Chapter Text
“Derek—honey, close your mouth.” Alexis seemed to glide over to her son as she offered him a concerned look.
Blinking quickly, Derek snapped back into actuality. “Wait, I’m marrying her?”
Laura forced out a nervous chuckle. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean any disrespect, Princess.” She reached over and clutched Derek’s shoulder. Hard. His eye twitched from the shooting pain.
Luckily, Allison quickly composed herself. “No—no, no. It’s quite all right.” She paused, nervously flattening the frills on the front of her dress. “I guess I’m a bit confused myself…” She trailed off as flattening the frills turned into wringing them.
“If I could just have a moment with my son?” Alexis gracefully—well, as gracefully as one could, wrenched Laura’s death grip from Derek’s shoulder, guiding him into the opposite corner of the grand dining hall.
“Derek!” She whispered harshly after flashing Allison a placating smile. “What are you doing? What are you saying?” She pinched the bridge of her nose as she sighed, trying to keep her composure. “You were the one who set all of this up, remember? We told you that we would fully support any decision you would made when it came to your betrothed, but you distinctly chose Allison.” Her expression gave way to a softer one, her face still radiant despite the situation. Derek was unsure if it was the lighting or just the aftereffect of the shock of seeing her again after so long. He couldn’t help but frown.
“Sorry.” Derek mumbled half-heartedly. One-word answers were his specialty after all. He had the decency to look guilty, at the very least.
“My boy, come here.” Alexis swooped in to give him the biggest, tightest hug ever, making a bittersweet feeling wash through his entire being. How he missed this. How he missed her. He warbled slightly in place as he raised his arms to return the gesture wholeheartedly. Who knows if he would ever be able to experience this again? Just the thought of possibly losing her again tied his stomach in knots.
“Anyone but Kate.” Alexis did a surprisingly accurate reproduction of a grumpy Derek as she pulled back, chuckling.
The mention of the name caused Derek to do a full body shudder.
“Allison is a kind girl.” The queen reassured him. “She is nothing like her monster of an Aunt.” Alexis’ expression went far off for a second before refocusing. “What she did to us was completely of her own conjectures. Peace between our nations is something we have only dreamed of for years now Derek, and you were the one to make that notion a reality.” She beamed at her son. “Thank you.” She leaned forward to plant a chaste kiss to his forehead. “Thank you so very much. We are so proud of you.”
He could only nod as a response, a crippling pang lacing through his chest. This was the Alexis Hale who had raised him. Equal parts of grace and diplomacy with a dash of scariness—Laura had to have gotten it from somewhere.
Derek was already beyond confused about this whole situation of landing in this alternate reality—if that was what it even was, and now on top of that he was getting mixed up in the politics of this world. It was almost too much to see his family alive again, and to top it off they seemed to be in trouble. Could he just remain a bystander while his family suffered? But they weren’t his family, not really anyways. He was going to give himself a complex—something he used to tease Stiles about endlessly.
“Hey, you guys almost done over here?” Laura had done a decent job of sneaking up on them. “I mean you do have a little free time before the ceremony, but I figured you would be using that to, erm, you know?” Laura winked at her brother as she playfully elbowed him in his side.
Successfully choking on any response he had in mind, Derek shot his sister a perturbed look. Which she returned in full, and possibly doubled.
“What?” She shrugged at him, a playful smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she turned back around to walk back to where Allison was awkwardly standing alone.
He pointed at her and looked at the queen. She shrugged. “You know Derek, if you wanted to—“
“Mother!” Derek shouted loudly as he stalked off, a confused Allison trailing close behind.
“Scott is going to be so mad.” Allison sighed as she buried her face in her hands, seemingly more out of frustration than actual sorrow or guilt.
Derek countered with one raised bushy eyebrow.
“I know that this isn’t for real, you know? But you know how Scott can be sometimes.” She unburied her face as a hollow thud sounded out through the room from her head crashing against the stone wall.
“It’s real to them.” Derek solemnly replied, an unrequired gesture to the door where the rest of his family was preparing for the wedding ceremony—their wedding ceremony.
“Derek.” Allison’s voice was lined with concern.
“I know.” Derek replied curtly, irritated with this whole situation. “We have to figure out how to get out of here—this place.” He couldn’t help the disappointment that he felt at his own statement. He had missed them. So much.
“We need to find the others first.” Allison announced to the ceiling. “If they’re even here.” Her voice trailed off slightly.
Stiles. Derek couldn’t deny the fact that the goofy kid was the first person he thought of from their group, maybe even going as far as wondering if he was okay—or possibly in a similar situation as him. Maybe he was betrothed as well, at this very moment about to marry someone else.
“Derek?” Allison looked confused.
The alpha’s eyes flicked over to the girl.
“You were just growling?” Allison scrunched her face at her question-statement of fact.
“No I wasn’t.” Denial seemed like the perfect excuse right now.
“No, you really—“
“We need to figure out what we’re going to do about this whole wedding…thing.” Derek’s delivered his red herring less than gracefully. Subject change was really Stiles’s strong point.
The expression on Allison’s face relaxed, as she seemed to let the whole growly situation slide. She peered out the window, the sun setting quickly to the west. “Well, we only seem to have a few hours left before the wedding ceremony.” She brought a finger to her chin in thought. “Think we have enough time to search around before the big event?” She was wringing at her dress again, the frills clearly wrinkled from the nervous habit she seemed to develop.
Growing purposefully this time, Derek shook his head. They were losing daylight fast, and they only had perhaps an hour at the most before they were expected to prepare for the event. He was actually surprised that they had that long to themselves from the one wedding he attended when he was younger. He never expected after everything to be the groom at a wedding ceremony, least of all with an Argent. He winced at the fact that he had even entertained the idea in the past. If he were to be with anyone at this point in his life he would have guessed someone very different, with shorter hair and possibly a more sarcastic take on life. The past conversations, situations, and general ridiculousness, that had genuinely made him smile in the past came flooding back to him. Damn.
The longing he began to feel rivaled the feelings he felt when he saw his mother, father, and sister again. A realization he wasn’t ready to be having at this exact moment, especially when he was to be married in a few short hours. He actually never expected to feel this way again ever, not after what he had gone through with the one romantic encounter in his life.
That’s when he noticed Allison watching him carefully, concern and amusement playing on the angles of her face, as if she couldn’t decide which of the two emotions she should be feeling at the moment. She sputtered when Derek surprised her with a smile, reflecting the action back at the alpha after she recovered.
“Thinking about someone?” Allison carefully asked, her eyes flicking between Derek’s face and the window, her attempt at nonchalance an utter failure.
“Maybe.” He muttered back barely audible.
A hollow knock on the door interrupted their conversation, as they both turned quickly to the door before exchanging glances.
“Who?” Allison mouthed to Derek, eyes wide.
Derek just shook his head and shouted for them to come in.
“Derek, Allison, you have a visitor.” Laura’s head peeked through the doorway as she opened the heavy wooden door to reveal another person beside her in the stairwell that lead up to his room.
“Jackson!” Allison jumped up from the bed, running over to give him a gigantic bear hug, the blonde teen just standing where he was planted, a blank look on his face.
The confused look from Laura caused Derek to stand, walking over to the door to place a hand on Jackson’s shoulder. “Jackson.” He was using his alpha voice when Laura’s head snapped towards him.
“Brother, come with me for a moment, won’t you?” Laura forcefully pulled him into the stairwell without a moment to spare, dragging him down until they hit a landing about halfway down out of immediate earshot. “How?” Laura announced, perturbed.
“What?” Derek continued to be confused.
“You know exactly what!” She quickly moved from perturbed to annoyed. “Don’t play dumb with me brother! I was next in line for Alpha!” She bit her nails as she looked out the immediate window, confusion and nervousness rolling off of her entire being.
“Oh?” Derek was trying desperately to catch on. They were clearly still werewolves in this fairy tail of a place, one less thing to worry about. “I’m not the alpha.” Derek supplied weakly, the irony of his response striking him.
“Don’t even, Derek. Don’t play games with me! If mom and dad passed it on to you, you can tell me. It’s probably because you’re marrying the Argent girl, isn’t it?”
“No!” His mind was racing as he tried to think of some sort of explanation. “I—I mean yes.” He wasn’t good with this whole lying thing, especially with his sister, he never was.
She flashed him a dubious look at the obvious deceits.
“Look, it’s not what you think, Laura.”
“And what exactly am I thinking?” Her face scrunched with annoyance at his response.
“That it has something to do with you!” Derek was starting to get upset. He had just gotten her back and now she thought he’d stolen the Alpha-hood from her. Which he kind of did? But it wasn’t actually her. Scratch that, this Laura wasn’t actually her. Except it was. He pinched the bridge of his nose like his mother, “It’s really complicated, but all I have to say is that it’s not something you did, or didn’t do. It has nothing to do with this marriage, or anything like that. It’s something that happened, and you, mom, and dad here had nothing to do with it.” Oxygen flooded his deprived lungs as he took a deep breath through his nose willing himself back into check. He couldn’t really afford to let his emotions get the best of him here of all places, especially after working so hard to get an iron grip handle on them. It was just harder here, harder with the scars of his past ripped open in the blink of an eye.
The orange rays of the sun danced on the stone walls behind them as the sun dipped below the mountain ranges far to the west, the entire sky dyed an portentous blood red. An ominous feeling swept through him causing his hackles to rise.
Laura blinked as her expression changed. She shook her head. “Something isn’t right here. What you’re saying is the truth, but I know.” She nodded solemnly. “I overheard mom and dad talking, and they decided that you should be the one to take over as alpha once you are married. The ceremony is essentially the passing of the alpha-hood to you. And it’s not like I don’t think you deserve it or anything because you do! It’s because of you that the hunts have stopped, and we have a peace now. You do deserve it.” She looked at her feet as she ground her teeth, another familiar habit of hers. “But I just don’t understand how you have it already.” Her voice tapered off.
Derek caught only about every other word as his entire being went into danger mode. Something wasn’t right here and his inner wolf was screaming at him to be on alert.
“Derek?” Laura seemed to catch wind of it too as her eyes flashed indigo, her eyes shooting upwards where they left Allison and Jackson alone.
“I can’t hear them talking.” Derek muttered as he strained to hear something, anything, a heartbeat, or conversation, small talk or even breathing. Nothing. “Something is wrong.” He bound up the stairs two at a time scrambling to a halt in front of his closed bedroom door, Laura arriving on the landing a moment after him. He reached for the latch and carefully opened it, his eyes bleeding red.
“Derek!” Allison smiled as she looked over from where she was seated at his desk, her gaze shifted to Laura for only a moment before turning back to Jackson. “Um, Jackson here is here to wish us a happy wedding!” She happily announced nodding at Laura.
Jackson simply nodded at her statement.
“A—and he just wanted to speak to you Derek.” She paused, hesitating for a second. “Alone?” She stood and walked to the doorway smiling as she stopped next to Laura, who looked a bit confused walking into something so tame when only a second ago it seemed like there would be a life or death situation awaiting them in Derek’s bedroom.
“Oh. Oh! Okay.” Laura quickly shifted gears, thankfully. “It’s about time for you to get in your wedding gown anyways!” She offered Derek a quick smile with an underlying we-will-talk-later look.
After Allison and Laura left down the stairs he finally turned to Jackson, the blank look still on his face. “Jackson.” Derek nodded at him. “Are you our Jackson?” Derek only questioned it for a second when he realized the stupidity of his own question. If he wasn’t he wouldn’t know.
“Yes.” Jackson replied quickly.
A raised eyebrow countered his reply. “What’s going on? Did you find anyone else?” Derek was confused by the boy’s actions, something didn’t feel right. It almost reminded him of when Jackson was a Kanima.
“No, no one else.” Jackson’s replies seemed to rival his own. “I need something from you.”
“What? And what is going on with you?”
“Nothing—just I need to tell you something.”
“Well?” Derek was getting aggravated, something was seriously going on here but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Why couldn’t he hear them talking earlier, the walls were thick but not that thick. He listened. But he couldn’t hear his heartbeat or his breathing. Something or someone was obviously blocking his werewolf senses from Jackson.
Alas, his realization was too late, as Jackson appeared right in front of him, blue eyes glowing. Derek’s eyes burned red as he prepared for a fight. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his forearm and reactively jumped back. Derek quickly recovered, crouching low to the ground, eyes ablaze before he blinked.
Nothing.
Jackson was simply gone. He backed himself into a corner of the room in order to survey the area quickly, but he couldn’t hear anything, just like before. With no hope of tracking Jackson, if that was even Jackson, his eyes returning to normal as he grimaced.
Why was that kid always getting in weird types of trouble?
Chancing a look at his forearm where a stripe of his red blood remained, the skin underneath instantly mended. He scowled as he quickly wiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt, the crimson of his blood contrasting the whiter than white fabric. He gazed towards the open door; his expression melting slightly as he realized the teen was really, truly gone. “Jackson.” He trailed off frowning; something most definitely was amiss here.
Mere hours after the Jackson incident, Derek was in an overly adorned suit of some sort, probably equally expensive as it was itchy. The golds and reds glimmered in the candles' and torchlights' surrounding the ceremony grounds; silver and blue tassels swaying slightly in the evening breeze as he shook the hands of hundreds of faceless people who had some sort of connection to his kingdom or the next. And that was how Derek found himself standing awkwardly on a stage with a royal band playing some sort of wedding tune in the background as hundreds of people gathered around to watch the history in the making union of two kingdoms that he had never even heard of before. Oh, and he was the prince of one of them. Yep, just another normal day in his lif—okay now this was strange even for him and his motley group of misfits.
The politics of this world were clearly something in a delicate balance now yet he found himself smack dab in the middle of all of it. Derek blinked as the crowd began to settle into their seats for the main event, him. And Allison. He fought the urge to wolf out and run. He really didn’t know why he was going through with this.
Crap.
Except, he knew exactly why he was doing this as Alexis and Liam beamed at their son from their seats on the stage on in the grand courtyard of the castle while Laura shot him a mixture of serious nods and teasing eyebrows. Yep, that was most definitely his sister. He shook his head fondly. There had been no sign of Jackson after the incident in his room and he hadn’t seen Allison since as well. Any attempts of sneaking into his room got him chided by the servants, his sister, or his mother under the harsh implication of “bad luck” about seeing the bride in her wedding dress. He was suddenly reminded about how annoying living with other werewolves was; you can never sneak anywhere or sneak up and scare the living daylights out of certain people ever! Okay, so maybe that last part was purely for selfish reasons.
The last of the murmurs from the masses died off as the band picked up. Makeshift spotlights from bright torches shown brightly on a spot off towards the back of the courtyard as Allison strode into view. Her gown shimmered in the spotlights as what looked like pearly white shells dangled from each of the furls unfolding from the waist of the dress all the way down to her glass slippers. Yep, glass slippers. A single sash in white extended from her left shoulder over her chest before joining with the shell-adorned waves of white and peach that completed her dress. Her hair was done up into elegant curls as a small veil spouted from the top to cover the top of her face, a simple, yet elegant bouquet of white and peach roses and lilies held like a prayer between her hands. Even Derek had to admit she looked simply graceful in her wedding attire as the oohs and ahhs of the crowd erupted in a hushed explosion.
With only a slight hitch in her step, Allison gave Derek a brief nod before stepping forward towards the stage as she flashed the biggest smile she could muster at denizens and officials that whispered her name in awe as she glided past him or her. Derek knew though, she put on a brave front but there must have been a torrent of nervousness and uncertainty churning inside her judging by the cocktail that was currently olfactible from all the way across the courtyard. She flashed him a nervous smile as she finally reached the stage area as the music continued to play.
And that’s when it hit him. He was doing this for his family, but would this be real? Would he be staying here with them for eternity after this? What would happen when if he somehow succeeded to return back to his bleak life in Beacon Hills? But that was just it; his life wasn’t bleak, at least not anymore. His life had been a living hell only a mere few years ago taking rollercoaster ups and downs, but now, now his life was completely something else. Derek wondered what had caused the change in his life, what had changed that made everything so much better. Or rather who? He knew. He really did. But what could he do about it? He knew what he smelled from the boy, but he also knew he had some competition now. Would he be willing to fight for his own happiness?
“Derek, we need to talk.” She whispered knowing he would be able to hear her.
“Yeah.” Derek whispered back before repeating himself into her ear after realizing that she couldn’t hear him.
He had to at least try. He couldn’t go through with this. The lies, the deceit, he had already confused the hell out of this world’s Laura, how would doing this be any better for his parents in this world? How would this look to Sti—
“About the wedding.” She sounded torn.
King Liam stood to announce the welcomes to the kingdom.
“What about it?” He quickly whispered back butterflies churning in his stomach. He had to stop this. He was really lucky they were supposed to be standing so close together.
“I know I’m helping you, and your family. But I don’t know if I can—“ Allison stopped as King Liam paused for the booming applause that followed his welcome speech.
Derek turned to Allison resolving on a decision. “I can’t do this. It’s not fair to you and Scott, or to my family here. Or to Stiles.”
Allison nodded as the ceremony seemed to halt abruptly. “Stiles?” Allison questioned, only to realize that there was a silence settling around them, as even the band had stopped playing their music. She gulped nervously, cracking a weak smile at the leering eyes.
Right. Werewolves.
“Mom, Dad, I can explain.” Derek began as the murmurs started. “I—" Derek stopped as a shooting pain coursed through his entire being. He screamed out in agony as it seemed like he was burning from the inside out, as the King and Queen rushed to their son.
“Derek!”
He could faintly hear his name being called out by his parents and Allison as his vision and hearing ebbed in and out with the spikes of pain. Derek was confused though, the pain and the burning it was exactly like aconite poisoning, but he hadn’t come in contact with any, nor eaten or drank anything since he woke up, surely the poison would have affected him before hand. And if it was airborne, why wasn’t Laura or his parents affected by it? His mind was clearly too lucid during this process of burning torture as his body convulsed and the panic swept through the ceremony, he could hear the crashing of tables turning over and the screams of the crowd as they most likely ran out of the courtyard.
“You!” He faintly heard his father call out as he heard Allison squeak among the chaos that was exploding around him.
No.
“Did you do this? Why?” He heard his mother’s accusations loud and clear.
It wasn’t her! He wanted to scream it but all that came out was well, screams—of agony.
“Guards!” Liam called out as he heard Allison pleading her innocence. He needed to do something, but what, he clearly wasn’t in control of his own body, let alone able to defend Allison from the castle guards and his parents. The pain was ripping him in two.
“Unhand my daughter, you mongrels!” Victoria Argent’s voice pierced through the pain.
When suddenly it stopped. As abruptly as the twisting, burning pain started, it simply stopped. Granted, he wasn’t going to complain about it, but it was sure odd.
“No, wait! It wasn’t Allison!” Derek shouted between gulping down air.
His father turned to him bewildered.
“What? Son, how can you be sure?” His father held up his hands to stop the guards from dragging Allison and her parents away.
“Trust me, father, I know.” He propped himself up on his elbows on the stage as he enunciated his words the best he could. The pain was gone now, but the muscle spasms seemed to take their toll on his body, he could barely move.
“But I heard her, she didn’t want this wedding, or was that you…” Alexis seemed to have calmed down a bit replaying the last few moments in her head when she realized. “You were the one who said you didn’t want this to take place, Derek. Why?”
Allison stiffly nodded at him reaffirming his decision.
“Because I’m not your Derek, not really.” It was like he let out a massive breath he had been holding the entire day.
“Nonsense, I would know my own son.” Alexis brushed him off as she composed herself, Laura close at her side.
“No, I think he’s right mother.” Laura finally spoke up. “He—he’s already an Alpha, and you two haven’t handed it down to him yet, have you?”
“What? Son, is this true?” Liam took a step back from his son as Derek let his eyes bleed the crimson that only came from being an Alpha wolf. “How?”
“We are from another—“ Allison searched for the right word. “Reality? We don’t really know how we ended up here.” She sighed in relief, as the guards seemed to have let her go.
“You too?” Chris Argent cupped Allison chin as he inspected her. “I’m not sure what to believe.”
“I don’t think they are lying.” Laura nodded at the pair as all eyes were scrutinizing their every detail and traits.
“So you’re not from this…reality you say?” Liam sounded even more confused than he looked, which was a feat in itself. “How is that even possible?”
“How are werewolves even possible.” Allison mumbled under her breath as Alexis let out a chuckle smiling at the girl.
“There is a lot of magic in our world, Liam.” Alexis nodded at her husband. “It is a possibility that maybe they were sent here through magical means. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all.”
“There have been others?” Allison looked hopeful. “Was there ever a boy around my age, kind of hopeless looking, spaces out a lot and reminds you of a potato?” Allison’s genuine expression was what did it for Derek.
He burst out laughing at this only to wince in pain as his muscles were not quite ready to move like that just yet.
“Son!” Liam helped Derek up. “We need to get him to a healer, take him to the infirmary.”
“I’m sorry princess, but there have been no others like the one you are describing. However there was this one little gir—“ An azure flash suddenly interrupted the queen as a familiar face appeared on the opposite side of the courtyard.
“Ry? Ry!” Allison called out to the man as he walked towards them gripping his arm as it dripped blood. “Oh my gosh, you’re hurt!” She rushed over as he shook his head, pushing the girl aside to finally look up, revealing his bloodshot eyes glazed over as he fought to breathe properly.
“Derek.” Ry’s voice was raw and wrecked. It scared the shit out of Derek; he had never seen the man like this before, nor did he think he ever would have.
Derek’s hackled rose as he suddenly felt the presence he had felt earlier in the day somewhere in the distance. He stood up straight, the pain and muscle aches suddenly just a dull irritant in the background.
Ry squeezed his eyes shut as a single tear ran down his cheek. “Derek, I’m so sorry. I tried. I really did.” He doubled over as Derek rushed over to the man, holding his shoulders as he searched his face for an answer.
“Ry, what happened? What’s wrong?” Allison asked as she held him up from the opposite side of Derek.
“Stiles—he’s—Stiles is dead.”