CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT:
I CAN'T LOSE YOU

THEY PULLED UP AT EICHEN house where Lydia stood. Noah called the girl's name, causing her to turn and look at him. "I don't want to say are you sure about this, but. . ."

"No, he's here." Lydia assured him. "I swear to God he's here."

"Noah. . ." Noah looked towards the girl and she nodded, lowering her voice. "I saw it too. She's right about this. It can't be a coincidence that we both came up with the same thing." Noah looked at the girl before nodding his head. They quickly barged into the place, running up to the front desk.

"I need access to all basement rooms in this facility." Noah quickly ordered. Once granted access, everyone was following after Lydia and Elaine.

"It's here." Lydia nodded. It was the same hallway Elaine had seen in her vision. "It's right here." They made their way towards the door and Noah was quick to kick it open, holding a flashlight in his hands. They were quick to descend down the steps, calling Stiles' name, looking everywhere in the basement but there was no one there.

"Lydia?" Scott asked.

"I don't get it." Lydia shook her head. "This has to be it."

"Then where is he, huh?" Noah asked. "Where is he? Where is he?!" Noah yelled. Lydia jumped back, Elaine grabbing onto the girl. Noah looked at her for a moment and sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I don't understand." Lydia whispered. They all went back up the stairs, but Elaine stood there, shaking her head. She didn't understand either. She saw this exact basement, she saw her boyfriend laying on the floor, cold. And she saw someone in here with him. Pain shot through her head again, making her wince.

"El?" Scott called her name, causing her to turn her head and look at him.

"Scott. . . I saw him here. I did a locator spell. I swear to God I saw him here, with someone else in the room. You have to believe me."

"I do." Scott walked back down the steps, nodding his head. "I do. But he isn't here, so that means he's still out there, alright? And we gotta find him. Come on." He held out his hand and Elaine wiped the tear from her cheek before grabbing his hand and walking up the steps and out of the basement.

When she got the call that they had found him, she had never sped down a road so quickly in her entire life, immediately apologizing to Noah who had waved her off in understanding. They all sat in the waiting room, Elaine's hand was squeezing her brother's so tightly with her other hand gently holding Lydia's in comfort. They looked up when Noah walked into the room, making the three teenagers quickly stand up.

"He's sleeping now." Noah told them with a sigh. "And he's just fine. He doesn't remember much. It's a bit like a dream to him." He looked towards Rafael, he and Melissa having been the one to find him. "Thank you."

"It was the repellent we sprayed in the coyote's den to keep other animals out." Rafael told him. "I couldn't go near it without my eyes watering. It's just a good thing he mentioned it over the phone."

"No, it was more than that. Thank you." Noah nodded his head.

"It was a lucky connection."

"McCall, can you shut up please and accept my sincerest gratitude?" Noah snapped.

Rafael looked at him for a moment before holding out his hand. "Accepted." The two shook hands.

"Alright you three, you've got school in less than six hours." Melissa told the teenagers. "Go home. Go to sleep."

"I'm staying." Elaine shook her head. "I don't care if I have to sleep in this very uncomfortable chair. I'm not leaving him." Melissa looked at her daughter, knowing she wasn't going to give up. She sighed and nodded her head. Scott gave Elaine a hug before telling her he would get her work from school tomorrow, before she and Lydia exchanged a hug and then the two walked away.

She was allowed to sleep in Stiles' room, sleeping in the chair right beside of his bed with her hand holding his. Melissa and Noah looked at their sleeping children for a moment before Melissa turned her head to look at Noah, telling him about the symptoms Stiles had told her about, and now they were forced to do tests on the boy.

Elaine stood there, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Scott had come by for the head scan they were about to do, and he could tell his sister was worried. She ignored the doctors comment on how to say Stiles' name, and her arms squeezed tighter around her body. The doctor turned to look at the boy.

"Stiles, just to warn you, you're going to hear a lot of noise during the MRI." The doctor told him. "It's due to pulses of electricity going through metal coils inside the machine. Uh, if you want me to get earplugs or headphones."

"Oh no, no, I don't need anything." Stiles shook his head.

"Hey, we're just on the other side of that window." Noah told him. "Okay?"

Stiles nodded. "Okay." Noah offered him a smile while he and Melissa walked out of the room, leaving the three. "You know what they're looking for right?" Tears immediately sprang to Elaine's eyes. "It's called frontotemporal dementia. Areas of your brain start to shrink. It's what my mother had. It's the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers. And there's no cure." Those words made the tears spill over.

Scott wiped away the tear that had escaped his eye. "Stiles, if you have it, we'll do something." He paused and looked at Stiles. "I'll do something." Stiles looked at him for a moment before nodding his head. The two were quick to exchange hugs. When they pulled away, Scott glanced towards his sister before nodding towards Stiles and walking out of the room.

Elaine stood there and shook her head. Stiles looked at her, and he could practically hear her blaming herself for this. For not waking up when he walked out. For getting it wrong when she tried to locate him. "Laney." She shook her head and he held out his hand, gently grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him. "Laney, look at me."

She did. Tears covered her face. "I can't lose you. Stiles, I can't watch you―︎I can't―︎"

"I know." He nodded, reaching up and wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I'm gonna be okay, alright? And if I'm not. . . we'll figure it out. We always figure it out. You know why?"

"Cause we're Stiles and Elaine." She whispered. "We always figure it out."

"Damn right we do." Stiles nodded, cupping her face in his hands. She looked at him and he kissed her on the nose, making a small smile curl at her lips before they shared a quick kiss. "Hey, I love you."

"I know." She nodded.

"What? Not gonna say it back?"

"Not until I know you're going to be okay. I don't like the goodbye I love you's."

"Well, can we pretend I'm going to be okay?" He tried.

She looked at him for a moment before nodding her head. "I love you too." She gave him one more kiss before squeezing his hand and then walking out of the room. She took a stand beside Scott who grabbed her hand. They watched as he went into the machine, before the doctor spoke in the microphone.

"Okay, Stiles. This will take about 45 minutes to an hour. Now remember, try not to move. Even just a little bit." He paused for a moment before turning on the machine. "Stiles, you're going to hear that noise now. It's going to be a loud clanging. Kind of like a hammer hitting an anvil." And then, the process started.

Elaine and Scott made their way outside when they saw Derek. The two sat across from him, with Elaine leaning back against the chair with her eyes closed, that reoccurring pain shooting through her head. "You know the stuff you were telling me about chemo signals earlier?" Scott asked. "It reminded me of the time you were teaching me to use anger to control the shift."

"I think you ended up teaching me more about that." Derek admitted.

Scott looked at him for a moment. "Are you teaching me again?"

"Think of it more like sharing a few trade secrets." He paused. "You know I took Cora back to South America, right? It's where she spent most of her time after the fire. But that's not the only reason that I left. I needed to talk to my mother."

"Your dead mother?" Elaine and Scott both voiced.

"She told me something that changed my perspective on a lot of things." Derek told them. "She said that my family didn't just live in Beacon Hills. They protected it. This town needs someone to protect it. Someone like you." He looked towards Scott whilst Elaine just cocked an eyebrow in surprise.

"And someone like you to teach me a few trade secrets." Scott told him. That's when he suddenly stood up, grabbing Derek and Elaine's attention.

"What is it?" Elaine quickly asked him.

"He was trying to protect us." Scott said in realization. "Stiles was protecting us."

"From himself." Derek concluded.

"Is this a wolf thing?" Elaine asked. "What the hell are you two on about?"

"Come on." Scott grabbed her hand before the three were running up to the roof.

"What are we looking for?" Derek asked.

"I'm not sure." Scott admitted it. "But I think Stiles wasn't just up here struggling with himself. I think he was struggling not to do something." Scott stopped in front of the gates that was closed in, stepping up on a box before reaching over the gate, pulling down a bag.

"What the hell." Elaine mumbled, kneeling down and looking at all of the supplies inside of the bag. That's when Scott and Derek noticed an electrical line sparking. Scott and Derek stepped back whilst Elaine picked up a pair up wire cutters. They turned around and Scott's eyes widened.

"El!" He called her name, but just as he did, the electrical exploded, sending Elaine flying right into the concrete, knocking her out. They watched as the wire started flying around before it went over the building. Scott and Derek were quick to run over to the girl, before taking a moment to watch the black veins that rippled through her body. The two wolves exchanged looks with one another before a gasp fell from her lips. They looked back towards her just in time to watch as her eyes snapped open, nothing but pitch black before it faded.

Elaine groaned as she looked between the two before asking, "What the hell happened?"

They ran outside, stopping at the water that was covering the parking lot, the electrical wire having fallen in the water. Their eyes landed on Kira who was standing in the water, not being affected by the water like everyone else who had stepped in it was. They watched as she grabbed onto the wire, looking at the electricity sparking from it before taking her other hand and covering the electricity. They watched as her eyes started glowing orange, before she removed her hand away to reveal that it stopped.

"Welcome to another episode of there's a new supernatural creature in Beacon Hills." Elaine breathed. "And this time our subject is Kira."