Stiles was straight ahead of his father, blindly looking for the room Lydia was in.
"Stiles, Stiles!" The sheriff called out, causing his son to spin around. The sheriff ushered him back, pointing to the door closest to him. Stiles rushed back towards his father, ready to open the door. He didn't realise he was holding his breath until the door opened and Lydia's mother stumbled out, tears flowing down her face and shrieks escaping her lips.
Stiles froze, every single drop of blood draining from his body. She's dead.
"Is she dead?" Stiles blurted out, his eyes stinging and hands shaking. He watched Natalie clutch onto the closest wall. Stiles didn't notice his father enter Lydia's room.
His throat was closing up and his heart was aching.
"Natalie, is she dead?!"
Mrs Martin took in a deep breath before looking up at Stiles with a new flash of guilt. "Stiles, no. No, she-she's alive."
Stiles felt himself come to life again with relief. "Then what-why are you crying?"
Natalie's whole body was shaking. She was looking at Stiles with sad eyes. "That isn't Lydia. That's not my baby."
"What do you mean?" Stiles frowned, helping Mrs Martin into a chair.
Natalie looked up at Stiles with shocked and heartbroken eyes.
"She looks like a corpse."
Stiles glared at Lydia's mother with shock as the hospital door opened and Stephanie appeared by her mother's side.
"Mom, it's fine. Breathe." Lydia's sister soothed, rubbing her mother's back. "She's alive, okay?"
Stiles' glare was switching between the two before he spun and went to turn the door handle of Lydia's room. He just about managed to open the door when Stiles' father blocked him, moving him back.
"Stiles, don't go in there."
Stiles was bewildered. He couldn't register why everyone was so devastated. Lydia was alive. She was alive, within in five feet of Stiles and he wanted to see her.
"What the hell is going on?!" Stiles yelled, looking around the hallway as if someone would help him understand.
"Son, please just listen to me." The sheriff sighed, holding out his hands to calm his son down.
"I haven't seen her in a month! I thought she was dead for a god damn month and you won't let me see her!" Stiles yelled, feeling the blood pumping in his temple.
"Mr Stilinski." The voice of the familiar detective bellowed from down the hall. Stiles and his father turn to face the gentleman rushing towards them.
Stiles was beyond furious. Everyone was preventing him from entering that room and all he wanted to do was make sure she was in one piece.
"I have something you'll probably want to see before you enter that room." The detective lightened his tone. "It might soften the blow a little."
Stiles frowned at the detective, watching him pull out a phone from his pocket. Stiles studied the phone until the pink sparkly case was recognisable.
Lydia's phone.
..
The detective and the sheriff settled Stiles in a waiting room, with nothing but their presence, a table and a television. The detective connected Lydia's phone to the screen in front of Stiles before playing a video. Stiles felt the nerves take the better of him. He didn't want to watch anything he didn't want to see, but he was also extremely desperate and curious.
Stiles looked between his father in the corner and the detective standing behind the television before Lydia's voice fed through the speakers.
"Day five."
Stiles turned to the screen and felt his throat catch. There was Lydia, sitting up against a tree, broken and weak. Her skin pale, her eyes sunken, her hair flat and dry. He almost didn't recognise her.
"Fifth day of no food or water, and no sign of any rescue."
Stiles' eyes welled up. His hands fell to his lap as he took in the sight of his beautiful Lydia, alone and hurt. He noticed how thin she was, how empty her eyes seemed.
"This is so fucking stupid. I'm recording myself, stranded on an island. It's like a god-damn movie."
Stiles watched Lydia push her hair back with shaky arms and she wiped her eyes. He was stunned.
It never really sunk in that she was stranded, all on her own. It was just so baffling. Like Lydia said, something out of a movie. But seeing her right now, on video evidence, it hit him hard. She actually went through all of this, alone. All those painful injuries and experiences and he was seeing it with his own eyes.
"I'm not hungry any more. My stomach's numb, but I need water desperately."
Stiles began to cry.
"I was hoping once I'd turn my phone on, I'd have signal. Anything. But nothing. I don't know where the hell I am and I have no way of contacting anybody."
He just wanted to pull her fragile body out of the screen and hold her close. His heart ached for her.
"I don't even know why I decided to make this video. I suppose I'm just looking at this more realistically. The chances of me being rescued or surviving is low. The chances of me seeing my family and friends again are..."
Stiles sobbed. He heard Lydia's voice waver with emotion and he choked out a sob.
"...They're slim. Very slim. So, I just wanted to let them know that I love them. And whenever this message is found, I'd just really love for them to see it."
She had given up. Stiles blinked through the tears, staring at the love of his life giving up altogether. She thought she wasn't going to get home. She thought she was going to die alone. His insides twisted.
He listened to her speak about her mother and sister. Sending them messages of courage and love. It was so painful listening to her conjure up her last words to her family, it was unfair she had to go through that. Lydia spoke out Malia, and Kira, and Stiles was in such a state of shock he barely noticed when Lydia called out Scott's name.
"Scott McCall. You're my best friend. I hold you so close in my heart. You have been the most caring and humble friend these past years. You've looked after your pack with nothing but love and protection, never thinking of yourself before others. I want you to promise me that you'll stop blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault, and take a nice vacation. Somewhere hot. Have a non-alcoholic drink on me." Lydia smiled through tears. "You deserve a break. You deserve the world."
Stiles wiped the tears that were falling down his cheeks. He could only imagine what state Scott would be in if he was watching this with him.
"And I hope that whatever happens, you'll hold the pack together and you'll keep Stiles with you at all times." Lydia laughed weakly. "He'd be in pieces without you. We all would."
Stiles' heart stopped at the sound of Lydia saying his name. That was all he wanted to hear ever since she was taken from him.
"Derek, we've never been a close pair. But I just wanted to thank you for looking after me, from the moment I met you you've protected me and I owe you for that. Don't let the pack drive you into insanity. But, do me a favour and get them out of trouble when they manage to fall into it. I won't be around to help them any more, so I'm relying on you."
Stiles could see Lydia getting more and more in a state. He knew who was next. And his heart couldn't take it.
"Stiles Stilinski."
Stiles watched Lydia break into sobs, and that's when he snapped.
The tears poured from his eyes and he brought his hands up to his mouth as the gasps and sobs escaped. He was shaking with tears.
"Oh god, I can't do this." Her voice was merely a whisper out of the television, and Stiles watched her with desperation and hope. There she was, so close to her death bed and yet, present day, she was unconscious but alive in a few rooms down.
"Stiles, I'm so sorry."
Stiles' hands were holding his head up as he watched the love of his life cry to him.
"The last thing you said to me was that you would be waiting at the airport and the thought of you standing there completely oblivious to what had happened breaks my heart."
Stiles choked out some more tears as he thought back to the moment he'd found out. He wished he could go back in time and be at that airport, flowers in his hand and nothing bad would have happened. She would have walked out and run into his arms, just like he expected. He'd give anything to go back and change it.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that and I wish I could just rewind and land the god damn plane myself because the thought of not saying goodbye to you properly hurts. It hurts so much."
Stiles was shaking with tears. He looked over at his father who had his hand covering his face as he sobbed in the corner quietly and that set Stiles off even more.
"I can't spend the rest of my life with you. I won't hear your laughter, or your ridiculous jokes ever again. I won't ever get to see your smile again. I want nothing more right now than to fall into your arms and be held by you until I fall asleep. It sickens me that as soon as we finally move forward from our friendship and into a relationship it gets snatched away because I honestly love you so much."
Stiles stared at the screen, his whole body stiff.
"I love you, Stiles Stilinski and I can't believe I didn't tell you before."
Stiles' heart was being torn to shreds. He struggled to catch his breath as the sobs took over his body.
"I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, raise a family with you, grow old with you. And now I can't do that and I'm so upset."
Stiles watched Lydia gasp through the tears and he felt his heart crumble. His hands grew tighter around his mouth as he tried to stop the sobs escaping his mouth. He wanted to hear every word, but at the same time he couldn't bare to watch or listen to Lydia crying like this.
"You said you'd wait for me, and you did, and now all that was for nothing. I'm sorry, and I want you to not wait. I want you to move on and find someone that loves you just as much as you love me, because you deserve that. You deserve love. You deserve everything that you want in life, because you're smart, and beautiful and you're the whole freaking world. You're my world. You're all I care about and I can't believe I'm losing you. It's not fair. It's not fair to you and I'm so, so sorry."
His heart was breaking through his chest. He couldn't breathe, he just wanted her to not feel like that. He wanted her to not be lonely, to jump into the screen and tell her he's still there and he loves her too.
"I love you, Stiles Stilinski. I love you all deeply. Don't be sad. I'm gonna be with Allison soon."
Stiles collapsed to the ground. The chair slid back behind him and he sobbed against the floor.
"And we'll be looking down on you all, making sure you're all okay."
The sheriff approached Stiles quickly and leaned down beside him, telling him it was okay.
"And whenever you're sad, just imagine us up there, laughing and joking and smiling down on Beacon Hills. Melissa, Sheriff, all of you."
The sheriff looked up at the sound of his name, his tears getting the better of him.
"You've been so wonderful to me and I couldn't have asked for a better family. So stay safe, fight off the monsters and stick together."
Stiles couldn't pull himself up. He kept his head on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably while listening to Lydia's breaking voice.
"And I know that in the future, I'll just be a memory, but please don't forget about me." It was too much for Stiles, hearing her cry and plead like that.
"I don't want to be forgotten-"
"Turn it off!" Stiles screamed into the floor. The sheriff looked up at the detective desperately before he rushed and switched the television off.
The room remained silent, just the sound of Stiles' sobs.
He hurt more than ever before. And he was scared. He felt like she wasn't alive, that she was still on that island and those were her last words. Panic took over him and he sat up in terror.
"I need to see her." He gasped through tears. "I need to see her."
The detective looked at the sheriff.
"Stiles, are you sure?"
Stiles nodded. "I'm sure. I need to see that she's there with my own eyes. I need to know she's okay."