mickey hale grieves the murder of her sister. oneshot
. . .
Mickey squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get rid of the face of her deceased sister that was constantly burning nightmares into the back of her mind. The dead, lifeless eyes of her older sister laying in the dirt before her. Coming home was a mistake but when Laura failed to follow up on how things were in Beacon Hills... Mickey swallowed again.
"We have to go," came the cold yet unsteady voice of her older brother somewhere behind her. Something tugged against her shoulder but all of Mickey's energy had suddenly been sapped and the seventeen year old found herself unable to move. Her knees stayed glued to the forest floor and Derek repeated himself.
When Mickey finally forces her eyes open again, she's relieved to find Laura's upper half gone from her sight. The smell, heavy of copper and decaying meat hangs in the air. Mickey doesn't have to turn around to know he's caring Laura's body. Laura's body... that's so fucking wrong to say. Pushing herself to her knees, Mickey takes one stumbling step forward, followed by another. Derek doesn't waste time in looking over his shoulder to make sure she's following. It's either follow or get left behind. At this point, Mickey couldn't tell you what was worse.
Her legs feel like jelly all the way back to the Hale house, standing in it's former glory. When Mickey collapses into the dirt below her body, Derek says nothing. He just sets Laura's body to the side and heads inside. Alone with her deceased sister, Mickey avoids eye contact as her fingers numbly thread wolfsbane into braids of rope, keeping her body and mind focused. Every time she blinks, Laura is staring at her with cloudy grey eyes, her mouth slightly agape. Everything is wrong. Mickey barely notices Derek coming back outside, shovel in hand as he begins to dig just a few feet away from where she sits.
When Derek outstretches his hand, Mickey silently hands him the braid of wolfsbane and sits on her knees, watching him pile the dirt onto Laura's body. It's only fair that Derek is the one who lays the spiral of vendetta down, the silent promise of revenge and retribution. Whereas Mickey was useless when it came to their supernatural wold, it was only right for Derek to do it.
When Derek is done, the two sit silently side by side in the dirt. Wordlessly again, Derek holds something up in the moonlight, faint and silver. Mickey recognizes the little bobble head figure instantly, recognizing the object as Laura's apartment keys. Clearing his throat, Derek shakes the keyring. "I, ah, figured you aren't going to be staying in the house with me. She'd want to you to have it anyway."
"I don't know how you can do it." Mickey whispered. She didn't understand how Derek could stand living in the same home their family burned to death in. With a shaking hand, Mickey reached out and took the keyring from Derek before burying it in her pocket with the key to her truck. A faint smile etched its way onto her face, recalling how Derek and Laura had both teased her over the S10 but it was roomy, and not too big. Mickey thought it was perfect and fell in love with the black truck almost right away. Still though, she had become slightly jealous when Derek got his car.
"I'll stay with you at least for the night," Derek spoke. "Make sure the hunters don't know you're here. Make sure they don't come bothering you."
Forcing a smile, Mickey pushed herself to her feet. Unshed tears burned in the back of her eyes but Mickey swallowed them away. She wasn't the crying type, never had been, and Mickey sure didn't want to start now. Trudging through the forest with Derek behind her, Mickey made her way to where she had parked her truck and waited for Derek to get into his own car. Once they'd see the car, they would know the last of the remaining Hale's had made their return but for now, Mickey craved peace. A spot to mourn alone where she and Derek could gather their thoughts. Plan out their next move.
Mickey knew better than to let Laura go alone. The two Hale sisters may not have gotten along, the wish for Laura's apartment to go to Mickey more of Derek's words than anything, but the one fight Mickey backed down from in her life resulted in the death of her sister. No one should return to Beacon Hills once left, and that means the Hale's most of all.
A couple of tears roll down Mickey's face as she stars the car. Maybe deep down she was sensitive, and a cry baby. But she'd rather do it in the privacy of her own car than next to Derek's wandering eyes. Hell, he could probably sense her grief and tears from his own car. No- Mickey knew Derek could. Perks of being a werewolf while Mickey was just... Mickey.
So maybe things were downright horrible right now. Maybe letting Laura go was a mistake that Mickey would regret for the rest of her life. She had Derek, still at least. Even if the last two remaining Hales only had each other, it was something worth holding onto.
Mickey doesn't bother to try and hide the sobs that leave her freely now. In the comforts and safety of her own truck, she hits the steering wheel and jumps a little when the horn blares. She isn't sure if she can make the drive to Laura's apartment in this state. She can barely make out the headlights on the truck as she chokes on her sobs. Whoever did this to Laura was going to pay.