heaven doesn't seem far away

“I was stupid, I went out and I was trying to find who the new hunters in town were. Turns out they’re really good at what they do and found me first, but I think they thought I was someone’s beta and I...” He swallowed thickly, wondering if she’d been able to pick up what he was struggling to tell her, the lack of a heartbeat that usually accompanied the times he spoke fast like this. Unable to find the words now, he instead pulled back his hoodie to show the dried blood on his shirt, the ragged hole from where he’d ripped the bolt out that had pierced him in his chest. That side of his shirt was covered in blood and his shirt was torn, but the skin underneath was untouched, completely healed over. “Daniel was too late when he found me... but his blood...” He trailed off again, as if he were incapable of saying the words himself out aloud and hoped she could piece it together for him.

TW/TVD AU | Stiles has started showing symptoms of dementia again, but he’s keeping it from Caroline and refusing to let her help.

The smell of blood was strong in the air, and it took Caroline less than a second to find him, his face buried in the neck of a pretty girl. “Stiles!” she sped at him, ripping his meal away from him and ignoring the feral noise that came from him. Caroline kept her gaze on Stiles as she carefully lowered the girl to the ground, cursing herself for not arriving a few moments earlier. Maybe then she would still be alive. She folded her arms, the usual joy she felt at seeing Stiles was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she felt a heavy weight settle on her chest. The sight of him covered in blood and looking like a shadow of his former self had her wondering if she should have ever convinced him to turn. Maybe this was her punishment for wanting to be with him forever. “Well?” she prompted. “What do you have to say?”

Where he once would've met the sight with a dopey look of love and adoration, now he only sighs heavily, clearly annoyed at being interrupted as he turned to face the girl that was standing in his way–both literally and figuratively. He arched his brow at her question, looking as perplexed as ever, "Well if I had known you were joining me I would have brought a friend along for you." He glanced down at the lifeless body behind Caroline and frowned, looking almost genuinely remorseful, "I really need to learn control, I would have preferred to savour her. One of the nicest I've had honestly." He tilted his head to the side while he continued to look at his 'handiwork', not even having bothered wiping the blood off his hands or face.

When she was sure she could talk without crying out in pain, Caroline released her bloodied lip from her teeth, her breathing coming in gasps. “You will not break me,” she told him, her voice low and harsh. “So just give up on this. Get in my head instead. I’m stronger than him, faster, harder to kill. You could do so much more with my body. Take me instead.”

He grew silent for a moment then, as if he were deliberating both of their words as he ran the tip of the stake along his fingers. "You're both pathetically in love with each other it's sickening. Pleading for each others lives... I'd be touched if the idea didn't disgust me really." He said after a moment, the smirk returning in full force. "And besides," He grinned even wider, "If I really wanted to break you, Miss Forbes, don't doubt that I know exactly where to point this stake." He droned on menacingly as he dragged the stake up his own chest, pointing it straight at Stiles' chest, just shy of the actual place his heart lay. "Call my bluff, I dare you."

Caroline could, however, talk to Stiles. He could see and hear everything that the nogitsune could. Caroline weakly lifted her head, her eyes meeting Stiles’ empty ones. She gave him a small smile, her chest heaving as she still tried to catch her breath. “Stiles,” Caroline managed to get out between gasps, her throat raw from screaming. “Stiles I’m okay. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, please. Just don’t look, okay? I love you. I’m fine.” Caroline knew that he wouldn’t listen to a word she said to him. That he would watch every second of this and blame himself for every little move the nogitsune made. Her gaze hardened and she clenched her fists, the burning of the ropes against the skin of her wrists a dull sting compared to what she’d just experienced. “You can go to hell.”

"Hell? Darling haven't you noticed yet? I've brought it with me." After grabbing a few of his tools from the table behind her he moved around to face her again, kneeling in front of her with that smug smirk that once belonged to her Stiles. "You might not believe you're living it, but he definitely is." He tapped his own forehead before his lips practically curled back, giving her one of the most menacing smiles she probably ever would have seen on Stiles. "How many stakes do you think I can get in you before Stiles here cries wolf?" Then without warning he plunged the vervain soaked stakes deep into her thighs, one first, twisting it as his smile grew before the other followed suit in her other leg. 

Stiles stopped in front of her, and she lifted her gaze to meet his, not liking the expression on his face as he looked her over carefully. But before she could respond in any way, the room was filled with light. Caroline couldn’t see. She couldn’t breathe or hear. All she could feel was her body being burned alive by the sun. Her skin bubbling and blistering under the heat. A horrible scream ripped from her body as she sat in the chair, unable to control it or hold it in like she had planned. Caroline wished she was dead. 

The boy had been reduced to a whimper, helplessly watching the woman he loved being burned alive. He felt a great sense of satisfaction and fed right off of their pain, smiling gleefully as he tugged on the chain again, the shutters closing seconds before the girl had become engulfed in flames. "There..." He taunted, "...that wasn't so bad was it?" Letting go of the chain, he walked over to her once again and crouched in front of her, tilting his head as if he were truly concerned about her wellbeing, "How are you feeling, blondie? I daresay you're probably in better shape than your boyfriend... emotionally that is of course."

She thought about not answering. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of playing along with his stupid game. But she didn’t want to hurt Stiles. And if she could delay the inevitable, even by just a few minutes, it was something. “You want pain,” she told him after a moment, her whole body tensing as she waited for his answer. Her eyes fixed on his hand touching the chain, watching for the slightest movement. She knew whatever it was would be painful, she just hoped that maybe the nogitsune was lying about Stiles being able to see and hear everything. The only thing was, she wasn’t willing to take that risk. Caroline would have to hold on, to keep her emotions in check. She needed to be strong. She refused to let Stiles see her break.

He returned his attention to Caroline and started to walk around her slowly, like a predator would with their prey. "Pain, yes Caroline. Strife. Pain. Chaos. Things you've no doubt learnt when trying to find out as much you could about a nogitsune." He felt Stiles stir in his mind, as if trying to figure out what he'd be doing next. The thought brought an even bigger smirk to his face. "But you know the one thing you should definitely know about a nogitsune, Caroline?" He asked, obviously meant to be rhetoric, and went to stand where he did seconds before. His gaze ran down her figure, focusing on the marks the ropes were leaving where she was bound, a gesture obviously meant for Stiles. Slowly he met her gaze again, the smile faded from his face completely. "They lie." With a yank of the chain next to him, the cellar filled with light as a trapdoor in the ceiling opened, aged leaves and dirt falling followed quickly by pure sunlight that shone directly on the blonde.

Caroline listened to him speak, her jaw clenching in anger. She didn’t care about herself, she would survive this… hopefully. And really, she kind of deserved it for what she’d done. It was her job to look out for this, to notice when Stiles slipped away. To notice when he was replaced by this monster. But she didn’t. And this is what she got for it. All Caroline cared about was Stiles. She couldn’t shake the idea that he could see all of this, that he was in his own head screaming at her to help him. To do something. “Don’t do this,” she spoke finally, knowing it would do no good. “Don’t do this to him. He doesn’t deserve any of this!” The nogitsune was right. No matter how much he hurt her, no matter what he did, she would never do anything to save herself that meant hurting him. Not even if he was going to kill her. He was safe, simply because he’d chosen to take over the body of the boy she was in love with. 

"And trust me, I will break you. Because the thing about me is, you can't barter with me. I don't want power, or an army of undead creatures, I don't want to dominate this putrid little hole of a town." He grinned as Stiles grew quiet in his mind, hesitant and helpless. His eyes remained on the blonde sitting quietly in front of him for a moment before he walked over to a chain that hung from the ceiling and grasped it loosely, fingers drumming along the length of it. "If you can guess what it is I do want. I won't pull on this chain. And trust me, neither of you want me to pull on this." He smirked, turning his head to the side to glance back at her once more, "Oh and just in case you were wondering, Stiles can see and hear everything I do. So I'd try to guess correctly unless you want him hate himself even more for being so useless."

Caroline looked around the room frantically, her heart sinking at the familiar sight. She’d been here before. With Stiles, actually. Before they had started dating. It was Halloween one year, and their friends had dared them to go down here. It was rumoured that the ghost of Thomas Lockwood lived in the cellar, and it was tradition for the teenagers to go down at least one Halloween in their lifetime. Stiles had been scared shitless, but Caroline had held his hand the entire time. They got through it together. Caroline brought her eyes back to Stiles in front of her, finding the simple action to be quite tiring. “Why did you bring me here?” she asked him, her voice weak. “What do you want?”

He stood when she grew silent, taking a few steps back so that he stood in front of her, eyeing her with a sinister grin. Please don't. The abrupt change in the boys tone almost caught him by surprise, but he had figured that the boy would turn to useless pleading eventually. Please don't hurt her. I'll do anything you want. He had to stop himself from snorting out loud at that comment, "You have nothing I want." He replied, answering them both. The sinister smile returned as he walked around her and leaned over, his mouth by her ear, "Nothing I can't get out of you myself." He smirked and grabbed her chin to force her to look at him. "Do you know what my favourite thing about this is?" He asked her, though continued on before she could muster out a reply, "No matter what I do, no matter how much you want to hurt me..." He paused for a second, his smile stretching out even wider, "You can't... Not when I'm in the body of your beloved Stiles Stilinski."

If I told you what I was Would you turn your back on me?

Caroline pushed her unease down, returning his smile when he took the pizza box from her and put it down on his desk. “Huh? You love pizz—” Caroline was cut off as Stiles’ grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, his lips crushing hers in an unexpected kiss. It took her a second to recover, but she kissed him back, not quite returning his enthusiasm. She moved her hands to hold his on her waist, giving him a questioning look as he broke away. The unease she’d felt came right back at the look on his face. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what it was, but she couldn’t shake the feeling. “It’s fine,” she replied, running her hands up his arms and resting them on his shoulders. “Stiles…” she trailed off, knowing what she was about to say would ruin whatever good mood he’d managed to stir up. “You’ll tell me when you feel it coming back, right? This isn’t some… crazy goodbye kiss because you’re scared?” 

In the middle of the room was a single chair with everything he needed already set up. After setting Caroline down in the chair and strapping her in with the vervain laced ropes, he practically bounced excitedly as he waited for her to come to, eyeing the tray of tools he'd set aside just for her. Every second that passed the more the screaming in his head became clear, louder, angrier. It only proved to widen his grin. He stepped forward and crouched in front of the chair when he saw her begin to stir, the lanterns he had lit giving this dank cellar some light. "I wouldn't struggle too much if I were you. Even someone as strong as you can't break through these ropes, especially when it's soaked in vervain..." 

TW/TVD AU | When the world starts turning into zombies, Caroline and Stiles are some of the only survivors. Though their new lives are hell, having each other isn’t the worst thing in the world. In fact, they can’t think of anyone else they’d rather survive the zombie apocalypse with.