"Son of a bitch." Rachel snapped, shoving her phone back into the pocket of her signature leather jacket. She'd been meaning to call Scott or Stiles as soon as she arrived in Beacon Hills, but the storm raging overhead blocked any chance of that— it may also have had something to do with the fact that she was currently driving down an obscure back road that she was almost certain wasn't actually considered a road by any government standards.
Even her car radio was nothing but static; the only reason she knew to avoid the highway was a news check before left the motel she'd stayed in overnight. The lady on television seemed so certain when she referenced the highway as the only way in and out of Beacon Hills, but it was clear she'd never been to the small town; or any town, for that matter. For every highway, there were two, three, four back roads.
Not all of them were on maps, nor were they maintained nearly as well as a road should be, but they were roads nonetheless. Potholes and sharp turns didn't bother Rachel; she'd had her fair share of high intensity car chases— the Porsche, however, didn't seem to be a very big fan of the deeper potholes. It had made a few questionable noises as she floored it down the dilapidated road, and even seemed to emit some steam after she decided against slowing down for a rather large puddle (which was in fact a flooded stream making its way across the road), but as long as it kept going, Rachel wasn't complaining.
She was almost there, anyway. At least, she hoped so. The clock read 11:14, and if she had to stop and lift one more tree off the road, she was definitely going to be late. She was already showing up relatively unannounced— the only people who knew were Lydia and.. someone she wasn't supposed to know at all. God, she hoped her hours of lie rehearsal weren't going to be needed.
"Shit!" Rachel slammed on her breaks as she rounded a corner to find yet another tree across the road, a loud groan escaping her lips. "I hate trees. I frickin' hate 'em."
She reluctantly unbuckled her seatbelt and turned her headlights on high before stepping back out into storm. A gust of wind and rain smacked her in the face as soon as she stood up, and the door slammed shut by itself when she let go of it.
The rain? Tolerable. But the wind? God, she hated wind. All it did was make her own hair slap her in the face repeatedly.
"Okay, screw this." Rachel took the elastic off of her wrist and used it to tie back her now-grown out hair as she looked over the dead tree laying across the road— it was bigger around than she was, but thankfully it was lifted far enough off the pavement by branches that hadn't fully broken during the fall, so she could still get her hands underneath it to lift.
Just as she took a step towards the tree, she was stopped by the sound of a vehicle approaching. Rachel cringed resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she turned around just in time to watch a pickup truck screech to a halt. For a moment, she didn't think it was going to stop on the water-covered roads, but to her relief, it came to a stop just feet behind her Porsche.
She couldn't see inside due to the blindingly bright headlights that refused to dim, but soon enough, the door opened and someone stepped out.
"Need some help?" A man yelled over the rustling of trees as he jogged over towards her, shielding his eyes from the rain with a hand.
No. She thought, but smiled politely and nodded, turning back to the tree. "Sure, two's better than one. Gotta warn you though, I don't think the wind's on our side."
"Is it ever?" He chuckled, looking for a moment before finding a small clear spot beneath the tree to lift from. "On three?"
Rachel nodded, though she wasn't sure if he saw— she could only really see a silhouette in the bright lights and pouring rain, and that was with flawless vision, but she didn't really need his help. She could lift it herself if needed, and frankly, she would've been better off. An ordinary human man's strength in comparison to hers was an absolute joke. Rachel doubted the help would even make much of a difference, but nonetheless, she let him take the lead and prepared to lift.
"One.. two.." Rachel felt the tree trunk lifting out of her hands just before he yelled, "three!"
She quickly caught up and the two of them moved the tree over to the side of the road so it could later be collected (or ignored for the next decade until it was nothing but an empty shell). They dropped the dead weight and the tree hit the shoulder of the road; a few branches snapped from the impact and it rolled closer towards the ditch before finally settling, out of the way.
Rachel turned towards where the man stood, expecting him to be heading back towards his truck, but he stood still in the rain. She wasn't sure if he was facing her, the woods, or the vehicles, but it soon became clear. For a split second, she almost believed it was her headlights shining so brightly, directly at her— surely that could've affected her vision. But not enough.
The Hale girl bared her canines, her eyes blazing alpha red in contrast to the yellow staring back at her, and growled. "Who the hell are you?"
"I thought by now you'd recognize my voice." He responded, taking a step closer, further into the light from her Porsche. The glow in his eyes faded as the headlights illuminated his face more clearly. "I tried to call you, but there was no service on the highway."
"Maybe you should've stayed on the highway." Rachel huffed, walking back over to her Porsche— why did it have to be Theo? She would've preferred Greenberg. "I have somewhere to be."
"You know your muffler's hanging off your car, right?"
"What?" Rachel walked around to the back of what was once Jackson's prized possession, and sure enough, the muffler was indeed touching pavement. She groaned. "It's fine. I don't need a muffler. Pretty sure it's been hanging off for the past five miles."
"I can drive you if you want." Theo offered, now standing next to his truck's driver side door. "I'm going to Beacon Hills too."
"I'll be fine." She replied, getting into her car.
She pressed down on the break and put her car into drive, fumbling with the gear shift for a moment as it refused before eventually giving in. The stupid thing had been giving her problems for weeks now, but the garage Isaac worked at.. never mind. Rachel moved her foot to the gas pedal and pressed down, expecting to speed off on the now clear road, but instead remained in the same place. She took her foot off the gas and tried again, repeating the process only slower— the car still didn't move.
A knock on the window made her jump.
"You sure you don't want a ride?"
—
As nice and helpful as he was, Rachel still didn't like Theo.
Sure, he might've helped her learn the truth about what she was; and helped her track the Dread Doctors to Beacon Hills; and answered just about every question she had regarding chimerism (that he could answer).. But he didn't speak of the Doctors like he hated them— not with the same passion she did. He spoke of them with open curiosity, and compared to her, he didn't seem to have any desire to tear them limb from limb upon finding them.
"I still don't understand why." Rachel sighed, slouching in the passenger seat. "What are they hoping to accomplish?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Theo shrugged. "Keep going or turn?"
"Turn there." Rachel pointed to the street. "Hell, I still don't understand how."
"How they did it or how you—"
"I didn't do that." The chimera shook her head, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Stop here, I can walk the rest of the way."
"Rachel—" he started, but was interrupted.
"I said stop here." She snapped and he slammed on the breaks, not even bothering to pull over.
Rachel got out of the truck and shut the door behind her— the school campus was just around the corner, so she didn't have far to go. The truck behind her lingered for a moment, before slowly passing by and rounding the corner up ahead, disappearing down the road. The window was down, but Theo didn't say anything more to her before he left, much to her relief. She'd heard enough.
The short walk to the school was uneventful; so much so Rachel decided to check her phone for the seventh time, as she approached the school. For the past few days, the act of checking her phone consisted solely of unlocking it and re-locking it when there were no messages, and this time was no different. There were still no texts, there hadn't been for the past six phone checks, and there wouldn't be, even if someone did want to talk to her because she had no service.
She didn't know why she was still checking.
Rachel sighed, staring at the blank lock screen for a moment more as she walked; a moment too many. In her distracted state, she hadn't even noticed the boy running, and walked directly into his path— which, of course, was one hundred percent his fault. They crashed to the ground, both of them having been taken off guard despite the fact that he'd been running.
"Watch where you're going, dumbass." Rachel snapped, quickly grabbing her phone from the wet grass and tucking it in her pocket. The sound of a struggling growl caught her attention, and she glanced up; first to his blue eyes that threatened to turn yellow at any given moment, and then down to his bloody hands. "Oh."
"I'm sorry, I have to go." He hurriedly got to his feet. Rachel was already after him.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him back, flickering her red eyes only for a moment as to not be seen by any of the people nearby. "I don't think that's a very good idea."
He bared his canines, his eyes blazing yellow for a few seconds before turning back to blue. His hands curled into fists tightly at his sides before he turned and ran towards the school— whoever she was, she could be dealt with later. He had someone more important to find.
Rachel chased after him, but as she got over the hill she found he was already on the ground and being held down by someone else, a familiar face, who promptly let go and helped him up. It was Malia, and next to her was Stiles; who didn't seem all that surprised by the werecoyote's actions.
The boy, who Rachel now assumed to be Scott's beta, Liam Dunbar, spoke as soon as be was upright, "Scott's in trouble—" he looked back at Rachel, standing a few feet away, "—and there's another problem."
"No, there isn't." Rachel narrowed her eyes at Liam. There wouldn't be another problem until after the senior scribe; then Rachel was going to yell at some people, because she sent them plenty of pictures from Brazil.. yet Liam still didn't seem to have a clue who she was. "And what do you mean Scott's in trouble? Like, stuck in traffic trouble or..?"
Liam looked towards Stiles and Malia before continuing, "I think something's coming to kill him."
"Already?" The chimera groaned. "Where is he?"
"I don't know. He was supposed to be on his way here."
That was enough information for Rachel and Malia both; the two focused their hearing through the pouring rain and people, as did Liam upon realizing and within seconds they started off towards the athletic fields. Stiles followed, keeping up only because in public they were forced to maintain a speed that could pass as human.
The fighting beneath the bridge grew louder as they ran, confirming the echoes were what they sought— if not for the tunnel beneath the bridge causing the sound to echo, it most definitely would've been drowned out by the downpour and voices all around. But luckily for them, whatever it was that decided to pick a fight, picked it in just the right place. To lose.
"What the-" Rachel's voice trailed off as they arrived at the bridge.
Water poured from either side of it, making the rain around them look like mist in comparison. Beneath the bridge, Kira and a yellow-eyed werewolf stood off to the side, watching as a blue-eyed creature had Scott on his knees. The creature had talons that matched, but not much could be seen of them as they were embedded in Scott's torso. Malia and Liam both shifted, ready to fight but remained at a distance like Kira and the other werewolf, waiting for the creature's next move.
Whatever it was doing in the meantime, Scott was looking weaker by the second, almost like he was about to collapse entirely before his brown eyes blazed red and he grabbed the creature's arm, snapping it in half. The once glowing talons in place of the monster's fingernails fell to the ground, clicking against the wet pavement, and Scott looked up into its dimming blue eyes. "I don't know who you are or what you thought you were going to do, but I'll give you a choice. You can stay and I'll break something else, or you can run."
The creature glanced towards Rachel, Malia, Stiles & Liam. It looked almost like a werewolf, but with pitch black skin reminiscent of the darkness behind an Oni's mask, and look Rachel couldn't match to any of the werewolves standing around her— it surely wasn't something any of them had ever seen before.
"I'd run." Stiles advised, and the creature was quick to take his advice.
The were-something disappeared beyond the other waterfall and around the bridge's edge, off into the darkness of night. All the werewolves, the seemingly unknown one next to Kira included, shifted back into their normal human forms. Stiles, Liam, Malia & Rachel joined Scott under the bridge, all curious to find out who the newcomer was.
Rachel masked her recognition well when she stepped into the bridge's shadow and saw Theo— it didn't surprise her any more than meeting him on the back road had, but she was suspicious nonetheless. She remained over beside Scott, but when everyone's eyes fell on him, she shot him a look that indicated she'd most definitely be questioning the hell out of him later.
"You don't remember me, do you?" Theo broke the awkward silence with his ever present charm. "I guess I look a little different since the fourth grade."
Rachel resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She wished he would've tried that line on her, but he knew she had a twin, and he knew Cora had been the one he went to school with. The Hale twins had looked a lot more alike back then, and mistaking one for the other was expected for any non-family, except him. The one at school looked him in the eyes— but the one he saw at night never would.
"Theo?" Scott realized after a moment of thought and smiled.
"You know him?" Malia questioned, raising an eyebrow— she thought her summer school results were going to be the biggest surprise of the night, but this had just given those a run for their money.
"They used to," Theo answered her. "Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again. Couple of months ago, I heard of an alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, I just couldn't believe it. Not just an alpha, but a true alpha."
"What do you want?" Scott questioned, somehow making the inherently rude question sound sincere and genuine.
"I came back to Beacon Hills. Back home to my family. Because I want to be a part of your pack."
—
"Hell yeah!" Rachel cheered, pulling her cousin into a tight hug. Malia had just gotten an email confirming she'd passed summer school, and was now a senior along with the rest of her friends— Rachel included. The chimera had found out a few days prior to leaving Beacon Hills that she had accumulated enough credits to skip the rest of the year, and while she hadn't really planned on coming back for her senior year at Beacon Hills high school.. it felt good to know that she could. "Nobody fails when Lydia's breathing down their neck."
"I heard that." Lydia yelled from down the hallway they'd gathered in to wait for her, approaching the group. "Where have you guys been?"
Rachel and Malia filled her in on the night's occurrences while Stiles rambled to Scott about his distrust of Theo on their way to the library for the senior scribe. Rachel did her best to tune him out; he distrusted everyone. It took him months to stop freaking out when she showed up in his room after midnight— he was just paranoid.
Sure, Rachel didn't really trust Theo either; but him wanting to join Scott's pack and be a real werewolf was by far the most believable thing he'd said to her in the past eight months. She knew how it felt to be a chimera, to think of yourself as nothing more than a science experiment gone wrong, and most of all, she knew how it felt to be afraid of anyone finding out.
Nobody wanted a cheap knockoff. They saw them as weak, fragile, a liability; Rachel knew that all too well, and with a new threat in Beacon Hills, she wasn't about to have her friends worrying about whether her manmade abilities were going to kill her mid-fight. She liked being the reflector, a powerful one of a kind creature who could be whatever they needed, whenever they needed it.
The girl in front of Rachel nudged her shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts, and handed her a black sharpie before leaving the line with her friend. Rachel walked over to the metal bookshelf, uncapping the marker in hand and finding a blank space to write her initials. Her eyes wandered across the shelf before noticing D.H. printed neatly, and she smiled. She wrote R.H. below it, and moved to recap the marker but hesitated for a second.
She jotted down E.R, swirling the R's tail as she remembered Erica did on her papers, and then added V.B. beside it before passing the marker on to Stiles. Rachel was the one who asked Derek to turn Erica, making her part of the reason Erica wasn't there to sign for herself. Cora had asked her to sign for Boyd, but Rachel would've done it even if she hadn't of; adding Erica's name without Boyd's wouldn't have felt right.
Rachel watched as her friends passed the marker along, each signing the bookshelf— it made her happy, seeing them all there. Alive.
SS
LM
Lydia handed the marker to Kira, who nervously questioned, "this isn't vandalism, is it?"
"Not technically." Lydia shrugged. Even if it was, there weren't enough cops in Beacon Hills to arrest them all.
Kira wrote her initials and passed the marker along to Malia, who wrote an M and then a T after a second of hesitation before passing the marker to Scott. Rachel half-smiled at Malia as she walked over beside her; as much as the chimera would've liked her to be a Hale, she wasn't offended or sad that Malia had chosen to go by her adoptive last name. It was, legally, her last name— and the name she'd been raised with. Asking her to go by Malia Hale would've been like asking Rachel to go by her first name instead of her middle name, which was never going to happen.
Scott joined the group, a smile on his face as he wrapped an arm around Kira's shoulders. Stiles glanced back over at the shelf and then to Scott before saying, "she would have been with us."
Rachel looked over, her eyes scanning the shelf for a couple seconds before finding Scott's initials and noticing he'd written Allison's beside them. She would've been with them, and she should've. They all should've.
"Yeah," Scott replied.
Lydia smiled. "She still is."
—
UNEDITED.
he's e v e r y w h e r e
more info will be given about the time jump & there'll be flashbacks, don't you worry your pretty little heads - i just had to get the basics out (aka get theo's lies in order) and get into writing rachel 3.0 after her 8 month vacation. i wonder how her relationship's doing? i wonder what theo told her that's sOoOoOoOo unbelievable? if my anemia doesn't kill me you'll find out soon