DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Own Teen Wolf
Code breaker,
Scott McCall was a werewolf. A freaking werewolf. He was of werewolf status. He was like a really lame Remus Lupin – or, what, was he like that other one? Fenrir Greyback, the bad one who sided with You-Know-Who? Oh, God, was Scott killing people? Had he killed people? Would he kill her?
Ellie really hoped he wouldn't kill her.
But he'd told her he loved her. He'd looked into her eyes and said "because I love you". Was she supposed to know if that was true or not? Was he just saying that? Was he lying? She hoped he wasn't lying. She really, really, really hoped he wasn't lying. But what if he had been? What if he'd just been pretending to care about her to get closer to her uncle?
And he hadn't stayed to talk to her. He'd just hopped off of the cars and ran into the woods, letting Chris handle Ellie. She wondered if it would always be like this. If they would even be together anymore. If she even wanted them to be together anymore.
The other car – the black SUV – peeled out of the car park, presumably to follow Scott, and Ellie stumbled out of the bus. Her legs felt numb, her head light, and she didn't know what to do. How to react.
Chris caught her before she face-planted on the floor, muttering, "It's alright. You're alright. Everything is okay, Ellie,"
But it wasn't okay. Her boyfriend was a freaking werewolf.
He led her away, to his car, and helped her inside. She couldn't plug in her seatbelt, she was shaking so much, but he did it for her. For once, she wasn't resenting him for trying to act like her father. The maternal instincts he had were comforting; even if they did make her wish her own parents were still there.
The drive back to the Argent household was in silence. Uncle Chris was seething, but Ellie could barely think about anything other than a pair of glowing gold eyes. She wondered how many times she'd have to repeat in her mind that Scott was a werewolf before it stopped being so nauseating.
Ellie and Allison were herded in Ellie's bedroom, Allison clutching at her cousins hand and listening to her mother explain what had happened. The girls both sat on her bed, neither talking, and heard the sound of china smashing downstairs.
Ellie surmised that Chris figured out that Kate had told them about the family business.
Victoria was busy rooting through Ellie's wardrobe, throwing things next to them on the bed and opening an almost comically large duffel bag. Ellie wondered if that bag usually held guns.
"I'm not sure how long you'll be." The older woman said. Apparently, they were sending her and Allison away with Kate, to get out of danger. Ellie didn't want to leave; she had to talk to Scott. Not to mention the really bad feeling she had about Lydia – she'd disappeared during the dance, she'd noticed, and hadn't come back. And she could've sworn she'd heard screaming sometime during her mental breakdown in the bus. Maybe she was imagining it. She hoped she was. "Do you want me to pick out anything specific?"
Allison shook her head, but Ellie said nothing. "Ellie?" her aunt prompted.
"I just saw my boyfriend turn into a werewolf." Ellie said flatly, "I honestly couldn't care less about what clothes your packing, Aunt Victoria."
"Alright," she said, smiling, "I'll grab some things myself."
Ellie's phone rang, but before she could reach it, her aunt lunged and turned it off. "Was that Scott?"
She hoped it was Scott.
"No," Victoria said, frowning, "Somebody named Jackson."
Allison shared a look with her cousin. "What are you going to do to him?" she asked tentatively, not missing Ellie's flinch at the idea that they'd do anything to hurt him.
"That depends," the older woman said, returning to the wardrobe, "We have a sort of moral code we follow. Especially when they're that young."
"Scott hasn't hurt anybody!" Ellie said loudly, "He would never! He certainly hasn't killed anybody, I-I swear. He's Scott, he feels bad squishing bugs!"
"This is all part of a longer conversation."
"I want to know now!" Ellie yelled, "Tell me now!"
"What you want right now doesn't matter, Ellie!" Aunt Victoria shouted back, tone stern, "What you need is stay quiet. Think of it like... you've just found out your uncle works for the government, and of course he couldn't tell you, but you understand because he's worked his whole life to make the world safer. You're catching a glimpse of something you're not quite ready to see, and there are others, outside of this family, who aren't ready for you to see it. Staying quiet is the best protection. Do you understand?"
Allison nodded, but Ellie just jutted out her chin stubbornly.
"Say it!"
"No!" Ellie exploded, "No, I'm not going to do what you tell me to! You're not my mother, you have no right to treat me like an idiot! No right to control me! I want to see what Jackson wants, I want to stay here and talk to Scott, and there is nothing you can do about it!"
"I am your-"
"You're my what?" she said spitefully, "My legal guardian? Like I give a shit!"
"Don't use that language on me, Ellie Argent!" Victoria snapped, "Shut it and sit down. You're leaving with Allison tonight whether you like it or not!" she put on a smile and turned back to the clothes. "Now, I'll pack a few warm coats. It will probably be cold up there in Washington."
▶
After changing – and muttering a few choice words about her aunt – Ellie found herself in the passenger seat of her aunt's car. Allison was in the back, obediently silent like a good little girl, but Ellie was fuming.
She'd finally been given her phone back, and had discovered twelve missed calls from Jackson. Ellie sent a quick message asking what was wrong, to which he replied that Lydia was in the hospital. That had made her try to leave the car, but Kate grabbed her arm before she could and told her to sit still.
"But Lydia, she-she's in the hospital!"
Allison's head snapped up, but Kate just gave her an unreadable look and shook her head.
"You know you can't do this without me," Kate said to Chris through the car window. "You're not going to find him on your own."
Chris ignored her and instead turned to the teenage girls. "I'll explain everything, I promise. Call me when you get there."
Ellie made now indication that she'd even heard him, just stared absently at a spot on the dashboard. He gently patted her shoulder before walking back inside the house and muttering something to a lackey that stood near the door.
They had only been driving for a little while when Allison looked up from where she was sitting and asked, "Did we miss the highway ramp?"
"I think we did." Was all Kate replied.
"Are we going to turn back?"
Kate laughed, "Now that's a fitting choice of words."
▶
They were parked outside the hospital soon enough. Kate stayed in the car, having not known Lydia at all, but Ellie and Allison practically sprinted inside. They got directions from a nurse and stood outside of Lydia's hospital room.
It was all rather surreal for Ellie. Lydia was always so strong, and seeing her lying there on a hospital bed with tubes sticking out of her didn't seem right. Allison was flinching, like she was seeing something that wasn't there, but Ellie wasn't paying attention. Her cousin was the least of her worries.
"We should go back to the car." Allison said.
"No."
"No?"
"No, I'm staying here."
"But Kate-"
"Screw Kate. I'm staying here with my best friend."
"We were told to leave."
"I don't care."
"But-"
"You go. I'm staying here with Lydia and Jackson."
"Ellie!"
"No! If you try to stop me from leaving, you'll wake up tomorrow morning in one of these beds with your spleen missing, okay?"
"Okay."
"So piss off."
"Okay."
"..."
"... I'll, um, I'll see you later then."
"Whatever."
▶
Scott was pretty proud of his plan: howling to signal his location to Derek in hopes he'd get one in return. After everything with Ellie, it was good to have something like finding Derek to get his mind off of it.
He found himself in the woods a little way away from the Hale house. There was a doorway to a cellar he'd never noticed before, one that led to a really creepy tunnel that he wanted to go through as quickly and as quietly as he could. He didn't know if there was anyone in there with Derek, after all. There could be some Argent goons, or even the alpha. Wait, no, he should really call him by his full name. Peter Hale. Peter freaking Hale, the person who simultaneously ruined and fixed his life. Without him he might not have made the connection with Ellie, but he also wouldn't be a werewolf. He was really fed up of being a werewolf.
When he got to the basement room, he saw Derek tied to a metal great against the wall, shirtless and with wires sticking out of his side. He wasn't alone, there was another man with him. As Scott watched, the hunter said, "Ready to have some more fun? To be honest, my knuckles are kind of hurting." He whipped out a metal baseball bat, "So I brought some help. But I need to warn you, I used to play in college."
He swung the bat, but Derek caught it with his hand (he must've broken out of the shackle), and said, "I brought a little help, too."
"The hunter turned around to see Scott, distracted enough that he didn't see the punch from the older werewolf coming. He laid next to the wall, knocked out cold.
Derek immediately ripped the wires off of him, and tugged at the last remaining bond securing him to the wall. "Scott, help me with this."
"No."
"What?!"
"Not until you tell me how to stop Peter."
"You really want to talk about this right now?"
"He's going after Ellie and her family. He's going to kill them."
"So, what?!" Derek yelled.
"So, tell me how to stop him."
"You can't! Alright? I don't know when Kate's coming back, so get me out of this right now!" he shook his shackle, "Get me out right now!"
"Promise you'll help me."
"You want me to risk my life for your girlfriend?! Huh? For your stupid, little teenage crush that means absolutely nothing?! You're not in love, Scott. You're sixteen years old. You're a child."
Scott wanted to tell him how wrong he was. How it wasn't just a pathetic crush he had on Ellie, and that he really, truly loved her. How he didn't understand how he'd even lived before knowing her, how if she took the whole werewolf thing badly he'd go crazy. Or die of sadness, or something.
But instead, all he said was, "Maybe you're right. But I know something you don't. Peter said he didn't know what he was doing when he killed your sister, right? He lied." He held up the paper he'd taken from the animal clinic, one with the picture of the deer with the spiral on it. "Remember this? This is what brought your sister back to Beacon Hills, right?"
"Where did you get that?" Derek's voice shook with barely supressed anger.
"My boss told me three months ago that someone came into the clinic asking for a copy of this picture. Do you want to know who it was? Peter's nurse. They brought your sister here so that Peter could kill her and become the alpha and that is why you're going to help me!" Derek didn't say anything. "Just say you'll help me, and I'll help you unlock your other-"
He broke off, spinning back around to see Derek rip the shackle away from the wall and step down. "I'll help you."
▶
Ellie had been sitting on one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs for almost an hour before she saw Stiles and Jackson.
They were both still in their formal clothes, and Stiles was walking determinedly, Jackson following. "Where are you going?" the lacrosse captain asked.
"To find Scott," was Stiles' clipped reply.
"You don't have a car!"
"I'm aware of that, thank you."
"Hey, I'll drive. Come on," Jackson grabbed Stiles' arm, but the other boy shoved him off.
"Look, just because you feel guilty all of a sudden doesn't make it okay, alright?" Stiles snapped, "Half of this is still your fault!"
"Look, I have a car, and you don't. Do you want my help or not?"
"Alright, did you bring the Porsche?"
"Yeah," Jackson dug into his pocket and pulled out the keys.
Ellie stood and approached them, snatching the keys away before Stiles could and saying. "Good, I'll drive."
a/n okay this is pretty shit. sorry. omg only one more chapter and an epilogue then i'm done.
Thanks for reading!