The Cat and the Fox: City of Shadows

3. Persistence

Beacon Hills just simply wasn't the same without Stiles being around.  Only Scott and Stilinski knew why Stiles had left, and Scott had made no effort to tell anyone why he left, believing it to be the teen's wishes.  It had been a month since he had disappeared without a trace, at least... not humanly anyway.  Scott had waited for the trail to run cold supernaturally before he told everyone Stiles was gone, and by then a lot of complaints fell upon him for not getting to Stiles before he vanished, mostly from Derek who was merely protective over the pack members.  It was all part of being an Alpha, even though he wasn't necessarily one anymore.

Scott understood why Derek was so harsh when the news broke, after everything that happened with losing Erica, Boyd, Allison, Aiden... hell even his own sister, Laura at the hands of Peter, Derek couldn't stand the thought of losing another pack member.  Every time they lost a member, it was like a piece of their souls were removed and there was a hole that couldn't be filled.

Stiles wasn't dead, but that bond they had was effectively severed.  The only thing that remained was a tiny strand that could be cut loose, but Scott had to do it himself, and if that happened, god knows what the effects could be.  Rumor had it that severing a pack bond was the worst pain a werewolf could experience, and Derek didn't seem too thrilled about that option when Erica had made the notion to remove him from the Pack back when the Kanima was their biggest threat.

So, sitting here watching everyone's reactions to Stiles being gone and seeing the hole he had left behind just sat in Scott's mind.

"Have you heard from him?" Lydia asked, worried about her friend as everyone suddenly turned their attention to their Alpha, a role Scott didn't exactly like being in at this moment.

"Does the Sheriff know where he is?" another voice, Isaac's in particular, piped in.  Soon enough multiple questions were sent Scott's way and he couldn't even hear himself think.  His eyes glowed red as everyone became quiet.

"No, I have not heard from him, and I don't know the answer to that.  I'm sure if Stiles wanted us to know where he was, the sheriff would be the first one to tell us."

"Yet he didn't say goodbye." Derek growled with a slight hint of pain in his voice.

Scott shook his head at that, standing up and looking him in the eye.  "Maybe it's because we couldn't even look him in the eye anymore.  Maybe it's because every time we looked at him we didn't see Stiles, and we saw the Nogitsune instead!  We made him feel worse about himself, and our little speeches about how it's not his fault only made it worse because our actions contradicted our words."

At that Derek and the others lowered their heads, knowing that it was true and while that truth might have been dark and ugly, it didn't change the fact they couldn't fix their mistake because Stiles was gone.

"I'm not going to run after him, even if you guys feel it's the right thing to do.  We can't help him feel any less guilty about what the Nogitsune did.  Having us show up is only going to bring up bad memories for him and whatever progress he might have made in forgiving himself, that's going to be ruined.  I'm sorry if you disagree, but that's final.  If he wants to come back, that's fine, but it's his choice.  As much as Beacon Hills is his home, he's a lot better off." Scott informed the Pack, while Lydia looked hurt that he wasn't doing anything more, but deep down he knew she understood.

Scott grabbed his jacket and took off for the door, in which Isaac followed after him, a move Scott wasn't exactly excited about.  "Hey, are you okay?  You seem like you're a ticking time bomb."

"Yeah, I don't know... maybe I am Isaac.  After everything that happened with the Nogitsune, I didn't think I would lose Stiles too."

"I get it.  What I don't get is why you're so against going to find Stiles.  He's only human, Scott.  The guy can barely walk without tripping on air, how do you expect him to get along?"