Chapter Text
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit! Stiles thoughts had been reduced to that one word since this whole situation had gone south.
While at college Stiles continued to improve on his magic and help solve supernatural crimes. This is how Stiles got himself into his most recent predicament.
AKA being chased by an Alpha he had been following after the disappearance of a 13 year old girl named Emily. He knew that going after this guy alone would be dangerous. But seeing as Scott and Kira were on their trip to Europe, Derek and Peter hadn’t been seen for a few months, and everyone else was basically a fetus. Stiles thought he had no other choice.
He had managed to pin the guy after he showed up frequently to the disappearance sight. The culprit always returns to the scene of the crime right? He couldn’t be more than 18. Stiles began to piece the situation together. Some young werewolf who couldn’t control himself and went crazy. It wouldn’t be the first one he had seen this year.
His small collection of information that he had collected after some minor stalking told him that his name was Henry and he lived only a few blocks away from Berkeley college.
Stiles was trying to size the guy up some more whilst following him around a busy cluster of night shop outlets. Stiles glanced to the left and stopped for a minute to feign looking through a lit up shop window. When he shifted his eyes back to where he had last saw Henry, he was gone. Stiles began to swing his head around and search for the teen. Did he really lose him?
Stiles sighed as he called it a night. It was already late and he had class early the next morning. He would have to pick it back up at another time.
As he arrived at the densely wooded, dirt lot where he had parked his jeep; the sun’s light was no longer visible. He glanced at his watch and made note that it was already 3. It was at this time that Stiles was thankful his English test was moved to next week.
He fumbled his keys out of his pocket and cursed when he dropped them before even getting them close to the driver’s side lock.
Stiles squatted down to reach for them when he got the feeling of eyes on his back. He made an effort to look around the area and noticed his car was the only one in the lot.
His nerves weren’t settled but he tried to ignore them so that he could go ahead and get in his jeep without having to deal with anything less than pleasant.
He snatched his keys off the ground and rose back to a standing position. Before he could begin to move towards the blue car he felt a hand reach around his neck from behind. Stiles immediately put both of his hands up in a surrendering position.
“Why the hell have you been following me?” Henry question.
“You’re a quick one, aren’t you, Twinkle-toes? Didn’t even see you.” Stiles retorted. He needed to buy a little time in order to gather some magic in his gut.
A growl emitted from an unseen throat and Stiles felt as the claws lengthened and caught on the skin of his neck.
“Answer me!” Henry shouted.
“Maybe you should answer my questions.” Stiles responded lightly.
Stiles’s fingertips began to tingle as his magic flowed out through them and formed into a bright flash of light. It was one of the first tricks he had learned and he developed it into a powerful tool, just for times like these.
Henry shouted in pain and let go of Stiles neck to place his hands in front of his eyes.
Stiles spun away from the werewolf and began to prime his magic for another defensive attack.
When Henry was done rubbing his sore eyes he threw his hands down at his side. Up close, Stiles could finally take good notice of his features. He had a light pink scar running horizontally on the length of his left cheek. His dark, curly hair contrasted with his pale skin and watery green eyes.
“You’re going to regret that. You’re one of his little witches aren’t you? Where is Emily? Tell me!” Henry yelled as his eyes flashed red and his fangs elongated.
An alpha? Seriously? With his build Stiles had suspected he was a beta. Shit.
“Emily? The girl? But you-” Stiles tried to negotiate.
“So you do know who she is. Were you the one who grabbed her? Tell me where she is!” Henry had gotten tired of standing and talking.
The alpha rushed forwards with his beta shift fully activated.
Stiles knew that he couldn’t take this dude on in full close combat. That was out of his element. He preferred to stay back and attack from a distance. So with another, bigger flash, he took off into the woods full sprint.
Stiles tried to be quiet but it was hard when your running for your life.
He heard Henry roar in anger at falling for the trick again. Stiles could hear as Henry’s leaping bounds approached at an alarming speed until he was right behind him. Somehow Stiles’ legs moved a little faster. He was sure it was his fear of death spurring him on.
He was too focused on running that he failed to dodge when Henry got close enough to manage a rage filled blow to Stiles’ torso. Stiles cried out before tripping over a wayward log and rolling onto his back. Henry stood over Stiles and growled menacingly. Stiles used his left elbow to prop himself up and his right arm to guard his newly injured left side. It was wet and was beginning to sting as the initial shock wore off.
“You should have answered my questions.” Henry’s voice was lacking of any sympathy for the boy at his feet..
As a last spurt of Stiles’ magic, the tree limbs and trunks lurched forwards and grabbed hold of Henry’s limbs tightly. Stiles knew that they wouldn’t be able to hold him forever and scrambled up, still clutching at his side.
He had newfound effort as he ran to his jeep. The pain with each step kept him alert. The keys he had thrown in his pockets chafed and jangled on his leg. He briefly thought that they were probably the reason Henry had been able to follow him so easily. The thought was banished from his mind as he focused solely on reaching the jeep.
Stiles caught sight of the familiar baby blue vehicle and gave a breath of relief among his quick huffs from running and gasps of pain.
An impossibly loud roar ripped through the trees and foliage. Stiles grit his teeth together in equal parts of determination, pain, and fear.
As he reached the car he let go of his torso and fished the set of keys from his pocket, simultaneously smearing blood on his pants and the keys themselves. As he fumbled he heard Henry shout again.
“I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” The threat gave him a new burst of energy and he managed to unlock the car door and throw himself into the driver’s seat.
One miracle that night was that the car started almost instantly, allowing Stiles to rip out of the parking spot, not even putting the car in reverse. He raced down the road at a pace his dad may have strangled him for, had he been present, until he felt safe. It was at this time that the adrenaline and shock had almost completely worn off.
The ache in his stomach was sharper than before and he was beginning to feel just how much blood he had lost running through those woods.
He was thankful for the empty roads when he swerved after reaching for his phone he had left in the cup holder.
His instinct was to call Scott, but then he remembered Scott would still be on his trip to New York with Kira for almost a week.
Shit. Nice going Stiles. Going after an alpha when your only alpha friend was halfway across the world. Who else then? Liam? No. He’s the equivalent of a zygote in matters like this. Isaac? Uh, definite no. Derek? He was pretty skilled at not dying.
Stiles scrolled down and selected the contact, praying that he hadn’t gotten a new number in the past 7 months since he had last called him.
Stiles pressed the dial button with his left hand and corrected the jeep’s position with his right.
As he placed the top of the phone up to his ear he counted the rings.
1
2
3
4
5
Just as he almost accepted his fate he heard a tired, “What do you want.”
“Oh, thank fuck! Listen, I need your help man. I went after this dude ‘cause this girl went missing and then he got behind me, and I had to run. And then I was down and he got me and-shit- I think I’m gonna bleed out in my car-” Stiles was left taking a deep breath after wasting so much energy on the words.
“What? Stiles where are you?” Derek’s voice had sobered at the news and held no more traces of sleep.
“I- I’m heading to Berkeley. But, I don’t- I don’t know if I can make it. My eyes, they keep going foggy. I’m surprised I haven’t gone off the road. I’m just a few miles out though. If I-” Stiles was interrupted from another speech spree.
“I’m on my way. Go as far as you can, don’t crash, and don’t fall asleep.” Derek said.
“Easy for you to say. You know, I’ve only seen like 8 cars all night. Wait, I see the the lot for Berkeley. Meet me there, Kay?” Stiles blinked furiously in an effort to refocus his tired eyes. He hung up and tossed his phone into the passenger seat, barely registered the new smear of red he had caused on its screen.
Stiles’ eyelids were already hanging heavily and his grip around his torso weakened along with his hold on the wheel as he swung the car into the parking lot jerkily.
Veering into half a parking space and hitting the curb he gritted his teeth as another wave of pain shot through him. He turned off the car and sat in the seat to focus on his shallow breaths. Each one came with a new ache like a twisted 2 for the price of one 1 deal.
Stiles slumped down in the seat and used the lever on the side to lean the seat back a few inches. His head lolled to the left and he his eyes closed before he even recognized the familiar flash of light coming from his phone screen bearing a red and green symbol and one name: Derek.