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THIRTY SIX.

"Lydia, I swear to god—"

"You're taking forever!"

"I'm sorry that I don't want to go to the game without pants!" Sage exclaimed back, hopping around to try and put her other leg into washed out skinny jeans. She promised that she would go to the game with Lydia, mostly because everyone else seemed to be avoiding her and Sage was getting tired of seeing the girl walk around school all alone.

Lydia gave her a raised eyebrow from the the vanity, her reflection staring at the blonde. "Stiles wouldn't mind it, though." The strawberry blonde had been soaking up as many jabs about the couple as possible ever since Sage came over this morning and admitted that they finally said they loved each other. Of course, Lydia was supportive and gave a few harsh Lydia Martin comments, but she was truly happy for her friend. Sage was the only one in Beacon Hills putting any effort in talking to her lately.

"Shut up and move your little strawberry blonde ass," Sage ushered after finally getting her pants correctly placed on her body. She opted for a beige jacket that Lydia let her borrow and a large scarf that she bought a few years back. She was ready for a cold night on metal bleachers, cheering on her boyfriend who will be stuck on the bench, and praying no one died.

"So demanding, no wonder Stiles is afraid of you," Lydia jeered, a small smirk playing at her lips. Sage gaped at her and scoffed before shoving Lydia through the door frame. She wasn't going to admit it but having Lydia tease her relationship made them almost seem like normal teenagers. "Hey, have you talked to Allison lately?"

"No," Sage denied, frowning. She had been trying to call the girl, mostly to ask how she was dealing with her mom's death. If anyone knew what it felt like, it was her. Stiles, too, but she didn't think her boyfriend was up to talking to an Argent, especially one that was related to Gerard. "Have you?"

Lydia pulled open the door to the driver's side and got in, Sage falling into the passenger's seat beside her. "I texted her to see if she was going to the game but she never answered me. Although no one ever really answers me these days..."

"Don't get frowny," Sage pleaded, turning to Lydia. "We're going to go to the game and we're going to cheer on a team of boys that really don't deserve it because a majority of them are complete assholes, aside from Danny, and we're going to freeze our asses off while having fun." She nudged Lydia's side a bit with a grin, trying to get the girl to smile.

Lydia finally did, her teeth showing as her lips formed a smile. "Fine, but you better cheer on Stiles too."

"Bench warmers deserve a little love," Sage agreed, snickering as she put on her seat belt. Lydia snorted and adjusted her rear view mirror, giving the blonde a sneer. Immediately, Sage knew Lydia was going to come out with another jab, and she was preparing herself for many more to come.

"Because he loves you," Lydia cooed.

"If you don't start the car, Lydia, I will throw you out of it."

"No you won't, you love me too much."

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The first thing Sage heard when she showed up the game was, "My son is on the field!" and the person voicing those words sounded too familiar for her comfort. Lydia was standing next to her, complaining about the different levels of ground that there were and how it messed with her boots when Sage finally noticed a specific number out on the field, just like the voice announced, ready to play. She didn't need to see his face, rather the number twenty four staring right at her, to know that Stiles was playing tonight. That made her abruptly stop and Lydia to nearly fall into the one the many holes.

"What the h—" Lydia's eyes traveled to where Sage's were, and she stopped. "Oh, oh."

"He's on the field," Sage began. "He's playing. Stiles is playing."

Lydia huffed before tugging the blonde along. "This should be fun to watch. Well, I guess your boyfriend isn't a bench warmer anymore, congratulations, Sage."

Sage was still gaping at her boyfriend, and when he finally realized two green eyes were boring a hole into his jersey, he turned around to see that his girlfriend was standing near the bleachers, Lydia attempting to pull her the rest of the way until finally giving up. He sent a look her way in panic and watched as her lips slowly twitched into a smile before she began to bounce up and down in excitement. Okay, so apparently she doesn't know how much he sucks at lacrosse.

When Stiles turned back around after sending a nervous smile her way, Sage finally caught on that she was just standing alone looking like an idiot. Moving towards the bleachers where she caught sight of Lydia, who ended up next to Melissa and the Sheriff, she sat down in between her friend and Scott's mom. Speaking of Scott, she was also surprised to see that while Stiles wasn't a bench warmer anymore, Scott was. He was just sitting there, looking nervous with his neck craned slightly as if he were listening to someone speak.

"Why is Scott on the bench?" Sage questioned, turning to look at the nurse beside her. Melissa frowned, looking down at her son as well. The teenager wondered if the woman was still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that her son was a teenage werewolf. If she didn't grow up around the supernatural, she would be just as confused too.

"His grades are too low, Coach Finstock benched him for the night," Melissa explained. Sage cringed, knowing that Scott had been struggling with his sophomore year ever since it started, which was also the same time he got bit. First, it was dealing with the return of her and Derek, then it was Peter, and then the Kanima and Matt. There was barely any time to maintain a good GPA. The death count in the town was probably higher than her grade in math.

"He'll figure something out, don't worry."

Fifteen minutes into the game, the scoreboard was frozen at zero and Sage could barely pay attention to the lacrosse because she was too busy staring at Stiles. He was a literal mess on the field, and after a few shoves and trips, the ball finally landed into his net for the first time that night. It ended shortly after when a member of the opposing team tackled him to the ground, the ball falling out of his net and possibly giving the boy a concussion. Sage winced because although there was no breakage that she could feel on her body, she could still feel the pain.

"Maybe he's just warming up," Melissa assured Sage, while Lydia hummed in agreement. Sage nodded, even though she was worried that something was going to happen to him on the field tonight.

She barely had time to blink before Stiles was thrown on the grass once again, this time by three players. Sage huffed out and ran her hands through her hair, tugging anxiously. "He's just a bit nervous, he's got plenty of time to turn it around."

Her attempt to comfort them, and herself, was lost as Stiles fumbled with the ball, it bouncing out of his net. Lydia moaned in annoyance, mostly because the team was loosing, Melissa closed her eyes to keep herself from seeing it, the Sheriff just put his head in his hands, and Sage sighed in defeat. Her eyes drifted off to where Scott was sitting, and a new teammate was now beside him. Isaac Lahey, number fourteen, was sitting there. She quirked her eyebrow up and watched as the two conversed before Isaac got up from the bench, shuffling onto the field.

She understood what was happened when she saw Scott glance over to the few guys on the other bench, all there for when someone on the Cyclones got injured. What better way to get the captain on the field than to injure the rest of the team so they were forced to put him in? Sage whined lightly, knowing that his wasn't going to end well. With Stiles' bones already crushing, she really didn't want to deal with hearing more people go through extreme pains from a werewolf.

She was right when she said it wasn't going to end well.

As soon as the game started back up, the only sound on the field was groans in pain and breaking that didn't even sound humanly possible or remotely okay. Melissa, being a nurse, was gasping and blubbering out comments about the players' health every time Lahey crushed them — which was a lot. That is, until the werewolf fell to the ground and was no longer capable of moving. Sage's muscles tensed up, and she furiously moved her eyes across the whole field to try and find the person who did it.

Jackson was standing there, just pulling off his helmet so that his face was visible. Then she caught sight of a figure looming off to the right of the field, looking too old to be anything more than a creepy, sadistic man making all of this happen. Gerard stood there with a smirk on his face, his eyes already trained on Sage like he had something planned. The way he was looking at her, the way he was staring like she was his prey, like everyone on the bleachers with her was, made her realize this was more than just a state game.

This was a battle field.

She wasn't the only one who realized it either because Melissa was rushing towards Scott, who had just been called into the game because without him, it would be a forfeit and Coach doesn't forfeit. Sage tapped impatiently on the metal, her nerves getting the best of her. Someone was dying tonight, someone was going to get hurt. She could feel it.

Pulling out her phone, she checked to see if she had any texts from Allison, who was a no-show to the game tonight. Not only was she worried about everyone that was here tonight, but she was having to worry about everyone who wasn't. That included Allison and even Derek, who she hadn't spoken to in forever. They were still in between on their relationship, she didn't fully trust him after what he did, and he didn't fully trust her after she sided with Scott instead of him.

The same Scott that was just thrown to the ground, the ball that had been in his net falling to the grass and rolling directly to the one person that had been trying his damn hardest to avoid it. Stiles grabbed the ball for the seventh time that night, and just like all of the others, he went down and got a mouthful of grass. Sage's hand flew to her elbow, feeling that Stiles must have hit it pretty hard for her to feel it too. Shaking it off, she turned to Melissa. "How many times can a person hit the ground before getting a concussion?"

"I don't think it's just his head, I think it's his whole body," Lydia corrected.

The clock was nearing down, five minutes left in the game, and Sage finally realized that Scott was nowhere to be seen. Coach noticed the same thing, too, and she began to fear that he was going to go into a cardiac arrest or have a heart attack with how loud he was shouting "McCall," out. In the time that Coach was having a breakdown, everyone out on the field was dazed as they stumbled around looking desperately for the ball that seemed to have disappeared.

Sage looked around frantically, trying to find it before they did, and she noticed that the ball was just lying there right by Stiles' foot. Her mouth went wide and she watched him slowly pick it up, dust flying through the air as he slowly started to run backwards. His dad was letting out a series of mumbles while Sage held her hands to her mouth, practically jumping in her seat. He was so close. The rest of the guys on the field finally caught on that Stiles was the one with the ball, and came running forward like a stampede of bulls.

Stiles hesitated when he got to the goal, Coach's exclaims to throw it were lost by the pounding of his heart beat. The opposing players were nearing in on him, and he nearly dropped the ball up until he heard a voice scream out, "Shoot it!", her voice ringing through the cheering crowd. He look a small glance towards Sage who was standing up, her hands outstretched as she stared at him impatiently. That was all he needed to make the shot, the ball going into the goal and scoring their team a point.

It was a roar after that, everyone jumping out of their seats and screaming for Stiles. Even Lydia screamed, jumping up and down with Sage as the two cheered on the lacrosse player. Then he was on fire, scoring another goal after that, tying the scoreboard. Then another, and another. They were winning, and Sage was literally bubbling over from excitement. It was nothing to what Stiles was feeling though as his team huddled around him, patting him on the back and shouting compliments his way. After everything though, he kept his eyes on Sage, who was the only reason he made the shot: because she believed in him.

No one noticed that the clock was counting down the seconds, ten, nine, eight, seven, and that when the time ended, someone would be dead on the field by Jackson. Everyone was too busy running around, especially when the referee finally blew the whistle that signed the game was officially over and Beacon Hills High had won. They had won, and Stiles shot the winning goal. While people were celebrating, Scott was growing confused as to why nothing has happened yet up until the moment when the field's lights started to go off, one by one.

Then there was a single scream that could only belong to one person: Sage.

When Stiles asked Sage two months ago what it felt like when someone died, she couldn't properly answer his question because she didn't know, but now, now she knew what it felt like. It didn't amount to what she felt when she was impaled last year at the school, it felt nothing like when Scott had been shot and she got the aftermath. No, nothing would ever amount to the pain she felt. Loosing a limb didn't even classify on the scale range, it felt like she lost a part of herself. Like someone was torturing her and pulling her apart little by little.

She felt like she was dying a slow death, the agony rushing through her skull and veins just as quickly as the fire murdered her parents all those years ago. Is this what her mom and brother went through when they were stuck in a house full of people they were connected to? Only heightened to the point where the pain got so much they let go? In the darkness, with no one around her, she grew terrified as to who just died — that's what this pain has to be, right?

Was it Scott, the boy who protected her despite the repercussion that would come with him taking the danger? Was it Lydia, the girl who knew too little and somehow has lost so much? Or Melissa, the woman who took her in as her daughter after she returned to Beacon Hills. The Sheriff, who was the surgate father for her? Danny? Jackson? Coach? Isaac? Could she even feel their deaths?

Or Stiles. The one person she couldn't even think about loosing. How sucky their luck would be if he died just as they said "I love you," to each other. With the unbearable pain weighting on her shoulder, the emotional much more worse than what her abilities could ever do, she stumbled off the bleachers just as the lights came back on. The first person she saw was Lydia, who was running as quickly as possible towards a group of people huddled around one person in particular. She choked out a sob, praying for dear life that it wasn't who she thought it was.

Running with stiff legs, every step of the way only breaking her more, she shoved her way through the group of people just in time for Lydia to let out a horrifically, heartbreaking screech. Sage realized it wasn't the person she loved laying on the ground, but the person Lydia loved. She stepped away, feeling a lump form in her throat as tears welled in her eyes, watching as Melissa dropped onto the ground next to Jackson.

It felt like years before Melissa lifted her head from Jackson's chest. "He's not breathing." When she pulled the lacrosse jersey up, everyone backed away when they saw the blood stains placed all along his chest. Sage's hand instinctively went to her side, and she realized she couldn't feel the pain anymore. That's when reality set in that he was dead. It's just like Derek told her, like they all told her. Once someone dies, you no longer feel their pain.

Jackson's dead.

Sage stumbled back, her hands moving towards her face to try and pull the hair out of her mouth, paying no attention to the people that protested when she fell or pushed into them. She didn't even notice that Scott and Isaac both stepped forward to grab her, she didn't notice anything besides the fact that Jackson was dead and she still couldn't find Stiles.

"Stiles?" Sage called out, her voice cracking. "Where...Stiles? Stiles!"

Her exclaims were loud enough to attract the Sheriff's attention, and he found Sage spinning around, tears streaming down her face that he highly doubt she even realized were there, desperately calling out for the one name he prayed hadn't slipped her lips. He moved towards her, and grabbed a hold of her shoulders, shaking her until she was finally looking at him.

"Sage, Sage, where's my son?"

She stared at him with blurry vision, her mouth opening as she finally let out a strangled sob. "I don't know."

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and now we know what happens to sage when someone dies.

I tried really hard to make that part the most important, and how she reacted to Jackson's death. These next one or two final chapters in Sage are going to be a whirlwind of her life, and she's going to be hit with emotions one after the other, so we all know she's starting to hit her breaking point. Everyone does. I hope you guys liked the chapter, and I hope I made sense of what happens to her when someone dies. Just know that as the season progress, it's only going to get worse. Aka 3B where she looses two of the people she's closest to.

I swear, Aiden's death is going to be worse to write than Allison's, and that's saying something. But comment, like, and vote because Sage is almost finished guys. One more episode. One. And then season three, woop woop.