The Path to Hell
One Shot: After the Results of the Tomography Scanner. Derek, Scott and those close to them and Stiles consider what it might have to come to to save Stiles from dying like his Mother.
Derek and Scott were at the benches on the waiting room of the hospital. The damage to the main power line feeding the building had them running on generator power. His mother and the Sheriff had to write a situation report. And despite his need to find Stiles before he came into any more harm Derek had somehow convinced the True Alpha that, right now, Stiles was not as big as a priority as keeping the Sheriff and Melissa from undergoing a mental breakdown.
"Use your senses Scott. They are frightened and more stressed than it's considered safe. I think both of them have finally realized how deep our powers only put us at great danger. You need to be here, to show them that our power, while a double edged sword, can be used for good."
There was no fighting Logic Derek, which was ironic since Derek often solved things punching people first and having reasonable talks later. He needed to be here, if only to provide some reassurance to his mother. For all accounts it could have been him wandering around the city with a demon inside him trying to cause the worst kind of chaos.
They both turned at the approaching steps and familiar scent. Dr. Alan Deaton had somehow been able to pass the police barricade around the hospital. The Emissary of the Hale pack, which was technically still the leading pack of Beacon Hills even tough all current members were betas or omegas, had been called by Derek using a text message.
"I've been told I was needed here." He said glancing around the emergency lighted rooms. "Tough it seems for once both of you are for once in perfect health and sanity. Since I had received a text, from Derek of all people, in the middle of the night claiming it was an emergency I was expecting someone to be dead by the time I arrived." Alan said seriously.
"Stiles has a Brain degenerative disease." Derek stated. "Incurable… Never mind the fact he is currently possessed by a Dark Kitsune hell bent on killing everyone it can reach out to. The latter problem is something we will eventually have to deal with, but I'm right now more concerned about the first problem and the future consequences it might bring."
Deaton raised an eyebrow. Any normal person would think that a boy possessed by a demoing running out of control around a city filled with innocents would be top priority of anyone with a cent of concern. In fact, Derek himself had a tendency to focus on security threats, as he did follow Scott all around in order to guard him from the Oni. For him to say that was not only an Anomaly, but a statement to how serious the situation was.
"If it is an incurable disease… then there is nothing we can do about it." Deaton replied.
Both werewolves turned to face him, four sets or raised eyebrows directed at the Doctor. "It was a test." The vet admitted "We all know that Incurable is something often restricted to humane standards. Which quite enlightens your concerns, Derek."
"Supernatural Cures." Scott replied. "Gerard is living proof of how effective they can be. If it is to save Stiles…"
Deaton raised a hand. "Not here Scott, and it is not something that affects only us. It would spare a lot of discussion and time, which we actually do not have, if all the interested parties and potential advisors were gathered in a more private and favorable ambient."
No sooner had he said that Isaac, Lydia, Allison, Kira, The Twins, The Sheriff and Scott's mother appeared. Lydia was particularly consternated, her heartbeat betraying her feelings to Scott. The Alpha knew she had sensed it coming, and for some reason fought her instinct, which in turn might cost them Stiles. The True Alpha was right now very pissed at her but dealing with Lydia was far outside of his list of priorities.
"I was able to secure the Chapel." Melissa stated. "We could all use some divine protection while discussing things." She was holding on to Stiles father, who seemed a lifeless husk drained of all light. It was a deplorable scene which only reaffirmed Scott's opinion that, right now, they needed him more than Stiles. He could not act like the normal Derek would in such a situation.
Fortunately, being a werewolf did not prevent one from going into a chapel. And the one near the hospital was large enough that they could discuss things, and far enough that no one would interfere with them. As it was a multi religious chapel the altar was made of a very old boulder which had been chiseled into a square, with a thick glass surface on top of it. Instead of a particular figure a similar piece of rock, which Scott recognized as Hecatonite, made up a totem.
Deaton took the center of the altar, with Scott and Ms. McCall to his right and Derek and the Sheriff to the left. The others took to the benches, with Isaac and Kira sitting near Scott and Allison on the other side with Lydia, close to Isaac. The Twins sat at the rear, one at each side, guarding the door and keeping their ears sharp for any intruders or incidents.
"We all know why we are here. The situation is truly one of the most serious we've faced." Deaton stated. "It is not the matter of if we can stop the Nogitsune from corrupting Isaac. I am sure if there is a way to do it, and there most certainly is one, the people in this room will find it. However, there is another thing we must consider, for it affects all of us in a way, and that is why this reunion was necessary."
He waited several seconds, turning his head to Derek to follow up. The former Alpha nodded and directed his sentence to the two parents in the room "Scott is determined to do anything in his power to protect Stiles from dying like his mother did. For those who do not know he has a disease which promotes degeneration of his brain. It is incurable… by human standards."
"You mean… giving him the Bite could save him?" Asked the Sheriff.
Scott nodded. "Cancer is incurable, yet Gerard somehow survived it even after we screwed up his transformation. While the diseases in question are as different as the sun and the moon, the regenerative abilities in the Werewolf DNA are the way to address both of them. I am confident this can save Stiles, and I promised him I would find a way. If there is no better option then I will bite him, regardless of what other people might feel about it." Scott said with a voice devoid of any human emotion, the voice of a leader, the voice of a True Alpha.
"Once, there was someone who thought like you." Lydia began, having heard the tale from Stiles. "The love of his life was cursed by mortality while he was cursed with near immortality. He was convinced that making her his equal would bring both of them happiness and so he arranged for her to be bitten by an Alpha, it was the biggest mistake of his life."
"The bite did not take." Derek filled in. "Not only did it bring her to the doors of death, it did so in a most painful way. It was an act of mercy and punishment that the foolish boy who had arranged for that bite was forced to kill her in order to spare her from suffering further. And that incident in turn Cursed him further…" Derek said making his eyes glow with a familiar blue Trace."
"That, and as a result of this incident, the Nemeton gained the power of a Virgin. Power it later used to bring a succession of hard explained events which culminated into our current situation. Deaton reminded everyone. "It sparred Julia and made her the Darach, every incident that happened from that point on led to now…"
"Care to clarify that one?" Asked Melissa."
"Marin sent me a few discoveries she did while spying on the traces of Julia. The Darach had an association with Adrian Harris. While we will never know what Adrian's agenda was. We know that he arranged the means to have Peter recover from the fire with enough strength to Kill Laura, That was the fuse to our current avalanche of disasters."
"Everything is connected!" Isaac gasped. Voicing the realization that dawned on everyone in the room. "Peter made Scott a Werewolf and caused Derek to come. This also attracted the Argents and Kate. Scott and Derek had a hand in Making Jackson discover the Secret and Derek bit Jackson turning him into the Kanima. Jackson used Matt's Camera and made him the Kanima Master…"
"While Gerard was attracted by Kate's death, which came in the hands of Peter, and the fact he could enact revenge on the Hale pack and finish her Job while curing himself of his cancer." Lydia added
"No sooner had those threats been neutralized, Julia entered the stage herself, while the Alpha pack was attracted by the potential that Derek or, failing that, Scott had to become members of the Pack. In doing so she brough a lot of power to the Nemeton, including the sacrifice of Alisson, Stiles, and Scott, which would not have happened had they not been dragged into the supernatural because Peter bit Scott."
"And the coup de grâce is that, despite the fact Scott dealt with Julia and the Alpha pack, we gave the Nemeton Power to act on it's own and three vulnerable subjects for it to corrupt with it's darkness." Melissa finished. "Which brings us to Stiles Infection by a Nogitsune."
"And the presence of Kira Noshimura." Deaton finished nodding at the woman. "Whose father took the vacant spot of History Teacher, liberated by Julia after she killed the History Teacher." He turned to Scott. "Now, in light of this new evidence, do you still think biting Stiles is a good idea? Specially while he is already infected by a Dark Spirit?"
Scott didn't answer in fact, there was not much he could as he was processing the line of events that have happened around him from a distanced perspective. "Is it just me or does the Nemeton hates my guts?"
"Now that is something I expected to come from Stiles, not you Scott." Melissa pointed out.
"Stiles is not here, And it's not like any of you were going to say it. We can lay the blame of everything that has happened to us on the Nemeton, but what exactly does it gain from all of this?"
"Scott, just don't go there." Deaton warned, There are powers too strong and dangerous to try and get to understand how they tick. The Nemeton, like the rest of Mother Nature, can be influenced by people, but it holds no loyalty to anything but itself. It will spare you a lot of headache if you just consider it does what it does for the power it gets out of the deaths."
"Or maybe it just enjoy screwing with us?" Isaac pointed out.
"Well, I have half a mind to burn that stump and the rest of the Forest to ashes." The Sheriff replied. "I can turn a blind eye to a lot of things, but messing with my son crosses the line!"
"That would do more bad than good." Deaton said frustrated. "While we can consider this Nemeton to be devious in it's ways. It is still a force regulating the balance between good and evil."
"So, it's the lesser of the two evils?" Asked Allison. To which the Druid nodded.
"The path to hell is forged with good intentions." Derek amended. "It was something my mom kept saying to me, specially after the incident."
"That would explain a lot." Isaac rolled his eyes. "Now I understand why you are so temperamental and not very caring. You might actually land in heaven despite your sin."
"We are in a church!" Melissa reminded the boy, who was instantly overrun with guilt.
"Sorry Derek, It was a bad move."
"I had that comming."
"Scott…" Lydia rose. "Maybe it's not about being devious. We considered the Nemeton a force that takes advantage of the power surrounding it. But maybe it's just the oposite, the Nemeton works to Give power and not take it."
"Okay, now I am lost." Aiden replied. "What are you talking about?"
"Julia and Peter were means to an end. If we consider the Nemeton a omnipotent being, at least in beacon hills, maybe Peter is not the source of the problem, not even Julia is, but someone else, someone in this very room." She said looking at Scott.
"Me?" The True Alpha asked.
"Oh my god!" Melissa said realizing. "That woman who became the Darach! She came to the hospital while I was at work when she was about to Die. Scott was the first one to find her!"
"It was around the time I hired Scott." Deaton remembered. "Julia probably saw in him the same thing I did bag then… the Same thing that made Peter ignore Stiles and bite Scott If the Nemeton had access to her memories it would have known Scott had the potential to become a True Alpha."
"So, you are saying all of this is to make me a True Alpha? But then why go after Stiles?" Scott Asked.
"To test you." Derek answered. "To make you a more competent Alpha. To force me back so I would have to give you some exchange of information. To give Lydia the means to sense and warn you when something terrible is about to happen, and to make her embrace her powers instead of trying to fight who she is. Everything that has happened up to now can be explained as a way to make Scott Mature into the Leading Role the Nemeton created for him. Like a chess game where the Judge knows all the moves that need to be made to make one side win."
The Sheriff took a deep sight. "It's testing all of us, then… It's certainly testing my patience."
"But mostly it tests how Scott will deal with problems. Stiles is Dying… what will Scott do about that?" Lydia asked. "There is not even a right or wrong answer on this one… either option will carry it's own share of great benefits and terrible consequences."
Scott sighted… Several minutes and they got more questions than answers. He turned to Deaton. "Is there any way we can save Stiles without going for the Bite?"
Deaton raised his shoulders. "Your ability to relief pain only goes so far with a human. Anything more permanent in reversing incurable diseases is unheard of… unless of course you want Stiles to face the same fate as Gerard. Then again you are a True Alpha. There is no guarantee this status won't factor in wherever Stiles can be saved by your powers. I can look it up but it will take time… and we might not have enough of that.
"We have got to try." Scott insisted. "Focus whatever time you have on how to cure Stiles, We will find a way to get the Nogitsune out of him."
"And if we run out of time?" Asked Lydia, voicing the chief concern in the room.
"I will bite him, Kitsune or Not." Scott replied in a tone that was not open to discussion.
"Styles will never forgive you if you do that." Allison reminded him. "He refused the Bite."
"It doesn't matter, Stiles must survive. I would rather have him as a human but he must survive at any cost, even his happiness." Scott finished, and everyone knew there would be no way to convince the boy to take a more suited path.
Because, all risks considered, Scott was right. Stiles had to survive. Even tough he was not a supernatural being, Stiles the human was a key piece in keeping Scott sane and in control. He was the lynchpin holding Scott, and Scott was the lynchpin holding everyone else. If Stiles die, then all hope for Beacon Hills is lost. The Nemeton would know it more than anyone as it had seen Scott nearly kill himself at the hands of the Darach, had Stiles not saved him.
"Ninety Six Hours." The vet sighted, earning the attention of the room. "We have four days until the next full moon. If Scott cannot stop the Nogitsune and I can find a cure for Stiles we will turn him for the sake of the people in beacon hills. Best case scenario Stiles purges the Nogitsune on his own… worst case scenario…"
"We have to kill Stiles ourselves… to prevent him from destroying beacon Hills." Derek interrupted, concluding Deaton's line of thinking. Everyone could tell he was not exactly agreeing with that option."
"It will not come to that." Melissa said, not really doing a great job at Reassuring anyone.
"How can you tell that?" Ethan asked.
"I know Scott, and I know Stiles… They will not let any darkness overcome their friendship or bring them apart. They will find a way to stop this."
"Very well… Faith is all we can have right now… Fitting that we found it in a Church." The Sheriff replied. "We do our things right, without panic, and everything ends up fine."
"But first, we are all going to get a good night of sleep… even if I have to go Medazolan on all of you." Melissa ordered in a tone that surpassed even Scott's as a commanding tone. "It's been a tough night and we could all use some sleep. I will get someone to dismiss you from School and Work and Prescribe a sleep dose but you need to be rested. For your sake as well as Stiles.
The people in the gathering agreed in silence, and they made their way back to the hospital where Melissa was about to explain to a doctor how she had got a bunch of kids needing a Doctor Prescribed nap, with five of them, her son and charge included, needing extra doses due to high liver metabolism.
Up in the forests by the old Hale House, the Nemeton watched the scene unfold. It had no presence, and thus no emotion, but if it had it would probably be extremely satisfied. While Stiles life being at great risk was something that really concerned him, for the boy's death would destroy the fine laid plans it had laid for years. It was reassuring to know this event had helped solidify the alliances of the people in Scott's safety network, as well as help Lydia come to terms with her own role to play.
If it's methods were cruel it didn't care in the slightest, for it had no feelings but a duty. It's duty was to protect Beacon Hills and the key to getting that done was to place the city under the protection of capable guardians. Scott was the key, and he would have to be at the top of his game. For everything it had thrown at them since these events begun had not dented the surface on how dark things could become in Beacon Hills. The city had strong ties to the Supernatural, and deep rooted secrets, Scott and his Pack, Werewolf or otherwise, would have to be ready when these ties surfaced, and these secrets were unearthed.