Darkness.

That's all that was seen, what could be seen.

Cold.

That's all that was felt, even with warm blood flowing through his hands.

With one thought after the other.

Swarming his mind came a beginning point in his childhood in which his dad had left him and his mother, claiming it was for the best. To a point in which he had never felt so far from his mom, seeing the hurt and disbelief in her eyes as if looking at a stranger. Most especially Allison's death. Knowing that the one person he's ever loved, will ever TRULY love, is gone forever but never forgotten.

Then without warning, all thoughts had stopped. Completely blanked out.

Even through the heartbreak and pain with all the in-betweens, Scott McCall was always the one left standing. The one who others looked up to in awe. The True Alpha.

But now if you were to see this idolized teen wolf the first thought, surely, wouldn't be any of the above. No.

At first glance, the one thing that would come to anyones mind would be broken.

Not the kind of broken where it would require super alpha healing, but more of the broken where in realization, could change your life forever.

With said terms, Scott McCall had finally come to a devastating realization.

Stiles was dead.

His best friend was dead.

His true anchor was dead.

Scott's BROTHER was dead and was never coming back.

Never again with the goofy smiles, geeky Star Wars references, smart wit and sarcasm, or even his stupid plans which, if you were to ask, had saved their lives on more than one occasion.

Everything he had ever known, ever lived for, was gone, now leaving behind a shell of the hyperactive, ADHD diagnosed spaz.

And not once in all of the time of knowing Stiles had Scott seen him so still.

So deathly still.

The thought made a mad shiver run through Scott's veins, chilling him to the bone.

Stiles looked so pale, almost translucent, as though your hand could glide right through him.

His bones looked so thin and fragile, as though the most delicate of touches would break him, shattering him into oblivion.

The deadly silence was broken, the only sound now filling the air were sobs. Sobs and choked tears of emotion came spilling out of Scott, similar to an overflowed dam breaking. Slowly, then all at once.

He had never felt so much agony at one given time. Everything that Scott could ever feel came running, twisting and turning until he had no more room for any coherent thoughts.

All thoughts given room consisted purely of the grief, sorrow, misery, and remorse of the death of Stiles.

Stiles Stilinski.

The one who could always break tension with just a stupid remark, always on top with his sarcastic responses when in life threatening situations.

The one who drove the trademark powder blue jeep, treating it with such care and attention you would think it were his child.

The one who thought he was the sidekick, when in reality he had been Batman since day one.

The one who didn't deserve any of this.

The most breakable.

He had been the human without powers, not yet realizing that his baseball bat or even his sarcasm couldn't save him from the inevitable death that came as a package deal when you choose to run with wolves. Thrown into the supernatural world without an idea of what he was getting himself into.

Stiles had met the eyes of death so many times that in his last moments, he had embraced it. He walked into the bright light with a mask of confidence knowing that with this, his friends, his father, his BROTHER, would carry on, living a life with the needs and wants he thought he was never able to supply.

But Stiles didn't know.

He never knew how important he truly was.

He didn't know that he was the knot that kept everyone together and sane with the real world.

He didn't know how others really saw him; That his friends practically envied him, how Scott envied him, wondering how someone could be so full of life and energy, staying so optimistic in the hell that they know as life.

He especially didn't know when the nogitsune had been defeated.

He hadn't lived long enough.

Suffering the same death as the huntress.

A sword through the stomach.

Everything after came as a haze. In a blitz of cries and fighting. Then brightness, slowly fading to black with a bliss where he came to a realization.

It was okay.

But it wasn't.

Nothing would ever be okay, nothing could ever be okay.

Through his tears and clouded mind, Scott had found a slight clearing through the mess of emotion, only to replace it with self loathing.

Scott hated himself.

Truly, utterly hated himself.

He was the Alpha, the True Alpha, a best friend. Scott was a brother and he couldn't even live up to that.

"Stiles?" It had been just about the only time that night that Scott had spoken. Speaking through tears and choked sobs was not an easy task, but Scott had managed.

"Stiles, please. Come on, wake up!"

Scott was met with silence. He wasn't ready to accept it. How could he?

"I need you, your dad needs you, we all need you". But it was to late, it was over and Scott knew it.

Somewhere in his rambling, Melissa entered the scene and was stunned into silence.

Absolutely heartbroken.

In front of her at the school is Scott. Not the Scott she had last seen before leaving the house, but more of an alternate Scott.

And cradled on the floor by his best friend, is a dead Stiles.

Melissa then immediately moves into mother-mode, running over to gently pry her son from a boy who was like her own.

"Scott, Honey." She had pulled Scott upward and managed to move him a few feet before she turned back and broke down herself.

Both McCalls now huddled on the floor, set in a pool of tears. "H-he's gone!". It was then that Scott found comfort in his mother, his throat raw and horse from crying.

"I know. But it'll be okay, cause Stiles was strong and Scott, your strong. It'll take a while, maybe a long while, maybe forever. But you'll make it through, you have to. It's what he would've wanted."

It was a second time that night that Scott came to a realization.

He's not strong.

He'll never be strong.

Scott was, in a sense, still human.

He may, in a while, seem fine. But without Stiles Stilinski, he'll forever be shattered and hollow