Chaos Rising

15

Scott

With Stiles gone, the loft is left feeling empty, silent.

Even though I feel everyone's eyes on me, I stare at the revolver laying in the middle of the room; where Void had dropped it before kneeling beside Ella. With the shiny barrel of the firearm glistening in the sun, the pit of my stomach churns with realization.

I'm never going to see Stiles again.

I instantly regret my words, how I had banished him from Beacon Hills. In less than ten seconds, I had single handedly lost my best friend, my brother.

I take a few steps towards the gun, crouching down and picking it up, weighing it in my hand. Without saying a word, I tilt it towards my palm, letting the remaining bullet fall out of one of the last two chambers. But nothing comes out. I look into the six spaces, but every single one is empty.

It was never loaded in the first place.

I place the gun down gently, barely letting it make a sound, and raise my eyes to the door, as if waiting for Stiles to walk back in.

"What's wrong?" Lydia asks, her voice breaking mid-sentence.

It takes me a while to register what Void had done. How he had played us. "It wasn't even loaded." I say quietly, pausing. "He was bluffing the entire time."

"I do you mean it wasn't loaded? I don't understand." My mother speaks for the first time since arriving. "Why would he do that?"

I rise to my feet, turning to face the rest of my pack, which is now not just two members short, but three. "Because Stiles told him not to hurt us," I tell them, concluding my own thoughts with an overcoming sense of dread. "And Void listened."

Stiles

I start driving. I don't know where I'm going, what I'm doing, or if I'll even come back. I just know that I have my foot on the gas and I'm not letting up. Not until I find myself in a unknown place, filled with unknown people, far away from Scott and his pack.

I focus on the road ahead of me. It stretches for miles down the land, surrounded on both sides with thick, evergreen trees. I am not familiar with this area, with the dark forests and empty roads. I have not seen a single pair of headlights in hours, nothing but the setting sun painted on the horizon.

I pick up my phone after hearing it buzz for the hundredth time this minute. The screen lights up to show me a variety of missed calls, voicemails and text messages. I want to ignore them, but part of me needs to tell them. I click my fathers messages, deciding not to read them - for doing so would have me turning around and going straight back. But I can't. Instead, I start typing.

The Benefactor is Meredith. And yes, I'm positive that this is true. I went to see her myself before going to Derek's loft. But please, Dad, believe me when I say it wasn't her idea. Don't blame her. Have Scott go into her mind, you'll see who gave it to her in the first place. - Stiles.

I press send, watching with welling tears as the status turns to 'read'. But before I get the chance to read his reply, I open google maps, focusing my raging mind on finding the closest gas station. I'm running dangerously low on fuel, seeing as my last fill up was almost a hour ago. And with how old this jeep is, a quarter tank won't last me long at all.

I open my window to throw the phone out, but I can't help but smile to myself as I catch the name of my current location. The phone buzzes once more in my hand, and I chuck it, not giving myself the chance to read my fathers reply.

I return my eyes to the road, glancing briefly at Ella, who is still asleep in the passenger seat, and think of what my new life will be like, and if it will be with her.

I hope you like Canada, I tell Void. Because it looks like we'll be staying.

I smirk as he protests, plentifully cursing something called a Canadian Goose.

Trust me, Stiles. They are birds sent straight from the bowels of Hell.