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"So this Argent girl. What caught your eye?" Dean asked, pulling out of the parking lot of a Sleep Right Inn.
"Make it sound a little creepier, Dean." Sam said, tapping away on his computer. "The girl was seventeen."
Dean nodded but didn't say anything. "Anyway, this place, uhhhh..." Sam tapped on his laptop, "Beacon Hills. They are experiencing an unusually high number of deaths."
"How high?"
Sam shook his head. "Hard to say. A lot of people are missing, a lot of them are chalked up to regular human murderers, a lot of them are 'animal attacks'."
"So what are you thinking?" Dean asked.
"Well, they are in dire need of a history teacher and an English teacher. Senior year, both of them."
Dean made a face. "Teachers, Sam? Do we even have the papers to fake that kind of thing?"
Sam pulled a folder out of the backseat and flipped it open. In it, there were resumes, letters of recommendation, degrees and test scores. "Look what Cas got us before he had to go back upstairs."
Dean sighed.
"We can't just be FBI agents?" He whined.
Sam shook his head. "We need to get in there. The center of activity is the school."
Dean sighed.
***
"Scott? Stiles?" Sheriff Stilinski said and stuck his head into Stiles bedroom. They were where he had left them an hour ago. Stiles was on the bed, a biology book in front of him. Scott was sitting at the desk, looking out the window. Melissa didn't want Scott alone, not after Allison.
"Yeah, dad?" Stiles said and looked up. Sometimes when Stiles looked at him like that, it took his father's breath away. He looked so much like his mother, it made him forget just for the briefest second that she was gone.
"I'm going in." He said. He fixed the collar on his jacket.
"All right." Stiles said and nodded. Stilinski took a step into the room and the grief there was palpable. He had seen it before; when a teenager finds out how very fragile life was-
It cut deeper than Stilinski would like to think.
He crouched down in front of Scott who blinked and pasted a smile on his face. "Thanks for letting me crash, Sheriff." He said softly. And Stilinski knew that tone too. He knew that Scott didn't want to speak up too loudly because his voice would crack and he might crack right along with it.
"You are always welcome here. You know that."
Scott nodded. "Yeah, I know."
Stilinski stood and wrapped Scott in a hug. Scott leaned into the Sheriff and shuddered. He had forgotten what it felt like to be hugged like this.
"You'll be ok." Stilinski said. "You will."
Scott nodded into his chest. He didn't have the words.
Stilinski left moments later and they heard the door slam.
Neither boy moved.
***
"Well. Sunny Beacon Hills." Dean said as he drove past the sign.
“It looks nice.” Dean said diplomatically.
Sam gave him a look .
“What? I just said it looks nice.” Dean peered out the window of the Impala. “Like the place you would raise a family in. Go shopping every Saturday. See movies in the park during the summer.”
“And possibly get eaten by werewolves if you were out in the woods camping.” Sam added.
“Well, Sammy, you can’t have everything.” Dean said. He turned down a few streets until they came up on a small bungalow. “This the address?” He asked.
Sam checked his phone. “It’s what Cas sent.”
Dean pulled into the driveway and nodded. “Let’s get to it.”
They both exited the Impala, grabbed their bags from the trunk and entered the house. Cas had found a house that was already furnished and paid for it using god-knows-what-money and account and credit check and references.
“Did he say when he would be back?” Sam asked, dropping his bag by the door. He stroked a finger over some of the runes that were carved into the door.
“Thursday.” Dean said. He wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Stocked with everything he liked; Cas was a good man.
Sam began to explore and found a well-stocked library near the back of the house. It looked like it had been converted from the formal dining room. He was impressed with the selection of books. “Looks like Cas brought a little bit of the bunker to Beacon Hills!” Sam called to Dean. Dean poked his head into the and let out a low whistle.
“Yes, he did.” Dean said.
Sam heard Dean tromp up the stairs and then call down, “Two master suites! You want the north or south side?”
“South!” Sam shouted back.
Dean threw his own bag into the northern facing room and looked out on the street. He watched as a police officer got into his police car and drove off. A dirt bike was parked in front, close to an old beat up Jeep.
“You ready? Interviews start in a couple hours.” Sam said.
“What if we don’t get it? What then?” Dean asked.
“Cas guaranteed it. We’re fine.” Sam said with a shrug.
Dean nodded and Sam turned to his own room. Dean went back downstairs and out the front door to get the last bags from the trunk. As he unlocked it, he heard a door slam behind him and looked back. A younger man was staring at Dean and his car. Dean raised a hand.
“Hi.” He said.
The man’s dark eyes turned to him. “Hey.” He said. He gestured to the car. “She’s beautiful.”
Dean grinned. “Thanks.”
“’67, right?” The guy said, striding across the street, his eyes still on the Impala.
“Good eye.” Dean said with a nod.
“Mint.” The guy said. He ran a hand gently across her hood and whistled. He looked up at the house a second before Sam opened the front door. He raised a hand at Sam as well.
“I’m sorry,” He said with a quick grin and offered Dean his hand. “I’m Derek.”
“Dean.”
Derek gestured to Sam who was coming down the steps. “Boyfriend?”
“No, brother.” Dean said, rolling his eyes. “Sam, this is Derek.”
Derek and Sam shook hands. “Nice place,” Derek said gesturing to the house. “Did you guys just move in?”
“Yeah, about ten minutes ago.” Sam said with a laugh.
All three turned when they heard a door close across the street. Two high school kids were leaving the house that Derek had parked in front of. They headed across the street and smiled at Sam and Dean.
“New neighbors.” The thinner one said and offered his hand. “Stiles Stilinski. I live across the street.”
“Scott McCall.” The other guy with shaggy hair said. “I sometimes live across the street.”
“Nice to meet you.” Sam and Dean said at the same time.
Dean saw it again, when Derek and Scott’s eyes flicked towards the front of the house a second before they all heard the door open. He narrowed his eyes and Scott might have seen that expression before Dean managed to smooth it away.
Castiel made his way smoothly into the conversation. Introductions were made all around. When Cas reached out to shake Derek’s hand, there was a second of hesitation, something the average person wouldn’t have noticed but -
“Hey, we gotta get to school, but if you need anything-“ Stiles nodded to his house. “My dad’s the sheriff so we know the lay of the land pretty well around here.”
“Thank you.” Cas said genially. He nodded to the other three and turned back to the house. The small group watched as he went back inside and closed the door behind him.
“Your boyfriend is not much for small talk, huh?” Stiles said.
Sam laughed. Dean sighed. “I guess not. It was nice meeting you all.” Dean turned back to the house and Sam followed. Sam shut the door and they found Cas in the library.
“You just found a pack of werewolves.” He said matter-of-factly. “An alpha as well.”
“Derek?” Sam and Dean said at the same time.
Cas snorted.
***
“Those are not ordinary humans.” Derek said as they walked away. “They smelled… off.”
“There was silver and wolfsbane in the trunk of their car.” Scott said. Derek gestured for them to get in his car.
“Did the Argents call in more hunters?” Stiles said as he slid into the front seat.
Derek turned the engine over and shook his head. “I can’t tell. But after Allison-“
Stiles shot him a sharp look.
“It’s ok.” Scott said from the back.
Derek sighed. “After Allison, could you blame them?”
“We’ll have to look into them.” Scott said.
“Great. Because between everything that’s happened and the nogitsune wandering around with my face-“ Stiles said, irritated before the day even began.
“We’ll take care of it.” Derek said.
***
The interviews went off without a hitch, the references passed and Dean was the new English teacher and Sam was the new History teacher at Beacon Hills High.
Cas made them cupcakes.
***
They were not due in their classrooms until Monday morning so that left an entire three days for Dean to freak out. Sam had been a TA at Stanford so he wasn’t worried about being in front of a group of kids lecturing but the last time Dean had been in front of a group of kids he was supposed to teach, it had devolved, rather quickly, into a violent game of dodge ball.
Friday afternoon, Cas sat him down and placed a large book in front of him.
“What is this?” Dean said flipping through the book that was neatly marked by date in green and-
“Are these lesson plans?” Dean gasped, going through the book. There were plans for three months in advance. Cas looked pleased.
“You seemed stressed and the subject is a favorite of mine.” Cas said.
“You are worth your weight in diamonds and gold , man.” Dean said.
Sam heard the comment from the kitchen. Unfortunately, no one was there to witness him roll his eyes.
***
“Well, here’s to hoping that the new teachers do not grade on attendance.” Lydia said and raised a glass of crème soda Kira’s way. Kira and Malia raised their glasses in solidarity. Lydia inspected Kira’s nails once more to see if they had dried. Legally Blonde played in the background even though no one was paying attention.
“Or, you know, papers or tests or anything like that.” Malia added.
“You’ll be fine. We’re all here to help you.” Kira said and took Malia’s hand in hers. She held up a pastel purple for Malia’s thoughts. Malia shook her head and pointed to yellow.
“I like that one.” She said. Lydia tossed it over to Kira who caught it one handed.
“I’m starving.” Lydia said, flopping on Kira’s bed dramatically. “When is the pizza and sushi supposed to be here?”
Kira checked her clock. “I ordered it about half an hour ago-“
There was a soft knock on her door and Lydia immediately rebounded to her feet and threw open the door.
Scott, Stiles and Derek all stood there, Derek holding three large pizzas and seven containers of sushi.
“How much can three teenage girls eat?” He asked, looking at the pile of food in his hands with wide eyes.
“No.” Lydia said, pushing her way through Scott and Stiles and taking the food from Derek. “This is our night away from you and your wolfy craziness and we are painting our nails and watching stereotypical girl movies that none of us even care for and we are going to eat and no. Get out.” She said and turned to hand the pizza off to Kira before turning back and placing her hands on her hips.
“Lydia-“ Scott started.
“No.” Lydia said and raised a finger.
“We can have you back before nine.” Stiles promised.
“I’ll buy you a cheesecake.” Derek threw in.
“Just be our look out.” Scott begged.
Lydia sighed.
***
“Let’s go see Avengers.” Castiel suggested.
“How many times have you seen that?” Dean asked as he laced up his boots.
“Only twelve.” Cas replied stoically. “I favor Captain America.”
They both looked up to see Sam coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn in his hands and wearing Star Wars pajamas.
“You aren’t going?” Castiel asked, disappointed.
“They make those in your size?” Dean followed up.
“I thought we were staying in.” Sam said with a frown.
“Well, we can-“ Cas started.
“No, you guys go ahead. I can stay in one night.” Sam said. He yawned. “I might turn in early.”
After some negotiations, Dean and Cas eventually left and Sam sprawled out on the couch and turned on a Discovery Channel special he had been hoping to catch.
Sam knew they were supposed to go out. But, like good brothers do sometimes, he lied for his brother.
***
They took two cars; Derek’s FJ Cruiser and Lydia’s car. Sheriff Stilinski was working that night so when Lydia parked in front of their house there was no one to question why three teenage girls were hanging out around the car parked in front rather than inside. The house across from Stiles was dark when Derek, Scott and Stiles entered.
Lydia stood in between Malia and Kira. They watched the house suspiciously.
There was a loud bang and then some shouting before everything went eerily quiet. The girls exchanged a look and all three saw the hulking car come down the street at the same time.
“Shit.” Lydia said.
“What do we do?” Malia asked.
“Just like Derek asked. Distract them.” Kira said. She pulled Malia’s hair out of the messy bun it was in and then took Lydia’s hand and dragged her across the street just as the two men exited the car.
“Excuse me!” She said to them. “I’m so sorry to bother you, but do you have a cell phone we could use. My friend locked our phones and her keys in her car-“
The two men turned to her and yeah, thanks, Derek for not telling us that we were going to be staring down America’s Next Top Model: Neighborhood Edition , Kira thought fiercely but was immediately distracted by Malia’s phone going off.
The one with light brown hair smirked. “Guess you’re ok then-?” He asked, already dropping his own phone back into his pocket.
“Uh,” Kira started. Malia jumped in front of the two men and shot a glance at Lydia.
“No! Sorry, no.” Lydia picked up as they began to make their way to the front porch. “My, uh, parents are in, Istanbul for the week and I don’t have a spare key on me-“
The dark haired one narrowed his eyes and turned back to the house. “Dean.” He said in a near growl.
The light haired one ( Dean, his name was Dean) looked from his boyfriend to the house and back to the girls. He caught it in an instant. Cas pushed Malia aside gently and made his way to the front door. As Dean climbed the porch, Kira and Lydia launched themselves at him and he entered the house with Kira latched around his waist and Lydia on his back.
It was absolute chaos.
One man, with longer hair, was tied to a chair and both Derek and Scott were in mid transformation. Stiles had his hands out in front of him and appeared to be in the middle of an explanation when Dean charged in, two teenage girls wrapped around him and the other trying futilely to push him away. Castiel was in front of Dean and had a large silver blade in his hand.
“I will tell you this once.” Castiel said. “You let Sam Winchester go and I will kill you swiftly.”
“Hey, how about we don’t kill anyone?” Stiles suggested.
Behind him, Scott growled and his eyes lit up that dull red color while Derek’s flashed yellow.
Dean shook the girls off and they inched their way over to the nearest wall and scooted over to Scott’s side. Malia’s fangs were already lengthening and her eyes were shining blue. Kira reached for the knives in her boots.
“Who are you?” Scott demanded, pulling Stiles back who threw his arms up in the air.
“You do not get to question us, boy.” Castiel growled.
“Give me. My brother. Back.” Dean snarled and Lydia was ready to be done with all of this but then-
Dean’s eyes went an inky black.
Scott’s growl became louder, Derek took his place next to him and Malia stepped up. Kira went to the other side of Derek, knives in hand.
“Shit.” Sam said softly.
There was a loud clap of thunder and Castiel lit up and the group saw his-
“Are those wings?” Lydia asked softly from behind Sam.
“Meet my brother. Knight of Hell, but kinda good. Meet my best friend. Castiel. Angel of the Lord.” Sam said resignedly. “You should probably let me go.”
They did not, in fact, let Sam Winchester go.
Instead, Scott howled and Derek and Malia charged and Kira found herself in a swift hand to hand with Dean. Cas found himself surrounded by a smaller version of the pack, growling and snapping at each other until Dean got ahold of Kira and threw her at Scott and Malia, knocking them both over.
Derek dodged the swift attempts that Cas was making with his angel blade, until they heard a very soft, “Stop.”
They all turned to see Scott pinned against a wall, Dean breathing down his neck. His feet cleared the floor by a foot and everyone did as they were told.
“Let my brother go.” Dean said and Scott could have been freaking out, but he swore that Dean’s breath on his face was like a winter breeze.
Stiles cut Sam’s binds away. Sam stood and went to his brother.
“It’s enough, Dean. Let the kid go.” He muttered. Dean turned and threw Scott at Derek and Stiles. The other group made for the back door to leave.
“No.” Dean said and Cas waved the door closed.
Kira and Lydia exchanged a look. Malia stood in front of them, protecting her best friends the only way she knew how.
“You will tell us who you are and what you are doing in here.” Cas said flatly.
The group was silent until Stiles said, “Aren’t angels supposed to be like those cute little statues with halos and harps that protect us from the bad things?”
Dean smirked and his eyes turned green once more. “Hey, look. It’s me, six years ago.” He strode over to Stiles and hauled him to the front by his shirt. He towered over him and looked down at him. “Consult your bible again. Angels are warriors of god, ass hat. They have waged war over eons and are not to be trifled with. You should show him some respect.”
“Sit down.” Sam said, trying to diplomatic. “We need to talk.”
***
“What the hell is a nogitsune?” Dean asked and poured a healthy serving of whiskey in his own glass before passing it to Sam and then Derek. Stiles held his glass out hopefully. Dean handed him a soda.
“A trickster.” Kira said, taking a slice of pizza from one of the five pies on the table in front of them.
“Gabriel?” Sam asked.
“No, Sam. Gabriel is dead.” Cas said softly.
***
“King of Hell ? You mean that literally, I take it?” Lydia asked Sam.
“As real as it gets.” Sam said.
“But you were the one who actually went to Hell?” Stiles asked Dean.
“Right.”
“And that’s where you became a Knight?” Derek asked.
“No, the Knight thing- it came later.” Dean said.
“But you got him out, right Cas?” Malia asked.
“Yes. He was heavier than I anticipated.”
Stiles choked on his soda.
***
“Dude, no offense, but you uncle sounds like a douche.” Dean remarked.
“I can’t even deny that.” Derek nodded and passed him the whiskey.
Dean leaned over the table and whispered to Lydia, “Listen, Red. I’ll hold him down and you can just go at it, do some real damage.”
Lydia looked hopeful.
***
“Amelia sounds nice.” Scott said.
“She was.” Sam replied. “Too nice, too gentle for our world.” He raised his eyes to the people around the table. He smiled. “Don’t feel bad for me. I’ll be all right. I mean, we all will.”
Derek looked over at Stiles who was studying the empty pizza box in front of him like it was the key to solving all the mysteries of the universe.
***
“So that’s how you became a Knight.” Stiles said, nodding. “I get it.”
“What I don’t get,” Malia said, tearing apart the last crust of her pizza, “Is how you can turn it off and on now. When you spoke of it earlier you said it was like an addiction.”
Cas, Sam and Dean exchanged a look.
“Hey, man. We’re all sharing here.” Derek said. He seemed to be on his way to getting pretty wasted.
“It’s just something we rigged up.” Dean said.
“I’m losing Grace. The thing that powers all angels.” Cas said. “I’m dying.”
The newcomers looked around at each other, confused. Cas, for all intents and purposes, looked great.
“So, he’s slowly taking the power of what makes me a Knight,” Dean said, “And mixing it with the Grace he has left. It’s stretching the Grace out to last him longer until we can find a cure. But the more ‘demon’ part he takes of me, the easier it is for me to be human.”
“So you two literally cannot live without each other.” Lydia concluded.
Sam sighed. “It’s been six years. You kind of get used to it.”
***
“So the animal attacks that drew us here, that wasn’t you?”
“No.” Scott said, shaking his head. “We’re guessing it might be the nogitsune. It’s drawing hunters like you here in droves.”
Sam and Dean exchanged a look.
“Well. Let’s get rid of it.” Dean said, clapping his hands and standing up. “This is what we do.”
“It’s not that easy.” Kira said.
“Why not?”
“We kill it, we kill Stiles.” Lydia said flatly, pulling the label off her bottle of water. “And we can’t lose anyone else.”
“Anyone else?” Dean asked, sitting back down slowly.
“My best friend.” Lydia said.
“My first-” Scott said before pressing his lips into a thin line.
“We aren’t killing anyone.” Cas said. He had taken his trench coat and jacket off. They both laid abandoned on the couch behind him. “We will get rid of it and cause no harm to anyone.”
“For now, go home. Get some rest. You have our numbers. You know where to find us. If anything happens, don’t hesitate to let us know.”
Everyone stood and Dean fell in step with Lydia. “My offer still stands.” He whispered and his eyes blinked black. “About the uncle.” His eyes were back to green.
Despite being a little creeped out, Lydia smiled. “I will definitely consider it.”
When everyone left, Sam started up the stairs. “You two research, I’m sleeping.”
“Just because I don’t need to sleep doesn’t mean I’m doing your research.” Dean muttered.
“I heard that.” Sam sighed.
“Come on, Dean. Let’s research.” Cas said and turned to the library.
***
The next morning found Dean and Sam running through the woods. Dean matched his strides to his brother’s and they made good time. Cas had smirked at the invite to run. “I’m fine, thank you.” He said. Which was a lie. He was pale and there were dark circles underneath his eyes. They would have to fix that soon. Dean could feel his hand itching to grab a blade, any blade.
Sam led the way through the forest, following a footpath at first and then veering off.
They came to a burned out building and stopped in front of it. A familar figure stepped out of the building and raised a hand to them.
“Is that Stiles?” Dean asked, shading his eyes.
Sam opened his mouth to say yes until he saw that smile. It looked like Dean all over again, possessed solely by the Mark.
“I don’t think so.” Sam said, taking a step back.
Dean did not back down. In fact, he smiled right back at the thing that looked like Stiles.
“Winchesters, right?” He said. “There is quite the chatter of you two downstairs.”
“That right?” Dean asked. “What are they saying?”
The Stiles thing winked. “You Knights are always arrogant.”
Dean’s grin widened. “I think I’ve found me a kindred spirit, Sammy. Maybe you should run along.”
“Yeah, Sammy. Go on home.” The Nogitsune said. He circled Dean and inserted himself between the two of them. The Stiles thing had its back to Sam now and Dean faced him. His eyes were black and he was grinning.
“Only he can call me Sammy.” Sam said immediately.
“Yeah? You think that’s who he prayed to when he was in Purgatory?” Stiles said and slowly turned to look at him. “You barely crossed his mind.” Cold fury wafted off the thing wearing Stiles face. “No. No. It was always ‘Where’s my angel? Give me my angel.’”
“He had to find Cas before he get back up here.” Sam heard himself say as he backed up another step.
“No, Sam. You feel it. You get it. That’s why the dog was such a god send,” Stiles-thing smirked. “You got an out. You got Amelia. ”
Sam looked from the Stiles thing to Dean who just shrugged.
“You’ve been feeling it. The would be Boy King, nothing now.” The thing said. He stepped forward and looked all the way up at Sam. “Between a warrior of unknowable age and a Knight of Hell, where does a lousy human fit in?”
Sam backed up.
Dean laughed.
The Nogitsune dismissed Sam.
Sam turned and ran. Not his manliest moment, to be sure, but he had to get away from that thing wearing a good kid’s face, that thing that was able to pull the worst out of his brother effortlessly, that thing that pulled at wounds that had festered too long-
He heard a scream that sent the birds in the trees flying and he looked back only to see Dean running like a madman. He was soaked in blood, the front of his gray shirt no longer gray, his face smeared in it, and his eyes were still black.
“Run!” Dean screamed and ran right past his brother. Sam didn’t even question it, but ran as hard as he could after Dean. They didn’t stop until they were inside the gate of their house. Derek was striding up Stilinski’s walk, him and the sheriff deep in conversation. They both turned when they saw the Winchesters barrelling down the sidewalk and watched as they jumped the fence and ran up the sidewalk.
“What the hell…” Stilinski said, pulling his weapon and checking the sidewalk for anyone else. Stiles stuck his head out the door.
“What was that all about?”
Derek shrugged and the sheriff made his way across the street to the closed door of the Winchesters. He knocked on the door gently.
Cas opened the door and smiled. “Sheriff.” He said.
“What the hell was that?” He asked, without preamble.
“Oh, the guys?” Cas said.
“ Yeah , the guys.” The sheriff said. “The short one looked like he was covered in blood.”
“Cas?” Derek asked from behind the Sheriff. The relief on Castiel’s face was not a small thing. “What’s going on, man?”
“Uh, Dean and Sam-”
“It’s ok. The Sheriff knows.” Derek said. Stiles stuck his head over Derek’s shoulder.
“What’s going on, guys?” He asked. Cas pulled them all in and slammed the door shut just as something dropped on the roof.
“Scott.” Derek said and sniffed. “And Malia.”
“Get them inside.” Cas ordered.
Dean came around the corner and he was shaking. His eyes were still black.
“Whoa!” The Sheriff cried out and pointed his gun at Dean.
“Please don’t.” Cas said, pushing the gun down. “You don’t want to make him angry.”
Dean let out a hollow laugh. “You won’t like me when I’m angry.” And then he gritted his teeth. “Cas, I can’t make it go away.” He said.
“All right.” Cas said and they were all taken aback when Castel’s eyes glowed a brilliant blue. Scott and Malia came down the stairs at the same time. Sam came out of the kitchen. He gestured to the living room.
“Sir.” He said. “I believe we have some things to go over.” He tossed a bag at Stiles. “Mountain ash. Would you be so kind?”
***
“Did you kill it?” Sam asked when Dean finally came down, his eyes green once more.
“No, but I pissed it off.” Dean said, his hands steady as he poured coffee into a thick white mug. He pulled another mug down and poured some more and handed it to Cas when he came up behind him. “We need to take care of this right now or we need to leave. That thing almost had complete control over me.” He looked over at Stiles who almost ducked behind Derek. Dean put his mug down and hauled Stiles to his feet. The Sheriff stood too but Dean didn’t do anything, just peered down into Stiles face. His eyes flicked down from his eyes to his mouth to his forehead and back down to his mouth.
“Dude, if you’re going to kiss me, can you not do it in front of my dad?” Stiles asked. Scott snorted and Derek rolled his eyes. Dean ignored him.
“Cas, can you see it?” Dean spun Stiles into Cas who did the same thing. He got even closer to Stiles and placed a hand on his forehead.
“Ah.” Cas said softly. His eyes widened. “There it is.”
“Are you thinking-” Dean started.
“I need to go to Japan.” Cas whispered and disappeared.
Scott stood and Malia looked around. “What the hell-”
Cas reappeared between them, his hands laden with jars and a broadsword that Sam could see was inscribed with a language he was not familiar with.
“We need-” Cas started
“A pond. A small body of water.” Dean finished.
“Do they do this often?” The Sheriff asked looking from one to the other.
“Ever since they started keeping each other alive.” Sam said, rolling his eyes.
“There’s a pond on the land I own.” Derek said. “We could use that.”
“Call Lydia, Kira. Sheriff, we’re going to need you too.” Dean said. The Sheriff nodded. Stiles dialed Lydia’s number and Dean pointed at Malia, Derek, Scott and the Sheriff. “I need you to come with me.” They all followed Dean upstairs to Castiel’s room where he did not sleep. On the wall, there were ten perfect angel blades.
“What are those?” Scott asked. Malia entered the room and went straight to the wall.
“Can I touch them?”
“I think so.” Dean said. She reached out her hand and stroked one lightly with her fingertip. Then she gripped it. She turned to Derek and held one out to him. He took it from her and they exchanged a look.
“It won’t help much when we are in wolf form-”
“But until then, hell yeah.” Malia said. She handed another to Scott and his eyes lit up.
“Whoa. These things are-”
“They’re part of Cas, you could say. So, don’t do anything weird with them.”
“Don’t worry buddy,” Derek said looking Dean straight in the eye, “We’ll leave you to do all the weird things with Cas.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “You’ve been hanging out with Sam too much.”
***
They all met at the old burned out estate that was Derek’s house. Malia handed a sword to Lydia and a delighted Kira who put her own sword away.
The sun began to set.
Castiel and Stiles climbed into the boat. Everyone positioned themselves around the pond that Dean barely qualified more than a puddle.
“Is it going to hurt?” Stiles asked Castiel as Cas pulled out another angel blade.
“I’ll shield you from it.” Cas replied.
“So yes.” Stiles sighed.
Dean felt a smile tugging at his mouth. He couldn’t help it. He liked the kid.
Cas poured some of the dirt on his hand and rubbed it across Stiles forehead, muttering in Japanese.
A black cloud appeared in front of Derek, he growled and slashed at it.
Another appeared in front of the Sheriff and he slashed viciously at it.
The Stiles thing stepped out of the woods.
Castiel shoved off from the shore as Sam finished blessing the pond.
It looked impressed. Cold and angry, but impressed.
“Humans are… creative.” He said, stepping in front of Lydia. Stiles, the one in the pond, followed the other one’s actions intently. He reached out and cupped Lydia’s cheek. “Creative and destructive.” It traced her lower lip and she slashed at his arm. He pulled back and looked at the wound that seeped black. “You create and destroy and all the fun in between…” It strode over to Scott and dodged another angry swipe. It stopped in front of Dean. He could feel his eyes go black, if the Stiles nogitsune being delighted was not a dead giveaway. “All the fun is for us to have, isn’t it?” He leaned forward and then pulled himself away. “Oh yes. Dean likes his ‘personal space’.” He pulled his tshirt back and showed Derek the gash above his collarbone. “Something to keep in mind.”
It sauntered away and Dean turned in time to see Cas tip Stiles’ head back and pour oil over him. The nogitsune watched for a moment before going on.
“He’s going to kill your boy.” He told the Sheriff before rounding on back to Scott. “He’s going to kill your brother.” He went on to Sam. “When the angel kills the boy, that will be the last string holding your brother to any kind of humanity.” He stopped in front of Derek and Lydia and smirked. “He’s going to kill the boy you love.”
Derek growled and lunged for the nogitsune. Oni appeared in front of everyone rather quickly just then and there were no words left to speak. Dean slashed and felt for any kind of thick, wet purchase that meant he had killed an Oni before moving on. The nogitsune stayed out of range, walking around the perimeter of the fighting, watching Castiel in the boat and Dean out of the corner of his eye.
Derek and Dean ended up back to back, both panting. Kira and Lydia were there as well, holding off a pair of Oni while the Sheriff and Scott stabbed mercilessly as another Oni fell.
“Ready?” Castiel said, from behind Dean. Dean turned, just in time to see Castiel shove an angel blade into Stiles chest as hard as he could.
The nogitsune fell to its knees in front of everyone. Sam, surprised as anyone else was, rushed it and called, “Dean!”
Dean turned, remembered his instructions and placed a hand on the nogitsune’s head as it began to gasp and tremble.
Dean started the reverse exorcism as Cas did the original version.
The thing that tied the nogitsune to this plane was Stiles. To kill Stiles and pull the trickster from his body and push it into another one, one that could not exist without that thin strand connecting the two would-
Cause a lot of pain, apparently. The thing thrashed and screamed underneath Sam and Dean and might have escaped were it not for Derek and Scott coming to hold it down. Sam ended up half screaming the words and by the time it was over, he was panting and crouched over what was left of the nogitsune’s body as it turned to ash and drifted away.
There was a splash and everyone turned to see Cas lifting Stiles’ body out of the boat and laying it on the ground by his father.
“Oh, god. Jesus.” Sheriff Stilinski said as he crouched over Stiles. “No, baby. No, hey look at me.”
Stiles eyes rolled in his head a minute before locking onto his father. “Daddy?” He asked.
“Yeah, I’m here.” The Sheriff said and leaned over and pressed his lips to his son’s forehead. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. I’m right here.”
“Scott.” Stiles whispered. Scott was there in an instant, clinging to Stiles’ other hand.
“I’m here.” Scott replied. “I’m here, too.”
Stiles closed his eyes and smiled. “You’re my brother.”
Scott held onto his hand. “You’re my brother, too. Stiles?”
Stiles was still. Very still.
The Sheriff placed his son’s hand on his chest, careful to avoid the wound that had killed him. Scott was having trouble restraining himself. The Sheriff punched Cas across the jaw but it didn’t even faze him. Derek tackled him and pulled him away. Lydia tugged Scott away.
Cas knelt over Stiles’ pale and still body.
“There is a strength in him that none of you realize.” Cas said softly and picked Stiles up and held him to his chest. He cradled him in his arms and Sam stopped to wonder how many other times he had done this.
There was an unbearable light.
“Dad?”