A/N: My cat has the mentality of Isaac Lahey saying "I was locked in a freezer for most of my childhood so I'm sorry if I'm not being helpful" and it only ever shows up when it's meal time.

also the song above it just what I was listening to while I wrote this, it's not vital to the chapter :)

After their conversation, the two had gone their separate ways. While Katherine had wandered around the platform looking for Stiles, Hayden went with Mason to look for Corey.

It had been a decent amount of time since she'd last seen Stiles, she realized, and then wound up having to coach herself through a panic attack. But as she wandered and kept her eyes set on looking for a lanky boy with brown hair, a zip up hoodie and a flannel, only to realize he wasn't anywhere near her.

She found she was left to just stand there in mute horror as she tried to reassure herself that she hadn't forgotten about him again, that he wasn't missing, but the longer she looked, the harder she found it was to keep herself calm and collected.

With her heart beating nearly right out of her chest Katherine's methods of searching became more frantic. Shew as forcing doors open and checking the faces of every person sitting down that she could see, but she still came up with nothing.

Nearly in tears, she found herself unable to concentrate on anything that wasn't the whereabouts of her brother.

When she did find him, he was standing off to the side with trembling hands, staring down at his palms. "Stiles!" She called out to him.

He turned to look at her, but before he even had the chance to respond his body was engulfed in a silvery white glowing light that became so bright at such a rapid pace she thought she was blind. But it faded just as quickly, and Stiles had disappeared with it.

Katherine could only stare at the spot where he'd been standing, eyes wide and heart skipping beats in her chest out of shock. She sunk to the dirty ground and landed on her knees, the gravity of the situation hitting her like a freight train.

She'd lost Stiles.

Again.

She lost him, and now had no possible way of getting back to Beacon Hills, or to Liam and Brett and Lydia and Scott and her Dad. No possible way of getting back home, because Stiles was the one who always figured it out.

And she didn't even know where he'd gone.

Tears were filling her eyes as the set of doors she hadn't realized were behind them, and she heard Mason crying out, Corey? Corey! She rose up to her feet and shakily wiped her eyes, forcing her bottom lip to steady. "How many rooms does this place have?" He asked, his voice growing more and more faint the further he walked away from her.

"Beyond the 57 we've already searched?" Hayden hummed, eyeing her worriedly as she approached them. "Probably enough for all of Beacon Hills...everything okay, Katherine?"

"Stiles, he's...something took him," she choked out, forcing herself to stop trembling. "Did you...um...you didn't find Corey, did you."

"We're never gonna find him," Mason shook his head, confirming her worries.

Hayden shot him a sympathetic smile as she set a hand down on Katherine's shoulers. "Just keep looking."

"Attention, all passengers; the train will be arriving in 19 minutes," the voice over the intercom stated monotously.

"Okay, we're running out of time," he uttered nervously.

Knowing she had to force her pain down, Katherine inhaled a long breath and turned to face the boy in front of her. "Mason; you always know where he is."

"Yeah, except for right now," Mason huffed.

"But you find him eventually," Hayden agreed Just clear your mind, focus.

"Attention, all passengers. The train will be arriving in 19 minutes."

There was a long moment of pause as he thought about it, and then his face went slack. "It's him."

At first she had no idea as to what the hell he was talking about. But when he moved forward on shaky legs, and he stopped just below the megaphone right up at the ceiling above the arrivals board and stared up at it with water eyes, it all started to make sense.

Corey was the one on the announcements.

"The train will be arriving in 17 minutes."

"Are you sure it's him?" Hayden asked him carefully.

She noticed as Mason's bottom lip began to tremble, and that he never took his eyes off that megaphone; that was enough for her. "I know his smile," he choked out evenly, though his voice wavered with the weight of the tears he was holding back. "I know his touch...I...and I know that that's his voice. It has to come from somewhere."

Katherine opened her mouth to say something to him, something she hoped out provide him with some comfort. But before she even had the chance, a loud and audibly distressed neigh of a horse sounded up the tunnel meant for trains, and she felt her heart and stomach both lurch in horror. "Oh fuck," she breathed out, already stepping away from the two of them. "Oh Jesus Christ now is really not the time for this..."

"Mason," Hayden called to him warningly. "We have to go."

"Just give me a minute," he urged shakily. "I can find it—"

"—We don't have a minute," Hayden snapped, panicking. "They're coming."

Hayden was pushing the two of them behind her before they could even see the animal, and as much as she wished she didn't Katherine already knew how this would go. She'd have to find a spot big enough to hide three teenagers in the flurry of chaotic screams that would fill the room for a matter of minutes before vanishing as if they'd never been there at all.

But the figure atop the horse wasn't old and disfigured, armed with a whip or gun, or wearing anything that gave off old western movie vibes.

Instead it was a teenage boy, his hair longer than she ever remembered it being, with pretty blue eyes that always reminded her of clear water. But beneath them were deep patches of bruising that she knew from experience were only brought on by lack of sleep. In place of old leather boots he wore sneakers and a plain plain grey shirt with sleeves he'd rolled up to his elbow, along with a simple pair of jeans.

As she met those blue eyes with her brown ones, and she watched them widen, she couldn't help but think of the words Hayden had said to her however long ago it was.

I think you're the one person he wants to be with.

Part of her was certain that she'd been lied to just so she wouldn't feel bad for the truly shitty thing she'd done, but she knew Hayden wouldn't do that. They were alike in that way; they didn't always make the right choice, but they always tried to fix what they did wrong and they never lied in the process.

Even though she'd wanted to let him go to Hayden the way she knew he would, her heart lurched with the childish hope that only came with teenage emotions that he'd go to her first.

She was flooded with what could only be named as pleasant surprise when he did just that.

His arms were around her before her mouth could even form the shape of his name, and he'd swept her up into his grasp while shuddering out a breathy sob of her own name. He held her tightly against him, tighter than she thought anyone could hug another person but chalked it up to his werewolf strength. "Oh my god you're okay," he breathed out into her neck, lifting her slightly so she was standing on his toes.

"I was, but Stiles—"

"—They brought him back, he's with Scott right now," Liam promised her, pulling away just far enough that she could look into his eyes. "He's perfectly safe...well, as safe as anyone can be in Beacon Hills—"

Katherine surged forwards and hugged him tightly again, internally hoping she wasn't crushing his feet. But when she tried to move the iron grip he had on her kept her in place so she didn't try again. "Thank you," she whispered to him, closing her eyes and pushing her face into his shoulder. "Thank you so so so much, I can't...Liam, you're actually here, oh my god...how did you even remember me?"

"Katherine," he mumbled quietly back. "Do you remember that night we went out to get ice cream just before everything with the Dread Doctors happened? How I said that if I ever lost you and Mason, I'd lose it?"

She knew he was talking about the night after she'd gone for dinner with Brett. "Yes..."

Liam smiled ruefully at her, his palms now holding her face. "I did lose it, and I lost it because you're my anchor."

It was her turn to laugh weakly. "I already knew that," she mumbled to him.

The smile that lit up Liam's face was utterly radient, and for a moment she was able to forget where they were. "I guessed as much...but honestly, Kat, I — I don't think I ever really forgot about you, you know? I mean, not when you left this behind."

He pulled a bracelet off his wrist and at the first glimpse of Princess Leia being cradled oh-so-gently in his right palm she wanted to kiss him again and say something akin to thank you.

But that was a mistake she'd never make again.

So Katherine just smiled at him instead, tears rolling down her cheeks, and she dropped her hand into his with the charm bracelet between them. Instead of telling him everything that he meant to her, how much it warmed her heart that he even still had the bracelet, let alone kept it safe for however many hours, days, or months she was gone, she looked up at him with a a laugh as watery as her smile and patted her cheek with her hand. "When did you learn how to ride a horse?"

His eyes crinkled at the outer corners. "About five minutes ago."