"When was the last time you were in Beacon Hills?"
Levi looked to her left as Jackson sat down from putting his bag in the overhead locker of the plane. She shrugged, fiddling with the cord of the headphones that the flight attendant had just finished passing around.
"Almost three years ago, just before Eli's thirteenth birthday," she murmured, knowing that this trip was going to bring back a lot of emotions and memories for her. She knew that if Lydia was needing Jackson's help, then she'd definitely have called others. Levi wasn't sure who else she would have called, but she knew who one of them would be for certain. "I haven't seen... them... in a long time."
"Great," Jackson muttered, reaching over and helping himself to a glass of champagne that the flight attendant had started to pass out amongst the first class passengers. He was dressed for the occasion; one of his smart, floor length coats had just been put away and his designer clothes made him fit in with those around him. "I am so excited, thrilled even, to get to be involved in this emotional shit-show that's about to go down."
Levi, however, was in jeans, a pair of battered sneakers and an old Beacon Hills lacrosse sweater that Jackson was 100% sure had his own lacrosse number on the back. He knew that it had been in storage somewhere in the apartment, but he hadn't realised that Levi had added it to her wardrobe.
She ignored his sarcastic comment as she declined the champagne that was reached out to her. Her eyes closed for a second as she tried to block out the noise of excited chatter around her, hearing lots of families talking amongst themselves about how they'd be landing in California in only ten hours time. Her throat was tight as she tried to stop the familiar lump forming as she realised exactly what they were about to do.
They were returning to Beacon Hills.
______
"You were right. It wasn't gasoline," Derek told the Sheriff and Mason as he looked around at the burnt forest remains around them. He rammed his hands into his pockets as the smoke drifted around his body as he approached the other two men. "Whoever set this fire used a chemical accelerant."
"Four fires in two weeks," Sheriff Stilinski muttered, furrowing his brows as he flickered his eyes around them once more. "That's a serial arsonist. Do I need to call in the FBI?"
"Well, maybe you should be calling your son," Derek replied, a small hint of a smile on his lips. It had been a while since he had last seen the chaotic boy, especially with everything that seemed to be going on with what was once the McCall pack. Stiles visited Beacon Hills the most out of those that had left the town, mostly to see his father but also to make the occasional check-up on the jeep. He'd never been able to really let it go.
"Trust me, right now Stiles has his own fires to put out. I think we can handle one arsonist."
"The only thing I'd say is, this one seems to have a plan," Derek said, the slight hurt in his voice hard to pick up on. Fires brought back a lot of bad memories for him, and the sights that he had been seeing in these previous fires had reminded him of a part of his childhood that he didn't like to dwell on. It was times like these that made him glad that Levi had become an almost non-existent part of his life in recent years.
"How is Stiles?" Derek asked, having been caught up on the chaos that had been happening in the boys life recently.
"He's... struggling. He's moved back in with Scott and Isaac for the time being," Stilinski replied, knowing that things weren't exactly the way that they had all predicted they'd be years prior. "How's Levi?"
They were all interrupted by the constant buzzing of Mason's phone. The man looked down at the caller ID as he shared a knowing look with the Sheriff before shoving it back into his pocket and pretending that it wasn't urgent. Derek almost thanked the sky for the interruption. The last thing he wanted to do was explain that he didn't even know where in the world his sister was anymore.
"You need to get that?"
"Yeah."
"No."
"It... it can... it can wait."
They all continued to look at each other as the phone proceeded to start ringing again. And again. Derek's lip twitched a little, having a gut feeling that he knew exactly why the duo were refusing to answer the phone while he was standing right in front of them.
"You want me to answer it?"
"No."
The phone buzzed ferociously again.
"Why do I have a feeling that that's about me?" Derek asked, before raising an eyebrow slightly as he made his suspicions known. "Or maybe my son?"
"He still seems pretty intent on leaving high school with a grand theft auto charge."
Derek sighed, rubbing his hand on his chin for a second as he crossed his arms. He felt an incredible sense of deja vu every time that this happened - Eli was a lot like his youngest aunt, and it was times like this that he wished Levi was back at his side and helping him through this.
"He took the Jeep again, didn't he?"
The Sheriff's exasperated sigh answered the question.
"Why the hell does he keep taking the Jeep?"
"Because he knows I hate it."
______
"Look, you need to stop moping and pull yourself together," Jackson said, turning the radio down and shooting a side glare to Levi who had her knees pulled up to her chest as she stared out the window as if she was in a coming-of-age movie. She didn't acknowledge him, except reaching her hand back out to turn the radio up again.
She hissed a little as her hand was smacked away with a force that would have broken her knuckles had she not been a werewolf. Jackson smirked a little as his tail turned the volume back down, almost wagging itself at Levi as it retracted. She pulled a disgusted face at the action, rolling her eyes as she looked around at the all-too familiar roads they were driving on.
"I just... I just didn't expect I'd ever be back here," Levi admitted, knowing that her and Jackson didn't often discuss their feelings. She had been staying on and off with him for five years, but Ethan had always been the one that consoled her when things got rough. The trio had an unspoken agreement that Ethan was the one who dealt with a sad Levi, and that Jackson was the one that spent time with the happy Levi.
Jackson didn't have a quip back for that. He knew that he'd had some dark times in Beacon Hills, but he'd got out before a lot of the hurt happened to the kids he grew up around. Sure, he hadn't even met Levi until they were finished high school, but he felt like he had owed a lot to her for being there for Ethan before they had met.
He wasn't there when Allison died, or when everyone forgot her and Stiles. He wasn't there when they'd all been put on a literal assassins hit-list. He wasn't there when... when it happened. The moment the McCall pack broke into pieces.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"I don't know," Levi replied, not an ounce of hesitation as she told him the truth. She didn't know how she was going to react... or how any of them would. If it wasn't for the dreams that she had been having, she'd never have agreed to come back to this place with Jackson.
But after all this time, Levi came. Lydia Martin called, and she came.
She tried to tell herself it was because of Lydia, and Allison, that she was coming back to Beacon Hills. To help her friends, and then she'd be gone again. Back to living in Paris with Jackson and Ethan, doing her private investigation work on the side to make some cash.
She knew different deep down - it wasn't Lydia who was calling them back to Beacon Hills. She knew exactly who was calling them in. Yet, there she was, driving past the 'Welcome to Beacon Hills' sign, thinking about the one that she'd left behind years before.
"I need to stop off at Ethan's storage unit before we head over to his house," Jackson informed Levi. He paused for a moment, noticing how she was fiddling with the elastic band on her wrist and almost making a decision for her. "It's in the units across from your brother's garage. I'll drop you there, then I'll get you once I'm done."
Levi nodded, swallowing a breath she didn't realise she was holding.
It wasn't Derek she was worried about seeing. It was Cora - who was certainly going to be pissed that her sister had left without a goodbye almost three years before. She knew Derek would never hate her... but Cora? She wasn't so sure.
"Here we fucking go," Levi muttered, rolling her eyes as Jackson sniggered a little.
They were back where it all began.
_____
"Hey, thanks for coming so fast," Scott said, pulling Lydia into a tight hug.
They hadn't seen each other in a while. After everything that had happened with her and his best friend, she'd pretty much been avoiding the boys that she was friends with. No-one had picked sides - there wasn't anything to be debated - but it didn't mean that she wanted to stay in the same town as them.
Lydia had packed her bags and dropped out of not just their town, but almost their lives too. Scott had found himself almost hoping that she would have got back in touch with the girl that plagued his mind, but he knew that it was unlikely. Levi Hale was literally impossible to find, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
"Of course," Lydia replied, smiling into his shoulder a little. "You know we'd all drop anything for you. All of us."
Scott didn't want to know if she had called her. He assumed that she hadn't, since he knew that she had pretty much cut ties with them all over the past few years. She'd gone radio silent on him straight after... it... had happened, and she'd slowly been cutting everyone off after that. He wasn't so sure if the Hale would come if he called anymore.
They pulled back from their hug, it having gone on for a minute longer than any that they had shared before. They both knew they needed it, and it wasn't just for what had happened between her and Stiles recently. They'd never really had the chance to process what had happened between their pack, and old memories were being resurfaced with the discovery that Allison might be stuck between life and death.
Lydia didn't want to ask how it was possible - it was what they were all ignoring. There was no way that the girl had been stuck for the past fifteen years, so why now? What was causing all of this to happen to them now? She wasn't sure they wanted to know - they just wanted to do whatever they could in the hopes that the girl that they'd spent a lifetime mourning was actually able to be brought back.
"Do you really think all this is true? Allison being stuck, unable to cross over?" Lydia asked, grief clouding her face as her and Scott stood in the spot where he had held the Argent as she had died in his arms, all those years ago. She was sure that she could still hear the scream that came from her lips, the pain that settled into her chest. Nothing would ever take that feeling from her memory.
"I don't know," Scott admitted, the same pain being mirrored in his words. "But if being here and doing this thing actually helps her, and no one else gets hurt, I'm up for trying."
Lydia nodded, a slight guilt passing over her as she remembered Jackson's words on the phone the night before. She had a gut feeling that she knew who he was planning on bringing with him, and while she had no idea how the two ex-pack members were still in touch, she was concerned about Scott's reaction when he found out. Heck, she was scared about her own reaction if her conspiracy was right - she hadn't seen her in so long that she wasn't sure how it would feel.
She pushed that to the back of her mind as she swallowed deeply and turned back to look at Scott.
"OK. Then let's try."
They were going to save Allison Argent.
______
"OK. You know what? If this is about the other thing, then let's talk about the other thing."
Eli and Derek had gotten back to their house, just around the corner from the automobile shop. Derek was livid that Eli had stolen the jeep yet again, and while he had tried to stay calm in front of the Sheriff and Mason, he knew that this was becoming a habit from his son that he needed to stomp out.
"I don't want to talk to you about anything," Eli replied, throwing his school bag down onto the kitchen island as he glared across the room at his father. He wasn't a bad dad - quite the opposite - but he was fed up about the constant nagging to be something that he had no interest in becoming.
"I wouldn't push it if it wasn't a thing!" Derek growled, trying to keep his composure as he argued with his son. He knew that he would be lying if he didn't see himself in the boy. He was a Hale, and even if Eli wouldn't accept what came with that, it was always apparent to them all that he shared the same temperament as those that came before him. "But we both know it's not just anything, and now it's definitely something."
"I don't even know what you're talking about. Are you listening to yourself? You sound drunk."
"I can't get drunk. You know that," Derek sighed, getting frustrated again.
"It's not my problem."
"Eli, it's a thing!" Derek yelled, trying to get the point across. He wanted to help his son, but how could he if he didn't want to learn.
"OK, to you, not me!"
Cora walked into the room, having been alerted by the slam of the door and the whining of their voices that they were back. She assumed that Eli had stolen the jeep again, and by the context of the conversation, she knew she was right.
They barely looked at her as she grabbed a glass from the cupboard, opening the fridge and beginning to pour herself a glass of orange juice. She knew what would happen here, and it seemed like today was no different to usual. They'd argue, Derek would bring up their family talent, Eli would reject it and then storm off before inevitably sneaking out and stealing the jeep once more.
"Look, we can teach you," Cora inputted, trying to ease the tension as always. Eli turned to look at her in defeat, hating it when she got involved as it made him reconsider her position as the 'cool aunt'.
He threw his hands in the air, getting more and more frustrated at the same conversation that was brought up every week now that he was getting older. He knew the benefits, but he didn't want that lifestyle. He'd heard (almost) all about the pain that his family had gone through because of what they were, and he didn't want to end up as some scorned and broken shell of himself like his other aunt had became.
"What if I don't want to learn?"
"Well, you're gonna have to learn. It's who you are. You're a Hale!" Derek replied, saying the name as if Eli was supposed to suddenly change his mind based on his surname. It didn't carry the weight to him that it did for the rest of them. He hadn't been in the fire, he hadn't seen the things that they had seen.
"I'll change my name."
"What my brother and your father is trying to say is-"
"That won't change the fact that you're a werewolf!" Derek snapped, talking over his sister who rolled her eyes as she opened the fridge and put the orange juice carton back. She hated getting involved in this constantly reoccurring debate between the Hale men, but she knew that if they didn't sort it soon she was going to go insane.
"And what if I'm not? Maybe that's why I can't turn into one? You know, what if I'm the first ever Hale not to turn into a werewolf?"
"To be honest, it would probably make life a little easier."
"Yeah, for me? Or you?"
They all snapped their heads to the front door as they heard the doorknob twist and the door open. Cora bristled, the scent hitting her nose instantly just after she had moved to put herself in between Eli and the person at the door. Derek had spun around, his eyes glowing blue as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.
"Easier for you," they said, her brown eyes softening as she looked at her nephew. He had grown a LOT since she had last seen him, knowing that she had a certainly missed a lot since they were talking about him transforming. It hadn't even been a thought the last time she had been there. "If Eli doesn't want to be like us, I wouldn't blame him."
"Aunt Levi," Eli breathed, a grin forming across his face as he saw his aunt standing at their front door. He moved past Cora and Derek who were still standing as if they'd seen a ghost, wrapping his arms around her smaller frame in delight. He hadn't really ever understood why she wasn't around more often. They'd never told him the real reason why the Hale alpha was the only Hale who was adamant about avoiding the town. "I didn't know you were back in town!"
"It was a last minute thing," Levi muttered, hugging her nephew back as she looked around his shoulder at her siblings. Cora was unreadable. Levi wasn't sure if she was about to cry, scream or walk away. Derek had always been easier for her to read - the man was clearly surprised but Levi could see the relief on his face at finally seeing his baby sister was back.
"Why don't you go to your room and I'll try talk some sense into your dad, huh?" Levi partially joked to Eli, but also giving the boy and out from the conversation that she could see he didn't want to be having. Eli furrowed his brow at the slightly condescending tone but he knew she was giving him the opportunity to escape the debate, so he took it and his bag and headed straight back to his room.
Derek crossed the room as soon as he heard Eli's door click shut, holding her by her shoulders for a moment before pulling her in for a hug. He looked back at Cora, waiting to see how she was going to handle her sister surprising them after having been gone for longer than she promised.
Cora crossed the room, pausing in front of Levi. She took a deep breath in before slamming her body against Levi and burrowing her face into her shoulder. She had missed her younger sister, more than she'd ever admit.
Levi knew that coming back to Beacon Hills would hurt, but in that moment in the Hale house kitchen, she was glad that she had been wrong. There was more for her in Beacon Hills than just pain and bad memories, and they were standing right in front of her.
She'd do anything for them. Just as they'd do anything for her.