#alt!meta

It’s such a completely crushing thought but it’s also so good that I’m kind of obsessed with the idea now.

For those just coming in, this is in regards to an alt!meta theory about TW 3A, wondering what if Cora hadn’t been Derek’s sister, but a member of the Alpha pack? What if Derek’s memories had been twisted by Deucalion at some point, so they could use Cora to infiltrate his pack?

And this makes sense for a lot of reasons. First off, we’re never given a clear answer as to how Cora would have escaped the fire, while no one else in her family had, and how she would have ended up in South America, of all places. Why would a scared eleven year old possibly end up there? That’s the kind of thing that just almost sounds like a lie, like they’d just picked somewhere super far away so Derek wouldn’t question why they’d never run across or heard from each other until now. And this would also solve the discontinuity caused by Cora’s survival vs the number of bodies found after the fire. They knew how many people died, how many bodies were recovered. If there had been one fewer body than there was supposed to be, wouldn’t Derek and Laura have looked for the survivor?

But they didn’t, because there wasn’t one.

But I have another question for you all: did Cora Hale even exist? Because, despite the fact that Cora was supposedly the same age as the rest of the teens, I don’t recall any hint of recognition or familiarity from any of them throughout 3A. Cora would have been eleven years old, in approximately fifth grade, when she died. That’s five years (or six, counting kindergarten) that she would have been in the same school, the same grade, some of the same classes, as Stiles, Scott, Lydia, Boyd, and Isaac, and while that doesn’t guarantee that she would have been friends with any of them, I would expect some hint of recognition from some of them. But we got nothing.

So, was there ever a Cora Hale? And if there wasn’t, if she was just a random stranger recruited by the Alpha pack, it would still crush Derek to lose that idea of family when the truth came out, but it wouldn’t be as devastating as thinking he had a sibling back only to realize she’d been dead all along.

But I’m going to take this further. Because why would a random beta decide to do any of this? To risk her life to infiltrate the Hale pack for the Alphas; a group she’s not even technically a part of since she’s still a beta, herself? What would she be getting out of it?

Her life, maybe? If she was threatened into it? Or maybe she was bribed? But… there’d always be the risk that Derek (and Peter, etc) would sense her dishonesty, or that she would turn on the Alphas/ask the Hales for help… and, really, why trust her to play a role for you when you can just… make her believe it, herself?

So imagine the Alphas taking a random beta –– maybe a stray omega they happen across, or maybe they let one member of their former packs live –– and incept her into believing she’s the fictional Cora Hale? Make her everything they need her to be to be the perfect spy, completely unaware of the fact that she’s not who she thinks she is? And they’d set it up so every few days she’d go out on a run and find herself standing in front of the Alpha compound, where they’d pull whatever information she would have gained about Derek and Scott, and then go back to the loft again, none the wiser.

So then the season ends, the Alpha pack is defeated, and the false memories start to chip away for both Derek and Cora… but they still feel like they’re family. They still feel irrationally protective of each other, still remember flashes of growing up together and even though they know it’s not real… it’s still a part of them now. And it’s the closest thing to family either one of them has.

The Alpha pack using Erica as "Cora Hale" is ingenious because it uses the already established bonds as a foundation for the altered memories that trying to do with a stranger would be so much harder. Also as far as end game, imagine them realizing what happens and the panic and doubt setting in. Deucalion could have had that as a back up plan, not counting that it would happen after the Alphas have already been bested. Derek rushing to Erica's grave and finding it empty.

Unfortunately they believe Boyd has died and so Derek and Cor- Erica ... she's Erica, leave BH behind and try to find a way to heal themselves and live a life they could be proud of. *insert Hale's in Europe head canon here* Sorry again if I repeated things or was confusing. I just get so psyched about the awesome ideas I jump head first without much planning lol.

Erica as Cora would work on so many levels. Like you said, there are a lot of similarities in their personalities and relationships. And while BTS that’s probably because Cora was brought in, in many ways, as a replacement for Erica, in story it makes a compelling argument for Erica!Cora.

I love that you mentioned pack bonds. Because that is just such a good point. Derek would expect some kind of bond with Cora, after having grown up with her in the same pack. Even if they both technically belonged to other packs now, even if they haven’t seen each other in years, Derek and Peter would expect to feel some kind of a bond. And a random beta wouldn’t have that, but Erica absolutely would. So in addition to having an emotional connection to and a rapport with Derek that would be hard to fake, having that pack bond –– partly severed, probably, from choosing to run at the end of s2 –– would help cement the story and make it more believable.

So here’s where this gets really good –– because this could be absolutely be true, no editing canon at all. Imagine they don’t realize who Cora really was until after they left together. They went to South America and the pack didn’t exist, or her real identity –– and Derek’s true perception of her –– started filtering through slowly, in quick flickers and then longer stretches, now that the Alpha pack had stopped monitoring their memories.

But Erica’s whole identity had been shattered, rewritten. There’s no way she can just go home and slide back into her old life. Her family thinks she’s dead, and she doesn’t completely feel like her family is her family anyway. How can she go back to them, back to her old life, while she’s half herself and half “Cora”? Even if it was all a lie, even if she knows better now... it’s part of who she is. And with that in mind -- and with Boyd gone –– there’s really nothing for her to come back for, anyway.

So Derek takes her somewhere safe where she can recover. Where they can sort things out. Maybe puts her with another pack, maybe just in a safehouse like a cabin she’ll be able to recover and rediscover herself in without being bothered. Maybe on ancient Hale territory *waggles eyebrows significantly* where they can establish a new life without challenge.

And then he heads back to Beacon Hills to tie a few things up –– close accounts, sell his property, say his goodbyes to the others. (He can’t tell them the truth about Erica because they’ll want to see her, insist on her coming back, and she’s not ready for that. So he lies and maintains the Cora deception; says she’s back with her old pack where she’ll be safe.) He expects it to take a few days but then he’s kidnapped by the Calaveras, and then he can’t leave while Stiles is in trouble, and then he’s kidnapped by Kate and he can’t leave, after that, until she’s dealt with and––

All in all, it takes nearly four months for him to get back to her. Four months longer than expected, but he does it. He takes the first opportunity to break from Beacon Hills and return to Cora. To Erica. To his beta and his sister, and the small pack they’ve forged together.

Ohh this is a good thought.

Ok though, so if I remember the timeline of 3A correctly, Derek found Cora very early in the season and encountered Jennifer for the first time after that –– actually, yes, Derek saved Jennifer from half-feral Boyd and Cora, and I believe that's the first time they met. 

Either way, Jennifer wouldn't have exerted her influence on him until that point –– probably exactly that point, when she took his hand, planting seeds of attraction and trust that led him to seek her out later, after he was injured. (Side note: I wonder if she also used some magic/influence to push the rest of the characters to go on that lacrosse trip in Motel California rather than seeking out Derek –– forcing them out of town and isolating Derek so he would come to her and cement that bond. Ugh.)

So if that's the case, that would mean the Alpha pack altered Derek's memories before Jennifer got to him, which would work with the Cora theory for two reasons. First, the Alpha pack wouldn't have seen Jennifer in his memories or been clued into magical influence, because it hadn't happened yet at that point. And secondly, Derek's memories having already been messed with by the Alpha pack might have him more vulnerable to Jennifer's influence. She could have pegged him as an easier target because she sensed the threads of his memories and emotions were already being tugged loose and altered, so it would be easier for her to slip in.

And meanwhile, Jennifer making him more malleable and trusting, lowering his walls and inhibitions, would have in turn made him even less likely to question Cora's presence. So, unknowingly, the Darach and the Alpha pack could have been helping each other manipulate Derek and get deeper under his skin.

Which is just... awful. But adds up really well. As for the Alphas recognizing the Darach threat... we might need help from someone who's watched more recently to analyze that one. I don't remember whether they talked about her or recognized her as a threat, though they definitely didn't remember who she was until later in the season. (...Almost definitely. *ponders*)

Though, I have to admit I didn't really think through how the Alphas would go about altering someone's memories. I guess, the canon understanding of it is the whole putting one's claws in their neck, right? So that would likely mean that the influence definitely isn't over a longer period but very immediately.

However, if that is the way the Alphas go about altering everyone's memories, there's the problem with the humans (Stiles and Lydia), who wouldn't have instant healing to make any such wounds disappear at once. I doubt Derek would just not acknowledge these wounds, as he's well aware what they mean, so they couldn't really do that to Stiles and Lydia. Which, I think, would likely end with them figuring out what's happening. I certainly can't imagine Stiles letting go of the fact that he can't remember Cora, either. Or do you think Morrell would actually gain a more active role by altering these two's memories?

Hey anon, thanks for writing again :D

For your first point, I do think the Cora memories were probably just inserted once –– like you said, through the claws in neck method. But even if they pulled Derek back in later for edits and touch-ups, I don’t think anything done by the Darach or the pack would have negatively impacted each other’s influence. Just the opposite.

Because Jennifer wasn’t working on Derek’s memories at all. She didn’t create any past connection to him or make him think they’d known each other before, so I can’t see conflicting false memories having been a problem. (Though, on that note, was everyone else hardcore expecting Jennifer to somehow be Paige? Because I was.) All she did was lower Derek’s defenses and inhibitions, compelling him to trust her while he’s normally the furthest thing from open and trusting, and making him more open to her influence. Which is something that would have helped the Alpha pack immensely as far as messing with Derek’s memories. Making him more suggestible, more trusting, making it easier for someone to slip under his skin. So I don’t think Jennifer’s manipulations would have damaged the Alphas’ memory alterations at all; if anything, it might have made Derek more emotionally open and more willing to accept Cora without questions. After all, he’s already doing the same thing with Jennifer.

The Stiles and Lydia question is a really good one, though...

My first thought would be that maybe their memories weren’t messed with, and the pair of them just trusted Derek and Peter when they said who Cora was. After all, making Isaac forget an encounter with the Alpha pack is a far jump from adding an entire false person into someone’s memories, and I don’t know that anyone would make a quick jump from “huh, I didn’t know he had a younger sister” to “she and all of his memories of her must not be real!” (Outside of fandom, obviously :P) They could have assumed she’d been home schooled or was going to a private school, and after all both those things just feel more likely when you don’t think about them too much.

In support of this: if Stiles and Lydia had been given false memories of Cora, wouldn’t they have acted like they’d known her? And the fact that they didn’t, that they’d shown no recognition at all, is a huge factor in my argument against her being real.

On the other hand: Stiles and Lydia are the thinkers, the ones most likely to figure the deception out. Also, Stiles showed some detailed knowledge about the Hale fire, early on. If his memories weren’t messed with at all, he’d have probably known there was no “Cora Hale” in Derek’s family, or on the list of the dead.

So we can push this either one of two ways, I figure. Either the Alpha pack just didn’t bother altering their memories and Stiles and Lydia accept Derek’s version of things at first, faintly confused but explaining it away as other things (maybe she was home schooled, maybe I’m remembering the list of names wrong) becoming slowly more suspicious over the course of the season until it all blows up in an alternate 3A finale, or like you said, there’s some magical influence keeping them from recognizing the discrepancies where they normally would have.

Maybe part of the Alphas’ mental influence involves stopping them from noticing when they or others have suspicious marks on their neck. (Oh man, I’m picturing a scene suddenly where Lydia’s mom is trying to talk to her about covering up the marks from the Darach choking her and instead of her awesome “I survived, why hide that” moment, Lydia just doesn’t realize she has any bruises because she’s been compelled not to notice any marks on her neck. And it comes off at first as an empowered thing still, because Lydia just lifts a brow at her mom and said “what do you mean? there’s nothing to cover up.” But then in hindsight, when the viewers realize what was really going on, they realize it was a hint and... ok, sorry, that just would have been really perfect.)

Or, like you said, Morrell could have influenced them somehow. And considering this is a season where we’re exploring the power of druids and emissaries (in the form of the Darach) showing other emissaries having real magic as well would have been fitting twist.

[From x]

I like this a lot. I got another suggestion along similar lines that I’ll reply to in a minute, and I think that probably makes the most sense –– using Erica’s death and/or the fallout from fake!Cora to cause chaos. Cripple Derek’s confidence with the death of a beta –– a death he didn’t even feel, by the way.. which seems strange because we know there are pack bonds, but so much less so if we accept that Erica didn’t actually die. And then distract him with the sudden appearance of a sibling. Make him weaker, make him more vulnerable, and, in a way, do the same thing Jennifer did –– work under his defenses and gain his confidence.

(I have to wonder if this was something Kali and Jennifer did before, or talked about doing –– using a glamor or mental manipulation to get close to other packs they might see as threats, and that’s why their plans were so similar.)

And, while Erica might have been part of Derek’s pack, a quick scan of her and Boyd’s memories would have shown that they’d never really gained his trust. He didn’t really confide in them at any point in season two. He gave orders and that was that. So if the purpose was to get in close and gain information, Deucalion might have decided he wouldn’t get it from Erica and they’d have to invent someone closer.

that Derek believes she died, I just never thought it was plausible that "oh this teenager who looks and smells similar to my long dead sister" is the first place his brain would jump to.

This is another really good point. Because... on one hand, you can look at one happened and think “yeah, if I look at pictures of my siblings when they’re eleven I’d totally recognize them. They don’t look that different. Why wouldn’t Derek recognize Cora?” But, at the same time, there’s a big difference between recognizing an old picture of someone you know now and seeing someone now you’d thought died years ago. Even if she did look very much the same (and wasn’t she even in beta shift at the time?), Derek’s mind wouldn’t have just gone to her. Not when it should have, in his mind, been impossible. Not when it could have been anyone.

Scent and pack bonds are other things that could have helped clue him in, but as you point out her scent would be very different due to age (hormones at puberty would definitely affect her scent somewhat) and where she’s spent the last half-decade. And she’s a member of another pack now, even if she was family, so the balance/connection there would be off as well.

sterekshipped -- Quick question before ramble, are y'all suggesting Eric's psyche (I'm using this as a general term to describe her incorporeal being) as being placed in Cora's body? And if so does this somehow erase or push Cora out?

The second question is based off an idea of a possible power of the Demon Wolf. So as well as the alpha power but he could suck the psyche, or maybe even souls, out of his victims. So he used this to transfer Erica to Cora. I got this because Deucalion said he felt guilty with his first beta, but it got easier going further. I actually pulled this from a fanfic, I don't remember the name but I van find it later, but the voices of his victim begin to drown themselves out and so he ends up being able to further ignore them and continue his power trip

Ooh that’s an interesting concept. I’d love to talk about that more in a separate post, but for your question –– this is actually based on an alternate 3A meta (as in, it isn’t actually what happened so it’s not real meta but it would have been awesome if it did) about Cora not actually existing, but having been a plant by the Alpha pack. Here are some of the posts on that:

First –– Cora as Alpha-plant?

Expanding –– Who is “Cora”/Did Cora ever exist?

Altering Everyone’s Memories

Cora is Actually Erica

And then The Post You Replied To

So in this version of the theory, Cora would actually be Erica, physically Erica but with her memories altered. She would never look like Adelaide Kane, but the pack’s memories and perceptions would be altered so they didn’t see her as Cora, and hiring Adelaide would just be a visual trick to put the audience in the same situation the pack’s in –– not recognizing her and seeing her as someone who looks Hale-ish until the moment comes to reveal the trick.

OMG that would be good. Like... really hard to pull off, logistically, but as far as appearances go, if the whole pack had been mentally messed with to see Erica and think they were seeing a Hale sibling, Adelaide could have just been used as a visual trick to let the audience see what the characters thought they were seeing. And then, once the truth came out, the visual would flicker and shift back to Erica and...

That would just be amazing.

The thing then, though, would be the question of why would they introduce Cora at all? If they could have just used Erica –– who was already part of the Hale pack –– as a plant? So why pretend she had died and rewrite everyone’s memories that way... they’d need to have a different agenda. Something they would need a Hale, or the idea of a Hale, to achieve.

And would they be trying to recruit Derek to achieve that same end? What would that be??