Hey guys! THanks for the reviews :) I like hearing what you think. There was one guest who's been asking for this scene for awhile but I didn't want to spoil anything so enjoy! Anyways I can see at least another 4 chapters in this fanfic, maybe 5, but it will be drawing to a close somewhat soon. Hope you guys stick with me till the end :)

CHAPTER 22

The next memory they'd come across had been in Eichen house, when Stiles and Lydia had almost been murdered at the hands of the orderly Brunski. Scott had transformed and roared from right next to Stiles, and for a second it had worked- he'd seen them, and looked confused and relieved to see Lydia completely fine in front of him. But then Lydia's past self had started to talk to Brunski with a voice full of fear, and they'd lost him to the memory. They'd debated staying but figured the situation would just repeat itself as long as they were both in danger, so they reluctantly left Stiles and Lydia to the mercy of Brunski and let the darkness overwhelm them once more.

They'd tried again back at the clinic as Stiles and Scott tried to contain a crazed Lydia on the table. Upon arriving, past Lydia had screamed, shattering the glass all around them, while present Lydia covered her face, watching out of the corner of her eye as Stiles covered her past self with his own body. Scott had dived closer to his other self, a couple yards away from Lydia. In the quiet that had followed, Scott had taken a deep breath and roared with everything he had. It resonated throughout the room, shaking the fallen glass on the ground. Stiles had glanced in Scotts direction, followed by looking at the second Scott in surprise before shaking his head as if he was seeing double because of everything surrounding him. His gaze was then forced sharply away as he realized that the Lydia on the table was unconscious and didn't appear to be breathing. Caught up in thinking she was dead or dying, the two were lost to him again. Lydia tried to get his attention back to her, to tell him she was fine- that this had already happened. That they'd saved her; that he'd saved her. But Stiles was too caught up in his own fear to see them anymore. Scott had screamed in frustration as Stiles cried out for Lydia to wake up.

Lydia had been touched as she watched him turn into a bit of a wreck over her, while simultaneously trying to ignore her state of wardrobe and lack of any sort of makeup. Wow I really looked rough she thought as her past self opened her eyes. Before she could see any more, Scott was grabbing her hand and walking out the door and into the darkness waiting for them like an old friend.

The next place they'd ended up was the basement. Lydia recognized it immediately from her childhood memories, but Scott hadn't needed to be filled in once he'd seen Stiles sitting in front of a half transformed Malia. She seemed to be struggling to get a hold of herself, and it was obvious by the restraints that she still couldn't control her shift on a full moon. Lydia followed behind Scott as he walked swiftly to the other side of the room towards Stiles. Just as Scott began taking a deep breath, Malia lunged at Stiles, restraints stopping her just inches away from him. Scott jumped back in surprise, heart beating faster than he'd like to admit as he took a step back.

His eyes met Lydias and he saw her biting her lip, trying not to laugh as she looked away quickly. Stiles was sitting calmly as if used to this sort of thing by now.

"Stiles, please go." Malia begged.

"It's okay I hate parties. Social anxiety thing." Stiles said calmly. "You ever had a panic attack?"

"I'm having one now." Malia growled, trying once again to break free.

"Just breathe, okay? I'm not going to leave you."

"But what if I hurt you?" Malia asked.

"You're not going to." Stiles said with as much resolve as he could. But Lydia noticed there was an ounce of uncertainty in his words.

"But I want to. I look at your face and I want to slash at it! I want to tear at it," Malia said, seemingly fighting a losing battle against herself. "I want to feel your bones crack between my hands!"

"Jeez!" Scott shouted. He was honestly surprised Stiles hadn't gotten out of there yet. Hell, he didn't even really look all that scared. He really cared about her.

"Surprisingly enough you're not the first person to ever say something like that." Malia tried once more to grab Stiles in her claws. Instead he leaned forward just a bit. "I'm not leaving you. And I'm not going to let you hurt anyone." Stiles said with determination- fear gone. Just then Malia's eyes glowed blue as more of her coyote side emerged and she reached out to Stiles again. An ounce of fear crept into Stiles expression and he backed up, looking at her right arm restraint. The cuff was breaking, tearing down the middle.

"You're not going to have a choice." Malia said. Lydia was mentally cursing in her head at Stiles for still just standing there. Malia tugged once again and the cuff tore in half, releasing her arm. Immediately, she threw her hand up and tried again to grab Stiles, reach now further with one free arm. Stiles jumped back quickly, running just out of her grasp, just in time as her claws slashed right in front of his face. Lydia jumped and covered her mouth in fear.

"Malia- I know you can hear me just listen to my voice!" Malia turned and began yanking at the chain, trying to tear if from the wall. She turned back to Stiles as she continued to pull at the chain. "Run." She growled, and Stiles looked skeptical, as if some part of him wanted to. In classic Stiles fashion- he didn't.

"I'm not gonna run." He said, taking a step forward. "Cuz I don't think you're gonna hurt me."

"Stiles…" Scott warned

"I think maybe you're so afraid of hurting me, because of what you did to your family?"

"Stiles- be careful." Scott was saying as he transformed, partially in preparation to roar, but also some instinct to protect his best friend from the coyote part of Malia. Malia stopped tugging at the chains and turned to look at Stiles. After a second she turned her eyes away in shame.

"I know what that's like Malia. I remember everything I did- and the worst part? Is I remember liking it. Because I felt powerful."

Scott stiffened in surprise, and Lydia brought her hand away from her mouth, looking at Stiles in shock. "Did he tell you that?"

"No" Scott said gruffly. Some small part of Scott was surprised and slightly frightened of Stiles' reaction- but another bigger part of him understood. Stiles had never talked about what happened after the nogitsune had been defeated. He'd know Stiles had felt extremely guilty over the acts he had inflicted on his friends. Scott had told him it wasn't his fault many times, even if Stiles hadn't said a word about it. For some things it was just too hard for Stiles to talk about, so Scott let him deal with it on his own. Let him come to terms with the things he knew about and come to his own conclusion that it was the nogitsune- not him. He'd barely spoken for almost a week after he'd been freed. He hadn't ever asked how much of it Stiles remembered, but he assumed he'd remembered a good amount of it from what Stiles had let slip in the jeep as he, Stiles, and Issac raced to save Lydia.

With all of his friends being supernatural beings- it had to be tough at times for Stiles. He didn't have super strength or fast healing abilities. He couldn't run or leap as far. He couldn't predict things like Lydia, or wield a katana like Kira. When it came down to it, Stiles was physically the most vulnerable in the pack. He made up for it greatly with his loyalty and cleverness, along with his planning skills, but physically, he knew Stiles was at a slight disadvantage. It would make sense that as much as he'd hated what the nogitsune was doing, it had to have felt good to have some more power over a situation.

"I felt fearless, and most of all in control." Stiles said, taking another step towards Malia. If she were to turn and grab at Stiles again, he was now within her grasp. "But when I came through it- I learned something else." Stiles said, now right behind Malia. She turned around, hands still on the chain, and looked at Stiles. "Control? Is overrated." Stiles stared at her, letting the words sink in, before reaching forward to Malias last intact restraint.

"Stiles don't!" Lydia screamed, but it was too late. The cuff fell to the ground, and Malia jumped at Stiles, claws out.

"Stiles!" Scott yelled, taking a step forward, but surprisingly, Stiles was holding her arms at bay and away from him as Malia fought against herself. She stopped, taking deep breaths as she looked at the ground. Finally, she looked at her hands, which were now clawless. She looked up into Stiles' face, fear for him clearly displayed. Stiles brought up his hands up to her, and brushed her hair away from her face.

"You did it" he said with pride, and she smiled, wrapping him in her arms. Stiles let out a breath, releasing the fear he'd shoved down as him and Malia clung to each other.

Lydia let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, and tried to shove down the hurt washing over her. She wasn't even completely sure why. She supposed it was because she was realizing how many times she'd cried on Stiles shoulder, how many times she'd gone to him for advice, or just because she needed someone to talk to. But clearly, he didn't do the same to her. When Stiles was upset, he didn't complain about it unless he was pushed to, he kept it all in. But somehow, Malia was able to make him feel comfortable enough to share things that even Scott hadn't known about. Things he wouldn't tell Lydia about. And that hurt more than she thought it would. She watched as Malia held fast to Stiles, as if her life depended on it. How Stiles gripped her tight like he'd hold her as long as she needed him. And she realized she wanted to be in her place. She wanted to feel Stiles hug her and comfort her, like he'd done so many other times. She just wanted him to see her.

Scott cleared his throat and looked at Lydia, who nodded. Scott inhaled, and roared, letting it take over his body as he arched forward, letting the full force of his roar echo throughout the basement. Stiles froze. He slowly released himself from Malia, still holding her, but now moving his head up and toward Scott. "Scott what are you doing? You're supposed to be watching Liam" He said.

"Stiles! Listen to me- this isn't real- this is all in your head."

Stiles stood up and looked at Scott like he was out of his mind. "Dude what are you talking about?"

Lydia stepped forward "Stiles where were you before you were here? Were you really in the living room with everyone? Or were you in the clinic after rescuing me from Eichen house?" She said cautiously.

Stiles looked confused, and glanced at Malia who was still clinging to him. He looked back at Lydia. "I… I was in the living room. We were telling Liam what he was."

"Are you sure about that?" She asked, stepping closer to him.

"I- where else would I have been? The clinic? Why would I have been there?"

"Because this is in your mind Stiles. Listen, Theo, he attacked you. Don't you remember?" Scott asked desperate.

"Who the hell is Theo?" Stiles said, but then he began shaking his head and closed his eyes, wincing. Scott picked up on it immediately.

"You do don't you? Some part of you remembers Stiles." Scott said

"No I- I've been here. With Malia."

"Yes- but this is a memory Stiles. This already happened remember?" Scott was starting to have hope. They'd never held Stiles attention this long. Stiles backed away from Malia, who looked at him in confusion. He grabbed his head and shook his head in frustration.

"No- no this didn't already what are you talking about?"

"Stiles look at me." Lydia said, "If you truly didn't believe us you wouldn't be so frustrated right now, you'd just think we were acting insane. You're fighting it, but Stiles it's killing you. You're not you anymore- you're just a shell. You're keeping yourself in here- you need to wake up!"

"No." Stiles said, looking up at Lydia, and her heart nearly stopped. His nose was bleeding. He looked like he was in pain and he shook his head again. "No this is real- this has to be real. I can't be losing my mind again."

"Stiles you're not losing your mind- you're in your mind!" Lydia pleaded.

"Ah God my head hurts." He said, as blood began dripping onto the floor.

"Stiles stop fighting it! Once you accept it it'll stop hurting, just let yourself remember!"

But it was too late, the world was turning black. "No!" Scott yelled, leaping forward and grabbing onto Lydia and Stiles. Before he could do anything else, they were gone.