She'd never been a sleepwalker before, she was certain of it. She had no memories of walking around while she was sleeping but she knew that most sleepwalkers didn't always know what they did while they were sleepwalking.
Of course, Rory had technically felt like she was sleepwalking before, when she and Lydia had both appeared at their school in the middle of the night when Jennifer Blake was sacrificing people to gain power - the deputy that used to be a middle school teacher that they'd found dead on the school sign, well, Scott found.
But this, this was definitely closer to sleepwalking than she'd ever done before.
A hand landed on her shoulder and scared her awake - or at least, she thought it scared her awake, but she was technically already awake, just in a vision.
"Rory?" Lydia said gently causing the brunette to spin around.
"What are you doing here?" Rory questioned her friend with a frown.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Lydia shot back in curiosity.
"What are you talking about?" Rory asked in confusion.
"Rory, what are you doing in Stiles' room?" Lydia questioned the girl.
Rory suddenly became away that the carpet she was standing on wasn't her own, it was older, as if it had been laid out longer and the amount of light that was shinning in the space was harsher giving away the fact that the windows weren't covered by blackout curtains that Rory invested in when she first moved into her apartment, and the lack of Pickett jumping at her ankles all gave away that she wasn't standing in her own bedroom.
"Did you sleepwalk here?" Aiden questioned as he examined her - she was clad in soft cotton shorts, a large sweater that had once belonged to Scott before Rory stole it from him and socks that came up to her calf.
"I think so" Rory answered vaguely.
"Your car is here" Lydia pointed out to the girl in concern.
Rory glanced around the room observing the way that red strings were attached to the walls and a pair of scissors that were stabbed into his mattress.
"Oh God"
"How'd you know? Did he called you too?"
Scott and Isaac had just burst into the room, the latter immediately coming to Rory's side, gently touching her back.
"I heard it" Lydia answered before tacking on,
"Rory was here when we got here"
"Don't ask" Aiden advised with a shake of his head,
"It gets more confusing when you ask"
"Okay" Scott muttered with a small nod.
"Not as confusing as this" Rory said catching all of their attention, Scott came over to her and followed her eyes to the walls and the string,
"He uses red for unsolved cases"
"Maybe he thinks he's part of an unsolved case" Aiden suggested with a small shrug.
"Or is an unsolved case" Isaac added pessimistically.
Rory spun around and stared at Scott,
"Is he still out there?"
Scott hesitated for a moment, an awkward expression covering his face, Rory questioning,
"Do you not know where he is?"
"He said he was in an industrial basement some where" Scott explained,
"We came here to get a better scent"
"What else did he say?" Lydia questioned.
"Something's wrong with his leg. It's bleeding" Scott said as he thought back to his phone call with Stiles,
"And he's freezing"
"Tonight's the coldest night of the year" Aiden commented,
"It's going to drop into the 20s"
"What did his dad say?" Rory questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Isaac and Scott exchanged a look before the former answered,
"We kind of... We didn't tell him yet"
Rory looked between Isaac and Scott in curiosity,
"Stiles is bleeding and freezing and you didn't call his dad?"
"He made me promise not to" Scott justified with a small shrug causing Rory's eyes to widen in shock,
"We can find him by scent. If he was sleepwalking he couldn't have gotten far, right?"
"You didn't notice that his Jeep is gone, did you?" Rory questioned causing a look of panic to shoot across Scott's face. The brunette patted her pockets to check for her phone only to come up short causing her to reach out to Lydia who was practically reading her mind and already extending her phone out to the girl,
"You promised you wouldn't call his dad. I didn't"
"Wait, Rory, hold on" Scott stopped the girl, grabbing her hand gently,
"I can get more help. I can call Derek, Allison-"
"Everyone except for the cops, what a great idea" Rory commented sarcastically, an eye roll accompanying her words as she pulled her arm from Scott's grip and started to type in Noah's number.
"You guys remember these two get these feelings when someone's about to die, right?" Aiden reminded the pair.
"You don't have to call his dad" Scott told the witch seriously causing her to send him a look,
"It's five minutes to the station"
Lydia and Rory exchanged a look as Rory closed Lydia's phone and the strawberry blonde took it back from her,
"We'll catch up"
"What? Why?" Scott recoiled in confusion as he looked between the pair.
"There's something here" Rory told him seriously.
"Yeah, evidence of total insanity" Isaac commented nonchalantly.
"We can figure out what's wrong with him after we find a way to keep him from freezing to death" Scott tells the brunette gently while he touched her shoulder.
"Go" Lydia said sternly,
"We'll be right behind you"
Aiden was shuffling through some of Stiles' belongings while Rory and Lydia both looked thoroughly at the walls, examining the investigation that Stiles had sprawled over his bedroom.
"Didn't you draw this?"
Lydia and Rory both turned to look at him, seeing he was holding a drawing of the Nemeton that Rory had drawn. The brunette huffed gently before stating,
"Put that back"
"It's yours right?" Aiden questioned with a quirked eyebrow before picking up a second drawing that Rory had down, turning it around to show the girls - it was of a coyote standing in a den, something Rory had drawn before they'd found Malia,
"This one too, right?"
"Yes, they're both mine, now put them back" Rory told the boy sternly before turning back to the board in front of her.
Aiden hummed slightly as he placed the drawings down where he'd found them,
"He likes you a lot, doesn't he?"
"Maybe he likes her artistic talent" Lydia chimed in nonchalantly.
Aiden plucked a small wrapped box from the desk, flipping over the small tag that was on it,
"For Rory"
"All right" Rory huffed out as she spun around to glare at the werewolf,
"Just leave it alone"
Lydia's phone beeped causing them all to look over at it, the strawberry blonde reading out the text that she'd just gotten from Scott,
"Nothing at the hospital. Derek headed to High School. Isaac going to find Allison. And Scott's with the Sheriff"
"And we're standing in a bedroom staring at the walls" Aiden said in a mildly annoyed fashion before plucking on a string causing Lydia and Rory to both spin to look at him.
"What did you just do?"
Aiden stared at the pair in surprise while Lydia took a step towards him and questioned,
"Did you touch one of the strings?"
"Maybe" Aiden shrugged.
Lydia stepped forwards and replicated his action by plucking another string, listening carefully before turning to the other two in the room,
"What did that sound like to you?"
"Like a string being pulled" Aiden answered bluntly, as if it were obvious while Rory shook her head vaguely.
"Nothing"
"You didn't hear people whispering?" Lydia questioned, although it was directed at Rory.
"I definitely did not hear people whispering" Aiden answered with a shake of his head while Rory just shook her head again.
Lydia tugged on the string again before demanding,
"You didn't hear that?"
"Lydia, I'm not sure anyone hears what you hear" Aiden informed her bluntly before glancing over at Rory, shrugging gently,
"Well, except Rory sometimes"
"They're whispering" Lydia informed them,
"Something about a house"
"What house?" Aiden questioned in curiosity.
"Eichen House"
Lydia and Aiden both spun around to look at Rory, frowning gently at her.
"What's that?" Aiden questions in curiosity.
"A mental health centre" Rory answered,
"It's where William Barrow, the shrapnel bomber that killed kids with glowing eyes, was committed"
"Is that it?" Aiden asked the pair.
Rory went to shake her head, a subconscious action that she hadn't fully processed, but was cut off by Lydia nodding in a confident manner,
"That's where he is. That's where Stiles is"
Lydia and Aiden both went to leave the room in a rushed fashion while the former pulled her phone out to call Scott, although they spun around and looked back at Rory when they realised that the witch wasn't following.
"What is it?" Aiden questioned in curiosity.
"I think there's something else here" Rory informed them as she stared up at the wall before turning back to look at the pair,
"You two go. I'm gonna see if I can find anything else"
The pair nodded before walking out of the Stilinski household. Rory turned back to the wall and stared at the extended string, her hand moved on its own and wrapped around the red string although the second that she did she was thrown back and her eyes were forced into their royal blue.
Her back hit the ground harshly and she was suddenly standing out in the preserve where the wind was blowing harshly and nipping at her skin. Her hair seemed to have a mind of its own as her sock covered feet padded over fallen leaves and dirt.
Everything was seemingly normal about the preserve until Rory approached giant black iron gates that she recognised from her sketches. Taking in a shaky breath, the brunette pushed the gates open and walked through.
Eichen House was bigger than Rory remembered it to be, the gates were taller, looming ominously above her, and the violent wind had abruptly stopped.
The gate swung shut behind her causing her to look back at it before she continued towards the building, although before she started walking she noticed a trail of blue energy, similar to the white energy that had once led the girl to Lydia. Rory followed after the trail and found herself standing in front of a white door, she went to touch the door handle only to hesitate for a moment when she heard a growl, glancing over her shoulder she couldn't see anything but a hallway that led further into Eichen House.
Rory pushed the door open and stepped inside, the energy danced down the stairs in front of her and hesitantly the brunette followed it. She gently stepped off the last step and glanced around, it was an industrial basement - just like Scott had said.
"Stiles?"
"Rory?"
The brunette spun around at the sound of his voice - she could hear him and feel that he was right there, but she couldn't see him; unbeknownst to her, Stiles could see her standing there, in fact, she was almost within his grasp.
"Rory" Stiles let out, reaching out for her,
"I'm right here"
The brunette had a feeling of panic flood into her chest for a moment as she looked around her, looking for the familiar fluffy hair and warm eyes that she'd found comfort in so many times before, although what her eyes landed on was a wall across from her with a backwards five carved into it.
Rory's hand came up to gently touch the spot behind her ear where the same symbol was. The brunette hesitated for a moment, internally debating whether or not to keep looking for Stiles or to follow where her feet wanted to go and get a closer look at the wall.
She should have kept looking for Stiles, she knew that, but instead, she took a step towards the wall. Stiles' voice called out to her, but she didn't acknowledge it,
"Rory! Rory, no, don't go over there! Rory!"
With another step towards the wall, a bandaged man with razor-sharp teeth was right in front of her causing the brunette to let out a small scream and jump back away from him, although instead of actually jumping back she fell back and landed on her back, coming back into reality.
A groan left Rory as she came back to reality, she sat up and gently placed her hand on the ground only to hiss in pain and pick it back up, turning it over she saw that she had a large rope burn across her palm where she was holding the red string.
The girl pushed herself up to her feet before her eyes landed on her own drawing that Aiden was holding up earlier, she crossed the room and picked it up,
"Coyote den"
The brunette rushed out of Stiles' room, her socks skidding across the floor for a moment causing her to flail slightly before getting her feet back underneath her and she rushed out of the house and into her car where her phone was sitting idly on the passenger seat, the screen lit up with a voicemail.
The brunette picked it up and scanned over the message,
'Missed call from 'Scotty'. Caller left a message'
Rory clicked on the message and Scott's voice came through,
"Hey, Roar. We found Stiles, he's okay. A little cold, but okay. He's at the hospital right now. Call me back"
Rory started up her car and started towards her apartment building, deciding that she'd call Scott when she got there rather than while she was driving. She knew that she probably go and check on Stiles but right now all she wanted to do was wrap up her hand and get a semblance of a good night's sleep.
The second that her engine cut out a loud metallic clanging sounded causing Rory to flinch suddenly and look around, making sure that she turned the engine off fully and it wasn't coming from her radio. Which it wasn't.
The brunette shook her head slightly, not believing that she'd actually heard anything as she got out of the car and scrolled through her phone and clicking on Scott's contact.
"Hey"
"Hey" Rory responded with a small sigh,
"How is he?"
"He's all right" Scott answered,
"He was asleep
"He slep walked?" Rory questioned in curiosity,
"Where was he anyway?"
"Malia's den" Scott answered,
"He was just lying in there and when my mom pulled him out he was screaming"
Rory wasn't listening, though, she was too busy staring at the elevator doors in thought.
"Rory?"
The doors slammed shut causing a clanging sound to echo around in Rory's head,
"Yeah, uh, nothing... I'm happy he's okay. Are you staying there with him?"
"No, Mom's making me go home" Scott responded before hesitating,
"Are you okay, Rory?"
"Yeah, I'm alright" Rory lied nonchalantly as she opened up her apartment door,
"I'll see you in the morning, Scotty, okay?"
"Okay" Scott nodded,
"Night, Roar"
"Night"
Rory scooped up her sleepy puppy and cuddled him to her chest, a sigh escaping her nose while Pickett nudged her face with his nose. The pair both flopped down onto Rory's bed, the puppy was out like a light the second that they were on the mattress whereas the brunette girl laid on her back for a very long time, being haunted by the clanging noise that echoed around in her head.
"Hey, have you heard from Scott?"
Rory jumped as Kira suddenly appeared in front of her, the girl wincing slightly in guilt for making the witch jump.
"Uh, not since yesterday" Rory answered, rubbing her temple gently,
"Sorry Kira"
"No, that's okay" Kira shook her head gently, waving off Rory's apology,
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I've just got a headache" Rory informed her with a small shrug.
A hand suddenly landed on Rory's shoulder making her jump again only to see that it was Derek standing beside her,
"Scott's a little preoccupied. But I can help you"
Kira frowned slightly,
"Why would you want to help me?"
"Because I want you to tell me everything that happened at the power station with William Barrow" Derek informed the kitsune before his eyes diverted to his daughter,
"Actually, I want the two of you to show me"
"Wait what?" Rory questioned with a raised eyebrow before shaking her head,
"Oh, no, no way. I have a GPA to maintain"
Derek stared down at the teenager with a curious look on his face,
"Your 5.0 GPA?"
A smug look crossed over Derek's face as Rory sighed in defeat,
"Fine, I'll come"
The trio all climbed into Derek's car, Kira was sitting in the backseat with a small frown on her face as she bounced her knee in a nervous fashion while Rory sunk down in the passenger seat, staring out the window. Derek glanced over at her every so often in a mildly concerned expression on his face as he internally debated something.
"Why exactly did you want us to show you the substation?" Rory questioned her father as they all got out of the car.
"Because"
Rory sent him a look,
"Not an answer"
Derek sighed slightly before realising that Rory wasn't going to drop it until she got a real answer,
"Someone may have suggested that the Nogitsune that the Oni are looking for is in..."
"Is in?" Rory prompted.
"Stiles"
Rory came to an abrupt stop causing Derek and Kira to stop as well, the latter hovering awkwardly near the pair.
"You think Stiles; skinny, defenceless, Stiles, is the Nogitsune?" Rory questioned with a small scoffed out laugh,
"A powerful, dark spirit?"
"I'm not the only one thinking it" Derek told her sternly before tacking on,
"You're thinking it too, you just don't want to admit it"
Rory shook her head slightly before walking past him and into the station,
"I'm pretty sure that it was around here, right?"
"Yeah, I think, but everything kind of looks the same" Kira agreed before she caught sight of something,
"What is that? Is that a baseball bat?"
"It's Stiles' bat" Rory observed as she moved closer to it.
Derek walked over and grabbed the bat, pulling on it to get it to come off, but it didn't budge causing him to use more of his strength to tug it off,
"It's magnetized"
Derke placed the top of the bat down on the ground before allowing it to be re-magnetized and slam back into the electrical panel. The man observing it for a moment before turning back to Kira,
"Kira, I'm going to need you to tell me everything you know about foxfire"
"Okay, so, maybe you're right" Rory said as she and Derek walked towards the entrance of the hospital, leaving Kira by the car at the kitsune's request.
"About what?" Derek questioned in curiosity.
"About Stiles" Rory said with a small shrug.
"What makes you think that?" Derek asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because" Rory said simply.
"Not an answer"
Rory gave the man a look of annoyance, using her own words against her, what a parental move.
"I have these dreams" Rory informed him,
"Dreams about the future and people that I know to be dead, and Stiles standing at the board - its a game that I can't for the life of me recognise - and I saw it coming"
"Rory" Derek said pulling her to a stop,
"It wasn't your job to stop this from happening. You couldn't have known-"
"But I did know" Rory told him sharply,
"I knew and I didn't do anything about it"
Derek took a deep breath, silently prompting Rory to do the same thing, which she did, before her brushed her hair back,
"Breath, kid. Stop thinking so much"
"I can't help it" Rory told him bluntly,
"It's what I'm good at"
"I know"
The pair walked in silence for a few moment before Rory commented,
"I can't believe you traded your Camero for a Toyota"
"What's wrong with my car?" Derek demanded with a mock offended expression.
"Nothing, nothing" Rory waved off before gently rubbing her temple.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Derek questioned as he watched her.
"Headache" Rory shrugged slightly,
"Hey, uh, I hear you have a kid"
"Uh, yeah, I have a daughter" Derek nodded slightly,
"How'd you know that?"
Rory hesitated for a moment before humming gently and shrugging,
"Doesn't matter. Why isn't she with you?"
Derek glanced down at her,
"How do you know she's not with me?"
Rory simply stared back at him,
"People think I'm psychic"
"Maybe you are" Derek shot back as they walked out of the elevator and over to Scott.
"I'll be right back" Rory muttered to the pair before walking over to the closest bathroom.
She stared at her reflection intently for a moment, examining the bags under her eyes and her complexion that had paled extraordinarily - a mixture of anxiety and sleep deprevation. Her eyes turned blue as the pressure in her head that the metallic clanging that she'd been hearing for over twenty-four hours finally relieved.
The lights above the brunette flickered harshly causing her to lean against the sink, her knuckles turning white as she held onto it. She took a deep breath before looking back into the mirror, although she didn't just see her own reflection - standing behind her was Stiles.
She frowned for a moment before realising that it wasn't Stiles - well, not really anyway.
"You're very special, Majo" The mild distortion to Stiles' voice send chills down Rory's back, goose flesh erupting in its wake,
"You can tell that we're here when no one else can"
Rory hesitated for a moment before spinning around only to find the bathroom empty and turn back to the mirror, a glare now covering her face,
"Get out"
Stiles smirked at her,
"Are you threatening us? Us who will never hurt you? Us who would help you?"
Stiles seemed to get closer to her, almost as if he were standing right behind her, close enough to touch her - which it looked like her did. His hand came up and moved her hair away from her face, Rory watched her hair move in her reflection before glancing down at her left shoulder to see that her hair was actually gone from the front of her shoulder and was now flicked down her back.
"I told you that you needed to learn to play" Stiles told her, his hand seemingly on her back,
"You're going to lose"
Rory's eyes flashed blue as she glared at him,
"I'm gonna rip your throat out-"
"With your teeth?" He cut her off with a smirk,
"You won't. Because, if you did, you won't just be hurting us, you'd be hurting him. Stiles"
"I thought I told you to get out" Rory's teeth was gritted in anger and her fists clenched, although he didn't respond, simply just smirked. Rory huffed in anger before snapping,
"Get out!"
Her fist moved of its own accord, slamming into the mirror, the object shattering, sending shards flying in all different directions and causing blood to coat her knuckles and drip down off of her fingers and onto the ground.
The brunette caught her reflection in one of the shards, still seeing Stiles hovering beside her,
"Oh Majo, it's not going to be that easy"