I'm bad at leaving this fandom, aren't I? Anyway, this truly is the last one. Because now I truly am exhausted but my muse wouldn't stop nagging, and I knew I wasn't going to rest until I wrote this. This was written in about three hours and hasn't been checked over, other than a quick check-out for spelling. If anyone finds any particularly bad typos please let me know.

Now, I recently posted a movie fix-it called Vermeil, some people liked it, others didn't. In particular I had someone who pointed out that it wasn't fair for Allison to get a second chance, when she never paid for her actions. Thing is. I agree. Now, to explain how then Vermeil ended as it did. I don't actually blame most of the events of the movie on Allison, but on the nogitsune. At the same time, I'm not a fan of Allison, regardless of the good she might have done during canon, she also did bad, and she never atoned, or even apologized, for that bad. None of the Argents ever did. Like I said in Vermeil, I got the idea for that story even before I actually watched the movie. The whole Nogitsune!Allison. I knew from the start a story with that premise could go two ways. Vermeil was one, this... this is the other.

I'm sure by now most people will know what this piece is about. To those that don't. Here come the WARNINGS: There's technically Major Character Death in this. Now, no, Derek doesn't die in this one (Derek will never die in any of my fics, unless it's a time-travel fic and things are being fixed!), nor do any of his pack. If you need more details, please head to the End Notes (as anything more detailed is way too spoilery). Also, warning for referenced/non-graphic suicide (more on that also in the End Notes).

Having said all that. Enjoy the fic please!

A Fate Worse than Death

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

As far as Stiles is concerned, it's pretty simple: Allison is the Nogitsune's new host, the way to save her is by biting her, turning her. Of course, that solves the problem of the fox, but not the issue of Allison, a Hunter, being turned in the first place. Stiles has decided that's really not his problem!

If Stiles were to be honest (which he only ever fully is with his family, his pack) he'd admit that he knew (or, to be scientifically correct, strongly suspected) from the start, how it was gonna go. From the moment he told them all that the way to win this battle, was to give Allison the Bite. But what else was he supposed to do? It was the Nogitsune, that fucking Void Fox that did so much damage the last time it was around; and they were all stupid enough to give it a body, and not just any body, but one that had the skills and the mentality needed to kill them all (and it was no secret how easy it was to manipulate Allison into going after the Hales, after Derek's pack, she barely needed any prodding at all!). So yeah, he knew (strongly suspected!) how it was going to go; but he could still remember the last time (and apparently no one else did! Because really, the way they all kept making the Exact Same Mistakes!), there was only one known way to defeat a Nogitsune, and that was the fact that a kitsune couldn't be that, and a wolf at the same time. If Allison were to become a werewolf, the Nogitsune would have to leave, as it wouldn't be able to survive in her. It was the very reason why Scott was never a candidate, despite having been part of the fucking sacrifice all those years ago… then again, as has been established, the fox wasn't stupid, it always knew that Stiles was the best option by far. How was it Derek put it?

"… someone bigger? Stronger? Someone with a little more… power?"

Granted, at the time Derek was trying to argue why the Nogitsune wouldn't have chosen him, rather than the other way around. But even he realized it back then. He (and Aiden) knew, in a way Stiles himself didn't realize, didn't see for the longest time, that he was strong; human, skinny and seemingly defenseless as he was, he was also strong, probably the strongest of them all… Stiles himself wouldn't realize that until much later, until Deaton's dismissals, Scott's constant betrayals, and so many people turning their backs on him time and again forced him to realize that he didn't need them, and never had.

But all that aside. Stiles knew, and still he said the words:

"You need to bite her."

It was a mess. With people seemingly surprised at Stiles's arrival; like, why? People like Scott and Deaton, who abandoned their so-called pack and territory all those years ago, who never cared to check-in with any of them. Where did they get off being surprised, much less demanding explanations about anything? As for Lydia… Stiles will never understand why she's so hung-up on things really, she's the one who left him! He loved her so much, and in the end she was the one who decided love wasn't enough. He knows the story she likes to tell: nightmares, possible premonitions, how he'd die if they stayed together… First of all, she's a freaking FBI Agent! He goes after the worst criminals in the world, both human and not, on an everyday basis, and she thinks that a freaking car accident is somehow more dangerous than that?! Still, if she truly loved him, while believing in those dreams, she'd have reacted differently. There was a time when he loved her so much he'd have promised her anything she wanted, just to have her stay. Would have given up on driving, on owning a car, or even using a car at all! But no, instead she chose to walk away, was self-centered enough to believe that she was the detonator, rather than the care. And then she was selfish enough to be angry that Stiles found it in himself to move on, to love again, to build a whole new life with people who will never leave him, never stop loving him. Why? Because she can't? He's starting to suspect that Lydia never truly loved him, she loved his devotion to her, and it's the loss of that that has truly affected her.

In any case, a few people seem to not be too happy with him, and that's just fine with him. It's not like he's exactly happy with some of them. Listening to dreams they don't know the origin of? Doing a shoddy ritual on the freaking Nemeton?! Bringing someone back from death?! Did They Learn Absolutely Nothing Back In High-School?!

So no, he's not happy. There's no way he could be with everything that's happened tonight. He expected to arrive just in time to surprise his husband and son. Watch Eli do some bench-warming; he knows Derek really wants their son to play, believes he could be good at it, and Stiles himself doesn't doubt it, but that won't happen until Eli is ready for it. Just like his shift. And he isn't, not yet. His time will come. Just like it did for Stiles. He certainly didn't expect to see his son running out of the gym, absolutely hysterical, and then find his beloved husband on the floor, bleeding from a wound to his neck, and with an arrow pointed straight at his heart! On a bow being wielded by none other than Allison-freaking-Argent!

Truth be told, his first thought after that was to kill the Huntress and be done with it. Really, the shock at it being Allison at all might have made him hesitate, though truth is that the only reason he didn't go through with that was because he knew that in that moment his beloved needed him more than he needed to kill the Huntress. And afterwards… going after Allison himself would have meant going through Scott, Chris, Deaton, possibly even Melissa. Not that he couldn't have done it… but he preferred not to, if he didn't have to.

In any case, he suspected (strongly believed) that by the time it was all said and done, he wouldn't have to worry about any of them.

It still took them a ridiculous amount of time to get everyone on the same page. To make them realize that Allison was the Nogitsune's host, and that there was only one way to get her alive out of that mess. Really, it's no different than what they did when it was him; the only difference being that back then the Nogitsune felt so threatened by Stiles, by his continuous attempts to wrestle back control, that the fox ended pushing Stiles out; which in conjunction to the full awakening of his spark meant that Stiles managed to create a brand new body for himself. A human body… which is why he's not a wolf, and the other body crumbled to dust when Scott bit it. Allison on the other hand has no magic, which meant that if the bite took, there would be no going back, not for any of them.

Stiles is so, so grateful that no one outside of their little pack knows about Derek recovering the Hale Alpha Spark. The thought of anyone asking Derek to give an(other) Argent the bite… And especially to someone who'd tried to kill him, and his whole pack, who tortured some of them, and never even apologized for it! The mere thought is almost enough to make him sick. He refuses to even consider it. Much as he might feel guilty some times for the way she died, much as he might be willing to 'live and let live' for the most part, Stiles would never want an Argent, any Argent in their pack. And he refuses to let anyone guilt Derek into it. Their pack is small: Himself, Derek, Eli, his dad, uncle P, Malia and Cora; and they're happy enough like that. Though Cora likes to travel around the world, she's become a famous photographer, specializing in shots that many say should be impossible to make… And who knows? Maybe once she gets back from her latest trip he and Derek will finally take her up on her offer to be surrogate for them, give Eli a little brother or sister… But well, those are the kind of plans to be made after the current crisis is over!

xXx

How does one out-trick a trickster? Or in other words, how does one out-fox a fox? By doing the absolutely last thing anyone might expect. Which is why Stiles didn't even try to propose a plan to Scott, Deaton, or Lydia. Anyway, he only needed to talk to Jackson, who was happy enough to cooperate if that meant getting back home, to his own husband, all the sooner (and without the fucking fox hovering over their shoulders, an endless threat…). Really, that one is on Scott, and perhaps Deaton. The box that served as a prison for the fucking box should have been buried underneath the roots of the fully-healthy, very powerful Nemeton in France. And it wasn't. Instead it was out in the open, on a freaking spice-rack in a restaurant in Japan! Like, why?! A part of Stiles actually wondered if someone's been planning on along on letting the stupid fox free again, when it suited them… Good thing Stiles isn't the kind to be idle, to let time go to waste, or to not plan for anything and everything that could ever happen. This time he knew how to get rid of the nogitsune: permanently.

So with a bit of Jackson's assistance, in the form of some kanima venom, and a couple of tranq darts, it was simply a matter of stepping forth, aiming, and firing. No one saw it coming, not Scott and his so-called pack, not the Argents, and certainly not the fox. He could see the nogitsune gearing up to go into one of its monologues; probably about power, and his old and his invincibility. Stiles didn't see the point of responding. A single dart was enough to drop Allison.

Then it took a couple of minutes to calm Scott down enough to remind him that: it was all part of the plan! And get him to bite her.

There was apparently enough magic in the Bite, or at least in the change, to combat the paralysis. Or perhaps it was the nogitsune's own magic, trying to fight back. Still, things went, mostly, as planned, and soon enough Allison was coughing out a freaking glowing fly.

"Stiles!" Derek's call pulled him abruptly back to the fight at hand.

It was… Stiles wouldn't say easy exactly, doing battle against a creature like the nogitsune, a thousand-year-old fox spirit, could never be anything even remotely easy but… Stiles knew it. Knew the creature, better than he ever wanted to, almost more than he knew himself, certainly better than the fox knew him in return. It's almost funny actually. Because once, all those years ago, the nogitsune chose him as a vessel, because between a very skilled huntress and a nerdy human (he hadn't manifested his magic yet), it realized that Stiles was the bigger danger, the greater threat to it and its plans. It seems that in the intervening years the fox managed to forget. It was so sure of its own victory, that nothing could stop it. Like it was some kind of god, like it was invincible, like they didn't stop it once before already. And this time… this time Stiles wasn't half-dead, barely hanging onto his sanity, in a body so new he didn't know quite how to control it just yet, and with brand new magic making him feel like his skin won't stop crawling… Also, the magic. The magic which the nogitsune unwittingly 'woke-up' in such a way as to make Stiles far more powerful than he'd have been otherwise.

Stiles is a spark. Which essentially meant that he had magical potential, but it was really small, basic, not really enough for the practitioners of any of the disciplines to be interested in him. At least, that's how it was supposed to be. That's how it'd have been if he'd never been possessed by the nogitsune, spent weeks fighting in every way he knew how, resisting the fox spirit and doing his best to keep everyone safe. To the point where the nogitsune eventually decided that it was riskier for the two of them to stay together. So it connected both their power… Stiles thinks it intended to destroy Stiles entirely, instead Stiles split from the fox, with his own body. It wasn't easy, the body lacked the scars, the damage caused by a year running around with a pack of werewolves, going against all sorts of enemies, and especially spending several hours being tortured by a psychotic geriatric hunter! This was all good, and eventually he came to be very thankful of it. It was still hard at first, because he had to re-learn quite a few things; from the best ways to move, to make use of all of his body, to not overexert some muscles while not using others enough, to even his posture, his abilities, his limits. Still, what no one could have ever counted on was the other side-effect of him and the nogitsune splitting like that: and it's that his brand new body has a bigger magical core than his old one (consequence of the fusion of the two magics). He's still a Spark in the sense that he isn't affiliated to any of the formal disciplines of magic, but he can do a lot. He tends to borrow from all of them, and sometimes even combines things. It makes for some rather… interesting, at times even volatile, results. Really, there's a reason the FBI wants him, enough to be willing to accept him living in Beacon Hills and not in DC, him only going in when a case absolutely requires his skills. They rather have him when they really need him, than not at all.

It wasn't much of a fight, in the end. Unlike what had happened when Stiles's original body was bitten (by Scott back then), Allison's didn't crumble into dust, though she did come out of the paralysis faster than any of them, even Stiles, expected. And then there was the nogitsune…

"There's nothing for you here." Stiles informed it.

It was the truth. Everyone there either carried still the mark of the oni, the kanji that protected from possession, or they're a werewolf (or werecoyote) which made them incompatible. Also, the clearing they were in was lined in a mix of mountain ash, mistletoe and foxglove (courtesy of his dad and his own spark), making it impossible for the void fox to escape.

The thing about spiritual beings is that they cannot long exist in a purely physical plane. Stiles will admit to having been a bit disappointed when finding out that ghosts, actual ghosts, did not exist. What most people referred to as such were but a remnant, an echo some magical people managed to leave behind when their deaths were particularly traumatic (and magic, a lot of it, was involved). So really, in the end there wasn't much that needed to be done. All they had to do was wait, wait and ensure the nogitsune could get to new host…

It makes him wonder, later, once it's all said and done. Did Deaton really not know, back then, that they could have gotten rid of the fox permanently? It's not killing it, technically, but banishing him from their plane is enough, truly. Thing is, the Nemeton box, while it served to imprison it, also kept it in their plane, so… He wonders at Noshiko and Alpha Ito too. If they didn't know… well, Satomi probably didn't, she isn't a fox herself, after all, but Noshiko? And with her being a full-blooded kitsune. Stiles has to wonder at her reasons for capturing the nogitsune, rather than just sending it back to the spiritual plane. He doesn't like the thoughts that brings up. However, those are problems for another day.

The problems for today… those are bad enough.

xXx

"I am Allison Argent…"

"Ally…"

"I am a Huntress…"

"Allison, honey…"

"A Huntress cannot be wolf."

"ALLISON!"

xXx

If Stiles were to be honest (which he only ever fully is with his family, his pack) he'll admit that he knew (or, to be scientifically correct, strongly suspected) from the start, how it was gonna go. From the moment he told them all that the way to win this battle, was to give Allison the Bite. But what else was he supposed to do? The Nogitsune was a very real threat, one that could only be vanquished, while at the same time saving the host, in one way. Truth be told, Stiles wouldn't have been entirely against doing what was necessary (that meaning killing Allison) if it had been the only way. But doing that would have meant going against Scott, Deaton, Chris, possibly even Melissa. Could he have done it? Yes Could he have won? Also yes, but it would have been a huge mess, the kind he preferred not to be involved in, if he didn't have to. So he proposed the kind of plan that would 'save' Allison, knowing from the start that she might not want to be saved, not under those circumstances.

He couldn't have been entirely certain, after all, much as hunters might say to the contrary, Gerard had no problem seeking the Bite, and the Alpha Spark, when it was either that or dying of Cancer; Kate herself might not have gone looking for it, but she still chose to turn, to be a shifter, a werejaguar, rather than die. Victoria was perhaps the only one who chose to die rather than turn, and isn't that a funny thing (in the way that no one laughs)? So, with those precedents, it could have gone either way.

Stiles knows that, had Allison chosen to live, he wouldn't have done a thing about it. As long as she left, as long as she didn't turn her attention, her cross-hairs, onto them ever again. The moment she so much as looked wrong at them, at anyone in his pack, Stiles wouldn't have hesitated to take her down. In the end contingency plans for such a situation weren't necessary. Allison decided all on her own that she's rather die than be a wolf…

"Stiles, you bastard!" Scott yells at him, furious. "You knew! You knew she'd kill herself!"

Stiles says nothing.

"You knew and you made me bite her!" Scott roars. "Why do you hate us so much?! I'm supposed to be your brother!"

"You were, once, but not for a long time." Stiles interrupts, calmly.

In fact, he's so calm that everyone turns to him, more than one person feeling uneasy at the eerie calm that doesn't seem like Stiles at all. Or maybe, maybe it's more of a sign that they don't know Stiles at all anymore…

"You know, everyone knows that biting her was the only way of getting the nogitsune out of her." Stiles points out evenly. "What else were he supposed to do?"

"Not turn her into the very thing she hunts!" Scott snaps.

"Oh… I thought the Argents were retired?" Stiles says it in a perfectly deadpan tone, making it obvious that he's very much aware that they aren't.

Even Chris, much as he might claim to not be Hunter anymore, he hasn't stopped, not fully. Stiles knows. Thanks both to his job, and some contacts he's made helping people. He also knows that much as Chris might claim to follow Allison's 'revised Code', no one really trusts him because, well, first of all he's an Argent, and most supernaturals know better than to trust an Argent, to trust a hunter, period. But also 'protect those who cannot protect themselves'? Considering how most hunters insist on seeing most supernatural beings as weapons in and of themselves, it's obvious they'll never see any of them as unable to protect themselves so… no, they will never believe that hunters will be of any help. In the end their so-called Code are nothing more than pretty (and useless) words.

"Really Scott, what's so bad about being a werewolf?" Stiles presses. "You got rid of the asthma, got the popularity, the girl, all the girls, really, don't think I'm not aware of how many you've dated throughout the years. You might claim that Allison's your 'true love' as much as you want, but it's not like you've been suffering alone all this years. And even before she died, you were broken up! So don't try to make it seem like you lost a fucking soulmate or something. Also, I'd like to remind everyone that I didn't kill her. She Killed Herself. She made her won choice and decided that, for whatever the reason, being dead was preferable to being a wolf. Being supernatural was, to her, a fate worse than death! That's on her, not on me."

On her, and on all the Argents and their fucking brainwashing!

"You made me bite her!" Scott snarls.

Made him? Like, did Stiles hold a gun to his head? Did he use magic to control Scott? Really, Scott is the expert in making people do things against their will, though he's conveniently forgotten all about that!

"Yeah?" Stiles asks testily. "And what do you think we should have done then? Should we have just let the nogitsune stay free? Go around, killing people, using you dear Allison as a meat-suit?"

"She only wanted to kill the Hales!" Scott snaps.

And of course. Scott has never seen anything wrong with killing Hales. He didn't even see anything wrong with Kate killing them, humans and children included!

That's when Stiles realizes that it's just pointless. Scott is never going to see the truth. As always, when he has his Argent-glasses on; the hunters are perfect, they can do no wrong; and it doesn't matter what damage they cause, who they hurt, perfect Allison is a perfect Disney princess who isn't to blame for anything at all. Their crimes don't matter, their victims are unimportant, and whoever might hurt them in any way are monsters… included Scott's supposed 'brother'.

Stiles doesn't know what to do. It's not that he thought there was any coming back from their latest mess (or from all the previous ones), but the fact remains that as things stand now, Scott is a danger. To him, and to his family, his pack. Scott will never admit that they did what needed to be done. That Allison's second death is on her. And Chris… considering how he could never do the right thing where his father and his sister were concerned, Stiles will be putting him firmly in the 'threat' category as well. Possibly Melissa as well (it's been proven that as much as Stiles might see her as a second mother, to her she'll never be more than 'the kid who always got her son into trouble', while Scott herself will forever be the one who ca do no wrong, regardless of how many people he might end up hurting along the way). They're a danger, to him, to their pack, to their territory, and Stiles doesn't know what to do!

Stiles doesn't. But his spark apparently does.

xXx

Next thing Stiles knows he's on his bed, wearing nothing but his boxers. He feels a bit achy, like he's been on the same position for way too long… Which is confirmed when he reaches for his phone, finding it on his night-stand, connected to the charger, and sees the date… then he does a double-take. The last time he looked at the date was when he was on his way back to Beacon Hills after his latest mission (when he arrived intending to surprise his family in the best of ways, only to find himself surprised in the worst instead)… and that was apparently three days ago!

He makes to get off the bed, right as the door opens and he sees his husband stepping into the room, two mugs of coffee and some pastries on a tray.

"Heard you were finally waking up, thought you might be hungry." Derek explains as he places the tray on the bed before sitting beside Stiles, close enough for their bodies to touch, all the way from their shoulders to their knees.

Stiles is starving, actually, which means he manages to drink a whole cup of coffee and eat several pastries before he even tries to ask any questions.

"This is just to tide you over." Derek informs him when he sees his husband hesitating on whether to eat more pastries or not. "I called Peter and your dad once I was sure you were waking up. They're on his way, Peter said they'd make a stop at the grocery store to get some things so he can make brunch for all of us."

"Oh… okay." Stiles bites into a pastry. "I should probably take a shower before they get here, right?" Something else occurs to him. "Wait, where's Eli?"

"With Malia, running in the preserve." Derek informs him. "I'm… not sure if you realized it, but he's shifted now. I don't know if it was the threat of Allison, or Scott trying to throw his status as 'True Alpha' around, or your argument after Allison died, again. But he's shifted now, more than once. She's helping him work off his excess energy, so he won't shift as often. I'm sure that once he sees you're alright that'll help him a lot. You… you must know you're his anchor, as much as you're mine…"

Stiles just smiles, taking Derek's hand in his and placing a soft kiss on his palm. He might be all-too-conscious of his morning-(or should it be several-day)breath to try and kiss his mate on the mouth, but the feeling is there nonetheless.

"What happened?" He finally asks.

"Your spark happened." Derek deadpans, in the tone of someone who's used those very words to explain things more than once.

Really, it's not a new thing. His spark acts out sometimes, always following his deepest desires, always to protect him and his pack. So that part's not exactly surprising. He also realizes it must have been something big, if it required him sleeping for more than a full day and night to recover from the drain.

Turns out that Scott is gone, same as Deaton. Chris is back with Melissa. Liam and his girlfriend are gone as well. All back home, to their lives. Also, apparently no one outside of their little pack remembers anything of what happened in the 48 hours or so between Scott and Chris coming together in LA, having dreamt about Allison in Bardo, and the showdown in the preserve, that ended with Allison choosing to die rather than be a wolf and Scott blaming Stiles and Derek for everything that's ever gone wrong… again.

"And are you sure they don't remember anything?" Stiles just needs to be certain.

"Nothing at all." Derek confirms. "Your dad checked it out, chatted with Melissa and Chris for a bit. Cora even offered to take advantage of her layover in LA to check things out with Scott and Deaton. As far as they're concerned, the mess with the nogitsune, Allison, all of it? It never happened at all. They don't even remember the dreams that started it all."

They have no way of checking in with Lydia, but considering how she's preferred to keep away from the supernatural entirely for the last decade, he doubts that'll be changing any time soon.

"So… it's over." Stiles exhales, slowly but surely starting to believe that is true. Then he realizes something else. "Cora's here?"

"Not yet, she'll be arriving later today." Derek nods. "She already informed me that she's made arrangements, she'll be working on a book, full of her pictures. According to her, she'll dedicate the next year to it, which means it'll be the perfect time to 'expand the pack'."

Stiles's smile grows. He might not have been entirely certain just a few days ago. But right now he is. He wants them to expand a pack. He wants another child. One he can be there from the start, like he couldn't be for Eli. Not that he could possibly love any child more than he loves Eli, but still, a bigger family? Sign him up.

Truly, if there's one thing he'll never understand is how Allison could ever believe that Death was preferable to life as a supernatural being. That being alive, with her family, even if it was as a shifter, could be a fate worse than death… but well, he's never claimed to understand hunters so… As for him? He's living his very best life: with his husband, his son, the rest of his pack, and in less than a year, another little one!

So... was this any good?

To those coming due to the Warnings... Allison Argent dies, to be precise, she commits suicide. The suicide happens off-screen, so to speak, and it's mostly implied, never directly described (though it's made clear enough). Still, if that's triggery, look after yourself, please.

So, that's that. This time I really am taking a break. I'm beyond exhausted and basically burned-out. See ya next time I get into this fandom!

P.S. If you could give any feedback I'd be very, very grateful!