A/N: I'm having lots of fun writing this story :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing that's not mine, so if you read this .. just know that.
Chapter Five: Pack Mentality
Derek's emotions were flying all over the place. One minute he thought of talking to the Alphas, maybe they'll back away, but then he pushed that out of his mind. The next minute he thought of attacking head on, but he brushed that thought away as well. The pack wasn't ready to fight another pack, let alone a pack of well-trained and organized Alphas. After he finished talking to Stiles on the phone, he paced back and forth. He'd train them. That's it, he'd have a meeting, gather suggestions, create a strategy, devise an attack pattern and train them. The subway station felt more empty than usual without his pack around, he felt alone. He felt .. Vulnerable. Another upsetting thought that crossed his mind .. just where did he know Elena? Her name sounded so familiar, it's like he's met her before. Derek at down on one of the seats in the railcar with his head to his temple, trying to gather any recollection of memories that may or may not involve Elena. His head was undoubtedly hurting from this excessive thinking, until the light bulb flickered in his head at this certain memory ..
Flashback: Friday, February 14th, 2005
Derek and Laura were in their home, getting ready for the Valentine's Day Dance at school. Laura, who sported a tight, jet black dress with striking red heels, walked into Derek's room to find him sitting down on his bed, pouting in front of his full-body mirror.
"Derek! What the hell, we're gonna be late!" yelled Laura, who was still struggling to put on her earrings. He looked up at her with annoyed eyes, and opened his mouth to speak but was quickly silenced by Laura, "Oh no, don't even think about saying that you aren't going. We already paid for yout ticket, and outfit. So don't give me any bull."
"I was supposed to spend the night with Kate tonight, but I had to cancel to be your date to this stupid dance." He replied, standing up to cross his arms over his chest. Laura flipped her perfectly, straightened hair, and shrugged, obviously oblivious to any excuse her brother threw at her.
"Ugh, the Argent .." she muttered under hear breath, but Derek caught it all too quickly. Unfazed by her brother's anger, she went on, "When are you gonna take my advice and remind you that she's bad people. Derek, she's five years older than you, women like her break hearts. She's very, very dangerous and Mom and Dad have told you that countless times."
"Look, yes she's older than me .. Yes, both our families hate each other for some unknown reason, but that doesn't mean we can't love each other. I know, deep down inside she loves me too, I can feel it. Every time we-"
"DEREK!" She interrupted, "You're sixteen years old! You know nothing about love! I'm 18 and I still have no clue what the hell love is. Are you kidding me? Oh no, No. No. No. No. I know that look .. Derek please, please tell me you didn't –"
"Yes Laura, we did .." Derek said, hanging his head low in both embarrassment and fear. Laura's face was growing a bright red color, indicating she was about to burst.
"YOU HAD SEX WITH HER?" she screamed at the top of her lungs, smacking Derek in the process, "Derek how could you? You have no idea .." she trailed off, dropping the argument and walking out. Derek was clueless at what she was saying, but decided to leave the situation as is. He walked out of the house, and got into Laura's car, both heading off to the dance.
At Beacon Hills High School, the gym was decorated to be a masquerade ball, with glowing hearts and gold décor all around. There was a booth at the end of the gym, that had a bucket full of names. The name of the game was 'choose your sweetheart', where a person would pick a name at random and whose ever name they've chosen, is their sweetheart for the night. While Derek was with his Lacrosse friends at the punch table, a young woman in a stunning white gown ran up to him and lightly punched his shoulder.
"Hey captain." She said, taking a sip of her drink, "Enjoying the dance so far?"
Derek put his drink down, and smiled at the young woman, "Hey Elena, it's pretty good, how are you liking it?"
"Actually, not so much at first .. but it kinda just got a little better." She laughed, holding up a piece of white paper.
"Really? And how's that?" Derek asked, chuckling along with her. Elena gave him the piece of paper, which he unfolded, revealing his name in the crumpled paper.
"Guess you're my sweetheart huh?" she said shyly, blushing slightly. Derek knew Elena had a huge crush on him, and at one point, he had feelings for her too, but after Kate came along, he abandoned Elena. He chuckled nervously, and adjusted his tie.
"Oh .. sounds cool .." he said awkwardly. He was beginning to sweat before rational thoughts came to his mind. It's only a dance right? I mean, it's not like I'm cheating on Kate, he thought, before turning back to her, "Wanna dance?"
"Sure." She smiled, taking hold of his hand and leading him towards the dance floor. The two danced for what seemed like hours before Elena took Derek outside to get some fresh air. She led him a little into the forest, just on the outskirts of the Lacrosse field.
"It's beautiful .." she said, staring off into the woods. Derek looked at her as if she lost her mind, his mouth gaping open.
"The woods?" he asked, but only received a chuckle, and a small smile from Elena, her lips pink as ever.
"No, not the woods .. " she said, leaning closer to Derek. He could feel her warm, peppermint breath against his lips, and shuddered, "You." She finished her sentence by pressing her lips against Derek's. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer, massaging her lips with his own, the two connecting and rotating like gears on a machine. He opened his eyes, and realized what he was doing, before pushing her away, Elena falling to the floor.
"Stop. This whole crush thing, needs to stop. I have Kate ok? She's my happiness right now, and she forever will be." He said, more harshly than he intended. Tears began swelling in her eyes before she got up, and walked towards him.
"But Derek-" she said, inching closer, "I love you. I love everything about you. I'm in love with you, and I can't walk around pretending like I'm not."
Derek backed away from her every time she moved forward. "No, Leave me alone Elena, you knew I was with Kate this whole time and you just took advantage of me. I never, ever wanna see you again." He said, before running away, leaving a sobbing Elena stranded by herself on the Lacrosse field.
End of Flashback.
How could he forget that? It was the night his house burned down. The night Kate betrayed him, and murdered his family. He whipped out his phone, and dialed Stiles' number.
"Hello?" answered Stiles, "There better be a good reason why you're calling me during school hours. I had to run to the bathroom and –"
"Stiles! Shut up and listen!" Derek interjected, "I have new leads on Elena, I need you to please meet me here at the station in about ten minutes, please."
Stiles was taken aback. Derek never begs .. This must be something serious, he thought before answering, "I'm in school, how am I supposed to –"
"On the third floor, by the science lab, there's a fire alarm. Pull it and when the school's evacuated, make your way here. This is important, Isaac will cover your handprints on the switch, just come here pronto!" Derek said before hanging up.
As instructed, Stiles showed up in exactly ten minutes, with an angry look on his face. Apparently, the kid wasn't one for leaving school early to take care of some business. He stormed towards Derek, and pointed a finger, poking his chest.
"You, Mr. Broody McBroodster, need to understand that I'm not some sorta research hooker you can call up at anytime of any day, and WOW you look serious .. what's going on?" he said.
"I know who Elena is .." he said, bowing his head in shame. Stiles felt bad for the way Derek looked .. like, if he did something wrong and felt guilty over it. Then, as if Stiles' body moved completely on its own, he outstretched his hand and lifted Derek's face up by his chin.
"Hey, what happened?" he asked, emotions full of concern for the sourwolf. Derek just walked over towards the window, and stared outside.
"Six years ago, me and my sister were at a school dance," he began, "It was the night our house burned down, there were eleven people trapped inside. Before we got the news, I stormed out of the dance because I cheated on Kate .. with Elena."
"What!?" yelled Stiles, who was sitting down on a metal box in the corner near Derek. He couldn't believe his ears. No wonder Elena knew her way around Beacon Hills, she's from Beacon for Spiderman's Sake!
"Yeah, she took me out to the Lacrosse field, and kissed me. I kissed her back, which was wrong on my part, then I pushed her to the floor and told her I never wanted to see her again, that she was taking advantage of me."
"When in reality, Kate took advantage of you .." muttered Stiles, piecing the puzzle together. This newfound information is one of the strongest leads they've gotten so far.
"You're not helping Stilinksi." Derek shot back, giving him the all-too famous Derek Death Glare. Stiles closed his mouth, and took two fingers and crossed them against his lips, mimicking a zipper being closed, "Anyway, I broke her heart. Really badly, and ever since that day, she moved to San Diego and was never heard from since. I tried to block her out of my mind, which wasn't hard due to the fire. She probably went and got herself attacked and its all my fault .."
Stiles got up, and laid a comforting hand on Derek's shoulder. "Hey, this isn't your fault. I doubt she even remembers any of that. I think you need to get away, away from all of this. You're stressing yourself thin .."
"I can't just leave Stiles. I have a pack to worry about. I almost lost two of my pack members, I couldn't bare the idea of losing any others." Derek replied, still staring out of the window.
"Derek, we're a family. We help each other all the time, you saw us at Isaac's? It was one big happy family, and at school today even Isaac pointed that out. You can't worry about us 24/7 .. We're big kids, we can take care of ourselves from time to time." Said Stiles.
"I can't just NOT worry, I'm already the world's most terrible Alpha .." Derek replied, putting a hand through his hair, "I couldn't protect Lydia from Peter, or Jackson from Gerard, or Scott from almost getting killed by Victoria, and I sure as hell couldn't stop Boyd and Erica from leaving me. If they left me, it meant I was a bad Alpha .. I wasn't right for them .. I wasn't right for anything .. I couldn't protect my sister, or my family from burning in that house .." at a sudden angry feeling, Derek punched a whole straight through the iron walls of the complex, creating a giant hole in the wall. His eyes opened wide, and he began to panic, breathing heavily, "What's .. w-w-w-wrong w-w-with m-m-m-m-me?"
Stiles rushed to his side, as Derek collapsed to the floor. "Derek, listen to me, and only me. Listen to my voice and follow what I say? Can you do that?" Derek only nodded, "Ok, now. Breathe slowly, breathe in, and then out. In and out, that's it. Just like that, you're doing perfect. Focus on what I'm saying, block out everything else in your mind. Just focus on my voice, and breathing. "
Derek's breathing slowed, and he picked himself up. He rubbed his forehead, and then sat up right, facing Stiles. "What the hell was that?"
"You were having a panic attack .. I used to get them when my Mom died. Sometimes I still do. You're gonna be okay." He said, rubbing Derek's back in case of nausea.
All of a sudden, Derek's ears perked up, as he swiftly got up, and ran to the door with Stiles hot on his trail. Derek was sniffing around, smelling an odd scent while Stiles was looking around confused. He followed the trail of smell and found a small piece of paper. Once he opened it, his crimson eyes flared, and he shoved the paper onto Stiles chest.
"We train today." Was all Derek said before storming back into the station. Stiles unfolded the note, which was shaped like a heart. One side of the note said 'Beacon Hills High's Sweetheart Dance of 2005' and on the other side, the note read 'Derek Hale', and scribbled under his name, read 'I'm coming back for you.'
"Do we really have to do this?" whined Scott, as he positioned himself in front of Jackson, "CSI is coming back on today, and I really wanna watch it!" He pouted like a five year old, and crossed his arms. Derek rolled his eyes, and continued with a smart remark.
"If you don't train, then you'll end up as a dead body on a real CSI investigation. Do you want that?" Derek said, as Scott stood shut, "Good, that's what I thought. Now, Scott I want you to come at Jackson with full speed, and Jackson, you're going to flank left and hit Scott from the rear."
Both Jackson and Scott nodded, and waited for Derek's signal. Derek raised his right arm in the air, and signaled for both boys to start the sparring training. Scott ran to tackle Jackson, but Jackson flanked left as Derek said, and knocked Scott to the ground by swiping from the rear.
"You see that? If the Alphas attack head on, they won't think about where you're going next, they'll only think about the impact. Scott, Jackson, again." Derek said, as he walked towards where Boyd, and Erica were demonstrating a 'pack attack', "This guys, is called a 'pack attack', this is when you find yourself being attacked by more than one wolf at a time. Boyd, Erica. See if you can both attack Isaac from two different directions. Isaac, you counter attack Boyd, and fling him towards Erica with all of your might, understand?"
Isaac nodded, and then waited for Boyd to attack from the side, while Erica ran from the back. Boyd threw a jab at Isaac's face, but he grabbed Boyd's arm before it made contact, and whipped Boyd around, slamming him into Erica before she could claw at his head.
Derek walked over to Stiles, Allison, and Lydia, who were practicing shooting firearms. Allison had a pistol and her Bow and Arrow. She was swiftly hitting all of Derek's makeshift targets at the bull's-eye mark, while Stiles and Lydia were .. not so good. "Allison, do you think you could teach Stiles and Lydia an easier way to shoot?"
"Sure Derek, Stiles come over here for a second." She said, motioning for Stiles to join her at her position, "Ok, now .. When you hold the gun, make sure it's aligned right in between both of your eyes. Then, you hold your breath, and focus on nothing but the target. Here, let me position you right." She moved Stiles' arms so the Pistol was in between his right and left eye. In reaction, he closed one eye, before being scolded by Allison, "No no Stiles, keep both eyes open and on the target. You need one hundred percent of your focus. Now hold your breath, and squeeze the trigger, don't pull it."
Stiles fired the bullet, and it hit the bull's-eye mark. "YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT, GO ME, GO ME! WHOOP!" he yelled, before moon-walking back into his position. Lydia and Allison both chuckled as Allison began showing the strawberry blonde how to properly fire a gun.
Derek looked over as his pack trained hard. He prayed for the day they never had to use their newfound combat knowledge for survival, but he couldn't lie to himself any longer. They were going to have to use everything they had in this fight. The Alphas aren't going to show any mercy whatsoever, and he couldn't fail his pack now. He watched over as Scott and Jackson playfully wrestled on the ground, and as Erica, Isaac and Boyd continued their training, taking turns. He looked at how Allison trained Lydia on hand to hand combat, and the uses of a gun other than firing. He then looked at the hyperactive teen who's been helping him control his emotion, Stiles. Derek honestly hated Stiles in the beginning of their 'friendship', but after today, he realized he cared for the Aderall-loving teen just as much as he cared for the rest of his pack. He just hoped Stiles and Lydia could take care of themselves in a fight. He wouldn't know what to do if something happened to either of them. Sure he could give them the bite at the very last minute, but Stiles didn't want the bite, and Lydia's immune. But what choice did he have? He loved his pack, though he'd never admit it. I guess he'd never know what to do unless faced by the situation itself.
"Ok guys, training's good for the day." Derek announced, as he threw bottles of water in their direction. Everyone sighed in relief, and began to drink the water that was given to them, each of them exhausted to no point's end.
"Gosh, I never knew Werewolf training could be so tough .." said Allison, as she slumped down on the ground, "I feel like my arms and legs are jelly."
"What flavor Jelly?" asked Scott, giggling, "I bet .. you're a .. lemon flavored Jelly! Am I right? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
Allison made a mock surprised face, "Wow Scott! Lemon? Really? So you think I'm bitter and sour? I'll be thinking about that the next time you want one of my special pasta." She giggled, earning a frown face from Scott.
"Ok, no! You're definitely Apple. Apple's good. Pasta?" Scott beamed, his teeth shining bright in the afternoon sun. The group laughed, and then fell silent. They looked into the woods behind stations, and found the Alpha Pack staring them dead on. Elena walked forward, and nodded her head at Derek's pack.
"Hales. I have come to offer you a proposal." She began, the pack eyeing her warily, "You can join us in taking over Beacon Hills, to have a safe life. A town where we can be ourselves without hiding, or the Argent girl dies. Your choice."
Damn those cliff-hangers :/ lol. I know this chapter was short :( i've just been working a lot. i added a little Sterek fluff for you guys to enjoy ^_^