"Isn't this illegal?" Rachel questioned, her hands on her hips as she stood idly outside. She didn't even want to think of her current location, because that was the most alarming part.
She was on the roof of Scott McCall's house, along with her slightly insane brother.
"I get that he's on the verge of getting us both brutally maimed & killed, but don't you think there's a more subtle way to approach it?" The brunette attempted to reason with Derek, though it was a weak shot. "Like - oh, I don't know - the front door?"
"Do you really think he's going to invite us in for tea?" The werewolf questioned, now annoyed. Rachel had been at him during the entire drive to Scott's house, as well as the time it took to carry her up on to the roof.
"Tea? He looks more like a coffee person to me, but-" Rachel immediately silenced as Derek glared at her, gesturing to the open window of Scott's room. It took her a moment to realize what he was meaning, but once she did - she nearly fell off the roof. "Oh, you want me to- no. No, no, no & no with a cherry on top. I'd rather jump off-"
The spazzing teen was silenced as he clamped a hand over her mouth, carrying her through the window with him as quietly as possible. Only when he was sure she'd remain quiet, did he let her go. Both of them remained in the shadows, waiting to be seen.
At the exact moment Stiles appeared to take notice of Derek & Rachel on the screen in front of Scott, it froze up - nearly causing Rachel to laugh at the horrendous timing. The words "It looks like.." could be seen frozen on the screen along with Stiles' concerned expression, while Scott smacked at the old computer in attempt to unfreeze it.
"What? It looks like what? Come on." Scott muttered, shaking the computer slightly in annoyance. "Dammit! What?"
The words "..someone's behind you." finished typed just as Scott turned around to face Derek & Rachel.
Not a moment of hesitation was given as the older werewolf slammed Scott against the wall, leaving Rachel to idly stroll over to the computer. In one swift movement, she waved at Stiles before ripping the plug out of the wall. The screen faded to black in a matter of seconds before the teen could react.
"I saw you on the field." Derek growled angrily, leaving Rachel relatively confused.
"You said you were getting groceries!" Rachel whined, crossing her arms in annoyance. After an eventful first day yesterday, she'd opted to take the day off & relax. She could only handle so much teenage trouble before needing a detox.
"Wha- What are you talking about?" Scott choked out, acting clueless. Even Rachel could tell it was a lie, without tapping into the faintly enhanced senses she managed to retain from yesterday. It was beyond rare for Rachel to manage a full twenty four hours without accidentally reverting herself to human once again.
"You shifted in front of them! If they find out what you are, they find out about me. About all of us." Derek ranted, not letting Scott free just yet. "And then it's not just the hunters after us, it's everyone."
Rachel couldn't even begin to imagine a world where everyone knew about werewolves. If werewolves were revealed, it wouldn't take long for everything else to unravel. Eventually, nobody would be safe - including her.
"But.. They didn't see anything!" Scott pleaded, evidently fearful of the Hale siblings. Even if Rachel chose to idly pace around the room, she still managed to move with a certain rhythm that made it appear as if she was some form of predator stalking it's prey. She was the one who, rather than attacking, chose to break down her enemies with fear before moving it.
Derek opted for violence first.
"And they won't! Because if you even try to play in that game on Saturday - I'm gonna kill you myself." The older werewolf yelled, finally releasing the teen.
"I'm uh- I'm not really down with murder, but if you get my brother killed.." Rachel trailed off, wanting nothing more than to glare at Scott, though she knew she couldn't. "I'll turn your werewolf ass into a fur coat. Got it?"
Scott nodded, turning back to his computer, only to find that it'd been unplugged by Rachel. He looked back to where the two had been standing, mentally preparing to rant that he now had to restart the old desktop PC. However, all thoughts ceased as he was met by an empty space.
Rachel & Derek were gone.
⠀⠀⠀⠀↻
"Any volunteers?" The teacher questioned, looking around the class. Each student sat still, some looking out the window whilst others toyed with a pencil or pen. Everyone had one thing common; they were all silently praying that they weren't the one forced to go up to the board & solve the equation.
Not a single hand raised, which in turn led the teacher to let out a sigh of annoyance. It was math. No student in their right mind would willingly volunteer to solve a problem, let alone an algebraic one. Not even Rachel was going to step up & volunteer— had it been anything other than algebra, possibly, but that dreaded subject was something she'd never understand.
"Rachel." The teacher seemed to notice the way she shrunk back into her chair, her gaze on the papers in front of her rather than the front of the board. "Why don't you come up & give it a try?"
"No thank you." Rachel replied nonchalantly.
"It wasn't a question, Ms. Hale."
Her from deepened as she stood up from her desk, slowly heading towards the front of the room with all eyes on her. She passed the teacher - who's name she couldn't seem to remember - & came face to face with the demon itself; algebra. Not only had Rachel never attended a real public school, she'd also never seen such a horrendous mixture of letters, numbers & decimals in her entire lifetime.
-0.25x + 1.3 = -0.55x - 0.2
It couldn't be that hard, right? It was just a few numbers, intermingled with two x's & an array of symbols. Rachel bit her lip, clutching the small piece of chalk between her nails as she attempted to think of a way out.
"Can I go get a drink?" She questioned, dropping the chalk back onto the silver ledge. She knew once she'd escaped the confined classroom, she could either google the answer, ask a math nerd or simply bail - which was certainly her first choice.
"After you solve the equation." The unnamed teacher replied, an ever hated tone in use. Rachel had heard it more than once, the despised "duh" tone that Derek would often speak with whenever she stated something he'd managed to find out without her knowledge.
The brunette reluctantly turned back to the blackboard, restraining herself from flipping out. Much like her brother, short tempered didn't even begin to describe Rachel Hale. Anger had always been a problem for her, but lately in the past few years it'd become an increasingly disturbing issue. Whether it be shattering a glass, or punching a hole in the wall, even the smallest could set her off. The most dangerous part was that she wouldn't even feel pain until the episode ended, which could not only harm others but herself.
Rachel shook the thoughts away as she picked up the piece of chalk once again, her hand shakily moving up to the board.
"Are you going to solve the equation, Ms. Hale?" He asked once again, his voice resembling what could only be described by Rachel as the sound of claws scraping over metal. "Or shall I ask someone who might have a chance?"
Rachel's jaw tensed as she momentarily glanced toward the teacher, ensuring she avoided direct eye contact as Derek had told her. She didn't know the answer— she was street smart & book smart, but she was not algebra smart. When she looked ag the writing on the board, she didn't see an equation, she saw a mixture of letters & numbers poured straight from a blender.
The chalk fell from her hand. Rachel walked back to her seat, grabbing her school bag & heading towards the door. The teacher stepped out in front of her before she could exit. "Where do you think you're going."
"As far away from you as possible."
⠀⠀⠀⠀↻
"My day consisted of three things. One of course, included the pointless task given to me this morning. I followed your new sidekick, and literally all he does is stare at Allison." Rachel kicked her feet up on the coffee table, taking the signature laid back pose. It was a given fact that by now, she'd mastered the art of getting comfortable on the half-burned couch that was half her age.
Alive & un-charred, it was always the best for the Hale family. The best house, the best furniture & the best cars; hence Derek's love for his Camaro. However, due to the ever so kind Argent family - one in particular, that both Rachel & Derek swore to never speak of - their rich heritage had become rather outdated.
All the surviving Hales were still outrageously rich, they just had no clue what to do with it all. Rachel refused to be like Lydia or Jackson & flaunt her wealth. Derek was perfectly fine dwelling within the ashes of his former home & driving a car that half the town couldn't afford. So they remained that way, keeping their riches hidden where nobody would ever find them. The Hale vault.
And of course, the well told saying of "don't put all your eggs in one basket" came into play when Rachel had insisted Derek separate their shares of the money from what belonged to Peter if he ever woke from his coma. That was a rather strategic move on her part, especially when she'd gotten her own hiding place for her share.
However, money wasn't of concern in Rachel's current situation. While every fibre of her being wanted to brag & ramble on about her day in the life of a sixteen year old human, she knew something was up. Beacon Hills was far from placid, and the entire day had seemed to flow smoothly without even a minor bump in the road.
"I didn't ask you to follow him, and he isn't my sidekick." Derek stated in a monotone voice as always, tired, yet slightly amused by his sister's findings. He already knew just how love-sick the new beta was, especially after Scott had shown up after school.
Luckily for them both, Derek had forgotten to get Rachel from school; which led to an outrageously depressing walk home.
"Really? Because that would make the sickest sitcom-" The brunette began, a widening smile on her face. Before she could continue, a dreadful creature by the name of Derek abruptly stopped her, a reaction she couldn't say she wasn't expecting.
"Rachel."
"You'd look absolutely horrible with a cape-"
"Rachel."
"And don't even get me started on the hideous spandex-"
"Rachel." The werewolf spoke, this time more firmly as he gestured towards the front door.
Rachel silenced immediately, focusing her hearing just in time to catch the loudly creaking floorboards of the burned front deck. More creaks emitted, along with a metal on metal clicking sound that she knew all too well. She'd heard it while running from hunters, running from police & even by her own doing.
It was the sound of a gun being loaded.
"We are so fu-" Rachel was about to whisper-yell out a string of explicit words, but before she could even begin the front door was already kicked in. Following that, an array of police officers flooded into the living room & up the stairs, all with their guns held tightly.
A total of five cops had piled into the small room, all with a gun aimed at the face of either Rachel or Derek. As both siblings reluctantly raised their hands in surrender, two on the officers lowered their guns to retrieve handcuffs.
If Rachel hated anything in the world, it was handcuffs. Not only did the police always snap them on to the point of cutting off all blood flow to her hands, but they also simply annoyed her. Just the fact of knowing that her hands were stuck behind her back drove her insane.
To add to her misery, her brown hair had been left down & was currently stuck to her face by static electricity.
"Rachel & Derek Hale, you are under the arrest for the suspected murder of Laura Hale." An officer began to ramble out as he tightened the cuffs around Rachel's wrists, leading her to hold back a growl. "You both have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can & will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be issued to you. Do you understand these rights?"
"I thought you said I had the right to remain silent?" Rachel snapped bitterly, shaking the stray hair out of her eyes as an officer walked her to the police car.
From the corner of her eye, she managed to catch sight of two familiar faces; ones of which she currently wanted to maim. Scott & Stiles. The duo disappeared from sight as the officer shoved her into the back of the car with Derek, nearly slamming the door on her foot before locking it.
"Remind me again why you're helping him?" The brunette scoffed, attempting to blow the hair out of her eyes. Each attempt failed miserably, only leading her to look completely & utterly stupid. "He's literally screaming "I'm a werewolf" at the Argents. He sniffed out our dead sister's body like a freakin' bloodhound!"
"I'll fix this." Derek assured her, focusing more on holding back his own rage. Not only did Scott get both him & his younger sister arrested, but they dug up his older sister's grave. That doesn't go unnoticed.
Rachel was about to add on, "yeah you better" until an all too familiar face began advancing towards the cop car. Stiles Stilinski was cautiously looking around him, seeking the perfect moment to slip into the passenger seat of the car. His intentions were unknown by Rachel, though she didn't care. As far as she knew, Stiles presumed her to be a werewolf. Werewolves can break handcuffs, and if Stiles believes Rachel can snap the cuffs, smash the metal bars separating the front & backseats, then proceed to snap his neck; he'll be afraid.
Stiles managed to slide into the car unnoticed by everyone aside from Scott & the two wrongly accused criminals. The boy thought for a moment of what he could possibly say to save himself from death by claw, before turning back to face the Hale siblings.
"Okay, just so you know.." The spastic boy began, pausing to look at both Derek & Rachel. The werewolf glared at him, while the brunette kept her gaze directed to the floor as previously instructed by her brother. "I'm not afraid of you."
Rachel let out a low growl, while Derek simply moved a few inches closer to Stiles, leading the teen to jump back. Rachel smiled, a twisted form of grin though neither boy could see it.
"Okay, maybe I am." Stiles corrected himself, nodding along as he looked out the window once more. "Doesn't matter. I just wanna know something. The girl you killed - she was a werewolf. She was a different kind, wasn't she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf, and I know Scott can't do that. Is that why you killed her?"
To say Rachel was now seething with an unruly rage would be an understatement. It took every ounce of concentration & restraint not to snap the cuffs & slaughter Stiles right then & there. She didn't even care the consequences. Rachel knew that the boy was only going off what he knew - and as far as the police knew, it really looked like Derek & Rachel had killed their sister.
It wasn't a genius idea to bury her on their property, but it was the only appropriate place that had the room to circle the plot with wolfsbane.
Whilst Rachel remained distracted, deeply regretting the choice of not reverting herself to a human before the police showed up, Derek took that as his one & only chance to speak before her. "Why are you so worried about Rachel & I, when it's your friend who's the problem? When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do? Just keep cheering him on?"
"Derek can't stop him from playing, but you can." Rachel added, shifting uncomfortably as metal dug into her back. She was half tempted to bitch out an officer for not removing the cuffs & allowing her to have her hands in front of her, rather than attempting to lean forward for the entire time. With her brown hair shielding her eyes for the most part, she finally looked up at Stiles with as blank of an expression as she could managed. "And trust me.. You want to."
Seconds after the final words had left her lips, the boy didn't get a chance to reply. Stiles was abruptly removed from the police car by his highly unimpressed father - who proceeded to scold him & send him back off with Scott. All the while, Rachel & Derek remained silent, both sure of one thing;
If Scott shifted, they were as good as dead.
⠀⠀⠀⠀↻
"Exactly how long do they intend on keeping us here?" Rachel questioned, glancing around the metal room. "Because I'm not exactly a fan of confined spaces, especially not ones that are shared with you. Was locking us in a cell together entirely necessary? I really don't think it was. I knew I should've looked at Stiles in the car, you know what happens if I-"
"I know." The werewolf sighed, staring at a wall in boredom.
The past two hours had consisted of two torrential things; Rachel rambling & a very boring game of "I Spy" - in which everything spied was something grey. He was rather close to knocking her out for the remaining duration of their stay, when an the door to their cell had finally opened.
"You're free to go." The female deputy announced. Upon closer inspection, her name-tag read 'Tara' - though Rachel couldn't care less.
"Thank god!" The brunette groaned, jumping up & quickly walking out, as if the door could close at any given point. "Wait, why are we free to go?"
"Is there a reason you shouldn't be?" Tara turned back to face Rachel, crossing her arms.
"Uh- Nope." She shook her head quickly, running back behind her brother & pushing him to walk faster. "Walk faster."
After a few more minutes at the desk, along with the signing of release papers - both Derek & Rachel left the station, thankful that nobody had questioned the mysterious lens flares in their mugshots. Both Hales knew full well of what happened when someone decided to take their picture with the flash on. It triggered something, a supernatural defect, as Rachel so nicely called it. His would be blue, and hers always silver; no matter what she was at the time the photo was snapped.
"So what do we do now?" Rachel questioned, sinking into the comfortable passenger seat of the familiar Camaro.
"We help him." Derek stated obviously, still unsure if he was entirely on board. He knew Rachel would follow no matter what his decision was, because he was all she had left. And she was all he had. They were family - the only surviving members of their pack, otherwise known as omegas, and they couldn't make it alone.
Neither Derek nor Rachel would admit it, but they needed Scott as much as he needed them. He was their only connection to the new alpha, and their only change of getting revenge.
"After that little stunt, you still want to help him?" She gaped, staring at her brother in disbelief. Rachel couldn't believe it. Maybe it was because Scott reminded Derek of himself when he was young, so infatuated with a girl. Or maybe it was because he didn't want anymore werewolves dead at the hands of a hunter. Whatever it was, she couldn't seem to comprehend the concept of her brother being so dead-set on not letting Scott McCall perish like countless others. "You seriously think he wants our help?"
"Trust me. He'll want it."
⠀⠀⠀⠀↻
Oooooh. The part where Rachel was in math class was honestly just filler so the chapter would be over 3k words, oopsie.
Yes, I kinda went all season four on that last part there, but why the hell not? So, I know Rachel kinda hates S&S right now, but she'll eventually warm up to them. She just lost Laura, & Derek's all she has left, which is why he's priority for her.