"𝒾 𝓉𝓇𝒾ℯ𝒹 𝓉ℴ 𝓈𝒸𝓇ℯ𝒶𝓂, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝒽ℯ𝒶𝒹 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓊𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇𝓌𝒶𝓉ℯ𝓇"
Loudly gasping for air, Ophelia hauls her body out of the icy water and begins to feel the throbbing pain spreading across her neck and shoulders as her injuries heal. Tilting her head to the side, she cracks her bones a few times and wrings her dripping hair out as she steps out of the metal tub. Only when she lifts her head does she realise that she has no idea where the fuck she is. The girl's lips part in confusion, and when she frantically looks beside her, she spots Scott and Stiles. In sync, the pair of boys jump out of their respective baths with gasps and set eyes on their best friend. They all start to relax a little as they become aware that they're within one another's presence.
The room they've found themselves is incredibly large, so large that it could be a warehouse. The floors are a light grey tiling that are currently being flooded with water dripping off each teenager, and as they look around, they notice how the already brightly painted walls appear even whiter with the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The space is completely empty aside from the three tubs and support beams that are spaced evenly throughout, painted that same white as the rest. It looks like they've just walked into a gigantic dentist's office.
It appears to be at the same time that the three of them turn around and notice the abnormally large tree stump toward the back of the room. Without a guess needed, they all silently agree that this is the Nemeton they've been searching for. "Holy fuck," Ophelia whispers in bewilderment. After all the strife they've gone through trying to locate this tree, it's a little strange to finally be face to face with it. Those words she speaks are also the only two out of four that are spoken for the rest of the time they are together.
It's looming a distance away from them, and there is something about the plant that calls out to them in a way that flowers attract bees. It's captivating. It's a daunting walk toward it, one where whispers of paranoia speak to them that if they go too fast, something might happen, or if they proceed with not enough caution, something might go wrong.
As she stops a few metres away from the roots of the tree, Ophelia looks to her boys. Scott and Stiles are standing on either side of her. Both of their eyes are glued to the stump, neither unable to look away from it. Scott is the one out of him and Stiles to break eye contact with the Nemeton, moving up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the two bands of his tattoo. He looks back up to compare the ink with the many growth rings on the stump. The werewolf is the first one to move a little closer, close enough so he can reach his hand out and graze his fingers on the rough wood. Ophelia scrunches her nose up as she watches his back become rigid, and she internally groans. Something's about to happen, and she knows for a fact that she won't like it. "Fuck me-"
The second Scott's eyes close, they are wrapped into something that could either fall under the title of a vision or a hallucination. To be quite frank, Ophelia thinks that this entire process vaguely resembles a witch's Chambre de Chasse. She definitely isn't fond of that, so she really isn't loving this. But she remembers they're all doing it for a larger purpose. She desperately needs to get Niklaus back.
The girl turns around slowly to observe her new surroundings, and she reaches up to push a wet strand of hair away from clinging to her forehead. Every step she takes draws sand and earth onto the bottom of her feet, creating a mud-like texture with the water that continues to drip off her clothes. She instantly recognises the clusters of trees and the thick carpet of autumn leaves on the flooring to be the Beacon Hills Preserve. It's pitch black as she aimlessly takes step after step, trying to find something to help her find what she needs to. She has no idea what she should be looking for, listening out for, smelling for- anything.
Ophelia is completely lost. Figuratively and literally.
Until she hears the familiar yap of her coyote.
Her head whips around as she starts to pick up her pace, the faint growls and snarls guiding her bare feet through the wooded area. The second her eyes lock onto the animal she's grown to become so fond of, she knows exactly what she's stepped into. It's quite odd watching herself interacting with the coyote in a moment that is now a memory to her. The bloodied wound on the greyish coat of the animal resurfaces back the same anger she felt when the incident had initially occurred. She watches her wolf form lick away at her friend's fur, trying to comfort her in a vulnerable moment in time, a moment of sheer agony. And the anger she feels momentarily glosses over the objective of why she's even here in the first place.
The crunch of leaves nearby snaps her out of her distracted state of mind and Ophelia huffs a sigh, knowing what is to come next. The loading of a gun rings through her ears and she forces herself not to look at her past self and the coyote as they go through a mixture of fear, rage, and the overpowering need to protect one another.
She wonders if she tried to kill the two men now it would work. She vividly remembers slaughtering the males who had been hunting and accidentally stumbled upon herself and her supernatural friend, unaware of what their fates would come to be minutes later. She also remembers being met with a frazzled Stiles the next day at school, giving her a heads up that the Sheriff's department had found their monthly discovery of dead bodies mauled to death in the Preserve.
Ophelia takes a step back with the intention to go find the men and attempt to violently hurt them, only for her to hiss in pain when her heal roughly collides with something solid. Turning around, her glowing eyes widen in surprise as she looks down to find the exact same tree stump she had been staring at in the large room with Scott and Stiles a little while ago. Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise and she mumbles, "What the fuck? Why was this so bloody easy..." She confidently plants her palm down onto the wood and her eyes dart around apprehensively whilst she waits for something to happen.
Nothing does.
"Okay... Someone take me back," she calls out loudly. Her hand stays firmly on the Nemeton. "How does this work? Hello! Someone get me out of this shit!" Ophelia winces as her left ear begins to ring and she looks around for whatever could be making the irritating buzzing sound. There's nobody here except for her. Even her past self, the coyote, and the two hunters are gone.
The Preserve is deadly quiet. Until something, or someone, interrupts it.
"What is so fragile, that saying its name breaks it?"
Ophelia's head snaps to the side as the gravelly voice rasps to her. Her eyes burn a vibrant scarlet to search amongst the shadows around her, however, she comes back with the same answer as a minute ago. There's nobody here. "All right, what in the Blair Witch is this crap? Non-witch doctor! Freya! Someone get me the fuck out!"
The same voice repeats the question, not any less impatient than before. "What is so fragile, that saying its name breaks it?" This second time, she realises it sounds incredibly close to her. Almost like someone is speaking to her within her mind.
She huffs a sigh in frustration, but she keeps her hand on the tree, as if she was to remove it, it would disappear into thin air. Ophelia shuts her eyes as she thinks over what has been presented to her. This might be the one time that she would be appreciative for Niklaus giving her endless riddles (his idea of both education and entertainment) during their overly long road trips back in the day. That thought also reminds her of her current purpose. "Silence," she answers back quickly. She needs to get out of this place. Maybe Scott and Stiles have already woken up in the animal clinic. What if she took too long to answer the question? Maybe-
Ophelia Stone's green eyes snap open as she, Scott, and Stiles all lurch out of the baths and return to the land of consciousness and living. She gasps heavily for breath as she is given the ability to take in oxygen once again and is greeted by Freya instantly leaping off her chair in waiting and rushing over to her with a towel. In a similar manner to the witch, Lydia and Deaton jump up, and Isaac, Allison and Boyd rush into the room from the commotion. As she stumbles out of the metal tub with her chest heaving up and down, Ophelia listens to the boys begin to recite their own experiences. "I saw it," Scott rushes out feverishly. "I know where it is."
"We passed it. There's-there's a stump, this huge tree," Stiles breathes, carefully stepping out of his bath to send water cascading onto the floor. "Well, it's not huge anymore, it was cut down- but it's still big, though! Very big!"
"No, no, it's still huge," Ophelia corrects, her fingers clutching onto the towel wrapped around her shirt that sticks to her skin. "It's the biggest fucking tree stump I've ever seen."
"It was the night we were looking for the body," Scott adds in, talking specifically to Stiles.
Stiles nods at him as the two boys realise they both shared the same scenario. "Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."
Freya rubs her younger sister's arms comfortingly, and Ophelia swallows as she looks between her drenched friends. "I was with the coyote," she tells them. "You know..." She grimaces as she sets her gaze onto the Stilinski. "The night before you came warning me about the bodies in the forest?"
Both boys nod quickly in understanding, then Stiles pulls a face at the memory. "I can't believe my dad actually believed another animal attack..."
She tilts her head to the side. "Well, it was technically an animal attack."
Scott rolls his eyes in amusement at their side conversation, but flinches as he returns his gaze to meet the rest of the group standing before the three and staring at them in concern. "We can find it," he confirms confidently.
Ophelia stills as she finally takes notice of Freya's racing heart. Her head slowly turns to look at the rest of her dry friends (and Allison), and her eyes squint in confusion at how uncomfortable they all appear. She settles on Isaac; someone she knows can't stand to being interrogated. He's someone she knows will tell her the truth within seconds. "Lahey, what the hell happened?"
He immediately meets her questioning stare. He glances nervously between herself, Scott, and Stiles, then over to the two adults. "Of course you pick me," he mutters to himself. "You guys were all out a long time," he reveals hesitantly, his voice raising a little louder for the non-supernatural beings in the room.
"How long is a long time?" Stiles asks.
Freya clears her throat as she places a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Sixteen hours," she responds softly. At the same time, all three begin to exclaim various things incredulously.
"That's not a long time, that's a really fuckin' long time!"
"We've been in the water for sixteen hours?"
"That's the longest I've ever been dead for..."
Alan Deaton nods grimly at their reactions. He looks to Scott as he says, "You've been out for sixteen, and the full moon rises in less than four."
Ophelia swallows the growing lump in her throat and wraps the cotton towel tighter around her body. "Great, so, we have four hours to stop evil witch-bitch from killing our loved ones located in a tree that we still don't have the exact location of. Four hours, that's..."
Lydia raises a brow at her. "Three-hundred and twenty minutes."
She waves a hand at her best friend in appreciation. "Thank you, three-hundred and twenty minutes. We are royally fucked."
Everyone inside the examination room of the Beacon Hills Animal Clinic shares the same worried expression with one another. Ophelia is right, they really don't have a lot of time left. The Preserve is so large that it could take up those exact four hours to just find the Nemeton, let alone get through Jennifer who would most likely be standing guard over her future sacrifices. They're pressed for time more than ever than before, and the urgency of the situation finally reaches its peak.
After a little convincing to Stiles that she wouldn't set him on fire, Freya performs a spell to dry each of the three teenagers' clothes off so that they don't have to worry about going home damp. Ophelia wanted to take a mental picture of Stiles' scrunched up face as her sister performed the spell so badly that she actually did take a photo. She plans to make it the lock screen on her phone.
With a sigh, Scott's next words manage to bring the mood in the room back down. "I have to go back," he speaks up.
"No, dude," Stiles counters firmly. "You are not going back with them." Ophelia purses her lips together and chooses to stay silent when he turns to her for backup.
"I made a deal with Deucalion-"
The Stilinski glances around the room briefly before he interrupts, unable to hear the regret and guilt in Scott's voice. "Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?"
Boyd's eyebrows raise as his eyes set on Scott. "But why does it matter, anyway? You going with them."
"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help," he tries.
Stiles dramatically gestures a hand over to the Mikaelson witch who still stands beside her sister protectively. His action goes unnoticed except for the two siblings who share a look of amusement. It lifts both of their egos knowing that he has so much confidence in Freya. Allison seems to have a similar mindset to Stiles as she looks over to Deaton in disbelief. "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong," she pleads.
Without any hesitation, the veterinarian replies with, "I'm not so sure he is." The response elicits a couple of shared looks in surprise. It seems like not many were expecting him to side with Scott. "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."
Ophelia squints her eyes, then after another second she shrugs in agreement. Once upon a time, she was considered the enemy. Sort of... Currently, she likes to consider herself as an anti-hero.
"So, we're gonna trust him," Isaac starts in a deadpanned tone. "The guy that calls himself death, destroyer of worlds? We're gonna trust that guy?"
The hybrid raises her hand. "Sorry, I believe Derek said it went a little along the lines of-" She clears her throat to produce a deeper tone of voice. "'I am the Alpha of Alphas. I am the apex of apex predators. I am Death, Destroyer of Worlds! I am... the Demon Wolf!'" Quiet laughter scatters throughout the clinic, Ophelia's act even getting a small smile from Allison.
Isaac points a finger in her direction to make his point as he returns his eyes back to Deaton. The man's lips lift slightly as he regains his more serious composure. "I wouldn't trust him, no," he corrects.
"Definitely don't trust him," Freya adds. "That's the worst thing you could do... You just have to make use of the situation you're in, use him to your advantage."
At this, Scott lifts his head to look at the woman, then glances over to his boss who nods along. "She's right," Deaton acknowledges.
"Look, this guy might be one of the many enemies you kids have managed to create a list of, but what I'm suggesting, is that you could also make him your bait."
Freya's words are left for the room to process until the silence is broken by the rather irritating doorbell from the front entrance. Ophelia rolls her eyes. "I'm going to rip that bloody thing off your door," she tells the veterinarian warningly. He looks back at her with the ghost of a smile on his face. When her nose is hit with the scent of that person, a scowl appears on her features, and she instantly tenses up.
"Fi, what's wrong?" Lydia questions worriedly. Of course she notices. The strawberry blonde looks back to her friends in confusion when the girl storms off to follow Deaton as he checks out who had entered his clinic.
Ophelia's eyes glow as she glares at one of the Steiner twins waiting by the door, not daring to take a step further into the building. Ethan purposely keeps his eyes away from the bristling blonde as he informs Deaton, "I'm looking for Lydia."
"No," she snaps quickly. "Over my dead body are you looking for Lydia."
A hand rests on her shoulder as Lydia appears by her side and raises a brow at her best friend. "You are a dead body, sweetheart."
Ophelia blinks slowly, taken aback from the comment. "Wow," she murmurs.
Lydia takes a deep breath as Scott joins them in the doorway out of curiosity. "What do you want?"
Her soft question makes the twin hesitate. Ethan's gaze shifts between the three teenagers watching him with different levels of intensity, before settling back on Lydia. "I need your help," he says.
Stiles pops up beside Ophelia and leans against the door frame as he peers around at the werewolf. "With what?"
"Stopping both my siblings from killing Derek."
"I really hate your family," Ophelia observes bluntly. "Like, what the fuck do you all have against Derek? Give him some help at least, poor guy couldn't even fight back against you if you tried." Stiles bites onto his tongue to avoid chuckling; it's the wrong time to be laughing. After all, she's not wrong.
After a moment of hesitation, Lydia nods at him and takes a step forward. She halts when a hand gently wraps around her upper arm. "I have to go help," she tells the girl.
Ophelia takes in a deep breath. "I'm coming with you. I don't trust him at all." Ethan rolls his eyes in exasperation at her attitude. "Actually, that's a lie. I trust him a little more than his brother, but it's still not good."
Lydia gives her a pointed look as she detaches the hand off her body. "You need to stay here, because you need to go find your brother."
"I'll make sure nothing happens to her," Ethan promises.
Ophelia stares at him as she checks his heartbeat, and after another pause, she realises that he isn't lying. Strangely, in this very moment, there's something oddly trustworthy about Ethan Steiner. She doesn't like it one bit. "Fine," she declares. "But if I find there's even a scratch on her, you're dead."
He gulps.
"Fucking hell," Stiles mutters to himself.
Once a determined Lydia leaves with the werewolf, the remaining members of the group reconnect in the examination room to figure out what the best plan of action is moving forward. They decided that Scott, Allison, Isaac, and Boyd would go over to the Argents home to get Chris and any suitable weapons that could be used, and that Stiles, Freya and Ophelia would head straight toward the Preserve to attempt to find the Nemeton. As he closes the door to the clinic behind him, Isaac raises his voice to be heard. "So, let's say all this goes according to plan, you know, Jennifer dies... Does this mean we won't have English homework for the rest of the year?"
Ophelia glances over to him as she and her sister stop by her Porsche. "You've actually been doing that crap?" Boyd snickers at her genuine confusion as to why someone would be wasting their free time doing more 'unnecessary' labour for high school.
A frustrated sigh is heard from Stiles before the door to his Jeep slams shut. His disappointed voice is heard due to the windows all being left down. "And this is why you're failing school!"
Freya's eyes widen as she turns to her sister. "You're failing school?"
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The windows to the ruby car are wound down as the vehicle speeds along the road, the sisters around five minutes behind Stiles and Roscoe (what Ophelia had recently learnt is what he calls the beloved pale blue car). By this point, the sun has set and the full moon has taken its dedicated position high into the starry sky. As much as Ophelia is distracted by the prospect of her brother dying within the next few hours, she can't help but go back to what had happened within her mindscape whilst she had been in the ice bath. Something about the voice that spoke to her unsettles her. She isn't sure why, but it does. Scott and Stiles hadn't spoken about hearing anyone, but in their defence, she hadn't had the chance to ask them, nor had she mentioned her own experience.
She leans her elbow on her door as her fingers tightly grip the steering wheel, and glances to the side briefly to look at her sister who is occupied on her phone. "Frey?"
"Hm?"
The wind howls around them and she has to increase the volume of her voice to be heard above the racket. "Um, what was meant to happen during the death-ritual thing? Like, were we just meant to find the Nemeton? Nothing else?"
The woman's eyes narrow slightly at the question, and she takes a moment to notice the nervous composure that her sister holds. "I don't know much about it, less than Deaton, but yeah, I suppose." She pauses for a second as thunder rumbles above them, then asks, "Why?"
Ophelia sets her eyes back onto the road in front of them. By now, there's a small cloud of fog trailing along the tarmac, billowing away when the Porsche flies past it. "It's just... I don't know, maybe I was hearing things or whatever, but someone was talking to me-"
"What?"
She spares another look at her sister, who now appears much more concerned than a few seconds earlier. "Like, after I found the Nemeton, I was waiting to wake up or whatever, and I was hearing this voice."
"They were talking directly to you?" Freya presses.
"I mean, yeah, no one else was around me. My past self, that's who I saw 'cause it was a memory, she couldn't see or hear me... So, I'm assuming that interacting with people wasn't really part of the whole thing?"
"What did they say?"
Ophelia shrugs. "Just asked a stupid riddle. It was a bit annoying, actually. Wouldn't leave me alone till I answered them." She isn't sure as to why Freya seems so disturbed by this newfound information.
The eldest looks away from her, and the car is silent for half a minute. "I don't know much about the ritual, but I do know that when you're inserted into or presented with a memory in any case, like you all were, your current self isn't able to interact with anyone else within them." Freya's teeth sink into her lip as she contemplates what the experience could mean. "A riddle seems a bit odd, though."
"That's what I was thinking," she agrees. "Is it something I should be worried about?"
Freya hesitates. "I don't know," she replies genuinely. Before the topic of conversation can be touched on any longer, a shrill ring tone of a phone lights up the inside of the vehicle.
Ophelia gratefully takes the device off her sister who had answered it upon seeing 'Scoot McCoot' on the screen. Her fingers tap against the steering wheel in time with the pattern of his breathing. "Welcome back to the Beacon Hills Supernatural Hotline! It's been a while since I last heard from you-"
"Have you heard from Stiles?"
Her smile drops as she registers the hint of panic that the werewolf attempts to conceal. "Not in the last ten, but he's only a few minutes in front of us. Why?"
"I don't know, I'm just getting a little worried, I guess. None of us have gotten anything from him since we left the clinic."
Ophelia shares a look with her sister, and her heart begins to beat a little faster based off Scott's words. "Okay, well, he's driving, so he's not going to be texting any of us."
"Sure, but shouldn't he be at the Preserve by now?"
"Yeah, I guess," she responds slowly. "Look, Scott, we're literally five minutes behind him. I'll update you later."
"Okay, when you get him, just get to the root cellar," he reminds quickly. There's a rush of wind that creates a fuzzy sound on the speaker, leading Ophelia to believe that he's finished at the Argents' place and is outside going to meet the leader of the Alpha pack. "Deucalion and I will keep Jennifer away long enough for you to get them out of there. Good luck, Fi."
"You too, mate." As soon as the call cuts off, Ophelia regains the ability to focus on all her senses. She's no longer focused on Scott. Which means that very, very quickly, her foot switches onto the brake pedal and the car screeches to a flying halt. Both passengers in the car jerk forward and the seatbelts keeping them secure dig painfully into their collarbones.
"Jesus!" Freya yells in alarm. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Ophelia remembers that the person beside her doesn't have her supernatural senses. Her eyes are wide with concern as the engine roars back to life and the gas pedal is floored. "Stiles," she says. "I can smell his blood."
It takes her approximately twelve seconds to reach the spot in the road that show the skid marks. When her eyes find the crash zone, her heart sinks. She's terrified, because as she briefly examines the damage that is the front of the Jeep rammed into the trunk of a tree, she wonders how the fuck her best friend is still alive right now.
Blood hangs heavy in the air as both females jump out of their car, and Ophelia doesn't waste a second as she speeds over to the driver's seat. It's as she makes her way over that she realises that she can only just hear a heartbeat. It's incredibly faint but it's there. Then, an ear shattering scream reaches her ears. It's so loud that she can still hear the echoes after it finishes, and she doesn't need to even contemplate who it had come from. As worried as she now is for Lydia, she hopes that Ethan would keep his promise and that the Hale pack would make sure she's okay. Right now, Stiles needs her. Badly.
Ophelia rips open the door to have to lurch forward and catch him as he begins to slip out of the car. As she feels her fangs elongate from her gums, her eyes flick across his body to find the large open gash in his forehead still freshly bleeding. The moon light illuminates the steering wheel, showing the faint shine of scarlet liquid that connects how he had managed to hurt himself so badly. Of course, the damn Jeep doesn't have airbags. She sinks her teeth into the flesh of her wrist and doesn't look behind her as she hears Freya's footsteps rush over.
She doesn't care if he has a fetish of blood. She doesn't give a shit if he most likely wouldn't consent to her giving it to him if he was conscious. She doesn't care, because right now Stiles Stilinski is clutching onto the brink of death with the last remaining strength that his body has, and her blood might just be the one thing that can save him in time.
"Is he-" Freya's eyes widen in horror as she takes in the scene before her, and she watches the younger girl press her arm up to his lips. "Oh, my God."
"I got it," Ophelia mumbles almost incoherently.
Almost immediately as the scarlet liquid touches his tongue, Stiles inhales a deep breath, and his eyes slowly blink open. As he registers the iron-like taste inside his mouth, he quickly pushes Ophelia's arm away from him and frantically wipes his lips clean of any remaining blood. "Ew! Ew, ew, ew! What the fuck?"
His response is all she needs to know that he's back to normal. The breath of relief that she exhales feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders. Ophelia engulfs Stiles into a suffocating hug. "I was so worried for a minute," she whispers to him, her voice cracking slightly with emotion. "You scared the shit out of me."
He awkwardly pats her back a few times, then his eyes find the other female watching with a small smile. "Hey, Freya... Oh, shit. My dad. Your brother." Stiles hurriedly unclips his seat belt and jumps out the Jeep to stumble to the side, losing his balance. The witch grabs onto his arms to steady him and he allows her to help him walk over to the Porsche as they all make a silent decision they would return for the Jeep at a later time. "Yeah, good idea," he mumbles. "We should probably hurry up, right?"
The engine to the car roars back to life, and Ophelia clutches the wheel with a newfound determination burning inside her like a fire had just been fed with kerosene. "Let's go save our family."
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It wasn't hard to find the Nemeton after all. However, that was probably because they didn't look for the Nemeton, per say... More so, Freya was tasked with using a scarf Isaac had left in Ophelia's car to use as part of a location spell to find him. So, really, all three were riding on Isaac, Allison, and Chris somehow arriving at the root cellar before they would. With his aluminium bat in hand, Stiles coughs as a particularly strong gust of wind blows dust into his face. "Are we almost there?"
From where they currently stand, Ophelia can hear the desperate efforts of her friends (and frenemies) trying to hold something up. She doesn't know what specifically, but she knows that they're close by. "A few minutes tops," she yells back after receiving a nod of confirmation from her sister. It's almost impossible to pick up a scent with the storm brewing around them, so she has to rely on her hearing.
"Run ahead," Freya calls out to her. "We'll catch up." There's no hesitation as Ophelia turns into a blur as she speeds away toward the commotion.
With the storm raging on above them, the group of adults and teenagers struggle to keep the root cellar from collapsing upon them. After being released from the heavy-duty chains and the circle of mountain ash keeping him contained, the bloodied Original hybrid carries the weight of majority of the main structural beams of the crumpling ceiling upon his back and shoulders. An exhausted Isaac and Boyd stand beside him, struggling to keep their bodies upright underneath the weight of their own. By the time Ophelia rushes downstairs, she can see her brother, who is alive, the two beta werewolves, Allison and her father, and Melissa and Noah all trying to save themselves from being crushed to death.
She hesitates the second she and Niklaus meet eyes, and she is unable to stop the raw sob escaping her mouth. As much as she wants to collide into him with a hug, she needs to help get these people out of this cellar. "We need to get them out of here," Klaus yells over the top of the thunder.
Isaac glances over to who the man is talking to, and he sighs in relief when spotting the blonde. "Oh, thank God. About time you decided to show up."
She rolls her eyes and pushes him out the way to grab onto his beam. Grunting softly, Ophelia lifts it into the air, high enough so both her and her brother are keeping the ceiling from caving in any further. "Bloody hell, what is this thing made of? Bricks?"
"Actually, I think it's concrete-"
"I think the question was rhetorical," Noah Stilinski points out to visibly distressed Melissa. The rest of the group grab onto less vital structural pieces, leaving the brunt of the work to the two strongest supernatural creatures.
Ophelia glances over to nod at him, then winces as her left upper arm begins to burn slightly. It's really fucking heavy. Her lips part in shock as she double takes, and her head snaps back over to the Sheriff. Her eyes widen dramatically. "Hold on, do you-"
The man sighs, although he still manages to give the girl a reassuring smile despite the new information he's learnt of her. "All of it." There's something about Ophelia Stone that makes him feel comfortable within her presence, even though she's a little terrifying. Maybe it's because she's saved his son's life on a few occasions, but she's given him no reason so far not to like her.
"Oi, Lia," Klaus yells at his sister in annoyance, as whilst she has become distracted talking, she's lowered her support beam slightly causing his own to start dropping. "Stop yapping about and lift!"
Her eyes narrow and she ducks to narrowly avoid being hit by a branch that has made its way underground, courtesy of the storm that still hasn't decided to calm. "Excuse me? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm not having a cup of tea, am I?" The way they're bantering makes it seem like one of the two hadn't almost come so close to dying only hours ago.
Boyd rolls his eyes at their bickering and groans as his arms ache painfully. "Both of you shut up, and lift!"
"We are lifting," they echo together in frustration.
The two pairs of footsteps that had been made aware of a minute ago due to supernatural hearing have now come to a halt. All heads turn over to Stiles when the boy jumps down through the gaping hole providing entry to the cellar, and he confidently places his aluminium baseball bat under the part of the ceiling that Ophelia is holding. The girl blows a breath of air out and beams brightly at him. She refrains from exclaiming something out of thanks as her smile softens as she watches him meet the wide eyes of his father. "I always said aluminium was better," Noah comments proudly.
The father and son engulf each other into tight hugs, and Ophelia raises a brow when she watches Boyd quickly brush something off his cheek. He meets her amused smile and scowls. "Dust," he mutters.
"Whatever you say..." Right as she goes to offer to assist her brother, the sound of concrete scraping against itself drowns out voices. Niklaus chuckles as his lips lift slightly once Ophelia joins his side. He keeps hold of his piece of ceiling but lessens the effort of trying to keep it up. She tilts her head upward to the surface and she smiles upon hearing a group of incoherent words spoken in a long lost, ancient language. "And our saviour is here!"
One by one, each in the root cellar of the Nemeton look upward as they watch mountains of dirt move around and stone crack, before bursting upward and creating a large opening where the roof of the cellar once lay. Dim lighting streams through as the remaining pieces of ceiling begin to float through the air, then land somewhere far away from where they could potentially cause any harm. By the time Freya Mikaelson is finished removing the damaged structure, the storm raging on above has significantly died down. Feet crunch atop of rocks and the witch bends over the hole showcasing the group down underground. "You all okay down there?"
Klaus throws one of his bloodied arms around his youngest sister's shoulders who makes no move to distance herself away. "Perfect. Could've gotten here a tad earlier, but yeah, we're just splendid." He glances behind him to the rest of the group. "We're all great, aren't we?" He receives a chorus of starkly different answers. With a roll of his eyes, he waves his hand. "The general consensus is that we're all alive. That's good enough for me."
As his arm tightly wraps around her body protectively, Ophelia finally registers that he is still alive. He's not dead like she had come to terms with would most likely happen. He's alive. He's standing right beside her with that damn smirk that she wants to punch off his face, just like usual. Aside from some healed physical trauma to his body, he's okay.
A ringing phone breaks the short moment of peace. Stiles fumbles around in his pocket to grab hold of the device and he quickly presses to answer the incoming call. "Scott?" Ophelia stretches her hearing to hear the other side of the call.
"Hey," the werewolf greets. "Are you okay? I couldn't get hold of Fi." Said girl looks down to her phone and grimaces at the 'Do Not Disturb' sign lighting up the screen. She doesn't remember why she thought it would be a good idea to silence any notifications in a life-or-death situation...
Stiles rolls his eyes at her guilty expression and chuckles. "Yeah, we're all okay." He looks around the group watching him, and a small smile adorns his face. "We're all okay. How about you, you okay?"
Scott pauses for a minute. "Sort of," he answers hesitantly.
The Stilinski averts his eyes up to the considerably large distance they would have to jump to get out. "Uh, if you happen to decide to come rescue us... Bring a ladder." Soft laughter scatters throughout the cellar and the boy ends the call. As he turns his head over to find Ophelia, his eyebrows furrow as he realises that both herself and her brother are nowhere to be seen. "Hey, anyone see where Ofi went?"
"No need for a ladder!"
Melissa's eyes widen as she finds the girl standing beside the older blonde woman, and her mouth opens in bewilderment. "Did you just jump up?"
"Yup," she replies nonchalantly. Klaus wiggles his fingers beside her. "Would you all want some help?"
Allison glances at her father, and for the first time since they experienced the loss of Victoria Argent, they look somewhat grateful to have Ophelia Stone in Beacon Hills. Somewhat. "Sometime before tomorrow would be nice," Stiles remarks.
Whilst Freya is tasked with constructing a makeshift staircase for the remaining people, Ophelia plops down onto the ground and furrows her eyebrows as she looks to both Isaac, Boyd, and the two Argents. "Hold up, how did you guys even get here in the first place?"
The two members of the Hale pack slowly sit down beside her as they are mesmerised by the work of a witch being performed in front of their eyes and have to snap themselves out of their dream-like daze. "Allison explained something about how she gave Scott one of her dad's emitters to give to his mom for worst case scenarios or something," Isaac explains.
Boyd nods along at his friend's words. "Yeah, Melissa said she turned it on, and we both heard it."
"So, we followed and hoped for the best," the Lahey finishes.
Another crash directs their attention back to the open cellar, and the three walk over so they can see what had caused the commotion. Ophelia giggles at the sight of Stiles sprawled across the floor on his back and the makeshift staircase that is now dismembered, looking much less like a staircase and more like a pile of broken wood. "Stiles, did you break Frey's stairs?"
The boy scoffs defensively from his position on the floor. "No!"
Noah Stilinski rolls his eyes in exasperation at his son and looks up to the teenagers watching from above to mouth, 'He broke the stairs.'
As they break into laughter, Ophelia looks to each of her friends with a smile on her face and realises that they're all going to be okay. Whatever they face next, if they face something next, she knows that they'll all get out of it together.
⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆
Over twelve hours have passed since the defeat of Jennifer Blake. Upon being reunited with Scott after he and Derek came to visit the group at the Nemeton, the boy had explained briefly what had happened: how Deucalion regained his eyesight courtesy of the Darach then was spared by the two werewolves, and how Jennifer Blake had her throat slashed by the Alpha of all Alphas. Of course, Ophelia and her siblings wanted visual proof that the woman was dead. When Scott and Derek had taken the family to the distillery where their fight earlier that night took place, to say they were all shocked to see that Jennifer was no longer in the place she had been left in was an understatement. If anything, it only made Ophelia's lust for revenge increase tenfold.
With the sun still hidden from view, the almost pitch-black sky makes it hard to view the immediate surroundings. Now, little to no stars are visible, the full moon being the only natural source of light. The Mikaelson family stop a considerable distance away from the Nemeton and lock eyes with one another. They all share the same thought, and there is no need for any verbal communication before they go ahead with their plan.
It had been Freya that had suggested they revisit the supernatural beacon of a tree. She had theorised that if there was a small chance Jennifer would still be conscious, she would return to the place that had once granted her a second chance at life. Because what's the point in not trying something that had worked out so successfully the first time?
The three stalk slowly toward the figure of the woman who crawls along the ground, desperately approaching the stump of the tree. Her blood-stained hands reach out to the wood, and her breaths come out in small gasps as the last of her energy begins to run out of its hourglass. "Please," she murmurs. "You saved me once before."
Right before her palm can lay on the flat surface of the tree, Freya's eyes narrow and she makes a single movement that begins their own fight against the woman that dared lift a finger on her family. Her fingers twitch and she flicks her wrist so subtly that it's almost unnoticeable. Jennifer's scream rings through their ears as her body is flung away from the tree and left crumpled in a heap on the sandy ground.
Ophelia's lips curl back into a smile. "Have I mentioned how much I love magic?"
Niklaus rolls his eyes. "Today? No. In the last month? Possibly over a hundred times."
"Piss off," she mutters, shoving his shoulder harshly to receive a chuckle. Her smile drops in a flash when Jennifer coughs violently and rolls onto her back, weakly propping her body up with her forearms. "All right, time for some good old-fashioned fun."
When the brunette's eyes settle onto the family, she blinks once. Twice. Then she laughs. "I would say I'm surprised..."
"Let me guess," Ophelia begins dryly. "You're not."
Jennifer smiles and reveals her teeth that are tainted a deep red. "You know, I always rather liked you, Ophelia."
The girl stares back. "Well, you were saying the opposite of that last night." Her lips purse as she crouches down in front of the wounded woman, and a strawberry-coloured nail boops Jennifer's nose in a playful manner. "And I hate you."
Klaus glares at the Darach so deeply his siblings think he might actually be able to kill her just with the look. "The sentiment is reciprocated."
"Go on, then," Jennifer taunts them, giving another bloody smile. "Get it over with."
Freya lifts an eyebrow. "I don't know about my siblings, but I know I want to make this one really, really painful." Jennifer's skin blanches to the shade of a white sheet as she realises just how screwed she is.
"Agreed," Ophelia says. Her nail traces her teacher's jawline, and the woman makes no move to slap the hand away. She just flinches. "You know, anyone who touches my family, let alone tries to kill them, isn't in my good books." The nail digs in deep enough to draw blood and her next words are a whisper. "No one touches my family and lives." Her mood flips so quickly, it's enough to send shivers down the dying woman's spine. Ophelia's smile is so sadistic that she would fit right at home in a Steven King novel. Keeping that same smile on her lips, she tightly grabs onto Jennifer's upper arm and forces her to stand up on her two feet. A pained moan leaves her mouth.
Klaus' eyes harden as he takes a step forward. "Where's the stake?"
Jennifer laughs once more. "You're about to kill me, and you still want something?"
Freya raises her hand and slowly closes her fist, bringing her fingers down one by one. Each second that passes, Jennifer's screams of anguish intensify. Ophelia giggles as she lets her hand drop off the woman's arm and she steps back in line with her siblings. "I've always loved a good aneurysm. Tickles a little bit, doesn't it, Jenny?"
"Where's the stake?" Niklaus repeats again, his voice filled with impatience and rage.
Jennifer's eyes flick up to the three as her hands tightly cradle either side of her head. Freya uncurls her fist when her brother gestures for her to stop. "In the cellar," she answers hoarsely.
Ophelia scoffs. "It was in that bloody place the entire time?" She gets a nod from Klaus and darts off to jump down into the underground root cellar, searching the entire space in a few seconds.
She returns to the adults with the white oak stake in her left hand. "Wow," Freya murmurs in disbelief. "Hiding it in plain sight..."
After learning the lengths Ophelia had gone to in order to locate himself and her friends' parents, the anger he feels toward Jennifer has only escalated. He isn't sure if this emotion could even be classified as something like anger. Klaus finally has enough and speeds forward to wrap his hand around Jennifer Blake's beating heart. "My sister spoke it well," he whispers to her. "No one touches our family and lives." The woman freezes in her place, her eyes wide and her lips parted as her chest heaves. With a single movement, the organ is ripped out of her body and slowly dropped without a single care in the world. "No one fucks with a Mikaelson," Niklaus speaks quietly. Jennifer's body collapses onto the ground and her glassy eyes stare lifelessly up at the three who observe from above.
As the siblings turn their backs and walk away to return home, reassured that the single weapon that could kill their family is back in their possession, none feel the watchful, curious eyes of Peter Hale positioned upon a ledge overlooking the Nemeton.
Ophelia walks away with her family, although the content she feels is slowly becoming overshadowed by something. She doesn't know what the 'something' is, but the only thing she does know is that it feels dark. She realises now what Deaton had meant, that there would be a darkness that would follow herself, Scott, and Stiles for the rest of their lives. In a way, it feels like her brain is ever so slowly rotting away.
It feels like there's something, or someone, inside of her.
𝘏𝘪 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴!!
𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯, 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘭. 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘖𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵.
𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 2. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 15 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘑𝘜𝘚𝘛 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 3𝘉... 𝘚𝘰 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 4! 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘖𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢'𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.
𝘐'𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 🥰 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵/𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 3? 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵! 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘚𝘖 𝘎𝘖𝘖𝘋.
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳.
𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.
𝘓𝘪𝘷 𝘹𝘹
(gif by hazzawckd)