3rd Person:
"Are you sure no one will see us? You know you can't blow your cover." Hope queried, slightly anxious as she tied a piece of ribbon around the tree trunk, marking it. Her sister, covering a bag of clothes with leaves from the forrest floor, an attempt to camouflage them.
"Come on Hopeee, be a little reckless with me for once. We're deep in the reserve, it's not a full moon, plus the Argent's are entirely two focussed on Derek and Jackson right now."
Furrowing her eyebrows, the elder Mikaelson contemplated for a second before nodding her head, choosing to trust her sister's idea.
With an excited smile, Bella sent her sister a nod, "You ready?"
Flashback:
"AH!" Arabella cried out in agony, dropping to her knees as the bones in her right arm began to contort completely.
One by one, each and every bone began to dismantle, rearranging within her body as her wolf began to break through. "Dad, it hurts!"
"I know sweetheart." The original replied, crouching down in front of her as he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Hey, hey look at me."
Complying, Bella lifted her head, eyes glowing an iridescent amber as she focused on her father. His hand stroked the side of her cheek affectionately, he hated seeing her in any kind of pain. "Dad?"
"You're doing so well. You need to concentrate on the air in your lungs, steady your breathing. Focus on the ground beneath you. The first time could take hours-"
"Hours?!" The younger interrupted, continuing to groan as she writhed in pain.
"If you fight it. The pain will make you want to delay because you think that's all you can take, but if you let it in. If you allow it to swallow you whole. Then it cannot break you."
Taking deep, heavy breaths, the tribrid kept her eyes on her father, trying to keep some sort of composure as she followed his advice.
Klaus was determined to do this the right way. He loved his daughters more than anything, and he would ensure his beautiful Belle would receive the right guidance during her first transition. The guidance he was never given. The support he wish he had.
"I don't think I can do this alone." She panted, eyes back on the ground as her head began to throb, all kinds of pain swarming her nerves.
Pursing his lips, he put a hand to her shoulder as he replied. "I'm here, sweetheart. I'll be right here, we can do this together if you'd like."
All she could muster was a slight hum and a muffled whisper, her spine beginning to leap out of her skin. "I can do this."
"And when you're done. Roam wild and free. I'm right behind you." She lifted her eyes to meet her father's once again, admiration in his eyes as he stroked her cheek, planting a kiss on her forehead as he moved to stand. "I am so proud of you."
Enduring the transition for a couple minutes longer, Bella finally took her form, luscious strands of black and white fur coating her. Her clothes? ripped to smithereens as they formed a mis-matched blanket across the floor.
Gazing up at the elder Mikaelson, he wore a proud smile, sending his daughter a nod as he took off his leather jacket, folding it on the floor, intending to keep his word.
The feeling was euphoric, paws pattering against the woodland floor with all kinds of sensations. Pale moonlight beaming through canopies of trees as she weaved through the mahogany trunks. Cool wind combing through her fur coat, providing a refreshing rush as she darted along.
She loved it.
Her father wasn't far behind, a great, charcoal wolf emerging by her side, the two relishing in the freedom, completely content.
- - -
Present:
Roaming freely around the seemingly colossal reserve, both twins relished in the feeling, dashing and play-fighting as the faint glow of the night scattered across their skin.
Technically speaking, Charlotte was the older wolf, activating her curse just a mere months before her twin sister. In fact, the victim triggering said curse was a kind of hunter, a man whom she'd only killed because he went after her sister. Effectively saving her.
They'd been out there for a while, finally deciding to shift back, the two returned to their tree, identifying the strategic placement of the silky ribbon.
Each wolf grabbed a bag in their teeth, trekking off to return to their human form.
Returning, the pair walked to the car, engaging in casual conversation about just about anything.
"Hey, what did aunt D want with us the other day?" Bella asked, almost forgetting about the small detail.
"Oh uh, it was nothing important really. She just missed us and wanted to know what was going on over here, that's all." Hope lied, with a faux smile she prayed her sister didn't catch onto.
Of course that didn't work, Belle could read her twin like the back of her hand, she knew the girl was lying through her teeth, but what about? What could they possibly want to hide from her?
She brushed the questions off, storing them in the back of her mind as she tried not to act suspicious. "Oh okay, just a murderous lizard, a family of experienced hunters, like 5 werewolves, two tribrids and a random vet who knows way too much about the supernatural. Your average drama really."
Hope let out a chuckle, climbing into the passenger seat of her sister's car, incredibly keen to change the topic. She'd always been a terrible liar, well to her family at least, though she knew this particular lie was worth telling.
If it meant keeping Arabella safe, she would do anything. Always and forever after all.
- - -
"Let me get this straight. You found Jackson at a gay bar, where he paralysed 7 people, and decided it would be a good idea to kidnap him and shove him in the back of a police van? in the middle of the woods?"
"Uh..yeah?" Stiles replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Well we couldn't exactly bring him anywhere else could we?"
"Is it bad that i'm weirdly a little bit impressed?" Arabella asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.
"Yup!" Scott shouted from a few meters away, nudging himself in the conversation.
"Why'd you tell me to come out here anyway? seems like you've got a plan?"
"Well I uh.."
Scott smirked to himself, seeing fit an opportunity to annoy his best friend as he walked over. "He literally can't live without you for longer than like a day I swear to god."
Stiles sent him a glare, just as the Mikaelson burst into laughter.
"And on that note, I'm gonna go feed the prisoner!" he mused, sarcastically waving his arms around as he left the two.
"You doing okay?" she asked the McCall boy, watching as he seemed to contemplate his answer.
"Yeah, I can just already tell we've got our hands full with Derek's pack, then Jackson, then Allison's family.." he trailed off, making the girl cringe at the amount of things going on.
"We'll get through it, it'll be fine."
"I guess so, yeah. Where's Hope?"
"I don't know." Arabella answered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders as she gestured her arms out. "She left this morning before I got out of bed. She just said she had something to do..?"
Hope was acting off, and she knew it. But to be honest, she didn't have time to worry about that right now. She'd spill her little secret whenever she was ready, but for now, Arabella had enough to juggle, alongside school, which is really not anything like the movies.
- - -
"Oh my God stop shouting, you're giving me a headache." Belle groaned, opening the door of the van as she slid inside, taking a seat next to Stiles.
"Ari? You're in on this two? Or you're so all getting sued." Jackson chuckled, clearly annoyed as she raised her hands in mock defence.
"Woah woah woah I have nothing to do with this plan. I just came to tell you to shut up."
"All right, we'll tell us this. What happened the night of the first full moon?" The pale boy asked, looking intently at the jock who didn't believe a word anyone said about his strange, deadly reptilian form.
"Nothing." He deadpanned, looking through his eyebrows as his head lowered in a sinister fashion. "Nothing happened." The last phrase coming out as a whisper.
"But it did." Bella commented, crossing her arms as she shrugged her shoulders forward.
"Nothing happened." He repeated, snapping at the girl, though she remained completely unfazed.
"If you say so Mrs. Kipling." Bella retorted, exiting the van as she leased against the white exterior.
As the hours passed, Belle switched between helping the confused jock, to pattering mindlessly through her phone, awaiting something to do. She was missing school of course, though she called in sick, some sort of emergency at the doctors office.
"Oh hey Ally"
"They know." The girl began, a weirdly stern look on her eyes as she approached Ari and Stiles.
"What?"
"They know Jackson's missing!" She replied urgently, the girls in her hair bobbing as she spoke.
Ari began to smile, wide eyes and raised eyebrows as she did so.
"No. They can't. I've been texting his parents since last night."
"Clearly not convincing enough." The tribrid groaned, elbowing the boy in the stomach playfully.
"Seriously they don't have a clue."
"My grandfather told me his parents went to the police. They know." The brunette practically spelled it out looking at the pale boy with alarm as she adjusted her knitted beanie.
Stiles held the phone by the tip of his fingers, as if was some kind of toxic substance as his jaw dropped in realisation. Arabella only chuckled at the action, attempting to cover it with a rather dramatic cough, "Something in my throat."
He dashed to the car, grabbing the radio as his dad's voice rang through the speaker. "All available units proceed to Beacon Hills Preserve as instructed. Proceed with caution until Sheriff Stilinski's arrival."
"Repeat, proceed with caution."
"Well isn't that wonderful." Belle chimed sarcastically, all three teenagers looking at each other with a look that screamed 'what the hell do we do now?'.
"Where are we going?" Allison asked, both girls slipping into the passenger seats of the van as Stiles climbed into the drivers seat.
"Somewhere far away from this." he mused, dialling a number before throwing the Kanima's phone out of the window.
- - -
"If Jackson doesn't remember being the Kanima, He's definitely not going to remember taking Danny's tablet." Scott whined, walking with the three of them to the cliff at the very edge of the reserve.
"Why would he steal the thing if he didn't know what was on it?" Stiles asked, making the small group contemplate.
Ari purses her lips into a thin line, thinking of any possibilities, "What if someone else took it?"
"Then somebody else knows where he is."
"Which could be someone protecting him."
"Hold on. The Kanima seeks a friend, right? If someone else knows, they're probably helping him kill." Ari aired out, looking between the group as they all began to process her thoughts.
"So, somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima, and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know? I mean who would do that?"
"Somebody who wanted to protect him?" Allison offered, her tone of voice increasing at the end of her sentence.
Scott shook his head a little, wanting to expand, "There's something else. You said the only thing you found online about the Kanima was that it goes after murderers. What if that's actually true?"
"Well no, it can't be it tried to kill all of us remember? I don't know about you three but i haven't murdered anybody lately?" Stiles offered, looking at the group obviously.
Bella inhaled sharply, "You killed vampires, but i think you'll be safe." she muttered, before mumbling an extra sentence, "He could still come after me though."
Scott looked at the girl, slightly puzzled, though he wanted to comfort her. "I- I don't think that it was actually trying to kill us. Remember when we were at Issac's that first time, it just went right by us didn't it?"
"You're right it just ran off."
"And it didn't kill you at the mechanic's garage."
"Well yeah but it tried to kill us in the pool."
"Did it?" Scott replied, making Stiles argue back "it would have- It was waiting for us to come out."
"Well do you think it was trying to scare us or something?" Ari but in, catching everyone's attention.
"What if it was trying to keep you in?"
"Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?" Stiles replied, a look of genuine disbelief across his features.
"Because there's something else going on and we don't know what it is." The tanned boy answered, just as Bella crossed her arms.
"A friend." The Mikaelson muttered under her breath as she thought. "What if someone's controlling it, maybe that's why it only killed certain people?"
"We don't know anything going on with him. We don't know why someone's protecting him-"
"Know thy enemy." The Argent replied, clearly deep in thought. "It was just something my grand father said."
"All right, I got it, kill Jackson. Problem solved."
"He risked his life for us. Against Peter, you remember that?" The werewolf responded, looking at his best friend as he scoffed.
"Uh yeah, so did Belle, who did a lot more might I add- Anyway. What did we just find out? he got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he just got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us, it's funny."
"It doesn't mean he's not still worth saving!"
"It's always something with him though."
"I hate to say it but he's right Stilea, he doesn't know what he's doing." Ari chimes in, sharing Scott's empathy for the boy.
"So what?"
"So I didn't either!" Scott erupted, turning to Allison. "Remember when I almost killed you and Jackson?" The girl only nodded in response.
"I had someone to stop me. He has nobody."
"That's his own fault."
"Stiles-" Bella warned, slightly sick of his defiance. "Scott's right, it'd be wrong not to help him. If I was the Kanima, would you try and save me?"
Stiles pursed his lips into a thin line, scrunching his eyebrows momentarily before responding, "Yes. In a heartbeat, but it's not the same, this is Jackson we're talking about here. Come on."
"If we can save him, we should try." Scott spoke out, agreeing with his tribrid friend. An utter silence following as the group processed his words. Though the school-boy glances between Scott and Allison didn't go unnoticed, opting to leave the two alone watching the chain-bound jock.
Though that probably wasn't their finest idea...
- - -
A/N: Kind of a filler, sorry for the time it took to update, it's been one hell of a hectic week :(( Quicker updates with BETTER chapters soon, same goes for 'Criminally Complete'!
On the bright side, just published the first proper chapter of my new story 'Hell on Earth', a story that i've planned a lot more before writing, so should flow a little better <3
Word Count: 2.5k
Until next time...