The clearing was alive with movement, the faint glow of the crescent moon illuminating the battle raging against the mud and grass. Every noise pierced the night like a punch, short and sharp and painful.

Wolf fought wolf. Teeth bared, claws out, hackles raised as they bit and scratched and growled.

Hunters fought wolves. Targets acquired in crosshairs, moments spared to aim, bullets shooting from guns, arrows springing from bows, the scent of wolfsbane heavy in the air.

Hunter fought hunter. Reluctant shots fired from one side. Warnings more than death threats. One side abiding the code, or trying to, the other frenzied and blood thirsty, shooting anything and everything that moved.

It was mayhem. Complete mayhem.

And in the middle of it, Stiles.

Human, so very human. Unarmed in a battle, useless and scared. He'd had no choice, he hadn't chosen to be there, the Alpha pack, or what was left of it, had attacked in the middle of their meeting with the Argents. The other family of hunters arriving shortly after, supposedly drawn to the fight, not caring if they shot wolf or human. And now he stood, watching with perverse curiosity as arrows pierced the sky and bullets whizzed past his face close enough to hear, and flesh tore against the pressure of claws, loud and ghastly.

There was nowhere to hide. He had considered making a break for the treeline closest to him, running until he hit the road, getting as far from the fight as he could, but his feet wouldn't move, and he was pretty sure that the only reason he wasn't dead already was that he hadn't drawn attention to himself yet, running would only make him a target.

There was a yelp to one side. Stiles' head whipped round in time to see the twin shapes of Erica and Boyd crash into the trunk of a tree, an Alpha crowding towards them, madness shining in his eyes. He reached Erica first, baring his teeth as she tried to push herself up, and growling at Boyd when he attempted to come to her aid. A quick swipe of a paw knocked Boyd back down, this time unconscious against the dirt. Erica whined again, shifting to get closer to her pack-mate, check he wasn't dead or dying, but the looming form of the Alpha halted her movements.

The hulking brown wolf backed her into a tree as Stiles watched, snarling and spitting as it went. When she was pressed against the bark of the tree the Alpha placed a paw on her leg, and left it there, seemingly studying her face. And then, quite suddenly, he pushed down and Erica screamed as her bones broke beneath the pressure. The Alpha's muzzle pulled into a crude attempt at a smile. Stiles felt sick.

He willed himself to move, knowing now that given the chance, he could never run. He would never forgive himself for leaving his family behind to die alone without him. Either they all got out alive, or they died together. Anything else was unacceptable. The Alpha lowered his face to Erica's neck, teeth glinting against her skin. Stiles ran.

Words left his mouth but he couldn't hear what they were over the beating of his own heart jack-rabbiting against his ribs. He saw the Alpha hesitate, just briefly, withdrawing from Erica to stare incredulously at the scrawny human rocketing straight towards him, limbs flying and eyes burning. A large paw kept Erica pinned as the Alpha snapped his teeth at Stiles, daring him to come closer, daring him to be that stupid.

Then the Alpha was on the floor, pain pulsing through his veins. A small round bullet hole pierced his flank, blood dripping sluggishly from the wound, and pink smoke wafting lazily around the fur. Writhing on the earth, the wolf howled and scratched and choked for an entire minute before at last the burning stopped and the wolf lay still.

Stiles turned to look in the direction the shot had come from, eyes connecting with those of a young man, mid-twenties if that, shock etched on his face as he kept his weapon raised as if he'd forgotten he was holding it. He stared at the body of the wolf as if he was hoping it would get back up, as if he wished he could take back the shot, Stiles couldn't say he felt the same way after all the man had saved both his an Erica's life. Possibly Boyd's as well. Hell, he could have just saved them all.

There was a movement to the man's left, a rustle of leaves, barely there. Stiles jolted as the tip of a muzzle came out of the undergrowth beside the man. He opened his mouth to shout a warning but he was too late. A second Alpha was on the man, ripping into his flesh before he could so much as scream. Stiles let a sob leave his throat as he looked away.

Commotion behind him brought him back. He'd lost track of the rest of the fight, so focused on the Alpha and the hunter. He could see Jackson staring down the barrel of a gun, a hunter taunting him, unaware of Scott's bulky form circling around behind him.

Isaac was scrabbling with one of the smaller Alpha's but even as Stiles watched it was unclear who was winning. Blood covered the mud beneath them as grappled amongst the leaves, claws hooked into each other, amber eyes meeting the Alpha red.

Allison and Chris Argent were off in the trees, some other hunters with them, picking off shots when they could, but they seemed reluctant to really do any harm and instead added to the confusion.

Then something caught Stiles' eye. A woman had come across the body of the dead hunter and was cradling it to her chest, the gore smearing her shirt and tears scoring her cheeks. She seemed to howl at the moon as she rocked back and forth, but the noise was lost in the battle. She gently stroked a hand down the mostly unmarked cheek of the man before pushing onto her knees and placing him back on the ground. She spent one final moment gazing at the face of the hunter before standing, sliding her crossbow from her shoulder and notching an arrow. Her eyes were cold and emotionless, and Stiles couldn't look away.

She seemed to survey the clearing, detached from the entire fight, choosing her victim, searching for the culprit. Her eyes fell on the form of an Alpha, squaring off against another, bigger, Alpha. Blood smeared its muzzle and the woman snarled. She raised the crossbow, checking that the arrow was in place, that the familiar sheen of wolfsbane was present, and then fingered the trigger. The Alpha in her sights, she pulled back on the release and watched it fly straight at the belly of the beast.

Only it never hit the wolf.

It hit the human boy who had dived in front of it.

Stiles had seen the wolfsbane arrow, and had been running before it had left the bow. His legs had screamed as he pushed them, but he had needed to get to the other side of the clearing before the woman shot. He had needed to stop the arrow finding its target. He could only assume she thought she was aiming at the killer of the young man at her feet, and he had no time to tell her she was wrong.

But he was not about to let her shoot Derek if he could stop her.

With only feet to go he somehow heard the click of the arrow being released, and with one last mad burst of anger he flung himself forward, arms pin wheeling in mid-air. Hearing the commotion, both Derek and his Alpha opponent turned to look at him, Derek's eyes meeting his as he flew towards him. Irritated confusion shone out of the red, and Stiles didn't want that to be the last look he saw on Derek's face, so he clenched his eyes shut and waited.

He gasped as the arrow sliced through his chest, the force of the blow forcing his eyes open, tears pooling at the bottom. Derek's face had changed from irritation mixed with confusion, to shock mixed with despair, and Stiles couldn't say that was much of an improvement. There was a sound, a scream, and he realised with a jolt that it was him screaming. The pain racking through his bones was making it impossible to focus on anything else, and as he crashed to his knees, he felt his blood begin to dribble from his mouth.

Then there was a hand on his face, and Derek's eyes, now human, stared into his. The utter despair in them pleased Stiles' fuzzy mind, happy that Derek at least cared enough to be saddened by his death, pleased that he hadn't been pining over someone who hated his guts, and it was possible there was something else there. But the thoughts were hard to keep hold off, and the fuzziness was beginning to cloud his eyesight. He could just about make out Derek's mouth moving but he was too far gone to hear the words spoken, the panic in his eyes spoke volumes though and so, using the last of his energy Stiles raised a hand to Derek's cheek and said

'Tell my dad I love him.'

Then it all went black.

Yeah, so… I hope you liked this. And I hope it wasn't completely awful, and I know there was a lot of useless fight stuff, but this is all just set up for the story so bear with me. THERE WILL BE MORE. And Stiles isn't going to stay dead don't worry, I would never kill my baby, but if you want to know what is going to happen you will have to stay tuned won't you.

I'll try to update soon-ish.