A/N: Sorry yall finals rn are keeping me occupied <3

Griffin's POV:

It was pure chaos.

Eli and I were forced to hide away, helplessly watching as Deaton, Sheriff Stilinski, Derek, and Kira tried to fight off the Oni.

Gunshots from Sheriff Stilinski practically ruptured my ears from how close the bullets were flying since the Oni easily knocked it away with its sword, clashes from the katana blades as Kira and another one of the Oni fought to overpower the other, even Deaton miraculously pulled out an electrified baton from his belt to electrocute the Oni by stabbing it on its sides.

Another one of the Oni tries to lunge in my direction but Derek is quick enough to block the slash with a cooking pan before harshly shoving it away from Eli and I.

"Ahhh!" I snap my head towards Sheriff Stilinski's cries, my eyes widening at the sight of the Oni's katana blade piercing through his chest until he disappears into a cloud of black smoke.

Another one of the Oni harshly kicks down at Deaton's leg which causes him to fall on his knees. The electric baton clatters to the ground but before Deaton can pick it up, the Oni slices down at his neck which causes the man to also disappear into a cloud of black smoke.

Kira crashes into the coffee table and I try to move to help her but Eli strongly holds me back. "Griffin, don't!"

"Kira!"

She quickly deflects the downward slash but within seconds, another Oni stabs the sword through her stomach which causes her to let out a cry as she disappears in front of me.

Derek lets out a roar as he slams the Oni's head, who tried to attack me before, into the kitchen island several times before chucking its body out the window.

Derek turns to us as his eyes fade from blue to his regular color and just as he takes a step forward--

"Dad!"

Eli tries to warn but instantly the Oni behind him stabs its sword through Derek's chest which causes him to pause in his steps.

Derek's eyes met mine, giving a look that practically read 'take care of Eli' before he looked at his son. "Remember who you are." He whispered through his labored breath as began to disappear like the others.

The four Oni turn to us but before the closest one can move a step, someone harshly kicks them away which causes the Oni to crash into the couch.

A familiar hand grasps Eli's arm and drags us out of the kitchen. "Come on!" Malia shouted as she forced Eli and I to run down to the basement.

But because the steps were narrow, the three of us painfully tumbled down the steps.

"Come on!" Malia urged once we got to the bottom, forcing Eli and I to our feet.

However, the sounds of clicking caused me to look behind, watching as the shadows began to form into the Oni once more as they raised their katanas at Eli.

I harshly shove Eli forward and before I know it, the katana pierces through my stomach instead. "Agh!"

Eli and Malia look back with their eyes wide. "No, Griffin!" I heard them shout before my surroundings were clouded with black smoke.

Olivia's POV:

"Allison--" Scott maneuvers around the slash from her dagger and blocks the next hit with his arm. "if you just give me one second I can tell you--"

She harshly elbows his arm and swiftly slices her dagger across his ribcage which causes him to stagger back. Before he could recover, she kicks down at his chest which sends him rolling across the grass. "You killed half my family."

She twirls the daggers in her hands and prepares to throw them but I quickly kick it from her grasp and shove her back as I hold my fists up.

"Allison, he has never killed anyone and neither have you." She continues her attacks, forcing me to take several steps backward. "But the daggers are laced with wolfsbane, right? Yeah, you've been giving small cuts on Scott but you haven't fully gone through with it because you're hesitant. Because you know that this isn't right."

She huffs and slashes near my head but as I dodge to the side, she slices the nearby tree instead.

"The Nogitsune is making you feel this way. Not only does he want you to bring me to him, but he wants Scott dead. He wants to knock off the main pieces of the chessboard because he knows he can't win if we're still standing." I emphasize, dodging the slashes from her dagger until I eventually grab her arms, moving her closer to my face so that she could look me in the eyes. "Please, give us the chance to explain the real truth."

Her eyes flicker downward for a moment until she quickly shakes her head with a glare. "Liar."

She slams her head against mine and I accidentally loosen my grip enough to stumble back. She harshly kicks at my chest which sends me rolling across the ground near the edge of rock cliffside.

"The plan was never to kill you." I scramble to stand up but instantly I'm met with Allison threateningly aiming her daggers at me. "Or at least not yet. Your blood is going to bring her back." She coldly stated, taking a step closer to me as I nervously took a step back, hearing the pebbles clatter off of the edge. "Your friend on the other hand? He's next."

Wait a second...my blood? The Nogitsune still thinks I have my powers?

I nervously glance behind me, seeing as I'm barely a step away from falling to my death and Allison took notice of it too.

"No, don't!" Scott yelled from behind as he painfully clutched onto his side but tried to carefully approach us. "Allison, what's it gonna take to get you to stop and listen?"

Oh god, I'm gonna regret this later.

Since her attention was on Scott, I quickly grabbed her wrist and forced her to drive the blade she held in her hand into my abdomen.

Allison's eyes widen and I use that as the opportunity to tear the dagger away from her grasp, pressing the blade against my throat.

"Now that...you stabbed me," I grunt, pressing my other hand against my bleeding side. "my blood won't bring your mom back if I'm not alive."

She squinted her eyes in suspicion. "You think you have the upper hand here by stabbing yourself? I can always take the dagger away and wait until you heal."

"True..." I shrug before I gesture to the edge of the cliff side. "but look where we're standing. Either you help my friend and I'll give you what you want, or I die and neither of us win. Not sure if you remember, but I gave up my ability to resurrect from the dead. Plus it might be pointless to scrape the blood off the terrain if it doesn't work, don't you think?"

"Olivia—" Scott warned but I kept my eyes on Allison, seeing her grip tighten on her other dagger as her nose flared in frustration.

She takes a step back from the cliffside and nods her head towards the woods. "Start walking."

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

"Why would you do that?" Scott scolded in a whisper as he moved my arm around his neck to carefully guide me in the woods with Allison following close behind and her knife aimed at us. "You can't heal. You're not even a Phoenix anymore."

"She thinks I still am. It was the only way to get her to stop trying to chase and kill you." I mutter. "But don't worry. The area I made her stab me isn't lethal so I have some time."

"And after that?"

"Well let's hope they have an emergency kit wherever we're going." I lightly chuckle before I look at Scott's wounds, seeing the black veins worsened from before. "But I'm more worried about you."

"I'll be fine. Can't exactly die now that I made plans after this." I furrow my brows in confusion and he shyly lets out an awkward cough. "I sort of made a promise...to Kira that we'd catch up over coffee."

I raise a brow. "Coffee? Lame."

He rolled his eyes until he looked back at Allison. "We're heading back to the main road, aren't we?" Allison pushes us forward to pick up the pace. "Were you going to have us as the bait for the trap? Let me guess, the plan was that by the time the others catch up to us, I'd be dead, and you pick the others off one by one. And with Olivia's blood, I'm assuming you're hoping to bring someone back? Is that the plan?"

"Yeah, actually." Allison shoved us again to walk faster. "That is the plan."

"Allison, you don't hunt werewolves. Whatever garbage the Nogitsune manipulated into your head, you don't kill them either. I don't have to look into your head to see that a part of you knows it." I unwrap my arm from Scott's neck to turn to her. "I saw it the moment you stabbed me."

"Saw what?" She asked with annoyance laced in her tone.

"Regret."

Allison stays quiet which causes Scott to speak up again. "You see? You don't want to kill us. You're not gonna kill me."

"The wolfsbane is going to kill you." She countered.

"You had a code."

"Mm-hmm. 'We hunt those who hunt us'." She recites with no hesitation.

I quickly shake my head. "No, you changed it. Back when we faced the Darach, you came up with a new one. 'We protect--"

"We protect those who--" Allison cut in which caused her eyes to slightly widen in surprise. "...cannot protect themselves."

"You remember." Scott whispers.

She stays quiet for a moment until she suddenly moves forward, snatching the dagger from my hand and plunging it into Scott's side which causes him to let out a cry.

My eyes widen. "Shit!" His knees buckle but I quickly grab his arms to hold him steady. "Scott!"

"Did you honestly think that you outsmarted me? Now, if you don't keep walking, I'll do more than just stab your leader." Allison harshly remarked, aiming the dagger at us once more. "Go."

Griffin's POV:

I shoot my eyes open with a gasp and try to frantically look around but accidentally bump my head against a wooden post. "Agh!" I try to rub the side of my head but instantly stop midway, seeing as my wrists are tied with wrap. I'm alive?

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?" I turn to my left and meet Derek's unamused expression, seeing that he was bound to the wooden post as well. "And drool?"

"...No." I mutter and quickly wipe the side of my lips.

"Griffin, you okay?" I hear Phoebe ask and I look down from the Torii Gate's pyramid steps, seeing that she, Liam, Kira, and Hikari were tied to a decorative stone pillar, and across from them were Mason and my grandpa Thomas. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, but I gave Eli and Malia time to..." I trail off and my eyes widen in surprise, seeing an unconscious Eli tied to the wooden post across from me. "run."

"They only brought you two in." I hear Deaton say and I look behind Derek, seeing Deaton and Sheriff Stilinski tied behind him as well. "It was close to sunrise so Malia probably managed to get out of there on time." 

"If the sun's out, why is it still dark and ominous here?" Grandpa Thomas asks and I look at our surroundings, seeing several dead trees and stone pillars along with the floor coated in white smoke.

"Ugh..." Eli groans which causes me to turn and see him barely starting to wake up.

"Eli...Eli, can you hear me?" Derek tries to call out.

Eli lifts his head and his eyes widen as soon as he sees us. "You're okay." He whispers in relief until he looks around. "We're not dead."

"Not yet." Liam mutters.

"Where are we?"

"It's just an illusion." Derek reassures, seeing the panic in his son's expression.

However, the familiar sounds of eerily clicking cause me to turn, seeing as two of the Oni appear from the shadows and land near the stone threshold arc.

"What about them?" I hesitantly ask but as the others turn to look, two more appear out of thin air.

Four against nine..can't be that bad, right?

As if on cue, four more show up and they threateningly twirl their swords in their hands.

Well, that didn't last long.

With a strained yell, Derek tries to yank through the binds but it only makes his wooden post creak at his poor attempt.

"Derek," Deaton calmly called out. "I'm not so sure even your strength could break those bonds, not here."

Derek huffs in annoyance until he worriedly looks up at Eli. "Eli, are you okay? How's your leg?"

He smiled in remembrance and he moved around his leg with ease. "Yeah, it's fine. It's healed."

Derek's eyes widen in surprise. "You learned how to heal?"

"Yeah, kind of." Eli shyly admits. "Well, Scott did most of it."

"That's amazing!"

"Hey, Derek." Sheriff Stilinski cleared his throat before he nodded his head towards the Oni in the courtyard, watching as they menacingly took a step toward us. "Maybe you want to be a little more subtle with your antics."

"The Nogitsune isn't gonna kill us." Kira reassured but Hikari let out a scoff.

"Not yet." She remarked. "He put us here to watch him win. We're here for our pain."

"There has to be a way out. Every place in the world has an exit." I say, trying to tug my wrists free.

"Griffin, don't hurt yourself—"

"I don't care! My mom is still out there." I harshly interrupt Sheriff Stilinski. "Allison was chasing after her and Scott a-and I don't even know if they're okay! She's not even a werewolf! We have to do something! We have—We have to—"

"Griffin, I understand you feel helpless but all we can do right now is be patient." Phoebe gently spoke up. "The others will figure out a way to get us out of here. Plus even without her powers, Olivia can still fight with anything sharp. She's not defenseless."

Wait, sharp! That's it!

I sneakily reach into my back pocket and thankfully feel the knife's hilt. Those idiots were too focused on abducting us. I quietly pull the blade from its safety clip and slowly begin to cut through the binds.

"Do you guys hear that?" Liam asked which caused me to stop and listen.

The faint sounds of stomping...the quiet cheers...a crowd?

"It sounds like..." Mason trails off in confusion.

"Lacrosse."