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Deaton stared at the body on the table in his office. It hurt to think of Allison as just a lifeless pile of bones and flesh, no more or less than any other animal that had been brought to him to fix. Alan was a veterinarian, not a doctor. A Druid. An emissary. An emissary to a dead pack, no less. But the Hale pack lineage survived, with two members of the Hale family remaining, and a third wolf who was a member by default. The Hales owed the McCalls a certain responsibility thanks to Peter Hale's selfish actions in turning the boy.
The Hale pack, however, owed nothing to the Argents. The fact that it was Derek Hale standing behind the body, watching Alan, waiting, patient and the very picture of his mother's determined faith, only drove that fact home. Only a few years older than Allison, Derek had already lost everything. Now he stood there drawing on the very last tie he had.
"She shouldn't have been able to kill an Oni," Derek said quietly. "That was the spark. I wasn't there in time to help, but I know what I saw."
"But it's... Well, very long odds, Derek," Alan said sadly.
"And nothing to lose," said Derek. "If there's anything of her preserved, if there's enough, then it's worth the chance."
"Yes, their experience with the Nemeton took from them, and it may have blended-"
"I know what I saw," Derek repeated. "The spark. Stiles' spark. Scott's reflexes. She's a hunter. There's nothing like that in the Argent line. Or her mother's. It's there. Use it."
The argument was convincing enough and the pair spent the next few hours working. Allison's body grew colder and colder. Derek only became more determined. He carried her to the tree without help. He stood sentinel as Deaton appealed to the tree's energy, manipulated the magicks he could.
It was Derek who heard her breathing first. Who called her father. Who met him at the road and brought Chris Argent back to the tree, the source of all their troubles, to see a whole and merely sleeping Allison curled on the Nemeton stump under a handmade quilt. Chris could only stare, unable to believe the soft rise and fall of his daughter's chest as the first sign of dawn lit the clearing.
"What- how-"
"The sacrifices started a death," said Alan quietly. "But they preserved enough to allow a rebirth. Stiles survived the Nogitsune. Scott survived the wolf. Allison drew on both to survive the Oni."
"Get out of death free card," offered Derek lightly. "Only one per turn."
Chris was shocked speechless. For nearly an hour, the hunter knelt beside the tree, not quite in prayer but not far from it. When the teenager finally moved, showed more life than simply breathing, the man broke down and cried. It was a very confused Allison who finally sat up. She didn't know where she was, or remember much of the fight. No one could really fill in the blanks for her because they hadn't been there. She understood the endgame well enough without the details.
"Now we have a problem," she said, quiet and huddled at her father's side as they walked away from the tree.
"I don't see one," said Chris. Alan gave them their space but he looked over at them, listening.
"How so?" he asked, curious.
"Hunters," said Allison, her brow creased and unhappy for someone recently returned to the land of the living. She looked from face to face. "In my family, dead things stay dead."
Chris looked stricken, horrified. "I told Stilinski."
"And you said Araya had a source..." Allison left it at that with only a nod.
"She couldn't have found out so soon," reasoned Deaton. The expressions on Chris and Allison's faces were far from confident.
"The problem is, what if she did?" said Allison. "Or if someone saw. I just... I can't stay. I would put everyone at risk and I can't let that happen again." She glanced up and caught Derek looking at her and the both of them looked away again, at the ground as they walked.
"Then we'll leave," said Chris. "Go off the grid, confuse the hell out of anyone who cares, and we can resurface later."
Allison shook her head. "No, you have to stay. We started something. There's no running away from it. I'm eighteen. I can figure it out."
"No, I don't-" Chris started to argue but Allison aimed her best glare at him. Even Deaton looked away from the intensity. Her father only quieted.
"I know someone who can help you get started," offered up Derek. When Allison looked over at him, he added, "They helped Laura and I get on our feet after the fire. ID's and a place to stay, that stuff."
"No," said Chris again. His daughter talked over him.
"Thank you," said Allison. She met Derek's gaze that time and actually smiled.
***
Scott sat vigil outside another hospital room, waiting for Stiles to wake up again. At least this time they knew it was Stiles. Lydia curled at Scott's shoulder, asleep sort-of, and still worried and hurting. It was almost overwhelming for Scott to pick up on the second-hand grief from Lydia along with his own.
It had been a long night and a longer day before that and Scott dozed off once or twice. The voicemail chime woke him and he very carefully extracted himself from Lydia in order to get the phone from his pocket. Scott frowned at the screen when he saw he had missed a call from Chris Argent. He slid his finger across a few buttons on the screen to get to the message. The last thing he expected to hear was Allison's voice.
"Scott. I just- by the time you get this I'll be gone, but I wanted you to know I'm okay. I know you would be able to tell because my dad and Derek are both terrible liars and - I wanted you to know it's still okay. I'm okay. I still mean what I said. But I can't stay-"
By then Scott had to wipe at his face, erase the tear tracks and remind himself he couldn't cry outside Stiles' room or he'd give his mom or Stilinski a heart attack. He heard Allison ask him to keep their pack safe. He heard her say goodbye. Scott felt numb as the voicemail ended. He looked up to see Lydia staring at him, eyes wide. There was no way she had heard-
"Was that-" she began. Scott grinned and nodded, and for a moment didn’t mind that his eyes were still watery.
***
The end ...Well, not really...