"The pain of loss is never fleeting, it's eternal."

- Unknown

Beacon Hills, California.

January, 2005.

Alexandria hopped up and down beside her older siblings, eyes locked on her brother as they made the long trek through the woods towards their house. Derek snorted in amusement at his baby sister's excitement, winking mockingly at her.

"Come on Derek!" Alexandria pleaded, skipping alongside her older brother and sister. "You have to tell me."

"Oh really?" Derek smirked and caught her in a headlock. "Why should I?"

"Because I'm your baby sister and you love me?" she grinned, her warm brown eyes meeting his hazel-green ones.

"Derek, Alex, would you two just behave?" Laura sighed in exasperation as she turned to glare at them. Derek smiled sheepishly at his eldest sister before he released Alex and ruffled her hair.

"Why would we want to behave?" Alex jumped on Laura's back, winding her arms around her neck. Laura stumbled slightly at the impact before setting her hands under Alex's thighs to hold her up.

"I don't know how mom deals with you two," Laura told them, her frustration at her childish siblings shining through. "You're nightmares."

Alex let out a stream of high pitched giggles at her sister's insult. Derek fought to smother a grin as Laura rolled her eyes and began spinning around. Alex clung on tightly, the world blurring before her eyes as she slowly became dizzy.

"Laura! Stop!" she shrieked with laughter.

Laura did stop, but not because she had been ordered to, she pried Alex off of her and set her ten year old sister back on the ground. Alex shared a worried look with Derek as Laura started sniffing the air, her eyes shifting between bright yellow and deep brown.

"What is it?" Derek asked, grasping Laura's arm.

"Something's wrong," Laura answered quickly and tugged her arm free.

"What d'you mean?"

"Something's burning," Alex input, brows furrowing as she looked around. The three Hale siblings gasped in unison as clouds of dark grey and black smoke rose up into the sky, followed by the crackling of flames.

"Come on!" Laura grabbed her sister's hand, who in turn latched onto Derek, dragging him along as they darted through the trees.

Alex felt trepidation well in the pit of her stomach and rise up into her throat as they got closer to the flames. They burst through the trees, and nothing could have prepared them for the sight before them.

The once magnificent Hale House was burning away, the white building turning black and caving in on itself. The front half of the roof that covered the porch had already collapsed and the walls seemed minutes from following suit. Numerous amounts of firemen desperately tried to get the flames under control, to put them out before they did any more damage, but to no avail.

Alex let out an ear piercing scream, the sight of her childhood home fading away was too much for her and she lurched forward, running towards the house. Laura and Derek were completely silent, shock and fear holding them to the spot. Derek felt tears spring to his eyes as he finally moved forward, chasing after his younger sibling.

"Stop her!" Alex paid no attention to the cop that shouted and continued towards the house. A pair of large arms locked around her body, jerking her backwards.

"Let go of me!" she howled, arm outstretched in front of her.

"Hey, hey," a soothing voice said in her ear and she glanced over her shoulder to find Sheriff Stilinski holding her to his chest, preventing her from moving. "I can't let you go any closer."

"M-my house," she sobbed, tearing her eyes away from the Sheriff. "What ha-happened?"

"We don't know yet," he answered, half dragging, half carrying her towards her siblings, who were both in similar positions.

Alex tugged herself free and huddled into Derek, winding her arms around his waist tightly. Laura yanked her arms away from the cop and embraced her siblings.

"Wh-where are our family?" Laura croaked, turning her watery gaze to Sheriff Stilinski.

"I'm so sorry," he started, a sympathetic look appearing on his face. "They were inside the house when it caught fire."

"No. No!" Derek yelled at them, his grip tightening on Alex. "You're lying!"

Alex buried her face in his chest, her tears staining the fabric of his t-shirt a dark green as she listened to the sounds of her only remaining family members' shouts of disbelief and reluctance to believe that they had nothing left now and Sheriff Stilinski as he tried to console the panicking Hale siblings.

"They're all gone," she squeezed her eyes shut, fingers curling around Derek's t-shirt.

Derek held her closer, pressing his face against her hair and tried to calm his heart rate down by breathing in her floral scent. Tears welled in Laura's eyes as she gazed at the red, orange and yellow flames as they began to die down. A quick glance down at her brother and sister had her making up her mind, she would do everything to protect them, to keep them safe from anything she viewed as a threat.

And as the life she once knew went up in flames, she vowed to keep her remaining pack members close and never let them go.