Tattoo [ 3.1 ]
"Boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture..." That tattoo artist remarked sarcastically to Scott as he looked at the sketch.
Scott looked at him sheepishly before Stiles yelled for his attention, "Hey, Scott! You sure you don't want something like this?" Inside the page was a drawing of a giant lizard, one very similar to the kanima. "...Too soon?" He questioned.
"Maybe I should get a tattoo." Nova thought out loud as she looked at the many cute designs there were on a page of a booklet.
Stiles stood by her with narrowed eyes, "Your parents would kill you." He commented.
"You're also afraid of needles." Scott made sure to mention.
"Exactly, don't be crazy like Scott." Stiles said before turning back to his other best friend, "I mean, are you sure about this? I mean, these things are pretty permanent, you know?"
"I'm not changing my mind." Scott shook his head.
"Okay, but why two bands?" Stiles further questioned, intriguing Nova as well, this was pretty out of the blue.
"I just like it." Scott shrugged.
"But don't you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning? You know, or something?"
Nova agreed, "Yeah, something that you won't regret in the future." She added on.
"Getting a tattoo means something." Scott remarked back at his friends who still didn't buy it.
"I don't think that's–" Stiles said skeptically.
But the bald-headed tattoo artist cuts him off, "He's right. Tattooing goes back thousands of years. The Tahitian word tatau means "to leave a mark," like a rite of passage." He sided with Scott.
"Yeah, see? He gets it!" The teen wolf points out.
Stiles scoffs softly, "He's covered in tattoos, Scott– literally."
"Yeah he makes money off of this." Nova said, earning a look from the artist.
The older guy picked up the tattoo gun "Okay, you ready?" Scott nodded shortly, "You ain't got any problems with needles, do you?" He questioned.
"Nope!" Scott replied.
Nova flinched as the needle touched Scotts skin but it was nothing to the drowsiness Stiles was feeling, "I tend to get a little squeamish, though, so..." Within a second he dropped to the floor.
Nova crouched down to her friend's height, "Stiles? He's dead– nevermind." Instead of waking him, she took the sweater that was wrapped around her waist and put it under his head, being a good friend.
They waited a while for Scott to finish his tattoo, when he finally did Nova made sure to wake Stiles. They got an ice pack for his head. They made their way back into the jeep and were ready to head home.
"Oh, man..." Scott hissed in pain grabbing his arm.
The two turned to him at the sound of his complaining, "You okay?" Nova asked genuinely.
"Kinda burns..." Scott let out a small groan.
"Yes, you just had your skin tabbed about one hundred thousand times with a needle..." Stiles reminded him, sarcasm lacing his voice..
"Yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to feel like this." Scott continued to groan in pain, "No, it's definitely not supposed to feel like this!" he began to pull on the wrap around his arm as his two friends watched with worry and confusion, "Oh, I gotta take this thing off!"
"No, no, no, no, Scott!" STiles pleaded with the werewolf. "Oh, Scott, please stop!" He was very grossed out.
"Whoa!" Nova mumbled as they watched the tattoo ink slowly begin to fade away slowly.
"Oh, no! What?" Scott frowned as it fully disappeared, "No, no, come on! It healed." He sighed disappointedly.
Unlike Scott, Stiles held a look of relief, "Aw, thank God. I hated it." Nova smacked the back of his head lightly, "...Sorry."
"Maybe we can find a way to get it back." Nova assured her friend, which SCott was thankful for her support.
He gave a short nod, "Maybe." He mumbled.
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
"You know what I don't get?" Stiles questioned as they continued their conversations in the jeep.
Nova looked up meeting his eyes through the rearview mirror, "What?"
"How you're in a relationship with sour-wolf of all people. And we're still single?" He gestured between himself and Scott.
Nova pouted at the boy, "You know he doesn't like when you call him that." Her arms were crossed over one another.
"How is that going by the way?" Scott canned his neck back to look at Nova, "I mean I'd assume fine because even if you don't see each other you're always talking." He was genuine in asking.
"And they said the 'L' word already." Stiles added in a playful way.
Nova became flustered which was not unnoticed by her friends, "It's just– I really love him." She admitted shyly, "Even if you guys think it's weird or gross, I appreciate that you guys support me at least." She tanked them.
Stiles noticed the smile that appeared as spoke, "Jokes aside, we know you're happy. That's all we want for you." He told her. They only wanted the best for her.
"Yeah, so if he ever breaks his heart, we will break him." Scott promised making Nova happy at the care they had for her.
"Thanks." She told them,
Soon the conversation had shifted from Nova and Derek, to school and then to questioning Scott about Allison.
"We agreed to give each other the summer-- no texts, no calls."
Nova hadn't spoken to Allison or about her since everything went down. There were plenty of reasons why. She knew she'd have to face the subject at some point but she was not looking forward to it.
"So, then how do you know she won't be back at school, then?" Stiles asked as they came up to a red light.
"After everything that happened, I'm not sure she's coming back at all..." Scott trailed off while Nova couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved.
"I think she is." Stiles cut him off looking to his right, pointing to the car next to them. "I'd say it's pretty definite, you know... Like, one-hundred-percent..."
The two turned to look at the smaller car with both Lydia and Allison sat in the front, "Oh, my God! Oh–" Scott quickly panics as he and Allison make eye contact. "Can we just drive, please? Stiles?"
"You're being dramatic Scotty." Nova exclaimed, which was totally valid.
"I think we should talk to her. I just think we should say something." Stiles said, leaning over to roll down the window while Scott just kept protesting. "Hey!– you know, they probably didn't see us." He says as the car drives away.
"What are you doing?" Scott questioned as the light turned green allowing for Stiles to continue driving.
"I'm driving...?"
"We're right behind them." Scott pointed out.
Nova rolled her eyes at his worries, "Okay, well, do you see any turns? This is the only way we're going to get home." She reminded him.
"I don't want it to look like we're following them..." Scott insisted which only made the other two look at him ridiculously.
Stiles turned to his male best friend, "Well, what do you want me to do?"
"I don't know– anything?" Scott became frustrated at this point making Stile come to a stop just a few yards away from the girls. Though as the car ahead came to a stop it confused them, but it wasn't until it looked like something crashed into did they react.
Three left the jeep running out to see what was going on, at the same time both Lydia and Allison edited their car frantically screaming. One they reached the girl they made sure they were physically alright.
"It came out of nowhere!" Lydia yelled, shaken by what rammed into their car. "It ran right into us!"
Scott turned to Allison, "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." She nodded.
Lydia looked hysterical, "Well, I'm not okay! I am totally freaking out! How the hell does it just run into us? I saw its eyes right before it hit us, and it was like it... It was like it was crazy."
Scott made his way to the animal that was now through the windshield, "No, it was scared." He reached out, putting a hand to it, "...Actually, terrified."
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
After dropping off Nova the previous night she had done some digging to see if she could find a way that would make Scott's tattoo permanent, there was no way she found unfortunately. The next day at school Nova had gotten a ride from Stiles and met up with Scott as they arrived.
"Anything?" Scott was hopeful Nova was able to find something.
She shook her head disappointedly, "No." She informed him, "Sorry."
He let out a sad sigh, "It's alright." He went on to assured her.
"But there is another option." She prompted, gaining his attention with listening ears. "Derek. I'm sure he knows a way." She told him which he began to think about.
"Go to Derek for help?" Stiles said in an annoyed tone, "Why? Why?"
"I mean Nova's right." Scott said, flashing the girl a grin, "He's got the triskele tattooed on his back, so, there has to be a way to do it without healing, right?"
"Okay, yeah, but still-- doesn't he have his hands a little full right now?" Three stopped at the bulletin board that had picture of both Erica and Boyd on them.
Nova couldt help but feel sad and guilty. Sad that they hadn't been found and guilty that she couldn't do enough. And now with Issac added on to that list, she felt even worse. There was just no winning when in Beacon Hills.
She shook off the said thoughts and turned to her two friends, "Asking won't hurt." She shrugged.
"Look, these are the applications for the career adviser. I need them sorted." The feminie voice coming from the principles office boomed grabbing their attentions.
"Is that your mom?" They rounded the corner to see through the door.
"And, whatever happened to the library while I was gone? I want it cleared up!" She told the secretary before lifting up Gerards sword that was left there, "And we can get rid of this."
Alice spared a glance at the three teens before they walked past to get to their class, "What's your mom doing here?" Stiles questioned confusedly.
"She is Beacon Hills High School's new Principal." It was a recent positions she was offered that she didn't want to pass up.
The two boys turned to her with wide eyes and wide smiles, "What? Really?" They simultaneously exclaimed.
"Yeah, my mom worked for the district so after– well you know, she got offered the job." She explained to them.
"That's awesome."
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
The three made it to their classroom which they were all fortunate to have together. Stiles and Nova sat in the same row with the brunette girl in front of the boy while Scott sat to the right of them. After they entered, Lydia and Allison made their way inside. Lydia found a seat near Stiles while Allison was left with the only other open spot in front of Scott.
"God, they are so awkward." Nova mumbled to Stiles who agreed with her. Before the conversation could take off between the two, the ringing of notification on everyone's cell phones pulled their attention.
"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth, flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."
The voice belonging to their new teacher echoed in the room, "This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone."
Everyone followed her instructions as she made her way to her desk. Though all Nova could figure out was how she got their numbers.
After being in class for only about twenty minutes doing work assigned to them Scott was called out. It confused Nova and Stiles but they didn't get the chance to question him about it. They just continued their work and knew they would talk about it later on.
As Nova countied her work, she could overhear the conversation between Stiles and Lydia. She chose not to pay attention until Stiles spoke more seriously.
"Or something. I just... maybe it means something's coming. Something bad."
"Don't say that. Something bad always happens when someone says that." Nova turned in her seat and whispered to her friend.
Lydia shook it off, "It was a deer and a dog." She pointed out seeing no big deal with it. "What's that thing you say about threes? Once... twice..."
Before she could finish the loud bang at the window cut her off. They turned their attention to see a now bloodied crow crushed against the window. It confused all of them.
"What the..." Nova mumbled but at the sight of dozens of more birds her eyes widened. Another flew into the window, it was followed by another and soon they all followed and rammed into the window breaking through inside the classroom.
"Get down, everyone! Get down! Down! Get down!" Ms. Blake shouted to her student.
The murder of crows flew in causing havic into the room. They scratched people, landed on them and flew around hurting anyone. Nova tried to hide under her desk but at the student running chaotically around she was almost faced with them but Stiles was able to pull her in like he did Lydia, protecting them. "I got you." He told them.
"Can you do something?" Lydia shouted to her friend over the loud screams coming from their classmates.
Stiles saw the brunette girl panic and immediately tried to calm her down. "You can do something Nova. Just breathe." He rubbed her back gently. "You're strong enough."
Nova listened to his words and gather all her courage to focus and concentrate before letting out her incantation, "Stupfey."
In just a few seconds all the birds dropped and landed scattered across the room. It took a few minutes but slowly everyone began to stand on their feet to at least steady themselves from the attack.
"You did it." Stiles praised the girl pulling her in for a hug.
She gave a weak smile, "If this is any indication of how things are going to go, I vote we all run away." She joked but there was some honesty in there.
The paramedic and police wasted no time in getting to the school to find out what was going on. The sheriff and deputies questione kids about what happened but the answers weren't giving anything. To Nova it was clear that this all frustrated Stiles' dad, the sheriff. Alice, Nova's mom, was also quick to make sure everyone was alright.
"You sure you're ok?" She questioned as he put a band-aid to her forehead. "You don't want to go to the hospital. You can take the rest of the day off."
Nova smiled gratefully. "It's just a few scratches and bruises, I'll be fine." She reassured her.
Alice smiled and dismissed herself from her daughter to go check on other students and talk to the police. Nova went to take a seat next to Stiles who sat waiting on his phone trying to get ahold of Scott. He took notice of the girl that was using him as a pillow but also when looking up noticed the distraught teacher just looking out into the class.
"Miss Blake? You okay?" He called for her attention standing at his feet. He reached out for something causing her to flinch back a bit but he only reached forward again pulling out the feathers that were left tangled in her hair, "Uh, sorry... just that..."
Stiles stepped away awkwardly and back to Nova who looked just as distraught, "Somethings wrong. Something's very wrong." She mumbled. Though deep down she knew what was wrong, it all started to connect.
"Tell me about it." Stiles mentioned, "We gotta call Scoot, come on." He pulled her outside of the class and to the hallway.
The two dialed his number and waited a few rings before he picked up finally.
"We've got a serious problem at school. Miss Blake's class–" Stiles was quick to talk but was cut off by their werewolf friend.
"Hey, can you tell me about it later?"
Nova tilted her head with an offended look, "No Scotty. This is a serious problem now–" She said harshly as she took the phone from Stiles.
Once again he interrupted, not allowing for them to have him acknowledge the issue, "Okay. Then, meet me at Derek's." He tells them.
They share a look of confusion grabbing the phone from nova, "Derek's house? What the hell are you doing at–"
"Just meet us here, okay?" He says quickly before hanging up.
The two shared a look of disbelief but knew they would go anyway. They headed back inside the classroom and told their parents they were taking the rest of the day off. They gave them the okay and the two best friends made their way to the Hale house.
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
As the two left the school and headed to the Hale house Nova was filled with some joy while Stiles couldn't exactly match it. She was happy to see her boyfriend and Issac. Only a few minutes into the ride Nova had gotten a call from her father letting her know of the incident that took place at the hospital. Now that she knew Scott and Derek had gotten him out of there safely she was able to relax a bit.
The two entered the burned down home, and Nova was quick to run to Isaacs side making sure he's alive and well.
"He's going to be alright." The deep voice of Derek came up behind her holding a blowtorch in his hand.
She gave him a small smile, "Good." She said before walking up to him.
His lips formed a small frown, noticing the bandaid on her forehead, "What happened?" He questioned.
"Oh– we got attacked by birds." Stiles said nonchalantly as he entered the space Derek and Nova were in with Scott. They looked towards Nova for confirmation which she gave with a silent nod.
"You ok?" Derek questioned rubbing the side of Nova's cheek with the pad of his thumb.
Though before she could respond Stiles answered, "Oh yeah I'm fine–" Derek raised his eyebrows at the lanky boy making him come to a realization, "And you were talking to Nova..." He sighed.
Nova let out a small chuckle, "I'm ok." She told her boyfriend.
"Good." He smiled before pulling her in for a kiss. Scott and Stiles immediately looked away as the two shared a moment but it didn't stop Stiles from making gagging noises. "I love you." Derek whispered.
"I love you too." She told him, reaching up to peck his lips once more.
Stiles had a face of disgust, "God, you two are insufferable." He whined.
"You're just single and lonely." Nova stuck her tongue out at him making him scoff in offense but he kept quiet.
The three left where Issac was and moved into another part of the house. Scott and Derek sat in chairs across from one another. The two were informed that Derek was going to help Scott get his tattoo back.
"Yeah, I see it. It's two bands, right?" The red alpha eyes flashed looking at the area on Scott arm where the tattoo was initially. "What does it mean?" He asked curiously.
"I don't know... It's just something I trace with my fingers." Scott traced the pattern into the dust that was on the table.
"Why is this so important to you?" Derek pressed forward wanting to get the real anwer.
"Do you know what the word "tattoo" means?"
Stiles was quick to say, "To mark something." He informed Derek with a sly wink making Nova look at him weirdly.
"Well, that's in Tahitian." Scott told Derek. "In Samoan, it means "open wound." I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now, it makes it kind of a reward."
"For what?" Derek questioned with raised eyebrows.
"For not calling or texting Allison all summer." Nova almost wanted to let out a groan, she thought it was just the tiniest bit silly. "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. Going on four months later... It still hurts. It still feels like a, uh..."
"Like an open wound." Stiles finished for him earning a small 'yeah' from Scott.
Nova was happy that Scott got a meaningful tattoo, it beats having to get one you'll regret when you're older but she thought his reasoning was a little out of the box. She personally would never get a tattoo for someone, fear of needles aside– unless it was the family of her future husband. But if Scott was happy with his choice, then so was she.
"The pain's gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt." Derek sighed informing Scott as he picked up the blowtorch.
"Ah, that's great." Stiles remarked.
"Do it."
As Derek lit the blowtorch Stiles went to walk away, "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–"
Derek stopped him before he could walk any further, "Nope. You can help hold him down." He pushed him back slightly.
"What? Why?" He exclaimed offensively, "Novas right there– she has magic!" He pointed out.
"Because I said so." Derel stared at him harshly which he immediately was fast to quit arguing.
Nova stood behind Derek crying as he brought the blowtorch slower to Scotts arm. His screams were quick to fill the room and he began to turn all squeamish.
"Hold him!" The alpha wolf yelled to Stiles.
In just a matter of minutes Scott had passed out due to the pain. Derek was quick to finish and all they did was wait for Scott to regain consciousness. They were thankful it was only for a couple of minutes until he jolted up.
"...It worked!" He cheered happily.
Stiles observed the tattoo. "Well, it looks pretty damn permanent now."
As the two made their way towards the door, Nova followed her boyfriends to where Issac lay still unconscious. "Any more luck?" She asked softly not wanting to upset Derek.
He let out a disappointed sigh, "No." He responded in a hushed voice.
"You painted the door." Scotts voice grabbed their attention with a wary look, "...Why'd you paint the door?" He questioned looking at the semi-new red sided door.
"Go home, Scott." Derek's stern voice only made their curiosity grow.
"And why only one side?" Scott countered.
"Scott..." Derek warned as he went to reach the two boys. Instead of listening Scott began to scratch off the red paint with the werewolf claws.
Once most of it was off the apaha symbol was very noticeable to them all, "The birds at the school, and the deer last night... Just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the Alpha." Scott remembered. "How many are there?"
Derek and Nova shared a look before he finally sighed and gave in, "A pack of 'em. An Alpha Pack."
"All of them? How does that even work?" Stiles asked.
"I hear there's some kind of a leader... He's called Deucalion." Derek told them. "We know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac and I have been looking for them for the last four months. With the help of Noves occasionally."
The two boys narrowed their eyes at the guilty looking girl, "You know this entire time. Why didn't you say anything?" Stiles questioned the girl.
"I told her not to." Derek defended, "I only really kept her updated on what we knew."
Scott didn't care and only focused on the new information about alphas, "Let's say you find them-- how do you deal with an Alpha Pack?"
"With all the help I can get." Derek responded.
Suddenly the fifth presence that was one unconscious spoke up "Where is she?" The four turned to see Isaac awake and looking pretty healthy, "Where's the girl?"
"What girl?"
* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ☾˚ 。* 。 • ˚
After the many events that they had encountered they all set out for their homes calling it a day. Stiles and Scott went on their own and Derek took Issac to his loft before taking Nova home where she wished she was all day. The two were parked outside her house in Dereks new car.
"What happens now?" She questioned to him before she got out.
He raised his eyebrows confused at what she was getting at, "What do you mean?" He asked.
"The alphas are making it known they don't care, so what happens now?" There was a hint of worry in her voice which Derek could tell along with the chemo signals she was going off.
His hand reached over the center console to grab her hands in his. "We protect ourselves. We protect our friends. We fight back to get our friends back and hopefully get rid of them." He tried to ease her fears.
She nodded taking in his words, "Ok. Good."
"And then after all of this we can go back to you and me, ok?" He brought his hand up pushing a strand of hair behind her ear before caressing her with the pad of his thumb, "Nothing changes between us."
"Promise?" She held out her pinky for him to interlock.
He locks pinkies with her, "I promise." He says before sealing it off with a passionate kiss.
It was alphas now but, it was only the beginning. Things were going to change and they were only going to get worse.
☾
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A/N: Have y'all seen the Teen Wolf Movie teaser trailer, it low key looks good. What do you think?