Chasing Reality {TW x TVD} (SHORT STORY)

Part 1: Ruins

STILES

It's cold. Really cold. That's what I know. I know that I'm in a dream, in the middle of a forest, where I'm partially freezing my balls off. Stupid dreams. It's like the Nogitsune is still in my head, but I know that it isn't. I guess I'll just stay in my dream until I wake up back in Beacon Hills, and not in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Dad will wake me up for school, and it will all be fine. A twig snapped, and I whirled around. Nothing. I scanned the trees. A small thud sounded behind me, and I felt a sharp pain on my skull before darkness.

STEFAN

"Is this him?" I ask Bonnie as I lay the boy on the couch. He's young, maybe a Junior in high school.

"Yes," she answers. "His name is Stiles Stilinski. The witch spirits say that he was controlled by a Nogitsune."

"Stiles?" Damon, Elena and Caroline walk in. "What an unfortunate name." Damon says.

"You say that he was controlled by a Nogitsune. Did he get rid of it?" I ask.

Bonnie nods. "He should wake up any second now." The boy gasps awake, panicking. I lean over.

"Hello Stiles." I say. The boy stares. "Welcome to Mystic Falls."

STILES

I gasp awake, panicking when I don't know where I am. A bunch of random people stand around me like I'm some kind of human sacrifice. I hope to God they aren't like the Darach.

"Hello Stiles." A brown-haired teenage boy says. "Welcome to Mystic Falls."

"How in the living name of God do you know me?" A dark-haired man laughs, who was maybe in his early twenties. He had a brown-haired girl by his side.

"That was possibly the most intricately detailed question a hostage has ever asked." Says the dark-haired man. "Well done. I'm Damon; this is Elena, Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, Alaric, Enzo and Tyler." He pointed to each person in turn, and they acknowledged me. "Also, most of us are vampires."

"What?" I scrambled away from them. The girl- Bonnie- grabbed my hand.

"Relax," she says. "They won't hurt you. They drink from blood bags. Not humans." That made me relaxes a bit.

"Okay," I say. "I'm feeling a bit like a human sacrifice right now, so, why am I here?"

"You, Stilinski, are going to help us with a potential hypnotism/mind-control problem. Our friend, Matt Donovan, had his head messed with by a Traveller." Damon sighed. "Now, he's acting strange. Having nightmares. Sleepwalking. Insomnia. Anxiety. More than usual, anyway." He huffed.

I laughed quietly. "What makes you think I would ever help you?" Damon frowned.

He leaned forward. "Because I didn't kill you for saying that and because I asked nicely." I huffed.

"Where is he?" I ask, sliding off the table. Stefan motions me to follow. We walk through the maze of the house, and go downstairs to a line of cells. A blonde-haired boy is sitting in the first one, his hands bound with chains. I sharply draw a breath. It wasn't long ago that I was sitting there on Melissa's couch. I drag a chair from the corner of the room to sit across from... Matt, was it?

He was sitting on the ragged bed, holding his head in his hands, looking down. I got down on my knees, looking up to see his face. His eyes were closed, but there were dark circles under his eyes showing signs of sleep loss. I prodded his arm, but he didn't move. I stood, and turned to face the vampires in the doorway. Stefan raised his eyebrows. I sigh.