For Good | Hale- TO/TW [8]

25 | Come Back

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The blonde woman sits in the forest. Tears mark her face, and her eyes are rimmed with red. Behind her, the darkness of night is crawling towards her and the sapling next to her.

The tree had grown: the leaves had fallen but the trunk had formed. The spirals of the wood made the woman calm. It reminded her of her promises, of her home.

Words echo in her mind like drums. They never stop or pause. She hears the words she always had: You are an abomination; You caused their deaths; Why did you think you would be happy after everything you've done?

The woman looks back at the approaching darkness. It barely covers the first body—the body of her best friend. Talia's clawed hand disappears behind the dark fog.

"I'm ready," she cries out, tearing her eyes away from Talia Hale. She refuses to look at Hayley, Laura, even Peter. She could see a cracked bow in the distance next to a broken crib. The name Bailey is ripped in half.

"I don't want to hurt anyone else!" The blood of the people around her fills her senses. Their burnt limbs, their ripped hearts all ooze cool liquid. The smell consumes her.

"We don't have a lot of time," Stiles says. Lexi now lies face up on the bed, her arms crossed over each other. She looks like a sleeping angel. "We've got one shot." Stiles takes the bucket next to him and places it next to the bed.

Cora and Scott stand back as Stile moves Derek. The Alpha male sits on the bed carefully with extended claws. "You sure this will work?" Derek asks.

Stiles purses his lips. "You want me to answer that honestly?"

Derek looks down at his sleeping wife. "Just go into her mind?"

Scott nods. He takes a tentative step forward and says, "You go into her mind and bring her back."

"Any idea on the how?" Derek asks.

Something sparks in Scott's eyes. A memory from long ago. From a time when the lanky man before him was in need of help. When the Nogitsune was still torturing them all. And now, the woman who had aided his pack is in need of help.

"You'll have to figure it out," Cora replies. "Just like before with Kukan." As she speaks its name, her throat burns.

Stiles freezes, his eyes on Lexi. His eyes go wide with a hint of fear. Derek takes a steadying breath as the human asks, "It got to her too?"

Derek doesn't answer. He only moves closer to Lexi.

"When?" Stiles asks. "When, Derek?"

"Right after we left Beacon Hills," Derek answers. "It's dead. The Mikaelsons killed it."

Stiles straightens his back and looks back at Scott. The Alpha holds a confused expression, his eyebrows furrowed with a pout on his lips. Stiles shakes his head, unable to explain.

"What's the bucket for?" Derek asks as he gently lifts Lexi's head and positions his claws at the back of her neck.

"When she wakes up."

Derek nods and takes a deep breath. This is their only chance; he has to make it count. "Wish me luck," he mutters before sinking his claws into his wife's skin.

The world around him shifts from a bedroom to a forest. The trees around Derek loom over him like kings over subjects. The color has been drained, leaving only browns and grays.

It doesn't take him long to find the scent of blood mixed with his own family. The leaves crunch under his feet as he moves through the forest, following the stench of death and decay.