The Princess Without a Crown -- [COMPLETE]

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events..."

Derek

"Remind me why we're in Texas?" Peter Hale asked from the passenger seat of Derek's sleek black Camaro that tore through the desert highway. Peter glanced out the tinted windows. "All that's missing is tumbleweeds and- oh, no, there's one," he said as a collection of brambles bounced gracefully across the dusty horizon.

Derek let out a hoarse sigh, eyes flitting over at him before looking ahead again. "Hope said there was a diner in this area where she first saw the hunters. The motel we passed a while back was where they'd tracked her...."

"The one with the bullet holes and crime scene tape?" Peter asked, looking over at him with a raised brow.

"Yes."

"That's comforting."

Peter clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Look, believe me when I say I am happy you have had your true love's first kiss moment, but," he looked over at him, "I have to ask. Is she really worth this?"

Derek could feel his eyes burning into the right side of his face. His knuckles turned white as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Remaining silent. His question rings in his head. Like when someone chimes a bell too close to your ear and your forehead seems to vibrate.

"Hear me out." Peter continued slowly, taking note of his stiffening posture and that brooding forehead of his scrunching even further together. He knew he had to tread carefully. "I'm not saying she isn't worth anything. I'm asking if she is worth...this. Because this is not a simple disgruntled wolf that has taken your girl. No, this is Hope Mikaelson. She has not only been taken by not one of, but the most dangerous group of hunters on this side of the hemisphere, and to top it off, she's the daughter of the Original Hybrid." He sighed, shaking his head, "Of course, you of all people would choose a girl who is the offspring of the most ruthless vampire family in the world."

"What's your point?" Derek finally met his eyes.

"My point?" He asked, raising a brow. "My point is that this can go one of two ways. Either you can't save her, and you die in the process, or you do save her and permanently have a mark on your back from all enemies she and her family have. Including the hunters that took her."

Derek sighed and turned his attention to the road, silent for a long minute. He knew he was right. He understood this wasn't a simple rescue mission with a happily ever after. There would likely not be a happy ending, whichever this way goes, but he still had to try.

"She's worth it." Was his final response.

Derek didn't explain why; he didn't speak another word. He didn't have to. He knew Hope was worth every bit of danger he put himself in. She wasn't just some stray wolf he'd lusted for in a bar. This was different. She was different.

Derek had dreamt about her.

Weeks ago, prior to Hope arriving in Beacon Hills, he'd woken with a startling nightmare. A woman with dark hair and a heart-shaped face lay dead on the ground. Her blood soaking the earth.

Derek had screamed for her, pleaded with her corpse to draw light back into her deadened eyes that simply stared back at him. He hadn't known who she was. He had never seen her before, but he knew...he loved her. He'd never felt love like that. Never before had he experienced an emotion so raw as it was to lose her in that dream. A woman he didn't even know.

Then she arrived one day, and it took everything within himself not to revisit that nightmare. He did everything he could to stay away, but the urge to know she was safe...to know she wouldn't suffer as she had in his dream was too strong to keep him away for long. He cringed inwardly as he thought about the first time he saw her.