#eichen

Summary: When Stiles admits himself to Eichen, he doesn’t only recognise Malia. There is another old face in the crazy house, one that he has missed dearly.

Mentally unstable was how the doctors described you, as if they were blaming your own mind for your condition. It wasn’t your fault that you had broken down in the big wide world, once you found out that it was much wider and diverse than you had initially thought.

There had been a creature, one that looked like a combination of lizard and man that had led to your lock up. It had paralysed you, and then it killed your father. You couldn’t move to stop it, you remained immobile on the floor, watching as it struck his neck with its poisonous claws. 

A kanima, it was called. It made your life hell, by sending you there. There was so much that you had to leave behind, your friends being the most prominent one.

“Who’s that?” Stiles asked Oliver, looking over at your form. Your back was facing them, your hair trailing down it. It had felt like centuries since you had gotten a hair cut.

“Oh we call her Liz, short for Lizard.” It admittedly wasn’t the nicest courtyard name, but over the year you had gotten used to it. The stupid name was probably the most pleasant thing about being locked up in the loony bin.

Oliver laughed after he spoke. He found it funny that was how people addressed you.

“Is that her real name?” Stiles had an inkling of a feeling that it wasn’t. Especially since it was short for ‘Lizard’. Oliver only laughed again.

“Yeah, but no one calls her by it. Even the guards call her Liz.” Stiles couldn’t help himself, he felt a pull towards the girl. Her silhouette was familiar and he felt a need to inspect it. He began walking towards her, leaving Oliver behind.

“Whoever you are, I won’t hesitate to scratch your eyes out.” Even your voice was familiar to Stiles. You blindly didn’t know who was behind you, but you weren’t about to fake ignorance. In Eichen, you had to always be alert.

“I’m Stiles.” He offered you his name, which only caused you to spin. His eyes widened at the sight of you. You definitely weren’t called Liz. “(Y/N) what are you doing here?”

You fell into his arms. He looked a little different, he was taller, his face slimmer and his hair longer, but you would recognise this boy anywhere. “My mum sent me here. What are you doing here Stiles?”

“It was seeing the kanima, wasn’t it?” Just the mention of it made your skin crawl, but that was about all the reaction you gave. Somehow, you hadn’t gone crazy, you had only witnessed the insane.

“You saw it too?” You tilted your head up at the boy, worrying for his mental health. Seeing it certainly hadn’t done yours any good.

“Yeah. It’s great to see you though, we all missed you so much. We miss you. After your dad, we figured your mum took you out of town.” He wasn’t wrong, not completely anyway.

“She did leave, she just dumped me here on her way out.” The memory made you feel rejected. Just the thought of Bruinski dragging you through echo house made you wince. You never wanted to be here, no one in there right mind would. “But you didn’t answer the question. Why. Are. You. Here?”

His eyes darted around the slabs beneath your feet. “I’m not well.”

“This place isn’t going to help Stiles. If I were you, I’d get out while I still could.” You left him there for Oliver to find, going in search of Malia so that Stiles could rake over your words. 

…..

The kanima had left your nightmares, instead it was replaced by a fox. You’d always thought foxes were cute and sweet creatures, but this one made you want to run. It was furry with red aggression, and it snapped its silver teeth at you.

You shot up in your bed, thankful that you were in a one person cell. Echo house kept everyone awake at night, the shadows were unsettling and so were the spirits that patrolled the walls, circling where they had once died or been treated. Death, treatment, it was the same thing here.

“Foxes are intelligent creatures you know.” An intruder spoke from the edge of your bed, making you jump.

“Why aren’t you in your room Stiles? If you’re found -”

“I know the consequences, my vixen.” He sounded sleep deprived, and must have been considering his words. “Did you know that an ancient spirit once stayed in this room, under a human’s skin of course?”

“Go back to your room Stiles.” But he was too busy watching a firefly to listen to you. It seated itself on the wall, crawling on the bricks and buzzing at him. 

“There’s more than one type of fox, but there’s always a stronger breed within a species. The Nogitsunes were once powerful, they didn’t need to use teenagers as vessels. They had soldiers at their disposal, but I think you’ve been through enough pain to relate to trauma.”

“Just shut up and go to bed.” You were growing uncomfortable with Stiles’ monologue. Somehow he knew what you had been dreaming about and it made you shuffle back to the head of your bed.

Eichenfreundschaft