Chapter 1: Slipping Away

Coldness seeped into her bones, she felt empty inside, and incomplete. Stiles was gone, and he wasn't coming back, her anchor, her soulmate. Pressing her back against the wall, she slid down, sobbing relentless into her hands.

Wishing Allison was here to make everything better; she always knew what to say. None of this mattered now, the ache in her chest wouldn't go away, and she could feel herself slowly slipping. Forgetting his name, his face, his memory.

Despite all this, the feeling hadn't left. Now there was a hole in her heart, where he used to be. A missing piece. What was his name again? She knew a moment ago, but now everything was just falling away.

A hand touched her arm, jerking away startled, she looked up, and almost sobbed with relief. Allison smiled warmly at her. Squeezing her hand gently, in soft comfort. "Ally…" she whispered, her voice hoarse from shouting.

"You're not here, you're not real" she mumbled, looking away. Allison reached out a hand gently brushing her hand across Lydia's cheek. A cold rush went through Lydia, bringing goosebumps to her skin.

"I'm real, and I'm not" she said, softly her voice sounding just as it did before her death. "I'm dead, but Scott he still can't let me go" she said laughing softly to herself. Her eyes misting.

"I... don't understand, how are you here? Am I hallucinating?" she asked, confusion in her voice. Allison smiled sadly at her. "You were stiles anchor, Scott is mine… he's my soulmate, and he can't let me go it's why I haven't moved on. Why I can't."

Lydia shook her head. Reaching out to touch Allison, she felt the same coldness wash through her body. Pulling away she frowned. "Why haven't I seen you before? Why hasn't anyone?" she asked, searching Allison's warm brown eyes.

"No one else can see me, like you can. They aren't as connected to death as you are" she said, rubbing her thumb over Lydia's knuckle, and despite the lack of warmth it provided it was still comforting to have her best friend back.

"You're the banshee, the wailing women, harbinger of death. You can see what others cannot" she whispered, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"I couldn't see you before, now I can. How is that possible?" she asked. "I didn't want you to see me, I was hoping that if I stayed away the pain would lessen. That you all would move on, and then I could move on" she was silent for a minute, the only sound being heard was the clock ticking on the wall.

"But you didn't move on, Scott still can't let me go" Lydia rubbed at her eyes tiredly, wiping away the mascara running down her face, as well as the tears.

"Ghosts don't have unfinished business, it's the people with unfinished business. When someone can't move on and there trapped, it's because the living won't let them leave yet" Allison sighed, still dressed in the same outfit that she had died in.

"Don't tell Scott I'm here, it'll be harder for him to accept my death if he still knows I'm still around. I wanted him to do that with Kira, but I guess she wasn't enough" Lydia let out a shaky breath trying to calm her fast beating heart.

"Why did you show yourself to me now?" she asked, her voice shaking and her lips quivering. "Because you needed me, more than you ever have before" Lydia looked up her eyes widening. What was Allison thinking.

"I heard you, internally screaming for help, just as I always here Scott, and I won't let you suffer like him. I won't let you lose your soulmate" She said, something almost final in her words. What was Allison getting at? Did she mean that…. "We are going to get Stiles back, no matter what, and unlike me he is not gone for good" she said, waiting for Lydia to speak.

"How? How do you expect us to do this? I don't even know where to begin" She said, grabbing onto the wall and pulling herself up.

"You're a Banshee, Lydia your power is the key to everything, now let's go we need to get the pack back together… all of them" she said, finality in her voice.

The pain was still present in her chest, but for the first time she felt hope bloom where it hadn't been before. They had to get him back, and she couldn't lose him, not even from her memories.

Wiping her eyes, she took a deep breath. No more crying Lydia. She had work to do. "We don't have a lot of time, before long you won't even remember why you need to save stiles, and then that ache you feel in your chest will become nothing more than a dull emptiness. Which you'll end up brushing off as nothing more than loneliness" she said, as Lydia walked out the front door.

Heading towards Scott's house, Allison trailing behind her, almost hesitant. The drive there was quiet and Lydia could see that Allison was deep in thought, almost conflicted. "Hey you ok, are you sure you want to do this" she asked, worried that Allison wouldn't handle being able to see Scott.

"I used to visit him all the time, after my death. Just watch him you know, make sure he was ok, I only realized later that I was hurting him. He could sense me, almost feel me. When I was around him the grief never went away. I guess it was because we were soulmates, anchors" she said, her voice dropping several octaves until it was almost a whisper.

Lydia pulled up to his house, cutting off the engine and sat there waiting for Allison to make the next move. She didn't want to push her best friend into something that she wasn't ready to face. "I never wanted to put any of you through this pain Lydia, but you were suffering and I couldn't let you suffer like Scott, you out of everyone else was the only one with the capacity to see me, but I never wanted to put you through this pain So, I hid from you, but now you need my help"

Allison disappeared, reappearing outside the car. "well what are you waiting for, come on" she said waving her hand frantically at the door.

Getting out of the car, she made her way up the steps, not even bothering to knock as she pushed the door open. "Scott you home?" she asked. Hoping that he would answer back.

"Yea I am in the kitchen" he said, his voice sounding somewhat off. Making her way towards the kitchen, she glanced at Allison one last time to make sure she was ok, before heading towards the direction in which Scotts voice had come.

She noticed something was instantly wrong the second she saw him. He stood there frowning as he glanced down at his cell phone, hands shaking slightly, with a puzzled look on his face. "Hey what's up? You ok" she asked, softly almost like she was talking to a child.

"I don't know… I was going to call someone, but then I forgot. Who was I going to call?" he mused his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion.

Rubbing at his chest absently he mumbled "Now there is this ache in my chest that won't leave it's like there is a hole where my heart use to be" he said, shaking his head hoping to get rid of the feeling.

Lydia knew that this must be Allison's influence. This was why she stayed away. She didn't want him to go through this pain. That she herself was going through now.

"I came here because… we need to save him Scott, before it's too late. We need to save Stiles" she said, an air of finality about her.

"What? What are you talking about? Who? Whose Stiles?" he asked, frowning again in confusion, not even a flick of recognition crossing his face.

Confusion flickered over her face, what had she just said? Stiles? Was that even a word? Why had that even come out of her mouth. "What?" she asked waiting for clarification.

"You just said that we need to save Stiles" he said. Raising his eyebrows, and waited for her to continue. Why the hell would she say that? it made absolutely no sense.

"What the hell is a Stiles?" she said, her face completely blank as she glanced over at Allison. Waiting for Clarity or an explanation.

But all she saw was horror wash over Allison's delicate features.