This was requested by A_Seraphims_Wings (You all might know them as the artist of the picture used for the cover of Fox Tails and Nursing Majors). Kind of sad, kind of different, but I like it.
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Stiles is looking over something in his late father's office, looking at pictures of his parents, and he smiles as he boxes things up. He's trying to get somethings organized before he moves his things into his father's house. He cannot sell the house that he grew up in, and he doesn't think his parents would want him too. Stiles is humming softly to himself when he hears the door open and close, and he smiles. "In here." Stiles calls, and he hears someone walk up the stairs. He hears the door open, and he turns to smile at Derek. "Hey, man. Just getting some of Dad's stuff together to donate." Stiles tells him, and Derek nods.
"You want me to take some stuff down to the car?" Derek asks, and Stiles nods before pointing at a box. "Do you want to stay at my house tonight?" Derek asks, and Stiles shakes his head.
"Nah, man. I need to stay here tonight." Stiles tells him, and Derek nods. He's glad that he's had Derek in this tough time, he couldn't really handle Scott's constant positiveness, and he spent more than one night at Derek's after his father passed away.
"Pack meeting tonight, okay?" Derek says, and Stiles smiles at him before nodding his head at him.
"I'll be there, Derek." Stiles tells him, and Derek nods as he moves to grab the box. He stares at Stiles like he wants to say something to him, but he just walks away with a fond look while Stiles goes back to trying to finish packing away his father's life.
****
Stiles is late to the pack meeting, he fell asleep after taking a shower, and he slams the door closed to his car before rushing up the steps to the Hale House. He takes a deep breath before opening the door, and he smiles at Kira who greets him first. "Sorry, I'm late, guys." Stiles calls out, and everyone tells him that it's okay at the same time.
"Derek's been waiting on you to tell us about something." Liam says, and Stiles nods as he moves to walk to the living room where Derek and Scott are talking about something that looks private so he doesn't say anything at first while he watches them, and he smiles when they finally notice him.
"Sorry, I'm late." Stiles blushes, and Derek waves him away before he smiles at him. "What's going on?" Stiles asks, and Derek looks to Scott for him to answer. Scott licks his lips, his tell for something is wrong and he doesn't want to say anything, and he sighs.
"Some strange things have been happening, and we know that something supernatural is to blame but we don't know. We think it's a witch, but it's probably not." Scott sighs, and Stiles frowns as he moves closer to them.
"Why didn't you tell me? I'm the research guy!" Stiles says, and Scott smiles at him before waving him away. Stiles knows he's been distracted lately, more so than usual, and he smiles at Scott before leaning more towards them. "So what's been happening?" Stiles asks, and Scott hums as he looks at Derek.
"People have been dying, almost in a sacrificial way, and we're just trying to stop it before anyone else has to die." Derek tells him, and Stiles nods his head. "We're going to investigate tonight." Derek tells him, and Stiles nods his head. "By that I mean, you're going to wait here." Derek says, and Stiles actually laughs.
"Funny, Derek. When do we leave?" Stiles asks Scott, and his best friend looks like he wants argue and he bites his lip. "Dude. I know that I haven't been sleeping or eating right, but I'm going with you guys. I'm pack and my pack needs me." Stiles says, and Scott sighs before he nods his head.
"We're leaving tonight when the moon is out." Scott says, and Stiles smiles at him before he moves to get something to eat. Derek bites his lip like he wants to stop Stiles from coming along with them, but he doesn't.
****
Derek lands on his back with an oof, and Stiles looks down at him with a raised eyebrow look. "That is definitely not a witch." Derek grumbles, and Stiles looks up at the thing snarling at him. It's about six feet tall, so thin that it's bones are showing, it has sharp claws that are swapping at Scott, and it's black eyes are trained on Scott as he moves.
Scott manages to get away before he howls for the pack to regroup, and Stiles watches it before he realizes what it is. "It's a Jikininki." Stiles informs them, and Scott is wiping blood off his head while he looks at Stiles in confusion. "It's a ghost that eats people." Stiles provides, and Malia gapes at him.
"So how do we kill it?"Malia asks, and Stiles wipes his face before he tries to rack his brain for the answers.
"We can't kill it, it's a ghost. Plus, it's rumored that they hold the souls of fallen angels." Stiles tells them, and Scott moves to shift back in his wolf while Kira pulls out her sword to go back after it. "We have to capture it before taking it to Deaton, he'll know what to do." Stiles says, and Scott nods before he moves to launch himself back at it.
Stiles moves to watch it, it moves strangely all it's joints seems to pop out of place with every move, and it freaks Stiles out so much. It doesn't seem to be going down, no matter how the pack fights it,and Stiles stands back with Lydia while he watches them. Derek gets thrown to the ground, how can something that is nothing but bones be so strong, Stiles wonders, and Stiles moves to try to stop it. "Are you crazy?!" Lydia hisses, and Stiles moves to push her behind the Jeep.
"Stiles!" Derek growls, and Stiles ignore him as he moves around the Jeep before he throws himself in the Jikininki's back in hopes that he can manage to distract it for just enough time for Scott or Malia or anyone to stop it. Stiles knows that Derek hates when he tries to saves him, but he cannot let his pack get hurt.
"Come on, you piece of shit." Stiles hisses, and it growls at him before launching at Stiles. It manages to pin him down, and Stiles gets himself free but he flees. It seems to be fixated on Stiles now, much to Stiles distaste, and he feels a clawed hand in his shoulder before he gets thrown to the side.
"Stiles!" Derek growls, and Stiles turns to look at him before Derek throws the creature off of him. Stiles turns to glare at him, he doesn't need to be watched.
"Stop trying to save me!" Stiles tells him, and Derek glares at him before he snarls at him. Stiles moves around, and it's like everything happens in slow motion. Stiles notices Derek's eyes widen before he looks down to see claws scraping across his throat. "Der-" Stiles tries to say, but it comes out as a garbled noise.
"No! Stiles, please." Derek says, putting his hands on Stiles' throat to try to stop the bleeding. It doesn't work, Stiles is sputtering as he tries to speak to say something to Derek he's trying to Derek not to kill it, and Derek watch him. "Please, don't leave me." Derek begs, and Stiles' eyes start to close. He doesn't feel pain anymore, and he's fading into blackness as closes his eyes. Derek howls at the sky, low and sad, and he lets go of Stiles to launch himself at the creature, ripping it to piece not knowing the creature he would release.
****
It's really bright when Stiles opens his eyes, and it's white everywhere. He remembers what happened, and he touches his throat but his hand comes back clean. He moves to stand and he's in a white shirt and pants while his bare feet feel soft against the floor. "Oh, Stiles. Look how big you are." Stiles hears, and he turns his head to look at his mother. She looks just like she did before she got sick, and she's smiling widely at him while John stands next to her beaming at her. His mother is wearing a white sundress, she used to always wear sundresses, and his father is in the same outfit as him. John's smiling at him, and he looks younger than he did before he passed away. He looks so happy that Stiles doesn't think he can look away from his smile.
"Mom? Dad?" Stiles says, and he doesn't believe what he's seeing. "I'm dead, aren't I?" He says, and his mother chuckles as she shakes her head. "Then where I am?" Stiles asks, moving to stand up to hug his parents. "Is this Purgatory?" Stiles asks, and John shakes his head. "Then can you tell me what it is?" Stiles asks, and Claudia smiles at him before moving to push his hair out of his face.
"It's the in between. You aren't dead but you aren't exactly alive either." John tells him, and Stiles rubs his head over his throat as if remembering it. Stiles smiles at his mother before he hugs her, and she rubs his back softly.
"So what now?" Stiles asks, and he looks around. Claudia waves him towards him, and Stiles walks towards her and she points down. Stiles turns to look where she's pointing, and he looks down to see his pack fight something. "What is that?!" Stiles says, looking at the thing that Kira is trying to slice with her her sword. It's taller now, stronger looking too, and it has wings that look sharp.
"It's Greed, one of the Prince's of Darkness." Claudia tells him, and Stiles looks at her. He needs to go back down to save his pack, and Claudia notices the look on his face. "There's a way you can go back." She tells him, and Stiles looks at her. He wants to stay with his parents, but he needs to save Derek and his pack.
"Tell me." Stiles begs her, and she smiles at him before touching his shoulder. Stiles gasps when he feels something happening, and he looks to see that he has wings now. They're white and huge, one of his wings was as big as a car. "What am I?" Stiles asks, and his parents look at him proudly while they lean against each other.
"They're called Guardians, they're protectors." John tells him, and Stiles looks at him in surprise. He always knew that he was different, that he had a spark of some kind, but he didn't know that it was something like this. "Do you understand, son?" John asks, and Stiles looks away from his wings at his father.
"I need to save my pack." Stiles whispers, and they smile at him. "I don't want to leave you." Stiles says, and Claudia touches his face and wipes a tear off his face before it falls down. "Mom." Stiles sighs, and she hugs him. Stiles' wings flutter around him, and he turns when he hears Scott scream in pain.
"They need you more." Claudia tells him, and Stiles nods. He turns to look at his parents, they look so happy and still in love, and he smiles at them.
"I love you both so much." Stiles tells them, and they hug them at the same time. Stiles feels tears down his face, and he just lets them fall. He knows he'll see them again, and he's glad that he got to see them again once before he dies. Or dies again. "What do I do to get back?" Stiles asks, and his mother smiles at him before she smooths away his hair.
"Wake up." She says, and Stiles gasps before his eyes flash open.
****
Stiles opens his eyes to see chaos, and he moves to stand up. No one has noticed him yet, but he sees everything. His senses are stronger now, he can hear the sounds of his pack's heartbeats around him. "Stiles!" Someone screams, it's probably Derek or Scott or any of them since they all heard his heart beat stop.
The creature turns to look at him, and it snarls. It's mouth stretches open, it has row after row of teeth that are too sharp. Stiles isn't afraid this time, he knows he's going to win this battle. He moves around gracefully, no longer clumsy and unsure, and Derek watches him. Derek doesn't believe that Stiles is alive, and that he's hear. He can see the the large wings, so white that it's almost too much to look at them, and he watches Stiles move.
Stiles doesn't waste time before he's moving away to keep from getting slashed, and it seems to know that it won't be able to beat him so it goes after Derek. Derek watches it move in front of him, and he growls at it. He's so tired, drained from watching the love of his life die in front of him, and he just wants this to stop. There's a small bang as Stiles moves to crouch in front of him, his wings spreading out as if in a shield to protect Derek. Stiles turns to look at Derek, his eyes are gold, and he turns towards the creature again. "You will fail, Guardian." Greed snarls at him, and Stiles smiles at him.
It's over before Derek know it, and he watches as Stiles reaches into the creatures chest and it pulls out it's black heart. It screeches loudly as it tries to stop Stiles, but it's too late. "You have failed, demon." Stiles tells it, and it continues to fight and screech as Stiles crushes it's heart in his hand. The black heart turns to dust, and Stiles watches it as it crumbles from his hand.
Stiles turns to look over at his pack, and his wings fold towards his back before going back inside his body. Scott's head has a large cut that is bleeding, Liam's side is split open but it's healing itself, Kira and Malia are both covered in dirt, and Derek is just staring at him. No one has said anything yet, all of them afraid of moving or speaking as if they'll break whatever spell Stiles is under. They thought he was dead, how is he still alive?
Derek is the first to move, laughing loudly, and he tackles Stiles to the ground. Stiles laughs with him, and he should have been prepared for the kiss that Derek gives him but he isn't. He thought that his love was unrequited or that Derek wasn't going to show that he loved him back. Stiles must still have some of his clumsiness because he flails some when Derek bites his lip, and he wraps his hands around him to bring him closer. "Never do that again." Derek tells him, and Stiles chuckles as he nods his head.
"I only plan on dying one more time." Stiles tells him, and Derek chuckles as he kisses him again.
"I thought I lost you." Derek whines softly, and Stiles kisses him again as if to say that he's still here with him.
"Dude! You have wings!" Scott says. Everyone else seemed to have been pulled out of their stupor, and Stiles smiles as the pack moves to hug him. Derek pulls Stiles up on his feet, and Stiles lets his wings out while he moves to use them as a jacket as sort since he ripped his shirt when his wings popped out.
Derek doesn't let him get far from him, and Stiles doesn't blame him. He has stories to tell him later, but for now he just wants to be with his pack.