fragile | teen wolf

ONE | FRIENDLY STRANGERS

Derek pulled up to his old house, turning off the ignition. His eyes shift to the passenger seat where his younger sister lay. Her soft, brown hair cascaded down her face. The pent-up stress and anxiety had been erased from her features the instant she fell asleep hours ago. Derek had a soft spot in his heart for Rhea. Even though he would never admit it, Rhea was his anchor. She was the brightest thing in Derek and Laura's life. She made them laugh and smile in the toughest of times. He made it his mission to protect her. He made her his responsibility. Rhea's sanity was hanging by a thread that was seconds away from snapping. She'd lost a lot in her life. Her home, her mother, her twin sister, Cora, and the rest of her family. She relied on Derek and Laura. Rhea couldn't imagine losing her last siblings. Derek knew how fragile she was and he had to push her away sometimes to do what he thought was protecting that last thread of sanity.  She looked extremely peaceful in her sleep. She hadn't looked that peaceful since the fire. Derek brushed the loose hairs out of her face, keeping his hand on the side of her head for a moment. He placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. "Rhea, we're home." He whispered, trying to be gentle. Rhea's eyes fluttered open to reveal the unnatural snow-white iris' shining back at him. Derek became mesmerized by her true color. The color seemed to swirl around. It wasn't often that he saw them unless Rhea lost control of her emotions. Rhea wasn't like the other Hale's. She wasn't a werewolf.

Truly, she didn't know what she was. All she ever figured out was that she had half the speed, agility, and hearing of a regular werewolf, but otherwise, she was basically human. She knew that if her emotions were too strong or out of hand, she would lose control over her eyes. Sometimes if she would get too angry, her body would react weirdly. She also knew that whatever she was could be referred to a defect in her family's supernatural gene. Since there wasn't a true name she could find about her defect, her twin sister, Cora, made one up. Cora called her a copycat. And as annoying as it was, the name stuck. Her mother never got the chance to tell her the real name of said defect. Rhea realized Derek was staring at her eyes and she looked away. As much as she wanted to love her real eyes, she hated them. They made her feel like an abomination to the Hale family. Derek caught a glimpse of her white eyes slowly shifting. A forest green color enveloped her iris' until they looked "normal". Derek knew it was safer to hide her true color but couldn't help but feel guilty at covering what made her special. "I can't believe we're back here." She whispered, looking at him. His face became blank with emotion as he studied the burnt house. Derek never liked to show Rhea his emotions but he would occasionally crack. He caught Rhea staring, out of the corner of his eyes, and turned to face her. Her face held an exhausted look as she stared at him with no emotion, tugging at her sleeves of the blue and white stripped button up she wore. The sunset made his bright blue-grey eyes reflect and shine. He smirked while looking at his sister. "Well, let's go then." He said, getting out of the car and walking to the front door of their childhood home.

Rhea walked right behind him but bumped into him as he froze right before opening the door. His head was cocked to the side like he was listening. Rhea did the same, trying to hear what he heard. A growl coming from about a mile away in the direction of the woods echoed around them, startling Rhea. She didn't think there would be any other wolves in Beacon Hills. She looked at Derek with a shocked expression. "Derek, it's an alpha." Rhea was about to run into that direction, but Derek grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to him. He wasn't about to have another sister go missing. "Stay here, Rhea." He ordered before running off himself. Rhea listened and wrapped her arms around herself.

One of the unfortunate things about not being a werewolf was that she got cold very easily. At the moment Rhea heard a painful scream, she ran toward her brother's direction. It became eerily quiet when Rhea caught Laura's scent. "Derek?" She whisper-yelled into the night. A hand grabbed her shoulder making her turn around quickly, throwing the person against the tree behind her. She pinned them without looking to see who it was. "Hey, woah, it's just me." She sighed in relief when she saw it was Derek. She shoved him away from the tree. "God, you need to stop lurking." She joked, giving him a small smile. He, sarcastically, smiled back before walking towards the way they came. "I thought I told you to stay back at the house." Derek scolded her. Rhea remembered why she was searching for him. "I caught Laura's scent." She exclaimed, grabbing the back of his jacket. She dragged him back, hard, despite being the smallest and weakest of the Hale family. Derek waited a moment before nodding at her. "I can smell it too." He said before running to where they sensed her aura. Her sent got stronger and stronger as the two Hale siblings ran. Honestly, Rhea was excited to see Laura again. Laura was always there for Rhea when she thought she didn't fit into their big family. They always got along great together. Where Laura was seen as the leader of the Hale family and Derek the rebel, Rhea was seen as the soft, kind-hearted one. She believed in not giving up and to always love one another. She also was terrible at suppressing her feelings for a long time. She hated the feeling, but sometimes she still did it because she didn't think that she was more important than others. Rhea stopped her thoughts as she noticed that Derek stopped. Again, she ran into him. God, he's built like a brick wall. Rhea listened closely and heard his heart beating fast. Rhea tried maneuvering her way around him to see what forced them to stop, but he twisted around to prevent her. "Rhea, you can't." He exclaimed. Rhea looked into his eyes, seeing his glassy look welling and his hardened jaw. "Derek, you're scaring me." Her voice faltered as she caught a glimpse of half a body laying behind him. This is where Laura's scent ended. "Is that....?" She choked out, not wanting to believe that she lost yet another sibling. Derek nodded, shortly. He pulled his little sister in a tight hug. She felt tears spill over the edge of her eyes like a never-ending waterfall. She stared at her older sister's body. It was her top half, her face frozen with fear and somewhat betrayal. Rhea held her breath as a crushing weight settled over her. This was one of those times she needed to push down her feelings. She didn't want to cry in front of Derek. It would make her seem weak and broken. She was a Hale for goodness sakes. If Derek could take it then she could take it. That's what she would start thinking when someone close to her died or was hurt. "Rhea, I need you to go home. Let me take care of everything." Derek said before letting her go and pushing her towards the path they came. Rhea tried to get another look at his face but he turned away, blocking her from seeing his emotions or Laura.