Part Four: Twitching

There were bad guys in the trees. Literally in the trees. They kept leaping from the trunks like angered wood spirits and slashing at Stiles and his companions. Stiles looked for humans every time but never saw them. Haha, No grinned at that, though he wore a grimace most of the time now.

They had been running for hours. The trees hid them somewhat, though not as well as they hid Haha, No's experiments. Or successes maybe. Stiles thought they seemed pretty well developed with the way they kept ambushing him. Stiles was tiring. Haha, No kept stumbling, and not just to be difficult—though he was that too. Healing so rapidly had drained Cat, and she moved at more Stiles' pace than Derek's. The Hales were fine. Of course they were, Stiles reflected bitterly. They were werewolves and strong.

I could be too, Stiles remembered. Not now, but after, when they were safe again. If he wanted it.

Did he want it?

Derek grabbed Stiles by his shirt collar and tugged him behind a tree. His eyes flickered among the trees, searching. Stiles wondered what for, and Derek told him to shut his brain so he could concentrate. Peter had stopped Cat and Haha, No as well. Stiles hadn't heard them speak to plan anything. He frowned. Derek's hand fell from his shirt to the ground, and when Derek rose again, he held a branch, which Stiles was sure would make perfect sense if it didn't make no sense at all. Derek threw it forward into the trees he'd been eyeing, and shifters leapt snarling from their trunks. Okay, maybe it made a little sense.

They stopped, looked around. Laughed and shook their heads. False alarm. They returned to their trees, shimmering slowly, passing into—no, climbing. They—Stiles stopped his thoughts short, rewound, studied his memory. It was an illusion. They climbed into the trees and leapt from the branches, making it look like they passed through the wood. How? He glanced toward Haha, No but knew he wouldn't get an answer. Magic, probably. Magic was real and confusing enough to explain just about anything.

Derek set a hand on Stiles' shoulder. He hadn't seen what Stiles did, but he trusted Stiles' eyes. He had worked magic before with a handful of ash.

How did you notice them? Stiles asked while the others stared at them.

The moss grows in the wrong place on the trees they use.

Stiles had an absurd urge to compare it to a video game with the breakable wall a lighter color than the others around it. This wasn't a game though. It was a weakness, and he and Derek knew all about those. Now that Derek had mentioned it, Stiles noted the moss. It wasn't so much on the wrong side as on too many sides. He wondered if it was a side-effect or part of how they created the illusion. No time to find out. Stiles lifted a hand, motioning for everyone to continue moving with Derek in the lead so he could watch for over-mossed trees.

Avoiding most of the ambushes helped, but Stiles still slowed. Haha, No and Cat still slowed. Even Peter looked tired as he guarded the rear. Derek burned with manic adrenaline. He could run all week if he had to, but by that point, he would be running alone. Stiles doubted they would make it out. He doubted it would do much good even if they did.

"He was right, you know," Stiles whispered.

Derek frowned.

"They'll come after us again. We can't just slip out and expect it to end there."

"I wish you'd realized this a few hours ago. My feet are killing me." Haha, No groaned, but it was a smug kind of groan, just an act to let him say, 'I told you so,' without losing more of the skin from his face.

"Assuming I get my way, I'm also killing you, so I'd shut up about now." Cat's voice was strained with exhaustion. She needed a break. Actually, she needed a month's worth of sleep and a year's worth of calories.

Haha, No shrugged.

"There's nothing else we can do," Derek said, "Our plan is the best one."

"Sorry, we have a plan?" Peter raised a hand.

"Run home and regroup there."

"Thrilling, but that doesn't clarify what we do with him." Peter pointed to Haha, No.

Kill him? Stiles asked. He wanted to present a unified front between Derek and himself, just in case.

Please, God, yes. Derek growled, and his eyes glowed with bloodlust.

"Cat's plan sounds like a good one," Stiles said with a shrug.

"Not from where I'm standing," Haha, No muttered. "And your other plan sucks too. You can't just regroup and hope for the best. You were grouped when I caught you before. Both times."

"But you won't be around to catch anyone." Cat smiled sweetly.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm hardly the only one here."

"But the only one who cares."

"I'm not."

Derek groaned because it wasn't a lie.

"They'll come after you even without me."

Still not a lie. Stiles smiled too hard.

"Unless..." He paused, and Stiles sighed because they'd reached the bargaining for his life part of their relationship. "I could stop them. Convince them you're not worth the trouble."

Hypothetical promises were too slick for werewolf lie detectors. Derek growled. He didn't like it. Cat growled. Peter rolled his eyes.

"Are we worth the trouble?" Stiles knew Haha, No wanted to study them and to use them, but he also knew they were a hell of a lot of trouble.

"Depends on who you ask."

"I'm asking you."

"Yes." He smiled.

"Even if we kill you?" Derek asked nonchalantly.

Haha, No shrugged. "I'm trying to avoid that part, I admit."

"Is this really the right time, guys?" Cat's eyes flashed weakly.

"What other time is there?" Stiles asked. "We've sort of passed his usefulness, so our best option right now is to decide what to do with him and do it. If we kill him, he can't slow us down. If we let him live, we need to hide him somewhere so he can't lead them to our trail."

"What makes you think you won't need me at the boundary? Assuming you reach the boundary."

"You should probably consolidate your bargaining chips. Come at us from one strong angle instead of several weak ones." Stiles raised an eyebrow.

Haha, No shrugged. "No harm in trying, right? But seriously, the barrier is activated. You aren't exactly getting past it, and I'd rather not be dead either way."

"I vote we kill him and go down fighting." Cat's voice was hard-edged even past the fatigue.

"I vote we don't die," Peter countered.

"With Peter on this one." Stiles raised a hand. Derek nodded his agreement.

"We've been in this spot too long," Stiles said. "We move on and talk more as we go."

They moved on. Haha, No frowned, rolled his eyes, and plodded along as commanded. He made too much noise, even to Stiles' human ears.

Derek stepped forward and froze with his foot in the air. Then—pain. It shot through him, a current of agony just like that of the chair. For a moment, Stiles thought they were back there, strapped in with the skin of Haha, No's lost kanima. Then Derek fell back, gasping, and Stiles scrambled forward, already on his knees somehow. He pressed his fingers to Derek's face, watched as his eyes opened, felt his heartbeat settle along with Derek's.

"That's new." There was a grin behind Haha, No's voice.

Stiles kissed Derek and pulled him up. They eyed the empty air where Derek had been electrocuted.

"Just a guess, but that's the barrier, and also not what you meant by new." Stiles' breath was short. He set a hand to his chest and willed his body back to normal. He hadn't even been injured.

Haha, No laughed. "Maybe not so useful as I thought, not so... controlled."

Stiles remembered torture. He'd been aware of Derek's pain, but never incapacitated by it. Fuck but this was weakness. It was new, and it was bad. This could get them killed. His mind flinched back from Derek's so violently he felt the bond stretch with it and nearly break. He stopped. Focused on his breathing, making it slow, steady, controlled. The bond was new and wild itself. He needed to train it, to learn to control it so nothing like this ever happened again. That was all. He reached for Derek and winced at the betrayal waiting there.

Sorry. Panicked.

Noticed. Derek put his arms around Stiles though in a brief hug. He was forgiven.

"I really wish I still had my beeper."

"You're a stupid asshole who is about to tell us how to get past that." Stiles jabbed a thumb at the invisible barrier.

"Really unlikely, to be honest. I still kind of think Cat's gonna kill me."

"Only if I don't kill you first," Stiles said with a smile too soft to be called a grin. His fingers twitched, and so did his eye. Haha, No noticed, and his eyes widened. Stiles was the monster he'd made of him, so he had to know what he would do to him, what he would gladly do to him. Derek slipped an arm around Stiles' waist but kept the frown on his face.

"This is wonderfully tense and all, but I suspect some sort of alarm went off when Derek hit that wall, so we should run," Peter said.

"Good point. But I want to run that way." Stiles pointed past the barrier. "And I need a moment to figure out how."

"You really think you can break me?" Haha, No laughed at that.

"You're kind of a genius. Evil and crazy, but genius. Show of hands for those who agree." Stiles and Derek raised their hands. Cat and Peter followed suit, but they stared at Stiles like he was the crazy one. "You're also incredibly competent. You built two facilities I've seen, and who knows how many I haven't. You manipulated me expertly into bonding with Derek, and you've cracked a scary-large number of shifters and humans into working for you." He left out that despite the beginning of the change, Haha, No was still human even though that was also a valid point.

"True enough. Is there a point to this?"

"I know you were bound to a kanima once, but what about now?"

"Worried someone's gonna find their way to me?" He smirked.

Peter set his claws against the skin of Haha, No's throat and pressed just enough to break skin. "Answer the question."

"Obviously I wouldn't risk that happening again, so no."

"Backup can find him other ways," Cat began, "We need to—"

"That wasn't why I asked."

"Oh my God. I am sick of your insane bullshit." Cat threw her arms in the air and probably would have stormed off if it wouldn't mean her dying alone.

Peter spoke at the same time she did, but all he said was, "Oh." He got it. Stiles could see in his eyes that he got it, and Stiles realized again that they hadn't been bound by accident. They could have been great partners if things worked out differently. Derek squirmed away from that thought, but Stiles didn't give himself that luxury, not with what he wanted Peter to do. "It can't all be me," Peter pointed out.

"I know." He paused. "Is it enough though. For your part?"

Peter shrugged.

"What the hell are you talking about now?" Cat scowled at them.

Derek ran a hand over his eyes and down past his lips and jaw. "You don't want to know."

"What did you learn about Peter?" Stiles asked Haha, No.

"What?"

Peter's claws found his throat again. "Answer the question."

"He's about as crazy as you. Less predictable since he's not my brand of crazy. Determined. Angry. Selfish. Probably better for you than Derek, to be honest. Your new boy's a bit of a wet blanket. Not that I don't adore him because you know I do."

"You mean you wish you'd had Peter in your arena." Stiles sighed even though that was a good sign.

"You know it." He winked.

"Then I guess this might actually work." He nodded to Peter, who sighed the sigh of the eternally put-upon. As Peter steeled himself to his task, Stiles said, "I figured it out, you know. The bond. It becomes what we need when we form it." Peter and Stiles hadn't needed anything from each other. Their bond was light, but open to future use because they both knew someday that might change. Derek and Stiles had needed each other desperately, to know everything about each other, to plan in secrecy with each other.

Haha, No laughed.

Peter set a hand on Haha, No's shoulder but looked to Stiles. "This could end badly for you, Stiles."

"I know. Do it."

Peter closed his eyes. Cat widened hers and backed away. So she'd figured it out. Derek took a step away from Stiles and toward Haha, No. It was a protective step, but also a disapproving one.

"Oh," Haha, No said. "I should have seen this coming, I guess."

"Don't feel bad," Stiles said with a grin. "No one sees me coming. Why do you think I always win?"

Haha, No eyed Peter. "I don't think you can make me. You still need me, and there's no guarantee he'll be able to read me the way you want."

Derek stepped forward again.

"What are you doing?" Haha, No stood his ground, but he wasn't smiling.

"I'm your interrogative punisher, remember?" Derek took another step. "It's my job to inflict pain until all questions are answered."

"Pain doesn't scare me."

"I know." He took Haha, No's hand and lifted it. "But you fear losing control, and if I bite you, you'll complete the transition into a kanima desperate for a master." Derek's face was blank, but he let himself feel his disgust and fear, rather than pulling away as he had in the lab.

"You wouldn't."

"Kanima's harmless without a master. I would." He set his teeth to Haha, No's skin, and there was nothing human strength could do to pull away from an alpha.

"Stop," Peter said softly. "It's done."

Haha, No crumpled when Derek released him. Peter stepped forward, eyes tight with concentration, and knelt beside Haha, No. "You could just tell us, you know."

The only response Haha, No gave was to spit in Peter's face.

"Nice." Peter wiped the spit away. "His name is Dimitri," he said, voice bitter. "And his fear makes him weak." Haha, No winced. Peter had needed information, and his bond formed so as to give him it. Then Peter started laughing. He pointed up at a tree with too much moss right above them and laughed again. No one leapt out of it. No other trees nearby had the moss, and the others had all been in clusters. That explained how they missed it, but not why this tree had Peter in fits. Then Peter stood, set his hand against the moss, and twisted as it shimmered. "We have twenty seconds," he said. Then he grabbed Haha, No and ran.

The others followed suit and ran straight through the barrier that had electrocuted Derek only moments ago.

~.x.~

Derek and Cat knew the way home, but not what to do with Haha, No. Peter refused to let harm come to him while their bond remained intact. Stiles agreed. Peter was an asset, and they couldn't harm him now just because Stiles forced him into bonding a psychopath.

"I told you emotions weren't important," Haha, No muttered. Stiles couldn't get used to calling him Dimitri.

"I thought your righteous vengeance was supposed to let you control him though?" Stiles couldn't resist the jab. He knew it made him petty—Derek refused to let him forget that—but he didn't care.

"If my vengeance was righteous, I wouldn't have fucking scales."

"Touché."

They walked in silence then, too scared to rest and too tired to run. Stiles' eyes worked poorly in the dark of night, but Derek helped him see. Stiles wondered if Peter did the same, and if his bond was strong enough that he could if he wanted to.

"How does it compare then?" Stiles asked. When Haha, No raised an eyebrow, Stiles clarified, "Your bond."

"Not strong, but nimble." He eyes Peter. "Also there's a madman in my head."

"I could say the same." Peter smirked.

"A madman full of false bravado he knows isn't working." Haha, No scowled.

"At least my name isn't Dimitri."

"Fuck you."

"I want to kill you all right now," Cat groaned. "Can I? It would certainly solve a lot of problems."

"Even me?" Derek asked with mock hurt. He and Cat must have become close quickly if he felt comfortable enough to tease her. She was helping me save you, Derek reminded Stiles.

"You know I can't kill Joker and not you. Unless I wanted to die, I mean."

"I wouldn't have to lift a finger, Cat. Stiles would kill you." He shrugged. He and Cat maintained straight, maybe even fearful, expressions for nearly a full minute before Cat cracked up and Derek cracked a smile.

"I don't see how you have any right to judge my sense of humor. That was not funny at all." Haha, No raised an eyebrow at them. Stiles wouldn't have noticed in the darkness except that Derek thought it amusing and showed him.

"Peter, why is your prisoner giving lip?" Cat asked.

Peter shrugged. "I like a little sass."

"I am going to die mortified and surrounded by monsters of my own making. I get the feeling I asked for this somewhere along the way. It was the nametag, wasn't it? That's where I went too far."

Peter chuckled.

"We could gag him," Derek offered.

"More likely we should steal a car somewhere to speed things along and take him home as our new pet," Peter said, motioning to a faint light in what Stiles guessed must be the direction of the road. "I get the feeling he likes pets."

"That's different from being one."

"You weren't this whiney before," Stiles noted.

"I wasn't losing before."

Stiles laughed. "You were losing the moment you laid eyes on me. You just didn't know it yet." He grinned and realized by the others' wide eyes that they all believed him.

Of course we believe you, Derek thought. You're right.

~.x.~

They walked back into Beacon Hills on their own. No heroes rescued them this time. This was more what Stiles expected from the start, to free himself and Derek, and maybe a few others, and return home to find no one knew where he was. Stiles was his own hero now, but he wondered if it counted to bring home a party of five monsters. Or four monsters and Cat. She wasn't so bad.

Scott and Isaac met them before they made it through the woods surrounding the city. They pounced Derek and Stiles, crushing them with hugs and thankfulness. Then they eyed the others suspiciously. Isaac gave Peter a single, firm nod, then turned to Derek to take his lead on how to treat the others.

"This is Cat," Derek said. "She's a friend."

"This is Dimitri," Peter said before Derek could. "He's less a friend, but he's mine nonetheless."

Derek narrowed his eyes but let it stand. Haha, No looked appropriately horrified, which was probably the only reason Cat didn't mention killing him again.

Isaac and Scott had cell phones, so they called the others to let them know their friends had come home safely. Stiles' voice shook when he spoke to his father. It shouldn't have. It was stupid. Then when he heard his father's tears over the phone, Stiles' voice gave out on him completely.

Take me to him, Stiles thought so fiercely Derek shook with the force of it. Sorry. Stiles wasn't sure what else to say, but Derek took the phone and told the sheriff they would meet him at the station or his house.

Your house, Derek thought for Stiles when he ended the call. "You're going home now."

Haha, No's eyes lit up with fascination as Stiles' knees and lungs failed him just as his voice had. It was over. He was going home. Peter pulled Haha, No away at some point. Stiles noticed their absence too late. He'd been focused on air, and the way it refused to pass through his throat and into his lungs. Stiles clung to Derek while the others watched with knowing eyes. He wheezed at them to stop, but they didn't know what he meant. Derek did, and he was sorry. Then they were in a car, riding in the back seat with Cat beside them, squished against the door even with Derek and Stiles clinging to each other in the rest of the seat.

Stiles remembered how his father had looked before: old and tired and scared. He looked worse now, like he'd been in a box in The View with blacked-out walls and only his sons screams sounding through for company. Stiles leapt into his arms and just held him. They both shook.

"We tried to find you," Stiles' dad breathed at last. "For so long, we..." He sobbed.

We made sure they couldn't track us, Derek explained. So no one else would get hurt.

Thank you. Stiles closed his eyes. He didn't know what he would do if his father got killed trying to save him.

"I'm here now, Dad," Stiles said, not sure what else there was.

"How bad was it?" Practical. Stiles liked that.

"We can't be separated this time." Stiles started with the hard part. Hard for his father, easier for Stiles.

"You said that last time too, Stiles. We won't know until—"

"No, I mean—We're..." he wet his lips, buying time for his brain to catch up to reality and tell him how to say this. "Our minds are bound telepathically. We literally cannot be separated."

"Oh." He paused. "Are you okay?"

Stiles nodded.

His dad turned to Derek. "Is he lying?"

Derek flinched. "He's trying to make you feel better."

"So he's lying."

"I'm right here."

"We don't know how bad it is yet. He's being optimistic."

"Now you're lying, aren't you?"

Derek shrugged.

"He's not lying. I may have had a little attack after talking to you, but we don't know if that will continue or stop or get worse. But with Derek, I am okay. We can handle our bond." Stiles realized only when he stopped talking that he'd raised his voice. "Sorry," he mumbled.

They were silent for a moment after Stiles' outburst. Then his dad pulled Stiles in for another hug. "I missed you, Son."

"Missed you too, Dad."

Derek disapproved. Stiles hardly thought of his father while they were captives. He hadn't missed him, and Derek thought Stiles should admit it to his therapists if he couldn't to his father. Suddenly having Derek in his head seemed a lot less fun.

~.x.~

The corpses were gone, but the camping chairs and popcorn machine sat where Stiles remembered them. The place looked off with Haha, No lounging in slacks and a pinstriped suit jacket on one of those chairs with his ankles crossed and his neck stretched bare as he stared at the ceiling. He didn't look like a prisoner, but neither did he look happy to be there.

Peter gave Stiles a little wave from where he sat in the other chair with a bag of popcorn. Then he set a single finger against his lips briefly before lifting a piece of the popcorn and tossing it at Haha, No's head. It bounced off his nose and joined a few other kernels on the floor.

"I am going to outlaw popcorn. I have just decided to take over the world and make the popping of corn illegal." Haha, No groaned, but there was an overplayed not to it. "You've done it, Peter, awakened the megalomania even playing God with supernatural creatures failed to elicit within me."

"I see you're making friends," Stiles said, though he wasn't sure to which one.

Peter shrugged. Haha, No rolled his head to look in Stiles' direction and gave a more convincing groan. "You," he said, voice flat.

"Me."

"Present for you," Peter said before tugging Haha, No to stand. "Jacket off."

Haha, No rolled his eyes, but shrugged out of his jacket. He wore a plain black t-shirt beneath it, but Stiles wouldn't have cared if he had on a hot pink waistcoat. There were scars on his arms. Scales too, on the left one, but scars on both. Rings circled both his wrists, made by ropes or chains or cuffs. There was a burn just at the edge of the scaling on his left elbow, like he'd landed in hot coals and taken the weight on that arm.

"Shirt too."

"You want me to just strip completely, Pete?"

Peter offered a smile. Haha, No rolled his eyes and tugged the t-shirt over his head as he turned around to present Stiles with his back. His burn- and lashing-scarred back. Claw marks ran along his lower back and disappeared past the waist of his pants along his hip.

"Did you build the arena?" Stiles asked.

Haha, No turned back around slowly. The smile had fallen from his scarred face, and he looked older without it. Peter nudged his shoulder, and Haha, No gritted his teeth and shook his head. When Peter nudged him again, he grunted, "No."

"Were you hired?"

Hatred burned in his eyes. "No."

"Were you abducted?"

Haha, No fumed but didn't answer. Peter grabbed his shoulder and let his claws sink through the scarred skin. "Yes."

"So... not really in charge."

"I was this time. Won't probably be again sine I let myself get taken."

"Good, we're past the monosyllables. They don't suit you, Dimitri." Peter retracted his claws and patted Haha, No's shoulder.

"Was the kanima your partner?"

"They knew she'd been bitten, but not that she'd gone snake instead of dog. I didn't know werewolves were real yet. She hadn't worked up the nerve to tell me."

"So the change started because they forced you to kill." Stiles chuckled. "That sucks, man, but I think you've worked up to deserving it retroactively." Haha, No only glared at him. "What did they call you?"

"You people and your names, honestly."

"You seemed to care a lot about names from what I could tell," Stiles said.

"Changing the name changes a person's view of themselves." He glanced back at Peter and sighed. "Mostly snake jokes. I said, 'No,' every time someone tried one to my face, so then they started calling me that instead."

"You mean your name is Dr. No." Stiles smirked.

"I hate you so much. You're almost as bad as he is." He jerked a thumb at Peter.

"You're the one who apparently kept it."

Haha, No shrugged at that. He reclaimed his seat, though not his shirt or jacket. "Better than the name my father gave me."

"Dimitri? It's not that bad, dude."

"It's not the name so much as the source." He shrugged.

"Hey now, tell him why." Peter grinned his scary grin.

Haha, No closed his eyes and breathed tense and slow. When he opened his eyes, he looked ready to kill Peter, bond or no bond. "My father was in charge of recruitment."

"At the arena?"

"Yes, the old one."

"He knew what happened in there?"

"Yes, though it was a little different before I got my hands on it."

"Fascinating." Stiles kept his voice in monotone. Haha, No had confirmed he wasn't the only threat to Derek and Stiles. He wasn't even a founding member, just another prisoner converted into working for his captors.

Haha, No waved a hand. "It's silly of me to hold the grudge, I know, especially since I had him killed years ago. But what can I do?" He shrugged.

"After that he knows a few security protocols, which are scheduled to change if he's compromised, and the identities of some staff members and captives, though he had personnel to handle most of those details. He doesn't meet directly with his bosses because they know he's a freak, and they keep him trailing along by promising a cure they don't have. Even he doesn't fully understand his bosses motives, but he knows they like his super soldiers and call themselves Watchtower." Peter leaned against a pillar rather than sitting again. He crossed his arms and looked to Stiles, waiting for his response.

"So except for his personal sob story, he's useless."

"Looks that way."

"I guess it'd be pretty dumb to surround someone who is actually important with all those shape shifters and madmen."

"Huge security threat," Peter agreed.

"I get the feeling you're deciding to kill me." Haha, No sighed like death was a minor annoyance.

"I won't make that decision without Derek."

"Why?" Haha, No demanded, voice suddenly harsh. "I'm not his prisoner."

"But he's part of me now," Stiles said, tapping his temple. "Right in here where you wanted him. And that means he gets a vote too."

Haha, No's fearful expression made it clear he thought Derek more likely to condemn him than Stiles and Peter, which was interesting because everyone knew Stiles was the scary one.

Speaking of me, Derek thought, Can I stop hiding in the car and come inside now?

Go for it, Stiles thought. He kept his eyes on Haha, No to see his expression when Derek entered. It turned out to be a grimace. Realization, but no surprise. Stiles wondered if Peter had known Derek was nearby.

Peter always knows. Maybe it wasn't always true, but Derek had found that to be a safe assumption most of the time. Safer than thinking he could hide anything from Peter.

Still up for killing him? Stiles asked as Derek moved to stand beside him.

Yes. Derek's anger had cooled since returning home, but fire or ice, he always let anger take him.

"Peter." Stiles saw in Peter's eyes that he knew already, even if he couldn't read Peter's reaction. "You should dissolve that bond now."

"Already done."

Haha, No stood. "Don't suppose I can go down fighting?" He cocked his head. "Or running."

Stiles laughed, drawing a knife from where he'd strapped it to his arm beneath the sleeve of his jacket. "You can try."

"Damnit, I hate you."

"You seemed to like me when you were in charge."

"I did." He charged then with what could only be a death cry. If he'd been in the arena, then he knew how to fight, but he was unarmed, while Stiles had a knife and two werewolves.

Haha, No knocked Stiles knife aside and tackled him, going for a stranglehold. Stiles kept his hold on the weapon. Instead of wasting time protecting his throat, he brought the knife to Haha, No's neck. He stabbed three times before the strangling grip slackened. Blood poured over him and pooled on Stiles' torso as Haha, No died. He was smiling, so Stiles smiled back until Haha, No collapsed forward onto him.

Well, that was done with anyway.

~.x.~

Lydia held up her hands to count off points on her fingers. "So there's a bunch of them, and they have resources, and they're probably coming after you." She paused. "And you killed the scientist for not knowing enough to take you to his leaders."

"When you say it like that, I sound really stupid," Stiles grumbled.

The pack had gathered at Stiles' house. His dad felt safer with Stiles at home, and they could sit around and talk anywhere.

"You're not stupid," Allison said. "You were thinking with your feelings. He deserved to die. We just... could have used him."

"But I don't remember feeling much of anything."

Derek set a hand on Stiles' knee and squeezed, ignoring the dirty look Stiles' father shot at him.

"I know the feeling," Allison said. She rarely spoke about when Gerard manipulated her. Stiles thought the darkness behind her eyes now might be why.

"How do we stop them now?" Scott asked. "Are they really coming after you?"

"We don't know. Maybe." Stiles tried for a shrug, but nonchalance felt wrong now.

"We can't attack their base," Derek said. "It's too strong, and there are too few of us."

"I'm guessing we don't know any other places to attack." Most of the others seemed sad or worried, but Isaac looked angry, like he wanted something they could fight.

"We don't," Stiles admitted. Isaac didn't look disappointed, but neither did he look less mad.

"Then when they come back, we don't let them take you again," Scott said.

"We didn't let them take us the first two times," Derek pointed out.

"Could we bait them? Or follow them? Or something that makes their greater power into a plan instead of just... losing?" Allison asked. "We have to stop them somehow. What they're doing is wrong, even outside of what they've done to you." She wore an apology on her face, but there was fire in her eyes. Allison was Stiles' friend, but she was also a hunter. Hunters fought to protect people who didn't know about monsters, and these were definitely monsters.

"Hunters," Stiles said. They would want to defeat the monsters being used to harm humans, maybe even the humans using them. Assuming those in charge were human. "If they knew about this, wouldn't they be obligated to take it out?"

"Maybe." Allison clung to each short syllable. 'Hunters' meant telling her father, which meant her family risking their lives. Then she sighed. "They would want to know. I'll talk to my dad." She eyed them each in turn then. "I probably won't be able to tell you what they decide, assuming they even tell me."

"We know," Stiles said. Hunters didn't trust werewolves, or humans who ran with them.

Allison stood, looked around the room one last time as she wiped her hands against her pants, and left. Lydia followed. Stiles set his hand over Derek's and let the others trickle out. There was nothing else they could do now except wait and see if war found them.

~.x.~

"My sly-to-the-supernatural therapist thinks I'm using magic subconsciously," Stiles said. No matter how many times he told his father Derek was always with him, he wasn't supposed to visit Derek's loft, which was why Stiles hadn't told anyone he was going to Derek's loft. He lay now with his head in Derek's lap and his bare feet hanging off the end of the couch.

Derek ran his fingers through Stiles' short hair. "How?" He could pick it from Stiles' mind if he wanted, but they agreed to practice talking. They had been too close, frighteningly welded together, more than a few times. They needed to practice being separate.

"I rely on surprise, distraction, and misdirection, and she thinks I manage to use my face like a talisman to channel magic through and push them toward the response I want. That kind of magic isn't perfect, but apparently I'm good at it."

"And what does your other therapist think?"

Stiles frowned. "That I'm dangerously unstable, complete with phone call to my dad warning him I could hurt someone."

"They're both probably responding to your face. It is pretty scary."

"Hey!" Stiles swatted at Derek until he caught one of Stiles' fingers between his teeth. He didn't bite down, but Stiles remembered his offer. He thought Derek did too. "I, um..." He licked his lips. "I don't want it. The bite."

Derek released Stiles' finger. "I know."

"You know?"

"In your head, remember?" He caught Stiles' hand and kissed the finger he'd held captive. "You like being human. It works for you. I get it."

"Derek, you're awesome. Have I mentioned that?"

"No."

"Well, you are, and shame on me for not saying so."

Derek smiled, soft and warm. Somehow, it made him look sad, maybe because of all the years he had been unable to smile like this. "I love you, Stiles" he whispered, stroking Stiles hair.

"I love you too."

They were happy and at home, not locked away somewhere horrible. Stiles shared that realization with Derek as he sat up and leaned in to kiss him. It was the first time Derek thought they might be okay, that they might be able to live together instead of just fight together.

Stiles willed his eye to stop twitching.

End

A/N: When I finished This is Not Our Fate, I thought I wouldn't come back to it for a long time if not ever. While I don't have plans for a sequel to Shouting Back to the Night at this time, I'm not about to make the same mistake again. I love the Watchtower 'verse, and while I need to get working on some original writing if I ever want to do that thing where I'm published, I also love fanfiction too much to give it up entirely. So what I'm saying is, don't expect more soon, but don't necessarily expect it never either.

Thank you for reading! Another thank you for commenting! I hope this fic lived up to the first.