**Okay, so I am trying so hard to finish my Just A Series. But I have three stories that I will not get out of head. So, I am now writing mutiple stories. I will finish my others (Just A Series and What If Series) but I needed to get these out there and get a feel if there is interest in my finishing them or not. This will be slow going until I finish my others. So, Chapters may just pop up randomly.
This story is going to be one of those characters watch the series. I always wanted to do one of those.
Hope you enjoy. **
"It is time." he tells her as he watched Scott battle a group of hunters with Malia, Lydia, Stiles, and Derek by his side.
"I know. I had hoped we would never have to do this. It will cause a lot of pain." She sighed watching the same scene but narrowing in on Derek just as he gets stabbed.
"Me either. But at some point in the past things went off rails. We need to reset the course, or a lot of innocent people will die. They all will die." He said pointing to the scene below.
Scott roars in the scene below them, tossing one hunter into another away from Derek. Argent comes out of the shadows shooting wildly at the hunters while helping drag Derek to safety.
"Okay, let's do this now before we lose anymore." She agrees.
They connect hands, close their eyes and chant in a low tone, in an unknown language. The volume growing as a storm brews below. Lightning strikes the ground in one spot, on one person. Seconds later the storm dies down. Opening their eyes, they look and see the confusion of those left behind as one of their own seems to have disappeared.
"We should get going." she said in a sigh. He nodded and grabbed her hand before they both disappeared.
ACIGC~ACIGC~ACIGC
Scott saw the lightening. He felt it then he felt nothing until he ended up here, in a large room with a theater screen and a large half circular couch facing it. He wonders how he got there when he was just in the midst of a battle. He also wonders where his friends are. Did he die? Is this heaven or hell?
He slowly stands looking around. There's nothing else here. It looks like a regular theater, tapestries on the wall, sconces hung all around with muted lighting but other than that nothing, except one door in the back. Confused and a bit scared, he wonders what is going on.
"Hello Scott."
The voice froze him, and he couldn't believe his ears. He whirled to see his old mentor standing in front of him.
"Dr. Deaton." He said quietly. His eyes teared up and he stared as if seeing a mirage. He was there when Deaton breathed his last breath, 6 months ago. Monroe's doing, caught him off guard and shot him in the back. He died in Scott's arms. He never got over it.
Deaton smiled and moved in for a hug. Scott clung to him as tears made their way down his cheeks. Deaton hugged him hard back, having missed him just as much. Scott wasn't sure if he could let go. Images of that night in the forefront of his mind. Deaton laughed as he forced a break in the hug.
"I don't understand. How…" Scott asked. Though the hug ended Scott still had a grip on his shoulders.
"I know you are confused. I understand. But I will explain all to you. First though, I believe you should go freshen up. Then we will eat, and I will tell you what's going on." Deaton told him, leading him towards the back of the theater and out the door, which lead to a dining room and past that, a living room, and another hall.
"Here's your room. You will find everything you need to freshen up. Just follow the hall back down to the dining room when done." He said to Scott as they came to the first door on the right. Scott nodded in a daze still confused.
Scott looked around the bedroom, seeing his old childhood room back in Beacon Hills. A room he has not seen in over a year. It looked the same as it did when he left after the first battle with Monroe and Gerard. The one that started it all. He inhaled deeply the scent of familiarity, home, feeling relaxed for the first time in ages it seemed like. For the last year, he has seen nothing but death and destruction. He has lost family, friends, and pack members to Monroe's army. But here he could, if only for a moment, forget all of that.
Picking up a picture of him with his father when he was 4 he smiled briefly, feeling the sting of tears. His father lost to him only one month ago. Fighting to defend him, he was gunned down by who he thought was one of his own. All Scott had left was his mother who was safely sent away to another state across the country, under another identity so that they could not find her and use her against him. The same with Stiles' father, though they almost did lose him. It was only after pleading and begging from Stiles that he agreed to leave.
Sighing he put the photo back on his desk and made his way to his bathroom, shedding blood-soaked clothes and stepping into a hot shower, it's been days. Hard to shower when you are on the run and hiding in the most unlikely of places. His stomach growled angrily at him, wanting the food promised, having survived on only vending machine food and fast food around the dirty motels they were able to talk themselves into.
The shower soothed sore muscles, hot water stinging cuts that had yet to heal fully. But the aches and pains from it all were slowly fading away. Only the memories and thoughts of his friends that he has left behind remind him. What was happening now? Were they still fighting? More than likely. They would not give up, even with him being gone. Did Derek survive? He feared he knew the answer to that. He didn't get a chance to see the wound, but the knife used would have shown no mercy. He closed his eyes at the thought of losing anyone else. Especially those closest to him.
Once the shower had done its job he dressed in jeans and a Henley and followed Deaton's instructions of where to go next. The scent of real food hit his nose and he almost drooled. It's been so long, too long. Sitting at a long table with a couple dozen chairs was Deaton and a woman with long dark hair and a friendly smile. She looked familiar but he could not place her.
"Much better. Have a seat." Deaton smiled, pulling out a chair for him on his right, the woman sat on his left. Scott sat slowly, looking between the two. "Scott, I want to introduce you to someone that I know you have heard a lot about. This is Talia Hale."
Scott blinked and stared at the woman in surprise.
"Derek's mom." He whispered.
"Hello Scott, it is great to finally meet you, in person that is." she said gently offering him a soft smile.
"You too Ms. Hale."
"Oh, please call me Talia."
"Talia." He corrected. "I'm sorry, but I am a bit confused. You are both dead. Does this mean I am dead too?" he asked, cringing slightly at how rude that sounded.
"No. You are not dead. Try to think of it as being in stasis." She explained.
"Stasis?"
"We pulled you from the battle, Scott." Deaton said, pulling his attention.
"But my friends, they-."
"They are just fine. The storm and the lightening had everyone retreat to safety for the moment."
"So, everyone is okay?" Scott asked, carefully. "Derek?"
Talia gave a sad smile and shook her head. Scott closed his eyes and slumped in his chair. Another friend lost.
"I'm sorry." Deaton told him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Why am I here? Why am I not helping my friends?" Scott asked looking at the two of them.
"Because we are going to change history." Talia said. Scott looked at her in confusion. Change history? What did that mean?
"Here, let's eat and we will explain." Deaton said and Scott was again reminded of how hungry he was. He looked at the table laden down with food of all kinds that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Or he just had not been paying close enough attention when he sat down. Either way he started to load his plate with a bit of everything.
"I have been watching what has been going on in Beacon Hills for a very long time." Talia started. "Since the moment of my death until recent events. Once Deaton passed on he joined me. We have seen every sacrifice, every triumph, and every loss."
"How, I mean… shouldn't you both have gone to where ever you go after death?" Scott asked. He wasn't religious enough to believe in heaven and hell, but he did believe there was an afterlife, away from all the strife that life on earth seemed to have become.
"The Nematon." Deaton answered simply. "Remember when I told you, during the sacrifices, that what you three did would give power back to the Nematon?"
Scott nodded, shoveling food in his mouth as fast as he could without choking.
"Well, that power created this dimension. I believe it's what you call Bardo."
Scott's eyes widened. The last time he was in Bardo he was there to save Stiles' life. Now he wondered what fresh hell it would bring this time.
"Calm Scott, this isn't the same Bardo you were in last time." Deaton said with a smile. "There are said to be 6 Bardos; Kyenay bardo- the bardo of life and birth, Milam bardo- dream state, Samten bardo- meditation, Chikhai bardo- moment of death, Chonyi bardo- luminosity, and Sidpa bardo-becoming or transmigration. We are in the last bardo, becoming and transmigration."
"Transmigration, you mean reincarnation?"
"Something like that yes. But instead of reincarnating, we are basically resetting time."
"Resetting time? To when? And How?" Scott asked, bewildered.
"Things have gone off track for you and your friends, Scott. We can't pinpoint the exact moment but what is happening now, the war… it never should have happened." Talia explained, shaking her head with a tired sigh. "Before, when it was just me, I could not do anything. Though the Nematon gave me some power not enough to do what needs to be done to fix things. But once Alan joined me," she said smiling at Deaton, "we now have enough power between the two of us to hit rewind, all the way back to your beginning as a wolf."
"I…" Scott started but had no words to finish the thought. All of this was too unreal to be true.
"It is a lot to take, I know. But it is necessary." Deaton told him.
"So, it will be like the last 4 years never happened?" Scott asked.
"More like it will be a long-lost memory, you're memory." Talia told him. "We can't erase your memory, Scott, because you are a true alpha. But you will be the only one who remembers. Everyone else will not. They will have a vague imprint of what has happened. But it will be more like DeJa'Vu for them."
"Okay…"
"When we say that you will remember everything, we mean you will remember everything to the point of defeating the Anukite. Everything after that will not have happened. That's as much as we can do."
"Why to that point?" Scott asked. Deaton turned to him and offered a sad smile.
"Scott, you have endured so much suffering from that moment on. The war has cost you friends and family. That suffering as cost you dearly in respect to your mental and emotional state. We do not want to send you back with those memories. It would do no good to reset the clock only for you to still be suffering with those memories."
Scott nodded solemnly. On one hand he was relieved not to have to hold on to those thoughts and feelings. On the other he almost found it a disservice to not remember. But thinking about having the chance to redo it all only better, smarter and, hopefully, safer sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime.
"Here's what's going to happen. In order to learn from past mistakes, all of you, we are going to show you and everyone your journey as a wolf. We are hoping that seeing it from the outside will help you all gain some perspective on things and change what needs to be changed." Talia went on to explain.
"Not every event can be avoided, nor should they be, but there are better ways to handle it this time around. You and your friends were meant for so much more then what you all have been through. We want to help you get back to the path you were all meant to be on." Deaton said.
"Okay, so how does this work?"
"First we need to bring in the people who are most affected, but you get to choose the ones, from your current time line, to be with you now. You can only choose 4 people that are currently alive now to do this, so choose carefully."
Scott didn't need to think about this, not really. He already knew who he wanted to be there. There were those that he was saddened he couldn't bring along for the ride but the ones he were choosing right now, were the most important he believed. He needed his pack.
"Stiles, Lydia, Malia and Alec." Scott named in one breath. Deaton chuckled and even Talia giggled.
"What did I tell you?" Deaton said turning to Talia.
"I never doubted you." Talia said rolling her eyes. "But I am curious about Alec. Isn't he the teen you first saved after the Beacon Hill battle?"
"Yes. But I remember him saying, when Argent and I found him that he wanted to know my story. This seems like a good opportunity." Scott shrugged. Talia nodded, admiring the alpha for his reasoning.
"Well then. You eat up and I will grab the others. I think I will take them around the other way to their rooms to get freshened up before bringing them here." Talia said. She got up and exited through one door back into the theater room.
"Scott, I want you to know I am very proud of you." Deaton said once she was gone. Scott looked at him in surprise.
"Proud? But-."
"My death wasn't your fault. None of them were. I know how much responsibility you like to take on when it comes to others. But people make choices, be it good or bad, that leads to their own actions and consequences. You can only do so much. I know how much you want to help, but you can't save everyone no matter how hard you try. Alpha or not you are still only one person, and you are still only human."
He nodded, looking down at his still half-filled plate.
"I'm going to go offer Talia some help getting everyone settled. You eat up. It's been a while since you had real food. The others will join you soon." Deaton said, getting up and patting Scott on the back before leaving through the same door.
Scott ate more food and thought about all that was said and what was about to happen. His mind still hasn't really caught up to what was going on, but he was slowly processing. Deaton's words had been said to him before, multiple times, by everyone else. Stiles, Malia, Lydia, Argent, his mother. But they still never sat right with him. He knew he was only one person, but they were all only in this because of him. Because of whom he was and what he was. He couldn't help but think that if it hadn't been for him becoming a wolf and then an alpha that the others wouldn't have died or still be fighting for their lives.
He wasn't sure how long he sat there slowly eating his weight in food but his name being called broke him out of his spiraling thoughts.
"Scott?" Stiles called. Scott jumped up and hugged his friend. He didn't think it had been that long since he saw him, yet it felt like ages. "Shit man, I thought we lost you."
"Yeah, I thought the same." He chuckled.
"Oh my God, Scott." Lydia squealed jumping in on the hug. "Don't ever do that to us again. You just disappeared."
"Not exactly my doing." He told her, wrapping an arm around her as she wormed her way between Stiles and Scott.
"I know, I know. But you scared us to death. You were just gone. Poof, without a trace. We searched for you everywhere."
"Searched?" He pulled back to look at them. "How long was I gone?"
"Two weeks." Came another voice. Sighing, Scott pushed past them to Malia. Without a second thought he grabbed her tightly and kissed her with as much feeling as he could in that moment.
"God, I am so glad you are here."
"I'm glad you're here. I swear if you ever pull a disappearing act like that again…"
"I won't, I promise." Scott told her.
"Did you hear? We lost Derek." Malia told him sadly. He could see her eyes begin to mist.
"Yeah, I heard." He sighed again, hugging her tightly.
"He was the last of my family." She sniffed into his shoulder.
"You have us. You still have us."
She nodded, holding him just as tight.
"Uh…" yet another voice sounded from the hall behind them. Scott looked up to see a fidgeting Alec standing there watching them.
"Hey kid. How are you?" He asked as Malia moved away from him wiping her eyes.
"A bit freaked out. One minute I was watching TV with E and Jay and then I was here." he shrugged, wide eyes looking around.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. But you're safe here. Okay?"
Alec nodded.
"You hungry? There's plenty of food." He said leading the kid to the table where the others were already sitting and stuffing their faces. Alec shrugged and took a seat grabbing a plate for himself. Scott sat back in his original seat just as the door opened again and Talia and Deaton walked in.
"Good, everyone is eating. Once you are all done we will head back to the theater room for more explanations and then meet the others." Deaton smiled.
"Vee overs?" Stiles questioned with a mouth full of food. Lydia smacked him on the back of the head and shook hers.
"Eat, and we will explain." Talia told them.
Everyone went back to eating while Deaton and Talia went over everything they told Scott earlier. Scott could see the emotions play over all of them when the mention of those lost was brought up and the looks of confusion on the fact that they all get a do over.
"Wait, so how does that work? I mean, you guys just have the power to rewind time?" Stiles asked, still munching on a chicken leg that he was waving around wildly. Lydia snatched it from him and set it back on his plate.
"Yes and no. We used all of our combined power that the Nematon gave us to bring everyone here for this. Once we send you all back to the real world, we cease to exist." Deaton explained.
"Wait, what?" Scott asked. "What do you mean you cease to exist?"
"Remember when I explained to you that people are energy?" Deaton asked and Scott nodded, remembering that conversation when they were trying to get Mason back and defeat the beast. "That energy is what the Nematon feeds on, it's what gives it power. For us to do this we had to take our energy back from it to combine it just to give it all back to the Nematon to make this possible. In laymen's terms we sacrificed our afterlives to correct the mistakes of the past.
"No. you can't do that. You shouldn't do that. You can't sacrifice your afterlife to fix my screw up." Scott argued.
"We already talked about this Scott. Talia and I made a choice and we have already come to terms with the consequences of our actions here. This is not your responsibility or fault." Deaton reminded him. Scott looked as if to argue more but Stiles gripped his shoulder, shaking his head. Scott deflated but nodded.
"Now, has everyone had enough to eat? We will have snacks available later if you feel peckish." Talia looked around getting nods from everyone. "Good, let's get back to the theater room and gather the others."
Everyone got up and made their way back to the movie room, getting comfortable on the couch. Alec took a seat between Stiles and Scott, still not completely comfortable with what was going on. Malia sat as close as possible to Scott without being in his lap and Lydia snuggled up to Stiles, placing a kiss on his cheek.
"Alright, we will begin with parents." Talia said and Melissa McCall, Scott's mom and Noah Stilinski, Stiles' dad appeared, looking around in confusion.
"What the hell?" Noah said reaching automatically for his side arm, which was not there since he had been at home lounging on the couch on his day off.
"What…how… where…" Melissa said, her eyes darting around the room.
"Mom?"
"Dad?"
Scott and Stiles said at the same time. Both parent's eyes snapped to their children.
"Scott?"
"Stiles?"
They answered back not believing their eyes. Though Scott and Stiles had not changed much look wise it was enough for the parents to see the difference.
"What is going on? And why do you look different?" Melissa asked. Noah nodded and pointed to her.
"What she said."
"All will be explained in just a little while. If you will take a seat." Talia said gesturing to the sofa. Both parents nodded slowly and sat beside each other, not taking their eyes off their kids.
"Next we have Allies, or soon to be allies." Deaton said and in popped Argent, Jackson, and Derek.
"What the…" Jackson said stumbling a bit. Argent tried to appear stoic but was actually a bit worried as to what was going on. Derek appeared as angry as he was the first time Scott and Stiles met him.
"Jay?" Alec said looking at Jackson.
"What's going on? Where the hell are we?" Argent asked. Derek was frozen as his face when slack.
"Mom?" he whispered staring at Talia.
"Hi sweetheart." She smiled at him.
"All will be explained. Please take a seat." Deaton said, gesturing to the couch. Though confused and wary they all sat, though Derek's eyes never left his mother.
"Next, we have more friends and family." Talia said as Allison, Peter and Cora appeared.
"Seriously, of all the people, you bring him into this?" Stiles muttered talking about Peter. Malia froze at Scott's side and her breath caught at seeing her bio-dad alive and well but different.
"Hey, it's okay. It will be okay." Scott leaned in to whisper to her. She nodded and took a deep breath.
"Mom? Derek? What's going on?" Cora said looking at her brother and mother.
Scott?" Allison said, furrowing her brow at him, not really recognizing the him sitting in front of her. "Dad?" Allison said, seeing her dad there and rushing to him. He got up to hug her and then pulled her down to sit beside him.
Peter blinked at his sister standing, appearing to be alive and he couldn't understand how that was possible.
"Before you ask any questions, all will be explained soon. Everyone take a seat we still have a few more people to join us." Talia said. Seats were taken all around, Cora next to Derek and Peter on his other side.
"Scott… This next group is for you and your friends." Deaton smiled softly as three more people popped in. Scott's breath caught as he stood slowly, staring in shock, sorrow, relief, and pain.
"Liam, Mason, Corey?"
He blinked against the sting in his eyes at seeing his beta and his other pack members alive again. Flashes of the night he found them all dead ran through his mind. The pain of seeing it all again, the roar he let out, the tears he shed.
"What's going on? Who are all you people?" Liam asked.
"Have a seat boys, we will explain in just a moment." Talia told them. Not sure of what to make of the group of strangers and where they were, let alone how they got there, they all sat as far as possible from everyone. Scott still standing, let a few tears fall as he watched Liam.
"Scott, it's okay. Let's sit back down." Malia told him as both she and Stiles guided him back to his seat.
"Okay, this is getting weird. Can someone please explain what is going on, where we are and why we are here?" Noah asked.
"Yes, we can. We brought you all here today because you all play an important part in the events that happened in Beacon Hills. Events that lead to the death and destruction of people that should not have died." Talia started.
"In the hopes that we can correct the mistakes of the past we are going to reset time back to when it all began. But first we need to show you what lead up to you being here today." Deaton said.
"Wait, you expect us to believe that you can just change history?" Jackson asked.
"That's not possible." Noah said, shaking his head and then everyone jumped in talking all at once.
"Everyone, everyone. Please settle down and we will explain everything." Deaton said, gaining quiet and attention from the masses. "Thank you. Now, I'm sure some of you won't believe but that doesn't make it any less true. We sacrificed a lot in order to do this so if you all can just let us talk we can answer all your questions."
"Firstly, where you are is a place called Bardo." Talia stated.
"Bardo? Like in Tibetan Buddhism?" Mason asked.
"Yes, exactly. You always were one of the smart ones." Talia smiled at him. His brows raised in shock.
"So, what is this Bardo?" Melissa asked.
"It's kind of a place of in between."
"In between what?" Noah asked.
"Life and death. Sort of like Purgatory." Argent went on to explain.
"Close but not completely." Talia said nodding her head.
"Okay, and why are we in purgatory?" Jackson asked.
"To learn." Deaton said. "So, you can change and correct the things from the past."
"What exactly are we correcting?" Allison asked.
"Everything. We are going to show you all the events that lead to this moment in hopes that history won't repeat itself when we send you back. If it does then all of you, every last one of you, will suffer in unimaginable ways." Talia told everyone. Fear showed on almost every face with a few still skeptical and one just plain annoyed.
"This is how this is going to work. On the big screen will be a TV show based off the events in question. All of this is from one point of view since it centers around their life and how they came to be." She said.
"There are 6 'seasons' of this show. Though three of those season are split into two parts, part A and part B. Each day we will show you one season. We figured it would be easier this way then to try to cram everything into one giant documentary." Deaton said. Everyone looked at everyone else in disbelief.
"So now that you know how the viewing will go. Let's make introductions. In group one we have Scott McCall, Malia Tate, Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, and Alec Smith from the future. All but Alec are 19 years old. Alec is 16 years old." Deaton explained. Melissa, Noah, Allison, Peter, and Cora all looked shocked at them, having known them from their own time line.
"In our second group we have Melissa McCall, Scott's mother, Noah Stilinski, Stiles' father, Chris Argent, Derek Hale, Talia's son, and Jackson Whittemore. They are all from what we are calling season 1."
"Hale?" Argent asked. Talia nodded already knowing what he was thinking.
"There will be no threats made here Chris." Deaton told him, staring him down. Argent relaxed back in his seat watching Derek and Talia closely.
"So, is this Jay the douche-y one?" Alec asked, breaking a bit of the tension, and making everyone in Scott's group laugh.
"Pretty much, yeah." Stiles nodded.
"What the hell?" Jackson stated but was ignored.
"Oh, man I so can't wait to tell E I met douche-y Jay. He's gonna flip." Alec cracked up.
"Next," Talia cut in before Jackson could say anything else. "We have Allison Argent, Chris' daughter, and Peter Hale, my brother, from season 2."
Allison and Argent looked at each other.
"Wait so if I'm from season 2 and he's from season 1, what does that mean exactly? What part of history are we from?"
"Chris is from when you first moved to Beacon Hills or moved back in his case. You are from the end of the Kanima issue." Talia explained.
Allison's brows raised in shock.
"Wait, so is this before or after you guys broke up?" Malia asked Scott.
"After." Allison answered instead. Malia nodded and relaxed again.
"Next we have Cora Hale, Talia's daughter, from season 3." Deaton said. Cora waved to everyone, seeming friendlier then she had been when Scott and the others met her.
"And in our last group we have Liam Dunbar, Mason Hewitt, and Corey Bryant. Liam and Mason are from season 4, they just started at Beacon Hills High," Deaton said with a pointed stare at Scott. He nodded in understanding. "And Corey is from Season 5, before the beast but after the doctors."
Corey gave Mason a timid smile, knowing that he had not met and dated Mason yet. Mason smiled back intrigued by Corey, thinking him cute and wondering if he played for his team.
"Now that introductions have been made, are there any other question that are not about the events that are going to be revealed."
"I have a question." Liam said raising his hand. Deaton nodded, amused at the gesture. "If we are here for however long. What is happening in the time line we were pulled from?"
Everyone turned to Talia and Deaton thinking that was a very good question.
"Good question. The answer is that in all but Scott's group your time line will continue as is until reset. As far as anyone in your time knows you are still there. Think of it as you are now an NPC in your time. You go through all the motions, but you're not really present mentally."
Everyone nodded.
"And our time?" Lydia asked.
"You're time has been extinguished. It never should have happened as it did, so it has been blinked out of existence, so to speak."
They all breathed a sigh of relief that any allies they still had fighting on their side weren't being mowed down because they weren't there. The others looked at them curiously, wondering what happened in their timeline that would cause that reaction."
"If there are no more questions. Let's start episode 1 of season 1." Talia said. She and Deaton took a seat on the end of the couch and the room went dark as the screen blinked on.