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CHAPTER 21

They were once again in front of the animal clinic, and Scott shivered as he remembered the night they'd found Stiles, catatonic on the floor. It felt like so long ago now. Scott looked to the side and noticed Stiles in his jeep. Unfortunately, sitting next to him was Theo.

Rage twisted in his gut and his hands curled into fists, eyes turning red as his mouth twisted up and he let out a snarl. He'd never wanted to attack someone so bad in his life. He couldn't believe he'd ever trusted him. He knew half of his anger was directed at himself- for believing him, trusting him, for not trusting Stiles, and for letting Theo get to his best friend in the first place. If he'd only protected Stiles better, they'd never had had to invade his mind again. But Scott also knew that most of it was because of everything Theo had cost them. He'd been the one to pretend to be honest, the one who lead them into traps, the person who told Donovan to kill Stiles, the one to blackmail him, the person who'd turned Scott against his best friend, and his own pack against him. He was the one responsible for hurting Lydia, for hurting Stiles, who let his own sister die, and who had killed him in the library. His heart was beating out of control as fury pulsed through him, and Lydia stepped in front of him with her hands up, blocking his view of the guys.

"Calm down Scott. You literally can't touch him remember? This isn't really him."

"Still wondering why I haven't said anything to Scott?" Scott heard Theo say from behind Lydia.

"Maybe."

"You think I've got some ulterior motive?

"More than likely."

"Would you believe me if I said all I want, all I've ever wanted- was for you guys to trust me?"

"Nope." Stiles without hesitation. Scott smirked, his anger fading slightly. Stiles had always been a pretty honest person, especially when he didn't like you.

"So you're here because you're never going to trust me."

"Yup. Glad we had this talk." Stiles said dismissively. Lydia was looking at Scott. Slowly, he unclenched his fists and his eyes turned back to brown as he slowed his breathing. Lydia brought her hands down and stepped away, turning to face the jeep.

"You know who you remind me of?"

"Theo I don't care…" Stiles said, looking over at the Theo with complete apathy.

"My sister" Theo continued, ignoring Stiles' remark. Stiles looked away with a 'what the hell' face, and looked away from Theo uncomfortably.

"She was smarter then everyone too. And a pain in the ass like you. She always looked out for me. Same way you look out for Scott." Stiles looked back at Theo as Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Yeah except their relationship isn't one sided. Scott would never watch Stiles die without remorse or guilt as he stood by doing nothing." She muttered. Scott nodded, eyes hard.

"You know I was the one who found her body."

"Oh bullshit!" Lydia yelled, before clapping her hand over her mouth and looking at Scott. "Sorry." She whispered.

"She'd fallen into a creek. Broken her leg." Stiles looked uncomfortable, like he felt bad for him. Lydia hated that he was falling for it. "They said she would have been fine if it hadn't been one of the coldest nights of the year. If it wasn't for the hypothermia. When I found her, all I could think of was that I should have known. That I should have been looking out for her." Lydia threw her hands in the air and turned around, walking a few feet away before turning and coming back to stand next to Scott. Her jaw was set, and she looked pissed. Even more so because he sounded so genuine. If she hadn't personally seen what had happened while she'd been at Eichen house, she would have believed him too.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you because even if you don't trust me and even if you don't like me? I'm still going to be looking out for you." Stiles looked up at him, skeptical, but both Scott and Lydia saw that he was buying into it just the smallest bit. And they both hated it. "I uh, saw his teeth. Donovan. He was a wendigo, wasn't he?"

Stiles nodded, guilt clouding his eyes. "Yeah"

"That's the cannibal one right?"

Stiles looked uncomfortable as Theo turned his eyes to him. "Native American. It's says that uh, if you eat human flesh, your punishment was to turn into a creature that constantly craved it." Theo looked grossed out and shifted in his seat.

"That's a pretty judgmental myth." He said.

"Well I didn't make it up."

"What if it was the only way to survive. You ever hear of the Donner party? I'm pretty sure they didn't turn into wendigos."

"Well they didn't live in Beacon hills."

"Good point… So what's the punishment for killing a chimera?" Stiles nodded like he'd been expecting the question. Theo had always been pretty blunt.

"You get to spend 5 hours in a car with Theo Raeken." Stiles said half sarcastically. Theo laughed, but Stiles didn't bother to. "Look I know what my punishment it. I'm gonna lose my best friend." She looked down at his hands on the steering wheel. "I'll lose Scott." Scotts gut twisted, and guilt once again washed over him as he remembered the way he'd reacted at the clinic. He'd reacted the same exact way Stiles had feared- the same way he'd thought he would. And he hated himself for it.

"No-If Scott really gave up on you because of some piece of crap like Donnovan then he wouldn't be a true alpha would he?"

"Maybe that's the definition of one-someone that doesn't out up with murder?"

"It sounds like you guys need to look up justifiable homicide." Stiles looked out him in surprise and idiocy. "Did you seriously just say that to a son of a cop?"

"A werewolfs eyes are supposed to change color when they take an innocent life. Theos eyes turned yellow. "These look blue to you?" Stiles was looking at Theo with distrust, trying to figure out his angle. "It was self-defense. For me and for you." Knowing exactly why Theos eyes weren't blue, and seeing how he used even that to his advantage just raised the level of anger in Lydia. She hoped Stiles didn't fall for it.

"Wait he killed someone and Stiles knew? When did that happen?" Scott asked.

"No idea. But Theo must have blackmailed him to keep quiet."

"Or maybe you just don't feel all that bad about it. You can't say that one life is objectively less innocent than another one, what if they turn blue because you feel guilty?" Stiles asked, and Lydia smiled.

"So it's up for interpretation?" Theo said disbelievingly.

"Yeah maybe."

"Okay- but here's my interpretation of what happened with you and Donovan." He looked right in Stiles eyes and said with conviction "Not guilty." Stiles seemed unsure of what to say. Lydia knew he wanted to believe him, but distrust got in the way. "Do you feel bad about it?" Theo asked, and Stiles looked at him point blank as if he was one of the most stupid people he'd ever met in his life. "Not now I mean right then- right when it happened? What were you thinking the moment you knew he was dead and there was no saving him?" Stiles shook his head, like he didn't know, but then his eyes went out of focus and he looked straight forward. Lydia could see him placing himself back at the scene-in the moment.

"One word." He said confidently. "Good." Stiles stared out the windshield, guilt in his eyes, but it was Theo who drew Scotts attention. He was looking at Stiles with a small grin, like he'd been looking for something dark within him and he finally got confirmation. Scott remembered Stiles telling him what happened the night his dad was attacked. How Theo had come to him and told him about Scott and his father being attacked. How he'd only be able to get to one of them. How he'd finally told Stiles why he was really there- how he wanted an extraordinary pack with Malia, Lydia, Liam, and void Stiles. It was probably why Theo had worked so hard to get Stiles to trust him- why he was working so hard to see some part of Stiles darker side. He was testing to see if some part of him could still be void.

Just then Theo's face transformed to confusing and the smug smile fell. Stiles noticed the odd behavior and looked over to him. "What?" he asked.

"Oh crap." Lydia said from behind Scott. He followed his gaze to see Parrish emerging from the darkness, a blank look on his face and jacket smoking.

"The scent. Like smoke- something burning." Both Theo and Stiles began looking around for the source. Scott saw an orange glow light up Theos surprised face a second before Parish punched Theo with force in the jaw. While inwardly Scott cheered, it wasn't quite as great when he saw Theos blood splatter onto Stiles' face. The amount of which left Scott having flashbacks to the Library where Stiles was almost killed by the chemist. Parish ripped open the door and dragged Theo out, throwing him like a rag doll across the parking lot. Scotts eyes followed him as he slid across the asphalt and into the side of the building, unconscious. He turned his gaze back to Stiles who seemed to be grabbing the door as if looking for the handle to escape his jeep and figure out what the hell he was up against. Before he could get the door open, Parish got to the back of the jeep began to lift it up into the air.

"Whoa!" Stiles shouted, alarm on his face as he fought for something to grab ahold of. But it all happened so fast, there wasn't time. Lydia screamed for Stiles as she backed out of the way of the flipping vehicle. When the jeep landed on its hood, there was a loud crack as glass shattered and rained down onto the ground. Lydia's eyes were searching for Stiles, and as if on command, his limp body fell through the window of the side where she and Scott were standing on. "Oh my God Stiles!" Lydia screamed. Before she could move, the ground on the other side began to light up and she heard Scott curse. She looked up to see flames lighting a path that was getting closer and closer to Stiles, who was still unconscious on the ground, smoke was hovering around his head.

"No no no- we have to get him out of there!" Lydia said, racing towards the jeep. But it was too late- fire circled the jeep, and there was no way to get near him. Even if they did would they be able to grab him and bring him out? Just as Scott was about to leap over the flames and try to grab his best friend, Theo rushed out of the shadows carrying a fire distinguisher. He made a small path for himself before rushing over to Stiles and dragging him out of the jeep. Within a few seconds Stiles was coughing up a lung on the ground.

"The body. The body's gone." Theo said.

"Everything.." Scott whispered as Theo started putting out the rest of the fire.

"What?" Lydia said, looking over at him.

"Back in the hospital- I was trying to figure out why my roar didn't work. I kept thinking that we were still in Stiles' mind just like last time- so why didn't it work? What was different? But everything's different." Stiles had moved over to the sidewalk, coughing slowing to a stop while Theo began picking up the jeep, trying to right it. "I mean it's still Stiles' head, but everything else is different. Last time we were here we saw our own memories. That was because the nogitsune was trying to keep us away from Stiles who was already distracted right? But this time there's no one possessing Stiles-no one keeping us from him. This time we've been seeing Stiles' own memories. They're keeping him trapped in here. He's unknowingly keeping himself in here. Last time the nogitsune forced Stiles down and trapped him here- this time it was himself. Even the circumstances are drastically different. Theo did this to him when he rifled through his mind when he didn't know how. The void was a master at controlling people- it's what it lived on. Circumstances were different in both situations. Nogitsune verses Chimera. Different traps and different mind games- reflecting who's in control. Everything is different." Scott said- looking from Stiles to Lydia. "Which means the rules have changed."

Lydia was nodding. "Then maybe instead of trying to get Stiles away from the nogitsune- we need to get him away from himself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean- Stiles is almost two in one in here. He's both past and present versions of himself. Each memory puts him in the place of that previous Stiles- the dominant Stiles who was there and experiencing the memory. But underneath that is the real Stiles- or I guess the present Stiles. The one who's hiding from himself without even knowing it. Maybe to get him out of here we need to remind him that these memories are just that. Remind him that what he's experiencing already happened. Maybe we need to wake him up like we did at the hospital. We just need to make it stick this time."

"And how do we do that?" Scott said, kneeling next to his best friend on the ground. He tried to put his hand on his shoulder, but surprise surprise- it went right through. Scott raised his hand and waved it in front of Stiles, but he didn't even blink.

A loud crash sounded as Theo placed the jeep back on its wheels.

"We should get you to the hospital. You took in a lot of smoke." Theo was saying. Stiles shook his head.

"No I'm fine." He said, getting up and walking through Scott. Scott shivered at the disturbing feeling and stood up, watching his friend stumble to his jeep as the night seemed to get darker as waves of black rolled in.

"Well your roar did work Scott- it was just temporary." Lydia was saying as she grabbed his hand. "So why don't we try it again, and just try to keep Stiles attention. Remind him of where he is in his own timeline. Remind him of what he's been through so we can get him back." Scott nodded, and they were somewhere else.