From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski [#𝟏]

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 [ unbecoming, part one. ]

A/N: As many of you know, I've had quite a bit of trauma in my life lately and I appreciate the kind words but, as we all know, life keeps going. So I gotta keep writing. So, obviously, this chapter is big. Like, you know those 2 parter episodes? This is part one. So here ya go. A chapter about discovering strength and the beginning of a battle we all knew was coming since the end of Act One. 

This is for Kharma. Rest in peace, puppy.

Song Recommendation ["Friction" - Imagine Dragons]

NOTE: For the full experience, I do personally suggest seeking out each song rec.

  ☽ † ☾  

Rage was your first friend and, so very soon, it'll be all you have left.

  ☽ † ☾  

The clock on the wall ticked, splitting the silence and shooting through Maddie's jagged nerves.

It was only a few short months - or, at least, that was the way that it felt.

It was only a few months since Xander, the man with the jet black hair and matching eye patch that stood a few feet away, had told her about her mission. Her first solo mission. Hers and only hers. He looked so proud when he handed her the photo of the Argents that day and him being proud of her, even through her numb and despondent state at the time, made a small piece of her swell with pride as well. 

They never trusted Marie enough to send her out in the field by herself (which was, in retrospect, probably a good call). They trusted Terra and Em, the leaders of her team, first. Terra could think on her feet and Em excelled at strategy; it only made sense. They trusted Charlie, another member of the A squad who was only a year older than Maddie. Another obvious choice, considering the girl's empathy and crazy-amazing skill with a dual-sided boomerang glaive. Nora, the youngest, had a long way to go but she was good and braver than anyone gave her credit for  - but things happen. 

Every group loses people, missing or dead or otherwise.

Then, there was angry, little Madeline Hayes - who only got angrier after Nora went missing and Marie died. Little Madeline Hayes, who didn't cry anymore and trained until her hands would bruise and bleed, because that was easier. Simpler.

"God, stop crying!"

Little Madeline Hayes, who Marie maybe always hated.

"Christ, you're not that dumb, are you?"

Who had to work harder and train harder and be harder.

"We'll fight the monsters together."

Little Maddie, whose brother probably forgot about her by now.

Guard the girl.

Who would give someone like that a something so important? That's what she kept asking herself day after day. It's what she kept bugging her Watcher about. Why her? Why now?

Just a few short months. She had nearly forgotten all of it. She'd nearly forgotten about waking up on a thin mattress every morning in a large room full of girls. She'd almost forgotten about being the smallest of her team, the overlooked. She'd forgotten about sticking to Jack's side, then Buffy's side, then Marie's side. She'd almost even forgot about all of the times she was almost killed and needed to be saved by the rest of her team.

And now? There wasn't a day that went by now where someone wasn't asking her what they should do. People ran plans by her, like they needed her approval or something dumb like that. She faced an Alpha werewolf her first night in Beacon Hills. She saved Erica from Jackson that night at the school. She wasn't a slayer, she was the Slayer. The Chosen One.