Lydia lets out a shaky breath and a tear falls down her cheek,
"Oh my god.."
His eyes meet hers before they roll back in his head as he collapses to the cold tile floor.
They all rush forward emotions high, everyone has tears in their wide eyes.
Lydia get's there first and she drops, her knees colliding with the floor.
Stiles lays on his stomach, eyes closed, mouth hanging open. Deaton rushes over placing two fingers to the boy's neck. He pulls back when he feels the steady beat of a pulse.
The vet looks up to a stunned Scott and nods.
Scott drops beside Lydia his hands hovering over the boy's body afraid to touch him.
"H-how?"
Deaton shakes his head,
"I-I don't know honestly.."
Kira kneels next to Scott and Malia next to her.
Liam stands back looking overwhelmed.
Lydia places a hand to Stiles' cheek and lets out a happy cry at the warmth she feels.
Deaton stands,
"We need to examine him.. Scott, help me move him."
Scott lifts his friend under his arms. He keeps his ears tuned in to the steady beat of his heart, his own leaping with every beat.
Malia ran ahead shoving all the papers and books on the exam table onto the floor.
Deaton, who was holding Stiles' legs, cringed as his ancient books hit the ground with a thud.
They lay his body gently onto the table and the vet aimed the light over his body.
The pack gathers around the table and Lydia stands by Stiles slipping her palm into his.
Deaton grabs scissors and cuts the center of his bloodied shirt.
When he peels away the fabric he notices the gunshot wound is bleeding again. He reaches for the tweezers and delicately begins working on removing the bullet. As he stitches him closed Lydia tightens her grip on the boy's hand,
"How.. how is this possible? I mean was it the ritual that we did? Was it just... a late reaction o-or..."
Deaton shakes his head pulling the last stitch through and cutting it,
"I think it's something more than that.. I don't know.."
Lydia looked to Scott,
"You need to call your mom and the sheriff .."
Scott nodded once grabbing his phone.
Liam walked forward and examined Stiles,
"What's that?"
Deaton followed his finger and saw a strange red line that winds around his back.
"Help me turn him over."
Liam walks around to lift Stiles and they flip him onto his stomach.
Deaton removes the rest of his shirt and all of them gasp staring at the boy's back. Lines weave like lightning from a central point at the base of his spine across his entire back. Lydia reaches forward her fingertips caressing the lines softly ,
"What is this.."
Deaton studies his back but ends up shaking his head,
"I have only seen this once before.. remember our little run in with the nogitsune?"
Lydia nodded with wide eyes. how could she forget.
Malia scanned her eyes over his body,
"Stiles never really liked to talk about it... so not really.."
Deaton glanced at her,
"Well when I gave him the shot of letharia vulpina , commonly known as the wolf lichen, markings just like these appeared. They are called lichtenberg figures , also seen in lightning strike victims."
Scott walked back in,
"They are on their way no-"
His eyes widen and he rushes to reach the table,
"No...no no no .. how?! he's gone .. we -we defeated him! "
Deaton placed a comforting hand on the alpha's shoulder,
"I don't think we have to worry about the nogitsune coming back Scott.." Deaton looked back down to the unconscious boy in front of him,
"But we do need to worry about how and why these are here."
He gestures to the lightning bolt trails on his back.
"I have a feeling kate has something to do with it."
Scott helps Deaton flip Stiles over once again to help the bleeding from his chest stop completely.
The bell of the clinic rings and the sheriff and Melissa come flying through the doorway.
The sheriff's eyes widen and fill with tears as he slowly approaches his son.
He looks to Deaton and the man nods.
He kneels by the table by Stiles' face and grabs the hand nearest to him. He feels the pulse immediately and a large smile crosses his lips followed by a choked sob of pure joy.
"Oh thank god.."
Deaton walked off to the side as everyone talks amongst themselves. Lydia glances to the man and studies his worried expression.
Something isn't right.
Her green eyes drift to the unconscious boy before releasing his hand and walking to Deaton.
"What is it... I know you know something"
Deaton looks over at the group before looking back to her.
"If I'm not mistaken, and we should hope that I am, Kate used the ritual that we performed to perform one of her own. That's what brought him back."
Lydia's brow furrowed,
"If she wanted him dead, why bring him back? That's completely pointless!"
Deaton bends down to pick up a book from the floor,
"She would only bring him back as part of a greater plan.. when someone dies and you bring them back some things... change."
Lydia steps closer with a quizzical expression,
"What things..."
Deaton shakes his head,
"You can't be sure but... there will be.. a vulnerability there."
Her brow lowers even more,
"Which means.."
"It potentially means, he could have no memory of his past.."
Her jaw drops and she takes a small step back,
"No..."
Scott must have heard because he was beside them in a second,
"You mean... permanently?"
Now everyone was listening as the vet scanned the room,
"We won't know anything for sure until he wakes.."
The sheriff gripped his son's hand tighter,
"You mean my son won't remember I'm his father?"
Deaton shook his head quickly,
"I'm not guaranteeing anything here. I have no experience with this kind of thing. So for all I know he could wake completely fine with no memory loss at all."
Malia slumped against the exam table looking at Stiles,
"But he could also wake up with no memory at all.."
The vet nods mutely as Melissa chimes in,
"I think it will be best to keep him at the hospital so we can monitor his vitals."
Deaton glances to her before nodding,
"I agree. That is all we can do at this point. "
Scott and Liam lift Stiles' body and carry him out the front of the clinic. Lydia rushes ahead to open the vehicle door and slides in.
Scott slides in back with Stiles in his arms. He position's Stiles' body so his head rests in Lydia's lap and his legs drape over his own lap.
Deaton climbs into the driver's seat as Melissa leans in the window,
"I'm driving my car to the hospital. Follow me there. We are taking him in the back so no one asks questions. "
Deaton nods as the Sheriff opens the passenger side door. Liam, Malia and Kira climb into Melissa's car and she pulls out of the clinic in front of the other car.
Lydia glances down at the boy with a small smile. Her smile falters as she searches for the feel of their connection.
She blinks allowing her vision to fade to blue.
Her own body has a glow but his remains dull, still colored blue. Glancing at her hand she see's that the black line singed into her skin is still there. With closer examination, she notices that his hand looks the same as hers. A black line burned into the flesh of his pinky.
She blinks away the color and looks up at Deaton,
"Why can't I see it? Our connection.. I can't see or feel it anymore."
The vet glanced in the rear view mirror with a raised brow,
"That is very unusual .. I am not entirely sure.."
"Could it be from... Uh if he doesn't have any memories?"
Deaton shook his head,
"Even soulmates who don't know each other are still soulmates... I'm not sure why the connection wasn't restored but it could have something to do with whatever Kate did."
Scott glanced at Lydia with a raised brow,
"What do you mean see or feel your connection?"
Scott new bits and pieces of what was going on but she realized he still didn't know everything.
"Stiles and I... We are...were..connected. Have you ever heard of the red string of fate?"
Scott shook his head and she continued,
"Well long story short , we were connected by a sort of red cord ...as destined lovers or 'soulmates'."
Scott's eyes widen as he glances to his best friend , who was still unconscious.
"And he knew this?"
Lydia nodded glancing down at Stiles' relaxed features. His dark eyelashes fanned across his skin.
"Yeah that's kind of how .. We happened ."
She smoothed a hand across his forehead,
" but the cord connecting us... It's gone.. And when I look at him.. His glow is gone."
Scott's brows drew together,
"His glow?"
Lydia looked into Scott's deep chocolate eyes. She let her eyes drift to their golden glow as her surroundings turned blue.
Scott's own eyes widen considerably as she blinks them back to normal,
"When I focus on our connection, my vision gets this kind of blue color to it .. And before, he was the only one besides me that would glow.. Now... He doesn't."
Scott remains silent absorbing the information before Deaton turns the wheel following Melissa.
The Sheriff turns to look into the back seat,
"When you did that ritual on the Nemeton, you both were glowing and your eyes looked even brighter than that.."
Lydia looked at the older man,
"I felt him then..When he died, I couldn't feel him but.. During the ritual, it felt like he was right there.. "
The hospital came into view up ahead as the sheriff turned back around.
Melissa drove behind to the back lot of the building and Deaton followed.
The car in front of them emptied and the vet unbuckled his seatbelt.
Melissa glanced around to make sure no one would see them,
"Bring him this way. "
Scott lifted his best friend, on e hand under the crook of his legs the other around his back. The pack followed Melissa through several unlit corridors until they came to a door that appeared to be an entrance to an exam room.
"We can keep him here, this room is for possible overflow so no one comes down here."
Scott follows his mother into the room setting Stiles on the bed. The rest of the group slowly enter as Melissa begins turning on machines. She places a pulse monitor onto his finger and the screen beside the bed comes to life. A collective sigh resonates through the room as the steady beep of the heart monitor bounces on the tile hospital room walls.
Mellisa places an iv into the skin of his hand checking all his vitals before turning to the group,
"Everything seems normal ... Now is just a waiting game. "
Deaton steps away from the wall he was leaning on,
"Our next step is to find out what Kate might have planned and finding out where she took Chris."
The vet looked to Scott ,
"I'll need all the help I can get. "
Scott looked to Kira,
"We can stop by after school tomorrow and start there.."
The vet nodded,
"Someone needs to stay with him."
Lydia looked up from the boy in the hospital bed to the vet,
"I can stay."
The sheriff placed a hand on her shoulder ,
"Lydia.. You need to go to school-"
"I have enough credits to graduate now so I'll be ok."
She offered him a small smile and he nodded,
"I'll stay too."
Scott looked at Lydia skeptically,
"Well if you want I can bring you your schoolwork ."
She smiles sweetly,
"Thanks Scott."
Deaton drew Scott's attention,
"Well we have some time to work this evening if the rest of you are up to it?"
Kira glanced at Malia and Liam who both shrugged ,
"Sure!"
Scott smiled slightly before walking to Lydia,
"Be careful ok?"
She nodded,
"I should be more worried about you. You are going after Kate Argent after all."
He offered her a small smile,
"We will be."
He patted her on the shoulder before turning to leave.
Melissa pulled a blanket over the boy before turning to the sheriff and Lydia,
"Can I get you guys anything from the cafeteria for dinner?"
The sheriff smiled at the woman,
"Let me come with you."
Melissa smiles a light pink gracing her cheeks,
"Lydia?"
Lydia sat in the chair by Stiles' bed grabbing his hand,
"I think I'll just stay here.."
Melissa threw the sheriff a knowing glance and he just smiled and shook his head,
"Well we can bring you back something. And Lydia.."
The red head looks up to him,
"Thank you."
She smiled gripping the boy's hand tighter.
The two left and the room is bathed in silence except for the beeps of the machines.
Lydia studies his face. His fair skin is no longer ghostly white but almost has a rosey color to it. She smiles gliding her thumb over his knuckles,
"You have to wake up."
She places a hand on his cheek sliding the pads of her fingers over his smooth skin.
Her eyes drift close as she places her cheek onto his chest and she let's out a soft puff of air as his heartbeat pounds in her ears.
Her hand rests beside them grasping his hand as the rise and fall of his chest makes her heart soar.
"Please.."
The monitor beside her beeps slightly faster and her eyes spring open .
"Stiles?"
His brow clenches before relaxing again. His hand moves so slightly she thought she might be imagining it.
"Stiles.."
His lashes flutter open and he stares at the ceiling.
"Oh my god.. Stiles you're awake."
Her smile widens almost painfully as she squeezes his hand.
His eyes are locked on a spot on the ceiling and her smile falters,
"Stiles?..."
His eyes flick to her and she holds back a surprised gasp.
"How-how are you feeling?"
Stiles stares at her silently , not even blinking.
She tries to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut as his eyes stare back at her. They look dulled and almost empty.
"Sti-"
She doesn't have time to register what is happening before his body lunges toward her. The next thing she knows his hand is around her throat and her back is slamming into the hard tile walls, his dark eyes staring into her frightened ones.
I am sorry about how long this took. I have had so much stuff going on and felt no motivation to write.. I don't know if I even like this chapter.. Leave me a review if you like (: hopefully it's better than I feel it is...