Note: If anyone can tell, I'm not that happy with Teen Wolf. It is very likely that I will never, ever be happy with Teen Wolf again. I hope not, because I like that show a great deal, but I cannot stand what happened to Allison. So enjoy my alternate ending to the second to last episode in the third series.

Dedication: To Crystal Reed, who is a bright and shining star who deserves more than she was given. Also to Jeff Davis, who can suck my fucking strap on.

Disclaimer: Trust me, if I owned Teen Wolf, things would be way, way different.


Allison kills one of the oni and the whole world freezes for a second. Isaac stares at her, bloody and beaten on the ground, and she stares at him, still as a statue. She knows she shouldn't, knows she needs to be alert and focused on the enemies around her, but Isaac stares at her as if she is a star, as if she fell from the sky in a blaze of glory, her image burning into his eyes for the rest of his life. She doesn't notice the oni rush her, the sword is aimed to kill. She sees the oni a second too late, her eyes tearing from her sort-of-kind-of-boyfriend to her death. A thought races across her mind, lightning quick just before the sword pierces her.

At least Dad isn't here to see me fall, she thinks. She blinks, trying to twit out of reach even though she knows it futile. Her body hits the ground, pain flaring up her side, focused on her shoulder. She blinks.

The pain is focused on her shoulder, not her stomach.

"God fucking dammit," someone roars above her. There's a clash of metal, a thud, and then the sound of something in the yard breaking apart into nothing more than splinters. "I fucking hate oni."

There is a girl above Allison, her skin as dark as her scowl. There are a set of claw scars across her cheek when she turns, whirling to face the next enemy. Allison has never seen this girl before in her life, she's sure, but Isaac makes a noise, a little flailing squeak, that draws her attention once more to him like a moth to a flame.

"That's the girl," he shouts, waving his arms. He has to scramble back in the dirt until he's hiding behind Kira for a second as an oni tries again slice him, but eventually he gets his sentence out completely. "That's the girl who saved me from the twins in September!"

The girl is vicious and doesn't fight fair at all. She's swearing and spitting and shouting at the top of her lungs continually, all the while swinging and kicking and knocking back onis. She can't be human, Allison thinks as she hurries to stand, because humans can't just do that, knocking everything out of the way like they're nothing more than annoying gnats.

"Miss Argent," someone calls, just before all her stray arrows drop at her feet. Morrell strolls by, almost as if there is not a battle going on around her, eyes trained on the cars. Allison darts a glance over to look where she's going and sees the nogistune, a dark look twisting Stiles' face. "Aim for their hearts, Miss Argent," is all Morrell adds as she marches forward.

Allison grabs the arrows and aims for the heart. She doesn't ask questions because there is no time for questions, no need; Morrell and this strange girl are here to help, which is all that matters to her. It takes a long time for her to pierce the hearts of all the oni, but she does it, waiting until her friends give her a clear shot at their chest. Slowly the others catch on to what she needs and sets up the oni for her, holding them from behind and angling their body towards her. Her dad and the Sheriff arrive shortly before the fight ends, their voices rising to join the chaos before everything falls silent across the yard except for their ragged breathing.

"Head count," her father calls across the yard. Somewhere along the way Kira has disappeared from her immediate vision and her heart rate spikes in worry, making her glance around sharply. Lydia and Stiles are still missing too.

"I'm alive, dad," she calls out immediately. "I can see Scott and Isaac, but I can't see Kira."

"I'm here," Kira calls. She's atop some sort of building, hanging off with a little girl, and Allison feels her lips twitch into an answering expression. Despite everything between them, which admittedly is just mostly Scott, Allison likes her.

"Kira, get down from there," the girl's mother snaps. Scott's laughter trails over to her, weary and short lived. However Isaac is distracted by something else.

"Hey guys," he calls out. He's still on the ground, sprawled out on his back after being thrown against a wall, again. Everyone whirls to look at him, expecting another oni, but there's nothing there. With everyone looking at him he just sort of shrugs at the sky above him, calling out, "Where's the bad guy?"

"The 'bad guy' is over here, Mister Lahey."

Morrell's voice comes over to them from behind the cars and they scramble up, expecting a fight, expecting anything but what they're faced with. Morrell's leaning against the end of Stiles' old blue Jeep as if she's on some sort of runway, chin tilted up, her throat a long column, her arms crossed over her stomach. Allison notices for the first time what the woman who had been her French teacher, who had been Stiles' counselor, was wearing and for a minute a little flare of jealousy flashes through her. Three inch black heels and a stylish dress to match, not a speck of dirt or blood anywhere on her. Meanwhile Allison is sweaty, covered in a mess of dirt and blood from the small scratches she had gained during the fight.

"Well I'll be damned," the Sheriff says. "Why didn't we think of that?"

Allison's eyes falls on the nogitsune and she stops dead. Why hadn't they thought of that? It made sense, if the nogitsune was a kind of kitsune then mountain ash would work to contain them, wouldn't it? The thing wearing Stiles' body is furious, pacing the tight confines of the mountain ash ring Morrell had probably tossed around him. At the sight of them, her in particular, he throws himself against the barrier and roared, a nonsense kind of noise that made chills trace down her spine.

"Growl all your like," Morrell drawls, a chilling smile pulling at her lips. "But you're little games are done."

Scott leaps forward eagerly, pacing the outside of the circle so that he's on the opposite side of the ring from Morrell. He's not looking at the monster in their friend's skin, but that doesn't mean the nogitsune isn't glaring at him, snarling out words Allison can't understand. She wonders if Morrell has somehow taken away the creature's words, reduced him to animalistic noises instead, but how would that work? She doesn't know, but Morrell has always been a mystery, an even bigger one than Deaton, and Allison forces herself to accept the fact that they probably won't make much of a difference on that anytime soon.

"You know how to kill this thing," Scott asks, eyes wide, jaw clenched. Morrell just smiles, head tilting back, something vicious and cruel in her expression that makes Allison's insides squirm. The girl who had joined their fight steps up beside her, eyes trained on the nogistune, but before Allison can do much more than open her mouth there's a scream behind them, echoing out of the depths of the building.

"Lydia," Allison says. She whirls to go find her best friend, scooping up a few arrows as she runs. She busts through the gate and barrels down the hallway to find Lydia crouched over Stiles at the very end, shrouded in shadows and the backlash of light. Allison feels her heart pound in her chest at the sight.

She could have died tonight, but she hadn't. And God help her, no one else was going to die tonight either so long as she still had breath in her body. She reaches the pair of them at full speed, falling to her knees beside Stiles, tearing both knees in the process, the pain a far away feeling. Lydia throws her arms around her shoulders, breathless and shaking against her. Scott knocks into her back as he comes to a halt before scrambling over her, hands ghosting across Stiles' body as he desperately tries to get Stiles' sitting upright again.

"You did it," Lydia breathes, clutching her as if she will never, ever let her go again. "You're alive."

"She's more than alive," Isaac says from somewhere behind them. "She saved the day. Her arrows killed the oni."

Allison opens her mouth to point out that if it hadn't been for that scarred girl she would be dead, but Stiles mumbles something against Scott's shoulder and brings her up short. His head is crookedly pressed against Scott's shoulder as his best friend holds him up, clutching him in the same way Lydia is her. A second later Stiles is unconscious, making Allison's heart skip a beat in worry.

"Go tell Morrell we need her to help Stiles," she tells Isaac, who takes off back down the hallway at a run. Then she turns to Scott, leaning over so that Lydia and her are curled against Scott and Stiles. Maybe some of their warmth will seep into Stiles, she thinks absently.

"What did he say," she asks Scott later, once Stiles is better, once everyone they love is safe and sound. It's just them, standing in the lower portion of Scott's house. Her dad and the Sheriff are going to be up all night, helping Morrell take care of the nogistune once and for all. The kids have been given strict instructions to keep out of danger and let the adults handle everything this time and she had been more than happy to let her dad win that argument.

"Hmm," Scott asks absently. They're sitting on his couch, sprawled out just a little bit in exhaustion. Allison gets the feeling Scott had been listening to the sound of everyone's heart beating in his house, his pack all together in one place.

"In the tunnel," Allison specifies. "Stiles said something just before he passed out. What was it?"

Scott smiles and it's like sunlight after a rainy day. She drinks in the look, her heart aching for him, her first love, her alpha. He sinks lower into his couch and she matches him, tipping sideways until her head is on his shoulder. She doesn't love him like she used to, but she'll always love him, in that little part of her that still remembers her Aunt Kate as a sister, her mother as a living, breathing human being. He curls an arm around her shoulder, his head tipping to rest against hers.

"He said 'Ally A saves the day'," Scott tells her. Something inside her shifts and settles, the weight of the past weeks finally slipping from her shoulders. She turns her face against Scott's shoulders, a grin tugging at her lips.

"Ally A saves the day," she repeats quietly. "I like that."