July 23, 2016-White Whale
Title: White Whale
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 511
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf or any related characters. I also do not own Moby Dick, Starbuck’s Coffee, or Battlestar Galactica.
Summary: Laura’s death is the final straw that triggers Derek’s shift from guilt to vengeance.
Warnings: Some description of a murdered body. Angsty introspection? Spoils for Season 1 backstory.
Notes: Derek’s middle initial is S. I ran with it. Also, I apologize for how little actual color references have been in my stuff lately. :(
Derek didn’t think much about his middle name at all until he started school, and then he hated it. If it wasn’t about coffee, it was sci-fi references and dick jokes. He started refusing to tell people that the “S” stood for Derek Starbuck Hale.
“Why, mom?” he’d finally asked his mother once when they actually had some time alone.
“Starbuck was the first mate on the Pequod,” his mother explained.
“I know,” Derek had countered. “So?”
“He was also the only person on the crew who tried to stand up to Captain Ahab and reason with him about his crazy quest to kill Moby Dick. He was ultimately ignored, but he was basically the moral compass of the crew.
Your older sister is the next in line to be Alpha, Derek, and she will need someone to be her reason. The Alpha power can be overwhelming, and she’ll want to make impulsive decisions and give in to instinct. I want you to be her right hand, Derek. Can you do that?”
He had promised to try.
Throughout most of their childhood, he was dragged along in Laura’s wake. His vibrant sister was always full of plans and ideas. Much like the ill-fated first mate, any objections from Derek tended to be soundly ignored, but he still made them. Most of the time.
Then had come teenagerdom and the influx of hormones that had overruled all reason. Derek became the one full of foolish ideas. He failed epically at being the “moral compass” on more than one occasion, culminating in his inability to see the danger in Kate Argent.
The guilt of his complicity in the fire weighed on Derek, and he clung to the only family he had left. It hurt to leave Peter behind, but they made certain he was receiving the best care.
Derek felt a new resolve to do his best to fulfill his mother’s request. He was always the cautious one, the voice of reason, whenever Laura felt the Alpha power pushing her to thoughts of violent revenge.
Then one day, it hadn’t worked. Laura left to return to Beacon Hills without speaking to him. He came home to a single sheet of white paper with a hastily scrawled note. “Gone back home for a few days. I’ll call if I need you.”
He should have followed right away, but he was afraid to go back to a town full of ghosts and pain. When Laura had been gone a week with no contact, he forced himself to follow.
The pale moonlight bled all the color out of the woods, and death had bled all the color from Laura. Her white skin had glowed in the night like a beacon. He had only found half of her, her vacant eyes staring at him accusingly. Even after he buried her, he still saw the cold, white corpse whenever he closed his eyes.
He felt her loss like that of a limb. He was alone.
He had failed to be Starbuck, but now he was Ahab.
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 511
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf or any related characters. I also do not own Moby Dick, Starbuck’s Coffee, or Battlestar Galactica.
Summary: Laura’s death is the final straw that triggers Derek’s shift from guilt to vengeance.
Warnings: Some description of a murdered body. Angsty introspection? Spoils for Season 1 backstory.
Notes: Derek’s middle initial is S. I ran with it. Also, I apologize for how little actual color references have been in my stuff lately. :(
Derek didn’t think much about his middle name at all until he started school, and then he hated it. If it wasn’t about coffee, it was sci-fi references and dick jokes. He started refusing to tell people that the “S” stood for Derek Starbuck Hale.
“Why, mom?” he’d finally asked his mother once when they actually had some time alone.
“Starbuck was the first mate on the Pequod,” his mother explained.
“I know,” Derek had countered. “So?”
“He was also the only person on the crew who tried to stand up to Captain Ahab and reason with him about his crazy quest to kill Moby Dick. He was ultimately ignored, but he was basically the moral compass of the crew.
Your older sister is the next in line to be Alpha, Derek, and she will need someone to be her reason. The Alpha power can be overwhelming, and she’ll want to make impulsive decisions and give in to instinct. I want you to be her right hand, Derek. Can you do that?”
He had promised to try.
Throughout most of their childhood, he was dragged along in Laura’s wake. His vibrant sister was always full of plans and ideas. Much like the ill-fated first mate, any objections from Derek tended to be soundly ignored, but he still made them. Most of the time.
Then had come teenagerdom and the influx of hormones that had overruled all reason. Derek became the one full of foolish ideas. He failed epically at being the “moral compass” on more than one occasion, culminating in his inability to see the danger in Kate Argent.
The guilt of his complicity in the fire weighed on Derek, and he clung to the only family he had left. It hurt to leave Peter behind, but they made certain he was receiving the best care.
Derek felt a new resolve to do his best to fulfill his mother’s request. He was always the cautious one, the voice of reason, whenever Laura felt the Alpha power pushing her to thoughts of violent revenge.
Then one day, it hadn’t worked. Laura left to return to Beacon Hills without speaking to him. He came home to a single sheet of white paper with a hastily scrawled note. “Gone back home for a few days. I’ll call if I need you.”
He should have followed right away, but he was afraid to go back to a town full of ghosts and pain. When Laura had been gone a week with no contact, he forced himself to follow.
The pale moonlight bled all the color out of the woods, and death had bled all the color from Laura. Her white skin had glowed in the night like a beacon. He had only found half of her, her vacant eyes staring at him accusingly. Even after he buried her, he still saw the cold, white corpse whenever he closed his eyes.
He felt her loss like that of a limb. He was alone.
He had failed to be Starbuck, but now he was Ahab.