Darkness devoured Derek. Pain pulsed through him. Each beat of his heart sent a new wave of ache through him, squeezing his heart, turning up a restless tornado in his stomach, and throbbing in his fingertips. His mind was a haze of memories and feelings, and big tears lingered in his eyes. In his hand, a small, silver band burned on his skin. He hunched his back, pressing the ring to his forehead, taking in shaky gasps of breaths in an attempt to calm himself.

He felt the dip of the bed next to him, but was unable to muster up any feelings of alarm or curiosity for the unidentified person next to him. His wolf let out a whine, clawing at Derek's soul, telling him to look up. He slowing brought his head up, his bright green eyes locking with Scott's brown ones. Scott's eyes were bruised from lack of sleep, and ringing with a dark red from his tears. His hair was a mess on top his head, his skin dirty, a look of sadness covering his features.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing towards the small band in Derek's large hand. He reached out slowly, plucking it out of Derek's grasp and looking at it closely.

"It's an engagement ring." Scott looked at Derek, startled, his face crumbling.

"For Stiles? I thought you thought marriage was stupid." Derek huffed, taking the ring back and rolling it around his fingers.

"I never said that," Derek told him. He stared darkly down at the ring. "It was my grandmother's. She gave it to Laura on her eighteenth birthday. She never took it off." Scott watched Derek closely, the way his shoulders were tense, the longing look he gave the ring. "I didn't understand why Stiles wanted to get married. My parents never got married, they were only mated, and that was enough for them, but then I found this, and I realized that maybe it wasn't so bad. If it was that important to Stiles, why not?"

"Then why did you guys fight?" Scott asked. Derek scrunched his face up, looking over at Scott.

"I never say the right thing, Scott. I made it sound like I didn't want to marry him, and now he's gone." Scott put a hand on Derek's shoulder, forcing Derek to look at him.

"Stiles wouldn't just leave. I've known him since we were six, and that isn't how he works." Derek gave him a watery smile.

"I know." Scott perked up, looking like a puppy who was just given a treat.

"Then what are we going to do? Organize search parties? Call the sheriff? Get Deaton involved? I could take Isaac-"

Derek cut him off, "Scott. There were only two scents on that paper. Stiles' and Allison's. Unless you're saying Allison is somehow involved, then Stiles' did this on his own." Scott shut his mouth with a snap, looking at Derek.

"Allison had nothing to do with this." Derek blinked a few times, sucking in a breath and closing his hand around the ring. "But that doesn't mean Stiles did this willingly."

Derek shook his head. "Why are you here, Scott?" He asked gruffly. Scott stared at him, licking his lips.

"The pack is worried about you," He answered, "you haven't slept in days, you haven't eaten anything, you don't leave your room. Derek you have to take care of yourself. You're our alpha, you need us and we need you."

"Scott, leave me alone." Scott stood up, staring at Derek .

"I know you're upset, but Derek you have to believe Stiles will come back. He isn't someone who runs from his problems-" Derek stood his eyes flashing red, a growl ripping its way from his throat.

"Scott. Leave." He commanded. Scott planted his feet firmly into the carpet. Derek roared, grabbing him, slamming him into the wall.

"Derek, you need to be strong," Scott said, "It's what Stiles would have wanted."

Derek sucked in a breath, anger coming off him in waves. "Scott, I don't have control without him. I need him. I told you before how important mates are. This is why."

Fear worked its way through Stiles' body, causing the boy to jolt awake in his bed, gasping for air. Panic gripped at his lungs in a fierce attack, and he tried desperately to suck in. The air never made it passed his mouth, and he gripped hopelessly at his neck.

He felt the pressure of someone next to him, and looked up to see Alec. He reached out towards Stiles, his eyes wide with worry. "What's wrong? Do I need to go get help?" Stiles reached out and grabbed him, not wanting to be alone, even if he didn't know Alec all that well. Alec nodded, leaning towards Stiles. "What do you need me to do?"

Stiles pointed towards the bed, motioning for Alec to just sit there. He listened to his roommate's breathing, trying to match it. It wasn't long until Stiles caught his breath, looking at Alec thankfully.

"What was that?" He asked. Stiles gulped.

"A panic attack." Alec sighed.

"You can never have one of those again. You scared the crap out of me." Alec ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes still wide. Stiles gave him a weak laugh. "Can you go back to bed or do you need me to stay up with you?"

Stiles swallowed. "You can go to sleep," He said, but Alec still gave him a wary glance. Stiles nodded for good measure, and Alec stood, walking towards his own bed. Stiles sat in his bed until Alec's breath evened out, and then he walked off.

Stiles can't remember the last time he had a panic attack. It was so long ago, long enough that Stiles thought he'd never have to deal with one again.

The dream still lingered in Stiles' mind. A dream of Derek, losing control, and killing anything in his path. Stiles gulped, hoping that wasn't what was happening at home. He made it outside the dorm building and found a stop against the wall. He leaned against it, crumbling, and pulling his knees to his chest.

Dustin found Stiles pressed against the wall a few hours later. He walked up to Stiles, bent down to his level and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Stiles looked up at him, his eyes ringed with red, tears still making their way down his face. "Not really."

Dustin shrugged, moving to sit next to Stiles, his head up against the wall. "I get it. A new school in a new town with new people. It's hard."

Stiles sucked in a deep breath. "It's not that. It's the people I left behind," He said quietly.

Dustin stared at him, blinking and leaning towards him. "I guess I don't get it then. I wasn't very popular at my school, I didn't have very many friends, and the ones I did have didn't know about this whole mythical world. They think I'm studying abroad right now."

Stiles snorted. "I find that very hard to believe. You're attractive, dude, you must have had girls throwing themselves at you from left and right." Dustin smiled at him.

"Hunter schools aren't like that. Especially high schools. It's all about who's the best hunter, and hunting," He stopped talking, clearing his throat and starting again, "hunting didn't come as naturally to me as it does for most children of hunters. My sister, well, she was amazing, but me on the other hand, I wasn't quiet when I was suppose to be, I wasn't fast enough, I was too fast." Dustin stopped talking, looking off into the distance, memories flashing in his mind.

"What about Natalie?" Stiles asked quickly, trying to change the subject. Dustin looked surprised.

"Natalie? She came with me from New York, but for different reasons. She's higher up than I am, so she's here to help train." Stiles nodded, watching as Dustin stood up. He reached down and yanked Stiles up too. "We have to get you to class: Plants and Herbs. Come on."

Stiles hurried to his dorm and threw on some clothes before following Dustin.

The plants and herbs classroom was located in the main building. Dustin had explained that class had already started, so the halls were empty with the exception of a few people walking aimlessly around. Stiles followed Dustin through a maze of hallways until they reached a classroom. Inside, students sat at desks, watching the teacher closely as she explained some kind of flower. She stopped talking once Dustin and Stiles entered, and glared coldly at them.

"You're late," She said unkindly. "Take a seat and don't talk." Stiles raised his eyebrows, looking over at Dustin.

"That's sort of impossible for me." The teacher pressed a finger to her lips, letting out a hiss. Dustin smiled apologetically to her, grabbed Stiles' wrist, and dragged him to the empty seats in the back.

"That's our new student, Gemin Stilinski-"

"Stiles."

"Did I ask for your nickname?" She asked. Stiles shrugged, snapping his mouth close. "Just try to keep up," She snapped, and then began her lecture, pointing to parts of the plant. Stiles leaned his head back, trying his hardest not to fall asleep, but her voice was just so... boring.

Dustin woke him up an hour later. The teacher was glaring at him, and she tapped her foot impatiently. "I asked you a question," She said. Stiles yawned, stretching his back, while Dustin buried his face in his hands.

"Can you repeat it, please?" Stiles asked sweetly, fluttering his eyes lashes.

"I asked," She practically growled at him. Stiles wasn't phased, he had been living with Derek, after all. "What does wolfsbane do?"

A few students snickered, whispering about how Stiles wasn't going to get it right. Stiles leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful for a moment. "A trick question, eh? Teachers play dirty here?" She looked at Stiles closely, slightly impressed. "It depends on what kind a wolfsbane. The most common kind, if inhaled, or injected into the blood stream, would kill a werewolf, other kinds, however, do different things. For example, some kinds bond wolves to their mates-" Stiles snapped his mouth closed, his words triggering a memory of his' and Derek's mating ceremony.

They still had the wolfsbane that they tied around each other. It was crumbled and dry, but it hung against their bedpost. The teacher didn't notice Stiles' discomfort, instead she smiled, and then continued to teach.

Stiles didn't fall asleep again. He sat next to Dustin, trying not to think about Derek.

His next class was witches and spells. His teacher, Ms. Finn, was a young, bubbly woman who smiled at Stiles once he walked in. He had the class with Jamie, but once she saw him, her eyes went wide and she started a conversation with the girl next to her.

"Do you have that affect on all women?" Dustin asked with a smirk.

"It would seem so," Stiles sighed.

After witches and spells, he had a two hour training class. The gym was a large room in the center of the main building. When they walked in, Stiles recognized Natalie instantly. She was wearing sweat pants and a tank top, and she glared at Dustin when he walked in.

There wasn't many students in this class. Where his other classes had thirty to forty students, this one barely had fifteen.

The teacher, a stern looking man, glared at them. He shushed them and motioned towards an obstacle course behind him. There was a large wall with two ropes hanging from it, then another rope that looked as if you had to swing towards another wall. From there you climbed up onto a platform and ran across it. Then you jumped onto monkey bars. You swung across those, and dropped down onto the ground and crawled into wires. Then you grabbed a flag and ran back the other way.

"By the end of the semester," He yelled, "You will be able to complete this course in two minutes. During the course of the semester you will race through this, and if you want to pass my class, you will win at least one of your races."

"Mr. Frank," Natalie said, "maybe the students would like an example." Mr. Franks smiled at Natalie.

"Of course. Who would you like to race?" He asked. Natalie smiled darkly, her eyes locking on Dustin.

"Dustin? Just like old times?" Dustin squared his shoulders.

"Of course," He said. That's how Stiles found himself sitting on the floor, watching Dustin make his way through the course, on Natalie's heels. She reached the flag first, but Dustin got a head of her while under the wires. She swung through the monkey bars faster than Dustin, but Dustin climbed the wall faster. In the end, Natalie won by a fraction of a second, and their time was one minute, thirty seconds.

The rest of the class period was spent doing suicide runs. If Stiles thought Mr. Finstock was bad, Mr. Frank was ten times worse.

His last class of the day was after lunch. Werewolves 101 with Mr. Winders. By then Stiles was tired and just wanted to go to his dorm and fall asleep. He was surprised to see Jamie and Alec, who made it a point to not make eye contact with him. Not that he cared.

Mr. Winders smiled happily at Stiles, nodding at him, and pointing out seats Stiles and Dustin could take. Once the bell rang, he started his lessons.

"How about we catch our new student, Stiles, up?" He asked. "We are currently in out first unit, Werewolf territories. It's a short unit where basically you map out which packs have which area. Washington has one of the biggest werewolf population, followed by the Dakotas and, surprisingly, California."

"Mr. Winders," A student asked, raising her hand.

"Yes, Cady?" He asked, amused.

"In my hunter code class, we learned that where there's a lot of wolves, there's typically a lot of hunters. Why is that? I mean if we have a cope that we don't kill wolves unless they kill, why do we need to watch them so closely?" Mr. Winders shifted, his face falling. He sat on the edge of his desk, his eyes scanning his class.

"Hunters used to be more spread out," He explained, "A few hunter families would live in a state, but there was never more than one family to a city, that is, until the Hale fire. The Hale pack was located in California. They were a strong pack, after all, they were one of the original packs. They were well known. They were strong, and they respected the hunters code." The teacher stopped talking, staring down at his feet.

"What happened?" Stiles was surprised to hear the words come from his mouth. He knew what happened. He knew better than anyone else here what happened.

"Somebody locked them in their house, and then burned it down, with them in it. Their house was located in the woods, too far away so the fire department didn't make it in time. A few of the teenage wolves were at school. The survivors, Derek and Laura Hale, told the police that their cousins had rushed into the house in an attempt to save their family, and that they never came out. Eleven people died in the fire. Not all of them were wolves, not all of them were adults wolves. Laura and Derek disappeared after that, the only Hale who made it out alive was their uncle, Peter." The class fell silent.

Alec raised his hand slowly. Mr. Winders nodded at him. "How did that change things?"

"Other packs, allies to the Hales, or even wolves that were just scared blamed hunters for the fire. Of course hunters didn't want to believe that one of their own would do something like that. The code is something hunters pride themselves with. It's something drilled into them from a young age. It wasn't until three years ago, six years after the Hale fire, was it revealed that a hunter had, in fact, planned the fire and murdered the Hales. But by then it was too late. Wolves refused to work with the hunters again, and hunters were too upset about the deaths of loved ones. A war began. A war that's still going on now."

Jamie leaned her head against Alec. "That's horrible," She said quietly. Mr. Winders nodded. "What happened to Laura, Derek and Peter?"

Mr. Winders smiled. "Laura and Derek ran while Peter was stuck in a coma. They jumped from state to state until, eventually, they found themselves in California again. Laura was killed, Peter woke up from his coma, and it is said that Derek made himself a pack, and found himself a mate." Stiles stiffened. Mr. Winders was staring right at him as he said it.

A/N: I don't even know. It took forever to write this, and even with all that time, it's really rushed. I'm sorry.