Allison Argent (imfailingecon) wrote in oldcityacademy, @ 2016-02-17 21:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !gdoc, allison argent (imfailingecon), chris argent (gunsvsclaws), derek hale (wedontlikeyou), isaac lahey (wearsascarf), malia tate (cantgetwarm), stiles stilinski (fragilebones) |
Who: Allison Argent, Chris Argent, Derek Hale, Isaac Lahey, Stiles Stilinski, Malia Tate
What: Bringing Allison home
Where: Chris’ place
When: Wednesday afternoon
Warnings: Death situations.
Status: Closed.
Chris had cancelled his classes for the day, and had offered Isaac, Stiles, and Malia passes to take the day off from all their classes. He insisted actually, that Stiles had stayed with him, and he’d all but tied the nervous ball of nerves up to keep him still and in one place. He could only imagine how the kid must be feeling, knowing what he was going to have to do. Chris had nothing but praise for him, and appreciation for his willingness to do what had to be done to bring Allison home. He’d have to find some way to thank him properly when all was said and done.
He had spent the better part of the day preparing for the ritual. He checked, rechecked, and checked again to make sure they had everything they needed. Sending Stiles under alone posed certain risks, but Chris justified it because he wouldn’t be alone once he found Allison. And once he found Allison, Isaac would pull her back, and Malia would be there to give Stiles his anchor. What could possibly go wrong?
Chris glanced at Stiles who was sitting with a dazed look, Malia beside him, and he decided he really didn’t want to ask that question. Besides, nothing was going to go wrong. Chris would accept nothing but absolute success.
“I think we’re good to go soon as Stiles is ready,” Chris announced.
Stiles squeezed Malia’s hand. He was so not ready for this.
***
Malia refused to leave Stiles’ side until she had no choice to. It wasn’t something she was excited about and she was just as nervous as Stiles was, except she didn’t show it. She watched Chris with careful eyes, unwavering in her attention because she wanted to note everything that went on. Just in case.
She was quiet, patient, and ready for this to be done all at the same time. She sighed a little then squeezed Stiles’ hand. “You’ve got this. I’ll be right here.” she murmured to him, ignoring everyone else because she didn’t care about them. She cared about making sure he was ready and focused.
***
Isaac looked eternally impatient as he watched the two of them. He stood with his arms crossed, tapping his foot with an annoyed expression on his face.
“Could we get this going? Maybe today? “
He really didn’t care what happened, or how scared Stiles was, as long as at the end of this mess, Allison was back.
***
Allison wasn’t sure what to expect. Stiles had to go under to find her but she was kind of stuck in between places so she wasn’t sure how she was going to reach him and he was going to reach her. Isaac’s impatience tugged at her trying to get her to be just as tense as he was but she was managing so far to keep it separate. “Just a little bit longer Isaac. We’re almost there.”
Derek had told Paige he was going to be helping Chris with something and gone for the day but he hadn’t been sure about telling her exactly what they were going to do. Until the last minute when he’d decided it would be too much to get dumped on her all at once if they didn’t make it work so he’d told her what they were doing and he’d call her and let her know how it turned out.
Right now he was here for Isaac. What he was going to do was probably harder than he was imagining. Being a lifeline for two souls had to be a very heavy weight when it was actually happening. “When it’s time to pull them out you can use me. We still have a connection so you can use my strength if you need it okay?” He patted Isaac on the shoulder and nodded to Chris. “You ready?”
***
“No.” Stiles looked over at Derek. “But I know she is.” He closed his eyes briefly, and stood up. He hadn’t let go of Malia’s hand, and he wouldn’t, not until he couldn’t hold on any longer.
Chris took a step toward Stiles. “You’re going to do fine, Stiles.” He reached for the hand that wasn’t hold into Malia, and placed a silver tipped arrow against his palm. “Bring her home.”
Stiles fingers closed around the arrowhead. “Yeah, because that’s not pressure or anything.”
He wore the same clothes he’d worn the first time he’d gone under. He didn’t know if that would be significant or not, but he figured every advantage had to be used. He just hated that Isaac was the one who was going to send him down.
“All right. Let’s do this.”
***
Malia rolled her eyes in Isaac’s direction. He could wait ten seconds longer so that Stiles was ready to go despite it all. She understood the importance, and impatience, but rushing him wasn’t going to help. But she didn’t say that merely got to her feet with Stiles and squeezed his hand again, she wasn’t going to let go until she had to either.
She decided against saying anything, because she wasn’t too happy with the moment, merely gave them a long look before carefully pulling Stiles to her and giving him a courage imparting kiss. Good luck and all that. Then she stepped back to the side, and gave him a reassuring smile.
**
“Alright, so get in the water,” he said, rolling his eyes. He wasn’t going to lift him and put him there. Not yet, anyway. He kind of wished this could be anyone but Stiles because he didn’t really feel like being massively annoyed as well as being nervous.
“If I can only bring one of you back, it’s going to be Allison. Just so you know.”
***
“Not helping.” Derek nudged Isaac in the back with a frown. “He’ll bring both of you back Stiles. He’ll have help from this side and we know Allison will help from the other.” Because that was how Allison was. She wasn’t going to accept being the only one brought out or she wouldn’t have ended up dead trying to save Isaac and Lydia.
“Isaac.” It was all Allison said but the weight of all the emotions were behind it. Impatience to be with him and her dad but also a warning she wasn’t leaving anyone behind in the dark. “You’ll be fine Stiles.” Even if he didn’t get more than the buzz he normally got at least he’d know she said something to him.
***
“I know,” Stiles said and it could have just as easily been in response to Allison as what Derek had said. He spared one more glance at Malia, then turned to the tub. He drew a breath, mentally prepared himself for the ice cold shock he was about to face, and hauled one bare foot over the side of the tub.
With Allison’s arrow in his hand, he brought his other leg up and over and into the water. His teeth were already chattering. He had about three seconds to get the hell out of there and run, but he wouldn’t do it. Couldn’t do it. Allison was counting on him.
He eased himself into the water, the level rising within an inch of over flowing. His eyes closed as he waited for Issac to push him completely under and send him hurtling into the darkness.
***
Isaac’s words elicited a little snarl out of Malia, she really wasn’t pleased with his tone of voice or his words. But she didn’t move because she didn’t want to take her attention off Stiles. Not right now, even if she was watching Isaac out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t too pleased to be depending on him for this right now.
Her eyes narrowed as she watched. Waiting.
**
Isaac just looked back at Malia and rolled his eyes a little. He really didn’t care what she thought of him and she wasn’t afraid - he was a werecreature too, after all. And there was no way that Isaac was going to let Stiles get out of that water.
Once he was in, Isaac got behind him, and with werewolf strength that Stiles didn’t have a chance of besting, he pushed him under.
***
Allison gasped when Stiles went under the water because it felt just like she got plunged into the icy depths along with him. Everything went dim and watery instead of the way she’d been seeing everything clearly until now. It was like looking at shadows through deep water where the light barely penetrated.
Derek stayed close to Isaac, hovering over his shoulder with his face set in a frown of concentration. He hadn’t been there the time they sacrificed themselves but he had been there when Deaton tried to help Isaac remember what had happened when he tried to find Erica and Boyd. He’d thought there would be similarities. He’d thought wrong. This didn’t feel anything like that.
***
Chris didn’t, as a rule, show his nerves. He stood calm and passive, cool and collected in all situations. This was an exception, and he rubbed his neck while he paced like a caged tiger. Because as Stiles went under the water, he saw the boy’s life practically flash in front of him. How selfish had he been to expect Stiles to risk his life in order to try to find Allison on the other side? If this didn’t work, they’d have two dead kids, and Stiles’ body to consider. This had to work.
The ice cold water slowed Stiles’ functions down instantly, and plunged him into the darkness of death. His mind went dark, and then an awareness emerged and he felt himself drifting back to the surface. He climbed out of the tub, chilled to the bone and water logged too.
He looked around the stark white room he was in, but there was nothing but the tub from which he’d come. He sure as hell didn’t want to go back there, so he started walking forward, toward a door.
***
Everything had kept getting dimmer around Allison until it finally was completely black. When she could see and feel again she was laying on the ground where she’d fallen after the Oni had killed her. She lifted her head slightly and managed to lift a shaky hand to the bloody hole in her gut.
There was a moment of sheer panic until she felt that faint tug on her heart again. The connection was still there but she was where this had all started. Allison was never going to understand the otherworld she kept finding herself in.
“Stiles?”
***
Her voice gave him somewhere to focus and his head whipped around so that he was facing her. He tilted his head, and started moving toward her. The first couple of steps were casual, normal pace, but then he started moving faster, like he couldn’t get to her fast enough.
“Allison!” He hadn’t expected to find her so quickly. But then, she had been close, so it made sense. Stiles wasn’t going to question it. He just wanted to grab her and take her back to the tub of water, and back to her father and Isaac.
“Allison, you have to come with me.”
***
Allison tried to push herself upright and had to bite her lip to keep from saying anything when the pain hit. It hadn’t hurt when she died, why did it hurt now? “Stiles. Help me up.” She held a hand out to him and it was crimson with fresh blood.
The wound was still bleeding despite the pool she was laying in and that put a little stab of panic through her. “This can’t be good.”
***
“Nononononono,” Stiles put his hands up and pulled at his hair. This was not in his plan. This was not something he knew how to deal with. This was a complication he did not need. He let go of his hair and smacked both palms against his temples. “Think, Stiles. Think.”
He wasn’t sure picking her up and carrying her back would be the best option. No. He needed to stop the bleeding. Or at least slow it down. He impulsively pulled his shirt off. Water ran off it when he did, but he couldn’t be slowed down by that.
“Here. Here. Lay back. Can you lift your shirt up?” He’d press his water logged shirt to her wound. Maybe there was something in the water that would slow down the blood. He was desperate, he’d try anything.
***
“I can walk if you get me on my feet.” But Allison lay down and lifted her shirt for him. It exposed the neat hole just under her ribcage in the front and the more ragged match from her back. “Tie it on tight and let’s try to get out of here. I don’t want to leave a trail.” Just something about the words put a shiver through her. It wasn’t a real trail, she wasn’t going to lead anything out of here...was she?
“And hey, it’s good you can see me now.”
***
“I can see you now.” He said with a slight grin. “And I gotta tell you, you look like shit. All pale and bloody. Not a good look on you.” Stiles worried his shirt around her and tied it off, made sure it was situated over her wound. “Sorry it’s wet. And cold. But that should help?” he really didn’t know if that was true, but he hoped it was.
“You sure? I can carry you, it’ isn’t far.” All he had to do was go back the way he’d come, right?
***
Well at least now she had a good reason for shivering as he wound the cold shirt around her. “Crap that’s cold.” Allison laughed because she just couldn’t help it. It was good to see Stiles and when she grabbed his hand he was solid and warm. “Just get me on my feet. I can make it.”
The blood was stopped for now and Allison wasn’t going to be carried out of here if she could walk. That way if there was trouble they’d be able to do something other than try to run.
***
Stiles was most definitely not wanting any trouble. he wanted to get Allison on her feet, and get the two of them out of this place. “I just want to tell you, I think Isaac enjoyed pushing me under a little more than he should have,” he said. So maybe he was trying to distract himself as much as her. He just really didn’t want to think about where they were, or what they were actually doing here.
He helped her to her feet, and hovered there, ready to give her any assistance she might need, whether just to steady herself or to lean on him to actually get herself moving. He had come this far, and even though he just wanted to get back, he wasn’t going to rush her if she wasn’t ready.
***
“Yeah, remind me to punch him for not translating things for me like I asked when we get back.” Allison grinned at him with that crazy dimpled grin of hers but it was ruined a little by the blood on her lips. Which she realized as soon as she did it and she scrubbed her mouth with her sleeve.
“Let’s go, do you know the way?” She was holding her arm tight against the bandage but she was able to take normal steps once she was upright. At least for now.
***
He looked away when she rubbed her lips, mostly to give her a little privacy. Because yeah. That had to be difficult to deal with. But she was going to be fine. He was going to get her back to the other side.
“Yeah, the door’s back this way,” Stiles gestured the way he’d come. And turned in a circle and in a matter of seconds, he was probably just as pale as Allison. “Allison? Where’s the door?”
***
It wasn’t exactly a pleasant realization to figure out you had been bleeding out your mouth because of internal injuries. Once she scrubbed the feel of it off she looked around. There wasn’t any doors there was just Stiles and the place she’d died.
“I don’t know. I never saw a door.” No, they couldn’t both get stuck here, she wasn’t taking Stiles with her damn it! “Okay, let’s just stop a second. And think. Last time when we were looking for the Nemeton we were thinking about what we were looking for right? Maybe that’s what we have to do again.”
***
“Okay.” Stiles took a deep breath. He could do that. That was a good place to start. That was a focus point. “Are we thinking about the door, then, or the tub? Because the tub is our ticket back and it’s on the other side of the door.”
He just wanted to make sure they were on the same page, thinking the same thing. because if they were thinking different things, how could they get back to where they needed to be?
***
“The tub, or Isaac. I don’t like the door idea if we don’t know where the door leads.” Allison put her other hand on his shoulder and closed her eyes for a few seconds. The tug was still there when she thought about it. “He’s still there. I just don’t think I’m strong enough to get us there.”
***
“Isaac.” Stiles almost sneered when he said the werewolf’s name. There was definitely no love lost between them, and he sure as hell wasn’t here, doing this, for Isaac. But Isaac was the one who was tasked with bringing them back, which probably made him the better focal point.
“We focus on Isaac because he’s the one who’s going to get us back across.”
***
“Okay, so we’ll think of Isaac.” Allison nodded, she trusted Stiles’ instincts better than most people’s guesses with back up evidence. “Think about him and walk.” She concentrated on Isaac and that tugging and twinging connection between them. Allison hadn’t been lying when she said she didn’t think she was strong enough to get them there alone. She was going to need help walking before too long.
“This way.” She started in the direction the tug felt the strongest.
***
Stiles wasn’t going to question her sense of direction. She was the one who felt the pull toward Isaac. If he focused really hard, he was sure he’d feel Malia out there, worrying and waiting for him, but he didn’t want to distract from finding the link to Isaac. As much as Isaac drove him batty sometimes, Stiles had to put his faith and complete trust in the werewolf. And he felt relatively certain Isaac wouldn’t try to leave him because because Allison would never go for that. SHe’d come back after him, or something and then Isaac would be in serious trouble. It was amusing to think about, and hey, it kept him focused on Isaac at the same time.
“Whoa.” He noticed her falter a little in her steps. He instinctively put an arm out, and around her waist. “I got you. Just tell me where we’re going.”
***
Allison sagged a little in his grip and was glad he’d caught her. Falling would really suck right now. “That way.” She pointed in the direction she felt like they should go. It seemed like miles to go but she knew that was just perception. They were as close or as far as their minds could imagine. “It’s not far, once we’re close enough he can pull. I think. At least I think that’s what he’s going to do.”
One foot in front of the other while the bandage made of a shirt slowly turned from a faint pink to a dark red. But before they could get to where they were going her knees cut out on her entirely.
***
“He’ll do it. I know he will. He’s pretty determined to get you -” He was cut off when she lost her footing.
He hadn’t exactly anticipated that, but he had quick reflexes. She went down, but he tightened his arm around her and kept her from face planting on the floor. He couldn’t keep her upright, though, so the only thing to do was go down with her, and try to cushion her fall. Because she was already bleeding, she didn’t need to hurt herself any more than she already hurt.
It was not the most graceful of falls, but he kept her from slamming the ground. That had to count for something. “You okay?”
***
“Yeah.” Allison managed to smile and nod for Stiles. It hurt but now that she was past the first surprise for that since it hadn’t hurt during her actual death she was dealing with it like she’d been trained. Unfortunately you could ignore the pain but eventually things stopped working anyway. “I’m just tired. Get me up again?”
The worst that would happen is they’d fall again but she wasn’t going to stop trying to move forward.
***
“I’m going to carry you.” Because he could tell they weren’t going to get anywhere otherwise. He put her to the floor, then got to his feet, bent, and picked her up. “This way?” he asked and started to move in the direction they had been going before they fell.
Come on, Isaac. We’re counting on you. She’s counting on you, Stiles murmured. Isaac had to come through. He just had to.
***
Back in the room, Isaac sat up straight. It was as if he’d been sitting there, fishing, and the bobber had suddenly gone under and given him a violent tug.
“They’re there,” he said, to nobody and everybody. “She’s there.”
He stood, his eyes glowing yellow as he threw all of his considerable werewolf strength into pulling her towards him. It would have been easier if it could have been something he could have done physically, but he wouldn't let her down, no matter what. He just had to hold on.
***
Stiles felt a sudden sensation, something he couldn’t quite identify, but he felt it bone deep. The only way his mind could describe it was a hand reaching down to him, to pull him out of the darkness. “We’re almost there.” he said. He paused, then tightened his hold on Allison and pushed forward, driving his feet to move faster, as fast as he could without losing his balance or dropping Allison despite the resistance he met trying to push him back.
***
“Okay.” Allison hated being carried but now she was letting Stiles do all the work and leaving her head on his shoulder to think as hard as hard as she could about Isaac. It was the best she could to help him out instead of trying to help by walking. It felt like they were pushing against some invisible membrane and each step was more difficult as the barrier resisted them.
No as it resisted her. Somehow she knew without her Stiles would go through easily but because she didn’t belong on the other side any more it was going to be harder to bring her through.
Derek put a hand on Isaac’s shoulder feeling him strain. Even if Isaac wasn’t exactly happy with him right now they were pack through old Alpha and Beta bond. Pack could pool strength together so he concentrated on letting Isaac use his strength too.
***
He imagined this must be what climbing a mountain must feel like, once you get up into the higher elevations when the snow and wind tried to push you back down. He felt like he wasn’t making any headway at all, like he needed to throw Allison aside and put all of his strength into taking just one more step. He wouldn’t abandon Allison, though, and in fact only tightened his hold on her.
He closed his eyes, figuring he was on solid ground, and there wasn’t really anything to trip on. He just needed to keep going forward. He could feel the tug from the other side, and he just knew that Isaac would be able to grab them and bring them back through.
With his eyes closed, his mind focused not on Isaac, but on Malia, the one he needed to get back to. Isaac had to be the one to pull because of his connection to Allison, but Malia was Stiles’ reason for continuing to fight the resistance.
***
Isaac put all of his strength into it, actually turning a bit to grab Derek’s hand, as if he could draw strength from him. He didn’t know for sure if he could, but he was going to try. His knees felt like jelly and he felt like he was going to collapse as he pulled with everything he had.
He felt something wet dripping down his nose and couldn’t help but wonder if it was blood, although he didn’t take the time or the energy to check.
It didn’t matter, anyway. He’d bring Allison back, even if it killed him.
***
The pressure from the membrane felt like it was crushing her when suddenly it gave way. It was like she was falling only it was so cold and she couldn't tell which was was up. Isaac's last pull with Derek's help had worked and the ice water full of herbs fountained up out of the tub before knocking the whole set up over sending Stiles and Allison across the carpet.
Once everything stopped moving Allison lifted her head but still couldn't see because of the curtain of hair that had been pushed across her face by the water. But even without being able to see very well she could tell she was no longer bleeding and wrapped in Stiles' shirt. Because he was still wearing his shirt...and she wasn't wearing anything.
Not that it was really connecting in her mind right now because she was too busy trying to process that it had worked.
Derek had felt the drain from Isaac using his strength then he'd had to step back with an arm over her face to dodge the worst of the water spraying out. But it had worked, there was two bodies instead of one on the floor and they both seemed to be moving.