"Of course it had to be chess," I remark, still trying to recover from the last scene I had just witnessed with Allison being the shower and all. "This nogitsune sure loves to be symbolic."

Scott stares off in the distance with me at Stiles. He starts to call his name. "Stiles!"

I do the same, expecting to see the freckled faced boy look in our direction, but instead he raises his hand slowly and moves another chess piece, not noticing that we were here at all. My heart sinks into my chest, but before I could let the reality of this situation set in, I started to run.

"Stiles!" I shout as I dart across the tile flooring, Scott right behind me. "Why can't he hear us?"

"Forget him hearing us," Scott screams at me, out of breath. "Why aren't we getting any closer?"

I stop in my tracks then, realizing that Scott was right. We had to have at least ran a good 20 feet, but we were the same distance from Stiles. "What the hell..."

"How are we supposed to get to him now?" Scott pants, stepping up beside me. We both stare at Stiles for a long moment, watching the nogitsune move another piece on the board before I start to jump up and down, waving my hands for Stiles to notice us.

The situation reminded me exactly of Scott and I looking through a one way glass mirror, with Stiles on the other side. Of course he wouldn't be able to hear or see us...he couldn't. The nogitsune was dug in too deep. But I wasn't going to give up; there had to be another way.

"What do we do?" Scott sighs, dropping his hands back to his side.

I stare off at Stiles. "We need to be louder."

"How?" Scott bends over, setting his hands on my knees. "I'm over here belting my lungs out, I don't think I can get much louder."

My eyes flick over to Scott then, getting an idea. "But what if you can."

He furrows his eyebrows. "Corey, what are you talking about?"

"You may not be able to yell louder, but you can roar," I breathe, nodding my head. I had faith this would work. "Stiles is lost; he can't find himself. What if you can bring him back the same way Jade had with Malia. You have to roar."

Scott shakes his head. "But Jade brought Malia back, not me. What if I can't?"

"It's the only idea I've got," I breathe, looking back down at Stiles. "You have to at least try, Scott. This is for Stiles."

Scott stands back up, taking a deep breath. "It's worth a shot."

I turn and watch Scott as dark brown fur sprouts from his cheeks, along with canines that poke through his bottom lip. Every time I saw a werewolf transform, it made me wonder what it would be like to be one...what it would be like to be able to heal, to have your senses heightened, and most importantly, what it would be like to have a pack. I tried to picture Stiles being a werewolf, but I couldn't do it. This idea of Peter's had to work; it was the only way.

Scott's eyes burn a dark red in that moment as he takes a deep breath, staring ahead at Stiles and the nogitsune. His claws extend as sound starts to emit from his mouth, that sound being the loudest roar I've ever heard. It was much louder than Jade's roar for Malia, and I knew that Scott was pulling this out of him...for Stiles.

The sound grows so loud that I have to use my hands to cover my ears. A large smile forms on my face as I look down at Stiles, watching him as he turns and looks over at us, confusion on his face before he slowly turns back to the nogitsune, anger on his face now. The nogitsune growls lowly just as soon as Stiles raises his hands, swiping them across the board as the pieces of the game go flying across the room.

In that moment, everything starts to shake and then go black to nothing. A gasp escapes my mouth when I flash my eyes open again, finding myself back in the McCall's living room. Allison's face comes into my view as she runs to my side, her hands finding my shoulder and face as she asks me if I was okay, but I didn't care at that moment. I just wanted to know if Stiles was back.

I feel Scott's claws exit my neck then, causing me to turn and look and see if Stiles was back. When I do this, I realize that my nose had been bleeding, but that didn't matter right now, because when I did turn to see Stiles, I see his eyes flash open as he throws his head forwards, eyes wide for a reason unknown to me.

He uses his hands to rip off the black piece of duct tape on his mouth before falling on his knees on the floor, slowly reaching up to grab something in his mouth before slowly pulling it out. I feel myself start to gag at the sight of it, but I stop myself as I stand up, walking around closer the group of adults and Allison as we watch Stiles continue to tug the weird cloth from his mouth.

Everyone jumps back slightly when he finds the end of the cloth, throwing himself backwards back into the couch as the pile of cloth starts to smoke. I watch with wonder as a hand thrusts itself from out of the floor, grabbing the wooden floor as it uses it's strength to pull itself upward, revealing another arm and soon a head wrapped in cloth.

The nogitsune.

Allison grabs my hand as I take a step back, anger written everywhere on my face. Everyone gasps behind me as the figure stands up, using their cloth wrapped hands to attempt to rip the cloth off of it's face, but before it can, Scott and Peter are running forwards and throwing it back into the couch, holding it down.

"Take the cloth off!" Melissa shouts over the sounds of struggle. The sight of Scott and Peter holding down a cloth covered man sure was something I never thought I'd see in my life.

Jade steps up beside me as Scott grabs the end of the cloth, unraveling it slowly as it starts to reveal the mystery face we all wanted to see. However, when Scott finally removed enough of it to show us the real face under it, we all were shocked to see that it was Stiles.

"Stiles?" Scott gasps as Stiles looks around at all of us, fear and confusion written on his face. I'm speechless as I stare at him, not being able to tell if this was the real Stiles or the nogitsune...it was almost impossible to tell at this point, especially since there were two Stiles' now.

"Where's Lydia?" I hear Deaton say, looking around. I turn then as I look to my left and right, not seeing the strawberry blonde anywhere. My heart starts to race faster when I realize that the first Stiles was missing too, almost confirming my doubts about who the real Stiles was.

"Lydia?" Scott calls as he leaves Stiles' side, running out the front door as he looks for the girl. "Lydia!"

I turn back around then, seeing Peter standing there with a smug look on his face.

"I guess it was a trick after all."

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Blank thoughts fill my mind as I fold my hands, elbows on my knees as I lean forwards on the couch I was now sitting on. I tried my best to sort out everything that had happened recently in my head, but it was hard. I couldn't decide if what we did was worth it or if it only made matters worse.

I feel a warm hand on my back then as I look over my shoulder, finding Allison standing there. She smiles faintly at me before walking around the side of the couch, finding a place to sit next to me. I sit up as she does so, taking a deep breath.

She leans forwards a little to make eye contact with me. "What's on your mind?"

I wanted to tell her that she was on my mind, since the image of her dying was still branded in my head, but I couldn't. I knew what she would say if I told her what I saw, and I wasn't going to hear it. "Stiles."

"What was it like in there?" she asks me softly, almost cautiously as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to bring it up.

My eyes fall to the floor, remembering. "It felt like I was just stuck in a vision, in a way. He tried tricking me though...he tried tricking both of us. When I first woke up, I was at your old house. It was like he knew my memories."

"He put you there?" Allison asks, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why there?"

"It was back when we first met...when I first stayed the night, I guess. I was on the couch and your mom was in the kitchen cooking for Kate's funeral," I pause as her face grows sadder than what it once was, since I mentioned her mother. "You were upstairs getting ready in the shower."

Allison cocks her head to the side. "Out of everything he could have chose, he chose this to trick you."

"Well of course I wanted to figure out what I was doing there," I breathe, shaking my head. In a way, I was ashamed of myself. "I got up and went upstairs to check everything out and I found you..."

Allison must have noticed how awkward it was for me to continue, because she reaches out and rests her hand on mind, causing me to look up and see her looking into my eyes. "It's okay. You found Stiles, that's all that matters."

I sigh softly. "I'm starting to wonder if it was worth it."

"It was a smart move," Allison nods. "Granted, we got Stiles duplicates and Lydia is missing, but we'll get her back and we'll figure this out. We didn't have any other moves left."

"What if Stiles isn't the same," I look over at her. "What if we screwed up bad and we don't know it yet? And Lydia..."

"Lydia can take care of herself, I know she can," Allison breathes, squeezing my hand. "Jade, Isaac, and Aiden are out there looking for her right now. We'll find her."

I look back down at the ground. "I just hope she's okay...I swear to God, if he even touches her-"

"Corey?" I hear a weak voice speaking out, knowing it from anywhere. I launch myself up onto my feet as I turn around, seeing Stiles standing there by the stairs with Melissa. I didn't get to say anything to him before when we first got him back because he passed out soon after and Melissa had taken him upstairs to be examined.

A sad smile spreads across my face as I run forwards, throwing my arms around him, more than happy to have him back but also trying to be delicate in case he was hurt for some reason. He stands there for a second before wrapping his arms around me too, not near as strong as he once had been. I could tell.

"You brought me back," Stiles breathes in my ear. He sounded so sick. "You and Scott..."

"I'm glad you're back," I sigh a breath of relief, opening my eyes to see Scott standing from a distance watching the two of us. I just wanted to take in this moment and appreciate it. It was the closest thing we've had to a win so far.

I pull away from him then, really taking in his facial features now. His eyes were deathly pale and sunken inwards, like you'd see on a corpse. Along with that horror were the dark bags under his eyes that reminded me of something you'd see on a person who hadn't slept in months. His cheekbones now were clearly visible, but his eyes showed a tired yet burning hope.

"So it's him?" I hear Scott ask, taking a deep breath as he did so. "It's really him and not some trick?"

Just then, I hear the front door fly open, causing me to turn and see someone I didn't expect at all. Marching into the room was Kira's mom, Noshiko, along with the Oni behind her.

She stops in the entryway. "Only one way to find out."

"Mom, no-" Kira tries to speak out, but Noshiko cuts her off.

"It's the only way Kira," she snaps at her daughter. "We have to know."

Scott steps in between Stiles and Noshiko then. "And what happens if he doesn't pass your little test?"

"Then we take action," she says coldy, lifting her chin at the words. I join Scott as his side then, not daring to let them get anywhere close to Stiles. We just got him back; we weren't going to lose him again.

I feel a cold hand on my shoulder. "Guys, it's okay."

I turn to see Stiles walk around Scott and I then, nodding his head. "Stiles-"

"We have to know," he breathes, his voice all scratchy. I hated seeing him like this.

We all watch him as he slowly steps forwards, nodding his head towards Noshiko. She nods towards the Oni then as two of them step forwards, one of them grabbing Stiles from behind and holding him still while the other one steps in front, placing it's hand behind his ear as its eyes turn a bright green, like a firefly.

My heart races in my chest as I watch the Oni carefully, ready to intervene if Stiles didn't pass the test. Granted, I wouldn't be able to help much, but I wasn't going to let them kill Stiles, even if he still was the nogitsune. This was the real Stiles...I knew it was.

Suddenly, the Oni step back as they let Stiles fall to the ground, landing on his side as he shivers deathly, but not near as bad as I had been when I had been tested. I rush to his side as I look behind his ear, seeing the same symbol as the others.

"He passed," I breathe, looking up at the others. "He's okay."

"Not okay," Noshiko says as the Oni disappear into the air. "You may have split the nogitsune and Stiles, but no one knows what this could mean. You're in uncharted territory."

"What about the other Stiles?" Kira asks, stepping towards her mother.

Noshiko looks over at her daughter. "We're looking for him. It's almost day though."

"What happens if you can't find him?" Stiles asks, teeth chattering.

She's stern. "We will find him."

After she says this, she turns and leaves the house, leaving us all in silence. I try and help warm Stiles up by throwing a blanket onto him, but as I did so, I couldn't help but wonder what Noshiko really wanted to say. It seemed as if she was holding something back, but it didn't take me long to realize what she wanted to point out.

Stiles was clearly dying.

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Uneventful chapter, but ahhh next one won't be!! *winks nervously*

few more chapters left! prepare yourselves

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