Lydia Martin frowned as the doorbell rang for the third time in a row. She thought for sure that her parents would've answered by now, but they must've not been home.
She jumped off her bed, leaving her phone on her bedside table and slowly walked down the staircase, rolling her eyes as it rang again. "I'm coming! Calm down!"
The redhead finally reached the door and opened it, furrowing her brows when she didn't see anything. Until she looked down.
Hunched into a rocking ball, a brown-haired boy covered his head with his own arms, his torso wrapped into a dirty, bloody white top.
Lydia's eyes widened as she crouched down, softly touching the boy's shoulder. At the feeling of her touch, he jumped and lifted his head, giving her a brief opportunity to see who it was. And to say she was shocked would be an understatement.
"Oh my god. Levi?" He didn't respond, instead simply continued rocking back and forth, his hair covering his green eyes that were undoubtedly avoiding her confused and worried stare. "Come inside. Come on."
By some miracle, and after a lot of time, (fifteen minutes) she had managed to convince the boy to stand and go inside. She lead him to the couch, not one little bit concerned about getting it messy like she would've been with anyone else. She gave him another once over, tears prickling her own eyes as she realised just how messed up he was.
His shirt, one that she'd bought him, was covered in mud and blood, one patch darker than the rest which made her think it was an injury on his torso rather than wherever the rest of the blood came from. His hair was an absolute mess, worse than normal. Every second, he moved himself back and forth, keeping his head down and his shaky arms covering his ears. And despite everything he did to try and hide himself, it didn't stop the girl from seeing the absolute terror on his face.
First, his bottom lip was torn, luckily it had dried, but the blood had leaked down from his lip onto his chin and down his neck at some point. There was a ghastly gash on his forehead, only a bruise thank god. It was already turning a deep blue. And on his cheek, just below his eye, a large cut surrounded by another bruise. This one, however, was still bleeding.
Lydia gasped at the sight of his face, its sickening pale colour not helping calm her nerves.
Her mind immediately went to his dad.
She knew what he did.
That's why she took him in. To keep him safe. Although she never said anything to him about it, that was always the reason.
She couldn't stop herself from assuming that that horrible man would end up going too far one day, and she wouldn't let it happen, not when she knew it could happen.
And then she leaves him at the party.
He must've gone home...
This is all her fault.
Her self loathing paused as she heard a quiet mutter come from the boy on the couch. His rocking never subsided, and it was so hushed it was hard to hear, but when kept repeating it she listened more intently, finally hearing the dreaded words...
"He's dead."
Lydia thought it was his father.
It must've been.
He gets aggressive, hits Levi to a pulp and Levi fights back.
She'd heard about fights like this, always ending the same.
But she couldn't help but feel like maybe that wasn't the case.
As Levi kept repeating the same sentence, the redhead dropped to her knees to she was eye level with him and tried to make contact with him despite his best efforts to avoid it.
"Levi... who's dead?"
Tears ran down his face again, his cuts stinging as they poured into them, not that he cared.
"Stiles... he's dead. He's dead."
Her face dropped as he continued his repetition.
She slowly backed away from him and into the doorway, making sure he didn't leave or do anything stupid as she shut the door and locked it.
The girl ran upstairs to her bedroom and picked up her phone, quickly dialling the one person who may have a clue as to what happened.
"Scott?"
"Lydia, I'm kind of busy right no-"
"It's Levi. He just showed up at my house, he's all beaten up and he's unresponsive. Scott, he's saying Stiles is dead."
There was a small pause and she feared she may have just broken the news to the boy's best friend.
"That's impossible, his dad called me an hour ago. He got home, he's beaten up too but that's it. Can you- can you go make sure he's okay? Is Levi alright? Does he need to go to the hospital?"
She let out a sigh of relief.
"He'll probably be a lot better when I tell him he's alive. I don't think he needs that much help, maybe a towel to stop the bleeding but other than that..."
"Great. Just, head over to Stiles'. I'll be there as soon as I can."
He hung up almost immediately.
Lydia closed her eyes for a brief moment, allowing everything to sink in.
Thank God.
"Dad, I told you I'm fin-"
Stiles interrupted himself as he turned around on his chair, seeing the redhead girl in his doorway.
"Your dad let us in."
"Yeah, of course he di- us?"
She bashfully stepped out of the way, letting him see the boy standing behind her.
He'd been staring at the floor, not completely understanding his whereabouts or what was happening around me until he heard his name coming from the voice he didn't think he'd ever hear him.
"Levi?"
The green-eyed boy jerked his head up, thinking his mind was deceiving him, but there he was. Stiles Stilinski. In all his glory.
In all his beaten up glory.
Levi didn't even think twice before he forced his weak legs to run forward and wrap his arms around the Stilinski's body. Stiles stood there for a moment, looking at Lydia in shock before he slowly put his arms around the shorter boy.
"Hey... what- what happened?"
Lydia smiled as she watched the pair, slowly backing away so she wouldn't disrupt their reunion.
"I thought you... you died. I couldn't feel you anymore. I thought they killed you."
He never lifted his head from his chest, so his words came out mumbled but Stiles managed to hear every syllable of it.
"What? Were you there?" When he didn't respond, Stiles slowly pushed him away, only so they weren't touching anymore. "Levi? What happened to your face? Who did it?"
Levi didn't listen to a word of it, simply taking in the boy in front of him.
His brain so full of relief and happiness it was hard to focus.
"I'm so sorry I didn't stop him. If I tried harder I could've gotten out, but I didn't. I'm so sorry. It's my fault."
Stiles grasped the Powis teen's shoulders, stopping him from his jumbled apologies.
"Hey. Listen to me. Whatever happened wasn't your fault okay? I'm alive, I'm okay. Everything's okay. Are you?"
Levi nodded quickly, completely disregarding his pain.
"Of course I am, you're alive."
The honey-eyed boy frowned, "I mean your face."
"Yeah. It's fine it doesn't even hurt."
Stiles scoffed.
"Levi you can't lie. I went through the exact same thing. Just let me-"
"I'm fine. I really don't feel anything."
The Stilinski didn't believe him one bit but it was clear he wouldn't let him near him with any medical kit.
He didn't get another chance to ask anyway, because in that second he was once again engulfed by his arms, tighter than the last time. It was as if he was afraid if he let go he wouldn't be there anymore.
And quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise him.
He thought he'd died.
And then the thought occurred.
He must've been at the Argent's when it... happened.
He must've stopped feeling his emotions when he finally passed out.
And then he felt the most rage he's ever felt.
The Argent's put him through hell and back by keeping his captive while torturing people next door knowing damn well he'd feel every second of it. And even then, after it all, still beat him half to death.
He wanted revenge.
He wanted to hurt them just as much as they hurt the boy in his arms.
"You're gonna want to read this."
Lydia rushed in, her phone out for Stiles to read. As he did, he forced himself to push away Levi again.
"Let's go."
"Go where?"
He turned back to face the short boy, giving him an incredulous look.
"You? Nowhere. You're keeping your beaten ass right here until we get back so we can clean your face. Got it?"
Lydia gave him a pointed look, to show she agreed with Stiles.
Levi focused all his energy, or what was left of it, to read the pair's emotions and figure out himself what was going on.
"I can help Jackson. That's literally my job description... I think."
Stiles gave the redhead a stare that told her to leave and she did, as quickly as possible this time.
"You're not serious right? You just got your face punched in by an old man and you want to go help the asshole that nearly killed you a week ago?"
Levi scoffed.
"Okay, first off, your face is just as bad as mine, okay? Don't think I forgot about the pain you felt less than 24 hours ago across the room from me. Secondly, Jackson was being controlled by someone else, and still is. He needs help. I can help him."
Stiles, suddenly getting the worry that if he didn't stop him from going, it would be the last time he would see him, snapped.
"See, that's the problem- you don't care about getting hurt. But you know how I feel? I am devastated! And if you die, I will literally go out of my freaking mind! You see, death doesn't happen to you, it happens to everyone around you, okay? To all the people left standing at your funeral, trying to figure out how they're gonna live the rest of their lives now, without you in it? Just because you can feel Jackson's emotions, doesn't mean you can control them right? You don't know how to do that yet. So letting you come with me, into a fight with guns, werewolves and a lizard could end with you dying, and I cannot let that happen!"
Levi could feel his worry, his concern, his protected anger.
And he wished it didn't affect what came out of his mouth.
But that wasn't a wish that was granted.
"Stiles... you're a human. You're just as vulnerable as me in this fight. Why do you think you should go when you could die just as easily!"
"Because I can at least fight back! I've done it before."
Levi faltered.
And Stiles' face dropped as he realised what he'd said, despite not intentionally putting the meaning behind it.
He immediately got flashes of all those black eyes he'd seen on the boy, the limp he'd gotten.
"Shit- Levi I didn't mean it like-"
"I'm glad you're alive Stiles. Keep an eye out for Allison, if I see her there tonight I'll kill her myself."
Stiles watched as he stormed out.
Levi walked past as shocked Lydia who'd listening in on everything, but she did nothing to stop him.
He looked down, he didn't mean it. He didn't think. He was so caught up in Stiles' emotions he didn't get a chance to think about what he was saying.
He wouldn't kill Allison.
At least he didn't think he would.
a/n +question
two chapters in 24 hours?
Can i make it 3?
one chapter left of season 2.... hehe
what could i possibly do in one chapter...
hope you all enjoyed the little reunion. this chapter is a little fast paced but also i think it matches how both the characters would be feeling based on the events of earlier.
Final question:
for my next fanfiction,
would you prefer
glee
or
cobra kai
or
Peter parker au
Or
The vampire diaries
Or
The walking dead
thanks for reading!!