HARSHER THAN THE BARK
A/N: Okay so we are nearing the end of season 2 and I just want to assure you loyal readers that I am actually almost finished writing season 3, yay! So, updates will be coming regularly.
Enjoy!
Only a few days had passed since the incident at the station. Things were mellow-er with Matt gone for good. They had been informed the day after the incident that Matt had drowned, ironically enough. They didn't know if it was by accident or if someone had murdered him. Either way, Scarlett didn't care too much.
Scarlett, Scott and Stiles had all be sent to the guidance counsellor one at a time to talk about how they were feeling about the traumatic experience they went through.
Scarlett went first.
"Scarlett," Miss Morrell, the guidance counsellor, greeted her. "Please, sit down." Miss Morrell gestured to the seat in front of her desk with a pleasant enough smile. Scarlett sighed and sat down. "I'd like to remind you that this is just a conversation about how you feel after what you went through. It's not another police report." Scarlett nodded in comprehension. "So tell me, how are you feeling?"
Scarlett's brows furrowed. "Well one of my schoolmates, who turned out to be a psycho murderer, took me, my brother, my mom and my friends hostage in a police station and then he broke my nose, threatened my mom, held a gun to us and oh yeah, he shot my brother." Scarlett raised a brow. "How would you feel?"
"Everyone has different feelings towards the things that happen to them." Morrell answered calmly, not looking the slightest bit phased. "This isn't about what I would feel. It's about you. Now, go on."
"I'm…" Scarlett struggled for the words because in all honesty, she didn't really know what she was feeling. "I guess I'm a little shaken at what happened." She stopped and then decided to just let whatever she had been bottling up come out. "Seeing Scott being shot in front of me…it was the scariest thing I had ever seen. Never in my life have I been so terrified as I was in that moment. I thought- I thought he was gonna die. And when Matt threated my mom, I wanted nothing more than to kick his ass." A fire had started to burn in Scarlett's eyes. "How dare he threaten my mother? She had nothing to do with anything and he kept saying he was going to kill her and this rage started to build up inside of me and that's when I attacked him. Don't be fooled by the broken nose, I got a few good hits in. Hits that he deserved."
"Do you think he deserved to die?" Morrell asked, taking in everything that Scarlett had said.
She pondered the question for a moment. "I didn't care what happened to him. He could have been locked up for the rest of his life and that would have satisfied me. It's not my fault he died. I don't feel bad about it. Some might say it's karma."
"Could you feel sorry for the nine-year-old Matt that drowned?"
Scarlett knew her answer, of course she felt bad about what happened to Matt when he was younger but that didn't excuse what he had done. "Yes. I'm not heartless. But what happened to him doesn't mean that it was, by any means, okay for him to murder people and take us hostage."
Morrell nodded. "Can you tell me about your relationships with your family and friends after the incident."
Scarlett thought about her mom first. Melissa had been distant. Really distant, actually, since she had seen Scott in werewolf form. It was like she was scared to speak to him and her, to a certain extent. It broke Scarlett's heart. She hated not being close to her mom. "I think my mom's still dealing with the shock of it all so it's not as if our home life is what you would call 'normal' at the moment. Scott is…well, he's dealing. Things between us haven't been very different. I guess we've been spending more time together if anything. And Stiles, I don't know about. He seems to be dealing with everything fine…there's no change in our friendship. Lydia's kinda been in her own bubble, she's still recovering from her own traumatic experience and she's having…boy troubles, like any regular teenage girl. And as for Allison, well, she's been distant since her mother passed away." Scarlett looked down, she felt terrible for Allison. It was one thing to lose a friend, but family? Her mother? That kind of pain must be unbearable. Not to mention it was Derek who bit her, leading her to committing suicide in order to honour the Argent's code.
"Allison, I'm so sorry, I had no idea…I-" Scarlett didn't actually know what to say to her best friend. Derek had only just informed her that he was the reason Allison's mother was dead.
"It's not your fault, Scarlett." Allison told her calmly. "But it is his." Allison's words were laced with venom and hatred and Scarlett couldn't blame her. It was her mother, after all. But, on the other hand, she had tried to kill Derek and he was defending himself.
"Allison, I know what Derek did is unforgiveable but, I love him and he would never intentionally hurt anyone unless his life was seriously in danger." Scarlett defended her boyfriend.
Allison gave her an incredulous look. "My mother is dead and I blame Derek."
Scarlett's eyes were pleading; she knew that Allison would go after Derek. If she was in her shoes, she would hunt whoever, or whatever, hurt Melissa to the ends of the Earth, not stopping until they had suffered the pain she had. But this was Derek, this was the love of her life and she couldn't bear to even think of the possibility of losing him, especially not at the hands of her best friend. And, at the same time, she definitely didn't want Allison to get hurt either which she knew she would if she attacked Derek.
"If you go after him, he'll retaliate, and you could get hurt." Allison didn't say anything. "Promise me you will find it in your heart to spare him and yourself."
"I can't promise that."
"There's no one else you have a close relationship with?" Scarlett snapped backed to the present when Morrell asked a question in a way that made Scarlett feel like she knew about Derek. She couldn't have, obviously, but it felt like she was hinting for Scarlett to explore another relationship that apparently she knew she had.
"Um…no." Scarlett answered.
"Is there anything else you're feeling anxious about?
"Why do you ask?" Scarlett raised a brow as Morrell looked down at Scarlett's fingers and more specifically at the fact she was picking all of her nail polish off, something she had a bad habit of doing when she was nervous, worried or anxious.
"It would be understandable for you to be anxious. You do have the championship game to cheer for tomorrow night."
"I never worry about cheering." Scarlett gave a small laugh. "How could I? It's the only thing that I'm sure of these days. The only thing that I actually know I can do and that I'm good at."
"You say that like you're not good at other things."
"No, it's just…I wish I was better at defending myself. I wish I knew where everything was heading, I wish there wasn't so much uncertainty and I wish I had a plan for the rest of my life that involved me not getting put down because I'm a girl or talked down to because I'm not as 'strong' as everyone else." Scarlett looked down at her hands, feeling her emotions about all the things happening in her life pushing their way to the surface.
Miss Morrell nodded, understanding what Scarlett was trying to tell her. "Scarlett, the only way anyone is going to put you down or stand in your way is if you let them. You are in control of your own life and you can make things happen the way you want them to. And whenever you feel like nothing is going the way it should be, I want you to remember a quote by Marilyn Monroe." Scarlett raised a brow, interested to know the quote Miss Morrell had in mind. "Give a girl the right pair of shoes and she can conquer the world."
Funnily enough that was one of Scarlett's favourite quotes but she never realised how much it could relate and help her. It was inspiring. And Scarlett loved shoes.
"Marilyn was right." Scarlett finally said, with a new kind of fire. A kind of determination. Like she wouldn't let anyone hold her back from that day on. "I'm sick and tired of sitting in the back and not doing anything that's making a difference."
"So make the difference, Scarlett. Become your own hero."
Scarlett walked into the house, ready to chill out and drink some much needed tea. School had been a drag. People kept staring at her, wondering what she had been through. It irritated her but she didn't let the rude stares get to her. She kept her head held high as always.
"Mom?" Scarlett shouted into the house. There was no answer. "Scott?" Still no answer. She shrugged, guessing her mom was already off to work and Scott was…God knows where.
She made her way up the stairs and walked towards her room only to stop when she heard some sort of hiss. She froze, her blood running cold. She hoped and prayed it wasn't what she thought it was.
The noise had come from Scott's room so she turned slowly, taking a breath and walking, very quietly, towards his room. She heard the hiss again and what sounded like a struggle. She grabbed the first thing she set eyes on that could defend her. Funnily enough it was their baseball bat. She knew it wouldn't do much good at all if the kanima really was in there but at least it was something.
She crept closer to the door, stopped to calm herself and then slowly looked in. She saw Gerard first who had obviously heard her as he was already gesturing to the kanima, who at the time had his tail wrapped tightly around her mother's neck, strangling her. The rage of seeing her mom in trouble again built up inside Scarlett. As the kanima came towards her she quickly whacked the bat against the wall, shattering the wood so that it was left ragged and pointy. Without a second thought she stabbed it into the kanima. It screeched and swung for her but she ducked. Unfortunately for Scarlett, her quick reflexes were no match for the kanima's. He was behind her in seconds, jumping on her and swiping the back of her neck so that she was paralyzed, yet again, and she fell with her face squished against the floor.
"You were quick to react, Scarlett. Those lessons with my granddaughter must be teaching you well." Gerard said knowingly as he crouched down beside her. "You know it wouldn't be completely unreasonable to consider becoming a hunter…" Scarlett glared at him and he gave a tight smile. "You know yourself it's the best way to protect the ones you love."
"If you let him hurt my mom, I will kill you myself." Scarlett said fiercely making Gerard laugh and go to sit in Scott's chair while the kanima crawled up to the corner of the two walls, still holding Melissa's neck with his tail.
Scarlett hadn't realised that Scott's shower had been on until it turned off. The kanima hissed again and that must've been what lured Scott out of the bathroom, clad in nothing but a towel around his waist. His eyes widened at the sight he saw. His mother being strangled and his sister, face down on the floor, paralyzed.
"As you can see, Scott, there's been some interesting developments." Gerard said before his voice turned deadly. "I think we should catch up." Scott said nothing but his claws were immediately out by his side, making Gerard laugh. "Come on Scott, let's be realistic about who's got the upper hand here."
"Let her go." Scott said, referring to Melissa who was crying and terrified, again.
'I'm afraid I can't do that. But, let her live? Well that's up to you." Gerard told him.
"What do you want?" Scott asked, his voice pleading.
"I want to talk." Gerard answered simply, looking up at Scott. "You haven't been answering your phone."
"Let her go and we can talk about whatever you want."
"I want what I have always wanted." Gerard started. "Derek and his pack." He almost spat the words out, as if he was so revolted by the werewolves. Scarlett sneered from her frozen position on the floor. She hated that she couldn't do anything. Especially when her boyfriend was in danger of being captured and killed by a crazy hunter.
"Go to hell." Scarlett spat. That was the only thing she could do. She couldn't even see Gerard because she couldn't move her head but she couldn't have just stayed quiet.
Gerard laughed creepily. "In time, my dear, in time."
Scarlett scoffed, not impressed with his answer.
"They all went into hiding. How am I supposed to know where they are?" Scott asked, not understanding why Gerard wouldn't listen to him when he said he couldn't help.
Gerard eyes lowered to the paralyzed Scarlett. "I don't think luring Derek out will be too difficult." Scott growled. He didn't like what Gerard was implying. He would never use his sister as bait. "And if you haven't noticed, I now have a fairly effective means of motivating people." The kanima hissed at Scott. "Why do you think I'm able to control him?" Scott looked like he didn't have a clue. "Oh you know the myth, Scott. The kanima is a weapon of vengeance."
The pieces began to fall into place for Scott as he realised what Gerard was saying. "This is about Kate?"
Scarlett's blood boiled at the simple mention of that bitch's name.
"I didn't just come here to bury my daughter I came to avenge her." Gerard admitted with a determined voice. With that, the kanima released its grip on Melissa and she fell to the floor, gasping and holding her neck. Scott rushed to her side.
"Are you okay?" He asked as Gerard and the kanima left without another word.
"Scotty, a little help please." Scarlett said. He went to her side and rolled her over so she could see better. Melissa stared at her children, not sure what to think or feel.
"I don't know what's happening." She let out a dry sob. "I don't know what that thing was or even what you are but whatever he wants, just give it to him."
Scarlett felt bad for her mother. She had no clue what was happening around her and she wasn't taking it as well as Scarlett had. It pained her to see her like that but at the same time, her mom didn't understand that Scott couldn't help Gerard if it meant Derek getting killed or hurt in any way.
"It's not that simple." Scott said, glancing sympathetically at Scarlett.
"Mom, he wants to kill Derek and three innocent teenagers. That's what Gerard wants." Scarlett said, trying to make her mother see.
"I don't know what Derek is but he's clearly dangerous if someone wants him dead, so I want you to stay away from him and if he has to get hurt so that you and everyone else survives…if that's what stops this, then I'm sorry Scarlett but that's the way it has to be." Melissa said, still feeling scared for the safety of herself and her kids. "Give him what he wants." She said again to Scott.
Scott shook his head as Scarlett lay there, speechless at her mother's words. "I don't know if I can."
"No." Scarlett protested. "There's no question about it, Scott. You can't let Derek get hurt. I won't let you. And, I'm sorry too mom but I'm not going to stay away from Derek because I love him and I'll be damned if I give him up to some psycho who wants to see my boyfriend cut in half." Scarlett said, remembering what she had talked about with Miss Morrell, about not letting anyone get in her way and about taking a stand for what she believed in. "Scott, would you please take me to my room."
There was still a couple of hours until Scarlett had to be at the game. She hadn't contacted Derek because of what happened yesterday with Gerard showing up at the house. In fact, she hadn't really seen Derek since what happened at the station. Like Scott had said, he was in hiding with the rest of his pack. They had only spoken a few times on the phone, making her feel more distant from him than ever. But maybe the distance was good. It meant that she couldn't be used to get to Derek because she had no clue where he was but because she had some time to kill, she decided to give going to the old Hale house a go.
She pulled up to the house. It was dark and creepy, like always. She sat in her car for a few minutes before deciding 'what the hell.' She got out of the car and started towards the house, walking up the stairs and then into the house, the heels of her boots clunking against the floorboards.
"You shouldn't be here." Derek said solemnly. His back was turned to her but he had sensed her coming.
Scarlett rolled her eyes. "No. You shouldn't be here. You should've skipped town when you had the chance."
"Run?" He asked, turning around and shaking his head. "That's not who I am. Not anymore."
"You're right. Now you're an idiotic sitting duck for the Argents." Derek said nothing. "They are after you Derek. Gerard wants you cut in half. And he's the one controlling Jackson now." Derek's brows furrowed in confusion. "They scare me, Der." Scarlett admitted.
Derek sighed and closed the space between them, wrapping her in his warm embrace.
"I won't let them touch you." He promised.
"It's not me I'm scared for." Scarlett said, her voice muffled by his chest. "It's you and its Scott and it's my mom…they were in my house. My mom was almost strangled and I was paralyzed and Gerard kept talking about killing you and there was nothing I could do and- "
"He was in your house?" Derek asked, his face showing true concern for Scarlett and hatred for Gerard as he held her by her shoulders so he could look at her. Scarlett nodded. "Did he hurt you?"
"I just told you what happened." Scarlett stressed. "I'm fine but you don't understand. Something is going down tonight and I am terrified for you. Gerard keeps threatening Scott to give you up."
"Don't worry about me, Scarlett. I can handle myself. All I need is for you to be safe."
Scarlett scoffed. "You say that as if I can't handle myself."
Derek shook his head. "I know you can but not as well as Scott or I can protect you."
"That's gonna change." Scarlett promised to herself in a murmur.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." What it really meant was that this summer, Scarlett was going to become all but a hunter. Allison had already promised that her training would intensify along with hers. All Scarlett had to do was survive till then. And then she wouldn't need anyone's protection but her own.
"You've decided." Derek said, making Scarlett's brows furrow. When she saw he was looking past her, she turned to see Erica and Boyd standing there, looking…scared? That was different. They both usually seemed so confident. She guessed they had a good reason to be scared, terrified, actually. After all, the Argents were after them too. "When?"
"Tonight." Erica answered, trying not to look straight at Derek.
"Everyone's gonna be at the game." Boyd continued.
It finally clicked for Scarlett. "You're leaving." She said simply before letting out a small huff. "At least they have some common sense." Derek gave her a small glare and she rolled her eyes.
"It's not like we want to." Erica said sadly.
"What do you want?" Derek asked, his eyes intense.
"It doesn't matter what they want if they end up dead by staying here." Scarlett reasoned to Derek.
Erica nodded. "Scarlett's right. I need to be alive to get my license."
"I told you there would be a price." Derek said, standing strong.
"But you didn't say it would be like this." Boyd countered, making Scarlett thank her lucky stars that she wasn't in their position. This was one of the most prominent reasons why she never ever wanted to become a werewolf. There was always going to be someone hunting you. Living in even more danger than she was living in now would be too much to handle. And making decisions about whether to stay and fight or run and be running for the rest of your life…that's definitely something Scarlett didn't want.
"But I told you how to survive." Derek argued, becoming agitated. He felt betrayed, again. He was being left by his own pack. He had helped them and this is how they repaid him. It wasn't like he blamed them for not wanting to die. That, he could understand. But the fact that they're willing to give up so easily just disappointed him. "You do it as a pack. And you're not a pack without an alpha." Derek turned back to the books he was flipping through before Scarlett arrived. She wondered what he was looking for.
"We know." Boyd replied simply. This made Derek turn around again as he realised what they were saying.
"You want to find a new pack." Now this, this hurt Derek. Just a little bit. It was one thing for them to run but to want to join a completely new pack…that was something else entirely. "How are you even gonna find one?" He questioned incredulously.
Boyd looked back up. "Think we already did."
Derek's face dropped, concern taking over his features as confusion took over Scarlett's.
"There's another pack here?" She asked disbelievingly. Boyd and Erica nodded their heads, still looking ashamed. Scarlett looked up at Derek. "Judging by your look, that's not a good thing, is it?" He gave her another grave look, confirming her theory.
Erica took it upon herself to explain further. "Like, all of a sudden we just heard all this howling. It was unbelievable."
"There must have been a dozen of them." Boyd added in, the hope strong in his eyes.
"Yeah or maybe only two." Derek said realistically, crushing their idea yet again. Boyd and Erica looked confused, as did Scarlett. "Do you know what the Beau Geste effect is?" No one answered for a moment so Derek was about to go on and explain but Scarlett beat him to it, surprising him.
"It's a tactic used by a lot of animals but mostly wolves. When they howl they can change their tones so fast, making their numbers seem larger so that they're howls are more intimidating. You wouldn't be able to tell if it was ten wolves, or two." Scarlett explained, not really remembering how she knew what it was. Derek nodded.
"That doesn't matter." Erica shook her head. "There's another pack out there. There's gotta be." She grabbed Boyd's hand. "We've made up our minds."
"We've lost, Derek. It's over. We're leaving." Boyd said, his voice full of regret.
"No." Derek said plainly. "No, you're running. And once you start, you don't stop. You'll always be running." And with that, the two betas left the house, ready to start a race they would never finish.
Derek turned around, his face and body tense with the stress he was under. Scarlett wished she knew what to do but the only safe place for him was out of Beacon Hills. Not that she actually wanted him to leave, but if it was only for a while and it saved his life, she'd prefer it.
"Der-" Scarlett began but was immediately interrupted by Derek picking up a broken shard of a mirror, turning around and launching it at Peter Hale, who stood behind them.
Peter caught the shard with ease. "I expected a slightly warmer welcome." Despite Scarlett's complete astonishment of seeing Peter, who should have been very dead, standing in front of her, she wasted no time in grabbing the Chinese ring dagger Allison had given to her, that she always kept in her boot and launching it straight at Peter, catching him off guard. The blade landed in his shoulder and made him groan in pain, while Derek looked bewildered at Scarlett and Scarlett herself, stood and glared at Peter, wishing she had more knives to throw. "I guess I should've expected that from you…little miss hunter in training."
Scarlett sneered at Peter and avoided the confused look Derek gave her. He wasn't supposed to find out about her training with Allison and how did Peter even know about that?
"How the hell are you even alive?" She snarled. "Shouldn't you be rotting in a hole somewhere?"
"Well, you see, with the help of your lovely friend, Lydia, I managed to bring myself back." Peter explained, taking the blade and throwing it back at Scarlett. She caught it with grace, surprising Derek again with her quick reflexes. Peter looked impressed but the look quickly disappeared as he turned his attention to Derek, who also glared dangerously at him, leaving Scarlett to wonder just how in the hell Peter was back amongst the living and how long he'd been back and how he knew about what she did in her spare time. "Quite a situation you're in here, Derek. I'm out of commission for a few weeks and suddenly there's lizard people, geriatric psychopaths and you're cooking up werewolves out of every self-esteem deprived teenager in town."
"What do you want?" Derek asked in a low and dangerous voice, disregarding Peter's usual smarmy remarks.
"Well I want to help." Peter said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Scarlett scoffed and rolled her eyes. Peter? Help? Had Hell frozen over? Peter ignored her and began walking towards Derek, who tried to push Scarlett behind him but was slightly shocked when she wouldn't budge and instead held her own ground. "You're my nephew. The only family I have left. You know, there's still a lot that I can teach you. Can we just talk?"
Derek looked at the hand that Peter had placed on his shoulder. "Sure." He said. "Let's talk." Before anyone knew what was happening Peter was thrown across the room and into the staircase, smashing it to bits. "Leave, now. Get to the game." Derek all but ordered Scarlett, taking her aback.
She scoffed. "Like I'm gonna take orders from you. I'm not one of your betas. No fucking way I'm leaving you here with him."
"Go." Derek growled at her, not taking any of her shit. Not tonight. Scarlett shook her head, biting the inside her cheek so that she wouldn't say anything. She walked towards the door without a second glance.
"I hope you don't die, Derek." She said without turning.
"Bye Scarlett." Peter said sarcastically.
"You, on the other hand," She said, turning just her head to look at Peter who looked pathetic. "I don't give a shit what happens to you." With that she left and headed to the game.
The teams were just warming up when Scarlett arrived at the pitch. She had quickly changed into her cheer uniform in the girl's locker room and now she was making her way towards her brother and Stiles.
"Why are you sitting on the bench?" She asked Scott with furrowed brows.
He looked up at her and shrugged. "Coach said that I can't play because I'm academically ineligible."
Scarlett scoffed. "Seriously?" He nodded. "But the team can't play without a captain."
Scott's look turned grave as he stared at someone on the pitch. "They have one." Scarlett's eyes widened as she followed Scott's line of sight to see Jackson wearing a deadly look and staring right at them.
"What are we gonna do?" Scarlett asked in a panic. She already knew something bad was going to happen tonight but she didn't know what it was until then. Jackson wasn't there for no reason. He wasn't just there to play the game. Gerard had brought him out to use him for something. "You have to play, Scott. You have to stop him from hurting anyone."
Scott shook his head. "There's nothing I can do, Scar. I'm benched for the whole game."
"Female McCall!" She turned and saw Coach Finstock coming towards her. "Get over there and start cheering. God knows we're gonna need the support." He said the last bit to himself more than to her. She shook her head and looked at Scott again.
"Do something." She whispered before heading over to the squad. Scarlett shivered, but not just from the brisk air but from the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
"Maybe if you had gotten here sooner and took part in the warm-up, you wouldn't be cold." Brooke said with a bitchy smirk.
"Maybe if you minded your own business, people wouldn't hate you so much." Scarlett replied in the same fake, girly, tone, making Brooke scoff and round up the other cheerleaders.
"Alright, our team needs support and we're going to give it to them. No slacking!" Brooke shouted just as the whistle blew to start the game.
"My son is on the field!" Scarlett turned towards the bleachers to see Sheriff Stilinski standing and shouting with a big smile. She looked out to the field and saw Stiles. A huge smile spread across her face, despite everything. This was his first time actually playing.
"Go Stiles!" Scarlett yelled, waving her pompoms to show her support. He smiled but looked nervous.
The game got off to a not so great start for the Beacon team. Stiles didn't have a clue what he was doing and the other team kept scoring. Scarlett looked over at the bleachers again. Lydia had showed up next to her mother. Great. Just another person she cared about in potential danger just for coming out to support the team. She looked over at Scott who seemed even more worried than usual. Her eyes then landed on Gerard who stood, watching the game intensely and looking, well, evil. And then, her attention turned to Isaac, who she hadn't seen for quite some time. She wondered why he was there but decided it wasn't a big concern of hers and he was talking to Scott.
Scarlett continued cheering for the team but her guard was always up, always ready for things to take a turn for the worst at any moment. She watched as Isaac got out on the field but then started ramming into his own team members. Scarlett was confused at first but when she saw that the numbers on the bench kept dwindling, she realised that it must have been some kind of play to get Scott on the field. Not the worst idea in the world.
However, as soon as Scott was on the field, Isaac was taken out by Jackson. He got knocked on the ground and was taken away by the medics on hand. She kept a close eye on everyone. On Isaac, who was being taken to the locker rooms. On Gerard who was creeping around. On Scott who was trying to play the game and on Jackson, who definitely wasn't in control of himself.
Back at the Hale house, Derek had finished beating lumps out of Peter and had taken to sitting on the stairs, feeling like a failure.
"You tried to build your pack." Peter began. "You tried to prepare for the worst but you weren't ready and because of it, Gerard is winning. He's taking his time, he's toying with Scott and he's going after your wolves."
"How about you tell me something I don't know." Derek said angrily, looking up at Peter.
"Oh I'm going to. And what I'm going to tell you is going to make you see why you should trust me. Why you need to trust me." Peter said quietly but surely. "Because I'm going to tell you how to stop Jackson."
Derek's head snapped up at that and he gave Peter and incredulous look. "You mean, how to kill him." He assumed.
"Actually," Peter gave a miniscule smirk. "How to save him."
The whistle blew again and Scarlett's attention was turned to Scott who was heading towards the locker rooms for reasons she didn't know. Jackson was still on the field, she noticed, but Gerard…he wasn't there anymore. Scarlett panicked and ran after Scott, leaving the squad. Something bad was happening and she wasn't letting her brother go into it alone.
"Scarlett what the hell are you doing?" Scott asked when she had caught up to him. They were just outside of the boys' locker room.
"Trust me, Scott, I can help. I can fight." She told him.
"What do you mean? You've never fought anyone in your entire life."
"You'd be surprised just how many skills you can acquire in a month or so." She told him slyly.
"What are you talking about?" He asked, not really having time for this.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm gonna help you take down whoever's in there."
Scott nodded, deciding to trust his sister. "There's two hunters and Gerard. You go for one, I'll go for one but you don't go near Gerard." Scarlett nodded in comprehension.
They crept into the locker rooms together, coming up behind Gerard and the hunters who, more or less, had Isaac cornered. Gerard was about to use the sword he had to chop Isaac in half when he caught sight of the twins in the mirror. Scarlett took that as her opportunity to bash the fire extinguisher she had taken off the wall against one of the hunter's heads, rendering him almost unconscious, which gave her the chance to swing her leg up to kick him in the head again, knocking him into the lockers before throwing a swift right hook to his face, landing him on the floor. Once he was down she, dragged him away from Isaac, who gave her a grateful, and surprised, look. In the meantime, Scott had taken care of the other hunter, throwing him against the lockers and knocking him unconscious.
Scott showed up behind Scarlett and Isaac, who was leaning on Scarlett for support as he hadn't regained complete feeling yet after being swiped by Jackson's claws. "Where'd he go? Where's Gerard?" Scott asked. In all Scarlett's joy of actually helping, she had completely missed Gerard sneaking away.
Now that Peter had Derek's attention, he decided to explain his case further. "There's a myth…that you can cure a werewolf just by calling out it's Christian name."
"It's just a myth." Derek said, agitated.
"Sometimes, myths and legends bury into truth." Peter countered. "Our names, they're a symbol of who we are but the kanima has no name, no identity. That's why it doesn't seek a pack."
"It seeks a master." Derek filled in.
"And who else grows up with no pack? With no identity?"
"An orphan."
"Like Jackson. And right now his identity is disappearing beneath a reptilian skin and you need to bring him back."
"How?" Derek asked in a shout. He had no idea where Peter was going with this and he was getting pissed off.
"Through his heart!" Peter shouted back. "How else?"
"Well in case you haven't noticed, Jackson doesn't have much of a heart to begin with." Derek answered obviously.
"And that's exactly what I thought about you. Until I saw you with her. With Scarlett. I've seen the way you look at her, the way you'll do anything for her and I've seen the way she brings you back from the edge. She anchors you, Derek. She anchors you through your heart because you're in love with her."
"Scarlett doesn't have anything to do with this." Derek said, annoyed that Peter was talking about her.
"She has everything to do with it! You both do. You two are a prime example of how this plan is going to work." Peter tried to reason with him. "And as for Jackson not having a heart, that's not true. He would never admit it but there is one, particular young lady with whom he shared a real bond. One person who can reach him, who can save him."
"Lydia." Derek answered the unasked question. "She can't get hurt. I won't let her."
"She's not going to get hurt so you can forget worrying about keeping everyone Scarlett loves safe." Peter explained. "Your best ally has always been anger, Derek, but what you lack most is heart. That's why you latched on to Scarlett so quickly when she waltzed into your life, why you fell for her and why you know that you need her. And Scott, to a certain extent. And even someone as burned and dead on the inside, like me, knows not to underestimate the simple yet undeniable power of human love. And I think that you've experienced it enough with Scarlett to know you can't deny it either."
Scott ran through the crowd, pushing past people while Scarlett followed behind slower, supporting Isaac's weight. She knew it wasn't the right time for any type of conversation as someone was most likely about to get hurt but the question popped into her head so quickly and she needed to know the answer.
"Why didn't you leave with Erica and Boyd?" Scarlett shouted over the loud cheering of the crowd.
Isaac looked at her for a moment before replying. "Because I know where my place is. Helping you and Scott."
Scarlett gave a small smile, satisfied with his answer. They finally arrived at the pitch and were surprised to see that Beacon Hills and won the game because of…Stiles?
Everyone clapped and whooped and cheered for the team as Scarlett and Isaac stood next to Scott.
"Nothing happened." He said, looking around and sounding confused. "Nothing."
"That's a good thing, Scotty. Why do you look so worried?" Scarlett asked just as all the flood lights switched off and everyone was plunged into total darkness. She clung tightly to Isaac and to Scott and then someone let out a bloodcurdling scream.
The lights came back on and everyone was in a panic, running, falling over people trying to get away from the field.
"Scott! Scarlett!" They all turned to see Melissa running towards them.
"Are you okay?" Scott asked.
"Yeah I'm fine but somebody is hurt, somebody is down on the field." Melissa said, pointing over to where the team was crowding around someone.
The four of them made their way to the crowd, only to see that it was Jackson that was down, causing confusion for all of them.
"Jackson! What's happening?! Jackson!" Scarlett saw Lydia running towards them and she quickly passed Isaac off to Scott as she stopped Lydia from going any further.
"Lyds, Lydia!" Scarlett shouted, holding her back as she cried and panicked. "Calm down, just calm down." Lydia nodded without saying anything and they both made their way into the circle.
Melissa was at Jackson's side, listening to his heart. "He's not breathing." She said before pulling up his jersey to reveal wounds that were gushing with blood.
"There's blood. There's blood." Lydia sobbed, clinging to Scarlett.
"Scarlett, get down here. Now!" Melissa shouted. Scarlett let go of Lydia and dropped to her knees. "Lift his head." She did as instructed and lifted Jackson's head. As Melissa performed CPR to try and save Jackson, Sheriff Stilinski burst through the crowd.
"Where's Stiles? Where's my son?" He asked, turning in circles trying to find Stiles who had been absent since the commotion started. "Has anyone seen my son? Where's Stiles?" He shouted. "Where's the hell is my son?!"