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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦

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Meilani had been her own handful of traumatic events ever since she'd become a werewolf. She had gotten into the worst fight ever with her twin brother because she'd been lying to him for months before he finally found out the truth about the other side. She had to worry and stress over Derek trying to kill Jackson when he was the Kanima. She had to deal with not talking to her mother - who she talked to and hung out with every day because that was her first and forever best friend - because Melissa had to witness her shift into the monster that she'll be the rest of her life. She had to watch her boyfriend deteriorate and get possessed by an evil spirit that was still slowly killing him the longer he stayed alive.

However, Meilani never experienced the world shattering guilt and pain that would have been left behind after a close friend's death. A death that probably should have been hers had Allison not shoved her out of the way and taken the sword instead. A part of Meilani actually wished that it was her instead of Allison because Allison deserved to live a long life. Meilani knew that now she was a werewolf that her life wouldn't be as long as she thought. Not with all the drama that Beacon Hills brought. Not with the constant threat that lurked around every single corner of the town.

Allison was just a poor human girl who - much like Meilani in a way - would do whatever it took to save her friends. She didn't deserve to die and another part of Meilani felt a sense of rage course through her at the whole Void situation. Was it wrong to hate Mrs. Yukimura as much as Meilani did? Maybe. Was Meilani going to hate the woman any less for being the reason that Void even existed in the first place? Probably not.

Meilani had to be all but peeled away from Allison when Chris arrived just a minute later to see his daughter was dead. Isaac had to practically carry Meilani and place her sideways in Stiles' Jeep so her legs dangled over the side of the seat and she could bury her face in his chest. She knew Isaac was trying to stay strong as long as he could so he could comfort Meilani who was completely distraught. Didn't help when Scott finally ran out with Lydia and Stiles' arms wrapped around their shoulders and he all but collapsed to the ground next to Chris when he saw Allison laying limp in her father's arms.

Stiles had been taken off to the Yukimura household while Meilani, Lydia and Isaac had to be hauled over to Noah's office to explain to him what happened. Well, a twisted version of it at least since they had to talk to Parrish also and he didn't know about the supernatural. There had been wanted posters posted all over the sheriff's station and the town with a drawn depiction of the Oni. Something that probably wasn't the safest thing in the world since they were now under the control of Void and not Mrs. Yukimura. Now those shadowed demons would kill just about anyone and anything.

After leaving the sheriff station with Lydia, the two girls left for the animal clinic to talk to Deaton while Isaac left to go back to the Argent's apartment. Scott more than likely already there waiting for Chris and Isaac. Not that Meilani really talked to him between her lingering anger at him for hiding the truth about Rafe and the immense guilt that Allison had died for her. She couldn't face Scott. Not now.

"Stiles and Kira said it was the Nemeton that kept it trapped," Meilani explained to Deaton, her voice hoarse from all the crying she'd been doing. She wiped again at her face when she felt her eyes tear up once again at the thought of Allison. 

"The problem is this isn't even a person you're fighting. It just looks like one. It's a spirit that's taken the shape of a human," Deaton stated, leaning against the side of the medical examination table.

"Yeah, the shape of my freaking boyfriend," Meilani mumbled, fiddling with the end of her maroon shirt. The side of her shirt and jacket were caked in the dried blood from Allison's body and Meilani knew she'd have to get rid of the two items of clothing. Something that didn't bother her all that much because she probably would never be able to wear those two items again even if she were able to clean the blood off. It would just remind her of Allison and she couldn't handle that.

"Someone caught it once. Someone can do it again, right?" Lydia asked, trying to bring at least some light to this very dark night. 

Deaton shook his head with a sigh, looking just as lost as the two teens did. "I don't know. This thing was trapped a long time ago, before the Nemeton was cut down. It doesn't have the same power anymore."

"Is there anything that does?" Meilani chimed in, needing a way to get rid of this spirit for what he did to her best friend.

"Possibly. When the tree was whole, its wood was sometimes used to contain powerful objects. Those are objects are very rare."

Lydia tensed up as recognition flashed across her face and she shifted uncomfortably in her stance next to Meilani. "Wait, powerful objects? Like an alpha's claws?"

Deaton pushed off the side of the table and eyed Lydia for a moment. "Wait, whose claws?"

"Talia Hale. Peter had them in this wooden box with a triskele carved on the lid. What if it was made from the Nemeton?" Lydia suggested, crossing her arms and glancing between Meilani and Deaton. 

"It was . . . because I made it."

Meilani had pulled out her phone to call Derek to see if he still had the box, which she didn't see why he wouldn't. It was the last thing of his mom that Derek had so she was sure that the Hale boy didn't get rid of it or will be anytime. Something that Meilani was glad to have been right about when Derek said he still had it and would meet her, Deaton and Lydia wherever they needed him to.

"Okay, Derek's got the triskele box. He's gonna meet us at the high school," Meilani announced, pocketing her phone into her box pocket. Before she could take a step back to move towards the entrance of the animal clinic, Lydia's eyes rolled into the back of her head and Meilani quickly caught the girl. The strawberry blonde recovered fairly quickly and was able to stand on her own after a moment.

"What's wrong?" Deaton questioned, noticing the paleness that took over Lydia's face and the obvious fright on her features.

Lydia's wide eyes met with Meilani's and she began to shake slightly from the feeling she'd gotten. "Something is happening. I had this sudden rushing feeling, like we're running out of time."

"Yeah," a familiar voice spooked the trio and they all turned to see Stiles trying to keep himself up with the help of Kira. He looked ten times worse than he had earlier and Meilani only felt the stone in her stomach grow double in size, making her feel like she was going to throw up. His eyes looked more sunken in and bruise like color was beginning to grow beneath them. He quite literally looked like death. "Yeah, I get that feeling, too."

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Meilani sped Stiles' Jeep over to the high school with Stiles in the passenger seat and Kira and Lydia piled in the back. She didn't even care that she was probably breaking more than fifty speeding rules, but Meilani wasn't going to let anyone else die. Allison was more than enough for her heart to handle right now and she wasn't about to let any of her friends die to this freaking spirit. 

With Meilani's effortless speeding, the pack got the high school in just over ten minutes and they all hopped out with Lydia helping Stiles since he was still weak and couldn't really stand on his own yet. They only had so much time and Meilani needed to make sure that their time didn't run out this time. Not again.

"Baby, hold on," Stiles called before Meilani could open up the side doors to the high school. "I know what you're all thinking. If this works it might kill me, too. Even if it does, you have to go through with it. Stick with the plan, okay?"

"The plan is to save you, Stiles. That's the plan I'm going with. It's the plan I will always go with," Meilani replied, turning away from her boyfriend and pushing on the double doors to enter the school.

However, they didn't enter the school and instead into some snowy Japanese styled temple front. A small wooden bridge was placed in the middle of the space that didn't lead to anywhere just the other side of the cement. Snow dusted every single surface and began to stick to the clothes and hair of the pack as they stepped further into the space. The massive, iron gate behind the pack closed with a slam behind them. 

Stiles stumbled out of Lydia's hold and stood a few steps ahead of the pack as his eyes scanned the white area around them. Even though it wasn't cold around them, the pack still felt a chill go down all their spines at the sight. "Oh, this is definitely not part of the plan."

The crunching of snow was heard behind them and the same wrapped figure from Stiles' mind - aka Void - limped awkwardly out from behind the gate entrance area and into view. He walked like his legs had been broken and the sight of his razor sharp teeth that looked like little needles was enough to turn anyone's blood ice cold. Kira had drawn her sword defensively at the sight of him and Meilani had stepped back towards Stiles with Lydia and allowed her boyfriend to cling onto her when his legs suddenly begin to give again.

"Like I promised, Stiles. We are going to kill all of them. One by one," Void taunted in a dark, demonic like voice and clutched his hand into a fist.

An Oni appeared to Kira's right and her sword met with the Oni's sword before it could come into contact with her body. Their swords made a loud slicing sound as they slid across and away from each other as the rest of the Oni circled the pack, and made it very clear no one would be going anywhere without a serious fight.

"What the hell is this? Where are we?" Meilani demanded, shifting Stiles' weight on her when he pushed a little too hard in a certain spot on her side.

"Between life and death."

"Bardo," Lydia recalled, glancing over to Kira and reminding the pack of the conversation they had had with Kira the first day they met her.

"But there are no peaceful deities here, Lydia," Void corrected, holding up a wrapped up finger at her as he hunched over like an old man. Makes sense for a thousand year old spirit. "You're dying, Stiles, and now everyone you care about is dying, too."

Stiles stiffened in Meilani's hold and his arm wrapped her shoulder just the tightest bit more as the information made his legs feel even more like jelly. "What? What do you mean?"

If Void could smirk in the current form he was in rather than the Stiles look-a-like, Meilani was pretty damn sure he'd flash that evil smirk that the pack. That same one that made Meilani want to punch it right off, even with it being her boyfriend's face.. "I've captured almost all of the territories on the board, Stiles. The hospital. The sheriff's station. Now the animal clinic."

"Deaton . . . " Meilani breathed, her hand gripping tighter around Stiles' wrist at the thought of her boss being in trouble. 

"Do you know the ritual of seppuku, Stiles?" Void inquired, ignoring Meilani's response.

"No, and I don't want to," Stiles replied sharply, shuffling back a few steps with Meilani when Void walked closer to them.

"When a samurai disembowels himself with his own sword to maintain his honor, but that isn't the cut that kills him. The killing stroke is made by his kaishakunin, who beheads the samurai with his own katana," Void informed and turned his wrapped face gaze to Meilani, pointing a wrapped finger in her direction. "Meilani . . . Meilani is your kaishakunin. I'm going to make your precious girlfriend kill you, Stiles, and you are going to let her."

Meilani and Stiles both shared a scared and desperate look. No way in hell was Meilani going to behead her boyfriend. Or even kill him for that. Why even her of all people? Was it because of their special bond through their relationship? Just how sadistic and far could this damn demon spirit go?

"Because just like you," Void continued when no one made a noise in response to him. "They are all going to die. Everyone touched by an Oni's blade. Unless Meilani kills you first."

"Fat chance, pal," Meilani scoffed in Void's face when he brought his face just a mere few inches from Meilani and Stiles' faces that were close together due to her having to hold him up. 

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Stiles demanded, shaking visibly in Meilani's hold as he didn't like where this situation was quickly headed. Much like everyone else in the pack when they realized that getting out of this one would be a bit harder than they originally thought. 

Void pulled his face away from the couple and stood back up to his normally slightly hunched position. "To win the game."

As if a switch had been flipped, the Oni instantly began to twirl their swords in the air as if getting ready to fight. Meilani quickly transferred Stiles over to Lydia to hold like he was an infant being passed around and shifted, growling darkly at the enemies that surrounded them. She took a quick glance to Lydia and Stiles to make sure they were safely behind her before she leapt at the closest Oni. 

When the Oni took a swing at Meilani, she reared back her leg and pushed her leg out into its stomach, causing it to hunch over and stumble back. She then clawed at its face, leaping back and colliding into Kira's back, who kept her sword raised in the air as the Oni tightly circled just the two of them now.

"How is this happening? How are we in this place?" Meilani yelled over the sudden roar of wind that took over the area. 

"You're asking me? A month ago, I'd never even touch a sword," Kira cried, clutching tightly onto her sword and pressing her back more into Meilani's.

Meilani and Kira pushed off each other with a yell and began to duck and dodge the Oni's attacks once again. Kira twirled expertly around them and swung and slashed her sword at them any opening she got. Meilani jumped back at every swing and slashed her claws at the masked faces of the Oni. She yelped when the sword nearly came into contact with her cheek and she ducked just in time to miss it. 

Meilani had turned to fight the Oni off behind her but froze when she saw Stiles stood with a long sword pointed directly at this stomach. Her eyes widened and she stepped forward, kicking up her foot when the Oni went to take a swing at her. "Stiles, no!" She jumped out of the fight and stopped a few feet from her boyfriend, shaking her head when he gripped the blade with his other hand. "Baby, stop."

"What if it saves you? What if it saves all of you?" Stiles asked quietly, his hands shaking on the sword as his eyes drifted up to Meilani. 

"What if it's just another trick?" Lydia cried, making no move to touch Stiles in case the motion pushed the sword into him.

"No more tricks, Lydia," Void whispered from across the area, but the trio still heard it perfectly. "End it, princess. Let your boyfriend fall on his own sword. Do what he cannot do for himself. Do it, Meilani. Be his kaishakunin. Give up the game."

Meilani was frozen where she was as she watched Stiles grip adjust on the sword as if he were going to stab it right through his stomach. However, he had paused when his eyes landed on something in the reflection of the sword and turned his head jerkily behind him to something off in the corner of the area.

"You have no moves left."

Stiles pulled back the sword from his stomach and held both ends of the sword horizontally in his hands as he eyed it for a moment. A look that Meilani couldn't quite decipher flashed across his face and he tested the weight of the sword. He turned to Kira and tossed her the sword in his hand and turned to Void with a determined look. "I do and it's called a divine move!"

Meilani caught Stiles before he could fall to the ground and she nearly collapsed to the ground with him at the impact of him dropping his weight on her. "Stop fighting them. It's an illusion. You have to stop fighting them. It looks real and it feels real, but baby, you gotta trust me, okay? It's all an illusion."

The Oni had taken a stance in front of Void as Meilani and Kira's dark gazes fell on Void. Stiles was once again handed off to Lydia and Meilani took a defensive stance in front of the Oni with Kira. She cried out in pain when the sword sliced across her chest, revealing a wound with black blood pooling on her chest, but she fought against the stinging and reminded herself it wasn't real. It was all apart of Void's never ending trickster streak.

The pack made their way through the line of the Oni, each taking their swords with stride no matter how much it hurt. As long as they made it through this trick then they could finish what they started and get rid of Void. Meilani was the one to reach Void first and she let out growl before she pushed her body against his and pushed him through the gate behind them.

Meilani squeaked when she stumbled into the darkened hallway of the high school and Kira grabbed her by the arm before she could face plant the white tiled hallway flooring. The four stood in a line inside the hallway and all checked over their bodies to see that there were no markings or anything to show they just fought off a bunch of Oni