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CHAPTER SIX;

FLARES

"What do you mean someone's dead?"

Sage sat up, shifting around as she pulled her tank top to see the damage created. Claw marks, trailing up from her belly button to the beginning of her ribs. She sighed, pulling the clothing back down and turned to Stiles. He was anxious, thinking about who could have died. A number of people, actually, from Scott to Boyd. He didn't want to think about Scott being dead. He just couldn't.

"I mean," Sage began, taking another deep breath as she felt another hot flash of pain. "Somebody is dead. Erica. I just know. It's like nothing is there when I think about her."

"Your mother could do the same thing," Peter explained, nodding his head as his arms crossed on his chest. Sage glanced up at him, narrowing her eyes at the sound of her mother, but didn't have the strength to yell at the Alpha. She just wanted to go upstairs and go to sleep. She didn't need Peter explaining to her everything that made her and her mother similar. "You had a connection with Erica."

Sage wasn't able to ask any questions, or even tell him that she didn't have a connection with Erica, because Stiles' phone rang, interrupting the silence in the room. The teenager immediately grabbed his phone and pressed answer, waiting for Scott's voice to fill the room. "Scott? Scott, what happened?"

"Boyd and Cora escaped. Derek and I are about to split up and find them after Derek goes to bury Erica," Scott explained over the phone. Sage's eyebrows furred at the familiar name that Scott used, meeting eyes with Peter as they both stared at each other in confusion.

Grabbing the phone, Sage asked, "Cora? As in Cora Hale?"

"Derek's little sister? Yeah, she's alive. I've got to go, they're loose and I'm not sure what's going to happen," Scott said his goodbyes, leaving Sage and Peter speechless as Stiles grew further confused on how Derek's sister was alive. He thought everyone in the fire had died. Peter was supposed to have been the only survivor, and even he managed to just barely live.

"She died," Sage muttered, moving to stand up as she completely indifferencing Scott's wounds on her body. "She can't be—" Sage's face fell flat and she walked over to the big table, ignoring Stiles' questions as to what she thought she was doing.

"Where are you going?" Stiles asked, watching as his girlfriend pulled on her jacket.

"I have to go find her, Stiles," Sage answered, looking at him like he was insane for asking the question. "If Cora's alive, that means she's out trying to kill people and I'm not going to let her live with that guilt."

Stiles gaped at her like she had just lost her mind. In fact, he had to voice his thoughts. "Are you crazy? You're going to get yourself murdered by one of them!"

"I can take care of myself."

Peter snorted from the corner of the room, interrupting the couple's banter. "Right. I'm sorry to inform you, Princess, but you're not a werewolf. They'll obliterate you the second that they see you. She won't even know who you are."

Sage, completely over all of Peter's bullshit, whipped her head around at him. "At least I'll die trying to save someone else's life instead of just saving myself. I'm not you, Peter. I don't just leave my family behind when I get scared. I would rather die with them than be alone and an unloved, forever spending life in the lowest degree of sanity."

She left after that, not sparing Stiles a glance as she rushed out the door.

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Sage stumbled through the Preserve, alone and trying her hardest to find a single werewolf in a sea of forest. She needed to find Cora, not just because the girl was practically a little sister to her but because she didn't need the werewolf killing any innocent people. She knew Cora; or, at least who Cora used to be. When they were younger, she was always the one that felt remorse if anything died on her watch. She accidentally hurt a lady bug one day, and she never forgave herself for a whole week. Sage prayed she still kept that characteristic, because if it disappeared then that means there is no hope left for any of them.

Everyone had been affected by the Hale house fire. Sage, Derek, and Laura had been the only known survivors at the time, and up until a year ago did they find out that Peter Hale survived with burns and scars remaining along the side of his body as a reminder. Just barely, he managed to escape. One Hale had been re-birthed into an Alpha, and another one fell six feet under after Peter murdered Laura for her werewolf status. It seemed like nature didn't allow more than two Hale's to be alive. That, now, seemed to be untrue after finding out that the youngest Hale was still breathing and hadn't succumbed to the flames.

It wasn't Luke, or any of her family, but it was enough for her. She had Derek, and she will always have Derek, but he's older than her. He's always been the one to protect her, and she felt useless having no one to protect. Cora was alive, though, and that meant her duties returned. When they were younger, Sage would always look out for the Hale. Maybe it was how small she had been at age ten, or just that Cora was actually a few months younger than Sage was.

She just needed to know that Cora was okay.

"You know, it's not smart to walk alone in the woods. Haven't you ever heard the story of Little Red Riding Hood?"

Sage froze in her place. She recognized the voice immediately, she just didn't exactly feel overwhelming excitement at actually hearing who it was. Slowly, she turned around on the heels of her shoes and met with brown eyes. A frown fell on her face, and she tried to control her heart which had spiked at the sight of the boy.

Shifting a bit, Sage crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not scared of wolves."

"You should be," he said, raising his eyebrows as he took another step forward, moving closer to the blonde so that they were only a few inches apart from each other now. He was trying to intimidate her, using his height to an advantage. She wasn't intimidated though, only because Stiles was still a few inches taller than the boy and she was used to her boyfriend's height.

Sage snorted, chewing the inside of her cheeks. "Is that your way of telling me to be scared of you, Aiden?"

"It's my way of telling you to get out of the woods before something ends up ripping you apart," Aiden corrected, shrugging his shoulders as if to tell her he wasn't too effected by the idea of something coming and killing her. She scowled at him, and he grinned when he noticed it because it had been forever since he'd seen that face. "You know, frowning isn't good for your face. You look a lot prettier when you smile."

Sage chose to ignore the last part, pursing her lips at him. "Are you following me?"

"A guy can't take a walk in the middle of the woods without being accused of turning into a stalker?" Aiden questioned, somewhat offended. When he noticed the look on her face, he chuckled. "We all have a person of interest, Sage. I'm just trying to get to know the new you. You know, one of the most popular girls in our school, best friends with Lydia Martin and Allison Argent. All I hear about in school is your name, y'know?"

"What can I say?" Sage snipped. "I leave an impression."

"You always have. You must have left one on Stiles too," Aiden commented, waiting to get a reaction out of her when he brought up her new boyfriend. "Does he know who I am, or did you make up some stupid excuse that he convinced himself to believe?"

"He's knows what he needs to know; and as far as I'm concerned, you're nothing to me."

Aiden rolled his eyes and stepped forward a bit, close enough for Sage to flinch. "We both know that isn't true. If it was, you would have told him who I really am and would be pushing me away right now."

Sage did shove him away, but only after she regained control of herself. She hated it, she hated how he was able to get inside of her mind so easily. He could manipulate her, something he had been doing long before he came to Beacon Hills. She knew he was right though, she should have just told Stiles the truth about who he was. Now she was hiding the truth when she had a perfectly clear free card. He wouldn't be pissed at her about having dated Aiden, he would be pissed that she didn't mention it.

"You're pathetic," Sage said, stepping away from him so that there was more distance.

Aiden stared at her, cracking a smirk before turning around, ready to leave her. "Don't get eaten by the big, bad wolf, little Red."

The name brought memories back to her. It hadn't been the first time he called her by that nickname, or even referenced the story in general. It had been brought up frequently a few years ago, mostly because it only emphasized how stupid and naive she had been to get into a relationship with a werewolf. It's always been his way of telling her that he's not a good guy, and that he was going to eventually hurt her.

Even now, she found it crazy how right he was.

"Did you kill her?"

Aiden stopped in his place. "No."

"Have you killed since you left?"

Aiden turned around, and his eyes met with hers. It was enough for Sage to understand what the answer to the question was. The boy looked like he wanted to say something else, but before he could, a low growl rang through the trees in the preserve. Immediately, Aiden moved closer to the blonde, his eyes beginning to glow a deep red as he stood in front of her.

Sage's eyes widened, and she went to step around him when she noticed that it was Cora standing directly in front of them. She looked different, her hair was longer and she had a mask on her face of pure destruction. Sage should have expected for her to be different, because a part of her was holding onto the idea of the younger girl still being ten. She wasn't though, and that was obvious enough.

She didn't care though, not as she went to rush forward so that she could hug Cora. The blonde didn't even get a centimeter before a hand stopped her, Aiden's arm curling around her upper arm to keep her from moving ahead. Sage looked at him like he was crazy, and struggled to get out. "Aiden, let go of me!"

"I'm not letting you get yourself killed over your stupid fantasy of having your family back again, Sage," Aiden spat, his eyes never leaving Cora as he replied to her. Sage's efforts to break free were dismissed, and she, hopelessly, stayed in her place.

Cora didn't make any move forward, leaving the pair in anticipation as they waited for the werewolf to lunge. Aiden didn't take any steps forward either, no doubt because his brother wasn't with him and he wasn't as strong. He might be an alpha but if Derek couldn't contain the two werewolves, then the teenage boy definitely wouldn't be able to either.

There was a crack in the woods, and another howling sound that had to have come from Boyd, because Cora stopped in her place and bared her canines at the two in front of her before running off. Sage stepped forward, wanting to run after her but knew she couldn't. Like Peter said before, she wasn't a werewolf. She went out on some death mission just because she needed to see that Cora was actually alive.

"You're an idiot," Aiden muttered, shaking his head as he roughly let go of her arm.

Sage glowered at him. "What did you expect me to do? Try and kill her?"

"I should have," Aiden said. "Be grateful that I didn't."

Sage's mouth opened in shock, eyebrows furring as she shook her head at him. A small laugh fell from her lips and she turned away from Aiden, wanting to get as far away as possible before he completely destroyed any of her thoughts about him actually wanting to be redeemed. She didn't get far, his hands grabbed at her again to stop her before she could escape.

His refusal to let her leave only aggravated her more. "What do you want, Aiden? Do you want me to say thank you for saving me from my friend? Do you want me to beg you to stop killing people and stop being a bad guy? Because if that's what you want, I'm sorry but you're going to have to die with that fantasy."

"I was just going to say goodnight," he answered.

Sage watched him, her lip trembling as she felt a lump form in her throat. "Leave me alone."

She moved to leave again, and this time he didn't stop her.

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"Scott?"

"Hey, where the hell are you? Stiles has been calling me every five minutes freaking out about you. What were you thinking going into the woods alone?" Scott's voice rose from curiosity and frustration. Sage felt her eyes sting with more tears and she shook her head, glancing down to see where her problem resided.

Two kids clung tightly to her body, shaking like leaves as they continued to mumble on about a man chasing after them. They crashed into her while she was making her escape from Aiden, and she wasn't exactly sure what she should do with them at this point. Which is why she ended up calling Scott for help.

"Look, you two can yell at me all you want late—"

She was cut off by another voice on the other side of the phone. Derek. "No, I'm not going to yell at you later. I'm going to kill you. Get your ass out of the woods right now, got it? Isaac and I can come and pick you up. Where are you?"

"Uh," Sage started, glancing down at the boy and girl. "I'm by the place we used to go when we were younger, where your mom took us on picnics. And Derek? We might have to make a stop before we go anywhere."

"What? Why?"

"No reason," Sage answered, her voice getting higher as she glanced around to see if they were on their way. Either they were on the other side of the freaking forest or they just decided to take their slow ass time. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Don't get yourself killed," Derek demanded, his voice stern. Sage could hear the sound of a car starting, which either meant that he was driving with Isaac to her, or Isaac was already on his way on foot. Scott was probably still out looking for the two werewolves and letting Stiles know that she hadn't been eaten.

Sage knew that she shouldn't have just left him like that. If she were in his shoes, she would have been furious. Not to mention, she hadn't answered any of his phone calls in the time period of her leaving the loft to finding the two kids. She hadn't even checked it because she knew if she ended up looking at his texts, she would feel like shit. She was shit. She was a shitty girlfriend.

She pulled her phone down from her ear, and shoved it back into her pocket. The little boy wrapped his arms tighter around her leg, while the older girl shoved her head into Sage's stomach. It just happened to be right where Scott's previous wound had been, and although it was healing, it still hurt. She couldn't bring it upon herself to ask the girl to move because they were just scared little kids.

"Hey," Sage whispered, trying to get the two to look up at her. "It's going to be okay, I promise. My friends and I are going to take you home, okay? Do you think you can tell me where you two live, or where your parents are?"

The girl slowly nodded, pulling herself free from Sage's body but still held tightly onto her hand. "We live in the neighborhood near here. Our parents said we needed to be back before dark but we wanted to catch fireflies. Billy's never caught any before so I wanted... I wanted to show him."

"How about I make a deal with you?" Sage asked, smiling at the two as Billy glanced up at her, curious. "How about the next time you two want to catch fireflies, I come with you. It's been a while since I've done it."

"But the thing—" Billy protested.

Sage shook her head. "Will not hurt you. I promise."

The younger boy nodded, his eyelids drooping like his protection was the only clarification he needed in order to fall asleep. Sage grabbed a hold of him, he was no older than seven, and put him on her hip, allowing him access to her shoulder so that he could sleep. She wanted to know where the hell Isaac and Derek were.

"What's your name?" the girl asked, looking up through her lashes.

Sage smiled at her. "Sage. It's a weird name, I know. My family was kind of weird. What's your's?"

"Clara," she quipped, grinning slightly. "It was my grandma's name; and I like your's better. It's different, pretty."

Before Sage could thank the girl, the flash of headlights on the three was enough for Clara to go back to cowering at the blonde's side. Sage recognized the car immediately, and let out a sigh in relief before adjusting Billy on her shoulder, giving Clara a reassuring nod as she waited for Derek to get out of the car.

When he did, his eyes showed fury up until he noticed the two children wrapped around the blonde. He didn't say anything, and she gave him a look that practically screamed, 'If you say anything to scare them, I'll kill you.' She didn't blame Clara for being afraid of Derek. He was big, he wore black, and overall, he looked like he could be a seriously perfect example of a serial killer.

Isaac, on the other hand, did not. The gentle giant was wrapped up in a scarf and looking as though he couldn't harm a single soul, despite that he nearly killed a lot of people last year. She knew Clara would have a better chance of feeling safe with the teenage boy. In reality, she would be with a werewolf anyway. Sage couldn't carry Billy and help Clara in the car at the same time.

"Clara," Sage started, looking at the brunette girl. "That's my friend Isaac over there. I know he's tall but he's just going to help you in the car. You can even sit in the back with me and your brother."

Clara complied, and Isaac frowned at Sage before helping the girl into the back of the car. It was humorous to see such a large guy helping such a small girl. Isaac never had smaller siblings. Sage didn't either, but Derek had small cousins that she always loved to be around when she was younger. Overall, she had experience with kids and it pained her to know that these two were going to have nightmares about Boyd for the rest of their lives.

"How did you find them?" Derek asked, stopping her before she could get into the back. His eyes traveled over to Billy, who was still asleep and beginning to drool on her shirt.

"I didn't. They found me."

She didn't say anything after that, just set Billy down in the backseat next to his sister while she got into the car herself, not even bothering to put her seat belt on as she put Clara and Billy in their's. It was a struggle to put Billy in his, considering he would lean his head on her as she did it. Isaac and Derek were probably staring at her, but she didn't care at this point.

Clara ended up giving them the address to her house, and after that she was out cold. Derek said he knew the neighborhood and could be there in fifteen minutes, which was enough time for him to inform her what the hell happened while she was stuck in the loft with Peter and Stiles.

"I saw Cora," Sage began, making sure that the two kids were asleep.

Derek nodded slowly. "Yeah. Did she hurt you?"

"No," Sage dismissed, thinking back to how she wasn't even given a chance to with how Aiden kept her behind him. "She just stared at me then left to find Boyd. Is Scott out looking for them?"

Isaac was the one to speak up from his lounged position in the passenger's seat. "He's calling Argent. We're supposed to call him after we drop those kids off and meet him there. You know, make sure that Allison's dad doesn't shoot him or anything."

"I need to call Stiles," Sage muttered. She pulled her phone from her pocket, careful not to wake either of the kids up that were beside her. "Scott said he kept calling."

"He's probably not going to pick up."

"Why wouldn't he pick up?"

Isaac turned his head around to look at her. "Because he's probably too busy trying to explain to his dad how Lydia found a dead body at the school with his throat ripped out."

Sage's eyes widened and she looked down at her phone to see a flood of messages coming in. Most of them consisted of Stiles and Scott, calls seemed to come in every five seconds. The only inconsistent thing was the two missed calls that came from Lydia, as well as twenty text messages following that. Sage felt sick to her stomach because while she was fighting with Aiden, someone had died and Lydia found the body. Lydia found a dead body and Sage wasn't there for her.

Sage swallowed hard. "It couldn't have been Cora or Boyd, right? There's no way they could have gotten there that fast."

"That's what I told Scott," Derek remarked. "But he didn't believe that anyone else would want to rip someone's throat out on a full moon in the middle of the night. The Alpha pack wouldn't care enough to just murder some random kid."

"Then who did it?"

"That's what we're going to find out, but right now we need to get those two kids home, find Scott and Argent, and then catch Boyd and Cora," Derek listed, just as he pulled into a driveway.

Sage had to shake Clara awake, and once she had done so she moved onto Billy. She hated waking either of them up, but as soon as they saw their parents she knew they wouldn't care. The only reason that they knew it was the right house is because of the couple standing in their front yard, shouting out the names of the two kids next to Sage.

Clara got out first, running towards her dad and throwing herself into his arms. He caught her, and picked her up while their mother slowly stepped forward as if she knew Billy would be the one coming out of the car next. He was, his little legs went rushing towards his mom and he was in her arms as soon as he stepped on the ground, it seemed.

Sage smiled lightly, slowly pulling herself from the car so that she could speak to their parents. Derek and Isaac weren't going to get out, she knew that without even having to ask them. It wasn't just because the parents would be more hostile towards them, it was because they would be uncomfortable and she knew it.

When she came face to face with their parents, the mother stared at her thankfully. "Thank you so much! We were worried sick!"

"It's no big deal, really. They just got a little lost in the woods and my friends and I were running around the trails. We noticed them and decided to take them home since it was getting late. They're great kids. They fell asleep on the way but that's about it," Sage complimented, crossing her arms over her chest to guard herself from the cold breeze. She prayed that neither parent realized she wasn't in the right attire for running at night.

"What's your name?" the mother asked as she put down her son.

Clara seemed overjoyed to answer. "Her name is Sage!"

"Sage?" the woman repeated, glancing at her daughter before turning to the blonde. "Sage Connelly? I knew your mother in high school. We used to be best friends. Wow, that's why you look so familiar. You look exactly like her."

"I get that a lot," Sage answered, sending them a fake smile. She was getting tired of getting compared to her mother, first it was Peter and now this woman. They didn't even know how much of a liar she was. Glancing back towards the car, she pursed her lips because she knew that Derek and Isaac were running short on time to find the werewolves. "I really should get going—"

"Of course," their father answered, nodding gratefully. "Thank you, again."

Sage nodded and turned to leave, but just as she went there was a heavy weight on her waist. Glancing down, she saw that Billy had ran from his mother's grasp and now held tightly onto her, once again. A lump formed in her throat, and she bent down slowly so that she was face-to-face with the little boy.

"Hey," she greeted. "Can you do me a favor?"

He nodded. "Anything."

"Protect your sister, alright? A lot of boys are going to break her heart in the future, and you've got to be the one that's always there for her. She's going to need you to be there for her when she cries, and when she's scared," Sage explained, nodding her head as she tried to ignore the stinging in her eyes.

Billy smiled lightly and glanced back towards Clara, who was staring confused at the two. He turned back around to Sage, and nodded again. "I will. I promise."

"Good," Sage laughed, nodding too. "My friends and I need to go save the day, but I'll see you soon, alright?"

He grinned and wrapped his arms around her neck, hugging her tightly. She hugged him back, trying to ignore the part in her heart that felt like it was about to explode. She pulled away when she felt herself begin to break, and waved goodbye to the family and Billy before getting into the back seat of Derek's car.

Neither boy said anything about her tears. Instead, Derek voiced exactly what she had thought from the moment she saw Billy in front of her. "He looks like Luke."

Sage watched the family slowly go back into the house, the dad grabbed a hold of Billy and lifting him up on his shoulders all while Clara and her mother hugged each other. They had been saved of the consequences that could have ended their family, everything that they were. Their parents could have suffered the loss of their children, and never seen them grow up or get married.

But they could. Clara's father could walk her down the aisle and Billy would grow up and find a girlfriend that he will eventually propose to. Clara's mom will help her get ready for prom and her first date, they will grow up and be closer than ever. Best friends. Billy will go to his dad for advice for girls, and Clara will go to her father because, in the end, he is the only one that will never break her heart.

And it hurt Sage to think about the idea of not being there when they're grown up, because she knew when she stepped into this town she wasn't getting out of it. Luke didn't, her dad didn't, her mom didn't. She wasn't going to either. She was destined to die in this town, and she was okay with that because she just gave two kids their lives back.

Looking away, Sage wiped her tears. "I know."

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3/4 edited because i got lazy and hungry at the end.

so, this chapter doesnt really have a lot of stage. it does have saiden and that makes me happy because i love writing them. my main goal for this chapter was to explore sage's life before she came to beacon hills, and what her life was like before that. the way to do this was by including aiden, cora, and those two kids. if you didn't notice, clara and billy represented the life she wished she had had when she was younger. of course, luke was older than her unlike billy, who was the youngest.

i just wanted you all to see a part of sage that isn't really seen when she's with stiles. this isn't a love story, this is a story about a girl who happened to find love while she tried to get her life back together after losing her whole family. i created this story wanting sage to have a life of her own, not just wallpaper. so, i'm sorry if you don't like this chapter but it's by far one of my favorites because we get to see sage being human.

also, sage is pissed at her mom. if you remember in the last book, deaton told her something about her mom and how she hadn't been in florida on her vacation. we do find out what he told sage and im just overwhelmed with excitement on how that idea will change this story forever. amanda, tara, and kayla know but thats about it.

let me know if you guys would like to see more of saiden, more of stage, or even more flashbacks of saiden before he ended up leaving her and murdered everyone. i also did a bad thing by talking about him dying so im soRRY.