CHAPTER TWO / Survivor's Guilt

✶

     Nova Hale has always found it hard to sleep.

     Her slumber has been plagued with hellish dreamscapes for as long as she can remember. Her mom, Eloise, used to sing for her, and this usually calmed young Nova's troubled thoughts, but her mom is gone now and so this is a luxury Nova no longer has. Her anxieties only grew worse after the fire—survivor's guilt keeps her up most nights, and on the nights that she is granted sleep it feels more like a curse. She would like to think she has gotten a lot better at managing her feelings, but like any open wound she is easy to bleed, and her thoughts leave her tossing and turning restlessly all night.

     The knowledge that Kate Argent is still alive has haunted her from the moment it was revealed. She cannot stop thinking about it. The how, the when, but most importantly the why. Why does she have Derek?

     The question keeps her involuntarily awake the entire drive back from Mexico.

     Ricardo takes a quick detour by his house where he lends her his old phone that she can use until she gets another one, and then he drops her home. Nova is so exhausted—both emotionally and physically—from the events of the last couple of days that she barely makes it to the couch before she is dead asleep.

For the first time in a long time, Nova doesn't dream, instead she awakes at noon the next day, feeling as though she has not slept at all. She opens her eyes and instantly the floodgates open and every single thing that happened yesterday rushes back to her. She lets out a pained groan.

     And then all of a sudden the phone starts ringing next to her. Now, there are four phone numbers that Nova knows off by heart: her own, Ricardo's, Derek's, and Scott's. When Ricardo lent her this phone she had sent a message out to both Derek and Scott to let them know, and now as she leans over to pick up her phone, she will be more than happy to hear from either of them.

     Her anxiety skyrockets. It is Scott.

     "We found Derek," Scott says as soon as she picks up.

     Nova immediately straightens up, sitting on the edge of her seat. "You found Derek? Is he OK?" A brief hesitation on Scott's end prompts her to urge, "Scott, is he OK?"

     "It's complicated..."

     "What do you mean by complicated?"

     Scott sighs, then says, "You best come down to the Animal Clinic. It's... it's hard to explain."

     Fuck it. Nova has already missed the last couple of days of school, so she figures one more day won't hurt.

     It takes her all of five minutes to scramble off the couch and up to her bedroom, where she promptly changes into some clean clothes. She desperately needs a shower, but it can wait—time is of the essence. Nova is halfway out the door before she remembers that she doesn't have a car anymore. Fuck. How is she supposed to get to the Animal Clinic now? It isn't like she can rely on Ricardo every single time she has to travel somewhere.

Then an idea strikes her: Derek's car. It is still in the garage. It will have to do.

     And so she gets in his car, and being careful not to damage it in any way—Derek will kill her if she does—she drives to the Animal Clinic. When she arrives, Stiles meets her at the door to the clinic. Nova gets the sense he is blocking her from entering. He says, "So, Derek..."

     "Yeah, where is he?" Nova demands, attempting to get past him. "Why are we at Scott's work?"

     Stiles rubs the back of his neck. "You know, it's a funny story, actually, um—"

     Nova doesn't wait for him to finish—she shoves past him, ramming her shoulder into his so hard that he makes a pained face. Walking into the clinic, she sees Lydia applying a bandage to Scott's boss, Alan Deaton. It's a big bandage that covers most of his lower arm, and there is blood that is seeping through. Nova winces. What happened there?

     Then she sees Scott.

     Nova asks, "Scott, what's going on? Where is Derek?"

     "Derek... escaped?" Scott says, wincing as he waits for her reaction. Nova frowns, about to speak, then Scott adds, "... and he's also a teenager."

     "Huh?"

     This is when Scott begins to explain it to her, how Derek is alive but he is a teenager, and not only is he younger in body but he is younger in his mind, too. Kate—who apparently is a fucking werejaguar now?!—has made it so Derek has no memory of the fire, and thus no memory of any of them. That's why he ran away from them, Scott explains, because he doesn't know any of them. Nova nods. Then she asks the question that's been on her mind since Scott had called her earlier:

     "How long has he been here?"

     "Since last night."

     To say that Nova is pissed off is an understatement. Derek has been there for hours and none of them thought once to tell her about it.

     Nova storms out of the Animal Clinic and gets into Derek's car, making sure to create some noise when she speeds away. She drives down the main roads, ensuring she keeps an eye out for her teenage cousin, and when she can't find him she curses under her breath, giving in and deciding to go to the Hale House—it's the place he is most likely to go.

     As soon as she pulls up in front of it, her heart aches. Nova doesn't remember the last time she was here. She gets out of the car and starts looking around the ruin for Derek, but it's hard. What used to be her family's house is now nothing but painful memories. Eventually, she comes to the conclusion that Derek is not here, and yet she can't bring herself to get back in the car to look for him—What if he comes here, right as she leaves? What if she misses him? And so she sits herself on a tree stump nearby, and she waits.

     It is about half an hour later when Nova gets a text message from Scott. It says: Found Derek. Meet at my house.

     Nova immediately gets in the car and drives to Scott's house. She knocks on the front door, but no one answers—or, more accurately, they take too long to answer for her liking—and so she slowly opens the unlocked door.

     And there he is.

     Down the hallway, Derek is sitting down on the couch. His head is resting in the palm of his hand, and Nova feels like she is going to cry. He's so young...

     Nova starts to walk over to him, and she says, "Derek?" As she steps closer to him, Derek lifts his head and his eyes immediately fill with recognition. Nova is overwhelmed with relief—he recognises her! Perhaps his memories are starting to return!

     Except as she opens her mouth to speak again, Derek exclaims, "Laura? Thank God!"

     Nova's mouth immediately shuts, but before she can even think of how to reply, Scott is by her side, shutting the front door and pulling her away and onto the porch so he can speak to her privately.

     "Listen, Nova, I'm really sorry. You've got to understand," Scott says, his eyes pleading, "I didn't know how to tell you—"

     "You know what, Scott?" Nova says, interrupting him. "At first I was pissed, but now... I understand."

     "You... do?"

     "He thinks I'm Laura. I just... I knew we looked similar—Ricardo tells me it all the time, and I remember her when she was my age—but to have Derek think that I'm her? That's a whole new level of weird. Laura... she may have been my cousin, but it felt like she was my big sister; I looked up to her, you know? And..." Nova trails off, blinking back tears. "Fuck," is all she says after a few moments of silence.

     Scott brings her in for a hug. He says, "This whole situation is messed up."

     "Tell me about it," Nova says, her voice muffled by his jacket.

     And then he pulls away, leaving his hands on her shoulders, and he says, "Don't be mad, but... I'm going to find Peter."

     Nova raises her eyebrows. "Peter? Oh, God..."

     "I know," Scott says. "He's the only one who might be able to help."

     "I'd go with you, but..." Nova sighs. She has made up her mind. "I'm not letting Derek out of my sight."

     With that, Scott says goodbye to Nova and they go their separate ways. He heads off to see Peter, whilst she goes back inside Scott's house. Stiles is leading Derek though the house quietly, and Nova joins them as they reach the kitchen. Stiles is saying, "We're going to wait here for Scott. We're going to sit quietly. We're not going to call or talk to anyone."

     "Do I talk to you?" Derek questions Stiles.

     "No."

     "Can I talk to her?" Derek nods in the direction of Nova.

     "No."

     Derek points behind them. He asks, "Who's going to talk to him?"

     "Ah!" Stiles jumps, startled at the sudden appearance of Scott's dad, Rafael, at the dining table. Rafael is holding a bag of takeout. "Are you getting taller?"

     "What are you guys doing here?" Rafael asks, his eyebrows furrowing.

     Derek says, "We're waiting for Scott to get back."

     "Yeah, so am I. We're supposed to have dinner," Rafael says, holding up the bag of takeout. "I brought extra—you guys hungry?"

     Before long Nova is sitting at the dining table with Derek, Stiles, and Rafael. Nova clarifies to Derek that she is not, in fact, Laura, and although he seems pretty bummed, she is grateful he doesn't think any more of it. Stiles spends most of the dinner attempting to dodge Rafael's questions about Derek, or "Miguel", as Stiles calls him. However, it all comes to a crashing halt when Derek starts to ask Rafael about the Hale fire.

     "Mr. McCall—you're an FBI agent?" Derek says, noticing the badge on the table.

     "He's low level," Stiles says, attempting to prevent the inevitable conversation. "He doesn't even have a voice."

     "Do you investigate fires?" Derek asks. Rafael says that he does. Nova can feel herself tense up—she knows where this is heading. And then Derek asks: "Do you know anything about the Hale family?"

     And Rafael tells him everything.

✶

Derek escapes. Again.

     When he finds out the truth—that almost everyone in his family is dead—he starts to argue with Stiles upstairs. Nova gets a call from Ricardo, who is checking up on her and asks if Scott has any news on Derek. "God, do I have a story for you..." And she tells him what has happened. She is still on the phone when Stiles comes rushing into the room with horrible news. Kate has taken Derek.

     Fucking hell.

     Nova can't help but feel like it's her fault. She should've been there—she should've been watching him like she said she would. The guilt is still weighing on her, half an hour later, as Lydia and Kira join them and Stiles drives them all to the school, as Scott has figured out that is where Kate has taken Derek. Apparently, Kate can't control the shift, so she wants the Triskelion to help her. This almost makes Nova laugh—the Triskelion medallion is fucking useless. It's the mantra that is what helps with control. Alpha, Beta, Omega. Nova may not be a werewolf, but she knows that much.

     Kate is a fucking moron, and Nova keeps telling herself this, like it's her own little mantra. It is making her feel better.

     They arrive at the school, and Nova immediately gets out of Stiles' car. Lydia and Stiles follow her, with Stiles holding... a fucking baseball bat.

     Lydia looks over at Stiles and says, "You seriously need to find something better than a baseball bat."

     Nova agrees.

     The three of them start to venture around BHHS, looking for any sign of Derek, Kate, or Scott. The school is much creepier at night, Nova can't help but think. It's so quiet.

     Just as she thinks that, Nova hears several explosions go off, and her head snaps toward the noise. Nova sees Kate fucking Argent run out of the Hale vault, and her face twists into a snarl. But as much as she wants to run after her, to tear her from limb to limb—this is a bit extreme on Nova's part, but you get the gist—she doesn't. Instead, Nova runs past the Beacon Hills High School sign and down the stairs into the vault. If Kate has just come from here, surely this is where Derek is?

     Much to Nova's disappointment, she doesn't find Derek, rather she comes face to face with her Uncle Peter. He is lying on the floor, gasping for breath, muttering to himself.

     "Um..." Nova frowns. "Are you alright?"

     "They took it," Peter mutters, just loud enough so they can hear him. Nova thinks he sounds like a fucking lunatic. "They took it while I was blind..."

     Nova asks, "Took what?"

     "Bonds," Peter says, "Bearer bonds, and they took them all."

     "Bearer bonds? Hold on, are you saying that you got robbed?" Stiles asks, looking as though he is on the verge of laughing. Nova shoots him a glare; she doesn't like Peter very much, but she dislikes Stiles more—he is nosy and suspicious, always wanting to be in the know. Nova thinks he should mind his own business.

     Peter's jaw sets. He shoots Stiles an irritated glare, and Nova thinks perhaps she's more like her uncle then she thought. "This was a heist! Somebody planned this."

     "How much did they take?" Lydia asks.

     "One hundred and seventeen..." Peter says.

     "Thousand?" Stiles asks, shocked.

     Peter's expression darkens. "...Million."

     Well shit, Nova thinks.

     A loud roar sounds from above them, and immediately Nova finds herself running out of the underground vault. Derek, Derek, Derek. Her mind is replaying his name like a broken record. Nova turns the corner, starts to run up the stairs, and there he is. No longer his sixteen-year-old self, he stands there in his full early- to mid-twenties glory, and Nova grins. Scott, Malia and Kira are picking themselves up from the ground, but Nova doesn't pay them any attention.

     Before Derek knows it he is nearly toppling over from the force of Nova's body ramming into him, but he manages to stabilise them as her arms wrap around his torso and her head is buried in his chest. It takes him a second for his mind to catch up with his surroundings, but once it does, he hugs his cousin back. They stay like that for a few moments.

     Nova pulls away from the embrace and punches his arm. "Never do that again."

     Derek almost grins, though his eyes are tired. "Can't make any promises."

word count: 2547
30.06.2022