"Whatever decision you make, it's going to change everything." Stiles says into the phone, "Are you ready for that kind of change?"
Aria is silently weeping, sinking down the wall, sitting, "Stiles, I'm so scared. I don't know what to do. All I do is mess everything up."
"I know you're scared. As you should be. But Aria, you need to do what's best for you. For once, you have full rein on being as selfish as you want." Stiles reassures, "I'll tell you when the moon is setting, okay? For now, just talk to me."
"I couldn't handle Derek dying."
"Okay."
"I couldn't handle being a werewolf either."
"That's fine. So you can't handle either of the options. That's definitely reassuring."
Aria shakes her head, "Was this supposed to help?" She asks, biting her lip, still tasting her blood, "What if they kill him anyways, Stiles?"
"It depends if that's a risk you're willing to take. I've sent Scott."
"Why did you do that?!"
"So, when you make your decision, he can help you either way. He won't come inside, he'll stay outside, on his motorbike." Stiles explains, "I need you to breathe, and I need you to think."
Aria takes a deep breath, letting it out, "I can't let him die. It wouldn't be right. I can't be selfish, Stiles."
"I didn't think you could."
"I'm sorry, Stiles. I'm sorry for what comes after this."
"Don't be. I love you, Aria. Forever and always, don't forget that."
"I love you too, don't forget that." Aria furiously wipes her cheeks, "I'm sorry for what's going to happen.. for what you're going to see me turn into.. I-I never wanted this, just know that, okay?" Her voice is cracking and she can't stop shaking, she stands at the door, her hand on the knob, "You'll stay with me?"
"Always." Stiles sounds like he's on the brink of tears as well.
She opens the door. When she musters the strength to look up, she see's Kali with her sharp finger pointed to Derek's throat, held delicately next to it as he breathes savagely. Deucalion stands with her, his hands clasped together.
Derek sees her standing in the doorway and the fight falls out of his eyes, and he whispers, "What have you done?"
"You made the right decision, Aria." Deucalion says, "You won't regret this, I promise."
"No, ARIA!" Derek shouts, bucking against Kali's grip. "What have you done?!" He's shouting, throwing himself against Kali. He watches, helpless as Deucalion attacks Aria, making all of Derek's nightmares a reality.
She feels his teeth in her neck and she can barely manage to stay conscious. She drops her phone and it cracks, turning off. He lets her go finally, his eyes a bright triumphant red. She drops to the ground, useless, petrified as she can feel her blood oozing down her neck.
"Let him go, we're done here." Deucalion says to Kali. Kali releases Derek and Derek crawls over to Aria.
"What have you done?" Derek asks, touching her bleeding neck as she rasps. "Oh god no, please, Aria, don't fight it."
Aria can feel her insides trying to decide whether or not to fight the werewolf bite. She knows it's made it's decision when the wound starts to stitch itself up. Derek picks Aria up and she passes out.
Aria wakes up in her bed, as if it had all been a bad dream. Stiles is sitting at her bedside, passed out in the chair. When she stirs, he bolts out of his chair, his eyes ripping open.
"Hey, hey Aria." Stiles kneels at her bedside, taking her hand in his, "How are you feeling?"
Aria takes in a deep pained breath, she touches her neck to feel soft creamy skin, "What happened?"
"Derek brought you in, you were sleeping." Stiles offers her a soft smile.
"Did I.. did I turn?"
"No."
Aria turns away from Stiles, touching her neck again, "When does it start?"
"Soon." Derek says from the doorway, "We have to go, Stiles, speed it up."
Aria bolts up in her bed, "Speed it up? What is he talking about Stiles? What's going on?" She glances to her right to see her bags are all packed. Aria looks back at Stiles, "What's going on?" She repeats weakly.
"Dad and I have agreed that sending you off with Derek until you can control this is the best thing for you." Stiles explains, "It won't be that long, maybe even shorter if you can control it quicker. We don't want you to hurt anyone."
"I won't hurt anyone - I promise!" Aria says, getting off of her bed, "You need me Stiles. I-I can't just leave like this, I can't leave you."
"You need to be selfish, just this one time though, you don't get anymore free passes." Stiles looks down sadly, "You can call me, text me, when you get better, you can come back. Come back and be the same ol' Aria you were before."
"What if I can't be her - me - anymore? Then what? Besides, I don't want to live in the dingy loft-not to sound high maintenence or anything but that place is disgusting-" Aria protests.
"We aren't going to the loft." Derek explains, walking over and picking up her bags, "We're going somewhere else."
"Where?" Aria demands.
"Can't tell you." Derek hands her one of her bags, "We have to get going."
Aria whirls around on Derek, "I'm not leaving." She can feel her anger spiking and her vision clouding. She takes a deep breath when she can see Derek's panicked look. He turns to Stiles. "I don't want to go." She whimpers.
"It's happening quicker, hurry up, say your goodbyes." Derek says.
Stiles hugs Aria quickly, "I love you, be safe, okay?"
Aria stiffens in his embrace, her heart doing frantic somersaults, "Uh.. I-I love you too..tell Dad that.."
Stiles nods, "I will." She walks out of her room, picking up her bag and putting it over her shoulder. She gives Stiles a soliders salute and walks out of her room, down the stairs.
Aria follows Derek outside to his mustang. He opens the door for her and she quickly steps in. The mustang smells like cheap cologne and cigarettes. For the first time in her life she has no control.
They drive for hours until they're in the middle of a desolated forest land with only a small cottage-like home. The forest is beautiful, it's a green-ish kind of blue with large leaves that could easily be the size of Aria's head. There's a nice soft clearing behind the house. Perfect werewolf training ground, Aria thinks bitterly. Aria gets out of the car, rubbing the dirt out of her eyes. She walks up the cottage steps. The cottage is wooden yet seems kind of plastic-y.
"It feels like I'm in a twisted fairytale." She notes as she opens the door. The cottage door screeches against it's hinges as it settles against the wall. The cottage smells like rain and moss. There's a little living room with no TV, no anything that can connect her to the real world. "What about school and stuff? I do have a life!" She turns around, shouting out the door as Derek unloads their bags.
"Lydia is collecting your homework from your teachers and Scott's going to bring them by." Derek calls back, slamming the trunk down, "I get that you hate me right now." He says as he walks into the cottage, flipping the lightswitch.
Aria turns to glare at him, "I don't hate you."
Derek walks past her with the bags, "Your room is right here, mine is across from yours, so any nightmares or spiders, I'm right in here." He taps on his door. Then he opens Aria's bedroom door and sets her bags in the room. Aria follows him into the small room, setting the bags she was carrying on the floor.
"I think prisoners live better than this." Aria pouts, sitting down on the dusty bed.
"I'll let you unpack and then when you're done we'll go train." Derek turns to leave but Aria darts up, grabbing his arm.
"What exactly will this training entail?" She presses, "For once, can you answer one of my questions?"
Derek's nose wrinkles, "We need to figure out what your trigger is for you to turn. Then we need to know what turns you back so you don't get stuck as a werewolf forever."
Aria's anxiety leaps up through her throat, she sits back down on the bed, "No more straight forward answers, please." She rasps. Her anxiety reminds her of Stiles's anxiety and she instantly gets sad again. "I liked you better when you growled instead of talked."
"Me too." Derek says with a smirk, shutting the door behind him when he leaves.
Aria leaps up, quickly unpacking her clothes, putting them into dressers and putting all of her toiletries in a nice carry-away bag. She puts the bag in a cabinet in the bathroom and goes back to her room. Aria stretches, standing in front of the dresser which has a mirror attached to the top. She sees her eyes flash red and she gasps because this time it doesn't stop.
She goes over to the bay window and eases it open quietly. She steps out onto the dewy blue-green grass. Her converse are getting soaked just stepping in this grass. She walks to the clearing, glancing around with her new eyes. Everything seems different, clearer, sharper. Her senses are heightened and she hear Derek in his bedroom pacing. Cursing under his breath.
She can hear her own heartbeat, frantic and desperate with each new beat, speeding up the more she listened to it. Derek must have heard it too because in only a few moments he's out in the clearing as well.
"Your eyes." He says it softly, almost sadly, he doesn't look amazed, he looks depressed.
Aria frantically blinks, "I don't exactly know how to turn that off. Might just have to rip out the batteries." She loosely jokes.
Derek walks over to her, stroking his rough thumb on her cheek, "I'm sorry." He says softly.
"For what?" Aria asks.
"For what happens next." Derek sadly smiles. "It's gone."
Aria rips away from him, "Really?" She squeals, "Step one complete! You're my anchor!"
Derek shakes his head, smirking, lightly chuckling, "It doesn't work like that."
Aria falters in her happiness once more, "Why can't it just work like that? We could have played the placebo effect game, my favorite effect, by the way." Aria puts her hands on her hips, "So what happens next then?"
"No more straight forward answers, remember?"
Right.