remember me when i'm gone

"Lydia ?" says a voice. "Lydia, don't you dare die on me. You hear me ? Don't you dare." I know that voice. I know it very well. Yet, I can't put a name on it. But memories come flowing through.

"I love you, Lydia. But..."

"It's okay, Stiles. Don't worry."

"I don't wanna hurt you. I feel like I'm hurting you. I don't like that."

"Stiles, Stiles, it's okay. I'll get over it."

"She's strawberry blonde, okay ?"

"I'll save you... I always will."

Suddenly, everything changes. I'm not in my mind anymore. I'm outside, but it doesn't feel like outside. There are giant walls surrounding me. They go up, so high that I can't see the end of them. Yet, there's still the sun, shining over my head.

I look around.

I am amazed by what I see. Huts. A farm. It's like people lived here.

Then, I see him. He is sitting on a rock, looking at the wall. No. It's not a wall. It's open. The giant cement block is open.

I slowly walk to him. He's blond. Small. Looks thirteen.

When he hears me approaching, he turns his head.

"Hi, Lydia."

"How do you know who I am ?"

It takes him a second to think. "I don't know. I just do."

"Who are you ?" This time, he just stares right through me. So I change my question. "Where are we ?"

"This, Lydia, is my home."

"It's... lovely."

The boy scoffs. "No need to lie. It's not much, it's not safe, but it's the closest to home I've ever known." I wonder what the other places he lived in looked like.

"Why are you alone ?"

"Lydia, don't you dare die on me !" the voice says again. Only, this time, the words echo in my head. I'm in another world, yet, I can still hear him talk. Stiles.

My best friend in the whole world.

"He needs you, Lydia." How can he hear him ? "He can't lose someone else." What does he mean ? "He can't. Go back to the land of the living, Lydia."

"How ?"

"I don't know. You just have to."

"Are you dead ?"

He looks sadly at me. "I used to be alive. But then it got to me."

"What got to you ?"

He sighs and closes his eyes. Suddenly, he changes completely. He doesn't look normal anymore. His veins pop out and are black, he looks sick or... or like a monster. "That," he says after going back to normal.

"What was that ?" I ask, half disgusted, half amazed by how he was able to change that easily. I shouldn't be. After all, I spend most of my time with werewolves and shapeshifters who can change as easily as him. Still, he doesn't, he's clearly not a shapeshifter. Maybe a monster, but I don't wanna believe that. Who is he ? What is he ?

"Lydia... Lydia, please... Please, Lydia. Come back ! I can't... I can't... please..."

"Go back, Lydia. You have to. For him. For Stiles."

"How do you know his name ?" I ask. "How do you know all of that ?"

I look at him but all I remember is who he was a few seconds ago. His black soulless eyes and his blood had turned black and... it was falling out of his mouth and his veins popped up and his hair was suddenly all sweaty and almost brown. And then he was himself again. Expressive and sad brown eyes, a cute, warming smile... What got to him ?

"If you die, I will literally go out of my freaking mind."

"You're losing time !" he says. "You need to go back !"

"How ?" I answer breathlessly. "How am I supposed to go back ? Where even am I ?"

"I'm not sure." He takes a deep breath. If I had to guess, I'd say in between the after-life and the life. That's why you have to go back. Because you still can."

A lone tear falls out of his eyes.

"Please, Lydia," he says as a whisper, so low I have a hard time understanding what he's saying. "Go back. You have to."

"How ? How can I go back ?"

"You have to wish it."

"Are you saying I don't want to go back ? Gosh, of course I want to go back !"

"Why ?" he asks me.

"For Stiles ! You said it yourself, I can't leave him !"

"Then think about him. Of your memories together. Of the why you wanna go back there." He takes a deep breath. "I couldn't. Maybe you can."

I stare at him for a few seconds before closing my eyes. And I try to find my best memories with him. With Stiles.

He's there, but he's not okay. He's breathing heavily, rapidly, he's not good. I can see that. He's panicking, more than I've ever seen him panicking before. He can't breathe, he can't barely see me. I take his hands, drag him in the locker room. I sit him, his back against the locker.

"Hey Lydia, it looks like..."

"Stiles saved me."

"When I kissed you, you held your breath."

"Like you're gonna ignore me."

"I love you, Lydia."

That's when I realize... I love him too. But the ship has sailed, he's told me. I feel a tear falling down my eye. But I keep going.

"I'm supposed to call you first when I find a dead body ?"

"I love you too, Stiles."

"YES."

And I kiss him, and suddenly, he's not panicking anymore.

A weird feeling hits me. I'm cold, I'm really cold. I open my eyes and the blonde guy is still standing in front of me. But I start getting blinded by a white light. And this world disappears, this huge, lonely world. And I think. No, I can't die. I thought... I thought I could go back. He told me I could go back. That I had to try.

I also feel bad for the kid. He's gonna stay here, all alone. But I can't do anything about it. And I look around and everything, the high walls, the wooden cabins, the farmhouse, the garden, everything disappears and the white light envelops me and it's cold but it's also warming. I don't wanna die.

The last thing I see is the kid... he's a faint image, but I see him. And wings unfold behind his back and he flies away. He's an angel. And I feel safe, knowing I'm going to die with him there. That he will be there along the way. Because that's what angels do, right ?

"Oh, thank God !" I hear when I open my eyes. Stiles is looking at me with a big smile of relief on his face. I'm not dead.

And all I hear is words, pronounced by a kid with a British accent, the same blonde kid I was talking to.

"Tell him... tell him 'I love you, Tommy.'"
_______

Hey, it's me ! I was feeling like doing a one shot, so here, I am, doing a one shot ! I kinda like this one, not gonna lie. I had no idea where it was going to go.

In case you're wondering the memories Lydia pulled up, they come and go. So it starts with something, goes to something else and comes back to the first one after a few.

I'll see you guys on another story and will most likely answer your comments if you leave one here ! Please do, it gets lonely.

Happy Holidays !

Lya