CHAPTER 7

Scott

"Jackson?"

I couldn't believe who was standing in front of me. We stared at each other, feeling out the situation. He was visibly uncomfortable, but there was a new air about him. He was a little more muscular and his hair seemed a little darker than what I remember.

Our relationship was, for a lack of a better word, confusing. We weren't enemies, so were we friends? I looked at Lydia, looking for any sign of what to do but her eyes seemed to be flicking back between Jackson and I, just as unsure as I was.

Before I could say anything else, Jackson stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. It was stiff and somewhat awkward, but the feeling and the legitimacy of the gesture was there. Eventually I worked up the courage to rest my arms on his back.

"Lydia told me what happened…I flew in this afternoon…I'm sorry, Scott."

I patted him on the back, taken aback at how much Jackson had changed. He actually gave a damn about people now. Who knew?

"Thank you, Jackson." I whispered.

We broke apart and Jackson walked over to Stiles who, before Jackson could raise up his arms for an embrace, held out an open hand, letting him know a handshake was good enough for him.

"My parents sent me to London thinking that my unusual behavior was due to stress and anxiety about school and Lacrosse. They had me stay with a family friend as a sort of vacation but, a couple of months later when I tried to come back, they had moved from the house. They abandoned me, wanting nothing to do with me anymore."

Jackson stood in the center of the room with Derek, brooding in the corner of the living room, Isaac and Lydia, who took seats on the armchair, and Stiles who was slumped against the couch next to Sheriff and I. It had gotten dark and Lydia finished Derek's pot of tea and made enough for everyone to nestle warm mugs of it in their hands.

"After I found out, I ran away from where I was staying. A couple of days later, this Alpha named Otsoko found me by scent wandering the streets at night. He asked me where I came from and when I told him I was from Beacon Hills, he seemed to know where I was talking about. He asked me if I knew a Dr. Valack but…"

"So are you in a pack?" Isaac said abruptly.

Jackson nodded.

"And they let you just come here?" I said.

Derek spoke up from his corner, "There's a different pack mentality in Europe. Alphas there are not as possessive about their Betas as much they are here in America."

"I didn't even know there were other packs in Europe." Stiles said.

"Oh, yeah," Jackson said, "There's a good number of them and they've been around longer than in America, dating back to before the Monarchy. But, regardless, while Otsoko is letting me visit, I'm only here for a while. I've got to go back to London after the funeral."

My heart skipped a beat, completely forgetting about a funeral. An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Lydia cleared her throat and spoke in a small whisper, "Argent's having it in a couple of weeks. January 25th, Saturday at noon."

I nodded, discreetly pinching the bridge of my nose to stop the wave of emotion I was feeling.

We all sat around, sipping our tea. I got the feeling that everyone was trying to adjust to the sudden shift from life and death situations to sitting around in a living room, safe and not in any imminent mortal danger.

Isaac switched on the TV but no one was really watching it. Instead, my ear was impulsively set on Stiles' heartbeat without me thinking about it, subtly assuring myself that he was okay. The sun was setting and Stiles was dozing in and out of consciousness before he gave in and let himself fall asleep and Sheriff draped a blanket over him

After a while, Lydia, Jackson and Derek left with a few goodbyes and Isaac took up a bed in the armchair. Me and Sheriff were the only ones left awake before he too got up from the chair with a great huff and looked down at Stiles before he turned to me, "Do you think he can stay here for a couple of days?"

"Oh…yeah, no, of course." I said immediately.

"It's just that, we still have a lot of cleaning up to do in regards to the hospital and Aiden's death report and I'm not going to be home enough to look out for him. I'll bring over his pillow tomorrow but it looks like he's okay for tonight."

I nodded and my eyes glanced over to Stiles, snoring softly on the couch.

"Either way…I think you two are going to need each other for the next couple of days, anyways..." Sheriff said, somewhat morosely. Again I nodded, finding it to be too much effort to get a word out still for whatever reason. Sheriff clapped me on the back and head out the door, leaving me with Stiles.

I glanced blurrily at the clock and saw it was only a quarter to 10. Even if I was only awake but for five hours, I still felt exhausted. I don't think I've even allowed myself the time to come to terms with what has happened but then again neither has anyone else.

Not too long after the Sheriff left, I hooked my arms under Stiles' neck and legs and carried him up the stairs to my room. I laid him on one side of the bed, covering him with the same wool blanket I always kept on the sheets and then I plopped down on the other side and laid my head down on the pillow, listening to Stiles' breathing before I let myself drift off to sleep…

Stiles

It was pouring rain. I saw the Oni appearing from all sides, surrounding Kira, Scott and I. Kira unsheathed her katana while Scott transformed, claws out and eyes ruby red. The pair of them went after an Oni at a time while I ran to the doors of the Animal Clinic. I pulled them by the handles but they wouldn't budge. I looked around for the spare key Deaton kept near the door before I heard a guttural sound come from behind me. I whipped around and Scott, facing away from me, staggered back with one of the Oni's blade protruding out of his back. I ran to him and clamped my hand on Scott's shoulder to whirl him around. When I did, I didn't see his faceI saw Allison'sher black hair in a tousled mess that hung over her face, which was frozen in shock as she stared down at the sword that had impaled her. Lydia's scream echoed in my head and Allison crumpled to the ground. The Nogitsune stood behind her, making me jump back as it reached a hand to my neck and forced my head down to look at Allison, in a crumpled heap, dying in Scott's arms

"Look what we did, Stileslook at what you did…" the demon whispered in my ear. I shook my head trying to look away, "No...I didn't do thisthis was you. This was you. This wasn't me."

Allison took her last breath and her open hand fell to the ground. Scott bent over her, shaking and crying, trying to hold on to what was left of his first love. I tried to get his attention, throat already constricting, "ScottScott, I'm sorryI'm sorry…" The Nogitsune let go of me and before I could run to Scott, to try to get to him, there was an explosion of light and all I could see was white. I was lying on something soft but uneven. I looked around me and was met with the sight of a pair of lifeless eyes meeting my own. I was lying on bodies, a dozen of them. All of them covered in blood and unmoving, sprawled across the top of the Nemeton, the life drained out of them. DerekIsaacLydiaMelissaDadand Scott.

Before I knew it, I let out a scream so loud that it seemed to shake the entire world. I felt everything become unstable, everything shifting and shaking. My world was collapsing.

I was screaming and my ears were ringing unbearably. The white, blinding light was gone and everything was dark. I clenched my eyes shut, not wanting to meet whatever horror that awaited me.

There was something holding me back, something that was clenched around my chest. I tried to fight it. I kicked and punched, hoping that I would hit it. It's him. He's back…and he's got me trapped…I can't break free… I can't break free

"STILES! STILES!"

The voice wasn't the Nogitsune's, but I couldn't make it out, my ears were still ringing.

"It's me…It's me…" the voice said.

Scott. It was Scott's voice. I stopped fighting and opened my eyes and looked down at Scott's arms holding me around my chest. I breathed heavily, coming to terms to where I was. In Scott's bed…in his house…next to him…it wasn't real…it wasn't real…

I held on to his arms like my life depended on it and felt my body shake with sobs. My chest tightened, my throat closed up and I was in a full-fledged panic attack. I couldn't stop it…it was all too real. Scott held me tighter and closer, trying to calm me down but everything felt so unstable, even with Scott there, all I could do was hang on to him and try to calm down.

"You have to breath, Stiles…you have to breathe, man."

"I-I…c…can't…Sc-cott…"

"Come on, man…you can do it…you've gotten through enough of these before you can do it again." he whispered

My head started pounding and the vice around my chest only seemed to grow tighter. I couldn't do it…I couldn't do it…

"I-I'm…I'm sorry…Scott, I-I'm sorry…"

"Stiles, you don't have anything to be sorry for. It wasn't you…it wasn't your fault."

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

"Stiles…

"Scott…I'm sorry…"

My breathing slowed down, the pressure in my chest lessened and my head suddenly became lighter. I knew Scott was siphoning my pain, but I was too tired to do anything about it.

After a while, my breathing returned to normal and all that was left of the panic attack were residual twitches in my limbs. Scott still held onto me but his grip was significantly looser. I felt his breath on the nape of my neck and the heat that radiated from his body, throwing into sharp relief the overall below average body temperature I had been acclimated to during the Nogitsune's possession.

"Are you ok?" Scott whispered. I didn't answer. Part of me was too weak to do so, the other part just didn't want to, but I turned over so that we were both looking each other, laying down on our sides. Memories of countless sleepovers flooded my brain. Younger versions of us, the version that wasn't completely overwhelmed by supernatural forces day in and day out, in this same bed, arguing over who would win in a fight or girls or lacrosse or completely typical teenage topics of conversations. It was a time that I knew was past us and it was a time that I would miss forever.

"Listen…" Scott began, "I know you still blame yourself. I know that you think you could've helped what happened. But Stiles, there was nothing you could've done. Do you get that?" he said softly. I nodded with hesitation, surprised that I was maybe facing the fact that what happened and the way it happened was inevitable.

"I don't care what you think, Stiles, because I refuse to believe you purposefully hurt those people. That's not who you are. You're Stiles Stilinski. And I for one, can't even begin to tell you how proud I am that you fought and beat this thing. You are stronger than you think, Stiles."

I still couldn't find the strength to formulate words, but all I could was manage a smile and a nod. Scott pulled me towards him and wrapped me in an embrace. I held on and hugged him back, not believing how I ever got this lucky to have Scott McCall as my best friend.

Scott

The weeks leading up to the funeral were by far the hardest. For all of us.

Lydia and Jackson made a point of stopping by almost everyday to make sure Stiles was doing okay and so did the Sheriff. Everything was finally getting sorted out at the Station but he didn't want to make Stiles come back home because he knew it'd be best if he stayed here with me and a nurse on hand. Mom kept working late shifts but she was around long enough at home to check on Stiles and help him get his health back.

There was something missing in Stiles. My goofy, spastic best friend had been reduced to a hollow shell, traumatized by all the Nogitsune made him do and the pain the demon fox put him through. The glimmer in his eye was gone and anytime he tried to smile, he seemed to give up, knowing that it wasn't sincere.

Despite the obvious trauma, his appetite and pallor were slowly making a reappearance. The color in Stiles' face was there, but not how it used to be and for the first couple of days, Stiles could only have tea and saltine crackers. Anything else, he would refuse to ingest. After awhile he started eating apples and slices of bread. Despite his claims that he didn't need the pills Deaton gave him, Mom made sure he took every single one of them and was there to refill them when he ran out. He had to use a walking cane to get around, with several half-sarcastic comments to Sheriff about how he'd never though he'd need one before his old man did.

It got to the point where Stiles was reluctant to sleep alone. He kept protesting that he was happy to take the couch and that it was too imposing of him to steal half of my bed. (We all know how that conversation went.)

He would scream himself awake almost every night, sending himself into a panic attack and all I could do was help him wait it out. He woke up every morning, distant and silent, reeking of embarrassment, despite my assurances that his reactions were completely normal.

Kira came over a handful of times, checking in on everyone, as did Derek and Argent, who Isaac seemed to be spending a lot of time with. Mom would come home to the house filled to the brim with visitors and take it in stride and make something to eat for all of us as we sat around the living room talking, trying our very hardest to ignore how quickly January 25th was creeping closer.

It was the night before the funeral. Stiles and I were on the couch and had just settled into a Parks and Rec Netflix binge. I was only half paying attention to what was happening because I could not for the life of me stop thinking the next day. I still didn't make my mind up on whether or not I was going to say anything or whether I could even pull myself together to show up at all…

"What's on your mind?" I heard Stiles say to my left. I looked at him, slightly surprised since Stiles rarely had the energy to start a conversation. He fixed his eyes to mine, "Are you ok?" he said.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I'm just…" I trailed off and I looked into my lap, away from Stiles' gaze. He reached the remote and paused the show.

"Thinking about tomorrow," he said. I nodded slowly.

"What're you thinking about?" Stiles asked, shifting himself on the couch so that he was facing me.

"I don't know. I'm just…I'm not ready to see the coffin…I'm not ready to say goodbye." I said softly.

Stiles rested a hand along the crook of my shoulder, "No matter what you do, you're going to have to. You're going to need that closure, Scotty."

I nodded, all of a sudden finding it hard to form words.

"Take it from someone who knows…it's not going to be easy. But it's going to help you move on." He said.

"I don't want to forget her, Stiles." I said, a lump already forming in my throat.

"I didn't say you had to. Moving on doesn't mean to forget, Scott. Moving on means you accept it, you learn from it, and you continue living your life." he said in a low tone. I'll never know how or when my best friend became so wise.

Stiles squeezed the hand he had on my shoulder. "You don't have to do this alone, Scott. You still have your mom, you still have Lydia, Isaac, hell, even Derek. You still got me." he said.

"I had you before." I heard myself say.

We met each other's eyes and we smirked at each other. No matter how hard I try, I will never understand how I ever got this lucky to have Stiles Stilinski as my best friend.

Hi, everyone!

Thanks for hanging on and waiting for Chapter 7!

This chapter was almost as hard to write as Chapter 5 but, although it's not as long as I would've liked it to be, I hope you all enjoyed it.

If anyone hasn't sensed it already, this fic is slowly drawing to a close. I think I can fit the story into 3 more chapters, making it an even 10 chapter fic. But this certainly isn't my last fic, oh nooooooooooo ;) ;)

I'm gonna let go of my humility here and shamelessly self promote my Tumblr (I know, I know, bear with me). I write little pieces on there from time to time if anyone might be interested (no one is, ok) But I would love to get asks or some messages if anyone has any questions about this story or fic writing in general (to which I will answer all of them). You can find me by my username: argolane

Oooooooooooor you can pick door number two and go to my side blog: Sciles is Love. Sciles is Life. (The title alone should tell you what goes on over there.)

Thank you, all for reading. As always, please please leave a review to let me know what you think

See you next week! I love you all!

Argo Lane xx

P.S. Is it too crazy/delusional to ask for some It's All We Have inspired fan art? XD Who knows, maybe they'll end up somewhere on my AO3 account? ;)