[ there's a little comment made by void and i just gotta make it clear before you even read it. willow and void do not have sex. we're not doing that to will and stiles.
maybe he does know where the tattoo is and you can think about that on your own time (i wouldn't judge) but it's not cannon. and there won't be another explicitly written kiss between them. just getting those clarifications out of the way ]
☽︎
stiles may be gone, but he forgot something.
[ 3.22 ]
The loft was silent as Noah stepped inside. He spotted his son right away, who was facing away from him and looking out the window. And his mind-controlling accomplice was standing next to him.
Stiles turned slowly, his eyes landing on his father. "Hi, Dad." In response, Noah simply held out a pair of handcuffs. "You want to handcuff me?"
"If my son is still here, if there's a part of him standing here in front of me, then he'll put these on willingly and he'll come with me. He'll let Willow go," Noah said, walking up to them. "Because he knows I'm here to protect him, from himself and from others."
Slowly, Stiles raised his hands in defeat. Noah carefully secured the handcuffs around his wrist. But then the sad, defeated look on Stiles' face slipped away.
"You're not my son," Noah said, his voice cold.
Stiles smirked before breaking the handcuffs apart, freeing himself easily. Willow let out a pleased giggle as Chris, Allison, and Derek came into the room. Stiles looked over the new arrivals, landing on Allison just as she raised a taser gun.
Stiles grabbed the wires before they could hit his chest. The electricity did nothing to him as he pulled on the wires until he yanked the gun out of her hold. Allison flinched and took a step back.
Derek growled and lunged at Stiles, but the Nogitsune was quicker. He grabbed Derek's shoulder, twisting it until it was dislocated. Then he flung the werewolf into the brick wall.
The sound of a gun cocking stopped Stiles in his place. He turned his head to see Chris pointing the weapon at his head. Stiles tilted his head, intrigued by the turn of events. He hadn't expected for any of them to get lethal.
And Noah hadn't expected it either. He cautiously raised his hand. "Argent, listen to me. Don't do this."
"Why not?" Chris asked, his hand steady. "I've done it before — Werewolves, Berserkers. I can easily add a Nogitsune to the list."
Noah drew his gun to point at Chris. Stiles was quite pleased with the turn of events, his lips forming a silent, taunting 'ooh.'
"You're not going to shoot my son," Noah declared.
"You said it yourself, Sheriff — that's not your son."
"Put it down!" Noah ordered. "Put it down!"
"Dad, he's going to shoot me," Stiles chimed in. He added a tremble to his voice. "He's going to kill me, Dad."
"Don't listen," Chris said, not deterred by Stiles' act.
"Put it down! Now! Do it! Put it down!" Noah shouted.
"Pull the trigger! Come on!" Stiles yelled, grinning viciously at Chris. Then he grabbed Willow and held her in between them. "Add a Nogitsune and an Incantator to that list."
Chris glanced at Willow, still not lowering his gun with her in the way. Stiles was taller anyway. He didn't have to hit her. But Derek didn't care. Not with a gun pointed in her direction.
"Don't even think about it, Argent," Derek snapped, back on his feet.
"Listen to me," Noah said, "you put the gun down now!"
"Shoot me!" Stiles roared, thriving off the chaos. "What kind of hunter lets someone who can control minds live, huh? Shoot us!"
"Put the gun down, now!" Noah said to Chris, who still wouldn't stand down. "Argent, you put it down!"
"Derek doesn't like it when you have a gun pointed at my girl," Stiles taunted, dark eyes falling on Derek. "Who's the better kisser, little Charmer? Him or me?"
"Shut up," Derek seethed, digging his claws into his palms. "Argent, put the gun away while she's in the way."
"I've got a better question," Stiles went on. His hand danced along Willow's collarbone, who leaned back into him. "Who's better at other things? Him or me? Give him that answer, and he might be alright with shooting me. So do it, Argent. Shoot me!"
"Put the gun down!" Noah once again ordered.
"Shoot me!"
"Argent, put it down!"
"Tell me, Derek," Stiles went on, letting out a dark chuckle. "Does my girl bite that pretty little lip to hold in a moan when you kiss that tattoo for you too?"
Blood dripped down Derek's fists as he dug his claws into his palms, trying to control his anger. Trying to not rip Stiles' head off his body.
"Strife," Allison whispered as the arguing went on and on. Then she glanced at the window, watching as the sun went down. "Stop! Stop it! This is what he wants. This is exactly what he wants!"
Everyone looked from Allison to Stiles, who had an amused smirk on his face once more. "Not exactly... I was kind of hoping Scott would be here. But, I'm glad you all have your guns out—" As he spoke, four Oni appeared in the shadows by the window. "Because you aren't here to kill me. You're here to protect me."
Stiles slowly backed away, pulling Willow along with him. Chris and Noah acted the quickest, their guns already drawn. Each emptied a round into the Oni, though it didn't make much of a difference.
When the other two moved behind Stiles, Allison and Derek rushed to take them on, keeping them away from him. Everything was going according to plan, giving the Nogitsune all the chaos and strife that he needed to escape.
No one really noticed how he vanished, not until the Oni did as well. And then a second later, Scott and Kira ran in, just barely missing the fight. Chris aimed his gun at them as a reflex but soon lowered it, realizing that he wasn't a threat.
"What happened?" Scott asked.
"They disappeared," Allison said, catching her breath. "They literally just vanished."
"And so did Stiles," Noah added.
Derek was crouched over on the ground, holding back a pained groan as he eyed the lone figure lying in a heap on the floor. In an attempt to keep an Oni from hurting Stiles, Willow got in the way. It ended with her head being smashed into one of the support beams.
"Stiles may be gone," Derek said, watching as she took in a slow breath. "But he forgot something."
"Is she alive?" Kira asked, seeing the blood on her forehead.
"She is," Derek said, slowly walking over to her.
"But is she herself?" Allison had to ask. "Why would he leave her? He's been taking her everywhere."
"I don't care why," Derek told her. They all had valerian root in their system, and Derek wasn't going to let her get away now that he had her.
They watched as Derek gently turned Willow onto her back. "Willow," he called softly, brushing his thumb along her cheek. She let out a quiet noise, signaling that she was waking up after being knocked out.
When Willow did open her eyes, she looked up at Derek, seeing so much care in his eyes. But then she slowly looked away before frantically searching the room. Searching for Stiles.
"Wh - where is he? Is he done with me?" she asked, her breathing picking up speed. Derek thought she looked scared. "Please. Please don't let him take me again."
"We're not. Not again," Derek said, holding her hands to keep them from shaking.
"Willow," Scott called, cautiously walking over to her. "Is this really you? Are you back?"
Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at the floor. They could all tell that she was struggling mentally. Allison, in particular, felt a familiar ache in her chest. She recognized the look on Willow's face — one she had had on her own at one time. It was the look of someone who had been so manipulated that she couldn't tell which thoughts were her own and which were put there by the Nogitsune. And now she was desperate to sort them so that she wouldn't hurt anyone.
"I don't know if I am," Willow whispered, her voice breaking. "I don't know."
☽︎
Willow was confined to Derek's loft as the others left. She didn't say much at all to anyone, not even Derek. They weren't sure why Stiles finally left her alone. They weren't sure if it was another trick — like the Nogitsune was giving Willow false hope, letting her think that she was finally free.
"What are you doing?" Peter asked, walking over to the table that Derek was standing at. He also eyed the huge gash that covered Derek's shoulder and shoulder blade. It still looked fresh even though a few hours had passed. "And, more importantly, why aren't you healing?"
"It's from one of their swords. It'll heal," Derek muttered, not looking away from the task at hand. He was setting up a chess set, trying to make sense of Stiles' message.
"Why not have Willow heal it?" he asked.
Derek glanced toward his bed. Willow was sitting on the edge and staring at her hands, deep in thought. "I don't want her to use her powers. For all we know, it could be like a beacon, telling Stiles exactly where she is."
Peter was fairly sure that the Nogitsune already knew. In fact, he was fairly sure that it wasn't Willow sitting on that bed, though Derek wouldn't hear it. He was too desperate for it to be his Willow to hear any other possibilities.
"So you're playing chess?" Peter questioned, glancing at the board. It was clear that Derek didn't want to talk much about Willow.
"Back in his room, Stiles had a board with my name on one of the pieces. Willow's too, even if it was already off the board. If this is a game to him, then I need to figure out the plays."
"Not so easy to do when it's a game without rules," Peter said, a bit cryptically.
Derek glanced from the pieces to him. "What does that mean?"
"You're dealing with the kind of spirit that's lived too long to play by human rules. It's a fox spirit that chose to become human — and supposedly, that's something they can do only after about one hundred years. If a Kitsune is an annoying pain-in-the-ass, then a Nogitsune, which is a dark Kitsune, is a freaking disaster. Besides, chess is Stiles' game. It's not the game of a Japanese Fox."
As Peter grabbed his jacket and prepared to leave — he didn't want to be around an unstable Willow, even if he had consumed valerian root so that he couldn't be controlled — Derek mulled over his advice.
"Do yourself a favor and put something on that," Peter added, heading to the door, "before it gets infected."
Derek rolled his eyes, knowing that Peter was overreacting. Well, maybe he wasn't, as the wound still hurt a lot. So, Derek put the chess set aside and went to grab a first aid kit.
Willow didn't look up from her hands until Derek was right in front of her.
"Would you mind helping me reach this?" he asked, speaking softly.
Glancing at the supplies in his hand, she nodded. Derek took a seat in a chair and pulled off the tank top he had been wearing so that it wouldn't get in the way, and Willow stood behind him.
Because he wasn't facing her, he missed the small, pleased smile on her lips when a lone fly crawled into the wound — a gift from the Nogitsune for a plan that wouldn't be enacted until the sun came up.
Willow was gentle as she cleaned the gash, apologizing softly each time he winced or even tensed up. Then she wrapped gauze around it. Derek had to hold in a soft, content sigh as her fingers brushed his skin. He missed her gentle touch.
After it was bandaged, Willow leaned down to gently kiss it — not a healing one, just a regular one. She slid her hand off his shoulder, but a second later, he snatched her hand and held it against his skin. Then he got up, turning to face her.
"I'm sorry," Willow whispered with watery eyes.
Derek shook his head and stepped closer. "Don't apologize. You know you're not responsible for anything you've done."
"I know, but still," she murmured with a frown. "Especially about the things he said to you — rubbing it in your face like that. And I know - I know I already told you about kissing him. And - and maybe it happened a few more times, but he was making it sound like it was even more, but I promise nothing worse hap—"
"Willow," Derek said softly. He cupped her face, calming her down before she could get worked up with her guilt. "As long as I have you in my arms, nothing the Nogitsune says or does can touch me. And I won't let him touch you again."
"Then I won't leave your arms," she said sweetly. "Ever again."
"I like the sound of that," he said with a gentle smile. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."
"I've missed you too. Missed telling you about my day," she told him. She slid a hand up his broad chest before resting it behind his neck, careful to avoid his injury. "Missed waking up next to you," she whispered. Willow angled her head so that she could kiss the wrist of the hand cupping her face. "Missed kissing you." She bit her lip, looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes.
"I think I can help with that," Derek said, his voice low. Willow let out a surprised gasp as he lifted her by her thighs, fingers digging into them and holding her up at eye level.
"Make me forget," Willow whispered, leaning forward, her nose brushing along his jaw as she shut her eyes. "Forget his hands. His lips. Please make me forget. Just want you."
Derek captured her lips with his, kissing her hungrily as Willow wound her fingers in his hair. They didn't part even once as Derek carried her to his bed, laying her down on it as he crawled on top of her.
Willow let out a needy whine when Derek pulled away but it was replaced with a moan as he bit her shoulder before sucking on the skin. Warm hands slid under her skirt, fingers brushing across the inside of her thighs. Willow pressed her hips up against his, but he moved a hand to her stomach and firmly pressed her back down into the mattress, keeping her still.
"I'll make you forget," Derek promised as Willow let out a soft whimper. "Everything but me."
☽︎
The sun was already up by the time they were both awake. Derek sat on the edge of the bed while Willow kneeled on the mattress behind him, her arms draped over his shoulders and hands resting over his heart. A soft smile made its way onto Derek's lips as she placed butterfly kisses along his neck.
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," he said, picking up one of her hands to kiss her fingertips. "And I'm so happy to have you back."
"I'm happy to be back," she muttered. "I'm also happy that I didn't get shot last night. Thank you for protecting me."
Derek grew tense, remembering how Chris had a gun pointed at her less than a day ago. "He - I'm sure he wouldn't have pulled the trigger."
"Well, you never know with an Argent," Willow said, her fingers dancing across his chest, casually drawing random shapes. "I guess I was just surprised to see you working with him at all — calling him an ally. Especially with what happened with Kate. Remember how she burned them?"
"You're right," he said, a dark look taking setting in. "He's not an ally. He's the enemy."
A pleased smirk formed as she kissed his shoulder once more. The valerian root was far out of his system — he hadn't thought to take more when he woke. But Willow didn't even have to use her powers on him.
The Nogitsune's fly was already inside, taking root and altering his mind. Willow just had to push him in the right direction.
And that push led Derek all the way to the Argent's apartment.
Chris was blissfully unaware of what was waiting on the other side of his front door as he threw on his jacket, speaking with Allison on the phone.
"I think he went to the school. I tried to catch up, but he had a head start," she said, referring to Isaac who chained her to the bed and ran off.
"I'm on my way," Chris told her.
"And Scott said Deaton might have a way to free Willow," she added. "Derek needs to bring her to his house as soon as possible."
"Got it. I'll call him on the way." After hanging up, Chris opened his door and was met with the two people he had just been discussing. He eyed Derek warily, who looked exhausted with dark circles under his eyes and a blank expression on his face. "Derek, you all right?"
"I need to show you something," was all Derek said. He let himself into the apartment, Willow following behind with a loose grip on the back of his shirt. In her other hand, she had a heavy-looking duffle bag.
Chris walked with Derek back to his office. Derek then pulled something out of his pocket and opened his hand, letting the items drop onto the desk. Talia's claws clattered noisily as they hit the surface.
"Do you know who these belonged to?" Derek asked, his eyes glued to the claws. "These claws are all that was left of my mother... after your psychotic sister burned her and the rest of my family alive."
Chris subtly reached under his jacket, grabbing the gun that he had hidden. But before he could draw it, Derek lunged, hitting Chris over the head. The hunter was too dazed to fight back as Derek got rid of the gun and then forced him into a chair.
"Rope?" Willow offered, having already pulled it out of the bag.
Derek looked at her with a wicked grin. "Good girl," he praised, taking the rope from her. As Derek tied Chris up, Willow leaned against the wall with a delighted smile on her face.
"Derek," Chris said, the pounding in his head finally calming down so that he could think. "Okay, listen to me. This isn't you. Willow is in your head."
"That's just it though," Willow said, giggling. "I'm not doing anything. But he did say I could take Derek out to play. This is one of our favorite games — second to last night, of course."
Finished with tying Chris up, Derek passed by Willow to grab the bottle of lighter fluid from the bag. Before going back to Chris, he stopped in front of her, a satisfied smirk on his face as he leered at her.
"Last night was my favorite too," Derek said, leaning in and roughly tugging on her bottom lip with his thumb. Her eyes sparkled as she ran her tongue over the tip of his thumb right before he backed away.
Then Derek began dousing Chris with lighter fluid. "Derek! Whatever's gotten into your head— whatever the Nogitsune's done — this isn't the way to deal with it."
"You burn my family, I burn yours!" Derek said, tossing the empty bottle away. Then he pulled out a lighter and hovered it close to Chris's face. "In fact, I'll burn the whole building down around you!"
Chris blew out the flame before it could touch him, which enraged Derek. He snatched his chin, grabbing it so tightly that it nearly broke his jaw. Chris cried out in pain, which was muffled by his inability to move his mouth.
When Derek did let him go, he sat back in a chair, toying with the lighter in his hands. Chris took a deep breath, trying to get through to him.
"That was Kate. You know I had nothing to do with that. I'm not your enemy, Derek," Chris said. "Not anymore."
"Yeah, you are," Derek stated, waving the flame around, watching how it flickered. "You and Allison. Which is why... I'm not gonna light this yet." Derek let out a carefree laugh, an excited grin taking shape as he closed the lid on the lighter. "I'm not!"
Derek leaned back in his chair, and Willow came up behind him. Just like that morning, she draped her arms over his shoulders, resting her hands on his chest. He brought a hand up to toy with her fingers.
"We're going to wait until she gets home and we're going to let her watch," Derek told him. "Just like she watched Willow bleed out in that police station."
"This isn't you — either of you," Chris said, worried eyes falling on Willow. "Don't do this, Willow."
"I'm not doing this," Willow said, resting her head on Derek's shoulder. "He is. He's the one you should be begging your life for."
"Derek, you don't want to kill me. You shouldn't kill me. And if you do, you'll regret it once you're in your right mind," Chris said.
"Why shouldn't I kill you?" Derek asked angrily, standing abruptly. He began pacing the office, growing more frustrated. "How many of us have you murdered? You're not my ally! You're a Hunter!"
Willow eyed Derek cautiously. He seemed to be rationalizing the decision to kill Chris, but that wasn't right. The Nogitsune already had control over him. Why was it slipping? Why was he questioning it? Something was happening.
"You're right. I am a Hunter," Chris said, his eyes glued to Willow. She was too busy watching Derek, who seemed to be covering his ears. He didn't want to hear any more of Chris' convincing words. "Trained before I could even speak, and trained others. Do you know what the first lesson we teach is? Willow wouldn't — she stopped before we could put her through it. We take our children, we bind them in a chair just like this. Then, we wait for them to get out. Most of them, it takes hours. Others? Seconds."
Chris pushed off the ground with his feet before slamming himself and the chair back into the ground, breaking the wooden furniture apart like it was made of toothpicks. Derek turned, fully shifted, and jumped over the desk to reach him. Grabbing the handgun that was hidden under the desk, Chris aimed it under Derek's chin just as his claws reached his throat.
"I don't want to kill you, Derek!" Chris shouted. "Don't make me kill you. Please!"
But then before either could do any maiming or shooting, black blood began to drip from Derek's nose, who began to sway on his feet. Dread filled Willow, realizing that something must have been wrong with the Nogitsune.
With Derek out of it and Chris trying to figure out what was happening, Willow took the opportunity to slip out the door. She had to find the Nogitsune. She had to find out what was wrong.
☽︎
In the McCall house, everyone was on high alert as Stiles began coughing up a long bandage. He kept retching, yanking it out of him and letting it pile on the floor.
They all watched as dark shadows surrounded the pile, and then a bandaged hand rose from it. Stiles scrambled backward, as did everyone else, watching as a bandaged body climbed out of the pile as if it was a deep pit.
As the body planted its feet on the ground, Peter and Scott lunged forward, pinning them to the couch. The person struggled against them, trying to get free.
"Hold him!" Peter snapped.
"I'm trying!" Scott shouted, doing his best to keep the person still. But there was something familiar about the way they moved. "Wait, wait, wait!"
While Peter kept the person held down, Scott pulled at the bandages around the face. He yanked them off layer by layer until he revealed the face underneath.
"Scott?" Stiles asked, looking up at his friend with watery, confused eyes.
"Scott," Deaton then called, a frown on his face.
When Scott turned, he saw that the other Stiles was missing from the room, the back door wide open. And he wasn't the only one. Lydia was missing as well.
"Where are they?" Scott asked, helplessly. "Where—"
"Where is he?"
Everyone spun around to see Willow had burst through the front door. Her eyes were frantically searching their faces until they landed on one in particular.
Stiles.
She let out a sigh of relief before rushing over to him. However, she only made it four steps before stopping completely. Willow studied this Stiles, knowing that it didn't feel right in her chest.
"You're not him," she whispered, backing away. "What'd you do with him? Where is he? What'd you — Let me go!"
"Sorry, sweetheart," Peter said. He had come up behind Willow and grabbed her tightly. "Doc, wanna get a move on?"
Willow struggled helplessly in the werewolf's arms. Each attempt at using Charmspeak was useless, all of them with valerian root in their systems. Deaton walked up to them, a syringe with an unknown substance inside.
"My apologies, Willow. I do believe this might hurt," Deaton said with a frown.
Then he jammed the needle right into her neck, hitting a vein. Willow let out an agonizing scream, feeling like her skin was on fire. Everyone watched with wide eyes as her veins glowed a soft pink color under her skin.
As the glow faded, Willow collapsed in Peter's arms. He carefully carried her over to the couch, propping her head on the end.
"Willow," Peter called, brushing the hair away from her face. "Willow, can you hear me?"
"H - hurts," she cried, her eyes clenched shut. "God it — make it stop. Please make it stop."
"The burning will fade in a few minutes," Deaton told her, crouching beside her on the couch. "It's not the kind of pain that a werewolf can take."
"What did that do to her?" Melissa asked in alarm.
"It took away her powers — though only temporarily. Unfortunately, we'll have to do this every twelve hours," Deaton explained. "A certain blind alpha knew that valerian essence straight to the vein would temporarily block her abilities."
"And if she has no abilities, then the Nogitsune can't use them against her," Peter added. Willow's breathing was beginning to slow down, the pain fading a bit — though it was still excruciating.
Through blurry vision, Willow turned her head and set her sights on Stiles, who was already watching her, an unreadable expression on his face.
"St - Stiles?" she called, her voice hoarse from screaming. "It's you?"
"I think," he whispered. "And it's you?"
"For now."