Chapter Twenty Five – Blind Rage

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

After dropping Scott off at Derek's loft, Isaac drove toward the woods, parking the car near the Beacon Hills Preserve sign. He shut the car off, then glanced over at her, seeing her chewing on her thumbnail, a habit he was starting to realize she did when she was nervous, scared and unsure about something.

He reached over, grabbing her hand, then brought it up to his lips, giving the back of her hand a soft kiss. As she turned her head to the side to look at him, he gave her a small smile, as he asked, "You ready?"

Teagan didn't say anything and instead just nodded her head. While still holding on to her hand, he reached over with his other one, wiping a lone tear from her cheek, then said, "We're going to save him. We're going to save everyone."

"I believe you." Teagan softly said. At the moment there wasn't much she believed in, but he was someone she always believed in. She knew he would do anything to make sure she got her father back, as well as their other friends' parents.

Isaac laid a hand on the back of her neck, pulling her toward him as he gave her a quick kiss, then rested his forehead against hers. He blew out a nervous breath, afraid of failing her and letting her down, but he promised he would fix this and he meant it.

He pulled back to look at her, pushing a lock of hair behind her hear, as he whispered, "It's you and me."

"It's you and me." She whispered back, as she opened the car door and stepped out, the wind wiping her hair around as she glanced around, taking in her surroundings.

"I still haven't heard from Stiles, have you?" Isaac questioned her, as he looked down at his phone. Both have tried to text him, but haven't heard back yet, he was supposed to be meeting them at this spot right now.

Teagan slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and glanced down, then looked back up at Isaac as she shook her head. Letting him know she had not heard from him either.

"All right. Well, we can't wait for him." Isaac said, knowing they couldn't wait any longer, they were already cutting it close. He nodded his head toward the entrance of the woods, as he held out his hand for her, as he said, "Come on."

Teagan flashed him a small smile, as she laid her hand in his, intertwining their fingers, before the two began to walk into the woods. Teagan wasn't sure how long they had been walking, but it seemed like the further they went into the woods, the worst the storm was getting, making her fear they were running out of time.

A few minutes later, she came to a stop, glancing around as she tried to remember which way to go next. It had been a long time since she and Avery went to the old tree stump that she now knew was the nemeton.

Isaac stood beside her, looking around the dark woods, then looked at her as he asked, "Do you remember which way we are supposed to go?"

"I think so." Teagan said, as she tried to force herself to remember that night in the woods. "I think we're near it, but..." She began to say, as she looked behind her, then in front of her, wondering if she was still heading in the right direction or if she had went too far. She blew out a frustrated sigh, as she added, "I don't remember. I'm trying, but I just don't."

"It's okay. We'll find it." Isaac reassured her, as he laid a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

She glanced over at him, flashing him a tight smile to thank him, and noticed he was looking up at something. Without looking she asked with a hopeful look, "Are you picking up a scent?"

"No, it's-it's too windy, but look..." He said, as he nodded his head above them.

Teagan looked up and lowered her eyebrows in confusion as she saw a butterfly. She became even more confused when several more joined the other one, within seconds a whole swarm of butterflies were above their heads, almost like they were waiting for them.

"What are they all doing here?" Isaac questioned, then added, "You would think it would be too dark and too windy for them to be out."

Teagan lightly chuckled, realizing what it was, and felt tears fill her eyes, as she whispered, "It's Avery."

"What?" Isaac asked, as he looked over at her.

"It's Avery. She –somehow she sent them." Teagan asked, as she stared at them a smile on her face. She looked over at Isaac, as she added, "They're here to lead us. We have to follow them."

Isaac nodded his head, agreeing with her, then glanced up at the same time she did. When they saw the swarm of butterflies begin to fly toward the left, they quickly followed them, pushing branches aside and trying not to trip over any rocks or roots.

Several minutes later, they came upon the huge stump they had been looking for, the butterflies flying away, their job was done.

Teagan breathed out a sigh of relief, as she ran over to the stump, feeling like her heart was about to beat out of her chest. They done it, they found the nemeton. Now they just had to find the parents.

~()~

Avery ran her fingers over the destroyed metal wall where years before a spiral had been carved, a sign of revenge she recognized.

She'd told Teagan this wasn't about revenge for her, and in the moment it wasn't. But the longer she thought about it, the more she thought of how her mom deserved to pay for everything she'd done. Memories of the kind, loving woman who'd raised her were slipping away and all she could think about was how much pain her mom had now caused not only herself, but her friends too.

Closing her eyes and gripping onto her head she groaned in pain as she struggled to hold onto her reasons for fighting, for her friends and their parents. The important reasons, but for some reason all she wanted now was so see her mom suffer.

Feeling people approaching in the distance, Deucalion commanded, "Stop trying to hold back, Avery… you'll get everyone killed that way. Just let it go, become what you were meant to be!"

His words echoed not only through the metal structure, but through her head as she listened to what he told her and stopped fighting the darkness, the pure power radiating from within in her.

Walking over and standing next to him, she watched as someone approached in the distance, through the blowing dust and fog as the wind and storm raged outside.

Then slowly she saw two other figures, as they got closer she realized one was Scott, and her heart sank as she saw the other was Derek.

As they walked in the door, both Derek and Scott looked around both of them sensing something was very different, they could even tell it by looking at Avery, her energy was visible around her, like heat distortion above an open flame.

"What are you doing here?" She snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I promised you I'd come back for you." Scott reminded her.

"And I stopped you from making such a foolish promise, Scott. I didn't want you to come back… you can't save everyone." She argued, the words hardly even sounded like her own, but she didn't really feel like herself anymore either.

Scott watched her with a confused expression, not sure what had happened to her since the last time he'd seen her.

"And you!" She yelled, staring at Derek, "I'm doing this so you don't have to… why are you here?"

"This might be hard to believe, but I'm trying to help you… I'm here to save you." He explained, taking a step forward, but stopped as the visible energy he could see around her, moved more intensely than before.

"I don't need to be saved… I don't want to be saved." Her eyebrows were raised as she spoke, and he tried to read the expression on her face, but he couldn't. He almost felt like he wasn't even looking at Avery.

"Oh…" Deucalion breathed out, then leaned in closer to Avery as he said, "Poetic, isn't it? The lengths people will go to for the ones they love? So… tragic."

Avery's eyes pleaded with Derek and Scott to leave, but her friends weren't wasn't going anywhere.

"Well, then, are you ready Aleine?" He asked as he handed Avery his cane and started to pull off his jacket.

Looking down to the device in her hands, she pressed the small button which let it extend and fold into thirds, then she tossed it to the side. She'd chosen her side, doing what she believed was right, what needed to be done.

Throwing his jacket to the side he continued, "Did you gather your herbs? Pray to your ancient gods and your oak trees?"

Stepping closer to Avery and letting her know the fight was about to begin, he continued to taunt her mother, "Slit a baby's throat perhaps? Should we show them… just why you needed to sacrifice nine innocent people just to face me? Or is it twelve now?"

As he walked closer to the trio, his face shifted into his werewolf form, with glowing red eyes. It was a sight Avery had never seen before. And now she could also feel his energy in the air, and at that moment she was sure they were going to win. The only problem now was trying to keep her friends out of harms way.

With an inhuman growl, Deucalion raced forward towards Aleine, who looked terrified, but Derek jumped in front of her, trying to fight off the alpha.

Avery started to rush forward too but stopped as she stared at Derek wide eyed, his eyes were no longer glowing red. They were now the bright blue they'd been when she'd first met him.

Then she watched as Deucalion grabbed Derek's arms and effortlessly lowered them, overpowering him as if Derek didn't also have superhuman strength.

Scott watched Aleine as she started towards them and placed her palm flat out, trying to use a blast of power on Deucalion but it didn't affect him at all, he let out a menacing chuckle as he grabbed both of their throats and started to raise them up.

Worried about Derek's life, Avery put her hand out in front of her just like she'd seen her mom do, but then she looked back to where Scott was watching the scene play out in horror.

Her hesitation could have proven fatal for Derek, as she started to hear his bones cracking.

Putting both hands up with her palms facing out, she screamed, "Stop!"

As she moved her hands out to either side, a blast of energy shot through the room knocking everyone off their feet accept for herself.

Her breathing was labored and she looked down to the ground for a few brief moments, her head was spinning and she saw the fear on her mom's face as she looked at her. But what scared Avery the most was how much she liked the rush it gave her, she could the feel the darkness inside and she was liking it.

One hesitation had almost cost Derek his life, she wouldn't make that mistake again. She knew what needed to happen, her mom had to die, and now that wasn't just a realization… it was something she desired to happen, an act she wanted to commit herself.

Derek was quick jumping to his feet, but Deucalion easily tossed him across the room, where he landed on an old stack of wood pallets and dusty tires.

As he tried to get back up, Avery waved her hand hitting him with another blast of power as he fell back down, briefly immobilized as he looked at her with a confused look, verging on hurt, but she apologized, "Just stay down… we don't want you, we want her."

Derek's face twisted and shifted back to his werewolf form, she'd said 'we' she was already associating herself with Deucalion as a member of his pack, and that sacred him worse than how strong the alpha was.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, the words had more than just one meaning. She was sorry for becoming part of Deucalion's pack, sorry for hurting him, sorry for so many things.

Scott almost seemed paralyzed from the shock of everything as he stood to his feet and saw the alpha dragging Aleine across the room by her hair.

He forced her down to her knees in front of her daughter as he growled, "Kill her."

Avery looked at him, her rage melting into confusion.

"You've got her… you kill her." She stuttered out.

Growling, he reminded her, "We had a deal, you help me… I'll help you, and I'll leave your friends alone."

Avery looked down her eyes locking with her moms, and tears burnt her eyes. Sure she'd considered maybe she would be the one to actually kill the woman, but that would be in a heat of the moment decision, during a fight for her life. Not slaughtering a seemingly helpless woman under Deucalion's watchful and threatening eyes.

"I didn't agree to this…" She argued back.

"The guardians… her last set of sacrifices are dying. That storm you hear… she's burying them alive! It's her connection to the telluric currents, kill her and it ends, it will all end." He admitted.

Avery took a step forward, ignoring Scott and Derek as they yelled for her to stop.

"Wait!" Aleine yelled, shocked at her daughter's strength and abilities, "He'll go after everyone you love. It's what he does… you think he'll keep you around for long? You're an emissary, Avery… he will always look down on you and only keep you until he finds someone better, someone stronger. Then you're replaceable!"

Raising her head, Avery focused her energy and brought the storm to a stop outside as she slowly opened her eyes and said, "There is no one stronger… I'm not just an emissary, I'm irreplaceable!"

"Avery stop it!" Derek yelled, as he weakly walked over to her and said, "You can't do this… you can't kill her, no matter what she's done –she's your mom, if you kill her it will change you."

"I don't care." She growled, feeling stronger than ever before.

Aleine looked behind her towards the open door and to the stillness outside, as she breathed out, "It's not possible…"

Derek grabbed Avery's arm pulling her back as he made her face him and repeated, "You can't kill her… you won't bounce back from that."

"I'm ready…" She argued.

"He's in your head, this isn't you!" He yelled, his hands gripping onto her upper arms as he shook her back and forth, but nothing he was doing or saying seemed to be getting through to her.

"They're dying!" The alphas voice shook the walls.

"Not yet." Scott said as he took a few steps closer.

"Who is going to save them? You're friends?" Deucalion taunted, thinking he had everyone right where he wanted them.

"My pack." Scott asserted, his eyes glowing golden yellow as he spoke.

He looked at Avery who was staring at him past Derek, slowly she nodded, agreeing to stand down for the moment.

~()~

Isaac glanced around, seeing the entrance to the root cellar. He called out Teagan's name, getting her attention, then nodded his head over toward the root cellar. Teagan ran over to Isaac, then the two made their way over to the doors.

She threw opened the doors and rushed inside with Isaac behind her, neither one seeing the sinkholes forming on the surface. Teagan cried out in joy when she saw her father as well as the other parents.

"Daddy." Teagan cried, as she rushed over to him and began to untie the rope around him.

"Oh, Sweet Tea, I thought I would never see you again." Paul said with tears in his eyes, as he looked at his daughter. "I'm sorry baby, I'm sorry for-"

"It's okay Dad, let's get you out of here." Teagan interrupted, as she continued to work on the rope.

"Where's Stiles? Where's my son?" the Sheriff asked, as Isaac walked over toward him, using his claws to cut the rope around him.

"And Scott?" Melissa added, with a worried look.

"They're coming, all right?" Isaac said, as he walked over to Melissa. He cut her ropes, then added, "They're on their way to help."

"Okay." Melissa said back, as she rubbed her sore wrist.

"Isaac." Teagan said, as she glanced over her shoulder at him, nodding her head toward her father, asking for his help. He walked over toward the father/daughter duo, cutting the ropes that were around Paul.

As soon as the older man was free, Teagan threw her arms around him, holding him tight, as tears streamed down her face. She had honestly thought she would never see him again.

Isaac watched them for a moment, a smile on his face, at seeing them reunite. He knew how worried and upset Teagan was when her father was taken and was glad he was able to help bring them back together.

He turned his head to the side, looking at the Sheriff and Melissa, asking them if they were okay, but before they could answer, he heard the wind picking up outside and saw some of the beams above them began to crack under the weight of the ground sinking.

Isaac yelled out Teagan's name, rushing over toward her and pushing her and her father out of the way as some heavy debris began to fall, almost hitting them both. He laid on top of Teagan, shielding her as a few more things fell to the ground. He quickly helped her up, as the group began to run toward the stairs, but before they could began to climb up them, they collapsed, trapping them all underground.

Once the dust settled, Isaac glanced over the group, his eyes landing on Teagan first, then went back to her once he saw everyone was okay. Paul told Teagan to stay while he and the Sheriff walked over toward the entrance, seeing if there was still enough stairs to climb out, but unfortunately there wasn't. There was no way out without some kind of ladder.

Teagan hugged up to Isaac, with Melissa standing protectively behind them. Isaac held on to her tightly, then glanced up with a confused look on his face.

"What is it?" Teagan asked him.

"The storm stopped." Isaac answered, wondering how that was possible. Just seconds ago the wind was blowing so hard it was about to break the doors off of the cellar, but now it was silent outside, eerie silent.

"Is it over?" Teagan questioned with a hopeful look.

Isaac opened his mouth to say he didn't know, but before he could utter a word, the wind picked up again, worse than before, causing more of the beam to crack.

When Isaac saw one began to cave in, he shoved Teagan over toward Melissa and raised his arms, trying to hold up the beam before it collapsed on all of them.

Teagan looked on helplessly as Isaac, her dad and Stiles' dad was trying to hold the beam up. She felt Melissa pull her closer to her, as the two tried to huddle together out of the way while more stuff began to fall around them.

"Is it me, or is this place getting smaller?" Isaac asked, as he strained to keep the beam up. He glanced over at his girlfriend, seeing the fear in her eyes, pushing him to hold the beam up longer, as his eyes flashed yellow. He needed to be strong for her, he needed to save her.

As the beam began to fall more, Teagan and Melissa raised their arms, trying to help the others keep it from caving on them. It was becoming different for Isaac to hold it up as the eclipse began, taking his powers away.

"I can't do it. I can't hold it. I can't hold it. It's too much." Isaac called out, feeling the weight of the solid ground above collapsing.

Isaac looked over at Teagan, seeing her strain to hold up the beam, but also saw the determined look on her face. He had missed the fire in her eyes, they had looked broken too much lately, and he was at least grateful if this was their last moment together, that they were going out fighting.

The two locked eyes, ignoring the debris falling around them. Neither one needed to say anything, she could see everything he was feeling in his eyes and knew hers were telling him the same.

Just when they thought it was over, and the beam was going to crash them, Stiles dropped in, placing an aluminum bat under the collapsing beam, stopping it from falling on them.

Stiles looked over at his dad, blowing at a relieved sigh. His father smiled at him as he said, "I always said aluminum was better than wood."

He chuckled at the comment then threw himself into his father's arms, holding on to him tight.

~()~

Throwing Aleine's body across the room, Deucalion grabbed onto Scott and threatened Avery, "Kill her or I'll kill him."

"You won't." Derek said, trying to keep Avery focused, as she pulled out of his arms.

"Tell him Avery, tell him how everyone is replaceable in my eyes."

Aleine raised her head and looked outside, where the storm was raging harder than before with a smug smile on her face, she knew there was no way her daughter could manifest power that strong for a long period of time. The eclipse was getting close.

"Wait… there is something I forgot to mention. Something Gerard told me, Deucalion isn't always blind." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out some of the flash bomb arrowheads that the Argents used to disorient werewolves.

Throwing them down on the ground, he stumbled backwards and Deucalion yelled and tried to cover his eyes with his arms, Derek was also temporarily blinded by the flash.

And Avery watched as her mom rose to her feet and looked around; smiling like her plan was still going exactly as planned.

Slowly, Avery looked around to see Scott scrambling to his feet as Derek still remained on the floor, looking at his hands in shock.

"Avery!" Deucalion yelled. Rushing to his side she helped him to his feet as he explained, "The eclipse, it's starting…"

"She's gone… Aleine's gone…" Scott realized as he walked over to them.

Staring at the open doorway Avery shook her head, "No… she's worked far too long and hard for this moment."

"Right you are." Aleine cockily responded as she walked back into the building, no longer using an ounce of her power to make her face appear uninjured. Her burn scars and deformations were out on display.

Derek moved behind a shelf, thinking at that moment that Aleine was the strongest one in the room, and he needed time to think of a plan to get Avery out of there.

Rushing towards him, Aleine effortlessly sent Scott flying backwards into some stacked up ruble.

Then she grabbed Deucalion and threw him down on the cement, where she continued to bash the back of his head down repeatedly, as a puddle of blood formed under it.

Keeping the promise she'd made to herself earlier, to not hesitate, Avery started forward, this was it. She was going to actually kill her own mother.

"Aleine, stop!" Derek yelled, jumping out from his hiding place. Determined to do what it took to not only save Avery, but to keep her from killing anyone, he knew there was no going back from the act of taking someone's life.

With a hiss, she stopped and looked back at him.

"He doesn't know your story, what you look like now. He has no idea what's been taken from you… your appearance, your family… your best friend. He should see it before he dies, he should see what you've been through." Derek outsmarted her, knowing the amount of power it would take to restore Deucalion's eyesight.

"You're right…" Aleine realized as she slowly knelt down and put her hand over his eyes.

Thinking this was her shot, Avery started to run towards them, but Derek raced forward stopping her as he knocked them both to the hard cement floor.

Raising up she shot him an angry look, before looking over as Deucalion screamed out in agony.

After returning his eyesight, her mom stood up and demanded, "Look at me…"

Avery struggled to get away from Derek, but he was still partially on top of her from their fall and held her down.

"Let me go, I have to end this!" She pleaded, trying to scoot away but he held her still, and argued, "You don't want to do this."

After she was satisfied with Deucalion getting a look at her, Aleine said, "This is for tracking me, for coming after me… for killing my best friend when she didn't even know I was alive. For kidnapping then turning my daughter into a monster…"

Avery looked down to the cement floor confused at her mom's words, sure she knew the power she was getting wasn't without a price she could already feel it changing her, but she wouldn't exactly call herself a monster.

"For anyone that you've ever walked over… you deserve this." She continued as she raised her hand, expecting to kill him with one last final blow of power, to force his head down so hard on the cement that it would explode. But she hadn't realized how much energy she used for his eyes.

And she weakly swayed, before stumbling backwards and collapsing on the floor.

"What is this?" She asked as she tried to sit up but seemed far too weak to even speak.

"Healing him made you weak, just like healing Cora did to me." Derek explained, but he kept his eyes on Avery who had finally stopped trying to get away from him.

"Then you do it, Derek. You kill him… if you don't he's going to take Avery." Her voice was even weaker than before.

"No." Derek strongly said, as he stood up and extended a hand to Avery who slowly let him pull her to her feet as well.

"My mother used to say, I'm a predator but I don't have to be a killer." He continued to explain.

Avery held onto her head as she remembered the memory she'd relived with Teagan, from when she'd gotten hurt in the woods and Talia had taken her pain. Derek's mother was a great and kind woman; Avery had known that from the few times she'd met her.

Closing her eyes as tears stung them, she thought about what she was doing there. She was going to slaughter the woman who'd gave birth to her, the same woman who for the first 10 years of her life had bandaged her wounds and read books to her, took her shopping and taken care of her when she sick.

Wiping the tears from her face she looked back up to see Derek had her mother by the throat, demanding she let the last 3 sacrifices go.

But she'd regained her strength faster than he'd expected, as she grabbed his shirt and threw him backwards against several tall sets of stacked wooden pallets, in an instant she was on him, her hand roughly colliding with his face again and again slowly killing the already weakened beta.

"Stop it!" Avery yelled, but her mom didn't listen and she was seeing Derek grow weaker by the moment.

A part of her wanted to hold onto that humanity, the realization she'd come to only moments ago how sick and twisted it was to want to kill someone that badly. But now she was seeing red, her mind flashing back to when her mom had almost killed Derek in the elevator to make Avery weak.

But she wasn't weak anymore, and thanks to Deucalion and all she'd learned, she knew she'd never have to feel weak again.

Crossing the room, she grabbed her mom's arm as it was swinging down to hit Derek again, with a growl to her voice she repeated, "I said stop it."

When her mom tried to pull away, Avery pulled the opposite way, easily starting to crack the bones in her mom's arm.

With a cry of pain she looked into her daughter's eyes, hoping she'd take mercy and let go, but it wasn't her daughter staring back at her. It was a cold, emotionless shell.

"Avery…" She gasped, but couldn't finish the thought as Avery knocked her to the ground, climbing on top of her a she wrapped her hands around her neck, and started to choke the life out of her.

Her mom frantically swung her arms, trying to knock the teenager off of her, even her darach powers weren't strong enough to stop what was happening, it seemed like nothing was going to break through her daughters blind rage.

Feeling a pair of hands on her sides she yelled, "Derek, get off of me. She has to die… she deserves to die!"

"Avery!" Scott yelled louder, somehow breaking through her rage as he pulled her off her mother's almost lifeless body.

"What are you doing?" He asked, as he spun his friend around to face him, but she stared back at him with a stunned expression.

"I… I don't know." She finally admitted as she looked down to her shaky hands and then over to where Derek wasn't looking so good.

Scott looked at her with a pained expression, he wasn't sure how to help her, or to even stop these rages she kept flying into. "Are you okay?" He asked her, his eyes searching her face, then falling slightly as her heart was racing so fast it wasn't humanly possible.

Swallowing hard, Avery looked to where her mom was trying to crawl away from them on the floor, gasping for a breath and clutching onto her severely sore and bruised throat.

Twisting out of his grip she went over and dropped to the floor next to Derek as she grabbed his face and slapped his cheek until his eyes opened and he looked at her.

"Oh thank god…" She breathed out relieved he was responding at least.

He started to try and sit up farther but she stopped him, "Don't –don't move, I don't know how badly you're hurt."

He stared at her, their eyes locking as he breathed a sigh of relief. Not because he could feel his body healing, but because finally he recognized the girl staring back at him.

"I'm okay." He assured, her as his eyes glowed blue and he looked past her to where her mom was sitting up watching everyone as he continued, "Her fifteen minutes of the eclipse are up."

~()~

Derek jumped to his feet as he and Scott raced towards her mom, but she blocked them by creating a circle of mountain ash around her.

"In a few minutes the parents will be dead. And then I won't need a lunar eclipse to kill a demon wolf." Her words rang through the room as she looked out the open door, clearly proud of herself for the storm she created.

Avery tried to push back against her mom's powers like earlier to stop the storm, but it didn't work. Her mom was growing stronger by the second.

Standing up she walked closer, intending to walk over the line of mountain ash and kill her if she had to. She didn't want to do it, but if it was the only way to save Scotts mom, Stiles' dad and Teagan's dad, then she'd do it.

"Use your powers! Become everything you were meant to be!" Deucalion yelled, as he finally regained his strength enough to stand up.

"Avery!" She could hear Derek talking to her, but he sounded like he was on the other end of a telephone call with bad reception.

Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath, using all the power she could muster to push against her mom's power as Scott pushed his way into the line of mountain ash.

Aleine looked between the teenagers in shock at both of their strength, and how they were both doing the impossible.

With a gasp of pain she fell to her knees as Avery's power collided with her own and they faced off, both pushing against the other with everything that was in them, and neither backing down.

As Avery's eyes opened she saw Scott was almost through the mountain ash, he just needed a small push, a push she knew she could give him, but she knew it wouldn't come without consequences.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Derek trying to walk closer to her, to physically pull her back to her senses again, but this time she wasn't letting it happen as her body was emitting an invisible force field he couldn't cross to get close enough to her.

She could feel blood running over her lips and off her chin, but she didn't back down. In that moment she realized she was meant to help Scott with her abilities, and that's exactly what she was going to do as she stopped using her powers against her mom and instead -used her them to help strengthen him enough to ignite the true alpha spark inside of him, have him that little extra push he needed to reach his full poteintal.

Pushing over the barrier he looked down to Aleine with his red eyes as she exclaimed, "How did you do that?"

"I'm an alpha now. Whatever you're doing to cause the storm, stop or I'll kill you myself. I don't care what it does to the color of my eyes." His words were strong as he spoke.

Seeing her mom moving and starting to rush towards Scott in one last attempt to win Avery let out a pained scream, pushing past her limits to paralyze her mom, long enough for Deucalion to cross the now broken ash circle. Maybe he was right, they did make a good team.

"It won't change the color of my eyes… so allow me!" He roared bringing a clawed hand down across her throat, slashing it wide open.

Clutching onto her neck, she gagged violently as her powers slowly drained, her face turned back to it's burnt appearance and the storm slowed to a stop.

Exhausted, Avery dropped to her knees, breaking both the hold on her mom and the power she was using to keep Derek away from her.

The room fell silent, aside from Avery's heavy breathing and her mom's choking and gurgling sounds as she choked to death on her own blood.

Avery's light brown eyes never left her mom's face as she took in her last, painful rasping breath.

"Hey, hey, hey." Derek said as he dropped to his knees in front of her, his eyes landing on the still steady stream of blood running from her nose.

She'd more than overexerted her powers this time, pushed past the limits and her capabilities.

"Avery!" Scott yelled as he also knelt down to where she was staring blankly ahead, her eyes unable to focus on anything in sight.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked looking to Derek, who wasn't taking his eyes off of the injured blonde.

"I –I don't know, I've never seen this before…" He admitted, as he held onto the sides of her face and tried to get her to look at him, but she wasn't responding.

Her body limply fell sideways, but Derek caught her and gently lowered her to floor as he frantically yelled her name and tapped the side of her face. Even though her heart was still barely beating and her lungs taking in just enough air to get by, they both felt like they were staring at a corpse.

Slowly her eyes blinked and started to close, leaving both wolves even more frantic.

Scott looked over his shoulder to the broken circle of mountain ash and knew that somehow she'd helped him reach his full potential, that somehow she'd managed to give him that boost he needed and they were connected now. She was a part of his pack, more than ever before and he wasn't about to lose that.

His eyes glowed bright red and his voice roared so loud through the building it made Derek cringe as he yelled, "Avery!"

Almost immediately her eyes popped open and she gasped for air as they both helped her lean up to breathe easier he looked at Scott with an appreciative look.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked her.

Using the sleeve of her jacket she tried to rub the blood from her face, but all she managed to do was smear it across the side of her face as she sat up farther and nodded, "I –I think so…"

But she wasn't sure if she believed it herself. She felt physically okay again, tired and weak, but alive.

But inside, she felt cold… dead. Like a darkness had settled in and she wasn't ever going to break free of its paralyzing hold on her.

A/N- If you haven't yet, you should check out the teaser video for the next installment in our series, 'The Dark Blue Moon' the link is up on my page and you can also find it on Miss E Charlotte's Tumblr page!

Only 2 chapters left for this story. ^_^ Thank you so much for reading, I really hope you liked the chapter.

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