A/N: Once again, this chapter is a bit choppy and weird. Sorry if this is all really confusing. Hope ya'll stick around and read anyway though. Scott and Stiles feels once more, sorry if you're sick of it, but it's convenient for me. And I apologize ahead of time for the weak humor in the strangest places, but I just felt that under a lot of stress, certain people will grasp onto any humor they can. Hope you enjoy! Leave a review, thanks!

Brace Yourselves

-Kenxi

"What's wrong?"

Silence.

Stiles raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, not entirely sure what happened. "It was another dream, Scott. I'm fine, but someone—"

"You stopped breathing," Scott blurted. His voice was shaking slightly, and his eyes were filled with uncertainty, concern. Fear. "Stiles, it was like…." His voice dropped and he looked away from Stiles as if he physically could not make eye contact right then. Not so typical for Scott's big brown eyes. That only made Stiles even more worried for his friend. Melissa didn't appear quite as rattled as Scott, but there was a surety missing from her presence in the room, telling him that something had happened.

All Stiles wanted to do right then was tell Scott about his nightmare. This one had felt far more real than some of the others, and if they really were coming true, then another girl was dead. Right beside his mother's grave.

The memories of those images stayed with him, and Stiles could feel his sweaty hands shaking above the covers. But clearly something more had happened than what Stiles knew, based on the faces of his second family members. So, as much as Stiles wished to reveal the terrors in his head, he figured it best to humor Scott for the moment.

He folded his trembling hands and sighed. "I don't understand, Scott. What happened just now? You two are looking at me like I'm a kicked puppy. And last I checked, Scott is the dog around here." The attempt at a joke was poor; Scott and Melissa just looked at him, still standing next to the bed where Stiles say comfortably. Well, physically comfortable. His thoughts were haunting his consciousness at the moment.

You stopped breathing.

"Stiles," Mama McCall tried, stepping towards him. Stiles made no effort to move, warm under the bed covers. Plus he was feeling particularly drained both physically and emotionally. "Do you remember what happened? What you were saying?"

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Just another nightmare. Been having them for years. The Beacon Hills Circus doesn't help much. What happened on your end? You both look like you haven't seen Stiles Stilinski and his nightmares before."

Now Scott was shaking his head. "That's not it, Stiles. You were awake. Counting your fingers, murmuring things like when the…." Again, he failed to finish the thought. But he didn't have to; Stiles understood now.

Like when the Nogitsune was here.

"Either way," Scott continued, only glancing at Stiles every now and again, "you weren't responding when I spoke to you so I got my mom and then you weren't breathing and now—"

"Here I am, like nothing happened at all. No recollection of anything happening? Glad we are on the same page now." Stiles didn't want to act like what Scott just said didn't mean anything. It was kind of freaky, and it sure spooked both McCall's. But the pressure of his recent nightmare was building up behind his eyes. He needed to tell Scott.

Stiles gave him a look when Scott was finally making eye contact with him. "I need to talk to you for a minute alone, Scotty. It's important."

Melissa, who had been mostly silent, nodded slightly but firmly. "I'm going to check you over afterwards, Stiles. From what I could see a few hours ago, you only had a minor concussion, but what just happened was far from normal." No questions asked, she walked out the door of Scott's bedroom without another word. It made Stiles feel a bit guilty that neither of the boys had told her what was going on yet with the deaths. Not that they'd had much time.

"Scott, I love your mom."

The punch in the arm came with no warning.

"Ow!" Stiles yelped, grabbing his bicep with the pain-induced nerves captive. "Dude! What was that for?"

Scott no longer looked worried or scared—now he just looked upset. "That's for almost going into freaking cardiac arrest, Stiles! You scared the crap out of me!"

Still rubbing his sore arm, Stiles frowned. "I already said I have no idea what you're talking about. But we have bigger fish to fry right now. Someone else is dead, Scott."

Now Scott froze. There had been plenty of emotions written on his face in the last few minutes, but now there was nothing. Almost like Scott had no idea what he was supposed to be feeling.

Just as Stiles was about to say something to snap Scott out of his blankness, his friend spoke softly, "I'm sorry, man. What happened?"

"I killed a girl, that's what happened. I think she worked at the gas station down the road. I knocked her into a grave stone by accident and it killed her. It was my mom's grave." Stiles' voice sounded almost without emotion, opposite of the truth, and just above a whisper. He could still feel her soft body under his strong fingers and claws as he shoved her toward the ground, the sickening sound as her skull broke when it collided with the granite. Stiles involuntarily shuddered and pulled the sheets up more against his body to fight the ongoing coldness under his skin.

There was a moment of silence as the two boys thought about what had just happened. For the first time it felt real. Closer than it had before. Before, it was a few people dying on the outskirts of Beacon Hills, people neither of them knew, even in that small town. Now it was someone closer, someone they both almost knew. Why didn't Stiles even know her name? He probably saw her every other day at the station or in the streets. He'd never really gotten to know her, though. And now she was dead.

"It wasn't your fault, Stiles," Scott offered, his voice raw sounding. "I know that these dreams make it feel like the deaths are, but it's not true. There is no one to blame yet, but we will figure this out. You will be okay, I promise."

"Someone is dead, Scott! Others are dead, and I haven't done anything about it because I didn't want to be a part of it. I was selfish, keeping this to myself. If I'd tried to figure something out sooner, maybe at least one less person would be dead. So yeah, Scott, whether I am killing people or not, in a way this is my fault."

When he saw how hard Scott was trying to help Stiles feel better, immediately Stiles felt a slight pang of guilt. All Scott was doing was trying to comfort him, and he probably felt like a crap friend when Stiles didn't let him. Once again he was just hurting everyone around him, effortlessly. Now that he thought about it, Stiles couldn't think of one person he hadn't hurt in some way. His dad, Lydia, Malia, Scott, Mama McCall, Isaac, Allison…. Even the twins, when Stiles had been an evil possessed monster, were affected by Stiles. Sure, it hadn't been him. But it was still his face people saw just before they died or were at least hurt. Now all of these people were dead too. When would Stiles finally learn? When everyone he cared about was dead? And what then? What would become of—

"Stiles?" Scott's soft voice broke through Stiles' dangerous thoughts. "I'm sorry this happened to you, but we are all going to figure it out together, alright? Just like we always do."

There was no way Stiles could even sort of feel like he believed his best friend, but there was also no way he was going hurt his friend more by turning down his attempt to help Stiles. "Yeah, you're right. Of course you're right. Everyone will be okay." Stiles stopped breathing as he realized what he just said. A split second after the mistake, he quickly corrected, "I meant everything. Everything will be okay." Stiles didn't want Scott to see just how worried Stiles was about everyone, for some reason. Like he didn't want Scott to know that everyone wouldn't be okay, because Stiles was just going to hurt them anyway. They were all going to get hurt. Everyone would. They would all—

For the second time, Stiles froze up.

What was wrong with him?

He remembered what he had told Scott last night, before he'd decided to crash at the McCall's instead of his own empty house. I think it has gotten into my mind.

Had Stiles really let things get so bad that his mind was no longer even his own now? Was he losing himself? Even after over a year Stiles could still remember every second he was awake and himself in the Echo House. The fear of losing his mind so strong and almost tangible, he was afraid he'd choke on it and die there anyway, problem of the Nogitsune solved. Like now, he didn't know for sure what was real in his mind.

We're going to destroy all of them, Stiles.

No. He had control. Stiles was in control. He would figure this out.

One

Lydia believed in him. Scott believed in him too. They would solve this puzzle.

By

No one else had to die. No one was going to die. Stiles wouldn't let them die. Not again.

One.

"Stiles!"

Stiles brought his head up and gasped. He must have fallen asleep. Scott didn't look as freaked out as the first time that morning when he'd woken, but there concern was clear in his eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed where Stiles still hadn't moved from.

"Sorry," Stiles mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Just tired, I guess."

Scott blinked.

Stiles raised his eyebrows at his friend, confused. "What?"

"You didn't fall asleep, Stiles. You just weren't paying any attention to me, like you were day-dreaming or something." He paused. "It was probably nothing."

Yeah, cause a lot of that seemed to be going on lately.

Stiles offered a weak smile and patted the covers. "Probably just the concussion."

"Yeah."

Unlike the last silent moment they had, this one was awkward for a minute.

Finally, "So what did happen this morning that freaked you guys out so much? It never was really that clear to me."

Scott perked up a bit at the chance to talk about something he actually knew what had happened for the most part. The thought made Stiles almost snicker. "Well I could hear your heart rhythm going a bit erratic, which woke me up, and I figured you must be having a nightmare. Before I could wake you, though, you started screaming, yelling for your mom, I think." Scott looked away at that, as did Stiles. A lot of his nightmares ended that way.

"I thought everything was fine then, but…" Scott had already continued again with caution, but trailed off for the umpteenth time that night. Or morning. Stiles didn't care enough. Still, he waited for his friend to gather the guts to continue, already pretty sure what he was going to say from what he had previously heard about the episode. "Well I guess I already sort of explained what happened next to you." Stiles made a face at him to show he was still confused, wanting to finally get Scott to say what it was they both knew he'd been trying not to say.

"Fine!" Scott caved. "The way you were acting was just like you were before the Nogitsune fully took over your body." Another quiet settled over them.

Stiles swallowed, but retained eye contact. "Wow, Scott. You know, I think that's the first time you haven't skirted around what actually happened since it happened. Brownie points for you, buddy." Stiles tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace on his face.

Scott scooted further on the bed so that he was now leaning up against the headboard like Stiles was. Stiles tried not to notice his friend's hands shaking on his lap.

"Like you said before, saying things out loud, noting their existence, it makes them real. And sometimes we don't want certain things to be real." Scott clenched and unclenched his hands until they finally stopped trembling.

"Yeah, I suppose being possessed by an evil spirit can be labelled as one of those things you don't want to be real." Stiles said this with a small smile on his face, and he looked at Scott, trying not to laugh. Man, he was really tired.

Scott chuckled a little and punched Stiles in the arm for the second time that day (really, what time was it?) and said, "Gosh, you're an idiot." Stiles just threw his hands up in surrender.

"You didn't finish telling me what happened, jerk. And here you are claiming I'm the idiot." Stiles countered.

"Well you kept saying things and counting your fingers like way back when, and then your breathing got all messed up, but it didn't seem like a panic attack." Scott frowned, looking at the bed comforter. "Your heart was freaking out too and so I got my mom. She didn't know what was wrong, nor did I. It was like you were going into cardiac arrest or something. I don't know. Finally you just stopped breathing altogether. That really freaked us out, and you still weren't responding to anything, but before either of us could call 9-1-1, you suddenly were acting like nothing happened. And you say you don't even remember? Little freaky, bro."

Stiles didn't say anything, thinking.

"Hey," Scott tapped his leg, "you think this has been happening other nights when you have the clairvoyant nightmares? And you just can't remember?"

"I know just as much as you do, Scotty. It could be. I don't know. I'm really starting to wish I'd come to someone sooner about this."

"You're not the only one."

Stiles frowned. "Speaking of, when are we meeting Were-Kate again? Don't remember much of yesterday. There was the whole pointless kidnapping thing, and the thinking a lot thing about the nightmares thing, and then the Malia thing which I still haven't figured out, and then—"

"I get it, Stiles."

"Right."

Scott shrugged. "I had kind of a lot on my own mind too, in case you don't remember. There was the whole pointless kidnapping of my best friend, the worried sickness and Kate Argent thing, and then the you disappearing again thing, the deaths actually being supernatural thing, and—"

"Sheesh, McCall. You made your point."

A shameless grin returned the comment.

"But we should be meeting with her and the rest of the pack in the afternoon. Where we will tell everyone what is going on with you and your psychic dreams." Scott narrowed his eyes at Stiles.

"I'm happy to tell everyone. More people trying to figure it out will make it easier to figure out. Win-win situation."

Scott nodded. "Guess we'll be skipping out on school. Again."

"And we'll probably still have all A's either way." Stiles winked at Scott before quickly sobering. He swallowed. "I also guess we should tell the parents about this soon as well? Maybe Parrish, too?"

"Yeah," Scott replied, jumping off of the bed, "you know they'd both freak if they were out of the loop."

Stiles bit his lower lip. "Right." The idea of telling his dad about his situation was very unpleasant and made him feel a bit sick to his stomach thinking about it. With everything they'd been through, this was the last thing he wanted on his dad's plate. However, it'd end up worse if he didn't tell his dad and he found out later by other means. Yeah, telling him sounded much safer.

Right. Safer. Beacon Hills sure did have a messed up definition of that word.

Stiles' phone decided right then to begin blaring annoyingly as someone called him. He shared a look with Scott before picking it up from the nightstand next to the clock which read that it was 2:13 A.M. Sigh. He looked at the phone; it was Lydia. "Hey, what's—"

"Stiles! What happened? Are you alright?"

He winced at her screaming voice in his ear. "Lydia," he said like a normal person, "pleasure as always." Scott tilted his head in confusion. Just like a puppy.

"Not funny, Stiles. I felt something like ten minutes ago and I couldn't find my phone and I didn't know what was going on—"

"Calm down, Lydia," Stiles tried to placate. "Everything's fine. Well, sort of. We do need to talk, though. What happened?" He felt his chest tighten as a thought hit him. "You didn't scream, did you?"

A beat. "What? No! No, it wasn't like that exactly. It…." Stiles could hear her sharp breathing on the other end. "It felt like our connection was ripped apart. Like you were no longer you. Or there at all."

Stiles felt suddenly very cold. "Like I was dead?"

"No! Well, not really. It was different. I can't explain. But you, sir, are going to have a lot of explaining to do once I see you."

He let out a slow breath. "Of course, Lyds. I'll see you in a few hours. Bye." With that he hung up, giving Scott an exasperated look.

Correction: everything in Beacon Hills was messed up. And for right now, that included Stiles.

A/N: If anyone has any requests of what they'd like to see in future chapters, or ideas for the story or characters, please PM me or leave a review! It helps so much, thanks! I hope the chapter was alright. Let me know what you think!

-Kenxi