Dressed to Digress -Void!Stiles V.S Stiles-

Chapter Twenty-Five : Echo House

The Closed Unit was a strange place with people in cells and it reminded me of a zoo. The patients were just staring us down while Stiles and I carefully made it to the basement with no problems and found a door, turned the handle and we both walked in to be greeted by a cold rush of air. Shivers ran up my spine as I turned to Stiles to see him slowly walking in, eyeing the room but stayed quiet. He slowly closed the door and I turned back around, eyeing the creepy, dusty basement that was lit up from the moon's white ray from above.

I turned to Stiles again as he walks up right besides me and exhales heavily. "What are we looking for exactly?"

Stiles titled his head. "I don't remember," he sighed. "But once I see it, I'll know it." I nodded at him as my eyes glanced around to see a another room that branched off, curious, I wandered on over and entered the room. "Kit, where you going?" He questioned and I heard him walking after me.

"Just looking around." I glanced over my shoulder, eyeing him then turned back, walking around and seen an old tattered couch and by it, there was boxes filled with what I could imagine were old patient files. "Stiles, there's files." He looked at me then at the couch with the boxes; he placed his hands on my shoulders and guided us on over to take a seat on it.

He picked up a box, took of the lid, pulled out a stack of old folders and handed them to me. "Investigator McCall." He lightly joked and I smiled, taking the stack and rested it besides me.

I then pick up another box, took out a stack and leaded it over to Stiles. "Sheriff Stilinski." He smiled back and took the pile, taking one of the folders and opened it up, beginning to read. For a minute I watch him, eyeing his posture, seeing how his eyes skimmed the pages and his eyebrow furrowed in concentration. I smiled more and pick up a file for myself, beginning to search. 

My lips push out as I focused on the words and nibble on the inside of my cheek. A feeling then washed over me as if I was being watched on the left side of me which is where Stiles was sitting. To see if he was staring at me, I took in a huge breath of air and out of the corner of my eye, Stiles glanced back down at his papers. A warm smile swept across my face and I continued on reading.

Time went by slow as we kept on searching and I groaned, picking up the last file that was in my box and eyed the floor that was covered with scattered pages of patient's records, medical forms and reports. Stiles took a huff. "Find anything?"

I opened my file and seen medical procedures that they used to do on patients; the list was long and it was definitely one of those horror time movies where the dumb kids stumbled upon something in a creepy facility like Eichen House. "Just found a medical procedure list." Stiles nodded and glanced back down at his pile. "This place definitely used to be a lot more fun." I say sarcastically and started listing the procedures. "Electroshock, ice baths." I then stopped for a second, confused. "Trepanation?"

Stiles glanced at me, looking at the paper. "That's what Oliver was talking about." My stare turns to him and he continued. "Trepanation is when they drill into your head."

"Great," I said sarcastically with an eye roll, nodding and placed down the file onto the floor. "Eichen House's just another Waverly Hills Sanatorium without the body chute tunnel."

Stiles scoffed then huffed, laying down his pile. "There's nothing here."

I frowned, looking at him. "We'll find something." He looked at me, nodding and glanced back down at the floor. I got up from the couch, holding my arms and rubbed them since I was getting colder and colder by the minute from being down here. My body received goosebumps, chills as I eyed some of the machinery and huffed.

"You okay?" Stiles asks, getting up from the couch and slowly walked towards me.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's . . . it's just really cold down here. Can't get warm."

"Here." He whispered and wrapped his arms around me, bringing me in closer to his body. Warmth slowly radiated back into my body as Stiles held me tight and rubbed his hands on my back to generate more warmth. "Better?"

My eyes peered up into his as he looked down at me with an eyebrow raised, waiting for me to answer his question. Instantly, I bobbed my head. "Y-Yeah. . . Thanks." I instantly smiled at him and rested my head against his chest as he rubbed my back more. My eyes glanced up to see his lichenberg figure slowly vanishing bit by bit. "Stiles . . . the marks."

"They fading?" He whispered.

I reach my hand up and with my pointer finger, trace the branching marks. "They're almost gone."

Stiles then sighed. "Kit, when the Nogitsune comes back to take over me, black me out or whatever he's planning on doing . . . you have to stay away from me."

"No." He looked down at me and I looked up at him, shaking my head. "I'm not leaving you alone, Stiles. We've already been through so much, I'm not giving up that easily."

"You don't know understand how he is how he acts or what he's lurking for." Stiles looked at me sadly.

"I do." I nodded at him. "He's looking for the pain, chaos and strife."

"Kit " He goes to talk but I cut him off.

"I know that Scott, Allison, Lydia and the others are the chaos. And, I know that your dad is the source of the strife; he trying everything and he's even disputing with people and himself because he hardly knows anything about the supernatural and you're the last thing of family that he has. . ." Stiles blinked away a few tears and swallowed lightly, his light honey eyes keening in on me. "Also, I know that I'm the causing the pain."

His Adam apple bobbed up and down, his eyes still on me. "But Kit, you don't how it he sees it. You don't know what's it like to feel what he's feeling when he takes over me. Around Scott, Allison and them, it's like watching a movie in the theater and I can't leave my seat because the exit door is locked. When I'm around my Dad, it's like being handcuffed and in a cell, I'm trying make noise for him to notice my strange behavior but nothing works since the Nogitsune learned my attitude and the way I present myself. Then there's when I'm around or with you," he then paused, looking at me.

I can't help but swallow harshly myself and stare at him with sudden interest as my heart fluttered a bit. My head slowly nodded for him to continue on talking, in my mind I could see and even envision the gears in his head turning. "What?" My voice mumbled. "What about when you're with me?"

"It's like I'm being tortured." He murmured and frowned, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear then cupped my cheek, looking me deeply in the eyes. "I don't trust him around you and I don't trust myself. Kit, I don't wanna hurt you."

My eyes searched in his and seen something; he was holding back a piece of information from me that he either didn't want to tell me or holding back a huge piece of information that he desperately wanted to tell me but didn't know if it'll make the situation worse. "What else do you know?" He didn't reply, just kept quiet. "Stiles?"

"Just please," his voice croaked. "When I turn over to him, just go. Kit, I beg of you, stay away when I'm him."

"Okay." I whispered and he sighed, rubbing his thumb on my cheek. With a blink and a glance over, something caught my eye on the wall and I focus on it, seeing the infamous backwards five. "The self kanji?"

Stiles dropped his hand from my face, turning around and seeing the kanji. "That's it. That's what we needed to find." He unwrapped his one arm from me as we walked over to the small carved five and crouched down against the wall. I placed my hand on it, feeling the scratches and the embedding.