LUNAR ECLIPSE

Searing white lights compromised her vision.

The bright lights had been enough for her to instantly close her eyes again, before slowly opening them to try and focus on anything other than the lights.

Just a few inches from where she had woken up on the ground were three silver tubs. Her body was working against her brain as she lifted herself off of the ground, moving slowly over to the tubs. The second that she leaned in to see if there were any bodies in the tubs, she went jumping back as three bodies shot out of the water, all gasping for air.

The four of them stared at each other, but it didn't seem like the right place to be delving into a conversation while in an unknown area. Instead, their eyes just roamed around the white room, trying to find any sign that would point them in the right direction of the Nemeton.

Carter's eyes had landed on something entirely different than theirs.

While Scott, Stiles, and Allison caught sight of the root of what used to be an enormous tree, she had been given another option. While her friends moved to save their parents; she moved to save her soul from herself. She assumed that all of her answered lied behind the door on the opposite side of the room, a large black wolf stationed beside the white door.

She took cautious strides over to the door - she wouldn't have noticed the door at all if there had not been a black wolf beside, screaming at her to follow the large beast inside. When she got in front of it, the wolf had already disappeared behind the door; she placed her hand on the doorknob - beginning to question whether or not she wanted to open it.

But she found herself opening it anyway.

The first thing she felt when she walked through was warmth. Not the overwhelming warmth that engulfed her entire body, but a musty-warmth. She began to glance around; it was dark being dimly illuminated by the sunlight peeking through the crevasses. Carter stepped forward, but stopped when another figure walked into her sights.

Talia Hale stood with height and confidence, naked body cloaked with a thin blue robe. Her searing red eyes confirmed that she had been the wolf that drawled Carter to the door. She looked just as Carter remembered; long dark hair mirrored her own, along with tan skin and soft features.

"Mom?" Carter sobbed, bringing a shaky hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

"My Caterina," The name rolled off Talia's tongue effortlessly as she held her arms out for Carter, who immediately rushed into them and clutched tightly onto her mother. She inhaled her scent, feeling a sense of familiarity run through her veins, Talia gently rubbed Carter's back as she cried.

She felt a feeling of completeness surge through her.

When the mother and daughter separated, Carter's eyebrows furrowed as she whipped her head around to glance at the area that surrounded them. There had been wooden beams that supported the ceiling, the air was dusty with the floor being covered in a thick layer of dirt. Suddenly, something behind Talia had caught Carter's attention.

It was the Nemeton.

The roots were large, spawning in all directions as they twisted and turned throughout the root cellar. She stepped closer, immediately noticing the dried spot of blood that had long been soaked into the wood. She reached out and placed her left hand upon the blood stain, a loud gasp escaped her lips as the image of a fifteen-year-old Derek cradling a dying Paige in his arms flashed to the forefront of her mind.

A fresh set of tears streamed down her cheeks, her abilities absorbing all of the emotional and physical pain from the dried blood with a simple touch. She whirled away from the root, turning to face her mouth with a puzzled expression on her face.

"What am I doing here?" Carter questioned, knowing that she wouldn't have been brought to the root cellar unless it held some sort of significance to her life - maybe even her future.

Talia pulled her hands behind her back as she began to circle her youngest daughter, "The question's not "What am I doing here," but, "Why am I here."" She corrected, reaching out, twirling a piece of Carter's dark hair around her forefinger.

Carter shuddered, jerking her head back, something was wrong. "Okay - why am I here?"

"I never wanted this life for you, Caterina," Talia denied, an expression of dread etching its way onto her elegant face. "You deserved so much more than that. You deserved so much more than what you've become."

Carter's eyes flicked back over to the Nemeton. A lump formed in her throat, something she tried to swallow to keep away the tears. She suddenly didn't recognize the woman standing in front of her. It seemed as though something had changed in her eyes, a sense of disgust washing over her as she stared at her daughter.

"What I've becom - I don't - I don't understand," Carter muttered, running a panicked hand through her hair as she wracked her brain for the answer to her mother's words.

"You shouldn't have spent your time trying to fight your abilities," Talia jeered, her glowing red eyes surveying Carter's frantic stance. "If you would've accepted your fate - your friends might still be alive."

Carter didn't know what her mother was talking about, or that the woman in front of her was even her mother. She didn't know what any of this was, or what any of it meant. All she wanted to know now was what happened to her friends that had been caused by her.

"My friends?" Carter repeated, stuffing her hands under her arms as she wrapped them around her waist.

"Look at your hands, Caterina," Talia jeered, a wicked grin on her face as she turned her attention back toward something on the other side of the root cellar, feeling her fangs slip through her gums as she glanced back at her daughter.

The teenage girl shakily brought her hands out in front of her. Only when she glanced down at the body-parts her mother had been referring to did she realize what the older woman had meant when she said that her friends had died because of her.

Wet and sticky blood coaxed her bodily extensions, from the tips of her fingers all the way up to her elbows. She glanced down at herself, seeing that the same substance stained the front of her shirt and jeans completely.

"Claws?" Carter spluttered out, staring down at the sharp weapons that were protruding out where her polished fingernails usually resided.

"In my experience as a werewolf, I've never seen someone do that with a pair of claws," Talia tisked, her eyes locked on something on the other side of the root cellar. Carter's eyes slowly followed, and when her eyes landed on what Talia had been staring at she wished she hadn't looked at all.

In a pool of blood, the bodies of Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale, Isaac Lahey, Lydia Martin, Allison Argent, Jackson Whittemore, and so many others lied lifeless on the dirt and blood covered ground. The condition of their bodies made Carter think back to when she saw what the Kanima had done to the deputies at the Sheriff's Station.

They all lied there, throats and intestines had been violently clawed out; their bodies mauled and mangled beyond recognition. But their cold and lifeless eyes remained open, glazed over with certain death as they stared beadily at her.

All the people she loved had been killed - mutilated by someone who they thought loved them as much as they loved her.

Carter didn't waste a second before she rushed over to the pile of bodies; she dropped to her knees, leaning in to see if any of them could be saved before it was too late. Her mother's cackling was heard from beside her, but the brunette hadn't even acknowledged the creepiness that suddenly possessed her mother as she placed a shaky hand over Scott's face and gently closed his eyes.

"They can't all be dead," Carter mumbled under her breath, honing in on any sounds of breathing, but to no avail. "Please! Wake up, Carter. Wake up, Carter." She mumbled to herself, slapping her cheeks angrily, trying to desperately to wake herself from this horrid nightmare. "No! Please, God, no. Wake up!" Carter screamed, a strangled sob falling from her mouth as she shook her brother's body.

"You don't deserve to cry for them," Talia sneered, squatting down beside her daughter. "Not after what you did. It was the power wasn't it?" She asked; Carter slowly glanced at her mother, fresh tears streaming down her face. "The sickening surge of power that consumed you as you ripped their throats from their bodies. You smirked as you felt their blood running between your fingers and when they cried for you to stop, you just laughed."

"Stop!" Carter roared, eyes searing a scarlet-orange as the tremor in her voice caused a large crack to form right down the center of the Nemeton - at least a dozen of fireflies wiggled their way out of the tree before they embedded their bodies deep within the ground.

Sweat and tears fell down her face as she fell back onto her ass, pulling her knees to her chest and examined the blood that covered her body. That's when she realized there wasn't any hope left, she clamped her hands over her ears as she tried to tune out their pleads for help as they ringed loudly in her head - but the root cellar was completely quiet.

The youngest Hale knew, as she cried on the ground in front of a pile of her friends' bodies, who she was. She supposed she knew that second that the surge of overwhelming heat flooded through her system over a year ago, she supposed she knew when she experienced the first injury that wasn't her own.

Cateri - no, Carter Hale had always known that she would become an unrecognizable monster.

→

Three gasps disrupted the silence.

Stiles Stilinski, Allison Argent, and Scott McCall all shot up from the ice water, struggling to find warmth as their teeth chattered together from the heat that had been stolen from their bodies.

"I saw it! I know where it is," Scott rushed out, his eyes fixated on Deaton as he began to climb out of the tub.

Stiles nodded as he stood dripping wet in between Scott and Allison. "Yeah, we passed it," He added, climbing out as well. "There was this stump - this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big, though. Very big."

"It was the night we were looking for the body," Scott pointed out to Stiles.

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter," Stiles explained, the memories of that night rushing back to the surface.

Allison, who had been standing silently off to the side, found herself speaking up: "I was there, too, in the car with my mother. We almost hit someone."

"It was me. You almost hit me." Scott spluttered, surprise written on his wet complexion as he stared at his ex-girlfriend. He then turned to look at Deaton, "We can find it."

Deaton didn't want to tell them what had happened while they were under, his face contorting into a deep frown as he stared down at the ground for a few seconds before glancing toward the weary and distraught looking Lydia and Isaac.

Allison's voice had been the first one to break the silence, wondering why they all looked as though something terrible had occurred, "What?"

Isaac's eyes were wide and bloodshot, barely managing to maintain an unfaltering voice as he spoke: "You guys were out a long time." His gaze subconsciously moved toward an occupied examination table at the back of the room; behind the three dripping wet teenagers.

"How long is a long time?" Stiles asked his voice shaking as he spoke.

"Sixteen hours, and Carter still hasn't woken up," Deaton explained hesitantly, his eyes locked on Carter body at the back of the room.

Scott's eyes immediately widened, his heart started to hammer violently against his ribcage. Carter still hadn't woken up; he could barely even comprehend that thought of her not waking up at all. They were only supposed to be out for a few seconds, not sixteen hours.

"Carter," Scott breathed out, his head whipping toward the object that Deaton and Isaac had been staring at.

Carter's eyes were sealed shut, her skin was a sickly pale, and there was splotches of blood scattered across parts of her exposed flesh. The abdominal part of her T-shirt was torn to shreds and was now stained with crimson. Her painted fingernails were chipped and were covered in blood. And she had a thick patch of bruising trailing around her neck, like someone had tried to strangle her with their bare hands.

And that's when Scott noticed that her wrists and ankles were being held down by makeshift restraints made up of a combination of duck-tape and several different colored tourniquets.

"Why is she restrained?" Scott asked, his eyes never wandering from the lifeless body atop of the silver table.

"A couple of hours in, she started to wrap her hands around her neck," Lydia began, tears welling up in her eyes as the horrific memory surfaced to the forefront of her mind. "She tried to strangle herself - but when we tried to stop her, she began to slash apart - apart her stomach with her own fingernails." She muttered, barely having the strength to speak. "So we had to restrain her, to keep her from doing it again."

"She's dead, how can she even do that?" Allison whispered, her dark eyes locked on the girl in question.

"We think someone was controlling her."

Scott had heard enough, he was immediately scrambling to get to the examination table, about ready to cut off the restraints and do whatever he needed to wake her up.

"Scott, don't!" Deaton shouted, causing the boy to cease mid-stride. "If you try to pull her out of whatever she's experiencing - the fire inside her will burn out, and you're not getting her back. If she wakes up, she'll stop caring...be as cold as ice. And the damage you'll be inflicting will be irreversible."

"I can't just let her die!" Scott cried out, unable to look at the girl who was nothing more than a corpse.

"Her going through the sacrifice with you three was inevitable - she knew what she was risking."

Scott found himself crumbling down to his knees, his hands curled around Carter's as he looked at the girl. Tears pricked behind his eyes, a sob clawing at the back of his throat. He had finally found a girl who he had bonded with, someone he could be completely open with - something he could never do before. Even when he was dating Allison, there had always been secrets, but not with Carter.

And now she was just gone - a lifeless figure lying upon a table in a room filled with the living.

Stiles stood at the back corner of the room, as far away from Carter as possible as he was unable to look toward her body. He couldn't bear to see that like that. It crushed something deep inside him when he heard that Carter tried to take her own life twice by strangulation and clawing out her own organs. If she left the world completely, he didn't know if he would be able to keep himself together.

"What's happening to her?" Scott barely choked out, Stiles staring down at one of his best friends lying on a silver table without an ounce of life in her body.

"I - I don't know," Stiles spoke softly, tears welling up in his eyes.

Everyone was silent, unable to bring themselves to speak.

But it had been a single pained inhale that broke the silence.

→

Carter couldn't breathe.

She struggled for air, her eyes shooting open to see her friends all surrounding her, and she still couldn't seem to fill her lungs with oxygen. She fought for air, feeling as though there was a fifty-pound weight was lying on her chest. Carter pulled against the restraints on her ankles and wrists as she tried to roll herself onto her side.

Scott and Isaac were quick at slicing off the duct-tape with their sharpened claws; Carter flipped herself onto her side, her coughs were rough and bone chilling as her body screamed for oxygen. She needed air, desired to feel it fill her lungs. And soon enough, air was being sunk into her mouth, filling her void lungs.

Carter's hands were curled around the edge of the table; everyone stood around her. They all stared at her with wide eyes; Carter took a notice of the tears on Scott and Stiles' cheeks and all of their pained expressions.

She rolled herself over again, but instead of relaxing against the metal table she went flying toward the floor. Her head had been mere inches from meeting the hard tile when two strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist, steadying her. Carter swayed back and forth, her eyelids drooping as a wave of drowsiness surged through her.

Carter could feel something evil circling inside her - it was eating away at her humanity.

All of the things she had seen came rushing to the surface and she instantly yanked herself out of Scott's hold. She wrapped her arms protectively over her chest as though to keep herself away from the others. Stiles and Scott both edged toward her, wanting nothing more than to comfort her, only to be shot down when Carter flinched away before they could even come close to her.

"She's different," Deaton revealed, his hands falling limp at his sides as his eyes surveyed Carter's face. "Whatever she saw traumatized her greatly."

Something inside of her eyes was broken, dark circles loomed on her face as her brown orbs glanced around the room warily, not being able look at any of them.

"Carter," Lydia called, making the brunette whip her head in the strawberry-blonde's direction. "How are you feeling?"

Carter remained silent, not really knowing what she could say about her health. She couldn't even look at them without feeling a wave of guilt slam into her chest. The only thing she saw when she looked at them were their mutilated bodies lying in a heap of blood, and that triggered something inside of her that she wanted to scrub her skin with a wire-brush until the images melted away into a jumbled mess of pain.

Carter would never be able to look at them the same; she would never be able to hug Derek again without remembering seeing him with his throat slashed out, or ever be able to laugh along with Stiles without remembering the feelings of his blood on her hands. She wouldn't be able to touch Scott without wanting to blow her brains out in attempt to rid the images from her mind.

She glanced down at herself, seeing that her T-shirt was slashed apart - but there were no wounds. She shakily brought her hands out in front of her, a gasp escaped her mouth at the sight of dried blood embedded in her cuticles.

"What - What did I do?" Carter asked, loud enough to hear but low enough that she didn't overwhelm herself by talking.

"You, uh..." Deaton's voice trailed off as he tried to find the words to explain the situation. "Carter, you tried to kill yourself while you were in your state. We had to restrain you after you tried to strangle yourself and then you attempted to tear your abdomen apart with your own fingernails."

"We were out for a lot longer than a few seconds, then, huh?" Carter mumbled, her eyes never wandering from the dried blood on her skin as she began to wonder why she had tried to kill herself.

"Over sixteen hours," Isaac confirmed, his voice sounding strained as he tried his hardest to keep his eyes off Carter - something inside of him had darkened when he witnessed Carter try to take her own life.

"And the full moon rises in less than four."

Scott shook his head softly to himself, "I need to get back to Deucalion."

Stiles' eyes widened at his words, "No, dude. You are not going back with them."

Carter weakly nodded in agreement, seated on the back counter beside Isaac and Allison while Scott and Stiles leaned against the tubs. Carter couldn't meet any of their eyes; instead, she decided it was best to just keep her eyes down as she picked off the dried blood around her fingernails.

"I made a deal with Deucalion," Scott explained.

"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?" Stiles asked, holding his arms out as he looked at all of them.

From beside her, Isaac questioned: "Why does it matter anyway?"

"Because," Scott began, "I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help."

Allison's lips pulled up into a sneer, refusing to believe that her ex-boyfriend was honestly believing that Deucalion could help them; turning to Deaton, she said: "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong."

"I'm not so sure he is," Deaton pointed out, shrugging his shoulders. "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."

Carter scoffed in disbelief, "So we're gonna trust him, the guy who calls himself 'Death, Destroyer of Worlds'? Also the guy that instructed that Kali put a steel pipe through mine and Derek's backs - we're gonna trust that guy?"

"I wouldn't trust him, no," Deaton denied. "But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."

The conversation had been cut short when the bell to the front door of the clinic chimed, signaling that another person had come into the clinic uninvited. Deaton glanced at the six teenagers in confusion before he slowly exited the room; the teenagers found themselves following behind him. Suddenly, an all too familiar voice rang out.

"I'm looking for Carter and Lydia."

Carter's body grew rigid at the sound of his voice; her friends glanced back at the two girls in question as they made their way beside Deaton. The rest of them found themselves behind the veterinarian as they stood in the waiting room, watching as Ethan stared at the two girls.

"What do you want?" Carter asked, her voice hoarse.

"I need your help," Ethan explained, his face blank as he refused to look anywhere else but at the two girls.

Before either girl could open their mouths to ask what he needed, another person had come through the back of the clinic to stand in front of Carter and Lydia protectively. "With what?" Stiles demanded.

"Stopping my brother and Kali," Ethan began, "from killing Derek."

Carter knew that she had been too late to save Derek while she had been a surrogate sacrifice - but, that time it was real - and she was determined to save her brother from the brutal fate that lied ahead.

When the three of them arrived at Derek's loft, they were immediately surrounded by tension. Carter could tell that something was brewing in the air - something between Derek and Peter. She knew that it probably had something to do with Cora, seeing as though she was alive and well.

"We know about the lunar eclipse, so don't think Kali's gonna sit around waiting for it to level the playing field - she's coming. My brother's coming with her."

"Good enough for me," Peter began before his eyes flickered toward Derek. "Derek?"

"You want me to run?" Derek asked, slightly appalled at the idea.

Peter rolled his eyes, "No. I want you to stay and get slaughtered by an Alpha with a psychotic foot fetish. Of course I want you to run. Sprint, gallop, leap your way the hell out of this town."

"If you want to fight and die for something, that's fine with me," Cora interrupted, inviting herself into the conversation as she stared at her older brother. "But do it for something meaningful."

Derek frowned, not liking that his ability to fight was being questioned so harshly. "How do you know I'm gonna lose?"

"We don't," Peter confirmed, shaking his head just before his head turned to glower at the youngest Hale and strawberry-blonde in the room. "But I'll bet one of them have an idea." His entire body then turned to face the two girls. "Don't you?"

Carter's fists tightened, but she said nothing to the oldest Hale as an overwhelming surge of warmth flooded through system. She knew exactly what Peter was talking about; she just didn't want to admit it to herself. She just narrowed her eyes at her uncle as he began to advance on her, "We don't know anything."

"But you feel something, don't you?" Peter questioned, now standing directly in front of Carter.

"What do you feel?" Derek asked, his eyes locked on Carter as she tried desperately to keep her eyes off of him knowing that if she made contact with him she would just cower away.

"I feel like-" Lydia began, but she cut herself short as her attention moved toward the brunette standing next to her. Lydia couldn't find the words to describe how she was feeling, but whatever it was, it hadn't been good.

Carter finally raised her head, eyes meeting Derek's for the first time as she spoke: "Like I'm standing in a graveyard."

Soon enough, Ethan and Carter explained their plan - at first, Derek and Cora refused to leave Carter behind when Kali and Aiden were guaranteed to show up. But, Ethan had reassured them enough to leave by promising that he would protect her with his life.

And, in the moments of the remaining Hale family leaving, Carter couldn't have been more grateful to know that they were getting away from Beacon Hills - and in the process, they were also getting away from her.

→

Carter didn't even flinch when the loud bang echoed through the room the second Kali's foot kicked off the intruder alarm. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she stood between Ethan and Lydia as Kali stared at them with a hardened expression.

"Where is he?"

Lydia scrunched up her nose, snapping her fingers as she spoke: "I think he said he was heading out to do some shopping, run a few errands. The usual werewolf afternoon."

Kali snarled, "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Someone in desperate need of a pedicure," Carter snapped back. "I'd be happy to give you a referral."

That had been the turning point and Aiden's low growling was soon heard as he stood his ground behind Kali. His act had been enough to lift a red flag.

Kali slowly turned around in surprise, facing the angered teen. "Oh, really? Did someone take their little assignment too seriously?"

"She's not the problem," Aiden dismissed, his eyes glancing over at Lydia for a few seconds before they returned their attention to Kali's figure circling around him.

"Maybe the problem is where your loyalties lie."

"Oh, God," Lydia muttered, her hand finding Carter's wrist without diverting her attention away from the scene in front of them. "Is this about to get really violent?"

"Probably," Aiden and Carter chimed in unison.

The brawl never even had a chance to begin when suddenly there was a shower of glass raining down from the sky. Ethan had quickly grabbed ahold of Carter and Lydia's waists, moving so that their bodies were protected underneath his own.

The only thing that Carter saw when she pulled her head out of Ethan's chest was the woman that had tried to murder her, and in result, had killed her.

"So, who wants to go first?"