CONTROL ➳ D. HALE [2]

25 ; not stiles

25 ➳ NOT STILES

Elise's fingers twisted and turned around one another as she waited anxiously in the hospital hallway. Scott sat on her right and Lydia on her left, with the siblings' parents leaning against the wall next to them.

It had been Rafael and Melissa that had found Elise and Stiles. Apparently, Elise's father had remembered quite a bit from the times he would sleepwalk after drinking and had used his experience to track down Stiles. Sheriff Stilinski, Lydia, and Scott had met them at the hospital.

"He's sleeping for now," Noah said as he entered the hall, prompting Elise to jump slightly. "He doesn't remember much, most of it was like a dream to him." The Sheriff shifted his eyes to flick toward Rafael. "Thank you."

Elise's father shrugged, shifting the sling rested on his injured shoulder. "Elise found him first."

"I wouldn't have been able to get him out of the woods by myself," Elise confessed, rubbing her hands together as she tried to shake off the chill that lingered in the tips of her fingers. She turned her head to look at her father, a small smile on her face. It felt foreign to direct the gesture toward him, but she knew it needed to be done. "You're the one that saved him."

Rafael returned her gesture, though it looked as if he was trying to stop his smile from widening, unlike Elise who was fighting to make the expression exist at all. Elise's eyes flicked toward the large clock on the wall above her fathers head.

"Hey, you guys have school in a couple of hours," Elise sighed, diverting her attention back to her brother and Lydia. "I'll drive you guys home."

The teens nodded, getting to their feet as Elise did the same. The brunette flashed a final smile toward the adults before following behind Lydia and Scott as they moved toward the exit.

➳

Elise hummed softly as she entered the back room of Cuppa's. She reached upward as she neared the first shelf, rising to her toes in order to pull down one of the supply boxes. She pulled it down, holding it against her abdomen as she returned to a normal stance. From nothing more than habit, Elise's eyes moved up the shelves one more, scanning for anything else she needed.

Then, she saw the eyes peering at her from the other side of the shelf.

Elise jumped, accidentally ejecting a pulse of energy that sent everything clattering off of the shelf in front of her. She took in the rest of the figure, noting the hair that was swept upward a little too much. She noticed the startlingly dark purple bags under his eyes and the way his pale lips twitched into a sneer.

"Stiles?" Elise asked softly, her eyes wide. He didn't move, but his eyes seemed to change, altering from the light brown Elise could easily recognize into something darker. "Not Stiles," Elise guessed, her voice little more than a whisper.

Elise blinked, finding that her eyes were burningly dry all of a sudden. When she opened her eyes, whoever it was she'd seen was gone.

➳

"What are we looking for?" Elise asked as she briskly followed Derek and Scott onto the hospital roof. Shortly after her vision at Cuppa's, Elise had called Derek to tell him what she'd seen. Apparently, he'd done research and had a similar discovery. They'd agreed to meet at the hospital to tell Scott what they'd learned, but after sharing the news with her brother, he'd insisted that they follow him to the hospital roof.

Elise shivered slightly as they entered the area. The last time Elise had been on the hospital roof was when Jennifer had abducted her mother. She'd been too late then. She refused to be too late when it came to helping Stiles.

"I'm not sure," Scott confessed before turning his eyes to Derek. "Do you remember when we were up here the other night? I think Stiles was struggling with more than himself; I think he was struggling not to do something."

After he finished speaking, Scott lifted himself onto a large wooden platform, his eyes skimming the area before they landed on the top of a nearby generator. His lips parted in shock as he reached forward, pulling down a duffle bag overflowing with tools and electrical wires.

"Is that..." Elise trailed off, her eyes wide as they took in the sight before her.

"A bomb?" Derek finished, his brows furrowed.

Elise looked up to her brother, expecting to find him just as confused as she and Derek were. Instead, her eyes caught sight of the sparking, damaged wire behind Scott's head.

"Scott, move!" Elise shouted a warning, prompting her brother to leap from the platform he was standing on without hesitation. Just as his feet hit the floor, the generator he'd been right next to exploded in a hailstorm of sparks and electricity. The three of them stumbled backward, shielding their eyes from the bright flames that licked at the air in front of them.

Then, without warning, the wire that had been sparking above the generator lashed out, swinging toward the trio and sending them stumbling back further. Elise gripped her brother's shoulder with one hand while her other one reached for Derek's hand as the deadly wire bounced and swayed until it fell, taking a shower of sparks with it to the busy parking lot below.

➳

This chapter was really short and I apologize, but I'm trying to get through this season as quickly as possible while not degrading the quality of this story at the same time. It's kind of difficult writing Elise's powers, too, in this season because I feel like they're so similar to Lydia's even though the two are entirely different beings. In other news, Kira's mother is a badass and even though we're supposed to hate her for endangering Stiles, I love her bc she IS just trying to keep people safe. Like if you think about it, one life for the countless ones that a nogitsune endangers is a fair price (that doesn't mean we have to like it!!!) and I actually appreciate her strength like what a bad b.
Words: 1048

Feedback is most appreciated <3