Strawberry Kisses €¢ Scott Mccall 𝟭𝟴. 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲

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“𝔻𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕙”

“Zero skipping one class isn’t going to be the end of the world.” Stiles spoke to a worried Zero as they drove to the veterinarians office. He had basically spent all day with Zero he didn’t want to separate now.

“But the tiny people said an education is important.” Zero stated matter of factly while Stiles groaned.

“Who let you watch TV? You take things too seriously.” Stiles muttered as they pulled into the veterinarians office.

“Mellisa said Scott almost failed last year! I don’t want that to be me.” Zero exclaimed as him and Stiles got out of the car.

“Trust me Zero. You’re not gonna fail.” Stiles gave Zero a reassuring pat on the back making the boy smile as he opened the door.

“You’re out of school early.” Deaton smiled at the two boys who had just entered his office.

“Yeah, free period, actually. Um, I was just headed home to see my dad. He’s, uh… you know, I guess you probably heard people are kind of getting murdered again. It’s his job to figure it out.” Zero made a confused face when he picked up on the fact that Stiles was in a mix between worried and sad.

“I gathered as much from the sheriff title.” Deaton’s voice held a teasing tone as Zero gave him a wide smile.

“Yeah, um… You know, but it gets kind of hard for him to do his job when he doesn’t
have all the information. And we all know
he’s missing pretty much half the story here, right? So then I started thinking, and I remembered someone who does have a lot of information. Someone who always seems to know more than anyone else around here. You.” Zero smile fell as he grabbed Stiles hand by the end of his speech. He didn’t know how hard it was for Stiles to let his dad go own a wolf goose chase trying to figure out everything that’s happening in his town.

***

“All these symbols and things… the triskeles, the bank logo, The mountain ash… all of it is from the Celtic druids. And anyone who has ever looked up
human sacrifice before knows that the druids had a pretty big hard-on when it came to giving one up to the gods. You ever hear of the Lindow man? 2,000-year-old body found in England? He was found strangled, head bashed in, throat cut. Threefold death. They also found pollen grains in his stomach. Guess what favorite druid plant that was.” Zero listened to Stiles talk about things he already knew, he knew everything about the planet, about nature. He the plant Stiles talking about.

“Mistletoe.” Zero answer watching as Deaton pulled out the flower that he could easily grow in the palm of his hand.

“I’m just telling you everything you already know, aren’t I?” Stiles questioned Deaton not really wanting to know why Zero knew everything about human sacrifices and not what a joke was.

“Then why aren’t you telling us?” Stiles asked taking Deatons silence as a yes.

“Maybe because we’ve spent
every moment of the last ten years trying
to push something away. Denying it. Lying about it. Becomes a pretty powerful habit.” Zeros smile once again fell when he realized Deaton was upset. He didn’t like seeing people upset.

“All right, so this guy…is he a druid?” Stiles asked

No. It’s someone copying a centuries-old practice of a people who should have known better. Do you know what the word “druid” means in Gaelic?” Deaton asked as Zero laid his head on Stiles shoulder.

“No.” Stiles answered honestly one of his hand reaching to touch Zeros hair. Scott was right it was soft.

“Wise oak.” The Celtic druids were close
to nature. They believed they kept it in balance. They were philosophers and scholars. They weren’t serial killers.” Deaton explained as Zero nodded from everything he knew about the earth and its balance Druids never did anything to mess with it especially not how unbalanced he fills it is now.

“Yeah, well, this one is.” Stiles answered before his phone began to ring.

“Hey, I can’t talk right now. Wait, what?
Yeah, are you sure he’s missing?” Zero moved his head away from Stiles wondering what the call was about.

***
“Can we get a copy of this?” Deaton asked as Zero and him stood next to each other listening to a recording on the device Zero didn’t know how to work.

“Hey, doc, any help would be, you know, helpful.” Zero eyes wandered towards Stiles who looked through the teachers desk.

“Each grouping of three would have its own purpose, Its own type of power. Virgins, healers, Philosophers, warriors…” Deaton was cut off by Stiles as Zero let his vines roam around the room freely doing whatever they wanted.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Warrior, could that also be like a soldier?” Stiles asked holding up a picture of the teacher and a women in a ball gown. Zero though she looked like a princess.

“Absolutely.” Deaton answered as they walked to a desk in the middle of the room Lydia trying her best to not step on any of the vines that were crawling everywhere.

“Kyle was in R.O.T.C. With Boyd.” Zero smiled when Stiles mentioned Boyd, that was his friend now and if anyone tried to hurt him they would have to get through Zero.

“That’s got to be it. That’s the pattern.” Zero nodded in agreement to Deaton as he started to look at the different instruments in the room.

“Cool.” Instantly Zero was unattached from reality as he walked over to the instruments which he knew nothing about. He went to grab a violin, but stopped when he saw his butterfly again.

“Please stop leaving me.” Zero whispered as followed the butterfly out of the room Lydia, Deaton, and Stiles following close behind.

“Does this happen often?” Deaton whispered as he watched Zero follow the butterfly through the hall. They were going in the same direction as Zero why not see what he was doing.

“Way too often. I’m sure he would follow that butterfly to the end of the world.” Stiles answered as Lydia hummed following Zero into Mr. Harris’s room.

“This is just one of many possibilities. He could have simply left for the day.” Deaton spoke as they all started to survey the room. They more so then Zero who sat on the floor pouting with multiple vines wrapping around him. He couldn’t believe his butterfly had left him again.

“Yeah, well…Not without this. Zero stop pouring your butterfly will come back again.” Stiles held up the teachers bag as he started to sort though the papers on the desk.

Zero started to wonder where his Scott was at, he hadn’t seen him since the twins and Isaac had ‘fought’.

“Stiles, you remember I told you “druid”
is the Gaelic word for “wise oak”?” Zero tuned into the conversation when he noticed it got kind of interesting.

“Yeah.” Stiles immediately noticed how Zero got interested in the conversation. He really wanted to know more about Zero now.

“If a druid went down the wrong path,
The wise oak was sometimes said to have become a dark oak. There’s a Gaelic word for that as well…” Deaton looked at Zero who eyes slowly started to widen.

“Darach.” Zero answered as Deaton stared at the letters written on the palates spelling out Darach, his life was so interesting now.

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𝚅𝙾𝚃𝙴 • 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃 • 𝚂𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙴