EMOTIONAL TETHER
"ALRIGHT. What did you bring?" Deaton asked Scott, Stiles and Allison— the three who had to become surrogate sacrifices in order to save their parents.
"Um, I got my dad's badge." Stiles said weakly, "Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a little bit. Still doesn't look right..."
"Well, it doesn't have to look good if it has meaning." Deaton replied.
Aspen noticed what Allison was holding in her hand, growing intrigued.
"Is that an actual silver bullet?" she asked the Argent girl.
"My dad made it" Allison answered. "It's kind of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a Hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the Code."
Aspen just hummed and nodded her head a bit, her eyes then darting back to the floor in avoidance of meeting Stiles' gaze.
"Scott?" said Deaton, turning to the McCall boy.
"My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital." Scott explained, "She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked."
"Okay," said Deaton, "The three of you will get in. Each of us will hold you under until you're essentially... well, dead."
Aspen wasn't one hundred percent clear on this plan, so hearing those words sparked her to lift her head up with a worrisome expression, and of course—her eyes immediately locked with Stiles.
"But," Deaton continued, "it's not just someone to hold you under—it needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone with a strong connection to you. A kind of emotional tether."
Everyone in the room knew exactly who Stiles' emotional tether was. Him and Aspen may be going through the ringer right now, and sure, the future of their relationship was looking as bleak as ever—but the love they had for each other was one of a kind. No one would be able to bring Stiles back except her. She knew that, and he did too.
She had to put her personal feelings aside right now. Of course she was upset about this kiss, and now her worst insecurities were telling her that his feelings for Lydia weren't as historic as she thought them to be. But that didn't mean she doubted his love for her. They were each other's emotional tethers—
each other's anchors.
Aspen walked over to the third ice bath where Stiles stood, not exchanging any words as she slipped her hand into his and clasped onto it. It was what she did next that made Stiles finally feel like he could breathe again.
She squeezed it three times.
She was upset, but she loved him regardless. She didn't know what sort of fait that the future held for her after this, but it was looking pretty damn dark.
Also, if she would go through with the idea she currently was considering, she couldn't do it without telling him she loved him one last time.
Stiles let out a shaky breath and returned the squeezing gesture—their silent love language they use when words aren't available or enough.
"I don't want to do this to you..." she whispered, even though she knew it was pointless.
"Me neither," he said back, "but I need to do this—for my dad, for Allison's, for Scott's mom."
"I get it," she sighed defeatedly, "Still just sucks that I basically have to kill you."
"But you'll bring me back, only you could."
Lydia made her way over to Allison's tub, while Isaac did the same for Scott—everyone now having their emotional tether.
Scott, Allison and Stiles hesitantly got into their tubs of ice, their skin pricking with shivers and their breathing staggering. Aspen swallowed a pained lump in her throat just by watching them—these three, as much as she loved Isaac, and Lydia (most of the time) were the closest people in the world to her. These three are the people she'd die for. The mere thought of there being the slightest chance that they might not make it back from this made her want to join them. Because how was she going to go on with her own life knowing they had met the end of theirs?
Aspen held Stiles' shoulders with her shaking grip, looking down at him, not even realising her eyes were tearing until a single teardrop landed on the skin of his forehead.
"By the way," Stiles said in a shaky voice, turning to face Scott, "if I don't make it back and you do, you should probably know something...
your dad's in town."
Scott looked just as shocked as Aspen did earlier that day, but didn't have it in him to say anything in response. Stiles looked above at Aspen again, seeing how she looked like she was about to say something too—and then she did.
"Just know I'll never stop loving you."
Her words pricked worry in his heart instead of comfort, but he wasn't given the chance to question her choice of words before all three of them were pushed under the water. Aspen let more silent tears roll down her cheeks as she held the body of the boy she loves under the ice water.
Until they were no longer breathing.
Once a few long moments had passed, Aspen wiped away the salty tears from her face, took a deep breath, and looked up at the people around her who's eyes were all fixated on her with confused expressions.
"What?" she spoke weakly, her eyes mainly on Isaac.
"How come you made that sound like a goodbye?" he asked.
Aspen took another deep breath, flicking her gaze to meet Lydia's, who was looking just as worried. But by the way Aspen was looking at her— Lydia could tell what the tipping point of this was, and her face dimmed down with guilt.
Aspen pursed her lips as she stared at the strawberry blonde, simply wishing things could be different. She really thought she was done feeling like second best to her—she thought she was done with the jealousy and envy.
But she clearly had something that Aspen didn't. Aspen just wished she knew what that something was.
She glanced back at Isaac who was still awaiting her answer to his question.
"Because it sort of was."
▬▬▬▬▬▬
// Stiles Stilinski
When will I ever stop fucking everything up?
I worry that this time there's no coming back from it. Aspen Carter has a big damn heart, and she's forgiven me for more things that I can count over the years. But one thing I never forgave myself for was making her so insecure because of Lydia.
Lydia.
God, what was I thinking?
I love Aspen more than anything. She's the best thing to ever happen to me. She knows me better than I know myself. When Lydia kissed me, I stopped breathing because I was so in shock. I mean, how was I supposed to guess that she was going to stop my panic attack with her lips? What I hate myself for is not pulling away the second I had the chance. Lydia was nothing but a juvenile crush of my past, my feelings for her are historic.
Aspen's the one I'm madly in love with, but this time I'm not sure if that's enough.
Her words are haunting me, "Just know I'll never stop loving you"
They've been haunting me since the second they came out of her mouth, right until now—where I find myself waking up and gasping for breath from this bath of ice, turning to my side to see Allison and Scott doing the same.
I try to ignore her sentence that's playing on a fucking loop even in my unconscious brain, and get to the task at hand—finding the nemeton.
I look around and all I see is white. White walls, white floors, white ceiling. But as all three of us slowly turn around, I catch a glimpse of what I assume to be the nemeton at the other end of whatever this place is.
We all start to slowly take steps forward, taking caution in every move.
When we finally approach it, I notice to the side of me that Scott's glancing at his tattoo on his arm, his eyes are flicking between the ink on his skin and the tree stump in front of us. Until eventually, he reaches out and presses his hand to the wood— and then he's gone.
I exchange a cautious glance with Allison, knowing what to do next, before I take my turn and press my own hand to the stump, and shut my eyes in reflex.
▬▬▬▬▬▬
A moment later, I'm no longer dripping wet in my soggy clothes, surrounded by white walls all around. Now, I feel a breeze, the cold air nipping at my skin being enough for me to reopen my eyes to see where the hell I am now.
When my eyes do flicker open, I'm in the Beacon Hills preserve. I'm confused, I don't know why my subconscious has brought me here of all places. But suddenly, I don't care why or how I'm here—
because I hear a familiar laugh that automatically makes the corner of my lips curve into a smile.
"For fuck's sake, Stiles!" I hear that same voice, "It's freezing out here, I'm literally freezing my ass off and I blame you!"
I suddenly know exactly where I am, what night I've come back to. It was the night we found the body in the woods, the night Scott got bitten.
The sound of Aspen's voice so cheery causes my feet to find a mind of their own, as I run through the preserve chasing it. I haven't heard her laugh so innocently and delicately in so long, the sound is like music to my ears. I wish I heard it more now.
"You're such a debby downer, Aspen." I hear my own voice, "The both of you are always bitchin' that nothing ever happens in this town!"
I finally catch up with... my past self? I'm hiding behind a tree, I'm not sure why, just feels like the appropriate thing to be doing. Then I see myself take off that jacket I was wearing, and shove it into Aspen's hands.
"And just to shut you up, take this." I hear myself say, and then I notice something I didn't in the moment, because I was so hideously blind to it.
I watch myself turn away from her, but she didn't take her eyes off of me. I watch as her eyes follow me, her cheeks flush, and she smiles so wide her teeth are on show. Her smile is so pure, why did I have to miss it back then?
God, why the hell did it take me so long to fall for her? She's always been perfect.
She's always been too good for me.
I continue to watch as her blush dies down a bit, and she puts on that jacket I gave her. It always did look better on her than me.
"And for the record," she speaks up again, "that's Scott. I'm perfectly happy with there being no dead bodies in Beacon Hills. And this better be the first and last one."
I laugh humourlessly at Aspen's old self's statement; if only we knew what we did now back then.
I know I'm supposed to be searching for this nemeton somewhere, but I can't for the life of me stop watching what's unfolding in front of me. Quite literally an out-of-body experience.
I watch as she ran after me, giggling, smiling, all around being the purest sight I've ever seen. A year ago, she was so full of life, joy, and hope. I worry that the Aspen today doesn't have that anymore.
I worry that she's given up.
She's too good for everything that's happened to her. And me being the idiot I am has only added to it. I don't know what words would be right to tell her how little Lydia means to me in comparison to her. I don't know how to find the words or actions to show her she's the only one I care for in that way.
I don't know how to because I don't deserve her.
I watch as our sophomore-selves run off into the trees, and in attempt to follow so I can carry on watching her like this, I turn on my feet to run after them, but there's something by my feet stopping me.
I look down and see the same huge tree stump that I did in that white-room hallucination.
I know where the nemeton is.
I have to fight the urge to follow after my past self, because I know this is the entire reason I'm here in the first place. I repeat the same action I made to get here, and hold out my palm to touch the middle of it—and when I do, I'm no longer in Beacon Hills Preserve.
//
SURPRISE STILES POV?!
I just felt like trying out some first person perspective and I thought this would make sense, I hope you liked it!
I will for the most part— stay in third person, but from now on, there might be the odd first person POV if i feel like it's fitting , because I did really enjoy writing like this <3