canon au } { post-508: ouroboros

[impetere]

Stiles: Well, now we know that the person stealing the bodies is a supernatural. [pulling on his shirt]

Cora: [she nods, watching him carefully as she nods] Yeah. One that generates fire, which is ... awesome.

Stiles: I'm telling you, if there is a weredragon in this town, I'm done. I'm just telling Scott we're all moving to Berkeley.

Cora: [she nods absently, quiet for a moment, before she spits out:] I told Scott about Theo.

Stiles: [blinks] You did WHAT?

Cora: I had to. He needed to know what he was getting into with Theo and I couldn't keep all of this to myself. I didn't tell him about you, but I didn't have to. He knows you're lying to him about something.

Stiles: [runs his fingers through his hair, frustrated] Great. GREAT. Just great, thank you.

Cora: Would it have been better if I started lying to him too? Because I'm not as good at it as you are.

Stiles: You could have just avoided the subject.

Cora: No, actually, I couldn't. Because whether I said something or not, Scott would still know that something was up.

Stiles: [frustrated face, trying not to let his anger explode. Way too quick to it, too much anxiety]

Cora: [she can sense that but the problem is, she's angry too. She's angry for him just expecting her to lie to Scott, to do it because she loves him, but sometimes loving someone means doing what's best for them, even if they don't agree with it] This isn't just about you, Stiles. This is about the pack. He's using Donovan to keep you and Scott apart so he can get to the pack.

Stiles: Yeah, and guess what - it's going to work. Because even if you out what he's doing, I still killed him. And I can't go back from that.

Cora: Maybe not. But it's not what you did that's hurting you and Scott. It's the fact that you're keeping it from him.

Stiles: Yeah, and what do you think he's gonna do when he does find out, Cora? You think he's going to just forgive me? At least with the nogitsune, he can blame the fox for what I did. This was me.

Cora: Yeah. Yeah, I do. [she gets up from the bed and moves closer to him] Because he'll understand that it was an accident. Because you're his best friend and he can tell that you're hurting and all he wants to do is help you.

Stiles: He can't help me. And you want to know why? [so, so angry] Because I'm glad Donovan's dead. I'm not sorry at all. My dad and I? This whole town is better off with him dead and I'm not going to cry a single tear over him. And Scott isn't going to like that answer. But it's all I've got and I'm going to lose him because of that.

Cora: [the words hurt, and it shows on her face. She suspected, but actually hearing him say it is another thing entirely, and she's mostly glad that Lindsay isn't here to hear it. but in the end she swallows, and shakes her head] No. You'll lose him because you can't tell him the truth, and eventually he's going to get tired of being lied to. [there's a beat] And I really don't think anyone would blame him.

Stiles: [he just sucks on his lips a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He's about to say something when his phone beeps and hey it's Lydia telling him that he needs to get to Scott’s place because look new chimera] I'm... I need to go to Scott's.

Cora: [she glances up and nods] I'll go with you.

Scott: [howling heard in the distance]

Stiles: It's Lydia. She and Mason have another Chimera.

Cora: And that's Scott trying to find Liam.

Stiles: You should go to him. You're the best at finding people.

Cora: [she wants to protest, because she doesn't want him out there alone, but he's not wrong either and he probably wants some space from her anyway, so she just exhales and nods] Okay.

Stiles: Just text me if you need me. [he's still angry, yes. But he does love you, Cora. You can be angry at people you love.]

Cora: [yes you can. which is why she's giving him his space so that he can process it and she can fix it later. Right now they need to find Liam. Which off they go to do until they all wind up back at Scott's for Scott to do the bad thing that makes everyone go WHAT ARE YOU DOING SCOTT.]

Scott: [bad habits he learned from Peter & Derek for 500, Alex]

Stiles: [shit shit shit this isn't good at all]

Cora: [nope. not even a little. They did not need Scott unraveling right now. But eventually they sort out that Liam might be near the water plant and Scott takes Malia and Mason to try and find him while Cora goes with Stiles back to the hospital to deal with the body and the Kira situation]

Stiles: [and Stiles does the "fantastic" lying job to his father's face]

Sheriff: [looking to Cora because he knows something's up]

Cora: [and she is definitely not making eye contact. Sorry, sheriff. And Stiles]

Sheriff: [nope, not happy. He will deal with you both later. Right now, he's a man on a mission and Stiles isn't the only one screwing up his relationship with the McCalls]

Cora: [yep, everything's a mess. But Lindsay and Parrish and Jody are all there and getting into position and Cora and Stiles are pushed off to the waiting room to see how things shake out]

Parrish: [not for long LOL totally screwing up the plan. Cue that smokey scent]

Cora: [perks up and ...] Crap. [and she's running]

Stiles: [perking up at that] What? What is it? [and obviously following]

Cora: [and into the smoke they go, Cora trying to find the Sheriff by scent and instead gets bowled over when Parrish decides to use his roommate as a bowling ball]

Stiles: [meanwhile he finds his Dad and zombie!Parrish and yeah, pulls his dad out of the smoke, already coughing since his own lungs are still healing]

Cora: [and she senses that distress so once the smoke clears and Jody finds both of them, they'll meet up with the Stilinskis in the lobby, Jody and Cora supporting Lindsay between them until they find her a chair. She's sporting some pretty nasty burns and her focus is coming in and out] What happened?

Jody: Did you get him?

Sheriff: Parrish was going back into it.

Stiles: [coughing hard] Cora... you..?

Cora: I'm okay. Lindsay needs a doctor though.

Lindsay: Oh God, not again. I can go home.

Jody: Not with those burns, Missy.

Sheriff: Good thing we're already in the hospital. [rubbing Stiles' back] You too, kid.

Stiles: No, I'm – [coughing]

Cora: [once Lindsay is sitting she's moving to Stiles’ side to get a better look at him] You should just get checked out. You already had some smoke inhalation.

Sheriff: [and look, the fire department has arrived] Come on, all of you upstairs to the ER.

Stiles: [just nods]

Cora: [goes and follows with the ladies because she's going to wait with her boyfriend]

Sheriff: [and once Stiles and Lindsay are being seen, he's going to grab his walkie] Parrish, what's your status. [pause - no response] Deputy Parrish, what is your status. [nope, not happening] Jody, watch them. [and he's going to head off back to the morgue]

Jody: [nods as she turns to Cora] Is it safe to assume that he will be wise enough not to try and get past his supernaturally charged girlfriend?

Cora: [she nods] Go stay with Lindsay. We'll be good.

Jody: [she nods and will go to do that, but she's still in listening distance if they need her]

Stiles: [and he leans back again, the second time in 48 hours he's on oxygen. Damnit Parrish. only he doesn't know it's you yet]

Cora: [slowly reaches over for his hand, giving it a small squeeze]

Stiles: [squeezes back. The mask sucks, but he mouths the words 'I love you' behind it]

Cora: [she can see that and she smiles softly, before moving closer to press a kiss to his forehead] I love you too.

Stiles: [he just leans closer. because no, as mad as he can get... his love is stronger. They can get past arguments. But a few tears are going to sneak past as he thinks about that, and he just holds her hand tightly]

Cora: [pauses for a moment before shifting to climb up onto the cot next to him and curl up against his side.]

Sheriff: [and he's going to come back about a half hour later, talking into his cell phone] Parrish, you better call me back of I'm going to put out an APB on your ass. I want your status NOW. [angry sheriff is so past angry]

Cora: [picks up when she hears his voice] You still can't find him?

Sheriff: No, and the body's gone. So either whoever took the body took him too, he's in pursuit, or there's going to be another body. [because Sheriff may kill Parrish at this point]

Cora: Do you want me to call my sister and see if she can find him?

Sheriff: Yeah. Yeah, do that.

Cora: [nods and pulls out her phone to call her sister, alerting her that Parrish has gone AWOL again and she says she'll go look for him] She says she might have an idea where he went and she'll call if she finds him.

Sheriff: [is checking on Stiles who nods and may be pawing his father's hand off the top of his head] Good. Because I'm about done with all of this Dread Doctors business.

Cora: You aren't the only one. [Cora would like for them to be long gone too]

Sheriff: There anything I can do to have you put him in a car and drag him to Berkley away from all this?

Stiles: [protesting from behind the mask]

Cora: You'd have to teach me to drive.

Sheriff: Damnit.

Cora: Sorry.

Stiles: [finally paws his mask off] And like I'd leave anyway.

Cora: [has a feeling his dad might have something to say about that, and just keeps her mouth shut]

Sheriff: I can make you leave, you know. I'll send you to your aunt in Poland if I have to.

Stiles: I'd find a way back.

Sheriff: I can make you leave, you know. I'll send you to your aunt in Poland if I have to.

Stiles: I'd find a way back.

Sheriff: [just stares at his son, but this is Mexico all over in his head and he points a warning finger at his son, then looks at Cora] Do me a favor, tie him down. I don't want details, just tie him to something.

Cora: [she just nods. It won't work and she's not going to try because she knows it won't work but she'll try and get him to see reason. or something]

Sheriff: I'm going back to the station. When they release you, you go straight home.

Stiles: Yeah, fine. I'll take a cab.

Cora: [she nods again, waiting until the sheriff his gone before shifting to curl into Stiles' shoulder again]

Stiles: [and it isn't long before he's breathing better, and the doctors clear him to go]

Cora: [and she makes him go home, just like she promised]

Stiles: [but as they are trying to leave] I just want to look at something. [and is going to head to the morgue]

Cora: [sighs and turns to follow him. She was serious about not letting him out of her sight]

Stiles: [and since there's no one there, he's going to just... slip past that crime scene tape and go into the morgue]

Cora: [more sighing as she follows him]

Stiles: [and he's going to look a bit before squatting down as something under a table catches his eye.] What do we have here...

Cora: [mostly watching the entrances so that they don't get caught and doesn't actually look at what he's doing until he says he found something]

Stiles: [picks it up and he sucks on his lips. It's still a bit warm, and there's ash and a bit of deformity and he looks over at Cora and shows it to her] We need to talk to your sister.

Cora: [glances down at it and nods, before reaching for her phone again] I'll find out where she is.

Stiles: [he debates about it, but nope, sticks it into his pocket. He's already got homicide dirtying his hands, tampering with evidence isn't a big thing.]

Cora: [talks with her sister for a bit before hanging up] She'll meet us at your house.

Stiles: Well, then we won't be breaking my dad's orders. Let's just... get a cab or something.

Cora: [which they do! And head back to Stiles’ house to meet Laura who is already there when the cab pulls up]

Laura: [frowns] What happened to the Jeep?

Stiles: Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. [sore subject]

Cora: We should do this inside.

Laura: [nods before gesturing to Stiles to let her in since she's never been here before] Lead the way.

Stiles: [opens the door and in they go. He pushes in his code into the security system so that his dad won't freak, and sends him a text confirming he's home] So have you by chance talked to Parrish in like, the last few hours?

Laura: Before he left. He said he was going to some police stake out thing.

Stiles: [reaches into his pocket, and tosses the name tag to her] Oh, he was there all right.

Laura: [catches it easily, looking down at the name tag before glancing up at him again with her eyebrows rising like "so?"] He was there. Where he was supposed to be. What's the problem? [get to the point, Stiles]

Stiles: Well, he and the body went missing when the morgue filled up with smoke and the fire sprinklers turned into a steam bath. Lindsay is in the hospital still with burns to her face. And a few hours before that, the body I was guarding with Cora at the vet was taken after Theo got punched in the face with a flaming arm and my jeep got flipped and set on fire while I was still in it. [judging Stiles look] So... has he been coming home smelling like dead bodies recently?

Laura: No. [which is true. He's been coming home smelling like burning flesh]

Stiles: So nothing's different with him in the last few weeks? Because if it's NOT him, he's going to be the next body we find.

Laura: [she doesn't look surprised or defensive. In fact, she looks fairly calm for what Stiles is accusing her boyfriend of but eventually she just takes a deep breath before shaking her head] He's not going to be the next body.

Stiles: So he is the one taking them?

Laura: [she closes her eyes and nods] Yeah. He's taking them up to the nemeton and burning them.

Stiles: [blinks, and looks at Cora a moment before back at her] Why the hell is he doing that?

Laura: [holds up her hands like "to hell if I know"] He doesn't even know he's doing it. He's been going into these fugue states and coming back covered in ash and I've been trying to figure out why he's doing it. Derek and I knew he was burning bodies up there, and we only recently made the connection with the bodies of the chimeras going missing.

Stiles: [tapping his hands against each other as he's thinking, and then he shook his head] It's like Jackson all over again.

Laura: Who?

Cora: One of Derek's betas. Apparently he was a kanima before they managed to fix him.

Laura: Oh. [a beat] You fixed a kanima?

Stiles: Well, Lydia did actually. And then Derek and Peter maybe killed him but didn't? It worked, whatever it was they did to him.

Laura: Huh. [she will ask her brother about that later] Never mind - as far as I know, Jordan isn't killing anyone. He's just getting rid of the evidence.

Cora: No. He's destroying the failures. [she glances to Stiles] Kira kills them and Parrish cleans up the mess.

Laura: Kira? The kitsune?

Stiles: She only killed the one, and she doesn't remember doing it either from what I gather from Scott.

Cora: Parrish doesn't remember destroying the bodies either. I mean ... we've been around when most of them have died, and Scott said that he had to stop Kira's fox from killing Lucas.

Stiles: So if neither of them have control of what they are doing... someone's controlling them.

Cora: Scott says Kira triggered the memories of what the Dread Doctors did to her, maybe we just need to do the same to Parrish to know for sure.

Stiles: Well, we need to find Parrish now. Because my dad's gone off the deep end on the whole supernaturals are not above the law rampage and he's going to end up getting thrown under the bus if we don't fix him first.

Laura: He takes all the bodies up to the nemeton. I'll head up there and try to track him down.

Stiles: I'll try to deter my dad but he's probably put an APB out on him at this point. Get him to the loft once you find him.

Laura: [she nods] You two stay here. I'm serious, I've managed to bring him out of this before but I don't know if that was luck or him actually recognizing me through all of that so just ... stay here so you don't get set on fire, alright?

Stiles: If it helps... he recognized my dad and didn't attack him while in that state. Told him to actually get me out of there. So there's some part of him that can see through it all. It may be what you can use.

Laura: [she nods because that does help] Still. Stay here. [and with that she'll head out to go up to the preserve again]