DANGEROUS LIAISONS

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Carter felt, for the umpteenth time that week, like a complete idiot.
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An idiot for not being able to cry, or scream, or even wish that it had been her who the Nogitsune decided to possess so that Stiles wouldn't be forced to go through that sort of trauma; an idiot for hating herself because she knew that she should've realized it sooner. She couldn't even begin to comprehend that Stiles was the Nogitsune that was known for creating chaos and destruction.
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A soft hand was gently placed on her shoulder, but she didn't move. She just remained dormant; barely away of the fact that Melissa was standing over her with a hot cup of tea. "How are you, Carter?" The woman asked, her eyes filled with worry as she inspected the brunette girl.
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Carter's warm hands wrapped around the mug, staring down at the slightly brown-opaque substance, "My head is killing me. Isaac's injuries aren't making anything better, either, but, since I'm a Pheanix - my healing is slightly stronger than a werewolf's in a sense, I guess. It doesn't hurt as much as it did when it happened." She lied, looking down at the dark burns on the exposed part of her right arm.
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"Do you just want to not go to school today, then?" Melissa asked, watching as the Were-Pheanix slowly took a sip of her tea. "I could call in a say that you were feeling ill and had to make a visit to the hospital."
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Carter frowned. "No, I'll be fine. The distraction of school is better than sitting here, waiting for the agonizing pain to return."
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Before Melissa could respond, they heard the sound of shoes bounding down the staircase, Scott's figure showing up at the end of the steps. Carter instantly noticed that he was ready to leave for school, which caused her to slowly set down the mug and push herself out of the chair without a word. Scott's irises followed his girlfriend's movements, watching her wince noticeably as she gingerly pulled on her leather jacket, noticing how her entire entity seemed off.
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Turning his attention away from his girlfriend and back to his mom, Scott asked: "Any news?"
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"They're still looking for him," Melissa replied, glancing over at her son with a soft voice. "It's past the forty-eight hour mark, but I guess if anyone's going to be missing for two days and turn up just fine, it's Stiles."
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Scott glanced over at Carter, knowing that she had been just as affected, "What about Isaac?"
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Melissa let out a small sigh, standing up from the table before moving over to Scott and crossing her arms over her chest as she looked between her son and Carter. "Maybe we should go by the hospital before school."
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Despite him being her best friend, she couldn't bring herself to tell them that Isaac was in more pain than she had led on. All of it was re-flooding through her body any time she moved, any moment she spoke. She just didn't know if either of them could handle any more pain.

​The hospital had looked exactly the same as it did the previous time she was there, but thankfully, Melissa was quick at the task of getting them through the building without them having to think too hard about where they were. Isaac was put on one of the upper levels, ICU, due to the extensive damage the electrocution had caused. And at that moment, Carter could feel that he wasn't getting any better - and she knew it; it doesn't take longer than twenty-four hours for a werewolf to heal. It just didn't happen.
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The three of them remained silent, even as the elevator dinged to signal that they had arrived at their appropriate floor. The metal doors slid open, and the first thing the brunette had noticed was a familiar figure that was slouched on one of the benches outside of Isaac's room. Scott reached out, gently shaking her shoulder with his hand. Allison Argent's head lifted, her eyes hazed over with certain slumber.
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"Have you been here all night?" Scott asked.
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Allison nodded, blinking a few times to try and rid of the haziness that glazed over her eyes. "Yeah, they won't let me see him because I'm not family. I told them he doesn't have any."
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Melissa stepped forward, a frown evident on her face and her hospital card in her hand, "Well, he's got us - and I've got a key card."
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She unlocked the door for them a few moments later, telling them to be quick about their under-the-table visit, before leaving them alone. Isaac was in the middle of a large room, a half-a-dozen beeping monitors around the bed that he was laying in. The three teens were slow in trying to register everything before they made any moves toward the bed, eyes taking in the amount and severity of the burns on the right side of the werewolf's body.
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Before she could even think twice, Carter was reaching for Scott's hand. The True Alpha looked down at it, trying to ignore the extreme warmth that flooded through him at the slightest contact. A sad smile fell on her face for a split second before it vanished, and they were back to slowly moving toward Isaac. And just as they took their first step forward, Carter felt Allison's hand slither its way into her unoccupied one - both of her hands being crushed by two people that meant the entire world to her.
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At Isaac's bedside, all of their eyebrows seemed to furrow in confusion at the revelation that Isaac hadn't been healing like he was supposed to be. The huntress turned to look at the two teens, knowing that they had more experience in actually being werewolves. "I thought he'd be healing by now."
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"So did I," Scott replied, agreeing with the huntress as he kept his eyes on the burnt boy. His free hand went out, slowly letting it fall on Isaac's burnt forearm. Almost immediately, Scott and Carter's face contorted in surprise, the True Alpha knowing that Carter had been sugar-coating how much pain her and Isaac were actually in.
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Allison hadn't picked up on any of it, "Is he in pain?"
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Scott nodded his head once, his hand going back on the werewolf's burnt arm, and almost instantly, the veins that were showing on his hand turned black as he began the process of taking as much of the pain from Isaac as physically possible. The curly-haired Beta arched his back at the sudden relief, his heart monitor's beeping slightly picking up its speed before slowly falling back into a steady rhythm.
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There had been a slight hiccup in the transfusion of pain; Isaac's pain was all being given to Scott, and Carter was connected to Scott just as much as she was to Isaac. Therefore, it just made things harder and sparked up the fire in her body having to feel the relief from Isaac before suddenly getting it shoved right back into her system with Scott. Allison could only watch with her hand over her mouth as Scott and Carter's faces contorted in pain, inhaling sharply at the spike of agony surging through them.
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Scott panted, rubbing the sore spot on his hand. "It won't heal him, but it helps with the pain."
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"Did Stiles really do this?" Allison asked, her words coming out in choked attempts to keep herself stable as she glanced between Carter and Scott.
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Scott finally peered up from Isaac's injured body to his ex-girlfriend. "Whatever's controlling him did it. Whatever's inside him."
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"Well, then how do we get whatever's inside of him the hell out of him?" Allison questioned.
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"I'm working on it."

→
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School was most definitely not a place they wanted to be at that moment, especially after avoiding it for so long. Carter Hale and Scott McCall were practically inching toward the exit at every opportune moment.
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But, it had only taken a matter of three minutes before she found herself running out of the girls' locker room in desperate need of escaping the day-to-day gossip between the girls as they prepared themselves for the daily cross country jog. She needed to be alone; finally having the chance to get away but, much to her dismay, she was stopped by three familiar boys.
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"What's going on?" Carter asked, glancing between the boys to see if one of them would answer her before she had the chance to fire out another question.
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"Do you not hear it?" Aiden pondered, obvious tension between the two of them. Carter tucked her hair behind her ears, honing her supernatural hearing on the incessant pulsing of an Argent hunting emitter. "It's coming from the basement."
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Scott and Carter took in slow deep breaths to mentally prepare themselves before they moved to run through the hallway, on a mission to get to the stairwell that led down to the basement. Ethan and Aiden were right behind them, their pace a swift movement as they barely acknowledged the fact of their supernaturally enhanced speed and stamina.
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And when they reached the opening of the basement, Carter and Scott's hearts went flying up into their throats; trachea throbbing at the revelation. An all too familiar figure stood with his back toward them, a glowing emitter pulsing in his hand. His eyes slowly casted upward as he turned around to face the two people he was desperately trying to contact.
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"Okay," Stiles began, immediately raising his hands in surrender. "I know what you guys are thinking, but it's me - I swear to God, it's me."
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Two low and menacing growls sounded from behind Carter and Scott; the twins baring their fangs as their eyes glowed their unnatural hue. But before either Alpha could stop them, they went lunging toward Stiles, Aiden being the one to grab the boy by his throat before lifting him into air and pinning him against the metal cabinet behind him.
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"Aiden, stop!" Carter shouted in a sudden rush of adrenaline, sprinting down the rest of the hallway so she could get into the ever-growing tense room.
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A harsh growl only fell from Aiden's lips, tightening his grip on Stiles' throat. And that was when she took matters into her own hands, transitioning into her own form of monster without hesitation. Her hand curled around the collar of Ethan's shirt, tossing him off the pale boy - Aiden turning to snarl at the Were-Pheanix only until a rippling roar fell from the girl's mouth that could only be defined as a rare form of power - the type of power that even Scott McCall, a True Alpha, would surrender to. The Omega released Stiles, falling into the corner as he stared at Carter with detest. He didn't like submission.

"It's me," Stiles faintly whispered, his eyes falling upon Carter first, trying to make sure that she understood that he was telling the truth. Carter's posture instantly relaxed, her vampire-like canines returned back to normal and burning orange eyes faded to brown. "I swear it's me. I don't know where I've been the last two days or what I've been doing, but this is me - I promise."

"Do you know what happened at the hospital?" Aiden asked distastefully, raising his eyebrows at the boy while he tried to regulate his pounding heart.

Stiles paused for a moment, eyes not wandering from Carter before he gave her a slight nod and moved over to a large duffle bag that was lying on the other side of Carter. His shaky hand shuffled through its confines before he pulled out a folded piece of blue paper with white lines revealing the details of a building, red handwriting scribbled in jumbled messes along it. "I know more than that. You see this? It's a blueprint of the hospital's electrical wiring. You see all these markings in red? That's my handwriting."

Stiles knew that he was telling them information that they already knew, but the worst thing had been was the fact that they now had proof - had proof that he had been the one who cut the wire that electrocuted Isaac and Carter, that he was the one the Oni were after, and that he was the unknown subject that had told Barrow to track and kill Carter and Kira.

"I know I did this," Stiles muttered, his words slicing through the silence. He looked up from the crinkled blueprints, watching as Scott and Ethan slowly crouched down to his level. "I caused the accident. And everything in this bag, it's all stuff that could be part of something bigger."

Ethan's eyebrows furrowed at Stiles' words, hands finding their way to one of the large hand saws that looked way too destructive to be in the hands of a possessed teenager. "What the hell have you been up to?"

"I think something worse," Stiles subtly admitted, giving the supernatural creatures in front of him a deep frown. "A lot worse."
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"What's that supposed to mean?"
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"Well, let's find out," Carter announced, ignoring the look that Stiles was giving her as she lifted the large supply-filled duffle bag up onto a nearby table; the twins instantly began pulling all of the bag's confines out. It was everything that you could possibly find in a hardware store - from duct tape to rope, it was obvious that things were definitely going to be worse.
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Ethan raised an eyebrow, lifting up some unidentifiable mental object. "What the hell were you doing? Building a Terminator?"
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"Thank you for that," Stiles fired back, sarcasm dripping from his words as he paced along the length of the room; eyes practically burning holes in Aiden and Ethan as they rummaged through the bottomless bag of hardware.
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Carter's fingers landed upon something smooth, pulling out of the pile to see that it was actually a fold piece of paper. Her hands beginning to unfold the creases did she realize what it was, lying it upon the table she spoke: "Guys, this is a map."
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"Isn't that the cross country trail?" Ethan questioned, his forefinger running along the trail that they were supposed to be running during that time.
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"Malia," Carter mumbled under her breath, her eyes falling upon the words 'Lookout Point' labeled on the map, which happened to be the location where the Tate accident occurred. "That's the Tate car - where Malia Tate's family died."
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"You mean that's where her father put the steel-jawed traps."

→
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There weren't many thoughts that pulsed through her mind as she ran as fast as she could along the trail; the pain from the accident completely gone as she began tapping into her werewolf side.
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They had showed up at the trails only a few moments after the revelation of Stiles' plan, where he forced Coach Finstock into understanding the possible danger of the situation before the man had the opportunity to ask the boy where the hell he had been the past two days. And when finally got him to understand the severity of it all, they began to race toward the exact location of the danger.
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Up ahead, Carter could see Scott and Kira followed by a sea of cross country participants. That was when Stiles slowed his pace, Aiden and Carter falling beside his as Coach trekked behind. The mass of students immediately gave off an odor that screamed confusion which led to Stiles yelling out: "Stop! Stop, stop! Everyone, stop!"
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They all seemed to finally understand the harsh reality by Stiles' flailing arms and panicked voice, all of the runners plowing their heels into the ground as they wondered what was happening. Carter stopped when she was standing next to Scott, watching with tightness in her chest as she tried to control her terror.
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Stiles slowly leant over, his hands sifting through the dead leaves to see if he could find any indication of danger. And the instant that he felt cold metal hit his fingertips, he was pulling up a long, large linked chain that seemed to go on forever. But when he finally reached the end, all that was revealed was a long cut piece of chain; and it was as though the entire team let out a chorus of exhales, except for Carter. The Were-Pheanix glanced around in panic, a blinding pressure building up at the base of her skull while a bad feeling pricked at her skin.
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Carter's teeth instantly clamped themselves on her tongue, deep incisions being cut into the muscle as blood filled her mouth. The pain in her head along with the searing agony on the right side of her body was enough to have her scream in pain, but she knew that she couldn't, so she opted on keeping all of the pain bottled up - like she always did. But it didn't go unnoticed, Scott's nostrils flaring at the smell of Carter's blood, but before he could dwell on the matter -
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"Congratulations, Stilinski," Coach announced, stepping toward Stiles with a sarcastic expression while profoundly clapping. "You found a length of chain. Can somebody now please tell me what the hell's going on?"
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It had been a split second of bad luck and bad timing that had Coach Finstock triggering a trip wire with his ankle, an arrow whizzing through the air before plunging itself deep into the abdomen of the man. Carter's shout of protest came from her mouth a half a moment too late, the blood on her lips going unnoticed as the entire team stared at the arrow that was sticking out of their coach.
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"Oh, crap," Finstock blurted out, before the effects of the impalement had him on the ground.
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Carter was instantly by his side, falling upon her knees before quickly placing her extremely clammy hands upon the man's wound. All around them were frantic teenagers, most were screaming in panic while some were fumbling with their phones to dial 911. Aiden and Scott were on either side of Finstock, hold down his shoulders while she and Stiles tried to slow down the bleeding enough until the paramedics got there.

​"Get it out of me! Get it out of me!" Coach screamed, his sporadic movements only made things more difficult for Carter as she tried to apply more pressure. It was doing little to nothing with the arrow still lodged in his abdomen, hands becoming stained with crimson. "Get it out of me. Oh, my God, I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!"
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"Coach, you're not going to die," Stiles did his best to comfort Finstock, hands placed atop of Carter's as he applied his own amount of pressure as well.
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Carter glanced up from the wound, eyes settling upon Scott. She swallowed thickly, her entire body beginning to shake. "Scott, we can't take the arrow out - taking the arrow out is the only way to stop the external bleeding, but if we did, it would cause unrepairable internal damage."
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Finstock definitely didn't seem pleased with her words, only proceeding to let out another scream in the face of Aiden, to which the Omega winced before noticing the knowing look on Scott's face. Lifting his body up, he waved his hands to usher all of the lingering teenagers away. "Get back! Get back! Give him some room! Get back!"
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Each of them moved back; Scott uncurled Coach's tightly balled fist, wrapping his own hand around the entirety of his Coach's. Within a second's notice, a wave of pain hit his body, needles were prickling his skin as the black veins trailed along his skin.
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From beside Scott, Carter's entire body began to shake in frantic tremors, an agony filled groan escaped her lips as she felt surge upon surge of pain course through her body. A slight whimper sounded from her mouth as she felt tears pinch at the back of her eyes before one slid down her cheek. The last thing she needed was Scott trying to take everyone's pain away - and in extreme amounts.

​"Scott, you need to stop, now." Carter choked out through gritted teeth, trying to keep her hands firmly pressed on Coach's wound.

When Scott heard the vulnerability in Carter's voice, his eyes shot open and he quickly realized just how much pain she was actually experiencing; noticing the sweat on her forehead, bruising burns, bloodied lips, and tear stained cheeks. His lips parted and was about to speak but stopped when Coach's body suddenly relaxed.

"I think he just passed out."

Stiles slowly pulled his hands off Carter's, eyes catching sight of the blood that had stained his own hands. "I - I could have killed him. I could have killed him. What if it was his head or his throat or-?"

​"But it wasn't, and he's going to be all right."