Lydia Martin had spent years perfecting and changing everything that was needed so she could be perfect. Forcing her body to adapt so she could become the goddess she desired to be, all she wanted was to be admired and worshipped with reverence. The need to be the best, to thrive was all consuming; friends were lost along the way, but that was a price she was more than willing to pay.
Lydia Martin climbed the great Everest that was the Beacon Hills' hierarchy, she ascended the mountain like the rare champion she was. And once at the top of the hierarchy of which no one ever spoke of out loud, she soon became the queen and reigned over the Beacon Hills High School's fragile hierarchy. She would dictate your statues in the High School; if you pleased her fancy your High School experience could be a positive one, if you were just above nothing and you did not anger her then you could have the average High Scool expierence, but if you had indeed angered the queen be it in kindergarten or just last week then you were more than likely to be sentence to a High School life of ridicule and loneliness.
Lydia enjoyed her power form the moment she found she had it, and she held onto it with no intention of giving it up until she left for college.
But like the great empires in the past Lydia's own little empire began to crumble on the day Peter Hale began made his move for power. But she held on while watching the pieces of her empire walling to dust, she held on tight and played her part in the play she had written for her and her alone. She adapted her play to each turn that came, she did so with ease until it all went wrong. When the terrible turn came, she was horrified not to be able to change or control it.
With Scott McCall standing there in front of her, soaking in gasoline and holding the lit flare in his young hand, Lydia became aware of how fragile her kingdom of power was. She stood there as helpless as Allison and Stiles were, listening to McCall's words that hurt Lydia more than she had ever imagined; she was not close to Scott, she didn't have any real opinion about him, and she coudn't help but feel a bit guilty about that. She listened intently to the teen, not even trying to come up with the magical words to stop him from taking his own life in such a horrible way.
But suddenly Lydia's attention was claimed by Stiles who was moving from where he had been standing with Allison and Lydia, moving away from the area of safety. Lydia watched as the gangly teen took tentative steps towards his one-true friend, she felt something then that made her want to grab Stiles by the arm and pull him back. Lydia wanted to hold Stiles away from the danger he was walking straight into, there was something haunting about the way Stiles moved and the sound of his voice as he began to speak. Lydia knows Stiles is speaking, but she can't hear the words as all she can hear is a voice at the back of her mind crying for Stiles not to go.
Please. Don't. Stiles, please, don't.
Lydia sees the moment Scott gives in to Stiles, the moment he agrees to stay. Allison gives a strange sound, and at any other time Lydia would have payed attention to her, but not then. Lydia watches Stiles and only him, there is something horrible inside her that whispers that this is the last time she will see Stiles.
Lydia watches how Stiles takes the flare into his beautiful hand, and she suddenly remembers the way those fine hands had once moved so effortlessly over ebony and ivory keys at Ms. Murphy's. Lydia had already at the age of five been wise enough to recognize talent, and to understand that even with a year of piano-lessons under her belt there was nothing she could do to be better than the strange Stilinski boy who had only been taking lessons for the past two months and he was already better than what Lydia was. Lydia would stop her own feeble attempts to play the piano to watch the little boy, Ms. Murphy was believed that having them both taking lessons at the same time would push Lydia to try harder; in the end Lydia quite.
It dawned on her as she watched Stiles take the flare and tossing it away from him and the one he called his brother, that no one else in their broken-group-of-horrors knew about the talent Stiles Stilinski had. Lydia knew that Stiles never talked about it, he never offered to share it in class, and Scott would have done so if he knew. Yes, Scott would have said something the night Lydia had noticed the piano in Derek's loft and asked if anyone knew how to play the piano; it seemed Peter and Derek both did, but the two werewolves swore that they only knew how to play a few pieces and nothing more.
Stiles had been there, and now that she recalled that evening he had looked at her with fear in his eyes, she had of course ignored him.
A sudden breeze whispered across the grounds, giving movement to all the discarded plastic bags and pieces of paper, it whispered in Lydia's ear like a silent threat. Lydia gaze moved from Stiles and Scott to the flare on the ground, and it had begun to move. She screamed.
Lydia Martin didn't wait for the cab to come to a full-stop. Lydia ignored Danny's desperate shouts for her to wait, the ride over he had tried to talk her down and calm her. But she was fuming with untamed rage that made anything Danny had to say worthless, with her rage feeding her the barriers between Lydia and Derek Hale's loft are nothing; she enters the building with the key Stiles had, a key she was sure Derek hadn't given him.
Lydia storms the loft, but she comes to a sudden stop at the sight of Ms. Blake walking across the room; she is only wearing the maroon colored Henley Lydia had seen Allison buy for Stiles' birthday or was it for Christmas. The woman lookes as shocked as Lydia is, and Lydia knows she must be a sight with her clothes stained and her hair a horrible mess, but unlike Ms. Blakes hair that is a mixture of bed-hair and the sort you get when your lover can't stop holding onto your hair; no Lydia's hair is a mixture of despair.
Lydia wants to just scream, tell the bitch to get out but her mind is set on finding Derek. With the clue standing there in Stiles Henley, her hands now trying to sort out her messy hair, Lydia snaps her head towards the direction of Derek's bed.
And there he was, the great Alpha, face down on his bed. A sheet covering the bare minimum of skin. The sight is what triggers Lydia into a run, her bare feet barely making any sound against the floor but it is enough to awaken the sleeping Alpha.
`Lydia?´ Derek says as he moves to sit up, he can't figure out why Lydia Martin would be at his loft, he is still not awake enough to realize that she is running at him. It is only when she tackles him to the bed, beating him with her bandaged hands that he realizes what is happening. He pushes her without effort off of him, but she's up and off the floor in seconds and is right back at hitting him.
`You shit! You piece of shit!´ Lydia screams, ignoring the pain she feels as she beats the werewolf with her tiny fists, she uses that pain to feed her anger. She as good as crazed can be.
`Fuck! Lydia stop!´ Derek snarles at Lydia as he grabbs her by her delicate wrists, he has to remind himself to be careful as not to hurt her. Unable to beat him, she starts to just scream at him while trying to free herself.
Derek had seen Lydia angry, damn it she had seen the pure-hatred in her eyes more than once. But he had never seen her so out of control and he had no idea what to do; he started to think he shoudl call Stiles when a male voice shouts out the name of the one that is screaming right in Derek's face.
`Lydia! Danny yells as he runs into the loft and towards the bed, he does notice Ms. Blake standing in the room barely clothed, but seeing Lydia ontop of Stiles-not-so-much-cousin-Miguel screaming insults takes priority. Danny grabs Lydia around the middle and pulls her off of the naked man, and at any other time Danny would gladly take a look at the package, but not that morning. "Miguel" releases his hold of Lydia who starts kicking the moment she is lifted off of the naked man, she lands two good kicks which Danny is sure had enough strengh behind them to break the nose that took the two kicks.
The sight of Lydia breaking Derek's nose had Jennifer running over to the bed, yelling for the girl to calm down, which were by the if-looks-could-kill-then-you'd-be-dead glare was the wrong thing to do.
`YOU DO NOT GET TO SPEAK!´ Lydia roars at Ms. Balke, fighting Danny's hold on her as she wants to rip into both the woman and the werewolf, because she knows she just knows there is only one reason Stiles Henley would be at Derek's loft and one reason only why Ms. Blake is wearing it and nothing else.
`LYDIA.´ Derek roars, but he holds now power over her and if he ever had that was lost along with Stiles.
Ms. Blake has reached Derek and is looking at the bleeding nose, her hands all over Derek's face and chest and it makes Lydia see red.
`It's all your fault.´ Lydia shrieks, her hunger to fight Danny is dying down and soon she stops to struggle against his hold. And with her calming down in his hold, she can feel Danny hide his face against the back of her head. He whispers for her to calm down, to leave.
`You killed him.´ Lydia says voice raw with all the screaming she had done, and she is so exhausted that she can't fight the tears that start to fall.
Derek turns his attention back to Lydia, the words demands his attention, `What are you on about?´ He grabs the sheet of the bed as he stands, covering himself up just enough to not reveal his privets.
`Stiles.´ Danny whispers, eyes closed as he can't get the sound out of his head. When he'd heared Stiles, he had known it was the irritating boy and he had known something was horribly wrong for him to be screaming the way he was.
`What?´ Derek knows he heard Danny say Stiles, but he needs to be sure.
`STILES!´ Lydia screams, and the fight is back, and Danny has to hold her hard against his body to keep her from getting free and attacking the man who's slept with their teacher.
`STILES STILINSKI!´ Lydia screams, `YOU KILLED HIM!´
Derek freezes in his tracks, his blood runs cold and his mind goes blank.
`You killed him! It's your fault.´ Lydia sees the way her words drain all the color out of the Alpha's face, but she feels nothing but hatred towards him. She can hear Ms. Blake gasp, and she makes a movement to grab Derek by the hand but Derek snaps out of his stunned state and advances on Lydia; but not close enough for her to kick or scratch at him.
`No.´ is all Derek says, he looks as angry as Lydia feels. The anger makes him look hard as stone, his eys bleed red and they glare at Lydia as the first no is followed by a few more.
`No. You're lying. You're lying.´ the werewolf says, snarles more like it. He points at Lydia, the claws are out and the fangs are pushing through. `I'll call him.´
The idea of calling Stiles, calms the wolf enough for the claws and fangs to pull back. Derek starts to look for his cellphone, or Jennifer's because Derek has both of Stiles cellphone numbers in his firmly placed in the bank of his memories of him.
`I'll call him. And he will answer.´ Derek says as he stalks around trying to find the item he needs. He knows Stiles will answer, because Stiles always answers, always.
`No.´ Danny says, once more it is barely loud enough for human ears to pick up but Derek hears it and glances at the youth who has been hiding behind Lydia. It takes a moment for Derek to recall who the boy is, he doesn't hate Danny its just he doesn't like the way he smells when he's talking about Stiles or sees the restless teen; Danny may not have confessed about his feelings, but there was no hiding the smell of arousal that rises into the air from Danny when it comes to Stiles.
Danny opens his eyes and look into Derek's as he says with a broken voice, `No, he won't.´ There are tears in the dark eyes, and there is no lie in the heart of the goalie.
Derek needs Danny to be a liar, but there is no lie in his words. Derek needs this to be just a cruel joke; but he knows Danny wouldn't play such a trick on him. The thought that Stiles might actually not answer his call, makes it hard to breathe.
`You were probably fucking her,´ Lydia nods at the direction of Ms. Blake, he voice is full of anger and venom, `while Stiles caught fire and turned into a human torch.´
Derek's stomach drops at the mention of Stiles burning. The wolf is desperate to find the boy, because he can't be dead. The bile Derek tastes in his mouth comes with the image of a burned Stiles. His knees give out and he goes down, hands seeking support of the floor so he would not fall flat on the floor.
Danny begs Lydia to stop, for the two of them to go. But she shakes her head.
Lydia needs Derek to suffer. She points at Ms. Blake, but her hard eyes are focused on Derek who looks like he is on his hands and knees pleading to an unseen God while Lydia lashes out at him.
`You were probably fucking her, while we watched Stiles burn.´
`Please. No.´ Derek whimpers.
`You enjoyed yourself while Stiles was burning, while Finstock and Greenburg tried to put the fire out.´
`Please. Stop.´ Derek whimpers and looks up at Danny, as if asking him to silence Lydia. But Danny can't, because he knows she will speak her peace and all they can do is allow it. There is also a part of him that thinks the man on the floor should hear it all.
`You had your dick inside her, while Stiles collapsed on the cold ground.´ Lydia is trembling with the anger she tries to control, because she can't scream any more it hurts far too much.
`Please. Please. Stop. Stop. Please.´Derek begs, he can feel the tears begin to flow. And he begs, although he knows Lydia is too cruel to stop.
`Oh, no. Not before I've said what is needed to be said,´ Lydia pulls herself free from Danny and she walks over to the werewolf, she glares down at Derek.
`While you were taking care of your needs, that adorable idiot was saying his last words,´ Lydia says as lowers herself down to his level, sliding her fine fingers under his chin and focing his head up. Lydia demands Derek to keep eye contact as she continued on beating his spirits down into dust, `and do you know what he was telling us?´
Derek's eyes are filled with tears, their wide, and while he has been crying for Lydia to stop a new part of him desires for her to speak; because is she doesn't stop talking then Stiles can't be gone, that is the strange belief his wolf has come too.
`He smiled at us, telling us it was all good, Derek.´ He voice is as vicious as a enraged pack of wild-dogs, `Stiles said it was all good because Scott was alright, because he saved Scott.´
Derek doesn't know why Scott needed saving, but nothing is more real in the world than Stiles need to save those he cares about; it is the one part of Stiles that has always made Derek feel fear, ever since Stiles kept Derek from drowning and back then they didn't trust or like one another, but the human saved the werewolf while risking his own life.
`He said it was all good because he was finally a hero,´ Lydia makes the word hero sound like something filthy.
`Do you know what Stiles had been doing before he saved Scott?´ Lydia asks, eyes narrowing and she grants Derek to shake his he before taking a more firm hold of his chin,`Stiles saved your Betas, stopping Boyd from trying to kill himself by drowning in a bathtub.´
Derek can't breathe, he had nearly lost Boyd? Again.
`He could have been sliced and diced by Isaac who was reliving the hell he had gone through in the hands of his father.´ Lydia almost snarles at Derek, forcing him to look at her eyes that if they could would glow with hatred, `And because Stiles has to save everyone, he even had to save Ethan from trying to cut himself in half.´
Danny has turned his back on them, because he just can't look at the broken man, not when he feels as destroyed as Sheriff Stilinski is.
`But Stiles doesn't see his a hero, not before he saves Scott.´ Lydia hisses, she watches as her words sink in and then she goes for the kill.
`Do you know what Stiles also thought made everything good, why he didn't want us to cry for him?´ Derek shakes his head.
`He said he was finally going to see his mama.´ Lydia's voice is soft, gentle, but it holds the promise of cruelty. `Then he said, that if Ethan was wrong and you were dead, he would find you Derek.´
Derek feels his chest grow heavy, and he wants to free the howl of mourning that pushes at his insides like a tidalwave.
`And he said he would tell you a secret he had been keeping for over a year, want to know what that secret was, Derek?´
He does, and he doesn't.
`He said,´ it's Danny who breaks the heavy silence that had fallen between Lydia and Derek, both had forgoten about the two other people in the room; one was sobbing on the bed and the other was standing near the door, `Stiles said, he would tell you that he had been in love with his sourwolf for over a year.´
The howl breaks out, and Lydia pulls away. She watches Derek suffer on the floor for awhile before following Danny out of the loft. She wears a sad smile as she turns to take a final look at what she had done.