Dark side of the Moon

~ II ~

'They're at it again,' Seth thought as he listened to yet another shouting match between Jake and Sam. Running a tired hand over his face, he couldn't seem to find the strength to intervene. Taking a deep breath, Seth slowly blew it out. 'I give it ten more seconds before Emily starts sobbing hysterically.'

"Man, this sucks," Embry whispered softly as he took a seat next to Seth. "What are they fighting about now?"

"Who cares?" Seth answered as dragged his tired body off the wooden log. Staggering just a bit as he stood up, he blinked his bleary eyes at everyone before walking away. Trudging away from everyone, he slowly head towards the woods. 'Stupid Alpha's and their controlling ways, when they said that power corrupts they meant it. Stupid imprints needing constant reassurance that they are the true love of their imprinter's life. And stupid little me, I should have had your back. Damn, Leah. I'm sorry. You're my sister, my family… not them. Never them!'

"Seth, take someone with you. You don't want to get lost," Emily ordered slightly. A soft smile graced her face, usually taking the sting out of her words.

"I'm a wolf, I don't get lost. Unlike an outsider like you," Seth lowly growled at her. He watches as her face paled a skittish look leaped into her eyes.

"Leave Emily alone," Sam stated as he turned away from his fight with Jake.

"Why don't you Alpha command me? Like you did Leah and every cub here! Be nice to her and be her friend," Seth bluntly stated. Sharp tension riddled throughout the pack.

"Seth, you don't mean that," Emily weakly countered as she looked at Sam pleadingly. "Sam wouldn't do something like that…."

"Are you really this damn stupid? My sister hated you! But she had to be your friend, just like all the cubs. Leah would never have been at your farce of a wedding if she wasn't Alpha commanded to be there!" Seth shouted angrily at Emily as he glared at Sam and then Jake. Silently, Seth dared them to say anything. Taking a deep breath he could smell her tears. "You destroyed her life, and you flaunted it. Pathetic little Emily Young was finally better than Leah in some mystical way. The truth is you're still pathetic. Sam doesn't love you, he never has."

"Seth, that's enough," Jake Alpha commanded. He flinched when he realized that he just gave Seth's character assignation credibility. Even Sam closed his eyes adding more credibility to Seth's claim.

Swallowing hard, Seth grimly smiled down at Emily. He heard her gasped as more tears started to form in her eyes. Sneering at her, Seth headed deeper into the scared woods, further away from his so-called brothers.

"That wasn't very nice, Seth," Quil commented as Seth past him.

"Neither is this pack of hyenas. When the real wolves show up, let me know," Seth coldly stated, knowing that his voice could be heard by the entire pack.

"She had no choice," Quil argued.

"The imprinter is what the imprintee needs! She needed Sam to love her desperately because she knew that no one else was ever going to," Seth shouted enraged, he shoved Quil up against a tree. "She's nothing more than a rapist! Sam didn't know her or love her, he loved Leah! He still loves Leah. But did that stop her? Huh? Did it? Did it stop her from ripping out her best friend's heart? With people like her in Leah's life, she didn't need any enemies."

Growling at his friend, Seth forced himself to step back. With his enhance hearing; he could hear Emily crying harder, along with Rachel and Kim. 'It's about time they heard the truth, not just what they wanted to hear.' With graceful steps, Seth moved deeper into the woods. He walked until his feet ached. Taking a deep breath, he noticed that the air was cleaner here. Blinking, he finally looked around him.

'Where the hell am I?' Taking in the landscape, several things seemed to be out of place. Finding a place to sit, Seth slowly sat down. Sighing heavily, he wondered if one of his pack members informed his mother of his outburst. 'Great, maybe I'll just stay here.' Closing his tired eyes, he decided that he would head back after a nap.

"So this is where you disappeared too?" Embry inquired as he shook Seth awake.

"Yeah, let me guess the Alpha's want to see me pronto," Seth groaned lowly.

"Ah, no! Well, I don't know. I followed you when you left but lost track of you about two miles back. Took the liberty of covering both of our tracks, I just caught up to you," Embry commented as he looked around. "I stayed out of wolf form, so I have no idea what's going on at camp."

"Thanks, Embry. Have you ever been here before?" Seth asked as he slowly relaxed.

"No man. It doesn't look natural, I think you stumbled upon an old settlement," Embry stated as he really looked around him.

"Really?" Seth inquired as he too started to notice that something didn't feel right. "I'm not sure about an old settlement, but it doesn't feel natural." Getting up, Seth narrowed his eyes as he approached what looked like a cluster of rocks. Using his inhuman strength he pulled away several hundred years worth of over grown vines.

"That's a Quileute symbol!" Embry gasped as he added his strength to Seth's in removing the vines. Together both boys cleared the stone. "It looks familiar but I don't recognize it."

"I don't either. Look around, maybe there is more," Seth eagerly enticed as he started to scout around.

Embry took a second to take a deep breath before looking around him. 'This is the first time I've seen Seth look remotely alive since the vampire massacre. Where ever you are Leah, for whatever it's worth, I'm sorry.' Moving a few feet away, he noticed another stone. "Seth, look for rocks or large stones. I think I just found another one."

"I did too," Seth laughed as he pulled at the long weeds. "More symbols, but I think I recognize this one."

"Really? What does it say?" Embry probed as he made short work of the half dead tree hiding another symbol.

"Great change, no wait that's wrong, time of change?" Seth stated hesitantly. Squatting down, he ran his hand over the symbol. "I can make out time, but that's about it."

"Could this be where our forefathers hid the knowledge about us being protectors?" Embry thought out loud as he inspected the symbol in front of him. "I think this one says 'judgment' but that's all I can make out."

"Great," Seth mumbled defeated as he stood up. "That just means we need to bring Old Quil or Billy here to decipher them. Once we do that everyone will be here."

"Not really. We just need to make charcoal prints of the symbols. Have the old coots tell us their meanings. If we can keep our thoughts of this place to ourselves in wolf form, we will be the only ones to know," Embry offered hopefully. Looking one of his best friends, Embry could literally see Seth dyeing inside. 'I refuse to stand by and watch as another Clearwater dies from the inside out, not on my watch.'

"This belongs to everybody," Seth answered flatly. His shoulders slumped as he let out a breath.

"Yes, it does. Let them find it, until then it can be a place of refuge for us. Think about it. They're not going to really care that you found a Quileute symbol carved into a rock. They might even Alpha command you not to come back here," Embry added. "I'm not telling them."

"We're going to need to bring some of our stuff out here, if we're planning on spending any time here," Seth responded softly. Inspecting the land, he nodded towards the mountains. "I'm sure there are caves near here, somewhere we can stash our things."

"I'll say," Embry laughed, glad that Seth silently agreed with him. "Let's look around some more!"

"Yeah," Seth exuberant yell informed Embry that he did the right thing. Together they worked for another hour, before the dying light from the sun stopped them. Surveying their handiwork, both boys looked at each other before bumping fists.

"Now that we have a better view, it kind of looks more like a place where important ceremonies took place," Seth grandly stated.

"Kind of, we're going to need to bring gardening tools," Embry huffed as he looked at his hands. "Thank the elders for our rapid healing or my hands would be bundled up for sure." Swallowing hard, Embry sniffed the air.

"Tell me, you smell this?" Seth in a broken voice inquired as his nose twitched.

"Perfume, not just any perfume, but her perfume, I think she's still watching out over you," Embry whispered as his voice wavered. Rapidly blinking his eyes, as moister started to fill them.

"She hasn't worn that since she first phased," Seth whispered softly. "Do you think she's happier now?"

"About as happy as she could be while missing you," Embry tried to console as he too struggled with his emotions. "Let's be honest, in the end. She hated all of us, but you. You, she adored."

"I didn't stand up for her, I should have," Seth condemned himself.

"Nothing would have changed. Both Sam and Jake would have Alpha commanded you, right along with her," Embry reasoned out. "Sam was determined that nothing would ruin that day for Emily and Jake just went along with it."

"But at least she would have known that I was in her corner," Seth sobbed out as he struggled to contain his emotions. "She would have known!"

"She did know! She was planning to come back, your graduation! You're the only one that got a letter for her. She knew," Embry tried again to console Seth. "You she forgave; the rest of us, not so much. Come on, let's head back before they send a search party."

"Race you," Seth said as he took one last sniff of the air.

"You're on!" Embry agreed. "On three.. one.. two.. three!" Both boys phased running at full speed. Rushing away as the sun slowly sank.

.

When the moon was in its zenith, the Quileute symbol's glowed eerily in the moonlight as a dead voice whispered a warning in the night.

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