If You're Going Through Hell
A/N: Hi everyone. We've reached a section of the story (here through about chapter 20 or so) that I've both been really looking forward to and also really dreading writing, because there are a lot of important plot points going on and I want to do the story justice while still making it entertaining. I'll be the first to admit that poetry and riddles are not my strong suit (you'll see in a little bit what I'm talking about), so bonus points if you can solve the riddles before the McCall Pack can! Anyways, hope you enjoy this next installment, and let me know what you think.
Chapter 16: Behind Closed Doors
The dwarf led them to one of the doors and gathered them together in another tight-knit semi-circle. "I will now demonstrate how to receive the riddle from the door," Awarnach stated pompously. "Listen closely, as the door will only speak once and will give you no further clues or insight when it has finished. Nor can you switch to a different door once the clue has been given – the others will remain silent until you solve the clue or perish. I also cannot assist you, so once you have the first clue, I will leave you and the Portcullis on your own."
"I thought you said the only way out of here was to solve the riddles," Stiles interjected, surprised.
"That is the only way out for you," Awarnach replied with disdain, "I am the Keeper of the Portcullis, and may move about freely through this realm."
"Ok, so no outside help, we can only hear the riddle once, and we are stuck here unless we can solve it. Anything else?" Derek hastily said before Stiles could interject again.
"No, that covers it. Now, watch closely," Awarnach said, turning to stand directly in front of the door before them. He held out his right hand, tapping his knuckles on the surface of the door three times before taking a couple of steps back. At first, nothing happened, and the silence in the room felt deafening. Then, to the amazement of all of the Pack members present, a face emerged on the surface of the door, distinctly masculine features covered by the wood grain. The face yawned widely, eyes roaming over each of the people present in turn.
"I am the first of your challenges, though hopefully not your last," the face on the door spoke, voice deep and commanding. "My brothers and I are six in number, here to help you on your quest. We wish you well. Listen closely to my riddle and determine who lies beyond my threshold and which of your number must be the one to unlock the way. Are you ready?"
Scott took a moment to glance at each of his friends before stepping forward towards the door. "Yes, we're ready," he said, determination ringing through the air. The door nodded once at him in recognition before speaking.
"I am the neighbor, aloof and carefree; though I open for pain that none can see; across the street and a world away; only on the surface are we as night and day," the door said, pausing briefly between each phrase. When it had finished the door whispered, "choose wisely," before the face receded back into the wood and the surface returned to looking like a normal door.
"That's it? Really? Come on, we need a few more details than that," Brett exclaimed, breaking the silence that had descended after the door's face disappeared. But the door did not respond, remaining still and silent as ever. "Awarnach, you've got to give us some help here," Brett added, turning to where the dwarf had stood, but he too had disappeared.
"He's gone," Lori exclaimed, noticing the absence of the diminutive creature first and glancing furtively around the room in an attempt to find him.
"He said he wouldn't stick around," Stiles said with a shrug, eyes going unfocused as he continued to stare at the door. "We'll have to work with what we've been given."
"Which is what, exactly?" Derek asked, frowning at the younger man.
"The gist of the riddle seems to be that the two people involved are different on the surface but the same inside," Stiles answered, and the group could see the wheels turning in his head.
"I think you're right," Nolan piped up, shrinking inwards at the attentiveness he received as a result. "The first person – the one on the other side of the door – appears on the outside to be carefree while the second person – one of us – is in pain. But inwardly, they are actually the same."
"It's got to be Allison," Scott said definitively.
"And why does it have to be Allison?" Stiles asked with a groan.
"Because, I mean, that's the way she was, don't you think? On the outside, she and I were totally different. I'm a werewolf, she's a hunter. She was always confident and carefree and I was always in pain. But on the inside we were the same, and we were in love," Scott said, a slightly dreamy and wistful expression taking over his features.
"I think you're stretching things just a bit, but you have a point," Stiles said, grimacing at the idea. "Well, more like half a point. But we've only got one chance at this, so we need to make sure we're right."
"And there are parts of the riddle that don't fit you and Allison," Derek added before Scott could say anything. "The part about being neighbors, for example," he continued, seeing the confusion on several faces.
"I figured that was just, you know, poetic license," Scott countered.
"But it could have been meant more literally, and you and Allison didn't live anywhere near each other," Derek retorted. The two of them looked like they were about to get into a heated discussion when Isaac interjected.
"It's Jackson," he said quietly, almost unnoticeably. The faraway look in his eyes caught the attention of the other people present more than the words themselves.
"Why do you think it's Jackson?" Scott asked, cautiously. Isaac didn't immediately respond, instead taking a moment to compose himself as a whirlwind of thoughts seemingly flew through his head.
"It all fits," he finally said simply. "Jackson lived just across the street from me, we were neighbors, essentially. But, like the riddle said, at first he might as well have been a world away, because we were totally different from one another and living totally different lives. And, growing up, he was always aloof and carefree while, especially after my mom and brother passed away, I was living in a world of pain that no one else could see." He stopped at that point, looking completely lost at the pronouncement. Stiles and Derek simultaneously reached out for him, each clasping him on a shoulder. Isaac leaned into the touch, gaining both comfort and confidence to continue.
"After the whole Kanima thing and the Nogitsune, when Jackson went to London and I went to Paris with Argent, Jackson and I became friends. We would run into each other on occasion or talk on the phone and stuff. And we learned that we aren't so different from one another after all, just dealing with different kinds of pain. Jackson at one point even said that line from the riddle, we're only night and day on the surface, inside we're the same."
"Well, I'm convinced," Brett said once Isaac was finished.
"Yes, your logic seems sound," Noshiko added, while Lori nodded her head.
"Ok, you're right, that makes more sense than Allison," Scott relented as he took in the expressions of everyone around him. "But like Stiles said, we only get one shot at this. So, does everyone agree that the riddle is about Isaac and Jackson?" It took a moment, but eventually everyone nodded or gave a thumbs up. "Alright then, we're in this together. Go ahead, Isaac."
The younger wolf gazed at his alpha with uncertainty for just a moment before mustering up the courage to walk towards the door. As he did so, the face reemerged, though its expression remained blank. "Have you solved my riddle?" it asked.
"Yes," Isaac said, standing directly in front of the door.
"Very well," the door replied. "Say the name of the person you believe lies beyond my portal as you turn the knob and open the door. If you are correct, you and your friends will be taken directly to where that person is in Limbo. If you are wrong, you will all instead be taken to Lord Cerberus' fiery domain in the heart of the Underworld."
Isaac gulped at the pronouncement, turning back to look at Scott and the others with uncertainty. Scott nodded encouragingly while Stiles and Derek both moved forward to join the young wolf. "We're in this together, no matter what," Stiles said as Derek rumbled in agreement.
"Ok," Isaac replied, stepping forward to reach out and grasp the doorknob. "Jackson Whittemore," he said, rather louder than was strictly necessary, as he turned the knob and pushed open the door. The faintest hint of a smile appeared on the door's face as it receded into the woodgrain once more. The door swung open, casting the room and its occupants in a blinding flash of white light. The group were catapulted forward, through the door and into the light, freefalling towards what lay beyond. They landed in a heap, regaining their senses as the light dissipated to show them their surroundings.
The first thing that hit all of them was the wall of sound. It came all at once, a rousing chorus of cheers and boos from hundreds of people seated all around the room. The Pack had been thrown into the midst of a small coliseum, though the audience was too enraptured by the show going on in the center to notice the sudden arrival of eight new people.
"Where are we?" Scott called out over the roar of the crowd.
"More importantly, where's Jackson?" Derek yelled, trying to gather his senses and take in his surroundings at the same time.
"I don't know!" Stiles responded, the answer working for both questions. "I've never seen this part of Limbo before, but that doesn't tell us a whole lot, because it's huge." The group huddled together, their backs to the wall at the top of the coliseum as they peered down on the gathering of people and the spectacle they had all apparently come to see.
"Do you think these people are actually real, or is this some kind of illusion?" Nolan asked, his voice nearly lost in the din.
"What makes you think it could be an illusion?" Scott asked.
"None of the people have faces," Nolan replied, pointing towards the nearest row of audience members. When the Pack took the time to study them, they discovered that Nolan was correct. Though the crowd of people were clearly making a lot of noise, they had no mouths, noses, or eyes. Where there should have been a face there was instead nothing but blank skin.
"Well that's not creepy at all," Stiles said as he recovered from the shock.
"But it is helpful," Noshiko added, composing herself quickly. "If you can see the illusion for what it is, you can break the illusion altogether." She reached out a hand, seemingly to place it on the shoulder of the faceless person closest to her. Instead, though, her hand went right through the person, who then promptly disappeared completely.
"So, if none of this is real, why did it appear in the first place?" Nolan asked.
"Because of Jackson," Isaac replied before anyone else could. He had gone rigid as he stared directly at the middle of the coliseum floor. As the others turned to see what had caught his attention, they realized that Jackson was there, in the center, being attacked by several faceless gladiators, all of whom seemed to be far stronger than the young wolf. "This is the pain that Jackson keeps hidden from everyone."
"Being attacked by faceless Roman warriors?" Brett asked, incredulously.
"No, losing his identity and just becoming another faceless person in the crowd," Isaac replied, starting to walk down the stands, through the crowd, towards Jackson. The rest followed his example.
"That makes sense," Stiles said, quickly joining Isaac at the front of the Pack as he purposefully pushed through the faceless people, causing them to disappear. "It's like what happened when he became the kanima, right? He wasn't sure who he really was, because he never knew his real parents, and the kanima was his existential identity crisis. You think he's going through that again?"
"More or less," Isaac said with a shrug, never taking his eyes off of his destination as he continued to plow through the faceless horde. As they got closer, they could start to hear the sounds of the battle taking place in the center of the coliseum, the roar of the crowd dissipating along with the crowd itself as the Pack pushed through it. Jackson was clearly struggling against his opponents, all of whom were taunting him mercilessly.
"He needs help," Scott growled, allowing his fangs and claws to extend as he got closer.
"We'll do this together," Derek said, imitating his alpha's actions while the other werewolves in the Pack quickly followed suit. Noshiko withdrew her sword, taking a practiced battle stance, while Stiles simply crossed his arms over his chest and relaxed, taking in their surroundings.
"You're with me," Stiles added, turning to Nolan, who looked immensely relieved at the announcement. "Stay close. Isaac, you and I will get Jackson, and hopefully get him to remember who he really is and see that this is all an illusion. Scott, stick close to us too, in case we need your alpha help. Everyone else, keep the weird warriors busy."
Scott nodded at his second-in-command once before turning to the rest of the pack. "Everyone ready? Let's go!" The next few moments were nothing but pandemonium. Scott led the charge directly into the heart of the battle with Derek, Brett, Lori, and Noshiko rushing after him. There were over a dozen of the faceless gladiators in the center of the coliseum, so they quickly broke apart so they could each take on a section of them. Unlike the crowd, the gladiators didn't fade away when touched, but instead seemed to contain more substance and could actually fight back.
Meanwhile, Isaac and Stiles ran in the other direction, intervening in Jackson's battle enough to allow Nolan to pull the injured werewolf away and towards the sidelines. Noshiko took on the gladiators Scott had begun fighting, swinging her sword wildly in all directions as she fought six warriors simultaneously. Scott, hesitating to leave the woman alone against that many enemies, made his way to the battle surrounding Jackson, taking over for Isaac so that he could talk to Jackson.
"It's just like old times, isn't it buddy?" Stiles called out, his voice deeper than usual, though he hadn't fully transformed into his demon form yet.
"Sort of. But I don't remember you being this good in a fight," Scott replied cheekily.
"Hey now!" Stiles retorted, pretending to be insulted. "Do you have any idea how many times I had to save your little werewolf butt? And this is the thanks I get? I resent that, Scotty." Stiles punctuated his last statement by throwing a punch directly through the heart of the gladiator in front of him. The gladiator stared down in shock at the hand going through his chest, screamed once, and then blew up into a thousand pieces. "Well, well, well, look who just figured out how to defeat our enemies," Stiles added, turning to look mockingly at his friend. "Does that jog any of your memories?" He finished with a wink.
"Yeah, yeah, fine," Scott said with a huff, though the tone was still playful and amused. "You've always been good in a fight and figuring out what we need to do. Happy?"
"Very," Stiles finished with his trademark grin before pouncing on two more gladiators who had been trying to sneak around the group towards Isaac, Nolan, and Jackson.
"Jackson? Hey, it's me, it's Isaac. Can you hear me?" the young wolf was near frantic as he shook and prodded Jackson, trying to get him to come to his senses. Nolan held him up, nervously watching the scene around them unfold.
"I…Isaaaac?" Jackson finally replied, voice slurring over the word as he struggled to make the sound come out. His eyes remained unfocused and his head lolled to the side, watching as Derek, Brett, and Lori each battled the faceless gladiators. So far, the only one they had defeated was the one Stiles killed, and the Pack, for all their strength, looked to be outmatched. "Where…arrrrre weeee?"
"We're…well, we're in a very weird place," Isaac stumbled a bit too, grimacing as he tried to figure out how to explain. "What do you remember?" he finally asked instead.
"I…wassss…looking for you," Jackson replied, voice still slow and slurred, though his eyes finally seemed to come into focus. "No, that's not right…I was looking for…I was…" Suddenly, he choked, a sob forming in his throat as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. The battle raging around them intensified along with Jackson's inner turmoil, and the Pack were slowly being pushed back into a tighter circle around them. "You were killed," Jackson finally said, a look of horror on his face as his eyes found Isaac's.
"Yes, I was," Isaac said simply, not knowing what else to say.
"I tried to find the ones…who did it. I wanted to make them pay," Jackson continued, voice wavering with his conflicting emotions.
"Thanks. Although, in the future, I'd rather you not die just to get revenge for me," Isaac replied, causing Jackson to have a coughing fit as he tried to both laugh and cry at the same time.
"Wait," he said as he recovered, "I'm dead too?" The faceless gladiators began to grow, not just in strength, but also in size. The Pack was beginning to be truly overwhelmed, shouts and cries ringing through the air. Stiles' transformation into his demon form seemed to be the only thing holding them off now as the others struggled just to land a punch.
"Yeah, Jackson, you are. From what Scott and the others told me, the hunters who killed me killed you too," Isaac answered, tears of his own beginning to form.
"I failed," Jackson said, slumping inwards on himself. Demon-Stiles was struck through the middle with a pair of swords from the faceless gladiators and tossed aside. He transitioned back to human, but remained collapsed on the ground as Scott and Derek both shouted his name in agony. The gladiators rounded on the remaining members of the Pack, all of whom were now pushed up directly against the three figures huddled on the ground. "I'm worthless."
"You are not worthless!" Isaac half-yelled at the older wolf. "Jackson, you are my friend, my family, part of my Pack. Sure, you aren't perfect, but none of us are." Jackson looked up, meeting Isaac's eyes once more as the battle around them grew still and silent. Isaac tensed, worrying his bottom lip as he thought about what to say before plowing forward. "Jackson, this…" he gestured around them at the faceless crowd, "this isn't you. You have an identity, Jackson Whittemore. You have friends who care about you, a Pack who cares about you. And…and what about Ethan? How do you think he would react to all of this?"
"Ethan? Is he…here too?" Jackson tore his gaze away, anxiously scanning the room for signs of his boyfriend hidden in the shadows. The Pack remained where they were, hesitantly watching the unmoving gladiators. Scott's and Derek's eyes continued to dart over to the still and silent Stiles laying on the ground nearby.
"He's…well, we haven't found him…yet," Isaac replied, again uneasy at being the one to tell Jackson these things. "But yes, he is in Limbo, somewhere. From what the others told me, he died shortly after you did. He…couldn't go on without you." That, more than anything else, caught the werewolf-kanima's attention. "He loved you too much to bear losing you."
Everything remained eerily silent and still, no one dared even to breath. Then, all at once, it was like the whole room shattered. Jackson collapsed, dragging Isaac into a tight embrace as his tears finally fell freely. The brilliant white light that the Pack was getting all too familiar with flashed through the room, temporarily blinding all of the people present. As suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished, plunging the room into absolute darkness. The ground shook and the walls around them rumbled, knocking them all to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and confusion. Then the shaking also suddenly stopped, the soft gray glow of Limbo reappeared, and the Pack slowly got to their feet, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"We're back in the room with the doors," Brett announced unnecessarily. "How did that happen?"
"I don't know, I've given up trying to figure out how this stuff works," Derek grumbled as he clambered to his feet after pushing Scott off of him. "Where's Stiles?" he asked, voice apprehensive.
"I'm here," Stiles choked out, waving from the corner of the room where he was lying. He slowly got to his feet, swaying a bit as he did so, causing Lori to dart out to catch him and help keep him upright. "Considering the fact that those swords were just a manifestation of Jackson's mental issues, they sure hurt a lot."
"I'm…I'm sorry Stiles," Jackson said, looking up at him from his spot in the center of the huddle, still clutched tightly in Isaac's hug and supported by a trapped Nolan.
"Don't worry about it," Stiles said, waving his arm in his general direction. "I've had far worse. I'm just glad you're back to being yourself, and that you are now safe here with us."
"Yeah, about that. What exactly is going on?" Jackson asked, getting to his feet and helping to drag the others up with him.
"Well, my friend," Stiles replied mischievously, laughing slightly at the looks on Derek's and Scott's faces, "on behalf of everyone here, let me officially welcome you…to Hell!" A chorus of groans and sighs met the pronouncement as Jackson simply stared at him confused. "Alright, so it's like this…" Stiles added, before launching into the whole entire story once more, with occasional interjections from the others, about what had happened to the Pack and how they were planning on bringing everyone back to life.
"That's insane," Jackson finally said, once they were finished. "But I like it," he quickly added, grinning as he did so. "What do we do now?"
"Well," Stiles said, taking in his surroundings. "We are back in the Portcullis, although I see there are only five doors now instead of six. I guess that means we need to choose another door, get another riddle, and then go rescue another one of our Pack members."
"Is everyone ready? Or do you guys want to take a moment?" Scott asked, turning to take in the condition his friends were in. They were definitely the worse for wear, several of them having received minor injuries during the battle with the faceless gladiators. Jackson still looked a little unsure of what was going on around him and Stiles was still being half-supported by Lori and Nolan, who had moved to rejoin the human-demon hybrid once he was no longer buried under Jackson and Isaac. They all gave him nods in the affirmative, though, so Scott moved towards the closest door, bracing himself slightly before tapping the surface three times, the way Awarnach had done.
It took a moment, but another face finally emerged from the woodgrain, staring unabashedly at the man in front of him. "So, you are the one the Portcullis has chosen to assist, huh?" the face said with a reedy, disdainful voice. "My, my, what has this world come to? No matter, you shall succeed or fail on your own merits, not mine. I trust you understand how this works boy?" The door paused, waiting while Scott nodded his head uncertainly. "Good, listen closely to my riddle, because I will only say it once." The door paused again, taking in the rest of the group, eyes lingering for just a moment on Stiles and Noshiko with interest.
"When enemies become allies, the motive may seem unsure; yet when it comes with conviction and friendship that age-old line can blur; I hold the path to a person who once was considered that way; though my path can only be opened by the bond of my dying day," the door spoke clearly, voice still ringing with disdain. "Good luck," it added as an afterthought before the face receded back into invisibility.
"What…on earth…is that supposed to mean?" Jackson asked, staring at the door dumbfounded.
"That's what we have to figure out," Isaac spoke gently from next to him. "Stiles?"
"What?" Stiles asked, startled, looking as though he had been lost in thought. He sighed, taking in the expressions of those around him. "Fine, I'll help get us started figuring it out. I think we're supposed to be looking for someone who was once our enemy before they became part of our Pack."
"Mmhmm," Nolan agreed absently from next to him, also lost in thought. "And the door has to be opened by someone who bonded with them on the day they died."
"Well, that doesn't narrow it down all that much," Scott said, thinking. "If we're being honest, most of our Pack were once enemies, or at least people we fought against or who didn't like us. Allison, Peter, Malia, Theo, Hayden, the twins, Deucalion, Boyd, Erica, Argent…there aren't too many people we're looking for who don't fit that category."
"Alright, so we use the second part to figure out the first," Stiles said with a shrug. He received several confused stares in response.
"What he means," Noshiko added, "is that, according to the riddle, one of us somehow bonded with one of those people you mentioned on the day that they died. Just think through when and how they each died and see if you can come up with one you shared a bond with."
"Well, I was pretty bonded to Ethan," Jackson said with a smirk, causing a few of the people around him to blush. "But I wasn't there when he died." The smirk faded to a more forlorn expression.
"I think I was there the day Erica died," Isaac said, pained by the thought, "but I can't really remember too much about that time still."
"Yeah, but did you guys really do any bonding that day? You were already friends at that point," Scott replied. "Maybe it's…"
"No Scott, it's not Allison," Stiles interjected before he could finish.
"It could be!" Scott retorted indignantly, "I held her in my arms as she died. She said she would always love me. That seems like a bonding moment to me."
"I think we're going about this the wrong way. We solved the last riddle by thinking literally, right? The whole neighbors thing, clueing us in on Isaac and Jackson. What if this riddle means a literal bond, like a pack bond?" Derek wondered aloud, cutting the argument between the two best friends off before it could go any further.
"Yeah, that would make sense," Stiles said, turning to look at the older man. "Did anybody here form a pack bond with someone on the day they died?"
"I did," Derek said quietly, taking the others by surprise.
"Who?" Scott asked.
"Aiden," Derek replied, wincing at the way Stiles reacted to the pronouncement. His voice grew distant as he spoke, the memories haunting. "The twins and I fought the Oni while you guys went after the Nogitsune, but Aiden was wounded and poisoned by their blades. I was already half-bonded with him and Ethan, when they asked me for help on how to get you guys to trust them and let them be part of the Pack. But it wasn't until that day that the Bond fully formed, as we fought alongside one another, and as I tried to help take away Aiden's pain before he died."
"It fits," Stiles said slowly, breaking the silence that had descended on them after Derek's reminiscence. "Aiden was an enemy turned ally, who became our friend. And you bonded with him on the day he died. Derek," he paused, waiting for the older man to look up, "you should go open the door, so we can get our friend back." Derek didn't react at first, still lost in thoughts and memories. Finally, he shook himself slightly, as though physically shaking the memories off of himself, before nodding to the young man and slowly walking purposefully over to the door. As he approached, the face reemerged from the woodgrain.
"So, have you figured out my riddle?" the face asked, voice laced with boredom.
"We have," Derek replied.
"Well, then what are you waiting for? Say the name, turn the knob, and move on to whatever awaits you beyond my portal," the door said grumpily.
"Alright," Derek said, reaching for the doorknob when he paused once more, turning to look at his friends. "I…I don't know Aiden's last name."
"It's Steiner," Jackson answered, a lone tear falling slowly down his face as he looked up to meet the former alpha's gaze.
"Aiden Steiner," Derek said with conviction as he turned the knob and opened the door.