Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, this is purely for my own entertainment.
Chapter 01: Don't walk in forests at night unless you want to be bit.
Scott I
Scott McCall is alone at night, walking through a dark forest, trying his hardest not to stumble over a bisected body. The leaves and twigs under his feet crunch as Scott drags his way past tall trees and through the thick mist. His lungs have already begun tightening on his air and he has to slow his pace every so often. Scott isn't sure where he is or if he is even heading in the right direction, Stiles had been the one that knew where they were going. But without him, Scott doesn't care really where he ends up, so long as he found a way home. Or just into someone's garden.
Scott yawns and breathes in with his stomach. Stiles should be there to suffer with him, it had been his idea to go out in the forest. Brothers together in pain. He wishes Stiles hadn't rushed ahead and gotten himself caught by his dad, leaving Scott all alone. The Sheriff will without a doubt call his mom when he gets Stiles dragged back to his car. He'll do it out of worry - he knows the kind of trouble they get into - if not to prove that his son is lying. Scott knows he will get grounded for a year.
A bird howls from above and Scott flinches in surprise, almost falling over a decaying log. "Relax Scott," He tells himself and rubs green moss from his hands, there are small cuts littering his palms and Scott sighs. He doesn't usually talk to himself but in the silence of night, alone and tense it seemed sensible. Dr. Deaton had taught him that some tame animals calm from speech while most wild ones would run from the potential danger, "There's nothing in the forest except for animals and-"
A dead body.
The Sheriff had been out looking for the body, but they might have been looking for a murderer too. A killer.
A branch snaps behind him. Scott freeze, his heart jumping to his throat, he is going to die. A murderer is behind him waiting - with a chainsaw, or an axe. He is never going to get his chance at first line, he's never going to meet a nice girl and have cute babies, Scott is going to die and he needs to move. Without looking back, Scott runs from the sound as another branch snaps behind him, the wind howls in his ears but the sound of a second pair of footsteps follows right behind him. His lungs constrict and Scott grasps for his inhaler, falling over in the dark. He shuts his eyes, clenching them closed, waiting for the pain.
The person behind him yips like an animal.
"Dude." Scott slumps on the ground in relief, his whole body relaxes as he recognises the sound, the slightly higher pitch. Scott rolls over and looks at the small fox sitting beside him with a sly grin and a laugh in his pale eyes. It's small, the size of a common house cat, with a grey and black fur that makes it almost invisible in the dark.
"Don't sneak up on me Tod."
Tod stares at him unblinking before jumping with excitement, it runs a small distance away before speeding back and nipping at him, then taking off again with a stumble in his steps, telling him to follow. Scott grins and when he sits up he notices something metal glittering in the moonlight around the fox's neck. As the fox ran back again, unnerved with what had gotten wrapped around its neck, Scott scooped the animal up and held him gently so he wouldn't bite.
Scott still has a big scar on his hand from when he'd tried it years ago.
Tod freezes in shock and Scott spots what's around his neck, it is a pair of handcuffs. Scott can't imagine the fox having accidentally locked them around its neck by itself. The only conclusion he can make is that someone had taken a fox and put them on it. If Tod hadn't found Scott it might have gotten caught on something like a branch and died from starvation or choking. Scott can't imagine how someone could willingly harm a small harmless animal like that.
"Okay," Scott whispers calmly as he stands up again, still holding the stiff fox in his arms. "I'm going to take you to Dr. Deaton, he'll be able to help okay?"
At the mention of Scott's boss' name the fox wiggles in protest and opens its jaw to lightly hold Scott's thumb hostage. He doesn't try and get free but stares at him for a good while before snorting. Releasing his thumb. He glances away from Scott and then back, then he looks away again before looking back flatly, he can almost hear the 'What are you waiting for? Get moving you idiot human!' from the expression on its face.
"Yeah, yeah." Scott obeys the creature but keeps glancing down at the animal as he holds him like he's a domestic animal. Scott, even after the years he'd known the fox, still wasn't sure if it had been someone's pet or if it had rabies.
Stiles had laughed when Scott shared his theory with him, telling him the fox probably just had rabies. That it was always biting him to infect him too so they could both live in a fox den as wild animals. "Then again Scott, he might be biting you for that horrible nickname." Stiles had told him, but that couldn't be true.
Tod loves his name. Scott knows it.
Reindeer comes flying past Scott, a few meters towards him and they'd hit him and Tod. He staggers back from them as one veers from the herd and come dangerously close to hitting him. Scott backs away, just in case of another one comes running at them. Tod growls in his arms as his ears dart back and forth, listening as they trample by.
The flock lets up and Scott breathes with relief and falls over with a yelp. Todd quickly jumps from his arms before he's squished by Scott's chest. The ground is cold and unforgiving, small rocks dig their way into his clothes and skin. Scott groans and glances over at Tod before glancing towards the cause of his trip.
Scott screams, shock and fear curling down to his toes. Her big round eyes stare unseeing at him, her mouth that looks like it was more used to coy smirks is parted in surprise and without fear. There are bloody scratches all over her pretty face, small and shallow compared to the ones tearing at her naked skin, and at her waist is nothing but blood and gore. Her body torn to pieces. Scott's eyes water as he hyperventilates, dragging his body away with shaking arms and legs that won't stand. He pushes up to a tree and stares, with a shaky breath, at the bisected corpse laying in front of him.
Tod is on his paws and he sniffs at her body. Scott turns away from the scene and closes his eyes tightly. The image of her face and the insides of her body hangs on his eyes, he sees her again, more human insides than he'd ever wanted to see.
He can't stand to watch while the small fox tears into the girl's body.
He opens his eyes with a stutter of breath, casting aside the gore and the imprint on his eyes. Scott waits for the sound of Tod ripping at her flesh, eating her. Many foxes are scavengers, eating already dead animals.
But he doesn't, instead, the fox shrieks, the noise loud and deafening. Tod collides right into Scott's leg after shouting. He can feel its teeth scratching against his skin as it bits on his pants, and drags at them.
If Tod wants to get away from the body, Scott really cannot agree more.
He tries to run with the fox and a howl rings out from all around him. Scott stands frozen, his bones chilling inside out as his hands quiver and his eyes flicker around trying to find the source. A monster steps from the shadows, its eyes glow like a heat lamp, filled with hatred. Its body looks like a muscular, hunched over man; muscles bulging and covered in black fur, the creature snarls with the face of an animal. Its teeth gleam in the moonlight as it stalks towards Scott and steps over the girl's body. Scott dares look down for a second when he hears Tod growling right back at the monster even though it could snap his small body with one bite of sharp teeth.
Scott doesn't think. He reaches and grabs the fox, Tod yelps- startled by the quick action- and Scott runs. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if the fox died. Tod struggles in his arms, trying to wiggle away from his grip. Scott doesn't look down as he runs with all the ferocity he can muster up; his lungs demand a break but he continues on. His hands are shaking as he changes his hold on Tod, holding him maybe a little too tight and fumbles for his inhaler, it's gone.
Behind Scott, the creature howls yet again, it was long and drawn out like those wolves Scott has seen on television, howling to each other as they closed in on their prey. Something gigantic wraps around Scott's ankle and sharp points digs into his flesh as he falls. Scott shrieks with fear and desperation as he instinctively rolls with the fall and lands like coach has drilled into the brains of the entire lacrosse team.
It's a mistake; the monster is above him in seconds, and Scott has no way to get to his feet again as his useless limbs give out on him. He lies frozen with fear and Tod snarls and snaps at the monster's arm pressing down beside Scott's head.
The monster barks loudly as Tod bites down on human like fingers. The creature pulls its other paw to the side and slaps it over Scott and into Tod. Tod yelps with distress and pain as he soars through the air and rolls to a stop by slamming into a tree stump. Bats screech and escape in a flourish of wings.
The monster returns its attention to Scott, it's red eyes gleaming with hunger as it opens its mouth. The smell is horrid, like the sick animals taken to the vet. Its face is clearer up close, it looks less like a wolf and more like a werewolf from old movies.
A shadow of something larger flies by the corner of his eye and slams straight into the monster with a loud thud. It stops right where the monster had been crouching over Scott just seconds before. Scott stares up at the large creature, as large as a horse but with the natural anatomy of a common red fox, it's red fur is giving off small sparks that light it up in the night sky, and behind it is not one, but several tails flicking angrily.
Scott can't breathe, his breath coming out in small quick gasps, his arms are sore from falling and his knees are weak as he pushes himself through the shrubbery and away from the fight between monsters. They fight like two dogs, biting for each other's throats while scratching with front paws. The smaller monster looks to have the advantage with the larger fox backing away ever so slightly to keep away from dangerous claws and teeth. The fox then leaps and lands on the wrapped monsters back and tears into the neck fur. The small monster struggles and its front legs twists like a human arm, gripping the fox's left paw. It twists and swings the larger monster from its body and leaps after the tumbling fox. They disappear from Scott immediate vision as they brawl, but the sounds of snapping teeth and threatening growls keep him rooted to the ground with something that can only be primal fear.
Scott lurches as a small paw touches his leg and he kicks the small fox from him in shock. Tod yelps and lowers his ears, keeping low on the ground as he approaches again. Tod rests his paws on his leg and he can feel the anxiety and panic fade away to leave a strangely detached calm that feels wrong. He looks at the fox, Tod has another tail, but Scott just blinks and runs a hand though the fur between his ears. The fox looks at him, its eyes glowing a pale purple that washes out the pupils of his eyes. Tod turns his head as the two giant monsters roll back before them in a flurry of snapping teeth. One of the tail tips from the large fox hits Scott right in the face, he falls over from the blow and closes his eyes against the wet dirt. Tod squeaks as he's taken with the shift of Scott's body, his small form hangs over Scott's hip.
He opens his eyes at stare at the two fighting monsters, the black monster bites down on the fox's front leg. The fox howls with pain but the sound is nothing in comparison to the anguished scream Tod releases in that moment as he scrambles to get down from Scott.
The big fox flinches away from the monster and its fur sparks, light flaring among trees as the world turns to fire and shadows recoils from the burning lights. The flames surge all the way around them, caging them in and wrapping up trees.
A different fox leaps over the flames, untouched by the fire and lands gracefully by the other. The new fox is white and its fur is like a beacon of golden light shining out and giving off light glares. There are even more tails behind the new one, moving smoothly among each other despite being so cluttered. The new fox is different, stands with an otherworldly presence, even Scott can tell from only one look. He can't look away as it takes a step towards the dark monster, it's head held high and its eyes golden and focused.
The black monster whines and ducks its head as it backs away like a caged animal. But it stops short at the wall of fire surrounding them and scrambles away, scared. Scott looks over with difficulty, squinting against the blinding light the white fox is giving off, as the monster lowers itself to the ground. Scott would have done the same, he thinks as he watches the red fox glances at the bigger, white one and then at Scott. Scott pushes the small fox still laying over his legs off and begins to sit up, his gaze captured by the white fox. He can't get himself to look away.
But then the otherworldly fox and all the blinding light disappears in one go like they had never been there to begin with. And the black monster, with wild eyes full of crazy, turns and runs straight for the fire. It jumps over and scrambles to its feet on the other side before leaping away. The fire simmers out around them.
Tod huff's an audible human-like sigh of relief that Scott does not feel. He looks at the remaining fox as it stares the way the black one had gone. The big fox turns and looks at Scott. He can't quite place the expressions but then it turns its attention to Tod and growls quickly, its face sharp and accusing. The small silver fox yelps and skitters behind Scott, using him as a meat shield. Scott is frozen as the large fox walks up to him and puffs air in his face, his bangs lift from his sweaty and dirty forehead.
Then it takes a step back and morphs, its shape distorts, stretching and bending until it's on two legs. It takes maybe a few seconds but it felt like hours to Scott and he watches the face form into a familiar expression with thinned lips and lines in his forehead standing out more than usual. Scott had seen the expression every time he and Stiles had been caught while doing something.
It's Sheriff Stilinski.
"Scott," Stilinski says like he had not just been a giant fox monster. He's holding his bleeding arm tightly. "Oh Hell. This is not how we wanted you to find out."
Scott can't reply, he sits flat and frozen on his ass and stares blankly up at a man he'd thought he knew. He finds his voice, "What do you mean we?" Scott dreads the answer and blinks very slowly.
Stilinski looks at Scott and faster than Scott can follow snags the small fox from behind him. The normally calm man shakes the animal, Tod's head whip back and forth and he yelps. "What were you thinking!?" He demands of the fox and stops shaking him, he stares, waiting for something.
Scott wants to tell him not to hurt Tod but his throat is clamping up, he can already guess what's coming.
Tod whines pitifully, his paws coming up to scratch against the handcuffs around his neck. Sheriff Stilinski shifts the fox into one hand and reaches for his pockets. The cuffs come off and Stilinski drops Tod- no, Stiles, as he begins morphing just like Stilinski had done. Scott stares as his best friend forms and bumps down on the earth, yelping and flailing with surprise.
"For god's sake Stiles," Stilinski says and drags Stiles up by his armpit, he does not let go, "What were you thinking!? Going out here when a body was cut in half! You know what that can mean!"
"I was just-" Stiles begins to defend himself.
"No Stiles," Stilinski cuts his son off without hesitation and releases his arm to drag a tired hand down his face, "I have to go after the Alpha and you're going to take Scott home, understood?"
Stilinski does not wait for Stiles reply before he's transformed again and leaping over a fallen tree. Disappearing from sight.
Scott looks at his friend, Stiles looks nervous. "This is a dream, right? I'm seeing things."
Stiles shakes his head and scratches at his buzz cut. "No Scott. It's not a dream, and if it was a dream then you come with me to the jeep anyway. It's blue in the real world but here in the not-dream it's red- the jeep, I mean." he says with a wry smile and reaches over to Scott and holds his hand out to help him up.
Scott stares at the hand as if he doesn't recognise it. He doesn't. It had been a paw just a minute ago, a small paw and not a human hand. His best and only friend had been Tod, his only other friend. "You- you're," Scott stumbles over his words, the panic was coming back and he can't breathe. "A f-fox and Sheriff Stilinski was-"
"Scott, man you've gotta calm down okay? I'm a fox my dad's a giant fox the other thing was a Werewolf okay?" Stiles rushes the words out and touches Scott's shoulder. It's meant to be comforting but Scott only withdraws from the touch. Stiles breathes out slowly and begins talking again. "Look, we need to get out of the preserve, right? If we don't the Alpha could attack us again and it's breath stank like dead animals- it's probably all the innocent bunnies it's been eating- so listen. I'll- listen, I'll explain everything once we're in the jeep."
Scott nods, he just wants to go home and get to bed and wake up from the horrible nightmare where his best friend is Tod. Stiles holds his hand out again and Scott takes it hesitantly, he's pulled up and Stiles slips his arm around him as he almost falls. "Let's not have you fall for the hundredth time today." Stiles says lightly and grins.
They're back in Stiles' old and blue jeep when Scott finally speaks again. "You've been Tod all this time?" He asks, "Is that why you hate Dr. Deaton? Because I took you to him when you broke your leg?"
Stiles drums his fingers on the steering wheel. "That man is evil Scott, I'm telling you. He didn't even call my dad, just let me stink in that cage for a day. And it did stink, a lot actually, the cat above me regurgitated and I got some of it on me."
"Deaton knew?" Did everyone except him know that his only friend was some kind of monster fox? Scott got the feeling that the answer is yes.
"He's a druid," At Scott's bewildered look Stiles continued, "It means he's a hippie wizard, with all their supernatural rules."
They lapse into silence, Scott has so many questions but he doesn't know where to start or what to ask.
"I'm not a fox," Stiles says after a while, "it's Kitsune, remember how I told you I have Japanese ancestry. That's where it comes from, my granddad was a half Japanese kitsune and grandma is a western kitsune. My mom wasn't a kitsune though, it's why I'm currently very human and not stuck as a fox for a hundred years."
Scott gaps, "A hundred years!?"
Stiles laughs, it sounds fake. "Dads around seven hundred, but he doesn't really remember the exact date either. Besides you'd like me anyway, I remember you calling me the definition of cuteness and adorableness. You're very good at cuddles too, you're very thorough."
"Dude, I am and did not say that," Scott denies vehemently and an image of him in his backyard with a lacrosse stick flashes in his mind. Scott pales. "You saw, that time in my backyard. That's why you kept laughing at me the day after."
"Oh, I definitely did Scott, it was highly embarrassing. I could practically feel your embarrassment."
"Why not tell me?"
"I don't know. I was scared maybe," Stiles turns from him to watch the road as he turns down Nilsson street, "I didn't want you to get hurt. Yet here we are," the last part was said bitterly and Stiles hands tights on the steering wheel, "If I had done what dad said and stayed in the car or hadn't smelled that she- the woman- was a werewolf or if dad had been slower, you'd have been bitten and -" He broke his train of thought, "We're here."
Scott looked at his house, searching for his mom's car. She wasn't home. "What do you mean bitten?"
Stiles looks at him with worried eyebrows. "That thing that attacked us was an Alpha werewolf. They're not even supposed to look like that, this one wasn't right in its mind. That form… anyway, they're supposed to look like regular wolves, maybe a bit big, but not like some mutant radioactive wolfman. It was weird Scott, it didn't feel right."
Scott furrows his brows. "What does that mean?"
"Made me want to claw my own brain out, like a million bugs crawling over my brain and body. And not just ants, like those with the millions of legs and those with the little suckers," Stiles shakes from head to toe, like he's getting rid of the feeling and looks away. "bad jibes dude, that werewolf was so far away I'm surprised his soul hadn't left for a pizzeria already."
Scott makes a face.
"An Alpha can turn people, humans, like yourself into werewolves." Stiles groans against the steering wheel and looks over at Scott. "We should never have gone out there. She was cut in half I knew that. I put you at risk of being bitten and- I was stupid and bored."
"Your dad said that too, what does it mean then?" Scott asks, dreading the answer. Something as cutting someone in half was common enough that the mention of it would have kept Stiles away.
"Hunters. Long story short, they hunt supernatural creatures and kill us because they think we're monsters. They may call us monsters, but they're the real monsters. They cut us in half because it will kill us for sure. Wolfsbane is toxic, and some of them have it in their bullets, one shot and something like a Werewolf will die slowly. Tortured to their death." There's something in Stiles' eyes as he talks, something Scott doesn't want to see in them again, something ugly and desperate.
"Who would just-" Scott shuts himself off as he remembers the black monster- the Alpha Werewolf and winces, he'd been thinking of them as monsters the whole time. "Are there hunters in Beacon Hills?" Scott asks instead.
"I don't know. Some years ago, yes, Beacon Hills was swarmed with them, like a swarm of mosquitoes. But they left, there shouldn't have-" Stiles cuts himself off to breathe, "Been any since."
Scott nods, something has been bugging him about the whole thing. "Why are you so little compared to your dad?"
"I'm not little." Stiles replies instantly and fiddles nervously with his keys. Scott laughs.
"Yes, you are dude, like a small cat. And you're a silver fox but your dad's a normal red, I'm not all that good at biology but I don't think genetics work like that."
"I'm a different kind of kitsune than my dad. It's what determines the spirit form," Stiles says and leans over to open Scott's door, "That's enough Q and A for today, get some of that sleep you wanted. I'm not coming to school with you tomorrow so you'll need the energy to survive coach's evil without me." there's a glee to his expression as he practically pushes Scott out the car. But Scott catches the door frame before Stiles can flee. "What do you mean you're not coming?"
Stiles expression changes from sadistic glee at the thought of Scott enduring coach alone to fear to flat and guarded in a few seconds. "Dad was bitten."
Scott blinks. "But he's not human so what does that have to do with anything?"
"It means he's dying Scott," Scott opens his mouth as Stiles continues, "I- I can't lose my dad. And he's not going to find the Alpha tonight. It's too quick and can hide its scent, I didn't even smell it before we saw it. That's impossible unless it can do that. Kitsune has some pretty decent senses compared to the rest of the supernatural world. Dad already used too much time with us so it would have had the time to hide and with the illusion of grandma, it would definitely think it was screwed. And it bit dad, and knows we're after it now because we need it to help dad and all it has to do is wait it out until dad dies and-"
Scott grabs Stiles arm, shaking him from where his thoughts were going. "I'll help you capture it. I'll skip school with you." he says and hopes Stiles knows that Scott will be there for him, even when Stiles' secrets and lies are out in the open.
Stiles shakes his head. "No, don't. First line remember? Coach won't give you the chance if you slack the first day back, don't let all those lonely training nights be a waste. I certainly didn't sacrifice my partner in crime for you to miss your chance at first line."
"You don't want me in danger." Scott says, mirroring Stiles' earlier words. He knows it's not the whole story, but it is Stiles' most urgent reason. Scott wishes Stiles wouldn't push him away but a part of him is happy that he doesn't have to get involved.
"No," Stiles denies, not convincingly. "I know you worked hard for first line, don't miss your chance at greatness. I won't stand for it if you miss it because of me."
"You don't even believe I can do it," Scott points out. It had been a subject of annoyance for him, Stiles disbelief that he could make first line. "If I remember right, you said something like; you should all have dreams, even pathetically unrealistic ones."
"I did not say that, I said the opposite; everyone should have dreams because dreams come true," Stiles keeps denying, but gives in and looks at him sadly. "Listen Scott, just go to school and if dad comes home healed, I'll be in school. But if not, I'll text you."
"Okay." Scott says and drags his way inside, up the stairs, into his room and he tosses his tired body onto his bed without undressing. The scratches on his body clench with pain as they rub against the sheets. He hears the engine of stiles car start, and Scott keeps listening until the car is far enough away he can't hear it.
His mind is whirling with everything that happened, he feels detached from it all, like it isn't quite real. Like a movie or a faded memory. The images of every time he'd meet the fox blends together, making him wonder how he never saw that the fox had acted just like Stiles. Scott feels sick, his stomach clenches painfully as he takes his phone out and turns it on. He pulls up the internet and carefully types out how he expects Kitsune to be spelled, Stiles has taught him enough Japanese though years that he only misses the s. Information floods the screen but Scott can't read it, instead, he stares blankly at the drawing of a fox with many tails.
"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town." Stiles had said as he took Scott out in the forest. Stiles' dad might die because Scott's always bored.
Because he was bitching about it to Stiles.
Scott turns off the phone and lets it fall beside him. "I'm going out of my freaking mind." he says and falls asleep, his dreams filled with the howls and screeches of monsters.
Stiles I
Stiles is still awake when his dad comes home, it's late and the sun'll be rising soon. He's playing every game he has, swapping them out when he gets sick to his stomach after a half hour of play time. His fantasy games sit abandoned on the shelf. Stiles had run right into a wolf mob and panicked, his character died while Stiles had been on the floor trying to calm himself.
So, he plays easy things, games without wolves like Call of Duty, or an older Zelda game on his old Nintendo. Something easy to calm himself, even if he's shot a lot.
After a few hours of playing, he hears Stilinski's car drive up to the house, and Stiles bolts from his computer chair. As he runs, tumbles, down the stairs he hears Link dying upstairs but doesn't care. He's in his Dad's face the moment the doors open. "Did you get the Alpha?" Stiles knows the answer already, he can smell how the bite is still infecting his Dad. It just doesn't seem real.
"No," Stilinski says and rubs a hand over Stiles' head, "We did ID the body, Laura Hale, we were able to get her identity from her teeth. Her phone and wallet were missing."
Stiles freezes. "Hale, that's- but they're- They haven't been back for years, Beacon Hills isn't their territory anymore. Why would she come back after what happened," a stray thought catches Stiles' mind, of two werewolves running from their territory. On the run from hunters, "You knew she was here and didn't tell me. What the hell dad?"
"Yes, she was investigating the fire." Stilinski says and slumps down in the couch, there's a fresh bandage around his arm where he'd been bitten.
"It was an accident," Stiles denies, it's a well-practiced statement. All supernaturals in Beacon Hills know there was no way it was. Not with the pack of hunters in Beacon Hills at the time.
Stilinski rubs the bridge of his nose with his bad arm, the bandage is splattered with fresh blood, and the veins around the bandage are turning purple. Stiles flinches from the sight. "You did have Schaar look at that right? He can heal basically everything with those magical unicorn powers. An Alpha bite can't be that bad. He healed that girl who was turning into a wendigo a few years back and-"
Stilinski pulls Stiles into an awkward hug, Stiles is still standing so he has to bend over awkwardly. "For God's sake, sit down son, relax, I'm not going to fall over," He tells Stiles and maneuvers him down on the couch. He runs a hand over the bandage, "I went straight to Dr. Schaar after we took the body in. He's slowed the venom. It's enough time okay? I'm going to find it, you worry about school."
Stiles hugs his dad like he's holding onto his last lifeline. In some ways, he is. "I can't lose you too." saying the word makes it more real, the stank of the bite burns in his nose. It smells like death, like his mom. A sickly sweet and bitter smell that seeps into him and grips painfully at his sense of smell.
Stiles winces as he hears his alarm go off upstairs, it's 6 am and he's eaten too much sugar after his dad went to sleep. He looks at the mess before him for a second before his attention is drawn to the paper laying in front of him. On it is written two things, Laura Hale and Alpha Werewolf.
Stiles knows who Laura Hale is, she was the latest Alpha of the Hale line. An Alpha rumoured to be the Alpha of a two-man pack. How the legendary Hales has fallen, is whispered around the world, werewolves with solemn bleakness, vampires and dark creatures with smug satisfaction, and the rest with remembrance.
The Alpha is someone he doesn't know. It could be Derek Hale, someone who lost his whole pack. Losing their pack can drive werewolves insane, even to kill their remaining pack. The timing just doesn't add up, why now? Years after he would have snapped. So, it was most likely some random omega who'd come into Beacon Hills and smelled the scent of power as Laura had walked around, searching for clues to her family's murder, alone.
Without pack.
He looks up and hides the paper which has more words on it when Dad comes into the living room with sluggish movements. He smells worse than he did yesterday and Stiles has to fight the urge to gag. Stilinski obviously notices so he stares at Stiles with a sad smile and then the mess of candy around him for just a bit longer than what's necessary. "Are all those candy wrappers and chip bags a new form for teenage decoration? Or did you raid the cabinet hoping to gain weight?" The question Stilinski doesn't ask is how Stiles is holding up, but Stiles knows that it's what he's really asking. And Stilinski knows the answer- it's laying out over the entire room- which makes the evasion of the real reason a simple distraction. To make Stiles feel like everything's alright.
Stiles shrugs. "You know, unlike you, I can't gain weight, so it's a veggie burger for you again today," he says, neither denying nor confirming. The cover story he came up with is that he was trying to see how much he could eat before he puked. He is about to tell his dad when a bird screeches outside and Stiles loses his train of thought. "Did you know half our candy had already gone past the expiration date? It tasted normal but the gummy bears were a bit too hard for me, like chewing on bark."
Dad stares at him and shakes his head and grabs the lunch Stiles has put out for him. He sniffs at the bag and makes a face of disgust. "Foxes are predators," Dad says pointedly, it's an old argument -foxes are omnivores but that detail doesn't help much as they don't exactly eat salad- and Stiles stares innocently, "We don't eat rabbit food, we eat the rabbit. And go school, I'll know if you didn't." he says with a long hard look and only leaves when Stiles tells him that, yes, I will go, I promise.
He takes the paper from his pocket and looks at it while typing on his phone, he finds an old article about the Hale fire quickly and finds that Derek Hale was 16 when his family died. It was around six years ago so Derek would be 22 to 24. So, Laura did not go looking for who killed her family because Derek was old enough to take care of himself, she had years to investigate but didn't.
So why now?
Someone had lured her. Could have been a rivaling pack wanting the famous power of the Hale pack. But some Omega killed her before they could take her power.
Or it was hunters luring her. Stiles stares at the door.
Ten minutes into staring at the door his phone beeps with a text. It's from Scott, 'Dude i lost my inhaler yesterday. Did you or your dad find it?'
'No.' Stiles texts back and thinks about the paper crumbled up in his pocket. 'I'll go find it for you, good luck with lacrosse. When does Dr Deaton come in today?' Stiles types out quickly and sends it.
The reply comes minutes later as Stiles is putting together what will become the least healthy lunch he's eaten in years. 'Why do you want to know when Deaton comes in? It's at 7 am. If you find it put it in my mailbox.'
Stiles pretends the last part of the text isn't like that because Scott doesn't want to meet after all that happened yesterday. 'Sure thanks.' Stiles sends back and puts the phone away.
If his dad knew of the food Stiles is making he would have come back from the Sheriff's station in a heartbeat, just to swap their lunches.
Stiles grabs at his ears as the loud bell screams at him when he opens the door to the animal clinic. Doorbells and the like was only created to torture supernatural creatures, Stiles is certain of it. Coach is a supernatural menace, blowing his whistle all the Goddamn time. Even the normal people on the teams under coach find the whistle to be a menace.
That man is most likely some kind of demon.
The reception area is empty but he can hear that Dr. Deaton is already on his way towards Stiles. Deaton looks surprised when he sees Stiles standing in his building, but his usual calm facade is back on in no time. "Mr. Stilinski. What are you doing out of school?" He asks politely.
"How do I cure an Alpha werewolf's bite?"
Stiles knows damn well that Deaton already knows that his Dad was bitten by an Alpha the night before, but Deaton gives him a surprised face and asks, "Where you bitten by an Alpha, Stiles?"
"You know my dad was. Stop avoiding my questions and answer."
"I did not know," Deaton denies and moves to open the mountain ash barrier separating them. "Come let's talk more in private.
Stiles follows him and shudders when he sees the rows of animal cages throughs an open door. He makes a wide curve around the door opening, careful not to get too close to the room filled with suffering and anxiety. The animal's emotions grate on his mind as he passes despite the distance he keeps.
"There are very few ways to pacify the effects of werewolf bites," Deaton says as he slips a book about feline anatomy from the metal bookcase along the wall of the room he led Stiles into. He places the book on a table and it flickers, becoming an old and abused looking book.
"I don't want to pacify it, I want it gone. Get it? Gone like how when you poop the poop is gone from your body."
Deaton just smiles vaguely and flickers through the pages and stops on a page with a werewolf drawing and a language Stiles has never seen before, "Most recorded instances of kitsune or other slightly malevolent creatures being cured were from beta and omega bites. But this one story came to mind, it's about a Vampire clan in war with a pack of Werewolves, then a werewolf and a vampire on opposing ends fell in love, defying some of the most sacred rules of the wolves."
"Werewolf and vampire Romeo and Juliet, got it." Stiles says impatiently.
Deaton trails his finger down the words. "That's where the comparison ends. The Alpha of the werewolf pack but the vampire when he found them together. The werewolf in love with the vampire tried to cure the bite for seven days until it was almost too late. But the werewolf killed the Alpha in revenge, wanting their lover avenged. But when the werewolf became an Alpha it knew it could cure the vampire, so it drained the poison from the vampire, curing its lover. They created peace between their families which would last for centuries, it's the legend of why werewolves and vampires don't actually go to full out war despite the uneasy relationship."
"Great, that will help me. I just need to find the Alpha and hope it knows how to do something from an old legend. Also, my father isn't exactly a vampire either, they're dark creatures and dad's well into the lighter spectrum."
Deaton looks at him, unimpressed by his comments and closes his book, it transforms back into an anatomy book the moment it stops touching the table. "When beta werewolves cure their bites, they absorb the venom like they would with pain. I would think it is the same process with Alphas, but I cannot be sure as no Alpha has successfully cured their bites in recorded history."
"So, you're useless. Can't you like- I don't know- feel where the Alpha is or something? Druids have that creepy connection to werewolves."
"I can assure you, Stiles, that druids do not have a creepy connection to werewolves, we merely have ancestors that gave the wolves the ability to transform back. The druids-" Deaton suddenly decides that he's told enough about himself, "Sheriff Stilinski has about two months left, after that, there will be nothing any of us can do."
"A literal deadline," Stiles says and his mind races, two months aren't a lot of time. "Are there anymore legends I should look at?" he asks, somewhat desperate. If the supernatural world told Stiles anything it's that legends are based in fact.
Deaton gives him a speculative look. "I do have more books about werewolf legends, and I do recall reading about…"
"And? Come on dude, be less vague, my dad's life is at stake here." Stiles smiles something that feels disgusting on his face.
Deaton nods. "Come back tomorrow Stiles and I'll have a few books for you and your father. He is aware you're here right?" he hands over the book with the story about the vampire and werewolf, "You can start with this one. I'll call your dad when you've gone, I do have an agreement with him to call when you're sent here."
"That's only for when Scott puts me here." Stiles snaps back embarrassed, Dad had called Deaton to make that agreement after Scott had taken him to the vet the second time.
"Is it?" Deaton, always vague, and Stiles is annoying him. The man should just stop being retired no one with any speck of supernatural abilities could ever retire.
Stiles stares and blinks slowly, evening out the groove between his eyebrows. "Right, I'll just leave then, before dad gets here with his handcuffs."
Stiles leaves the clinic quickly, book tugged into his armpit. He throws the book in the backseat beside his bat and drives towards the preserve. He has an inhaler to find.
The wind is coming from the direction of where Laura's body had been. Stiles steps from his jeep, and onto twigs and leaves, as he breathes in. He can still smell her but another, unknown, scent is close by. Werewolf. Stiles sneaks a hand into the back seat without looking and picks the metal bat that has long been the physical representation of his first tail. With the bat in hand, Stiles begins the long walk towards the two scents, one of death and decay and one filled with anger and sorrow.
It takes maybe ten minutes to find the spot and the other scent turns out to belong to a guy in his twenties with dark hair and thick eyebrows, he looks somewhat familiar. "Hey-" Is all Stiles manages to say before the guy jumps at him with claws out. His eyes are green and unshifted. Not telling if he's an Alpha or a beta. Stiles swings out with his bat, as he does his best not to be gutted by rough but sharp claws. The werewolf is close enough that the bat hits first, slamming into his shoulder. There's a painful crack and Stiles makes a face as the Werewolf growls at him, all teeth as he continues on without a flinch. Snapping his jaw at Stiles.
Stiles runs back and waves his bat in the werewolf face, but he just grabs for it, and oh god that doesn't feel nice. "I didn't kill her!" He shouts on a whim, and begs to the old kitsune spirits, that the guy looks similar to Laura is because he's actually a very angry and murderous Derek Hale. The Werewolf ignores him and swipes thick claws over Stiles' arm as he flings his bat from him and pushes Stiles up a tree. "Stop trying to kill me and listen! I'm trying to find out who killed her too!" Stiles shouts as he pushes at him.
The grip on Stiles' arm gives just enough not to be painful. "Who are you?" he demands.
"Stiles Stilinski. You're Derek Hale, right?" Stiles says but yelps as claws dig into his shoulder.
"How do you know my name?" His eyes flash blue, why are his eyes blue?
Doesn't matter, his brain tells him as his mouth begins. "Hey- hey- You look like Laura- OW- stop clawing at me dammit! You're her brother, of course physical likeness makes me think you're Derek! Please let me go?" The last part comes out as a whisper.
"Give me a reason." He growls and that's a lot of teeth.
Stiles thinks fast and lets his aura out, letting the oddly shaped- furry like- energy merge into a fox around him. "See? If I did it you'd be Alpha or I'd be an Alpha, but I'm definitely not a wolfman. Foxman sure but I've never been all that wolfy."
Derek steps back carefully, crossing his arms as he looks like he hates the world. Stiles uses the opportunity to slide very carefully away from the tree and over to his bat. "You're a kitsune?" He looks slightly confused at his own statement, "Why do you care?"
Stiles picks his bat up. "The Alpha that- that killed your sister also bit my dad, so why don't we help each other," He says because Derek will want the Alpha dead, and if Deaton's legend is true, Stiles knows he'll need help getting it to cure his dad. "It's a win, win."
Derek scoffs. "There it is."
"There what is?" Stiles snaps, and his hand tightens around the handle of his bat, he kind of wants to hit Derek and maybe dislocate his jaw.
Bad Stiles.
"It's all the same with you kitsune, vampires and elves. You don't care about what happens to people around you unless you're involved."
"Oh wow, dude," Stiles says blandly and claps slowly, "That is an impressive display of werewolf bias you're giving me, tell me more. It's not like my dad has been protecting Beacon Hills since you and your sister left Beacon Hills- it was your territory by the way- unprotected all those years ago. No not like that at all."
Derek looks annoyed, and there's a bit of shame hidden in there. Stiles does feel somewhat satisfied to see the expression on his face. The guilt lasts a second before anger strikes Derek's face like a lightning bolt hitting the earth, Stiles should have kept his mouth shut. "You don't get to talk about my sister like that."
Stiles swallows at the fury on the werewolf's face, he looks like he'd like nothing more than to rip Stiles' throat out with his teeth. Derek's claws slide out with a flick and Stiles takes a big step back with big round eyes. "Sorry dude," He says but doesn't really mean it, they left Beacon Hills, but he does feel sorry for Derek. So, his heart stays steady. "But the point still stands, we would get the Alpha faster if we work together. I know Beacon Hills, it's changed a lot in six years- basically a supernatural hot spot now. Oh, and my dad probably wants to talk to you."
Derek grunts and his werewolf-ness disappears. "Why?"
Stiles frowns. "Why Beacon Hills changed? Well, it started with this family of unicorns that moved here and then they told some friends who told other friends that-"
Derek interrupts. "Why your father wants to talk." he growls, his eyes flash.
"Ah," Stiles lets out nervously and slightly turns so that if Derek lost control he'd have a better shot at him, "He's the Sheriff and you're Laura's family." Derek clenches his jaw at the word family and Stiles decides he should really not try to team up with a werewolf. They're scary.
"Okay." Derek says and looks at Stiles.
"Man of few words I see," Stiles says and is about to lead Derek to his jeep when he remembers. "Oh, hey have you seen an inhaler because my friend Scott dropped one yesterday and those things are really expensive. People with asthma are clearly being used if you ask me, the prices are way too high for something that keeps people alive. But they need it, so they have to buy it regardless of the insane costs, it's a hustle I-" an object flies at his face and he attempts to catch it but he ends up hitting it a few times before catching it with clumsy hands. Stiles stares at Derek and hopes he feels how unimpressed Stiles is with being interrupted again. He is, however, happy that he does not have to search the forest for the inhaler.
"Was he bit?" Derek asks, obviously unimpressed by Stiles glare and awkward attempt at catching the inhaler.
"What no." Stiles scoffs, "My dad and I protected him." Stiles waves his bat menacingly in the air.
"Really?" Derek raises an eyebrow at Stiles' bat and doesn't seem to believe him.
"Dude," Stiles says with fake bravo and twirls the bat, it glows a faint purple for effect, "I am one badass Kitsune."
"Don't call me that." Derek says stiffly, clearly uncomfortable with the word.
"Whatever you say dude." Stiles replies, he's not one to turn down some chaos.
Derek growls.
'Found your inhaler and a very angry werewolf. how did lacrosse go?' Stiles types out with one hand as his other doodles a gross drawing of Laura Hales upper body. Downstairs Derek is talking to his dad, Stiles half listens to the conversation as he puts down everything he's theorized about the Alpha.
'Didn't make it' Says the text from Scott and before Stiles can type a nice message about hope and overcoming your weakness, his phone beeps again. 'There's a new girl, her name is Allison.'
Stiles peeks up at the last part. 'Is she cute?' He sends back, Scott wouldn't have mentioned her unless he took an interest.
'She's nice.' Scott sends instead and follows up with, 'She's already friends with Lydia.'
'She must be hot then, beautiful people herd together.'
'You were right about lacrosse, didn't make it thirty minutes in.'
Stiles groans. 'Cute girl Scott, I want information on this girl you found, who is it i have to compete with for your precious attention?'
Stiles looks down at his drawing and decides it has enough detail, just undetailed enough to not keep him up at night. It's not all that good, her face is shaped like an egg and her hair looks like a bird's nest. Derek would claw his throat out if he saw it. So Stiles pins the drawing to a small board he had found and connects it to a cartoonish drawing of the Alpha with a red string.
"...Scott?" Stiles hears Stilinski say and peeps up, turning in his chair to listen, "He was almost bitten."
"Yes," Derek replies. "If what you and Stiles say is true, then the Alpha will come for Scott." Stiles' heart leaps into his throat.
Not Scott.
"I've never met Scott, but even if he would make a terrible werewolf, the Alpha might have chosen Scott to be pack."
"That doesn't seem like normal werewolf behaviour."
"It is for born werewolves who become Alphas," Derek says. "It's why we prepare the next generation of Alphas for years."
"You want to bite kids? That's-" Stilinski says and chokes on his words when he hears Stiles snickering at the way his wording sounded.
Derek huffs, somewhat amused but mostly annoyed. "You want a pack, a strong pack. Humans can be part of a pack, they just don't give the same kind of strength as the werewolf members."
"So Scott became pack when the Alpha chose him? You can force a pack bond with a human?" Stiles didn't know that, he knows of the forced bond between an Alpha and their betas, but humans are another species entirely. An Alpha can force members of other packs to join them, they can take unwilling omegas and add them, bite people and then add them against their will. Sometimes the only way to escape a forced bond is to die or to kill the Alpha responsible.
It's uncommon, but not all that rare.
"It's more complicated than with wolves, but yes. Scott can still reject the bond, it's easier for humans."
"Can you show him how?" Stilinski asks.
Derek grunts annoyed. "Sweaty teenagers aren't really on my to do list right now." Stiles growls unintentionally at his words and the pen in his hand snaps in two.
He puts the two parts down with shivering hands.
"It can't take more than ten minutes Derek, if you do it now Scott won't be a problem later."
Stiles can almost feel the ashole thinking about it, weighing his options. "I'll get it done."
You better, Stiles thinks bitterly and jerks with surprise when his phone beeps. 'Dude don't say that, its creepy. I walked into her on my way to practice, got all her books everywhere but she wasn't mad. She was at practise and helped me find my other inhaler. Thx for finding the other one, I ate some dirt but its clean now.'
Stiles slowly grins at his phone, 'Seems like you've been doing nothing but eat dirt lately.'
Scott doesn't reply and Stiles counts it as a victory. Stiles is engrossed in drawing pictures for his newly made murder board an hour later when Scott texts back.
'How is your dad?'
'What you'd expect, not well. He's already begun forgetting things.' Like where the forks are. It starts out with the smaller things before he begins forgetting the important things, where he lives, Stiles name, his work, who he is, who Stiles is.
'I'm sorry.' Scott sends a few minutes later. This time Stiles does not reply.