𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

We enter the loft and my eyes meet the dark pair belonging to Stiles, but it's not Stiles that grins at me maliciously as we approach him. He seems empty...void.

He looks at me quizzically, as if he's waiting for me to make a move and I try to, I really do. My eyes flash pink and crackles of magic appear in my palm, but he doesn't react. Knowing deep down that I can't bring myself to hurt him, my eyes fade back to their natural brown and he smirks smugly.

Allison lifts her taser and doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger, sending electric volts straight towards the boy in front of us. Void Stiles swiftly catches the wire that is crackling with blue streaks of electricity and pulls it with a sneer on his face, causing Allison to drop the taser.

Derek then lunges at him and Void grabs him with ease, twisting his arm behind his back and slamming his head down onto the table before throwing him across the room with strength that I know Stiles doesn't have. Derek's body crashes into a wooden beam and hits the floor with a thud, making him cough and groan in pain.

Chris lifts his gun and clicks off the safety, aiming the barrel right at Void. The nogitsune slowly turns to him and looks at him through cold dead eyes.

"Argent, listen to me. Don't do this" Noah pleads with Chris, holding out his hands cautiously.

"Why not? I've done it before. Werewolves, Berserkers... I can easily add a Nogitsune to the list" Chris rattles off and Noah lifts his own gun, aiming it at Chris.

"You're not going to shoot my son!" Noah retorts.

"You said it yourself, Sheriff. That's not your son" Chris argues calmly.

"Mr Argent, please. There has to be another way" I speak up shakily.

"There is no other way" Chris tells me.

"Put it down. Put it down!" Noah demands.

"Dad, he's going to shoot me. He's going to kill me, Dad" Stiles voice speaks in a scared tone and my heart slams against my chest in fear.

"Don't listen" Chris orders.

"Put it down. Now! Do it! Put it down!" Noah barks at him.

"Pull the trigger. Come on" Void taunts Chris.

"Listen to me- You put the gun down now!" Noah snaps.

"Shoot me" Void snaps.

"Put the gun down, now!" Noah repeats.

"Dad" Allison tries to reason with her father.

"Shoot me!" Void raises his voice.

"Put the gun down!" Noah tries again.

"Shoot me!" Void screams in rage.

"Argent, you put it down!" Noah yells.

"Strife..." Allison breathes out and I look at her in confusion.

"What did you just say?" I ask her, as the sun fully sets and the darkness creeps in.

"Put it down! Put it down!" Noah continues.

"Stop, stop it!" Allison cuts in frantically "This is what he wants! This is exactly what he wants!"

"Not exactly" Void smirks "I was kind of hoping Scott would be here. But, I'm glad you all have your guns out"

"Because you aren't here to kill me" He declares turning as four Oni appear from the shadows "You're here to protect me"

Void steps back behind Chris and Noah who both start firing at the sword wielding shadows. Derek, Allison and I swoop in behind him as two of them appear there, Allison pulling out daggers. The Oni all lift their swords and run at us in unison.

I form a sphere of crackling pink energy and throw it at one of them, causing it to falter and disappear before appearing again. Derek grunts in pain as the sound of metal slicing through skin fills my ears and I spin around, throwing another sphere at the other Oni.

They both evaporate into thin air and I drop to my knees next to Derek in worry, looking over the wound on his shoulder.

"I'm fine" He tries to assure me.

"Shut up" I snap at him and he rolls his eyes playfully with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

Kira and Scott rush into the loft frantically and my brother's eyes find me immediately, scanning me for injuries.

"What happened?" He snaps.

"They disappeared. They literally just vanished" Allison answers.

"And so did Stiles" Noah sighs defeatedly.

❦ ❦ ❦

I knock on the white painted wooden door and it is opened to reveal a confused looking Lydia Martin.

"Nat, what are you doing here? It's like three am" Lydia questions, wrapping her arms around herself as she glances at my pyjama clad body which is trembling slightly in the cold.

"I don't want to be alone" I answer, my voice cracking and her confusion falls into a frown.

"Come in" She sighs.

I enter the Martin household and Lydia guides me through the dark house, all the way into her room. She flops onto her bed and looks up at me, patting the space next to her. I accept her invitation, kicking off my shoes and climbing onto the bed, laying down next to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lydia speaks up.

"I don't know how to" I answer vaguely.

"You just talk. It doesn't have to make sense. We'll figure it out" She assures me.

I nod softly and lay my head on the strawberry blonde's shoulder, letting her wrap an arm around me to stroke my hair soothingly.

"Have you ever been in love?" I ask her curiously.

"No" She answers truthfully "Do you think you're in love?"

"Maybe" I murmur "I'm just really confused"

"With Stiles" She guesses.

"Yeah" I confirm quietly.

"What's so confusing?" She questions me.

"Well, I've never been in love before. I don't know what that feels like" I explain to her "And there's someone else. I don't know how I feel about them yet, but I feel something"

"So, you think you're in love with Stiles and you might also have feelings for someone else" Lydia states.

"God, I sound awful" I groan.

"No, you don't" She assures me "It's perfectly normal to be confused about your feelings, Nat"

I let out a frustrated huff and Lydia props herself up on her elbow, looking down at me with a comforting smile.

"Tell me how you feel about Stiles" She demands.

"I mean, I love him. I always have, even though he's the biggest dork on the planet" I shrug, grabbing one of the girl's decorative pillows and hugging it to my chest "I guess my feelings for him grew stronger, but I've never felt this way about anyone before"

"What way?" Lydia pries.

"It's not just a stupid crush or some summer fling, it's different with him. Stiles means so much to me that it actually scares the shit out of me. If I lose him, I think I'll go out of my mind" I admit.

"I'm no expert in the subject, but I'm pretty sure that you're in love with him, babe" The girl tells me, patting my arm.

"That's just great" I breathe out sarcastically.

Lydia chuckles and flops down on her stomach, laying her chin on my shoulder.

"Is Aiden the other person?" She asks me.

"What?" I frown in confusion.

"You said that you might have feelings for someone else. Is that Aiden?" She elaborates and my frown fades.

"No, it's not Aiden" I shake my head slightly.

"Are you going to tell me who it is then?" She questions.

"It's Allison" I mumble.

Lydia's face morphs into a shocked expression and she gasps, jolting up dramatically.

"Allison as in Allison Argent? Our friend Allison?" She rambles in awe with a grin on her face.

"Yup. That's the one" I hum.

"I knew you two were gay for each other" She declares smugly.

"Shut up, gingernut" I shoot a playful glare at her, a smile on my lips.

"I'm strawberry blonde!" She protests.