title: Echoes
summary: All she wanted to do was tear down his entire world. But how could she do that without having his entire world collapse on top of her? —DerekAllison. Set after 302. "Chaos Rising."
disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf.
rating: T

Derek was going to leave it alone.

Honestly, he could care less that miss perfect Allison Argent thought he killed her mother. His wolf bite that led to Mrs. Argent's death was not something he took pride in, but it didn't make him feel apologetic either. Scott understood that better than anyone.

His dislike of Kate trickled down to her niece and the only thing keeping Derek from ripping the archer's head off was her ex, who she more or less brutally dumped after he saved her life.

She knew that.

Scott knew that.

And therefore, Scott knew to keep her far away from Derek.

But the night's events had strained his ability to control his words. Her constant questions irritated his patience as he sat in the old mansion, thinking of where in the world his little sister could've run to. And in a slip of frustration—"Tell me what really happened."—Derek revealed the truth that was supposed to be Scott's to tell. (Not that McCall would ever have the balls to add another destructive blow to Allison's world.)

The moment the words spilled from his lips, Derek could see her porcelain exterior cracking.

"—she did what?"

Derek looked away as Scott flocked to her in seconds. His arms lingered just above her shoulders, not sure whether or not she wanted to be touched, and insisting stupid things like, "It's okay, Allison," and, "She was just trying to protect you."

"And I was trying to protect Scott." The remark may as well have been a stab, but Derek had had enough of Allison Argent. "You see," he began, "that's how it works—"

"Shut up," she snarled.

"—your psychotic family, self-proclaimed "good guys," goes screwing around with The Code, and we have to pay for it—"

"Shut up."

"—and then you get to throw a fit and act all tortured because you've lost your loved ones, but guess what, princess? Your family eliminated mine but that doesn't blind me from—"

Before Derek could gather what Allison was doing, she had managed to body slam him. He would've snorted at the poor, graceless attempt, but he was too busy trying to catch her before she dropped to the ground in a heap.

In his arms she twisted erratically, screaming terrible things.

And it was like she was shattering.

Derek tried to calm her down by pinning her against him, her back pressed firmly to his chest. Allison fought viciously to untangled herself from his arms as she cursed his ancestors and shrieked at him to let her go, but she never once argued that she didn't believe it.

How her mother had tried to kill Scott.

Because she must have known.

Allison must have known this whole time that something was off about her mother's death. That it didn't altogether make sense because what was her mother doing there in the first place?

And this whole time, to keep herself from distrusting the woman who raised her, to keep herself sane and her world from crumbling down around her, Allison never asked the right questions.

She only allowed herself to be told what she wanted to hear and follow through with a kill that would shut up the voices that plagued her.

All she wanted was to shoot Derek in the heart because that's where she hurt the most.

She wanted to tear his world down and strip him of everything he held dear because that's what he was doing to her.

He suffocated her. He sucked the life out of her and left her with a body that only knew how to draw back a bow and release. He had dropped her porcelain shell and now she was completely broken—shattered into the jagged fragments that cut away at what she thought she knew.

That was Derek Hale.

But what killed her the most. The final detail that was like an arrow lodged in her heart, an arrow that couldn't be removed or else she would die, that final detail that resonated whenever he was around: Derek Hale had done nothing wrong.

And now with her mother's true intentions revealed, it was this piece of truth that echoed inside her head, threatening to never cease.

This whole time, Derek had played fair.

fin.