Everything was black.

Allison couldn't breathe. She couldn't see, hear, or feel anything. She could turn to try and see around her, to catch a glimpse of something, but she wasn't in her body. She was just... floating. She tried to take a deep breath, trying anything to calm herself, but there was no air to take in. She couldn't call for help; she had no voice. She was completely, and utterly alone.

Or was she? Even in the nothingness, there was something. Like she was just waiting here, there was something else beyond the darkness. But where was here? And where was there?

Trying to think this through, Allison tried to separate herself from the situation. She closed her eyes, or tried to anyway, and thought desperately about the last thing she could remember.

"It's okay."

It was her voice. Her own voice. Allison looked up, and suddenly she was looking up into the eyes of the person who was cradling her body in his arms. She still couldn't feel anything as she remembered the words she'd spoken, and felt her mouth moving along with them.

"It's okay. It's okay. It's perfect. I'm in the arms of my first love. The first person I've ever loved. The person I'll always love." Even now, wherever she was, she knew she'd meant those words. "I love- I love you, Scott Mc-"

She was choking on her own blood now. She could feel it bubbling up onto her lips. The metallic taste filled her senses, starting to black out her vision while she stared up into the eyes of her former lover, but she managed to get out her last words.

"Scott McCall."

And suddenly she was back. Back in the void, trying to gasp for air to stop from crying even though she knew that here she couldn't do either.

Allison Argent was dead.

Now she was here. Surrounded by nothing. Waiting for a next step that might never come. She didn't really believe in anything, in God or in fate, so she had no idea what to expect. Whether she'd be met with the pearly gates of Heaven or the less appealing gates of Hell. Or maybe she'd be stuck here, forever; conscious and thinking but nothing more. She hoped that wasn't the case. The thought of being on her own for eternity seemed lonely and boring.

But maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't be alone. Maybe she could find others, other souls who'd passed onto whatever this place was. Her mother might be out there. And Kate. Allison wasn't sure that she actually wanted to see either of them again, but a familiar face would be worth it's weight in gold to her right now. Or a familiar consciousness. How would she even recognize anyone? Maybe she'd just know. She was resigned to just take whatever came to her at this point.

That's when she heard it. A static buzzing noise, like an old television being turned on that still hadn't found reception for a channel to play. She turned to see almost exactly that. Only ten feet in front of her appeared a rectangle, the size of a regular flatscreen t.v., which was displaying that black, white, and gray fuzz as it tried to focus into a picture. She willed herself forward, approaching the rectangle until she was right in front of it. It truly had appeared out of nowhere. Peering around it she saw nothing, no source or plugs or anything that could have caused it. It just... existed. Like her.

She moved back in front of the 'screen' as a view came into focus. She could hear voices that she recognized. The shapes sharpened as she took in what lay before her. Her death scene.

It was like looking down as a bird from a lamppost. She could see herself being hugged tight in Scott's arms. Her own hand had just hit the cement, falling as her eyes stared upwards aimlessly. Her life must have just left her body, leaving nothing but a corpse for the boy to hold.

She saw Kira, dropping her sword onto the ground and hesitantly taking a step forward, afraid to approach and disturb the scene.

She could hear something, a scream from miles away. A scream that could only belong to a powerful banshee, Lydia. Allison's heart twisted at the thought of her best friend, not seeing but knowing that she was gone. Shifting her gaze to distract from the pain of missing her, she saw the only other person that could make being dead worse.

Isaac. His hands were on his head, grabbing fistfuls of hair as he bared his teeth. Not his wolf ones, his human mouth was clenched tight as he appeared to be struggling not to cry. He was failing, though. There was already one tear sliding down his cheek, glinting in the moonlight, and more were threatening to spill out of his shining eyes. Allison wanted nothing more than to be there for him, to help him, to show him that everything was going to be okay even though it really wasn't. He would have to make it through this on his own. She could hear his ragged breaths, even from this far away.

What was this? Why was she being shown this terrible thing? As if being dead wasn't enough, she just had to be shown how it affected those that she loved?

They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. This must be it. She was going to see her life displayed on this 3' by 4' screen. She didn't know if she could handle it. She wanted to turn away, she didn't need to see her mistakes again. But this might be her only chance to see those that she loved again. So she continued to watch as the vision blurred as if it was rewinding an old tape.

In front of her was a scene between Scott and her dad. She hadn't even thought of him yet. Her already twisted heart managed to wrench some more as she thought of how he was truly alone now. He's already lost so much, and now he didn't even have her. If she had a body right now, she really would be crying. Strength be damned, she was leaving so much behind and hurting so many people.

Even in her current state of mind, wrought with confusion and regret and sorrow, she couldn't figure out why she was being shown this scene. She hadn't been there.

"What are you going to tell them?" She already missed the sound of her father's voice.

Allison listened as Scott recited words that her father must have just spoken, repeating them with a dead voice and expressionless face. He was talking about... her. And the police. This happened after she died. Why would she be seeing something she wasn't alive for? She had so many questions and no one to answer them for her.

The vision blurred again and she saw Lydia, alone on her bed, silently crying and holding one of her arrows. Again the scene changed, back to Scott. He was being comforted by his mom. And another time it blurred, like it was fast forwarding through the aftermath of her death. Or was it showing her events in real time? She couldn't tell how time worked in this place. She saw the screen focus in a bustling airport. Her father and Isaac were showing their passports, walking through a gate. Both of their faces were grim and they weren't talking. It was still too soon. She struggled to read the words on the screen but managed to make out their destination; Paris. They were leaving. Leaving her behind in Beacon Hills.

The imaged changed one last time, to her grave in the Beacon Hills Cemetery. She recognized the graves next to hers, of her mother and her aunt. It was too dark for her to make out the inscriptions, but she didn't want to know what her father had chosen to say about her. She couldn't take it.

She tried to turn away again, to leave this screen behind her, but she couldn't. She was locked in place, forced to watch what she herself had left behind. Forced to think of endless 'what ifs?'. What if she'd tried the silver arrow earlier? What if she'd moved just a step earlier, avoiding the blade of the Oni? What if she and her father had kept their promise to each other to leave the supernatural world behind?

Allison knew that that had never really been an option. She couldn't just sit back and let Scott take care of everything. She had to be there, to help and protect those who couldn't protect themselves. It was in her blood. And besides, if she'd left after the whole Gerard incident, she would never have gotten to have the short time with Isaac that she did. The tension, the black-light dancing, the loving. Life was better when she actually had the chance to live.

"But it isn't over yet."

Still trapped in front of the screen, Allison tried to turn to see who, or what, had just spoken. The voice came from behind her, a voice which was so loud and seemed to crack into the quietness of the place. The screen was dark, still showing the image of her tombstone, so when she saw the source of the voice come around to exist beside her she was almost blinded. That would be, if she really had eyes to blind.

It was a person, but not a person. They had the basic shape of a human; a head, torso, arms, and legs. But they were completely aflame. Flames licked around each of the limbs, covering every inch of the body. It didn't even seem like there was an actual body underneath the fire. She could see through the flames, see the darkness on the other side. It didn't have any sort of face, but she could feel it looking at her.

The flaming figure reached out towards her, it's arm ending in a flaming hand with fingers that were about to touch whatever it is that she was. She could almost feel the warmth radiating from it. She longed to feel it burn her, so she could actually feel something. And then it's fingers found what they were looking for. And she could feel. It's heat was almost unbearable as it's hand pressed up on the back of her.

"Say hello to Isaac for me." It's head tilted and, despite it's lack of facial features, she could swear it was smiling at her. Without the chance to even process what it'd said, the pressure behind her increased and she was pushed straight into the screen, right into the image of her own grave.

Everything went black again. She was falling down, further and further into the darkness until she landed, lying on something soft.

Allison finally drew in a breath.