WARNING: There is a lot of Sage/Malia conflict in this episode. As most of you know, Sage is a very verbal person and her body language tells a lot about how she feels in a situation. Given the rough beginning the two girls have had, there is obviously going to be a lot of negative energy around the scenes when they're together. Sage and Malia might come off as annoying, but we all have that one person that makes us seem so intolerable because they're just genuinely not a good match for friendship. It mainly has to do with the fact that the two are so similar with their hotheaded personalities and lack of filter. I would just be prepared, even though it breaks my heart to write muffin Malia in a bad light considering I do have so much hope for a possible friendship between her and Sage.

There is also a few hypocritical moments involving a jealous Sage, which I already know people are going to question considering she did kiss Aiden in chapter forty-five. If you hold out until the end, or even the middle of the chapter, it will all come together when Sage and Stiles have another heart-to-heart. They're also literally fighting eVERY minUte in this chapter. It's due to the feeling of closure that they have at Eichen House and the Nogitsune slowly winning against Stiles. So, just try to empathize with them. I've been admitted to a mental health facility before, not as extreme as Eichen House is, though, but I know that the agitation begins setting it towards everyone. I got into verbal fights with my dad over everything, so Sage's emotions in this chapter hit really close to home. Once again, just hold out because there is a lot of fights.

Also, NOT EDITED. I was impatient for you. I will eventually. Song of the chapter: Broken Pieces by 5 Seconds of Summer. (If you don't agree, please reevaluate. I was struggling between this and Jet Black Heart.)

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FIFTY SIX;

WALKING GRAVESTONES

Eichen House never failed to supply a lifetime of secrets that could send relations into abysmal destructiveness and, when provided with the right push, they could all come spilling out without warning. This was something that Sage Connelly learned rather quickly in the duration of her time as a patient in the institution. The second thing that the teenage girl learned was that the place brought out the worst in people, the blonde having been silent for the entirety of the journey that Stiles Stilinski was leading her on. After the heated argument that they got into in the hallway, Stiles had made the very best attempt to act as if he hadn't just spilled out words that should have stayed deep within his throat. This required giving his ex-girlfriend the cold shoulder once again, turning around in the direction he had set out to originally find with his own, personal babysitter tagging along, all of her emotions raging a tsunami beneath her skin. Both had to forget about all of their dysfunctional relationship problems, knowing that they could come after they found a way to save Stiles from Morrell's lethal injection and the Nogitsune's winning play.

Apparently, the way Stiles believed he could do that was by finding something that could lead him into the basement. The determination that he had towards getting down there was slightly concerning but Sage hadn't bothered to say anything about it the whole way there considering she knew just how focused he became when there was a goal set in his mind. Attempting to act as rationally as she could be after the events that happened, she had to remind herself that even though there were thousands of negative results that could come from her stay at Eichen House, there was a positive that she had forgotten all about until Stiles reminded her with his exclamatory response to the lowest floor of the building. During the distant conversation that she had with her mother last night, one piece of information had been been pieced through the instability: Eichen House's basement carried secrets, ones that didn't just consist of altor druids and the revelations that Stiles was desperately seeking to find. The basement, no matter how compelling it may be to want answers, tugged at something inside of the blonde's stomach. A warning— one that she, stupidly, decided not to listen to.

Sage had silently followed Stiles through the hallway to a door that was supposed to follow down the stairs, but, to the teenage boy's dismay, it had been sealed shut. After watching him struggle to open it, twisting and turning to doorknob to no avail, they had been caught in the act by Stiles' roommate. Oliver was overwhelmingly cautious of every single thing that moved, and given the fact that he played nervously with his hands the moment that he saw the blonde standing there, she had no doubt that he had seen the interaction that happened between herself and Malia. She wasn't entirely sure if it was a good thing that Oliver was afraid of her or if it was a bad thing, but she didn't see a compelling reason to scare him away. Even despite the shallow looks he was giving her way, the Eichen House resident let his curiosity get the better of him and ended up asking what Stiles was doing roaming the corridors of the place.

That led to the overwhelmingly idiotic belief that Stiles had, in which he thought he could find a way to retrieve the keys that Brunski had on his being at all times. Sage's immediate reaction was to call him suicidal after hearing it, but she bit down on her tongue once she realized how that might sound to Oliver given how long he had been stuck in Eichen House. The teenage girl was already plenty aware of how dangerous Brunski was and she had only spoken three conversations with him since the moment they met. In all of them, there was some form of a threat placed thickly in his words, and the last thing that she needed was for Stiles to get on the man's bad side like she was. She, at the very least, needed one of them to be free of the glares that the orderly gave, and considering she already had her fair share of them, she needed to keep Stiles as far away from the man as humanly possible. Brunski was dangerous; he could not be trusted with his intentions no matter the false mask that he poised deep on the fixtures of his form.

After much deliberation and awkward exchange of glances between Sage and Stiles, the blonde was, now, anxiously waiting for her counterpart to get out of the boy's bathroom. He needed to take the first of the pills that Morrell gave him, and considering she wasn't going to walk into the bathroom given all of the horrors she had already seen involving male functions during the summer with Lydia, she was steering clear of that area of discomfort. The only problem with her being out of range from Stiles was that she, not only couldn't see him, but she was also left vulnerable with a rather vengeful orderly out to do all things possible to make her next three days an absolute hell. The blonde knew that Brunski was going to be pissed when he saw that Morrell took off the straitjacket, especially since that was the one advantage that he had against her aside from her obvious occupation as a patient. Unless Derek, somehow, managed to convince a psychiatrist at this place that she was fit to be out in the real world, Sage knew that she was medically and lawfully required to stay for the protection of others.

Had she been in this situation alone, she knew that her head would be spinning much worse than it actually was. Stiles being there could only be seen in a positive light surrounding around the fact that she was also there as well, which meant that there was a greater chance for a successful plan of action when they were together. They, as always stated by others, provided one another with enough emotional ammunition to last a lifetime— the most complicated of teams, surely, but still a team. Stiles was the idealist, coming up with various, complex forms of how he wanted a situation to go with no understanding that there would be failed attempts and a multitude of problems.

The most alarming of counteractions with that trait was his ex-girlfriend's extreme levels of pessimism, and how often they clashed with the optimism he showed much more than her. Sage was the realist, putting things into perspective with the prime knowledge that even the best of plans could not run smoothly. Even with their clashing personalities, there were the moments when they both became the opportunists. That was when it was a truly eerie sensation that a friend or stranger might feel when spending time with them. Despite their major differences, the two of them could always control their sharp, jagged edgings into a molded fit for one another. That was when they were a team.

After a few minutes of waiting, Sage felt her impatience taking a toll on her as she began to shift the weight of her body on opposite feet every ten seconds, biting at her lips with such determination she was sure they would bleed. It was a nervous tick of that she had forgotten about, the substitution for it always having been Stiles' squeezing her hand tightly to get her to stop. Her lips were back to being bruised. No one had come past yet and it seemed like she was safe for the most part, but that wasn't a hope that she was ready to place bets on any time soon. Once another mental minute had passed inside of her head, the blonde not even completely sure if she counted a full sixty seconds, she was whirling her body around and entering the boy's bathroom without even bothering to shield her eyes from the unfortunate body parts she might wind up seeing. The body parts that she did see were, in fact, on display for all to witness, but they weren't what she had been expecting as her eye instinctively widened.

Stiles stood facing her way with a looming eye in the direction of a brunette that was making her way towards him, completely naked and completely fine with the exposure that it left her. Sage immediately felt a bitter taste in her mouth, something that she wasn't sure she had ever felt so strongly before as she watched Stiles' try to compel his gaze away. It made her sick to her stomach as she felt her nails go into the creases of her palms. It pressed up against her chest and gave her a shadow of red beneath her peripheral vision, and she didn't like it. Of all the people that could be standing completely bare in front of her ex-boyfriend, it had to be the one person that Sage willingly disliked with such an intense passion without ever having a single conversation with the girl. The blonde would have felt much better seeing Lydia in front of them as opposed to the person that gave her a painful bruise on the side of her jaw, or even Allison. From what she could tell, though, Malia Tate did not seem to mind the fact that she had just given Sage Connelly another reason to hate her; and, while some of those reasons came from a selfish place in the blonde's heart, it was not ignored— especially when Stiles noticed who had just walked in on a situation that looked much worse than he intended.

Sage swallowed hard, trying to ignore the feeling that was still crawling around inside of her. She never once took notice of Malia, who had finally decided to cover up with a towel after another person's entrance, all of her attention staying strictly on Stiles. The teenage boy's cheeks were flushed red, having understood the interpretation that the girl in front of him was imagining. To make matters worse, Stiles knew that he shouldn't have been looking. He knew because there was something tugging in the back of his brain that had been silently scolding him, despite the single status he wore and the fact that the last person he was in a relationship with had broken up with him. It felt wrong no matter how many rights he had, and he realized that even though he had the capability of looking at another girl, bringing himself to do it was the ultimate conflict. Even the slight glance he had taken to Malia had been nothing in comparison to the way his heart plummeted at the fully-clothed and completely jealous sight of Sage. That understanding scared him most because he didn't know how he was going to possibly escape the hold she had on him without tearing himself apart in the process.

"Well," Sage started with an iron feeling on her tongue, uncomfortable speaking out loud all of a sudden. Her piercing, green eyes never once left Stiles' light, brown ones, the teenage boy noticing how her features darkened in a way that he hadn't seen in a very long time. At the very least, not since she thought he still had a crush on Lydia. "I'll just leave the two of you alone. The conversation before I came in was obviously very heated."

Stiles felt his hands rub at his grey sweats, his cheeks growing hotter by the second. "Sage—"

"He didn't see anything," Malia interrupted, an eyebrow raised high as she casually walked over to the strange couple with her bare feet. There was tension in the air between the two of them, and she didn't need to be a master with her supernatural abilities to notice it. The teenage girl figured that, given the circumstances she put the blonde through, she might as well try to console something that could gravitate to a larger effect between the former couple in front of her. "Like he said before you came in, there's too much steam."

The blonde didn't let up from her tight posture, but she did break the heavy stare that she had on Stiles to turn her eyes over to Malia. There was something in the look that she gave when she did so, something that had Stiles furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. There was a bitter contortion crossing over her features and that had very quickly sent him to the understanding that the broken girl that he saw just a week ago had been replaced with someone more vengeful. This girl gave off a sense of purpose. This girl, the blonde in front of him, held a handful of emotions that Stiles realized she didn't know how to control. The pain had leveled her out, it had given her an anchor, but her abilities were gone. Both of her anchors had outweighed the capacity they believed she could handle at the very same time, and, now, she was left to hang on tightly to the only stability she had left in herself for herself.

"I would have expected you to know that this was a Boys' bathroom, Malia." Insinuation and lack of confidence in Malia's ability as a human came into play through the tone that Sage used, but there was not any guilt that the teenage girl experienced once she let the words slip.

"They keep the water temperature in the Girls' Room too low. It's much hotter in here," Malia explained with her own monotone response, her eyes narrowing slightly at Sage. Had she felt any regret for what she did before involving the physical interaction with Stiles, that was certainly gone the moment that she heard the distrust that was distinctly caught in the lines of Sage's words. "Ever since I turned back to human, I just can't seem to get warm."

"Get a coat," Sage deadpanned, her expression hard and unsettling.

Stiles felt himself let out an inaudible sigh after he heard her words, raising his arm so that he could rub his eyes in exasperation. He knew plenty well that his ex-girlfriend didn't trust people easily, or at all unless given a reason, and considering Malia had done an excellent job at putting herself on Sage's long list of those that have wronged her, he didn't see this conversation going any way but downhill. She might be human now, and she might be three inches shorter and unable to produce supernatural strength, but there was no way that Sage was going to let Malia believe that she held the superiority. She was raised by two Hale's. She was raised by Derek Hale, and if that left any indication of the amount of strength she had inside of her, he didn't know what else would. That was one of the reasons why he went out of his freaking mind over the damn blonde when they were together. He still did, even to this day.

Malia crossed her arms over her chest, holding onto her towel with one of her hands. "I had one, but you took that way from me."

"You punched me."

"Did you think I was going to thank you?"

"We didn't have to risk our lives for you," Sage said, her words harsh as she kept her cold facade set on her face. The last thing she was going to allow was for Malia to walk over the sacrifices that all of her friends made that day, from the incident with the traps all the way to their lack of control. "We didn't have to risk everything just for the sake of saving you from your daddy issues. We chose to because that is who we are, and if you're not going to appreciate what my friends went through in order to keep your head from being hung up on a wall somewhere as a trophy, I highly suggest you go hit someone that is too afraid to hit you back."

Malia's eyes only grew colder, and she felt the anger from earlier in the morning return heavy-handed. "You're right, Sage. Thank you. Thanks for invading my home. For putting me on the run. For turning me back to human so that I could look at my father every day and try to figure out how to explain to him that the reason my sister and mother are dead is because I almost ate them on a full moon. Thank you so very much."

Stiles seemed to notice where the conversation was going between the two girls and stepped in with his own input. "We were just trying to help."

"You want to help me?" Malia asked with a projected tone, turning her head from the intense glare she had towards the blonde across from her over to Stiles. The cold hostility in her eyes was quickly detected by him, but he also realized that there was desperation. Barely visible, but still there. "Find a way to change me back."

Sage met eyes with Stiles. Confusion. That was the only thing that they could reflect off one another. They spent so long listening to Scott's desperation to be completely human sophomore year, so long trying to help him in any way they could, and to hear someone wishing for the complete opposite felt wrong. The two of them fell on the same length of understanding, using the contrast in Scott and Malia to their advantage, before Stiles moved his gaze back to the werecoyote. "You want to go back? To being a coyote?"

"What do you know?" Malia didn't even bother hiding her interest now, forgetting about the interaction she had with Sage before as she focused on her main goal ever since she first woke up in the woods, limbs and all. It was obvious that she wanted to return back to her state as a coyote, and they had a feeling that she had been pretty restricted when it came to information on how to do that while in Eichen House.

Stiles knew that he was playing with Malia's emotions at this point, but he was running low on a compromise between the teenage girl when they had very little to deal with. He didn't know if Scott had the capability of teaching the werecoyote to transition back to her canine state, or if Derek and Deaton did either. All he knew was that he needed more than just Sage and Oliver's help if he was going to infiltrate a highly guarded mental facility with orderlies that cared little for the safety of the residents. "I might know someone who can teach you. How to change."

Malia didn't speak for a good thirty seconds, leaving Stiles to wonder if she bought the deal he just settled with her or if she was racking up how nervous he was by how fast his heart was racing. To his left, Sage was shifting around much like she had done before while standing outside, her weight moving on opposite feet as she grew impatient all over again. They were already running thin on time, both teenagers knowing very well that there is no way for Stiles to stay up for three days straight. The only option that they could go with was getting to the basement, figuring out why it was so important, and, then, finding a way to get the Nogitsune out of Stiles before it took over completely.

After a few moments of painful silence, Malia slowly nodded her head. "Okay. What do you want?"

"I need to get into the basement. Which means that I need to get the keys off of that orderly. The big one," Stiles explained, trying to ignore the way that Sage tensed up once again at the thought of him coming into direct contact with the orderly. He had watched firsthand the altercation that the two of them got into, and could only add their moderate detest towards each other to the long list of questions that he needed to ask Sage. Following that question came one that pounded against his skull, and it was the same words that began the mess of a conversation in the hallway: What was she doing here?

"Brunski." Sage and Malia hadn't even realized until they finished speaking that their voices overlapped at the same time, looking at each other with disdain. The same bitter feeling fell on the blonde's lips, but she refused to let it get to her as she had much larger issues to deal with than the emotions she was struggling to push away. One of them happened to be Brunski, and she had to figure out a way that would ensure Stiles' plan worked without getting either one of them thrown into a straitjacket or the closed unit with her mother. Malia's fate, however, was an entirely different story.

Stiles knew that he had reached a compromise with the brunette, and felt his lips tugging up into accomplishment considering he, now, had three people on his side: Oliver didn't understand what it meant to be locked away in Eichen House, too remotely out of tune with the world that he would accept anything as long as the idea was convinced thoroughly; Malia had motive to help him, which meant that there was an insurance on her side if she followed through with the plan; and, he knew that Sage would always be at his side no matter how upsetting of a feeling he got knowing that, even after what he did, she was still willing to risk everything for him— a mutual feeling that was entirely too dangerous. "You help me and I'll help you."

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"No, Sage."

Sage let out a deep exhale in annoyance, glaring up at the stubborn boy. "Stiles, it would be more believable."

"It would also be more idiotic," Stiles hissed, keeping his voice low as the two of them conversed lowly beside one of the pillars that held up the foundation of the building. The other patients around them hadn't cared in the slightest about the discussion that they were having, only glancing up from their intense gazes on the tile floor when they heard Stiles raise his voice. However, neither contributor to the heated conversation bothered acknowledging those around. "You already have a bruise on your face and you don't need to be giving Brunski another reason to put you in restraints again. It's stupid, Sage. No."

Sage tried to ignore the fact that her teeth were beginning to press down against each other hard, the first sign that she was losing her temper with Stiles. "When have we ever come up with a plan that wasn't idiotic?"

"That's the point: we haven't! Do you really need me to give you a play-by-play of all the problems that we caused because of those plans? Because, I can and you're not going to like the hero ratio verses the amount of times we  — you — have nearly died!" Stiles could feel the veins sticking out in his neck as his voice raised just above a whisper, one of his hands going out in random gestures as his nervous tendencies began to expose themselves the longer that the argument with Sage continued.

The plan that had been set between himself, Malia, and Sage was that two people would be the distraction by creating a fight, and considering Brunski thrived off the satisfaction of disciplining the people at Eichen House, there was no doubt that he would intervene. That was what would give one of them the perfect chance to grab the keys that Brunski always kept on his side. Even though Oliver was aware of the fact that his roommate needed the keys, he wasn't aware of the fact that he was one of the distractions that Stiles was planning on using. Malia already said that she would be the one engaging a fight for the cause, and after learning this information, Sage had been quick to step up and inform Stiles that she would be the better opponent for Malia. Not only would it give her a chance to finally return the favor that the werecoyote planted on her face, but it would also be more believable from a bystander's point of view given the interaction they had this morning.

The only problem with that? Stiles was very adamant on refusing. In his mind, all that he was thinking of was the fact that Malia had supernatural strength, had the upper hand in height, had the motive for a desire to inflict damage on Sage, and could very easily hurt the girl if she was compelled to do so. That, however, was only the slightest of his list. He also had the worry about Brunski taking larger measures when it came to his ex-girlfriend, and considering he didn't look like a very gentle or compassionate man, the idea was to keep her as far away from the orderly as humanly possible. Sage's words could cause enough problems on their own; he didn't need her to physically exert herself in a situation, as well. That was bound to create more issues that it would solve, and he was desperate for her to see that he wasn't going to allow her to get hurt while going through with another one of his plans.

"We have one chance at this," Sage deadpanned, her adamant idea unaffected by the words he said not ten seconds ago. All she could do was stare at him and speak. "Once chance before everything falls apart all over again, just like it did sophomore year. Either you're going to fall asleep, or the Nogitsune is going to get stronger, or Morrell is going to find some way to medically kill you and cover the whole thing up as a tragic incident. I get that this will give Brunski another reason, I get that my face is possibly going to look like a color-blind preschooler tried to draw the rainbow, but I also get that the Nogitsune makes you do things that we both know you can't forget about. The Nogitsune makes you do things that you think about a bit too long and start to enjoy remembering. Stiles, when the Nogitsune had control over me, I let Lydia walk into a steel-jaw trap. I led Barrow to Kira. I let the Nogitsune manipulate all of you into believing that I was perfectly fine. I let the Nogitsune do this to you. So, please. Just let me do this one thing and forget about the consequences that come with doing it."

Stiles blinked, staring at her with his lips set into a firm line. The blonde was looking at him, a fire of resiliency in her eyes that showed how passionate she was about saving him, which only made him feel a deeper amount of resistance towards involving Sage any more than necessary. She may believe that she was helping them as much as possible, but there was no way he would allow even the slightest consideration of something happening to her. With his jaw set hard, Stiles repeated the single word of dismissal over again. "No."

"Damn it, Stiles!" Sage snapped, her eyes blazing with irritation. It was obvious that she was getting angrier by the second, her words raising in pitch at the very end. She took a step back from him when she realized how many people looked over, a hand reaching up to run through her blonde hair as she took a deep exhale. When she had calmed herself down enough to return back to her placement in front of Stiles, her green irises were calmer. Instead of her determination being fueled by anger, she allowed the desperation to fall through. "I get that you're afraid something is going to happen, but you don't have to protect me from everything."

"Not everything. Just me," Stiles corrected. "This plan is mine, and I'm not going to have you hurt because of it."

Sage curled her bottom lip slightly. "Stiles, you're not the first person that's hurt me, and you're definitely not going to be the last. Sophomore year, Peter almost ripped me apart because I got in the way. Jackson almost killed both of us multiple times without ever realizing what he was doing. Derek sent Isaac, Boyd, and Erica out to kill one of my best friends and didn't care what happened to me in the process. Allison stuck twenty Chinese ring daggers into someone that I was connected to. You're not the one that's at fault for what happened that night. I accepted that. Now, it's your turn."

"They didn't stop your heart," Stiles said, growing furious that she was making the insinuation that they were the same circumstances. They weren't because, while each of those occurrences left a small crack in Sage's posture, they had not collapsed the foundation she stood on. He hadn't just let her escape with a near-death experience. He hadn't just made an honest mistake. It was his hands, his arms, his body, his eyes, his entire being that held her until the end. It was his mind that enjoyed it.

As much as she wanted to leave Stiles alone with his problems and as much as she wished she could hate everything he did to the people she loved, she couldn't; and, she wished she could hate him for that, too. "You weren't the one that made that decision."

"Not to interrupt—" Two heads turned to see that Malia stood in front of them, trying to look oblivious to the fact that she heard the conversation. Her eyes shined with an acidic kind of interest, as if she had never experienced the level of complete and obvious love and annoyance between the couple. She wasn't entirely sure if Sage and Stiles understood how irritating their words could be to others around, but that could have been met by the straight-forward reaction she always gave people. It was clear that the two in front of her didn't settle for an easy understanding. "But, is your fight the distraction? Because, people are starting to notice."

It was true, and Sage realized it as she turned her attention away from Stiles to glance around the room from her place next to the pillar. Pursing her lips, she noticed that the taller boy standing in front of her still held a content look of refusal before letting out a sigh. "No. You and Oliver are."

She turned away after that, removing herself from the situation so that she could not see the way Stiles' eyes lit in relief or the way that Malia took cautious glances between them. Sage expected for there to be a detrimental conversation between her and Stiles after the Nogitsune, and she expected for the anger to fuse at seeing him, but she hadn't expected for it to happen so many times. She thought that it would be an ephemeral situation, where they said their words and had their verbal blows before they could begin the process of avoiding each other like they had ever since they broke up. Eichen House brought out the worst in people, and she could already feel the nuisance of her actions begin to fill her mind. If she hadn't cared so much about other people, she wouldn't be feeling this way. She promised herself to be done with him, and, yet, she continued to run in the direction of danger for him. What did that make her? A hypocrite? A—

"Liar!"

Well, she didn't think she would the answer that fast. She was on the guard the moment she heard how spiteful the single word sounded, her attention moving away from her thoughts and over to the center of the room. Oliver was on top of Malia, his hands wrapping around her wrists as he practically spit in her face sentences of protest. No matter how much dissatisfaction it brought her to admit it, Malia was exceptional in the arts of angering people quickly. Outbreak came from the entire room, patients all around screaming words like, "He's hurting her!" as Oliver slammed Malia down once again. The events looked promising enough for the orderlies to rush over, Brunski being one of them just like Stiles had intended. Sage stayed back, leaning against the wall as she noticed Stiles begin to move from his place next to the pillar they were previously at to get closer to the scene.

"Get this nut-job off of me!" Malia hissed at the orderlies, restraining herself from using her supernatural abilities so that she could pull through with the plan without hurting Oliver.

"No!" Oliver screamed out, feeling arms wrap around him as they struggled to pull him away. From her perspective, she couldn't see whether or not Malia managed to grab Brunski's keys as he bent down, but she did see that Oliver was clearly distressed whether it be an act or reality. "She said that they drill holes in your head! She said that they're going to put a hole in my head! Please, come on! Please, don't... please, don't drill a hole in my head!"

Sage kept her eyes on Oliver with caution, following all the way until the orderlies took him around the corner and his obvious fears were left alone. The patients around her still wept from the sight, triggered by the emotional responses left inside of them. Her arms crossed over her chest, finally diverting her eyes over to Stiles once again to see if the plan was successful. He was helping up Malia, the two of them exchanging quick words before their hands swept across each other. Had she not seen the slight glimpse of metal, a smile would not have graced across her lips; but, she had seen it, and that meant that they had the access they needed to get to the basement. For some reason, as she realized this, a sick feeling of nausea crept in her stomach. The warning at returned, and she ignored it once again.

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She chose to stay silent this time and realized that the silence may have bruised more than words would have. When they were talking or even fighting, there was the acknowledgment that things were not okay. When they let the empty echoes that the building created get to them, they were left with their thoughts and neither Sage nor Stiles carried ones that were safe to let lay unattended to. However, as she experienced the odd sense of repetition while following Stiles through the hallway to the door that led to the basement, she hadn't felt the need to speak this time. She didn't know what to say, why she should say it, or what difference it would make if she did. If they figured out what was in the basement, there was a chance for a quicker release. There was a chance that they could save Stiles' life and return back to the stage of avoidance all over again; or, the part of pessimism nagging in the back of her mind shouted that there was a second option: if they figured out what was in the basement, there was a chance that they may make everything much worse.

Their footsteps were light against the tile floor, so much so that the only sound in the abandoned hallway was the jingling of keys every so often in Stiles' hand. It nearly had her reaching to take them from his hand, but she opted against it and just continued to follow alongside him as they reached the same door they were at only a few hours ago. This time was different. Before, she had been eager to get through to see what information lay in the basement. Now, she felt like opening the door was only going to trigger something much larger than either of them were prepared to face. That was enough for her to grab a hold of Stiles' wrist, only faintly acknowledging that she actually did the action.

"This doesn't feel right, Stiles."

Thankfully, he turned to look at her instead of ignoring her words all together. Much like when Lydia spoke the same words, everyone knew to pay attention. She might not have her abilities anymore, but she was still capable of telling when they were being led to a place that didn't want to be found. Stiles didn't notice this, and he glanced down at the hand she wrapped tightly around his wrist before frowning deeply. "Sage, I've got to know what's down there."

"What's it worth?" she asked, her voice low as she finally took her eyes away from the door. When she met his gaze, he noticed how dark they had become. "We can find another way to get you out of here. Morrell can give you more medication—"

"I thought you were on board with this?" Stiles asked just above a whisper, his tone not necessary angry but insinuative as though he were starting to believe she wasn't supporting him. Sage noticed immediately that he was cautious of involving her any further, her eyes narrowing slightly as she realized that there was one thing settling throughout his words that she never thought she would have gotten from him: distrust. He didn't trust her. "Do you even want to get into the basement?"

Sage wasn't sure she had ever been so baffled, and she knew that it reflected on her face. "What I want is what I've wanted since I got here, Stiles. To help you."

She could have been slightly more gentle with the way she spoke, but the rising tension being created between the two of them would have been evident from two miles away. Eichen House was breaking them. It was taking the forms of their friendship, the forms of their relationship, and the forms of their identities and using them as exploited weaknesses. The Nogitsune was beginning to seep through Stiles' personality, sticking to the hardest parts and pulling them away with an abrupt force; because of this, the looks that the teenage boy gave towards the blonde in front of him became hard. They were specifically sculpted to show distrust, and it was an expression Sage had never seen directed her way by Stiles. It was an expression that had a sickening acid building in her stomach, knowing that watching the Nogitsune take control was so much worse than being oblivious to its identity the entire time.

Stiles raised his eyebrows at her in accusation. "I don't need your help."

"Right. Because you never have," Sage said, drawing in the sarcasm as she gave him a dumbfounded expression, noticing how his shoulders tensed tightly upon her statement. Even then, the hidden cage in his brown irises never let up. Another guard that he build around himself ever since he got into the mental institution. "You want to go on a suicide mission and live with the consequences? Fine. I'm tired of acting like your babysitter when you clearly don't trust me enough, Stiles."

Sage, once again, walked away with more frustration inside of her then than an hour ago, not bothering to look back at Stiles' expression. It seemed like walking away was becoming a frequent thing for her every time they got into a fight. Maybe it was the fact that she knew the last time she stayed for a fight, she ended up dead. Just like earlier in the morning, just like in the main room, their aggravation towards each other was slowly increasing as their blood burned. The two of them had been shaken up in the form of a lethal concoction and Eichen House played the role of the beaker. As the blonde turned quickly around a corner, her hands tugging in her hair to try and calm her nerves while heavily breathing, she ran head-on into a man's chest. Before she could even get out a string of apologizes for her lack of grace, the person in front of her was grabbing a hold of her upper arm much tighter than she knew the patients in this place had the capability of showing. That, without even looking up at the man, gave her the answer to his identity as her jaw fell tight once again, the pain from Malia's hit radiating all across her face.

There was an instinctive panic, not only because the orderly was going in the direction of Stiles but because he wasn't on the best of terms with her. The panic only had her realizing that she had to choose between two scenarios that she truly didn't want any part of: ignore Brunski and let him go straight towards Stiles, sending the serpent into an already disastrous situation, or risk herself all over again just so that she could protect a boy that didn't deserve it with how much he had put her through. Naturally, and against her will, she knew that choosing the former would always come before she ever considered her own self; and, in the back of her mind, something was shouting, "Weakness."

Turning her stinging green eyes to the orderly that had a hold of her, she could feel vulgar sentences threatening to escape. "Somehow, I'm not surprised to see you grabbing teenage girls in an empty hallway. You going to shove me into a room with my mom? Or, are you going to give us matching jackets again? I suggest something a bit tighter next time."

"Mommy won't be talking for a while," Brunski answered with a slack personality, his smirk stretching along his lips in a sinister way as he acted as though he revealed a tragic secret to her. There was legitimate, carnivorous excitement shining in his expression, the man having so much joy towards the pain and suffering of those he was supposed to contain. His words, as expected, were not comforting in the slightest as Sage felt her spine straighten, the venom lost in her throat. "Lost your bark, sweetheart?"

She jerked in his arms wildly, inching to get out of his grip only for him to grab a hold of her tighter with a slight inhale of pain flooding through her mouth. There was a wicked concern bubbling up inside of her about what this man could have possibly done to her mother, her lip curling back as she all but snarled at him. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I don't think finding out is in your best interest, Sage." The man hissed her name through his teeth like it burned to speak it, posing her identity as an offensive profanity with his lips set into a thin line. He let go of her after that, swinging her arm back so that all of her weight had her tumbling back a few steps. The blonde could feel her body shaking, hands clenching together as she looked at the man. There was so much hatred that she had for him, so much that it terrified her to feel it. Just as she went to take a step forward, Brunski's arm extended toward his tazer. "We wouldn't want to extend your stay, would we?"

"Of course not," Sage agreed bitterly, grinding her teeth together as she continued to scowl at him.

Brunski smirked, walking forward until he was finished filling the few steps she stumbled back from. "Guess you didn't pray hard enough."

He crossed past her shoulder after that, leaving behind the memory of when he told her to pray she didn't end up like her mother last night. Brunski was taunting her, and knowing that he had the capability to get through her thick skin proved just how much control he had over her life at this point. It was enough for her to lose her train of thought of a moment, her posture slacking against the nearest wall the moment that he was gone as she let out the breath of air. She refused to breathe while next to him, terrified that it would only further push the fact that she had a heartbeat then but not always forever. Then, her eyes widened as she remembered why she had even stuck around to have a volatile conversation with the man and pushed herself off the wall at such a break-neck, hast movement she was swaying.

Before she could even take the first step to turn around the corner Brunski had just been led down, hoping to all things holy that Stiles had managed to get the door open before the orderly came down it, two bodies were taking the sharp turn and crushing her hopeful beliefs. Stiles was wrapped in Brunski's hold much like she had been only seconds before, a foul look on his face as he struggled with the grip the man had. Immediate guilt spread throughout her body, knowing that if she had stayed and tried to convince him it was a bad idea he wouldn't be in this mess; better yet, had she even just stalled Brunski for a few more minutes, the orderly wouldn't have a hold on the one person that was already being tortured enough. Stiles picked his gaze off the tile floor just before they passed her, meeting her panicked eyes before shaking his head once. Just like she had done when he saw her in the straitjacket.

Helplessly, Sage watched as Brunski dragged Stiles off around another corridor. When she had finally digested what was actually happening, she stepped into motion. She needed help. She needed someone. She needed Scott, but her alpha wasn't here. Her best friend didn't know about the problems she and Stiles were facing, which meant that she had to settle for the only person she knew in this place that held the slightest bit of supernatural strength that the teenage boy had. Granted, it was probably the last person on Earth apart from Brunski that she wanted to be spending time with.

"Damn it, Stiles," Sage muttered like it was on a constant loop, cursing under her breath. They were still there. No matter how many times they walked away from one another, they couldn't help the fact that it had become a natural instinct at this point to rush into the jaws of Hell itself just to save the other.

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"I'm sorry... you know, about your jaw."

Sage didn't even hesitate to consider thinking through the words. "I don't care."

"About my apology or how I hit you?"

"About this conversation." Sage looked over at Malia Tate for a split second before she returned her attention back in front of her. The two of them had barely made it four steps from the main room before she started a conversation. Had it been about her strategy on how in the hell they were going to get Stiles back, she would have been open to suggestion but it wasn't. It was a useless one-sided involvement that the blonde didn't have the time or patience to participate in. "This doesn't make things okay between us. You punched me for helping you, Malia. Normally if I'm getting hit, it's because I'm being a little bit more of an unpleasant personality."

Malia didn't even struggle to keep up with her, the brunette having a good two or three inches on Sage in the leg department. That meant that there was no problem in the werecoyote continuing to pester the girl next to her into talking, even if it was through sarcastic slander she didn't understand. "Like now?"

"No," Sage denied, not surprised that the girl had mistaken her emotions. Anyone that had ever been in a room with her when she was angry knew to stay the hell away, and if they were on the opposite end of it, there was little chance of a heated exchange not breaking out. She didn't tolerate ignorant people, and even more, she didn't tolerate people that were a threat to the people she loved. "You'll know when I'm angry."

"Like in the bathroom earlier?" Malia asked, frowning as her voice carried slightly as they slowed their pace when they walked past a pair of orderlies that didn't even give them a second glance. The supernatural creature had been whirling thoughts around in her head ever since the incident with Sage and Stiles in the bathroom, having undergone dozens of different chemo signals from lust all the way to frustration. Granted, she understood none of them. "I've been trying to figure out the different smells of people—"

"Don't say that to anyone else," Sage muttered, rolling her eyes as she quickened her step slightly. Although she knew that it was slightly unnecessary to tell that to Malia considering she was stuck in an institution, she couldn't help but let the words slip considering how many years she had been forced to keep the secret of the supernatural from everyone new that entered her life. Some she liked more than others.

"You smell different now than you did then," Malia confirmed it as a statement rather than an inference. When she leaned in a bit, her eyes almost looking as though they were about to glow a vibrant blue that she had always thought was pretty, the blonde gravitated away. "It was almost bitter before. Now, it's just a lot of... I don't know. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. Was it guilt? That's usually how I feel."

Sage tried to ignore the fact that Malia was beginning to annoy her. She always thought that the girl was a introverted personality if the extroverted physical activities were subsided. Clearly, she was very wrong, and she didn't like that the girl thought she could openly talk about a subject matter she couldn't even begin to understand. "Concern, actually. Worry. I'm worried."

"About Stiles?"

Sage tensed slightly at the churn of her stomach when the girl said his name. "About Stiles. About someone that might be in danger because of me. About everyone that's outside of this place. I can't tell whether or not they're being idiots and trying to get themselves killed.... why do you even care? The only interest you've shown ever since Stiles and I got here was anger. Why are you curious about our lives all of a sudden?"

The subject change might have had to do with the fact that she treading too closely on the concern she had for the people outside of Eichen House, knowing very well that the others would have found a way to get themselves in trouble by now doing something that she and Stiles would have negatively brought to a close. She didn't need to worry about Scott, Allison, Lydia, any of them. She had much bigger, known concerns that she was having to face. Sage couldn't help but think that she was the worst person for the job, too. Had it been someone with a much more level head, Stiles wouldn't have ever gotten taken by Brunski in the first place because they wouldn't have walked away. Had it been anyone without such a broken connection to Stiles, everything would be going according to plan; but it was her, and considering the fact that she couldn't strip herself of her name, Stiles just had to settle for Sage.

"Because my dad told me what happened to your family," Malia stated, her words immediately stopping Sage's walking. The blonde slowly turned her head, looking at the werecoyote like she just admitted to killing someone. "He didn't tell me much, but I asked him if anything happened while I was gone. The Hale fire? He said it was one of the biggest topics for a few years."

Sage rolled her shoulders slightly, trying to adjust her emotions away from the topic. She wouldn't say she had gotten over the house fire, but she had accepted it more after she talked with her mother. There were still certain days on the calendar that she found were harder than others, like her father or brother's birthdays, but she wasn't breaking down every day over it. She couldn't. "Ten people died over the wrong call of saying it was an electrical malfunction. It was bound to be a big topic."

"How do you get rid of the pain?" Malia asked, her voice growing lower. Just like five seconds ago, the brunette had her faltering in her hast steps. She didn't need to be talking about her family right now, not when she was trying to save Stiles. Even then, there was a look that washed over Malia's face when Sage glanced over at her. A look that had a forming understanding building inside of her chest. "Morrell tried talking to me about it—"

"Don't listen to her," Sage protested, her words harder than she anticipated them to be. "The ending result to talking to her hurts worse than how you felt in the beginning."

Malia already knew this, though. "That's why I'm asking you."

Sage paused once again even though she was against it, all of her attention focused completely on Malia. She instantly hated that she did it, too, because that meant she was giving the girl more time than she deserved, but she could tell that Malia was drowning in the guilt over what she did to her mother and sister; and, despite the fact that they were not the same situations, there was no one that would understand her better than Sage. Both of them had watched the fallout, both of them survived, and both of them had to continue living while the people they loved did not. As much as she hated to admit it, Sage and Malia were much more alike than either appreciated knowing. That was the only reason why the blonde stopped. If it had been any other person or any other topic, she wouldn't have hesitated to continue walking. "You don't want to get rid of it."

"Why?"

"You don't," Sage repeated. She blinked, just once, with complete honestly filing through her words. "That part of you that is tearing, the part that wakes you up at night because of nightmares and the part that makes you want to scream, is what's keeping you alive. You don't want to get rid of it because that pain is what keeps you human. So, live with it. Every day; because, when it's taken away, that's when it really hurts."

Malia looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Wouldn't it feel better to have it gone?"

"No."

That was all she needed to say to get her point across, especially with how strong she managed to pronounce the single word. Malia gave up on trying to start a conversation at that point, obviously able to smell the ranging hurricane of emotions that she was giving off the closer that they got to the locked door that led to the containment unit. The werecoyote had been nice enough to supply at least that much information, knowing that those that misbehaved were sent there from personal experience. All that Sage wanted to do was get Stiles back and then get the hell out of this place. She hated it. She hated even more than her mother was constantly nagging in the back of her mind, from the information she obtained last night to the threat Brunski sneered her way on purpose. She hated that she was realizing, slowly, how much of a sacrifice Mallory Connelly had made by sentencing herself seven years in this place.

Sage was beginning to realize that everyone in her family made a sacrifice seven years ago. In the end, though, all four Connelly's ended up in the same place: ranging on a thin line between sanity and sanctuary. Luke and her father just happened to reach the open end of that line. Sage wasn't sure what end she would face, whether she would regain her lost sanity or enter the sanctuary of a broken home. With this thought in mind, the blonde tried to ignore all of the walking gravestones that Eichen House created. Even more, the ones that she created herself.

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The original idea was to write the rest of Echo House in one chapter. The further I got through this chapter, though, the more I began to realize how impossible that would end up being. So, I've settled for splitting the last fifteen-ish minutes into two separate chapters. This one was 10K words, which is a lot for only three two minute scenes from the show and one that I created myself. I've got a really bad habit of being too descriptive and adding little things that don't always go with the story. This chapter is also a lot more directed towards Stiles and Sage, and I know that a lot of you might be annoyed with their ranging emotions and fights. Honestly, their reactions are as close to the reality I can see two people in their situation facing. If I had an ex-boyfriend that accidentally, not so accidentally, killed me going out on a lethal mission to get a pair of keys to enter a basement that he saw in a dream, I would be a bit frustrated too. So, please, just relate to them for a second. I know they were all over the place this chapter. It's not the best or my favorite chapter, but I felt bad not giving you guys an update. I'm sorry.

On another subject, 5B is officially halfway through and I've honestly got so many ideas for Sage in season five. I have all of season four planned, which I'm EXTREMELY excited for you guys to read because we finally get to see Sage go through a very big event that is an extreme game-changer. It's an arc for her that I've been jumping around with for the longest of times, and it's something that you guys with either love or hate. But, Still is another chapter to the end. At this rate, there will probably be another ten chapters at the most. Which really isn't a lot considering how many we've gotten through together. Writing Still has given me so much strength and I honestly just hope that it has given you the same. You've been to hell and back with Sage, with me, and there is no words to explain just how much of an impact you have made on my life during his journey. I started writing Still on September 21, 2014 and look at where we are now. Look at where Sage is. Her life is just as much your creation as it is mine. You have become her voice.

Much love, to the ends of the earth and for the rest of this ride.