Chaos Rising

8

Scott.

I can't seem to breathe.

He's dead.

He's dead?

He can't be dead... he can't be.

I grip the steering wheel of Stiles' jeep, my hands shaking, quavering as I drive. Liam sits beside me, staring at his feet. Stiles - or I should say Void - is in the back, unconscious. Liam had hit him with a fire extinguisher, striking him square in the back of the head. I can hear his breathing, shallow and even and now. His face is bathed in pale moonlight, I want to imagine that it is my best friend lying back there, out cold. I want to imagine Stiles, I want to remember what he used to look like, I want to remember his sarcasm, not what I see now. His eyes are sunken, dark and red, his skin is drained of any colour, almost white, pasty.

He looks dead.

He is dead.

No, stop. Void could have been lying.

He has to be lying.

I called the Sheriff, telling him about the bodies in the locker room, and about Void being back. But I didn't tell him anything else... I couldn't. It would break him. He isn't ready to hear that he lost both his wife and his son.

The pack is meeting up at my house, where the walls are lined with mountain ash. Deaton still has extra wolf lichen left over from last time, he is making the remedy as we speak. I am hopeful, maybe it will work, maybe Stiles is still in there, somewhere. But deep down, I am dreading finding out.

We pull into my driveway, the jeep sputters as we halt to a stop. I hop out, having to steady myself against the door. Breathe in, breathe out. It's not that hard, in and out, over and over.

Keep it together Scott.

I carry Stiles' body inside, setting him down gently on the couch.

The same couch as last time.

We have come full circle, arriving right back to where we started.

"What's wrong with him?" Lydia asks, appearing at my side. I startle, remembering that I haven't told anyone that Void is back. No one but my Mom and the Sheriff. I hear the front door open, and the remaining members come into view. Derek, Stilinski, Malia, Kira and Deaton step into the house. Then Peter emerges, looking as smug as ever.

"What's going on?" Malia is the first to speak. "What's wrong with Stiles?"

Breathe. Just breathe, I tell myself. "That's- that's not Stiles." I manage.

"You said that before, but what does that mean?" Liam asks.

Derek leans back on the wall. "Void." Is all he says. I glance at my mother, she nods, silently urging me to say what I told her. But I don't. I'm not that strong.

"Who is Void?" Liam breaks the silence. "He looks like Stiles, but he isn't?" His voice raises, as if he is asking a question even though we all know the answer.

"I thought we got rid of him?" Kira pipes up. "I thought-"

Suddenly, our attention is drawn to Stiles - or Void, he takes a sharp inhale, his eyes fly open. He seems to gasp for air, choking and bringing a hand up to his throat. He coughs, a reddish black substance leaking from his mouth and down his face. He gags, spitting dark blood onto his hand, he stares at it, squinting as though clearing his vision. Then he looks up, his gaze skimming from face to face. He lands on me, and he breaks down, tears welling up in his eyes. I don't move, I know better than to fall for this. His breathing quickens and his eyes dart to the Sheriff, his lips quiver.

I ball my fists uselessly at my sides, my nails digging into my palm.

"No." He says, voice breaking into a million sharp pieces, he starts to stand. "No, no, no, no." He repeats, turning his hands over, not taking his eyes from the blood dried onto them. Then, as if he had been hit, he sits back down, a false panic clouding his gaze. "No, no, no..." he looks up at me, then at Malia, and finally the Sheriff. "Dad-" he tries, but no one moves, everyone knows better than to fall for this. "I'm al-'' he starts, but he cuts himself off, his expression returning to that of boredom.

A half smile trains itself on his lips. "Tough crowd, huh."

Stiles

He has set me free. He let me take control... but why? A sharp throbbing has begun on the back of my head, giving me an instant headache. I breathe in, opening my eyes to find a blur of shapes and colours. I feel something crawling up my throat, I cough, tasting metal, blood on my tongue.

It drips from the corner of my mouth, running down my chin. I choke, spitting up more blood, the warm liquid splatters on the skin of my hand. I blink, the hues of the world coming clearer to my gaze. I stare at the darkened blood on my hand, I look up. The first person I see is Scott, he has his fists clenched at his sides, blood of his own dripping out from his palm. My gaze moves across the group, Lydia, Malia, Derek, Kira, my Dad... I feel a wave of tears start to form in my eyes. I raise my hands to my eye level, once more they start to blur away.

Void is pulling me back.

He has released me just for the cruel fun of it, knowing that no one would believe that it's really me. They will not fall for his tricks, even though this is not a trick, they won't fall for his games. He told Scott I was dead, and for all Scott knows, that could be true.

But It isn't.

He can't kill me, he would kill himself in the process.

"No." I say, the single word seems to shatter my voice. I push myself up off the couch. "No, no, no, no." I repeat, watching helplessly as my hands come in and out of focus. I reach out, grabbing nothing but thin air. I sway on my feet, dizziness washes over my temporary consciousness, and I fall back down to the couch.

The same couch that Scott and I were told not to jump on a kids, but we did anyways, the same couch that I had spilt chocolate milk on and we tried to clean it up before his Mom got back. If I take the time to look, I would find a barely visible stain set into the fabric. But I can't, I have to tell them that I'm alright. "No, no, no..." I look up at Scott, my murky vision finally landing on my Dad. "Dad-" I start, but my mouth won't move any further. "I'm alive-'' I want to say, but I am cut off before I can finish the sentence.

In a split second, I am no longer in control.

It is as if nothing had happened.

I watch in horror as Void speaks for me, "tough crowd, huh?" He smirks.