Stiles pants as Derek slides into place across from Scott, effectively trapping the gruesome monster with their pack. Allison and Lydia had to hang back so they'd be safe. Also, Allison's arrows were better at a distance. That left Derek, Scott, Boyd, Erica, Cora and himself – much to Derek's chagrin – to surround the thing.
It's human in shape, roughly. It has sickly green skin, and parts of it are covered in sleek looking scales that remind Stiles of their days chasing the Kanima. Its claws are the length of Stiles' forearm and its teeth put the werewolves' fangs to shame. It can talk, it has before, but it's raspy as if it's been drinking acid or something.
"We told you to leave and you didn't listen. Now we're going to have to kill you." Derek tells it.
Stiles knows how much it pains Derek to have to kill anything. To add more blood to his list.
It doesn't respond, merely lunges at Derek. Stiles reacts out of instinct more than anything. The ting collides with Stiles' light-barrier and recoils. The creature immediately focuses on Stiles who is the only being in their little ragtag circle not spouting fangs and facial hair.
Well he does have a bit of facial hair, but not like Derek and Scott do.
It hisses at him in another language. Or English, but its voice is so fucked up that Stiles' couldn't tell even if he was up close. Stiles prepares for it to jump at him, but it does the opposite.
It smiles at the Fay as if it's got some sort of secret that could change the universe. It shifts, not unlike a cat trying to get comfortable, before looking around at their group.
Before anyone else can react, it jumps at Isaac. Stiles tries to throw up another light-barrier, but it skirts around it and still gets Isaac. It runs off with Isaac screaming and yelling the whole way. The pack races after it and Isaac, who is still screaming.
Stiles' doesn't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign.
The Fay gets there first, with Derek and Scott milliseconds behind him. It's got Isaac on the floor and his chest is sliced open. Isaac has given it quite a few wounds, but it doesn't seem to even register them. It turns to look at Stiles again with that smile. It curls back over its shark-like teeth and Stiles freezes. Derek and Scott run forward to help, but they're too late because it turns back to its prey and bites at Isaac's chest.
Isaac's scream rings through the forest for three seconds before it cuts off and the werewolf falls silent.
Tears run down the Fay's face as he feels Isaac's soul leave him and he knows Lydia feels it too, somewhere out in the forest. They don't know how, but she always feels when death happens.
The creature on top of Isaac pulls back, the brunet's heart between his long teeth. Derek swings at it, but it bounds away, into the forest. Stiles can't move as Erica and Boyd run past him to get to Isaac's lifeless body and Derek and Scott run after the creature.
He feels numb as he stares at Erica crying over her friends' body. He can barely hear anything and I feels like the world is moving in slow motion.
"Stiles." Lydia runs in front of him, tears running down her face in streams to match Stiles.
"Stiles, wake up." She calls and Stiles stares at her.
"Stiles, please wake up."
He screams as he bolts upright in bed. He's wrapped up in between two warm bodies trying desperately to restrain him as he fights unseen phantoms.
"Stiles, it's okay! You're safe!" He hears Scott call out to him.
Stiles tries to calm himself down, but it really doesn't work at first. Eventually, he manages to even out his breathing and sit up shakily.
"Do you need anything?" That's Derek.
Stiles shakes his head, trying to get himself situated. He feels a few tears manage to fall from his eyes. Derek's hand on his shoulder doesn't really do anything except show Stiles how badly he's shaking.
And then it's like all of his fear and anxiety is being pulled out of him.
"You shouldn't do that." He leans away from Derek's hand.
"I'm just trying to help." He looks like he wants to, but he doesn't reach out to Stiles again.
After a minute of silence, Scott asks, "Why'd you ask me to be here?"
Stiles looks up, remembering. "I wanted to know how last night went and I've got bad news."
"Last night was fine. What's the bad news?" Derek answers instead of Scott, but Stiles' accepts that when Scott nods his affirmation.
"My dad got a call last night at two a.m. because Isaac Lahey has gone missing and his father's been murdered by an animal."
"Oh." Scott's voice peeps.
And then, "Oh."
"Yeah."
"We're going after him aren't we?"
"Of course." Stiles stands up and grabs a change of clothes.
"I think we should tell our parents." Derek comments.
"I think that's a stupid idea, so I've elected to ignore it. All in favor?"
"Aye." Scott calls, grinning at Derek.
Derek sighs, as if they're going to be the death of him.
"Why is Derek here anyway?" Stiles asks, peeling off his shirt and flinging it into the hamper.
"I got your text and as I was leaving Talia caught me and made Derek go with me because she's worried about me shifting and whatnot."
"Well then that means you're our new partner in crime." Stiles changes his dirty jeans for a fresh pair before grabbing a pair of socks and his shoes from his closet.
"I'm hoping you're speaking figuratively." Derek asks, sounding weird.
"He's being serious. We'd probably be arrested if we were caught." Scott grins at Derek.
Stiles taps the front of his sneakers against the floor to make sure they're in place before grinning widely and walking out his bedroom door. He doesn't have to look behind himself to see that Derek and Scott are following him like good little puppies.
"I think this is a really bad idea."
"You don't even know what we're doing!" Stiles comments, opening his front door and ushering both Were's through it. He turns and locks it before heading over to his jeep.
"Exactly! You haven't told us what you're planning! And Scott, how can you just blindly go with it? You don't know what you're doing!"
"Because I trust Stiles!"
"And I don't!" Derek snaps, looking more pissed by the minute.
"Ouch!" Stiles mocks being hurt by the statement as he climbs into the driver's seat.
Scott crosses his arms and looks at Derek, "I trust Stiles with my life. To protect and enrich it. He'd kill for me and he'd die for me. I'd do the same for him. You don't have to trust him like I do, but you should know that."
The driveway is suddenly extremely tense as Derek scowls at Scott.
Stiles sits in the driver's seat as patiently as possible. Scott didn't have to be so damn dramatic about it, but he's touched that Scott would be willing to die and kill for him. Of course he'd do it for Scott. Without a second thought. But the thought that this universe's Scott cares so much for him makes Stiles feel…touched.
Stiles starts up Thomas – what he's affectionately named the Jeep he'd gotten from his parents in this universe, as opposed to Roscoe from his world – and startles the Were's out of their glaring match.
"You two gonna have a pissing contest all day or are we gonna go find Isaac?"
Scott turns to look at Derek, making a face that Stiles can't see, before climbing into the Jeep's back seat. Derek sighs before climbing into the passenger seat and slamming the door much harder than necessary.
"Dude, careful with my baby, he's delicate." Derek just raises an eyebrow at him.
Stiles is kind of glad he's had time to master Eyebrow.
"Don't give me that look." Stiles grins as he backs out of his driveway and takes them down the few roads separating Stiles' house from Isaac's.
It takes no more than twenty minutes to get to the Lahey house and seconds to park on the road adjacent to it. Scott is glued to his side the entire time they're sneaking into the Lahey backyard. Stiles leads them around to the side until they're directly beneath Isaac's window, which is on the second floor.
"Give me a boost." Scott frowns but complies, lacing his fingers together with his back against the wall.
Stiles uses Scott's help to reach the window sill, which he grabs and lifts himself inside once he has it open.
"Should I mention you weigh a lot less?" Scott calls, not too loudly but loud enough for Stiles' to hear.
"Thanks buddy, but that's more because of your superhuman strength." Stiles quickly grabs one of Isaac's few shirts – his father really doesn't give him much – before heading back to the window. He swings one leg over the sill before grabbing the sill tight and so he's straddling the ledge before swinging the other leg over and sitting on the sill. Without much thought, he jumps off the sill. He was planning on landing on his feet.
Instead Derek's jumping forward and catching him with his arms wrapped underneath Stiles' ass and Stiles' arms braced on the older Were's shoulders.
"Well, hello there." Stiles smirks.
Derek drops him the three feet he's off the floor and glares at him.
"What were you thinking? You jumped off the second floor!"
"Yeah…wouldn't be the first time." Stiles holds up Isaac's shirt.
"Think you could catch Isaac's scent off of this?" His question is aimed at Scott, who looks a bit pensive.
"Maybe, I haven't practiced or anything."
Derek rolls his eyes so hard Stiles thinks it had to have been painful.
"I can do it, but I still think we should talk to our parents."
"Mama's boy." Stiles throws the shirt at Derek and leads the way back to his Jeep.
"I am not!" Derek calls out after they've jumped the fence.
"You're how old? And you want to go running to your mother." Stiles grins, teasing.
"I'm twenty-one and I do not want to 'run to my mother,' Stiles. You don't understand Pack dynamics, do you?"
"I understand Pack dynamics perfectly well, Derek," Stiles tells him, his grin falling from his face.
"Then you should understand the compulsion to want to run everything by your Alpha. The need to make sure you're not doing something wrong. Now add in the fact that my Alpha is my mother. Can you imagine how I feel about doing something I know she'd disapprove of?"
"Then you don't have to come with us." Stiles opens the door to his Jeep.
Only Derek slams it shut before he can get in.
"I do, because my mother – my Alpha – ordered me to look after Scott. I'm trying to look after him, but you seem to want to do the stupidest things. You act like you want him in danger!"
"No, I know Scott can take care of himself. I know he's not some dainty little flower that's gonna get trampled over. I'm doing this to help Isaac. Scott could have said no at any time, Derek, so don't go acting like I'm some evil jerk whose only purpose in life is to put Scott in danger!"
"Do you not understand how easy it would be for him to shift and hurt you? Or someone else? What then?"
"I'd knock his ass out before it got that far!" Stiles yells, feeling like knocking Derek out and leaving him by the side of the road.
"And how are you going to do that? You probably couldn't life a bag of flour!"
Scott must see something in him that Stiles can't see, because he's over there in between the two arguing men before Stiles can bash Derek's fucking head in.
"Stiles, before you go flinging Derek across the street, remember he's only trying to help and we're in public." Then he's turning to Derek, "He's right, I can take care of myself. I don't need you 'mother hen'ing me, Derek. If I'm with Stiles, I'm as safe as I'm ever going to be. He protected me from an Alpha. Do you not get that? And we both know he's more powerful than he looks, and that's not including his powers."
Stiles feels like reminding Scott that he can get around his little 'human barrier' as easily as breathing but instead he turns to look away, trying to get his temper under control.
After a few minutes of silence, he turns back around to see that Derek's facing away from him looking like he's about to shift and kill something.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Stiles says, "But you have to realize that I would rather chop my own arm off than hurt Scott."
"You got him bitten, or have you forgotten that?" Derek snaps, not turning around.
Stiles stands there for a moment, stunned, while Scott quickly grabs his shoulders.
"It's not Stiles' fault that I got bitten, Derek. We were headed to a party and his Jeep broke down. I got attacked. I would have died without Stiles."
"No, he's got a point. I convinced you to go to that party, Scott. You wouldn't have been there if it weren't for me. But to insinuate that I took Scott out there, knowing that the fucking Alpha would get him? Low blow, Derek."
"I didn't say that!" Derek turns, his eyes flashing Beta blue.
"Then what were you implying? That despite all of my best intention's Scott's still going to get hurt?"
"No, I meant that he can get hurt if you're there or not. He can still hurt people if you're there. You don't seem to get that! You can't count on you being there to save him!"
"And you can't count on Scott fucking up!"
Stiles leans forward and snatches Isaac's shirt out of Derek's hands.
"I'm going to look for Isaac. If Scott doesn't want to come, then he doesn't have to. If you don't want to come, you don't have to."
"I'm going with you, Stiles. Talia said it'd be best if no one was alone while this Alpha is out."
Derek glares at the two of them, "I'll go with you, but if we don't find this kid then no one says a word to my mother."
He snatches Isaac's shirt back muttering something about Scott being shit at tracking.