Not Quite The Same (Hiatus)

Chapter Twenty One

Scott doubted he had ever been more nervous in his life.

Losing Stiles was bad enough. But getting him back, only to have him become this super human and not remember anything about them? Scott thought that was almost worse. Almost.

He and the others all walked towards the old Hale house, the leaves crunching beneath their feet. He kept fidgeting with his fingers, tapping them against his leg. Allison seemed to notice and grabbed his hand. Scott looked over, slightly surprised but smiled when she smiled. She squeezed his hand reassuringly. He took in a deep breath and steeled his nerves best he could. If he was hurting Allison by holding her hand too hard, she said nothing.

Derek was the first one to go in. They all waited outside and waited for Derek to bring out Stiles. They could hear Derek telling him that they were outside waiting and were ready to go meet up with Melissa. Stiles didn't respond, so they assumed he nodded. Derek came out, looking, surprisingly, a bit nervous. He stepped aside as Stiles came into view, stepping out of the shadows. Scott looked at him and it was like he couldn't breathe.

Stiles...

God, it was him but it wasn't. It was the same body, yes, the same boy, but this... this wasn't Stiles; Not the one Scott knew, at least. This Stiles looked broken and beaten and yet could still stand on two feet on his own. He looked hardened, no longer the boy who stuttered over his words or tripped over his own feet. He looked like he could take down every single one of them without breaking a sweat. He didn't look defenseless or scared or nervous. He looked like a soldier whose fought one too many wars and yet is expected to fight more. He looked tired, but wasn't about to give in. He wasn't broken, but he wasn't quite intact either.

Shattered.

Not quite the same.

That's what he was.

~*~*~

When the sheriff's son had gone missing from the hospital, Melissa McCall's first instinct was to call her son. Not because she wanted him to know that he was missing, but because she had a sneaking suspicion that he, Scott, was behind the whole thing.

But not this time. No, she thought that he had wised up, matured. She figured that he wouldn't do something like that. The universe just seems to enjoy screwing people over, because that's exactly what happened. Not to mention the fact that the sheriff and herself nearly had a freaking heart attack when they saw he was gone!

But that wasn't Melissa's main concern at the moment. At the moment, she was more concerned on whether or not she could keep quiet to the sheriff about Stiles coming to the hospital.

She walked the length of the room she was in. It was more of just an empty operation room than anything. She had her arms crossed and her lips pursed. She wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around her when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, startled, and turned around to see the sheriff, John.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

Oh, shit.

She's screwed.

(A/N: It's another short, crappy chapter! Who would've thought? That was sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell. Anyway, I have a slight writer's block right now, but I'm still gonna write and stuff. Also, I have published my Avengers/TW crossover so go check that out if you haven't already or haven't seen the note. Hope you like it!)