My entry for the second day of @sterekweek-2021: Quotes.
The above four pics (in order - top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right) are the picturized versions of my favorite part of the song Demons by Imagine Dragons. I imagine these lyrics from Derek's POV.
The first pic makes me think that Derek has given up on the belief that any one of his action has a chance of impacting him in a positive way; his fate lies in the hands of darkness, and he's accepted it as a fact.
The second pic is more of the same; he doesn't think he deserves something good, because the soul he possesses only attracts evil, and when he's proven right at every turn, it's just hard to trust anyone (voluntary, anyways). He needs to not let people get close. It's a necessity for him to survive.
The third pic is about Stiles; Stiles, who is this aglamation of energy and light, brightening Derek's days, sharing Derek's darkness. Derek doesn't want that for Stiles. Stiles is too pure, and Derek won't let his fate fall onto the one good thing in his life; he wants to keep Stiles away from the shadow that lurks at his back, ready to entangle anything that might banish them away from him.
The fourth pic is about how Derek cannot leave this now—the darkness. His brain his hardwired to think the worst at even the slightest provocation, there is no hope left for a future when the sun shines on him as he leisurely walks between his home and someplace safe, when the moon illuminates not blood, wet and fresh off of his claws, but leaves on which he plays with his packmates, smiling and happy. But the thing is, he has hope; He has Stiles, his Stiles who means everything to him, who didn't leave, who stayed, who stayed for him.
+ Bonus Unless You Show Me How ((not my gif)):
Stiles being the anchor and support and love that Derek needed all along.