Chapter Text
Approximately three hours earlier- before a certain Strider awoke form his groggy slumber at the Lalonde manor and got ready for the day ahead; hours before a terrible accident would even be spoken of- Another boy was already wide awake, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, quite literally. Another big day was ahead of him and the world looked very different in his bright blue eyes.
The boy's name was John Egbert and he never really had a single care in his small world up till now. He never needed to worry, he was happy within the vicinity of the wide and vast territory of Prospit, on Mt. Bec. He had everything in good order, and he felt in place- his life was normal and he was deemed 'normal'.
Although he wished his life would flow a little faster. The vast, outside world was calling his name loud and clear- and someday he'd have to spread his metaphorical wings and figure out were his life was headed to. But disappointedly, today wasn't that day. He wouldn't be able to leave the territory and would just have to keep his dying patience.
But right now, he was lounging around with the unlimited free time on his hands. He was slumped down in the really prickly pasture grass, enjoying the quiet time spent waiting for something to happen. He was there with his sister Jane, under a giant, lone oak sheltering them overhead, which occasionally- to John's annoyance- would shed a dying leaf that he would have to swat away, or else it'd land on his head, the whole forest that surrounded the small clearing shed the dead leaves off like they were a disease waiting to be rid of. walking through the undergrowth of the forest had proved to be a hassle when they arrived here, being balls deep in leaves and thorns had always been a pain that came with living in the 'grand outdoors' but it was never nothing that he wasn't already used to.
Now, why were John and a sleeping Jane lounging upon the itchy dead grass in their fuzzy sweaters? Because, both were somewhere within the east boundary of their pack's territory, waiting until their cousin, Jake English, came back from hopefully another successful hunting trip, and boy was he taking his sweet time.
Earlier this morning Jake had insisted that he was going to help catch some extra food for the kitchens- After the last of the food had spoiled when Jake forgot that meat could rot when left untended to- much to everyone's dismay. And everyone was especially sour since it left a rather nasty smell behind. With Jake trying to leave so early in the morning and Jane right up his back about the food incident that he had besieged upon the poor kitchen and its workers, John was rudely woken up by Jane and Jake's bickering about Jake being careless with a week's amount of food being spoiled by his very irresponsible habits. John also happened to overhear some things about there being a meeting of some sort later on in the day and could feel the tension in the room only grow when he walked in on the suspicious two- but having a sleep-logged mind never helped with interpreting things, so early in the morning and he pushed his dulling curiosities away to make to two be quit since, again, it was like six in the goddamn morning. After breaking up the argument about something or another, John decided to tag along Jake's little hunting adventure, seeing as there was nothing else to do, and Jane had her own reasons. Besides he wanted to feel the cool wind on his face again, it really soothed his grumpiness in the cold mornings- Jane had dark circles under her eyes and a contagious yawn, which sadly infected Jake and John- She probably needed some sleep, which in all honesty she deserved, Jane worked in the kitchens 24-7 cooking her life away each night, plus she stayed up late for the night patrol shifts, so that they could get a meal in their tummies. This was a rough, but much needed break.
But anyway Jake ended up leaving them at the lone oak in the clearing so that they wouldn't get in the way of the 'hunt', or some malarkey like that. Jane didn't seem to mind since she fell asleep as soon as they sat down, but John was bore-d, and a bit annoyed being the dead weight that Jake had to carry around, as Jake himself once put it. But meanwhile, in his serene boredom, John just spent his time watching the clouds float around overhead or picked up one of the dead leaves and tried to fold them into tiny people- he had five weird humanoid-ish looking shapes, even one which was folded into a crappy dinosaur attempt. John had so much time, but so little creativity. John occasionally honed in to the calm birdsong that filled the air, drowsily watching as the sun peeked over the trees. John glanced over at Jane seeing her curled against the smooth trunk of the tree; she looked so at ease, and it made him smile toothily, he thought to maybe marker her face with a silly mustache- but silly John as much as an wonderful prank that would be- he knew Jane needed her sleep, pure, and prankless.
John often thought that reason she overworked herself was because she was trying to prove herself to the pack and show that she wanted to make everyone happy. Unlike her, John still had yet to help the pack in some sort of way...
As mentioned earlier, the reason John came out here was to feel the brisk morning breeze and have a nice stroll, and maybe, just maybe get to par-take in Jakes hunt, but like Jake would ever even amuse John with that idea, nevertheless let him touch a gun- or steal his prey, so John sat here uselessly bored. Jane had said she came out to get some fresh air and insisted that she'd wait here with John and help 'Keep watch'- or practically babysit him, much to John's distain. But he didn't really mind after Jake left.
Besides both John and Jake knew that she was exhausted out of her mind, and probably spent the night before washing the feeding cabin's dishes, like she always did- if one of them didn't shove her out of the kitchen first.
John sniffed the cool air as the chilling breeze wrapped around the tree and past himself, bringing new smells and sounds from upwind. He could smell the dying grasses, the thick smell of pine from the forest, the stink of mud, faintly Jake- which was hard to differ- and sweet fresh scent of blood- not Jake's thankfully, whatever it was, it seemed appetizing enough. John was also reminded of his sister Jane's soft, beta scent- which reminded him of, vanilla icing and, clouds? As weird as that seemed, the smell was vividly descripted in his mind, but the scent was, just so, Jane. John sighed; before two months ago John would of raised an eyebrow in wonder at someone who said they could smell something from about a mile away but now he totally understood, when John was younger he didn't quite understand when his father told him about the pre-presenting- basically the puberty of their 'kind', mixed in with animalistic instinct and behaviors- but about two months ago he was hit hard with all of his awakened buzzing senses. At first John didn't feel right, he was extra sensitive to everything and he didn't get quite used to it until a week had passed, after that everything fit into place and he felt much more natural and a bit more aggressive than he liked, but he grew up with others who had to go through the same thing, so it was pretty a natural experience. Also it wasn't even over- he would really change on his upcoming birthday.
Oh right, he had forgotten to mention! He and his whole pack were, and always would be, WEREWOLVES- yes that's right, bask in that for a moment. His people were known as ancient mythical creatures to humans- but in all truth, many of the facts humans had about werewolves were pretty outdated- and totally tampered with, half of the bullshit said around the world was ironically true or a lie. Being a Werewolf wasn't a curse to him since he was naturally born like this, John was a 'Pure Blood'- someone who wasn't bitten but rather inherited the blood of his kin- John, in a sense, was a complete werewolf, since he inherited both of his parents pure blood the natural way- Birth, but that didn't mean he didn't have his human appearance.
But being born a werewolf and being 'turned' into one didn't mix with the traditional ranking system all werewolves had. Rank depended on the pheromones and hormones a werewolf could secrete and seemed like the only way to determine who would submit to, or dominate one other, and the whole system was more of a instinctual and universal wolf law than anything else and it stuck like glue to all of them. That's why having another pack even remotely close to his could ask for all kinds of problems, and that's also the reason why many werewolves live in secluded camps like these- John even sometimes thought he couldn't tell the difference from instinct and his true thoughts, shit could get fuzzy and temperamental. His pack had always been the biggest and strongest, since the first day he realized it was the only pack, but everyone liked it that way. No other packs, no problems.
At least, before the Dersites stuck their nose's in his Pack's well-earned territory.
John's pack, otherwise known as the Prospit pack, had been living up here in the glade between the forest and Mt. Bec for more than enough years, and his very granddad- Grandpa Harley- was the lucky and strong Alpha who led it. John had lived in the small, camp for as long as he could remember, putting up with his oddball family and his packmate's constant shenanigans, and praise- or scoldings. It was all an excluded and simple life. But honestly, it was just the way he liked it. Everything always puzzled itself out and he had plenty of awesome, nerdy friends. He waited until he too, could present and join the ranks, like the most of them.
Although his life seemed awesome in the small camp he called home- it wasn't like he could leave the territory- at least not until he'd gotten a rank. Plus more downsides of being un-presented was that: 1.) he wasn't allowed to hunt or participate in any rather important or exciting pack activities until he'd Present, and 2.) Everyone treated him like a little kid and made him do the crappy jobs, like cleaning the bathrooms- which in all its shitty glory, sucked.
It would happen in two long months from now. But he couldn't wait- he'd been waiting for this for his whole life, the moment when he'd find his place in the pack and maybe he'd get high up on the ranks like his sister and cousin Jade!
He wondered if he'd present as a Beta, like his father- and most of his family. His peers and family members often agreed when he asked, and supposedly thought so too, so probably.
Besides being un-presented kind of sucked since his sister and cousins- who already presented- got to go on patrols, hunts with the more experienced adults- and the best part of the whole fucking funfest package: Go outside the territory.
As an un-presented pubescent teen with no rank and no control of anything or anyone, he wasn't allowed to ever leave the territory until he'd earn his place in the pack. But rules were meant to be broken of course- and this rule in particular had been broken many times, and he as well had be caught many times before he could get a good twenty feet away from the border, running like a refugee crossing a countries border with no regrets, sanity, and the fastest legs god could paste on a four-teen year old boy. John grinned to himself, he took a great pride in his quickness, he might've been a bit small for his age, but he could really run when he wanted to- (he was still growing damnit. Gotta give a boy his time.)
But now if he tried to leave the guards would definitely catch him before he would even get close to the border. They had been especially tight around the boundary of territory lately since a mysterious organization who called themselves the, Dersites as mentioned eariler, had showed up. No one knew what they were looking for but from the beginning everyone had a feeling that it was them- hunters weren't common in this age, especially one with such a big group to use at their disposal. This so called 'Derse organization' was creeping closer to the Prospitian territory by each day. So of course John couldn't leave and his previous attempts had been foiled. John was used to being known as the notorious boy skylark who always found a way to slip past the guards shitty defenses, and slip in a few harmless pranks here and there along the way, But he knew everyone was antsy since the ominous people in black suits came investigating the mountain and everything on it.
No one knew where the Dersites came from, and why they came here of all places. They could of just quietly ignored Prospit and it's territory and let Prospit do the same. But no, they were trying to find John and his pack- Completely endangering all the people who had been living up the mountain in hiding, and lately they've been trying to cut off any roads on the mountain leading to Prospit's territory basically trying to cut off all ties with the outside world which the pack occasionally needed. But John's pack had one grand rule that stood above the rest- Never be captured by or 'feral' to a human, and never interact with any unless ordered to- especially with the suspicious ones.
Personally John thought he could sneak closer to their base and see exactly what they were doing and up to, maybe bust in there and give the humans exactly what they were asking for- but he knew his raving teenage instincts were talking on that idea, and it sounded really stupid and fantasied. Besides the only ones allowed to fight back are the Alphas and betas who were either in the Prospit guard and on orders to pursue them and/or leave the territory; Not OMEGAS, and DEFINITLY NOT goofy un-presented teenagers, who are yet to find their purpose within their pack.
But it wasn't like he wasn't curious. He wanted to get to the bottom of this, he absolutely had to. It eat him alive if he left the monster unfed.
John was distracted from his thoughts when he heard faint footsteps from within the underbrush, the sound of the footfall quickening as they got closer to the clearing. The wind picked up along with the noisy someone and a faint shuffling sound came from the bushes across from John and Jane. John unintentionally perked his ears as Jane stirred a bit in her sleep. Usually he wasn't this jumpy and it was probably Jake, right? He could feel the strange urge to growl build up in his chest and he slowly stiffened lowering his head and shifting his onto the balls of his feet in a beginning of a small crouch, his growl was about to show itself and burst louder and clearer to the approaching figure in the shadowy edge of the forest before it showed itself rather sluggishly.
Jake, of course, came out grinning widely like a fool and John immediately relaxed, slumping back down in a slightly embarrassed and confused state- how could he have gone all rigid against Jake- God what an idiot move John, he totally lost himself there, maybe he should of just stayed home and slept a little longer so he could prevent anymore embarrassing instinctual acts of shame. John knew it was the hormones talking but sheesh- he knew Jake would probably tease him about it later- Wait did Jake even see him like that?
John glanced at Jake standing above the boy in all of his gallivant glory- taking notice to the young buck slung over his cousin's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, covering his rifle that was hooked on his sagging leather belt. His twin pistols were in the shop being repaired if John remembered, Jake would loathe hunting without them but it seemed like today he could manage. John also happened to notice the thick bandaging across Jake's left leg and the slight limp he oh so gracefully tried to hide; John kept smiling and didn't question it, no matter how much he wanted to. Either way it looked like the hunt was successful, figures.
"Hey chap, gaze at the ace I whirled in!" Jake beamed, showing off the toothy smile that seemed to run in the family; Jake trudged forward hopping up the deer corpse closer to his neck with little effort. John rolled his eyes with a grin, ever since Jake joined the hunting reigme he's been swelling with a newfound superiority and ego- One he often tried to test upon John a little too much.
"What was that a rumbling I heard-?" Jake smiled looking around before turning down to face John.
"Bollocks John was that you? No need to get antsy and growl at me, I'm not that annoying." Jake said grinning.
"Uh, no- it wasn't me must've been Jane mumbling in her sleep- it surprised me too..." John said looking away at a tree that looked much more interesting than this conversation. Trying to cover himself with a shitty excuse might've not been the best option but the sooner the situation ended the better. Jake responded by rolling his eyes and, "No need to be embarrassed about it, we all do it by fluke sometimes- especially with everyone being so on edge lately... You weren't trying to challenge me to fisticuffs were you?" Jake smiled walking past John, "If you wanted to show your dominance against me you'd have to lick you wounds afterwards, like heck I'd lose." Jake said making John snort.
"Don't get too full of yourself! You literally just rejoined the hunts with the hunting regime last week." John playfully retorts back blowing a raspberry at Jake's smug face. God he realized he was such a kid sometimes, but it was nice to be free and not so uptight. Jane was now waking up, hazily blinking behind them. "Wah?" Jane muttered, as she sleepily rubbed at her eyes. Jake returned to blowing a raspberry at John as he walked towards Jane, yapping something along the lines of, John, I know your jealous, but please, have some decency and don't be such spoilsport about it"; And also, "Look at it Jane, I got a buck!" John scoffed and was just about to remark back before the buck was suddenly tossed on top of him, crushing his body down with a sickening, fat weight.
He could already hear Jake laughing his ass off, from afar, listening from his not-so-comfy spot on the ground with his new dead companion laying just on top of him. John wined soundlessly, replying to his cousin's laugh with a familiar sarcasm-tinted tone, "Oh I'll remember this when I help clean your guns next time, we'll see who'll be laughing then." John would prank Jake senseless later, he'd make sure.
Revenge smelled like fire-crackers shoved up Jake's prized pistols and missing gunpowder replaced with pink confetti. But Jake was too far away to listen, oblivious to the dark pranking gambit meter pointing right at him.
Jane was now awake, if not a little grumpy. She looked over to John, then Jake, and lastly the lumpy deer that rested upon John's backside, and John frowned a bit as Jane fell into small giggling fits, clearly trying not laugh. Oh well, just another silly beta prank later right? John rolled his eyes and smiled, "I hope its still fresh, you know how Jake forgets." John said slyly smiling at Jake who just winced, probably remembering his accident from yesterday that Jane snapped at him about.
"Hmm... It'll make a dandy good meal, and maybe I could whip up some cake for a dessert afterwards too!" Jane cheerily replied, and she could practically hear the roll of John's eyes again. She just giggles when John frowns, quietly loathing the idea of the sickly sweet confection.
Of course Jane wants to bake one, there's never a time when there isn't a cake in their cabin, and he's totally not surprised that her and dad got along, so very well; Maybe too well.
Jane catches on to John's grimace quickly and bares her rather dull teeth in a playful smirk, "John I know your very picky about confectionaries dear, but it never hurts to at least try to be a teeny-bit satisfied with my baking." Jane coos, although her twitching eye betrays her smile towards John. Jane walks over brushing the dirt off of her black skirt while doing so, John watches as Jane walks over and lifts the hefty buck off of the boy with a tug with both arms, showing the strength she had inherited from their father that had awoken from her presentation, or maybe she was always just this strong? John awkwardly laughs, saying, "Y-yeah, sorry, and thanks."
Jane gives him a genuine smile as she walks ahead of Jake leading them out of the clearing. John knows that he should never get on Jane's bad side. The last time that had happened was when Jake had called her on her last birthday, nagging her about his 'problems' and low-self esteem, forgetting to even come to the party in the first place. Jane had a absolute outburst, she tried to gouge out his eyes with a spoon, and had quite the menacing look upon her face saying, fuck with me and die.
That day John had to hide Jake in his closet like a fugitive escaping a war, or otherwise, from Jane's ultimate wrath. John jumps up and flicks yet another dead leaf out of his messy hair and closes out the memory, "It's not your baking that I don't like Jane, it's the mix's; Not my fault if all the cake mix you guys have suck, besides Betty Crocker is disgusting." John blows a silly raspberry at Jane and she just giggles even more, "Fine John, I'll look for another cake mix brand when I go shopping in the town again- but, for now, you'll have to deal with what we have, since we can't go into town again without granddad's permission." She sighed and handed the deer back to Jake who gladly took it back.
John's chest constricted a little at her words, damnnit he was never this sensitive why did it bother him now? "We...Right," John breathed trying to get over his sudden depression. He understood his privileges, but it still didn't stop everything from sucking.
Jane was a beta and apart of the maintenance crew- often, when little prey was caught and the winters were especially harsh, they'd go into the town four hours away from here to buy products such as, blankets, food, and usually extra clothing for the ever-growing pack. Sometimes they even would bring back requested items such as movies, candies, and books- bought with the money they got from occasionally selling deer meat and skins to the locals. John was often the first to make a request when Jane and her staff went out into the town. Someday he'd be joining them! With Granddad's permission of course.
Although Jane was three years older than John and had already presented long ago- to be the polite and spoon-loving beta she was; Jane not only got to leave the territory and forest but also got to interact with humans. Although she was doing it to just get more supplies, it's dangerous for a werewolf to interact with humans- it wasn't impossible, just a small taboo- besides it'd never hurt to maybe befriend a couple, John betted that he could handle living in human society, maybe they all could if everyone looked past their differences and urges.
John snapped out of his deep thoughts again when he caught Jane giving him an sympathetic smile, quickly catching on to John's mood Jake quickly sputtered, "Don't worry chap, your time will present itself soon! Just you wait, as soon as you present we'll give you the grand tour of the outside and have restless gallivanting adventures!" John smiled widely the cheery enthusiasm already taking effect Haha, right! must've been the odd feeling that just overcame him in the small moment, wouldn't get to him as easily as that next time, hopefully. Once his time came he'd be able to see new things and meet new people- mainly the humans- he wondered how different they were from his pack...
Its not like John hadn't seen them before- he's watched countless movies (pretty much every movie) with them acting all the time. As far as John could tell both species were pretty much the same, they just didn't have the ears, tail, and mainly couldn't even morph into a werewolves' feral side. Although John had thought it was very odd and just plain weird to not have his wolfish ears and tail- and lets not forget the extra bothersome senses- He was kind of jealous in truth. No worrying about trivial things like dominance, or smelling strange things that he wished he didn't smell, or sometimes feeling a little heated when an Alpha's warm scent drifted into his nostrils and made him want to- No! No! He was not going there of all places!
But anyway, John wanted to explore outside the territory, meet new people that weren't like him, and see everything the world could offer. He wanted to eat new things, learn new things, and see new things. Jake had told him that it was a fool's dream to want to know them, and to trust them or any outsider was outright forbidden by the word of the leader Grandpa Harley and everyone else.
John knew that the world hunted people like them just because they looked or acted different, heck the Derse Organization was a prime example of that, for whatever reason they wanted to capture and hunt John and his family. John also knew that his and Jake's grandmother had been shot by some hunters when they saw her in her feral form, and that Jake couldn't forgive them for what they did. Although his sister did, and his grandfather most certainly did, as the leading Alpha of the pack you could never hold grudges, for the sake of the pack and their own sanity. Vengeance was a powerful thing, it could consume anyone with hate if it was strong enough- If you couldn't fight it back.
John glanced over to Jake, who was now walking ahead of him and Jane with the buck's legs being dragged while the rest of its body laid on top of his shoulder. John wondered how Jake felt now about humans in general; That incident had happened years ago, yet it was still fresh in John's mind of what he saw that day- A young Jake, barely the age of seven, hovering over his grandmother's corpse which was riddled with gunshots. His face burned in anguish, fear, sorrow, and hatred crossed all over his face in one look. John could remember his teary eyes filled to the brim with pain and confusion, the only comfort at the time was his sister's warm hand tightly clutching his as she stood crying and frozen with... fear? Contempt? He couldn't remember- His father's hand was on John's shoulder clenching hard, as if he had forgotten that John too could feel his swelling anger burning down on his numbed limb, he remembered being breathless when he and Jane had followed their father rushing to the bloody scene. John hadn't forgotten seeing the corpses of many mutilated hunters strung about- they had somehow found their way up the mountain and too close to the territory- their bodies were crisscrossed with huge claw marks woven across their torn, rancid flesh- death by Grandpa Harley who was enraged seconds ago. The man quickly held both Jake and his granddaughter Jade, in his big bloodied arms, soothing their cries of pain and loss. Jade was the same as John's age back then- she was terrified and confused like him, and she was also going through shock. She lost apart of herself that day and still would have terrifying nightmares about it for probably, the rest of her life.
John, Jane, and Jake walked for about fifteen minutes through twisting roots and dead leaves, holding their easing silence until they reached the familiar trail they had gone off of earlier. John's ears slowly perked up, followed after Jakes' and Janes' as they all listened to familiar sounding voices coming from the path ahead, "It's the morning patrol coming back from their post." Said Jane cheerfully. Ah, one of the Morning patrol teams, just so happened to be guarding the east side of the territory today, John's smile quickly returns when he thinks of his other quirky cousin who usually leads it, "I'm going to check out if they saw anything!" He glances back to see Jake and Jane glancing at one another with something across their faces that John couldn't read for a moment, but his concern is brushed off when Jake's mellow voice snaps him out of his haze, "Okay we'll catch up later then chum, I'm going to kick the bucket and get some well earned rest after I drop this lug off, waking up so early maybe wasn't the best idea." Jane swatted at the thorn bush that tugged on her skirt flattening it down again, "Mhm, I'm going to help Jake with the food before it goes bad, besides I have to start cooking breakfast with the others soon- oh darn, I'm probably already late- See you later alligator." Jane says quickly while dragging Jake with her towards another path just before they turn their backs on John who confusedly replies, "Uh, okay? In awhile crocodile..." John murmurs and walks ahead of them almost clumsily tripping over a branch before heading up the trail a little further. He could hear Jane slightly call out saying, "Be careful- Don't hurt yourself!" John laughs it off, as his face turns a bit pink in embarrassment, "I won't!" He yelled back, sounding a bit irritated but hopefully it masked the embarrassment wavering his voice. Jake and Jane presumably take a short cut to the kitchen cabin and disappear behind some trees talking about something in hushed tones.
John quirks an eyebrow in question, well that was, weird. Usually Jake had all the energy in the world, him and John would usually hit the cove of the lake and jump into the cooling water howling to the top of their lungs like the nerdy Tarzans they were. Also it wasn't even that late, it was at most- probably 3:30 in the afternoon, must've been one of those days that Jake felt drained- and Jane on the other hand, was never late on her shift, John wondered why she even tagged along in the first place, he wasn't buying the whole 'I wanted to take a nice stroll' excuse- maybe it was to talk with Jake? But about what? John shrugged the rest of his suspicious thoughts off. Even though Jake could practically jump off the walls, he had to get tired too, and maybe Jane really did need a breather with you guys- at least that was one reason he guessed- or maybe Jake was making an excuse to see Aranea? John wasn't blind, he could see that Jake was in deep for that girl, and she was probably aware, maybe she was more amused than flattered, she often knew too much about people.
Finally John came stumbling out of the underbrush to see five familiar figures up ahead, all looking back at him- well not all of them, "I-Is that John?" Said a soft timid voice. "Yep, sure looks like Egbert." Said another. "Hey John!" Oh wait he knew that voice- "Hey Jade!" He quickly replied back as he scampered closer to the girl with forest green eyes and long mass of black flowing hair trailing behind her- Jade was like a sister to John like how Jake was like a brother to him, but unlike Jake, she presented as an Alpha just a month ago and she was one of the youngest kids in the village besides John, but of course she was treated much more differently, being an Alpha and all. Presenting as an Alpha wasn't a common occurrence in John's pack, they were uncommon, and either envied, loved, or, hated by all upon first glance in some sort of weird way. But even so everyone held an candle of respect for them when it came to dominance, it'd be unnatural not to be effected by an Alpha's presence as a wolf.
Now closer to the small group John had a better look at his friends- there was Jade, Terezi, Rufioh, and Latula, the group was smaller than usual, they probably must've split up again, but he had questions waiting for answers and he had his eyes set on his cousin, "So. Did you see anything- unusual today?" John said grinning and Jade rolled her eyes, "No silly! we just saw the usual scenery, it seems like Derse has taken a break- Usually we spot them by the far east side of mountain just looking around with their weird equipment, but, the area's empty." Jade nonchalantly shrugged. "Sorry to interrupt doll, but we can't take forever, look at poor Latula she's starving over here." Rufioh said smoothly and it did seem that Latula's stomach was grumbling in small protests, "Pfft, you can't wait till we get back to camp sis?" Terezi cackled showing off her sharp teeth as she poked at her sister's stomach, "Ugh, rezi stop it, so not cool."
Terezi turned to John's direction and he wasn't surprised, even after going blind her senses were surprisingly sharper than ever, she had presented as a Beta but she had the gall of an Alpha and her fighting skills were something else. "Blueberry here smells like tasty red blood," John visibly squirms as Terezi pushes closer and sniffs him grinning with her sharp teeth. John knows what she's playing at, she always tries to intimidate him and messing around with his head has been a hobby of hers lately. "Jake just threw a deer at me earlier, it's probably that." John muttered as he took a step back and Terezi giggled, "Geez Egbert your senses must be pretty bad if Jake got a hit on you! You really are going to present as an blank-" A loud growl breaks through the rest of Terezi's insult before she can finish, "That's enough, John isn't a going to present as a blank slate Terezi just because he's un-presented doesn't mean you can aggravate him like that!" Jade says and growls shorter this time looking at Terezi in a soft scolding glare, Terezi sighs and makes a pouty face before she grins again, "Okay, okay I was just trying to get a reaction out of him, you should really stop babying him or else he'll hide behind your back all the time." She laughs sharply seemingly unaffected by Jade's show of dominance. Jade just sighs, "Okay lets head back to camp for breakfast- I'm starving."
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When John gets back to the camp he admits that his confidence was a bit bruised- he does not hide behind Jade when he's made fun of! Hes a fucking man who can fend for himself- and why does Terezi constantly pick fights with him? He knows that she just wants to show off her rank and dominance over John, but geez- she was in his position once, so why does she have to be so shitty about it? Besides John couldn't present as a blank it was nearly impossible; Blanks were usually the child of a werewolf who didn't inherit any of their parent's 'powers'- So basically a more than sensitive human who could smell and hear things a little better, but that's it- There was nothing wrong with being a blank don't get him wrong- But when your whole family and pack is made up of werewolves, it would probably suck to be different than everyone else you've ever known.
Terezi was just trying to get on his bad side and scare him a little bit before his presenting two months in. Sometimes John wished she wasn't on such good terms with Vriska, one of John's good friends and the leader of the second patrol team, but the two were practically raised in the same home like inseparable sisters, as much as he wanted Vriska all to himself he knew it was a childish and selfish idea, besides the girl was too headstrong. John and the others immediately headed towards the kitchen cabin and he glanced at some of the other smaller cabins cluttered about- Everything in the camp was made out of wood and John thought it could probably serve as a resort, if it wasn't the home of barely under one-hundred werewolves living here. Once hes in the large cabin that serves as sort of a mess hall the smell of breakfast hits him and the others, he almost chokes on the delicious smells that fill their nostrils, "If I don't eat soon I'll die!" Latula says as she pushes ahead of the others towards a line of people waiting for food while Terezi follows right after, giggling at her, "Such a drama queen, but I'm pretty hungry myself." John says as he sniffs, and is that pancakes? After he gets a stack of pancakes and catches a glimpse of Jane in the back talking to one of her co-workers hes practically dragged by Jade to a circular, wooden table beside the others from before and John uses all of his effort to not spill the warm pancakes off of his paper plate.
"So where's the other patrol group?- they're usually here before us." Jade asks as she stabs her fork into her warm pancakes, John pours hot syrup onto his clumsily spilling a bit over the edge of the plate in a sticky mess. "Vriska is probably taking her sweet time out there with her group, its their fault for being late to breakfast." Terezi said pouring heaps of strawberry syrup onto her drowned pancakes- John wondered when she was going to stop, all he could see was strawberry now. "They're doing it for a good cause, I think Vriska's pretty brave!" Jade said and John smirked, "I know you respect Vriska Jade, but, is that a blush?" The messy haired ravenette laughed and Jade swung around trying to whip his face with a mass full of black hair, John reeled back just enough to where only the tips had brushed past his nose. John instantly smells a faint, fresh grass and fruity kiwi scent from Jade- Of course he can smell her scent already, everyone's scent is slowly becoming clearer and smelling the funny things around camp just might be normal. "I mean it John, Aradia and Vriska is working hard trying to solve the problem with Derse!" John slowly recalls what Aradia and Vriska's group was doing along the west boundary for the past week- Oh right, Aradia said she wanted to investigate some of the sites that Derse had searched, plus they were the only Alphas who were given permission to investigate further into the Derse Organization's intentions along with a small collected team. To John it sounded like a top secret mission that was pretty important- well of course it wasn't top secret since he knew about it, but if someone was close to scaring of Derse, it was Aradia and her investigation group. At least that's what everyone wanted to believe.
Just as John brings his fork to his mouth to taste some steamy pancake goodness a loud bang erupts from the cabin's front doors and a man who he doesn't seem to recognize for a moment says, "Vriska's group was attacked!" Jade instantly gets up yelling, "What!?" and Rufioh, Terezi, and many others rush outside to try to catch a glance of her team. John abruptly joins them soon after, wondering if anyone was hurt or what possibly could've tried to attack them- the humans? "Jane Vriska's team was-" John sees Jane and two others shuffling around the kitchen, "I got it John! I'm already on it!"
When John steps outside everyone was already gathering around what he assumed was Vriska's team. His eyes first fell upon Vriska's third in command Tavros who was heavily leaning on another- No scratch that, the other was practically carrying Tav- and his legs looked limp while his forehead had a bloody gash that oozed a thick red liquid. He wasn't the only one who looked disheveled the whole group did, and it seemed like it was cut half in size. "Where's Vriska and Aradia?" Terezi asked sniffing, and Now that John looked around both girls were definitely missing from the shambled group, "What happened?" John asked as he stepped closer and in the corner of his eye he could see someone shuffling past everyone else. Two familiar heads peeked out and John shivered at the look on his Grandfather's face, and John almost choked when his strong scent filled the air and it usually smelled like Burning wood and the sea, but now it was quickly souring into a thick smog. His dad and Grandpa reached the group with Jane and the maintenance crew following right behind with medical supplies. "What exactly happened here, and where's the team leader?" The beaten team looked speechless and battered, the silence was broken when Tavros peeked open his eyes as Jane inspected and dabbed at his wound, "S-she took her, they aren't..." He gasped tears edging at his wide eyes, Jade quickly grabbed his hand and softly cooed, "Who took who, and who's they- You can tell us, your safe now." She said looking softly into his eyes as he uncontrollably shook with raw fear, "She s-said her said that if we all didn't change soon we'd end up dead... it was, V-vriska-" He swallowed and everyone was shocked. Vriska fucking betrayed them?! Why? how could she, John's heart sank, why Vriska, why? "At first, we were investigating some of the tracks left behind by the D-Dersites, and we slowly, uh, followed them back to what looked like a camp... Aradia said that we should go back and inform Chief about the information- and then, w-we heard some one growl and before we k-knew it we were surrounded by the Dersites in black, I was so confused when I felt t-their presence..."
Jade nodded rubbing her hand on his back in soothing circles her scent was probably effecting him also, "Go on, its okay." John didn't know if Tavros was okay, but he knew Jade wasn't, the pained look in her eye and the growing growl in her throat was hard to keep a lid on. Poor Jade, John thought, Vriska was both of the two's really good friends, John grew up with her just like he grew up with everyone else here, he knew she wanted more in life, it was apart of her dream of exploring the world and finding all it's treasures. She had shared those dreams with John just like he shared his with her- but why did she do this.
John stood their with a hand covering his mouth and a grim look over his face, when he looked over to Terezi he saw her in her calm state, maybe she knew what Vriska planned on doing this. Maybe she knew about her planned betrayal, the two were always unbelievably close. And if she did without telling anyone John was absolutely going to kick her teeth in. John perked up at the sound of an angered growl, "She fucking betrayed us for a bunch of human hunters? Her own pack! Her lifeblood?!" Jade yelled outraged and Tavros flinched, when she noticed she quieted down a notch. "I'm sorry its just, confusing!? What happened with the humans, how did they do this?" She gestured to the beaten team she softly growled lowering her head. John wasn't just hallucinating, it was really smaller from when they left earlier today, some people were missing.
Tavros almost choked on his own words when he spoke again, "The hunters took them. Vriska did this to me... and f-forcibly took Aradia with her, the hunters weren't human... They... Damnit, I don't even know what they were!" Travos yelled as he curled into himself, up against Jade and cried himself out in front of everyone, feeling humiliated, betrayed, and exhausted. John shifted uncomfortably, this had to be a lie, it wasn't right. and as he sat there in his own space among the crowd, he realized something...
For the first time in John Egbert's life, he absolutely hated Vriska Serket.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tavros went quiet after pretty much passing out from extreme exhaustion and Grandpa Harley put a hand on Jade's shoulder beckoning her to give him some space, "Medical crew please see to him and everyone else, they've had a long day, we will discuss this in a meeting at dawn." Once Grandpa's loud voice rang out, everyone seemed to calm down quite a bit and John too strangely felt more at ease, but the nagging feeling of Vriska's betrayal made his head burn with rage and his fists feel like they were on fire. He'd never forgive her.
Many of the injured and curious had left the clearing and it looked like it was going to storm soon with the dark looming overcast slowly trekking across the sky. John turned around bumping into his dad- who was talking with another man about what to do next- he presumed. Although John was curious- he could always ask about it later, "Dad," he started, after the man who he was currently talking to, took his leave, "Yes son, are you alright? There's no need to worry- Is something wrong?" His dad said giving him all of his undivided attention. John couldn't help but shyly smile, his dad was always there when he needed him the most, but right the situation at hand, "What'll happen to Aradia? What will the huma-" Wait that wasn't entirely right now was it? He wanted to believe what Tavros said and what happened- "-um, those things(?) exactly do to her?" John said with concern crossing his features- Of course he was worried, Aradia was one of his friends, and Vriska, well he practically grew up with all the children here-
"She'll be fine John, we'll figure something out son. You don't have to worry this doesn't have anything-" John grimaced, "What are you talking about?! She's one of my friends dad, Just because I don't have a rank doesn't mean... it doesn't mean, I can't help!" John yelled, he was done with this bullshit already, he loved his father but right now he was done with everything. He was about to apologize when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at his father, who was looking at him with utmost concern, "Don't worry son, I have to help with the meeting about these escalating affairs at dawn, and after that we can watch one of your favorite movies with Jane, okay?" His father said softly and John, being the good boy he was, John accepted the terms, arguing with his dad about this wouldn't help.
"Fine." The boy said biting the inside of his mouth, "Good, I'm so proud of you son." His father smiled as he ruffled Johns black hair further into a mess. He was lucky John wasn't as stubborn as his cousins or Jane, otherwise he wouldn't had accepted things so easily- he still didn't feel great about just sitting around while his friends were being watched by Derse, who knows what they'll do, they didn't kill the whole team so they didn't want to exterminate them- so what exactly did they have In plan? And he was still furious with just about everything the world threw at him, he wanted fucking answers for once and not to be babied around like some ignorant kid. He heard an incoming yell from an familiar figure running up towards him before he was heavily tackled to the ground, "Ow, what the hell Jade?" he said as he looked up at her and it looked like she was still furious- but also she looked like she was... sniffling? must've been a trick to his eyes. "Shut up, it looked like you needed a hug!" She said as she squeezed his side, "Is Tavros okay?" John asked with uncertainty as they both got up and Jade slightly frowned, "I would like to say yeah- but, he's really not. Vriska had pushed him off of a small cliff while the chaos was unraveling- his spine was damaged and he's paralyzed from the hip down, John I don't know if I can..." She said her face growing more pained as she looked away from your curious eyes, "Shhh... Jade, no need to cry it's okay! I'm sure Tavros will get used to, that... soon, and we'll be there to support him right? Besides Vriska has always been, different, I can't say she won't be punished. If we have to we'll convince her to come back- maybe she'll be accepted back into the pack, she's still our friend after all!"
Jade sniffled and then smiled, elbowing John in the stomach making him wince and cough a pained laugh, "I'm not crying John! Besides I really doubt Vriska will be taken back into the pack after what she's done... Also John don't talk to me as if your apart of this! You know the rules, I'd never let my younger cousin run into this mess when he hasn't even morphed into a wolf yet!" Jade said as if she was scolding a kid and John rolled his eyes, "I'm only younger by a couple of months! And I'm glad I'm probably presenting as a Beta, Alphas are overrated!"
Jade laughs and raises an eyebrow, "You're overrated! Besides who says you'll present a Beta?" She playfully growls and shoves him as they start walking down a familiar path, "I... I don't know what I'll be and now that I look at it, it's pretty scary to know that just in two months, I'll have to go through what everyone else goes through, heats, clouds of obnoxious scents and Pheromones, maybe even a shitty temper, its going to suck like hell." Jade doesn't say anything, there's already so much on her mind, John immediately feels guilty about everything he's said, she's been dealing with it longer than him and the whole Vriska accident mentioned earlier probably isn't helping. Fuck, he's done it now. John quietly sighs, why couldn't he had just been born a human?
John and Jade had decided to walk back to John's cabin in a morbid silence, they both felt sour at the moment and it had been a fucking long day for the both of them, seeing as they've both lost two friends who could as well be dead, while their pack was currently debating whether they were going to do anything about it. As soon as they entered the plain residence John called home, it quickly started to downpour outside and lighting struck while thunder loudly cackled. Strangely Jane wasn't home, but John took no mind to it, she was probably at the meeting hopefully urging on the idea of fighting back- at least that's what he would've done.
The thunder loudly boomed outside as Jade and John were immersed in an intense game of Janga with the constant lighting outside providing as their only light. The power was out before they had even arrived, which was a normal occurrence in the camp and John didn't bother to whip out the candles since playing Janga in the dark seemed much more difficult and amusing, of course Jade huffed at the idea and shuffled in one of the cabinets to find a lighter and candle. Out of the many things John could've been thinking about he thought about his suspicions about Jake and Jane's behavior from earlier, something was definitely off about them. "Say, has Jake been, uh, acting weird lately?" John asked, carefully sliding the small wooden brick out with a clumsy precision and once it was out letting out a breath of relief that he didn't know he was holding. Jade giggled as she watched him sigh. She lighted a candle beside her, "I guess, I mean he's been going out a lot more lately, to who knows were." Jade shrugged as she prodded at an easy loose block, sliding it out, "Lately so has Jane its like they're hiding something from us." John moves a loose block too much before it crumbles down and John groans slumping into the couch behind, "Maybe your being too paranoid lately?" Jade says with a smirk as she flicks a block, making it skitter across the table, "But Jaaaaade, I swear Jake even refused to hang out with me at the cove earlier saying that he was tired or something like that! And you know Jake- He's restless and annoying like you." John whines and Jade proceeds to try to hit John by throwing incoming Janga blocks, "I'm not annoying! And I'm pretty sure your just making up excuses to kill your boredom John!" Jade retorts, biting back a soft growl, "No I swear-" The door clicks and they both instantly turn towards the sudden sound, John can hear familiar voices right outside the door down the hall and its- Jake? Jane?- He's suddenly struck with an idea.
John quickly grabs Jade's arm, blows out the candle, and rushes towards the closet door before they're seen, "John, what the hell-" Jade hisses as he pushes her first into the closet then squeezes in beside her, shuffling around some dusty boxes in the process but otherwise fitting snug beside her, "Shh Jade! Just trust me here, I want to try something." When Jade looks like she's about to protest he covers her mouth with his hand and gestures to be quiet with one finger up to his grinning mouth, Jade just rolls her eyes and glares at him and it looks like she'll cope for now. Jade bites down on John's hand and he barely holds back a curse, when he turns to glare she just looks away at a hanging coat and ignores the mildly pained boy. John can now hear their sibling's footsteps echo louder and they must be in the living room because he can see their shadows flicker once someone relights a candle again. Of course he feels silly, its almost like he's some spy collecting info hiding the musty closet squeezed up against some old boxes and a scraggly mop just threatening to fall and make a horrible clattering noise. Damn this mop and the small amount of space both he and Jade has, they're movements might be restricted but at least they can peek from the small crack of the open closet door and that's really all they need. Both bright green and shiny blue eyes peek curiously through and both can barely make out the words of the two Betas conversing in the living room.
"...Jake what are we going to do? they actually caught one of us this time! The problem is only getting riskier if we just wait around and let them do this-" Jane barely shouts and you can see her shadow practically walk in pondering circles, "I know, but it not our fault! I didn't think that they'd go this far, weren't the humans just enough? Oh Bollocks, we should of told Granddad from the very beginning-" John briefly meets Jade's confused gaze and they both feel the same thing, John wonders what they are talking about and who is 'they'?.
"No! No, we won't tell anyone but the others who already know! Remember that's what we all agreed on, even Aradia vowed. We can handle this ourselves, Derse has finally crossed the line- and Vriska... It was never her business to begin with." Jane said bitterly, and so many questions exploded in John's brain it was hard not to get up and just yell at them to spill. They knew something about Derse that they had to hide from the whole pack, and there were others who also knew, including Vriska- the backstabbing traitor- and Aradia. John was about to get up and fuck up the whole hiding plan and start demanding answers, before Jade had put a firm hand on his shoulder to stop him. When he looked at her she just swung her head side to side urging him back the hell down. This secret was going to be the end of him and he already knew it.
"Okay I'll pesterchum the others to meet us tomorrow to figure out a plan to save Aradia and some of the others who are stuck at their headquarters, I can't stand knowing that innocent people are being treated like this, you know how they get their subjects Jake so please-" Jake cut her off, "I might dislike humans but I won't just sit around on my bum to allow this when it involves some of our people, I don't know what we're exactly going to do, but I'll go and give Derse a piece of my damn mind alongside my best friend!"
The agreement had long ended about an hour ago along with the pack meeting, and both Jade and John had snuck out of the cabin from the back door quietly while Jane was baking and Jake slouched on the couch to watch a movie. John sat on the damp porch, feeling cool wind ruffling his and Jade's hair as they swung their feet from the railing's edge, everything was wet from the storm that ended earlier and John felt confused and he felt like he really didn't know anything about what was going on in his own pack. Jade had checked her phone and Terezi had told her that the meeting had wrapped up with the final conclusion of doing nothing and basically doing shit about Aradia's capture and Vriska's betrayal accept for a few minor details. Everything felt bitter and John's mood was edging in the shitty zone. His mood didn't brighten when Jade started up a conversation just when his mind felt numbly clouded, "John, I think we shouldn't interfere too much, lets wait until we-" John huffed, he couldn't believe his own cousin was telling him to just let it fucking go, "Jade what are you talking about of course we're going to interfere, I might be oblivious but I want don't want this to go on!" Jade just stared at John with something clouding her own thoughts, "Yeah I know... And John your not that oblivious! But how do we even go about this? I mean Derse has been a growing problem ever since..." John thought he saw Jade wince in the corner of his eye but he decided to ignore it, he remembered his father telling him of the times before he was born when hunters appeared more often and the small Organization had warred with several packs and brought many down, now they were aiming for John's pack. His pack. Like hell he was going to let this happen.
"John?" Jade said giving him a small nudge, he could see worry in her eyes but also the hard look of determination, she had an Alphas pride and she wasn't going to back down now as far he could see. John gave her a wide smile, more for his sake than hers, "How about we look at their so called base, if we're going to do this I want to see what Derse is actually up to- we could follow Jake and Jane."
"Sounds risky John."
"It so is. You ready for it?"
"We're so going to regret this." Jade said rolling her eyes.
John's heart constricted, were they really going to do this? And even if they did sneak around the forest and find Derse HQ what then? What was Derse doing to possibly want to get their grubby hands on John's friends, family, and everything he knew?
"We are so not going to regret this!" It was true.