Drag Me Down Quick (So they don't notice)

Azalus

    Stiles lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling. It was dark out now, and the partial moon shone through the window making shadows on the ceiling. Dark hands, reaching, pulling Stiles back down where he belonged. 

     Melissa had tried to make him dinner but he couldn't eat. She gave up eventually and picked up a magazine, relaxing in the armchair next to the couch. Stiles wanted to be alone but he knew she wouldn't let him. 

     He frantically held onto the strings in his heart that led to his pack. They had just entered the preserve. Stiles worked on untangling the strings that weren't Scott and Derek. It was tedious work, and it was giving him a headache. Or maybe he just had a headache from, you know, everything. 

      Now that he had reached out to it, the Nemeton was a dark pull in the corner of his mind, like a black hole trying to pull him in. It wanted him- it needed him to.. heal it? Stiles covered his face and tried to focus. It was crying out in pain, covered in scars and blood and it needed him to fix it. He sat up. He needed to go. He knew how to stop the demon.

    Melissa watched him over her magazine. "You okay, Stiles?" 

    He lay back down slowly. "Yeah. Just-" 

    "Worried, I know." She smiled softly and he was hit with a rush of appreciation for her, holding his dad together while he had been gone. 

     "Stiles," she continued, "You can talk to me, if you want. I didn't really understand what everyone was talking about, with hell, but it sounds bad. I can't say I'll understand what you went through, but I will listen and I love you." She was so genuine that tears pricked Stiles' eyes again. 

    "Hell." He whispered, like just uttering the word would send him back. It didn't. Stiles opened his eyes and he was still laying on the couch staring up at Derek's ceiling. 

     "It's a bad place." Stiles didn't know why he was talking about this, but now that he started he wasn't sure he could stop. He heard Melissa adjusting in her seat and knew if he looked over she would be staring at him with that understanding expression that had always reminded him of his mom- before she went crazy that is. 

     "I wasn't in hiding. I guess that much is obvious now." She hummed in agreement. Stiles continued. "I sold my soul. To a demon to bring everyone back." 

    There was a quiet inhale but Melissa didn't make any other noise. 

    "It was-" he paused, trying to use the right words and finding that there weren't any. "It was hell." He finally whispered. 

     He heard Melissa open her mouth and then close it again. Finally she spoke. "How long were you there?"

    Stiles felt a raw smile cross his face. "I lost track somewhere around the second century."

    Melissa was quietly crying now. "Oh, Stiles."

    Stiles shook his head. "Don't cry. It was worth it." 

    Melissa stood slowly and moved to sit beside Stiles' head on the couch. "Nothing is worth that, Stiles. Nothing. And Scott was right. You didn't deserve to pay for what that demon did."

     Stiles smiled. They were all so sweet. "Okay."

    "I know you don't believe me," Melissa sighed and ran a hand through Stiles' hair. "But it's true, and we'll keep telling you until you have to believe it. Especially Derek, I'm sure." 

     Stiles opened his mouth to reply but something was happening- he sat up quickly. 

     Melissa startled. "Stiles, what is it?"