Summary: Stiles leaves after the Nogitsune wakes latent Shadow Kitsune abilities that have been trapped inside Stiles and is now fighting with his Spark for control. With his life and those around him in danger because of the internal conflict Stiles feels that it is no longer safe to stay in Beacon Hills.

Pairing: Sterek

TV gets a lot about New York City wrong. Most of the streets are quiet for one. There is literally a pizza or coffee place around every corner for another, sometimes both in one store. And probably the thing TV gets the most wrong is that there's very little murders actually happening. Stiles knows. He listens to the police scanners as a hobby. Stiles flicks off the scanner as the front bell chimes and he is forced out of the back room to greet the customer. He worked for a seemingly sweet Kitsune named Ms. Chu who was really sterner than a drill sergeant. Ms. Chu thought that Stiles needed a strong hand and direction and somehow that included ten mile runs every morning except for Saturdays. Stiles could now run close to fifteen miles without breaking a sweat so the training regimen seemed to have some effect.

"Welcome to Chu's Bookstore. How my I help you?" Stiles asked the trio of large men. They looked very out of place in the small shop, each had at least three piercings on their face and were wearing leather biker vests. Stiles let his magic fan out and realized they were werewolves. Lovely.

"We're looking for a bit of cash so be real nice like and open the till." The leader said and spittle flew when he spoke. Stiles blinked but didn't move away from the doorway to the back room. This pissed the wolves off and the one on the left snarled

"You deaf? Or just dumb?" He snapped and Stiles wondered if they even realized whose store they walked into. Sure, there was no security because Ms. Chu had no need for a security system. Not with Stiles renting the room upstairs.

"When is a box not a box?" The words slipped out of Stiles mouth and once again he wondered if the Nogitsune's love for riddles had rubbed off on him or if it had just woken a latent love for riddles inside him. Either way it didn't matter, riddles still slipped out of his mouth like water from a faucet.

"What?" The leader asked confused. Deciding to roll with it Stiles took a step forward.

"When is a box not a box? Answer correctly and the money is yours." Stiles said calmly. The wolf on the right got a frightened look on his face and turned back to the door. Stiles was already ahead of him, locking it with his magic so the wolves couldn't get out.

"What the hell man? Let us out!" The third wolf shouted

"When is a box not a box?" Stiles said as black smoke began to filter towards the floor from his hands. That was when the wolves realized how big of a mistake they had made.

"When it's locked?" The leader tried and the black smoke struck, leaving him as nothing more than a dried-out husk. The second wolf screamed

"Wrong." Stiles said calmly. The other two wolves began to claw at the door, then tried banging on it to get the attention of the people passing by outside. Stiles knew no one would notice, they couldn't while Stiles magic was in effect.

"Would you like to try again?" Stiles asked and the two wolves turned to him wide eyed.

"When is a box not a box…" The one on the left muttered then his face lit up

"It's an egg!" He shouted, "It's an egg. An egg. A box isn't a box when it's an egg." Stiles grinned and the door flew open depositing the two wolves on the concrete outside. They took off running like Stiles was going to chase them. Before the door could even shut the remains of the leader had disappeared as if it had never been there.

"Stiles? Did we have some customers?" Ms. Chu asked from where she had been tagging books behind several shelves.

"No ma'am. Just some tourists asking directions." Stiles called back loudly. Ms. Chu was deaf and nearly blind so it took several minutes and lots of shouting for her to be appeased. Once she was back to organizing the books that had just come in, Stiles returned to the back room to listen to his scanner again. Standing beside the table where it sat was Braeden which didn't shock Stiles in the slightest. She had her own ways of getting around unseen and Stiles' magic liked her so it always seemed to help her get in without alerting him.

"Have a nice snack?" She asked uncrossing her arms and sending him a knowing smirk.

"Sure, if you call a wolf a snack." He said sitting down in the metal folding chair and flicking the scanner on again.

"Brought you a new puzzle." She said flicking the scanner off and Stiles sighed.

"You always bring me new puzzles. What's this one?" He asked and she tossed him a wooden cube.

"When is a box not a box." She parroted his riddle. He quirked an eyebrow and studied the cube. It had no visible seams which meant he would probably have to open it with magic. That was always fun. He traced the triskelion pattern on one of the sides. It was the only carving and when he put his magic into it the box pushed the magic back.

"Is this some sort of omen? I haven't seen anyone from Beacon Hills in over three years." Stiles said turning the box over slowly in his hands.

"Sort of. I pulled this out of a trap for wolves in Kansas. The hunters were headed towards California so they probably will find their way to Beacon Hills eventually." Braeden said and Stiles clenched his jaw and felt the dark magic left behind by the Nogitsune swell under his skin. The multiple tattoos that covered his body glowed an eerie black light

"We can't have that. I've protected them from afar for too long to let some measly hunters undo all my work." Stiles said. He traced the triskelion before overpowering the box with his magic and watching it click open. Inside were several things that he would look over later but what caught his attention was the spell placed on the amethyst that took up the majority of the space. It would attract any werewolf beta in a five-mile radius right into the trap.

"Go get two plane tickets. We're heading to Beacon Hills." Stiles ordered. Braeden was out of the room immediately. Stiles set the box down on the table beside his scanner and flicked the scanner back on. Looking at his reflection in the darkened glass window he took in his appearance. Several tattoos lined his body, sigils and witch's marks that kept his dueling power sources in control, making sure the light magic of his spark neither overpowered or fell away to the darker magic of the budding Nogitsune that he had almost become. His hair was just as long as it had been during the Nogitsune, Stiles had never had the time to keep it buzz cut short anymore and had given up trying. His eyes were the biggest change, where the eyeball had once been white it was now black, where he had once had brown irises they were pale green almost white circles around black pupils. His skin around his eyes were dark and bruised, testament to the fact that he never slept, while the rest of his skin was almost translucent it was so pale. He looked like a poor replicate of who he once had been. Slowly Stiles counted his fingers twice to make sure he wasn't dreaming all this. Not that he thought he was sleeping but sometimes he got so caught up in a day dream that he forgot it wasn't real. No, this was real. He was really going back to Beacon Hills to protect his pack. Stiles stood and headed for the spiral staircase that lead to his apartment. Might as well make sure he had everything he needed for the trip because knowing Braeden they would leave on the next flight to San Francisco.

Derek looked around at the pack who were curled up on every comfortable surface in the den. The flat screen TV was playing one of the Harry Potter movies, he thought it was maybe four or five but wasn't sure. No one was really watching it. Like always, Derek did a head count. Boyd was sitting in the loveseat with Erica to his left, both of them wrapped around the other. Scott was in a puppy pile on the floor with Isaac, Cora, and Liam. All four of them were asleep. Lydia was reading something on her phone in the armchair by the window, the moonlight made her pale skin seem paler and Derek wondered if she had eaten enough today. Kira and Danny had gone to bed already but Derek could hear their steady heartbeats so he knew they were both okay. Last but not least the twins were finishing up their circle of the house, Derek could hear them talking quietly on the back porch about whether or not to mention something to Derek. Ethan was in favor and Aiden was saying something about not getting Derek's hopes up. With a sigh, Derek stood and headed to meet them. If Ethan thought it was worth mentioning it probably was something important. Derek stepped out onto the porch and they both fell silent.

"What did you smell?" Derek asked and Ethan elbowed Aiden

"I thought I smelt something kinda familiar but I'm not sure. I mean, I hadn't smelt it in close to four years and the smell was almost smothered in the smell of strong magic. I didn't want to mention it in case it wasn't him." Aiden rambled. Aiden only rambled when he was nervous about hurting someone's feelings or if he was trying to avoid saying something.

"What my brother is not saying is that he smelt Stiles." Ethan cut in and the look Aiden sent his way was nothing less than scathing. Derek took a deep breath. No one had seen Stiles since right after everything went down with the Nogitsune. Stiles had not only gone off the grid but everything they had tried to track him had led them in circles. Peter was currently off following a lead on the east coast.

"Get inside. We'll deal with this in the morning." Derek said doing a scan of the surrounding trees. He didn't see anything but that didn't mean anything either. Something had been watching them, Derek could sense it even now. Something was coming to Beacon Hills. Something that may have drawn Stiles back. Derek followed the twins inside and locked the doors before drawing a line of mountain ash across the doorway. The three of them ushered everyone upstairs to bed. Derek didn't go to sleep yet, still thinking about the goofy teenager who had disappeared all that time ago.