Tormented ☾ TEEN WOLF {3}

An Extra Large Branch Of Mountain Ash

"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes," Mrs. Blake says walking down the aisles. "All tools the writer uses to tell their story."

I can't believe I even came to school today. With everything going on, it was just a matter of time before I cracked under the pressure. And being in the same building as Ethan and Aiden wasn't helping.

I could tell that's why Scott was staying close to me all day. He probably thought I'd fly off the handle and go after them. He wasn't wrong, I wanted to, but I wasn't stupid enough to do something here. And him breathing down my neck wasn't helping me stay in line.

"Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents." Mrs. Blake commented.

I looked across to Lydia, she was focused on her notebook. A very dead looking drawing of a tree covering the page. I thought she was all about designer clothing and handbags, why the creepy tree?

"You and every guy I've ever dated." Lydia smiled back at her.

"Oh, um, well, that was an idiom, by the way." Mrs. Blake smiled, walking a few steps further. "Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying 'jump the gun' is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board'."

"Like chess." Stiles mutters.

"That's right, Stiles." Mrs. Blake nods. "Do you play?"

"Uh, no. My father does." Stiles replies. She nods, then walks back to the front of the class, continuing her lesson. Which I wasn't particularly interested in, seeing as she kissed my boyfriend.

Scott moves in his seat in front of me, turning towards Stiles and I. "I think I can get to Ethan." Scott whispers. "I'm pretty sure I can make him talk."

"Why?" I demanded.

"The druids are emissaries, right? So what if the Darach was an emissary to the Alphas?" Scott asked.

"Okay," Stiles says leaning forward. "First of all, I cannot believe that we've gotten to the point where a sentence like 'what if the Darach was an emissary to the Alphas?' actually makes sense to me. Second of all, we're gonna have a huge problem getting to Ethan."

"What's that?" Scott asked.

"Going through Aiden." Stiles explained.

"What makes you so sure he's going to help us?" I asked. "Forty-eight hours ago, he was holding Derek down so he would kill Boyd."

"I just know." Scott insists. "He told us Derek was still alive, he warned us about Kali, he'll help us now too, I just know it."

"Ever since they've been back at school, they're always together." Stiles points out. "How are we gonna separate them again?"

Scott shifts in his seat more, his eyes flickering over to Lydia. Who was still mindlessly drawing that tree. She looks up, seeing the look on their faces. "What now?" She asks.

☾

With Aiden distracted, we were able to get Ethan alone in the stairwell. I stood behind Scott, letting him do the talking. If I were any closer I might've just ripped his throat out.

"Why are you even talking to me?" Ethan asked. "I helped kill your friend. How do you know I'm not gonna kill another one?"

"Is he looking at me?" Stiles perked up. "Are you threatening me? You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna break off an extra large branch of mountain ash, wrap it in wolfsbane, roll it in mistletoe, and shove it up your freaking-"

Stiles moved towards him, and Scott had to pull him back. "Whoa, Stiles, okay. We get it." Stiles calmed down, and went back to leaning against the wall beside me.

"We're talking to you because I know that you didn't want to kill Boyd. And I think that if something like that happened now, you wouldn't do it again." Scott said hopefully.

"You don't know what we owe them," Ethan shook his head. "Especially Deucalion. We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't Alphas."

"What were you?" Scott questioned.

"Omegas." Ethan admitted. "In actual wolf packs, Omegas are the scapegoat, the last to eat, the one who has to take the abuse from the rest of the pack."

"So you and your brother were, like, the bitches of the pack?" Stiles smirked.

"Something like that." Ethan said, annoyed.

"What happened?" Scott asked.

"They were killers. I mean, people talk about us as monsters. Well, they were the ones who gave us the reputation. And our Alpha was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you guys fight back?" Stiles asked. "Form Voltron Wolf, you know? Kick everyone's asses?"

"We couldn't, we didn't know how to control it back then." Ethan says agitated.

"Deucalion taught you." Scott guessed.

"And then, we fought. We took down the whole pack, one by one. And by the time we got to our Alpha, he was begging for his life, and we tore him apart.... Literally."

"What about your emissary?" Scott asked. Ethan didn't answer, just sort of looked away. "They're all dead? Kali and Ennis too?"

"All of them except for Deucalion." Ethan nodded.

"You mean Morrell?" Stiles asked.

Ethan gasped, grabbing at his chest in pain. "What's wrong, are you hurt?" Scott asked, too concerned.

"Not me." Ethan shook his head. "My brother."

Ethan took off down the stairs, and I was the first to follow. If Aiden was hurt, that meant someone had to be fighting with him. Someone on our side. Ethan burst through the doors to the locker rooms, and I could see Aiden standing over Cora with a large weight.

Ethan grabbed him, Scott too pulling him back. And grabbing the weight from him, his position leading me to think he was gonna bash her head in with it. I ran to her side, blood gushing from her head. It looks like he already did.

"You can't do this!" Ethan scolded him.

"She came at me!" Aiden growled.

"It doesn't matter!" Ethan pushed back. "Kali gave Derek until the next full moon. You can't touch him or her."

I looked back, Ethan pushing Aiden out of the locker room. A second longer and I would've lost it with them. I don't care if Ethan felt bad about killing Boyd. He still did it, and he was gonna pay for it one way or another.

"Hey, guys, I think she's pretty hurt." Stiles said, drawing our attention back to Cora.

She looked extremely dizzy, having a hard time keeping her head up. We helped her up to her feet, and she went to the sink, trying to clean off some of the blood dripping down the side of her face.

"You okay?" Scott asked her.

"She doesn't look okay." Lydia commented. Cora rolled her eyes, then turned to our direction.

"I'll heal." She tells us. She let go of the sink, only to stumble a little. Stiles grabbed her elbow, keeping her from falling to the ground. She just pushed his arms away. "I said, I'm fine."

"Do you realize how suicidally crazy that was?" Stiles asked. "What were you thinking going after them?"

"I did it for Boyd." She snaps back. "None of you were doing anything."

"We're trying." Scott says.

"And you're failing. You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers, running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed. But all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies."

Cora turns on her heels, stomping out of the locker room. "She's definitely a Hale..." Stiles muttered. "I'll make sure she gets home."

Stiles leaves, following her. Leaving just Scott, Lydia and I. "You know," I said turning to Scott. "She's not wrong."