Due to an unfortunately speedy response from Beacon Hills' police & emergency departments, Rachel had ended up hiding in her (she still couldn't get used to referring to it as hers, but she sure as hell loved to) Porsche for over a half hour, rather than scouring the town for Scott. The downfall of her quick getaway plan had been when she'd stopped at the girls' bathroom to wash the blood off her face & ended up having to hide in a stall as the cuts healed up since some freshman was in the midst of trying to fix her eyeliner (which was far beyond saving, and that was coming from a girl who up until meeting Lydia Martin, had never even seen an eyeliner pencil in real life let alone attempted to use one without looking like a clown).

The girl had to have taken at least ten minutes before giving up & dealing with whatever winged monstrosity she'd managed to scribble on; whilst Rachel ran for her car like her life depended on it. Which, it almost had— she barely made it in the door before a cop car (followed by an ambulance & another cop car) pulled into the school's parking lot; the first one to step out being Sheriff Stilinski. The last thing she needed was to be caught sneaking away from one more outrageously supernatural event, let alone be forced to go back inside & answer questions about whether or not the event had done any mental damage. There was absolutely no way in hell she'd sit in that classroom & be treated like a victim of a savage bird attack; someone who could heal just about any wound inflicted upon them within seconds was extremely rarely a victim.

Regardless of that, Rachel had simply slumped back in the drivers' seat & waited for the chaos to die down; which, it had more than likely still yet to do so, but she no longer cared. The brunette had not-so-casually driven the freaking Porsche (was anything ever casual when driving that thing?) out of the school parking lot literal seconds after Stiles Stilinski had jumped in the passenger seat, informing her that Scott was at her house. To which she responded with a highly aggressive but hushed rant about the county (a council of mouth-breathing dick monkeys) taking it & sped off muttering something about strangling someone with their own vocal chords if they tried to arrest her for trespassing on her own property. It was hers & regardless of what any documentation said, it would always be hers.

Stiles looked too scared to question & remained silent for the duration of the quick drive there. If anything, it wouldn't be the trespassing to get her arrested, it would be going 50km/hr above the posted speed limit, but he wasn't about to inform the fuming supernatural of that. They got there in definitely record time, neither sure of what to expect as they approached the door; Stiles went to knock on the door, but Rachel stopped him, her eyes scanning over the fresh coat of red paint covering it.

"7 years of that asshole barging in my room without so much as a second's notice, don't you dare knock." She grumbled, taking a moment to brush her hand over the bright coloured surface before turning the rusted knob & hesitating. Rachel knew then & there that something was most definitely wrong; whether it be moderately or severely, she had yet to determine, but something was definitely wrong. The Derek she knew would never repaint the door of a house that was technically no longer his, let alone paint it a fire engine red. Anything to do with bright & lively colours repelled him like wolfsbane; even Rachel had a dislike for them.

"What's wrong?" Stiles asked, noticing that she had yet to push the door open. He could only assume that she heard something, or sensed something— or just simply knew Derek was up to something, and Scott was now in on it. "Do you hear something?"

"I do now." Rachel muttered quietly, now aware that she could hear five heart beats, including her own— three of which were inside the house. "Maybe I should have stayed & helped that freshman with her makeup."

"What?"

"Three heartbeats— actually, disregard my previous statement." Rachel quickly changed her mind as she realized the pace of each; one was significantly slower, indicating someone was either unconscious, or damn near close to it. As much as she hoped it was Derek, the odds of that were below zero as she could also hear him talking to Scott.

"Wait, there's four of us? So does that mean that someone's—"

"Inside the house."

"Oh." Stiles muttered, opting not to ask her whether or not the third heartbeat belonged to the person she'd been searching for all day. She'd been very clear about not telling Derek— and being that Derek was just beyond the bright red door & could more than likely hear them, saying anything remotely relevant to the situation aloud would probably count as telling Derek.

"Yeah." Rachel sighed, reluctantly opening the door to her former home & stepping inside, followed by Stiles. She wanted to leave; especially when he-who-shall-not-be-named (no, not Voldemort) was there. She may have spent the majority of the time she'd been at school looking for him, but did she really want to find him? Absolutely not, because she knew the minute she did, everything she wanted to say would magically vanish from her mind, just as it had seconds ago.

Nonetheless, she had a feeling that even though he was there, she'd be too preoccupied with interrogating her idiot brother to so much as look at him. Derek had a lot of explaining to do, starting with what the hell he's been up to & ending with why he painted the door— though Rachel was pretty sure an explanation of the latter would answer just about every question she had.

"Brother dearest." Rachel narrowed her eyes at Derek who was too focused on looking at Scott's arm through glowing red eyes to pay any attention as she & Stiles walked in the room. "No hug? Rude."

"Shouldn't you be in school?" The alpha questioned, a faint smirk on his face as he turned to look at her for the first time in four months;

"Shouldn't you be looking for your betas?" Rachel shot back, now mirroring his expression. "Speaking of betas, why is Isaac here? Shouldn't he be in school?"

"Sick day." Derek shrugged, clearly lying. The way he brushed off her question so casually with an answer she'd know was untrue led her to believe she probably wasn't going to like whatever else he had to say if she asked more; which was unfortunate, because whether it be sooner or later, she was going to ask a hell of a lot more until she knew everything there was to know about what had gone on while she was in London.

"I'm going to pretend that's not physically impossible for like five minutes." The brunette sighed, turning to Scott. "Why'd you want us here?"

"I decided to talk to Derek about that tattoo." The teen wolf replied with a small smile, evidently still hellbent on getting a tattoo despite both his friends' disapproval (Stiles had drawn a picture of it & shown Rachel this morning; she wasn't a fan). "I figured since he has the triskele on his back, there has to be a way to do it without healing."

"Oh yeah, there is, I just didn't tell you because I didn't think he'd actually do it. Seriously, Derek? Scott can have a tattoo but I can't—"

"If you still want one after seeing how much it hurts, then feel free to ask."

"I watched Peter do your triskele tattoo when I was nine, he gave me his phone to take pictures. The look on your face when he told you it required a blowtorch— absolutely priceless. It was his phone wallpaper for almost a year, I wonder if he still has a copy of it?" Rachel tapped a finger on the side of her jaw, pretending to think. She sincerely hoped he'd saved it somewhere, because that had been one of the few photos of her brother that was A) hilarious & B) did not have a lens flare covering half of it, since she remembered to turn off the flash before taking it. "If he does, I'll have to get him to send it to me, I could really use a new lock screen. My current one's getting kind of old."

The brunette held up her phone, illuminating the screen to show a photo of her former roommate, unconscious with a sharpie moustache & the word "stupid" written on his forehead. Stiles, who was already struggling not to laugh, practically choked at the sight; whilst Scott, who'd been remaining quiet since they'd arrived finally spoke up. "Is that Jackson?"

Rachel nodded. "That's what happens if you fall asleep on the couch right before Pretty Little Liars starts."

"Can you send me that?" Stiles asked. He was so making that his lock screen & home screen— hell, he was probably going to print it out & make christmas cards out of it, too.

"Sure." She mumbled, her fingernails clicking against the screen as she tapped the small message app & quickly sent the image to Stiles' number before locking her phone & returning it to its home in her pocket. "Done. Now, back to Scott's tattoo— you're still getting those two bands?" The teen wolf nodded, whilst Rachel sighed. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know. It's just something I traced with my fingers." Scott responded, absentmindedly tracing two circles in the dust on the floor. One was a small, thin circle, the other being a wider one that surrounded it.

"Why is this so important to you?" Derek asked, not seeing the meaning behind the two circles.

Scott looked up at him. "Do you know what the word "tattoo" means?"

"Pretty sure the entire town is going to if you keep explaining it to everyone." Rachel mused, remembering how he & Stiles had explained the word's meaning to her this morning. "It means to mark something, by the way."

"Well, that's in Tahitian." Scott pointed out, following up with another of the word's many meanings. "In samoan, it means "open wound." I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned 18. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward."

"For what?"

"For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to, even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. Going four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a, uh..."

"Like an open wound." Stiles finished the sentence after Scott trailed off, the teen wolf nodding along in agreement. Even Rachel found herself nodding faintly, because although she didn't know how a painful breakup felt, seven years later the loss of most of her family still felt like an open wound, and it probably always would.

The room fell silent for a minute, each teen seemingly deep in thought before Derek spoke up, turning to Scott with a serious expression. "The pain's gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt."

"Derek almost cried— that should give you a better idea, seeing as how I fail to see any outrageously intense pain in your supernatural life so far, aside from occasionally being shot." Rachel added in, biting the inside of her cheek to avoid smiling. "It's basically like having liquified wolfsbane burned into your skin."

"Ah, that's great." Stiles muttered sarcastically, now even more against Scott getting a tattoo. Needles were enough to make him never want one ever, but having to have it burned on? Nope, absolutely not— not in a billion, trillion years.

Despite the brunette's vivid description, Scott wasn't changing his mind. "Do it."

To Stiles' horror, Derek retrieved a mini blowtorch; he thought Rachel was joking to scare Scott out of a bad decision, but clearly that was not the case. The device ignited with a bright bluish, orange-tipped flame, only scaring the aforementioned spastic teen more as he moved towards the door. "Oh, wow. That's a— that's a lot for me. So, I'm gonna take that as my cue. I'm just gonna wait outside."

"I don't think so." Rachel stepped in front of him, blocking the doorway. "Someone has to help hold him down, and that someone is not me; Lydia just texted me & if I leave her waiting for a reply too long, she'll assume I got arrested again."

"Seriously? You're the one with supernatural strength—"

The brunette moved her gaze from the screen of her phone to Stiles' eyes for a split second before smiling. "Not anymore."

Before Stiles could further protest, she hurried out into the hall & out the front door, shutting it just in time before the ear-piercing screams of pain began. She was almost glad she'd reverted herself to human for the time being; that would've given her one serious headache if she had hearing even remotely above average.

New Message
2:48pm
From: Barbie
To: Criminal
Allison wants to know if Scott's okay.

3:02pm
To: Barbie
From: Criminal
If Allison wants to know, then why isn't she texting me?

3:03pm
From: Barbie
To: Criminal
Because she refuses to admit that she does.

3:03pm
To: Barbie
From: Criminal
He's getting a tattoo & taking it like a total badass. Doubt it even hurts. *insert badass sunglasses emoji here*

3:03pm
From: Barbie
To: Criminal
...

3:04pm
To: Barbie
From: Criminal
He's actually screaming in agony as I type this, but don't tell Allison, k?

3:04pm
From: Barbie
To: Criminal
Wasn't planning on it.

3:04pm
To: Barbie
From: Criminal
Stiles hasn't passed out yet though, so there's that?

3:05pm
From: Barbie
To: Criminal
Wonderful. Why did he even get called out of class to begin with? To get a tattoo?

3:06pm
To: Barbie
From: Criminal
I wish. He didn't tell us yet, but my stupid brother was here with him when Stiles & I arrived, so it probably involves something stupid he did. Nvm, it definitely involves something stupid he did.

3:06pm
From: Barbie
To: Criminal
Nvm? You actually abbreviated. I'm proud.

3:07pm
To: Barbie
From: Criminal
I was in a rush. Scott's screaming is starting to give me a headache. If autocorrect didn't automatically fix everting & capitalize things, you'd see that I'm typing in lowercase & making a bazillion typos.

3:08pm
From: Barbie
To: Criminal
Everting? I don't think autocorrect is fixing everting.

3:08pm
To: Spellchecker Barbie
From: Criminal
Everything. Better?

3:09pm
From: Spellchecker Barbie
To: Criminal
Change my contact name to Queen Lydia & it will be :)

3:10pm
To: Spellchecker Barbie
From: Criminal
Never going to happen.

3:11pm
From: Spellchecker Barbie
To: Rude Criminal
K.

3:12pm
To: Spellchecker Barbie
From: Rude Criminal
Oh you so did not just K me. I'll change the stupid thing later, I think Scott's tattoo is done now bc he's not screaming anymore so I'm gonna go back inside & find out why he left. I'll text you if it's anything important, or if I need anything spellchecked.

Rachel locked her phone, flicking the button on the side to silence it before tucking it back into her pocket & stepping back inside her old home. She left the door slightly ajar as she saw Scott & Stiles walking towards her, Scott still in the midst of admiring the new tattoo on his bicep.

"It looks pretty damn permanent now." The brunette commented as Scott rolled the sleeve of his t-shirt back down over it.

"Yeah, I kinda needed something permanent. Everything that's happened to us.. everything just changes so fast. Everything's so, uh.. Ephemeral."

"Studying for the PSATs?" Stiles guessed, both he & Rachel noticing that the word ephemeral had zero likelihood of making it's way into Scott's vocabulary under any other circumstances. He was their best friend & they loved him, but studying was something he rarely did before finding out he was failing multiple classes.

"Yep." Scott answered happily, not seeming to be offended by how surprised they seemed.

"Nice."

"Wait, when are the PSATs?" Rachel questioned confusedly as she opened the front door. She didn't know much about them, but by the way she'd overheard people talking, they sounded like tests straight from hell that were unfortunately significantly important to either graduating, or obtaining a scholarship; neither of which had been something the reflector had thought of since her return to Beacon Hills. She rarely thought of the future, and when she did, it was only weeks in advance; not years— mainly because with the constant flow of life-threatening supernatural problems coming her way, she was often led to believe she wouldn't have much of a future.

"Sometime next year, I think." Stiles answered, unsure of the exact date. He had yet to begin studying for them & much like Rachel, was far too focused on living in the moment & staying alive to add studying to his to-do list.

"Like, at the end of junior year?" She asked & Stiles nodded. "That's not for 8 more months, so I'll start studying in 7."

Rachel was just about to walk out the door, but stopped when she saw that Scott had stopped & was blocking the way; much like she had been when she first arrived, he was staring in confusion at the brightly painted door. Hell yes. If Scott was going to ask about it, then that meant she didn't have to & she could avoid having to annoy Derek to near death just to learn the truth. He never told her things, regardless of how much she nagged; but Scott, he was a different story.

"You painted the door." He muttered. "Why'd you paint the door?"

From the other room, Derek sighed & looked back at the teen. "Go home, Scott."

"And why only one side?" Scott wondered aloud softly.

Within seconds, the teen lifted a clawed hand & scratched a single line of red paint away, immediately growing curious as he noticed the black paint beneath it. Everyone watched as he reached two clawed hands up to the door & began to vigorously claw away at the red, sending paint chips flying to the ground. He continued until every last bit of red had been removed from a large circle of the door, revealing what Derek had been trying to hide— a symbol. It resembled somewhat of a graffiti version of Derek's triskele tattoo, but with jagged edges rather than curved spirals.

"The birds at the school & the deer last night.. just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the alpha." Scott spoke, now putting the pieces together with ease. It wasn't some type of impending earthquake or storm causing the animals to end their lives, it was the paralyzing fear of the supernatural. Of werewolves. "How many are there?"

Derek sighed in defeat, knowing he was likely about to hear one of his sister's never-ending rants & there was nothing he could do to avoid it. He tried to hide the truth & keep them out of it, but there was only so much he could do— he knew someone would find out eventually. "A pack of 'em. An alpha pack."

"All of them?" Scott asked, confused. "How does that even work?"

"I hear there's some kind of leader. He's called Deucalion." Derek explained, seeming angry just to have to say the werewolf's name. "We know they have Boyd & Erica. Peter, Isaac & I have been looking for him for the past four months."

"So that's why you've been ignoring my texts." Rachel scoffed, keeping her gaze on the ground. "Y'know, you're damn lucky I'm human right now because I'd probably kill you if I had the strength. A pack of freaking alphas is holding two of your betas hostage & you can't even send me a goddamn text message? "Hey, pack of alphas arrived in town, don't worry though, I've got this!" We're supposed to be in this together, Derek, we're a pack. We're family."

"I didn't want to involve you." He stated firmly. She was in London, far away from Beacon Hills & as safe as she could be, and he wanted to keep it that way, at least for as long as possible. The alphas already had Boyd & Erica, and he sure as hell didn't want them to take Rachel too— he didn't even know where they were keeping the two betas, let alone how he was going to get them back.

"Maybe I'd understand if I was a petty human — no offence, Stiles — but I'm not. I'm not weak & I'm sure as hell not defenceless; you can go to hell if you think otherwise." She snapped, her voice laced in venom. Rachel didn't see it as him trying to keep her safe. She saw it as Derek treating her like she was weak, and under no circumstances would she ever allow that. "What are you even thinking? Let's say you actually manage to find them, how do you plan on dealing with a pack of alphas?"

Derek shrugged, knowing now that there was no way he could her or the other two teenagers from involving themselves in the hunt for the alpha pack as much as possible. "With all the help I can get."

"You mean with the two betas you have left? 'Cause I don't think that's working out too well for you."

"Three."

"I'm not your beta, Derek, I'm your sister & right now, I have zero interest in following your lead on this. I'll help you find Erica & Boyd, I'll even stick around to make sure you don't get Peter & Isaac killed, but don't consider me a part of the pack. Until I need to be otherwise, I'm human." Rachel declared, her voice as cold as ice. She was dead serious.

There was nothing Rachel hated more than being human, but she'd remain it as long as possible just to prove her point. If by now she hadn't proven to Derek that she was more than capable of defending herself, even against an alpha, then she was done being seen as the weak little princess who would forever need someone watching over her. For once, she was going to do what she wanted to do & that was take a chance on the two people she knew would have a plan— even if they didn't have one yet, Scott & Stiles always had plans. And backup plans for when options A & B failed.

Her brother holding the alpha status didn't make him any different than when he was a beta, and Rachel had no clue why she'd ever believed it had. Sure, he had a bit more power & was able to create betas, but he was still the same old reckless person who didn't think things through before acting. Only now, he wasn't just being reckless in a game of cat & mouse with hunters; he was actively seeking out a pack of alpha werewolves who wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone he cared about, most of whom (essentially everyone except Peter, who no one would really miss) were innocent people.

Before the brunette could think further into it, noises in another room of her former home brought her attention back to her surroundings. She, along with everyone else, looked to see Isaac sitting up, finally awake. Despite there being no danger in site, the teen looked borderline terrified— & confused?

"Where is she?" He asked, looking around with concern. "Where's the girl?"

"What girl?"

—

UNEDITED. lol shit

tried a new style for the texting stuff, is it alright? i find it easier when it's on opposite sides like the real text setup. idk o well. sorry this took some extra time to update, i've got 99 problems & my health is like 72 of them. anyways, i'm super excited to get into the next chapter & even more excited to be approaching motel california.. i have plans. so many plans. so, so many.

#stopaly2k16