CHAPTER FORTY-THREE:
I HAVE TO HELP HIM

WHEN ISAAC HAD MANAGED TO get the three tickets, Elaine had rose an eyebrow in suspicion but decided against asking. When school was over, the three stood in the animal clinic in front of Deaton who was holding a needle along with a small bottle of ketamine.

     "Ketamine?" Scott asked.

     "It's the same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage." Deaton answered, placing the ketamine and needle on the table in front of the trio. "If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time." Scott picked up the needle whilst Deaton grabbed a thing of mountain ash. "This is some of what you'll use to create the barrier. This part is for you, Stiles―︎only you."

     "Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure. . . Can we maybe find a slightly less pressure-filled task for me?" Stiles requested, picking up the bottle.

     "It's from the Mountain Ash tree, which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural. This office is lined with ashwood, making it difficult for someone like Scott or Elaine to cause me any trouble."

     "Okay, so, then, what? I just spread this around the whole building, and then either Jackson or whoever's controlling him can't cross it?" Stiles questioned.

     Deaton nodded his head. "They'll be trapped."

     "Doesn't sound too hard." Scott tried, looking at the boy.

     "Not all there is." Deaton informed. "Think of it like gunpowder―︎it's just powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles."

     "If you mean light myself on fire, I don't think I'm up for that." This earned an amused look from Elaine as well as Deaton.

     "Let me try a different analogy. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind, and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish."

     "Force of will." Stiles mumbled, nodding his head.

     "If this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it." The boy only hummed in response.

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Later that night, Stiles had picked up the two siblings, driving to the location of the rave, though not saying a word the entire time. Elaine frowned in confusion, knowing that the boy was never quiet. He always had something to say. They got out of the vehicle, walking around and to the back of Stiles' jeep.

     "You okay?" Scott was the one to break the silence.

     "Yeah, why?" Stiles responded, grabbing one of the bags out of the back.

     "You just didn't say anything the whole way here." Elaine told him with a worried frown.

     "No, I'm fine. Just grab the other bag." Stiles requested, looking at Scott when asking for the other bag to be grabbed.

     "I can't. Remember, Deaton said you have to do it alone." Scott told him.

     "Okay, this plan is really starting to suck." Stiles said with a sigh.

     "I can't help you, but I can stay out here with you, if you want me to." Elaine told the boy, but Stiles just shook his head in response making the girl nod. That's when Scott furrowed his eyebrows, looking around before huffing

          "No. Not here. Not now!" Scott snapped before running off. Elaine frowned before giving Stiles an apologetic look, quickly running after her brother.

     "What? Scott! What am I supposed to―︎?" However Stiles was cut off with the duo disappearing from view. The two entered the rave, and Scott was quick to walk over to Allison, pulling her to the side whilst Elaine stayed against a far wall, waiting for her brother to come back over to her. She noticed Erica and Isaac walk in together, the two wolves glancing towards Elaine who just gave them both the simple nod of her head. She turned her head back towards her brother just in time to see Scott storm away from Allison angrily.

     "Whoa, everything alright?" Elaine frowned, removing herself from the wall in order to meet him halfway.

     "Gerard and Allison's father know." Scott informed her.

     "What? How?" Elaine furrowed her eyebrows.

     "Allison told them." He looked around before nodding towards Isaac. "Get Isaac." Elaine nodded before quickly pushing her way through the crowd of people, grabbing onto the boy's hand and pulling him from the ground and over to Scott who held the needle and ketamine in his hands.

     "Why me?" Isaac frowned.

     "Because I've got to make sure that Argent doesn't completely ruin the plan." Scott answered. "Okay, look―︎you better do it intravenously, which means in the vein. When you find him, you pull back on this plunger right here. In the neck is probably going to be the easiest. So, you find a vein, you jam it in there, and pull back on the trigger." Scott paused before adding, "Be careful."

     "Oh, I doubt it'll even slightly hurt him." Isaac assured Scott with a scoff of a laugh.

     "No, I mean you. I don't want you to get hurt." Scott told him. Isaac looked between the two siblings before nodding his head. Elaine offered the boy a reassuring smile before taking hold of her brothers hand and walking off with him. She was going to be his side kick for the night whether he liked it or not. She would be able to protect him, or at least, that's what she thought. When the two had stepped outside, they weren't at all expecting headlights to shine at them. And they definitely weren't expecting for the person inside of the car to drive forward, not stopping, but instead slamming the car into both of them sending them flying to the ground. Immediately Elaine's vision turned black, three ribs were practically shattered, and her wrist had twisted the wrong way, though it was only a sprain. But unlike Scott, Elaine couldn't heal like he could.

Why Mrs. Argent had left her there on the concrete for someone to find her was something Elaine never knew. But she had taken Scott, trapped him into a room and filled it with wolfsbane. No one had managed to find the girl. Stiles had managed to wrap the barrier all the way around the building, before barging inside in order to help Isaac and Erica who had trapped Jackson, tying him up to a chair. Everything dangerous was happening, and the one person that could help out, making it all stop within the snap of a finger, was laying on the concrete ground unconscious from slamming her head roughly onto the ground.

A pained groan fell from her lips as she became conscious again, the girl blinked, swallowing thickly and whimpering as the pain from her broken bones raced all throughout her body. All she could see was the night sky, not finding in herself to move her body as if she had been paralyzed from the Kanima. She tried pushing herself into a sitting position, letting out a cry of pain as she pressed down on her sprained wrist, her ribs yelling in protest. That's when footsteps appraoched her.

     "Elaine?" It was Derek's voice, and she felt relief flood through her. The male kneeled down beside the girl his eyebrows furrowed in worry. "What happened?"

     "Argent." Elaine answered. "She took Scott. Derek, you have to get to him. You can't let her hurt him. I wasn't supposed to let her hurt him, but here I am, lying on the goddamn ground, in a whole lot of pain."

     "I won't let anything happen to him." Derek assured the girl. "Can you stand up?"

     "I hope." She grabbed his hand, allowing him to gently pull her up before she let out another cry of pain. Derek looked at the girl before shaking his head.

     "You're not going back in there. I'll take you to Stiles. Then, I'll get Scott." Derek told the girl. She wanted to open her mouth in protest, but the concussion was weighing on her, and the more she stood there, the more tired she became, but she just couldn't go to sleep. She knew that, so instead she just nodded and allowed the alpha to pick her up bridal style, running down the alley to where he found Stiles standing by his jeep.

     "Oh my god, Elaine?" Stiles looked at the girl in worry. "What the hell happened? I thought she was inside?" Derek carefully placed her feet on the ground, allowing Elaine to grab onto Stiles as her support system

     "I'm fine." Elaine assured. "Derek, let me help."

     "No." Both Stiles and Derek told the girl. Elaine clenched her jaw, hating the fact that she was standing there and doing absolutely nothing.

     "So, we kind of lost Jackson inside, but it's―︎" Stiles told Derek only to cut himself off when Erica and Isaac walked out, not being able to cross the ash. "Oh, my God! It's working! Oh, this is―︎I did something!"

      Derek frowned deeply, hearing the cry of Scott before muttering the boy's name, making Elaine and Stiles look to him. Elaine swallowed, wanting to stand up and get to her brother, but she knew that neither Derek nor Stiles would let her. "Break it."

     "What? No way!" Stiles scoffed.

     "Scott's dying!" Derek snapped.

     "I have to help him." Elaine spoke. "You have to let me help him. I can't lose my brother." Frustrated tears were forming in her eyes, and it was only making everything hurt worse.

     "How do you know that?" Stiles questioned.

     "Oh, my God, Stiles, I just know! Break it!" Stiles widened his eyes slightly before allowing Elaine to lean against the jeep, quickly breaking the barrier causing Derek to run inside.

     "We have to get you to the hospital."

     "No, I'm not leaving my brother." Elaine shook her head.

     "Laney, listen to me, Derek is going to get Scott out of there, alright? But if I stand here and not take you to the hospital, Scott is going to come out of there and rip my head off, and I'd like to keep my head for another day. So, just let me take you to the hospital."

     "No." Elaine shook her head, her vision starting to go blurry making her stumble. "I can't―︎I can't leave him. I promised I would be beside him all night―︎I can't let him die. I can't. . ." The girl's eyes started to close, making Stiles start to panic.

     "El? Hey, you gotta stay awake, alright? No sleeping. Understand?" He quickly brought her to the passengers side of the car before getting into the driver's and speeding away towards the hospital, trying everything in his power to keep the girl awake. He couldn't lose her again. He had already lost her once, he just couldn't go through that again.

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       She had been quickly rushed into the hospital, luckily no major damage inside of her body, just the ribs and wrist. Melissa had been quick to interrogate Stiles, who had told the woman part of the truth. Elaine had been hit by a car, but the car fled away and Stiles had found her. Now, he sat in the hospital room with her, the girl struggling to stay awake.

     "You can go to sleep now, Laney." Stiles softly whispered to the girl. "You're taken care of. It's safe to sleep."

     "Hmmm. . ." The girl hummed, squeezing Stiles' hand. He had grabbed onto her hand as soon as he was allowed into the room, and he refused to leave her side. "Stiles?"

     "Yeah, El?" He quickly perked up when she said his name. She had her eyes closed, her face turned towards him as she started to doze off, the sedative and pain medication given to her making her drowsy.

     "I love you."

     "I love you too, El."

     "No, I love you." Elaine muttered. She sounded drunk almost as she spoke her words, and she sounded so angry when she spoke them. "I've always been here. I've always been here, always loved you, but you were too blinded by your crush on Lydia, that you didn't even notice!" She laughed after it, a sleepy laugh. Her voice seemed to have gone up an octave. Stiles was positive that the girl didn't know what she was saying, but he couldn't help but feel like she was speaking the truth. His heart pounded violently against his chest, swallowing thickly as he looked at the girl who had gone quiet, sleep having taken over her. Elaine had just admitted to Stiles that she loved him, and he couldn't help but sit there for a moment, looking down at her hand in which he was still holding before looking back up to the sleeping girl's face.

     "I love you too, Elaine."