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CHAPTER 16

Before the world came back into focus, something began to fall upon them. Lydia put out her free hand to feel the water touch her skin. It was raining. It was almost odd to have her hair wet, her clothes beginning to soak through. They weren't really here, but how could they not be when it all felt so real? The rain was almost refreshing after so long in the cold. Lydia was lost in the moment of feeling rain in a place that it shouldn't exist, that she didn't look around until she heard Scott make an odd sound in his throat.

"What the hell was-" she began in a teasing tone, but then noticed who else was there. Another Scott and Stiles stood right outside the clinic in the pouring rain. She had no idea what was going on but from the look of guilt Scotts face, it wasn't anything good.

"…Had trouble starting the jeep again the thing's barely hanging on. Couldn't get in touch with Malia or Lydia." Stiles was saying as he came to a stop in front of his best friend. Scott stood there looking at a loss for words just staring at Stiles. "Scott?" Stiles asked.

Both Scotts were looking towards the ground, but the one closer to the clinic reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a wrench. Lydia was about to make a crack comment to Scott, asking him how the he keep that in the inside of his jacket without it falling, but his face was so somber she figured now probably wasn't quite the best time.

Stiles was staring at the wrench in Scotts hand, clearly recognizing it from somewhere. "Where'd you get that?" He asked.

Scott stared at him. "This is yours?" He asked, almost hurt. Lydia was lost, she had no idea why the wrench was such a big deal. Stiles looked away before moving forward and grabbing the wrench from Scotts hands. He stared at it and twisted it around so that they could all see the splatter of something on the handle. It suddenly clicked for Lydia. The red on the wrench was blood, and the last time she'd seen Stiles even use a wrench was when- was when she'd seen Stiles ward off Donovan with it in the Library parking lot. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Stiles was avoiding eye contact with Scott. "I was going to."

"Why didn't you tell me when it happened?" Scott asked almost accusatorily.

"I couldn't." Stiles said softly, looking up to face Scott. His eyes were wracked with guilt and remorse, along with something else.

"You killed him?" Next to her, Scott closed his eyes and raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You killed Donovan?" His double was saying.

"He was going to kill my dad." Stiles said in his defense. "What was I supposed to just let him?" Lydia sighed. That probably wasn't the best response to the situation. Maybe something more along the lines of He was trying to kill me, or It wasn't like I meant to, or even You don't know the whole story probably would have been better than that.

"You weren't supposed to do this." Scott replied, aghast. Lydia once again felt lost, like she didn't understand something. And for anyone who knew Lydia, she hated not knowing things.

"Scott. What is going on?" She asked in frustration. "Why are you- or why did you attack him, you know it was self-defense."

"I didn't. I didn't know it was self-defense."

"What do you mean?"

"Theo he- he was the one who convinced Donovan to go after Stiles. He was there. He saw the whole thing. I looked for him when we were in the library but I couldn't see him. It must have been because Stiles didn't know he was there at the time. But he was the one who told me what happened. Except it wasn't the true story. He told me that Donovan went after Stiles and threatened his dad, so Stiles took the wrench and basically smashed Donovans head in. He said he couldn't stop him, that Stiles just kept bringing the wrench down even after he was dead, that he'd never seen someone so angry." Scott was still looking at the ground. "He made me believe that my best friend had coldly murdered him without remorse. And I believed him." Scott looked up at Lydia, eyes full of his own regret and guilt. "I believed Theo about everything. I believed him over my best friend."

Lydia couldn't help looking at Scott in horror. How could he have possibly believed Stiles could do something like that? Just a year ago he'd refused to believe Stiles could kill someone when Stiles himself asked him to believe it, and now it was through word of mouth and he'd automatically accepted it? She wanted to kill Theo for telling him something so awful. And she honestly wanted to scream at Scott for being so stupid. Stiles was one of the most selfless people she knew, and Scott knew him even better than she did. He'd known him even longer than any of them. How could he have believed even for a minute that Stiles could do something so heartless? She wanted to tell Scott all of that, but paused at the look at his face. The guilt was practically contorting his features as he hunched over as if a great weight was placed upon him. Tears were forming in his eyes as he turned his face back to his past self who was blaming his best friend without even giving him a chance at a proper explanation. So Lydia held her tongue. He was furious at him, but Scott was still her friend. And he didn't need the additional guilt placed upon him as they watched the confrontation.

"You think I had a choice?" Stiles was saying.

"There's always a choice."

"Yeah well I can't do what you can Scott!" Stiles said, his voice rising. "I know you wouldn't have done it. You'd probably just figure something out right?"

"I'd try" Scott said nodding. Lydia watched in rising anger and sadness. She knew it was Theo's fault, and that both boys were not expressing themselves clearly at all. They were both running on circumstantial evidence. Scott in thinking that he knew what really happened, and Stiles on the fact that Scott knew everything somehow and was still blaming him on top of the immense guilt he already felt. They were losing each other because of their ignorance.

"That's right because you're Scott McCall! You're the true Alpha! Guess what all of us can't be true alphas! Some of us have to make mistakes. Some of us have to get our hands a little bloody sometimes, SOME OF US ARE HUMAN!" From next to Lydia, the real Scott was staring at the scene in front of him as if watching a car wreck. He couldn't look away.

"So you had to kill him?" Scott asked calmly.

"Scott he was going to kill my dad." Stiles said, looking at Scott as in disbelief.

"The way that it happened- there's a point where it's just – it's not self-defense anymore.

"What are you even talking about?!" Stiles said desperately. Lydia could tell he felt helpless. He was angry and devastated because he knew he was losing his best friend. All that was piled on top of the immense guilt as he tried to convince himself it was self-defense when Lydia knew apart of him was still stuck on the fact that he was responsible for taking life. "I didn't have a choice, Scott!" Stiles looked at him in disbelief. "You don't even believe me do you?"

"AHHH!" Scott was screaming from besides her, and he ran forward towards the jeep and punched it as hard as he could. Through the jeep jumped from the impact, neither Scott nor Stiles seemed to have heard it. Scott was screaming as he punched it again and again, as rain and tears dripped down his face.

"Scott!" Lydia yelled, rushing over. His eyes were red and glowing as he threw punch after punch at the jeep. "Scott stop!"

"I want to" Past Scott was saying. Stiles face seemed to twitch in their direction, but his face was set on the past Scott.

"Okay great so- so believe me!" Lydia glanced in their direction. "Scott say you believe me." Scott didn't say anything. "Say it. Say you believe me."

"Stiles we can't kill people that we're trying to save."

"Say you believe me." Stiles said, stepping towards Scott with his arm raised. Unfortunately as Lydia saw, the hand he'd unconsciously raised towards Scott was also the one holding the wrench. And Lydia knew he'd lost him. Scott backed up as if afraid of his best friend. Stiles looked down at the wrench and back at his best friend.

"You can't kill people! Do you believe that?" Stiles was shaking his head as if trying to find something to say that could fix everything. From besides her, the real Scott stopped punching the jeep and brought back his hand, bloody and broken as he turned around and sunk to the ground next to the front wheel, head in his hands.

"What do I do about this? What do you want me to do okay, just- Scott just tell me how to fix this alright? Just tell me what do you want me to do?" Scott looked at a loss for words for a minute as he tried to think of what to say next.

"Don't worry about Malia, or Lydia. I'll find them. Maybe uh, maybe you should talk to your dad." With that, Scott turned around and went inside the clinic, leaving Stiles staring after him in the rain. He looked devastated, and looked at the wrench in his hands as if seeing it for the first time. Lydia knelt beside Scott and took his injured hand in hers. His knuckles were bloody, the skin gone, and at least two of his fingers appeared to be broken. She looked up to the jeep and noticed the large dent in the side of the vehicle. It looked as if someone had thrown a bowling ball into it. Stiles came around the front of the jeep and opened the door. He sat there for a minute staring at the clinic before backing out and starting to drive down the road. Scott had barely gotten out of his way and continued sitting on the ground in the rain.

"Scott." Lydia was saying. Scott didn't look up from the pavement. She was still angry at him, and she was heartbroken for both of them. She knew they were okay now, or rather, before Stiles had gone comatose, but she also knew that they'd had a falling out while she'd been in Eichen house. She was pretty sure she'd just witnessed both boys losing their best friend. Though she knew it would only last about a week, they didn't at this point. Lydia turned her gaze to Scott, unsure what to do. She didn't want to tell him that what he did wasn't that bad, because it was. They both did and said things that they would regret, but right now was not the time for a lecture. She didn't have the heart to come up with a lecture, nor anything that could make him feel better in the face of everything he had just accused his best friend of doing. At the same time he cleary regretted this, and she couldn't help but have pity for him. Unsure what to say or do, Lydia kept his injured hand in hers, and sat down beside him in the middle of the parking lot as the rain continued to descend upon them. She sat there and let her friend feel whatever he needed, not telling him it was completely fine, but not letting him process everything alone. She didn't need to say anything; she knew he understood. Before long, the world went black, and they were somewhere else.