"When I was younger, I used to think life was easy. I used to watch Scott and Stiles - they were so happy all the time. All they needed were themselves, their friendship and maybe lacrosse. I thought that maybe I would have that. I would grow up and have a best friend like that. Someone who stood by me through everything. But that didn't happen."

"Rebecca, you and your brother had to grow up incredibly quickly. Life is never easy- especially yours."

"Sometimes I just- I just want to be normal. I want to go back and stop all of this from happening."

"You can't go back. You can't stop the past. This- this wasn't your fault."

I looked up from the floor, meeting his eyes for a moment. He was watching me with concern but his expression was soft, and his brown eyes were full of knowledge and wisdom.

"I could have stopped it, though," I finally spoke up. "I could have stopped Scott and Stiles from leaving that night- the night Scott was bitten."

"Rebecca, you couldn't have-"

I cut him off. "I could. I could have stopped so many things," A small cry hitched in my throat and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I remembered everything. When I spoke again, my voice was small. "Maybe I could have stopped me and Liam from happening too."

"We all have pain," He leaned forwards, hands resting on the table between us. "Whether it's mental or physical. We all have pain and we all have battle scars to remind us of it. But that doesn't mean that, even though things have been really bad, they won't go back to the middle again. Because they will. I promise you, they will. It's over now, Rebecca."

"But what if they don't?" I sounded like a child again. I felt like a child again. I had all this power yet I still felt like I was young again. I felt so helpless. Sure we'd defeated our enemies, but I hadn't defeated my own enemy yet. I hadn't defeated me.

"They will," He assured with an encouraging smile.

"I almost lost everyone," I practically whispered, my voice hoarse and broken as I thought back to the last few months. "I have lost people."

"Not everyone," He sat up straighter, his head turning to the side slightly. I followed his gaze and my eyes landed on Brett, who was stood in the doorway. I'd been so busy wrapped in my own emotions that I hadn't even realised he'd come in.

He shifted uncomfortably, when he realised we'd noticed him, before muttering an apology and then adding, "I'll wait outside." We waited in silence whilst Brett left, the annoying little bell on the door ringing as it shut behind him. I reached down, picking up my bag that had been resting by my feet. Deaton stood up at the same time I did, holding his hand out to stop me from going.

"The ones you've lost," He started. "You'll get some of them back."

I nodded solemnly, swinging my bag over my shoulder. I moved towards the door but then halted. "You won't tell Scott what we've been talking about, will you? I mean, he knows about my powers now but everything else-"

Deaton had a kind smile on his face. "Of course not."

"Thank you," I placed my hand on the cool door handle, ready to leave, but he spoke again.

"If you ever need to talk again, I'm always here."

"Thank you, Deaton. I mean it. I really do."

I left the animal clinic, meeting with Brett, who was stood around the corner on his phone. "Hey," I greeted.

He looked up, placing his phone in his pocket. He was still wearing his school uniform so I assumed he'd come straight from there. "Hey."

"How have you been?" I asked as we started to walk down the road. "I haven't seen you since the night, you know, you nearly died."

"Oh, the night you ditched me?" He raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to look at me. "For like an hour."

"I came back," I defended, causing him to chuckle.

"I suppose," he shrugged. "I guess you do care, huh?" He asked, nudging me slightly.

"About you?" I scrunched my nose up. "Never."

He scoffed and we continued walking in a comfortable silence. I'd never have imagined me and Brett being friends. But it happened, somehow. And truthfully, I enjoyed his company. Sometimes.

"So you spoke to Scott then?" He asked and I nodded, thinking back to the conversation I'd had with my brother last night.

"I get why you didn't want to tell me, Bex," my brother said, sitting down opposite me on the bed. "I hate that we don't talk as much as we used to. And it's not just me you don't talk to anymore. Stiles and Lydia have noticed it too."

"You all had more important things to focus on," I shrugged. "I thought I could deal with it on my own."

"Could you?"

I snorted, shaking my head truthfully. "Nope. I spoke to Deaton a lot. Surprisingly Brett too. And Chris. Actually, it was Chris who figured my power out."

"Yeah, about that, has it happened often?"

"Fairly," I shrugged. "It's actually been quite helpful though. I guess I just need to learn how to control it."

"I want to be there to help you through that," he said. "So does mom. So do Lydia and Stiles and the others," he took my hands in his. "Please don't shut us out again."

Genuine happy tears pooled in my eyes and I squeezed his hands, knowing that everything was going to be okay now. "I won't."

"Yeah," I replied. "It went surprisingly well, actually," I looked down, remembering another part of the conversation we'd had, feeling the urge to mention it. "He told me this story about when we were in the tunnels. Sebastien had his hands around Scott's throat and he got his claws into his neck; he was going to kill him. And then he stopped and said a name. Marie-Jeanne," I glanced up at Brett, smiling. "Sebastien had seen Scott's memories. He'd seen Allison. I mean, they must have looked exactly like each other which is why Sebastien pulled away," I cut off, catching my breath as hot tears sprung into my vision. "It gave Scott a chance to break free. She saved him," I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Allison saved his life."

Brett met my eyes, his own softening as he wrapped his arm around me. "You know, you haven't told me a lot about Allison. You should tell me more, she seemed to mean a lot to all of you." I smiled, thinking back to the memories I shared with Allison. Thinking back to all the memories from the beginning. Allison was always there to save the day and she was still doing it, even now. I looped my arm around Brett's and he looked down at me with his eyebrows raised. "What are you doing?"

"I wanna show you something," I said, moving more in the direction of where I wanted to go. Inevitably, we had to pass Beacon High school, and I noticed that people were still flooding out of the gates to leave. I went to tell Brett to head to the other side of the road to avoid the crowd, but I caught someone's eyes.

I slowed down, removing my arm from Brett's. From the corner of my eye, I saw him look over at me with a frown. "Becca?"

Liam Dunbar looked at me, his eyes then hardening as he glanced at Brett beside me. I stared at him before flickering my gaze over to Hayden. She touched his shoulder, looking like she was going to whisper something. I swallowed thickly, my heart still weakened by the sight of the two of them together.

Despite everything, a part of me still loved Liam. I think I would always love Liam. But part of me loving him, would be to let him go. I had to move on and this was the right time to do it. I had my friends to support me now. Life was good now. So I had to get used to Liam and Hayden. Even if it hurt. Even if it felt like I couldn't breathe every time I saw them together.

Hesitantly, I tugged my lips into a small smile, nodding towards them. They both looked a little surprised at first but Hayden smiled back. Liam, however, didn't seem to show any emotion. I stared at him for a while and he stared at me. After a moment or two, I felt Brett take my arm again and I turned away from Liam and Hayden, continuing to walk on.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to walk you home?" Brett asked and I noticed him glancing back, probably at Liam.

I shook my head with a smile. "No, I'm okay," I took his arm again, heading towards the woods. "Come on, let's go."

Brett groaned at my sudden fast walking pace. "Where are we going?"

I reached the path, slowing down. The trees were still overgrown, hanging over us like an archway. It was a sunny day and the bright, green leaves looked like they were glistening in the light. I ducked under another low branch, pushing my way through the overgrown bushes and almost falling over. I dodged another branch and stepped out into the field. The lake was still as beautiful as ever, the sunlight bouncing from the crystal blue water. The fresh smell of the emerald grass and the sea of colourful flowers was all around us. It was just as majestic as ever.

I heard Brett let out an "ow," and I chuckled, realising he'd hit his head as he came underneath the branch. "You could have warned me," he mumbled before stopping in his tracks and breathing out. "Wow."

"Amazing, huh?" I asked, slowly walking ahead of him to find the rocks I usually sat on.

After first bringing Liam here, we came back a lot and usually spent time down at the water. But when he started to become more distant, I used to head down here a lot on my own. Sometimes just to think, sometimes to do school work. It was my little place again. My little place of tranquility. It stopped being mine and Liam's place a long time ago.

"Allison and I stumbled across this place when she first trained me," I explained, turning my head to face him. "It was our little place; nobody else knew about it. But after she died, I used to come here a lot with Liam. We haven't been here for months together though. He probably doesn't even remember it."

"It's beautiful," Brett stated, eyes still glancing around at the breathtaking scenery. I'd never seen him in awe before, but it was a pretty amusing sight.

I smiled. "Sure is. I come here a lot, usually to think. It's kind of a way to escape all the madness. Might as well share it with someone else though."

"Why me?"

I sat down on the grey rock and Brett moved beside me. "I thought pushing people away was best for me," I shook my head. "But what I really needed was somebody to stay," I looked up at him. "You stayed."

Brett let out a silent laugh. "Who would have thought that the two of us would end up as friends."

I laughed, remembering how much I actually used to hate Brett. The amount of times we tried to get on but just couldn't. And after everything, we were the ones who found something special. "Why did we even hate each other?"

Brett shrugged. "Can't help but blame Liam. Ever since you two broke up, you've been a hell of a lot nicer to me."

I knew that he was teasing but his statement did have a bit of truth to it. Part of me, I think, always tried to distance myself from Brett because of Liam. I was influenced a lot by Liam's hatred for him. "You have a valid point."

Silence lapsed between us before Brett sighed. "It hurts, doesn't it. Falling in love with someone and then watching them fall for someone else. It hurts more than anything you've ever felt before and there's no way- no way at all that you can stop it hurting. All you can do is sit back and watch it happen." I looked up at him but he was staring into the distance. "As much as you try to ignore it, it's still there. And there's this ache in your chest and you just want all the pain to stop. You wish that there was some way it could go away. Sure, maybe it starts to fade a little over time but it's still there. And they're both still there reminding you how much you care. How much it hurts."

"Yeah," I practically whispered, slightly shocked as I never expected such a speech to come from Brett. "It does."

"I care about you, Becca. That's why I stayed. And I know you care too," he then grinned. "That fear on your face after I went up against the Beast was way too real for you not to care."

I smiled, biting my lip. "Yeah, you got me. I do, somehow, care about you too."

"You know, part of me liked hating you, but I think it's better this way." I nodded in agreement, resting my head on Brett's shoulder with a sigh. "One day, you're gonna find a guy who's gonna love you more than Liam ever did. A guy who's gonna treat you better than Liam did, make you happier than Liam did. And I hope he's there to see how happy you are. And I hope I'm there to laugh in his face."

"You've been saying mildly sentimental things today, are you okay?" Brett chuckled, making his shoulder lift slightly. "Anyway, I don't need a boyfriend to define me anymore. I'm perfectly capable on my own. The only guys I want in my life are the ones who care about me. Scott, Stiles, Mason," I paused, lifting my head up to look at him. "You."

Brett's eyes flickered to mine for a moment and I smiled causing him to let out a light laugh. "Well, Rebecca McCall, I'm happy to be one of the guys in your life."

I gave him a small smile. For the first time in so long, I felt happy. All the pain I'd been bottling up, it was forgotten now. I was learning to love the world again. "To friendship."

Brett nodded, his eyes twinkling as he smiled back. "To friendship."

Life gets hard sometimes. Things are unpredictable, chaotic. You lose people, you lose yourself. So when people come into your life and tell you that they care, you have to hold on to them. Things could never be perfect, there was no such thing as perfect. It would take time for everybody to get back to normal again. It would take time for the wounds to heal.

Love is a battlefield. Inevitably it causes us pain. Sometimes we have to go through the pain and fight. Sometimes we get so hurt, so damaged, that we can't. In the end, we all have battle scars. But they're there to show how strong we are. No matter what happens, we have to keep moving forwards. We don't know when the good will hit us, or when the bad will hit us.

The pack is my anchor. The friendships and the bonds we all share are what keep me grounded. They give me a reason to keep going. Only time can tell what happens to us, but as long as I have the people I love surrounding me, I know I'm going to be okay.

After all, we write our own endings. No matter what my ending is, it will never change me or my instincts to love and protect the people I care about.