laography | you could be my ever after

[ So here's the thing. The problem with living in the mediary kingdom between Heaven and Hell is that sometimes things get out. The two kingdoms have been so adamant about trying to kill each other for so long that they'd started to use errant humans as vessels, by the angelic or the demonic or both if they argued enough, and the poor saps who got involved generally ended up dead.

Sometimes the demons got ballsy. Sometimes they were too strong for the humans and peasants that milled around the kingdom. Sometimes they picked a different victim, no matter how many times he'd fought and been taught about keeping demons away--there wasn't much you could do when it came screaming at you in the middle of the night, when you were already gasping for air from the dreams that had been haunting you since your mother was killed.

And well, the person, the demon, that's been inhabiting Stiles Stilinski's body as of yesterday afternoon, is now enjoying himself quite a bit. When the morning came, he'd slipped across the grounds, smiled at a guard and tried his best imitation of the kid he'd possessed ("Hey, dude!", as asinine as that sounded), walked up to a guard, and slit his throat. The point was to get to Castiel, and that guy had been an unfortunate collateral, but as he slipped past the road where the kid usually met up with the other informant, the sounds of his screaming were just too good to pass up a little chaos.

He's practically whistling as he makes his way through the forest. Just one stupid Heaven squire, one stupid Heaven knight (and oh, wouldn't someone be happy with him if he came back with Derek Hale's head on a pike? He'd make the best kind of guard dog, if you asked him.) and then everything after that?

Easy as pie. ]

[ It wasn't very often that Derek drifted away from Castiel, and especially not without good reason. He might have been one of the youngest sons of the Heavenly family, but that didn't mean he wasn't an ample target-- especially not with the views he had, whether they were openly voiced or not. Having a bodyguard with him at all times was ideal, or at least it was in his eyes. Nevermind the fact that the angel had become friends, since they'd met, and if there was one thing that Derek Hale did it was defend what was his.

But he trusts Scott to make sure nothing happens in his absence, has ever since he made him his squire and they'd started working more closely together. Scott's got a big heart, and greater loyalty than anyone else he knows in the Kingdom of Heaven. If Castiel is safe with anyone, it's him.

Even if he still worries, but he started to look forward to these meetings where he picks up the prince knight's messages for his angel. To say that he and Stiles started off on the right foot would be wrong, but at least now they've found a certain rhythm, one that he's honestly come to enjoy. Of course he's left trying to figure out the squire, but it's... a challenge.

But he can tell, the moment that he comes closer to the designated meeting place, that something is wrong.

There's sulfur and blood, and it makes his skin crawl.

It has him slowing to a stop further than he normally would, focus honed in on the familiar figure he's come to know. ]

[ Oh. Well, that wasn't quite what he was expecting.

But he's not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, now is he?

With a smile, the demon raises his hand in a single wave. He's sure Derek knows exactly what he is--he'd heard the stories about Hale the wolf, and his supposed wolf senses. And sure, he was probably raising one Hell of a stink, literally. The kid had made this choked off noise the minute he saw Derek, and started screaming, and god, how annoying that was, but he took a step forward anyway, dropping his hands and letting them rest on the strap of the kid's saddlebag, keeping his eyes hidden for the moment. ]

Got a message for Castiel, and I wasn't expecting his little dog, too!

[ Eyes narrowed and entire body tense, Derek resists a snarl as he watches the thing in Stiles' skin, feels nausea roiling in his stomach as he takes in the scent that lingers in the air around them. There's an absent thought that if it'd been Scott sent in his place, the younger wolf wouldn't have caught it right away-- and it makes him sicker, thinking that on top of the demon having Stiles, it could have killed Scott. His fingers slowly curl into fists, and he contains a growl so that it's nothing more than a subvocal silence waiting to escape.

But it makes his words rumble, as he speaks, threatening and deep. ]

What sort of message.

[ He knows. He knows exactly what's trying to masquerade as Stiles. And he's trying to put together the best way to get it out of him without hurting him further. ]

Oooh, hasn't anyone ever told you to control your temper? [ Mouth curling into a grin (and not at all unlike one of Stiles' usual ones, lopsided or toothy or a mix of both), he spreads his hands wide, taunting. He knows too. He can hear the kid yelling--Derek, Derek, run run he's going to kill you, he can't, get back to Cas--and he drawls out. ]

That he's got two minutes to surrender before I make my second casualty of today.

[ And then, he flashes his eyes, dark black. ]

[ Though he manages so well to keep himself in check, keep himself from snarling and letting his anger free, the mere sight of the ink spreading across amber has his own eyes sparking red. The sugarglass green-and-gold that signifies his humanity disappears in an instant, and with it what constitutes as his grasp on his anchor. ]

Take the message to him yourself. [ That comes out in a definite snarl, as Derek forces himself to stay where he is. ] I'm sure that'd make you more than happy-- kill and take the guard dog, and waltz right into Heaven.

[ He's sorry, Stiles. ]

[ Oh, this is fun. ]

That's the plan! But I think you'd make a stellar hellhound, if you want some options. [ He drops his hands backwards again, listening to the choked off noise that Stiles makes in the back of his head, and grinning, just a little wider. ] Ooh, see, this little bastard doesn't like that very much. I bet he thinks you're too noooble [ snidely ] to ever stoop so low.

[ And then he pauses, as if listening. ] Actually, I think he thinks you just don't belong where you are at all. [ NO ] So maybe you could just make your life much easier for your prince, and for your own sad little conscious.

[ And then he rocks back on his heels, rolling his head back and letting his eyes return back to Stiles' amber brown. ] Or else I'm just gonna have to kill you.

[ It's interesting how quickly a demon will locate your weakest point and rip it wider, make it hurt even worse. They don't even actually need to know you as a person, it's just an inherent ability that all of them have from the very moment that they lay their eyes on you. Derek has dealt with a number of them, had been to bed with one before he knew how to identify them before it was too late.

They knew, and there was no other way to put it.

The words sink in like they're intended to, but he doesn't visibly react to them. Just watches the demon's movements closely, obviously, as if tracking every little nuance that it does with Stiles' body. And there's so many little quirks that would suit Stiles-- the roll of his head, the rocking back, the motion of his hands-- and it makes him sick to watch. ]

I'm afraid you're not going to have much of a choice in this. Really, I'd have thought you'd known this already-- I don't make anything easier for anyone.

You're a big tough guy, huh? All muscles and badass, and man, if you could see he things this kid does with you in his head--[ He turns his finger in a circle by his ear, crazy ] whoo! It's disgusting. I guess I don't blame him, you'd make a much better meat suit than this kid. He's all fragile.

[ Here comes that smile again. ] But you know that already, don't you. What're you gonna do to me--you know he's gonna feel every. Single. Bit of it. You can bite me all you want, wolfman, but it's gonna be Stiles [ And he says that so mockingly, like it's the stupidest name he's ever heard--to be fair, it is. ] who's gonna start howling.

[ There's always that moment of uncertainty when faced with a demon: truth, or lie? In the same way that they find the weakest point in a person, they're more than happy to twist words in whatever way pleases them the most. In this case, though, he pushes that aside and focuses instead on the unsubtle threat of Stiles suffering through every single thing that he could possibly do to the demon.

He knows. He knows very well that the demon could let Stiles to the front to experience it first hand. Knows it could leave midway into it, leave Stiles' body without a way to mend itself.

But he bares his teeth in a facsimile of a smile, all sharp and white and predatory, eyes like blood and only brightened by barely contained anger.

And something else. Something calculating and intelligent. ]

You make it sound like that's my only option.

Are we gonna get creative with the mental torture now? Because man, I've got that so under control. You should hear him screaming, he's been doing it since I got here--what kind of knight has panic attacks? He's starting to run himself dry. I'm going to ruin him, right after I'm done with you. He has such a bright everything, it's annoying as shit.

[ He cocks his head to the side, dropping his eyes again and returning the smile with one of his own. Maybe a part of him is scared--but as far as he knows, he's got the upper hand here. ] Y'know, I was dealing with this body to try and catch the one with the adorable brown eyes off guard, but you're a pretty good substitute. I mean, maybe I'll wear your meatsuit next!

[ His eyes flicker again, and this time he leans forward. ] Been an awful long time since I got my hands on you. Is that why you're so angry about this little brat, Derek? Is it because you're so stupid that you've got your eyes on someone from the wrong kingdom again?

I hate to tell you, but your taste? [ And he inhales through his teeth, a hissing noise--a very Stiles gesture. ] It's definitely retrograded, sweetie.

[ As if he hadn't already been incensed enough as it was.

Blood going cold, Derek's mind almost automatically twists the demon's inflection into the right tone of voice, all honey traps and sickeningly sweet delight. His stomach twists in his throat, and it takes far more willpower than he thought he actually had to keep from setting himself at the fucking monster in the human's skin. In only a few seconds, the smell of sulfur and blood is accompanied by ash and smoke, and it's all that he knows all over again. ]

You're going to get out of him. [ His voice comes out low and quiet, the rolling thunder of a growl gone from it as he meets black with red in an eerie calmness. ] Even if it's the last thing I do, I am going to rip you out of him and send you back to Hell.

[ It doesn't matter if the demon's got the upper hand or not. Doesn't matter if it's a ghost that haunts him even in the innermost walls of Heaven. Derek will rend the demon to the very ash and smoke that took away all that he had before it can be done again. ]

Edited 2013-05-06 08:02 (UTC)

I'll take you with me, sweetie. [ His mouth curls up into a grin, and it's so, so reminiscent of the old meatsuit, the one he--she, really, she always preferred being in a girl, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do--that it's practically a rush. Derek and his family were the real monsters, had been the real monsters all along, and poor, sweet, stupid little Derek had just walked right into the arms of that pretty little body until she took them out, listened to them scream. ]

You always were so good with fire. [ There's a horrified gasp from the squirt's body, like suddenly, everything made sense, and she almost rolls his eyes. Really? ] How would you like that, huh? I'll send you back to hell so you can watch all the things I did to your sister when she joined me. I wish I could have killed her too, but, y'know, can't be helped! [ And she shrugs Stiles' shoulders, pursing his lips. ] I get to have all the fun I want with her in the pit. You, your sister, your mom, your dad--oh! It'll be a family reunion.

[ The words dig in, grasp at the very heart of him, but Derek only tightens his jaw and his fists, reminds himself that he needs to get her out of Stiles before she does more damage. He fights the images that the demon tries to feed him, even as he takes a moment to close his eyes and breathe in slowly. It's not hard to imagine it-- he's been to Hell, been there and seen only a small portion of it beyond the taste of Kate Argent-- and there's no denying that he's dreamt of it before.

But it's not just him here, now.

He exhales as he opens his eyes, focusing on Kate in Stiles' skin again. ]

Are you going to keep talking in the hopes that that'll kill me, or are you actually going to do something?

You've always been so impatient. [ Her hand comes down to wrap around the dirk on Stiles' armor belt, and she unsheathes it, admiring the bright silver for a few seconds. ] Always rushing everything. If you weren't so damn pretty, it'd drive me nuts.

[ And then, she takes the knife and draws it up his forearm, opening from spot to spot and turning the arm over to let the blood drip onto the forest floor. The kid lets out a swear and a--no, no, leave me here, let her kill me, go find Cas, run--and she cocks his head, raising eyebrows at Derek and practically taunting him. ]

He's screaming for you, you know! Not even for himself.

[ Something could be said to that, but he's too entranced by the brightness of the blade that she draws from Stiles' belt. His skin crawls and he bristles further, feels the press of fangs behind his lips and practically lets it come at the first strike of fresh blood to his senses. It's overwhelming, in the sea of sulfur and smoke that's already assaulting him, and he can't even deny that it's because it belongs to Stiles.

But he can say, at least, that he believes her when she says that Stiles' focus isn't even on himself. ]

Whatever happens to me will be worth it. [ Not even said offhandedly, but simply matter of factly, Derek finally moves forward-- lunges in towards the demon that brought his world to ruin and the boy who might've been fixing things. ]

[ Now there's a game to be had. Her mouth breaks into a wild grin and as Derek lunges, she throws the bloodied hand out and focuses, enough to use her telekinesis to slam Derek into a tree.

Pursing her lips, she moves forward, ignoring the kid screaming in her ears, arm still held out, still bleeding everywhere as she crosses the clearing. With her free hand, as she gets close, she grabs Derek's chin between two fingers. ]

We used to have so much fun together, don't you remember? And now you're trying to kill me. It's amazing how time flies. [ She smacks her lips together, like it's thoughtful. ] Poor, stupid, Derek Hale. For someone who acts like he doesn't have a heart--[ And a squeeze of her hand holding him, bloodied fingers curling and sending a fresh wave of blood dripping into the grass. ]-you're so easy to fool with it.

[ Though he's not surprised, he mentally berates himself for simply lunging in-- not that he had another option, given the fact that he'd been stationary up until that point and she probably would've thrown him into something the moment he moved either way-- and rolls his eyes up, teeth bared in a slight grimace. It hurts, but it's low on the list of worse things he's been put through.

Funny, considering who's doing it to him.

He looks down at her as she comes forward, testing the strength of her telekinesis. He's dealt with demon-grade telekinesis before, but he has an idea of what he should do. The words come to mind quickly, falling into place as Kate takes Stiles' long fingers and uses them to grasp his face.

All brain and no brawn is not an accurate descriptor of Derek Hale. ]

I remember. And I remember how much fun you had ripping that heart out. [ He snarls as he speaks, but there's a clarity that follows as he fights, brings a hand up enough to grab hold of Stiles' wrist. ] Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino--

[ It's a hair trigger reaction, the words that make her blood literally run cold--her brain connects the hand on her wrist, and as she tries to tear away, force it off, it's a quick and horrifying realization that she's trapped.

(Or, in a better realization, she's about to be forced out.)

But Kate's not giving this up without a fight, not until she can stab the knife in and twist it deep, and as her head jerks back from the force of the exorcism, she shrieks. ]

Laura, Laura, she doesn't even remember her name anymore, I've burned her so many times she's gonna be just like me, her and your mother and your father and the kids, all of them, screaming and burning and it's all because of you!

[ The moment that he feels the hold on him weaken, Derek doesn't hesitate to tighten his own and force her back. It's a little more violently than he'd like, but there's no time for gentleness when Stiles' blood is all he can smell this close up, and Kate continues to twist his voice and his words and his hands. He follows his forward momentum to take them both down, pinning his possessed body underneath him and taking his chin firmly in his hand.

Even if Kate takes the dirk, drives it in him like she drives her words deeper and deeper, he refuses to let go. No matter what she tries to do, he's going to get her out of Stiles.

And he's going to make her look him in the eye as he does, even as he takes in every word that she says. ]

Qui fertis super caelum caeli ad Orientem, Ecce dabit voci Suae vocem virtutis, tribuite virtutem Deo--

[ The world goes sideways and she shrieks, can already feel the licks of the hellfire at her feet, calling back home, and Kate fights it the best she can, head jerking as she's trapped, pinned in place by the sheer weight of Derek and the fact that this damn useless meatsuit is too weak to do anything useful--]

They hate you, they scream about it every time I'm there, how it's all your fault, because I didn't kill them, it was you, you killed them all--[ She gasps sharply, meets his gaze, eyes flickering from dark black to amber and back again, staring him right back in the eyes. ]

Him too, you should hear him screaming, he's so scared he's gonna die, because you killed him!

Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica.

[ As Kate screams and fights, Derek only tightens his grip-- Stiles will bruise, but he'll live-- and his resolve. It's hard to swallow down what she's saying, but he has no choice but to do it now. (There's truth to every demon's lie, always somewhere underneath everything they say, and he knows it. Knows that it's his fault, knows he killed them, knows that everything that happened was because of him.) ]

Ergo draco maledicte et omnis legio diabolica adjuramus te. Cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque aeternae Perditionis venenum propinare.

[ But he will never believe that his family is in Hell. Someday, he will be, but never them. ]

[ It's getting harder and harder to scream now, as the heat's crawling up, licking at her soul and forcing her, out, out, out, but like Hell Kate's going out without a fight, and she hisses--]

You should hhhear him, how much he hates you, because you're killing him, just like you killed them, because you're a monster, you fucking monster, and there'll never--never be anything you can do to change that! You're the one who belongs in Hell, and when you come--hhhh--when you come I'm going to bring you down to the circle you deserve, and I'm gonna teach--teach the little girl from the house, the little annoying--kid just how to kill you so she can ask you why you let her die--

[ As she struggles to continue screaming, to continue cursing him-- ] Vade, Satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciae, hostis humanae salutis. Humiliare sub potenti manu dei, contremisce et effuge, invocato a nobis sancto et terribili nomine, quem inferi tremunt-- [ Derek shifts the grip he has on Stiles' face from his chin. His grip remains firm, and he stares Kate down all the way to the end, but he almost cradles his face in his hand as he keeps going, voice hard with resolve. ]

Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos, Domine. Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos. Ut inimicos sanctae Ecclesiae humiliare digneris, te rogamus, audi nos. [ And yet at the same time, all he can picture is Laura's face with oil in her eyes, teeth bared in madness and breathing smoke from her very core. He tells himself that his sister's moved on, gone with the rest of his family and far from Hell, but all that does is supply him with a similar image. ]

Ut inimicos sanctae Ecclesiae te rogamus, audi nos. [ Where the first thing he's shown in hell is a mirror, smooth and perfect so that he can see every single detail of the image. ] Terribilis Deus de sanctuario suo. Deus Israhel ipse truderit virtutem et fortitudinem plebi Suae.

[ And all that smiles back is those dark, empty eyes. ] I'll see you there soon. [ The red bleeds out of his eyes, return to colorless humanity. ] Benedictus Deus. Gloria Patri.

[ Being exorcised, Stiles might be able to remark later, is probably the most painful thing he's ever experienced. He can feel it when his head drops back, can literally feel the demon speeding out of his mouth, all smoke and his subconscious comes back like being thrown against asphalt, in a flash of bright, agonizing pain. First his arm, then his head, a furious pounding that must be whatever Kate left behind--the oil disappears out of his eyes and he manages to meet Derek's eyes, bright, amber, and human. ]

Derek--[ He manages to wheeze, staring at him, and chokes out ]--Holy shit, I think I'm dead. [ And then passes out cold. ]


	Once upon a time This place was beautiful And mine But now It's just a bottom line Barely comes to mind But ever after was mine

hooo kicking this off in the middle, regretting nothing

jfc Stiles honey.

this is going to be awful

It is. I'm gonna die.

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hhhhhhhhhh

I HATE THIS AND EVERYTHING IT STANDS FOR.

I DO TOO but at the same time i love it hurts so gooood

WHEEZES AND IS NOT SORRY

HEHEH

DRAGS HANDS DOWN FACE

casually beats derek over the head with his guilt

I'm so not sorry for this.

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