The Final Illusion, a teen wolf fanfic

So... what do you think?

I have one more movie fix-it that I'll be posting today. Mostly because it's already written. And I'm stepping away from the fandom for a while, taking a break from it and focusing on others, so I thought I might as well post both stories already. Keep in mind that these are One-Shots, They Will Not Be Continued! Now, if someone else wants to do just that... feel free! I always give carte blanche to anyone and everyone who wants to do sequels, prequels, sidestories, remixes, and also fanarts, translations, podfics, etc., of my works. I only ask you give credit where it might be due, and let me know about your work so I can go take a look, and recommend it!

Thanks for reading. Any feedback you're willing to give I'll love!

The Final Illusion

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

Really, it's like no one learned anything while in High-School. Listening to messages in dreams sent by who-knows! Doing flimsy rituals on a rotting Nemeton! Bringing dead people back to life! Like they don't know that each of those things, on their own, is a recipe for disaster. Together? They better be glad Stiles got here before their stupidity brought about he end of the world or something!

"Where's Derek?"

All eyes turn to the newcomer in an instant. Standing right at the entrance of the lacrosse stadium (and weren't they in the middle of the forest, in the Nemeton's clearing, just a moment ago?), there's Stiles, looking more than a little rumpled, with messy hair and an unkempt beard. He looks more than a little manic…

"Stiles…?!" Several people cry out in unison.

"I asked, where is Derek?" He demands, voice hard and cold. "Where is my husband?!"

"Hus… what…?" Scott looks beyond shocked.

"Papa!" Eli screams as he half runs, half trips straight to Stiles.

"Eli…?!" Stiles is the one shocked now, reacting instinctively and catching the teen. "What's going on? Where's your dad?"

"He's… Dad's…" The boy breaks into sobs, unable to string a sentence together.

"He's dead." Peter states grimly.

"Impossible." Stiles shakes his head violently.

"Stiles…" Lydia murmurs softly as she approaches. "I'm sorry but it's true. He's dead. He… he sacrificed himself, to kill the nogitsune."

"What?!" Stiles blinks, he cannot have just heard what he thinks he did.

"It's true." Lydia continues. "It came back. It… It was manipulating Allison and… it tried to kill us all. Jordan burned it, but he couldn't hold it in place on his own. So Derek… he…"

"No way." Stiles denies. "It's not possible!"

"I know how much we'd all like…" Peter begins.

"No, shut up Peter!" Stiles snaps at him, he knows it's not the wolf's fault, but he's at the end of his tether as it is! "I know he's not dead. You know how I know? Because I can still feel him! Our mating bond is still there, which means he's alive. Now, I'll ask again, where's my husband?!"

Several people gasp at that and everyone starts looking around.

"It's not possible." Scott states. "You need to accept the truth Stiles. Derek is dead."

"Yeah?" Stiles very gently lets go of Eli, pushing him into Peter's arms before turning to face his once best-friend (once but no more, not since quite a long time ago… since Scott decided to abandon them all to rebuild after the war against the insane Hunters, deciding he just didn't care about any of them). "I have to? You mean like you accepted that Allison was dead? Tell me, who did you kill to bring her back exactly?"

"What?!" That, once again, seems to throw everyone for a loop.

"It's Magic 101, the Law of Equivalent Exchange." Stiles explains in a drawl. "Magic can help you achieve incredible things, yes, but you can only really get those things in exchange of something else. There's always a cost: in herbs, in objects, in energy… The greater the magic, the greater the cost. And giving life? There's no greater magic than that."

"What about Peter?" Scott demands. "Who did he kill?"

"Peter was a different case." Stiles points out. "He was never fully dead. His soul was tethered to the living plane, through Lydia. And he came back to his own body. I know for a fact Allison's body was cremated. Now, I know there are quite a few spells that could have created a body, but to pull back her soul? You either would have had to kill an innocent, someone who had enough similarities to her, not physically but in mind and soul to represent her, to be exchanged for her. And that… that would stain the soul of those doing the spell, and her own, in such a way that Heaven would never take any of you!"

"We didn't sacrifice anyone!" Lydia snaps. "We used the earth of the place where she died, and the blade that killed her, on the Nemeton, and she came back!"

"She came back?" Stiles asks testily. "Just like that? Also, you did a flimsy, untested spell on a rotting Nemeton? On a dark beacon?! Did you all learn absolutely nothing back when we were still in High-School?!"

"Son," Noah calls firmly. "If not those rituals, what can it be?"

It's quite clear that Noah knows his son, better than anyone else.

"A revenant." Stiles admits grimly. "The dirt, the weapon, the blood… it fits. Only, revenants are not permanent. They're about… about missions, about vengeance. They're tied to whatever force brought them back." He spears Lydia and Scott with a look before adding. "Not you. Whoever you were letting manipulate you into doing that ritual." He looks to Allison. "And to their mission. Finishing the mission will end the spell. So will killing the origin of said spell. Which brings us to another important topic. Because if that psycho fox is really behind all this I can tell you that it's very much alive."

"That's not possible!" Scott snarls. "We killed it. With Parrish's fire! We told you already. You know nothing Stiles…"

"You do remember it deals in illusions, don't you?" Stiles deadpans. "You've forgotten that fight in the school? The supposed snowy landscape, where you and Kira kept getting slashed and stabbed… except it was not real! None of it! I told you, it's like you all learned absolutely nothing in High School!"

"You know nothing Stiles!" Scott retorts. "You weren't here! The nogitsune is dead…"

"No…" Allison breathes out. "No, it's not dead."

"What…?" Scott's head snaps to her in disbelief. "But…"

"Don't you see Scott? If the nogitsune were truly dead, I wouldn't be here anymore…" She seems to think about something as she adds. "Same for Derek, seeing how killing him was the mission, remember?"

"I'll ask, one last time." Stiles murmurs darkly, he gives several steps back, away from everyone else, arms tense at his sides, palms open wide and pointing down, his eyes seem to be practically glowing an indescribable color… "Where. The Hell. Is My MATE?!"

Scott opens his mouth to say… something. Stiles doesn't know what, nor does he care. He isn't really asking him anyway!

There's a sound, deep and low, like the Earth rumbling, like the start of an earthquake, a big one. The ground even vibrates under their feet for several very long, very tense seconds… at the same time, clouds gather in the sky, like the fastest forming storm ever, there's crackling, as lightning shoots across the sky, followed by the bellow of thunder so loud it's like a bomb's gone off… wind, like it's part of a storm, or the start of a cyclone, or a tornado, harsh winds that make everyone crouch and cover their eyes as best they can. All but Stiles, who just stands in the middle of it all like it cannot touch him. And then there's someone else standing there in that field, with them. A creature that looks almost like a wolf, only wrong… it kinda brings to Stiles's mind Peter's alpha form all those years ago, only worse.

"Drop the illusion." Stiles demands.

"Stiles!" The being, the nogitsune, cackles. "You dropped by for a visit! How… marvelous! We're going to have a lot of fun!" His smile is so wide, so clearly inhuman. "Do you like this… gift your little alpha gave me?"

"I said, drop the illusion." Stiles repeats. "I know this is a lie. You're a fox, you cannot be that and a wolf at the same time. It's simply not possible."

"Oh…" Nogitsune cackles some more. "You were always the clever one, weren't you? So clever… such a waste!"

"I said drop it!" Stiles snaps, waving a hand violently.

There's a sound like glass shattering and the mutated wolf disappears. Instead it's Derek standing there, only he looks wrong.

"Daddy…" Eli whimpers.

And that, that makes Stiles go beyond mad.

"Stop playing games!" Stiles roars.

His eyes flash, seemingly going through a multitude of colors at the same time. Derek's image flickers, the fox taking at least half a dozen visages, one after another in quick succession; including Victoria Argent, Corporal Rhys, and Adrian Harris of all people! Before eventually settling into the form of a middle-aged man of Japanese descent, in what look like clothes of the Edo period, or something like that. A part of Stiles wonders if that's what the nogitsune originally looked like, however many years ago it lived.

The most important part though, at least for Stiles is that behind him appears Derek, his clothes look a bit singed, and he's not moving (probably unconscious) but he's very much alive (as can be attested by all the wolves who can hear his heartbeat… and by Stiles, who can feel it deep inside, thanks to their mating bond).

"I'm going to kill you." Stiles announces, not an ounce of hesitation in his voice.

"No!" Scott's cry throws all of them off.

"What…?" No one understands.

"You cannot kill it!" Scott says, desperate.

"Why the hell not?!" Peter demands, and he's far from the only one.

"Don't you see?" Scott asks urgently. "If you kill it, you'll kill Allison!"

In the background the nogitsune is cackling, clearly very entertained by this new development. What no one, especially not the fox, expects, is when an arrow goes flying, going straight through the nogitsune's shoulder.

"Wha… Allison!" Scott cries out. "What are you doing?"

"I will not be used, held hostage, by a fucking monster." She announces as she notches a second arrow and shoots, this time hitting the nogitsune in the stomach. "I am a Huntress, I am an Argent, I live… and I die, by my Code!" She draws a third arrow. "We protect those who cannot protect themselves!"

The nogitsune manages to dodge it, for the most part, it still leaves a cut deep on its cheek, a cut that bleeds… black blood.

"Stiles…?" Allison calls softly. "Are you seeing what I am?"

"I am." Stiles nods.

He can. He knows what it means. Whatever the nogitsune did to come back, however he's tied to Allison, and everything else, it's managed to make itself mortal now… and what's mortal, what's alive, can also die…

He turns to Allison to say… something (when it's all said and done he doesn't really remember what). She smiles at him.

"This is my choice." She tells him seriously, then turns to the other side, to her dad, mouthing more than saying: "Love you dad… always." Then she turns to Scott, who's shaking his head almost violently. "Don't you see Scott? This is what's right."

Of course, Scott has never truly been the kind to care for what's right, unless it benefits him somehow. And maybe Allison can see that, for she doesn't really wait for a response from him. And then she's firing two arrows in quick succession. The nogitsune moves to dodge the first, exactly like Allison expected, like she planned… the second arrows goes straight through its head; and not just that, but as is made clear a couple of seconds later, it's a trick arrow, the nogitsune's head blows up.

They all stare for several seconds as the fox's corpse seems to desiccate rapidly, turning to dust before ever hitting the ground. Stiles is running the moment he's sure the fox is gone, straight to his beloved. Eli manages to break out of Peter's hold as it slackens in his shock, though soon the older wolf, and his own daughter, are following Eli to the fallen member of their pack.

"Derek…?" Stiles asks quietly. "Sourwolf wake up!"

Their little moment is broken by Scott's desperate howling, which makes them all look in his direction, to where he's holding a pile of clothing and weapons, kneeling on the field where Allison stood. The woman already gone…

Derek's sub-vocal groan pulls their attention back soon enough though; and they look down in time to see hazel eyes open.

"Eli…?" It's the first thing that comes out of the wolf's mouth, voice hoarse, half lost in a cough, but still understood.

"I'm here dad, I'm here, I'm alright." Eli assures him. "Papa's here too."

"S...Stiles?" Derek's eyes go wide as they meet Stiles's own whiskey ones (they've finally stopped flashing other colors).

"I'm here big guy, I'm here." Stiles assures him as he presses his lips to his husband's temple, letting him bury his own face in the younger man's neck. "I'm here…"

Eli presses himself as much as he can to both his dads, and then there's Peter, kneeling at Derek's back, half holding him up half… just wanting to be as close as he can. And Malia is on her knees too, on his left, touching Derek's back. Noah on his feet, being part of the group, while at the same time standing guard over them all. His family, his pack…

This might have been the most insane, most terrifying night of their lives, but it's over now. It's over, the enemy's dead (once and for all!), they won. It might not be perfect. Allison's death… it won't be easy, moving past that, again; but Stiles knows there was no other option, and she knew it too. It's why she made the choice she did, firing those arrows herself. Scott will probably never accept it, he can only hope Chris will… hopefully Melissa will be there to offer comfort.

So it's over. They made it through. Not unscathed perhaps, but they're alive, their little family, their little pack is alright, together, and that's all that truly matters.

So... what do you think?

This movie includes all those things I wanted to yell at some of the characters, because really, what the hell were some people thinking with that movie?! Hope you enjoyed.

Thanks for reading. Any feedback you're willing to give I'll love!