Inquires of The Truth

Crawford stared at Alana, Hannibal, Will, Tenebris and Stiles as they sat in his office( Stiles was standing against the wall next to the archangel, glaring at the head of the BSU but that was beside the point here) as he quoted Lounds newest article. When he was done he stared at Hannibal he said, in that high in might tone he was so well known for," You know what else isn't very smart? You were there with him and you let those words come out of his mouth." 

"I trust Will to speak for himself," Hannibal stated calmly. 

"Evidently you shouldn't." 

Alana and Tenebris exchanged glances as the slightly taller of the two( Alana was taller than the archangel's mundane form by an inch or so)," I am just happy the story wasn't about Abigail Hobbs."

Tenebris inclined her head towards Alana as she said," Then that is a victory, for us." 

Crawford sighed," So, Abigail Hobbs wants to go home, let's take her home." 

Tenebris glanced at the two ravenstags before as Alana huffed before the older spoke," What Abigail wants and needs may be different things. Taking her out of a controlled environment may end up being reckless." 

Crawford frowned at her," You said she was practical." 

Tenebris hummed as Will answered," That could just mean she as a dissociative disorder." 

"You take her home, she may experience intense emotions, respond aggressively, or re-enact some aspect of the traumatic event without even realizing it," Stiles added from his spot on against the wall. Crawford ignored him once more and asked Hannibal," Both Dr Bloom and Dr Celeam are right, but as they said, it may. There is a scenario where revisiting the trauma event could help Abigail heal and actually prevent denial." 

Tenebris nodded," In some cases, I think Dr Lector might be right in this case where it could truly help her."

Crawford nodded," Then I am going to choose the opinion that best servers my agenda," He turned to Will and told him," I need to know if you're right about the copycat, Will."

Alana frowned as she warned," We have no way of knowing what's waiting for her when she goes home." 

Tenebris glanced at her then said," I'll take my leave, then agent Crawford." 

She left the office with a smirk playing on her lips. 

Bloomington, Minnesota: The next day

  The sight of the house was one that made Will stuffle a growl and Stiles bristled at the pure human hatred and cruelty. The 19-year-old walked up with Abigail and said," May I walk with you?"

"Why?" 

"Sometimes people need others around them..." Stiles replied as they walked up the porch. She muttered back to the other teenager," I was sort of expecting a body outline in chalk or tape." 

Stiles smiled sadly at her as Will walked up to them and explained softly," They only do that if you're still alive and taken to the hospital before they finish the crime scene." 

Abigail whispered something to herself as Will, Stiles, Hannibal, Abigail and Alana Bloom walked into the house. Stiles felt the wrongness that was nearly the same as that in the cabin. He drew into himself than cast out his senses. A scene danced in as if they were shadows suspended on dust. A fawn played and pranced around a shrike and a woman. The fawn and the shrike hunted in a shadow forest. The fawn, nearly a young doe now, stood now with a stag with tall branch-like antlers and a stag with smaller but more feathered antlers. The three deer were soil and coloured, the older two nearly pitch-black feathers for fur, the taller had blood-red eyes, eerily like Hannibal's marron eyes. The shorter had Will bright icy blue, while the fawn's feathered fur was a deep brown with chocolate eyes. They glanced at Stiles as he blinked and was hit with a vision. 

Abigail sat on her family's couch, it was night time outside as some young man walked into the room and hissed at her,"   Did you help your old man cut out my sister's lungs while she was still using them. "

Then the man was screaming at her," I just want you to listen to me. I didn't kill that girl, okay? I didn't kill her! Wait! Listen! I didn't..."

He was cut off as a knife was slid into his gut and pulled across in a panicked way. 

"Stiles?!" Will's frantic call brought the young druid back to the present as he blinked away the pale cloudly look in his eyes. The young man looked at his mentor and sighed," I... I... I am alright. Just a... uh... vision. Uh, what did I miss?" 

 "A young man was harassing Abigail and her friend," Hannibal replied as he watched Will help the young man into the van. He nodded," Dr Bloom?"

"Is having the police tape off the area for tonight, are you alright?" Will asked him. Stiles shook his head," I will be. Honestly haven't had a vision like that since the Hills was under siege." 

Stiles drank the water bottle that Hannibal handed him without question before turning to the dominant Ravenstag," Dr Lector, watch over Abigail. She will need guidance in her transition. And Will, whatever happens, trust your instincts." 

The two stared at the druid as he passed out from exhaustion. Will sighed as he dialled Derek's number from Stiles phone and told the alpha werewolf what had happened while.

 Derek was surprised to see his boyfriend's caller ID flash across his phone as he was sposto be at work, but not as surprised to hear a foreign voice that seemed to trigger a flight response in him," Hello? Is this Derek Hale?"

"It is... who are you?"

"Will Graham, I am one of Stiles teachers, I am in the know. He had a vision a little while ago before he passed out. I am calling from Minnesota," Will explained quickly. Derek frowned as he motioned for his sister and Lydia over as he asked," What's the motel?"

"Four Queens motel, 4567 Crown Row." 

Derek replied," We'll be there." 

The next Day: Cabin in the Woods; (After Derek, Cora and Lydia picked up Stiles) 

 Hannibal walked in behind Will, Abigal and Alana as Abigail said," He cleaned everything. Said he was afraid of germs, but I guess he was just afraid of getting caught."

Will let out a sigh as he smelt the coppery scent of blood. He frowned slightly as he double-checked with his fawn," No one else ever came here with your dad except you, right?"

She shook her head as she mumbled slightly," He made everything by himself. Glue, butter. He sold the pelts on eBay or in town, he'd make pillows. No parts went to waste... otherwise, it was murder."

She turned around towards the three adults and asked," He was feeding them to us, wasn't he?"

Hannibal stepped forward from behind Will as he told her, hiding the words well," It's very likely."

'But you knew that didn't you Abigail?' was unspoken between the two. She frowned as she whispered," Before he cut my throat, he told me he killed those girls so he wouldn't have to kill me..." 

Will stepped forward and said," You are not responsible for anything your father did, Abigail..."

"If he would've just killed me, none of those other girls would be dead," she said truthfully as she glanced up. Will glared out the window as the smell and scent of a fresh corpus started to waif down from the upper floor as a droplet fell on the 19-year-old. Will looked up and walked up the stairs and saw Mirasa hang on the antlers. Will frowned as he called Bev and said," I need ERT at the Hobbs Cabin. Don't tell Jack quite yet."

Abigail smelt something that almost tasted like one of her father's sposed "Elk" hamburgers before they were cooked and her stomach growled as she climbed the stairs to the antler room only to scream at the sight of her best friend hanging on one of the antlers. She felt more than heard or saw Dr Lector follow her up and wrap his arms around her in a protective hold as he whispered," Shush... Let's get out of here, Yes?" 

She kicked and clawed as he and Will took her out of the cabin. Will frowned as he pushed past his instinctual urge to shift and console his fawn as he subdued her with the help of an elixir that the Hale pack had dropped off the night before. He looked at Hannibal as the two adult ravenstags walked back into the shrike's nest and asked," Do you think she knew the guy down by the stream?"  

Hannibal looked at the younger and replied," Somebody's brother..."

"Not just somebody, Abigail said he asked if she helped her dad take his sister's lungs while she was alive." 

Hannibal froze and asked," The young women on the stag head?"

"Cassie Boyle had a brother, Nicholas. But we both know that Garrett Jacob Hobbs didn't kill Cassie Boyle." 

"I know." 

Stiles huffed as he stepped back on the nest's land and sighed as he and Crawford walked up the stairs to see Mirassia pinned to the wall with antlers. Stiles sighed as Crawford growled out," You three brought Abigail Hobbs back to Minnesota to find out if she was involved in her father's murders and another girl dies." 

Stiles glared as he pulled on medical gloves and looked at the girl's mouth and hummed," scraped their knuckles on her teeth. There's foreign tissue and what could be trace amounts of blood. Some sort of grainy substance too." 

Crawford turned to the two constleltenst and accused," You two said that this copycat was an intelligent psychopath. That there would be no traceable motive no pattern. He wouldn't kill this way again, you said it." 

Stiles rolled his eyes," If you were paying that much attention to what we said,  Agent  Crawford, you would have heard that we said that they MAY not kill this way again. I don't think they will kill like this a third time, however." 

Hannibal picked up the soft threat in the druid's words and tilted his head in a quiet agreement to the terms set as Crawford asked," And why would the copycat strike this victim?" 

"I think he was provoked," Hannibal replied simply as Will nodded as he lied, his instincts telling him to protect not only his fawn put his potatenal Mate," Nicholas Boyle murdered this girl and his own sister."

Crawford however didn't back down as he asked," With or without Abigail Hobbs?"

"Without, and I don't believe or think she knew either of the Boyles, Jack," Will nearly spat out as Crawford sighed," Dr Bloom says that Abigail has a penchant for manipulation. Is she manipulating you, Will?"

He got up close to Will and Hannibal nearly bore his teeth in a warning as he glared," Agent Crawford..." 

"Look, I want to know what else he's wrong about." 

"You need to back off, Crawford. Seriously..." Stiles warned as Will growled out," Whoever killed the girl on the field killed this girl, I'm right about that. HE knew exactly how to mount the body, wound patterns are almost identical to his sister, same design and the same humiliation. The fact that Nicholas knew a detail we kept out of the papers and away from anyone who would have given it to Lounds practically proves he's guilty. " 

Crawford stepped back as Hannibal told them," Abigail Hobbs is not a Killer." 

'At least not yet' drifted between the three preternatural beings as Stiles added on," But she could be the target of one." 

Crawford hissed," I think it's time that Abigail Hobbs left home permanently." 

Stiles glared at him as Will asked," Dr Lector, Stiles, would you two be good enough to collect Abigail and all of her belongings and escort her back to Baltimore?" 

"Certainly, William," Hannibal nodded as he and Stiles headed down to Hannibal's Bentley. 

Minnesota, Hobbs Recedeinc; Near Midnight

The vultures that where reporters and journalists called out to Abigal as Stiles and Hannibal ushered her inside her old home for the last time. An adult woman ran past the police line and screeched at the young woman," You killed my daughter!"

Stiles shook his head as he rushed Abigail inside only to be stopped by Lounds who was being dragged from the premise. Stiles had to fight from slipping into another fit as he hissed," Miss Lounds, you're on the wrong side of the police line." 

Stiles brushed past her with Abigail who told him," I want to talk to her."

"Trust me, you even utter one word to her and she'll spin it into a ten-page essay. Twisting what you said into a spider's web," Stiles told her as the two teens hurried inside. 

While they hurried inside, Hannibal and Alana talked to Lounds who warned the four," I've been covering the Minnesota shrike long before you got involved, and I'm not the only one lurking about the Hobbs house peeking in windows."  

Hannibal felt something strike in inside as he asked," Have you seen a young man, mid-20s, ginger hair, unwashed?"

What the ginger Beatle replied," I'll tell you if I saw him if you tell me why it's important."

Inside the house, Abigail held a pillow close to her chest, as Stiles and Alana checked out the other rooms, the echos of her father's voice whispered into her ears,"  None of her is gonna go to waste. "  

She glanced at the deer felt pillow on her lap and sniffled as she reached around for a pair of scissors or a knife as she had the sudden realization on where the rest of the girls were. Finding a knife in one of the evidence boxes the crime cleaner left she sawed it across the steam of the pillow and yanked it open. Auburn hair spilt out into her hands and she fumbled it out of there gasping in fear and horror. 

Some instinctual part of her, something that was just begging to form, felt as if she was being spied or hunted upon. Just as she was about to speak out the voice of the man from the stream told her," I'm not gonna hurt you."

Whipping her head around as he continued to try and calm her down, she gripped the knife in her hand tighter, the word flowing over her like river water over its bed. She felt skittish like a newborn animal, all wobbly as if she was standing for the first time. She wanted to sprint from the danger and towards the rest of the herd. She jumped up from the chair she sat in and rushed toward the derection of her herd. The predator followed, backing her, seeming into a corner. It grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. But it didn't know that it's pray was armed. 

Abigal gutted Nicholas Boyle and the spell broke. 

Stiles felt the release of a pent up force and the departure of something a thousand times more powerfull than the sun blast through the house. The strong coppery scent of freshly spilt blood stung his nose as he gripped the wall next to him. He heard Alana's voice all out too close to the source of the release for his comfort. He let out a small huff from the back of his throat as a small hum of his own power reached out to signal to Hannibal.

The older ravenstag was hit with a small buzz of druidic power at the same time he saw a small glimpse of Abigal walking towards him in shock. But he also saw Alana walking towards her. 

It's is never a safe thing to walk between a parent animal and their child, so taking all the self-control he had Hannibal quickly, yet without causing too lasting of any damage to her, shoved Alana against the brick wall, effectively knocking her unconscious. He whispered to Abigail," She'll be alright," then he turned to her," Abigail, show me what happened." 

He followed her down to the body as she mumbled," He was going to kill me." 

Glancing at her, already knowing the answer, he asked," Was he?" 

The fawn and the stag knelt down on the ground as Hannibal survived the cooling body and told her, gently as he could, and without letting any pride show,( because he was proud of her, in a sense) "This isn't self-defence, Abigail. You butchered him." 

At the last two words, Stiles shakenly walked into the room and mumbled," Butchered by the one who's transformation is done bathed in blood." 

Abigal turned to look at him as he continued, now in a trance-like state," The Fawn of the Raven's chosen Stags, shall sit now in the depths of crossroads. To chouse the path of the mundane life and to die, or to choose the path of Raven feathers pure as night." 

He blinked as he came back to himself before whispering," We don't have long. Abigail, we can help you, if you ask us to. It'll be at great risk to both our career's and most certainly Dr Lector's life." 

He paused then walked out of the room before coming back in with a glass of water and a tablet of some kind before continuing," You're two options are to either tell everyone you were defending yourself, which in a sense you were, or we can hide the body." 

Abigail looked at him before nodding sharply. Stiles smiled at softly as he turned to Hannibal and said," If you wouldn't mind me burying the corpus, Count Lector?" 

"Best if you do, Embersiy Stilisky." 

Hannibal nodded to the druid as he led Abigal off to go over what they were going to tell the police and the FBI. 

Stiles let the two ravenstags leave before he sat down on the ground and hummed to himself," Fo choille agus ùir agus freumh, Gabhaidh an talamh an duine ìobairteach seo. Sìos fon iarann agus copar, fo chreig is chlach, gus am bi feum air a-rithist( Beneath wood and soil and root, The earth shall take this sacrificial man. Down below the iron and copper, beneath rock and stone, till such time he is needed again)."  

The floorboards lifted and shuffled to the sides around the body as the ground below the house swallowed the now cold body into the earth herself. Stiles knocked back the small tablet with the full glass of water before sighing again and dialling the Winchesters and Derek. 

Sometime Later

Will stayed quite as Stiles drove him back to Virginia, he felt the presence of his fawn leaving the tainted house when he had arrived at the Hobbs house with Crawford. He could still smell the residue aroma of a fresh kill around Stiles, who also hadn't said much( Though Will personally thought it was more exhaustion than any thing else, on his part). He leaned against Risco's window( Stiles refused to part with the jeep recently{ it's also still working condition because of Crowley, Dean, Harry, and Cata} and so forth) and hummed. He would need to hunt more frequently now.