My Love for Derek Hale *Discontinued*

Tattoo

"Transitory, transient, momentary, short-lived," I read.

We both stare at where our tattoo use to be. We get ready for school. As I'm brushing my hair, Scott brings up the events from last night. "How did you know that the deer was going to hit them? Do you have future vision or something?"

I try to smile but my capabilities are getting out of hand, more than I can control now. "I just felt it, Scott. If I ever find out, you'll be the first I tell."

Scott got a green dirt bike with the number thirty-two on the front. I got a black one, brand new. I still have my Jeep, of course. We ride together to school and pull up next to two other motorcycles. I scream with excitement and kneel next to one of them. "Scott? Do you know what these are?" I ask. He shakes his head. "These are M.V. Agusta F3s. My dream bike."

He laughs. "Looks like we're not the only twins here now."

I shrug and we walk in to our school as juniors. Scott mentions to Stiles that we want to ask Derek about the tattoo thing because Derek obviously overcame the healing issue to get his. Stiles points to two 'Missing Person' posters featuring Erica and Boyd pinned to the bulletin board. "Derek has his hands full."

We have a new English teacher, Ms. Blake. I sit next to Scott and, when Allison walks in, there is only one seat left. She has to sit in front of Scott, which she does reluctantly. All of our phones begin to chime.

Ms. Blake enters reading the text from her phone. "The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness. It is the closing line to the first book you will be reading in my class. 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad and that it will also be the last text any of you receive in my class," she explains.

She instructs us to turn off our phones. Allison passes Scott a note that reads asks can they talk. As he is replying, the principal enters and whispers to Ms. Blake. When the principal leaves, she calls Scott and me to the hall. She explains that our mother needs us to leave school but adds that she is aware of our poor school record and wants to warn us 'in the nicest possible way' not to slip back into old ways.

He says he won't but she says resolutions are only good if you stick with them. He promises we will and won't be ephemeral. I smile as we walk out the building. When we get to the hospital, we rush down the hall with our mom. "I selfishly didn't call you two first because I know how hard you've been working with the extra reading and summer school and saving money for the motorbike, which I hate by the way, and I don't want the supernatural crazy to interfere with everything you two are accomplishing," she explains.

"Mom, we're not gonna stop vowing to be better students, a better son and daughter, better friends, a better everything," Scott replies.

Me and Scott heads to the elevator to find Isaac but the doors are stopped before they can close by what appears to be a blind man's cane. A man in dark glasses with a British accent enters and asks Scott to press the second floor. When we try to exit on the floor, the blind man asks for Scott's help and grabs his shoulder aiming to use him as a guide. Scott reluctantly complies.

We arrive just in time to see the orderly wheeling Isaac into the elevator. I sense that he is another werewolf and dives headlong toward the closing elevator doors. We lands in a heap with claws and fangs bared. We fight with the orderly who quickly starts gaining and maintaining the upper hand.

He throws me into the wall and stomps onto my chest. I cough. I hear one or two my ribs crack. He slams Scott into the ceiling and the floor several times. "I'm an Alpha," the man says.

As we get to the next floor, I catch a scent of Derek. I smile. "Guess what? So is he," I say.

At that moment the doors open, Derek claws the guy in the back and and throws the guy out of the elevator, across the hall where he seems to land unconscious.

He looks at us. "Aren't you two supposed to be in school?"

Scott helps me up and we make it to the Hale House. Scott tells Stiles, by phone, to meet us there. Derek says he doesn't live here anymore because the county has taken possession over the house. He is digging around the hole in the floor where Peter was buried. He says there's something he needs to help Isaac heal the wounds from an Alpha on 'the inside'.

He pulls out several wolfsbane plants and lays them on the table next to the still unconscious Isaac. Derek explains that the Alpha in the elevator is from a 'rival pack' but stops there and says it's his problem and tells us to go home and back to being teenagers. Remembering our tattoo problem, Scott asks Derek to help.

Derek looks at our arms. His eyes glow red and he says he can 'see' our healed tattoo. "Why is this so important to you?" he asks.

"Do you know what the word 'tattoo' means?"

"To mark something," Stiles replies.

"Well, that's in Tahitian," I say. "In Samoan, it means 'open wound'. We knew we wanted to get a tattoo when we turned eighteen. We have always wanted one. We decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward."

"For what?"

I look at Scott and we both sigh. "For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to, even when it was hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. Going four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a, uh...."

"Open wound," Stiles says.

Derek looks at me and I shake my head. "I'm just going along with him." I lie right through my teeth and Derek knows this.

He raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

I shake my head again. "Every week of the summer, I went out and stood on top of a cliff. I could see all of Beacon Hills. I want to protect everyone but some just...slip through my fingers. I sometimes wonder why I exist or why I'm even a werewolf. I've been searching and hoping to find out my purpose...my worth to this world and even the supernatural world. I have so much power but have no idea what to do with it. These two bands represent two people I hope I never lose."

I glance at Stiles and Scott. Derek lights a blow torch and says he needs Stiles to help hold Scott down. He then applies the torch to Scott's arm which begins to sear and burn. Scott's eyes go yellow and his fangs come out. At some point he loses consciousness. Derek looks at me and I sigh. Stiles holds down on my shoulders. I bite my lip and nod at him. "This will be the worst pain you will ever feel," he says.

The torch makes me scream and my fangs visible. My vision goes black. When I come around, I sees that my tattoo is now fully there and the skin around it seems to have healed from the torch. "It looks permanent," Stiles points out.

"I kinda just needed something permanent. Everything is happening so fast. Everything is just so..."

"Ephemeral?" I ask, with a smile.

He laughs. "Yeah."

"Studying for the PSATs?"

"Yep," we both say.

"Nice."

As we're leaving, I notice the door having a fresh red paint job. "Who painted the door?" Scott asks.

Thinking that Derek did it to hide something, Scott claws the paint off revealing a symbol. "Derek, what the hell is this?" I ask.

"It's an Alpha symbol," he responds.

Scott connects the weird animal behavior to the way the deer reacted the night we got bitten by the Alpha. "There's a pack of them," I say.

"How would that work?" Stiles asks.

"I hear there's some kind of a leader. The leader is called Deucalion," Derek says. "They have Boyd and Erica. Me, Peter and Isaac have been looking for them. I'll need all the help I can get to deal with the Alpha Pack."

Isaac then regains consciousness and asks about the whereabouts of some mystery girl.