Wow, that chapter was so long. Sorry, but there were so many moments between Stiles and Riley that I loved, and I just had to include them.
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"Stiles!" I yelled, calling to him. I could see him, he was actually there. "Keep going! Stiles, please!"
The silhouette seemed to be growing closer, and I found myself smiling wider than I had in a long time.
"Stiles! Stiles!"
But then, the light at the end of the tunnel dulled, until it went out completely. And when the light was gone, so was the silhouette.
My breath hitched in my throat as I turned to my friends. "You saw him? You saw him, right?"
Isaac put a hand on my shoulder, "Ri, we didn't see anyone."
"No," I said shaking my head. "No, I'm not crazy. He was there, I know it. I saw him!"
"Riley," Scott said gently.
"He was there," I told him just above a whisper. "He was there."
Isaac and Scott lead me back to the bunker, sharing pitiful glances that they thought I wasn't noticing. They sat me down in a seat, just as Liam showed up.
"Liam?" Scott gasped, surprised to see that the boy was still here and hadn't been taken.
"There's something that you need to see," he told the Alpha.
"You're still here."
"But everyone else is gone. All of them. They're all gone."
Iris. She had been taken by the Hunt.
I only hoped that that meant she was with Charlotte.
"Look, you have to come with me," Liam said.
Scott looked from us, then back to his Beta. "What is it?"
He shook his head, stuttering, "I can't explain it. I have to show you."
"Uh, all right. Isaac, with us. You guys stay here."
"For if Stiles comes back?" Lydia asked.
"If there's any hope, if Riley did really see him, then you need to keep trying."
The three boys leave, but I ran out the door after them. "Isaac!"
He turned back to face me, looking confused. "Hey, we've got to go, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said quickly. "I just- I wanted to thank you for what you didn't back there."
Isaac smiled softly, "I made you a promise."
"I know," I nodded. "But the chamber, that can't have been easy."
He shrugged, "It'll be worth it when we bring him home safe."
I gave him a quick hug, thanking him again before I watched him and Scott follow Liam out of the tunnels. I turned around and went back into the bunker to see the girls watching me.
"Look, I swear, I'm not lying," I sniffled. "He was there."
"We believe you," Malia nodded. "And that's why we need to leave."
"But Scott said to stay in case he comes here," Lydia said.
"Stiles isn't coming here. If he was, he would've, and he hasn't, so he's not."
She turned to me, speaking to me directly. "You still think it worked, right, Ri?"
I nodded immediately, "It worked. He was here. He's out there. I'm telling you, I can feel it."
"Alright, then let's go."
♧♤♢♡
Thinking about it logically, we went to the school where we had left the Jeep. That was where he was taken from, so maybe he went there.
But when we arrived, the Jeep was already gone. There were skid marks on the ground from the tyres - whoever had taken it had been in a rush.
"This looks fresh," Lydia said as she examined the tyre marks.
"It's from Stiles' Jeep. It must have just left," Malia stated.
"Without his keys?"
I went through my memories, chuckling. "That boy doesn't need keys to get that car started. He probably used the screwdriver he kept in the glovebox."
"Then he's here."
"We need to tell Scott," I said, grabbing my phone out.
Malia put a hand on my arm, getting my attention.
"We should probably tell Scott about that, too."
As Lydia stood up and I lowered my phone, we looked across to see what she was referring to. It wasn't hard to spot. Right through the school, was a large set of train tracks.
"What the hell?" I said as we all began to walk over to it.
We walked down the tracks, trying to find where it led to. The halls of the school were dark and empty, with nobody in the area.
And the tracks just kept going, until we reached the library. Pushing open the door, we saw that the library wasn't currently functioning as a library.
"Why is there a train station in the middle of the library?" Malia asked.
I thought back to our encounter with Peter in the woods. "There was a train station in the Wild Hunt."
"Any chance they're connected?"
"I would say high. Like 100%," Lydia stated.
The two girls began to walk into the library but I didn't follow. "You guys, I need to find Scott and tell him about the Jeep and about this."
Lydia gave me a small smile, "It's okay, we can handle this. Go."
I nodded in thanks, before turning and leaving the room. I pulled out my phone and attempted to call him, but no one picked up. I tried Liam and Isaac also, but still nothing.
I followed the tracks back out to the front of the school, continuing to try calling all of the boys. When Scott's phone sent me to voicemail again, I sighed.
"Hey, I don't know if you've lost your phone, or the Hunt is messing with the signal or whatever but-"
I stopped when I walked out the front of the school, seeing Liam running past me.
"I'll be back!" the boy shouted.
"What?" I mumbled, lowering my phone.
"Were we like that?" I heard a voice ask. My heart stopped as my hand dropped to my side, putting my phone into my pocket. Turning, I saw three boys standing on the tracks. I couldn't move, staring silently at them.
"Worse," the other, Scott, replied.
"I guess we just have to follow the tracks," Isaac shrugged.
"Yeah. Those lead into the woods. This way back into the school. . ." his voice trailed off at the end as he turned to the school, his eyes looking directly at me.
"Stiles?" I whispered.
He took a step, squinting through the dark. "Riley? Is that you?" he asked, his voice shaking.
A relieved sigh escaped me as I ran towards him, yelling his name. Stiles began to move, walking towards me quickly.
When we finally collided, his arms were immediately around me, holding me tight. I was on my toes so I could reach around his neck, feeling his breath next to my ear, shaking with each intake.
"I knew you'd remember me," he whispered.
"There was something missing; a part of me. I had to find you," I said, holding him tighter, refusing to let go.
"I don't need the world, Stiles. I just need you."
"I love you," he told me, pressing a kiss to my cheek and then my forehead, before resting his head against my own. "I love you, so much."
"I love you, too," I whispered, closing the distance to kiss him.
I felt like I had found my missing piece as we connected. Everything felt right at that moment, every time we'd done this before flashing through my mind.
We'd been torn apart so many times, but had always managed to find our way back to each other.
We pulled away from each other and I buried my face in his shirt, my tears staining the material. I could feel his fingers in my hair, holding me close. I had only just recently remembered this, but I knew I'd missed it for longer than that.
Someone cleared their throat off to the side, standing by us awkwardly. I pulled back to see Isaac and Scott waiting.
"I'm sorry to break this up, really, but we're on a bit of a time schedule here," Isaac reminded us.
Scott was smiling, his eyes glistening as if he might be trying not to cry. It made me smile even more. We were all back together.
"He's right," Scott agreed. "You wanna split up?"
Stiles looked down at me and then back to Scott, shaking his head. "Never again."
"Thank God," Scott sighed, sounding relieved.
Stepping back just enough so that he could be beside me, Stiles put his arm around my waist and the four of us began to walk. We went in the opposite direction of the school, heading out into the woods.
♧♤♢♡
We walked deep into the woods, following the tracks. Where they ended, there was no way to tell. All I knew from what the boys had said, was that we needed to divert the train.
Suddenly, Scott dragged us all off of the tracks and behind a tree.
Stiles panicked for a moment, putting an arm in front of me protectively. "Why are we stopping?"
"It's there," Scott said, nodding in the direction he wanted us to look.
A couple of metres away from the tree was the mechanism that was used to switch the direction the train was headed. All we needed to do was pull it so that the train would go away from Beacon Hills.
"There's no way it's that easy," Isaac said, shaking his head.
"I did not go through all of this to come back and hear more of your negativity," Stiles snapped. "It can be that easy. For once, let's do easy."
Stiles stepped out from behind the tree, grasping my hand as he led us all towards the mechanism. Just as he was reaching for it, a whip came out of nowhere and wrapped around his hand. He was quick to let go of me, right before he was pulled back.
"Stiles!" I shouted, running over to him. Just as I reached for him, Douglas pulled on the whip, and Stiles disappeared in a puff of green smoke. "No!"
"Riley, get back," Isaac said.
I stood up, glaring at the man as my eyes glowed silver. I began to suffocate him, but he was quick to pull out his gun he'd stolen from one of the Ghost Riders.
He shot me without hesitation, and all I saw was green smoke.
A scream escaped me as I was thrown backwards. I hit my head on the ground, looking around as the smoke cleared, to see that I was in a classroom.
How did I get back to the high school?
Standing up, I rubbed my head as I walked out of the room and into the school hallway. I heard a loud thud, heading in the direction of the sound.
I saw Scott climbing to his feet, looking around. When he spotted me, he rushed down the stairs. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I nodded. "If we were sent here, that means Stiles was, too."
"And Isaac," Scott added. "Douglas shot him after you."
"Can't say that it was fun, either," Isaac said as he tumbled out of the janitor's closet. "Also, remind me to apologise to the janitor. I just knocked over so many shelves landing in there."
I went over and hugged him, before pulling away. I began to walk down the hall, trying to find Stiles.
I almost ran directly into him as he turned the corner. "Oh, my God, Riley. Are you okay?" he asked quickly, throwing his arms around me again.
"I'm fine," I laughed. "Are you?"
"I think so," he nodded, pointing over his shoulder. "I finally saw the girls' locker room. It's not that different. It's kind of disappointing."
"You know, if you were that curious, I could've told you that years ago."
He shrugged, "Yeah, but this is something I needed to see in person."
"What just happened?" Scott asked.
"I don't know. I think the worlds. . . I think they're collapsing in on each other."
"Well, that doesn't sound good at all," Isaac sighed as we all began to walk down the hall at a fast pace.
"Attention, all passengers," a voice croaked over the PA. "The train will be arriving in eleven minutes."
"We gotta get back to the diverter," Scott said quickly.
We ran through the school door, only to be thrown through a rift and separated again.
"Son of a bitch," I groaned in pain after being thrown into a wall. This time, I was just in the hallway.
Running in search of my friends, I found Isaac first this time. "Riley, what happened?"
"It was another rift," I said. "You find Scott, I need to find Stiles."
He didn't hesitate to agree, telling me to be careful, before running out in search of the Alpha. I ran through the halls, listening for anything that might've helped me to find the boy.
The sound of a door opening caught my attention. I immediately changed direction, heading in the direction of the locker rooms.
"Scott, I can't fight this guy!" I heard him say from within the room.
Reaching the door, I saw the Ghost Rider fire a gun at him. "No!" I shouted, the force of my fear pushing the Ghost Rider to the side.
Stiles had managed to slip out of the way right before the bullet could hit him. I ran over now that I had a clear path, putting my arms around him. But my relief didn't last long as the Ghost Rider began to walk towards Stiles again.
The boy peeled my arms off of him, pushing me to the side. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"Stay back," he begged. When he turned back, the Ghost Rider had the gun to his head. "Riley, stay back."
"Stiles."
"I'll find you, I promise," he whispered. "I love you."
Just as the Ghost Rider was about to fire the gun, a scream erupted through the locker room. The Ghost Rider was thrown back much harder this time, its body creating an indent in the lockers behind it.
When the screaming stopped, the Ghost Rider fell to the ground, presumably dead. I turned to see Lydia standing at the door, panting as she caught her breath.
I ran to her, hugging her, tears in my eyes. "Thank you."
She smiled as I let her go, gently leading me towards Stiles. "Good to see you, Stiles."
"Yeah, you too, Lydia," Stiles nodded.
I went over, smacking his arm.
"Don't ever do that again. We're a team - you go, I go."
"I'm sorry," he said between breaths. "But I'm not promising you that."
I rolled my eyes, kissing him again. "We better get going. We've got a train to catch."
We all ran out of the locker room and headed to the door to the school. Just as we were about to leave, the sound of Stiles' name echoed through the halls.
"Stiles? Is that you?" the voice said.
"Mum?" Stiles said softly, turning away from the door.
I grabbed his arm, trying to get him to stop. "Hey, that's not your mum."
He shook his head, continuing to walk with me still latched on to him. "I know who it is. I know her voice."
"I get that it's her voice, Stiles, but I promise you. . . that's not your mum."
"It's the Wild Hunt," Lydia said, backing me up. "They're tricking you."
"Stiles, why would we lie about this?"
He slowed down beginning to listen to what we were saying.
"The Wild Hunt brought her back, but she's not real," the strawberry blonde explained.
Stiles looked down at the girl, "What do you mean 'brought her back?'"
"Stiles," Claudia said before Lydia had the chance to say anything. She walked through the school doors and into the hallway with us. "I know what you've been through. I know how much you love your father."
As the woman grew closer I reached down and grabbed Stiles' hand, trying to draw him backwards. He didn't move though, staring in shock as the woman got closer.
Passing through a shadow, when she came back into the moonlight, her face had morphed to look like she was a Ghost Rider.
"But I love him more," the creature posing as Claudia claimed. "Even with the Hunt, you somehow wormed your way back into his memory."
"Yeah, worming is one of my skills," Stiles said, not backing down.
"That thing is conjured by your dad's pain," Lydia informed the boy. "If he remembers you, he can't believe in her."
"That's why you have to go," its voice echoed, moving towards us.
Lydia went to scream, only to be thrown to the side by the creature. This time, I was the one to push Stiles back, standing in between him and her.
"Stay back," I warned, my eyes glowing silver.
The creature's face twisted in anger as soon as she noticed the pressure I was putting on the air around her.
"You think you're stronger than me?" It asked. It took heavy footsteps, moving towards me.
I could see it was struggling, not expecting my strength. I hadn't even tested my ability entirely since the Dread Doctors had experimented on me.
When I heard Stiles say my name, I lost my concentration for a moment. That moment was long enough for Claudia to reach me.
Her hand was around my throat, cutting off my air supply in return, pushing me up against the wall harshly. "You are nothing."
Stiles rushed over, grabbing the creature's arm as he tried to detach her from me. I was choking, my feet kicking in the air as she pushed me up off of the ground.
It grabbed Stiles' throat with its free hand, glaring at him. "You shouldn't treat your mother that way."
"You're not my mother," he managed to get out.
The creature grimaced at the statement. She threw me across the hall and I hit the lockers hard, toppling to the ground. I gasped in pain, my whole body aching.
"Stiles," I tried to say but choked on the word.
"He believes in me," the creature said as it slammed Stiles into the wall, pressing against his throat with more pressure.
"Dreams. So hard to kill."
"But not impossible," a voice said from down the hall, the sound of gunshots following close behind.
The Sheriff had arrived and shot at his wife. The bullets hit her but did nothing.
"Noah. Your bullets can't hurt me."
Lydia gathered her strength, moving to stand beside the Sheriff. "Fire again."
The girl screamed as the Sheriff fired his gun. This time when the bullet hit it destroyed the creature, which disappeared in green smoke.
Stiles came over to me, kneeling in front of me and putting his hands on my shoulders. "Are we even now?" he asked, referring to how we had pushed the other aside.
I rolled my eyes as I fell into his arm. "Yeah, I'd say so," I laughed.
The Sheriff came over with Lydia in tow. He put a hand on his son's shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief.
"It's over," Lydia said softly. "We did it."
I smiled as I leaned back to look at Stiles. "We did it."
He pressed a kiss to my forehead, arms tightening around me. "I knew we would."
Sitting up, I looked at him. "I need to go and find my sister. And Iris. I need to make sure they're alright."
Stiles nodded, helping me to my feet. "Okay, I'll drive you."
The boy looked to his father, who seemed nervous to be letting his son out of his sight again. But he knew we would keep each other safe. Besides, the Hunt was gone, so things were okay now.
We went straight to the Jeep, Stiles driving me directly to my house. As we drove, I noticed how full the streets were. Everyone had escaped the Hunt, returning to where they'd been when they were taken.
I wasn't entirely sure where Charlotte and Iris had been, I just hoped that they would go to the house, possibly looking for me.
When we arrived at the house, I jumped out of the Jeep and ran to the front door, rushing inside. "Hello?" I shouted. "Charlotte? Iris?"
I checked all of the rooms, but they were nowhere.
"Riley!" I heard Stiles yell from out the front of the house.
I followed his voice back to the front yard, to see Charlotte and Iris pulling into the driveway. I broke into a smile as I ran over to them.
Charlotte had barely gotten out of the car when I threw my arms around her, "I'm so glad to see you're both alive."
"Us?" Charlotte scoffed with a laugh. "We were worried about you."
I unravelled myself from Charlotte, moving over to Iris. As I did so, I saw my sister go over to Stiles and put her arms around him.
"It's good to see you again, Stiles," she told the boy. "Thank you for keeping her safe."
We all separated from each other, and I saw Stiles look over at me. "This time, she was the one who saved me."
♧♤♢♡
After checking that it was okay with his dad, Stiles came inside, planning to stay the night. We went into my room, wanting to lay down after everything that had happened.
When we entered the room, I went straight to my bed and sat down, taking a deep breath.
"Wow," I heard Stiles say.
"What's up?" I asked, looking up.
Stiles was standing in front of my wall where I had pinned all of the photos. Except, now, Stiles was in them.
He looked over his shoulder at me, "Is this some sort of weird shrine of me? Because I have to admit, some people would find this quite stalkerish. Me, on the other hand?"
He looked back at the wall once more, and then smirked at me with a hand to his heart, "Well, I think I'm flattered."
I stood up from my bed, walking over to stand beside him. My eyes trailed over all of the pictures. I had been staring at these constantly for the past few weeks, trying to figure out what had been making me smile; why I seemed so happy in all of them.
In every photo from the ones in our bedrooms, to the ones at school and the Jeep, Stiles and I were together. They ranged from smiling to goofy faces, to kissing, to laughing, and in every single one, I was happy.
A few tears escaped me as I looked at them all. Stiles noticed straight away, his smirk falling as he moved in front of me, putting a hand on either side of my face. "Hey, I was joking, it doesn't make you seem like a stalker," he told me, trying to lighten the mood.
I laughed through my tears, placing my hands on top of his, "It's not that."
"Then what is it?" he asked softly.
I looked into his eyes and I could feel my heart racing. I never wanted to look away.
"I'm just so, so happy to have you back."
"Well, that's good," he smiled. "Because I'm not going anywhere."
"We really need to stop saying that," I laughed.
♧♤♢♡
"So, you're leaving now?" I asked as I walked towards Peter.
It had taken some asking around, but I'd finally found him. He was back at Derek's loft, packing a bag with whatever he found that had previously belonged to him before he was thrown in Eichen.
Peter let out a heavy sigh as he heard me enter the loft, turning to look at me. "Riley, I really don't have the time for-"
"Then make time," I demanded, not in the mood to screw around. "Why would you say that?"
"Say what?"
"That you were glad my mum told you to leave."
The man zipped his bag shut in frustration, "I told you in the Preserve."
"And you lied," I replied immediately. "I saw you in my memories - I know you cared."
He shook his head, "Even if that was true, I don't know what you expected."
"I expected you to be a father," I scoffed, voice raising as I tried not to appear weak in front of him. "You said you cared about my mum, so why couldn't you stay? Why couldn't we be a family?"
Peter's head fell to the side, "Something wrong with the father your mum picked out?"
"No, of course not. I love my dad," I told him. "I just need you to tell me why you didn't stay?"
Surprisingly, his expression softened as he looked at me. "Because it was easier to save you the disappointment of growing up with me as your father."
"You didn't even give me the chance to be disappointed. You just made the assumption."
"Why do you care so much about this?" he asked, almost laughing.
This was my final straw, my eyes beginning to well. "Because you knew I existed. You knew and you cared, and you still left. And then that night in the woods that you bit Scott, you recognised me - I know you did, and yet you went on to make my life and my friends' lives a living hell. Why?"
"Like I told you, I'm not cut out to be a father. Doesn't suit me."
He picked up his bag and walked past me, opening the door to the loft.
"You never even tried," I said quietly, jaw clenched as a few tears escaped me. "It's not too late."
After almost losing Stiles, the thought of letting Peter walk away without saying something to him felt like something I couldn't do. For the sake of what my mother saw in him, I wanted to at least offer to try and know him as more than the Alpha who tried to kill us.
Peter's head fell before he turned back to face me. "I need to leave Beacon Hills, but I'll be back. Then maybe I'll consider your offer."
"I hope so," I said honestly.
The ghost of a smile crossed his face before he turned back around and walked out the door.