Chapter 11: Heart Monitor & A Future Regressed
[General POV]:
After traversing multiple levels of the parking garage with gracefulness in mind like a fool, Scott decided to use his car key button.
CHIRP!
CHIRP!
Scott had to lift his head to locate the car and, when finally did, he almost wanted to groan in frustration.
It was on the level above the one he was on, which meant—
'More walking!' Scott thought internally. 'Go figures.'
As he was about to proceed to the elevator of the parking garage, the milk rolled out of the shopping bag.
Scott rushed to get it, but it rolled under the car.
'Great,' Scott sighed after locating the milk. 'More walking.'
Yet, as he was moving to the other side to get the milk, he suddenly noticed it was rolling back over his way.
And then he noticed the growling, then the smoke in the window and he was running.
Heartbeat racing, he made it a whole story and a half down before hearing a dark roar.
He wasn't sure what he saw, but he knew it wasn't human. A beast of some kind? An animal?
Whatever it was, he was terrified of it and his heartbeat—racing away—reflected that knowledge.
He knew his heartbeat was giving away his location, but he was too terrified to calm down fast enough.
Manic, he looked around to search for a solution, before an idea came to him.
'I can't calm down fast enough...' Scott thought to himself. 'But maybe I don't need to.'
After hopping on the top of cars, triggering their alarms in a confusing sequence for sensitive ears, Scott ran to take cover on the next floor down, behind yet another car.
As he tried to calm himself, thinking his idea clever, his phone began ringing.
RING! RING! RING!
"No. No. No. Stop. Stop. Stop!" McCall tried hurriedly, pulling out his phone in an attempt to silence it.
Unfortunately, he was too slow.
A shadowy figure pulled him from his hiding place and shoved him hard into the roof of a car.
He looked up to see—
'Derek?' was all he thought.
"You're dead!"
[Sean Hale POV]:
Sean watched his elder cousin on his werewolf lessons with the McCall kid. He was sticking to the shadows, masking his scent and heartbeat, sure his older brother didn't know he was there at all.
'He's a bit sassy, and his teaching methods are crude,' Sean observed. 'Older brother is much different with McCall than I am with Isaac and Liam...
'But, then again, as of yesterday, I've seemed to have returned back in time by 2½ years... My experience teaching fledgling wolves supersedes my brother at this point in the timeline.'
Sean frowned.
'Still, I managed to tell Madison why I've returned—' She was, after all, who sent me back, Sean thought, the memory painful. 'The war was won... But at the cost of the world. The populace that survived—especially the Supernaturals who were already a minority—was too low to safely repopulate.
'Society crumbled on the initial waves. On the second wave, the military forces failed. On the third wave, supernaturals fought the good fight on behal of humanity. They didn't make it long. By the 4th, nukes were used and entire cities were leveled in an attempt to drive back the enemy… It worked. Briefly. Until the next wave came. And the next. And the next.'
Sean's frown sharpened.
'By the 8th wave, with Madison's help, the war was won…. Unfortunately, her battle with the demon god destroyed a majority of all the remaining cities before she could attain victory... By the time everyone realised what had happened, it was already too late....'
Sean swallowed thickly.
'She blamed herself. The guilt ate at her until she found a solution — Send someone back in time,' Sean sighed. 'But so many of us died. Theo's dragons. Thao. Garrett and Violet. Liam, Isaac, Derek. All of the McCall Pack. All of Satomi's... Mother…,' A single tear fell from Sean's cheek at the memory of losing his mother almost like a second time, before he regained control. 'Madison wanted to go back, but she had to stay to protect everyone who still lived. And the traveling physically was too draining... so I proposed she send me. My mind was still young and flexible — And supernatural.
'She only had enough power for one at the time — And I was more than willing to volunteer. I was so happy when she agreed. I could finally help undo the wrongness that occurred during the 8 waves of the demon invasion.
'Nearly all of everyone we love died that week alone. I can't let that happen again. I won't. Everyone will get stronger. Everyone must.'
'But especially you... Madison. You are our only hope…'.
Sean's gaze began to stare off into the distance, distracted by what his thoughts had led him to briefly before gathering himself.
Turning back to Scott and Derek, he purposely 'accidentally' leaked out his heartbeat and scent for a few seconds while Derek was mid conversation with Scott, causing the older wolf to briefly pause, clearly having picked it up in that short 'slip' before continuing his rant like he hadn't.
"—want to live?" he asked. "Do you want to protect your friends? Yes or no?"
"Yes," Sean heard Scott say.
He had to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes at the obvious lie he knew that statement was.
'He'll get caught up in a makeout session with Allison Argent in the next 45 minutes max,' Sean thought, clearly amused.
When Scott gathered what was salvageably left of his groceries and left, Derek stayed behind, watching the beta drive off away and out of earshot. Then he spoke.
"You want to come out now," Derek asked the shadows. "Little brother?" Derek asked, looking directly in the shadowy area Sean was camouflaged in. "I know you're there."
Sean waited a moment longer. Then 3.
Then 7. Before coming out of his corner of shadows and into the light.
"Hello, brother," Sean smirked. "Teaching the next gen of wolf cubs, I see."
"I am trying," Derek admitted, sighing heavily.
"You're not very good at it," Sean notified. "But perhaps I'm just comparing you to Mother."
"No one is as good at this as Mother," Derek tried.
"True," Sean looked thoughtful.
'In the Original timeline, Derek sacrifices himself to buy me and Cora enough time to escape from a Demon lord....' Sean thought, deeply observing his elder brother closely. 'In the end, it took Theo's dragon and Corey's lightning to fully take out that bastard.
'And, when Madison felt Derek's death, she was furious.In her grief-stricken fury, her psychic scream was enough to instantly atomize billions of demons that invaded during the 5th wave,' Sean frowned.
'By the end of the war, not many supernaturals survived,' Sean thought. 'Certainly not any strong enough to protect themselves from the human hunters that outnumbered and hunted them down.'
"Sean. Sean. Sean." Derek's voice broke Sean from his thoughts.
"Wha—what?" he asked,startled.
"Are you okay?" Derek asked, concerned. "You've been distracted."
"I am... fine… I'm fine," Sean re-gathered himself, even as Derek narrowed his eyes, clearly not convinced. " I will be. Just tired, ok?
"Anyways, how quick do you think it will take for him to break? An hour? Two?"
Derek smirked, clearly amused. "He's a teenager, Sean."
"So less?" Sean grinned.
"Defintiely less," Derek rolled his eyes, riffling Sean's hair. "Less than an hour, I would bet.
The two shared a laugh before they began their jog back home.
A few miles away, in a recently purchased warehouse, a girl sat silently, her eyes closed. Her face was strained in concentration. The Moon and star tattoo glowed crimson upon her head, and her usual dark brown-black hair had shifted to an auburn red-brown.
'According to Sean,' Madison thought to herself privately. 'The future isn't a cake walk. Everyone dies there… But I won't let that happen. Not a second time. I'll change it. I'll become even stronger than my future self, so that, when the demon god descend, it will be even easier for me to beat him. I won't let our clash take out anyone outside of him. I swear it.'
Madison opened her eyes, her irises glowing a brilliant orange-red as she utilized one of her abilities she had yet to utilize in this life yet. Superior Insight.
Instantly, knowledge of what she wanted sparked in her mind — Materials. Blueprints. Building methods. Processes. How-to's. Steps.
It all became clearer.
She needed more of herself, and Superior Insight gave her a Process and a How-to in steps to achieve such a goal. She needed to create safe zones strong enough to withstand nukes and high-powered clashes — It gave her blueprints and building methods on how to create city barriers. She needed a way to battle demons without primarily using human lives as cattle — It gave her defense automations capable of near cosmic-level firepower.
Madison could only grin.
"This. Changes. Everything."