From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski [#𝟏]

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 [ instinct. ]

A/N: Welcome to NaNoWriMo, guys! Half of this chapter was written just today. Boom, day one of NaNo is done. Stay tuned! The next chapter should be full of fluff. ;D

Song Recommendation ["Pressure" - Paramore]
NOTE: For the full experience, I do personally suggest seeking out each song rec.

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Days had passed in a chaotic blur – days of training, impromptu hunts, and silent dinners. Days of only communicating with outside world through her phone – and no word from headquarters. In fact, Scott, Allison, and Stiles had become Maddie's most frequented contacts. She had almost immediately discovered that Scott and Derek had been in the woods the night of the ...first hunt, as Derek made it abundantly clear that he did not trust her. Of course the feeling was indeed mutual.

That wasn't the worst part though. With having only those in town to talk to, she knew no one would get why it upset her like it did. No one understood. No one could. They hadn't ever had their innocence ripped away like she did at such a young age, only to be replaced with one single, solitary thing – the need to protect. And if she couldn't do that, what was the point? Why go through the trouble of stripping everything else away?

Maddie rested her forehead against the glass as trees passed in blurs of brown and green. Her half-lidded eyes struggled to stay open the morning light shone through the car window, making her typically dark gaze shine an iridescent cherry wood and gold. Alas, it was only the daylight that made her eyes particularly bright that morning, as her mood hardly matched the cloudless sky or the girls chattering away ahead of her.

Although, it was a bit of a comfort in a way.

That wasn't the point.

The point was that Maddie had been worked into the ground the last several days, which didn't help her chronic insomnia – then again, neither did the nightmares. It was always the same thing: trees, severed bodied, the open field, and a hand around her throat. And something else, she thought. Something she couldn't pinpoint that seemed important. Whatever it was, not know what was only looming over her and putting her in an even worse mood.

She couldn't count how many times she had woken up in a cold sweat on the foreign mattress of her temporary bed, trying to catch her breath desperately. It certainly meant something, what with finding the same exact field and watching Gerard cut that man in half. Her senses were telling her something important but she didn't want to be told something important by the universe; she wanted figure out exactly why vampires weren't setting foot in Beacon Hills and get the hell out of dodge with time to spare.

That...didn't seem to be in the cards, though.

The car finally stopped and the sound of the engine left Maddie's ears. She didn't move quite yet though – not until someone shook her. "Don't you dare fall asleep!"