I have both good and bad reasons it took so long for this to upload but I'm sure you don't want to hear all of them.
In about a week and a half, it will be the one year anniversary of the day I posted the first chapter of JSY. (I will be trying my best to get another chapter or two up before then.) I want to thank everyone who has ever given this story a chance. I never really expected this story to get as far as it has because I honestly thought that no one would want to read about Marlee and her adventures. You all mean so much to me and I don't know how I'll ever repay you.
The next three or four chapters after this one will take place during the three week break between 3A and 3B. You're definitely going to want to read them because a few important things happen. (If you know what I mean.)
Just to clarify something: In this chapter, there will be a couple mentioned that wasn't canon in the show. I know a good chunk of the fandom speculated that this relationship occurred and I decided to add it in here for the hell of it.
As always, you can find me on Polyvore ('earthdiva') and Tumblr ('missunderstoodxoxo')
Inspiration for this chapter: "In the Air Tonight" by Kelly Sweet, "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (just one or two lines), "Kids" by Mikky Ekko (I'm sure I don't have to say which scene this song influenced)
Disclaimer: I own the Decker/Keating clan, Amy Shriner, and the car known as Ron Burgundy. Everything else belongs to the rightful owners.
Allison, Stiles, and Scott surfaced one right after the other, gasping for air. Each of them had a look of urgency in their eyes. Deaton and the girls jumped to their feet, moving towards the soaking teens.
"What?" The veterinarian asked.
"I saw it. I know where it is." Scott spoke first.
"Yeah, we passed it." Stiles claimed as he climbed out of his basin. "There was this stump. This huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big, though. Very big."
"It was the night we were looking for the body."
"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."
"I was there, too, in the car with my mother. We almost hit someone." Allison added, looking as if she had seen a ghost.
"It was me. You almost hit me." Scott realized.
Turning to his mentor, Scott addressed the three and Isaac, who had rushed in from the waiting area.
"We can find it."
None of the four who had been conscious knew how to delicately approach the situation. How were they supposed to explain that the eclipse was happening in mere hours?
"What?" Allison could sense the hesitation in the air.
Isaac gently started the conversation, "You guys were out a long time."
"How long is 'a long time'?" Stiles questioned.
Would it be in poor taste to quote 'The Princess Bride' right now? "You've been mostly dead all day."
"Sixteen hours." Deaton replied, bluntly.
Gasps of shock escaped the mouths of the sacrifices.
Scott's nerves began to buzz. "We were in the water for sixteen hours?"
"And the full moon rises in less than four."
"Surprise." Marlee managed, weakly holding her arms out to her sides.
"Welcome back to the world of the living."
Scott easily caught the towel that was thrown in his direction by the blonde girl but did nothing to dry himself off; the towel remained in his clenched fist. The soaked trio all sat on the edge of their tubs, doing their best to warm themselves up.
"If the moon is rising that fast, I need to get back to the Alpha pack soon."
That didn't go over too well with the rest of the room.
"No, dude. You are not going back with them."
"I made a deal with Deucalion." Scott responded to his best friend's objection.
Marlee snorted as she retrieved a first aid kit for Dr. Deaton. "Oh yeah, because I'm sure that guy always keeps his word."
"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?" Stiles asked everyone else.
"Why does it matter anyway?" Isaac inquired, looking to Scott for an answer.
"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help."
"He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong." Allison urged the druid.
"I'm not so sure he is. Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."
"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'" Marlee quoted as she handed Deaton the kit, to which the man nodded.
"So we're gonna trust him, the guy who calls himself, 'death, destroyer of worlds'? We're gonna trust that guy?" Isaac looked incredulous.
"I wouldn't trust him, no." The veterinarian amended. "But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."
It was quiet for a moment as the high schoolers thought that statement over. The sound of the clinic's front door opening caused everyone's attention to turn to the waiting room.
Deaton swiftly walked through the examination room door, only to find a rather serious-looking Ethan.
"I'm looking for Lydia."
The redhead walked up behind the veterinarian at the sound of her name, Scott following closely.
"What do you want?"
"I need your help." The young alpha answered.
"With what?" Stiles questioned as he moved from around the corner, leaning in the doorway.
"Stopping my brother and Kali… from killing Derek."
"And your plan is what exactly?" Marlee piped up as she peered out from between Stiles and Lydia's shoulders.
"Convince Derek to run."
"Oh, great. That solves all of our problems."
Marlee smacked the pale boy standing next to her on the shoulder for his sarcastic remark.
"Look, Ethan and I will figure it out on the way there," the strawberry-blonde conceded, slipping past everyone, "you guys go find whatever it is you need in order to locate your parents."
"Lydia."
All heads turned in Scott's direction.
"Are you sure about this?"
After a moment of hesitation, the banshee nodded, sure of her decision.
"Okay. Stiles, head home and see if you can find anything of your dad's that we can use to pick up his scent. Isaac and I will go back to Allison's apartment with her, see if we can pinpoint their exact location with her dad's maps- maybe grab a weapon or two."
"I'll call my grandma. She might know a way to slow Jennifer down."
Scott nodded, understanding from previous discussions that Marlee's grandmother had given her cryptic advice before. (And that Delaney was still evading questions about how she knew such things.)
"Where are you going to go?"
"Back to my house. There might be some supplies that we need. Call me when you're headed out to the preserve and I'll meet you there."
Brown eyes captured blue as the young man replied, "Be safe."
Marlee smiled teasingly, despite the dire situation.
"Always."
The group went their separate ways: Ethan and Lydia to Derek's, Stiles to his Jeep and then his house, Marlee to her car, and the other three to the Argents' apartment.
A chill ran up the Decker's spine as she strode towards her Oldsmobile.
Must be colder than I thought. She concluded, despite the vague feeling of being watched, chalking it up to paranoia and anticipation.
She was just pulling her keys and phone out when the ominous and quite irritating chanting became audible.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." She muttered.
Realizing who she was about to encounter, the young woman reluctantly turned around. She barely held back the jolt that went through her body as a result of seeing the deathly pale, scarred-up face mere inches away.
"Hey, Jennifer."
That was all she remembered before everything went black.
When she finally came to, Marlee hadn't the faintest idea where she was. It was only a moment later that she noticed something was off. She was sat down on the floor of what she could assume was Beacon Hills Preserve, leaning up against a tree. She found that she had been handcuffed, her arms behind her back, and her ankles had been shackled together.
"I borrowed those from the sheriff's station."
She looked up to see Jennifer Blake standing a few feet in front of her, arms crossed and all of her weight resting on one leg.
"By 'borrowed', do you mean 'stole'?" The teen questioned.
The brunette merely shrugged in response.
"So," Marlee continued, "are you planning on sacrificing me? Because I gotta tell ya, the only thing I'm the guardian of is my cat- and he's kind of an independent asshole."
The older woman rolled her eyes as she replied, "As I'm sure you know by now, I already have the three people that I need for my sacrifices."
"What is it then? Because something tells me that you didn't bring me here to discuss the English homework."
Amused by Marlee's statement, Jennifer smirked down at the blonde girl.
"I thought you and I could have a little girl talk."
"I'm guessing we're not going to braid each other's hair and gorge ourselves on ice cream."
"Do you always have to be so sarcastic?"
"I mean, not 'always'. I have my serious moments- like when you tried to have my friends kill themselves a couple of weeks ago. I didn't find that situation too amusing."
"It was a necessary evil."
"That's bullshit!" The junior shot back. "How is killing all of these people helping anyone? What makes you no different than the Alpha pack?!"
"Think about all of the people they've murdered in cold blood over the years. They slaughtered their own pack members and their emissaries- not to mention countless others. They killed Erica and Boyd. They're planning to kill Derek tonight. And Deucalion isn't above killing your friend, Scott, either."
Marlee's muscles tensed at that last sentence, something that Jennifer took note of.
"The body count will increase tonight and every day after that unless I stop them now." The Darach continued, hoping to make the young woman sitting before her understand. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
"Did you seriously just quote Star Trek?"
"You're not the only one who can make pop culture references."
Jennifer sat down, cross-legged, far away enough so the other female couldn't attempt to strike out with her shackled legs.
"You said the Alpha pack killed their emissaries," Marlee brought up, "but they didn't get rid of all of them, did they?"
Jennifer's flinch almost went unnoticed but Marlee caught it.
"You were the one that got away." The teenager inferred.
"How did you know?"
"Well, emissaries are usually druids and you're basically a dark, twisted version of one. Just combine that with the fact that you seem to have a personal vendetta against the Alpha pack."
It was quiet for a moment.
"Kali left me for dead... and I survived. But I wasn't just her emissary. We were lovers."
Whoa… talk about a plot twist.
"Does Derek know about this?"
The former English teacher scoffed at that.
"Would you tell someone that you want to be with that you used to be involved with the woman trying to kill him?"
Marlee shrugged as she replied, "I guess not. So, did her thing with Ennis start before or after they began eliminating the rest of their packs?"
At Jennifer's questioning look, Marlee added, "Peter Hale has a big mouth."
The brunette snorted, nodding in understanding.
There a minute of silence before either of them spoke again.
"She loved me," Jennifer's voice had softened now, "but I guess she just loved power more."
"Are you going to able to kill her when the time comes?"
The dark druid's expression darkened before replying, "She's not the Kali I knew anymore- she's not the same woman that I loved."
A fallen tree limb that sat a few yards off to the side suddenly rose up into the air and found its way over to them, falling next to the two women.
"Besides, I'm even more powerful than she is now."
"That is some Darth Vader shit right there."
Jennifer stifled a chuckle.
It was astonishing, the ease with which the conversation between the pair. They both knew where each of them stood in the eyes of the other. There was no bullshit, no attempts at sugarcoating things- only plain and brutal honesty.
"Why are you telling me all of this?"
The Darach was quiet for a moment before answering, "I wanted someone to know. I wanted someone to know that my intentions were good."
"In a really messed up, 'not all that good' kind of way."
"You and I… there's something about you that seems so familiar."
The quick glance she threw towards the Nemeton went unnoticed by the teenager, who was too preoccupied with figuring out what the hell this woman was talking about.
"Okay then… I really don't like the sound of that but whatever."
Looking at the moon's position in the sky, Jennifer commented, "I should be going. It's almost showtime."
As she stood up, the oversized denim jacket finally caught the dark-haired woman's attention. She studied the young blonde intently before speaking again, her tone serious- yet an undercurrent of sorrow and anger was detectable.
"A word of advice: it's never a good idea to let your emotions get the best of you when it comes to werewolves."
And with that, Jennifer Blake made her exit, leaving a gust of wind and a flutter of leaves in her wake.
It was only about half a minute after the Darach had left that Marlee realized that she was still handcuffed and shackled.
"Son of a bitch!"
She sat there for who knows how long, leaning her head back, watching the rumbling clouds light up the sky through the treetops. She caught the occasional glimpse of the full moon, rising higher and higher.
"I see a bad moon a-rising, I see trouble on the way…" Marlee softly sang to herself.
Allison and Isaac stopped outside of the preserve, Scott quickly pulling up beside them on his bike.
"You okay?" Allison asked Scott.
"I didn't know what to say to him. I couldn't come up with anything. But what you did, that was awesome." He replied, referring to the smoke grenade Allison had used in order to get them away from Rafael McCall and his fellow FBI agents.
"I still haven't gotten anything from Stiles." Isaac reported, looking down at his phone. "You?"
"No. Marlee didn't pick up her phone either. I don't get it."
"All right. Well, we can't wait for them. Come on."
Scott checked his cell one last time before following the other two.
The wind had significantly picked up, Marlee's hair whipping in her face, as lightning crashed all around her. She was in the eye of the storm.
Movement caught her attention and she found that Isaac and Allison were sprinting towards the clearing.
"Hey!"
"Marlee?" The young man called out before he and the huntress ran over to the tree that the other girl was still sitting against.
"That bitch kidnapped my ass and left me here."
"What did she want?" Allison questioned as the werewolf got to work, using his supernatural strength to break the handcuff and shackle chains.
Marlee hesitated before answering, remembering the more emotional parts of the conversation she and Jennifer had had.
"Just wanted to yell at me for all of the sass I've given her."
If Isaac heard any change in her heartbeat, he didn't mention it.
"Where's Scott?" The blonde questioned as she stood up with Isaac's help, no longer hindered by her restraints. (Other than the fact that they were still fastened around her limbs.)
"He and Deucalion went to find Jennifer."
"That's going to be one hell of a grudge match."
"Let's go!" Allison exclaimed before she took off towards the tree stump, the pair following behind her.
Observing the surrounding area, Isaac locked his gaze on a pair of wooden doors connected to the ground.
"There!"
The trio ran over, Isaac and Allison prying the entrance to the root cellar open. The third member of their group followed them down, just missing the sight of the earth beginning to crumble a few feet away.
Marlee darted over to Melissa and began to untie her.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." The teenager said over the wind rushing into the cellar.
"Where's Stiles? Where's my son?" The sheriff questioned as Isaac loosened the ropes.
"And Scott?" The older woman added.
"They're coming, all right? They're on their way to help." The beta answered.
"Okay." Melissa breathed out.
The conversation was cut off at the sound of something cracking came from above them. Everyone looked up, a roaring sound filling the room as the ceiling began to cave in.
The teens managed to untie all of the adults quickly, debris falling all around them.
"Hurry!" Isaac shouted, his command punctuated by a unit of shelves tipping over.
More began to topple as the sheriff yelled out, "Come on, let's get out of here."
The six made their way towards the stairs, only to watch the wooden steps fall apart right in front of them.
Everyone except Chris and Isaac stepped back a few feet.
"It's blocked." The former hunter stated before turning to the younger male. "What do you see? Anything?"
Isaac simply shook his head.
A rumbling sound was followed by dirt and wood falling, the roof deteriorating faster.
"Look out!" Chris shouted as he dove towards his daughter and Marlee, shielding both of them as best as he could.
"Isaac!" Allison cried out.
Sheriff Stilinski quickly grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt and pulled him away from the destruction.
Cracks formed in the dirt above them and the support beam began to splinter.
As Stilinski urged Scott's mother to move back, Isaac got to his feet and pushed against the beam with his hands, attempting to hold the ceiling up with his supernatural strength. Marlee and the Argents moved closer to the rest of the group when a wooden pillar next to them snapped in half.
After a couple of moments of this, a visibly sweating Isaac managed to rhetorically ask, "Is it me or is this place getting smaller?"
Despite knowing that they were more likely to get hurt, as they didn't have a werewolf's strength or healing ability, someone darted forward and placed their hands on the beam. Following Marlee's line of thought, everyone moved to collectively crouch and try holding the ceiling up. The sky above them had noticeably begun to emit a yellow glow, rather than the blue light from before.
It's started.
Marlee hissed in pain, her limbs starting to tremble under the pressure.
"I can't do it. I can't hold it! I can't hold it!" Isaac confirmed.
"It's too much! It's too heavy!" Allison added on, wincing.
Just as the group began to feel their arms give in… the ground stopped crashing down upon them. All eyes moved to Stiles and the metal baseball bat that was miraculously holding things up as they let their arms fall to their sides.
"I always said aluminum was better than wood." The sheriff stated with a smile.
Stiles moved forward and enthusiastically embraced his father.
"About time you got here, Stilinski!" Marlee called out.
"Better late than never, right?" The pale boy responded.
The blonde felt someone place a hand on her arm and when she pivoted to face them, she was looking at warm brown eyes.
"Scott's okay, right?" Melissa asked the girl that her son seemed to have grown rather fond of.
"The last time I saw him, he was. I'm not so sure about right now. Knowing him though… he'll get us through this."
The older woman smiled in gratitude… and maybe with a hint of amusement, choosing to say nothing when she noticed that Marlee was wearing a rather familiar jacket
The sky above them turned color once again, the light streaming through as blue once more.
"Hey!" Marlee laughed as she carefully threw herself at Isaac and gave him a hug. "Way to go, Wolf Boy!"
The werewolf chuckled, breathlessly, wrapping his arms around her.
"I told you that I'd try to not die."
"Hate to break it to ya- but we're not out of the woods quite yet."
It was only a couple of minutes later when the harsh winds abruptly stopped, a peaceful quiet filling the air.
"Is it over?" Allison asked.
After a moment of assessment, hugs were exchanged between the seven. Marlee sat down next to Isaac and leaned her head against his shoulder, finally letting herself catch a breath of relief.
Stiles' phone began to buzz and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket, holding it up to his ear.
"Scott?... Yeah, we're okay. We're all okay. How 'bout you? Are you okay?"
The answer must have been satisfactory because Stiles continued positively enough.
"Well, you think you can come get us?... Great. Okay, um- uh, bring a ladder."
There was more than one person laughing at that.
About twenty minutes later, Scott and Derek arrived. Carefully pulling back the wooden doors and sending a ladder down, the two of them helped everyone out of the root cellar. Eventually, only one person was left.
"Hey!" Marlee looked up to see Scott gazing at her, not doing all that great of a job concealing the relief he felt at the sight of her. "You didn't answer your phone."
She accepted the hand that he held out for her, letting him help her step out of the hole.
"Oh, ya know, I was a little too busy being kidnapped by a crazy Darach. My bad, dude."
"What?! Are you okay?"
As they stepped back from the entrance of the cellar, Scott began to scan her form for any signs of injury.
"Scott," Marlee placed a hand on his bicep, "I'm fine. The worst thing she did is put these on me."
Holding her other hand up in the air, the blonde let the broken cuff chain jingle.
"It's all good."
"Okay, okay, good." He breathed out.
"The more important question is, are you okay?"
"Yeah… yeah, I think am."
Though his words seemed unsure, Marlee couldn't shake the feeling that the person in front of her had changed; confidence and authority seemed to radiate off of him.
"There's something different about you." She said.
Scott smiled at her as his eyes flickered bright red.
A grin split Marlee's face as she laughed with delight.
"Oh, man! Congrats on becoming top dog- well, top 'wolf', I guess."
"Thanks."
Startled by the look of fondness that the new alpha was giving her, Marlee quickly withdrew her hand from where it still rested on his stupidly muscular bicep and gestured towards Melissa.
"You should probably go give her another hug. She was worried about you."
"I'll do that."
With one last glance, Scott made his way towards his mother. Left to her own devices, Marlee's eyes landed on the 'beacon' of Beacon Hills. Strolling over to it, she studied the rings in interest, noting the age of the tree.
"You've caused a lot of trouble for an old hunk of wood."
As she placed a hand on the tree stump, Marlee felt a shock in each of her fingertips before a jolt of energy surged up her arm. She jumped back before glancing around, checking to see if anyone else had noticed the incident. Satisfied to see that no one seemed aware of what had just happened, the teenager simply walked away, doing her best to shake off the situation.
It's just because the telluric currents converge here and all of this sacrifice business. It was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"All right, let's get out of here." Stiles's dad suggested.
"Sheriff," Marlee spoke up, gesturing to the broken handcuffs and shackles, "a little help?"
The man laughed before replying, "If someone can give us a ride back to the station, I'd be more than happy to get those off of you."
As the group began to make its way towards the edge of the preserve, the Decker girl decided to tack on, "I don't know about you guys but after I get these things off, I'm going to go home and sleep for a week."
"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky – seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." – Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
When Deaton asked a few days later about Derek's departure with Cora, who had decided that she wanted to return to South America, Scott answered, "I honestly don't know if he's ever coming back. Part of me hopes so, but another part hopes that maybe he'll be okay somewhere else."
Thinking of other departures, or lack thereof, he followed it up with "My dad doesn't look like he's gonna be leaving for a while. But just because he's staying… doesn't mean he's welcome."
Without the veterinarian needing to say any words, Scott knew what he was asking with his eyes.
Scott walked through the doors of Beacon Hills High School, observing the roaming students who were all oblivious to the true nature of the world around them.
"Stiles and I both feel it every day. Just like you said we would. And it makes me think about that quote Jennifer used to start our first class. Because when I feel it, it's like I'm looking 'into the heart of an immense darkness.'"
"So what do you do instead?" Deaton inquired.
"I look for my friends."
Hanging out by a row of lockers, Lydia and Aiden were chatting and staring into each other's eyes, a strange combination of coy and affectionate. Across the hall from those two, Danny and Ethan walked out of a classroom, holding hands. Both of them looked incredibly happy to be around the other. Walking down a set of stairs were Isaac and Allison, the brunette laughing at something the beta had said.
A tap on his right arm caused Scott to turn his upper body a bit, only to find no one there. Facing forward once again, he noticed a head of blonde wavy hair walking away, having strolled past him. Marlee threw him a look over her shoulder, a genuine grin spreading across her face as she made eye contact with the new True Alpha. Scott noticed that the girl looked more carefree than he had ever seen her in the time that he had known her.
He felt his lips quirk upwards at the sight.
Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and another patting him on the chest. Turning his head to the right, Scott smiled at his best friend. The two of them began to make their way down the hall together… smiles slowly fading as their new reality set in once again.
Kids… kids… kids are gonna do what they want...
And there you go! End of 3A.