Hola, readers! So as I was rewatching this episode, the timeline was kinda iffy because they were doing a lot of back and forth with the scenes and there was a lot of in between stuff left unseen, so go along with my actual story timeline. Does that make sense? Because it does in my head, but as I'm typing it, it sounds a little eh. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the final chapter of Royals, and please let me know what you think in the review box~
"Are you serious?" I shouted as I walked into the Hale house. Granted, I'm walking into this situation with very little information. But I also know that Derek has some serious impulsivity issues. I went straight to Derek's, as promised, after my confrontation with Gerard the geriatric psycho, and here's Derek still beating the living crap out of Peter with no type of logical explanation.
Derek eyed me up and down after my interruption. "Don't you knock?"
"You have supernatural hearing and you want me to knock?"
"Yes," he urged in an annoyed manner.
"Too bad," I shrugged, making my way over to the stairs to sit down.
"You should've sunk your teeth into someone less stubborn," Peter quipped from the ground. Derek walked away from Peter and began wiping the blood off his unharmed knuckles.
"What happened to you?" Derek asked, referring to the new bloody hole in my hoodie. I pulled from the bottom of it to get a good view of the now ruined item of clothing.
"Oh, you know werewolf hunters threatening to kill the rest of my family," I drawled with an eye roll. "The usual."
There was a beat of silence as Derek and Peter exchanged glance. "Gerard did that?"
"Yeah, he also added wolfsbane as a nice touch," I sighed, leaning back on the steps. "So you can see that my first week as a werewolf is going swimmingly."
"What else did he say?"
"He wants me to rat you out or else he'll kill the rest of my family. He also beat the crap out Stiles and threatened Scott and his mom. What else? Oh, he's also holding Erica and Boyd, but I'm thinking he let them go too. It's hard to tell when there's always someone trying to kill you."
"Do you always come bearing bad news?" Peter asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.
"I think bad news is just starting to follow me. Like an epidemic."
"Did you tell Gerard where I was?" Derek asked as he walked over to me.
Deciding to humor him, I frowned up at Derek and titled my head in confusion. "You're not dead, are you? I thought we already went over this?"
"How much time did he give you?"
"Not enough," I informed, sitting up. "Did you guys figure anything out or did you really spend all that time fighting?"
"Wasn't much of a fight," Derek quipped in a matter-of-fact tone. "And yes, he figured out how to save Jackson."
I moved to look around Derek to give him an expectant look. "Love," Peter answered as if it were the most obvious thing.
"Love?" They both nodded as confirmation. "After all the shit we've been through with this thing? You're telling me love is going to cure Jackson?"
"Comforting, isn't it?" Peter asked with a knowing look. I sighed and leaned with both my elbows resting on my knees.
"Did you talk to Scott?" Derek asked.
"No," I huffed with a slight frown. "I literally just woke up in the middle of the street with Stiles—and no, he hasn't talked to Scott either."
"Why not? Weren't they just at the lacrosse game?"
"Yeah, but the lights went out right after and I can't remember anything after that. But it's possible that Isaac and Scott are still at the school. Stiles and I went missing right after the final buzzer went off so I'm sure the sheriff is all over that."
Derek turned around and tossed his used, bloody cloth to Peter and turned to me. "C'mon, we're going to the school."
We immediately headed to the school in Derek's car. I called shotgun that was ultimately stolen from me by Peter. I was currently pouting as we hid outside the boys' locker room in an empty classroom. Derek told me to consider it part of my training. I considered it rude. Like the rules of shotgun are pretty fucking simple. I had spent a good deal of time glaring at Peter that I almost didn't realize the boys' locker room cleared out. "We need to talk," Derek informed as he entered the room.
Peter followed Derek as if on perfect queue. "All of us."
Almost missing my own queue from glaring, I shuffled into the room and made my way in between Derek and Scott. "For the record, I have no idea what's going on either."
Scott's reaction was just as I imagined as he looked between us three. "Holy sh—What the hell is this?"
"You know," Derek began, stepping forward. "I thought the same thing when I saw you talking to Gerard at the sheriff's station."
"Okay, hold on. He threatened to kill my mom. And I had to get close to him. What was I supposed to do?" Scott asked in a defensive manner.
"I'm gonna go with Scott on this one." Peter piped up. "Have you seen his mom? She's gorgeous."
"Shut up," Derek and Scott growled at the same time. I think he's trying to get his ass beat again.
"Who is he?" Isaac asked, leaning over in Scot's ear.
"That's Peter, Derek's Uncle. Little while back, he tried to kill us all, and then we set him on fire, and Derek slashed his throat."
"Hi," Peter greeted with a wave. Isaac looked to me in which I nodded knowingly. At this point, I know we're all used to being murdered or dangerously close to it at least once a month. When this is all over, I'm definitely proposing Life Alerts again.
"How is he alive?" Scott asked, gesturing his head to Peter.
"Look, the short version is he knows how to stop Jackson. And maybe how to save him," Derek answered.
"Well," Isaac spoke up. "That's very helpful except Jackson's dead."
"What?"
"Yeah, Jackson's dead," Scott confirmed. "It just happened on the field."
"That's insane," I frowned looking back at Derek and Peter who were wearing concerned faces. "The Kanima can't even poison itself. Well, it can't when the Kanima is the Kanima"
"What do you mean?" Scott asked.
"Did this happen right after all the lights went out?" I asked. Scott and Isaac glanced at each other before nodding. "Then it's all a distraction. A really elaborate diversion," I stressed with wide eyes.
"For what?"
"Whatever he has planned next," I guessed. "Either way we're gypped for time."
"She's right," Peter said, stepping from behind Derek. "We need to head back to the house."
"For what?"
"Records."
Once we arrived back at the house, I couldn't help but think that a lot of this back and forth was something I was going to be accustomed to in a very short time. We all filed inside one behind the other. My phone vibrated to indicate a message. "Oh," Scott sighed with relief. "Oh, they found Stiles."
"Technically no one found him; he's been home for at least an hour," I informed, pulling out my own phone and reading a message from Stiles. Derek and Peter were bickering over something by the stairs as I typed out an annoyingly vague response to Stiles.
Make it home okay?
Something like that.
"What are you talking about?" Scott asked with a frown.
"Gerard took him."
"Gerard took him?"
"Gerard took him," I repeated.
Scott blinked slowly, trying to process the information. "How do you know that?"
"He took me too e—"
"Gerard took you too?" Isaac interrupted, stepping beside Scott.
"You know," I sighed. "I feel like this story would go a lot faster without any more interruptions."
"I—Sorry, you're right. Start from the beginning," Scott apologized.
I frowned knowing we were all short for time. Decided to give the two the water-down version of the water-down version, I began. "Long story short; psycho brother left me for dead, I got the bite from Derek, got kidnapped by Gerard with Stiles, got stabbed with a wolfsbane laced knife, woke up in the street, and now we're here."
"Wha—how did you? When did—"
"There's a lot of in between, but we really don't have time, Scott. I'll explain in detail later."
Scott opened his mouth to argue my point I'm sure, but was cut off by his own phone ringing. He walked away without excusing himself. Isaac came and steeped in front of me as he stared over at Scott. "I think you overwhelmed him a little."
"He can handle it," I assured Isaac. "Besides, I need him to trust me again and it's better for me to just leave it all there before he finds out through someone else. Especially since Derek loves keeping stuff from him."
"Derek loves keeping stuff from everybody."
"We gotta go to the hospital," Scott announced as he walked back over. "My mom says something's happening to Jackson, but she doesn't know what."
"Sounds cryptic," I said with hesitation.
"I know," Scott sighed. "But it also sounds pretty important."
I decided to tag along with Isaac and Scott because I didn't know how much longer it would take for Derek and Peter to sit around and research some more. Plus I've never actually been to a morgue before. Melissa snuck us in through the back and rushed us inside. Well, this is another place I can seemingly break into if needed. We entered the room and the very first thing I saw was Jackson encased in a clear casing of something. The entire image was unsettling and to make matters even worse, you can see Jackson breathing.
We were all wearing identical expressions of shock upon seeing Jackson. "What's happening to him?" Scott asked, looking at his mom.
Melissa looked between the three of us expectantly. "I thought that you were gonna tell me. Is it bad?"
"It doesn't look good," Scott huffed. The cocoon that was forming looked like it was coming from his claws. Upon closer examination, it definitely was and Jackson was still alive. I narrowed my eyes and leaned toward him to get a better look. Suddenly a hiss elicited from Jackson and I jumped back into Isaac who jumped as well. "Whoa," Scott sputtered, backing into the nearest wall behind him. "Um, mom, could you zip it up, please?"
Melissa shot him a look of slight shock, but moved to zip the body bag up anyways. The zipper jammed and Jackson conveniently bared a mouthful of Kanima teeth which only egged Scott for his mom to zip more. Once the bag was finally zipped, there was more movement coming from the inside. Scott promptly called Derek and gave him a rundown of the entire situation. "Charlie," Scott called out after he hung up his phone. "Keep a look out while Isaac and I carry Jackson outside to your car. We're meeting Derek half—"
"Yes, yes I know we're meeting them halfway at the warehouse where that one girl was murdered," I finished quickly. Scott nodded once and he and Isaac each took an end and I took the lead as we snuck out Jackson. We went through the same maze to exit through the back. Hearing a car in the distance, I stopped abruptly causing Scott to crash into me and making him drop Jackson on his end. "There's a car coming," I announced with a whisper. Scott gasped slightly and picked his half of Jackson back up and started moving toward a hidden area. Not moving a fast enough, a very bright pair of headlights blinded the three of us in the face. Once whoever shut the lights off got of their car, I was relieved to only see Chris Argent exit.
"You're alone," Scott noted after no one else exited the vehicle.
"More than you know," Chris cryptically responded.
Scott stepped in front of me, effectively blocking my view of Chris. "What do you want?"
"We don't have much in common, Scott. But at the moment, we have a common enemy."
Scott threw his hands up for a split second before responding. "That's why I'm trying to get him out of here."
"I didn't mean Jackson."
"He means Gerard," I clarified, looking from behind Scott at Chris who nodded in response. He glanced at the ground and took a step toward us.
"He's twisted his way into Allison's head and I'm losing her and so are you."
"You're right," Scott said after a pause. "So can you trust me to fix this?" He asked rhetorically. "Then can you let us go?"
"No," he responded with finality.
Fuck, I'm not in the mood to get stabbed as a distraction again.
"My car is faster."
On the way to the abandoned warehouse/rave venue/crime scene/grand meet up spot for supernatural creatures, I was stuck in the back with Isaac and an eerily still Jackson. As soon as the car stopped outside the warehouse, I jumped out of the car and almost fell in the process.
"I think he stopped moving," Isaac informed with a smirk on his face.
I straightened my hoodie with confidence, and flipped my hair out of my face. "You're familiar with the expression calm before the storm?" Isaac nodded in response. "Well alright then, Lahey. I'd rather Jackson be writhing."
"Where's Derek?" Chris asked as he joined Isaac and I by the back with the door open and a very still Jackson was lying there. Hearing running footsteps in the distance, I smiled to myself seeing that the wolfsbane was finally wearing off. Automatically, my smile turned into a frown once the four of us saw Derek running to us on all fours. He landed on his feet after an elaborate flip. And just like that, the frowned completely replaced the smile on my face. Once Derek had come back to earth, he realized that Chris Argent was staring at him, in which Derek gave him a skeptical look. "I'm here for Jackson, not you."
"Somehow, I don't find that very comforting," Derek argued with a single eyebrow lift. He looked to Isaac and I. "Get him inside."
Isaac and I complied with Derek and promptly carried Jackson inside. I made Isaac carry the end near his head in case something happened in transit. I'd rather get kicked in the face rather experience those claws again. Derek squatted and retracted his own claws once Isaac and I laid Jackson on the ground. He unzipped the bag and made a move to strike. "Whoa, Miguel what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Derek asked rhetorically.
He lifted his arm again only to be stopped by Scott. "You said you knew how to save him."
"Think about it," he snapped, looking between Scott and I. "Gerard controls him now. He's turned Jackson into his own personal guard dog. And he set all of this in motion so that Jackson could get even bigger and more powerful."
"No. No, he wouldn't do that," Chris argued, moving out of the shadows to stand behind Scott. "If Jackson's a dog, he's turning rabid, and my father wouldn't let a rabid dog live."
"Of course not. Anything that dangerous, that out of control—is better off dead," Gerard called out from a doorway of the warehouse. I jumped and found myself backing into Isaac. Gerard had emerged from the shadows and stepped into light to make himself known.
The next sound I heard was claws entering someone which an utterly familiar sound. My hands flew to face in shock as everyone watched Derek be lifted up by Jackson's half Kanima form. Slowly, Jackson stood up as Derek was helplessly hanging there. Then Jackson flung Derek into the next room. I glanced over at Isaac and held my gaze on Scott who simply nodded at me. I immediately sprinted to the makeshift hole in the ground and climbed over the debris to find Derek. I heard Scott call out Allison's name which didn't surprise me in the slightest since the last time I saw her, she was shooting arrows at anyone who was in her way.
Once I found Derek lying motionlessly on the ground, I dropped to my knees and debated what would be the best way to get him up. Slapping was definitely effective last time with Mr. Argent. I sighed heavily knowing I would pay for this later, but lifted my hand and struck Derek across the face forcefully. With absolutely no response, I looked at his shirt and chest to see if he was at least breathing. I listened for a heartbeat only to find it very, very faint.
Perhaps punching would work.
"God, please don't hate me, Derek," I mumbled. Lifting my fist this time, I landed a punch in the middle of Derek's face. I sucked in air through my teeth and let out a groan. Cradling my hand, I noticed that Derek's nose started bleeding and he started stirring. Once he was about half awake, I strained to pick Derek up into a standing position. His hand went up to his nose and he looked to me for answers. "I—you fell," I stammered. God, I don't remember being this bad at lying. After ignoring my blatant lie, Derek took in the scene in front of him and let himself shift to his full Alpha wolf form. He dramatically flipped over a stack of loading crates. I merely climbed over them and landed neatly on my feet.
I grinned at my chance to finally wolf out. It was easier, almost too easy, to shift into my wolf form. All I had to do was get pissed off and release what I've wanted release for the past week. I didn't have much time to check myself out because there was ineluctable brawl about to break out. It's a pretty known fact that I've had very little combat training to fight, but I've seen so many movies that I have a pretty good idea about how this was going to go down. My heart was beating incredibly fast and I was seeing nothing but red as the Kanima came heading toward the four of us.
Derek was the first to make a move. I moved behind the Kanima while Isaac followed my lead as Scott stayed close behind to help Derek. Derek managed to get a few blows and kicks to the Kanima, but was soon swiped away into a wall. Isaac attacked him next and even managed to dig his claws into it to turn it around to face us. Derek had bounced back while Scott attempted to sweep the Kanima's legs to get it off its feet. Unfortunately, the Kanima was much faster and easily dodged the blow by jumping. Panicking, I struck the Kanima with my elbow and watched as it slightly faltered under the impact. Derek took advantage of the moment of weakness and landed a solid kick the Kanima's throat.
Our good luck streak began to come to an end as soon as Scott was thrown into the wall and Derek collapsed from being partially paralyzed. I was so distracted from Derek and Scott that I didn't even notice when Allison was nowhere in front of me. I frowned with my eyes shut as I tried to listen for her heartbeat. All of a sudden I felt something very cold, very sharp, and very lethal in my back. I dropped to my knees all at once I looked up to see Allison smirking down at me. I dropped my head and let my palms hold myself up as I unwillingly shifted back into my human form from the pain.
Remembering the same feeling from Gerard, I guessed that Allison had launched a knife into my back meaning she literally just stabbed me in the back. I rolled my eyes at my own terrible joke and focused on my breathing. Hearing Isaac fall down next to me was the next thing I heard. Looking up again, I saw Allison heading to Derek until the Kanima disarmed her and gripped her by the throat. As a result, everyone gazed over to Gerard. "Not yet, sweetheart."
"What are you doing?" Allison asked in between breaths.
"He's doing what he came here to do," Scott answered, coming to stand in front of Isaac and me.
"What's he talking about?"
"It was the night outside the hospital, wasn't it, when I threatened your mother. I knew I saw something in your eyes. You could just smell it, couldn't you?" Gerard said with a glint in his eye.
"He's dying," Isaac announced from beside me.
"I am," Gerard confirmed. "I have been for a while now. Unfortunately, science doesn't have a cure for cancer yet. But the supernatural does."
"You monster," Chris growled.
"Not yet," Gerard smirked.
"What are you doing?"
"You'll kill her too?" Chris asked with anger in his voice.
"When it comes to survival, I'd kill my own son!" Gerard enunciated loudly. That explicitly shut Mr. Argent up. "Scott."
Everyone looked over at Scott who merely stared at Gerard until Scott shifted back into his human form. He then looked over to Chris and then finally Derek. "Scott, don't. You know that he's gonna kill me right after. He'll be an Alpha."
"That's true. But I think he already knows that, don't you, Scott? He knows that the ultimate prize is Allison. Do this small task for me, and they can be together. You are the only piece that doesn't fit, Derek. And in case you haven't learned yet, there is just no competing with young love."
Derek pleaded with Scott as he reluctantly still dragged him over. I moved to go over to the two, but was immediately stopped by the knife sticking out of my back. Once Scott forced Derek to bite Gerard, Gerard slowly lifted his arm in victory and I dropped my head again knowing we were all as good as dead. The smell radiating from Gerard all of a sudden got stronger to the point where I was almost gagging. "What the—?"
I lifted my head to see a black blood dripping from Derek's bite. Gerard dug through his pockets nervously and pulled out a small round case. He opened and crushed the pills that were inside. "Mountain ash!" Suddenly, Scott's sneaking around began to make sense. I saw the slow look of realization come across Derek's face as he too figured it out.
Gerard dropped to his knees on the floor and then let out a disgusting fountain of black goo. I cringed at the site as well as the smell and turned away to see Isaac cringing as well. "I've seen better in sex ed," I quipped, which made Isaac chuckle once.
"Kill them!" Gerard yelled. I snapped my head toward him and saw he was still spewing black blood from his mouth. "Kill them all!"
Crap.
I shuffled to my feet the best I could with the help of Isaac and Scott. Luckily, I had just gotten up in time to maneuver out of the way of Stiles' Jeep crashing through the wall. He had hit the Kanima that was surely about to kill us. Lydia was wide-eyed from the front seat while Stiles' eyes were shut tight. "Did I get him?"
I swear that fucker can never talk about my driving again.
Scott smiled, but it was quickly wiped away when the Kanima jumped back up from the impact. The Kanima pounced on the roof and Lydia and Stiles shuffled out of the car hurriedly. "Jackson!" Lydia yelled as the Kanima raised a claw to strike. She presented him a key and to everyone's surprise, the Kanima lowered its claw. The Kanima and Lydia were intensely staring at each other while everyone watched on with shocked faces. Once Jackson shifted back into his human form, he took many steps back and spread his arms apart.
Holy shit on a stick. Peter was right. Unfortunately since he was right, we all, even Jackson, knew what was about to happen next. Derek's eyes shifted to red and Peter came running out from behind a pillar. They each took a hand with dispensed claws and entered them into Jackson who immediately faltered at the impact. He coughed and fell to his knees as Lydia came running to catch him.
"Do you—do you still—"
"I do. I do still love you," Lydia confirmed with tears running down her cheeks. "I do, I do still love you. I do. I do. I do still love you, I do." Jackson then shut his eyes and collapsed on Lydia's shoulder. His body went limp as the key fell to the floor, making an impossibly loud sound.
I swallowed hard at the scene and gazed over at Stiles who looked devastated. I place a comforting hand on his back. He returned my gaze and quickly widened his eyes. "You know you have a kn—"
I nodded silently and waved him off. I felt someone place a hand on my back. "Hold still," Derek ordered. Already standing still, I balled my hands into fist as Derek roughly pulled the knife out. I claim this as payback for repeatedly hitting him in the face. I'm not sure if there's an appropriate time for knife pulling, but this seemed like a really bad time anyways.
"Where's Gerard?" Alison asked, pointing to the trail of black blood leading out the door.
"He can't be far."
The scraping of concrete got my attention. We all looked down and saw Jackson's hand moving. The wounds from Derek and Peter had healed themselves and Jackson's chest was once again moving up and down. His eyes shot open to reveal a bright blue. He slowly rose with no blemishes from his recent death. His head snapped back and he let out a roar in his full wolf form. Once he was done, he went back to his full human form and he and Lydia embraced. I began gnawing on my bottom lip in hopes of biting a hole through it to match the growing tension in the room. I turned my head to Stiles to see that he was crying. He moved his head between Scott and me before stating, "He scratched my Jeep."
The next day at school happened to be the last day of school. It just goes to show that life literally does not stop for anyone. I was strolling down the hallway because I had just left the office where our old principal was getting rid of Gerard's old stuff. I debated whether or not if I wanted to steal the saber that was kept in his office, but I decided to not push my luck after getting out of final exams. With my final report card in hand, I had managed to keep a perfectly average of a C-minus. It's pretty impressive considering all the circumstances given. I smiled down at the piece of cardstock.
"Hey, Charlie," Allison called out softly. I'm sure I wouldn't have heard her without my supernatural hearing. I sent her a small wave and continued walking down the hall. "Wait!" She yelled, she shut her locker and jogged the short distance to catch up with me. She closed her eyes and let out a small chuckle.
"I'm sorry," she and I chorused at the same time. We giggled and a slight blush crept on my cheeks. "No, I'm sorry," we said in unison again. WE laughed softly again and I gestured for her to go first. "I shouldn't have let Gerard get in my head like that an—"
"No, seriously don't even worry about it. I mean my brother stalked you, built a fake relationship in his head, and killed a dozen people," I said with a laugh, which quickly made my face fall.
Heh, too soon. Even for me.
"Sounds like we should start a club for crazy dead relatives, yeah?" She joked, shaking her head in disapproval as soon as the words left her mouth. I bit back a smile and licked my lips slowly at the thought. "Seriously, neither one of us saw this coming."
"Definitely not," I scoffed, shaking my head.
Allison held out her hand for me to shake. "Let bygones be bygones?"
"Agreed," I grinned, shaking her hand.
Training with Derek was something that I could easily call a cathartic experience. I totally get why Derek spent hours beating the crap out of Peter that one night. But training with Derek along with Scott, Isaac, and Stiles was a completely different story. Scott insisted that he would go easy on me and I was pretty much convinced he'd let me win every time we sparred. But luckily, we made amends. He said he always thought Matt and I were polar opposites for twins and he totally called that one. Isaac and I were a different story. We would start out strong, but would end up giggling after a while which only pissed off Derek even more. We got punishments like food runs or laundry duty. Stiles on the other hand was just a nuisance all together. He carried around this stupid dog whistle he got from Deaton and was definitely abusing it. Every single time he used it, Derek threatened to rip his teeth out. But here Stiles was, throat still intact and blowing that damn whistle.
"Quit it with the whistle, Stiles," Derek growled.
"No," he argued, guarding the whistle. "It's precautionary."
"You're about to live a cautionary tale as the boy who blew the whistle."
"What if I'm being attacked and you guys are like miles away? What do I do? I blow the whistle, like so," he explained, blowing the screeching, high-pitched whistle. I stomped over to Stiles and snatched the whistle out of his hand. I tossed it in my hand once before chucking into the foliage as far as I possibly could.
"If you're dead, we've all been dead for weeks."
That alone officially stopped the dog whistle business.
The same day I was lounging around in my room like a normal teenager for once, you know plus the sore muscles from werewolf training. But in between Supernatural and Hell's Kitchen, it had been a pretty productive day.
"Long day?" My mom asked from my doorway.
I shrugged the best I could while laying down. "Something like that."
"Well," she began, walking over to sit in my rolling desk chair. "Maybe it's time for a change of scenery for a little while."
I sat up and folded my legs under me. "What do you mean?"
"What do you think about spending the summer with me in Arizona?" She asked excitedly, coming over to sit beside me. "You could use a little colour and I would love, love, love to have you, Charlotte," she pleaded sadly. I smiled softly at my mother. I'm sure Beacon Hills would be fine without me. Hell, I'm sure it could use a break from the Daehler's anyways. Derek would have to deal with me being gone for a few months, but I'm sure he'll get over it because he has no choice. I nodded once I brought myself out of my thoughts. "Of course," I grinned. My mother returned my smile and hugged me.
Once she let me go, she stood up and placed a hand on my door. "Someone is here to see you," she announced. I was so caught up in my own world, I hadn't even noticed that there was an extra heartbeat until now.
"Is it Stiles?" I questioned with a knowing face. My mom tilted her head in confusion and slightly parted her lips.
"How'd you know that?"
"Lucky guess," I shrugged. She deepened her frowned and opened the door to reveal Stiles who's ear was pressed against the door. His ears turned red and he scratched the back of his head in a faux inconspicuous manner as his heartbeat increased tenfold. "Please, come in Stiles," I invited sarcastically. Stiles complied and waved shyly to my mother who winked at me before leaving my room with the door wide open. "So, how much did you hear?"
"Wha—hear what? I didn't—" The look on my face cut Stiles off before he caved guilty. "Everything."
"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. I waved him off and patted the empty seat on my bed. "How are you? Hanging in there?"
Taking the spot, Stiles nodded as he let out a big sigh. "The best I can anyways. What about you?"
"Same," I shrugged. Now I have to figure out a way to tell Derek I'm leaving for three months."
"You could just disappear off the grid."
"No," I frowned. "You know too much and Derek is really good at tracking."
"Yeah, good point," he mused, squinting his eyes in thought.
"What's on your mind? Usually you're talking with your hands and bouncing your legs like a manic," I joked, resting my head on my hands. Stiles' leg began bouncing as soon as I said that and his heart began racing. "Seriously, what is it?" I asked again. Stiles wiped his palms on his jeans and took a quick, short breath. He turned to me and placed a hand on my cheek and rubbed it softly with his thumb. His eyes bored into mine until he shifted his attention onto my lips. My own heart began racing when I realized what he was about to do. He closed the gap and his lips gently meet mine. My hands found his face and snaked their way to the back of his neck to bring him closer to me as if that were humanly possible. Stiles pulled apart as he moved to get a better angle and clumsily climbed his way on top of me. I let out a soft giggle before our lips sweetly met again. I grazed my tongue over his bottom lip while his hand ran through my hair.
Ahem.
Immediately Stiles and I broke apart and saw my mom standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. Stiles quickly climbed off me and off the bed and took a seat in my rolling desk chair. I'm sure he and I resembled two ripe beets from the blush that invaded our faces. That kiss was definitely not like the other kiss we shared and now we were both heated up like a car in the middle of a Southern summer."Dinner's ready," she announced with a stern look on her face. "Stiles, you're more than welcome to join us."
"I—my dad—uh, we weren't—"
"I'll be down, mom. Just give me a second," I interrupted, burying my face in my hands. God, I really needed to get a grip on the whole hearing people before they're actually in front of you. I made sure both parents were downstairs and occupied before unburying my face. "I'm so sorry, Stiles."
"You're a werewolf," he stressed, rolling over to me.
"I know."
"But it's okay because it was totally worth it," he finished, moving to sit beside me. He glanced over at the doorway as a precaution.
"Stiles," I sighed, knowing this next part was going to suck. "This, us, we can't go anywhere."
"What are you talking about?"
"This is no way to start a relationship," I clarified. "I mean, you understand that, right?"
"Yeah," Stiles nodded, standing up off the bed to stand in front of me. "Yeah, I understand. But tell me you're not willing to work at this."
I looked up at the boy with the boringly, unforgettable brown eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile when I stayed silent. "Fine, but promise me one thing," I offered, holding out my pinky and standing up. Stiles held out his pinky and waited for my proposal. "You have to be patient with me. There's a lot I'm still trying to figure out, okay?"
"Okay," he agreed. We linked our pinkies together and hugged silently. Once we let go, Stiles moved his arms and legs awkwardly in a way that only he could considered dancing. I stifled a laugh before guiding him out the door. "Come on, before my mom kills you and buries you in the middle of Arizona."
Letting the last curl fall, I shut off my curling wand and took one last look my mirror. I was wearing a simple black dress, paired with Matt's leather jacket. My hair was in neat curls and my make-up was non-existent. I had made the final decision to go to Matt's grave and grieve properly since I was thrown into chaos after his death. The entire idea of me dressing up as if I were going to his funeral seemed a little weird, crazy, odd, or whatever, but it had to be done or else I'll keep losing sleep.
I frowned at my painfully plain face before an idea struck my mind. I slipped on my black Converse, grabbed my keys and Matt's camera from my desk, and headed to my car.
Never in a million years I would have seen myself standing at Lydia Martin's door asking for makeup help, but here I was, knocking and waiting patiently. The door swung open to reveal Lydia herself who looked surprised to see me. She gave me a once over before settling on my face. "Uh, hey Lydia. Do you have a minute?"
"Yeah, what is it?" She asked, opening the door for me to step inside. "Come in."
I stepped into the Martin home and took note that it looked a lot different through the day and not filled with teenagers. "I was wondering if you could help me with my makeup? You can totally say no, I just thought you know since you did that one time that you could help me just this one o—"
"Say no more," she cut off, holding her hand up to silence me. I frowned silently at her forwardness, but stayed quiet to hear her answer. "This'll take way more than a minute," she answered. She gently grabbed me by the wrist and led me up her stairs. I passed a few pictures on the wall and smiled at a young, bright-haired Lydia. Once we reached her room, she sat me down at her vanity and turned on the light. "This is actually a really good distraction."
I nodded in agreement as she began shuffling through her collection. "Yeah, thank god it's over, right?"
"Yeah, especially with Jackson moving to London."
"Really?"
"I know," she said with an eye roll. "An American werewolf in London?"
"I think it'd make a good show," I shrugged, picking up a tube of lipstick and smearing it on my hand. Lydia looked at the colour with a tilted head before taking the tube from me.
"What would they call it? Teen Wolf?" She asked rhetorically with an eye roll. "So lame," she concluded, shutting a drawer and looking at me through the mirror.
I pursed my lips in thought. "I'd watch that."
"Sweetie," she began, rubbing foundation on the top of her hand. "You're living it."
The last time I was in a graveyard was with two trouble making idiots and people who were actually grieving over a vengeful werewolf hunter. Comparing the few times I've been to graveyard didn't compare to this time which was absolutely...well, I'm not quite sure how to describe it right now.
I easily found Matt's grave that had the freshly packed dirt in the ground. I moved the myriad of flower arrangements until there was enough space for me to sit.
Matthew Luther Daehler. Son, brother, friend. RIP 1997-2012.
Was I supposed to feel sad?
Was I supposed to feel angry?
Or maybe I'm not supposed to feel anything at all?
No one was there to tell me how to feel about my sixteen year old psychotic dead brother. But perhaps that was a good thing.
I sat down at the foot of his grave and sighed. The weight of his camera suddenly felt a thousand times heavier around my neck. I turned on the camera and began looking through the pictures that he had taken over the years. Easily enough I could have look through an old photo album at home, but this was nicer in a sense. I flicked through some of the pictures effortlessly until I paused on one of my favorites that was taken at the rip ole age of thirteen. Matt was obsessed with his self-timer and multi frame shots. I remember as if it happened yesterday.
"Matt, seriously, I'm trying to eat and you keep shoving that thing in my face," I complained, shoving my spoon back into my sundae.
"This thing is my camera and I'm trying to do something so just sit there for like two seconds," he defended with frustration in his voice. I rolled my eyes in response. Once Matt finished setting up whatever he was settling up, he quickly came over and sat in his seat next to me with a large grin on his face.
"Your ice cream is melting, buddy," I informed, shoving another bite on my face.
"It's okay," Matt replied in a knowing voice. I looked over at him to see that he was holding the can of whipped cream. A beep elicited from the camera and I could only guess on what was about to happen next. Matt sprayed whipped cream on my face before I realized what was happening. I'm pretty sure my face was priceless since he caught me off guard. In retaliation, I easily snatched the can from Matt and created a mountain of whipped cream on his head. To finish my masterpiece, I placed his untouched cherry on his head.
Once the camera stopped clicking, that's when I realized it had been taking pictures of us the entire time. "Are you serious, Matthew Daehler?" I yelled as whipped cream comically blew off my face with every word spoken.
Matt bit his lip to keep from laughing. "You should have seen your face," he said before brightening up. "Oh wait, you can!"
Matt retrieved his camera off his tripod and began looking through the recently taken photos. He walked over to me and placed his arm around my shoulder. "And here's the finished product," he commented out loud, taking one last photo. I thought my glare would have broken his camera, but unfortunately it remained the same.
I smiled at the ridiculous picture of my whipped cream covered face and Matt's creatively named 'whipped cream mountain' resting on the top of his head. My glare could have moved mountains back in the day. Guess I'm getting soft. I didn't even realize I was crying until I couldn't breathe through my nose. I snapped a picture of his headstone through blurry eyes. I turned the camera off and wiped my face the best I could.
I'm not sure 100% sure why my brother did what he did and I probably never will. But at least now I know he can't hurt anyone else. I'm glad my he finally found peace. Yes, in a violent and terrifying manner, but I know for a fact that he had peace in his last few moments. Knowing all of that at least lets me know that I'm indifferently content with his death. And as confusing as that may seem I know that I'll be feeling that way at least for a little while, but until then I'll be fine.
And that is the end of Royals, ladies and gents! I really, really hope you guys enjoyed as much as I enjoyed writing it. I appreciate every single bit of support I've gotten for this story and couldn't be more thankful for all of my amazing readers! A sequel is in my head, just not written but it honestly depends on what you guys want. I love writing Charlie and loved sharing this experience all together, so thank you. 3
~Kris
Also: WHO'S PUMPED FOR TONIGHT?