Stiles waited. He waited for the numbness in his arms to disappear, for the burning in his lungs to stop, for the tingling in his legs to go away. For the exhaustion to leave his body.

Arya sat on the grass next to him and waited for him. She didn´t say a word but her presence was enough for Stiles. He didn´t feel alone.

He had no idea where Cedric was. Immediately after the fire had stopped, the man had run off, probably to tell everyone everything was all right and that there was no danger anymore.

He didn´t know how long he and Arya stayed there, starring into the naked trees. He just concentrated on regaining his energy.

And forgot one very important thing.

Derek, who stood on the other side of the clearing.

Finally, after some time, Arya placed her hand on his and shook it lightly.

"Cedric wants to see us" she told him.

Stiles looked up, frowning "How do you know?"

"Walter just told me"

Stiles´ frown deepened "How?"

"Psionic?" she answered smiling.

"Right" he answered "Real world Charles Xavier"

Arya laughed "He isn´t nearly as powerful"

"But he can read minds"

"But Charles is awesome" answered Arya "Walter is just a grumpy mind reader"

She suddenly closed her eyes and smirked "…and he just heard that"

"That´s creepy" said Stiles "You could like, literally be stalked while you´re going to the bathroom, like he would know what you think or how does it…?"

Arya shook her head and got on her feet "It doesn´t work that way. I´ll explain it later" she interrupted and stretched her hands out, offering Stiles help "But now we must go back"

"I can get up by myself, you know"

"Really?" she asked with risen eyebrows and crossed arms "I´d like to see that"

Stiles pushed himself back up and, biting his lower lip to not show Arya how much his back hurt, he got on his feet. But as soon as all his weight was put on his legs, it became too much for his exhausted body. His leg crumbled beneath him and he was about to fall back again on the ground…

But two strong hands grabbed his arms and kept him standing.

Stiles looked back.

Derek.

"Get off" he said, shaking the werewolf´s hands off "I said I could do it alone"

Derek made a step backwards, leaving Stiles unsure on his feet for one moment. But soon, he recovered his equilibrium and stability.

"Stiles, you can barely stand" stated Derek.

"That´s my problem" retorted Stiles "You can go get your damn alpha, I´m sure…"

Arya coughed "Actually" she said nervously "Cedric wants to talk to him too"

Teen Wolf

"Why don´t you tell us what happened back there in the clearing?" asked Cedric, sitting on the head of the table.

They were in the same room where Stiles had had his first induced vision, like Arya called it. It was where the emergency meeting had been so long ago and just like then, all the representatives sat on their respective places. The only exception being Derek who clearly seemed uncomfortable in his skin, not knowing exactly what was going on.

Arya and Stiles would usually not be allowed to be there but given the circumstances, Cedric had invited and require them to come. Probably because of the tornado Stiles had caused.

Stiles took a deep breath and glanced quickly at Arya and then at Cedric "I kind of had the idea to take magic out of the ground, like to see the difference. But when I reached for the magic down there… well, something snapped or clicked and then something kind of exploded and yeah…, that´s pretty much it"

"What did you want to talk to Cedric about?" suddenly asked Walter "You said you wanted to tell him something"

Stiles hesitated for a moment. His plan had been to only tell Cedric what he had discovered, not the entire community of representatives. It was quite a delicate matter and he wasn´t sure if so many people knowing would be advantageous. His eyes travelled quickly to Derek. The werewolf was something that made him hold back too. This was his world and werewolves didn´t belong here. The beta had no right to know what was going on.

But people were in danger and right now that was all that mattered.

"I read something on the internet" he finally said "and I think I know what´s going on with the demons and the dead bodies"

Cedric´s eyes widened, just like Walter´s. Rowan, the unseen, gasped for air and looked incredulous at Stiles. Derek raised his eyebrows. Clearly, no one had expected to hear something like that.

"Well, boy" spoke Godiva impatiently "Tell us! What are you waiting for?!"

"We thought the bodies found in the city had nothing in common, right?" asked Stiles. Everyone nodded, not knowing where he was going.

"But that´s exactly it! They were completely different!" said Stiles "I read their files and somehow they came from different cultures from all over the world. The places where they were killed were somehow related to their origins"

"That´s interesting…." commented Arya unsure "but that doesn´t explain the demons"

Stiles shook his head "I´m getting there" he replied "I read on the internet of a ritual called Blutersatz. It means blood-compensation in German. In Roman times some demonic sects or cults carried such ceremonies out. A certain victim was killed that had something in common with the invoked demon. As a payback, the demons offered these cults obedience and submission"

Cedric´s eyes widened as he got what Stiles was saying.

"Someone is sacrificing people from specific cultures" he said "And winning power over almost every kind of demons, no matter from which epoch they are"

Stiles nodded "That´s how they are appearing out of nowhere" he added "Demons are being summoned by some dark magic and forming an army that serves that someone"

"Do you have any idea who that could be?" asked Walter, for once looking at Stiles like he wasn´t stupid "Have you found something out about the kind of person that could do that?"

Stiles sighed "I found nothing" he answered "But it has to be someone with a connection to the magical dimension, that´s kind of obvious"

The psionic nodded, thoughtfully. Everyone stayed in silence, thinking about the information they had just gotten. Stiles knew that was it. There couldn´t be another explanation that was so logical and understandable. Everything matched up. It made sense.

"But that would mean…" suddenly whispered Arabella, the seer "…there´s one of us doing that"

Godiva nodded slowly "There´s a traitor in our midst"

Teen Wolf

The meeting had ended. The last thirty minutes had only been a discussion of how to trace the traitor down but, even though Cedric made it look like they would find him, Stiles knew that it would be damn hard. They had no idea which kind of member could do something like that. Most probably a mage, but masters and seers and psionics and unseen… It could be anyone.

And it could have anything in mind. The brotherhood now knew why the demons were appearing out of nowhere and why the bodies were being found. But they still had no idea why the person was summoning a demon army and what it intended to do with it. That was what most bothered Stiles, that person could do almost everything if it had enough demons on its side.

Everyone walked over to the exit of the tent. Arya next to Stiles. He just wanted to go home and rest after all the stuff that had happened today. He was so focused on the thought of a cup hot chocolate that he forgot one person. Again.

"Stiles and Arya, could you stay here?" suddenly asked Cedric behind them "And you as well Derek, I think we have some things to figure out"

Stiles spun around. Derek. Right. For some reason, he knew Cedric was aware of the true nature of Derek. There was no denying Cedric knew about werewolves. And Derek knew about the brotherhood. Maybe not as much as Stiles did but enough.

He had hoped for this never to happen. He had hoped for the two worlds to stay apart forever. The supernatural was just… it was just a mess that had ruined his life. His best friend, his first crush…

But the brotherhood had offered him shelter when he had needed it. Arya had saved his life and he had later done the same. He had discovered his magical abilities and had found friends that cared about him. He had found a place where he wasn´t a burden.

But the line that had divided the supernatural from magic was now gone.

Arya seemed to notice his nervousness and slid her hand into his "If you stopped a tornado, you can do this" she whispered.

He looked surprised at her "Do you know who he…?"

She shook her head lightly "I have no idea" she replied "But I saw how you reacted after seeing him, in fact, the entire state probably did"

Stiles smiled and started to walk again back to his seat, feeling a little bit better with Arya by his side. He sat down on Cedric´s left side and Arya right next to him. Derek took place exactly in front of Stiles, to Cedric´s right.

The mage leaned his elbows on the table and looked from left to right. Observing Derek and Stiles interchangeably. Finally, he raised his eyebrows.

"You know each other" he stated and then turned to Stiles "You know about the supernatural and from what I heard, you were quite involved with it"

Stiles glanced briefly at Arya. He took a deep breath "A former friend of mine is a werewolf"

He felt how Arya tensed in her chair beside him. With wide eyes she looked at Cedric, probably expecting the man to say Stiles was crazy. But Cedric didn´t. The leader of the brotherhood nodded lightly.

"Wait" she suddenly said incredulous "Werewolves exist? Aren´t they pop-culture stuff society has created?"

Derek scoffed "Do I look like pop culture to you?"

Arya looked at him with an open jaw. "You…" she whispered and then looked at Stiles "He´s…" she pointed towards Derek "…a werewolf?"

Stiles shrugged "I told you they were real"

"But…" she breathed out "The books said… Are you… Are you sure?"

"Arya, I know it is hard to believe but werewolves do exist, as do hunters and other supernatural shapeshifters" replied Cedric "But we try to maintain our worlds as separated as possible"

Stiles frowned "Why?"

"Because we are a universe each, with its unique advantages and disadvantages. Imagine if one person combined only the advantages to become immensely powerful or if someone started a war against the other side. Only bad things would come out of a relationship between us"

"But why do you know and what does he have to do with it?" asked Arya pointing to Derek.

"When my father died, I made a pact with his mother. We were the only ones that knew about the other world and did everything we could to keep things that way. We wanted to ensure peace" explained Cedric "But she died in a fire and I contacted her son and daughters, who are also werewolves, and did the same as I had done with their mother"

"But, apparently" interrupted Derek "we weren´t the only ones that knew another world existed, right Stiles?"

"I told Arya" Stiles defended himself.

"I thought you were kidding!" she replied "As far as I knew, magic was the only unusual thing in the universe!"

"Well, you see, I was right and you ignored me"

"Quinn also ignored you"

"So, Stiles" interrupted Cedric their discussion "Do you want to enlighten us?"

Stiles swallowed. If he told Cedric everything he knew, he wouldn´t end talking in months. He decided to only say the absolute necessary stuff.

"My best friend was bitten a few years ago" he told Cedric.

"Your best friend?"

"My former best friend" corrected Stiles "He kind of… Well, we had a fight a while ago"

Stiles saw Derek raise an eyebrow, surprised. But he wasn´t going to look at the werewolf. Derek could think whatever he wanted, Scott was probably going to tell him his side of the story if he hadn´t already.

Suddenly Arya gasped for air, understanding. She had heard Scott talking with Malia the first time, and Quinn had probably told her about the night he had had the fight. She probably now understood what was going on. But she kept quiet and didn´t say a word.

"He´s the alpha" suddenly said Derek "Scott McCall is the alpha of the local pack"

Cedric raised an eyebrow "A teenager is an alpha?" he said "I don´t think it´s convenient for him to know about us just yet. He´s too young. When the time comes I´ll contact him and explain everything"

"Why didn´t you tell Cedric about the werewolves?" Arya asked Stiles.

"Because you made it pretty clear that werewolves were nonsense" he answered "I assumed no one would believe me"

"Why didn´t you tell Scott?" suddenly asked Derek.

Stiles clenched his fists under the table. Not this again. Why couldn´t Derek understand that he wanted nothing to do with Scott?

"I just said it" he replied with a sharper tone "We had a fight and haven´t talked since"

Teen Wolf

"Are you sure you don´t wanna stay here?" asked Arya one more time "I´m sure Eustace wouldn´t mind taking one look at your wounds, just to make sure nothing…"

"If you ask one more time, I swear…" replied Stiles without lowering his pace.

"You know, you shouldn´t upset me since I´m the one who´s driving you home" replied Arya, shaking the keys of the old car the brotherhood owned in front of his face.

"I could walk"

"Yeah, and you´ll get home by tomorrow"

"Do you even have a driver´s license?" asked Stiles, frowning.

Arya kept walking and didn´t say a word. Stiles turned his head around and looked at her, surprised. But her eyes were set on the path in front of them that lead to the clearing where the brotherhood kept its only three cars.

"You know how to drive, don´t you?" asked Stiles, worried he would die in a car accident in the upcoming hour.

"Of course I do!" she replied offended "I just don´t have a driver´s license, they´re expensive"

"What if the police…?"

She shrugged "You´re the sheriff´s son, I´m sure you can outwit them"

"My dad will kill me if I…"

"If you drove with three very fresh slashes in your back?" interrupted Arya "Yeah, that´s why I´m driving and you´re going to be okay with it"

Stiles sighed. He opened his mouth to tell one more…

"I can drive him" suddenly said a voice behind Stiles.

Both masters turned around. Arya quickly placed her hand on Joyeuse´s hilt while Stiles rapidly pulled a hidden dagger out of his left sleeve. Since the harpy attack, he had decided to never leave his house unarmed.

It was so natural for him to hold a weapon in his hand that he didn´t even think about pulling it out. But apparently it was something surprising for the person behind them, judging by his facial expression.

Stiles couldn´t remember if he had ever seen Derek so stunned and surprised.

"How long have you been following us?" asked Arya, not noticing Derek´s astonishment.

The werewolf´s eyes were fixed on Stiles, or on his hand with the dagger more precisely.

"I overheard your conversation and thought I could offer you a solution"

"We don´t need your solutions, thank you very much" replied Stiles and started to turn around again.

"Come on, Stiles" said Derek behind him "Whatever happened between you and Scott, it wasn´t my fault. You don´t need to pull this crap"

Stiles spun around "I´m not…"

"Yes you are. Ever since you saw me, you have only talked to me derogatorily" Derek interrupted "Don´t you think you owe me an explanation? At least as a friend?"

"Scott was your friend, not me" retorted Stiles "I am nothing more than a useless human in all of your eyes"

Derek´s mouth hung open for a moment. He clearly didn´t know what to say.

"Where did you get…?" he started but shook his head before ending his sentence "Just let me drive you home so we can talk"

Teen Wolf

Derek observed the teen out of the corner of his eye. Stiles had given in, if only because of the fact Arya had not known to which car the keys belonged. The girl had obviously no idea about modern era devices which had made Stiles agree to let Derek drive him home. Against his will how he had made pretty clear by now.

Glancing at the boy on the seat next his, Derek still couldn´t believe how much he had changed. Aside from all his physical improvements, Stiles was clearly more confident and comfortable in his skin. There still was something left of the sarcastic-self but a layer of authority and seriousness cover it now. The werewolf shook his head; he had never heard Stiles talk to someone like he had to him. Stiles hadn´t been angered; it had been different. It was like the boy just wanted Derek to stay as far as possible.

"You want to tell me what happened?" asked Derek, his eyes on the road.

"If you hadn´t noticed, a lot of things have happened" retorted Stiles. Derek knew the boy was looking out of the window, trying to avoid eye contact.

"I mean between you and Scott" replied Derek "That must have been a big fight if you keep such things from him because of it"

Silence. Derek supposed Stiles didn´t want to talk about it.

"You know; Scott has always been worried about you" continued Derek "He was always eager to protect you…"

"He threw me out of the pack" interrupted Stiles.

Derek turned around, surprised. But Stiles was still looking at the trees passing by the window.

"What…?" said Derek, not believing what he had heard "How did he…?"

Stiles sighed and briefly glanced at Derek before pulling his dagger out of his sleeve and starting to play with it.

"He said I was useless" finally said Stiles, his eyes down on his dagger "Said I only hindered the pack, that I had only been allowed to hang out with them because I had been his best friend before the supernatural shit started"

"Scott wouldn´t do that" stated Derek. He was sure of it.

Stiles laughed humourlessly "He did. As did Malia and Kira and Lydia. They all agreed on how pathetically human I am"

Derek looked at the road before him. This was definitely not what he had expected. Apparently, not only Stiles had changed during his absence but also Scott and the entire pack. It took him a moment to take everything in.

"I´m sorry, Stiles" he finally blurted out "But you have to know that´s not… God, stop that! You´re going to hurt yourself!"

Derek didn´t know what was more dangerous; to take his eyes off the road or to take them off Stiles. He was still playing with the dagger. His bare hand wrapped around the blade while he played with the hilt with his other hand.

Stile looked up at him and, for the first time since they had seen each other in the clearing, smiled at him.

"What; this?" he asked, closing his other hand also around the blade "No worry. I know what I am doing. It´s a sword technique. First I had to use leather gloves but now, after some practising, I´m pretty good at it"

And there he was again. The endlessly talking, relaxed son of the sheriff he knew. Derek smiled, some things hadn´t changed after all.

"You have some abilities now, right?" commented Derek, hoping to get information out of the boy.

Stiles kept playing with his dagger "You could say that" he replied.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say. Derek could feel with his heightened senses that Stiles wasn´t as tense anymore. He seemed more relaxed. Like a weight was now off his shoulders.

"I wanted to tell Scott, you know" suddenly said Stiles "I tried to tell him, but he wasn´t interested. They didn´t even let me talk and the night I discovered I had… I had… these powers, was the same night he threw me out of the pack. We haven´t talked since"

Derek didn´t know what to respond. "When did it happen?"

"A month ago? No, almost two months" replied Stiles "No idea, I have been kind of busy"

"Training?" asked Derek.

"Yeah, kinda" responded Stiles "Listen, when you tell Scott about all of this could you...?"

"I´m not going to tell him" interrupted Derek.

Stiles blinked, surprised "No?"

Derek drove into the next motorway exit "Well, I´ll have to tell them something about the brotherhood" he explained "But I won´t tell him about your… involvement in this"

"Why?" asked Stiles "I mean, great, but why?"

"It´s your secret to tell not mine" replied Derek "And judging by what you just told me, it might not be best for Scott to know"

"Wow, thanks" said slowly Stiles. Suddenly he smiled "You´re not such a sourwolf after all"

"Just because I´m keeping your secret, doesn´t mean I´ll be nicer to you"

"I honestly don´t think that´s humanly possible" replied Stiles and hid the dagger again under his sleeve.

Derek noticed now that Stiles hadn´t leaned on his back during the entire car trip. He frowned, remembering what almost everyone had said. Stiles was wounded and healing. He sniffed the air and caught a glimpse of blood and some herbs he hadn´t smelled ever before.

"What happened to your back?"

Stiles looked at him for a moment "Just a few scratches" he answered "Some harpies attacked the shopping centre and I tried to help a little boy. One of them caught me off guard"

"Oh" replied Derek, not giving the matter much importance.

It wasn´t until later, when he was driving to his loft, an hour after he had dropped Stiles off in front of his house, that he remembered his conversation with Deaton.

A superhero was the reason the veterinarian had called him. A superhero that had used magic to protect a boy and kill demons. A superhero that had been wounded but had kept fighting.

Stiles´ back was wounded.

He had tried to save a little boy.

Stiles was the superhero.

Immediately after seeing the puzzle pieces fit in his head, Derek steered the wheel abruptly to his right and stopped the engine, parking suddenly.

He shook his head incredulous. He couldn´t tell Scott, couldn´t tell anyone. He was completely sure Stiles didn´t even know what a big deal saving that kid had been.

Derek ran his hands through his hair.

Stiles was immensely powerful.

And he had no idea.

Thanks for reading!

I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! I´m sorry for the delay but I´ve been kind of busy lately and will probably stay that way until the end of the week. But, I´ll write as much as I can and update as soon as I can!

And I promise I won´t stop writing this story! It´s just awesome to see how many people read it or follow/ favourite it! I wouldn´t let you down by stopping this fanfic. So, don´t worry!

I can also assure you that Arya and Stiles will start to develop their relationship soon!

And thank you a lot for all of your reviews! It just warms my heart when I read them and (I think I´ve said it before) they just make my day. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your kindness and support, I really appreciate it. So a big hug for you!

And if you would like and feel like it, please comment! I love to read them as I wrote before and well I can´t say anything I haven´t said yet. Each time I read them a bomb of happiness explodes in my heart.

I´m also a bit curious to know if you have got an idea regarding the traitor. I don´t know if it´s too obvious or if I´ve played my cards well ;) I´d love to hear (or read) your opinion.

I hoped you liked the chapter!

Thanks again for reading

Melpomene :D