Chapter Twenty One
...
Lydia's group reached the Nemeton first, though they all stayed as far away from the tree stump as possible, Tomika sitting with her notebook on her lap, Jade eyeing the stump warily, and Lydia trying to keep her gaze on her friends instead. Erica and Boyd were standing protectively on either side of Allison, all three talking in soft voices that - despite her banshee talent to hear whispers and secrets - Lydia couldn't hear.
There was a commotion in the trees and Deaton burst forth, his eyes wide and sweat on his brow. Mohammed snarled and leapt through the broken tree trunks, landing on Deaton and pinning him to the ground.
Sara hurried to help Mohammed, binding the Druid to a tree with her magic. Mohammed requested a gag and Sara added that to her spell, Deaton's mouth clamping shut instantly. Kuhle hurried over to help, removing his belt and using it to wrap around Deaton's ankles as an extra precaution.
"Will you be all right without your belt?" Sara asked, looking amused.
Kuhle shrugged. "I'm sure my pants won't fall down completely. But if you have a spell handy, I would not refuse."
Sara laughed outright then, making Kuhle grin in response.
Mohammed stepped back once he was certain the Druid wouldn't be going anywhere and wouldn't be saying anything to coerce anyone else. He looked around to see where they were. "This is the beacon, the Nemeton?" he asked, looking between Sara and Kuhle, who nodded.
The three banshees were now circling the tree stump, their eyes glazed and expressions blank. While everyone was curious as to why they were circling the Nemeton, no one could bring themselves to ask.
"Where's Li?" Kuhle asked.
"Up here," Li called down from the tree they were sitting in. "There are people heading this way from several directions. They're in a rush."
"Who is it?" Erica asked.
Li jumped down from the tree and shrugged. "I'm good, but even I can't see through trees. Better to be prepared," they said, taking the taser from their belt.
Derek and Stiles' group arrived next, Derek's eyes widening at the sight of Allison and his two betas. Erica rushed past Allison and jumped on Derek, clinging to him. Stiles practically bowled Boyd over, crushing him in a hug.
"Nice to see you too, Stiles," Boyd said, patting his back.
"Nice?! It's the best damn thing in the world! What happened? Where were you? You both died. And so did you, Allison. What the hell?"
Allison allowed herself to be hugged next, Stiles practically shaking in her arms. "We'll tell you when everyone's here, okay?"
Stiles nodded reluctantly and stepped back. Derek was beside him in a moment, pulling Boyd into a firm hug and ignoring the scent of surprise coming from Boyd, Erica, and Allison.
"Yeah, Derek does that now. Not often enough, but it's worth it every time. Just enjoy it, dude," Stiles said, grinning at Boyd.
"Don't call me dude," he muttered, but hugged Derek tightly in return.
Isaac came through the trees next, and after a good five seconds, Scott skidded to a halt behind him. Marcie laughed, appearing in Isaac's arms, almost tumbling out of his grip with her laughter. "You owe us ten bucks, Mr. True Alpha!" Marcie crowed.
Scott went red in embarrassment, then his face paled on seeing Allison whole and alive and really, really there. Erica and Boyd were beside Allison in a second, their hands tight in hers and giving her enough protection that even Scott, optimist and sometimes brick-for-brains, took the hint and didn't approach. Isaac stayed back as well, giving her the space she obviously needed. Allison's shoulders lost a bit of their tension and she smiled at Erica and Boyd gratefully.
"Who won?" Grant called from deeper in the forest.
Heavy footsteps echoed his words, the ground shaking around them. Derek was in front of Stiles in an instant, growling and ready to face whatever threat was coming for them.
"Calm down, guys. It's just Sean," Marcie said, grinning as she waved off their worries and fears with a ten dollar note in her hand.
As if on cue, Sean came through the trees. He was an actual tree, closer to Treebeard than Groot, and Grant was sitting on one of his branches, holding on tightly. Grant slid down to the ground and brushed his pants off.
"Thank you, sir," Grant said, Sean shifting his body back to his human form.
"If there is a next time you have to escape with me, try not to grab my throat so tightly," Sean said with a wince, rubbing at his aching neck.
"Sorry, sir."
Marcie muffled her snicker in her fist before taking Grant's wrist and leading him over to Isaac and Scott. "We totally won. Isaac's seriously fast," she said, smiling.
Embarrassed at the praise, Isaac ducked his head.
Malia slipped out from between the trees, Liam and Mason following but not as quiet. Yukimi, Jorge, and Yelena walked out a slower pace, Jorge choosing to stick with his partner rather than running ahead and Yukimi deciding to keep an eye on both of the young adults. Mohammed walked over to Yukimi, talking in low tones, though he kept glancing over to Deaton every so often to ensure he hadn't escaped. Li and Kuhle headed over to the others, Li entertaining the group by changing their features at the insistence of the others.
"Please remember you're here as representatives of the FBI," Sean called, rubbing his temples with the start of a headache, migraine, or possibly a tumour. He didn't know which he preferred at that moment.
Jackson barrelled through the tree line, eyes blues and fangs out. He stopped suddenly at the sight of so many people, then looked over his shoulder to see where Gerard was. Satisfied that he'd lost him, Jackson went straight to Isaac and pulled him away from the others, inspecting him over and making sure he was all right. His wounds were still raw and pink, but he would be okay. Jackson snarled at Scott, only stopping when Isaac put a hand around his wrist.
"I'm okay, Jacks. I wouldn't lie," Isaac promised, pressing a kiss to the curve of his neck.
Jackson held Isaac close, his fingers twined through Isaac's curls. "Where's Ethan?" he asked, realising that he wasn't in the clearing.
"Still at the hospital with Mrs. McCall, last I heard. The Calaveras are outside, but Mrs. McCall refuses to let them in," Isaac said with a quick grin. "Ethan'll be safe with her."
Jackson mouth thinned, not entirely appeased. He remembered Scott's mother from his own time at the hospital as being a force to reckon with - she'd scared his father into submission, which was not a small feat - so Jackson supposed he could trust her to look after Ethan. Unclipping his two-way, he changed it to Ethan's frequency setting. "Ethan? You howl the second you need anything, understood?"
"I will," Ethan replied. "Sorry, Mrs. McCall."
In the midst of this, Derek went alert, hearing something that Stiles couldn't. Derek looked into the forest, his eyes narrowing. The other were-creatures did the same, the clearing quiet apart from the steps of the banshees still circling the Nemeton stump. Derek sniffed, eyes roaming the trees, and in the next heartbeat, he looked up into the branches of a nearby tree. Stiles followed his line of sight, frowning as he tried to work out what was happening.
"Get out of the tree, Dad," Allison called, rolling her eyes.
The clearing was quiet enough that everyone heard Chris' small intake of breath. He dropped down from the branches a few seconds later.
In the wake of his arrival, the rest of the HQ team arrived, with the Sheriff going to Stiles, Derek, and Parrish immediately; McCall headed over to check on Scott; Teresa and Mia going to see Li's entertainment with the others.
Stiles watched Chris as he approached Allison, his footsteps uncertain and his expression broken. It was one of the few times he'd seen the man's mask crack, and Stiles felt decidedly uncomfortable watching their reunion, turning his face into Derek's shoulder instead. Chris practically collapsed into Allison's arms, Erica and Boyd's presence by her sides the only reason they both stayed upright, and Allison whispered to her father, the French words fast and low as she comforted him. Chris' sobs were silent, but they racked his body completely, and everyone turned away to give them a semblance of privacy.
"It's really them?" the Sheriff asked, sounding a mix of amazed and suspicious.
With werewolves and kanimas and werejaguars and whatever else Beacon Hills could manage to conjure up, he wouldn't be surprised if changelings were possible as well.
"It's them," Derek confirmed, nodding firmly. "They smell the same. I'd know if anything was different," he added.
"All right, Ally A; time for an explanation," Stiles called, impatient now that everyone had finally arrived and Chris seemed to be his usual compartmentalised self once more.
She shrugged. "We were caught in limbo - also known as the Wild Hunt for those idiots on the horses - and after all of the shit I went through in Beacon Hills, I refused to get on a train in the middle of nowhere without a damn good reason. I found Erica and Boyd hiding in the train station and we left the station when everyone else was preoccupied."
Stiles laughed, while around them, everyone else just looked confused. "The train station was weird as fuck, wasn't it?"
Allison nodded. "When the train left and the station disappeared, we just... kept going. The Ghost Riders hunted us sometimes, and we needed to put as much space between us and them as possible. I didn't know - didn't believe - we were really here, in Beacon Hills. It still doesn't feel real," she added, looking around, and seeming apologetic when she saw her father's distraught expression.
"What about the chickens?" the Sheriff asked.
Allison shrugged. "We were hungry; the Ghost Hunters don't exactly provide a balanced meal, three times a day. I found the chickens, and..." she shrugged again, trailing off.
"Why didn't you eat the rats or the deer?" Malia asked. "They were right there and already dead. Was it because there was no chase?"
Boyd answered this time, shaking his head. "The Ghost Riders used dead animals to train their dogs. We didn't want to be dragged back to the station."
"It's still easy food if you're fast; I would've eaten them," Malia said with a feral grin.
"Who the hell are you anyway?" Erica snapped.
Malia didn't get a chance to respond because the hellhound burst through the trees, his body aflame. He startled everyone but ignored the cries of surprise and leapt across the clearing to Allison.
"Over my dead body," Chris snarled, aiming a crossbow at the hellhound.
"Wait!" Stiles yelled, running to stop Chris.
Isaac was faster and knocked Chris to the ground, the arrow flying out and missing the hellhound. Chris' eyes went wide and he writhed and thrashed under Isaac. "Let me go!"
The hellhound reached a fiery hand out to Allison, snarling and growling when Erica and Boyd blocked him.
"He's getting rid of the darkness!" Stiles called out.
Allison's eyes widened at his words and she nodded for Erica and Boyd to move. They did so reluctantly, both watching the hellhound with golden eyes. The hellhound reached into her chest. Allison let out a cry of pain, then held it back with no small amount of effort, tears filling her eyes. The hellhound made a few snarling and growling noises, again, more for his own benefit than anyone else's. Chris was still fighting Isaac, but Tasha, Okami, and Caleb were holding him down as well at Stiles' nod.
The hellhound retracted his hand from Allison's chest, a shadow clenched in his fist. He turned into volcanic ash instantly, a statue in the midst of everyone. Allison fell to her knees with a soft sob, tears trailing down her cheeks.
Slow and wary, the four werewolves stopped restraining Chris. He was up and next to Allison a second later, kneeling beside her and brushing her hair back from her face. "Allison? Are you okay?"
She looked up at her father, her eyes and cheeks wet with tears. Allison nodded and hugged Chris close, clinging to his shirt. "It's gone," she whispered over and over, the clearing silent enough that even the humans could hear her words clearly.
"Why hasn't the hellhound tried to get the darkness out of you three before?" the Sheriff asked, looking between Scott, Stiles, and Allison.
"He's been in Eichen House," Scott said.
"So was I," Stiles pointed out.
Parrish looked from the hellhound to where Deaton was still bound to a tree. He noticed that Argent's arrow had missed Deaton's throat by a mere three centimetres. "You knew where his cell was; you practically led the doctors there the last time he turned into a statue," he said, voice slow and careful as he tried to put the pieces together in his head.
Deaton, still bound and silenced, didn't reply.
"The doctors didn't seem surprised to see you with the hellhound then either. How many times has he escaped? How many times has the hellhound tried to remove the darkness from them?" Parrish snapped.
"He can hypnotise Scott; I'm not taking the spell off of him," Sara said.
"He's still got use of his fingers," Marcie replied with a grin.
"I don't think I want to know the answer while there are so many witnesses around," Derek muttered.
Li snorted. "I'm pretty sure you mean alibis."
"Please stop discussing this in front of me," the Sheriff said, though he didn't look happy either.
Thinking about Stiles' nightmares, the things that Stiles and his friends had gone through to save himself, Melissa, and Chris from the Darach, to save the town time and time again, all of it with this darkness pulling them down every step of the way... It all could have been healed in less than ten minutes.
Rafe looked from his son, Stiles and Allison, to the Sheriff, and then to the Druid. "You could charge him for attempted murder, since he coerced three underage children into doing something that could have cost them their lives. From what Sara's told me, it's pure luck they survived the ordeal."
"What?!" Scott said, eyes wide as he looked between Rafe and Sara.
Sara shrugged. "It was a fifty-fifty chance of getting out of that alive. You're just lucky the Nemeton decided to test the three of you, rather than kill you. Although, with the initial charge being made by a Darach and with evil intent in mind, that probability should have been to seventy-thirty instead. You getting out alive being the thirty percent," she added.
"But... but we were saving our parents," Scott said, looking to Stiles and Allison with a frown.
"You spent sixteen hours in the bathtub, correct? You live in Beacon Hills; the forest isn't that large, especially with werewolves, a banshee, and a spark involved, and you could have found the physical location of the Nemeton in far less time than that. Even with the block around the Nemeton itself, there was no need for you to die. There are even spells to find hidden people if you have a belonging of theirs with enough sentimental value, such as a badge, bullets, or watch," she added, looking from Stiles to Allison and back to Scott. "The only reason to make you go through all of that was to fully charge the Nemeton," Sara said, shrugging again.
There was a long moment of silence and Scott looked as though his world had been turned upside down and shaken vigorously to boot.
"Uh, guys, this is all really interesting and all, but how long are those three going to walk around the tree stump for? They're starting to make a ditch," Li said, indicating to the three banshees who had yet to stop walking or even pay attention to the conversations around them.
When everyone looked to the Nemeton and three banshees, Lydia, Tomika, and Jade stopped walking suddenly. They turned and faced the group as one, eyes still glazed and not seeing the world around them.
"Zbigniew Stilinski."
...
End of the twenty-first chapter.
Author's note: Kuhle and Li's backstories
Kuhle moved from Johannesburg when he was a child with his parents. He's an avid X-Files fan and wants a Scully to his Mulder. He's pretty happy with Li as a partner since they can be Scully, Mulder, and anyone else needed :D He might have a crush on Sara.
Li has been able to change their features since they were three years old. They kept being told they looked just like their father and it made Li's mother upset, so Li just changed. Which also made Li's mother upset, oddly enough.
Li spent a lot of time alone as a child because they kept changing their features outside of school and no one would recognise them. No matter what they look like, Li's mother always knows who they are :)
When they were seven years old, Li wasn't allowed a puppy, so they became a puppy for several hours instead. After needing to clean up Li's messes for several hours, their mother definitely refused to get a puppy. Their mother took Li to the dog park to play instead.
(I could write a whole series on Li and their mother, I swear. Li's mother has been through a lot.)
Also, Stiles' name is Zbigniew, fight me.