Entry tags:
just like wildfire
Name: Snow
DW username:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
faoladh
E-Mail: halfbladekind @ gmail
IM: conriochted @ AIM
Plurk:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
faoladh
Other Characters: Jojen Reed |prophesied
Character Name: Derek Hale
Series: Teen Wolf (TV)
Timeline: 3x10 The Overlooked
Canon Resource Link: Teen Wolf, Derek Hale
Character History:
Abilities/Special Powers:
Third-Person Sample:
First-Person Sample:
DW username:
faoladhE-Mail: halfbladekind @ gmail
IM: conriochted @ AIM
Plurk:
Other Characters: Jojen Reed |
prophesiedCharacter Name: Derek Hale
Series: Teen Wolf (TV)
Timeline: 3x10 The Overlooked
Canon Resource Link: Teen Wolf, Derek Hale
Character History:
There is only one thing you need to know about Derek Hale's life.
It sucks.
Once upon a time there was the Hale pack, the reigning pack of Beacon Hills, CA. At its head was Talia Hale, mother of three, and an Alpha that many respected. She had the unique ability to naturally seamlessly shift into the form of a wolf, something many were envious of. She oversaw the safety of Beacon Hills with a fair but just hand, and raised her children well. Laura, Derek, and Cora likely wanted for nothing, having such a large and supportive family made up of both werewolves and humans. Derek was confident and friendly, acting a little like Scott McCall, actually.
And then it all went to hell, basically.
It started off with Derek in high school, as his uncle Peter tells. Derek once had golden eyes, like other Beta wolves, but supposedly fell in love with a girl. Peter pushed to have the girl bitten, so that they could always be together forever, because he is such a great uncle. (The story is really goddamn sketch, and Peter's narrative over the flashback scenes doesn't coincide with the flashback itself, so something is off. Whether what we're shown is the truth or not is questionable, but we all know what Peter tells us is bullshit. Because he's crazy. And lies. A lot.) Derek, as a Beta, didn't have the ability to bite and turn a human, and he knew that his mother would never do it.
With Alphas in the area, though, and one that had just lost a packmate? It was easy to get one named Ennis to do it. There are two problems here: one, Derek had second thoughts-- knew it was an awful idea in the first place, but Peter is nothing if not a master of persuasion-- but was too late to stop Ennis. Two?
The bite didn't take. He killed Paige with his own hands to end her suffering, changing his eyes from gold to blue. Because when you take an innocent life, it takes a little something from your soul, leaving a stain behind.
A thus far undetermined time later (while he was still in high school, at least, so 16-18), Derek met an older woman by the name of Kate Argent. Unlike Paige, the woman was all traps and sweet smiles, nothing honest. Not that Derek realized it, until it was too late. Kate was a hunter, from a long line of them, too. And she was also insane, someone who didn't follow the supposed Code of hunters-- never kill an innocent werewolf, children, or humans-- and she seduced a young, damaged Derek so that she could learn about his pack.
And then burn down his house, while he and Laura were at school. (The score for Derek's love life with women thus far is 0 for 2, for those of you keeping score at home.)
There were, at the time, only three confirmed survivors: Laura, Derek, and Peter, though their uncle was burned nearly beyond recognition and unable to heal from it due to his catatonic state. Bodies were found primarily in the basement, and the siblings assumed that the other eleven members of their house were dead. They didn't stick around for long, wanting to get as far away from Beacon Hills as possible and winding up in New York. Turns out, the reports say there were three persons unaccounted for, though whether this was simply because they were missing from the fire or had been completely burnt to a crisp is never specified.
For yet another unspecified amount of time, because Jeff Davis is fucking balls at keeping his timelines consistent (ranging from six to nine years this time, but either way I'm saying it's when Derek is about 23-24 because it makes life easier), Laura receives word from Beacon Hills. She needs to get back immediately, and it has to do with their uncle. She hightails it out there, with promise of keeping in contact. She doesn't. Derek worries. Derek follows. Turns out his big sister was killed, ripped in half, and there's a different Alpha running loose, one that's a murderer. It bites some stupid, teenage kid while he's out in the woods. At night. Looking for the other half of the dead girl his best friend brought him out to find.
Enter Scott McCall.
Well, enter Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski, two teenage boys that would become incredibly interwoven and integral to Derek's life. Though they dug up Laura's body where he had buried it, and gotten him arrested for her murder before he was released due to the general assumption that she was killed by an animal, he still... well. He figured he'd try to help out Scott-- because they were one in the same now, they were brothers-- but everything sort of spiraled over a course of months. While they tried to get a reign on Scott's instincts and impulses, keep him from killing anyone, they also were still trying to find who the hell the Alpha was while avoiding hunters. Which was made all the more difficult because the hunters that returned to Beacon Hills?
Were the Argents. And amongst them was a teenage daughter that Scott had fallen in love with. It struck too close to home for Derek, though no matter how many times he tried to warn Scott he persisted to court Allison. It didn't really help that Derek was vague in his answers-- to try and protect Scott (and Stiles)-- and he was both distrustful and abrasive. This was made all the more worse when Kate showed up again, wound up shooting and poisoning Derek. At least Stiles could be counted on, however grudgingly, whether it was to keep Derek alive, hide him right under Sheriff Stilinski's nose, or help him with research. Which lead to he and Stiles discovering that the Alpha was actually his uncle Peter, who wasn't quite so catatonic and had been killing people involved in the fire.
So that sure made the fact that the monstrous, beastly Alpha had run him through at the high school and left him for dead before he hid in the Stilinski house even better, nevermind Scott throwing him under the bus or anything. But Scott at least didn't leave him for dead when Kate caught him and trussed him up, slowly torturing him. Good riddance, everyone would say, when she had her throat ripped out by Peter before his uncle was set on fire by a bunch of teenagers, then had his own throat ripped out by Derek. This effectively made him the Alpha-- kill an Alpha, take their power.
Which opened up whole new flood gates. Derek started trying to rebuild his pack, seeking out teenagers who needed a place to belong, needed control and power and security. Of course his motives were constantly questioned, and he definitely didn't go about it in the best way possible, but he meant well. (Story of Derek's life: mean well, go about it poorly/get shat on.) Though he wasn't the best Alpha he could've been, was more of a coach than a friend to his Betas, he did care about them. Tried to do right by them. The teenagers he bit were Isaac Lahey (an abuse victim), Erica Reyes (a girl with epilepsy and seizures), and Vernon Boyd IV (a boy with no one). All of these bites took, but there was one that seemed like it didn't.
Jackson Whittemore. After begging Derek to give him the bite, his form... changed. He became an abomination, one that a vengeful teenage boy, Matt Daehler, used to enact his revenge against the people who had merely stood by and let him drown. While Derek, his pack, and Scott, Stiles, and Allison tried to figure out who the hell it was (assuming, at first, that it was Lydia Martin, who Peter had mauled while he was Alpha), they also had to dodge around the Argents even more while surviving encounters with the monster. Especially when Gerard Argent, Allison's grandfather, came into town for Kate's funeral and stayed.
As if they didn't have enough problems between the kanima and Lydia being used by his dead uncle to revive him. Which was really great, all things considered, Jesus Christ. Lydia knocked Derek out and somehow managed to drag him to the decaying Hale house, using his blood, moonlight, and god knows what else to revive Peter after he had been haunting her for months and she'd been going in and out of fugue states. (Thankfully Peter at least puts himself to some sort of good use in figuring out the kanima, so there's that even if Derek is less than thrilled to have him around.)
At least one Argent would be taken care of, and thus one problem eliminated-- Victoria, Allison's mother, tried to kill Scott, which led to Derek biting her to get her away from the younger werewolf. By the hunter's Code, she committed suicide before she could turn. The big problem with this, though, is that it made it easier for Allison's grandfather to warp her mind, give her a vendetta.
Because while the Argents wanted to find the kanima just as much as they did, it turned out that there was one person amongst them that wanted to use the kanima, and that was Gerard. He drowned Matt to take control of the kanima, intending to use it for his own purposes. And so a confrontation came about, after the Argents hunted down and captured Erica and Boyd when they tried to run:
Gerard was dying of illness, and Scott held Derek steady so that they could force the Alpha to bite him.
Thankfully, Scott had been planning for this. The bite couldn't take, due to the teen putting mountain ash into his cancer medication. Which, nasty, because when a werewolf is poisoned it bleeds disgusting, black oil. But Gerard dragged himself away in the following chaos that was brought on by Stiles and Lydia bursting in and hitting the kanima with Stiles' Jeep, giving Lydia time to bring Jackson back. Jackson allowed himself to be killed by Derek and Peter, which killed the kanima and revived him as a werewolf instead. Derek's simultaneous guilt and relief was palpable, to be honest, because they hadn't been sure that would work.
But no, with Gerard slinking off into the night and the kanima reborn as it should have been, their troubles are not over because it's Derek Hale. Remember!
His life sucks.
Having known that they were circling earlier on, the Alpha pack leaves its mark on Beacon Hills. They're there, and they're coming for the small, broken pack that lives there.
This leads to four months where Derek, Isaac, and Peter attempt to locate the pack and where they've taken Erica and Boyd, while Scott, Stiles, Allison, and Lydia remain unknowing. (Though with Stiles it's questionable, considering how he and Derek interact with one another, but that just might be them doing their usual song and dance more than anything else.) Jackson escapes tothe CW Europe, getting the fuck out of Dodge after everything that'd happened to him there in Beacon Hills. All in all it's a frustrating, exhausting experience for Derek, and is made all the more worse when Isaac finally finds where their packmates are hidden but has his memories ripped from him.
Which, you know. Just makes things even better for everyone, because the Alpha pack goes after Isaac while Scott's trying to get him out of the hospital. So he has to bail their asses out, and then he has to catch everyone up on the fact that there's a goddamn pack entirely made up of Alphas circling them, holding his Betas captive. But after trying two different methods of pulling Isaac's memories back to the surface, they discover that Erica? Is likely dead. Derek fights this, because he couldn't lose her, but when they go to the bank vault where Isaac discovered they were being held...
Well, one, breaking into the vault exposed the wolves kept there to moonlight again after three to four months without. Two, Erica was indeed dead, but there was another girl there in her place.
Derek's little sister, Cora, who he had thought was lost in the fire. With Chris and Allison Argent's help, he, Scott, and Isaac managed to track down and corral Boyd and Cora after they escaped the bank, before they could kill anyone. Not that Derek came out of it looking pretty, considering he locked himself in the basement of the high school with two feral werewolves when it turned out there was someone else there. In the school. At ass o'clock in the morning. Thankfully he held out until the sun came up, so that they could return to their senses, but that didn't change the fact that he was ripped to shreds and then...
Meets Jennifer Blake. There begins a song and dance (that we're actually familiar with already, through Derek and Stiles' interactions) but there's something... different, here. Most of Derek's interactions with the new English teacher leave him looking like he's been drugged, but we'll get more in depth about that later. Right now, we focus on the fact that Derek has his little sister back again, and needs to protect her, Boyd, and Isaac from the Alpha pack.
And himself.
Deucalion, the Alpha pack's alpha, tells him that he'll become stronger, an ultimate Alpha, if he kills his pack. Though he refuses, the threat is still there that something may happen to his Betas. So he sends Isaac away (regretting every moment of it, because he utilized Isaac's remaining fear of his abusive yet deceased father to get him to go), trying to keep his first and most loyal Beta safe. All the while, sacrificial murders spread out in groups of threes all across Beacon Hills, leading Derek and Scott's friends to realize that there's more than just the Alpha pack to contend with.
Virgins, warriors, and healers begin to turn up dead all across the city, and they fight to discover who it is while confronting the Alpha pack. One such confrontation leaves Scott guilt ridden, Boyd and Isaac vengeful, and most of the group thinking that Derek is dead. Turns out that he managed to drag himself away and to the high school, possibly looking for the teenagers as he had when he was suffering from aconite poisoning brought on by Kate, or...
Well, he encounters Jennifer instead. And while the teenagers are all dealing with the werewolves fighting hallucinations on their cross country outing, he has literally healing sex with a woman he hasn't known for probably a damn month. The injuries inflicted on him by their fight with the Alpha pack and his fall that left Scott and the others thinking he was dead are completely healed when touched by Jennifer.
And while one tragedy was dodged, another was brought upon them. Alpha Kali, in a want for revenge for the death of one of her packmates, came to Derek's loft and used Derek's own hands to kill Boyd. (Things are slightly fuzzy, but while Boyd is dying we see flashback-esque visions of Erica's death, where she goes down fighting. It can actually be assumed by the appearance of this flashback that Derek felt Boyd's death and was shown how Erica died, creating a double-whammy.) Derek, inconsolable and filled with grief and guilt, disappears from the loft for some time.
When he's seen again, it's at the school with Jennifer, but only briefly. He's still full of guilt, grieving for the loss of his packmate at his hands, but it's Derek Hale's life. The world is not done with him yet.
Cora, in an attempt to avenge Boyd, attacks one of the Alphas at the high school and is injured grievously. Something is wrong-- she can't heal right-- and she is brought to the hospital, which is where Derek is throughout the memorial service that Jennifer put together for those that were killed by the darach. He refuses to leave her alone, not about to lose her again or let her fight alone as she had between the fire and their reunion. But it means he misses the memorial.
And it turns out Jennifer arranged it so that she could get the final philosopher.
For those of you still keeping score at home, that's 0 for 3. Derek was seduced by the darach, possibly entranced by the powers she attained from her virgin sacrifices, and she had been dancing around him and his disorganized pack and the Alphas for weeks on end while getting the sacrifices she needed. It's while he's at the hospital with Cora that the teens discover this, as well as Lydia's status as a banshee-- Derek literally hears her from clear across town when she screams-- and Sheriff Stilinski is kidnapped.
After the kidnapping and the attempt on Lydia's life, Scott and Stiles manage to make it back to Derek to explain what's happened, trying to appeal to him and bring him into the know. Jennifer arrives far too late to cut them off at the pass, and Derek very nearly strangles her with his bare hands when Scott uses mistletoe powder to reveal her true form, scarred and disfigured and the monster that had been skulking around Beacon Hills. But with Stiles' father kidnapped and Cora dying, they have no choice but to let her live.
There are a few problems with this: one, Derek has once again been betrayed and essentially blames himself for letting Jennifer charm him however she did. Two, Cora is trapped in a hospital that is attempting to evacuate in an oncoming storm, and they have to get to her. Three, this is a prime location for the Alpha pack to intercept them in an attempt to get Jennifer.
It's a wild goose chase all throughout the hospital, with tensions high and lives on the line. Derek, Scott, Stiles, and Peter all work together to try and get Cora out of the hospital while keeping Jennifer in their sights, going up against the Alpha twins and Kali while Deucalion skulks around with Scott's mother. At one point, Derek gets stuck in an elevator with Jennifer, much to his obvious displeasure.
There, Jennifer's past becomes apparent: she was Kali's druid emissary, left for dead with Kali killed her entire pack to join Deucalion's Alpha pack. But she dragged her way to an old oak tree that was naught but a stump, seeking out the power of the nemeton that had finally regained a spark...
Because Derek took sanctuary with Paige while she was dying in the root cellar that the druids once used for sacrifices. Killing her there renewed the power of the sacred oak, and thus Jennifer owes her chance for revenge to Derek. (Needless to say, this does not help Derek's guilt complex in the least.) After explaining that she's after the Alpha pack to stop them from killing anyone else, that she and Derek were the same, she knocks him unconscious when the power is restored and the elevator begins moving again so that she can whisk away Melissa McCall to be one of her guardian sacrifices.
…
Effectively, and in short, Derek Hale's life sucks. He goes from having a happy home and family, to being forced to kill his first love because of a poor choice Peter coerced him into. Then a woman comes in and seduces him in a time of weakness, which leads to his entire pack being killed. When he comes back to Beacon Hills after running to New York with his sister, it's to find out she's been killed and that others are dying. Teenagers assume he's behind everything, undermining him at every turn, though he doesn't particularly help his case due to his vague answers (which he uses to try and protect them while helping them) and his aggressive behavior (an attempt to keep people around him from getting hurt by keeping them at arm's length).
His uncle turns out to have gone insane, and when he kills him and becomes the Alpha of Beacon Hills, the teenagers around him are still distrusting. Even the ones that he turns, and tries to help, because he still doesn't help his case (even if he's a bit more of a team player than before). He's rough and aggressive because he doesn't know how to be after years and years with just Laura as pack, and mountains worth of guilt. He's all attack first, ask questions later.
And when he tries to fix it after two of his Betas go missing, things seem better. He's guilt ridden and exhausted, but more inclined to answer questions, to work with others. ... and then he goes and fucks it up because he's afraid of losing Isaac, the only Beta who stayed at first. Being used to kill Boyd certainly doesn't help matters, causing him to draw into himself. And of course, Jennifer only makes matters worse, as he finds himself seduced again and used for her means regardless of the truth behind her "love."
He's been in a bad place for years, and things just keep pushing him further down, but he's not going to stop fighting it. Even at the risk of it destroying him. His heart is in the right place, he cares deeply about those that come into his care, he just hasn't had the chance to really show it. It's a case of two steps forward, one giant step back a lot of the time. Peter's manipulation certainly doesn't help, although his interactions with Cora, Scott, and even Stiles do. These three, along with Isaac, are fairly integral to Derek's development as a person and it's been shown multiple times.
It sucks.
Once upon a time there was the Hale pack, the reigning pack of Beacon Hills, CA. At its head was Talia Hale, mother of three, and an Alpha that many respected. She had the unique ability to naturally seamlessly shift into the form of a wolf, something many were envious of. She oversaw the safety of Beacon Hills with a fair but just hand, and raised her children well. Laura, Derek, and Cora likely wanted for nothing, having such a large and supportive family made up of both werewolves and humans. Derek was confident and friendly, acting a little like Scott McCall, actually.
And then it all went to hell, basically.
It started off with Derek in high school, as his uncle Peter tells. Derek once had golden eyes, like other Beta wolves, but supposedly fell in love with a girl. Peter pushed to have the girl bitten, so that they could always be together forever, because he is such a great uncle. (The story is really goddamn sketch, and Peter's narrative over the flashback scenes doesn't coincide with the flashback itself, so something is off. Whether what we're shown is the truth or not is questionable, but we all know what Peter tells us is bullshit. Because he's crazy. And lies. A lot.) Derek, as a Beta, didn't have the ability to bite and turn a human, and he knew that his mother would never do it.
With Alphas in the area, though, and one that had just lost a packmate? It was easy to get one named Ennis to do it. There are two problems here: one, Derek had second thoughts-- knew it was an awful idea in the first place, but Peter is nothing if not a master of persuasion-- but was too late to stop Ennis. Two?
The bite didn't take. He killed Paige with his own hands to end her suffering, changing his eyes from gold to blue. Because when you take an innocent life, it takes a little something from your soul, leaving a stain behind.
A thus far undetermined time later (while he was still in high school, at least, so 16-18), Derek met an older woman by the name of Kate Argent. Unlike Paige, the woman was all traps and sweet smiles, nothing honest. Not that Derek realized it, until it was too late. Kate was a hunter, from a long line of them, too. And she was also insane, someone who didn't follow the supposed Code of hunters-- never kill an innocent werewolf, children, or humans-- and she seduced a young, damaged Derek so that she could learn about his pack.
And then burn down his house, while he and Laura were at school. (The score for Derek's love life with women thus far is 0 for 2, for those of you keeping score at home.)
There were, at the time, only three confirmed survivors: Laura, Derek, and Peter, though their uncle was burned nearly beyond recognition and unable to heal from it due to his catatonic state. Bodies were found primarily in the basement, and the siblings assumed that the other eleven members of their house were dead. They didn't stick around for long, wanting to get as far away from Beacon Hills as possible and winding up in New York. Turns out, the reports say there were three persons unaccounted for, though whether this was simply because they were missing from the fire or had been completely burnt to a crisp is never specified.
For yet another unspecified amount of time, because Jeff Davis is fucking balls at keeping his timelines consistent (ranging from six to nine years this time, but either way I'm saying it's when Derek is about 23-24 because it makes life easier), Laura receives word from Beacon Hills. She needs to get back immediately, and it has to do with their uncle. She hightails it out there, with promise of keeping in contact. She doesn't. Derek worries. Derek follows. Turns out his big sister was killed, ripped in half, and there's a different Alpha running loose, one that's a murderer. It bites some stupid, teenage kid while he's out in the woods. At night. Looking for the other half of the dead girl his best friend brought him out to find.
Enter Scott McCall.
Well, enter Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski, two teenage boys that would become incredibly interwoven and integral to Derek's life. Though they dug up Laura's body where he had buried it, and gotten him arrested for her murder before he was released due to the general assumption that she was killed by an animal, he still... well. He figured he'd try to help out Scott-- because they were one in the same now, they were brothers-- but everything sort of spiraled over a course of months. While they tried to get a reign on Scott's instincts and impulses, keep him from killing anyone, they also were still trying to find who the hell the Alpha was while avoiding hunters. Which was made all the more difficult because the hunters that returned to Beacon Hills?
Were the Argents. And amongst them was a teenage daughter that Scott had fallen in love with. It struck too close to home for Derek, though no matter how many times he tried to warn Scott he persisted to court Allison. It didn't really help that Derek was vague in his answers-- to try and protect Scott (and Stiles)-- and he was both distrustful and abrasive. This was made all the more worse when Kate showed up again, wound up shooting and poisoning Derek. At least Stiles could be counted on, however grudgingly, whether it was to keep Derek alive, hide him right under Sheriff Stilinski's nose, or help him with research. Which lead to he and Stiles discovering that the Alpha was actually his uncle Peter, who wasn't quite so catatonic and had been killing people involved in the fire.
So that sure made the fact that the monstrous, beastly Alpha had run him through at the high school and left him for dead before he hid in the Stilinski house even better, nevermind Scott throwing him under the bus or anything. But Scott at least didn't leave him for dead when Kate caught him and trussed him up, slowly torturing him. Good riddance, everyone would say, when she had her throat ripped out by Peter before his uncle was set on fire by a bunch of teenagers, then had his own throat ripped out by Derek. This effectively made him the Alpha-- kill an Alpha, take their power.
Which opened up whole new flood gates. Derek started trying to rebuild his pack, seeking out teenagers who needed a place to belong, needed control and power and security. Of course his motives were constantly questioned, and he definitely didn't go about it in the best way possible, but he meant well. (Story of Derek's life: mean well, go about it poorly/get shat on.) Though he wasn't the best Alpha he could've been, was more of a coach than a friend to his Betas, he did care about them. Tried to do right by them. The teenagers he bit were Isaac Lahey (an abuse victim), Erica Reyes (a girl with epilepsy and seizures), and Vernon Boyd IV (a boy with no one). All of these bites took, but there was one that seemed like it didn't.
Jackson Whittemore. After begging Derek to give him the bite, his form... changed. He became an abomination, one that a vengeful teenage boy, Matt Daehler, used to enact his revenge against the people who had merely stood by and let him drown. While Derek, his pack, and Scott, Stiles, and Allison tried to figure out who the hell it was (assuming, at first, that it was Lydia Martin, who Peter had mauled while he was Alpha), they also had to dodge around the Argents even more while surviving encounters with the monster. Especially when Gerard Argent, Allison's grandfather, came into town for Kate's funeral and stayed.
As if they didn't have enough problems between the kanima and Lydia being used by his dead uncle to revive him. Which was really great, all things considered, Jesus Christ. Lydia knocked Derek out and somehow managed to drag him to the decaying Hale house, using his blood, moonlight, and god knows what else to revive Peter after he had been haunting her for months and she'd been going in and out of fugue states. (Thankfully Peter at least puts himself to some sort of good use in figuring out the kanima, so there's that even if Derek is less than thrilled to have him around.)
At least one Argent would be taken care of, and thus one problem eliminated-- Victoria, Allison's mother, tried to kill Scott, which led to Derek biting her to get her away from the younger werewolf. By the hunter's Code, she committed suicide before she could turn. The big problem with this, though, is that it made it easier for Allison's grandfather to warp her mind, give her a vendetta.
Because while the Argents wanted to find the kanima just as much as they did, it turned out that there was one person amongst them that wanted to use the kanima, and that was Gerard. He drowned Matt to take control of the kanima, intending to use it for his own purposes. And so a confrontation came about, after the Argents hunted down and captured Erica and Boyd when they tried to run:
Gerard was dying of illness, and Scott held Derek steady so that they could force the Alpha to bite him.
Thankfully, Scott had been planning for this. The bite couldn't take, due to the teen putting mountain ash into his cancer medication. Which, nasty, because when a werewolf is poisoned it bleeds disgusting, black oil. But Gerard dragged himself away in the following chaos that was brought on by Stiles and Lydia bursting in and hitting the kanima with Stiles' Jeep, giving Lydia time to bring Jackson back. Jackson allowed himself to be killed by Derek and Peter, which killed the kanima and revived him as a werewolf instead. Derek's simultaneous guilt and relief was palpable, to be honest, because they hadn't been sure that would work.
But no, with Gerard slinking off into the night and the kanima reborn as it should have been, their troubles are not over because it's Derek Hale. Remember!
His life sucks.
Having known that they were circling earlier on, the Alpha pack leaves its mark on Beacon Hills. They're there, and they're coming for the small, broken pack that lives there.
This leads to four months where Derek, Isaac, and Peter attempt to locate the pack and where they've taken Erica and Boyd, while Scott, Stiles, Allison, and Lydia remain unknowing. (Though with Stiles it's questionable, considering how he and Derek interact with one another, but that just might be them doing their usual song and dance more than anything else.) Jackson escapes to
Which, you know. Just makes things even better for everyone, because the Alpha pack goes after Isaac while Scott's trying to get him out of the hospital. So he has to bail their asses out, and then he has to catch everyone up on the fact that there's a goddamn pack entirely made up of Alphas circling them, holding his Betas captive. But after trying two different methods of pulling Isaac's memories back to the surface, they discover that Erica? Is likely dead. Derek fights this, because he couldn't lose her, but when they go to the bank vault where Isaac discovered they were being held...
Well, one, breaking into the vault exposed the wolves kept there to moonlight again after three to four months without. Two, Erica was indeed dead, but there was another girl there in her place.
Derek's little sister, Cora, who he had thought was lost in the fire. With Chris and Allison Argent's help, he, Scott, and Isaac managed to track down and corral Boyd and Cora after they escaped the bank, before they could kill anyone. Not that Derek came out of it looking pretty, considering he locked himself in the basement of the high school with two feral werewolves when it turned out there was someone else there. In the school. At ass o'clock in the morning. Thankfully he held out until the sun came up, so that they could return to their senses, but that didn't change the fact that he was ripped to shreds and then...
Meets Jennifer Blake. There begins a song and dance (that we're actually familiar with already, through Derek and Stiles' interactions) but there's something... different, here. Most of Derek's interactions with the new English teacher leave him looking like he's been drugged, but we'll get more in depth about that later. Right now, we focus on the fact that Derek has his little sister back again, and needs to protect her, Boyd, and Isaac from the Alpha pack.
And himself.
Deucalion, the Alpha pack's alpha, tells him that he'll become stronger, an ultimate Alpha, if he kills his pack. Though he refuses, the threat is still there that something may happen to his Betas. So he sends Isaac away (regretting every moment of it, because he utilized Isaac's remaining fear of his abusive yet deceased father to get him to go), trying to keep his first and most loyal Beta safe. All the while, sacrificial murders spread out in groups of threes all across Beacon Hills, leading Derek and Scott's friends to realize that there's more than just the Alpha pack to contend with.
Virgins, warriors, and healers begin to turn up dead all across the city, and they fight to discover who it is while confronting the Alpha pack. One such confrontation leaves Scott guilt ridden, Boyd and Isaac vengeful, and most of the group thinking that Derek is dead. Turns out that he managed to drag himself away and to the high school, possibly looking for the teenagers as he had when he was suffering from aconite poisoning brought on by Kate, or...
Well, he encounters Jennifer instead. And while the teenagers are all dealing with the werewolves fighting hallucinations on their cross country outing, he has literally healing sex with a woman he hasn't known for probably a damn month. The injuries inflicted on him by their fight with the Alpha pack and his fall that left Scott and the others thinking he was dead are completely healed when touched by Jennifer.
And while one tragedy was dodged, another was brought upon them. Alpha Kali, in a want for revenge for the death of one of her packmates, came to Derek's loft and used Derek's own hands to kill Boyd. (Things are slightly fuzzy, but while Boyd is dying we see flashback-esque visions of Erica's death, where she goes down fighting. It can actually be assumed by the appearance of this flashback that Derek felt Boyd's death and was shown how Erica died, creating a double-whammy.) Derek, inconsolable and filled with grief and guilt, disappears from the loft for some time.
When he's seen again, it's at the school with Jennifer, but only briefly. He's still full of guilt, grieving for the loss of his packmate at his hands, but it's Derek Hale's life. The world is not done with him yet.
Cora, in an attempt to avenge Boyd, attacks one of the Alphas at the high school and is injured grievously. Something is wrong-- she can't heal right-- and she is brought to the hospital, which is where Derek is throughout the memorial service that Jennifer put together for those that were killed by the darach. He refuses to leave her alone, not about to lose her again or let her fight alone as she had between the fire and their reunion. But it means he misses the memorial.
And it turns out Jennifer arranged it so that she could get the final philosopher.
For those of you still keeping score at home, that's 0 for 3. Derek was seduced by the darach, possibly entranced by the powers she attained from her virgin sacrifices, and she had been dancing around him and his disorganized pack and the Alphas for weeks on end while getting the sacrifices she needed. It's while he's at the hospital with Cora that the teens discover this, as well as Lydia's status as a banshee-- Derek literally hears her from clear across town when she screams-- and Sheriff Stilinski is kidnapped.
After the kidnapping and the attempt on Lydia's life, Scott and Stiles manage to make it back to Derek to explain what's happened, trying to appeal to him and bring him into the know. Jennifer arrives far too late to cut them off at the pass, and Derek very nearly strangles her with his bare hands when Scott uses mistletoe powder to reveal her true form, scarred and disfigured and the monster that had been skulking around Beacon Hills. But with Stiles' father kidnapped and Cora dying, they have no choice but to let her live.
There are a few problems with this: one, Derek has once again been betrayed and essentially blames himself for letting Jennifer charm him however she did. Two, Cora is trapped in a hospital that is attempting to evacuate in an oncoming storm, and they have to get to her. Three, this is a prime location for the Alpha pack to intercept them in an attempt to get Jennifer.
It's a wild goose chase all throughout the hospital, with tensions high and lives on the line. Derek, Scott, Stiles, and Peter all work together to try and get Cora out of the hospital while keeping Jennifer in their sights, going up against the Alpha twins and Kali while Deucalion skulks around with Scott's mother. At one point, Derek gets stuck in an elevator with Jennifer, much to his obvious displeasure.
There, Jennifer's past becomes apparent: she was Kali's druid emissary, left for dead with Kali killed her entire pack to join Deucalion's Alpha pack. But she dragged her way to an old oak tree that was naught but a stump, seeking out the power of the nemeton that had finally regained a spark...
Because Derek took sanctuary with Paige while she was dying in the root cellar that the druids once used for sacrifices. Killing her there renewed the power of the sacred oak, and thus Jennifer owes her chance for revenge to Derek. (Needless to say, this does not help Derek's guilt complex in the least.) After explaining that she's after the Alpha pack to stop them from killing anyone else, that she and Derek were the same, she knocks him unconscious when the power is restored and the elevator begins moving again so that she can whisk away Melissa McCall to be one of her guardian sacrifices.
Effectively, and in short, Derek Hale's life sucks. He goes from having a happy home and family, to being forced to kill his first love because of a poor choice Peter coerced him into. Then a woman comes in and seduces him in a time of weakness, which leads to his entire pack being killed. When he comes back to Beacon Hills after running to New York with his sister, it's to find out she's been killed and that others are dying. Teenagers assume he's behind everything, undermining him at every turn, though he doesn't particularly help his case due to his vague answers (which he uses to try and protect them while helping them) and his aggressive behavior (an attempt to keep people around him from getting hurt by keeping them at arm's length).
His uncle turns out to have gone insane, and when he kills him and becomes the Alpha of Beacon Hills, the teenagers around him are still distrusting. Even the ones that he turns, and tries to help, because he still doesn't help his case (even if he's a bit more of a team player than before). He's rough and aggressive because he doesn't know how to be after years and years with just Laura as pack, and mountains worth of guilt. He's all attack first, ask questions later.
And when he tries to fix it after two of his Betas go missing, things seem better. He's guilt ridden and exhausted, but more inclined to answer questions, to work with others. ... and then he goes and fucks it up because he's afraid of losing Isaac, the only Beta who stayed at first. Being used to kill Boyd certainly doesn't help matters, causing him to draw into himself. And of course, Jennifer only makes matters worse, as he finds himself seduced again and used for her means regardless of the truth behind her "love."
He's been in a bad place for years, and things just keep pushing him further down, but he's not going to stop fighting it. Even at the risk of it destroying him. His heart is in the right place, he cares deeply about those that come into his care, he just hasn't had the chance to really show it. It's a case of two steps forward, one giant step back a lot of the time. Peter's manipulation certainly doesn't help, although his interactions with Cora, Scott, and even Stiles do. These three, along with Isaac, are fairly integral to Derek's development as a person and it's been shown multiple times.
Abilities/Special Powers:
Werewolves that are found in the Teen Wolf universe have a variety of abilities, the strength of which depend upon their rank. Their abilities are all stronger than a human. Alphas are, obviously the strongest; Betas typically vary, with some being closer in strength to Alphas; Omegas are the weakest. Werewolves tend to have the following:
- ⁖ Alphas have the ability to give The Bite (TM), passing on lycanthropy (or killing the person they give it to, either or)
⁖ enhanced strength
⁖ enhanced speed, agility, and reflexes
⁖ enhanced senses (leads to being gr8 lie detectors, eavesdroppers, and trackers)
⁖ minor shapeshifting (as seen here, lord almighty what even), including sharp claws and fangs
⁖ enhanced healing
⁖ pain relieving
⁖ memory transference
Most of these are fairly self explanatory, given that they're the usual for werewolves. But Teen Wolf wolves have the unique ability of being able to take the pain of another living being unto themselves through touch. They can't heal them, or take the injuries, but they can at least alleviate pain so that their suffering is reduced. This has a varying effect on the wolf doing the pain relief, depending on the injury or illness. The weaker it is, the more it will simply be a soreness in the body, maybe lightheadedness. The greater it is, the more pain it will actually inflict, going so far as being capable of killing them. Alphas can even give up their status and revert to being Betas to restore their packmate's health using this method.
As for memory transference, a wolf may insert their claws in the back of another person's neck to share their memories with them. This can also go the other way (or even completely wipe out the memory!), but Derek's never done it before and it's actually fairly risky to do. In general this ability is hard to control, and dangerous even if you're not trying to pull the memories out of someone.
As stated above, Derek's mother, sister, and uncle all had the ability to shapeshift into more wolfish forms. It's possible that this is a hereditary ability, although it would likely take a great deal of control to accomplish-- as it is, Derek's anger is an effective anchor for him overall, but it wouldn't quite be the right thing to focus on if he successfully did a full shift.
And then there's the cons of being a werewolf:
⁖ Wolfsbane (aconite, monkshood, etc) is poisonous to them, where silver is not. It can be used to kill them (slowly or quickly, depending on the dosage) via poisoning, cause hallucinations (even in humans when used right), knock their asses out, or drive them into a frenzy.
⁖ Mistletoe is also poisonous to them, as it is to humans. But unlike other poisons that they can work out of their systems more effectively, mistletoe is just about as deadly as wolfsbane is if used correctly.
⁖ Mountain ash (rowan) will bar their movements. When utilized with intent by a person with skill for it, or a spark of ""magic,"" it can be used in various forms (ash, foundation and woodwork in buildings, or just as a damn stick) to keep a werewolf from crossing over it. They cannot break ash circles or destroy any woodwork that utilizes mountain ash, leaving them effectively trapped.
⁖ Full moons (and the week or so prior to them) tend to make werewolves anxious, irritable, and amp up their hormones. Derek, however, appears to just... stay his default levels of irritable, and can resist the pull of the moon a whole hell of a lot better than the bitten wolves of Beacon Hills. Probably because he's already fucking grumpy.
⁖ Without an effective anchor to their humanity, rather than the instincts and impulses that come with being a wolf, a werewolf may succumb to their bloodlust. Derek's anchor is, as of present, his anger. It's actually a pretty damn effective anchor, given that his anger is a hearty fuel despite what others may think.
⁖ Hecatolite/Moonstone blocks out the light of the moon, which is not actually as great as it might sound. Because if contained in a space that utilizes hecatolite, they'll eventually be exposed to moonlight again. This actually amplifies the bloodlust and instincts in a werewolf, making them go essentially feral until the sun comes up. A lot can happen in that timeframe.
⁖ Their healing can be disrupted or slowed when the injuries are inflicted by an Alpha or by wolfsbane, or by another supernatural source. And if enough grievous injuries have been inflicted (or they get cut in half/decapitated), they're definitely not going to survive it.
⁖ Sufficient pain will keep them from effectively shifting or force them back to human form. Electricity is especially effective for this, as the Argents show while keeping a constant feed on Derek, Erica, and Boyd to keep them from changing. (Derek, however, at this point requires far more voltage than other wolves due to the torture that Kate put him through. He's tased by two tasers at the same time and is only briefly stopped before he rips out the darts and carries on as normal.)
Third-Person Sample:
For as stressful as Wonderland can be sometimes, especially for the kidnapped residents of the mansion, Derek can say one thing: he's only had two, maybe three, bad full moons. December had been exhausting with Remus, and February... well, so many people had died and it wasn't even some mysterious event's fault. It'd been one of their own, someone that he'd found he got along with well enough when they spoke to one another. Isaac of the future had latched onto him, after he, Allison, and Castiel had died fighting the Jabberwock.
So of course he's been wary about full moons since December, exacerbated by February's. January and March hadn't been bad, by any means, but following that pattern?
Well, the pessimist in him can't help but notice that so far there's a running theme of every other one being awful for this new year.
Already he can feel a little tension, which is likely his own nerves about it-- especially after Stiles disappeared, Lydia before him, Scott going and coming again, Cora's return, Erica being alive-- but it's upcoming, nestled in next week. He has no idea how it's going to go, not with the combination of his pack or the people around them. Some part of him can't help but wonder if he should give Ellen a heads up, talk to Mary Margaret to warn her in the event something could happen. So far, nothing has gone wrong due to the pack.
But, looking at the date? He can't help but worry, with tensions high amongst the teenagers of Beacon Hills. The idea of going to Chris comes to mind, for as uncertain he is about the older man. Argent, at least, will be able to help if Wonderland throws a fastball their way, regardless of whether it's because of the werewolves or an outside force.
These days, he realizes, he's starting to make some allies he never thought he would. Looking back on it, the him of a year ago would never have considered befriending hunters, let alone have one he considered pack. Funny what a place can do to you.
So of course he's been wary about full moons since December, exacerbated by February's. January and March hadn't been bad, by any means, but following that pattern?
Well, the pessimist in him can't help but notice that so far there's a running theme of every other one being awful for this new year.
Already he can feel a little tension, which is likely his own nerves about it-- especially after Stiles disappeared, Lydia before him, Scott going and coming again, Cora's return, Erica being alive-- but it's upcoming, nestled in next week. He has no idea how it's going to go, not with the combination of his pack or the people around them. Some part of him can't help but wonder if he should give Ellen a heads up, talk to Mary Margaret to warn her in the event something could happen. So far, nothing has gone wrong due to the pack.
But, looking at the date? He can't help but worry, with tensions high amongst the teenagers of Beacon Hills. The idea of going to Chris comes to mind, for as uncertain he is about the older man. Argent, at least, will be able to help if Wonderland throws a fastball their way, regardless of whether it's because of the werewolves or an outside force.
These days, he realizes, he's starting to make some allies he never thought he would. Looking back on it, the him of a year ago would never have considered befriending hunters, let alone have one he considered pack. Funny what a place can do to you.
First-Person Sample:
[ Derek is, truth be told, not a fan of the network. He'll monitor it at times, skim over things on a day-to-day to see if anything jumps out at him or someone arrives that he needs to address, but overall? He just doesn't like it. It's convenient, and it has its uses, but overall he just prefers the face-to-face interactions that so many people living in one space together often affords.
But, of course, sometimes he still uses it. Many people do. ]
Has anyone ever considered keeping a calendar for when things happen here? [ Time is... different, down the rabbit hole. But apparently they have seasons and full moons and even holidays accordingly. Wouldn't be too farfetched to maintain something for events. ]
Might help us, might not. But maybe we could see a pattern, other than holidays, full moons, and Mondays. [ That's a little dryly. A few events since he's arrived have touched on the full moon, though of course Valentines day comes to mind-- and it wasn't even an event.
Is he still embittered by what happened with Tom? Maybe. That was just a mess. Then again, you could say that about Derek's life in general-- which is part of why he's decided to ask about this. ] Not that it'd actually help us prepare for whatever this place would throw at us, specifically, but maybe then we'd be a little more prepared for it.
But, of course, sometimes he still uses it. Many people do. ]
Has anyone ever considered keeping a calendar for when things happen here? [ Time is... different, down the rabbit hole. But apparently they have seasons and full moons and even holidays accordingly. Wouldn't be too farfetched to maintain something for events. ]
Might help us, might not. But maybe we could see a pattern, other than holidays, full moons, and Mondays. [ That's a little dryly. A few events since he's arrived have touched on the full moon, though of course Valentines day comes to mind-- and it wasn't even an event.
Is he still embittered by what happened with Tom? Maybe. That was just a mess. Then again, you could say that about Derek's life in general-- which is part of why he's decided to ask about this. ] Not that it'd actually help us prepare for whatever this place would throw at us, specifically, but maybe then we'd be a little more prepared for it.