Chapter 1
When the snap happened, Stiles was having lunch with his dad. He had just convinced the Sheriff to try a new vegan place that opened downtown, and was laughing at his grumbling as he opened the bag to see a surplus of veggie burgers and wraps.
Grabbing two beers out of the fridge for them both to celebrate, he called out to him.
“Hey Dad, I got you your fav-“, was all he managed to say before collapsing.
All around the preserve, he felt his wards tighten, before completely snapping like glass hitting the floor. A moment later, he felt a presence which he had come to recognize as the Nemeton slam into his mind, one simple thought being transmitted before disappearing.
Death.
Stiles threw himself upward, lunging out of the kitchen towards his father.
“Dad, we need to go!”, he shouted, barely even glancing at him. He grabbed his backpack from his seat, slipping his bat in the space between the pack and his body, spinning around to see why his father hadn’t responded yet.
The sight he saw is something that Stiles still won’t talk about.
His dad had his hand extended towards Stiles, as if he was reaching out to him. The right side of his body was gone, dust particles shimmering in the air. His mouth was open as if he was trying to say something, but the shock had overpowered him. Faster than Stiles could even comprehend the image, the rest of his father turned to dust, and he was gone.
All things granted, Stiles would have probably stood there in shock till the end of the world, having just seen his last parent disappear into dust in front of his eyes, if it wasn’t for one thing.
The utter agony of the pack bonds breaking.
Barely even two weeks ago, after a swarm of pixies had taken a chunk out of Liam, alerting everybody except for Lydia and Stiles, they had approached Deaton on the topic on linking themselves to the pack in a more concrete way. Obviously, they were pack, and they would fight anyone who dared say otherwise, but they wanted that connection that the rest seemed to have with each other.
Under the gaze of the full-moon, they had bonded themselves with the pack in the most concrete way possible for non-wolves, outside of taking a mate. A blood bond. The rest of the pack had been elated, finally having a way to check up on their most fragile members when they were out of sight. Stiles and Lydia were just happy to have a more reliable connection to the pack.
Now though, it was hell on earth for Stiles.
He convulsed on the floor before his mind could even catch up to what his body was experiencing, bond after bond breaking. While he could barely move, the pain soaring through every single cell in his body like a hot branding iron being slammed non-stop on him with no mercy, his mind seemed to happily supply the names of those who he was having a bond broken with.
Isaac.
Peter.
Scott.
Liam.
Kira.
Ethan
Cora.
Mason.
Jackson.
Derek.
Stiles quite honestly had no idea how long he laid there, tears streaming down his face as the pain seemed to never end. His pack. His anchor. It was just gone, with barely any warning. All that was left was the tattered remains of pack bonds, barely even there besides the dull ache of despair that seemed to plague him. If it wasn’t for one thing, he probably would have let himself die there, content with joining the rest of his pack.
One part of Stiles registered a door slamming open, before his name being called with utter despair from a voice he recognized. The voice seemed to get louder and louder, before he felt himself being forced into a sitting position, before two slaps across his face steadied his vision and made him focus on the individual in-front of him.
Sitting there in all her glory was his strawberry goddess, Lydia. Her strawberry hair was frizzled, tossed everywhere like Lydia had walked through a hurricane. She was dressed in a simple T-shirt, designer obviously, and black joggers. Her make-up was destroyed, eyeliner running across her face as she stared at him with one of the most intense looks he’s ever seen grace her face. In that moment though, Stiles thought, she has never looked better.
“Lydia”, Stiles gasped softly, still not registering enough to be able to say anything else.
The uttering of her name was apparently all that Lydia needed, throwing herself into his chest, her entire body with raking with sobs. That was the cue for Stiles to break down, the reality of the situation hitting him once more. His entire pack was dead, in only a matter of minutes.
They had lost, to a threat they weren’t even aware of.
Time passed in a haze at that point, neither of them really knowing how long they stayed on the floor there, simply holding onto each others presence like it was their lifeline.
Lydia, being the goddess on earth that she was, was the first to stabilize herself and speak again.
“Stiles”, she mumbled, still buried in his shirt. “What. What happened Stiles?” Her grip on his shirt seemed to get tighter in that moment, as if she was afraid that talking about it would make her relive the event again.
“I don’t know Lyds. I was just having dinner with my d-dad when I felt all of the wards that I set up around Beacon disappear.” He paused for a moment, as though he was trying to understand himself what happened. “I felt the Nemeton try to talk to me for a slip second Lyds. I’ve never felt anything like it.”
She straightened herself, wiping the tear tracks ever so slightly that littered her face. She took a deep breath, staring at Stiles in her eyes as she sat back.
“Well.” She said, with the air of authority that he had come to expect from Lydia when she was determined to figure out how to solve a problem. “What did it say.”
“Death Lydia.” He said, grabbing a nearby counter for balance as he stood up. “It simply conveyed death.”
Before either of them could comprehend the depth behind that sentence, they both jolted upward after they heard a loud siren coming from the T.V. hung on the wall across from them. It had previously been playing some random college football game as background noise for Stiles and his father while they had dinner, but now it was blaring a siren, as the presidential seal was displayed on an all-black screen.
Helping Lydia up, they both stared at it blankly. A moment later, a deep voice, almost robotic in nature, began to talk.
This message is being broadcasted by the Department of Defense of the United States Government. This is not a test. I repeat, this message is being broadcasted by the Department of Defense of the United States Government. This is not a test.
There was a brief pause, filled by the noise of the siren again, before the voice spoke once more.
At 6:00pm Eastern Standard Time, a worldwide occurrence of unknown origin occurred. Large amount of the human population appeared to turn into a dust like substance with no forewarning. Reports are coming in from across the world of similar occurrences, all at the same time. At this time, there is no confirmation of whether or not the occurrence is of extra-terrestrial nature. For your safety, please remain indoors. This message will repeat once more, before shutting off for your safety. At 6:00pm Eastern Standard Time, a worldwide occurrence of unknown origin occurred. Large amount of the human population appeared to turn into a dust like substance with no forewarning. Reports are coming in from across the world of similar occurrences, all at the same time. At this time, there is no confirmation of whether or not the occurrence is of extra-terrestrial nature. For your safety, please remain indoors.
And just like it was never there, the message cut off, the screen being left with a black screen with the presidential sigil on it.
Stiles stood there in shock for a few moments, before grabbing Lydia’s wrist tightly.
“Lydia, this wasn’t just us.” He said with a sharp breath. “The…The thing that happened in New York with the Avengers a few days ago.
They both shuddered slightly, having been at a pack meeting when the news came in about a spaceship appearing above New York. They had watched tensely as random civilians captured footage of Iron-Man, Spiderman, and someone who appeared to have magic fighting off two of the creatures from the ship on their cell-phones. The fight had barely lasted 20 minutes before the ship and the Avengers disappeared, but it left New York City extremely damaged.
Stiles took a deep breath, steading himself a little more at knowing it wasn’t directly his fault that the pack had fallen. “We don’t know if it was something to do with that, but we have to assume so for now Lyds.”
Lydia seemed to take that in stride, pulling Stiles by the hand into the hallway towards the front door.
“We need to figure out where we stand Stiles. The pack is gone, and as of right now, Earth just took a major loss. We need to see what allies we still have.” She said, not pausing a moment in her pace. She pulled Stiles out the front door, revealing what appeared to be a normal street. Nothing really seemed out of place, besides Lydia’s car hazard parked half on his drive-way, half on his grass.
They both ducked quickly into the car, Lydia quickly putting the car into reverse before speaking again. “I…I drove through the town before making it to your house. It’s not pretty Stiles, just as a far warning. People were driving, cooking, everything before,” She paused “whatever happened happened.”
Stiles simply nodded, before glancing at Lydia quickly.
“You felt it to, right?” Lydia grimaced, before nodding. “If you are referring to the feeling of practically our entire pack dying and the bonds shattering, yes. We need to figure out who we still have here Stiles, before anything else. We lost Isaac, Peter, Liam, Mason, Scott, Kira, Ethan, Cora, Derek, J-Jackson, and your Dad.” She said the last one hesitantly, as if saying it would force something up for Stiles.
Stiles seemed to ignore this though, nodding along. “We need to figure out what state Deaton, Chris, and Melissa are in.”
Lydia nodded, before speaking again. “I was with Danny and our parents. We try to have a little lunch date every week, because our families have been friends forever. They’re” She paused for a second, quickly composing herself as she gripped the wheel tighter. “They’re gone also.”
Stiles nodded tensely, gasping not even a second later and she turned onto the main street where Deaton’s clinic was. Cars were in disarray, buried in the front of buildings as if the drivers suddenly lost control. For those that weren’t so lucky at being at a stop sign or a red light, some cars were completely totaled, slammed into each other as if neither driver had tried to break, which he guessed, they hadn’t had a chance to. There were a few people sobbing on the ground as they clutched mounds of dust that was quickly being blown away in the wind, others simply staring blankly as they stumbled around, as if they couldn’t even comprehend what had happened.
Lydia hummed to herself, driving forward as they turned into the parking lot for Deaton’s clinic. As she parked, Lydia spoke again.
“I didn’t want to say this before Stiles, but the voices are screaming in my head. This wasn’t natural Stiles, it isn’t. There was no anticipation to the voices telling me to scream, it’s almost as though it stunned by banshee abilities also. I felt it, but I couldn’t scream for our pack.”
Stiles grabbed her hand, squeezing it slightly as he looked at her from across the seat. “I’m here Lydia. We have each other right now, and we will figure this out.” He said, squeezing it once more. “Now, let’s see if the Doc is around.”
Lydia didn’t give a response to that, simply squeezing his hand back, before exiting the car. They walked in unison towards the back of the clinic, blocking out the cries that came from the street behind them. Stiles quickly reached into his pocket and used the key that Deaton gave him a few weeks back, in case he ever needed to grab some supplies and the Doc was out. Unlocking it and pushing inside, Stiles held his breath as he pushed inside, expecting to see something. Unsurprisingly, due to it just being the examination room and holding room for some of the animals, there was nothing there. Stiles walked in, calling out for Deaton.
“Hey Doc!”, he shouted. “Are you around?”
He walked towards the door for the office, looking back at Lydia.
“Lyds?”, he questioned lightly, seeing her frozen in front of the wall of holding cells. She didn’t say anything, so Stiles quickly walked over to her, looking over her shoulder at what she was looking at. It took him a second to understand what exactly he was looking at, but once he did, his breath caught.
In any other situation, it would be meaningless, but for now, it meant everything. Instead of a small cat or puppy inside the cage, there was a small pile of ash. Lydia gave a small sob, as her hand covered her mouth.
“It was everything Stiles.”, she said lightly, as if it was dangerous to say. Stiles squeezed her shoulder ever so slightly, before steering themselves towards Deaton’s office. Stiles pushed it open, expecting the worst and hoping for the best. Unfortunately for them, they got the worst.
His office looked normal like usual. There was an old wooden desk in the center back, with a large window allowing natural light to cover the entire room. Both of his walls were covered with bookshelves, with a small mini-ladder on both sides for when his height betrayed him. He had an old book open, as well as his land phone hanging off the hook, as if he was in the middle of reading when the snap occurred. To the right side of his desk was a small pile of ash, which pretty much confirmed his initial thought.
Stiles stood there in shock for a quick moment, but before he could let it overtake him again, he felt Lydia pulling him by the arm out of the office.
“Let’s go.”, she simply said with a firm grip. “We don’t have any time to mourn right now. We don’t know what happened, or if there is going to be a second wave, and we need to figure this all out.”
Stiles let himself be pulled out, shaking his head a few times to clear his mind. Once they were back in the car, he spoke again.
“We obviously can’t fly to France right now to figure out if Argent made it”, he said softly, “so we are going to have to assume the worst for right now. There’s no point in false hope right now Lyds. Melissa should be at work right now, so let’s swing by the hospital.”
Lydia nodded in response, pulling out of the clinic and back onto the main road. This time around, Stiles kept his eyes off the main road, and let Lydia have his silence as she focused on driving. He pulled his backpack off, realizing he never took it off, and went through it quietly as they drove, his head filled with thousands of ideas on what could have occurred. Before he could lose himself in his thought to much, he felt Lydia’s hand on his shoulder.
“We’re here Stiles. This is as far as I can go.”
Stiles nodded, looking around. He realized that they had driven for around 10 minutes while he was lost in himself, and that they were about a block away from the hospital. Directly in front of them seemed to be a police barricade, with a couple of the cops that Stiles recognized from the station screening people before letting them walk up towards the hospital. Stiles exited the car, and a few moments later, one of the deputies recognized him and ran up to him.
“Stiles!”, the deputy shouted as he stopped in front of him. “Are you ok? What about your father. We’ve been trying to reach him every sense this went down, but he’s not responding over the radio.” The deputy would have probably kept rambling on, with Stiles staring blankly at his face, if it wasn’t for Lydia putting his hand on his shoulder and stepping in front of him.
“The Sherriff is gone.”, she said firmly, saying it quickly and without emotion. “We need to figure out if Melissa McCall is inside. Have you seen her?”
The deputy seemed to be in shock for a moment, before regaining his composure.
“Uh, no ma’am.”, he said, cowering under Lydia’s gaze. “We haven’t seen her, but then again, we haven’t really been inside the hospital at all besides controlling who gets in. You can go check for yourself if you both want?” He said, framing the last part as a question.
Lydia nodded, dragging Stiles by the hand from behind her as the deputy raised the tape so they could cross under. They walked in unison once more, united against whatever they might see inside. They entered through the emergency room, figuring that they had the best chance of finding Melissa in there. They saw practically nobody in the reception area, not even a receptionist, which immediately put a depressor on their mood.
Stiles lead them this time, bringing Lydia down the familiar hallway that he used to walk with Scott all the time when his dad would be too busy at the station to pick him up after his mother’s death, towards the Nurses’ station where he would wait with Scott for Melissa to finish her shift.
Stepping inside with a held breath, he sighed sadly as he realized that nobody was inside. He was just about to practically give up and scream in frustration when he heard the toilet flush inside the attached bathroom. He and Lydia both turned towards the door, hope in their eyes as they held baited breaths to see who was inside. A moment later they heard the sink be used for a quick moment, before the door opened, revealing an extremely tired looking Melissa.
She didn’t notice them both at first, but she heard the gasp that they both released at the sight of her, causing her to spin in their direction with a wild look in her eyes. She took in the rough state of both, Lydia with her make-up ridden face and Stiles with his messy hair, and let out a silent sob.
Lydia and Stiles both came up onto one side of her, the three of them sinking to the floor together as they let the gravity of the situation set in. Despite being almost 19 each, Melissa seemed to find a way to hold both on the floor as they let out the final sobs they’ve each been holding, the ecstatic joy of finding someone who had become the pack mother still alive breaking whatever restraint they had left on their emotions.
They stayed there on the floor for around 20 minutes, just basking in the overall presence in being around people who they considered pack. Their family. Melissa was the one who finally broke the silence, looking at Stiles hesitantly.
“Stiles, Honey. Do you know anything about Scott?”
Stiles’s eyes widened as he thought about how he would tell her that her only child was gone, but Lydia saved him from that.
“They’re all gone, Ms. McCall. The entire pack is gone, including the Sherriff and Deaton. Stiles and I felt the bond breaks.”
Melissa seemed to hold onto both of them tightly in that moment, before nodding slightly as she found the strength to realize that she could do nothing about it.
“Do. Do any of you know what exactly happened? This affected more than the pack, I had a patient disappear under my hands during a normal check-up.”
Stiles shook his head, speaking for the first time since finding Melissa.
“We have no idea. The news seems to think that it might have something to do with the alien attack on New York a few days ago, but there is no confirmation or anything right now. All we know is that the emergency broadcast system got turned on, and that this happened globally, not just here Melissa.”
She nodded, accepting this in a sense, before speaking once more.
“What. What do we do now? We can’t just sit here and cry about everyone. We have to do something you guys.”
Stiles and Lydia both looked at each other from across of Melissa, resolve hardening in their eyes.
“After all we’ve been through,” Stiles remarked. “It would be laughable if we gave up after this.”
Lydia gave them both a small smile, her brain running through thousands of ideas and possibilities ever since she found Stiles, before speaking with a voice of authority that so many had grown to look up to and fear. “The three of us are still here, aren’t we? Until we fall, all hope isn’t lost yet.”