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Jayrosew: Thanks for the review!

Captain Boshtet: So Stiles texted Scott to meet him and Deaton somewhere (I think the entrance to the preserve or something) and Deaton told him about the plan, then Scott and Stiles went to get their objects then met back at the clinic. I always forget about that scene too don't worry lol. Thanks!

"When loneliness came and you were away

Oh they told me nothing new,

But I love to read the words you used

These are the things, the things we lost"

Things We Lost In The Fire by Bastille

The few seconds after Scott, Stiles, and Allison went under were the hardest, especially when they hadn't woken up after thirty seconds. Isaac, Lydia, and I all turned to look at Deaton.

"I thought you said they should only be out a few seconds," Lydia said, worry seeping into her voice.

Deaton looked solemn and concerned. "If it went precisely as planned, it should have. But as I said, this ritual is dangerous, and it's not exactly predictable."

I huffed, throwing my head back to look at the ceiling then back at Deaton. "So, now what? We just sit here and wait?" I asked.

Deaton nodded. "That's all we can do. We can't pull them out or they'll die."

"But if we let them stay under, they might die anyway?" Isaac said. "Wonderful."

"Unfortunately," Deaton agreed. "I suggest you all go home and get some rest. I don't know how long this will take."

"I'm not leaving," I said, crossing my arms. I couldn't just leave them. They were my friends. I needed to be there in case something went wrong.

"Neither am I," Lydia added. "We're staying right here."

Deaton didn't look surprised. "Very well. At least get some rest, though. Two of you are looking a little worse for wear." He then left the room, leaving us three with our unconscious friends.

Isaac, Lydia, and I glanced at each other and immediately knew who he was talking about. Isaac and I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in almost two days, running on adrenaline and worry. Realizing that, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"I'll wake you guys up if anything happens," Lydia reassured.

"Thanks, Lyd," I said as I sat down against a wall with Isaac next to me. A few seconds after my head hit his shoulder, I was out like a light.

I was shaken awake and quickly sat up, eyes wide. It felt like I had only been out a minute. Lydia gave me a sheepish smile. "I know, I know, sorry," she said. "You've only been asleep an hour but you're gonna want to see this."

My eyelids were heavy as I still felt exhausted, but Lydia helped me up. Isaac rubbed his eyes, groaning. "What burned down?" he asked.

Lydia's shocked expression didn't change. "You'll see."

I helped Isaac up off the floor then rolled my shoulders to stretch them. My whole body was tense and sore. Lydia led us out of the exam room to the waiting area. My eyes bugged out of my head. There stood Boyd and Riichi, both fully awake and walking, and in Riichi's arms laid a red fox.

Riichi held up the animal. "Here's Mom," he said nonchalantly.

"She's a fox?" I exclaimed, hurrying to my brother's side and taking the animal into my arms.

"So, that's what our English teacher did. Can she maybe guide us to the Nemeton?" Isaac suggested.

Riichi shook his head. "No, she's a fox. Like an actual fox, not her in her fox form. She doesn't seem to recognize Dad or me, so I doubt she can lead us where you need to go. What's a Nemeton? What'd we miss?"

I held up a hand for him to hold that thought and turned to Deaton. "Can you help?"

Deaton folded his arms over his chest, staring intently at the fox in my arms. "It's complicated magic. Jennifer is far more powerful than me because of the sacrifices, so I don't think I can do anything. We'll have to wait for the spell to wear off on its own or for Jennifer to change her back or die."

"Wait, when did you two wake up?" Isaac asked, turning back to Boyd and Riichi.

"About an hour ago," Boyd answered. "Derek and Peter are looking after Cora, so I called Riichi. Thought maybe he could heal her like he did me. I had no idea he had been in a coma, too. But also, Derek and Peter figured out a way to heal her anyway."

"And Dad told me he hadn't been able to get a hold of you," Riichi added, "so we decided to come here. Turns out, it was a good idea. What have we missed?"

"Oh, you know, just sacrificing Scott, Allison, and Stiles to find their missing parents," Isaac filled in. "And our English teacher is an evil Druid. Normal day really."

"You woke up an hour ago?" Deaton asked. Boyd and Riichi nodded. "That'd be about the time they went under."

The fox stirred in my arms, so I scratched behind her ears to calm her down, still looking at Deaton. "Is that significant?"

"Perhaps the sacrificial magic was more powerful than I thought. It could explain why they're still under."

Lydia didn't look particularly happy. "Does that mean they'll be staying under even longer?"

Deaton nodded slowly. "It's likely. I can't say for how long. But we have to let it run its course. If we try to wake them up too early, they'll die. That I am certain of." He took a few steps towards me, holding out his hands. I handed him the fox. "I'll look after Tamae. You two go back to sleep. You'll need your strength."

Ten hours later, Isaac and I woke up, but Scott, Stiles, and Allison were still unconscious, leaving the rest of us unsure of what to do besides sit around, chat, and play games. I had also finally called my dad to let him know what was going on, and he caught me up on what he told the police about Mom. Apparently, he had told them she had left for work just like every morning, but when her assistant had called the house to figure out her whereabouts, he learned she was missing and thus called the police. Truthfully, he had woken up next to a fox and knew it was Mom because the fox had the same markings as Mom in her fox form.

Poor Dad was just a human and didn't know how to deal with his son in a coma, his wife as a fox, and his daughter being unreachable. I felt bad for not getting ahold of him sooner with someone else's phone or something, but considering how many years I had gone not talking to my parents for days, it was habit at that point.

So, for five hours after sleeping on a hard floor, Isaac, Lydia, Deaton, Riichi, Boyd, and I played various card games to pass the time. Occasionally, Deaton would leave us to do actual work like taking care of animals or paperwork, but otherwise, we all sat on the floor playing games like Black Jack, Bullshit, or Poker with skittles. And, as expected, Riichi and I tended to wipe the floor with the rest of them, except in Bullshit because Isaac and Boyd could hear everyone's heartbeats. Damn werewold hearing.

Isaac had also gone out to get food for everyone at some point, and everyone ate theirs quickly, not in the mood to savor the delicious curly fries and burgers. And Deaton had long put my fox-mom in a locked closet. He didn't want to put her in a cage for fear that she would change back before any of us were able to let her out of it.

Finally, we heard loud gasps and splashing water. The group of us jumped up and hurried to the backroom to see Scott, Stiles, and Allison awake and shivering. When Scott saw us all rush in, he started talking.

"I saw it," Scott said. "I know where it is."

"Yeah, we passed it," Stiles added, climbing out of his tub. "There was this stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore, it was cut down, but it's still big, though. Very big."

Scott looked at his best friend. "It was the night we were looking for the body."

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."

"I was there, too," Allison chimed in, hugging her arms, "in the car with my mother. We almost hit someone."

"It was me," Scott said to Allison. "You almost hit me." The three turned to us piling in from the doorway. "We can find it."

While that was good news, none of us knew how to broach the topic of how long they'd been out.

"What?" Allison asked, eyes flicking to each of us individually.

You've been mostly dead all day, echoed in my mind. We had Miracle Max make a pill to bring you back. But that didn't seem appropriate to say out loud. "You guys were out a long time," I decided on. It sounded nicer and less jarring. I had been counting the hours from the moment I had woken up.

"How long is 'a long time?'" Stiles questioned.

"Sixteen hours," Deaton answered.

"We were in the water for sixteen hours?" Scott repeated, eyes wide.

"And the full moon rises in less than four."

We started handing out the towels to the freezing teenagers. Allison wrapped her towel around her body and sat against her tub with Isaac sitting next to her, providing body warmth like I had done for him when he had gone through a similar experience.

Scott sat on the edge of his tub, too, after using his towel to dry off as best he could. "I need to get back to Deucalion soon."

"No, dude," Stiles said, moving to lean against his tub. "You are not going back with them."

"I made a deal with Deucalion."

Stiles looked around at the rest of us. "Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?"

"Why does it matter anyway?" Isaac asked from his spot.

"Because I still don't think we can beat Jennifer without their help," Scott explained.

Allison turned to Deaton. "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong."

"I'm not so sure he is," Deaton said. Allison, Isaac, Lydia, Boyd, and Stiles looked at the veterinarian in shock while Riichi and I simply glanced at each other while we leaned against the wall. "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider your enemies."

Allison looked at me, pleading with her eyes. "Sara?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, Allie, but I'm with Scott and Deaton on this one. If I had thought it was a bad idea before, I would've tried to stop him from leaving with Deucalion in the first place. I'm going with Scott's judgment call." Scott stood from his tub to stretch out his legs, giving me a grateful smile.

"So we're gonna trust him," Isaac interjected, "the guy who calls himself 'Death, Destroyer of Worlds?' We're gonna trust that guy?"

"I wouldn't trust him, no," Deaton corrected. "But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."

I remembered something my mom had told Scott and I. "Deucalion isn't always blind," I repeated, looking at Scott.

Scott nodded, recalling the memory as well. "I might be able to use that."

"Would either of you care to explain what that means?" Riichi asked, glancing between Scott and me.

Neither of us had the opportunity to do so when we heard the front door of the clinic open. Deaton went out first to see who it was.

"I'm looking for Lydia."

I frowned, recognizing the voice as either Ethan or Aiden. Scott, Lydia, Stiles, and I moved from our spots to go see what the werewolf twin wanted. Upon seeing the tank top-clad alpha, I could tell he was Ethan due to a serious lack of attitude and cockiness.

"What do you want?" Lydia asked.

"I need your help," Ethan replied.

"With what?" Stiles asked skeptically, leaning in the doorway.

"Stopping my brother and Kali from killing Derek."

A beat passed as we processed that information. While a little shocked that Ethan wanted us to help him, it wasn't hard to determine that Ethan was the nicer, kinder twin and that he wasn't up for unnecessary death. Danny had a good fella, though to be fair, his ex-boyfriend was kind of a dick, so it wasn't hard to be better.

Then Lydia nodded. "Okay."

"Do you want help or. . ." I trailed off, looking at the redhead.

"I'll be alright, but thank you," Lydia said, patting my arm. "Focus on helping Chris, Melissa, and the sheriff. I'll be fine."

"Alright," Scott said, nodding his head slowly as a plan formulated in his head. "Lydia and Ethan will go talk to Derek. Take Riichi, he might be able to help since they trust him. Stiles, you and Boyd go to your house and find something we can use to pick up your dad's sent. Allison, Isaac, Sara, and I will go back to Allison's apartment to see if we can find the location on Chris's maps and get something to smell. And maybe a weapon, too."

He reiterated his split-up plan to the others and we all separated after the surrogate sacrifices put on some warmer clothes. I hopped into the back of Allison's car to her apartment. Isaac rode in the passenger seat, and Scott drove on his bike.

"Just grab anything," Scott told Stiles over the phone as we walked out of the elevator on Allison's floor. "Stiles, I'm not smelling your dad's boxers, and by the sound of it, Boyd doesn't seem happy either." I snorted, trying not to laugh. "Socks? Okay, I'll smell the socks."

"What about me?" Isaac asked.

Allison unlocked the apartment door. "See what you can find in my dad's closet," she told him. We followed her into the apartment. "Anything with a strong scent." She paused when she opened the office door, and I came up behind her only to freeze at the sight of Agent McCall and two deputies. My jaw clenched and twitched, my hands curling into fists. This man needs to stop being a nuisance everywhere.

"Quite an arsenal your father's got here, young lady," Agent Douchebag said, gesturing to the weaponry decorating the desk in front of him. Scott moved to my side at the sound of his father's voice. McCall stood from Chris's desk chair. "Scott."

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked.

"Following one of the only leads I have," Agent Douchebag answered. "Now, since I don't know where you've been, why don't you have a seat? We can talk. You too, Isaac."

My eyes narrowed at the agent and so did Scott's, and Isaac, who had been out of sight the entire time, moved into the doorway behind Scott and me. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

"Your name is one of the few things I know." McCall glanced at one of the deputies and the arsenal on the desk. "To be honest, the rest of what's going on around here has me stumbling in the dark, even over the smallest clue."

"If you're trying to tell me that you don't have a clue, I learned that a long time ago," Scott said, moving past Allison and me into the office. I smirked at Scott's snark. It never ceased to amaze me when it showed in the typically earnest, down-to-earth, teenaged werewolf.

"I'm really hoping to avoid the embarrassment of dragging my own son into an interrogation room. Really hoping."

The four of us begrudgingly entered the room. Allison and Scott sat down in the chairs, and Isaac and I leaned on the small table in between them. I noticed Scott's jaw and eyes tense and set a placating hand on his shoulder. He quickly reached up and grabbed it, holding it in his own. I was glad we had gotten close over the summer, close enough to the point where it was easy to help calm each other. Maybe that's what Deaton had meant about an emotional connection and not Scott maybe, possibly, perhaps having a crush on me. Regardless, it wasn't the time to think about that.

Agent McCall glanced at each of us. I noticed him eye Scott's hand around mine for a brief moment. "I'm not gonna lie," he said, "I'm more than a little disturbed, not only by the number of missing parents, but the fact that it's Stiles' father, your father, and your mothers." He gestured to Allison then Scott and I.

Excuse you, I know exactly where my mother is.

Isaac pulled out a small container of Ice Breakers, popped open the tab, and pulled out a mint for himself before raising his hand and saying, "Mine are both dead." He set the mint in his mouth, looking at the agent with no emotion. I kicked his foot with my own. I was all for giving the man attitude, but dead parents hardly seemed like a decent thing to joke about at the time.

Agent McCall's gaze hardened a little. "Save the cliched teenage apathy for your high school teachers." Oh, so he's a douche douche, alright. "The four of you know more than you're saying, and I'm fully willing to keep you here all night if I have to."

Scott's hand suddenly squeezed mine twice, silently getting my attention. He didn't look at me, staring directly at a specific spot on the desk. I followed his line of sight, seeing a few flash arrowheads sitting in plain sight. Deucalion isn't always blind.

"So, any of you want to say anything?" Agent McCall asked, not noticing mine and Scott's shift in attention. "Such as where you've all been?"

"We were all at Sara's house," Allison quickly lied. "Nothing nefarious about that."

"With everything going on, my dad didn't want anyone to be alone," I added, continuing with Allison's lie and praising her for her quick thinking. "I mean since I am the only one with two parents in my life." I gave Agent McCall a pointed look, arching a single eyebrow.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted the corner of Scott's mouth twitch up. "You can't keep us here," he said.

"Not without some kind of warrant," Allison said.

Agent Douchebag leaned forward on the back of the desk chair. "I've got a desk full of probable cause."

Allison made a face and stood up. "My father is a highly respected private security consultant and federally-licensed firearms dealer." Hm, I've never heard their civilian cover. Sounds badass. "That means he has to own a few weapons." She pointed at one of the weapons. "Like this 175-pound draw tactical crossbow. Or this carbon steel Marine combat knife. Fifty AE Desert Eagle." She paused, picking up a silver canister. "Smoke grenade with a pull-ring igniter." She pulled the ring and tossed it towards Agent McCall and the deputies. "Go!"

Scott grabbed the flash arrowheads as we all ran out the door. Agent McCall called after Scott, but his cries fell on deaf ears as we got the hell out of there.

Scott jumped on his bike while us other three climbed into Allison's car. We sped off towards the preserve, our hearts pumping wildly.

I breathed out a large sigh. "Damn, Allie, that was badass," I said, leaning foward between the front seats.

She chuckled, shaking her head as she drove through the streets. "This is weird to admit, but that was fun."

"That isn't weird at all," I quickly assured. "He deserved it. Honestly, you should've seen Agent Douchebag at the hospital talking to me and Stiles. Oh, my god, I don't know how Scott is related to him. He had the audacity to imply that Sheriff Stilinski had been drinking heavily and that's why no one could find him."

Allison gasped, glancing at me. "He did not."

"He totally did. Thankfully, Stiles being Stiles had a rude, sarcastic response. It was beautiful and well-deserved, so I don't feel bad about him getting a face full of smoke. I do feel bad for Scott having to deal with that as a father though."

The rest of the ride was silent as Isaac and I tried to get ahold of Stiles and Boyd, but we weren't getting a response from either of them.

Once Allison pulled up outside of Beacon Hills Preserve, Scott parked his bike next to us. "You okay?" Allison asked as we climbed out of the car.

"I didn't know what to say to him," Scott said, getting off his bike and taking off his helmet. "I couldn't come up with anything. But what you did, that was awesome."

"I hate to kill the happy mood," I cut in, wiggling my phone, "but I haven't gotten anything from Stiles or Boyd. And they're not picking up their phones."

"Alright, well, we can't wait for them," Isaac said. "Come on."

We then entered the preserve on foot. The four of us got to the cliff overlooking the town. Storm clouds crackled overhead.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't we, Scott?" We turned to see Deucalion walking up to us, oddly without his glasses or Kali and Aiden, but then again, those two were going after Derek.

"We got a little delayed," Scott vaguely explained. "Where are the others?"

"Occupying themselves with other pursuits," Deucalion answered. They really wanted to kill Derek, damn.

"So it's just you and me against her?"

"I think you'll be surprised what a good team we make."

Scott took a breath in and turned to me. "Get Stiles and Boyd and then get to the root cellar, okay? We'll keep Jennifer away long enough for you to get them out of there."

"How are you gonna do that?" I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.

"I have a plan. Trust me."

His look of determination was infallible, so I nodded slowly. "I do. Good luck." Scott then left with Deucalion. I looked at Isaac and Allison. "Let's go. Allison, lead the way." Isaac and I followed her through the woods, still trying to get a hold of Stiles and Boyd, but we weren't having much luck, and we didn't see them on our way to the Nemeton as the winds were picking up around us.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Isaac asked over the loud wind.

"I know we're near it," she answered. "Do you think you can pick up a scent?"

"I'm trying, but I can't. . ." He slowed to a stop, and Allison and I turned to him. "I hear something."

"Is it Stiles or Boyd?" I asked.

"No, no, it's, uh, an emitter." Isaac looked at Allison. "It's one of your dad's."

"Are you sure?" she questioned. It would be terrible if it didn't belong to Chris. It would mean there were other hunters out in the terrible storm on the night of a lunar eclipse.

"It has to be," Isaac said. "Come on." He took off running, and Allison and I followed.

Entering a clearing, we spotted a large tree stump. It looked like something directly out of a movie. The three of us moved closer. "There's the Nemeton," I said, "so where's the door to the cellar?" The three of us looked around the area.

"There!" Isaac pointed across the clearing, seeing two wooden doors in the ground.

Going around the stump, Isaac and I opened the doors and Allison went down first. I followed her down the stairs, Isaac coming after me. The wind stung my eyes, but I blinked hard as we entered the root cellar, seeing the three parents tied to posts. I went to Melissa and untied her, Isaac taking care of Noah and Allison helping her dad.

"Sara, thank god," I heard Melissa say when I knelt in front of her.

"Where's Stiles?" Noah asked. "Where's my son?"

"And Scott?" Melissa added.

"They're coming, alright?" Isaac said, hurrying with Noah's bonds. "They're on their way to help."

I was making no progress with untying Melissa, so I ripped through the rope with a small flame instead. The ceiling then began caving in, dirt pouring into the cellar. Fuck no. I tore the rest of the rope off of Melissa as quickly as I could, Allison and Isaac doing the same for their adult.

"Hurry!" Isaac yelled.

A shelving unit then fell over, followed closely by more things toppling over. I helped Melissa up, pulling her out of the way of falling debris.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Noah said, the ceiling getting lower.

We tried to go to the stairs, but they collapsed. We were trapped in the cellar.

"It's blocked," Chris said. He looked at Isaac. "What do you see? Anything?" Isaac shook his head. A slab of something then gave way. "Look out!"

I pulled Melissa out of the way with Chris doing the same for Allison and Noah pulled Isaac out of the way. On the ground, I turned to look at the crumbling ceiling and noticed a support beam giving way. It was the only thing keeping the ceiling from completely collapsing on top of us.

Isaac and I quickly knelt under it, taking the weight of it in our hands. I took in a strangled breath, my eyes turning orange. My muscles strained at the exertion even with Isaac using his supernatural strength, the same as me.

"Is it me, or is this place getting smaller?" Isaac asked rhetorically.

I let out a strained chuckle. "Where's Boyd when you need him, right?" I looked at Isaac, seeing panic in his eyes. Getting smaller. Fuck. "Hey, hey, focus on me alright? Just breathe." He nodded as best he could. "Just breathe."

As the minutes passed, I whimpered as my arms began to give out, moving the support beam from my hands to my shoulders.

Noah moved to help us, and I felt Isaac's werewolf strength give out when the sky above us turned yellow. The lunar eclipse had begun.

"I can't do it," Isaac said, struggling to keep the beam up. "I can't do it! I can't hold it!"

My entire body trembled under the increased weight and the others tried to hold it, attempting to lift the support beam with their hands. It worked for a few seconds, but I was the only one with remotely supernatural strength at that point.

"It's too much!" Allison said. "It's too heavy!"

Right before all of our arms gave out, there were two thuds next to us, and the support beam stopped moving. My eyes flickered to see Stiles, Boyd, and a metal baseball bat. I tentatively dropped my sore arms and the bat did its job.

"I always said aluminum was better than wood," Noah remarked, looking at his son. Stiles surged forward, embracing his dad.

Boyd crawled over to Isaac and me and asked, "You guys alright?"

"Better now that you're here," I answered. "Where the fuck have you two been?"

Boyd shrugged nonchalantly. "We crashed in the storm. He got knocked out, but I couldn't just leave him. Sorry, we missed the fun."

Isaac and I chuckled, exhaustion clouding the amusement. "Yeah, well, don't make it a habit," Isaac remarked. "Come here." He held out his arms and Boyd hugged him. "It's damn good to see you up and about. Don't go dying on us again. That's like the third time."

"Promise," Boyd muttered.

A few minutes later, the yellow tinge disappeared, and the lunar eclipse ended. And shortly after that, the wind died down.

"Is it over?" Allison asked.

"I think so," I said, peeking my head out from under the beam.

Stiles and Noah laughed in relief then Stiles's phone vibrated. He pulled it out, answering the call. "Scott? Yeah, we're okay. We're all okay. How 'bout you? You okay? Well, you think you can come get us?"

"And bring a ladder!" I called out. Melissa chuckled from her spot behind me and patted my back, the others laughing along with.

The moment Scott and Derek pulled us all out of the collapsed root cellar and we were all on stable ground, I jumped into Scott's arms after he had hugged his mom first, of course. He made a sound of surprise then hugged me back.

"I'm glad you're okay, Scott," I muttered into his shoulder.

Scott's arms tightened around me, and he set his cheek on top of my head. "You too, Sara."

Resting in my bed after days without being in it was almost as great a relief as everyone turning out okay.

The magic keeping my mom as a fox wore off the moment Ms. Blake was killed by Deucalion, or supposedly killed, so she helped Deaton, Lydia, Cora, and Riichi with Ethan and Aiden who had barely survived an attack by Ms. Blake. Riichi and Boyd were up and about, as healthy and sound as they had been before Boyd had almost died. Melissa, Noah, and Chris had, thankfully, not been hurt too badly during their stint as captives, and Noah had been brought up to date by Melissa on the supernatural situation in Beacon Hills. Derek left with Cora, leaving Beacon Hills for who knows how long, and while Riichi was sad to see her go, he didn't want to go with, choosing to stay in Beacon Hills with us, unlike last time.

The day after the lunar eclipse, I woke up to my name being called by my mom. The sun was shining in my face, so I groaned, rubbing my eyes. I crawled out of bed, still bleary-eyed. Tugging an oversized, knit cardigan over my tank top and pajama pants to stay warm, I left my room, trying not to trip down the stairs.

"Yeah, Mom?" I called out, reaching the bottom of the stairs. I turned the corner to see Scott and my mom standing in the living room.

"I'll, uh, leave you two alone," Mom said, a small smirk gracing her face as she left the living room in favor of the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes at her trying to be sly and faced an awkward-looking Scott. "What's up?" I asked. "Please don't tell me Ms. Blake is actually still alive and that's why her body was missing from the distillery."

"Oh, no, no," he quickly said. "I just wanted to see how you all were doing after everything, and uh. . . and show you something. I didn't get the chance to last night with everything going on."

I eyed him strangely. "Um, okay. Well, I'm doing alright. I think Riichi's still sleeping, but otherwise, he's good, too. And Mom doesn't seem too affected by her having not been in control of her body for a few days, but she's been alive for a couple hundred years, so I'm not surprised it didn't faze her. Dad's a little peeved at everything going to shit for a short bit, but he's fine, too. So, that's us. What did you want to show me? And shouldn't you be sleeping in, completely exhausted after what had happened?"

He laughed quietly, putting his hands in his front pockets. "Yeah, but this was more important." Scott breathed deeply, closing his eyes and dipping his head down. When he looked up and opened his eyes, they were glowing a searing red.

I smirked. "About damn time."

The red shifted back to a warm brown. "Not even a little surprised?"

I shook my head, the smirk turning into a smile. "Not at all, koinu. It suits you. You're the alpha now."

After Scott left, I found myself unable to fall back asleep, so I sat on the floor of my room and looked at myself in the mirror. I had discarded the cardigan in order to feel the air around me.

Taking slow, deep breaths, I willed my spirit to manifest to the naked eye. I watched the orange fox-spirit encase my body in fiery wisps. It ran close along the length of me, not as distant and protective it used to be when it would manifest in the past.

Lifting my hands and looking at my arms, it was hard to distinguish between the spirit and my physical body. I curled my fingers into a fist and smiled. As the seconds passed, my body continued to stay at a level temperature, my heart rate didn't rise, and the spirit didn't stir angrily or anxiously. Allowing the spirit to retreat, I sighed in content. It didn't fight when put away.

I was in complete harmony.

Koinu - Puppy