NIGHT TERRORS

CHAPTER TWO * STILES

Derek pulled into the parking lot at the condo where he had been staying with his uncle while the cabin on the Hale property was being built. He and Stiles had become close but were not exactly as he wanted them to be. Stiles was still in seclusion away from the world. The time of possession by the Nogitsune had become such a tumultuous event in his life, he needed to leave town. By leaving town, it was meant as a soldier in the United States Army. It wasn't until Stiles had returned from Iraq, that Derek saw how much the war had affected his friend. upon returning Stiles had become withdrawn, standoffish, he never answered his phone and hardly left his house. Even his best friend Scott knew their old friend Stiles was not who returned, he was hidden and showed a difference in his demeanor. Scott and Malia tried to coax him into joining the old pack hanging out at Scott's house, Stiles was a no-show. He had no excuses, just didn't show.

Wanting to check in on his friend, Derek snuck into Stiles window but the young man was not in his bedroom, so Derek decided to venture further into the home. As he traveled slowly down the hallway, he could hear Mrs. Stilinski's piano. The music was familiar and Derek had a need to hear it in all its glory. It was, to Derek's complete and utter surprise, Stiles sitting at the piano on the bench playing the music.  Derek walked slowly and quietly down the hallway so he would hear every single note that was being played. The notes that Stiles was playing were sad and melodic, but the feeling Derek was getting was uplifting, then they abruptly stopped, with Stiles slamming his fist down on the keys. 

"Damn, damn, damn" Stiles put his face into his hands and cried out loud abruptly. "I always miss that." Balling his hand into a fist and placing them onto his lap, he slowly took in a breath , then let it out slowly. Lifting his hands up in front of his face, they began to shake wildly, so he clapped them together and placed them above the piano keys and paused, hearing the beat in his mind he began again.

Derek listened and felt his anger slip away as his finger glided over the keys producing each note. Now he could almost feel happiness. Stiles was mentally connected to this piece of music, Derek knew when Stiles was younger his mother had been teaching this piece of music to him when she started having the symptoms of her dementia, It was a way she could leave a bit of her in him. 

To Stiles the music was an emotional source to his memories of his mother. It was his mothers favorite piece and she loved the fact he was picking it up, and playing as easy as he was. He still remembered she promised to help him write a piece together and as they were writing said music, the dementia had become powerful, she kept telling him he needed to find and keep his spark. When she died Stiles lost his desire to play music, he no longer wanted to finish their piece alone thus also losing the spark. The young man started to follow his father's caseloads, and learned the basics for law enforcement, which eventually led to his friend Scott to be bitten by Peter Hale.

Stiles was emotionally drained with the supernatural world, he needed to get away, far away. He found that real world war was just as bad. He lost several friends to what seemed like more than a hundred of gun fights while stationed in Iraq. One such friend was James, James was his best friend there. He was his rock, they went into campaigns together and always came out together. James always said to Stiles that as long as they were together, they would always survive.

During their free time they would go running, it was a way to push the images of the war away during each run. In one city they were in, there was a bar, of course there was a piano. One night being tipsy, Stiles begins to play the piece he and his mom started to write. James fell in love with the music right then, and promised they would finish together.

One week before their tour was up, Stiles was helping his Lieutenant with paper work, as a few men were sent on a search and rescue mission. James left with the team and as Stiles returned from the office as the team was way overdue. The next morning four out of the eight men on the team returned. The others were killed when an IED exploded. Two bodies were recovered and two were missing. James did not return from that mission. Stiles was mad at James for the longest time for not getting him for the mission. Stiles waited for months to hear if James' body had been found, but it never was retrieved, and James status remained MIA. Stiles CO sent him home and made his travel time use up his last few days of his enlistment. Upon Stiles return home, He secluded himself from the world.