10 minutes later, the doorbell rang. I opened it to see Peter smirking at us. Peter walked in and immediately started casually walking in a circle around Void, staring at him from every angle. Void did nothing but watch me. It made me somewhere in between super uncomfortable and weirdly turned on.
"He doesn't look like he would survive a slap across the face, much less the bite of a werewolf," Peter observed.
"I already did that, actually. The slap thing. He took it pretty well," I shrugged. Peter stepped in front of Void, bending down to stare into his eyes. I couldn't see his mouth, but from the look in his eyes, it was like Void was smirking at Peter.
"You don't think it would work?" Scott asked.
"This is more a war of the mind than the body," Peter replied cryptically, standing up straight. "There are better methods for winning this battle."
"What kind of methods?" Deaton asked, coming up to stand on the other side of me. Peter grabbed Scott's hand, and the claws popped out right in front of Void's face. He stared at this, raising his eyebrows like he was impressed. "We're gunna get into his head."
"So, what's the plan?" I asked with a sigh. Peter circled around to the back of the couch, leaning on it.
"Scott is gunna try to dig through pale and sickly Evil Stiles' mind to unearth pale and sickly Real Stiles," Peter explained. Void rolled his eyes behind his eyelids. "Then guide him back from the depths of his own subconscious. But he's not going to do it alone."
"Are you going in with him?" I asked.
Peter chuckled like the idea was ridiculous. "No. You are." Void looked up at me and I froze.
"Me? Why me?"
"Because Real Stiles has a connection to you. He's going to need that to make it back," Peter replied. Void was looking at me like I wasn't allowed to let them do this, so I crossed my arms defiantly.
"Fine. I'll do it," I said. Peter smiled and Scott rounded the couch to stand behind me and Void as I sat down. Peter guided Scott's claws to the backs of our necks. I looked over to Void, and he at me, and I smirked at him. That shows him for trying to tell me what to do. He was frowning, but the look deep in his eye said he secretly loved my defiance towards him.
"What if this is just another trick?" Scott asked.
Peter crossed his arms and chuckled. "When are you people gunna start trusting me?"
Scott glanced at him before looking down at Void. "I meant him."
"Oh," Peter hummed. Void side-eyed me and I made a point not to look at him, even though, fuck, was he hot.
Deaton reminded Scott of our lack of time, so Scott took a few deep breaths before plunging his claws into our brain stems. I gasped, pain radiating down my back as I squeezed my eyes shut.
Suddenly the pain stopped, and I opened my eyes. Scott and I were strapped down in the beds at Eichen House. I struggled against the padded cuffs around my wrists and ankles. Then I remembered I had super strength. I felt stronger than normal, and certainly stronger than before when I had been tied up like this.
I jerked my hand upwards, and it broke through the cuff. Scott stared for a second before smiling at me. He did the same thing as I undid my restraints.
When we were both free, Scott asked, "What now?"
"Um..." I looked around. "Should we try the door?" Scott nodded and told me to stay behind him as he inched forward like he was walking on a balance beam. The door opened with a squeak. Scott looked back at me and went out the door.
I started to follow him, but the door slammed in my face. I banged on it, yelling Scott's name, but he didn't come back. I turned back around and the room had changed.
There were two halls, one going right, the other going left. They weren't exactly halls though, because I didn't think anyone could actually squeeze through it. A single red balloon floated to the ground, then more balloons in blue and silver joined it. I blinked and suddenly I was in the high school.
The halls were flooded with balloons and I was in a white floral lace dress. I remembered this night. It was the night of the dance when Lydia got bit and Stiles was kidnapped by Peter. I remember running down the halls looking for him everywhere.
Like I was reliving the night, I automatically called, "Stiles?!" I looked to my left inside a classroom, and there, drawing a backwards 5 on the board, was Void. He turned his head to me, halting his writing. I couldn't see his eyes through the gauze wrap, but I knew he was looking at me. He continued writing, his chalk scraping loudly against the board.
The sound of something slamming made me jerk to look behind me. All the lockers were open, and Void was down at the other end of them. With every step closer he took, he slammed another locker closed. The more I stepped back, the faster he got.
Void roared at me, getting closer and closer. I ran, him close behind me. A loud voice boomed over the speakers, calling my name. It sounded like Peter's voice.
I found a door that was unlocked and ran through it. It led me to the white room I'd been in the night of the ice bath. Like last time, the Nemeton was in the center a hundred feet down. Sitting on the Nemeton was Stiles and Void, a GO set between them.
I heard Scott running up behind me, and I turned to look at him with confusion. I looked back to Stiles. He was wearing his normal plaid, a pair of jeans, and sneakers. There were no bags under his eyes, and he looked beautiful.
Simultaneously, Scott and I ran to him, but the more we ran, the less ground we traveled. It seemed like the Nemeton was constantly 100 feet away, and we couldn't get near it. Scott and I called Stiles name, but he didn't answer. In fact, he didn't even look up. He couldn't hear us at all. We ran again for what felt like 10 minutes, but never made any progress.
I stopped, gasping heavily as I gave up. "Wait. Stiles is part of your pack."
"What?" Scott panted. "What do you mean?"
"He's human, but he's still part of your pack. So how do wolves signal their position to the rest of the pack?" I prodded.
Scott stood up straight with understanding. Void looked over at us, his hand gripping his thigh like he was about to get angry. Probably with me, I wasn't supposed to be helping Scott.
Scott lifted up his head, hair coating his jaw as his eyes flamed red. He opened his mouth to howl, and I scowled at him, sending my fist flying into his face. Scott groaned and fell to the ground, holding his jaw and looking up at me in shock.
I laughed at the sight of him. "What? You didn't actually think I was just going to let you wake Stiles up, did you? God, you wolves are so damn arrogant."
"Y/N, what are you doing?" Scott groaned, trying to stand. I kicked out his knee, making him fall back down.
"What you don't have the guts to do. Stiles can't be saved. So I'm setting Void free. And together, we'll rule the world," I seethed. Scott looked at me like he understood something, then he jumped up. I smiled at the prospect of a fight. He ran at me, hugging my waist to knock me backwards. I stayed upright and slammed my elbow into his spine.
Scott groaned and pulled back, his back arching in pain. He came again, slashing his claws at me. I dodged them and pushed him backwards by his chest. He skidded to a stop a few feet away on his hands and knees. I sauntered around him casually, sighing at him.
"Did you ever think that maybe Stiles doesn't want to be woken? Maybe he likes it like this. I mean, being him is just so... Ugh." Scott was breathing like he was giving up, and I smirked. "You, you're always 'save him', 'save her', 'protect everyone'. God, it's so exhausting." I knelt down next to him, pulling his head up by his hair so he'd look me in the face. "You're so pathetic, thinking you can save everyone. Or that you even possess the capabilities to do so. You can't save the world, Scott."
I stood and pursed my lips angrily. I stomped on his fingers, and he screamed. It felt good, so I dug my heel into his broken digits, reveling in the sound of his cries of pain.
"Hell," I said, walking away. "You couldn't even save me."
Scott was quietly panting, then he whispered, "Yes, I can." I looked back with curiosity and Scott lifted his face to the ceiling and roared the roar of an alpha.
I felt nothing, so I looked over at Stiles to see him glance at us. Suddenly, it felt like vomit was rising in my throat. No, wait. It felt like a thousand ants were crawling around inside of me. I heaved once, twice, then fell onto my knees. I opened my mouth to puke, and thousands upon thousands of flies flew from my mouth, going into the air.
Through them, I looked up to see Stiles swipe all the pieces off the board. Void roared at him in anger, and for some reason, I felt happy.
The roar seemed to rip me back to my real body, and I gasped. Falling to the floor, I retched up black goop, my body feeling like it was seizing as it purged itself. A dead fly fell into the goop and I leaned back against the couch, panting.
Scott ran to me, checking to see if I was okay. There was blood dripping from my nose and black goop stuck to my lips, but I didn't care about that. What I cared about was what the hell I was doing here. I didn't remember leaving Stiles' room this morning.
"What happened?" I choked out. Stiles was sitting on the couch still, except his head was now flopped forwards and he wasn't moving. "Stiles?" I forced myself up and caressed his face. "What'd you do to him?!" I screamed at Scott.
Stiles gasped audibly and jerked like he was about to throw up. I crawled backwards as Stiles ripped the tape from his mouth. He started pulling a gauze strip from his mouth, gagging as it kept coming. He dropped to the floor and I crawled away. Scott pulled me up by my arm, so I was standing with everyone else while Stiles threw up. My mouth dropped open as the gauze poured out of Stiles mouth along with a black smoke. He retched as he pulled the final bit of gauze from his mouth and gasped. Spit fell from his mouth as I ran to hold him.
He stumbled backwards as a hand reached out of the pile of gauze. It was Void's hand, completely wrapped in the gauze. I watched with wide eyes as Void emerged from the pile, lifting himself so he was standing. We all flattened against the wall to get as far away from the flailing Void as we could. He lurched forward at me and I screamed. Scott and Peter instantly held him back against the couch while Deaton held his arms out in front of me and Melissa, protecting us.
Deaton stepped forward to watch as Void struggled against Scott and Peter. Void kept rubbing at his face and Scott pulled Peter off. Scott unwrapped the head, and it was... Stiles? I looked over to where the other Stiles was, but he was gone.
So which one was Stiles?