Work Text:
Derek had been escorted down the secret supernatural floor at Eichen House. In each of the cells, glimpsed through bars, there were a variety of unseen supernatural creatures. Some Derek had learned while growing up and others that he swore he only heard legends of.
"You're the one of them, aren't you?" The attending orderly asked him as he led Derek to a room that had been isolated from the rest of the floor. It had been reinforced with Plexiglas. Derek just gave him a nod as he tried to drown out the sounds of the other supernatural creatures that had been doing nothing, but screaming ever since he got there.
"Good luck man," The orderly told him, "The last time someone visited him…it wasn't pretty." With that being said the door that Derek had entered through was close and Derek found himself alone in the room.
There was barely any lightening and the lights continued to hum continuously. The room itself didn't actually look like a prison cell rather than it looked like a waiting room.
Derek remained calm as he took a seat in a chair that had occupied the room, facing the glass in front of him. There was only one light souce on the other side of the glass. It wasn't that bright and had been shining on one particular spot where another chair waited. The chair remained empty.
"What are you doing here?" A voice from the dark side of the glass asked in an unfriendly tone.
"Stiles?" Derek asked, trying to find out where exactly the boy could be.
"Who else would it be?"
Derek's enhanced hearing could pick up the sound of movement from the other side. It only lasted a second when Stiles made his appearance in the only source of light that had been provided.
Derek looked at the boy in front of him in awe. He looked exactly the same since the last time Derek had seen him. His skin was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. They didn't have that shine anymore, but instead they gave off a dull color. Like he had lacked the sense of life.
"What happened to you?"
At this Stiles gave a laugh. But it wasn't that cheerful and completely unnecessary laugh. No it was something far more sinister, "Like you actually give a flying rat's ass about what happened to me." Stiles told him with a smile not reaching his face, "So tell me what are you really doing here?"
Derek couldn't find anything to say. Everything about the Stiles in front of him didn't reveal anything about the Stiles he knew half a year ago. This one was detached and cold. "I wanted to see how you were doing."
Stiles gave him a head tilt and a narrowing of his eyes, "Don't lie to me Derek." Stiles told him coolly, "You wouldn't be the first one to try and do this."
"Try and do what?" Derek questioned him, even though part of him just about ready to turn tail and run, but he couldn't…not when he owed them so for what they have done for him. Not when he owed Stiles so much.
"You wanna play dumb? That's fine," Stiles told him as he slouched back into the chair, "But it's not going to change anything. You can't save me," Stiles gave him a slow head shake as he closed his eyes, "Not anymore."
"I can try." Derek managed to get out.
Stiles opened his eyes and Derek could see a hint of amusement behind them, "And what makes you so special, huh?" Stiles questioned him as he leaned in closer to the glass, "What in the fuck makes you so special that you think you can save a skinny, defenseless human like me?" There was anger creeping into Stiles' voice. A lot of anger and a lot of force.
It took a lot for Derek not to wince by the power of the words, "Because Stiles you and I…we belong together."
The angry look on Stiles' face disappeared and was now being replaced with a new one. A new that was showing signs of the old Stiles, before it quickly turned into a blank one.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them. The lights in the room that Derek had been occupying continued buzzing. Derek closed his eyes and tried to focus on the sound of his own heartbeat.
Being in Eichen House did things to the supernatural creatures that stayed there and he wasn't planning on falling dark hands of it either.
A sound of a giggle filled his ears. It was almost childlike and playful. Derek opened his eyes to see Stiles' body give a twitch as his body filled with laughter. Laughter that wasn't in the least bit interested as to what Derek had just said and was borderline manic.
"So you finally figured it out, huh?" Stiles asked with a crooked smile that played on his face, "Who told you? Was it Scott?" Stiles doesn't wait for an answer as he gave a headshake, "Nah, couldn't have been him since he was too busy with his head stuck up his ass trying to win back Allison. So maybe it was Lydia?" Stiles offered with a fake thoughtful expression, "Not likely since she was too busy screwing the enemy."
"Stiles-"
"You know I would say it was Isaac," Stiles continued as if he didn't hear Derek, "But the poor beta had already suffered so much loss he probably didn't even know." He crossed his arms, face-stoned as he leaned back into his chair, "So tell me Derek. How did you know?"
"Deaton." Derek found himself confessing, "Deaton told me."
"Was that before or after you decided to high tail it out of this hellhole of a town?"
The guilt that Derek had been so desperately tried to hold back started to resettled back into the pit of his stomach, "Before."
"So you thought 'Hey, let Stiles know he's my mate and maybe he'll go back to normal' is that it?"
"This isn't you Stiles." Derek voiced him, trying to remain calm. Derek couldn't show any weakness. That how Stiles got to the others and pretty much drove them out of town.
"It is now." Stiles clipped at him.
"What happened to you?" Derek repeated in a strained voice, "What made you like this?"
"Oh Derek," Stiles told him a low tone, "You did." The accusation hits Derek right to the core, "You and your goddamn family drama." For once Derek was speechless, "I bet you remember how it all started." Stiles told him with smirk now as he unfolded his arms.
"When Peter bit Scott." Derek told him, this breaking the gaze he had on the boy, "That night of a full moon."
"Actually no." Stiles told him in a low tone, "Well it's part of it." Stiles shrugged, "After it was the same night he killed your sister and became a psychotic Alpha."
"Why are you doing this?"
There was another moment of silence between the two of them, "Because Derek you need to learn that every decision you have made others had to pay for it."
Just like that the air surrounding Derek tighten around him as he looked Stiles dead in the eyes, "I know that already." Derek growled at him. Stiles gave a squinting eye look.
"No, I don't think you do." Stile told him evenly, "Cause if you had you never would've trusted Kate after what happened with Paige." Stiles sneered at him.
"Shut up."
"Why don't you try breaking through this glass and make me big guy," Stiles challenged him, "Otherwise I'm going to keep on going." Derek ended up slamming a fist into the glass only for a dull sound to be produce, "So maybe Paige wasn't your fault." Stiles told him, "But the fire was."
"No it wasn't."
"Actually it was." Stiles countered back, "You knew that Kate was an Argent. You knew what her family was capable of. And yet you still endangered them all because you thought you were in love." Stiles mocked at him, "What was that thing you told Scott when he found you?" Stiles questioned him, "Go ahead Derek tell me." But Derek remained quiet, "What's the matter cat's got your tongue?" Stiles poked at him, "It's time someone actually told you that everything that has happened as been your fault."
"I know what you're trying to do." Derek informed him, "And it's not going to work. I'm not going to fall into your game."
"Well, you could hardly call it game if all the players keep dying." Stiles expressed in an uninterested tone.
"Not this time." Derek told him, "No one else has to die."
"Oh God, you sound like Scott," Stiles commented with disgust, "That's exactly what he said before we found Erica's dead body and the Alpha Pack at the vault. And after that Boyd ended up dying in your own hands."
"That wasn't my fault."
Stiles released a bitter laugh, "Of course it wasn't your fault. When has not been Derek Hale's fault?" Stiles wondered aloud, "So the six people that died during the Darach sacrifices weren't your fault either even though your own psychotic girlfriend was doing all the killing. Course not, all you did was screw her after just meeting her." Stiles spat at him, "Nor was Scott's mom, Allison father, and my dad nearly being sacrificed your fault either." Stiles told him while Derek just stayed silent, "But it was your fault Derek. It was your fault the moment you killed Paige and gave power to the damn Nemeton!" Stiles slammed a fist into the glass creating a loud thump, "It was your fault we had to sacrifice ourselves to save our parents because you sided with Jennifer. It was your fault…It has always been your fault!" Stiles claimed now screaming through the glass. Stiles was now breathing heavily as his face had been turned into anger.
"I cried out for you know," Stiles suddenly whispered to him with his hand against the glass, "Before the Nogitsune took over…I cried out and no one came to my rescue…So I ended up doing things I thought I never would have to do…it result it ended up with one of my best friends dying in the arms of her true love…my best friend not being able to look me in the eye…and the girl I loved since the third grade moved…"
"It wasn't your fault." Derek told him quietly placing his hand on glass just as Stiles' was. Stiles looked up at him with tear stained eyes.
"You're right…" Stiles told him softly, "It's all yours! If you hadn't left me and if had anchored me the way Scott and Allison did for each other none of this would've happened!" Stiles screamed slamming on the glass once more, this time there was a crack in it. Derek jumped up from his chair and back away as Stiles continued on with his rage, "Everything you love dies Derek!" Stiles shouted out to him as a number of orderlies filled the room, "You should just accept it before anyone else dies because of you!"
It had been hours after Derek's visit that Stiles was sure that Derek had finally left the secret floor of Eichen House. The glass had been reinforced after the crack he had caused. In a dark corner, Stiles turned on his bedside lamp.
A bright light filled his side of the room and revealed all types of photos that covered the wall. Some consisted of him and Scott in their lacrosse gear. Others were from the rave that was secretly held at Derek's loft. It was a wide variety photos from the ice-skating date he had set up for Scott and Allison all the way to the last and final picture of the pack being together. Being whole.
It was a picture of Derek that his eyes landed on. It was right after he and the others thought Derek had died after a failed attempt of bringing down the Alpha Pack. Derek had still been healing from the battle and Stiles had managed to sneak his way into the loft without actually waking up the Alpha.
Of course, seeing Derek completely vulnerable and completely off guard was something Stiles was sure he would never see again. So Stiles being Stiles took a picture, but didn't share it with anyone.
Stiles could feel a smile threaten to form on his face just as he held a stir in his belly. He placed a hand over the movement and it ceased. The Nogitsune was still in him. He could fill it creeping around in his body and in his mind. It still had plans for Beacon Hills. It was just waiting for the right moment. The right moment when it was going to possess him again and burn the town to the ground.