Scott opened his eyes, to find he was chained to a wall in what smelled, and frankly looked, like a dungeon. He hung his head and sighed, remembering the he let himself get captured so that Stiles would go free.
"Boss! He's awake!" Some guy yelled, and within a few moments Scott could hear the sound of footsteps approaching, until there turned a corner. A woman wearing combat boots, jeans, and a tank top stepped into the room, smirking.
"So…Big bad Alpha werewolf's awake huh? How you feeling buddy? Not to groggy I hope?" She smirked getting right up in his face, Scott growled, and she pulled back, "Ah, ah, ah. Careful there boy we don't want any collateral damage."
Scott raised his eyebrow, "What collateral damage?"
"Well you see, before we traded you for that ADHD kid, we asked him a few questions. He was pretty cooperative. He said that you'd protect anyone and everyone if given the chance, so we nabbed some kid off the streets. Bring him in Ross." She yelled, and the guy from before walked in, dragging Mason behind him.
Scott jerked, trying to get to him, but was stopped by a hand on his chest and a reminder: "Remember, we don't want anything bad to happen to the poor kid, do we? Sit tight and let me explain what's about to happen. We're gonna sit him down on that chair over there, you don't cooperate he gets a little shock. Got it?"
Scott nodded, watching the man, Ross, tie Mason to the chair.
"Now, here's what I need you to do: some of the idiot men in my family, like my brothers and father, got themselves stung when hunting a desert shifter, they're in significant pain and nothing I can give them works. That's where you come in. You're going to their pain, all of it. Or Mason here doesn't live to see another day, got it?"
Scott growled, his eyes flashing red, but when Ross's hand went to the dial he forced himself to calm down, "Alright, I'll do it."
"Excellent, now this next part is gonna be tricky, I'm taking you two them, and I've got a bug on me which lets Ross know whether or not he needs to turn the dial on Mason, you make one wrong move, Mason gets it. Got it?" Scott nodded again and the woman grinned, unhooking the chains from the wall and pulling Scott away.
Their first stop was where her twin brothers were, screaming in agony, Scott looked at them and sighed, moving forward at the look from the woman.
He sat on a stool between the two and grabbed their hands, beginning to pull their pain into his body. His veins ran black all the way up his arms, and he nearly collapsed of the stool once he was done, but the two guys were breathing easy and the sister smiled.
Scott realized, in that moment, that she wasn't out to get him, she simply wanted what's best for her family, and would do anything to get it. He understood her, he would never have stooped so low as to involve an innocent but he understood her desperation, and he genuinely wanted to help her.
He reached out, and she grabbed him helping him to the next room, where the agony was so hot, that the man inside was silent, wide awake, and silent.
Scott shared a look with her, not sure if he could take this much pain, but he had to try. He sat down next to the man, but before he grabbed his hand he turned to the woman.
"Will you let me and my friend go, after this? Not like I can track you back here, and if you know anything about me, it's that I'm not an alpha for revenge." The woman thought about, and turned to face him.
"I'll let you go, but only if his pain is gone completely." Scott nodded, though he really didn't have any other choice but to help her. He grabbed the man's hand in his, and black veins traveled up his body all the way up to his head, he gasped, and began to scream, but he held tight, listening as the man in front of him went from silence, to screaming, and finally back to silence. Scott let go, and would have fallen had he not been sitting. His entire being hurt, and he could feel that he was twitching. Every move he made every twitch he felt made him groan, or gasp, or whimper.
"I'm sorry Scott. I wish this didn't have to happen this way. I'll have Ross take you and Mason out the edge of the preserve, from there you're on your own. Don't come looking for me, or I'll come after someone you care for." She said, heaving him up and dragging him, groaning and wailing, back to the main room.
"Scott!" Mason yelled, watching his friend get deposited on the floor with a shove, his head lolled to the side as his body twitched.
"Ross take these two to the edge of the Beacon Hills Preserve, don't hurt them." Ross nodded, and picked Scott up like a potato sack, heaving him over his shoulder, Scott's vision whited out, and when he was cognizant again he was thrown onto the forest floor of the preserve, and Mason shoved out next to him.
Scott whimpered and Mason hushed him, "Hey, it's okay. I'm gonna call stiles, and the rest of the pack, they'll know what to do." Scott wished he could've passed out, but the pain was to great, every twitch brought a whimper to his lips, every whimper a moan, and every moan a gasp.
He heard the sound of tires squealing, then a parking brake and the slamming of the jeep door, Stile was running towards him, along with Malia and Lydia.
"Scott! Oh my god, Scott!" Stiles reached out to touched him and Scott whimpered, making Stiles retrace his hand. "What happened?" Stiles asked turning to Mason with a look that could kill.
"There was this woman, don't know her name, she made Scott take peoples pain, it was like the pain he took from Corey in the hospital, only threefold, and it's still in him and oh my god, the used me against him." Mason said, feeling guilty.
"Hey, hey, Mason look at me. None of this is your fault, okay? Right now we have to get Scott to Deaton, alright?" Lydia said, placing a hand on Mason's shoulder. Mason nodded, and watched Malia pick Scott up and place him in the back seat of the jeep. Mason and Lydia climbed in too, Lydia had Scott's head on her lap, and Mason his legs. Stiles probably broke a score of different traffic laws but he didn't care, he had to save his friend.
He got to Deaton's in record time and nearly fell out of the jeep in his haste to get his best friend inside.
"Deaton! Help!" Stiles yelled, leading the way, as Malia walked behind him carrying nearly screaming Scott.
"Get him on the table. Now." Deaton said, "Can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on here?"
"He took too much pain, and now he's the one in agony. Deaton…if we don't help him, he'll die." Lydia said, tears at her eyes.
"Can you fix him?" Malia asked, crossing her arms and leaning forward.
"Well the only way to help him is to change the course of the pain, take it out of Scott. Usually a werewolf can recycle that pain out of their body, or into something more useful, like a shift, but this much pain actually keeps him from tapping into his werewolf side, in addition to the agony he feels. Someone needs to call Liam, Hayden, and Corey, once they get here, you and them are going to take some of his pain. Once it gets to be too much you have to pull away, do you understand me?" Deaton said, looking at Malia. Malia nodded; Mason was already on the phone with Liam.
They arrived at the clinic in fifteen minutes and those fifteen minutes were hell. Scott's breathing worsened and the pain only increased, by the time the betas and Corey got here, he was writhing on the table.
"You four! Grab on to him, and take only as much pain as you can take, if you feel like you can't shift then let go immediately!" Deaton yelled, he watched the shifters suck the pain out of Scott's body and into their own. Corey was the first to let go, staggering a bit but quickly recovering. Hayden stumbled away next, soon followed by Liam, the two panting but both with glowing eyes, so he knew they would be alright. Malia stepped away, falling into Stiles, and listened to Scott's raggedy breath.
"Was it enough?" She asked, panting.
"Yes, I think it was. I'm not sure when he'll wake up, and he'll definitely be weak for a while yet, but I think it's safe to move him to his own bed, in his own room. I strongly suggest you four go get some rest of your own. Stiles, I'm sure you're fully capable of watching over Scott. Should anything change, call me immediately." Deaton instructed. The pack took one final glance at their alpha before dispersing, Mason taking Corey, Liam and Hayden to their respective homes, Corey went home with him, though; and Lydia took Malia.
Stiles got Scott back to his house and into his bed without incident, and sat on the armchair by the bed.
"You really cut it close this time, Scotty." Stiles whispered, and sighed settling in for a long night. He didn't get much sleep that night, as he would wake up everyone once in a while to low whimper from Scott. Stiles would shush him and squeeze his hand, but couldn't do much more than that.
Melissa came home from the night shift at seven a.m. and found Stiles asleep in the armchair besides a scarily pale and clammy Scott. Melissa rushed to his side and found that he was running a mild temperature, even for a werewolf. Melissa sighed and carefully nudged Stiles awake.
"Stiles!" She whispered, shaking his shoulder.
"Hm, wha..? Oh Melissa." He looked up at her through bleary eyes.
"Yeah, hi. Care to tell me what happened to my son?" Melissa asked, cocking her hip and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, he uh, well he got kidnapped and forced to take some peoples pain, he had to take it all and it was too much. When we found him he was writhing in pain on the forest floor. Malia, Liam, Hayden, and Corey took some of his pain, but what's left; he has to fight on his own." Stiles said, looking at Scott sadly.
Melissa sighed, and sat down on the bed beside her boy. "My sweet boy. Always putting others before himself." She said, brushing his hair away and kissing his forehead. "Alright well, I'm gonna go get some sleep; you know where everything is but if you need me just knock on my door." Melissa said. Stiles nodded and she squeezed his shoulder as she left.
Stiles turned his attentions back to Scott who tossed his head back and forth as another wave of pain hit him.
Stiles spent the remainder of the day with Scott and much of the next night when, the next morning, Scott managed to stir from his restless slumber.
"Stiles?" He whispered, finding his best friend falling out of the armchair, asleep. Stiles jerked awake and looked at his friend in shock.
"Scott. Oh my god, Scott. You're awake! How do you feel?" He asked, scrambling back into the chair.
"Heh, not so ba—hnnnn. Okay I take it back. Ow." Scott said, then clenched his teeth against the pain. Once the wave subsided, Scott panted slightly, beads of sweat rolling down his face; he lazily turned his head to look at Stiles. "It hurts man." He whispered.
"I know, Scott. I know. But it's okay. Deaton says you'll get better. Malia's gonna be over later today, along with Liam. They're gonna take some more of your pain now that they've had some time to burn through the last time." Stiles explained, staring at his best friend's wandering eyes.
"You'll get better, Scott. You have to." He continued, whispering the last part to himself, but he knew Scott could hear it.
"Hey, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere." Scott said, giving Stiles a weak smile. Stiles smirked back.
"Yeah. Me, too, Scott. Me too." Stiles said, locking eyes with Scott.
Stiles watched over Scott for the rest of the weak, and by next Monday Scott was ready to try school again. He still ached all over, and sometimes he would get little spasms here and there, but the pain was getting better every day, and Stiles was there, every step of the way.
Scott looked up from the benches of the Lacrosse field, catching familiar scent in the air. He looked around, until he saw the woman who had kidnapped him, standing at the edge of the woods, behind her stood her father and her two brothers, completely recovered.
"Thank you." She whispered, knowing that Scott could hear her, he nodded and watched her take off.
He forgave her, because yes she had kidnapped him and almost killed him inadvertently but she was just trying to protect what was hers, just as he was doing when he let her capture him. There was a sort of mutual respect between, and Scott had a feeling that would not be the last time he saw her.
"Hey, Scott!" Stiles said, jogging up to him from the field with his helmet and stick in hand. "Ready to head home?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, let's go home." Scott said, letting Stiles pull him up off the bench.
They would be just fine.