Thanks for all the reviews! They mean the world to me and really help with the creative process. Even if I don't always write in what some of you request, I try to incorporate in some way. This chapter's song is "Girl on Fire" by: Alicia Keys. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: "Girl on Fire"
"Looks like a girl, but she's a flame
So bright, she can burn your eyes
Better look the other way
You can try but you'll never forget her name
She's on top of the world
Hottest of the hottest girls say
Ohhhh oh oh oh
We got our feet on the ground
And we're burning it down
Ohhhh oh oh oh oh
Got our head in the clouds
And we're not coming down
This girl is on fire...
This girl is on fire...
She's walking on fire...
This girl is on fireā¦"
With the banshee's scream still echoing against the walls, the hunters dashed forward not pausing as the Nogitsune glared at the archer in disbelief. "You're not supposed to be alive." He growled and Allison just smirked back her eyes flashing from yellow to a fiery orange and her hands growing increasingly warmer causing her bow to vibrate in her hands under the pressure. "Nobody stays dead in this town." By this point, the only noise in the hall was the crack of her bow shattering into pieces as her hands exploded into flame startling Isaac and the rest but he, at least, didn't show it as she continued unabashed, "But I'll make sure that you do!" Isaac growled in agreement as he sprinted ahead of her to tackle the Nogitsune out of the way only to be shoved off to the side and against the wall with a yelp of pain as he landed on his almost healed arm and heard the bones in it, and his leg, shatter. Allison hung back and watched swinging her daggers around carefully as the Nogitsune stomped forward forcing Lydia and Stiles back towards her direction.
"This was my game. Think you can beat me at my game? Divine move? Divine move! You think you have any moves left at all? You can kill the oni but me, me? I'm a thousand years old! You can't kill me!" He taunted the weakened Stiles, the banshee supporting him and the fiery archer who threatened him standing straight backed and unafraid in front of him. Stepping in front of the weakened pair, Allison raised her flaming ring daggers threateningly, "Then it's about time you died!" Stepping around her powerful not-dead best friend and leaving Stiles leaning against the lockers for support, Lydia stood tall beside Allison and added in a quiet voice, "We can also change you." The Nogitsune paused in confusion giving Isaac enough time to push himself up despite the pain and for Kira to shove her katana down the hall towards the glowing eyed Allison. "What?" Not-Stiles hissed and the real Stiles stepped forwards oddly serious as he picked up the katana and grinned as it reflected the annoyed face of the demon that had possessed him for far too long. "You forgot about the scroll." He began and Lydia finished it for him, "The Eugenda scroll."
The demon fox went whiter than he already was as it finally dawned on him and he sighed the words out in realization, "Change the host." Allison smirked as she steps forward taking the blade from Stiles and watching as Isaac limped over to stand beside the trio and he opened the triskelion box in preparation. Scott, lunged forwards biting the Not-Stiles' arm and the demon fox yelled hoarsely in pain as Isaac smirked despite his own broken bones and barely mended shoulder and added, "You can't be a fox and a wolf." The Nogistune's roar of pain and hatred became a cough as he hacked up a single fly, just like the one that had possessed Isaac and forced him to chain Allison to the bed and go attack the twins. Shaking off the memories, he caught the fly with a pained whimper as he clamped the lid on with his hurt arm.
Meanwhile, Allison stood there glowing with her internal flame burning down Kira's blade, her eyes a fiery orange, and her mouth set in a firm line as her jaw tightened. Lunging forward with the sword aflame the second that Scott released the Nogitsune, she stabs it straight through the Nogitsune's chest and watches with an Isaac-like smirk on her lips as he stiffens, turns to a cracking clay, and finally he disintegrates into ash and floats away. "Allison?" Isaac whispers reaching carefully for her hand and pausing before taking it to avoid being burned in the process. Looking over at him, her eyes widen in recognition of the finished job and the flames immediately extinguished quickly followed by her eyes returning to their normal shade of warm chocolatey brown. Catching her hand in his, he winces as she squeezes the hand attached to the broken bone and she loosens her grip with an apologetic look which he shrugs off before opening his mouth only to be interrupted before he can even speak by Lydia tackling Allison in a hug and pulling her away from him. "ALLISON!" Lydia squealed again but in her normal over-enthusiastic way not in her Banshee screech that left his ears ringing hours afterwards. "Talk later." The archer mouthed apologetically to him as Lydia continued to hug her tightly and the werewolf nodded in understanding before sliding into a sitting position against the lockers and stretching out his broken leg with a sigh of relief.
"That's going to heal crooked." Kira pointed out from where she had finally forced herself up with an effort and limped over to join the victorious group of supernaturals and Stiles. Isaac looked down at it and groaned when he realized that she was right, "Let me." The kitsune continued as she reached down and placed both of her hands on his lower leg. "Ready?" He nodded unsteadily, this wasn't the first time he'd had a broken bone set thanks to his abusive dad but it certainly was the first without a bit of pain killers to numb the nerve endings. With a crack punctuated by a long drawn out rumbling growl of pain to hide his yell, Isaac's bones began to knit back together correctly and he looked at the kitsune gratefully. "Thank you." She shook her head at that before turning and glancing over at Allison who was still holding the kitsune's katana lightly with the blade barely tapping the ground. "No thank you for saving her." Isaac opened his mouth to explain all that had Deaton had done but she just shook her head, "Don't argue, just know that without her we wouldn't have lived." The werewolf wasn't going to argue on that one and just nodded, she had no idea how close to death he had gone and he probably would've toppled over the edge himself out of this life had she not come back.
Suddenly Lydia pulled away from Allison and he glanced over as the banshee in surprise as Stiles moved towards her and she whispered, "Something's not right." before taking off in the direction that Isaac and Allison had come from just moments before. Stiles, his energy coming back slowly and steadily after the death of the Not-Stiles, staggered after her at a weak jog with the huntress hot on his heels. Kira stood up quickly and offered him a hand which Isaac took carefully before standing up with mostly his own strength. "Isaac." Scott's familiar voice flooded over his ears and it took all of his willpower not to simply turn around and punch his alpha in the face. Taking a deep breath he could feel his eyes turn from their normal gray-blue to a yellow but waited until they were back to their normal color before he felt calm enough to look at Scott. "Why didn't you tell me?" Kira scooted away and followed the direction the others had gone at a quick trotting pace. "I was a little busy dying myself of some near fatal wounds." He fired back as he limped towards the main entrance with his fists clenched and felt Scott following him. "You did plan to tell me though, right?" The anger was getting harder and harder to keep at bay, he couldn't help but realize as he turned around with the triskelion box in hand and glared at Scott. "Of course WE did. Again, little busy not dying. I can show you the new scar if you really want to see it." Scott backed off after that and he offered the Beta werewolf a much needed shoulder to lean on which Isaac took while still keeping his fist clenched slightly and clutching the box so tightly his knuckles turned white.
By the time they finally made it to the door, they only had time to catch sight of Lydia flinging herself into Stiles' waiting arms. Aiden was dead, Isaac couldn't hear a heartbeat and Ethan was howling in pain and grief as Derek tried to comfort the still wounded and only surviving twin. Scott let Isaac go as he rushed over to help Derek with Ethan leaving the broken boned werwolf to limp over favoring the leg that he had just had reset. "It's not your fault." The soft voice of the archer echoed in his ears as he turned to see her walking towards him with Argent close behind. "It's not your fault." She repeated as she grabbed his hand and the two Argents looped their arms around his shoulders and helped him to move forward at a faster pace than his halting limp. "Come on Isaac." The senior hunter urged him forwards and the werewolf nodded as the trio finally struggled over to the dead boy and the crowd around him. "Allison?" Lydia's face was soaked with tears as she hugged Allison nearly unbalancing Isaac in the process causing Argent to take on the brunt of the teenage boy's weight with a groan. "Sorry sir." Isaac managed and Argent just shook his head, "You covered for her, you did nothing wrong. We may make a soldier out of you yet." The teen werewolf grinned at that, a real smile, the kind he only saved for Allison and Scott on normal occasions.
"He's gone." The banshee sobbed into Allison's shoulder and the young huntress hugged her back with her free arm while the other tightened around Isaac's upper back to support him. "I'm sorry." Isaac and Allison whispered simultaneously and Lydia looked up at them with surprise evident in her teary hazel-green eyes, she knew that something had changed between the two but she was too upset to look into it and neither teen forced her too. Instead Isaac let go of Argent and pulled Lydia into a hug so that he and Allison's bodies completely surrounded her and the banshee was able to breathe for the first time since feeling Aiden fade from this world. "Better?" Allison asked and Lydia nodded despite the fact that she knew that neither could see her at the sideways angles that they held her. "I will be." She hoarsely whispered after a moment and the pair let her go with Allison tightening her grip on the werewolf boy as she supported him with his broken leg.
Turning around, the banshee caught sight of Stiles and immediately she interlocked her fingers with his drawing comfort from the friendly contact as Ethan turned to her and shook his head with tears still streaming down his face. "He said that he loved you but you'd never believe that he was a good guy." The surviving twin murmured in a monotone and Lydia frantically shook her head at that as he continued, "I know that he was wrong." She sobbed at that and pulled the living boy into her arms and the pair held each other in shared grief. Pulling her eyes away from them to give the pair a bit of privacy, the huntress's gaze turned towards her surroundings and she caught sight of Scott holding up an exhausted Kira, her father helping Derek to move Aiden off the bloody concrete to a bench, and Deaton walking up with a frown on his face at the sight of the dead boy and Isaac's hurt leg and arm. "You're going to heal up just fine. But I will take that triskelion box off your hands," The vet explained and the werewolf nodded placing it in the healer's waiting hands as Deaton took it with a frown and carried it over to where he was soon directing Derek and Argent on where to move Aiden's body.
The werewolf's corpse was moved carefully by the former Alpha and the hunter from the bench where they had laid it to the back of Deaton's veterinarian truck followed by a depressing parade consisting of Ethan with his arm looped around Lydia's shoulders on one side and Stiles holding Lydia's free hand on the other, Scott holding up an exhausted Kira, Allison helping Isaac to limp along and Deaton taking up the end of the group. "Can you save him like you did me?" Allison asked in a soft whisper turning momentarily back in time to catch sight of Deaton's shaking his head sadly. "I was unsure that it would even work at the time and used up my whole supply of Fenghuang ash. I'm sorry Allison." The huntress nodded, she had already known his answer before she had asked if she was being realistic but she had still clung to the hope that he could be saved too. "It's not your fault." Isaac whispered in her ear, his breath catching in his throat slightly at his still pained state and she shook her head at that. Here he was walking on not fully healed broken bones and he was comforting her just like she had just comforted him. Why had there even been a question of falling for him? It wasn't a choice, they needed each other to make it in this world.
"Actually I want you both to ride with me to the vet clinic." Deaton interrupted her thoughts and she turned to look at the veterinarian at the same time as Isaac. The healer stared back at them with his brows furrowed in concern as he looked at Allison's hands and seemed to see what had happened with the flames and the eyes and the bow without having been there. "Visionaries don't just see the future." He explained meeting first Isaac's eyes and then Allison's whose gaze he continued to hold as he added, "They see what's happened in the past too." The couple nodded without truly understanding all he said as they quietly followed him to his car. With a few quick words to her father from the huntress and many promises to return and explain as soon as possible to both his current and former Alpha, the pair got into the car with Deaton. Since the husk of the body that was the werewolf twin Aiden was taking up the back seat of the pickup, Allison squeezed into the middle seat with Deaton on one side and Isaac on the other with the later still holding her hand and she leaning into him slightly.
Due to Deaton's uncharacteristically serious state, the ride was silent save for the occasional whimper from the healing werewolf whenever they hit a particularly harsh pothole or speed bump. Finally they arrived at the vet's office and Isaac stumbled out of the vehicle stretching his recently healed arm and limping slightly on the still knitting back together leg. He was followed by Allison who offered him a shoulder to lean on but he shook his head and limped over to help Deaton get Aiden's body out of the car. Normally Allison would be offended that he refused her offer to help but she understood that this was different, he still felt responsible and a little pain helped him to alleviate some of that survivor's guilt they both were feeling.
Once Aiden's body was inside and laid on the same cold tables that he and Allison had been lying on only a day before, Deaton turned towards the living teens in front of him. "So Allison, what happened?" With a few interjections from Isaac of some changes that she hadn't noticed in her adrenaline rush, the story was relayed to the healer in a matter of moments. Deaton looked at the girl with a serious frown contorting his features as he considered what all had happened since her resurrection. "I think that you might be the first case of a human with the powers of the Fenghuang." Both looked at him like this was the most obvious thing that either of them had ever heard in their lives. "This may seem obvious now but the point is that I don't know how to help you Allison," Her eyes fell at that and Isaac squeezed her hand comfortingly, "But I know someone who can. I think it might be time for a visit to Chinatown."
Thanks again for those great reviews! I promise to update this weekend but in the meantime read, enjoy, and review.
