Tensions were running stupidly high for Luna and her poor heart.

She simply couldn't stop crying or checking her phone - she so desperately wanted to know if Stiles was safe, but had no idea who to keep asking about it, because Scott had stopped communicating with her all of a sudden.

It left her in the dark, left her uncertain.

The problem now was that even if they found Stiles, there was no way of telling that it was actually him they were speaking to. She knew that nothing had knocked this spirit thing out of him yet, which meant that it was probably still in there, and she didn't want to come across that void version of him because she had no idea how long that image would be engrained into her psyche.

So she did what needed to be done - she dialled the Moon Council and awaited their answer, her eyes as wide as saucers as her heart thumped dangerously against her chest.

As soon as they picked up, she almost burst into tears there and then.

"Luna," Helena sighed tiredly once the line connected, "oh god, if it's pushed you this far, this cannot be good-"

"It's not," Luna admitted shakily, running her trembling tongue over her lips to moisten her mouth. "I…I need to report a potentially lethal shift in Beacon Hills and I'm officially requesting help. My friends…they e-entered a state of subconsciousness that opened their minds to dangers that be. One of the people affected was my best friend, S-Stiles Stilinski."

The mention of his name made her teary eyed, but she pulled it together.

"The boy who begged us to save you that night," Helena recalled with a small frown.

"Y-yes," Luna breathed, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment.

She felt her hands begin to tremble so she clasped them together and took a deep breath before continuing on, the tears beginning to well up all over again.

"God, I'm sorry, I don't mean to cry. Um…so he has something called the Nogitsune inside of him. Apparently it's some Japanese demon - a wild fox. Like a Japanese demon fox. It's…it's like, overtaken his mind. He's been responsible for some death so far, and…I don't doubt he'll do more soon."

There was a small silence across the line as Helena absorbed her words.

"I see. And the Oni haven't turned up to deal with him yet?" she frowned, leaning back in her chair and nibbling on the tip of her feather quill. "I saw a few comms about it on our systems but I didn't think-"

"No they have but…for some reason they're not able to get him. I just think we'll need way more help than everyone is letting on, despite how desperate we were to tackle this alone. I mean, it's Stiles, and he means so much to us - so much to me," Luna continued bravely, now ignoring the hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

God, this was painful.

"And…and it breaks my heart because this boy…Helena, I love him, in all the ways you can imagine. And yeah some of those ways I've only recognised within myself very recently - but I know that soon, he may also become a danger to himself. So I'm reporting him for your information, the safety of others and the safety of Stiles. I've n-never had to do something so difficult, so I'd appreciate the delicacy when you choose to come down and handle this."

Luna took a steady breath in and swiped her tears away one final time, standing up a little straighter and reaching over to the device in the hopes of turning it off.

"That is my official warning. Report concluded. Thank you so much for listening."

And then she hung up.

…

"Luna, sweetheart?" Elsa whispered the next morning, her soothing voice immediately jolting her daughter out of her sleep. She sat up almost immediately, placing a swift hand on her heart to try and steady the panic that was threatening to overtake her.

"Ma? What happened?!" she spluttered.

"They tracked Stiles down and they're admitting him into Eichen House," Elsa told her quietly, turning on her lamp. "Did you wanna see him before he goes? We…don't know how long he'll be in there for, mind you."

"Yeah, yes please," Luna mumbled without hesitatoin, swinging her legs over the bed and quickly making her way over to the bathroom. She had the worst feeling about this whole thing and it wasn't budging, especially now she'd told Moon Council the truth.

What was going to happen when they finally decided to take action against him?

When she got into the institution, she practically bounded up the stairs to the main visitors office, bursting through the doors. There stood Stiles, emptying out his pockets with his dad sat beside him rigidly.

The receptionist, who was sat opposite Stiles, looked up with a frown.

"Can I help you?" she asked coldly, causing both Stiles and his father to turn around with matching frowns of their own.

But Stiles' face dropped once he saw who it was.

"Loo…"

"Stilesy!" Luna blurted out, scrubbing her tears from her face as she stopped walking a few paces away to give them some distance.

She just assumed it would be easier that way.

"I'm gonna miss you s-s-so much. And…I'm s-sorry I c-couldn't save you in time, like you saved me - I feel awful." Stiles simply clenched his jaw and shook his head, slowly standing up from his chair and walking towards her. Luna's heart raced a little harder as she watched him get closer, almost finding herself unable to breathe.

"No - actually you've saved my life in ways you can't even begin to understand," he murmured, taking her quivering hands into his. "But I…I gotta do this, Loo. There's…something in my brain that's emulating what Mom had. And I just can't afford to…" he trailed off, shaking his head as if he was trying to rid his thoughts of the sheer idea of it. "I'm gonna miss you, too. But I'm telling you exactly what I told Scott - you don't let me hurt anyone else ever again, you hear me? Whatever you need to do to get this thing out of me, whether I'm conscious or not, please do it. Don't worry about what happens to the real me."

Luna bit her bottom lip and nodded profusely, her heart racing. She needed to tell him before it was too late, she had to let him know that she loved him.

"Stiles…" she murmured shakily, gathering all her strength for this moment. "Stiles, I- l-"

"Mr Stilinski? We're ready for you," the nurse suddenly spoke out, interrupting her rudely. Luna bit down on her bottom lip as a tear dribbled out of her eye and shook her head.

"Good luck," she ended up whispering instead.

"Thanks, Loo," Stiles murmured, pulling her in for one more bone-crushing hug and kissing her forehead sweetly. Luna clung onto his hoodie, inhaling his familiar scent one more time before releasing him again so that they could take him away. "Wait, here…" Stiles quickly told her, before pulling the hoodie over his head and shimmying his way out of it as quickly as he could. He handed it over to her with a small, sad smile. "I…uh…I know this was your favourite one."

"Thanks," Luna smiled sadly, taking it from him and holding it to her chest as if it were some kind of comfort blanket whilst Stiles started to walk away.

She let out a shaky sigh once he was out of sight and attempted to pull herself together, her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and worry. All Sheriff Stilinski could do was place a comforting hand on her shoulder in silent understanding, having gone through the exact same heartbreak a few minutes before.

…

On her way home from Eichen House, Luna decided to grab breakfast for herself, with it now being the early hours of the morning. She was still shaken from saying goodbye to Stiles, and even a little annoyed at herself for not telling him how she felt - but she knew there wasn't much else she could do about it.

She was wearing his hoodie for comfort, which was oversized and drowning her, and that was enough.

So she shoved her key into her front door with one hand, tightly grabbing her breakfast burrito and smoothie with the other, and made her way into the house. As she entered, she quickly picked up on the scent of black cherry wafting through the air - the smell of a specific candle that her mother only lit when they had company round. "Great. Who does she have over now? And this freakin' early in the morning?" Luna grumbled to herself, kicking off her shoes and apprehensively going to poke her head around the living room door.

And then she almost dropped her food. There, sat on her own sofa beside her mother was Helena, graciously taking a sip of tea.

Helena as in…her boss from the Moon Council.

"Oh my GOD!" Luna exclaimed, hurriedly putting her bag of food down on the nearest surface so that she could go and curtsey politely, her legs quivering like jelly. "Helena! Welcome to-"

"Luna! Oh, look at you, look at how you've grown," Helena beamed, standing up too - but to give her a hug. That caught Luna off-guard, for sure - but she hugged her back and shot her mother a confused grimace from over her shoulder, receiving a small smirk back. "How have you been?" Helena laughed lightly.

Well, it was nice that she was in high spirits at least.

"I've…uh…been okay, thanks," Luna spluttered out in surprise. She let go of Helena and cleared her throat awkwardly. "I imagine you're here to do what's needed, so…Stiles has been admitted into Eichen House. Apparently, they've given him a sedative that suppresses the-"

"Thank you Luna, but I don't need to know where your friend Stiles is," Helena smiled, holding her slender hand into the air to stop her from speaking. "I'm actually not visiting for him."

Luna's head jerked back before she could stop it.

"Did…did you not hear my warning the other day? He's got the Nogitsune within him-"

"I heard my dear. We all heard, and we were all sorry to hear. But I ultimately don't think it's a case for The Moon Council. There'll be much worse that you have to deal with in Beacon Hills and I think you need to have more faith in your friends - a little like you told me to that one time," Helena smirked as Elsa grinned from behind her, clearly enjoying every second of this. "You were right - of course you can all handle it. This is no different."

But Luna was less than amused. She wasn't making sense.

"Helena, with all due respect, I don't think you understand exactly what we're dealing with here," she tried again, not appreciating how lightly this was being taken after it took everything within her to both admit and accept what was going on. "That's my best friend and he's got a full blown Japanese trickster demon within him-"

"Yes, but I actually think that's what's made you so uneasy. If Stilinski wasn't your best friend, if he was just some random kid in your school, you'd think that you and your friends could handle it perfectly fine. And you'd be right to think that," Helena told her smoothly, raising a dark brow. "You need to refocus, Luna. Your group will know what to do without our help so, unfortunately, I have officially decided to decline your request for the Moon Council to step in and put down your best friend. There is absolutely no need and it would be barbaric to kill a teenage boy under such circumstances."

That's when Luna understood. She had a point, and if it meant that Stiles could still live, then she'd take it.

So she simply smiled slightly and nodded in understanding.

"Well…thank you for declining. I guess I have to decide what we need to next," she contemplated, rubbing the sleeves of Stiles' hoodie against her cheek fondly.

"Exactly, which is the most boring part for the Moon Council anyways so - happy days!" Helena beamed, before going to sit back down beside Elsa.

"So then…so if you're not here for Stiles then, in the nicest way possible - why exactly are you here?" Luna felt compelled to ask.

"Oh, today I'm simply visiting as your Aunt," Helena hummed casually, taking another sip of tea.

Luna froze in shock before her eyes widened and darted to her mother accusatorially.

Surely not.

"I can't believe you couldn't tell after all these years?!" Elsa rolled her eyes back before her daughter could say a word. "We ALWAYS looked alike! You didn't even question it - to be honest, sometimes I worry about you-"

"Hang on, wait - you're telling me, that you two, my boss and my mother, are sisters?" Luna groaned tiredly, placing a quivering hand on her forehead. She already felt a little dizzy and this wasn't helping matters. "All this time? You've been sisters and I had no idea? My boss is my mom's sister?"

"No matter how you phrase it, Luna - yes. You literally have the power of the Moon within you, it's in your blood - how else could we have brought you back to life TWICE?" Helena drawled as if it were totally obvious. "That doesn't just…happen!"

Luna just gave a slow, tired nod and took a deep breath in, rubbing her eyes with a wince.

"Right well, I'm gonna go and lie down - I'll come back to this when I'm more focused, cos right now it feels like a weird…dream," she murmured before slipping out of the living room, making the two ladies laugh knowingly.

Luna trudged to her room in disbelief, placing her hand on her door handle - when her senses suddenly twitched again. Without thinking, she clicked a moon boom into her hand behind her back, and whacked open the door with her foot, ready to attack whoever was in there - just to see-

"ALLISON?! This is how you get yourself HURT!" she hissed angrily, closing her bedroom door behind her again.

"What the hell did you just make in your hand?" Allison breathed with wide eyes of wonder, pushing herself off her bedroom wall and walking towards her.

"Nuh-uh, you don't get to ask the questions when you're trespassing in my bedroom! Are you insane?!" Luna snapped back, looking around her room for signs of forced entry. "What the…did I leave a window open or something?"

"I didn't trespass! I knocked and your mom let me in," Allison insisted with a pleading whisper. Luna's shoulders dropped slightly as she put her food down on her desk and sat on her bed with a tired grunt, the twists and turns today already making her feel nauseous. "I…um…I heard that Stiles admitted himself into Eichen House, so I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay," Allison murmured. Luna raised an eyebrow and smothered her face with her hands, saying nothing. "Okay, and I wanted to talk to you about me and Isaac."

That made Luna flinch.

"Ooooh god no," she winced, waving her off.

"No, I think it's important because we never we spoke after that whole thing and we kinda need to-"

"Allison it's so not necessary," Luna groaned, leaning against her wall as her head lolled from side to side tiredly.

"Yes it is," Allison insisted, much to Luna's irritation. "Look, I am so, so sorry for anything I did to offend you-"

"You're offending me now by going on about this unnecessarily," Luna grumbled beneath her palms. Allison ran her tongue over her teeth and leant against her bedroom wall again with a huff.

"Okay, look - when I first met you, I really didn't like you," she started off smoothly, leading Luna's head to snap up to hers with a short scoff of disbelief. "Like, at all."

"Thanks, Al!"

"Wait, okay, I didn't mind you but I didn't really like you. You were just kinda floating…could never really tell if you were with us or just there to cause trouble. Or snitch to your Moon People. Or all three…" Allison continued on.

"So charmed," Luna drawled.

"But then I saw the way you cared for Scott when he was in trouble, and I realised just how much you valued your friends. And even though I knew I wasn't one of them at the time - I realised you can't have been that bad," Allison plodded along.

"You really are softening me up here," Luna hummed sarcastically.

"And then I saw how you are with Stiles."

Only then did Luna stop speaking.

"I don't think I ever appreciated how hard this whole thing must've been for you. You've known him the longest. And you've been holding it together so well…basically, I think you deserve more respected than what I was giving you - and that's the honest truth," Allison finished boldly, much to Luna's surprise. "So…I say all that to say, if you don't want Isaac and I together, the least I can do is respect that. And I'll put an immediate stop to it-"

"Okay Allison - can I speak now?" Luna interrupted her swiftly. Allison gulped and nodded, shutting up and gulping slightly. "Okay first of all - I have no issues with you and Isaac. Not anymore anyways - and even if I did, what do you owe me to change anything about that?"

"Well…I mean nothing, but-"

"Exactly - but back to the main point, I don't have an issue with it. More importantly, he and I are done and we parted on good terms. I don't hold anything against you, but I do appreciate you asking first. It…was very sweet and also makes me like you way more," Luna beamed genuinely, making Allison smile back too in relief. "And yes, before you even ask, I would love for us to…try and be friends."

"You would?!" Allison gasped.

"Sure! Honestly? You're not so bad, Argent," she shrugged kindly. Allison ducked her head bashfully as thanks, before making her way to the door.

"Thanks. Well…I'll see you around-"

"Wait, where are you going?" Luna frowned quickly, standing up too. Allison backtracked and froze.

"I mean, I was gonna leave you to it…"

"Um, no? Our newfound friendship starts here," Luna rolled her eyes, slapping the duvet and sitting herself back down again. "Honestly, it gets lonely being tied to this room just in case Stiles comes back. It's rare I have any kinda interaction aside from my mother and the Moon Council, who, by the way, are cracking jokes together downstairs. I'll split my breakfast burrito…?"

Allison giggled and turned back around to sit down and get comfortable.

…

A couple of hours later, Luna and Allison were still giggling together like old friends, as if there was never any tension between them to begin with. They seemingly got on swimmingly - and it wasn't something that either one of them had seen coming.

Then came a knock at the door.

"Come in?" Luna called out before taking a small sip of her smoothie. In slipped none other than Helena, followed by an apprehensive Isaac, Lydia, Scott and the twins. Luna's eyes widened and she jumped to her feet - and even Allison leaned forward. But before anyone could dare say a word, though, Lydia's eyes darted around the bedroom and she crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Um, anyone care to explain why I didn't get this invite?" she asked her two friends immediately.

"Down, girl - it was clearly an improv moment," Luna rolled her eyes before turning to the rest of them. "Guys? What's…what's going on?"

"We…we have a plan for how to save Stiles," Scott told her quickly, seeing her lean her head to the side in disbelief.

"Right…" she nodded slowly.

"We're gonna get him back from Eichen House, and then we're gonna enter his subconscious and…well, wake him up," Scott further explained with sheer determination plastered on his face.

"And if we can do all that before your Moon Council freaks find out and come down to try to exterminate him, even better," Aidan added in with a firm nod.

"Yeah that's kinda key - we don't need them knowing what we're doing either - so we'd rather you not say anything," Isaac agreed quickly, just as Allison winced an eye shut and Luna grimaced.

"Okay so, first of all - the head of the Moon Council is literally stood behind you, so that's fun," she winced, gesturing towards her amusedly stood aunt. The group spun around as Helena dangled her slender fingers in their faces, biting back a laugh of her own.

"Hi! Helena Klypse, Head Moon Council Freak - a pleasure," she hummed amusedly.

"Ohhhh god," Lydia groaned as her cheeks flushed.

"You TOLD THEM?" Scott hissed to Luna not-so discreetly.

"Yeah but it's fine, guys! They're not gonna do anything - turns out my boss over there is also my aunt, and she's only here to see my mom. They don't wanna prosecute Stiles cos they all ruled that we can do it ourselves - so you're in the clear," Luna explained assuredly, watching the relief fall onto their faces.

"Great!" Scott breathed.

"Yeaaah not quite, because I'm not even convinced that this little plan of yours is gonna work," Luna sighed uncomfortably, bursting their bubbles.

"There's the optimism we so desperately craved," Isaac drawled knowingly.

"Here we go," Lydia winced.

But then, Luna had an idea. Her eyes literally lit up like the stars in a night sky, and a small smile fell onto her lips.

"Actually, I take it back. You guys do what you can, get him if you're able to. But if all fails, I got an idea of how to get this thing out of him," she hummed quietly, nibbling on the inside of her lip. She ran her tongue over her teeth and flicked her wrist up, just so that her friends could the bright white cloud forming in her hands. Helena's eyes widened in realisation and she had to stop the grin from growing onto her face.

"What the…" Ethan trailed off.

"Woah," Isaac blinked blankly.

"This, is a moon boom. Well, that's what I call it anyways. It's like a sonic boom that, if used correctly, could burst eardrums and rattle minds," Luna told them all as calmly as possible.

"Its a WHAT?!" Scott exclaimed in surprise.

"When the hell did you get magic moon powers?" Isaac scoffed accusatorially, looking genuinely offended that he hadn't known.

"When I died and Stiles brought me back to life by the power of the moon - duh?" Luna stated as if it were obvious. Helena smirked slightly and ducked her head.

"And you didn't tell anyone?" Lydia blinked.

"When the hell would I have had the time?" Luna hissed back with her hands outstretched. "ANYWAY. I know what I can do. I could go to Stiles' head, create two moon booms on either side of him and set them off at the same time. I have good reason to guess this will disturb the little demon thing and bring it out of him."

"Sounds pretty plausible," Allison nodded in support, much to Isaac's immediate surprise.

"Wait so why don't we just move your plan to the top of our plan?" Lydia asked Luna as if it were obvious, spinning around to face her. "Yours sounds way better!"

"Because my plan could potentially kill Stiles by splitting his skull in half," Luna told them bluntly.

Their faces all dropped.

"She's right," Helena grimaced from the corner of the room, causing them all to turn to stare at her again. "It would, in theory, work perfectly fine but it would probably almost definitely…be fatal."

"Okaaay so we can keep that as the backup plan…like, as backed up as possible, and we'll go and do my plan first," Scott nodded again firmly.

"Fine. But Scott…if you can't get this thing out of him yourself - please bring him here," Luna pleaded with him slightly shakily, her eyes fearful and wide. "I'll stay here in case he uses this as a base, as usual. But I…if you do have to bring hm here with that thing in him, at least text me first. I need to kinda prepare myself, ya know? I hate seeing him like that." Scott nodded in agreement, reaching out to squeeze her hand soothingly.

"I'm gonna go with them, too," Allison nodded, leaping up from her bed and giving Luna a short hug. "We'll keep you updated, Luna."

"Thanks, best of luck guys," she sniffed weakly, watching them all traipse out of the room with Helena again, releasing a shaky breath out as they slipped away.