Chapter Eleven: Introducing for the First Time
Author's note: Thank you everyone for the Favorites, Follows and Reviews. And of course, thank you for your patience and your time in reading this story. It is a blessing to this writer.
The wedding was elegant and over the top, Lydia and Parrish sharing vows to each other. Stiles watched from his seat in the third row, Derek on one side of him and his dad on the other. Parrish was handsome in a tuxedo and Lydia looked like a goddess in her strapless empress style dress, sleek and understated but overwhelming on her visage. She was made up and her hair in a graceful up do with loose strands around her face to soften the look. With her pale skin and red-blonde hair she looked more like an ethereal being then the Harbinger of Death they knew her to be.
Nothing happened during the fifteen-minute ceremony, but then Stiles wasn't really expecting it to happen then. They slept after they met with Scott and he was under no illusions about his 'best friends' allegiance being to Lydia. He wasn't surprised with Derek informed him that he was texting before he'd even left the loft parking lot. He was just hoping that when the time came, Scott wouldn't have to pick between Stiles and Lydia.
Derek had been on high alert all morning and they were about to finish and head into the hall for the reception to start. Apparently pictures were done before the ceremony, since Lydia's afternoon was going to be about the unveiling and not about her 'blessed union'.
Then they were standing and clapping while Lydia and Parrish kissed then headed back up the aisle. Stiles clapped as the rest of the wedding party followed, which including several deputies and some family member, Lydia's bridesmaids were Malia and Kira, along with her mother standing in for Allison (complete with a small memoriam for the fallen Argent daughter). It was a sweet touch, too bad Allison would have been ashamed of them all for what they were about to do. There were Argent hunters all around the room, coming in as guests but as under the radar as they could with lumps under their suit jackets. Argent and Melissa was sitting next to Scott, holding hands and wearing matching pinched smiles. Stiles looked at each of his friends; Jackson, Danny and Ethan were as far from the front as they could be while still being in the room. Cora was sitting on Derek's other side and Isaac was sitting on her other side. Scott was sitting with his baby betas and trying to get them to sit still—like toddlers in church. It would be laughable if they weren't here to stop some idiotic plan from the bride to out the werewolves and supernatural.
When the whole wedding party was inside, everyone else started walking out of the rows of chairs and towards the doors that would lead into the banquet hall where they would spend the next couple hours eating and toasting the couple. Stiles couldn't help but notice the people arriving for the reception that weren't there for the wedding, including some more photographers; because the three already there weren't enough?
No, the real show was about to begin.
"Everyone take your seats and the new couple will rejoin us in a few minutes, there are refreshments for everyone."
The Master of Ceremonies was some hipster, with a computer and a microphone and he wasn't someone in the know as far as Stiles could tell. Stiles and Derek found their seats next to each other, with a bunch of names that he didn't know. He looked around the large room and realized that Lydia had somehow separated him from the rest of his friends, Scott and the others were close to the front where Lydia and Parrish were going to be sitting up on a stage. Even the chairs they were sitting in were made to look like thrones, "Gimme a break," Stiles muttered.
"What?" Derek asked him.
Stiles shook his head, this wasn't the time so he slumped into the chair and grabbed up the drink in front of him and slugged back whatever it was. Sadly it wasn't alcoholic but that wasn't surprising with the barely graduated bride. Though it looked like the deputies had access to a beer in the corner of the room. He really didn't have any stones he could throw after looking at his very adult boyfriend but at least they hadn't done anything while Stiles was still in high school, nothing was ever going to happen back then and honestly not much had happened now. Still, he wasn't asking and getting wholesale acceptance from an entire town about an eighteen year old, pregnant and marrying someone in their late twenties. Probably getting all the congrats because it was Lydia and Parrish.
Derek was sitting next to him, one hand reaching out to rub soothing circles into Stiles's shoulder while holding his drink and sipping it. It was fruity, maybe with a hint of something forbidden but Stiles didn't care. He slammed back the rest of his and held it out to the nearest waiter who just handed him another with a smarmy smile. Stiles glared him off and started drinking again.
"I'm pretty sure you can't get drunk off of this," Derek smirked.
"Something to do. I can't figure out what's happening here. We're running out of time."
Derek tightened his hand on Stiles's shoulder then rubbed his ear and the human nodded. He was listening to something so Stiles just went back to drinking, suddenly feeling more thirsty than when he started drinking it. He snapped back the rest again and eagerly took another glass from a waiter. Derek was still on his first drink and he was staring at the cup and looking around the room. Stiles looked up as well, wondering what Derek was seeing.
"What's up?" he asked and smacked his lips together wondering why everything suddenly felt numb. His head listed to the side a little and he reached out to grab Derek but missed. "Maybe there was more alcohol in there than we thought," he muttered.
"No Stiles, I don't think so," Derek said as he rose slowly from his seat and Stiles noticed that the waiters were quickly moving through the tables, taking away empty glasses and giving over more. Stiles tried to focus on the scene around him; everyone was drinking the fruity concoction like they were dying of thirst. He looked down at the cup that he was holding, it was empty and he didn't even remember drinking the rest.
"Wa's 'appening Der?" he mumbled, then opened his mouth to see if there was cotton shoved inside only to find his tongue, then start chuckling because he was holding his tongue.
He looked over at Derek who was holding tightly to the chair he vacated, wavering in Stiles's vision. The human reached out to see if he could help keep his boyfriend standing but just ended up petting his abs, giggling in a way he'd never even known he could do.
"Stiles I think the drinks were drugged, whatever the plan is—this is how it starts."
"Ya think," Stiles responded waspishly then giggled again.
Derek slapped Stiles's hands away from his stomach and held his wrist tightly making him flinch a little at the ache it caused, "Stiles I need you to focus. We have to figure out what the plan is here."
Stiles leaned forward and used his other hand to feel the side of Derek's face, mumbling about his stubble. Derek pulled his hands away again and kept looking around. Stiles leaned into Derek's chest then heard the scream. His head snapped up and he looked around, just in time to see Parrish turn into a flaming man and grab Lydia by the arms. She screamed, not a banshee scream, but a pained blood-curdling life ending kind of scream and Stiles jerked away from Derek.
"Lydia! Parrish, stop it!"
"Stiles, they aren't there!" Derek snapped and he turned back to see Derek was shifted to his beta form. He jumped back to his boyfriend and covered his mouth and eyes.
"Turn back! What are you doing? Turn back!"
"Stiles," Derek mumbled and jerked his hands away. "It's not really happening, whatever you're seeing. There was something in the drinks and I think everyone is hallucinating now."
He felt his legs wobble a little and stiffened them against landing on his ass on the floor and Derek held him up. Derek said something about hallucinating, "Wolfsbane. She used wolfsbane?" Stiles slurred.
"Yeah," Derek said but he sounded faraway.
"Oh God, Derek, they won't have any control," Stiles whispered. Or at least he thought he was whispering until Derek shushed him. He thought back on what he said and thankfully he hadn't said anything to telling. "Where are Lydia and the others?"
Derek pressed his mouth to Stiles's ear and the human moaned from his closeness, "Focus Stiles. Scott and the others are struggling with visions; Kira is with them trying to keep them behaved. I don't see Jackson, Ethan and Danny. Or Cora. Isaac is sitting in a corner meditating. Good one Isaac." Stiles mumbled happily because Derek was a good alpha, he was letting his pack mate know that he was doing what he needed to do. "Everyone drank at least one glass of the refreshments, the photographers are confused but still taking pictures of the revelry and Lydia is hiding in one of the other rooms with Parrish. I don't understand what she's doing here."
"Catch someone's shift," Stiles slurred.
"But how does that show anyone that the supernatural can be a good thing. I have to get them out of here before the hallucinations get to far and they do something that we can't undo. I have to put you down Stiles, you need to sit still and try not to respond to whatever you see."
Stiles shook his head, "Derek you're keeping me grounded. If you leave, I don't know what I am going to see. Please don't leave me here."
"I have to make sure they get out of here Stiles, I will be back as soon as I can."
Stiles nodded and Derek moved them somewhere but with his eyes closed he wasn't able to steer or wonder what they were doing. Then his back was against a wall and Derek was pressing a gentle kiss into the edge of his lips before leading him down into a sitting position. There was a warm presence next to him and Stiles flopped his head back enough to see that it was Isaac. Stiles smiled and let his head flop down on the beta's shoulder, "Good boyfriend."
Derek huffed, pressed a hand to the top of his head then he was gone. Isaac growl-grumbled and wrapped an arm around Stiles's shoulder and pulled him flesh against his side and Stiles let his head drift.
"It would have been better if you died and I survived," she said as she came closer. "We could have just had another kid and maybe he wouldn't have been this ridiculous spaz that was always getting in trouble."
"No, that's not true," Stiles mumbled into someone's shoulder.
"You are never going to be enough for any of them," another voice joined the words of his mother. This one was Lydia. She was in her wedding dress but it was tattered and burned, like she'd gone to war and she was the only survivor. "You are just one more weak human being and there is nothing I could have ever wanted from you."
"Nothing you could bring to any pack except sarcasm and another person to save in the midst of battle that you shouldn't have been caught up in."
"No, Scott, don't say that. Please!" he muttered.
"Stiles, let them go, it's all in your head. Breathe in and out with me," Isaac's voice was a soothing rhythm cutting through the fear and the visions. "Breathe in, two three. Breath out, two three. Again."
He listened to the voice outside of himself, hoping against hope that the one that could cause the most damage didn't come back.
"What about me kid, you come back to town, make demands on all of us like you're the shit. Instead you are still that spazzing kid that I just don't know what to do with anymore."
It was easier to remember that it wasn't really with his father, maybe because he'd seen this before. There was nothing new about this fear and honestly it was dead and buried, maybe twitching in the grave but all the same. This was just the wolfsbane trying to heave it out of the ground.
Then he heard it, the laughter he remembered from his dreams and from his memories, his head snapping up and catching on himself. No, it was the other him.
It was Void.
"Yes Stiles, I didn't think that you could forget me because I never left." VoidStiles was moving towards him with single-minded intent and Stiles pushed up and away from the firm arm holding him close.
"Stiles, ignore it!" he heard shouted from somewhere.
"You can't be here, we destroyed you."
"Oh I can, and do you know why?"
Stiles shook his head, trying to clear his vision then opened them again only to find Void right in front of him reaching out and snapping his fingers tightly around Stiles's neck in a bone-snapping grip.
His eyes flashed, that cold blue that Peter, Derek and Jackson all had.
The Bite didn't destroy the Void; it just made him more powerful.
He heard the screaming but didn't realize it was him until his throat was raw.
Derek slammed through the doors; shoving several security guys out of the way and shouldered open another door. Lydia turned towards him and put her hands up like she was going to scream but he moved quickly enough to grip her around the throat, "WOLFSBANE!"
"I did what had to be done, so they would see what they are all capable of. It's the only way for me to come in and show them something different."
"What?" Derek sneered. Parrish rushed over, his eyes changing into those flaming irises but Derek just shook his head and tightened his fingers as he allowed the change to roll over him for a second. Parrish stopped, holding his hands up in surrender.
"What was the point of all this Lydia?" Derek snapped.
"So I could show the world that they are animals but they can be tamed. I knew there was no way to keep this clean so I figured I would have to clean it up. I planned for this."
"You planned to out them as animals, you poisoned them so they would lose control so you could save the day?"
She nodded. Derek pushed her back into Parrish's arms and pointed at both of them, "Stay in here, call off the press. I am getting my people out of here and this is the end, right here Lydia. You lost so much today that you don't even know about yet. They won't trust you anymore, not like they did. That's gone!" The last was snarled as he spun away from her before he gave into the internal debate demanding why he couldn't slice open her throat for the stupid arrogance she portrayed here.
Derek turned back to the main room and looked around. Everyone was screaming, at each other or no one. He touched on all the wolves and hunters in the room. The hunters were staring at the wolves, looking trigger-happy while Argent and Stilinski attempted to get people to calm down even while they seemed to be shaking off the effects. His eyes caught on Isaac, sitting with his arm slung over Stiles who was muttering but at least he was safe. He turned back to Liam and the others, figuring that they were going to be the most trouble.
Surprisingly it was Cora's roar he heard, turning to find her near the doors screaming with golden eyes. He rushed over to her quickly and grabbed her, turning her body into his chest hissing when her claws caught in his suit shirt and skin. "Cora, come on girl. I know whatever you're seeing is freaking you but you have got to control yourself."
"No, let me go!" she screeched, sounding more guttural than human.
He pulled her in tighter and started walking towards the doors and shoved her through. She snapped around quickly and glared at him, her teeth elongating and the hair growing on her face. Derek cursed and rushed her, taking her down and hoping no humans were coming in for the reception late, they tumbled together and he dragged her farther away from the doors of the building and closer to the jeep. Hopefully it would be enough to calm her, to contain her for a few minutes so he could get back in there before anyone else shifted or Lydia decided to play bitch goddess to the rescue.
"Derek," he heard from behind him and saw Jackson, Ethan and Danny. They seemed to be unaffected, staring at them in surprise. Derek heaved a sigh and shoved her towards them. Jackson easily grabbed her and used some sort of grip on her neck to knock her out.
"We need to get the rest of them out of here," Derek said as he picked up his sister and moved her quickly to sleep off the effects in the back of the Jeep. He turned quickly, "How are you guys unaffected?"
Jackson shrugged, "I think its my kanima thing, I am not deeply affected by wolfsbane."
"I don't drink anything I didn't make myself," Ethan responded cryptically like someone who's been poisoned a time or two.
Danny didn't say anything at all but it didn't matter. They were unaffected which meant that they could get people out that much faster. "Okay guys, then we do this as quickly as possible. We need to keep the hunters that are on the fence about killing away from the most affected, get them out so Lydia can't exact her endgame which I will tell everyone about later when our people are out of danger."
They all nodded and walked back inside to the cacophony of screaming and shouting. Derek's heart stopped when he realized one of those people were Stiles, he rushed in forgetting about patience only to find Stiles standing away from Isaac, who's eyes were glowing though he was trying to be inconspicuous about it while he watched Stiles but nothing could have prepared him for Scott with his hands around his best friend's throat with the Sheriff and Melissa trying to drag him off. His eyes were glowing; his claws were out and ready to rip Stiles apart though thankfully Lydia did something right and called off her videographers and photographers. They weren't holding their equipment anymore and it seemed that a couple of them got into the Kool-Aid to boot. Derek turned to Jackson and the others "Get them out. We do what we have to so we can protect each other."
They nodded and took off, Derek headed straight for Scott and Stiles. He pushed right into the center of the scuffle, looking at the Sheriff and Melissa and flashed his eyes. The Sheriff just sneered at him a little, and Derek couldn't blame him. Melissa looked like she couldn't figure out if she was going to scream or cry, maybe both. He decided to focus on the problem at hand. He shoved his face into Scott's and roared. He flashed his eyes and something in Scott flickered for a second then his fingers tightened and blood welled under the pressure and part of Derek whimpered at his love being harmed and he couldn't just rip out Scott's still beating heart. Stiles would never forgive him for that.
Then to make everything worse, Stiles spoke past the pain and the fingers choking off his ability to breath, "Just do it, I can't stop you. Maybe they are all better off without me anyway. What you made me do was unforgivable."
"Oh God, Stiles," Derek whispered because he knew better than anyone who Stiles may be seeing then flicked his claws out and jammed them into Scott's side. He felt the slick of skin giving way to muscle underneath and Scott screamed, a completely human scream of pain and he released Stiles. The Sheriff and Melissa moved to grab him before he hit anything around him on the way down while Derek left his fingers inside Scott and dragged him away feeling as the wound attempted to heal but couldn't.
"Get a hold of yourself now! Or lose everything that ever meant anything to you."
Scott shook his head but said nothing, he still had that glassy look of the drugged in his eyes so Derek just held him close, tucked the other alpha's face into his chest and away from his neck and propelled him outside and away from the other people. He didn't let Scott go until the bloody mess of him was on the other side of the parking lot then he dumped him on the ground.
That seemed to finally crack through a bit more of the wolfsbane crazy and he curled around the wound in his stomach before looking up at Derek in surprise, "What's happening? Are you trying to kill me after all?"
Derek rolled his eyes, "I don't have time for this, I still have to make sure Stiles isn't hurt to badly and that the others are safe. This is because you and Lydia obviously didn't listen to anything we had to say last night, not that it mattered because she drugged you just the same as she drugged everyone else. All to appear the hero, the master of the monsters."
Scott just covered his wound with his suit jacket and stayed there, looking sullen and confused. An interesting facial expression even for Scott McCall but he ignored it as he turned and rushed back inside. Looking around the mayhem of the hall, he figured Lydia and Parrish were going to be paying a pretty hefty fine for the damages and he wasn't going to help at all this time. He looked around the room and didn't see anymore werewolves, the hunters were keeping the human masses calm enough, while Isaac was still on the other side of the room looking completely human but he was crouching over Stiles who was on the floor, facing down Sheriff Stilinski and Mama McCall. Derek rushed over, "What happened?"
The Sheriff shrugged, "Isaac got a little territorial about Stiles. He's not trying to hurt anyone and he hasn't shifted but he won't listen and Stiles—I need to get him out of here. Now."
Derek walked over and pressed a hand into Isaac's shoulder and the beta immediately settled. The alpha leaned in close, "Thank you for protecting him. You did good Isaac."
Isaac nodded and he stumbled down to his knees like the guarding of Stiles or something had just taken everything out of him. Melissa immediately moved to grab Isaac while the sheriff moved closer to Stiles who was still sitting against the wall. Derek moved to his other side and whispered, "Stiles, can you hear me?"
The human looked towards his voice but nothing else registered, he was still in the wolfsbane haze, he probably got a lot more than everyone else the way he was guzzling it earlier though he didn't know for sure. People around the room were calming down, most of them were vomiting up the remains of the wolfsbane-laced drink but Stiles still just sat there.
"I don't wanna die," Stiles whispered, like he was continuing some conversation.
"You're not going to die, I wouldn't let that happen," Derek responded and pressed a hand into the side of Stiles's neck. "I need you to come back to me here. Whatever you're seeing, it isn't real. He's dead because we wouldn't let him end you."
"He could never love me, no one ever could after what you did to me. Why didn't you just kill me."
"Stiles!" Derek shouted because the nogitsune in Stiles's head was really hammering on all of his biggest fears.
"Derek, we should go." The Sheriff insisted again and he nodded. Leaning down he lifted Stiles from the floor and they all walked outside, just as Lydia and Parrish came out of the room they were hiding in. She locked eyes on him for a second before she looked away and whispered, "I fucked up. I just did what she told me."
Derek didn't have time to care what that was about. He made sure that the rest of the pack were heading away from the location before he tucked Stiles into the passenger seat and got behind the wheel. Stilinski and Mrs. McCall got into one of Argent's darkened SUV's so he drove out of the lot.
At the first stoplight Derek grabbed Stiles's phone and sent a message demanding that everyone come to the Stilinski's house for a debrief. So they could figure out what the next step was. He tossed the phone back down, not waiting for an answer as he accelerated forward on green. Stiles was still muttering to someone who wasn't there though the change in venue seemed to knock it down in intensity a little bit. All Derek wanted to do was keep driving, get Stiles back to the campus apartment in Washington and away from this insanity. Beacon Hills was a hellish place and everything that mattered to him shouldn't have ever come back here or stayed here.
And all because Lydia thought she could be the hero that would control the supernatural. He didn't understand how someone as intelligent as she seemed to be could be so stupid. He didn't think on it too long because he was parking in the lot in front of the Stilinski house. He got out and spared a glance for Cora who was still sleeping in the backseat but she was going to be fine. He focused instead on getting Stiles inside and settled on the couch where he curled up against the arm. Derek sat down next to him and reached around the back of Stiles's neck and felt up and down, counting the edge of his vertebrae until he found the right spot and flicked his claws straight into his neck and there was a snick and he couldn't help but think he'd done it wrong for two seconds then the connection slotted into place and there was nothing but Stiles.
If Derek thought that being around him, connected to him through a nascent bond was anything, it wasn't compared to the overwhelming presence of Stiles. The human wasn't just human, that was the only explanation for how big he was in Derek's mind. It was like he spiraled out and multiplied. His heartbeat was in Derek's chest, he could feel the slight irregularity that he'd never noticed before because Stiles was always talking, always moving. His mind was a moving target, no it was more like hundreds of moving targets and each of them filled with a curiosity for life, the thing that made Stiles 'Stiles'. It was ineffable.
And his soul, not that Derek would ever share these musings with anyone, maybe if his mother was still alive—but his soul was the brightest sun at the center of a universe. Derek's universe immediately tilted on its axis because this wasn't just some smart ass human who got caught up in his best friend's crazy werewolf life, this was something a lot more like a Beacon, like the Nemeton. It suddenly made sense; everything made sense because Stiles was at the center of it all and he drew people in, not because he was an alpha or a powerful druid. He drew them in because there was no other choice. It was the gravitational pull that echoed in the back of the minds of pack times a thousand.
It only took a few seconds for all that intensity to start to fade under the onslaught of the voices here. He could hear Scott, Melissa, the Sheriff, even Derek saying horrifying things to Stiles but the one Stiles was listening to was his.
Void.
"You think anyone could ever pick you?" Void was saying.
"I do," Derek said and both of the Stiles' turned to him and he knew suddenly which was which even if he hadn't heard VoidStiles speaking. Stiles was light and full of color and life even though he looked like he'd been emotionally battered for the better part of the day instead of the last half hour. Void was pale and gaunt but there was something in his eyes, a wild desire to destroy what stood before him. It was the same as VoidStiles a couple years ago.
Void laughed, "You're just as pathetic as he is. Of course you would pick each other."
Derek ignored the creature because what it said didn't have the power to touch Derek anymore. That's what therapy was for and Stiles needed him more. He walked over to Stiles, stepping up close to him and pressed a gentle kiss to the human's lips before the human even had time to figure out that he was really there. He listened to the gentle whimper that emitted between Stiles's lips and fed straight into Derek's mouth. He didn't let the voices in, he didn't let any of it touch this moment with Stiles, the real one underneath all the pain and agony of past trauma. It was amazing that all the things done to him had not tainted the soul of this person; Derek thanked his mother for that because she was the only being of power that he trusted out there in the universe.
He pulled back, pressed one last kiss to Stiles's mouth and whispered, "Don't listen to these voices Stiles, I chose you because you are what I want."
"Me?"
"You. Stiles Stilinski. I want you as my friend, my partner, and my lover. All of it. As long as you want me. But you have to let all this go and come out, okay? It's the only way we can have all there is to have in life."
Stiles closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then leaned in and sniffed at the werewolf's neck. He nodded and Derek pulled away from the dream world he was in, reaching around Stiles to grab some tissues for his neck just as the human opened his eyes and smiled a little before leaning over the side and vomiting all over the floor. Derek groaned at the pungent scent and chuckled when Stiles moaned out, "Sorry. I'll clean that up later."
"You really won't" Derek chuckled as he rubbed his back gently and waited for Stiles to say anything else. He heard the moment the Sheriff came into the house and he rushed into the living room and watched the scene for a few seconds before he grabbed a handful of towels and started cleaning up the mess with one hand while the other rubbed at the side of Stiles's neck. The human smiled shyly and looked over at Derek after a few minutes, "What happened?"
"I got everyone out, I have no idea if the photographers got anything, I guess we won't know until its too late. Apparently the point was to show the world about werewolves and then Lydia was going to come in to save the day though I don't understand how, she maybe be amune to most supernatural devices but she can't control werewolves. She might be able to momentarily cripple them but that would just out her powers as dangerous too. None of it makes any sense."
"Everyone's okay though? They all got out?"
Derek nodded, pausing as he thought about Lydia's final words to him, "She said something weird, 'I just did what she told me.' Or something like that."
"Are you saying there is something else out there pulling strings of a Banshee? Something that no one knew about?"
Derek shrugged, "I think there is a lot of string pulling going on around her and honestly the idea of someone pulling her strings is the first to make any sense. She was listening to something else, someone that she trusted? That person told her all about this weird plan to get through the unveiling. She's too smart for this, maybe she argued, maybe she was punished. We don't know anything about the last eight months."
"Yeah, because she didn't tell anyone anything," Stiles grumbled then started coughing again, the sound far more moist than Derek was comfortable with. He kept rubbing Stiles's shoulder and tilted his head when he heard the vehicles parking down by the road, doors opening and closing. Then the not-subtle click clack of shoes and he was glad that they decided to listen to his order to come here when they left the reception hall. Hopefully that meant that it was time to get all the answers from the only person who seemed to know anything.
Derek left Stiles sitting there while his dad finishing cleaning up the floor and putting a garbage can next to him just in case. He opened the door and found a pack of unhappy and pale pack. Scott, Malia, Lydia and Parrish were there still in their wedding finery. Jackson, Ethan and Danny were there with Cora and Isaac. Derek let them in.
"There better be a damn good explanation for what just happened out there!"
Lydia crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "I saw my grandmother. She came to me and told me what I needed to do. She knew everything my grandmother knew, about me and the code for the dead pool and everything. I trusted her, I've seen the dead before, ghosts and real people. I didn't know what else to see, there was death all around and she said this was the only way. I didn't tell anyone anything because she told me not to, that no one would understand."
"We don't understand," Stiles said weakly.
"I know," Lydia responded. "I know none of this makes sense and you would think I would be smart enough to know that this wasn't what it seemed and I still don't really know what's happening here but I did what I could with the information I had."
"Which was a lot without much," Derek said, crossing his arms and flexing in a show of power. He couldn't help it with his pack-mate close and sick. He wanted the other alpha in the room to know that he was protective and they weren't going to get through him, not while Stiles was still looking like death warmed over.
Lydia held her hands out, "I know that now. I haven't seen any more visions since about a week ago. Maybe its over because they think we did what it wanted. I don't know. All I can say is that I believed that it was her and that she wanted what was best for me."
"You're an idiot," Stiles said, shaking his head.
"Oh, like you've never done anything wrong in your life?" Lydia snapped but Parrish touched her shoulder and she immediately calmed a bit. "But I cede to your point. I was an idiot in this and I couldn't see until it was too late. And if I am being completely honest, I wanted to be the savior for us all, I have been the weird sidekick with the death visions for too long and this was too much of what I wished for. I don't know how she knew about something that I had never even spoken aloud. I was jealous and looking for some wish fulfillment, seeing my grandmother was too much. She led me to this."
"It wasn't her though," Stiles snapped, though Derek could hear the strain. He was exhausted but they had to get through this and Stiles wasn't going anywhere even if it took straight up stubbornness to keep him awake. This had quickly turned from a wedding to a vision quest to a conspiracy theory and trust Beacon Hills to make something as simple as a wedding so easily fucked.
There was something bigger at play and it's endgame seemed to be the unveiling of the supernatural. It was one of the only things that kept the supernaturals from becoming the victims of war or genocide.
"Anymore secrets we need to know about?" Derek demanded and everyone looked at Lydia.
She shook her head, "I won't believe her the next time I see her. I will talk to the others if I see her. Or anyone I know to be dead. I swear. Fool me once and all that."
They all nodded at her answer, then stumbled out of the room. Scott and his girls and Parrish all left and the others moved to slump around the kitchen and the living room. Derek turned and looked at Stiles, "Visions of her dead grandmother?" Stiles asked incredulously.
Derek shrugged, "Of all the visages that she would have trusted, her grandmother is the most likely. She was a confidante of Lydia's as well as a Banshee. She had a point about seeing ghost and the dead after the fact before. Whatever did this to her, to all of us, did their homework well enough to know all the things that her grandmother would have known. It wasn't smart, it wasn't good for any of us but at least it wasn't only about being the savior of humankind from the big bad wolf. At least it wasn't something that we couldn't stop."
"I feel sick still," Cora whined from the floor next to the coffee table.
"Yeah, you will for a while yet, anyone who drank the wolfsbane concoction. It takes a little bit of time to burn out of our system. Stiles is probably in for a rough night."
"Take me to bed then Sourwolf, I don't want to think about conspiracy theories, ghosts, tricksters or the supernatural coming out to the world."
Derek nodded and heaved Stiles off the couch and swung him into a bridal carry while the others hooted and hollering excitedly. Stiles leaned his head on Derek's neck and though the smell from the wolfsbane and the vomit was not pleasant, it was still good to scent his partner. He settled Stiles onto the bed and helped him out of his clothes then walked down to the bathroom and grabbed a cup of water and the mouthwash. Stiles wrinkled his nose when he saw what Derek was holding, gargled the mouthwash and spit it into the second cup that Derek had the forethought to grab. Stiles guzzled the glass of water so Derek went back to dump the contents of one down the sink and refilled the other. After putting the fresh cup down on the side table, Derek climbed into the bed with Stiles.
They were silent for a little while, "I want to go home Der."
"You are home."
"No," Stiles whispered, "I want to go back to Washington. This was a mistake."
"We foiled a plan to unveil the supernatural, wouldn't that be considered a win?"
Stiles nodded then shrugged, "Maybe it was a win but it still wasn't enough to make all the other crap feel any better. The grandma plot had nothing to do with Scott and Lydia choose not to listen to me, or the fights or the miscommunications. We can come back for another visit later but I want out of here and I want to get the baby betas out too."
"Liam, Theo and the others?" Derek asked with confusion.
Stiles scoffed, "No, Isaac and the others."
"Not really baby betas but if they want to come they can, for the short term anyway."
"Deal," Stiles said and fell silent while the werewolf heaved a sigh of relief. He was going home and taking Stiles away from all this madness. He listened as the others settled into the Stilinski house, a couple of them on the guest bed and the rest down in the living room. He heard when someone haphazardly found where Stiles puked up nothing but drink and said loudly, "Ewwww! What the hell was that?"
The sheriff told her and Derek heard as Kira ran to the bathroom and turned on the faucet to clean her hand off. He smiled as his pack settled into where they were all sitting or laying down to sleep off the poison in their system. Some were playing games, others were napping and he knew that they would do what they must to not only keep Derek alive but also Stiles, and for the first time having a house full of werewolves meant everything to him because they were his pack.
