Chapter Twenty Three - I'll Be Everywhere

~ A Teen Wolf fanfiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn.~

Avery gasped in pain as she lunged up from the shower floor in the upstairs bathroom at her mom's house.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she shivered shut the ice cold water stream off. Looking down she stepped on a chunk of ice that had formed and broke it apart.

Grabbing onto her head she let out a pained noise as she commanded herself to focus, mistletoe leaves were scattered on the tile floor around her.

It was less than an hour before that she'd managed to get into Deaton's head the same way she'd saw through her mom's eyes. And she knew what was happening now, they were going to put Teagan, Scott and Stiles into an ice bath until they were essentially dead; becoming a surrogate sacrifice for their parents.

Since then she'd been trying to lower her body temperature enough to send herself into the same state of subconscious that Teagan would be put into. If she was able to do that, then she could find her best friend and help her.

A side effect of seeing through someone else's eyes, was that she was also unlocking old memories, ones that she'd buried because they were too traumatic or memories she'd simply forgotten.

Normally it would have been an unwelcomed revelation, but she was thankful since of the memories could lead Teagan right where she needed to go –with a little guidance from her best friend.

Sitting down on the shower floor she breathed heavily, trying to psyche herself up enough to willingly freeze herself to near death.

Reaching forward she turned on the water and tripped the switch to turn on the shower head and she laid back down, closing her eyes and drawing energy off the water to freeze it and lower her body temperature.

Her body twitched and jerked involuntarily from the agonizing frigid water and she could feel the droplets on her face, starting to freeze to her flesh.

But she didn't get up this time or shy away from the pain, she embraced and it pushed harder than she thought she could. Forcing her body temperature down ever farther.

Weakly her eyes fluttered open and she could see it wasn't water falling on her anymore, it was snow flakes. The room was halted in a deafening silence as she watched a single flake sway through the air, before landing on her cheek, only she was so cold she couldn't even feel it on her skin. Her breathing slowed to a stop, and her eyes fluttered close.

~()~

With a loud gasp Teagan forced herself up out of the water, sputtering for air as she looked around to see Scott and Stiles sitting up as well.

Almost in unison the three of them climbed out of their metal tubs, not able to get away from the cold water fast enough.

It wasn't until she was standing with both feet on the floor she noticed they weren't in the vet office anymore. They were in a very well lit, large white room, the light reflecting and bouncing off the polished floor made it hard for her to even see.

"Are you alright?" Scott was the first to break the silence as he looked between where his friends were standing.

Teagan crossed her arms over her chest and nodded as she shivered, wondering if she'd ever truly know the comforting feeling of warmth again.

When Stiles didn't answer they looked to see what he was staring at; a large tree stump across the room. Upon closer inspection they saw it appeared to have sprouted right out of the floor.

Slowly, and sticking together they made their way over to it. After raising his sleeve to look at his tattoo, he leaned forward gently placing his hand on the nemeton it before disappearing in front of their eyes.

"Well… you ready?" Stiles asked.

But Teagan was looking around the room, she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from but there was a familiar energy in the air, a feeling that provided comfort even in the cold that seemed to be sinking into her very being.

"You go on." She urged as she took a few steps back.

Trying to not appear as nervous as he was really feeling Stiles said, "Looking around, it's a little too late to turn back. We have to finish our journeys."

Nodding she rubbed her frozen, dripping wet arms and said, "I just… I can't explain it, but I feel like I cant go yet."

When he gave her a disapproving look she assured him, "I'll be fine, Stiles. Just go on and find Scott, I'll catch up."

After warning her to be careful, he placed his hand on the tree stump and left Teagan alone in the room.

Her breathing was labored and her teeth chattered as she spun in a slow circle trying to figure out what was holding her back from following her friends.

She was just about to ignore the feeling and go on but when she stepped closer to the nemeton, a white fog started to pour from the cracked wood. Everything about the situation should have been terrifying, but she remained calm, her eyes fixated as the fog started to swirl and mix with itself, blowing a freezing cold air through the room, until everything went silent.

Teagan blinked her eyes a few times before she was able to refocus her vision on the nemeton.

Gasping she cried out, "Avery!"

As she now saw her best friend standing in the center of the large tree trunk.

Avery rubbed her hands together and tried to warm up as she stepped off the tree and onto the floor.

She hadn't even had the time to react as Teagan wrapped her in a tight embrace, her body shaking from her sobs as she gripped onto her.

"Oh T…" Avery breathed as she clutched onto her best friend and closed her eyes in appreciation of seeing her, even if it would be for the last time.

Stepping back Teagan's eyes searched her friends' ghostly pale face and blue tinted lips. She'd just come out of an ice bath, but somehow Avery looked colder.

Reaching a hand forward she picked up a lock of her hair and felt how cold and stiff it was, "Is this… snow?" Teagan asked as she pulled her hand away and looked at the small melting crystals on her trembling fingers.

Avery ran a hand through her hair and didn't respond.

"How are you even here?" She continued to ask, but her friend cut her off.

"We don't have much time… come on."

Teagan looked as Avery held out a hand, which she took before both girls slowly placed their hands on the nemeton.

Almost instantly they were both in the dark, dense woods.

Her dark brown eyes traveled up to the sky as she saw a full moon above them, but somehow it just wasn't bright enough.

"How did we get here…" Teagan gasped, starting to feel even more panicked.

But before her best friend could respond, a low growl that seemed to echo through the trees around them.

Her still wet hair, stung her face upon impact as she flipped her head back and forth trying to see what was happening, but then her gaze stopped on a pair of glowing blue eyes that disappeared as quickly as they appeared in the tree line behind Avery.

Holding onto her throat, Teagan gasped and fell to the ground choking on the air that her lungs so desperately needed, but couldn't absorb.

"Teagan! Teagan! Listen to me!" Avery pleaded as she leaned down in front of her, and made her friend face her.

"It's not real… it's just memories, they can't hurt you!" She yelled, trying to break through Teagan's oncoming panic attack.

"Memories?" Teagan asked, so caught off guard that for the moment she was able to focus on something else besides the growing fear of dread.

"Yeah, just memories." Avery repeated as she nodded to the side where Teagan saw the Hale house, restored to its glory, before being gutted from the fire.

"I don't remember this…" She admitted as Avery helped her back to her feet.

Avery stared the house and said, "I didn't either… I think it was so traumatic, and we'd both gotten in so much trouble for leaving the car we blocked it out or something."

Teagan shook her head back and forth, still not able to understand what was happening.

Hearing another growl, she jumped and her hands went to her hair, roughly pulling on the roots as she tried to keep herself under control.

"Focus, Teagan! I don't have much time and I'm trying to help you find your dad!" Avery's words came out a bit harsher than she'd meant for them too. But it was the truth, it was taking an incredible amount of energy to keep her own body temperature low enough to stay there.

"I don't even know where or what I'm looking for!" Teagan shouted, looking to the house as the front door opened and a young man walked out, checked his surroundings then sniffed the air before running off into the tree line.

"Peter?" Teagan gasped as she realized who'd she'd just seen leave the house.

"I can help you, okay. I just need you to stay with me, Teagan… you have to remember, okay?" Avery pleaded, holding onto her friends cold cheeks with her shaking hands.

Tears ran from her eyes and she nodded, forcing herself to take a deep breath and focus on what Avery was telling her.

"You have to remember this, we 9 years old… and my mom was taking us to see a movie before we even got to buy the tickets, we had to leave… do you remember why?"

Letting out another deep breath Teagan closed her eyes slowly nodding, "Your mom got a phone call…"

Smiling and letting out a relieved laugh Avery pushed, "Who called her?"

"I –I don't know." She stuttered out, keeping her eyes pinned.

"Who called her?" Avery yelled louder.

Her brown eyes opened as she turned her face out of her friends hands and looked towards the large house, with a light on in almost every single room.

"Talia Hale…" She whispered in response.

~(Flashback)~

"Avery!" Aleine scolded when there was another thud against the back of her driver's seat.

Seeing her mom was watching her in the rearview mirror she stared back, her gaze unwavering showing exactly how unhappy she was with her mother.

Sighing she turned off the road and onto the worn dirt path driveway leading deep into the woods as she looked in the backseat to her 9 year old daughter.

"I'm sorry we didn't get to go see the movie tonight, how about we go see it tomorrow?" She offered, trying to smooth over the tension building in the car.

"No."

"Avery…"

"I don't want to see it without Teagan." Avery said, as she looked over to where her best friend was seat belted into the seat beside her.

Teagan's big brown eyes lit up with hope that she may get to stay another night with her best friend.

"If I call Lisa and get Teagan for another night, will you stop it with the attitude?" She asked, her voice a little gruff.

Not only did she have a werewolf emergency to respond too, her daughter had angrily been kicking the back of her driver's seat since they left the parking lot of the theatre.

"Can we get ice cream?" Avery pushed her luck to see just how much her mom would cave to her. She'd always been the type to negotiate to try and get as much as she could.

Pulling to a stop outside of the large house, she shut her car off and looked back at both 9 year olds as she smiled.

What a pair they were, Teagan's dark hair and tan skin were a complete contrast to her daughters pale skin and light blonde hair.

Avery's blonde hair hung a little past her shoulders, wavy and unkempt it framed her small face only adding more definition to her intense eyes. Even for a small child it was obvious that her thoughts were far older than she was.

"I don't know… Teagan what do you think? Ice cream?" She joked, already knowing the young girls answer.

Excitedly Teagan nodded her head, her dark brown eyes seemed too big for her face. Aleine held back a laugh when the girl's hair started to fall from the small ponytail poking straight up from the top of her head. Thank god her hair was growing out from the bowl haircut that her dad, Paul had gotten on her. But it was still at an awkward length, and couldn't be pulled up correctly.

She looked between them, thinking both girls were a little small for their age, but it didn't really come as a surprise considering she and her best friend, Lisa were the same way growing up. Of course their daughters had taken after them.

"Okay. Ice cream it is." She agreed, unable to break their hearts with a no.

Both girls clapped and bounced up and down in their seats excitedly.

Looking out of the front of the car she saw the door open and Talia Hale walk outside, watching the car as she waited for her good friend and emissary to come inside.

"Alright, girls. What are the rules?"

"Lock the doors." Avery quickly spoke up before Teagan could. She was always trying to be the center of attention.

"And…"

"Call you if we need you." Teagan said as she looked down to where a clunky cellphone was poking out of the corner of Avery's purse.

"And most importantly?"

"Stay in the car." Teagan smiled at getting to answer another question when Avery held her silence.

After repeating the most important rule to them again, she locked the doors and got out of the car where she was quickly rushed inside of the house by Talia.

"A, can I look at your stickers?" Teagan questioned as she unfastened her seat belt and tucked her legs up underneath her.

Avery nodded, but kept looking out of the windows, like she were searching for someone.

After not being allowed to play a butterfly in the school play, Avery's mom had bought her a thick book of butterfly stickers. Her dark brown eyes widened as she ran her fingers over the shiny surface. "You have so many…" A tinge of jealousy was present in her voice as she spoke. Her parents didn't have much money and she rarely got frivolous things such as a huge sticker book.

Unfastening her own seatbelt Avery said, "You can have one, T."

"Any of them?" she asked, her fingers fumbling over the corners of the pages as she tried to get back to the first page.

"Mhmm." Avery hummed then looked over and said, "Except for that one."

To Teagan's disappointment Avery's finger landed smack dab in the middle of the largest sticker in the book, a purple and blue butterfly with elegant and sprawling wings.

Seeing her friends disappointed look, Avery frowned. She didn't like to see Teagan upset, but it was her sticker book and she had the right to have the biggest sticker in it.

"You can pick 2… just not that one." She reasoned.

Teagan's lips poked out in a pouty expression as she flipped through the book, but none of the other stickers were as pretty as the one she'd had her heart set on from the moment she saw it.

Finally settling for two small ones, one pink and one orange. She poked the stickers on the back of her hand and closed the book, shoving it into the purse Avery had been carrying for a few weeks because she wanted to be like her mom.

They talked a little while longer and Avery showed off the dollar bills and shiny change her dad had given her to carry around in her little wallet. But before long it had gotten so dark in the car Avery had to quit her impromptu show and tell.

"I think we should call your mom." Teagan finally spoke, as she scooted a little closer to the middle of the car seat.

But Avery wasn't paying attention, something had caught her attention from the outside of the car.

Leaning over to her own window, Teagan looked up to the full moon in the sky, silently wishing that it was just a little brighter. Then the inside of the car would be almost as bright as her pink star nightlight, that her mom promised would chase away all the monsters Avery swore was under her best friends bed.

Avery let out a gasp and put both hands and her face against her window staring intently off into the woods surrounding the house.

"A…" Teagan's breath was labored from her growing fear.

Soon Avery was scrambling to open her door, but Teagan quickly stopped her asking what she was doing.

"Didn't you see it?" Avery questioned, pushing her messy blond hair from her face.

"See what?" Teagan gasped her hands clutching onto the pink raincoat that Avery refused to take off even in the summer weather.

"So pretty!" Avery exclaimed, smiling widely.

When Teagan remained silent Avery continued, "The glowing blue eyes."

Crossing her arms over her chest Teagan gave her an unconvinced look. She used to believe everything Avery told her, until her blonde friend had convinced her that the boogeyman was in her closet. Since then both her parents had been trying to get her to not whole heartedly believe everything Avery said.

Looking past her friend, Teagan stared in shock as he'd seen just a brief flash of a vibrant, glowing blue color before a loud growl boomed through the immediate area.

"A!" Teagan shouted, clutching onto her friends arms, fearful from the sound.

Avery's formally composed mood was starting to change to one of panic. It started to occur to her that maybe the blue eyes weren't as pretty as she'd originally thought.

It wasn't much later that Teagan was practically in Avery's lap as both girls huddled together, both of them terrified from the growling, snarling sounds that had stopped a few moments ago.

Finally Avery's face lit up as she saw what she'd been so desperately looking for in the dark of night; Derek Hale, being led out of the woods near where she'd seen the blue eyes, by another guy with a thinner frame and slightly longer dark hair.

Teagan also saw what had her friend so sidetracked from the fear they'd felt earlier.

Derek was in his high school basketball uniform, and stumbling slightly as the other male led him up to the house.

"Why are you always staring at Derek?" Teagan asked. It hadn't been to long before that Avery had learned the teenagers name, and for some reason wouldn't stop talking about him.

"I don't know." Avery answered, then smiled with a small shrug, "He's cute."

Calming down herself, she questioned, "Cuter than the purple and blue butterfly sticker?"

Avery snapped her gaze back to her and said, "They are my stickers, and I want that big sticker. It's the best one!" Looking back to the house she frowned when she saw Derek was gone.

Soon she realized the one who had been leading the teenager inside was now standing off to the side of the large house, his face half hidden and half illuminated in shadow standing perfectly still, staring right at the car.

"Avery… who is that?"

Shaking her head Avery whispered, "Not Derek…"

As they took their eyes off of him they missed Peter dart into the nearby woods.

He could hear both of their hearts racing from inside of the car, obviously they were terrified.

With a smug smirk he thought how they should be, he was a werewolf and they were just kids; who, he was very aware, shouldn't be there especially during a full moon.

In all honesty, he'd saved their lives. If he hadn't caught up with his nephew, he might have torn the door off of the car, before shredding their small bodies to ribbons.

Looking back at his family's house he rolled his eyes at the idea of his sister Talia, always calling on Aleine for any seemingly miniscule problem they ran across. Of course she'd tell him to mind his own business that he wasn't an alpha and pack matters such as when to call on a trusted friend wasn't for him to decide.

Instead he was sent off to wrangle Derek back home after he'd snuck out, foolishly thinking he could control his shifting to be able to play basketball.

Hearing the sounds of children giggling he turned his attention back to the car, thinking he might as well have a little fun.

As fast as he could, he raced forward doing a full lap around the car until the girls weren't laughing anymore. But they weren't giving off the sharp scent of fear either. No, they were trying to figure out what they'd seen if they'd seen anything at all.

Racing back to the car, he knelt down out of sight before running his clawed hand along the door, the metal screeched and sparked as the dark blue paint chipped and littered the earth.

He held back a laugh when the girls inside of the car screamed, then escaped out the other side, before disappearing into the woods.

Standing up, he listened until their frantic footsteps were out of range and the fear in the air easily dissipated in the wind before he walked over to shut the open door then paused for a moment to wipe the blue paint specs on his jeans, and head towards the house.

Maybe it was cruel to chase them off into the dense woods after dark, but he did do them a favor by removing Derek from the woods.

As he started to open the door and go inside he looked back to the car, for some reason all he could think of was when he'd watched a small, pale blue butterfly tangled in a spiders web a few weeks prior trying desperately to free itself to no avail.

The tiny fragile creature had struggled to get free, but once it had been caught in the web there was never truly any hope of survival.

Fragile beings had no place in a werewolf's world, any human he'd seen get pulled in didn't last long. A painful lesson Derek had learned months prior when his girlfriend hadn't survived the bite from an alpha.

Just like the butterfly, unable to escape the spider's clutches, he was sure the girls fate was just as grim. After all, any fragile being in a wolfs world was doomed.

~()~

The two girls trekked over the uneven earth and raised tree roots as they were now trying to find their way back to the house. But they'd only managed to end up deeper in the woods and more lost than before.

"Where are we going?" Teagan asked, her legs lazily moving as she almost tripped for the hundredth time.

"I saw it when my mom and I were walking last week. We'll be safe there." She promised her as she used the pink Barbie pop up lantern from her purse that Teagan was now dragging behind them on the ground to light her way.

By the time they'd stopped running from whatever was scaring them, there were only a few items left in the formerly full bag. The phone had been lost somewhere along the way.

Finally Avery felt what she was looking for before her eyes spotted it, she took off running leaving Teagan calling after her and stumbling in the dark.

What finally brought the adventurous young blonde to a stop was a pained cry from her best friend.

"T!" She yelled as she turned and saw the brunette was sitting on the ground, holding onto her bloody knee and sobbing loudly.

Guilt immediately flashed over Avery's face from taking the light and leaving her.

"Are you okay?" Avery questioned, kneeling down beside her.

Teagan's tears weren't just from the pain and sight of blood, but from being tired and hungry, scared of wandering around in the dark woods and even more terrified of what had made them run in the first place.

All Avery was able to make out from her friends pained sobs was something about wanting her mom and needing a Band-Aid.

Seeing the sticker book poking out of the bag she opened it and pulled out the sticker her friend had wanted so bad but she'd selfishly been keeping it for herself.

She gently pressed the sticky side to the back of Teagan's bare hand, her tears almost immediately stopped.

Her big doe eyes were red rimmed and her pouty lips shaking from her quivering chin as she wiped her tears, and stared up at Avery with a look that broke her heart.

"It's okay." She said as she helped her friend stand up and limp over to the large tree stump.

"See? I found it!" Avery proudly exclaimed.

But all Teagan saw was a rotting stump, nothing special and nothing that would make her feel any better.

Reaching forward Avery placed her hand on the cold wood and smiled at the tiny buzzing feeling in her fingertips.

"I just want to go home."

Avery frowned and said, "Put your hand here."

Teagan did as she was told, but didn't feel anything other than the cold, rough surface. A new wave of tears started to hit as she watched Avery climb up on it with her Barbie lantern.

"Come on, T!"

Gingerly maneuvering around the open wound on her sore leg, Teagan joined her friend atop the stump, but still couldn't understand why Avery had been so excited to show her this.

She'd seen plenty of tree stumps before playing in the woods with her. None quite this big, but Teagan didn't understand what would make her friend so happy to have found it.

"Here." Avery said as she pulled off her favorite rain coat and helped Teagan pull it on.

"You're not cold?" She questioned, appreciating the warmth and shelter from the cool night air, and even happier to finally be wearing the coat she'd been asking to try on since the day Avery showed it off.

But being her new favorite thing, Avery wouldn't even let Teagan wear it.

Her teeth chattered a little and she looked down to the goose bumps that covered her arms and bare legs from her shorts as she said, "No, I'm not cold."

Accepting the answer, Teagan wrapped the coat around herself and admired the sticker on her hand in the dim lighting from the Barbie brand lantern.

"Do you think the boogeyman will come back?" Teagan whispered fearfully as she surveyed their surroundings.

Moving her gaze from where she'd been watching a few bats fly through the trees above them, she looked her best friend in the eyes as she strongly answered her question, "I won't let him hurt you."

Scooting closer and holding onto her friend, Avery continued, "I won't let anything hurt you, T."

After a little while Avery scooted around, facing her friend on the large tree stump as she clapped her hands one time and started to say, "Firefly, firefly…"

Her voice trailed as Teagan looked at her with unsureness in her eyes. "What if it hears us?"

"Come on… it always makes you feel better." Avery pleaded, sticking out her bottom lip and making the face she knew Teagan couldn't turn down.

Both girls clapped their hands once, before alternating between clapping and hitting each other's hands on each syllable, as they sang together, "Firefly, firefly, don't go away. Butterfly, butterfly why don't you stay? I hope you hear me when I say, protect me with your wings and never stray."

As a smile spread over her best friends lips, Avery said, "See, I told you… it always makes you feel better."

About 30 minutes later, they heard twigs snapping and they both looked around.

"Oh girls! Thank god!" Aleine said as she rushed up to the large stump, whisking Avery up in her arms and saying a silent prayer that her daughter and best friend were okay.

"Talia, thank you." She said looking to her friend who'd accompanied her on the search, after using a hairbrush of Avery's from the car to track her scent.

"I'm glad they're okay." She said with a warm smile as she looked between the young girls.

Extending her hand, Aleine said, "Let's get you out of here, Teagan."

Avery watched as her friend winced when trying to stand up.

"I can walk." Avery asserted.

Her mom sat her back down and asked, "Are you sure?"

Avery looked down to her legs realizing for the first time the thick shrubs she'd ran through had cut her legs, no wonder they had been so sore.

Nodding she lied, "It doesn't hurt. But Teagan's hurt."

Kneeling down Aleine surveyed the open wound on her leg as Avery hovered protectively over her and asked "Will she be okay?"

With a laugh Aleine said, "I think we can save the leg." Teagan's eyes widened fearfully.

Reaching out she hugged the scared child and assured her, "It's okay, Teagan, let's get you home to your mom, huh?"

She nodded and snuggled into the protective embrace as Aleine lifted her up to carry her back to the car.

Pausing to look at her own daughter she questioned, "You sure you can walk?"

Avery nodded, trying not to look at her cut up legs. Seeing the blood only made the pain worse.

With a genuine smile Talia placed her hand on Avery's shoulder and started to lead her behind her mom out of the woods. Within moments she looked up to the older woman with a smile as her earlier words rang true, her legs didn't hurt her anymore.

~(End of flashback)~

Tears burnt Teagan eyes as she watched the group from her memories disappear into the trees, heading back to the safety of Avery's moms car. They never did get to the see the movie the next day, Teagan had opted to go home that night. Even though she loved Avery's mom like a second mother, the only thing that could truly soothe her nerves was the loving embrace from her own mother. She wrapped her arms around herself as she thought of how she'd never feel that embrace again.

When she looked to Avery she saw her friend was wiping tears from her own cheeks as she also stared off in the direction where her 9 year old self had been lead to safety by Derek's mom.

"Avery?" Teagan asked, her voice shaky as she stepped closer.

"I think… I think –we would have been pulled into this world one way or another." She sobbed, her heart aching from not only the memories, but also from realizing this was good bye.

Teagan opened her mouth to speak but Avery didn't give her that chance, as she pointed to the nemeton and said, "You're dad is here… you can save him, Teagan. You just have to keep remembering."

Her arms tightened around herself as she realized exactly what Avery meant, that she had to be strong enough to remember and find them on her own because she wasn't going to be there with her.

It felt like her world was closing in on her, the night air was too cold to breath and she asked, "This is goodbye isn't it?"

Avery stared down to the ground as she took in a shuddering breath and nodded, "I'm sorry."

Making a noise like the air had literally been knocked from her lungs, Teagan remembered the day she'd been injured while training, and Avery had made a promise to her that she would fight instead of just giving the alphas what they wanted. "Damn it Avery! You promised… you promised me you'd fight!"

By the end of her sentence, her cries had overpowered her words and Avery could barely understand them.

Stepping forward and wrapping her arms around her, her own body shook from tears as she explained, "This is me fighting, T. I am fighting for you and your dad, and Stiles' dad, Scott's mom."

The only sound in the still woods was the loud sobs and shaky breathing from both best friends as Avery managed to choke out, "I am fighting, just not the way you thought I meant."

"I can't do this, not without you… I need you." Teagan cried physically clutching onto her lifelong best friend and swearing she'd never let go.

"You can and you have too." Avery sternly said, as she placed her hands against Teagan's upper arms and pushed her back, despite her friends efforts to hold on.

"My mom can't wait, okay? I'm not going to let her… she took an oath from the sacrifices she made for their power, she's counting on the eclipse to weaken the alpha pack. But there is one thing she didn't plan for, and that's me and the oath I made to you. That you are my best friend and I would do anything to protect you, anything to save you."

Leaning forward slightly she held onto her sides which were aching from her crying as she looked Teagan in her own watery eyes.

"This is my sacrifice. My life for all of you to keep on living your lives together, for you to have your dad back, and so you can be with Isaac. And my sacrifice will make me stronger than her, because I'm not fighting to get revenge. I'm fighting for you and Derek… for everyone that I love. And she won't win this war."

"A…" Teagan cried shaking her head back and forth, with her arms wrapped back around herself. The pain in her heart was equal to that of losing her mom, and just like that ache, she knew this one would never go away either.

"How am I supposed to go on without you?" Teagan's chin was quivering uncontrollably as her words came out jumbled and broken through her tears.

"I'll still be here… I'll still be around you. You'll think of me when you see butterflies, I'll be everywhere." Avery tried to assure her.

But Teagan doubled over in pain as she clutched onto her sides and shouted out in agony to the cold, unforgiving night. She'd already lost so much, she honestly didn't know if she'd survive losing Avery too.

Pulling her back up to a standing position, Avery turned one of her friends hands over in her own hand with her palm facing up.

Cupping her other hand over the top she said, "Firefly, firefly…"

But Teagan cut her off, "I'm not a little girl anymore… and some stupid nursery rhyme we made up as kids isn't going to make me feel better!"

"Just say it with me." Avery pleaded, as she could feel herself starting to slip away from her best friend. She'd over exerted herself to make this trip and she wasn't sure how much longer they had.

Teagan's eyes rapidly blinked away the constant stream of salty tears as she nodded and said in unison with Avery, "Firefly, firefly, don't go away. Butterfly, butterfly why don't you stay? I hope you hear me when I say, protect me with your wings and never stray."

Leaning forward Avery closed her eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to her best friends forehead, stepping back she released her hand and looked down.

Teagan gasped as a beautiful elegant purple and blue butterfly was perched perfectly in the palm of her hand, it's large wing span out to the sides, not at all intimidated or scared of being held by a human.

Avery stepped to the side, giving Teagan a view of the nemeton again and as quickly as they'd appeared in the woods, her best friend was gone.

With a pained gasp she dropped to the earth and looked at her hands as they were slowly becoming transparent. Every cell in her body was on fire, aching with the feeling of being pushed back to life from the freezing cold, deadened state they'd been locked in.

(To be continued…)

A/N- Thanks for reading! ^_^ I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, we'll probably have 24 up tomorrow.