Chapter 42. Outfoxing the Fox

“This is everything non-lethal I could find.” Allison said as she led us into her dad’s office. We had left the Sheriff station and headed straight here, apparently Chris had sent her a text and informed her to dig out anything we could use on Stiles that wouldn’t kill him.

I can’t remember the last time that I was actually in the same room as Allison, let alone the last time we had a conversation.

“Take all of it.” Chris instructed as they both grabbed duffle bags and started shoving the items on the table into them.

Rope, handcuffs, pepper spray, mace, stun guns, tazors, and duct tape were being thrown into the bags. When do they find the time to even go and buy this stuff?

“What’s the plan here?” I asked nervously. I know that Allison said this stuff was non-lethal, but the Argent’s can be pretty lethal, so..

“Our best shot right now is for Derek to try and pick up Stiles’ scent at Eichan House. Especially if he went through something stressful there, which you said he did— right?” Argent derailed from his explanation to glance me.

I swallowed, “Yeah… yeah it was definitely stressful.”

“Should all five of us be going to the same place?” Sheriff Stilinski asked skeptically.

I was going to trust the Argent’s expertise right now. They know what they’re doing, and most of the time they have a good end result in their little missions, so I’m going to listen and not argue.

“Where else has Stiles been showing up?” Chris asked, taking Stiles’ dad question into consideration.

Allison spoke up, “School, the hospital.”

“Okay, hold on.” Derek stated loudly, “We did this already. He disappeared. We started looking for him. Then walked right into a tap at the hospital.”

Argent nodded, “He’s getting us to repeat the same moves.”

“So, what do we do? Wait for him to come to us? To come to Kasey? Because you know that he will eventually.” Allison stated. I winced at the truth behind her words. Eventually he was going to come back and find me.

Derek shook his head from side to side, “He’s not taking Kasey. And we can’t wait for Stiles to come to us. Not if the Oni find him when the sun goes down.”

“Scott’s working on them right now with Kira and her psycho mom.” I said. Derek shot me a look, and I shot him one right back.

Argent sighed, “That’s the problem. We’re all trying to outfox the fox.”

The room fell silent, and the tension was palpable. It was awkward and uncomfortable to say the least. I knew what was going through everyone’s minds… that this was a lot of work just to save Stiles. I wouldn’t expect them to understand why his dad and I are so adamant on helping him.

They don’t love him the way that we love him. They don’t look at him like he’s the sun and the stars in the sky. They don’t hear him and want to have his voice be the soundtrack of their lives. They don’t understand him the way that we do.

“Listen. I’ll understand if anyone wants to back out.” Sheriff Stilinski said quietly. He meant it, but it was obvious that he wanted and needed their help.

Derek scoffed, “Well, I’m not going to be the first wolf to run from a fox, so.” he said before grabbing a taser and dropping it into an excess duffle bag.

“Apparently I’m carrying the lightsaber.” Argent said, the sarcastic tone in his voice was intended.

“Dad, you and Derek hit Eichan House. Sheriff, Kasey and I will go to the Hospital. We all meet in the school.” Allison instructed as she zipped up the bag and tossed it to Sheriff Stilinski.

☾  ☾   ☽  ☽

“You know what, I don’t know how you guys do it. You’re all so strong. You’re fearless. Hell, you even manage to keep your grades up.” Sheriff Stilinski said to Allison and I while we waited for the elevator to arrive at our designation.

Allison shook her head from side to side, “I am failing Econ.”

“I’m barely averaging a C in Physics. And my Econ grade has tanked too” I added.

That class has been irrelevant to me since I had that awful dream. When I was hallucinating Harris and Isaac kissed me. The day that Stiles had a panic attack and I had to think of ways to calm him down because simply being with me wasn’t enough this time. And Econ… well who gives a shit about Econ?

“Is that Coach’s class?” he asked us.

I nodded slowly. I forgot that he was well-squinted with Coach Finstock. Every single conference night ended up with him in Coach’s office so he could hear what he had to say about Stiles’s ADHD tendencies.

“Well, I’ll have a talk with him.” he assured us.

I could feel that something was off— something felt wrong. It wasn’t for me though, it was for Allison. I turned my head to watch her, to see if she was having issues breathing or something. I saw the tears welling up behind her eyes. I saw her look up to the light to try and keep them from falling. I saw the way that her bottom lip was trembling. I knew the signs of a breakdown— I’ve had enough to know.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked her softly. Sheriff Stilinski picked up on the uneasiness and he hit the emergency stop button.

Allison shook her head from side to side, “I’m not fearless. I’m ter—I’m terrified. I’m always, I’m always terrified. I… I act like I know what I’m doing, but I don’t. I don’t know if Isaac is dying right now. I don’t know if I made a mistake with Scott. I don’t know what my dad is thinking. I don’t know if we should trust Derek. I don’t know… I don’t know— I don’t know anything.” she sobbed before I wrapped my arms around her.

“It’s okay.” I said quietly.

I am so out of my element. I don’t know how to calm anyone down, other than Stiles. I’m usually the one that needs to be calmed down. I’m usually the one that starts to sob like a lunatic in a confined space because I can’t handle the reality that is crashing down around me.

Allison was shaking against me, and I didn’t know what to say or do that could possibly help her. Is this how it feels whenever I break down around people? I render them helpless as they just sit there and watch me fall apart, not knowing how to stop me.

“You’re going to be okay. Everyone is going to be okay,” I said quickly.

Everyone except you, my subconscious hummed in amusement. I wanted to lock her away in a box somewhere but I’m pretty sure if I tried I would be on a one-way trip back to Eichan House.

Allison pulled back and wiped at her eyes, “I’m sorry. I usually don’t do that.”

“Hey, it’s fine. Take it from me, the Queen of Breakdowns, when I say that wasn’t even bad.” I assured her.

Sheriff Stilinski nodded, “It’s fine, it really is.”

As soon as he went to reach for the button to start the elevator back up his phone started to buzz in his pocket. I glanced over his shoulder to see that it was an update from a Digital Life System. The screen said that it detected motion in the bedroom…

“What is that?” Allison asked in confusion.

He tapped the screen once, “Someone’s breaking into my house. After Stiles started sleepwalking, I had some security precautions put in. Motion sensors, cameras. “

A video feed popped up and I gasped when I saw Stiles sitting on his bed. Only it wasn’t Stiles, it was the Nogtisune. I need to stop letting myself think that it was Stiles. It wasn’t. Stiles is locked away somewhere in the back of his mind while the Nogitsune runs the show.

“Is that his room” Allsion inquired.

My eyes widened as he waved at the camera. I could literally feel my heart clench in my chest. Stiles was somewhere in there, somewhere crying for help and he can’t get out. I want to help, God I want to help him.

But I have to wait. I have to wait until the barrier is down.

☾  ☾   ☽  ☽

“What is all this?” Argent asked.

We were in Stiles’ room. He was gone before we got here, but the Nogitsune had left us something to find. It was a chess board. A chess board that had post it notes with each of our names on the pieces.

Everyone’s name except Stiles’ and mine.

“What are these sticky notes for?” he continued.

Sheriff Stilinski sighed, “This is what Stiles used to try and explain to me about all of… you.”

“Well, maybe it’s a message from Stiles. The real Stiles.” Allison suggested.

I didn’t think this was from Stiles. If it was from Stiles, he would have put my name on a damn post-it note. He would have mentioned me because he was worried about me. This was the Nogitsune’s work, because he wasn’t going to put me in harms way, he left me off of the board.

“You think there’s any reason my name’s on the king?” Derek asked skeptically. You could tell he was slightly nervous about this too.

Sheriff Stilinski shrugged, “You’re heavily guarded. Though I guess the alarming detail is that you’re one move from being in checkmate.”

“It’s not a message from Stiles. It has to be a threat from the Nogitsune.” I stated plainly. That was the only viable option.

Allison glanced up from the board, “He’s at the loft. That’s what he’s trying to tell us.”

“And he wants us to come there.” Argent stated.

Derek folded his arms over his chest, “Night’s falling and he knows that we have Kasey with us.”

“This couldn’t sound any more like a trap.” Argent said, his voice lowering. We all knew this was a set-up and a trap, but it’s Stiles. I don’t know how else to say it to get people to understand that we have to go.

Sheriff Stilinski shook his head from side to side, “I don’t think it is.”

Okay, so maybe not all of us knew that it was a trap.

“I think your opinion might be slightly biased, Sheriff.” Chris stated.

“Hear me out,” he declared with a huff, “what we’re dealing with here is basically someone who lacks motive. No rhyme, no reason, right?”

Wrong, I thought as I glanced at the chess board. The Nogistune always has a motive. He’s setting something up— something big. Something to get to me and knock that barrier down.

“Meaning what?” Chris asked, closing his eyes briefly from the stress.

Sheriff Stilinski continued, “Our enemy is not a killer. It’s a trickster. The killing is just a by-product.”

“If you’re trying to say it won’t kill us, I’m not feeling too confident about that.” Derek dead-panned.

I sighed, this was getting us nowhere. We don’t know what the Nogitsune is trying to do. This could be a lethal trap, or it could just be a trick— a trick to kill our hope.

“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 punchline.” Sheriff Stilinski said with a smirk.

That was the first time I have ever seen him smirk. Clearly he was proud of that play on words he just did.

“The sun is setting, Sheriff. What do you have in mind?”

☾  ☾   ☽  ☽

The ride to Derek’s loft was painful.

Not because Stiles was going to be there waiting, and the anticipation was killing me. No. It was actually, physically painful. My skull felt as if it were fracturing, the pressure was building and I don’t know why, or what it could mean.

It’s not my ability. This is different.

My eyes screwed shut as Sheriff Stiilinski parked his Range Rover. I was sitting in the front seat, since I had driven with him. Allison and her father were in their car, and Derek was in his.

“Kasey?” he asked in confusion, seeing me grab at my head. Oh what the hell is this?

My body felt like it was on fire, and I wanted to cool off— I wanted to just crawl out of my own skin. The hammering in my head didn’t stop, in fact it got significantly worse as I struggled with the door handle, trying to get out of the car.

When the door clicked open, I nearly fell out onto the ground. A pair of arms had caught me before I had my impact though. I stoled a glance and found that it was Derek. His face was contorted in confusion as my fingers curled around the fabric of his white shirt. I squeezed my eyes shut again and pressed my forehead against his chest. What the hell is happening to me?

“What’s wrong with her?” Derek asked in a panic.

Like they would know the damn answer, Derek. Seriously.

This was him. I know it is. The Nogitsune is starting to seep back into my mind through the cracks of the barrier. He’s stalling— he’s wasting time because he doesn’t want us up there yet.

Derek, obviously not knowing what to do with himself, decided to scoop me up off of the ground, holding me bridal style. One of his arms was holding me against his firm chest tightly, while the other was brushing my hair off of my face.

I didn’t know what to make of the gesture, I was too busy clenching my jaw and whimpering because it felt like Oliver was putting that damn drill in my head.

My gut was telling me that we needed to go up now, that this was just another trick— but I couldn’t get a damn word out.

“Kasey, hey you’re gonna be okay…” Derek mumbled as he gripped my wrist with the hand that was messing with my hair.

Before I could even register what was happening I felt Derek’s body start to shake, and the pain in my head started to dissolve slightly. No, he has to stop— that could hurt him way worse than it can hurt me. I’m not going to let Derek Hale of all people be hurt because of me.

Derek doesn’t even like me.

“St—stop, Derek, you’re… you’re gonna—“ I was stammering as the ability to form coherent sentences returned. He had actually helped me, he was pulling the pain out of me, sucking it right into him.

He was panting as he stopped the connection, the pain didn’t flood back in— but it was still pretty vivid. I let out a sigh and rolled my head back onto his shoulder, “Don’t do that anymore… it might affect you differently.”

“I’m going—“ he started coughing before he regained his composure, “I’m going to assume you said that because you’re in love with me.” He retorted.

I chuckled dryly and patted his cheek, “Keep dreaming, Sour Wolf.”

“Is she okay?” Allison asked impatiently. She was bouncing around on the balls of her feet, her hands clenched into fists. She didn’t trust Derek— especially with me, that much was obvious.

I nodded slowly, “For now, yeah.”

“I’m going to go up first,” Sheriff said quickly, “it’ll throw him off.”

Argent cleared his throat, “We’ll be right behind you.”

__________________________________________________________________________

This chapter sucked omfg. I'm sorry but this episode was such a pain to write because it was that whole flashback and I needed Kasey to be at the loft so she had to stick with Sheriff Stilinski. I apologize for the shitty length, but it happens I guess.

Derek and Kasey though... I'm shipping it man.

Be sure to fan, vote and comment! -Sasha xx