From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

These people are idiots.
This, of course, was something Madeline was now completely sure of. Perhaps not in a book sense, as she was now at the front of the Chemistry classroom watching Lydia make – what did she say? A self-igniting Molotov Cocktail? That in itself was a fairly incredible feat and something she wouldn't expect from anyone with a high school level education. Scott had decided to go get the janitor's keys so they could make a hasty escape. No, no, this group almost was working like a well-oiled machine – granted it was a well-oiled machine that clearly lacked common sense and happened to be in a constant state of denial. She vaguely wondered the damage these teens could do if they actually knew all the horrible realities of the town they lived in. That, in itself, was a frightening thought. She shook her head and leaned against the chalkboard.
Scott, in his ability to effortlessly sprint over the line between bravery and idiocy, had resolved to go face to face with the 'serial killer'. Because that makes total sense - if we're in a slasher movie and Scott's supposed to die next. It was an unfathomable level of stupid, which she considered herself an expert on these days. It wasn't like she hadn't just went face to face with an Alpha werewolf with no information or team or weapon; hell, it wasn't like she didn't typically run headlong into bad situations. Still, at least she had superpowers. What the hell did Scott have?
Several feet away, Scott and Stiles kept looking over at her and whispering. She was in too much pain to bother focusing on what they might've been saying. She watched Scott clearly sniff the air which brought new questions, such as: Why didn't anyone else notice something as weird as their friend sniffing the air?
Lydia gently mixed the components and plugged the beaker with a cork, handing it off to Scott. Madeline stared at the mixture, uncertainty and anxiety prodding at her.
"You shouldn't go out there," she said, her voice stern and having a certain level of authority behind it. She nearly sounded like Buffy for a second, which only made her more irritated.
"She's right, this is insane," Allison spoke up, pain plaguing her gaze as she looked at her boyfriend. "You can't do this. You cannot go out there."
"We can't just wait here for Stiles to have to check his messages," Scott argued, mirroring her stare.
Allison looked utterly horrified. "You could die. Don't you get that? He's killed three people."
"And we're next. Somebody has to do something." Scott backed away from the desk and towards the door.
It was horrible watching the two. Madeline had forgotten this part, probably because it was so fresh. It was opening a wound that didn't have enough time to heal. Now and then, some slayers didn't come back to HQ, but it was expected. They grew up knowing the deal and pretending to accept it. Death was a constant in her life but it was different when it happened to someone you cared about. It was different when you could see it coming and couldn't stop it.
Now, seeing this average boy possibly – more than likely – kiss his girlfriend for the last time and prepare to face impossible odds felt like the wound in her stomach threatening to open back up. As Scott went to the door again, leaving Allison behind, Maddie decided to speak once again. "If you're going out there, you at the very least shouldn't go by yourself."
"And who's gonna go with him?" Jackson let out a short, mocking laugh. "You?"
"Well, it obviously won't be you," Maddie said with a shrug, not so much trying to attack him but feeling the need to point out the obvious. "You've looked more afraid than anyone else here."
"Maddie!" Allison chastised, her voice cracking and tears still staining her cheeks as she did so.
Maddie blinked at Jackson and her brows furrowed as her eyes went back to Allison. "What?"
"Just...stay here," Scott mumbled before putting a bit more emphasis in his tone, looking at Madeline. "All of you."
Maddie thought she saw something in that second, a flash or light reflecting in his eyes. That made no sense, though; there was no light in the room except for the blue glow of phone screens. She blinked rapidly, wondering why she thought she saw gold. He turned away from everyone in the room, opened the door, and in mere seconds, he was gone.
☽ † ☾
Minutes ticked away as Maddie paced back and forth, a mixture of unpleasant emotions coursing through her. Anger was the most prominent – mostly at Scott for going alone. Suspicion was giving her anger a run for its money though; she was sure she saw some unnatural when she last saw Scott. There was also some annoyance at the remaining group because their talking wouldn't give her a moment's peace.
Then there was one tricky emotion she remained plagued with for so long, long before tonight – helplessness.
She already tried to leave twice but was stopped by Stiles both times. He used his whole body as a barricade and she couldn't help but imagine lifting him by the back of his shirt like lion picking up a cub by its scruff and throwing him across the room. She took a breath and allowed that urge to ebb away on the tide that was her frayed emotions and aching lim.
Each time, the look Stiles gave her seemed more narrowed and suspicious. The feeling was mutual though; she didn't trust either Scott or Stiles considering the amount of lies she heard them giving the other three teenagers. She knew they saw the same thing out of that window earlier that night – but then why lie and say it was a person? They had to at least know it looked like an animal. She vaguely wondered if they had been expecting her to catch them in their lie and tell the group she'd seen a wolf.
Even more curious, what had she seen before Scott left. She could've passed it off as fatigue or her shot nerves making her mind play tricks on her. Still, it looked too real. It looked so startlingly odd to see a contrast of yellow in the heavy blue darkness and she couldn't force herself to pass it off as nothing.
All of this was beginning to call something else into question – exactly how much did Scott and Stiles know?
Suddenly, the room reverberated with an ear-piercing howl so loud that she covered her ears. What was even more terrifying was when Jackson collapsed to the floor, writhing and screaming in pain. Maddie rejoined the group, wondering what was happening. As the rest of them helped the boy up, they heard him mutter, "No, I'm fine."
As he stood and jerked away from them, he quickly and much more firmly answered, "Like seriously, I'm okay."
"That didn't sound okay at all," Allison said, her voice worried but incredulous.
Then Stiles reached over to Jackson, looking at something with piqued interest. "What's on the back of your neck?"
He swatted Stiles' hand away, glaring at him. "I said I'm fine."
"It's been there for days. He won't tell me what happened," Lydia said to the rest of them, throwing Jackson an accusatory stare.
Jackson's pale blue eyes blazed in anger as he glared at his girlfriend. "As if you actually care."
It seemed to be Maddie's turn to narrow her eyes on someone new – Jackson to be specific. It seemed she was not the only one in severe pain much to her own suspicion. There were so many questions floating around her head and more kept bombarding her. Everyone here aside from the person she was here to protect seemed alarmingly odd. Scott was okay with facing a supposed serial killer. Stiles was okay with his best friend probably getting murdered. Lydia knew how to make explosives. Jackson was screaming in pain when the Alpha howled from somewhere in the school. What the hell was wrong with these people?
Maddie rolled her shoulder again and ignored the various sharp pains in her side as she began circling the group before stopping behind the jock. Four deep purple crescents were lined up vertically down his neck. They looked fresh but, from how Lydia described it, they'd been there for days.
Maddie quickly and without reservation poked one of the purple marks. At least, in her opinion, it was only a poke whereas Jackson let out a yelp of sheer agony and nearly fell to his knees. He backed away from Maddie and glared at her, his face red enough to see even in the dark. She raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.
"People who are fine typically don't do that." Her voice was so plain and ingenuous as she said it that people might've mistaken it as a witty retort. Maddie saw it as basic math.
The reactions from the other three students slightly surprised her. There was Allison who looked completely appalled; Stiles looked begrudgingly impressed – or maybe just happy to see Jackson in pain; and last was Lydia who gave a pleased smile to Maddie and a condescending shrug to Jackson.
Stiles, possibly in a flimsy attempt to ease the tension, stepped in between the infuriated Jackson and a considerably impatient Maddie. "Alright, can we not argue for half a second here?"
"Where's Scott?" Allison muttered more to herself than the rest of the teenagers. Her voice had become more fragile and even a bit shaky this time around. "He should be back by now."
Not even half a heartbeat thumped in Maddie's chest when they all heard a small crack on the other side of the door.
Allison was the first to head towards it. "Scott?"
Maddie's stare followed the girl when she saw the oddest thing – someone was on the other side of the door. Person-sized, certainly not an Alpha werewolf, but that wasn't the odd part. They, whoever was there, stood there on the other side of the door for several long seconds as their shoulders rose and fell in rapid, deep breaths.
As Allison shouted louder and louder for Scott, she twisted the door handle and pulled with all of her strength. Someone – maybe Scott, probably Scott – locked them in for some unknown reason, but was Scott the shadow on the other side listening?
Maddie contemplated kicking open the door – something she could do even in her current state but it would call more things about her into question.
Still, she almost gave in when –
"Stop...Stop!" Lydia spoke over her friend's cries. Her hearing seemed to be focused on something else entirely. "Do you hear that? Listen."
The room grew quiet as a distinct sound was heard by all of them in the distance. Relief flooded Maddie almost immediately.
The expressions of relief spread to the rest of them quickly as they all had the same idea and ran over to the windows. Flashing red and blue lights stretched throughout the entirety of the parking lot.
☽ † ☾
Madeline couldn't wrap her brain around any of this.
She fought – or at least attempted to fight – an Alpha werewolf her first night in Beacon Hills.
She ruined Allison's first impression of her in less than five minutes.
They all made it out of the school alive and in one piece - including Scott, which was curious.
And she still had homework to do.
Least of my worries, I suppose. She made the long walk over to Allison who now had a mixture of tears and runny mascara sliding down her cheeks in rapid succession. She'd just walked away from Scott, who looked utterly confused and distraught – almost as if the air had just been knocked out of him.
Maddie slowed her pace as Allison turned to her with a look the slayer didn't recognize in the slightest.
She sniffled and tried to regain her composure. "Hi."
Maddie nodded in return. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out; the apology she'd resolved to give the girl had gotten lodged in her throat. She wasn't really sorry, to be honest – or maybe she was but she couldn't quite see why. Apologizing without knowing why seemed hollow. To be honest with herself though, it made sense when all she knew to feel these days was hollow.
"Sorry," they both choked out at once.
Allison, through her tears, gave a small and embarrassed laugh. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of Maddie's mouth, even when she wasn't sure why Allison was apologizing at all.
"No, really," Allison began, shuffling a bit in her spot. She looked down for a moment at her scuffed shoes before glancing back up at Maddie. "God, I am so, so sorry. I get that you were trying to help."
"I yelled at you," Maddie blurted out, although she had been aiming for something much more sincere. It didn't matter that her only two modes the past few months were silence or shouting. It was a dumb move.
"I know. You yelled at me to leave and you were right. I should've." Her eyes went back to a slumped over Scott in the distance. "...I was stupid for staying."
"Kind of."
Off of Allison's surprised glance, Maddie's eyes widened. It was almost like she'd slipped back to a different time, like Allison had been someone else.
Maddie shook her head, hoping the shadow of the past would lift. "Wow, um - that...didn't come out right."
After a long moment, another small laugh came from Allison.
"No, no. You said what you meant." Allison curiously stared at the girl, analyzing her for a second. "You do that a lot, don't you?"
You said what you meant. That was one of the last things her Watcher had told her – and it certainly wasn't the first time. An image of a wide, sad smile flashed in her brain. She looked down at the dead leaves on the ground. "Yeah."
"It's not bad, it's...honest." Allison's eyes flicked over Scott and Maddie could almost see the light leaving her eyes. "I could use a little bit of honest right now."
A knife twisted in Maddie's stomach – a feeling she actually knew and did not take lightly. Although, this blade was made of guilt and wasn't as easily removed, which may have been worse altogether. She forced a smile. "Sure, yeah. I can do that."
Allison glanced over Maddie's shoulder and her face crumpled. "Dad!"
She rushed past Madeline and flung her arms around her father who tightly hugged her back. They exchanged some words, mostly in relief – although some from the older man seemed more scolding.
"You're sure...?"
"Yeah, Dad." Her words were soft and with much more relief laced in them. "...didn't let me wander off. Told me to leave. I'm so, so sorry. I should've listened. I was-...I was so scared..."
Her voice cracked again. Her father hugged her tightly again. Maddie finally turned to see the two embracing. The older Argent opened his eyes and looked at Maddie. An odd lump of nerves set in; would she be fired? Be sent back to HQ for more training? She rung her stretched out sleeve in her hands.
That's when it happened, in that tiny, silent moment.
Chris Argent's eyes weren't as emotionless and suspicious as before. There was something in them and Maddie recognized it almost instinctively. She'd seen it so many times on so many faces but they were never looking at her. They were looking at her teammates.
They were looking at her best friend, Marie, even if Marie never saw it.
It was the look so many innocents gave to Buffy, her general.
Gratitude.
He gave a slight nod then, which Madeline returned through her own shock. The hunter loosened his grip on his daughter as he looked down at her. "Seems like your new friend has a good head on her shoulders. Maybe you should listen to her next time."
Allison nodded quietly and turned to Maddie with her own grateful, half-hearted smile.
"In fact, to show how grateful we all are," Chris began with his own false smile, "How about we invite her over for dinner?"
Both girls gave him a strange, disbelieving look. Allison looked back at Maddie with a wide-eyed stare, then back to her father.
"I mean, I guess so." She glanced over to Maddie once more. "If that's okay with you."
"What?" Madeline seemed more shocked in that moment than the entire time she'd spent in the school that night. "Oh, uh, yeah! Sure."
"Good," Chris said, although his tone didn't reflect it. "Saturday night, then."
"Yeah," Maddie replied distantly as something caught her eye. In the distance, she noticed a stern-looking Sheriff looking over at her and waving her over. "Saturday. Right. Sorry, will you excuse me?"
With that she made a hasty exit from the Argents and strode towards the aging man in the brown uniform. "Hi, um, did you need me for something?"
"Madeline Hayes?" the Sheriff asked. She nodded. "Your mother has been called. We filled her in on the current situation. Since she's out of town, she asked for you to be escorted home..."
My what? Part of her hoped it was Faith, mostly for the hilarity - or maybe Willow, since she already kind of wished Willow was her mom.
"...but it looks like the address given was the Motel 6 off of 3rd and Welsh."
"Yeah," she said instantly and a bit too forcefully. "We moved here a little early and the house isn't ready. My parents are finishing up getting our stuff from the old one. The old house, where we used to live. Today was my first day here, actually."
The lies were still clunky but they rolled off of her tongue much easier each time she had to give them. Each time, her nerves got to her less and less.
The Sheriff took a moment to analyze her before nodding. "...That's just about what she said too. Alright, I'll take you over there. Gotta drop off my miscreant anyway."
He nodded over to Stiles in which Maddie raised an eyebrow at the boy. Stiles seemed to hear all of this and gave his father an almost pained look.
What seemed like an eternity later, Maddie got into the passenger side seat of a police car. The reasoning behind this seemed to be that the frightened teenage girl - ha! -  was allowed to call shotgun as she doesn't have a history of trouble following her. Not yet, at least.
Stiles groaned and got in the back of the wagon, more than likely knowing full well that the girl in front of him seemed to be the least frightened of all of them that night.
All the while, Sheriff Stilinski – as she learned his last name was – attempted to calm Maddie's nonexistent nerves. If anything, she was more confident than ever. Sure, her shoulder and side hurt like hell but she made it through the night. Allison didn't hate her and not only did she take the Alpha off its feet, she lived.
Maddie withheld the smile that threatened to spread across her face.
"Did you need something to eat before we drop you off?"
She shook her head and tried at a meek, appreciative smile. "I'm fine. Really."
That good feeling, unfortunately, came crashing down around her as she reached for her bag.
Her bag. The one with her crossbow and her stake and her ax.
No. No, no, no, no!
Blood drain from her face as she retraced her steps. The side-door, the first classroom, the pools, the-
There was an image in her brain of setting down her bag on a large round table in the cafeteria as she popped her arm back into socket as Stiles began shouting about the wall of windows. There was a fight and Maddie turned away from her bag to the group of near-strangers. There was a moment when they had to run. She set down her bag in the cafeteria.
"My bag!" Her head snapped over to the Sheriff, her eyes wide with horror. "I left my bag in the school!"
Sheriff Stilinski seemed placid as ever, not taking his eyes off the road. Although, Stiles' head seemed to perk up in the side mirror.
"We'll be searching the building tonight, top to bottom," the Sheriff said in a weak attempt to placate her. "I'll make sure we get your bag to you."
"No, but –" she started, her thoughts rushing around her in blurs of coherence. "I – I need it tonight! We have to go back! My...my wallet! And my homework! And..."
"Calm down, it's okay." The Sheriff glanced at her worriedly for less than a second as he stopped at a red light. "You're stuff will be fine. I promise."
"But...but I..." Alas, she couldn't form any good excuse. Her heart was beating rapidly at the prospect of the Sheriff's department searching her bag. Gods, she was beginning to hyperventilate. "...I have to..."
"Yeah, Mads!" Stiles chimed in, using a nickname reserved for only two people in her life.
It should've reminded her of when Xander used it, which he did often as a term of endearment - the same way he called her 'kid' or 'champ' or several other similar nicknames. Instead, it had a bite to it, the way only one other person would say it. The way that person said it the very last night, like an accusation.
Maddie turned her head slowly and threw at him a glare which bordered on murderous.
Stiles seemed unusually used to this type of reaction and continued with a smug grin. "They'll get that to you, ASAP! It's not like you have something anyone might be worried about, right?"
The look in the boy's eyes told Madeline that he knew something – or was at least suspecting something. Her darkened stare drilled into his as she took an even breath in and out. "...Right."