"THEY WERE THERE for two days, waiting. Hiding. That's what we're taught to do when the Hunters find us-- hide and heal." Cora states looking out of the window of her brothers loft. After everything that had happened with Boyd Derek had needed to get away. He had told Sabrina he was leaving, and she had understood, but know she hadn't heard from him for a while and she was starting to get worried.
"Okay, so, is two days standard, then, or are we thinking Derek's on, like, some extended getaway?" Stiles questions impatiently.
"Stiles, I told you, he needs time." Sabrina exclaims trying to defend Dereks absence.
"Why do you care?" Cora asks Stiles after a moment of silence. Cora was glad Derek had someone who cared for him like Sabrina did. Cora hadn't always been around so she was glad to know someone was looking out for Derek. And she thought Sabrina and Derek were cute together.
"Why do I care? Let's see..." Stiles is quiet for a minute. "Over the last few weeks: my best friend's tried to kill himself; his boss nearly got ritually sacrificed; a girl that I've known since I was three was ritually sacrificed; Boyd was killed by Alphas; Derek has left Sabrina alone without thinking about whatever weird relationship they have... I... Do you want me to keep going? 'Cause I can, all right? For, like, an hour." Sabrina rolled her eyes at Stiles. Her and Derek's relationship wasn't weird, they just hadn't exactly established what they truly were to each other. They cared for one another, but neither had ever asked the other out. They had always been to busy worrying about the safety of Beacon Hills and their friends.
"You think Derek can do anything about that?" Cora questions finally turning to look at Stiles and Sabrina.
"Well, since he's the one everyone seems to be after, it's more like he should do something about it, yeah." Stiles shrugs as if it was obvious.
"I don't know... There's something different about him now. He wasn't like this when I knew him." Cora explains.
"What was he like?" Sabrina asks curiously.
"A lot like Scott, actually. A lot like most teenagers-- unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic, tolerable really only to other teenagers." A familiar voice says. The group of teens turn to watch Peter walk down the steps of the loft.
"And so what happened? What changed him?" Stiles questions as Peter joins them.
"Well, the same thing that changes a lot of young men. A girl." Peter said turning to look at Sabrina, surprised to see no reaction from her. Sabrina knew that Derek had a life before her, who was she to be jealous over someone who obviously wasn't even in Derek's life anymore.
"You're telling me some girl broke his little heart? That's why Derek is the way he is?" Stiles questioned before turning to Sabrina. "You have to fix him." Sabrina rolled her eyes at Stiles sarcastic comment. Why did everyone always assume Sabrina would be the answer to all of Derek's problems.
"Do you remember Derek, before he was an Alpha, had blue eyes? Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?" Peter asks looking towards Stiles.
Stiles shrugs. "I just always thought it was, like, a genetic thing..."
"If you want to know what changed Derek, you need to know what changed the color of his eyes." Peter exclaims.
-
"Okay, so if Derek was a sophomore back then, how old was he?" Stiles interrupts as Peter tells them about Derek and Paige. Paige had apparently been Derek's first love. Like Allison and Scott. "How old were you? How old are you now?"
"Not as young as we could have been, but not as old as you might think." Peter smirks.
Stiles scoffs. "Okay, that was frustratingly vague. How old are you?" Stiles asks turning to Cora.
"I'm seventeen." Cora states.
"See! That's an answer. That's how we answer people!" Stiles exclaims pointing at Cora.
Well, 'seventeen' how you'd measure in years..." Cora begins.
"All right, I'm just gonna drop it. What happened to Derek and the cello-girl?" Stiles questions.
"What do you think happened? They were teenagers-- one minute, it's 'I hate you, don't talk to me,' the next, it's frantic groping in any dark corner they could manage to find themselves alone for five minutes. Their favorite dark corner was an abandoned distillery outside of Beacon Hills." Peter explains.
"All right, hold up-- how do you know all this? You just said that they were alone." Sabrina stops him wondering how he knew intimate details about Paige and Derek's relationship.
"Back then, I wasn't just Derek's uncle. I was his best friend, his closest confidante. That's how I know." Peter tells them.
-
Peter stops the story for a moment to draw the spiral on the wet window, remember a time when his sister was still alive, the memories playing like a movie inside his head. "Our mark for vendetta..." He explains.
"Man, you guys really take that revenge thing to, like, a whole new level, don't you?" Stiles questions folding his hands informant of him.
"It's not just revenge. Losing a member of your pack isn't like losing family-- it's like you lose a limb." Cora explains.
"They wouldn't even let him see the body." Peter mumbles.
As Peter begins speaking again, telling them about how Sheriff Stilinski and Ennis had actually met before, Cora interrupted. "I don't get it-- what does this have to do with Derek?"
"Everything." Peter states. "It's never just a single moment; it's a confluence of events. Personally, I looked at Ennis' circumstances, and I saw a profound loss. Derek saw something different. He saw opportunity."
"Opportunity? To do what?" Sabrina questions.
"To always be with her." Peter exclaims continuing with the story. "The thing was, he had this constant fear. He was obsessing over it, thinking about it all night, all day-- always on his mind." Peter goes on to tell them about how Derek wanted to tell Paige what he truly was. "I kept telling him not to do it. Every day, the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. You know teenagers... I bet he even blames me! He's probably convinced himself the whole thing was my idea."
-
"They keep us connected to humanity. But, they're a secret, even in the pack-- sometimes only the Alpha knows who the Emissary is. Derek and I had no idea about Deaton." Cora explains once Peter told them about how at the time a lot of packs had been in Beacon Hills, and Peter had been trying to convince Derek to turn Paige.
"Or his sister, Morrell." Peter supplies.
"She's an Emissary, too?" Stiles questions, slightly shocked.
"For the Alpha Pack." Peter nods.
"Our guidance counselor? Why the hell don't you people tell me any of this stuff, huh? I shared some really intimate details with her!" Stiles exclaims.
"And did she give you good advice?' Cora asks.
Stiles hesitates for a moment before answering. "Actually, yeah.
"That's what they do. That's what Deaton used to do for Talia." Peter explains.
-
"Ennis? Why would he choose him?" Cora asks.
"Why not? Ennis needed a new member for his pack. Paige was young and strong. Doing a favor for Derek meant Ennis would be in good with Talia-- back then, everybody wanted to be in good with her." Peter explains.
"He doesn't remember it was Ennis, does he?" Sabrina questions.
"If he does, he keeps it to himself." Peter exclaims.
"So, then what happened? Did he turn her?" Stiles asks.
Peters quiet for a moment before he speaks, "Almost. He came at Ennis-- a fifteen-year-old boy against a giant. There was no reason for him to fight. She'd already been bitten."
"So, did she turn?" Stiles questions.
"She should have. Most of the time, the bite takes. Most of the time..." Peter trials off.
"When you offered it to me, you said, If it doesn't kill you...'" Stiles speaks up.
"'If.'" Peter states. "When Derek saw her, he had asked what was happening to her. He knew the answer, though... It didn't matter that she was young and strong. Some people just aren't meant for this. But, she fought. She struggled desperately, trying to survive..." Peter sighs before finishing his story. "Another in a long line of Beacon Hills animal attacks."
"And what about Derek?" Sabrina questions.
"Taking an innocent life takes something from you as well... A bit of your soul. Darkening it, dimming the once brilliant golden yellow to a cold, steel blue..." Peter explains to the blonde. "Like mine."
-
"What?" Sabrina questions when she sees the look on Stiles face. Peter had gone back upstairs leaving the three teenagers by themselves. "What's this look on your face?"
"What look?" Stiles ask turning to his best friend.
"The kind of look that makes me want to punch you." Cora says rolling her eyes, she must have noticed the look on Stiles face too.
"Oh, my God-- you are so Derek's sister, I forgot." Stiles sighs.
"Well, what's with the look?" Cora asks.
"I just don't believe him." Stiles says, elaborating once he sees the look on the two girls faces. "All right, in Miss Blake's class, we're reading Heart of Darkness, and it's in first-person, right? Narrated by Marlow. The thing is that he's an unreliable narrator. You know the details of it have changed, you know, just because of his perspective."
"Well, then we heard the story from Peter's perspective." Cora exclaims.
"Right, and I don't think we got the whole story." Stiles explains.
"So, what...? Are-are you just gonna ask Derek about the girl he fell in love with and then killed?" Sabrina questioned, hoping Stiles answer would be no. She didn't know how Derek would react, but she didn't think it would be good.
"If I have to? Yeah." Stiles states.