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Don't You Ever Tame Your Demons

Chapter 9: when I knew love's perfect ache

Summary:

Reunion time! Stiles, Allison, and Kira walk into a small gathering of the Hale-McCall pack and explain things.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Chris stands at the counter, one hand supporting his weight, the other held by Melissa. Nobody has moved to clean up the glass or scotch, instead each party is staring at each other. Stiles’ hand leaves his holster and Allison and Kira relax in turn as well, still tense but not ready for a fight.

“Why the long faces?” Stiles asks to try and relieve the tension, light smirk on his face as his eyes search around them. Noah’s eyes shift to Stiles’ face then and he tilts his head to motion him into the next room. Stiles turns to Allison who simply nods, staring at her own father. He can see tears in her eyes and gives her hand one last squeeze of support and presses a kiss to the back of it before departing. Noah brings them to the guest room just down the hall and moves the door so it’s left barely ajar.

“What the hell is going on?” Noah barely manages to keep his voice at a whisper, ignoring the fact that a good portion of the house’s occupants can hear him anyway. “You didn’t say anything about the extra guests. I just called Scott to bring some of the group over to say hi since it’s been a while for you.”

“About that,” Stiles says, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know if they would come all this way with me and I didn’t want to set up any expectations.”

“I can understand that for Kira maybe, but Allison? She’s supposed to be dead, or at least that’s what you guys told me. That’s what the damn police report says!” Despite the tone, Stiles can see tears in his father’s eyes.

“Wait, why are you so emotional about this? You didn’t know her well enough to be so affected. Not that you can’t have emotions, big man, but you didn’t cry when she first died.” The words aren’t meant to be hurtful, simply blunt.

“That’s not the point here-”

“Like hell, you’re hiding something from me. Spill.” 

“Oh that’s just rich coming from you,” Noah bites out. It’s a surface-level hit and it bounces off Stiles easily. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve sort of had a thing going on with Chris and Melissa, and the past few years have been especially rough on him after Kate and Gerard were finally taken care of. He’s been stuck on Allison and how quickly things went wrong all those years ago, how he lost pretty much all of his family before we became his family.”

Before Stiles can respond, the door is pushed further open.

“Um, hi,” Scott says. “Long time no see, huh?” He pulls Stiles into a hug, and they melt together for a moment, just like old times, before Scott withdraws. “You should probably join the rest of us.”


“Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” Malia asks once Stiles and Noah leave the room. It’s not meant to be insensitive, she’s truly been working on that with Scott and Lydia. But with as much anxiety and hurt she senses around her, she is clueless as to why everyone seems to have frozen. It works, somehow, and everyone snaps back out of their gazes.

“This is Allison,” Scott says, mouth open. “You never got a chance to meet before.”

“Dead Allison?” Malia clarifies.

“Clearly not anymore,” Lydia snaps. Malia is practically pushed back by the waves of emotion Lydia exudes and she tries to make sense of it all. “How exactly are you here? I ca-, Allison I can’t feel you. Are you actually here?” Her voice has gotten higher and she clears her throat, tearing her eyes away from the girl in front of her, brow scrunched in utter confusion.

“I’d like an answer to that as well,” Chris finally speaks, voice rough. His eyes are wide and red, ringed with the need to cry, his training as a hunter the only thing keeping him together.

“I don’t have an easy one,” Allison tries. She brings her free hand up to wipe at the tears streaming down her face, holding Kira’s with her other hand in a vice.

Try.

“Well, um. A group of rogue valkyries told me my work isn’t done and gave me a second chance. I was given this as a way to ground myself,” she says, pulling the katana out of the sheath around her back, holding it flat in her hands with reverence.

“Is that-” Chris’ words are choked off as he finally ducks his head, crouching down to pick at the pieces of glass at his feet, pretending to busy himself.

“It’s the sword that killed me, yes,” Allison says. She breaks contact with Kira and rushes over to her father to grab his face and press a kiss to his forehead. “It’s me, dad, I promise. I’m here.”

He brushes his tears away and nods to himself before looking back up at her and giving her a weepy smile.

“You’re alive.” 

She just nods, pulling him in for a hug. She’d forgotten just how warm he is.

“Hey, looks like you’re reacquainted,” Stiles says, joining the crowd again. He glances around to see familiar faces, though not as many as he had expected. 

Kira stands at the door still, awkwardness lacing her older body, stature giving little away. She knows this reunion is a little more focused on Allison, the supposedly dead Allison, and she feels like a bit of an afterthought. Scott has an arm around Lydia’s shoulders, holding her tight, while Malia stands with her arms crossed, distinctly leaning a bit on Lydia, bracketing her body with warmth and stability while shielding her as much as she can.

Melissa is the first to approach Stiles, pulling him in for a hug. He was always weak for her hugs, holding him like he was just as important to her as Scott. Her hand cups his face as she gives him a small smile and nods before going back to Chris, helping him lean against her as he stands.

“Why don’t we all sit down and catch up?” She asks, steering Chris and Allison to the couch. 

Kira follows, folding herself into an armchair, and Stiles sits next to her on the floor, hand reaching up to rub reassuringly at her ankle. Noah moves to the vacated kitchen and bends down to pick up the glass and lay a towel down on the liquid, deeming it safe to return to later, and Scott takes a seat in the armchair opposite Kira, Lydia curling on his lap to still face the room, and Malia mirrors Stiles’ position, holding Lydia’s hand instead.


“Why now?”

After summarizing the past decade to the pack on both Kira and Allison’s adventures, Chris is the one to break the silence. He seems to have regained his composure since they first walked in the house.

“Why come back now and not back then, or any time between? I know Kira was a different situation,” he continues, tipping his replaced glass at her. “But you,” he says, the word incredibly heavy in his mouth, fondness and heartbreak and hope laced together, “you’ve been alive this whole time, Allison.” The tone almost reminds her of when he would chastise her as a child.

“I… don’t really have a good reason, if I’m being honest. I told myself it was to protect you all from this pain, to avoid the normalcy of a life that I could never live again as a teenager brought back from death itself. But I see the hurt I caused and that was never my intent.” She has moved back to standing, pacing. It isn’t out of nervousness or uncertainty. It’s a matter of not knowing if she’s enough of the Allison they all knew, especially her father.

“So if Stiles didn’t run into you, you wouldn’t have come back?”

All she can offer is a shrug. She brushes her fingers through her hair again and her gaze shifts to Lydia.

“You never felt me return?”

Lydia folds her lips inward, biting them and restraining herself from using words she doesn’t want to unleash, and shakes her head.

“I still don’t feel you, Allison. It’s like there’s this void in front of me, like you’re not really here but you’re not gone either. The pain and loss I’ve felt since your death, since I screamed for you, it’s been slowly fading over the years. I just always just thought it was from acceptance of what happened. I guess it was because you aren’t dead anymore, even though you don’t feel alive either.” She wears a face of sad confusion since learning the truth, not blaming Allison so much as trying to figure her out. The analytical side of her brain takes over as she shields herself from too much hurt or anger.

“I don’t have an answer for you, much less myself,” Allison says honestly. “I’m sure I would’ve come back, but somehow fate intervened to make not only Stiles’ path cross mine but ours with Kira as well. My skepticism is too worn for me to think it wasn’t on purpose. I’m alive enough to bleed and to be here tonight, but that’s all I’ve got for you.” All she has to offer is a small shrug.

“Well what about Kira?” Malia asks. The two of them had a bond during their last years of high school that was cut abruptly short. Turning to face the kitsune, she continues. “I know you said you were leaving the Skinwalkers anyway, where would you have gone if they didn’t show up?” She nods her head toward Stiles and Allison as they pace, clearly deep in thought despite being present in the conversation.

“I dunno, I mean my tails are still here,” Kira says, looking to Scott. “I’m hoping they’re still safe?”

“Yeah, definitely. Your mom gave me a box to keep them in, I think she called it a kobako box? It’s at home right now, but I can get it later.” Kira gives him a smile and nods. “I kind of figured you’d return to Beacon Hills for them eventually, so I didn’t give them back to your parents.”

“Thanks for that. I guess they’re back in New York now. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Other than getting the tails, though, I don’t know where I would’ve gone, Malia. Like Allison said, it feels like it was more than fate.”

“That’s because it probably was,” a voice says. “Welcome back, by the way.”

Looking a little rougher around the edges since the trio last saw him, Deaton steps into the room. He’s followed by Isaac, Derek, and Danny, the first two staring at Allison with confusion.

“So it’s true,” Isaac says. “I thought maybe Chris drank a little too much when he texted me. No offense.”

“None taken,” Chris responds, rolling his eyes slightly. He doesn’t seem to take it too personally, which surprises Allison. She can’t help but think there’s more to that story.

“It looks that way,” Allison says to Isaac with a tired smile. She feels like she’s repeated the story over and over, and she’s not sure she has it in her for another rendition. Before she can continue, though, Deaton cuts her off.

“I don’t mean to shorten this reunion, but I think I need to bring something to everyone’s attention. Derek, Isaac, and Danny here have been helping me out for the past couple of weeks until we could make it back to Beacon Hills.” Deaton looks around at the faces spread across the room and gives one of his signature tight smiles that hides more than he’ll actually reveal.

“It’s about the Nemeton.”

Notes:

We're so close to the end!! The last chapter is written up and will be posted within the next week. The biggest of continual thanks to anyone who has followed along with this fic, it's been over four years since it began!