Unbroken ▹ Teen Wolf [02]

51; numb

Driving to the school consisted solely of a silence so tense, one would need a machete to stand a chance at cutting through it. Derek had nothing to say after Rachel decided to oh-so-kindly drop the truth bomb he'd been denying the existence of for weeks, and the twins sure as hell weren't riding with them. As a matter of fact, they were staying a generous four to five car lengths behind them on their motorcycles just so they wouldn't have to endure any more of the Hale siblings.

The look on Derek's face after Rachel's words was more than enough to repel the two of them for days, if not for the circumstances. It wasn't so much the words that hit him, but the fact that they rang true— even the twins knew. It wasn't just the deep blackness underlining her eyes, or the sickly paleness of her skin almost akin to Stiles; it was the faintest scent of death that followed her religiously.

Not on her clothes, or a left behind from her dying friend that reeked of it. It was vague enough that it had gone unnoticed by the duo, up until Aiden had so kindly ripped a surgical screw from her exposed bone. Even with blood dripping from the open wound on her leg, only when he was beside her had the ghost of death mixed in her blood become apparent to him. It was so faint, if he didn't know it so well, he would've missed it.

But he knew the scent of death better than anything. It was an unmistakable rot, and once you smelt it, you'd never forget it. Death was pungent, so much that not even an absolute massacre's worth of blood could drown it out. Especially not when it came from within.

"Where'd they say they were gonna meet us?" Rachel spoke in her normal tone as she exited Derek's vehicle, despite the twins' loud motorcycles braking to a halt beside them. "Stiles' Jeep is over there, but nobody's in it."

"Inside." His voice was monotone, he didn't look towards her.

"Oooookay." She mumbled, starting off towards the school. "You got the box?"

"Yeah."

Rachel wanted to punch him and his stupid one-word answers, and she probably would've if not for their current situation. She had to remember what they were there for. To get rid of the nogitsune, once and for all.

"So, we're just gonna walk up to the doors and go inside? That's the plan?"

Derek didn't answer her.

"So, we're just gonna walk up to the doors and go inside?" She repeated louder, this time turning to face the twins. They shrugged. "Okay, cool. Great. Let's go."

It wasn't like she was a toddler that'd just contracted the most deadly disease on Earth. She was nearly an adult, and she'd been dying for months— if Derek couldn't tell, or was pretending she wasn't, then that was on him. If he wanted to be a douchebag to her right before she got herself killed, he'd have to live with that and she'd make damn sure he would.

The only person allowed to die was her, and anyone else who tried was going to be in some serious shit with her ghost (that is, if she could talk to more than just Lydia. Rachel hoped so. Somebody needed to tell Derek he was being a dumbass once she finally kicked it, and she didn't want to have to make Lydia her messenger for the rest of her life).

"Don't you think it's kinda quiet?" Ethan questioned softly, glancing over at his brother.

"Shut up, you're gonna ruin it." Aiden grumbled back, elbowing him.

Rachel was slightly ahead of the group as they approached the tunnel, and could just barely see a pair of sneakers on the stairs. She didn't need to see more to know who it was. "Aaaaaaand you ruined it."

"Did you bring us a present?" The nogitsune grinned as the group came into sight, two Oni standing a few stairs up on either side of him.

Derek placed the triskelion box on the pavement and walked over beside her. "I brought two."