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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗

𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳

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Meilani sat in the back of the school bus with her head leant against Stiles' shoulder who read off random words from his iPad for Meilani and Scott, who lounged across the seat in front of the couple, to prepare them for the SATs that rapidly approached. They were on their way to a cross country meet that both Stiles and Scott tried to convince Meilani to stay back on.

It had only been a few hours since Isaac got a numb and unresponsive Meilani back to the McCall residence. He had called Stiles and Scott on the way back from their meeting with Deucalion and the other alphas, explaining what had happened to both Derek and Meilani. Meilani hadn't said a word the whole back home and that was one of the more worrying parts. Ever since Isaac and Meilani began to get closer as friends, she'd never fail to talk his ear off about random things. Something Isaac never complained about because he had never had a friend that actually wanted to talk to him as much as Meilani did to him.

It was a struggle for Meilani to get out of bed that morning to head over to the high school with Stiles, Scott and Isaac to make the bus. The wound on her side continued to bleed and not heal so Meilani had opted to wear her old Beacon Hills High School maroon hoodie. She had almost no energy when she got up that morning between the blood loss and the lack of sleep she had gotten. Any time she closed her eyes, the scene of Derek falling to his death played in her head along with her own screams echoing in her head. Scott had even slept on her floor like he used to when they were small and she had nightmares. Even her twin's presence, a feeling that usually kept her calm and collected, didn't help to lessen the guilt and despair that sat heavily on Meilani's chest.

Meilani should have tried harder to save Derek. She could have done anything to save him if she had just pushed past the white hot pain coursing through her body. Then maybe, just maybe, he'd be alive right now. She couldn't even look Cora or Boyd in the face when Isaac hauled her into his arms and rushed out of the abandoned mall as if it were on fire.

"Babe!" Stiles called, snapping Meilani out of her thoughts and she glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "You still with me?"

"Yeah, sorry. Uh, what was my word?" Meilani asked, pushing herself to sit up and tried to refrain from wincing when pain shot up her right side.

"Anachronism."

Meilani tried to search through her foggy head for the definition of the word. Any other time she would have rattled off answers like it was nothing, but now that her brain was jammed with memories from the night before.... it was tough to focus on anything besides that. "Uh... something that exists out of its normal time."

Stiles kissed the side of Meilani's head with a proud smile. "That's my girl. Okay, Scotty, your word is incongruous."

"Um, can you use it in a sentence?" Scott asked sheepishly.

"Yes, yes I can. It's completely incongruous that we are sitting on a bus right now, on our way to some stupid cross country meet after what just happened - incongruous."

"Out of place, ridiculous, absurd."

Stiles high fived Scott, something he had been doing to keep Scott's moral up. Scott had tried much harder to keep his grades up and to do as well as he possibly could. Thanks to Stiles and Meilani's weekly study sessions to keep him on track, Scott had been doing well in his school work and tests. Every time he had done well on anything, Stiles and Meilani would award with him something and congratulate him to keep him going. Meilani had never been more proud of her twin and she was glad at least one of them had something going well for them.

"Perfect. Okay, Lani, next word. Um, Darach," Stiles said and Meilani's heart froze in her chest because the word sounded way too much like Derek. "Darach, it's a noun." He glanced over to Meilani to see her grow even more pale than she already was. Even her usual bright and vibrant hazel eyes were now dim and her usual perfected hair was sitting in a bun on top of her head as if she had given up on life. "Meilani, we have to talk about it sometime, okay? We're gonna be stuck on this thing for five hours, so why not?"

Scott and Stiles exchanged a worried look with each other when Meilani didn't respond and just fiddled with her thumbs in her lap. She hadn't been this deep in a hole since Scott and Meilani's father left. Even then, Meilani was still little at the time of his separation from the family so this was way worse. However, they both knew not to push Meilani on talking about something until she was ready so they both decided to drop the Derek topic for the moment.

"Okay, next word," Stiles sighed and flicked over to the next one so he wouldn't upset his girlfriend. "Intransigent."

"Stubborn, obstinate," Meilani replied, yelping when the bus hit a bump in the highway and a hot pain shot up her side. She clutched her side, leaning forward and tried to breathe through the pain and not let her wolf side take over.

"Mei, you okay?" Scott shot up onto his knees and leant over the back of his seat to reach a hand towards his twin who kept her eyes squeezed shut. "See, we shouldn't have come. I knew it. Why did I let you convince me to get on this bus."

Meilani let out a shaky breath as the pain in her side slowly went back to its faint throbbing it originally had been at. A pain that Meilani could deal with easily because if she focused hard enough, she didn't even feel the pain and just the slow weakened state her body was getting to as her wound continued to bleed. "No, we had to. There's safety in numbers."

"Yeah, well, there's also death in numbers, okay?" Stiles quipped, locking his iPad and placing it in his lap. "It's called a massacre - or bloodbath, carnage, slaughter, butchery - " He was cut off when Meilani let out a low groan again as the bus jostled a little as it sped up. "Alright, babe, I'm telling Coach that - "

"No, no, no, no," Meilani begged, grabbing onto Stiles' wrist before he could get out of his seat. "I'm alright."

Scott scoffed and crossed his arms on the back of the bus seat, shaking his head at his twin. "Well, you don't look alright from where I'm sitting. Can you at least let Stiles and I look at it?"

Meilani sighed, but slowly lifted the hem of her hoodie to reveal the three bloodied claw marks in her side with dried and fresh blood caked all over her side and the inside of her hoodie. She dropped her sweater and frowned at the boys' reaction. "I know, I know. It's bad, but it's because they're from an alpha. It takes longer to heal."

Stiles rose an eyebrow and gestured to Isaac and Boyd who sat up front, looking like they weren't in a massive wolf fight the night before. "Then how come Boyd and Isaac look fine then?"

Meilani merely shrugged and leant back against Stiles' shoulder, wrapping her arms around his arm to cuddle closer to her boyfriend. "I just can't believe Derek is dead."

"Jared, again, car sick?" Coach Finstock huffed at the brown haired, chubby sophomore that sat in the front with his window open. He looked just as pale as Meilani did, but that was from his kryptonite which was any moving vehicle. Meilani was pretty sure the kid was supposed to take medicine before he got in any moving vehicle, but it was obvious he hadn't that day. "How do you even get on the bus? Look at me, Jared. No, don't look at me actually. Look at the horizon. Keep your eyes on the horizon." His eyes then flickered over to Meilani with an exasperated look. "Female McCall, not you, too!"

Meilani cleared her throat and sat back up again with a forced smile. "No, no. I'm okay, Coach!"

Stiles waited for Coach to turn back around to talk to the bus driver before he focused back on his girlfriend who looked even paler now than when they got on the bus an hour ago. "Meilani, you're still bleeding. You cannot tell me that this is taking longer to heal, okay? Pretty sure that still bleeding means not healing, like, at all."

Meilani eyes snapped over to Ethan who sat with Danny two rows up from the trio and to their right. He wasn't looking directly at them but his head was turned just enough for his ears to perk up to show he listened to whatever they said. "He's listening."

"Is he gonna do something?" Scott asked, glancing over his shoulder subtly at Ethan.

"Not in front of this many people," Meilani replied, hissing when her sweatshirt rubbed against her wound.

"Okay, well, what about the two ticking time bombs sitting right near him?" Stiles asked, motioning to Isaac and Boyd who were on their side of the bus and just two rows ahead of where Ethan and Danny were.

Meilani shook her head and glanced over to Isaac and Boyd to make sure they were still in their own conversation still. "No, they won't. Not here at least."

"If they do, are you gonna stop 'em?"

"If I have to," Meilani shrugged, not knowing how well she'll fair against Boyd and Isaac injured. Though, that wouldn't stop her from jumping in and stopping them from making things worse than already were. If it even could get worse with Derek dead.

Suddenly, the bus screeched to a halt and Meilani flew into the back of Scott's seat with a groan. They had hit a traffic jam, one that looked like it wouldn't be moving anytime soon and they would more than likely miss the meet depending on how long the traffic jam took to clear up ahead. However, missing the meet wasn't on Meilani's worry list as the moment as she heard Boyd's wolf growl ahead. It was low enough for only someone with wolf ears to hear so Meilani was more than certain that Ethan heard it, too. When Boyd's hands gripped the seat in front of him, she noticed his claws grow out.

Without much word to either one of her boys who asked what was wrong, Meilani scrambled over her boyfriend's lap and into the aisle between the seats. Her vision began to blur in front of her and she felt as if she had drowned herself in alcohol the night before. She had to grip the backs of the seats to keep her steady and made it to Boyd just in time to drop next to the seat Boyd and Isaac sat on, grabbing Boyd's wrists and pulling them down before anyone else on the bus saw him. Even with her weakened state, Meilani was still stronger than Boyd.

"Let go," Boyd growled at Meilani.

"You got a plan. Tell me your brilliant plan and maybe I'll let you go," Meilani snapped, glancing over to Ethan to show Boyd she knew exactly who he wanted to go after. "What are you gonna do, tough guy? Kill him, right here in front of all of these people who have no idea about werewolves? Then what are you gonna do after that?"

Boyd brought his face closer to Meilani's and she didn't even flinch at the fierce and determined gaze in his eyes. "I don't care, Meilani." He went to move again, but this time Isaac grabbed the back of his shirt and helped Meilani keep him seated in place.

Meilani ignored the rapid panting from Boyd as he got increasingly angrier. "I do, Boyd. So cut the tough guy act, alright?"

Isaac glanced over at Meilani and his face fell in worry when he noticed the small blood stain on the side of Meilani's hoodie. It was slightly lighter than the hoodie and you would have had to look pretty hard to notice the stain or at least have heightened sight to tell the difference in color. "Lans, whoa, you're still hurt. You didn't heal yet?"

Boyd froze in his fight against Isaac and Meilani was momentarily shock to the see concern in Boyd's face as well. She could even see his nose twitch as the smell of her blood suddenly seemed to hit him.

"I'm fine. Boyd, just give me a chance to figure something out, something that doesn't have to end with someone else dying. I'm begging you here."

Boyd seemed to consider Meilani's words for a moment before he eventually nodded his agreement to keep it calm till Meilani figured it out.

Meilani offered Boyd a grateful smile and ignored the worried expression that still sat on Isaac's face when he looked at her. She shakily pushed herself back to her full height and stumbled back to her previous seat next to Stiles who stood up to allow her back in.

"Crisis averted?" Stiles asked and relaxed when Meilani nodded. "Okay, good. 'Cause we got another problem. Ethan keeps checking his phone, like, every five minutes. It's like he's waiting for something, you know, like, a message or a signal of some kind. I don't know, something evil though, I can tell. I have a very perceptive eye for evil, but you know that."

"I don't like him sitting with Danny," Scott admitted.

"Neither do I," Stiles agreed, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He opened his contacts to find Danny's number and clicked the message option in the contact list. "I'm gonna ask Danny what it is."

STILES: FIND OUT WHY ETHAN KEEPS CHECKING HIS PHONE

Danny's phone chimed up ahead and he pulled out his phone to read Stiles' message. He looked at the trio over his shoulder and mouthed no at Stiles as if Stiles had sprouted fifty heads. Something that wouldn't even surprise Meilani at this point in her life because she had seen way too much not to at least entertain the idea of it happening.

Stiles glared at Danny's back and quickly typed out another message to him.

STILES: JUST DO IT!

DANNY: NO

STILES: ASK HIM.

DANNY: NO. I LIKE THIS GUY. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?

Meilani snorted and smiled amusedly at her boyfriend who grew progressively more annoyed at Danny for helping him out. She knew that Danny wouldn't want to do it because it would be an invasion of Ethan's personal life and Meilani already knew he had a thing for the evil alpha sat beside him. She hated that Danny had to fall for the enemy, but it wasn't like Meilani could say anything to him without sounding insane.

Stiles, who had enough of Danny ignoring him, began to spend Danny's phone which made it chime over and over again. It was a sound that Meilani never wanted to hear again in her life and she nearly punched Stiles in the arm to get him to stop when Danny finally turned to Ethan to talk to him about what he waited for with his phone. Ethan had turned to look at the trio who all not so subtly hid in their seats from Ethan.

"Well, that wasn't very subtle," Stiles grumbled against his girlfriend's shoulder.

Meilani slowly let out a breath as she pushed herself back up to sit properly, easing the pain in her side a bit just as Stiles' phone chimed in his hand again.

DANNY: SOMEONE CLOSE TO HIM IS SICK. MIGHT NOT MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT.

Meilani read Danny's text over Stiles' shoulder and her eyes widened slightly when she realized he spoke about the large alpha that was the reason Derek fell to his death in the first place. "Ennis?"

"Okay, wait... so does that mean..."

"He's not dead," Meilani whispered, heart hammering in her chest as she tried to figure out how Ennis survived but Derek hadn't. They both fell the same amount of stories down to the escalators below and Ennis had looked just as dead as Derek did. None of it made sense and Meilani couldn't form a coherent theory at the moment as her brain still felt like all of its thoughts moved through water.

"Not yet," Stiles finished for Meilani.

Coach once again began to yell at Jared who seemed to grow more sick now that the bus had suddenly stopped. He warned Jared not to throw up because he was a "sympathetic vomiter" and would just throw up right back onto Jared. An image that Meilani really didn't need in her head at the moment. "Stilinski, put your hand down!"

"You know there's a food exit about a half mile up," Stiles informed Coach, slowly lowering his hand that had been raised to get Coach's attention. "I don't know if we stop and then maybe - "

"We're not gonna stop," Coach cut Stiles off.

"Okay, but if we stop - "

"STILINSKI!" Coach yelled, blowing into his whistle that made Meilani cringe along with Ethan, Isaac and Boyd at its screeching sound. "Shut it! Seriously! It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!"

"I hate him," Stiles grumbled and turned to Meilani who actively tried to get a call out to Deaton, but all her attempts failed. "Deaton?"

Meilani frowned as she once again was sent to her boss' voicemail. "I thought he'd know something, but I just get his voicemail."

Scott huffed and whipped out his phone, scrolling through his contacts. "I'm calling Allison and Lydia."

"How are they gonna help back in Beacon Hills?" Meilani retorted.

"They're not. They've been following the bus the whole time," Stiles defended Scott, jerking his head behind them to Allison's small Toyota. Pathetic."

Scott dialed Lydia's number and waited for her to pick up. "Hey, Lyds."

"Heeyyy, Scott. Um, yeah, Allison and I were just about to walk into a movie, uh, you know, the popcorn and - "

"Lyds, I know you and Allison are behind us. Put me on speaker," Scott cut off Lydia, making Meilani chuckle silently.

"Yeah, okay."

Scott waited for the beep of Lydia putting the phone on speaker before he began to explain, "Okay, look, my sister is still hurt."

There was a long pause on the other side and Meilani could hear the sharp intake of breath that Allison took. "Scott, what do you mean still? Is Meilani not healing?"

"No, she's not healing. I think she's actually getting worse," Scott admitted and lifted Meilani's hoodie to inspect the wound again, eyes widening when he noticed the blood begin to turn black. "Uh, the blood is actually turning a black color. I'm not a doctor, but that's obviously not good."

"What's wrong with her?" Lydia asked, the worry and fear evident in her tone.

"What's wrong with her? I don't - Lydia, Stiles and I don't have a degree in lycanthropy, alright? How are we supposed to know what's wrong?"

"We need to get Meilani off that bus."

"And take her where? A hospital?" Lydia challenged, knowing fully well the only hospital Meilani could ever go to was Beacon Hills Memorial when Melissa was on duty.

"If she's dying, yeah! Scott, there is a rest area about a mile up. Tell Coach to pull over."

Scott scoffed softly and glanced over his shoulder at Coach who continued to stare down Jared as if daring him to throw up. "Yeah, Stiles has been trying. I don't know what else he could do. There's no reasoning with Coach and you both know that."

"Just tell him to try something!"

Scott sighed as the beeping sound of Allison hanging up the phone was heard and he pocketed his phone again. "Stiles, you're up again."

Stiles groaned, but pushed himself up from the seat to go speak to Coach and get him to pull over at the next stop. "Coach, we have to stop at the next rest stop. It's five minutes for a bathroom break, okay? We have now been on this thing for, like, three hours - "

Coach blew his whistle to try and shut Stiles up, as if that would really stop the Stilinski boy from continuing.

"It's sixty miles to the next rest stop - "

Whistle

"Being cooped up for hours is not good - "

Whistle

"You know, our bladders aren't exactly - "

Whistle

"Coach, this is - "

Whistle

"Let me talk! I'm - "

Whistle. Whistle. Whistle.

"Get back to your seat, Stilinski!" Coach yelled, pointing to the back of the bus.

"Okay!"

"Jared, keep your eyes on the horizon."

Stiles went to make his way back to Scott and Meilani when his gaze suddenly snapped over to Jared. Meilani rose an eyebrow when he dropped into the seat next to Jared and she could only imagine what her boyfriend planned to do to Jared.

However, her questions were quickly answered as Jared began to vomit all over the front of the bus and they were pulled into the next exit not five minutes later. Stiles grinned as his plan worked and quickly ran to the back of the bus to grab Meilani with the help of Scott and got her out of the bus. Allison and Lydia were quickly at their side and the group snuck into the girl's bathroom to patch up Meilani.

Meilani, who progressively grew weaker and weaker by the second, whimpered as Scott and Stiles leant her against the bathroom wall between two of the sinks. She could barely focus on anything that happened around them and her vision continued to blur in and out of focus as she felt more blood pool out of her wound. She heard the bathroom door open and close again and now only smelt Allison's scent before her world went black.

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Meilani wasn't even sure how long she had been out, but her eye eventually fluttered open again when she heard Allison shout her name over and over again. She gasped and her eyes flashed over to Allison who startled at Meilani's sudden in take of air. She noticed her sweatshirt cut open that laid on the ground next to her and she could feel the stitches that Allison must have done in her side.

"It's all my fault," Meilani choked, sniffling softly as the memories from the night prior plagued her mind once again.

"Meilani, look at me," Allison whispered and offered her a small smile when Meilani's eyes finally met with her own. "It's okay. You're okay."

"Thanks, Ali," Meilani whispered, still feeling a bit weak but her strength slowly began to work its back into her body. "For patching me up, I mean."

Allison stood to her feet and helped a shaking Meilani to her feet, handing her one of the shirts that Scott brought back for Meilani to change into her since her sweatshirt was no longer an option. With the help of Allison, Meilani put her t-shirt on along with her duffle bag and allowed Allison to wrap an arm around her waist, helping her out of the bathroom and back into the bright sun.

"Is she okay?" Lydia asked, running over to the two girls and wrapping an arm around Meilani's waist as well to help Allison with the weight. Even though Meilani wasn't heavy to begin with, but it put less pressure on Meilani's injured side now that Lydia held her up on that side.

"I'm okay. Where's the boys?" Meilani asked, letting Lydia take the duffle from her.

"Trying to stall Coach so the bus won't leave. Allison, we still don't have gas."

"I'm not leaving Meilani," Allison argued, her arm subconsciously holding onto the wolf girl tighter as if the thought of leaving her behind scared the huntress. "I'll leave the car behind. It's fine."

"What?" Lydia balked and froze in her steps, dropping Meilani's arm from around her shoulders as Allison and Meilani carried on. "That wasn't actually a suggestion, Allison!"

When the girls neared the bus, screams and cheers could be heard as students circled around two people on the ground. Scott and Stiles were stood away from the group, talking quietly to each other about what was going on.

"Stiles, Scott, what the hell is happening?" Meilani asked, pulling herself away from the boys to stumble over to her boyfriend and brother.

"Isaac and Boyd went after Ethan. I told 'em what was happening with you and they just snapped," Stiles explained.

Meilani's eyes widened and she pushed through the crowd of students to get to the front. In the middle of the circle, Boyd stood protectively behind Isaac who pummeled into Ethan's face with a tight fist. Blood trickled down the sides of Ethan's mouth and she was pretty sure she heard the crunch of Ethan's nose breaking underneath Isaac fist.

"Isaac!" Meilani screamed and it was as if a switch had went off in Isaac's head.

Isaac let go of Ethan and took two steps away from the bleeding alpha while Danny dropped next to Ethan to make sure he was okay. The students around them all mumbled in wonder how someone as small as Meilani had such a power over Isaac. Only recently had the two really been seen together in school, so it was a shock to them how Isaac even cared what Meilani said to him.

Honestly, Meilani and Isaac were in their own states of shock because Meilani didn't really expect him to stop that quickly. If she were honest, Meilani thought she would have to pry him off Ethan and wondered how in the hell a shout of his name alone made him stop. It was almost as if Derek had yelled at him and not her.

"You're okay," Isaac panted, noticing the new shirt that adorned Meilani's body and the scent of fresh blood was now gone.

"I told you I was," Meilani responded, glancing down at Ethan who gripped onto Danny's shirt sleeve as Danny continued to fret over him. "I also remember saying to leave it alone."

Isaac and Boyd both dropped their heads in guilt and Coach ushered all the students back on the bus before they wasted any more time.

The bus had made its way back onto the highway which had thankfully cleared up and Meilani was sat next to Scott while Allison and Lydia sat in the seat next to them and Stiles in front of them as they all spoke quietly to each other. Meilani was leant agains Scott, feeling the weight of everything finally catch up to her as her eyes felt heavy once again from exhaustion.

Scott stroked Meilani's hair comfortingly like he had always done when he knew Meilani went through a rough time and just needed the physical touch of someone whether it be a hug or someone rubbing her back or hair to help calm her. "Mei, you know Derek's death isn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done."

"Yeah... maybe," Meilani sighed and curled up more into her brother's side, seeking out any comfort he could offer her that she still needed. "I just wish I could have saved him like he's done for me."

"It'll all be okay," Scott promised and kissed the side of his sister's head. "Just get some sleep and I'll wake you up when we get there, okay?"

Meilani nodded and allowed her eyes to finally close, hoping for at least even an hour of peaceful sleep.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

So this chapter was supposed to be the rest of Episode 5 and then all of Episode 6, but this wound up being way longer than I originally expected it to be and if I had done Episode 6 in this chapter as well it would have been way too long of a chapter because it's a HEAVY one. Next chapter will include Episode 6!

However, man was this chapter a lot though. Meilani's guilt was RAGING and I felt so bad having to put my baby through all of that pain. She truly felt like she was responsible for Derek's death because she had been right there when he and Ennis fell over the edge. So Meilani felt like there had been something she could have done, when there really wasn't anything she could have done.

I actually was originally gonna keep the end bit between Allison and Meilani like it was in the show, but I thought we deserved some cute Scott&Meilani content because we love a pair of twins! Also let's not think about how there are only nineteen chapters left of Meilani's story *cue my sadness*