Allison Argent (imfailingecon) wrote in oldcityacademy, @ 2016-02-16 13:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, allison argent (imfailingecon), chris argent (gunsvsclaws), derek hale (wedontlikeyou), isaac lahey (wearsascarf), stiles stilinski (fragilebones) |
Who: Allison Argent, Isaac Lahey, Chris Argent, Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale
What: How to fix Allison
When: Tuesday evening
Where: Chris Argent’s room
Warnings: TBD
Status: Closed/Complete
They were finally all getting together in one place to try to plan what to do. Apparently Derek had gotten some sort of message from Deaton, and there were possible answers. Knowing that had made Allison restless and she was fairly sure from what she was feeling through the tether Isaac was restless too. And she knew even if her dad was compartmentalizing he was just as bad as they were.
“They’re here.” Derek hadn’t gotten close enough to knock on the door yet but Allison had been cheating and checking through the door frequently and he would be knocking in just a second.
***
Isaac could feel Derek’s presence too, both by his scent and by that undefinable sense that connected an alpha and his beta. He was nervous, Allison was right, mostly because he was terrified that he’d gotten his hopes up for nothing, that he’d discover that there was nothing they could do to bring Allison back after all. And he wasn’t sure if he could take that disappointment.
He opened the door before Derek knocked and looked at him a bit nervously.
“Hey.”
***
Chris had been on edge all day. He had worked with Malia earlier, and she was coming along as he’d hoped. But his mind hadn’t been on the lessons with her. He was preoccupied with trying to help his daughter come back to the solid world.
Like Isaac, he feared there would be no viable way to help her. He wasn’t sure how he’d cope if Allison was stuck as a ghost forever. He refused to accept that. While none of his contacts had turned up much useful information, he had hope that Derek had been more successful. He hadn’t given up hope, yet. That was the important thing.
Stiles had sent Malia on to get something to eat while he stayed behind with Chris and the others. He wanted to help, if he could. Anything he could do to help Allison, he’d do it. She was his friend, and no matter what anyone said, he felt responsible, at least in part, for her death. He hadn’t killed her, but he had allowed the nogitsune into his mind, and that had led to Allison getting killed. He didn’t see how he could be absolved of the blame, so if there was anything he could do to help her, he would do it.
He and Chris both glanced at Derek when he came in. Stiles gave him a half smile of greeting, Chris actually spoke, and replied with “Hey” in response.
***
Derek had been sort of successful. It was one of those sort of answers that he’d rather Deaton was going to be here to take care of for himself but the man said he could give answers but was in the middle of something and couldn’t come which was why it had taken so long to even get that much.
“Hey.” Derek figured he might as well drop the information and get the discussion going. No one wanted to wait around for small talk. “I heard from Deaton, I still have no idea where he is but it came with entirely terrible phone reception. He has a possible solution that we can try but his description was, ‘it’s dangerous and no one involved will probably like it.”
Allison really didn’t like that description. The last time something was dangerous it was the three of them dying as a sacrifice for the parents. “I don’t think he actually knows any rituals and answers that aren’t dangerous after all the experiences we’ve had with him. Isaac don’t agree to anything too crazy.” And Allison knew that was most likely going to be ignored.
***
“I’ll agree to anything,” he said. “Anything that’ll bring her back. And if it was safe and easy, I’d never believe it actually came from Deaton.”
He shrugged, looking back at the both of them. “What is it, then? What do we have to do?”
Even if he had to die again, Isaac was in on it. He had to have Allison back. He couldn’t live in this world anymore without her.
***
Chris scrubbed a hand over his face. He hadn’t shaved for a few days, and the stubble that sprouted on his jawline was marked with grey. Losing Allison so soon after losing his wife and his sister too had aged him terribly.
Stiles hung back, just sort of glancing between all of them. He’d had a few encounters with Allison, enough to know she really was about, and able to communicate. He couldn’t hear her, but he could feel her at times, and that told him she was close, and maybe there was something they could do to bring her back to them.
“What did Deaton say?” Chris demanded, hand dropping to his side.
***
“Deaton said there was a reason they went into the water to be sacrifices. It wasn’t just because it was ice water to make it easier to bring them back it’s that water is the element for crossing the spirit plane.” They might have had a bad connection but Derek had drilled as many answers out of Deaton as he could and he’d taken notes. Not that he really needed them to remember any of it right now.
“Isaac is still tied to her but we need more. Someone needs to go back into the water to help her across to this side. It has to be someone she has a connection with but not Isaac because he’ll have to pull them both back.” Derek looked straight at Stiles when he said someone had to go back into the water so there really wasn’t any mistake over who he meant.
Allison’s mind was running it over and she didn’t like it but she doubted she could talk them out of it. And she wanted to be back where she was real to be with them again. “Stiles and I both have the mark from the sacrifice. And he’s crossed the barrier before. He wants you to hold him under to get me back.” There was always only one ‘you’ since Isaac was the only one other than the girl she met on the paths that could hear her.
***
Chris had to admit it made sense. He didn’t know all the details about the water sacrifice, but he knew enough. Scott, Stiles, and Allison had gone under to die, so that they could find their parents and save them from becoming actual sacrifices. Each of them had had a tether, Allison’s tether had been Isaac.
Stiles took a step backward, and another until his back hit the wall. A hand flailed and knocked a picture off the wall, shattering the glass. he didn’t even react to it. Of all the possible scenarios he had come up with, none of which seemed even remotely possible, he’d never once considered going back under.
The first time had been difficult. Not the act itself. The ritual had actually gone perfectly, according to plan, aside from the fact they’d been under way longer than anyone had anticipated. It was the after effects, the night terrors and the inability to distinguish reality from dream for a while, and...the door that had been left open in his mind, paving the way for the nogistune to get to him.
“Stiles.” Chris’ hands gripped Stiles’ shoulders, and gave him a slight shake.
Stiles blinked after a few seconds. “I’m fine. I just...didn’t expect that.” He wasn’t fine. He could feel panic starting to pool in his core. He raised a hand to the back of his neck. “It has nothing to do with the Nemeton this time. And we made sure the nogitsune is locked up, right? So it’s fine. I’ll do it. For her.”
He squared his jaw and looked toward Isaac, because he knew Allison would be close to him, since he could hear her.
***
Isaac didn’t mind drowning Stiles at all. Actually, he was kind of looking forward to it. He didn’t want to kill him, but it would definitely be payback for some of the times Stiles had annoyed him. And mocked his perfectly nice scarf.
“Alright,” he said. He kind of wanted to be the one who rescued her, but he understood why he couldn’t be. “So I drown Stiles, he brings her back, and then I bring them both back?”
He’d been left the heavy lifting, apparently.
***
But if they didn’t have him there as her anchor then it wouldn’t matter if they drowned Stiles so he was still rescuing her. “Pretty much. There’s some herbs to put in the water but mostly it’s simple. Ice, water, calling for Allison and hauling them back.” Derek wasn’t there when they did the sacrifice but he knew it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded.
“Tell him what I say.” Allison moved over to be in front of Stiles so he could feel her presence and maybe hear the buzz of her words. “I understand if he can’t do it. I don’t know if I would be able to go back under either.”
***
Stiles drew a shaking breath. Chris still hand a half of his shoulders, but Stiles looked past his shoulder. He couldn’t see Allison, he couldn’t hear her words, but he knew she was there. And he could feel...something. It wasn’t solid, it wasn’t tangible, it wasn’t even anything he could explain, but he knew it was her.
“If the roles were reversed, if I was the one on the other side, would you do it for me?” He knew the answer. She would. Without hesitation. She deserved the same from him. He had the thought to suggest Scott go under instead, now that he knew Scott was here, but he didn’t want to risk Scott having an issue with his transformation again. No. He wouldn’t put it on Scott.
He would do it, and he would trust that the people in the room with him now, plus Scott and Malia, would make sure he didn’t go down the dark road he’d traveled before. He couldn’t do that again, but for Allison, he would put himself at risk.
That was assuming Malia didn’t rip his throat out when he told her what he was doing. “When are we going to do this?” he asked, looking to each of the other men in the room in turn. He knew the plan would be to do it as soon as possible, but how soon?
***
Isaac didn’t want to tell him that, because he didn't want him trying to get out of it. Isaac didn’t want anyone to die, but he’d be damned if he was going to let Stiles chicken out when there was a chance of getting her back.
“As soon as possible,” he said, crossing his arms. “Today, even.”
***
Derek shook his head. “Not today but you can probably do it tomorrow if everyone is on board. First we have to get supplies and a place to do it. And Deaton gave some suggestions for preparing the location as well.” One thing was that it had to be isolated so people didn’t walk in on you drowning someone but he’d given instructions on cleaning and preparing as well. It was a lot more complicated than he’d expected.
Allison would have poked Isaac for not saying what she’d told him to say if she could but she couldn’t so she just sighed. “No one is going to sleep.”
***
Tomorrow felt too soon for Stiles. He needed more time. But on the other hand, he knew it would be best to do it right away and get it over with. He shuddered out a breath and leaned into the wall.
Chris wanted it done right then and there, but he understood that wasn’t practical. No doubt there was a whole ritual that had to be done before the actual drowning. He felt bad for Stiles, but not bad enough to suggest the kid didn’t have to do it. The information came from Deaton, and Chris knew Deaton wouldn’t have passed it on if he didn’t think it had a decent chance of succeeding.
“We can do it here. No one will bother us.” Chris suggested.
***
“Works for me.” Isaac said, glaring at the space where Allison was. He wasn’t going to tell Stiles that. He wasn’t going to give him the chance to get out of it. Sorry. He didn’t like the kid that much. And if something he could do could bring Allison back? Well, he’d better damned well do it.
“Man up, Stiles,” he said, maybe a little harshly. “Allison needs you. Time to be useful for a change.”
***
Oh Allison was glaring right back but he couldn’t see her damn it. “Be nice, he said he’d do it. You have to be his anchor and mine so you probably shouldn’t be pissed off at each other.”
“Here’s fine. There’s things we have to do first so why don’t you and I take care of that and the kids can go try to get some rest.” Derek wasn’t a fan of spending a lot of time with Stiles when he was on edge. It tended to end in him wanting to punch him before too long. So he was more than happy to suggest that he and Chris took care of everything.
***
“I said I’d do it,” Stiles said with a flash of his eyes toward Isaac. He wasn’t going to refuse just because it was something Isaac wanted him to do. He wasn’t that petty Not when Allison’s life was at stake.
He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair, making it stick up in random jagged spikes. He felt like he could crawl out of his own skin, and one sideways look could send him spiraling into a panic attack.
“That’s a good idea, Derek,” Chris said. He gave Stiles a firm pat on the shoulder, “You two, three,” he corrected, with a look toward Isaac meant to encompass Allison, “go get some rest. Derek or I will let you know when you need to be here tomorrow.”
He was mildly concerned about Stiles, but figured he’d be all right once he settled down. And if he wasn’t...well, Chris would do whatever he had to do to make sure Stiles went through with it.
***