A/N: This fic is based on a Tumblr post by crystals-hollands. Saw it, cried my eyes out, and wrote a fic. Hope you're gonna like it :)
Summary: Right across the hall... there she was. That one girl, with her blue scarf hanging on either side of her pale neck, and with her long, dark hair and the sweetest smile the world have ever seen.
OR
"#crying because this looks like allison incarnate#that after she died she came back all fresh anew and without memories of her past#of everything that happened in beacon hills#and the memory of her death is still raw and sharp in lydia's body#and here allison is looking at lydia for the first time in this new life and lydia must pretend that she doesn't know this girl#that she doesn't want to rush into allison's arms and hold her close#oh my god give me a whole au of this please."
Credit: To Tumblr users crystals-hollands for creating the post, and to hellasterek for the tag prompt. Link to the original post is in my profile.
I own nothing.
At first, it felt like a blow of soft breeze.
It was the first day of their senior year, and as exciting as that was ought to be... the tense, loaded, buzzing energy Lydia Martin felt since the moment she woke up that morning had nothing to do with that fact.
She felt a change in the air... something light and vibrating and so alive, it almost made the heaviness and sadness in her heart disappear. Almost.
So she got up quickly and put on a beautiful dress and painted her lips blood-red, brushing her hair in front of the mirror into perfection. Her shoes were a perfect match to the color of her dress, and her jacket hugged her figure in just the right way. The first day of her last year, and Lydia Martin looked beautiful as always. She looked like herself, she walked like herself, talked and moved and even thought like herself.
But she didn't feel like herself.
For a couple of months now, something in her life was missing... and Lydia knew exactly what that was as she walked out of the house and slid into her car. She felt it throbbing in her heart, every single day.
It was nothing like the days after Jackson left. Yes, Lydia was indeed depressed back then, she was willing to admit that. His leave was hard on her, and it happened just when they finally got everything worked out between them. It hurt, but it was nothing like the sorrow she felt now. This... this was a pain she never had to deal with before. It was almost unbearable.
She lost her lover, and at the same day, she also lost her best friend in the whole world.
The deaths that followed the Nogitsune incident were few in number but terrible, and lingered above the heads of the broken pack's members like storm clouds, darkening their days. Lydia couldn't even imagine what it was like for Stiles, who carried the trauma and the guilt for their friends' deaths like an open, bleeding wound.
Lydia didn't go to either funeral. She couldn't bring herself to stand there and look into the open caskets of her dearest friends, stare at their cold, pale bodies that will never smile again. She wanted to remember them as they were, happy and laughing and alive.
And now, after a long, lonely summer in which she had very little touch with her living friends, Lydia Martin was back at school, shiny and glamourous and gorgeous as usual, as if nothing happened.
She nodded at Danny as she passed by him in the hall, trying not to think about Ethan and Aiden as she did. She waved at some of the other guys from the lacrosse team, guys she knew from her days as Jackson's girlfriend, and tried to offer Kira Yukimura a smile when she saw her entering her next class, but the result was lame and gloomy. Lydia even dared to hug both Stiles and Scott when they bumped into her on their way to their new class, but the touch felt distant. The words they really wanted to say to each other went unspoken, and instead Stiles just tried to smile at her, his eyes clouded and still so very haunted.
"Good to see you, Lyds." He mumbled before he and Scott left and disappeared into the crowded hall.
That feeling of lightness, the expectation for something huge followed her around the school halls, making her nervous and on edge through the whole morning. She was tense, waiting for something she couldn't name.
It happened on her third period.
When the bell rang and released the class for a short break, Lydia got up with the same automatic movements that led her through the whole day - the whole summer, if she was being completely honset with herself - and left the class with her designer's bag hanging from her right shoulder, marching out confidently, high heels clicking on the floor.
And then, when she reached her locker and her hand shot up to unlock it, the overwhelming feeling hit her again, harder than ever. She froze and shuddered, hand hanging in the air.
Her eyes snapped to the side, widening slowly.
Right across the hall... there she was. That one girl, with her blue scarf hanging on either side of her pale neck, and with her long, dark hair and the sweetest smile the world have ever seen.
Allison Argent glanced up as if she felt she was being watched, and her kind eyes met Lydia's shocked ones with a friendly, hesitant smile.
Lydia felt dizzy.
It couldn't be... it couldn't, couldn't...!Allison...?!
Then Lydia quickly caught herself, blinking the shock off her face and inhaling a shuddered breath. She felt something choking her throat, but she couldn't, wouldn't let the tears show.
It'd ruin her makeup, for God's sake.
Oh, God...
So instead, she returned the smile. Soft, sad smile that showed everything she couldn't say out loud.
I miss you.I'm sorry I couldn't save you.Everything is so dull here without you...Everything is tasteless.You were so brave.My best friend...
And before she could think it over, before she could talk herself out of it, her legs took her towards the girl with the dark hair, and she watched with fascination as that kind smile grew into something more.
"Hi." Was all Lydia could say once she reached the other side of the hall, green eyes glued to the taller girl's beautiful face.
"Hi." She greeted back. "Allison Argent."
"Lydia." Lydia blurted before she realized what that meant, what horrible thing this small interaction revealed.
Did Allison not remember her?
She didn't even question the fact that Allison Argent was alive and well even though they buried her only a few months ago. Stranger things had happened, and actually, Lydia was surprised something like that didn't happen before, what with all of Deaton's magic. Besides... Lydia was so overwhelmed right now she really didn't want to think about anything other than the fact that Allison, the one girl she trusted more than anything, was here. Alive.
And she didn't remember her.
Her mouth opened to say something, anything, but for the first time in her life, Lydia was at loss for words.
Allison. It was Allison, and she didn't remember her.
As the tense silence went on and Lydia just kept staring, Allison's smile wavered. She waited for Lydia to say something, shifting awkwardly and glancing to the side. She was nervous.
That makes two of us, Lydia thought humorlessly.
It was when Allison finally felt awkward enough to end the encounter and seemed to prepare herself to leave, that Lydia suddenly realized she had to break the ice before Allison left her again. She couldn't lose her. Not again.
"This jacket is totally killer." She said without thinking, gesturing at the grayish jacket Allison wore, same as the one she wore at her first day in Beacon Hills, years ago. Allison paused, looking at Lydia strangely. "Where did you get it?"
"My mom was a buyer from a boutique back in San Francisco."
It was even the same answer.
Lydia felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Her voice wavered a little when she softly smiled at the other girl, reaching a hand out to grab Allison's gently.
"And you-" She said, each word feeling more and more right as she looked straight into Allison eyes with a growing smile. "-are my new best friend."
A/N: Reviews? :)