"The Nightmare of My Choice" by mirrorkill
(Fan Art by puckboum, original and lots more here, art for this fic)
The Nightmare of My Choice by mirrorkill
Official Summary: “... it was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice." Rogue werewolves and incubi and ghosts, oh my!: Life in Beacon Hills continues to be the epitome of weird. Especially for emissary-in-training Stiles, who's being literally haunted by a parade of Beacon Hills' deceased, who are trying to compel him to embrace the darkness in his heart. His only source of comfort is when he's writing to an emotionally constipated Beta werewolf. When Derek Hale is your anchor to sanity? Yeah, weird might be an underestimation. Stiles is well suited to the path of an emissary; in fact, something important about him has already been overlooked. Something that could have deadly consequences both for him, and for everyone else... (106,214 words)
My Take - Excellent - this may be one of the best Sterek stories I've read.
I was recently asked to name my top 5 Sterek fics, and I really wish I had read this story before answering, because it would have been an instant pick. This is the perfect story for anyone who ships Sterek and was even vaguely dissatisfied with season 3A.
"The Nightmare of My Choice" is canon compliant through the end of season 3A of the show and picks up in its immediate aftermath; it's an alternative fan-written Season 3B, if you will. And it's amazing. Uh-may-zing. I'm going to start fanpoodling now, fair warning.
I don't even know where to start with the praise, so I'm going to just throw my thoughts out there.
Keen characterization. The author shows a lot of insight into the characters, especially Stiles. The plot of the story is totally compelling, but the key is, it's still totally founded in the loving, fractious, textured, believable relationships between all these characters we have come to adore and admire.
Compelling plotting. The story is gripping, well-paced and well-plotted. I had such a hard time putting it down, especially as the story drew closer to its exciting, unexpected, twisty conclusion. Every chapter ends on a high note, just like you'd expect a TV episode, making it hard to stop reading.
The dots all connect. I'm listing this third, but this may actually be my favorite thing about the story. The author took dangling plot threads, unexplained encounters and dialogue from the show -- extending as far back as Season 1, but especially from Season 3A -- as well as imagined and desired scenes from fandom, and wove them all together seamlessly into the story. And it all made perfect sense. For example, have you wondered why all the parallels between Sterek and Dennifer scenes? This story explains it. Did you want an explanation why Stiles seemed more familiar and friendly with Derek at the start of Season 3A? This story explains it.
Internal consistency. And then, related to the above point, the story possesses an internal consistency and logic that -- especially in comparison to Season 3A -- is just beautiful to behold. I'm tagging this "fixit!fic" because honestly, it just fixes a lot of what went wrong (in my eyes) with the canon show after Season 2.
Everything makes sense. There are unexpected plot developments and twists throughout, especially at the end. Yet none of it is out of the blue. The author deftly laid the groundwork for everything that happens, so that when it actually comes to pass, it makes sense instead of leaving the reader with yet more questions.
Fresh and unexpected turns. Maybe it's because I read too much Sterek fanfiction and have become too familiar with the tropes, but the story kept pleasantly surprising me. And then there was one twist in particular that literally made me gasp out loud. I love it when a story can defy my expectations.
All of Stiles' relationships. I think the author understands something, intuitively if not consciously, that Season 3A seemed to have forgotten (but seems to have been recaptured in 3B so far): I watch because I've fallen in love with this cast of characters and their complicated, messy, wonderful, terrible relationships with each other. And this story dives into every one of Stiles' major relationships -- with his dad, with Scott, with Lydia, with Derek, heck, even with Scott's dad -- and manages to capture and portray all of their complexities, the good, the bad and the ugly. But perhaps the most insightful and intriguing relationship explored is Stiles relationship with himself, with the swirling storm of insecurities and talents and self-doubts and family history that fuel and shape the the choices he makes.
Room for improvement?
I have only a couple of minor, minor comments here.
Relationships to which Stiles is not party get short-shrift. Let's use Scott's dad as an example. The author makes really great use of him. Now, this is a Stiles!POV story, so you'd expect Stiles' relationships to get all the attention. But the thing is, it's like Scott doesn't even have a relationship with his dad without Stiles as part of it. In the beginning, given the backstory, that makes sense. But as the tale progresses, there's real character growth and relationships move noticeably forward -- but only if they involve Stiles. Stiles' relationship with Scott's dad actually progresses organically over the course of the novel. That's great! But Scott's doesn't ... and it's his dad! I would suggest that the world would have felt even more immersive if background relationships had demonstrated some growth and movement, even if independent of Stiles.
Closer examination of some of the twists raises questions. While the author generally did an exceptional job of laying groundwork for later plot developments and connecting all the dots and filling all the plot holes, when I really took a harder look at some of the twists -- like that big one that made me gasp -- a couple of cracks appeared in the form of questions because a couple of things didn't quite add up in my head. However, let me emphasize these are minor questions. I'm still really impressed by the twists and turns and unexpected developments.
Overall
I'm sure you've noted how much I've compared this fic to the canon show. The author has invited that comparison by writing a canon-compliant (well, through the end of 3A anyways) fic.
I personally found Season 3A quite dissatisfying, although as of this writing, the first several episodes of 3B have aired, and I've watched them all and been pleased. That said, the show seems to have decided to just ignore a lot of the issues from 3A instead of resolving them.
In this regard, "The Nightmare of My Choice" represents something that I really, really love about fandom and fan-produced derivative works: the willingness and determination to create a labor of love that makes it better.