He'll never forget Stiles' scream.

It ripped through the August sky, blinding and sharp. Scott remembers looking down at Stiles' leg, twisted in a weird angle.

"Fuck!" he shrieks, and it almost makes Scott want to laugh because he's immature and eleven years old, and Stiles has been dropping that word so liberally even though Scott's mom told him it's a bad word so Scott has yet to mutter it.

"Stiles! Are you okay?"

"What the fuck does it look like, asshole?!"

It's the tears in his eyes that makes Scott clamber down from his branch of the tree, falling to his knees besides him.

"I totally broke it, dude. It's totally broken I heard it snap."

He looks so green it's alarming.

"I-I'll go get help!" Scott stutters, rising to his feet to take off to his house, only a block away.

"NO!" Stiles panics, arm jutting out to grab at his sleeve. "No, don't leave me! Don't leave me, Scotty."

He knows it's irrational, and that he should get help first, but Stiles' eyes are so wide and scared and helpless that Scott stills.

"I won't. I won't leave you."

His head is a warm weight on the bottom of her stomach, and Lydia rakes her fingers through his hair, scratching at his scalp. If she loses herself in the feeling, maybe the bile that's churning in her belly won't escape.

Maybe if she squeezes her eyes, and prays her hardest to something holy, it will hear her and this moment will fade fast.

Melissa had told them to accept his reality as truth, lest he become confused and agitated. And Lydia had whisked him off to the bedroom to give him the privacy he would have wanted if his mind began to unravel.

"She's so beautiful. I can't believe you gave her to me." he mumbles, placing a searing kiss somewhere below her belly button.

She tries to make a sound of affirmation or agreement, but it cracks in the dryness of her throat.

"I'm so glad she's sleeping now. I've been trying to lay her down for hours now. But it's such a gift...I can't stop thinking..." he says, and when he lifts his head to meet her gaze, the gold of his eyes chokes her.
"Let's make another baby. I've always wanted this, Lydia. I've always wanted you. I don't think I'll ever stop wanting you in a way that scrapes my insides."

When he falls asleep, she tiptoes away.

They're all staring at her when she exits the bedroom. Melissa, mouth pulled tight and hands twisted. Allison, eyes red and hand under her round stomach. Scott, mouth parted and expression pained. Deaton, still and sober as usual.

It's the Sheriff's expression that kills her, and she has to look away.

For no reason at all, she's reminded of the time Stiles had left daisies in her locker when she returned to school after the disaster that was Winter Formal. She had known it was him, and though it should have alarmed her that he somehow had broken into her locker, it didn't.
Lydia remembers Aiden holding up her framed drawing of the Nemeton…For Lydia.

Lydia remembers sleeping with Stiles at the party, breaking the news of her pregnancy to him only to immediately sleep with him once more.

She had boarded a plane to Europe when he was still asleep in bed, expecting to wake up and find her there in the morning light by his side.

It was always Stiles.

And after years of one-sided affection, she was right there with him.
She was as much a part of it as it was a part of her.

Lydia was equally as consumed and blinded by the brilliance that he had left in her life.

She was tired of running away. She had made a promise to him, in front of their friends and family and God, and she was going to keep that promise for always.

Deaton told her it was suicide, but suicide doesn't matter much when their hours were numbered to begin with. So they don't argue, because this is their only chance, and after all this heartache and pain and turmoil, it turns out there is really nothing left to say.
Instead, the drive to the Nemeton is silent.

Stiles' hand is large and cold in her own, and Scott can't keep his eyes off hers in the rearview mirror.

Stiles doesn't speak, even as they pull up and his eyes take in the sight of the giant tree stump.

They all walk over together, leave crunching, breaking underfoot.

When Lydia sits down on the stump, Stiles mirrors her without being asked.

They take each other's hands.

"This is the end, isn't it?" Stiles says, almost sleepily. Lydia nods.

One by one, they approach them to say goodbye.

The Sheriff tells her to save his son, and that he believes in her. Allison tells her she's her best friend, and the greatest love in her life. Melissa holds her gently and just rocks her.

They repeat it with Stiles, slightly variated but equally loving.

Lydia tells them to please tell her mother she loves her.

And then Scott approaches and sticks his claws in the back of their necks.