𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 ▸ Stiles Stilinski ²

23

twenty three
______________________

The next day, Stiles and Brie went to Cora to talk to her. Too many bad things were happening. Something needed to be done. And now Derek has just disappeared without telling anyone where he was going.

Brie still wasn't sure about Cora considering the weird encounter 'flirting with her boyfriend in front of her' thing but she just assumed that it didn't mean anything. Cora told them about how Derek had to survive when he was a boy. How difficult it was for him. For all of them.

She told a story about how Derek was almost killed by hunters but someone saved him and they hid together.

"They were there for two days," she finished the story, staring out the window into the rain. "Waiting, hiding. That's what we're thought to do when the hunters find us. Hide and heal."

"Okay, so is two days standard then?" Stiles asked. "Or are we thinking Derek's on, like, some extended getaway?"

"Now the most ideal time to be taking a holiday," Brie added sarcastically.

"Why do you care?" Cora asked, turning to the two teens.

"Why do I care?" Stiles repeated in disbelief. "Let's see, because over the last few weeks, my best friend's tried to kill himself, his boss nearly got ritually sacrificed, a girl that I've known since I was three was ritually sacrificed. Boyd was killed by Alphas, my girlfriend gets taken over by this demon side of her from time to time. You want me to keep going? 'Cause I can, all right? For, like, an hour."

"You think Derek can do anything about that?" Cora asked, walking towards them.

"Well, since he's the one everyone seems to be after, it's more like he should do something about it. Yeah."

"He's not the only one everyone seems to be after," Cora said, looking to Brie. Brie rose an eyebrow, sharing a look with Stiles. "But there's something different about him now," Cora went on, changing the subject. "He wasn't like this when I knew him."

"What was he like?" Brie asked.

The three turned their heads suddenly towards the stairs when they heard footsteps. It was Peter.

"A lot like Scott, actually," Peter answered, clearly having heard their whole conversation. "A lot like most teenagers. Unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic... Tolerable really to only other teenagers."

"So what happened? What changed him?" Stiles asked.

"Well, the same thing that changes a lot of young men," Peter answered. "A girl."

"You're telling me some girl broke his little heart?" Stiles asked in disbelief. "That's why Derek is the way he is?"

"Are you telling me you wouldn't change if something were to happen to Brie?" Peter shot back before turning to Cora. "Do you remember Derek before he was an Alpha had blue eyes? Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?"

"I just always thought it was, like, a genetic thing," Stiles answered, looking down.

"If you wanna know what changed Derek," Peter said. "You need to know what changed the colour of his eyes."

"I have a feeling that this is going to be story time with Peter," Brie muttered, a smirk on her lips.

"I'm very good at story telling, you might want to get comfortable," he responded.

He sat down on a nearby couch and the rest of the group gathered around him to listen to the story of young Derek's epic love that changed him forever, apparently.