𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑

𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 

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╰┈˚ · ° .  WE DID NOT CATCH THE NOGITSUNE THAT NIGHT.  As the Oni arrived at Derek's loft, everyone tried to protect the currently possessed Stiles from the Oni but when we arrived, Void was nowhere to be found.

"That went well." Alec mumbled as he sat down at the bay window in my room.

"Yup." I grumbled, trying to take the boots off from my feet as I sat on the end of my bed. I let out a breath, letting Hex slither out from her Domus. A puff of purple magic was followed by the black dragon-snake.

Her forked tongue tasted the air, "It looks like Grams Yellow cooked a cake."

"Don't eat it all." I remembered my familiar. In the last few weeks, food started to disappear. The culprit, my familiar. She had suddenly developed an ever bigger stomach than she already had. My grandmother wasn't very pleased with it, mostly when she would spend hours cooking and she wouldn't even get a bite out of it because Hex had inhaled all of it.

My familiar scoffed. She had started to be very angsty lately. "Shadow bastard, I expect to have my pillow fluffed when I return." And then she disappeared in the hallway.

I snickered at the offended look on my boyfriend's face. Those two had not grown on each other.

"I'm going to kill her one day." Alec said.

"Sure." I nodded my head sarcastically.

"I'm completely serious, Elizabeth."

"You could try but she would kill you first." I told him. My familiar could be savage when she wanted to be.

"I'm actually offended now." He crossed his arms on his chest, muscle bulging underneath the short sleeved shirt.

I rolled my eyes. "Can you be offended while we cuddle in bed?"

"No." His smirk turned devious. Alec licked his lips, eyes traveling down my body. "But I can be offended while doing something else." Step by step he walked to me until we were chest to chest. He trailed his hand down my cheek until he forcefully grabbed my chin. "We'll see how much time before you are apologizing."

───── ⋆⋅⋆｡ ﾟ☽𖦹☾ ﾟ｡⋆⋅⋆ ─────

╰┈˚ · ° .  The following morning, Aiden and Lydia found Stiles, passed out and in the middle of the road.

The two had brought him to the McCall household, Deaton and Melissa McCall were there alongside us teenagers.

"Guys, this is crazy. He needs to be in the hospital." The mother said, eyes filled with worry as she saw the huge gash across Stiles abdomen.

"Mom, remember what happened last time he went to the hospital?" Scott replied to his mother.

"And the hospital would not even help." I said.

"And let's not forget that he is possessed." Alec added eyeing the passed out guy on the couch staying on alert.

"I think he might even be healing." The vet informed us as he inspected the wound, no fresh blood there.

"You mean healing like we heal?" Aiden asked him.

"That's good, right?"

"For him, yes." Deaton replied to Scott's question, "Us? I'm not so sure."

"Well, if we're not going to kill him, why aren't we at least tying him down with really big chains?" The ex alpha asked, arms crossed on his chest.

"I might have something more effective." Deaton opened his bag and took something from it. A bottle filled with Kanima venom. The doctor, with the help of Scott and Aiden squeezed the venom on Stiles's tongue, but the Nogitsune took them by surprise when he opened his eyes, taking Aiden's by the neck. A sly smirk twisted the expression of our possessed friend, dark circles surrounded his eyes and the skin was deathly pale.

"Get him off me! Get him off me!" Aiden shouted as the Nogitsune continued to choke, but soon enough the venom started to have effect, and the hold on him fell away as Void became paralyzed.

"Kanima venom. Nice touch." He said quite annoyed by the new predicament.

Aiden roared, ready to attack when the Nogitsune spoke again. "You know how they say that twins get a feeling when the other one's in pain? You didn't lose that talent too, did you? Oh, I hope not. You're going to need it." he taunted. But underneath that, the threat was real, and we all knew it. "Okay, I'll give a little hint. Ethan's at the school."

"Go." Scott commanded the boy. Aiden was quick to obey, not losing time and running to his twin.

"Oh, I hope he gets there in time." Void laughs were mixed with psychotic giggles.

It reminded me of Alec's laugh. At my thought I glanced at my boyfriend, who actually looked concerned. He pointed at himself, mouthing the word 'me'

I guess I wasn't the only one that made the connection.

"I like the twins." Void Stiles said. "Short tempers. Homicidal compulsions. They're a lot more fun than you bakemono trying to save the world every day." His sly smirk, so similar to the one of a fox landed on Alec." I like you too, you know. I'm pretty sure you would let any of these other pathetic supernatural creatures and the rest of this even more pathetic town burn if it meant saving her."

"Your point?" Alec snarked back unbothered. What he had said wasn't something new for anyone. Alec was very vocal about his priorities.

The Nogitsune chuckled, "Love is a weakness my friend. It makes you weak. It already did. But you can still change that."

"Well." The shadow wolf said after a second of silence. "That was pathetic."

"Can I have that, doc?" I asked the vet.

"And... perfect." I grinned at the Nogitsune as I taped shut his mouth. I patted his cheek, "Much better."

───── ⋆⋅⋆｡ ﾟ☽𖦹☾ ﾟ｡⋆⋅⋆ ─────

╰┈˚ · ° .  "How much longer do you think we have?" Scott asked to the veterinarian.

We had moved to the kitchen leaving the possessed boy in our view but not in his hearing range.

"I wish I knew." The man replied honestly, "But if we don't figure out

something soon, we're going to need to find a better place to keep him. 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."

"I agree. This is going exactly how he wanted it to go." I agreed. Somehow we were still playing his game.

"What did the scroll that we stole said, anyway?" Alec questioned.

"The scroll said to change his body." Lydia was the one that answered.

"That's if I translated it correctly." Deaton told us unsure of the real meaning of the scroll. "We're looking for a cure in something that might actually be nothing more than a proverb or a metaphor."

"And what if he doesn't want it? He's never asked to be a werewolf."

"I think that is the last of our problems." Alec scoffed. "Werewolf is better than dead or possessed by an evil fox."

"What if it saves his life?" The banshee asked out loud agreeing with Alec.

"What if it kills him?" Deaton voiced his concern.

"I've never done this before." Scott said "I mean, what if I bite him and accidentally hit an artery or something?"

"The venom is not going to last long." I said putting an end to the bite discussion. "I can use a spell to paralyze him but it won't work for long.

"She is right ."Deaton nodded. "Something needs to be done sooner than later."

"I can try calling Derek again." I proposed.

"Maybe you should call someone else."

And that was how Peter Hale was invited into this mess.

"He doesn't look like he would survive a slap across the face, much less the bite of a werewolf." My uncle snarked as he took a closer look at the Nogitsune.

"You don't think it would work?" Scott asked him.

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

"What kind of methods?" The doctor asked.

Peter took Scott's hand, somehow making the alpha grow his claws. "We're going to get into his head."

"What's your plan?" I asked.

"Scott is going to try and dig through pale and sickly evil Stiles's mind to unearth pale and sickly real Stiles. Then guide him back from the depths of his own subconscious." He explained.

"That's... actually a good plan." Alec spoke the words almost reluctantly.

"He's not going to do it alone, tough." Peter added

"What do you mean?"

Even if he replied to Scott, my uncle only looked at Lydia. "Somebody needs to go in with you."

"Fuck no. I'll go." I shook my head. It was too risky. She couldn't even heal like we did.

"No."

"No way."

I glared at my uncle and boyfriend. "Yes."

"No." Lydia shook her head, placing her hand on my arm. "I'll do it. I want to"

I took a second before speaking again. "Fine, but if something is going wrong then I'll enter too. And no objection to that." I said the last part was directed at Alec.

"I don't like it." He mumbled but still the plan was quick to become real when Peter positioned Scott's claws at the base of the head of both Stiles and Lydia.

"So what do we do if we find him?" Scott questioned the ex-alpha.

"You're going to have to guide him out somehow. Try to give him back control of his mind, his body."

"Could you elaborate on the 'somehow'? It's not feeling very specific

at the moment." Lydia asked. She was sitting further away from Stiles, her heartbeat was slightly accelerated by her fear, but nevertheless, she continued going along with the plan.

"Improvise."

"That's it. Improvise?" I snarked at my uncle who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"What if this is just another trick?"

The older Hale let out a sigh of disbelief "When are you people going

to start trusting me?"

"I meant him." The true alpha motioned to the fox.

"Scott, we're running out of time."

And with that, Scott let out a breath, his eyes glowed an intense red showing his alpha status and his claws pierced the skin of the other two bringing him and Lydia into Stiles' head.

Time passed, nothing changed until we all noticed the blood dripping from the banshee's nose.

"What's happening?" Mellissa McCall asked, her tone rising each word that she spoke. "What's happening to her?!"

"Lydia?" I rushed to her side, heart beating too loud and worry filled eyes.

"Lydia, concentrate. Come on!" But the blood continued to drip, staining her fair skin.

"Move." My uncle brushed me aside, taking Lydia's head in his hands as he started to yell her name.

"Fuck this." I said.

"Ellie, don't!"

Alec's shout was the last thing that I heard before I touched Stiles' head and Lydia's hand. Magic coursing through my veins, flowing through the three of us.

When I reopened my eyes, I was in the hallways of the school. Balloons covered every inch of the floor. Banners and streamers hung from walls and ceiling.

I was wearing the last winter formal dress, the dance where Peter had attacked lydia. The girl in her silver dress was in front of me, tears stained with tears as she ran from the Nogitsune.

"Lydia!" I yelled her name, catching her hand in mine.

"Ellie? What are you doing here?"

"No time for that." I said, dragging her fear-paralyzed body on the other side of the double front doors.

We ended up in a white room, finding Scott already there. And further down, sitting cross legged on the Nemeton, playing a game of go with the Nogitsune, there was Stiles.

We started running towards him until our breath came short and our muscles ached. But we were nowhere near him. The space between us never decreased.

"This is not working." I said bringing all of us to a stop.

"Stiles is part of your pack." Lydia said to Scott as we all caught our breaths. An idea blooming in her mind.

"What? What do you mean."

"He is human, but he is still part of the pack, right?"

"Yeah, yeah of course."

"He is." I told them. "Even if I cannot understand the pack link yet I can recognize who is in it. And he is in it."

A sly smile formed on Lydia's lips. "So how do wolves signal their location to the pack?"

Realization came to both me and Scott at the same time. It could work.

The alpha morphed his features into the one of a wolf, "They howl." he answered before letting out a mighty roar that shook the entire room.

And finally, Stiles noticed us. He tilted his head in our direction, recognition flashing through his eyes. And after a second of staring at the dark Kitsune, appearing covered in white dressings and sharp metal teeth, he sent the game flying enraging the Nogitsune, but we were out of his head before we could do much more.

I gasped as I came back to the real word, taking a couple of steps back from the couch ending the safety of Alec's arms.

"Did it work? Did it work?!"

"Why didn't it work?" Lydia asked panicked as she looked at Stiles.

"Because it's not science, Lydia. It's supernatural. I did my part. Now give me the name." Peter hushed the words to the girl but it was loud enough that we all heard.

"What name? What are you talking about?" Scott asked them.

"It's about-" I was cut off by the strawberry-blonde girl who nodded her head in my direction. He deserved to know anyway.

We were caught by surprise as Stiles started to convulse, he opened his eyes, clawing at the tape on his mouth. Once that was off, he started to pull from his mouth bandages until he threw them all up with black smoke curling around his lips.

From the middle of the bandages a hand— it's too covered in white gaze— shot forward. Then an arm and then the other. The torso and then the legs until an entire person appeared.

Scott and Alec moved first, grabbing the mummy-look-alike trying to keep him from moving.

"Wait!" I shouted. The mummy was clawing at his own face, not trying to attack.

I moved the bendages away, revealing a person that has the same features as Stiles.

"There are two of them now?" Alec asked.

We could all just stare until we collectively became aware that the first Stiles was gone. And with him, Lydia.

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!!

Hex is in her teenage years angst, lmao. I love her, lmaoo.

Void Stiles is my husband. He was so HOT, guys. Please, agree with me.

We all know what will happen in the next chapter/episode.

Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on Thursday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾