare back at him.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, you still don't believe us," Stiles laughed, neither expecting Jackson to anyway. "All right. The night of the semi-final game, what did you do right after?"

⠀⠀⠀"I went home," Jackson stated, settling back into his seat, continuing to play along.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you sure about that?" Stiles pressed, raising an eyebrow.

⠀⠀⠀"Yes, you idiot," Jackson sneered. "What the hell else would I do?"

⠀⠀⠀"You attacked me, Willow, Derek, and Blair at the school, and you trapped us in the pool," Stiles explained, beginning to get heated as he listed off what Jackson had done since turning. "You also killed mechanic, right in front of me, by the way. That was lovely. And one of Argent's hunters. Oh, and last night, you tried to kill Danny."

⠀⠀⠀"Why would I want to kill my best friend?" Jackson asked.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, that's what Scott's out trying to figure out right now," Stiles explained.

⠀⠀⠀"And, also, changing... changes you. Scott tried to kill Stiles and me when he was under the effect of the full moon. You trying to kill Danny isn't really that far-fetched," Willow retorted.

⠀⠀⠀Jackson only rolled his eyes.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe you two should worry more about how you're going to pay for a lawyer when I prosecute your asses all the way to jail!" Jackson screamed in their faces.

⠀⠀⠀"We're still minors," Willow pointed out. "We can only go to juvie unless we murder you."

⠀⠀⠀Jackson snapped his head toward her, his frown deepening and looked very close to acting upon murderous intentions himself.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay, okay," Stiles called out to them, raising his hands to try and diffuse the situation between the two. "Like Willow said a minute ago, on the night of the first moon, what happened?"

⠀⠀⠀Jackson's face fell in disappointment, glancing back and forth from Willow and Stiles until he finally looked fully at him.

⠀⠀⠀"Nothing," Jackson answered. "Nothing happened."

WILLOW AND STILES left Jackson alone after a few more questions and realizing they were getting nowhere with him. It seemed when you're a hostile, angry, untrusting jerk, you typically don't believe insane things your peers tell you. However, Willow couldn't really blame him because it seemed they had been in this exact situation with Scott only a few months before.

⠀⠀⠀Scott left to go visit Danny in the hospital and see if he was doing okay and see if he knew anything from the night before. So, Willow, Rowan, and Stiles waited for him to return or text to update them. Stiles busied himself by communicating with Jackson's parents to keep them off the scent. At the same time, Willow and Rowan murmured together about what had happened in the past six months.

⠀⠀⠀Allison came running through the woods, reaching Stiles first, and put her hand on his arm. He had been so engrossed in Jackson's phone that he jumped away, exclaiming 'Oh, my God!' and fell back against Willow. They all stared at him in confusion, but Allison didn't have time to let him sort himself out.

⠀⠀⠀"They know," she said quickly.

⠀⠀⠀"What?" Stiles asked, standing back on his feet.

⠀⠀⠀"They know Jackson's missing," Allison repeated herself.

⠀⠀⠀"No, they can't," Stiles protested, looking at her then back to the two witches behind him then the phone in his hands. "I've been texting his parents since last night. They don't have a clue."

⠀⠀⠀"My grandfather told me his parents went to the police," Allison said, enunciating her words to get through to him. "They know."

⠀⠀⠀"Oh—" Stiles muttered, holding the phone out to Allison, then dropped it before she could take it from him. He ran to the van, flung the door open, and turned the police radio on.

⠀⠀⠀"All available units proceed to Beacon Hills Preserve as instructed. Proceed with caution until Sheriff Stilinski's arrival. Proceed with caution."

⠀⠀⠀Stiles rushed to the other side to drive, but Rowan beat him to it with a smile then a flourish as he stepped inside. He nodded his head over to the passenger's side with a sly smirk and slammed the door in his face.

⠀⠀⠀"Sweetheart," Rowan called to Allison, holding his hand out toward her and waving her inside. "You can sit on the inside by me!"

⠀⠀⠀"Who's he?" Allison asked the two beside her.

⠀⠀⠀"My brother," Willow sighed.

⠀⠀⠀Allison nodded, followed as he said, and climbed into the van to sit in the middle next to him.

⠀⠀⠀"Rowan," Willow called, looking inside the van and realizing the number to seat ratio wasn't right. "This isn't going to work."

⠀⠀⠀"Sit on his lap," Rowan stated simply. "Or vice versa, I don't really care."

⠀⠀⠀"Row—"

⠀⠀⠀"JUST DO IT!" Rowan yelled at them. The way he raised his voice boomed had the two teenagers scrambling inside the car. Stiles sat down in the seat and Willow in his lap, sitting as far up as she could so they had about enough space for Jesus between them.

⠀⠀⠀"Where are we going?" Allison asked to break the silence.

⠀⠀⠀"As far as we can," Rowan told her.

⠀⠀⠀He stepped on the gas, and the speed had Willow flying forward into the airbag compartment.

⠀⠀⠀"Rowan," Willow groaned, arms keeping her steady against the dashboard.

⠀⠀⠀"That's not my fault," Rowan chimed, turning to look at her then back at Stiles.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles hesitantly did as Rowan suggested and wrapped his arms around Willow's waist as she moved back closer to him. Neither said a word about it nor the strange pit that formed in their stomachs. Mistakingly thinking it was the effect of Rowan's mad man driving rather than the lingering feelings both still had.

ROWAN PARKED THE van at the edge of the woods overlooking Beacon Hills. Not long after the wild ride and setting up camp, for the time being, Scott found them and explained what he found out from Danny.

⠀⠀⠀Jackson had been recording himself on the night of the full moon, and nothing happened, but there was missing footage Danny was trying to restore for him. Danny hadn't looked at the footage, respecting his friend's privacy, but the tablet got stolen either way.

⠀⠀⠀"If Jackson doesn't remember being the kanima, he's definitely not gonna remember stealing Danny's table," Scott stated. He led the three away from the van and towards the cliff's edge.

⠀⠀⠀"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles asked.

⠀⠀⠀"What if someone else took it?" Allison added.

⠀⠀⠀"Then someone else knows what he is," Willow sighed, shaking her head.

⠀⠀⠀"Which could mean someone's protecting him," Scott said.

⠀⠀⠀"Like the bestiary says, 'the kanima seeks a friend, right?" Allison said rhetorically.

⠀⠀⠀Rowan barked out a laugh, the four teenagers turning to look at him as he continued to smile in amusement and waved his hand at him.

⠀⠀⠀"That's what is said?" he asked, and Allison nodded innocently, not following what was so funny. "What kind of pussy creature is this?"

⠀⠀⠀"Row," Willow hissed at him.

⠀⠀⠀"Sorry, sorry," Rowan replied, resting his hands back down at his sides.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay, wait," Stiles called, moving on from Rowan's comment. "So, somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the kanima and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know. I mean, who would do that?"

⠀⠀⠀"Somebody who wanted to protect him?" Allison asked, not sure herself.

⠀⠀⠀"There's something else," Scott muttered, furrowing his brows into thought as he looked at the ground. "You said the only thing you found online about the kanima is that it goes after murderers. What if that's actually true?"

⠀⠀⠀"No, it can't be," Stiles shook his head. "Tried to kill all of us, remember? I don't know about you four, but I haven't murdered anybody lately."

⠀⠀⠀"But, I-I don't think it was actually trying to kill us," Scott said as he started to piece things together. "Remember when we were at Isaac's the first time, it just went right by us, didn't it?"

⠀⠀⠀Allison nodded, growing confused herself.

⠀⠀⠀"You're right," she told him. "It just ran off."

⠀⠀⠀"And it didn't kill you in the mechanic's garage," Scott continued, pointing at Stiles.

⠀⠀⠀"Well, yeah, but it tried to kill us in the pool," Stiles retorted, pointing between himself and Willow.

⠀⠀⠀"Did it?"

⠀⠀⠀"It would've," Willow nodded, glancing at Stiles. "It was waiting for us to come out."

⠀⠀⠀"What if it was trying to keep you in?" Scott challenged the two of them, raising his brows to emphasize his question.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles shuddered and asked, "Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?"

⠀⠀⠀"Because there's something else going on," Scott told him. "We don't know what it is. We don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson or why someone's protecting him—"

⠀⠀⠀"Know thy enemy," Allison said, the four turning to look at her as she shook herself out of a daze and turned to them. "Just something my grandfather said."

⠀⠀⠀"All right, I got it. Kill Jackson, problem solved," Stiles stated.

⠀⠀⠀All eyes were on Stiles now, and he threw his hands up in exasperation.

⠀⠀⠀"You're really going to live with the fact that you murdered someone?" Willow asked Stiles, crossing her arms.

⠀⠀⠀"I never said I'd kill him," Stiles stated, rolling his eyes.

⠀⠀⠀"Your plan, you have to deal the final blow," Willow stated, putting one fist on top of the other and motioning an imaginary sword plunging into Stiles' stomach.

⠀⠀⠀"He also risked his life for us," Scott interrupted the two, glaring in between them. "Against Peter, you remember that?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yes, but what did we just find out?" Stiles asked in annoyance, returning Scott's glare. "He got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he just got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us. It's funny."

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, it doesn't mean he's not still worth saving," Scott shot back.

⠀⠀⠀Willow, Allison, and Rowan were now just spectators watching the two argue over whether or not they should resort to killing Jackson.

⠀⠀⠀"It's always something with him, though," Stiles sighed.

⠀⠀⠀"He doesn't know what he's doing."

⠀⠀⠀"So what?"

⠀⠀⠀"So, I didn't either," Scott said, his voice faltering at the end. "You remember when I almost killed you and Jackson?" he asked, turning to Allison, who nodded solemnly. "I had someone to stop me. He has nobody."

⠀⠀⠀"That's his own fault," Stiles muttered, continuing to push the idea but coming to his senses that this plan wasn't one any of them would go through with.

⠀⠀⠀"Doesn't matter," Scott closed the argument. "If we can save him, we should try."

"IS THIS NORMAL?" Rowan asked Willow as they leaned against the transport van while Allison and Scott took some alone time in his car not too far off from them.

⠀⠀⠀"Normal?" Willow asked, looking over at him, keeping her head level but lifting her eyes. "I don't know about that."

⠀⠀⠀Rowan rolled his eyes.

⠀⠀⠀"Is this normal for you?"

⠀⠀⠀Willow shrugged.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, I guess it is," Willow sighed, now staring at Scott's car as she thought about it. "Last year we were tormented by an Alpha named Peter Hale and—"

⠀⠀⠀"Peter Hale?" Rowan interrupted her. "I thought his brain turned to mush after the fire."

⠀⠀⠀"You know him?" Willow asked quickly.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, I was friends with his nephew a long time ago," Rowan explained with a small, wistful smile Willow didn't recognize on her brother.

⠀⠀⠀"Derek?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah," Rowan smiled a little wider. "Do you know him?"

⠀⠀⠀"He's, like, Scott's mentor," Willow explained, raising her hand to his car.

⠀⠀⠀Rowan snorted, "That angry werewolf is sweet little Scott's mentor? I can't see that happening in a hundred years."

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, well, I guess it didn't really work out..." Willow muttered as she realized her description of Derek wasn't accurate these days. "On top of Jackson being the kanima, Derek's become an Alpha and has been trying to kill us as well."

⠀⠀⠀"Seriously?" Rowan asked but didn't sound surprised at all. "Point me in the direction of that dickhead, and I'll beat him up for trying to murder my sister."

⠀⠀⠀Willow laughed at his overprotective behavior, patting his arm reassuringly.

⠀⠀⠀"It's alright. For now, we just need to worry about Jackson."

⠀⠀⠀Rowan sighed, pocketing what she said in the back of his head for later, and nodded to keep her from worrying.

⠀⠀⠀"Speaking of sisters," Rowan said, looking back at her. "What about ours? Why aren't they here?"

⠀⠀⠀"Laurel and Bridgette helped with the Alpha when Scott was first turning," Willow told him, frowning. "Laurel thought of it as babysitting. Then, when we, not including them because of a whole bunch of other issues, defeated the Alpha, Scott started to get the hang of his abilities. Laurel said she didn't want to risk it, and Bridgette just followed her lead."

⠀⠀⠀"Meaning Laurel convinced her to stay out of it," Rowan said, rolling his eyes. "So, why are you still helping?"

⠀⠀⠀"Well, I just felt like I could help—"

⠀⠀⠀"Why are you really helping, little sister?" Rowan asked before she could finish. He rose an eyebrow, allowing a smile to curl at the edges of his lips. "Does it have to do with a certain ex?"

⠀⠀⠀"No," Willow said, talking over Rowan before he could even finish, which only had him assuming that the answer was actually yes. "I don't have feelings for him anymore," she added.

⠀⠀⠀"How do you know?" Rowan asked, composing his expression into a quizzical one, waiting to hear her argument.

⠀⠀⠀"Because Bridgette put a Sweetheart Sachet in mine and Stiles' bag to try and get us back together. The charm forced me to have feelings that I didn't want," Willow explained with ease like she had practiced the words in a mirror a dozen times.

⠀⠀⠀Rowan's smile slipped back again, and he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

⠀⠀⠀"We both know that's not how it works."

⠀⠀⠀The transport van suddenly started rocking, interrupting the sibling's conversation to look around the van just as the doors swung open. The kanima turned to them, hissing, and swiped at both of them.

⠀⠀⠀Willow let out a frustrated groan as she fell back once again from the poison flooding her system.

⠀⠀⠀"Are you kidding me?!" Willow exclaimed.

SOMEONE CAME SKIDDING through the woods, and suddenly, Stiles was back to looking at Willow lying down on the wood's floor like he had the first night all of this started.

⠀⠀⠀"Willow?!" Stiles exclaimed, falling to his knees, so they were face to face. "Please tell me you're doing another ritual and aren't paralyzed because Jackson escaped the transport van."

⠀⠀⠀Willow looked at him, only her eyes moving, and she frowned.

⠀⠀⠀"I can't tell you that."

⠀⠀⠀"We've been trying to shout at those two in the car for what feels like an hour, but I think they're a little busy," Rowan explained, his voice heavy in annoyance.

⠀⠀⠀Stiles' face contorted in disgust and turned to look at the car, then back at them.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay, okay, just hang on, and I'll be right back," he told them, raising his hands like one would to tell a dog to stay, then scrambled over to Scott's car.

⠀⠀⠀There was a lot of soft chatter, then doors opening and slamming shut as the three returned to the van. Scott and Allison were shocked that they hadn't heard anything, looking at the back to see that Jackson was indeed gone. While they were busy, Stiles moved over to Willow and Rowan, dragging them into an upright position against the van.

⠀⠀⠀"I have to tell my father," Allison stated after a moment of silence then turned to Scott. "Scott, he's going to kill someone."

⠀⠀⠀"Okay," Scott nodded, finally relenting. "Tell him. Tell him everything."

⠀⠀⠀"Scott," Stiles sighed. "I gotta tell mine, too."

⠀⠀⠀"We should probably call my mom as well and get her up to date," Willow added with a frown. "She might know something."

⠀⠀⠀"This is all my fault," Scott muttered as they all had to turn to their last resorts (except for Willow).

⠀⠀⠀"It's not," Allison told him, trying to reassure him. "But we have to tell them. We're just a bunch of teenagers—"

⠀⠀⠀Rowan coughed.

⠀⠀⠀"And a college student," Allison added, a hint of a smile from his antics even in the stressful situation. "We can't handle this."

⠀⠀⠀"You're right," Scott nodded.

⠀⠀⠀Allison turned to Stiles and asked, "How are you gonna make your dad believe all this?"

⠀⠀⠀"I don't know," Stiles muttered, shaking his head.

⠀⠀⠀Scott turned to them, his eyes glowing.

⠀⠀⠀"He'll believe me."

WILLOW WAS THANKFULLY losing the effects of the paralyzer by the time they had made it to the police station along with Rowan. She still felt a little fuzzy, like her limbs were all asleep, but the more she moved around, the better she felt.

⠀⠀⠀Inside the police station, Rowan took a seat in the waiting area while Stiles asked the deputy at the desk to buzz them inside. They walked in to meet Sheriff Stilinski and give him the low down on all the things happening within Beacon Hills but stopped dead in their tracks when they spotted Jackson.

⠀⠀⠀Jackson had noticed them as well, a smug smile coming to his face as he sat on the Sheriff's couch, wrapped in a police jacket since he didn't have a shirt while his father and Stiles' father spoke to one another.

⠀⠀⠀"Scott, Willow, Stiles," the Sheriff greeted them, stepping out of his office as he beckoned them inside, looking exhausted. "Perfect timing. Have you met Jackson's father? Mr. David Whittemore Esquire."

⠀⠀⠀There was a moment of silence.

⠀⠀⠀Then, Jackson leaned forward in his seat so he could look at all three of them, the smug smile still there as he told them, "That means lawyer."

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

IGNORE ME I JUST REALIZED THERE'S ANOTHER EPISODE AFTER THIS ONE BEFORE THE THING HAPPENS!!!!!!!

I'm so mad.

SONG: Do I Wanna Know? by Arctic Monkeys

Thank you for reading! Leave comments telling me your thoughts on this chapter, but however you interact, know that I really appreciate you reading. I hope you enjoy, and until the next one.