cunningwolf | And the walls come tumbling down...

"Talia!"

Many men will tell you that you knew the heart of a hero when it came to fire. Normal men would run away from it. Heroes would run into it.

But no one would ever call Peter Hale a hero. Yet into the fire he dove, recoiling back from flames as he tried to make his way through the house to find his sister. The screams from the tunnels threatened to deafen him, but he still kept his focus, trying to find her.

Talia had always taken care of her brother, even at his worst points. He refused to not give up on her now. We are all going to burn for this he had warned her, but as always, the stubbornness of the Hales kept her from seeing the reality of the situation until their world was ablaze.

One of the walls cracks and came at him, and he was barely able to duck out of the way in time. "Talia!" he screams, then coughed as his lungs started to remind him that they can only heal if he has actual oxygen going to them. He knew he had to leave, but he couldn't abandon his family.

"Help me!"

Peter's head snapped around as he heard the voice of his eleven year old niece. He pushed away from the wall, heading for the stairs and climbing up them as fast as he could, and then when her bedroom door wouldn't open, he smashed it in. And there was Cora, crouched into a corner and crying. He made his way over, kneeling down in front of her. "Cora, honey, focus on me. We need to get you out of here."

"I want mommy."

"I know. We'll find her outside." The floor under them shifted and Cora screamed. Peter stood up and looked at the window. If he opened it, the fire was be sucked into the room from the rush of oxygen. "Come on, we have to go."

He pulled the tiny werewolf into his arms and started back downstairs, using his own body to shield her from the fire. As they got to the bottom, one of the stairs broke and his foot went through it, sending him crashing to the ground and he felt his knee pop as he twisted to land on his back to keep Cora from being crushed.

"Cora, the front door is open. You need to run outside and hide. Hide from the hunters like I taught you, okay?"

Cora bit her lip, scared. "I'm scared."

"I know, but you go, and I'll find you. I always find you, don't I?" He could feel the fire starting to burn along his leg, trying to keep the pain off his face. "Ready? You hide, and I'll seek."

Nodding, Cora did as she was told and took off running for the woods. Peter focused his hearing to make sure she wasn't stopped by any of the Argents that may be lingering in the woods, and then he howled in pain as the rest of the staircase came down on top of him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cora's managed to tune it out at this point. She knows Stiles from school, sort of, they run in different circles. It seems to have shifted to small talk. Her brain is still turning over the information from earlier, however, and she just tips her head forward so that her forehead is resting against her knees, waiting for them to leave.

John tapped his notebook a moment. "I'll take this back to the station and get to work on seeing what we can do. I may have more questions later. If you remember anything else, Melissa knows how to reach me."

"Thank you."

Nodding, John went to walk out, but stopped to wait for Melissa after she put the oxygen mask back in place, and gave Peter a small hand squeeze as comfort. "You get some rest. I'll be back before my shift ends."

They walked out, talking in the hallway and the door closed. Only then did Peter close his eye, letting the tears falls since no one was looking at him.

Cora waits. She waits for the talking to lessen and the sounds outside the room to quiet, just in case the deputy thinks he needs to come back for something. She also waits to give Peter a moment, because this feels like something that needs one.

She has so many questions she wants to ask but can't, because Derek isn't there to answer them (but he's somewhere, which is more hope than she's had since the fire). So she'll just wait for Peter to tell her it's safe to come out.

Peter knows Laura is at least alive - neither he nor Cora have the alpha spark, so that is one relief. Derek's well being is the only unknown factor in all this, and he just hopes to god that his nephew is alive somewhere.

It takes him a few minutes to get his composure back, and then softly, "safe."

Cora glances out first before she makes her way around the door, moving to climb into that space that's become hers in the short time she's been there. She doesn't say anything, just tucks herself into her uncle's side and tries to just be there.

She's not lost. She's not hurt, she's not dead. That should all count for something.

She stays quiet for a long moment, before finally: "When you're better, we'll find them."

"Yes, we will." He hugs her to her a bit more to his side, reminding himself that a piece of the family remains no matter what. "We take care of our own."

She's quiet for a moment, before glancing up at him again. "Do you think we should tell him that I'm here? Since you're getting better, maybe they won't take me away."

Peter shook his head. "They have to. I'm not fit to be a parent." he took a deep breath. "Not here. They will put you somewhere until I can be."

They didn't have a home. No address, nothing. Peter had records to find in the vaults. Things he needed to do to make sure they could be together, but he can't in a hospital. And his sister didn't have a will. Everything would go to Cora with Laura and Derek missing.

It was too much for a child. Too much attention. The Argents would find her.

Well, that's no good. The argument dies as suddenly as it started, and she settles in comfortably next to him, trying not to think about it too much. She trusts Peter's judgement on this, and knows that he just wants to protect her, even if physically that's not entirely possible.

"Okay."

His grip tightens on her a bit. "We'll find a way."

She nods a bit, just curling into him more. At least she has Peter, if she can't have Derek and Laura. If she was on her own, she didn't know what she'd do. "I just hope I don't get caught before you're better."

"I may be hurt, Cora, but there's still fight in me if they try to take you away." It would probably end up making him worse, but he would rain terror down on Beacon Hills at this point if it kept his only remaining family at his side.

That's a comfort, even if she knows he shouldn't. She would rather he focus on healing rather than worrying about her, but there's not much she can do about that. She's in a precarious position and she knows it. She just has to get through his hospitalization and then they can start finding Derek and Laura.

"Just get some rest," he told her, trying to soothe her with gently stroking of his hand on her back until he slipped off back to sleep on his own.

And the walls come tumbling down...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject