'formality'

      ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

ALYSSA WOKE UP with an infuriating headache, and to top it all off, she didn't know where she was. All she knew was, she was attacked.
Instantly, upon opening her eyes, she sprung up on the metal table she was placed on, and instantly went into defence mode, only to find Scott, sitting opposite her, and the vet, Deaton, besides him.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious." Deaton spoke, rushing over to her in order to keep her steady, as she had stumbled slightly upon standing.
"You doing okay?"

"Why am I here?" Alyssa immediately asked, not understanding why she was in the vets with Scott.
"Where's Derek?" She asked.

The last she saw of Derek, he was in the middle of the crossfire, and she was terrified that something may have happened to him.
When she looked over at Scott, she noticed that he had a bandage over his left rib cage, with some blood still seeping through the wound, she didn't understand when he got shot.
Looking down to her own wound, she saw that she had already been bandaged, and her wound was slowly healing.

"Well..." Scott began, slowly walking towards Alyssa, only for the front door to jingle, indicating that a new customer had arrived.
Deaton furrowed his brows in confusion, as he had put the 'closed' sign up..

"Hello?" He called out, his hand still on Alyssa's arm to keep her upright, when there was no reply, he went to walk forwards, only for Scott to grab his arm in order to hold him back.

Alyssa didn't know what to do in this situation - she didn't want to follow Peter, especially now that Derek wasn't here; until she was going to find Derek, she didn't want to be apart of anything.
She just wanted her brother.

The second she heard him speak, a shiver went down her spine, and she exchanged a worried look with Scott, both of them knowing that this couldn't be good.
"Hi there." Peter greeted, not yet being threatening, "I'm here to pick up."

Classy. Alyssa thought.

"I'm not sure I remember you dropping off." Deaton replied, no fear clear in his tone.
It surprised Alyssa that Deaton showed no fear - did he even know who he was talking to?

She began to walk forwards to join Peter in the waiting room, wanting to get him away from Deaton and Scott, only for Scott to grip her arm and hold her back.
When she looked back at him, he was simply looking at her with a look of panic, silently begging her to stay with him.. He didn't know what Peter would do to her, now that Derek wasn't here, and he wanted to keep an eye on her.

"These two wandered in on their own." Peter replied, just as Scott began to pull Alyssa back into the corner - if anyone could see the two teenagers, they could tell they were both terrified of the man.
Even with Peter being Alyssa's uncle, she still couldn't help the fact of being scared by him at the moment; he was the alpha, and he could kill them at any minute.

"Even if they did, I'm afraid I can't help you." Deaton replied to him, not taking any of Peter's threats. "We're closed."

"I think you can make an exception this one time." Peter replied, and Alyssa could hear him walk forwards. "Don't you?"

She instinctively leaned back into Scott, afraid of what will happen to them, and surprisingly, he returned the gesture, and held onto the girl tight.
The only thought running through their minds, was how they wished Derek was here..

"I'm sorry, that's not going to be possible." Deaton said, still keeping up his guard.
Alyssa felt like she had underestimated Deaton; he really was a badass.
"Maybe you could come back during regular hours." He finished.

Scott and Alyssa felt like they had stopped breathing, when Peter spoke lowly, beginning to get threatening.
"You have something of mine." He growled, "I'm here to collect it."

Alyssa looked up at Scott, so their faces were inches apart, and they both shared a look of uncertainty - Alyssa wanted to leave the back room and help Deaton out, knowing that it would become ugly with Peter, but the fact that Scott had a death grip on her, made it hard for her to move any muscle.

She could hear Deaton walk forward a few steps, and she couldn't believe what was happening; she had never met anyone who had stood up to Peter before. She and Derek couldn't even do it, and they're family.
"We're closed." He concluded.

Alyssa then heard a scratch against the wooden door, and she and Scott were still unable to breathe.
"Mountain ash." Peter growled. "That's an old one."

Alyssa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering where Deaton had managed to get mountain ash from, wasn't he just a vet?
Scott had quickly placed his hand over the female werewolf's mouth, after she had gasped from the impact of a chair breaking against the wall.. She just wanted to go out there and do what he asks, but she can't do that when Scott wouldn't let her.

"Let me be as clear as possible." Deaton replied, still sounding as calm as he did when Peter first entered. "We.. Are.. Closed."

Scott and Alyssa finally released their breathes when they heard Peter begin to leave, but when he paused by the door, Alyssa internally groaned; all she wanted to do was leave, and find Derek, was that so hard to ask?
"There are others that can help me get what I want, Scott." He spoke lowly, intentionally so the two teenagers could hear, "More innocent, and far more vulnerable."
When he paused, Alyssa thought he would just leave, but when he spoke once more, she couldn't resist to roll her eyes.
"Come and find me when you've come to your senses, Liss." He spoke again, "We need to work together."

Not another word was spoken, when Peter finally left, leaving the two teens alone with Deaton.
The second the alpha was gone, Alyssa couldn't help but shove the half naked Scott from her, and when she was sure that Peter was out of listening distance, she glared at the boy.

"They could have Derek, you get that, right?" She asked, just as Deaton walked back into the back room, "I can't even go home, why didn't we go with him?"
Although he feared her, she didn't know what to do with herself, she had no one.
"I have no one." She finished, letting out a sigh.

"You have me." Scott instantly reassured her, taking her wrist. As he realised what he said, he quickly covered it up, "And Stiles.. Let's go."

_____

"It's not here." Stiles complained as he sat on Scott's bed, watching as the teen wolf searched his draws for his phone, which he had lost.

After making sure that Peter was gone, Scott had ensured Alyssa that she could stay at his for the meantime - so she reluctantly agreed, having nowhere else to go, and she had taken a shower, and gotten changed into one of Scott's tops and her jeans, as her top was covered in blood.
She was currently standing by his bedroom door with her arms crossed, waiting to leave to search for Derek; Scott wouldn't leave without his phone.

"Me and Alyssa can't do this alone. We have to find Derek." Scott concluded, after he and Stiles had argued about Scott getting a new phone.

"Well, A, you're not alone, you have me." Stiles pointed out, causing Alyssa to roll her eyes at his words.. He was anything but helpful.
"And B, didn't you two say that Derek walked into gunfire? He sounds pretty dead." He concluded.

Alyssa sent daggers at the back of Stiles, and grabbed some sort of toy from Scott's draws, before lobbing it at his head.
"He's not dead, Stiles, will you shut up?" She snapped, as he rubbed the pain on his head.

"Well, look who's talking!" Stiles clapped back, "It's not like you've been ignoring us for days!"

Alyssa glared at him, "I had to, or Peter would have killed you all, don't you get that?" She asked him.
She already felt bad enough for ditching all of her friends for days on end, but she had no choice; Peter basically forced her into it.

"Would you two shut up?" Scott asked, still searching for his missing phone, "And Derek's not dead, Argent's plan was to use him to get the alpha. They're not gonna kill him." He concluded.

When Stiles looked back at Alyssa, she sent him a look that said 'I told you so', before he rolled his eyes and turned back to Scott.
"So just, let them do what they're planning, you know?" He sighed.

Alyssa's eyes widened in shock at what Stiles was implying, "Derek saved your life a few nights ago, what is your deal?" She scoffed, remembering how she and Derek fought Peter off whole Stiles escaped.

"They use Derek to get Peter, problem solved." Stiles argued, finding nothing wrong with his words.

"Problem is, they'll kill Derek, and kill me when they're done." She argued back, "What makes you think they won't kill Scott when all of this is over, too?"

"It's not solved if Peter is going after Allison to find Derek!" Scott shouted, shutting the pair up.
Alyssa couldn't help but sigh, of course he was only thinking of Allison, it was all the boy ever thought of.
"We can't protect her on my own." He finished, "Which means we need to find Derek first."

Stiles and Alyssa watched as Scott panicked around his room, still searching for his phone, she didn't know why he cared; this was the least of their problems at the moment.
"You know, you probably lost it when you guys were all fighting." Stiles told the two. "You remember that? When they were trying to kill you?" He said, motioning to the angry werewolf behind him.

"I'll kill you, if you carry on talking." She threatened, causing Stiles to shrink back in his place.
"Look, Scott, the phone doesn't matter, can we get to more important matters, please?" She then asked him.

Before he could reply, they heard his mom's car pull up outside of the house, and Scott froze in his spot.
"What is it?" Stiles asked.

"My mom just got home from work." Scott replied.
Alyssa sighed, she liked Scott's mom, she didn't deserve what Peter did to her the other day - it only made her dislike her uncle more.

The three teenagers stood in silence as they listened to Melissa cry, and all feeling sympathy for her, knowing she was an amazing woman.
She deserved the world..










Later on in the day, Alyssa was worn out from searching for Derek for hours on end, and finding nothing on his whereabouts - the fact that she and Peter couldn't find him, made her think that they never would, but she would never give up. She would search to the ends of the world for her older brother.
She hadn't been to school, and she sure as hell wasn't going back until she found Derek.

She was about to enter the mall, to steal some new clothes for herself, as she couldn't go home, when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side.
Her breathe hitched in her throat when she looked up and found Peter towering over her.
"Where have you been?" He asked her lowly, making sure that no passer-by's could hear them.

"I've been looking for my brother." She replied, yanking her arm out of his hold.
He scowled down at the action, but didn't say anything - he wanted the same thing as her, he just had to get her on his side.

"We want the same thing, you and I." He told her, causing her eyebrows to scrunch in confusion.

"I don't want innocent people to die." She finally told him, after days of keeping in in.
She had gone along with his plans with no questions asked, but now that Derek was gone, she was done with him.

"I don't want that." Peter concluded; telling the truth. "Only those responsible."
Alyssa was about to speak once more, only for Peter to interrupt her, "Go hang out with your friends, go to the homecoming, act normal.." He ordered her, "I've got this, I'll get Derek back."

She watched as he strutted away, and couldn't believe what he had just told her.. Was he letting her go? Or was he manipulating her?
Alyssa shook her head and walked further into the mall, still needing some more clothes, before she would head out in hopes of finding Derek; there is no way that she was going to listen to Peter..

She will find Derek, even if it's the last thing she does.