x x
The elevator doors closed on Sheriff Stilinski and Allison, a hum of silence between them as they rose higher within the hospital.
After hearing Allison calmly sigh, Stilinski shook his head with a near smile. "You know what, I don't know how you guys do it. You're all so strong. So fearless." He didn't see Allison shift her head, the teen slowly breaking down. "Hell, you even manage to keep your grades up."
"I am..." Allison said with a slow breath, "failing Econ."
"Is that Coach's class?" Allison nodded. "Well, I'll have a talk with him."
Allison tried to laugh, but instead her eyes began to well.
Stilinski stopped the elevator, turning to Allison as her face wrinkled in threat of tears. "Hey, you okay?"
Allison stared at the ground, "I'm not...fearless." She choked back her tears, wringing her hands. "I'm terrified. I'm terr-ifed." Her voice stuttered as she spoke. "I'm always terrified. I - I act like I know what I'm doing, but I don't. I don't know if Elora or Stiles are going to make it out. I don't know what my dad is thinking. I don't know if we should trust Derek, or Charlie - Jesus, Charlie... I don't know -" Allison broke off in tears, her voice clenched. "I don't know anything."
"Hey," Stilinski softly said, pulling Allison into a hug. He rubbed her back, letting her calm against his chest like he'd done with Stiles so many times before. "You know what's funny?" he asked. "You sound just like a cop."
Allison laughed through her sniffles, letting go of a deep breath before Stilinski held her out at arm's length.
Stilinski lowered his head, Allison taking a moment before mustering the strength to look at him. "You're gonna be okay," he told her.
Allison nodded, wiping away her tears as Stilinski reached to start the elevator back up.
Stilinski's phone buzzed before he could hit the switch, a security alert popping up.
"What's that?" Allison asked.
"Someone's breaking into my house," he said, opening an app. "After Stiles started sleepwalking, I had some security precautions put in. Motion sensors. Cameras."
"Is that his room?" Allison's eyes grew, leaning in.
Stiles sat on the edge of his bed, staring dead at the camera as he wiggled his fingers.
Allison covered her mouth, "Oh, my God."
"Come on," Stilinski said, turning the elevator back on and forcing it down as he called Argent.
The moment the pair bolted off the elevator, Elora's cloaking fell, revealing the witch at the very back with a twisted grin on her face.
"Oh, lovely day."
x x
As the sun began to set, the team of Allison, Stilinski, Isaac, Charlie, Derek and Chris' herded in Stiles' bedroom, the resident long gone.
"What is that?" Argent asked as he walked to the chessboard. "What do these flags mean?"
"This is what Stiles used to try and explain to me about all of you," Stilinski told them.
"Well, maybe it's a message from Stiles," offered Allison. "The real Stiles."
As Charlie picked up the only piece not on the board with Elora's name on it, Derek asked, "You think there's any reason my name's on the king?"
"Well, you're heavily guarded," said Stilinski, "Although I guess the alarming detail is that you're one move away from being in checkmate."
"It's not a message from Stiles," Chris suddenly said. "It's a threat from the nogitsune."
"He's at the loft," Isaac said. "That's what he's trying to tell us."
"And he wants us to come there," added Allison.
"Night's falling," Derek said, arms folded.
"This couldn't sound any more like a trap," Argent told them.
Stilinski shook his head, "I don't think it is."
"I think your opinion might be slightly biased, Sheriff," the hunter countered.
"Hear me out," Stilinski said. "What we're dealing with here is basically someone who lacks motive. No rhyme, no reason, right?"
"Meaning what?"
"Our enemy is not a killer," the Sheriff said. "It's a trickster. The killing is just a by-product. Yakunan killed Katashi to set you guys up and put you in jail so you were there when the bomb blew. To put a fake bomb on the bus."
"If you're trying to say it won't kill us," Charlie said, "I'm not feeling too confident about that."
"It won't. It wants irony," replied Stilinski. "It wants to play a trick. It wants a joke. All we need to do is come up with a new punch line."
"Well the sun is setting, Sheriff," said Chris. "What do you have in mind?"
x x
"It's done. Noshiko's sword is in one piece again."
Elora paced the center of the Hale loft, flustered as Stiles boredly sat on the only sofa in the building.
"That thing wasn't supposed to be in play," said Stiles. "You should've left it buried with that Army boy in Eichen."
"Oh, yes, I'm so sorry I found it while you let yourself get shot up with leichen," El snapped. "It was your idea to give the sword to Kira."
"I didn't realize she was a thunder," Stiles flatly defended.
"Jesus, I could've told you that." Elora stopped pacing. "They're almost here."
"Good," Stiles said, standing from the sofa and wandering to the wall of windows as molten sun spilled through. "You know where to go."
Elora vanished out of sight as Stiles looked toward the foggy windows.
Within a minute, the loft door rolled open at Sheriff Stilinski's hands.
Stiles turned over his shoulder, face filled with despair. "Hi, Dad."
Sheriff Stilinski pulled out the cuffs from his belt, not saying a word.
"You want to handcuff me?" Stiles asked, sounding like himself.
"If my son is still here," said Stilinski as he descended the stairs and walked toward his son, "if there's still part of him standing here in front of me, then he'll put these on willingly and he'll come with me, because he knows I'm here to protect him from himself and others."
Stiles, appearing to nearly be in tears, held his hands up as Stilinski neared him. He let the cuffs go on, but as he looked back up to the father of his host, it was clear Stiles was gone.
Stilinski took a light step back. "You're not my son."
Stiles yanked his hands apart, the cuffs breaking off like plastic. He grinned ever so slightly, the herd of the Argents, Derek, Charlie and Isaac coming into the loft.
Allison raised her stun gun in a swift motion, launching the charged cartridge at Stiles.
The nogitsune caught the wires, blue light pulsing as he pulled with no reaction. He tossed it to the side, it tearing from Allison's hands. He was unphased as Derek launched at him, grabbing the wolf's arm and spinning it behind him. He tossed Derek to the side, eyes unwavering.
A pistol clicked, Stiles turning his head to Argent pointing a gun at his head. He slowly faced the hunter, so tempted to grin.
"Argent," Stilinski cautiously said, holding out a hand, "listen to me. Don't do this."
"Why not? I've done it before. Werewolves, berserkers. I can easily add a nogitsune to the list."
Stiles pulled out his own gun, point it at Argent as he took off the safety.
Stiles' face formed an 'oo', more amused than anything as the story unraveled around him.
"You're not going to shoot my son."
"You said it yourself, Sheriff," countered Argent. "That's not your son."
"Put it down." Sheriff watched as Argent held steadfast. "Put it down."'
"Dad," Stiles suddenly said, "he's going to shoot me. He's gonna kill me, Dad."
"Don't listen, Noah," Argent urged.
"Put it down. Now! Do it!" yelled Stilinski. "Put it down!"
Stiles looked to Argent, "Pull the trigger. Come on."
"Listen to me!" Stilinski shouted at Chris. "Put the gun down now!"
"Shoot me," egged Stiles.
"Put the gun down now!"
"Shoot me!" Stiles bellowed over the sound of his father. "Shoot me!"
"Argent, you put it down!"
"SHOOT ME!"
"Or you could just shoot me."
The room silenced in an instance, Stiles grinning as he met eyes with the owner of the voice.
Elora stood among Allison, Isaac, Charlie and Derek, her innocent smile cloaked in malice as the four stood with glazed eyes, unmoving.
"Lovely show, boys, truly, but the sun's going down." El barely motioned behind her to the oddly unanimated figures. "Sorry, I didn't want them announcing me to ruin the yelling."
Both Stiles and Elora looked up as the light quickly began to slip into darkness.
"We were hoping Scott would be here," Stiles admittedly said. "But it's a good thing you already have your guns out. I know you're not here to kill us." Familiar chitters emerged, foggy black figures seeping through the windows as Stiles walked backward between Argent and Stilinski. "You're here to protect us."
Elora let go of her control over the wolves and lovers, grinning as she and Stiles stood within a circle of protection. "So do it."
Gun shots began to ring out, four oni closing in with their eyes on Yakunan's toys.
Derek howled as a blade slashed along his shoulder, Isaac saving him from losing an entire arm by forcing the oni back.
Although the oni were tag teamed by duos, they appeared to be doing less and less.
Elora turned her head, meeting eyes with Stiles.
She's calling them off. Go.
The witch gasped as she let go of Stiles' hand, the oni vanishing into thin air along with any traces of the teen. She fell to her knees, a different brightness to her eyes as the world flooded back in.
And she began to cry.
Scott and Kira raced into the loft, panic in their eyes from the gun shots they heard from the bottom floor, greeted by Argent aiming a hot gun in their direction.
Scott's eyes searched the room, Isaac holding a weeping Elora and Argent next to a bleeding Derek.
"What happened?" the true alpha asked, heart racing.
"They disappeared," said Allison, nearly out of breath. "They literally just vanished."
"And so did Stiles."
"What about her?" Scott questioned, pointing to Elora as she clutched onto Isaac's chest, still on her knees.
Murmurs of apologies escaped through stifled sobs, Elora's hands white as she gripped the sides of Isaac's jacket.
Everything she'd done was pouring back in, the witch's cries doused in agony and torment.
Isaac tried to console her, arms wrapped around her as tears of his own threatened to rain down, but there was little to be done to save her from herself.
"El," Scott said, lowering down next to Isaac, only then seeing the veins of black tracing up the beta's hands from simply touching her. "El, you need to tell us everything you can."
Elora's breath eased ever so slightly, eyes bleary as she lifted her head, face miserable. "Chaos is come again."