This entire chapter is based solely around Sage, so there is no script or scenes that I'm following. You guys should know by now that Sage Connelly has a life of her own beyond the events that are shown in the TV show, and this is one of the few times where that is exploited in an entire sequence of events. I tried my hardest to showcase every, or at least a large majority, of the relationships that I decided to create between Sage and a character from Teen Wolf.

There's a single line in this chapter that let the last chapter truly sink in for me, which was when I used the word 'dead' for the first time. Let me know if you find it so I'll know you read this. Be prepared for an excessively long chapter with many mistakes and enjoy! (Also, creds to Ed Sheeran for giving me the inspiration that I needed. I highly suggest listening to Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran himself, Smother by Daughter, and Not About Angels by Birdy.)

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FIFTY THREE;

GIVE ME LOVE

"Junior year. Where do you see yourself?"

The question fell from Sage Connelly's mouth absentmindedly, the blonde playing with her boyfriend's fingers as she let him contemplate his answer. The two of them had the night away from the rest of the world, which was surprising considering there was rarely a time that Lydia and Scott didn't want to hang out with their best friends. To just have the opportunity to spend time together, alone, was something that they both found themselves appreciating even more the less that it happened. Stiles pursed his lips at the random question, his own fingers curling around the blonde's instinctively. That simple act had given him the answer that he needed, especially when he noticed how his girlfriend glanced down at their intertwined hands with a small smile.

"With you." He didn't bother in hesitating to speak, confident in his answer. Stiles Stilinski was well aware that he wanted to be the person to spend every waking moment with Sage. He wanted to be the one that people were jealous of, and he wanted to be the one that the beautiful blonde laying next to him said she loved until she finally got sick of saying it so often. "Every day, until you ask me the same question when we start senior year and I say the same thing."

Stiles watched her reaction, wanting to make sure that he didn't completely scare the girl away. Although, after four months together, he hoped that she already grasped the concept that there were going to be moments where his emotions were on full display for her — and only her.  She was the only person in his life apart from Scott that he felt comfortable being so exposed to, and much like Scott, Sage was one of the few people that had ever fully seen him in a vulnerable state. Even though they had a lighthearted relationship, there were still moments when the humor ran dry; there were moments when he could only look at her and wonder how in the hell he managed to get a girl as incredible as her fall for someone like him, a socially and physically average, horribly athletic, Adderall induced, teenage boy that was just short of simple.

A larger smile had stitched its way upon her face when she heard his response, one that was full of mild amusement. When Stiles noticed this, he couldn't help but let out an exasperated groan, knowing very well that she was going to call him out on how sappy he was being. "Are you laughing at me? You're literally the worst girlfriend in existence. Seriously, I take it back. We can break up now."

"I'm not laughing at you!" Sage denied, although the grin on her face was telling him otherwise. He couldn't help but let out a scoff, moving to get out of his bed as he tried to hide the smile that was etching along his face. Before he could get anywhere, arms were wrapping around him from behind, keeping him in place. His girlfriend laid her cheek on his back, tightening her hold around him. "No, don't leave. You know that I love you."

Stiles glanced behind his shoulder to see that she was still clutching tightly onto him and let his lips turn upright to his own grin. There were times when he was honestly surprised that she acted in the way that she did around him. When he first got to know the girl that came back to Beacon Hills, he never once expected for her to have lasting effect on him that she did, or for her to be so incredibly fragile despite the hard suit of armor that everyone thought she had. Much like the situation that they were currently in, he was always given small reminders by Sage that she was still human and she still let herself love people no matter the costs. He just never thought that the person she would fall in love with was him, having spent so many years shielded in the invisibility of being nothing to everyone. To be considered something, to be loved in such an intensely consuming way, was something he would never be able to forget.

Stiles happened to look over at his clock for a split second, his eyes lighting up in excitement when he realized that it was midnight. Placing his hands on Sage's lingering arms, he carefully pulled them away so that he could turn around to face her instead. When he did so, he noticed the confusion that settled on her face at his reaction, which had been contorted into surprise when his lips landed on her own. A noise escaped her mouth at the abrupt action, but had been forgotten as she relaxed in his arms. He slowly leaned forward until she was laying her back completely on his bed, a smile breaking on his face through the kiss as he felt her wrap her arms around his neck. She pulled away not a second later, still intertwined with him, and gave him a look with furrowed eyebrows.

"What was that all about?" she asked, pressing a small kiss on his chin. Sage had gotten used to sporadic kisses from her boyfriend, just as much as he had gotten used to the ones she gave, but that didn't make her any less questioning when they broke for air. "I mean, I'm not complaining, but usually I'm the one that goes for the face attack."

Stiles couldn't help but roll his eyes at her definition, leaning in to press his lips to her forehead once again before pulling away. There was a childlike excitement shining in his eyes, which was something that happened on a daily occasion with the teenage boy. It didn't make Sage any less curious, though. "It's midnight. You're officially seventeen, babe."

"Technically, I was born later in the day but—" Sage stopped with a slight pout when Stiles pulled out of her grasp, ignoring her attempt to get on his nerves with her factual logic. Her eyes traveled with his movements, watching him walk over to his desktop. The blonde couldn't see anything from the position he was in, his back guarding whatever he went over to get, which only made her frown. "Stiles, what are you doing?"

Stiles turned around, his hand behind his back to continue to hide what he got from his desk. Sage couldn't help but let her frown deepen, hating surprises more than she hated Adrian Harris. Her boyfriend knew this, too, and that only made her more questioning as to why he thought it was a good idea to not show her what he had. Right when she was about to open her mouth to speak, he moved his hand from behind his back so that she could see the big secret. When she did, she stared up at Stiles with a scowl as he grinned brightly. "Happy Birthday!"

"I said no presents," Sage scolded, staring at the small jewelry box. The blonde had already been plenty thorough in warning all of her friends that she would disown their friendship if they got her anything for her birthday. Even though she knew that none of them were going to follow her wishes, she still hated the idea of them spending money on her when it wasn't necessary. "Seriously, Stiles. You can't give me that."

Stiles scoffed as he sat down on the bed next to her, pulling her closer to him by her legs. When she placed them on either side of his crossed ones, he leaned in so their faces were closer together."I said no promises. Besides, this isn't even a comparison to what Lydia has planned; and, if you don't take this, I'll be forced to return it back to the store and have the lady that picked it out for me laugh about my inability to impress my girlfriend. I'm pretty sure my two years of high school have already supplied me with enough self-hatred to last a lifetime. I don't need Cheryl to judge me either."

"Cheryl?" the blonde questioned, raising her eyebrows as she kept her eyes on the box. It was obvious that it was either a set of earrings or a ring, and considering there was already an assortment of the latter on her fingers, she wasn't expecting to find a set of hoops in the tiny box. "You know that I hate presents."

"Yeah, well. You know that I love pissing you off. So, open!" Stiles handed his girlfriend the box, his face lighting up once again when she gave him a sigh in annoyance. Her fingers effortlessly pried the box open, green irises immediately taking in a simple, silver band with a black gem that centered it. "She wanted to give you one with a red heart on it instead of that one, but I didn't really see you being the one to wear something like that. It's supposed to be a black diamond. Your birthstone."

He watched for Sage's reaction, wanting to make sure that she didn't absolutely hate it. For the longest of time, she just stared at the piece of jewelry in the box like it was something she couldn't even believe had been handed to her. That, of course, was when the panic set in for Stiles and he began to overwhelm himself in horror. She hated it. He knew that he should have just stuck with getting her a pair of boots or a jacket. That would have been the easy route, and instead, he just embarrassed himself in front of her. "You hate it. I'm sorry. I can get it returned tomorr—"

       He was interrupted when a body came crashing into his own, sending the two of them back down on his bed as her lips pressed to his. Stiles had been genuinely surprised, much like Sage earlier, and let out a gasp only a few seconds before she kissed him. The teenage boy could practically feel his heart thumping in his chest, beating rapidly much like every single time he had the blonde in his arms. There was a warmth about her being there, the close proximity reminding him that he wasn't alone. Even when he reluctantly pulled away from her, his dismay evident as he moved his arms around her waist to hold her tightly on top of him, there was still a swelling feeling that he got as he realized there was a bright smile on her face.

"I love it," she answered, her hands falling on either side of his face. He noticed that there was a shadow of musty tears in her eyes, and he removed one hand from her hip to run his thumb under her eye. She knew quickly where his concerns were, shaking her head in dismissal. "I'm not crying because I'm sad. I'm crying because I'm happy. Thank you, Stiles."

Stiles didn't remove his thumb away, rather just rub it along her cheekbone to try and rid all of the happy tears that were threatening to escape. He just stared at her, his beautiful girlfriend, and had to make sure that there was more significance to her birthday present than just a simple ring. "Will you promise me something?"

"Of course."

"Wear it until I do something to hurt you," he replied, his voice completely serious as he kept his eyes on her confused ones. Stiles saw that she was going to protest the idea of him ever doing something to hurt her, knowing very well that the teenage boy could barely hurt a fly, much less her heart. "I'm serious, Sage. The moment that I do something that hurts you, or the moment that you stop loving me, take it off. Then, I'll know I've got to start figuring out ways to win you back."

Sage was immediately against the thought of having to take the piece of jewelry off. Even though she was well aware that it wasn't necessarily intended to be a promise ring, there was still a meaning behind the reasoning for why she would wear it. The teenage girl was also already well aware that, if there were to even come a time when she took it off, it would have to be because Stiles had completely ripped her heart out of her chest. After all of the things that she had seen, and after all of the pain that she had been through, her boyfriend would have to take everything from her. He would have to give her a good enough reason, one that didn't revolve around the idea of him cheating on her or him realizing that he no longer loved her the way that he should. Stiles would have to completely destroy her entirely before she ever even considered the idea of no longer loving him.

"You're not going to have to win me back because you're never going to lose me. I promise."

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The worst thing possible when in love with someone is to watch them disappear. It is not the emotional aspect of watching it happen, more so the hardening fact that there is only a limited amount of time left to show them that there is still something worth fighting for. It was a hollow feeling that began to cave at a person's insides, carving and sculpting a perfect picture of absolute demolition. There was nothing more sickening than watching two people, two corrupted hearts wielded by society, slowly lose themselves in a world that cared little in the destruction of others. It was sickening. To make the situation more of a disastrous notion, every single person in the world was raised to disappear. They were raised to slowly fade away until the only thing left is a significant, little stone that is supposed to hold every single memory that used to be kept in the keepsake of a heart that the person once possessed.

Something that held an even more sickening brutality was knowing that the only person who had a place in that corrupted heart was deteriorating because the idea of time didn't exist in a realistic world. There were things that were going to create a tidal wave of problematic situation — things that would make the ripple effect an average representation of how things can go to utter shit. Those problematic situations turn to outrageous wars being fought with casualties falling at fault of their best friend's blade, or lovers becoming the honest representation of how nothing can defeat the perplexed definition of evil. Those problematic situations turn into catalytic tremors that would forever change the way that two people looked at each other. They would become the image of the way that hope can be completely torn to shreds right before a person's very eyes while the villain barely managed a blink.

And they had become everything of those problematic situations. What they costed was a minute and thirty eight seconds of silence in Sage Connelly's chest. A minute and thirty eight seconds for the world to pause and evaluate a future without the teenage girl in it. A minute and thirty eight seconds for everyone to realize that life is a fragile fixture, and there are too many things and too many people that have the capability of shattering it in front of another's very eyes. A minute and thirty eight seconds for Sage Connelly to be announced officially, and medically, dead.

Derek Hale set into panic as he rushed through the doors of the hospital, barely taking notice of the cautious looks that some of the nurses were giving him when they saw the murderous expression that was contorted on his face. The man cared little about them, focusing more on the task at hand which was to figure out where in the hell is best friend was and if she was even still alive. He could feel his heart pounding through his ears as he stopped at the front desk, realizing that Melissa McCall was not where she was supposed to be. The woman that took her place looked up from the computer to see the impatience that he had and immediately sat straight in her seat. The young nurse didn't know that the man in front of her had just been given the news that he prayed he would never have to hear, the news that he had been so adamant on preventing for seven years.

"Sage Connelly," he rushed out, planting his hands firmly on the top of the desk. His vision was beginning to blur the further that his heart rate excelled, leaving him to try and control his shaking breaths. "Tell me where she is. I need to see her. Now!"

Derek had been at his loft with Chris Argent, newly healed after having picked the shards of glass from his back, when he got the phone call from Scott. Just by the first sentence, Derek could tell that something was wrong by the uneven breathing that was coming from the other line, and had to listen to the teenage alpha explain to him that Sage was being rushed to the hospital after her heart stopped beating from an altercation with the Nogitsune. It took him a few seconds to actually register what Scott was saying, but the moment that it hit him — that his best friend, the overwhelmingly stubborn yet immensely delicate Sage, did not have a functioning heartbeat — he was out the door without giving an answer to Argent about why he had to go. He had to leave. He had to be there because, from the numerous amount of times that his death had already been prematurely written, he finally understood what she felt when she found out that the one person who stuck with her from the start may not be there for the end. It hurt. More than anything he had ever experienced before.

"I'm sorry, Sir," the nurse muttered, her lips pulling into a sad smile to try and console him. She was well aware of the situation with Sage Connelly, having been on shift when the teenage girl was being rolled into the hospital on a stretcher. Everyone set in frantic movements over Hal Connelly's daughter. "Miss Connelly is in the ICU right now, and only family is permitted inside to see her."

Derek narrowed his eyes, clenching his jaw tightly. The woman's words ignited the frustration that he had been trying to swallow down since he ended the call with Scott. Everyone knew that Sage and himself were running low on family members, the young blonde more than anyone. No one from the Connelly family would be stepping through those hospital doors anytime soon, which was why his voice lowered to growl. "I am her family. Now, if no one here is going to tell me where in the hell she is, I swear to God—"

"Derek?" The sound of his name had Derek Hale whipping his head around, relief crawling upon his face when he saw Melissa McCall. That was only up until he noticed the expression on her face. She looked distraught, pain and exhaustion in her eyes because she knew exactly why the werewolf was standing in the hospital. The mother sent him what she could of a weak smile despite the gesture coming out as more of a grimace than anything. No one was able to ignore the fact that Sage had brought all of the people who loved her together in one of the worst ways imaginable.

"How is she? Is she going to be okay?" Derek asked immediately, knowing that if anyone was going to want to be watching over Sage then it would be Melissa.

Melissa just moved her head to the side, letting him know that she wanted him to walk with her instead of standing in the lobby. He hesitated before following, knowing that she was leading him to the room that his best friend was in. "Doctor Deaton was able to get her heart back into motion with a defibrillator at the clinic, but she went into cardiac arrest a few minutes after she arrived at the hospital. It's only the first hour, so the doctors are still running tests and taking blood samples. They've got her under watch by myself and another nurse because of her past with seizures. They don't know if she's going to go into cardiac arrest again, or when she's going to be conscious. We'll know what caused the failure in a few hours... but, Derek, it's not good."

"Scott already told me what caused it," Derek snapped, turning to look over at the mother with his eyebrows arched high. Despite knowing that Stiles had no control over what he did to Sage, it didn't take away from the fact that it was still his hands and his actions that led her to be in the hospital. "Stiles was the one that did this, just like at the station. Just like with Isaac. He's destructive, Melissa. He's not going after random strangers. He's going after people that matter to him — and, to me."

Melissa went silent for a few seconds, trying to figure out the right words to say. In all honesty, she had been rendered speechless the moment that her son came rushing into the hospital with Sage on a stretcher. Given the past that the Connelly had with hospitals, she wasn't alarmed until she realized that one of the paramedics was doing compressions on top of her to keep her stable. When she pulled Scott aside to ask what had happened, the answer she was given was less than believable. She was well aware of the Nogitsune's danger to society from two days ago at the hospital, but she never thought that it would lengthen to the extent of the thing using Stiles as a puppet to kill the girl he was in love with. The very idea of that sent her into a frenzy, letting her son know that she would find out what state Sage was in before any other questions could be asked.

"Stiles wouldn't voluntarily hurt her," Melissa answered, choosing her words wisely as she stepped into the elevator with the werewolf. She was confident in what she was saying, but that didn't ignore the fact that anything could set a protective Derek Hale off at this point. Anything said to the man was like treading on broken glass, his friendship with Stiles dismembered because of how much he cared about Sage. "You and I both know that he wouldn't lay a hand on her, much less try to kill her. The two of them are inseparable."

Derek's eyes fell coldly on the woman. There was no sympathy left inside of him at the moment, his nerves preventing him to allow it to infiltrate his emotions. "Were. They were inseparable. She's never going to forget what he did to her."

"He's never going to forget what he did to her either," Melissa leveled with a soft voice, raising an eyebrow at him before turning her attention back to the elevator doors that were beginning to open. She noticed the grave look that Derek had before she did, and only sent him another comforting smile as she began walking down the hall. "She'll recover from this. She's a strong girl."

The werewolf couldn't help but feel his muscles tense at the words 'recover' and 'strong'. Despite the popular belief that everyone had about the blonde, he was well aware that Sage was incapable of forgetting about anything. He knew that she still had nightmares about the fire that killed their parents, and that the strength she appeared to have was only there as a mask. Something changed in her the moment junior year arrived. The person that she used to be before it was just a memory, that strong girl had been replaced with one afraid of her own shadow. He knew that she wouldn't recover from this. He knew that she was going to have trouble looking at Stiles the same way again. He knew that because she was an exact replication of him in every way shape and form. Sage Connelly used to be a lot of things, but what she was now would never amount of recovery and strength. He just hoped that what was left of her after this didn't disappear like everything else in her life had.

He didn't say anything else in response to Melissa, just watched as the mother stopped in front of a hospital room. The double doors were open wide, allowing him to first notice a distracted Scott McCall staring off in the distance and, then, an older nurse that was looking over papers on a clipboard. Finally, he let his eyes adjust to the sight of Sage in the hospital bed before him. Derek had seen her in pain before, nearly every day, and he had seen her humanity literally tempting to fall from the thin tightrope that it balanced along many times before, but he had never seen her so still. Her body was stuck in a single position, head rolled over on the pillow as her blonde hair displayed itself messily over her face. She looked like she was dead, and it struck another wave of nausea in his stomach.

"Leslie, can you give us a moment alone?" Melissa asked, the question directed at the redheaded woman sitting in one of the four chairs that they had placed in the room. She figured that it would be better to have unknowing ears out of the room for the time being, giving Leslie a small smile in thanks as she watched her leave. The moment that she was gone, Melissa turned back to her son and Derek. "Have you told anyone else about what happened yet?"

"I called Allison to let her know. She was with Lydia when she answered. The two of them said that they were going to come up in the morning with Allison's dad, and to text them if there is any news about her condition. Kira's still getting checked out; they want to make sure that she doesn't have a concussion, but I'm pretty sure her parents are going to want her to stay home for the night after what happened. Ethan and Aiden aren't picking up but I left a voicemail—"

"You told Aiden?" Derek whirled around to face Scott, interrupting the teenage boy's sentence. The last thing that he needed to deal with was an anger-infused Aiden causing a scene and getting kicked out of the hospital. He was well aware of how the werewolf got about anything involving Sage, and knew that if Aiden found out who was the cause of her current state, Stiles would have to deal with more than just his own regret.

Scott wasn't as taken back by the question as he probably should have been. He figured that mentioning Sage's first boyfriend would create commotion, but he wasn't going to just dismiss the fact that the guy still deserved to know what happened to someone he cared about. If it were Allison lying in the hospital bed, Scott would hope that one of his friends would have the audacity to inform him. Aiden had been a bad person for the large majority of the time Scott knew him, but any time that Sage was involved, the raging monster inside of him had been contained. Scott didn't like it, and he didn't like the way that Aiden treated people, but he loved Sage enough to allow the acceptance of a person that was inevitably connected to the blonde no matter what.

"He deserved to know," Scott answered, giving the man a tight frown in response. There was no denying the amount of guilt that the alpha felt as he glanced over at Sage, feeling a road block come in between what he wanted to say and what he could get out. "It's not like she just had a seizure and passed out for a few minutes, Derek. Her heart stopped. She died, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I just watched it happen."

Melissa knew that it was her time to step in, and crossed her arms over her chest as she moved to take a closer look at Sage. "I can't tell the two of you how she is going to be, physically or mentally, after all of this. It's her fight, not mine, but I can tell you that if she didn't have a pulse for as long as you said, the defibrillator shouldn't have worked. I'm just glad that it did. The fact that she's alive right now is a miracle."

Scott sunk deep into his seat, keeping his eyes trained on the girl that became like a sister to him in the past year with his anxiety continuing to eat him alive. Two of his closest friends had been injured so far because of his best friend, and both times he had tried to force an explanation to everyone else around that it wasn't Stiles doing all of the monstrosities. Sage was barely holding onto her life, Isaac was struggling to breathe just down the hallway from them, and Stiles was drugged with wolf lichen as an enigmas demon fought to find a way past it. That did not even include the Oni, which were still dead set on the mission of eliminating their threat by any means possible. Scott just barely missed the sharpened end of their blade tonight, and he didn't know if the next person would be as lucky.

The teen wolf felt his next words flow absentmindedly from his mouth, unaware of how much worse their situation was going to eventually become. "We've been running a little sort on miracles lately."

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It was cold.

Those three words had been the only thing to repeat in her mind like a mantra every second she stayed in the darkness. It was colder than last time, she realized very early on. The last time she had been in that place of complete vulnerability, she felt the warmth of the scorching flames that had been vividly placed around every move that she made. The last time, she felt the warmth of seeing her family alive and right in front of her. Something was different about her second time coming face-to-face with death, and she didn't know if it was because she knew there was no supernatural force that would bring her back to life — no tether that could pull her out of the consuming black hole that seemed to follow her every breath. She was alone and the loneliness was cold.

She did not know how long she was in that place of discomfort, even despite it feeling like there would never be an end to what had always been disastrous since the beginning. She did not see through the dim world, completely blind to anything that could have been crawling around her in the lurking walls. There was no white room, no door that was waiting to be opened with another route leading her to the wrong direction. There was no one there to tell her what to do, every single second a consistent sentence to oblivion. When she was in that place, whether it be an inevitably bound afterlife or a purgatory for those unwilling to fit in either place, she was able to think; and, despite how those walls around her were a prison of her own worst fears, she had never felt more at peace. There were no fears and no worries. There was nothing that was posing a threat to herself or her friends, no reason to love anything in that place. She believed, if only for a split second, that it was where she was supposed to be. That it had always been her fate from the moment she was born.

The sanctuary of her own hell had been washed away soon enough, though. The cold was turned into a painful heat, something that had her aching to scream out with no voice to use. The darkness was obliterated with a conscious white, blurring the teenage girl's vision enough for her to make out the single face of Scott McCall before she slipped back. The only difference was that she did not go back to the same place as before. She just went to the abyss of her mind, that alone providing enough darkness for her to settle in a cold heart for thousands of years. She knew the moment that she took that single breath that the world was not done inventing more satisfactory ways to destruct Sage Connelly, and that it was not her time or place to introduce herself to the cold indefinitely.

She woke up the next morning, even though it felt like she had spent much longer alone, to find that the idea of loneliness had only been one of the many fears keeping her secluded in that dark room. There was pressure in her hand the moment that she tried to move it, inviting her to the idea of opening her eyes to find out where she was. By the time she manged to see through the blurry shapes and figures, she glanced over to her right to see that Lydia Martin was positioned in one of the hospital seats, Allison Argent next to her as the two of them quietly conversed. Only when Lydia felt the movement of Sage's hand did they glance over, overwhelming relief flooding over their features as they both broke out into smiles.

"Hey," Lydia whispered, her voice soft as she squeezed the blonde's hand. The strawberry blonde and the brunette had gotten to the hospital nearly an hour ago, finding Scott and Derek sitting down in silence with their eyes never once leaving their friend's unconscious figure. After Scott was forced to explain to the two girls what happened in full detail, himself and Derek went to go home so that they could both change out of their shredded clothing.

Sage looked at them, still disoriented as she swallowed the dry feeling in her mouth. Her head was spinning, nausea creeping up on her the longer that she kept her eyes open. "What happened?"

"You died, Sage," Allison explained with a light tone, trying to ignore how sick to her stomach she got when she said those words. She watched as the teenage girl slowly let the words sink in, and decided to continue. "Melissa came in about thirty minutes ago to explain what happened medically. The doctors are saying that you had a heart failure from a heart attack, and that the trigger might have been a seizure beforehand. It's uncommon in teenagers our age, but still possible. Everyone is still trying to recover from the news."

"I didn't have a seizure," Sage muttered hoarsely, her hands fumbling with the heart monitor that they placed on her finger. It only took a few seconds for her to dive back into reality, digging herself free of the place she was only moments before. Everything was coming back to her and it was the last thing she wanted to remember. She glanced up to meet with Allison and Lydia's eyes, her own green irises widening as she tried to sit forward, panic shooting up her spine. "Where's Scott? Is he okay?"

Lydia squeezed Sage's hand once again for comfort, lips tugging into another comforting smile. "He's going to be fine. He was with Derek all night watching you. Allison's dad came in to check up on you for a few minutes, but he wanted to go by the station to make sure that the Sheriff was holding up and all of the charges were dropped."

Sage nodded her head in understanding and slowly relaxed, the conversation falling flat for a few moments. She didn't know what to say, her mind still ringing as if she just walked out of a war zone. She knew that it wouldn't be long before Melissa, or some other doctor, came to check up on her, but that didn't mean she wanted to acknowledge what happened to her any more than absolutely necessary. The honest truth was that she wanted to completely forget everything that happened last night. She wanted to forget the fact that she was the one who exposed Stiles to the Nogitsune, that she was the one who started all of this in the first place. She wanted to forget the feeling that she had last night when she felt the Nogitsune begin to strip away every single layer of her exterior away from her, that it was Stiles' hands doing it. She just wanted it all to disappear.

The blonde felt her face scrunch up in confusion for a second as she realized something, turning to look at the girls that were watching Sage like she were a fragile piece of artwork. "I thought only family could be in ICU."

"We are your family," Allison confirmed without a moment of hesitation. The answer only made Sage raise her eyebrows in question because, despite how comforting it was to know that she had made her own family in her friends, she knew that that answer would not get them into the ICU. It hadn't worked with Isaac, and it sure as hell wouldn't make any difference for her. "Word got around that you were Hal Connelly's daughter. No one really knows how to say, "no," when you ask to see Sage Connelly. I think Derek scared half of the nurses anyways."

Sage nodded for what seemed like the millionth time, not completely trusting herself with words at that time. She didn't doubt what they said, knowing very well that her father had been a respected doctor at the hospital and that Derek's temper always found faults when someone he cared about was in danger. Danger. She had been in danger last night. She had been in danger the entire day yesterday, unaware that the person standing next to her had not been who she thought it was. The Nogitsune was a deceptive creation, and mind games were something that it had perfected the art of, but Stiles, somehow, knew that she wasn't herself when the Nogitsune had possessed her. He knew her well enough to detect all of the possible signs, but she didn't know him. She didn't put the pieces together fast enough, and that nearly cost her everything. It had cost her everything.

The three teenagers looked up at the sound of the door opening, Scott walking through in new clothes and clenched fists. He had his head down, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he stared at his phone, all the way up until he heard the slightly faster heartbeat of a particular person he cared about. Scott's eyes snapped up when he noticed it, the boy's face breaking out into a smile when he saw that she was sitting up straight. "Hey, how long have you been up?"

"Just a few minutes," she assured, sending him her own attempt of a smile in the process. There was a pause, which made Lydia and Allison glance at each other once understanding that the two friends wanted to have a conversation alone. They were the only ones there to see what happened with Stiles, the complete transformation that he made in a matter of seconds, and that was not something either would be able to forget. Much like most situations, Scott and Sage were placed on the same line of wondering where they were supposed to go — left or right; and, usually, the direction they turned always carried the two in greater danger than before.

Lydia stood up alongside Allison, sending Sage one last comforting smile. "We're going to go find Melissa to tell her that you're awake."

Sage followed their movements up until they disappeared out the door, Allison making sure to close it before they left so that the werewolf and the altor could have privacy without wandering ears. The moment that they were gone, the blonde inhaled deeply as she felt all of her fragile pieces begin to crack all along the seams. Scott watched her with cautious eyes, unknowing to what he could say in a situation like this. He noticed how her hands had begun to shake in small tremors and frowned deeply, wishing that he could say something to help her. The teenage boy was still at loss for words, though. He had been having trouble comprehending everything that happened ever since last night, and that hadn't changed in the few hours he sat by Sage's side.

Finally, after a few minutes, Sage turned to face him with her eyes drowning in unshed tears. "It was cold."

"What was?" Scott asked, still standing at the edge of her bed with a confused look on his face. He didn't know if she was talking about what happened with Stiles or what happened after it. Even though the Nogitsune had taken the pain that had been building up inside of him, he knew that himself and Sage were wired with completely different functions, so to pretend he knew how she felt in those few moments wouldn't be justification for her in the slightest.

"Wherever I went," she answered, her eyes narrowing slightly in a desperate desire to understand what happened to her. Scott was patient with the blonde, allowing her the chance to try and find the appropriate words before continuing. "It wasn't like the first time."

Scott carefully moved into the chair that Lydia had been previously occupying, his mind buffering as he caught on that she was talking about what happened after. She was comparing the two times that she had died with one another, both of which had not been pleasant for anyone that had a deep connection with Sage. "You never told us what happened to you the first time. You just woke up and you were different. Everything was different after that."

"I was at the Hale house before the fire," Sage began, her hands instinctively going to one of the few rings she had on her fingers. It had been the easiest nervous tick to notice about her. She knew that there was no point in holding back after everything they went through. Not now. "My mom and Luke were having an argument about whether or not I should know that I was an altor. They just kept screaming at each other. Luke got tired of yelling after a few minutes and left for school. I tried to get out a few minutes after him but the door was locked. When I turned around, there was fire everywhere, and I couldn't breathe... it felt like someone put thousands of bricks on my chest. I stepped into two different days of my past, and I shouldn't have been there for either of them."

Scott noticed that the tears in her eyes were, now, threatening their attempt at escape. Despite how he was listening intently to the conversation, he could see that Sage was in another reality as she spoke to him. There was a dullness in her eyes, almost bitter, as she recollected her memories of that night. "You were stuck inside?"

"There was a little girl," Sage said with struggling words, nodding towards the teenage boy to answer his question. The next few sentences would be the ones that gave the werewolf the explanation to why the teenage girl never recovered from what she saw since then, why she let depression and self-hatred eat away at her like parasites. "I only recognized that it was supposed to be me after I woke up. I tried chasing after her to get her out of the fire, but I knew if I stayed in the house any longer, I would die. So, I left. I left her behind, just like I left everyone seven years ago. The door was open by the time I got to the front of the house, taunting me. Tempting me."

The seventeen year old found herself pausing momentarily. There was a part of the revelation that she wasn't sure she wanted anyone to know yet. Mallory Connelly had been there, which was the first time that Sage truly began to question whether or not her mother had died in the fire. She knew that she wouldn't just be telling Scott that her mother was alive, and that it wouldn't just be exposure to the fact that she was growing as mentally unstable as the woman who created her. She would be telling him that her mother was an diagnosed schizophrenic, psychopath that lived in Eichen House, that she was the one who made the hazardous decision to burn down her old house, and that she was the one who was going to grow up and become every bit as insane as her mother was. It was not just one secret that she was giving away, it was everything that she chose to lock away to keep her friends and the people she loved safe. She wasn't going to jeopardize that for the sake of her sanity.

"When I got outside, I noticed something in the upstairs window. It was you. Derek. Lydia. Allison. Jackson. Stiles." She tried her very best not to flinch at saying the teenage boy's name, but the wound was still fresh. Scott felt his muscles tense at her reveal of all the people she cared about being there, and couldn't help but ask himself a mental question that she would soon answer a few seconds later. "I watched you all burn to death, Scott. I watched every single second of it, just like with my family. I tried getting the door open to help. I tried so hard, but I couldn't do anything except sit there and listen to everyone I loved scream until they weren't able to scream anymore. Eventually, all of you were just... gone; and, I was stuck living with the fact that I couldn't save any of you."

Sage didn't take her eyes away from their secured place on the bed sheet, knowing that if she met with Scott's eyes that she would expose herself to, yet another, threat. There was no denying that the teenage boy could see how completely damaged the girl in front of him was, such an odd way for him to label her after how much she had overcome in the time they introduced themselves when they were eight years old. She had always been the one person that kept all of them stable even when they were threatening to fall apart. She had always been their hope that bad things do not have to destroy a good person. For Scott to finally be able to sit in front of her, to sit in front of Sage Connelly and realize that the one thing keeping her alive was the one thing she had lost in her attempt to find herself, it was not something he chose to remember. He did not want to remember seeing the shattered expression on her face. He did not want to remember at all.

That had been the one thing they both agreed upon. Sage finally glanced up from her glare on the sheets to meet his gaze, the first of the tears in her eyes falling onto her cheek as she gave him an expression he would never in his life forget. "Last night, I was cold."

Scott was silent for a few seconds, the two of them finding common ground within those five words. "Do you know why?"

"I didn't have him to pull me back up," Sage explained with little energy left inside of her. Neither needed to acknowledge who the common noun in the sentence was. Stiles had been her anchor from the moment she fell in love with him, and last night, her anchor became the one thing in this world that was capable of crushing her. He became the one person she let in long enough to corrupt her, and that was the second time that she allowed it to happen to herself. "And, I don't know how I'm supposed to just move on from that."

Scott looked up at the ceiling for a split second, trying to erase any trace of his own tears with little success. There were too many things that he could tell her in a situation like then. He could tell her that Stiles Stilinski would always be madly in love with Sage Connelly despite every single obstacle that would try to pull them away from one another. He could tell her that there is only a limited time they had left on this Earth to understand life, and that after what happened to her, she shouldn't be trying to patch the holes his best friend left inside of her. He could tell her that he understood exactly how it felt to be lost in a world because the one person that she believed she would spent years stumbling recklessly over decided to alter that course. There were too many things that he could tell her, and too many things that he couldn't bear to say. Breaking her heart was not an option, not when it had already been done last night.

"You don't." Scott returned his attention back to her, and noticed the confused expression that found its way through the broken one. "You don't move on from it. You accept it, and you let it destroy you until you can't take the pain anymore. I still love Allison, Sage. I'm always going to love Allison, but I'm not going to put myself or her in that same position we were in last year — trying so hard to fix what was, literally, bound to fall apart at some point. You live with the open wound, and you keep making more no matter how much it hurts."

Sage let her eyes wander over to Scott's exposed arm, taking in the tattoo that he had gotten at the start of junior year. She knew that it was the only thing that kept him stable while he was without Allison, and she didn't realize until she lost Stiles that the agony he had to have gone through while branding it onto his skin was nothing in comparison to what she had left in his heart. That had been the moment the teenage girl realized she possessed her own tattoo, and even though it was not ink that would always remain permanently on her body, she still had one; and, what hurt even more was knowing that she could no longer wear it. It had always been there to signify the fact that, no matter how far they would fall, they would always be there for each other. She couldn't be there for him anymore. Not when she, now, knew what the consequences were to falling in love.

"Scott," Sage whispered, her voice soft enough to prevent cracks in her tone. He gave her a look in expectancy, ready to help her through anything she needed. He was genuinely surprised when he saw her fumbling with her hands, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion when he saw that she was pulling off the one piece of jewelry he knew had never been anywhere but her finger since it was given to her. The band was gutwrenching for both of them, the significance of the small object saying a world of things. "I can't do it anymore."

Scott didn't reaction in another other way besides nodding, realizing that he couldn't speak up for his best friend when he knew that even he had trouble creating a sole reminder that the person who confronted them last night was not Stiles. He couldn't act as if he knew exactly how she was feeling right now. All he could do was accept the fact that Sage had her own understandable reasons for not being able to see her ex-boyfriend the same way that she used to, and given the fact that every single person the teenage girl has let into her life has, in some way, found resources to hurt her, he wasn't going to protest. The only thing that he was going to do was figure out a way to help Stiles, knowing that the root of the blonde's pain centered around the reality that she no longer knew how to feel.

"I'll figure this out," Scott promised, reaching so that he could place a hand over the one that had the ring in it. He knew that he was playing with too many variables and that there was a game being played that he wasn't sure he could win, but he was still willing to try. No matter the costs. "He's going to be okay. Deaton and I will figure out a way to fix this. He's going to be okay, you're going to be okay, and we're all going to get past this together."

Sage swallowed the lump that was beginning to form in her throat, only nodding once. She didn't know where she could continue a conversation from there, knowing fairly well that their pack had never been able to get past something without losing someone that they loved in the process. That wasn't something she was ready to face again. Instead of trying to divert themselves on another route, their silence was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door. Melissa came in only a few seconds later, a smile on her face the moment that she saw Sage was awake. The blonde in the hospital bed couldn't manage her own in return, just quickly wiped her fallen tears with one of her hands.

"It's good to see that you're awake, Sage," Melissa announced, taking a few large steps so that she was standing at the edge of the bed. She didn't fail to see the slight exchange made by Scott and Sage when her son lifted his hand from the blonde, sticking his hand into his pocket very quickly with only a single, regretful look given to the girl that, now, had a bare finger. "I know that the last thing you want is to take more tests, but your doctor wants to make sure that everything is okay given how quickly of a reaction you had to waking up."

Scott took that as his cue to leave, moving to stand up so that he could give his mother and Sage time to sort out the medical side of her situation as opposed to the emotional. He sent a smile towards the blonde, which would be added to the long list of them that she had received since the moment she woke. Just as the werewolf went to get up, there was a sharp pain in his abdomen from where his injury was still healing, sending Scott back down into his chair with a small groan in acknowledgement. The action immediately alarmed Melissa and Sage, his mother quickly inching to his side while Sage sat straighter in her bed.

"I'm fine," Scott dismissed, sending both of them a reassuring nod. "I'm fine. It's just taking a bit longer for me to heal. I'll be good as new in a couple of hours."

Sage diverted her irises down to his abdomen, having a rather vivid reminder in her head of when there was once a sword taking residence, and couldn't help but find herself sinking into an unsteady pool of apprehension. The werewolf next to her could practically smell the confusion and growing anxiety that was surrounding her, slowly pushing himself up off the chair with hesitation. "Sage. What's wrong?"

The teenage girl glanced up from his injury, her eyes wide with a growing panic. There was a sudden closure in her chest, something that was immediately alarming because it had been seven years since she felt it — a hollowness as she stared at someone she loved suffering. Ever since she came back to Beacon Hills, she experienced everything with a shortness of breath and a heavy heart. There were times when she accepted the possibility of falling at the fault of her best friend's blade, or times when there was so much demolition running through her veins at a single point in time that it seemed like a practical solution to end it all. She hadn't realized that in all of those pleads to feel nothing, to be completely empty and lifeless with only a beating soul, she would be losing the one thing that kept her human. Her friends had been her tie to humanity, their agony in life-threatening situations being the only reason she still felt everything so deeply and passionately. All of it was gone.

"Scott, I don't feel your pain." The Nogitsune had done exactly as promised, not only taking the pain that she possessed while in his grasp, but all of the pain that would eventually come afterward. The weight that had been heavily crushing her chest ever since she first found out what she was, the pressure that had always been an unwelcoming friend in her throat. All of it was gone. "I don't feel anything."

All of it was gone.

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Insurance policy on my life that if you kill me because of this, this will be the last chapter you read! But, in all honesty, I've gotten so many amazing reactions from the last chapter despite what happened. To know that you guys were honestly crushed about a possible ending to Sage was absolutely heartwarming, and I just want to thank you guys for supporting this book and my writing through everything. As for this chapter, I hope that you guys enjoyed it! I have my iffy moments about it, especially since it's so crucial and so many things are happening at once, but I did my best to give Sage justice. Since tomorrow is my birthday, I wanted to do something for you guys before then because I knew I wouldn't be able to update. Hopefully, this is enough.

I only have four more episodes left to write for Still, which is incredibly sad and incredibly amazing for me to write. The first book of the Sage series was much more lighthearted, and this book is basically me exposing my own struggles with depression, loss, self-hatred, and so many other emotions through Sage. The second book is much darker, and it's something I've poured my heart and soul into completely. Sometimes, Sage is going to be annoying — I am. Sometimes, Sage is going to make choices that you will not completely like — every human does. She is not perfect. I did not create her to live up the expectation of perfection, and much like all of us, there will be things about her that you hate. There will be things that you love. There will be things that, I hope, make you understand that she is much more than just a love interest for Stiles.

Thank you, honestly, for everything you've blessed me with. I'm excited to continue on our journey together, and I hope you guys will always be with me. Much love!