Chapter 6

Season 5B

With a deep breath, Scott pushed the double doors open and stepped back into the high school. It almost felt weird to be back here, to go back to being a normal teenager with everything that just happened. They were a few weeks removed from going out to the desert to get Kira and even less than that since they broke Lydia out of Eichen house, it honestly felt bizarre to go to class instead of fighting Theo, the Dread Doctors, or The Beast.

With measured steps, he walked down the hall towards his and Stiles' lockers, but the destination was in the back of his mind as he observed every teenager that he passed. He could tell that they all knew that something was happening, the police presence in between classes was more than a slight indication, but Scott knew the truth. Somewhere, hidden amongst the normal high school students, was one who was a genetic Chimera, one who didn't realize that everything that was happening was their fault, one who was The Beast. Time was of the essence. According to Valack told Lydia, the Dread Doctors were trying to get The Beast to remember who it was, and once it did, the teenager inside would be lost forever.

As if summoned by his thoughts, he saw Lydia enter the school as well, still a little bit as the stares of all their classmates targeted her, before she continued towards her locker further up the hall. If it was hard for him to adjust to being back after only a few days, he wondered how it felt for her since it has been a few weeks. He noticed though, that even though she held her head high as she made her way, that when her eyes would fall onto him, she would falter.

He could tell that something was bothering Lydia greatly. She seemed so much more reserved since freeing her from Eichen and she didn't have the same air of confidence that she did. He wondered if something had happened to her during her stay that had shaken her so much. It must have been something big for it to have shaken so much that she seemed like a shadow of her former self. It also wasn't hard to figure out that whatever it was, it had something to do with him, which only helped to strengthen his resolve to try and help her overcome it. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he had yet to get the opportunity to get her alone.

After a few hours of classes, ones that he understandably had a tough time concentrating in, Scott found himself in the library. Intent on trying to get some of his school work done, he sat down at one of the pack's usual tables and began reviewing entries from his biology textbook. He was able to continue as such for several minutes, before the sound of a chair being scooted out caught his attention, and he was greeted by the sight of Lydia sitting down across from him.

"Hey Lydia."

"Hey," she replied absently, her eyes scanning the library seeing something that he could not. He noticed her gaze would linger on the second level and the stairs a little longer than anywhere else, but he failed to figure out the significance of it.

"Are you alright Lydia?"

"Oh," she said, having obviously been lost in her head for a bit. "It's odd being back. Being stuck in your own head in an insane asylum, and then immediately go back to school is…surreal."

"I know what you mean. It seems odd to be going to school with everything that's happening, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," was her lackluster surprise, as her gaze once again strayed until they eventually landed on the stairs. Finally, he realized what was responsible for her mood. He slipped his chair around the table, so he could put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"You knew, didn't you?"

Her eyes widened at his question, the look on her face communicating that she wanted to avoid the conversation. Before she could try and deflect this line of questioning, Scott interrupted her.

"That's why Theo attacked you."

Seeing that there was no way around it, she begrudgingly decided to affirm his suspicions.

"I heard it. I heard it all." Her eyes were beginning to water as the memory came back to her. Her eyes drifted back over to the stairs, here they stayed for several moments before returning back to Scott. "I knew that Liam was going to try to kill you. I knew that you were going to die…b-but I couldn't do anything about it."

"Lydia. It's okay. I'm alive, aren't I?"

"But I didn't know that. When Theo knocked me out, I didn't know whether his plan had succeeded or not. I never thought I would miss the whispers in my head until that moment," she commented with a humorless laugh. "I was catatonic, and I didn't know if you were alive or dead. I knew what he was planning and if you had died while I couldn't do anything to stop it…I'd never forgive myself."

"Lydia, Theo's to blame not you."

"How can you say that." Fresh tears were threatening to fall as they made eye contact. "How could you think that, when you almost died, and I could've prevented it. I failed you."

"Hey, hey, hey," he said gently, as he pulled her into a hug. "f you need to apologize for that, then I need to apologize for Eichen House."

She pulled back with a questioning look in her eyes. "What do you have to be sorry for? You guys did save me. I made it out okay."

"But we almost didn't. Valack managed to sneak you away and almost killed you, and I couldn't help because I couldn't break through the mountain ash."

"But you said it nearly killed you before. You only did it once and it was a life and death situation.

"Yeah, but wasn't that life and death. If I could do it once before, shouldn't I have been able to do it again?"

"Scott-"

"No Lydia. If you're to blame for Theo killing me, then I'm to blame for Valack nearly killing you."

The two stared at each other for a long time, Lydia was initially adamant that in her beliefs. She knew Scott was right, but it was hard to not blame yourself, but she had to admit, if she was blame, then so was he.

"Okay, I guess you're right. We both need to learn to get past our guilt."

"Don't worry, if you start to blame yourself, I'll make sure to let you know, and if I start to do the same thing-"

"I'll scream until your ears bleed."

They both chuckled at her joke and set back to continue their school work, the silence between them no longer awkward but peaceful. They both were about to get started on their school work, especially since Lydia had a few weeks' worth of work to catch up on, but almost out of nowhere Lydia got a wide eyed, slightly terrified look in her eyes as her gaze returned to the staircase. When Scott noticed, he initially thought that maybe she was still grappling with her guilt, but something seemed different.

"Lydia?"

Her eyes snapped back to focus when she turned to look at him. She quickly glanced back towards the stairs, looking as though she was looking for something that was no longer there. It clicked in Scott's head, she'd seen something.

"Did you feel something Lydia?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but it seemed that she was unable to properly formulate her thoughts into words.

"I feel like…something else is going to happen here."

"Like what?"

She was about to respond, when the sound of the main doors being thrown open caught their attention. They turned that way to see Liam and Stiles heading their way hurriedly.

"Mason's figured it out!"

Their attention completely diverted from the work, they gave Stiles and the Beta their undivided attention.

"It's radio waves. The Dread Doctors are using radio frequencies to make The Beast transform."

With a glance at one another, Scott and Lydia realized where this conversation was going. With the Charity Lacrosse game tonight, and the news coverage that went with it, all the signs pointed to there being another attack tonight. The fact that Lydia had a vision just now, only cemented how serious the situation was, making it a near definite that something was going to happen, and it was happening tonight.

Settling down at the table Scott noticed that Lydia seemed more relaxed than she had been since they had rescued her. Talking to her had seemingly helped her let go of her guilt, allowing her to think clearly and hopefully have a more positive outlook going forward, as the four of them began to hash out their plan for how to prevent the next catastrophe.

AN

Just like the last two chapters, this one was another difficult one to write. Not because of the situation, this was one of the earliest situations that I wanted to do. The hard part was building the surrounding scenario and making sure that the chapter had enough meat to it. Originally, this chapter was supposed to be all about Scott's guilt, but then I figured that Lydia might feel guilty as well, so I thought the idea of both of them letting go of their guilt was the best way forward.