-The Influence of One-

Derek Hale dreams—that is a fact that not many people actually believe in. How can it that a cold, dark, brooding werewolf have dreams when he threatens people left and right and continuously broods in everything he does? But Derek Hale does in fact have dreams whenever he sleeps. It happens usually in the dead of night, after all his Pack related errands and jobs, when he finally rests his head somewhere— doesn't have to be a comfortable place—and sleeps. The Beta's dreams used to be about the good-old days, back when his family was still alive and his father was still Alpha and everything was alright.

Devon growled, his eyes turning red as he went into a half crouched position, his claws extending to their full length and his shoulders rolling back as he squared off with his opponent.

Laura giggled, a child of twelve, as she crouched on the ground, defensive, eyes turning into an electric blue color, claws extending to as much as they could as her Alpha training began.

From the porch of the Hale Manor the rest of the family watched the start of the next-Alpha training with her father. Peter was on top of the railing, leaning back on a post as he ate a bag of peanuts, seeing this all as a big entertainment, that and he was always hungry. Meanwhile Dylan and his girlfriend Jessica—who was just recently re-introduced to the rest of the Hale family and their werewolf-ness—sat on the porch swing, in each other's arms, her legs over his as they talked amongst themselves in hushed whispers—even though the werewolves still could hear them—only partially paying attention to the training session. Marta sat with her son on the steps, Derek watching as his father and older sister play fought with each other. It made him wish that he could do that but he was meant to be the second-in-command to his sister and not Alpha.

Marta could feel Derek and his want and she smiled, dropping her arm on her seven year old boy's shoulders, dragging Derek's attention from the fight up to his mother. 'Der… you shouldn't be sad about not becoming Alpha. Being Alpha is a lot of work. Besides, when you get to the age I'll start training you on how to do your job and maybe, if you're good enough boy, I might throw in some Alpha-training in there.' His mother winked at him and Derek felt his lips curl up into a smile. After a moment, after Devon pinning his daughter once again to the ground, Marta spoke again. 'Technically, I already have started your training Der.' Derek looked up at his mother, a shocked expression on his face. 'What with me teaching you how to cook and clean and all.' His mother winked again and Derek rolled his eyes.

She called it teaching, Derek called it forcing.

Derek Hale dreams—but not all of his dreams are about the past. Sometimes they're his thoughts on how life would have been if his family was still alive. These dreams would come around by him, first of all, loathing his uncle for whatever plan he was concocting. Then would come the thoughts on his sister and he would wonder on how she would lead the Pack. Sometimes he even included some of the now members of the Hale Pack, not the werewolf trio of course, but Scott and sometimes Jackson.

'Stop right now Scott!' Laura yelled at the Beta.

Scott chuckled as he released Jackson in which Jackson soon gave Scott a well placed punch to the stomach. Scott groaned and bent over, grasping onto his stomach. 'Try that again McCall and I will kill you!' Jackson threatened. Scott had, moments before, found a concentration of wolfsbane that was lost in the woods and literally chased Jackson around the property; threatening to touch the werewolf with it (Scott was smart enough to be wearing gloves).

Laura came over and pushed back Jackson away from Scott before slapping Scott's hand that still held the partially cracked wolfsbane bullet. 'Stop being an idiot Scott. That could have killed you!'

From the porch an elderly Devon and Marta sat together and laughed as they watched the Alpha try to get a hold on her youngest Pack members. Peter just rolled his eyes and sighed as he was leaning against the door, eating some peanuts because that was the quickest thing he could grab when he heard the commotion outside—ready for some excitement in his older years.

Cody, seven years old, felt brave enough standing between his parents to prod at his cousin. 'Laura… can't you handle the pups?'

Laura sighed and shook her head at Cody, her hands on her hips. 'Shut it pipsqueak. Don't think your parents can protect you from the Big Bad Wolf.'

'Oh really Laura?' Dylan asked a smirk on his face. 'I didn't think you were a boy seeing as BBW was a guy.'

'Shut it Uncle Dylan.'

Jessica giggled; covering her mouth with a hand which she knew wouldn't do anything to cover the laugh. 'It's a shame you can't handle the Pack but Derek can.'

'It's because he uses scare tactics.' Devon answered for Laura from the swing. 'That isn't a way to run the Pack though.' Marta simply nodded in agreeance with her husband.

'I'm not going to run the Pack though.' Derek sounded as he came out into the porch finally. 'But what I will do is rip these two's throat out with my—'

'Teeth we know.' Everyone else—even including Cody—said at once which earned them all a good laugh, all beside Derek who scowled on the porch.

'I will do it.'

Laura giggled. 'Yeah, and I'll believe it when I see it bro.'

Derek Hale dreams and in dreams sometimes comes nightmares. Usually these nightmares go back to the Hale Manor family, the death of his sister, among other things of the present age. Like when he first found out that Peter wasn't in a bad condition as everyone thought he was and he began to turn people left and right which actually scared Derek. He knew his uncle was building up the Pack and along that his power since he had killed Laura and became the Alpha because of it. Derek knew that it wouldn't be good if Peter continued and it was time for Derek to rise up and take his rightful spot as Alpha—this of which also scared him because in reality he wasn't at all prepared to become Alpha. His sister gave him points and information but not true honest-to-God training; they thought that it wouldn't come to that since they both promised that they would stay alive for the other.

Remarkably though, the nightmares don't come as much as one might suspect that a cold, dark, brooding werewolf might have. No, most of the times Derek's dreams are based on the family, memories, the Pack…

Derek Hale does in fact dream, but lately his dreams have been centered on only one being—Stiles Stilinski.

This wasn't the first time the brooding Beta dreamed about Stiles. He would be lying if he said otherwise. The first time he dreamt of Stiles Stilinski, Derek was still just a kid, just coming into puberty in which all of his senses, power, everything enhances. He was twelve, a common age for werewolves of both genders to enter puberty, and he was waiting in the after school program for his parents to come pick him up…

Derek hates this place. His middle school doesn't really have a 'day care' program after school so when he's forced to stay late after school because his parents are busy and Laura either is busy too or lost her car keys because she was grounded, the fourteen year old was forced to walk down the street and back to his old elementary school with all the younger kids. He was just standing there, more like leaning against the chain link fence, being his usual in-public brooding self when he felt two smaller hands grasp onto his larger one. Derek looked down to see a boy with medium length short hair (it stopping by around his chin), all of it curly like vines. The boy smiled a toothy grin, a grin that was missing one tooth. As if the kid read his mind he lifted one hand from Derek's and pointed to the gap between his teeth. 'I lost it today in class!'

Derek blinked at the boy. Was this kid serious? That was the thought that ran through his head. He knew that the kid didn't know what he was but still… couldn't he see that he just didn't want to be here. 'Kid, look, I—'

'My name is Stiles!' The boy practically yelled.

'…Stiles…' What kind of a name is that? Derek thought before he continued. 'I just want to be left alone so scram.'

For a moment Derek thought the boy was going to cry; his eyebrows turned inwards, eyes narrowed, frown deep into his face and eyes moist-looking. Then in a flash the boy's expression changed and another grin erupted onto his face before someone, a male, called his name. 'Stiles! C'mon! We're heading home son!'

The kid sighed heavily and his shoulders sagged. It was almost comical… almost. 'Coming!' The boy yelled and Derek flinched since he wasn't used to his super-hearing as of yet. 'Bye!' The kid said before he gave him a quick hug and plucked himself out before running to his father—an officer of the Sheriff's office.

Derek stood there, partially in shock, when he breathed in deeply in annoyance, expecting to sigh with that deep breath but instead smelled the boy's scent and it was marvelous. Derek froze, his body shivered and his eyes fluttered as the scent was registered in his mind. There was the scent of the soup he used, berry scented body wash, and a little bit of sweat for playing vigorously with the other kids, but then there was something else… something amazing.

At that moment it was his Uncle Peter that arrived and Derek sprung into action, moving quickly to the familiar car before hopping into the passenger seat. Derek would have to ask what this amazing scent means because he knows it means something but he just didn't know what… yet.

That night a fourteen year old Derek Hale dreamt about a four year old Stiles Stilinski. He dreamt that the kid—Stiles—would always come up to him and want to play and would hold his hand and whatnot. But after that day his parents decided that it was best that Derek walk home—mainly to stay far away from Stiles. Derek hated Peter for it, for telling his parents that it, but as he matured he realized that the decision his parents had in fact made the right choice. He would still have dreams about Stiles at first, but then it just became too much and Derek opted to dream about other things, if just for the next few years.

Then Kate Argent stepped into his life two years later easily making a perfect distraction. He couldn't handle the separation from that boy at the elementary school and he stupidly didn't heed the warning of his uncle and damned his family to a fiery death. The night of the fire, when Laura and Derek were leaving Beacon Hills, Derek found himself dreaming of the four year old version of Stiles and watched him grow for those two years (he had watched over Stiles to make sure he was alright periodically), a version that Derek knew did not remember the brooding boy at the fence. He was leaning against the car door of Laura's car, groceries still in the truck, he heartbroken and pissed at himself. He should have listened to his uncle…

He hadn't dreamt of Stiles since then… he didn't want to cause any more pain to himself, until now. Not even when he first ran into Stiles again in the woods when he and Scott were looking for his inhaler that he dropped in the woods. Not one dream about him until tonight. It was the same night of Stiles' egység ülés and the second-in-command found his dream to be very… whimsical.

Derek was standing by the water's edge of that mysterious pond and waterfall combo as he stared into the still, clear water. His expression was static, no clear emotion sprinkling through the werewolf's face. Then another reflection was shown in the water's surface, the face of the sárkány, Stiles. The reflection was slightly higher than Derek's because of the height difference between the two and Derek's eyes glanced up slightly to peer at the reflection of the sárkány. A smile broke through on Derek's face and he turned and looked up to see that now the sárkány was looking at him and not at the water as well. 'Stiles…' Derek said in a hushed tone.

Stiles blinked, green eyes looking soft and caring and loving. His head moved downward as Derek's hands were lifted. They met in the middle, Derek's hands faintly grasping at the sárkány's face. Stiles' head pushed into one hand and Derek grew more courageous as he tightened his grip so that now he truly was cupping the dragon of the wood's face. Chartreuse eyes slipped closed as Derek's fingers began to stroke the soft fur-like skin of the sárkány. 'You're so beautiful…' Derek whispered his compliment. Inside the sárkány's chest came a purr-like rumble but it was too bird like to be called a purr. 'You were always beautiful to me but… you're really beautiful now.'

The sárkány whined softly and pulled his head out faintly. Beautiful green eyes stared deeply into hazel ones and from this distance Derek noticed that the pupil was a mix between an alligator's and a human's, more oval in shape but also like that of a circle with rounder edges, running vertically in the center of the eye, the pupil black with ember green just around it then the lighter chartreuse color coming around it. Stiles whined again and Derek understood. 'No, I don't love you more because you're more beautiful. If anything… I love you more because now… now you're you.'

Stiles whined again, this time with love, as the corner's of the lips pulled upwards (the beak was only on the upper lip and the bottom lip was more mammal-like) before he returned his head back in Derek's hand, the stroking continuing immediately. Derek smiled back and they stood there for long moments when an Alpha's growl broke the peaceful scene. Stiles whined in terror and pain as Derek's body jolted and turned around quickly. Peter Hale stood on the other side of the pond, scarlet eyes threatening. 'He's mine…' The hiss sounded—

Derek jolted awake, his heart hammering in his chest. The Beta panted and looked around the train station. He had fallen asleep on the couch and thankfully no one was in, not even his beloved uncle. Derek sighed and swung his feet over the edge of the couch, his still booted shoes clanking heavily against the floor. Derek's hands clenched into fists at his sides… for some reason he was panicking. Peter came into his dreams and claimed Stiles as his and for whatever reason Derek knew it to be true. Stiles Stilinski wasn't his… not anymore.

Yes… Derek Hale dreams… but most of the time, when he dreams, it hurts.

-The Influence of One-

The night following the egység ülés Stiles felt extremely tired. He thanked the spirits of nature for the great luck that the egység ülés was on a Friday and Stiles could take the whole day off from everyone (minus of course the animals in the woods and his father) to rest. As it turns out the call from the night before was a test from the animal council (it was still hard to believe that the wild animals in his woods had a council, it was screaming Disney all over) and Stiles passed. This made his inner sárkány accept him more. 'To forty percent Stiles, don't get too excited' his inner sárkány told him but in actuality Stiles knew it to be more like forty five percent.

His inner sárkány was just playing hard to get—really and truly playing hard to get. The fact is that the sárkány just really wants to be at peace with its body, its other half, and is dying to just become one being instead of Stiles and the sárkány; it wanted to be Stiles the sárkány. It was hard though when nature will not allow an automatic a hundred percent acceptance between the two sides. Without this period of "bonding time" then the human half of the sárkány would never have enough time to learn everything about the creature he or she is becoming. Everything is put in place for a purpose but the whole everything side of the purpose was driving both Stiles and the sárkány up a wall.

They were becoming more restless, not with each other which will never happen, but at their being separated and having differing opinions. For example, at the moment Stiles dreams and the sárkány cannot. The sárkány can only think and put in its own input but it wishes to dream, needs to dream. The sárkány sits in an empty theater when Stiles dreams at night, watching the dreams with mixed emotions and yelling at it, sometimes in happiness/enjoyment and others in anger/distaste, and just like in a movie the "characters" can't hear it. And it wouldn't be until the sárkány accept Stiles about sixty percent of the way when the sárkány can make an input and dreams and Stiles will hear it.

But for the moment in time, Stiles Stilinski dreams, his dreams being all his own. Like Derek Hale's own dreams, Stiles' has evolved over the years. At first his dreams were rambling almost, all over the place, no plot, no constant characters, no nothing. It was pointless to dream yet Stiles couldn't help it. Then came his Adderall prescription and that seemed to calm his dreams to less pointless ramblings to more of a regular child's dream that always seem to turn out like the cartoon shows they always watch. Then, at the age of six Stiles began to dream about what his mother looked like and how life would be if his mother was still with him and his father.

His mother smiled at him, her warm, chocolate brown—no, crystal blue—eyes bright. Freckles lined her face from her cheeks and across her nose… oh what the heck… all over her face, but they were light, not even there almost, and it looked beautiful on her perfect heart shaped face. Her lips were a soft shade of rose pink, her shoulder length hair like a mocha color with tinges of grey coming from the roots because she refuses to dye her hair. Her ears are pierced; she has small, but not too small, round earrings that gave her a look of innocence. She wore a wool jacket, long sleeves; it is grey, like her roots, with ribbons of blue—no red—acting as buttons. She made it herself. Her pants, store bought for she hates making pants, she can never get it right; brown, straight leg, simple; the way she likes it.

Stiles can't even remember what he was doing before when she smiles. She's just so beautiful and Stiles thinks that he wants to be as beautiful as her one day. She laughs and Stiles is confused. 'One day my son, you very well might be.' She speaks and he understands. He spoke the thought aloud. She has a Hungarian accent (Stiles never understood this until later) and it made him feel comfortable. She lifted him up in her arms, he is four, and he fit perfectly in her safe warm arms—oh, that's because of her jacket but Stiles knows that she's warm too.

Another familiar voice comes into the mix. 'Beautiful? Mother, our son will be handsome, not beautiful.' It's his father and Stiles blushes. He wouldn't mind being called beautiful or handsome.

'Oh Father…' She mused and his arms wrapped around her waist and his brown eyes looked into Stiles' own eyes from over her shoulder. She giggled and he chuckled and their laughter caused him to laugh too.

That was just one of the dreams a younger Stiles had a long time ago. After a while, when he had those dreams, he filled in the details like her name, and changed some like how she looked (she never had blue eyes, they were also brown, and she never had freckles on her face but she did have a birth mark on her right cheek). And he came into understanding the Hungarian part of the whole thing. He just thought he must have overheard his father or something but nowadays he knows that it was his instincts telling him so, even before he even knew of the erdőben sárkány and their existence, he was experiencing their power long before his Fated time.

His dreams were then mostly on Lydia Martin, for the greater part of his life. It's kind of embarrassing now that he knows he's gay, or at the very least bisexual. Correction—pansexual now. Ten long years wasting his dreams on a girl-then woman that would have never, ever, be his. It was actually humiliating. In the empty theater the sárkány both agrees and disagrees with Stiles. You were in love with her Stiles, you really were, but still, you could have found something else to dream about in those 3,650 so odd days.

His dreams now, after becoming the sárkány, were, you guessed it, on his woods. He was mapping out every inch of his woods in his head, remembering random tidbits and the names of the animals (like Disney every wild animal had their own name, some human-like some totally out there like a snake called Har-su-en… no lie, even spelled like that). But now that he was getting over the whole 'now I'm an erdőben sárkány' phase in his life, his dreams were returning back to normal and by normal that meant a certain werewolf by the name of Derek Hale.

Stiles never knew why he was attracted to that brooding wall of muscle (it was probably the muscle) but he was attracted to him none-the-less. No, Stiles knew why, well now he does. It was because somewhere below that cold, dark, brooding form was a person that cares for him, he just knew it, even before when he was just Stiles the human. It was what started to attract the teen to the werewolf in the first place—Lydia confessing her undying love for Jackson when he became a werewolf and they were having a fight over breaking up to keep her safe was what pushed him to just go for it… metaphorically speaking. How would a super hot, sexy, werewolf like Derek Hale ever go out with super meek, lowly, human Stiles Stilinski? Well now he saw the possibility now that it seemed like Derek notices him more. Stiles noticed at the egység ülés that Derek was constantly looking at him, watching him closely and in a trance-like state. The thing was that Stiles also noticed that his uncle, Peter Hale, was also giving him the same stare, only, Peter talked at least once after his arrival to the meeting. That creeped him out, he enjoyed Derek staring, but not his deranged uncle.

In the theater the sárkány yelled out in aggravation. Oh stop that… you're being wanted by a powerful being. Love it; it's in your nature to love it, to bask in it. But Stiles didn't want to bask in Peter's want… he wanted Derek.

Stiles as the sárkány gracefully laid down on the ground in a clearing, loving the feel of the earth on his belly, his legs. He let his feathered wings cover him; protect him from the fading cold. The animals were nowhere to be seen, which caused him to wonder but not to the point where he would go out and search for them. He wanted the peace and quiet and they knew that if they ever needed him all they would have to do is call out to him. Simple as that.

From somewhere behind him a twig snapped and Stiles became alert, turning his long neck around to look behind him. He stared into the woods behind him, his body tense and ready to move if need be. His body soon relaxed when he saw who it was… Derek Hale. Stiles chirped his welcome before turning his neck back, that angle was making his neck cramp up. He closed his eyes and began to grow more anxious as he tracked the werewolf's path with his ears, listening to the way the leaves and grass crunch under the older male's boots. Stiles kept his eyes closed, keeping his cool, even when Derek spoke up. 'Stiles…' He said in a hushed tone. Stiles moved his head lower because even laying down on the ground his head was still higher than Derek's. 'Can I join you?' Stiles smiled at Derek's uncharacteristic nature. It was only around him that Derek's true self came out. The sárkány nodded.

Derek exhaled as he went down onto the ground before he pushed himself into the sárkány's front legs, his lap basically. Stiles opened his eyes then and glanced down at Derek who was looking up at him, the smallest of smiles on his face but it radiated with so much love. If Stiles could sigh he would have but instead he moved his head down lower and nuzzled his long head against Derek's shoulder, loving it when an arm came up to wrap around his head and start to scratch at the base of the feathers on his head and his ears.

Stiles whined happily and for fun pushed his beak into a small opening at the collar of Derek's shirt, rubbing his beak into the area just under his neck. Derek released a small sound, almost like a very short chuckle, before the scratching moved from the feathers to his ears. Stiles chirped out and pulled his head away, his ears were sensitive and Derek knew this. The sárkány shook his head out while the werewolf openly chuckled then. 'Silly sárkány…' Derek cooed softy and Stiles chirped shortly, a chuckle, before they returned to their original position, enjoying the lovely peace and quiet.

Dang… a lot more Sterek than I anticipated—which is good, don't get me wrong but I wasn't expecting this much. Also, not as much Steter as I imagined… man am I off. And I realized I lied in the last chapter about this chapter (in the summary). Stiles' dreams weren't all about Derek. I wasn't anticipating doing a "dream timeline" so to speak. But I did reveal a whole lot of information in this chapter that I kind of wasn't planning to do but it just sounded good to write it in… hopefully y'all don't figure it out 'cuz you're all so über smart.

I really like this chapter, this was a good chapter. Hearts and Sterek all around! And for those Steter lovers (well not lovers but enjoyers) out there, don't worry more Steter will come in the… *slight hesitation because I don't know either* next chapter? Oh IDK, for real.

PLEASE REVIEW! IF YOU REVIEW, I MIGHT "ACCIDENTALLY" REVEAL MORE INFORMATION ON THE PLOTLINE OF THIS STORY! LET ME GIVE YOU A HINT: MAJOR CONFLICT BETWEEN STEREK AND STETER AS WELL AS DEREK FIGHTING PETER FOR THE ROLE OF ALPHA! OOPS! I SAID TOO MUCH! ;) PLEASE REVIEW!

Also if you see any mistakes please message me or say it in a review and I will go back and fix it!