I couldn't sleep after my nightmare.

After Allison had calmed me down, I wanted to tell her about it, but I couldn't. I didn't want to keep her up the rest of the night like I knew I was going to be, so I kept my mouth shut. When she asked me what it was about, I just told her that it was about Stiles being gone still. She held my hand and stayed close to me before falling asleep again, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

My shirt had been stained with tears before I came to realize that I couldn't tell Allison. I knew what I saw had to be real...it wasn't just a nightmare. Jennifer had taken that power away from me to see into the future, but I knew what that feeling exactly felt like, and that was it. Somehow I overcame whatever Jennifer did to me and saw the unimaginable.

Not only could I not stomach being able to tell her, but I literally couldn't. I was warned last time to never tell anyone what the future held or else I would pay. The universe would always restore balance. That "balance" of mine being Boyd's death and my suffering before Jennifer had died at Jade's hand.

So I kept it locked away inside of my mind; behind a barrier of swirled thoughts and broken memories. For those few hours of sitting there remembering what I saw and how it all happened, I came to terms with something of my own.

I wasn't going to let Allison die.

I didn't care whether or not I messed up the future, just as long as Allison would live to see another day. If I had to pay for my actions, so be it. Even if that meant losing my life in the process.

I knew I wasn't supposed too...I was supposed to let the universe take the path that it was already set on. Why does this have to be so unfair? Allison doesn't deserve to die. Neither did Boyd.

While all of this was on my mind, I almost didn't believe what John was telling me now as I stood there in the hospital hallway, standing outside of Stiles' room.

"What do you mean he might have frontotemporal dementia?" I breathe, not being able to take all of this bad news at one time.

John stares at the floor, pulling out a notepad of his before handing it to me. I flip it open then to see a bunch of notes scribbled down onto the page; words such as hallucinations and insomnia. "I've been writing down his symptoms for the past few weeks. I just didn't want to admit that it might be true."

My finger traces over the word nightmares, Stiles' scream echoing in my mind. "T-This just doesn't make any sense-"

"His mother had it, Corey," John says, finally looking up at me, a darkness behind his eyes that I couldn't explain. I remembered Stiles barely mentioning how his mother died once, but I never thought that this would be the cause...and now Stiles might have it.

I hand him back the notepad, tears starting to brim my eyes. "There's a cure though, right? It's treatable?"

He slowly folds the notepad up before sticking it into his back pocket, licking his lips as if he didn't want to say what came next. "Not exactly..."

"So you're telling me that Stiles might have this disease and there's no cure?" I breathe, none of it sounding right on my lips. The words Stiles and disease weren't something that fit together in my mind. Let alone the words no cure.

John tries to not think how I was. "Corey, this could all be a false alarm. He may not even have it."

"What if he does?" I shake my head, placing my arms on top of my head as I pace back and forth. "What then?"

He takes a moment to think as he watches me pace, careful about his answer. "We're not going to think that way, okay? I have faith, and you should too. Stiles is and will be okay, you hear me?"

I stop pacing then, letting his words sink in, but they were still on the surface. I wanted to scream, to cry, but I had to hold it together. Just like John said, I needed to have faith. Screaming wouldn't help anything.

"None of this is fair," I clench my fist, biting my knuckles. First Allison, and now Stiles. This wasn't fair.

"Everything is going to be alright," John says, placing his hand on my back, reassuring me a little. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

"Dad?" I hear a groggy voice say, realizing then that it was Stiles from behind John. I looked through the cracked open door and saw that Stiles was awake now, a yawn spreading across his face. "Corey?"

John turns around as I walk around him and push open the door, this being the first time I've gotten to talk to Stiles since he went missing. "Hey, you get some sleep?"

"First time in ages," he lazily smiles, but it wasn't real. We both knew that he was right.

I place my hand on the end of the bed, noticing that the bags around his eyes were fading slightly. "You sure scared the hell out of me last night...you should have seen us all running around like a pack of wolves trying to find you."

Stiles raises his eyebrow at the wolves comparison, but I didn't mean to make it sort of a pun. "I know. Damn sleepwalking..."

"You don't remember anything?" I ask, the image of Stiles' foot stuck in a bear trap flashing through my mind. I knew it couldn't have been real, since that wasn't even where Stiles was, but I still wondered.

He stares at his feet for a moment, almost as if he had the same thought as me, but then he looks up and shakes his head. "No, nothing. It's just like a giant black hole in my mind, but I'm okay."

"And we're all glad you are," John smiles, patting Stiles' shoulder gently, but in a fatherly way. For a brief moment, the room filled with a type of joy that you only get when you're around family, but then just like that, it was gone like the wind.

"Does Corey know?" Stiles asks as he looks up at John, talking to him as if I wasn't in the room.

John nods. "Yeah, I just told him."

Stiles turns and looks at me then, a weary expression on his face. "So then I guess you know that basically my brain is shrinking."

"We don't know that for sure yet," I say, trying to hold onto that faith that John was talking about earlier. "Don't assume that you have it yet."

Stiles suddenly has tears brimming his eyes, but they weren't sad tears. They were tears of confusion. "We all know that whatever the hell is wrong with me is connected to something, and this is it. There's no point in trying to tell me otherwise. It makes sense, okay? Mom had it, now I do. It's that simple. So please, just spare me the hope because I don't want it. Hope has ruined me before and I don't want it to ruin me again."

I realized a few seconds after hearing Stiles' words that I wasn't blinking. Everything that he said sunk into me just like how John's words did, and I knew that Stiles was right. So, I just nod simply. "Okay."

John doesn't say anything before he leaves the room, leaving behind an awkward yet broken feeling in the air. It feels like forever as Stiles and I stare at one another, speaking more now than we ever could say. Finally though, after forever, I find some words to say. "You should get some more rest."

Stiles nods at me, the tears in his eyes now gone. "You'll be there tonight, right?"

I bite my lip as I nod. "Of course I'll be there."

He turns on his side, looking at me one more time before closing his eyes, letting sleep take him away.

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Patience was the one thing I didn't have lately. Other than sleep, that is, but I shouldn't be complaining about that.

After watching Stiles and Scott from behind that glass, their moment of fear and compassion as they hugged...it only made me worry more. Seeing everyone else be worried about Stiles made it seem all the more real...and I hated it. I hated that this was real.

Scott of course had shown up, and along with him also came Allison. She found out earlier today from Scott that Stiles would have to have an MRI, so of course she came. I truly applaud her for trying to make me feel better about this whole situation, but everything she said or did didn't help. Usually just seeing her made me feel better, but not this time.

She did however relieve me from some of the pain on my heart by waiting with me with John, staring at Stiles' feet through the glass as the machine clicked and boomed. Time felt frozen still as I waited for the doctor to say something...anything that would tell us if what we suspected was right or wrong, even though we all knew the answer already.

"Okay," the doctor sighs finally, not sounding too confident. We all look down at the screen then, seeing Stiles' brain lit up like a Christmas tree. "So you see these two spots right here? Both of those tissues are showing signs of atrophy."

"Atrophy," John fades out, letting it sink in. I wouldn't accept it myself.

The doctor shakes his head, meaning it. "I'm sorry."

Allison's hand was in mine then, but I wasn't focused on that. The longer I stared at Stiles' brain on that screen, the more I thought about what it would be like if he was gone. There was no cure, but there was for us. Stiles could get the bite...but t-that...

I was crying then, and I didn't even realize it until John wraps his arms around me, pulling me into an embrace. My eyes squeeze shut as I let the tears fall, all of this hitting me too fast. It was like one minute my life was cruising on a highway at night before suddenly someone hit the gas, and I couldn't stop. None of it would stop.

Suddenly I pull away from John, done with it all. "I-I can't do this. I have to-"

"Corey-" Allison reaches out for me, but I turn away before she could get to me. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me; usually Allison helps me when everything in my life goes to shit, but this time, not even she could help.

No one could.

When I turned to walk out of the door, my eyes catch something in the glass that remind me exactly of what I had seen back when I was here when Jennifer took away my sight. It was a reflection in the mirror; one that made me come to a dead halt. Staring at me through the glass was Stiles' face, but it wasn't him. I could tell that it wasn't him.

Just after Stiles' face smiles crookedly, the lights flicker in the room. Everyone looks up as I do as well, trying to figure out what it was all about. When I looked back at the window to see if the reflection was still there, it was gone. And along with the reflection, the actual Stiles was gone too.

"Where's my son?" John yells, noticing it at the same time as me. Just as soon as he says that, I'm turning and running out of the room, hearing Allison and John calling after me, but I didn't listen. I had to find Stiles.

People were evacuating the halls as the lights flickered off and on, mostly off. It was close to pitch black besides for the blue light that had an eerie glow down the hall, making it hard to push my way through the crowd and to identify them to see if they were Stiles. None of them were.

"Stiles!" I scream, my eyes darting left and right for him. Just when I turned the corner, seeing the elevator wide open, I finally found him. He was standing there staring at me with a dark expression, but I didn't care. It was Stiles.

Suddenly, I was running. Stiles wasn't moving, so I did. I screamed his name two times before his face finally turned into something I knew: confusion and panic. When his eyes finally rested on me, I was already in the elevator with him, desperately confused as to what was going on.

"What are you doing?" I ask, out of breath from running down the long hall. The light in the elevator flickers as Stiles' bottom lip trembles, but I wasn't sure why.

He grabs my shoulders then, completely serious. "Corey, listen to me. I-I don't know what's going on, but you can't trust us, okay? Promise us that you will end this if you have to!"

I shake my head, not understanding him. "Stiles, who's us?"

Then just like that, it was like a switch was flipped in his head. His panicked eyes switched to the ones that I didn't know, and it scared me.

"My shadow."

Before I can question him, he's tightening his grip on my shoulders and throwing me out of the elevator. I try to fight against him, but he was too strong. Too strong for Stiles. When I finally looked back up at the elevator, the last thing I saw was his dark face staring down at me before the doors shut.

Everything suddenly clicked in my mind: Stiles was possessed, just how I had suspected way before. Only I learned something else as well:

Stiles was still there.

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I really liked this chapter guys...I like (hate) writing emotional Corey, but I did have some fun with it. Plus I was in a deep/sad mood anyways, so that just added to it I guess. Hope you guys liked it too!

So what do you think guys...any guesses on what will happen when I write 3x21 (aka Allison's death)? Will Corey actually change fate and accept what comes after? *evil laugh*

vote n comment!