𝑽𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓 | Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski

Chapter 1

[A few months before the pilot]

Paige Krasikeva was dead. She was loved, mourned, and remembered. She was supposed to be at peace. 

In death, there was no peace for Paige. Instead, she found herself trapped in an abyss, a void where time and space ceased to exist. There was no light, no sound, only an endless darkness that swallowed her whole. It felt like an eternity, with no sense of time or reality. Where how much she screamed or called out for someone no one replied.

Paige's first sensation was pain—a sharp, unrelenting pain that seemed to permeate every fiber of her being. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt heavy, resisting her efforts. 

Paige's second sensation was an overwhelming flood of light and sound, squinting against the harsh fluorescent lights overhead. The sterile smell of antiseptic filled her nostrils, and she heard the faint beeping of medical equipment. Confusion clouded her mind as she took in her surroundings—a hospital room, pristine and unfamiliar.

Paige's third sensation was a dull ache that radiated through her body when she tried to sit up, forcing her back onto the stiff hospital bed.

Confusion swirled in her mind. The last thing she remembered was Derek's tear-streaked face as he cradled her lifeless body. She had felt the cold embrace of death, and yet, here she was, in a place that felt distinctly wrong.

Her surroundings gradually came into focus. Machines beeped rhythmically beside her, their screens displaying various vital signs. An IV drip snaked into her arm. As she attempted to move her hand, it felt foreign, uncooperative. She glanced down and froze. The hand she saw was a hand that was definitely not hers, especially not when they were painted pink, she hated pink.

Panic surged through her. She touched her face, her hair, her body—nothing felt familiar. Her breathing quickened, and the heart monitor responded with a frantic beeping. The door to her room swung open, and a nurse rushed in, followed by two strangers—a man and a woman, both with expressions of desperate hope and concern etched into their features.

"She's awake!" the nurse exclaimed, her voice a mix of surprise and relief. "Doctor, she's awake!"

The strangers edged closer to the bed, their eyes wide with a mix of joy and apprehension. The woman had tears streaming down her face, her hands trembling as she reached out.

"Sylvia?" the woman whispered, her voice cracking. "Oh, my baby, you're awake!"

Paige's mind reeled. Sylvia? Who was Sylvia? Her voice felt dry and unused as she struggled to speak. "Where... where am I? Who are you?"

The man stepped forward, his face a mask of barely contained emotion. "You're in the hospital, sweetheart. You had an accident, but you're going to be okay now. I'm your father, Owen, and this is your mother, Audrey."

Paige's heart pounded in her chest. She wanted to scream, to tell them they were wrong, that she wasn't their daughter. But the sincerity in their eyes and the unmistakable love in their voices gave her pause. She looked down at her unfamiliar hands again, her mind racing to comprehend the impossible.

"I'm... Sylvia?" she managed to say, her voice barely a whisper.

The woman—Audry—nodded, tears of relief spilling down her cheeks. "Yes, you're our Sylvia. We thought we had lost you."

The doctor quickly moved to her side, speaking in a calm, reassuring tone. "It's okay, Sylvia. You've been through a traumatic experience. You were in a coma after an accident."

The nurse gently interjected, "You were in a coma for about a month, dear. It's a miracle that you're awake. We'll need to run some tests, but for now, just try to rest."

Paige's mind swirled with questions, but she felt too weak to ask them. The exhaustion of the ordeal weighed heavily on her, and she sank back into the pillow, her thoughts a chaotic jumble. How had this happened? Why was she here, in this body, living a life that wasn't hers?

As she drifted back into an uneasy sleep, the last thought that lingered in her mind was,

"What the fuck am I going to do now?"