Just one small thing: do not go into this expecting a great, awesome action scene – I can't write good action to save my life
.
Keep Walking
to war... or something like that
"You're nervous."
Peter's voice is casual, and he says that as if Derek has no reason to be nervous at all. As if nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen today.
Derek looks at him with what Stiles would call a bitch face, and doesn't even deign his uncle with an answer.
Yeah, he's nervous. Of course he is: this is not how he thought his pack would end – in death, again. Once more decimated by something he can't fight. It's ridiculous, and he's kind of numb enough that he can't even be angry about it. He just wants to… get it over with. Maybe make some sort of deal with the Alphas so they'll let some of his pack live. Isaac, at least. The humans, who have nothing to be blamed for. He owes Stiles his life a few times, actually, it wouldn't hurt to save the kid this once.
"You should really, really trust me more" Peter continues, and Derek takes his eyes off the road for a few seconds to stare at him.
They are driving to the old house – Peter and him together in his car, the rest of the pack in Stiles's Jeep.
"I will, as soon as you prove you're trustworthy" he answers, almost growling.
"So… by tonight I'll have your respect, and a decent position in this pack, then?" Peter says with a smirk, and Derek frowns.
"What?"
"Honestly, Derek, you are a bunch of children, I wasn't going to let any of you die. No one is dying tonight. No one of this pack, at least."
Derek is a bit stunned into silence, and doesn't even know how to answer to that. What if he's lying? He can't dare hope – even if giving him hope to something like this, and then just taking it away is too low, even for Peter.
Or not.
Peter did kill his sister, after all.
"What are you talking about, Peter?"
His uncle stares at him for a few seconds before continuing, as if weighting how much he should tell Derek. When he starts talking, his voice is calm and reassuring – not the sass and sarcasm Derek has been listening to ever since he set his foot back in Beacon Hills.
Almost like Peter used to be.
"There's a reason why a pack of werewolves would never win against a pack of Alphas. They hit us, we take hours, sometimes days, before being able to heal ourselves. We hit them, they'll be good as new almost instantaneously. What we do to win this fight, is fight with weapons that'd be just as bad for us as they'll be for them. We fight them with poison, wolfsbane, silver, mountain ash. We can't handle that – but neither can they. And that's why we need humans in packs. They can handle this part, while we can't."
"We are not risking Stiles's and Danny's life on defending us" Derek starts, but Peter is already shaking his head.
"No, we're not. I couldn't care less about this Danny, but when I say Stiles is my favorite out of all of you, I'm not joking. He is. If Jackson doesn't get his act together, I'll eliminate him myself, but this is not the point" he pauses and sighs, "We have a human who owes us. A human so full of guilt she'll die for us, at least this once, if there's even a sliver of chance she could be forgiven by Scott."
The Alpha is quiet for a long moment before saying anything.
"You're thinking of using an Argent to save us? To fight for us? The same Argent whose aunt you killed in front of her? The one who wants to kill me?"
"Wanted, Derek. Past tense. She's… feeling guilty. I talked to her. She'll do as she's told, because if she doesn't, she'll have the death of all her friends in her conscience."
"You just went and talked her into it?" Derek's voice is incredulous, and he can see Peter smiling a bit.
"No, I guilt-tripped her into it."
"To fight the Alpha Pack for us."
"Yes."
"With poison."
"A special brand Allan was kind enough to give me the recipe, yes. It's not fatal immediately, but two or three shots of it is enough that they'll die, and we won't have to actively kill anyone. Which is a bonus for you, seeing as if even one of your Betas kills an Alpha, they'll become Alphas, and that's creating a problem, not solving it. I bet you didn't even consider that when you formulated this we fight to the death plan."
"You gave Argent the recipe for a poison that can kill us all. And you think this is a good plan?" Derek is not sure if he wants to cry or laugh right now.
Insanity is a sad thing.
"It's an amazing plan!" Peter's voice is bright and cheerful, and now Derek knows he actually feels like crying, "You need to trust people, dear nephew. This brooding distrust is no way to spend your life" he finishes with a smirk, and getting out of the car, because they have just arrived at their old house.
Derek stays in the car for a moment, trying to regain his composure.
They are all dead now.
He can feel it.
X
Stiles is never one to trust easily, but when he sees how pale Derek is when he finally gets out of his car, he actually decides to trust his gut that Peter knows what he's doing when he tells Stiles to make a circle of mountain ash around the front yard of the house.
He leaves the front of it wide open, so the Alphas can get in. He's supposed to close it, as soon as they step in.
So they will, you know, be locked in a magic circle with the five Alphas who want to kill them.
Great idea.
He trusts Peter at this moment, though, because he has nothing else to do. He can't afford not to trust anything right now, he can't let himself get lost in fear or he'll die a few minutes before he's supposed to.
This is bad.
This is so bad he can't even.
He goes wait in the forest, so he can actually close the circle when the Alphas get there. Of course they'll know he's in the forest, and of course they'll probably know there's a reason he's there, but he also knows they won't bother.
They are five Alphas, powerful, trained, used to fighting together Alphas against three barely turned Betas, a crazy ex-Alpha, an Alpha who has no idea what he's doing, and two humans.
Dead. That's what they are. Dead meat.
He finishes putting the ash around the house, the gap in it right in the front, and looks at Jackson, whose eyes are bright and electric already. He smiles a bit at his mate, nervous and uncertain.
"See you in a bit" he says, and Jackson looks as if he's considering taking Stiles and running out of here, but then Derek puts his hand on Jackson's arm, and Stiles turns his back on them.
Dead, dead, dead. It's like a chant in his head, the whole time.
Dead.
He takes in a deep, deep breath, and tries to focus on the task at hand: waiting. He doesn't let himself wonder what's going to happen in the next few minutes, or hours. He doesn't allow his thoughts to go to the rational part of his brain that tells him that doing what he's doing is pointless and idiotic.
The only ones who could get out of the circle when he closes it are him and Danny.
Maybe that's Peter's plan. They kill themselves killing the Alpha Pack, and Stiles and Danny are the only survivors.
Not good. Not good at all.
He can hear them approaching now. Heavy footsteps, hushed voices, a laugh. A normal one, even – he had been expecting the cruel, Disney-witch kind, but no. It's just a laugh. From someone who's going to kill them all in a few minutes.
He considers not closing the circle. Try to hit one of them with mountain ash now, give the werewolves in his pack a chance to live, but can't quite bring himself to do it, because that's not the plan.
What if he does it, and the plan could have actually worked, and then he ruined it because he didn't trust Peter?
He has to trust someone. Maybe the ex-corpse isn't his best bet, but he's taking what he can get right now.
They pass him by, a smirky smile thrown his way as they go, letting him know that, yes, they know he's there. No, they don't think of him as threat enough even to drag him to the house with them.
He swallows hard, looks at the four pouches full of mountain ash he still has after circling the rest of the front yard with it, and takes a deep breath, focusing, just like he did that night at the rave.
When he's done, the whole thing flashes fast, and then he knows he's done.
He circles back, staying beside Danny, behind everyone else.
Derek is facing the she-wolf in the upfront of the group of Alphas. She's smiling at them all. A pair of twins are flanking her, and behind them, two more, fanned out, not yet ready for battle, but waiting.
Isaac, Scott and Jackson are just a step behind Derek, and Peter is…
Well, Peter is leaning against the house. Careless and with no worries, as if he's just waiting for the alphas to say they are leaving.
"Finally, the last human. Now we can begin" the leader of the Alphas says, smiling at him, and Stiles takes a deep breath.
It's going to be downhill from here, he knows it.
"You are still missing a future corpse here" one of the twins says, looking at their pack coldly, "You know, the one who knows way too much."
"There's no one missing" Derek growls back, and the Alpha leader actually laughs this time.
"You plan on fighting us? Really fight us? With what? This little trick with the mountain ash around us? Seriously? That's just cute" she finishes, and Stiles is sickly reminded of Kate Argent.
A werewolf Kate Argent.
This is just wrong.
"You are not taking any more of our pack" Derek says, his voice cold and low, and she smiles at him sweetly.
"Is that your last word on this?" Derek doesn't bother answering to that, and she shakes her head sadly, "Well, then it's just polite to offer this: any of you kill your Alpha, you are allowed to live. Even the humans. We won't even change you if you don't want to. This is the end of this pack, but you have a chance – be the one to kill him, and you'll be spared."
There's no answer to that either, and she nods at them.
"Very well."
The leader's eyes flash red, and Stiles can see her claws and teeth coming out. The Betas start to shift too, but Derek and Peter are standing still. As soon as she takes one step forward, Stiles listens to a hissing sound, and not a second later the leader has an arrow at the back of her neck.
Two second after that, each one of the Alphas has an equal arrow in them, and they start to move after the Hale pack, but they aren't fast enough.
Jackson, as soon as the first arrow flies, comes to Stiles side, and is crouching in front of him and Danny, teeth bared. Stiles looks around, trying to find where the hell the arrows are coming from, but he can't see a thing. The Alphas start to try and evade the arrows, but the circle of mountain ash keeps them inside. They start attacking Derek, Scott and Isaac, and seem to realize they can be used as shields, but that doesn't last as long as one would think, because the Betas realize whoever is shooting isn't aiming at them – throw an Alpha far enough, and another arrow gets them. In no more than a minute four of the Alphas are down, and one of the twins is the only one standing.
They aren't dead – not yet, Stiles can hear them moaning and growling and hissing in pain, but not dead yet. Jackson is looking pale, though, and so are Peter and the other betas.
Whatever it is in the arrows, it's so strong it's starting to affect the werewolves around it, even without the wounds. The arrows stop coming suddenly, more likely because there are no more left, and Stiles can't quite believe what's happening.
The Alpha left – one of the twins – is faster than the others, and has been hiding behind Scott most of the time. He finally manages to get a good hit in, sending Scott flying against the barrier of mountain ash, and moves towards the house – towards where Stiles, Danny and Jackson are.
He barrels into Danny, and they end up flying to the barrier, Danny's body hitting the floor where the mountain ash is, breaking the circle.
The Alpha doesn't stop, trying to escape, and Jackson runs after him, not a single thought in mind. Derek looks alarmed and pale, just like all the others – Jackson wasn't as affected, for being further away from where all the arrows had been shot at.
"Everyone okay?" he asks, going to Danny, and pulling him up. Looking around, he sees Derek is having difficulty changing to go after Jackson. They look at each other for a second, and Stiles can swear Derek looks fearful.
Jackson would end the last Alpha, right? He wouldn't let a sick, dying Alpha escape.
And if Jackson kills him, then he… He becomes an Alpha himself.
Holy shit.
X
It freaking hurts. Whatever it is that is in those arrows, it hurts like hell, and Jackson is kind of glad he chose to come to the back, and protect the humans, instead of trying to stay in the middle of it. Derek is pale, Scott is barely breathing right, and Isaac looks as if he'll pass out any second.
And yet, all Jackson can think about is defending Stiles, his mate, and Danny, his best friend, because none of the others, not even his Alpha, means to him as much as these two do.
And then one of the Alphas makes a run to where they are, and Jackson has less than a second to make a decision, and when push comes to shove, he moves just the tiniest bit towards Stiles.
That's why the Alpha takes Danny with him, using his best friend's body to break the barrier his mate put up.
Jackson doesn't really analyze what he's doing, he's just going after the threat to make sure there'll be no more threat. It's not until he's finally over the Alpha, an oozy feeling taking over him just from smelling the wound the werewolf has at the back of his neck and the top of his thigh, that he realizes this is an Alpha.
An Alpha, dying, almost dead, but not quite there yet.
He could kill him.
Kill him and become an Alpha.
Kill him, be an Alpha and bite his mate.
No more denying, no more tension, no more risk of being cast away or killed. No more having to listen to Derek, having to make sense of whatever McCall thinks he's doing, no more obeying.
He could be just as powerful as Derek – probably more.
He could be an Alpha.
He stares at the man under him, almost dead, and yet smirking.
"Do it" the man whispers, Jackson's claws digging into his throat, fangs out and ready to bite.
Jackson stares into the red eyes in front of him and snarls.
He knows what to do.
X
They have to get away from the house, Stiles knows that, but he can't quite focus on helping the werewolves as much as he'd like.
At some point, seconds, really, Chris Argent and Allison come out of the woods. He registers the man looks as if he'd rather be dead than here, and Allison looks timid and broken, but they, along with Danny, help Scott and Isaac away from the four bodies in front of the Hale house. Derek and Peter manage on their own – Derek probably for being the strongest, Peter for being just as far from the showdown as Jackson was.
He sees all of this happening, and yet he can't help but worry about what the hell Jackson is doing right now.
Finally, the boy comes out of the woods towards them, avoiding the front of the house, and away from the broken circle of mountain ash. As soon as he sees Danny is standing up, Stiles can see him visibly relax, and then he's making a beeline towards Stiles.
He stops when Stiles takes a step back as soon as Jackson is close enough, and they stare at each other for a few seconds.
"He's dead" Jackson says, his voice exhausted.
"Is he?" Stiles says, just to have something to say.
"Yeah" Jackson says, reaching out with a hand, and pulling Stiles towards him, "Yeah, he is" he confirms and then his eyes flash for just a seconds.
Electric, bright, clear blue.
Hehehehehehehehehe. Next chapter will be out, soon!
Hope you guys enjoyed it!
Review!