Prologue: Once in a Blue Moon

She was making her way through the forest, leaving the road behind. It was a cool autumn night, after a long rain, her boots were sinking deep into the mud. The blue moon stood high in the sky. It was cold, she could see her breath form large white clouds. When she looked back, she could still see them, faint, the lights of Beacon Hills.

She stopped when she thought she had lost the scent for a moment. A familiar scent, one she had hardly believed was real. Peter.

Had she known he was awake, she would have sought him out much, much sooner. But she was here now. Perhaps together they could rebuild the legacy of their family name, perhaps they could bring back the time when the name Hale held the greatest power between Beacon Hills and Boston. Maybe things could go back to the way they had been.

She froze when she saw a figure in the distance. Broad shoulders under a hospital dressing robe, a quiet silhouette and that intense scent that still had hints of ashes to it. Something he would probably never fully be rid of, not when you were reborn in fire, like he had been.

"Peter," she called out carefully, her voice still ripping through the silence like a blade. There was no sound here, other than her boots, their heartbeats, their breath. There were no animals, not even wind rustling through the few leafs still on the trees. It was somehow disturbing.

He turned his head a little, she could see his profile and it made her stop. "So it's true... you really did wake up..."

"If you can call it that," came his response, his voice steady, calm, somehow... distant. Not like she remembered him. But it had been six years. Six long years that had been cruel on both of them.

"Had I known. Had I just known you were back... how long have you... I mean..."

"Long enough to know you ran our empire into the ground," he said through gritted teeth.

She swallowed hard and lowered her gaze. Those words hurt like a whip. She had tried. She had tried everything. Only to learn the bitter truth that she was not like her mother. She never would be. She was no Queen, no matter what they said, no matter how much Luciano, Lyka and Waldorf believed her to be a Queen.

"I tried. Believe me, I did. I ... I did everything I could. You weren't there, you don't know what it was like, after-"

Words failed her.

She came closer, reaching out for him. Her hands were shaking a little, because she had never thought this would happen, that she would find anyone else alive after that fire. She smiled when her fingers touched his arm. "But now, everything will be fine. We can make it right again. You and me. And Derek. Derek's in New York, when he hears you're awake, he'll come here. So will Cora. It'll all be fine."

He looked back at her and his face was like a mask.

"Yes. Everything will be fine now," he said calmly. She smiled, a heavy weight falling off her shoulders. Everything would be fine. She had needed that, had needed to hear him say that. Their enemies had tried and failed, the Hale family survived, they would always survive.

But the smile faded when she saw his eyes flash up in cold blue. She frowned, too confused to see he was turning. He bared his fangs and when she realized he was attacking, it was too late to put her guard back up. She was caught in the blow, knocked off her feet and landed in the leafs. A moment she was perplexed, unable to fully comprehend what had happened, her ears were still ringing from the attack but she heard him walk closer. What the hell is happening?! She looked up in disbelief.

"Peter?" she asked, shaking her head. He had to have gone mad. That was the only explanation she could think of. The only explanation she could bear, because the thought that her uncle, the one person who had always been closest to her, after all they had been through, would turn on her, betray her, was impossible to accept. He towered above her, like a beast in the blue moonlight, ready to strike her down. She growled, fingers digging into the wet earth, beginning to turn into paws. her eyes shone with the bright red of an Alpha when the monstrosity her uncle had turned into attacked again and she was ready to fight back.

Half howl, half scream filled the air above the woods, startling the night.

And then there was just silence.


Author's note:

Hello! Welcome, welcome back! Happy Hunger Ga- no wait, wrong fandom. Although there will likely be an equal amount of people... you know, dying, in this fic. You know me, always ready to kill off beloved characters.

Now, what should you expect from this fanfiction? It functions as a somewhat continuation of my original Teen Wolf fanfiction 'Blinding'. The same headcanon's I used for that apply here as well, so if you wish to get a basic idea of what is going on, you should read Blinding if you have not done so already. That being said: Hale Fire can be read as a standalone as well, you don't need to read Blinding to get most of the things (But it is fun, so go, read Blinding :D).

This fanfic, as opposed to Blinding, will follow Laura Hale during the probably most testing time of her life – from having to say goodbye to her friend Lyka, through the fire that killed her entire family, her becoming the Alpha, and eventually to the bitter betrayal by her own uncle as read above. I love to pick characters about whose inner workings we learn very little on the show and give them a voice, so I hope you will enjoy Laura's voice as much as you all enjoyed Deucalion's in Blinding.

While Laura will be the central character in this fic, looking specifically at her relationships – to her mother, her brother and sister, her uncle, the rest of the family and the alliance packs – there will of course be some new developments for Lyka and Deucalion as well. The two are currently going separate ways (or are they?) and both will play major roles in Laura's story.

I hope you will read this fic as eagerly as you've read Blinding and will also come back for the third part of the series.