Back to Eichen, we go
What are you guys thinking so far?

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"Please empty your pockets into the container," the orderly at the front desk instructed us as we stood in the lobby to Eichen.

I don't think I had even seen the lobby before now; when I had been sent to Eichen, I had woken up in that check-up room. Charlotte had probably come in here when she had had me admitted.

Charlotte - I forgot to tell her that I was coming here.

Scott stood in front of all of us, talking to the orderly, "We're here to see-"

"Please empty your pockets into the container," the man repeated, not letting Scott finish.

The boy looked back at us, to which we all just nodded. The only way we were getting into Eichen was if we did as we were told.

Therefore, all of us began to empty our pockets. After putting my keys and a small tin of mints in the container, I quickly unlocked my phone to send a text to Charlotte.

"Please remove your belt and place it into the container," I heard the orderly say as I hit send on my text to Charlotte.

Putting my phone in the container, I looked at Kira to see she was wearing her belt, which also happened to double as her sword. The girl fumbled for a moment, shaking her head lightly. "I kind of need the belt. I mean, it's crucial to the outfit."

I pursed my lips to keep from laughing.
The orderly didn't seem as amused, however. "Please remove your belt which patients will attempt to take from you and use to strangle either themselves or others."

His monotone voice was really starting to creep me out. He must have been new, because I couldn't recall meeting him during my time being admitted there.

Kira nodded, "Right. Got it."
She proceeded to undo her belt, before folding it and putting it in the container with the rest of our belongings.

We waited for him to tell us what to do next, but he just stood there with his mouth hanging open. We also noticed that he was staring at Lydia super weirdly.

"So," I said to pull his attention away from my friend. "Like we were saying, we're here to see Gabriel Valack."

The gate to our left opened, revealing one of the head doctors at Eichen. I remembered him from some of my hazy memories of Eichen, but it was hard to make sense of them. I preferred to forget my time here anyway, so I didn't mind so much.

The man greeted us, before gesturing for our group to follow him so he could take us to Valack.

Scott, Lydia and Kira went ahead. I was about to follow, but I noticed that Stiles hadn't moved. He was staring at the container which held our belongings.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked him quietly.

The orderly picked up the container and took it away, placing it somewhere where the patients wouldn't be able to get to it.
He blinked a couple of times, before nodding, turning away from where the container had been. "Yeah. Just this place."

"Are you sure?"
Something about the look on his face had told me otherwise; that it was more than just being at Eichen.

"Yeah," he nodded, before reaching his hand down and grabbing my own, squeezing softly. "Come on."

The five of us followed the doctor as he led us down the stairwell towards where they kept the supernatural beings.
"I'll remind you that I'm only doing this as a favour to Deaton," the doctor informed us. "And I'm doing it against my better judgement."

"Hey, what's the etiquette for talking to this guy?" Stiles asked as we trailed behind. "I mean, do you ever look at the other eye?"

"I wouldn't. In fact, while you're down here, try not to make eye contact with anyone or anything."

"I can't even imagine how many things are here that we've never seen before," I said to Stiles.

Apparently, the doctor had heard me, nodding at my statement. "You're quite right; you couldn't imagine. That's why I strongly advise that you all heed my warning."

We were walking down a small hallway when I began to feel it. Walking towards the gate at the end was becoming increasingly more difficult. I looked over to Scott and Kira, noticing they had stopped walking completely, scanning the area.

I stopped also, to which Stiles gave me a confused look. Shaking my head I used my free hand to gesture to the walls. "Something's not right."

"You didn't think you were all going, did you?" the doctor asked when he reached the gate and looked back at the three of us.

"It's mountain ash, isn't it?" Scott asked.

"Everywhere, but heavily concentrated down here," the man explained. He unlocked the gate with a keycard, nodding to Lydia and Stiles. "Valack's cell is the last one at the end of the hall."

When Lydia and Stiles both stood still, Scott tried to give them a reassuring smile. "We'll be right here."

Stiles looked down at me, to which I also nodded. "It's fine. You two go, talk to Valack, figure out what we're up against."

"Okay," he replied softly.

After a moment of hesitation, he let go of my hand. Scott, Kira and I then watched them both walk through the door, down the hallway that would lead them to Valack.

♧♤♢♡

We had been waiting for Stiles and Lydia to get back for almost ten minutes now and had heard nothing. I tried my hearing, but nothing was really working.

I just wished I knew what was going on down there.

I focussed again, but it was like the harder I tried, the weaker I felt. I decided to take a break from trying, leaning against the wall a couple of metres down from Kira.

"I can't hear anything," Scott said as he walked back over to Kira. "Must be the mountain ash."

Kira nodded, "I feel it too."

"Same here," I chimed in. "More than I ever have before."

"To be honest, I feel a little weak."

Scott nodded in agreement with both of us. "Yeah, it's like being sedated."

"It's not fun," I mumbled, shifting on my feet uncomfortably to keep the feeling in my legs.

Kira watched my movement, before glancing over at Scott, "This was a bad idea, wasn't it?"

"Stiles and Lydia will be fine without us," Scott assured Kira.

I gave a small laugh with a smile, "They're majorly the reason why all of us are still alive right now. They always figure things out."

Scott laughed also, nodding. "No super strength or samurai swords, but they stay alive."

Scott and I shared a look. Through everything Scott, Stiles, Lydia and I had all had each other and we survived every time. We always had each other's backs, and I was immensely thankful for that.

Closing my eyes, I let my head loll back against the wall. I took a few deep breaths, searching for Stiles' voice. I knew that they would be okay, but it never hurt to check.

"Did you guys see that?" Scott asked.

I opened my eyes, glancing in the direction Scott was looking. Nothing stood out to me that he may have seen.

I was about to ask him what he saw when I noticed a blue light coming from the left of me. "Scott, turn around."

The boy did as he was told, eyebrows pinched in confusion. As soon as he saw Kira, his eyes widened in shock.

Pushing off the wall, I went and stood beside Scott, watching the boy's girlfriend carefully. Blue and white sparks were pulsating around her, trembling against her skin.

"Kira," Scott said calmly. "Whatever you're doing, please stop."

"I'm not doing anything. It's just happening," the girl insisted, looking quite scared.

I knew that look, and so did Scott. We had all had moments where we had felt out of control. Like our power was consuming us and we couldn't rein it in.

The electricity began to pull further away from her body, leading to Scott and I taking a step back.
I held a hand up to get her attention, "Okay. You need to try something though, Kira or someone is going to get hurt."

The girl nodded quickly, trying to focus on controlling what was happening to her. Unfortunately, it didn't work. There was a sudden burst of light and electricity before every bulb above us sparked and blew out.

I threw my arms up to cover my eyes as shards fell from the lightbulbs. When it had all stopped, I dropped my arms and looked back up.

The whole surrounding area was now shrouded in darkness, and Kira was laying on the floor. Scott took a cautious step towards the girl, "Kira?"

A spark of blue electricity ran down her body, lighting up the room for a split second. Scott attempted to approach her, receiving a bolt of electricity to the chest. He was immediately thrown backwards, slammed into the gate we had walked through earlier.

"Scott!" I gasped, rushing over to him. The boy groaned in pain, pushing up onto his knees.
"This isn't good," I said, stating the obvious.

The gate suddenly opened, the doctor walking through. He knelt beside us, asking Scott if he was okay.

The Alpha nodded, eyes not leaving Kira. Something was very wrong with our Kitsune friend.
"Something's happening. And I think she's causing it," the boy told the doctor.

The electricity continued to travel along Kira's body, threatening to attack if we got close again. Kira was still unconscious, which didn't leave us with a lot of options at the moment.

"We need to get her out of here right now," the doctor instructed.

I scoffed, pointing to the girl. "Can you not see the literal electricity on her right now? She just threw Scott across the room, and she's unconscious. How are we supposed to move her if we can't touch her?"

A strange thudding noise from behind us didn't give the doctor the chance to respond. The three of us turned around, to see a man in a long coat and strange mask removing the end of a cane from an orderly's head.

Two more strangely dressed people appeared behind the first, all of them hidden by rather macabre looking masks.

"Dread Doctors," I mumbled beneath my breath. Malia was right, they were real.

And now, they were here.

"I think you both better run," The doctor told us.

Scott and I looked at each other, both acknowledging what we knew to be true.
"We can't leave her," the boy informed him.

"I can," he replied, before bolting through a door to our left.

"Coward," I mumbled as we watched the Dread Doctors.

One of the ones without the cane, the one with the smoother metal mask, rose its hand. The ends of its finger glowed brightly with electricity as it held it against where the doctor had swiped the key card.

Slowly, the Dread Doctor with the cane stepped forward, pushing the gate open with ease. Whatever the other Dread Doctor had done had somehow disrupted the mechanism and rendered it useless.

I looked from the Dread Doctors to Kira, and then back again. We needed to move because something was telling me that they weren't going to let us stand in their way.

"Scott, we need to get her out of here, right now," I said to my friend.

He looked now at his girlfriend, "How?"

I bit my lip in thought, keeping an eye on the approaching beings. "I'll try to hold them off if you can carry her?"

"Okay, be careful," he told me, before rushing down to Kira. I saw the electricity wrap around them both before I focussed on the Dread Doctors.

Throwing up my hands, I forced my ability outward. The mountain ash made it difficult, but I pushed through it to give Scott the time he needed to help Kira.

The Dread Doctor with the cane let its head tilt to the side as its eyes seemed to watch me. The three of them tried walking forward, but I managed to keep them back.

The mountain ash continued to put a strain on me, though, and the wall I had put in front of them was weakening. The Dread Doctors were able to move forward slowly, making their way down the hallway.

"Riley, come on!" I heard Scott call as he walked through a doorway with Kira in his arms.

As soon as I knew he was through with Kira safely, I ran over and followed him through the door. Turning around, I slammed it shut in hopes that the Dread Doctors would just keep going.

Not waiting to find out, I went after Scott, trailing as close as I dared as Kira continued to spark. Every light they walked beneath burst into bright light as it rained sparks of electricity down on us, before going out completely.

We finally made it to the lobby and ran out the front door. Scott was yelling as he carried Kira, the electricity continuing to jump from Kira to him. I could smell his flesh burning as he laid his girlfriend down outside of Eichen.

He laid down beside, her groaning as his body began to heal itself. Being out of Eichen seemed to immediately stop whatever was happening to Kira. The girl was now conscious and talking to Scott.

Since they both seemed to be okay, I stayed at the top of the steps, waiting anxiously for Stiles and Lydia. They had yet to leave the building, and we hadn't seen them since they went to see Valack; which is exactly where the Dread Doctors had appeared to have been headed.

My eyes remained trained on the door, praying that my boyfriend and best friend would emerge already. The lights were all still faltering because of what Kira had done, so I couldn't see much, but there was still movement.

Finally, Lydia walked out of the door. I rushed over to her, hugging her tightly. "We saw the Dread Doctors," I said quickly. "I was worried they had gotten you both."

After hugging me back, she pulled away, "We managed to hide, they walked right by."

"Where's Stiles?"

Lydia turned back to Eichen, pointing as the boy walked out from the darkness. Giving her a quick smile, I ran over to Stiles, throwing my arms around him.
"You're okay," I breathed, reassuring myself more than anything.

His arms went around me, one hand on the back of my head, gently going down my hair soothingly. "I was worried about you," he said back, mirroring my concern. "I saw them and knew they had to have passed you."

"We shouldn't have come back here," I mumbled into his shoulder, my voice trembling ever so slightly. Every corridor we walked had just reminded me of the Nogitsune, of wanting to hurt my friends, of being out of control.

"I know," he nodded, holding me tightly. "But we got what we needed."

"Then let's leave. Please."

He agreed without hesitation, and I knew full well this place only held bad memories for him also. Stiles, Lydia and I went over to Scott and Kira, helping them both to their feet before retreating to the Jeep.

♧♤♢♡

Since Scott had ridden his bike, we only had to drop Lydia home after Eichen. The drive from Lydia's house to Stiles' was quieter than normal. Stiles' fingers were drumming against the top of the wheel lightly in thought.

When we got to his house, I took off my belt and went to get out of the car, when I noticed he wasn't moving. He was sitting there, staring directly ahead at nothing in particular.

"Stiles?" I said softly, letting the door fall shut again. He didn't look at me, but I noticed his nose twitch as he blinked back tears.

Reaching a hand up, I put my hand on his cheek gently and got him to face me. "You're really starting to worry me. What's going on?"

"It just- it all happened so fast," he mumbled beneath his breath.

Confused, I urged him on gently, "Talk to me. What happened?"

He bit his lip, a small sniffle escaping him as his eyes glistened lightly. "Promise me you'll believe me? That you'll understand?"

"You know I've always got your back, Stiles," I reminded him, lowing my hands to take his in mine and giving them a light squeeze.

He took a deep breath as he finally met my gaze. "It's Donovan."

"What about Donovan?"

"I... I killed him."