"Why do you need to go there?" Eli questioned and while he sounded standoffish to Stiles, the fifteen-year-old wasn't good at hiding his sadness about his father on his face. But he had to get to the Nemeton. He had to find out why the nightmares were occurring again after so long.

"I've been having nightmares for months. They all start differently, but they all end at the Nematon. I think that something is calling me there."

Eli fidgeted with his hands for a few moments and let out a sigh before finally responding.

"The quickest way is through the woods behind the auto shop. Follow me."

Stiles did as he was told and started walking into the woods behind the teenager; the fall leaves were starting to fall around them with every breeze that passed by and under any other circumstance, he would have stopped to admire just how gorgeous Beacon Hills was in October, but he had to stay focused and at this moment, that meant finding out about Eli's wellbeing.

"Are you going to be okay?" All he got in response was a shrug that easily translated to "I don't know", so he changed his tactic, "It took us forever to find it when we needed to. How do you know where it is?"

"My dad says that it involves my powers, that I'm connected to it somehow," Eli explained and Stiles winced when he referred to Derek in the present tense because he knew that he made that same mistake with his mom, and with Allison, multiple times, "that, and I sleepwalk. Also from the powers."

"Scott used to sleepwalk for…actually, he still might," Stiles realized, remembering that he hadn't talked to Scott in over a decade before the phone call, "anyway, you end up here?"

"Every single time," Eli confirmed as the grass started to feel familiar even through Stiles' boots, like it was worn down by the giant stump that was sitting in the middle of the woods with the large swirled pattern in the middle that was now in front of him. He had to dig his nails into his hand to confirm that he was actually in front of it and he wasn't about to see the demon with the body of a world war two burn victim.

"Any epiphanies hitting you?" Eli's voice broke his train of thought and reminded him that he should be looking for…well, he didn't know what he was looking for, "can you hurry and have one? This place still smells like fire."

"Look, Eli. I don't know how long this is gonna take-," but when he turned to face the teenager, he was running out of the woods at full speed, leaving Stiles alone with the terrifying tree that he had sacrificed himself to years ago, "alright, you stupid tree. What do you want from me that you couldn't have told me through my fucked up head back in Virginia?"

Being snarky to a supernatural tree probably wasn't the best plan Stiles had ever had, but it was the tree's fault that the Nogitsune had possessed him, that all the shit with the Dread Doctors happened, and that now Derek was dead.

'It brought Allison back, but at what cost?'

He felt the rage in his chest building quickly and fast. The same rage that overtook him when Theo brought up Void, when Scott believed Theo over him, when an innocent trip to the mailbox contained the divorce papers from Lydia.

He didn't know the last time he had shouted his pain away as he hit the tree with his bare hands, the ashes flying off from the force of the pressure on it.

'It's just a dream, it means nothing. You're not like Lydia, it's just your trauma once again.'

"Stupid fucking tree." He muttered under his breath as he took a deep breath and started to turn to find Eli's shoe imprints when it hit his eye.

With a sharp glint against the sunlight; he turned back to the tree and got on his knees beside it, peering close at the middle of the stump when he finally saw it. A slightly charred, but intact, single claw. Parrish didn't have claws, which only meant one thing.

'Derek,' was followed shortly by, 'I gotta get this to Deaton.'

Stiles had never pulled an evidence bag out of his coat pocket faster, scooping it in with some of the ash and the dirt surrounding it before sealing it shut and stuffing it into his coat. Letting out a deep sigh, he followed Eli's shoe prints back to Hale Auto where the teenager still was, only instead of bouncing a lacrosse ball on the ground, he was now scrolling through his phone with his back against the jeep.

The tear stains were still drying on his cheeks though, and Stiles couldn't stop himself from asking if he was okay.

"Yeah, yeah," the teen stuttered, "I guess I just expected the smell to fade. It's probably the werewolf nose. Did you get an answer?"

"Part of one," Stiles responded, deciding against showing Eli the evidence bag to prove it and instead asking, "any chance you know how to find a man named Alan Deaton?"

"He's in LA. He owns the clinic next to Scott's animal shelter."

"I guess we're road-tripping."

After quickly getting their affairs in order which included Stiles taking the car seat out of his jeep so his dad could pick it up and Eli telling Scott where he was going, the two of them got in the jeep and stayed silent until Stiles was all but flying down the highway he had been on just the day before.

"So, you've been staying with Scott?" Stiles asked, but quickly regretted it when Eli's tears returned with the explanation.

"Dad told me I was part of Scott's pack now. Right before he…" the teen trailed off to sniffle and Stiles knew he had to respond to get his mind away from his aching heart.

"You don't have to talk about it. I get it, you know." He insisted, but when Eli just shook his head, Stiles figured that he had heard that a lot recently, so he tried to keep his voice steady as he continued speaking, "I lost my mom when I was ten. She had been sick since I was six, but I was the only one there when it happened. Fifteen years ago, the Nogitsune took over my body and framed it as the same form of dementia."

He had to swallow down his tears before he continued speaking, glancing at Eli who was now hanging onto every word he said, "It did other things too. Like Allison? It gained power over the Oni and used them to kill her."

"How did it get here in the first place?"

"There was a girl who lived here for a couple of years, her name was Kira. She was a kitsune like her mother, Noshiko, who had buried the Nogitsune in the Nemeton after World War II but to save Allison's dad, Scott's mom, and my dad from a Darach, we had to give power back to the Nemeton."

"That's why you asked me to take you to it. You think its power was bringing you back to Beacon Hills."

"It's also why I stayed away for so long, but that's why we're going to Deaton. He's going to have answers."

"Can I ask another question?" Eli asked, and Stiles wondered if the kid was going to get him to open up more in his jeep than he ever had in his therapy sessions that Lydia had made him sign up for as soon as they moved to San Francisco, but he nodded regardless, "what's a Darach?"

…

The rest of the drive to the animal clinic was mostly Stiles giving Eli a rundown of all that he had faced by Scott's side but because he got used to explaining the details thanks to the therapy he had been going to for years, the therapist that Derek had recommended that he had gone to after the fire, it allowed Stiles to think at the same time.

Mainly about the fact that he had a piece of Derek in his pocket, and the fact that Allison had been trapped in Bardo from what Stiles assumed was an incomplete life. And that just maybe, Derek was trapped there with the Nogitsune and could come back.

'To Beacon Hills, and Eli.'

When they arrived at the clinic, Eli took the initiative and led the way inside after taking one glance at Stiles. He was probably reeking of anxiety that even a werewolf who couldn't detect chemo signals could pick up on.

But when they walked inside through the waiting entrance and into the exam room, they were greeted by Deaton's voice as his back faced them and he was looking at something on the counter.

"I must admit, Stiles, I didn't think you'd be caught dead anywhere near Beacon Hills again. Especially not towing around Eli with you," he stopped to turn around and offer them a quick smile, "then again, whenever there is trouble in that town, you tend to show up. So, what can I help you with?"

Stiles knew better than to try and retaliate about the danger comment and instead started to explain. "Six months ago, the nightmares came back. They all start differently, but they all end at the Nemeton. I had Eli take me to it and I found this," he stopped to pull out the evidence bag and hand it to Deaton, watching as he examined the contents closely, "I think that the dreams are trying to tell me something about Derek."

"You think he's like Allison," Deaton spoke up after a moment as he continued to examine the claw closely, "trapped in Bardo."

"Would it be that crazy? Allison was trapped because her life was incomplete. I'd argue that Derek's was even more incomplete considering I'm currently here with his son."

"It's a strong theory for sure," Deaton agreed before setting the zip bag on the metal exam table and turning to look Stiles directly in the eyes, "What else happens at the Nemeton in your dream? Every detail."

"I'm standing on one side of it. It's freezing, I'm barefoot and despite the darkness, I can see every spiral of the tree. Across from me, on the other side, is the Nogitsune and he's…," Stiles stopped to bring in a shuddering breath as he recalled what had haunted him for months, "He's grinning at me with all of his teeth, taunting me. Showing off the death that just occurred."

"Like after all this time, he's finally won the game." Deaton supplied.

"And knocked my piece off of the board," Stiles finished with a nod before picking up the evidence bag, and holding it in between his fingers, "memories can be shown by jamming this into my neck, right? I've heard the stories of Peter and Derek doing this."

"Not necessarily. You usually need a full set to see glimpses of anything and that may not be what we need to do if you are correct in your assumption."

"Well, can we just take some dirt and ash from the Nemeton and use that like they did with the sword?" Eli suggested from the corner where he was standing, but once again, Deaton shook his head before replying.

"It's not that simple. Allison and Derek passed in very different ways. The fact that the Nemeton keeps bringing you to it may suggest that the key to bringing Derek back may have to do with you, Stiles. More specifically, your past with the Nogitsune."

"You wanna bring that back?!" Stiles demanded, his voice growing louder in retaliation as he started to regret coming back in the first place and with Rowen, no less.

"I didn't say that and I do not want that back in Beacon Hills."

"So what are you saying?" Eli questioned from the corner, and his voice managed to bring Stiles' anger and fear back to their normal levels slowly but surely.

"That in order to bring Derek back, Stiles has to reconcile with his past and accept what happened 15 years ago."

"Any chance you know how to do that? And if you figure it out, my therapist would love a copy of your notes."

"For starters, Allison is alive. Your biggest heartache was her," Deaton explained, brushing off Stiles' comment about the notes, "She's back, and talking to her about it may finally help you start to heal that part of your past. But it's not just her. You need to repair your relationships that fell apart. Scott, Malia, and Lydia."

Convince Scott to talk to me again, keep Malia from ripping out my throat and get Lydia to say more than three words to me that aren't her telling me to leave. It cannot be that hard, I hope.'

But he didn't voice his concerns about the repairing of his relationships aloud, instead focusing on freeing Derek.

"Then we get Derek back and the Nogitsune trapped for good?"

"That's the goal, but it may not be that simple," Stiles hated when Deaton said those kinds of things, "remember that both Derek and the Nogitsune were destroyed by hellfire, and bringing one back with the soil and ash brings up the high chance of bringing back the other. It will take a lot to reduce the nogitsune back to its fly state for a third time."

"So we take Parrish, and once Derek is safe, if the demon tries to send up fireflies or flies or whatever tickles his fancy, it's much easier to burn."

"Not the worst idea, but you have to keep Parrish, Derek, and yourself from getting taken over in the process."

"That'll be easy." Stiles insisted, his mind flashing back to his failed marriage being the biggest hurdle of all, but Deaton's tone made his priorities shift quickly.

"Don't get cocky, Stiles. Remember that it has been inside of your mind before and breaking into the same place again is much easier than breaking into an all-new one."

"I know what I'm doing. I did this fifteen years ago, remember?"

"Stiles? Tread carefully and look for the signs."

"Odd behaviors, sudden talking in riddles or Japanese, I know what I'm doing," Stiles insisted as the hairs on his arms started to stand up when he swiped the claw off of the examination table before turning to the teenager, "Ready to head out, Eli?"

"I guess." Eli shrugged and Stiles walked right to the jeep and twisted the key in the fob, the rumble of a clean engine in his ears. It wasn't until they got back into Beacon County and Stiles had fully quelled the building attack in his chest that Eli finally spoke again.

"You were being dismissive of Deaton."

"Well, the sooner I can reconcile with my past, the sooner we get your dad back and the sooner I don't ever have to think about this again," Stiles explained, forcing himself not to press harder on the gas pedal and keep his feelings inside until he was out of the driver's seat.

"The Nogitsune? Or Beacon Hills?"

"It's a lot harder for me to remember the good when it's overshadowed by the bad."

It got quiet after his admission of his true intentions, and his hands slipped to the radio but the teen reminded him of himself just a little too much in the way that he would not be quiet unless necessary.

"Why didn't you just take the jeep to a mechanic? Why was it full of duct tape?"

"Well, for starters, I was a teenager and didn't have mechanic money. But…," Stiles trailed off, moving his hand from the radio to the turn signal and flipping it on, knowing that Hale Auto was growing closer and that Malia was either going to be there or in the house, "I guess it was just easier to put a patch on it and move on."

"Doesn't that just make everything worse? Because it sounds like that's what you did when you left. Put a patch on it and move on."

They took the exit into Beacon Hills as Stiles pondered the fact that he had treated his own life like the jeep, but he couldn't help but turn to Eli with a smirk.

"Where'd you get your brain from? Because I know it wasn't your dad."

"Pretty sure that I'm just observant," Eli shrugged as he looked down at Stiles' phone to see his directions, "gonna talk to Malia first?"

"Yep. And do me a favor?" Stiles asked, waiting until Eli nodded before adding, "Be ready to stop her from ripping out my throat."