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Jennifer, Julia…whatever the hell her name was the Darach was dead, admittedly that fact brought thoughts of dancing midgets singing about her glorious demise to the mind of some of the members of the Pack, okay so mostly just one, a certain brown haired, brown eyed, scrawnier not nearly as hairy on the full moon one. Gerard was locked up inside the Argent's domicile nice and cozy…except for a now nagging fear of what would happen if Scott found out anything else nasty about him and caused him to kill the geriatric sociopath. Speaking of Scott, he was now the resident alpha since Derek apparently sacrificed his powers to heal his sister Cora, as admirable as that was it now left the control of the remaining werewolves in the area to Scott. Whose bright idea was it to trust control of a werewolf pack to a hormonally unstable teenager? Deucalion was out of the picture now as well, disgraced, and practically shoved out of the picture; his own pack wiped out or converted to this new one that Scott was in charge of. Yet it wasn't any of this that was truly weighing as heavily on the mind of the people around Beacon Hills now, especially not for that same scrawny, brown haired kid who was now feeling like he'd been forced to grow up too fast in the course of the passed two years.
When Stiles had heard that Derek was leaving with Cora he was initially relieved, thinking that maybe they were going to just go and get some time away from the madness that was Beacon Hills. But after a few weeks he realized that this wasn't just some temporary situation, Derek had left, and by all appearances he wasn't coming back. He couldn't understand for the life of him why it was causing him to feel the way he was but he found himself missing the other werewolf. Despite their debacles and arguments he'd always had an appreciation for Derek, he'd been there for them more than people cared to mention, he'd sacrificed possibly more than the others could imagine. He'd lost more than what he ever should have at the hands of people he used to trust and whom he should have been able to trust, lost so much for the sake of power. Well now he didn't have the power, but at the same time he didn't have what he'd lost back, only managed to trade it for maintaining the fragile remnants of what remained to him. Stiles had perhaps thought a bit too much about it, but with things being fairly calm since the Darach and Alpha Pack were neutralized he had the extra time. The ADHD didn't hurt either all things considered.
Stiles was also still reeling from the shared near death experience he shared with Scott and Allison which helped lead to the rescue of their parents from the nemeton, and from the sick game Julia tried to play in order to kill Deucalion, a plan that thankfully failed in the long run. That had led to a few admittedly complicated and stressful discussions with his father after he'd gotten back home. If by discussion one meant an overwhelming level of rage at having been kept in the dark being smoothed over by a promise that he wasn't in danger of somehow becoming a midnight snack during the full moon. Needless to say John was upset that his son had lied to him for such a long period of time, but also recognized that when he finally had come forward with the information that he hadn't believed his son for a moment. They eventually got over the initial deception, John realizing it was for his protection anyway and understanding why his son had done so, and Stiles realizing that he could now at least let his dad know about what was really going on with his life. His father was actually astounded by what he'd learned, and even more so at the fact that his son had not only survived all this but helped resolve so much of it.
Everything seemed to be falling back into place, everything going back to how things were before Scott was bitten. He was back to spending more time with his best friend, Allison was off doing whatever she did, Lydia was still untouchable, even more so with her Alpha boyfriend following after her and the fact she was a banshee of all thing, even Danny had his own little piece of the action. Isaac was still the adorable little pup palling around with everyone. Time was taken to mourn for the people who had been lost over all of this, Heather, Erica, Boyd…even Ennis and Kali were mourned despite the things they'd done they'd all realized that they were being used by Deucalion for whatever sick game he'd been playing. Most of the deaths were officially written up as the psychotic machinations of a serial murderer that had been found dead in the woods, seemingly from an animal attack. Despite the presence of the FBI, and in particular Scott's father's best efforts it had yet again been Stiles' father who had cracked the case, it didn't hurt that he was a witness and a near victim either. Another near victim of this conflict was their school adviser and French Teacher Marin Morrell, but Scott had kept his word and kept the Alpha Pack from killing her, she wasn't in classes for the first week after her injury, but she did come back eventually and she proved invaluable with helping the Pack handle the overwhelming issues they were now recovering from.
Yet still despite all of this, though life seemed back on track, Stiles couldn't get over the simple little fact that Derek was in fact gone. He wasn't sure if it was some weird form of Stockholm syndrome or something, maybe he missed being slammed against trees or walls or whatever it was that was solid and vertical that Derek was so apt at knocking him into, but it was the fact that the brooding werewolf who he'd grown so used to having around. Hell, even have him invite himself into his room, without warning Stiles ahead of time. It was like having something there one moment only to have it vanish, disappearing into a fog. But for as long as this calm was lingering over Stiles wasn't as bothered as he likely would have been any other time, though they'd been warned ahead of time that by doing what they'd done to find the nemeton would inevitably draw things in. It did, and when it did they weren't really prepared for what was about to happen, on top of the unexpected appearance of Peter Hale in town. Stiles would have expected him to leave with Derek and Cora, try to rebuild what little, fragile bond they had together as a family again. Something was undoubtedly very wrong and Stiles didn't need to be a werewolf to tell that very soon something was going to bring the quiet, uneasy peace of Beacon Hills to a screeching halt.
"Helloooo, Earth to Stiles, what's going on dude you've been spacing out for the last half hour." Scott's voice rang out as he, Isaac, and the twins Ethan and Aidan along with Danny rested on the bleachers after a rather trying Lacrosse practice.
"Stiles to Earth, I can't come to the phone right now, please leave a message after the beep…beeeeeep." Stiles said as he shook his head and rested it in his hands. "Sorry Scott, I've just had a lot on my mind lately, guess I'm not as used to having as much free time as I seem to have now, you know without having psycho killers out and about and having to chase your ass around town." the teen added as he looked out onto the field, the same field that he'd seen Peter attack Lydia on nearly two years ago. "I'm trying to figure out why Peter didn't follow Derek and Cora to, well, wherever it was they decided to go." he added softly laying his head on his knees as he hiked his legs up slightly.
"I don't know, trust me I don't like it either, he was okay when they were around, I can't say him being around without them makes me feel all that safe. I will say we have the advantage though, I'm an alpha now so he can't control me, Ethan and Aidan are on our side, and we have Isaac, he's not going to be stupid enough to go for all of us is he?" he asked eying Stiles as though he expected some sage answer to pass out over his lips.
"Come after you werewolves? No. But I wouldn't trust him to not come after me, or Danny or Lydia. Hell for all I know he could go after our parents, maybe even Allison again, I still doubt he's happy there are still Argents alive." he added with a heavy sigh. "That or maybe he wants to pick up where Deucalion left off, or hell maybe where Julia left off, I honestly have no clue anymore." he continued rambling before getting up and heading back to the locker room. "I need to get home, I'd rather not have to give any of our new teachers a reason to keep me for detention tomorrow so I'd like to get a start on my homework." Stiles added walking to the school again, the group following along.
Scott had certainly hoped Stiles wouldn't have given him the answer he had, it just left more stress on him to make sure that he could keep everyone safe, Aidan could easily guard Lydia, Ethan had Danny, Isaac could protect Allison, Scott could easily protect his mother, he'd done so before he could do it again. But Stiles…Stiles wouldn't be so easy to protect, neither would Morrell or Deaton if what Stiles said might be accurate. If Peter was planning to kill more Emissaries then they were in trouble and Scott wasn't going to have any of that. Then again if he was going to try and hunt down and kill Deucalion he didn't care overly much about that either. Deucalion was no longer a concern to him, or to the rest of the pack for that matter, he'd lost the bulk of his power fighting the Darach and was now as much a threat to Beacon Hills as the petty criminals Stiles father dealt with on a more regular basis, at least by werewolf standards.
"So what are your plans for after you're done with your homework? I figured we could hang out for a bit like we used to, I could do with some zombie killing if you're in the mood for it." the young Alpha asked Stiles as they got changed and headed out of the locker room and to the parking lot, the pack pretty much dispersing, Lydia waiting rather impatiently for her boy-toy to make his way over to her car.
It was actually fairly amusing to see a big bad alpha werewolf so obviously whipped by a seemingly human person. Maybe it was because one scream would have him curled up on the ground covering his ears, or maybe something else, but either way it was a delight to Stiles, especially considering that before Aidan had turned to their side Stiles had thoughts of torturing him…slowly. This seemed a fitting punishment in the long run. He had also realized by now that the kiss he'd gotten from her was only a device to help snap him out of his panic attack, and so now he was certain that no matter what he did he'd never find himself around the arm of the attractive, strawberry blonde bombshell now driving off in her little car with her big, buff boyfriend.
"Actually I think I'm just going to do some alone time tonight, maybe do some research on the types of things most likely to be attracted to a revived nemeton." Stiles said knowing full well the idea of research would bore the daylights out of the Alpha werewolf and leave him in peace to contemplate all of the disturbing things that would inevitably make their way to Beacon Hills…ha, Beacon Hills, so fitting now that the town was literally a beacon to whatever number of creatures that would be coming to the town because of what they'd had to do in order to save their parents and stop the Darach and Deucalion. "That is unless you're willing to help pull and all-nighter and figure that out." he added sparing Scott a small glance only to see him wince a bit at the idea, that was answer enough for him. "I'll take that look as a no, you realize if you keep giving looks like that I might have to pass the title of sourwolf down to you right?" he asked teasingly and he nudged his best friend's side with his elbow.
"Nah, and deny Derek that eternal right, I couldn't do that to him…by the way, have you gotten word from him at all? Or Cora?" he asked Stiles in turn as they got closer to where Stiles had parked his jeep.
"No, I haven't heard anything since you told me they'd packed up. Weird as it may sound I'm half tempted to ask them how things are going." he replied as he opened the door of his jeep and got behind the wheel. "Anyway, I'm going to be up researching if you want to come over, if not, spend some time with your mom, make sure she knows Creeper McCreeperson is out and about again, hell maybe even tell your dad what's really going on around here. Heaven knows it's awkward enough over at your place might as well take care of the inevitable before he somehow gets roped into the issues around here." he added as he started the jeep looking out the window.
Scott just nodded, Stiles had a point, eventually his dad was bound to get roped into things around here, and if Peter was in fact out looking for bait to draw him or the rest of the pack out, his unsuspecting father would be a good target. "I'll think about it, and try not to stay up all night, I wanted to hold a kinda Pack get together tomorrow, maybe go bowling or something." Scott said as Stiles shifted gears.
"Okay, sounds cool, give me a call or something. I don't promise to not stay up all night though, I'd rather we at least be somewhat prepared for whatever decides to pop up at us." Stiles said, receiving yet another nod in reply before he pulled out and headed back home.
The teen pulled into the driveway noticing his father's cruiser was there and allowing a small smile to come over his face. Ever since his dad was taken by Julia he'd learned to appreciate every moment he had with his father, cherishing the chance to have a healthier relationship with him that wasn't full of deceit and tension…okay so at least without any of those pertaining to werewolves or the supernatural goings-on around Beacon Hills. He was still a teenager and what teenager is ever totally honest with their parents?
When he entered the house he was met with the usual, his father in the dining room, files scattered over the surface of the table and a mug of coffee off to the side. It was something he was used to, even before Scott was bitten, hell before that he used to join in on the investigation, helping his father out in finding the patterns, sometimes stating something so blindingly obvious that it hadn't even crossed John's mind.
"Hey there sport." John said as he heard the door close, looking up briefly to see he son kicking off his sneakers and slowly make his way over to the kitchen. "Thoughts for dinner tonight?" he asked as he began sifting through crime scene photos, it had apparently been a basic breaking and entering somewhere downtown, the usual.
"I don't know, subs maybe? Those seem like they'd be a good move." the teen replied as he opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of root beer. "Also it would make sure that you're not clogging your arteries any, that's always a good move." he added sticking his tongue out playfully, his father just chuckling a bit as he shook his head.
"Subway? Or somewhere…" John began before being cut off by his son, sighing heavily as Stiles went on how the other places either deep-fried half of what went into their subs or overloaded them with mayo. "Okay I get it, Subway it is." he huffed out as he got up, closing up the files and putting them back in his briefcase. "But you're coming with me, I don't want you rifling through those folders while I'm gone, knowing you you'd try to find some excuse to investigate it with Scott." John added with a stern raised brow.
"Fair enough." Stiles responded holding his hands up in a sign of surrender. "But I'm going to make sure you get one of those low-fat subs, and no cookies." Stiles said earning himself a groan from his father and a comment along the lines of 'You're going to fat-free me to death'.
They ended up returning home not long after, Stiles with a nice BLT and his father with a veggie wrap with light ranch dressing. John had asked Stiles to join him at the table when they got back but was shocked when Stiles said he'd be eating up in his room while doing his homework. John had expected Stiles to jump in on the case with him to be honest, but then again it was fairly mundane in comparison to the things they'd had dealt with before so he figured the case seemed to boring to his hyperactive son.
Once in his room Stiles placed his sub to one side and his homework to the other, taking steady bites as he filed through each subject one at a time. With Harris gone Chemistry had gotten significantly easier, as well as English now that Ms. Psycho-killer-Darach was gone. History was a bit derailed with their teacher having been killed by Julia, so he'd had to learn to adjust to an entirely new style of teaching half way through the year. He got through things easily enough and finished up his dinner quickly enough, downing the rest of the root beer he'd opened earlier before turning to his computer and beginning the search for some way to determine what big bad beasties would be coming their way now with the nemeton drawing them in.
He started out simple, searching for ways to detect the supernatural or paranormal…okay so maybe that wasn't as simple as he though, but it was a start. Most of what he got were links to paranormal research groups and a few groups like TAPS from Ghost Hunters. Would they end up dealing with ghosts? Stiles decided to bookmark some of the more reliable pages he found, some of them looking like they were made by five year olds which he immediately avoided. However there was one in particular site that came up much later in the evening that really caught his attention.
"Beacon Hills Divination?" Stiles asked himself as he scrolled over the link, it was apparently some local fortune teller who had opened shop here recently. "Heh, well it certainly looks like we're already attracting the weirdos." he added as he clicked the link. He was actually caught off guard as he did so the site was very detailed, went into specifics as to what it did, even had a few disclaimers…looked pretty legit. When he saw the location of where the person had opened shop though his jaw dropped. That was were Derek and the pack had been staying for the passed year, the old loft…he was starting to wonder just how real this Diviner was. He looked for a name somewhere on the site but could find nothing stating who worked or ran the place, bit of a red flag but he overlooked it for the time being. He checked out the hours it was open and saw that he'd have plenty of time to check it out after school some day next week, or maybe even slip out this weekend, it was a Friday after all. "Okay mystery psychic person, maybe you can help us figure out what we're going to be going up against." Stiles said after bookmarking the site and writing the phone number down and saving it in his phone. As soon as he had though he received a phone call, from that very number. He froze a bit as he stared at the number as though his phone was possessed. He clicked the answer button and stammered out a greeting, he vaguely remembered saying something like 'hello' but he wasn't sure if it had come out quite right.
"No need to sound so concerned Mr. Stilinski, I was cleaning out one of the areas around my shop and came across your number on a piece of paper. The prior occupant must have left it behind in his apparent rush to leave. I thought I would make sure to call you and let you know some random person is leaving your number laying around." came a soft voice from the other call. It was male, somewhat older, possibly around the same age as Derek by the sound of him, but there was an unmistakable hint of an accent hidden in there somewhere.
"Oh, um, okay…it's just, I just saw your website, the Beacon Hills Divination one, timing was just a little too…" Stiles began to say before having the words taken out of his mouth.
"Creepy? Yes, I've had that happen before. Timing can mean many things, or it could simply be a complete and total fluke, I never claim to know everything, just some things that perhaps I should not." the man said with a soft chuckle. "I did after all leave the disclaimer of 'nothing I say is set in stone, only paper'." the Diviner said from his end of the call. "I can only assume however that my presence in this location, the fact that your number is here and the fact that you just happened to be looking at my site cannot simply be happy coincidence. Am I to assume you have something you would like to discuss?" he asked, and Stiles swore he could picture an eyebrow rising on the face of what the voice was painting as a young-ish man of eastern European decent.
"Um, well, yeah, I was actually hoping I could come down after school sometime or maybe this weekend, there are a couple things going on around here you should be…" Stile began before being cut off again.
"I am already aware of the werewolves here, and I'm more than aware of the nemeton being agitated, part of the reason I came here, plenty of surplus energy to tap into. As for what your inquiries are you are free to come here now if you wish, I'm still setting things up so it might be nice to have a hand." Mr. Interruption said, his voice awfully compelling.
"Okay, first, can you stop freaking me out any more than you already have, and are you absolutely sure it would be a good idea for me to come over right now? It's….only six o'clock, okay guess I finished my homework faster than I thought." Stiles said as he looked over to his alarm clock.
"Trust me, it will be no problem, besides, I get the feeling you'd like to speak to someone who understands the pain of that lovely dark energy enmeshed with your own." the mystery man said from the other end of the line. "I'll be here Mr. Stilinski." he added before hanging up.
Now Stiles was beginning to freak out a little, this guy could already tell so much about him, more than he was perhaps comfortable with. But at the same time it made him feel as though the idea was one of the better he could make at the moment, he could be honest with this guy, whoever he was. He headed back downstairs slipping back into his Converse sneakers and heading to the door before his father interrupted his little saunter to the front door..
"And where are we going tonight?" he asked from the dinner table, once more covered in files, images and a cup of coffee.
"Heading out to check this new place that opened up in town, some sort of fortune teller or something, call me curious." Stiles said as he turned to face his father.
"Should I be worried about some gypsy putting a curse on you or something? Maybe you should have Scott go with you just in case." John suggested as he looked up at his son.
Stiles actually chuckled as he remembered one of the disclaimers on the site he was on "No dad, I'm fine, the person said that they didn't do curses, hexes, jinxes, or any other manner of unpleasant magic, just divination and cleansing, I'll be fine." he said try to assuage his father's concerns.
John simply looked on skeptically before letting out a heavy sigh. "Okay, but the second something seems wrong, you call me or Scott or someone within shouting distance okay?" the Sheriff asked looking firmly at his son.
"I will dad I promise, just, please, don't stress yourself out over this okay?" he said before heading out the door and driving off.
"If only it were that simple kiddo." John said as he heard Stiles jeep drive off.
