[ There's no arguing that he should know better. He should listen to Stiles, listen to his lupa, because he's being reckless and stupid. But Stiles is alive, though he's obviously taken a bit of a beating, and he's been worried out of his mind ever since he went missing. Because Stiles wouldn't just up and leave in the middle of the night for no good reason, not when he knows how harsh the north can be even in its kinder months.
The sting of the spikes only hits him after the fact, and he lets out a shaky breath as he realizes the thing that he's done. But the whimper he releases is only for Stiles' touch, and he licks his chops in an attempt to get rid of the blood there. There's nothing to be done about it when he doesn't have hands, though he gets a decent amount of it, but all he can do for a moment is tilt his head into Stiles' hands, eyes closing over and ears flicking back.
But then he uses where his hands are settled to push the hood back, magic easing away and letting him shift from wolf to man again. The blood lingers on the black pelt, but the wounds remain on his skin-- slightly less deep for the change but no less stupid, no less problematic-- and the red bleeds from his eyes, leaving them that same green as sea glass as the eyes of the little girl he hasn't registered yet. ] Ripped her throat out.
[ He brings his hands up to touch Stiles' face, careful of the cut in his lip and the bruising around his eye. It's easier to focus on him than it is to think of the delight in Kate's face when they met eyes, than to think of the taunts she threw at him. The promise that Stiles had been killed, useless after they interrogated him and got what they want. ]
[ He doesn't get the chance to look down, which is what he wants to do--when Derek shifts back to human, Stiles' gaze immediately shifts to take in the damage. Derek looks wrecked, there's blood everywhere and the scent is so strong that even Stiles can pick it out. A part of him wants to hurl, and his worrying hands fly from where the hood is to his chest, his arms, his stomach, around cuts and stab wounds, things laced with every kind of poison that could and would probably kill his faoladh.
Swallowing the lump in his throat when his face gets lifted, Stiles tries to scowl but ends up just looking a little relieved. He's exhausted and spent and wants nothing more than to go home, to curl up with Derek for hours, but now he's afraid after all of that, he could lose him anyway. ] You're an idiot, you couldn't have waited for me to try to figure a way out--or for Scott, or something?! Gods, Derek, you do not get to die on me, okay?
[ His voice is trembling and a tear spills out from over his eyes, and there's fierce relief when he leans forward for just a second and puts their foreheads together, inhales. The two of them are maybe at fifty percent strength, at most, and he's despairing about how they're going to get out without getting impaled, because he doesn't want to die here, when a tiny voice says from behind him--
[ Rather than fight it, Derek lets Stiles' hands wander across his skin-- muscle twitches and flinches if he brushes too close to something that hurts too much, and he can already feel the poison in his system trying to work its way deeper. There are remedies here, he knows it, but they're not within their reach. They're going to have to wait for Scott to find them, to threaten until they're given to him so that they can be used on those that were poisoned. And of course he'd want them to be used on the pack first, but they're going to refuse.
A pack is lost without an alpha, and they could've lost both of theirs.
He shakes his head a little as Stiles yells at him, thumbs sweeping over his cheeks and fingers fanning across his jaw and neck, feeling his pulse in his fingertips. ] No-- I couldn't. I won't. [ Couldn't wait, won't die.
Nuzzling against him as he presses their foreheads together, he still at the tiny voice that speaks up. Straightening, he finally takes in the other presence that he'd hardly noticed, and something lodges itself in his throat. There's blood all over him, and it's all he can really smell, but he's imagining a ghost, sweet honeysuckle rather than the tart honey that Kate carried with her. That can't be, Kate took her, had to have killed her for her lineage-- ]
[ Stiles pauses when Selena speaks up, turning over his shoulder to look at her. There's still that--he has to get her out of here safe, because if Kate is her mother and Kate is dead, she wouldn't last five minutes out in the wild, no matter how smart she was. Stiles didn't think his plan of smuggling through much, but that could come later; he was stupidly attached to the little girl, and if getting her out of here safe was a priority, well, no one could judge him for it.
Selena looks at Derek when he says her name, and so does Stiles, as everything he thought is suddenly confirmed, in one wrecked look on the alpha's face. The little girl sounds awestruck for a moment, and whispers you're the big bad wolf, but she doesn't look terrified or anything. Rather, she takes a couple steps towards them, until she closes her small hand into Stiles' palm, startling him out of where he was looking at Derek. ] C'mon.
[ More than a little awestruck, himself, and absolutely wrecked-- she's been alive, she's been with Kate this whole time, for six years she's been here with the real monsters-- Derek can't take his eyes off of the little girl for a minute. The chaos is starting to die down outside, but it's still ongoing, like it's waiting for them to emerge from the makeshift cell. His blood is everywhere, and Stiles' scent permeates everything, but all he knows in that moment is that his daughter has apparently been alive all this time.
It takes Stiles speaking to draw him back, and he drops his hands down to briefly brush his palms over Stiles' neck, following his shoulders before he actually looks at him again. Like he's afraid that the spell will break and she'll be gone, or he'll disappear. That Derek will wake up in the middle of winter and they'll be lost.
So all he does is offer the little girl a slow nod, until he's shifting up to a crouch rather than kneeling. The adrenaline is still running in his veins, but it won't be for long. ] Go.
[ stiles is--stiles is kind of terrified. he wasn't sure he was going to get out of this alive, and now derek, that brilliant, self sacrificing moron, is probably going to be the one who won't make it. something in his chest lurches at the thought of spending the rest of his life without him--it was like he'd finally matched their puzzle pieces and stiles was not having that taken from him.
he follows selena out towards the back. there's a tiny little crevice that selena must have been shimmying through--she looks back at stiles as she realizes she can't fit him through. carefully, he reaches over and grabs her shoulders, looks her in the eyes. ] I need you to go get the wolves and bring them here. Just yell for them really, really loud, okay? This part is safe, right?
[ she nods, and stiles figures if she can get through, the wolves can tear the opening a little wider to make room for both stiles and derek to crawl out. sitting back, stiles immediately turns his attention back to derek and puts a hand over one of the gaping wounds at his side. ] You're not--you're not really healing fast, why aren't you healing fast? Derek, if you--you can't, we're gonna get you out of here okay, okay? We have to.
[ "we have to"--he repeats it again, a little faintly, a little dizzied at the idea of derek dying right here, dying because of stiles-- ]
[ Though he's bleeding and a veritable mess, Derek follows along with Stiles as they're brought to where the little girl has been slipping in and out ever since his lupa was first brought here. He's still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she's alive, that she was here, but right now he needs to concentrate on his movements, on the fact that he can smell the anxiety rolling off Stiles in waves.
When they come to a stop, he looks at the crevice, frowning at it quietly before looking to the little girl-- his daughter-- and listening to what Stiles says. She can do it, she has to do it, because otherwise they're stuck in here. The other wolves won't be able to break through the "cage" up front, and that's the only entrance that any of them could possibly know of. Especially with Derek's blood staining the wood.
His skin flinches at Stiles' touch, but he doesn't make a noise to go with it. Instead, he bows forward to press their foreheads together, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath that is all Stiles. ]
Wolfsbane on the spikes, probably. I'll be okay. We're together again-- you'll make sure of it.
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WEEPS
The sting of the spikes only hits him after the fact, and he lets out a shaky breath as he realizes the thing that he's done. But the whimper he releases is only for Stiles' touch, and he licks his chops in an attempt to get rid of the blood there. There's nothing to be done about it when he doesn't have hands, though he gets a decent amount of it, but all he can do for a moment is tilt his head into Stiles' hands, eyes closing over and ears flicking back.
But then he uses where his hands are settled to push the hood back, magic easing away and letting him shift from wolf to man again. The blood lingers on the black pelt, but the wounds remain on his skin-- slightly less deep for the change but no less stupid, no less problematic-- and the red bleeds from his eyes, leaving them that same green as sea glass as the eyes of the little girl he hasn't registered yet. ] Ripped her throat out.
[ He brings his hands up to touch Stiles' face, careful of the cut in his lip and the bruising around his eye. It's easier to focus on him than it is to think of the delight in Kate's face when they met eyes, than to think of the taunts she threw at him. The promise that Stiles had been killed, useless after they interrogated him and got what they want. ]
no subject
Swallowing the lump in his throat when his face gets lifted, Stiles tries to scowl but ends up just looking a little relieved. He's exhausted and spent and wants nothing more than to go home, to curl up with Derek for hours, but now he's afraid after all of that, he could lose him anyway. ] You're an idiot, you couldn't have waited for me to try to figure a way out--or for Scott, or something?! Gods, Derek, you do not get to die on me, okay?
[ His voice is trembling and a tear spills out from over his eyes, and there's fierce relief when he leans forward for just a second and puts their foreheads together, inhales. The two of them are maybe at fifty percent strength, at most, and he's despairing about how they're going to get out without getting impaled, because he doesn't want to die here, when a tiny voice says from behind him--
"Ser Stiles, I know howta get out." ]
no subject
A pack is lost without an alpha, and they could've lost both of theirs.
He shakes his head a little as Stiles yells at him, thumbs sweeping over his cheeks and fingers fanning across his jaw and neck, feeling his pulse in his fingertips. ] No-- I couldn't. I won't. [ Couldn't wait, won't die.
Nuzzling against him as he presses their foreheads together, he still at the tiny voice that speaks up. Straightening, he finally takes in the other presence that he'd hardly noticed, and something lodges itself in his throat. There's blood all over him, and it's all he can really smell, but he's imagining a ghost, sweet honeysuckle rather than the tart honey that Kate carried with her. That can't be, Kate took her, had to have killed her for her lineage-- ]
Selena?
no subject
Selena looks at Derek when he says her name, and so does Stiles, as everything he thought is suddenly confirmed, in one wrecked look on the alpha's face. The little girl sounds awestruck for a moment, and whispers you're the big bad wolf, but she doesn't look terrified or anything. Rather, she takes a couple steps towards them, until she closes her small hand into Stiles' palm, startling him out of where he was looking at Derek. ] C'mon.
no subject
It takes Stiles speaking to draw him back, and he drops his hands down to briefly brush his palms over Stiles' neck, following his shoulders before he actually looks at him again. Like he's afraid that the spell will break and she'll be gone, or he'll disappear. That Derek will wake up in the middle of winter and they'll be lost.
So all he does is offer the little girl a slow nod, until he's shifting up to a crouch rather than kneeling. The adrenaline is still running in his veins, but it won't be for long. ] Go.
no subject
he follows selena out towards the back. there's a tiny little crevice that selena must have been shimmying through--she looks back at stiles as she realizes she can't fit him through. carefully, he reaches over and grabs her shoulders, looks her in the eyes. ] I need you to go get the wolves and bring them here. Just yell for them really, really loud, okay? This part is safe, right?
[ she nods, and stiles figures if she can get through, the wolves can tear the opening a little wider to make room for both stiles and derek to crawl out. sitting back, stiles immediately turns his attention back to derek and puts a hand over one of the gaping wounds at his side. ] You're not--you're not really healing fast, why aren't you healing fast? Derek, if you--you can't, we're gonna get you out of here okay, okay? We have to.
[ "we have to"--he repeats it again, a little faintly, a little dizzied at the idea of derek dying right here, dying because of stiles-- ]
no subject
When they come to a stop, he looks at the crevice, frowning at it quietly before looking to the little girl-- his daughter-- and listening to what Stiles says. She can do it, she has to do it, because otherwise they're stuck in here. The other wolves won't be able to break through the "cage" up front, and that's the only entrance that any of them could possibly know of. Especially with Derek's blood staining the wood.
His skin flinches at Stiles' touch, but he doesn't make a noise to go with it. Instead, he bows forward to press their foreheads together, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath that is all Stiles. ]
Wolfsbane on the spikes, probably. I'll be okay. We're together again-- you'll make sure of it.