"Visionary"
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"You still haven't heard anything, anything at all from Derek since it happened, have you?" Tye asked as Casey shook her head. "Why the hell did they bring Miss Blake with you to the loft as leverage against Derek?"
"Hell if I know. That is a great question for Derek though, once we can find him." Casey murmured and she looked at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked and Tye was shaking his head.
"Is it true that you diverted hunters away from Derek and Peter, the night that Ennis' beta was killed?" Tye asked and she raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah. But, Tye... Where the hell did that question even come from?" Casey asked as he nodded at the sliding door to the loft, as Casey heard quiet voices and she could not make out the words or the people that the voices belonged to but Tye could. "Let's join the party."
Tye opened the door and Stiles was standing there with Cora, whose eyes were icy cold with grief. "I thought that you two were going to just be standing out there forever. Casey, is it true that you diverted them away? That you killed two hunters of your own to protect Peter and Derek?" Cora asked and Casey looked up, as Peter was standing at the top of the stairs.
"Peter was in the area, I just helped them both because they were both in the same spot. I couldn't tell the Argents and my family where only one of them was, without revealing the other's position." Casey explained as she walked further into the loft and she leaned her elbows against the table. "But, yes Cora, I did choose to kill two hunters, to protect them that night." She said as she looked up at Peter. "You still owe me for that." She said.
"I thought that debt, I thought it was paid by me saving you from the Fire." Peter corrected and Casey was shrugging at the words. "Fine, maybe not." He said reluctantly.
-- Seven Years Ago --
Flashlight beams swept across the crowd with Casey, her mother, Chris Argent and Gerard Argent in the lead and spreading the hunters out, over a good bit of distance.
"Go and check the cellar." Gerard stated and Casey nodded swiftly and she was opening it, walking down the stairs with a knife in hand.
Casey got part of the way down and then she saw them both. It was Derek and Peter and they were crouched on the far side of the roots and they were pleading silently with her. Casey was inclining her head in a nod as the two of them looked relieved.
Casey walked back up the stairs and she shut the cellar door behind her as she looked at the gathered hunters in front of her. "Nobody there. We should move, now. Right now." Casey said as they started to move away and Casey looked back at the door.
"If you two can hear me, I'll be back."
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Casey was shaking off the memory and she looked at Cora, who watched her carefully. "I am not going to snap and kill you." Casey muttered and she was rubbing her eyes.
"They were there for two days together, waiting, hiding. That's what we're taught to do when the hunters find us-- Hide and heal."
"Okay, so is two days standard, then, or are we thinking that Derek is now on some kind of extended getaway?"
"You don't get it, Stiles, you are just a human who stumbled into this world of the supernatural. It is different when a pack member is lost especially if you're the one who bit them." Tye said and he looked at Casey, who nodded. "Or if he accepted someone into his pack." Tye said.
"Why do you care?" Cora asked Stiles, turning away from the window to stare at him.
"Why do I care? Let's see--" Stiles began.
"Oh, here we go." Casey muttered.
"Because over the last few weeks, my best friend's tried to kill himself. Then his boss nearly got ritually sacrificed by a Darach. A girl that I have known since I was three was ritually sacrificed. Boyd was killed by the alphas. I-- Do you want me to keep going? 'Cause I can, all right? For, like, an hour." Stiles listed off the things as Casey sighed.
"Yeah and Derek has lost almost a third of his pack in the same time, has nearly died four times, found out that his little sister was alive and by the way, doing very well after the fire and he has a million other things on his plate and now, he was forced to kill one of his own Betas. A quick new newsflash for you, Stiles, he isn't the only one who is meant to protect the town of Beacon Hills." Casey snapped and Stiles looked stunned at the anger that had been poured into her words.
"Nicely put, Casey." Peter said as he joined them. "Derek, he actually was a lot like Scott. A lot like most teenagers-- Unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic, tolerable really only to other teenagers. Note that I said most, Casey, not all." She stopped reaching for a weapon at that. "Casey, she really was a weird case in that regard." Peter noted.
"You're hilarious." Casey muttered.
"But then again, her father was beating the shit out of her every other day." Peter said and Stiles looked at Casey, who looked up at him.
"Yeah. I had a rather interesting childhood." Casey muttered and Peter nodded.
"And so what happened? What changed him?" Stiles asked and Peter looked at Casey.
"You can tell them." Casey said and Peter inclined his head slightly and she looked at her hands, which were trembling.
"Well, the very same thing that does change a lot of young men... A girl." Peter's way of saying it, wasn't the best and immediately, Cora and Stiles were looking at Casey.
"Wait, you broke his heart and that-that is why he is the way, that he is?" Stiles asked as Casey looked over at him.
"Wasn't me, Stiles. That was not exactly how it happened, either. They didn't break up, Derek didn't get dumped. Her name was Paige and she was my best friend. Well, my best friend who wasn't aware of the crazy supernatural stuff going on in the town." Casey murmured.
"Do you remember Derek, before he was an alpha had blue eyes? Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?" Peter asked.
"I just always thought it was, like, a genetic thing." Stiles explained his side of it and Peter was shaking his head at the words.
"If you really do want to know, what changed Derek, then you need to know what changed, the color of his eyes." Peter said and Stiles was looking at Casey, who put her hands into her pockets to try and get them to stop shaking. "Can you still play the guitar, Casey?" Peter asked as Casey looked at him.
"Haven't played in years. Haven't sung in even longer." Casey remarked quietly as Stiles looked over at her. "I am not going to start singing. Haven't done either since..." Casey fell silent.
"Since the fire?" Stiles asked.
"Before that. You haven't sung or played the guitar, even once since Paige's funeral, have you?" Peter asked and Casey shook her head.
"She would be 23 today, actually." She said as she quietly felt tears, prickling at her eyes. "I can't do this. I'm sorry, I can't." She said and she walked out of the loft.
"Casey!" Tye ran after her, but Casey had already gotten to her car and she was driving off.
Casey pulled into the garage of her house and she stopped the car as soon as she could.
Casey smacked the dashboard with a broken cry, as she was crying and she leaned back in her seat, as tears rolled down her cheeks as she shut her eyes.
Casey walked upstairs and she shut the garage, as she looked up and she found that Derek was outside the window and sitting on the roof.
Casey pushed the window open and she ducked out of it and she sat down next to him. "You know what day it is, right?" Casey asked quietly and Derek nodded at the words and he looked at her. "Where were you?" She asked as he looked at her.
"The distillery." Derek answered quietly and Casey reached out and she took his hand in hers. "Twenty three?" He asked and she looked at him, before she nodded slightly.
"Yeah." Casey murmured and they were sitting in silence, watching as the moon rose.