If You're Going Through Hell
A/N: Thanks again for reading so far! I have a few surprises in store for this and the upcoming couple of chapters that I hope you will enjoy. A special thank you to orionastro for your comment on the last chapter. I appreciate any feedback or encouragement you guys want to give!
Chapter 14: Paradise Found
"What was I thinking, this is even worse than the room without any doors," Isaac said, clutching tightly to the hand of his alpha in front of him and Nolan, who he was still half-dragging along behind him. The secret opening Nolan had discovered had led them into a narrow, pitch-black tunnel that was barely wide enough for them to fit through. The air was still and filled with dust, as though no one had ventured down this path in years.
"If you want, I can send you back to the living world," Stiles called out from his position at the back of the line. "We'd understand if you don't want to stay here."
"No," Isaac called back firmly, stopping to turn around even though he couldn't actually see Stiles, or anyone else, behind him. "I don't like it here, but I'm not leaving without you guys. I'm staying until it's time for all of us to go."
"Fair enough," Stiles replied, "But the offer still stands if you change your mind."
"Thanks Stiles," Isaac said quietly as he turned back around to continue following Scott down the tunnel. "You know, it's so weird to think of you having powers. The last time I saw you, you were still bringing a baseball bat to our supernatural fights."
"Hey now, that thing came in handy! I seem to remember it saving your supernatural butt when I used it to prop up that cellar next to the Nemeton," Stiles said, pretending to be offended.
"Yeah, yeah, I suppose I can let you have that one," Isaac retorted, unable to hide the humor in his voice.
"I don't know if you guys are crazy or brilliant," Nolan said, shaking his head to himself.
"I'm pretty sure Stiles is both," Scott said, joining the banter.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Stiles replied.
"I don't know Stiles, you also…" Isaac started before being interrupted.
"Stop," Stiles called out suddenly, bringing their group to a halt.
"What's wrong?" Derek whispered, feeling the tension building in the young man behind him.
"Something is happening," Stiles whispered back. "It's the magic I felt earlier, it's…changing."
"Changing how?" Nolan asked, worried. Before Stiles could reply, the tunnel answered for him. The darkness was replaced by a blinding white light, so bright they were all forced to close their eyes. When the light finally dissipated, they found themselves standing inside a narrow, wooden corridor that swung back and forth. Lanterns hung from the low ceiling, swinging with the motion of the corridor, and the smell of sea air permeated the area.
"We're in a boat," Derek said, placing a hand tentatively on a wooden wall next to him.
"More like the tunnel wants us to think we are in a boat," Stiles said, mimicking Derek's movements as he observed the wall himself.
"At least we have light again," Isaac said, turning back and forth to look at his friends.
"You're right," Stiles replied, smiling at him. "I suggest we take advantage of it and keep moving, because I'm pretty sure the magic in this place is going to keep changing the tunnel around us."
"That doesn't sound ominous at all," Nolan said, turning to look at Scott for direction.
"We have to keep moving," Scott said, also turning to continue leading the makeshift pack down the tunnel. The group trekked on in silence for a few minutes before Scott asked a question that had been bothering him for a while. "Hey Stiles," he called out to his friend in the back, "how did you know what to say to that creature back there? Do you know what it was?"
"No more than what it said it was," Stiles answered, "a pixie, right? That's what it called itself? Anyways, the demon inside me, that I took possession of, it was afraid of that thing. I could feel it trying, I guess, to guide the way I spoke to it. It was kind of a weird feeling, to be honest."
"But I thought you said you had complete control over the demon, that its consciousness had gone dormant or something," Derek said, confused and upset by this revelation. Stiles placed a hand on the older man's arm reassuringly, leaving it there just a tad longer than was actually necessary.
"Up until now it has been. I guess seeing the pixie scared it enough to want to take charge for a bit." They were forced to stop as another blinding white flash of light incapacitated them. When they could open their eyes again, this time they were in a corridor filled with lockers, similar to the high school, but without any doors or windows.
"Ugh," Nolan said, looking around at the new tunnel, "as if we weren't already in Hell."
"Finally!" Stiles called out with a long sigh, "someone agrees with me!" The rest of them just shook their heads in either amusement or exasperation. Derek alone didn't react, instead he stared thoughtfully at Stiles, as though both confused and worried by what Stiles had said. Stiles noticed the look, shaking his head almost imperceptibly in warning, which simply frustrated the wolf that much more. The group trudged on. Isaac, Scott, and Nolan became absorbed in conversation about some of the stuff that had happened in Isaac's absences (both when he left with Argent and after he had died). Derek slowed up slightly, enough so that the three in front of them would still be visible but far enough behind that he could talk to Stiles semi-privately.
"What's really going on?" Derek asked, looking over his shoulder briefly as he continued walking.
"Well, at the moment we're walking down a creepy hallway that keeps changing forms," Stiles replied, nonchalantly.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Derek huffed out through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, I know," Stiles said with a sigh. Neither of them spoke for another minute or two.
"I'm worried, Stiles," Derek finally said, breaking the silence. "You're keeping secrets from the rest of us, you've got that demon inside you that you know almost nothing about. How do I know I can still trust what you say and do?"
"Der," Stiles replied, catching the older man's hand and spinning him around to look at him properly. "This thing with the demon and the pixie, I admit it caught me off guard. But I'm still in control of the demon, I promise – all I did was let it prompt what I said to that weird creature, and its good I did, because it helped get us out of there. As for the…secrets…I don't like it any more than you do, but it's necessary for right now. I'll explain once we have everyone else together, I promise. You've trusted me this far, please give me just a few more days to prove to you its been worth it." Stiles looked up into the werewolf's eyes, squeezing his hand tightly to his chest with a silent plea.
"Well…I…" Derek began, slowly getting lost in the younger man's eyes, leaning forward slightly as he did so. They drew closer towards one another, slowly. Their faces were mere inches from one another. And then another blinding white flash of light hit, and they pulled apart in reaction to the intrusion. When the light, and their vision, cleared, they found themselves in a tunnel very reminiscent of the storm drains underneath Beacon Hills.
"Lovely," they heard Isaac mutter disdainfully from ahead of them.
"Hey, you guys ok back there?" Scott called out, just barely visible further down the tunnel. Stiles glanced at Derek briefly, searching for something before responding.
"Yeah, we're fine," he called back, tearing his gaze away from the older man. "Come on, wolfman, we should stick with the others."
Derek didn't respond, instead following after the young man as he led the way down the tunnel, once again lost in thought. What is happening here? What is Stiles doing to me? There's no way we could ever…
His train of thought was interrupted by Scott. "Hey guys, I think I found something."
-o-
"Mase, there's nothing here that used to belong to Nolan," Corey said in exasperation. He and Mason had quickly and roughly searched through every locker in the room. Most were empty, and the few that were not only contained backpacks or clothes that were obviously recently put there.
"Yeah, you're right," Mason replied, much more thoughtfully.
"Where do you think we should search next? We don't have enough time to look through this whole place," Corey's eyes darted around to the monitors on the wall showing what was going on outside the shed. The guards had broken into groups to search the woods for their "attackers," but Corey and Mason both knew that the ruse would only last so long.
"Alright, let's think this through," Mason said, turning to lean against the nearest locker as he also watched the monitors. "We know, according to Nolan, that he left a bunch of stuff here when he tried to escape Beacon Hills."
"And we know that Monroe's people killed him before he could even make it out of the Preserve," Corey added with a severe expression on his face. "We also know that was almost two years ago. They could have thrown everything away by now."
Mason's face lit up as Corey finished his sentence. "That's it!" he exclaimed, dragging his boyfriend away from the main room and into one of the side chambers.
"What's it?" Corey asked, confused.
"Monroe's hunters began using this outpost again, probably rather recently by the looks of things. After sitting empty for so long, they would have had to clean everything out. But, it's not like they have trash service out here, and with the way Monroe is, I doubt she'd be willing to get rid of anything that could be tied back to her."
"So, what does that have to do with Nolan's stuff?" Corey asked, even more confused.
"They would have put it in the trash!" Mason half-shouted triumphantly.
"And you're excited about that because…"
"Because it means I know where to find what we need," Mason said, grinning as he led Corey into the kitchen.
"Oh, of course," Corey said as comprehension dawned on him. "It's a hunter's outpost, so there's a trash room for all the stuff they don't need but can't just throw in the regular garbage."
"Exactly," Mason replied happily, finding a door off of the kitchen that led to the room in question. "Of course," he added, looking in at the piles of stuff close to spilling out of the closet, "that doesn't mean it's going to be easy."
"At least we're on the right track," Corey said, grimacing slightly at the piles of junk.
"Let's get digging," Mason said, rolling up his sleeves as he stepped forward into the mess.
-o-
"It's a hatch," Derek said, unenthusiastically.
"It's a way out of here," Isaac chastised him with a look.
"It could be nothing," Stiles said, getting dirty looks from all of them.
"What if it's a trap?" Nolan asked, tentatively.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Scott said, shushing them all with his determined expression as he climbed the ladder up to the hatch. There was a rusty handle attached to the underside, apparently unused for years. Scott struggled with it, slowly getting it to budge with werewolf strength. He pushed the hatch open and they were hit by the same blinding white light as before, though this time it didn't dissipate. The group waited a minute or two for their eyes to adjust. Scott was the first to react. "Whoa, guys you won't believe this. You gotta get up here."
The others quickly climbed up the ladder to follow Scott, emerging onto a breathtaking tropical island. The air smelled crisp and fresh, better than anything they had encountered in Limbo. The sounds of a slight breeze and the ocean breaking against a sandy beach surrounded them, and in the distance they could see seagulls flocking into the palm trees dotting the landscape.
"Finally, no more underground tunnels and rooms with no doors," Isaac said, happily breathing in deeply.
"I don't believe it," Nolan said, eyes darting around fervently in wonder.
"I don't either," Stiles said, much more critically. He got a few wary looks at his pronouncement, but before anyone could ask him about it, a new voice interrupted them.
"Hey guys! You finally made it!" The group turned as one to look at a section of beach behind them. Running towards them was Brett, wearing nothing but a skin-tight speedo that left little to the imagination as he bounded, and bounced, over to join them. The five pack members stared at him with varying amounts of confusion, wonder, and just a tinge of lust as he came to a stop with a wide grin. "I was beginning to think you all had changed your minds and were going to just leave me and Lori here by ourselves."
"Um, what are you talking about?" Stiles asked as the others looked around at one another, more confused than ever.
Brett sighed in exasperation. "Come on, we've been planning this trip for months," he said, as though this should be obvious, turning to lead the way back down to the area of the beach he had come from. The group could see Lori off in the distance, waving enthusiastically from a pair of lounge chairs set up near the ocean. "We all said, once the war was over, that we needed to take a vacation. And now, here we are. Although," he added, looking back over his shoulder at them, "you guys should have brought swimming trunks or something. You look ridiculous."
They all studied their clothing for the first time, and were forced to agree with him. Each of them was filthy, covered in dust and dirt from their time in the tunnels. Their clothes were torn in places, and Derek's shirt had a giant gash in it from the run-in with Belasko. Dressed for a fun time at the beach they were not.
"Hi everyone, I'm so glad you made it!" Lori said, looking up from her chair where she clearly had been sunbathing as they arrived. Like Brett, her bikini left little to the imagination.
"So, stupid question, but…where are we?" Stiles asked, eyes darting between the siblings.
"We're on the island of Tahiti, obviously," Brett answered, rolling his eyes as he plopped down on the empty lounge chair.
"It's a magical place," Lori added, almost instinctively. The five others shared a look amongst themselves.
"We'll be right back," Scott said, motioning for the others to follow him as he spoke.
"Hey, if you're going to the refreshment stand, bring me back another of these little umbrella drinks," Brett said, waving an empty glass at his quickly retreating friends without a care in the world, "they're delicious!"
"Yeah, buddy, we'll do that," Stiles replied, shaking his head before turning to follow Scott up a nearby sand dune towards a grassy patch out of earshot of the wolves on the beach.
"What…in the world…is going on with them?" Derek asked, staring at the siblings with severe trepidation.
"Who are they?" Isaac asked nervously. Scott quickly filled him in on how they had first met Brett and Lori and what had eventually happened to them at the hands of Monroe.
"So, back to the original question…what is going on here?" Derek asked again, once Scott was finished.
"Do you have any ideas, Stiles?" Scott asked, turning to his friend.
"Why is it always me that has to have the ideas?" Stiles cried out, crossing his arms over his chest and trying to look affronted. None of them were fooled, and just stared at him until he gave in. "Fine," he said, throwing his hands in the air as they all grinned. "Here's my guess. Obviously, we're still in the Underworld, there's no way we climbed out of a storm drain in Hell onto the island of Tahiti. Like I said before, not everything in Limbo is bad – although we seem to not be having much luck finding the good places. Anyways, this must be one of the good ones. The real question is why Brett and Lori think they are on vacation instead of, well, dead."
"I think I can answer that," a new voice said, causing all five of them to jump half out of their skin.
"Who are you?" "Where did you come from!" "What are you doing here?" and other questions all immediately rang through the group.
"Calm down, and I will tell you," Noshiko Yukimura said sternly, holding a hand up to silence them as she emerged from the thicket of trees behind them. The group immediately did so. "I've been searching for Kira. I lost the trail in the tunnels, and eventually I found myself here on this island."
"Oh, was she taken by the demons too?" Stiles asked, intrigued.
"No," Noshiko answered sternly, giving him a wary glance before continuing. "She is still with the Skinwalkers. But I lost where they went in the explosion that killed us, and I haven't been able to catch up with them since."
"I'm confused," Isaac said, nervously. Nolan nodded his head next to him in agreement.
Noshiko sighed. "The Skinwalkers travel between the worlds regularly. For them, being alive or dead makes little difference. But being dead changes things dramatically for us kitsunes. I want to find my daughter, to be with her and teach her here. And then we have some unfinished business to take care of."
"That makes sense," Stiles said, nodding knowingly.
"What part of that makes sense to you?" Derek questioned, turning to look at the young man incredulously.
"That's one of those things I'll have to explain later," Stiles replied, grimacing at the stern look the older man gave in response.
"That is true," Noshiko interjected, "because, if I am right, you are running out of time to save your friends over there." She finished by pointing at the wolves lounging on the beach.
"What do you mean? What's going on?" Scott asked, worried.
"It is the nature of this island. I have heard stories about it, here in the Underworld," Noshiko spoke, a severity in her tone that put them all on edge. "It's one of several places here that the demons use to erase or alter the memories of the people who anger them."
"They punish people by sending them to an island paradise?" Nolan asked, incredulously.
"The island keeps them pliant, so they don't fight back. The punishment is that they will eventually lose all sense of themselves and become brainwashed to do the demon's bidding. They will either become demons themselves, or they will become slave creatures, like the Hellhounds," Noshiko answered.
"Oh…yeah, that's pretty bad," Nolan said in response. The others exchanged looks with one another.
"So what do we need to do to stop that from happening?" Scott asked.
"I…don't know," Noshiko said, hesitantly.
"What do you mean? You have to know!" Scott cried out.
"I am old. I am not all-knowing," she replied with a stern expression on her face.
"What if its like the suicide pit?" Stiles asked, wincing at the look Scott gave him. "Just hear me out, alright? When Derek and I found you, the demons had you trapped in your worst memories. They were torturing you. But we were eventually able to break you free of it by showing you happier memories and getting you to focus on your connections to the Pack."
"You were in the suicide pit?" Isaac asked, turning to Scott with a lost-puppy look. Scott nodded, clearly pained by the reminder.
"But you were able to use the machine there to show Scott his memories," Derek interjected. "How do we do that for Brett and Lori here if there's no machine?"
"Well, we just have to remind them the old-fashioned way," Stiles said, a determined expression on his face that left no room for argument. He quickly spun on his heel and led the way back down towards the beach where the werewolf siblings were lounging.
-o-
It was an odd group. If anyone were to accidentally observe what was happening, it would be obvious that something was very wrong. Unfortunately for the young werewolf at the center of the group, they were in a nearly deserted section of Limbo. The only people in these parts were ones who had to be.
"How long are we going to have to keep this up?" one of the others called out, struggling to maintain his grip on the writhing boy in the center of their group.
"Yeah, this is ridiculous! Can't we just knock him out or something? I can't hold on much longer," another shouted over the snarls coming from their captive. The others nodded in agreement vigorously.
"The entrance…is just…a little…further," Severo huffed out, leading the way as he helped drag their new prisoner forward.
"You can't do this to me! I'll get out! Just you wait and see!" the young wolf shouted furiously as he struggled against the ones who had caught him.
"Just shut up already!" Severo cried out, "the Alpha will not be pleased if you make a huge ruckus."
"The Alpha?" the young wolf asked, going still for a moment.
"Yes," Severo replied, "he's looking forward to seeing you."
"I don't believe you!" the other shouted, trying to jerk his arms out of the grips of the ones holding onto him. The group slowly trudged on, towards the secret entrance in question. As they got closer, more of the pack noticed their approach and came to assist. With the added muscle, Severo let go of the young wolf, taking the head of the group and leading the way into the Alpha's den.
"My lord," Severo said as he approached the dais where Gerard and his lieutenants stood waiting, bowing low as he did so.
"I trust you have good news for me, Severo," Gerard said disdainfully, watching the beta wolf out of the corner of his eye.
"Yes sir. We…we've found the one you wanted…Scott's beta, Liam Dunbar," Severo replied nervously as the group of wolves dragged the young man into the room kicking and screaming.
"You're the alpha?!" Liam cried out, once he was close enough to see who Severo was talking to.
"Oh yes," Gerard replied, turning to face the young wolf properly. "Welcome to the den of the Argent Pack, Liam. Take a good look around, because I daresay it is the last thing you will ever see in this world. Your precious alpha, Scott, can't save you here."