Only Fools Tread Where Angels Fear To Go

Summary: "Careful of which wolf you feed, Argent." Allison is determined to get it right this time. After all, Fortuna favors the bold and she's not going to waste her second chance.

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Chapter 1: Fortune Favors The Bold

"I was born with silver between my teeth, both on paper and the kind that makes you bleed."-Paola Bennet, Nuit en Argent

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Allison woke with a scream trapped behind her teeth, bolting upright.

Her breath came in harsh pants as she scanned her surroundings frantically, hands throwing the covers away as she reflexively reached for the dagger she kept under her pillow.

Only soft cotton sheets met her hand and the panic rose as she rolled out of bed, the movement as fluid as water. She grabbed the nearest possible weapon, a sharpened pencil, and gripped it firmly as she scanned the room.

The haze cleared from her mind as she spotted the cardboard boxes scattered around the floor, a few opened but most closed.

Allison blinked and lowered her makeshift weapon when she realized she was in her room.

It was her original bedroom when they'd first moved to Beacon Hills, not the two bedroom apartment she'd shared with her Dad after her Mom's death and Gerard's manipulations.

Hardly daring to hope, she lifted her shirt and gazed down at her middle. There was nothing but smooth, untouched skin. No ninjato in her stomach, piercing all the way through her.

Allison let her shirt drop and lifted a shaking hand to her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.

It wasn't a dream.

It was real.

Dying, meeting Fortuna, going back in time, it was all real.

A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up in her throat when she realized that she had negotiated terms with a goddess and gotten away with it. It wouldn't have surprised her if she'd been dropped into Tartarus for a very unpleasant afterlife.

Miracle of all miracles, Fortuna hadn't been offended by her arguments.

Instead, she had been downright amused and slightly impressed.

Grabbing her phone off the charger, she checked the date and grinned widely.

January 11th, 2011

She was supposed to start her first day at the high school.

Checking the time to see it was four in the morning, Allison settled cross legged in bed and started the process of painstakingly recording every piece of information she could remember about what had happened Before when they moved to Beacon Hills.

She was calling it Before because a lot of the stuff that happened wasn't going to this time around, not if she could help it.

This was a temporary solution and she made a mental note to buy a flash drive to keep it all on. It was safe for now on her phone but it was safer to keep it separate.

Two hours later, Allison had a detailed report of the Before and a short list of what she needed to do that day.

It went like this.

Scott

Lydia

a few flash drives

info on fire

not to have a panic attack

She went over it in her head as she dressed, deciding to go for casual but fashionable. Soft gray t-shirt, dark jeans, light brown fatigue jacket, teal scarf for a dash of color, and gray ankle boots.

"Allison! Breakfast is ready!"

The familiar voice of her Dad made her blink tears away.

Before, the last time she'd seen him had been just before her death. He'd asked her to wait for him when they went to Oak Creek but there hadn't been any time.

Allison had already said the things she wanted to say.

The things she hadn't gotten to tell her mother Before when she died.

She told him she loved him and she was proud of him, proud of them for how far they'd come.

"Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes," Allison recited quietly, breathing in deep to settle her nerves.

We protect those who cannot protect themselves.

That was her Code.

The time for the previous one-We hunt those who hunt us-was long past.

Calmer now that she had been reminded of her resolve, Allison straightened up and headed downstairs, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she went.

Breakfast was an exercise of restraint as she sat at the dining room table with her parents and choked down blueberry pancakes. They were her favorite but everything tasted like ash on her tongue.

Allison kept a steel grip on her emotions as she chatted with her Dad and let him know she was thinking about getting a job.

It wasn't anything serious but she wanted to make some money on the side for herself and it would give her something to do.

He accepted her reasoning easily enough and her mother nodded approvingly, forcing Allison to take a long sip of her water to force back the bile that rose in her throat.

She'd loved her mother but her emotions were complicated when it came to her.

Before, the older woman had tried to kill Scott, although he had never spilled innocent blood, and been bitten in the process. She'd written everything down in a farewell letter and spun it so that it was all Derek's fault.

It had taken a while for Allison to realize the truth she didn't want to admit.

Her mother didn't have to kill herself just because she was bitten. She didn't have to abandon her husband and daughter.

But she had.

Allison had never quite gotten over that.

She'd thought about it from every angle she could think of but she couldn't imagine doing the same. If she had been bitten, she would have worked through it and learned control, not taken the coward's way out and abandoned family.

It was a relief to escape and she drove to the high school on autopilot, knowing the route by heart.

After parking, Allison took a moment to breathe.

She went over the short list once more in her head.

Avoiding Scott would be relatively simple as long as she made it clear that she wasn't looking for a relationship and befriending Lydia would be easier as well, since she wore the same jacket the strawberry blonde had adored Before.

Buying the flash drives and investigating the fire would have to wait until after school but the biggest issue was avoiding a panic attack.

There were so many people that could trigger one.

Boyd, Erica, Isaac, Jackson, Matt, even Scott.

She'd been so lost in her grief that she'd taken it out on all three of the betas, slicing into Isaac with her Chinese ring daggers, shooting arrows into Boyd and Erica.

Her stomach turned with nausea when she remembered hearing their screams from the basement as Gerard tortured them.

She'd done nothing to stop him.

She hadn't done a thing to save them.

Allison had a lot of regrets but that was one of her biggest.

They were just kids like her, not bloodthirsty monsters.

True, Erica had gotten on her nerves with her flirtations with Scott but the True Alpha hadn't exactly stopped any of it either.

Things would be different this time, Allison reminded herself firmly, hands tightening on the steering wheel.

"Game on," she murmured, knowing Fortuna would hear.

After meeting with Principal Finnigan, who showed her where her locker was and gave her a copy of her new class schedule, Allison was led into her first class, which happened to be English with Mr. Barnes.

"Class, this is our newest student. Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

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She'd believed she could handle it, seeing her first love again.

She'd been wrong.

The pen thing didn't happen this time, since she'd made sure to pack extra, but he was still struck dumb as he watched her with those big brown eyes.

He looked at her like she'd hung the moon and stars for him.

Allison didn't know how to handle that.

Before, she thought it was cute how struck he was by her but over time, she'd realized how wrong their relationship was. His tendency to lie, to hide what he felt would hurt her.

He'd put her on a pedestal, smothering protectively and reverent in turns.

It had taken Gerard and his manipulations for her to realize that she didn't want that.

She'd stabbed Isaac a dozen times, shot Erica and Boyd full of arrows, and knowingly left Erica, Boyd, and Stiles in their basement to be tortured.

Allison had been horrified by what she'd done but Scott had brushed it all aside like it was meaningless, as if she could do no wrong.

It wasn't meaningless, not by a long shot.

Seeing him again, younger and brighter but still just as naive, made her insides rebel and skin crawl.

Allison barely managed to make it through the first class, avoiding eye contact and staring straight forward at the board throughout the whole class, before bolting for the bathroom before anyone could talk to her.

Thankfully, the bathroom was completely empty when she threw herself into one of the stalls and locked it behind her as she heaved her breakfast into the toilet.

She leaned back when finished and wiped her mouth with a bit of toilet paper, tossing it into the toilet and flushing without looking.

Her stomach was empty but she felt slightly better now as she shifted to lean back against the stall wall, closing her eyes.

Allison breathed in, held it as she counted to ten slowly, then breathed out.

Doing this a few more times, she felt herself slip into the unshakeable calm state that she'd often used when hunting. The four months she'd spent in France with her Dad Before had been enlightening.

"Chin up, Allison. You're tougher than that," she told herself firmly, standing and moving over to the sink to wash her hands.

Tossing the used paper towels in the trash, Allison threw one last smile to her reflection before leaving.

She was not expecting to run straight into the cause of her quick retreat.

"Hey, I noticed you forgot your bag so I grabbed it for you," Scott smiled shyly, all puppy eyes and floppy hair. "Are you okay?"

"Thanks," she took her bag and slung it over her shoulder, offering a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just nerves is all."

"I'm Scott by the way," he beamed and she could practically see the tail wagging behind him. "We should hang out sometime. If you want."

"Maybe," she smiled politely, pulling the strap of her bag higher up her shoulder. "See you around, Scott."

With that quick farewell, Allison darted away, stopping at her locker briefly to exchange her books for the next period.

She had a free period next so she snuck into the library, snagging a seat at one of the computers in the very back.

Pulling out a spare notebook, Allison dove into research with the sole intent of distracting herself from the encounter with her past love.

She started with the Hale House Fire and found a handful of articles with sparse information.

Eleven people died in the fire, women, men, and children. She noted down their names and ages, drawing a little flower bouquet in blue and yellow highlighter to remind herself.

Next to Cora's, she drew a star in purple. The wayward Hale was alive but she couldn't remember exactly where she was at this time.

Following that, Allison used one of the shadier skills her cousins taught her Before and hacked into the police database. She scoured through the court records for anyone with a prior of arson and found Reddick and Unger.

Printing off their court records, she shifted her attention and searched for the insurance agent who worked on the Hale House Fire.

Just like Before, Garrison Myers had ruled it as an electrical malfunction. He was fired on suspicion of fraud and worked several years as a bus driver for Beacon County City Schools.

Marcus Williams was the video store clerk who helped set up everything. He used to work in a hardware store and provided the gasoline.

It was easy to remember their names.

Before, after Kate's death, Allison had dug through the things she left behind and found a small, plain black notebook that held groundbreaking information.

It contained the names of every person involved in the Hale House Fire but that wasn't all.

The Hales weren't the first Pack to fall at the hands of her aunt.

She'd done the same thing to four other Packs.

The Talbot Pack in Colorado

The Miller Pack in Michigan

The Taylor Pack in Washington

The Gage Pack in Georgia

All of them had been peaceful with no violations to the Code. The size of the Pack had slowly escalated as the years passed and it was always on October 25th, three days away from Kate's birthday.

There was always one survivor, always young and innocent. Derek was only the latest in the line.

When she thought of what her aunt did to Derek, how she'd taken advantage and twisted his mind to suit her needs, Allison wanted to murder her.

The Tribunal would hand Kate over, gift wrapped with a bow, to the Hales when they received the evidence.

That still left Gerard to deal with.

Lost in thought, Allison leaned back in her chair and hummed, tapping the tip of her pen against her lips.

She absent-mindedly closed out of the windows she'd pulled up and opened a new one about self defense classes.

There was a place about two hours away in Los Angeles that specialized in close combat and firearms.

They had classes on Saturdays at ten in the morning.

"I feel like I should ask if you're okay," a voice broke through her thoughts, making her blink as she whirled around and almost fell out of her chair. "Whoa! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Just you know, are you okay? Since you were seconds away from a panic attack in class and now you're looking up firearm practice on weekends."

Allison couldn't help but snicker as Stiles plopped down next to her.

"I'm okay. I had a bad experience in San Francisco so I figured why not change things up when we moved here," she lied smoothly, giving her sunniest smile to distract him. "I'm Allison, by the way, in case you haven't heard."

"Stiles Stilinski, at your service," he replied, blinking a few times at the brightness of her smile. "So why would you leave bustling San Francisco for this little town? We don't have much in the way of fun around here."

Allison had to laugh a little at the way he seemed taken aback by her smile. "I think I saw a bowling alley on the way in so there's that I guess. Unless it's closed? I'm not sure what else."

"Well, we have the bowling alley, which isn't closed by the way, a skating rink, a movie theater with mediocre popcorn but awesome chocolate, and a mall that's more clothes than anything else. That's what the illustrious town of Beacon Hills has to offer," he listed thoughtfully.

"What about the Preserve? Are there any running trails?" She asked, clarifying at his questioning look. "I like to go for runs in the mornings and after school."

"Yeah, I think there are some of those in the Preserve. Just be careful how deep you go," he warned. "There's a house back there that was half burned down. Most people don't mess with it because they think it's haunted."

"Thanks for the heads up," Allison nodded. "You should join me sometime. It's pretty freeing to just run."

It was an impulsive offer, one that slipped out without thinking.

Allison didn't withdraw it though. If Stiles was going to be involved as much as he was Before, it would only help him in the long run.

"Maybe I will," Stiles mused, thinking it over. "It'd probably help with lacrosse." Seeing her questioning glance, he explained. "Football is kind of a joke here. For some reason, lacrosse is the sport everyone cares about in Beacon Hills. It's like field hockey but with sticks and nets. I'm trying out for the team today."

"I'll have to come and cheer you on then," Allison smiled, closing all the tabs on the computer and logging off. She tucked the notebook into her bag, thankfully already closed so no one had seen what she was taking notes on. "After school right?"

"Yeah," he smiled back, flustered and shy. "You don't have to come or anything, no pressure. I know we just met and all and I'm pretty sure my best friend is half in love already but-Oh God, forget I said any of that. Scott's going to kill me."

The huntress laughed, tension bleeding out of her shoulders as she stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Just so you know, I'm not interested in a relationship at the moment. So I'm sorry for your best friend but it's not going to happen. I've got enough on my plate to handle without adding dating to the pile."

Stiles nodded quickly in understanding, still wincing at his blunder. "Noted. I'll pass that on. See you later at try-outs I guess."

"Thanks. See you later," Allison threw a wave over her shoulder as she left the library, heading towards her next class.

It was history with Mr. Simmons. For some reason, she didn't remember much of this class Before.

It was especially surprising when she recognized Isaac, Erica, and Boyd spread out across the classroom.

Then again, she was probably so moonstruck over Scott that she hadn't noticed anything but him.

When asked to partner up for a project on their favorite part of history, Allison turned around in her seat to face Erica, who looked completely stunned by the quick response.

"Hey there, I'm Allison," she smiled brightly. "Do you want to work together?"

"Um-yeah, I guess so," Erica smiled shyly, dark eyes soft and unsure but desperately hopeful. "I'm Erica. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," the huntress arranged her notebook so she could take notes while facing her partner. "Any particular topic you want to work with?"

"Um…this might be weird but I always kind of liked reading about the Salem Witch Trials," the blonde offered timidly. "It was always interesting to see how they regarded magic and fantasy as dark and evil while we think of it as more entertaining and powerful."

Allison grinned, delighted by the idea. "No, that's not weird at all! I like that actually. We can definitely work with that."

Erica beamed, all sunshine, brown eyes sparkling, and Allison was struck by how genuinely happy she looked.

The blonde bombshell had strut around school in victory but she'd never looked as earnestly happy as she did now.

For the rest of the class, the two exchanged numbers and arranged a meeting for the next day in the school library.

Allison was so satisfied with her efforts that her final class of the day, math with Mrs. Mackenzie, flew by.

Tramping out to the lacrosse field, she picked a seat on the top row and waited for try-outs to start.

Her eyes scanned the field absently, observing quietly.

Several people of interest were on the field, milling around as they waited for Coach Finstock to arrive.

The first was Danny Mahaelani. He was in her year and Allison hadn't ever gotten to know him beyond surface level. Before, Lydia mentioned off-handed once that he was a hacker and a technological genius.

Allison knew that was an advantage she needed. He could be an asset. His calm, easygoing attitude and loyalty to those he liked were beneficial characteristics.

The second was Jackson Whittemore. Before, he scared her with how dangerous he was but Allison had always known it wasn't Jackson's fault. The murders and the threats were never his fault. He was controlled by Matt and Gerard.

She never held that against him.

The positive characteristics she'd seen in Jackson was his fierce loyalty for those he cared for and his intelligence. Not to mention, his father was a lawyer whose name opened so many doors.

If she could get Danny and Lydia on her side, she'd have him as well. Those three were a deadly trio when they wanted to be.

As if drawn by her thoughts, Lydia Martin strutted along the grass, climbing up the bleachers with ease even in two inch heels.

Admiration swelled in her chest as her lips curved into a warm smile.

That was her best friend.

Lydia Martin, the girl who hid her scary intelligence behind blood red lipstick and stylish clothes. The girl who desperately wanted to belong, above all else.

As bold as ever, the strawberry blonde dropped down to perch neatly at her side, sharp green eyes inspecting her appearance.

"That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?"

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco," she answered, seeing the approval bloom in the other girl's eyes.

"And you are my new best friend," Lydia decided, as if the conclusion was already decided upon. "I'm Lydia Martin and that's my boyfriend, Jackson Whittemore. He's the team captain and the reason they've won the state championship for the last three years."

"Impressive," she commented.

Nodding, the strawberry blonde adjusted her skirt primly. "So this weekend, there's this party. It's Friday night. I'm holding it at my house. You should come."

"Sure," Allison accepted, deciding to change it up.

"Excellent! I can introduce you to all the cute lacrosse players," Lydia smiled in satisfaction.

Humming in acceptance, Allison allowed her eyes to drift over to where Stiles was seated on the bench. As if feeling eyes on him, Stiles twisted to look back and saw her.

She smiled and waved, lowering her hand as he waved back.

"What?" Allison asked defensively, seeing Lydia's considering look. "He's the only guy who's talked to me without drooling or demanding a date. He's nice."

The strawberry blonde only hummed thoughtfully before shifting her attention to the practice.

"Honestly, I just got out of a bad relationship and I don't have the willpower or time to delve into another one," Allison confessed honestly, grimacing as she remembered the relief that had overwhelmed her when she'd ended things with Scott.

"Not even just a distraction? No strings attached? Just some fun," Lydia proposed.

Allison tilted her head, pursing her lips as she considered the offer.

"Maybe later. I'll get back to you on it."