Stood in the doorway to Stiles' room, Roman and Lia watched as Noah approached his son. "You know how many vehicle collisions last year involved deer?" Stiles asked, not removing his eyes from the screen of his laptop. Roman and Aurelia shared a look as they listened to him. After arriving home last night, Lia filled Roman in on everything that happened as he had opted to stay home and prepare himself for his first day back at school. "Two hundred and forty-seven thousand," Stiles answered, flicking through multiple different web pages.
"Oh, God, please go to school." The Sheriff begged, rubbing his forehead before resting his hands on his hips.
"But that's crossing the road. This one last night came right down the middle." Stiles countered, clicking through a whole new set of pages.
"I'm not gonna beg you." Although it had seemed to be too late by the tone of his previous statement.
"Okay, good. I'm impervious to your influence anyway." Stiles shrugged. Noah glanced back at Lia, wondering whether he'd listen to her.
"What about Lia's?"
"She'll end up helping." Stiles deadpanned, finally tearing his eyes away from the screen and looking up to his girlfriend — but not girlfriend. Considering, it hadn't been specified what they actually were.
"Would you consider a bribe?" Noah asked.
"You couldn't meet my price."
"Extortion?"
"You got nothing on me," Stiles smirked, glad that all the embarrassing things he ever did were usually in front of Lia. And Lia's opinion is the only one that mattered, to him anyway. "Dad, what are you doing?" Stiles asked, not paying attention to his father as he began to drag the chair. "Dad, what are you doing?" He repeated, reaching for the space bar desperately. Tapping it once, he finally fell from the chair and landed on the floor. Roman and Lia erupted into laughter as he scrambled to his feet, going for the laptop as Noah slammed it shut.
"No. Go to school."
"But—"
"Na— go." Sucking in a breath, he hiked his bag onto his shoulder and without breaking eye contact backed up to the door. Walking directly, into Roman and Lia.
"Oh, my— sorry."
Arriving at school, Stiles kissed Lia on the cheek and ran in — needing to talk to one of his teachers about something whilst Aurelia and Roman looked for Scott. Spotting Scott riding in on his new dirt bike, Aurelia whistled. "Sweet." She smiled, running her fingers along the green frame. Roman coughed awkwardly and nodded to the spot next to Scott. Looking down to where Roman was staring, she saw two black motorcycles — sleek and expensive motorcycles. "Damn."
Meeting up with Stiles inside, the four walked the halls. "You wanna ask Derek for help? Why, why?" Stiles spoke, clearly opposed to the idea.
"He's got the triskele tattooed on his back. So there has to be a way to do it without healing, right?" Scott explained, a hopeful undertone to his voice.
"Okay, yeah, but still, doesn't he have his hands a little full?" Stiles spoke, referring to the missing werewolves. Gesturing to the corkboard next to him, the four friends laid their eyes on Erica and Boyd. Both of which had been missing for three months now.
Not wanting to think about it, Lia turned away from the missing posters — happy with the thought that Derek and Issac were actively searching for them — and saw Allison stood by her locker. "Come on." She spoke, grabbing Romans arm and tugging him to the brunette. "Hey, Katniss."
"Uhh. I thought you forgot." Allison groaned, shutting her locker and resting her head against it.
"Never." She smiled, Roman laughed. Him also coming up with nicknames all the time, and never forgetting a single one.
"Freshmen." Lydia introduced from behind Roman, slamming her hand on the locker that had been left open. "Tons and tons of fresh men."
"You mean fresh boys. Lydia, they're fourteen." Allison laughed, sharing a look with Aurelia who watched on sympathetically. Ever since Jackson, the strawberry blonde had been using guys as a distraction for the awful reality. It was heartbreaking, really.
"Eh, some are more mature than others." Lydia reasoned, looking at one particularly built boy.
Aurelia met eyes with Allison, as she moved forward and stood in the way of Lydia's view. "You know, it's okay to be single. Focus on yourself for a little while, work on becoming a better person."
"Allison, we love you." Lydia smiled, gesturing to Aurelia and Roman. "So if you need to do that thing where we talk about me and pretend like we're not actually talking about you, it's totally fine." Roman laughed under his breath as Allison's mouth dropped open. "But I don't want a boyfriend. I want a distraction."
"I wouldn't say that's necessarily healthy, though." Lia hummed, snapping her fingers in the girls face as she zoned out. "Lydia?"
"Lia." Roman gawked.
"What?" Turning around, she allowed the distraction to draw her in too. Two boys, clad in leather, holding two motorcycle helmets stormed the hallway. "Brothers?"
"Twins." Lydia clarified, as their faces came into view. Identical, to be sure, considering they were a dead ringer for one another. Walking past the group, the two brothers caught eyes with Roman and Lia — obviously sensing that they were supernatural. One brother smiled at Roman who was taken aback by his confidence, whilst the other checked out Lia — sending an obnoxious wink her way. Waiting for them to get out of earshot, she turned to Lydia. "You can have him."
Walking into their first lesson, Aurelia walked over to Stiles. Pulling his bag off the chair in front, he let her sit down. "Hey, you." She smiled, sliding onto her seat and turning around.
"Hi." He smiled before getting hit with Lydia's bag as she took the seat beside him. Lia laughed as Stiles told off Lydia, who shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't care. "Just watch it next time, yeah?"
Roman, who took the seat next to Aurelia, shook his head. "Are they always like this?"
"You'd be surprised."
Allison who had been looking for a seat, that wasn't directly in front of Scott, took a deep breath and approached the only available place. "Is someone—"
"No, no, no, no. No, it's all you, all yours." Scott rambled nervously, due to the fact they hadn't spoken in a month. "Uh, it's totally vacant." Stiles and Lia both cringed, Stiles, giving him an extremely sarcastic thumbs-up as Lia slammed her head on his desk.
Buzzing filled the room as every student's phone received a message, a ripple of screens lighting up as they flicked up the text. "'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'. This is the last line to the first book we are going to read." A beautiful brunette woman read, presumably their new English teacher. "It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone." The woman, known as Jennifer or Ms Blake, ordered.
Around ten minutes into the lesson, the class was doing a pop-quiz on the previous book they read — just so the new teacher could gauge what the class remembered — when in walked the new principal. Jennifer nodded with a smile and waited before she called out to the class. "Mr McCall, Ms Lahey." All members of the packs heads shot up, as Ms Blake beckoned them to the front of the class. Raising to her feet, Lia nudged Scott who seemed to be in a trance and they made their way out of the classroom. "Uh, I'm sure it's an emergency if your mother needs you to leave school, but I'm gonna give you a warning in the nicest possible way. I am well aware of your attendance record. I don't wanna see you slip back into old habits."
"I won't. It's gonna be different this year." Scott assured.
The new teacher smiled condescendingly. "Resolutions are only good if you stick with them, Scott."
"I will. I promise it won't be ephemeral." Scott smiled, taking off down the hallway.
Aurelia stood there, not knowing whether she was done with her too. "You too, Aurelia."
"Lia." She correct.
"Hm?" Ms Blake hummed questioningly.
"It's Lia."
"I could have sworn it says Aurelia on the register." She reasoned, making Aurelia let out a polite laugh.
"It does. It's my full name. But I go by Lia." She explained, an unsettling feeling resting in her stomach. Something screaming against her being remotely near this woman.
"Well, as we are in a formal setting. Instead of using a nickname, I will be calling you Aurelia." Lia let out a laugh, covering her mouth with her hand slightly.
"Then I won't be answering." She shrugged, if this new teacher wasn't going to respect her — why does she deserve Lia's.
And with that, she turned around and followed after Scott, who stood holding the door open with a smirk. "Damn, you put her back in her place."
"I was here first."
Walking through the doors of Beacon Hills Hospital, panic arose in Lia's chest and she and Scott followed after Melissa. "Why didn't you tell me before?" Scott asked, referring to the fact that Isaac was currently in a hospital room from getting in a supernatural related fight.
"Honestly, I was hoping I didn't have to," Melissa answered, leading them down the winding corridors.
"What do you mean?" Lia asked, finally coming to a stop and the end of a hallway.
"Everything that you guys have been doing. Scott — the extra reading, the summer school, saving up for the bike, even though it scares me half to death. Lia — going away to get the Phoenix thing in control, your amazing grades and buying a house. Honey, I just didn't wanna disrupt a good rhythm." Melissa explained as if Lia was her child also.
"It's not gonna stop. I— I'm gonna be better this year. A better student, a better son, a better friend, a better everything. I promise." Scott spoke, holding his mother's hand.
"Me too, just without the better son, or daughter, bit." Aurelia laughed, not being able to be a better daughter if she didn't have parents to impress.
"You're a daughter to me." Melissa smiled, hugging the girl. "Okay. He's in room 215 if he isn't already in surgery." Melissa told the pair.
"Thank you." He replied, kissing her cheek before heading for the elevator.
Arriving at the door, the pair waited for them to open. Stepping inside and hitting level two, Lia rocked on the balls of her feet. As the doors began to close, a white cane made its way in between the gap and prevented the doors from shutting completely. A man dressed in a blue jumper and dark sunglasses stepped inside, placing himself between the two friends. "Would you hit the button for the second floor, please?"
Glancing over at Lia, he hesitated. She'd already clicked it and Scott being Scott like, didn't know what to do. "Sure," Lia spoke, nodding for Scott to press it again but the boy didn't move. Reaching over for the buttons she clicked the second one again. "There you go."
"Thank you." Spoke the man.
Meanwhile, in surgery, Isaac had just been prepped. Laid on the table under anaesthetic, the doctor peeled back the covering on his stomach to find it completely healed. Yelling at the surrounding nurses, he got Issac out of the room and prepped someone else instead. "You wouldn't mind helping me out for a second, would you?" The man asked Scott, feeling the presence of someone beside him.
"Um— sure." Scott complied, allowing the man to use his shoulder as a guide out of the elevator. After separating from the man they helped out in the elevator, Scott and Lia ran down the hallways in search of Isaac's room. Turning down the next corridor, Lia's stomach told her to check the one on her left. Heading to the next turning she spotted a man, dressed in scrubs, pushing a wheelchair. In said wheelchair was an asleep Isaac, beckoning Scott towards her she pointed.
Scott sucked in a breath at the sight and dread filled the pair as the man flicked out his claws and clicked the button to shut the elevator he was stood in. Running down the corridor and driving through the doors, Scott and Aurelia landed inside. The elevator shook as it began going down, and the two conscious werewolves shifted. Aurelia crouched down to her brother and attempted to wake him, shrieking when Scott was thrown into the wall next to her. "SHIT!" She yelled, ducking and pushing her brother out of the way as Scott landed on the ground with a sickening thud. Grabbing Lia by her jacket, he threw her at the next wall causing the lights to flicker. Not that it mattered, as they were soon to be destroyed as the man threw Scott against the roof.
Thinking of all the training in Greece, she knew this was a time when she could use some of it for their benefit. Flicking out her talons, she scratched the back of his legs. Deep enough for his knees to give away from beneath him. Eyes flickering with flames once again, she could control the power now — rather than it randomly bursting from her. Fire lighting in her palm she grabbed his arm, the skin under her grasp searing with the heat. Throwing his arms out she flew against the wall and landed behind Isaac. "Don't you realize what you're dealing with? I'm an Alpha." The werewolf shouted.
Hearing a ding from above, the elevator doors opened and in walked their saviour. Piercing his back with his claws and pulling him out so he slid across the floor, Derek smirked. "So am I." Turning back around to the three teens, two of which were out of breath and laying on the floor, he smiled. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
Looking up at Derek with a relieved sigh, she met eyes with him. "Would you believe me if I said no?"
Derek led the two teenagers into his old home, where he laid an unconscious Isaac on an old scolded table and began searching the house for something. Feeling her phone buzzing in her back pocket, Lia pulled it out and read the name. "We got a serious problem at school. Ms Blake's class was attacked by birds—" Stiles rushed out, not knowing that the phone was taken out of her hands.
"Hey, can you tell me about it later?" Scott interrupted.
"First of all, give Lia her phone back and second of all, no, pretty sure this qualifies for immediate discussion." Stiles berated, as he marched down the school hallway.
"Okay then, meet me at Derek's." Scott compromised, handing the phone back to Lia.
"Derek's house? What the hell are you both doing at Derek's house?"
"It's a long story, hun. I'll explain when you get here, are you all okay?" Lia asked, it only occurring to her now that Stiles wasn't the only person in the room.
"I'm assuming you mean me, Roman, Lydia and Allison. If so, we are all okay just a little shaken up." Stiles spoke through the phone. "Me and Roman are on our way now," Stiles explained, slamming the door to his Jeep.
"Okay, stay safe."
"You too."
Closing her eyes, she sucked in a breath and said what she wanted to say. "I love you."
Freezing on the end of the call, Stiles smiled. "I love you, too."
Pulling the phone away from her ear, she smiled and ended the call. Tucking it back into her pocket and turning to the two smirking wolves. "Shut up," Lia whined, as both the boys pretended to look innocent. "You don't still live here, do you?" She asked, changing the conversation.
Derek shook his head as he began looking again. "No. The county took it over, but there's something here that I need. It'll help heal a wound from an Alpha."
"Yeah, but it did heal." Scott frowned, having checked him the second Derek laid him down.
"Not on the inside." Derek deadpanned. Aurelia's breath got caught in her throat as she looked over to her brother.
"Hey, are you gonna tell us who that was back there? That Alpha." Scott asked, rocking awkwardly from foot to foot.
Glancing apprehensively at the pair, Derek sighed lightly. "A rival pack. It's my problem. I know you wanna help, and you did. I owe you one. Now go home. Go back to being a teenager."
"No. No way." Lia laughed, walking over to her brother. "I get your trying to keep us safe, but this is my brother. My twin. I'm not leaving until he wakes up." Aurelia argued.
"That could be days," Derek mumbled.
"So be it." Lia chuckled. "When I was in the hospital, did he leave? No. God, I mean— Isaac can't even be in the damn hospital cause it's too dangerous." She shouted, pacing backwards and forwards.
"Hey, Lia! He'll be fine. I've got this. I'll let you know when he wakes up." After a back and forth argument about her leaving, she finally caved. Knowing deep down inside her, that being with Derek was the safest place for Isaac.
Walking past Derek, Lia went to leave as Scott grabbed her arm and held her back. "Uh, hey, Derek. If you wanna repay back that favour now? There is something you can do for me." Scott hinted. Lia instantly knew what he was going to ask and understood completely.
"Lia? Scott?" Stiles called, walking through the red-painted door. "Hey, you okay?" The Stilinski asked, embracing the girl in his arms.
Nodding into his chest, she wrapped her arms around his lower back. "Are you?"
"Yeah, we're okay," Stiles answered, one hand on the back of her head the other around her shoulders. Pulling back, she spotted his cut and bloody hands.
"Oh, my god." She whispered, taking his hands in hers and examining the cuts. Closing her eyes, she focused on the pain, similar to what Scott did for the dog, but instead of taking it, she would heal it. Slowly the cuts closed up, healing at a supernatural pace. Stiles, Derek, and Scott watched in amazement and Roman rolled his eyes having seen it a bunch of times. Hissing at the pain, Aurelia opened her eyes as Stiles snatched his hands away.
"Does that hurt you?" He asked, a guttural feeling of guilt washing over him.
"A little." Stiles' face dropped and Aurelia quickly backtracked. "No! It's fine though, I can take it." Reaching for his hands, Stiles backed away again. "Please." Holding eye contact, Stiles finally placed his hands in hers and allowed to her heal them.
Closing and opening his hands, he examined the healed cuts. But before being able to thank her, Derek spoke up. "If you can supernaturally heal people now, can you heal Isaac?"
Lia dropped her head, and slowly shook it from side to side. "Deaton wasn't completely specific on who I was able to heal when he told us what I could do." Lia professed, having already come to terms with it. "Humans are the only being I can heal. We tried multiple tests, well I did. Even though they told me it wasn't possible for me to heal other supernaturals, Roman allowed me to practice on him. Safe to say it didn't work." She revealed, everyone listening intently. "Anyway Scott, what about your tattoo?"
Flicking his head back to Scott's arm, Derek's fingers traced the invisible ink."Yeah, I see it. It's two bands, right? What does it mean?" Stiles kissed the top of her head and muttered a thank you before walking over to Scott.
"You okay?" Lia asked the boy next to her. "You've only been here two days." She laughed.
"Moving to a supernatural town was bound to be interesting." Roman laughed, walking over to the boys.
"Indeed it is." The Lahey girl started, jumping around when she remembered something. "Oh! Erm, Derek, this is Roman, Roman — Derek." She informed, watching the werewolves introduce themselves properly.
"Why is this so important to you?" Derek asked, whilst Aurelia went to check on her brother. "Do you know what the word 'tattoo' means?" He further questioned, examining the tattoo with his Alpha eyes.
"To mark something." Stiles and Lia spoke in sync. Unfazed, Derek and Scott didn't bat an eye but Roman stood in shock.
"Do they do that a lot?" Roman muttered, lowering himself to Scott's level.
"You'd be surprised." Scott sassed, ignoring the unimpressed looks from the couple. "Anyway, that's in Tahitian. In Samoan, it means 'open wound'. I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned 18. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward." Scott explained, as none of his friends knew the actual reason.
"For what?"
Scott sighed to himself, focusing on his hands in his lap. "For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to, even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. It still hurts. It still feels like a, uh—"
"Like an open wound." Stiles finished when the Beta couldn't find the words.
Leaving his seat, Derek walked over to the small black toolbox in the corner of the ash-covered room. Something that would have been easily missed if you weren't looking for it. "The pain's gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt," Derek warned, crouching down and rooting through it.
"Ah, that's great," Stiles commented.
Without hesitation, Scott looked up. "Do it."
Flicking on the blow touch, Lia's eyes widened profusely as Stiles' mouth dropped. "Oh, wow. That's a— that's a lot for me. So I'm gonna take that as my cue. I'm just gonna wait outside."
Going to leave, Derek's rough hand clasped the back of the flannel shirt covering Stiles' back and tugged him causing the boy to nearly fall over his feet. "Nope. You can help hold him down." Knowing Stiles had a fainting problem and hated seeing people in pain, Lia gave Derek a look went to help him.
"Derek, me and Roman can hold him down. Stiles can wait outside." Stiles looked thankfully at Aurelia before moving outside and leaving them to help Scott. Holding him down by his shoulders, Scott breathed deeply at the sight of the roaring flame and sucked in a nervous breath.
Lowering the heat down to his arm, Scott began crying and screaming out in agony. His flesh melted beneath the flame, as his muscles tensed against the hold of Aurelia and Roman. "Hold him," Derek screamed, holding his wrist tighter as Lia and Roman strengthened their grips.
"It worked." Scott gawked, checking out his arm. Flexing his muscles as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, it being laced with sweat due to screaming so much.
Fetching Stiles from outside, she walked back through with him beside her. "Well, it looks pretty damn permanent now." He sassed.
"Yeah. I kind of needed something permanent. Everything that's happened to us — everything just changes so fast." Lia nodded, having said the same thing to Stiles when she got hers. "Everything's so, uh— ephemeral."
"Studying for the PSATS?" Stiles asked, leaning against the wall.
"Yep."
"Nice."
Heading for the door, after thanking Derek for his help, Stiles stood to the side to let Lia through when she stopped. Looking to her left where she examined the thick red paint coating the door. "You painted the door. Why'd you paint the door?" She asked. It was pointless. The house was practically falling apart at the seams, painting the door was relatively a waste of time.
"Go home, Lia."
"And why only one side?" Lia asked. "If there wasn't a reason you would tell me that, but you evading the question and not looking me in my eyes tells me otherwise. Not to mention your heartbeat." Derek sighed, rubbing his eyebrow and going to walk away.
As Lia laid it all out for him, things came forward in Scott's head. The story beginning to form in his mind's eye. Gently pushing Lia out the way, Scott began tearing at the door. The paint peeling off, with shards and splinters flying in all directions. Stepping back, the four saw the black symbol painted onto the door. "The birds at school and the deer last night— just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the Alpha. How many are there?" Lia and Roman met eyes, multiple Alpha's sounded all too familiar.
Buckling to the pressure, Derek admitted the information he had "A pack of them. An Alpha pack."
Roman began to back away, his breathing picking up. "No. I just got here, they can't— I can't— umm, no." Lia made her way through the boys over to Roman with her palms out. Just the thought of the Alpha pack could sometimes drive Roman to a dangerous place, that being part of the reason he had blue eyes rather than yellow.
"They can't hurt you. There's too many of us." Lia started, beginning to list the reasons as to why he was safe. "You're stronger now, you have friends that can help you." Derek, Scott and Stiles watched on in confusion as to why this affected him so much. Knowing it was something he wanted deeply, she pulled him into a hug and whispered something into his ear. "Payback."
"Payback." Roman nodded, hugging the girl tightly as he held in the tears that threatened to spill. "I want payback."
"So, that's what you'll get," Aurelia promised.
"Payback for what, exactly?" Stiles interrupted, wanting to know what was scaring the new kid so bad.
"For killing my pack. My family." Roman spoke, pulling away from Lia. "Dev. Or Devon. Used to be a friend, killed our whole pack for the power. I was yet to turn, so, I survived. But the rest of my family, not so much. I came home to them slaughtered. Home by home, he killed them all."
Derek's stomach dropped, this boy went through the same thing he did. It was something you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy, well maybe Derek would, but still — it hurt. "We know they have Boyd and Erica. I hear there's some kind of a leader." Derek spoke, careful not to pry too much — whilst Scott and Stiles stood in silence.
"He's called Deucalion," Lia told as Derek nodded.
"Peter, Isaac, and I have been looking for him for the past three months," Derek informed.
With a quick glance to Roman, Scott spoke. "Let's say you find them. How do you deal with an Alpha pack?"
"With all the help I can get," Derek admitted, his head flying to the side when Roman and Lia looked at each other.
As if communicating with their minds, they turned to Derek. "We're in."
A small smile appearing on the Alpha's face, the five turned at the sound of a person taking in a gasp of air. Shooting his attention to the human and four supernatural's Isaac panted. "Where is she? Where's the girl?"
Sharing a look between the rest of them Derek turned back to Isaac and studied his face. "What girl?"