Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Scott McCall hadn't seen his best friend in over a year.

Not since they fought the Nogitsune, not since Allison died, not since Void Stiles disappeared and took the real Stiles with him. 

The pack searched for him, of course they did. But the Nogitsune never got caught when it wasn't part of his plan.

At first they all thought he'd turn up eventually, strike again when they didn't expect it. That didn't happen, though. Days passed, weeks, then months. 

New threats appeared in Beacon Hills, the deadpool, the berserkers and Kate. Scott and his pack had to face these threats without Stiles. 

Life had to go and on. That didn't mean that they ever stopped looking for him, that they didn't tell all of their allies, everyone they could trust who left Beacon Hills, to look out for him. Argent, Isaac, Derek, Ethan, Braeden, even Jackson. Scott begged all of them, if they ever saw Stiles again, to contact him immediately. 

But they didn't find anything. Every once in a while there would be a trace, someone would call Sheriff Stilinski's hotline, thinking they had seen someone who matched Stiles' description, or there would be a case that looked like something like the Nogitsune could've been involved, but nothing ever came of it. 

Scott tried hard to not give up hope but it was virtually impossible when they hadn't even been sure how much of Stiles was left before he disappeared. Now, an entire year later, Scott wasn't sure if he wanted to find whatever Stiles had turned into. But he knew he had to, he owed it to him. 

A part of him didn't believe it anymore, with every wrong clue, every trail that led nowhere, he lost hope that he'd ever find out what happened to Stiles. He could feel himself turning cynical, he didn't want to but he could still feel it, every time they found something new he already expected nothing to come of it. 

So when Chris Argent called him, talking about how he might've found something, Scott didn't really believe it. Still, he told his pack about it, and they followed Argent to the location he named. 

Scott didn't tell Sheriff Stilinski about their plan. They had too many false alarms, too many crushing disappointments. Stiles' dad was barely keeping it together as it was, Scott wasn't sure if he'd survive another dead end. 

So they all piled into Scott's car which used to be Stiles'. Scott started driving the jeep a while ago, for some reason he was ridiculously attached to that old thing, maybe because Stiles used to be. Maybe Scott was trying to keep it warm for Stiles, if... No... For when he came back. 

They drove up north towards the Canadian boarder. The coordinates Argent gave them lead them through forests and mountains until they arrived at the narrow end of a lonely road. 

Argent was waiting for them, leaned against his own car. Scott wondered where they'd go from here, the road ended here but they didn't seem to be... anywhere. There was nothing but trees around them. 

They all got out of the jeep, approaching the older man. Scott hadn't seen Argent in almost a year. He left shortly after Allison's death, not too long after it became clear that Stiles wouldn't come back.

He looked older and rougher. Grief and loss could do that to you and few people had lost as much as Chris Argent. The expression on his face was heavy, tired, but also focused. He was determined. The machine gun in his arms said that he was preparing for a battle. 

"Scott, took you long enough to get here.", the man greeted, his voice neither nice nor rude. It was a neutral statement.

"Are we allowed to ask were 'here' is? Because 'here' looks suspiciously like 'nowhere' right now.", Lydia pointed out sharply. After the Sheriff and Scott, Stiles' disappearance probably hit her the most. 

Scott didn't pretend that he ever understood what was going on with Stiles and Lydia. Sure, Stiles used to be in love with her, had been for years and Lydia used to ignore him for almost just as long. But Scott knew that they had grown closer over the years, he watched it happen. And then Stiles disappeared. 

Lydia spend countless days holed up in her grandmother's lake house, trying to get a clue about Stiles' whereabouts, or if he was even alive. That's the thing, they were convinced that if Stiles had died, Lydia would've known, but none of them knew if that also applied to Stiles' soul dying. Maybe their friend was long gone but Lydia couldn't tell because the Nogitsune still walked around in his body. Maybe she'd never feel him die. 

"This is where the street ends, Wicked's facility can only be reached from the air. On foot you usually get lost in the woods. Unless...", Argent explained, looking to Scott.

"Unless you have a werewolf that can follow a scent.",Malia finished and Argent nodded along. 

"What's Wicked and why do you think they have Stiles?", Scott asked. Argent hadn't given him a whole lot of details, the other man was quite paranoid about communicating when there was a record of it. 

"Wicked is a hunter collective. They aren't a family, more like a company. They are quite extreme and my family rarely associated with them-", Argent started to explain and Scott wondered what they could've done to be even too hardcore for the Argents. 

"They don't just hunt and kill, they capture, enslave and experiment.", Argent went on and Scott felt a pit in his stomach. 

"A former associate of mine used to work with them and from him I got intel on their latest project. They kidnapped supernatural teens all over the country, some even in other parts of the world. Werewolfs, vendigos, kitsunes, werejaguars, banshees. Whatever you can think of."

"What did they do to them?", Malia asked and Scott could hear her heart race. His own was doing the same. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good, especially if Stiles was involved with them. 

"I don't know. But knowing them, it's nothing good. Wicked's mission statement used to be about finding a cure for the supernatural. That's how they used to justify the experiments. But now... It's about weaponization. About using the powers of your people for their benefit.", Argent told them and it was obvious by his tone that he was disgusted with their practices. 

"And we're going to break into their facility? How do we even know if they have Stiles?", Liam asked, his voice shaky, uncertain. He smelled anxious. He was only here for Scott, he had never met Stiles, only heard stories.

"We don't. But my associate told me that they got their hands on a Nogitsune possessing a human boy. How probable is it that there is more than one?",Argent asked, the question obviously rhetoric. Nogitsune's were incredibly rare, especially ones that fit Stiles' description. Scott didn't dare hope, not yet. But he'd lie if he said that a part of him didn't want to believe that he'd be here.

"So we're going in there. ", Kira stated, looking up at Scott. 

Scott focused his eyes on the forest ahead of them. "Yes. We're going."

They had to walk for a while. An hour, maybe more. Scott was following the scent of everything that wasn't the forest. Anything human or artificial. Until they arrived at a single warehouse in the middle of nowhere. 

The building looked like a huge grey block of concrete, just dropped in the middle of the woods. 

Scott lead them inside, going ahead. They all kept their ears open for any signs of life but there wasn't anything. The hallways were lit but empty, the AC was still on and there were computers still switched on but there were no people. Someone had definitely been there recently but it looked like they had all left in a hurry.

"It's abandoned.", Kira whispered as they made their way through the hallways and Scott tried to keep his heart rate steady. He didn't want to think about the possibility of missing Stiles by days, maybe hours. Apparently Lydia felt the same.

"How old is your intel?", she asked Argent, narrowing her eyes at him. 

"A day, not older. I called you as soon as I heard. ", Argent replied, looking just as puzzled as them. 

"What were they doing here?", Malia asked, looking at a shelf along the wall. It carried neat rows of jars filled with the strangest things. Claws, fangs, scales, organs that Scott couldn't name. It made Scott sick. 

"Guys?", Lydia called out. Scott hadn't noticed her wandering off but now she was two hallways away. 

"Lydia?", Scott yelled back, following after her until he found her, facing an open door. That's when he heard them, the heart beats. 

"Guys, I found them.", Lydia whispered, looking over to them. They all followed her through the door into a large room filled with dozens of tables, each carrying a person.

It was haunting, the only lights in the room came from the monitors that were connected to the bodies. The only sounds were their beeping. 

"Are they dead? ", Kira whispered, her eyes looking around, horrified. 

Lydia was the first to wake from her frozen state, making her way inside, walking from body to body looking at the monitors. "No, they're alive, they're... Comatose.", She explained, eyebrows pulled together into a frown. 

"Not all of them.", Scott commented, following her in. There had to be more than thirty bodies but he could only hear 9 heartbeats. The rest were dead. Dread settled in Scott's stomach. 

Slowly they all piled inside and started to walk through the rows and rows of bodies. Scott noticed that they were all male except for one girl and they were all around his own age. They were also all incredibly meager, like they were starved, even though they were all connected to breathing and nutrition tubes. Even the ones that were still alive looked like they should be dead.  

The ones that were actually dead... Well, they didn't look much different.

"He's here! Stiles is here!", Kira suddenly called out and Scott's hear skipped a beat. He tore his eyes off the dead body he was staring at and hurried over to Kira,they all did, gathering around a table with a boy on it. It was startling how much he didn't look like himself, Scott barely recognised him. His skin was deadly pale, his body looked frail and brittle, but his heartbeat was strong. He was alive, thank god, he was alive. 

Scott hadn't believed that he'd ever see his best friend again. Not really. 

"What's wrong with them, what were they doing to them?", Malia asked, reaching for one of the tubes that lead down Stiles' throat. 

"Don't touch him. We don't know what killed the others, maybe they're on life support. ", Argent warned them and Malia jerked her hand back.  

"We can't just leave them like this.", Kira argued, looking around aimlessly.  

"Give me a minute, guard the entrances. ", Lydia stated. She had moved to a computer by the entrance of the room and started to look through it. Liam followed her orders, taking a spot by the door, keeping watch.

"What've you got there?", Argent asked, taking a look at the screen as well. 

"Their files. ", Lydia replied, her eyes scanning through the text on the screen at lightning speed. "It seems to be some sort of simulation. They're keeping them comatose and in a drug induced fever dream of sorts. I don't exactly understand the science behind it but they're all sharing a hyper realistic hallucination.", She then explained after reading through the files for a moment. 

"For what?", Scott asked. What was the point?

"I don't know... But...I think I know what happened to the bodies. They seem to flatline if they die in the simulation.", Lydia added looking up, her eyes wandering from corpse to corpse. 

"Can we stop the simulation, though? Can we take them off the drugs?", Malia asked, her eyes resting on Stiles. 

"I think so. ", Lydia replied, not sounding all that convincing. 

"You think so?", Scott repeated, raising his eyebrows. 

"Do I look like I'm a scientist? ", Lydia snapped and Scott pressed his lips together. 

"You're the closest thing we've got.",Kira pointed out and Lydia looked to her, then at Stiles and then she let out a heavy sigh. She pulled her hands through her hair, shaking her head slightly. 

"I don't know what else to do. Letting the simulation run it's course might just lead to more of them dying. ", she then explained so it was decided. It was time to wake them up. 

They removed the IV's, tubes and electrical sensors from the ones that were still alive. One by one, until they looked like they were just sleeping. 

"It might take some time for them to wake up. ", Lydia stated once they were all done. She was standing in front of Stiles. She had taken one of his hands into hers. "Do you really think it's going to be him? When he wakes up, I mean.", she then asked, looking to Scott.  

"I don't know. All we can do is wait. ", Scott admitted and Lydia nodded slightly, not taking her eyes off of Stiles. 

They didn't have to wait for long. The other boys woke up quickly. Judging by the scent, they were all different supernatural creatures and they burned through the sedatives quickly. 

The first one to wake up was a boy with jet black hair and broad shoulders who looked like he might be Korean. He jerked a few times before opening and closing his eyes several times. 

Kira was the first to notice. "Hey, he's awake-", she called out before the boy suddenly sat up, taking a gasping breath. 

"Where am I?! What's-", he gasped out his chest heaving, his eyes looking around wildly. "Who are you?!", he asked Scott when he rushed over. 

"We're friends, we're here to help-", Kira tried to explain but she got cut off by another boy waking up several rows away. 

"Minho-", the other boy yelled, rolling off the table and stumbling towards them. He was tall and lanky, with blond hair and large panicked eyes. 

"Newt?!", The black-haired boy, apparently his name was Minho, yelled out, jumping off the table and whipping his head around until he saw the other one. They both ran towards each other but Scott could see how their eyes wandered, they had no idea where they were or what was going on. The stench of their panic was everywhere around them and it just got worse and worse the more of them woke up. They all seemed to know each other but none of them seemed to recognise their surroundings.

"Where's Thomas?!",the blond boy, Newt, asked, his tone sharp and volatile. Him and Minho were both glaring at Scott, maybe they sensed that he was the Alpha.

"Who are you?!", Minho snapped. 

"Thomas?!", the girl yelled out and Minho and Newt's heads snapped around. They both rushed to her side but it was quite obvious that adrenalin was the only thing keeping them going for now, and it was quickly running out. 

"Teresa?", Minho asked, helping the brunette girl off her table. She seemed pretty out of it, still. Just barely standing on her own two feet. 

"Where's Thomas?! What did they do to him?", She asked weakly, but equally distressed. 

Scott wished that he could do something to help but they knew none of their names and with all of them yelling. Things were quickly descending into chaos. 

"Listen, we just got here, we don't know your names yet, but whoever you're looking for, he might be-", Scott tried to explain but they boy called Newt didn't seem to listen to him. He started to limb through the rows of tables, seemingly searching for a specific face. Then he froze.

"Tommy!", he yelled and then he threw himself at the only person that wasn't awake yet. Stiles. 

"Get your hands off him!", Lydia snapped, still holding onto Stiles' hand and Scott didn't even get the chance to ask why the boy called their friend Tommy because in that moment Stiles' body jerked up and he took a gasping breath, pulling his eyes open.

He started to cough and tremble, Scott could see him jerk his hand out of Lydia's.

"Stiles?!", Lydia called at the same time as Newt asked:"Thomas?"

They both looked at each other, totally confused as Stiles struggled to catch a breath. His eyes shot around frantically, until they found Newt's and Scott could tell that seeing him calmed Stiles. He wrapped his arms around the other boy, slipping off the table. Both looked like they were seconds away from collapsing but their eyes were sharp as they glared at Scott and his pack. 

"Stiles? You're save. You hear me? You're okay, we found you.", Scott tried to calm him but Stiles' panic only mixed with confusion and with a shock Scott realized: Stiles looked at them with no recognition in his eyes. He had no idea who they were. His best friend had forgotten all about him. 

"What the hell is a Stiles?", the boy asked, a confused frown on his face. Seemingly he had also forgotten about himself. 

Chapter Text

The last clear thing Thomas could remember was Chuck, dying in his arms. They had escaped the glade, they had made it, but then Gally attacked them and Chuck took a speer that was ment for Thomas. Then... 

Thomas wasn't sure what happened then. He remembered waking up in a different lab next to strangers. Newt was there too, but he looked different, weaker, sick. There might've been more of them but Thomas couldn't focus, he had a massive headache, his limbs were heavy and he felt like he'd pass out any second. 

There was a girl there, holding his hand and another boy who called him Stiles. Thomas didn't know a Stiles, he had never even heard that name, and he'd never seen them before, either. He tried to focus, tried to understand what was going on, but everything was spinning, spinning out of control and then his vision went from blurry to black and everything stopped. 

The next time Thomas regained consciousness he woke up slowly. The world came back in bits and pieces. First the feeling in his body returned. He felt comfortable, soft, warm. He was laying in... a bed? And someone had covered him with a blanket. 

Then he started to hear his surroundings again. The beeping of a heart monitor, the dripping of an IV, the ticking of a clock, his own breathing. Then he opened his eyes. 

The ceiling was dark grey, or maybe it was just white but looked grey because it was dark. Dark. It was night. 

Thomas let his eyes wander around and take in the room as well as possible. It didn't look like a lab. The word 'hospital' came to mind and somehow Thomas knew it was right even though, he couldn't remember how he knew that.

Still, that didn't do anything to calm him down. He still had no idea how, why or where he was and what they wanted with him. They, being whoever had taken him here. He forced himself to sit up and look around. His body felt like someone had filled him with lead but at least he was alone and not strapped to the bed.

This didn't look like Wicked's doing but he still couldn't be sure. He needed to find his friends, or what was left of them. There was a needle in his arm that he pulled out and then he got off the bed.

Thomas' legs felt unsteady, and he had to hold on to the bed for a moment to steady himself. The floor was cold against his bare feet, someone had dressed him in scrubs. He pushed himself towards the door, praying that the door wasn't locked. It wasn't.

He pushed through the door, out into a hallway and suddenly a woman stood in front of him. She was small, tan, with long dark curls and dressed in scrubs as well. "Stiles, you're not supposed to be up, yet.", she said, her voice calm and kind, her expression worried.

Thomas didn't know why she called him Stiles and he didn't know why she looked so familiar but he did know that he didn't trust her. This was a trap, he had to find Newt and the others. 

"Where are they, what did you do to them?", he heard a foreign voice ask, he needed a moment to realize that it was his own.

"Your friends are okay. They are recovering, I can take you to them. ", the woman promised and Thomas didn't want to believe her, he'd much rather break down every door in this building himself. But he was weak and dizzy and on the verge of passing out again, so he nodded.

"Take me?", He gasped out and the woman nodded before turning around and leading the way. 

"Come on.", she said and Thomas followed after her as quickly as he could without collapsing. The woman led him down hallways past several doors until she opened one and led him inside. 

The door led to a room that was a lot bigger than the one Thomas woke up in and just as promised, all his friends were gathered in there, all dressed in scrubs and either in beds or wheelchairs, hooked up to IVs, but they were all awake and alive and Thomas felt like he could take his first real breath. 

"Newt?", Thomas breathed out before stumbling forward. Newt got out of his chair and strode over to Thomas until they could wrap their arms around each other.

"Tommy.", the other boy whispered, pulling Thomas closer until their hearts beat as one.

"Where are we? What's going on?", Thomas asked as soon as they seperated from each other. His eyes wandered from person to person. Newt, Minho, Teresa, Frypan, Winston, Jack, Tim and Billy. They were all there and while they were all sickly looking, they seemed to be okay. 

"Calm down, okay? We're safe here.", Newt explained, cupping Thomas' face with his hand. "They can explain.", He added and Thomas pulled his eyebrows together in confusion. 

"They?", Thomas asked before looking around to find that they weren't among themselves. 

It was them, the two he saw before. The girl with strawberry blonde hair, that held his hand and the boy that called him Stiles.

"Hello...Stiles...", He now said, again. And they both looked at Thomas like they knew him, like they waited for him to greet them, too. But Thomas had no idea who they were, no matter how familiar they seemed. 

"Who are you? Why are all calling me that?", He asked and he hated how shaky his voice was. 

"I'm Scott, this is Lydia.", The boy explained. "We are your family. Your friends. And Stiles is your name, or it used to be, before Wicked took it from you. ", he went on, his tone calm, gentle, like he was afraid of scaring Thomas off. The thing was, his words alone were already enough to send Thomas spiraling. He'd been through this before, the amnesia, the uncertainty, the blank slate of his past. He couldn't do this again.

"You believe them?", Thomas then asked, looking to Newt. He couldn't help it, he was disoriented and confused but Newt seemed steady. 

"Yes. They can explain, I promise.", he nodded and Thomas looked back to Scott and Lydia. 

"Then start.", He ordered. 

So they started from the top. About how they all grew up together, how Scott and Stiles used to be best friends. And how, when they were 16, Scott got bitten by a werewolf. That's when things got wildly bizarre. They launched into explanations about how the supernatural was real, how they fought several monsters in the last couple of years, brutal alphas, homicidal lizards, dark druids and evil spirits. Until Stiles disappeared. One year they spend looking for him, until they heard of a group of hunters called Wicked, that kidnapped supernatural teenagers for some unknown purpose. That's who Thomas and his friend were supposed to be. 

Missing children of the night from all over the world. 

It was insane, absolutely mental. Thomas felt like laughing the entire time he listened but when he looked to his friends they didn't seem to share his disbelief. They didn't even look surprised or bewildered, they believed them.

"So let me get this straight. you're all werewolves and other magical creatures and so are we and Wicked kidnapped us to wipe our memories and run some simulation on us?", Thomas summarised, just making sure that he hadn't misunderstood. He kind of hoped that that were the case.

"Yes. Basically.", The girl, Lydia nodded. Thomas caught her eye and couldn't help but to linger for a moment. She looked sad, like she was mourning, it opened a pit in Thomas' stomach that he couldn't understand.

"Then prove it. ", Thomas challenged them, not actually expecting them to do it. How could he? This story was ridiculous. 

But then Scott just nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, when he opened them again, they were glowing red and suddenly his face morphed, he grew hair around his jaw and fangs shot out of his teeth and then he growled and if that wasn't insane enough it seemed to trigger something in Thomas' friends. He looked to Newt, who's eyes turned into a brilliant shade of gold. Minho's started to glow green and when Thomas looked to the other boys all their eyes turned golden, too. Teresa was the only one that stayed the same. 

"You didn't used to do that! ", Thomas stated, baffled but somehow not freaked out. Once again, there was something familiar about it that he just couldn't place.

"No shit.", Minho smirked and his eyes went back to their actual color. 

"You didn't seem to have access to your powers in the simulation. ", Lydia explained and Thomas still couldn't believe that he was actually starting to buy that crap. 

"So... you're a werewolf. And what are we?", Thomas then asked. They were yet to explain that. 

"Werejaguar.", Scott said, pointing at Minho. "Two Werecoyotes.", He went on, pointing to Newt and Frypan. "Four werewolves.", He pointed at Winston, Billy, Jack and Tim. "One banshee.", that was Teresa and Thomas didn't bother to ask what that even was. " and...", Scott stopped, pointing to Thomas, an uncertain expression on his face. 

"We don't really know what you are yet.", Lydia added and Thomas felt something deep inside him, like a pit in his stomach, dread settling. He didn't know why or how he knew it but he was certain that whatever he was, something was wrong with him.

"Well, you claim that you used to know me, what did I use to be?", He asked, an edge to his voice that he didn't try to hide. 

"Human. And then... things happened, bad things, and then you disappeared. And now we have no idea.", Scott replied and there was something about the way he looked at Thomas, like he was weary of him. Whatever happened between them, it must've been really bad, because both Lydia and Scott seemed... Scared. 

"So what happens now, are you going to keep us locked up, too? Figure out what they wanted with us? ", Thomas asked next, trying to shake off the feeling of doom. 

"No, of course not. We'll keep you in the hospital for a bit until you're recovered. You're all pretty malnourished. After that we'll see if we can find your families, surely there are people who are looking for you. ", Lydia explained and this time she was addressing all of them. 

Thomas wanted to believe them, he really did. And that's exactly why he couldn't. There was just something about the idea of being saved, of being save now, that didn't seem possible. It was too good to be true. He lowered his eyes, looking to the ground. Scott seemed to notice his reluctance, apparently he could smell emotions. 

He took a careful step towards Thomas, his expression looked pained. "Stiles-", he started but Thomas cut him off immediately.

"Don't call me that.", Thomas snapped and he tried not to feel bad when Scott flinched.

"Sorry. T-Thomas. I know you don't recognize me. But we used to be like brothers. You are my best friend. And I understand that you can't simply trust us but I need you to remember us.", Scott went on and he was pleading, begging for something that Thomas couldn't give him. 

"I-I can't. I don't know you, okay? Whoever this Stiles is that you lost... I'm not him. I'm sorry.", Thomas stated and he realized that he was being genuine. Whoever those two had lost, they seemed to care a lot about him and Thomas wished that he could give them Stiles back, but he couldn't.

"Okay, it's okay. ", Scott nodded, trying to not let his disappointment show while Thomas tried to not feel too guilty about it. 

Thomas diverted his eyes from the two, looking to Newt instead. He needed something to ground him, something he knew was real. This was all so much and he felt like he was about to pass out. 

"You need to lie down. ", Newt suddenly stated, as if he had read Thomas' mind. 

"I don't.", Thomas shook his head. 

"You look like you're about to pass out, yes you do. ", The other boy argued before promptly picking Thomas up as if he weighed nothing at all and started to carry him out of the room. Maybe it was the exhaustion kicking in but somehow he didn't really mind.

"Since when are you so strong?", He asked Newt, pretty impressed. 

"Werecoyote, remember?", Newt smirked at him. Thomas couldn't help but to feel like he was enjoying this. 

Newt carried him back to his room where he dumped him on the bed he woke up in. 

"You need to rest.", He stated as if Thomas' body wasn't shutting down by itself already. 

"Why don't you?", Thomas asked, lifting his heavy head to narrow his eyes at Newt. The other boy seemed absolutely fine, maybe a bit too skinny but otherwise good.

"Super healing, I guess. I don't even have the pain in my leg anymore.", He shrugged but Thomas could tell that this was a big deal to him.

"You believe them, don't you?", Thomas asked next. Part of him believed Scott and Lydia, too but he needed to make sure that that wasn't just because he wanted this to be real. 

"They are pretty convincing, you know? Everything they said turned out right so far.", Newt argued he actually started to tuck Thomas in which felt a little patronising but he didn't mind it from Newt. 

"So you believe that we... that I used to know them? That I used to be Stiles?", He asked. He couldn't argue that they all seemed familiar. Looking at them felt like when he couldn't remember a word but it was on the tip of his tongue. That's how it felt looking at Scott and Lydia.

"They showed us pictures of them and you, pictures of you when you were younger. It's all real. ", Newt told him and Thomas looked to the ceiling. Maybe they were right, maybe all of it was true, but it didn't help Thomas at all. Knowing that he used to have friends, a family, a normal life, or not so normal, it didn't make him feel like he had returned home. It made him feel like he lost something that he never had. 

"So the glade was fake, all of it was fake?", Thomas whispered, he was so tired. He wondered why he wasn't healing, why he wasn't like the others.

"Not all of it.", Newt said, reaching for Thomas' hand, squeezing it gently. It felt good, it felt real, at least something did.

"Good.", Thomas dared to smile a little, then he heard the yelling. 

"Sheriff!", the woman from before yelled from outside the door. 

"Let me through!", A male voice yelled back and a part of Thomas knew that whoever it was, they were coming for him.

"John, not right now, he just woke up!", The woman argued, their voices were coming closer to the door. Thomas sat up and started to inch away from the door without even realizing, his heart started to race. He knew that whoever would come through that door, it would only make everything worse. 

"Get out of my way Melissa! I need to see my son!", The man, John, yelled and suddenly the door was wide open and a middle-aged man in a Sheriff's uniform was coming in, his eyes wide and focused on Thomas.

"Stiles?"

~

"Why did nobody tell me?!", Sheriff Stilinski asked pushing past Scott and Lydia. His heart was hammering in his chest, his hands were shaking uncontrollably and there was an endless chorus in his mind, chanting Stiles, Stiles, Stiles-

They had found his son. After one year they had finally found his son, alive, and now he was here in Beacon Hills and Stilinski found out last. 

"We wanted to make sure that it wasn't a dead end again-", Scott tried to explain and while John appreciated Scott's concern, he also couldn't stand the thought that after one year gone, Stiles woke up alone in a hospital and he couldn't be by his side. 

"But it wasn't! He's here, isn't he? He's alive! ", John asked, before his eyes found Melissa suspiciously guarding one specific door. 

"Yes, but-", Lydia started but John didn't care to hear the rest. 

"Then I don't care about the rest. ", he spat, making his way towards the door. He needed to see his son and he needed to see him now. 

"Sheriff!", Melissa tried to stop him, blocking the door but Stilinski wasn't having it.

"Let me through!", he ordered. 

"John, not right now, he just woke up!", Melissa tried again but John wouldn't listen to her. He needed to check on Stiles, now. 

"Get out of my way Melissa! I need to see my son!", he spoke through gritted teeth before finally stepping past her and pulling the door open. And...

...there he was, just a few feet away from him, in a hospital bed, looking sickly and frail but alive. He was clutching the hand of another boy that stood beside him but his eyes were wide and fearful when he looked at John. 

"Stiles? Oh my god, you're alive. I- I thought I'd never see you again-I thought it had killed you-", Stilinski started to ramble, relief washing over him. For months he had believed that his son got killed by the Nogitsune but here he was, alive, in mostly one piece.

It felt too good to be true.

Maybe because it was. 

Stiles stared at him and the fear in his eyes didn't dwindle. It didn't get replaced with relief or recognition like the Sheriff had expected. Something was wrong. 

" I- I'm sorry- I don't- I don't know who you are?", Stiles then said, his voice quiet and cracking on every second word and the Sheriff realized with a shock, that his son had no clue who he was. 

"What-", he gasped out but then he felt Scott's hand on his shoulder, pulling him back. 

"That's what we've been trying to tell you, he doesn't remember who he is! He doesn't remember any of us. ", the boy explained but John was barely listening, all he could do was stare at his son and the fear in his eyes. He was in hell.

"Stiles?", John tried again, pleading that this was a twisted joke. 

"I'm sorry- I'm not...", Stiles stuttered, shaking his head.

Suddenly Melissa stepped into John's line of sight, pulling his attention towards her. 

"He needs to rest. And you need to get briefed on what happened. Come on, John. ", She tried to pull him away but John couldn't leave, not yet. 

His eyes wandered to the other boy, a skinny blond kid who had build himself up in front of Stiles like a wall. Then he looked back to his son. 

"Are you alright? Are you ... in pain, or...", He asked, his voice trembling. He needed to know this much, he needed to check on his wellbeing.

"I'm okay. I promise.", the boy nodded shakily and that's when John finally let go and let Melissa lead him outside. 

As the door to the room closed he heard the blond boy say:"I think you have a father. "

He didn't get to hear what Stiles replied to that but John couldn't help it, he felt like he had lost his son all over again.

Chapter Text

The next time Thomas woke up it was still dark. Either he had just slept for an hour or a whole day... Or longer. He sat up slowly. The headache was still there but he felt marginally better. 

For a moment he didn't think about Stiles. For a moment he didn't exist and Thomas was just himself. Then he remembered. Scott and Lydia, his friends who were all beasts and the Sheriff who looked at Thomas like he was his son. 

He laid back down again, staring at the ceiling. "Stiles Stilinski." Thomas mumbled the name to himself, testing it out. "Stiles." Thomas couldn't identify himself with whoever Stiles used to be.

 A part of him still refused to believe all of this. A desperate part. But it was steadily growing smaller. Newt had been right. Once they explained it, he believed them. That didn't mean that he could just be the guy they lost again.

Thomas sat up again with a huff. Laying around here wouldn't help him at all and he didn't feel like falling asleep again. So he got out of bed. Someone had reconnected him to an IV and as much as Thomas wanted to believe that he was save here, he didn't really trust them and he wouldn't be pumped up with something without his consent. So he removed the needle again. 

Thomas wasn't sure what the plan had been when he left his hospital room. If he was going to search for his friends or just notify someone that he was awake. It didn't come to either of that. As soon as he opened his door he found a certain strawberry blond dozing in one of the seats in the hallway. 

"Lydia? ", He asked instinctively and the girl jerked awake. 

"Oh Sti- Thomas... What time is it?", She asked before yawning and stretching a little. Her hair was a little messy and her make up was smudged but she was still gorgeous. 

"I don't know but judging by the lack of sunlight? Late.", Thomas replied, leaning against the door frame. "What are you doing here?", He then asked and it wasn't supposed to sound like an accusation even though it probably did. 

"I- am guarding your door.", Lydia admitted and Thomas tried to not feel too paranoid about that.

"Because you're scared that I'll run away?", He asked and again, it wasn't his intention to sound offended but he might have. 

"No. We're not... Keeping you here.", Lydia quickly clarified, shaking her head. " I'm just worried that someone will take you again- it's- sorry- it's dumb- I should go.", She then stuttered before getting up and packing her things. To Thomas' own surprise he didn't want her to leave.  

"No, it's not dumb. ", He said and Lydia froze, looking at him. Her face looked like a question mark. "Do you want to come in?", He then asked and her expression turned a little brighter.

"If you don't mind.", She said stepping towards the door, following Thomas inside. He sat down on his bed and she took a seat across from him on a chair. Thomas eyed the large duffle bag she was carrying around but didn't question it for now.

"How are you doing?", Lydia asked after a long awkward moment of silence. Thomas noticed that she rarely looked at him for longer than a few seconds which was concerning. He knew that things before his disappearance had been bad, whatever that ment. It had probably something to do with that.

Thomas thought about her question for a moment. He didn't exactly know how to answer. He himself had no idea how to feel or how he was doing so he just settled on describing the situation. "Well, I still feel like I'm going to pass out, even though I'm pretty sure that I slept for a day. I'm also having an identity crisis and I'm trying to process that the guy I like can apparently turn into a coyote."

"You mean Newt. ", Lydia remarked, ignoring the rest of what he said. She sounded weird when she said it, but Thomas didn't know her well enough to place what it was. 

"Yeah. So all in all I'm doing stellar.", He added sarcastically and the corners of Lydia's mouth twitched as if she was about to smile but then she didn't. She just glued here eyes to the floor.

"What happened to me, Lydia?", He then asked, because he needed to know. He needed to know why the people that claimed to be his family couldn't look him in the eyes. "What happened that was so bad that both you and Scott can barely look at me?"

Lydia looked up at him and Thomas could tell that it was on purpose now. Like she was trying to disprove him. 

"You were kidnapped by crazy hunters and were gone for a year. We thought you might be dead.", She replied. It was the obvious answer. That didn't mean it was the truth, though. Thomas was pretty sick of not knowing the truth. 

"That's not it.", He said, shaking his head. 

Lydia gave him a withering look but he refused to back down. He needed to know. Eventually she gave in. "You were possessed by an evil fox spirit called the Nogitsune. It had complete control over you and it killed several people, including two of our friends. Then you disappeared without a trace and now you seem to be you again but you also aren't human anymore and we just... We're not sure how much of it is left in you.", She explained and now her weariness around him made a whole lot more sense. 

He had been the bad thing- he- he had killed people- friends. Thomas struggled to process it. Part of him knew that it hadn't really been him, or Stiles, or whoever the fuck but the idea that he still had something else inside of him, something that could take control, it was disturbing. 

"Okay... Right. That makes more sense now. How do you know that anything of it is left at all?",he asked because he needed to know. Maybe he had been locked in his own mind for a reason. Maybe he was dangerous.

"Wait... I'll show you.", Lydia said, solidifying his fear that something was definitely wrong with him. She took out her phone and took a picture of him with her flash turned on. Then she showed it to him. Thomas didn't recognize himself, there were no mirrors in the glade so he didn't really know what he looked like. But that wasn't the most interesting part of the photo anyways. It was the bright orange aura around him that looked like a fox.

"What's that?", He asked, his throat suddenly tight. 

"The fox spirit.", Lydia replied. She seemed to notice that Thomas was freaked  out because she quickly added:" That doesn't have to mean anything bad though. Our friend Kira is also a fox spirit and she's good. They aren't always evil."

That didn't really help Thomas though. Because the spirit that had taken him over had been evil. So whatever this was, it had to be evil, too. "So how do you know that I'm not still... possessed?", He asked, hoping for a calming answer.

"We're kind of just hoping you're not?", Lydia admitted which was the opposite of what Thomas wanted to hear. 

"Is there a way you can make sure?", He asked, trying to not let his own anxiety show. 

"Yes but you're not ready for it yet. You need to recover a bit before we let the Oni test you. ", Lydia explained.

"The Oni? "

"Yeah, demon warriors but when the Nogitsune first became a problem they were used to test us all out to see if we were possessed.", She went on and Thomas nodded along as if this wasn't absolutely insane. 

"Let me guess, I didn't pass the test.", He stated. It wasn't really a question since the answer was obvious but Lydia still shook her head. 

"No."

"What if it's still there?", He asked next. Would that make him the enemy again? Would that mean more tests and prisons and pain?

"Then we'll figure something out. We'll fix it.", Lydia said and Thomas was surprised how genuine she seemed. He wanted to believe her but he couldn't. Not yet. Not entirely. 

"I've got something for you.", She suddenly said and she reached for the mysterious duffle bag she brought. Lydia picked it up, got out of her seat and dumped the bag at the end of Thomas' bed before zipping it open. "Your dad- Sheriff Stilinski brought some of your things over for you. Maybe they will help you remember.", she went on to explain as she started to pull out different objects. 

"First, some of your clothes that you can change into once you get sick of the scrubs.", She said, handing Thomas a stack of shirts and sweatpants. 

"Already did. Thanks.", He smirked before starting to look through the clothes. The shirts had logo's and names on them that he didn't recognize but he could imagine them to be far more comfortable than the hospital scrubs he was still wearing. 

"Here's our bestiary.", Lydia then said, handing Thomas a big leather bound book with golden lettering. " It's a book filled with all the supernatural beings we know of. ", She explained as Thomas paged through it. It looked like something ancient but still brand new, it looked like it belonged in a museum but also like it just got printed. 

*Your lacrosse jersey.", Lydia continued. Thomas didn't know what lacrosse was but he took a look at the jersey anyways. It was dark red and had the name Stilinski and the number 24 on the back. 

"These are pictures from your room. ", Lydia then started to pull out picture frames and that's when it got a little too much to handle. Because Thomas had just seen his face for the first time, and now it was staring back at him from several pictures. Thomas, or Stiles, posing with Scott, both wearing those red shirts. Stiles and the Sheriff wearing matching blue caps that had an orange NY embroided on them. Stiles and a group of people, including Scott and Lydia. Stiles in a suit and Lydia in a dress, holding hands. It was all him, or it used to be. He used to have this entire life that he knew nothing about. He used to be this kid in the pictures, with the sparkling eyes and big goofy grin. And now that kid was gone. And Thomas was all that was left. 

He looked at the last picture frame but it didn't hold a photo this time. It was a drawing, a pencil sketch of a tree, that past-Stiles had framed for some reason. 

"A tree?", He asked, looking up at Lydia. 

"Yeah, I drew that. I didn't know you kept it until we searched your room. ", She admitted and a soft blush formed around her cheeks. Thomas looked at her and tried to conjure some sort of memory. An image of Lydia that went beyond his vague feeling of familiarity. It didn't work, he saw nothing. Whatever Wicked had done to him, they did their job well. 

"Lydia... I can't just be the guy you lost again. I'm not Stiles, I'm sorry...",Thomas tried to explain. Because he could see that she was hopeful. She brought all this stuff because she was hoping that it might trigger something in him. But Thomas couldn't give that to her. He couldn't make himself remember. No matter how hard he tried to. 

"We don't expect you to be. ", Lydia replied, not missing a beat. It sounded genuine but Thomas could tell that she was disappointed. Now he was the one that couldn't look at her anymore. 

His eyes wandered down, back towards the duffle bag. There was only one thing left in there and Thomas didn't wait for her to pull it out, reaching for it himself instead. 

"A bat? ", He asked once he pulled it out, giving Lydia a questioning look. 

"Yeah. Your weapon of choice. ", The girl smirked.

"Really? Werewolfs and dark spirits and whatnot and I chose a bat?", Thomas asked, daring to smile a little as well. 

"I mean, it worked pretty well, considering that you're still alive.", Lydia pointed out, making Thomas chuckle. 

They fell back into silence after that. Thomas looked at all the things she brought. Remnants of the life he used to have. His eyes got stuck on the picture of him and Lydia, holding hands... Like a couple would. 

Thomas wanted to ask her, he wanted to know what they had been to each other. But at the same time he wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle the answer. 

"Were we close? You and I?", He asked instead, both hoping for an honest but also vague answer. 

"Yes.", Lydia nodded, leaving no room for doubt.

"Then tell me about myself?", Thomas asked her. "Tell me about Stiles."

So Lydia did. She told him stories about a boy that was intelligent and funny and entirely human. A boy who was so curious that he dragged his best friend out into the woods in the middle of the night to see see a dead body. A boy that noticed how smart Lydia was when nobody else did. A boy that came up with all the plans even though they didn't always work in the ways that they expected. A boy that saw patterns and clues everywhere, who knew when something wasn't right and who wanted to fix it. A boy that sacrificed himself to save his father, a boy that got himself locked up to protect his friends, a boy that would've rather died than hurt his friends. 

Lydia told Thomas about who he used to be until the sun went up and even if he didn't feel like he got any closer to being that boy again, Thomas felt like maybe he wanted to become him some day.