Work Text:
ViolationViolationViolation
Stiles woke and flailed hard enough that he fell out of his bed.
The Pack Bond was quiet. Stiles sent an oh! shit message along the Bond and his phone immediately rang.
"Yeah?" Stiles panted.
"Sweetheart. What's wrong?" Peter asked.
"Something's... something big is calling me," Stiles replied slowly, trying to figure what might be in trouble.
"Okay, then just breathe for a minute," Peter said softly. "Close your eyes and let yourself drift for the moment."
"I can do that," Stiles said, determined. "Just... hang on?"
"Of course," Peter promised. "Take your time."
Stiles closed his eyes and deliberately breathed in and out. He counted his breaths... In... one... two... three.... out... one... two... three... He did that several times and just focused on the breathing.
Then...
"In the Preserve!" Stiles said. "Something is happening in the Preserve!"
"Good boy," Peter praised. "Now. You wait for me to get there. You are NOT going anywhere alone. Derek will meet us at the trail head."
"Okay," Stiles agreed.
"Where's your father?" Peter asked.
"Working tonight."
"He'll have felt something," Peter replied. "Tell him we're checking it out and to be on alert. And that Derek and I will be with you, otherwise I know he'll worry."
"Oh, right," Stiles replied. Including his father hadn't always been his first thought, so it was good to be reminded of that. It still felt odd to be letting the adults do the heavy lifting. But a good type of odd.
"I'll be there shortly," Peter said.
"Okay. Thanks!"
After Peter hung up, he dialed his dad.
"Daddio!"
"What are you doing up this time of night?" John asked warily.
"Did you have a... wrong feeling just a bit ago?" Stiles asked.
"Now that you mention it, I did," John admitted.
"That was the Pack Bond," Stiles replied. "Something's wrong in the Preserve and we're going to check it out."
"Who is we?"
"Peter's coming to get me and Derek will meet us there," Stiles replied. "We'll be safe but Peter said you may want to be on alert. But we don't know what for."
"Well, I guess that's good to know," John replied with a huff. "No idea what?"
"Nope, sorry," Stiles replied. "I need to get dressed and Peter should be here any minute."
"Be careful and don't hesitate to call," John said firmly.
"I will!" Stiles promised.
Not knowing where they'd end up in the preserve, Stiles put on heavy jeans, a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, and hiking boots. He grabbed a flashlight and stuffed bottled water and granola bars in a small backpack.
When he met Peter in front of the house, Peter nodded approvingly. "Good, since we don't know where we'll end up."
"Now that I'm more awake and had a chance to think about it, I'm guessing it's the Nemeton," Stiles said.
Peter nodded. "It's the most likely option."
"How... Okay, I'm not going to ask how it reached out to me," Stiles said.
"It likely formed a bond to you at some point, one that you didn't even realize existed," Peter theorized. He drove quickly but calmly to where Derek would meet them.
Derek was waiting as they drove up. Peter and Stiles got out of the car.
"Anything?" Peter asked.
Derek shook his head. "It has to be further in the forest," he admitted.
"We're thinking the Nemeton," Stiles added.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Of course it is."
"Whatever is going on, keep yourselves safe first," Peter said firmly.
"That goes for you, too, you know," Stiles added with a small grin.
They had been walking for about fifteen minutes when another wave of ViolationViolationViolation hit Stiles. It took him to his knees.
Peter helped him up as Stiles panted, "It's getting worse. We need to hurry."
"I'll go ahead, if you want," Derek offered.
"No, but maybe go around," Stiles suggested. "I don't want you to be alone but we can only hope whoever they are don't realize there are three of us." Stiles held out a hand. "Come here."
Derek willingly put his hand in Stiles'. Stiles focused on protection and safety.
"Okay, that's the best I can do on the fly," Stiles said. "Use the Pack Bond immediately if you're discovered."
Derek nodded. "I will," he replied.
"Be careful," Peter added as Derek moved off.
"Onward," Stiles said. "Hurry."
They trotted toward the Nemeton. Stiles knew Peter held back to be able to stay with him. Stiles didn't protest, it felt good to be taken care of.
They got near the Nemeton and Stiles could see some lights flickering through the trees.
"What do you want to do?" Peter asked quietly.
"I'm going to guess it's not more than two or three people," Stiles said. "Let's just walk in like we own the place."
"You sure?" Peter asked. He tilted his head. "There's a ward, so I can only hear two heartbeats, and one is faint, like it's in trouble." He paused. "Derek is just approaching on the other side."
Stiles shrugged. "No, but... I don't want to wait. I don't think we can wait."
"Okay. Be careful."
Stiles nodded. He walked into the open space around the tree.
"Why am I not surprised?" Stiles sighed at what was in front of him.
Alan Deaton looked annoyed at Stiles' and Peter's appearance at the Nemeton. They were on opposite sides of the stump.
Stiles send a pulse to imply to take care to Derek. He's likely be coming up behind Deaton, from the direction he would be coming.
Stiles took another step forward and saw that Theo was unconscious and tied up on the surface of the Nemeton. There was a pool of blood that was formed on the stump -- likely from Theo -- but Stiles honestly didn't feel too bad if Theo had been stupid enough to be caught by Deaton.
"Don't come any closer!" Deaton warned.
"This isn't any way to treat our Nemeton," Stiles replied, taking a step closer. He could feel Peter at his back.
Deaton looked startled for a moment then settled back to his normally bland face. "It is necessary."
Stiles took another step forward, to better see what Deaton was doing.
"Necessary for what?" Stiles snarled when he got a good look at the runes on the stump. "This ritual is only of benefit to you. You're stealing energy from the Nemeton and giving nothing back."
"How do you know that?" Deaton demanded. He didn't move away but he started to look faintly worried.
Stiles grinned, knowing it wasn't pleasant. "Oh. I know a lot of things, Darach. You have been stealing from the tree for a long time. You covered your theft by having it cut down, so the pain the Nemeton emits appears to be from that, instead of from what you've been doing."
Stiles stepped forward again and put his hands on the tree.
"Stop! It's too dangerous!" Deaton shouted.
"Bah! Your ritual is for amateurs," Stiles growled. "You should be worried about ME!"
At that, a bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck Deaton down.
Derek rushed up from behind where Deaton had been standing. He shook his head to indicate that Deaton was dead as he looked down at the body.
Peter put a hand on Stiles, who panted with the sudden effort.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked softly.
"Yeah. Um... that was unexpected," Stiles said weakly. "Theo?"
"He didn't make it," Peter said.
"He got himself into this mess," Stiles shrugged. He sat down with his back to the tree and took off the backpack. Glad he brought it, he got out some water.
Peter reached in and unwrapped a granola bar. "Here, eat something before we even try to clean this up."
Stiles tilted his head. "Tree will take care of most of it," he replied. "Have Derek put Deaton on the stump, next to Theo."
"That works," Peter said. "You going to do any more impossible things in the next few minutes."
Stiles nodded as he chewed on the granola. "One more," he sighed. "Call my dad and ask him to come and we'll make it two. As long as we're here."
"You sure?" Peter persisted.
"Yeah. Just need a rest," Stiles said. "We'll take care of Deaton and Theo first, before dad comes, so he has some plausible deniability. But it's a good time to lay the intent ward and I'd like him here for that."
"I'll send Derek back to meet him, then," Peter replied. "Rest."
Stiles closed his eyes and leaned back against the stump. He must have dozed, the next thing he knew was hearing his father's voice.
"I'm okay," Stiles said.
"Right. We'll be the judge of that," John said firmly.
Stiles yawned and then held out a hand so his father could help him to his feet.
"See? Right as rain!" Stiles bounced on his toes.
"Eat another granola bar first," Peter directed, holding one out.
"Bossy," Stiles retorted as he took the bar. "Although, I'm going to need some serious protein when we're done here."
"We can do that," Peter promised. "What do we have to do to finish up?"
Stiles noticed the bodies still on the Nemeton. "Oh. Sorry, meant to clean that up."
John shook his head. "Just... do whatever you were going to do."
Stiles leaned in and put his hands flat down on the tree stump. This required coaxing the tree to accept the sacrifices and to hope that some of the energy Deaton had stolen would go back into the Nemeton.
He could feel Peter getting worried behind him when the stump shivered and the bodies turned to dust and disappeared.
"Whoa," John said.
"Okay," Stiles said, holding out one hand. "Peter..."
Peter's hand was warm in his.
"Dad. Derek. Put a hand on one of us. We need to be touching," Stiles directed.
His dad stood in back of Stiles and Derek in back of Peter.
Stiles closed his eyes and focused on Beacon Hills.
Warn us of danger. That was the basic premise of his plea to the Nemeton.
A warm wave came back and settled through the Pack Bond.
Many thanks!
Stiles stood up and said, "Okay, that's done."
"What exactly did we do?" John asked patiently.
"Oh, right. We were going to talk about this but since we were here, it was easier to do it now," Stiles admitted. "We just set an intent ward. It's an early warning system when someone or something comes into Beacon Hills with bad intentions. It doesn't stop anyone but we should get a ping of some sort when they cross the city line."
John stared.
"It's a good thing," Stiles defended.
"I know, but how is that going to affect you?" John asked.
"The Nemeton bears most of the load," Stiles said. "I mostly asked it to be on watch. We'll need to come back about once a year to renew it, but I'm not any more connected than the rest of you are."
"Good," John said. He hauled Stiles in for a hug. "Stop scaring me like that."
Stiles enjoyed the moment of closeness. Then his stomach rumbled.
"I'll call ahead for food," Peter said.
"Let's go home," Stiles said.