He scurried through the underbrush as they tracked him. He had to flee. He had to find a way to get away from them. His little clawed paws were running as fast as he could get them to go through the darkest parts of the woods.
He heard them making loud noises. Noises that apart of him knew was meant to call him back. But why would he want to go back. The woods was where he needed to be. He needed to run and be free. Of everything. Of all of it. What was it he was trying to get free of? He couldn't really remember. Just something dark and ... no. Just run. Just be free. His red and white coat was thankfully not wet from the earlier rain. He'd kept under the trees. Because he is a smart fox. He is cunning. That is why he keeps escaping the ones that are after him.
Big hulking things that smell of human and wolf. He just wanted to run. To be free. Why did they keep chasing him. Calling out to him. It had been weeks. Weeks of this same torture. They chase and he runs. There were a few times that the one with red eyes caught him. But he would just cry out in fear and pain and the man wolf creature let him go smelling of guilt and sadness.
He had to run faster. He had to find one of the dens he'd made in the woods that they hadn't found yet. He would not let them capture him tonight. No. He was a free fox. Free of darkness. Free of fear. He was free. Why wouldn't they just let him be free.
He found an old tree after he back tracked over his own tracks and burrowed under the old roots. It was one of his dens he used in emergencies. The creatures that followed him every couple of nights were smart be he was smarter.
"Stiles! Please! We just want to get you back home! Stiles Please your Dad is worried!" The red eyed man wolf called out as he passed his den. He just burrowed deeper and got comfy wrapping his fluffy tail around himself getting ready to rest for the rest of the night.
"Why don't we just leave him Scott? He's happier in this form than he has been in years. You can smell his happiness just like the rest of us."
"No Malia. No! I'm not leaving Stiles like this. I'm not leaving him Feral..."
"Then what do we do?"
"I don't know Liam... I don't know..."
"We should call Derek... He'd know what to do."
"I think that's our last option here."
"I think we're out of options Scott."
"Yeah...... Stiles we will come back I promise we wont leave you alone!"
After all the racket they left and he was finally able to rest. He dreamed of frolicking in the meadow and chasing field mice.
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His emergency line went off. Derek groaned as he rolled over in bed reaching for it as he woke up. He saw the number was Scott and he flipped the phone open and answered. "Scott?"
"Derek... it's Stiles... I... shit... he's feral and I don't know how to turn him back. I tried to-"
"Hold on what is going on with Stiles?" Derek sat up throwing the blankets off of him and shucking into his boxers.
"A few weeks ago he... we were fighting a windigo and it... it got Stiles. I had to bite him. He was dying. I had to save him. Then... then he turned and... Derek he changed into a fox. Like a real four legged fluffy tailed red fox."
Derek paused as he reached for his pants. "He fully changed?"
"Yes Derek! I didn't think that bitten were's could do that! I mean I know Jackson turned into the Kanima but I didn't... Derek... He's gone feral. He hasn't changed back to human since I bit him. It's almost been a month." Scott sounded desperate.
Derek put on his pants and started gathering his things. "You couldn't use the roar to force him back into his human form?"
"No. It didn't work. It just scared him... Derek he ran off into the woods. We've been trying to find him... We even caught him a few times but... It's Stiles. He's smart." Scott sounded upset.
Derek pulled on his leather jacket over his henely shirt and grabbed his keys.
"Derek we need your help."
"I'm on my way."
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Stiles was full. He'd caught several field mice and was basking in the warm sun in the tall grass. He was on the edge of sleep with his nose filled with the scent of sweet grass and wild flowers when he caught a different scent.
Pine and sandalwood and the musk of a wolf with a hint of clean soap.
His hackles rose as he jumped up and turned around seeing a pair of blue eyes shining from the edge of the trees that surrounded the meadow. Then the blue eyed man stepped into view and just stood there staring at him.
His hackles rise farther as the man didn't move into his meadow. Just stood there staring. The man had dark hair and a leather jacket on. To Stiles he looked like a predator. Stiles waited to see what the man would do. His eyes slowly dimmed to another color. Something like the green of the forest that surrounded him bathed in sunlight.
Stiles decided he didn't want to see if the predator would go after him. He made a move to back away when he heard the man speak.
"Stiles."
Stiles growled and then he was gone. Running through the tall grass into the safety of his forest.
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Derek smelled it. Stiles was deep inside himself. Derek could smell the happiness filling the meadow from the little red fox bathing in the sunlight surrounded by wildflowers and sweet clover. He could smell the distinct sweet and spicy scent of stiles underneath the musk of the fox.
The fox had blue eyes. Of course he did. Stiles held just as much guilt as he did himself. They never turned back to that tawny brown. They just stayed that ethereal glowing blue.
He felt Stiles about to back away and couldn't let it end like this. "Stiles." His voice was soft but he knew that the fox heard him.
But the growl that answered was really what he expected. Stiles always was stubborn. Then the fox scampered off into the forest.
Derek sighed and took his offerings out of his pocket and walked out into the meadow and left the jerky there. He knew that this might not work if another scavenger found it before Stiles but he hoped Stiles would return for the offering of food and the little symbolic olive branch he left for him.
Chasing him was not the answer. Not if he wanted to get the real Stiles back anytime soon. So he left the scraps of food and left. He hoped it would be enough to start gaining Stile's trust.
