Chapter 7

Season 6A

"I can't believe that we're finally done high school. All that's left is graduation and then we're finally adults."

"Well, that makes one of us. I have to take summer classes, which means I'm not graduating until after you guys."

"It's not a competition Malia. You had 8 years of school to catch up on. Besides, you'll do fine and you'll be able to join the rest of us in adulthood."

"Thanks for the confidence Lydia. I'll need it," there was a pause on the other side of the line and another voice could be heard faintly in the background, "Okay Dad! Hey Lydia, I've gotta go so I'll see you guys later tonight at Scott's?"

"Definitely. I'll see you then."

Lydia hung up her phone and promptly collapsed on her bed. She was done high school, it seemed like it never would've happened. She could've easily graduated last year but she wanted to stay with her friends, her pack, and didn't regret one second of it.

Everything was looking up for her. She didn't need to keep her nighttime activities a secret from her mom anymore, her, Scott, and Malia had gotten even closer over the last few months, and her and Stiles were finally together. Everything was going well, and she hoped that Scott's assertion that things would have to balance out soon wasn't true. She sat up and looked around her room, memories of the last few years flashing through her mind; from her relationship with Jackson, to the beginning of Junior year when she thought she was going insane, to the times that her and Allison hung out.

The thought of Allison brought Lydia's mood down. She still missed her best friend even to this day. Malia was great, but there was still barrier between the two girls, and though they were similar in the demeanor, she still felt that they hadn't connected as well as her and Allison did.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone going off. Moving to the other side of her bed, and smiled when she saw Stiles' name show up on her screen. Taking a breath to collect herself, even though she never felt like she had to hide herself around Stiles, she still had appearances to maintain, before lifting her phone to answer her boyfriend. She still couldn't believe the fact that she could call him that, and had to stop and collect herself once more before accepting his call.

"Hey Babe."

"Hey Lyds. I tried calling a little while ago but you were busy."

"Oh, Sorry. I was talking with Malia. She needed a little reassurance about the whole summer classes thing."

There was an awkward pause on the other end of the line, causing her to sigh internally. Though Lydia had gone out of her way save their friendship and clear the air with Malia, she knew that Stiles had yet to do it. He still felt bad, not that Lydia could blame him, and how unceremoniously the two of them had broken up and then got together with Lydia, and despite Malia's insistence that there were no hard feelings, she could tell that he still felt guilty. Malia knew it too, telling Lydia in confidence that she could smell it on him, but figured that it was best for him to get through this at his own pace, rather than being coerced by his ex and current girlfriends.

"Right. How's she doing anyway."

"She seems to be holding up. She hasn't said it directly but I think she's afraid that we're all going to leave her behind."

"Come on, she has to know that that's not true."

"Well can you blame her, when we're all graduating next week and she won't for another 2 months. The least we can do is reassure her every once in a while." Though she avoided saying it directly, the subtext was there. A sigh on the other end of the line told her that Stiles had picked up on it. He needed to talk to Malia.

"Anyway, that's not why I called. Have you heard from Scott?"

"No," she said after briefly looking at her phone to see if Scott had contacted her at all. "Why? I thought he was with you. Something about a dead body in the woods."

"Yeah, a woman had fallen and hit her head near a pond and drowned. Since it wasn't supernatural we left. We were talking and then after a while he got quiet before running off."

Lydia was curious and confused at their Alpha's weird behavior, but she didn't think that it was anything to worry about.

"Why do you want to know where he is."

"Because I haven't seen my best friend look this depressed in a long time. I mean, you should've seen the way his eyes went from happy to like someone kicked his dog."

That did seem like a cause for alarm. Scott was usually a beacon of light, and though occasionally he did falter during a crisis, he rarely seemed like anything got to him like that.

"Did he say where he was going?"

"Not really. He said he needed to visit someone and left."

"What did you guys talk about before this?"

"I don't know. We were talking about how lucky I was to be graduating because of the whole Wild Hunt thing. I told him about being taken and how I wanted to tell you 'I love you' even if you couldn't say it back. Then he got all morose and left."

"Well if I hear anything, I'll let you know."

"Okay Lyds, Love you."

"Love you too."

She hung up but her mind kept replaying Stiles' recount of their conversation. Obviously, something Stiles said had set Scott off, But Lydia couldn't figure it out for the life of her. She figured he would be happy hearing about how his best friend confessed his feelings to her and fund out that she felt the same. Her mind raced as she tried to find an answer as to where Scott was. Her thoughts drifted to the story that Stiles was telling him.

'Remember, I love you.'

'I didn't say it back.'

Lydia let out gasp.

She knew where Scott was.

She picked up her phone again to call Stiles, but hesitated when her finger hovered over her name. She thought about the implications of Stiles' story and how it affected Scott, and determined that maybe it was best if she handled this herself. Grabbing the keys to her car, and headed out to go find Scott.


Beacon Hills Cemetery was as quiet as it normally was. It was normal for a small-town graveyard, but it still gave Lydia chills, not to mention the fact that since she was a harbinger of death, her abilities always seemed to flare up whenever she visited.

Almost unconsciously, she moved her way through the headstones, her destination already known. After walking a few hundred yards, she spied a person sitting in front of a grave a few rows over, a person she recognized as one of her best friends. She steeled herself as she strode her way forward, but couldn't stop the feeling of guilt from welling up inside her. It had been months since she came to visit last, and though she knew she could blame it on everything that happened lately, it had never stopped her before and the words felt bitter on her tongue.

Scott had yet to notice her, his focus singularly on the grave stone that sat directly in front of him. Without saying a word, Lydia sat down right next to him wrapped herself around one of his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. The pair sat in silence for another ten minutes both staring but not really reading the words in from of them

Here Lies

Celestine Allison Argent

Daughter, Friend, Hero

The silence continued a few minutes longer, but now Scott's left-hand had found its way to one of Lydia's and was idly tracing circles on the back of her hand, the motion bringing them both comfort.

"You know," began Scott, his voice sounding hoarse from disuse and it was apparent that he had been crying, "this is the first time I've been here since the day we stopped the Beast."

"Hey", Lydia cooed, one of her hands moving to rub reassuringly on his upper back, "It's been even longer since I've been here. I used to come here once every month and tell Allison what had happened. I know it sounds stupid but-"

"No, I used to do the same thing. After…what happened, she became my anchor again. Not her directly," he quickly stated when he saw Lydia was going to question him. "It was more like I used her sacrifice to remind myself of why we were fighting, and for a while it worked. But with senior year and graduation and the fact that we're all going to be moving on with our lives, I figured that I needed to move on. I felt like I owed it to myself, to Kira, but especially to her to stop myself from not living my life."

They let the words hang between them for a few moments as Lydia let his words sink in.

"What changed?"

"When Stiles and I were talking earlier, we were talking about everything we went through to bring him back. As we were talking, I started thinking about you two, when I realized something."

"What?"

"I didn't say it back."

Lydia's heart broke. The memories of the night Allison died flooded back to her and she understood Scott's pain. Briefly, she believed that she knew how he was feeling but soon realized that, in fact, she didn't. When she said those words, yes it was while Stiles was gone but they were sure there was a way to bring him back and when they did, she was finally able to tell him.

Scott didn't have that luxury. There was no way for them to bring Allison back, and while she was finally able to repeat the words, Scott was forced to live out the rest of his days, remembering that he hadn't.

"Oh, Scott."

She reached across and pulled him into the tightest hug she could muster, despite her depressing thoughts. Scott needed this, especially now more than ever. Tears were running down her face now as she felt her left shoulder dampen as well. They stayed there for several minutes, both Lydia and Scott drawing comfort from one another and from Allison as they sat in front of her grave.

Scott was the first one to disengage, still sniffling as he wiped his eyes with his arm, and gave Lydia a watery smile.

"Thank you"

She unconsciously took up his hand in hers and the two returned to their silent vigil. Memories of every time the two of them had been there for each other over the years, causing a smile to break out on her face as she thanked whatever god was out there for Scott McCall.

"Do you know what I realized?" Lydia looked at him as he turned to look back at the gravestone, a small smile gracing his own face. "I realized, I don't have to let her go for me to move on, nor do I want to. She's a part of me, always will be, and I've accepted that. I've decided that I'm going to start visiting again regularly, at least until we all go off to college. After that, I'll visit any opportunity I get."

He turned back to her, his smile having grown in size. When their eyes connected, she saw many emotions swimming there, including a small measure of hope. He lifted an arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, his hand rubbing up and down her arm idly.

"I was also hoping that when I come back to visit, that I could have some company."

Lydia gave him another smile before they both returned to staring at Allison's grave, a weird peace settling between them.

"I would love to."

AN: This was actually the 2nd chapter that I wrote for this story, mostly because this was the easiest to conceptualize and plot out. The idea for this story came from 2 places. complaint that TW never showed Allison's grave or funeral and 2. I saw an edit on Instagram that showed the parallel between Lydia's 'I never said it back' and the fact that Scott didn't either. From there the ide just kind of came naturally.

With the chapter around 6A in the books, the closing chapter of this story won't come out until sometime after the series finale. Until then, I hope that everyone has found this to be a fun journey we've gone on together.