I can't believe this is the final chapter. Epilogue will be posted Monday x

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We made it to the school in about twenty minutes even going over the speed limit. Stiles wanted to go faster, but I warned him that even though I also wanted to get there sooner, we also needed to get there alive.

The school was quiet when we arrived. Moving through the hallway, I pulled to a stop when I noticed a stone statue.

"Dad," I whispered, seeing that it was Peter. "They have Iris and now even Peter is gone."
I was shocked at myself for a moment, realising that I had never called him 'dad' before. I knew it was probably just all of my emotions, but it still caught me off guard.

I listened carefully for a moment like Scott had told me to do with Isaac, my eyes widening. "Stiles, he still has a heartbeat."

"That means there's a chance we can save them all," he said, taking my hand. "Let's go."

We started running again when I thought I heard a whisper. Slowing down I looked round to try and see where it had come from.

"Ri, what are you doing?" Stiles asked.

"Did you hear that?" I questioned.

Stiles shook his head, "I didn't hear anything."

"Go," I told him, letting go of his hand. "I'll catch up."

"Ri-"

"Go," I said more firmly.

Stiles pursed his lips but went anyway. I walked down the hallway slowly and that's when I felt it. A crippling sense of fear made my body freeze, getting me to stop in my tracks. Quickly realising that it was the Anuk-ite, I closed my eyes.

"Riley," I heard a familiar voice say.

"Stiles?" I questioned, keeping my eyes shut. "I thought you went to find Scott?"

"I'm not Stiles," the voice said. I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. "Try again, Little Sylph."

The Nogitsune.

"Void," I whispered, my blood turning to ice in my veins.

I felt a hand trail up my arm, "I'm glad to hear you didn't forget about me. How about you open those pretty eyes?"

"No," I growled. "I'm not going to do that, so you might as well walk away."

"Is that right?"

Moving out of his reach, I turned around and began walking. I kept my eyes closed, hoping that I would make it to the door without tripping over.

"Where are you going, Ri?" a different voice asked.

I stopped immediately, instantly feeling sick to my stomach.
"Mum?" I asked softly.

"Of course, it's me," she laughed gently. "Come on, sweetheart, what are you doing?"

"It's not you. I know it's not you," I said, tears brimming in my eyes.

I heard her footsteps as she approached me from behind.
"It is me; I promise."

"No, it's not," I mumbled, shaking my head.

"Can you really be sure?" she asked me.

She had a small point. I mean, so many people we thought had been dead had come back. So why not my mum? Why couldn't something go right just this once?

Simple. Because sometimes we just weren't that lucky.
"They stabbed you. You- you bled out in my arms. I saw you die."

"Just like how you thought Isaac was dead, sweetie?

"You're dead," I said firmly, trying my best to stay strong.

"Okay. You're right. I did die," she finally agreed. "But maybe I'm back."

"You're not," I said, tears beginning to fall as I started to walk backwards. "You died and we buried you."

"Don't you want to see me one last time?" she asked, her voice remaining close as she walked towards me whenever I tried to back away.

This caught my attention, all sensible thoughts leaving my mind as I came to a standstill. "Of course, I do," I said softly. "You have no idea how much I miss you. It hurts so much."

"Then just open your eyes. One peek," she said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I miss you so much, sweetheart. Why won't you just look at me?"

I wasn't thinking things through properly at that moment, the only thing on my mind being how much I missed my mother. And at that point, I opened my eyes.

I saw my mother for a split second before the figure morphed into something else entirely. I barely got to get a good look before I was met with glowing purple eyes.

The breath left me as I felt myself go stiff, my body turning to turn to stone.

♧♤♢♡

The stone holding me captive suddenly began to fracture around me. I broke out, pieces falling and dust covering my body.

I stumbled as hands caught me, stopping me from hitting the floor. I began to panic, thinking that the Anuk-ite had me.

"Let me go," I gasped, trying to catch my breath through the dust as I hit my captor.

Their grip tightened as they go me to stop hitting them. "Hey, calm down, it's just me. It's just me."

Hearing the voice, I finally stopped, eyes wide as I looked at them. "Derek?" I said softly.

"You okay, little cousin?" he asked, one side of his mouth tilting upward.

I laughed at his words, tears in my eyes. "I thought you said I wasn't allowed to call you that?"

The man shrugged, "I think I can make an exception this one time."

Leaning forward I put my arms around him, glad that he was real and not the Anuk-ite. It had lured me with my love for my mother and I had fallen for it.

But now, I was okay. Stiles and Scott must've been successful, or I would've still be stone.

Stiles and Scott.

Pulling away from Derek, my eyes widened. "Stiles and Scott," I said, before I ran in search of the boys.

Using Derek's sense of smell, we moved quickly, racing through the school. The two of us burst through the library doors to see three people over by the steps. Running over, I saw that Lydia and Stiles were standing beside Scott.

I went over and knelt in front of the Alpha, seeing the blood covering his face. "What happened?" I gasped.

He turned towards me and I saw that the blood was coming from his eyes. He had dug his claws into them so that he could face the Anuk-ite without having to face the Anuk-ite.

"Oh, my god, Scott," I said with a soft gasp.

"It's okay," he replied, reaching out and taking my hand. "Are you alright?"

I squeezed his hand, "I'm fine. I'm not the one missing my eyes."

"Fair point," Scott tried to laugh.

"Scott?" Malia's voice shouted from the door as she entered the library.

Stiles grabbed my hand and got me to stand up as my sister approached. He put his arm around me tightly while Malia knelt where I had previously been.

"He's not healing? Scott, what happened to your eyes?"

"I had to. I'm sorry," he apologised, facing the direction he had heard her voice come from.

"Scott, you have to heal," Derek told the Alpha. "If your eyes stay like thins much longer, the damage is gonna be permanent."

"Come on, Scott. Concentrate," Stiles said from beside me.

Scott shook his head, his breathing speeding up as he began to panic. "I'm trying. It's not working. I can't focus."

"Hey, hey, look at me," Malia suddenly said, placing her hands on his cheeks to have him face her. "Yes, you can. Just concentrate."

"I can't, I can't, I can't do it."

The defeat in his voice had me biting my lip to hold back tears, holding onto Stiles' hand for dear life. Seeing him struggling like this really hurt.

"Yes, you can," Malia responded. "Scott, please just look at me."

There was a moment of quiet before Lydia seemed to have an idea. "Malia. Kiss him."

"What?"

"Kiss him."

Malia didn't look like she believed it would work, bu anything was better than nothing at this point. Pulling the Alpha towards her, Malia leaned in and kissed him.

When she pulled back, Scott slowly began to open his eyes, revealing them to be healing themselves. I felt Stiles' hand clench around my own as he breathed out a sigh of relief, his free hand going to his forehead.

A few tears fell from my eyes as a hand came to my mouth, laughing gently with a smile on my face. The two kissed again when Scott could finally see the girl before him.

I turned to Stiles, putting my arms around him. I never wanted to let him go; not again.

Stiles hugged me back, his face in the crook of my neck. He pulled back and held up his hand, showing that it was covered in dust. "What happened?" he asked in a whisper.

"The Anuk-ite," I said, believing it to be explanation enough. "I'm fine, though. You saved me. You always save me."

"We save each other."

♧♤♢♡

"He left, didn't he?"

Derek nodded as we spoke out on the patio. The Pack were over at Charlotte and Iris' house for dinner since Stiles and I were leaving for Washington the next day. I had spoken to Peter over the past couple of day and had invite him to the dinner, but he didn't show up.

I laughed a little, not because it was funny, but because it was easier than showing I was disappointed. "He didn't even say goodbye."

The man sighed, "You know how he is. Not really one for goodbyes. He'll be back though."

"You think so?"

Derek nodded, "Between you and Malia, he has a reason to."

"Thanks, Derek," I smiled, hugging the man.

"Careful, Derek. People might start to think that you've gone soft," Isaac laughed from the door.

Derek rolled his eyes as he pulled away from me. "Maybe I'll remind them by ripping your throat out. With my teeth."

Isaac laughed as the man passed him to go inside. The beta then walked over and stood beside me, staring out across the yard.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. We hadn't spoken a whole lot about what had happened on the road that night, neither of us really that keen on reliving it.

Isaac smiled as he looked down at me, "Like I've told you every time you've asked, I'm fine. That night for me. . . I can't explain it. t hurt for a bit but then I passed out. Then when I woke up there was the pain of the torch and then I was fine. It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing. You almost died," I insisted. "I thought you were dead, Isaac."

The boy pursed his lips in thought, "And I think that this has affected you more than me, Ri. I mean, I was unconscious for most of it."

He was right; this whole trip had just been chaos. I nearly died, Charlotte nearly died, Iris had been taken, Isaac was practically dead, Scott almost died. It had been a lot in such a short space of time.

Either way, that was something I could try to deal with later. Right now, thinking of any of those moments where someone was dying was the last thing I wanted.
"I'm fine, Isaac."

Isaac frowned, knowing that I wasn't being truthful. "Look, I know you're going back to Washington, but you know that you can call me if you need someone to talk to, right?"

"Yeah, I know," I smiled.

Isaac put his arms around me, holding me tight. "I'm gonna miss you when you leave."

"You should come and visit. We'll do dinner and I'll show you around."

"Deal," he grinned.

"Dinner's up!" Charlotte called from inside, getting the Pack's attention.

Isaac and I stepped back from each other and headed back inside where everyone was beginning to take a seat around the table. I sat down beside Stiles, smiling at the boy as I did so.

"So, you guys are really going back to Washington tomorrow?" Scott asked from across the table.

It had been about three days since the final fight with the Anuk-ite. Monroe and her followers had ran from Beacon Hills, Argent reported back that Kate had killed Gerard, and everyone else in Beacon Hills returned their firearms. They all knew about the supernatural now, but they were learning to live with it, realising they weren't as afraid of us as they had originally thought.

Everyone else was okay also, thankfully. Iris had been locked up with Scott's dad at the station, so she had been safe for the most part. Charlotte had been okay as well, Isaac keeping his promise to look after her. The woman had been in tears when we'd brought Iris home, overwhelmed that she was alive and well.

Stiles smiled as he placed his hand on my thigh from where he sat beside me. "Yeah. I can't take any more personal days and Ri is supposed to be starting school soon."

"I wish you could bother stay longer," Iris stated as she helped Charlotte to bring out plates of food.

"Me, too," I smiled. "But we'll always be back. Beacon Hills is our home."

"And we'll be here," Scott grinned.

"Scott, aren't you supposed to be leaving for California?"

"Soon," he nodded, reaching beside him to hold Malia's hand. "I'm just making the most of Beacon Hills a bit longer. Like you said, it's home. And this is our family."

I glanced up at Stiles and then looked around the table. The True Alpha was right.

Stiles, Scott, Malia, Lydia, Charlotte, Iris, Isaac, Derek and Liam - they were my family. Hell, I would even consider Theo down the other end of the table a member of the Pack.

Maybe even a friend one day.

"It always will be," Stiles agreed.

"Alright, enough with all the soppiness, I'm starving," Isaac stated, sitting up straighter as a plate of food was placed in front of him.

Once all the food was out and everyone was seated, it almost felt like we could pretend it was just a normal group of people having a normal dinner.

But why would we want to do that?

We weren't normal, and that was okay. That's what made us, us. We were all so different, and yet we still managed to find one another and build this little family.

♧♤♢♡

"Are you sure you wanna go? We can stay a bit longer if you want," Stiles offered.

We were laying on my bed later that night after everyone had left. Charlotte and Iris had gone to bed not long after us and I could hear the television on in their room.

My head was on his chest, his arm around me as we lay there speaking quietly.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I love being home, but after everything that's happened, I just. . . I think I can only take Beacon Hills in doses now; you know?"

"Yeah, I get it," he said," pressing a soft kiss to my head. "I really wish that you had called me, Ri. Or had just brought me with you in the first place."

"I couldn't," I whispered. "Not after I nearly lost you last time."

"Do you really think I care about that?" he asked, looking down at me.

I sat up so that I could face him. "No, and that was the problem. I know you would've come back and I couldn't- I couldn't go through that again, Stiles."

He put a hand on either of my shoulders, his features softening, "Ri, that wasn't for you to decide. This is my family, too. We nearly lost Scott. I could've lost you. You don't think that my dad mentioned how you were shot? How you nearly died?"

My cheeks burned furiously as I looked away, "I was going to tell you."

"We promised no more lying to each other, Ri."

"I know," I said softly. "You're right. I'm sorry. I know I should've called you."

He let his hands fall down my arms so that he was able to hold my hands, squeezing them gently. "I love you so much, Riley Winters. We're in this together, okay? For the rest of our lives."

I bit my lower lip before smiling. "I know and I'm sorry. I love you, too. You have no idea how much I love you."

"You don't have to keep apologising," he sighed, standing up.

I was almost hurt as he stepped away from the bed. I crossed my legs on the bed, watching as he moved around, thinking.

"Do you wanna go for a drive?" Stiles asked when he finally stopped moving around.

My mouth fell open slightly, surprised at the change of topic. "Um, yeah. Yeah, sure."

I got some shoes on and slid a jacket on before following Stiles out of my bedroom. We let Charlotte and Iris know that we were leaving and then we went out the front and got into the Jeep.

We didn't talk a whole lot of Stiles drove. My nerves had me on edge and I didn't know what to say. Stiles drumming at the wheel didn't help either.

We ended up at the Preserve about ten minutes later. Stiles drove through the grounds before coming to a stop near the lookout. Climbing out of the car, I followed his lead.

He walked around to the front of the car and I went to stand beside him. Taking hold of his hips a small gasp escaped me, followed by a giggle as he placed me onto the hood of the Jeep.

Stiles climbed up beside me, sitting quietly as we both stared out across Beacon Hills. It always looked so beautiful at night, the small lights almost like stars dotted across the landscape.

Resting my head against his shoulder, I continued to stare out across the town. "There are some things I won't miss about Beacon Hills, but this isn't one of them."

"So many things in our lives have happened here," Stiles thought aloud. "All of this started here."

"That night feels like it happened forever ago," I stated, thinking back. Finding the body, Scott getting bitten, walking home. It was the night that had changed everything for us.

Stiles nodded, "It kinda was, in a way."

There was a moment of quiet as I looked down at my hands before speaking. "With the Anuk-ite on that last day, I knew I wasn't supposed to open my eyes but. . . it pretended to be my mum, Stiles."
It was difficult to relive in my head, but Stiles was right. We had promised no more secrets.

"That's why the dust was in your hair," Stiles thought aloud. "You opened your eyes. You turned to stone like the others."

I nodded my head gently, still resting against his shoulder. "I know it was dumb, I just-"

"It wasn't dumb," Stiles said, cutting me off. "If I had the chance to see my mum again, I would've done the same."

"I just miss her so much, Stiles," I admitted to the boy. "And after seeing so many of our family nearly dying after coming back, I just- I can't lose anyone else."

Stiles sat up straighter, leading to me having to get off of his shoulder. He then climbed down off of the car and part of me sunk just like it had in my bedroom. What was going on with him?

He turned to face me; his face more serious than I think I had ever seen it. "Riley, I need you to listen to me, okay?"

"Okay," I replied nervously, sliding so that I was sitting on the edge of the Jeep's hood. When he didn't say anything, I felt my anxiety grow.
"Stiles, you're starting to scare me."

"It's nothing bad," he said quickly. "I hope. I mean, we'll see, I just. . . I'm trying to think. But it's okay. Maybe. I don't-"

"Stiles," I said, cutting him off before he could continue to ramble. "What's going on?"

"Okay, what I'm trying to say, yes, we've lost people and we might still continue to. But I want you to know that I will never leave you. Ever. And I know that we say that a lot, but I've never meant it more than I mean it right now," he insisted.
"For the rest of our lives, I want to be by your side always, Riley Winters."

My lips parted and my heart began to race at his words. "I feel the same way. You know I do."

"I know,' he replied, his hands shaking. "And I'm hoping that'll make his an easier choice for you. I was going to wait until Washington, but what we were saying at dinner. . . this is our home. So many important things have happened here, and I couldn't imagine a better place to do this."

"Stiles?"

He took a deep breath as he faced me, taking my hands in his. "Riley Winters, you are my best friend. You are the love of my life. You are everything. I've known ever since we were younger that you were different and then growing up with you, I knew my feelings were more than just a schoolyard crush.

"We're still young and I'm happy to wait but I just. . . I love you so much and I know that I never want to be without you. Not for one second."

Stiles then proceeded to reach into his pocket and pull out a small box. I felt tears gathering in my eyes as he opened it slowly to reveal the contents. Sitting in the box was a silver ring set with a few diamonds. It was nothing too showy, but I recognised it immediately.

"That's my mum's ring," I whispered, bringing one of my hands to my mouth.

He gave me a small smile, "Yeah. Charlotte, she gave it to me when I asked for her permission."

"You asked for her permission?" I asked, pursing my lips.

"Well, I wasn't exactly going to ask Peter," he laughed gently. Glancing down at the ring, he bit his lip. "If it's too weird for you-"

"It's not weird at all," I said quickly, smiling with tears in my eyes.

"Well, in that case," Stiles said with a grin. I felt my heart stop as he went down onto one knee, "Riley Winters, will you marry me?"

Climbing down off of the hood, I stood in front of him.
"I'm going to need a minute," I told him, taking a small step away.

His mouth fell open and his eyes widened as he watched me. Standing up, he was about to say something when I saw the lightbulb moment hit for him.
"You know what? That's not funny."

"You seemed to think it was pretty hilarious at the Glen Capri," I countered with a smirk.

"Okay, well, you already told me you'd say yes, so-"

"Of course, it's a yes, Stilinski," I grinned, throwing my arms over his shoulders to kiss him.

Our lips moved in time against each other like they had done so many times before. But right now, at this moment, something felt different. We were different.

"How could it ever be anything else?" I stated as I pulled back. "I love you, Stiles."

"Completely, totally, desperately," Stiles said softly as he slid my mother's wedding ring onto my finger.

I closed my eyes as he rested his forehead against mine, our fingers intertwining. Stiles was right, so many things had happened in this Preserve throughout our lives, but this?

This was my favourite.