Chapter Text
It has been a few weeks since Stiles had found out he was a Spark, that first week had been very informing to say the least. Lucille came back a few days after everything went down, and explained to Stiles and the pack that Sparks were very powerful beings. Apparently Sparks are so rare that no one knows how many may still be out there. She told them that once Stiles was trained and understood his powers he would be able to feel out to other sparks.
After the war between hunters and Sparks, all the sparks still alive created a bond with each other. This bond could be used to find each other if they were ever in trouble, it could be used to signal out a single Spark from thousands of miles away.
Stiles asked if it would work for him, since he had his powers hidden for so long thanks to the blocker put on him. She explained that the moment Stiles woke as a spark that others should have felt connected to him. Though it was fainter than most of the bonds, since he has not been trained at all.
After she left the pack called Deaton for help, since he was the only other person they knew with some sort of magic. Lucille explained that they should be very secretive with who they told, and to only tell the pack about Stiles and no one else. Lucille promised to keep the secret herself, and offered to help teach Stiles Fae magic when he was ready.
Luckily for them Deaton had already heard of Sparks and agreed to help Stiles study the basics of magic. He was able to help out with providing some extra spell books that Peter did not already have.
Deaton would teach Stiles druid magic when he got a grasp of all of the basics. That is what led to Stiles currently sitting in the vet’s office after hours, reading a book that probably weighed more than him. The book was as basic as you could get when it comes to spells and herbs. It didn’t teach anything too useful, only telling him how to harness the energy around him.
Which technically was very useful, when it comes to gathering stamina to do actual spells. Although, based on the book, it seemed like Stiles was going to struggle with harnessing anything. The only way to harness the energy around him was to meditate, and Stiles was possibly the worst person for meditating.
As he was reading he came across a paragraph about how to meditate to make your inner resources stronger. The book talks a lot about needing to strengthen your inner energy to be able to hold more magic in his body.
That is what led to his accident over 12 years ago, because he was so young his body couldn’t hold all the power inside of him. Usually Sparks are trained to meditate the minute their powers start to show. However, with Stiles his powers showed way too early, five years too early to be exact.
Most Sparks don’t get their powers until they are at least 10 years old, some even later than that. Stiles for some reason got his powers the day of the accident. After he woke up from speaking with his mother all his memories from the past came to be. Obviously he didn’t have to remember too much, since he was only five. Though, he did remember bits and pieces like his friendship with Cora Hale.
When his mother was a part of the Hale pack he often came along with her to pack bonding. Him and Cora were the same age so they played together all the time. Other than that, the only other thing he remembers is his mom bringing him to the Nemeton. Back before it was just a trunk in the middle of the forest.
He had asked his dad and Derek if they remembered anything back then, since he assumed their memory blocker would vanish as well. They didn’t though, Deaton explained he only got his memory back after discovering he was a spark. The others would have to have a reversal spell done on them for their memories to return.
Stiles wasn’t powerful enough yet to even attempt any kind of spell, especially one involving people's minds. He has been studying for about three weeks so far, trying to meditate whenever he has time. So far the only thing he has learned was the history of magic and the different forms. The most well known forms of magic or magic users are Druids, Fae, Witches, and Sparks. There are different sub-species under each form, except for Sparks.
According to the book each form of magic user draws their powers from different things. Druids are technically not considered magic users. Instead they focus on the energy around them to manipulate nature. Most Druids focus on herbs and protection, which is why they are considered the protectors of nature and help try and keep the balance.
Fae are similar in a way to Druids, where they are the keepers of wisdom and knowledge. Most Fae’s do not care to get involved in human affairs though, and mainly keep to themselves unless they are needed. The source of Fae magic are the elements and their extended knowledge of the world.
Reading the book Stiles could recognize the Fae passages, Lucille and her people stayed away from humans and lived in the mountains. Her community lives there for protection, but the book mentions it was in the Fae’s nature to stay hidden unless they wanted their presence known.
Stiles feels like his magic was similar in a sense to witches/warlocks, their magic came in the form of spells, rituals, and belief. They also tended to use herbs and supernatural elements as ingredients or objects in rituals.
The Sparks passage was the shortest out of the four, since not much is known about them. Even before they were killed off, they were very secretive about their magic. The book mentions that Sparks magic was unlimited in the sense that they can use all forms of magic. They don’t have to rely on the elements, herbs, crystals, or rituals to use it though. Their magic comes naturally from them, which is why it was important to meditate and strengthen their stamina.
“How’s your reading going, Stiles?” He looks up from the book to find Deaton standing at the entrance of the office. The Druid has been talking him through most of the reading, so that Stiles can get a better understanding of it all. They have already gone through the different forms of magic together before he even read the book.
“Good, just finishing the pages about the different forms.” Stiles looked back down at the book and decided it was probably enough reading for now. Closing the book he gets up and returns it to the shelf in the corner of the room. Most of the books on the shelf had to do with different herbs and spells, while only a few consisted of Vet knowledge.
“Ah yes, we spoke of this the other day I believe. I wanted to make sure we talked about the different forms before you read them.” Deaton walks towards the table and takes a seat across from where Stiles was just sitting. “It can be confusing reading about it the first time.”
“Yeah, I think I have a clear idea of it. Although I am confused on one thing,” He walks back to the table to join Deaton as he continues, “The book said Druids were not actual magic users, but Ms. Blake was able to use magic clear as day.”
Deaton sits there for a second contemplating on the best way to explain, “Well, Jennifer was not a Druid when you met her. She was a Darach, Druids can be good, bad, or neutral. Most choose to stay neutral and just protect the balance of nature.” He gets up as he explains to grab another book off the shelf. “Jennifer was once a good Druid, one that helped supernatural creatures. Until Kali tried to kill her, then she used nature for her own gain and became the Darach.”
Deaton once again sat in front of Stiles, with another book that looked bigger than half the animals in the clinic. He pushed the book towards him and gestured down towards it, “This book talks more in detail about Druids. It will be a helpful starter until Druid ‘magic’, it will explain how a Druid can go bad.”
“So… are you a good Druid then?”
“I can be considered a good Druid since I was once an emissary, now I am more of a neutral like my sister.”
Stiles took a second to think to himself, “Your sister?” He looks at the man like he suddenly had a second head attached to his body.
“Your sister? The one who helped the Alpha pack?”
Deaton just chuckled to himself, “Yes Stiles, that sister. She is considered a neutral because she works to keep the balance of nature. She was never an emissary and only worked with the Alpha pack for a short time to help Scott come into his True Alpha powers.”
He can say he would never have considered Deaton’s sister to be a good Druid, but she did always talk about the balance. Back when he was suffering with the Nogitsune she threatened to kill him if the pack hadn’t figured out a plan. Luckily for him the pack came through and figured out how to get that thing out of his head.
Stiles didn’t stay much longer after learning about the three different Druids, he did however take the book Deaton offered to him home. While the vet probably would rather keep his books in the office, Stiles couldn’t always be there to study them. He still had school to go to and had other homework assignments to work on, since his teachers have yet to figure out this place is a shit show.
When he got back to his house his dad had already left for work. He took two days off earlier in the week to learn about Sparks with the pack, but had to go back. Now he was working the night shift for this week to make up for the missing days.
Stiles quickly made a sandwich for dinner before heading up to his room to work on some homework for the night. When he got up there he was not really surprised to see Derek sitting at his desk.
The wolf had been coming over every night since before he became a Spark. Stiles didn’t mind the company, but he does have to admit he is starting to think he was lonely or something. Not even Scott liked to be around Stiles this much and that was his best friend.
“Hey how’d it go at Deaton’s?” He mumbled not even looking up from his phone. Stiles was almost positive he downloaded the kindle app, since he usually ignored his phone at all cost.
“Good I guess, just learned more about different magics.” Stiles puts his plate down on the desk and grabs his extra chair to sit next to Derek. “It will be more fun once he starts actually teaching me spells and stuff,” he says, taking a bite of his sandwich.
Derek finally looks up at Stiles just to give him a disgusted look for eating and talking. However, before he goes back to whatever he was doing on his phone he snatched Stiles' sandwich, taking a bite for himself.
Stiles grunts in disbelief and just rolls his eyes at the action, “If you were hungry you could’ve made yourself something in the kitchen.”
“This was easier,” Stiles just ignored the comment and spent the rest of his night working on homework. Lately Derek had been nicer to Stiles, he’s not sure if it's because of the whole almost dying thing or not.
Normally he and Derek usually argue and push each other into walls and doors. Or more of the fact, Derek liked to push Stiles into walls and doors. The change has been nice almost, being able to playfully banter instead of actually arguing. The most they have gotten heated about was when Stiles accidentally scratched the door of Derek’s car. They had actually argued that day and as a refute Stiles locked his window, not allowing the wolf to enter.
That was pointless though because the next morning he woke to him lying on the floor and a broken window.
After about two hours or so of non-stop studying Derek had left 20 minutes ago, leaving him alone for the night. Stiles shut his laptop and put Deaton's book into his bag deciding it was time to get some sleep. It was hard sleeping by himself in the house, after everything his nightmares didn’t really stop. This time though the nightmares weren’t trying to warn him of his near death.
Instead his nightmares are filled with anything that has to do with the Nogitsune, like his most frequent one of him being trapped in a locker. It was his most common nightmare, just the memory of being trapped inside his own mind and hearing the Nogitsune screaming to be let in. He tried to ignore the nightmares as best as he could, usually when he woke in the middle of the night he would just study magic now to distract himself.
He knows that it's not the best solution, but it wasn’t like he could go see a therapist about a demon possessing him. That is unless he wants to end up back at Eichen House, which he really doesn’t. So he just ignores it, sometimes taking medicine to try and just stay asleep like he is doing tonight.
Normally if his dad or even Derek is here he won’t worry about taking something because they always help him go back to sleep. However, neither of them are here tonight meaning Stiles is on his own.
The pill he takes was prescribed with the help of Melissa after the whole nearly dying situation. It was honestly the best thing he has ever taken, it only takes about 10 minutes for the drowsiness to take over. Luring him to sleep the instant he decides to close his eyes for the night.
“Let me in Stiles,” the voice was echoing in the concrete room. Stiles couldn’t see the man speaking, but knew he was close by following the sound of his voice.
Stiles was just laying there with the flashlight of his phone on, helping him try and get a better look around. He’s not sure where he is but knows he wants to leave as soon as he can. The man or figure of a man he should say is dragging his feet as he walks somewhere next to him.
He frantically moves his flashlight around trying to locate where he could be. “Who’s there?”
“I know you’re there, I can hear you.” He says panting, looking around more trying to find the source of the voice.
“Who are you??” he yells in frustration as tears fall down his cheeks.
“Not ‘Who are you?’, Stiles... ‘Who are we?’” Stiles sees the wrapped up man walking out from behind something that looks like a big furnace. The man was limping slightly and walking towards Stiles. As he got closer Stiles scooted back as far as he could go, only stopping when his back hit a pillar.
“Do you know any riddles Stiles?” The man said once he finally reached him.
“A few…”
“What gets bigger the more you take away?”
“A hole”
“When is a door not a door?”
“...When it's ajar.” he answers breathless from fear and anxiety.
“Everyone has it, but no one can lose it…”
The riddle stumps him, he feels like he should know it but can’t seem to recall. The man just starts repeating the question, getting louder each time. Stiles is trying to scream that he doesn’t know but he’s not listening.
The person starts to unwrap his bandages, slowly revealing his face. He only gets to his eyes, before Stiles starts feeling like he is being pulled down by something. He starts screaming trying to get it to stop as the man just laughs in the background.
Stiles wakes up crying and screaming, while someone is next to him trying to get him to calm down. He starts to flail his arms a bit before he feels the person wrap around him, causing him to not move. Stiles breathing is still quick but the quiet shushing behind is starting to relax him.
By the time he comes back to it he can tell the arms belong to Derek, the man he could have sworn left earlier in the night. Stiles slowly sits up and turns to look at him, questioning why he was back.
“I thought you left for the night?” Derek just gives him a sort of soft look before answering.
“I was just grabbing some things and taking a shower back at the loft.” This makes Stiles look over at his bedside towards the clock and notices its 2 in the morning. He doesn’t quite understand how grabbing things and taking a shower turned into a four hour ordeal, but he’s not gonna question it.
Instead he just rubs his face and sighs, sitting up and walking over to his desk to pull out his book and laptop again. Derek just watches silently before he follows him and puts a hand on his shoulder.
“You need to get some rest Stiles.”
He knows he’s right, but right now he is still just too antsy to go back to sleep. “I can’t right now, I need to learn magic and how to meditate. Which sucks by the way, no one could be worse at meditating than me.”
Derek pulls up the extra chair and sits beside him, “What do you find hard about it?”
“The quiet.”
Derek just lets out a small laugh. Stiles finds it pretty funny too, that the most talkative and hyperactive of the pack has to meditate to gain power. The only other person that would be just as bad as him would probably have been Erica.
“Well, maybe you need a place less quiet than?” Stiles just looks over at him confused.
“Less quiet, isn’t that the whole point of meditating?” Derek just shakes his head as an answer.
“Get up and put some clothes on, I know a place.”
The place Derek is taking him is somewhere in the preserve. They drive for about 10 minutes before they have to get out and walk the rest of the way. The walk is quiet and peaceful with the only noise coming from them stepping on fallen leaves and branches. Derek is walking slightly in front of Stiles with his arm held out for Stiles to hold on to. It was pitch black since the slight fog of the night is covering the sliver of the moon out.
After another 10-to-15 minutes they finally reach the area Derek was taking him. When they walk through the trees Stiles is able to see a little better due to them being in a clearing. Right in the middle of this clearing was a beautiful lake that had a small stream coming out of it to the left. It was still Dark but the moon was showing ever so slightly to give the lake a soft blue glow to it.
He walked further into the clearing to get closer to the water when Derek's voice made him jump. “It’s still quiet, but the water gives you something to focus on.”
He turned around to see Derek standing a few feet away from him waiting for him to finish looking around. Stiles just turned back toward the water and sat down on the ground. He hears Derek follow his lead and sit somewhere behind him. Stiles isn’t sure how this whole thing is supposed to work, but he read he needed to feel the energy coursing through his body.
The books mention it feeling like a warm glow, he’s not sure exactly what that means but he closes his eyes anyways.
He doesn’t feel anything for a while, just sitting there thinking about what he was supposed to be doing. His mind was clearer than usual but he couldn’t stop thinking about what all the books told him to do.
After a few more minutes of nothing, he feels Derek come up and sit beside him. Stiles was determined to make it work so he didn’t acknowledge the wolf, even after Derek took his hand into his.
“You are thinking too much, just focus on the sound of the water and the sound of the forest.” Derek rests their conjoined hands on his leg, normally this would make Stiles feel awkward but the weight of his hand is helping. It was giving Stiles something to focus on. After a minute of holding onto his hand and listening to the sound of Derek’s breathing he felt it.
It was slow at first, just a flicker of warmth in the bottom of his core. When he felt it he focused on the feeling. Imagined it getting bigger and getting warmer, so he felt the glow slowly creeping up his chest and down through his arms. He focuses all of his energy on the feeling. that he doesn’t hear Derek’s small intake of breath.
The glow continues to rush throughout his whole body until it starts to fade, leaving him a little cold in the aftermath. He’s not sure how long he was able to hold onto it for, but it was a start. When he opened his eyes he could feel the small smile on his face, looking over at Derek. The man was just staring at Stiles in awe.
“What?” he asked suddenly, self-conscious of the staring.
“You were glowing…” It was barely a whisper, almost to the point Stiles couldn’t pick it up. The smile on Stiles face just grew wider at the realization that it actually worked. He wants to tell Derek that this place worked, that he was actually able to do it, but he couldn’t.
The words got stuck in his throat when he felt Derek’s hand tighten around his. He wants to tell Derek the place work, but he’s not sure it did.
When he thinks back on it, it was Derek who made it work. His breath, his presence, his hand all of it is what lead to Stiles finally having peace.
But he’s not sure he’s ready to get into the why of that quite yet…