Rebirth Is Born of Neither Flesh nor Blood

When they pulled away from Beacon Hills a week after everything had happened, there was a brief moment where Derek wasn't sure what they were going to do next. Right now, he didn't want to be away from Laura after what happened. The very thought of leaving her alone somewhere turned his stomach, but he also knew that the road was not something that Laura ever really enjoyed or wanted. The last few years hadn't changed that as far as he knew, and now they were all in a bizarre position. Stiles wasn't voicing his thoughts on the matter, and that made things even harder because Stiles was notoriously impossible to read.

The last few years of his life were strange, and Derek didn't know what to do with them. It started the night of the fire when he tried to sell his soul to a crossroads demon to bring back his family. He got Stiles, but Stiles turned down his request saying that he didn't deal with kids. Many years later, they met up again, and Derek sold his soul to Stiles to save Laura's life after a demon attacked her. They worked together to kill the demon that had not only killed Derek's family but also ruined Stiles' life and tortured him on the table in the Pit for many years. Stiles paid a heavy price and came back a regular demon instead of being King of the Crossroads anymore.

Somewhere, on that first journey, Derek stopped seeing the demon that he was tied to and saw the person that Stiles was underneath. He was manic, violent, but he was also kind in a strange way. He never tortured the monsters that they hunted, and he never hurt people unless they deserved to be hurt. He promised to give Derek his soul back if they killed Saul, and he did even though he knew he would suffer great consequences. Derek didn't know how he learned to care about this demon, the very creatures he was supposed to be hunting and killing, yet here they were.

They have traveled together for the last couple of years, and Derek liked to think they were a little more than partners. He knew that Stiles couldn't love the way he did or the way that humans did. There just wasn't getting around the fact that there was something fundamentally broken in Stiles that no amount of care could ever fix. There were little things that Derek saw Stiles do that made him think that Stiles did care about him on top of the one big thing. Stiles gave up Derek's soul even though he knew he would end up back in the Pit. They were bonded in a deep and fundamental way that the supernatural world seemed to find fascinating. Stiles had nearly gotten himself killed recently when they battled an angel, and it was only Derek convincing her that Stiles wasn't what everyone thought that spared his life.

Sometimes, Derek had nightmares about the fire. He could hear the screams of people like his little sister Cora or his cousin Malia. They were extremely close, and Derek knew they would have huddled together in the end. He had nightmares about hands reaching through bars as they all slowly burned alive. He had nightmares about what his Uncle Peter looked like when Laura dragged him out of the house. He had nightmares about the way Laura collapsed in on herself as her eyes turned red, and they knew what had happened and when they both knew that they had lost everything.

On those nights, Stiles would let Derek wrap his arms around him and hold onto Stiles like he was a lifeline. Stiles was a demon, he didn't need to sleep, but he always stayed in beds at night, so if Derek had a nightmare, he was there. Stiles didn't sleep, so he didn't have nightmares, but he did have flashbacks. Derek had met enough hunters in his time to know what a flashback looked like, and Stiles very much had them. There were moments when he would go exceptionally still, and his honey-colored eyed would go dead. The only part of Stiles' body that would move when he was in a flashback were his fingers. When Stiles was vulnerable and reliving the Pit, he would let Derek hold him or take him into his arms. It was a level of trust that Derek, to this day, didn't know how he earned it.

The angel of Beacon Hills had revived Peter for her own purposes, and Derek found himself and Stiles turned into a human. That was when Stiles truly proved the depth of his trust for Derek as he took the two of them out to a small graveyard. Stiles showed him his grave, where his body lay to rest, and told Derek a new way to kill a demon. Stiles trusted Derek to kill him if he ended up back in the Pit, and Derek knew that trust came from an emotion that Stiles wouldn't ever have the capacity to put into words. Even now, Derek knew that Laura and Stiles didn't get along, but Stiles never said he wanted Laura gone. He just put his feet on the dashboard of the Camaro the way that Derek hated and didn't say anything at all about it.

They pulled off to a small motel, but they only had enough money for one room. Laura eyed Stiles, and Derek wondered if she was going to ask him to sleep somewhere else. Derek liked to share a bed with Stiles even if he didn't sleep, and the thought of sleeping alone meant that he wasn't going to get a good night's sleep. Laura dropped her bag on one of the beds and put her hands on her hips.

"I saw a pub just down the road," she said. "I need a drink, but I'll be back later."

"Be careful," Derek said without thinking. She watched him for a moment and then nodded as she walked out of their room and closed the door behind her. Derek waited until he knew she was far enough away that Laura wasn't listening and sat down on the bed next to Stiles.

"What's on your mind, Derek?" Stiles asked as he leaned back on his elbows and watched him carefully. "You waited until your lovely sister was out of earshot, so either you want to fuck without her listening, or you want to talk without her listening. Which is it?"

"Can't it be both?" Derek asked, and Stiles smirked like he knew Derek was deflecting the conversation. Instead of saying anything else, Stiles settled back and waited as if he knew he would out stubborn Derek at the end of the day. "She might ask you to leave tonight."

"You did too for a while," Stiles said with a shrug.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving her anywhere, Stiles," Derek confessed. "Before all of this happened, I could be away from her even though she was my alpha, and it wasn't that hard. Right now, right now, even having her at that pub is making my skin crawl. I don't like it, and I don't know how to be away from her right now. I know you two don't get along--"

"I have no problem with your sister," Stiles interrupted, and Derek looked at him because this was new information as far as Derek was concerned.

"I know you care about her in the sense that you want her to be safe because of her connection to me, but you don't want her traveling with us," he said.

"I'm not overly fond of having another member of our merry band, but it has nothing to do with her," Stiles said, and he shifted on the bed like he was uncomfortable. "When the hunter attacked her at her house before Beacon Hills, I asked her if she wanted to travel with us."

"But you just said you don't want her with us," Derek said because now he was confused.

"I don't," Stiles said, and he got that look on his face when he was really grappling with something that he didn't have a good handle on. "But you do so, I asked. She said no then, but I don't think she's going to say no now. She gets the same look you do. I think that losing the status and getting it back fucked with both of your instincts. I don't think this is going to change anytime soon, so if we want to hunt, I'm going to have two puppies instead of one." Stiles was trying to play it off, but it was another of those examples that proved that Stiles did love him on some level. Derek crawled forward on the bed until he was straddling Stiles' hips and looked down at him.

"And if she asked you to leave for the night?" Derek asked softly, and Stiles shrugged.

"I can keep myself amused," Stiles replied. "Besides, someone needs to look out for you two while you're sleeping. I've never met two wolves that attract more misery than the Hale siblings." He was deflecting again, but Derek could see the intent beneath the words; Stiles wanted to keep both of them safe, and this is how it was going to do it. Derek leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Stiles' lips. They hadn't had a chance to be together since the incident that turned them both human, and it was nice to feel the Stiles he knew beneath his hands.

Stiles was a demon, and while there was the slight smell of sulfur on his skin, there was something else too. There was the smell of pack, of himself and Laura, that marked Stiles as one of his. Derek didn't know how to explain these instincts to someone, but Stiles did have experience with wolves. Maybe he could understand what it meant to have someone smell like family. Stiles had a clever tongue, and it wasn't long before they were kissing deeply but without any frantic intent. Derek wanted to sleep with him, longed to feel Stiles' body beneath his hands, but there was no telling when Laura would return. This was enough for now.

Stiles threaded his fingers into Derek's hair as Derek pushed his leather jacket off and tossed it to the floor. They might not be able to have sex, but that didn't mean he was going to keep all of his clothes on. Stiles smiled against his lips as he arched his hips against Derek and rubbed their erections together. It wasn't nearly enough, but if they fucked in this room, Laura would know, and Derek didn't know how to meet his sister's eyes with that information. She knew that he was with Stiles, but with their fucked up instincts right now, there wasn't any telling how she would react if she smelled more on them.

"As much as I would love to," Derek said as he kissed along Stiles' jaw and took his earlobe between his teeth. "Like you said, Laura and my instincts are fucked up, and she already doesn't like it when you try to claim me."

"Who said anything about me doing the claiming this time?" Stiles said, and Derek's brain momentarily stopped working. Stiles wasn't one to let Derek have his way with his body very often, and the fact that he was offering at all was another action that expressed far more than words ever could. Derek pulled away from Stiles' neck and stared at him, and the fucking asshole was smirking like he knew what he was putting Derek through at this moment.

"I hate you," Derek said as he buried his face in Stiles' neck and breathed in his scent. He could feel the son of a bitch laughing silently at him. "Seriously, you're just the worst."

"You're the one fucking a demon. You should really know better," Stiles replied and yanked Derek into a hard kiss. It took all of his self-control not to rip Stiles' clothes off so he could touch that lithe body beneath him. Stiles, as a human, was fascinating, but Stiles as himself was powerful. He looked weak to the human eye, and that was very much intentional. The body he was possessing didn't look much older than his early twenties, he was skinny with bright eyes and a sunny smile, which is why the contrast when Stiles would grin that demonic grin that always got him. Derek knew that sleeping with a demon wasn't going to end well for either of them in the long run but, right now, he didn't care. Right now, he only cared how Stiles tasted and how he felt beneath his hands.

Derek's lips were starting to go numb when he realized that he could hear Laura making her way back to the room. She was walking very slowly, and that was no doubt on purpose. Derek pulled away and looked down at Stiles, who might as well have been temptation himself. Stiles smirked again like he knew that Derek was having a hard time resisting throwing him against a wall and having his way with him.

"Do you need a cold shower?" Stiles asked, and Derek glared at him. He did, and that seemed like the best way to deal with his current problem. He hurried into the shower and quickly stepped under the water. Laura was close, but she wasn't close enough to know what he was doing in the shower just yet. Derek wrapped his hand around his aching cock and began to jerk himself off quickly. He thought about Stiles' swollen red lips and how much he wanted to shove him into a bed and not let him out for a week. They couldn't have that, not yet, so Derek was stuck jerking himself off in a cheap motel bathroom under painfully cold water. He came just as Laura was walking up to the door.

Derek washed thoroughly until he was absolutely sure that Laura wouldn't be able to smell what he did. He just hoped that Stiles had some way of making himself look a little less like he'd just spent the last hour making out with Derek. He pulled on some clean clothes from his bag and walked out into the room. Laura was glaring at Stiles, and there was a slight red tint to her eyes. Stiles was relaxing on the bed like he didn't have a care in the world or that an alpha werewolf looked a minute away from tearing his throat out.

"Have a good shower?" Stiles asked, and Derek wanted to smack him for being an asshole, but Laura's slight growl was all the hint that Stiles needed. He sat up as he held up his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, Lady Alpha, I'm leaving. You two kids have a good night's sleep." Stiles walked out of the room and closed the door, and Laura immediately relaxed.

"I'm sorry," she said with a heavy sigh. "I know you two are together, I've known for a long time, but for some reason seeing it and smelling it is driving me crazy. I can't handle it, and when I walked in, and he smelled so much like you it just--" Laura cut herself off and she looked so miserable. "I'm ruining things for you." Derek put his arm around Laura's shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"You're not ruining anything, and my instincts are just as fucked up as yours are right now," he said. They hadn't shared a bed since Derek was a teenager not long after the fire, but right now, it felt like a good time to bring that tradition back. He pulled her into one of the queen-sized beds in the room, and they wrapped their arms around each other like they used to when they were so much younger and hurting from the fire. "This reminds me of how we were right after, do you remember?"

"How could I forget," Laura said. "I didn't want to let you out of my sight for days at a time. Just the idea of you being in another room was too much for me sometimes. It feels like that all over again, and I don't like it. You're not a kid anymore, so it's not like I can pretend that I'm following you around because you don't know any better."

"I don't know," Derek replied, smiling to himself. "Sleeping with a demon, becoming friends with the matriarch of the Argent family, I'm not making the best decisions right now. Maybe you have every right to try and take care of me." Laura poked him in the ribs, and the two of them wrestled a little until they both settled down again. They were still holding each other, but they weren't as wrapped up in each other as they were.

"It feels strange," Laura whispered. "It feels so strange to be around each other again. We haven't been close like this since you were a kid. I always felt like such a terrible alpha that I didn't want you close, and you didn't want to be close. Have we been bad at this whole sibling thing for years, and it nearly took us losing each other for us to figure it out?"

"We were both broken by the fire in very different ways," Derek said with a shrug, and it took many years for him to even come to terms with the fact that the fire broke him. No person who was still whole would try to trade their soul to bring someone back from the dead the way he did. Derek knew that now but, for a long time, he couldn't admit it. "I think killing Saul and getting proper revenge really helped for me. I know it wasn't anything you wanted--"

"I wanted revenge," Laura said, and Derek turned to look at her because that was something that he didn't know about his sister. "I wanted revenge, but I knew that if I tried looking, it would consume me, and I would take you down with me. I figured that your hunting was the best way to mitigate the anger, but I couldn't keep myself in check like you did for all of those years. I would have gotten lost and probably lost my life. I couldn't do that to you."

"You're a good alpha Laura," Derek said softly, and Laura laughed bitterly. "You are. You knew what I needed, and you put my needs above your own. We always looked out for each other even if we went months without seeing each other. That sounds like a good alpha and a better older sister to me." Laura looked back at him, and she almost looked like she wanted to cry, which was making Derek want to cry, and now he knew that something was fucking with his instincts. They both settled down to sleep, and while they weren't cuddling the fact that Derek could hear her heart and feel the heat coming from Laura's body settled the anxiety that he couldn't put a name to just yet. It wasn't the same comfort that Stiles brought, but it was still good. It was still enough that he slept through the night.

+++

Laura insisted that Derek was the one who needed to go find breakfast, said she would "pull the alpha and older sister card if she had to," rolled over and went back to sleep. Derek rolled his eyes and got dressed. Stiles was sitting just outside the door, and he appeared to be reading a book that Derek hadn't ever seen before. It looked old, very old, and it was in Japanese, which was strange. He didn't even know that Stiles could read Japanese and said so.

"Derek, I can read many, many languages," he replied.

"Did you spend the night right there?" Derek asked as he offered Stiles a hand to pull him to his feet.

"More or less," Stiles said with a shrug as he walked over to the car and set the book in his bag that he started carrying around. Stiles had a collection of extremely weird things that Derek often didn't know anything about and didn't want to know anything about. That book was the least weird thing in the bag right now, and the empty glass jar was extremely concerning since Derek didn't know what Stiles wanted to put into it. Maybe it was better if he didn't know. "So, I went poking around and bothered some old contacts."

"Are these old contacts going to try and kill us now?" Derek asked as they made their way over to a diner. They would get breakfast for themselves and then get take out for Laura. She wanted to sleep more, Derek could sense it, and he was reluctantly not to give his sister anything she wanted right now. A waitress set them down at a booth and handed them two menus, which Stiles discarded his entirely.

"No one is going to kill us, Derek, my goodness," Stiles said with a wave of his hand. "It's like you think I don't have any friends out there that don't secretly want to kill me." Derek didn't say anything; he just stared at Stiles and slowly raised a single eyebrow. Stiles rolled his eyes dramatically and sat back in his chair with his arms folded. "I do have friends that don't want to kill me," he assured. The waitress came over, and Derek ordered his breakfast while Stiles ordered a black coffee. Derek made sure that he could get take-out for Laura, and they settled in for the moment.

"So, what did you find out?" Derek asked. "Do we have a hunt?"

"We do indeed," Stiles replied with a smile. "And we even get to go poke the thing with a stick which is my favorite type of job. There is a house about ten miles away that has a poltergeist problem, and they need our help. And it won't be too much for your lovely sister to handle because I can only assume that she wants to come with us." Derek didn't know if Laura was going to come on a hunt, but the fact that Stiles was thinking about that before Derek was really said a lot about where his brain was. He got his coffee, and Derek ignored the way he completely burned his tongue as he took a long drink.

"I talked to her last night," Derek said softly. "We think it's like when she first became an alpha after the fire, and those are the kind of instincts we're both fighting right now. Which means that it's eventually not going to be a problem anymore. I just don't know when and neither does she." Stiles blinked and stared at Derek in that unearthly way he would when he was really reading into Derek in a way that couldn't be explained with words.

"I know," Stiles said. "I've seen all of this happen with wolves before. It's adorable that you and Laura think you're unique, but there is a chance I know more about werewolves than you two do. I know that your instincts are all fucked up, I know she isn't going anywhere, but I also know that you won't sit on your hands until you figure it out, so I found us work." Derek wanted to thank him for understanding, but the food eventually arrived, and Derek stuffed his face with enough bacon and eggs to kill a lesser man. Stiles drank his coffee and sat back to people watch and look out the window like he was searching for something. His fingers twitched, and Derek wondered if he was having another flashback.

They took the food back to Laura, who was looking much more awake and even let Stiles hang out in the room when she ate. Stiles told her about the hunt, and she hesitated. The reasons why Laura didn't go on hunts didn't exist anymore now that Saul was gone, and Derek knew she wouldn't want him to go where she couldn't follow. She didn't seem overly excited about the idea of going on a hunt, but she said that it was fine, and she would accompany them to the location at the very least. It was noon by the time the three of them climbed into the Camaro, and they made their way to the house that Stiles heard about.

Derek should have known better than to think they would get lucky with an empty house, and instead, he found an idyllic little family that looked like they hadn't slept in three days. Derek opened his mouth to say something when Laura suddenly jumped in and managed to charm her way into the house without even really trying. Derek glanced at Stiles, who smirked, but the three of them walked into the home.

"We thought we were getting the deal of a lifetime," the father said, and his hands were shaking as he chugged another cup of coffee. Derek didn't know if it was from the caffeine or from the lack of sleep. There were scratches on his arm, which wasn't a good sign.

"What can you tell us about this place?" Stiles asked as he leaned forward and got that look in his eye. It made the mother and father squirm, but this was usually the only way they managed to get any sort of information out of people.

"A woman died here," the mother said after a moment of silence. "She was killed by her husband, who then fled the country. No one knows where he is or if he's alive. The realtor did a good job burying the story when we were searching for listings. Now there's something here, and it's hurting us."

"My brother and his friend know how to take care of things like this," Laura said as she took the mother's hand into her own. "So why don't you two go spend a night in a hotel and let us take care of this?" That move didn't ever work, but whatever these people saw in Laura, they trusted her, or they were that desperate. They took their young daughter and all but fled the house as the three of them settled down until it was dark out. Derek pulled out his laptop and found the name of the woman they would have to salt and burn. Laura looked nervous, and he remembered that this was the first time she'd ever seen a poltergeist before. The sun was down, and Derek was about to tell her to go wait in the car when Stiles got bodily thrown against the room and into a wall. Laura screamed as Stiles groaned.

"Why always me?" he said as the ghostly figure of the murdered woman appeared before them. Derek knew they didn't have to stay long because one look at her, and he knew what this was the woman they needed to salt and burn. Derek reached into his bag and pulled out a handful of salt, which caused the spirit to back off just long enough for Derek to shove Laura through the front door. The poltergeist ejected him from the house next, and Stiles last and Stiles landed badly on one of his arms, and Derek could hear the bone snap. The front door slammed shut, and Derek could hear the angry spirit pacing around the home. They weren't needed here anyone anyway, and Laura looked surprised when they got both up and began to leave.

"Is that it? We're not going to try?" she asked.

"Oh dear sister wolf," Stiles said as he set his own broken arm without even flinching. "We need to go grave digging to fix this problem." The three of them made their way to the cemetery and spent the next several hours digging up a body. Laura didn't like this idea, and she looked a little sick as they worked, but Derek assured her that this was the only way to fix the problem. He always knew that his sister didn't have the stomach for this job, and she settled down nearby when it came to the time to actually burn the body. Stiles suddenly perked up and looked over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Derek asked because those sorts of things never ended well for Stiles. He was staring at an open field where there appeared to be some fireflies within the weeds. That was a little strange since it didn't seem the right time of year for fireflies.

"I have something to take care of," Stiles said as he watched the bugs carefully. He tossed his shovel aside and walked away without another word. Laura blinked and stood up as Stiles walked away.

"Does he always leave for the gruesome part?" she asked.

"Not usually," Derek said softly as he tossed a match down, and the body of the woman began to burn. Laura muttered a prayer, and they both watched the smoke rise into the sky. The smell was enough that Derek was thinking about the fire and the house, but his phone ringing took him by surprise. He pulled it out and said Allison's number flashing up at him. It was late, but it wasn't so late that he was immediately worried.

"Hey, Allison," he said.

"Hey, Derek, is Stiles with you?" Allison asked, and there was an edge to her voice that Derek hadn't heard before.

"Uh, yeah, he's around somewhere, what's going on?" Derek asked.

"I have some blonde-haired guy here telling me that he's following me because Stiles told him to. I have a knife to his neck, and I have every intention of cutting his throat if he's lying. So I'm here to confirm this information," Allison replied, and that was enough that Derek was paying attention. Laura looked concerned about his expression, and Derek couldn't see Stiles among the high grass where he wandered off.

"I will find him right now. Uh, Laura, yes, you should talk to Laura," Derek said, and he handed the phone off to Laura. He heard Laura ask Allison how she was, but Derek was more focused on finding Stiles. He was sitting among the high grass with a firefly in his hand and staring at the blinking light. He looked up when Derek walked up, and his eyes were demon black.

"What happened?" Stiles asked as the black faded.

"Allison is about to kill some blonde guy that is claiming he was watching her under your orders," Derek replied. Stiles sighed and walked back to the burning grave and took the phone after Laura said that Stiles looked annoyed.

"Allison, why are you threatening people? That's not a nice thing to do," Stiles said, and he was grinning from ear to ear like this was amusing. Derek wasn't on the phone, but he could hear every word that Allison was saying.

"I have some blonde-haired kid here saying that you sent him to watch over me," Allison said. "Speak."

"Hey Stilles," an unfamiliar voice said over the line, which was strange.

"Isaac, you really need to learn how to fail less," Stiles said. "I told you that getting caught wouldn't end well for you, and what do you do? You get caught."

"A wolf caught up with her, and I was trying to help," the other person on the line, apparently named Isaac, said.

"Who and what is this guy?" Allison asked loudly like she was running out of patience.

"His name is Isaac, and he's a selkie. Kind of cool really, there aren't that many left in the world, and I like rare things," Stiles said.

"And you told him to follow me?" Allison asked.

"Yup," Stiles said. "And before you get all butt hurt about it, Argent, you know that hunters that travel alone usually end up dead. When I found out that your Dad was being a dick, I put out a favor to Isaac and told him to keep an eye on you. I know that is going to offend your hunter sensibility, but he's not completely useless."

"Thanks, Stiles," Isaac deadpanned. "So I wasn't lying, could you not kill me?" There was a beat of silence, and Stiles frowned.

"Did you kill him? Everything went quiet," Stiles asked.

"No, I'm not going to kill him, but don't do something like that again. I don't need protecting," Allison snapped.

"You're mortal, so of course you do so unless you want to do time on the table in hell you should learn to fucking accept it." Stiles hung up, and he looked annoyed. "Fuck, you mortals get so offended so easily. It's not like Allison is the first mortal I've sent a tail after; someone was supposed to be watching Laura too." That was new information, and Derek's mind ground to a halt for a moment.

"You had someone following me?" Laura asked, and Stiles waved her off.

"Someone was supposed to be looking out for you, but she never made it to Beacon Hills. Maybe if she had none of this fucking bullshit would have happened," Stiles said as he paced back and forth. "She got called away, and I can't seem to find out why. She wouldn't have left unless there was a very good reason."

"I can't fucking believe you, Stiles," Laura snapped, but Stiles wasn't even looking at her. He was chewing on his thumb in a way that Stiles only did when he was nervous about something. This person, whoever they were, them being called away was bothering Stiles more than he was letting on.

"And what was the reason exactly?" Derek asked, but Stiles shook his head. He was looking out at the field where the fireflies used to be, but they were gone.

"I don't know," Stiles said softly. "But I very much intend to find out."

Derek was not at all surprised that Laura was not going to let the fact that Stiles had someone watching her go easily. Derek didn't think she would, it wouldn't be like her if she did, but he also knew that this kind of fight could get ugly very, very fast and he probably needed to stop it before something terrible happened. Stiles was walking back to the car, and he didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon. If anything, he seemed to be in the mood to run the hell away, which always made Derek nervous. Stiles was afraid of plenty of things, but the things he was scared of were the things that could tear all of them in half if they really wanted to.

"Stiles, don't you fucking walk away from me," Laura said, and Derek could feel the pull from her alpha voice, which she didn't use very often.

"Pretty sure I'm not a wolf, sister dear, so I can walk away from you just fine," Stiles said, and he turned around to give her a shit-eating grin which was just not the best idea. He began to walk backward and opened his arms. "I can even walk away from you backward. It's amazing."

"You little shit, you don't get to tell people to spy on me," Laura said, and she used her wolf speed to put herself between Stiles and the car. Derek opened his mouth to get involved, but Laura turned the full force of her red eyes on him, and that was the end of his intervention. There was no way he could do anything against something like that.

"'People'? You think I use 'people'? Please, I sent something war cooler than a lame-ass fucking person to watch over you, Laura," Stiles said, and he narrowed his eyes. "Said something is presently missing, and I would like to know why so step aside."

"You don't get to make decisions like that for me," Laura said lowly.

"I brought you back to life and then saved said life at least twice now, so I'm pretty sure I can do whatever the fuck I want with you," Stiles snapped, and Derek winced. That was the worst possible thing to say, but it also hurt. Derek liked to think that Stiles did things because he cared, that he saved Laura from taking a shotgun shell full of wolfbane because it would hurt him if he lost her, but maybe that wasn't the case. He forgot, sometimes, that Stiles used to be the King of the Crossroads, and no one dealt in deals more than him. Of course, everything Stiles did had some sort of caveat, and that was something Derek realized he was going to have to come to terms with. He needed to realize that maybe some of the things Stiles did was out of the goodness of his heart, but plenty of other things he did was just getting leverage over others. Laura's eyes were bright red now, and she was nearly baring her teeth.

"I wasn't aware that helping me came with signing away my freedom," she hissed. "If I knew I would be indebted to you of all things, I would have taken that fucking shotgun shell and rolls the dice." That was another thing that Derek really didn't want to hear; the idea that Laura would rather be dead than indebted to Stiles. "Do you hold the fact that you've spared Derek's life over his head too? Is that how you actually work? Do you even give a shit about either of us or is this just some long game you're playing until we die of old age, and then you'll move onto your next plaything you can manipulate?"

Stiles went weirdly still, and Derek stared at the two of them, wondering if this was going to end in bloodshed. Stiles could kill Laura, in a heartbeat, and Derek wouldn't be able to do anything about it. In fact, he wouldn't even be able to stop it because Stiles was much more powerful than him and Laura combined. They were standing mere feet away from a smoking grave as Laura antagonized a demon that had made it through two trips in the Pit. Anything that could survive, that was something no one should reckon with.

"I'm going to make something clear to both of you stupid little pups," Stiles said calmly, which was probably more terrifying than if he sounded angry. "I am trying to save your stupid fucking lives. There are things out there that will use the two of you to get to me, and the measures I take are ones to keep you both from seeing what's on the other side because spoiler alert? It isn't fucking pretty."

"Not everything is about you, Stiles," Laura said. She turned and walked the rest of the way to the car without another word. Stiles clenched his fists hard enough that his nails must have cut into the skin, and Derek could smell blood.

"Stiles--" Derek started.

"Go to your sister, Derek," Stiles said without looking at him. When Derek didn't move, Stiles turned, and his eyes were demon black. "I said go to her and leave. Go tell that family we fixed their problem, and they can sleep in their own home tomorrow."

"And what about you?" Derek asked, which wasn't the question he wanted to ask. The question he wanted to ask was, 'are you leaving' because Stiles always seemed like he was going to be the one to leave. Stiles blinked, and the black vanished from his eyes. Some of the tension in his body faded, and he looked at the night sky.

"I'll catch up in a few days. I have some things I need to take care of," Stiles said, and he frowned. "I don't think I have control over your life or Laura's. I just wish you mortal idiots would understand how fragile you are and how bad it is on the other side. I don't want the Pit for you or Laura or Allison or anyone else. Even if the enemy stalking you isn't one of mine, I still wouldn't wish the Pit on any of you. You aren't indebted to me about anything, and Laura isn't either. I just don't know how else to keep you squishy mortal beings safe." Derek wasn't sure how Stiles was going to react to being touched right now, but it was worth the risk. Stiles flinched when Derek took his hand and squeezed it.

"I'll see you in a few days," Derek said for lack of anything else to say. Stiles nodded and didn't move from his spot in the graveyard. He was still eyeing that tall grass like it had some sort of answer that Derek didn't understand, and sometimes he thought it was better that he didn't know what was going on in the demon's head. Derek walked over to the car, and Laura was leaning against the door with her arms crossed tightly. She was close enough that she no doubt heard everything that Stiles said, but she was too stubborn to say anything, and Stiles certainly wasn't going to say anything either. Laura looked up at him, nodded once, and got into the passenger seat where Stiles usually sat. Derek wondered if Stiles wanted his bag, but when he turned around, Stiles was gone.

+++

Stiles chewed on the tip of his thumb as he waited in the long grass to see if the fireflies came back. They probably would, eventually, but he didn't know when and he did tell Derek that he was only going to be a few days. He didn't want to think about what could have sent her running away from Laura, and that was enough of a reason for Stiles to be on edge. There didn't appear to be any fireflies, and after several hours Stiles gave up. He stood up and turned around to see Lydia standing over the burnt grave. She looked stunning with knee-high boots, her red hair perfectly curled, and a short dress. Stiles could smell lizard, which meant that Jackson was lurking somewhere nearby. He was hiding because Jackson was a dramatic fucking asshole who probably wanted to make an appearance.

Stiles didn't know what Lydia saw in him.

Lydia looked up when Stiles walked over to her and smiled prettily, which probably wasn't going to end well for him. Lydia was King now, and she seemed to be enjoying it enough, which was kind of amusing. Stiles always knew that she wanted the title, but she liked him too much to slit his throat and take it from him. She carried the weight of the job well, and he didn't envy her; he just stopped; she kept her 'no dealing with kids' rule in place. If he had any legacy in this universe, he wanted it to be that.

"Lydia, how lovely to see you," Stiles said with a false smile that she saw right through. "Have you come to test the strength of my bond with Derek again? I'm afraid he isn't here right now, so you're shit out of luck."

"You really need to let that go," Lydia said with a flick of her wrist. "I hired a trickster to test you, Stiles; you're lucky I decided to only do that much."

"Oh, have we moved on to the threatening portion of the night? Is Jackson going to jump out and paralyze me again?" Stiles said, and he looked around. "Jackson, come on out little lizard, come out and try to attack me. I'm in a Mood, and I could use a new pair of lizard skin boots." Lydia rolled her eyes, but Jackson emerged from behind one of the gravestones. He legitimately hissed at Stiles, which was so fucking funny Stiles couldn't hold back his laughter.

"You cocky son of a bitch--" Jackson said, and he took a threatening step forward. Stiles wanted to see what would happen if the two of them fought, but Lydia held up a hand.

"Enough you two," she said and examined her nails like she was bored, which she probably was. "Besides, I could put my heel through both of you, and you would both do well to remember that." Stiles rolled his eyes because if Lydia was going to kill him, she would have done it a long time ago.

"What are you and your pet doing here?" Stiles asked.

"I'm not her fucking pet--"

"I heard an interesting rumor," Lydia said once again, cutting Jackson off, and Stiles found himself wondering just how dominant she was in this relationship. He and Lydia fucked decades and decades ago, but they were both very different back then, and the power dynamics were different. He was getting distracted, and Stiles forced himself to pay attention to the extremely hot and extremely dangerous demon in front of him. "An Argent was seen with a selkie of all things."

"Is that so," Stiles deadpanned because Lydia knew who Isaac was, she helped him get his pelt back a long time ago, so this game was for her benefit alone. Jackson was still prowling at Stiles' back, and he was about to teach that kanima what happened when he pissed off a demon that he wasn't sleeping with.

"Yes, they are so rare, don't you know a selkie?" Lydia asked as she tapped her lips with one perfectly manicured finger.

"Must we play this game? It's a boring one, and I have so many better things that I could be doing," Stiles said. Lydia raised one perfect eyebrow and didn't say anything. "So I sent Isaac out on a little watch mission, and he fucked it up. I'm not exactly surprised since you could spot Isaac and his daddy issues from space; I'm not surprised he fucked it up, but it's done, and Allison is going to kill him. Probably, maybe, I'm pretty sure she isn't going to kill him."

"And what of your other little watcher?" Lydia asked, and now Stiles wasn't playing anymore. He didn't think she would do anything stupid, but Lydia was unpredictable. Jackson smirked and hissed at his back, and Stiles had had quite enough of that. He used his speed and took Jackson by the throat and slammed him into the ground hard enough to at best break a few bones but at least bruise them. Jackson got all of the wind knocked out of him, and he was looking at Stiles with real fear in his eyes as Stiles kept him easily pinned down by his neck.

"You sting me, and you won't live to sun yourself," Stiles warned. "Now, stop lurking behind me, or I'm going to have to teach you a lesson and, believe me, you won't like it. Do we understand each other?" Jackson nodded while making a whimpering noise. He was already healing, but that had to hurt. Stiles released Jackson's throat and turned to Lydia. "Now, Lydia, light of my life, it would be in your best interest to tell me if you know anything about my missing fellow. You should answer quickly before I lose my patience."

"Or you'll what? Fight me? Do you really think you can win?" Lydia asked, but her bravado was slipping, and Stiles smiled.

"Do you want to find out?" he asked. There was a beat of silence as Lydia stared him down and seemed to come to the decision that a fight would be a very bad idea. She sighed, tossed some of her hair over her shoulder, and cocked her hip.

"I had nothing to do it," Lydia said firmly, and Stiles knew her well enough to know that she wasn't lying.

"Glorious, well, this conversation has been a waste of fucking time. So, if you'll excuse me, I have one of my little watchers to track down," Stiles said, and he turned to leave.

"You should know that the big bosses in the Pit are nervous," she said, and Stiles froze. "Not about you or your little puppies. In fact, this might be the safest they have ever been. No, they are focused on something else and whatever it is? It's big, and it has everyone in the Pit nervous in a way I haven't seen before." Stiles turned around and looked at her. Once again, Stiles knew when Lydia was lying, and there was something about the way she was holding herself that screamed nerves. She was afraid, and something that made Lydia afraid was very, very bad.

"Can you tell me anything?" Stiles asked.

"Washington State," Lydia said as she pressed her lips together like she wasn't sure if she should have said anything. "Stiles, take your puppies and run the hell away. Whatever this is? It's got everyone in the Pit up in arms, and that isn't going to end well for you." Whatever had everyone up in arms must have been big for her to tell him about this.

"You know where to find me if you learn anything more," Stiles said. As he walked away, he could feel Lydia and Jackson both vanish from sight, and Stiles did his best to ignore the terrible feeling settling into his gut.

He had a watcher to find.

+++

Derek drove away from the graveyard and did his best to pay attention to his surroundings, but it was hard. There were a lot of things going through his mind, and Laura was radiating anger that it was hard to focus on anything but her. As they got further away from Stiles, she seemed to calm down a little, and by the time they got to the hotel where the family was staying, she wasn't angry anymore. Derek told them that their house was safe but that he would remain nearby for the rest of the day just to make sure that everything was fine. Laura was surprised when the wife hugged her and cried, thanking her for the work that they did. Laura smiled and awkwardly hugged the woman back. The family insisted on putting them up in the hotel for the next day and night, and no matter what Derek said they wouldn't take no for an answer. So that was how he found himself sitting in a hotel room with Laura in total silence.

"I didn't mean it," Laura said.

"What did you mean?" Derek asked.

"When I said I would have rather taken my chances with the wolfsbane bullet than have Stiles save my life. I didn't mean that; I was just angry at the idea of having my choice taken away. I don't like the idea of something watching me," Laura explained, and she hugged herself tightly. "And I know he was doing it to look out for us; that doesn't mean he shouldn't have told me that he was doing it." Derek didn't know what to say to make her feel better, so he sat in silence and let Laura come to terms with it herself. "The demon, the thing that took control of Kate and burned the house down, it watched us. We both know that it watched us because it waited for the perfect moment to attack when it knew the most members of the family would be in the house. So I don't like the idea of anyone watching me anymore."

"I don't either," Derek confessed, and he released a breath. "He's complicated, and he doesn't know how to be a person anymore, Laura. He was already broken when I met him, and then he went down there again, and he came back worse." Derek shook his head and looked at his hands. "When Peter had the two of us turned into humans, he was so afraid of dying and going back there that he told me another way to kill a demon. He trusted me with that knowledge that someone could kill him if I told them because he would rather be dead than go back there again." Deek looked at Laura, and she was watching him. "He told me that he didn't recognize the man that went in the first time, the second time, and no one would like the one who emerged a third time. I think he just thinks this is the only way he can spare other people that fate."

"He went to hell that doesn't mean we will," Laura said softly, but she sighed heavily. "You love him, I get that, and nothing I say is going to change that. I could order you to stay away from him, but that would just make you resent me, and I don't want you to resent me. I just want to feel safe again, and I don't right now. I don't feel safe at all." The sun was coming up, but they had both been up all night. Derek closed the blinds, and the two of them crawled into one of the big beds again. Derek fell asleep to Laura's steady heartbeat.

+++

It was the late afternoon by the time they both woke up, and Stiles was nowhere to be seen. The two of them spent the day lounging around the hotel, sitting on the edge of the pool and letting their feet get wet, and talking in a way they hadn't in a long time. As the hours went by, Laura seemed to be getting calmer, and they even had a nice dinner. Derek hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time. It was nearly ten at night when the family called and said there hadn't been a single problem all day, but they would keep him posting as to how the night went. Derek was glad to hear it, and when he looked up from the hotel lobby, he saw Stiles standing out on the edge of the property.

The hotel had a small field across the street, and Stiles was standing there with a glass jar in one hand, and he didn't appear to be moving. Laura was upstairs choosing what movie they were going to watch, but Derek wanted to find out what was going on. He walked out of the hotel and joined Stiles on the edge of the field. The sulfur around him was stronger than usual, and there was also a strange lingering smell that Derek didn't recognize.

"You can smell them," Stiles said.

"You saw another demon, and there is something else," Derek said.

"That would be Jackson, Lydia's little boy toy little lizard thing. He's actually a kanima, a shifter that went wrong during the process, and he would be fascinating if he weren't a fucking asshole. He's the one that paralyzed that one time Lydia decided to come and threaten us," Stiles explained, and Derek froze. Lydia was a wildcard, and he didn't know whose side she was on or if she wanted them alive or dead. She talked about their bond and how she wanted to be the one to test it, which always made Derek nervous. He glanced at Stiles and didn't see any markings that he was hurt, but that didn't mean anything. "Derek, I can hear you trying to smell anything on me. They didn't hurt me, in fact, I reminded Jackson that I can kick his ass, so I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine," Derek said as he looked out into the field. Some fireflies began to light up, and Stiles walked toward them. The bugs didn't flee from him; if anything, they seemed to be floating around him. Stiles put the jar down and opened up his hand. Derek was about to ask what was going on when several of the fireflies landed on his hand and just sat there.

"Be a dear and open that jar for me," Stiles said. Derek wanted to ask if the flies would scatter if he got too close, but this seemed like a Stiles thing where the explanation was going to be too weird, so he didn't bother to ask. Derek walked over, and not a single bug moved from Stiles' hand. He opened the jar, with little breathing holes on the top and everything, and handed it to Stiles. "Go on now," Stiles said, and the bugs flew up and into the jar like they listened when he asked them to, and they listened. Derek had seen a lot of strange things, but this was by far the weirdest. When all of the bugs were inside, Derek handed Stiles the lid, and he closed it.

"Do I even want to know?" Derek asked.

"Just confirming something," Stiles said as he looked at the jar as the bugs began to flash again. Only this time, the flashing looked more like a pattern, which could only mean that Stiles was communicating with the bugs. Derek was about to ask what the hell was going on when Stiles grinned and opened the jar again. The fireflies scattered, and Stiles turned to look at him. "I have a destination. You and sister wolf go and sleep. I have some reading to catch up on."

"Is everything okay?" Derek asked.

"Is it ever?" Stiles asked right back. That was a decent point, and Derek let Stiles into the Camaro so he would have somewhere to relax for the night. Stiles settled in the backseat, opened up a book, and didn't say another word. Derek went upstairs, and while Laura watched a movie, Derek looked through the bestiary to see if there was anything about fireflies that could explain what the fuck was going on. There wasn't, and Derek fell asleep confused.

+++

They left the next morning after the family confirmed no incidents at their house. Derek told them to call if they needed him again, and they went out on the road. Stiles told Derek to go North from the backseat and then kept right on reading without saying a word. Laura looked like she wanted to say something, but every time she looked over her shoulder at Stiles, she didn't say anything. They drove for three hours before Stiles told Derek to get off at a particular exit and began to guide him through a town from his place on the backseat. Stiles couldn't actually see what was going on, but he seemed to know where he was going.

"Derek said you ran into the current King of the Crossroads," Laura said, finally breaking the long silence between the three of them.

"That I did," Stiles said and didn't offer any more information. When Derek looked in the mirror, he could see Stiles smirking like the little shit he was; he was going to make Laura work for this.

"Did she tell you anything useful?" Laura asked. "Is she going to be a problem?"

"Lydia is always a problem, but at the moment, she doesn't want to kill any of us. Jackson, her boy lizard, might, but he's a douchebag and won't do anything unless Lydia gives him permission. Besides, like I told Derek, I reminded Jackson that I'm not someone to be fucked with, and I don't think he's going to try and get the jump on us anytime soon," Stiles replied.

"But did she give you information about this watcher of yours that was supposed to be looking out for me?" Laura asked.

"Lydia didn't give me shit," Stiles said. "But the fireflies did, and now we're on the way to deal with it." That wasn't an explanation, and whatever Derek was going to say next was interrupted by another set of directions until they pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant. It didn't appear to be open, and it was a Japanese place and the only thing in this parking lot. Stiles set his book aside and climbed out of the car.

"They aren't open," Derek said, and Stiles smiled.

"They'll open for me," Stiles said, and he walked toward the door. Derek glanced at Laura, and they both followed behind him. The front door was open, and Stiles walked in like he owned the place. Derek was about to ask what was going on when an older Japanese woman stepped out from the kitchen with a sword in hand. "Oh, my dear, you don't want to do that."

"Get out here," the woman said. "I didn't tell you to come here; I warned you to stay away. You bring nothing but death with you," she said.

"Stiles," Derek said, wondering if they were about to get into a fight. A man emerged from the kitchen as well, and he looked just as angry as the woman did, but he didn't have a sword on him. So at least everyone wasn't armed.

"I know you told me to stay away, which is why I'm here," Stiles said, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. He grinned and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Where is she? You wouldn't have told me to fuck off if she wasn't here." The woman didn't look like she was about to answer; instead, she looked like she was going to charge them with the sword, and Derek didn't want to fight this woman. She smelled mostly human, and he didn't know what she was capable of. Stiles didn't look worried at all as the woman walked toward him, but everyone stopped when a young woman, she couldn't have been much older than twenty-one, burst into the room.

"Mom, stop," she said.

"Kira, you shouldn't be here," the woman said, but Kira shook her head.

"Mom, please, put down the sword. Nothing good is going to come from this fighting, and you know it. We can't turn him away," the young woman, Kira, said.

"Yes, Mrs. Yukimura, put down the sword and don't turn me away," Stiles said. "In fact, my two werewolf friends haven't eaten anything yet today, so some lunch on the house would be fantastic." Mrs. Yukimura looked like she was still thinking of running Stiles through with the sword, but she tossed it to Kira, who caught it easily. Mrs. Yukimura turned and walked into the kitchen, and the man, Derek could only guess that was Mr. Yukimura, followed her in. They began to talk to each other in Japanese, but they also began to prepare food. Kira took a deep breath and released it slowly.

"Did you have to come here? If you had reached out, I could have met you somewhere, and we wouldn't have had this problem," Kira said, and she looked at Derek and Laura with an appraising gaze. Her eyes flashed a brilliant orange, and whatever she was, it was something Derek hadn't seen before.

"I can't believe this is how you greet me," Stiles said, but Kira waved him off and guided the four of them to a table. She sat down next to Stiles, and he seemed comfortable enough with a strange woman, armed with a sword, sitting next to him, so Derek didn't say anything. Laura was on edge, and she wanted to be next to him, and he wanted to be next to her. Laura blinked and stared at Kira.

"I've seen you before," Laura said. "We ran into each other in the grocery store while I was on my way to California. You're the one he hired to watch me."

"You aren't supposed to let them see you, Kira. My goodness, you and Isaac are so bad at this, why do I keep hiring you?" Stiles said.

"Because you like collecting interesting things and asking us to do weird favors for you," Kira said, and she turned to Laura and Derek. "I'm assuming he didn't tell you anything. My name is Kira, and I'm a thunder kitsune. After the incident with the hunter, Stiles asked me to follow you, Laura, and make sure you were safe."

"I didn't need anyone looking out for me," Laura snapped.

"I killed a hunter that was going to kill you right before the Nevada border," Kira said plainly, and Laura went very still.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you fried him silly, now why didn't you stay with her like I asked you to? Shit went all sorts of wrong when she got to Beacon Hills, and maybe it wouldn't have if you were there to help," Stiles said, and there was a manic edge to his voice that Derek didn't trust.

"I heard some names mentioned, and I needed to go check them out in Washington," Kira said, and she shifted in her seat. Stiles waved her along like he was getting impatient for whatever she wanted to say. "I wanted to check out these names because I know they meant something to Laura and Derek, so I knew they would mean something to you."

"Spit it out," Stiles snapped, but Kira didn't flinch.

"The names were Cora Hale and Malia Tate," Kira said, and Derek felt his blood run cold. He tried not to think about his little sister or his little cousin very often because they were so young when they died. Laura went extremely pale as she stared at Kira.

"No one should know those names," Laura said.

"I figured the Hale family was good about keeping records quiet, which is why I went to check it out, but someone in Washington is using those identities. It's two someones actually, and I wasn't able to find out where they were or what they were doing," Kira explained. Derek could hear Laura's heartbeat skyrocket.

"No, I identified the bodies, I couldn't have gotten it wrong. They are dead, they have to be dead, I couldn't have gotten that wrong," Laura said, and Derek could feel her start to spiral. He put his arms around her, but Laura shook him off. She was panicking. Mrs. Yukimura walked out of the kitchen and walked over to Laura.

"Come with me," she said. "You need fresh air." She looked at Stiles and Derek. "I won't hurt her, I promise, but she needs fresh air." Laura let Mrs. Yukimura help her to her feet, and the two of them walked out the front door of the restaurant. Derek could still feel her panic, and it took a few tries to calm his own heart.

"Are you telling me my sister and my cousin are alive?" Derek asked.

"I don't know, but it's weird," Kira said. "These records aren't recent. I've been seeing their names pop up all over Washington for many years."

"Something is going on up there," Stiles said, and Derek looked at him. "Lydia, she said something has the big ones in the Pit very spooked, and it has something to do with Washington state. Your sister and cousin in the same state as some weird-ass shit that has the big ones in the Pit afraid? Can't be a coincidence."

"No, it can't," Derek said, and his mind was already made up. He pulled out his phone and immediately dialed Allison, who was the only other person who would know anything about this. She picked up on the first ring.

"Hey Derek, did something happen?" she asked.

"Have you heard anything about Washington state?" he asked.

"Isaac mentioned something about it, so I was going to check it out, do you have something?" she asked.

"Maybe, we should meet up and discuss it," Derek said. Allison was about a hundred miles north of them, but she would stay put until tomorrow so they could talk about it as a group. Derek hung up and took a deep breath. Kira was watching him carefully, and then she looked at Stiles.

"You told me a long time ago that big events can impact all of us that aren't human in this world, right?" she asked, and Stiles nodded. "Then you need all the help you can get. You know I can fight Stiles, so let me help. I don't want to know what has the big guys in the Pit afraid." Derek didn't either, but he couldn't stop looping back to the idea that Cora and Malia might be alive. They would be just coming out of school if that was the case, maybe their freshman year in college, if they were alive. Laura said she identified the bodies, and Derek couldn't imagine she would get that wrong. He was spiraling just as badly as she was only he was keeping it to himself; the idea of his little sister and cousin alone for all of those years? That he might have family out there that needed him?

Underneath the table, Stiles silently pressed his foot to Derek's leg, and it was like an anchor. It brought him back to Earth, and he looked at Stiles. He was pale, but he looked determined. Whatever this was, Stiles wasn't planning on telling Derek not to go. That touch was all the confirmation that Derek needed; Stiles wanted to figure out what was happening too.

Kira apparently didn't have a car, which meant that Stiles got the amusement of watching her share the backseat of the Camaro with Laura and that just amused him way more than it should have. The two of them looked like they wanted to be anywhere else, and Stiles loved seeing the way their respective animal instincts were reacting. Laura's wolf clearly had no idea how to handle a kitsune, and Kira's kitsune was obviously very confused by the alpha werewolf. Stiles kept looking over his shoulder to watch them, and both of the women were glaring at him like they knew that he was getting some sort of amusement out of this entire thing.

Which he was, but that wasn't the point.

Stiles didn't want to think about the idea that someone could be up there in Seattle, messing with the natural order so much. Laura was barely keeping herself together, and Stiles could see the ideas going through her head. She thought she was responsible for this, somehow, and that she had misidentified her dead family members as a teenager. It wasn't fair to put that kind of responsibility on her, but Stiles was bad at talking to people. He needed to come up with a way to alleviate that guilt, or it was going to drag all of them down.

"It wasn't your fault," Stiles said when they were about halfway to the location where Allison agreed to meet with them. She knew something was going on too, so it was probably going to be in everyone's best interest if they worked together.

"Who exactly are you talking to?" Kira asked, and Stiles clenched his fists. He glanced at Derek, who was doing his best not to look back and focus on the road.

"Laura, it wasn't your fault," Stiles said.

"My sister and my cousin could be alive because I messed up that day, how is that not my fault?" Laura asked. "I should have thought that someone might try to take them or something terrible like that. So many people out there like to use us as experiments and two little girls? They would have been perfect molds."

"But they were dead," Stiles said, and everyone in the car seemed to be holding their breath. Stiles purposely looked out the window so he wouldn't have to look at anyone who was staring at him right now. "When Derek came to me as a kid and asked me to bring his family back, I did a bit of digging to see who was dead. That day, after you identified all of the bodies in the house, the only three Hale's that were alive were Derek, yourself, and Peter, and Peter was going to go at any minute. I know that Cora and Malia were dead because I needed to look into what I was turning down before I turned it down. You were right, they were dead, and none of this is your fault."

"But, the names, how--" Laura whispered.

"They were dead at the time that Derek tried to bring them back. As for right now? I have no idea, I don't have access to that sort of information, but we learned back in Beacon Hills that bringing people back from the dead is something that can happen. Maybe it happened again, maybe Jennifer is fucking with the natural order, I don't know, but all I can tell you is that no matter what we find up there you, Laura, didn't fuck something up on the worst day of your life," Stiles said. The car went deathly silent, and Stiles briefly considered throwing himself out the door to try and break the tension in the air.

"Thank you," Laura whispered like Stiles had somehow absolved her of something when he hadn't. All he did was tell her the truth. He nearly jumped when Derek subtly reached over and took his hand. Derek drove one-handed and threaded their fingers together. It wasn't something that the two of them really did, this sort of blatant affection for one another, but Stiles could feel Derek's pulse. It was steady, and the sound was enough to calm him down. Usually, Stiles didn't like being touched like this unless he was about to get fucked or do some fucking, but this was nice. This one time, he could accept this for what it was even if putting words to it was too much for him.

Allison and Isaac were standing outside their car in the parking lot of a closed store in the middle of southern Oregan. They appeared to be talking, and Stiles raised an eyebrow when he saw that they were pretty relaxed around each other already. That was surprising all things considered. Stiles released Derek's hand, and they all got out of the car. Isaac's eyes widened, and then he went a bit pale when he saw Kira.

"Yes, yes, Isaac, she's here too. You both suck at your jobs," Stiles said with a wave of his hand. Kira frowned but walked up to Allison and offered a hand.

"Kira Yukimura, kitsune, and indebted to this asshole," Kira said. Allison looked a little surprised but took Kira's hand and shook it.

"Allison Argent, and I'm assuming you know who Isaac is," Allison replied.

"We have a group chat of those that have to deal with Stiles," Kira replied with a grin, and that was information that Stiles didn't know.

"Wait a minute, why aren't I in this chat? It seems like something I should be in," Stiles said, but Kira smirked and didn't say anything. Stiles made a note to ask Isaac about it later because if there were anyone who would break under his glare, it would be Isaac. Isaac, judging from the way he was avoiding eye contact with everyone, seemed to know that too.

"So, what do you guys know about this?" Allison asked. Kira went on to explain why she wasn't guarding Laura at the time and what drew her to the border of Washington State near Canada in the middle of god damn nowhere apparently. Allison frowned deeply as she looked at Stiles.

"Another angel?" Allison asked.

"I don't think so," Stiles said as he paced around. "Another angel wouldn't make it this obvious. The names were right there, and we would have found them eventually. Whoever did this and whatever they did is different from an angel. There is something more going on here." Stiles hesitated, and he looked at everyone. "I spoke with Lydia, and she told me that the higher-ups in the Pit are running around like the world is about to end. A single angel bringing people back to life wouldn't do that. Someone really fucking with the natural order would do that much, and I don't know what it is."

"We need to check it out," Derek said. "Even if they are just using my sister and cousin's names to lure us there, we need to know for sure. Stiles said that Malia and Cora died, we know that they died, so why use those names? Why would someone use the names of people we know didn't make it through the fire? It doesn't make sense."

"What sort of thing would count as fucking with the natural order?" Kira asked, and Stiles crossed his arms. He thought about keeping this to himself for a little while, but maybe it was best if they knew now. If they were dealing with what Stiles thought they were dealing with, then needed to be prepared for the worst possible scenario and if he was right? It didn't get much worse than this.

"Necromancy," Stiles said, and he watched as everyone scoffed at him.

"That doesn't exist," Allison said.

"Yeah? And I bet before Beacon Hills you would have told me that angels don't exist either," Stiles snapped, and everyone seemed to realize that he wasn't fucking with them. "Being dead and coming back leaves a mark on you, but you can come back, and there have been people who managed to harness enough energy to bring people back. I imagine bringing back a wolf would take a lot of energy, but if you need someone to look out for you, then this would be the way to do it."

"You're telling me my sister and cousin could have been brought back from the dead years ago and didn't reach out to us?" Laura asked, and Stiles winced. This was the part of this explanation that was going to go over poorly for everyone involved.

"You're assuming they have any agency," Stiles said, and Laura and Derek both jerked like someone had just slapped them. Everyone fell silent, and Stiles began to chew on his thumbnail. He didn't want this to be a necromancer because they were a pain in the fucking ass. This was magic and very dark magic at that. This was someone harnessing the powers of a crossroads demon or an angel for their own purposes. He had been around for a long time, and he didn't have a fucking clue how to deal with one. This wasn't like one rogue angel that would likely spare everyone except him. For a necromancer, a body on the ground was just another weapon in their arsenal.

"Stiles, tell us how bad this is," Derek said, and Stiles looked up to realize that everyone was staring at him like he had all the answers when he didn't.

"I've never seen one, I've never dealt with it, I have no fucking clue what we're walking into or if I'm even right," Stiles said, and he ran his fingers through his hair. "All I know is that Lydia was scared, and she isn't afraid often. She would only be afraid if those above her were terrified, and I don't think I need to tell any of you how bad something needs to be to scare the mother fuckers that run the Pit."

"Whatever it is, it needs to be taken care of," Derek said, like the heroic and self-sacrificing son of a bitch that he was. Laura also nodded that she was in, as was Kira, Allison, and Isaac all said that whatever this thing was, it was something that needed to be hunted. Stiles wasn't really listening, though, because all he could think about was that look in Lydia's eye. He hadn't ever seen her afraid and the idea that something could scare her scared the shit out of him. Stiles felt Derek come over and press their shoulders together. Much like the handholding in the car, it was grounding and exactly what Stiles needed at that moment.

+++

Derek didn't like Stiles looking afraid, and it was obvious to anyone that knew him just how on edge he was. Kira and Isaac were both side-eyeing him, and Kira offered to ride with Allison like she wanted to get away from him. Laura didn't seem to notice, which was probably a good thing. The two cars took off for Washington State, and they began to drive. It took them about eight hours, and it was the middle of the night by the time they arrived near the town near the border where the weird sites. Some reports talked about them crossing over into Canada a few times and even down into Seattle, but it seemed that most of the stuff was taking place in Maple Falls and other small towns in the nearby national parks. People seemed on edge when they drove into town, which was really all the proof that Derek needed that something was going on.

They found a small inn and bought most of the place out for the next week. Laura said that she was going to sleep in a different room for the first time since Beacon Hills. Kira and Isaac offered to share a room while Allison said that she would take a room with Laura. That left Derek and Stiles with their own room. Usually, Stiles would be itching to get them alone since they had slept together in a long time [for them], but everything about Stiles' energy seemed to say that sex was not a good idea.

"Tell me what you're feeling," Derek said as Stiles paced around the room.

"I should go out there, see what I can find," Stiles said.

"You should lie down and try to relax. I know you don't sleep, but if you don't relax, then you get antsy, and I don't want to deal with your bullshit," Derek said with a smirk. Stiles frowned and looked like he wanted to disagree with that statement but decided against it at the last minute. They crawled into bed together, and Derek wrapped himself around Stiles to hold him close. The familiar smell was nice, and Derek buried his nose in Stiles' neck so he could breathe him in.

"You scent kink will always be fucking weird. I hope you know that," Stiles said, and he sounded a bit more like himself than he had since they had left Beacon Hills. They were both frayed and could really use a break, but they couldn't leave a job like this to anyone else, and they knew it.

"Just stay here and let me sleep with you so we can both get some rest," Derek said. Stiles sighed loudly, but Derek could feel the tension slowly leaving his body. Derek knew that Stiles wasn't asleep, but as he drifted off, he could feel Stiles getting into that state that was going to be restful for a demon.

+++

Derek was walking through the forest, and they looked familiar. These were woods that he knew like the back of his hand because he was in the Beacon Hills forest. These were the forests that he used to run through with his family before the fire took everything from him. He was alone, and Derek wished he knew where Laura or Stiles was. The fact that they were missing set him on edge, but he still felt like he was walking toward something.

There was someone in front of him in the forest, someone he recognized, but they looked so different from his memories, and it made his heart stop. When she was little, Cora looked a lot like Laura, but this Cora was older. Her hair was a little lighter than Laura, more of a brown than a black, and she was a small thing. She looked like she was in her early twenties, and her eyes were glowing a soft yellow in the warm afternoon sun. This was Cora, and this was Cora if she had survived the fire.

"Cora," Derek whispered as he ran forward and reached out to touch her. Cora bared her teeth at him and jerked away. Derek held up his hands as he tried to placate her. "It's me, it's Derek, do you remember me?" She tilted her head at him in a way that reminded him so much of his curious little sister that Derek felt his heart shatter. She was here, and she was okay, Derek could almost feel the heat coming off of her, but then he remembered something. Derek knew that Cora wasn't alive, so how did she appear in his dream like this? He knew that dreams could mean a lot when dealing with the supernatural, and he was about to ask Cora where she was when she lashed out. Her claws sliced through his neck, and Derek could feel his own hot blood running through his hands as he tried to stave off the bleeding.

Derek fell to his knees as the world around him began to go dark, and the last thing he saw was the image of his dead little sister standing over him, blood on her claws, smiling.

+++

For the next two nights, Derek dreamed about Cora, and every night it seemed like they got more and more vivid, and he felt even more exhausted. On the second time, he walked into the diner where he was meeting with everyone, and he could see that everyone looked like they had just been hit by a bus. Stiles narrowed his eyes and sat down as he looked at all of them.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Bad dreams," Laura muttered, and Derek froze.

"Were you dreaming about Cora?" Derek asked, and Laura frowned.

"No, I was dreaming about Malia," she said.

"I dreamt about my dad," Isaac said, and he shivered like that was a terrible thing.

"I dreamt about my mom," Allison said softly.

"And I dreamt about my grandfather," Kira said, and she looked at Stiles, who was appearing to get a little pale. "And judging from your expression Stiles, I can only guess that all of these people are dead. We're dreaming about dead people."

"What does it mean?" Derek asked, and Stiles swallowed.

"Well, it means we're in the right place. Necromancy works better when there is a strong connection to the person that's dead, and the necromancer is reaching out to all of you. It's showing you what you could have, what you could get if you helped him. He's trying to recruit you." Everyone was silent as the waitress brought them all black coffee. Derek tried to ignore the way that everyone chugged nearly an entire mug, and they needed to flag the waitress down for more right away. She didn't seem surprised to see people chugging coffee, and as Derek looked around the diner, he could see more and more people that looked far too tired and that were chugging coffee. He looked outside and saw more than one person chug an entire energy drink in one go and then go about their day like this was normal.

"It's the entire town," Derek whispered, and Stiles hummed.

"We need to keep looking for any clues," Allison said as she finished her second cup of coffee in mere minutes. Stiles waved their waitress over and insisted that everyone eat something before they leave because caffeine alone wasn't going to solve this problem. They all ate, and everyone split up to go out and look around the city. Stiles was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, looking around the entire town like he could somehow figure out what people were thinking.

"Tell me about your dream," Stiles said as they began to walk. There was a forest on the edge of town, and Derek and Stiles volunteered to be the ones to check it out with the promise that they wouldn't go too deep. Laura and Kira were looking together, and Allison and Isaac were also a team. Kira was the one who suggested that not splitting up like this was a bad horror movie was probably in their best interest.

"I'm in the forest around my house in Beacon Hills, and suddenly Cora is just there. It isn't the Cora I knew though, it's an older Cora, what she might look like if she hadn't died. I try to talk to her, and every time she attacks me, and there isn't anything I can do about it," Derek explained, and Stiles stops him.

"How does she attack you?" Stiles asked.

"She claws my throat," Derek said as Stiles stepped into his bubble. Stiles put his hands on Derek's neck and began to touch the skin there slowly. He wasn't quite baring his neck to a demon, but it was about as close as he could get, and he could only imagine that Laura would lose her freaking mind if she saw this. Stiles continued to explore his neck for a moment until he stepped away. "You think what happens in the dreams could happen in real life?"

"Let's be honest, little wolf, that would not be the weirdest thing that has happened to us this year," Stiles mumbled. He was trying to make a joke, but it fell flat. The two of them continued to the edge of the forest, and as soon as they were beyond the tree line, he could smell something. Derek stopped, and Stiles turned to look at him. "What is it?"

"This forest smells like death," Derek said because he couldn't explain it any other way. "Not like decaying or rotting bodies but like a graveyard. It smells like a graveyard with a lot of fresh dirt dug up."

"That's not good considering there isn't a graveyard for miles, and I don't see any fresh dug up dirt anywhere," Stiles said as he looked around. He knelt down and placed a hand on the ground. He went weirdly still for a moment like his entire body froze, but then Stiles was on his feet again. "We shouldn't go in here alone. If we're going to explore the forest that smells like the dead, we should do it with the entire supernatural Justice League at our backs. Going in alone is just asking for horror and leaning into that horror movie cliche which Kira will not stand for." Derek knew better than to try and disagree, and they all went back to the city.

It seemed that no one really knew much of anything. Apparently, the tiredness in the town set in about six years ago, which lined up timeline wise for Cora and Malia since that was when their names first showed up in records too. There didn't appear to be anything else that seemed to really stand out. Stiles told them all about the forest and that they would need to check it out as a group the next day. When they all went to bed, it seemed that everyone was ready for more dreams, but Stiles was even tenser than usual. Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles and held onto him as he fell asleep to dream about his little sister again.

+++

Stiles wasn't sure when he got up and left the room, but somehow here he was. He hadn't put on shoes, not that it really mattered to him, and his breath was fogging in the cool mountain air. He was wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt, and nothing else as he walked through the city and into the woods. It took Stiles a moment to realize that this wasn't real, no matter how real the cold beneath his feet felt, which meant that he was dreaming. That wasn't good since this necromancer would have to be extremely powerful to make him fall asleep against his will. He wandered into the forest and tried to force himself to wake up.

He knew what Derek meant about the forest smelling like a graveyard, and the deeper he got into the woods, the more he could smell it. It reminded him of the mass graves he had seen during times of pandemic when the whole town would just smell of dirt and death. Derek was also right that nothing smelled like rotting bodies but more like a body so old that they were nothing but bones.

Stiles heard something behind him, and he turned around just in time to see a pair of blue eyes. It was a wolf, but he didn't have time to react; the wolf sliced down his chest with its claws, and Stiles stumbled. He was bleeding all over the place, and he blinked; there was pain. Stiles knew dreams, and he knew flashbacks, but there wasn't ever pain like this. He couldn't ever smell his own blood in a dream or a flashback.

He realized a second too late that this wasn't a dream as the wolf attacked him from behind. Stiles could feel claws slicing through his skin, and he collapsed to the cool ground beneath.

+++

Derek snapped awake and immediately knew that something was wrong. Stiles wasn't there, and he wouldn't wander off at a time like this. He was the one who said that they shouldn't explore the forest without the full group. He wouldn't be stupid enough to leave with a necromancer running around. They still had their bond, and right now, the bond was telling him that something terrible was happening. Derek jumped to his feet and pulled on his boots as fast as he could. He ran outside and banged on the doors to the other two rooms until everyone was awake.

"Derek? What's going on?" Laura asked, and there were dark circles under her eyes, and Derek felt a little bad about waking them up, but something was wrong, and they needed to fix it.

"Stiles is missing, and something is wrong," Derek said, and they all stared at him. "We're bonded, it's a long story, but you have to believe me. Please." That seemed to be enough to get everyone moving. Allison had a crossbow in hand, and Kira took her sword as everyone managed to pull on just enough clothes that they could all race to the edge of town. Derek could smell Stiles' scent, see his footprints in the ground, and the forest still smelled like death when they walked in. Laura, Kira, and Isaac all jerked when they walked into the forest, so Derek knew that they could smell it too. There was something else, though; blood.

Derek ran as fast as he could until he found Stiles in the middle of a clearing covered in blood. There were deep claw marks on his chest and back, and it smelled like a werewolf. However, it didn't smell like a wolf that Derek knew, so he thanked whatever god might exist that it didn't appear to be Cora or Malia that had attacked him. That just meant there was another wolf out there, and that didn't help. Derek took Stiles into his arms, and the six of them all covered him as they quickly made their way back to the hotel room.

"Is he dying?" Allison asked softly as he Derek laid Stiles on the bed. The wounds were too big to make bandages for, so he took the sheets off of the beds and wrapped Stiles' entire torso in the cloth. He was deathly pale, and he looked like a corpse, but Derek could tell that he wasn't gone.

"No, I don't think so," Derek said. "If he was dying, I think I would know. When Jennifer nearly killed him in Beacon Hills, it was like someone trying to stretch a rubber band as tight as possible until it nearly snapped. This isn't like that, but it's not good."

"It was a wolf," Laura whispered, and Derek nodded.

"Cora or Malia?" Isaac asked, but Derek and Laura shook their heads.

"There is another werewolf out there?" Kira asked, which was not a good sign. Derek watched Stiles for a long time until everyone went back to their own rooms to get some rest. He tried not to doze off because the last thing he needed was to see Cora again, but the exhaustion was too much, and Derek fell asleep with Stiles' cool hand in his own.

+++

Within the next forty-eight hours, they all went from seeing their dead loved ones in dreams to sleepwalking. Stiles woke up after a few hours, and he wasn't surprised to find all of them in weird places. If the necromancer was powerful enough to get him, then the others weren't a problem. They were lucky in that Allison just woke up extremely cold one morning in the woods, but Laura was nearby, so it worked out all right. They didn't know what was making them sleepwalk, but now things were getting more serious. At the moment, he was the only one who was attacked, but that could change any given moment. They needed to get ahead of this somehow, and that meant going into the woods at night. No one was pleased with that idea since they were all so tired that they could barely stand on any given day, but this was the only time that they were all affected by the necromancer. They needed to be in the woods, or they weren't going to find anything.

"I'll go buy a lot of energy drinks," Allison mumbled when Stiles told her this idea. He was still a little weak, but all the blood loss, but he was fine. When Laura asked him if he remembered anything about the attack, the last thing he saw was a pair of blue eyes. That seemed to calm her down since none of her other family members, aside from Derek, had blue eyes, and that meant that it couldn't be one of them. Stiles didn't have the heart to tell her that Cora or Malia could have killed someone in the last few years if they were alive, and it could have changed their eyes, but that wouldn't help anyone.

Allison returned with a bag of energy drinks and a tray of extra-large coffees for everyone, which all proceeded to drink as they made their way toward the woods. No one was really looking forward to doing this, but Stiles couldn't think of another way to take another step forward. Even if they left, the magic of this necromancer was in their heads; there wasn't any escaping it now. They walked into the woods, and Allison was once again armed with a crossbow, and Kira had her sword. Isaac declared he was the worst of the fighters since they weren't near water, and so he was the one stuck carrying everyone's extra gear, including the energy drinks to keep them going.

Derek stayed close as they walked further into the woods, but the feeling of death just got heavier and heavier the further they got into the woods.

"There is a human heartbeat ahead of us," Derek muttered, and everyone prepared their weapons for a fight. As they walked into the clearing where they were often found asleep, there was one man who looked far too familiar for Stiles' tastes. He bared his teeth as Chris Argent turned around to look at them.

"Dad?" Allison said. "What are you doing here?"

"I think the better question is, why are you here," Chris said. "This is too dangerous for all of you, so you should leave before this gets worse."

"He's lying," Derek said, and Stiles agreed. Chris Argent knew something about this, and Stiles didn't have the patience to wait for him to grow a conscience. His eyes turned black, and he stomped forward until he was right in front of Chris. He jerked back a step but held his ground.

"The wolves say you're lying, and I nearly got myself gutted the other day, so I'm in no mood for your bullshit, Argent," Stiles said, and he made sure that Chris could feel the power and anger in the air. "You know we can't leave because whoever is controlling this magic is too powerful. There isn't any getting away, so, again, I'm in no mood for your bullshit." Chris stared at Stiles for a moment and then looked up at Allison. She was wearing the exhaustion more than anyone; she was pale with dark circles under her eyes.

"It's my father," Chris said softly as everyone approached him. "He's been obsessed with bringing people back from the dead for as long as I've known him. He called me right after Beacon Hills to tell me that he finally figured it out and that if I came up here, he would bring my wife back."

"Your father is mad," Kira said.

"He's messing with things that he can't possibly understand," Stiles snapped. "This goes against the natural order, and he has the worst things in the fucking Pit worried, and you thought you'd show up to get your wife back? It's never that easy, trust me, I would know." Stiles was so angry that he could hardly see straight, but there was movement behind Chris. There was movement around all of them, but the one that emerged from the shadows first made Stiles want to fall over. He couldn't remember the last time he really felt like someone had just punched him in the chest. Everyone was yelling that they were surrounded, that multiple something's were closing in, but Stiles only had eyes for the wolf staring him down. The wolf that had Stiles' blood on his clothes and whose yellow eyes were now a brilliant blue.

It didn't matter that it had been almost half a century; Stiles would recognize Scott McCall anywhere.

Derek liked to think he knew Stiles reasonably well at this point. They had been together in one form or another for over a year, so he assumed that he knew most of Stiles' facial expressions. He knew when Stiles was upset and when he was about to have a flashback. He knew when Stiles was joking and when he was about to commit a murder. Derek knew all of these expressions but the look on Stiles' face as he stared at that werewolf with the blue eyes? Derek didn't know that expression. It was the most human that Stiles had ever looked, and for a moment, Derek thought that Stiles might actually cry, but he couldn't focus on that right now. Right now, they were being surrounded, and there was more than one werewolf. Laura cried out in pain, and Derek rushed to her side. Her eyes were glowing red, and she was breathing hard.

"Laura? What's going on?" he asked as two more sets of blue eyes began to emerge from the darkness. It looked like two young women, and Derek felt his heart start to pound.

"Pack," Laura whispered, and all hell broke loose.

Derek recognized Cora from his dreams, but he didn't know how he was supposed to react to her. She was fast, so much faster than he ever imagined his little sister being, and she looked so much like Laura and their mother. Her hair was long and dark, but her bright blue eyes that weren't there when she was a kid were concerning. She swiped at him with his claws, and Derek realized that she was not fighting to try and incapacitate him; Cora was fighting to try and kill him. There was not a hint of recognition in her eyes.

"Cora, it's me, it's Derek, your brother!" he called out as he tried to avoid her deadly claws, but there was nothing but a blank expression on her face. Cora looked feral, and she looked like she wanted to kill him, but Derek didn't know how he was supposed to fight his baby sister. Derek took a breath and realized why Laura reacted the way she did; Cora, and by extension Malia as well, still smelled like pack. They still smelled like family the same way that Peter did when Jennifer brought him back. There was something off in the way that she smelled, but the baseline still screamed family.

Briefly, he could see Laura struggling against the fight with Malia the same way he was struggling against Cora and Stiles was barely putting up a fight against the wolf that was attacking him as well. There appeared to be several humans running around in the darkness of the woods as well, and they were not afraid of the wolves. Derek saw one of the humans fighting Allison, and they had that same feral look that Cora had. The humans, just like the wolves, had a strange underlying smell, and Derek realized that all of the people that they were fighting right now were dead people, brought back to life. They were fighting people that might not have souls or anything remaining in their bodies anymore.

Cora managed to hit Derek in the chest with her claws, and he stumbled back a few steps. That was the chance that she needed to full-on tackle him to the ground. It was strange to think of his little sister attacking him this and that she was winning. Derek hit the ground hard, and his head snapped back hard enough that he was briefly dazed. Cora raised her claws like she was going to cut his throat the same way that she had in his dreams when someone suddenly pushed her back. Isaac was there, bags abandoned somewhere, and his strength was enough to send Cora back several feet and into a tree. He smiled briefly down at Derek, and he was about to thank him when Malia came out of nowhere and sliced down Issac's chest with her claws.

Isaac was a selkie, which was a creature that Derek didn't have any experience with, and the smell of Isaac's blood was enough to knock him flat on his ass. It was red and looked like human blood, but the smell of salt and the ocean filled the air. It was the shock to his system that Derek needed to get his mind back in the fight. He backhanded Malia hard enough to send her toward Cora, and she hit the ground hard. Isaac stumbled and fell to the ground, but Allison was there in seconds. She put a hand on the wounds, and Derek could see the blood on her hands; she must have killed one of the humans.

"You need to keep fighting them," she said. It seemed that Isaac's blood was enough to pull Stiles out of the daze he was in. Derek watched as those lovely eyes of his turned black, and he began to fight against the other werewolf like he wanted to win instead of just keeping himself alive. Stiles ducked an attack from the wolf he was fighting, and he began to move more fluidly. Stiles, when he was actually fighting, was almost beautiful to watch. His limbs didn't seem lanky anymore, and Stiles moved with a level of grace that made his fights look like dances. Stiles was also no longer pulling his punches, and when he hit the wolf across the face, Derek saw blood.

The wolves were the only ones that remained, and Stiles threw the male one back so far that he nearly snapped the tree he hit in half. If that hurt that wolf, he didn't seem to care. Derek watched as Cora, Malia, and the other wolf all stood together with their glowing blue eyes. It hurt Derek to see his sister and his cousin with blue eyes because he knew what that meant. He knew that they had killed an innocent person, and now they had to live with that.

Derek bared his teeth as Stiles stood tall, and Kira pointed at them with her sword. Derek could see that their wounds were healing far too fast even for werewolves, which left Derek extremely conflicted. He didn't want Cora or Malia hurt, but these wolves were acting like they didn't feel pain or fear death. They were strong, fast, healing even faster, and they had no fear. It didn't get much more dangerous than that. The three wolves began to advance but suddenly stopped at the exact same time. They all cocked their heads like they were listening to something. A moment passed, and the three of them turned and raced into the woods. Derek took a step to go after them to try and stop his sister and his cousin from running away from him, but he stopped himself. There was no point in going after those two wolves because they didn't know him.

"Isaac, you need to stay with me," Allison said, and Derek turned to see that the selkie was getting extremely pale. He was bleeding out, and there wasn't much that Derek could do for him. Stiles pushed his way through and looked down at Isaac.

"You're not allowed to die; you know that, I told you that," Stiles said like that made a difference at all.

"I know, I didn't mean to," Isaac replied, and when he coughed, there was some blood on his lips. Derek could feel Isaac fading, and it wasn't going to be long now. The young man seemed nice enough, and he saved Derek's life. He didn't want him to die like this. Kira knelt down and glanced at Stiles for a moment and then back to Isaac.

"I need energy," Kira said, and Stiles offered a hand without a second of hesitation. Kira took it and closed her eyes. Derek blinked, and he could faintly see the outline of the kitsune hovering around her as Kira's eyes began to glow orange. She placed a hand on Isaac's chest and closed her eyes. The wounds weren't so much healing as they stopped bleeding as Isaac went limp in Allison's arms. He wasn't actively bleeding out anymore, but he was extremely weak now, and his heartbeat was irregular. Kira released Stiles' hand and looked down at him. "He'll live."

"Excellent," Stiles said, and he pushed himself to his feet. This time Derek knew the expression on Stiles' face because he had seen this one. This was Stiles when he was channeling everything he knew about the Pit and wanted to use it on another person. That look was very much directed at Chris Argent right now who, to his credit, actually looked a little worried to see the full force of just how terrifying Stiles could be. "Chris, you want to tell me why I just had to fight the revived body of my best friend from when I was a human?"

That explained a lot. While Stiles didn't talk about his past a lot, Derek remembered Stiles talking about the werewolf friend he had when he was human. If Derek remembered correctly that friend's name was Scott and a rogue werewolf had bitten him, and despite Stiles and Scott's efforts, he lost control and was found out. The people of old Beacon Hills did not take well to that and had Scott killed. Scott must have been the wolf that attacked Stiles the other night as well. They were all dreaming of dead friends and family, but Stiles didn't sleep, and he didn't see the wolf that attacked him the other night. That was why seeing Scott must have thrown him off so much; the rest of them had been seeing their dead loved ones for days while Stiles hadn't seen Scott since the day he died.

"It isn't safe here," Laura said before Chris could say anything. "We need to leave here before we can talk about what just happened." Laura had a few cuts and bruises on her, but Derek could see that she was already healing.

"Let's go back to the motel," Derek said as he knelt down and took Isaac from Allison's arms into his own. Allison climbed to her feet, walked over to her dad, and took him by the arm.

"You're coming with us, Dad, and you're going to tell us everything we want to know about grandpa," she said. Chris looked like he didn't want to do that, but Allison's grip was tight, and Chris seemed to realize that out of all of them, she was going to be the most forgiving. Chris sighed and didn't fight as Allison began to drag him out of the forest. The bodies of the human they had fought lay on the grass, and Derek tried not to think about the fact that the forest smelled even more like death now. He also tried not to think about the blood dripping from Malia and Cora's claws.

More than anything, Derek wanted to ask Stiles if he needed anything or if he was okay, but judging from the fact that Stiles looked so tense that his spine was about the snap, Derek didn't think that would go over well. Stiles didn't like being vulnerable, and all of them just saw him lose his composure. So Derek just walked a little closer and allowed their arms to brush up against each other a couple of times. The first time Stiles somehow tensed up even more, but the next time, he seemed to relax a little.

Finally, Stiles glanced over at Derek as they were making their way back to the motel, and Derek nodded a little. He wanted Stiles to know that he wasn't alone in these extremely conflicted feelings about what just happened. Stiles had to fight his best friend that he had lost decades ago, Derek had to fight against his baby sister and his little cousin, that is bound to fuck someone else, and Derek just wanted Stiles to know that he didn't need to bear that burden alone.

+++

If Stiles were a lesser demon or even a lesser being, he would be shaking right now. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so overwhelmed by everything that had happened or the last time he had frozen so thoroughly in front of something trying to kill him. Stiles learned a long time ago that fighting back was the only way to survive; it was one of the reasons he fell once he ended up on the table in the Pit, was because anger and fighting back were the things a good demon needed to survive. Now he didn't fight back, he wasn't fighting back, and Stiles didn't know what to do with all of that. It was too much for him to handle, and he almost wanted to run away from all of this so he could have time to really get his composure back.

He couldn't run; there wasn't time because an Argent was fucking around with necromancy and really fucking with the natural order, and it was only a matter of time before all of heaven and hell lost their collective shit. What none of these mortals seemed to understand was that when heaven and hell lost their collective shit, it was the human race that paid the price. Stiles wasn't there in the old days, but he spoke to plenty of demons that were. He shared a drink with a fallen angel or two, and they all described the potential bloodbath. No one here understood that so Stiles had to stay and keep his shit together, so they all didn't end up dead.

Stiles was thankful that they didn't know him very well here. He was so thankful that no one could tell how hard he was trying to keep himself together right now except for Derek. Derek seemed to realize how close he was to losing it, and thank fuck didn't try to talk to him about it. Instead, Derek just let himself casually touch Stiles in a way that could be seen as accidental when it was completely on purpose. The first time it happened, Stiles was so lost in his own head that he nearly took Derek's head off. The second time and every time ever since it was grounding. It reminded Stiles that no shit has been collectively lost yet, so maybe there was time to mitigate this possibly world-ending catastrophe.

Chris Argent looked like he didn't have a care in the world right now, but he kept eyeing Stiles carefully. The man hadn't seen Stiles as a demon much, he only saw the human, and Stiles very much wanted to remind him that he was not someone to be trifled with. He wanted answers, and he was going to get them even if that meant his hands might have to get a little bloody. Chris, to his credit, was doing his best not to care, but Stiles was waiting for the moment that cool facade would drop. He tried not to be a sadist often, but fucking idiots putting literally everyone at risk was more than Stiles could handle.

They went to Allison and Isaac's room, and Chris made a face when he noticed that his daughter was sharing a room with the selkie who was currently fighting to stay alive. Stiles wished he could teleport right now because he knew where Isaac kept his pelt, and that was something that might help the healing process. It wasn't an option, though, and Stiles was glad that Kira was a clever little fox who. She was drained and needed at least a day to recover from all of this bullshit. Laura and Derek looked like they'd been put through the wringer, and Allison was bruised and bloodied.

Stiles did not like it when his things got ruined, and these creatures were his things.

She forced her father into the chair at the piece of shit desk and took a step back as Stiles walked forward and purposely loomed over Chris.

"You're going to talk, and you're going to do it now," Stiles said, and the threat was evident in his voice. His eyes flickered black, and he made sure that Chris could feel that he was not fucking around. Stiles pretended to be human; he made sure that he felt human to those around him; it was a survival tactic, but he was not pretending right now, and every single person in the room flinched.

"My father did not take Kate's death very well," Chris explained. "In fact, he tried to bargain for her life back at a crossroads, which I'm surprised you didn't know about since you were supposed to be the king and everything."

"I had several employees working under me at the time, so I didn't know everyone that asked for a deal," Stiles said. "I'm guessing he was turned down then."

"More like no one showed up," Chris replied, and Stiles smirked. His people were probably smart not to an Argent at the crossroads for a deal. For all, they knew the hunter would just blow them away or send them back to the Pit. Stiles didn't like to think about his old employees very often but was weirdly proud of all of them for turning down a deal to an Argent. He was also fucking annoyed because if they had given this man what he wanted, he'd be in the Pit by now, and they wouldn't have a possibly word ending problem on their hands. "So, he started to look into other ways to bring her back."

"Necromancy is dark magic, and he's fucking with the natural order of things. People who are dead aren't supposed to come back. That isn't the way this works," Stiles said, and Chris frowned.

"You were King of the Crossroads, you brought people back all the time, I heard you brought Laura back, so what is so different?" he asked.

"Why do you think demons make the trade for souls?" Stiles asked as he tilted his head. "We are quite literally switching out one soul for another. That's why we take your soul when we bring people back. We are maintaining balance."

"Is that why they're hunting you?" Derek asked, and it was his professionalism that kept him from flinching. "You didn't take me when you brought Laura back, and that messed up the balance. That's why they are hunting you?"

"What makes you think I didn't find a way to maintain the balance?" Stiles asked, and everyone in the room went silent, but there wasn't time to really think about it. "If they caught on because I didn't collect one soul, do you think they aren't going to notice multiple people getting pulled from the Pit and the other place? Your fucking father is attracting mass amounts of attention right now, and humanity doesn't tend to do well when heaven and hell are focusing on them. The last time it nearly wiped all of you off the fucking planet, and then let's not ignore the fact that you're opening the door to the Pit. None of you have any idea what could crawl out of there with the door being left open, even a crack. Kate died connected to Saul, he was the demon that kicked all of this off, and I don't want to think about what parts of him might be clinging to her soul if your father succeeds."

"You're afraid," Chris whispered, and Stiles could feel all of them watching him like he was some sort of circus act, and he hated it.

"I'm not going anywhere if the idiots up above and down below decide to have a shit fit, but all of you? You won't survive, humanity and the rest never do, you'll just be collateral damage that they see as balancing the books again. Demons, angels, we bring people back carefully because we know how fragile it is. None of you do," Stiles said, and he looked around the room at all of them. "You should all be very fucking afraid of what this could lead to."

"The end of the world," Kira whispered.

"The good book talks about the final war, but they don't need a war between them if they're just losing their minds on a cosmic level," Stiles said, and he glared at Chris. "And you want to do all of that so you can bring your wife back to life. So your father can have his little girl back. You want to risk the whole damn world for your own selfish desires."

"We didn't know--" Chris said, and he looked a little stricken.

"No, you didn't, you have no fucking clue what you're dealing with." Stiles ran his fingers through his hair and paced a few times as he tried to calm himself down. "And you mortals say my kind are the selfish ones, but we're born from you."

"What about the ones that were brought back?" Laura asked. "Cora and Malia, I could feel them, their wolves were calling out to me as the alpha. That other wolf, too, his wolf was calling to me, can they be saved?"

"Like I said, bringing someone back is a delicate process. If you're not careful, they could come back wrong, and I don't know how wrong any of them are. Could they be saved? Maybe but the cosmic balance might say they need to go back in the ground to keep things from going off the rails," Stiles explained as he looked at the ceiling. "People like you and your father should be afraid of death, Chris, because I know what awaits you after, and it isn't pretty." Stiles turned and walked out of the room, leaving them all to deal with this on their own. He needed some time outside to try and calm down because he didn't know how they were going to fix this. Stiles didn't know if they could fix this.

+++

The room was silent after the door closed, and Derek stared at it like he could bring Stiles back with the force of his mind, but he couldn't. So he needed to figure out what they were going to do next because Stiles clearly needed some time. He couldn't think about the fact that Stiles was just talking about destruction on a cosmic level because that was too much for him. Derek was a hunter, and a hunter needed prey, so now it was time to find some prey. He looked at Chris, who very much looked like he wanted a hole in the ground to swallow him up.

"Where is he?" Derek asked. "We have to stop him, so where is he?"

"I don't know," Chris said as he rubbed his temples. "He said he would find me, and if he controlled those wolves and people, then I guess he did find me. I guess my father doesn't trust me anymore because those people attacked me just as much as they attacked all of you."

"We have to find him fast," Kira said, and they all turned and looked at her. "I've known Stiles longer than any of you, and I've never seen him like that. Whatever could happen if this keeps up, it's scaring the shit out of him."

"And none of us want to see what scares the shit out of a former King of the Crossroads that has gone through the Pit twice," Derek finished, and Kira nodded. "All of you should stay here and get working as fast as you can. I'm going to get Stiles, and we'll figure out our next step. This place isn't that big, so he has to be somewhere close by." Everyone nodded, and Derek glanced at Laura, who looked far too pale. She probably wasn't grappling with the idea that the reason why all of hell was searching for him and Stiles was that Derek brought her back and then didn't pay the price.

Derek walked out of the motel and looked around. He wasn't surprised that Stiles hadn't gone far and seemed to be sitting in the middle of the parking lot with his legs crossed. He was staring out ahead and didn't seem to be moving. Derek approached and made sure that he was loud enough that Stiles would hear him coming and sat down next to him. They sat in silence for a moment until Derek decided it was time to break the silence.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" he asked.

"Tell you what?" Stiles replied.

"Tell me that my mere existence is an affront to the natural order, and I was potentially bringing all of heaven and hell down on us by existing," Derek said.

"I told you, it's covered, you're covered. I gave them plenty of bodies to make up for yours. They just wanted your soul in particular because you're a wolf, and our bond made us interesting," Stiles explained, and he sighed heavily. "We need to fix this. I don't want to see the end times."

"It was Scott, wasn't it," Derek stated, and Stiles somehow got even tenser. "I remember you telling me about him. It was bad to see Cora and Malia again and seeing what they looked like if they had grown up. I can't imagine what it must have been like to see Scott again."

"You know, it's fucking stupid, but I'm glad I'm not in the original body, and he doesn't seem to be al there," Stiles said, and he shook his head. "The Stiles that Scott knew doesn't exist anymore, hasn't existed for a long time, and I don't want him to see me like this. I don't want him to know what I went through because he would find some way to blame himself the self-sacrificing idiot." Stiles paused, and he glanced at Derek. "I apparently have a type."

"You were in love with him?"

"I was, a long time ago, a different lifetime ago, and people might have hated us more if they knew about that than if they knew about him being a werewolf," Stiles explained. "I never told him, and he thought of me like a brother. Sometimes, after he got the bite, he would look at me weird like he knew he could smell something different on me, but I never told him. He died before I ever could. Scott and my dad were my everything, and I lost them both."

"I know how it feels to lose everything," Derek said, and he moved, so they were sitting close enough to touch. Derek telegraphed his intentions to pull Stiles into a one-armed hug, and Stiles didn't flinch or move away. He seemed to melt into the hug, and Derek eventually pulled Stiles into his lap, and they held onto each other until Derek couldn't feel his tailbone from sitting on the ground. Stiles got to his feet and offered Derek a hand. He seemed to visibly pull himself together.

"All right, wolf boy, let's go save the world."

+++

They went the next twenty-four hours doing what they all could to find Gerard Argent, but he didn't seem to be anywhere. When Allison asked around about him, no one knew that name. Chris spent some time making himself bait, but Gerard never showed himself. Derek had a feeling that Gerard knew that Chris was working with them now, and that wasn't going to lead anywhere good for any of them. Isaac woke up after a few hours but had to remain in his bed as he was much too weak to go anywhere and help out right now. He needed a few days to mend, which was not good because time wasn't on their side. Sometimes Stiles would stop and stare at nothing, and Derek could only imagine what he was seeing.

On top of that, there was something wrong with Laura. She was getting paler and weaker, and no one seemed to know what was wrong with her. She would only sleep for minutes at a time even when Derek would hold her at night, and she always woke up screaming. Stiles looked worried about that, but he didn't say anything. As night fell the day after the fight, Derek was walking back to the motel with Kira when the smell of blood filled the air. They raced down the street and found Stiles in the middle of a battle with Scott, who was acting even more vicious than usual. There was a knife in his hand, and it was a knife that Derek knew all too well. That was a demon-killing knife, and he didn't want to think about how Gerard managed to get one of those.

Malia and Cora appeared along with an old man that Derek didn't recognize. Everyone poured out of the motel room, and Chris was staring at the man.

"Dad, you need to stop this, you don't know what's at stake," Chris yelled but Gerard seemed to pay him no attention. He smiled and watched as Stiles struggled against Scott. There were endless, dead-eyed humans that put themselves between him and Stiles, and Derek couldn't get to him. He was almost there when he felt something snap. Derek looked up and saw Gerard staring at Laura, who was clutching her head. Allison knelt down to help her, but Laura lashed out and sent Allison flying back several feet.

"I know what's at stake," Gerard said as he held up a hand. "It's time to gain two more soldiers because dying and coming back leaves a mark on a soul that I know how to exploit." The bond Derek felt between himself and Laura weakened, but it didn't snap. His sister stood up and walked toward Gerard with that same dead-eyed look that Malia and Cora had. The two wolves bared their necks at her, and Derek could feel that Laura was stronger with two more pack members. Derek kept trying to push his way through, but there were too many people, and he and Kira could only do so much. Stiles was down and bleeding terribly from knife wounds that could kill him. Gerard knelt down and looked at Stiles. "You're the reason my little girl is dead, and you're going to be the one to help bring her back."

"You won't be getting her back, you'll be getting pieces of a demon, and you're going to bring the whole of heaven and hell down on all of us," Stiles said as he coughed up blood. Derek finally broke through the humans, but Laura was there, and she disabled him far too quickly. She twisted his arm painfully behind his back, and Derek cried out as he felt the bones begin to snap.

"And that demon will be happy to trade you for her," Gerard said. "Until then, you're weak, and the marks on your soul are different, but I've had a lot of practice, little demon, and I need more soldiers." Derek struggled as Gerard began to mutter words under his breath, and a foul smell filled the air. It smelled like death, and Derek could only watch as Stiles climbed to his feet and put himself between Derek and Gerard. He smiled, and there was nothing behind it. Stiles flicked his wrist, and Kira flew back into a car and didn't get up. Laura broke the last bone in Derek's arm and threw him into the pavement hard enough that he tasted blood. The world was beginning to darken, and all Derek could do was watch Stiles, Laura, Cora, and Malia all walk away from him.

Derek knew that he only blacked out for a few minutes, but when he opened his eyes, it felt like a lifetime had passed. Chris appeared to be the only one awake, and he was tending to Allison. Stiles and Laura were both gone, and Kira was unconscious nearby. The motel door was open, and Derek could hear that Isaac was still alive in the room. Laura wasn't far away, he could feel her, but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to fight her alone. She was much too strong for him, and with Cora and Malia accepting her as their alpha, then he didn't stand a chance. Gerard clearly had some sort of mad plan going on and thought that this was the best way to go about making it happen. They were too injured and not strong enough to fight this. Derek fell back on the pavement and groaned. They didn't stand a chance.

It was the combination of sulfur and the sound of someone walking in high heels that made Derek sit up and look around. Out of the shadows, Lydia walked out, her eyes glowing a deep red, with Jackson walking a half step behind her. She looked furious while Jackson looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. Lydia stopped and surveyed the entire area as her gaze fell on Derek.

"Of course you're here," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Derek asked as he pushed himself to his feet. He ignored Lydia in favor of kneeling down next to Kira and helping her up as she came to.

"I mean, I told Stiles to stay away and stay out of this, but of course he didn't listen to me," she looked around, and Derek realiZed that she looked very afraid, which was not something he was expecting to see on Lydia. Now he knew what Stiles meant when he said that something that scared her was something to be afraid of. Chris and Allison made their way over to Lydia, but they looked wary of her. Isaac stumbled out of the motel room to join them, but both he and Kira didn't seem afraid of her. "Two of his favorite little watchers are here too and two Argents. Well, well, it certainly seems that we have the whole gang together now, don't we."

"Yes, yes, Lydia, lovely to see you always," Kira said with a wave of her hand. "Are you here to gloat, or are you here to help? Because they have him." Lydia suddenly went very still as Jackson bared his teeth.

"The necromancer took control of a demon?" she asked carefully.

"He's trying to bring my sister back to life," Chris explained. "And while he was doing that, he revived three werewolves, took control of an alpha werewolf, and seems to have control of a demon as well."

"He took control of Stiles," Lydia repeated. Now she looked angrier than Derek had ever seen her, and even Jackson took a step back from the sheer amount of power that she was giving off at that moment. Derek didn't think he had ever felt something like before and even Kira and Isaac, who clearly knew Lydia, were staring at her with wide eyes.

"Your sister has no soul left, Chris Argent," Lydia said as she glared at him. "It was quite thoroughly destroyed by the demon Saul. A part of Saul died the moment that she died, and if your father brings her back, he's going to bring back one of the most dangerous demons ever to walk the Earth. Not to mention all of the other pleasant little creatures that could slip through those cracks in the door, and that isn't even mentioning the fact that bringing Saul back and taking control of a demon will be seen as an act of war. Hell, the Pit, will come to take care of it, and they will take half of the world down with them assuming that Heaven doesn't decide to get involved too."

"What can we do to stop it?" Derek asked because he refused to believe that this the end of days, and there wasn't a way to fix this. There had to be a way to fix this and make sure that more blood wasn't spilled. Lydia narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. Derek met her gaze and refused to look away from her.

"Stiles always told me that you have a hero complex, do you want to save the entire world now? Will that finally appease that broken soul of yours?" Lydia asked nastily. "This is more than any of you can handle, so you should run and hide. Maybe, if you get lucky, the beasts of Heaven and Hell won't reign down on you."

"My grandfather is responsible for this," Allison snapped, and Lydia glared at her. "You might think we're worthless, but we're not. We want to fight to try and figure out a way to stop this. So, are you going to tell us if there's a way to stop this or not?"

"You humans have bite, and I always forget that," Lydia said with a smirk. She looked at all of them and shrugged. "If you kill the necromancer and either prevent him from bringing Saul back or you kill Saul again, maybe I could petition the big guys down below and up above that there is no reason to come and lay siege to the human race."

"Will you help us?" Kira asked, and Lydia stared at her. "You're fond of Stiles, I know you are, and if you sit back and wait or if we fail, you know he's going to the Pit for the third time. You know that he'll be something terrible if that happens."

"You've always been afraid of what he could become," Isaac said, and Lydia clenched her fists. "Do you think the Stiles that emerges from the Pit a third time would let you keep that King of the Crossroads title? Or do you think he'd kill to get it back?"

"Lydia," Jackson said softly, and he touched her arm. "They're right, and you know they are." She looked between all of them, sighed dramatically, and tossed a lock of red hair over her shoulder.

"Fine, I'll help; let's go before the apocalypse happens."

+++

Stiles blinked back into awareness and realized that he was in a very different place than he was the last time he knew what was going on. He remembered a voice in his head and then nothing. Now he was sitting in the middle of the woods, and people were holding his arms. Stiles looked around and realized that it was Cora, Malia, and Laura that were holding him in place. He felt weak, and Stiles knew he should have been able to fight them off, but the strength just wouldn't come.

"I was wondering when I would lose you," a voice said, and Stiles looked up. An older man was walking around what looked like an altar in the woods. This must be Gerard Argent. There was a pile of corpses nearby just lying there, rotting, in the middle of the woods. There were skeletons and other body parts just lying around. There was another skeleton lying on the slab in the middle of the altar. "I thought I would get ahold of you because you've been to the Pit more than once, and I was glad I was able to hold onto you for a little while. That means with more power; I can do it for as long as I want. It means I can control demons as well as the dead and undead."

"You have no idea the forces you are messing with," Stiles managed to say, but his words were slurred, and he sounded drunk.

"I can give life, and I can take it away. I gave life to your friend, after all," Gerard said as Scott walked out of the shadows and up to Stiles. Scott's eyes were blue, and Stiles winced. He never got the chance to see those eyes turn blue because Scott died not long after he accidentally killed an innocent all of those years ago.

"He should be at peace, not running around with you and being a mockery of my friend. That is just the body with no soul," Stiles said, and he managed to spit at Scott's feet. The claws on his arms dug into his skin, but Stiles ignored the pain.

"You think that, don't you," Gerard said with a smile. "You see, controlling mindless humans is fun, but they don't have any instincts. Now creatures with souls that are really ripped from the Pit and Heaven, really bringing people back to life and still controlling them? They have instincts, they can protect themselves, and if I was going to go through the trouble of bringing three werewolves back to life I wanted creatures I can depend on." It took a moment for Stiles' brain to catch up with what exactly was going on in front of him, but when he realized what Gerard was saying he felt sick to his stomach.

"Are you telling me that Scott, Cora, and Malia are screaming in their own heads and have been for years because you actually brought their souls back along with their bodies?" Stiles asked, and Gerard smirked, which was all the answers that he needed. This was bad; this was so bad, there was no way the big guys weren't going to notice three souls actually coming back to life like this. There was no way, and that meant it might be too late to stop all this. Gerard might have damned them years ago, and no one knew, and no one stopped him.

"They aren't aware of anything unless I want them to be aware," Gerard said with a shrug. "I made sure the Hale girls knew that they had family out there that wasn't looking for them, and I absolutely told your friend Scott about what you've been doing since he died. He was disgusted by you." Stiles didn't wince; he refused to show how much that hurt him, how the very idea of Scott looking at him like he was a monster was like a knife in the ribs. "I needed the practice to make sure I could bring my Kate back, and now that I know I can bring her back safely? I can get to work making that happen."

"Kate was gone when she died," Stiles said because he knew what would happen if Gerard tried to bring her back. "The body might come back, but the person inside would be the demon that possessed her before she died. It would be a piece of that, and he will kill everyone in this clearing if you bring him back. You can't; you really can't bring him back, he's gone from this world and better for it. You can't bring him back." Gerard stared at Stiles for a moment and walked over to him. The old man managed to kneel down in front of Stiles and tilted his head to the side like he was looking at something amusing.

"You're afraid of this demon," Gerard said. "You're afraid of him coming back. Does that mean he doesn't like you?" Stiles didn't reply, and that seemed to be an answer enough for Gerard because he grinned. "I'm going to use you, little demon, I'm going to use you to get my daughter back. I'll tell this piece of a demon if it exists, and you're not just lying to me, that I will give him you if he gives me my daughter back."

"He won't give you anything," Stiles said lowly. "He won't give you anything, and you're just going to bring all of Heaven and Hell down on us. Even if your daughter comes back, you're still going to die because we're all going to die. You're going to end us all." There was a moment where Stiles thought he might have gotten through to this man because Gerard looked a little afraid. For half a moment, Stiles thought he could end this or, at the very least, stop everything from ending. Then Gerard smiled and shook his head.

"You are a being of lies, and I'm getting my daughter back."

+++

Derek could tell that things were going to go bad very quickly, judging by the way Lydia was acting. None of them had a lot of time to get their weapons or clean themselves up from the battle. Isaac looked a little green around the edges, but he was still coming to try and help. Derek had a few aches in his body that he was doing his best to ignore, but it was hard. He wanted to get out there to try and stop all of this, but at the same time, Derek knew that they all would be better off with some rest. Lydia looked like she was ready to leave them all behind any second, so rest wasn't an option. The others had things to do, so Derek was left alone with Lydia. Jackson was nearby but doing his best impression of not eavesdropping.

"I thought he would be sick of you by now," Lydia said casually but in a way that Derek knew was supposed to hurt. "Stiles doesn't have a long attention span, and for all of his little projects, he does lose interest eventually."

"Are you trying to convince me to leave him or that he's going to leave me?" Derek asked.

"One or the other will happen little wolf," Lydia said with a shrug. "One day, you're going to die because you're mortal. That's the way of mortals, you die, and on that day I don't want to be the one left picking up the pieces of Stiles. You leaving him would make him stronger so he could handle your inevitable death."

"He's stronger than you give him credit for," Derek said, and Lydia bared her teeth at him. "I'm serious, the fact that you seem to think he wouldn't be able to pick himself back up again says a lot about what you think of him. He'll be a mess for a while because we really do care about each other, but he'll move on. I know he will, and I want him to. I'm mortal; he's not; I always knew there was a limit to how much time we could have together. So I suppose this is me telling you that you're not going to scare me away from him. I want all the time I can get with him, whatever that time may look like."

"Love makes you ramble," Lydia said after a beat of silence as everyone began to make their way back over to her. Derek didn't know what he was supposed to say to that, but he figured that he did talk more now that he was with Stiles. The burdens he carried for so many years were still there, but they weighed a little less when he was with Stiles.

Derek had already filled Lydia in Cora, Malia, and Scott and the fact that Stiles might be under Gerard's influence. She waved off Stiles saying that Gerard might be able to hold onto him for a little while but not more than a few hours at the most. Stiles was an old demon, and those were harder to control. Jackson was the one who would be taking care of the wolves as Derek glared at her and said that no wolf was to die tonight. Jackson's venom worked on them, and there was no reason not to use it.

One of the things Jackson did when he was pretending not to eavesdrop was help coat weapons with his venom. If they could paralyze the wolves, it would be a lot easier to take care of Gerard and not lose any lives. In the end, it was probably a good thing that Lydia turned up the way she did because her boyfriend might be the reason Derek didn't lose anyone tonight. The group made their way toward the forest though Lydia looked annoyed about walking and muttered something about her good shoes. Everyone besides Derek and Jackson was looking at Lydia like she was going to bite their heads off, and honestly, that was probably the right idea.

The smell of death and wolf hit Derek's nose the moment they got to the treeline. Jackson's eyes flashed, and he hissed. He was beginning to shift right in front of their eyes, and it didn't look voluntary. Lydia reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder without looking away from the forest even once. He calmed down as soon as she touched him, and a few seconds later, he seemed to have himself under control. It was time to go into the forest and take care of this thing once and for all.

It wasn't hard to track Gerard, and he didn't seem to be doing a good job of hiding where he was going. Laura was easy enough to track, but Stiles was as well. He was walking of his own free will, and Derek could smell the sulfur in the air even with the overwhelming stink of the dead bodies. He could hear someone, Gerard, talking, and as they got closer, he could make out a second voice. Stiles was trying to get Gerard to listen to reason, and he even said that bringing back Kate could bring back at least a piece of the demon Saul. Gerard said he was going to trade Stiles to Saul for Kate like that was going to make any difference.

Gerard called Stiles a creature of lies and began to chant about something, and that's when Derek started to run. Everyone else seemed to realize that now was a good time to get to where they needed to go, and they burst into the clearing. Derek stared at his sisters and his cousin as they stared back at him like they had no idea who he was. Gerard Argent stood over a stone altar, and there was a skeleton lying on it. There was mountain ash in the air and salt, and Gerard smirked as he seemed to realize that he was quite well protected.

"I was wondering when all of you would get here," he said, and he chanted something. Derek watched as Stiles cried out in pain, and then the wolves released him. Stiles slowly got to his feet, his eyes completely black, and he grinned. It was a smile that Derek hadn't ever seen on him before. "My pets, protect me, even at the expense of your own lives." Then the clearing was hell.

The last thing Derek wanted to do was fight Laura, but she seemed to be fighting him with the intention of making him submit to her again. Their bond was still strong even though she wasn't herself, and it took all of his strength to push her off of him when he could. As the wolves attacked, more and more dead-eyed humans came out of the wood as the feeling of death began to fill the air. Laura knocked him back into a tree, and when Derek looked up, he saw flesh beginning to cover the bones of who must be Kate. The dead-eyed humans formed another level of defense, and no matter what anyone seemed to do, they could get through to Gerard to make him stop.

Lydia was fighting with Stiles, and it was strange to see a woman in high heels and floral print dress fighting a man that looked like he was trying to tear her apart. She was trying to act like it wasn't hard for her to fight him off, but Derek could tell that it was. Lydia kept stumbling every now and then, and her eyes would glow even redder. Derek wondered if Gerard was trying to take control of him too. The smell of flesh got even stronger as everyone tried to get through to stop Gerard. Chris and Allison begged for him to stop as wolves and humans fought like they were going to die if they stopped for even a second. Kira's sword sliced Cora's arm, and the smell of blood and wolf and pack was enough to make Derek stumble. Laura tackled him to the ground and snarled.

"Please, Laura, it's me," Derek whispered as she wrapped her hands around his neck. She didn't stop, and she kept squeezing as the edges of the world continued to get darker. Just as he was about to pass out, Laura was suddenly gone, and he looked up to see Stiles standing over him. His eyes were honey brown again, and he looked angry, but it was immediately apparent that Stiles was himself again. He offered Derek a hand and pulled him to his feet.

Cora was fighting Kira, who seemed to be barely able to hold her own against what was essentially a feral wolf. Scott appeared to be in charge of the Argent's and was attacking both Chris and Allison. Malia was fighting with Isaac and Jackson and seemed to be fast enough to avoid most of the attacks from Jackson's venom. Lydia was staring at the altar and the line of humans between them as the smell of human flesh suddenly molted, and something in the air snapped.

"Oh no," Lydia whispered as the humans stepped aside, and the body of Kate Argent passed through them. Gerard was saying something; Derek didn't have a clue what, but this wasn't the daughter he wanted. This was a piece of the demon that Derek and Stiles nearly got killed fighting. Lydia screamed, and it was a scream that made Derek put his hands over his ears. All of the mortals in the area seemed to be reacting the same way, but Stiles squeezed his hand and told him to take care of Laura. Stiles walked forward and stood next to Lydia, who stopped screaming.

"Oh Lydia," Kate but not Kate, that was Saul, said with a smile. "It's always lovely to see those old powers of yours come back." Saul looked at Stiles and looked like he was going to eat him alive. This was bad, this was so bad, but Derek didn't have time to react because Laura was on him again and the world descended into chaos again.

+++

Stiles could hear Gerard talking to Saul, to Kate, trying to appeal to him, but the words didn't matter. Stiles could feel Lydia standing next to him and the hatred coming off of her. He could taste the blood in the air from the wolves fighting and everyone trying to keep themselves alive. He tried not to think about Derek trying to fight Laura because he wouldn't win, he wouldn't, which meant that Stiles needed to finish this here and now. He needed to destroy this memory of the man that he hated more in the entire world, and he needed to do it before he lost someone else.

"Kate, please, listen to me!" Gerard said, and Saul smirked.

"Shut the fuck up, old man," Saul snapped, and Gerard snapped his mouth shut so fast Stiles could practically hear teeth crack. "Your daughter isn't here to play, she's in the Pit, and I got to come out before her. So you brought the body but not the soul back." Gerard was visibly paling, and Saul grinned. "Which I can only assume that Stiles here told you and you ignored him. That was a mistake." Stiles couldn't stand to listen to this anymore; he charged forward hell-bent on pulling Saul's head from his neck. They didn't have one of the demon-killing knives with them; Derek might have one, and as Stiles fought, he really wished he could end this sooner. Gerard kept chanting as they fought, as Saul broke his bones, but Stiles fought through the pain, as Lydia burst eardrums with her scream, but none of it made a difference to Saul. He jerked once and turned his fury on Gerard. Saul put a hand out and slammed the old man into a tree. Stiles hoped he was dead, and his hold on the wolves would stop, but they weren't that lucky. Gerard was groaning and alive, and his hold on the wolves remained.

"I recognize this family," Saul said as Stiles fought him. "These were the wolves that you were so fascinated by, the ones I killed because you liked them, and here they are again."

"You're going back to the Pit where you belong," Stiles hissed. The world was shrouded in black, and he knew he looked like the demon he was. Lydia was on the ground, struggling to stand up after Saul snapped her spine. Saul stepped in close, so they were nearly nose to nose, and Stiles could feel his limbs shaking as he tried to fight this creature off.

"You're attached to one of them; I can tell," Saul whispered as he blocked another punch from Stiles with his hand and began to crush Stiles' fist. "But which one is it? Which one is the one you're attached to?" Saul began to look around as Stiles grit his teeth and tried to break free. Saul's eyes found Derek, and he grinned. "Oh yes, the pretty boy, it's always the pretty boys with you, Stiles. You're so predictable."

"You're not touching any of them," Stiles said even though Saul was crushing his hand into nothing but skin and shattered bones. There was nearly nothing left, and it hurt, and it reminded him of the Pit, but he couldn't let Saul get to Derek.

"Oh, Stiles, I'm going to cut your heart out but first? First, I think I'm going to break it," Saul said, and he threw Stiles into the altar so hard the stone snapped. Stiles struggled to get to his feet as Saul stalked toward Derek. Saul sent Laura across the clearing with a flick of his hand, and Derek, brave Derek, pulled out the demon-killing knife from his belt. He flipped it in his hand, and Saul grinned like he was getting exactly what he wanted. Derek was quick, but Saul was a demon forged in the Pit with years of cruelty. Stiles struggled to his feet, his body battered and broken, screaming at Saul to fight him and not Derek. It was the nightmare that Stiles had seen far too many times; Saul disarmed Derek with the blade and slammed it into Derek's stomach.

Stiles screamed, and the world around him went silent as he watched Saul gut Derek right in front of him. Saul grinned when he finished and tossed the blade aside. He let Derek fall to the ground and spat on him. Lydia was saying something, the wolves that Gerard was controlling were getting the upper hand, and everything was falling apart. The world was going to end, and all Stiles could see was Derek bleeding out on the ground. He was still screaming, and it didn't sound human. Lydia was staring at him like she didn't even recognize him, and even the wolves under Gerard's control hesitated. Stiles saw red, he felt rage, and he was a fucking demon. If Saul insisted on dragging this out of him if Saul insisted on seeing the creature that he helped torture into existence?

Then Stiles was going to fucking show him.

He was across the clearing in seconds, his body moving faster than it had ever moved before. The knife was in his hand, and before Saul could react, Stiles plunged the knife in between Saul's third and fourth rib. Hot blood ran down his hands but wasn't enough. He took Saul by the hair and jerked his head back to expose his vulnerable throat. For the first time, Saul looked afraid, and Stiles relished in that feeling as he took Saul by the roof of his mouth and ripped his head clean off. Stiles was covered in blood, he could feel it all over him, but he wasn't done with the things that had hurt him. He dropped the lifeless body of Saul on the ground and stomped toward Gerard. Stiles imagines he looked like the devil himself, and Gerard panicked. Stiles picked him up by the throat and held him off of the ground.

"Release them from your hold, or I tear your head off next," Stiles threatened. Gerard frantically nodded and muttered some sort of spell under his breath. The feeling of dead magic broke, and all of the wolves and people under his control collapsed. Stiles contemplated snapping Gerard's neck, but the smell of Derek's blood was in the air, and that was distraction enough. Stiles tossed Gerard aside and raced to Derek's side. The wound on his stomach was bleeding, and it was a miracle that Derek wasn't already dead. The anger left Stiles immediately, and he felt the world begin to collapse. "Derek, Derek, you can't go."

"We stopped him, that's what matters," Derek managed to whisper as everyone limped over to them. "I need you to look out for Laura; she's going to take this badly."

"I'll get someone to make a deal, I'll call in a favor, I will do whatever it takes to save you. You're not going anywhere, you noble fucking wolf," Stiles said, but Derek just looked resigned. The wolves under Gerard's control began to stir, and Stiles fucking hated everything because Laura, Cora, and Malia were going to wake up to see Derek die. Lydia suddenly gasped, and Stiles felt a crack in the air. He looked up and saw one of the human bodies rise from the ground. He knew that presence, and it was a presence that was going to be the death of all of them.

Michael the Archangel himself.

Michael, in the body of an older man who was thankfully already dead or he would be burning on the inside right now, looked over at Stiles and cocked his head to the side. Michael, the first man through the door for the war. The angels were waiting for his signal to attack. This was the end of the world. Lydia made a painful sound, and out of the corner of his eye, Stiles saw her back slowly away as Michael walked toward him. Stiles refused to bow to this angel, he refused to bow to anyone, but he also knew that this was his only chance.

"Michael," Stiles said carefully, and he knew he was covered in blood and looked like the very thing Michael was tasked with eradicating from the world.

"Stiles, I don't believe we've met before," Michael said, and Derek's eyes fell shut as his body continued to fail. "We all felt that scream of yours, quite something, which is why they sent me ahead to see what caused such an extreme bout of power. I thought I'd find you slaughtering a city of millions; instead, I find you holding the dying body of a werewolf. How curious."

"You're here to deal with the threat? The necromancer is over here, the three wolves are the only one's still alive that he brought back, there's no reason to reign hellfire or heaven fire or any fire on the mortals," Stiles said as he tried to control himself. All eyes were on him now, and he couldn't look at Scott, at Laura, even at Derek's dying form, or he'd lose his edge. Stiles took Derek's hand into his and pressed a kiss to his knuckles and pushed himself to his feet.

"Those threats have been neutralized," Michael said as he stared Stiles down, and it felt like he was going to burn, but this was worth it. This had to be worth it. These stupid fucking mortals that weaseled into his cold, dead heart were worth it.

"I'm the other one," Stiles said, and Michael nodded. "Lydia stays in her lane, she does her job, there's no need to involve her, but I get involved. I just showcased that maybe I'm not the lowly demon they thought they made me into. I just showed I could be more." Stiles steeled himself and stood up a little taller. "So, a bargain then. I was King of the Crossroads, so I love a deal, so how about we make a deal, Michael? You can do whatever you want to me; banish me to the Pit to never return, annihilate me from existence, throw me in a cage in the Holy City for you and your brothers and sisters to poke and prod at for the rest of existence. I throw myself on your sword in exchange for Derek's life, for all of their lives. Spare him, spare all of them, and I give myself willingly."

"The last threat is neutralized, and I return to the City without giving the attack order. If we do not attack the Pit does not attack either," Michael said, and he stared at Stiles. His eyes almost looked like they were glowing. "You would give up everything for all of them, little demon?" Michael looked down at Derek, who was fading slowly. "For him?" Stiles closed his eyes and waited for annihilation.

"Yes, without question," he said and braced himself for whatever Michael was going to do to him, only nothing happened. Stiles opened his eyes and watched as Michael knelt down and began to heal Derek right in front of him. Michael was giving him a kindness that he probably didn't deserve; the chance to see Derek one more time. The wound healed, and Derek's beautiful eyes blinked open. It broke Stiles' heart even more, and he was so fucking grateful for the opportunity that he wanted to weep. Stiles forced himself to look away from Derek's questioning eyes and at Michael.

"One of my sisters told me about you," Michael said as he began to circle Stiles slowly. For the first time in a long time, he felt like prey instead of the predator. "She told me how your wolf begged for your life. She said you loved him and he loved you. Is it true? Do you love the wolf that I just saved?"

"Yes," Stiles whispered. He knew he should look at Derek when he said that, but it was just going to make things worse. He wanted to tell Michael to get this over with because he wanted it to be over. Derek was safe, they were all safe, Cora and Malia and Scott were all their own selves again they could have lives, and all that needed to be done was for Michael to finish the job. Behind him, Stiles could feel Michael moving, and he could hear the sound of a blade appearing in Michael's hand. He felt Michael move behind him and place an angel's weapon against his neck, and fucking hell, he didn't want this done in front of everyone.

"Last chance to beg for your own life," Michael whispered into Stiles' ear. Everyone was frozen; it was like the world itself stopped moving, and Stiles maintained his composure. He would keep his head held high as he died.

"I'm begging for their lives, the lives of your father's children, not my own," Stiles said, and he waited, but Michael never cut his throat. Instead, the blade seemingly vanished, and Michael moved in front of him again.

"I have seen my own kin refuse that kind of sacrifice for these creatures," Michael said. "For that, you can keep your life, little demon. For that, all of these creatures can keep their lives, and we will not attack. You have earned your place here." Michael took a step forward and loomed over Stiles. "I will be keeping an eye on you, Stiles, and should you prove yourself unworthy of this gift I am giving you? I will come and collect the payment that I'm owed." Michael smirked and patted his cheek. "So don't fuck it up, little demon." There was a flash of light that blinded all of them, and the body in front of Stiles collapsed to the ground. Michael was gone, the forces of heaven were not going to attack, and everyone was alive. People were talking, but the ringing in his ears was too loud. Stiles collapsed to his knees, and he could feel Derek's hands on him and talking to him, but Stiles couldn't make out the words.

'Don't fuck it up,' the words echoed in his head as the edges of his vision began to blacken. Stiles looked into Derek's eyes and fell into his arms.

'I don't intend to,' he thought as the world went dark around him.

Stiles wasn't sure what was going on. He didn't know what he expected when he woke up but asleep in a warm bed, wasn't it. His eyes opened slowly, and it took a moment for the room to come into focus. He was in a hotel but not the motel they'd been staying at. Instead, he was in a nicer room, and the bed was comfortable and smelled clean. Stiles felt like he'd just stared down an archangel, which meant he felt like absolute shit, but he wasn't dead, and he wasn't in the Pit, so in terms of how things could have gone, he was fairly sure that he was winning. There was movement to his right, and Stiles turned his head to see Derek look up from his phone.

"You're awake, I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up again," he said.

"How long have I been out?" Stiles asked and winced at his voice it sounded like he’d been screaming. Derek offered him some water, which Stiles didn't really need but still felt amazing nevertheless.

"A week," Derek explained. "You missed a lot while you were out." Stiles blinked and couldn't believe that he'd been asleep for a week. That was a long time, and he was lucky he didn't need food or water to survive, or things might have gotten dicey. "We got out of Washington State after Chris called in an anonymous tip on his dad. Gerard is in jail and probably the psych ward, considering he spent the entire time raving about his dead daughter coming back to life. It was rather dramatic. Everyone is okay, and there weren't any serious injuries. Lydia and Jackson took off seconds after you passed out and said they wanted to be anywhere else."

"Demons are a little afraid of archangels and even more so when we're talking about Michael," Stiles said as he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. He was feeling better by the second. Derek was watching him carefully. "The world isn't presently ending, so I can only assume that things are looking better?"

"We don't exactly have a connection to heaven or angels but provided that Michael keeps his end of the deal, Lydia made it sound like hell will as well. So no one is reigning anything down on earth," Derek explained, and he shrugged like it wasn't a big deal that they all quite literally saved the entire world. "Laura, Cora, Malia, and Scott all slept for three days before they came to, and we've been catching up ever since. Cora and Malia weren't happy at first because they thought that we weren't looking for them, but they believe us now when we say we thought they were dead. They are pack again, I can feel it, and so can Laura."

"I'm glad that you have your family back," Stiles said, and he hated how much he didn't want to ask this question, but he had to know. "What about Scott? He's from a different time, and all of this is going to be a lot for him."

"We've been talking to him. I've been catching him up the best I can, but you're the one he wants to know about. I told him who you are and he knew on some level from Gerard, but he wants to talk to you--"

"No," Stiles interrupted.

"Stiles, he was your best friend, and now he's back," Derek said, and Stiles had to laugh because Derek has no idea what he's even talking about.

"Scott was more than my best friend, Derek; I was in love with him. Completely and utterly gone on the idiot, more than I can even begin to express, but the Stiles that he knew is long gone. I haven't been the Stiles he knew since my first few years in the Pit. Believe me, he might think he wants to talk to me, but he doesn't. He doesn't and won't want anything to do with me when he learns what I am and what I've done." Stiles clenched his fists and refused to look at Derek. He couldn't think about how much it would kill him to see Scott look at him like he was disgusting, like the monster that Stiles knew he was deep down.

"You were going to sacrifice yourself for me and for everyone," Derek said, clearly understanding that Stiles wanted to drop the subject of Scott more than anything. Still, this conversation was something he wanted to have even less than the conversation about Scott. "I thought you were an ordinary demon now."

"I've never been ordinary, Derek, never once in my life," Stiles said. "I'm powerful, but it was safer for everyone involved if I stayed in check. I haven't let loose like that since before I was King of the Crossroads." Stiles looked up at Derek and met his eyes. "You brought it out of me. I couldn't stand the sight of you being hurt." This was all too much for Stiles to handle right now, so instead of waiting for Derek to reply, Stiles rolled onto his side, back to Derek, and pretended like he was going back to sleep. Derek probably knew that he was avoiding a conversation, but Stiles appreciated that Derek just got up and left the room, closing the door behind him. Now he had the privacy to freak the fuck out about what had just happened.

Stiles rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He didn't know much about being a selfless person since he emerged from the Pit. His world was focused on revenge for so long, but Saul was gone. He wasn't King of the Crossroads anymore, but he made sure no one had to go through what he went through, and Lydia was excellent at her job. Derek had his little sister and his cousin back, he and Laura had a pack again, so what use was he? What place did he have in this story anymore? And why did Michael let him live? None of it made any sense, and Stiles wanted to run more than anything, but he still felt exhausted. He was still in pain from the sheer force that Michael was giving off that no one but him and Lydia could feel.

He closed his eyes, and Stiles tried not to think too much.

+++

The place they were staying at was a rental that was supposed to be like a hotel that they had rented the entirety of on Chris' credit card. After everything his father put them through, there was a silent agreement that he would be the one fronting the bill. They had driven just outside of Beacon Hills because the closer they got to Beacon Hills, the more relaxed all of the unconscious wolves got. So Derek was home again, and this time he had his pack. Laura was sitting in the living room with Malia and Cora, both of whom looked up when he walked into the room.

"It's strange to smell a demon on him," Cora said as she made a face.

"Stiles and Derek are connected at the hip, so it's probably best if you don't worry too much about it," Laura said with a small smile. Derek blushed a little, which made both Malia and Cora sit up and take notice. They were always as terrifying as a duo, and as young women, that apparently hadn't changed much.

"Derek has a boyfriend?" Malia asked with a grin. It seemed that their time under Gerard's control had connected Malia and Cora even more than when they were young kids. Now they were practically twins in the way they moved together and how easily they could read each other. Derek knew it was because they only had each other to depend on, and while he liked seeing the connection between the two of them, knowing where it came from broke his heart a little. They believed them now when they explained that Gerard was lying, and Derek and Laura didn't know they were alive, or they would have looked for them.

"It's odd," Cora had said the first night. "I knew Malia was there, and I could feel Scott in the way that I knew another wolf was nearby, but there are huge patches of time that just aren't there. He let us live our lives sometimes, but we couldn't go far."

"It was like we were pets with a very long leash," Malia finished. Derek let them tease him because it was good to see them again and to see the strong and beautiful young women they managed to grow into despite having the world against them.

"I'm not sure if boyfriend is the right word, but Stiles is something," Derek said. "Where's Scott?"

"With Allison," both Cora and Malia replied at the exact same time.

"They seem to be bonding, which is driving Chris into an early grave," Laura said. Isaac and Kira were both staying as well, and they all were trying to do their best to help Scott adapt to this new world. He knew some things, but there was plenty he wasn't aware of, and the world around him seemed to fascinate him. The four of them had an interesting dynamic, and Derek had personally seen the heart eyes that Scott and Allison were making at each other. Kira and Isaac seemed to be hanging around just to enjoy the show, but they were all good together. It reminded him of a pack that made Derek think of the question he needed to bring up with his family.

"I want to ask you three something about him, and I want you to consider the answer," Derek said, and his sisters and his cousin stared at him. "Scott was bitten by a rogue werewolf and didn't have his powers for long, and he never got a chance to be a member of a pack. We're a pack again, I know you can all feel it, and I think we should ask him if he'd like to join us. All of the family he ever had are dead, and dust and I think we should try to be that family for him."

"Wow, I think that's the most I've ever heard Derek say in one sitting," Cora said after a beat of silence.

"Is this Stiles' influence? Because if he turned our emotionally constipated older brother into someone willing to talk about family and feelings, I'm willing to look past the demon thing," Malia said. They were baiting him, he knew they were, but that didn't stop Derek from shaking his head and smiling. He loved having them back in his life.

"We'll ask him if he wants to come with us when we leave," Laura said with a soft smile. That was something Derek was going to have to tell Stiles eventually; he, Laura, Cora, and Malia were all planning on going home to Beacon Hills for a little while and rebuilding their home again. Derek knew that staying in one place wasn't good for him long term, but he did want to spend some time getting to know Cora and Malia again. He wanted some time to feel like he wasn't getting cut in half when Laura wasn't within eyesight. For the first time, Derek felt like he needed time to really heal, which was something he hadn't taken since the fire. For over half of his life, Derek Hale had been running from his pain, but as he looked at Laura laughing at the joke Cora and Malia were telling practically together, he knew he needed time.

Derek just wasn't sure if Stiles was going to be there when he was ready to go back into the world.

+++

Derek left Stiles alone for all of a couple of hours before he came back with his sad eyes, and Stiles knew he wasn't going to be able to avoid this forever. He knew that no matter what Derek had to say, he was going to give in eventually because that was what Stiles did when it came to this idiot wolf. He'd do anything to keep Derek happy, and he had a very good feeling about what one of those things would be. That didn't mean Stiles was okay with it. His room had a small balcony, and Stiles was looking out into the forest behind the place they were staying, and he knew these trees. He knew the smell in the air, and he knew where they were as Derek sat down next to him on the floor of the balcony.

"We're in California," Stiles said.

"Yeah, we're not far from Beacon Hills. We kind of ended up here by accident, but the closer we got, well, home, the calmer Laura and Cora and Malia and Scott were when they were unconscious," Derek explained.

"I always seem to end up in this place," Stiles said as he shook his head. "I was born here, you were born here, what the fuck is up with this town? I'm starting to think there is a direct line to the Pit or something here. There isn't any other explanation for why we keep ending up here and why this place is so important." For half a second, Stiles thought that Derek was going to say that destiny or fate kept them coming here, and if that was the case, Stiles was going to run as fast as he could. He didn't like the idea of something pushing him and Derek together, he wanted to be in control of his own life, but Derek didn't do that.

"I think you should talk to Scott," Derek said. "I know you're not the same person he knew but doesn't mean you're a bad person now. You were willing to die or go back to the Pit to save us, to save me, and that has to be worth something."

"And if he thinks I'm a monster? What then?" Stiles asked.

"Then you have time to try and convince him that you're not," Derek replied like it was that easy. Stiles wanted to hit him, tell Derek that he was being a fucking idiot, but deep down, Stiles knew this was something he couldn't avoid because he knew what Derek was about to say next. "Laura is probably going to ask Scott if he wants to be a member of our pack so you can't avoid him forever."

"Of course you'd ask him that," Stiles muttered. He didn't bring up that he could very easily avoid Scott if he stopped seeing Derek, but at this point, they both would know that was a lie, and there wasn't any point to lying anymore. Stiles couldn't say the words, but his actions said how he felt clearly. He was willing to go back to the Pit for Derek, and if that wasn't love, Stiles didn't know what was. Stiles clenched his fists and tried to fight the desire to lash out or run, but that wasn't going to change anything. Even if he managed to put off this conversation longer, it was still a conversation that was going to have to happen someday, whether he liked it or not. That is just his new reality. "Fine, send Scott up, but if he runs screaming, you're the one who has to talk to him." Derek squeezed Stiles' shoulder and left the room without another word. The time between Derek leaving and Scott arriving was one of the longest few minutes of his life, but it was just proof that Scott was lurking nearby just waiting for Stiles to let him in.

Scott sat down next to him, and he looked the same, just a little older. He'd been with Gerard a few years at this point, so sixteen-year-old Scott was now twenty-year-old Scott. His jawline was the same; his eyes were the same, he had just filled in a little, and he still looked just as awkward as Stiles remembered. He also had no idea what he was supposed to say to the friend that he failed so many years ago.

"It's weird," Scott said after a long moment of silence between the two of them. "You don't look like the Stiles I knew, your voice isn't the same, but Derek says you're the same person. It's kind of hard to believe."

"You nearly killed me the night you changed for the first time," Stiles said, and Scott jerked like someone had hit him. "You tackled me in the forest and nearly ripped my throat out." Stiles glanced at Scott, who was staring at him. "I tried to protect you from the townspeople as they stoned and beat you to death, but I couldn't." Stiles looked away again and back out into the forest. "I assume you needed proof."

"I can't believe it's you," Scott whispered, and for some reason, that was the thing that made Stiles' chest hurt.

"It's not, Scott, and that's the problem. I'm not the Stiles you knew before you were killed. I haven't been that Stiles for a very long time, and I ceased being that Stiles when I chose to torture people in the Pit," Stiles said, and he saw Scott flinch out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not even the same Stiles that Derek first met because I went back a second time, and no one who goes down there comes back the same. They just can't, Scott, so I can't be the friend you remember. I don't even know who that Stiles is anymore."

"Gerard told me what you are now," Scott said carefully. "And when I woke up, Derek filled in a bunch of the details and told me as much as he could. From what it sounds like, you aren't the same guy I remember, but I'm not the same either. I don't remember where I was between living and dying, but I'm not the same either. So, we don't have to be that Scott and that Stiles anymore, I wouldn't want us to be. I just want this version of Stiles to be friends with this version of Scott, and we'll go from there."

"You should be afraid of me," Stiles whispered. "Everyone in this fucking house should be afraid of me."

"But we aren't," Scott said like it was that simple. Stiles knew that Scott was reaching for his hand, and he could have stopped it from happening, but he didn't. He let Scott take his all too human feeling hand into his and hold it like they were teenagers on a first date. Stiles knew he wasn't in love with Scott anymore, he hadn't been for a long time, but his stomach fluttered for the teenage Stiles that would have given anything to sit with Scott and hold his hand like this. "I think the Hale's are going to ask me to be part of their pack, but I'm not sure I know what that means. Do you think I should do it?"

"Pack is family, Scott, and you deserve family," Stiles replied. Scott squeezed his hand and interlaced their fingers as they sat on the balcony and looked out at the woods. Neither of them said a word and the moment was weirdly peaceful.

+++

Derek walked out the front door of their rental and wasn't that surprised to see Lydia standing there waiting for him. Jackson was nowhere to be seen, but Derek could smell the faint smell of snake and reptile in the air, so he was nearby as he usually was. Derek shoved his hands in his pockets and calmly walked up to her.

"He's awake?" she asked.

"He woke up today," Derek replied, and Lydia nodded slowly. She hadn't been around much since she turned up to tell him that the heavy hitters in the Pit weren't going to come and end the world.

"They know that he's no longer holding back," Lydia said, and this was a concern that Derek had. Stiles had always been dangerous, but now he was powerful and powerful people tended to attract more enemies. "I decided that it was best to tell them that it was a fluke. I checked on him myself, and they know that's a low-level demon again. In fact, I told them that the power flare nearly killed him, and now he's barely alive, let alone worth looking into or watching. I told them that the flare shattered the bond between the two of them, so you're not even that interesting anymore."

"I appreciate you telling them the truth," Derek said because it was a lie, it was all a lie, and they both knew that Lydia could get torn apart for lying like that. She stood up a little taller and nodded.

"I won't be seeing him again for a long time. I'm sure I'll have to pick up the pieces of him left behind once you and yours die, but until then, I'm going to let him live his life while keeping a spot open at my right hand for him," Lydia said, and her eyes flashed red. "Someday, Derek, he's going to work for me the same way I worked for him. You wolves live longer, but even you can't stop death."

"We'll cross that bridge when we burn it to the fucking ground as far as I'm concerned," Derek snapped. He didn't walk to think about the inevitable end of the road for them, but he was young, and wolves did live a lot longer than humans did. They still had plenty of time before this journey was going to come to an end.

"I ran into an angel named Jennifer. Or I should say, she ran into me," Lydia said as she examined her nails. Derek felt his blood run cold; the last time they saw Jennifer, Chris was banishing her with a blood seal, and they had no idea if she was going to come looking for them again. "Oh, don't you worry, your furry little head, wolf, she was quite impressed with what Stiles did. Apparently, offering your existence in exchange for not only the life of his one true love but all of humanity tends to make one impressed. She says she's going to leave you alone too, provided Stiles doesn't decide to try and take over the world anytime soon."

"The demons and the angels have both decided that we aren't worth looking into, is that what you're saying?" Derek asked carefully.

"Until you both do something to attract their attention again, which we know you will. You're too noble, and you tend to take Stiles down with you," Lydia looked up from her nails and watched him with those eerie red eyes. "Good luck, Derek. I'd tell you not to do anything stupid, but I know you and Stiles." She turned and began to walk away from him with her heels clicking on the ground. She saved Stiles from the ghoul back when this whole thing was starting out, and she came to help when they really needed it.

"Lydia," Derek said, and she turned around. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, little wolf, you owe me a favor, and I always cash in my favors," she said. Derek was about to ask what that meant when he blinked, and she was gone. The idea of being in debt to the King of the Crossroads was probably not a good thing, but Lydia seemed to find them amusing, if nothing else. Now they had no one trying to kill them aside from the monsters that they would hunt. Derek felt like he could relax a little and maybe he could cut the number of times he looked over his shoulder in half. Maybe.

+++

Stiles and Scott talked for a very long time, and by the time Scott emerged, he told Derek that Stiles said he wanted some more time alone. Derek was willing to give that to him and had Laura call everyone into the room. Their time in the rental was running out, and it was time for everyone to talk about where they wanted to go and with whom. Stiles should be there for this conversation, but it wasn't something that Derek was willing to chase him down for. He spoke to Scott, and that was more than Derek ever thought that he was going to get from Stiles. Chris had left earlier in the day and promised not to shoot any of them on sight, which, according to Allison, was about the best that they could hope for from an Argent hunter. She was sitting on the couch next to Scott now, and their arms were touching.

"Our time here is up tomorrow, so I thought it would be a good idea to figure out what we're all going to do, and Laura and I had something we wanted to talk about," Derek said. He glanced at his sister because this was an offer that needed to come from the alpha and no one else.

"Scott, you've come into a strange new world, and I want to help you find a place in it," Laura said. "I'm hoping you'll choose to make your place with my family. We are going back to Beacon Hills, all of us Hale's, and we're going to rebuild our family home. I'd like to invite you to that home as a member of my pack and a member of my family."

"I've never had a pack before," Scott said, and he glanced at Allison, who smiled warmly and nodded to him. "I'd like to join you and help rebuild a new home for all of us." Laura's eyes flashed red, and as Scott's flashed blue and that was all it took. It felt like a final piece that was missing settled into their home, and Derek felt at peace. He nodded to Laura, and she smiled brilliantly.

"Allison, Kira, and Isaac, you'll always have a place to stay should you come to Beacon Hills," Laura said, and Derek blinked. He knew that Laura was extending the offer of pack to Scott, but she was symbolically offering it to a selkie, a kitsune, and a human. All three of them stared, and Derek had a feeling that they seemed to understand how important something like this is.

"The three of us were planning on hunting together," Allison said carefully. "But having a place to come back to? That sounds like something I've never had before, and I'd be honored to have a place in your home, Laura."

"Me too," Kira said, and Isaac nodded. Derek wanted to reach out and hug his sister because this was more than he ever expected from her. She seemed to know that this was impacting him more than Derek could put into words and reached over to take his hand. The idea of his home being rebuilt and, once again, full of people sent Derek back to his life before the fire. Everyone was so excited and talking over each other. Malia and Cora were excitedly explaining how much fun it would be to run the preserve with other wolves as Kira promised to teach Allison how to fight with a sword, and Isaac asked if there was a chance they could build him a small pond in the backyard. There was a piece missing, and it was time for Derek to go find it.

+++

Derek wasn't surprised to find that Stiles wasn't in the room or anywhere in the house. He knew Stiles' scent, though, and Derek told Laura that he was going to be right back and followed the trail through town until he got to a place that looked all too familiar. Stiles was sitting on the ground at a crossroads, his back to Derek, looking out into the world. These crossroads almost looked like crossroads where Derek first summoned Stiles as a desperate sixteen-year-old who just wanted his family back. Here he was, nearly eight years later, and he had his family back without needing to sell his soul. Derek got what he wanted, somehow, and he had Stiles to thank for it. Derek sat down on the ground next to Stiles, close enough that they were touching.

"This looks like the crossroads where we first met," Stiles said.

"I was thinking the same thing," Derek replied. "You asked me about my life and walked me back to Laura after turning down my soul." He paused as he glanced at Stiles. "I saw Lydia today. She told me that she told all of the higher-ups that your power flare was a one-off thing and that you're such a weak demon now because of it that not only are you not interesting, it managed to break our bond."

"Did she now," Stiles said carefully, and he was eerily still.

"Yeah, all of that is true, so that means we aren't interesting anymore," Derek said, and Stiles glanced at him with a single raised eyebrow. "Lydia said that she ran into Jennifer and explained your willingness to go back to the Pit or annihilate yourself or whatever else you said you'd do for me, and the safety of the entire Earth was enough to impress the angels too. They're going to leave us alone." Stiles was still very still and didn't say anything for a long time.

"Laura made her offer to Scott, did he accept?" Stiles asked.

"He did, and Laura told Kira, Allison, and Isaac that they are welcome in the Hale home whenever they want," Derek explained. "We're going to go back to Beacon Hills and rebuild the house as a family. It's going to take a little time, but it won't take forever. I'll want to go back on the road eventually, and when I do, I want the man I love with me."

"Derek, I can't--"

"You were willing to go to the Pit for me, Stiles, you don't need to say anything," Derek interrupted, knowing that Stiles was tearing himself apart over his inability to say the words like the words were the things that mattered. "I'm always going to want you by my side for as long as we can be at each other's sides. There are things out there that need to be hunted and as terrifying as a team consisting of Allison, Kira, and Isaac is going to be, I'd like you with me. We're at the crossroads again, you and me, so let's make a deal. The deal is we stick together through the good shit and the bad shit and everything in between. You and me, Stiles, we're a team, and I intend to keep it that way. So, do we have a deal?"

"Making a deal with a demon on the crossroads," Stiles said as he shook his head and smiled to himself. When he looked up, his eyes were that beautiful honey-gold that Derek loved, and Stiles had that mischievous look that Derek knew promised good things "You know, demons seal their deals with a kiss." Derek grinned and closed the distance between to kiss Stiles.

It was a deal.