LOST SOULS!
CHAPTER SEVEN.
too weak.

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ADRIAN AWOKE TO THE ICE COLD FOREST GROUND PRESSING AGAINST HIS CHEEK AS THE PITTER PATTER OF RAIN HIT HIS SKIN, HIS EYES CRACKING OPEN AT THE TOUCH. He found himself no longer in the comforts of his own bed like he had last remembered being in. Instead, he was in the Beacon Hills woods . . . a place that never meant anything good for the young teen.

Dragging his body up to his feet, he immediately felt the rain sink into his hair as his sleep shirt began to cling onto his body. The redhead sighed when he looked down to see he had no shoes or socks on, his feet already growing dirty in the nipping cold.

Why am I here? The boy asked himself as he looked around. There was nothing that drew his eye as suspicious or supernatural related, so why was he placed here?

"Adrian? Oh my- no. No, no, no. What are you doing here?"

Adrian's body immediately went rigid, the one lonely voice in the woods didn't scare him per say . . . but definitely filled his gut with a rather depressed guilt as he turned around.

Toby Valack stood tall with his shocked, dark chocolate-coloured eyes shining in the raining moonlit sky as he caught the awestruck boy's attention and ran forward. The Martin boy barley had enough time to open his mouth as Toby took his hand and guided him through the dark, rainy night that fell upon Beacon Hills. "You shouldn't be here!"

Adrian felt like a doll with the way he was being handled, completely immobile and so easy to drag along. It felt like he couldn't do anything with his dead best friend in front of him; especially since he still felt responsible for the Valack boy's passing.

Why is this happening? Why do I keep seeing him. He's dead. He's not real. The redhead thought as he continued to stare at the back of Toby's dirty blonde-haired head, his green eyes becoming sorrowful. Am I being punished? Is this really what I deserve? To constantly be haunted by the ghost of my best friend . . . or whatever the young teen was now? For all Adrian knew, this couldn't even be his Toby.

"W-Where are you taking me?!" The redhead finally found his voice and demanded, not fighting the hold he was currently in just yet. He felt the wet, sticky leaves stick to his face as they passed multiple hordes of bushes. No answer came from the Valack boy, making the Martin raise his voice to gain his attention more. "Toby!"

"No time! They're coming! Hurry!" Was the only quick answer reaching through the wood air as the two boys continued their running- one feeling scared while the other was lost on a whole new level to what was occurring.

Having enough, Adrian dug his feet into the ground to stop them as his hand was tugged out of its hold. Toby whirled round quickly at the disconnection of their hands, his blonde eyebrows furrowing in hurried disbelief. "What are you doing? Didn't you hear me? We need to go, Adrian! Now!"

"No! Not until you tell me what the hell is going on! Like, why am I here?" He roared with flailing arms, his desperate need for answers angering him. "Why did I keep seeing you? What even are you?"

"Adrian, it's me. It's Toby." much to both of their surprise, Toby's eyes softened in the moment as his panicked face fell into a sad one marked with every inch of innocence. He took tentative steps forward, small twigs snapping underneath his light feet as he held out his hand yet again. "Come on, we're best friends. You can trust me."

Adrain stared at the pale, skinny hand that mirrored that of his best friend's, his lips set in a frown. Just a glimpse of the blonde's hand brought back memories which were now classed as painful, and the young boy begged it to just stop. ". . . I don't know who to trust anymore- especially you."

Toby looked like he had just died all over again, his mouth dropping open as if he had been delivered an unexpected knife to his abdomen, as his eyes falling apart into a broken shatter. His pink lips- which were already parted- gawked at the boy, but grew distracted when he saw the levitating threats he had wanted to steer the redhead far away from. "They found us."

The Martin was not adding anything up in his mind as he tilted his head with a squinted look, knowing this went way beyond his average brain and supernatural knowledge. "They? Wha- who? Who found us, Toby?"

"The lost souls."

Adrian bowed his head and quickly blinked, pursing his lips in a manner that he really wasn't believing a word falling from the boy's mouth. "The who to the what now?"

Ignoring his confusion, the young Valack was quick to grab ahold of his best friend's shoulders to steer him closer to him. The redhead could feel the light, hurried breaths of the teen hit his skin as the blonde talked to him. "Adrian, I promise, I'll find a way to stop this all for you. I swear, on everything that I have, this will no longer happen . . . I'm sorry."

"What do you mea-"

The young boy gasped when he felt a cold chill run through him all so suddenly, darkness swallowing him whole for a matter of seconds before it drifted away like mist . . . revealing a different part of the woods with no Toby in sight.

Adrian released a small groan in the back of his throat, throwing his head back as he allowed the rain to shower his face. What am I going to do now?

"Please! Don't do this!"

The cry of mercy made the teen's ears perk up, locating it had came a little further up ahead of him. There was a fair amount of trees with thick branches and leaves before him, so he couldn't see who was making such pleads . . . unless he got closer to take a look.

Adrian couldn't explain this, but it almost felt like an invisible force was pulling him towards expected danger. Even if the redhead wasn't sure, his feet still carried him further . . . until he was directly in front of the scene.

Mr Harris was tied to a thick tree, a thin rope wound round his neck that already gave the boy a gruesome feeling. The older man struggled to free himself, but it was no use as he struggled to see due to his fogged up glasses. "I did what you asked! I did everything!" He whimpered, coughed and grunts out.

Adrain furrowed his eyebrows when he found he felt himself become as still as stone. As if telling him that- even if he wanted to- he couldn't help save Harris. He could only just stand and watch the scene unfold.

"They'll figure this out, and they're gonna find you! You still need me!" Harris wouldn't give up his begging, a tone of voice the redhead had never seen on his teacher take place.

Adrian's green eyes widened when the fear of Mr Harris kicked into his bloodstream, making his heartbeat pick up. He could feel his chemistry teacher's fear, which could only mean one thing . . . he had connected to him. Harris was going to die . . . and he was going to feel and receive every bit of it.

That was proven correct when Adrian Martin and Mr Harris choked in union, the teen of the two falling to his knees while the older man's head slumped to his no-longer-rising chest.

The Martin boy clawed at his throat as his air supply grew dangerously weak, his fingers tracing along mark that the lifeguard, Heather, Kyle and now he and Mr Harris had.

And when he would wake up, the young teen would still have those very same injuries marking his skin.

❚ ❚ ❚

Adrian awoke with a swift start, his quick movement causing a wave of pain in his system as he slumped back against the closest thing he could lean against- which happened to be his boyfriend. "Woah, you okay there, tiger?"

The boy currently leaning his head on the Stilinski's shoulder sat up, realising they were in the public eye of the school bus that was currently taking them to a cross-country meet. He shook his head at the concern. "I'm fine." He lied, pulling the scarf and thick coat he currently had on him to conceal his painful wounds up further.

Stiles' brown eyebrows came together, his pink, cupid lips pulling down in care. "You sure? You've been quite quiet since we came on this thing, and- believe when I say- that's unusual for you."

The redhead rolled his forest green eyes in agitation. "Sorry for not being in the mood to speak as our friend is currently in a deep amount of pain right now." He tried to change the subject, referencing to Scott, who was currently slumped against the bus window with his eyes wavering to open and closed. "Just keep asking him the pointless and over exaggerated words, Stilinski."

"Fine, but I'm still worried about you." His boyfriend grumbled as he shifted in his seat, swiping the iPad he currently had in hand to read the McCall boy's revision notes. "Anachronism."

"Something that exists out of its normal time." Scott responded with, hoping him revising would take his mind off of the injuries he had sustained last night.

"Nice, okay, next word. 'Incongruous',"

"Um, can you use it in a sentence?" The Filipino boy seeks out, his teeth gritting in the pain around the stomach area.

"Yes. Yes, I can," Stiles nodded, letting out a tired huff as he slumped in his seat. "it's completely incongruous that we're sitting on a bus right now on our way to some stupid cross-country meet after what just happened. Incongruous."

"Out of place, ridiculous, absurd." Scott answered, not really in the mood for his best friend's references to the supernatural crap occurring in their life.

Stiles obviously didn't get the hint as he gave the werewolf his next word. "Perfect. Okay, next word, um, Darach. Darach- it's a noun."

"Oh, go to hell." Adrian bitterly spat back, not in the mood just like Scott. He knew what his boyfriend was referencing to, but wasn't keen to discuss it right now.

Deaton had told the sheriff's son the other day about a dark druid. Turns out, it had been Lydia who found the music teacher of their school had also been taken and called Stiles- who shared the info with the veterinarian.

The dark druid- also known as the Darach- was the one taking the people as sacrifices and most of the pack were surprised- except for Adrian- when they found this out by some of Harris' test papers spelling out the creature's name.

When neither his friend nor boyfriend seemed amused or interested in talking properly about the supernatural, Stiles continued. "We have to talk about it sometime, okay? And we're gonna be stuck in this thing for, like, five hours, so why not?"

The bus suddenly going over a pot hole and causing the vehicle to jerk made the two boys on either side of the Stilinski male let out collective groans, the redhead of the two earning the most shocked/concerned look offered. "Adrian, Scott? You guys okay?"

"J-Just a bit stiff." The redhead played it off as quickly as he could, not even convinced himself with the way his face was currently contorted in pain.

Stiles wasn't buying it, and neither was Scott as the Stilinski boy shook his head and waved a finger in emphasised at the two injured teens. "We shouldn't have come, I knew it. We shouting have come."

"We had to," Scott defended in a pained voice, his words dropping to a lower octave. "there's safety in numbers."

"Yeah, well, there's also death in numbers, okay?" The teen quipped back, turning to the iPad once more. "It's called a massacre or bloodbath, carnage, slaughter, butchery, wow, that's . . ." He trailed off, being cut off by his boyfriend's eyes struggling to stay open while he swayed and the boy on the other side of him releasing a groan. "Okay, guys, I'm telling Coach that-"

"No, no, no, no," both boys grabbed the Stilinski boy's arms as he prepared to get up, the werewolf of the two adding onto the statement. "I'm all right. I'll heal." His gaze then tore to the Martin, not really knowing what to say on his behalf. "And, Adrian, um . . ."

"And Adrian has nothing wrong with him and will be just fine." The redhead finished off, rolling his green eyes with a short scoff. "Seriously, guys, I'm okay."

"Well you don't look alright." Stiles countered, glancing back to his best friend. "And neither do you, buddy. Would you just let me see it?"

"No," Scott declined, weakly pushing the spastic boy's hands away from him. "I'm okay." He persisted.

"Just let me see it."

If there was one thing both teenage boys knew, it was that continuing to deny and argue with Stiles Stilinski was a very long and tiring process. So, it didn't come to much a surprise when the McCall boy gave in. "Okay," he lifted up his t-shirt, revealing two deep slashes around an extremely bloody area that didn't look to be healing anytime soon.

"Oh, dude," His best friend grimaced at the crimson liquid, his face scrunched up as he turned to face his boyfriend for a more pleasant sight. "Please tell me yours isn't like that."

"I told you two already, I don't have anything wrong with me. I'm fine." Adrian repeated himself, getting rather fed up of doing so as right now he was currently trying to do anything but talk about his painful wounds he had received from Harris. "Right now, we should be focusing on Mr I'm A Werewolf So I Normally Heal McCall."

Scott was first of the two to speak up in an answer. "I know it looks bad, but it's because they're from an Alpha. It'll take longer to heal."

"How come Boyd and Isaac are fine, then?" Stiles interrogated, glancing over from their spot at the very back of the bus to the two werewolves sitting together closer to the front.

A silence on the werewolf's part told all. Scott had no answer as he leaned his head against the window, his eyes half closed as a pained expression came yet again . . . but not from the wounds this time. "I can't believe he's dead. I can't believe Derek's dead."

❚ ❚ ❚

Even without the injury currently forcing his senses to fail him, Adrian didn't think he'd ever get to the master level of ignoring Bobby Finstock. His constant use of his whistle made the boy's head ache, knowing each time it sounded wouldn't be the last time. "Two of you, back in your seats. Jared, again, car sick? Every . . . How do you even get on the bus?" Jared grunts, holding his stomach in response. "Look at me. No, don't look at me. Look at the horizon. Keep your eyes . . . Keep your eyes on the horizon. Martin, McCall, not you boys, too."

Adrian immediately sat up, startled, as Scott gently took his head off the bus window and cleared his throat. "No, Coach, we're good." His eyelids began to grow heavy again, his two friends noticing.

"Hey, Scott, you're bleeding again," Stiles directed his attention back to the McCall boy once more, his voice dropping so only the two boys on either side of him could hear. "and don't tell me it's just taking longer to heal, okay. Because I'm pretty sure that still bleeding means not healing, like at all."

Scott didn't reply, his eyes glueing to Ethan who was currently sat next to Danny near Isaac and Boyd. "He's listening," the young boy established, his two friends looking to see the twin had his head slightly turned as an indication he was using his werewolf hearing.

"Is he gonna do something?" Stiles asked, concerned as he wrapped an arm round his boyfriend's shoulders and kept stealing glances towards him to make sure he was okay. Long story short, he didn't seem to be.

"Not in front of this many people." The tanned boy shook his head, knowing even Ethan wouldn't be so stupid as to do something.

"Okay, well what about the two ticking time bombs sitting next to him?" The Stilinski referred back to the other two werewolves, Isaac and Boyd, pointing at them.

"No, they won't," Scott secured, drawing attention to his wound once more as he winced. "not here."

"Okay, what if they do?" Stiles couldn't help but ask, always wanting to know a plan b if there needed to be one put into use. "Are you gonna stop them?"

The werewolf nodded. "If I have to."

Adrian cursed when the bus lurched and then stopped, the constant tooting and beeping of car horns signalling they had gotten unlucky and came across a traffic jam, his wound pulsating at the sudden movement.

Stiles saw this, but didn't have much time to form an answer as his best friend began to get up from his seat. "Scott? Where are you going?"

The werewolf was currently using the seats to steady himself, breathing heavily as he planted an answer. "Boyd. He's gonna do something." His eyes trained on the dark-skinned werewolf up ahead. "Look at his hands."

Both boys looked as Scott approached the other supernatural creature of his kind, seeing that Boyd had his claws out threateningly as they dug into the leather material of the bus seats.

"Well, that can't mean anything good." Stiles sighed as he sat back in his seat, letting his best friend take control of the situation. He chose this free time to talk to his boyfriend, folding his arms over his chest. "So . . . are we just going to pretend I'm stupid and have no idea that you're currently in arguably more pain than Scott and you're not telling me, or are we actually going to be a normal couple and talk about it?"

"I don't think we'll need to pretend all that much." The redhead grumbled back in response, letting out a small chuckle at his own joke only for it to fade away with the look he got from the hazel-eyed boy. His face fell apart as he sighed. "Look, like I said, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"You're my boyfriend. It's kinda what boyfriends do: they worry! So, sorry for actually loving you enough to care." Stiles hissed lowly, his tone being spoken as if stating the obvious. When the boy didn't meet his gaze, it was his turn to sigh again. "Come on, Tiger, just let me see . . . please?"

"I told you, I'm-" Adrian felt his words come to a slur as the sunny sky outside faded to nothing but black, the pressure of Stiles' clothes hitting his skin being the last thing he could even recall.

❚ ❚ ❚

When Adrian woke up yet again, the first thing he drew attention to was how he could see the familiar back of Allison and Lydia's heads as they carried Scott with his arms swung over their shoulders. As for the other Martin, he was currently being held up by a very stressed Stiles.

He could faintly hear Coach shouting as he sprayed air freshener out of a bus window over, students coughing and clambering out of the bus hurriedly around him. "You suck, Jared! Hey, somebody grab some towels or a mop or a new bus."

The three uninjured teens carried the two boys into the toilets, Allison setting Scott down on the floor beneath the sinks and Adrian soon joining him. Grunts escaped the werewolf's lips as the Necromancer's breathing picked up slightly, his face paling as his sister knelt down worriedly. "Oh my god, Adrian, what happened to you?"

"I'm . . . I'm-"

"Stop saying you're fine when you're obviously not!" Stiles snapped, his tone louder than intended as a heavy silence fell over the group of friends. The hazel-eyed boy bit his lip with a guilty undertone, his worried gaze trained on his boyfriend as he exhaled deeply with a softer voice. "I'm finding out what's wrong with you- whether you like it or not."

Adrian tried his best to swat away his sister and boyfriend's prying hands as they began to take his thick coat and scarf off him, but his body was too weak to even move right now as his wounds were exposed. Even Scott found it in himself to gasp and gape at the wound as everyone else did.

The Martin boy's wounds looked worse than the McCall's . . . because his wound resembled the wounds of someone that shouldn't even be living.

Stiles looked like he was the one having the wounds on him with the way his face broke like a fallen piece of glass. The cut along his boyfriend's neck was deep, blood staining along his pale completion like a second skin. The coat off of the Martin boy also exposed the deep rope burns he had gotten somehow, chafing his skin so badly a hint of blood showed.

"Oh my god," Allison was first to speak, taking in both of the teenager's wounds as she bent down in front of them. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Sorry," Scott managed to weakly croak while Adrian remained mute, his head hung low in an almost shameful act.

Allison muttered something about 'giving her a second' as she scrambled up to her feet and turned round to face the two other teens in the room, who's eyes were mainly trained on the redhead and how dead he was beginning to look in their eyes. "This shouldn't be happening. I've seen him heal from much worse than this and I don't even know what happened to Adrian."

"Okay, what do we then? Do we just call an ambulance?" Stiles' words were beginning to drain out for the redheaded Martin male as his head leant on his own shoulder, his eyelids growing heavy.

"Y-You had another dream . . . didn't you?" Scott guesses as sweat began to build up on his forehead, the boy beside him getting a better look at his now darkened wound with veins protruding from it.

"I . . . I thought I could handle it." Adrian didn't answer the question, but his words were enough to tell that the McCall boy had hit the nail right on the head with his suspicion. It felt weird with how he was feeling after having his coat and scarf off, like he was a solider stripped of his armour.

Adrian felt like nothing but a defenceless human who couldn't do anything. He felt useless. He felt worthless.

❚ ❚ ❚

Stiles went to work by quickly setting up paper towels around Scott while Lydia attended to her brother, whispering to him softly to make sure he was still conscious. Allison stood over the sink, calling over her shoulder as she prepared the needle to stitch Scott- and possibly Adrian- up. "He's gonna need another shirt, where's his bag?"

"Um, I can get it but . . . Adrian." The Stilinski trailed off, his eyes locking onto his corpse-looking boyfriend currently struggling to breathe as his wound on his neck began to leak small amounts of blood.

"S-Stiles," Adrian choked out, giving a small nod towards the boy. He didn't want his boyfriend to see him like this. The Martin felt a sense of shame with the way he looked weak and not man enough to him. He just wanted it to stop. "go."

Stiles bit his lip shortly before deeply exhaling as he moved to kneel down in front of the redhead, leaning forwards. He quickly planted a soft kiss on Adrian's lips, uncaring about everyone else in the room with them. When he pulled away, he shook his head at the boy. "I'm still mad at you, but I love you." The teen before him could only manage a small nod as he choked on his breaths, his hazy eyes watching the spastic boy turn to the Argent girl before he left. "Uh, you do know what you're doing?"

"Yeah, my father taught me." Allison replies, trying to burn the needle to help Scott heal.

"I mean, how fast are you gonna . . . I mean, the bus, like, the bus could leave." The boy urged on, partly trying to come up with more questions so he could stay with Adrian Martin longer.

The tall brunette turned to give him an obvious look. "Okay, just make sure it doesn't leave."

Lydia stood up to help the Stilinski male, the two staring at the other Martin for one more moment before they were rushing out of the bathroom. Once left alone, Allison let out a sigh as she muttered to herself. "Okay, guys, stay with me. Scott, Adrian?"

Allison's words faded out, leaving a void surrounding the young Martin boy. His head felt heavy as his vision blurred, his green forest eyes just managing to make out a figure approaching them- more specifically him. When they were next to the Argent currently stitching up Scott, they finally became a familiar face to the redhead.

"Adrian," Toby called out softly, his brown eyes being the only thing the teen could focus on in that moment as the blonde gently placed a hand on his shoulder while swiping some sweaty, ginger hairs back in place delicately. "You need to focus, alright? Don't give up."

"Toby," Adrian cracked out brokenly, feeling his eyelids becoming the weight of boulders as they slowly began to fall.

"I'm here, I'm here." The Valack boy assured, his eyes scanning worriedly over the wound as he bit his lip in thought. "J-Just focus on something- anything!"

Sadly, the only thing Adrian Martin could conjure up was the night he had arrived home to find police officers and detectives around his neighbourhood, yellow tape lining the Valack household as the youngest of the family was pronounced dead.

"I'm sorry . . . you died." the redhead rasps out, the small sight he had left showing his dead best friend looking anxiously confused as he tilted his head. "I'm sorry, you died . . . because of me."

And, with that heavy conscience plaguing his mind, Adrian Martin then fell into a deep pitch of darkness as everything turned off like a light switch.

❚ ❚ ❚

Water splashing onto his face made the Martin wake with a start, coughing as the sat up to feel the familiar padding of the bus seats supporting him. His face was dripping wet as he groaned, wiping his face. "What the hell?"

"Not what I was expecting your first three words to be after waking up from quite possibly a death sleep." Stiles was sat down next to him, holding the culprit water bottle in his hands as he rolled his eyes. There was a certain edge to his tone, his body language completely different from what it was before the redhead blanked out.

"Yeah, well guess we're even. That wake up call wasn't exactly what I was expecting either." Adrian retorted, sitting upright as he ran a hand through his slightly dampened locks. "What happened while I was out."

Stiles set the water bottle down, humming as he crossed his arms and pretended to think. "Let's see, oh, Isaac got into a fistfight with Ethan after he heard about you and Scott. You passed out while I left and seemingly looked dead until, all of a sudden, your wounds began to heal as if you were possessed with magical healing powers. Oh, and you also gave me a heart attack by not telling me how bad your wounds were."

"I told you, I was-"

"We're not seriously going to keep having this discussion of you saying 'you're fine' when you are obviously not 'fine'." He lifted his hands in air quotes, sighing as his head dropped down to the bus floor. "I was really worried about you."

"Stiles," Adrian's forest green gaze tore into Stiles' amber tones as their eyes connected, the redhead of the pair shaking his head. "I don't need you to worry and protect me, okay? I'm a man! I'm capable of doing all these things."

"I know you are," the young boy admits back in reply, his gaze seeming to underline a certain sadness at his boyfriend's words. "it just doesn't hurt to care about someone once in awhile, ya know? Especially someone you love."

The conversation didn't carry on any further between the young couple as the rest of the cross-country team got on the bus as the sun began to set, the bus moving onwards.

Adrian wore a deep frown on his lips as he looked between his boyfriend, sister and friends all sitting near him at the back. They all talked amongst themselves, but the Martin boy couldn't help but get the feeling their minds were elsewhere.

They all probably thought he was nothing but weak, unable to control his own powers and help himself. It annoyed Adrian greatly with how weak he seemed after these last few months with the supernatural.

He didn't get it. Adrian Martin used to be the type of guy everyone wanted to be like. They wanted his athletic abilities, they wanted his confidence, they wanted his personality, they wanted to have all the girls attracted to them like they were to him . . . they wanted to be strong- mentally and physically- like him.

But now, Adrian didn't feel like he had any of those things. In fact, he no longer felt like a man anyone would want in their life . . . especially his friends and boyfriend.

The redhead was angered by the reality dawning on him. He was a weak little bitch, and would be nothing more to anyone.

A U T H O R. N O T E
one of the main reasons i liked the idea of creating adrian as an oc was because i wanted to create a character who struggles with his masculinity. adrian's mindset is fixed on what qualities a man should have to properly be classed as one and he hates being anything other than that expectation.

i really didn't want a create a typical gay oc who's all like 'yas queen' and 'you go girl' and all that other stuff. i wanted to work on a character who deeply struggles with acceptance, so i can only hope i do my boy justice.
thanks for reading! i love you all so very much- more than you all know.

GIF MADE BY ME !
━ R O S C O E O B R I E N
( 5.1k words )