Summary: They almost made it.
Major Character Death (Stiles)
Implied Derek/Stiles Unresolved something.
They were almost there, just a little further and they would be there, just a little more.
Stiles looked up and saw the gate coming down, "Hurry, Cora." He yelled turning to look at her.
"I can't, Stiles I can't." She gasped, stopping to grab her side.
"Yes, yes you can." Stiles said, grabbing her hand and jerking her harshly towards the exit.
He ran with his arm around her waist, practically carrying her as they ran, the gate closing, their exit shrinking.
"We won't both make it, Stiles, you should go, take care of Derek, yeah?" She asked.
Stiles looked at her, he knew that Derek couldn't lose her, he had told him once, during Lydia's wedding reception where all of the wolves had gotten drunk on wolfsbane wine.
"I know we won't both make it." Stiles said as he looked at the closing gate and shoved Cora forward and sent her stumbling through the opening just before the gate slamed down with a clunk.
"Stiles!" Cora shouted turing to stare at him, the water they had been racing swirling at his feet as she looked at the human that was on the wrong side of the gate.
"It's gonna be okay, Cora." Stiles smiled.
"No, you were supposed to make it." She cried, wedging her hand through the bars in the gate to hold Stiles' hand.
Stiles shook his head, "Derek is going to be fine without me, I'm not Pack remember, you're Pack."
"Stiles, you are Pack, Derek's just scared to say it."
"I know." Stiles whispered, the water at his knees now, "You have to go, the rest of the Pack should be nearby, they'll find you soon."
"I'm not leaving you to die here. There's got to be a way to open the gate." Cora said looking around frantically.
"Cora, Cora!" Stiles shouted, grabbing her wrists and squeezing tightly, "It's set on a timer, I checked before coming down here to look for you, I thought I would find you sooner." Stiles shrugged, "It's going to be okay."
"How is it going to be okay?!" Cora cried, tears streaming down her face, "You're going to die!"
"But you aren't." Stiles said firmly, the water laping at his chest now, "You're not going to die here, and you're not going to stay and watch me die either."
"I'm not going to leave you here alone, you're Pack and Pack doesn't abandon Pack." Cora told him.
"I know, Cora, I know, but if you stay here, the Pack won't find you, and that means they won't find me, my dad will never know what happened, he needs to know what happened, okay, so you need to go." Stiles returned.
"Stiles..." Cora began as they had to begin swimming to keep their heads above water.
"When the water hits the roof, you swim to the exit, you understand, and you don't come back even after the water goes down, okay." Stiles told her.
"I don't want you to die alone." Cora whispered.
Stiles nodded, his head ducking underwater for a moment, "Did I tell you about the time I held Derek up in the school pool for hours while he was paralized?" Stiles asked.
Cora nodded, "Only a hundred times at Pack meetings." She laughed.
"He's always such a Sourwolf about it." Stiles said with a laugh.
"Stiles, I don't want to leave you." Cora said tightening her grip on Stiles' hand.
"Cora, you... you have to." Stiles said spitting water from his mouth to speak.
"Please don't make me." Cora begged, tears filling her eyes again.
"He said he can't lose you, Cora, don't let that happen, okay." Stiles begged her.
"Stiles..." Cora sobbed.
"Don't tell him I loved him, don't do that to him, promise me you won't tell him I loved him, promise me." Stiles begged her.
"I pr-, I promise." Cora said, her head ducking uder the water for a moment before she surfaced again.
"Thank you, Cora, now go." Stiles said, pulling his hand away from her, "Go!"
Cora started swimming away from Stiles, catching a breath as the water filled the rest of the tunnel, she turned back to see Stiles floating under the water making shooing motions at her, holding his breath. Cora nodded once and turned back around and swam, Stiles' last shout echoing in her head as she swam.
Her head felt fuzzy by the time she broke the surface and breathed in oxygen, she scrambled up on to solid ground and just laid there for a while.
Stiles watched Cora swim away, he watched until she was out of sight and the breath he'd taken began to run out and he still watched where she had gone, a small part of him hoped that the others would make it in time to save him, but the larger part of him knew better.
He thought back to when Matt had died, way back when the Kanima was their biggest threat, and what he had told the counsler.
He wasn't panicing, he had made his choice and he wouldn't change it, not for all the time in the world with his family, this was his moment, and he wasn't a Hero of any sort but that was okay, because Cora was going to live and that was good.
Stiles closed his eyes and let his grip on the bar go, without noticing he took a breath and then he was drifting away, his mother opening her arms out to him and a woman with Derek's eyes and Cora's wild hair offering him a smile and her hand, the smiling man next to her with Derek's jaw clapping him on the back and the woman he recognized as Laura from his brief encounter with her body hugging him tightly as they took him away and into the light, telling him about the rest of the family he was going to meet.
They found Cora sitting with her knees drawn to her chest watching the hole that they knew filled with water when the city let the dam open so the rains could fill it again.
"Cora!" Derek shouted relieved, his arms wrapping around her almost without his consent as he dropped to his knees next to her.
Cora turned and sobbed into Derek's shoulder for long moments, her grip brusing.
"Hey, Stiles was supposed to look for you over here, did he get lost?" Scott asked, "Do we have to set up a search grid for Stiles now?"
Cora sobbed harder.
"Cora?" Derek asked, pulling away from her for a moment, "Have you seen Stiles?"
Cora nodded, tears still streaming down her face.
"Where is he?" Isaac asked.
Cora looked at the hole and they frowned in confusion, except Peter who dropped into the hole and walked through the tunnel, and then Peter howled in grief and sorrow and they knew, they knew that Stiles was gone, that he was dead.
One by one the others dropped down to see for themselves, but Cora wouldn't.
"I'm not allowed to go back, he made me promise, Derek, he made me promise." Cora cried, holding onto her brother tightly.
"Okay, let's..." Derek swallowed thickly, "Let's wait for the Pack at the loft then."
Cora nodded and let Derek carry her to the car and drive them back to he loft.
Cora watched the people lower Stiles gently into the hole that he would stay in for the rest of time and Isaac's arm tight around her waist was the only thing that kept her from shouting her protests, Stiles had died in a hole, he shouldn't be buried in one but the only other way to lay him to rest was cremation and they were reluctant to do that too.
The funeral had been closed casket and Cora was afraid of what the water had done to Stiles that made his father decide to keep the casket closed.
She recognized the picture the man had used, it was one that had been of all of them, only Danny had blown up the picture and isolated Stiles but he couldn't get the boy's who face without cutting through Derek's so he had left Derek there. The boy was grinning, his arms around Derek's neck, his face pressed into Derek's cheek, and Derek had an almost invisible smile playing on his lips as he read a book with Stiles hanging on over his shoulder.
Cora watched her brother, he moved mechanically and always turned as if to look for Stiles before his face fell, she knew he wasn't sleeping, she could smell the exhaustion on him as he did what Alpha's were meant to do, only, his heart wasn't in it, he was happy when the Pack was around but after they left the ghost that was her brother returned.
"He told me not to tell you." Cora said quietly as she sat next to her brother.
"Tell me what?" Derek asked, turning to her.
"He told me not to tell you that he loved you, he didn't want to do that to you, but you need to know that..." Cora took a breath, "You need to know that I lived because he loved you so much that... that-." Cora couldn't finish as her brother took her in his arms and held her tightly.
"You aren't to blame, Stiles..." Derek stopped to breath, "Stiles made a choice, he knew that-" Derek stopped, "Stiles made a choice, he chose to save you, he chose you because that is... was the kind of person he is... was."
"He could have saved himself." Cora sobbed.
"Yeah, he could have, he could have saved himself so many times, but he didn't want to be Robin all the time." Derek forced a smile for Cora, "He made a good Batman, didn't he?"
Cora sniffled. "Yeah, yeah he did."
'You know, when you're drowning you don't actually inhale until right before you you black out, it's like no matter how much you are freaking out, instinct to not get any water in is so strong the you won't open your mouth until you feel like your head is exploding, but when you finally do let it in, that's when it stops hurting. It's not scary anymore, it's actually kind of peaceful.'