Disclaimer: Don't own TW. Only my OC: Zarina.

I knocked on the Argent's door, tapping my foot patiently. The door clicked and soon Allison's face peeked through, a tiny smile on her face.

"Hey," she greeted, opening the door further. "Thanks for coming on such short notice."

"Yeah, it's no big deal," I responded, entering the small apartment. "So, what'd you need me for?"

She led me to the living room and we sat on the couch, facing each other. She was hesitant for a moment. Then two.

"I-uh, well as you probably know, my dad and Derek got released from jail," the huntress began and I nodded slowly, urging her to go on. "And I was thinking, maybe there's a way for us to catch Stiles."

"Catch Stiles?" I repeated quietly. "Like what, a wild animal?"

"No, nothing like that!" she argued quickly. "It's just we have to stop him, or whatever's inside him, from hurting anyone else. The only way to do that-"

"Is to trap him," I finished. "So how are we gonna do this?"

"You're taking this surprisingly well," Allison mused, ignoring my question for the moment. I shrugged.

"I'm actually not," I admitted. "But you have a 'boyfriend' in the hospital and a demon fox is on the loose. I think you could go without hearing my problems."

"If anything, I want to hear that someone's having as bad of a time as I am," she chuckled humorlessly and I joined her.

"Allison, I'm sorry," I blurted and she raised an eyebrow.

"For what?"

"If I ever gave you a hard time for wanting to be with Isaac or anything else in general, I'm sorry. You don't deserve that. You're one of my best friends," I bit my lip, blinking away tears.

"It's okay," Allison smiled genuinely, patting my knee. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"I guess I was just always jealous of you," I continued. "You took everything in stride, weakness barely even there, and I guess I just felt inferior because I was- and still am- always so weak."

"Stop it. You're not weak. You are one of the strongest people I know. If anything, I should be jealous," the brunette countered.

"Why?"

"You're not afraid to show how you really feel. As a huntress, I was taught that showing emotion was weak, but they were all wrong. It takes a lot of strength to do that."

"Then I must be really strong because for the past few days, I've been an emotional wreck," I grinned slightly and she shook her head in amusement.

"We'll figure this out. Stiles, the Oni, everything," she assured me.

I pulled her into a hug and she instantly returned it. I could feel the bond I shared with her growing stronger.

We weren't always on the best terms, but right then, in that moment, I felt like she was my sister. Someone I could finally rely on.

"Thank you," I whispered and she tightened her hold.

"Anytime."

"This is everything non-lethal we could find." Allison and I were carrying suitcases, Derek, the sheriff, and her father following us to the desk.

After getting a very rushed phone call from the hunter to gather all the semi-safe weapons we could find, we wasted no time in raiding their stash.

We opened the cases on the table and everyone gathered around, looking at the large array of things we could use.

"Take all of it," Chris finally decided with a sigh. I opened up the duffle bags and helped my friend put all the weapons in it.

"What's the plan here?" the sheriff pitched in, eyes glued to the long piece of rope I was stuffing in a bag.

"Our best shot right now is for Derek to try to pick up Stiles' scent at Eichen House," Chris responded, looking at me. "Especially if he went through something stressful there." I nodded, confirming that something stressful had definitely occurred.

"Should all five of us be going to the same place?" the sheriff asked, eyes narrow.

"Our best shot is to split up," I informed him, placing my palms on the desk. "Stiles has been to more places than the facility."

"Where else has he been showing up?" Chris questioned.

"The hospital, the school," I listed off, the wheels in my brain turning as I tried to think of any possible things we could do to make this process faster.

"Okay, hold on," Derek's voice broke through my thoughts and I looked up at him. "We did this already. He disappeared, we started looking for him, then we walked right into a trap at the hospital."

I sighed in frustration at this as Chris made a revelation. "He's getting us to repeat the same moves."

"So what do we do?" Allison inquired. "Wait for him to come to us?"

"We can't," Derek disagreed. "Not if the Oni find him when the sun goes down."

"Scott's working on them right now, with Kira," the sheriff muttered and I shook my head sadly.

"That's going to take too much time that we don't even have," I confessed softly. "There has to be a way to try and trick him."

"That's the problem," Chris intervened. "We're all trying to outfox the fox."

The room went quiet as we took this information in. Argent had a point that was too strong to overlook. The sheriff sighed, breaking the silence.

"Listen, I understand if anyone wants to back out."

I met eyes with Allison and thought back to our agreement from earlier. She seemed to be doing the same because her eyes shone with a certain type of determination that I hadn't seen before.

"I won't be the first wolf to run from a fox," Derek told us as he grabbed bag off the table, hoisting it over his shoulder.

Chris grabbed a weapon from the table. "Apparently, I'm carrying a lightsaber."

"I've dealt with this thing before," I grabbed throwing knives from the bag confidently. "I'm not scared of it anymore."

Allison grinned at us. "Dad, you and Derek hit Eichen House. The sheriff and I will go to the hospital and Zarina can check their house. We'll meet at the school."

We all nodded in agreement before leaving the apartment, heading to our respective locations. Once I was on the road, I felt anxiety build up in my stomach. I said I wasn't scared, but in reality, I was terrified. Facing the nogitsune in hallucinations was bad, but seeing it in person?

I shook my head, shoving the thought away and pressed harder on the gas pedal. There was no time for that. Not if I wanted to save Stiles.

I found the extra key in the same spot as it always was and I unlocked the front door, stepping into the quiet house cautiously. I locked the door behind me before exploring the different rooms.

I started with the kitchen. Empty. Then, I moved to the living room. Also empty. As I was walking down the hallway to get back to the foyer of the house, I heard a taunting voice behind me.

"It's you again. Such a woman. Chasing after someone or something that wanted them after they've already moved on."

I slowly turned around to see Stiles standing a few feet away from me, hands linked behind his back as he stared mockingly at me.

"I'm not chasing after you," I spat. "I just want my boyfriend."

"How many times do I have to tell you before it sinks in, sweetheart?" he stepped closer. "He's long gone. Not coming back."

"Maybe you need another shot of wolf lichen to prove just how true that statement is," I replied sarcastically.

"Careful, Zarina," he warned lowly. "Wouldn't want to get too cocky now, considering how I could end his life with just a snap of my fingers."

I went rigid, a lump growing in my throat. The grin on his face widened as my fear escalated and I could almost feel him feeding off of it.

"You can't win this war," Stiles continued, walking up to me slowly. I couldn't move, no matter how desperately I wanted to. "A smart girl like you should see that by now."

"We can try," I said as evenly as possible and he merely laughed maniacally.

"Try?" he mocked. "Oh, I take that back. You're not as smart as you seem. But I'll give you credit for still having hope after so long."

"We'll kill you. No, scratch that, I'll kill you myself," I growled, tensing as he edged ever closer to me.

"Will you? Fine, if you're so sure you can, do it now. Kill me," he stopped suddenly and held out his arms. "I know there are knives somewhere on you, so why don't you just end it now? It'd sure save everyone a lot of trouble."

But looking at him, at Stiles, I couldn't do it. I couldn't hurt him, even if I knew that it was the nogitsune I was staring at, not my best friend. He seemed to expect this because he lowered his arms, a smirk replacing the grin on his face.

"That's what I thought. You couldn't hurt Stiles even if you tried," he cooed.

The world started to spin around me and I stumbled slightly on my feet, leaning against the wall for support.

"You're not looking too good. Maybe you should snap out of it."

"What do you…" I trailed off, breathing heavy as my vision blurred.

"Zarina, what's wrong?"

I blinked and I found myself in Stiles' bed, Allison hovering over me, shaking my shoulder gently. I shot up into a sitting position and looked around, Stiles wasn't here.

"Wh-where'd he go? Where'd Stiles go?" I asked frantically, eyes shifting to the three men standing behind my friend, watching the scene play out in concern.

"We saw him in the room through the security cameras we have placed around here," the sheriff explained slowly. "You were already on the bed behind him, so we assumed he'd hurt you. But you weren't even knocked out when we found you. You were in this kind of…blank state, I guess you could call it."

My shoulders slumped and I shut my eyes slowly. What really happened to me? Did what I see even occur or was it just the nogitsune messing with my head? I felt my brain start to pound against my skull as I tried to process this.

"I'm okay," I opened my eyes. "He didn't do anything. Not that I remember, anyways."

I then walked over to the chessboard laid out in the middle of the room suspiciously, the others following in suit after a second of confusion.

"What is all this? What are the sticky notes for?" Chris asked, eyes roaming the board.

"This is how Stiles tried to explain to me about…all of you," the sheriff glanced up at Derek.

"Do you think it could be a message from Stiles?" Allison suggested. "Maybe he's trying to tell us something that the nogitsune wouldn't understand."

I saw Chris pick up a pawn that was knocked off the board. My heart jumped as I saw Isaac's name on the sticky note attached to it.

"Is there any reason my name's on the king?" Derek questioned and I wondered in the back of my mind if he liked chess as well.

"Well, you're heavily guarded," the sheriff explained. "I guess the alarming detail is that you're one move from being in checkmate."

"This isn't a message from Stiles," Chris noticed. "This is a threat from the nogitsune."

"He's at the loft," I realized. "That's what he's trying to tell us."

"And he wants us to come there," Chris agreed, nodding.

"Night's falling," Derek added.

"This couldn't seem more like a trap. We can't walk in there blindly, sheriff," Chris argued.

"I don't think it is," Stilinski shook his head.

"I think your opinion might be slightly biased."

The sheriff looked at the hunter pleadingly. "Hear me out. What we're dealing with here is basically someone who lacks motive. No rhyme, no reason. Right?"

"So what?" Chris questioned reluctantly.

"Out enemy isn't a killer. It's a trickster. The killing is just a byproduct."

"If you're trying to say it won't kill us, I'm not feeling so confident about that," Derek remarked.

"It won't," the sheriff disagreed. "It wants irony. It wants to play a trick; it wants a joke. All we need to do it come up with a new punch line."

"Well, the sun is setting, sheriff. What do you have in mind?" Chris met his eye.

"Let's beat him at his own game."

We waited outside the door of the loft as the sheriff went inside to try and negotiate with Stiles peacefully. I twirled the knife in my hand nervously as Derek kept his ears promptly open to hear for any signs of a struggle coming from inside.

Allison squeezed my wrist comfortingly, sensing my nervousness and I gave her a tiny smile, taking a deep breath in. We had to do this. We had to do something. I watched as Derek's shoulders went stiff and his eyes narrowed at the metal door in front of him. There was something going on inside and based on his body language, it was anything but good.

A soft clank came out of the loft and immediately the four of us marched inside confidently, Allison and I side-by-side. I almost tripped over myself, seeing Stiles standing there in the middle of the room looking as emotionless, yet more insane than ever before.

The bags under his eyes were more prominent than I remembered and I fought the shiver that ran down my spine as his smirking gaze met my slightly faltering confident one.

Stiles tilted his head towards Allison and I as we stopped nearby. The huntress lifted her tazer and pressed the trigger, sending the volts of electricity his way. However, he caught it easily in his hands, the electricity crackling, and stretched the wire angrily before letting it go, causing the gun itself to fling itself out of Allison's hands.

I spun the knife in my hand once before throwing it in his direction, silently apologizing to Stiles for doing that. Again, the nogitsune's reflexes were fast enough to catch the knife just before it hit his face. He stroked the blade teasingly, grinning up at me, before throwing it back in my direction.

I had just barely managed to turn my face so that the blade didn't embed itself in my skull. Still, it did manage to graze my cheek and I felt the warm blood trickle down from the cut.

Derek growled loudly and lunged at him, claws extended and his jaw open wide, exposing his sharp teeth. Stiles' calm façade stayed in place, though. He barely even took a second to think before grabbing Derek by the back of his shirt and slammed him into a metal table, bones cracking as he did so. Then, with a pain filled scream emitting from the beta, Stiles chucked him against the wall with a triumphant smirk on his face.

The wolf was writhing in agony on the floor, but a small click caused all of our attentions to turn towards the sound. Chris had a gun pointed at Stiles wordlessly and I felt my heart stop dead in my chest. No words were said as the tension grew in the air. Chris and Stiles stared each other down and the sheriff raised a hand, trying to mediate the situation.

"Argent, listen to me," he pleaded. "Don't do this."

"Why not?" Chris asked, eyes never leaving the boy. "I've done it before. Werewolves, berserkers. I can easily add a nogitsune to the list."

Another gun clicked and this time it was the sheriff pointing his at the hunter. "You're not going to shoot my son."

"You said it yourself, sheriff," Chris told him. "That is not your son."

"Put it down."

Chris didn't even move.

"Put it down."

"Dad," Stiles' voice was soft, almost scared. "He's going to shoot me…he's gonna kill me, dad."

Chris frowned at this. "Don't listen to him."

"Put it down," the sheriff growled again. "Now! Do it! Put it down!"

"Pull the trigger," Stiles looked at the hunter, taunting him. "Come on."

"Listen to me! You put the gun down now!"

"Shoot me," Stiles urged him.

"Put the gun down now!"

"Shoot me!"

"Put the gun down!"

"Shoot me!"

"Argent, you put it down!"

"Stop!" I flung my body between Stiles and Argent's gun, holding my hand out towards the hunter as I panted.

The blood was still falling down my face, but I paid no mind to it as I looked the hunter dead in the eye.

"This is what he wants! He wants us to fight each other. This is strife," I explained hurriedly as the gun stayed pointed at my face. "This is part of his game. He expected this to happen."

"Not exactly," I turned to Stiles, whose face held a look of fake hurt. "I was kind of hoping Scott would be here, but I'm glad you all have your guns out because you're not here to kill me," he faced the windows and I followed his gaze. Four Oni materialized as the sun went down and Stiles backed up so that we were surrounding him in a sort of defensive barrier. "You're here to protect me."

"Zarina!" Allison tossed me my knife and I caught it, twirling it around before taking a fighting stance.

Chris and the sheriff immediately started to shoot at the things and Allison, Derek, and I worked on the two Oni behind them. I jumped and kicked and stabbed at the Oni blindly, knowing that I had people to back me up. It felt like a dark, colorless blur to me and all I could make out were gunshots and Derek's loud roars.

After a few minutes, they disappeared.

They completely dissipated into thin air, confusion filling the room as we tried to regain our breaths. Derek was on one knee on the floor, chest heaving painfully. I wiped the blood from my cheek as I looked around the room, only to find Stiles gone, as usual.

Just then, Scott and Kira bounded into the room, slowing down once they saw us.

"What happened?" Scott demanded.

Allison sighed shortly. "They disappeared. They literally just vanished."

"And so did Stiles," the sheriff added hopelessly.

I saw Scott's face fall considerably as he was given this information. Just like the three other times he'd done it, Stiles had managed to disappear without a trace, leaving everyone else to worry about where the hell he'd gone off.

I walked into my house begrudgingly, sore and totally drained of any energy I had before. I honestly just wanted to wrap up in a blanket and cry forever, but I decided that I was done with crying. I'd done enough of that in the past few days to last me a lifetime. But the idea of sleep sounded wonderful.

"Zarina?" Alex emerged from the kitchen as I walked by and I stopped, turning to him. "What happened to your face?"

"Well that's something every girl wants to hear," I muttered and he gave me a look. "It was an accident. You know how I like to mess around with knives nowadays." I grimaced as his expression turned to one of horror. That was terrible word choice.

Alex grabbed my arm and led me to the upstairs bathroom, sitting me on the counter. I watched as he took the med-kit from the cabinet and poured alcohol onto a cotton ball. He started to dab it on my face and I grit my teeth to contain my groan of pain.

"Ever since I got you from Eichen House, you've been weird," he told me softly. I said nothing. "You've been jumpier, more paranoid. What happened in there?"

"Stiles is possessed by a demonic fox," I told him, laughing halfheartedly. I didn't even bother to lie or make anything up at this point. I was tired of lying and I was tired of fighting. "And I couldn't stop him in time."

Alex stayed silent as he put a bandage on my cut and stood, taking a small step away from me. I simply sat there, letting him think. A second passed, and I was about to get off the counter, when he spoke.

"I believe you."

My head snapped up and I met his gaze, which was completely serious. He had no hints of skepticism in his eyes nor did he look like he thought I was insane.

"Y-you do?" I breathed out.

"After everything that's happened, I do," he nodded. "I shouldn't have put you in that nuthouse. That was completely out of line and I hope that you don't hate me because I did that."

I smiled lightly. "I don't hate you. You're the only family I have left; how could I?"

He returned my smile and kissed my temple before nudging me off the counter. I shot him one last smile before leaving. I opened the door to my room and squealed as I turned on the lights. Isaac was sitting on my windowsill, eyes blank. I shut the door behind me and walked over to him slowly.

"Isaac? What are you doing here?" I asked and his eyes moved over to me.

"I'm better now," he responded quietly. "I'm all healed."

"Y-yeah, I see that," I gave him a tight-lipped smile. "But why are you coming to me?"

"Because I miss you," his voice was more sincere this time and his lips quirked up in a smile. "I've missed you since that day I left you here alone."

"Stop," I scolded. "We broke up on mutual terms, okay? Don't say that you miss me now."

He stood up and walked closer to me, bending his head so he could look into my eyes. I froze.

"It's true, though. I shouldn't have left you for Allison. That was a mistake." He started inch his head closer to mine, but I stumbled backwards and held my arm out.

"Isaac, snap out of it," I hissed. "You're in love with Allison now, remember? I see the way you look at her and I have Stiles, you know that. What's going on?"

He seemed to break out of whatever trance it was that he was in and he shook his head, taking a shaky breath. Isaac then looked at me weirdly, as if I were the one in his room, and then realized what he'd said and done.

"Whoa, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I don't know what happened," he quickly apologized. I sighed in relief and shook my head.

"It's alright," I assured him, but his brows furrowed and he looked at the ground in shame. I went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, making him look back up at me. "Seriously, I understand. Everything's all good."

"You sure?" I nodded and he finally let out a light grin. "Thanks, Ari. I'm gonna go now. Sorry for, uh, this."

He kissed my forehead as I let out a small chuckle and left my room, shutting my window before leaping to the grass below him. I stared at the glass window for a second before rolling my eyes and falling backwards onto my bed.

What was happening to everyone?

AN: Twiddly doo what a confusing chapter. So if you didn't understand that part about Zarina in Stiles' house, she was blacked out while she was in there, meaning she basically hallucinated that entire encounter with nogitsune Stiles, but he was still there messing with her and idk. IF THAT MAKES ANY SENSE UGH I TRIED TO BE ALL MYSTERIOUS BUT IDEK. Stuff happened, basically lolol.

Thank you all for the support and love! I love you allll. (While writing the part with Zarina and Allison bonding time, I was listening to 'Start of Time by Gabrielle Aplin'. It's so pretty and lovely and it played during the Stydia kiss. FEELS.)

Please review/fave/follow if you enjoyed this chapter! It's a great motivator.
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xx.