Just a little example of what Aspen's power looks like. 

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The scars that had found permanent residence on Aspen's back were now a constant reminder of what she was truly up against in the days to come. Her speedy recovery shocked many doctors, but with Dr. Deaton "visiting" her to massage her back with ointments while Scott kept watch, the lie that she had slid down some rocks was valid. Of course, she had to explain everything to her grandfather, who visited her in the hospital every day to scold her or cry. 

Now that Allison was added to the mix, it became a frequent routine to spend time together. The raven-haired girl always gave her full attention to when Aspen explained the detail of her powers, and sometimes Scott would even join, still hurt that she had withheld the secret for so long. Lydia's bite had not healed as far as recovery, meaning the option of her becoming a werewolf was off the table, but she hasn't died either. So the question still stands, what was she?

Unfortunately, before Aspen, Stiles, and Jackson arrived at the Hale house that night, Kate Argent was murdered by Peter Hale, who had also died by the hand of his nephew Derek. Kate's funeral would take place to tomorrow, and as much as Aspen wanted to stand by Allison's side as a shoulder to lean on, her parents were still on edge by her selection of friends. But Scott and Allison were two drunk in love teenagers that always had a midnight rendezvous when her parents weren't home.

Until Aspen made a full recovery and didn't struggle to walk, she was confined to her bedroom. The farthest she was allowed to go was the kitchen, and if she dared tried going out with Scott or Stiles, her grandfather promised to ground her. But raising a fully powered Elementalist who had no control of her powers was the top of his worries.

Aspen was blessed to have such supportive and loving people surrounding her life, and she was thankful for the multiple texts she would get asking if she required anything. The boys offered to keep her company at night to binge Star Wars' under Stiles' demand, but she already had plans. A tinge of excitement tickled her heart whenever she heard a tap at the window before Isaac's frame came into view. He was especially more gentle with her since he heard of her injury and would let her fall asleep in his lap as he would sit up and tell her about his day while grazing his fingers along with the sensitive scars on her back. He occasionally brought sweet delights from her job and stuffed their faces until they were drowned in guilt. Aspen hated seeing the black eye Isaac's father had inflicted upon him and always dragged her thumb across the tender spot. He assured that it didn't hurt, but she never missed his slight flinch with every sort of contact.

As the night hit the blue haze of day to reveal stars, Aspen was already inconspicuously climbing down her roof. She crouched down as she passed the living room window, scrunching her nose every time she cracked a piece of mulch under her boots. The breeze was nibbling on her skin, making her cheek tint an irritable red. While Isaac was at work at the cemetery, Aspen saw it as perfect timing to sneak out of the house per Stiles and Scott's request. Supposedly, Lydia has broken out of her hospital bathroom window naked and was now roaming the dark, cold town. Aspen feared her best friend would freeze to death and would do anything to make sure she got home safely.

Situated in the back seat of Stiles jeep, Aspen rest her head on the back of the passenger seat while Scott shook his leg anxiously. A new aura of confidence and strength surrounded the boy, and Aspen was glad to see he had outgrown the shy boy he was at the beginning of the sophomore year. 

Feeling the car shaking, Aspen tilted her head toward the werewolf. "Did you get a haircut?" she asked with a sly smirk, trying to pull his thoughts away from Lydia.

Scott passed her a warm smile letting his cheeks heat up to which Aspen's smirk faded into a grin. "I took your advice. Allison seemed to like it more."

Scrunching her nose, Aspen ruffled his hair playful before Scott chuckled and waved her hand away. "I told you she would. You even look a little older."

Scott shifted in his seat to face her. "Do you think I should trim it more around the edges? Still feels kinda fluffy." his worried expression as he gently touched his hair, warping a laugh from Aspen.

"Don't worry about it. I can cut your hair for you." she jested, but her tone of seriousness scared Scott and moved away from her, not that it was remotely possible.

"I don't trust you with scissors. You might make them fly to chase me or something."

Aspen scoffed at the boy's lame excuse. "Scott, I'm not a maniac. I have enough control to know how to keep things from floating."

Scott put his finger up to counter her comment when the driver's door opened, and Stiles scrambled inside with a bloody hospital robe rolled in his hand. He handed it to Scott, all the while Aspen kept her gaze on the white material. "This is the one she was just wearing?" Scott inquired. Stiles nodded with a heavy sigh, expressing his frustration with Lydia's disappearance. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt her," Scott assured, gripping his best friend's shoulder. "Not again."

"How do you know she wasn't on her menstrual cycle?" Aspen asked lightheartedly. With a contorted expression, Scott quickly dropped the bloody robe while Stiles whipped his head around with wide eyes.

"Was she? Do girl have like a second sense to know that sort of stuff?" he asked in a panic but immediately glared at his best friend as Aspen began laughing and shaking her head. "Alright, just shove the thing in your face, and let's find her," he told Scott, running his hand over his buzzcut hair.

The jeep's engined roared with life, and everyone in the car jumped, seeing the headlights revealing Allison, who was clad in a beanie and a cream-colored coat. With worry lines creasing her forehead, Allison made her way to Scott's opened window and placed her hand on the car with a huff, relived that she caught them in time. "What are you doing here?" Scott questions in a whisper. "Someone's gonna see us."

"I don't care--she's my best friend, and we need to find her before they do." she expressed her worry, her eyes not yet noticing Aspen in the backseat.

"I can find her before the cops can."

"How about before my father does?"

Stiles poked his head out with his brows furrowed together. "He knows?"

Allison nodded meekly. "I just saw him and three other guys leave my house in two SUVs."

"Search party?" Aspen pipped in quietly, but loud enough for Allison to correct her.

"More like a hunting party." Scott let his girlfriend into the car, and she plopped down in the seat next to Asen, quickly engulfing the girl in the hug. "I thought you were on house arrest," she mumbled into her shoulder.

She felt Aspen shake her head before pulling away. "I am, but I want Lydia back as much as you. I wasn't staying home."

"Does that mean you're recovered? Last time I visited, you could barely walk." Allison stated, scratching her head over her beanie as the car began moving down the road while Scott stuck his head out the window to sniff out Lydia.

"It still hurts, but I'm ready to head back to school, and I'm sick of staring at my walls all day. Besides, if I hadn't come, I would have missed your first night as a member of the werewolf club." Aspen grinned happily, which rubbed off on Allison quickly following light giggles.

"We are not calling ourselves that," Stiles emphasized, passing an annoyed glance over his shoulder.

Allison shrugged, "I dunno," she sang, nudging Aspen's shoulder with her own, "I kinda like it. Do I need an initiation?"

Aspen caught Stiles' mischievous eyes in the rearview mirror. "Now that you mention it, it may require you tied up to a tree in the woods--"

Scott was quick to interject with a set jaw. "We're not tying my girlfriend to a tree for initiation."

Stiles gasped in mock hurt, "Then how will she become an honorary member of the werewolf club?"

Aspen narrowed her eyes toward the boy with pursed lips, "Didn't you just voice your rejection to that name?"

"It grew on me," Stiles shrugged casually.

"In under a minute?"

Seeing that his friend was growing frustrated, they decided to drop the subject and return to their current predicament. "All right, but if Lydia is turning, would they actually kill her?"

Allison leaned forward to prop her elbow on Stiles seat to hold her head. "I don't know, they won't tell me anything." her tone grew higher, expressing her annoyance with her father. "all they say is we'll talk after Kate's funeral when...the others get here."

Aspen and Scott gaped toward Allison while Stiles was all too tempted to reveal his face of surprise. "What others?" Aspen asked.

Allison simultaneously answered back with a shake of her head. "I don't know; they won't tell me that either."

"Okay, your father's got some serious communication issues to work on." Stiles pointed out. Allison sat back with a roll of her eyes, bringing Aspen to rub her back. "Scott, are we going the right way!" Stiles called to Scott who's nose was poked out the window, trying to catch Lydia's scent.

"Take the next right!" he called back. Both girls braced themselves as Stiles took a sharp right. Aspen winced, feeling the tug on the stitches on her back but kept her gaze toward the window to prevent raising any concern. When grandpa Sam heard about Aspen cracking all of her marbles to save her friends, he cried about her bravery but didn't want her pushing herself more than needed. Because of her adrenaline, her bones didn't shatter, but if she lost control again, there was no predicting how her body would react.

When they finally parked near the woods, none were appalled to see that the scent had led them to the scorched down Hale house. Aspen dragged her feet along the dead leaves on the ground next to Stiles while Scott and Allison followed behind.

"She came here?" Stiles question, hoping Scott's nose was mistaken. "You sure?"

Scott shrugged as they all paused, not feeling too comfortable standing so close to the scene where all hell broke loose not too many nights ago. "Yeah, this is where the scent leads," he replied.

"All right, but has Lydia ever been here?" Aspen disputed, twiddling her fingers in her jacket pocket. "Allison and I haven't even been close to the house when we're together."

Allison nodded in agreement as she scouted the dark woods for her father's hunters that might be in the area. "Maybe she came here in instinct." Allison offered, edging closer to Scott and Aspen while they made their way closer to the house where Stiles was now looking. "Like she was looking for Derek."

"You mean...looking for an Alpha," Scott finished, glancing at Aspen to see her opinion on the matter.

"Wolves need a pack, right?"

"Not all of them."

"But would she have been drawn to an Alpha? Is it an instinct to be part of a pack?"

Scott blew out a sigh, "Yeah, we're--we're stronger in packs."

Allison nodded in recognition. For someone who had just joined the supernatural life, Aspen was glad to see her fitting in perfectly. She needed another girl in the group. "Like strength in numbers." she clarified to make sense of Lydia's possible actions.

"No, like--like literally stronger, faster, better in every way." a tone of overconfidence laced Scott's tone to which Aspen rolled her eyes.

"Is that the same for an Alpha?" The three stood silent to Allison's inquiry, all thinking of the new Alpha in Beacon Hills.

"That makes Derek stronger, too," Aspen answered. She still held a grudge against the man for being selfish to acquire such power. He had lied to Scott, saying it was the cure if you killed the one who bit you, but in the end, it was all part of his plan to become the Alpha himself.

Aspen heard rusting of leaves from behind her and tossed a glimpse toward Stiles, who was moving leaves to run his finger over a thin transparent tripwire. "Ooh, hey, June look at this?" Stiles said enthusiastically. "You see this?"

Aspen and Allison galloped over some rocks to crouch down on either side of Stiles to see what he had discovered. "I think that's a tripwire," Aspen observed, tilting her head. She shouldn't have expected anything less as Stiles haphazardly pulled the wire, sending Scott to flip upside down as a rope circled his ankle and pulled him up a tree, his head dangling just inches from the dirt.

"Stiles.." Scott growled. The three teenagers turned around, and instantly, Aspen bit back a laugh while Allison clapped a hand over her mouth to hide her every growing smile seeing how adorable her boyfriend looked. Stiles shamelessly snorted with his mouth gaped. "Next time you see a tripwire...don't trip it, man," he suggests for future references with his arms outstretched to show his friend the result of utter stupidity.

"Yeah, noted," Stiles quipped, a blush of embarrassment gracing his cheeks. The three went to help the boy when he suddenly jolted his hand up abruptly to stop them in their tracks.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" he urged in a hushed whisper. "Someone coming hide." The three mirrored the same look of uncertainty as they didn't see anyone coming their way. "Go!"

Hearing the urgency in his voice, Stiles ran to a deep crevice in a hill, leaving Aspen to grab Allison's hand to chase after the boy that had left them to fend for themselves. After hearing footsteps approach Scott, the three exchanged looks before poking their eyes out to see Chris Argent and his goons standing before Scott.

"Your dad's a real hoot," Aspen mumbled to Allison, earning a jab to the rib from the girl who frowned at the bitter statement. But a part of her knew it was true.

"Do you think we should all get a leather jacket? I think they're all the rage in the werewolf industry." Stiles chimed in quietly, referring to Chris' attire that night. His wide grin faltered, seeing the two girls slowly look his way with flat expressions. "No? Alright..."

Chris was now crouched in front of Scott's face, his gleaming blue eyes piercing the boy's appearance. "Scott..." he greeted.

"Mr. Argent..." Scott laughed nervously, his arms hanging by his head.

"How are you doing?"

"Good. You know, just hangin' out." Aspen rubbed her temple at the horrible pun while Stiles nodded proudly of Scott's use of sarcasm as a defense.

"Your boyfriend has jokes falling out of his sleeves right now." Stiles chuckled softly at his own witticism. Allison rolled her eyes from hearing Stiles make another joke, causing her to scoot closer to Aspen.

"This one of yours? It's uh good. Nice design. Very constricting." Scott continued.

Chris slightly lifted his brows at the boy. "What are you doing out her Scott?" his tone was low, familiar to the night he had trapped Aspen and Stiles in the hospital room.

Scott's face relaxed, his front of cluelessness not fooling the hunter. "Looking for my friend," he answered truthfully.

"Ah, that's right, Lydia is in your group now isn't she?" Chris looked to his feet for a moment before looking back at Scott. "Part of the clique? Is that the word you use? Or is there another way to put it? Part of your pack?" the words dripped disdainfully from his lips as if it tasted foul on his tongue.

Scott glared at the man ever so slightly, "Actually, clique sounds about right to me."

"I hope so," Chris clicked his tongue, shifting his weight, "cause I know she's a friend of Allison and Aspen's and one special circumstance, such as yourself--one I can handle. Not two." As the boy hung silently in front of him, the threat sinking into his thoughts, Chris saw this as permission to continue. "Scott, do you know what a hemicorporectomy is?"

"I have a feeling I don't want to know." despite his werewolf abilities, it didn't stop his face from coloring red from the blood rushing to his brain.

"A medical term for amputating somebody at the waist," Chris' tone became slow and deadly, making sure Scott heard and imagined every detail he spoke, "Cutting them in half. Takes a tremendous amount of strength to cut through tissue and bone. Let's hope a demonstration never becomes necessary." Finishing his threat, Chris stood straight and walked back where he came from, one of his men following not too far behind him.

Seeing they were in the clear, Stiles led the way back to Scott. Aspen tilted her head to meet his face, a weak smile touching her lips. "You okay?" she asked.

"Just another life-threatening conversation with my girlfriend's dad," he said with fake enthusiasm, making Allison frown. The girl looked up and followed the rope to another tree where cables were holding the contraption together.

"Stiles come help me with this," Allison told the boy as they maneuvered toward the tree and mumbled to each other, trying to figure out how to let Scott down. Aspen pursed her lips as she looked down at her hand and a grin shined upon her features. She perked her brown eyes to Scott for an agreement of what she was about to do, and the boy nodded anxiously, always enjoying a close up of her power.

Gathering up a faint glow of air in her hand, she kept her fingers pressed together and swiped a cut through the wind that sliced through the rope, resulting in Scott flipping on time to land on his feet with a thud. Allison and Stiles turned around with astonishment, knowing it was Aspen's doing.

"I thought you weren't allowed to use your power for a while." Allison teased with a raised brow.

Aspen shrugged, smiling proudly to herself as she looked down to kick some dirt. "It doesn't hurt to practice on occasion," she mumbled, eschewing the feeling of all the eyes on her.

Scott chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I don't know if I'll get used to that, but I love it."