Disclaimer: teen wolf does not belong to me in any way shape of form, but still wishing it did haha, thank you to all those that have read the last chapter and a big shoutout to unmajestically, Jesscc98, Kristen (aw no worries lovely :) ) guest and Linda96 for reviewing, it means the world to me, so enjoy this next chapter where you find our exactly what happened to Kayla. A little shorter than usual but it's a linking chapter and focuses solely on Kaylas experience :)
The sight of Stiles' distraught tear stained face was burned painfully into her memory as the dry dirt encased her body, turning her world to darkness.
That expression... the last thing she knew she would see from the living world. His face, so full of anguish and terror as he tried his hardest to save her, to keep his promise and protect her but knowing it was futile. Fate clearly had their own plans for them and apparently it wasn't for them to be together.
Dirt begun to creep up her nostrils, infiltrating her mouth and ears as she was pinned under the ground, helpless and alone, left to choke out her final moments in agonising seering pain.
She did wonder why it didn't work. Why she wasn't allowed to try and be a better person. Was it because she was needing punished? Did the world want her to suffer because she made others suffer? What was happening now? Was she being choked to death with the ground she should have stayed in because coming back was wrong? Or was she being, quite literally, dragged to hell?
Nothing made sense. She couldn't think. The panic setting in, willing her body to move - to fight back - but it was hopeless. The weight of the earth was crushing her in its grip, squeezing every last drop of life from her.
The universe trying to fix its wrongs.
Some part of her knew she was never meant to come back... that her fate was to die in the place of the person she loved.
The ultimate sacrifice.
Her being back obviously screwed the balance of things. The natural order. So here she was, suffocating on the very earth that cocooned her body for months, as the other side finally reclaimed her.
Death was waiting with open arms and for a second, just a second, she wanted to go and embrace it. She wanted the sweet silence of nothing. To no longer exist. Be at peace. She yearned for not existing... to finally just be nothing.
But death never came.
She knew what dying felt like. She remembered every vivid, excruciating detail of leaving this world and that feeling never came. Instead, she felt like she was falling. Darkness spinning around her as her body became light and airless, falling for what felt like an eternity.
Falling to what, she wondered.
To nothing?
To eternal peace?
To hell?
She didn't want to go back there. She didn't want to go back to hell. It was just endless suffering and misery, years of pain and loneliness.
Was that her fate?
A sharp pain ignited inside her body, spreading quickly to every inch of her as she hit something - hard. Hard enough to, no doubt, break her apart like a child's toy.
To her surprise she could finally open her eyes. No more dirt slowly filling up every orifice, stuffing her like a god damn Christmas turkey, free of the painful suffocation she was tormented to.
Somehow though, the total black nothing around her was maybe just as bad. Stifling and intense, pure ebony which was cold and dangerous ebbing and pulsating all around her.
It felt... bad. Poisonous even. Full of sorrow and pain, seeping deep into her body until she felt no hope, no joy or love.
She only knew one place that could do that.
... Hell.
It stole everything about you until you had nothing left. Just a faceless, nameless, blank empty slate. Hell was the kind of place that sucked every last drop of goodness from your soul, feeding eagerly - hungrily - until there was just a carcass of rotten broken bones left, worth nothing.
No matter what, there was no escaping it.
Hell had its claws in her - deep. She was always going to be stuck here.
Always.
Forever.
A deathly sounding hum began echoing all around her, immediately causing a sickening, panicked reaction inside her body.
"Ah, my sweet sweet little Hale" the voice mocked, "back so soon?"
No... no, no. Why here? Why this hell? Why with the one thing that broke and ruined her?
"Or... are you just looking for something?" He wondered, "are you looking for the pieces of your soul?"
Her breath hitched, her chest painfully tightening as she tried to squint through the pitch black darkness, trying to see where he was, his voice seeming to circulate around her, taunting her into fear and submission.
"But what if I want to keep them?" He seemed pleased, happy at the prospect of forever keeping something that belonged to her, "what if I want to keep them all to myself?"
"No" she found herself shouting, somehow her prominent stutter now gone, "never"
"Fiesty" he remarked and she could just imagine his playful smirk, "but I've had them for so already... I've broken them even more. Your soul can never be whole again, little Hale, so what's the point in trying? You're going to be broken... forever"
A new found fight began burning in her chest, her fists involuntarily clenching. She had to protect herself from him, she just had to. He had already taken so much... she wasn't going to let him take more.
"I can be fixed" she muttered, her voice wavering with resilience, "I can fix myself"
He laughed, "that's what you think"
He was playing games with her, trying to get into her mind and unravel it like a ball of wool but she couldn't let him. She couldn't let him win again. He didn't deserve to.
Despite the pressing darkness trying to subdue her, make her small and weak and obedient, she felt a spark inside her she hadn't felt in a long time.
If she was going to die, or be dead, or have to live an eternity in hell, she was going to do it whole. She was going to do it with her entire soul, no pieces missing this time. She was going to do it with dignity - something that she hadn't had in so long, ever since Kira's sword pierced her chest.
How she died wasn't dignified.
Where she was buried wasn't dignifying to her corpse.
Her entire time in hell, she was robbed of her dignity.
Coming back to life was demeaning and degrading.
Becoming so mentally unwell she needed hospitalised, unable to speak, wash herself, feed herself or function was the most dehumanising thing she had ever experienced in the living world.
Then, even now, even since becoming better, she was still shamed by others, mortified and humiliated by her actions, treated like a small child.
She hadn't had dignity in so long that, this time, she was going to make sure she had it. Regardless of what happens after.
No one else was going to win but her.
Now, in this moment, free from the earthly plane and her broken mind, not constricted by her brain or body, she felt strong again.
She felt very almost like the old Kayla.
She felt free.
Something was fuelling this, making her feel somewhat powerful and unbroken and she wondered... was this because her soul was healing? That the spell Afonso invoked was working? Did she have to go to hell for the spell to complete?
"I know I can be fixed" new found hope spreading through her veins, "I can be whole again..."
Her belief, now strong and unwavering, was enough to complete the ritual. Suddenly, the darkness no longer existed; instead, a strong white light began to encase her, so bright she was nearly blinded as she raised the palms of her hands to cover her eyes, flinching at the sharpness.
Whatever it was, it felt warm and calming and oh so familiar, bathing her in hope and joy again.
She remembered feeling happiness. She remembered feeling joy. She remembered feeling love. It reminded her that she was worth saving... that she was worth so much more than she thought.
She remembered everything good about her life, everything worth fighting for. She saw her family, her friends and then she saw Stiles. She saw the true love of her life.
Not just his perfect jawline or dimples, not just his cute puckered lips or deep brown eyes, no, she saw him. She saw his soul and just how perfectly it matched her own.
She saw just how much they were meant to be together.
She saw how, all this time, she was destined to die for him but come back. How her fate wasn't to stay dead, it was never to stay dead, but come back and live a life worth fighting for.
The light began vibrating, pulsating with power as it engulfed her, her skin becoming warm as the true power of her soul becoming one took hold.
Never before had she felt such power, such presence. She was forgiven for her mistakes and handed a second chance to make things better, to change her future.
She began to feel weightless, beginning to disappear from the clutches of hell, the nogitsunes scream of frustration hardly piercing her as she floated in the warmth.
She was being reborn, and she loved every minute of it.
She was okay.
She was going to be okay.
She disappeared with the light, fading from the torment of hell and into the loving arms of the burning brightness, the power - so intense and all consuming - wrapping around her, seeping into her skin and very being, her soul, finally; whole.
She didn't realise how wrong she had been feeling since coming back. She had gone so long feeling like crap, just accepting how terrible she felt, not knowing a big reason why was because her soul was fractured and missing.
She had gone months missing such a vital piece of herself that she had gotten used to the feeling of emptiness, darkness and mistakes only now understanding what being whole was like.
She felt strong, she felt powerful, she felt right.
Like she was meant to be alive.
The light began to diminish, fading as it left... no. Not left, she realised. Turned inward. Permeating her very existence as the light of her soul flooded her body and this, right here, was the most magical thing she had ever experienced.
... until it wasn't.
Until she got thrusted back to her world with a violent push, feeling heavy and trapped in her human body once again.
She tried to gasp, to breathe fresh air again but to her horror she was trapped and alone, encased in a white linen sheet underground.
Pure raw desperation kicked in as she fought with new found strength; fighting for life. Desperate to just breathe as she clawed at the sheet, nails urgently ripping the fabric as a wave of dirt rushed to smother her, trying to force her back underground.
Why was she buried again?
It wasn't possible. It just couldn't be.
She had done this before. This had happened. All those months ago she had dug herself out of her own grave, desperately grasping for another chance at life, so why was she doing it again?
Why was she forced to pull herself from the grasp of death and decay?
Unless...
No. It was impossible.
Could saving her soul have reset things?
Was this her second chance?
Her true second chance?
Her body, with strength she didn't know she possessed, ripped and tore at the ground until it broke free from the earth, grabbing desperately at the ground to pull herself free from the constraints of her grave, blindly desperate until her head burst through and she gasped back mouthfuls of fresh air, grains of dirt tickling the back of her throat.
What was happening?
What was happening to her?
She coughed, heaving and gasping as she dragged the rest of her body from the ground and collapsed in a sweaty heap, retching up clumps of dirt.
It felt like just the same as before.
Almost too eerie, like dejuvu.
The same weakness, the same blurry vision, the same tuggy and matted hair from the dirt, unable to hear clearly - like her ears were ready to pop, descending from the sky in an aeroplane.
What, in the actual fuck, was going on?
Her body - weak and frail - stumbled upwards, grabbing onto the big oak tree for support... the tree that acted as her headstone.
Why was she reliving this event again?
Why was not only her soul reborn, but her body too?
She squinted, glancing around for help but it was a dark night, small droplets of rain falling from the clouds. There was no one here. She was alone, standing at her grave. Her grave that, when she looked down, was still void of any personalisation - no cross, no anything, just a simple small bouquet of daisies.
Her heart ached, knowing Stiles had left them there.
But where was here exactly, and when? She didn't know, drowning in confusion and terror.
Although her ears were blocked and heavy, she was sure she heard the sound of rustling, like a person or a group were making their way towards her.
Her gut told her to run, to run and never look back because if, for some reason, these events were unfolding again then what happened next after she pulled herself to her feet was...
She had to think, casting her mind back to that night.
She remembered feeling vengeance, anger and rage, bitterness seepin through her body and mind and then-
She flinched, remembering the feel of a dart gun hitting her neck.
Of course... the Calavera's. They sensed what was happening and came to Beacon Hills to track her down, to kidnap her and take her back to Mexico so she could take her own life.
Is that who was here now?
She didn't want to wait to find out.
Her whole body, numb and weak, somehow managed to begin to stumble blindly through the woods, desperate to flee from the danger. The sheet her dead and decaying body was wrapped in caught around her foot, beginning to trip her up. Her bare feet crunching over twigs and leave, slicing the soles as she ran towards safety.
She fell down several more times, having to claw and fight her way back up as she finally came to a small hill, falling to her knees and dragging herself up over the small mound and finally into concrete ground.
A road. A dark empty road but a road none the less. All she had to do was follow it and when she did she would get home and-
The sound of voices not too far behind her forced her onwards, dragging her dirtied and bloodied feet across the tarmac, limping and panting in desperation but the sudden onslaught of a cars beam lights hit her face and made her stumble, throwing her arms over her face. The car was forced to swerve, narrowing missing avoiding her as it spun around and finally stopped, the screech of tires and burning rubber assaulting her senses.
The car door opened, a female's panicked voice reaching her ears.
"Oh my god, are you okay? Did I hit you? What happened?"
Kayla blinked several times, painful dancing orbs floated across her vision as a blurry face appeared, hovering and flapping around her.
"Oh my god, you look awful. What happened to you? How can I help?"
Her concern was not on herself right now but rather the situation, desperate to understand what the hell was going on.
She ignored the kind woman's voice, instead choosing to grab the tops of her arms and stare at her in desperation.
"The date... what is the date today?"
The woman frowned, becoming even more concerned, "miss, I think I should take you to the hospital-"
"The date" Kayla near enough screeched, her nails digging into the woman's skin, "I need the date"
Because there was no way-
"J-January the fourth" she said, now looking concerned for her own safety.
Kayla's mouth turned dry, her grip on the woman loosening, "and-and the year?"
"Two thousand and twelve"
Kayla almost fainted right then and there, her mind going painfully and numbingly blank.
January the fourth, two thousand and twelve.
January the 4th, 2012.
The day she could never forget.
The day she came back to life, waking up evil and twisted and full of darkness.
January the 4th, 2012... when it should be August the... well, she wasn't sure, but definitely sometime in August.
Why was months of her life, that she vividly remembered happening, suddenly gone?
Why had she woke up in the past?
A/N) DUN DUN DUNNNN - Nowwwww i don't understand the teen wolf timeline, I don't think anyone does, so I've adjusted it slightly. Apparently season four started on dec 28th 2011 like um? Wtf hahaha so I changed to slightly to after New Years, closer to when school starts. It's very confusing I really don't get it haha
Anyways OMG IVE BEEN DYING TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS SO PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW I'm so excited for this storyline thank you so much for your support xxx