TRICK, AFTER TRICK, AFTER TRICK
LAST night's hospital power out had ended up escalating to more than just a few flickering lights. Multiple innocent town civilians had gotten caught up in the cross fire between the nogitsunes and the woman who dared to make them angry. The car park had turned to a pool of electrifying currents, to which after enough damage had already been done, Kira Yukimura was able to tame the electricity with her powers that even she didn't understand yet.
Unfortunately, Isaac had been one of the innocents who had fallen to fatal injuries when he stepped foot in the electrifying puddle. It was in an effort to protect Allison Argent, which then got him wound up in a hospital bed. And ever since, no one had heard a single word from either Stiles or Aspen.
"Have you been here all night?" the McCall boy asked the brunette huntress who was slumped on a hospital seat just outside of Isaac's room.
"Yeah..." Allison said with fatigue, "they won't let me see him because I'm not family. I told them he doesn't have any..."
From beside Scott, his mother, Melissa, seemed appalled at the situation. She frowned her brows, and spoke "Well he's got us—and I have a key card."
A couple moments later, Melissa had unlocked the door to the Lahey boy's room and the two teenagers approached the door with nervous looks.
"Be quick," Melissa told them softly before leaving them to it.
Scott and Allison exchanged a glance, the two of them just trying to seek any comfort possible in their current situation—and finding it in each other like they always had. They may not be together anymore, and they may never be again—but they'll still always be each other's happy place. Or as Aspen had always said and believed— soulmates.
"I thought he'd be healing by now," Allison spoke solemnly.
"So did I."
"Is he in pain?" Allison asked as the two of them laid their eyes on Isaac who was unconscious and hooked up to an Iv in a hospital bed. Scott got closer, so he could place his palm gently on Isaac's arm, then seconds later—his veins began to run black with the pain he was taking.
"It won't heal him, but it helps with the pain," Scott explained, his veins soon turning back to normal. The McCall boy and The Argent girl looked at each other once more, this time with more pained looks in their eyes.
"Did she really do this?" Allison asked in a voice so quiet it was nearly a whisper, and it didn't escape Scott how Allison had avoided even saying her name in the sentence.
"Whatever's controlling her did it," Scott replied with a similar tone of voice, he then paused for a long moment, pursing his lips, before he continued,
"Allison?" he spoke again, and the huntress swallowed a lump in her throat, nodding her head in acknowledgement, "Do you remember what you said to me on the phone that day?"
Allison nodded her head but stayed quiet, recalling the day they all found out what the Oni were, what they wanted, and who they were looking for.
"You said there's two of them... didn't you...?" Scott added, his voice filled with dread as he tried to deny the facts that were displayed right in front of him.
"Yeah..." Allison replied lowly, "Okami and Void..."
"And you said something about how one can't exist without the other?"
"Yeah, Void can't exist without Okami. Okami's the—more powerful one." Allison said at nearly a whisper.
It was basically public knowledge to everyone in the circle that the host Okami had possessed was Aspen. As much as everyone didn't want to believe it, it was obvious. There was no denying it, it wasn't possible anymore. But it seems Scott was the first one to begin to put together the rest of the puzzle, as he then voiced his thoughts to the Argent girl.
"It's—" Scott stuttered, trying to gather his words as he rubbed his hand over his face in distress, "Stiles—he has to be the other one, Void..."
Allison had her suspicions, but she still felt her heart drop even more at this realisation. Both Allison and Scott knew that the two most least deserving people of this fait—were Aspen and Stiles. And then, as if everything wasn't enough already, Allison had another realisation.
"Scott..." she said warily, looking up at him, "they're emotionally tethered... remember? That—that's gotta be important..."
"It's probably making whatever's inside of them more powerful," Scott replied, feeling his breath hitch in his throat with sheer pain.
Besides his mother—Aspen and Stiles were the two most important people in his life. He'd grown up beside them, they'd been there with him through absolutely everything.
"Then how do we get whatever's inside of them the hell out of them?" Allison asked in response, her voice more worried and panicked now.
"I'm working on it."
***
"The thing is, in all of the stories, Kitsunes are tricksters." Kira explained to Scott as people got ready for cross country, "They're mysterious. They don't really get caught up in right or wrong—or even understand it."
"So what does that mean?" Scott asked, "They're just doing this for the hell of it?"
"No, I found something else," Kira said warily, "Apparently, if you somehow offend the nogitsunes, they can react pretty badly."
"How do you offend a nogitsune?" Scott asked with furrowed brows.
"I don't know, but if they're doing something this bad? Then someone really, really offended them."
Scott was about to reply, when Coach Finstock interrupted their conversation with an announcement to the whole room.
"Listen up!" he yelled, "Anyone catches the slightest glimpse of Stilinski or Carter, you contact the first teacher available—got it?" when no one said anything within two seconds, he added another "Got it?!"
"Yes, coach." Everyone said monotonously.
"And there's a card on my desk for Lahey, and every one of you losers are not only gonna sign it, you're gonna write a personal message so profound and deep, it's gonna bring a tear to Coach's eye. Who's first?" When Danny voluntarily stood forth, Coach gave him a pat on the back, and added, "Ah, Danny. That's how you do it, buddy! Keep it PG, alright?"
When Coach stopped shouting, Scott returned to his murmured conversation with Kira, now with both of the twins.
"No Stiles, no Aspen, and no demonic ninjas." Aiden said at a quiet murmur to the group.
"Things are getting too quiet." Ethan added to what his twin was saying.
"Yeah, I know," Scott spoke, "It's making me nervous too..."
Interrupting their conversation, came a loud blaring noise that only the twins and Scott could hear. It grabbed all of their attention and raised their suspicion.
"You guys hear that?" said Ethan.
"It's an emitter. One of Argent's." Scott stated matter-of-factly.
"It's coming from the basement."
***
The three werewolves had made a quick exit from the locker rooms and made their way to the source of the emitter they all heard—the basement. It didn't take them long to get there, and then all three of their mouths fell open along with their eyes widening—when they found not one—but both of the missing culprits that the entire town was basically on the look for.
Like they'd just been caught red handed, Aspen and Stiles both raised their hands at their sides in a surrender sign. Their eyes fell on all three werewolves in front of them, as they both then swallowed a lump in their throats.
"Scott—" Aspen spoke up first, her voice much more panicked, unlike she had been for the past few weeks—like it was really her, "I know what you're all thinking, okay? But you have to believe me when I say it's really us. I swear to God, Scott—it's us."
Scott didn't reply, he was still processing the sight in front of him. His eyes flicked between the two guilty culprits in front of him, and he took in their stance, their mannerisms—they really did look scared. They really did look like themselves.
But the twins didn't wait on Scott's order—before they both charged at the two possessed teenagers. Ethan grabbed Stiles by the shirt and threw him up against the wall with force, while Aiden did the same to Aspen. The brunette girl could've easily fought back for herself, but she refrained from using any strength to attack the twins—after all, they were supposed to be convincing them they were really themselves. So with that in mind, she took the forceful attack and squinted her eyes shut.
Both of the twins let out howls as their fangs came out and their eyes shone blue—the same blue that Aspen possessed, now that they were betas.
"Wait, stop!" Scott yelled at them, but they didn't listen, so Scott again shouted, "I said stop it!"
Again, the twins hardly listened, so with one final resort, Scott let out a howl as his own eyes shone red, and his growl was powerful enough to pry the twins away from his friends, his True Alpha status proving domineering.
As the twins backed away, Aspen and Stiles still kept their innocent looks, keeping their hands up in the air to convince Scott it was really them. Scott's eyes flicked between the two, until Stiles spoke up.
"Scott, we have no idea where we've been for the past two days, or—or what we've been doing, but right now, I swear to God it's really us."
When Scott still stayed silent, showing no sign of whether or not he was believing it, the brunette girl let one singular tear run down her cheek. It was fake and forced—but they didn't know that, especially when she let out a quiet sob and spoke,
"We're scared, Scott." She said in practically a whisper, "Please—please believe us."
Just like they were supposed to, the tears sold the act. Scott's shoulders loosened like he was letting down some kind of invisible guard as he looked at his two best friends sympathetically— having no idea he was being tricked at that very moment.
"Do you guys know what happened at the hospital?" Ethan spoke up from where he stood.
Aspen and Stiles exchanged a glance, before turning back to face the three werewolves.
"We know more than that..." Aspen mumbled and then she and Stiles slowly walked over to a duffle bag on the ground, crouching down to inspect a folded piece of paper, which Stiles then unfolded to show everyone.
"You see this?" Stiles said, looking up at Scott mainly, "It's a blueprint of the hospital's electrical wiring. And you see all of the markings in red?"
Scott nodded silently as he looked down at the marked-up map.
"That's my handwriting." Stiles announced, "I know I did this. I caused the accident."
"It wasn't all him," Aspen spoke up with a weak voice, placing a hand on Stiles' shoulder and his neck turned to the side to look at her, as she spoke, "I had part in this too, you don't need to take the fall for me."
Aspen and Stiles—well, more like the nogitsunes—were succeeding in selling the show. The heartfelt moment between the two teenage lovers, helping to convince Scott, and mainly Scott, that they were really themselves. After all, nogitsunes are notorious for their tricks—Scott just had no idea he was experiencing one right now.
"You see everything in this bag?" Aspen spoke looking up at Scott, grabbing some of the items inside of it, like wires, tools, cables, "We... we think this might be all apart of something bigger. Something worse."
The hazel-eyed boy next to her let out a shaky breath, his eyes flicking from Scott and then to both of the twins, back to Aspen, and finally back to Scott's once more, as he added:
"A lot worse."
***
Stiles' jeep quickly pulled up just off the side of the cross country track in the woods, when they had all deducted that the students on that trail were in danger of a trap the nogitsunes had set up—little did they realise, it was the nogitsunes that were leading them there in the first place. Either way, they were going to fall into this one trap of many.
Aspen, Stiles and Scott quickly jumped out of the car and dashed towards the track. Aspen wore a false look of panic and concern, that to anyone else—would appear genuine. Too bad Scott couldn't heat the screams of the real Aspen—the screams she let out from inside her own head, telling him to get away.
"Stop! Stop!" Aspen suddenly yelled to everyone who was on the track run, "Everyone stop!" and all the students faces contorted to confusion, but they did stop.
Stiles was right behind her, and he inspected the surroundings. He bent down and shuffled his fingers through the leaves, feeling something buried beneath them. Both he and Aspen ignored the funny looks they were receiving from Coach, as Stiles began to run his fingers along the leaves, slowly retrieving what was buried under them.
"Congratulations, you two." Coach taunted sarcastically at both of the no-longer-missing teenagers, "You found a length of chain."
While both of them were fighting a smirk, they kept their faces in a state of panic and confusion, truly embodying the mannerisms of their hosts. The real Aspen and Stiles were just being forced to sit back and watch as this nightmare was about to unfold.
"Now, can someone please tell me what the hell's going on—" Coach yelled again. But his voice was promptly cut off.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a sharp hunting arrow had flown through the air and landed right in the middle of Coach's stomach. His white shirt quickly spread with a crimson stain of his own blood, and moments later, he felt himself growing lightheaded.
"Oh crap..." he said at a quiet whisper, before he fell to the ground, creating a scene around him as he held out around the arrow that had been planted the entire time.
Stiles rushed to the ground beside him, Aspen quickly following suit. The two of them had to play up like they were there to help—as if they weren't the causes of what just happened.
"Get it out of me!" Coach started to yell in panic, "Get it out of me!"
"Coach—" Aspen tried to speak but got cut off.
"Get it out of me!" Coach repeated, "Oh my God, I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!"
'"Coach—you're not gonna die—" Stiles tried.
"I'm gonna die!" Coach repeated again, ignoring everyone else as blood continued to seep through his shirt from his stomach.
"It will hurt less if you stop moving, Coach—" Aiden tried to calm him down, but nothing was working to ease Coach's fears as he continued to yell with the arrow still in his stomach.
"Get that thing out of me!" he yelled again.
"Stay still, Coach." Said Aiden, "An ambulance is coming.
"Get it out! I'm gonna die!"
"Scott!" Aspen yelled for the boy with urgency, and once Scott was crouched by her side, she quietly whispered, "can you—I don't know, try and take his pain? I tried, but I don't really know how to do it. I just... I wanna help..."
Scott silently nodded and extended an arm to Coach's skin, and the girl beside him watched as his veins turned to black, running thick with the pain he'd just taken away. The leather-jacket wearing brunette had to surpress a smirk that wanted to arise on her lips, so she let out a sigh of false relief, and gave Scott a small, weak smile.
But once Scott had turned away from her, for just a split second—she let that smirk arise, knowing their plan was falling perfectly into place.
If only Scott knew how much the real Aspen was screaming at him not to do that noble act. Because she knew what was coming if everything continued the way it was, and if Okami made her watch that aswel—she didn't know what she'd do.
Moments later, the sirens of an ambulance, along with those of the cop cars got closer and louder. Aiden signalled for all of the crowding students to get back and make way for the paramedics, "Get back! Everyone get back! Give him some room!"
When Coach suddenly stopped his yelling, everyone's eyes fell on him, finding his eyes shut closed and he wasn't moving. But all those with the supernatural hearing could still hear a faint beating of his pulse, luckily.
"I think he just passed out..." Aiden stated.
Aspen and Stiles rushed over to Scott, and the Stilinski boy ran a hand through his messed up brown locks to appear distressed, as Aspen just kept a worrisome expression.
"We could've killed him... right?" Stiles spoke at a low volume only the three of them heard, "I mean, what if it was his head—or his throat?"
"But it wasn't." Scott cut him off reassuringly, placing a supportive hand on his best friends shoulder, ignorantly believing this act was true. Scott had no idea the two people in front of him were nothing but the outer shells of his best friends. And that their real selves couldn't be screaming at him to get the hell away any louder. Too bad their screams were silenced along with their freedom.
"The ambulance is coming," Aiden spoke to everyone, and then Stiles plastered on a solemn and worried expression all over his face. He pursed his lips and nervously wiped his hand over his mouth, and whispered;
"And my dad..."
***
There was yet another disaster to be thrown at Beacon Hills later that day. After Coach was taken to hospital in the ambulance, the teenagers were half way to the Sheriff Station when a voice came through Stilinski's radio. Aspen and Stiles had already reunited with his father, the two nogitsunes putting on their best heartfelt act, along with a warm hug and a reassurance that they were 'okay'. Though the truth couldn't be any further from that.
"Get me an ambulance here at the sheriff's station. We've got an explosion, multiple officers down. Multiple officers down! We need an ambulance ASAP, on the double."
A matter of minutes later, the teenagers found themselves rushing into the building, finding the aftermath of the explosion caused by the bomb, which included multiple officers fallen to the ground with bleeding, fatal wounds.
Scott had rushed to a particular man who was breathing hitched and bleeding uncontrollably. He looked down at the man with a scared expression, then looked up around the station looking for Scott.
"Scott!" he yelled, "Scott help!"
Scott was by his side in a matter of seconds, finding the fatally injured man on the ground, and his own face contorted in fear and grief, even over a man he'd never met. Aspen too was quickly at their sides, but she kept quiet, simply putting on a worrisome face as Stiles spoke to Scott.
"Can you do something?" Stiles asked through a panicked voice, "Take his pain? Anything to... make it easier?" he added, knowing this man on the floor between them was most likely not going to make it.
Scott nodded weakly, and looked down at the officer with sympathetic eyes, and then reached his palm out to his hand which was playing by the second from the lack of blood flow through it. For the third time today, Scott's veins ran black, and because he was taking so much pain all in one day, he had to squint his eyes shut as he let out a hitched breath. Because his eyes being squinted closed, he missed it when Stiles and Aspen lifted their heads up to lock eyes with each other—victorious, sly smirks rising on both of their lips.
After Scott had taken the man's pain, he died a peaceful and painless death. He didn't have too long to mourn over it though, because Kira Yukimura came rushing over to them all with widened eyes, landing straight on Aspen and Stiles.
"It's the Oni—" she said panicked, "They're coming."
"Stiles, Asp," Scott said with an equally as panicked voice as Kira, darting his eyes between the two of them,
"we gotta get you both out of here."
//
Oh Scott, naive naive Scott...
also longer chapter to make up for the last few 😫
and uhh... we all know what scene's coming next, don't we? 🙃