chapter twenty two
inside his head

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FACING VOID was more difficult than Odessa Stone thought it would be the second time around. The first time she went face to face with Stiles as Void was in the Animal Clinic—and he scared her immensely. However, that was when she didn't know what to expect from the nogitsune and was caught off guard with its presence within Stiles. Now, she had a better idea of what she was dealing with. So why did she still feel the immense weight of fright in her chest when standing in the same vicinity as him?

The hazel eyes she had grown to admire were now empty and cold, unfeeling even with all the chaos and destruction around him. Odessa watched Stiles glance between the Sheriff and herself, and she could've sworn she saw a flicker of mischief in his eyes—almost like he was amused to see both of them together.

The Ember kept her defensive stance as Stilinski pulled out a pair of handcuffs from his belt, the cuffs jingling in the silence of the loft as they moved.

"You wanna handcuff me?"

As the Sheriff moved closer to his son, Odessa couldn't help but take a cautious step forward, trying to keep her heart beat steady as she felt the heavy weight of it in her chest. Stilinski eyed his son carefully, "if my son is still here, if there's still a part of him standing here in front of me, then he'll put these on willingly and he'll come with us, because he knows I'm here to protect him from himself and from others."

Stiles brought his hands in front of him shakily as Odessa watched with bated breath. As the Sheriff secured the cuffs, she walked down toward them. It was only when Stiles looked up, narrowing his eyes at the pair, giving up the act.

"You're not my son."

Odessa pulled the Sheriff behind her slightly at the sight of Stiles breaking free of the handcuffs without so much as a blink. She could hear the other file in as the nogitsune chuckled at the sight.

With one glance at Allison, the brunette didn't hesitate to pull the trigger on her taser, shooting the electricity at Stiles with lightning speed. Despite that, the nogitsune caught the electrified string, pulling it, without moving his eyes away from her. He threw it to the side, making her lose grip on the gun, it crashing on the wall next to them.

Seeing her friend was vulnerable to his wrath, Odessa moved herself in front of Allison as Derek let out a growl and advanced to Void. Before the Hale could attack, Void grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back before flinging him to the wall.

After that, Odessa heard something that made her stomach drop.

She turned from her place in front of Allison to see Argent, a gun in his hands, directing it straight to Stiles.

"Argent, listen to me," Stilinski started, "don't do this."

With his eyes still unwavering on the boy, Argent shrugged, "why not? I've done it before.Werewolves, berserkers. I can easily add a nogitsune to the list."

Stilinski didn't hesitate to cock his own gun at the man, "you're not gonna shoot my son."

The two girls watched the scene in front of them, with Odessa thinking about one thing she watched in particular. It seemed Void was enjoying the stand off in front of him—almost reveling in it.

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

"Put it down," Stilinski demanded, his gun still trained on Argent's head. His words grew louder when Argent didn't move a muscle, "put it down."

"Dad, he's gonna shoot me."

Everyone's head turned to Stiles as he watched the gun pointed at him, almost with tears eyes. Odessa and Allison locked eyes, they knew better than to believe it was him. They had been tricked one too many times before.

Void brought his eyes to Stilinski, "he's going to kill me, Dad."

"Don't listen," Argent shook his head, still not moving his gun.

"Put it down. Now! Do it! Put it down!"

"Pull the trigger," Void taunted Argent, not paying attention to Stilinski's shouts, "come on."

"Listen to me, you put the gun down now!"

"Shoot me."

"Put the gun down now!"

"Shoot me!"

"Put the gun down!"

"Shoot me!"

"Argent, you put it down!"

"Strife," Odessa heard Allison whisper from behind her. The blonde locked eyes with her in realization.

"Put it down! Put it down!"

The girls looked to the window that was slowly losing its Sunlight. Odessa finally raised her voice, "enough. Enough," the shouting in front of her ceased at her command, "this is exactly what he wants," she spoke, her hard eyes on Void.

"Not exactly, little dove," Void titled his head in amusement, "I was kind of hoping Scott would be here. But I'm glad you all have your guns out. Because you're not here to kill me," he turned toward the windows just in time for the oni to show themselves, "you're here to protect me."

As Void backed up, the group circled around him, preparing to fight the oni once again. Argent and Stilinski started firing their guns at the shadows, not making a dent in any of them.

It didn't take long for Void to use the oni as a distraction to leave the loft. But as soon as he left, the oni followed. Leaving Odessa and the rest of them panting and slightly injured in the oni's wake.

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The last thing Odessa expected to wake up to Sunday, the next morning, was an unconscious Stiles being carried into her living room. She liked to think of weekends as her time off, even if it was for an hour or two—but this weekend was not holding back. The blonde watched from the staircase as Scott and Aiden carried him through the house.

"The couch," the Alpha quietly instructed, "put him on the couch."

Odessa traveled into the living room to meet everyone else, her eyes going to Lydia, who just pursed her lips at the blonde's questioning expression.

Okay, Odessa thought, definitely Banshee related.

"Guys, this is crazy," Melissa shook her head, watching her son, Aiden and Deaton situate an unconscious Stiles on the couch, "he needs to be in the hospital."

"Mom, remember what happened last time he went to the hospital?"

While his rhetorical question made Melissa go quiet, Odessa watched with crossed arms as Deaton lifted Stiles' shirt, revealing a long and red gash on his lower abdomen.

"It doesn't look like he's bleeding," the Doctor observed, "I think he might even be healing."

Aiden furrowed his brow, "you mean healing like we heal?"

"That's good, right?"

Deaton eyed the unconscious boy carefully before answering the Alpha, "for him, yes. Us? I'm not so sure."

The group didn't really know their next move. Melissa tried to contact Stilinski, but the man never answered his phone. They started going back and forth with different solutions as to what to do with their possessed friend.

"Well, if we're not going to kill him, why aren't we at least tying him down with really big chains?"

Odessa rolled her eyes at Aiden's remark as Deaton brought out his travel sized briefcase, "I might have something more effective," he brought out a vile and showed it to everyone.

Understanding what it was, Scott motioned for Aiden to help him hold Stiles down in his seat. With Scott holding his arm and Aiden holding his mouth open. While everyone else in the room knew what was in the vile, Odessa didn't have a clue. She watched with a skeptical expression as Deaton unstoppered the liquid and dropped it into Stiles' mouth. As soon as the liquid hit his tongue, Stiles opened his eyes with a glare, grabbing Aiden by the throat. Odessa pushed Lydia behind her as Scott tried to push Stiles' arm away to lose his grip, but came to no avail. It was only when Stiles' grip loosened itself, his arm shaking as whatever liquid was dropped in his mouth started to take effect, did Scott successfully get Aiden away from him.

"Kanima venom," Void grunted at Deaton, falling back into the couch, "nice touch," he looked to Aiden with a bored expression when the boy growled at him in anger, "you know how twins get a feeling when the other one's in pain? You didn't lose that talent, too, did you? Oh, I hope not," he mocked, everyone listening to his words intently, "you're going to need it. Okay, I'll give a little hint. Ethan's at the school."

Aiden looked to Scott with wide eyes as the McCall didn't hesitate to instruct, "go."

Void laughed at how distressed Aiden looked as he left the house, titling his head back to rest it on the couch, "oh, I hope he gets there in time. I like the twins," he looked back to Scott, "short tempers. Homicidal compulsions. They're a lot more fun than you bakemono trying to save the world every day."

"Doc, you brought something to paralyze his body," Melissa spoke bravely, sounding annoyed with what she was hearing, "you got anything for his mouth?"

"Yes, I do," taking a roll of tape from his briefcase, Deaton ripped off a piece and placed it on Stiles' mouth as the boy chuckled.

Odessa almost felt her heart jump out of her chest as she watched Stiles scream through the tape, veins popping from his forehead. She felt sick to her stomach as his eyes moved to her and instantly started to giggle in amusement at her almost scared expression.

Seeing where Void's eyes were, Scott made the first move to leave the room, taking Odessa's hand and almost dragging her into the room next store with Lydia and Deaton following behind.

Odessa was puzzled with the infatuation Void seemed to have on her. She didn't know if it was because she was an Ember or something else. The whole thing left her almost sick to her stomach. She couldn't bring herself to let her eyes glance at Scott, who was looking at her questioningly. The boy had seen first hand what Void did in the Animal Clinic, no matter how in pain he is, and he was just as confused as to why Void seemed to take a particular interest in the blonde. It just made him more protective of her than he already was.

"How much longer do you think we have," the McCall asked his boss once he and Lydia were in the room with them.

Deaton shrugged, regretfully, "I wish I knew. But if we don't figure out something soon, we're going to need to find a better place to keep him," he stressed, "I think we're grossly underestimating the danger here. He might be paralyzed, but it still feels like he's got us right in the palm of his hand."

Odessa had a feeling the fear coming off of her when she was in Void's presence wasn't helping, either.

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Peter Hale observed the possessed boy from the back of the room as everyone watched him with bitter eyes. Odessa and the others simply didn't know if their other options, like biting Stiles to change the host, would be productive or counterproductive. So Lydia suggested calling someone no one wanted help from—Peter.

The Hale tilted his head as he came to Stiles' side, "he doesn't look like he would survive a slap across the face, much less the bite of a werewolf."

"You don't think it would work," Scott asked as Peter crouched down in front of Stiles.

"This is more a war of the mind than the body. There are better methods to winning this battle."

Deaton stepped forward to the man, intrigued, "what kind of methods?"

Peter grabbed Scott's wrist and brought out the boy's claws, presenting them to Stiles, who tilted his head in amusement, "we're going to get into his head."

Before anyone could ask him to reiterate, the Hale grabbed Lydia's wrist, leading her into the other room for a private conversation. Odessa didn't exactly know the extent of what Lydia could offer Peter in return for his help, but the strawberry blonde told her that it was something that Peter valued greatly, so she hoped it was enough to get him to guide Scott into whatever he had in mind.

"So," Deaton spoke as they watched Lydia and Peter walk back into the room after a couple of minutes, "do we have a plan?"

Peter leaned his hands casually on the couch next to Stiles, unfazed by the evil that lurked beside him, "Scott is going to try and dig through pale and sickly Evil Stiles' mind to unearth pale and sickly Real Stiles. Then guide him back from the depths of his own subconscious. But he's not going to do it alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Somebody needs to go in with you," Peter's eyes shifted toward the blonde Ember in the room.

Gradually, everyone, including Void, brought their eyes to Odessa, who caught on and sighed, "oh, you've gotta be kidding me. Why me?"

"Because you are the only one in here that can't be seriously harmed by an Alpha's claws," Peter deadpanned, unamused with her attitude, "and your connection with Stiles will help you and Scott save him. You're going."

"How the hell do you know about that?"

Odessa had only told one person about her emotional connection with Stiles, and that was Scott. She didn't think the boy would've told Peter for a second. She was just purely annoyed at the fact that Peter would know that piece of information in the first place.

"Embers may be extremely rare," Peter drawled, almost bored, "but their abilities are well known."

Taking a deep breath, and trying to ignore the dark hazel eyes that followed her figure, Odessa slowly made her way to the couch, sitting next to Void. She swallowed, trying to sit as far away from him as she could as Peter guided Scott on what to do from behind them.

With his claws ghosting the back of their necks, Scott turned to Peter, "so what do we do if we find him?"

"You're going to have to guide him out somehow," the Hale vaguely answered, ignoring the eye roll the blonde gave in response, "try to give him back control of his mind, his body."

Suppressing yet another eye roll, Odessa spoke as she felt Scott's claws on the back of her neck, "could you elaborate on the 'somehow'? 'Cause your answer wasn't very specific."

She only got a shrug in return, "improvise."

As Peter stepped out of the way, Scott turned to Deaton, "what if this is just another trick?"

Before the Doctor could answer, the Hale scoffed, "when are you people going to start trusting me?"

"I meant him," Scott looked down to his possessed best friend, who hadn't tried to speak through the tape since Peter had arrived.

"Scott," Deaton tried to block out any doubt or worry, "we're running out of time."

Odessa sat completely still as she heard Scott starting to breathe heavily from behind her. After a few seconds, she gasped at the feeling of his claws digging into her neck, her eyes closing in an instant as she traveled far away from where she was and into Stiles' mind...

The Ember gasped awake to whispers filling her ears as she had trouble moving her body. She was laying down on a bed cot, her arms and legs restrained. The blonde looked to the side only to find Scott in the same predicament. She scrunched her face as she watched Scott struggle in his restraints. Odessa narrowed her eyes, "do you actually need me to remind you that we're werewolves?"

"We're in Stiles' head."

Their voices echoed as the blonde retorted incredulously, "and we're supernatural creatures with supernatural strength. Come on," with a push up of her arms, she broke the restraints, rubbing her wrists from how tight they were being held down. Seeing this, Scott followed her lead, breathing heavily at the restriction release. They stood up together and dropped their restraints on the ground.

Scott looked down to the blonde, "what now?"

"I don't know," she glanced around before sarcastically smiling at him, "this happens to be my first time in someone's head."

The pair looked toward the metal door in front of them as the Alpha spoke firmly, "just stay behind me."

Internally rolling her eyes at his protective nature, because she could handle herself of course, Odessa walked behind him as the door opened, leading to an empty hallway. Before she could follow him into the hallway, the door slammed shut in front of her, trapping her in.

"Scott," she banged on the door and shouted, "Scott! Dammit," she huffed before turning around, expecting to see the beds she and Scott laid on but hitched her breath at the sight of the beds not only being gone, but the walls turning into a hallway of her own.

Slowly and cautiously, Odessa ventured into the hallway and stumbled upon a white room. She shielded her eyes at the sudden light that surrounded her as she tried to make out exactly where she was. Gradually, familiar yet unfamiliar faces started to appear in front of her, all of them staring right at her. Breathing shakily, she turned her head to see a head of brown hair paired with blue eyes staring at her with pity. He had appeared in her dreams—they all did. Before she could process what she was seeing, a scratching of a chalkboard in the corner of the room caught her attention, jumping at the sound. Odessa gasped at the sight of the nogitsune tilting his head at her from across the room.

Moving farther away from the bandaged wrapped fox spirit as someone came up behind her, blocking her from moving back any further. As she looked around in panic, she noticed everyone around her started to move in, trapping her in and the nogitsune slowly made his way to her. Just as she was about to be in his grasp, a voice in her head snapped her out of it.

"ODESSA!"

Breaking free from the crowd of students, the Ember pushed her way through them and never looked back, opening the closest door she could find. The next white room she traveled into was so quiet she could hear her breath. As if sensing someone by her, Odessa turned her head, only to see Scott not that far from her.

They ran once something on the other side of the room caught their eyes—it was Stiles, the real Stiles, playing a game they didn't recognize with the nogitsune. But what really caught their eye was what they were playing on top of, the Nemeton.

Stopping only halfway to the pair, Odessa and Scott tried their hardest to yell out for their friend, coming to no avail.

"Stiles!"

"Stiles! Over here!"

Seeing that it wasn't working, they tried to run closer, only to end up in the exact same spot as they were in before. Odessa and Scott panted as the former suddenly came up with an idea in her head.

"Stiles is part of your pack," she thought out loud.

"What? What do you mean?"

"He's human. But he's still part of the pack, right?"

"Yeah," they straightened their stance as the high from all the running they did decreased, "yeah, of course."

A small smile broke out onto the Ember's features at her idea, "so how do wolves signal their location to the rest of the pack?"

Catching on, The Alpha took the small nod of encouragement his friend gave him and transformed.

"They howl."

Odessa's eyes glowed yellow at the powerful roar Scott produced as the sound made the pieces on the game board shake. They watched with hopeful eyes as Stiles lifted his head and looked toward them before looking to the nogitsune, who seemed to growl in warning. Stiles didn't hold back as he wiped the board clean, taking the angry roar of the nogitsune head on. The ground beneath them shook, and after a moment, were sucked back into the real world...

Odessa gasped from her seat on the couch, leaning forward as she touched the back of her neck. Feeling something under her nose, she touched her face, only to see blood on her finger.

"Did it work," Scott panted, urgently making his way from behind the couch, "did it work?"

The Ember took the waiting arms of Melissa and Lydia as she breathlessly questioned, "what happened," as Melissa brought the girl into her arms. Whatever had happened seemed to scare the woman greatly.

"Why didn't it work?"

"Because it's not science, Lydia," Peter almost hissed, dropping his voice, "it's supernatural. I did my part. Now give me the name."

Hearing this, Scott stood from his crouched position in front of Stiles, his brows furrowing, "what name? What are you talking about?"

He didn't get an answer as Odessa was still too out of it to care what was happening around her. The only thing she could focus on was the pain in her neck and the gentle hands that were rubbing her arms, encasing her in their grip. The Stone relaxed into Melissa as everyone in the room was either trying to listen in on the conversation that was happening a little ways away from them or the unconscious boy in front of them. As Odessa started to become stronger, she heard one word come from Lydia's mouth.

"Malia."

Suddenly, Stiles gasped awake, restricted with the tape over his mouth, startling everyone in the room. The boy shakily ripped the tape off of his mouth and gagged at the bandages coming from his mouth. Everyone watched horrified as Stiles fell to the floor, still pulling bandages from his mouth and finally retching them all out onto the floor. As the boy gasped at the feeling of his cleared throat, black smoke started to arise from the pile of bandages, a hand coming out from it. Low growling was heard before the nogitsune arose from the ground, prompting everyone to move back toward the wall.

They all jumped as the bandaged spirit came at them, only to be grabbed by Scott and Peter pushed him onto a nearby chair. Odessa watched the nogitsune struggle in their grip from her place behind a protective Deaton.

"Hold him!"

"I'm trying," Scott shouted back to the Hale. As they tried to hold him down, Scott noticed something different from this nogitsune, "wait, wait, wait," grabbing the top layer of the bandages on their head, Scoff slowly started to unravel the cloth with Odessa, Melissa and Deaton coming forward, intrigued.

When the bandages on their face were gone, it revealed Stiles, who shakily spoke, "Scott," his eyes traveled across the room to lock with shocked brown hues, "Odie?"

Coming down from the high of what had occurred, Deaton broke the silence that started to invade the room, "Scott..."

At his tone, the Alpha looked away from his best friend and toward Deaton, only to notice the front door was wide open. With a clenched jaw, he looked toward the couch, only to find it was empty.

"Where are they," Scott asked gravely, not getting an answer, "where are they?"

Odessa made the first move to the door, "Lydia?"

"Lydia?"

"Lydia!"

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boom.