Chapter 1-
As the 2nd week of summer came and went, Lydia's life felt normal for the first time in what seemed like years. Her world hadn't seemed this stable since before she met Allison and through proxy, met Scott and Stiles. There were no deaths, no supernatural force that seemed hellbent on killing them, and they had graduated High school, which felt like more of an accomplishment than it had any right too.
Things had finally seemed to settle down after everything with the Ghost Riders and Mr. Douglas and Lydia hoped that it would stay that way. Her and Stiles were finally together after what seemed like an eternity and she hoped that things would stay that way, though she couldn't get rid of the itch in the back of her mind that told her that the calm would never last. No matter how she tried to reassure herself, it felt as though that something was on the horizon.
It didn't help that she felt that she couldn't go to anyone about this. Scott and Stiles were out of the question because in a few short weeks, the tree of them would be heading off to college and it would no longer be their problem. She didn't want to tell Liam and put even more on the beta's shoulders, especially if it turned out that she was only imagining things. Once Malia was done summer school, she made it clear that she wanted to travel and see other places, but she wasn't fooling anyone. No one called her out on it but it was obvious that she believed that there wasn't anything left here for her.
Every time Malia mentioned that she was leaving, Lydia cringed inwardly. She felt that she had gotten close to the were-coyote over the past year and though Malia never blamed or accused her, she knew that she was at least partially to blame for Malia's need to leave. It was a hardly a secret that Malia was in love with Stiles, and possibly still in love with him but with Lydia dating him and their plan to go college on the east coast together, the poor girl felt as though she had nothing left in Beacon Hills.
Lydia shook her head, now wasn't the time to think about relationships, she had more important things to worry about. She was inside the waiting room at the Animal Clinic, waiting for Deaton to be available. For whatever reason, she couldn't keep still. Whether it was a simple taping of her foot, or rubbing her fingernails across just about every nearby surface, she couldn't stop fidgeting, and Lydia Martin does not fidget. Another thing to chalk up to her recent anxiety. Hopefully Deaton would be able to shine some light on the situation and help come up with a solution.
"Lydia," began the veterinarian with the kind expression that she was accustomed to, "Come in, come in."
As she entered the room, she witnessed she cleaned up after having apparently stitched some poor animal up. The room had the same unnaturally clean and sterile smell that it always did, but Lydia couldn't help but notice that something seemed a little off. As she continued her inspection of the clinic, she noticed that Deaton was the only one there.
"Where's Scott?"
A small smile graced Deaton's face, as if he was amused by something that only he knew. "I gave him the day off. He said that he wanted to have time to make sure he packed everything for college, so I let him go home early. Why, were you hoping to find him here?"
Lydia brushed the question off as she made to sit at a nearby chair, which was followed by Deaton sitting in one across from her.
"Why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"
She shouldn't have been as surprised by the question as she was, but the truth of the matter was…she didn't know how to describe her problem. Being a banshee, she was used to the feelings of foreboding that came with it, but nothing had felt like this before. It felt as something was attempting to rip her heart out of her chest.
"I'm not sure. I feel like something terrible is going to happen, but I'm not sure what?"
"Is this just a feeling or a premonition?"
"A little of both I guess. It's more than just a gut feeling but it's different from any other thing I've felt before. It feels like a knife is slowly driving itself into my chest."
Deaton leaned in closer to her as he started speaking again. "A while back, I told Scott the same thing that I'm going to tell you. Have you ever heard of regression to the mean?"
Lydia nodded her head, "You mean the belief that the universe always balance itself out?"
"Exactly, I think that that is what we're experiencing right now."
Lydia's brow furrowed as she processed this information. "So, what? Things have been great so they're going to turn bad again?"
"No, not exactly. Things must go back to the middle. From there, the scale can tip either way."
He asked her to wait where she was a moment as he went into the back. He was there for a few moments but eventually came back with a book.
"There's very little written about Banshees. Most go their entire lives without knowing what they are. Here's the only book in my collection that contains any useful information."
Lydia turned the book over in her hands a few times, running her fingers over the leather exterior, before she opened it up and skimmed in absent-mindedly. The near pristine condition of the pages within confused her slightly.
Noticing her expression, Deaton elected to speak up. "A lot of my books have been passed down for generations. I haven't read all of them, and because of how rare your kind is and with everything else going on, I haven't had the opportunity to read this one," he paused and gave her a look that she that was both comforting and apologetic, "Plus, I've found that discovering things for yourself is usually so much more rewarding."
He now had a small grin on his face, that clearly showed that even though his words contained a hint of truth, he was mostly teasing her and her studious nature.
Putting the book under her arms, she left the animal clinic and got in her car to head over to Scott's. It was time for her to be open with him about her recent feelings. The sky opened and it began to rain, her mind drifted to the upcoming conversation as water began accumulating on the asphalt.
She feared that telling Scott any of this would convince him to put his life on hold and stay in Beacon Hills, but she knew deep down that she had to. If something was going to happen, Scott needed to know.
She was nearly halfway to Scott's house when her phone went off as it laid in the passenger's seat. She chanced a glance at it to see of it was something important and was met by Stiles name on her phone. She quickly lifted it to her ear and answered the call.
"Hey Stiles."
"Lydia, babe," he began, his voice sounding rushed and a little strained as if he was trying to get this call over quickly. This only made her feel anxious about what he wanted to tell her.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he retorted entirely too quickly for her liking, making it apparent that something was in fact wrong. "I just…can you come over. I need to talk to you about something important."
She agreed, before quickly hanging up and turning around to Stiles' house, as she began to feel apprehensive over what was going on. Every possible scenario entered her mind, making the drive over seem to take hours, but she was unprepared when she was met with the sight of Stiles' and his father loading luggage into the back of his dad's car.
She quickly exited her car and walked over to where Stiles was loading the last of bags. He had yet to noticed his girlfriend's presence and closed the trunk of the car. Lydia waited a few moments for him to acknowledge her, but became tired of waiting.
"Stiles?" Her voice startles Stiles out of whatever trance he was in. His eyes lock onto Lydia's and he visibly deflates at the sight of her. "What's going on?"
His hand reaches up to rub the back of his neck as he tries to formulate a response. His father came back outside but halts when he sees Lydia there before stating that he'll wait inside.
"I didn't think you'd get here so soon," his statement sounded as if he somehow hoped that it would answer all of Lydia's questions, but it only served to confuse her even more.
"Why are you packing your bags? We aren't supposed to leave until August."
A humorless chuckle escaped Stiles' lips. "Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"I've been accepted into an early enrolment program. They want me there by the end of the week." Lydia opened her mouth to say something but was cut off. "look, I know we were supposed to head off to the east coast together, but I need to do this Lydia."
She stood there, trying to process everything Stiles just told her. He was planning on going without her, and he hadn't thought it important to tell her. She searched his face for any falsehood, instead she saw apprehension on his face as realization dawned on her.
"How long?"
"What?"
"How long have you known about this?"
He at least had the decency to look embarrassed and embarrassed in equal measure.
"Since school ended."
"And you didn't think to tell anyone? To tell me?"
Stile sighed, "I didn't know how to tell everyone. I mean," he waved and arm between him and Lydia, "we made that plan and you started talking about the future but," he looked away from her, his eyes boring resolutely into the ground, "I don't know what I want in my future."
He started to pace around back and forth, his distress obvious, causing Lydia to step forward and intercept him. He stilled momentarily and looked at her again, the stray tears in his eyes mirrored by her's.
"The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't know what I wanted in my future. Hell, I didn't even think we would make it this far."
"What about us?"
She knew the question hit home when Stiles visibly flinched. She figured that this was a line of questioning that he hoped would be avoided.
"When we finally got together, I thought it was everything I ever wanted. But as time went on, I realized I was in love with the idea of you and not really you." He saw that she was about to cry even harder so he moved in closer and took her hands in his own. "Look, what we had was great, I mean really great. But…I'm not sure this is what I want anymore." He too couldn't hold back the tears anymore as he embraced Lydia in a hug. She just stood there in his embrace without reciprocating.
Eventually, Noah came back out and told Stiles that it was time to go. He loosened his hold on Lydia and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry Lydia. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I don't want you to wait for me. If everything works out and we both feel the same way when I come back we can try again, but I don't want you to be miserable while I'm gone."
He stepped away and moved towards the car, opened his door, and gave one last look in Lydia's direction.
"Goodbye Lydia."
He closed the door after he climbed in, before he and his dad pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the airport, where Stiles would begin the rest of his life. One that Lydia was no longer a part of.
She stood there and watched them pull away, unmoving for several minutes as the rain continued to pour around her.
AN: So here's the first chapter of my new Teen Wolf Story. With the sneak peak of Season 6b coming out tonight, I wanted to start my 6B AU before the season actually started.
This story will primarily be Scott/Lydia but a few other pairings will be present, probably the most startling of which will show up in the next chapter. I hope to start this one really soon and hope a lot of people will enjoy it.
Thanks for reading!