✧☾ ATONEMENT ☽✧

━━━━ act one. full moon

seven. bury my heart ━━━━

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WITH A FRUSTRATED GROWL NOLA THREW HER SHIRT ASIDE. Three tears ripped the fabric to shreds, ruining her favorite black shirt. Yesterday's events left her so shaken she hadn't even noticed her claws were out while she'd been packing her bags. Fucking fantastic.

She still hadn't decided if the timing of the Cross-country race was fortunate or not. On the one hand it meant she'd get to escape Beacon Hills for two days, including her father. On the other hand a lot of the people she was trying to avoid were coming along as well. She really didn't feel like sitting on a bus for two hours with Derek's Betas breathing down her neck. Or with Scott's look of betrayal tearing into her soul. Or watching the I-told-you-so-look Stiles would be throwing at his best friend. Why was she going again?

A sharp knock on the door broke through her thoughts. Instinctively her ears searched for a heartbeat and she felt her stomach turn when she recognised the steady rhythm. She took a deep breath and threw her jeans in her bag before making her way towards the door. Her hand reached for the doorknob and for a second she hesitated. But she'd postponed this conversation for far too long already. She braced herself and opened the door.

For a small, wonderful moment Aiden's gorgeous brown eyes simply looked at her and the rest of the world faded away. Had she tried, she could have pretended he still made her feel like countless butterflies awoke inside of her whenever he looked at her like that. But she had no energy left to try and so all she felt now was the icy sting of doubt.

Aiden was the first to look away, his eyes scanning what little was visible of the room behind her. Once he was sure her father wasn't home, he looked back at her. "Can I come in?'

With a nod, Nola stepped aside, letting him pass and closed the door behind him. "What's going on?" she asked, following him into the living room.

"We brought Ennis to that druid guy," he said, hands shoved into his pockets, like he always did when he was nervous, as if it would keep him from hitting something. "He's stitching him up now."

She frowned. "He survived that fall?" The image of the two men falling was burned into her mind. It would be a miracle if they survived a fall from that height. Not even a wolf's healing abilities worked fast enough to heal a broken neck. But if Ennis managed to survive..."What about Derek?" she couldn't resist asking.

"His body wasn't there when we got to Ennis," Aiden said with a shrug, like it wasn't important.

"Right," she sighed, resenting herself for wishing he cared when she should've known better by now. "But that isn't what you came here to say, is it?"

He pulled his hands from his pockets and started pacing back and forth, anything to avoid looking at her. "I got expelled."

"Can't say I'm surprised," she said, taking a seat in the hopes of making him follow her example. She hated his nervous pacing. It reminded her an awful lot of a ticking time bomb. "But why?"

Lucky for her, it worked and Aiden took a seat on the couch in front of her. "Derek's stupid Beta and Scott McCall drove my bike into the hallway, put the blame on me."

She snorted, oh what she wouldn't give to have seen that play out.

"Oh, you think that's funny don't you?"

"Absolutely," she admitted, not even bothering to try and hide her smile. "So that means you won't be coming on the Cross-country trip?"

He shook his head. "I can't believe you're even thinking about that right now."

"Well, I would still like to graduate," she said. "You know, before getting sacrificed by some evil druid or killed in another pointless fight."

Aiden jumped back to his feet. "Pointless? What the fuck, Nola? Why the hell do you think we came here? It's like you don't even know where your loyalties lie anymore!"

There it was, the true reason he'd come here. She'd known from the very moment she heard his heartbeat on the other side of the door the conversation would lead to this. Perhaps she'd known from the very first time they'd discussed her doubts about the plan that eventually it would lead to this...

"You went against orders! Your father's orders," Aiden continued to rage. "You helped the enemy!"

She watched him continue to pace with narrowed eyes. "Scott is not the enemy, the Argents and their hunters are. They always have been." After all, they were the reason her father had started down this path. Though lately she wasn't sure if he was fighting for their protection or his own power. The lines were starting to blur and she was desperate to make them clear again, to know where she stood and draw her own lines.

Aiden scoffed. "You still think there's a difference? For fuck's sake he's in love with one of them!"

So he had found out something useful from all his flirting with Lydia after all. Not that it mattered. It didn't change the fact that Scott was a werewolf and Allison was a hunter. They would realize it couldn't work eventually. And when that day came, she would be ready.

"We need Scott on our side and we're not gonna do that by fighting him," she explained, trying her hardest to keep her voice steady. "I think we've both figured out by now that he plays by different rules."

Aiden took a step towards her. "That's not for you to decide, Nola!"

Her anger flared up suddenly, her patience with his yelling burned up with a single flame. "What the fuck do you want me to do then? Blindly follow orders that I don't even agree with?"

"I want you to talk to me!"

"I can't exactly do that when you're inviting yourself over to dates with other girls!"

She bit her lip as soon as the words left her mouth.

Between dealing with her father, Derek's pack and a possible evil Druid, she hadn't even realized it was still bothering her this much. But it was. She hated having to share him but she hated having him all to herself just as much. Because it meant opening up her soul and talking about why she could no longer blindly follow orders. And it wasn't until now that she realized exactly why she couldn't give up that piece of herself. She didn't trust him.

"Fuck," she muttered.

Aiden shook his head, eyes glowing like embers about to be ignited. "How many times have I told you not to worry about that!"

Not enough...She managed to swallow the words before saying them out loud.

"Besides, weren't you driving off with Stiles into the sunset just a few days ago?"

Nola felt her skin burn. "I went with him to get information, to figure out who the hell our real enemy is! Because it sure as hell isn't Scott or Derek!" she shouted. "I never went with him to his house!"

"You're such a fucking hypocrite!"

"Better a hypocrite than a coward!"

She hadn't even noticed how they'd moved closer in their anger. They were standing toe to toe, noses almost touching. But even when standing this close the butterflies didn't return. Neither did that burning itch to place her lips on his. Her longing to have him near was nowhere to be found and it was the last push she needed.

"I don't think I can do this anymore."

Her voice was barely a whisper, suddenly drained from all of its previous anger.

Aiden stepped back, looking at her as if she'd pulled out his heart with her claws.

Ever since coming to Beacon Hills her life had nothing short of a rollercoaster. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. It shouldn't have surprised her that eventually she wouldn't be sure about their relationship either. Yet her stomach still turned with a sickening sting of regret upon seeing his hurt expression. Aiden wasn't one to easily show any other emotion but anger, except with Ethan and her. Now she'd ruined that too.

"Do what?" he asked, staring at her with those gorgeous brown eyes, like he was truly seeing her for the first time.

She inhaled shakingly. "This. Us. We should-" The sudden lump in her throat made it hard to talk. If this was what she wanted, why did it still hurt so much? "We should end this before we hurt each other even more."

He shook his head and then his mask slit into place. All vulnerability was replaced with the rage he liked to show the rest of the world. "Nola Newcrest, always running from a fight."

"Aiden-"

"Fine, you wanna break up? Let's break up!" he backed away from her but whirled around at the last second. "But don't come crying to me when you realize I was right."

If he refused to show grief in the end, she would too. "Wasn't planning on it!"

"Good!"

"Great!"

"Fucking fantastic!" he shouted as he stormed towards the door.

She winced as he slammed it shut behind him and only when she was absolutely sure he could no longer hear her did she let the tears flow.

Even with her headphones on, Nola wasn't able to drown out the noise of the old school bus, nor the growls that the blonde werewolf beside her was trying not-so-subtly to hide. Nola begrudgingly decided to join the Cross-country race after all, for no other reason than that Aiden wasn't allowed to go. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible and wasn't too proud to refuse a free ride.

Though she hadn't counted on having to sit next to a very angry Erica Reyes.

She could only hope Derek's Beta wasn't stupid enough to try anything with so many people surrounding them. Though that didn't mean she was about to underestimate her anger either. If Derek was truly dead...well Nola knew the pain of losing someone from your pack. She imagined the pain to be much worse if it was the Alpha.

The smartest thing to do would've been to keep her mouth shut, but when Erica glared at her once again, Nola removed her headphones and faced the girl with a look of indifference. "Listen, I get that you're angry but I really would prefer it if you didn't look at me like I just stole your favorite toy."

Erica raised a brow, her eyes burning. "Is that what this is to you? Some childish game?"

"I'm beginning to wonder..." Nola muttered beneath her breath.

A sudden sharp sting of claws being pushed into her skin burned through her thigh. She hissed and glared at Erica with all the fury she could muster. "You people put me in a cage and turned me into a rapid animal. You wanna play a game? Fine, let's play."

Before she could push her claws in deeper though, Nola grabbed a hold of her hand, using her supernatural strength to prevent Erica from hurting her any further. One squeeze and she could break all the bones in the other girl's hand. She would be lying if she'd say the opportunity wasn't tempting. Yet, she breathed in deeply and spoke with the calmest voice she could muster. "Listen to me, if I wanted to hurt you, I would have already. But did I put you in that cage? Did I join in that fight?"

Despite her words holding some degree of frustration, her anger was calm and collected. It scared her when she realized how much that repressed tone made her sound like her father.

When Erica didn't reply, Nola answered her own question. "No. I didn't. Instead I risked my own neck to save you that night. So go put your anger somewhere useful instead."

Her reasoning only seemed to anger Erica further though. She bared her teeth but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. While the two of them had been arguing, Scott had made his way over from his seat in the back. He knelt down beside Erica, his hand steady but firm on her shoulder.

"Let me go," Erica snapped.

"Tell me your brilliant plan and I'll let go," Scott spoke softly.

But there was no plan and so Erica said nothing.

"What are you gonna do, kill each other right here? And then what? What are you gonna do after that?"

Nola's eyes flickered between Scott and Erica, watching as Derek's Beta struggled between the logic of his words and her desire for revenge. But then her eyes caught a flash of red as Scott moved his arm. Blood.

"You're hurt," she said with a frown.

Scott moved his jacket in front of her wound before she could see too much. "I'm fine."

She didn't believe him and judging by the jump of his heartbeat, Scott didn't believe himself either. Why wasn't he healing?

"Give me the chance to figure something out," Scott said. "Something that doesn't end with anyone else dying."

Erica inhaled sharply, glared at Nola one last time and then nodded. "Fine. But I won't wait forever for this plan of yours."

His brown eyes stared into hers with a foolhardy hope. "You won't have to." On shaky legs he got to his feet and was about to make his way back to his seat when Nola made a split second decision.

"Scott, wait."

He turned, looking both weary and expectant.

Her father's words echoed through her mind; "there's a lesson here, little wolf. Don't forget". She silenced them. This was her drawing her own line. "Ennis survived the fall," she said, her voice and heartbeat steady. "There's a chance Derek did too."

Beside her, Erica inhaled sharply while Scott's gaze kept roaming her features, measuring her. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked eventually.

"Consider it a peace offer while I wait for you to figure out that plan of yours," she said, hoping it would be enough for now.

It felt as though his eyes were staring right into her soul and she forced herself not to look away. Finally, he nodded and walked back to his seat.

However, she could still feel Erica's gaze burning on her skin.

"What now?" she sighed, turning to look at the blonde once again.

While there was still a smoldering anger in her eyes, it was now mixed with a certain level of curiosity. "What are you playing at?"

"Like I said, go put your anger somewhere useful." Without awaiting a reply, she put her headphones back on, turning up the volume to drown out her troubled thoughts.

"Jared, I'm warning you. I'm an empathetic vomiter. You throw up, I'm gonna throw up right back on you. And it will be profoundly disgusting."

Nola almost felt herself getting sick at Coach's words.

"Please don't talk about throwing up," Jared pleaded. "It's not good."

"I might throw up on you just to make a point, Jared," Coach continued. "Now the rest of you, don't think we're gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam, a minor tornado warning or Jared. We're gonna make this thing. Nothing is gonna stop us! Stilinski put your hand down."

Nola turned around to look at Stiles, who did indeed have his hand raised.

"You know, there's, like, a food exit about a half a mile up," Stiles began. "I don't know if we stop and then maybe traffic..."

"We're not gonna stop."

"Okay, but if we stop..."

"Stilinski!" Coach yelled and as if to put more emphasis on the name, he blew his whistle as well. "Shut it! Seriously! It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!"

Nola didn't have to guess why Stiles was asking for a stop. His best friend looked like he was about to faint. She could smell blood and something like a furnace that contained burned food, which she knew indicated a fever. Something was seriously wrong.

"Why isn't he healing?" Erica asked from beside her, eyes focused on Scott as well.

"I'm not sure," Nola replied.

It was true that wounds caused by an Alpha took longer to heal, but usually not this long. Besides, Boyd, Isaac and Erica were all healed. So, why wasn't Scott?

Stiles took one more look at his friend and got to his feet, walking up to the front of the bus where Coach was standing. "Coach, it's five minutes for a bathroom break, okay? We've been on this thing for, like, three hours."

Coach blew his whistle, right in Stiles' face.

"It's 60 miles to the next rest stop..."

Nola flinched as the whistle was blown once again.

"Being cooped up for hours is not good..."

Whistle.

"I wanna rip that thing from his hands and crush it," Erica muttered beside her.

"I'll hold him still," Nola replied.

For a moment the two of them grinned at each other as if it was the most normal thing in the world for them to do so. But then reality settled in and they quickly looked away again.

Stiles looked about ready to explode as he was once again interrupted by the whistle. Nola actually admired how he managed to last this long.

"Get back to your seat, Stilinski!"

"Okay!"

"And Jared, keep your eyes on the horizon."

As soon as Coach said his name, Nola saw the plan forming on Stiles' face and she groaned inwardly.

"You might wanna hold your breath," she mumbled to Erica.

Stiles took a seat next to Jared, smiling mischievously and soon enough, Coach was the one screaming for a bathroom break instead.

Some smells were disgusting enough without supernatural senses. With those senses added into the mix it was like the smell came flying at her nose with a clenched fist and a vicious punch.

As the bus pulled to a stop and everyone exited as fast as they could, Nola watched as Allison and Lydia pulled up behind them. They must've been worried about Scott as well to follow them all the way out here...Allison and Stiles carried Scott off the bus and disappeared into the bathrooms, followed by Lydia, who carried their bags.

Nola inhaled the fresh air and crossed her arms over her chest, hoping Scott would manage to pull himself together. Familiar footsteps came walking towards her, coming to a halt beside her. With a sigh she turned to face Ethan, ready for him to judge her, just like his brother had done. Though she should've known by now that while the twins looked the same, their personalities were vastly different.

"How are you holding up?"

There was no judgment in his voice, no anger in his eyes. The very sight of it made Nola want to cry. It must've shown on her face because Ethan stepped forward without another word and pulled her against his chest, holding her tightly as she swallowed her tears.

"I didn't want to hurt him," she muttered into his shirt.

Ethan held her even tighter. "I know, so does he."

Her heart clenched painfully at those words. She could only hope they were true and not spoken out of a lie in order to comfort her. Only when she was absolutely sure her tears were gone, did Nola step out of the safety of her friends' embrace.

"Did he tell you the reason?"

"He didn't need to," Ethan said, studying her. "We all saw you torn who to fight for that day." His gaze darkened. "I'd avoid Kali for a while."

She would have done so without his warning anyway but thanked him with a nod anyway. The Alpha would want her to be disciplined, put back in line. Would her father defend her? Or would he simply let Kali punish her and drag her back into their pack like a good soldier? She wasn't sure if she even wanted to know the answer.

Nola was forced to abandon those thoughts when she caught sight of Erica talking to Isaac. A frown appeared on her face as she watched the Beta tense with anger. She must've told him about Scott and the real reason Stiles had stopped the bus.

As if he could sense her watching, Isaac turned to look at her and her heart skipped a startled beat when she saw his eyes burning a bright yellow.

"What?" Ethan asked, catching the startled rhythm of her heart.

"Trouble," she replied, nodding towards the Beta's as they came heading towards them.

Ethan barely had time to turn around before Isaac had reached him. He hit him across the jaw, sending him flying to the ground. But Ethan didn't resist, he couldn't without showing off his supernatural strength and the fight was quickly gaining attention.

Nola winced as Isaac planted another punch in Ethan's gut. Boyd and Erica watched from the side, looking grimly satisfied. When Isaac prepared for another blow, Nola rushed forward, though she couldn't do anything without raising suspicion.

"Stop it!" she screamed but it was useless.

Isaac was raining down blow after blow. Soon Ethan's nose was bleeding, his eye turning blue. It would heal in a few hours but right now it must've hurt like hell...

Their classmates gathered around them, some screaming for Isaac to stop, others encouraging the fight. Nola's own voice was lost in the chaos and she stepped back, shaking her head as she watched another punch being thrown.

"Isaac!" Coach came running but it was as though he was shouting at a wall. "Isaac! Isaac back off!"

Just as the Beta landed another blow, the familiar figure of Scott jumped in the middle. He was alright, no longer smelling of fever or blood. His voice was loud, demanding, like an Alpha. "Isaac!"

Isaac stopped suddenly, blinking as if waking from a dream.

Scott stared him down, gaze disapproving yet worried.

As soon as Isaac let go of Ethan, Nola dropped on her knees beside him. Though she wasn't the only one. Danny joined her, sharing a worried look. "Let's get him up," she said.

They each put one arm around their shoulders and hauled Ethan to his feet. As the three of them limped away, Nola took one last look at Scott. She didn't need to say it out loud for him to know what she was thinking. If he wanted to prevent any more death, he was going to have to think of something fast.

✧☾ NOTE ☽✧

We all knew this was coming and it still made me sad to write...Even if they weren't meant to be I still really liked Nola and Aiden together! But Nola deserves someone who can understand her point of view. Someone she trusts enough to open up to (because wow does she need someone to talk to!). I think we all know who I'm talking about :)

I was also very excited to write more of Erica this chapter. I know some of you miss Cora but hopefully you do like the decision I made to keep Erica in place of her. I'm looking forward to exploring the arc I have in mind for her!

Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait! Please leave some comments with your thoughts. I'd love to hear what you think. Next time we'll be visiting a very creepy motel. I'm very excited to write that episode and hopefully I'll get around to doing it soon.

Much love, Nelly

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