A sharp breath escapes her throat, her body shooting up off the sheets with a jolt. She had done her best to swallow the scream that threatened to leave her lips but a whimper had managed to make its way through, along with the tears that not stained her face. Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, pulling her closer and into their chest and their hands weave their way through her brown locks.
"It's okay." the voice whispers, definitely male. "You're safe, they can't hurt you. I've got you, Vee."
His voice was soft and soothing, it comforted her. It made her feel protected and genuinely safe. Venus wraps her arms around his waist, their holds on each other tightening as she chokes on another sob. Some nights it felt like that dark room down in the tunnels had become a permanent part of her, it's residency now in her mind for as long as she lives.
She knew the horrors she endured in those tunnels would never leave her, she had the physical scars to prove it, starting with the claw marks that still remained across her stomach. But as she sat there in his arms, she felt truly and completely safe. Then the thought occurred to her of who was in her bed?
Her body jolts yet again, this time it truly awoke. Blue eyes darted left and right across her entire room, nothing. No one was here but her. Yet that voice, it had seemed so real, he had seemed real and the tears now falling down her chin were definitely real too. And Venus knew as the word slipped through her lips that it was him.
A quiet whisper in an otherwise still house.
"Stiles."
•••
Lydia had tracked them all down the first thing in the morning, and dragged them off to the side of the hall. Venus had kept the dream to herself, not ready to share those intimate moments nestled in her memories with anyone else. She had tried to keep the fact that she had been crying all night to herself too but Isaac had heard her, though he made no move to confront her.
They could all see the despair on her features but no one had the heart to confront her. Not when they all had the idea Stiles was more important to her than anyone else. So she stood, her hair half up in a knot on the top of her head as she watched her friends converse.
"It's a relic." the strawberry blonde states, holding up the student ID card that Liam and Corey had found in the library.
"What's a relic?" Malia flowers, her gaze lingering on the card.
"An object with a fixed association to the past. Jakes ID was left behind after he was taken and Gwen found her sisters bracelet on her bedroom floor."
Isaac holds a hand out, his eyebrows furrowed. "Hang on, I don't get it. How can someone be erased and still leave something behind?"
"Life is energy." Venus mumbles, slightly startling her friends seeing as she hadn't spoken all day.
"She's right. It's a conservation of mass." Lydia continues, eyeing her arguably closest friend worriedly. "The total mass of any isolated system remains constant."
"So even the ghost riders have a weakness." Scott says, sounding almost relieved.
"It also means that Stiles must've left something no behind too." Venus speaks again, her shoulders easing a little at the prospect of them behind closer to finding him, to her remembering.
"And maybe we can bring him back."
•••
"You want to search my house?" Noah speaks incredulously, flipping over the student ID card in his fingers from behind his desk.
Venus had grown increasingly restless throughout the day. She had barely gotten through second period before deciding that she couldn't just sit around and do nothing for so long. After their conversation with the sheriff last night and their revelation of relics from this morning, she knew that if Stiles had left anything behind it would be at the mans house.
Which lead her to grabbing Isaac and making their way towards the station, which was where they now were being stared down by the man himself.
"People are leaving things behind." the Nymphs explains. "So if Stiles left anything then-"
"Why would it be in my house?" the man interrupts.
The girl simply raises her eyebrows, her blue eyes pleading at him. Yet again he got that feeling that he knew her, that she was more to him and his family than just their neighbor but he couldn't quite place why he had such a soft spot for her.
Noah lets out a sigh, dumping the card on his desk. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up, figured I'd do some paperwork. The files were in the back of my car so I go to the garage and some junks fallen off a shelf and I stubbed my toe on an old baseball bat. Without thinking I yelled out a name..."
"Stiles." Venus breaths.
And so the man gave them his permission and called his wife informing her the teens were on their way. Upon their arrival, Claudia leads them in to the living room. Yet again, Venus had gotten that odd feeling from the woman that she desperately wished she could explain.
Venus and Isaac were now stood in the living room, looking at the multiple pictures hung up by the Stilinskis of just the couple. No kids.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" the woman asks from the archway separating the living room from the dining room.
The Nymph turns around and flashes her a smile. "No, but thank you Mrs. Stilinski."
"Well, good luck. I'll leave you to it."
And then she left and the two 'siblings' were left to wander about their surrounding. But Venus knew where she was supposed to go, supposed to look. Her eyes roam around the room for a second before they settle on the hallway across her and she begins to move towards it.
"What are we even looking for?" the werewolf asks quietly, his eyes moving across their surroundings as well for any sign of a relic. Apparently, he hadn't noticed the dazed look across Venus' face as she continued pushing forward.
She only stopped when she reached that wall. It almost felt like it was calling out to her, begging her to come towards it and investigate. Her body could immediately sense the auras emitting from it, her own vibrant one shining through the most. But there was another, one that was entwined with her own that it scared her.
Isaac watches from a few steps away as she reaches out her hand and places it on the wall, her eyes closing the influx of emotions greeting her.
Gentle kisses on her arms, followed by a soft caress. "I'd do anything to keep you safe, because I love you."
A rough hand grasping her wrist had pulled her out of the daydream, a soft whimper escaping her lips. "What are you doing?" Claudia demands through gritted teeth, and when Venus focused back on the wall she took notice of the now ripped wallpaper.
"I...I'm so sorry." Venus stumbles, swallowing harshly. "I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."
"I think that's something we can agree on."
Isaac steps forward, grasping her arm and pulling it out of Claudia's grasp before pulling her into his arms. "Let's just go, Vee."
•••
"So you ripped up Claudia Stilinskis wallpaper." Alexander softly chuckles as he walks into his daughters room and sits himself down on her bed. The girl was sitting at her desk, biology assignment sprawled in front of her as she worked. Her head falls into her hands at the mention of the embarrassing situation.
Venus lets out a sigh. "Lina gave me an earful when I got home earlier, okay? It was a stupid mistake and I already apologized."
"Are you feeling alright?" Venus didn't miss the concern lacing his question as she lets out a sigh.
"I'm fine, dad. I was just...overwhelmed by something." Her father raises his eyebrows, awaiting further explanation from her. So she picks herself off her desk and moves to the pile of pictures on her nightstand, handing to him and launching into an explanation of everything they've found out the past weeks.
Her father furrows his eyebrows at the one picture of her hugging the air and seemingly pressing a kiss to someone's cheek. "So he was your boyfriend?"
"I- I think so." she fumbles with her fingers, sitting down next to him. "I can hear his voice sometimes, I've had a few memories resurface and I think I loved him a lot, dad. And I think you knew him."
Alexander rubs a hand down his face before setting all the pictures aside and standing in front of his daughter with his hands on his hips.
"Claudia is concerned for your mental health, and frankly so am I." he admits, not looking her in the eyes.
Venus gapes at her father, standing up defiantly. "Dad you have to trust me on this, I know he's real."
"What if you're making all this up? You've convinced yourself that all of this is real Vee, but have you even stopped for a second to realise how absurd this all is?"
Her shoulders slump. "Stiles is real. I know it." he doesn't reply, his body simply turning to look away from her. The Nymph lets out a huff before placing herself back down onto her bed. "Isaacs playing tonight, you should go."
"Just...just think about it."
And then he was gone, without him knowing that it was all she could think about. Stiles was all she could think about, even if she couldn't remember him. She knows he's real and she's going to prove it.
It didn't take long after that for Lydia to call her and ask her to meet her and her mom at the hospital. Apparently she wasn't the only one who was convinced that something was wrong and unusual when they saw Claudia. Especially after Noah's revelation that Stiles could've been their son, and the Banshee seemed to have an idea of how to figure it out.
"You want what?" Melissa yells at the request, making Venus cringe a little from where she stood next to Lydia and Natalie.
Lydia seemed to be the only one who was still composed. "Claudia's medical records, just for a minute. We know it's a lot to ask."
"It's up there. It's way up there."
"As the more recently enlightened out of the two of us, trust me. There are lives at stake." Natalie intervenes, her voice calm.
"Letting the three of you look at private medical records is completely and utterly against hospital regulations." the nurse replies, letting out a sigh when she spots Venus' desperate expression. "So, we better make this fast."
Melissa leads them down the halls before sneaking them into the records room. The nurse was sat in front of an old looking computers, searching up Claudia's name as the other three females stood behind her, Venus almost leaning over her shoulder in anticipation.
"Sorry guys, according to her medical records, Claudia never had children." Melissa reveals, showing them the screen.
Lydia lets out a frustrated sigh, but Venus was determined to figure at least something out today. The brunette leans over the woman shoulder, reading her full medical report when something caught her eye.
"Wait." she says, pointing a finger at one of the lines. "This says she had-"
"Frontotemporal demential." Melissa cuts her off, sounding greatly confused herself. "There must be a mistake."
"How long ago?" Natalie asks. "She seems fine now."
"Ten years? I'm surprised she's still alive, honestly."
Venus' head was spinning, no one with that kind of disease should be able to stay alive this long. She couldn't tell if it was actually a miracle or a cruel trick of fate.
It's called frontotemporal dementia, it's what my mother had, how she died.
I bet you there's a healing tree somewhere we can take you to.
The brunette stumbles back a couple steps at the voices, at her own voice, so sad yet teasing. So Stiles had dementia too and he had inherited it from Claudia and she was supposed to be dead. None of it made any sense.
She didn't even realise that Lydia had lead her out of the room and that the two older women had left them, Venus was too engrossed in her own thoughts. That's until she spotted Scott, Isaac and Malia at the end of the hall with Melissa who was pushing what looked to be Chris Argent on a bed.
"What happened?" Lydia asks, picking up the pace as she lead the both of them to their friends.
Malia lets out a sigh before finally tearing her eyes from the man. "The Ghost Riders took everyone. We barely slowed them down."
"Why does Vee look like she's about to throw up?" Isaac speaks, taking a couple steps away from the girl in case she did actually throw up.
"Tell us you found something." Scott urges looking between the two girls.
Noticing that Venus hadn't quite gathered her wits yet, she answers for them. "We found out Claudia never had kids, Stiles can't be her son."
"He is." Venus corrects, her voice coming out as a squeak. "I- I've been having these flashes of memories. I cant see anyone but I can hear the conversation, I can hear Stiles. As far as I can tell from them, Claudia should be dead."
The four teens around her look at her skeptically, seemingly worried at how crazy she sounded.
"What about a relic?" Isaac asked first, his gaze moving to look at Venus. Lydia shook her head.
"There never was a Stiles, was there?" Malia wonders.
Venus shakes her head rapidly. "Don't say that."
"It doesn't even sound like a real name." Scott tries to reason, but the girl only looks at him almost offended. She couldn't believe how fast they had turned on this whole situation.
"Vee, you said it yourself. You're hearing voices." Isaac reason, stepping closer to her. "Maybe Alex is right, maybe you're just stressed and you're trying to take your mind off it by doing all this."
The Nymph lets out a disbelieving chuckle, which probably didn't help their argument that they thought she's going crazy. "Oh my God, he talked to you about it? You guys can't be serious right now. Stiles is real."
"We're fighting the wrong battle." Malia tries to reason again. "The Ghost Riders came back, we still have no of stopping them. Whatever they are, they're real. We can't keep chasing someone who isn't."
Scott tries to put a hand on her shoulder in attempt to calm her but she flinched back, causing him to let out a sigh. "He didn't leave anything behind-"
"He left us." Venus finally snaps. "He left me! Believe what you want. I'm bringing him back, with or without you." She shoves past them, pushing Isaac a little too hard. "Find your own way home."
AUTHORS NOTE
hey, i'm alive! i failed a module at university but that's okay!