invisible string ━━ stiles stilinski ?

JULIETTE DIDN'T REALISE SHE WAS SCREAMING IN HER SLEEP UNTIL STILES WOKE HER. Before then, she'd been dreaming of the tormenting reimagining of an alternate outcome to the Nogitsune's fate. She dreamt of a Stiles that was not Stiles at all, a void and hollow chaotic persona of the thousand year old spirit that once took over him. She dreamt of what could've been had the sire bond between them not broken.

She dreamt of the plaguing notion that she could've forever lost herself to the Nogitsune. It was dreams like these that caused her to abhor sleeping so steadily, with no sudden waking up to the smallest of noises that could've otherwise disturbed her dreams. A part of her would rather suffer with the sleep deprivation than to reminisce on the wicked smirk that would be plastered on the Nogitsune's face during their time together.

A hand clutched onto her shoulders as Juliette jolted awake. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to see Stiles next to her. All week, she'd wake up astonished to the realisation that Stiles was there beside her, that they'd reached their end game. "Are you okay?"

"It's nothing." She cleared her throat in an attempt to make her lie more believable. Clearing her mind, she contemplated why she was lying to Stiles when he was the only one that could possibly understand her on this. "Actually, no— sorry. Can I ask you something?"

Rubbing his tired eyes, he nodded, sitting upright. "Go ahead."

"Do you dream about it? About... him?" She cleared, unable to read his expression in the dark. "The Nogitsune."

Stiles widened his eyes, then started to fidget with his fingers anxiously. "Uh, yeah, sometimes. Not the Nogitsune as much as... what he did. I saw it, and I remember all those horrible things he did to everyone." His hands started to rub against his lap awkwardly until she placed a hand on his to steady him. "To you."

      A silence dawned them, and Juliette cleared her throat before saying; "There was that day, before I poisoned the Nogitsune, when he was pretending to be you. The moment he showed up, I knew it wasn't you, so we went around his back to make a plan on how to poison him. So when I was telling them it wasn't you, and we had to use the poison, Scott asked me. He said; how are you so sure?"

Stiles skittered forward in his place to move closer to her. "And I didn't tell him, but... when you look at me, you do this thing where you hold your breath for a moment without realising. You do that until, well, until I look at you." She explained. "The Nogitsune, even that day he was pretending to be you, always looked at me blankly. Even if it was for a split second, even if I catch that look from the corner of me eye, i'd just know it wasn't you."

"He's gone now." He reassured her, rubbing his thumb on the skin between her index and thumb. "If thats what you were dreaming of, Jules..."

"I know he is." She nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. "It's just that... well, sometimes the nightmares never stop. It's usually fine when i'm with you, but other days, it feels too real and..." Juliette stopped when the vivid image recoiled in her mind. "It's the same repetitive dream, the Nogitsune injecting me with things like that time in Eichen,"

When she stumbled over her words, he held her tighter. "It's okay." He whispered.

Juliette huffed, disgruntled by her own agony. "Sorry."

"Don't be."

"I think I at least owe you an apology for screaming like a banshee and waking you up." Juliette shrugged. "But, hey, you signed up for this. Do you know what you're giving up by being in a relationship with me?"