Isaac arrived at Stiles' house a little while later, slightly apprehensive, but also disturbingly aware of what was about to take place.

This wasn't something that Luna had well prepared herself for, but she knew it had to be done. Stiles was right - she wasn't using her brain properly because she was so caught up in her anxiety, and now she couldn't differentiate threat from feeling. She wasn't helping anyone like this, plus, she knew that if she didn't get her grievances with Isaac sorted, they'd be tiptoeing around each other for the rest of their lives - and she didn't want that, either.

So, with Stiles leant against his bedroom wall as a silent but present show of support, Luna sat herself down on his bed and took numerous deep breaths as she waited for Isaac to turn up, fiddling with her slender delicate fingers in anticipation.

And then he walked into Stiles' room - and froze when he saw her.

"God," was the first murmur of regret out of his mouth, shutting the bedroom door behind him. "Luna…"

"Closing the bedroom door was a little unnecessary - but okay," Stiles muttered under his breath as Luna's eyes darted up to see him.

"Wait, Isaac, before we launch into this, I…I don't think we should even speak to each other anymore, let alone try and rekindle anything. I d-don't even think it's worth the pain, and when I say the pain, I mean the pain you're causing me, not the pain I'm causing you," Luna spoke directly to Isaac abruptly, making Stiles close his mouth in surprise. "I…you do this thing where you care so much and you're the perfect boyfriend, and then you leave and don't bother finding me again, knowing damn well how anxious that makes me. It's…it feels mean."

"No Luna, you gotta understand - I just do it to protect you," Isaac croaked out weakly as Stiles raised an unamused brow.

"Oh like HELL you do, Lahey!" Luna snapped back. She took another angry step towards him, whilst he took a hesitant step backwards and Stiles took another step to the side, closer to Luna. "You know damn well I of all people don't need protecting! The Moon protects me."

"Everyone needs protecting, whether they've got the damn Moon on their side or not," Isaac mumbled back coldly. "And hate to burst your bubble, Luna, but I couldn't physically live with myself if I turned up to your house and something followed me there, getting you instead. So I keep you at arms length and I'll continue to do so, whether you like it or not. If I tell you where I am, you'll just try and get me-"

"Okay but if they get me, then they get me" Luna suddenly shouted in a rage, stamping her foot down in irritation as Stiles winced an eye shut. "This whole 'knight in shining armour; stuff isn't working with me and it never will. I can't believe you still think that it's even slightly valid knowing all I've been through!"

"It's true, it doesn't really work like that for her," Stiles jumped in, whether helpfully or unhelpfully. Isaac glanced over at Stiles before his eyes darted back to Luna, his shoulders slumping.

"I…I just freaked out, Luna. I'm really sorry, I don't mean to make you feel lesser than," he sniffed, sitting on Stiles' bedroom floor and drawing his knees to his chest.

"Well… I mean, you could've just led with that," Stiles murmured out of the side of his mouth.

"How's it been with Allison?" Luna suddenly asked blandly, dropping her arms to her side again.

Isaac's eyes darted up to her - Stiles' did, too.

"What?" they both blinked at the exact same time.

"I saw you tumble out of the storage room with her on that day. Was that cos you were fighting or having sex? I didn't wanna ask whilst I was there because it would be embarrassing and she, out of everyone, doesn't deserve it - even though I felt like you most certainly did," Luna sniffed as her eyes welled up with helpless tears.

That's when Isaac's own eyes widened in surprise.

"WHAT?! No, somebody shut us in and I freaked out and tried to kill the girl, just like she said - we weren't having sex Luna, you gotta believe me," he blurted out in a panic, hoisting himself back upright and slowly approaching her.

Luna finally felt the first tear dribble down her cheek and she lowered her head in shame - but Isaac tipped it back up so she was looking at him again.

All Stiles could do was pull a little face and avert his gaze.

"I promise, Luna. I…I swear. I wouldn't do that to you, I really wouldn't." Luna nodded sadly before slowly giving in and leaning on his chest for the first time in weeks, suddenly exhausted from all the pent up emotions that she'd been holding against him. Isaac held the back of her head in comfort and placed a longing kiss onto her forehead before clearing his throat and talking again. "Luna…hear me out here, but I completely agree with what you said earlier. I really don't think this is working. I can't believe I'm saying it but-"

"Don't," Luna sniffed out weakly before he could finish. "Isaac, don't. Save it - I can't handle it right now."

"But…you do know what I'm trying to say, right?" Isaac asked her quietly, glancing down at her.

"Of course I know what you're trying to say, I suggested it first. I just don't wanna imagine us not being together…like, we never even had the chance to be a…normal couple," Luna whispered shakily. "It was full of sex and then big chunks of supernatural absence."

"To be fair, you're a lunarlynx and I'm a werewolf - were we ever going to be normal?" Isaac chuckled back sadly, leading her to look up with a smile of sadness. She pulled his face down and pressed her soft lips against his for the very last time, feeling the tears well up in her eyes again as their parting kiss continued to intensify. Stiles pulled a little face and glanced away, giving them a little more space.

"It was a short ride, but still - I'll miss you so much, Lahey," Luna whispered against his lips once they broke apart, tangling her fingers in his hair longingly.

"I'll miss you too, Klypse," Isaac hummed back as he suddenly felt his own heart shatter into pieces.

Stiles felt fine, though - in fact, he was happy that this was finally done.

…

That same evening, Luna's life took a turn.

After breaking up with Isaac, Stiles told Luna that the next thing she had to do was consult the Moon Council again. It made sense, she knew she had to say something. So Luna sat there, ready to connect with them as she did every few days - but this time, something felt different.

It was as if she knew it was coming, but everything within her tried to tell her it was fake…otherwise she would run from it.

"Luna…your school friends, Erica and Boyd, are dead - just as you told Hale they would be all that time ago," Helena spoke as soon as the line was connected, barely leaving room for greetings. "Did you tell him that it was as The Moon warned him?"

"What, you mean in an 'I told you so' kinda way? Well, no - Derek hardly has the temper for me to tell him that we forewarned him of his misfortunes. His ego might just accidentally lash out and, you know…kill me," Luna grumbled, rolling her eyes. Helena smirked slightly and nodded in understanding. "Although, I definitely have banked it for another day, trust me."

But for a moment, Helena wasn't laughing as much - and that worried the hell out of Luna. She was usually the bubbliest of souls on that Moon Council.

"Helena? Is everything-"

"Luna, my darling…in about thirty seconds, you're going to be taken away," Helena mumbled quietly, her face hardening to one of sheer sincerity and slight panic.

Luna's blood ran dangerously cold. It was as if the wind got totally taken out of her sails.

"WHAT?! By who?!"

"By the very druid taking everyone else," Helena told her as calmly as possible, although her eyes were bleeding with sadness. "She's going to take you and we know it's coming - so you mustn't panic-"

"How can I not panic?! No, no b-but I can't be taken!" Luna blurted out, her eyes widening in fear. "You said they can't do that to me! That a supernatural being committing crime against us is one of the worst…this…this thing, she should be afraid of it!"

"It is, but she cares not. She's already done enough damage for us to prosecute her, an we will do so, but for now…I'm sorry my darling, this needs to happen. But you mustn't fret, as you will be saved. I promise Luna, you will be saved because I have faith-"

"Faith in WHO?" Luna croaked out in sheer fear as she felt a shadow crawl up behind her. She was too petrified to turn around, but from the look on sheer horror Helena's face and the blood slowly welling up till it was fit to bust in Luna's nose, she knew it was time.

"Your friends. I have faith in your friends - and to be quite honest, after all you've been through, you should too."

…

The response was immediate - as soon as Elsa reported her daughter as missing, the ripple effect was evident.

"Dad?" Stiles croaked out that evening as he stepped into their quiet living room. The moment he saw his father stood there with a sobbing Elsa crumpled up on the couch, his mind immediately jumped to the worst possible outcome.

Sheriff Stilinski looked up at his son with a slight wince.

"Son…"

"She's gone, Stiles," Elsa sniffed weakly before he could even launch into it. Stiles felt his knees wobble under his weight as he attempted to string the next sentence together.

"Who? Who's gone?" he finally blurted out. "Surely not…"

"Luna. My daughter is missing - more specifically she's been taken," Elsa wept, her eyes rimmed red. Stiles took a few staggered steps backwards before catching himself again, shaking his head in utter despair.

"No, no she's not," he mumbled thickly. His tearful conker coloured doe eyes looked up at his father in horror. "Dad…? Dad, she can't be gone, she can't be-"

"We're gonna find her son. I promise we are," Sheriff Stilinski assured him with sincere eyes - but even he didn't look like he was too sure at what he was saying, and that just made Stiles fall into a full blown panic attack in front of both of them.

How was he going to cope without his Luna?

Meanwhile, Luna cracked a tired eye open and let out a groan of pain as her senses finally came to. The ground beneath her was absolutely filthy, but it didn't make a difference to how she felt - and how she felt was beyond exhausted amongst and the pitch black around her. "You're okay," came a soothing voice from somewhere beside her, causing her head to jerk up in surprise, blindly trying to place the source.

"Wha…who is that?" she spluttered out, spitting blood out of her mouth and attempting to adjust to the darkness.

"I'm…I'm Scott McCall's mom - Melissa. Who…who are you?" Melissa asked back as gently as possible.

"L-Luna," Luna spluttered out.

"Luna? As in Stiles' Luna from the hospital the other day?" Melissa clarified in surprise.

Luna's heart shuddered. Stiles' Luna.

"Y-yes, that's me. Oh god," she wailed, feeling her eyes well up with big baby tears of fear. "How long have y-y-you been in here?"

"I actually haven't counted, sweetie," Melissa sighed back regretfully. "Are you hurt? You're bleeding…"

"No, I'll be fine, thank you for asking," Luna sniffed back. She sat up and dragged her knees towards her, looking up at the ceiling and realising something. "Oh god. There's no moonlight," she whispered out in horror.

"Not really, no," Melissa nodded with a wince.

Only then did Luna start to panic, knowing exactly what Jennifer was planning with her.

"Do you think they're ever gonna actually find us?"

"I…I don't know. I really don't know - but I truly hope so," Melissa whispered back, trying to stay strong for them both.

…

Luna didn't know anymore.

She didn't know the date, she didn't know the time, she barely knew her own name and she'd almost forgotten how to talk. She was hungry, she was thirsty, she was dirty, she was weak and she was extremely fed up. Her hands were constantly quivering and her eyelids were swollen from trying to stay up and active for so long. Her heartbeat was slow, and each breath was now becoming more laborious than the last.

She missed the Moon. She missed her strength. She'd soon stopped speaking to Melissa as she'd run out of things to say. She had thought of everyone about twelve times over - her mother, her father, her friends, Helena, Stiles.

Stiles.

Stiles.

She didn't even know who else was in the holding cave with her anymore. She was barely speaking, barely existing, and now she was counting the short moments towards her impending death.

So close. So many days had gone by .

How many days?

How close?

Whilst she was slowly losing her mind, the three parents in the holding cave were watching her with eyes of sheer concern and having full blown discussions around her.

"Is…is she okay?" Allison's dad was the first to ask, unable to take his eyes off of her weak little frame.

"No," Melissa answered back truthfully, stroking Luna's calf for comfort as she had done ever since she'd stopped responding to their conversation. "She's really not. She seems to be getting weaker by the second-"

"What did you say she was?" Sheriff Stilinski asked, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"She's lunarlynx. A peace-keeping entity," Allison's dad explained in a hushed tone. The worst thing was, Luna heard every single one of their words in the distance as her breathing became even more laboured, but didn't even have the energy nor the will to join in anymore. "She needs the moon to recover her strength and thrive. And I have a feeling Jennifer lined this place with Sunspot, which will just make her even weaker."

"Not to mention that there is no moon tonight, it's an eclipse," Melissa sighed back. She stroked Luna's hair away from her eyes and shook her head as she saw her usually glittering eyes suddenly begin to flicker and dim through her heavy lids. Melissa repositioned herself to feel her pulse, and her eyes widened as she felt it get gradually slower. "Oh, my god."

"What, what's going on?!" Sheriff Stilinski asked in a panic.

"She's dying - and fast," Melissa murmured back. "Luna?! Don't go, Luna. C'mon sweetie, stay with me here! LUNA!"

"S-Stiles…" Luna whimpered out weakly using the last of her energy - before closing her eyes and finally going limp.

Melissa kept her fingers on her pulse and shook her head within seconds, tears of devastation welling up in her eyes.

She was gone.

Stiles, Allison and Isaac skidded towards the trunk, their hearts racing from adrenaline. Stiles' hands were trembling as he ripped open the moss covering the door, desperate to gin her. He could barely breathe as he lunged himself into the hiding space to reveal Melissa, his father and Allison's dad sat in there together, squinting at the sudden amount of light seeping through. "Oh god," Stiles breathed in sheer relief. "W-…are you okay?!"

"We're fine," Melissa assured him somewhat regretfully, her eyes wide and worrisome. "But…" she slowly nodded her head down to her lap where the lifeless Luna lay.

Eyes slightly open.

Gone.

"NO!" Stiles yelled with such force that his voice actually cracked mid-way. Isaac's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"N-no. She can't be gone…" he murmured hollowly.

And that was when Stiles had a thought.

"No, no no c-c-c'mon Luna," he whimpered, suddenly lifting her slender frame from under her armpits and pulling her up out of the megaton as hard as he could. "LUNA, c'mon baby girl, c'mon! You can't be gone, you can't be gone," he groaned, as the tears of desperation and frustration started to roll down his cheeks.

He pulled her into the nearest clearing, on top of a bed of leaves in direct view of the moonlight, and pulled her hair away from her face so that she was directly exposed to the moon's brightness. "Please, Luna, you can't leave me," he sobbed as tears of anguish rolled down his flushed cheeks, before he forced himself to look up.

It was a long shot, but he had to try.

"PLEASE? IF ANYONE, ANYONE FROM THE M-MOON COUNCIL CAN HEAR, PLEASE SAVE HER!"

Isaac could only watch on in horror as the wind began to pick up around them, seemingly leaving Stiles' pleas unanswered. Accepting defeat, Stiles buried his face into Luna's cold collarbone, his relentless tears helplessly staining her neck.

And then, the inexplicable happened.

Luna gasped.

The blush flushed back into her cheeks and she gripped onto Stiles for dear life as she continued to pant harshly, desperate to get the air back into her lungs after being deprived for seemingly so long. Her large, panicked eyes darted up to see Stiles staring down at her in surprise.

"S-Stilesy?" she whispered shakily.

"Oh my god," Stiles choked out at her, his voice barely above a whisper as he stared down at her flushed face. "Luna? Y-y-your eyes…they've gone kinda…w-white."

"D-D-Do I look w-w-w-weird?" Luna spluttered out in worry, her chest still heaving with fear. Stiles smiled with a little sniff and shook his head fondly, scrubbing his tears away with his sleeves.

"No, of course not. In fact…you look as beautiful as ever."