Chapter Text
June 24th, 2017
Derek entered the conference room and asked, "You've decided?"
Isaac nodded. "We would all like to join your pack, Alpha Hale. We would like to be part of a pack where the alpha, or in your case, alphas, care about their betas."
Derek nodded. "Are you all sure? We have contacts in several packs around the country, and we would be happy to help you find a new pack, if that's what you wanted."
Isaac shook his head. "We would like to stay together."
Liam nodded. "Honestly, the four of us have stuck together like glue since we joined. Scott talks big about being a good pack that does the right thing and how the pack is family and other blah blah bullshit. But he barely spoke to us, unless it was to order us on patrol runs, or to yell at us for the deaths of the latest big bad."
Corey snorted. "We got blamed by him for so much, when it wasn't even us."
Derek asked, "And if the Old Gods return him? Will you want to return to him? Are you sure you don't want to wait to see what their verdict is?"
Isaac snorted. "Even you don't believe he will return without some sort of punishment. Either way, we would prefer to be part of a pack that actually wants us for us, rather than using us to stop the urge to bite random people."
Derek asked, "Umm, what?"
Liam rolled his eyes. "He bit me without my consent. I was trying to get away from a Wendigo that was attacking people in the hospital. Scott saved me from falling to my death... with his teeth."
Derek hesitantly asked, "Did he say why?"
Liam laughed derisively. "Not with anything believable. Honestly, he has two perfectly good arms, but no, he caught me with his teeth."
Derek nodded. "Ok. So, where are you currently living? I know Corey and Mason are at Stanford, I'm guessing in the dorms?"
Isaac said, "I technically live with Scott, but I spend most nights in Liam's spare room. His parents were nice enough to offer when they realized just how stuck we all were."
Derek asked, "Do you have anything at Scott's you want to pick up? What about the rest of you? We have plenty of spare rooms in the house we had built out in the preserve."
Liam smiled. "I think I speak for all of us. It would be good to finally get out of my parent's place. All of us end up staying there when it's break time from college."
Derek offered, "Why don't you go home and pack up the essentials for now, and we can get you set up at the house. We'll have a pack meeting tonight so you can meet everyone. Liam, your parents are welcome to join us. I'm sure they'll have loads of questions."
Liam shook his head. "They actually don't. Mama McCall has been singing your praises for months now. She works with both of them at the hospital."
Derek suggested, "Ok. If you meet us back here at five, you can follow us out to the house. We'll do the pack bite at the house if that's ok?"
Mason asked, "Pack bite?"
Derek explained. "It's a specific bite that brings you into the pack bonds. We can even do it to humans so they can feel the bonds without having to be turned."
Mason frowned. "Oh, we didn't have that."
Derek grimaced. "That actually explains a lot. So I'll meet you all back here at five. We'll be making a quick stop at the animal clinic to pick up another new pack member, Gretchen, on the way home."
They all nodded their agreement, and they jumped into Mason's car for the trip back to Liam's house.
-x-
When they finally got home, Derek found a note on the side table beside the entryway. He showed it to Stiles. "So it looks like our pack meeting will be at the Nemeton. For everyone."
Stiles nodded. "I'll gather everyone up. Do you want to go talk to the new betas, give them a quick lesson in how to address one of the Old Gods?"
"Yeah," Derek agreed. "I'm sure they'll be fine, but just to be on the safe side. Come on, it looks like we're dropping you in the deep end."
Stiles sent a group text to the pack telling them they needed to gather outside ASAP for a meeting with the Old Gods. He then went looking for Asora. He often left his cellphone in random places when he got distracted.
It took about half an hour for everyone to show up, including the three pack adjacent members, Dominique, Tara, and Valerie.
Stiles was the first to approach the regrown tree, and he was stunned. He looked back at Derek and hoarsely asked, "How?"
From the edge of the clearing, Ceridwen said, "A gift."
Gwyn Ap Nudd, Gwydion, and Arawn joined her. The latter was crouched down in front of his hounds, who had come to greet their king.
The pack as one went to one knee in respect as Stiles said, "You honor us all with your gift." He stood and addressed Arawn, "King Arawn, thank you for the loan of your hounds. They were a tremendous help."
Arawn smiled. "You cared for them so well they have requested to stay with the pack. Never before has a pack of Cwn Annwn requested to stay in the waking world."
Derek pat the hound that had returned to his side. "We would be honored to have them, Sir."
Arawn said, "Sit all of you, please. There is no need to kneel. I think we'll be here for a while, and the clearing is quite comfortable. As for the hounds, they will occasionally visit me to let me know how you all are doing; we've left them a portal in this clearing. One that only they can use to cross between worlds."
Gwyn Ap Nudd cleared his throat once everyone was sitting comfortably. "We have returned with the verdicts of the six you sent us."
He glanced at the two Argents and said, "We have sentenced Gerard Argent to a lifetime in purgatory. He will spend eternity running from those he has harmed."
He looked at Chris and said, "Your daughter, Allison Argent, received the same sentence. She was working with her grandfather to kill the revived Hale Pack. She didn't care that they would've killed you as collateral damage."
Chris sagged. "Fuck. I can't figure out where I went wrong."
The god crouched down where Chris was sitting snuggled up to Noah, and he reassured, "You didn't. You did the best you could. Victoria and Kate manipulated her. They were very clever about keeping her in the dark about the supernatural, as per your agreement, while at the same time preparing her for her future as a hunter. By the time she met Gerard, she was well on the way to fanaticism."
Chris snarked, "Yet she stayed with Scott."
Ceridwen nodded. "She loved him, but she would have killed him in a heartbeat if she ever fell out of love with him."
Gwyn Ap Nudd sighed. "As for Scott McCall. His sentence was a difficult decision to make."
Gwydion nodded. "It really was. He hated being a werewolf. We thought about sentencing him with the removal of the wolf and a memory wipe. Give him a fresh start. But he wouldn't have survived it."
Gwyn Ap Nudd nodded in agreement. "Without the bite, he would have died in his senior year of high school. He was already living on borrowed time. We would like to let you know about the others that were taken before we return to the issue of Beta McCall."
Melissa nodded her agreement, so Gwyn Ap Nudd said, "Darach Alan Deaton. He has a lot to answer for, and he will be answering for it in purgatory. He's the reason Talia Hale cut the Nemeton down. And he was using his connection to the Hale Pack as the emissary to leech power from the land."
Peter asked, "He wanted the fire?"
Gwyn Ap Nudd said, "Sort of. He wanted a more malleable alpha, which would have been Laura. But she ruined his plans by leaving town. So he started a backup plan and started grooming Beta McCall from a very young age to be his weapon, so to speak. His pet alpha. If Scott hadn't gone into the preserve that night with Stiles, Deaton would have found another way to get him bitten. However, he needed to be sure Scott wouldn't join the Hale Pack, so he used lies and misdirection to build up Peter's actions as the actions of a monster, and Derek as his right-hand man."
Stiles had a suspicion, so he asked, "Was Deaton behind the death of my mother?"
The god nodded. "He was. He saw her as a threat. Sparks are a lot more powerful than druids, and Claudia Stilinski was no exception. He's also the reason you were bitten. He wanted you out of Scott's life. He just didn't realize how much of a stupid move that was."
Stiles shrugged, and he said pragmatically, "From his point of view, it was a great move. It's well known that sparks don't survive the bite. From everything we've read, I am a very rare case."
Ceridwen motioned to the tree, and she explained, "We asked the tree how you could survive. You were bitten not far from here. The Nemeton did what it could to prevent your death. You were born to protect the Nemeton, and it saw your survival as necessary."
Stiles asked, "So that's why my change happened so fast. I mean, I could talk to my wolf by the time I got home. From what I gathered from other bitten wolves, it was unusually quick. But I figured that was because of the alpha spark I gained at the same time."
Ceridwen nodded. "It was a bit. But mostly, it was the Nemeton shoring up your wolf, so you would survive the turn with no ill effects."
Gwydion explained, "It knew that you were the lynchpin for the pack. As much as you would protest it, you are the heart of the Hale Pack. It knew that if you died, everything would change, perhaps not right away, but it knew. Without you, there wouldn't be a Hale Pack. The Hales would have gone to New York after further betrayals by the false alpha and his druid master. The Nemeton would have died. You already know through your research that the Nemeton gifted six of you with heightened intelligence by virtue of proximity to the Nemeton at the time of your births."
Derek cleared his throat that was suddenly dry, and he asked, "What would have happened if the Nemeton died?"
Ceridwen said, "The death of one would corrupt the others. It is why there are packs in place to protect them. Once they start dying, that corruption would then disrupt the link between the gods and the waking world."
Peter heard Stiles gasp, and he glanced at him briefly as he saw the younger man grasp the horror of the situation. He said, "Which would remove the ability of The Wild Hunt to protect us from exposure."
Gwyn Ap Nudd nodded. "Exactly so."
Stiles muttered, "I'm just me. I'm not that important."
Derek pulled him into his lap and whispered, "You are important, Lil Red. I agree with Ceridwen. You are the heart of our pack."
Stiles asked, "What about the other two? Theo Raeken and Tamora Monroe?"
Gwyn Ap Nudd huffed in amusement at the subject change. He said, "Beta Raeken is waiting in your cells at the FBI building, and we have left evidence on Alpha Hale's desk of his many crimes. There's a couple of murders and several kidnappings, including two of your new betas. They were both kidnapped from orphanages, but they were still minors at the time according to your laws."
Arawn sighed. "As for Ms. Munroe, she isn't actually guilty of anything beyond spreading misinformation and inciting others to violence. She wouldn't even get charged according to your own laws. So we have removed the last five years of her memory and dropped her in a hospital near her family. Medical records have been altered, so it looks like she survived a bad car accident and has severe amnesia. I have warded her to avoid the supernatural. If she is ever around a supernatural creature, she will feel uncomfortable, and she will want to get away from them."
Peter nodded. "That sounds like a wonderful solution. Was she manipulated by Gerard?"
Arawn shrugged. "Eventually, but it was actually Allison who drove most of her actions. Allison came across her after she'd seen Beta McCall wolf out, and she used a combination of manipulation and misinformation to lead Ms. Monroe down the path she was on." He chuckled. "Allison even told her that when wolves are shifted into their beta shift, that they are feral and will mindlessly kill anyone in their path."
Peter rolled his eyes. "Which would have led to the conclusion that Allison saved her life. We'll add her to a watch list, just to make sure she stays out of trouble."
Gwyn Ap Nudd sighed. "And that brings us back to Scott. The primary reason it took so long for us to return to report our decisions. We have a left-field suggestion."
Ceridwen said, "We would like to give him a second chance." She looked at Melissa. "A second chance that can be with you, or we can find him another pack."
Melissa sat up and asked, "How would this second chance work?"
Ceridwen explained, "We have done a ritual that has reversed his age back to being a newborn. You and Chris Argent can raise him within the pack as the son of Scott and Allison. He will have papers to this effect, so you will have no issues legally."
Melissa asked, "What will people think happened to Scott and Allison?"
Gwyn Ap Nudd said, "It will be reported as a car accident. If he's agreeable, the accident report will have the baby being delivered by Beta Dunbar on the side of the road by emergency cesarean." He looked sternly at the pack as a whole. "It is vital that he gets a fair chance at a new life for this second chance to be effective. He will be a blank slate, and he will have a chance to be the start of the next generation in the Hale Pack. If you can't do this, speak up now."
Derek nodded when he saw the hope on Melissa's face. "We'll do it."
Ceridwen walked behind the Nemeton and came back with a sleeping baby boy in her arms. She approached Melissa, who stood as the goddess passed over the newborn. She said, "He has kept his lycanthropy so he won't have the issues with asthma that he had in his previous life. I am sure that with all the wolves in the Hale Pack, you will have plenty of help with how to raise him as a born wolf." She'd also made some minor changes so he wouldn't grow up as an exact duplicate of his former self. That news she would keep to herself.
Derek nodded. "Definitely. Thank you, for everything. Especially for the gift of a healthy Nemeton. We've been trying so much to help it grow, but it was so badly damaged by all that had been done to it."
Gwyn Ap Nudd smiled. "The wards you have protecting it shows you care for it greatly. If you could assist the other packs that are protecting Nemeta around the world in adding the same wards, we would appreciate it. The balance of intent versus protection wards is frankly brilliant."
Stiles blushed and said, "I can show other sparks. The wards I created work more on spark magic than anything a druid could do. I think that's why they could keep Deaton out."
Gwydion smirked. "If he hadn't been allowed through a hole we created in the wards, he would have died either during this attempt or the next due to the increasingly punitive nature of the wards."
Stiles scowled. "He's been trying that often? I know I turned off the notification when we were out here several times a week because we thought that animals were setting it off."
Gwydion nodded. "The animals triggered the intent ward. They were under the control of Deaton. He was trying to find a way through. He was annoyingly persistent."
Gwyn Ap Nudd cleared his throat as he faced the pack. "You have grown into a powerful pack from a rocky beginning, and you have a very clear future as one of the most influential packs in North America. You are going to bring change to the supernatural world, you and your task force. A welcome change, one that will see the supernatural world feeling less hunted, less haunted."
He turned to walk away, and he watched as the other gods stepped through the portal that had been created for the hounds. Before he walked through, he turned and reminded them all, "We'll be watching."
FIN