Hey hey! So, I watched Season 1 of Teen Wolf wayyyy back when it came out and loved it...and then never kept up with it. Of course, recently I saw a commercial stating "Final Season of Teen Wolf"...and then proceeded to binge watch all of the seasons up through 6A to catch up (and WHOA, has a lot gone down since S1)!

And thus, here is my first foray into Teen Wolf fic, with my new found inspiration, about one of my favorite eps (seriously who doesn't love Season 3). Please forgive my poor imagination with Druid workings or the true alpha timeline not being exact, and let me know your thoughts!

Happy reading!

Fictional

It seemed like the only choice.

Going with Deucalion was the only choice.

As he followed behind the older alpha, Scott couldn't help but wonder how things had gotten to this point, to the point he had to side with the enemy in order to save his Mom, the Sheriff, and Argent.

Their parents.

But at this point, Scott knew he would do whatever it took to bring their parents back safe and sound.

And alive.

He had promised Stiles he would find them, his painful pleas on the hospital rooftop for him not to go with Deucalion still ringing in his ears.

"Scott, don't do this. Don't go with him!"

At the very least, Scott knew he couldn't stop Jennifer alone, and he knew that his best chances relied on the alpha pack helping him take her down.

He tried not think too much about what the pack would want in return, but he'd worry about that later. When their parents were safe, and the sacrifices were over, and Jennifer had finally been stopped...then he would worry about it.

One problem at a time.

As if Deucalion could sense his thoughts, the alpha paused suddenly, turning back to face him in the middle of the dark street.

"Don't worry Scott, my intentions are truly for the right cause, I assure you," he said smoothly, and Scott did his best to bite back the retort waiting on his tongue at that. "We want the same thing, which is to stop Jennifer. Don't lose sight of what's at stake."

Scott forced a smile as he replied. "Yea, I know. That's why I came with you."

Deucalion smirked behind his dark glasses, before turning back around, motioning for Scott to keep following him. "I can smell the worry rolling off of you."

Scott swallowed thickly as he continued behind him, realizing that with Deucalion's blindness, his sense of smell was even more superpowered than the average werewolf, and he hadn't been able to hide his emotions from him at all.

"Oh, uh, it's not that," Scott quickly bit out, before taking a short breath to steady himself and try not sound even more nervous. "I'm just worried about my mom. And Stiles' father. And Allison's."

Deucalion nodded slowly, not bothering to face the young werewolf again as he spoke. "Understandable. But I promise you Scott, if you help me end Jennifer, you will see all of your parents again."

Scott opened his mouth to reply, to reassure Deucalion of his new allegiance, but he never got the chance.

A blinding light suddenly landed between him and Deucalion, and his mind registered just a little too late that it was a flash bomb.

"Scott, your eyes!" Deucalion bellowed in warning, his glasses suddenly off and his blind eyes replaced by an angry alpha red as he sought out their new enemy.

But Scott was too distracted, too focused on worry for his mom and the others, so much so that his reaction time was just slow enough that he couldn't cover his eyes in time.

He stumbled backwards as the flash bomb exploded, blinding him painfully and causing him to nearly fall to the ground.

He heard Deucalion roar furiously and take off in the general direction of their attacker, but Scott felt no inclination to follow him, and scrambled to find his footing as he stumbled into a darkened alley out of harm's way.

He blinked furiously, trying to regain his vision, and just as it was coming back into focus, he heard someone coming up behind him.

He wheeled around to face his attacker, claws and fangs already out as his eyes slowly cleared, but he paused as a familiar voiced reached him from the dark figure approaching.

"If you want to see your mom and your friends' parents alive again, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Jennifer.

She emerged from the shadows, a knowing smirk on her face as Scott's vision finally returned. "Taking up with Deucalion, huh? Must be really desperate if you've stooped to his level."

Scott scoffed, barely able to hold himself back from going full wolf at her presence. "Yea, well, you sort of forced me to when you took our parents as sacrifices."

Jennifer nodded, still smirking, as she slowly moved closer to him. "I guess that's true. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Just tell me where our parents are, and I'll call off Deucalion and the alpha pack," Scott gritted out, clenching his hands tightly into fists, blood dripping steadily from around his claws in vain effort to keep from shifting. "I swear."

Jennifer laughed, a cruel sound that echoed through the dark alley. "As if you had the power to do that. You couldn't stop them if you wanted to."

"Then what do you want?" Scott narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you even here?"

"Great question, Scott," Jennifer retorted, eyeing him carefully. "Maybe the only great question you have asked the entire time you were my student." She came closer, arms crossed, and stopped directly in front of him.

"I have a deal for you, actually."

Scott looked back at her in confusion. "A deal? What kind of deal? All I want is to get my mom, and the others back."

"And if you agree to this, then you will," Jennifer replied, almost soothingly, but there was a sinister tone to her voice that gave Scott an involuntarily chill.

He shuddered, before replying, "Ok, I'll do anything you want, just as long as you don't hurt them. That you let them go."

"Well Scott, I'm glad to hear you say that," Jennifer was staring him directly in the eyes now, "because you will really have to be willing to do anything in order to get them back."

Scott didn't know where she was going with this, and he had a feeling he wasn't going to like it...but it didn't matter. Nothing else mattered but saving them, and time was almost up.

"Just tell me what you want. I'll do it, if it saves them."

"Scott, Scott, Scott, always the hero, the caring friend, the fearless leader," Jennifer was mocking him now, walking around him in a deliberately slow circle, making him feel like a vulnerable piece of prey. "That's how I knew you would be perfect for this, why I set up this distraction for Deucalion just long enough so that we could have this little talk, and I could offer you another way to save your precious parents."

Scott was breathing heavily now as she walked behind him, trying his best to reign in control as the angry wolf itched under his skin, aching to get out and fight against the enemy, to save the ones he loved. "Just tell me."

She was suddenly face to face with him again, and he fought down the urge to move back at her sudden closeness. "I want you, Scott. You in place of all of your parents."

Scott frowned in surprise, trying to follow her crazed reasoning. "You want me? In place of all of them?"

"Yes," she sneered, looking at him just like a predator sizing up its prey, "you are the perfect substitute sacrifice for all three of them."

She paused, looking back at him for dramatic effect. "You are a True Alpha after all, Scott, whether you've realized that yet or not. And I know you've already figured out that I need a guardian for the last sacrifice, and who else is a better guardian of Beacon Hills than you? At the very least you're a guardian over your little pack or whatever you call them. So rare, so moral, so damn perfect," she spat out, "that you alone can complete the ritual and help me defeat Deucalion before anyone sees it coming. Since I'm on a bit of a deadline, it's definitely more beneficial for me to have just one sacrifice to complete instead of three."

She laughed, almost manic with this final revelation, "besides, with the power of a True Alpha added to the Nemeton, I will be unstoppable."

Scott swallowed thickly, realizing what she was offering him.

His life, for theirs. He would be the sacrifice instead.

"Ok," Scott replied, desperately trying to hide the shakiness of his voice, "if I do this, if I agree to be the sacrifice for them, then you'll let all of our parents go?"

"Exactly," Jennifer agreed with a sneer. "You, for them. Otherwise, you might as well consider them dead now, because you'll never find them in time."

Scott knew it was true. They were running out of time, and no one knew how to find the Nemeton except for Argent...and he wasn't currently available.

"So, once you have all this power," he questioned her slowly, trying to figure out her endgame, "what then? Will you leave Beacon Hills or will you stay here and destroy everything I care about when I'm no longer around to protect it?"

"Please Scott," she scoffed, rolling her eyes, "I have no interest in hanging around this boring old town after the Nemeton has served its purpose. As soon as I kill Deucalion and every last one of his mindless mutts, I'm out of here." She paused, raising her eyebrows in amusement at him. "I already know you're listening to my heartbeat Scott, so what does it tell you?"

He sighed in defeat. "That you're telling the truth."

"Good," Jennifer nodded, "so you can also tell I'm telling the truth about letting your mother and the others go in exchange for you. I won't hurt them if you agree to be the sacrifice."

Although her heartbeat was still steady, Scott didn't know if he could trust her to follow through after he agreed to her demands. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Maybe. But how do I really know you'll hold up your end of the bargain after I agree to this?"

"Give me your hand," Jennifer demanded, and Scott hesitantly did as she asked, although every wolf instinct inside him screamed against it.

He fought the overwhelming urge to pull back as she withdrew a long silver blade, almost medieval looking in appearance, with an unreadable ancient inscription etched along the side.

"We'll make a blood oath," she declared, holding the blade to his palm but not yet cutting. "If you agree to be the sacrifice, the blood oath will hold you to your word, and me to mine. Even if you don't show up when I tell you to, you'll die anyways, and then I'll just kill your parents instead like I planned." She paused, almost gently pressing the sharp edge against his skin. "And the same goes for me if I don't follow through on my end of the deal. As I'm sure your friend Dr. Deaton has told you, the mystical workings of a druid isn't something to take lightly."

Scott nodded, knowing at least that much was true. Jennifer went to move the knife, but Scott stopped her, grabbing her hand with the blade in a tight grip.

"Wait, will I get to see them? To make sure they're ok?" he asked, holding her gaze steadily, showing her that he wasn't afraid. "I won't do this until I know that they're all safe."

"Of course, Scott, that's my end of the bargain," Jennifer almost sounded kind around the evil lacing her words, "you'll get the chance to see them and anyone else you wish one more time, before you meet me at the Nemeton tomorrow night."

She looked back down at the blade pressed against his hand. "Although, I have to warn you about telling any of them about our deal. If anyone interrupts the sacrifice by trying to save you, then our deal is off, and I'll make sure to come back for the rest of them. Regardless of what you do in this situation, Scott, once we make this oath, you will die, no matter what. Might as well make sure it's for the right purpose."

She looked back up at him squarely, her voice quietly lethal as she spoke. "Do we have a deal?"

Scott sighed heavily, knowing there was no other choice. He would do anything to save his mom, and he would do anything to save the lives of his friends' parents, and he really didn't see another way out. He just hoped everyone would understand that there wasn't another way. There wasn't a plan B.

Not this time.

He would die so that they would all live, and he was surprisingly ok with that.

He nodded once, squaring his shoulders firmly as he looked back at her, trying to appear braver than he felt.

"Deal."

At his words, Jennifer grinned up at him sadistically, before cutting sharply deep down into his palm without warning. He bit back a groan in surprise as pain flooded his hand, but before his healing process could even kick in, Jennifer withdrew a glass bottle and poured some kind of powdery mixture into the wound.

He hissed in pain as the concoction burned and bubbled in his bleeding hand, before she quickly turned his palm sideways and drained some of his blood with the strange mixture back into the bottle. Moments later, she did the same thing to her own hand, slicing without hesitation into her pale skin and sprinkling more of the same substance, barely even making a sound. She drained some of her own blood into the bottle, mixing with his own. After a minute, she stepped back and closed the bottle, placing it carefully in her coat.

"It's done. Meet me right before midnight tomorrow at the Nemeton. And make sure you come alone."

"How will I find it?" Scott asked thickly, holding his hand as the wound slowly healed closed. For someone who had just willingly signed his own death warrant, he felt strangely light. Relieved even.

At least his mom would be safe. And Stiles and Allison wouldn't lose yet another parent, wouldn't become orphans at such a young age.

"Because you can see it now," Jennifer replied coolly. "So go. Free them. And make sure you aren't late tomorrow."

Scott nodded shortly at her, ignoring the heaviness settling over his shoulders at her words. "I'll be there."

"Good," she smirked, unable to contain her sadistic glee at the prospect of gaining all his power.

And with that, she disappeared back into the shadows, away from sight.

Scott froze in the alley, looking at his now healed hand and knowing without a doubt he had done what had to be done, swallowing down a wave of sadness that he now only had about 24 hours left to live.

It's for them though, he reminded himself. It's all worth it.

In the next moment, and he wasn't entirely sure how he knew, but he suddenly knew where to find the Nemeton.

He took off in a dead sprint in the direction of the woods, frantically digging for his phone to call Stiles as he weaved rapidly between the trees.

"Scott, man, are you ok? Are you still with Deucalion? What's going on?" Stiles' voice was both a mixture of panicked and relieved as he heard Scott's breathless voice over the phone.

"Stiles, I found it!" Scott replied as he ran, nearly toppling to the forest floor as he slipped on some damp leaves, "I know where they are!"

"Wait, our parents?! Scott, where are you?"

Scott paused as he suddenly came to a stop in the darkness of the woods, staring at the large stump that was now directly in front of him.

"I found the Nemeton."

TBC