To Be Who I Am

Last Breath

The next day he almost got into another confrontation with the guards but this time it was over how they were handling Lucy.

She could barely stand up and they weren't trying to help at all, just dragging her along, like she was a doll.

Lucy could see the way his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed at her rough treatment.

He only hesitated due to remembering that they could make things worse for her but she knew that his restraint wouldn't last as she was thrown in the cell. 

"Leave it alone Stiles" She said, since after he made sure she was okay, he turned around to have a go at the guards leaving. 

"This can't keep happening" Stiles growled.

"It won't" Lucy said but her face was grim and Stiles realised what she was implying.

He said fiercely "You're not going to die!"

She said slowly "I feel it Stiles, I'm dying"

While Stiles had never seen her determined to escape, this acceptance of death however, was recent. Despite her talking about death before hand, there had always been a fire in her eyes, desperate to survive.

Now that fire had been stamped out. 

"I know despite what you said you used to want to live. When did you give up on that?" Stiles said, hating how miserable she looked but he knew nothing could else could make her feel better.

He hated to admit it but she was right, she was dying. 

She hesitated in responding then finally gained some courage.

"When did you stop crying for Derek to rescue you in your sleep?" Lucy replied with a wry smile.

Ah that's right, they both had changed.

He barely thought about Derek now, let alone waiting for him to rescue him. 

He had a hard time remember what Derek even looked like.

Sometimes he'd forget his name and just remember that he had an alpha waiting for him. 

Would Derek even accept him back like this?

He was now a dominant after all. 

Dominants couldn't be together but maybe that didn't apply to someone who used to be an omega? 

Or maybe that was something else about this world he realised was wrong. 

Sure the reasoning behind the social rule was because dominants lacked the bond that the dominent and submissive could feel between them and they tended to argue more often. 

But really, was that a reason to stop having feelings for someone? 

Then again, his feelings for Derek felt like they had been getting weaker and weaker each day. 

After thinking more about why that was, it wasn't just because his connection to Derek was weakening but because he was no longer a submissive, his bond to Derek, that was awakened during to the ceremony was slowly being eroded.

I would have panicked about this when I had been an omega but right now, I don't think I care? Stiles thought.

All that mattered to him right now was escaping this hell with Lucy.

But even that dream was about to be brought to a stuttering halt.

Many more injections past and like before Stiles could not tell how long it had been, the passage of time felt meaningless.

They both had no way to tell when a day was over or when a week was over even. They were both fed at strange times as well.

Stiles noticed that he started to be given a lot more food, which he didn't complain about.

He has tried to give some of his extra food to Lucy who has refused.

"Your body needs it more" She had said.

She had also said that food made her feel sick now. She barely eats anything and started to look a bit like a skeleton.

Lucy had been likely right about his body needing a lot of food though. He found himself constantly hungry.

His clothes were now definitely far too tight and he had noticed that he was now about two inches taller than both of the guards.

Not much but Stiles could see that they were looking at him more warily now.

His eyes were still blue but he could feel it this time. A big change was about to happen.

Despite noticing these changes, he didn't care at all.

Because of Lucy.

She was now asleep for much longer periods of and now barely spoke at all.

He worried about her constantly.

Because he knew what this meant. He had seen it before in other omegas in this prison.

"Please don't go"

"I've lived a lot longer than expected for an omega who's reached their limit. I expect you to do the same, once you've reached your limit" Lucy said just before she went for another injection.

She was still smiling at him encouragingly and comfortingly, giving off soothing omega pheromones that seemed to calm him and stop him from trying to interfere with the guards coming to collect her.

The guards had to come into the cell because she could no longer move at all.

And there was no way Stiles was voluntarily handing her over. 

She had told him not to fight them though despite everything inside him was aching to do so, he listened to her. 

He glared at the guards as they came inside, tension coiling inside him.  Resisting the urge to growl at them and attack them both.

One of the guards scooped her up with ease and with a wary glance at him they both left the cell, shutting the door behind them.

"You'll come back" Stiles with conviction and desperation, up against the barred door, as they walked away with her.

She smiled at him, still releasing her calming omega pheromones.

She didn't reply.

Soon her pheromones no longer reached him and Stiles waited for her to come back.

The guards came back.

She didn't.