** For those waiting for the first episode chapter of A Change Is Gonna Come, sorry its delayed. i had a computer crash and lost all the work on the first two chapters. i am recreating them now. So its just a bit longer wait. sorry again. Please enjoy this story though and stay tuned. **
"Stiles?" I think I broke him. I didn't mean to, but it was a legitimate question and offer. I didn't waver as I looked back at him. I was serious in my offer. I would never force it on him, not unless it was a life-or-death situation. Before it had almost come to that several times. Even if he didn't want it now, I wanted him to know it would always be an option if he ever did.
"I… but… what?" he finally said, staring unblinkingly at me, mouth agape. "Are you really offering to turn me into a werewolf?"
"Yes, I am. I know Peter had asked you before in the previous timel-."
"Wait, Peter offered to change me?"
"Yeah, it was after Lydia got hurt-."
"What? Lydia got hurt? Did he hurt her?" he shouted, working himself up. I placed a hand on his shoulder just in case he made the stupid decision to go after Peter himself. That was not a fight he could win. I didn't want him to even try.
"Yes, but you helped her. you made sure she made it to the hospital. I don't know all the ins and outs of what happened, you didn't tell me everything, but you made sure to tell me that he didn't hurt you and that she was going to be okay." I explained calmly.
"So why did he offer it to me?"
"He kind of forced you to help him find me and Derek. But that's a long story. I'll explain it all later. Right now, I just wanted to put that offer out there. I know this seems like its coming out of nowhere. But its really not. I almost lost you so many times before. I never want to relive that fear again if I don't have too. maybe that's selfish but it's how I feel. Also, for your dad's sake. If you are going to be involved in this I would like to make sure that you survive it a bit better then before. I mean we can come up with other ways to safe guard you and the others, but this is an option if you want it."
He blew out a loud breath, looking away for a minute before looking back at me. his mouth opened to say something but then he stopped himself.
"Look, I would never force this on you. I wouldn't ever want to take that choice away from you. I'm not Peter. But you deserve to be given the option." I told him then felt a bit of heat in my face for the next part. "And honestly, it would be kind of cool if you were my first beta this time around. Don't get me wrong I loved having Liam as a beta but you're my best friend and we have already shared most things in our lives together so why not this as well? But only if you want it."
He drew in a ragged breath. I moved my hand and watched him, letting him process what I said and what I asked. It was a big decision, and it would change his life, be it good or bad.
"Scott, I… my first reaction is to say yes, do it."
"But…" I could hear it in his voice.
"But this is a big decision and honestly I don't know." He said in complete seriousness. "I get why you offered, and I appreciate it, more then you know. But can I think about it? I mean this is a huge thing and it wouldn't just affect me but my dad as well. I just need to think about it from every angle first. Is that okay?"
"Of course, man. I just wanted to make it known that its an option if you want it." I told him. There were so many factors to consider, and I wanted to give him the space to think.
"Yeah, okay. I think I also need to hear, in more detail, what exactly happened before, from where you came from."
"Yeah, I know. there are things I left out when I explained all this earlier. Mostly because it's a lot and I just wanted to get the gist of all that happened out there first. but I will absolutely tell you everything. I want to get it all written down first and then we can go over it."
"that works. Now can you tell me what you and Lydia were talking about in the tiny little room, with the door closed, and blinds drawn?" he asked, and I know he has been dying to find out what all the secrecy was about between us. I tried to put in order what I wanted to tell him and what I didn't want to bring up at this moment.
"So, I just told you that she was hurt by Peter, right?"
He nodded while his hands curled into fist and his jaw clenched.
"So, he wasn't trying to kill her he was trying to turn her. she was going to be his next beta. However, the bite for her didn't take. Usually when that happens its because the body is rejecting it for some reason. I don't know why, could be a number of things. But in this case it just activated her already latent powers."
"Okay, and what powers are those?" he asked in fascination.
"Lydia is a banshee."
"And what exactly is that?"
"It's hard to explain. She has the ability to predict death and she was always the one finding the dead bodies in the last timeline. She also has this ability to scream." I told him. he blinked.
"Scream? Okay…"
"Its not a normal scream. Its more like a supersonic scream. It could literally kill you. it almost did kill us one time and she did kill someone else, but he was torturing her, so it was kind of self-defense. I'm sure there is more to it than just that, but I don't really know the ins and outs of it all. That's partly what I have her looking into." I was starting to ramble, so I shut up then. There as so much and I didn't want to overwhelm him more then I already had.
"Okay, so is that what you were talking about this morning and after practice?"
"Yes and no. She doesn't know she's a banshee. But she seems to be already starting to have dreams and feelings on things. When she dragged me away this morning it was because she had a feeling that she needed to come to me for help."
"But if she hasn't been bitten yet this time around how would she already start to have feelings and all that?"
"I think that's the Nematon's doing. From what I remember usually banshee's don't come into their powers until they are 18. For her the bite acted as an activator before so the Nematon wasn't needed. But in this time, since it brought me back I think it's already activated. I would have to go look to see for sure. I think that since it's already activated and it's giving me a do over then maybe it's trying to help me gain back my pack. You, Lydia, Allison, and Isaac were the first in my pack."
"Okay, so if its helping you early this time around does that mean we need to let the others in on the secret as well."
"Well Lydia I will because she's already starting to show signs of her powers. You, I was definitely going to tell either way because I really didn't want to go through this again without you, even though I kind of feel like shit for that. you would be safer on the outside of things."
"that was never going to happen, Scott. I was always going to be in this with you regardless. I was never going to let you face this alone."
"Yeah, I had a feeling you would." I smirked.
"Okay so Lydia's a go. But what about the other two? Did you say Allison was apart of it, like the Allison we just met today, after practice?"
"Yeah." I sighed, thumping my head back against the rest. "and actually, meeting her kind of went different the first time around."
"How much different?" he asked, tilting his head.
"Like, she was my first love and we dated for a while different."
"Holy… so are you planning to try again this time around? I'm assuming that you guys didn't stay together."
"we didn't. we ended up breaking up after… well that's something we need to talk about later. But to answer your question. No, I'm not going to try again this time. For one, our relationship was complicated from the start. With her coming from a family of hunters and all of them at one point tried to kill me, it wasn't really feasible."
"Wait, her family tried to kill you. like all of her family?"
"Yep, her dad, her mom, her aunt and even her grandfather."
"Her grandfather… shit." He said resting back in his seat. "Okay, I can see why that would be complicated. But is there another reason you can't try again? I mean with the information you have now you should be able to negate at least half of that."
"True and you're right. If I wanted to try again and have things be a bit better for us this time around I probably could manage it, but I honestly don't want to try again. I don't… have those thoughts or feelings towards her this time around. Besides, I'm already in love with someone else now, so…"
"Who?"
I felt my heart crack at the thought of her. Memories of our first kiss ran through my head on a reel. Remembering her touch, the way she felt pressed against me, the synchronicity of us coming together. how she was always there when we were fighting, she always had my back. how our feelings grew as time went on.
"Malia." I answered with a whisper, my throat clogging with emotion.
"Malia? who's that?"
"She came in at the beginning of our Junior year. We actually saved her."
"Okay, and where is she right now?"
"Still roaming around the woods as a coyote as of right now. But I'm going to go find her." I growled, my eyes flashing. " As soon as we have some kind of plan in place. I'm going to get her and bring her home."
"Wow, you really have it bad for her, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. Its funny since we had barely been friends until our senior year and then we became friends but didn't start dating until after we graduated and the whole Fear Factor: Beacon Hills edition happened." I snorted. He nodded but said nothing else. Though I could hear his brain churning in curiosity from her and I was just waiting for him to ask the question. Still wasn't sure how much I wanted to tell on that.
"So… did I… date anyone previously?" he asked, tapping his thumb against the steering wheel. I laughed.
"You did actually. You dated one girl from the end of our junior year into our senior year then things happened, and you broke up. but there were a couple of girls interested in you, including your childhood friend, Heather."
"Heather, you mean the girl I knew since third grade, who's mother was friends with my mother?"
"One and the same." I nodded and he quirked a brow.
"Huh… I would not have guessed that. Who else?"
"Erica Reyes." I said remembering a conversation Stiles had relayed to me after my fight with Jackson in the locker room.
"Do I know her?"
"No, not really. I mean we have classes with her I think, or we will. I'm not sure. we didn't really know her until spring. She keeps to herself really. But she ended up being bitten and became a wolf. she admitted to you once that she had liked you, but you never paid her any attention." I shrugged.
"Oh, well okay then. I kind of feel bad about that now." he sighed. "So, then Lydia…"
"That is a conversation for another time, I think. I'm not trying to hide anything from you I swear. But that requires a bit of explanation, and it ties into events that happens. So maybe we can hold off on that until I get that list together." I said, then continued before he could try to pry the info out of me. "And it can definitely wait until after I talk to Lydia about what she is experiencing."
"Ugh, you can't even give me a little hint?" he whined.
"No, and let's not forget that even if I did there is nothing you could do about it one way or the other since she is still dating Jackson."
"Why did you have to remind me of that asshole."
"Because it's necessary. And there are reasons why he acts the way he does. Not saying it's a good thing, he could have totally handled things differently but still he has good reasons for his attitude. But I will say he becomes a somewhat decent person in the future. Still a dick but a decent one."
"Yeah, I can't see that, at all." He said, shaking his head.
"You will, maybe."
"So, what about this Isaac guy. You mentioned him as a part of the pack." He switched topics, probably to keep from thinking about Lydia and Jackson in any way.
"Isaac Lahey. He's someone we will need to help sooner rather than later, I'm just not sure how yet. He's on the team he just keeps to himself. He has a bad situation at home." I said, feeling anger and disgust at remembering what he had been through.
"what kind of bad situation?"
"a bad situation that had his father locking him in a freezer in his basement for hours at a time." I explained and watched as, again, his mouth dropped open.
"What the… are you serious?"
"Dead serious. He was another one who turned in the spring. But right now, he's living in hell. I have to find a way to get him out of there."
"Well how did he escape in the first timeline, was it just because he was bitten?"
"No, actually it wasn't. the bite just made him stronger but he was still scared of his father. It only ended when his father was killed, that was a part of another event."
"Okay, so in the meantime how are we going to help him?"
"I'll think of something. maybe I can stalk his house and call in an anonymous tip or something when I know something is going down. Let me think about it. maybe we can do something about it this week. But for right now, I need to get inside and work on that list, but I do have a project for you." I said, thinking Stiles always did better when he had something to do, some way to help. he wasn't good at staying still and waiting.
"Okay, what's that?"
"I want to have as many safeguards in place as possible right now. So, I need you to research different ways to use wolfsbane, mistletoe and mountain ash. All of those are repellants for shifters, some are even poisonous. We need to figure out if there is a way we can weaponize them for our usage."
"Okay, yeah. I can do that. maybe there's a way to make it into an aerosol or something, kind of like mace."
"Shit… I forgot about that. there is a way to make it into a mist at least. It's how Allison's mom tried to kill me."
"How?"
"She used a humidifier and put wolfsbane into it so that it would be in the air around me, if it had worked it would have looked like I had an asthma attack."
"Wow, that's genius, appalling but still genius."
"Right. But maybe look into something like that. I mean we can't just carry around a humidifier but maybe we can do something along the same lines."
"Okay, I'll look into that and the others. come up with something and we can talk about it with Deaton tomorrow."
"Yeah, lets do that. right now, I'm going to get started on this list and we have a ton of homework to do."
"Hey at least you should have an easy time of that, right? Since you have already been through it once."
"Yeah, I just have to remember it first." I laughed, getting out of the jeep. "Make sure you lock the door and windows when you get home and send me a text."
"Why?"
"Because I want to make sure you get home safe. There are a few things that have already changed in this timeline, and I don't trust Peter not to go after you."
"Do you really think that this Peter guy could come after me to get to you or just to turn me?"
"Peter is a psychopath, there are reasons he turned out the way he did but I wouldn't put it past him to do just that. Right now, from what I remember, he wants me as his pack and he thinks that for that to happen I have to get rid of my old pack, mainly you and any friend that I have. So yes I do think he would come after you or try to get me to. However, I'm not a beta this time around so he can't control me."
"Do you think he would be able to tell that you are an alpha?"
"I don't think he can know that just from scent." I said trying to remember if that was something scented. I remember when I walked past Ethan and Aiden Junior year, I knew they were wolves but not alphas, but I was just an omega then. I do know that Deucalion and the others came here because they were looking for the alpha that was here. Not sure if they meant Peter at the time or Derek. Derek killed Peter to be an alpha because of them so maybe. "But I don't know for sure. Let's just play it safe."
"Okay. I'll let you know when I get home."
"Good. See you tomorrow."
"Yep." he said starting the jeep and pulling away from the curb. I waited until he was completely gone before heading inside.
*REWIND*
I was dragging already. After staying up until midnight making lists and doing my homework, which was easier than I anticipated but still took more time then I liked, I was dead tired and stopped at a coffee shop on the way to school. I needed the caffeine if I wanted to stay awake this morning.
There was no almost car accident today, since I was running a bit behind, and Jackson's Porsche was already parked. Unfortunately, Lydia and Jackson were leaning against it making out. Stiles parked two cars down from them and was sitting on the hood of his jeep watching them, petulantly. I parked my bike and locked it before joining him sipping generously from my coffee.
"How is that fair? He has the money, the looks and her. why does he have to get everything he wants?" Stiles asked when I got to him.
"Trust me, he doesn't have everything he wants, it just looks like he does."
"Agree to disagree." He said turning away from his obsession and to me. "Are you drinking coffee? When did you start drinking coffee?"
"When I fell into a blackhole and came out on the other side back at the beginning of three years of trauma and drama."
"That seems like a valid reason. So did you finish the list?" he asked getting right to it.
"Yep, I'm sure there are things I am not remembering right now but I got most of it jotted down along with a list of allies and enemies we need to watch for. Did you get anything on what we talked about?"
"Yeah I think so. I mean I think we need to run it past Deaton to see if any of it is plausible, but I think we got a good start on what is usable."
"That's good. So, we are as set as we can be." I said as I looked around. My eyes caught and stuck on a quiet kid walking down the sidewalk towards the school. he had on a hoodie, with his hands buried inside and the hood up hiding his face, which he had ducked.
"Isaac." I whispered watching him look up and look around stopping on me for a minute before continuing. He was sporting a black eye and a cut on his lip.
"Where?" Stiles asked looking around. I pointed, discreetly, in the direction we were facing, and he squinted to get a look at him. "It's a bit warm for a hoodie, isn't it?"
"I have a feeling last night wasn't a good night for him."
"You mean…"
"Yeah, I think his dad got to him. Damn, that might have to move up our timeline of what to take care of next."
"Okay, but how are we going to do that?"
"I'm not sure yet. It might come down to me stalking his house."
"Well, we could always get my dad involved. I mean if he's being abused then shouldn't the police be involved?"
"Yeah, but the problem comes in finding proof of it. I have a feeling Isaac won't admit to it. His dad is all he has left. His mom is dead, and he had an older brother, but he died as well."
"So, he's taking the abuse to hang on to the only family he has left. I kind of get that. but we can't let him stay in that environment."
"No, we can't. Let's think about it today and come up with something. For now, we got class." I said just as the bell rang. Stragglers hurried into the building, Stiles and I followed grabbing our stuff and heading to our classes.