10|unfinished business
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Riley and Allison searched the stadium for about ten minutes. They covered about half of the stadium and had had no luck in tracking down Chris Argent. When they got to the balcony below the scoreboard, they stood staring down at the game, watching.
The sylph was considering ditching Allison then and there. They were wasting time and every second longer she went without locating Stiles or Aayla added to her mounting stress.
"They're not here. We need to move," she told Allison.
The woman raised a finger, "Just give me a second. We've got a good vantage point from here."
Riley glared at the woman impatiently. She was about to say something when Peter came out of nowhere and grabbed Allison by the back of her coat.
"There you are," he scowled. He proceeded to slam her head against the railing before holding her against him and locking his arm around her throat.
"Peter, what are you doing?" Riley exclaimed. "When did you even get to town?"
"Good to see you too, sweetheart," the man greeted as Allison grabbed at his arm. "I'll explain later but more importantly, why are you not killing whatever this is?"
"Peter! Wait!" Melissa shouted as she got to the top of the steps, not leaving Riley the opportunity to respond.
"No! No!" he yelled back. "No more illusions."
Riley noticed how Peter shifted so that his claws were around her throat instead of his arm. He was prepared to kill her right then and there.
Again, Riley went to speak but Melissa beat her to it. "Where's Scott? where's my son?"
Allison tried to remove Peter's hand from her throat as she spoke, "He's on the field. He's trying to save everyone. He's playing the game."
Both Allison and Riley had been surprised to see Scott on the field when they had looked down at the game. They weren't entirely sure what was going on down there but they knew that that probably meant that Coach was feeling desperate. Or sentimental.
"That most definitely sounds like your son," Peter told Melissa bitterly before turning to Chris. "But as for your daughter. . ."
"Wait!" Riley interrupted quickly as she moved closer. "Please. The Nogitsune is back and it has Stiles and Aayla. They're gone and- and I don't know what to do. I thought that she might be the only one who could help me find it."
"Oh, Riley," Melissa said gently. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. But we will help you find them. Both of them. I promise."
"Exactly," Peter agreed. "So we don't need this illusion."
When Chris realised what Peter was about to do, he got the werewolf's attention, "I forgot to tell you something, Peter. The arrow wasn't the only thing Allison left behind."
With that, Chris threw one of Allison's Chinese ring daggers at the man. Out of instinct, he threw his free hand up and caught it with ease - just as Chris anticipated he would. Peter lowered his hand, opening it slowly and letting the blade drop to the ground. With how sharp it was, it sliced Peter's hand open on impact, his palm bleeding steadily.
"Wolfsbane," he growled in realisation.
The poison weakened him quite quickly, allowing Allison the opportunity to reach an arm up and elbow the man in the face. As soon as she was free, the huntress ran over to her father while Isaac Peter began to slump down against the fence.
Riley found herself running to his side. It wasn't bad enough that he was on the ground, but she could see how much pain he was in. "Argents and their knives," he laughed.
"Why would you do that?" Riley asked, ignoring his comment.
Peter looked at her as if she had gone insane, "Because that's not Allison. Not if it was brought back by the Nogitsune."
The sylph shook her head, her jaw clenching as she tried not to tear up, "I asked you not to. I told you that she was my way to find Stiles and Aayla, but you were going to anyway. She's your granddaughter. I can't believe that I was actually starting to trust you."
His rough exterior softened somewhat as he looked at his daughter, "You can trust me. I was doing this for you - for Aayla. Do you think I would do something like that if I didn't believe that I could've helped you find her?"
"Okay, how would you have done it? How would you find them?" she asked, not bothering to hide how angry she was. "Tell me."
The man could see how angry and hurt she was. However, Peter was Peter, and he believed that he knew better.
"I would've found a way without needing to trust them."
When Riley heard Chris shout to his daughter, she looked over just in time to see Allison run into the blood smoke that the Oni brought with them. It was just like the smoke that had taken all of the others, which meant that maybe, that would be where she would find her family.
She looked back at the man, her face still contorted in anger. "You're nothing but selfish. You can't do things these things on your own; I thought if anything, maybe you might have learnt that."
Without another word, Riley ran in the direction of the smoke. She heard her father shout her name, right before everything turned silent and dark.
Riley assessed her new surroundings, trying to figure out where she was. There was fog as far as they could see as well as brittle trees and small Japanese sculptures. Wherever they were, it definitely wasn't Beacon Hills. Turning around, she spotted Allison and Scott nearby, the two arriving in the strange place at the same time.
"Where are we?" Allison asked them both.
Scott looked around, staring at the Nemeton nearby for a brief moment, before focusing back on the two women. "We're in his world."
"Good," Riley mutters. "That means he'll be here and we can kill him."
"This is it," Eli informed them as he ran over, seemingly having appeared from no where. "They're all trapped here."
"Eli?" Riley gasped before going over and throwing her arms around the boy, thankful that he was okay.
Eli stumbled before hugging the woman back, "Hey, Riley. I was worried something had happened to you."
"Something has. We're trapped in here, too," Scott pointed out.
"We have people to save," Riley reminded them all. "Let's go."
The four of them started to walk in the direction that Eli had pointed to. As they got closer, Riley began to hear a familiar chittering sound. It made her skin crawl and sent chills down her spine, just like every other time.
They all stopped moving, changing their stance as the Oni drew their blades. They were older now, though, and Riley wasn't as scared as she used to be.
"I've killed Oni before," Allison stated, although Riley noticed her taking a step back. She didn't have all of her memories but by the sounds of it, she knew how she had died in her previous life.
Scott turned to her with that look on his face whenever he was trying to seem convincing. "Then let's kill a few more."
The two of them rushed forward, leaving Eli and Riley behind. When they got close enough, Scott three up an arm, forcing Allison to stop. The woman looked at him, her face twisted in annoyance before she saw him nod, raising what he had planned.
They spun around one another, facing the opposite Oni in hopes of somehow catching them off guard. Each of them attacked, Allison with her bow and Scott with his claws. Not wanting to stand there useless, Rily ran after them.
Her anger was fueling her like nothing else. Throwing her hands up, she cleared the fog from around them before tossing an Oni away that was about to skewer Allison once again.
Allison's eyes widened, not having even seen the Oni, "Thanks."
Riley looked at her but didn't say anything - she still had no solid proof that this actually was Allison. She only saved her because it had promised to help her save her daughter. So, instead of speaking, Riley moved past her and continued to fight off the Oni.
This was becoming increasingly difficult however, as the number of Oni began to increase. They weren't going to be able to keep this up forever, especially when they didn't have any silver on them.
On the plus side, they were getting closer to where Eli said their friends and family were being kept. Riley kept trying to see if she could spot her daughter or husband but the Oni were making that quite difficult.
"We can't kill them. Not without silver," Scott remembered in frustration as Allison shot an arrow into a nearby Oni. "We need Parrish. We need to buy him more time."
One of the Oni threw Scott to the ground harshly, the man struggling to move afterwards. Taking that opportunity, all of the Oni turned to face the two women. The sinister chittering echoed through the dark clearing as they all readied their blades.
"I know that you don't think that I'm me - I barely think that I am - but can we put that aside for a few minutes," Allison asked Riley quickly. "Otherwise, we're both going to end up dead."
Riley's jaw clenched, knowing that she was right. "Fine. Let's do this."
The sylph snatched an arrow from Allison's quiver, knowing that there was only so much her abilities could do when it got to close range. She did her best to hold them back, but after they had seen her throw the first one, it was like they had started to adapt to her ability. So, whenever one got close, she swung the arrow at them whilst also attempting to dodge their blade.
Allison didn't have much more luck. She shot the ones that were far enough away but as they got closer, she resorted to hitting them with the bow itself.
When the Oni were getting a bit too close for comfort and Scott still wasn't up, Riley was starting to worry. Just as one was about to swing its blade down, a scream ripped through the clearing. This wasn't just any scream, however. This was a banshee scream.
Riley was quick to bring her hands to her ears, covering them as best she could. She had learnt the hard way just what Lydia's voice could do to her eardrums. The others followed suit, watching as the Oni stumbled. As the scream rippled through the air, it tore through the Oni and diminished them until they were nothing but black smoke once more.
When the noise stopped and Riley saw that Allison was okay, she went over to check on Eli. The bow had been hiding behind one of the garden statues, not sure how to help since he still had no control over his werewolf abilities. The boy not helping was something that Riley knew she couldn't be mad about. If anything, she found herself relating to him - to being a teenager who had no idea how to deal with what they were.
"Are you alright?" she asked the boy.
Eli lowered his hands slowly, his eyes wide. "I- I'm fine. We need to find my dad."
Riley nodded, holding a hand out and helping her cousin to his feet. They looked over to Scott who was staring at Allison. The woman was still standing frozen, gazing out into the distance but her mind was miles away.
Then, she finally spoke. "I remember," she said softly. "I remember everything."
"What?" Riley said, sounding confused.
The woman turned around, giving her a sad smile. "You never needed to apologise."
"Excuse me?" Riley almost scoffed at the comment that had seemingly come from out of the blue.
"That's why you didn't want to believe it was me, right?"
Allison walked over to her, stopping just before her. "Because of everything that happened between us before I died. Because you weren't you when it happened."
Riley swallowed heavily, tears brimming in her eyes. She had been denying it for too long, even though deep down, she knew the truth. "Allison, I'm-"
The huntress closed the space between them, embracing one of her best friends. "You don't need to apologise, Ri. None of that was your fault, and I'm so sorry if you've held onto that for all of these years."
The woman could no longer hold back her tears, hugging the woman right back. Allison was right; Riley had been holding onto that since the day her friend had died. She had said so many horrible things to her and then played a part, even if small, in her death. It wasn't something easy to forget.
"Well, this is just adorable," a sinister voice chuckled, echoing throughout the clearing. "But we're not done yet."
They all turned to see Stiles standing with a knife to Eli's throat. Riley couldn't believe that he had managed to get the boy away from them when he had only been a few metres away. The drawn, pale look on his face and the darkness in his eyes told her all she needed to know. That wasn't her husband - not really.
He stood atop the steps with the boy, only metres from where Derek was tied to a column. All of the others were tied up close by, and none of them were able to break free because of the rules of this world.
Stepping forward, Scott played his usual role of 'white knight'. "Take me. Let the others go."
Void smirked, "All the lives here belong to me.
"All you need is me," Scott insisted.
Derek shook his head from behind Void, "Scott, don't do this."
Riley rushed over, her emotions writhing, unable to keep up with each event. She was basically getting mental whiplash. "Where is my daughter?" she demanded.
The creature inhabiting Stiles grinned darkly, pressing the knife a bit harder against Eli's neck when she tried to get closer. "Uh, uh, uh, Little Sylph. Not so close, unless you're willing to trade one life for another?"
The woman stopped, frozen but fuming, "I will kill you."
"You know, you were a lot more fun when we were working together," he sighed.
Riley's jaw was clenched as she glared at him, completely ignoring his statement as she brought the topic back to Aayla. "I need to know whether or not she's alive."
The demon seemed to be considering what she was saying before he made his decision. He snapped his fingers, causing black smoke to swirl not far from his feet. A cage materialised and inside was Aayla, crying out to her parents.
Riley dropped to her knees, her hand over her mouth as she began to cry. She was alive, but that didn't mean that she was safe.
"What good is leverage if it's dead?" Void asked rhetorically. "Are you ready to find out the price?"
Riley wiped her eyes and nodded, practically on the verge of getting on her knees and begging after finally seeing her daughter again. "Tell me what you want."
Void's grin deepened, knowing that it had the upper hand in every sense of the word. "All of those years ago, I told you to kill Stiles. You said you would, but you didn't. You said you couldn't because you love him."
She could see the disgust on his face as he spoke, not exactly caring about her feelings for her husband. "I remember," she nodded. "Now, how about you get to the point?"
"I really do miss you, little sylph. You kept things. . . interesting," he chuckled. "I'll tell you what, I'll give you a choice. Option one, you come back to me. I keep this body and you get to be with Stiles forever. But none of you will ever see the girl again. I won't kill her, but you'll never be able to find her."
Riley felt sick as she looked over to the cage. Aayla had her small hands wrapped around the bars, her whole face red as she screamed and cried. She couldn't abandon her daughter - it wasn't an option. "You said I had a choice. What is the other option?"
The smile that reached Void's lips was a whole other level of wickedness. He kept one hand holding onto Eli but with the other, he held the knife out to Riley. "Finish what you started. You want your daughter back? Kill the love of your life. Kill Stiles."
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(A/N)
Sorry it's been so long, I got distracted with my Isaac and JJ fanfics. I'm trying to make it different to the movie, so I hope you liked it.
There's only 20 minutes left of the movie, so I'm not sure how many more chapters there will be tbh, but we'll see.
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