Hey there ladies and gents! :) Here's the next chapter of Family is Everything, I hope you all enjoy it very much! So far this story has gotten a pretty great turn out and I couldn't be happier so thank you everyone for reading it and enjoying it! R&R! :D
I do not own Teen Wolf or any of its characters, if i did shit would be insane and completely different but then i wouldn't have this story so yeah. I do own my character Raven Hale and any other original characters i create to support my story. :)
Family is Everything
Chapter 3
~Raven's POV~
Coach blew his whistle and reprimanded the kid in front of me, told him to go back to his seat. My seat was right behind where he moved from and right in front of Isaac and Boyd. Stiles and Scott were taking up the very last seats in the back while Danny and Ethan were in between our positions. I felt numb and drained, surprised I managed to get the bags under my eyes in check, total luck.
"Stop thinking about it man." I heard Isaac tell Boyd.
"What, you're not thinking about it too?" He asked in return.
"I will stop thinking about it." Isaac compromised.
"I can't." Boyd confessed.
"Well there is nothing we can do about it." Isaac concluded.
"You sure about that?" Boyd questioned and I could practically sense the glare her was sending Ethan's way.
"Could you both just stop talking about it!?" I practically whimpered when I turned around to look at them. I looked them straight in the eyes and they were silent. I turned back around and now had two large hands on both my shoulders giving me comforting squeezes.
I closed my eyes, as if I was sleeping, and focused on my surroundings, especially the people around me. Ethan kept checking his phone and Danny took notice. That ended with small talk and shameless flirting. Scott and Stiles were on the quiet side, I think I could actually smell blood coming from Scott but I had to be wrong, must still be re-living last night.
I could see it clearly, Scott laying too close to the edge, reaching into the open. There was screaming, possibly my own, maybe someone else's. Then snap, I dropped back into reality when Stiles was snapping and trying to grab Scott's attention. I guess I wasn't the only one being haunted by last night.
They were going over vocabulary words, I focused on incongruous especially, and it fit perfectly. "Okay next word, incongruous." Stiles announced.
"Can you use it in a sentence?" Scott asked. I could think of a few sentences actually but Stiles' answer was sufficient.
"Yes, yes I can. It's completely incongruous that we are sitting in a bus right now on our way to some stupid cross country meet after what just happened, incongruous." Stiles answered, like I said, sufficient answer.
"Out of place, ridiculous, absurd." Scott answered.
"Perfect. Okay next word Durach, Durach, okay it's a noun." Stiles began finally breaking. "We have to talk about it sometime okay?" Stiles began on his attempt to get Scott to talk. "We are gonna be stuck in this thing for five hours, why not?" He asked frustrated and with getting no answer from Scott he moved on to the next word.
Pain, I could sense it coming from Scott when we hit the bump, that blood aroma still lingering. I even heard him cringe, something was definitely up with him. I could hear their conversation clearly and Scott did not sound okay but didn't want Stiles to go to the coach. Hmm, intransigent fits the bill.
"Look just let me see it." Stiles pleaded.
"I'm okay." Scott began.
"Just let me see it." Stiles ordered. So Scott was still wounded, that could be a problem. The blood stench hit me clearer and from the sounds of it, things were not well.
"I can't believe he's dead." Scott began. "I can't believe Derek's dead." He clarified and I swore a fresh tear ran down my cheek. Screw it all to hell, I could not start crying again! I wiped the tear away and readjusted myself in my seat, I couldn't believe he was dead either.
"So Derek guess what?" I asked him cheerily.
"You're speaking to me again?" He assumed and I let out a chuckle because that was once again happening too.
"Well that and something else?" I prodded, waiting for him to guess again.
"Your cross country meet is coming up." He guessed with a smile on his face.
"Yes!" I cheered completely excited for the race and that even with the Alpha pack around, things felt normal. At least as normal as it could get being a teenage werewolf.
Another tear escaped and I once again wiped it away. Thinking of even such a small happy moment would prove to be bad for my sanity. Okay, go back to focusing on my surroundings, focus.
"Am I getting too close? I'm, I'm getting way too close aren't I?" I could hear Allison stutter out from inside her car as she followed our bus.
"That depends, are you just following the bus or are you… planning to mount it at some point?" Lydia sarcastically answered.
"Yeah, I should back off." Allison concluded.
"Well that depends, do you mean the bus or the ex-boyfriend you're currently stalking?" She continued.
"Well after what happened, I'm not letting him out of my sight." Allison finished, she was irritating me in a way. "And by the way this all started when he came knocking at my door." She added.
"For what?" Lydia asked and I was happy that Scott clued me in after he met up with our little hunter. I knew that Scott went to question her about the hunter's arrows he found, which I neglected to inform him were indeed Allison's. Of course he probably left out all the fun details, if any. Guys are just weird.
That little encounter led to him running to us about the Alpha's location, same building as the Argents. We went all out, Peter was even plotting with us. We were planning our "pre-emptive strike" as he called it. I didn't completely agree with it but something had to be done.
We were all fighting, each had our own obstacle to face. They were getting the upper hand while Scott and I growled and jumped back in. Boyd was on the ground and Ennis had Cora, like I said they were getting the upper hand.
That damn whistle was blown again. "The two of you back in your seats." Coach barked out then turned to Jared. "Jared again, carsick, every time how do you even get on the bus?" He asked astonished. The poor boy just groaned. "Look at me, don't look at me, look at the horizon. Keep your eyes on the horizon." He chanted then saw Scott. "McCall not you too?" He asked incredulously.
"No Coach, I'm good." Scott simply called back. He lied, he was bleeding and I smelt it, it was strong but why wasn't he healing yet?
When Stiles mentioned the boys sitting behind me, I worried. I could physically sense their anger, felt how Boyd kept clenching and unclenching his fist. I turned around and gave him a stern look to keep him under control but I wasn't sure how much it was actually working. At least for now he cooled off for a bit. 'Scott, are you okay?' I texted him.
"They're one floor above them in the penthouse, right above Allison." Derek announced.
"So we kill them first? That's the plan?" Scott questioned.
"They won't even see it coming." Boyd reasoned.
"Why is the default plan always murder?" He asked again and I did agree with his line of questioning. "Just once can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?" He asked frustrated.
"You never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you?" Peter asked sarcastically.
"And you never get tired of being a psychopathic asshole, do you?" I questioned him. He just glared at me in return for defending Scott and for voicing my snarky remark.
"Why do we need this kid?" Cora questioned.
"This kid saved your life." Derek answered.
"Yes Cora, let's not be rude." I reprimanded while wearing my smirk.
"You know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move." Derek shed to light, oh so pessimistically.
"You can't beat a pack of Alphas." Scott declared.
"He's right, you know?" Peter agreed.
"Now you know something is wrong when I'm agreeing with Peter. God, I'm just getting this weird feeling going through me." I over acted.
"Hmm, trust maybe?" Peter asked.
"Now don't flatter yourself." I quipped.
"We are going after Deucalion, just Deucalion." Cora brought back point strongly. So naïve, my sister is, although so is everyone else.
"You cut off the head of the snake and the body dies." Boyd described metaphorically.
"Only this isn't a snake, it's a hydra. And like Scott says, they're all Alphas." Peter answered back pessimistically but he was right.
"Deucalion is still the leader." Derek declared.
"Well let's hope so, cuz you know what happened when Hercules off the heads of the Hydra?" Peter asked.
"Two more grew back in its place." Scott and I basically chanted together.
"Somebody has been doing their summer reading." Peter joked in return eyeing the both of us.
"Fuck shit!" I colorfully cursed when the bus jolted forward while we stopped behind a huge line of traffic. 'I'm fine Raven, don't worry about me. :)' Scott replied now that I was back from my memories.
"Gonna miss the meet." Isaac mumbled behind me. Boyd had already gotten the huffing and puffing down, soon he'd blow the whole house down as well. "Boyd?" Isaac tried grabbing his attention, I turned around now.
"Hey Boyd, chill." I ordered but he was seething, or the wolf equivalent of growling. I looked back toward Scott and signaled him over. "Boyd, you're gonna make a huge scene, that's not very good. Now. Put. The claws. Away!" I demanded, he seemed to be hearing me but he didn't yet acknowledge the meaning of the words.
I was down and so was Scott, Derek was getting good hits on Ennis until he head butted Derek, throwing him off his game. I was trying and failing miserably to get back up while Scott was crawling towards the two. Then came the fall, both Derek and Ennis going over the ledge and falling a few stories down. "Derek!" I shrieked.
Scott was practically wobbling towards us and made it just in time for Boyd's almost pop. We both grabbed his hands at the same time, Scott getting close.
"Let go." Boyd tried ordering but my grip grew tighter, I still let Scott do the leading, for now this was his show.
"You got a plan? Tell me your brilliant plan and we'll let go. What are you gonna do? Kill him, right here? Then what? What are you gonna do after that?" Scott reprimanded.
"I don't care." He answered stubbornly and tried to get up but we all held him down in a not so noticeable way.
"I do." Scott answered.
"Woah, woah you're still hurt." Isaac brought up, their bromance was never ending.
"Yeah Scott, that's a lot worse than I thought. You should be mostly healed by now." I commented looking over the wound. Boyd stopped and acknowledged it as well.
"I'm fine. Really, it just takes longer to heal from an attack by an Alpha, believe me it was a lot worse earlier than it is now." He lied again and I knew that we all sensed it now. "Give me a chance to figure something out, something that doesn't have to end with someone else dying." Scott suggested and as if on cue my eyes began watering up.
"Okay." Boyd agreed and as soon as he said this I practically shot back around to cover my eyes and wipe away fresh tears. All I knew was that Isaac's hand was back on my shoulder, comforting me again. I could feel Boyd and Scott's eyes on me but I was okay for now, dry eyes and everything. Scott wobbled back to Stiles.
Isaac's hand went away but in return I got a text message. 'Smile, a beautiful girl with a smile like yours should always smile.' In truth a small smile did appear on my face but like I said it was very small.
'I'm trying but it's hard. I'd give anything to go back and change things.' I answered back.
'We all wanna go back." He answered back a second later. When I was gonna reply all I can concentrate on is the constant dinging sound from Danny's phone. It started to explain things when I heard Stiles in the back vigorously texting away.
"Something wrong?" Ethan asked.
"Actually I was wondering the same thing about you." Danny started but I tuned out. I went back to my phone and focused.
'I just want to, before I could finish my message my ears focused on one thing, his name.
"Ennis, so that means he's not dead." Scott announced.
"Not yet." Stiles added. Maybe if Ennis is alive than so is Derek! Hope, I now had some small little glimmer of hope.
'I just want to get home soon, to my family!' I answered Isaac, with a hidden hope to the term family.
(Insert Divider)
"Jared, I'm warning you, I'm an empathetic vomitter. You throw up, I'm gonna throw up right back on you and it will be profoundly disgusting." Coach ranted.
"Please don't talk about throwing up, it's not good." Jared panted out.
"I might throw up on you just to make a point Jared." He continued.
"It's not good." Jared whined back looking pale.
"Now the rest of you, don't think we are gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam or because of a minor tornado warning, or Jared. We are gonna make this thing, nothing is gonna stop us!" Coach ranted. "Stilinski put your hand down!" He shouted.
"You know there's like a food exit half a mile off, I don't know maybe if we stop and…" Stiles tried.
"We are not gonna stop." Coach denied.
"Okay but if we stop…" Stiles tried again but now Coach started blowing his damn whistle.
"Stilinski, shut it!" He shouted. "This is a little bus, stop asking me questions!" Screw it all to hell, if he blows that damn whistle again I'm gonna make him eat that whistle. I tuned into Stiles' conversation with Allison and Lydia and learned that Scott was bleeding out black blood, that's definitely never good. He got up and tried reasoning with Coach but come on that would never work. I remembered Jared and I got up and took a seat behind him so when Stiles turned back around from being shot down it all clicked.
"Hey Jared." Stiles started while taking the seat next to the pale faced boy.
"How you doing?" I added on. About two minutes later we were all filing off the bus because Jared had an unfortunate accident. I felt absolutely no guilt at all and I believe neither did Stiles. Stiles and Allison were leading Scott to the bathroom to go patch him up somehow while Boyd, Isaac, and I stayed outside. I walked off by myself and attempted calling Derek's number about twenty times.
Stiles came running back out with Lydia and I stopped her while he ran to the bus. "Hey what's wrong? Is Scott alright?" I asked her.
"We think it's all in his head, he feels guilty for Derek and he won't let himself heal." She answered. I nodded and walked away, oh my God.
"Derek!" I shouted and ran to Scott but he held me back from jumping in after Derek then Isaac was pulling is both back. I was crying and shocked at the same time, did that actually just happen?
"Okay everyone on the bus!" Coach shouted. I tried calling again, hoping on hope that he would just fucking answer!
Isaac and I walked up to Scott's room, he was just about to go speak to Deucalion and I was joining him but I could not for the life of me shake Isaac. "Where you going?" He asked when Scott finally turned around and I just let out a sheepish smile.
"I was gonna go get some food to eat." He answered quickly. I told Isaac I wanted to talk to Scott about something so I was somewhat covered.
"Cool, we'll come too, Raven here actually needed to talk to you." Isaac suggested.
"No dude it's okay. I can eat alone and I'll walk you out and you can ask me then." Scott pushed.
"Yeah I mean…" I was trying to pass but Isaac didn't let up.
"What kind of food are you gonna get?" He asked.
"Uh, Mexican." He answered.
"Dude, I love Mexican, let's go." He continued.
"Isaac, I can eat alone, its okay." Scott snapped, trying to get him to stay. He probably knew all about our plan as well.
"Dude, you two aren't going alone. Let's go." He insisted. Yeah, he knows.
"I'll drive." I mumbled and we all piled into Derek's Camaro that I "borrowed". The ride was ultimately silent and a bit boring and when we finally made it to the meeting place there were still not many words being said.
"We're just gonna talk to him, try to reason with him. That's it." Scott explained. I was already set, I'd rather a not so friendly chat then losing lives in a battle that could not be truly won. Isaac, on the other hand, was looking skeptical of the whole thing. "What?" Scott asked him.
"Nothing it's just… I'm actually kind of hungry now." He joked.
"So am I." Scott agreed and led the way.
Dammit Derek! I just need some sign that will tell me you're alive! I just needed to know, needed some form of reassurance. Shit!
We began exploring the abandoned building, finally walking up to Deucalion who was waiting on the escalators, he had the perfect lighting shining down on him like he really was a god. We all looked at each other for reassurance but never had any intentions of turning back anyway.
"You didn't come alone." Deucalion stated, trying to project a wave of superiority in his tone.
"Yeah, this is Isaac and this is Raven." Scott introduced. "You might remember her from the vault." He challenged.
"I'm not talking about them." Deucalion corrected. Out from the shadows came Derek, in wolf form, and Boyd and Cora.
"You knew I would do this, Derek don't. You can't do this and no one gets hurt. If someone else dies…" Scott began pleading but Derek just began pointing at Deucalion, interrupting Scott's pleas.
"Him, just him." Derek declared.
"Just me, now how's a blind man find his way into a place like this, all on his own." Deucalion drawled, I was really getting tired of the whole god complex he seemed to live by. Down came Kali, sliding down a pillar using her claws like some glorified cat. Then came Ennis walking in from behind us. Last came the damn twins from up above and we knew now that talking was out of the picture. The fight was on.
I was brought out of my thoughts by a loud crowd, all huddled around two people in the middle. I made my way to the center and found Isaac punching Ethan repeatedly in the face. "Isaac!" I shouted and possibly growled when Scott came just in time to see him stop. It was the funniest thing how the second my voice rang through the air Isaac stopped his punch mid-swing.
Everyone was mumbling and Danny walked carefully to Ethan's side to nurse his wounds. I could hear the others around, shocked by what just went down, "Oh my God" and "Did you see that?" was being heard all around.
We were all basically standing still, waiting for the first move, waiting for the poor idiot to begin. Of course it was my brother who went charging at Deucalion only to be pounced on by Kali. The now fully morphed twins were now behind us calling us forth with a mighty growl. We stared at each other and then Isaac went first only to be thrown to the ground, Scott went next and they threw him into a wall.
While the joined twins back was turned, I ran at them and pounced, wrapping my legs around the beast's head and twisting my body accordingly to make them come down with me, locked in my chokehold. The second he hit the floor, I released my hold and managed to somehow gracefully flip backwards away from their claws reaching out for me. These past nine years of training really paid off if I took something their size down.
I checked on the others and found Derek holding his own against Kali but Cora let out a screech when Ennis clawed at her. Deucalion only watched, or listened, amused and smirking and I could have sworn he was really looking at me but that couldn't be possible.
The twins got back up and Isaac took his turn again but Scott jumped in so I ran to help Boyd with Ennis. I heard Scott shriek in pain but had to keep going when Boyd was dropped to the ground. I ran straight at Ennis and surprised him by dropping to the ground and kicking his feet from under him.
Kali surprised me by lifting me up by my neck and taking creative justice by clawing at my abdomen. My shriek belted out with force in silence since I was the last to be stopped by the Alphas. Being held in the air and struggling it seemed to have all paused until Deucalion spoke.
"Kill him." He ordered Derek. He wanted him to start with Boyd. "The others can go. You're beaten, do it Derek. Take the first step." He goaded. Derek looked to me, into my eyes and I shook my head, signally him not to do it. Pack is family and family means everything.
"Don't do it Derek." I managed to say, barely above a whisper.
"Are we serious with this kid, look at him?" Kali began shouting. "He's an Alpha to what? A couple of useless teenagers?" She quipped.
"Some have more promise than others." Deucalion announced, looking at Scott and what really shocked us all was when he turned to me as well.
"Let him rise to the occasion then, what'll it be Derek? Pack or family?" She tried. Gripping onto my hair and making me screech while she clamped her foot down on Cora's neck.
I stared him in the eyes and shook my head, "Pack is family, Derek, and family is everything." I recited, he knew all too well about our old saying, I know he wouldn't kill Boyd. Kali's grip tightened and she stuck her claws in my neck, not enough to kill but enough to hurt like hell.
"You know I could kill you, right little girl?" She threatened and I looked right back at her, no ounce of fear in me and I knew she knew that too by her puzzled expression that she quickly changed back into a menacing façade.
"Go ahead!" I challenged, panting through the pain. "I've always wanted to… go out in style." She was silent and Derek was still hesitant until a flaming arrow came flying and landing on the twin's morphed body, splitting them into their two separate bodies. Arrow after arrow, blinding the Alphas at first while I covered my eyes escaping Kali's hold and dragging Cora along somehow. We gained the upper hand.
Cora and Derek took Boyd away, he tried bringing me along but I stood my ground. Scott and Ennis ran at each other and collided, Scott literally pushing him back, close enough to me that I stabbed my claws into his back. I released and elbowed Ennis in the chest making him collapse to the ground, gasping for air. I knew my eyes had changed into their yellow shade but something seemed off, and my growl was more primal and strong in that moment and Ennis noticed it.
My moment of waiting allowed him to grab my foot and drop me, he got up and Derek took him on before he could lay another finger on me. They faced off, somehow making it to the ledge. I hit my head when I fell, jostling my senses as I tried to get to them but failed miserably. Scott was closer though and made it to them, clutching his gut.
Ennis head-butted Derek, throwing him off for a few seconds and there was a struggle, Scott made it to them and clawed at Ennis' leg causing him to lose balance and fall, bringing Derek with him. "DEREK!" I shouted and growled somehow rushing after Scott and then you heard the loud crash. Scott was practically leaning over holding out his hand when I made it to him ready to jump out after Derek but Isaac stopped me. Then he grabbed Scott back as well while I broke down into tears in Isaac's arms.
We were back on the bus, traffic gone. Isaac and I shared a seat and I sat comfortably facing him and my feet laying on his lap. Boyd was in front of us turned towards us while in the back Lydia sat with Stiles and Allison with Scott.
I looked through my contacts going right past Derek and finding who I was looking for, Ethan. I had not used his number beforehand but I did steal it from Danny's phone one day in class. Probably not the best way to make friends, by using them but it is safe to say that he is my first gay guy friend.
Now here I sat, staring at the contact info, finding the courage to send out my message. I looked at Isaac with a small smile and he smiled back at me. "See I knew you looked amazing smiling. Right Boyd?" He asked as back up so I could feel better.
"Of course, amazing smile to match her amazing view." He joked while showing off his features which made me laugh a bit.
"Ah and she laughs, we have achieved our goal." Isaac joked back. His smile as huge and bright as ever when he was with me and that gave me the courage to type up my message.
'Hey Ethan, it's me Raven. Please don't ignore me or delete this message, just hear me out.' I sent, I heard his phone notify him of a message and when he looked up at me I stared back with pleading eyes. He looked away and he began typing, hopefully a good message.
'Make it quick!' He demanded and I complied.
'Is Ennis dead?' If I knew how Ennis survived, I could only hope that Derek could possibly pull through as well. I refused to give up even if my efforts were proven useless, I needed hope.
'Yes he is, he died a few hours ago.' He reported and some of my hope dissipated. I tried remembering their wounds, how bad it could be with the added fall, maybe, just maybe Derek was alive. Even if the damn fucking odds were against him, I couldn't, no I wouldn't give up on my theory. I just can't.
'I'm sorry.' I replied, even if I hated Ennis and the rest of the pack, a part of me still felt for them, their loss mainly. After all Pack is family and family is everything.
~Derek's POV~
I was trying to make my way to Jennifer unnoticed as she made it to her car. She was carrying paperwork, her bag, and her coat and she made it to the door opening it and making it inside her car safely. Once she closed the door and got settled I put all my effort into reaching her door and grabbing her attention.
I startled her when my bloody hand slapped down on her door window leaving a hand print and in the moment her shock wore off I collapsed, my strength quickly leaving me. Then everything just went black.