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SIXTY SEVEN;

BEGIN AGAIN

She sat on the doorstep of the McCall house when he finally came home. His house keys were being tossed from one hand to the other, but that was not what Sage focused on. From the moment that she met Scott McCall, she could see straight through him. Perhaps being his personal babysitter all those years ago engrained her own booklet in how to tell what he was thinking. Maybe it was because, in the time since she had come back to Beacon Hills, he had become her brother. Settling with that gut feeling in her stomach, and trying to deal with her own, Sage was not surprised to see how his grim expression turned into one of surprise when he finally saw her. He tried to pretend that he was okay, turning his grief inward so that only he could see it. It was almost enough to make her scoff, knowing just as well that she had taught him that trick.

"Sage, hey," he said, the keys stilling in his hand. His brows furrowed, glancing from his closed door to her seat on the steps. "What are you doing here?"

Sage looked up at him through her lashes, but didn't say anything. Scott's face dropped immediately at the expression, and he sighed deeply. It seemed that their friendship was a two-way street, and he knew her just as well. She watched his hands tighten on his keys, tight enough to dig into his skin, before he took the few feet in order to sit down next to her on the steps.

Surprisingly, the air around them did not feel suffocating. No, both of them had spent the last week and a half choking on their own pain and figuring out a way to move on. Now, sitting next to someone living through the same pain, all that they felt was calm. Sage glanced at the street ahead of her, wrapping her arms around her knees as she watched the cars drive by. Scott did not say anything either, his shoulders finally freeing themselves of their tension as he reveled in the silence, as well.

Finally, he spoke. "Do you think it'll hurt forever?"

Sage's hands tightened within themselves, but the rest of her body remained relaxed. The only indication of a reaction settled in her throat, burning gently. Somewhere between tears and pain, she found a way to breathe through it all. To her left, Scott took a deep inhale, the peaceful air beginning to sting his nostrils.

"I don't know," she said, honestly. She paused for a moment, her green eyes watching inquisitively as a white car narrowly dodged an oncoming bird. Just like that, it evaded death. "I've spent half of my life trying to figure out how to deal with this...with death."

"And?"

"And I still don't have any answers."

She expected to have a pattern down by now―a way to get through the grief and skip the five steps―but the truth was, she had no idea. She had lost a parent, a sibling, a best friend, a first love in the short amount of six years and every single one of them carried a different weight on her shoulders. Different degrees of pain, and a different section of scars that she was still trying to accept. There was no reason to lie to Scott. Not over something like this. Not when she knew the consequences that came with lying to someone about what they should expect.

Neither one of them spoke again for a while, falling back in the same silence from earlier as they watched the world around them continue to move. Sage, although she never mentioned it, could feel the indistinct pull that tethered her to Scott. Even as they sat there, shoulder to shoulder, she noticed how it grew stronger. It wasn't until everything had happened and they were left to handle the effects that she finally noticed it―her abilities, humming like a small current of electricity in her mind, reminding her of whose life she was bound to. As tragic as it may be, Sage had evolved in some way.

That thought stuck in her mind, she finally turned to glance over at him. "Isn't it weird to think that it's always been you?"

"What?" he asked, looking over at her in confusion.

"Through all of this, every single thing that we've been through since that day I walked into that parking lot sophomore year―this pack," she began, her lips pulling into a straight line as she thought. "From the very beginning, I was always meant to be by your side. Everyone and everything that came with it...they were because of you. Since the moment I met you, what I am has always known you were meant to be. A true alpha bound in this mess of things to an altor that had no idea what she even was."

Scott paused, his lips pursing as he thought about what she was saying. "I think we've done a pretty good job so far together."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed, rolling her eyes in lighthearted humor. She stopped though, her face dropping as she glanced down at her hands. The rings on her fingers were already been twisted. "Something's changed since then, Scott...something is different inside of me."

"Since..." he trailed off, his words being stopped by the lump in his throat.

"Since she died," Sage said, boldly, but not without the sting of pain following. "I don't know what happened. We all assumed that my abilities were gone for good, and then...then, they weren't. I talked to Deaton about it. He thinks that it was an emotional trigger―that they weren't gone, but dormant after what he did," she paused, swallowing hard as she tried to find the words. "Losing her woke them up again. Changed something in me. Made me different. Deaton alway said that I had the potential to evolve, but I guess I never thought I would."

Sage could see the gears turning in Scott's mind as he turned his head back to look at the road, splitting his thoughts from the memory of her death and back to what she was saying. She knew that neither one of them were prepared to say any names to each other. They were not ready to awaken any of the wounds they had just managed to bandage up. She wasn't even sure why she was telling Scott about her abilities right then. That was not why she came, and it was not the most important thing for them to talk about...but somehow, she felt like she had to explain. If only to let him know that she would always be there, always be bound to him to share in his pain.

"What's changed?" he asked, quietly. His hands started to play with his keys again, aimlessly looking for anything to keep the tears from building in his eyes. "Nothing bad, right?"

"Something between me and you―a hum. I never noticed it until a few days ago, but it's gotten stronger since we've been sitting here. It's almost like I can feel your energy. Your life," she explained, then frowned a bit. "He said something to me the day that I talked to him. Something about my kind, and how we were built to protect the Roman Gods in history. I think that, maybe, whatever this is...it's there for me to know that you're alright. Like a tether, from me to you."

Scott's eyes softened, and that was when she noticed the tears as he stared ahead. "And the rest of the pack?"

"No," she denied, almost dejectedly. "Not the same as with you..but maybe they will grow."

She hesitated, trying to dig her way up to a memory that she did not want to relive anymore. But it did not want to resurface. Like a current constantly dragging her under, she fought for minutes to find any way to speak about it. Hell, she had seen it in every single nightmare since that day. The memory haunted her around every corner and struck a nerve beneath every vein. Still, the thought of acknowledging it―the idea of letting it become true, and knowing that she could do nothing about it―terrified her more than she could even begin to explain.

"Scott, I knew."

Scott straightened up immediately, turning to look at her completely.

"When we were all fighting at the high school...I felt it," she said. Her rings were being twisted aggressively now, acting out her nerves. "I saw it. Something inside of me screamed that he was going to be...that something was going to happen to him, and I just acted. I realized that I had felt his death before it even happened...and then I felt it again when it really did. Scott, I knew and I still couldn't stop it. If this is the evolution that I'm meant to become, what does that say about me that I have these abilities and I still couldn't do anything to stop it?"

The last bit of her words wavered, and she would have been appalled at the fact that her voice cracked, but all she felt was resignation. Scott's hands tightened around his keys before they fell from his hand completely, and he turned to wrap an arm around her shoulder. The gentle pull into his chest was enough to make her eyes sting even more. She breathed in deeply through her nose, getting rid of the tears before they fell. He was only making things more difficult in the end. She clenched her jaw slightly, carefully pulling herself out of Scott's embrace so that she could explain what she had to do.

"You know why I'm here," she muttered, blinking back the tears as she looked anywhere but him.

Scott shifted beside her. "I was at Argent's before I came home...is this really what you want?"

"It's what I need."

"Then, do it," he said without hesitation. That surprised her. She looked up at him with wide eyes. Scott only smiled sadly at her. "Sage, you have been protecting me since sophomore year. Since the moment I got into this, you were always by my side...but I think it's time you deserve a break from this. From me. From us."

She immediately started shaking her head. "No―"

"Yes," he interjected, giving her a worried glance. "I know that you love us, and this pack may be your home, but there is only so much you can give away before it starts to take everything. You have given up everything for us, and these last few months...Sage, if saying goodbye through distance is what you need to do, then I'll take that over losing my sister any day."

The tears returned tenfold, and she could not stop the few that rolled down her face as she looked at him. He smiled sadly and stood up, lending his hands down to her so that she could get off the steps as well. Sage got to her feet and immediately wrapped her arms around him. Like all the times before, Scott hugged her back, tightening his hold around her.

"Thank you," she said into his shoulder, muffled by her tears and his shirt. "For giving me back a part of Luke that I thought I lost."

If possible, his arms tightened around her. "Just like you told me―we're tethered. I'm always going to be here for you. Maybe you and Argent can figure out what is going on with your abilities while you're there. It doesn't hurt to try. I love you, Sage."

"I love you, too."

Sage and Scott were not sure how long they stood there. By the time Melissa McCall had come home from her double shift at work, all she saw were the unlikely pair hugging each other in the front of her house―and it was without a moments hesitation that she joined in. The three of them stayed outside in the peaceful air, appreciating the small family that they had created in one another, and trying to pretend like they were not each missing pieces of themselves that could never be repaired.

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"That shirt is atrocious with your hair color."

Sage glanced down immediately at the yellow shirt that she was wearing, something that she had pulled from the depths of her closet after discovering that almost all of her other clothes were ruined. No more dark colors left to hide behind. That she was even wearing such a bright color in the first place was testament to how much things had changed in a matter of days―but if there was one constant that stuck with her, it was the unabashed commentary of Lydia Martin.

She scowled at the strawberry blonde laying down on her bed, eyes staring up at the ceiling. Although it seemed like the girl never turned her neck away, she knew that her best friend had caught sight of her outfit before she walked through the door. Rather than saying a sarcastic remark back, she moved further into her room and kicked off her boots so that she could lay next to Lydia. Together, the two of them stared at the white ceiling like it would begin moving at any second.

"Did you know the Eiffel Tower is one thousand and sixty-three feet?" Lydia asked casually, but it was enough for Sage to sigh immediately. "Funny, isn't it? I think it always looks so small in pictures."

"Who told you?" she asked, closing her eyes in defeat. "I just saw Scott."

"Danny," she explained, then turned her head to look over at Sage. "Really, did you expect me not to find out before you came to tell me goodbye? And you had the audacity to leave me here wearing that shirt?"

Sage's lips pulled down into a frown, and she opened her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with my shirt."

"It's yellow."

"Congratulations. You aren't color blind."

"I wish I was," she huffed out. "Maybe then I'd see a nicer color than whatever that is."

Sage laughed, but it got caught in her throat before it could get any further than her tongue. Lydia smiled briefly, happy to see the reaction from her best friend, but the tears started to build in her eyes the longer that she stared at Sage. Lydia was reaching blindly for her hand, intertwining their fingers so tightly that the metal of her rings pinched both of their skin. There was so much irony between the two of them, looking at where they started and where they were now, and Lydia couldn't help but let the few tears escape her swollen eyes.

Lydia took in a deep breath, looking over at Sage. "I know that you need this, but I really need you...and I don't know if I'm going to be able to say goodbye."

Sage's heart crushed in her chest. She knew that it was not fair to Lydia, and having to tell her goodbye was something that she dreaded the entire day. Both of them lost a best friend, and the three of them became two just as quickly as their friendship started. Separating herself from Lydia when she had only just gotten her back made the ache in her heart grow, but if there was one thing that she was absolutely certain of it, it was that Lydia had Scott, and Scott had Lydia. Knowing that the two of them could lean on one another was the only thing keeping her sane as she readied herself to leave.

"It won't be forever," she promised, tightening her hand. "So, we don't say goodbye."

"Au revoir?" Lydia asked, raising her brows.

Sage's brows furrowed. "Isn't that hello?"

"Oh, I truly hope your tour guides know how to speak English."

"I'm joking," she said, scoffing as she smiled softly at Lydia. She tried to ignore the tears in the strawberry blonde's eyes in hopes that it would not cause any of her own. Even if it was not permanent, every muscle in her body wanted to stay with her best friend instead of leaving. "Until we meet again sounds a lot better than goodbye to me."

Lydia smiled, but this time, it didn't meet her eyes. Sage knew that she was thinking about something, and the thought was slowly forming in her mind by the way that her green eyes started to lose their tears. After a moment, she turned to look back at Sage. "You're doing this because of him, aren't you?"

Lydia got her answer when Sage's hand went limp in hers. She watched as the pain began to scatter itself in different reactions, from her guarded eyes to the tension in her shoulders. Knowing the girl in front of her all too well, Lydia had been right. They never said his name, but even the thought cut through the air in a way that it hadn't with Scott. Sage pushed back the steel reaction, her hand squeezing Lydia's once again to get herself through the next word she was about to say.

"Yes."

Lydia hesitated, testing her next words. "Did he say something?"

"The day you called him...you told me that he loved me enough to hurt me," she began, her eyes beginning to glare a hole into the ceiling. "You were right. He told me things that I didn't want to hear―things I didn't want to believe. Things that were true. I was so mad at him, but he was right...and if there is one thing left of him that I can do, it's this. He wanted me to leave―to find myself in a place outside of all of this. I have to at least try for him...for Allison."

The name struck like its own blade, all over again. Lydia let out a shaky breath, curling her fingers around Sage's as she settled into the fact that Allison Argent's name was said out loud after so long without its presence. So long without her presence. Sage had a similar reaction, and she tried her hardest not to grit her teeth as the flashes of pain surfaced through her body all over again. God, how much she wanted to not feel it anymore. As an afterthought, her free hand curled naturally around the expanse of her throat. It had become such a normal reaction to hearing about Allison that she barely realized she did it anymore.

"I think she would tell you to meet a cute French man and have a fun time," Lydia said, finally and painfully. A sad, reflective smile fell on her face as she pondered even more. "But not before she got on you about your terrible French."

"Hey. I know enough to get by," she protested softly. She smiled, too. "I'll send you postcards as often as I can. I might stop by London one weekend, you know, just to check up on Jackson and make sure he isn't getting into any trouble. If I find a cute boy in the meantime, I'll be sure to send you a picture."

"Speaking of..." Lydia paused, her eyes widening a bit to turn a look at Sage. "Have you..."

Sage knew immediately what she was asking. "No. Not yet."

"Sage―"

"I know, Lydia."

Neither one of them spoke any longer on the topic, dropping it so that they could spend those next few hours with each other. Lydia silently went to her closet and made it a show to donate some of her clothes to Sage, giving her a glare any time the blonde's nose wrinkled at the sight of something. They did not comment on the empty space that they felt as they went through the motions, realizing that they were missing someone that would never be able to fill her rightful place next to them.

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The sight of the Stilinski house made her want to put her car in reverse and drive away. Her hands were clammy, and she constantly tightened them around the Camaro's steering wheel as she tried to find enough courage to step out of the car. Already she was hit with the overwhelming feeling of nerves, and each flashback came back full circle as she tried to prevent them. The late nights when she would drive over to the house to see Stiles before they were even dating, the nights when they were―everything about the house acted as a reminder of her life, and finding it within herself to step out of the car to wish it a farewell was just not happening the way that she wanted it to.

She did it anyways. Her car door closing seemed louder than usual, and the short walk to the front door felt like a century, but she finally made her way there. Hesitating only a second, she knocked her fist into the door and pretended like it hadn't happened a hundred times before. To reminisce even more, the door swung open to reveal Sheriff Stilinski. Sage wanted to cry the second that she saw him. She kept it to herself, though, and gave him a small smile.

Before he could even get a word in, she had stepped through the threshold and wrapped her arms around him. Sheriff gave a startled sound at the random act, but warmed up to it immediately and wrapped his arms around her as well. "Sage, is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine," she said, steadying her voice and reluctantly pulling away from him. Sheriff looked down at her in concern, but she was already smiling halfheartedly up at him. "I just wanted to tell you thank you for everything that you've done for me―for taking me in, for treating me like I was one of your own."

"You're family. You don't need to thank me for that, but―" he paused, his brows furrowing in concern. "Sage, what's this about?"

Her smile fell a bit. "Is it alright if I talk to Stiles first? Is he home?"

Sheriff Stilinski must have seen something in her eyes, because he was nodding slowly in the direction of the steps. "He's upstairs."

She gave him a silent thanks, squeezing his arm gently as she walked around him. As she made her way through the hallway, she could feel his stare watching her back in concern. She just hoped that Stiles would be able to tell the Sheriff what was happening, because she was not sure how much more she would have left after the conversation she was about to have. Noah Stilinski was everything that resembled a father to her over the years after losing Hal Connelly. She may have lost her family, but that did not mean she did not build one just as strong.

The reminder of that was shown in the picture frame that she passed on her way up the stairs, framed of her, Scott, and Stiles. She remembered that picture. It had been there since they were little, and she used to look at it every time she came over to the Stilinski's. Claudia had it put up of them before she passed away. Now, the picture just brought a pain in her heart that she took in willingly. Moving along, she spared one last glance at the picture before she walked up to the open door that was waiting for her. He had his back to her when she finally reached his room, making her next words a little bit easier to swallow.

"I'm leaving with Argent and Isaac."

She stood in the door frame of Stiles Stilinski's bedroom just like she had so long before then. The memories of the room were stronger than the outside of the house, and she pushed back every single one that fought its way to the surface. All of the nights she spent laying with him in the navy blue covers, the laughs and the tears that stained the walls, the pictures scattered along his desk, and everything in between was held in his bedroom. She glanced over at his desk to see that the picture of them from homecoming was still there, scattered with a series of other pictures that he'd collected over the years. Standing in front of his room now, she felt like she was saying goodbye to it, as well.

Stiles was tearing down the yards and yards of string wrapped around his bulletin board, pulling pictures off left and right as they fell to the ground. They shared the reminder that the Nogitsune had finally been defeated, and things were finally regressing back to their natural state. The calm after the storm. Only when she finally spoke did he flinch instinctively, his back tightening at the sound of her words. Finally, after a few moments, he turned around to look at her. He looked better. The dark circles under his eyes were finally gone, but the worn expression on his face never seemed to go away now. Much like hers, they were all left with permanent scars.

"I talked to Morrell," she continued. "She said that there is a good medical internship program in Paris for students wanting to major in pre-med―full scholarship and everything for the spring semester of any standing junior in high school. Argent has a weapons dealership company there and an apartment that we can stay at. He said that he would watch over me as my legal guardian. We signed the papers this morning. Isaac is going to go with us."

Stiles stared blankly at her. "You've already decided."

"You and your dad are my last goodbyes."

"Goodbye?" he repeated, like the word was foreign on his tongue. His eyes were hooded with emotion as he slowly stepped closer to her. "You came to say goodbye."

A few weeks ago, she would have flinched at the way he said it, but he was not the Nogitsune any longer and she was not the same person she was a few weeks ago. Today, she could only feel a sense of upset rising in her chest. She knew that the conversation they were about to have would be the hardest, but she was not expecting the amount of repressed emotions to come out. Her eyes narrowed on him, digging her fingers into the sides of her thighs as she swallowed hard. If there was any way for them to be set free from each other, they had to acknowledge the parts of themselves that they had been hiding for months.

"I thought when you were back it would get better."

Stiles never stood up straighter in his life when he saw her tears. "Sage―"

"I thought, yes, he must be the reason," she said, softly, not bothering to stop when he interrupted her. "That you've got to be the reason why I've been so angry at every single person who even dares to look at me with pity. That the moment I found out you weren't being possessed by another thing trying to kill us all, I was going to feel this wall break because you were the answer. That the reason I've been feeling like utter shit is because of you. Worrying about you. Trying to save you. Giving so much to you. No more saying 'I'm fine' to people. No more having to listen to the bullshit, going on and on about my problems like I wasn't capable of fixing them myself. That Aiden might have been even the slightest bit wrong when he said I was depressed."

Sage let out a winded laugh at the last part, feeding into her pain. "...and I was just outside thinking about all of the things that happened before I even met you. All of the 'tragedies' and 'I'm so sorry's' that went about as far as Allison and Aiden's lives―and I realized that he was right. This isn't... this isn't... I can't walk away from this, Stiles. I can't walk away from all of the shit that I think about every time I end up alone. The consistent feeling where I wonder who is going to come through the door to kill me next―and how much I would actually care at this point if they did. I wanted to walk away so fucking bad so many times... because I thought that maybe once you were okay, I would get my chance to be okay. I would get my chance, you know? And then Lydia was taken... and that weight never disappeared because I realized it wasn't you... it wasn't you."

Sage finally turned around to look back at the person she was confessing all of this to only to see that his tears were falling just as much as hers were. "It was me. It was always me. Always my shit... and I'm tired of letting you, Scott, Lydia, Derek...everyone try to put me back together when you can't even find parts that aren't there. I gave a part to Aiden. I gave a part to Allison. To Luke. To Laura. To my dad. To Mom. To every fucking person in my life that will never be able to see this shitty world again. I can't lose anyone else, Stiles. I can't be there for Scott's funeral, or yours, or Lydia's. I can't write some eulogy about how much I loved you and how you will always be missed. I can't be in this town trying to help people when they only end up dying. I can't do it anymore."

Stiles was shaking his head by then in disbelief. "So, that's your solution, then? Walk away again? Get on with your life? Hope to God that the supernatural stays away from this life that you're chasing? It doesn't exist, Sage. It's a fantasy that's never going to come true."

"Like you've never wanted to leave?" she asked, her voice higher as she glared at the boy in front of her. "I'm not the hero, Stiles. Give that title to Scott. Give it to Derek. Hell, you take it. I can't have it. It's not mine. It's never been mine. I never wanted any part in this. I just wanted to find Laura. What's the point of it anyway? We do all of these good things, we save all of these people, but what about us? Are we not allowed to be selfish people? Are we not allowed to be human? Because, if this is what it feels like to save the day, I can't. I can't. Because saving other people is literally killing me, Stiles. And I don't think I'm good enough to keep letting it. "

Stiles faltered, looking at her with his eyes widening. "You think that I can do this? You think that this has been easy for me? Sage, my best friend is werewolf, and he can do all of these amazing things, and all I can do is hold a bat and pray that that's going to get me through the night. My girlfriend broke up with me because she thought that she couldn't love me. And I ended up doing horrible things to both of you. Do you know how that felt for me? How I felt? I was completely alone. I've been completely alone. I can't tell Scott that I make mistakes, or that I'm too tired to help save the day because he doesn't understand. I couldn't tell Scott that I was having nightmares. I couldn't tell anyone. Do you know how many times I wanted to be selfish? How many times I wanted to just leave because I kept seeing Scott and Isaac and Derek do all of these things that I couldn't do? Do you know how many times I thought that?"

Sage blinked away the tears, letting them roll down her cheek as the anger she was feeling morphed into something of a less extent. Defeat. "This isn't healthy, Stiles. This...us."

"No," he denied, shaking his head with a deep sigh. "It's not. It hasn't been for a while, though. You and I...do you think we ever should have started anything? Because...because if we hadn't―"

"The Nogitsune wouldn't have been able to use us so well against each other? It wouldn't have made a difference. He found the two people he could manipulate the best. Me loving you, you loving me...past or not, that wouldn't have changed much," she said, frowning as she looked at him. "You still knew me better than anyone else. You were always my best friend. You still would have seen through it. And I don't regret a single moment of loving you, Stiles. I never will... and I always will."

Stiles' eyes shined with resignation, but she could see through those brown eyes that she fell in love with that he felt the same for her. They would always love each other. The truth, despite everything, was that Stiles and Sage were not the same people that they had been that day she showed up for school sophomore year. They had both been through far too much to pick up a relationship that was not healthy anymore. Both of them deserved more than that, and their traumas deserved the chance to be acknowledged without the weight of anyone else helping. They needed to find a way to cope, and that could not be done by anyone but themselves.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Stiles asked. "So, what do we do?"

"I need time to find myself again..." she paused, her green eyes watching his. "And I think you need time, too. What happened to us...this time, it was too much, Stiles. This isn't something that can be fixed in a couple of weeks. It can't―no one can go back to anything that they were before...and I'm not ready to."

Stiles didn't say anything for a while, but she could see that her decision to leave was wearing on him. She knew why without him needing to say anything. He always worried that this day would come. He worried that there would come a time where she decided to leave, and she never came back. Just like seven years ago when she left Beacon Hills for the first time.

"Will you come back?" he asked hesitantly, fearing the worst in her answer.

She paused, considering his question, before she gave him a half-smile. "I always seem to find my way back here somehow."

"I don't know if we can do this without you."

"You can," she promised. "I know you can. You and Scott never needed me."

Stiles scoffed at that, rolling his eyes. "We'd be dead without you."

His choice of words sliced through any of the lighthearted humor that they managed to establish, sucking the air dry of it as they slowly stopped to realize what they had just said. Sage gave him a weak smile, and she hesitated a brief moment before stepping forward. She ignored the small flash in the back of her mind of the Nogitsune's arms wrapping around her, the mantra ringing loudly in her head: this is Stiles, this is Stiles, this is Stiles. If they were ever going to get passed what happened to them, they had to first accept it. With that, she reminded herself that Stiles would never lay a hand on her, and she hugged him.

What she expected to be an awkward hug was not. Both of them were tense at first, and their tight shoulders showed that, but they eventually loosened enough for her to wrap her arms completely around him. The familiar comfort of being in the arms of someone that cared about her filled her heart, and that it was him after so long aided in the feeling. Stiles carefully raised his hands, one arm wrapping gently around her waist while the other went to cradle the back of her head. Her damn blonde hair got caught up in his fingers, but neither one of them minded as they appreciated the small moment of their past. Their love was folded, dented, and torn in too many places for it to ever return back to its original place―but it was always there, in one form or another.

Stiles pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her head before he spoke. "I hope you can begin again, Sage."

Sage said nothing, and instead listened to the soft thudding of Stiles' heartbeat to remind her that it was him after all. It was not a perfect goodbye, as no goodbye would ever be, but she knew that it was more than she had gotten with those that she had lost before. Her arms tightened around Stiles for one final moment before she let go, albeit just as reluctantly as she did with Sheriff Stilinski.

When she pulled away, both of their eyes were shining with tears. "Come on now, Stilinski. You know my beginnings always started with you. This is just a 'to be continued'."

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Sage stood in the parking lot of the airport, her hands playing absentmindedly with the side mirror on the black Camaro as she did so. Chris Argent and Isaac Lahey were a bit away at a different parking lot, and she couldn't help the small smile on her face when she noticed that they were bickering quietly about the amount of stuff that Isaac could bring in his carry-on. Still, even that was not enough to keep her concerned eyes from flickering back and forth from the entrance of the airport parking lot. Their flight to Paris would be leaving in an hour, and they still had to be checked in―but Sage had not yet said goodbye to everyone, and Beacon Hills was going to have to wait for its farewell from her.

The sound of footsteps coming up beside her made her head turn in the opposite direction, frowning when she saw that it was just Chris. He gave her a small, apologetic glance before glancing down at his watch. "We better start heading in, Sage."

Panic spiked in her chest, and she stood up straight from the car. "Just one more minute. Please."

Chris looked at her for a moment before nodding, his hand going up to her arm to squeeze it gently. Thankfully, he walked back over to Isaac and the two of them started to gather up all of their suitcases. Sage glanced back towards the exit once again, her anxiety beginning to rise as she bit down on her lip. When the seconds began to dwindle down, her heart grew even heavier when she realized that no one was driving through the exit.

"Looking for me?"

Sage whirled around, the relief hitting her like no other as she recognized the voice. Standing on the opposite side of the Camaro was Derek Hale, an amused smile beginning to grow on his face when he noticed the state she was in. Her legs were working faster than her mind was, and she was darting around the car to get to him in no-time. He was already prepared for her and only stumbled back a few steps when she flung into him, her arms constricting around him tighter than any of the other hugs she had given that day.

A laugh escaped him, rumbling the little space between their bodies and only making her hold onto him tighter. If he was going to protest, he didn't, and instead wrapped his arms right back around her small frame to lift her off the ground. Her best friend. Her brother. Her guardian. Her family. Sage did not sob like she was expecting to, and definitely not like she had been for the last seven days in his arms. That was progress for them.

"I thought you weren't coming, you asshole," she huffed out, finally loosening her hold a little bit so that he could breathe.

Derek snorted, letting her back on the ground as he released her. "And miss the chance to finally get rid of you? Never."

Sage rolled her eyes, stepping back from him so that she could land a punch in his upper arm. In the midst of all the heartache and goodbyes, it was nice to have a moment with him where she did not feel like she was leaving behind her entire world. Even though she knew that she was. Derek smiled down at her, his hands going up to her cheeks and squishing them like he always used to do when they were younger. She wanted to pull away, but the look on his face was enough for her to give into the embarrassing brotherly act.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, frowning a bit as she wondered what he was going to do without her. "Are you going to visit Cora?"

His hands fell from her face slowly, a straight line forming on his lips. "I'm not sure yet...Peter and I were actually planning on stopping by Eichen House."

Cold washed through her bones, freezing her on the spot. She looked up at Derek in mild horror and brief confusion, wondering why in the hell he would go back to that place after so long. He must have seen her reaction, and he sighed. His hands immediately went out to her arms, rubbing them up and down gently. His attempts to soothe her only made her body shiver at the memory of everything that happened to her and her family in Eichen House.

"We're going to figure out what happened to Mallory," he explained. When her eyes widened, and her mouth opened in fear, he quickly interrupted with a small smile. "It's alright. I've known for a few weeks. Peter outed it after he came to me saying he was worried about you...yeah, I know. I've been keeping up with her ever since I found out, but after Brunski―"

Tears welled up in her eyes. "I wanted to tell you―"

"But you didn't want me to look at you the way that everyone looks at her," he finished. His eyes shined, knowingly. "I know. I never would have, but I understand. We're going to take care of it, and Peter is hoping to find a way to get her out of the place. Get her some real help...don't worry about her, Sage. I've got her."

The relief sprung at her, and she wrapped Derek up into another tight hug as she did so. If there was one piece of unfinished business that she was afraid of leaving behind, it was the question about what happened to her mother. Mallory Connelly may not have been her mother for a very long time, but that did not mean she did not deserve a life under the cruel hands of Brunski and Eichen House. She had lost her family, her pack...and for the past year, Sage had slowly started to understand why her mother made the decision that she did. She could not blame a woman that believed she would accidentally hurt the people she loved because of what she was. Mallory was a woman lost in the pain, and now her daughter had felt that too.

There was no one that she trusted more to take care of her mother than Derek. Although Peter may not have been her first choice, she knew that he had always had a soft spot for Mallory. Surprisingly enough, she didn't think that Peter still had had one for her. After everything that they had been through, though, Peter Hale would always be a part of the past that linked the Hale and Connelly families together.

"I'm so proud of you, you know that?" Derek said, smiling down at her. "Of everything that you have become, and everything that I've gotten to see you be...since that day, you have always been my responsibility―and we've been through some major ups and downs, but you're always going to be my family..and for once, I'm happy to see that you are finally choosing you."

Her eyes burned, and she looked up at him with so much gratitude that it was impossible to deny the amount of things that she could thank him for. "Thank you for everything―for all of it. Since we came back, and since we left the first time. I love you, always. I'll see you in a little while. Stay safe, please."

"I love you too, kiddo," he said, ruffling up her hair as he did so. "And no promises. I might grab Cora one weekend, and we can come visit you. I've never been to Paris. Now, go before this gets depressing."

The line sparked something in her, and she turned to him with a knowing smile. "Well, this is depressing."

Derek's lips pulled into a full grin, and he rolled his eyes. The first words that she said when they returned to Beacon Hills, and it only seemed fitting that she ended with them. They said no more, only pulling one another into a final hug before Sage casually tossed Derek back the keys to the infamous black Camaro. His eyebrow raised in question, but he said nothing more as he pocketed the keys. She turned around before she got too sentimental, swallowing down her last goodbye so that she could over to Isaac and Chris.

Both of them were already waiting for her, Isaac's eyes already meeting with hers in question. No doubt, he heard the conversation and was wondering what she meant by her last words. She shrugged, nothing bothering to indulge him. Instead, she bumped shoulders with him casually and took her suitcase in one hand. The small smile that fell on his face was enough of a reward for her, knowing that she could replace the grief still working through his heart. Chris glanced back at the two of them as they walked into the airport, his own smile finding its way through the pain reflecting in his eyes. They would all have to try again and move on together, getting out of their current state of being still.

"I'm officially going to be a French man," Isaac said, casually, to them. "This is a new one."

Sage paused for a moment, reflecting on what he said. She peered up in surprise, glancing at her tall, gentle giant with a bit of unseen shock. The conversation with Lydia flickered briefly in her mind, but it was gone just as quickly as it arose. Right when they got through the entrance of the airport, she found herself accidentally running head on into another person. Of course, as always.

She glanced up, ready to apologize, when she saw that it was two teenage boys. They couldn't be any more than a few years younger than them. One was shorter than the other, wearing a hoodie with 'DEVENFORD LACROSSE' in bold, green lettering. For some reason, Sage wondered if she had met the boy before. Isaac stopped at her side, looking at the boys expectantly. However, to her surprise, both of them were gaping back at Sage in surprise.

"Oh, er―sorry," the dark-haired, shorter boy in the hoodie said.

His friend smiled awkwardly at his side. "Right, our bad."

The two of them quickly tried to recollect themselves, pulling up their suitcases from the winter break trip that they took. Sage watched them walk away for a moment, trying to figure out where exactly she had seen them before. Too late. The boys were already on their way out the door, whispering quietly to each other in a manner that made the blonde girl smile. It reminded her of Scott and Stiles.

Mason Hewitt turned to Liam Dunbar with wide eyes. "Holy shit, is that―"

"Sage Connelly."

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𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃.

☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒

Author's Note: It has been a crazy ride for the last six (???) years, which is crazy to me that I have been writing this story for that long. I just want to say a HUGE thank you to every single person that has read this story from start to finish, and for all new readers, thank you for your time in reading this crazy whirlwind of a book. Now, as far as sequel goes, I'm not sure what I will be doing yet. The ending of this story leaves an opening for a new book, but I hope that you guys will be satisfied with this ending just in case I never get around to writing a sequel.

I could say a million thank you's and they would never be enough. I hope that you guys are satisfied with this ending. Truly, truly. I worked my heart into this final chapter for you all just to give you as much of a happy ending as you deserve. If anything, there may be some sort of epilogue and bonus chapters of Sage's time in Paris. Anyone interested? Keep me updated!

As we say goodbye, let me know what your favorite moments in this book (and the first one) have been.

All my love.

Em.