Hospitals are for the sick. For the people with illness. Not for people who just had the a nogitsune nearly kill them. No matter how strongly I felt about it, that was where I was. Sat in a hospital bed, with my mom as my nurse and Scott currently nowhere to be found. The room I was in was white, just like most hospital rooms were. All there was to hear was the sound of the heart monitor, letting me know that I was still alive.
Speaking of mom she walked into the room with a small smile on her face. "We got your blood pressure back to normal and I think you're free to go."
I smiled widely as she unclipped the pulse oximeter from my finger and the IV drip from my arm. "You had me stay in this bed for three hours just to let me go?" Mom nodded and kissed my forehead. "I did and Scott is here to bring you home." She handed me clothes to change into and left the room. Once I change out of the admittedly hideous hospital gown and into the jeans and sweater my mom had gave to me.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to leave? I mean when Stiles did whatever it was that he did it felt like my life was literally being sucked from my body." Mom had re-entered the room after I had changed and she sighed, nodding at me. "I checked your vitals, they're even and normal. Same goes for your heart rate and anything else that could have happened. Now go. Scott said he had to take you somewhere important first."
I nodded and followed out mom out of the room. Scott guided me out of the hospital as I glanced at him. "Where did you need to take me?" He sighed as we got on his bike. "Stiles is getting checked into Eichen House." Before I could reply he sped us away and we pulled up to the institution as Stiles and his dad stood by the gate. As soon as Scott stopped the bike I slid off the helmet and jogged over to Stiles. "Please tell me he's lying."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Stiles sighed as Stilinski stepped forward. "Because we wanted to avoid something like this. It's only 72 hours." Scott shook his head, "This is the same place where Barrow came from. The guy who had a tumor inside him filled with flies." Scott nodded and glanced at me. "You don't know everything yet." Stilinski sighed, "I know enough. Nogitsunes, Kitsunes, Oni, or whatever they're called."
Stiles nodded slightly, facing his dad. "Wow, that was actually all surprisingly correct." Stilinski glanced at me and furrowed his eyebrows."Jayla, Scott, I saw an MRI that looked exactly like my wife's. And it terrifies me. I'm headed down to L.A. tomorrow to talk to a specialist." I stepped forward and felt my heartbeat slightly rise. "Then why are you putting him in here?" Stiles lifted his head and looked at me. "He's not. It was my decision." Scott shifted on his feet as he kept his eyes on Stiles. "Stiles, I can't help you if you're in here."
Stiles nodded slightly but sighed, "And I can't hurt you." Scott shook his head quickly and sighed, "Deaton's got some ideas. Argent's calling people. We're gonna find something. And if we can't..." Stiles leaned forward, towards Scott and glanced at me quickly, "If you can't... If you can't, then you have to do something for me, okay? Make sure I never get out."
I shook my head and stepped forward, "No Stiles-" Stiles shook his head. "Jayla, I'll be alright. You'll be safe." Stilinski put a hand on Stiles' shoulder and turned him slightly. "Come on." I went to step forward but Scott grabbed my arms. "Jayla, Jayla stop!" I turned and groaned. "Let's get you home." I nodded tightly and waited as Scott got on the bike. "Can we go home?" Scott nodded slightly. "Yeah, sure. Hold on." He turned on the bike and drove us home, where I laid down and went to bed.
Darkness was all around me. I felt the cold air on my skin and my hair was a mess against my head. "Hello?" My voice echoed slightly and I felt myself wandering through the trees, trying to get somewhere. "Jayla. Come and find me." That was the voice of the nogitsune and as much as I wanted to turn and walk the opposite way I followed it. I followed the voice down the hill and across the creek, then back up.
"Follow my voice Jayla. Come and find me." I tripped up the rock on the opposite side, scraping my knee. Soon enough I was in front of a building. No signs, no lights. Just a plain brick building. "Jayla don't! Jayla no. Jayla. Jayla!" A voice echoed in my ears as I entered the building, as soon as I entered there was a swarming noise that flooded my ears.
The only words that I could hear clearly hear aside from my name was Stiles' name. My name was louder and it was coming from every direction, no clear way to tell where it was coming from. "Go away. Go away, get out." Stiles' voice came from the left of me and I turned quickly, "Stiles?" I tried to follow his voice but it seemed to come from the other direction.
"God just shut up!" I screamed and grabbed at my hair. "He's gone Jayla. He's mine." As the voice bounced off the walls I stood up straight and shook my head. "No, you don't get him. No, No. No!" I sat up quickly and glanced around. "Wha- Where am I?" I wasn't anywhere I had been before and I heard a door knob jingling to the right of me and I pushed myself up off the floor. "Hello?" The sound stopped as I got closer to a door. "Jayla?"
My eyebrows furrowed as I got to the door. "Stiles?" Wait, if that was Stiles then that means I'm in Eichen House. "Jayla, what- what are you doing here? How did you even get in?" I sighed and leaned my head against the door. "Stiles I have no idea, and I don't know how to get out." A shaky breath came from the other side causing me to frown.
"I'm okay though Stiles. I promise you I'm okay." I glanced down and the clothes I had on were the pajama shorts and tank top from earlier. "Look. I'm gonna find a way in there I promise okay?"
"Okay. But be quick, it might get cold."
"What are you doing?" I jumped as the new voice came from the other side of the door, where Stiles was. "I need to get through here. To the basement." Nervously, I bit down on my lip, slightly stepping back from the door. If Stiles didn't get in, I wouldn't get out. And if I didn't get out, I'd be stuck here. "Doctors don't even have a key to this door. Only Brunski." There was a slight shuffling as I sat on the top step. "Is that the head orderly?"
"He's got keys to everything in here."
"Does he keep them on him all the time?"
" If you want them, you'll probably have to figure out a way to trick him." Stiles sighed, "Well, part of me is getting very good at playing tricks."
Footsteps lead away leaving me stuck here in the basement all alone. I sighed and glanced around the huge empty room, well not exactly empty but not really full either. There was something like a sideways water tank on the floor. Along one wall was just piles upon piles of files, most stacked neatly. Others looked like they had possibly fallen off the shelf and hit the floor.
There was nothing better to do so I grabbed one of the files and flicked through it while I waited, and one turned to five and then I had a pile of them next to me while I sat on the floor. A door creaked from behind me causing me to freeze and slowly lift my head. It shut and I slid one of the folders I was looking through off my lap and stood.
"Jayla?" I jumped slightly but nodded as I sighed. "Stiles," He came around the corner and sighed in relief as he wrapped his arms around me. "How the hell did you get in here? Are you okay?" I nodded slightly and sighed. "You're one to talk. Are you alright?" After what happened at the animal clinic I felt my heart beat rise in my chest.
Honestly, I didn't think that seeing Stiles would raise my heart rate as much as it had. He didn't scare me, Scott had told me once we got home that Deaton had gave him a shot of wolf lichen, which will keep the nogitsune out of him for awhile. Stiles sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Morrell is here. She said I have to stay awake, because the nogitsune has a stronger hold over me in my sleep."
"And as much as I don't want the nogitsune to control you, you still need sleep Stiles. You can't just skip out on it." He nodded as I glanced at the files. "Look at what I found down here. It's a bunch of files of past patients and crap, plus a bunch of creepy stuff like how they used to use trepanation, or drilling a hole in somebody's head to say more clearly. And other stuff, like the ice baths that Deaton used to use and they even used electrocution."
Stiles nodded and then turned his eyes to me as I scanned over a folder that I picked up off the floor. "Can you check the mark on my back?" I nodded as he turned around and I lifted his shirt. "They're almost gone." Stiles slowly turned around and I frowned. "That's bad isn't it." He nodded and I reached out to grab his hands. "Stiles, as much as you refuse to believe it, you're going to be okay."
He let out a shaky breath and I saw the tears in the corners of his eyes. "Hey look at me." I put my hands on his cheeks and made sure to wipe the tears. "You trust me right?" He nodded slightly. "Then trust me when I say that to you. Okay?" He nodded and I smiled lightly. "Good." I sat back and shivered slightly. Stiles sniffled as he turned to me. "Hey you alright?" I shrugged, "I'm pretty sure I walked through the reserve with only this on to get here. It's a bit cold."
I glanced down at my knees and nodded, "Yeah. Even scraped my knees a bit." Stiles nodded slightly as I met my eyes with his. The feeling of warmth that always went through my body when I saw Stiles was never something I would get used to. No matter how long we dated the feeling that went through me when he touched my skin or looked into my eyes would never go away. There was a slight hesitation as I glanced from Stiles' eyes to all over his face.
However, without hesitation he put a hand on my side and on my cheek, pulling me towards him and into a kiss. The last time I kissed him all I could feel was the life leaving me, now it was as if a fire was burning inside of me and there was just enough water to keep it from losing control. My smaller hands grabbed onto the front of Stiles' shirt to try and loosen the space between us.
His hand ran down my back as he slightly pulled away. "What was the for?" A smile came across his face as he shrugged. "I just wanted to kiss you." I bit my lip and leaned down to kiss him again. This time he tightly grabbed my side and rolled so he was over me. My hands went to his back as he kissed from my mouth down to my jaw. "Stiles," He kissed my neck causing me to bite my lip and sigh softly.
"You okay with this?" Stiles breathed against my neck, and I nodded. His hands grabbed mine as he went back up to kiss me again.
"Stiles, do you hear that?" His arms were wrapped around my waist as we laid on the couch. "Yeah, what is it?" I sat up slowly and looked over at the wall in front of us. "Wait, look. The self symbol. It's behind my ear." I got up at stood in front of the wall, knocking on it while my ear was pressed against it. "It's hollow. We have to get the wall down." Stiles nodded and stood behind me, kissing my cheek first. "Stay back." I nodded as he took a pipe from next to him and started to knock the wall down.
The body of the nogitsune was in a small secluded room and I stepped back quickly. "It's him. Look. That looks like Kira. That's-" A shock went through my body causing me to fall to the ground. "Stiles." I couldn't move but somebody else was standing over me. "You took Brunski's keys. I took his stun gun." I grunted as I looked up at Stiles. He got shocked too, but he passed out. I felt a needle go into my neck, causing my eyes to fall shut.
"Like I was saying, Stiles, I heard they used to do trepanation here." My eyelids were too heavy to open but I heard Stiles speak back to the other guy. "Oliver... What are you doing?" Stiles started breathing heavily as I slightly moved my head. "I'm going to let the evil spirits out." There was a whirring sound and I slightly opened my eyes, "I borrowed a few pointers from the five point restraint."
I lifted my head weakly, "You did this. You got into his head." There was no way to see the figure of the nogitsune but his voice still flooded my ears. "Every Dracula needs a Renfield." Stiles pulled at his restraints as the drill was turned on once more, going towards me. "Just let her go." The sickly sound of the nogitsune came back, "Let me in."
"Do you want her to leave here alive? Do you want us to leave? We can walk out of this place." Stiles had looked at at me and I shook my head. "Stiles, no." His eyes were filled with tears and I felt them coming up in my eyes too. I wanted desperately to pull myself from the restraints but whatever I was injected with kept me from doing that. "Just let her go please."
"Let me in, Stiles! Let me in! Let me in and I'll let her live. Let me in!" The drill was right next to my head and I whimpered as it nearly hit my skull. Suddenly it shut off and it fell silent for a moment. "Oliver." He pulled back and turned to Stiles as I lifted my head as I was slowly beginning to gain the strength back. Oliver left the basement and Stiles, well now he was officially the nogitsune came over to stand in front of me.
"Look at you now, so innocent, but that innocence is tainted now. Isn't it?" He crouched in front of me and I shook my head. "Let me go." Since it's not Stiles, and 'nogitsune' is too long I'll just call him Void. Void hummed and trailed his fingers up my arm. "Now why would I do that little dove? You're sweet and I have a knack for taking sweet things and making them sour." I tried to pull my arms from the restraints but I wasn't able to.
"Please, just let me go. Let us go." He shook his head and leaned towards me. "I don't think I can do that now Jayla. Did you like that kiss the other day? How it made you feel? I was taking your pain." The restraints were starting to make my wrists feel raw as I pulled against them once more, harshly. "Well you took too much this time." A smirk formed on his face as he undid one of the restraints. The one on my left hand.
"Have fun getting out of here doll." He left the basement and I sat there for a couple seconds before somebody else came through the doorway. "Malia?" She had came around the corner and nodded. "Stiles said he need to get down here because somebody was here, when he left, he didn't exactly look like he brought somebody with him so I came to check."
I nodded slightly and reached to undo my other wrist. "Yeah, it's just me. I should go actually." As I went to go by her she held her arm out to stop me. "You're upset." Shaking my head, I wiped under my eyes and smiled tightly. "Nope, I'm alright. I should go, find a way to get out of here." Malia nodded, "I'll help. Stay behind me." I nodded slightly and followed her out.
When we got to the front desk she turned to me, "Stay here and when you hear me yell that's when you run. Okay?"
"Okay. And Malia?" She hummed slightly as she rose her eyebrows. "Yeah?"
"Thank you." She nodded and slid out from where we were. She got the guy at the desk to look away and all I heard before I ran was her yell out in pain.
----------------
"Wait, so you're telling me that you got into the basement of Eichen House and you don't even know how?" Allison was staring at me as I nodded. "Yes, and you guys are telling me that the only way to help Stiles is to give him the bite? Which let's not forget could kill him. I mean he's never wanted to be bitten. Doesn't that heighten the chances of it not working? Does that make sense?"
Allison put her arm over my leg. "It's the only way besides killing him. We'll have to do it." I shook my head and sighed. "He could die. I can't lose Stiles. I can't lose any of you." Allison leaned her head onto my shoulder, "You're not going to lose Stiles. Or you Scott, or your mom or Lydia or me or any of us. We'll all be here alright?"
I nodded slightly and frowned. "Good, good. Okay I'm alright. We need to figure out what to do." Allison stood up as a sigh left my mouth. "Stilinski and Derek are supposed to be coming back here with my dad. and we can go over a plan." I nodded and stood as I heard the elevator ding. "They're here." Allison had already set up a table-full of non lethal weapons.
Ones such as smoke grenades, a rope and anything electric. "This is everything non-lethal I could find." Chris nodded, "Take all of it." Stilinski nodded and glanced up at him. "What's the plan here?" I leaned onto the table and glanced at Derek. "The best thing to try is for Derek to head to Eichen House. See if Stiles went through any emotional stuff. Pain, stress."
Stilinski glanced down at me before looking back at Chris. "Should all four of us be going to the same place?" Chris looked over the table, "Where else has Stiles been showing up?" I sighed, "The school, hospital. Those are the main ones." Derek sighed and leaned on the table like I was, "Okay, hold on. We did this already. He disappeared. We started looking for him. Then walked right into a trap at the hospital." Chris nodded slightly as he kept his eyesight directly in front of him. "He's getting us to repeat the same moves."
Allison lifted her head slightly, "So, what do we do? Wait for him to come to us?" Derke shook his head quickly. "We can't. Not if the oni find him when the sun goes down." I groaned, "Scott and Kira are at the school right now trying to figure that part out." Chris nodded, "That's the problem. We're all trying to outfox the fox."
Stilinski sighed and placed his hand on the table. "Listen. I'll understand if anyone wants to back out." Derek grabbed a taser off the table, "It wouldn't be the first wolf to run from a fox." Chris shrugged and held up an electrical wand. "Apparently I'm carrying the lightsaber." Allison nodded and glanced at me. "Dad, you and Jayla hit the school. Sheriff, it's you and me in the hospital. Derek, you go to Eichen. We meet them in the school."
Stilinski kissed my forehead quickly before leaving the room with Allison. Derek left behind them and when I looked up Chris was putting a clip of bullets into a gun. "You're bringing a gun?" Chris sighed as he glanced at me. "I like to prepare for the worst." I bit my lip and nodded, "Alright. To the school."
When we got to the school we cautiously walked through the halls. I knew Scott was in the history classroom, and when we got to the auditorium I shakily let out a breath, sliding to the floor next to the door. "Hey, you alright?" I shook my head and pressed the palms of my hands to my forehead. "No, I don't- I don't know if Stiles is going to live. I don't know if Isaac is dying right now. I don't- I don't know what I'm doing. I act like I can do this like I can fix things but I- I can't I can't."
Chris grabbed my upper arms and helped me up, "It's okay. You don't have to know everything." Shaking my head, I choked up and kept my eyes on my feet. "I need to know if my friends are going to be okay. I don't- I don't know who's okay and who's not. I-" My voice cracked and Chris pulled me into a hug. "You're gonna be okay." I nodded slightly as my phone rang. "Yeah?"
"Jayla? You alright?" I sighed deeply and nodded. "Yeah, yeah it's me. I'm fine what's up?"
"Stiles. He's at the house." I glanced up at Chris quickly and nodded. "Alright. We'll meet you there. Did you tell Derek yet?"
"No, can you call him or something?" Once more I nodded and bit my lip. "Yeah, sure we'll meet you at Stiles'."
"Okay bye." She hung up and instantly I dialed Derek's number. He answered and I simply told him that Stiles was at Stilinski's. "I'll meet you guys there." I nodded, "Alright." Putting my phone away, I turned to Chris. "We have to go to his house."
----------------
"What is all this? What are these sticky notes for?" Stilinski glanced at Derek, "This is what Stiles used to try and explain to me about all of you." "Wow, he really planned this out." Derek rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Allison glanced over the board, "Cool, maybe it's a message from Stiles. The real Stiles." Derek pointed at the board, "You think there's any reason my name's on the king?" Stilinski nodded, "Well, you're heavily guarded."
I furrowed my eyebrows and pointed at the piece, "That, are it looks like you're one move from a checkmate. So that's not very optimistic." Chris shook his head as he glanced at the board, "It's not a message from Stiles. It's a threat from the nogitsune." Allison turned to me, "He's at the loft. That's what he's trying to tell us."
"He wants us to go there." As I said that I sat on Stiles' bed, before continuing I sighed, "Night's falling and this sounds like it's just a huge trap." Stilinski shook his head slightly, "I don't think it is." Chris stepped forward slightly, "I think your opinion might be slightly biased, Sheriff."
I stood and nodded, "Wait, let him talk." Stilinski glanced at Chris and then between Derek, Allison and I. "What we're dealing with here is basically someone who lacks motive. No rhyme, no reason, right?" Derek shrugged, "Meaning what?"
"Our enemy is not a killer. It's a trickster." I shook my head and tightened my fist slightly, "It's killed though. Stilinski it set off a bomb right in your office. It almost killed Chris, Derek and I, not only that but it did kill how many did you say? Five deputies? It puts more into it's killing than it's tricking." He rubbed his hand over his face before sighing once more, "The killing is just a by-product." Derek nodded tightly and kept his eyes on Stiles' dad. "If you're trying to say it won't kill us, I'm not feeling too confident about that."
He shrugged as he tried to even his attention over Derek, and the rest of us. "It won't. It wants irony. It wants to play a trick. It wants a joke. All we need to do is come up with a new punch line." Chris thought for a minute before lifting his head to him. "The sun is setting, Sheriff. What do you have in mind?"
Stilinski took one last glance over us before nodding. "We go to the loft." So that's what we did. Allison and Chris went in their car, Stilinski took his and I went with Derek. Once we were in the car I sighed and leaned my head back. "What do you think is going to happen in there?" Derek glanced at me and sighed, shrugging. "I don't know. But I do know that the nogitsune, even if it's in Stiles' body, is powerful. You're going to have to be careful in there."
Rolling my eyes, I leaned against the door. "Derek, I can take care of myself alright? And I was there when the nogitsune took over. He won't hurt me." Derek scoffed and glanced over at me. "I've heard plenty of people say that. And most of them ended up getting hurt. Just be careful okay?" I nodded slightly as Derek's lips slightly turned to a frown. "Okay, okay yeah. I-I'll be careful."
There isn't really an explanation for the way my mind instantly softened at Derek's facial expression. Then again it was pretty obvious why he was reacting like he did. Derek has lost a lot of people in his life, including most of his family. Even though I wasn't his family, I was close to him. So was the rest of the pack. Usually Derek keeps to himself, and doesn't let others know exactly how he feels but never, he's never had to lie to me about how he feels and even now he continues not to.
When we entered the loft, Void was standing there and he turned to Stilinski with a small smirk on his face. "Hi, dad." Chris and Allison weren't there yet so Derek offered to wait for them outside, letting me go in with Stilinski. Aside from his dad, the people closest to Stiles were Scott, and me. People can argue at who's closer to him, Scott of me but it's pretty obvious that it's Scott. I mean they're practically brothers. Family.
When my head lifted again Stilinski had put hand cuffs on Void and was watching him. "Stilinski. It's not Stiles. As much as I hate to say it. It's not." Void turned to me with a smirk on his face. "You sure do have a smart one here, don't you." I swallowed harshly and stepped back slightly as he pulled his arms apart, breaking the hand-cuffs off of his wrists.
A growl came from behind us and I watched as Derek ran at Void and tried to attack him. Instead, he was grabbed and thrown against the wall, so hard that it knocked him out. Allison tried and held up the taser wire. The only problem was that when she shot it, Void easily grabbed it and pulled it out of Allison's hands and across the room. "Have you given up yet?" A click echoed through the room and I stiffened, turning tightly to my right.
Argent stood there, with the gun from earlier in his hands. The safety was off and he held it up, facing Stiles. "Argent, listen to me. Don't do this." Chris' hands tightened on the handle, "Why not? I've done it before. Werewolves, berserkers. I can easily add a nogitsune to the list." Stilinski pulled out his gun and focused it on Chris. "You're not going to shoot my son." Chris kept his eyes on the figure that might have looked like Stiles but wasn't. "You said it yourself, Sheriff. That's not your son."
I stepped forward slightly and shook my head. "Chris. You can't. We have to find another way." To add on to that Stiles' voice came from behind me. "Dad, he's going to shoot me. He's going to kill me, Dad." It sounded like Stiles, and I wanted to believe it was him but every part of me stung, knowing that the person's voice that was in my ears wasn't there. "Please, Chris. You can't kill him."
"Pull the trigger. Come on." When I turned, Stiles' body was facing Chris and he had no emotion on his face. Chris didn't listen to Stiles or his father. He didn't shoot Stiles but he also didn't move the gun a centimeter from where he was holding it. Allison glanced at me as my eyes widened. "Strife."
"Chris, Stilinski. Stop both of you put the guns down. He wanted this. He wanted us to argue. A nogitsune feeds off of strife. This is exactly why he brought us here." I felt the cold air on the back of my neck as I spoke, "Not exactly. I was hoping that Scott would be here. But I'm glad you all have your guns out. Because you're not here to kill me. You're here to protect me." His cold hand grasped onto my wrist as he stepped back.
The sun had set and out of all corners, out of the shadows, the oni appeared. They somehow looked darker, like they were stronger than usual. Derek had recovered and he stood with Allison behind the nogitsune and I while Stilinski and Argent stood in front of us. As they were fighting I felt a tug on my arm and was dragged out of the room. "What? Where am I-" Void turned around and grabbed the front of my shirt.
"You're going to be quiet." He grabbed my cheeks with one hand and it felt like a bruise would be left there. "You're a real jack ass you know that right?" One of his eyebrows rose as a smirk came across his face for the third time tonight. "I get better though, trust me."