AN: I suffer from night terrors as a side effect of my brain disorder, parasomnia. It sucks. I understand Stiles.
Words: 4507 

First published: May 10th 2018
Last updated: January 2nd 2022

Things had changed in Beacon Hills. It had been approximately one month since the lunar ellipse. Nothing bad was happening... but nothing was good either. Since Derek had given up his status as an Alpha, Selene had quickly been accepted into Scott's new pack. Selene knew deep down she had already been a member of his pack for a long time. When Cora finally woke up from her coma, she said thank you to Derek but she couldn't stay. Life in Beacon Hills wasn't what she was looking for. She returned to her original pack in the south. 

Derek and Peter had insisted they company her on the way down to ensure nothing bad happened. Isaac was still living with Scott. Derek had kicked him out a while ago and since Derek was no longer Alpha, Isaac didn't move back into the loft but that didn't mean things were easier for the boy. No. Isaac and Allison had a 'thing' and Scott didn't like it one bit. He said he was okay with it but everyone knew he was lying.

But the thing that Selene couldn't wrap her head around was her relationship with Stiles. Since the night of the eclipse the two of them had never been closer. It was like something had clicked inside of them. But that is what was strange. They were so close and yet they felt miles away. They spoke for hours only to forget what they spoke about later. And of course, Stiles was suffering from night terrors. He had them ever since he had died and came back to life all in the name of saving his father. Selene wanted to stay with him, watch over him as he slept but Stiles wouldn't let her. One night Selene had gotten too close to him and he had punched her and broke her nose from the force. Since that night he had refused to sleep in the same bed. She didn't like the new arrangement, but she understood and accepted his wishes.

It was an early school morning. The sun was slowly rising. Selene allowed herself to feel the light on her face. She had parked her car outside of her boyfriend's house. They did this every morning. She would drive to his house and then he would drive both of them to school in his Jeep. The front door was unlocked, and she allowed herself to walk straight in. Noah wished her a good morning as she passed, and she responded in kind. 

As she walked up the stairs, she could feel the emotions coming from Stiles' room. He had a bad night last night. She could tell. She opened his door slowly and saw him packing his bag for school. He paused when he picked up one of the books. He looked at the front cover with such intensity. She peeked over his shoulder and read out loud.

"Allies and axis." Stiles flinched. He quickly stuffed the book into his bag.
"You alright?" Noah said in the doorway. He was talking to Stiles but he made eye contact with Selene. They both knew something was up. "You two ready for school?"
"Yeah, yeah. Dad I'm good. It was just a nightmare..." He trailed off looking at a number of files in the Sheriff's hand. "What you got there?"
"Just files from the office." Noah shrugged. Stiles pointed at the box.
"It says Sheriff's station do not remove."
"Unless you are the Sheriff." And with that Noah smiled and left the room.

"Are you sure you okay?" Selene asked. Stiles pulled her closer to him giving her a quick kiss and playfully responded.
"With you by my side. Nothing will be wrong."
"Stiles. I'm serious."
"So am I." He kissed her on the end of the nose and grabbed his bag. Selene followed him. What would be so bad he wouldn't open up to her?
----------------

They were walking in to the main part of the school buildings when Scott literally bumped into Selene.
"Scott, Scott." She said his name. He looked at her terrified. "What's wrong?" She knew his mind was playing with him. Just as Stiles' did and Allison's. But something today was more off than usual. Scott nodded.
"You don't look alright Scott." Stiles said agreeing with his girlfriend.
"I'm okay." He brushed them off.
"No, you're not. It's happening to you too. You're seeing things, aren't you?" Stiles asked.
"How'd you know?" Scott asked shocked.

Selene was gobsmacked. She knew of the nightmares, but she didn't know they were seeing things. Maybe that was the thing Stiles wasn't telling her. He wanted to make sure it wasn't just him.
"Because it's happening to all three of you." Lydia said walking up with an unimpressed Allison. "Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one." Lydia smirked crossing her arms. Selene playfully glared at her best friend.
"We're not crazy." Allison defended.
"Hallucinating? Sleep paralysis? Yeah, you guys are fine." Lydia teased.
"We did die and come back to life. That's gotta have some side effects, right?" Selene wrapped one arm around Stiles. She didn't like that he died. She couldn't imagine a life without Stiles in it. The bell rung in the background signalling it was time for class.
"We keep an eye on each other. Okay?" Yhey all nodded before heading off to class.

History class had just finished, and it was time for lunch. They made their way to Stiles' locker. While he was fumbling with his lock the new girl Kira and her dad had begun disagreeing with each other in the hall way. The poor girl had just been embarrassed by her father in front of the whole class. She had wanted to blend in and become a wallflower and her dad disagreed with that completely. 

Scott slammed himself on the lockers causing Stiles and Selene to look at him. His eyes were glowing red. Seeing his red eyes made Selene's turn yellow. When a wolf's Alpha flashes their red eyes at them. They respond with their own eyes.
"Dude your eyes." Stiles said to Scott. Selene began covering her own eyes from passers-by.
"What do you mean my eyes?" Scott asked.
"They are beginning to glow?" Stiles pointed out as if it was obvious.
"What? Right now?"
"Yes right now."
"Stop it Scott. Stop it." Stiles said.

"Scott. Calm down." Selene said. Scott looked up and saw her eyes were glowing too. He began to breathe uneasily.
"I...I cant control it." Scott admitted.
"Alright keep your head down." Stiles said to both wolves before leading them out of the hallway and into an empty classroom. Scott began to take his jacket off and gripped onto a desk for support. The more out of control he got the same happened to Selene. Stiles looked between his girlfriend and his friend. Maybe if he could get Selene under control then maybe she could use her powers on Scott.

"Sel, look at me. Look at me!" He put his hands on either side of her face. "Alpha. Beta. Omega. Remember what Deaton taught you. Don't let Scott's emotions control you. A brick wall, remember? Use your memories and don't listen to Scott." Selene nodded and did as she was asked. Deaton and her had been practicing the past month. She closed her eyes and concentrated. 

The smell of blood invaded her nose. All she could think about was protecting Stiles. She opened her eyes and pulled the boy close to her. Scott at the front of the classroom had dug his own nails into the palms of his own hands. The more he bled the calmer he got. His eyes returned to their normal color and he fell to the floor.

"Pain makes us human." He explained to Stiles who had joined his best friend on the floor.
"Scott, this isn't just in our heads." Stiles shook his head. "This is real. And it's starting to get bad for me too. I'm not just having nightmares. I'm having dreams where I have to literally scream myself awake. And sometimes I'm not even sure if I'm actually ever waking up."
"What do you mean?" Scott tilted his head to the side.
"Do you know how you can tell if you're dreaming? You can't read in dreams. More and more, the past few days, I've been having trouble reading. It's like I can't see the words. I can't put the letters in order.
"Like even now?" Stiles looked at a poster on a wall.
"I can't read a thing."
--------------------

It was dark outside. Stiles and Selene had just returned from the Sheriff's station where Noah had been going over old case files and had been looking over them with his new knowledge. There was one case in particular that had caught the eye of Noah. A girl who had been dragged into the woods by a coyote.

Once again Stiles and Selene had been talking. But once her phone rang, they forgot completely what they had been talking about. But it felt important.
"Hey Lyida, What's up?"
"We need to fix them like right now." Lydia ranted down the phone. She wasn't on speaker but Stiles could still hear her.
"What happened?"
"Allison wanted to practice with her bow. But instead of using the target, she used my head. Thankfully Isaac was there last minute because otherwise I would literally be dead right now."
"Oh my gosh, Lydia are you okay?"
"No! I'm freaking out! We need to find a fix to this before it gets worse. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Cya." 

And with that Selene hung up. Stiles looked lost in his thoughts. "Stiles? Do you want to talk about it?" He didn't reply. "Do you want me to stay tonight?"
"No." Stiles replied. Selene frowned. "No, I don't mean it like that. I mean Lydia was almost killed by Allison. What if I killed you? I wouldn't be able to live with myself!"
"Stiles you could never..."
"We don't know for sure." Stiles looked at the floor clearly not wanting to continue this conversation.

With a sigh Selene stood up and went to leave.
"Actually..." Stiles said in a voice that wasn't quite his own. It was deeper. There was something haunting about it. Stiles pressed himself against Selene's back. His breath tickling her ear. "I want you to stay." He ran his fingers up her arm making her shiver. He took her hand and spun her, he looked her in the eye. "I want you to stay here. Here with me forever... promise?" He smirked.

Selene nodded unable to stop looking at him. It was like he had her in a trance. "Good." She wouldn't remember this. This isn't the first time Stiles and Selene had a conversation like this. In fact, it wasn't Stiles at all. It was the opposite of Stiles. It was the void. The void and Selene had many conversations that she never remembered. The monster in Stiles' mind could control both of them due to their shared mind... It was taking advantage of their bond. In his 1000 years he had only heard of the term Mentis Alterum, he never thought he would be able to control them. The fox was playing with them. Not only did his host share a mind and soul with another being, he shared a mind and soul to the white wolf. The fox smiled to himself. Oh the fun they would have together.
-------------

Selene woke up in Stiles' arms. She smiled to herself. It had felt like years since she had woken up next to him. She was more then content to stay here forever. She couldn't remember what had changed his mind last night but she was glad he did. He was lightly snoring which caused her to smile. She spun in his arms to face him. The bed shifting woke him up.

"Go back to sleep." He complained not quite fully awake yet. She wanted to do as he said but she knew they couldn't stay in bed all day.
"Stiles we have school." She whispered. Stiles lifted his hand to put his fingers on her lips but due to the lack of coordination he gently hit her in the face instead.
"Shhhh." He said. "No we don't." Selene laughed.
"Stiles."
"5 more minutes?" He asked. Selene rolled her eyes playfully. She couldn't say no to him, especially not when he was so cute and sleepy.

When they finally made it to school they had economics class. Scott and Stiles sat next to each other while Selene sat behind Stiles. Coach was being the usual coach when he noticed Stiles wasn't paying attention. He was scribbling quite rapidly in his note book. If it were possible steam would be coming out of his pen.

"Stilinski!" Coach shouted. "Stilinski!" He shouted louder. "Are you paying attention back there?" Stiles didn't respond. Scott and Selene tried nudging him to get him to stop but he didn't. Coach had enough. He blew the whistle that he kept around his neck at all times. Suddenly Stiles jerked and sat up.
"Huh?" Stiles asked,
"I asked you a question." Coach replied clearly more annoyed than usual.
"Sorry Coach, what was it?"
"It was, 'are you paying attention back there?'"
"I am now." Stiles joked.
"Stilinski, stop reminding me why I drink... Every night. Does anybody else want to try the question on the board?" Coach rolled his eyes and carried on with class. Scott and Selene both lent towards Stiles to see what was going on. Stiles looked at the two wolves.
"I'm okay." He said, "I just fell asleep for a second."
"Dude," Scott said confused. "You weren't asleep." Stiles looked back at Selene who was nodding in agreement. Stiles looked down at his book and saw "WAKE UP" written over and over again. This was a problem.

The pack all gathered at lunch. It was time for this to end.
"So what happens when you have a near death experience?" Scott questioned to the group. "and, comes out of it seeing things." He added.
"and!" Stiles added, "Being unable to tell what is real or not."
"Don't forget being haunted by dead relatives." Allison said. Isaac, Lydia and Selene all looked at each other. Their friends were crazy. Not that they blamed them. Well, Lydia and Selene couldn't.

"They get locked up for being insane." Isaac joked. Everyone glared at him.
"Can you try to be helpful please." Stiles said.
"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me." Isaac remarked.
"Hey, dude, are you still milking that?" Stiles shook his head.
"Yeah, maybe I am still milking that." Issac answered. Selene rolled her eyes.
"Come on Stiles. Its pretty traumatic. I think he gets to milk it just a little." Selene defended her pack member.
"Stop defending him." Stiles replied. Before the argument could get any worse Kira, the new girl, walked up to their table.

"Hi... sorry, Hi." She stumbled over her words. "I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about. And I think I actually might know what you're talking about." Everyone looked at each other worried, how loudly had they been talking? "There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called 'Bardo.' It literally means 'in-between state.' The state between life and death."
"And what do they call you?" Lydia asked clearly not knowing who this girl was.
"Kira." Scott answered. "She's in our history class."
"And her dad is the history teacher." Selene added. 

Lydia nodded before looking back at Kira.
"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia asked. Kira blinked a few times not expecting this question.
"Either, I guess." Kira took a seat next to Stiles causing Selene and Scott to move up the bench. "But all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo." The more she talked, the more she smiled and seemed to relax. She was adorable. "There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can by visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."
"Wrathful deities?" Isaac asked for clarity.
"Like demons." She replied happily.
"Demons." Stiles sarcastically repeated. Selene elbowed him in the side.
"Hold on, if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?" Allison asked.
"Death. You die." Kira shrugged. The pack looked at each other suddenly uneasy.
--------------

They quickly rushed to Deaton to get answers. Stiles told him about his dream and how everyone spoke in sign language.
"Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something." Deaton suggested.
"Maybe it could try and tell me something in a language I understand." Stiles quipped.
"Selene. Have you noticed anything odd about Stiles recently?" Deaton put his focus on the girl.
"I mean... Of course he's had the physical symptoms like everyone else but mentally I haven't noticed anything." She answered. Deaton made a noise in his throat.

"That is interesting. As you two share one mind, Selene, should be aware of some disturbance in your subconscious. If she hadn't noticed its almost like your subconscious doesn't want her to notice, or is purposely getting her to forget." They all looked at each other. He was right. What was happening? 

"Do you remember what the sign language looked like? The placement and movement of the hands?" He moved the conversation back onto Stiles.
"You know sign language?" Scott said surprised.
"I know a little. Let me give it a shot."
"Okay," Stiles said lifting his hands. "The first one was like this." He lifted his left index finger straight up and with his right index finger he orbited.
"That's 'when'."
"Then there was this, twice." He placed his hands in front of his chest, palms facing outwards. He pulled his left hand back.
"That's door."
"And this in between that." He put his thumb to his chin and extended it outwards.
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"When is a door not a door?" Deaton translated for them.
"When is a door not a door?" Stiles repeated. What stupid thing was his mind trying to tell him?
"When it's ajar." Selene chuckled remembering the joke she made about Jackson last year. How long ago that seemed.

"You're kidding me." Stiles exclaimed "A riddle? My subconscious wants to tell me a riddle?"
"Not necessarily." Deaton explained. "When the three of you went under the water, when you crossed from unconsciousness to a kind of super-consciousness You essentially opened a door in your minds."
"So what does that mean? The door's still open?" Scott asked.
"Ajar." Deaton said lifting his hand referring to Selene's answer.
"A door into our minds?" Stiles wasn't too sure.
"I did tell you it was risky." Deaton reminded them.
"What do we do about it?"
"Well, that's difficult to answer." Deaton grimaced.

 "Oh, no, wait a second," Stiles grabbed Selene's arm and pointed to Deaton with the other as if she didn't catch the look on his face. "I know that look. That's the 'we know exactly what's wrong with you, but we have no idea how to fix it' look." Deaton sighed.
"One thing I do know is that having an opening like that into your mind, it's not good. You each need to close that door. And you need to do it as soon as possible. Not only will it be bad for the three of you. But if something get's inside your mind Stiles. Whatever it is will get into Selene's too. We need to make sure the white wolf does not return."
---------------

They were about to leave when Noah pulled up in his car.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Stiles asked.
"I'm here because, I could use your help... actually. Their help." He looked at the two wolves.
"Why us?" Scott questioned.
"Because eight years ago, almost an entire family died in a car accident. One of the bodies, a young girl named Malia, was never found. There's enough evidence to have me thinking that That a werewolf could have caused the accident, and then dragged her body away. If you could somehow get a lock on her scent if you could somehow help me find her body, it might provide the missing clue."
"But what if it wasn't a werewolf?"
"Well, there's somebody out there who murdered an entire family. Someone who still needs to be caught."

The following morning the sheriff drove them to a house. This must be the father of the girl, Malia's house. The letterbox said Tate. Malia Tate. The sheriff went inside while Stiles, Scott and Selene went around the back. They entered the house and went into the room that had a sign on it that said Malia. Stiles handed them both some toys and they began to sniff them. Nothing. They didn't smell like any human. 

Selene and Scott shared a look,
"We can't smell anything. All there is, is some animal smell." Scott admitted.
"What kind of animal?" Stiles asked, Scott's eyes widened. Selene turned around slowly to see what he was looking at. It was a giant rottweiler and it did not look friendly.
"Hi puppy." Stiles said to the dog. "Get rid of it." He whispered.
"ME?!" Scott said.
"Yes you, glow your eyes at it or something. Be the alpha."
"I cant, I don't have control." Scott explained.
"Selene?"
"I can try." She said unsure. "But I'm no alpha." She took a tentative step forward with a hand stretched out in front of her. The dog began to bark wildly at her. With a squeal she jumped back. Stiles grabbed her and pulled her close.

"Apollo!" The dad shouted. "Apollo, shut up!" and with that the dog stopped barking and walked away. The three teenagers all let out a sigh of relief. Stiles passed them more things but there was no point. Everything smelt like dog. Stiles noticed a picture of what looked to be Malia and her sister and took a picture with his phone.

They apologized to the sheriff. If they had gotten there sooner. Or if the dog wasn't so pungent, they could have done it.
"It's okay. It was a long shot. In fact, it was a pretty terrible idea." The Sheriff moved some gravel under his foot. "I think I just ripped a wound open in that poor man. I never should have brought you guys here. I don't know what I was thinking. Thanks for trying, all right?" The two wolves nodded.
"See you at home." He said to Stiles and Selene.
"Aren't there a lot of cases that go unsolved?" Scott said, unsure why Noah was so upset.
"Yeah, I just think this is one he felt like he could've figured out right now."
"Why is it so important now?"
"He wants to be able to solve one more while he's still Sheriff."
"What do you mean, still Sheriff?"

Selene and Stiles were in bed together when they heard someone coming up the stairs. Scott burst into the room causing them both to jump in fright.
"Woah dude! Knock next time!" Stiles complained. Scott ignored him.
"We are going to find a dead body." He two boys smiled at each other remembering that night not too long ago. 

Less than half an hour later the three of them were searching the woods in the pitch black. At least this time they had two wolves on their team rather than just two curious teenage boys. Scratch that. They still had two curious teenage boys with one seriously annoyed teenage girl. She was wrapped up in bed warm not that long ago and now she was freezing. She was beginning to get jealous of the Hale family gene of being able to turn completely into a wolf. It seemingly skipped her. She could do with a fur coat about now. 

"You do realize, if my dad is right, that there is another werewolf out there that we haven't met yet?" Stiles said.
"I know." Scott said, slightly uninterested.
"If it turns out to be something like triplets that form into, like, a three-headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that." This caused Scott to laugh slightly.
"Yeah. Me either. Especially if I can't even control my own transformation anymore." There was a distant howl of a coyote. Stiles jumped forward into Selene who in turn bumped into Scott causing him to drop his phone into a puddle. 

"Sorry, buddy." Stiles said. "I hate coyotes so much. They always sound like they're mauling some tiny, helpless little animal,"
"I couldn't agree more." Selene said. Scott and Selene gracefully jumped down the small hill. Stiles not so much. Scott picked up his phone and gave a sigh of relief when it still worked. Stiles took the torch from him,
"Guys, I think we found it." 

Stiles walked forward with Scott and Selene in tow. He was correct. They had found the overturned car. But surely it should have been removed? There was claw marks all over the car. They were quite deep too. They did not look like something natural had caused them. Scott ran his hand over the marks. They matched his hand.
"If it was an animal then the claws would be much closer together right?" Stiles said. Scott nodded.
"Then it was a werewolf."
"So my dad was right." 

They all bent down and looked inside the car to see if they could find anymore evidence. Scott pointed to something.
"What's that?" Stiles shone his torch on it. It was a tiny little baby doll. Stiles pulled it out and they stood back up.
"I'm hungry." The doll said in its creepy voice. They all screamed and the doll was immediately dropped.
"I think I just had a minor heart attack." Stiles said gripping his heart.
"I swear to god if that thing is infected with spiders." Selene shivered looking at the doll on the floor. 

A deep growling filled the air. The three of them began looking around trying to find the source. In the distance there was a pair of glowing eyes in the trees.
"Please tell me you guys see this?" Scott hoped.
"Uh huh." Selene nodded. It ran away and Scott began chasing it.
"Scott! Scott wait!" Stiles shouted. Selene began to run but Stiles grabbed her arm.
"Stay here. He'll come back." Selene looked back and forth between Stiles and where Scott had once been stood. But then Stiles had that look in his eye. The look she found herself recently unable to resist.
"Of course I'll stay here."

AN: So void Stiles has control over Selene... I wonder what he's going to make her do?