The Stilinski car pulled up outside a large, historic building that had metal fencing wrapped all the way around it, meant not for keeping people out, but for keeping the people inside it. Stiles' mouth was slightly agape as he turned to look back at his dad. Noah only offered him a pursed-lipped smile before averting his eyes back to the mental asylum his son would be staying in for a while.

As soon as Stiles opened the car door the cold bit at his pale skin and forced his eyes to water, the hoodie over his body doing nothing to defend him. The sound of a motorcycle growing closer came as no surprise to Stiles or Noah as Scott pulled up by the car, ripping his helmet off and jogging towards them.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Scott looked at Stiles, noticing the bags under his eyes.

The hazel-eyed boy could see the dark circles contrasting against Scott's tan skin too, but unlike Stiles, Scott liked to pretend that they weren't there. However, Stiles couldn't avoid the feelings he was experiencing, the anxiety that was eating him up every single day for the past week since that night.

"Because we wanted to avoid something like this," Noah sighed.

"It's only seventy-two hours," Stiles reminded Scott.

The werewolves brows furrowed, "this is the same place Barrow came from. The guy that had a tumor inside of him filled with flies. Not to mention what Harper would think."

Scott's last statement only caused Stiles to wince, his hazel eyes casting away from his best friend and to the ground. Any time her name passed anyone's lips, it was as if someone had hit him in the chest with a hammer. It hurt just to hear about her.

Upon gaining no answer from Stiles, Scott looked back at his dad, "you don't know everything yet."

"I know enough," Noah shook his head, "Nogitsunes, Kitsunes, Oni, or whatever they're called."

Stiles shrugged, "no, that's actually all surprisingly correct."

"Scott, I saw an MRI that looked exactly like my wife's. And it terrifies me," Sheriff Stilinski admitted, "I'm heading down to LA tomorrow to talk to a specialist."

"Then why are you putting him in here?" The Hispanic boy tried to reason with him.

"He's not," Stiles answered for his dad, "it was my decision."

"Stiles, I can't help you while you're in here."

"And I can't hurt you," Stiles protested, "or Harper if she..." He swallowed, not being able to finish his sentence.

Scott paused for a second, his heart aching at the mention of the brunette also. "Deaton's got some ideas. Argent's calling people. We're gonna find something. And if we can't..."

"If you can't," the Stilinski boy cut him off, moving closer to his best friend, "if you can't, then you have to do something for me, okay? Make sure I never get out."

Noah sighed, "come on."

He began to walk towards the gate, leaving Stiles and Scott alone for a couple of seconds. Scott looked at Stiles hopefully, praying that he would change his mind.

"What about Harper?" The McCall boy pleaded, using her as a last resort.

The tension could've been cut with a knife, it was so thick. Stiles didn't want to talk about his girlfriend. For the past week, he had been stressing and ripping his hair out over whether she was okay or not.

Stiles licked his bottom lip, "you don't stop looking for her. If I'm still in there when you find her, you call me. But please, for the love of God, do not let her come anywhere near me. I can't hurt her again. Please, Scott."

"So you're just giving up on her?" Scott tested, "cause she sure as hell didn't give up on you when you went missing, Stiles."

Stiles' face contorted into one of anger, his hand wrapping around Scott's shirt as he pressed him up against the wall, his eyes burning with fury and his heart hammering in his chest. How dare Scott even think Stiles didn't care about Harper? How dare he think he was giving up?

"Don't you dare," Stiles seethed, "I have spent the past week looking for her, just like everyone else. Actually, harder. I haven't slept in days, Scott. So don't you dare tell me that I don't care about my own girlfriend. I love her so much I'm emitting myself here so that I don't end up hurting her when someone who can actually find her does."

Scott gulped, feeling bad for trying to guilt Stiles into staying. Of course, he knew Stiles cared about Harper, the constant breakdowns had confirmed that during their searching the past week, he just needed to say something- anything- to get him to change his mind. Harper was his weakness.

The pair were left in an uncomfortable silence, Noah watching wearily by the gate. He came over and put his hand on Stiles' back, patting it reassuringly and muttering a comforting word or two under his breath. Wide-eyed, Scott watched as the pair walked away, Noah sending one last look over his shoulder at the werewolf.

The gates closed behind the father and son, leaving Scott all alone on the pavement. Now, not only was one of his best friends missing, but his other one had just emitted himself into an insane asylum. Great, just great.

...

ONE WEEK BEFORE

A blanket was wrapped around Harper's shaking body as she sat on the couch in the McCall living room, the heating all the way up but doing nothing to help. Scott sat beside her, his eyes closed and his head resting against the back of the seat. It would have looked like he was actually sleeping, had the rest of his body not been so tense.

"I bring tea," an English accent called, making Harper jump and Scott's eyes snap open, "Sorry, I'll lower my voice next time."

Harper took the steaming mug from her half-brother, sending him a tired smile. Scott thanked Harry, immediately placing the cup to his lips and taking sips to warm his freezing body up.

"You make the best tea," Scott complimented, his voice slightly scratchy from the night's previous events.

Harry chuckled lightly, "thank you."

Harry moved back into the kitchen, leaving the pair of best friends alone. What had happened that night kept playing over and over again in both their brains and although neither one of them would admit it, they were both terrified. Having their best friend cause them so much pain was traumatising. They couldn't get the look in Stiles' eyes out of their heads.

"What if we can't find anything to help him?" Harper croaked, breaking the silence, "Deaton and Chris are looking, but what if that's it? What if Stiles is never himself again?"

Scott didn't reply for a while, not having an answer for the petite brunette. He moved his arm across her shoulder, ignoring her rain-soaked hair.

"We'll find something," he was trying to reassure her, although it sounded like he was making it up, "Stiles is himself for now."

"For now," Harper repeated bitterly.

Scott sighed, "you should take a shower and get warm before you get sick or something. Go to bed, try not to think about it too much."

Harper raised her eyebrows at him. Of course she was going to think about it, how could she not? She obeyed the werewolf anyway, gulping down the rest of the tea before waddling up the stairs to the joint bathroom she shared with Scott.

The brunette pulled off her bloodied clothes, throwing them under the sink. Standing in the mirror, she looked at her stomach. No wound was present, but the crimson liquid had dried up all over her skin. She traced her fingers over where the pain had been before, images of Stiles flashing in her head from tonight.

Switching on the shower, Harper waited until it was scolding hot before stepping underneath it. Her brown eyes watched as the blood washed away, mixing with the water and going straight down the drain. She scrubbed at her face where his hands had been, at all of the places the Nogitsune inside Stiles had touched her.

By the time she was finished, her skin was pink and patchy in places, her lips bleeding. She brushed her teeth at the sink and dried her hair at her desk until it was warm and silky. Harper slipped into some pyjama bottoms and one of Stiles' shirts, the material going almost halfway down her thighs and to her elbows.

It smelled like him too.

"I'm using the bathroom," she heard Scott's muffled yell before the water turned on, "shoot, that's hot!"

Harper's phone suddenly went off, making her jump. She tore her gaze away from the mirror and picked it up.

from stiles:
please call me baby

Biting her lip, Harper went to Stiles' contact. Her finger hovered over the 'call' button, hesitating for almost half a minute. The phone automatically switched off from the lack of contact. She sighed and closed her eyes, wondering why the hell she couldn't talk to him.

He wanted her, and he wasn't him. Stiles wasn't the Nogitsune. So why was she so scared?

A knock at the door pulled her away from her thoughts, but she ignored it, waiting for someone else to answer them. She switched her phone on and went to call Stiles, the knocks becoming louder downstairs.

"Can someone get that?" She yelled in annoyance.

"I'm in the shower!" Scott's reply came muffled.

Harper sighed angrily, looking at the picture she had assigned for Stiles' contact one last time before throwing her phone on the bed next to Archie and jogging downstairs. She looked in the living room for Harry, ready to tell him off for being ignorant, however, the room was empty.

The brunette shrugged and moved to the door, opening it wide. The rain had calmed down from earlier, only a slight drizzle. Just looking at it made her feel cold. Perhaps the only thing that could make her feel colder at that moment in time was the person standing in the doorway.

It was the same nurse from Eichen House, the one that had stopped her before. He had his uniform on, his hair slicked back with far too much product and that stupid clipboard tucked in his hands. Something was rested on top of it, but Harper couldn't see what. His figure loomed over her five foot one frame as he had to be at least six foot three or something.

He glanced down at her, a fake smile on his face as he asked, "Harper Verum?"

"Wrong house," she blurted, eyes widened.

The brunette moved to slam the door, however, the man stuck his foot in the way, preventing it from closing. She struggled against him, shoving her whole body weight against the wood and grunting under her breath. Unfortunately, the man was heavier and all it took was a single push for the door to slam wide open and Harper to end up on the floor.

"We were afraid you would persist," He tutted, lifting up a needle.

Harper went to call out for Scott, but the man was already crouching down beside her. She landed a swift punch to his jaw, his head snapping to the side quicker than lightning. Climbing onto her hands and knees, Harper thought she was going to make it away from the stranger.

However, the next thing Harper knew, there was a sharp pain in her neck and hands around her body. As her eyes began to close and all her senses seemed to fold in on themselves, Harper knew only one thing for sure: she was screwed.

...

A couple of hours later, Scott jogged down the stairs to get some food from the fridge, freezing half way when he noticed the door wide open. It was cold and the rain was starting to come inside, making a small puddle on the floor. Wearily, he continued his journey down, going over and closing it.

"Hello?" The werewolf called, afraid someone might have broken in, "Harper? Harry? Mum?"

There was a heavy silence when Scott waited for someone to reply. He heard a muffled call from upstairs and jogged back up, opening the door to Harper's room. It was empty. It must have been Harry that had called him, he realised. Scott opened the other Empath's door, finding Harry at his desk on a laptop, typing something up.

"Everything okay?" Harry asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Scott copied his actions, taking a step back and looking down the hall, "do you know where Harper is? She's not downstairs or in her room and the front door was left wide open."

Harry sat up straighter in his seat, "she could have gone to Stiles'."

The werewolf considered this, trying to calm down a little. It was only then he remembered the knock at the door a few hours ago, the one that Harper had gone downstairs to answer. His brown eyes widened as he stared at the dark haired boy.

"I hope you're right."

Rushing back to his room, Scott grabbed his phone off of his bed and quickly began to call Harper. He heard a ringing come from Harper's room and rushed inside, hoping to have just not seen her or something. Unfortunately, no Harper was in sight, just her phone left on her bed.

Scott picked it up and sat down on the bed, ignoring Archie who immediately began to rub his head against the Alpha's arm. She had a few text messages from Stiles left unread, but Scott didn't bother to read them as began to call Stiles who picked up almost immediately.

"Harper," Stiles sounded relieved, "I thought you were ignoring me."

"Not Harper," Scott gulped when he realised what Scott had said, "I was calling to see if she was with you."

There was a heavy silence on the other end. Scott knew Stiles was processing his words before Stiles began to rant possible theories, "no, she's not here. Are you sure she's not in her room? Or at Lydia's? Maybe Allison's house-"

"No," Scott shook his head, "I knew I was being too hopeful calling you."

"What do you mean?" Stiles huffed.

"The front door was left wide open when I went downstairs, and the last person down there was Harper. I think..." He swallowed, "I think she might have run away."

Stiles' breath hitched before silence. The lack of sound was unbearable as Scott waited for Stiles to say something- anything.

"Runaway?" Stiles repeated shakily, "you mean because of what I did tonight?"

Scott gulped, "That wasn't you, Stiles. She knows that. But she was really shaken up, she could have. That would explain why she left her phone here, right? She's smart, she didn't want anyone to track her."

"Is any of her other stuff missing?" Stiles answered frantically, sounds of him moving in the background filling Scott's ears.

Scott looked around, "no?"

"Then I don't think she ran away, dumbass," Stiles muttered, panicked, "I think Harper was kidnapped."

this is quite a short chapter cause the next ones are long as fuckkkkk
ive written out the echo house episode across three chapters (i think?) and i actually really like it so i hope you guys do tooooo (whenever i publish it lol)