Aria holds her ground, glancing around as Derek returns to his growling fest with the Twins. Aria nervously scratches her cheek as the October air blows around them, the Twins not moving, breathing.
"What does he want with her?" Derek asks, not changing his position, "You can tell him to shove it, because there's no way he's getting within two inches of her."
"She under your protection? Aria, ask him how that worked for Erica and Boyd." Ethan chuckles, a slow senile smirk working it's way across his lips. Aiden is still circling Aria and Derek. Aria feels a slight chill so she pulls her cardigan around her tighter.
"I think I'll take my chances. They're a lot better with him than with you." Aria snaps, matter-of-factly, crossing her arms over her chest. Shooting a glare towards Ethan while keeping her other eye somewhat on Aiden.
Aiden growls and tries to lunge at Aria but Derek wards him off with a lunge of his own. The two roll around on the ground and Aria's hands fly up to her face. Then Ethan tries to advance for her and she tries to kick him, but he catches her leg and throws her onto the ground. Pain, pain lights up her vision and she can't move for a second. For a second she thinks he's paralyzed her.
"Pitiful." Ethan says, reaching down to grab her by the throat, holding her up in the air, "Why would you ever want to be human? Deucalion is offering you the opportunity of a lifetime."
His hold isn't as restricting as she would have thought, so she's able to spit out words at him, "Deucalion wants to turn me into a wolf?"
Derek throws back his head, in full wolf form, howling. In seconds, Issac and Scott are out on the field, running towards them. Ethan drops Aria when she bites his hand, she rolls away from him on the ground as Issac runs over to lean in front of her.
"Having a nice day?" Issac asks her, panting. "Come on." He reaches over to pick her up, sliding his arms easily under her legs, bridal style. Then he runs towards the woods. He's running so fast she feels like she's in some fucked up version of Twilight that is about ten times cooler and ten times more dangerous. Oh, and less fucking lame. He finally stops after running for a few seconds and he sets her back on her feet.
"So, uh, I can walk, you know?" Aria says, brushing off the leaves and grim that had gotten on her throughout that little dash.
Issac then hugs her so tight she forgets how to breathe. She wraps her arms around him too and he's whispering sweet nothings in her ear and she's wondering how the hell this has already escalated to this point. So, danger, Derek was right, and my god she hated it when he was right. He lets go of her to analyze her wounds, "Are you okay?" He looks at her throat, "That might bruise."
Aria touches her throat absentmindedly, "Ethan said Deucalion wants to turn me."
Issac's eyes widen, "W-what? You don't want that, do you?" He asks tentatively, his head tilted to the side.
"N-no. I don't. We've discussed this." Aria drops her hand from her throat, "What do they want with me Issac?"
Derek shows up then, scratched up and pretty bloody, "They think you'll be a True Alpha."
"True Alpha? What the fuck is that?" Aria asks, propping a hand on her hip, "I don't want to be a true-anything, I just want to be human, not freak out on full moons, and just be.. just be Aria." She finishes lamely.
"A true alpha is a wolf that is already an Alpha, by their own nature, not because they had to kill another Alpha to do it." Derek explains, "In your case, we have to get you out of town and as far from Beacon Hills as possible. They won't stop."
Aria shakes her head, "No, I can't leave. I just got back. I can't leave Stiles and my Dad again."
"You may not have a choice." Derek explains.
"She always has a choice." Scott says, joining them in the clearing, "If we don't let them get to her, and we run them out of town, then she's in the clear, right?"
Derek turns to glare at Scott, "That's risky."
"We could give her training against werewolves." Issac pipes with a boyish smile, "I could train her myself."
Derek shakes his head, "That won't help. She needs training against an Alpha, she'll have to train with me."
Aria nudges Issac, "OR, I could train with the one guy who has not tried to kill me."
"Hey! I haven't tried to kill you!" Scott protests.
"You shoved my head into a pile of mud when we were kids, that counts." Aria snaps at him.
"You're not going to let that go are you-" Scott's about to complain some more but Derek cuts him off.
Derek growls, "Shut up. Fine, train with Issac, but don't get pissed when you can only defend yourself against Betas instead of Alphas. I can't always run in and save you." Then he storms away.
Aria looks after him, "Was I the only one who thought he was going to stomp his feet for a second, there?"
Aria and Issac's first training session is in the clearing. Aria tells her Dad she's going out with Lydia and has Lydia override the chip in her phone so that it says she's at Lydia's house instead of in the forest with Issac. So far, she was in the clear.
Aria pretends to crack her neck, "Don't worry, I've got this, I've destroyed many people in my olden days." She jokes.
Issac smiles, "Just because I like you don't expect me to go easy on you."
Aria straightens up, pretending to be disappointed, "Really? I was seriously banking on every werewolf I come across to instantly like me. I'm dead in the water, this entire thing is pointless."
Issac rolls his eyes, licking his lips, "Now, the trick with fighting a wolf is never hit the ground. Once they get you on the ground, it's over with. You need to think like a wolf, where they should attack versus where they shouldn't. Are you ready?"
"Repeat that?"
"No repeats in real life, kid!" Issac then lunges at her and she screams, pulling her arms up to cover her head, instead forming a defensive position.
"Are you kidding me?" She hears through her arms, he lightly takes her arms away from her head and she puts her knee back down. "Cute."
Aria smiles, "See, I've got an entire defense plan."
"We should have had Derek teach you, you want to hit him more than you want to hit me."
"Hit you?!"
"Yeah, that's part of learning, Aria." Issac rolls his eyes, "You're not going to hit me, are you?"
Aria shakes her head, "Afraid not."
Issac walks away from her, pulling out his phone to say incoherent words into his phone, "Yeah, get down here, no, thought it'd be a good idea - yeah shut up, I get it - yeah yeah feelings shut up, see you in a bit."
"Who was that?" But as Aria says this, she's tackled to the ground and see's a snarling red-eyed Derek on top of her.
"Dead." Derek says, pulling himself off of the top of her.
Aria glances over at Issac to shoot him a glare, "You called Derek?!" She snaps, getting up and brushing herself off.
"Don't worry, I'll be here - cheering you from the sidelines!" Issac offers as support.
After three hours of Derek 'killing' her, Aria was getting tired of it. She pushed herself up from the ground from what felt like the thousandth time that day. "Yep, well guys, this was fun, but lets just call it a day."
"You haven't even understood one of the defense strategies. Aria, we're not done." Derek growls.
"I haven't even gotten to punch you in the face once, this day has just been wasted, I'm afraid." Aria shrugs, brushing the dirt off of her knees, "And you ripped my leggings so I'm in an even worse mood."
"Do you plan on wearing a skirt when you battle an Alpha?" Issac asks.
Aria's cheeks flame, "It could be a distraction?" She jokes timidly.
Derek lunges at her again so Aria does the only thing she feels like doing, she sidesteps him and trips him. When she realizes that it actually works, she climbs on top of him, pretending to stab him.
"Dead!" She proclaims and Derek pushes her off of him.
"That was cheap." He grumbles.
"If you mean perfect, smart, clever, witty, I totally agree." Aria gets up, brushing off her knees again. She bows, "Thank you, thank you, I've killed the great Derek Hale, hold the applause!"
Aria sneaks into her house, hoping her Dad doesn't catch her in all of this dirt. Stiles catches her instead, his mouth falls ajar and he thinks about just leaving the room. Then he points at her.
"Uh, so, whatcha been up to, little sister?" Stiles asks timidly.
Aria shrugs, "Just, uh, some gardening. You know I love to do that." Her cheeks flame and she hurries up the stairs with Stiles on her heels. He follows her into her room, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it.
"Okay, now tell me what really happened since Dad is now out of earshot."
"Derek." Aria grumbles, taking off her black boots followed by the leggings, "He ruined my leggings. These were so vintage. I don't have any others that match with this skirt."
"Derek did that?" Stiles clarifies.
"Yeah, he's teaching me how to defend myself against Alphas."
"Thought Issac was doing that?"
"So did I until Derek fucking attacked me. Like some crazy flying monkey. With abs, lots of abs - THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT THOUGH!" She adds the last part when she sees Stiles frightened look. "Wait, who told you about that?"
Stiles gives her a look of disbelief, "Do you really think my best friend won't tell me everything my little sister does? By the way, are you seriously still holding onto that dirt pile thing? It was funny!"
Aria throws her leggings at Stiles, "Just buy me a new pair of leggings, Stiles."
Stiles picks up the torn leggings, "You could be one of those tough around the edges girls with torn leggings - no? Oh, okay, new leggings, got it!" Then he leaves the room.
Aria lays against her bed, sighing loudly. She picks up her phone, texting Derek.
You owe me a new pair of leggings, asshole.