Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/1237561. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Choose_Not_To_Use_Archive_Warnings, Major_Character_Death, Underage Category: F/M, M/M Fandom: Teen_Wolf_(TV) Relationship: Derek_Hale/Stiles_Stilinski, others_mentioned_in_passing_-_Relationship Character: Derek_Hale, Stiles_Stilinski, Scott_McCall, Peter_Hale, Malia_Tate, Allison_Argent, Ethan_(Teen_Wolf), Aiden_(Teen_Wolf), Isaac_Lahey, Kira Yukimura, Alan_Deaton Additional Tags: Dubious_Consent, Nogitsune_Stiles, Nogitsune_Trauma Stats: Published: 2014-02-25 Chapters: 1/? Words: 1023 ****** Chow Time ****** by BirdyMarie Summary "Oh, and he tried so very hard," the thing breathed, as it advanced on Derek's crouched form. He put his hands out, as if to gentle a cowed animal. "C'mon, Derek, come here, it's okay." The voice was so very dead while it tried to be soothing. Derek felt the growl boiling up in his chest as it took a step closer. "You are just what I need." Notes scuse this for being jumbled I'm writing it as it comes and it's going to be unbeta'd and this is just me vomitting ugly out after Echo House. Scuse my process. Derek could hear the fight ahead. These fucking woods, it was always the woods. He wished he could scoop the whole town up and transplant it anywhere but next to these fucking woods. He picked out Isaac's heartbeat; it was still pounding so the young wolf was not downed yet. Derek could not decide if that was a good thing. He heard Peter skid to a stop behind him and pulled up to look at his uncle. They did not have time for one of his tricks. But the older wolf had an enraptured look on his face. "She's here," he whispered. A human howl sounded through the trees. Derek turned back in the direction of the fight. "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?" Derek's nose wrinkled at the voice. It was Stiles' voice, but he knew it was the nogitsune. He took off again, deciding Peter could sort himself. He bounded into the clearing around the Nemeton, and there was Isaac's back hovered over Stiles' stupid wiry legs in those idiotic maroon pants. The knee was blown out of the right side. Derek could smell his blood and was almost overwhelmed with his wish that it did not smell acridly wrong. "Come better into the light, Peter, so I can see you myself!" Derek took quick stock of everyone else. Kira was supporting a bloodied Allison whose wrist was hanging at a gross angle. Scott was, helpfully, unconscious. Aiden and Ethan were circling where Isaac had Stiles pinned down. Lydia was not visible. Derek could smell charred skin. "Stiles, Stiles come on we know you can get out here," Isaac's wretched voice was saying. "Oh, he's not going to come out for you, you prick," yelled the not-Stiles voice, and then Isaac was flying back towards Derek. He caught him instinctively. They were knocked to the ground, his final beta whimpering against his chest. "But for Peter...oh, you should all hear him, the little shit's howling like a wolf himself!" The thing inside the boy laughed and it sounded like glass shards coming up his throat. "He actually tried to tell me I couldn't kill you, Uncle Petey! Said I don't get to, said he wants to do it him..se- Oh hey, you're not Peter." The thing was standing over them now, looking down at Derek quizzically. Then its eyebrows raised and it looked like Stiles' excited face, but there was absolutely no light behind its eyes. "Ohhh," it breathed, sounding reverent. Derek rolled over with Isaac pressed to him, shielding him as much as he could while instinctively backing away. This thing, this abomination, was horrific in theory and terrifying in person. Isaac got his hands and feet under him and got out of the way. Derek let him go. In the back of his mind, he laughed at himself and his need to have the attention of monsters. "Oh, and he tried so very hard," the thing breathed, as it advanced on Derek's crouched form. He put his hands out, as if to gentle a cowed animal. "C'mon, Derek, come here, it's okay." The voice was so very dead while it tried to be soothing. Derek felt the growl boiling up in his chest as it took a step closer. "You are just what I need." He banged into something hard - a tree. Fuck. Nowhere to go. The nogitsune reached out toward him, mouth falling open and twisting in anticipation. Then, an arrow lodged itself in its thigh. Stiles, blessedly Stiles started shrieking. "You could have done worse," came Lydia's voice, and Derek turned to see her with her hands on the shoulders of a brunette- Malia Tate? "Could have done better," she replied. "I was aiming for his arm." "That's what you get for trying to trick shoot your first time out," Allison gasped. "Femoral artery!" Stiles wailed. Derek heard Scott's heartbeat pick up and then they were both at the writhing boy's side. "Hang on, Stiles, Stiles, we brought the blow torch, we'll get it closed off-" "Relax it didn't hit anything important. What the fuck is going on?" Derek looked around at all of them, then reached for Stiles' arm to take some of the pain. The boy would only do the same for him. "Don't! Do-don't, don't try it, it wants it, it wants-" Stiles arched and rolled onto his injured leg, as everyone converged and cursed and Scott grabbed Derek's hand away. "Pain, pain is an anchor, fuck, why does pain have to be what makes you human?" Stiles was whimpering. "Look, we have to do something," Derek said. "Get out, get away," Stiles moaned. "Maybe if we brain him we can get him back to Deaton in time," Malia said. "He can't sleep!" Scott yelled. "We don't have a lot of choice, Scott," Lydia said, standing and looking around. "Where did the gun go? We can use the butt." "He broke it," Kira and Malia said at the same time. "Look, we can't just all stand around and wait for that thing to come back," Aiden said, backing away. "'Lia shoulda shot m'head," Stiles was beginning to slur. "No! No, Stiles," Scott grabbed him by the hair and the boys eyes widened. "You stay awake, you hear me?" "What happened to my hands?" he whimpered in response. "You burnt them on the shotgun," Scott said patiently, "remember?" Stiles started shaking his head against Scott's hand, squeezing his own into fists and releasing them over and over again, rolling his leg back and forth. "Get me-...take me DOWN," he was sobbing and whining and crying and Derek could no longer take it. He roared to silence the circle. "I have the truck, let's go."     That had been a week ago. One week since it had first set eyes on him. One week since Peter had found his daughter - Malia - and had spent every waking moment teaching her every inkling that passed through his mind. One week since they had spilled into Deaton's clinic, hoping for a solution. And it had only taken one week for the monster to get back out. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!