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CHARACTERS: stiles stilinski & derek hale.
LOCATION: the hallways of floor nine
WARNINGS: idk psychological trauma probably, possible triggers for mental illness?
SUMMARY: stiles went missing into the depths of the ship's hallways just a few short days after the 32nd jump, and now the ship has finally tired of him and spat him right back out at derek's feet basically.
NOTES: backdated to the 17th because i do what i want

[stiles hasn't the first clue how long he's been wandering around in the hallways lost and trying to find his way... anywhere really. anywhere except more hallways, end on end on end. anywhere that he didn't hear that click tapping in the walls that sent his pulse racing and his mind spinning.

when the hallways finally do end with stiles standing in front of a room door, derek's room door, stiles doesn't know to trust it at first. he doesn't know what to trust anymore, but his mind is probably last on that list. he's lost and tired and emotionally drained, and he's beginning to wonder if there's really any sort of point to pushing on anyway. at this point stiles doesn't even really care about going home, he just wants to be somewhere.]

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[ they all go looking. it's like a terrible repeat of before, scott and derek frantically chasing stiles scent around the ship, refusing to believe he's really gone. he hasn't said anything, but derek's started to think stiles is just gone again, like he'd been before.

and then he literally collides with stiles when he tries to leave his room.

was this good luck? derek couldn't even tell, just looks at stiles for a long moment, expression tight, eyes wide. he looks unhurt. had he just been hiding somewhere? derek just-- ]

Where have you been?

[ derek's tone is sharp with worry and relief. ]

[derek running into him shouldn't have surprised stiles. he recognized the door number well enough, but then, he'd recognized the wall of his bedroom at another point, his father's office, the school locker room. and they had always left him in the end, when the tapping began to pick up again.

none of these previous tricks of his mind had featured people in them, though, and when derek plows full on into him stiles is forced to admit, with a winded shock, that maybe derek is actually there after all.

he stumbles back a few steps at the blow, and then a few more at derek's sharp tone. body going taut and twitchy. he laughs at the question because he has no idea what to say.] That's what I'd like to know, Derek. I don't even really know where I am now.

[he starts shaking visibly, the skin around his eyes pulling tight]

I have no idea what's going on anymore and I'm so tired, Derek. Can't I just go home? I know what I did was bad, okay, I know and I'm so so sorry but I can't take this anymore, Derek, I can't become my mother, my dad can't go through that again!

[ so none of this was good. derek remembers isaac coming back from the hallways, sleeping for days in hayley's room. he wondered if isaac had looked like this, drawn and pale, smelling of fear and something else, something that made derek's hackles raise instinctively. ]

Come on. Come here, your room's right here. [ derek's hand is gentle when he reaches for stiles. he doesn't have access, but he's hoping stiles has the presence of mind to open the door on his own. ] You're fine. You're going to get home. We all are.

[ it's empty optimism. derek has no idea if they'll ever get home, or if they'll ever get home and stay there. dereks' been jerked back and forth too many times to be convinced. ]

[stiles flinches hard when derek reaches for him. it's not for any particular reason to do with derek personally. certainly, he'd rather scott or his dad was here right now instead, when his sanity was feeling more fractured than ever, but he would flinched from them as well.

he's shaking his head, one hand shoved deep in his pocket and wrapped so tightly around the key that he keeps in there that it's teeth dig into the soft flesh of his palm and draw blood.]

That's not my room, Derek. Not any more than this awful place is our home. [he laughs bitterly, bringing his other hand up to rub viciously at the gathering moisture in his eyes.] And I might have actually been fine with that for a little while to be honest, Beacon Hills was getting crowded with all the dead bodies, but the poison followed us here, Derek.

[ derek can smell it, the sharp, metallic scent of blood. that, as much as the way stiles flinches, stops him in his tracks, has him lifting his hands. he doesn't remember the last time stiles flinched when derek reached for him. it's been a while. derek doesn't make a habit of casual contact, but what little gestures he does make have never been met with-- ]

Stiles, calm down.

[ it's not the right thing to say. derek knows that, but it's all he has at the moment, struggling to understand what's happened, where stiles has been. ]

Sit down in here and tell me what happened.

[stiles doesn't sit. this shouldn't be a surprise, because stiles basically never does what derek tells him to anyway. he winds up pacing instead, hands coming out of his pockets to flail as he starts to talk, because doing that has always been more comfortable, and because he's not so sure how much comfort the key actually brings him anymore.

as he walks and speaks, he only gets himself more keyed up though, 'til he's practically hyperventilating.]

Dad was wrong, there was nothing wrong with the MRI reading in the first place - I can't sleep, I can't wake up, the nogitsune is trapped and gone but I hear it coming for me in the walls--

red is the clue, red marks the spot and there's red everywhere derek, and scott knows too much and the rest of you don't know anything at all and I don't know which is worse but she said my name, Derek.

[a sharp breath] Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've actually heard my name?

[ it's shocking, seeing stiles unravel. derek's never been privy to this, though he thinks stiles and scott have both seen derek coming apart at the seams. this is something else, something the ship wrought, putting pressure on whatever it is derek is missing, what he doesn't know yet. he doesn't know what to do other than snag stiles as he paces, give him a gentle shake, like he can rattle this out of him. ]

Take a breath. [ because that's what's worrying derek the most, the way stiles breath is coming too fast, working himself into a panic. ] Slow down and breathe. If you pass out I'm dumping you in Scott's room for him to deal with.

[ it's an empty threat. stiles probably knows that, but derek still makes it, trying to spark something in him that isn't fear. ]

Nothing's coming for you. [ his voice is low, but sincere. he doesn't know if stiles is going to believe him. ] The red here has nothing to do with you. It's always been here. Since before any of us were even on the ship.

[ he can't explain his mother. he can't explain the rest. he doesn't want to try, not really. ]

[stiles gasps in a breath like he's hitting his cue, and then slumps forward suddenly as if his strings have been cut. slowly, his head comes up to stare at derek, expression strangely still. a lake with no ripples.

he chews on his lower lip, the skin cracked, and finally responds. softly.]

I know you don't remember Derek. But red yarn was how I tracked the nogitsune, how I connected all the pieces. [how he figured out it was him] And they gave me more red yarn, Derek. It was there. With the bear trap.

We found the body in the wall. Its old body, anyway. [a bitter little laugh here, rubbing a hand across his face] You can't kill a nogitsune, Derek, or at least we couldn't figure out how. All we could do was trap it.

So what if it got out again?

Edited 2014-07-10 03:16 (UTC)

[ derek pushes him back gently until he's sitting, mostly because derek's worried that stiles is going to collapse. this shouldn't be derek. this should be scott. scott would be better at this, know what to say. derek feels like he's floundering, entirely out of his depth. he doesn't remember any of this, doesn't know if he'll ever know these things. ]

I told you, it's rattling you. That's what this place does. It gives you things to--

[ derek's voice breaks, frustrated. he takes a deep breath. ]

It didn't get out. This place, it's playing with you. It knows. It's mimicking, that's all.

[ just like it had done for isaac, but derek can't talk about that without betraying his confidence, and he won't do that to isaac. ]

[and stiles sits. stiles stares down at his fingers. he doesn't bother to count them, because that sort of thing hasn't work right since arima. but he stares at them just the same.]

How can you be so sure, Derek? It brought you here, it brought me, Scott. Isaac. Why couldn't it bring the nogitsune too?

It won't bring something it can't control.

[ this is a shot in the dark. it's a breath away from being a lie. derek doesn't know, but he thinks this is what stiles needs to hear, maybe. it's worth a try. ]

It doesn't want to be challenged. Anyone that does dies, Stiles. I've been here long enough to see that happen.

The nogitsune feeds off of chaos and pain. [stiles says, almost wryly. in the way someone can only do when they've had their best friend's blood on their hands, twisted the blade deeper into his stomach and just. smiled.]

And there's an awful lot of chaos and pain around here, Derek, you have to admit.

Too much.

[ because for derek's, that's the key, the failsafe. the ship won't bring something ancient and old here, not without crippling it. derek's seen gods on this ship, their powers taken away. the ship doesn't like challengers. he's seen the fall out over and over when people try. whatever the nogitsune had been, it wouldn't be anymore. not here. ]

I've been here since the ninth jump. I know what I'm talking about, Stiles.

[ he doesn't say it explicitly, but it's there, the "believe me" lingering in the statement. ]

stiles releases a shaky breath, tilts his head back to look up at derek with tired eyes.

he doesn't know how long he was lost in the hallways, and he thinks he slept, but then sometimes he thinks the whole thing was a dream as well. none of that really explains why he still feels so tired right now though.]

Okay, yeah. Sure. [too tired to argue it, and derek has been here much longer than him, so his word is probably worth something at least.

another exhale, and then mostly under his breath he says;] at least there were no bear traps this time.

[ it's probably not a real concession, or not much of one, but it's something. progress, maybe. stiles looks about to pass out, and derek's willing to just take the agreement and leave the rest. ]

There aren't going to be bear traps.

[ he crouches, starts pulling at stiles shoelaces. ]

There aren't bear traps in space.

[ yes, that's a logical statement. ]

[stiles stares down at derek messing about with his shoes like he can't quite figure out what the hell derek is doing down there. like, no, seriously, what? he opens his mouth to ask, stops, shakes his head.

opens his mouth again to say something completely different.] Except for the one in my locker. It snapped at the red yarn, maybe it doesn't like the nogitsune either.

[slight confusion now, brought on by equal parts sleepiness and being spun around by the hallways for the past week.] At least, I don't think the one in the asylum basement was doing it any favors.

wasn't doing me any favors either though

[ derek takes off one sneaker, then the other, sets them down by the bed. stiles says things, bits and pieces of what happened to him, and derek observes, but doesn't let himself comment. he doesn't think stiles takes well to pity, and derek isn't very good at giving it. ]

The one in your locker's gone. Lay down.

[ derek pushes at his shoulder for good measure, more gently than he'd done in the past. they're far beyond the point where derek used to shove stiles around casually. ]

You're going to sleep. You need it.

[stiles hated pity, derek had that right about him for sure. it was part of the reason that he tried to avoid talking about anything even remotely serious with people who weren't professionals paid to deal with his shit, so he filled the air with endless inane facts that meant nothing at all and hoped that nobody looked too close.

that sort of thing had gotten harder after scott was bitten, after stiles was bitten in a completely metaphorical way, after the ship and arima and everything else. sometimes things slipped through.]

Evil never sleeps, Derek. [stiles murmurs as derek maneuvers him on the bed.] That's where it gets you, in your dreams.

Then don't dream.

[ because that's absolutely an option, though stiles is being terribly cryptic. that's a bad sign, one that derek might take more seriously if he didn't just chalk it up to exhaustion. ]

Nothing's going to get you. I'm next door, I'd hear it coming.

[ he says this while yanking the blankets up over stiles, tucking him in. it's a weird thing to do, harks back to derek's youth. he'd tucked cora in like this a long time ago. derek hadn't thought he'd still remember how. ]

[stiles' laughter is so faint it's almost nonexistent as he tries to snuggle down into the pillow, frowning at all the ways that the pillow isn't quite right. because of this, he's sort of distracted when he says;]

--doesn't come from outside, you only hear it leave...

Stiles.

[ frustrated, quiet. derek likes things he can attend to physically, likes to be able to deal with threats by force. the idea that he might not be able to is difficult to reconcile. ]

Go to sleep.

[ is what he says finally, more to himself than anything else, because it's not like stiles is conscious enough for it to matter. ]

[sorry what's that derek, stiles is already asleep.]

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