Prompt #395 Broken Soul ~ Broken Soul ~ naughty_bangles ~ Teen Wolf

[naughty-bangles.livejournal.com]

Title: Broken Soul
Author: naughty_bangles
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Pairing: Still under consideration
Prompt #395 Broken Soul
Chapter: 1/?
Status: In progress
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Disclaimer: nothing's mine, just playing with Jeff Davis' toys
Summary:After hearing about the nogitsune, Cora comes back to Beacon Hills to help.
A/N: Spoilers up to 3x18 Riddled.  I'm not sure if the idea of cousin Celia comes from a fanfiction I've read or the multiple stories I've created in my head and never written down, so I'm not taking credit, just in case. I haven't had time to research kitsune's lore for this, so I'm essentially making up things. I had meant to go on with the magical au I tried last week, but then things happened and now I have one more idea to go back to during the hiatus.

Cora remembered the stories her mother used to tell her, back before the fire and South America, about the Japanese foxes, about their different kind and powers. She liked the fire one best, because it was all about fiery passion and pure power, unlike the celestial one that her cousin Celia favored, that looked weak by being so nice all the time. She used to tease her about it, saying her fox would crush Celia's in a minute. It had been a cruel and hard lesson when an actual fire had taken Celia away alongside most of her family.

Celia and Cora fought over which fox was the best, but they agreed on which was the worst. From all the stories Talia told them, the one with the nogitsune were the most frightening. The field fox was always misbehaving, cruelly tricking people into doing horrible things, and the other foxes had to stop it through impressive battles. Sometimes, the nogitsune would almost win, and Celia would hide under her covers, and Cora would tell her it's only a story, even if she didn't feel comfortable herself. But the good kistune would always win the fight, and they would go to sleep appeased.

One particularly boring winter, Derek had pulled a stupid nogitsune prank on her, and she had been so frightened she had hardly slept for two days after that, much to their mom's annoyance. So when her brother mentioned over the phone having a nogitsune in Beacon Hills, she nearly hung up on him.

"Very funny, Derek", she said dryly, her voice effectively conveying her epic eye-roll. "It's not gonna work this time, I'm not 8 anymore."

There was a silence on the other side of the line, followed by a puzzled : "What are you talking about ?"

"It's not another stupid joke, then ?", she asked suspiciously, not sure yet if she could trust him on that matter. Their relationship wasn't back to the way it was before the fire, and she doubted it would ever be, but some things felt like they never went away, and the possibility of her newly-zen big brother messing with her was one of them.

"No, it's not", was his slightly pissed reply, "and you wouldn't think so if you were there."

"It's that bad ?", she asked rhetorically, because his tone had already answered her.

"It's Beacon Hills", he simply said.

She didn't need anymore explanation.

"I'll catch a flight as soon as I can. I'll text you the details", she replied plainly, ignoring her brother's protests before ending the call with a brief goodbye.

"You can't fly up here everytime something bad happens in Beacon Hill", a scowling Derek greeted her when she got out of the plane. Cora rolled her eyes.

"I woudn't have bothered if I couldn't help", she replied while her brother took her bag from her hands and they started walking toward the parking lot.

"Help ?", Derek asked, raising a doubtful eyebrow. Cora resisted the urge to punch him for not giving her any credit.

"Yes, help. I've learned a few things with my pack, you know, and we've already had to deal with a kitsune on our territory."

The way Derek winced a little at the mention of the pack – of her pack – was just another reminder of the strangeness of their relationship. They should have been part of the same pack for whole their life, and now she had more memories of her adoptive pack in Bahia than of Beacon Hills.

"You could have told me that over the phone", Derek continued, not willing to drop the subject just yet. "You should focus more on school."

Cora shrugged. "I'm home schooled, Derek. I can study while I'm here."

The man growled but added nothing until they reach the jeep. He unlocked the car and dropped her back on the back seat. "You'd be safer in Brazil", he said without looking at her.

"You'll be safer with all the help you can get", she responded quietly. They shared a look of mutual understanding, two people wanting to protect the few family they had left.

"A nogitsune takes advantage of broken souls", Cora explained, sitting at the table in Derek's loft. The place hadn't change since she had left, except for smears of paint staining some parts of the walls. When she had asked about them, Derek had mumbled something about a stupied teenage party, and had left her wondering what had happened while she was away. "It needs a breach to enter, like water in a pierced boat."

"Like a door left ajar", Scott added thoughtfully. Even if he was an alpha now, he still looked as youthful and unprepared for life as when Cora first met him, though the current situation had put a serious frown on his face, and a heavy burden on his shoulders. "His mind tried to warn him about that. We need to close that door, then ?"

Cora winced. "Not with the nogitsune still inside", she answered, going along with the metaphor. "We need to make him leave before, and be prepared to close the door immediately after."

"And how do we do that ?", Allison asked from the couch. Cora had heard about the hunter family in Beacon Hills, and the way they had come to work alongside the pack over the previous year. A fire and years of pack stories made it hard for her to trust the young woman sitting with them, but if even Derek thought she could be a valuable asset, she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm not entirely sure", Cora admitted. "I have someone looking for more information in Bahia, but, from what I heard, there might be someone here who know about that."

"Deaton ?", Isaac asked. Changing apha hadn't changed him much. He still uttered the unpleasant truths for all to hear, and the weather had eventually gone along with his hipster scarf.

"Maybe, but I was thinking of the other kitsune."

"Kira ?", Scott frowned deeply. "She didn't want to trigger the nogitsune. She didn't know anything about all that before the substation."

Cora resisted to urge to roll her eyes before Scott's white knight protective behavior, and opted instead for a useful explanation. "In some aspects, kitsune are a lot similar to werewolves. Sometimes they become what they are through possession, but a lot of them are part of a family. Did she tell you how she got her fox ?"

"She's just said it started a couple of months ago, she doesn't know how or why", he replied with a wince.

"Then it could be the normal development of a inherited kitsune. We should speak to her."

"Let me do it first", Scott asked. Cora nodded. There was no need to fight over it yet.

Beside Derek, who had stand through her presentation and silently taken in all the information she could give them, only one of their little war council was yet to speak. Lydia was sitting on the couch, next to Allison, and had listened to everything with a concerned frown and fear shinning in her eyes. From what Cora had gathered, she had been Stiles' anchor during the ritual that had opened his soul, and the link, amplified by her supernatural abilities, pulled closer to the human's fall than the others. She would be an important part of all this in the end, and from the look in her eyes when she lifted them Cora's, they both knew it.