Inked Emissary

Chapter 8: Nogitsune

  Stiles walked through the college gates with Sarah and Thomas on his first day. He had been coming on leaps and bounds with his Spark control and was beginning to achieve the awareness needed with smaller and smaller amounts of the potion in his system. He had also started studying Marks, symbols that were used by Sparks to focus their magic.

  Henry had been very understanding about Stiles not always turning up for work, excepting that he was not mindlessly wasting his time, and agreeing to pay him on the days he did turn up. Now he had a student loan anyway.

  Stiles had also been calling Malia every night and was defiantly head over heals, he kept her updated and she told him about how her school life was going and how well she was grasping things. She kept telling how it was only a year before she came to Greenwood with him. He had also called his dad a few times but those phone calls were mortifying as the Sheriff's voice was always so full of loss.

  But now after six months he was going to college to take a Crime Prevention and Crime Analysis course. Sarah and Thomas, or Tommy as he now preferred Stiles to call him, were going to the college also and despite being two years older than him they were only in the year above.

***

  Stiles quickly settled into college. The lessons were welcome after six months away from any real mental challenges. That was nerdy, he knew.

  He was also growing closer to Tommy and Sarah. Malia's phone calls were also something he looked forward to but in contrast his dad's were the thing of nightmares. The sorrow that emanated from his voice haunted Stiles and he could tell also that the interactions were hard for the Sheriff. Stiles knew that it shouldn't be like that, a father and son parting so that the son can go to college; normal. What wasn't normal was the supernatural dangers they had faced. The Nogitsune incident had really shaken John Stilinski and Stiles suspected that that was the main reason for his father's opposition to his staying in Greenwood.

  The Nogitsune was something that was worrying Stiles more and more as well. As he practiced his Spark control, the Nogitsune seemed to become more prominent and also bolder. These days he was there almost as much as he had just after Isaac had trapped that fly in the box carved from the Nemeton. 

  The bandaged face would haunt his dreams, he would speak with that strange hissing slur which would slip into his father's voice. Nogitsune, father, Nogitsune, father. Threatening his loved ones, threatening to take back control and make him kill every last one.  Stiles often woke screaming.

***

  Tommy had obviously told Mitchell about the nightmares, he had often come running as Stiles' scream pierced he otherwise silent night.

  The nightmares was the reason that Mitchell had confronted him and the reason that he started teaching Stiles about the runes.

  Stiles had confessed that the Nogitsune was the cause of his nightmares, that the Nogitsune was there in the day to. That had made Mitchell pale.

"That is not good Stiles," he had said. He had then proceeded to pull an ancient looking book off of the shelf. There was gold lettering across the leather bound front, faded with age to a point that they were illegible.

  The book turned out to be full of runes and chants that could channel a Spark's magic through something other than their elements. He said that Stiles had enough control over his magic now to attempt them.

***

  It was night, cold and dark. Stiles was standing in his room with his light off and curtains open, moonlight streamed through the uncovered window. It gave the room the feeling that things weren't quite real, weren't quite there. Except that the Nogitsune definitely was. It was growling and standing very close behind Stiles. The teen tried not to turn but he was terrified of the dark fox spirit and the aggression that was shown in the primeval noises escaping it's mouth.

  Stiles had been attending college for six months and practicing runes for four. The thought that it was only six months before Malia came popped randomly into his mind.

  He pushed the thought aside and bent down, trying his best to ignore the angry spirit. He drew a knife and cut a hole about a meter and a half each side into the carpet. He pulled the carpet back to reveal the floorboards beneath. The rune had to either be drawn in full darkness or in the light of the full moon. His book said that the light of the moon was strongest and he needed all of the strength he could get. This was a more complicated spell than he had yet tried.

  He carved the rune into the wood while the Nogitsune began to tell him everything that he would do to Stiles' family and friends if he continued. Stiles shuddered but continued. Once he had finished he brought the knife to his hand and, after a moments hesitation, draw it across his hand.

  The Spark winced at the sharp pain but the knife was so sharp that it slide smoothly through his skin. As the blood welled up he squeezed his hand into a fist and let the scarlet blood drip onto the rune that surrounded him.

  As the blood splattered against it, the self mark lit up in a soft green, full of the magic from Stiles' veins. He looked down at it, the gentle glow, the colour of his magic, cast a mysterious light against his hands and arms. He only looked for a moment though as he gathered himself to stand and turn around.

  The Nogitsune stood there, inhuman teeth grinding in the bandaged face. He was bathed in that green light but he could not cross the line of the rune, the magic was just too strong.

"I'm warning you Ssstiles, you won't like what happens if you do this," the spirit growled, Stiles ignored it. He just glared at it as he began to chant quietly.

"I must not fear. Fear is a little death that brings obliteration," the Nogitsune growled again, deep and blood curdling and Stiles had to fight to keep his voice steady as his nerves increased," I will face my fear and permit it to pass over and through me. And when it has gone pass, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. And when the fear and darkness has gone there will be nothing."

    Stiles paused and drew a shaky breath as he felt the pure power surging through him and the rune. Green sparks rose from his feet and the mark he carved. They skittered across the floor to the Void and started to wind up its legs, beautiful and deadly at once. The Nogitsune screamed, an inhuman cry that sent a chill through Stiles and set his hair on end. However, as he spoke the last line of the spell he was completely calm, his Spark side was fully present, the magic his entire being. The wolf circled him, weaving though his legs and swirling up around his body. She was there with him and he had never felt more safe with her there and visible.

  And so in that serenity he breathed the last line," Only light and I shall remain."

  The Sparks burst up, they were every where in a frenzied and yet orderly mass. They whirled through the air with grace and for a moment there stood an undulating green mass, screaming and writhing, then there was an explosion of green light and the Nogitsune was gone.

  The sparks swirled slowly and calmly back to him. They reached his fingertips and his hands glowed softly as the magic returned to its place within him. It was so beautiful and unearthly, Stiles watched transfixed as it returned from around the room and up from the rune. When the sparks had returned there just stood the wolf. She licked his hand lovingly and looked up at him briefly before leaping up,rising against gravity ti curl around his body, her paws in line with his waist. 

  Her soft glow sunk back into his skin and he was left alone in the moonlight, no Nogitsune but no wolf either. The memory of the magic played behind his eyes and he stood for a moment in stunned awe. That had never happened before when he had been using runes to say transfer from one place to another. But then that had been simple magic.

  Stiles thought complex magic was so much better.