The Hale Pack

by Missmusiclover573

What if Scott and Stiles hadn't separated that night in the woods? What if both boys had been bitten? Would things have played out differently? Or end in the same amount of loss and pain? *Eventual Sterek*

32. The Road Home

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of it's characters. If I did, Sterek would be canon.

A/N: Stiles gets lost in his head. Sheriff Stilinski shares his fears with the pack. The search for Stiles continues. The shadow creatures are identified and their target is confirmed.

The Hale Pack: The Road Home (Is Paved with Moral Dilemmas)

"Fine, but like I said, I'm coming back and getting you out of here, stay safe!" Stiles called out as he reluctantly backed out of the cage. With one last longing look at his wolf, Stiles ran off through… his brain? Trying to figure out how to find the thing possessing him and subdue them long enough to regain full control and warn the Pack of what was going on.

If you had told Stiles a year ago that one day he would be a werewolf trapped in his own mind, running through a labyrinth that he has decided to call his 'Mindscape', trying to figure out how to overthrow the one possessing him and return to his Pack and Mate, he would assume you were joking, insane, or on drugs. Or some combination thereof.

And yet, there he was, muttering encouragements to himself as he ran through corridors that resembled the school. The only difference was that the doors were missing.

Cursing the creature possessing him, Stiles limped as he ran. Even though he had previously healed the injury whilst in the cage with his wolf, Stiles could feel his leg bleeding inexplicably from the 'wounds' caused by the animal trap.

Stiles honestly wasn't sure if the creature was recreating his wounds to slow him down, or to annoy him. Either way, it was working.

"Come on, Stiles. You got this." He muttered. Intent on keeping this creature from hurting his Pack, Stiles worked through the pain. As he arrived at a corner, Stiles turned right sharply without slowing his run, and predictably skidded and tripped as a result. He quickly righted himself and carried on. Upon turning the corner, Stiles finally laid eyes on a door.

With a potential way out in sight, Stiles increased his speed. His leg was painful but he kept reminding himself that it wasn't real. At least, he was pretty sure that it wasn't real, but of course he had no idea what was happening to his body right now. For all he knew, the creature controlling his body could be out there naked skydiving and landing in a superhero pose in the parking lot of the high school right now, and Stiles would have no idea it was going on, let alone have any hope of stopping it.

However, he pushed those thoughts aside because it didn't matter what harm may befall his body, his biggest concern was that the creature was using said body to harm others, so he persevered.

'It might be a trap' Stiles thought when he noticed that the door was open. There was a sliver of light bleeding through the crack in the doorway, a warm orange glow that became brighter as Stiles grew closer. 'But getting back to my Pack is worth the risk.' He reminded himself as he shoved the door open further and ran through.

Every bit of logic said that the door would lead to a classroom or any other room you may find in the school, but upon passing through the door, Stiles suddenly found himself in the woods with Scott.

As in, a slightly younger version of Stiles, from back when Derek was under the Darach's spell. He and Scott were sat by a campfire and clutched in Memory-Stiles' fist was a bottle of whiskey. The bottle had been purchased by Jackson using a fake ID, how Scott had convinced him to do that for them and not join them, Stiles had no idea.

Lydia had also given in to Scott's plea's and carefully infused the bottle of whiskey with wolfsbane and let Scott and Stiles go out and do whatever they wanted. It was not the genius' wisest decision. In her defence though, she had been suffering from Derek's absence too. The entire pack had. Stiles tried his best to support them, but it had been difficult. Derek is irreplaceable. Just like every member of the Hale Pack.

Even though it was a by-product of the circumstances, that night was one of the highlights of that entire time and Stiles remembered it clearly. Well, parts of it at least. Admittedly, there were a few good memories made during that time, but they weren't enough to ease the pain. That pain was the worst Stiles had ever felt.

Even though Stiles frequently wished that Derek had never been placed under that spell in the first place, he wouldn't want to lose those memories. He and his pups had all grown closer during that time, and in that regard it was nice. Regardless of what Stiles wished, it had happened and he couldn't change that. All he could do was appreciate the good things that had come from it and learn to live with, and hopefully overcome, the bad.

Only knowing that he had to remain focused in order to save his Pack allowed Stiles to pull his eyes away from the happy scene. Stiles shook his head and tore his eyes from the scene before him.

Using the door to get out was the simplest solution, so he looked behind him but the door had vanished.

Brown and green in the moonlight was all Stiles could see. Only trees stood behind him.

Until he could access his wolf eyes again, Stiles didn't want to risk trying to navigate the woods. Turning to face forward again, Stiles searched for another way out. His eyes quickly fell on the path he and Scott had taken to get to the small clearing that night. There was a trail that led through the woods and to the town.

Stiles ran at full speed towards his way out, but the moment he passed through the clearing, he was transported to the roof of the hospital.

Immediately his eyes fell upon his mother, she was wearing a hospital gown and looking rather unhinged and ashen. Stiles knew instantly that it was the night that she died.

With a firm shake off his head, Stiles made a decision.

"Nope." Stiles declared as he turned on his heels. "I'm definitely not reliving this shit." He continued as he marched towards the roof door, resolute to ignore his mother screaming harsh words behind him.

He passed his crying, ten year old self on his way and stubbornly refused to even glance at the kid.

Opening the door forcefully, Stiles stepped through. He arrived at the preserve, where the memory of Peter turning him and Scott played out. It felt like it had been years since Stiles and Scott had been turned, but in reality it had been just a few days shy of ten months since that life-changing January night.

Neither of them knew it at the time, but that night had been the end of their old lives. Stiles didn't mourn his old life though. How could he when he finally felt alive?

Stiles watched with a small smile as Peter leapt from the shadows and pounced at Scott in alpha form. Of course, he hated seeing his best friend scared and in pain, but he and Scott both agreed now that turning and joining the pack had been a great thing, despite how traumatic the incident had been at the time.

That's why Stiles smiled when he watched the memory of Peter turning Scott and memory-Stiles. It was a terrifying and traumatising, but ultimately happy, memory for him.

Sadly, there was a negative side effect to witnessing it play out again; When Peter dug his teeth into memory-Stiles, the wound appeared on Stiles. Pain shot through Stiles' arm as it began to bleed, it felt exactly the same as it had that night.

"Oh, that can't be good." Stiles stated as he examined the 'wound'. Then he shook his head and allowed his arm to drop to his side, despite the pain. "Quit wasting time, Stiles," The werewolf reminded himself, again out loud as he searched for a way out of this memory. "They need you."

Mustering up all of his speed and stubbornness, Stiles ran to the next memory waiting for him.

It was the one he had fled from; his mother on the hospital roof, about to kill herself.

Eager to escape, Stiles immediately tried to leave through the door like he had before, but this time he couldn't leave. Every time he walked through the door, he just arrived on the other side of the roof.

"Yeah… This really isn't good." Stiles stated while he took deep breaths. He was trying to remain calm, but it wasn't working all that well.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

While Stiles was being forced to take a trip down memory lane, Malia and Derek made their way through the high school. When they first arrived at the school, Derek had been very tense, and clearly hadn't been in the mood for conversation.

Malia, however, didn't care; She needed answers about what was going on, and she needed them immediately.

"Okay, so how long has Stiles been more weird than usual? I haven't noticed anything ovary wrong with him, but I haven't known him as long as you have." Malia asked curiously as they walked, but she didn't look at Derek as she spoke to him. Her eyes were busy taking in the details of the corridors that she would hopefully soon be walking as a student. With her friends/Pack mates.

"I think you mean 'overly'." Derek corrected politely, silently grateful for her fumble as it meant he could try to distract her from her question.

"Good, cause that's what I meant. Why? What did I say?" Malia asked as she tilted her head and thought over her previous words.

"Ovary." Derek managed to reply politely, Malia's eyes immediately lit up with recognition and he almost let out a sigh of relief afterwards.

It wasn't that Malia had said or done anything that upset Derek, the problem was that Derek's temper and patience had been short since he found out that his mate was missing.

That's why he had insisted on initially searching alone. He was on edge thanks to being forcibly separated from his mate… Again.

There was really no reason to snap at Malia, and he really didn't want to.

"Oh, sorry. Erica and Lydia have been helping me with English and Biology and stuff." Malia reminded him, with her eyes downcast and a light blush colouring her cheeks. "I get similar words mixed up sometimes." She admitted, embarrassment seeping into her tone, her eyes downcast.

Although he was on edge and still had issues with comforting people, Derek had learned a lot from being an Alpha, and from his Pack. He was able to keep himself anchored enough to reassure the girl.

"Look, don't worry about it. You're doing really well. You've learned a lot considering the short amount of time you've been human again." Derek told her honestly. "Besides, everyone mixes up words or struggles to actually say them every now and then. Remember Issac at dinner with the Yukimura's?"

Instead of answering right away, Malia pursed her lips as she tried to compose herself, she inevitably failed and let a light chuckle spill from her lips.

"Sure, you mean when Lydia told us that aubergine was another word for eggplant and he tried to say it but ended up saying 'orange jeans', 'Aubrey gin' and a bunch of other weird stuff that made no sense until he gave up and laid face down on the floor?" Malia asked rhetorically in amusement. "Yeah, I definitely remember that."

The memory sparked a chuckle from Derek's own lips, despite his concern.

"Exactly, it happens to all of us." Derek told her. It was true. While they both manage to be rather eloquent when around the pack, when they were talking in their room or on a date, Stiles frequently mixed up words or said them wrong when talking to Derek. Though he would often deny it, Derek did the same. They would playfully make fun of each other for it, which would lead to tickling, making out, or both.

Now feeling less embarrassed, Malia chuckled again.

With nothing left to say on that topic, a comfortable silence fell upon them. For five seconds, then Malia remembered the question that she had asked and noticed that Derek hadn't answered it.

"Hey, so, seriously, what's up with Stiles? What is it that makes you think he's acting differently?"

Now that was a question that Derek did not want to answer, so he once again tried to deflect the question.

"If you don't think anything is different about him, what makes you so sure this key is for the chemistry closet?" Derek asked.

"You can't be serious," Malia looked at him incredulously, "Come on, it's obvious! That pretty girl said that he was scared that she would ask him if he was handling chemicals." Malia reminded him, shooting him an incredulous look. Even she could put two and two together. "So clearly he thought it was for the chemistry closet. That means that something has changed with him and he doesn't trust himself. If he's noticed a change, you must have too. You're his mate."

Overcome with frustration, Derek had to bite his tongue to keep himself from snapping at Malia.

Using Stiles' method of staying calm, Derek reminded himself that it wasn't her fault that she lacked social tact, and she was only trying to help. It worked rather well, at least when compared to the alternative outcomes.

"Right." He managed to growl out, but it came out far more aggressive than he intended.

With a sigh he remembered Stiles, John and Melissa all 'talking' to him, on separate occasions and once as a group, about snapping at people. It was also something he had gotten better at, but if any of his pack were missing, injured, or upset, then Derek found himself slowly reverting to the 'grumpy, growly, sourwolf' persona that had been born from the depression and guilt over the fire that killed his family, before Stiles helped him see the beauty in the world again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" He tried to apologise but was cut off. Yet another teenager seemed to be better at handling stress than Derek was, because the young coyote did not appear upset or offended by his frustration as she cut him off.

"Don't apologise. It's cool. You're stressed. I get it." Malia assured the Alpha, then her nose twitched suddenly and she turned to look at the door to her right. "This the classroom?" She asked. It smelled like chemicals, and Stiles and Lydia, so surely it must be.

Nodding his head, Derek reached out for the door handle and replied "Yeah. This is it," as he cautiously pushed the door open.

Out of the corner of his eye, Derek noticed the writing on the chalkboard and let out a sigh; He'd recognise that handwriting anywhere.

On the daily, Stiles was writing grocery lists, chore schedules for the pack, and he often left his homework lying around on the desk in their bedroom. He also left notes in Derek's lunchbox.

Usually, it was just little things like 'have a good day today', 'be careful', or 'don't get shot', other times he wrote reminders such as 'remember to finish the incident report about the break in at Delmar's, dad needs it by the end of his shift!" or 'Posey bet everyone in the station that he could eat more than you at lunch today, I packed you 3x your usual amount of food to prove him wrong.' And he always signed them 'To my Sourwolf' or 'To my Der-bear' depending on Derek's mood that day, and without failure, they were signed, 'With love, from your Hyperactive Spaz'.

Those notes had always filled him with warmth but, in that moment, he hated that they had allowed him to become so familiar with Stiles' handwriting.

"Dammit." Derek growled out. Malia looked at him in concern, and followed his line of sight to the chalkboard.

"You think he wrote that too?" Malia asked. Derek only nodded as he made his way to the door at the back of the room.

Malia pulled the keys out her pocket again. In the early morning light of the barely risen sun, you could no longer see the substance staining the key that gave her theory verisimilitude. Seeing that the Alpha's hand was shaking, Malia kindly reached around him and inserted the key into the lock. Derek held his breath as the coyote turned the key.

Far too loudly to their enhanced hearing in the early hour of the morning, they both heard a click. She let go of the key and the door slowly creaked open.

Letting out a shuddered breath, overwhelmed with emotion, Derek reached out and shut the door. He let out a sigh as locked the door and pocketed the keys.

"We need to get home and check on the others before they go to school." Derek stated.

"I can help," Nodding her head towards the chalkboard, Malia asked "Do you want me to clean the writing off the board?"

Eyes flickering to the board, Derek hesitated for a moment as he thought it over. If any of the others saw it, they could figure out the Stiles had written it. They could get too close and the Nogitsune might hurt them to remain hidden.

Then again, it might hurt them anyway. Maybe it's plan was to act like Stiles for a while, then turn on the Pack when the timing suited it best.

The pack needed to be prepared, but without getting too close to the truth until they could fix it. Maybe the writing on the board was exactly the thing to make them cautious without giving away the whole truth. Or it could lead them to the same conclusion he had reached, and the thing controlling his mate could hurt them because of it.

"Su- No. No, just Leave it." He finally decided. There was a beat of silence before Derek spoke again. "Let's head back to the house. We'll take the tunnel in the vault." The Alpha suggested, and Malia quickly agreed.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Pacing usually helped Stiles figure out a solution, so he bagan to do so. He was resolute in ignoring the memory as he paced in front of the door, but it didn't feel like that was working either.

He tried again to leave the roof a few times, but he encountered the same scene every time, starting over at the moment his mother started speaking to him.

"Fuck." Stiles uttered in despair. He could hear his own heartbeat pumping loudly in his ears, and his own heavy breathing.

It took him a moment, but Stiles realised that he could hear breathing other than his own.

It was quieter than his, but still loud. There was definitely something else in there with him, breathing heavily, and not quite in time with his own. It didn't belong to the memories, either.

If the previous memories were any indication, Stiles knew that while he could hear the words of the people in the memories, and their sighs and huffs and hums, he could not hear their breathing or their heartbeats. It was actually rather unsettling.

Yet there was this definite unseen presence. Looming over Stiles, or behind him, or maybe even all around him.

But was it actually there? Did it actually know he was wherever he was?

Or would addressing it give him away?

Usually when Stiles was alone he would pick the reckless decision if it meant getting to his pack faster. He would rush in and do whatever it takes to keep his Pack safe, but in this instance, with this enemy...

This enemy was powerful enough to separate Stiles from his wolf, and take control of Stiles' body without him consciously giving permission. It had managed to take control and do things that Stiles was completely unaware of.

While he had been picking the cage lock, Stiles had asked his wolf how the creature had managed to write the message for Barrow before Stiles was electrocuted. His wolf had explained that the creature had been able to gain fleeting moments of control during and after bardo, resulting in Stiles' blackouts (some of which were so brief they went unnoticed) and supposed sleepwalking.

When Stiles, Jackson, Isaac, Cora, Erica, and Boyd had first arrived at the school to set up the pranks for Coach's birthday, the creature had taken control for a moment. Stiles had told the others to go ahead while he grabbed something to grease any old or stubborn screws. Once in the chemistry classroom, the creature took control.

It wrote the message, made a mould of the key for the closet using Stiles' kit. Then returned to where Stiles had been standing and returned control to him, he grabbed what he needed then reunited with the others. Completely unaware of what had happened.

Clearly, this enemy was intelligent and not one to face recklessly, and Stiles couldn't risk this creature hurting his Pack, especially when it was wearing his face.

"Who are you?" Stiles wondered aloud without thinking. Panic seized Stiles the moment his words registered.

He began to wonder if he had just given himself away when the creature spoke, for the first time since locking Stiles in a cage with his wolf.

Ever since the ritual, Stiles often heard the dark voice whispering advice to him in place of his wolf.

That voice, the one that he hated feverently, it spoke to him again.

While there was the advantage of the voice drowning out the harsh words Claudia was yelling, the problem was that it was far more unnerving than ever before. All because there was one key difference between the previous times the creature had spoken to Stiles and that time; for the first time, the creature spoke to Stiles in Japanese.

Stiles resisted the urge to respond or ask the creature to speak a language that he understood, and instead attempted to leave the roof again. He was met with the same result as before.

There was an eerie, yet ghoulish, laughter that filled the air and echoed around Stiles. It flooded his ears and sent violent shudders crashing through Stiles' body from the tip of his spine, all the way down to his toes.

It was bearable until the shudder reached Stiles' 'injured' ankle, he couldn't help but cry out in pain. He fell to his knees, unable to hold himself up any longer. He instinctively shot out both hands to catch himself, only to cry out in pain again. He had momentarily forgotten that the creature had also recreated the bite on his arm that had turned him.

The dark voice repeated itself, still speaking Japanese.

The voice was louder at that point in time than it had ever been before. Stiles quickly forced himself to rise to his feet. He tried to ignore his pain, but it was worse than before.

"What?" Stiles asked, because ignoring this creature clearly wasn't working.

The creature repeated the Japanese words a third time.

Vigilant and on edge, Stiles' eyes roamed the roof. He could still only see his ten year old self and his mother.

"You've been possessing me for a while now," Stiles stated as he glared at the sky, seeing no other option but to attempt to communicate with the being. "You know I don't speak Japanese. Who are you and what do you want?"

This creature obviously enjoyed playing mind games, but if Stiles could figure out what would irritate the creature, he could gain the upper hand. He could definitely play some mind games of his own.

Although, the creature found him far faster than he had hoped. They clearly had the upper hand at the moment. Stiles expected the creature to continue their game until he snapped, so it was rather surprising when they didn't repeat the Japanese words from before.

"Not 'who are you' Stiles, 'who are we'? " The creature simply replied in English, without any further beating around the bush. "We did nothing to your wolf."

"Right, and I don't have ADHD." Stiles retorted sarcastically, complete with rolling his eyes, his fear had kindly decided to take a step back and allowed his proclivity for sarcasm to take over. Every part of the werewolf told him to make this as difficult for the creature as he would for Rafael McCall, if not more so. So that's what he did.

"Not that you don't seem like a swell guy, but I find that hard to believe. Somebody locked me and my wolf up, and you're the only other person in here." He pointed out before he shook his head and added, "I just can't picture us working well together. After all, you also used me to tell Barrow to kill Kira." He paused to allow the creature to respond, but they said nothing.

"Again, I'm sure that this is a big misunderstanding and you're actually a really nice person," Stiles drawled sarcastically as he looked towards the 'sky'. "but why are you saying 'We'? Because I know that my wolf would never team up with you, and I definitely won't either." Stiles told the creature confidently. "So, who are you and what do you want?"

Only infuriating Stiles further, the creature repeated itself at first.

"Not 'Who are you', Stiles. 'Who are we'?" It corrected. But before Stiles could respond with a snappy comment, the creature quickly added, "Your wolf is gone and we are trying to save your life."

"Wow," Stiles drawled with a laugh that was only partially fake, "You're really desperate, huh? You're trying to tell me that my wolf is dead? Don't even try it." Stiles rolled his eyes. "You and I both know that he is fine." He stated confidently.

The creature let out a very disappointed sounding sigh, but didn't say anything.

"I was fine before you came along, and my wolf and I will be again once you're gone. So tell me, what exactly are you trying to save my life from?" Stiles asked, he was feeling some strange combination of curiosity, suspicion, anger, and concern. "The only threat I see is you." Well, he couldn't actually see the creature, but that was beside the point.

"We know this is very tragic for you, Stiles," The creature began. He impossibly managed to sound both sympathetic and threatening. That tone was pretty scary. "The first stage of grief is denial. You want to believe that he is still with you, but he isn't. He is gone, Stiles. He died attempting to warn you about one of the many things that's ailing you right now. You need to let us help you." The creature informed the increasingly impatient werewolf. He still didn't give Stiles a direct answer and it was infuriating. "We can save your life."

"My wolf isn't dead." Stiles stated firmly, though he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince the creature or himself. "And until you tell me what you think is 'ailing me', I'm not going to even consider letting you do a damn thing."

His eyes were fixed on the sky, and Stiles was resolute in ignoring the memory playing out. The creature didn't respond right away, which made it harder for Stiles to block out his mother's voice, but he did his best.

Especially now that he knew that he couldn't survive without his wolf, Stiles would not allow himself to waste a thought on the possibility that his wolf was dead. He was alive. He was trapped, and he needed Stiles to subdue this creature so that they could both be free. Now, there was no use in wasting time shouting at the sky and waiting for a reply. It wasn't helping his Pack in any way, so Stiles decided to take action.

He turned to face the rooftop door once more and marched towards it.

The creature finally spoke again.

"Save your energy, Stiles," The creature drawled patronisingly. "It is pointless to keep trying to escape this. You cannot leave until you understand."

Ignoring the infuriating creature, Stiles continued on his journey to the door. When he was at arm's length, Stiles grasped the handle, he pulled the door open with all his strength and charged through.

He was disappointed but unsurprised to find the result the same as before.

Instead of being deterred, Stiles did what he always did when the people he loved were at risk, Stiles came up with a plan. His mind working at 90 miles an hour, Stiles rapidly thought through potential plans that could get him out of there and back in control of his body.

Yes! That was it. This creature liked mischief, so Stiles would show just how mischievous he could be. Mischief was his name, after all.

Okay, not really but it was the closet he got as a kid.

"Ugh, this again? And I don't get why you keep starting the memory over again," Stiles said. "I remember this unfortunately well, as much as I wish I could repress it. What exactly do you want me to remember?"

"We will start again every time you try to leave. This memory is important, Stiles. It holds the answers to a question you have had for a long time." The creature told Stiles cryptically. "We're running out of time, Stiles. We want to save you, but first you need to find the answers that you seek." The creature stated. Stiles gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he tried to fight his anger.

"Okay, but did you ever stop to think that I don't want to relive this night?" Stiles growled. "What answers could I possibly want about this that I don't already know? Why don't you just tell me? If I don't believe whatever you have to say, I'll watch the stupid memory. Deal?" He offered casually.

Ever persistent in creeping Stiles out and causing him pain, the creature chuckled. It was that dark and eerie chuckle that caused violent shudders to pass through Stiles as it echoed around him.

Now he was more prepared, so Stiles managed to remain standing despite the pain.

"You will not believe us unless you see it for yourself. The thing you want to know most of all. The truth about why your father didn't know how your mother died." The creature stated confidently, as it did so it sounded like the creature was walking towards Stiles from behind. Stiles waited, listening closely as the creature continued to speak. "You want to know why the death report says that she died in her hospital bed, but you remember otherwise."

It felt and sounded as though the creature was right behind him then, so Stiles spun on his uninjured heel to look. Except it was for nothing because, of course, there was nobody there.

"So, what? Are you too scared to show your face?" He asked with a taunting grin. The creature chuckled again. Unprepared for another chuckle so soon after the previous, Stiles fell to his knees again. He was down for less than a second before he rose to his feet again.

"Very mature." Stiles drawled while rolling his eyes. "This is all so extra, why can't we just talk over a cup of coffee? Why do you keep forcing me in and out of control of my own body? You afraid that I'm going to figure out that you're completely evil? 'Cause, spoiler alert, I already got there." Stiles informed the creature while slowly backing towards the nearest ledge.

"We know that you are not ready to see our face. So we are nowhere that you can see us, at this point in time. We are not the cause of your blackouts, Stiles. We are trying to save you from yourself during them." The creature replied, seemingly growing ever closer behind Stiles as it continued to speak, even though he was nearing the edge of the roof. "We already know the answers you seek. You buried them away, deep down inside." By then, it sounded like the creature was directly behind him. "Now it's time to remember." By the end, it sounded like the creature was whispering directly into his ear.

Stiles scoffed, only just keeping the shudder that threatened to shake his body at bay. Stiles held his head high and managed to prevent his pain from showing.

"Why do you want me to remember so bad?" He demanded, pleased that his voice was powerful and unwavering as he did so. "What's in it for you?"

Predictably, the creature went quiet at that moment. Stiles was left watching his mother tell his ten year old self that Stiles had killed her and was going to kill his father too. In full surround sound.

'No way,' Stiles thought to himself as he stepped onto the ledge.

"I'm not letting you win." Stiles stated aloud, then stepped backwards off of the building.

Stiles landed on the roof two seconds later, right next to his ten years old self, just in time to see his mother jump to her death.

Closing his eyes sounded appealing, but his eyelids didn't respond to his commands. He tried to look away from the scene before him, but again nothing happened. It was like he was stuck in some sort of trance. Unable to tear his eyes away, Stiles watched as his mother stepped off of the roof.

Ten year old Stiles screamed in terror at the sight. He rushed to the edge of the building, as if hoping to catch her.

And Stiles knew it was coming, he did, but it still hurt. Obviously, the young Stiles had no hope of catching her, but he did get there in time to see her hit the ground. Seventeen year old Stiles finally managed to close his eyes when he heard the thud. He also managed to cover his ears and tried to block out the sound of screaming from his ten year old self. He kept his eyes shut until he heard the unmistakable sound of multiple footsteps on the staircase to the rooftop. The moment the sound reached him, Stiles uncovered his ears and his eyes shot open.

He didn't remember this, the first thing he remembered after watching his mother hit the ground was sitting in the hallway when his father arrived. Of course, it made sense that it was in here somewhere.

"Why the Hell did you keep starting over?" Stiles demanded with a raised eyebrow. "The memory I apparently needed is after my mother jumped! So why did you make me relive the shit that she said, repeatedly?" Stiles asked, when the creature didn't reply after thirty seconds, he hypothesised, "Maybe it's because you're sadistic."

The creature still didn't reply.

It was unsurprising when the door flung open and the first person who first arrived on the rooftop was a doctor. A man who Stiles vaguely recognised as being his mother's primary doctor. Dr Hodgins, Stiles believed his name was, was followed by a nurse, her name was Melanie, maybe.

Behind the nurse was a surprising third person. A man who Stiles would never forget.

"Why the hell wasn't anybody watching her room?" The man demanded as he pointed an accusatory finger at the doctor. "I've heard that isn't the first time she's come up to the roof. And I know all about what dementia made her think of Stiles, Doctor Hodgins. Why wasn't someone with them?" Glaring heatedly at the doctor, the man waited for an answer.

Meanwhile, the nurse rushed over to ten year old Stiles and attempted to console the boy. Far beneath them, on the concrete, Claudia Silinski's broken and bloodied body was being covered with a sheet and lifted onto a stretcher. She pulled him away from the ledge and guided him towards the roof-top door.

"Y-you must understand, s-sir," The doctor stammered to defend himself, looking up at the taller man warily. "I ordered for s-someone to be keeping an eye on that room at all times. Th-there was a-an unfortunate mix-up. Due to an-"

"Oh? A mix-up, you say?" The man all but growled, his voice low and dangerous. "A woman jumped off of the building, in front of her son, under your supervision. And your defence is that there was a mix-up because your staff couldn't wait five minutes before taking a break?"

Catching the words as he walked by with the nurse, ten year old Stiles had stopped to stare and listen. The nurse attempted to usher him off of the roof, but he stood as still as a statue and she was clearly too afraid of setting him off to try any harder.

"That isn't fair," The doctor argued immediately. All nervousness from the doctor disappeared, replaced by defensiveness against the accusation of negligence. "I'm not attempting to downplay the tragedy that happened here, but our hospital is understaffed and overcrowded. We had somebody watching the room constantly, despite the circumstances. We had an emergency with another patient. There was another staff member who was supposed to be on their way to take over watching Mrs Stlinski, but they were called in to help with the emergency. Unaware of this, the staff member watching Mrs Stilinski responded to the call. As soon as they saw their replacement busy helping with the emergency, the staff member returned to Mrs Stilinski's room. By then, they were already gone. That staff member immediately reported to me and I came up here to search for Mrs Stilinski and Stiles, with Melanie." He continued to explain as he gestured to the nurse, "By the time I was halfway here, I could hear Stiles screaming and I got the message over the radio about Mrs Stilinski. That's when I ran into you, Mr McCall." The doctor explained, his tone completely even once he had gotten a hold of his initial indignation.

"Well, first of all," Rafael McCall began, annoyed by the disregard for his rank. He locked eyes with the doctor and corrected him. "It's Officer McCall." He reminded the doctor with his head held high, and all the confidence of a detective. Then McCall asked, "Who is this staff member? The one who left Claudia's room. What is their job title? How long have they been employed here?"

"I cannot give you that information, Officer Mcall," The doctor all but spat the title at the man as he raised his own head high. Though his voice was calm and collected during the rest of his sentence. "Not without a court order."

"Not without- How dare you?" McCall asked darkly, an edge of disbelief to his voice. "People need to be held accountable for their negligence, Doctor Hodgins."

"There is no negligence that I see here. I see an honest mistake." Dr Hodgins stated in an impressively even tone. Especially when you take into account the fear in his eyes. "You know full well that Mrs Stillinski was lost to this disease. She would have found a way to do this eventually. Or the pneumonia she was also suffering from would have killed her." The doctor reminded him as calmly as he could muster. "The way it happened tonight was tragic and no doubt traumatising for this young boy, I won't deny it. However, there is no need to ruin innocent lives and rob a good person of their job over an unfortunate circumstance that puts them in the wrong place at the wrong time. What would you do if Melissa had been the one watching her?"

Seconds passed by as a war of emotions raged on Rafael's face, something young Stiles couldn't interpret but teenage Stiles could read easily. He started off indignant, then thoughtful, followed by sympathetic, then angry, and understanding, then finally accepting.

After the war of emotions was apparently over, McCall closed his eyes for a moment and let out a deep sigh. He then took a breath, opened his eyes and spoke to the doctor.

"Okay, but if this remains the story, other people will ask the same questions that I did. The hospital could be sued." Rafael McCall pointed out, almost casually. "What do you want to say about how she died? People must have seen her fall."

Evidently, Stiles wasn't the only one surprised by the turn of the conversation, because nurse Melanie gasped in shock. She then started to usher young Stiles towards the door again. Numb and confused, the ten year old let her lead him away this time.

As the nurse and the young boy disappeared through the rooftop door and into the building, the scene melted away. The doctor and McCall. The door. The rest of the hospital. The sky. Then finally, the roof Stiles was standing on.

Everything was gone, just like that. You know how in cartoons, the character will run off of a cliff, but they won't begin to fall until they look down?

It was like that.

Obviously, Stiles had figured out he wasn't standing on anything anymore the moment everything else disappeared, but Stiles didn't fall at first. He had just been weightlessly suspended in the void. Stiles gasped at the sensation, or lack thereof.

Making things even weirder, when Stiles gasped he could feel it, but he couldn't hear it.

There was nothing.

No sound, no gravity, no smells, no feeling.

Stiles couldn't even hear his own heartbeat.

It was unnerving.

Everything was wrong.

So wrong.

Then he looked down and he began to fall. He tried to scream but no sound escaped his lips.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Can I know what's going on? Or at least what you think is going on." Malia asked Derek as they walked swiftly towards the vault entrance. She couldn't fight her curiosity any longer.

With a second of silence followed by a sigh, Derek responded. "It's complicated. When you need to know I will tell you."

"Why can't I know now?" Malia asked quickly, impatient with the lack of a straightforward answer. "Stiles thinks he's a threat, so shouldn't we all know why? And if he really is a threat, we need to know so we can prepare to defend ourselves without hurting him. Besides, if those creatures really are coming after me and Kira tonight, I should be aware of anyone who might come after me when I'm-uh- what's the word?"

"Immobilised?" Derek suggested as they arrived at the secret entrance to the vault.

"Not sure about that one." Malia responded with a slight grimace on her face. "Everyone was freezing cold and they were awake and their eyes were open but it was like they couldn't see us, or hear us for a few minutes." She tried to explain the best she could, but she hadn't experienced it, only witnessed it so far. "It's like the creatures scanning and marking them sort of paralysed them and made them cold, and terrified them all at the same time." As she finished explaining, they stopped at the vault entrance. Which looked a lot like a normal wall.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, I lived it." The alpha reminded her, not unkindly. He then attempted to distract her from her line of questioning. "Okay Malia, would you like to do the honours?" Derek offered his cousin, whilst he gestured to the 'lock' with a smile.

At the same time he made the offer, he tried to think of other words that could fit with the state he and the others were left in after being scanned by the creatures. It was an attempt to distract not only Malia, but himself too.

Unsurprisingly, Malia still sported a huge smile every time that she successfully lengthened her claws. "Awesome." When she had successfully opened the vault door, she turned to see Derek smiling at her almost as brightly.

"Good job, Malia. I'm proud of you!" Derek told her honestly, causing an even brighter smile to appear on Malia's face. She had been trapped in her coyote form for literally half of her life. He truly was amazed that she had this much control after being human again for such a short time.

"Thank you." Malia replied through her smile, a light blush coating her cheeks, before she forced a serious expression back onto her face. "So why can't I know what you think is going on with Stiles?" Malia asked again as she walked into the vault, Derek right behind her.

"It's uh... It's complicated." Was all Derek said as he walked. Given Lydia's recent discovery of the hidden birthday present for Peter, he sniffed the air for any trace of his deceased family and pack, but the most prominent scents there belonged to himself, Malia and Lydia, along with traces of Stiles, Peter and Cora.

"Like, how?" Malia asked before Derek's mind had time to wonder why Lydia's scent was more prominent than Stiles' when they were there for the same amount of time, just shy of 36 hours prior. Though he had stopped to wonder why Stiles' scent was so strong in the classroom, as though he had been there recently.

As in 'within the last thirty minutes' recent.

Derek replied as calmly as he could muster. "There are things that I don't want any of you to worry about." He paused for a moment. "Yet. I have a theory, but I need more definitive proof before I worry you all with it." He added after he spent a fraction of a second ruminating.

His emotions were all over the place. One moment he was frustrated and on the edge of shifting, the next he was calm and parental, then he was tense and panicked. Derek had never had mood swings that extreme before, not even when his family died.

But Stiles had.

The separation of bonded mates was known to have side effects. The most common of which were a loss of control over the shift, difficulty sleeping, and being clingy with the rest of the pack. Some rarer, but still well known, side effects were nesting, referring to their home as a 'den' and generally acting more wolf-like. Then there were rarest side effects, often assumed to be nothing more than a legend, of which Derek seemed to be experiencing one of; Feeling their mate's emotions, and/or taking on their traits. There were other rare/rumoured side effects such as hoarding ones pack in their home and keeping everybody there until their mate and any other wayward pack mates had returned, or those who were able remaining shifted in full wolf form while their mate was away, but Dere didn't appear to be experiencing either of the latter two.

Even so, Derek kind of felt like he was going crazy. It had to be Mate Separation he was feeling, however, the fact it had only been a few hours since Stiles disappeared cast doubt upon that theory. Mate separation shouldn't occur unless mates hadn't been close enough to catch each other's scents for a few days, or even weeks in some cases. But that had to be it. Under Jennifer's spell, Derek had felt it after two days. It was why he had started going to the school. Sure, the spell had forced him to kiss her, in front of Stiles no less, but his wolf had been focused on breathing in Stiles' scent the whole time.

The fact that he felt it now, though unusual and concerning given the short amount of time, it was also reassuring. It meant that their bond was still intact.

Even though Derek couldn't find him, it meant that Stiles was still in there somewhere. That was what mattered the most, because it meant that Derek still had a chance to save him.

"Right, and this 'something' that you don't want us to worry about, is about Stiles, right?" Malia asked curiously, either not noticing or not acknowledging Derek's tension. "Why can't we know? I mean, I know that he's your mate, but he's Pack Mom too, right?"

"Yes, he is." Derek affirmed with a nod, relaxing marginally as they reached the tunnel door and Malia once again used her claws to unlock the path. "The thing is that I'm not one hundred percent sure; about what is going on with him, or about what's going to happen because of it." It was true, he didn't know what the nogitsune was playing at, or if those creatures would be able to kill Stiles to stop it, before the Pack could rescue him. "Until I have those answers, I don't want to concern them. I'm doing enough worrying for all of us."

"Okay, but are you worried about something happening to him?" Malia asked, pausing just inside of the tunnel to look back at the alpha. "Or to us?"

Derek tried to swallow the lump in his throat, and closed his eyes for a moment as he tried to compose himself. Barely a second had passed before Derek opened his eyes and immediately took a step forward.

"We should get back to the house." He suggested.

Malia growled in frustration. Her patience and compassion were wearing thin. She was torn between her desire to obey the alpha, and her desire to learn as much as she could about everything going on with her Pack and newfound family. Malia also needed to know about every potential threat, it was how she had stayed alive for the past eight years. However, she did not want to anger her alpha.

It was a very confusing internal debate. Ultimately, she closed her mouth and huffed out in annoyance, having chosen to trust that he would tell her how to defend herself once he knew how to do so himself. She turned and started to walk towards the house.

She continued thinking over everything she and Derek had discussed, so lost in her thoughts that she barely heard the sound of footsteps under the sound of the tunnel entrance closing, and she definitely didn't register them.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Overwhelmed by the fear, Stiles closed his eyes as he plummeted through the abyss.

It was easier with his eyes closed. When they were open, it was too strange; it felt like he was falling but nothing around him changed. There was nothing but darkness. Even the static was gone.

With his eyes closed, it felt more… normal.

Despite the fact that there was seemingly nothing below him to land on, Stiles still felt like he was falling, heading towards something.

Logically, Stiles knew that this was all in his head and he probably wouldn't die from this, but who could say for certain? The thought that could be plummeting to his death cause a sensation of pure terror to course through Stiles.

If it were his physical body dying, Stiles might not be as terrified, because that would mean his Pack was safe from whatever was possessing him, right? But this was his subconscious, or was it just his consciousness? It didn't matter. What mattered was that he might be in danger, but his body definitely wasn't, which would lead to said body being free for the taking.

Nothing scared Stiles as much as the thought that he could die in his own head and allow this creature, who obviously had malicious intentions, to take over his body and wreak havoc for his Pack and his town.

Sure, his wolf said that the creature wouldn't kill them until he had the means to pull off his plan, but who was to say that hadn't happened in the time since Stiles left the cage? However long ago that was. It could have what it needs to kill Stiles and his wolf.

Besides, what could he do to stop it? He was trapped in his own mind, falling through a seemingly endless darkness. It was his brain, surely he should be in control, but he wasn't. Believe him, he'd already tried all the usual stuff; summoning fireballs; teleporting; flying, creating a door, etc. None of it worked.

He opened his eyes, and rotated himself to check and, yup, still no indication that there was anything for him to land on. Stiles closed his eyes again and tried to distract himself from his potential demise.

He focused on the memory the creature possessing him had uncovered.

Rafael McCall was on the hospital roof the night Stiles' mother had died. Apparently, McCall helped the doctor cover up her real cause of death. As he thought over the conversation his young self had listened in on, he realised something; McCall had blamed the hospital, not Stiles for Claudia's death.

That didn't seem very in character for him. He seemed to think everything was the fault of a Stilinski, and Stiles had been the only one present and still alive. Then again, Stiles had only been ten years old at the time. After filing that thought away for later, Stiles turned his focus to the doctor's defence. It was an important thing to consider.

Empathy was something Stiles was good at. Unless he had a bad feeling about you, then you were screwed. Stiles didn't get that feeling about Dr Hodgins, and Stiles had to confess that he could see the doctor's point.

There really wasn't a good reason to fire somebody over an honest mistake during hectic times. He was aware that BHMH had always struggled with having a sufficient number of staff members. Even now the hospital was rather understaffed. The revelation of the supernatural, the conversion of the abandoned ward to help supernatural creatures, and the recent murders of staff members by the Darach had all caused them to lose faculty members. Some people even transferred to the county hospital because they couldn't handle it. It was understandable. It was a lot to take in, not everybody could deal with it. Stiles understood that with a smaller staff in such a hospital that size meant that it was difficult to watch every patient at every second.

Mistakes were bound to happen when an emergency occurred. And that's what it was, a genuine mistake.

He also acknowledged that the doctor was right; if not that night, his mother would have died soon enough. She had pneumonia on top of the dementia-induced paranoia.

Despite that knowledge, the guilt and agony were still there, seven years later. The series of events that unfolded that night were traumatising and had left a scar.

Stiles tried to reassure himself with the things his dad and Derek had said; That his mother's life would have likely ended the same way, whether Stiles had been there or not. That the disease was the only thing to blame for her death. That she loved Stiles, and would have never had thought those things of him, or said those things to him, under different circumstances.

It was sweet, and they were pretty words, but they weren't enough to alleviate the guilt he felt.

It truly was a nice thought, but Stiles had been there. Exasperating his mother's paranoia. Her final words were aimed to hurt Stiles.

And they hid it.

When he found out that his dad believed Claudia had died in her hospital bed, Stiles suddenly had a metaphorical light bulb go off over his head. He had always wondered why his dad hadn't tried to really talk about it. How she died. Of course, they rarely discussed Claudia after her death, but when they did, Stiles had always wondered. He wondered why his dad insisted that there was nothing Stiles could have done to stop it. Because he could have done something.

He could have left the roof and stopped upsetting her. Then she wouldn't have jumped. Except, his dad didn't know she had jumped. Not until Stiles had told him, shortly after Lydia's birthday.

Reading his dad came easy to Stiles. It was clear that John believed that Stiles had been unfortunate enough to hear Claudia say those things shortly before she died, but Stiles could tell that John didn't truly believe the rest of the story. He didn't believe that Claudia had died jumping from the hospital roof. He believed the death report, and there was no autopsy because she had died in the hospital. He assumed the wolfsbane hallucination affected Stiles' memory and didn't correct him the night of the confession, but had the next morning.

They had an emotional conversation about how they both thought she died, and John refused to believe Stiles' version.

Not that Stiles could blame him. Stiles had checked for himself and discovered that Claudia Stilinski's cause of death was stated to be Pneumonia, which had been the result of dementia. She had been ill with pneumonia for a short while, it was why she was staying in the hospital instead of the house.

John had gone as far as to contact all of the living staff members who had worked that night. Some were miles away now, working at other hospitals, or retired, but John had managed to find them all. They were all in agreement of the fact that Claudia had died in her hospital bed.

The reality was, Stiles was the only one who appeared to have any memory of his mother plummeting to her death. So, what was this memory supposed to prove? That it was all a big conspiracy to protect the hospital's reputation? Or maybe…

"That's right," The creature suddenly spoke again, clearly having read Stiles' thoughts. "At last, you are starting to understand, Stiles. One of the things we are trying to save you from." The creature's voice suddenly cut through the unnatural silence of the void. Stiles looked around, but still saw nothing. He tried to speak, but no sound left his lips. He was still falling. The creature continued to speak, seemingly ignoring Stiles' frustration. "What ailed your mother is now ailing you, and has been for some time now."

Stiles tried to speak, but again, no sound came out.

'No.' Stiles thought, knowing that the creature would hear him. That made no sense, Stiles had decided immediately. There were so many reasons that proved the creature was lying.

Most importantly, he had wolf healing.

Also, aside from the few wolfsbane-induced incidents, he'd had no hallucinations or other symptoms of Frontotemporal Dementia until after the ritual. He couldn't possibly have-

"Remember the truth; you've had delusions since you were fifteen. That's when you began to think your mother had killed herself. You have seen many things that weren't real, but you haven't realised it yet. The hallucination at Lydia's party was a warning, Stiles. The wolfsbane gave you a hallucination, and your wolf used each opportunity to give you a hint as to what was happening." The creature told him. Tactlessly, might he add. "Your wolf has known since he came into being. He spent his life protecting you, trying to warn you. He gave his life attempting to warn you. Remember."

'Bullshit!' Stiles called immediately, then pretended to notice that his hands were empty. 'Oh wait, I haven't got any cards. What game are we playing right now?' He thought sarcastically, and the creature chuckled again.

Stiles ignored him, his mind preoccupied by the preposterous claim. No. His wolf wasn't dead. He had just seen him alive in that cage.

'Until you tell me who you are, I am not even going to consider believing anything that you say.' Stiles added when the creature failed to respond within three seconds.

The creature spoke again, in that same low and rumbling voice.

"Grief is difficult for anybody to deal with. Especially somebody who already lost so much. The cage was all you, Stiles. It is easier to see us as the enemy. To blame us for the loss of your wolf." The tone the creature spoke with was something odd. It was almost as though they had been aiming for a sympathetic tone but accidentally came off as more patronising.

However, something about the tone, and the creature themself, made Stiles think that there was nothing accidental about it. It felt like the creature had actually been very precise with their tone and words. Stiles began to mentally reevaluate their previous conversation.

"It is the unfortunate truth that your wolf died before we arrived, Stiles. If he had been here, we wouldn't have been able to get in to help you. You can't be a fox and a wolf." The creature stated, and Stiles' eyes shot open wide at the new information. The creature continued, either unaware or uncaring of the information they had just revealed. "We want to save your life, Stiles. Because your wolf cannot. Here, let me show you."

'Care to elaborate on that? You're a fox, huh? Kitsune?' Stiles had attempted to comment verbally as he thought, but he still couldn't make a sound. Less than half a second later, a bright light suddenly flooded Stiles' eyes. He squinted and lifted his hand to shield his sensitive eyes. That was when he suddenly noticed it, the feeling of the wind.

Rushing through the air was better than falling through nothing, but still unpleasant. Blessed oxigen flooded Stiles' lungs, and he suddenly became aware of the fact that he hadn't been breathing in the void.

Eagerly gasping in the air, Stiles' relief was short-lived when he quickly realised he was still falling. He opened his eyes and was both relieved and anxious to see the grass covered earth growing ever closer.

Perhaps he would be fine, perhaps he would be a pancake. He would find out sooner or later.

Two miles from the ground, Stiles' instincts told him to brace for impact. He shifted himself to do so and two minutes later, his feet hit solid ground.

Stiles screamed in agony when his forgotten ankle injury protested the impact.

Despite his pain, Stiles remembered to bend his knees, and dropped into a roll, just like his dad had taught him. He had also forgotten about the recreated turning bite on his arm, Stiles cried out again when he used that arm to brace the impact. He grunted when his body hit the ground.

Stiles didn't let the deja vu or his aching body deter him, he forced himself into a standing position the moment he had stopped rolling. He really had to pay more attention to his own 'injuries'.

It took a second, but Stiles regained his balance rather quickly, only wincing twice in the process. Once he did, Stiles took a moment to take in his surroundings.

He was in the clearing. The warded clearing that the Pack used for training.

Nothing about this made any sense. Nothing had ever happened here. At least, not something that could prove the fox's claim that Stiles' wolf was dead.

"Why did you bring me here?" Stiles demanded, relieved that he was actually able to speak again. "Nothing other than training and full moon outings have happened here."

"There is something else, something you had locked away because it was too painful." The creature stated, tone pitying and condescending. "Shortly after you bound your Pack to the nemeton." Stiles cut the creature off before he could tell any more lies.

"Oh, quit it with the lies. I didn't start hallucinating until a week after the ritual. The nightmares started a week after that because the nemeton was able to protect me and Derek from Bardo for that long. It was during Bardo that you got in my head. You locked away my wolf so that you could use me as a puppet." Stiles stated confidently. That was the only thing that made any semblance of sense.

You know the infamous words 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

Well, it was impossible that Stiles' wolf was dead. It was impossible for Stiles to have Frontotemporal Dementia. And it was definitely impossible that Stiles would allow an unknown creature to possess him just to save himself if he was dying from something.

Therefore, it stood to reason that this fox was a lying prick who was planning something bad. Stiles' Pack would have to stop the fox if he couldn't.

Stiles didn't know much, but he knew that Kitsunes are trickster spirits. He made a mental note to research as much about it as he could once all of this was over.

If he survives, that is.

Stiles would never put the people he loved at that sort of risk. Nor would he put them in a position where they'd have to kill somebody who was wearing the face of someone they loved.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. His pack had great strength, and amazing skills. Their biggest strength is their determination. Their drive to protect their Pack. But in this situation, it would also be their biggest weakness.

Unsurprisingly, Stiles worried for Scott most of all. Scott was an optimist and a pacifist at heart, always looking to take the peaceful path. Despite the fox's claims of pure intentions, Stiles could feel it's darkness. Even if, miraculously, the rest of the Pack managed to recognise that this creature was full of shit and dangerous, Scott would definitely buy into it. Scott always wanted to see the best in people. He would believe it's promises of only wanting to heal Stiles. The creature would manipulate Scott, find a way to get the teen alone, and then it would hurt him. Or worse.

"What you think of us is false, Stiles. We truly only want to help." The kitsune told Stiles, but still didn't make a physical appearance. "Watch. Remember. It will all make sense soon."

Heart racing and body flooded with frustration, Stiles initially opened his mouth to reply, but his mouth snapped shut when he was distracted by the sound of familiar laughter behind him.

Lydia.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

With a heavy silence looming over them, Derek and Malia walked side by side towards the house. Their footsteps echoed through the tunnels, accompanied by a third pair of near silent footsteps.

Instead of letting the silence continue, like he almost wanted to do, Derek decided to repeat his earlier request, and elaborate on his reasoning.

"Look, Malia, I need you to keep everything that we discovered in the classroom between the two of us until I say otherwise." Derek requested as the pair reached the halfway point to the house, where the decoy fork in the tunnel was placed. He took the left fork and continued speaking without giving the girl a chance to respond. "Please, I'm worried about Stiles, and I-"

"You don't need to convince me. I'll keep it quiet for now." Malia assured the Alpha, at the same time she nodded her head in an attempt to express that she was taking the situation seriously. "I don't like it, but I know how it feels to want to protect people, and it feels like the only way to do that is by hiding the truth from them. I didn't tell my dad the truth right away. I get it. You don't want to tell the others just yet. You're the Alpha and you always put the Pack first. I mean, I still really want to know, and they probably will too, but I trust you. So do they. You wouldn't do anything that would endanger the Pack. Your reasons for keeping this quiet are your own, and it's fine. I'll keep this between us, I promise. Sorry for pushing."

Shaking his head, Derek quickly assured the girl.

"Don't be sorry, the majority of our Pack are the same and want answers right away. We have a strong need to protect each other and the people we love, and so do you. That's why you belong with us, not just because you're a Hale by blood, but because you fit with us. Thank you for understanding." Derek smiled at Malia in gratitude, and she beamed brightly at him in return.

If Stiles were here he would have made a joke about Derek successfully using his words. Oh, how Derek missed his mate.

Easy silence fell upon them for the first few minutes of their journey. Lacking anything else to say, they simply walked Malia in front, Derek just behind her, in case anyone tried to attack them from behind. There was nothing but the sounds of three people walking, with their steps timed in perfect unison.

Easy as it was, Malia soon grew bored of the silence.

"Hey, did you think of a good word for how those things leave you?" She asked and the distraction was appreciated and welcomed by Derek with open arms.

"Actually, yes. How about 'Incapacitated'?" He suggested, but the look on Malia's face as she turned to raise an eyebrow at him answered for her. "Stupefied?"

"Oh, is that a real word? It sounds like a magic spell from these books my mum read to me when I was a kid." Malia responded, which earned her a chuckle from Derek, who knew exactly what she was referring to.

Once upon a time, it had been his favourite series. He still enjoyed reading the books for nostalgia on occasion, they still brought him joy and escapism. The author and her beliefs on the other hand…

Yet another train of thought that could wait for later.

On their journey to the house, the pair maintained a steady pace. As they walked, Derek continued to suggest words for Malia. Neither of them noticed the person who had been following them ever since they entered the vault.

"Unresponsive?"

"Well, that one works, I guess. But, do you have anything better?" She asked.

Instead of Derek, somebody else offered a suggestion.

"Catatonic?" A familiar voice called out from behind them. The pair spun around, clearly startled.

Lydia simply smirked at the pair as she continued walking.

"You know, for supernatural creatures, you're all rather unaware of your surroundings." Malia rolled her eyes as she began walking in line with the Banshee. "I've been following you since the vault. I was going to wait until you noticed me, but I got bored waiting."

"I am very diligent when it comes to threats. Only my Pack can sneak up on me." Derek defended, his tone was firm but his reasoning was flimsy as he walked behind the two girls.

"Sure, whatever." Lydia smirked, much to Derek's annoyance.

"I like that, 'catatonic'." Malia commented with a thoughtful smile. "Cause you're all powerless and can't move or talk, and that's not very coyote-like" As an afterthought, she quickly added, " or wolf or banshee-like."

"Excellent point, except it's not very cat-like, either." Lydia commented as she linked arms with the girl. "They're pretty fast and feisty when they want to be."

"Which is often," Derek commented dryly, secretly he was pleased for the change in conversation. "Cats are assholes." He announced, he didn't agree with his own statement, though he always said it convincingly.

The only person who knew that Derek secretly loved cats was Stiles, but he would never let anybody else know. How the pack failed to pick up on Derek's deception he would never know, but he was grateful for it.

Of course, the expected protest came immediately.

"Excuse you, cats are amazing." Lydia informed him as she looked over her shoulder to fix Derek with a 'don't argue with me' look that she had carefully perfect over the seventeen years she had been alive.

"Oh, so now you're a cat lover? Don't you have a dog?" Derek retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Indisputably eager to resume that particular conversation, Lydia mimicked Derek's expression.

"Yes, Prada, who you still won't let stay at the house, by the way!" The redhead glared at the alpha, who was unfazed.

His usual argument for this discussion on the tip of his tongue, Derek defended himself.

"I don't want animal hair all over my furniture." Derek already knew what Lydia would say next, so he quickly added; "I don't let anyone fully shift in the house."

Factually, Derek's argument was valid and reasonable. But this was about more than facts, it was principal.

Literally everybody else in the house was willing to accept a dog living with them, Derek was the only one saying no. Therefore, Lydia had come to the conclusion that Derek was simply being unreasonable.

That conclusion caused her to overlook the argument's validity and the fact that she would agree with it under other circumstances, Derek's argument ultimately meant nothing to Lydia.

"Stiles and the sheriff let me bring Prada with me to stay at their old house, when my mom was on vacation and Allison was living with them. You were living there too."

"True, But it was mostly John and Stiles' house, even though I lived there too. It was their furniture, so it was their decision. The Pack house belongs to the Pack, so the entire Pack has to be in agreement before anyone can live with us, be it human, supernatural, or animal. I am not okay with having a dog in the house."

"Hmph. Okay. Just know that I won't be moving in permanently until Prada can come with me. She's well behaved." Lydia reminded him, like she did every time they had that discussion. It was a good way to district Derek for a few minutes, otherwise Lydia wouldn't bother wasting her time. She didn't really want to move into the pack house until after college anyway. Satisfied that Derek wouldn't be spiralling any time soon, Lydia then returned her attention to Malia.

"So, Malia, we're all really sorry that tonight didn't go as planned." She apologised genuinely. "We're gonna figure something out to make up for it."

Biting her lip to keep a disappointed frown from forming on, Malia looked at Lydia with sad eyes.

"I'm guessing we're not going to be going on that pack hunt just yet." The coyote commented in disappointment. "When do you think we will get to?"

Eager to make up for snapping and just being grumpy without Stiles around, Derek answered "Very soon," with certainty.

His beta's liked to hunt when they were worried. Well, most of them did.

True to his pacifistic nature and desire to be a vet, Scott wasn't as into hunting as the others were. He primarily hunted during full moons, when his instincts took over. However, whenever tensions were running high and the others wanted a Pack hunt to blow off some steam, Scott would always join them. Even if sometimes he only ran alongside them and didn't actually kill anything.

The Pack didn't mind though, and still let him eat whatever they did catch. They just liked it when they were all together.

Elaborating for the alpha, Lydia added. "Most likely sometime in the near future, given that we'll need to distract everyone from worrying about Stiles too much."

"Right, okay, and what were you doing in the vault?" Malia asked immediately after. No matter how it may seem, Malia wasn't trying to interrogate Lydia, she was just curious.

Clearly, Lydia was hoping to avoid that question, if her increased heart rate was any indication. Yet, she held her head high and answered honestly.

"I was looking for you two." Lydia replied, but Derek could tell that she was withholding something from them. "The voices told me that you'd be here." She gave up that information so easily, and in such a casual and matter-of-fact tone that Malia didn't question it. She assumed that it was normal for a Banshee, but Derek grew very concerned. Lydia only heard the voices when something bad was going to happen.

And by 'bad' he means when somebody is going to die, or almost die. Lydia met the alpha's eye for a second before looking away. That one look gave Derek all of the answers that he needed.

Remaining blissfully unaware of Lydia's pointed look, and choosing to ignore Derek's chemo signals until he would give her answers, Malia soon began talking again and Lydia replied when the girl fell quiet.

Despite the Alpha's tension and concern, the conversation continued easily for the remainder of their journey.

Soon enough, the trio returned to the House and made their way upstairs to the dining area, where most of the Pack were preparing the table for breakfast. Along the way, they stopped by the armoury, where Derek could hear that John and Chris were with Victoria, Allison and Isaac preparing for their mission to speak to Katashi.

Briefly stopping his march, Derek opened the door to the armoury and poked his head in,

"Pack meeting. Upstairs. Ten minutes." Derek ordered calmly but firmly. He wasn't keen on the idea of Chris and John going after Katashi for the information they desperately needed.

Of course, thanks to Deaton and his mother, Derek was certain that the creatures they were dealing with were searching for a Nogitsune, and he was certain that the nogitsune was possessing his mate (although he hadn't mentioned that to anybody except Lydia, Scott, Allison, and Isaac).

Unfortunately, the pair had both denied any knowledge of the masked creatures. Derek knew they were both lying, but he couldn't force them to tell him. Well he could probably force Deaton, but with his current temperament it would probably end with Deaton bloodied, possibly dead, therefore he needed other means of finding that information. After all, the pack needed an emissary and Danny hadn't finished training yet, and Derek didn't trust Morrell that well. Ultimately, confronting Deaton would not end well. With no other options in sight, he was reluctantly letting them go through with their plan to find Katashi.

Without waiting for a response from the startled five, Derek turned on his heels and made his way upstairs, Malia and Lydia followed him quickly.

Derek could hear that Erica, Ethan, Danny and Mrs Boyd were in the kitchen cooking. Mrs Reyes was checking on Peter, who was recovering slower than everybody else thanks to being so drained from the ritual he had helped Derek perform. Parrish sounded as though he was doing as well as Lydia was.

However, he couldn't hear everybody in his Pack in the House. Admittedly, he sometimes hated that Stiles and the others had made every bedroom, bathroom, study/office and library in the house soundproof (except for in the second basement which was entirely soundproofed to the rest of the house and surrounding area, but when you were actually down there only the library was soundproof) but he trusted his Pack would have noticed if anybody else had gone missing. Derek made his way to the hallway before coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. There was an intercom on the wall that connected all of the soundproofed rooms from the official basement upwards.

Derek's ears twitched and he paused his movement. His finger hovered above the 'all' button on the intercom, half a second later, Scott came rushing in from the living room.

"Hey, did you find him?" Scott asked hopefully. Derek scowled.

Viciously pushing down on the button, Derek spoke into the mic of the intercom instead of answering Scott directly.

"Pack meeting! Dining Room! Ten minutes!" Derek declared in the same tone of voice that he had used with the Argents, John and Isaac, then released the button.

"So not good news then?" Scott asked, the kicked puppy look came out to play and he pouted as he realised that it probably wasn't an 'I found Stiles and he's staying somewhere safe until we figure out how to help him' Pack meeting.

Rather than immediately snapping, Derek took a deep breath.

"I haven't found Stiles but I do have a plan for the day." Derek stated as he turned to look at his beta. "I'll explain during the Pack meeting, and by that I mean breakfast. Feel free to ask any questions that you have then. In the meantime, I'm going to get changed." Derek then made his way upstairs to get out of his deputy uniform.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

The moment her laugh reached his ears, Stiles spun around to look at the Banshee, hoping that her appearance would give him some indication as to when this supposed memory was taking place. The creature said it was after the Pack had bound themselves to the nemeton, but it may have been lying.

Stiles' eyes not only fall on Lydia, but Jackson and Allison too. Behind them, another version of Stiles walked into sight with Scott, Issac, and Erica. Behind them, Boyd, Derek, and Cora strolled at a leisurely pace.

All of them were wearing their usual athletic clothes for training. Cora was there, which meant that this took place after Tammy had turned from a Kanima to a Werewolf and joined the Jardine pack.

Danny and the twins were absent, so it could either be when Danny was on holiday with his family over the summer, or when the twins were in the hospital after Jennifer snapped their necks. Danny had missed out on a couple of training sessions to stay at the hospital with them while they were healing.

The majority of the Pack were chatting amongst themselves as they walked into the clearing. Derek stopped by a seemingly average boulder on his way in. Once everyone was in the boundaries of the warding, Derek lengthened his claws and dug them into the pre-existing holes in the boulder. Immediately, a previously unseen triskele lit up with a brilliant, pale blue light. That same light bleed out from underneath the boulder. It spread out until a perfect circle of light encompassed most of the clearing. The light then spread upwards, like a bubble, until a dome had formed.

Once the dome had completely formed, the light flared brightly and turned Alpha red, then faded from sight completely.

When there in reality you could still feel the energy, the magick, pulsing in the air. It would remain until the wards were deactivated.

If the wards were activated for more than six hours, you could feel the energy linger for up to an hour after deactivation. There was no denying that the magick protecting their training space was powerful. Derek and Stiles didn't like the Pack training for too long, out of fear that someone could sense the lingering magick after they had left and find their training place, but still, it was pretty cool.

"Okay, everybody listen up!" Memory-Stiles called out, drawing the attention of the Pack and effectively ending their conversations. "Now I know we all want to have a fun training session and enjoy the boost of energy and power we've gotten, but there are still a few things we need to talk about and prepare for."

Boost of power? That had only happened twice. When Stiles and Derek had completed the Mating Bond, and when they had bound their Pack to the Nemeton.

Cora's presence meant that this memory took place shortly after the latter. So the creature was telling the truth. Then, recognition sparked in Stiles' mind.

He remembered this.

The Pack, with the exception of Derek and Boyd, collectively groaned at Memory-Stiles' words. Derek shook his head at them as he strolled away from the boulder and towards his mate.

"I know, I know, but it's necessary if we want to live, okay? So shut up and deal with it." Memory-Stiles added in a faux serious tone.

The majority of the Pack chuckled at him, some rolled their eyes, and Scott nodded seriously. Stiles remembered all of this now, he even knew exactly what Derek was going to say next.

"Stiles is right." Derek declared as he wrapped his arms around Memory-Stiles' waist and rested his chin on Memory-Stiles' head. Stiles had never been so jealous of himself in his life. Well, actually- "We don't know where Deucalion and the Darach are." Derek continued. "The twins are still in the hospital. Even though it's no longer actively drawing supernatural creatures to itself, the nemeton is still a Beacon, and we don't know if this will instantaneously stop other Supernatural creatures from being drawn to it. To our town." Derek reminded his Pack, tone firm and serious, and Stiles couldn't help but laugh.

Admittedly, it might be his new perspective watching it from the outside, but he now understood why his dad found Pack meeting hilarious. The teens of the pack were hanging on Derek's every word, like soldiers listening to their general before a big battle. Derek had a serious expression on his face and was using his 'no-nonsense' tone, but all the while, he was clinging to his mate like a child holding their favourite stuffed animal. Memory-Stiles wore an equally serious expression as he nodded in agreement with his mate, causing Derek's head to bob along with him.

Stiles could finally admit that his dad was right, it was honestly hilarious, and how their Pack managed to never crack up when Stiles and Derek lectured them was beyond Stiles. He watched the memory unfold exactly how he remembered it, right up until it was time to go home.

Stiles remembered heading back to the house with the others, only to realise that he had left his phone at the clearing and gone back to get it. To his recollection, he had rejoined his pack in less than two minutes, but the scene he was in unfolded differently.

Things started out fine, Derek deactivated the wards, and the Pack began to shuffle tiredly out of the clearing.

Scott was the first one to step outside of the previously warded area. He always insisted on doing so, 'in case an enemy ever discovered the warding of the clearing and decided to wait until they had finished training to ambush them'. Derek reminded him that the wardings prevented that exact situation from ever occurring, but Scott still insisted on doing so every time they went there to train. After Scott, the rest of the pack would trail out in any random order, but Stiles and Derek were always the last two out.

Rightly for this memory, Stiles was the last one out of the clearing. He had been in no rush to leave, content at seeing Derek back in his rightful place amongst the Pack. Those two weeks when Derek was under the Darach's spell had been agonising, and Stlles hadn't even gotten the chance to properly enjoy having his mate back before they were forced into a battle. He watched as Derek's eyes followed the Pack carefully until they were out of the clearing. He then turned to memory-Stiles and held out his hand while sending his mate a warm smile.

Melting under his gaze was something Stiles remembered well.

"Are you coming?" Derek asked, and Stiles' heart skipped a beat, just like it had the first time around. Derek had clearly been listening to his mate's heart beat that day, even if Stiles couldn't currently hear it, because the fondness and love in his eyes only grew. Memory-Stiles had only nodded in response as he began to walk towards Derek. Once he had reached his mate, Memory-Stiles had happily taken Derek's hand in his own and together they left the clearing. Stiles quickly followed them.

Knowing that the walk was rather uneventful, Stiles followed at a leisurely pace.

Everything was going fine until an argument broke out. Isaac commented that he would be helping Stiles cook dinner that night, and Erica immediately requested lasagna. Jackson complained that they had lasagna way too often and requested stir fry. Scott stated that he wasn't in the mood for stir fry and requested gumbo. Jackson insulted gumbo. Isaac insulted Jackson. Then it spiralled.

"Let me handle it?" Derek all but begged when Memory-Stiles began to walk towards the teens. He knew that Derek felt guilty for being away from the Pack for so long, and he knew that helping out as much as he could made Derek feel better about the things that were out of his control.

"Of course," Memory-Stiles agreed as he smiled softly. Then he leaned in to give his mate an encouraging but fleeting kiss. "Go get 'em, sourwolf."

By the time Derek had arrived at the scene of the squabble, Cora had strolled up to Memory-Stiles.

"My gods," Cora began as she rolled her eyes and nudged his shoulder. "I love it when they act like children." She commented dryly to her brother-in-werewolf-law, but her amusement shone in her eyes. "Don't you?"

"Er, yeah," Memory-Stiles replied, acting as though she was truly being sarcastic. "It's hilarious! How can you not laugh at the way they go from serious, deadly, badass, teenage werewolves during training and battles, to squabbling children the moment we get to relax?" Memory-Stiles asked rhetorically, and succeeded in making Cora crack a smile.

"You got me there," Cora conceded with a grin. "But personally I think it's far more amusing to watch you go from a sarcastic, flailing, goofy teen, to a badass, graceful, deadly werewolf, and then to a serious, overprotective, caring pack mom in three seconds flat." She informed him with a smirk.

"I will have you know that it is an incredible skill to be able to juggle three completely different sides of one's self, yet I do it and shift between all three seamlessly, thank you very much." Memory-Stiles held his head high in faux indignation. Clearly, the Pack had been listening in again as they all laughed at his words.

It didn't last long; the argument between Erica, Isaac, Scott, and Jackson quickly resumed, with Derek trying to talk them all down. Boyd, Allison, and Lydia ignored their mates and continued their discussion about the stupid bathroom laws that were being pushed two towns over.

Stiles watched as his memory self resumed his own conversation with Cora. Memory-Stiles happily bantered back and forth with the girl. Stiles realised that this was about the time he remembered that he had left his phone at the clearing that day and had to go back to get it. His Memory-self should be noticing any second now.

Except, that didn't happen.

A wolf broke through the treeline instead.

Stiles' wolf.

Memory-Stiles trailed off during his conversation with Cora when he noticed it. His wolf blinked at him once, then retreated into the treeline. Without a word to the she-wolf trying to regain his attention, Memory-Stiles followed the wolf, and Stiles quickly chased after both of them.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Yes, fine, Derek was using getting changed as an excuse to hide from his pack and gather his thoughts for five minutes. How did Stiles manage to cope when Derek was under the Darach's spell?

It had only been a few hours since Stiles disappeared and Derek was losing his control and his mind. Anger used to be Derek's anchor, and he had plenty of it at the moment. The only problem was that while anger kept him from shifting, it instead caused him to snap at the people he loved.

Stiles had replaced anger as Derek's anchor after their first kiss, and only because Derek had been fighting the bond prior to that due to Stiles' age. With Stiles as his anchor, Derek not only maintained control over his animal instincts, but he felt calm and happy too. He didn't push people away or snap at them anymore. Derek liked the person he had become since meeting Stiles, he didn't want to revert back to who he used to be, for the six years after the fire.

He wanted to be a good Alpha for his Pack, especially during the hard times. He had to find something else to anchor him to his humanity. Not anger, and not Stiles (until they saved him, at least). He thought desperately for a solution as he removed his uniform, but he struggled to find something.

Sorrow began to seep into Derek's scent, so he made his way to the shower in the hopes of washing it away. While under the spray, Derek let his mind wander to his Mate. His gorgeous, funny, sarcastic, brilliant, caring, Mate. His Stiles. He focused on the good memories, and when his mind drifted to the bad ones he distracted himself by thinking about how he and Stiles would celebrate once it was over and they were reunited:

They would play in clearing with the non shifters for a while, then they'd go for a hunt with their pack. They never told the non-wolves, except for their resident coyote, but they always ate their biggest prey raw in wolf form together before calling it a night and taking the rest of their catch home. Afterwards, Stiles would insist on preparing the animals for later use almost instantly.

The pack would often help, except for Scott. Being a vet he hated knowing that he had harmed animals in a hunt, just to eat them. He preferred to live in denial after the fact and pretended that they bought the meat from the butchers or something once it was in the fridge or freezer.

The other shifters didn't understand it, but they respected it and let Scott do his thing (with a few teasing jokes here and there). After the preparations were finished, Stiles and Derek would probably retreat to their en-suite bathroom to shower and brush their teeth. Usually, they would clean each other and end up stumbling into bed, lip-locked and still wet from the shower. Derek imagined the same would happen the night that they truly reunited. Although, knowing their luck, the Pack will have decided to invite themselves for a puppy pile (it had happened before, multiple times). It would be emotionally scarring for most people involved (some of their pack were openly voyeuristic).

Realising that he was getting distracted, Derek rinsed out the last of the conditioner Lydia had insisted he start using. Stiles loved how 'soft and fluffy' it made Derek's hair, so he kept using it. He may not feel like doing so today, but he had to maintain his self-care routine, or Stiles would be upset when he was himself again. Lydia somehow always knew when someone had skipped, and would rat them out in a heartbeat. Once his hair was conditioner-free Derek shut off the water and quickly dried off and dressed for the day.

All black clothes, of course. Stiles was missing and possessed, Derek felt that he was allowed to be brooding and dramatic if he wanted to.

Thirty seconds before his own ten minute deadline, Derek walked into the dining room to see that his pack was sitting around the dining room table. Food was piled high, but nobody made any move to eat any of it. Derek began making a mental list of everybody sitting at the table as soon as he walked into the room. When he had finished doing so, Derek frowned.

"Where are Melissa, Jake, and Kira?" Derek asked in concern.

"Over here, Derek!" Kira's staticy voice called out as Erica held up her phone, revealing that Kira was on video chat, he could see that the girl was wearing her headphones, meaning that her parents wouldn't be able to hear anything the pack said if they walked in.

Good.

"I'm so sorry that I didn't say goodbye, but my parents said that I had to come home before school." She informed him ruefully.

"Kira, don't worry. It's fine." Derek assured, trying to keep himself calm. "As long as you're safe."

"Melissa's shift started at six this morning so she had to leave at five thirty. Jake left for work about five minutes before you got home." John explained and Derek relaxed marginally now that everybody was accounted for, with the obvious exception of Stiles. With all of his concern for Stiles, Derek had completely forgotten that they all had jobs, responsibilities, school, etc.

"Once Melissa talked us through what to do, Hayley and I took over monitoring everyone who had been marked so that she could get ready and go to work." Sheila informed him next. "Everyone is fine at this point. Once their super-healing kicked in, the wolves were all fully recovered within thirty minutes or less."

"For Lydia and Parrish, once we got them warm and gave them some food and water, they were back on their feet within an hour." Hayley added, Derek nodded as he took in the information.

Listening intently, Scott nodded.

"Okay, so we know how to help Kira and Malia tonight." Scott stated for confirmation, when no one corrected him, he continued. "I was thinking, it might be better if we took them to my mum's house after school. If these creatures are that dangerous, it's probably better to keep the potential casualties to a minimum."

Unphased by Cora's warning growl, Derek nodded. Scott's suggestion had merit.

"So what do you propose?" Derek asked his beta, who beamed (which he always did when his alpha asked for his opinion).

"I was uh- I was thinking that I could take Kira to my house after school, somebody else can drop Malia off and then leave." Scott suggested his plan and ignored the glares from various pack mates when he suggested protecting their two newest members alone. "When my mum gets home from work, just after six, the sun will have just set. When the creatures get there, I'll watch over Malia and Kira while the creatures mark them. If they try anything else, I'll fight them off so my mum can lock them out with mountain ash." His mum was a nurse, so she was the best person to help them. Melissa also had a mountain ash baseball bat, and she knew how to create a mountain ash around herself if the creatures came towards her, but she wouldn't attack them unprovoked.

"McCall, I am going to rip your throat out with my teeth." Cora told Scott with a stone face, but her heartbeat gave her away. "How dare you try to bench me when demonic ninjas are after my cousin?"

Heaving out an exhausted sigh, Derek rubbed at his brows, mentally praying for patience.

"Enough, Cora." Derek told her before he returned his attention to Scott, "Your plan has potential." Derek confessed with a nod. "But you're not protecting them alone. We know that there are at least three of these things. Thanks to Chris we also know that they are highly skilled killers, and ruthless. Thanks to last night, we also know that they don't attack unprovoked. As long as we let them scan and mark us, we'll be fine."

"And I'm the least likely to attack them unprovoked." Scott argued quickly, and received glares and/or growls from his pack mates who had short fuses. "Well, except for Danny, but they don't seem to want to mark him and he doesn't have enhanced healing, so it's best if he's out of harm's way."

"So is Boyd. He is good at remaining calm and level headed under pressure." Derek reminded him. "And like you, he has already been marked." The Alpha then turned his attention to Boyd "Are you willing to-"

"Gods, Derek, I want to protect them!" Cora stated and flashed her eyes at her brother. Derek simply shot her a glare and flashed his own eyes in return, before returning his attention to Boyd.

"Of course." Boyd immediately agreed before anybody else could argue. "I can stay home to help out if Peter or Malia need anything, or I can help look for Stiles. After school ends, I'll drive Malia to the McCall house and help protect them and Melissa if the creatures try anything. But I start work at eleven tonight, so if they don't show before ten-"

"That won't be a problem, I'll be there long before then. Thank you." Derek replied, he ignored the complaints from his other betas and turned his attention towards Kira. He had thought it through while changing out of his work uniform. He needed to be careful when telling his pack what he knew. He needed to tell them enough to keep them safe, but not too much. Knowing too much could endanger them further.

The line he was towing was a fine one, and Derek hoped that he wouldn't cross it accidently.

"Alright Kira, as you heard I need you to go with Scott after school." He told her politely but firmly, making it clear that it wasn't a request. "Those creatures were looking right at you and Malia when the sun came up. Which means they're likely coming for the two of you next."

Bobbing her head in agreement, Kira smiled softly, clearly unbothered by Derek treating her like one of his betas.

"Yeah, I already told my parents that you guys invited me to hang out tonight." Kira informed them all. "They said it's fine. But they want me home by eleven."

Later would have been preferable, but eleven was reasonable. Especially given that she had been allowed to stay out all night the night before.

"We can work with that." Derek responded with a nod.

"Since we're on the topic of protection details." Aiden chimed in before anybody else could say anything, "Ethan and I have been talking."

Ethan took over easily, without missing a beat. "We're going to take the day off school and protect Malia."

"Don't bother, I can take care of myself. Boyd is already staying home with me. It's bad enough having a babysitter, I don't need three." Malia immediately protested. "Is this about me being a Coyote?"

"This is about you being the target of demonic ninjas." Aidan corrected easily.

"You mean the demonic ninjas that pulled swords out of their chests and knocked us all out by staring us in the eyes?" Ethan asked sarcastically, with a smile.

"Yes, those demonic ninjas." Aidan confirmed as he mirrored his brother's smile.

"I don't care if it's demonic ninjas or radioactive aliens, I don't need anyone to protect me." Malia argued again, with a slight growl to her voice this time.

"They were looking right at you and Kira when the sun came up." Ethan reminded her again, very unnecessarily.

"Given the way they had stared at me before they came at me, I think it's pretty safe to say that you two are next." Aiden added as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Hate to say it, but they have a point." Isaac reluctantly sided with twins. "These things are powerful and dangerous. We have a better chance against them if we stick together."

"I thought we had agreed not to attack them?" Scott pouted, but he was ignored.

"They disappeared when the sun came up, right?" Kira's voice chimed in from Erica's phone.

"Thank you Kira. She's right, and you all said that they only come out at night." Malia remembered, thanks to the kitsune's words.

"We think that they only come out at night, we don't know it." Aidan corrected. "This wouldn't be the first time this Pack has had a theory and it's turned out to be wrong."

"Oh? When has that happened?" Lydia asked with a raised eyebrow. The twins ignored her.

That was a mistake on their part.

A big mistake.

Both brothers were unaware of the targets they had just painted on their backs and continued speaking like nothing was wrong.

"Since this is our first experience with demonic ninjas," Ethan drawled but before his brother cut in.

Leaning into his brother's personal space, Aidan helpfully corrected. "Mass-murdering demonic ninjas."

Ethan nodded at his brother in thanks and finished his previous sentence "We're thinking we should play it safe."

Aidan once again took over to add, "All day."

Henry was the one who finished, before Ethan could,

"And all night." Henry stated, his pleading eyes locked on his daughter, surprising most people at the table. "I don't want anything else to happen to you, Malia. I already lost you once, I can't do it again."

Moved by her father's pleas, Malia sighed as she nodded in agreement. But only to keep her dad from worrying.

"Fine, but for the record: I think this is stupid and unnecessary and I'm only agreeing because I love you, dad." Malia told Henry bluntly. "But why all day if they only attack at night?" She asked again, having decided to ignore Aidan's answer.

"Aidan was actually right with half of his statement," Allison explained, nodding towards Aidan, she chose her words carefully as she had seen the look in Lydia's eyes. "We don't actually know for sure that they only come out at night. We think that based on current evidence, but we can't be certain. They might only need darkness." Allison regretfully informed the girl. She was quick to assure Malia before the coyote thought that she doubted her. "I know that you can take care of yourself. We've trained together, believe me, I know how capable you are."

"Right, but these things are dangerous if provoked." Lydia took over.

"I was literally about to say that." Allison muttered softly as she glared half heartedly at the banshee, and Lydia sent an apologetic smile.

"So it's better to just let them do whatever they're doing." Lydia continued. "You know you'll be fine, and so will you Kira. I don't have enhanced healing like the rest of them, and I'm fine, but you'll need someone to watch over you and get you somewhere safe, depending on when and where they attack." The Banshee explained to Kira before addressing both her and Malia. "Most of us have experienced the temporary catatonia from these creatures scanning us. It's better if you have somebody with you if they can attack at any time." Lydia continued explaining easily, she then addressed Malia only as she finished. "Someone who can trigger your healing process and get you to safety."

"Glad you brought that up again, because. I, uh, I-I don't have enhanced healing either." Parrish informed them all, somewhat awkwardly as Lydia smiled encouragingly at him. "I'm human, so they could be going after anybody."

"Quick question; are we sure Parrish is human?" Erica asked suddenly as she stared at the man scrutinizingly. "They haven't gone after any other humans, and they've had plenty of chances. They've only gone after the werewolves."

"And Lydia." Allison corrected at the same time that Lydia chimed in "And Banshee."

One eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips, Danny commented. "There's an easy way to find out." Danny smirked. "Parrish, would you mind standing up, please?" The deputy did as he was asked without a word, though he did send questioning looks to John and Derek.

"Ugh, really?" John groaned as he ran a hand over his face. "During breakfast?"

"Slash Pack meeting." Erica reminded the sheriff easily as she pointed her fork at him and grinned. "If he is supernatural, it affects the whole Pack." She added, moving her fork in a circular motion to gesture to the others at the table.

"Exactly, besides, it'll only take a second." Danny assured the sheriff casually. "If you could take a step away from the table?" Danny asked Parrish politely as he stood up and walked around the table. While he did so, Parrish also stood up and took the requested step away from the table.

Less than two seconds later, Danny reached the deputy. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment as he visualised his intended result, just like Deaton had taught him. He opened his eyes again, focused on Parrish, then threw his hand out. Instantly, Parrish was in the centre of a circle of mountain ash.

Derek watched Parrish's reaction closely. He was certain that if Parrish was supernatural, he was unaware of the fact. Just like Lydia, Malia, and Kira had all been unaware of their latent abilities and Supernatural heritage once upon a time. He watched as Parrish regarded Danny's open and empty hand in confusion before he glanced downward.

"Is this mountain ash?" Parrish asked with a confused frown as he looked down at the circle.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked up at Danny again.

"Yes," Danny replied casually. "Please try to step out of the circle." The hacker requested with a smile. "It's the easiest test."

"But, it doesn't work on me." Lydia reminded him for what felt like the thousandth time. "I'm technically supernatural."

"True, but let's see if it works on him." Isaac suggested casually. "If it doesn't work, we'll leave it be until we have more evidence that he's something supernatural." Isaac paused then added in the same easy tone, "If it does work, we ask him again what he is. If he doesn't tell us, we torture him until he does."

"Let's torture him in the holding cells in the basement." Cora chimed in helpfully. "Easier to clean up in there."

"Dibs on using the flamethrower." Erica grinned viciously. She would never use it on someone who hadn't done horrific things, of course, but it was fun to watch the colour drain from the deputy's face.

"No!" John immediately protested, sounding exhausted of having to remind teenagers that torture was not okay. "If he can't cross the mountain ash, we will help him figure out why. He wouldn't be the first supernatural creature we've come across who doesn't know what they are." He reminded them all pointedly.

Scattered sounds of agreement and disappointment could be heard for the next few seconds before Derek spoke.

Clearing his throat once, Derek gestured to his fellow deputy.

"Alright Parrish, would you please try crossing the mountain ash?" The Alpha requested politely and calmly. "I promise that nothing bad will happen if you can't."

Parrish let out a shaky breath as he raised his hand and attempted to reach outside of the circle. A familiar barrier appeared.

Startled by the fact that he couldn't cross the barrier, Parrish staggered backwards, only to crash into another part of the barrier. Clearly, the man was unaware of whatever he was. Derek took pity on the co-worker whom he had quickly come to consider a friend.

"Danny, let him out." Derek ordered as he stood and began to walk around the table, towards the pair. Danny quickly did as he was told. As soon as Danny created a line in the circle (without touching it) Parrish fell to the ground.

"What the hell?" Parrish asked breathily, eyes darting from Derek to John and back again repeatedly.

"We'll figure this out," Derek stated firmly as Danny helped Parrish to his feet. By then, Derek was standing by Danny's side. Derek locked eyes with his fellow deputy and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I trust you, Jordan, we'll figure out whatever is going on with you, I promise. But right now I need to focus on Stiles. I sorry but-"

"Don't apologise, whatever this is can wait. I know I'll appreciate your help later, and thank you for that, but right now I know that you need to find Stiles. Werewolf or not, I think we need to treat this like any other missing persons case." Parrish nodded shakily. As much as he hated that Stiles was missing, Jordan was relieved that he had some time to wrap his head around apparently being a supernatural creature before figuring out what exactly he was. "He's your son, Sheriff, I haven't forgotten that. I'll cover your shift for you today. You both need to be out there looking for Stiles."

True gratitude washed over John. He was going to ask Tara or Paul to cover for him, but he really didn't want to bother Tara on her day off or ask Paul to work a longer shift.

"You sure?" John asked hopefully and Parrish nodded.

"Hundred percent." The deputy stated firmly and confidently. "Just let me finish my breakfast, and I'll be good to go."

John smiled at Parrish, elated and grateful. "Thank you. My shift doesn't start until 3, so after breakfast, get some rest. I'll go to the station in the meantime and tell everyone to keep an eye out for Stiles and demonic ninja's. As soon as I know what's going on with Stiles, I'll come back to the station and let you go home. Don't worry, I won't make you work the full 24 hours."

"Sounds good, thank you."

"I want to say thank you again. We'll be more likely to find him with more of us out there." Derek added when Parrish met his eyes again. He gave the man a small smile and patted him on the back. Danny made his way back to his seat, and Parrish decided that sitting down was a good idea. Derek moved back to his own seat, but remained standing behind it as he addressed the pack as a whole. "As we've already established, Stiles is still missing. I couldn't pick up his scent. At all."

"After Allison dropped off Ethan, Jackson, Boyd, and Lydia, Chris and I went out to search for Stiles too." John informed Derek quickly. "We couldn't find any trace of him. When we got home, we checked security cameras, traffic cam footage and every single camera that Danny and Stiles have set up around town and there's nothing! It's like he literally just vanished."

Easily adding to the conversation once John had finished speaking, Henry gave his first contribution to a Pack meeting. "I have cameras set up all around the woods, I can get you the tapes, if you want." Henry offered. "See if we can spot him on any of 'em"

"Thanks, but how long have you had cameras set up in the woods?" Danny asked, surprise evident in his voice. "Why didn't I know about this? What network are they on? I should have detected them."

"Huh? Network?" Henry asked, confusion was etched onto his face and he had raised an eyebrow, and Danny understood. "No, they're tape recorders. Got 7 day tapes, every week, I go out in the morning, I take the old tapes out and put the new ones in. I got a box full of yesterday's footage, up until 6am this morning."

"Ah, so that's where you disappeared to," Victoria commented. At his perplexed look, she elaborated. "I heard you leave just after Melissa did. Werewolf hearing."

"Thank you Henry, that will be very useful." Derek nodded gratefully at the man, attempting to get the conversation back on topic. Unfortunately, one of his beta's had to pipe in with a sarcastic remark.

"Oh yeah, cause I bet that after vanishing into thin air, he'll miraculously show up in this footage." Jackson couldn't help the words from escaping his lips.

Or the eyeroll.

Or the bitch face.

He was stressed, okay?

He couldn't help it, Stiles was missing; his Pack Mom. Jackson had never met his biological parents, and his adopted parents had never been that parental. Stiles and Derek were the only parental figures that Jackson had ever had. They actually listened when he was upset. They asked his opinion on things. They told him that they were proud of him. They taught him how to shift, and how to stay in control. They calmed him down and kept him safe when he couldn't stay in control. And now Stiles was missing and it was much worse than when Derek was under the Darach's spell. At least they knew where he was and that he was relatively safe.

"Let's face it, we have no freaking idea where Stiles is or how to find him!" Jackson practically growled those words out as his hands curled into fists. "All we have is a message on a wall and a carving in the ground. We have no idea what's going on with him, or how to help him. We-"

Lighting up with a grin, Erica cut Jackson off.

"Excellent point, Jackson, thank you for reminding me. What was the carving, anyway, McCall?" Erica demanded as she turned to face Scott, her grin transformed into a steely glare as she did so. Erica only called him by his surname if she meant business. "You mentioned it but you didn't tell us anything about what it said."

"Yeah, but I was about to tell you guys before we were interrupted by Caitlin." Scott defended himself instinctively, but regretted it when the scent of jealousy permeated the room, courtesy of Derek.

"Well, spit it out already, McCall," Cora growled, flashing her eyes at the bitten wolf.

Against his better judgement, Scott's mind drifted to the possibility that Stiles wasn't the one possessed by the Nogitsune that Derek had been warned of. It was looking increasingly likely that his mum was right. That Stiles was suffering from the same disease that robbed him of his mother. The evidence was piling up and Scott's fear was growing.

But in spite of that fear and the wandering of his mind, Scott still chose to believe that the Nogitsune both Deaton and Derek's mother had mentioned was the true culprit behind Stiles' current issues.

Listening to fear wouldn't save Stiles. Even if Stiles is sick and somebody else is possessed, learning everything they can about this creature, and how to free somebody from it, would come in handy. It would help save a life.

It's what Stiles would do.

Even if that wasn't the case, Derek didn't want the others to worry about the Nogitsune yet. Scott didn't want to worry them with something that probably wasn't true, but he had to be honest with them about the carving.

"I-it said, uh, it said C.S. 2004, F.T.D." Scott told them reluctantly, his eyes downcast and his shoulders slumped.

Naturally, every part of Scott told him that Stiles wasn't sick. He was possessed. Scott's mind, heart and wolf were all in agreement on that. He didn't want to cause the others concern, but he had to be truthful about the carving. Besides, Derek didn't want them to know about the Nogitsune just yet. So, maybe, letting them think the worst was for the best? That's what Scott told himself in order to feel better.

Derek nodded at Scott, as though he could read his mind, silently assuring the beta that he was doing the right thing. Scott smiled softly at his alpha, but soon startled at a sudden sound.

Isaac had exclaimed loudly, "Oh! I thought it said G5 ZOO 4 F.T.P. Although, your version doesn't make much sense either." Although he began his sentence in support of his mate, he finished sounding dubious.

"Scott's version actually does make sense." John admitted gravely. All heads turned to him, but his eyes were fixed on the table. "An awful lot of sense. I've known for a while but I didn't want to believe it. I tried to blame it on the ritual and that Bardo thing, but I knew the truth. His sleepwalking and panic attacks returned worse than ever." All eyes were on the sheriff, and tensions were growing due to the gravity behind his words. His tone was full of dread, and sad acceptance. "I'm sure none of you noticed thanks to the sound proofing, but he's been waking up screaming every night. He's been sleepwalking through the house, usually just to the kitchen, my room, or the bathroom, then he'd wander back to bed for between ten minutes and an hour. Then he'd wake up screaming, except for twice. First, the night before Malia turned back into a human, he made it outside the house. He almost walked right into the pool, but Derek grabbed him just in time, turned him around, and Stiles just walked back to bed."

The teens of the pack turned questioning looks to their alpha, silently asking why he hadn't mentioned that incident to them. Derek resolutely ignored them and kept his eyes on John, who took the hint of silence and continued speaking.

"Second time was the night you set up your pranks at the school. After you got back, he went to bed and started sleepwalking almost as soon as he was under, which isn't normal. This time he used the secret passageways. Derek and I found him an hour later at the nemeton, screaming bloody murder." John told them, and paused to let out a sigh.

"Is that what that sound was?" Malia blurted without thinking. "I thought those teenagers in that van were watching horror movies in the woods again."

Cursory habit of the job, the three local law enforcement officers at the table shot their heads to look at her.

"What teenagers in a van?" Derek, John, and Parrish all asked instinctively.

"I dunno, but they fed me sometime when I was a coyote."

"Oh, nevermind that, it can wait." John quickly waved off that question and as he continued his previous point, he looked around at the Pack. "It took us almost twenty minutes to calm him down enough to get him home. On top of the sleepwalking, he's been more impulsive than usual. Rushing into things alone, like the other night at the power station. I didn't want to worry anyone, but he's still hallucinating even though that Bardo thing is over, little things, like the other day I found him in the kitchen, talking to himself but he was convinced that Scott was there with him. He also hasn't been sleeping, he stays awake for days and then he passes out from exhaustion. When he does that, he has night terrors or sleeping walks. He's been dissociative and confused. Yesterday we were talking and it was like we were having two completely different conversations. It's usually when he wakes up, but I've seen it happen when he's cooking, cleaning, and other random times. Day or night. He's really irritable most of the time and then suddenly he's got mood swings galore. He's been eating way more than usual, even for a werewolf. To top it all off, he's been obsessively compiling cases and tracking their progress with coloured strings, in Derek's study. I've seen it all before; well, not the collecting cases thing, for her it was-"

"Uh, 'her'? Her who?" Isaac cut the sheriff off without thinking. Almost everything the sheriff was saying, Isaac had noticed too. So had Jackson and Cora. With the exception of the insomnia (until Stiles had informed Melissa of his sleeping pattern the day before) and night terrors, the betas who permanently live in the house had seen all of those symptoms in Stiles. They needed answers. "And what does any of this mean? What's wrong with Stiles?"

Less than a week before, Isaac had asked Stiles to help him with the extra credit homework he had been assigned for maths, after failing three tests in a row. (Since then he had been banned from having Scott and/or Allison over on a school night. If they stayed over, they all had to be in separate rooms, or with the door open and intercom on all night. With the obvious exception of pack puppy piles, of course.) Stiles obviously agreed to help and started to advise Isaac. Except, he was advising him on how to solve a physics problem. When Isaac pointed that out, Stiles had gotten upset, accused Isaac of lying to him and trying to confuse him, and then stormed out of the room. Isaac hesitated for a moment, as he tried to process what exactly had just happened. He soon followed Stiles scent to find him sitting where he had been when Isaac had asked him for help. He was about to apologise for upsetting his Pack Mum when Stiles looked up at him blankly, then blinked and broke out into an enthusiastic smile. He then declared that he was happy to help with his maths homework.

Despite his concern, Isaac didn't want to worry anybody until he knew if it was more than just a blip. So, he chose to remain quiet about that event.

Two nights prior, when both John and Derek were working, Jackson came downstairs for a glass of water and found Stiles cooking. He tried to talk to Stiles but received no response.

Even with his sleep-boggled mind, it didn't take Jackson long to realise that Stiles was sleepwalking. He thankfully remembered Lydia's lectures on not waking a sleepwalker, so Jackson watched Stiles carefully and cleaned up after him. He turned the oven off and made sure Stiles made it back to bed, tucked him in and shut the door. Then he kindly returned to the kitchen and ate all of the food Stiles had prepared, and ensured that there was no evidence of his feast, before he returned to bed too. He had written it, and all of those other signs and symptoms, off as Stiles' ADHD, stress, and just Stiles being Stiles. He didn't want to believe that anything was wrong. Then again, Stiles didn't smell any different. More anxious sometimes, but when that happened, they had a system to help him through it. But what if it was something else?

A few days after the ritual that bound the pack to the nemeton, Stiles separated from the pack during the walk home from training. Cora had been talking to him when he suddenly trailed off and walked away. So, of course, she followed him. Along the way she heard him talking. At first she assumed he was talking to her, but just as she went to respond he said Derek's name. She listened to his side of his apparent conversation with 'Derek' and followed at a short distance. Soon, they arrived at the Nemeton. There, Stiles started to tell 'Derek' that he didn't want to do something. He appeared to listen to whatever 'Derek' was saying and, seemingly entranced, started to reach out towards the Nemeton. Suddenly, Stiles seemed to become self aware of his actions. He started to repeat the words 'No' and 'I don't want to do this' as he tried to pull his hand back. He struggled, as though he were stuck in something but there was nothing there. Instinctively, Cora rushed forward to help Stiles. She touched his shoulder and called out his name in an attempt to bring him back to reality. Unfortunately, Stiles used his free hand to lash out and push her away. Cora shifted into beta-form in response, but when she looked up again she could see dark vines protruding from the nemeton and wrapping themselves around Stiles' arm. Cora immediately leapt forwards and swiped at the vines with her claws.

Despite the fact that they were invisible without her wolf eyed and therefore supposedly non corporeal, they easily gave way under her claws. She soon set Stiles free and he immediately ran away. She raced after him and soon caught up. She spoke to him and he responded as though he was surprised to see her. She asked why he had separated from the pack and where he had gone. He told her that he'd gone back to the clearing because he had left his phone there, like he had told her. His heartbeat indicated that he believed he was telling the truth, so she played along.

She said nothing when they reunited with the Pack.

Why?

She wasn't sure. It was just instinct. Her gut told her it would pass if she just kept quiet, then they found out about bardo and she assumed her instincts were right. Now she was second guessing it all.

She had caught him sleepwalking a few times too, and scheming in the second basement's library. When the latter occurred the night before Coach's birthday, Cora had an odd conversation with Stiles while she had been attempting to sneak into the gym to burn off some steam after her mates had both returned to their parents' houses for the evening. She asked him if he was planning something for Coach, Stiles replied that she was right, they do need more mashed potatoes. She initially wrote it off as him goofing around, but the longer the conversation went on, the weirder it got. She eventually gave up and went to the training room. When she had finished, Cora returned to the library and once again attempted to have a conversation with him. Once again, he spoke but he wasn't responding to her words. After a moment, however, she realised that he was responding to the words she had said earlier. She was mildly concerned, but wrote it off as Stiles pulling a prank on her, and let it drift to the back of her mind. That was clearly a poor judgement.

"Yes, 'her'. Claudia. My wife. Stiles' mother." John explained, startling the three beta's out of their thoughts. "These were all symptoms I saw with her. When she was dying of Frontotemporal Dementia."

"Oh." Danny gasped, shock evident on his face.

"Uh, yeah. Claudia Stilinski, C.S." Scott explained softly. "2004, the year she died. F.T.D-"

"The common acronym for frontotemporal dementia." Lydia found herself adding to the conversation, despite her own belief that this was not what was ailing Stiles. When Stiles had informed her and Allison of what killed his mother, on their third or fourth sleepover, she had immediately begun researching the condition. "It's the only kind of dementia known to affect teenagers. The most common form of dementia seen in anyone under the age of 60."

"Uh uh, no! I get how it looks, but that's impossible! Stiles has supernatural healing!" Isaac protested immediately and was unable to stop his eyes from glowing as he did so. That couldn't be it. Derek had told them about the Nogitsune that the shadow creatures were looking for. The Nogitsune is a trickster spirit.

This must be a twisted prank. It had to be!

"I must point out, regretfully so, that I was comatose for six years and extremely mentally unstable when I woke up. Deucalion was blinded and unable to heal from it," Peter was genuinely remorseful as he reminded the younger wolf of those facts. "We truly do not know the extent of any wolf, or other shifter's, healing capabilities. It varies from person to person. His ADHD remained after being turned. If this condition is hereditary, even supernatural healing might not be enough to save him." Though he remained stone faced, Peter's worry and grief radiated through the members of the Pack who were highly involved in their supernatural affairs, and therefore felt the strongest connections to the bonds.

"Come on! Even if it is true, this is Stiles!" Jackson protested quickly, defending Isaac even though he didn't know about the nogitsune. "He's always been a hyperactive, sarcastic, know-it-all, who says weird shit and rambles a lot. He has always been crazy, especially since becoming a werewolf and Pack Mom." the Beta pointed out, and nobody could really argue with his logic. "And no matter what, he protects us above all else." Jackson continued when nobody else attempted to say anything. "He might be sleepwalking, and getting confused and losing time, but up until today he has always made sure that we were fed for every meal. He packed us snacks and made sure we have all of our textbooks. He still cared about us. He still does. Even if something like this was happening to him, he wouldn't run away from us. He would go to the hospital and get treated. He'd fight it and get better so he can mother us, even though we are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves."

"Only there is no cure for this. Stiles knows that," John told him gently, but the grief in his scent was overwhelming. "When Claudia was diagnosed I asked everybody I knew, medical professional or not, but nobody knew of a cure. One year and nine months later, while I was out on a case, my wife died. Stiles was there, he was with her when it happened. There were signs, a lot of 'em, for over a year before she was diagnosed, but I didn't want to see 'em. If I had gotten her help sooner she could have had a little longer. I'm not going through that again with Stiles. I've already wasted enough time in denial, I need to find him and get him to the hospital and get him treated as soon as possible." He then turned his head to look at Chris. "I'm sorry that I can't go with you to meet Katashi."

"No, John. You don't have to apologise. I understand, he's your son. You need to find him and get him checked up." Chris assured the sheriff immediately. "I'd offer to go with you, but Katashi could have the answers we need about these creatures who are scanning all of the supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills, so sooner or later they're going to go after Stiles. We need to know everything there is to know about these creatures before then. The real problem is Katashi doesn't see visitors. Ever. He's a paranoid recluse who rarely steps outside the gates of his estate."

"Let's get back to that, how are you going to get to him?" Allison asked, both curious of his plan, and concerned that it may be too dangerous for him to handle alone.

"Don't worry, I've already set up a meeting." Chris informed her casually.

"Really? How did you manage that?" Cora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Aidan chimed in, looking at Chris. "I though you said he was a 'paranoid recluse'?" Aidan expected the man to be annoyed at being questioned by teenagers, but the man gave no indication of such emotion. Or any emotions, really.

"He is, but see, he's got a thing for rare, antique weapons." Chris explained and though his expression remained neutral, an unseen smirk was evident in his voice. "Yesterday, when Victoria forced me to stay at home," Victoria rolled her eyes at her husband, but opted to remain silent for the time being and chastise him later. "I had some contacts put out the word that I was selling one from my own collection. This is a French Flintlock Turnover Pistol from 1645."

'Dangerous mission. Okay then.' Allison thought to herself as she fixed a stony expression on her face.

"You're not going alone." Allison told her father firmly. Nobody needed her to elaborate what she meant by that.

Yet again, Chris found himself on the receiving end of a stare from a stubborn teenager.

"If she's going, I'm going." Isaac stated, also leaving no room for argument. Scott wanted to volunteer too but, as much as he wanted to look out for his mates, he knew that his best friend needed him more. Today, Scott needed to focus on finding Stiles.

"Ooh, fun. I wanna torture and interrogate a mobster. I'm going too." Erica grinned.

Unwilling to let another teenager volunteer to join, Chris quickly spoke. "To be honest, I don't feel good about bringing any of you." Chris told them, his voice just shy of a shout. "Unfortunately, I do need back up; Victoria is working, John and Derek need to look for Stiles, and Peter is in no condition to leave the house." Chris made his comment regarding Peter with a perfect deadpan. "He looks terrible."

"I am deeply offended. Everybody in this new Pack of yours is so rude, Derek." Peter whined playfully. "Couldn't you associate with nicer people?"

Tilting his head in a faux-thoughtful manner, Derek smiled mischievously. It's what Stiles would want.

"I'll have you know that Allison, Scott, Melissa, Danny, Sheila, and Kira are all very nice, actually." Derek informed him easily. "And Stiles, Lydia, John, Boyd, Malia, Natalie, Jake, Hayley, Richard, and Henry, are all pretty nice unless you give them reason not to be."

Scoffing loudly, Cora slammed her hand down on the table in an attempt to get her brother's attention. It worked.

"Uh, excuse you? What about the rest of us?" Cora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Your first suggestion for everything is either torture or murder. You are not nice." Derek responded as he reached out for the nearest dish to him, not caring what it was, and began putting food on his plate, hoping it would encourage the others to do the same. (It did.)

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. From my own brother no less, that's just rude." Cora commented out of principle. As she finished her sentence, she stabbed a sausage with her fork.

"Kinship means nothing these days, right?" Peter chimed in, but his niece simply rolled her eyes at him.

"Er, so, what exactly is the plan for the day?" Jackson asked in an attempt to get the conversation back on track. "Who gets to go out and look for Stiles?"

"Yeah, I get to, right?" Malia asked eagerly. "I'm always stuck at home all day, so it's not like I'll be missing school or anything."

"Okay," Derek began, hoping that he at least appeared confident to the rest of the Pack. He normally felt confident delivering his plans to the Pack, but usually he had the opportunity to discuss his plans with Stiles first. He'd gone over part of it with Lydia and Malia, but it wasn't the same. "The twins and Boyd are going to stay home with Malia and check on Peter. If you want to search for him, you can, but wait until I've finished searching the preserve before you do so. Don't go more than a mile from the house and stay in pairs or a group. I also want somebody at the house at all times in case he comes back here, but boys: Do not leave Malia alone in case these things can come out during the day."

"Allison and Isaac are going with Chris to meet Katashi and find out what we're dealing with." Derek ordered reluctantly, causing a triumphant smile to appear on Allison and Isaac's faces. The alpha turned his attention to Jackson as he continued.

"Jackson, I need you to stick with Melissa at the hospital. Just in case. Tell her that I need her to keep a room free at the hospital for Stiles when we find him." He added, earning him a scowl from the beta.

"Uh, forreal? Why can't I look for Stiles?" Jackson asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The bigger question is; why aren't I going with Ally, Isaac, and Mr Argent?" Erica asked, raising an eyebrow as transformed her expression into one of expectancy and impatience.

"First of all, Jackson, the hospital is somewhere else Stiles might go in a moment of clarity. I need someone with enhanced senses who can detect him in the building if he enters at a time when Danny isn't able to check the security cameras." Derek explained to Jackson first, as calmly as he could. "And second, I may need somebody to go collect him if Danny finds him elsewhere on the cameras. Depending on whoever's closest, we could need any one of you to go and help him."

Less than pleased, Jackson reluctantly nodded in agreement. He'd prefer a more active role in the search, but Derek's logic was sound.

"Fine." Jackson grumbled. Hey, at least he didn't have to go to school.

Derek then turned his attention to Erica, who now looked far more annoyed. "Erica, you can't miss school. Your attendance is too low."

"My attendance is fine, I haven't missed a single day this year." Erica defended immediately, unfortunately, her mother chose that point to join the conversation.

"Erica, sweetheart. Yes, it's true you haven't missed a day this year, but you missed a lot of school during the first two years, thanks to your epilepsy, and then Pack drama." Hayley reminded her gently but firmly. "And before you say it, I know that you made up the work, but actually being there is important too. You can search for Stiles after school. And, if he shows up there, you can leave early to go with him to the hospital." Hayley assured her and Erica pouted, but accepted those terms. It was the best offer she was going to get.

"Thank you, Hayley," Derek nodded in agreement, glad that that was settled. "Everyone else who is going to school can also leave early if Stiles shows up there."

"Okay, if any of you find him, don't hesitate to call me if you need back up. If he's paranoid and hallucinating, he might not calm down easily. It could be like a full moon, or worse." Boyd told Erica and Jackson. The three beta's looked towards the alpha for approval.

"Good idea, Boyd." Derek nodded in approval. "Jackson, Boyd, if Stiles is found somewhere with other people around, whoever gets the call to say that Stiles is found and you're closest, call the other for back up. If there's a crowd, he might panic and try to run."

"Really?" Ethan asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why waste time with Boyd calling Jackson when Aidan and I are here?"

Readily nodding in agreement with his brother, Aidan added. "One of us can stay behind with Malia in case those creatures go after her. The other can go with Boyd."

"While I appreciate your eagerness to help, I'm not sure if it's the best idea for you to be there." Derek stated, trying to avoid upsetting the pair by accidentally giving away his reasoning. Regardless of Derek's intentions, Ethan immediately realised what the Alpha was thinking.

"Why not?" Aidan asked with a raised eyebrow. Ethan whacked his brother's arm. "Ow!"

"Really, Aidan?" Ethan shook his head in disbelief at his brother. Aidan only looked confused ao Ethan continued reluctantly. "Have you forgotten what we did to him when we were alphas and a part of Deucalion's pack?" Ethan all but growled. Aidan's eyes widened in realisation. "If he's disassociating, or hallucinating, he could go back to that time and-"

"Definitely see us as a threat and bolt." Aidan finished in realisation. "Right." He sighed as guilt flooded him again.

Sensing that a topic change was required, the alpha continued with assigning the jobs for the day.

"Lydia, You're coming with me and John." Derek told her easily. He did not even hesitate before he gave the order that he knew would piss off the remaining teenagers. "Everybody else goes to school as normal, you need to watch over Kira. Erica, we've already discussed; Cora, you were homeschooled for six years and have a lot to make up for; Scott, I'm sorry but you have to keep your grades and attendance up if you want to become a vet; Danny, I need you to keep checking the security cameras throughout the day, and make sure that those three don't decide to skip school." The alpha explained his reasoning quickly and gestured to Cora, Erica, and Scott when speaking to Danny to emphasise his point.

Of course, there were still immediate protests from Cora, Scott, Danny, and Kira, but Derek silenced them quickly with a shout of "Enough!"

Looking at the screen, Derek saw Kira winced at the volume and felt a little guilty.

"Sorry Kira," The alpha apologised and Kira gave him a thumbs up. She regretted wearing headphones, but she wasn't going to say that. "This isn't up for debate." Derek continued. "Victoria will be there on reception and Natalie will be teaching if you need anything."

"Okay. Everybody eat up, then go get ready." John ordered before he began eating his own food. "We all have busy days ahead of us." He announced after swallowing his mouthful of scrambled eggs.

With a firm stare, Derek looked towards Erica's phone.

"That means you too, Kira." Derek informed the girl. "If you need one of these guys to bring you some food to school, they can, but you need to eat something."

Laughing softly, Kira shook her head.

"Oh no, it's cool, my dad is cooking breakfast now." Kira assured the alpha. As if on cue, Noshiko knocked on Kira's bedroom door while she opened it and walked in, and informed her that breakfast was ready. "Thanks mum, I'll be right down." Kira turned to look at the camera again and addressed the Pack. "Speaking of, I better get going. See you guys at school."

There were various farewells exchanged before the call was disconnected.

The pack quickly finished eating and set about their day.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Panting in exhaustion and pain, Stiles ignored the protests from his body and continued to weave through the trees after his wolf and himself. He stayed just behind them and was relieved when his memory self slowed to a walk.

As they continued along a familiar path that Stiles couldn't quite place right away, Stiles and his memory-self heard a rustling to their right and both turned to look. Stiles wondered who it could be while simultaneously thinking about how much he hated more than ever the fact that he couldn't detect the heartbeats or scents of anybody in a memory, but fortunately he didn't have to wait long before he received his answer. Soon enough, Derek came into sight through the bushes.

"There you are!" Derek declared, sounding relieved as he swept Memory-Stiles into his arms. "Please don't just disappear like that again!" Derek all but begged his mate as he set Stiles back on his feet.

Edging forwards, Stiles' wolf sniffed at Derek then started whimpering and howling at him. It moved between them and tried to push them apart. It was as though he wanted Derek to get away from Stiles.

Alarmed, Memory-Stiles untangled himself from Derek's embrace and turned to check on his wolf. Derek's hand shot out to grip his arm and turned Stiles back towards him.

"Stiles? Is everything alright?" Derek asked with a frown.

"Really, Derek? No, clearly everything is not okay if my wolf is freaking out." Memory-Stiles snapped in annoyance as he gestured to his wolf. Derek's frown deepened and his ever expressive eyebrows furrowed in concern. The Alpha reached out and placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder.

"There's nothing there, Stiles." Derek stated gently as he locked eyes with Memory-Stiles. "Your wolf can't exist outside of you. You must be under the influence of wolfsbane, or a spell or something." Derek hypothesised, voice dripping with concern. "Come on, let's get you home so we can figure this out."

"I- uh, I," Memory-Stiles stammered before he nodded in agreement, clearly shaken. "Okay." He let Derek lead him through the trees. Clearly, his memory self was too distracted by the sounds of the howling wolf to notice where they were going, because Stiles immediately recognised that Derek was not moving in the direction of the house. As he followed at a steady pace, Stiles studied the memory of his mate.

Less than ten seconds later, realisation hit. Stiles didn't know how it took him so long.

It was so obvious! That wasn't Derek.

At the same time as he came to that realisation, Cora appeared by Stiles' side, also chasing after memory-Stiles. She slowed to a walk beside him, but didn't appear to notice the fake Derek.

Memory-Stiles hadn't noticed Cora, or realised that Derek wasn't actually Derek. He began to speak to the imposter, while trying not to look at his wolf who was whimpering and following them, occasionally biting at his jeans and trying to pull him away from the fake Derek. Cora looked like she was about to respond to Memory-Stiles' words before he said Derek's name.

Cora was focused on Memory-Stiles and he was focused on fake-Derek, so neither of them seemed to notice where they were going. Stiles was in a clearer state of mind and therefore recognised where they were going.

Upon connecting their Pack to the Nemeton, Stiles and Derek found that they could all find it almost whenever they wanted because it no longer felt the need to hide itself from them and their pack.

As they finally reached the Nemeton and were standing within arms reach of the stump, Memory-Stiles finally became aware of his surroundings. Confused, he turned to 'Derek'.

"Why are we here?" Memory-Stiles asked, "I though we were going home."

Eyes identical to his mate's locked onto memory-Stiles' own.

"The Nemeton can help you with what's ailing you." 'Derek' spoke in a soothing voice, Stiles and Memory-Stiles both frowned at the choice of words. They were very un-Derek. "All you have to do is reach out and touch it."

Everything about this felt wrong. Memory-Stiles automatically reached out to do as 'Derek' said, but fortunately he hesitated. "I don't want to do this."

"You want to be a good pack mum, right?" 'Derek' began, it sounded like a question but he spoke again before Stiles could reply. Again, very un-Derek. "You want to be your best self so that you can help the Pack, right?"

"Of course," Memory-Stiles replied, desperate for 'his mate' to believe him, "But this feels wrong, Der. I don't want to do this."

"The Nemeton can fix you," Not-Derek told him in the tone that Derek used to tak Stiles down from a panic attack. "It can take you in and you'll be a part of something bigger. Something powerful. You can protect your Pack in the best possible way."

Everything that Not-Derek was saying was incredibly creepy and unnerving, but Memory-Stiles was seemingly entranced by his words. Stiles watched with bated breath as his memory self reached out for the Nemeton.

"Oh no." Stiles whispered to himself, his wolf was howling with all of his might. When his hand was hovering over the stump, thick vines shot out from the centre of the nemeton and seized memory-Stiles' wrist. His wolf lunged for vines, but was grabbed by fake-Derek and thrown against a nearby tree.

There was a sickening crack as the wolf hit the tree, and a soft whimper before his wolf went silent. As the sound reached his ears, memory-Stiles snapped out of his trance and tried to pull his hand free.

"I don't want to do this," Memory-Stiles began to protest as he fought against the vines trying to pull him closer to the tree stump. Stiles tried to help, but was obviously unable to touch or interfere with anything because it was just a memory. Stiles reluctantly stepped back and watched the scene unfold.

Suddenly, Cora came to her senses and tried to talk to Memory-Stiles and get his attention. Memory-Stiles clearly misunderstood her intent because he pushed her away. When she returned their attention to him, her eyes were glowing and she finally noticed the vines and began to attack them. She soon had memory-Stiles free, and he immediately ran off.

Cora chased after him, and Stiles tried to do the same. Unfortunately, when Stiles ran through the trees he found himself transported to another scene entirely.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Yet another breakfast with an incomplete pack passed by. They managed to keep the conversation flowing, but it was nowhere near as enthusiastic.

In the past, when a Pack member was missing from the dining table it was because of work, going out of town, or by parents request. On occasion it was because a Pack Mate was in the hospital. However, on those occasions, someone else would always be at the hospital with them. Of course, there was that terrible time when Derek was under Jennifer's spell, but they had known that he was safe, kinda. It was rare that the empty places were due to somebody going missing.

It had only happened three times. First, when Stiles had been kidnapped by Gerard. Sure, the Pack had been much smaller back then, and they hadn't gathered around a dinner table to do so, but they'd still had to eat without him to get their energy back after Lacrosse before going into battle in an attempt to get him back. They had a while until the meeting time and most of them were tired from Lacrosse. The second time was actually multiple people missing for multiple meals, back when Erica, Boyd, and Cora were being held captive by the Alpha Pack. At least then they knew that the three of them were together. They didn't have to go through it alone. The third time was right now.

Yes, John, Jackson, Scott, and Lydia had all been kidnapped or gone missing, but they had all been home in time for the next Pack meal.

This was different. Heavier.

Stiles was alone. Most of them believed that Stiles was suffering from Frontotemporal Dementia, some believed he was possessed, and the rest were unsure what was ailing Stiles, but they knew that whichever it was, it was bad.

Nobody dared utter Stiles' name again, in fear of an upset, so conversation for the rest of the meal was shallow. Everybody was relieved when the food was all gone and they could leave the table. Natalie and Victoria had to leave almost immediately, as there was to be a staff meeting at the school before classes started.

Once everything was cleared away, Cora, Danny, Erica, and Scott left for the school too, bidding farewell to the others. Erica had to drag Scott away as he was taking far too long to say goodbye to Allison and Isaac.

Thirty minutes later, Sheila and Richard left for work, shortly after Hayley also left for work, as did Henry.

After going over the rules again with Malia, Boyd, Ethan and Aidan, Derek left with Lydia. John offered to drop Parrish off at home to get some rest, if he preferred not to stay at the Hale house, and Parrish accepted gratefully. John told the four teens and Peter that he was going to the station after he had dropped Parrish off, and would then join Lydia and Derek in searching for Stiles, so they all had to behave and follow the rules. He reminded Allison, Isaac, and Chris to be safe while meeting Silverfinger.

Right after they left, Chris, Isaac, and Allison returned to the armoury in the second basement to grab their weapons and take them to the car.

After loading up the car, Chris declared that they should leave right away and move closer to Katashi's usual meeting place in town. Allison and Isaac agreed, and ten minutes later the three of them were gone.

Claiming to be tired, Peter went to his room immediately after they left.

Ethan, Aidan, Boyd, and Malia looked at each other for a moment. When nobody said anything, Malia sighed and shook her head, then made her way to the kitchen hoping to find some of Stiles' leftover cooking. Breakfast was fine, but it missed that little something extra that made Stiles' cooking so delicious. Like the difference between chocolate chips and chocolate chunks, if you will.

As she made her way to the fridge, Malia let her mind wander to everything that she knew so far. Or at least, everything about the shadow creatures.

One, they were going after the supernatural members of the pack, or their associates in some cases. Two, they were apparently made out of literal shadows and immune to most weapons. Three, they could flicker between being solid and shadows at will. Four, they could pull swords out of their chests. Six- or was it five? Whatever, they're allergic to sunlight.

They were weird, that was for sure. Malia wondered if they had any other abilities as she munched on whatever she had grabbed from the fridge. It tasted like chicken.

Her mind drifted to wonder about what it would be like when they inevitably marked her that evening. The way the others struggled to describe the sensations without trembling didn't bode well, but Malia considered herself a brave person. Therefore, she would face whatever was to come with her head held high. Even if it was sure to be a harrowing experience.

Ethan suddenly marched into the kitchen, distracting Malia from her thoughts. "Hey, what'cha eating?"

"Erm, I'm not sure, exactly." Malia admitted with a shrug as she finally looked down at the food. "Chicken something. It's good." Ethan walked over and took the lid of the tub from her hand and read the Sharpie scrawl.

"Nine Spices Chicken Strips, Stiles & Scott's ultimate recipe" Ethan read aloud, then quickly snatched one from the tub. Despite the name, Stiles was the mastermind behind the recipe, but Scott had been his taste tester, and had stated that two of Stiles' recipes were tied for top place, and he wished he could combine them. So, Stiles did, and gave Scott credit for his genius idea. "Damn, I love these." Ethan all but moaned as he munched happily. "Wanna go eat these in the living room and play Mario Kart? Winner gets the biggest Chicken Strip."

"Definitely," Malia eagerly agreed. "Race ya to the couch."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

As Danny pulled up in the school car park, his head was throbbing from the noise. Erica and Cora were yelling at Scott for 'being the reason they can't protect Kira and Malia that afternoon.' As if Derek wasn't the one to make the ultimate decision. Still, Danny stayed quiet as his last attempt to intervene wasn't well received by Cora and Erica.

Less than a second after the car was parked neatly, Danny pulled the keys from the ignition and got out. The other three quickly followed and as soon as he heard the doors shut, he locked the vehicle without looking back. As he walked towards the school, Danny noticed something carved into the ground. He paused, pulled out his phone and took a picture. The carving was obscured by a vehicle, so Danny set a mental reminder to come back after all the cars were gone to get a better look.

Let's be honest, vandalism in Beacon Hills, while uncommon, was not unheard of. The carving might be nothing, but Danny's instincts said otherwise.

A voice drew Danny from his musings, "Uh, Danny?" Scott called out, sounding curious. "Is everything okay?"

Letting that train of thought go for a moment, the hacker turned to face the beta. "Everything's fine. I just noticed something carved in the ground, under those cars," Danny told them honestly. "Might be nothing, but just in case, I'm gonna look into it."

"Okay, that's probably a good idea," Erica shrugged. "But focus on Stiles first. He needs us."

Nodding his head, Danny locked eyes with the blonde. "Finding Stiles is my first priority," He promised. "He has done so much for all of us. He's suffered so much, I'm not going to let him suffer alone again."

Erica was pleased by his response but it was nothing compared to Scott's reaction. "Oh my god Danny, I think I'm gonna cry." Scott announced with tears already pooled in his eyes, making them shimmer. His best friend was missing and either possessed or dying, or both. He's allowed to be emotional, he isn't a robot, dammit. "Come 'ere." Scott wrapped Danny in a hug. "We're gonna find him." Scott assured, still holding onto Danny. "We're gonna help him, no matter what."

"I couldn't agree more. And we'll find him a lot easier if we aren't stuck at school all day. I say we take Kira and ditch," Cora suggested easily. "We'll search for Stiles on our own."

"Now, I think you're forgetting that the school is full of cameras." Danny reminded her easily. "And Mrs Argent is working the front desk, watching them all."

"And not to mention Mrs Martin also works here, and Kira's dad." Scott added, then he spotted someone over Erica's shoulder. "Speaking of, Kira's over there."

"Nice, let's convince her to ditch with us." Cora announced as she took Erica by the hand. The pair began to run towards the girl.

"Erica, Cora, don't you dare!" Scott called out as he chased after them.

Mind working at a mile a minute, Danny spared one last glance to the carving before he followed the three wolves. Honestly, he was unsure whose side he was on in their argument and opted to ruminate on it while he walked leisurely.

Panting for breath, Cora and Erica soon reached Kira who smiled at the pair, looking bemused. She then noticed Scott rushing over and grew more curious. She opened her mouth to question the situation, but Erica beat her to speaking. "You wanna skip school and help us look for Stiles?"

"The call was a little staticy, but I could have sworn Derek specifically told us all to attend school today." Kira recalled with a mischievous smile.

"Yes!" Scott confirmed as he reached the group. "He did."

"Right, and of course we usually obey our Alpha, no matter how ridiculous his orders are." Erica stated in a faux innocent voice. "But our Pack Mum is on the line. Our Batman, our Red Riding Hoodie, our master chef, our Stiles. We love him, we can't let him down when he needs us most."

Oh crap. Love. She had to say the word love. Scott struggled internally.

Oh no, he couldn't give in. He had to be the responsible one. He had to make sure that they did as their Alpha said.

Maybe his mum and John believed that Stiles had dementia, but Derek had learned about the Nogitsune from Deaton and Talia. Stiles was in danger no matter which turned out to be the truth. But Derek was looking for Stiles, he wouldn't give up until he was found. Lydia was with him, and somebody needed to protect Kira.

Now, on one hand, Derek told them to stay at school and he trusted them to do so.

On the other hand, Stiles was his brother, his best friend since childhood. He wanted to be out there looking for him too but that went against what Derek said. He couldn't disobey him right? But Stiles…

Truthfully, Stiles was more important to Scott than Derek's orders.

He couldn't leave Kira and Danny unprotected though.

"I'm in." Kira announced.

Now that just left Danny. If Danny decided to ditch too, Scott would go with them. He really wanted to go with them and for once found himself hoping that his pack mates would all decide to break the rules.

"Great, you guys are already plotting something?" Danny asked as he finally reached the others, having just caught Kira's word as he approached. "What are you in on?"

"Like we said, we're skipping school and looking for Stiles." Cora informed him easily. "You coming with?"

"Eh, there's no reason to say no," Danny shrugged indifferently. "But let's go to our first lesson, it's history and we don't want Kira getting into trouble from her dad. After that, we can sneak out through the vault. We can't take the car, in case either of them look out of the window. I'll use the time during class to hack into the camera's while I'm looking for Stiles on the other footage and set up a loop so it looks like we're heading to our classes all day, so hopefully Victoria won't get suspicious unless she listens out for us or wants to talk to us."

"Fine, but nobody has chemistry with Lydia's mum today, right?" Scott asked worriedly.

"That's interesting; are you joining us, McCall?" Erica asked gleefully, but Scott only shrugged as he kept his eyes on Danny, waiting for an answer.

"Boyd, Lydia, Ethan, and Aidan. Nobody who hasn't already been given permission to skip today." Danny assured him. Of course Danny himself, along with Stiles, Erica, and Allison also had Chemistry with Natalie, but on a different day so it was fine.

"Ugh, fine," Scott sighed in faux-resignation, acting as though that wasn't the exact answer he had hoped for. "I'm in."

"There we go!" Cora grinned, clapping the teen on the back. "Give in to the urge to protect your Pack."

"That's great, Scott. Hey Danny, I'll take care of checking the footage for Stiles while you take care of our alibi." Erica offered, after all, there was no use overworking Danny and adding the risk of him missing something on the tapes, or getting caught hacking the school. It absolutely had nothing at all to do with the fact that she would be unable to focus on pointless school work while one of her pack mates was missing.

Honest.

"Everything is settled, then. Let's go." Scott declared, then turned and marched towards the school. Stiles needed him and the sooner he got to homeroom, the sooner it would be over. Right?

"Maybe during class, I should search the footage too," Cora suggested casually as they followed him, she was eager for an excuse to not pay attention in class. She probably wouldn't pay attention anyway, she might as well do something productive instead.

"Er, no." Danny immediately refused. "Your observation skills are terrible for a werewolf. Stiles could be standing waving at the camera for five minutes and you wouldn't even notice." He stated confidently. He knew it wasn't true, but too many people searching the footage in class would be noticeable for the other students and potentially Mr. Yukimura.

"Man, that's not me," Cora protested as she shook her head then pointed at Scott, who was far ahead of them and walking into the school. "That's him." She glared at Danny when he didn't immediately apologise. "Give me a real reason, or I'm going to do it anyway, then when I find Stiles, I'll shove it in your face before I rip your throat out. With my teeth."

"Okay, fine. But first, you do realise that that's the second time you've used that treat today, right? Just saying," Danny informed her. Her threat didn't scare him (well, maybe a little), but he knew that she wouldn't leave him alone until he gave her a satisfactory reason. "If I let you search the footage too, Scott will want to do the same, and maybe even Kira." Cora glared, unimpressed, but Danny wasn't finished. "The more of us there are searching, the more likely we are to get caught and receive unwanted questions. If we get in trouble with Mr Yukimura, then Mrs Argent and Mrs Martin will find out, then we won't be able to leave the school."

"Really?" Cora demanded with a raised eyebrow. "That's what you're going with? Why Erica and not me?" She asked, then quickly turned to the blonde. "No offence, babe."

"I asked first, hun." Erica reminded her as she playfully flashed her eyes.

"Even so, he's my brother-in-law." Cora argued, sure it was werewolf-law not human law, but still. Stiles was her brother's mate, and her friend. She wanted to search for him as soon as possible. And she hated school.

"So? You and I are mates," Erica argued as the bell rang, "So by extension, he's my brother-in-law too, and I've known him longer than you have." The blonde reasoned as they walked into the classroom, Scott was already in his seat. Their homeroom teacher greeted them all a good morning and they greeted him in return.

"Oh, whatever." Cora growled to Erica and Danny once the teacher's attention had turned to greeting the other students. "I'll just sit and be useless, then." She growled as she dropped into her seat. She needed something or someone to fight. Searching for Stiles might quell that urge, but sitting here was exasperating it. She had lost so much of her Pack already, she couldn't lose anybody else.

For the entirety of homeroom and the walk to Mr Yukimura's class, Cora felt like she was going to burst. The urge to get out there and search for Stiles before she lost another pack mate.

While the Jardine Pack was kind and had been very welcoming, and she had grown to love them, she had never truly felt like she belonged with them.

However, the moment Derek brought her back to Beacon Hills and introduced her to his pack, she had felt at home. Well, technically he dropped her off at the house then got distracted with tasks his mate asked him to do, and Stiles had introduced her to everyone. Cora usually took a while to warm up to people, but Stiles had wormed his way into her heart by the time he had finished giving her a tour of the house.

Even though she had witnessed the odd event with the phantom vines at the nemeton, when he started acting weird, she had written it off. She told herself that it was probably just because of the ritual, then because of Bardo. She assured herself that she would know if it got really bad, then she would say something. Apparently it was always bad, and she was too stubborn to see it. Cora spent the majority of the history lesson mentally going over every warning sign and berating herself for ignoring them.

No matter how stressful and worrying a situation was, Danny prided himself on being able to focus on his goals. Usually because his goals turned out to be instrumental in saving whomever was in danger. He wasn't vain, but he was proud to say that his various skills had played a big part in identifying Peter's accomplice as the nurse Jennifer, everything with the Kanima, including the case against Matt because Danny had hacked his laptop and found 200GB worth of pictures of Allison, so they had managed to add 'staking' to the list of charges. He also helped the Pack steer Cora, Boyd, and Erica away from the areas of Beacon hills with the most civilians by watching surveillance cameras when they broke them out of the vault, and he had gotten them a lot of useful information on Jennifer, plus his research in to ley lines had proven to be essential in saving a few lives that she had planned to sacrifice.

In any case, Danny was too focused on his task to get distracted by self-deprecation. He quickly set up the footage for later in the day, and turned his attention to some of the security footage he hadn't given to Erica. He had only given her enough to get through the lesson, in case he finished his own task early.

Honing her natural ability to multitask, Erica was simultaneously checking the footage while also thinking about Stiles. She hadn't noticed many signs of FTD, but the others clearly had. She wasn't fully convinced that they had all the answers yet. She was trying to think up any other culprits for the changes in him. So far she had come up with demonic possession, alien illness, and time travel. Though, that last one she could admit was a stretch. Kira, while worried about Stiles, was more focused on taking notes for the others. She may not have known them long, but she knew that neither Scott nor Cora would be paying attention, and the others needed Lydia's notes to pass their classes, but Lydia wasn't there.

And lastly was Scott, Scott was doing the worst out of the five of them. However bad things had gotten in Scott's life, he'd always had Stiles there to help him. When his dad left, Stiles was there to comfort him. When he turned into a werewolf, Stiles tried to help him, even though he was going through the exact same thing and Scott was stubbornly refusing to even believe the change. When Scott accused Derek of murdering Laura and turning them, Stiles took a step back, but the moment Scott approached him again, Stiles listened and gave Scott a second chance and tried to help him again. Stiles was always there when Scott needed him. Except for that one time he had been kidnapped by Gerard, but even then, Scott knew what was going on and how to help him. Same thing for when he was tortured by the Alpha pack.

Derek had told them he believed Stiles was possessed, and it was awful, but it was bearable. Scott had an answer and hoped to save his best friend. Then his mum had the theory that Stiles had frontotemporal dementia, the same disease that had killed Claudia Stilinski. It threw him off kilter. Then this morning, the Sheriff had gone and added fuel to that fire. His instincts told him that Derek's theory was the correct one, but there was still that niggling doubt in the back of his head. The worry that the problem was something that he couldn't fix. He didn't even have time to talk about it with his mates, or Derek, or Lydia, before they had to go their separate ways. Isaac and Allison were together and could discuss it when Chris was out of earshot. The same could be said for Lydia and Derek. Scott didn't have anybody there that he could talk to. Derek didn't want anybody else to know, and Scott didn't want to disobey his alpha. Then again, the people he was with had also managed to talk him into skipping school after this, which will be disobeying his Alpha, but Scott convinced himself that it was different, though he still felt uneasy about it.

Maybe he wouldn't have minded, if it were Stiles asking him to do so.

Yeah, he wouldn't mind at all. Sure, he'd bitch and moan about it, but ultimately he would follow Stiles anywhere he asked. He was his best friend. His brother. His confidant. Scott made stupid decisions on his own. Sure, he and Stiles often made stupid decisions together, but they always turned out for the better.

Back when he had first turned, Scott had lost sight of how important friendship was. He loved the freedom his abilities had granted him, but he didn't want any of the burdens. He hadn't asked for the change, he hadn't been given a choice. He felt like he should get to enjoy the good parts and ignore the bad, he had been so focused on Allison and lacrosse and popularity that he had let Stiles down. A few times. But through it all, Stiles kept giving him more chances. He stuck with Scott and supported him through the hard times. He helped Scott learn better control, while he was still learning himself.

Every time Scott fell down, Stiles was there to pick him up. It was something Scott had tried to do in return, but he often missed his chances. Someone else helped Stiles before Scott could. Derek, Lydia, the sheriff, hell, even Jackson had been there to help Stiles when Scott hadn't been. What if he missed his chance again, but nobody else was there to help?

Scott wasn't doing anything. His best friend was missing, either ill or possessed, and Scott was sitting on his ass, doing nothing. Why wasn't he doing anything?

The thought crossed Scott's mind that if the roles were reversed, Stiles wouldn't have even gone to school. He would be out there, searching for Scott every waking second. He should be doing the same, dammit. He was a terrible friend. As the dark thoughts clouded Scott's mind, his breath tightened.

Fear like no other overtook him at the thought of letting Stiles down. He felt like he couldn't breathe. It was different from an asthma attack, and from wolfsbane, but no less terrifying than either. He could hear his own heartbeat pounding rapidly, but it sounded like he was hearing it underwater.

"Really concerning chemo-signals and breathing you've got there, McCall," Cora told Scott in concern, though her voice was barely above a whisper, "You okay?"

"Is everything alright, Mr McCall?" Kira's dad called out, also sounding very concerned, "You don't look too well. Do you need to go to the nurses office?"

"Er, yes, he does." Cora stated as she helped Scott to his feet. Once he was on his feet, he tried to pull free. "C'mon Scott, calm down, I'm trying to help you."

"No, stay here." Scott managed to gasp out.

"Dude, are you sure?" Danny asked, obviously dubious, before Cora could say anything. Scott didn't reply verbally, but nodded in confirmation as he half walked, half stumbled out of the room.

As quickly as he could do so without it being suspicious, Scott rushed out of the classroom and shut the door behind him. He decided to forgo the nurses office, given that his mum was at the hospital that day. Desperate for somewhere he could be alone, he ran to the locker room, knowing that it would be empty at this time.

Now of course, he knew he must have been breathing or else he would have passed out by now, but Scott didn't feel like he was.

Dizziness prickled at Scott as he desperately tried to force the air into his lungs, he felt light-headed, he felt terrified, he felt... Far too warm. He ran to the showers where it was coolest. He shrugged off his leather jacket along the way, leaving it forgotten on the floor behind him.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Sheriff." Tara greeted in surprise when John walked through the doors of the station that morning. "I though your shift didn't start until three."

"It doesn't," He informed her with a confused frown. "I thought today was your day off."

"It was," She told him with a small smile, "But Posey was at a halloween party last night, and drank a little too much. Apparently, Derek showed up and shut the party down, so-"

"Posey went to the blacklight party at the loft?" John asked in amusement, it was a welcome distraction from the crushing fear he felt since he started noticing symptoms in his son. That fear was still there, under the amusement, but it was nice to feel something else nonetheless.

"Yeah, he was there with some of his drag queen friends who know Stiles and the others from the jungle." She commented with a twinkle in her eyes. "Want me to ask Posey to-" She cut herself off midquestion when John's face morphed into an anguished expression. "What's wrong? Is Stiles okay?"

"I don't know," John sighed as tears flooded his eyes. "I don't think so."

"Okay," Tara began carefully as she rose from her seat and walked around the desk to reach the distraught man. "Tell me what happened."

"Gather everyone first," John requested, though it sounded more like an order. "I only want to go over this once."

"Of course," Tara agreed with a nod even as she took John by the shoulders. "Let's get you sat down, then I'll bring everyone to you."

John nodded and allowed her to guide him to a seat, he didn't have much fight left in him. He had managed to stay strong through breakfast with the pack, but his only child was missing and probably suffering from the same disease that had claimed his wife's life seven years prior. A man could only take so much.

He wouldn't let himself break down completely though, not in front of his employees, and certainly not when Stiles needed him to find him.

He ignored the concerned looks he was getting from his staff as they slowly gathered around him. Once Tara nodded to indicate that everybody currently in the station was present, John stood up and addressed them all.

"Hey everyone, I'm sorry for interrupting your work, but I need your help." He began, causing the tension and concern from everyone in the room to heighten. "My son, Stiles, went missing last night at around 2am." He told them as was met with shocked gasps and immediate whispers. "Please, let me finish." He requested as politely as he could muster and all conversation ceased. "Thank you. The pack, Chris Argent and myself have been out all night looking for him. Not only have none of the wolves been able to catch his scent, but he hasn't shown up on any surveillance footage, or traffic cameras that we've checked so far."

Although they remained silent, the staff members of the BHPD shared heavy looks. They all knew Stiles well, many of them knew him from back when he was a child and John himself was still a deputy. They also knew how much he meant to John. Those who had seen the changes in John after Claudia had passed were even more concerned than the rest, moreso when John continued to speak.

"It is highly probable that, despite his enhanced healing, Stiles is suffering from Frontotemporal Dementia," John informed them reluctantly, those who were aware of how Claudia had died gasped and/or sent John sympathetic looks. "He could have a dissociative episode at any time, or even be sleepwalking when we find him, so you should all be careful. Lately he hasn't been able to shift into werewolf form, but you should still be cautious. That could change at any moment and even if it doesn't, if he's having an episode, he may see any one of you as a threat, so approach with caution. If he is found, I ask that you take him straight to the hospital. If you wouldn't mind?"

"Of course we don't mind, John." Deputy Paul Hobbs, who had been on the force almost as long as John, assured the man, somewhat incredulously. "I'll stay on and cover your shift later too, you need to be out there looking. Out of uniform." Outside of the law was what he meant, but nobody commented.

"Thank you, Paul, but that won't be necessary." John smiled gratefully at his long-time friend. "Parrish was on patrol with Derek last night when the Pack realised that Stiles was missing and already offered to take my shift."

"'Realised'? They weren't with him?" Tara asked with a frown, which caused John to sigh again.

"Yeah, this is where it gets complicated." John huffed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Those creatures who attacked Isaac the night before last? Well, they came back."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"This is boring. I'm bored." Malia complained from her position sprawled out on the sofa. She was upside down with her feet hanging over the back of the sofa, and her head hanging off the edge so that she was watching the TV upside down. "I thought having someone here with me all day would make it more fun, but then I got stuck with you three."

"How sweet," Aiden replied sarcastically.

"We're touched." Ethan added in the same tone as his brother.

"Are you kidding me? C'mon, Ethan, you're a sore loser who quit after one game. Boyd is just reading." Malia complained and the wolf didn't even glance up at the mention of his name. "And you, Aidan, just wanna watch TV. All I do is study and watch TV all day when my dad is at work and you guys are at school."

"Er, what's wrong with that?" Aidan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, it sounds like a good life to me." Ethan added without thinking.

"Not including the studying part, of course." Aiden corrected with a smirk.

Outwardly rumbling a low growl, Malia ran her hands over her face as she reminded herself that she wasn't allowed to kill people, especially not people in her Pack. Even if they were boring and wouldn't do anything fun.

Of course, Derek and Stiles were very clear that the only reason to kill someone was in self defence. Except for animals, because group hunts in a werewolf pack were a bonding experience. Upon learning of vegetarian and vegan diets, Malia momentarily questioned why she and the rest of the pack felt the urge to consume animals rather than plants, when they themselves were animals, in a sense. She then recalled learning about the food chain and chalked it up to that. Then she learned of how different species require different nutrients, and different levels of certain nutrients and decided that that probably played a factor too.

Ugh, now she was thinking about educational stuff, learning was scheduled between 10am and 12pm, and 1pm and 3pm. Plus help from the pack between 7pm and 8pm. It was barely 9am. She needed to do something fun.

"Oh, for fucks sake, you're boring! Can't we train, or search for Stiles, or something?" Malia asked as she placed her hands on the floor, above her head, and pushed herself up into a handstand. She then began walking around the room on her hands.

Eyes finally moving from his book, Boyd looked at Malia and asked "Where did you learn that word?"

Malia paused her movements but remained in a handstand with a confused expression for a moment.

"Which word do you-" Malia began, only for realisation to hit mid sentence, so she cut herself off and spoke her realisation. "Oh, you mean fuck? My dad says it a lot, so do most of the other parents, Jackson, Cora, Erica, and Isaac do too when Derek and Scott aren't around, so does Stiles when he thinks nobody is in earshot. " Malia explained as she resumed walking on her hands.

"Okay, well, it's swearing." Boyd informed her as he returned to reading his book.

"No, I know that." Malia replied, completely unbothered by that fact. "I'm a teenager now, isn't swearing, like, a requirement of being a teen?"

"Oh, definitely." Aidan agreed easily.

Ethan shook his head and corrected them with a fond smile. "It's not a requirement. You can choose not to swear. However, it is definitely a right of being a teen."

"Yeah. Can't argue with that." Aidan responded easily.

"Okay, good to know. Anyway, can we train? Or search for Stiles?" Malia asked again.

"I wish, but I've gotta say no, I'm afraid," Ethan sighed in disappointment "We're not allowed to leave the house in case you're attacked or Peter needs something." Ethan reminded her as he shrugged his shoulders, trying to act dismissive over the fact. "Unless it's to search for Stiles, but that's only a mile radius from the house, and only after lunch so that we don't distract Derek and Lydia."

"Right, and we're good little betas now who always obey the Alpha." Aiden said mockingly, as he aimed a pointed look at his brother.

As they bickered, Boyd shook his head at the pair of them. They were both missing the obvious solution.

Very obvious.

It was literally two floors below them.

"So, does that mean we can't train?" Malia interrupted the twins' bickering as she frowned in disappointment and let out a loud sigh. Boyd decided to give her a pass on missing the obvious because she had only been in human form, and a part of the pack, for a week or so. She pushed herself out of her handstand and into a flip and landed easily on her feet. Her face was red from being upside down for so long, but she didn't care. "There's gotta be somewhere in the huge house to blow off some steam."

"There's always the bunker." Boyd reminded them as he turned the page of his book. He was fond of that nickname for the second basement too. "There's a training room."

"Right! I totally forgot about that," Ethan smiled excitedly as he remembered. How he and Aidan had forgotten about it in the first place was a mystery. "There's an open area for fighting, and there's weapons, targets and gym equipment down there."

"So, we can train?" Malia asked, somewhere between hopeful and unsure. She had been told about the gym before, and shown it during the house tour, but she hadn't properly been in there yet. She had only really been down in the bunker for planning in the library.

"Go for it," Boyd encouraged, his eyes still hadn't left his book since addressing Malia's swearing, he was half way though the book and it was finally getting interesting. "I'll keep an ear out for Peter. I'll check on you when I've finished this chapter."

Malia beamed at him gratefully.

"Thank you, can I give you a hug?" She asked. She liked hugs, and Boyd gave great ones. She had picked up on some social cues already and only asked permission because he was reading and she knew that he, Derek, Stiles, Lydia, and Danny hated it when you blocked their view of their book without warning. She didn't want to annoy Boyd, especially because he was clearly in charge right now. Boyd slipped his bookmark in place, closed the book and placed it on the armrest. He then stood up and opened his arms.

Malia rushed over and hugged him. The hug lasted for at least a minute before she let him go and then she, Ethan, and Aidan made their way to the second basement, leaving Boyd alone in the living room with his book.

Picking up his book with a small smile, Boyd sat back down as he opened it and resumed reading. As he did so, Boyd listened until he heard them enter the secret passageway in the first basement that concealed the only way into the second basement other than the tunnels. After that it was impossible to hear them.

Letting his full focus return to his book, Boyd allowed himself to sink into his chair.

He had just finished the page he was on and was eagerly turning to the next one, when Peter's voice called out from upstairs:

"Anybody still here? Would somebody mind getting me a cup of tea?"

Clenching his teeth as his eyes glowing yellow, Boyd growled in frustration and slipped his bookmark in place. He then stood up and moved to do as he was asked.

Even though he really didn't want to leave his book, Peter was Pack and the uncle of his alpha and Cora. Besides, he still hadn't recovered from whatever happened the day before, and then he had been attacked by the demonic ninjas like the rest of them.

Therefore, Boyd would take pity on him and get him a cup of tea, and food if necessary.

But only until the born-wolf had recovered.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Wandering through the woods, Derek and Lydia were searching for any trace of Stiles, or clues to where he had gone.

"That's enough silence," Lydia began as she stepped over a large, fallen tree branch. "Before the sheriff joins us on our search, I have to ask; do you believe his theory about Stiles having Frontotemporal Dementia?"

Without letting any emotion show, Derek immediately deflected the question by asking, "Do you?"

Lydia sighed. Deep down she had known that the alpha wouldn't make this conversation easy, but she had hoped.

"I think his theory has compelling evidence." Lydia confessed after a moment. She had decided after a moment of consideration that it would be the smartest course of action to answer the question first as it might incline the alpha to do the same. "A lot of what is happening to Stiles could be attributed to FTD, and, like the Sheriff said, he's seen it all before with Claudia."

"You think it's true, then?" Derek asked for confirmation.

"Oh, no. Not at all," Lydia replied honestly. Derek raised an eyebrow in question, so she elaborated. "It's too obvious. Too perfect. The sheriff said that other than what they obsessed over, all of their symptoms were the same. But there are other symptoms of FTD. I'll need to ask the sheriff a few questions when he gets here, but first I have to ask you." Lydia suddenly stopped walking, and the alpha quickly did the same.

Once Derek was looking at her, Lydia continued. "I know these questions are personal, but I need you to answer honestly, okay?" Her expression and tone told Derek that the questions she was about to ask were important, but he knew he wouldn't like them.

"Uh, okay." Derek agreed, though his uncertainty was obvious.

"Let's start with an easy one; has he been acting differently in the bedroom?" She asked. Derek hesitated to answer due to his surprise, but Lydia apparently took his silence for confusion. "Y'know, sexually? More or less active? Increase in aggression during-"

"Okay, I get what you're asking." Derek cut her off suddenly. "We haven't had sex since Bardo started." He confessed after a short pause.

"Okay, thank you." Lydia nodded as she mentally filed that away. "Has he put on weight?"

Derek growled at the question, Lydia kept her cool and waited patiently for an answer.

"What? Why does that matter?" Derek demanded as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Look, Derek, my questions aren't to judge him, they're to help me find the truth. The sheriff noticed that Stiles is eating more and so have I, but he doesn't look like he's gained any weight, in fact he looks like he's lost it." Lydia explained calmly, which caused Derek to relax from his defensive stance. "So I'll ask again; has he put on weight?"

"I don't know." Derek tried to lie. Less than a second later, the facade crumbled and a sigh left the alpha's lips. "No." Derek admitted, causing the girl to nod as she again mentally filed the fact away. "He has lost weight, a lot of it, actually. I've been trying to get him to eat more because of it, but no matter how much he eats, the weight just keeps dropping off."

"That's not normal, Derek," Lydia was quick to point out, keen to adduce possession as Stiles' issue, opposed to dementia, but Derek still appeared unconvinced, so she continued. "Not for a werewolf and not for somebody with dementia. Not even his metabolism, combined with the pack training sessions and his sleepwalking, could attribute the amount of weight he has lost. Not when you factor in how much he's eating." Lydia had stated.

Derek already knew that, of course he did, but his mind was at war with itself. Evidently, John's theory had really gotten into the alpha's head, because Derek's response was not what Lydia wanted to hear.

"You don't know that, all of our metabolisms have increased since connecting ourselves to the nemeton," Derek said, though his voice was drenched in uncertainty. Truthfully, Derek wasn't sure what to believe.

Of course, his mate being possessed would be awful, but at least it was something they could fight. Something Derek could help him defeat and move past. The same went for a spell, or curse, or anything of supernatural origin.

Until their pack meeting that morning, Derek had only considered supernatural forces as the cause of Stiles' change in behaviour and wellbeing, because he wanted it to be supernatural. And really, how fucked up was that? He was standing there, actively hoping that his mate was possessed.

It wasn't that simple, of course, but Derek was feeling a lot of self hatred that day, and Stiles wasn't there to hold him and whisper that it was all going to be okay.

Sure, Derek could turn to John or Melissa for support, or someone from his pack, but he had decided when he failed to find Stiles that morning that he didn't deserve comfort. Not as long as his mate was still missing.

Even though possession would be bad, at least he would have hope. Hope that when it was all over, Stiles would be alive and Derek and the Pack would be able to comfort and support him while he worked through it and (hopefully) moved past it.

Live their lives out together and put all of the unpleasantness of the past behind them.

Frontotemporal Dementia, however? That was an entirely different story. There was no cure and Derek would be powerless to help.

Had Stiles still been human, Derek would have offered to turn him, but apparently that might not have worked. If Stiles was suffering from dementia, Derek didn't want to consider what would happen.

Barely aware of Lydia's eyes on him, Derek lost himself to his thoughts.

He realised then that when you're a werewolf, especially a born-werewolf and an alpha, you forget just how many illnesses there are out there that can kill somebody painfully, and slowly, while remaining relatively unseen. How there were diseases that may not care how fast you heal, they'll still come for you. They don't discriminate between humans and werewolves, they don't care about the colour of your skin or your sexuality, they won't stop to ask if you had a family who wouldn't be able to survive without you, those diseases would take you anyway. Just because they can.

From the moment he was born, Derek thought that it would be possible for his mate (or any shifter) to get such an illnesses, but he might have been wrong about that.

If the nogitsune isn't possessing Stiles, but instead possessing somebody else in town, then Stiles could actually have dementia. Derek might lose him forever.

There was this fantasy that had been in the back of his head since the moment Stiles realised and accepted that they were mates. Despite being a born-wolf and an alpha, Derek always pictured himself dying before his mate. Preferably of old age, a century or so down the line, after a long and happy life together getting married by human laws, adopting little orphan werewolf children together (because as two men, it was impossible to have children of their own, right?). Stiles would grieve, of course, but he would push through it.

If anybody could survive losing their mate, it was Stiles. Maybe he'd even move on from Derek, find somebody new to love. Of course, Derek wasn't thrilled at the thought of Stiles being with anybody else, but above all, Derek just wanted his mate to be happy.

Yesterday, he would have punched anyone who would dare suggest that Stiles might die first, but if that did happen? Then fuck happiness.

If anything happened to Stiles, Derek would be lost. He would literally fall apart, and not even his pack would be able to hold him together. He would spiral and push everyone away. He would never be able to recover from the loss. The agony. The horror of losing almost his entire pack all those years ago was painful and devastating. But the pain Derek was feeling right now? The pain that came from not knowing where Stiles was or what was happening to him was just as painful as that night had been. Derek knew that mate bonds were strong but it had never been this bad before. Not when Gerard had kidnapped and tortured Stiles, or when the Alpha Pack had tortured him. Both instances had been agonising in their own way, but this was something else.

Despite the alpha's belief, the truth was that if Derek outlived Stiles, he would not fall into a pit of despair because his Pack would not let him. They would support him through his grief and help him get back on his feet. His love for his Pack would keep him focused on helping them through their own grief too and being the alpha they deserved, and his desire to honour Stiles' memory would help guide him to do the next right thing. Then he would finally understand what Stiles saw in him all those years before. At the moment, however, he was regressing into toxic mindsets and behaviours. And that wouldn't do anybody any favours.

Reality was fading around Derek, and Lydia had noticed. Though she had noticed the alpha getting lost in his own head from the get go, Lydia waited until she could tell he was following a dark train of thought to snap him out of it.

"Derek, listen to me, okay?" Lydia began firmly, when the alpha looked at her, she continued, "Your mum and Deaton both said that a Nogitsune is in town, though neither would say how they knew what it was, or what it is that the creature is after-"

"Sure, they were rather cryptic, but they both heavily implied that the primary purpose of a Nogitsunes' existence was to cause chaos and destruction." Derek reminded her with a tone very reminiscent of his mate. The Banshee was unfazed, having grown accustomed to both Stiles and Derek over the nine months since Peter Hale had bitten Scott and Stiles. Besides, he had just given her a new angle to work with.

"Okay, then let's think, what could be more chaotic than the sheriff, a pack of supernatural creatures, and a bunch of humans who run with wolves, running around town in panic because they fear for their pack mum?" Lydia asked rhetorically. Derek could feel a frown forming on his face as he thought of the repercussions of that scenario. Though his imagination was only half as bad as what Lydia had imagined, and that terrified him.

"The nogitsune could have set up traps all over town." Lydia suggested, "We're all looking for Stiles, what if that's exactly what it wants? Stiles and I thought that Barrow might have planned to blow up the school. What if the nogitsune decided to use that idea? Or took one of Stiles' other pranks and turned it into a deadly trap. We may be in pairs and groups, but the pack is still divided right now. We're easier targets." At Derek's questioning look, Lydia elaborated, "Easier. I'm not saying we'll be easy targets, we never are and we never will be." Now that was definitely true.

"It's something to consider." Derek nodded in agreement. "What do you suggest?"

"Before I can suggest anything, I need to know; how do we defeat a Nogitsune?" Lydia asked. "I haven't managed to find anything in our Pack bestiary or any of my books yet. The Argent bestiary doesn't even mention Nogitsunes. There's a small section on kitsunes that mentions eight of the twelve kinds, but that's it. Nothing I've read has any mention of how to stop one."

"That's because no one has found a way yet." Derek informed Lydia trying to keep the worried frown off of his face. He failed. "Nobody has ever survived being possessed by a nogitsune," And that was the worst part of it all. "Whenever one shows up, it always ends up slaughtering hundreds of people or more before disappearing, or turning up dead." He told her honestly, and barely kept himself together as he did so.

Derek could try to convince himself that if Stiles was possessed they'd be able to free him all he wanted, but that fact was always in the back of his head. Reminding him that whether he was suffering from dementia, or being possessed by a nogitsune, the most likely outcome at the end of it all was that Derek would lose his mate. Neither problem had a set solution or 'cure'. Of course, the banshee didn't feel the same hopelessness that Derek felt as she held her head high.

"Yet," Lydia told him firmly. "Nobody has survived yet, but we will find a way. We will save him. No matter what."

"But what if we can't?" Derek didn't mean to ask that question, it just spilled from his lips before he registered it.

"Listen to me, Derek Hale. Unless a meteor crashes down and ends the world, we can and will find a way." Lydia stated with a tone that left no room for arguments, and a steely expression on her face. "We Hales are strong, determined, loyal, and most of all, we are stubborn."

Smiling through his fears, Derek felt tears of joy form in his eyes when Lydia referred to herself as a Hale. Sure, she had referred to herself as a member of the Hale pack several times by this point, but this felt different. Bigger.

Except, Lydia didn't seem to notice as she soldiered on.

"One thing that is certain in this crazy world is that we won't let anything bad happen to our pack. So nobody has survived a nogitsune before now," She shrugged uncaringly. "So what? No coyote had ever joined a werewolf pack before Malia joined us. The same goes for Kitsune's and Kira, I know it's not official yet, but we all know how this is gonna go." Lydia said and Derek nodded in agreement. "No alpha had risen to true alpha before you. No werewolves have been known to merge together before the twins. Bitten wolves achieving full shift is almost unheard of, but you didn't tell them that and now your entire pack can shift into full wolf form. No pack has ever bound themselves to a nemeton before and used that power to benefit the town, instead of going power-crazy-"

"Now, hold up a second. That was a possibility?" The alpha demanded, his eyes glowing red. He was angry that she and Stiles hadn't warned him about that when they were preparing for the ritual. Stiles was his anchor, and he wasn't himself, therefore Derek had a short fuse. Hence his eyes glowing. His love for his pack and desire to protect them prevented him from actually harming them though, so Lydia wasn't worried.

"That doesn't matter right now. My point is," Lydia continued, easily ignoring the Alpha's anger. Anchor present or not, Derek would never hurt his pack. It was a simple fact of life, like gravity, and the earth being round. "We have done things that nobody else has done before. Things people thought were impossible. I know that the sheriff is wrong. It's the nogitsune that's tricking us into thinking that Stiles is sick." She was insistent, trying to make the alpha believe her. "It wants us distracted, so that we can't find a way to stop it. It knows that we will stop at nothing to protect our family. Our Pack. It knows that we are the only ones on this planet who are crazy enough to find a way. Stiles is crazy enough and stubborn enough to survive long enough for us to find a solution. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if before we managed to save him, Stiles annoyed the nogitsune into leaving his body." The banshee joked lightly, earning her a small chuckle from the alpha. "We can't waste time debating what's going on. We need to focus on finding that solution."

Yet again, Derek didn't respond immediately.

"I mean, come on Derek, even if you think John is right, wouldn't you rather be sure?" Lydia added when Derek still held an aura of uncertainty. Letting his rational side win out, the alpha nodded. "Possession was your theory to begin with and it's just as feasible as dementia. Better yet, it's something we can fight. Shouldn't we at least try?"

"You're right." Derek agreed. "Melissa will be looking into the medical side of things. We need to cover all of our bases. We can't let him down by only looking into a solution to one of the possibilities."

A bright smile illuminated her face and Lydia looked extremely pleased with the outcome of the argument, even if Derek wasn't completely convinced. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly, then began to walk forward again, the alpha followed easily.

"I think we should-" The redhead suddenly cut herself off when she heard something. "Did you hear that?" Growing still at the question, Derek listened for any other sounds.

"I heard a branch snapping just before you spoke and now I hear birds, rabbits and deer." Derek told her after a moment. "What did you hear?"

"It was only for a second, but a moment ago I heard whispering." Lydia explained as Derek watched her carefully, "Really weird whispering. Not the usual voices. It's not the banshees" Lydia replied as she crouched down slowly.

"Okay. Wait, did you say 'Not the Banshees'?" Derek repeated for confirmation, and Lydia only nodded. "Are you sure we can trust them?"

Nodded again, Lydia whispered, "Yes." She turned to look at Derek. "This isn't like when I heard Peter, or anything I heard when the Darach was around. This is something different. It's not dark." Derek opened his mouth to ask a question, but Lydia spoke again and answered it. "I'm not sure they're 'good' either. I think they're neutral. But they want to help us."

"Are you sure about this?" Derek asked and Lydia nodded with determination clear in her eyes. "Okay then."

He nodded once and gestured for her to continue. Immediately, Lydia turned her head so that she was facing forwards again, then closed her eyes and listened intently, but she didn't hear anything else. She crouched down, reached out and felt around for a twig or branch. The moment she felt her fingers brush against one, she picked it up and snapped it.

Expectedly, the whispering returned. She repeated the process a couple of times to get the full message before she opened her eyes and looked up at Derek. "We need to go to the library in our second basement."

"Slow down, are you sure about this?" Derek asked again as Lydia shot up and began power walking towards the house. "I trust you, but I need to know what makes you believe we can trust them?"

"I just know it. It's hard to explain, but they don't feel evil." Lydia informed him. "They're new to me, but I think they're old. Really old. And I know they're trying to help."

"Right," Derek sighed, "Okay, I still want to know as much about them as I can, but I trust your judgement. We'll follow their advice for now. Besides, we don't have many other options." Derek informed her honestly and diplomatically. "We need to be cautious though, we don't know what the Nogitsune is capable of. We know it's a powerful, dark, trickster spirit, but that's all. You're armed right?"

"That is the most asinine question I have ever heard Derek. And my mother once asked me if we were doing my hair. 'Am I armed'? Of course I'm armed!" Lydia replied incredulously. "You know I never leave home without a weapon. I understand your trepidation about this, but I know that this isn't a trick. I can feel it."

"Alright, but the first sign of trouble and you escape through the house, not the tunnels, and warn the others while I hold off whoever may attack us."

Cheekily smiling as she nodded in agreement, Lydia spoke in a teasingly patronising manner as she assured the Alpha.

"Sure. I mean, nobody is going to attack us, but sure." Lydia agreed as they walked side by side towards the house. "You still don't believe me do you?" There was a heavy sigh exhaled from his lips before Derek replied.

"Everything that we've been through has taught me enough to know better than to write off your instincts," Derek began, trying to keep the situation from escalating to an argument. "It's not that I don't believe you, but I have to consider all possibilities if I want to help Stiles. So let's just get this over with."

"Easy with the enthusiasm." Lydia drawled with a grin. Derek looked unimpressed. "Not in the mood for sarcasm, got it."

There was nothing left to say as they made their way to the house.

After a few minutes, they arrived home.

Ready to begin the search, Lydia marched up the porch steps and flung open the front door.

Less than a second had passed since they walked inside when they were greeted by Boyd.

"Hey, is everything okay? Did you find something?" Boyd asked hopefully.

Frowning, Derek shook his head.

"Knowing Lydia though, we will soon. She has a feeling that we need to check the library downstairs. We probably won't be here long. Is there anything you need while I'm here?" He asked, and though he hid it well, he had hoped that Boyd would say yes.

Lydia was insistent, but the library was one of Stiles' favourite places to scheme. It was always flooded with his scent. Right now that would only serve to upset Derek further. Unfortunately, Boyd shook his head.

"I got it covered. Peter is settled now that he has his snack and cup of tea," Boyd informed the Alpha as he rolled his eyes. "And Malia and the twins are training in the basement. I just want to read my book."

Knowing that the book she had recommended was the one he was currently hooked on, Lydia smirked. "Where are you up to?"

"End of Chapter 13, three pages left," Boyd told her, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "its getting really good."

"You know, I wondered why you volunteered to take the day off of school," Derek commented with a chuckle that he hoped seemed natural. "Now I get it."

One of Boyd's biggest characteristics was his drive. He was insistent on getting good grades and maintaining a near perfect attendance record because he was determined to get into a good college. Derek had been admittedly surprised when he had volunteered to stay home, but Boyd had near perfect attendance and the drive to catch up on missed work quickly, so he had been too grateful to question it. Better he skip school than one of the others that Derek had ordered to attend.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Boyd responded with a blank expression, though mischief shone in his eyes. He had so many questions he wanted to ask them both, but he knew it wasn't the right time. So Boyd remained quiet, waiting for the right moment.

Besides, the truth was that he had wanted the day off of school because he knew that Cora wouldn't be allowed and Derek would be out all day, and Cora would want somebody she trusted impeccably to watch over Malia. Before finding Malia, Cora had believed that she only had two blood relatives left alive. Since finding out about Malia, she had been overjoyed and spent as much time building a bond with the girl as she could. She would be devastated if anything happened to the girl.

"Read away, Boyd. Unless you change your mind and join us in the library, then we'll leave you to it. C'mon Derek, there's no time for chit chat." Lydia declared as she grabbed Derek by the hand. "Basement. Now."

"See you later," Boyd called out before returning to the living room.

Even though he wanted to protest, Derek went along anyway. Besides, if it got to be too much for him, he could always use the twins and Malia training as an excuse to leave the library and check on them.

Lydia was walking quickly through the house, taking the fastest route to the basement. Once they entered the hidden passageways and could no longer be heard, Lydia spoke to Derek again. "Why don't you want to go to the library?"

Frowning at the girl, Derek raised an eyebrow.

"Why would I want to go down there?" He asked rhetorically. "It's where Stiles plots regularly. If he is the one possessed by the nogitsune, we could find a treasure trove of pranks and plans that it can turn into something far more deadly."

"You know what, Derek? You make an excellent point." Lydia stated with a small nod. "Maybe you should go in first, enhanced healing and all."

"Okay, sure. That was already the plan," Derek pointed out as he rolled his eyes.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

After going to the station and explaining to the on duty staff the situation, John decided to stop by the hospital and talk to Melissa. He found the woman fairly easily and forced a smile onto his face as he approached her. It was a weak smile, but he tried.

"Hey, any news about Stiles?" Melissa asked hopefully when she looked up and saw the man approaching her.

"No, not yet, but I need to talk to you about something." John told her as he arrived at the desk.

"Actually, I need to talk to you about something too." Melissa confessed as she stood from her chair and walked around the desk. She glanced around, to see if anyone was nearby and potentially listening in, then whispered to the sheriff. "Yesterday, at school, I saw Stiles at school after the pack brought him to me. You know that Stiles woke up from a blackout at school and couldn't remember anything after Barrow electrocuted him, right?" She asked rhetorically but John felt inclined to nod anyway. "Well, I asked him a few routine questions, about his symptoms and," Melissa paused to take a shuddered breath.

"It's okay." John assured the woman he loved as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. As he did so, he used his other hand to pull a notebook out of his pocket. "I've been noticing some symptoms myself, over the past two weeks." The sheriff reluctantly let go of the Nurse's shoulder so that he could open the notebook to the correct page. He then handed her the notebook.

Melissa read the list. She barely bit back her sigh at what she saw written. She was unsurprised by what she read, but she hated it. More than anything, she had wanted to be wrong. Not just for Stiles, but for Scott, John, Derek, herself, the entire Pack really. Losing Stiles would devastate them all.

'Impulsive, Hallucinations, Insomnia, Night Terrors, Dissociative, Confusion.'

"I think we need to do some tests." John said solemnly, his eyes fixed on the wall as he spoke. "But first, I need to find him."

"You go do that." Melissa encouraged with a nod. "And when you find him, I promise you that I will do everything that I can to help him."

"I know. Thank you." John smiled softly, finally meeting her eyes again. He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. When they parted, he smiled once more, though it still didn't look genuine. "I'll see you later, Jackson will be here soon for if you need anything, or if Stiles shows up."

"He's already here. I just sent him to get us some coffee." Melissa wanted to argue that she didn't need protection, but she knew that John would only worry more if she were alone. He needed to focus on finding and saving his son, and if dealing with a babysitter who was more than half her age meant that he would have one less distraction when doing that, Melissa would put up with it. "Be careful. Don't go anywhere alone."

"I'm meeting up with Derek and Lydia to search." He assured her as he stepped away from her. "You be careful too."

"I will." Melissa promised. John nodded then turned and walked away, laser-focused on finding his son.

"But it's you I'm worried about." Melissa whispered her confession once he was out of sight. She sighed as she made her way around the desk and sat in her chair once more. Less than a second later she got an alert and was back on her feet, going to check on a patient.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

'I'm an idiot. For fucks sake', Scott thought to himself as he tried to breath. He had gotten out of the classroom, only to hide in the locker room?

Dammit, Stiles needed him! What was he doing?

Overwhelmed by his self deprecation, Scott tried to get up, but he still couldn't breath, he couldn't think clearly. His mind was flooded with terrible visions of Stiles hurt or worse. It was making everything so much worse.

Nothing he tried to calm himself down was working, which only exasperated his panic attack and spiral of self-hatred.

The though crossed his mind that maybe he should have let someone from his pack come with him, to help him through whatever this was. But honestly, anyone other than Stiles or his mates would only have made it worse.

Knowing that was the only thing that kept Scott from texting for help.

Not that he'd be able to really say what he needed help with, other than the fact that it felt like he couldn't breathe. Rather suddenly, Scott felt somebody grab his hand and place something in it.

Opening his eyes, Scott looked to see his inhaler. Unthinkingly, he brought it to his lips and took a hit. That's when he finally registered that someone was talking to him.

"-With me. It's okay Scotty, that's it," A soothing voice encouraged, a voice that Scott would recognise anywhere.

His best friend's voice. Stiles' voice. Scott moved his eyes to look and sure enough, there he was.

Only, he didn't look well. The slightly older teen was pale, even more so than usual. He was wearing the clothes from the night before, although they were now dirty and torn. His hair was filthy and messed up, and he was barefoot.

While his brain tried to process what he was seeing, Scott opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to ask where Stiles had been, if he was okay, what had happened, etc. But that's not what left his mouth.

"Was I-? I was having an asthma attack?" Scott asked in confusion. It wasn't like any asthma attack he'd ever had before.

"Er, no, you were having a panic attack." Stiles corrected casually, as though he hadn't disappeared the night before. "I used to get 'em after my mum died, then again when Peter attacked Erica and hospitalised Lydia again," Stiles added. "Plus a couple when Derek was away, and that one during Bardo, but you were there for those."

Eyes scanning Stiles' form, Scott couldn't hold back from reaching out and touching Stiles' arm.

"No, wait, dude, what the hell happened to you? Where have you been?" Scott finally managed to ask. "We've been looking for you all night."

"Dude, are you feeling okay?" A concerned frown appeared on Stiles' face as he looked over Scott, as though he was checking for injuries. "What are you talking about? We just had breakfast together, all of us, even Kira and Malia. Derek said we could use the loft for the party tonight, which I'm still mad that you didn't tell me about, by the way. We were talking about it during lunch, and then you started having a panic attack and rushed out of the cafeteria."

"Er, no, Stiles," Scott corrected as he shook his head. "That was yesterday, but I didn't have a panic attack in the cafeteria. You forgot where you were and forgot everything in between being electrocuted by Barrow in the power station and sitting in the cafeteria, remember? The party was last night, you were there. You disappeared around 2am, we couldn't find you anywhere." Scott explained, attempting to be as gentle as possible, but it was difficult to do so when he suddenly remembered that he probably wasn't speaking to Stiles at all.

"Don't try to confuse me, Scott," 'Stiles' whimpered, looking and sounding distraught, betrayed and angry all at once. "Not you, Scotty. You're my best friend. Don't do this to me."

Urgently shaking his head, Scott protested, "I'm not doing anything to you, I promise! I'm trying to help you," Scott told 'Stiles' honestly, "Look, we need to get you to the hospital. My mom is there now getting a room ready for you. We need to call your dad and Derek, they're out there looking for you right now, with Lydia."

"Please don't. Don't bother them with this, please Scott!" He practically begged as tears flooded his eyes. He gripped Scott's arms tightly, and pulled the teen wolf closer, "Please, Scotty, don't bother them with this, I'll go to the hospital, okay? Just don't tell my dad and Derek, Okay?"

His eyes shone with desperation and tears, and despite knowing that Stiles wasn't currently himself, Scott still couldn't refuse him.

"Er, fine, but I'm taking you to the hospital right now." Scott stated firmly as he rose to his feet and helped Stiles do the same.

Ready with a protest, 'Stiles' shook his head.

"Every time there's a chance to skip school." He muttered. "No. No, no, you need to stay, get your education." Stiles insisted, in a very Stiles manner that almost made Scott forget the truth. Almost.

"I don't care. That's not as important as you. Besides, Derek said that I could leave early if you showed up at school." Scott insisted, not wanting to risk losing Stiles again until they figured out how to free him. While the Nogitsune was giving a very convincing performance of somebody who feared they were losing their mind, but were in a deep denial over it, Scott refused to give up on his best friend. If he believed that FTD was the cause of Stiles' strange behaviour then he would be giving up on any hope of saving him, and that was something Scott would never do. When 'Stiles' continued to refuse, Scott changed tactics.

"Derek already gave Jackson the day off school and told him to stay at the hospital with my mum in case you were injured when we found you." Scott explained. "How about I call him to pick you up?"

"Okay," Stiles nodded in absent minded agreement as he left the shower room in favour of sitting down on one of the benches in the locker room. Scott followed slowly as he pulled up Jackson's number, his eyes never leaving Stiles as he did so.

Not even three seconds after Scott pressed 'call', Jackson answered. Scott answered his sarcastic opening question by informing him that Stiles had shown up at the school, and asked if Jackson could come and get him. He also added that Stiles didn't want Derek or the sheriff to know, Jackson promised to 'take care of it' and stated that he'd be there in fifteen minutes, repeating his promise when Scott reminded him that it was a twenty five minute drive. Scott begged him not to break any laws on his way, but Jackson hung up on him.

Then Scott sighed and began to walk over to 'Stiles', the pale teen who sat on the bench with his head in his hands.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Jackson had just sat back down after getting himself and Melissa a coffee each and he already wanted to stand up and find another task. However, Melissa and other staff members had grown frustrated with his pacing, so he forced himself to remain seated.

Jackson couldn't help himself.

Nor could he help rolling his eyes whenever somebody asked if he was okay. Or the sarcastic comments he would snap in response. Or the bitch face he'd been wearing since he found out Stiles was missing and potentially suffering from dementia. He was stressed, to say the least.

He couldn't help it. With Stiles missing, Jackson's mind was in overdrive. He was again reflecting on the fact that his adoptive parents had never been that parental. He could never impress them. Whenever he would try talking to them about a problem or worry he had, they would try using money to fix the problem and that was that, no need to talk about it anymore. If Jackson was unhappy with something, that thing either disappeared, or he was told to shut up and deal with it. He never had the kind of parents that listened to him and guided him.

For years, Jackson took his anger and frustration out on others, like Scott and Stiles. He pretended to be fine to people who didn't really care about him (except for Lydia and Danny) and all the while he still tried to impress the Whittemores. He only ended up hurting himself even more when it was never enough. All of his achievements were seen as him living up to the Whittemore name, never as something special. His adoptive father would tell him that he was proud that Jackson was 'doing right by the Whittemore name' but he never once said that he was proud of Jackson.

Stiles and Derek always told Jackson that they were proud of him. When he got a good grade? "We're proud of you, Jackson." When he did well in training or a fight? "Excellent work Jackson, we're proud of you." When he did well on a full moon? "We're so proud of how far you've come." Every single time, Jackson listened to their heartbeats and every single time, they meant it.

He hates them at first.

Scott became incredible at Lacrosse, and suddenly Jackson's best achievement in his parent's eyes was being threatened by some dorky, asthmatic kid. Then Stilinski, the loser who had been panting over Lydia since the third grade, suddenly had a hot boyfriend (who Jackson first thought was hired by the loser to fake date him, then he thought Hale was McCall's drug dealer and probably just using Stilinski for sex, because that so called 'rule' was obviously bullshit.) and was having sleepovers at Lydia's house? Then Lydia was telling Jackson that she 'can't come over tonight, Jackson, I'm hanging out with Allison and Stiles' and then 'Stiles said the funniest thing' or 'Stiles showed me the funniest movie, we have to watch it!'. It was like testical left and right working together to take away everything good in his life.

Jackson would play nice in front of Lydia, but he still let the losers know how he really felt through sarcastic comments and dark looks. But that night in the school, Stiles protected him. Stiles knew that Scott would protect Allison with his life; he knew that Lydia could defend herself against the Alpha; he feared that Derek was dead; his dad was at the station and currently safe enough; Stiles was protecting Jackson. Then the hunters showed up and Stiles moved in front of Jackson to protect him. He wasn't even a wolf or part of the Pack yet, but Stiles was still treating him like he was.

Stiles let Jackson stay at his house and in the morning, he made him breakfast and helped him understand everything that he had learned that night. He went with Jackson to visit Lydia in the hospital.

When Lydia was hurt protecting Erica, the story of how Stiles had convinced Danny to track the text sent to Allison had actually managed to cheer Jackson up for a moment. After they had been allowed into the room, Stiles had convinced Jackson to come back to the Stilinski house and get some sleep. He had let Jackson sleep in his and Derek's bed. He had also taken the liberty, while Jackson was sleeping, of stealing Jackson's keys, going to his house and (technically) breaking in so that he could grab him a change of clothes. When Jackson woke up, Stiles cooked food for him. Well, he cooked for all of them, but still.

Stiles and Allison's obsessing over weapons, 90% of which they didn't even use, had really cheered Jackson up too, despite him trying to hide it. Stiles' goofy antics had distracted Jackson from his overwhelming worry for Lydia.

When Jackson saw Stiles (and Scott too, he supposed) choking on wolfsbane in the Argent house, he felt a fear he had never felt before. It was a different fear from that which he felt whenever he faced Peter, that was fear for his own life. It was different from the fear he felt whenever Lydia was hurt, that was fear of losing the only woman he had ever loved. It was more familial. He hated it. But he loved it.

When Peter turned Jackson, Stiles was the first to offer to help him learn self control. Derek had been about to offer, but Stiles beat him to it. Stiles had somehow managed to put aside all those years of bullying (and Stiles was usually one to hold a grudge) and helped Jackson without a second thought.

Since then Stiles only continued to help and support Jackson. They grew close. Close enough that Stiles was someone Jackson would now turn to when he was feeling low, or he had a lot on his mind. And knowing that Stiles was out there alone, suffering from something they couldn't fight with claws, bullets or arrows? That was killing Jackson. Derek had taken Lydia to help search for Stiles, and Danny had been sent to school, so there was nobody for Jackson to talk to about his feelings. Nobody that he felt comfortable enough to talk to about something that shook him so deeply, at least.

When his phone started ringing, he was grateful for the distraction, but disappointed when he saw that it was Scott. That disappointment quickly disappeared when he found out the reason for the call.

"What's up, McCall? Did the Demon Ninjas show up at school?"

"No." Scott said quietly down the phone. "But Stiles did." Jackson immediately shot up from his chair and headed towards the nearest elevator. "He's not looking so good. I want to take him to the hospital, but he's refusing to let me leave school, and he's using his 'Mom voice' so I know he's not gonna budge." Scott explained as Jackson rode the elevator down to the garage and headed to his car. "Could you maybe-"

"I'm already on my way to my car. I'll be there soon." Jackson assured him, and Scott sighed in relief.

"Thank you. Also Stiles has asked me to keep this quiet, he doesn't want to worry his dad or Derek." Scott informed him, Jackson nodded in response before he remembered that Scott couldn't see him.

"Alright, I'll take care of it, see you in fifteen minutes."

"It's a twenty-five minute drive from the hospital." Scott reminded him, sounding confused.

"I'll see you in fifteen minutes." Jackson repeated and smirked when Scott immediately began to beg him to obey the speed limit. Jackson, feeling much more at ease, hung up on the slightly younger teen. He then sent Derek a text with the update, then got into his car and began to drive out of the hospital garage and towards the school.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Once Lydia and Derek went to the basement, Boyd decided to check in with his mates before picking up his book again.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:21am)
Message: Hey, how's school?

He was still on the fence about the nicknames Erica had set, but they weren't lewd so he wasn't going to change them and risk her wrath. Replies came simultaneously from both Erica and Cora.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:21am)
Message: Eh, history is boring! We're gonna ditch to look for Stiles. Scott, Danny, and Kira are coming with us. And we miss you baby! Come join us and bring Malia and the twins!

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:21am)
Message: Boring, we're ditching soon with Kira, Danny and shockingly Scott. How's your day off?

Boyd chuckled softly as he shook his head. He quickly typed out his reply and sent it. He didn't bother locking his phone as he knew responses would come soon, which they did.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:22am)
Message: Definitely not a day off. Fetching tea for Peter and checking on three claw happy shifters training in the basement, is hardly my idea of fun. Derek and Lydia stopped by to check something banshee related that they thought might lead them to Stiles, they're in the basement right now. Sounds like your day is way more productive than mine. Scott ditching isn't that surprising, after hearing Lydia and Stiles complain about the incident on Allison's birthday.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:23am)
Message: Damn babe, sucks that you have to run around for Peter. But like Erica said, you guys could come help us search for Stiles! Just wait until Derek and Lyd leave and come meet us. Good point about Scott btw.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:24am)
Message: Yeah baby! You can let off some frustration running around town, or riding your bike. But not all of it, save some for when we get home and we can ride you ;)

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:25am)
Message: That sounds amazing, but unfortunately it probably won't be happening tonight. I'm helping Scott protect Kira and Malia, remember? I don't know what time I'll be done at the McCall house. Then I have work at eleven. And we can't come meet you, Peter would rat us out in a heartbeat. I'm sorry.

Once again, the replies came simultaneously.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:25am)
Message: Don't worry about Peter, I've got dirt on him. I'll text him a threat now.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:25am)
Message: I've said it before and I'll say it again: quit your job. And kill Peter.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:26am)
Message: Cora, do not threaten Peter, please! Erica, I cannot kill him or quit my job!

As Boyd had hit send on his text, a message simultaneously came through from Cora.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:26am)
Message: You know he won't do that babe

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:27am)
Message: Sorry baby, but it's true. My job will flesh out my college apps.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:27am)
Message: Your college apps are going to look amazing anyway, you're so fucking smart baby. Quit that place and spend more time with us! I'll kill Peter

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:27am)
Message: Peter's on our side now, babe. I hate what he has done, but he's starting to feel like family again.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:28am)
Message: Fine, Peter lives

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:29am)
Message: I still texted him though, he won't rat you guys out. We'll be out of class in thirty mins, meet us at the park near the diner in forty

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:31am)
Message: Scott'll want his bike, he was talking about it in the car, and he just ran out of class freaking out so I bet he'll want it more now. Just let Malia drive it or something

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:32am)
Message: That was a panic attack, babe. Also, Scott has not given permission for Malia to drive his bike! Let Malia drive mine and have one of the twins drive Scott's.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:32am)
Message: You sure? I've seen Stiles have a few, and Derek once, it was a bit different. Why not Malia? It'll be funny to see the look on Scott's face when he sees her driving his bike. It'll probably cheer him up

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:34am)
Message: Trust me, it was a panic attack. And I'm usually all in when it comes to pranks, but Scott saved up a lot to buy that bike and he'd be devastated if something happened to it. You know how he is, he wouldn't let Derek buy him a new one, he'd insist on saving up again and working overtime. I love Malia, but she hasn't ridden a regular bike in 8 years, and has never even been on a motor bike yet. Better not risk it. I have my own inheritance to buy a new one.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:35am)
Message: She's right, baby, I know you'll find another way to prank Scott without risking damage to his property.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:35am)
Message: Ugh, fine! You're right, I can't risk that. Damn you for reminding me to analyse the risks. I hate you for it, but I also love you for it.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:35am)
Message: I'll go tell Malia, Ethan and Aidan the new plan. Hopefully Lydia and Derek have already left through the tunnels.

Boyd informed them as he got up to do so. He decided that text while walking was fine when you're a werewolf in your own home (Well, one of two homes in his case. Wow, he never thought he'd be able to say that.)

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:36am)
Message: Great! Thank you baby!

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:36am)
Message: Hate to rain on the parade, I know we want to distract ourselves with searching for him, but we need to talk about Stiles.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:37am)
Message: Do you guys really think he has FTD?

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:37am)
Message: The sheriff definitely thinks so.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:38am)
Message: I'm not sure tbh. I've heard of shifters receiving injuries they can't heal all the way, but I've never heard of any supernatural creatures, born or turned, suffering from a disease or tumours or anything else like that.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:39am)
Message: But that doesn't mean that it isn't possible, right? Peter made some good points, Stiles still has ADHD despite turning.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:39am)
Message: What do we do?

Before he or Cora could respond, Erica sent another message clarifying what she had meant.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:39am)
Message: If he does have FTD, I mean

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:40am)
Message: We do everything that we can to help him get through it.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:40am)
Message: And if we can't get him through it?

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:41am)
Message: Then we help him until the end, and we help Derek, and each other, and the rest of the Pack through it. That's what pack do, we stick together through whatever life throws at us.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Blonde Bombshell (9:41am)
Message: What if not all of us can survive losing him?

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Bold Beauty (9:41am)
Message: We will. All of us. Because it's what Stiles wants.

Neither Boyd nor Erica could argue with that. The topic of death came up at least once a month within the pack, moreso when there was a threat in town. Stiles has stated time and time again that in the event of his death the Pack are required to have a giant party after his funeral and complete one of his unused pranks from the designated folder. After that, they were ordered to remember him fondly, but carry on with their lives. Fill the hole left in their hearts as best they could.

He gave a whole speech about it before most fights, or game nights. They all laughed it off, not wanting to think about Stiles dying. Let alone having to plan his funeral or face life without him.

Boyd took a minute to think about the situation. He sent another text to his mates before he pocketed his phone and began to make his way to the basement. Along his way, he was busy ruminating about the Stiles situation.

Group Message: The Power of Three
From: Big Boyd (9:42am)
Message: Whatever happens, Stiles will have all of us by his side until the very end.

John's theory had merit, but something didn't feel right.

Boyd didn't know much about dementia, even less about specific kinds, but he knew it was difficult for people to live with. He knew that people who have it slowly become less and less like the person they once were and became somebody else entirely. They became confused and lost sight of reality.

He didn't want that for Stiles, that could be what was causing his doubt. But still that voice persisted. It was telling him to look beyond the obvious and see what was truly different about the Pack Mum. What was truly wrong with him.

He didn't yet know what that was, but he would figure it out. For Stiles.

Before he could mull it over further, Boyd's phone pinged with another text.

Group Message: Pack
From: Jackson (9:48am)
Message: McCall called to say Stiles is at the school, I'm on my way to pick him up now

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Keeping his distance, Scott studied Stiles.

Nothing was obviously wrong but Scott couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't his best friend in front of him.

"Oh," Stiles gasped as he suddenly shot up and turned to Scott, "I remember now, we were at the party, I told you about the key. That girl, Caitlin, whose girlfriend was human sacrificed by the Darach, remember her? Well, she came over and asked me to dance. After we danced, we sat down and talked and she noticed that the key had phosphors on it, so I came here, and the key was for the chemistry cupboard, Scott! The one that Barrow was hiding in. And the writing on the board, it was in my handwriting." Stiles insisted, he interpreted the wary look on Scott's face as being directed at his claim and grabbed him by the arm and all but dragged him towards the corridors. "I can prove it, alright? Come on."

"Wait, Stiles, slow down man." Scott insisted, he tried planting his feet to keep him still but Stiles just started to literally drag Scott. "Hey, come on, talk to me."

"But I- What?" Stiles frowned as he stopped walking and dragging Scott for a second, he looked over his shoulder at Scott in confusion. Then Scott's words appeared to register in his brain. "I am talking to you Scott, I'm trying to show you something." He insisted then faced forward and began to walk forward again, still holding onto Scott. Giving in, Scott continued to walk and let Stiles take the lead. One minute later, Stiles led Scott into the classroom and turned towards the chalkboard. He froze, panic flooded his body, when he noticed that the board had been wiped clean.

"Uh…. What? It's gone. Okay, it doesn't matter though." Stiles stated as he jogged to the closet door. "It doesn't matter." He repeated insistently as he pulled his keys out of his pocket. When the creature did so, Scott's eyes narrowed in suspicion, unseen to 'Stiles'. Scott had seen Derek with the keys that morning. Stiles couldn't possibly have them. Not unless Derek had given them to him, and they would have known if he had because he would have alerted them all that Stiles had been found, or at least spotted.

The creature was unaware, but it had just eliminated any doubt in Scott's mind about what was going on with his best friend. Big mistake on their part.

"I've still got the key." The nogitsune stated as he rummaged though the keys, "What the hell? I had it, I had it here. I had it here this morning, I swear to God, I had it this morning." 'Stiles' continued, acting very convincingly. Every part of Scott wanted to confront the creature, but he managed to overcome that urge and replaced his mask of concern. Needing to keep the creature confident so that they would make a mistake, Scott quickly decided to let the nogitsune believe that it had convinced him with it's deception.

"The key you were talking about last night?" Scott asked. It was difficult to keep up the pretence, but Scott had to force himself to keep a concerned expression on his face, rather than the joy that came with the reinvigorated belief that it wasn't dementia that Stiles was suffering from but possession. Possession was something they could save him from, even though it would definitely suck.

Stiles' eyes flickered from the keys to Scott and back again a couple of times, then the nogitsune gave a small nod. "Yeah, I showed it to you, right?" 'Stiles' asked, giving the perfect performance of somebody who feared that they were losing their mind. "Didn't I show it to you?"

"No," Scott stated. While he had seen the key thanks to Caitlin pointing it out, 'Stiles' had never shown it to him. The creature probably didn't know that they had the keys, or else it wouldn't have tried that trick, right? Which meant Stiles had at least some control in there. "No, you just told me about it. You never actually showed it to me." Scott told the creature honestly. Everything felt easier now that Scott was confident that he wouldn't lose his best friend any time soon.

Ever persistent in their con, the nogitsune was seemingly unaware that Scott was onto them. His voice wavering, the creature continued to try to sell its lie. "I was here a couple of hours ago." 'Stiles' insisted, his hands were shaking and he was breathing deeply as he walked towards the blackboard again. "And the message left to Barrow spelling Kira's name was right there on the board in my handwriting and I had the key to the chemistry closet."

Very convincing, but not good enough to fool Scott.

Eyes fixed on the imposter, Scott spoke cautiously.

"Right. Okay," Scott trailed, he needed the creature to believe his performance. Scott pulled out his best acting skills and did quite well, if he did say so himself. "So you" Scott continued, purposefully putting an edge of disbelief in his voice. He thought about how he would react if it really were Stiles in front of him saying those things. Dubious and concerned, with a hint of surprise. It was just how he would sound if this were real. Scott was sure of it. "Unlocked the chemistry closet so Barrow could hide in it from the cops and then you wrote him a message to kill Kira?"

Believable and succinct, Stiles was proud of himself.

Even better, the creature seemed to buy it as he stammered to continue. "No, look, Scotty, I-I know how it sounds but look at this." Stiles fished a folded, slightly creased, sheet of paper out of his pocket. He quickly unfolded it and held it out for Scott to see. "This is the news report that came out about Barrow when they caught him, okay? About the shrapnel bomb that he used." Stiles pointed to a paragraph that he had highlighted. "See this? See what he did? He put nuts, bolts and screws in. An-an-an-and then he hid the bomb and the detonator in a box that he wrapped as a birthday present. What does that sound like to you?"

Everything clicked into place, why the nogitsune hadn't made a move before now. It had been playing the long game. To make it's claims more believable. "Coach." Scott said as he remembered the prank that they had set up for Coach's birthday. "The joke we played on Coach. We all helped to set it up."

"No, I asked you guys to help me, but," Stiles began, tapping the paper for emphasis. "That was my idea. You remember? That was my idea. That's no coincidence. It can't be."

"Stiles, listen," Scott began after a short pause to choose his words carefully, "I don't want to sound like I'm trying to tell you that you're wrong." Scott addressed Stiles, rather than the nogitsune that he knew he was actually talking to, in case the creature could hear his heartbeat. He needed the creature to believe him for the next part, and those words were only true if he said them to Stiles. "But I don't think you're trying to kill people either."

Obviously the nogitsune was trying to hurt people, but Stiles never would. Sure, if it came down to killing a bad guy to save his Pack, Stiles would do it. But actively sending a threat after someone else? Or trying to hurt or kill innocent people? Stiles would never do that. The real Stiles, that is.

Clearly dedicated to its act, the creature continued. "It was here," 'Stiles' sighed as he turned to look at the blackboard once more. At the same time he crumpled the article in his hand. "It was here. It was all here." Trying to stave off his empathy and remind himself that it was all just a trick, Scott kept himself at a distance from 'Stiles'. As his eyes roamed over the trembling form of his best friend, Scott had to remind himself that it wasn't really Stiles. He couldn't risk giving him a hug, lest the creature stab him in the back. Despite that knowledge, Scott still took a cautious step forward.

"Listen. Dude, are you feeling okay?" Scott couldn't keep himself from at least enquiring to his well being. "You're looking really tired." Scott told him honestly. Knowing that the question would be coming soon enough, the nogitsune nodded Stiles' head.

"Er, yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping, really." Stiles assured as he looked at Scott once more. "Other than when you mum gave me that sedative yesterday."

"Alright, it's okay, just relax," Scott tried to assure as he risked giving 'Stiles' a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Jackson will be here soon and my mum'll get you patched up in no time."

"Really Scotty, I should-" 'Stiles' began but then Scott pulled out the puppy eyes that the real Stiles couldn't say no too. "Okay, yeah," 'Stiles' nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'll just wait here." He sat down at the nearest desk. Stiles rested his elbows on the desk, and his head in his hands. Barely thirty seconds after Stiles sat down, Scott's phone began to buzz in his pocket, he pulled out his phone and checked the caller ID.

"Wait, I gotta get this." Scott declared and quickly turned so that his back was facing 'Stiles' because he didn't trust himself to control his facial expressions right now. Answering the call Scott raised the phone to his ear. "Hey, Derek." Scott greeted in a casual tone as he answered the call. There was a low growl, and Scott knew he was in trouble. Had Jackson told Derek? "How are you?"

"Enough, Scott, don't even try it," Derek growled down the phone and Scott winced. Yup, Jackson had told him. "I know Stiles is with you, put him on the phone." The alpha demanded. Turning around to do so, Scott opened his mouth to speak to 'Stiles', but the boy was already standing up. Rather than walking towards Scott to take the phone, 'Stiles' turned and ran towards the window and jumped through it. Scott gasped as he ran over to the broken window and jumped out too.

Most werewolves can attest that landing isn't as easy when you have a phone in your hand that you really don't want to break, thanks to the super strength. Therefore, Scott fumbled a little with his landing, which meant that he ended up taking his eyes off of 'Stiles' for half a second. That half of a second was all the nogitsune needed to disappear, apparently.

"Are you alright? What was that? It sounded like glass breaking," Derek stated, sounding very alarmed. "Scott, what's going on? Put Stiles on the phone." Scott didn't reply as he looked around desperately for Stiles. Sighing in resignation, the beta returned the phone to his ear. By then, either Derek had put him on speaker phone, or Lydia had snatched the phone off of him, because Lydia was threatening Scott.

"-destroy every single lacrosse stick and video game you own, Scott!" The banshee all but growled, and Scott was fairly certain she was threatening to destroy the aforementioned items.

"Erm, okay, so, here's the thing." Scott began cautiously. "Stiles can't come to the phone right now, but I need you to promise that you won't freak out before I tell you why."

"Are you serious?" Derek growled, so Scott was probably on speaker.

"Man up and be an adult, Scott," Lydia continued, the pair were clearly impatient, and Scott suddenly feared for his safety (not really, but he was relieved that he wasn't near them at that moment). "We don't have time for this shit, just tell us what happened." Lydia swore, this was bad. Lydia was one to passive aggressively insult you, or simply get revenge. She always expressed that swearing was beneath her, unless she was referencing or quoting something. She was really angry. "If you don't I will personally take your bike apart and sell the scraps onl-"

"I get it," Scott relented, knowing it would be better for his health in the long run, and reluctantly told them.

"Stiles jumped out the window and started to run away, then I took my eyes off him for half a second and he disappeared into thin air."

There was a beat of silence as the pair processed his words, and likely shared a questioning look. No more than two seconds passed before the pair spoke. "What?" Derek and Lydia asked in unison, both sounding incredulous. Scott didn't have the chance to elaborate before he heard the sound of people walking towards the classroom he had just fled. He realised that they must be going to investigate the noise.

"Ah, uh, wait just a sec. I don't want to get blamed for the window." Scott explained quickly. He tapped into his enhanced speed as he ran. He kept moving until he was certain that he was out of sight of the school. The moment he had stopped running, Scott returned the phone to his ear and gave the pair a slightly more detailed description of what had happened. Lydia questioned what had happened before they called and Scott told them about the trick the nogitsune had tried to pull with the keys. Derek checked and reaffirmed that he had them, mystery key and all. Derek then informed the pair that he and Malia had checked the key on the way back to the house that morning. He stated that the key had fit the lock for the chemistry closet, and that the writing had still been there when they left. Even though that was troubling, it only cemented the belief in Scott and Lydia that Stiles wasn't sick at all.

Keeping an open mind as promised, Derek wasn't far behind, being swayed back to the theory he had given them in the first place. They discussed the evidence they had received so far, the pair informed Scott that they had searched the library in the Hale house and were going to Eichen house next, due to Lydia's instincts and abilities. At that declaration, Scott offered to join them but Derek ordered him to stay at school. Scott was relieved that Derek obviously couldn't hear his heartbeat over the phone, because the crooked-jawed boy was lying when he promised to do so.

Evidently, Derek trusted him to keep his word, which made Scott feel a little guilty. The moment the call ended, Scott checked and found that his phone was flooded with missed calls and texts asking about Stiles. Scott sighed and mentally cursed Jackson as he wrote out a text explaining that Stiles had jumped through the window and ran away. He sent the text to the group chat, then created a new group chat consisting of himself, Danny, Erica, Cora, and Kira. Really, he was far too riled up to even think about going back to class, so there was no point in sticking around the remaining ten minutes. He wrote out and sent a message asking them to grab his bag at the end of class and meet him at the bowling alley when they left the school. Without waiting for a reply, Scott locked his phone and pocketed it. He then took off in a sprint towards the restaurant where Derek and Stiles had their first solo date. He had time to kill before the others got out of class, and energy to burn. A run and quick search would do him some good.

Despite knowing that he needed to improve his grades and attendance if he wanted to get into a good college and become a vet, Stiles came first. He would have plenty of time to do so once Stiles was safe. Worst case scenario, he would attend summer school again. He did it last summer and still managed to have fun with his pack too. It would be fine, not ideal, but fine.

Every possible scenario was running through Scott's head, theories of what the Nogitsune could be planning. All of them were bad, and Scott was well aware that he lacked Stiles' creativity. There were so many pranks and schemes that Scott had managed to talk Stiles out of over the years, due to their high risk factor. The nogitsune could take any and all of them and throw in a deadly twist. And not to mention, the nogitsune was a trickster spirit, who probably had a lot of idea's of their own. Deadly and horrific ideas, most likely. Everything was so messed up. All of the craziness in Beacon Hills up until this point had been terrifying and all, but at least he had his best friend as his constant. Sure, he had his mum and the Sheriff, who had also been in his life before turning, but Stiles was the one Scott needed. The one who Scott could always count on. Perhaps Harris and Jackson were right when they said that Scott and Stiles were co-dependent. He never really believed it until he was faced with the possibility of Stiles being sick. The though of Stiles dying and leaving Scott alone was horrific. If Stiles died, yes Scott would have his mum, Allison, Isaac, and his Pack, but none of them were Stiles. Stiles was his best friend and his brother. They had a bond unlike anything else. Something unbreakable. Anyone who met them could see it. Maybe it was because they had grown up together, maybe it was because they had turned together, maybe it was because they were so close before turning. Whatever it was, it was eternal. When Claudia had died and John began to spiral, Scott promised himself that he would always be there to protect Stiles. Upon turning, Scott had temporarily forgotten that promise, and he had broken it.

A couple of times. He would not do that again. Especially because if he failed this time, he wouldn't only be failing Stiles, he'd be letting a dangerous creature lose on the town they had sworn to protect. If that happened? Disaster and chaos would surely rain on Beacon Hills. Everyone would be in danger, and it would be up to the pack to save as many people as they could. At the same time, they would need to find Stiles and stop the nogitsune from causing more trouble. And the only way to stop that from happening was to find a way to stop the nogitsune, which nobody had found a way to do without killing the person possessed.

Right, no pressure.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

When Jackson pulled up at the school, his phone buzzed with a text. He cut off the engine and decided to check the text quickly before getting out of the car.

When Jackson read the text, he really wished he had gotten out of the car first.

Upon reading the text from Scott that Stiles had disappeared again, Jackson lost control for a moment. He shifted into beta form and punched the dashboard. Not only did that put a nice dent in the dashboard, his punch also managed to set off the airbag. Jackson growled as he sliced through the obstructive object with his claws. He forced himself to calm down and when he finally shifted into human form, he unbuckled himself and opened the door of his porsche.

Unfortunately, he hadn't calmed down enough to reign in his strength. When he climbed out and shut the door, he slammed it a little too hard. Needless to say, his car door was ruined.

Great.

With a growl, Jackson stomped through the carpark and towards the school.

By the time he was standing outside the history classroom, the bell to signify the end of class had just begun to ring. He gritted his teeth as he endured the sound and waited for his pack mates to leave the room.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Derek and Lydia arrived at Eichen House at the same time John pulled up in his cruiser. The pair watched John climb out of his vehicle as they walked towards him. "You think he's here?" John asked Lydia dubiously.

"I'm not sure." Lydia confessed. "The whispers led me here. But first they led me to the basement, which is where I got the clues to come here. It's like a puzzle." Lydia told the pair her hypothesis, hoping they'd see her reasoning and still accompany her into the building. "I know that there's something important in there that we need to see."

"Then let's go find out what it is." Derek agreed immediately. "You don't have to come with us, Sheriff. If you want to search elsewhere-"

"No." John immediately protested. "I'm coming with you. If there is something in there, we'll all find it together." As much as he wanted to search elsewhere for Stiles, he knew enough by now to trust in Lydia's abilities. Whatever clues she found would likely lead them to Stiles long before any of them would find him searching blindly.

"Thank you." Lydia replied, truly grateful for their support. With that, the three of them made their way into the building. John flashed his badge at the receptionist and gave a brief explanation filled with half truths. They were fortunate enough to have met a sympathetic person working that day, who let them search the basement without a warrant.

Upon arriving at the basement John was disappointed, but unsurprised, to find it empty.

"Damn it, he's not here." John snapped.

"But he was." Derek announced as he sniffed the air. He strode past the sheriff and Lydia and followed his mate's scent. Soon enough, Derek found a torn piece of fabric from a t-shirt. He picked it up and took a good whiff. With a sigh, Derek turned around and carried the fabric to the sheriff. "This is from Stiles' shirt."

"Come look at this!" Lydia called out before Stilinski could reply. They followed her voice to find the girl staring at a wall. "This carving."

"It's the same as the mark those creatures gave us." Derek stated the moment his eyes fell on the carving.

"Exactly the same." John agreed with an edge of frustration in his voice. "But what does that mean? Why was he here of all places?"

"I think this is where it started." Lydia replied barely above a whisper, transfixed on the kanji. "Whatever happened to bring those creatures here, I think that this place has a significant part in it all."

"But what does that have to do with Stiles?" John all but growled in frustration. "Where is he?"

"I don't know yet." Lydia replied. "But this place has answers. Derek, do you have Stiles' keys?"

"Yeah." Derek replied while he pulled the keys in question out of his jacket pocket. He tossed them to Lydia, who turned and caught them easily. She moved towards the nearest pipe and tapped it with the key to Stiles' jeep.

Whispers filled Lydia's ears and told her a story. After a few minutes, Lydia turned and announced to Derek and John. "I know where we need to go next."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Go back to the hospital," Cora ordered Jackson the moment she stepped foot out of the door. "We're ditching to look for Stiles and if you come with us, Melissa will call the sheriff to tell him you never came back, he'll tell Derek, and we'll all be busted."

"No way in Hell," Jackson protested immediately, "I'll call her and tell her I got stressed out because Stiles disappeared again and that I need to go for a run. I'll be back at the hospital by lunch, but I can't sit around and do nothing while Stiles is missing, and if you think you can stop me from coming with you then you have another thing coming, Hale."

By the time he had finished, Kira, Erica and Danny had also left the classroom and were watching the exchange in concern, or amusement in Erica's case. Kira and Danny feared that a fight would break out between the pair, but instead Cora just smirked.

"Finally, I was worried some of you boys in this Pack didn't actually know what Pack meant," The born-wolf commented jestfully, "Let's go, we're wasting time."

Jackson smirked and pulled out his phone to text Melissa as he followed her.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Chris, Allison and Isaac were sitting in Chris' car, awaiting the text that would tell them more information about the deal.

Chris' phone buzzed in his hand suddenly, he quickly read the message and his expression gave away that it wasn't the news he had been hoping for.

"What is it?" Allison asked in concern, causing her father to turn his head to look at her.

"Katashi won't do the buy in person." Chris informed his daughter.

"But he's a paranoid recluse; shouldn't you be a little less surprised?" Isaac responded sarcastically from where he was leaning against both of the Argents' seats.

"I was trying to remain optimistic that we wouldn't have to go to my plan B." The seasoned hunter responded, with frustration clear in his voice.

"And, uh, what's plan B?" Isaac asked.

"How tall are you?" Chris asked in response as he pushed a button on the car. With a beep, the trunk of the car opened. Allison sent her father an unimpressed look when she realised his plan.

Once Isaac was out of the car, Allison turned to glare at her father. She knew full well that her mate could hear every word she said, but she liked the illusion of privacy.

"You could have warned me that your 'plan B' was to send my mate in there without any training."

"I've helped him train." Chris defended, but Allison wasn't impressed.

"Not in the history of this gun or how to act during a weapons deal." Allison reminded him. She had no doubt that Isaac could pull it off, but she didn't want him in harm's way. "Send me in instead."

"No."

"I can-"

"No." Chris repeated, glaring at his daughter, trying to put an end to the argument. Obviously it didn't work. It never did. Allison just glared right back at him.

"I though you were training me to be a leader."

"I am. But right now, I need you as my backup." Chris explained, he hid his reluctance well behind a mask of certainty and confidence. "Isaac may be a werewolf, but you are the best person I know when it comes to sneaking around. You stole a car under the watch of four hunters when you were fifteen and had no idea they were hunters. And next to no training. You're also highly skilled at combat and disarming opponents." Chris continued and Allison preened at the praise. "I hate to ask this of you, you're my daughter, but I need you as my backup in there. I need you to help disarm Katashi's security and Katashi himself when we get to him."

"And you need Isaac to distract the rest of his security team by posing as the seller on your behalf." As Allison realised her father's plan, she felt much easier about it. "He doesn't need to know everything, just memorise the cue cards and-"

"And keep them preoccupied long enough for us to get the information that we need." Chris finished with a proud smirk. "When I was helping to look for Stiles this morning, I realised I might have to consider John being unable to join me today, so I started planning other scenarios." He continued to explain, knowing he had his daughter's full attention. "The most likely scenario was that you would insist on coming in John's place and one or both of your mate's would insist on coming too. Honestly, I'm glad Derek chose Isaac, Scott is terrible at memorising at the best of times. Let alone under pressure."

"Hey, he's getting better!" Allison defended with a small smile, while she playfully punched her father's shoulder.

"Regardless, whichever one ended up tagging along, the plan would remain the same." He told her with an uncharacteristic shrug. "Other than your mother and the sheriff, you're the person I trust the most to have my back."

"Thanks." Allison retorted dryly, slightly bitter at the fact that the sheriff ranked higher than her.

"Hey, don't go twisting my words." Chris defended playfully as soon as he heard that tone. "We both know that you're a far better shot than John, but he's been in the field longer than you've been alive."

"And he adapted to the supernatural pretty damn quickly. He's a good man. I'm not jealous." Allison stated honestly, but put an edge of petulance in her voice, just for kicks. "Besides, I know that if it came down to saving him or me, I'll always be your first choice."

"Every single time."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Jackson was disappointed but unsurprised that all of their searches had turned up empty. The jungle, the mall, the arcade, everywhere else they had searched; they had all been dead ends. Not even a hint of Stiles' scent had been found.

He thought he would feel better after searching, but he didn't. If anything, he felt worse. It made him feel like a failure, like he was letting Stiles down. Letting Derek and John down. Letting himself and his pack down.

He had never felt so useless before in his life, not even when he had been paralysed by the Kanima.

He could tell that the others all felt the same. When the alarm on his phone sounded, alerting him to the fact that he should go pick up the lunch he promised Melissa in exchange for her silence on him 'going for a walk', and head back to the hospital.

He felt a heaviness on his chest as he told the others that he had to go. They offered to go with him to the diner, as they were hungry too, and together they journeyed towards the diner, keeping all of their senses on high alert in the hopes that they would pick up a trace of Stiles.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

With the boy distracted in the labyrinth of memories, (some real, some altered,) that the nogitsune had set up for him, the dark kitsune was busy setting up traps for the Pack and the unsuspecting population of Beacon Hills.

With the teens out of the school, the creature decided to set up his traps there. It was surprisingly easy to do so during the day. Then again, the nogitsune and its current victim both had a talent for sneaking around undetected.

With a smirk on Stiles' lips, the nogitsune made his way to the boiler room with a backpack full of supplies and a mind full of deadly mischief.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Derek, Lydia, and John arrived at the 'former' Stilinski household.

It felt like looking at a ghost to John. A part of him regretted selling the house, he had a lot of fond memories there. But there were a few bad ones too.

The bad memories were bad enough that John had agreed to sell the place after helping Stiles build Derek a new house. Even so, he missed it. One day, he would have liked to show the place to his grandkids, alas what's done is done.

"This is it. This is where we need to be." Lydia told them as she waited for someone to let her out of the backseat of the cruiser. Derek shot out of the car like a bullet as soon as the words left her lips.

"We can't go in there." John told her firmly as he opened the door to get out himself. By then, Derek was already at Lydia's door and opening it for her.

"I still have a key." Lydia informed him casually as she pulled out her keychain to show him.

"The new owner probably changed the locks." The sheriff pointed out. He didn't know who the new owner was, as the sale was done through an agency, but he was certain they wouldn't appreciate three people trying to break into their house. "And how did you get that?"

"Stiles made it for me." Lydia replied casually, "He gave one to all of us when we joined the pack, back you still lived here. Also it doesn't look like anyone has moved in yet, so I doubt they bothered changing the locks."

"I didn't." Derek stated as he marched towards the house.

"Didn't what?" Stilinski asked with a confused expression as he and Lydia followed the Alpha.

"I didn't change the locks." Derek responded casually without looking at the Sheriff. Lydia laughed when the Sheriff froze.

"You bought the house?!"

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Danny, Kira and Scott were sitting at a picnic table in the park, taking a much needed break after almost three hours of searching non stop for Stiles. Danny was hunched over his laptop, Scott and Kira talked as they waited for Danny to finish reviewing the remaining security footage, and for Erica and Cora to return with their food. Also, apparently Boyd, Malia, Ethan and Aidan were on their way. While they waited, Scott and Kira were quietly discussing the events of the previous few nights, and what it meant for Kira.

"It's just so unbelievable, y'know?" Kira rambled to Scott as she showed him the book Lydia had loaned her. "Me, a-a Kitsune. I mean, I was scared to mention it, even after you saved me from Barrow, but I've known something was different about me for a few months now. Ever since the fox started showing up in my pictures with the flash on. Sorry, for kinda lying about it and pretending I didn't know it was there. I just- At first, I thought it looked like some sort of demon from Hell." She admitted with an embarrassed smile. "I guess I never saw it the way you guys do."

"We got to see it from a different perspective." Scott reminded her kindly. "And Derek knew you were Kitsune from the get go. He didn't treat you like a threat, which means he knew what you were even when Danny called Deaton. He just likes it when we take the initiative to learn things ourselves. Which is why he got all pouty when Danny just called Deaton. I heard him tell the twins that you were a young kitsune, because you didn't know how to hide your aura yet."

"When was this?" Kira asked curiously. "And why did he only say that to the twins? Surely that's something Stiles, Allison, Lydia and Danny would be curious about."

"I just overheard it. It was the other night, when you guys went to plan… you know what." Scott hesitated before he continued. "The twins went to talk to him because they were concerned… About you."

"They think I'm a threat." Kira said knowingly. "They think I'm the one those creatures are after." Scott opened his mouth to protest, but Kira spoke again before he could. "I do too."

"I don't," Scott told her honestly. He locked eyes with her to show his sincerity and was saddened by the doubt he saw there. "I think they're after a bad guy, and I know it's not you. It can't be. What I saw around you, it didn't look evil."

"But isn't that what a shape-shifter does?" Kira asked doubtfully. "Isn't that why a kitsune is called the trickster spirit? It's supposed to trick you. How are you so sure? How do you know I'm not the bad guy?"

"I've seen the bad guys. And you're not one of them." Scott assured her as Erica and Cora approached the table with several bags and a tray of drinks each, all of the bags were filled with food from the diner and the cups were stamped with its logo.

As soon as Jackson, Erica and Cora walked through the door, Janie and several other staff members surrounded them and began asking questions. Not about why they weren't at school, but about Stiles. A few of the deputies in town also frequented the diner, and had passed on the news during patrol after the sheriff had told them, and asked them to keep an eye out for Stiles.

The three teens explained (and mostly lied) that they and all the teens in their 'group of friends' had been given permission to look for Stiles today, as long as they caught up with their school work. They accepted the excuse without question and immediately began preparing the pack's usual orders to go, though they swapped out some parts of Lydia's order for other food that Kira preferred, and added an order for Malia. While they waited for the food to be cooked, Janie asked them to let Allison know that everyone was willing to chip in and cover her shifts until Stiles was found.

Erica thanked them all on Allison's behalf and promised to pass on the message. She and Cora spent the remainder of the time waiting for their food chatting with the staff. Cora admittedly didn't say much. Erica rambled a lot when she was worried. Cora typically got lost in her head when she was worrying. Luckily, Erica was there to keep her from spiralling too far. Jackson was uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole ordeal. He paid for his and Melissa's food and then left with a quick goodbye to his packmates. Janie had asked the girls about Jackson's wellbeing but both were quick to convince her that he was just worried about Stiles. Both knew the truth though, it went so much deeper than worry.

It was something that couldn't be given justice with any words known to the human language. There was an ache that cut you to your core, caused by the void in the bonds. The void that almost felt like death, only worse. When a pack mate died the bond snapped completely. When a pack mate was missing, as in actually missing not just absent, it caused the bonds to falter. They could no longer feel Stiles, they couldn't feel that he was alive and safe, they only knew that he wasn't dead because the bond was there; it just wasn't projecting anything to the pack.

It was agony. But they couldn't explain all of that to Janie and the rest of the staff, so instead they went with 'worried'. It was just easier.

When the time came to pay, Janie insisted on only charging half of the actual cost, due to their situation (she wanted to say 'on the house' but it was a lot of food, and they needed to stay in business). However, Cora, in true Hale fashion, had left a tip large enough to cover the cost of the food and then some. She had a large amount of wealth thanks to her inheritance.

While they all shared rights to the artefacts and such, Peter had inherited the bail bonds, and Derek got the books, and later the authority to manage all of the Hale's assets when he became Alpha, Cora had inherited her mother's jewellery collection. Most of it she had kept for sentimental purposes or just because she liked it, some of it she had given to her pack, the rest she had sold. And of course, she and Derek had inherited equal shares of their parents and sister's assets when they passed. Laura's will obviously didn't mention Cora by name, but rather Laura's living blood relatives. Peter was still legally declared dead and he had killed Laura, so the sibling decided not to cut him in on her fortune. They may have come to forgive Peter, but they felt like it would dishonour Laura's memory to give her possessions to the man who had murdered her, even if he wasn't in his right mind at the time. Peter agreed wholeheartedly, even though they had never discussed it directly.

Basically, Cora was loaded. And what better way to spend her wealth than supporting local businesses? And her favourite one at that.

Although she was rather distracted by the delicious scent of food as she approached the table, Cora still overheard the tail end of Scott and Kira's conversation.

"He's right," Cora chimed in, surprising herself with her own politeness. "The creatures are after something dark. You're a thunder kitsune, they're the good ones. At least according to Derek and the doc, and they're usually right about these things."

"Usually," Kira repeated as the trio sat down. "But what if I'm not one of the good ones?"

"Do you want to be one of the bad ones?" Danny asked curiously, finally tearing his eyes from the screen to join the conversation.

"Of course not!" Kira immediately replied, louder than intended.

"Then you won't be," Danny continued confidently, of course he was well aware that it wasn't all black and white, but he needed to comfort the girl. "There's a whole argument over nature vs nurture, I believe that it's all down to our choices, our decisions. You're kind and sweet, we know that you're not a bad person. You're good at heart and you want to continue being good, so you will be."

"Even if there was something dark inside of you, which there isn't," Erica added in an attempt to comfort the girl. "We would help you control it and use it for good." Kira smiled at the four gratefully. When Kira's attention returned to her, Erica continued. "Trust me, if we can forgive Peter for killing his niece, attacking Scott, Stiles, Derek, Lydia, Allison, Jackson and me several times; forgive Victoria for trying to kill Scott and Allison and telling her psychotic father-in-law all about our pack; and forgive the twins for helping to torture Stiles and kidnapping me, Cora and Boyd and locking us in a vault for three weeks, then I'm pretty sure we can forgive you if you are the one the creatures are after and the reason they've been attacking us."

"Thanks." Kira smiled again. "I think."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Instead of running through the preserve after his memory-self and the distorted figure, Stiles found himself in high school. He quickly figured out that it was the night he, Derek and Scott tried to lure the alpha there, and Derek thought it might be Deaton. The night Peter attacked Derek and Stiles feared his mate was dead. The night Peter lured Allison, and accidentally Lydia and Jackson, there. The night he bit Lydia, and they trapped him. The night Chris Argent found out that Stiles and Scott werewolves. The night Peter supposedly killed, but actually turned, Kate Argent.

Man, a lot had happened that night.

And Stiles had so much he had wanted to say about Kate being alive when he had found out, but the fox had prevented him from doing so. He hoped he would have the chance to talk to Derek about it, if he survived this thing possessing him.

"Damn, we're jumping straight into a new memory? Aren't we gonna talk about what you just showed me?" Stiles asked the fox, but he received no response. "Wow, the silent treatment. Real mature."

Even if the creature wasn't in the mood to talk about it, Stiles could still analyse it by himself. First and foremost, Stiles didn't see his wolf die at any point during any of that, he just sort of vanished.

Maybe that was why the creature was quiet? Cora had been there but vanished, someone had freed him from the vines and perhaps the fox had attempted to alter the memory so it seemed as though they had killed his wolf? If that was the case, then something clearly went wrong, which could be why the fox went silent. It could be trying to figure out why the trick had failed.

"You need to break free." Voices suddenly whispered. Not his wolf, and not the fox. Multiple people, he had never heard them before, but somehow they were familiar.

Stiles looked around but there was nobody there.

"Who are you? And by the way, I've been trying to break free for a while now," Stiles snapped. "How do you propose I finally end this nightmare?"

"End the chaos, end the pain. Send strife back from whence it came." The voices chanted in perfect harmony. And perfect Gaelic. Stiles didn't know Gaelic, aside from the few words that Deaton had taught him. Yet somehow he knew exactly what they were saying.

"Lovely," Stiles smiled tightly, "How the hell does that help me?" Stiles growled and wished he could flash his eyes. He was in his mind, he should be able to do whatever he wanted. "How do I send this thing back to where it came from? And once again, who are you?"

"Find the door." The voices told him, now speaking in English again. "He'll be guarding it. Get him annoyed enough to bring you to him. We will advise you further once you're there. We are many, and we are here to stop him and give you and your wolf your body back."

"And why should I trust you?" Stiles asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't even know who you are. And you talk a lot like him. You're cryptically avoiding telling me who you are, just like him."

There was a moment of silence before the voices spoke again. Stiles waited impatiently. He was sick of not getting straight answers, not being able to research the issue for himself, or talk to anybody about it. It was so lonely here. He wanted to be free, but could he truly trust anybody in here to help him?

"He is very different from us," The voices finally stated. "He is void."

"Okay, and what are you?" Stiles demanded as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Many." The voices stated cryptically. "It is easier to show you. If you'll let us?"

"Er, that depends," Stiles hesitated, "How do you plan on showing me?"

"If you give us permission, we can transfer our knowledge to you." The voices offered.

Now that was annoyingly vague. That could be painful, or misleading. It could overload him. It could be deadly. It could be the fox in disguise.

There were many risks to this. Then again, his only other option was to jump from memory to memory until he found some way to regain control of his body.

Honestly, neither option sounded very promising. It was just a matter of choosing which one would help his Pack the most.

Everything Stiles had been doing so far hadn't gotten him anywhere. He's seen two 'memories' that he's pretty sure were altered by the self-proclaimed fox possessing him, but otherwise he hadn't learned anything. He hadn't found a way out, or any clues as to how he could regain control.

Call him crazy all you want, you're probably right, but you cannot deny that Stiles has great instincts. He always knew there was something off about Matt. He knew that Jennifer Blake was not right the moment he met her. He knew once she turned and apologised to the pack that Victoria was ready to become a better person.

He knew that Peter would do well with a second chance, after he'd regained his sanity at least. He knew that the Pack would handle connecting themselves to the Nameton well. Except for Stiles himself, apparently. No, he had to go and let a dark fox spirit into his mind. He failed to keep the creature out, and now his Pack was in danger.

Other than that last thing, Stiles had good judgement, okay? And while he always knew not to trust the fox, he felt like he could trust these voices. They felt familiar, somehow.

But more than anything, they felt safe. Almost like Pack but different.

"Well then," Stiles began with confidence. His instinct hadn't led him wrong so far. "I give you permission to share your knowledge with me." If in doubt, it was always better to be specific.

"Everything will make sense soon." The voices told Stiles, then a warmth overcame the teen. In the blink of an eye, Stiles was engulfed in darkness for about three seconds.

Then his head exploded.

Not literally.

Everything just got even busier than usual. Colours flashed before his eyes before they transformed into images, words, and symbols.

Blank spaces were filled in his mind, answers to questions Stiles didn't even know he had. Images flashed before his eyes.

Memories that weren't his own fitted seamlessly into his mind. As they arrived, they began to play. Often a new memory would arrive before the previous one had finished. Stiles currently has thirty-two memories playing at once as they arrive in his mind. Stiles thought that it should be discombobulating, but it wasn't.

Sounds filled his ears, words and songs overlapping. Shouts and whispers all at one, English, Gaelic, Japanese, and other languages Stiles shouldn't understand filled his ears. All of them speaking at once. He shouldn't understand any of it, but he understood everything.

All of Stiles' senses were working over time, but it wasn't overwhelming. It was liberating.

Not all of the memories were related to the fox, or rather, the nogitsune. Most of the memories were related to Beacon Hills. It's history. It's heritage. The Hales had been born there, even before they had been turned into werewolves. The first Hale werewolf had been a native american, druid woman. She had been taught to be a druid by a group of genuinely peaceful settlers, unlike their brethren. In return, she taught them about their local plants and herbs, and their properties and uses. Remedies and medicines were traded back and forth between the locals and the settlers for years.

They formed a coven of six druids who found the nemeton and first began to worship around it. They were aware that the ley lines would make it more powerful, but they were unaware that it would become a beacon, like it did. They managed to keep it mostly tamed until their deaths; the descendents of all six druids, even the ones who had been turned into supernatural creatures at some point, kept up the tradition for years. It fell apart two decades before Talia Hale was born. One of the ancestors of a settling druid became a Darach and cut down the nemeton in a fit of rage.

Derek had never mentioned that, so he probably didn't know. Stiles couldn't wait to tell him. If he got the chance.

There were other vaults, far more ancient than the one beneath the school, with much bigger secrets inside. Powerful artefacts, sacred scrolls and texts. Tomes of knowledge were hidden deep beneath all of Beacon County, and beyond. All belonging to the Hale line. Stiles couldn't wait to see how much more they would learn from their contents.

However, he still hadn't discovered how to regain control from the Nogitsune, and the memories coming in were shrinking in numbers. Though, he now knew who the voices were. Well, not specifically but as a collective. So that was something. But still, it wasn't enough.

Everything was slowing down, and he was no closer to finding those particular answers. It would have been infuriating if it weren't for the fact Stiles was too distracted by everything to really feel emotions.

Low and behold, the final piece of information Stiles received was exactly what he needed to know.

That one factor was the key to making sense of everything he had learned.

His mind worked it over while he returned to the memory he had been dropped in by the Nogitsune. He panted for breath as the rush of knowledge had knocked him off of his feet.

"Is there any other way?" Stiles asked, once he had caught his breath. He didn't attempt to rise to his feet right away, his 'injuries' were rather painful at the moment and he didn't want to waste his energy. He might have to run soon.

"Every other way ends with many more dead." The voices told him regretfully.

Stiles sighed. He knew it was true, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"No matter what I do, people are going to die."

"In order to trap the nogitsune again," The voices began, "Part of his plan must first be completed. That part involves people getting hurt, some will die." They finished, sounding apologetic and certain.

"Man," Stiles sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "This sucks. Either I do this and innocent people die, but the rest of town lives. Or I don't do this, those people might survive, but others will definitely die in their place and my Pack might not figure out how to stop the nogitsune before he moves on to the rest of the world." Well, Stiles knew that his pack (*cough*Lydia*cough*) would find out how to trap the creature eventually, but who knew how much time that could take? There was so much damage the nogitsune could cause. It was smart, it could easily adapt to modern technology and weapons. Especially with access to Stiles' knowledge.

Let's also consider the fact that the nogitsune was simultaneously gaslighting Stiles' pack into believing Stiles had Frontotemporal Dementia, and had been setting up deadly traps around town since he regained control while Stiles was in the chemistry classroom, both acts were to create chaos for the nogitsune to feed off of. The only way to distract the nogitsune long enough so that Stiles could sabotage some of them, was for Stiles to let the trickster think he had won.

Everything was so messed up. Stiles was preparing himself for psychological torture, and for the emotional heaviness that would surely come. The weight that came with being responsible for other people's suffering. All he wanted to do was reunite with his Mate and Pack, but would he deserve to reunite with them after this?

After all, what he was preparing to do was horrific, but he tried to look at it like an ethics problem. He tried to rationalise it in his head, like the trolley problem.

You know, you're driving a trolley and the brakes are broken. Ahead there is a fork in the tracks, on one of the tracks is one person, on the other track are five people. You have to choose which way to turn. No matter which way you turn, someone will die. Do you choose to hit one person or five people? Does that answer change when the one person is somebody that you know? Or a child?

Really though, Stiles' choice was a little more extreme. He had to choose between wounding and/or killing up to a hundred people, or save them and risk billions of other people dying.

No, it wasn't a choice at all. The answer was obvious, even if some people he knew would be hurt along the way. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't be selfish. It was the right thing to do.

Without giving himself the chance to talk himself out of his decision, Stiles took a deep breath.

"Guess we're doing this, then." Stiles declared with all of the confidence he could muster. "So, do I just go to the next memory, or?" He trailed off as he raised an eyebrow at the wall in front of him.

"Actually, you need to go back." The voices corrected. "He will try to erase the failed attempt from your memory, and show you the altered memory at the nemeton, like he has done to many of your memories." They explained calmly, but Stiles was far from calm. "We will help you keep the true memories, and hide them from him."

"Look, I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything," Stiles began, he tried to tread carefully, but his frustration was obvious even to his own ears. "But if you can do that, why didn't you do it from the start?" he was growling by the end, but honestly he didn't really care.

"Look into the memories we gave you, Stiles." The voices told him patiently. "You already know that we could not help you before now, and why."

"Yeah," Stiles sighed in resignation. "I know, this still sucks though."

"We are sorry, Stiles," The voices told him sympathetically, and a warmth that felt oddly like a hug enveloped him. Stiles welcomed it, it wasn't as good as a hug from someone in his pack, or even snuggling up to his wolf in the cage, but it was still comforting.

"Okay, I'll go back into the fake memory." Stiles sighed reluctantly when the warmth faded. "Let's get this over with."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Due to the risk that Lydia and Derek might return to the house again, the four teens who had been ordered to wait until lunch to search for Stiles decided that it would be best to wait until then to meet up with the others. Well, Boyd decided and he was the one in charge, so the other three reluctantly did as they were told.

At around half past noon, the four of them arrived at the park where they had arranged to meet.

Ethan smiled as his eyes fell on Danny. The younger male was hunched over his laptop and typing rapidly. Suddenly, Malia rushed past him towards the table. He was unsure if she was more eager to greet their friends, or eat the food. Honestly though, he didn't care. His focus was on his boyfriend.

Aidan trailed behind his brother, side by side with Boyd. The pair of them shared a deadpanned look at Ethan's single-minded focus. Of course, the only reason Boyd wasn't rushing over to Cora and Erica was because Malia was enthusiastically greeting everybody at the table and hugging them all a little too tight, the way she did when they got home from school. She was a very tactile person, which was to be expected after spending so long alone.

Soon enough, the pair arrived at the table and exchanged greetings with the others. Boyd received a kiss from both of his mates and was ushered to a seat.

Once everyone was seated and was given their food, the real conversations began.

"So, how are we going to go about finding Stiles?" Malia was the first to ask.

"Yeah, are we splitting up or going everywhere together?" Cora asked, both options had merits and she had been mentally debating it since Peter agreed to cover for them.

"I think we should stick together, splitting up means a bigger chance of getting caught by Derek or the Sheriff." Scott suggested around a mouthful of food. He mostly didn't do that anymore because his mother, Allison, Lydia, Derek, and Jackson all found it disgusting, but none of them were there, so he did it anyway.

Danny didn't like it when people spoke with their mouths full of food, but it didn't bother him enough to say anything at that moment. He was too preoccupied with checking the newer footage from the security cameras. Still, he listened to the conversation the others were having and chimed in. "All of us staying together would make it easier for me to check the cameras to make sure we aren't caught by anyone."

"But it'll mean we have less of a chance of finding Stiles." Erica argued. "Splitting up means we can cover more ground. Besides, nine of us driving and walking around together is far more noticeable than four or five people walking together."

"Or groups of three." Ethan suggested.

"More ground, less conspicuous." Aidan added in agreement with his brother.

"No, we need five in our group." Cora declared firmly. She and Erica had discussed it on the way to get their food and were in firm agreement.

"Me, Cora, Boyd, Malia, and Kira." Erica stated, hand on her hips and a defiant look aimed at Scott.

"If Malia and Kira are going with you, then I'm sticking with you guys as well." Scott informed them, looking righteously determined. It was a familiar look on him. One that never failed to make Cora roll her eyes when she saw it.

"Whatever." Cora reluctantly agreed. "I guess you three wanna go off on your own?" She asked, gesturing to Danny and the twins.

"Hell no, I'm coming with you." Danny declared without taking his eyes off of the laptop screen. "So far today we have been to the jungle, the mall, and passed countless traffic cameras on our way through town. I don't know where you might end up next, and I am not going to risk McCall or any other FBI asshole catching us breaking and entering. If I stick with you, I can let you know if anyone is heading our way long before your supersenses can."

"Then I'm coming too." Ethan immediately volunteered.

"Guess that means we're all sticking together then." Aidan commented dryly. "How fun."

"But where are we going to search first?" Boyd asked. "Before they left I heard Lydia and Derek mention Eichen House-"

"What's Eichen House?" Malia asked curiously.

"It's an insane asylum. Creepy place." Cora told her with a slight shudder. The terrifying horror stories Laura and Derek had scared her, Jeremy, and the cousins with when they were younger. The stories themselves weren't that scary to her as a kid. They terrified her once she grew up and realised that the stories weren't as fictional as she once believed.

"Insane Asylum isn't the correct term, hasn't been for a long time." Danny corrected with a slightly disapproving frown. He expected a mistake as such from an older person or Coach, but not someone like Cora.

"They keep supernatural creatures captive in the basement." Cora stated, looking at Danny as though it was a justifiable response to his correction.

"They what?" Scott asked with wide eyes. "Say that again so I can listen to your heart this time." With an obligatory roll of her eyes, Cora did as requested. Upon hearing her steady heart rate, Scott's eyes grew impossibly wider and he gasped loudly, "Holy shit."

"Did they say where they've already checked?" Kira asked Boyd in an attempt to get the conversation back on track. "So that we don't waste time checking somewhere he probably isn't."

"Yeah, they'd checked most of the woods, and the sheriff had checked the arcade on his way to the station." Boyd informed her. "I was thinking that we should check the ice rink, bowling alley, and the power station. Anyone else have any suggestions?"

"Those are all good," Scott complimented him. "We should also check his old house, my house, the loft, the library-"

"Derek and Lydia already checked the library." Malia reminded him with a frown.

"Not our library," Scott corrected. "the public library."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that existed." Ethan joked easily.

"That's where we met, you dick!" Danny declared in mock outrage. He finally looked up from his laptop to glare at his boyfriend teasingly.

"I'm sorry, but you're so gorgeous that I forgot where I was. All I remember is you." Ethan replied flirtatiously. To everybody else at the table, he looked utterly ridiculously, to Danny, he looked absolutely irresistible.

"Moving on from-" Malia waved her hand to indicate the pair, "That. Where are we going to search first?" She was eager to return to the matter at hand. While she enjoyed hugs and casual touches after being alone for so long, she still wasn't that comfortable with romance just yet. She had spent so long alone and most of her memories of romance involved herself and her younger sister gagging whenever her parents kissed, or even hugged for too long. She was eight after all.

"Isn't the ice rink closest?" Erica asked, turning her head towards Boyd.

"Yeah, and the bowling alley is practically next door." Boyd pointed out. "We could split up briefly to search both at the same time. Save time, then head to the library together if we don't find him."

Everybody agreed to that plan, and decided that Erica's chosen group would search the bowling alley, whilst Danny, Ethan, Aidan, and Scott would search the ice rink. A part of Boyd wanted to go to the ice rink and ensure that nobody messed up his place of work, but he trusted Scott and Danny to keep the twins in line.

Thirty minutes later, the pack had finished eating, tidied up after themselves, and driven to the ice rink's parking lot. Cora allowed Malia to drive her bike and rode on the back. Malia shouted gleeful thanks to her cousin for most of the journey. Erica eagerly hopped on the back of Boyd's bike as soon as he had sat down, Scott let Kira ride on the back of his bike, Aidan drove his own bike and Ethan, who had driven Scott's bike here for him, went in the car with Danny.

While everybody else was busy discussing what to do if they found Stiles in the middle of a car park, Danny was busy texting Lydia.

From: Tech Genius (12:31)
Message: Hey, don't tell Derek but we ditched school to look for Stiles.

From: Everything Genius (12:31)
Message: My lips are sealed. We're at Stiles and the sheriff's old house. Turns out that Derek was the one who bought it. Shocker(!)

From: Tech Genius (12:32)
Message: Wow, who ever would have guessed(!) Thanks for letting us know, we're about to check the ice rink and the bowling alley.

From: Everything Genius (12:32)
Message: Good thinking, places with strong memories for Stiles. You should also check the nemeton and the root cellar. He died there, after all.

From: Tech Genius (12:32)
Message: True, thanks for the tip. After school finishes for the day I'm gonna need your help with something.

From: Everything Genius (12:33)
Message: What?

From: Tech Genius (12:33)
Message: A carving in the parking lot of the school. Cars were obscuring it and it's in a camera blind spot.

From: Everything Genius (12:33)
Message: You think it was Stiles?

From: Tech Genius (12:33)
Message: I'm not 100% sure but yeah, I do.

From: Everything Genius (12:34)
Message: Okay, meet me at the school at 6pm. Everyone should have left by then and the rest of the pact will be distracted.

From: Tech Genius (12:34)
Message: Got it. Thanks Lyds.

From: Everything Genius (12:34)
Message: Anytime, Danny. Let me know if I can help with anything else.

From: Tech Genius (12:35)
Message: Same to you. Be careful.

From: Everything Genius (12:35)
Message: You too.

"Danny, hey, you coming?" Scott called out. Danny looked up to see that the other five had left and were apparently already inside the building.

"Yeah, sorry." Danny apologised as he pocketed his phone and began walking towards the entrance to the ice rink. "That was Lydia. She, Derek and the sheriff are checking Stiles' old house. Apparently Derek was the one who bought it."

"Oh man!" Scott laughed. "I would have loved to have seen the sheriff's face when he found out about that."

"Me too."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Lydia had just pocketed her phone when she, Derek, and John walked into Stiles and Derek's old bedroom to find a mess of papers pinned to the walls, all around the room. There was a mix of crime scene photos, newspaper clippings, printed articles, and other pictures and notes, all joined together by red string. Each clipping that was pinned to the walls had one end of a piece of string attached to it. The other end of each string was tied to the handles of a pair of scissors.

The scissors were stabbed into the mattress of the double bed John had (somewhat reluctantly) bought for Stiles and Derek to share once Derek moved in. It had been put into storage when Jackson and Lydia brought the pair a California king bed for the purpose of puppy piles, but Derek had returned it to its previous spot when he had purchased the house. Just in case they ever needed it. Thinking of Stiles, Derek picked up on his mate's scent the moment the door had opened.

"I think you might want to replace that mattress." Lydia commented in a voice barely above a whisper. She wasn't sure why she was whispering. She wasn't scared, or sneaking about, but for some reason, in that room, at that point in time, she couldn't make her voice any louder.

Derek only nodded in response as he looked around with his wolf eyes in an attempt to find something that could help lead them to Stiles. John absentmindedly plucked one of the strings as he weaved around them.

Suddenly, Lydia's head shot up as new, yet old, whispers filled her ears. "What did you just do?" She demanded, her voice firm yet still quiet. John froze like a deer caught in headlights.

"Oh, I, uh, I just-" He stammered, unsure why a teenager asking him a simple question made him so nervous, but here he was.

Moving towards him, Lydia asked "Did you touch one of the strings?"

"Er, maybe." John replied after a moment of hesitation. Without another word, Lydia began examining the strings. She settled on one and plucked it lightly. She listened to the whispering carefully. She plucked it again once the whispering stopped, then continued to listen. When it stopped, she switched to another string. She had received the next location, but there was more information that she needed. She knew that she could find some of it here.

Both Derek and John investigated the room in silence as she worked. Derek picked up on Stiles' scent in the room and quietly informed John once the string Lydia was listening to had stilled.

"Stiles was here recently. I think he was bleeding, not much. But there's definitely something here." Derek sniffed again and made his way to the bed.

He picked up the pillow on Stiles' side of the bed. Stiles' pillow. The one he couldn't sleep without. Though, he has passed out from exhaustion without it a few times. More times than Derek cared to think about.

On the many occasions when Stiles had fallen asleep with his head on Derek's chest, he would always wake up with his head on the pillow. Once, during a puppy pile, Jackson had fallen asleep on top of Stiles' pillow. He had learned from that mistake after Stiles, still asleep, threw Jackson off of the bed, grabbed the pillow, placed it on Derek's chest, then snuggled up again like nothing had happened. After that, Derek always made sure to grab Stiles' pillow before anyone fell asleep during a puppy pile.

"This shouldn't be here." Derek declared as he picked it up. "This is Stiles' pillow. It was on our bed this morning."

"Okay, so how did he get into the house and get that pillow without anybody noticing?" John asked curiously.

Derek shook his head as he clutched the pillow tighter. "I don't know."

"You know for a fact that there is no way he could have gotten into the house without anyone noticing." Lydia stated, having taken a pause from plucking the strings to listen to their conversation. "Either one of the wolves would have noticed him, or Danny would have seen him on the cameras"

Shaking his head, Derek reminded her of a certain fact that he suddenly remembered. "Not if he used the tunnels to get in the house and stuck to the secret passageways. There are no cameras in any of the tunnels, passageways, bathrooms, or bedrooms. And the passageways and bedrooms are partially soundproofed. He could have gotten into our room without anybody noticing."

"Actually," John corrected sheepishly, drawing the attention of Derek and Lydia. "I may have put a motion sensored camera in your room with a feed to my phone, when Stiles started having nightmares and sleepwalking again."

"You did what?" Derek asked with wide eyes. He was suddenly very grateful for the fact that he and Stiles hadn't had sex in weeks. "So that's how you always know when he wakes up screaming, even when the door's locked."

"Not the point, the point is that I would have gotten a notification if anybody had been in that room." John explained after dismissing Derek's annoyance for the time being. He pulled out his phone to prove his point. Once he had unlocked the device, however, his face morphed into a confused and concerned expression.

"What is it?" Derek asked, immediately concerned by his father-in-law's reaction. The man responded without taking his eyes off of the screen.

"I have a notification saying that somebody was in your room, timestamped for 11:30 this morning." John finally looked up from the screen. As he continued to speak, his eyes flickered between the two. "I've checked my phone several times since then. This notification was not there. Something doesn't feel right about this." The sheriff told them gravely.

They watched the footage, which showed Stiles entering the bedroom through the closet, which held the entrance to the passageways. He grabbed his rucksack and shoved clothes and notebooks inside, along with his phone charger and his phone, which Derek had left on the bedside table. As she watched him do so, Lydia pulled out her phone and quickly sent a text to Danny. Sure it was hours ago, but it was worth a shot.

From: Everything Genius (13:22)
Message: Sheriff hid a camera in S&D's room. Stiles was there at 11:30am. Someone messed with the notification. He got in through the tunnels.

From: Tech Genius (13:22)
Message: We just finished searching the Library, we'll head there now, see if the wolves can pick up his scent.

From: Everything Genius (13:23)
Message: Don't forget that Scott, Kira, Boyd, and Malia need to be at Scott's house by 3:30. Melissa said she'd try to finish work early if she could. Scott will argue that sunset is a 6, but don't let him win! Derek will check on them!

From: Tech Genius (13:23)
Message: Got it. I'll make sure that they're there on time get so none of us get into trouble

Lydia smiled and pocketed her phone as she returned her attention to the recording of Stiles.

On the recording, Stiles zipped up his bag, then grabbed his pillow and left the same way he had arrived.

Frown etched into his face, John locked his phone and pocketed it again. "Okay so he was at the house a few hours ago. How long ago do you think he was here based on scent? His pillow's here so it was after he went to the house."

"An hour. Two hours at the most." As Derek replied, Lydia's eyes darted to him to check his reaction, she was unsurprised to find Derek already looking at her. After a silent conversation with the Alpha, Lydia returned her attention to the sheriff.

"We have a theory that there's something other than FTD that's affecting Stiles' behaviour." Lydia told John calmly and without hesitation.

"I see." John replied stoically, letting no emotion show on his face. "And what exactly is this theory?"

"Now, this might sound crazy-"

"Doesn't everything sound crazy with our pack?" John asked rhetorically in a dry tone that his son had definitely inherited. Lydia couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she nodded in concession. She then opened her mouth to explain their theory to John.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

The more time that Stiles spent running through the labyrinth in his mind after the creature went quiet, the more he grew frustrated. Each room or place he arrived at held a memory, sometimes multiple.

For example, he was currently in the locker room watching Scott chase him and injure him, but behind him, he knew Derek was defending Tara from Jennifer.

He tore his eyes away from the scene before him and made his way to the door. As he stepped through the door that should lead to the hallway, Stiles found himself walking into the bedroom he and Derek shared.

"I mean, I don't love you anymore." Memory Derek told memory Stiles, completely void of emotion. Stiles looked behind him, only to find their closet. Stiles growled as he ran for the bedroom door.

"For fuck's sake." He grumbled, then a dark chuckle echoed around him.

He kept running as the creature spoke again.

"This can all end if you just let me in." The voice offered, not for the first time. "We want to save your life, Stiles."

Even when being told one of his worst fears was coming true, Stiles was not one to give in. To anybody. Well, as long as it didn't go against his morals or logic.

"Never." Stiles growled as he ran through the doorway and into the root cellar beneath the nemeton.

"Let me in!" The voice hollered as Stiles ignored it and climbed the steps and burst through the hatch. The young werewolf emerged on the lacrosse field, the bright lights were blinding him. He looked around at his surroundings and tried to decide his next move.

"Let. Me. In."

Stiles didn't respond to the creature as he ran as fast as he could towards the bleachers. The moment his foot touched the first step, Stiles found himself standing on the nemeton.

A board game that Stiles did not recognise was lying by his feet.

Sitting on the nemeton, on the other side of the game board, sat a broad, heavily bandage figure. Stiles looked at the creature for a moment, regarding it sceptically.

Okay. Admittedly, this did not go as planned. None of it had, in fact. Why were all of his plans involving his pack amazing, but all of his plans for solo adventures always went off the rails? It really wasn't fair.

It seemed that Stiles had two options: Stay and play the board game with the creature, or turn and run away as fast as he could, and hope to find another way to regain control of his body.

If Pack game nights had taught him anything, it's that you don't want to play boardgames with a sore loser, and something told Stiles that this Nogitsune would be a sore loser.

So, Stiles turned 180 degrees and prepared to run, only to find himself frozen at the sight before him: The heavily bandaged creature sat in front of the board game, staring at him. He turned again, only to find the same sight. Just like on the roof, except this time his was rooted in one spot.

This was worse.

Uselessly spinning on the spot while attempting to escape, Stiles felt ridiculous. No matter which way or how far he turned, he always found himself looking at the board game and the creature. He couldn't step back off of the nemeton. If this was where he was supposed to find the 'door', then that sucked because he had no way to get to said door.

Pathetically, Stiles felt the tears pool in his eyes as the hopelessness of his situation dawned on him. (Only to himself, he would not consider anyone else crying in this situation, or any other pathetic in any way. He had issues with himself, okay? He was well aware of that, which is why he still had sessions with Morrell)

Unwilling to show any more weakness in front of this creature, Stiles aggressively wiped the tears away.

"Who are you?" Stiles asked again, his voice barely above a whisper as he sat down on the nemeton and stared at the creature possessing him.

The creature quickly corrected him with a response of, "Who are we, Stiles." revealing sharp silver teeth as they did so.

At the same time as they spoke, they moved a piece on the board. Stiles went to reaffirm that the only 'we' in his mind referred to himself and his wolf, but they spoke again before he could. "There is only you and me now, Stiles." The creature told Stiles confidently. "It's time to make your move." He ordered as he gestured to the board.

"My wolf is still alive. I will set him free." The werewolf told the creature possessing him with the utmost confidence. "So give me a name."

Ever one to infuriate, apparently, they did not give Stiles a name.

"Make your move Stiles." The creature ordered.

Imagining all the ways he wished to hurt the creature possessing him and subduing his wolf, Stiles managed to barely keep himself from lunging.

"Who are you?" Stiles demanded again through gritted teeth.

"Not 'who are you', Stiles. Who are we." The creature corrected again, which only caused Stiles' anger to grow. "Make your move."

"I told you to stop saying that. Stop saying 'we'." Stiles ordered. "What do you want?"

"Make your move, Stiles." The creature ordered, more firmly that time.

Stiles reluctantly did so, as he had realised that the creature would not be answering any questions until then.

"You haven't given your wolf a name." The creature said as he studied the board. "Why is it so important to you that I have one? We are the same, Stiles. Just like you and your wolf once were."

"Uh, first of all," Stiles stated as he glared at the creature darkly, "My wolf has a name. You just don't deserve to know it. And secondly, we are not the same. We are nothing alike, in any way shape or form. You hear me? My wolf and I are still one. You will never be able to truly separate us."

The creature made his next move before returning his attention to Stiles.

Nonplussed by Stiles' attitude, the creature merely regarded him. Stiles strongly resented the bandages that prevented him from seeing the creature's face and reading him properly.

"If I am not worthy of knowing your wolf's name, what makes you worthy of knowing mine?" The creature asked as it tilted its head. Stiles looked down and studied the board to figure out his next move. He had never played this game before in his life, he didn't even know its name. Yet, he somehow knew all of the rules.

"Damn, you got me there! Let me think on that." Stiles snarked and pretended to think for a moment, before snapping his fingers and declaring "Well, for one, you know my name. It's only fair. What else? Oh yeah, you're possessing my body and keeping me locked inside my own mind!" Stiles stated as he made his next move on the board. "Who are you?"

Evidently, the creature was as determined to annoy Stiles as Stiles was to annoy them. "Who are we, Stiles." The creature corrected again.

Repeating himself in return, Stiles replied firmly "The only 'we' here, is me and my wolf. Give me something to call you, or I walk."

The creature knew, of course, that he literally couldn't walk away. Oh well, he said it with confidence.

Not one to make things easy, the creature responded cryptically with, "I have many names."

"Okay, Gozer." Stiles rolled his eyes at the creature. 'If you're going through Hell, keep going' right? Well, if he was to keep going, he would do it with his usual level of sarcasm.

That nickname was clearly unappreciated by the creature as they quickly added on to their previous statement.

"Most call me Nogisune." The creature, the Nogitsune, corrected as he studied the board.

Yet again, the Nogitsune was seemingly unphased by Stiles' presence. It was rather infuriating. The Nogitsune acting like he and Stiles had met out on the street or something.

"Okay, Mr Nogitsune." Stiles began with all of the faux confidence he could muster. "Why are you here? Feel like having a party in Beacon Hills?"

Unwilling to tear their eyes from the board, the Nogitsune replied to Stiles without looking at him.

"I was summoned here. Years ago." The Nogitsune informed the young wolf, who listened carefully. "Then the person who summoned me decided to lock me away. She even enlisted help to do so."

"Right. Okay. Why were you summoned?" Stiles asked immediately. "Who was she? Who helped her? And why did they lock you away?"

Suppressing the smirk that threatened his lips, the Nogitsune chose to respond to Stiles' final question and ignored all of the others.

Knowing that his reaction would be fun, the nogitsune made their move before speaking and looked up to observe the human-turned-werewolf's reaction.

"She wanted revenge. But she didn't have the stomach to handle what she had asked for. Why do Humans not use nuclear weapons when they have them?"

Incredulous for a split second, Stiles responded, "Because the results would be catastrophic." The moment the words left his lips, the realisation hit.

No.

The Nogitsune couldn't be that powerful, right?

Nodding in agreement at Stiles declaration of catastrophe, the Nogitsune replied "Precisely."

"Then why the Hell would I give you control when you're just gonna kill everyone?" Stiles asked rhetorically as he made his next move, then leaned back and folded his arms over his chest and pulled out his best bitch face.

He shuddered at the gleeful yet menacing chuckle that the Nogitsune let out.

"Because if you don't," The Nogitsune began in a voice that held the same cheerful yet menacing tone. A tone that Stiles was certain he had never heard before, and yet it sounded strangely familiar. "We will kill all of your friends together." He finished his threat with a menacing growl, all cheerfulness from the start of his sentence long gone by the time the word 'kill' left his mouth. "If you behave, we might let them live." The Nogitsune told the werewolf.

"Er, yeah, it's the whole 'might' part of that sentence that I'm not liking." Stiles drawled. "So, how the hell did you get out of your prison?"

Darkness loomed over Stiles, the Nogitsune and the nemeton, yet the rest of the room remained the same bright white. "You let me out, Stiles." The Nogitsune informed him as he made his move. "You and your Mate."

"When we connected ourselves to the Nemeton." Stiles stated in realisation, it was the only possible answer.

Visions of the nightmares he'd had during Bardo flashed before his eyes. All of the warnings he had foolishly ignored. This all could have been avoided if he had just paid better attention. At least, that's what he told himself.

Delighted with Stiles' obvious spiral of self doubt, the Nogitsune continued.

"When the lightning struck the Nemeton, my prison was destroyed." The Nogitsune told Stiles honestly. "You died, so did the Alpha. Then you came back, which made you both viable hosts."

Letting the information sink in, Stiles remained silent for a moment as the Nogitsune made his next move.

"Bardo. The Nemeton was trying to stop us from letting you in." Stiles realised, all of the pieces were falling into place. He looked towards the board and pretended to study it as he thought. "But I failed. I let you get this far. And now, everybody that I love is in danger. Because of me." He muttered in shame.

With glee, the nogitsune responded.

"We're here to save you Stiles, we need you alive." Stiles looked up at the nogitsune, who grinned menacingly. At least, Stiles thought it was supposed to be a menacing grin, it was hard to tell with all the bandages. It certainly felt menacing.

"If you let me in, you can live in a labyrinth of all your good memories." The Nogtsune informed him, he spoke to Stiles as though he was a child to whom he was offering a day at the arcade with endless snacks. "We will lock away the bad ones. You'll live in eternal bliss with all of your loved ones. Or you can remain stubborn. Resist. And together will kill everyone you love."

The hole in the Nogitsunes 'offer' was glaringly obvious.

"Either way, you still kill my Pack. Just because you won't make me watch, that doesn't mean that you won't do it." Stiles sneered at the nogitsune. Suddenly, the voices that had helped him earlier began to whisper in his mind again.

He continued to hear the other voices clearly, even as the nogitsune spoke. It was clear that Nogitsune was unaware of this other voice, thankfully.

"Perhaps not. They are rather entertaining after all, and so full of chaos," The Nogitsune told him, as though it were supposed to be comforting. "Or rather, some of them are."

Not a great offer. The Nogitsune really needed to work on his incentives. Both Stiles and the voices were in agreement on that.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pass, thanks." Stiles responded easily. "But uh, the sales pitch was delivered excellently, perfect balance of menace and fake assurances, I swear." He mockingly assured the Nogitsune with his best sarcastic timing, while standing up. "That being said, the incentives could use some work. It's kind of a lose-lose situation, y'know?"

Of course the nogitsune growled as Stiles took a step backwards, moving away from them, as the second voice continued to whisper to Stiles.

"So you should, uh, definitely work on that, in the future." Stiles advised with a smirk. "Alright, that's all the advice you get for free." Stiles teasingly shot finger guns at the nogitsune, just for kicks.

Like hell the boy would be walking away. This was the Nogitsune's game.

"It's time to make your move, Stiles." The nogitsune told Stiles and tried to hide his surprise, as he rose to his feet to follow the werewolf. "You let me out, now let me in."

Laughing as he threw out his arms, Stiles grinned.

"This is my move." Stiles replied as he successfully stepped backwards off of the Nemeton. His grin transformed into another smirk as he turned his back on the Nogitsune and walked away.

Not letting the shocking turn of events shake him up too much, the Nogitsune let out a dark chuckle.

The teen's ability to step off of the nemeton was indeed surprising but unconcerning. He was in control here. He patiently followed the seventeen year old, at a leisurely pace, through the seemingly endless white room.

Entertained by the boy's (inevitably futile) attempts to escape, the Nogitsune continued to taunt him.

"No matter how far you run, Stiles, I will always be here with you." The Nogitsune promised as he moved towards the werewolf. "You will give in eventually. You will let me in. Because I can save you. And all the while I'm in here with you, I'm also out there, with them. You have no idea what I'm putting them through right now."

Vicious fury overcame Stiles and he spun on his heel to glare at the Nogitsune again.

"I think you'll find that I know exactly what you're putting them all through." Stiles informed the Nogitsune, his voice was dark and angry as he spoke. Stiles finally stopped walking as he turned to look at the one who was possessing him, and threatening his pack. Tormenting them too.

"You're trying to convince all of them that I have frontotemporal dementia like my mother." Stiles stated as he regarded the Nogitsune with a darkness in his eyes that he had no idea he was capable of. Not even his wolf had expected it. "You're setting up tricks and traps. You're planning to disappear for a few days, show up for an MRI, then swap the results out for my mothers. After that you're gonna disappear again and set up more traps, bigger and deadlier than the ones you've already planted. For innocent civilians, my pack, and my dad. I know everything you're planning and I am going to stop it."

Regardless of the lack of change in his enemies posture, and the fact that he couldn't see his face thanks to the bandages, Stiles could tell that the Nogitsune was surprised by Stiles' knowledge.

It had been convinced that it had successfully cut off Stiles' access to the outside world and the wolf. Something was wrong. The stubborn werewolf had found a way to either see through his eyes, or contact the wolf. How?

Keeping his body language as natural as possible, the Nogitsune didn't allow his rage to show. This is why he should have chosen a human; unfortunately he hadn't been summoned again, therefore the only way in was through a person who had been sacrificed to the Nemeton that he had been buried under and brought back to life, and there were only two people currently alive who fit that description:

Now first, the obvious choice to most, Derek Hale: the born werewolf who was born to be a beta, who had severe PTSD and guilt issues over the death of his family and the first person he had loved; who suffered more guilt when his mate's father kicked his only child out of the house for being a werewolf. And he inexplicably blamed himself for it, simply because, at that time, he didn't know who the alpha was. As though that knowledge would have made a difference.

On that very same night, Derek was traumatised further by the return of his abuser, who also killed all but three members of his family, Kate Argent. Upon her return to Beacon Hills, she shot Derek with a wolfsbane bullet. She continued to torment him, before she was supposedly killed in front of his eyes by the alpha. From there, the attacks only continued on the people Derek cared about, and those he would come to care about. He was unable to protect Lydia, three times (even if he was uncertain about the girl when she first encountered Peter), and Jackson, twice (again, despite his uncertainty about him).

He discovered that his uncle Peter was the alpha, and struggled with that knowledge until he killed his uncle and became the Alpha and created his own Pack. While some things definitely improved for him, and some great things happened to him, he experienced a lot more trauma. He failed to protect his pack and mate over and over again. He watched them suffer and felt like he got away scot free. He was forced to be with somebody other than his mate and abandon his pack, and never really got the chance to make amends before he and Stiles performed the ritual that awoke the Nogitsune's spirit. Then Derek inexplicably rose to True Alpha status, a feat unheard of for an Alpha. Still, he managed to do so and made it harder for the Nogitsune, but he did love a challenge. However, first he needed to consider both of his choices.

With that in mind, the Nogitsune took the time before attempting anything to consider his second option; Stiles Stilinski.

While Derek Hale may have a lot of self doubt, guilt and PTSD, his Mate, Stiles Stilinski?

Now he was a feast for the Nogitsune: His guilt over keeping the truth of why Scott's dad left his family a secret from the boy wasn't fun for him. His traumatic childhood of having his mother accuse him of trying to kill her, several times, combined with watching her jump to her death after one such accusation, really messed him up as a kid too. Sure, the nogitsune was trying to convince Stiles that it hadn't happened and that the uncovered memory of the doctor and Rafael McCall covering it up was a delusion, but it was very real and it left a scar.

His father's subsequent heavy drinking and obsession with his work added more stress on the boy. Because the time it started was simultaneous with both Claudia's death and the start of Stiles' sleepwalking and panic attacks. Of course, Stiles didn't assume that Claudia's death caused John's downward spiral, and instead blamed only himself for his father's worrying and drinking.

As Stiles grew older, bullying at school grew worse, his relationship with his father became even more strained, despite how much they both reminded the other of how much they loved each other. Then he turned, he began drifting from Scott, his one consistency throughout all of the hardships in his life, because of the slightly younger teen's stubborn denial of what was happening to them. Then he fell in love, only for that love to lead him to be tortured by a psychotic geriatric, a pack of alphas, have his Mate pulled away from him by a spell, and forced to tear Stiles' heart in two. He watched his pups attempt to kill themselves, he gave into the urge he had been fighting for years and tried to kill himself, in front of his pack, because of the same woman who stole Derek from the Pack and who was also killing people in town.

Stiles had so much curiosity and mischief in his mind that would be useful to the Nogitsune. The immense guilt, self deprecation, overwhelming PTSD and suicidal thoughts he suffered from made him a perfect snack, and source of entertainment, for the Nogitsune. Well, at least, until he gained enough strength to create his own vessel and rid himself of the pesky wolf, which would mean killing the boy too.

However more physically powerful Derek was compared to his mate, Stiles' mischievous nature and cunning was unparalleled. His mind was sharp, he could be vicious and vindictive, but his over-protectiveness and motherly-instincts caused his pack to overlook that most of the time. Plus, he would make a much more fun playmate. His deviousness and importance to the Pack also sweetened the deal for the Nogitsune. So he chose Stiles.

Besides, Derek being a born-wolf would make it far more difficult to separate him from his wolf and cut off his abilities. Almost impossible, really.

"It is pointless to run. You cannot escape me now, Stiles." The nogitsune stated, confident in his declaration. No matter what knowledge the seventeen year old had, the Nogitsune was a thousand years old. He was in charge here. No matter what the boy thought.

Tutting and shaking his head in a patronising manner, Stiles was working very hard to piss off the Nogitsune.

"Wrong." Stiles smirked at the creature. "This is my body. My mind. I can do whatever I want."

Yes, it had been Stiles' mind and body, but not anymore. Now that he had gotten this far, there was no way the boy could be rid of him. It wouldn't be long until the nogitsune had the strength to create a new body for himself, then he could finally kill the infuriating boy. It would be much easier if he could break the teen first and make him give in, but it wasn't essential. The Nogitsune was powerful enough to do what needed to be done without the boy giving in completely, but it would be so much more satisfying.

Confident, the Nogitsune chuckled darkly.

"Then do something." He dared the werewolf, almost amused.

"Okay." Stiles grinned in response.

Just like that, Stiles vanished before the Nogitune's eyes.

Well, that was unexpected.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"This is a bad idea." Aidan stated as he and eight of his Pack Mates walked towards the doors of the power substation where Barrow had taken Kira. They had followed Stiles' scent from his bedroom, through the tunnels and to the station.

"Try to be more positive." Scott told him as he all but marched towards the doors, determination clear in his, well, everything.

"I'm positive that this is a bad idea." Aidan amended petulantly.

"Stiles would have delivered that line better." Erica commented.

"Hey," Scott began, frowning at Erica as he scolded her. The blonde raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed as he did so. "You shouldn't compare him to Stiles. We shouldn't compare each other to anybody, because we're all different and unique, and that's a good thing."

"I don't know," Danny teased, trying to lighten the mood. "Cora and Erica are pretty similar."

"Cora hates make-up and has the same fashion sense as Derek." Ethan countered, "Erica despises sports of all kinds, and the only reason that she joined the track team was to get the free snacks and rub her skills in everybody's faces." He could see what his boyfriend was trying to do and was eager to help. "They're pretty different. Even if they do both growl a lot, cheat in school, and are obviously exhabitionists."

"Ha, you're not wrong!" Erica agreed with a short but genuine laugh.

"Yes he is." Cora told the blonde before turning a heatless glare towards Ethan. "I am not an exabitionist, I am simply comfortable in my own home, and expect werewolves to know better than to walk into a room when Mates are obviously fucking in there."

"But you do sometimes just start going at it when we're already in the room." Scott pointed out as Kira led the group through the building towards the area where Barrow had kept her. He was hoping to distract her from the unpleasant memory, but he wasn't sure if he was succeeding.

"Only after an argument," Cora defended, dismissing his point with a wave of her hand. "You all need to learn to read the room."

"Or maybe you should learn to go to your own room." Danny grinned teasingly. "After all, you have three bedrooms in three different houses to choose from."

"Four bedrooms." Scott corrected. "Boyd and I gave up our individual rooms to the twins, but Erica still has hers." The crooked-jawed teen reminded the hacker, who nodded as recollection hit him. Erica never used the room, not since her parents moved their house onto the property. Since then if she stayed at the Hale house it was in Stiles and Derek's room for a puppy pile, or in Cora's room with her and Boyd. She had only used that room when her parents stayed at the Hale house after the Alpha pack had kidnapped the trio, so it was easy to forget that it was technically hers.

"You used to have individual rooms?" Malia asked in disbelief. "I thought that mates always shared the same room?"

"The sheriff had rules when Stiles was planning to build the house as a surprise for Derek." Danny explained. "We're all under 18 so it's technically illegal for any of us to have sex. With the whole werewolves and soulmates thing, it made things a little more complicated. While he knew that he couldn't stop Stiles and Derek from sharing a room, he said that he couldn't give permission on behalf of the other parents for couples, or throuples, to share, so everyone else had to have their own rooms. Plus a room for the sheriff, Mrs. McCall, and a spare room in case we had a guest over, or Stiles was grounded and therefore not allowed to share a room with Derek." Danny continued to explain as the group grew ever closer to their destination. "Of course, Stiles and Lydia decided to go overboard and add a few extra bedrooms on both upper floors. So rather than just the twelve bedrooms the sheriff requested, we have the astounding twenty bedrooms that we have now."

"Right, after like, the first month, everyone had pretty much abandoned the whole 'individual rooms' thing, but the sheriff still pretended that it was a thing. Lydia used her room once when she was strangled by the Darach and her mom stayed here, but otherwise it was unused, same with Allison, so they're now yours and Kira's rooms," Scott added, only for Kira to interrupt with wide eyes.

"I have a room?" Kira asked, surprised and hopeful all at once. She had only known the truth about the pack for two days, and they had already set a bedroom for her. Maybe she should be concerned at the presumptuousness of the wolves, but she wasn't. She was just.. happy.

"Yeah," Erica told her as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, I know you shared with Malia the other night, but if you want it, we have a room reserved for you at the house that you can decorate however you want."

"You're a part of the pack now, right?" Cora asked casually.

"I am?" Kira asked hopefully, looking around at the others as though she was expecting somebody to object.

"Duh," Erica rolled her eyes playfully as she nudged Kira's shoulder. "Of course you are. You think we let just anybody help us plan and commit crimes?"

"Pack sticks together," Cora continued when Kira only smiled bashfully in response. "So, of course you two get your own rooms."

Kira smiled at them all and stammered out her thanks. Her smile soon faded when she realised where they were.

"This is it." Kira told them as she looked around at the scorched room. "This is where Barrow electrocuted Stiles and I used my foxfire." She was the only one present who had been there before, as Danny had been outside guarding Scott who had been trapped in the mountain ash circle. She looked back at the pack and was unsurprised to see them all looking horrified.

"This is Stiles' bat." Scott stated as he picked up the object in question. The moment his fingers touched the metal, he felt a powerful shock, "Ow,"

"He was holding it when..." Kira trailed off, a guilty frown on her face, Erica was quick to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault." Erica reminded the kitsune. "Besides, it's not like it killed him."

"What if it did something worse?" Aidan asked rhetorically as he looked around the room.

"Like what?" Cora snapped as she glared at him.

"I don't know," The former alpha admitted as he walked towards Scott and took the bat from his hands. "But something about all of this... It feels wrong."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Lydia, Derek, and John had just left the hospital after searching the building from the roof to the basement, and checking on Jackson and Melissa. They were making their way to cars when Derek's phone alarm went off, alerting them to the fact that school would be ending soon.

"I'll drive you to the school on my way to the station." John told Derek. "I need to give Parrish a real break and check in with everyone."

"I'll make my own way home." Lydia told them both with her head held high and her arms folded over her chest.

"Lydia, I'm not sure-" Derek began to protest, but Lydia glared at him and cut him off.

"I have my voice, I have mountain ash, I am armed with a fully loaded gun, a dozen extra bullets, pepper spray, a taser, and a knife, I have my phone, I have a flashlight, I have protein bars, and I have two bottles of water." She reminded them as she gestured to her handbag, how she managed to fit all of that (with the obvious exception of her voice, that one was self explanatory) into such a seemingly small bag was beyond them both. Of course the knife and gun were on her person, but she didn't waste more time explaining that. "I can take care of myself. Besides, I need to check something else out before I go home."

"Be careful!" Derek ordered reluctantly. He knew there was no point in arguing with the Banshee when she had her mind set on something.

Technically, he could use his alpha command to influence her, but Derek didn't want to take free will from any of them. He only used his alpha command if he was trying to get through to one of them when they're out of control, or to get them away from dangerous situations.

"You too." Lydia replied with a soft smile. She then turned and walked away, location in mind. Derek hesitated for a moment before he finally climbed into the cruiser. Seconds later, John began to drive towards the school.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Katashi's office is here." Chris informed his daughter as he pointed at the room on the blueprint. The pair were leaning against the hood of the car, the blueprint was laid out on the silver coloured surface.

"Guys. This isn't going to work." Isaac told them. The duo looked up in unison, They both craned their necks to look at Isaac, but he was hidden from the neck down by the car. "I look ridiculous." He declared nervously as he stepped out from behind the car, wearing a suit. He continued to stutter as he walked towards the pair. "I mean I look like I just stepped out of the last period of a Catholic prep school. And there is no way that I'm going to be able to remember all this." He shuffled through the cue cards as he shook his head, his trepidation clear. "I mean, what does this even mean? 'Revolving over and under barrels?'"

"All you have to do is keep them talking long enough to allow us to get inside and find Katashi." Chris told the teen in a poor attempt at comfort. "He may not be there for the buy in person but he won't be far."

"You look great." Allison promised her mate with a gentle smile.

"I am sweating all the way through my jacket." Isaac argued as he pulled back the jacket in question to show her the sweat-soaked shirt. "I didn't even know that I could sweat this much."

"Give me a second." Allison told her father and he kindly nodded. She guided Isaac gently to the side of the vehicle and pulled him close. "You can do this. Scott and I can both attest to how charming and charismatic you are. You're not a boy, if you walk in there acting like a man," She assured him as she tucked in his shirt. "Okay? Go in there with confidence and all they'll see is a boyish looking man."

"Or a stupid teenager pretending to be a man. I'm going to get my head blown off by a bunch of Japanese fingerless mobsters-" Isaac was abruptly cut off by the huntress kissing him. As they kissed passionately, Allison gently grabbed Isaac's hand and guided it to her arse. She encouraged him to squeeze.

When they pulled apart for air, Allison smiled softly at Isaac.

"How do you feel now?" She asked as she allowed a small smirk to grace her lips.

Isaac couldn't keep the smirk from his own lips, caused by the surge of confidence that flooded through him.

That confidence remained as he strutted into the building with his head held high and his sunglasses on.

"Gentlemen." He greeted the group of heavily armed men with confidence he never believed himself capable of. "I believe Mr. Katashi is expecting me."

"I'm expecting you." A deep voice called out. Isaac looked up to the top of the stairs to see a broad, tan, intimidating man with werewolf claws decorating his finger tips. The man sent Isaac a knowing look as he allowed his claws to dance along the bannister as he slowly made his way down the staircase.

Isaac sized the other wolf up as he approached him. Isaac may not have seen his eyes yet, but he could tell that he was no Alpha.

He could handle this.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Lydia walked through the preserve slowly. She had time before she had arranged to meet Danny. This felt like something important. Something that she had to do. Even though she was alone physically, the whispers around her kept her company on her quest.

Soon enough she came across that which she had been seeking: The Nemeton.

As soon as she laid eyes on the stump, the whispering abruptly cut off. Growling softly, Lydia looked down at her left hand, specifically the piece of red string that she had tied to herself, one end was attached to her thumb and the other was attached to her index finger. She moved the two digits apart until the string was taut. She used her right index finger and thumb to pluck the string.

The whispers returned as the string vibrated. She continued to pluck the string as she walked around the nemeton to find the hatch. Lydia made quick work of doing so and made her way down to the root cellar.

Once her feet touched the ground, Lydia no longer needed the string to hear the whispering. The voices and the nemeton itself were both guiding her towards something. They instructed her to search underneath the roots. So she dropped to her knees and dug with her bare hands at a charred patch of earth, because they didn't think to recommend that she bring a shovel! She theorised that the charred ground was the result of the lightning strike that killed Stiles and Derek when they bound the pack to the nemeton. She kept her mind focused on theories to distract herself from the pain in her hands as she dug.

Within five minutes, her hands finally hit something other than burnt dirt. A minute later, an object was unearthed enough for Lydia to pull it free.

As she set the object on the ground in front of her, Lydia let her dirtied and bloodied hands drop to her side to give them a moment of rest, Lydia stared at what she had unearthed.

What had she unearthed?

It just looked like a charred box with a hole burned into it. What did it mean?

"Lydia?" A weak voice called out. The banshee turned to find Stiles curled up in a shaded corner of the root cellar.

"Stiles!" Lydia called out in relief as she began to rush towards him, simultaneously, she shoved the box into her bag. It was half hanging out, but it was good enough.

"Don't come any closer!" Stiles ordered in a clear panic. Lydia froze in her tracks.

"What?" She asked in confusion. "Stiles, what's going on?" Lydia asked gently as she attempted to take another step towards him. She felt it in her heart that it was not the nogitsune she was talking to then, but the real Stiles.

"Lydia, for your own safety, do not come any closer!" Stiles ordered, trying to shuffle backwards, but his back was already against the wall. "I don't know how long I have left in control, but listen to me, okay?"

"Okay." Lydia agreed easily as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys that the voices had insisted she steal from Derek. Stiles' keys. "The voices told me that you'd need these." She informed him as she tossed the keys to him. "To pull off your plan."

"Thank you." He sighed gratefully as he clutched the familiar keys tightly, "But Lydia, listen to me, from here on out, you cannot trust me, okay? There's something wrong with me. Someone is in my head. He told me what he is, but he might be lying. I'm not sure if I can tell you, I'm sorry." Stiles told her as quickly as he could. He knew it was risky giving her any information, but he was certain he could hide their conversation from the nogitsune as long as he didn't say its name. Lydia was good with secrets, and would be able to calculate the best people to solve the problem without concerning the rest of the pack too much. "I need you to keep this as quiet as possible, okay? Only tell those who absolutely need to know and can keep it quiet. He's dangerous, I can feel it. He'll kill anyone he thinks is onto him, alright? I hate even telling you this much, but so far I've only gained enough control to leave a message on the loft wall in paint and a carving in the school parking lot."

"You mean the parking lot of Derek's building." Lydia corrected with a frown. Danny had mentioned a carving in the parking lot, but why wouldn't Stiles mention the other message he'd left them?

"No, I mean the school parking lot. I carved it with one of Allison's ring daggers after I checked the handwriting on the blackboard to be sure." Stiles responded with certainty. "Why? What was carved in that parking lot?"

"C.S. 2004 F.T.D." Lydia told him.

"Lydia, I didn't write that!" Stiles informed her urgently. "It's a part of his trick. Look, you have to get out of here, okay? Right now! Before I lose control again. I'm sorry for what's going to happen, but it's the only way. I need you to believe that. I'm sorry, Lyd. I'm so sorry that I'm not strong enough to hold him off forever. I'll hold on for as long as I can, but I cannot be around any of you when he takes over again, okay?" He was pleading with her to go, and the agonised look in his eyes gave her conflicting feelings.

A part of Lydia wanted to stay and help him fight, but the other half told her that if she stayed, she would only be making things harder on Stiles. The voices confirmed for her that Stiles' fear of hurting his pack made it easier for the Nogitsune to take control. If Lydia was in close proximity to Stiles, that fear would be heightened. She had to give him his best chance to stay in control.

"I will find a way to help you. I promise." Lydia locked eyes with Stiles as she gave him that assurance. "Until then remember, no matter what happens, that I love you. Derek loves you. Your dad, Scott, the pack, we all love you. Keep fighting to come home to us."

"I will." Stiles promised as tears flooded his eyes. "I love you too. I love all of you."

"We know." Lydia smiled through her own tears. "We'll see you soon, Mum." She ended with a teasing grin that made Stiles chuckle. Or maybe it was her calling him mum. Either way, Lydia classed it as a win, though she was quick to add, "Don't get used to that, it is never happening again. You may be Pack mum, but you are not my mum. You're one of my best friends, not my parents."

"You're one of my best friends too." Stiles smiled softly at her. "When I'm no longer a threat to you all, I'll come home and we'll have a sleepover, and so many puppy piles."

"I'm definitely gonna paint your nails." Lydia told him firmly with a light 'no arguments' glare. "And remember, Stiles, you are not a threat to us and you never will be. We will free you from this Nogit-"

"Don't say it!" Stiles cut her off quickly. "It'll make it harder to hide this from him." He explained and Lydia nodded. At least he had confirmed it for her.

"Okay." Lydia agreed easily before she forced a soft smile onto her face. "We'll find a way to help you. I promise." When Stiles only smiled in return, Lydia forced herself to turn away and leave the root cellar without looking back. Stiles needed to focus, and he needed her to focus. Stiles was working hard to buy Lydia enough time to find a solution for him, and she couldn't waste a single second of it.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Scott and Kira arrived at the McCall house on Scott's motorbike at the same time that Boyd and Malia pulled up. Boyd was on his own motorbike. Cora had again allowed her cousin to use hers. Boyd was certain Cora was planning to convince Malia to get her licence so that Cora could buy her a bike of her own.

"I love this thing." Malia announced as she pulled off her helmet, revealing an exhilarated grin on her face. "Can I have one?"

"I'm sure that once you have your licence, Derek will get you one if you ask." Scott told her honestly.

"How does he have so much money? He's a deputy." Kira asked curiously, without thinking. "I mean it's none of my business, I was just-"

"It's fine." Boyd assured her and began to explain while Scott unlocked the door. "They don't like to advertise it, but the Hales have owned most of Beacon Hills for centuries. The preserve, the school building, the town hall building, the arcade, he rents out the dozen retail buildings he owns to local businesses. It started with their great grandmother, when she was alpha, and all of the alpha's since have done the same. They also own about a dozen warehouses and half of the residential buildings in town."

"Derek rents out all but one of the warehouses," Scott added as he let them all into the house. "And all of the houses and apartments, with the exception of the loft, as you know. Reasonable rates, too. Could you lock the door?"

"Yeah." Kira replied and did as she was asked. She was slightly dazed by the revelation of the Hales' unseen power over the town.

Scott and Boyd worked quickly to close and lock all of the windows in the house.

"I don't want to sound pessimistic or anything, but do you really think that that's going to keep them out?" Kira asked as she watched them work.

"Actually, we have a, uh, sort of security system." Scott told her as Boyd made his way upstairs to make sure those windows were all locked too. "My boss put it in a while back."

"Your boss Deaton? The veterinarian/witch doctor?" Malia asked with a raised eyebrow. Kira looked concerned for a moment.

"You had a vet put in your alarm?" Kira asked, looking at Scott with dissbelief and concern.

"That's stupid." Malia stated bluntly.

"He's not a witch doctor, he's a druid, and is kind of our Pack emissary until Danny has finished training." Scott reminded them.

"And it's less of an alarm and more of a barrier." Boyd corrected as he returned downstairs. "It's mountain ash which, as you know, keeps out supernatural creatures."

"What time is sunset?" Malia asked curiously as she made her way to the fridge to grab a snack.

"6 O'Clock." Boyd stated as he raised an eyebrow towards Scott, silently asking if he too could get some food too. Scott nodded in confirmation. "About two hours from now."

"So, what are we gonna do in the meantime?" Malia asked around a mouthful of the leftover chicken that had been in the fridge for about three days.

"We could watch tv?" Scott offered, but Malia immediately rejected that idea.

"No, I'm sick of that."

"We could talk." Kira suggested with a soft smile.

"About what?" Malia asked, her mouth free of food that time.

"Anything." Kira shrugged. "Hobbies, dreams, fears, all the supernatural craziness in this town, crimes we've committed or want to commit." She suggested casually and Boyd had to bite back a laugh.

One b&e with the pack was enough to make anybody feel like crime was cool.

Scott shook his head. "We only commit crimes when we absolutely have to."

"So, we had to break into the school to prank Coach on his birthday?" Boyd asked rhetorically with a raised eyebrow. "And we had to mix wolfsbane with booze that Danny, Lydia and Jackson brought with their fake IDs, sneak said booze into the jungle and get involved in a bar fight?" As he spoke, none of them noticed the lock on the back door clicking. However, they definitely noticed when the door was flung open and a pair of red eyes glared at them from the doorway.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Derek's angered voice boomed as the alpha stormed into the house through the back door, startling all four of them. "When did this happen?"

"Uhh. It didn't?" Scott tried, Derek simply glared at him. "Anyway, where did you come from?" Scott asked instead of answering the Alpha's questions. Derek turned his glare to Boyd, who looked away. He then turned towards Malia who simply shrugged in response. If Malia didn't know, Kira likely wouldn't either, but Derek didn't want her to feel left out, so he glared at her in question as well.

"Before my time." The kitsune told him honestly.

Knowing that he wouldn't be getting answers from his betas any time soon, Derek returned his attention to Scott and answered the crooked-jawed teen's question. "I've been following you."

"For how long?" Scott demanded, he hadn't noticed Derek lurking around.

"Since you left the power station." Derek told him simply. Scott and Kira both looked concerned as the alpha raised an eyebrow at the group. "Why were all of you, and everyone else who was supposed to be at the house or at the school, actually at the power station?" He asked, clearly unimpressed with their actions.

"Uh, we were at the school earlier. You can ask my dad." Kira explained as she tried to think of an excuse for them being at the station before school ended. "At lunch, Scott and I talked about Kitsunes. I started thinking about everything with Barrow two nights ago." She continued, having decided to go with partial truths and just omit certain details. "I wanted to go back there. I've been shaken up about it all. I thought that going back might help me deal with it." She explained, she then remembered that Derek could detect if she was lying. She quickly changed her next sentence. Fortunately, everything she had said so far had been true, technically. There were just a lot of details missing. "I didn't want to go alone. I thought it would be a good idea to ask the others to go back with me." Kira had indeed thought about asking them to go back with her, to help her deal with the traumatic ordeal, she just hadn't actually had to ask them to do so.

Derek narrowed his eyes. Her heartbeat maintained perfectly even throughout her statement, but Derek knew there was more to the story. "You're hiding something."

"We found Stiles' bat there. When we were leaving with it, it got stuck to a metal panel on the wall." Scott informed him quickly, trying to prevent Derek from figuring out too much. "Danny said that it had become magnetised somehow. We think it happened when he was…"

"When he was electrocuted by Barrow." Derek finished for Scott when the beta trailed off. Scott nodded in response while Kira looked down in shame.

The room fell silent.

"So, why are we here?" Malia asked with a raised eyebrow when nobody else made any attempt to say anything else on the matter. "And by that I mean here, as in this house. Wouldn't we be safer at the Pack House?"

"Usually, yes." Scott confirmed with a nod. "Thanks to the secret passageways, ash wood cells in the basement, and the underground bunker we call our second basement, the pack house is basically a fortress."

"However," Derek cut in when the confused expression on Malia's face worsened. "These creatures have proven themselves capable of getting past our security systems. They've already gotten in twice now."

"We also know that while they only want to scan us, they're not above killing those they see as getting in their way." Boyd reminded her easily. He was usually one to step back and let others do the talking, but he knew how stubborn Malia was, just like her cousin. The best way to convince Cora that something was worth doing was by getting as much back up as you could and either warn her that people could die if they don't do it that way, or assure her that people (their enemies) definitely will die if they follow that plan. It all depended on what mood she was in. "We're pack and our instinct is to protect each other. Most of our pack have a tendency to rush into battle to protect each other, with little regard for their own life."

"Usually it's not an issue, because we know how to fight our enemies and subdue them long enough to get away." Scott continued easily. "But with these guys, the way they move, their abilities; fighting would be pointless. All that would happen is that we would lose somebody that we love."

"Boyd and Scott are both extremely protective of the pack, and they have the best restraint when it comes to situations where the tension is high, but we need to avoid a fight." Derek took over again. "If we were at our house, the others would just burst in and get themselves killed. And I'd have to be the one to tell Stiles when we find him."

"All of the baseboards are ash wood." Boyd added, gesturing to them as he did so. "When Mrs McCall gets home, she's gonna stand by with the ash. If the creatures try anything other than marking either of you, we'll fight them off and get them outside and Melissa will seal us in until the sun comes up."

"And ash wood, that's the wood that mountain ash is made from, right?" Malia asked for confirmation. "The stuff that keeps out supernatural creatures?"

"Yeah." Scott confirmed with a nod. "There's an urn in the living room filled with mountain ash to 'complete the circuit' if you will. Like we said though, that's only a last resort. Hopefully these creatures will just mark you both and leave."

"However this plays out, we will protect you." Derek assured both girls with complete confidence. "Neither of you will get hurt. Not on my watch."

"Not on our watch." Boyd corrected him easily.

"So when those creatures get here, Malia and I just let them check us?" Kira asked dubiously.

"I know it's scary, I was terrified last night." Scott confessed, "But once it's done, at least we know they won't bother us again."

"Did they tell you that?" Malia asked, seeming to be genuinely curious. "Did they tell you they would leave us alone?"

"Um, well, no, but-"

"Did you find out what they are?" Malia continued, as her brows furrowed in confusion. "Or what they're after?"

"N-no-"

"Then how do you know they're not going to come back for us later?" She asked as she tilted her head to the side and regarded Scott curiously.

"Okay, fine, I hope that they won't come back once they've checked all of us." Scott amended.

"What about Stiles?" Kira asked curiously as a thoughtful expression took over her face.

"What about Stiles?" Scott repeated, caught off guard by the question. He looked at Boyd and Derek in question, but Kira spoke again before either of them could.

"He's supernatural too, right? I mean I know you guys said that he can't shift right now, but he's still a werewolf, right?" Kira elaborated, though the boys still didn't quite get her point yet. "If these creatures are going after all the supernatural creatures in town, then-"

"They'll be going after Stiles." Derek realised, panic coursing through him. How that fact had never occurred to him before that moment was beyond him, but here he was. "Shit."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Rafael McCall was talking to a fellow FBI agent on the phone as he made his way to his temporary office at the Sheriff's station.

"Yeah, I'm walking in now. And trying to avoid the hostile stares of everyone in here. No, no. Probably another week or two and we'll be ready for a formal review. There's enough here to put Stilinski so far out of government work, he won't be able to get a job riding the back of a garbage truck. Yeah, exactly." He laughed as he approached his desk. Then he noticed it.

A note on his desk.

"Let me call you right back." Rafael stated, then hung up the phone and pocketed it.

He then picked up the note and read it.

'Check your son's locker.'

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

While the father-daughter duo made their way through Katashi's security team, Isaac was attempting to keep Kincaid distracted by telling him the story behind the gun. "What we're looking at here is a mint-condition French Flintlock Turnover Pistol crafted in the mid-17th century." Isaac told Kincaid, attempting to feign an ease that usually came with great research on a subject. "It was a gift from Louis XIV to a prominent French family. It's only ever been fired once."

"During a duel between brothers on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles." Kincaid finished easily.

"So you're familiar with it." Isaac replied feeling knocked off kilter by the other wolf's knowledge, he could only hope that it wasn't as obvious as it sounded to his own ears.

"Oh, Mr. Katashi knows what he wants." Kincaid told the beta casually. "We'll take it." He opened the briefcase to reveal several stacks of money "$150,000."

"I'm gonna need to count it." Isaac told the (seemingly) beta werewolf (potentially omega). He needed to buy more time for Chris and Allison to get to Silverfinger.

"Oh, really?" Kincaid replied, and Isaac couldn't tell if he was offended or amused.

"Yeah." Isaac confirmed barely above a whisper as he leaned down to his bag and pulled out a machine to do just that. He set it down on the table, next to the briefcase. He picked up one of the stacks and fed it through the counter.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"We're running out of time." Boyd commented to Scott as he glanced towards the kitchen clock. The sun would be setting in less than two minutes. It was already low in the sky and, if not for their enhanced vision, the pair would have needed to turn the kitchen light on to prepare the food. Boyd quickly returned his attention to the sandwiches he was making to help Malia and Kira recover from the creature's attacks that would inevitably come.

"I know." Scott replied as he grated the cheese for Boyd. "But Allison, Isaac, and Mr Argent are working on something that could help."

"I know that." Boyd reminded Scott as he rolled his eyes at the boy. "But who's to say Silverfinger is going to have the information we need, or even give it to them if he has it?"

"He'll have the information we need, I know it." Scott declared with his characteristic, usually misplaced, optimism.

"I hope you're right."

As the pair made the snacks, Kira and Malia were chatting on the sofa, with Derek pacing nearby.

"Are you sure you wanna be around me?" Kira asked, suddenly changing the subject. "I'm probably the one these creatures are after. They showed up around the same time I did."

"Which is also around the same time I turned back to human." Malia countered easily. "How do you know they're not after me?"

"Because I have this feeling." Kira confessed to the coyote, unphased that the three wolves in the house could all hear her too. "This feeling that all of this has something to do with me. That I'm connected to it all somehow. Someone told Barrow to come after me. That can't be a coincidence."

"There's nothing evil about you, Kira." Derek told the young Kitsune honestly. He had stopped pacing the moment Kira had expressed her concerns, and had been waiting for the right time to chime in. "Whatever these creatures are after, it's something dark. Something truly evil. That description doesn't fit you."

"But-"

"I'm not letting you get hurt." Malia told Kira firmly.

"And I don't want any of you getting hurt. Especially because of me."

"It could be either of us." Malia argued again, but Kira was as stubborn as the rest of them.

"I don't think so. When a kitsune rubs its tails together it can create fire or lightning. It's called foxfire. That's what happened to me that night with Barrow, but I don't know how I did it." Kira stated, repeating the information Deaton had told them, and Lydia had backed up with a book she had found yesterday and shown to Kira before the blacklight party. Malia looked at the girl curiously and tried to 'subtly' look for any obvious signs of a tail of the girl. "I don't have any tails." Kira quickly told her.

"How'd you know what I was thinking?" Malia asked with wide eyes.

"Because... kitsune are also psychic. I can hear all of your thoughts." Kira teased. Derek bit back a chuckle as Malia looked amazed at first, then slightly nervous. "Just kidding." Kira quickly assured Malia, who chuckled softly. "Like I said, I don't have any tails but I was still somehow able to make foxfire. It's how I threw Barrow across the room, but it just sort of passed through Stiles."

"From what I know about kitsunes, that's normal." Derek told her. "You're young, you don't even know how to hide your aura yet. You'll get your tails as you grow older. The foxfire was activated by Barrow electrocuting you. It passed through Stiles because he wasn't a threat to you. You don't need to be afraid of yourself and what you can do, Kira." Derek informed her gently. "There's nothing evil about you."

The young fox smiled at the wolf gratefully. Out of the corner of her eye, Kira noticed the sky through the window.

"The sun's setting." She commented.

"Almost time." Malia added. "Are you scared?"

"Not right now. Are you?"

"Not right now."

Before anything else was said, they all heard a car pulling up outside the house.

"My mom's back." Scott announced as he left the kitchen. The five of them headed towards the front door, Derek's ears and nose twitched along the way. That wasn't Melissa's car, that wasn't Melissa's scent. The front door opened.

"What are you doing here?" Scott demanded angrily when his eyes fell on his father. "And why do you still have a key?"

"Funny you mention keys. Because while I have a key to this house, I'm not exactly sure how you got a key to the chemistry closet at school." Raphael announced, holding up an evidence bag. Inside the evidence bag was the key that had been pointed out by Caitlin the night before and had last been seen with Derek.

With a confused frown, Derek dug his hand into his pocket, but Stiles' keys were gone.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Lydia arrived at the school in Derek's car at the same time Danny arrived.

"Hey," Danny greeted as the redhead got out of the car. "Any luck?"

"Still more questions than answers," Lydia informed the hacker with a sigh and a shake of her head, "But I have a lot of the puzzle pieces, I just need to put them together."

"We'll figure it out," Danny assured her as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll save him."

"I know we will," Lydia replied, a forced smile gracing her lips. "Now, show me this carving so we can do that."

Danny agreed to do so and began to lead her towards a spot where he had noticed the carving that morning.

Without cars to obstruct it, the message was clear.

It filled Danny with dread and fear. Lydia, however, barely held back her sigh of frustration. The message would definitely get Danny asking questions, and Lydia wasn't sure if it would be safe to answer them.

"Shit," Danny whispered as he read the message for what must have been the tenth time, "What do we do?"

"We find an open hardware store and buy something to fill this in," Lydia replied as she studied the words with an intense frown. "We don't need anybody else seeing this. Especially nobody in the pack."

"I don't have supernatural senses, so I can't tell if you're joking right now," Danny pointed out as he shot the Banshee a look of disbelief. "You want to keep this a secret from the pack?"

"Yes," Lydia replied easily, her eyes still locked on the carving, "This is too important to screw up by telling our more reckless friends. We will tell Derek, he can decide who else needs to know."

"You know something," Danny realised, examining the red head with a frown. "Something about Stiles that you're not telling us."

"Yes," Lydia confessed, "But it's too important. If I tell you what I know it could get you, me, Stiles, and countless others killed."

"He doesn't have dementia, does he?" Danny asked, his fear elevated to levels he had never known.

Lydia didn't respond to his question, but the look on the face as she stared at the carving told Danny everything he needed to know.

"Whatever happened to 'knowledge should be available to everyone'?" Danny asked rhetorically. He saw the merits of Lydia's plan, but it was out of character for her and it was Danny's nature to question everything.

"I still believe that," Lydia assured as she finally turned her head to look at him. "But if saving Stiles and keeping our pack as safe as possible means withholding information, then I'm willing to do that."

"Okay," Danny agreed as he locked eyes with the redhead, "Let's go then."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

As Isaac reached out to grab another stack of money from the briefcase, Kincaid slammed it shut. When Isaac looked up at the older werewolf, the man was smirking at him.

"You don't know the whole story behind this gun, do you?" Kincaid told him, almost amused. "There was no duel between brothers. That was the cover story." He explained, voice growing deeper, and darker, as he spoke. He walked around the table towards Isaac at a taunting pace. "The real one involves an encounter in the woods with a vicious animal. Its bite caused one of the men to change into something Monstrous. By his family's code, the brother of this man killed him with this very gun."

"Well, that is certainly better than the version that I heard. I'm gonna trust you guys with the money here and, uh-" As Isaac went to gather his things, the werewolf grabbed his arm.

As Kincaid tried to intimidate Isaac, the boy did as instructed by his pack parents and counted to three in his head.

"Personally, I'd like to hear your story." Kincaid announced, by the time he had finished speaking Isaac had reached the number three in his head. Now he was allowed to wolf out.

While Isaac growled at, then fought, Kincaid, the father-daughter duo were making their way through the security team, Katashi was watching it all unfold on his phone. Angered, the man put away his phone and pulled out his gun. He aimed it towards the door he knew the male intruder would be entering through.

Sure enough, soon Chris appeared, holding his own gun in one hand and a guard in the other. He quickly threw the unconscious guard aside and addressed Katashi.

"All I want to do is talk."

"Taking out my security is not what I would call a good conversation starter." Katashi replied, concealing his anger rather well until the end of his sentence, when his face morphed into a scowl. All the while, he continued to point his gun at the Argent.

"You don't remember me, do you?" Chris asked with a slight smirk. It was easy to distract Katashi from his daughter's silent approach. Being trained by hunters and wolves made his daughter incredibly sneaky and skilled in fighting and weaponry. Add in the fact that she was mated to wolves, and was a part of a pack bound to a nemeton, and you'd find that Allison had an additional edge over her enemies. "Allison, take the man's gun." Chris gave the order he knew she had been eagerly awaiting. Allison expertly used her Chain Whip to snatch Katashi's gun from his hand and toss it behind herself. "Now, can we talk?"

"Guys?" Isaac's voice called out, drawing the attention of both Argents. He wore a smug smile as he held his claws to Kincaid's throat, Kincaid also had his claws on Isaac's throat, although looked rather irritated, and slightly embarrassed. "They have a werewolf too."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Where did you get that?" Derek asked the agent urgently. The older McCall sent the Alpha an unimpressed glare.

"Not that it's any of your business, deputy, but I got an anonymous tip advising me to check my son's locker at school, and what do I find? A key to the chemistry closet that Barrow hid in." McCall stated, moving his head a lot as he did so, then locked eyes with his son once more. "With your fingerprints all over it." He emphasised the word 'your' by pointing at his son. His heart beat showed that the last part was a lie, clearly the man had forgotten that werewolves enhanced hearing also worked as a lie detector.

"Bullshit, you lying dick, I've never even touched that thing." Scott replied honestly and heatedly. The others were all surprised to hear Scott cuss at his father. Scott rarely cussed at people as it was, he prefered to use them in regards to situations and things, so it was surprising to hear him do so. However, Scott's anger and resentment towards his father was clear, therefore, the fact that the cuss was directed towards the man wasn't in itself all that shocking.

"But you've seen it?" McCall countered, unperturbed by his son's language and blaisen attitude. When Scott only continued to glare, McCall continued. "Let me help you out here. This kind of thing usually begins with something along the lines of 'It's not what you think' or, 'I can explain'."

"Dad, let me help you out. You need to leave."

"I will. With a satisfactory explanation."

"Go get a warrant." Scott told him in defiance.

"I don't need a warrant, I'm your father." McCall retorted, just shy of a shout.

"No, you're a gene donor." Scott countered with a total lack of sympathy or concern for the man's feelings. It was uncharacteristic but unsurprising. "I got my hair colour from you. And that's all I got." Scott told him as Melissa walked through the door "So you're not allowed to play tough dad with me."

"Hey, what's going on?" Melissa asked as calmly as she could muster.

"Maybe one of you should explain."

"Quick question;" Malia cut in quickly before any explanation could be given. "Scott, if you don't see your dad as your dad, then why do you call him dad?" Malia asked curiously. The question had been on her mind for a while but she usually didn't remember that it was a question she had when the boy was around, until now. "I just mean, Peter is my dad, but he's not really my dad because I don't know him. So I call him Peter, not dad. I call my dad, dad, because he is my dad. He raised me and, yeah, he tried to kill me when I was stuck as a coyote, but once he knew it was me, he accepted me for who I am and apologised. He raised me, and he's helping me adjust to being human again and get back into school and stuff. He's still acting like my dad, so he's still my dad, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know, but I'm angry at him and I want to stay angry and serious." Scott explained, ignoring his father in favour of looking at Malia. "When I say his name, I'm reminded of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, because he shared his name with one of them. Because of that, I usually burst out laughing, and it ruins the whole, uh, 'angry' thing that I was going for, y'know."

"Oh I used to love that show!" Malia told him excitedly. "Which one?"

"Rafael." Melissa supplied helpfully with a small smirk tugging at her lips. As a result Malia, Scott and Kira all laughed. Melissa quickly schooled her expression as she addressed her ex-husband. "You need to leave, now." She informed him firmly. If he was in the house when the creatures arrived, he would do something stupid and get himself hurt or worse.

Speaking of, the room suddenly darkened and the seven of them were surrounded by five masked figures.

"What the hell are these things?" McCall demanded as he raised his gun.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"They're called oni. They are demons. And they are unstoppable." Katashi informed the Argents and Isaac. There had been a short period of bargaining after Isaac had walked in, he and Kincaid holding each other by the throat but, once Chris set down and unwrapped the broken mask, everyone was unarmed and nobody was being actively threatened. "No guns nor blades can harm them."

"Then what can?" Isaac asked the man, far more confident having gotten the upper hand on Kincaid, the older wolf grabbing his throat second. A part of him knew that the boost of power from nemeton had helped him with that feat, but he chose to ignore it.

"Nothing." Katashi informed him. "At least no man-made weapon. The oni are a force of nature. You don't fight a tsunami. You endure it. And you hope that you're not destroyed in its path."

"Then how do we endure it?" Allison inquired curiously.

"One of you already has." He told them as he nodded towards Isaac, who instinctively touched the mark behind his ear. "This is Japanese kanji for 'self'. This means he is still himself." Katashi explained calmly, despite the fear coursing through him. "The oni are looking for one who is no longer themselves."

"What do you mean no longer themselves?" Chris demanded.

"Possessed. By a dark spirit." He answered.

"There are 13 kinds of kitsune. Celestial, wild, ocean, thunder. But there is one, a dark kitsune. They call it void. Or-"

"Nogitsune." Allison finished knowingly. Kataashi looked at her, seemingly impressed by her knowledge. Her father regarded her curiously, before he mentally arrived at the conclusion that she or one of her pack mates had come across the information when researching Kitsunes after the revelation about Kira the other night. Chris returned his attention to Katashi, but a niggling voice in the back of his head questioned how his daughter knew of nogitsune when he knew for a fact that there was nothing about them in the Argent bestiary.

"The kumicho." Chris commented instead of questioning his daughter. That could wait for later.

"That's right." Katashi confirmed. "He was possessed by a nogitsune. It's what helped him rise through the ranks of our yakuza family. Nogitsune draws its power from pain and tragedy, strife and chaos." The man then turned his attention to Chris and asked, "Do you know why I'm missing this finger?"

"Penance." Chris stated knowingly.

"There's a ritual called yubitsume." Katashi informed the three of them. "Removing the joints of the little finger weakens your grip on a sword. When a katana is gripped properly, the little finger is the strongest."

"Why did they take your finger?" Isaac asked with a morbid curiosity tickling at him.

"They didn't take it. A yakuza performs the ritual himself and offers it to his superior. It was penance for a mistake. And it wasn't my only one. I don't know what it was about the way I moved or stood that suggested to them that I was going to take them on. Because actually I was… Preparing to run for my life." He confessed as he turned and looked him in the eyes "That shot you fired saved me from looking like a coward before the survivors. For that humiliation, I wouldn't have to have given up my finger. I would've had to give up my head." He wrapped the mask up. "I wish I could give you the answer you need, Mr. Argent." He told him honestly as he slid the mask towards the man. "I owe you more than my life. I owe you my honour." Chris nodded at Katashi respectfully "I will tell you one thing, however. If there is a nogitsune among you… Let the oni destroy it. Even if it is your own daughter."

"They've had several opportunities to test me, and they have never attempted to." Allison informed him with her head held high.

"Then you are fortunate." Katashi stated, "The Nogitsune is strong and destructive. It is a deadly trickster. Nothing can kill it but the oni. The host never survives."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Stiles had fled the nemeton after getting the keys from Lydia. He separated the key for the chemistry closet and wiped it clean of fingerprints, then took it to the school and slipped it into Scott's locker. He then put his hood up and went to the Sheriff's station. He waited until the coast was clear before slipping the envelope marked with 'Agent McCall' containing an anonymous tip regarding the key onto the front desk, then quickly left before he could be seen. He had worked hard to disguise his handwriting by using his left hand.

Once that was done, he went back home. It was easy sneaking though the tunnels to the second basement. Nobody was down there, thankfully, so Stiles made his way to the armoury. He took some supplies, mimicking the inventory the nogitsune had stolen from various places around town. He then went to the neighbouring room (the Library) and wrote up notes containing fragments of the creature's plans. He had a quick rummage through and found the notes on his own plans that the creature planned to turn fatal. He contemplated doing what the Nogitsune had done with the string and scissors, but he really didn't want to damage the table, or any of the desks or beds in the house, so he vetoed that idea. Instead, he scattered them around the room and over the table.

He narrowly avoided getting caught by Peter while sneaking into the kitchen to grab a box of matches, a knife, and a can opener. Eventually though, Stiles made it out of the house with his supplies undetected.

With a heavy sigh of resignation, Stiles began to make his way towards eichen house on foot. The backpack was heavy with his many supplies, filled to the point where he almost couldn't zip it up, but he paid it no mind. With what he was preparing to do, Stiles felt like carrying a heavy bag for a few miles was the least he deserved. But boy did he miss his enhanced strength and stamina, which were suddenly missing along with his enhanced senses.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Scott, who the hell is this?" McCall asked as he began to walk towards one of the masked creatures with his gun raised.

"Agent McCall, do not go near those things, they are not human and they are dangerous if you get in their way." Derek told the man urgently, he barely resisted the urge to lunge forward and grab the man to force him to stop moving.

"Dad, no! Dad, wait!" Scott simultaneously called out while Derek spoke. McCall hesitated for a moment as he considered their words.

"Deputy Hale, I outrank you. Not just in the eyes of the law but as Scott's father." Rafael declared to the alpha, attempting to intimidate the man with a glare. "You do not get to order me around like I'm one of the innocent teenagers whose lives you ruined." He spat, Malia, Boyd and Scott growled at the man's words, while Derek appeared unphased.

"Please listen to me, they are here searching for a specific supernatural creature. They're not here to hurt humans, but they will kill you if you get in their way." Derek implored the agent, hoping that the man would take in his words. Fortunately the man wasn't moving towards the creature anymore, so that was something.

"How do you know they're not after Scott?"

"They've already checked me." Scott told his father honestly. "I've got the mark behind my ear to prove it."

"Then who are they here for?" The agent asked, without taking his eyes off of the creature in front of him. He was blissfully unaware of the other masked creature growing ever closer behind him, to the right.

"Me." Kira told him confidently.

"Or me." Malia reminded the girl.

"Pretty sure it's me." Kira bantered with the coyote easily.

"Just don't get in their way and they won't hurt you." Derek told McCall confidently, ignoring the squabbling. That theory had certainly proven itself to be true so far.

"Dad, back towards me, now." Scott ordered, fortunately, the man did as he was told, after holstering his gun. "Okay, now, don't freak out, in three seconds, I'm going to grab you and pull you out of their path, okay? One." Scott reached out his hand as he stepped towards the man. "Two." he glanced towards the figure who was moving closer to his father. "Three." Scott grabbed the back of the man's suit jacket and pulled him away from the creatures.

McCall stumbled into his son as he tried to regain his footing. Scott helped to steady the man who smiled at the boy in gratitude. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Scott replied shortly, and returned his attention to Kira and Malia. "You guys okay?"

"For now." Malia replied as the masked figures grew closer. "You two made those sandwiches we asked for, right?"

"They're in the kitchen waiting for you." Boyd confirmed as he shared a nervous smile with Scott.

"Ham and cheese for Kira, deer for Malia." Scott declared honestly.

"Wait, you actually had deer meat?" Malia asked excitedly, finally tearing her eyes away from the approaching creature. "I though I could smell it, but I didn't see any in the fridge."

"Yeah, he's not allowed to keep it in that fridge." Melissa stated firmly.

"Mum says I can't keep it in there 'cause she's worried she'll accidently eat it, so I keep it in the mini fridge in my room. It's been in there a few days, but it's still good." Scott explained, by the time he had finished, the creature was a step away from Malia.

"Oh, I'm so going be fine after this." Malia declared, any and all traces of fear had vanished. She then addressed the creature as its eyes began to glow. "Let's get this over with, I have deer to eat." With that, the creatures grabbed Malia and began to scan her. Soon enough, it marked her and dropped the coyote carelessly.

"What the hell?" The agent instinctively reached for his gun again, but Scott grabbed him by the arm to stop him from doing so.

"Don't!" Scott ordered his father in a whisper, while the other occupants of the room became increasingly concerned that the night would end in bloodshed. "She'll be fine, but you won't be if you anger them."

Rafael nodded reluctantly in agreement and pretended to relax.

As the creature moved at an agonisingly slow pace towards Kira. Once it stopped in front of her, Scott released his father's arm in preparation of rushing to help the girls once the creatures left.

Unfortunately, the moment his arm was free, the FBI agent drew his weapon once more and shot three rounds at the closest creature to Kira. Unsurprisingly to the others, the bullet's passed through the creature and embedded themselves into the wall. One of the bullets tore Kira's jacket sleeve, but fortunately Kira herself was uninjured.

Before Melissa could yell at the man for putting the girl in harm's way, and for damaging her wall, another one of the masked creatures materialised behind Rafael.

With a practised ease, the creature sliced through Rafael. Kira screamed as the man's blood splattered on the floor, shortly followed by the man dropping to the ground himself. Mellissa and Scott both watched in horror. Boyd and Derek looked shocked and worried.

"Dad!" Scott exclaimed, clearly panicked, but the man didn't respond.

The creature that had injured the older McCall turned its blade on Scott to keep him from intervening, or helping his father. Despite the easy manner with which the creature had sliced through the FBI agent, it felt as though it didn't want to hurt anyone.

Nobody moved or made a sound for a second.

Suddenly, Scott's phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and, when the creature made no move to attack him, he glanced at the photo that lit up the screen then quickly answered. "Allison, please tell me that you have something."

"They're here. One of them is pointing a sword at Scott, and it attacked McCall." Derek called out as Scott placed the call on speaker for his mother to hear too.

"Okay, okay listen." Allison replied, surprisingly calm given that her mate was being threatened. "They're Japanese demons. They're called the oni. They're looking for someone possessed. Someone with a dark spirit attached to them."

"A nogitsune."

"Yeah." Allison confirmed.

"Did you learn anything else?" Scott asked as the creatures all stared at him.

"Yeah, we were right. They won't hurt you now. They know you're supernatural but once they've done this check, once they realise that you're not carrying with you this dark spirit, then they won't hurt you or any of our Pack, I promise. All they're looking for is the nogitsune. When they find it, they'll kill it and then they'll leave." Allison's words were intended as both a comfort and a warning, in case they were right about Stiles.

While most of the others were blissfully unaware of the gravity in Allison's words. Scott and Derek exchanged heavy looks. Derek was torn between staying and helping with Malia, Kira, and McCall, and rushing out to search for Stiles.

"Thanks Ally, I'll call you back once these things are gone." Scott told her, "I love you." Both Allison and Isaac called out that they loved him in return. Scott reiterated his love for Isaac too now that he knew he could hear him. Once the call ended, the creatures, the Oni, finally took their eyes off of Scott and returned their attention to Kira.

Once upon a time, Derek would have attacked the moment blood was spilled. He would have lunged in and simply used himself as a (kind of) human shield for his pack if necessary. Stiles had lectured him about his impulsiveness and advised that Derek learn to hold back and set a good influence for the pack. Although he had told Stiles that he would, he didn't put that promise into practice until after Stiles had been kidnapped and tortured by Gerard Argent. That horrific experience his mate had been forced to endure gave Derek perspective on Stiles' request.

Derek dug his claws into his palms as he forced himself to stay where he was, and not lunge at the Oni. It went against his every instinct but until they made a move to harm somebody who Derek actually cared about, he wouldn't react. Reacting too soon could endanger his pack. He was unsure if he was glad or disappointed that Malia had already been scanned and marked, and therefore was unable to attack the creatures first. Which she surely would have done, had she been able to.

Eyes flickering between the creature threatening Scott, and the one standing before Kira, Derek could feel his patience and self control slipping away.

A few seconds ticked by, though it felt like hours to the wolves, Melissa, and Kira, then the creature finally grabbed Kira and began to scan her. Soon enough it marked her and let her drop to the floor.

The creatures regarded them all for a second, then vanished as swiftly as they had appeared. Derek immediately rushed over to his cousin and the kitsune.

"Why did you do that, you idiot? They would have left without anyone getting hurt!" Scott yelled at his father the moment the creatures disappeared. The man only groaned in pain as a response.

"I'll take care of Kira and Malia. Boyd, Scott, help Melissa take care of McCall." Derek ordered immediately. As he did so, he picked up Kira and placed her on the sofa. He then did the same for Malia, then quickly and cleanly broke her pinky finger to trigger the healing process. When her howl of pain ended and he was sure that she would be okay, Derek turned to Melissa. "I'll call an ambulance."

"No ambulance, a car will be quicker." Melissa quickly countered. "Boyd, under the kitchen sink is a first aid kit, can you get it for me, please?"

"Derek, I do need you to call the hospital. Tell them I'm bringing in an urgent care patient." Melissa ordered, in full on nurse mode. "Do you remember the codes I taught you?"

"Yeah." Derek assured as he pulled out his phone.

"How bad is it?" Scott asked in concern as Boyd returned with the first aid kit.

"Thank you, Boyd." Melissa told him as she accepted the kit in question. She then addressed her son without looking at him and she dug through the box for what she needed. "From the way that his arm is rotated, the tendon looks torn. He could be on his way to a collapsed lung."

"How long until that happens?"

"Hard to tell without any equipment. At the rate he's bleeding, not that long." Melissa told her son honestly. There was no point in attempting to lie to a werewolf. "We gotta get him to the hospital."

"I'll get the car ready, you two patch him up the best you can." Boyd told them as he moved to do just that. Two seconds later, Derek and Scott heard him cuss.

"Guys? We have a problem." Boyd announced as he ran back into the house less than a minute later. "All the tires, on both cars and all three bikes, have been slashed.

Derek, Scott and Melissa all looked alarmed, neither Kira nor McCall appeared to register his words, Malia didn't seem to care as she munched on a sandwich slowly yet eagerly.

"Why would they do that?" Derek wondered aloud. "They've never done that before, why now?" Scott shrugged at the alpha in response as he pulled out his phone and called Allison back.

Once again he put the call on speaker. As soon as she answered, Scott informed Allison and Isaac of what had happened since they last spoke, two minutes before.

"What do we do?" Melissa asked Derek, referring to Rafael bleeding out on the floor. "He needs medical attention."

"Isaac sent a text to Danny, he's on his way in the toyota." Allison informed them over the phone. "He'll get you to the hospital."

"Thank you." Scott replied after he let out a sigh of relief. "I gotta go help my mum slow the bleeding, he's getting worse. But I'll see you at the house?"

"Yeah, we'll be heading home soon." Allison assured him. "I love you, we'll-"

"I love you too!" Isaac called out, causing Scott to smile.

"I love you both too." Scott replied. "Be careful, I'll see you soon."

As Scott was bidding farewell to his mates, Rafael was talking to Melissa.

"I need to speak to Scott." Rafael told her in between gasps of pain.

"You're kidding, right?" Melissa drawled with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't patronise me Melissa." The FBI agent all but begged. "You know- You know why I really came back, don't you?"

"And as usual your timing sucks." Melissa told her ex-husband bluntly. "You're not talking to him. Not like this. So, you stay awake and we're gonna get you out of here as fast as we can." She assured him. "Danny is on his way with a car. We're gonna get you to the hospital."

Meanwhile, Boyd and Derek were helping Kira and Malia regain their energy. Predictably Malia was doing better than Kira thanks to her enhanced healing. It was slightly surprising that Malia healed even faster than Cora had. Within five minutes of being scanned and marked, the coyote was sitting up. It was even faster than Derek had recovered, although that was less surprising because he had been forced to heal naturally without anybody triggering his healing process.

"So I was wrong? They aren't looking for me?" Kira asked, surprise evident in her slurred voice. "If they were, I'd be dead, right?"

"Right. We told you, they're looking for a dark spirit. It's not you." Boyd assured her, "What are we gonna do about this Nogitsune that the Oni are after?" Boyd asked Derek as Scott looked their way, obviously listening to their conversation.

"I'm not sure." Derek confessed with a frown. "We need to learn more about it and why it's here before we interfere."

"It must be powerful and dangerous if creatures as strong as the Oni are after it." Boyd hypothesised with a frown.

"Which is exactly why we need to be careful," Derek stated firmly, "We don't want to get in their way."

"Lydia will probably be looking into it." Malia commented idly as she picked up another sandwich languidly.

Scott turned his head towards his parents. As much as he had tried to avoid listening to their conversation, he still heard every word. Now he couldn't help but wonder why his father really came back to Beacon Hills. As apparently it wasn't for the sole reason of getting the sheriff fired. The evidence pointed to the possibility that the FBI agent was being truthful when he said that he came back for Scott. But why? Why now, after all these years? What were they hiding from him? He was about to approach and ask them about it when a noise distracted him.

A car pulled up outside the house.

Derek listened to the vehicle, and the heartbeat of the driver, carefully.

"It's Danny." The Alpha declared as he made his way over to Rafael. "Boyd, Scott, help me carry him to the car." He ordered and the beta's quickly complied.

"Be careful, lifting him incorrectly could cause his injury to worsen." Mellisa cautioned, then immediately began to guide them verbally while they worked to gently lift the man.

While they worked to lift Rafael, Danny had quickly unloaded the spare tyres that were filling the backseat and boot (trunk) of the vehicle. Luckily John, Derek, Cora, Stiles, Boyd, and Jackson liked to fix up cars in their freetime together, so they had spare parts and tyres for every vehicle the pack owned. He left the tyres in a haphazard heap on the driveway, then rushed to enter the McCall house. As soon as he opened the door he was greeted with the sight of Derek, Boyd and Scott carrying an ashen and bloodied McCall. Melissa stood behind them, watching their movements with trepidation.

"Need a hand?" Danny offered immediately.

"Just keep the door open for us, then open the car door when we get there." Derek requested. He and his beta's could easily handle the man's weight, and he didn't want to risk making things worse by moving Rafael more than necessary.

Danny easily complied and soon enough, he was back in the driver's seat, with Melissa in the front passenger seat, and Rafael lying across the back seat. With a nod from Derek, Danny started the car and drove to the hospital.

"I'll get started on changing the tyres." Boyd offered, wanting to do something that would distract him from worrying about Stiles.

"I'll go check on Malia and Kira." Scott stated, then rushed back into the house to do so.

Derek decided to help Boyd with changing the tyres on the bikes and Melissa's cars. They didn't have the correct tyres for Rafael's car. How unfortunate. Sure, they had four tyres that would fit, but they weren't the same make or tread, and that just wouldn't do now, would it? Not on an FBI agent's car.

Within ten minutes, they had completed their task and went back inside the house.

Neither Kira nor Malia were back on their feet just yet, but both were looking far more alert. Scott was feeding Kira bits of a sandwich. All three heads turned towards Derek and Boyd when they walked in.

"What's the plan?" Scott asked the alpha quickly.

"You have a choice, Scott, you can either come with me to continue searching for Stiles, go to the hospital to check on your dad, or head back to the house and help Malia and Kira to recover." Derek told him, letting Scott decide for himself. "Boyd, I need you to drive Kira and Malia back to our house in Melissa's car. Then just relax until you have to go to work." Derek ordered easily. He wanted to order Scott to relax too, but with his dad injured and his best friend missing, there was no hope of that.

"I can help look for Stiles." Boyd offered immediately. "I have a few hours before I start work."

"I know, but honestly, I'm just going out to search for him so that I don't go crazy." Derek confessed after a moment of hesitation. He knew his Pack wouldn't judge him. "If Stiles doesn't want to be found then we won't find him. We're all been searching town for him all day and found nothing."

Scott nodded in agreement with Derek's words. "Stiles always wins at hide and seek. One time, he hid in the chimney and we only found him because after six hours of searching in and out of the house we were all cold and tired, so decided to light a fire to warm up and Stiles started screaming as soon as he saw the first spark." Scott recounted with a chuckle, Boyd and Derek bit back chuckles of their own at the memory.

"A kid with ADHD managed to hide in a chimney for six hours?" Kira asked, she was speaking slowly and her voice was quieter, but she still managed to sound impressed. Apparently Malia agreed.

"Impressive." The coyote commented with a small nod.

"He wasn't a kid." Boyd informed the pair with a small smirk.

"This happened in June." Scott added while sporting a similar smirk.

"You lit a fire in the summer?" Malia asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but in our defence, the house gets drafty and it was unusually cold and windy day for June."

"July." Derek corrected.

"Right, July. June's Game Day game was Chess." Scott recalled with a slight grimace. "I lost so bad."

"Chess?" Malia repeated with a raised eyebrow. "And can one of you please make me another sandwich?" She asked, once it was on the plate, she could sit up and grab it and easily feed herself, but she didn't have the energy to get up and make the sandwich just yet. "If you don't have any deer left, cheese is fine."

"I have enough deer for four more sandwiches for you," Scott told her with a smile, as the coyote licked her lips, Scott turned to look at Derek, "Wait a few minutes, I'm coming with you to look for Stiles. You shouldn't go alone with the nogitsune out there."

"Okay," Derek agreed easily with a nod, "I'll help you make the sandwiches." He told the beta, they'd be able to leave sooner if he helped.

While Scott and Derek walked to the kitchen, Boyd answered Malia's one word question.

"Ever since May, each month we have a 'Games Day' where we all write the name of a game down on a sheet of paper, put it in a bowl, and one of the human parents, usually the sheriff or Melissa, will pick out the game for us." Boyd explained. "Depending on the game pulled, one game could last all day, or be over in a few minutes, or hours. So sometimes, we play multiple games in one day. The only rules regarding the games is that it can't be anything above a PG-13 rating."

"Derek's shy." Scott commented in a stage whisper, because Isaac, Stiles, Erica, and Jackson weren't there to do so, as he walked back into the living room holding a plate of four sandwitches.

Derek sent the beta an unimpressed glare as he followed, both over the comment and the fact that he wanted to be the one to take the food to Malia.

"The only person in this pack that I want to kiss, or see undressed outside of training and full moons, is Stiles." Derek told them firmly.

One time the game '7 minutes in heaven' was pulled, which Erica proudly confessed to being responsible for. Derek had pulled the Alpha card and insisted on a redraw, though he did offer to let her put another game in the bowl. When the game 'Strip poker' was pulled next, and Erica honestly denied responsibility for it, Derek demanded that they destroy the current votes and go again. He warned that if anybody suggested a game that involved kissing, stripping, or any kind of sexual or romantic activity, they would be put on laundry duty for the entire pack for a month. They ended up playing Mario Kart all day.

"Anyway," Derek said, after a few seconds had passed in silence. "I'm gonna go look for Stiles now."

"I'm going with you." Scott reminded him quickly. "Let me just help get Kira and Malia in the car."

"Nah, I got it." Boyd assured him with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Besides, I think they could both use a little longer to recover."

"He's right." Malia agreed. "I'm not ready to be in a moving vehicle right now. I just wanna lay here and eat my deer sandwiches."

"Me too." Kira told him with a weak smile. "Minus the deer part."

"Okay then. Text me if you need anything." Scott told the three of them before turning his attention back to Derek. "Are we taking the bikes or running?"

"I'm shifting into my wolf form, you c-"

"Awesome, then I will too." Scott declared with a large grin, already removing his jacket and shirt. He quickly turned and began to jog up the stairs. "I'm just gonna put my clothes in my room. My mom gets mad when I leave 'em on the floor downstairs." By the time he had finished speaking, Scott was in his bedroom. Of course Derek, Boyd and Malia could still hear him clearly. Kira could just make out what he was saying, although it was rather muffled thanks to the distance and walls between them.

"You know it's risky leaving your house as a wolf, right?" Derek asked rhetorically in an exasperated tone. "One of your neighbours will notice eventually."

"I'll just tell them that I fed a stray wolf once and it keeps coming back." Scott stated as he reappeared at the top of the stairs clad only in his boxers. "And we have that treaty with the hunters council that means that they can't touch us unless we hurt someone, right?" Scott continued as he jogged down the stairs.

"We've dealt with rogue hunters before." Derek reminded him, "You really need to be more careful."

"If anything happens, mum and I can just move this house to the property, like Boyd and Erica's parents." Scott suggested without thinking. Immediately, there was a tearing sound as Derek's clothes were shredded and a large black wolf remained in his place.

The alpha gave Scott an expectant look, then trotted out of the house. Scott sighed and turned to Boyd.

"He's gonna come to my house in wolf form every day until mum and I move to the property now, isn't he?"

"Absolutely."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

After a long afternoon of sitting in the hospital doing nothing, Jackson was eager to go home. Melissa had left the hospital an hour ago, but she had asked Jackson to wait until the creatures had been to mark Kira and Malia, just in case something went wrong. Danny called him thirty minutes before to say that he could leave because Malia and Kira were fine, although he added that he was currently on his way to the hospital with Scott's parents because his dad had shown up and shot at one of the oni, and gotten sliced with a sword for his efforts.

As he pulled up outside his home, in his damaged Porsche, Jackson felt something intensely. Something he couldn't quite name. He didn't care about damaging the vehicle further as he threw the door towards the treeline and climbed out. He marched towards the house and quickly made his way to the living room. Sitting around the room in varying states of distress were Erica, Cora, Ethan, Aidan and Peter.

"Danny called me on his way to the hospital, McCall was attacked by the creatures," He announced with a mask of indifference painted onto his face. "Got sliced straight through."

"Scott or Melissa?" Cora demanded, worry sparkling in her eyes as she leant forward in her seat.

"Neither, Scott's dad showed up," Jackson amended, and Cora immediately relaxed.

"Oh, that's fine." She sighed in relief, then shot the blonde a heated glare. "Don't make me worry like that, Jackass."

"Sorry," Jackson replied unapologetically as he rolled his eyes. "But we have bigger problems, Stiles is still out there."

"So what are we gonna do about it?" Aidan asked, a low growl edging his voice.

"Despite my complicitness in allowing you all to search for Stiles earlier," Peter began, immediately drawing glares from the teenagers. "I truly believe that the best course of action would be to stay here in case Stiles comes back."

"Are you kidding me?" Cora growled, "He's out there, losing his mind and-"

"And if he returns to find only myself or others he has had issues with in the past, in his home, where he is supposed to feel safest," Peter replied smoothly, and Cora's glare grew a little less intense as she understood the point he was trying to make. "He could be driven to a... shall we say 'episode'?"

"So what do you suggest we do?" Erica growled as she glared at Peter with glowing eyes. She could see the logic in his statement, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Stay here, make sure you're ready to comfort him if he's not himself." Peter told them calmly. "That's the best thing you can do for him right now."

"Maybe we shouldn't be here." Aidan reluctantly stated as he gestured to himself and Ethan. "After what we did-"

"Even if he's in a state where he doesn't trust you, he's always trusted us," Cora reminded him easily and confidently. "We'll be able to talk him down."

"He hasn't always trusted me," Jackson said bitterly, he didn't mean to say it but he was upset and self deprecating. "I used to bully him, for no fucking reason. I made his life Hell since the third freaking grade, when he got a crush on Lydia, all because I had a crush on her too."

"Yeah, you used to be a dick, but you got better," Erica pointed out in a comforting, yet slightly patronising, tone. "That's what's important."

"Thanks," Jackson drawled dryly.

"You're welcome."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Derek was running through the streets of Beacon Hills with Scott just in front of him. While Derek was mildly concerned about them being seen, he was more focused on the trace of Stiles' scent they had caught. It was the first hint of his scent outside of their home and the places Lydia had taken him, so Derek had latched onto that trace the moment it hit his nose.

It was currently leading them towards the school and although Derek wanted to run at full speed to get to his mate faster, he didn't want to leave Scott behind. Stiles would want Derek to protect their pack first and foremost.

When he and Scott did arrive at the school, they saw Lydia and Danny in the parking lot. Upon seeing them, Scott and Derek both shifted back into human form, uncaring of their lack of clothing, and approached the pair.

"What's going on?" Derek asked immediately, his eyes flickering between the pair, the tools they held, and the bag of grout by their feet.

"We're filling in the carving that Stiles left here." Lydia told him, her tone was casual but the look in her eyes told them both that it was serious. "We didn't want the rest of the pack to know."

Scott immediately began to study the ground, but they had covered most of it, only the letters O and W were still remaining.

"She didn't want the rest of the pack to know," Danny corrected through gritted teeth. "It's not good, Derek."

"What did it say?" Scott asked urgently. "Was it like the message at the loft?"

"No," Danny stated gravely, "It was worse."

"What did it say?" Derek demanded with a growl, his eyes glowing against his will.

"It said 'I helped Barrow'." Lydia confessed with a frown, "And Stiles was definitely the one who left it."

"How can you be sure?" Scott demanded with furrowed brows, sparing a glance towards Danny. They were supposed to be keeping Derek's theory quiet and letting the others believe John's theory for the time being, and Lydia was here planting the seeds of doubt in their resident hacker. "Did you see him on camera or something?"

"He signed it with a triskele," Danny informed the beta, "and the letters MS."

"His real initials," Scott realised, "This is bad."

"Wait, you know his real name?" Danny asked with wide eyes and an excited grin on his face despite the circumstances.

"We've been best friends for over a decade, of course I know his real name!" Scott reminded the other teen with an incredulous expression. "Well, I can spell it, but I can't pronounce it."

"What is it?" Danny asked curiously. He'd been curious for a while, but Stiles refused to tell him, or anybody in the Pack. Danny had considered hacking the school or hospital records in order to find out, but that was too easy. It was a running game in the Pack to try to steal Stiles driver's licence, birth certificate, etc. and try to find out, but Stiles was too good. Sure asking Scott might seem like an 'easy' path too, but Danny already knew that he wouldn't get his answer here.

Scott could be surprisingly good at keeping secrets when he wanted to, despite being a rather bad liar.

"No way am I telling you." Scott replied with a roll of his eyes. He had vowed to take that secret to his grave after he found out during a trip to the hospital together when they were nine. There was an incident involving skateboards, a dog, and ice cream cones. Don't ask.

"Derek?" Lydia called out, distracting the pair from their conversation and drawing their attention to the silent alpha.

Derek had been trapped in his mind since he heard the message that Stiles had carved. The first thing that came to mind was the other two messages that Stiles had left for them, the one painted in the loft was also signed with a triskele, but the one carved in the parking lot in that building hadn't been. That immediately sent off alarm bells in Derek's mind. Another thing to consider was the way the messages had been written, two had used full words, but the other had used acronyms and numbers. Sure, carving 'Claudia Stilinski' and 'Frontotemporal dementia' would have taken a lot more time and effort, but that had never stopped Stiles before. Not when it was something he deemed important, at least.

Derek also vaguely registered that Danny was now aware that there was more to the situation than Derek had told them, but that wasn't the most pressing issue just then. Derek wasn't able to dwell for too long before Lydia drew him out of his thoughts.

"Are you okay?" The banshee asked cautiously, locking eyes with the alpha as she awaited his response.

"I'm fine," Derek replied unconvincingly as he shifted from one foot to the other. He was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that he was naked, and felt uncharacteristically uncomfortable with that fact. He felt exposed in a way he never had before, maybe it was the way the three teens looked at him in concern, or the way Lydia was looking into his eyes like she was reading his very soul. Whatever it was, Derek didn't like it. "Finish with this, then go home." Derek instructed firmly, then elaborated before any confusion could occur, "Our home, wait there until I get back. Scott, look after them."

"What? No, I'm coming with you." Scott protested immediately, and Derek couldn't keep the growl from escaping his lips.

"Scott," Derek began, his eyes glowed as he instinctively did something he'd vowed never to do outside of a life or death situation; he used his apha command on his beta. "Stay with Lydia and Danny, protect them and then take them home and stay there until I get back."

Scott found himself nodding in agreement despite himself. Before his actions even registered in his brain, Derek shifted back into wolf form and ran off.

As they watched him go, the three teens felt a heaviness weigh on them.

"Fuck." Lydia muttered, drawing surprised looks from the two boys.

"Two curses in one day?" Scott asked, slack-jawed as he stared at the banshee in surprise. "Who are you and what have you done to Lydia Martin?"

"Can you think of a better word to summarise this whole situation?" Lydia asked rhetorically as she raised an eyebrow. Of course, Lydia herself could think of several, non-cuss, words that could fit the mess of a situation they were dealing with quite well, but she knew that Scott wouldn't. Besides, she was rather stressed and cussing was quite cathartic.

"Fair," Scott conceded with a nod. "It's just not like you."

"Something tells me that by the time all of this is over," Lydia began in a grave tone, all mirth gone as violent images flooded her brain. "None of us will be who we were before."

There was a beat of silence as Scott and Danny absorbed her words. Much to their dismay, neither of them could honestly say that they felt differently.

"Come on," Danny said suddenly, adjusting the tool in his hand and he nodded towards the bag of grout. "Let's get this finished, we need to go home."

Scott and Lydia shared another look of concern before they both moved to finish filling in the carvings.

A/N: Whoo, finally. Sorry for the delay and how slow things are moving at the moment, but I really wanted to take this chapter to reflect on Pack relations and how the Nogitsunes' preliminary tricks are affecting the Pack. I'm not 100% happy with this chapter as I lost my original draft. However, I'm happy enough to publish it, and I hope that you guys enjoy it!

Rowanaembers: Thank you, I'm so glad that you like it! I hope that you enjoy this chapter too x

Mukuro: You're so awesome! I hope that you like this chapter too x

SakiHanajima1: Oh my gods, thank you so much! I'm so glad that you like this story. The pack bonds are my favourite thing to write, honestly. I feel like there was so much potential missed in the show, they never really made a pack feel like more than a group of friends, at least to me. The actors played the relationships they were given well, but I just felt like there could have been more, y'know? I've already given a few character spoilers, so all I'm going to say is that my plans for Peter do differ from cannon in many regards, but also borrow elements from it here and there. I am partial to the restaurant idea, as much as I want them all to achieve great and successful careers, it would be difficult with the pack bonds and the pack being bound to the nemeton, so I've been toying with a few ideas for their future careers and that one is my favourite so far, along with a community programme for the town, but that's a lot more complicated. Yeah, I couldn't bring myself to kill them off, any of them. I'm too weak. Oh, believe me, writing the scene where they all find out the truth was so much fun! I can't wait for you guys to read it in the next chapter! x

thepriceyoupay: Thank you for your dedication! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but I had to rewrite it, I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter is like 40% done, so fingers crossed it'll be up next month, but don't hold me too that, life likes to mess with me a lot x

Guest: Thank you so much, I'm so glad you like it! I hope you continue to enjoy it. I hope it won't take me another 4 years for the next chapter x

Guest: I am. I will keep writing this story until the pack graduate or I'm dead, whichever comes first. I'm so glad you found and enjoyed this story and I'll try not to take so long with the next one x

Alexmicheals: I will always continue this story, no matter howw long it takes. But I will try to be quicker with the next update x

llazo4108824: Thank you! I will try to be consistent in the future x

Poke-ranger21: Sorry for keeping you waiting so long, I hope you enjoy this chapter too x

Fallen-Angel7394: I am continuing this story at least until the pack graduate high school, it's just taking longer than I'd like because I'm never satisfied with the chapters and my original story plan has changed a lot over the years x

qwertyuiop123214685: Sorry it took so long but here's the update, I hope you like it. I get that, but I love Void Stiles too much to exclude him. Plus, the show introduced Chimeras later, so I'm justifying it haha x

Guest: Here you go, I hope you like it x

ANGEL FALLEN FROM HEAVEN: Thank you so much. I agree. I did a poll on my profile when writing that part and was hoping people would vote to keep him as the kanima but 'make it someone else' won and I wanted to honor the vote. I didn't do the same for the nogitsune because I wanted to got the way I had planned. I love to hate void Stiles and I had to keep him. Thank you, I hope you like this chapter too x

jgood27: Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this chapter too x

XRyuraX: I'm glad you like it! I am from England too! I'm love void Stiles, I couldn't leave him out x

ShySaphira: I'm sorry you had to wait so long for the new chapter, but I hope you like it x