Chapter Text
Lydia Martin had spent years perfecting and changing everything that was needed so she could be perfect. Forcing her body to adapt so she could become the goddess she desired to be, all she wanted was to be admired and worshipped with reverence. The need to be the best, to thrive was all consuming; friends were lost along the way, but that was a price she was more than willing to pay.
Lydia Martin climbed the great Everest that was the Beacon Hills' hierarchy, she ascended the mountain like the rare champion she was. And once at the top of the hierarchy of which no one ever spoke of out loud, she soon became the queen and reigned over the Beacon Hills High School's fragile hierarchy. She would dictate your statues in High School; ïf you pleased her fancy your High School experience could be a positive one, if you were just above nothing and you did not anger her then you could have the average High School expierence, but if you had indeed angered the great queen be it in kindergarten or just last week then you were more than likely to be sentenced to a High School life of ridicule and loneliness.
Lydia enjoyed her power from the moment she found gained it, and she held onto it with no intention of giving it up until she left for college.
But like the great empires in the past Lydia's own little empire began to crumble on the day Peter Hale made his first move for power. But she held on while watching the pieces of her empire falling to dust, she held on tight and played her part in the play she had written for her and her alone. Lydia adapted her play to each turn that came, she did so with ease until it all went wrong. When the terrible turn came, she was horrified not to be able to change it or to control it.
She, Lydia Martin, was powerless.
With Scott McCall standing there in front of her, soaking in gasoline and holding a lit flare in his young hand, Lydia became aware of how fragile her kingdom of power was. She stood there as helpless as Allison and Stiles were, listening to McCall's words that hurt Lydia more than she had ever imagined; Lydia was not close to Scott, she didn't habe much of an opinion in the regards of Scott McCall, and she could help but feel a bit guilty about that.
Lydia listened intently to the teen, not even trying to come up with the magical words to stop Scott from taking his own life in such a horrible way.
But suddenly her attention was claimed by Stiles who was moving away from where he had been standing with Allison and Lydia, moving away from the area of safety. Lydia watched as the gangly teen took tentative steps towards his one-true friend, she felt something then that made her want to grab Stiles by the arm and pull him back. Lydia wanted to hold Stiles away from the danger he was walking straight into, there was something haunting about the way Stiles moved and the sound of his voice as he began to speak. Lydia knows that Stiles is speaking, but she can't hear the words he speaks as all she can hear is a voice at the back of her mind crying for Stiles not to go.
Lydia sees the moment Scott gives in to Stiles, the moment he agrees to stay. Allison gives out a strange sound, and at any other time Lydia would have payed attention to the her, but not then. Lydia watched Stiles and only him, there is something horrible inside her that whispers that this is the last time she will see Stiles.
Lydia watches how Stiles takes the flare into his beautiful hand, and she suddenly remembers the way those fine hands had once moved so effortlessly over ebony and ivory keys at Ms. Murphy's. Lydia had already at the age of five been wise enough to recognize talent, and to understand that even with a year of piano-lessons under her belt there was nothing she could do to be better than the strange Stilinski boy who had only just started taking lessons. Lydia did try and best the boy, but she soon realized there was nothing she could do for the strange boy with bandaid's covering his knees was gifted and she was not. She soon quite her lessons at Ms. Murphy.
It dawned on Lydia as she watched Stiles take the flare and tossing it away from him and the one he called his brother, that no one else in their broken-group-of-horrors knew about the talent Stiles Stilinski had. Lydia knew that Stiles never talked about it, he never offered to share it in class and Scott's silence on the matter proved he knew not of the secret Stiles kept. Yes, if Scott had known then he would have said something the night Lydia noticed the piano in Derek's loft, she had asked if anyone knew how to play the piano; it seemed Peter and Derek both did, but both werewolves swore they only knew how to play a few pieces and even those were with some difficulty.
Stiles had been there, and now as Lydia remembered that night, Stiles had looked at her with fearful eyes, a look she had ignored because it was just Stiles being strange.
A sudden breeze whispered across the grounds, giving movement to all the discarded plastic bags and pieces of paper, it whispered into Lydia's ear like a silent threat. Lydia's gaze moved from Stiles to the flare on the ground, and the flare had begun to move.
She screamed.
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Lydia didn't wait for the cab to come to a full-stop. She ignored Danny's desperate shouts for her to wait, the ride over he had tried to talk Lydia down and calm her, but she was fuming with untamed rage that devalues anything Danny has to say. With her rage feeding her the barriers between Lydia and Derek Hale's loft are nothing; she enters the building with the key Stiles had on his person.
Lydia storms the loft, but she comes to a sudden stop at the sight of Ms. Blake walking across the room; she is only wearing the deep-red Henley Lydia had seen Allison and buy for Stiles for his birthday or was it Christmas. The woman looks as shocked as Lydia is, and Lydia is very much aware that she must be a sight to see; her clothes are stained, she had lost her shoes at some point. Unlike Ms. Blakes cure messy bed-hair, Lydia's hair is a mixture of dispair and frustration.
Lydia wants to scream, just scream until her throat hurts. She wants to throw the bitch out of the loft, but her mind is set on finding Derek. With the clue standing right there wearing Stiles' Henley, nervous hands trying to sort out the messy dark hair, Lydia's snaps her attention towards direction of Derek's bed. And there he was, the great Alpha, face down on his bed. A sheet covering the bare minimum of skin.
The sight of Derek is what triggers Lydia, she runs towards the bed her bare feet barely making any sound against the cold floor, but she makes anough sound to awaken the sleeping werewolf.
`Lydia?´ Derek says while moving to sit up, he can't figure out why Lydia Martin is in his loft, he is still not awaken enough to realize that she was running at him. It's only when she tackles him to the bed, she starts to beat him and that is what makes Derek come too the moment. Derek pushes Lydia off of him, and she hits the floor but Lydia is back up on her feet within a second and attacks the Alpha yet again.
`You shut! You piece of shit!´ Lydia screams, ignoring the pain she feels as she beats Derek, she uses that pain to feed her wrath.
`Fuck! Lydia stop!´ Derek snarles at his attacker, he grabbs her by her delicate wrists, he has to remind himself to be careful as not to hurt her. Unable to beat him, she starts to hust scream at him while trying to free herself.
Derek had seen Lydia angry, he had seen pure hatred in her eyes more than once. But he had never seen her so out of control and he had no idea of what to do; he begins to think he should call Stiles when a male voice shouts out the name of his attacker.
`Lydia!´ Danny yells as he runs into the loft and towards the bed, he does notice the very stunned Ms. Blake who is barely clothed, Lydia is his priority. Danny grabs Lydia around the middle and pulls her of the naked man on the bed, and at any other time Danny would have gladly taken a better look at the package, but not this morning. "Cousin-Miguel" releases his hold of Lydia just in time to get a good kick in the nose from the furious girl.
The sight or perhaps the sound of Lydia Martin breaking Derek's nose has Jennifer Blake running over to the bed, ordering Lydia to calm down which only results in Lydia giving her if-looks-could-kill-bitch-then-you'd-be-six-feet-under looks which would have been alone enough to silence Ms. Blake.
`YOU DO NOT GET TO SPEAK!´ Lydia roars at Ms. Blake.
`LYDIA!´ Derek roars like the Alpha he is, but he has no power over Lydia, and if he ever had any such power it was now gone.
`It's all your fault.´ Lydia shrieks while still trying to fight the hold Danny has on her. Danny continues to tell her to calm down, but she ignores him.
`You killed him. It's all your fault.´ Lydia says her voice raw with all the screaming she had done during since last night. As she speaks the word killed, her tears begin to fall and the fight leaves her.
Derek who has allowed Jennifer to fan over him, turns to glare at Lydia, `What are you on about?´
`Stiles.´ Danny answers with a voice so fragile and broken it makes the name sound unreal. Danny closes his eyes because suddenly he is back to the moment when the sound of Stiles screaming in agony reached him, Danny had known at once because he had come to know Stiles voice even better than his own. Danny doubts he will ever forget the night Stiles Stilinski burned.
`What?´ Derek knows what he heard Danny say was Stiles, but he needs to be sure it is not a mistake on his part.
`STILES!´ Lydia screams, and starts to fight against Danny's hold, and Danny has to hold her hard against his body, he will not let herself attack the man before them.
`STILES STILINSKI!´ Lydia screams, ignoring the pain in her throat, `YOU KILLED HIM!´
Derek looks over ar Danny, asking him to deny the claim Lydia has made. His blood runs cold and his mind goes blank as the teenager begins to cry into Lydia's messy hair.
`You killed him. It's your fault.´ Lydia sees the way her words drain all the color out of the Alpha's face, but she feels nothing but hatred towards him. Lydia can hear Ms. Blake gasp, who tries to reach out to Derek, but the werewolf is on his feet, as he stands he pulls the sheet of the bed to cover his private areas. He glares at Lydia as he advances on her; not so close that she could do more damage to him.
`No.´ is all Derek says, he looks as angry as Lydia feels. The anger makes him look as hard as stone, his eyes bleed red and they glare at Lydia as the first no is followed by few more.
`No. You are lying. You're lying.´ Derek snarles, he points at her while the claws and fangs make an apearance. `I'll call him.´
The idea alone of calling Stiles settles the wolf, the claws and fangs pull back. Derek starts looking for hos cellphone, or Jennifer's. Derek could use any phone really because he's got both of Stiles numbers in his memory.
`I'll call him, and he will answer.´ Derek says as he stalks around trying to find what he needs. Derek knows Stiles will answer, because always answers when Derek call's, always.
`No,´ Danny says, once more it is barely loud enough for human ears to pick up but Derek hears it loud and clear, he turns to look at the goalie hiding behind Lydia. It takes a moment for Derek to recall who the boy is, he doesn't hate Danny it's just he doesn't like the way the way his smell changes when it comes to Stiles; just talking about Stiles make the rich scent of arousal to escape the dimpled teen. Danny may not wish to confess his attraction to Stiles out loud, but any werewolf could smell the truth.
Danny opens his eyes and looks into Derek's as he continues to speak, `No, he wont.´ There are tears in teh dark eyes, and there is no lie in the steady heart beat.
Derek shakes his head, he needs for Danny to be a liar. He needs this all just to be a cruel trick, a horrible joke. The thought of Stiles actually not answering Derek's call, makes it hard to breathe.
`You were probably fucking her,´ Lydia hisses sending a sharp nod towards Ms. Blake, her voice is full of anger and venom, `while Stiles caught fire and turned into a human torch, you were fucking her.´
Derek's stomach drops at the mention of Stiles burning. The wolf is desperate for them to find the boy, because Stiles has to be save. Stiles can't be dead. The bile Derek tastes in his mouth comes with the image of a burned Stiles. Derek feels his knees give out, but he makes no move to stop himself from hitting the floor. He lands on his knees, and he struggles to breathe, his hands searching for support from the floor beneath him.
Danny begs Lydia to stop, for the two of them to go. But Lydia shakes her head, she isn't done yet.
Lydia needs Derek to suffer. She points at Ms. Blake, her cold eyes not on the half-naked woman but on the werewolf at her feet. She can tell the wolf his pleading with the unseen forces he believes in while she goes for the kill.
`You were probably fucking her, while we watched Stiles burn.´
`Please. No.´ Derek whimpers, his hands are now in his hair and he looks like he's trying to fold into himself.
`You enjoyed yourself while Stiles was burning, while Finstock and Greenburg tried to put the fire out as fast as possible.´
`Please. Stop.´ Derek whimpers and looks over at Danny, as if to ask him to deny it all or to just silence the cruel tongue that lashes at him. But Danny can't, because he knos Lydia will speak her peace and all they can do is allow it. There is also a new dark part in Danny that feels the words are justified.
`You had your dick in her, while Stiles collapsed on the cold ground.´ Lydia is trembling with the anger she has tried to control.
`Please. Please. Stop. Please. Stop.´ Derek begs, he is sobbing now. Derek begs although he knows Lydia is far too cruel to stop,
`Oh no, not before I've said what is needed,´ Lydia pulls herself free from Danny and walks with deadly grace over to the werewolf, she glares down at him.
`While you were taking care of your needs, that adorable idiot was saying his last words.´ Lydia speaks with a unfamiliar coldness in her voice, and like a predatory ready to strike she lowers herself down so she and Derek are eye to eye. `Do you know what he said?´
Derek can't bring himself to ask, but she still gives the answer.
`He smiled at us. Telling us it was all good.´ Lydia's voice is vicious and it makes Derek want to just surrender to her. `Stiles said it was all good because he was going to see his mama. And she would know he died a hero, because he saved Scott.´ Lydia keeps her eye contact with Derek even with her own tears flowing once more.
`And do you know what he said as he began to slip away?´ Lydia's voice is flowing cruelty and she leans in closer to Derek, and while she whispers the words into Derek's ear she glares at Ms. Blake over his trembling shoulder.
`Stiles said that if Ethan was wrong, and you were dead, that he would find you and tell you a secret. Do you know what that secret was?´
Derek feels a heavy weight on his chest and he can't breathe, he wants to run away or run to the Stilinski house and talk to Stiles, but he can't he is trapped between fear and panic, and Lydia is the master that has him bound to the floor.
`He said,´ it's Danny who breaks the silence Lydia had allowed to fall, she turns to glare at Danny but the young man is walking towards the exit, `Stiles said, that he would find you and tell that he had been in love with his Sourwolf for over a year now.´
The howl breaks out, and Lydia pulls away. She watches Derek suffer on the floor awhile before taking her leave with Danny.