~Somewhere in Mexico~
Scott and Luna kept their eyes on each other the entire time. Scott couldn't believe that Luna was standing a few feet away from him. He thought this had to be a dream. There was no way Luna could be alive again. Not when he watched her die in his arms.
Suddenly, Scott was slightly pushed to the side. He looked up to see that Kira was running toward Luna. Luna stumbled back as she caught Kira and let out a light laugh. "I've missed you so much." said Kira. Luna hugged her back. "I've missed you too," she admitted.
Kira pulled back. "How long have you been alive?" Luna sighed and looked back at the pack who were waiting for her answer. "About...three weeks?" Everyone's eyes widened. Kira hugged Luna again. "You should have came to us. But I'm just glad you're back."
Kira pulled away and Luna was soon embraced with a hug from Lydia. The two hugged shortly before pulling away. Next, Stiles came up and he stood in front of Luna. He crossed his arms. "How did you come back to life?"
Luna fiddled with her fingers. "I," She took a deep breath. "I sort of, wow, this is really hard to explain but...I sort of gave up my Alpha status...if that makes any sense." Stiles' eyebrows furrowed.
Giving up your Alpha powers? Stiles thought. There was no way... But then Derek popped up into his mind. Derek had gave up his Alpha status and power to heal a dying Cora who had been poisoned by Jennifer.
"So, when you died, you weren't actually dead," said Stiles. "Your body was actually healing the entire time because you somehow gave up your Alpha status to come back to life." Luna nodded. "Yeah, sounds about right."
"Well, um, welcome back." Stiles said as he awkwardly patted her shoulder. Luna shook her head but had a small smile on her face.
A brunette girl walked up to Luna. "Hi, I'm Malia." "Luna." The two shook hands. Luna remembered that this was the girl that Scott had told her about. He had managed to get Malia, who was a coyote at the time to turn back into a human. Malia stepped back and Luna locked eyes with Scott once again.
Making the first move, Luna slowly walked up to Scott, since she wasn't sure what his reaction would be. She stood a couple inches away from him. "Hi," she breathed out before giving a small awkward wave.
"Hi," Scott breathed out.
"Hi," Luna said again.
"Hi."
The two chuckled as they remembered that was how they used to greet each other before they started developing feelings for each other. "You look great." said Luna. Scott's cheek slightly turned pink. "You look great, too. I mean, you always looked great." This time, Luna blushed.
"So, you are not an Alpha anymore?" Scott asked as he put his hands in his pocket. Luna rubbed her arm as she shook her head. "No. I'm an Omega." "Why didn't you-" "Come back to Beacon Hills?" Luna finished. Scott nodded.
"I wanted to, believe me. But, I didn't know how you guys would react to me showing up at your house and saying 'Surprise, everyone! I'm back'." Scott nodded. "I'm glad your back." He said with a soft smile. "I'm glad to be back with you." Luna admitted. But then her eyes widened. "I-I mean, back with everyone again," she said as she turned back to the pack.
Luna then turned back to Scott. "So, who took Derek?" "Kate Argent," he replied. He opened his mouth to tell her who Kate was but Braeden interrupted him. "Let's go. We are wasting daylight."
Stiles clapped his hand once. "Alright, guys. We all can't fit into my jeep. So, one of us will have to go with Luna."
Kira opened her mouth, "I-" But Scott beat her to the punch. "I will," he said making his pack surprised. They weren't sure how he would react to seeing the girl he liked back alive but so far, he was doing well.
"Alright, let's go get Derek Hale back." said Luna as she and Scott made their way to her car while Stiles, Lydia, Kira and Malia got into the jeep. Braeden put her helmet on and took off on her motorcycle with the jeep and the Toyota following after her.
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Braeden was riding her bike down the road while Stiles' jeep followed right behind her and Luna's car followed right behind the jeep. Scott was riding in with Luna and the two were quiet, staring at each other or at the passing desert landscape.
Luna couldn't take the silence anymore. "Okay, I'll bite. Who's Kate Argent?" "Well, Stiles and I were at her funeral." Scott answered. "Was she in the casket?" Luna asked. Scott paused. "Because, you know, I woke up in a morgue-" Scott looked over at her. "And I just figured maybe Kate was in the casket and you know...clawed her way up to the surface." "She was never in it."
Luna nodded. "So, who is Kate? You haven't answered my question." Scott took a deep breath. "She was Allison's aunt." It was quiet between the two again. Luna glanced over at Scott and could see the pain in his eyes at mentioning Allison. "You don't have to talk about it now if you don't want to," she said to him.
Scott shook his head. "No, I should. You should know." He then looked back at Luna and bit the inside of his cheek before he decided to just come out and get it over with. "Alright, Kate was the one who set the fire that killed most of Derek's family. Some of them survived, like Cora and Peter. He's the one that bit and turned me. And was the one who finally caught up to Kate and killed her." "And you saw her buried?" Luna asked.
Scott shook his head again. "No, I saw a casket. She wasn't in it. The Calaveras heard that Kate had been killed by an Alpha's claws. They wanted to make sure she was really dead. Her body was healing. More and more as she got closer to a full moon. She was coming back, so they switched out the bodies. If a hunter is bit, they have to take their own life before they change. The Calaveras, they treat the code like a law. They make it their responsibility to enforce it." "So, she ended up killing half a dozen people to get out?" Luna asked. Scott nodded.
The two went silent for a moment before Luna spoke up again. "So Kate's a werewolf now?" Scott narrowed his eyes. "I don't know. You know, there's a saying, sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are." Scott, Stiles and Lydia had seen it before. With Jackson after he had been bitten by Derek and he had taken the shape of the Kanima.
Suddenly, Scott lunched forward when Luna stopped abruptly. The two breathed heavily. "Why'd you stop?" Luna waved her hand towards the jeep. "Ask Stiles!" Scott looked over to see that Stiles, Lydia, Malia and Kira had now gotten out of the jeep. Scott and Luna got out of the car just in time as Braeden circled around and stopped in front of them.
"What happened?" Braeden asked them.
Stiles moved to check the side of his jeep and the tires. "I don't know. It felt like we hit something." "Scott, we need to get there by night. It's too dangerous otherwise," Braeden told him. Scott and Stiles shared a look. They were running out of time and only one of them could go with Braeden. "Go," Stiles told him.
But Scott shook his head. "Not without you," he added quickly. But Stiles moved over to him. "Dude, someone needs to find Derek. We'll figure something out. We always do. Just go." Scott shook his head again. "Scott," Braeden called out. "You coming or not?" Scott looked from Braeden to Stiles and he then nodded his head before he moved off.
But Luna ran over to him before he reached Braeden's bike. "Scott, uh, I can't think of anything else to say expect for, be careful. And I know that 'be careful' sounds kind of lame and I'm totally sure that the second you're gone I'm going to think of something much better but-" She didn't seem to know what else to say. Scott just shook his head. "no, 'be careful' works for me," he said with a smile. Luna nodded before she went over and gave Scott a hug. And Scott returned it.
Braeden watched it for a second before she moved to get her helmet back on. "Scott, the sun's going down." "Okay, I gotta go." Scott then started to pull away. "Be careful," he returned. He then moved to hop on the bike and they rode off.
Luna then looked back at Stiles, Malia, Kira and Lydia who had small smiles on their faces. That made Luna avert her eyes in embarrassment.
Malia then started to look down at the ground by the jeep's tires and her eyes narrowed as she saw something. "Stiles," she said she moved her hand through the space and grabbed a hold of something. "I don't think we hit something." She then yanked it out. "I think something hit us." Malia then held out what seemed to be a pointed claw.
Stiles reached for it and gave it a better look. He saw that it wasn't a claw, but a long and sharp piece of bone. "What the hell," he muttered as he reached for it. "What is it?" Kira asked. Stiles turned it over in his hands. "I don't know."
++++++
After about a half hour, Braeden began to slow her bike down until they stopped at a small cliff side. Scott climbed off and slowly walked to the edge where he saw a church surrounded by a village. Or at least the ruins of one. Everything looked wrecked, save for the church itself which seemed mostly in tact.
"La Iglesia," Braeden told him as she moved to stand next to him. "What happened here?" "An earthquake. It leveled the town." "Then why is the church still standing?" "The locals think its because of what's underneath." "Do I want to know?" Scott asked though he was sure he was going to find out regardless. "The church was built over the ruins of an Aztec temple. It belonged to a people called the Nagual." Scott somewhat recognized the name. "Shapeshifters?" "Werejaguars," Braeden told him in a hard tone.
Werejaguars, yes, Scott remembered hearing about them before. When the Kanima had first appeared, Stiles had researched it and said that they were supposed to be werejaguars from South America. Though it seemed that the definition was wrong when it came to the Kanima, it looked like werejaguars themselves must exist. And, if Kate was around here, then did that mean that a werejaguar is the shape she took after she was bitten?
"So, Derek and Kate are somewhere in there?" Braeden shrugged. "I don't know. Never gotten this far before." They then moved back for the bike so that they could get the rest of the way there.
++++++
Stiles was moving as fast as he could to try and get his jeep up and running again. Luna, Kira and Malia were standing close by while Lydia was sitting and resting on the hood by one of the lights. The sun had set and light in the area was dimming.
Lydia was starting to get anxious. "Maybe we should just walk?"
Stiles glared at her and removed the light that was in his mouth. "Hey, I will never abandon this jeep. You understand me? Ever." He then moved to put the light back in and resume working. "Ever," he mumbled through the light between his teeth.
Malia was moving around but she suddenly stopped. "Work faster Stiles," she quickly told him. Stiles stopped working and looked at her. He saw that Malia became stiff but alert. "What is it?" Malia's eyes began to scan the outskirts around them. "There's something out here with us."
Luna let her eyes roam for any signs of movement and her ears to try to pick up any incoming sounds. Luna couldn't see or hear anything, but her hair was standing on end. "She's right," Luna added. "There is something out here.
Stiles then moved to get back to work. The faster he got the jeep running again, the faster they could get out of there and get back to Scott and Braeden.
++++++
Braeden rode her and Scott through the ruins until they were outside the church. Scott grabbed a flashlight while Braeden grabbed her gun. When they moved to reach the entrance, she quickly cocked her shotgun. The sound seemed to echo in the abandoned town and feel louder to Scott's ears.
He was eyeing it nervously. "If you find Kate in there, what are you going to do with her?" She shrugged. "Bring her back to the Calaveras. It's what they paid me for." "What happens after that?" "Not my problem," she scoffed out. Scott widened his eyes. "You don't care?" "Do you? She's a mass murderer." "And you're a mercenary," he countered. "Girl's gotta eat." Braeden was unfazed by Scott's attempt for a moral whiplash.
"So, if you were paid enough, would you kill her?" She stopped walking and looked at him. "If the money was good, I'd kill you." With that, she continued on as Scott stood there looking stooped for a moment before he shook himself out of it and kept following her. They pushed their way through some rubble and found themselves in an old, dark and dank looking tunnel. "Can you catch Derek's scent?" she asked him.
Scott nodded. "Yeah, I'm already on it." But then Scott reached for Braeden to stop her. "What?" she asked. "There's something else in here," he muttered softly as he moved the beam of the light to try and see further down the tunnel. "Something like what?" "Something not human."
Braeden tightened her hold on her gun and moved to take point.
++++++
Night had fully fallen and the little light from the jeep's headlights only allowed them to see passed ten feet from where they were. Kira was getting anxious so she moved to grab her sword from the back seat. Malia and Luna were about two feet from the hood, keeping their senses on alert. Stiles was still trying to get the engine restarted with Lydia next to him, holding the flashlight. But her arm was shaking.
Stiles then sighed heatedly. "Lydia, could you please hold the light still for a second? It's really hard to see anything if you keep shaking it like that."
"I'm shaking it like this because we're in the middle of nowhere with your broken down jeep and we're being attacked by yet another razor clawed monster," she spat back at him. She then took a deep breath. "And I'm terrified."
"Well just be slightly less terrified," he told her. Lydia gave him a look when his gaze was off her. He held out a piece of metal to her. "Hold this." She took it and gave it a look. "What's this?" "I don't know. I'm hoping its not important," he said before he started to tighten a loose bolt. "Oh god," she muttered. She felt less confident that they would be getting out of here any time soon. Alive at least.
Kira moved to stand over with Malia and Luna. "Anything?" Malia shrugged. "It's too hard to see. We should've brought another flashlight." Scott had taken the only other one they had with them.
Kira nodded before she looked over at the headlights of the jeep and then looked down at her sword. She got an idea. She moved over to the light and then angled her sword over it to focus and extend some light into the distance. Now they could see a little further. Kira then noticed something in the rocks. "Hey, do you see that?" That made Stiles stiffen and look up. "See what?"
Malia focused her eyes and found what seemed to be a shape in the shadows. And it started to move away. She roared and then ran off for it. "Malia, wait!" Kira called out as she ran after her. "Hey, Malia!" Stiles shouted. Stiles hopped off the hood and was about to run after her too when Luna grabbed onto his arm stopping him. "No! You fix the jeep, now!" "But," he sputtered as he looked out in the direction that Malia ran off. "You are NOT leaving Lydia alone."
Lydia shined the light in his face to cut him off. "Luna's right. You are not leaving me here alone," she angrily growled at him. "I'll go after Malia and Kira while you stay here and fix the jeep so we can all get out of here!" Luna yelled before getting into her car and driving off into the direction that Kira and Malia had went.
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Kira was running after Malia but she quickly lost sight of her. She then stopped when she realized that now she could barely see two feet in front of her. She held her sword at ready as she began to move slower but alert. She let herself be ready to move at the slightest movement. "Malia?" she called out. Kira then stopped moving when her ears picked up the sound of movement. It sounded like it was getting closer and was moving around her. Then there was a loud crack behind her and Kira then swung her sword to defend herself.
But her hand was grabbed, by Malia. "It's me," she told her quickly. "It's me."
Kira then tried to catch her breath as her heart was racing. "What happened?" she asked her. "What's out there?" Malia looked out into the distance and shook her head. "I don't know. But, it is big and fast." Malia then looked down and showed Kira that she was now wounded. "And it cuts deep."
They turned when they heard a car's horn blow and saw that its headlights were moving for them. Kira took Malia and helped her move. The Toyota drove up for them and stopped a couple of feet in front of them.
Luna quickly shot out of her seat for them. "What happened?" "I'm okay," Malia told her. "It attacked her," Kira told her. "Okay, in the car. Now," Luna told them sternly.
She and Kira helped move Malia into the passenger seat before Kira got in the back. Luna gave a scan around the area but couldn't see or hear anything. She then threw herself back behind the wheel and dove them back to Stiles and Lydia.
++++++
Luna parked her car and the three got out. Stiles and Lydia immediately ran over.
"You...you please don't do that ever again!" Stiles said to Malia as he pointed his finger at her. "Do what?" Malia asked indignantly. "I...I thought you just took off. I thought you were running." "I was running."
Luna rolled her eyes while Stiles shook his head. "No, I mean, like, I thought you were leaving." Malia's face fell a bit. "I wouldn't leave without you," she said softly to him. Stiles settled a bit. "Really?"
Malia shook her head. "I would never leave without you," she told him softly. Her words began to make Luna, Lydia and Kira feel awkward as they stood behind the two. Malia then turned to look at the three of them. "Them, I would leave."
Stiles turned to see that Lydia and Kira were thrown by that last one while Luna looked confused. "Yeah, it's progress."
Lydia rolled her eyes while Kira and Luna let a small smile find its way to them.
Lydia then looked down and noticed the wound that Malia had from whatever was stalking them. It still looked like it was bleeding a bit. "That doesn't look so good." Malia just shrugged. "It's okay." "Are you sure?" Kira asked her concerned. "It looks deep." Luna pointed out.
"Yeah," she gasped. "I can feel it healing." "Did you see anything?" Lydia asked Malia. "Barely. It had a strong scent though."
"Like what?" asked Stiles.
"Like death."
++++++
Braeden calmly looked around the next corner and saw that the corridor seemed clear. "So how come you didn't kiss her?"
Scott narrowed his eyes at her in confusion. "What?" "How come you didn't kiss your girlfriend?" "You mean, Luna?" "Yeah, Deucalion's daughter." "Well, she's not really, uh, I mean, we've never actually...She's not my girlfriend," Scott stuttered. "So if you die down here, are you going to regret not kissing her?" That made Scott noticeably turn his head to face away from her. "You probably should've just kissed her."
They then went silent when they reached a corridor where they could see bones were littering the floor. Human bones. Scott could feel a change in the air. There was a new scent. Death...and it was fresh. Fresh smell of death in an ancient place like this. Out of the corner of his ears, he could hear movement. He then turned around and pointed the light behind them but found nothing there.
"What?" Braeden whispered to him. "I just had a feeling like something was behind us." They then started to move more slower and cautiously down the tunnel. Braeden then stopped them. "You hear that?" Scott heard it. It was breathing. Bestial breathing, and it was close. "Is this why you never get that far?"
Then they heard movement. Rapid movement and it was coming for them. "Get ready!" Braeden told him. Braeden then aimed her gun and let out a shot for what was approaching them from ahead.
Braeden kept firing shot after shot but the growling was still coming closer to them. They were starting to back away as the sound of the thing was getting closer. "Where is it?!" Braeden spat. "Do you see it?" "No, I don't know. I can't see anything!" It was too dark and he couldn't catch the sight of anything with the flashlight. "Where is this thing?" Braeden asked as she moved to reload her gun. Scott could dimly make out some movement. "It's coming back. It's coming back!"
They could then hear it. The thing was now running. Running for them.
"Scott get behind me," Braeden told him. "Get behind me!"
But Scott stood his ground. He wouldn't just stand behind Braeden and let her take the brunt of this thing. She had told him that he should've kissed Luna because he might die in here. If he did kiss her, he didn't want it to be because he was going to die. None of them were going to die. He then went and let a giant roar loose that sounded loudly through the tunnels.
The force of it seemed to actually shake the place a bit. The thing stopped in its tracks and then started to run, away from them now. "I think I scared it," he gasped out. Braeden gave him a look. "I think you scared everything." But Scott saw that the shaking seemed to reveal something. "What is that?"
It looked like some kind of carved mural. As they got closer, they saw that it was of some kind of ceremonial drawing of an animalistic face. "Tezcatlipoca. The Nagual jaguar god." Braeden noticed it looked recently disturbed. "I think we found Derek."
Scott moved to put his ears against the wall. Sure enough, he could hear a heartbeat and light breathing on the other side of it. "Stand back," he told her before he punched through it. They moved the rocks away and looked inside to find a hand reaching for them. When they shined the light inside, Scott's eyes widened. "Oh my god."
++++++
The jeep and the Toyota made it to the ruined town and they quickly headed for the church. Stiles and Luna stopped their cars when they found Braeden's bike and climbed out. Stiles went to the entrance and his eyes saw that Scott and Braeden were carrying someone out by his and hers arms. Luna, Malia, Kira and Lydia were right behind him and they stopped when they noticed them too. Stiles looked at who they had and his face dropped a bit.
"Is that him?" Malia asked. "Is that Derek?' Stiles didn't let his eyes leave him. "Uh, sort of."
They did have Derek alright. But, it wasn't the full grown sour faced Derek they were accustomed to. It was one of them that was a teenager like them. The boy seemed to be confused and nervous.
[Published and Edited 8/6/17]