Chapter Twenty

What's to Come

*Stiles

Stiles gagged spitting up some of the gruesome liquid, "There done" he said and looked up at her, still gagging from the horrible taste of the blood "Let him go" he demanded.

Josie nodded slightly, "Okay" she said with a smile and shooed the Ahzi away. She pulled the key to handcuffs out of her pocket, along with a folded up piece of paper. She straddled Derek' back and smirked as he struggled and yelled a lot of profanity. She leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Just a little something I borrowed from Mr. Deaton's book" she whispered as she slid the folded up piece of paper into his back pocket. "Hope you don't mind" she said and chuckled softly before placing the key in his hand and getting off of him. "See you twenty four hours Stiles" she said and then ran off into the woods.

Stiles gagged a few more times before pushing himself up onto his feet. He quickly stumbled over to Derek. He took the key from him and quickly uncuffed him, though he only had time to do one before Derek practically ripped his hands free and jolted up to look at Stiles.

Derek quickly moved to rest on his knees and looked over Stiles, "Are you okay? You shouldn't have done that? What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, his questions kind of just running together.

Stiles nodded slightly, "Yeah I'm fine, I don't feel any different" he said, "And there was no way I wasn't going to do it Derek" he said.

Derek grumbled slightly "I know, but that doesn't change anything. You shouldn't have done it" he said and sighed softly, and just hoped that everything would be okay, but he doubt that. Josie had a reason for having Stiles drink that blood, there had to be a reason. Just as those thoughts entered his mind he remember that Josie had put something in his back pocket. He slowly pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket.

"What is that?" Stiles asked and grimaced slightly, the blood definitely wasn't sitting well with his stomach.

"She said it's from the book Deaton gave us" Derek said and watched Stiles for a moment, he'd noticed him grimace and he wasn't liking it. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

Stiles nodded slightly "Yeah I'm sure. For right now I am anyway" he said with a small smile, trying to reassure Derek. Though he kind of knew that he was lying to him, he could tell there was something wrong. "What does it say?

Derek frowned when he heard the slight skip in Stiles' heartbeat, but he didn't say anything about it, talking wouldn't change anything. He carefully unfolded the piece of paper and read it, "We have to go" he said and quickly stood up pulling Stiles up with him.

"Why what does it say?" Stiles repeated, since he didn't answer the question the first time.

"Hello, either one of you going to bother untying me?" Peter asked, kind of annoying that they hadn't done it yet.

Derek grumbled before quickly running over to his uncle and cutting the rope that held him. "There" he growled before running back over to Stiles and taking his hand and hurrying out of the clearing.

"Derek slow down, I can't move that fast" Stiles said screamed when a sudden pain seared through his skull. He fell to his knees clutching his head for what felt like forever but was probably no longer than a minute before the pain just went away completely.

"Stiles… Stiles what's wrong?" Derek asked a bit frantically when he saw Stiles go down and knew it had to be because of the Ahzi blood.

Stiles sat there for a moment before slowly letting his head go, like the pain stopping was just a trick and it would start up again in just a second or something. "I'm okay" he said and looked up at Derek. "It stopped….. for now" he said and smiled small.

Derek looked over Stiles studying him, "We need to get you home" he said, and slowly helped the human stand up. "We should hurry" he said and started moving again, though he was going slower than last time.

"We're almost there" Stiles said, he could see the blue of the jeep through the trees. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Derek, knowing the werewolf would demand to drive.

Derek took the keys and let go of Stiles' hand before hurrying over to the driver's side. He He climbed in and quickly started the engine before waiting for Stiles.

Stiles moved a bit slower than Derek, too tired to move any faster at the moment. Didn't help that a pain was starting to move up his legs. He was about to open the door and climb in when a sharp pain shot up his legs. His body slammed against the door as he fell to his knees with a loud groan. It felt as if the bones in his legs and arms were shifting and growing before snapping back to normal.

"Stiles!" Derek yelled and shot out of the jeep and ran over to him. "What is it? Where does it hurt?" he asked, not wanting to touch him and make it worse.

Stiles let out a shaky breath, the pain still not receding, "My legs" he gasped and groaned in pain. "I can't…. I can't move" he gasped and screamed as the pain worsened and moved up his back. It was the same thing, his bones shifting and growing before snapping back into place.

Derek frowned, hating that he couldn't do anything to help, he hated this whole situation. He had hoped what the paper said had been a lie, which was why he wanted to get back home and see if the page fit. "Is there anything I can do" he asked, a bit panicky.

Stiles gritted his teeth to keep from screaming again he reached out with his hand and grabbed Derek's. He couldn't bring himself to actually speak, so he just squeezed his hand instead, though it got tighter as the pain increased. Then as quickly as it came it left again, and Stiles let out a relieved sigh. He opened his eyes slowly, "It's stopped" he said tentatively, still breathing heavily. "What' happening to me?" he looked up at Derek. This wasn't anything like what Josie said, so he knew it had to be different. "What did the paper say" he asked for the third time.

Derek sighed and handed it to him, "it could be wrong" he said quickly, as he heard Stiles' heart speed up as he read it. "It might not have even come from the book Deaton gave us" he said trying to reassure him as well as himself.

Stiles shook his head slightly and shakily handed the piece of paper back "No, it's true" he said and took a shaky breath, "I can feel it, I know it's true" he said. "I'm going to be just like that thing." he with a deep frown. "I'm turning into a Ahzi" he said.

Derek frowned, "We'll figure this out Stiles" he said and meant it. "I'm not going to let this happen" he said and slowly helped him up onto his feet. "You think you're okay to travel?" he asked.

Stiles nodded slightly, "Yeah, I think so" he said after a few moments. He let out a slow breath before opening the door and climbing into the jeep with Derek's help. He closed his eyes, and just hoped that he wouldn't be attacked by another fit of pain.

Derek watched him for a moment, waiting for him to actually get in this time before going around to get into the driver's side. Once inside he quickly hit the gas and pulled out onto the road speeding back towards to his loft. "We should try and get a hold of Deaton" he said and looked at Stiles for a moment, not really wanting to take his eyes off him even for a minute.

Stiles nodded slightly, "Yeah, if anyone can figure this out, he can" he said with a small smile and tried to calm his still rapidly beating heart. He couldn't believe that this was happening, but he didn't regret it, not even a little bit. If he had the choice he'd do it all over again.

Derek helped Stiles out of the jeep and held him close as they made their way up to his loft. Once they were up there he quickly unlocked the door and froze when he saw someone standing in front of the living room window. "

"I hope you don't mind, but I let myself in" Deaton said as he turned around to look at the couple. "I believe you two have gotten yourselves into a bit of trouble" he said.

"How did you…." Stiles asked trailing off as he stared at the mysterious vet.

"How doesn't really matter Stiles" Deaton said and gestured to the couch, "You should probably sit down, this process is very painful" he said.

"Why don't you stop being cryptic and just tell us if you know how to fix it" Derek said, annoyed by the vet already. He did however help Stiles over to the couch and watched him sit down before sitting in front of him on the coffee table. "You feeling okay" he asked him.

Stiles nodded slightly, "At the moment yeah" he said slowly and smiled small before turning his head a bit to look at Deaton, "You got any ideas Doc?" he asked.

Deaton sighed softly, "Yes Stiles I do know how to stop this" he said and walked around the couch to sit next to Derek. "Unfortunately I don't think either of you are going to like the answer" he said.

"What is it?" Stiles asked, curiously wanting to know even if he wouldn't like it.

"Spit it out" Derek said irritably a second later.

Deaton sighed, "It's a sheer force of will" he said and smiled small. "As far as I know only a few have managed to do it" he said. "There are a few remedies that will stop and reverse the process, but it will take me a while to gather all the ingredients." he said with a small frown. "So until then you're going to have to hold it back on your own. It'll be painful and almost impossible, but that's all I have" he said. "But I must tell you. If you turn complete there is no coming back, you'll be like that forever. You have to keep that from happening Stiles"

Stiles frowned, not really sure if he'd be able to do that, "How exactly am I supposed to do that?" he asked

Deaton shook his head slightly, "That I do not know Stiles" he said regrettably. "That's up to you to figure out" he said and stood up slowly.

"Just hurry back with those remedies" Derek said and let out a slow angry breath. He was sure Stiles could make it through this, guy wasn't exactly tough but he was brave and very stubborn. He just hoped that would be enough.

Deaton nodded slightly, "I'll be back as soon as I can" he said and turned to leave.

"Josie said something about twenty four hours. So try and make it before then" Stiles yelled as the vet walked out the door, he wasn't really even sure if he had heard him. "Derek, I don't know if I can do this" he said honestly after a long silence.

Derek forced a smile, "Sure you can, if anyone can do this it's you Stiles" he said. "You can do anything you set your mind too, and I'm not just saying that" he said and took his hand in his. "Just promise me you'll try" he said wanting to know that he wouldn't just give up.

Stiles nodded slightly, "I will" he said with a small smile, "Can't get rid of me that easily" he said and squeezed Derek's hand lightly.

"Good, because I wouldn't want to" Derek said and smiled small before leaning over and kissing Stiles' forehead. Then he stood up and sat on the couch next to Stiles rather than on the coffee table in front of him. "I'll be right here next to you the entire time. We'll do this together" he said.

Stiles nodded slightly and gritted his teeth as the pain came back. He squeezed Derek's hand tightly, and gasped as his ribs shifted and moved under his skin. He closed his eyes tightly and hunched over clutching his chest with his free hand. He tried to keep from screaming, but it quickly got to the point where it was impossible not to.

Stiles jolted forward as his shoulder blades extended and then snapped back into place, only to repeat the process over and over again. The pain quickly moved up his neck as the vertebrae moved in and out of place.

Derek growled and tried taking his pain away, but it wasn't working Come on work, he thought angrily, and looked over Stiles' hoping that it would be over soon. He grimaced when he saw the human's bones shifting under his skin, he couldn't even imagine how painful that could be. "Stile, we're….. you're going to get through this okay? You can do this…." he said and squeezed his hand lightly.

Stiles tried focusing on Derek's voice but it soon got over run by a pounding in his head. A pressure started to form behind his eyes, almost felt as if his eyes were popping out of his head. He clutched his head with his free hand, his fingers roughly moving through his hair, as if that might relieve some of the pain. He thought the pain may never end that it would just be like this until he turned into the ahzi for good.