CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR:
CAN'T TAKE YOUR PAIN

BLACK VEINS AND BLACK EYES was all that you could see on her face as she held her hands up against the wall as she created a cloaking spell that wouldn't allow for her birth mother to find where it was they were at using a locator spell. She glanced over towards the void version of Stiles and nodded her head. And before she knew it, they were standing in a long hallway where Lydia stood, listening to the screams echoing in the pipes.

"Can you hear them?" Stiles asked her, making his way towards her whilst Elaine stayed put and watched the interaction with amusement on her face. "Louder than usual, isn't it? Well, that's because a lot of bad things happened down here." Lydia started running down the hall away from him. "What are the voices telling you? Are they saying that Stiles is dying? He is you know. He's dying."

"Then what do you need me for?" Lydia yelled, and Elaine found herself silently walking after them, knowing exactly what was at the end of this hallway. "You think I can tell you something?"

He only laughed, a dark evil laugh. "Oh, I know you can."

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"You won't have to." He appeared behind her, causing her to quickly turn around to face him, her eyes catching those of Elaine's for a brief moment. "You'll be screaming." And she did just that, letting out a scream, a cry, wanting some way to escape. The nogitsune only walked away from her whilst Elaine stood there for a moment.

Lydia looked at her best friend, tears in her eyes. "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping him?"

Her eyes flashed black before she smirked. "Helping him? God, no." She moved forward, her lips against Lydia's ear. "Between you and me. . . I plan to help kill him."

"How does taking me help you do that?" Lydia whispered, angry and frustrated.

Elaine only smiled. "How do you think your other friends are going to get here? He wants chaos, and so do I. But. . . I want my own reign of chaos. So while he's having his fun, I'm laying out all the puzzle pieces to start my own. It's like a game of chess, except he's the one whose about to be one move away from check mate."

Lydia shook her head. "Elaine, this isn't you."

"Isn't it?" She cocked her head slightly. "Poor Lydia, blinded by her own selfish things. You see, everyone was distracted with the alpha pack, Jennifer, the nogitsune, so much so that not a single one of Elaine's friends, or Elaine's family, noticed she was falling deeper and deeper into her own darkness." She sighed. "Which is where I have to give props to the nogitsune, because he killed her."

"What?"

Elaine smiled in amusement. "You didn't know? Elaine was killed again, her neck snapped, and when she came back, I was born. And she succumbed, and I took over. She's still in here." She tapped a finger to her temple. "But there's no way of her coming back." With one last wicked smirk, her eyes turned black, and she disappeared right in front of Lydia's eyes.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"They'll find me." Lydia whispered, making her way down a set of steps. "My friends will find me." She stopped when she came across another set of bars, shaking them, but to no avail. Elaine and Stiles appeared, Stiles sitting on the steps as he watched the girl whilst Elaine leaned against the wall.

"You think so?" Stiles asked. "I myself, was kind of wondering what they're doing right now. What useless lead they're chasing. I wonder if maybe some of them have bigger problems to deal with right now. Are they really spending every minute looking for you? Or, are they waiting for nightfall? Focused on some hopeless gesture to pass the time."

Lydia closed her eyes before finally turning to look at the two. "What do you want?"

"More." And then he stood up.

Lydia cocked her head. "More what?"

"The trickster stories are all about food, Lydia." He made his way slowly towards her, step by step. "The coyote, the raven, the fox. They're all hungry. I'm the same. I just crave something different." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she closed her eyes as he stood right in front of her. "I eat what you feel." He was quick to move the hair from her ear, causing her to cry out. "And I'm insatiable."

Night grew, and Elaine could feel someone creeping closer. Noshiko busted through the gates with the oni at her side. She knew that the others were coming as well. She glanced towards the nogitsune, hiding her smirk as she saw him look up. Lydia noticed as well.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" Lydia whispered. "You know they're coming. You know they're going to kill you."

He looked at her before placing an arm on the wall, keeping her trapped. "Well, that's exactly why I'm keeping you so close." He smirked, watching as her body shook in fear. He glanced towards Elaine and she nodded before disappearing from sight and landing on one of the roof tops. She made herself invisible, watching the conversation between Kira and her mother, Allison and Isaac on either side of Kira.

"Mother daughter fight, how intriguing." Elaine whispered before sitting on the edge of the roof, swinging her legs back and forth as she smirked. She watched from above as the oni disappeared, and she knew as soon as they were gone that the nogitsune was going to gain control of them.

"You guys are screwed now." Elaine laughed out loud, making the group look up at her as she made herself visible. She jumped down from the roof, landing perfectly on her feet and smirking as her eyes changed to black.

"What does that mean?" Allison swallowed.

"It means there's been a change in ownership." The nogitsune appeared beside of Elaine, the oni at his side. "Now they belong to me." The oni raised their sword as Kira and Allison raised their own weapons. And the fight began, Elaine decided to throw her own twist here and there, yelling out a spell that would send one of the three flying backwards.

She watched as Isaac got sliced across the stomach, an "Ooh" falling from Elaine's lips as she winced, though a smirk was still on her face. The boy took slice after slice, two oni coming on him at once before he fell to his knees. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when Allison shot an arrow, it hitting the oni, and actually killing it. Elaine's smirk widened even more. Allison smiled before she turned and was suddenly impaled by one of the oni's swords.

A gasp left her lips. Elaine slowly stood up, having watched everything happen. And she stood there doing nothing. Inside of her head, the real Elaine was screaming out, crying in pain as she watched one of her best friends get stabbed. She wanted to break free, pounding on the jail cell she had been placed in and shaking as she cried out. That's when Scott emerged, the oni disappearing as the nogitsune walked away from the scene.

He slid underneath her, catching her as she fell to the ground. He held onto her, assuring her that Lydia was safe before he tried to take her pain, only to be confused when he couldn't. "I can't. I can't take your pain."

"It's because it doesn't hurt." Allison whispered.

Scott looked at her before shaking his head. "No."

"It's okay." She weakly nodded. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's perfect. I'm in the arms of my first love. The first person I've ever loved. The person I'll always love. I love you." She placed a hand up to his cheek. "Scott. Scott McCall."

"Don't, please, don't. Allison don't, please."

"You have to tell my dad. And you have to tell him. Tell him." She started breathing heavily, her last breaths leaving her lips, before her hand fell to the ground, and Allison Argent was dead. And Elaine watched it all, with a smirk placed on her lips.