As his eyes fluttered open and he took in his surroundings, Stiles sucked in a breath of what may have been the sweetest purest balmiest air he'd ever had the privilege to breathe. That in and of itself took him down a different mental path of curiosity about altitude and smog density for a moment before he heard a gentle cough and his attention snapped back to focus. There were two nervous but happy people sitting above him, a good looking couple. The woman had tears wobbling at the corner of her eyes, threatening at any moment to careen down her face, and the man was gripping her hand tightly.
"Sooo...I'd be correct in assuming I'm not in Beacon Hills any more?" they shared a shifty look with each other before the woman timidly answered him "Well dear I hate to consider whatever circumstances brought you here but, you would be correct. You're not exactly in a place you've ever been before either" The man huffed out a small laugh "What your mother is pussyfooting around trying to say son, is that you're dead. And you're in heaven with us. Surprise"
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What could have been either galaxies or merely a small dimensional twist away, Derek Hale sank heavily to his knees, cradling Stiles' lifeless body close to him. Breathing in the lingering scent of him before it was gone, pressing his face into limp hair, clutching at cold bloodied clothing. The pack shifted anxiously around him, unsure of what to do or say. Scott had long since gone into his beta state and was whining loudly at his brother's side. Peter stood directly behind his nephew, thumb hovering over the send button of his phone. He didn't want to have to be the one to make that call, and he hoped that if he just waited long enough Castiel would be here without him having to be the one to say those words out loud.
It turned out that he really didn't have to wait that long at all. An explosion of light ripped through the darkness of the night and the thickness of the rain in the air, illuminating the ground and the pack for just one horrible moment. If Castiel's face was a study in mourning, Dean's was the opposite. Clearly confused and unaware - so terribly unaware - he whirled around, looking for the source of conflict. His gaze fell on his son and in the hollow of his eyes the world fractured. His screams rang out and his sobs scattered across the muddy field. Like Orpheus grieving in the woods, so too did the wolves and the angels alongside him.
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He didn't remember coming home or even falling asleep, but when he woke he was alone in his bed. Cas had probably carried him. He recalled every detail of the night before vividly, painfully. He made his way downstairs to find his His brother waiting for him in the kitchen. He distantly heard bits and pieces of Cas and Gabe and Peter talking in the living room. He paid them no mind, and collapsed into the huge embrace that came crashing lovingly around him. The tears came again, and he made no efforts to stop them. He felt Sam crying as well, and took a moment to think back over his life. Had he felt this way when Jo and Ellen died, when Bobby died, when his own father died? He had felt this way before when his brother had died, when Castiel had died. And yet this was deeper and more paralyzing than even those
He didn't need to have super ears or a juiced up nose to instinctively know that the pack was curled around Derek on Stiles' bed. Anger welled up from a small withered part of him that still feared and hated that which lurked in the night. The logical part of his mind battled the cruel and stubborn corner that insisted that the love between mates had no right to be stronger than the love between family, while the sappy romcom wrinkle of his brain insisted that he himself was eternally bonded to a supernatural being and therefore had no right to minimize the alpha's attachment to his son. He had to shake himself; Derek was a part of their family, the pack was a part of their family. He was in mourning, but he didn't need to be a nasty little bitch about it. The man was practically his son-in-law.
no, scratch that, had been practically his son-in-law.
He wondered idly if Derek felt more pain now than he had when the fire uprooted and destroyed his world. The burden of those who dealt with insurmountable pain, was that it would most assuredly strike twice, or in his case and Derek's case as well, again and again until it wore them down to ashy piles of almost nothing. Stiles would be calling him a drama queen right about now if he could see into his mind. The thought nearly brought him to laughter, but his body instead chose to produce more tears.
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They sat tear-stained at the table, a jittery silence cloaking them. Derek clutched at his uncle's shoulder, pathetically wrecked and barely able to sit up straight. Everyone staunchly avoided his aimless gaze. A niggling aversion to the sheer tragic awkwardness of it all made Castiel almost wish his brother would say something facetiously mischievous to clear the air. He cleared his throat and laid his hand gently on Dean's "Gabriel and I still have access to heaven, and I know he's there because my baby's still got one of the purest souls I've ever seen. However, whether or not we can bring Stiles here from there is uncertain at best. If nothing else, we'll be able to see him and pass on messages. We can go now or we can wait, but the longer he's there the more immersed in the essence of heaven he'll become - the more disinclined he'll be to leave."
The wolves sucked in a sharp breath at that. Derek focused his care-bear stare on Cas in full force, when he spoke his voice was ragged "What happens if you get there and he doesn't want to come back to us?"
"Then I'll try again every day until he does" and in that very moment he disappears.
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There was a slow heavy breeze in the air, hot and almost sticky, and Stiles felt like wilting. It was a warm wet heat and it was comforting. He'd been here for who knows how long on patio overlooking a wide river, eating bignets and sipping sweet tea with his- with John and Elzbieta. Such lovely people, so very kind and loving and so determined to recount to him every detail of his infant-hood they could remember from before they'd been horrifically slain. As wonderful as it all is, it doesn't feel like it's something he'd really want in his heaven, if that's where they really are. He knows exactly who and what and where he'd choose to spend eternity if it were up to him, but for the life of him he can't bring himself to ask. It feels nice, not perfect and not his per se, but nice.
Quite frankly, though he would never say it out loud, he was downright overjoyed when his dad burst in through the tall white french doors that lead into the side of the house. He nearly knocked over his chair in his haste to get to him. "DAD" "Stiles"
Later he'd tell gossipy angels to stuff it, because apparently it was the go-to loving moment of 2013 that no one would ever forget, and there had been some kind of prophesy about it on a tablet somewhere, something about the adopted child of one who still wore his grace reuniting in heaven and choosing love over the divine, he couldn't really be bothered to remember because hey his dad was standing right in front of him.
Stiles whispered in his ear "Thank god what took you so long" Cas stared down at him in amazement "Son, it's only been a day since you- since you died"
Stiles picked his chair back up and slumped into it heavily "So I really did-" he can't bring himself to say it, and resorts to making a juvenile line across his neck. Castiel rolls his eyes and collapses into the chair next to him, John and Elzbieta having disappeared soon after his arrival. He shifted slightly in his chair, brushing his hand across the top of Stiles' head "So you met them. What did you think, good enough to stay?"
His son looks at him like he's raving "I hope this isn't your way of telling me I need to get out of the nest, because I can guarantee that sticking me with my bio-parents may actually be something I would resent your for for the rest of eternity" Castiel doesn't even bother responding. He raises an eyebrow and Stiles practically gibbers
"I mean don't get me wrong, nice people. Real nice. Apparently this is where she grew up with her parents and where they wanted to move back to eventually. But a couple of friendly faces doesn't mean I want to stay here. Jeeze, I'd rather have you and dad and the pack for the rest of my natural life than ever be able to come back here. D-don't give me that look you know I'm telling the truth. I like it but it's...it's too quiet here. It's too peaceful. There's not enough going on"
Cas hems and haws, unsure whether to tell him- no. He can't let emotions get involved, has to tell him "Stiles this isn't your heaven. When you died your parents brought you here to their shared heaven. This is what their afterlives are like. Yours can be whatever you want. It could even have memories of us and the pack. But you have to know, Derek and the rest of the wolves, they'll never end up here. They're destined for purgatory, the resting place for all of the children of Eve. You can live within memories here, but on Earth you could live a whole life's worth of memories. After you're both dead, there's a chance you'll never really see each other again. Not here anyways."
They held each others' gazes. The silence between them was long, Stiles huffed out a slightly wheezing cough. "Hypothetically speaking, how long could you and uncle Gabe keep three humans and eight werewolves alive for, absolute maximum"
Castiel thinks he may never have smiled wider in his life
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He didn't really want to know where his body had been while he'd vacated it. It felt warm and whole and perfectly not riddled with claw holes or gouges, which was a definite plus cause y'know living was kinda his goal from now on. The important thing wasn't really that he was back in his body, well it was actually, but that he was back amongst the people he cared most about. He wasn't sure who was hugging him tighter, Derek or his Dad, it seemed like they may have been competing. That was fine with him, he was the hug master. Hugs were kinda his supernatural ability. As he collapsed back into a pile of pack and family, he knew he'd made the right decision.