Still ▸ Teen Wolf [Book Two]

sixty ; all paper dolls

I legitimately hate this episode. I'm sorry for the incredibly late update, but this chapter has been killing me for the past two months. I've continued to rewrite it over and over again, and even now I'm not one hundred percent pleased with it. However, this was the best that I could do with how much dialogue and detail has to be put into making sure that every single reaction and action Sage does matches with how I see it in my head. Definitely not the most exciting in my eyes, but the next few chapters will make up for that. Hopefully they will be updated better and faster than this one. Much love, and hope you guys are doing well. This is dedicated to Meg, for being consistent in my life as a fan and a friend ever since I met her a few weeks ago. Thank her for the motivation to write this chapter, and give her all your love for being the biggest lover of Halsey that she spent ten hours on a painting of her lyrics.

SONG OF THE CHAPTER: Big Girls Cry by Sia

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SIXTY;

ALL PAPER DOLLS

"Would she have done it?"

The question unconsciously fell from Kira's mouth as she was walking through the doors to Scott's house, having been battling with whether or not to ask the boy ever since they left the loft. Immediately, she regretted saying anything when she noticed how Scott's back tightened in response to the question, his shoulders rising closer to his ears. Of course he wouldn't want to answer it, not when it was asking him something that involved two of the people he cared about most. When the two of them had heard the news of what happened with the Nogitsune when they were on their way there, they were shocked. Shocked might not have even been the word for it; possibly incapable of processing the truth, letting their hearts drop a bit lower when Allison muttered the words to the couple. A look was shared between Scott and Allison in that moment, one that they had clearly seen enough to know something, leaving Kira oblivious. Maybe it was because she was still figuring out who Sage Connelly was; maybe it was because she knew that whatever she had with Scott could not proceed any further if she didn't make an effort to understand his friends — even if Sage was the hardest one of all. "I'm sorry. You don't have to—"

"No, it's fine." Scott had stopped his walking all together the moment that they closed the door, shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he stared at a picture hanging on the wall of himself during his fifth grade graduation. Then, the boy turned to look over at Kira with a weak smile pulling on his lips, a way to comfort himself more than anything. "She's been through a lot these past few years. I know that you might not know who she is completely, and you might not understand why she does some of the stuff that she does, but she means no harm."

"You don't need to defend her, Scott," Kira's voice was small when she said so, only raising above a whisper as she gave the teenage boy a halfhearted smile back to the one he gave. She was well aware of the quick reflex that she had triggered inside of his brain, an instinctual reaction set up in his mind that told him to defend a girl he considered his sister from everyone, even if what's said isn't negative. "I know she's a good person. I just... I guess I feel like everyone else in town, wondering what happened. Any time her and Stiles are brought up, all of you shut down. You, Lydia, Allison. Them. Was it really that bad? I mean, has she really changed that much?"

Scott knew that he shouldn't be the one answering the question in the placement of either one of his friends. Their relationship was just that — their relationship. Even if he had the opportunity to step inside of their minds, he wasn't sure he would gain the proper answer for Kira. Stiles and Sage were two entirely incompatible teenagers placed in an insane situation that pushed them in the direction of each other, and whether or not how they ended was bad could only be diagnosed by the two that actually experienced the break up. Speaking about their relationship had become negative in every scenario, especially since the only ones that seemed to be doing it recently was everyone but Stiles and Sage. In fact, there wasn't even any room left to question how the former couple felt about each other. He knew that there was a part inside of both of them that still craved the relationship that they had been in for so many months; there was a piece missing, in that small cavity between their spine and their lungs, but that piece had been shadowed by the amount of anguish that they both had faced in the last few weeks.