Mitigation

Scottie's First Moon (and All the Trouble Involved With It)

Grief is a monster.

Grief is like a silent shadow, creeping up walls of dark alleys and creepy corridors. Grief is a heavy companion, one that does not leave you alone. Grief is the cold ocean, the ocean that wraps around your body like an iron fist, squeezing the life out of you.

And grief was killing Elana.

It was hard.

To have comfort and then be left alone again. The comfort at the Martin's house was insufficient. She didn't want to be selfish, but Elana suspected her return also brought some pain into Ms. Martin as well.

Lydia was kind and tried to be there. But she was different and peculiar at school. Things were a certain way there and Elana didn't want to ruin that way for her.

Derek was consumed with grief but his was an angry black fire, a fire that had been burning so long inside him that the death of his sister now unleashed. He was too busy with revenge to listen to words of sadness.

Even now, as Elana sat watching Laura's makeshift grave, Derek was inside pushing himself in training or whatnot.

Elana yearned for someone to talk to, to someone to cry to. Elana remembered the time when she had had a panic attack and Stiles had calmed her down. This was not a panic attack. This was screams, shrieking over and over, piercing harsh noises through Elana's skull. Elana could not get them to stop.

Because the screams were Laura's.

Could she have done something? No. She couldn't have.

Yes. I could have. I just wasn't there.

Even if you think about it for a thousand years, you still will not be there, something scolded her.

Elana exhaled, kicking the ground, sending a pebble over Laura's grave and bouquet of flowers Elana had collected.

Today was the sixth day that Scott was a werewolf. Tonight was also the full moon. Earlier this morning, Derek had mentioned smelling him. He had said something about him accidentally beginning to turn.

Tonight was the full moon. And Elana decided to keep her necklace on. She had seldom taken it off after Laura's passing. She didn't not trust herself.

She was not a wolf.

She was a witch. A bloody brilliant one. James had always said she was the smartest in the school even when they were kids. Remus had added that she was smarter than the whole Ministry. Peter had insisted she was the smartest in the entire country. And Sirius had sworn she was the smartest in the world.

She didn't feel so smart now.

What was she doing? She didn't know the laws and rules of this time. She didn't know how the government or authority worked. She didn't even know how Derek worked. Would he kill whoever killed Laura? Elana probably would. But would he kill anyone who stood in their way? Would he kill all the Hunters or just the one? Or maybe just the Alpha?

Had he killed anyone before?

"Why do you smell like that?" Came a voice behind her.

"Smell like what?" She said, slightly startled.

"Mistrust almost," he said almost nonchalantly.

"I don't know you, Derek. I can't read people well. I don't know you," she repeated. "Have you ever killed someone?"

She was almost certain his breath hitched.