Disclaimer: Don't own TW. Only my OC: Zarina.
I sat at the edge of Scott's bed, watching as Melissa waved a flashlight over Stiles' lifeless eyes. I bit my lip as I eyed my boyfriend. I felt like it couldn't possibly be real, that he would just disappear before my eyes, but he didn't and I didn't know how to feel about that.
She clicked off the flashlight and set it down, Stiles' fingers tapping on his forearm urgently as he looked at her, head tilting downwards on the pillow. Melissa went to grab one of his arms, but froze before she could, reluctant and scared to face him after what the nogitsune had done to everyone.
With a small sigh, Stiles lifted his arm for her and she slowly wrapped her fingers around his pulse as he pursed his lips and looked at me. I gave him a small smile of reassurance and he seemed to calm down.
"Well," Melissa breathed out, setting his arm down, "medically, you seem okay. You're definitely a real person." We all laughed slightly, nervously.
"Kay, so I'm real, but am I really me?" Stiles asked, lifting his head from the pillow a little to look at her.
I instinctively grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Once. Twice. Three times. He shifted his eyes to me and gave me a tiny smile of thanks. He sat up on the bed and I whirled around as Scott walked into the room.
"She here?" Stiles questioned him and he nodded with a slight shrug.
"Yeah."
"Okay, let's do this," he decided and I looked at the two McCalls, worry in all of our eyes.
"Stiles, are you sure? Please don't risk this, not when we just got you back," I begged him.
"We have to do this, Z."
And that was all he said before gripping my hand and leading us all downstairs. Scott took his other arm for support as we entered the living room, where Kira's mother was already standing, a serious look adorning her face.
"Do you recognize me?" she looked straight at Stiles and we let go of him as he nodded, approaching her slowly. Then, Kira burst through the door and rushed up to her mother.
"Stop!" she said quickly.
"It's okay," Stiles continued to limp towards the two and I clenched my hands into fists. "I'm the one who asked her to come."
"You're the one who's going to get stabbed with swords," Kira shot back and I silently agreed. "Mom, don't do this to him."
"It's already done," Noshiko announced as an Oni materialized in the corner of the room. Another one appeared next to it and I let out a scream as they surrounded Stiles, one of the Oni's hands positioned behind his ear.
"NO!" I screeched and Scott held me back, wrapping his arms around my waist as the green glow shone from the Oni's eyes.
It let go of Stiles after a second, sending him straight to the floor, shivering. I broke free from Scott's grip and knelt next to Stiles cradling his head in my lap. He let out small grunts as his body convulsed and I shushed him gently as I brushed his hair back.
"Look behind his ear," Noshiko commanded and Kira and Scott knelt beside me as I checked.
"It worked," Scott sighed out in relief.
"Am I actually me?" Stiles stuttered out, pushing himself up to look at Kira's mother.
"More you than the nogitsune," she admitted.
"Can the Oni find him?" I asked softly, brows furrowed in concern as I eyed Stiles.
"Tomorrow night," she told us. "It's too close to dawn now."
Stiles let out an irritated breath and I rubbed his back as he continued his line of questioning. "Can they kill him?"
"It depends on how strong he is."
"What about Lydia? Why would he take her?" Scott pitched in.
"It'd only take her for an advantage."
"You mean her power?" he offered.
"The power of a banshee," she nodded solemnly.
When the three of us entered the sheriff's office, Stilinski was searching around for something, his hands digging into his pockets and jacket in annoyance.
"Ah, if I could just find my keys," he mumbled, fiddling with the jacket some more.
"In your coffee cup," Stiles said and his father looked up at him, shock written all over his face. Stiles motioned towards said cup. "You always drop them in your empty cup."
The sheriff stepped towards us unsurely, looking at Scott and I quickly. The two of us nodded slowly to ensure him that this was indeed Stiles, not the nogitsune. With that reassurance, he dropped his jacket and embraced his son tightly.
"Hey, dad," Stiles muttered into his shoulder.
Stilinski looked happier than ever as he pulled away, glancing at the two of us again. "Is it over?"
"Not yet," Scott informed him grimly.
"It has Lydia," I explained tersely. "It just took her and we have no idea where she is."
The sheriff pursed his lips, deep in thought. "Alright, I'll see what we can do."
He then walked out of the room purposefully and the three of us sent each other tired looks. I plopped down on the seat in front of the sheriff's desk and Stiles and Scott leaned against it, the two of them fiddling with something anxiously. I felt my leg bounce up and down and I knew immediately that I couldn't just sit and wait any longer. I'd go insane if I did.
"We got an APB out on Lydia's car. Every unit on the road is looking for her," the sheriff told us as he reentered the room.
"Can we help somehow?" I immediately inquired, my voice desperate. "Anything at all?"
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do right now," he confessed hesitantly and I slumped in my seat.
Stiles stood straighter and looked at him. "He took her for a reason, dad. Look, if we can find out why, maybe we can figure out the where."
"Okay," the sheriff did a precautionary glance behind him before continuing. "Why would a nogitsune need a banshee?"
"Banshees can tell when a death is about to occur," I suggested.
"Lydia's pretty good at finding dead bodies. Maybe he needs to find a body?" Stiles added.
The sheriff averted his eyes to Scott. "You know more about this than all of us."
"Me?" Scott repeated, surprised.
"You said you got the whole story from Noshiko." Something about that sentence made recognition flood my brain, but I didn't know what triggered it.
The wolf shook his head, "Yeah, but that happened during World War II. Like 70 years ago."
Stiles froze as the recognition hit him as well. "Wait, what did you say?"
"Noshiko told me about the internment camp-"
"No, before that," I corrected urgently.
"The whole story," Stiles muttered and we looked at each other, eyes wide with understanding.
I really think I should tell them. They're going to want to know the story. The whole story.
"Meredith," I realized as the voice echoed in my head and he nodded.
"Wait, what are you two talking about?" Scott intervened, confused.
"There's a girl at Eichen House. Her name's Meredith. We think she might be able to help," Stiles clarified.
A few minutes later, Parrish came into the office and we turned to him expectantly.
"Sheriff, Meredith Walker," he said.
"She still there?" Stilinski asked.
"Yes, but she's been moved to the closed unit."
Stiles and I both went rigid. The closed unit was for the completely insane people. Why would Meredith be there?
"Why?" Stiles voice my thoughts shakily.
"The said she had behavioral issues."
"What issues?" I persisted, looking the deputy dead in the eye.
He glanced around the room before replying. "She wouldn't stop screaming."
I was sleeping on the couch with Stiles, our arms wrapped around each other as I tried to keep his freezing body warm. My head was buried in his chest and I felt more at ease than I had in a really long time. Even with his constant shivering and his restless tossing and turning, it felt good to be in his arms again.
My body was suddenly flung off the couch and I landed on the hardwood floor with a loud 'oomph' as Stiles staggered to his feet heavily. I recovered from my shock and caught up to him groggily. I pushed him backwards cautiously, stopping him in his tracks.
"Calm down, it's alright!" I promised him, voice cracking with sleep, and he stopped moving suddenly as my hands moved to his face. "You're safe with me." I ignored the frigid skin under my hands as I tried to ease his nerves.
"Wh-what going on? How long were we asleep?" his eyes flitted around frantically. "God, I-I'm sorry, I totally pushed you off the couch. That looked like it hurt."
I laughed lightly and started pushing him backwards, my hands positioning themselves on his chest. "It was only a few hours. You needed rest, Stiles. Just sit down, okay? For me?"
"Where's my dad?" he asked reluctantly.
"He's still at Eichen House. Everyone's out looking for Meredith because she took off from the facility. He's safe though, I promise."
His hands shook as I finally got him to sit on the couch. "What about the others?"
"They're all looking for Lydia, too. Allison and Isaac are searching for her car and the twins are trying to get her scent to follow her from there. They're going to call if anything happens," I explained, kneeling in front of him.
"Thank you…I'm sorry," he shook his head. "It's just starting to feel like we're waiting for a ransom call." Stiles grabbed his jacket and stood up, wrapping it around his torso.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, I don't know why, but I just can't seem to get warm."
I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and flinched at how suddenly colder he felt compared to a few minutes ago.
"Scott!" I called out worriedly and he was in the room within seconds as I sat Stiles back down. "He's freezing. Literally."
Scott walked towards our friend and touched his hand, immediately recoiling as the black veins shot up his arm.
"Where are you feeling the pain from?" he sat on Stiles' other side.
"Sort of everywhere. It's just like this dull ache."
Scott glanced at me and I shook my head shortly. We knew Stiles. He was downplaying the pain he felt because he didn't want to worry us. But by doing that, he was practically screaming that he was the opposite of okay.
I rubbed his hands between mine and I licked my lips. "It's worse than a dull ache, isn't it?" He didn't say anything and I groaned inwardly. "Stiles-"
I was cut off by Scott's phone vibrating. He immediately answered it and told us it was Kira before greeting her. After a few minutes of talking to the kitsune, he hung up and looked at us determinedly.
"She found Meredith. She's at the school and we have to go. Like right now."
The three of us burst into the school, sprinting past the oncoming students and twisting our way through the hallways. We saw Kira down the hall and skidded to a stop in front of her.
"Where's Meredith?" Scott asked breathlessly.
"I don't know," she shook her head. "I can't find Coach, either. The guys from the mental hospital are already here, we have to hurry."
I shut my eyes and felt that long-forgotten, yet familiar burning sensation behind my eyes as I looked into the future. I could see the faint outline of someone bent over the piano and another figure, a taller, masculine one, was stalking up towards him or her, a bolt of electricity buzzing from the tazer in his hand.
My eyes shot open and my three friends were looking at me expectantly, though Kira -who had yet to see me have a vision- looked puzzled.
"They're in the music room," I informed them quickly. "Brunski's going to be there and he has a tazer."
With that, we took off in the direction of the music room, stumbling down the stairs as we did so. Once we pushed open the doors and got inside the room, we saw Coach standing over Brunski, the tazer in his possession. The four of us stopped beside him and shared an amused look as we put the puzzle pieces together.
"You go, Coach," I praised him. "He was kind of a dick."
Finstock simply rolled his eyes. "Well? Get her out of here!"
He gestured to Meredith and we grabbed her arms, pulling her out of the school with us. Stiles herded us all into his jeep, but Kira stayed behind.
"I'll call you," she promised Scott before running off in a separate direction.
The three of us all looked at Meredith. "Okay, where's Lydia?" Stiles interrogated.
She glanced between us before responding, "Who's Lydia?"
We shared a quick look before Stiles started up his car and sped down the street. Beside me, Meredith looked extremely uncomfortable and I felt almost bad for her. This whole thing must've been totally odd for her.
"Where are we going?" I called out over the sound of the engine.
"My house!" Scott answered simply and I didn't bother to question it further.
The three of us rushed her into the back door of the house, only to find Isaac and Agent McCall occupying the kitchen, causing us to freeze in our places.
"What are you doing here?" Scott shot at him.
"I could ask you the same thing," his eyes wandered over us while Isaac merely sat there innocently.
"Um, free period. We're doing a group study," Stiles lied nervously.
McCall looked skeptical as he caught sight of Meredith. "Who's she?"
Stiles grimaced and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "She's my girlfriend."
I narrowed my eyes incredulously and turned my head slowly towards him, pushing my tongue into my cheek. He sent me a small apologetic smile in return, but his arm didn't move. My eyes rolled so hard that I felt like they were going to fall out.
"You're not my type," Meredith informed him, pulling away and I couldn't hide my snort.
"Well, obviously we have a lot to talk about," Stiles scratched the back of his neck.
"Clearly their relationship has some…issues," I supplied dully. "We should probably figure this all out upstairs."
Meredith then saw Isaac and smiled. "He's my type." I bit my lip to keep my laughter from bubbling out as Isaac's face twisted in shock.
"Okay, uh, Isaac can come too," Stiles agreed.
"We'll just be upstairs," I shot the agent a small wink before hauling Isaac to his feet and taking them all up to Scott's room.
Once we had Meredith seated on the bed, I turned to Stiles, one eyebrow raised. He sent me a cheeky smile and an –admittedly, adorable- shrug.
"I love you?" he offered weakly. I sighed and shook my head in amusement, kneeling in front of Meredith.
"Hey, you remember me? I was there at Eichen House. Do you think maybe you could help us? We're looking for someone. Her name's Lydia. Does that ring any bells?" I cooed as warmly as possible.
Meredith thought for a moment. "Lydia? You mean the red-haired girl?"
Stiles and Isaac got closer. "Yes! Good, awesome. Progess. Now, all you have to do is tell us where she is."
She nodded timidly. "Okay…but only if she tells me."
"If she tells you?" Isaac questioned. "Uh, can you ask her?"
"I already did," the girl seemed quite proud of herself.
"Perfect, perfect. What did she say?" Stiles persisted eagerly.
"She said….she doesn't want to be found."
I let out a small noise. "That's way less perfect." I got to my feet with a sigh and grabbed the two boy's arms, leading them into Scott's bathroom. "Group meeting."
"Any ideas?" Stiles whispered, leaning against the sink.
"Maybe we can threaten her," Isaac offered.
The two of us looked at him in disbelief. "Isaac, we're not going to torture her," Stiles shot him down, rolling his eyes.
"I mean just…scare her," he tried to fix himself.
"We're not going to psychologically torture her, either!"
"Fine," Isaac conceded with a groan.
"Look, she can hear things, alright? Just like Lydia does. Shouldn't that mean something? Maybe she's a banshee," I reasoned, pursing my lips.
Stiles hesitated, but nodded and brought us back over to Meredith. He knelt before her and started to talk slowly. "Okay, just try to focus on the sounds around you. On what you're hearing." Meredith nodded. "Just focus on the silence."
"Listen to the silence," Isaac added.
"Focusing on the silence."
"Listening…to the silence."
I rubbed my temples as I listened to the two idiots. "Okay, will you just let me handle this, Isaac? Please?" Stiles looked over his shoulder at him in irritation. "I just…I have more experience with banshees."
"Yeah," Isaac shrugged. "And mental patients."
"Okay!" I snapped loudly. "Both of you. Shut up before I literally throw myself out the window." I let out a shaky breath as I tried to recompose myself.
"Isn't anyone going to get that?" Meredith said suddenly and our attention turned to her.
"Get what?" I asked softly.
"The phone."
"What phone?" Stiles prodded with a confused glance.
"The phone," Isaac played along, tapping Stiles' arm.
"Right, the phone. My phone? Yes," Stiles put his pone to his ear. "Hello? Yeah, she's right here, actually." He handed Meredith the phone. "It's for you."
She took it and put it to her ear. The three of us leaned closer as she went silent, eventually handing the phone back to Stiles. "They say…. coup de foudre."
A pang shot through my brain, making me stumble backwards. I knew that phrase. The boys didn't seem to notice this as they interrogated her further.
"Coup the what?" Stiles tried to figure it out. "What is that, Spanish?"
"Coup de foudre," I repeated slowly, my mind returning to my time alone in Eichen House, locked in the confinement cell. "It's French."
"She's right," Scott's voice made us all whip around to face him. His face on its own was enough to show that he knew where Lydia was. "We have to go."
AN: HI. Sorry it's been a while. A lot has been going on. I know this chapter sucks and all, but I really just feel so stressed out, yknow? Next chapter will definitely make up for this suckiness, I promise!
Thank you all for waiting so long and for keeping up the love and support. I feel extra bad for making the wait so long, but I'm glad to be back. I just needed a tiny break, but I'm back again!
Please continue to review/follow/fave if you enjoyed. Even if this chapter was terrible, it helps haha. Love you all!
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xx.