Chapter Text
Chapter Nine
Scott
A few hours later that day, he and Stiles were doing homework and studying for their various classes in Stiles’ dorm. They were alone since Shin was still at work at the computer center, so they cuddled up with each other. Stiles was laying on the bed with his head in Scott’s lap as he read through one of his reading assignments for his history class, while Scott was reading through a novel for his English class.
They had actually gotten a fair bit of work done so far, which is a surprise as whenever they were together, they often had difficulty focusing on anything but each other. However, Scott still had some thoughts, just curious wonderings really, on the stuff they had learned about the ritual. So he decided to talk to Stiles about it, which he had originally not wanted to do because of how shaken up Stiles had seemed about the whole thing; but, he just had to get his thoughts out there.
“Look, I know I said we shouldn’t dwell too much on anything regarding the ritual and what we have to do on Sunday night, but there’s something that I’m seriously wondering about all this,” Scott said.
“What is it?” Stiles asked as he glanced up at Scott from his lap.
“I’ve just been thinking about how it would possible for one person to be controlling several dozen people… like I can barely take care of my own stuff sometimes, it just boggles my mind that someone could manipulate the actions of so many at once,” Scott said.
“Well, magic is involved Scott. That kinda fucks up the ability to even begin to make sense of these sorts of situations,” Stiles said “Still I see your point; you know it’s possible that what Shin and I saw as an old man may not even be a man at all.”
“You really think so?” Scott asked.
“I mean when you think it about, that language that we all spoke during the ritual definitely seems pretty supernatural in nature. I mean, it’s hard to explain, but when me and Shin were chanting with the others in that chamber the other night, it felt like there was this other presence in my mind that allowed me to pronounce the chant correctly, as if I’d been speaking that language my whole life,” Stiles said.
“That’s pretty strange,” Scott said, not really knowing how to respond.
“Yeah, it definitely is. Really, though, I think that since the amulets were protecting us from compulsion, we didn’t really experience the full force of the magic that night. Honestly, it scares the shit out of me to think about being controlled like that again,” Stiles said, as began to bite his fingernails a bit.
“You know if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay, I can tell it makes you anxious,” Scott said, wanting to change the topic after realizing that all this talk of compulsion and control must have reminded Stiles of being possessed by the Nogitsune. Strangely, that which had been so clear in their minds then now only seemed like some distant memory from a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a few years.
“No, it’s okay. At least by talking about it, I can try to make some sense of this in my mind,” Stiles said.
“Hopefully, if this counter spell works, the ritual will be stopped and everyone will be freed from the control of that cultist dude or whatever he is,” Stiles said.
“I hope so too, but something tells me this compulsion might not be what we think it is, at least not entirely,” Scott said.
“What do you mean?” Stiles asked.
“Well, I was thinking about it a bit earlier and what if the compulsion affects people in different ways?” Scott replied.
“Like it affects some people more than others?” Stiles said.
“That’s sort of what I’m getting at. What I think could be happening is that most likely the grand majority of the students you saw down there were probably just completely, forcibly compelled, but what if some of them weren’t,” Scott said.
“You’re saying that you think some of them volunteered to be a part of that?” Stiles said incredulously.
“I know how it sounds, but the idea came to me when I was reading over the translated versions of the chants. It really seems like this Nyarlathotep, whatever it is, has knowledge and power far beyond our own, so it kinda makes sense that maybe some of the students foolishly agreed to taking part, whether by willing giving their minds to him or by joining the Followers of the Ones Beyond, thinking that they would get some of that knowledge or obtain some of that power for themselves,” Scott said.
“Now I see what you’re saying. If that’s the case though, they’re in for a bit of a surprise,” Stiles said.
“Yep, they definitely are, but that’s not what I’m concerned about. I’m just worried that if that’s really what happened, it might be harder for us or even impossible to break them out of that it,” Scott said.
At that, Stiles got up from Scott’s lap and moved to sit beside him on the bed.
“Scott, you guys will do your best to cast the spell and we’ll do our best down in the ritual chamber to save as many as we can. That’s all we can do,” Stiles said to him as he rested his head on Scott’s shoulder.
“I know. It’s just so fucked up, you know?” Scott said as he leaned his head against the wall and let out a sound of frustration.
“Yeah, I for one was actually enjoying my college experience. It was nice not having to deal with power hungry fucks and their fucked up plans, but I guess we just can’t escape such fuckery,” Stiles said.
“Eloquently put Stiles,” Scott joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit, as really, there was nothing they could do at the moment, so he didn’t want them to get overcome by anxiety and worry.
“Shut up!” Stiles said.
“I love you too,” Scott said as he gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek “Anyway, let’s back to work, I still have a ton of shit to do for next week.”
“Same here, which reminds me, I really should get started on this paper I have due on Monday. I completely forgot until now,” Stiles said as he got up from the bed, grabbed his laptop from his backpack, and came right back to where he had been sitting.
The two of them snuggled up beside each other and went back to focusing on their work. I just hope everything’s gonna be okay, Scott thought as he returned his attention to his homework.
###
The night of reckoning was upon them, and while he tried to remain confident for his friends as they gathered in front of the bell tower that chilly October evening, Scott’s nerves were thoroughly wracked and he just wanted to get it over with.
“Stiles and Shin, you guys should head over to frat house now and get to the ritual chamber,” Rosa said.
“Okay, what’s our excuse for being there again? I don’t wanna fuck this up,” Stiles said.
“Andrew, he’s new to your fraternity, I think. He had a friend over for the party on Friday, and he just got totally wasted man. We’ve been looking for his phone all weekend; he probably left it here, ‘cause that’s where he told us he passed out that night. It’ll only take us a second; we know he didn’t go upstairs. Sorry for the hassle,” Rosa said.
“Obviously don’t say it exactly like that. Try to give them the impression that you’re probably high of your asses at the moment, that’ll lower their suspicions,” Qiana said, missing no opportunity to make it clear what she thought of frat guys.
“Just do your best to make sure that no one sees you go into the entrance to the passageways in the basement,” Scott said.
“Alright then, let’s get going Stiles,” Shin said.
“Right behind ya,” Stiles said as the two of them began jogging towards the frat house.
“Qiana, come with me to the top of the tower. Scott, stay down here and yell up to us if you see anyone. I have a feeling we’re gonna have some company tonight,” Rosa said as she and Qiana opened the door at the base of the bell tower and began to ascend the spiral staircase within.
A few minutes later, Scott could faintly hear Rosa reciting the spoken portion of the spell. He could have attuned his ear to her voice using his werewolf hearing to tell exactly what she was saying, but he had to focus most of his attention on the area around the tower and the quad to make sure that he could give Rosa and Qiana an advanced warning if anyone showed up to stop them.
After Rosa finished reciting the initial incantation for the spell, he noticed a bright, silvery light appear at the very top of the tower. That must be the energy that will be transferred into the elder sign, he thought as he saw Qiana slowly climb out of one of the windows at the very top of the tower. She had only established her footholds with her claws and begun to draw the symbol on the wall of the tower when Scott heard the distinct noise of several pairs of footsteps coming from across the quad.
Scott quickly focused his eyes on the quad and scanned it thoroughly for any movement. “Shit!” he muttered to himself as he saw two large men and one smaller women running across the quad towards the bell tower.
“We have company!” Scott yelled up to Qiana and Rosa at the top of the clock tower, knowing at least Qiana would be able to hear his warning clearly.
“I’m almost done, try to hold them off,” Qiana yelled back down to him.
Scott wasn’t sure how he’d do that, but he readied himself for fight as he ran to meet the cultists in the field. He didn’t shift at all though, as his main goal was merely to delay their attacks and keep them occupied long enough for Qiana to finish drawing the elder sign.
He had almost reached the cultists moving towards the bell tower from the quad when all of sudden they stopped right in their tracks. Scott also stopped running, unsure as to what their next move would be.
“Zhro ‘bthnk uaaah,” the woman of the group said. He assumed she had just cast a spell of some sort because the two bulking men in front of her became surrounded by a glowing, dark purple aura. He had no idea what effect the aura had on them, but he was sure it wasn’t good as the two of them took off at breakneck speeds toward him, much faster than any ordinary person could run. She enhanced their physical attributes to be equal to mine, he realized just as they were upon him, reaching his location in mere seconds. He dodged their initial blows easily as despite their large size, they were very awkward in their movements. It was clear to him that they were lacking in the finesse necessary to land a hit on someone as agile as himself.
He did his best to distract the two men and maneuver them away from the tower, but he had become so focused on them that he had almost forgotten about the spell casting woman with them. He dodged yet another punch from one of the men in such a way that it hit the other, which briefly stunned them both, giving him enough time to make a clean dash towards the woman.
Unfortunately, he didn’t reach her before she finished casting one more spell.
“Zhro n’gfht uaaah,” the woman said. Her spell appeared to have summoned a ball of dark purple matter that floated in front of her for a brief moment before it moved toward the tower quickly as if propelled by some otherworldly force.
“Qiana, watch out!” Scott yelled, hoping she would be able to get back into the tower in time, as she had just finished marking the Elder Sign on the face of the tower.
He wasn’t able to see the impact of the dark orb on the top of the tower as he had to turn and face his attackers lest he let them get the better of him.
“I’m okay Scott. Whatever that fuck that was barely missed me, I’m fine. Rosa’s about to activate the Elder sign,” Qiana yelled down to Scott, who was still preoccupied with the large men, who showed no signs of tiring out.
Thank goodness. That was a fucking close call, he thought as he evaded yet more of his relentless attacker’s punches and kicks. Even with his enhanced werewolf stamina, he was starting to get tired.
About thirty seconds later, he was finally given some reprieve. The Elder Sign, high on the front face of the bell tower, now shined brightly with the same light that had previously been concentrated around the top of the tower itself. Right after its activation, a bright beam of light shot out from the center of the symbol in a diagonal line across the quad, hitting a spot on a stretch of walkway at the other end of the quad near Haldermann Hall.
While he stood briefly in awe of the beauty of the beam, which shortly dissipated, leaving only a glowing spot on the pavement where it had landed, the three cultists who had previously been assaulting him cowered in fear, seemingly paralyzed by its magic.
As he was no longer in immediate danger, Scott took a moment to catch his breath. He was also sweating quite profusely. Scott laughed weakly; well I guess that’s my workout session for this week. About a minute later, Qiana had already made her way down the tower and out into the quad to meet up with him to carry on with the next step of the plan.
“Man, you look beat,” Qiana said as she approached him.
“I am, but we still have to activate those two amplification circles,” Scott said as he pointed towards the glowing spot on the pavement “Let’s get going, I don’t know how long that indicator will be active for.”
“You’re right, let’s go,” Qiana said as the two of them ran across the quad towards the glowing indicator on the pavement ahead of them.
###
They had activated the first amplification circle without any real resistance, although Qiana had been vigilant while Scott drew the circle on the walkway with the same white chalk used for the elder sign. Perhaps, the magic stunned them enough for us to finish the second circle without any hassle as well, he thought while they ran towards the back entrance to Haldermann Hall.
As they ran across the field to the entrance, Scott’s hopes were quickly dashed as he spotted a man near the edge of the roof of the building. He must be another spell caster, he deduced.
“Qiana, go left, I’ll go right. It’ll miss us!” Scott said just as the man finished casting his spell and a dark bolt of energy quickly headed towards them. Qiana followed his direction and the both of them parted ways while running. Despite having only seconds to perform their evasive maneuver, they were able to dodge the impact of the orb, but just barely. Right after the orb hit the ground behind them; the two came back together and ran as a pair for the few yards remaining between them and the building.
Reaching the door the both let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Fuck! I’d didn’t sign up for this, I just wanted to get a degree,” Qiana said as she caught her breath “Anyway, do you have his key-card?”
“Yeah, I got it right here,” Scott replied as he pulled Stiles work ID out of his pocket and used his access code to unlock the door.
They quickly headed into to the building and immediately took the stairs down the basement floor. Upon reaching the basement, Qiana spotted a large man standing in front of room HHB6.
“Shit, another one. For fuck’s sake,” Qiana said.
“I’ll draw him away from the door and distract him while you go in the room and draw the symbol on the floor,” Scott suggested as that tactic served him well outside, although within the tight confines of the hallway, it would be a lot more difficult for him to pull off.
“I got a better idea,” Qiana said before she broke into a full sprint towards the man.
“Qiana, what are you doing?” Scott shouted, wondering what she had planned.
As she approached the man, he turned around and looked as if he were about to cast a spell in their direction before Qiana jumped at the end of her sprint and clocked him in the face. He was out cold just a few seconds later.
Scott ran over to her with a look of shock on his face.
“Look Scott, I ain’t got time for these muthafuckas and they magic, okay. I didn’t hurt him too badly, just knocked him out and I didn’t even need any werewolf strength for that. So, let’s just draw the fucking circle and get back to the tower; I don’t wanna leave Rosa alone for too long,” Qiana said.
“Fine, fine,” Scott acquiesced as he opened the door to the room. There was a glowing spot in the middle of the room indicating where the second circle must be drawn, so he quickly got the chalk out of his pocket, pushed some desks out of the way, and hastily drew the circle around the glowing area.
Just a moment afterwards, the circle lit up and fired off another the beam, now fully energized, into the ground below it.
“Well, we’ve done all we can do, hopefully its able to stop the summoning ritual,” Scott said as he and Qiana quickly departed the room and made their way back to bell tower to make sure that Rosa was still alright, as he had no idea how long those cultists would stay stunned for.
###
Stiles
The ritual was near completion, he could feel it in the air around him; sure he wasn’t supernatural and therefore wasn’t as attuned to magic as the others were, but he could just sense the power concentrated in the chamber. From his brief glances at Shin during the course of the ritual, he could tell he felt the same way.
As the students finished their chant and the old man started his, a multifaceted symbol appeared in the middle of the circle of compelled students. It gave off a distinct dark purple light as it ascended into the air several feet above the floor of the chamber. As it stopped moving and began rotating slowly in the air, several changes in the room occurred, all impossible in their own right and only further proving to him that the very fabric of reality was being manipulated for the climax of the ritual.
A great column of dark green fire coalesced just behind the rotating symbol in the air, eventually spanning the height of the chamber. It wasn’t scorching hot as one would expect; in fact, it was actually quite cold, emanating an ethereal sort of chill throughout the room. Stiles had begun to shiver from the cold, but over the course of mere moments, he noticed himself moving slower and slower until his body felt frozen in time. Eventually it seemed the entire room had come to a standstill. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any more bizarre, the entire ceiling seemed to disappear, replaced by a black void filled with many points of light, an eerily realistic illusion of the night sky.
Well, if this was a movie, Carmina Burana would sure be playing right about now, he thought as a large, dark purple portal began to form at the location of the floating symbol. Thankfully, once the portal had started forming, the room mostly returned to normal, as Stiles felt he could move again. Come on, come on, he thought as he waited for beam of light to reach the chamber.
Just when he was about to lose hope, Stiles caught a small glint of light out of the corner of his eye coming from the ceiling.
“Shin, there’s the beam!” he said, as the glint turned into a large circle that quickly shot out two bright, white beams of light from the ceiling. One of them hit at the warlock dead on, causing him to let out an inhuman shriek and retreat back up the tunnel opposite the one leading to the frat house. The other hit the symbol of the summoning portal; at first it appeared to have done nothing but slowly it began to change the color of the symbol from dark purple to its own silvery, white hue. He figured that it was slowly erasing the symbol, which meant that until the symbol was destroyed and the portal closed, everyone was still very much in danger.
However, he could tell from the confused looks on the faces of most of the students around him that the mind control link from the warlock to them had been severed. Now was their chance to save them.
“Quick everyone, if you want to live, get behind the pillars!” Stiles yelled at the large group of students.
“Don’t ask why, just do it. And once you’re behind them, close your eyes and don’t open them until we say it’s safe, okay!” Shin yelled as he directed the confused crowd of students to quickly get to safety behind the large pillars that encircled the chamber.
Frankly he was shocked that everyone seemed to obey their commands, he was expecting something more along the lines of mass hysteria, but he wasn’t going to complain. He and Shin were among the last to run for safety behind the pillars, just as the portal was about to open and the symbol supporting it was about to be erased. However, he noticed the latter process was proceeding slightly slower than the former, so that meant whatever this Nyarlathotep thing was; it would be in this plane of existence for a few seconds at least.
It was also just then that he realized that a couple of students were still standing in the circle, gazing into the depths of the portal.
“What the fuck are you guys doing? It’s coming, get to safety and stop looking at the portal!” Stiles said as he ducked back behind the pillar and huddled beside the few others there with him.
“Don’t listen to him,” one of the students still in the center of the rooms said “The avatar of the Ones Beyond is here. Its minion may have fled, but it comes nonetheless. Don’t be afraid, it shall grant us untold knowledge and power. Ready yourselves, for this day, we become gods.”
As the portal opened for a brief few seconds, and everyone huddled behind the pillars whispered prayers to themselves for this nightmare of nightmares to be over, Stiles heard screams of such magnitude and of such haunting longevity that he was sure the students who had gazed upon Nyarlathotep had experienced the sort of madness that Lang mentioned in his descriptions of the summoning rituals.
A bright flash of light happened but seconds later, enveloping the entire room with silvery, magical luminescence. It was accompanied by a loud, thunderous clap, as if it had torn the portal asunder in an instant. As he, Shin, and the rest of the students emerged from the beyond the pillars after what seemed like an eternity of waiting just to be sure it was safe, they found the chamber looked exactly as it had before the ritual had begun as if nothing had ever happened. The portal was gone along with its accompanying symbol and disturbing manifestations. The few students who had stayed to witness the extremely brief coming of Nyarlathotep were nowhere to be seen. He had a feeling they had been taken into the portal by Nyarlathotep, for what purpose he did not know, and to be honest, he didn’t really want to know. For now, his prime concern was reciting the hopefully convincing lie he and Shin had rehearsed the night before to the large group of students before him.
“Everyone, gather ‘round, we have some important information to tell you regarding what happened tonight,” Stiles shouted.
“Yeah, like he said. Everyone come over here,” Shin shouted.
They both looked at each other in surprise as all the students grouped themselves up in one large clump right in front of the two of them, not unlike a bunch of kindergarteners at story time, complete with focused, yet somehow blank expressions on their faces.
“Okay, now everyone listen carefully to what I have to say,” Stiles said “You all came down here for what you thought was gonna be a secret party being hosted by a member of the Epsilon Tau Lambda, but you can’t remember who. When you got down here, you realized there was no party and it was just a silly prank by somebody in Epsilon Tau Lambda, who told you so when you came down here. Being a bit disappointed and annoyed that there was no party, you all left this room via the tunnel behind you and went back up to the frat house the way you came down. After you get back there, you’ll go want to go back to your apartments, dorm rooms, or wherever else you came from, and go back to sleep. Tomorrow morning, you’ll forget all about tonight and never mention it again to anyone.”
“Now that’s all you need to know, everything is as it should be, return to your lives as they were,” Stiles said, desperately hoping that it would work.
As soon as he finished that sentence the entire group of students in front of him all turned around and headed single file up the tunnel leading back up the frat house, so at least it seemed like it had worked. Good, that means I forgo the seventeen heart attacks I was about to have if it didn’t, Stiles thought as he and Shin followed the students up the tunnel.
Shin smiled at him as they entered the dimly passageways leading back to the fraternity house basement.
“You know, you did pretty good back there. You recited it just like we practiced yesterday,” Shin said.
“Thanks, man. To be honest, I was sweating bullets ‘cause I totally forgot to ask Rosa about what would happen if I fucked up so I just really, really tried not to,” Stiles said.
They both shared a hearty laugh at the absurdity of the night’s events, events they’ll actually remember due to their magic cancelling amulets, although that wasn’t anything to be excited about. They followed the group of students back up to the frat house, left through the same back exit they had used the week before, and made their way back to the bell tower to meet up with Scott, Rosa, and Qiana.
###
Scott
Just as the three of them had regrouped at the bottom of the bell tower after searching for the cultists who had attacked them, Scott saw Stiles and Shin walking towards them. They quickly walked from the base of the bell tower to the middle of the quad to meet them. When they reached them, the five of them came together in quick group hug of sorts, all equally happy to see that everyone else was unharmed and well.
Of course, Scott held onto Stiles rather tightly for a good while afterwards; he had been so worried about him, and was immensely glad to see that his boyfriend was okay. They exited their hug with a brief kiss and turned towards the rest of the group who had already started discussing what they would do next.
“Well, from what Shin tells me Stiles, it appears that the spell worked perfectly,” Rosa said.
“Yep, it stopped the ritual and allowed us to have our little Men-In-Black moment with the students. They seemed to accept what I told them and from what we observed when we left the frat house, they were all returning to their rooms to get some sleep, just like we told them,” Stiles said.
“Yeah, and as we were leaving, I overheard a few of them talking to some of the frat guys as they left, and they were all very confident in the memories we gave them,” Shin said.
“One more thing Stiles, did you make sure to tell them to wipe the event from their minds the next morning, we don’t want anyone talking about it, because someone might get a bit too curious,” Rosa asked.
“Yeah, I made sure to include that near the end of my spiel. Tomorrow morning, it’ll be like nothing ever happened,” Stiles replied.
After they had confirmed the spell had worked successfully, he filled Stiles and Shin in on the enemies they faced while trying to set up the Witch’s Hammer earlier, while they filled him, Rosa, and Qiana in on the details of what happened at the ritual.
“Shit, that’s fucked up. What happened to the cultists?” Stiles asked.
“Honestly, we have no idea, they were stunned by the beams, but after we came back from the Haldermann, they weren’t here. Even the guy I knocked out in the basement was gone too,” Qiana said.
“They probably escaped with the warlock, who is most likely their leader, which means that could still pose a danger to people, not here, but maybe somewhere else,” Shin said.
“Fortunately, this morning, I read chapter seven of that book a bit more closely, and I found out that, apparently, rituals such as the one they were trying to perform here can only be done under a certain celestial alignment. I can’t remember the exact name of the alignment, but they won’t be able to try again for a few decades. The same goes for the other rituals described in the book,” Rosa said.
“That’s definitely some good news; does that mean that everyone’s safe from them for now?” Scott asked, as they were right of the middle of their semester and couldn’t really afford to track these cultists down themselves.
“Yeah, pretty much, I mean they are still capable of wielding powerful magic, but without the additional power of the alignment, their magic will much weaker until the next one,” Rosa replied “However, I still think it would best if I inform the other druids we know about this, they have more resources and can keep track of these cultist’s movements far better than we can.”
“Good idea, tomorrow you can call your mom and tell her about it, and I’ll call up my friend Deaton,” Scott said “They should be able to get the word out about this cult”
“So, everything’s pretty much good then, you know, except for those couple of students who got taken into the portal by that…thing,” Stiles said.
“I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself Stiles. From what you guys told us, no amount of convincing would have changed anything. They chose their own path, so their fate is of their own doing,” Rosa said.
“Yeah, you guys did a great job and you managed to help save a lot of people, who otherwise would have been doomed to a sort of existence that I’d rather not even think about,” Scott said, doing his best to lift their spirits.
“Well if there’s nothing else for us to discuss or decide, then I’m gonna go to sleep, because I’m muthafuckin’ tired. I haven’t slept well in almost a week,” Qiana said.
Scott laughed “Me too.”
“Alright then, we’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Shin said to Qiana and Rosa before as they started to head back to their dorm.
“Scott, you staying with us tonight or are you going back to your dorm?” Shin asked.
“I’m staying with you guys, I don’t wanna sleep alone tonight, especially after all that,” Scott replied.
“And, here I thought my beau just wanted to spend the night with me. I’m hurt Scott,” Stiles joked.
“Oh, come on, that’s part of it,” Scott said as he put his arm around his boyfriend’s waist and they began to walk back with Shin to the dorm room.
“I don’t how you guys do it. Those tiny ass dorm beds are barely big enough for one person,” Shin said.
“Well, as you know my good fellow, such closeness affords certain pleasures,” Stiles said.
“Alright, alright, I shouldn’t have asked,” Shin said.
The three of them shared a good laugh, a relieved sort of laughter, one that indicated they could finally relax and return to their lives as college students; for a while at least, for Scott had a feeling that they would never truly escape supernatural conflict and the hardship it brought. But, as the true alpha, he felt that perhaps dealing with such things was simply his responsibility, and as long as he had his friends to help him through it, he would be okay.