Aria lived and she breathed as any normal teenager turned werewolf. She found herself in a conundrum of unsolvable situations, though she kept getting stronger. Her armor resembled less and less like feathers and more and more like steel. She was strong. She was not weak. She would never be weak. Aria Stilinski was a survivor. She would save Stiles and everyone she loved at any cost.

"Morning Dad." Aria calls down the stairs when she realizes he's still home, for once. She can smell toast in the air, she walks into the kitchen, "Burning down the house again?" She asks as she notes her father hurriedly waving a rag at the smoking toaster.

Her Dad offers her a shy smile, "I know you like it smoked."

"That's pork, Dad." Aria sits down at the kitchen table, taking a sip of the orange juice he had placed there. "What's on the agenda for today?"

Her Dad squints at the toaster, he hits the toaster, sending it to the side, and watching it fall into the trash can. "Kids don't like toast anymore anyways." He sits down at the table across from her. "Well, I have to work in a little bit." He says, looking at his watch, "I thought you would like some freshly made breakfast."

Aria holds up the orange juice, "Thanks, Dad."

Her Dad nods, "Thank the carton in the fridge for me, actually."

Aria nods, drinking the orange juice once more, sipping, "Have you heard from Stiles?"

Her Dad shakes his head, "I heard he's not in the hospital anymore. They said he just.. he just left." Her Dad seems to be becoming visibly choked up, "I want you to be careful, okay? I know you want to help, but, Stiles might just be too far gone right now for us to reach out to him."

"I'm not stupid, Dad."

"I never said you were." He corrects, standing up and putting on his walkie talkie, "You have a good day doing whatever you kids do on Saturday mornings.. so, bad reality TV?"

Aria shakes her head, "Stiles and I are still on season one of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, I can't skip ahead without him, he gets pouty."

Her Dad smiles sadly, "Yeah, he makes that face where he scrunched his eyebrows and huffs. Sometimes I think he's going to stomp his feet." Adjusting his walkie, the sad smile never faltering.

Aria stands up, putting a hand on her father's shoulder, "Don't worry, Dad, we'll get him back."

Her Dad nods, "I sure hope so." He hugs Aria, kissing her on the head, "Don't forget to do the dishes." He says with a wink, "Love you." Turning around and retreating out the front door.

Aria waves at him, "Love you too!" She calls after him.

"There's nothing wrong with Doctor Who! It's just you! There's something wrong with you!" Aria insists, poking at Derek's side, which she was carefully nestled into. He shifts a bit at the touch but doesn't react much.

He looks down at Aria, "This show is for geeks."

"Well I guess you're dating a geek then." Aria says with a smile. "Start liking this show otherwise we have to break up right now."

"You've spent the past hour telling me that you'd leave me for Matt Smith."

"You wouldn't?!"

"No!"

Aria purses her lips, "Oh." She pauses, "Ohhhhhhhhh. You're jealous. Don't worry, I'd also leave you for David Tennant."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No."

"Good job."

"Thanks, babe." Aria says sarcastically.

"I thought we agreed petnames were awful, Goldilocks." Derek makes a point to grab a lock of her hair, lightly tug on it, and watch it bounce back up.

Aria rolls her eyes, making a point to gather all of her hair and put it on the other side of her face so he can't play with it. "You are ridiculous." Though the smile still crosses her lips, "You're the best." She says.

Derek looks down at her, "That was an unexpected burst of affection."

Aria turns to him, "What? Are you saying I'm not affectionate enough?"

"Well no-"

"Then what is it?"

"I know you, and you seem worried."

Aria sighs, turning away from him, "Couldn't you just be my little werewolf distraction? Just for a few hours? Why do we have to bring up all of this..." Aria blows a piece of her hair out of her face dejectedly, "Stuff."

He taps her nose, "I know when something is bothering you."

"Right now it's starting to become you."

"Our relationship was basically you being annoyed by me. Oh, and trying to ignore my charm."

Aria rolls her eyes, "You were basically drooling waiting for me to come to you. You were like a dog waiting for a treat."

"You're fueling your fear and anxieties into horrible television - british television at that."

"Doctor Who is not horrible!" Aria insists, bolting up, "Stop that! Right now! See, if the Doctor did exist, he could swoop me up and take me away on an adventure of the universe and I wouldn't have to worry about anything for a while because I'd be back by dawn. Or better yet, we could go back in time and stop Stiles from opening that door to his mind, so yes, I am fueling my 'fear and anxieties' because I really can't handle them." She admits.

Derek sits up as well, "You know we are going to solve this, right?"

Aria bites her lip, "Are we? How many casualties are there going to be, Derek? Which one of us is going to bite the dust? This is war, Derek, there's always blood in war."

"Stiles isn't that far gone."

"Isn't he, though? My Stiles would never leave a psych ward if he knew by doing so, he could hurt a lot of people. My Stiles never looks like that scared little boy I saw at the hospital. My Stiles is funny, he's clever, he's flighty - but in a ready for action way, my Stiles isn't what.. isn't that thing." Aria shudders. She closes her eyes, "I leave Beacon Hills for only a year and I come back and my entire life is flipped upside down. I didn't come here to turn into a werewolf, or to watch some nogitsune take over my brother. I was supposed to sit in Paris and drink stupid lattes with stupid french names and be some kind of sembelance of happy but I couldn't have that. I had to go home."

Derek is silent.

"So I came home, look where that got me. Sure, I got you, which is the good portion of the deal - trust me." Aria sighs, "Just everything's falling apart and I'm stretching myself thin just trying to keep it all together."

Derek suddenly hugs her then, his arms enveloping her and she sits frozen for a moment. Derek's never been much of a hugger.

She hugs him back, her arms sliding around his neck.

"You don't have to be strong for me." He whispers in her ear.

Aria goes down to the gas station to get swedish fish and sour patch kids, which she accidentally grabbed. Stiles ate sour patch kids, Aria didn't have the stomach for it. Stiles would constantly call her a wussy for not liking them. Aria comes back home and realizes her front door is unlocked, she was certain she closed it, so this was strange. She lightly steps into her living room, the lights turn on all at once.

Standing in the middle of her living room is Stiles.

Aria drops the bag, "What are you doing here?" She asks.

Stiles, his eyes seem heavier, his movements more sluggish but more calculated, "Thought I'd pay my little sister a visit."

"Cut the bullshit." Aria defiantly sticks up her chin, "I know you aren't Stiles so don't play this game."

Stiles walks over to her then, picking up the fallen bag, he fishes out the sour patch kids, "He loves these." He says, returning back to his previous position, "See, Aria, I've been swimming around in his head, and you're in there quite a bit. He really loves you. Really really does." He tears open the bag, "Sibling relationships, something no one can ever really understand until you have one."

Aria watches him put the sour patch gummy in his mouth, "What do you want?"

"Cutting to the chase already." Stiles jokes, the gummy in between his teeth, "I only want you to listen."

"Listen?"

Stiles smiles, "Yes, Aria, listen." He takes a small step towards her, "You and your friends, you'll never beat me. So do yourself a favor, consider the good advice on me, don't start this war."

Aria stares at him, "Stiles, Stiles, I know you're in there-"

"Don't do that."

Aria stares at him again, "Why not?"

"It won't work."

Aria rolls her eyes, "Stiles, if you're in there, listen to me. Don't let this thing win, you are strong, you are a Stilinski, you are not going to die like this. Remember when you fell off your bike and refused to let me help you up even though you look ridiculous with your broken teeth and busted nose? Remember that? You insisted you were fine when you weren't. You even made me pinkie swear not to tell Dad even though he figured it out the minute we walked through the door." Aria laughs, her eyes brimming with tears, "Remember that? You cried and thought that I'd told him even though you were bleeding so much."

"Stop!"

"Remember when Mom would read us Peter Pan and she'd tell you that I was Wendy and you'd lock the windows so Peter couldn't take me away? Stiles, remember, don't do this, don't let it win." Aria takes a step forward, "You'd tell me that I already had a home and that I didn't need neverland, that I just needed you."

"STOP IT!" Stiles was crouched over, holding his head.

"Remember when you tried to beat up the first guy that broke my heart? You looked ridiculous, you got the shit kicked out of you, but I told everyone you won the fight so you didn't feel bad. Stiles, you have to be in there." Aria takes another step towards him, "You have to be. I love you, Stiles, please don't make me lose you."

Then, there's pain blossoming in her chest.

She looks down at her black and white polka dot blouse to see a dark stain spreading across her chest. The pain is raw, is tears through her flesh and she finds it hard to breathe. She glances up to see Stiles, his hand gripping something.. something in her chest. It's a sword. Stiles eyes widen in shock.

"A-Aria, ARIA NO!" He shouts as she drops to her knees. Her breathing gets raspy as his screams increase. His screams of anguish as the realization is made. He had just stabbed Aria.

Stiles wants to comfort Aria, but she can see the nogitsune pulling him the other direction, out the door, into the night, screaming her name like a bittersweet goodbye. She stands there on her knees for a few minutes, tears flowing down her cheeks. She hears the front door open and she collapses.

She lays on the living room floor, she can feel the blood - taste the blood, on her lips.

"Aria!" She can hear her Dad shout, "I need an ambulance, ASAP!" Into his walkie, then he's stroking her hair and he can't stop shaking. "No, no, please, no, Aria, please don't." He's crying so hard he's choking on his sobs. "I love you, I love you too much to let you go now."

"My devious little sister, back from her voyage, I see!" Stiles says, planting a kiss on her cheek and releasing her.

The memories come back like curses.

"I'm Issac, Stiles's friend."

Each memory stinging more than the last. As if it were a grainy film attempting to get it's last glimpse at life.

"It was nice to meet you too, Aria." Derek calls as she slams the door behind her.

Each teardrop is a reminder of a life she won't live anymore.

Aria grins, sitting up until she's next to him, "You're not that scary, ya know, for a wolf."

Issac bumps her shoulders, "Yeah? And you're not that scary, for, ya know, a human."

The memories get longer and just as painful if not more.

"You're underestimating me." Derek announces.

"Is that so?"

Suddenly, the pastry bag falls to the ground and she's being shoved up against the counter, the knife pressing painfully into her skin. He lifts her shirt, grabbing it out, "Yes, it is so." He says, his face only a few inches from hers.

"Okkkkkkay then." She says, trying to lightly push him off, "I get it, you're all strong and mighty, threat thoroughly recieved. Thank you so much for the heart attack and the nightmares I will probably be having after today."

She can still hear her father sobbing in the background of each memory and she can't shake the shudders that run down her spine with each new sob.

"Using your logic, I am human, henceforth labelling me plain and normal." Aria supplies, rolling her eyes, "Wouldn't be a first for me. I can't really do anything. I'm not super smart like Lydia, I don't have crazy strength and wolf powers like you guys, I'm not anything."

The memories get more vivid, and distant, as if she's not longer part of them.

Aria shakes her head, "No, I can't leave. I just got back. I can't leave Stiles and my Dad again."

"You may not have a choice." Derek explains.

"She always has a choice." Scott says, joining them in the clearing.

Aria remembers and the memories make her smile the quicker they come.

"If you mean perfect, smart, clever, witty, I totally agree." Aria gets up, brushing off her knees again. She bows, "Thank you, thank you, I've killed the great Derek Hale, hold the applause!"

She remembers the way she raised her hands in the air as if she'd won presidency.

"I don't want to leave you without knowing that you're completely okay." Derek says to her.

She can feel her heartbeat slowing down but she isn't ready for the trip down memory lane to end. The memories are so vivid and they feel so real, as if she could reach out and be apart of them once more.

"You've got your entire life to think about that. Want an egg roll?" Her Dad asks.

Stiles shakes his head, still sweating, he furiously wipes the sweat off his brow, "Aria, there's something wrong with me." His voice cracks and Aria thinks he's going to cry.

Why is it getting so hard to breathe? There's so much more and she isn't ready.

Aria nods slowly, she hadn't even realized she'd been about to cry. "I just don't want to have to go through it again." She whispers to Scott.

Aria holds onto her life with everything she can because there's so much more. So much. She can't handle not being able to see it all. See it all dance across the screen. Her life.

"Why can't you get better?" Little Aria asks, hope lighting up her small voice. "You can get better, can't you?"

Her Mother shakes her head, sad tears rolling down her cheeks, "I'm afraid it doesn't work like that."

She'd see her Mom again.

She'd never see her Dad again.

Aria offers him a little wave, "Just a little studying. If it sounds like someone's being massacred up here, don't worry. It's just me losing my sanity."

"Anything I can help with?" He offers.

"Do you know how to close doors?" Aria asks idly.

Her Dad closes her door, than opens it again with a proud smile on his face. Aria responds to his little burst of cleverness by throwing all the papers at the door.

She can feel her hope faltering away with each shaky heartbeat. She's surprised she can't hear the ambulances.

"Whatever decision you make, it's going to change everything." Stiles says into the phone, "Are you ready for that kind of change?"

"I'm sorry, Stiles. I'm sorry for what comes after this."

"Don't be. I love you, Aria. Forever and always, don't forget that."

"I love you too, don't forget that." Aria furiously wipes her cheeks, "I'm sorry for what's going to happen.. for what you're going to see me turn into.. I-I never wanted this, just know that, okay?" Her voice is cracking and she can't stop shaking, she stands at the door, her hand on the knob, "You'll stay with me?"

"Always." Stiles sounds like he's on the brink of tears as well.

The tears slip down her cold cheeks even faster than before. Her entire family was going to be ruined - just as they were when her mother died. Yet Aria is so selfish and the idea of seeing her mother almost sends her into a frenzy.

Her Dad sighs, scratching the back of his neck, "Aria, I'm really stressed out. I'm losing both of my kids and I can't stop it. I'm under a lot of stress to keep this family together."

"And I just got you back." Stiles says with a sad smile, furiously wiping the tears off his cheeks, "I love you, okay, Aria? I know we fight a lot, and we're really disfunctional, but I love you. So much."

"Damn it, Stiles." Aria hugs him, furiously crying on his shoulder, "I love you too, don't forget that, don't let this thing win, okay? You're strong, you're a fighter, us Stilinski's, we're fighters." She releases him to place her hands on his cheeks, "Don't you dare forget that, and don't for a second stop fighting." She lightly kisses his forehead, "I love you."

Aria wants to laugh at the pure irony of it all. It's nearly sickening, the irony. How she'd been worrying this entire time and now she was dying on her living room floor with her Dad crying and shaking and falling apart.

Lydia shakes her head, "We would never let that happen. Ever. You are not going to die, I promise. I promise you that, Aria."

Not everything goes as planned. There are always going to be casualties.

Her Dad sets a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay to not be okay."

She remembers this as her heartbeat gets sickenly slow.

Derek breaks away from her, his forehead against hers, "I love you, Aria Stilinski."

Aria looks up at him, her eyes opening slowly, "That was random."

"It needed to be said."

Aria offers him a smile, "I love you, Derek Hale." She says to him slowly, a slow smile working it's way across her lips.

She opens her eyes and looks up at her Dad, who can't stop crying and petting her, as if it'll help. She sees the front door fly open and she sees all of the flashing lights. They dance like mishapen ballerinas in their living room, dim yet bright with light. She feels herself being picked up, then she hears the screaming. She hears his voice.

"Aria! Aria! NO!" She looks over to see Derek Hale.

Then Aria Stilinski dies.

Her heart stops and she's looking right into his eyes. He can hear her heart give up in that final moment. The final bloody breath on her lips. The goodbye that could never be said. Her long blonde hair hanging over the side of the gurney, her usually fighty green eyes filled with life now filled with a kind of darkness that would make even the coldest of men shiver.

Aria Stilinski happily drifts up to the heavens without a thought on her mind.

Though everyone there throws themselves onto her body while crying. First it's her Dad, who can't believe his angel is gone. Then it's Derek, who can't believe the only girl that made him love had left so abruptly and so unfairly. Then there was Scott, who couldn't believe that someone he'd seen as a little sister had just given up on her own life. Lydia sees the scene and she hides her face in horror, she's worried once she sees the image she'll never un-see it. She'd felt the urge to scream all day but hadn't spoken a word. Lydia can't believe the lively girl who could watch nine hours of chick flicks straight was laying lifeless on a gurney. Issac Lahey crumples to the ground in excruciating pain, as if he'd been stabbed. He couldn't believe that he'd fallen in love with a dead girl. Derek hasn't stopped screaming, Lydia can't stop crying, Scott looks as if he's going to shatter at the slightest touch.

Then in the distance, far away, there's Stiles Stilinski, standing in a clearing, clutching his chest with hot tears running down his cheeks. Trying to waft his way through the devastation that's been newly built. In the back of Stiles Stilinski's scared messed up head, there's a young man, screaming, screaming out for a younger sister he would never see again.

Aria Stilinski waves goodbye to the world with blood on her lips and tears in her eyes. She'd gone through the filmy reel that was her life. She'd made it. She didn't need to be 90 years old and have three and a half perfect kids with Derek. She was happy dying here. She could have done more, she'll admit that. She didn't get to fly away with the Doctor, or learn how to ride a motorcycle, but she'd had it pretty good.

There would be people screaming her name for years. On loop, on repeat. Aria Stilinski would never be dead.

She would always live on through her words and her beautiful green eyes.

A/N: AND THAT IS HOW YOU EFFECTIVELY TWIST A PLOT TO HURT YOUR READERS! Thank you all for reading along, and for those asking for a sequel, I'm sorry to deny your offer, seeing as Aria is.. um, incapable of a sequel. Thank you for reading, reviewing, and becoming ruthlessly attached to Aria for me to umm.. become a sort of angry God.

You are all the best, you really are!

Thank you for sharing this journey!