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"They were there for 2 days, that's what we're taught to do when the hunters find us. Hide and heal," Cora said, a far-off look in her eyes as she gazed out the window. Olive turned to Stiles who was growing exceedingly frustrated by her half-assed explanation.
"Okay, so is two days standard then? Or is Derek on some sort of extended getaway?" Stiles folds his arms and Cora turns to face the two.
"Why do you care?"
"Why do I care? Why do I care, let's see, in the last week my best friends have tried to kill themselves, one's boss almost got ritually sacrificed, a girl that I've known since I was three was ritually sacrificed," He shook his head, turning to Olive. "not to mention she died and came back to life within a span of 12 hours- shall I go on?" Stiles puts his hands on his hip and Cora raises her eyebrows slightly. "Cause I can, alright, I can go on for like an hour!"
"You think Derek can do anything about that?" Cora shook her head, approaching them.
"Well, since he's the one they seen to be after, it's more like he should do something about it, yeah," Stiles wrung his hands together and Cora narrowed her eyes, glancing between them.
"I don't know, there's something different about him now, he wasn't like this when I knew him."
"What was he like," Olive spoke up, tilting her head and facing Cora.
"A lot like Scott, actually," Peter says, coming down the stairs. "He was a lot like most teenagers, unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic, tolerable really only to other teenagers. Congratulations on coming back from the dead, by the way, welcome to the club."
Peter approached the group and stood at the head of the table, placing a hand on Olive's shoulder. She rolled her eyes, writhing out of his grasp and moving to the other side of Stiles.
"What happened to him? What changed him?" Stiles turned from Olive to Peter who raised an eyebrow.
"Well the same thing that changes a lot of young men," He turned to everyone before continuing. "A girl."
"You're telling me some girl broke his little heart? That's why Derek is the way he is?" Stiles looked to the Hales in disbelief and then turned to Olive who just shrugged.
"Do you remember Derek before he was an alpha had blue eyes?" Peter asked, facing Cora and she nodded. "Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?"
"I always thought it was like a genetic thing," Olive shook her head, folding her arms.
"If you want to know what changed Derek, you need to know what changed the color of his eyes," Peter looked off into the distance, remembering the day like it was yesterday.
"When Derek was a sophomore he met a girl named Paige, excellent cello player, he fell in love with her pretty much as soon as he saw her, you know how teenage boys are," Peter rolled his eyes, sitting down in a chair. Olive turned to Stiles and the two followed him, sitting on the couch before him, Cora close behind.
"Wait so if Derek was a sophomore back then how old was he? How old were you?" Stiles narrows his eyes, turning to Peter before raising an eyebrow. "How old are you now?"
"Not as young as we could've been but not as old as you might think," Peter nodded and Olive turned to Stiles, both extremely confused.
"That was frustratingly vague," Stiles shakes his head, turning to Cora. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"See, that's an answer, that is how we answer people," Stiles glares at Peter and Cora takes a deep breath.
"Well, seventeen how you'd measure in years..." She trails off, causing Olive to stifle a laugh. Stiles rolls his eyes, holding his hand up to stop her.
"That's enough, I'm just gonna drop it," He sighs, turning back to Peter. "What happened to Derek and the cello girl?"
"What do you think happened, they were teenagers. One minute it's 'I hate you, don't talk to me' the next it's frantic groping in any dark corner they can manage to find themselves alone in for five minutes. Their favorite dark corner was an abandoned distillery outside of Beacon Hills," Peter shrugged and Olive rolled her eyes.
"We can skip the graphic details," She turns to him and Peter narrows his eyes. Stiles turns to her with a similar expression.
"Don't act like you and Isaac haven't been-"
"Stiles, shut up," She glared at him and Stiles put his hands up in defense. "How do you even know all of this, you just said they were alone."
"Back then I wasn't just Derek's uncle, I was his best friend, his closest confidante, that's how I know," Peter sat up, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes. "Now, if you'll let me continue, one night when they were at the distillery they were almost caught by other wolves. They were all there, Ennis, Kali, Deucalion, all with their own packs before they'd offed them all."
"What were they doing there?" Olive furrowed her brows and turned to him.
"They were investigating what happened to one of Ennis' pack, a boy. He was killed," Peter turned to Olive, looking her in the eye. "By hunters."
Olive shifted uncomfortably, trying to look anywhere but Peter.
"Okay, but that's not Olive's fault, so maybe we could continue," Stiles gestured, taking a bit of a tone with Peter who rolled his eyes, continuing his story.
"They didn't all live here, but there was one exceptionally powerful alpha who did live here. She could shape-shift, rare among our kind, much like yourself, Olive. It made her somewhat of a leader, the kind of alpha other alphas would come to for advice, guidance," Peter trailed off and Cora turned to him, wide-eyed.
"My mom," She said and Peter nodded.
"Talia Hale. She arrived at the distillery and spoke to the other packs, not wanting to disturb the somewhat peace they'd made. Even Deucalion didn't want to start a war with the hunters. But that guy Ennis, he wasn't happy about the beta he'd lost. So he clawed a spiral onto the side of the barn," He got up, walked over the window, and drew a small spiral in the fog that the rain had caused. "Our mark for vendetta."
"Man, you guys really take that revenge thing to like a whole new level, don't you?" Stiles quirked an eyebrow, earning the attention of everyone in the room.
"It's not just revenge," Cora shook her head, turning to him. "Losing a member of your pack isn't like losing family, it's like you lose a limb."
"They wouldn't even let him see the body."
"I don't get it, what does this have to do with Derek?" Olive narrowed her eyes and turned to Peter, who was still facing out the window.
"Everything," He shook his head, turning to her. "It's never just a single moment, it's a confluence of events. Personally, I looked at Ennis' circumstances, I saw profound loss. Derek saw something different, he saw opportunity."
"Opportunity to do what?" Olive kept eye contact as Peter approached the table, taking a deep breath before he continued.
"To always be with her. The thing was he had this constant fear, he was obsessing over it. Thinking about it all night, all day, always on his mind. He didn't want her to find out," Peter shook his head, walking toward the window again. "He was afraid that if she found out she wouldn't be able to look past it. I kept telling him not to do it. Every day the more he thought about it the more convinced he became. You know teenagers, I bet he even blames me. He's probably convinced himself the whole thing was my idea."
"Have you ever heard of an emissary?" Peter turned to Stiles who shook his head and Cora spoke up.
"It comes from the legend of Lycan-"
"Wasn't he the one who disobeyed the Gods of Olympus? And Zeus turned Lycan and his sons into wolves, that's where we get the word Lycanthropy," Olive interrupted, and Peter and Cora exchanged a slightly impressed look. "I read up on it, after Derek bit me. I wanted to know what I was dealing with."
"Then, do you know what happened next?" Cora narrowed her eyes and Olive shook her head, gesturing for her to continue. "Lycan and his sons met the druids, they couldn't help them turn back fully but they did teach them how to shift back and forth, they became special to the packs and that's where the emissary comes from. They keep us connected to humanity. But they're a secret, even in the pack, sometimes only the alpha knows who the emissary is. Derek and I had no idea about Deaton."
"Or his sister, Morrell," Peter turned to them and Olive and Stiles exchanged wide-eyed glances.
"She's an emissary too?" Stiles furrowed his eyebrows and Peter looked at him like it was obvious.
"Yeah, for the alpha pack."
"Our guidance counselor?" Olive looks between Cora and Peter and they both nod.
"Why the hell don't you people tell me any of this stuff, huh? I shared some really intimate details with her!"
"And did she give you good advice?" Cora asked from across him and Stiles thought for a moment.
"Actually, yeah."
"That's what they do, that's what Deaton used to do for Talia. Her and Deucalion met with Deaton to discuss extending an olive branch, neither of them wanted war. He told them the story of the scorpion and the frog, which I'll spare you, what's most important about that night is what happened at the school. Derek had left Paige a note telling her to meet him at the school, really she was meeting Ennis who was going to bite her and turn her."
"Ennis? Why would you choose him?" Cora shook her head, glaring at Peter.
"Why not? He was down a member of his pack, Paige was young and strong. Doing a favor for Derek would mean he was in good with Talia and back then everybody wanted to be in good with her."
"He doesn't remember it was Ennis, does he?" Olive turned to Peter, a similar gaze to Cora.
"If he does he keeps it to himself."
"So then what happened? Did he turn her?" Stiles asks and Peter sighs, shaking his head.
"Almost. He bit her, but Derek showed up and he came at Ennis, a fifteen-year-old boy against a giant. There was no reason for him to fight, she'd already been bitten."
"So did she turn?" Olive tilted her head and Peter turned to her.
"She should have, most of the time the bite takes, most of the time," He shook his head and Olive's face softened.
"When you offered it to me you said if it doesn't kill you," Stiles turned to Peter who nodded.
"If," Peter shook his head and continued his story. "I found them in this old bunker we used to hide from the hunters in. I walked in and she was already going limp in his arms, he asked me what was happening even though he knew the answer. It didn't matter if she was young and strong, some people just aren't made for this, but she fought, she struggled desperately, trying to survive. She couldn't take it, though. Even with Derek taking her pain, she couldn't take it anymore. When you die from the bite it's slow, painful. I don't blame her. She asked Derek to do it for her, stop her pain. I remember taking her body from his arms, to the woods, to a place where I knew it would be found. Another in a long line of Beacon Hills animal attacks."
"What about Derek?" Cora asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Taking an innocent life takes...something from you as well. A bit of your soul, darkening it, dimming the once brilliant golden yellow to a cold, steel blue, like mine," He says, flashing his werewolf eyes, sure enough, they were a bright blue.
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The room fell silent and Peter went back upstairs to do whatever. The three teens stared off into space, trying to process the story they'd just heard. Stiles was sat in between the two girls, a weird look on his face as he stared at the floor.
"What?" Olive narrowed her eyes at him and he looked over at her, shaking his head.
"What?"
"You've got a look," She said and Stiles shook his head again.
"No, no she's right, you do have a look, what is it?" Cora chimed in, turning to face the both of them.
"A look- What kind of look?"
"The kind of look that makes me want to punch you," Cora glared at him and Olive exhaled through her nose.
"My god, you are so Derek's sister, I forgot," Stiles shook his head, sighing. "I just don't believe him. Alright, in Ms. Blake's class, we're reading Heart of Darkness, and it's in first person, right? Narrated by Marlow. The thing is that he's an unreliable narrator, you know the details of it have changed, just because of his perspective."
"Okay, then we heard the story from Peter's perspective," Cora shrugged and Stiles nodded.
"Right, and I don't think we got the whole story."
"So what, are you just gonna ask Derek about the girl he fell in love with and then killed? I don't think that's such a good idea," Olive narrowed her eyes and Stiles turned to her.
"If I have to, yeah."
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