Chapter 44: ☽︎Riddled☾︎

...

It's the middle of the night as Y/n lays asleep in her bed. It's quiet until her phone starts to ring. She furrows her brows as she wakes up, confused on who was calling her so late. The confusion grew when she saw it was Stiles and answered. "Hello?" Her voice was tinged with sleep. "Stiles." The grogginess she felt quickly faded when she heard his shaky breaths. "Stiles? Are you okay?"

"Y/n?" His voice was a shaky whisper.

She sits up in her bed on alert now. "I'm here. I'm here. What's going on?"

"Y/n, I don't- I don't know where I am. I don't know how I got here. I think I was sleepwalking."

"Okay, okay. Can you see anything around you?"

"Ah, it's dark. It's hard to see. I think there's something wrong with my-" The line disconnected then.

She looked at her phone and quickly pulled up his contact again, the photo of them sharing a kiss that Lydia had taken making her chest tighten in worry. She anxiously paced her room as she called him, only to get his voicemail. "Hey, this is Stiles and you missed me. Leave a mes-" She dialed again recieving the same result. "Hey, this is S-"

"Come on, Stiles." She muttered as she looked down at her phone. "Come on. Call me back." And he did. "Stiles."

"Y/n, I don't think I can get out of here. I can't move."

"Do you know where you are?"

"I don't know." He whimpered. "I don't know. It's too dark. I can't see much and something's wrong with my leg. It's stuck on something. And it's- I think it's bleeding."

"How bad is it, Stiles?" He doesn't answer right away. "Stiles? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

"Ah, there's some kind of smell down here. Something smells terrible. It's brutal. My eyes are watering."

"Stiles, listen, I'm gonna call your dad."

"No. No, no, no, no, don't."

"But he can-"

"Don't. Just please don't call him. Promise me you won't."

"I can't make a promise like that."

"He already worries about me too much. Y/n, please."

"Stiles, this is insane. What if I can't find you? I can't promise that."

"No, no, no, just please. Please don't call him. Come find me. You can do it. He doesn't have to know. Y/n, you can find me."

"I don't know if I can do this alone."

"Oh, I gotta call you back. I have to turn the phone off."

"What? No, wait-"

"I'm gonna call you right back."

"Stiles, wait, don't hang up." Her breathing started to pick up and she turned on her light. She went to yell for Alan, but remembered that he wasn't there and she was home alone. He couldn't help her now, but there was someone else who could. She quickly changed clothes and hurried to Scott's house. In her worry she ignored niceties and rushed into the McCall house and up to Scott's room. "Scott. Scott, wake up." She shook him and he looked up at her in confusion.

"Y/n? What's wrong?"

"Scott, I need your help." At her frantic tone he quickly stood up from his bed, putting his hands on her arm to possibly ease her nerves a bit.

"What happened?"

"Stiles called me. He said he was stuck somewhere dark and he thinks his leg is bleeding. He doesn't know where he is and he didn't want the Sheriff to know what's happening. I just- I need your help. Please."

"It's gonna be okay. I'll wake Isaac and he can help." She nodded and Scott did as he said, rousing Isaac and the wolves changed clothes. The three started to leave when her phone rang again.

"Stiles?"

"Y/n. Did you call him? Did you call my dad?"

"No. Just Scott and Isaac. We're coming to find you. Can you figure out where you are? Try to find something to tell us where to go."

"It's a basement. I think- I think I'm in some kind of basement."

"A house?"

"No. It looks bigger. Like industrial. I think there's a furnace. But it's cold. It's freezing down here. I gotta turn the- I gotta turn the phone off. It's going to die."

"Wait, is there anything else? Anything at all?"

"The phone's dying. I can't talk. I have to go."

This whole time she was trying to figure out where he was that she didn't pay attention to one detail while she was talking to him until now. "Stiles... Why are you whispering?"

"... Because I think there's someone in here with me."

When the phone cut out again Y/n cursed under her breath and the three rushed to Stiles' house. She was gonna try to track him but she needed something from his room and the wolves needed something with his scent to help her. Y/n was the first into the room and she spotted Lydia and Aiden standing there. "How did you know? Did he call you too?" Scott asked.

"I heard it." Lydia answered.

"Don't ask. It get's more confusing when you ask." Aiden claimed.

"Not to everyone." Y/n said and went closer to Lydia. "Tell me what you heard."

"I had the radio on and I heard his voice in the static saying, 'please, come find me'. We came straight here and found this." Lydia looked behind her and Y/n followed her gaze to find every red string Stiles had on the his murder board tied to the handles of a pair of scissors that were stabbed into the middle of his bed.

"He uses red for unsolved cases."

"Maybe he thinks he's part of an unsolved case?" Aiden offered.

"Or is an unsolved case." Isaac added.

"Hold on. Is he still out there? You don't know where he is?" Lydia asked.

"He said he's in an industrial basement somewhere." Scott informed.

"We came here so Y/n can try a spell and for us to get a better scent in case we need it." Isaac said.

Y/n looked around the room for something personal to him. Something that held a lot of meaning. Her eyes ran over everything, possible knick knacks scattered around the place, his clothes, the pictures on the walls, but when her eyes skirted over the desk she paused. She made her way over and gently picked up a small frame tucked into the corner. It was a little doodle Y/n had done for Stiles when they were around 14. It was a cartoon-y version of her and Stiles sitting inside a heart with 'Happy Valentine's Day' written under it in her best cursive at the time.

Stiles had still been trying to catch Lydia's attention back then, and so he had gotten her several cards and even a cute bear, but, like every other time, it didn't work out. He had gotten pretty upset because he was so sure that it would work this time. Being Lydia's friend, Y/n knew that she had no intrest in the boy and thus also knew it wouldn't work either. It still saddened her to see how sad he had gotten, so she tried to cheer him up. When she made the drawing and gave it to him he gave her a questioning look and all she did was shrug. "I know it's not from Lydia like you wanted," she had said, "but I thought you deserved something for Valentine's." He had mustered up a smile and thanked her and she spent the rest of the day making sure he kept that smile.

Y/n didn't know he kept it, she hadn't even remembered it until then, but it warmed her heart that he did. Now that they're older and together the simple doodle means a little more than it had back then. Deciding that this seemed good enough she sat the frame on it's back and held her hand over it. Her eyes glowed as she focused on the object, muttering words under her breath as she cast the spell. She closed her eyes as she focused on her sense, but something was wrong. If the spell was done correctly she should feel a pull in the direction he's in, like an invisible tether, but it feels like she's getting pulled two different ways with no clear direction.

"This doesn't make sense." She muttered to herself and open her eyes to frown at the frame.

"What's wrong?" Scott asked and she turned to look at him.

"Usually the spell works like a compus. It should point due Stiles, but it's like it's spinning in circles."

"What does that mean?" Lydia wondered.

"It means I can't get a read on him. It's like- it's like his mind is in one place, and his body another." She shook her head. "This spell isn't going to help."

"Well, what else did he say? Anthing that can help find him?"

"Something is wrong with his leg. it's bleeding." Scott said.

"And he's freezing." Isaac added.

"Tonight's the coldest night of the year. It's gonna drop into the 20's." Aiden informed.

"What did his dad say?" Lydia asked.

"We kind of... We didn't tell him yet." Scott answered.

"Stiles is bleeding and freezing and you didn't call his dad?"

"He made me promise not to." Y/n said when Scott jumped in.

"We can find him by scent. If he was sleepwalking he couldn't have gotten far, right?"

"You guys didn't notice his Jeep is gone, did you?" Aiden asked.

"You promised you wouldn't call his dad. I didn't." Lydia got out her phone.

"Wait, Lydia, hold on. I can get more help. I can call Derek, Allison-" Scott tried again.

"Everyone except for the cops. Great idea."

"You guys remember she gets these feelings when someone's about to die, right?" Aiden pointed out and Y/n gave him a slight glare.

"You're suddenly an expert on banshees? I know what it means. I promised not to call the Sheriff but I didn't promise I wouldn't tell him face to face. I was just hoping I could track him and we wouldn't have to worry him about this. It's only a few minutes to the station." Y/n, Scott, and Isaac turned to leave when Lydia called out.

"We'll catch up."

"What? Why?" Scott asked.

"There is something here."

"Yeah. Evidence of total insanity." Isaac said and Y/n frowned at him.

"He's not crazy."

"We can figure out what's wrong with him after we find a way to keep him from freezing to death." Scott assured, but he already knew what was wrong. Y/n had told him everything she had been seeing with Stiles and he admitted he also had the same ideas. They had agreed to keep it between themselves for now.

Y/n looked at Lydia. "Remember, focus on what you can hear. The voices are from the banshees who have come before you, living on another level of existence, a place where they can see more and know more than we do. They are what guide you, you just need to listen."

Lydia nodded at her friend's guidance. "Go. We'll be right behind you."

...

Stiles lays on his side on a grimy concrete floor as he messes with his phone, struggling through his nerves to get the flashlight to work. When he got it on he pointed the light down to his legs where he found a steel jaw trap clamped on his now bloody left leg. He screamed out at the pain, letting out small sobs after. Sudden scraping made him stop and look over where it came from. He sniffled as he called out. "Who's there?" There wasn't an answer, but he could hear something in the shadows. "I know you're there. I can hear you." Still no answer. He sniffled again as he started to move the light around, trying to find the source of the continuous noises. His eyes moved over an old boiler, darting back when he spotted a crouched figure in the shadows. "Who are you?" He asked again. The figure kept it's leather jacket clad back to him as it scraped something against the wall. It exhaled and let it's arm down, letting a piece of chalk fall from it's fingers that were wrapped in dirty bandages. Stiles watched the chalk roll and looked back up, but the figure was now gone showing the Kanji drawn onto the wall. He looked around for the figure but they were nowhere in sight. He looked back at the wall to look at the word, letting out small pants. "Self." A breeze rolled the chalk with scattered leaves and the chalk dissolved into white smoke.

...

Y/n, Scott, and Isaac stand in front of the Sheriff having informed him of what happened. He's obviously upset, but quickly composes himself so that he can do his job right and looked at the teens. "If his Jeep is gone, that's where we start. Parrish," he looked to his newer deputy, "let's get an APB out on a blue 1980 CJ-5 Jeep. Cordova, I want a list of any kind of industrial basement or sub-level of any building that he could have gotten into while sleepwalking. It's the coldest night of the year so far. So if he's out there barefoot in just a T-shirt, he could already be hypothermic. Let's move fast. Let's think fast. The three of you, come with me." He gestured for the teens to follow and he led them into his office where he closed the door. "Okay. Is there anything you need to tell me that I can't tell anyone out there?"

Y/n spoke up. "I couldn't track him with a spell, but Lydia knew he was missing."

"Can she help find him?"

"She's working on it."

"Anything else?"

"I called Derek and Allison for help." Scott said.

He sighed. "All right. Can you find him by scent?" A knock on the door interrupted and Parrish stuck his head in.

"We got it, sir. We found the Jeep."

They rushed over to the hospital where the Jeep was abandoned in the parking lot. Noah ran over and checked inside, turning to the teens when they came up. "It's dead. He must have left the lights on."

"Why would he come here?" Scott asked.

"Let's find out." They started heading inside when Y/n stopped the boys leaving Noah to go in himself with his deputies.

At Scott's questioning look she explained. "Derek is here. On the roof." She wasn't sure how she knew, whether it was just a feeling or something else, but it was like when Malia was in the school. She just knew. Not questioning her anymore they followed her up where they indeed found Derek on the roof.

"He's not here. Not anymore." The Hale informed.

"You mean the whole building?" Scott asked.

"Gone."

"I'll go tell Stilinski." Isaac said.

"And see if you can find Allison. She's not answering her phone." Scott asked Isaac who nodded before he ran off.

Scott and Y/n moved to stand on either side of Derek. "Notice how strong the scent is up here? You ever hear of chemo signals?" He asked Scott.

"Y/n's mentioned it once or twice, I think."

Derek took this as a que to elaborate. "Chemical signals that communicate emotion. And just our sweat can give off anger, fear or disgust. Take a deep breath and tell me what you feel." Scott did as asked and Y/n did as well. What she smelled made her stomach turn with worry.

"Stress." Scott said after a moment.

"And anxiety."

"What was he doing up here?"

"I don't know. But there was definitely some kind of struggle."

"With who?"

"Himself." Y/n answered. She could almost feel it as if it was her instead of Stiles. Her eyes closed and her brows drew together, fingers moving at her sides as she felt the energy. She couldn't see him, but she could feel him. Without her knowledge her feet led her to one of the fenced off areas, reaching up.

"Y/n." She was startled out of her trance by Scott, pulling her hand back and looking at him. "What are you doing?"

"I... I don't know. I just feel him. For a moment it was like his emotions were my own."

"What did you feel?" Derek asked.

"What you already know. Stress, anxiety... And fear. He was afraid."

"Of what?" Scott asked.

"I don't know."

...

(Any Japanese used below may not be 100% accurate. I spent a few hours searching for translations, if it was typed up in a transcript, if anybody at all knew what was said and how it was said, but I didn't get much aside from someone's probable estimations on Reddit which is part of what I'll be using. I also tried phonetically spelling and pronouncing it in Google Translate, which isn't 100% accurate all of the time in and of itself, but I also didn't get much there either. If anyone happens to know Japanese please forgive any mistakes I may have made in my quest for as much accuracy as possible.)

Stiles' phone has died and he tries in vain to get it to work again, but there's nothing he can do to turn it back on. "No, come on." He mutters to himself. He sniffles as he lets his phone clatter to the ground and sits up. He starts to pant as he grabs the metal of the trap, trying to pry it off with brute force, but all he gets is pain making him scream out again. There's movement in the corner making him stop and try to shuffle back, only he can't move much. "Who's there? Who are you?!" He yells.

"Watakushi dakede wanai." (I'm not the only one.) The same bandaged figure from earlier, the nogitsune, responds in Japanese, his voice rough and dark, as he slowly moves through the shadows.

"What?"

"Kore wa ware-ra no kotona noda." (This is where it gets rough. Using the estimate from Reddit, Google Translate tells me this says, 'this is ours' or, 'this is what we are'. Either one kind of fits so idk).

"I don't- I don't understand." He tries to move around again.

This time he responds in English. "Not 'who are you', Stiles. Who are we?" This makes Stiles pause in his movements to stare at the figure. "It's getting colder, Stiles. Did you notice that we've stopped shivering? Do you know why that's a bad sign?"

"It's the body conserving energy. It was my fifth grade science report. Hypothermia."

"Our speech is starting to thicken. Then comes fatigue." Almost as if triggered by his words, Stiles' eyes become heavy. "Confusion. We're going to die if we don't get out of here."

"Stop saying that. Stop saying we."

"We're just trying to keep you from freezing to death. You better get up, Stiles."

"How? There's a freaking steel-jawed trap on my leg!" He yells in frustration.

"Is there?" He whispers, sharp metal teeth glinting dully in the darkness. Stiles lets out another sob as he looks down at his leg. "Notice something different? It was on your right leg before, wasn't it?"

"No..." No, it has always been on the left leg, right?

"Are you sure?" He blinks and then suddenly it's his right leg that's caught and bloody.

"What is this? What are you doing?"

"We're trying to save you, Stiles. We're trying to save your life."

...

Lydia had urgently called Y/n saying that Stiles was in Eichen House. She was adament, saying she heard the voices and they pointed her in that direction. Y/n was hesitant about going there, but she trusted Lydia and so they all went to the old mental facility. Y/n pushed away the ghostly wails that played in the back of her mind as they were led down towards the basement. "It's here. It's right here." Lydia insisted as they got to the large metal door.

Noah took the lead with a flashlight down into the darkness. "Stiles?" Y/n called out with Lydia. They searched around the area, but there was no Stiles.

"Lydia?" Scott looked to the banshee.

"I don't get it. This has to be it."

"Then where is he, huh? Where is he?" Noah asked quietly at first, until he angrily yelled right at her. "Where is he?" His lash out made Lydia flinch and Y/n quickly placed herself between the two, a placating hand towards the man.

"Sheriff." She called and it seemed to make him realize what he did.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't understand." Lydia repeated, this time looking to Y/n for the answers.

"It's okay, Lydia. There is something here." Y/n assured, but now Lydia was starting to doubt what she heard. Aiden gently took her out of the room, Scott and Noah following. Y/n put a foot on the first step when something made her pause. She thought she heard a sniffle, but it was distant, like it wasn't quite in that room. The same feeling she had when she was on the roof of the hospital made her stay down there. She went over to one of the boilers and kneeled down, her fingers grazing the grimy concrete. "Who are you?" She whispered, speaking without realizing. Her eyes went over the room and paused on the wall. The Kanji for self was carved into the wall.

"Y/n?" She was pulled again from the trance by Scott who was looking at her from the top of the stairs. "We gotta go."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming." She stood up and went up the stairs, taking one last glance down before leaving the place alltogether.

...

The nogitsune is back behind the boiler and has drawn the Kanji again. "You don't understand, do you?" It's getting harder for Stiles to keep his eyes open, his arms shaking as he struggles to keep himself up and awake. "It's a riddle. Do you know any riddles, Stiles?"

"A few."

"What gets bigger the more you take away?"

"A hole."

"What gets wetter the more it dries?"

"A towel."

"When is a door not a door?"

Water clouds his vision for a moment at this. "... When it's ajar."

"Everyone has it, but no one can lose it. What is it?" He looks back at Stiles.

"I don't..." The nogitsune exhales and stands from his crouch.

"Everyone has it, but no one can lose it. What is it, Stiles?" He repeats as he creeps towards the boy.

"I don't- I don't know."

"Sore wa nana waname." (Not sure if this is correct, I tried phonetically spelling it, but Google tells me this means, 'It's a trap'.) The nogitsune stalks closer to him.

"I don't know." He repeats, more insistent.

"Kore wa wana." (Again, not sure, but this says, 'this is a trap'.) He yells right in Stiles' face making him flinch back and look away.

Then he grabs the chain on the steel trap and pulls, dragging Stiles across the floor. "No! No!" Stiles screams as he's drug, clawing at the ground to try and stop it. "No! No! No, wait!" He screams again as the concrete turns to dirt. "Wait! Wait!"

Stiles is pulled out from the coyote den by Melissa and Rafael as he continues to scream. "Stiles! Stiles!" She yells his name as she holds him. "Stiles! You're okay! You're okay." He stops yelling and realises whose arms he's in, looking up at the woman as her tone drops to a calmer one to further ease him. "You're all right. Stiles, you're all right." His breathing is ragged as he realizes all of what happened, the figure and the basement, was in his head.

...

When Y/n was told Stiles was found she practically sagged in relief and had to lean on Scott for a moment, the both of them supporting each other because the relief he was okay was almost overwhelming for the both of them. They rushed to the hospital where he was taken. Despite her not liking the man too much, Y/n was incredibly thankful to Agent McCall. She hugged him as soon as she saw him, muttering a quick 'thank you' before she let him go and pretended she didn't do that. He was startled to say the least, but had a small smile, glad he was able to help.

Scott and her sat with Lydia, Melissa, and Rafael, waiting for Noah to come back with some news. When he did walk up they stood up. "He's sleeping now. And he's just fine." He gave Y/n a small smile and she returned it. "He doesn't remember much. It's a bit like a dream to him." He looked at Rafael. "Thank you."

"It was the repellent we sprayed in the coyote den to keep other animals out. I couldn't go near it without my eyes watering. It's just a good thing he mentioned it over the phone."

"No, it was more than that. Thank you."

"It was a lucky connection."

"McCall, can you shut up please and accept my sincerest gratitude."

He's quiet, but decides to do as asked. "Accepted." He holds a hand out and shake's Noah's own.

Melissa looks at the teens. "All right, you three. You've got school in less than six hours. Go home. Go to sleep." She gives Scott a hug who says, 'okay'.

"I don't really have any important classes later. Can't I stay?" Y/n asked a bit hopefully, but she could guess what their answer is.

"You need some rest, Y/n." Melissa insisted before Noah put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll let you know how he is later, okay?" She sighed, but reluctantly nodded. She started to walk with Scott down the hall, taking Lydia's hand when she noticed the girl lagged behind a bit.

"I don't know what happened." Lydia said. "I was so sure."

"Yeah, I wasn't much help either." Scott admitted.

"Like I said earlier," Y/n started, "sometimes the messages we recieve aren't 100% clear. There is something down there that was important." She had an idea, the reason her spell didn't work was because he was in two places at once. His body in the den, left to freeze, while his mind was in the basement of Eichen House, a ploy of the nogitsune, but she didn't know what his game was. She kept this to herself, though.

"Doesn't matter, if he's okay." Scott concluded.

Lydia suddenly heard metallic clanking, like a hammer hitting an anvil, and she looked around. "Lydia, what are you hearing?" Y/n asked.

She's quiet for a moment. "Nothing." The sound stopped. "I didn't hear anything." Y/n frowned a bit. Lydia was starting to doubt her gifts. Y/n will have to talk to her about it later, deciding to let her be for now.

Scott took Y/n home, leaving her with a reasurring hug, before he went home himself. She went up to her room, changed back into her night clothes, and laid down in bed. She didn't get much rest like Melissa asked, instead she tossed and turned. She managed to get about an hour of sleep, but even that wasn't restful, her dreams plagued with metal fangs and bandaged hands, things she didn't remember when she woke up.

After she got dressed for the school day she texted Alan asking if he had anything yet, but he was still working on it. Scott picked her up and gave her a ride, not wanting her to be alone and honestly not wanting to be alone himself either. Y/n, out of everyone they knew, could fully understand how he was feeling with what was happening with Stiles because, before she and Stiles got together, they were all best friends for years. With everything going on they leaned on each other for support, and it helped, if only a little.

She barely payed attention to any of her classes, lack of sleep and stress keeping her mind from focusing on anything the teachers had said. She eventually made her way back to Scott at his locker where Lydia was as well. The friends looked at her when she suddenly flinched at the sound of a locker shutting. "You okay?" Scott asked.

"Yeah." She muttered. "I'm just a little hyper-sensitive to loud sounds today." Another locker makes her jump.

Y/n gave Lydia a sympathetic look. She's not trusting herself anymore and that's manifesting in her hyper-sensitivity. She's already tried reasurring Lydia that she wasn't wrong in what she heard, but now it's up to Lydia to believe it and trust herself again. "They're doing tests on Stiles all afternoon." Y/n said hoping to help distract her from the sounds. "Scott and I were going to go over around 6:00 to visit. Do you wanna go with us?"

"I should probably just go home." She muttered before she jumped back at yet another locker slamming shut.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Scott asked.

She looked at her friends. "Yeah. I'll text you guys later." And she walked off then. Y/n sighed after the strawberry blonde before she walked off with Scott.

Around 6 Scott and Y/n went to the hospital where Stiles was getting ready to have an MRI. Stiles sat on the bed of the machine in a hospital gown with Y/n and Scott standing next to him while the doctor talked to Melissa and Noah. "I'm not sure how to pronounce this." The doctor said looking at Stiles' chart. "Or if it's not actually a misspelling." Y/n lightly rolled her eyes. Honestly, Stiles' actual first name wasn't that hard to say once you knew how to pronounce it. Y/n remembered when she first heard it. It was some time after she moved to Beacon Hills and had become friends with Scott and Stiles. She was curious on what kind of a name Stiles was. Not that it was bad, just strange. So she asked him about it.

"Stiles isn't actually my first name." He admitted.

"It's not?" He shook his head. "What is it, then?"

"It's kind of hard to say. At least that's what everyone says."

"I'm sure I can figure it out."

He was a bit reluctant. He didn't want to possibly chase away his new friend, but when he looked at her curious eyes, he couldn't really say no. "It's Mieczyslaw." He cringed a bit.

She blinked at him as she repeated it in her head. She could tell he didn't really want to say it so she wanted to make sure she got it right to make him feel better. "M- Mee... Chee... Slav." She pronounced it slowly at first, repeating it faster when she saw him perk up. "Mieczyslaw."

He nodded with a smile. "You got it!" She smiled as well. "My dad said I used to say 'mischief' when I was younger because I couldn't say it right."

"Mischief." She nodded with a smile as she thought about all the trouble Stiles has managed to get in in the short time she's known him. "It fits." She giggled. "You know, it's not that hard to say now that I know it."

"Yeah, but it's easier for people to just call me Stiles."

"Then I'll just call you Stiles." She smiled.

"Just call him Stiles." Noah instructed.

"Okay." The doctor closed the folder and went over to Stiles. "Stiles, just to warn you, you're going to hear a lot of noise during the MRI. It's due to pulses of electricity going through the metal coils inside the machine. Uh, if you want we can get you some earplugs or headphones."

"Oh, no, no, I don't need anything." He denied.

"Hey, we're just on the other side of that window." Noah assured him. "Okay?"

"Okay." Noah gave him a smile and Stiles patted his arm before he and Melissa walked out of the room with the doctor to give the teens a bit of time to talk. "You know what they're looking for, right?" He asked them. "It's called frontotemporal dementia. Areas of your brain start to shrink. It's what my mother had. It's the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers. And there's no cure."

Scott and Y/n were obviously upset by this. She folded her arms, pressing her lips into a line. "Stiles, if you have it, we'll do something." Scott said and looked at him. "I'll do something." Stiles looked at him with shiny eyes and then they hugged each other, holding on, communicating without words how much they cared for the other. When they finally let go Scott looked at Y/n, giving her arm a gentle squeeze. "I'll wait for you outside." She nodded and watched him go, not ready to look at Stiles because then he'd know everything she was feeling and she needed to be strong for him right now, because all the fear she had was nothing compared to what Stiles is going through.

"Hey." He called, taking her arm to pull her closer and her gaze fell to the fabric of the gown. "Why won't you look at me?" Her brows furrowed with a shrug. "I need you to look at me. Please." When he spoke like that she couldn't deny him anymore and she finally met his eyes. Just like she thought, he could read her like a book. He pulled her closer and put his arms around her, hers automatically encircling him as well.

"I'll do anything I can to help you." She muttered.

"I know." He pulled back a little and put a hand on her cheek, leaning forward to leave a lingering kiss on her lips, filled with desperation and the need for everything to be okay.

They leaned their forheads togther when they separated. "I love you."

He nodded against her head. "I love you." She gave him one more hug before regretably she had to leave the room.

When she was gone he laid back and the doctor started up the machine, moving the bed into the tube. "Okay, Stiles. This will take about 45 minutes to an hour." He spoke through the speaker. Stiles moved his neck to settle himself more. "Now remember, try not to move." He stopped and moved just a bit. "Even just a little bit." He finally stilled. "Stiles, you're going to hear that sound. It's going to be a loud clanging. Kind of like a hammer hitting an anvil." The noise started, sounding just as described, and Stiles closed his eyes to think of something else.

When Y/n went out into the waiting room she was surprised to see Derek there as she took a seat next to Scott across from the Hale. "Hey, Derek." She greeted.

Derek gave her a small smile. She could tell there was something he wanted to say, but maybe wasn't quite sure how to say it. "You know the stuff you were telling me about chemo signals earlier?" Scott asked him. "It reminded me of the time you were teaching me to use anger to control the shift."

"I think you ended up teaching me more about that." Derek lightly smiled making Scott smile as well.

"Are you teaching me again?"

"Think of it more like sharing a few trade secrets. You know, I took Cora back to South America, right? It's where she spent most of her time after the fire. But that's not the only reason I left. I needed to talk to my mother."

"Your dead mother?"

"It's not as impossible as it seems." Y/n told him. "It's difficult sometimes, but there's ways of speaking to the dead outside of being a witch."

"She told me something that changed my perspective on a lot of things." Derek continued. "She said that my family didn't just live in Beacon Hills. They protected it. This town needs someone to protect it. Someone like you." He looked to Scott.

"And someone like you to teach me a few trade secrets." Derek smiled at that.

Y/n would have as well if something hadn't caught her attention. Something Derek said made her realize something. She looked to Scott who also realized the same thing. "What?" Derek asked when he saw their looks.

"He was trying to protrect us." She said, following Scott as he stood up, and looked at Derek. "Stiles was trying to protect us."

"From himself." The three rushed back up to the roof. "What are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure." Scott answered.

"Stiles wasn't just struggling with himself up here." Y/n said as she let her senses guide her like they had before. "He was struggling not to do something." She stepped onto the platform and reached up like she had before, this time reaching fully and feeling a canvas bag. She gripped it and pulled it down, letting the duffle bag of tools clatter to the ground. "I felt it. I almost found it earlier." She realized. Scott looked up and the other two followed his gaze to see a partially cut wire, sparking with electricity.

...

Stiles is having increasing difficulty dealing with the noise as he starts to get anxious. He squeezes his eyes shut to try and block it out. When he opens them he is no longer laying on the machine. He looks around, finding that he's in the same room, just darker, and in his regular clothes. The nogistune slinks across the room behind him making him turn. "Have you figured out my riddle yet?" He moves behind the MRI machine and Stiles follows a bit until they're standing on either side of the bed. "If you answer correctly, we might consider letting them go."

"Letting who go?"

"Your friends." The nogitsune turns to the window where Noah and Melissa are still with the doctor. "Your family. Everyone who ever meant something to you. We're going to destroy all of them, Stiles." A tear falls down Stiles' cheek followed by more. "One-by-one."

"Why?"

"Everyone has it, but no one can lose it. What is it?" He faces Stiles again who shakes his head in exasperation.

"I don't know."

"Everyone has it, but no one can lose it. What is it?"

"I don't know."

"Everyone has it," he starts to yell making Stiles turn away, trying to think, "but no one can lose it." The nogitsune starts to remove his bandages and Stiles covers his ears. "What is it? What is it?"

"I don't know!" Stiles yells, when it suddenly hits him and his hands fall.

"What is it, Stiles?" He whispers.

"A shadow." Stiles turns to face the nogitsune again as the last of the bandages fall revealing... Himself. His shadow smirks.

...

Scott catches Y/n as she tilted in her spot, looking suddenly faint. "Whoa, whoa." He had to hold her arms to keep her standing. Her breathing is ragged and she looks like she's seen a ghost. "What's wrong?"

"Something is wrong." She gasps out. "Something is very, very wrong." They can't question it as the electrical boxes suddenly overload and sparks erupt from it making them jump back. They look up as the cut wire fully detaches and swings wildly above their heads, leaving sparks in it's wake. The wire then decides to fall from the roof and endager everyone down below.

~~~

Published: 7/28/21

Edited: 4/12/22

I'm sorry for the late update today! I was doing some cleaning and didn't have the time until like a little over an hour ago, but it is here now ☺️

I will say that I also haven't had much time to write so I may not have a chapter next week or the week after. I'm not sure what will happen at the moment, but I'm very sorry for the wait. I appreciate you guys understanding in the past and I appreciate it now as well. It really means a lot that you all think this book is good enough to wait for 🥺👉🏻👈🏻💜💙🖤

Also! I decided to go ahead and do the Q&A! Even if I don't get many questions I still think it will be fun ☺️ so I have a Question Collection chapter after this one which has all of the information you will need, and you can also ask if you need clarification on anything. And if you do have questions for the Q&A please, please keep them in the Collection chapter so I can keep it organized.

I believe that's all for now. Thank you all for being here, and I'll see you next time! Bye bye 🥰