(a/n: there are some canonical inconsistencies in this chapter. i figured if the show could be inconsistent with things like character ages and what exact years certain events happened, then dammit, so can i. hope you enjoy this chapter either way!)

—

Noel is first seen after the scene with the Argents discussing Victoria's fate.

"I'm saying we need a new plan, because next time, one of us is gonna be too hurt to heal," Derek says as he walks with Scott and Noel through the depot and onto the train.

"I get it. We can't save Jackson," Scott says, Noel cutting in. "Do you two have no sympathy? He didn't choose to be a kanima, he's still him, and we can still do more to bring him back!"

"We can't save him, but we can't seem to kill him either," Derek says, Noel's shoulders relaxing a bit. He still seems angry, but less after Derek's words.

"I've seen a lot of things. But I've never seen anything like this. And a new moon's just gonna make him stronger."

"Then how do we stop him?" Scott asks, Derek shrugging and admitting that he doesn't know. "Maybe we should just let the Argents handle it," Noel suggests, his voice wavering a bit.

"I'm the one who turned him. This is all my fault," Derek says, Noel sitting beside him and putting an arm around his shoulders.

"You didn't turn him into this," Scott says reassuringly, Noel adding on "When you bit him, you expected him to just turn, like me or Scott. You didn't ask for this, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known."

"This is all happening because of something in his past," Scott continues, Derek arguing "That's a legend in a book, it's not that simple."

"What do you mean? What are you not telling us?" Scott asks, Derek saying "Why do you think I'm always keeping something from you?"

"Because you always are!" Scott says angrily.

"Well maybe I do it to protect you," Derek suggests, and this time Noel cuts in and says "Doesn't all of us being part of a pack mean no more keeping secrets? We should have told you about the plan at the rave, you should have told us about the plan to kill Lydia. Us all keeping secrets from each other has been our downfall way more times than it should have already. Why do we keep letting petty secrets put us in danger?"

"Go home, both of you. Sleep, heal, make sure everyone's safe." Derek says, not looking at Scott and Noel. "The full moon's coming, and with the way things are going, I've got a feeling that it's gonna be a rough one."

—

The next day in the train depot, Derek opens a chest to show the Hale's symbol on the lid. Isaac asks what it is, and Boyd tells him "It's a triskele. The spirals mean different things. Past, present, future; mother, father, child..."

"Know what it means to me?" Derek asks, and Boyd hesitantly asks "Alpha, beta, omega?"

"That's right," Derek says with a nod, continuing "It's a spiral. Reminds us that we can all rise to one or fall to another. Betas can become alphas, but alphas can also fall to betas, or even omegas."

"Like Scott?" Isaac asks, Derek saying "Scott's with us."

"Really?" Isaac asks, looking at Noel. "Where is he now?"

"He's looking for Jackson. Where I should be, but I'm not, because I have to be here to help keep you in check," Noel says, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You're not my alpha," Isaac says and his eyes flash yellow, and Noel's do the same as he asks Isaac "Then why are you always touching me? Always asking to wear my jacket, watching out for me at school, following me around when I'm with Scott and Stiles?"

Isaac backs down a bit, Derek just watching their exchange. When Isaac has calmed down, Derek continues "Don't worry about Scott, he's not gonna have an easy night either. None of us will. There's a price you pay for this kind of power. You get the ability to heal. But tonight you're gonna want to kill anything you can find."

He holds up a handful of chains, handing it to Isaac. Erica buts in, saying jokingly "Good thing I had my period last week, then."

All the boys give her a look, Derek holding up a crown with nails in it and saying "Well, this one's for you."

—

Noel isn't seen again until Lydia's party. He walks down the hall with Scott, Stiles asking the two if either of them had seen Jackson yet. They both say no, Noel tacking on "I haven't seen him since he drove me to school this morning."

Scott asks either of them if they've seen Allison, and they both say no again, but Stiles points out that they should tell Allison what they found.

"I'm still not 100% sure what we found," Noel admits, Stiles explaining that they know it has something to do with water and the swim team.

"So whoever's controlling the kanima really hates the swim team," Scott asks, Stiles clarifying "Hated the swim team, specifically the 2006 swim team. So it could be another teacher, maybe a student back then. I mean, who are we missing?"

Suddenly Allison walks up, telling them that Jackson isn't there. "No one's here," Noel points out suspiciously, gesturing to the near empty backyard.

"Maybe we're just early," Scott suggests, Stiles offering "Or maybe nobody's coming because Lydia's turned into the town whackjob."

"We have to do something, because we've completely ignored her for the past two weeks," Allison says, and Scott points out "She's completely ignored Stiles for the past ten years." Noel stifles a laugh as Stiles defends himself by saying "I prefer to think of it as me not having been on her radar, yet."

"Long story short, we don't owe her a party," Scott says. Allison says softly "What about the chance to go back to normal?"

"Normal?" Scott asks, looking for elaboration, and Allison explains "She wouldn't be the town whackjob if it wasn't for us."

They all look at Lydia, and Scott says "I could use my co-captain status to get the lacrosse guys out here."
"I can get the AV club and the journalism team," Noel says, pulling out his phone and punching in some numbers.

"I know some people who can get this thing going. Like, really going," Stiles offers. Allison asks who, and Stiles says that he met them the other night and they know how to party. Noel gives him a look and grins, saying "You don't mean...?"

"I mean," Stiles says with a nod of his head, and after a quick cut, a group of students and drag queens are on Lydia's front porch waiting to come in the party.

—

At the train depot, Derek is chaining up all the betas to prevent them from hurting anyone on the full moon.

"What if we break free?" Boyd asks, Derek explaining deadpan "You'll do anything you can to get out of here. Probably try to kill me, then kill each other, and kill anything else with a heartbeat." He then looks at Isaac and says "I need you to hold her."

Isaac locks Erica's arms in his own, and she watches helplessly as Derek gets her restraints out. "How come she gets to wear the headband thing?" Isaac asks as he holds Erica, Derek saying "Because she'll be able to withstand more pain than the two of you."

Erica looks slightly proud of herself and pleased, Derek offering one of the crowns to Isaac. He shakes his head, and Derek asks Erica if she's ready. She nods, and Derek puts the crown on her and begins to tighten it. She screams in pain, the screws digging into her flesh before we go back to the party.

—

At the party, Noel is standing hanging out with Allison and Lydia. Scott and Stiles have their conversation about how Scott should apologize to Allison, and when Scott gets a bit aggressive, Stiles says that something has to go right tonight.

Suddenly Noel comes over, saying "Good thing you mentioned that, Stiles, because look who just walked in."

Scott and Stiles turn to look where Noel had come from, and in walks Jackson. Lydia hands him a glass of punch and leaves without saying a word to him, returning to filling cups with wolfsbane laced punch.

—

After the commercial we're back at the train depot. Screams of pain can be heard coming from Erica and Boyd, along with struggling and chains rattling.

Isaac asks Derek as he chains him up "How do you not feel this? And how come Noel isn't here? He was bitten the most recently out of all of us, he should be the most inexperienced and the most willing to tear someone to shreds."

"I do feel it. Every second of it. But I already taught Noel what he needs to know to control it as well as he can while he's out looking for Jackson," Derek says as he tightens the chains around Isaac's wrists.

"How do you control it?" Isaac asks, Derek saying "You find an anchor. Something meaningful to you. Tie yourself to it, and keep the human side in control."

"What is it for you?" Isaac asks, Derek looking up at him and hesitating before saying "Anger."

"That's not what you were going to say," Isaac says, the muscles in his neck tensing. Derek looks back up at him and says "It doesn't matter what I was going to say. It's not the same for everyone, or anyone for that matter."

"What was it for Noel?" Isaac asks, and we see Derek before we cut to a flashback.

—

Noel is panting heavily in the train depot, syringes full of liquid laying beside him as he sits chained down to a chair. His eyes and fangs are on prominent display, as well as his claws, digging into the wooden arms of the chair he is strapped to. Derek walks slow circles around him, a full syringe in his hand.

"Ready for the next one?" he asks, resting a hand on Noel's shoulder comfortingly. Noel growls, saying through his teeth "Don't touch me. It brings me back too fast."

Derek obediently takes his hand away, stabbing the syringe into Noel's neck without warning. Noel cries out in pain, the human yell turning into a wolf's roar. He struggles against his chains, sweat pouring down his face as his eyes intensify in their yellow glow. He pants, and looks at the ground as the camera zooms in on his eyes.

Suddenly we're in (yet another) flashback, of Noel as a child (about eight) at a family barbecue. He runs and weaves around the legs of relatives, being chased by another boy his age. The boy tackles him from behind, and Noel turns over onto his back to look up at the boy and laughs.

The boy laughs too, and suddenly the young boy turns into current Jackson, the child's smile being replaced by a cruel sneer. A hand raises up in the air and, in slow motion, begins to swing downward to Noel's face. That memory ends, and Noel's head jerks to the side as if he had just been punched for real.

He starts to pant again, and as he roars, another flashback is triggered.

Noel sits in the police station, no older than six and wrapped in a shock blanket as his mother walks around the room in a panicked frenzy. The Whittemore's wrecked car sits outside as Noel's mother yells at people to let her and her son go so they can get to the hospital to see if her husband is still alive (they crashed on the way to the hospital after they were called in because his health had worsened suddenly).

Noel rocks himself back and forth, and suddenly a boy (about twelve) comes and sits beside him. The dark black hair and green eyes are a dead giveaway to the boy's identity (if the fact that he's played by Ian Nelson doesn't make it obvious enough). The boy pulls Noel across the bench and into his lap, saying "Hey, it's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine."

Noel looks up at the boy and sniffles, saying "You smell like fire... What's your name?"

Before the boy can answer, Noel snaps out of the flashback, breathing heavily as his eyes dim down to their standard green.

Derek looks him up and down, nodding and saying "Good. Fastest one you've done yet."

"Not fast enough. One more, I can do it faster," Noel says, chest heaving with his breaths. Derek nods, picking up one of the full syringes and injecting it into Noel's neck. As he gasps and starts to roar, the flashback ends, and we're back in the train depot with Isaac and Derek.

—

Derek starts to fiddle with Isaac's chains once more, saying "Don't worry about Noel's anchor, don't worry about my anchor, just worry about yours."

Erica and Boyd start breathing heavier in the corner, and Derek says "That should do it." He tugs on the chain to ensure that it's secure, and when the bench pops off effortlessly, Isaac and Derek share a look.

Erica and Boyd watch with feral curiosity, and suddenly we're at the Argent's, Victoria planning her suicide.

—

Back at the party, Lydia is going around, handing out glasses of punch. She tries to give one to Scott, but he politely refuses and says he isn't drinking. Lydia asks him what's up with "the two of you," Scott replying that Stiles is, in fact. drinking.

"Not Stiles," Lydia corrects him, Scott saying instead "Oh, well, Noel isn't drinking either."

"No, not Noel. Allison," Lydia finally clarifies, and soon after, Scott does start to drink the punch. From where he stands with Allison, Noel remains sober and avoiding the punch, holding a still sealed bottle of water instead of a cup of punch.

—

After Allison, Stiles, and Scott all face their wolfsbane laced fears, Noel sits on the couch in Lydia's living room still holding his unopened water bottle. His hands are shaking and his eyes are closed, struggling to contain his shift.

Lydia suddenly walks up to him, holding a tray of punch. She looks down at the water bottle and then back up at Noel, saying "Noel, are you scared of a little alcohol, or is there really vodka in that bottle? If there is, you should totally be sharing it with the birthday girl."

Noel looks at her, slowly opening his eyes before shaking his head and saying "No, actually, I'm kinda trying to stay sober tonight. Sorry to ruin your streak, but that's just not something I should do tonight."

Lydia looks him up and down and laughs, saying "Come on, Noelly, please? One little cup of punch for my birthday?"

Noel looks at her and laughs, at least distracted from his thoughts of the moon for now. He looks at the tray of punch in her hand, his eyes narrowed a bit. He moves his hand to reach for one, but a vaguely familiar voice whispers in his ear "Don't."

He jumps and looks over his shoulder, expecting to find Allison there, but there's nobody he immediately recognizes. He looks around until Lydia says "Um... Noel? Hello?"

He turns and looks at her again, blush on his cheeks. He clears his throat and twitches his fingers like he wants to take a glass again, and the same voice says more urgently "Don't!"

Noel stops in his tracks and shakes his head, saying "Thanks Lyds, but I just can't. I gotta get Allison and Scott and Stiles home after this."

"But it's my birthday," Lydia says, the sickening sweetness in her voice replaced with bitter cold. Noel scoots backward a bit, away from her, clutching his water bottle tighter. He shakes his head politely one more time, saying "I said no thank you, Lydia. I don't want to drink tonight."

Suddenly Lydia stands up, hands every glass except one to the people around them, and cradles the last one in her hand.

Before Noel can react, Lydia lunges forward, sitting on his stomach and hovering over him. He cries out in surprise, and Lydia tries to pour the liquid down his throat with a face devoid of emotion. He pushes her off of him as gently as he possibly can, running outside and yelling for Scott.

As he runs around on the hunt for Scott, he runs right into a girl, apologizing briefly before looking at her face and realizing who she is. He freezes, staring at her in shock as his eyes turn very briefly red before fading to yellow.

"Laura...?"

"It's not really me," she says without missing a beat. "It's a full moon, we're supernaturally tethered together, you were bound to see my ghost protecting you eventually," she says, looking down at the glass of punch in her hand. She pulls a purple petal out of it, saying wistfully "Wolfsbane. A strain that causes hallucinations of one's most deeply-seated fears. Pretty rare, I wonder how she got her hands on it."

Noel looks from her to the cup in her hands, asking "You know, don't you? Where she got it?"

"I have a hunch," Laura replies, flicking the petal away. She turns back forward to face Noel, saying "You better go find Scott."

—

After the commercial, Derek's betas are all going feral in the train car, and Derek stands outside on his phone. "Babe, could you call me back? I need you and Scott to get down here, I'm probably gonna need some help."

He hangs up the phone, listening to the banging coming from inside the train car. "Definitely gonna need some help," he corrects himself, extending his claws and going back into the train to fight the betas as they break out of their chains.

—

Scott and Noel try to get Stiles to sober up by giving him water to drink, until a girl comes and tells them that won't be enough. She dips his head into the pool, and when he comes out he's a bit more sober. Scott looks concerned, while Noel looks impressed, giving the girl an approving nod.

—

Later in the episode, after Allison goes to Chris in the hospital and learns about her mom, the three boys are looking for Lydia and Jackson.

Stiles comes in from the left and tells them he hasn't seen her, and at the same time, Noel comes in from the right and says he didn't find Jackson. Stiles says "Guys, have you noticed that anyone that drank that crap is totally freaking out right now?"

They look out at all the partygoers, confirming that yes, they're all acting odd. "Yeah, Lydia tried to force feed it to me earlier, it's gotta have something in it that's affecting them more deeply than the wolfsbane," Noel says as people start jumping into the pool.

Stiles asks what they should do as they hear someone yelling that they can't swim, all three watching in shock as two boys throw Matt into the pool. They all have a sudden moment of realization as Jackson pulls Matt out, all three of them watching him go as everyone scrambles to get out of the house when cops arrive.

—

Noel stands watching with Scott in shock as Matt stands in the road, the kanima wrapping its tail around the teen's legs before they both disappear.

—

This is the last time he is seen in the episode.