A/N:I know that it has taken me quite a long time to update and to everyone who still might have read this fic - I'm sorry. But I have to admit that it was rather disappointing not getting any reviews after the last chapter I had posted. It was the one I had put the most of my heart's blood into. It was the one I was most proud of, even though it was emotionally destructive. And yet it was the way I had always planned this story to end. I'd wanted their love story to end as a tragedy because I thought it is what would fit them the most. It really disappointed me that no one reviewed anymore and that's why I wasn't motivated to finish this story. But I still wanted to finish it since I was so close to writing the final chapter. I hope that some of you might still read it. And I hope that you'll leave me a review. Still, I'm very proud of this fic and now I'm even prouder that I've managed to finish it the way I'd wanted to from the beginning.

EPILOGUE
Lydia Martin

Weeks had passed since Peter's dead. Weeks which have passed by me without me even noticing it. I didn't notice that time flew by at all. I felt worse than after Allison's death even.

I felt... different, somehow. I couldn't say which had hurt the most, since both their deaths had ripped my heart apart. And now I thought that it would never, ever be possible for my heart to be whole again. Everyone I loved left me. Everyone I cared about died. Just. Everyone.

Maybe it was kind of odd to grieve the man who'd killed my best friend. To grieve the man who had put me through hell and back. To grieve the man who had done so much to hurt me. And yet he'd loved me with all his heart. He'd loved me in the best way he could.

And I had loved him, too. I'd never gotten the chance to tell him. But it was the truth. I had hated him. And I'd loved him as well. Both in equal measure. Both feelings destroying me, eating me up and killing me slowly from the inside.

I knew that I was dying. Not physically – but my soul, my heart was already dead. And I didn't want to feel again. I wanted to lie in this darkness, to be by myself forever. Because maybe that way I couldn't get hurt. This way my heart would not be broken again.

It was in pieces already. How much of it was still left to break? Probably nothing.

Isaac had tried to talk to me. Over and over again he'd come, calling out my name from the door. I locked myself in most of the time. But I never opened the door for him. I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to see anyone.

Fortunately my mother was still on vacation with her new boyfriend. I'd been able to pull myself together these past two days after Peter's death for her sake. I didn't want her to see how destroyed I was, how much I suffered. But now I was all alone. I could let myself fall into the darkness. That was what I wanted.

The first few days after Peter's death, I had hoped that I'd see him again in my dreams. I had almost anticipated it. I had wanted it. I had wanted Peter to be in my dreams again like that first time. I had wanted to have a chance to bring him back to live.

But there was no chance. Nothing at all. He was gone for good this time.

This night, though, I awoke with a sudden fear, like every night. But something was different. I felt like immediately after waking up. These past few weeks, I'd always awoken crying out Peter's name, shaking and crying.

There he stood. Like so many nights before, he stood by the window, watching me. My heart began beating fast in my chest at once. I couldn't believe it. He was back! He was in my dreams. Like I'd hoped he would be. Maybe it wasn't lost. Maybe I would still be able to save him.

"Peter!"

I didn't think about anything at all when I got out of bed. I didn't think about the past few months. I didn't think about why I should not love him. I just acted on my feelings. I ran to him, letting myself fall into his opened arms.

"I have missed you so much!" I whispered. "I'd hoped that... I... I had hoped..."

"Shh. It's okay." Peter stroked my hair, pulling me close to him. "I'm here now. But I can't stay long."

At that I backed away from him, confused. "Why? I mean... you'll be back, right? I'll see you when I go back to sleep. We'll find a way to bring you back, won't we? Just like the last time... we'll do it just like we did it then..."

"No Lydia. Listen. We can't. It's just not possible. There's... there's no way for me to come back. And there shouldn't be."

I just stared at him, not understanding what he meant. That he was back in my dreams, just like he'd been after the first time he died, must mean that there still was some hope. Musn't it?

"I'm sorry." He cupped my face in his hands, looking straight into my eyes. "But it's just the way it should be. And even if I wanted to, I can't come back now. The circumstances... just... everything is different now. The bond between us is broken. It's not there anymore."

"But it is! It is Peter!"

"Yes... but not like the last time. The bond between you and me is different now. It isn't because of... magic. It's because... it's because of my love for you."

His words send a shiver down my spine. Swallowing hard, I shook my head. "I won't accept this. I will find a way. I will find a way to bring you back."

"You won't Lydia. And you shouldn't. Please don't do this to yourself. I won't be able to come back to you after this one night. I will be... I will be someplace you will not be able to reach me. But I just have to be sure that you won't stop living. I need you to keep living. I need you to live a normal and happy life – something I would never have been able to give you. I don't want you to be in this darkness anymore Lydia. You deserve so much more. Please. Go out again. Come back into the light. We both know that this is where you belong. The darkness was always the place I belonged in."

"I belong where you are."

"You do not. You never have. You are meant for much more greatness than falling for someone like me." He pressed his lips against my forehead. I closed my eyes, cuddling myself even closer to him. "And I want you to achieve all this greatness. You have to promise me."

"But... I can't..."

"You can. I know you can. And you will. You're Lydia Martin. There's not much I'm proud of Lydia. But I'm proud of having met you. And I'm proud that I'd had the chance to be with you." Now he looked at me again. "And I am proud that I was loved by you."

I just stared at him, trying to swallow the tears that were forming in my eyes. "You know, I couldn't even tell you why. I couldn't even tell you what it is that made... that made me love you. And even though it was already too late for you to get out of this darkness, I still did see the good in you. Maybe you were never meant to get out of this darkness consuming you. I think I couldn't have done anything about it.

"And still. I love you. I loved you just as much as I hated you." For a long moment we looked into each other's eyes until Peter leaned closer into me and kissed me. This kiss felt different. It was bittersweet, somehow. Maybe because I knew that it would be the very last kiss I'd be sharing with Peter.

"Will you stay the night?" I whispered against his lips. Peter said nothing, he just took me by the hand and went to my bed with me. We lay down there. I had my head leaned against his chest, he stroked my strawberry red hair. It was just like any other night we'd spent together. Except that I wasn't sure if this was even real or just a dream. And that – of course – I knew that it was the last time we'd get to be together like this.

"Peter?" I whispered. I was afraid of waking up. I knew that he'd be gone forever if I woke up.

"Hm?"

"Is this real? Or is it a dream?"

Even though I didn't see it, I almost felt him smiling. "It is what you believe it is. It's not quite a dream and yet it's not real also. Though I can ensure you that you're not going crazy."

"That wouldn't matter anyway. After all that has happened, I've gone crazy already."

I looked up at him. He was smiling. He touched my cheek lightly before kissing me again. "You're not like any other person I've ever met. You are completely unique. That's what fascinated me about you from the very beginning, you know."

I laid my head back on his chest, closing my eyes and breathing in his scent. I didn't want him to leave me. I wanted to stay like this with him forever. And still I knew, like I hadn't want to accept to myself before, that I would have to let him go. I didn't have any other choice.

"You promise me, don't you? That you'll go back to living your life?"

It would be hard. I knew that it would be. But I still had to promise him. It was the most I could do to him.

"I promise, Peter."

He kissed the top of my head before pulling me closer to him, like he didn't want to let go of me either.

We stayed like this the whole night. When I woke up the next morning, I still wasn't sure if Peter had really been here or if it had just been a dream. Or if it had been a dream that was... real somehow. I felt slightly odd as well. I wasn't sure what it was. I still felt desperately alone and like I was about to break any second again.

But I had been broken already. And now it felt like there was some small part inside of me that was fixed again. A small part of my heart, two pieces that had gotten back together.

And maybe, just maybe, someday it would be whole again.

"Lydia?" I heard a knock on my door. It was Isaac. He'd been there in front of my door every day for weeks now. Every morning he would come and try to convince me to open the door. He'd told me that Derek had burned Peter's body and that he was sorry. He'd told me that they still didn't know where Scott was. He told me that all of them missed me. He told me that he had never wanted me to be this sad and broken. He told me that life was a mess and that it beat you up and left you broken on the floor.

He told me that his life was even more a mess because I wasn't part of it anymore.

"Please come out. Lydia. Please... Let me help you. Let me be there for you. Just... please."

I heard the hurt, the resignation in his voice. And even though it must have seemed hopeless to him, Isaac had never stopped coming to me. Every day he'd been there. He'd never given up on me, not even once.

And for the first time in weeks, I got out of bed and to the door, standing in front of it, hesitating for just a second.

Then I opened the door and let Isaac in.

The End