Convincing Derek Hale to spare an enemy life was tremendously difficult, as Scott came to learn in the Argent family's silent basement. Heavy chains were at his feet, the shackles pried open by his own hands as he had torn them away from Derek's wrists, and the unnerving sound of droplets of water falling into a puddle threatened to drive him closer to insanity with every passing moment. Dealing with a hard-headed beast in this setting was madness, yet Scott forced himself to remain in place, right where his enemies could find him. He needed the looming presence of the hunters to make Derek see.
From the piled weapons in a corner of the room, to the sharp daggers neatly aligned on a nearby table, everything in the room represented a threat to anyone with a tendency to become slightly hairier every time the moon was full. Danger was everywhere around them, and it had been there for a long time. It had taken Scott quite some time to understand what was going on behind the scenes, to see the gears shifting behind the seemingly unrelated incidents that had taken place in Beacon Hills. If only he had seen it sooner, maybe he wouldn't have had to witness the betrayed look on Allison's face as she saw him shifted earlier that evening.
Running away from her and her family of hunters, losing himself in his desperate pursuit of a mentor, someone to guide him through one ordeal too many, he had focused all his senses on finding Derek; and when his nose led him straight to the Argent home, he understood. It was them, it had been all along.
The Argents may not be responsible for the revenge that ensued, but seeing the spark of insanity that danced in Kate's eyes back in the school parking lot, Scott had little to no doubt she had been the one to light the match and shove every soul into the Hale house into a blazing hell. The Hale family home was turned to ash by her hand, depriving Derek of his family and Peter, of his sanity. However, as hateful as it had been, the act did not justify Peter's thirst for vengeance in the slightest, especially after Scott had come to question how he became an Alpha in the first place, when Laura had been the one to hold the title.
Alan Deaton disclosed that information to Scott, who had taken it upon himself to share it with Derek in the hopes of making him realize how much of a liar and a psychopath Peter truly was. At first, Derek didn't believe him. He didn't want to listen, too caught up in his habit of throwing himself head first into danger, leaving teenagers to clean after his mess every time. But this time, Scott hadn't wavered. Derek was weak, barely standing on wobbly legs and washing away the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and forcing him to stay where Scott wanted him to stay had been almost too easy.
The puppy-eyed teen swallowed hard, bracing himself for the revelation he was about to make. The last clue that proved Peter had ended Laura Hale's life was a simple shape, one that he had drawn in the vicinity of where his other crimes had taken place. A spiral that had been found next to Laura Hale's cold body, and Scott had a picture to prove it.
The crumpled piece of evidence was snatched away from Scott's hands, leaving bruised skin behind. He barely felt it, for his eyes were solely on Derek and the crestfallen expression that fell on his features as he could no longer deny the truth. And thus, another ordeal began for Scott. Derek's alliances changed swiftly, and after arguing for what seemed like months that they should all help Peter, he was rushing outside, determined to kill the very man he had sworn to protect.
Scott was left to run after him, already out of breath and falling behind as Derek reached the edge of the woods. His injuries were long forgotten, and although his entire body still screamed in agony, anger was a powerful fuel and he had plenty of it. The older wolf only slowed down once he had reached his destination, a place he and Peter knew all too well, and that Scott had come to dread even more each time he came near. The ominous ruin of the Hale house was in sight, its dusty smell reaching Scott's nostrils and entering his lungs. It was the place where it all started, and it was the place where it would all end.
The strange poetry behind it was lost on Scott, and it seemed to be lost on Derek as well as he didn't waste a second before slamming the door open, sending it bump against the wall in a deafening clatter. Frustrated grunts and loud footsteps all around the old house reached Scott's ears as he struggled to catch his breath, not daring to enter the building. The moment his heartbeat returned to normal, Scott knew something was off.
The moon was high in the sky, casting ill-defined shadows in between the trees. Everything seemed to faintly glow with a pale, ominous hue, but that wasn't what put Scott on his toes. No, it was the heavy silence outside of Derek's old home that sent chills travel down his spine. The forest was quiet, without the usual chirping of a bird or hoot of an owl, and the absence of wind made Scott feel like the woods were holding their breath, waiting. Predators were coming, and only other predators were mad enough not to cower and hide.
Taking in the silence, Scott felt fear well up in his chest. He didn't belong here, in a place that only knew violence and gore. He wasn't a predator, he was a teen who'd had the misfortune of finding himself on Peter's path, one night a lifetime ago. His heart was thumping in his chest again, but this time it had nothing to do with running madly across the woods. His sensed danger, all around him, and he knew all Hell was only seconds away of breaking loose.
Oh, how he hated being right. Scott blinked, and time was flowing again. Everything happened all at once, yet his heightened senses had him suffer through it all, not missing a single cry. It started with the creaking sound of a loose floor board protesting against Derek's weight as he stepped outside of the burnt ruin, the faint light hitting his chest right before an arrow followed.
The scream that left Derek's throat was of pure pain, and it shook Scott to the core. He couldn't detach his eyes from the arrow that stuck out of Derek's chest, and from the dark stain that grew around it. A low grunt from the older werewolf brought him back to reality, just in time to snap his head towards the woods. Dread overtook him, as he had an idea who was hiding behind the trees, bow and arrow in hand.
Two dark shapes were coming closer, rustling branches as they walked forward. Scott didn't need the wind to carry their scents to know who they were. For better or worse, he could recognize the silhouette of his first love in heartbeat.
"Now the leg," Kate spoke, her voice void of emotion.
Scott couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Allison raise her bow, an arrow between her fingers. She didn't hesitate for a second, and Scott barely saw the arrow leave the string before Derek was screaming again. Scott could almost feel the pain radiating from his pack mate, and an arrow only hurt more when Allison was the one to shoot it. The worst was, the girl he had fallen head over heels for didn't even spare him a glance, her soft features disappearing behind a scowl.
"And flash bolt!" Kate instructed again.
"Scott, hide your eyes!" Derek yelled, motioning towards his pupil with the hand that wasn't digging an arrow out of his chest.
If Derek had regained some of his senses, the same could not be said for Scott. He was still staring at Allison like she was a complete stranger, and when a bright flash illuminated their fighting ground, he felt like someone had shot arrows through his eyes. Doubling over in pain, Scott finally started moving, staggering towards where he thought he could hear Derek. His eyes were burning so much that he feared to open them again, and he relied on his ears to get a mental picture of the chaos that was surrounding him. Impatient footsteps on the soft grass to his right gave away the position of the hunters, and Scott was almost glad he had spent so much time tracking Derek that he knew exactly what the older wolf sounded and smelled like.
A hand roughly grabbing his forearm made Scott open his eyes, an action that he immediately regretted when the faint light attacked his retinas. He was met with Derek's face, contorted in pain but still willing to put on a fight. This would not be the day Derek Hale stopped fighting, and Scott felt like a fool to have believed otherwise, no matter how briefly. The powerful tug on his arm made Scott stumble forward, his legs quickly catching up with Derek as he limped back into the house, finding shelter behind the wooden walls. Scott could hear the hunters on their heels, and he knew they didn't have long before they were caught.
"Scott, go! Run!" Derek shouted, breaking the arrow in his leg in half and pulling it out, allowing the injury to heal.
Outside, the sound of the footsteps changed. The hunters were walking on the floorboards just on the other side of the door, and Scott could only hope Allison would be the first one to cross the threshold. Maybe, just maybe, he could reason with her. If Kate hadn't corrupted her entirely, if she really had loved him even just a fraction of how much he still loved her, then there was still hope. When Allison stepped inside, her bow and arrow were pointed straight at Scott's heart.
"Allison, I can explain," Scott said, raising his hands in the air to show that he meant no harm.
"Stop lying," Allison replied harshly. "For once, stop lying!"
Her tone was far from friendly, but she hadn't shot him. Scott now having extremely low standards for something to qualify as good news, this small fact was close to a miracle in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Scott kept talking.
"I was gonna tell you the truth at the formal. I was gonna tell you everything. Because everything that I said, everything that I did--"
"Was to protect me," Allison interrupted him, her voice as cold as ice.
"Yes," Scott nodded.
The genuine sincerity in his tone did not seem to reach her, for Allison's expression did not waver. Her eyes held no pity, no remorse for holding her first boyfriend's life in her hands.
"I don't believe you," Allison replied, and the words felt like a death sentence to Scott.
"Thank God. Now, shoot him before I have to do it myself."
Kate appeared from behind Allison, a gun in her hands. The look on her face betrayed her feelings towards Scott and Derek, or rather, the absence of feeling towards what she saw as beasts, monsters to hunt in the dead of night. If Derek wasn't surprised to hear those words come out of Kate's mouth, the impact they made on Allison was vastly different.
"You..." she stammered, lowering her bow and staring at her aunt in disbelief. "You said we were just gonna catch them?"
"We did that," Kate replied, unwavering. "And now we're gonna kill them."