They said he was human. By every standard he technically was, but Stiles was different now. After the Nogitsune he changed. No one ever talked about him getting spit out of his actual body, but he thought about that often. Stiles was not sure he was really himself anymore. They destroyed his original body, his current occupancy was something created by the demon inside him. Stiles was not sure what that meant for him. He stared at the mountain ash that Deaton threw, and internally panicked. They thought it was because of Malia, but it was because of him.

Stiles was not sure when he began keeping things from his friends. He generally did not make a habit of it, but lately his secrets were building up. The nightmares did not stop after the Nogitsune, instead they turned into memories of what it did while wearing his face. When the whole thing was said and done, Stiles has a lot of time to think. What he thought about most was the darkness he felt. He knew there was a darkness inside him from his sacrifice, but this, this was something new.

One day Stiles had a theory, so he went to the woods to test it. He pulled the bottle of mountain ash Deaton gave him, and poured it around a tree. He stared at it for a long time before reaching out to touch the trunk. His hand was about to touch the bark when he felt like he had hit an invisible wall. Stiles reeled back in shock. He tried again, this time pushing harder, concentrating on touching the tree, but the force was too strong. It felt like to sides of a magnet that could never be pushed together. Stiles was different.

He stared at the mountain ash terrified of what would happen if he was forced to try and cross. They would know. Scott would know. Life was bad enough with all of them constantly sniffing out his chemo signals. He was falling apart at the seams, and they were beginning to notice. Stiles wanted to forget, he wanted to pretend like he was normal, but that was getting harder.

He had no idea what was wrong with him. No, Stiles just knew he was different.

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AN: Just a really short one-shot I wrote after seeing Stiles' expression in Deaton's clinic. There seemed to be more going on there, and I could not think of time Stiles had touched mountain ash since he was possessed; hence this story! Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!