Still ▸ Teen Wolf [Book Two]

sixty one ; practicality of the practices

SONG OF THE CHAPTER: Blue by Troye Sivan ft. Alex Hope

☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒

SIXTY ONE;

PRACTICALITY OF THE PRACTICES

The sound of footsteps had three heads lifting in time to see Sage walk through the door, entering the kitchen with Melissa slowly trailing behind her. The look on her face was grim, Melissa's eyes immediately meeting with her son to give him a small shake of the head. Scott was sure that his heart deflated a little bit at the gesture, knowing that another person he was supposed to protect was suffering while he was left with no idea how to fix it; maybe not the same way as Stiles, but just as critically. Having someone in the medical field confirm it left Scott stumped on what to do with the information. Sage, seeming to notice that there was an exchange between the McCall's, had straightened her posture in a hopeless attempt to somehow diminish the worry. Considering the circumstances, the teenage girl showed absolutely no signs of distress that would suggest her pain. In fact, she looked like the small altercation in the bathroom never happened, a thick sheet of glass covering her coldly.

"You good?" Scott asked, his face softening in her direction. While it would do nothing to help the situation since he knew the exact answer that would come from her mouth, he had to ask.

It struck a nerve inside of Sage instantly, enough for her to freeze momentarily to register the fact that it was Scott who said it, not Derek Hale. She was sure that Scott didn't even realize what he had done, his attempt to figure out her condition phrased the same way that her surrogate brother had been doing for the longest of times — comfort, from the moment she was eleven and the nightmares began. Unsurprisingly, the sound of the two words consoled Sage in the largest of ways; after having spent so long being asked the question by Derek, she had grown to understand that every time it pushed through the man's mouth, he already knew how she felt. Utterly defenseless. He always knew. His words were the ammunition she needed to remind herself that she had strength, and even though they weren't coming from the same person, a feeling of relief even in the darkest of times washed through her. Now seventeen, she still carried that sentiment with her.

Not bearing to look in the direction of Scott as she nodded, she focused on the tile of his kitchen floor. Deaton had been watching the interaction closely, his eyes wandering from Scott's furrowed brow in concern to the subtle deflection on Sage's part. His absence over the last week had clearly caused him to miss out on a lot, especially as he stared at the relationship between Sage and Scott. He knew that the recent events were clearly taking a toll on the teenage girl when he heard her over the phone. She, above anyone else, had the most understandable reason for falling apart after what happened with the Nogitsune, Eichen House, and even more her own mind. Deaton just didn't expect for her to think that she had to fall apart alone. Although, it was the worst time for anyone to do so. She didn't even look in the direction of the werewolf as she gave him hope, almost as though she was trying to distance herself from him. The friends that always seemed to lean on each other like a pair of fallen dominoes had been pushed in the opposite direction, Lydia getting nothing better than Scott from a girl bound to her breaking heart.

It was satirical above anything else that, even though Sage was no longer being compelled to do things by the Nogitsune firsthand, the supernatural creature still had a hold on her that was even stronger than when he was inhabiting her actions and darkest secrets. The Nogitsune could have gone for Allison or Scott and the reaction would have been just as strong, but there was something about the meticulous play that was made involving the couple. Two bodies, one mind. Deaton already had his beliefs that that was what the thing thought while it was making decisions. Go for one, and the other suffers just as much. Go for the two that people would consider last and tear them apart from the inside out. Break the humanity that Stiles' held tightly onto by killing innocent people, and crush the sanity that Sage played with by letting her loyalty be her end. It was the perfect plan, and sadly one that they realized too late.