(A/N): A few words on the flow of this, and an explanation of where the split (between this thing's 'canon' and the alternate ending) occurs and how it's possible.

Okay, so first thing, this starts at the very end of Chapter Four - it's just the last sentence, revised so that the events portrayed in Chapter Five never occur. Go ahead and picture the OF (Other Father, you should know my love of initals by now) and OM kissing Coraline (or Lily, or whatever the fuck you wanna call her) goodnight if you need to.

Finally, where the split occurs is right at the end of Chapter Four. As I said, Chapter Five doesn't exist, so Chapter Six is ~technically~ Chapter Five. Confusing, right? XD

The effects of the split, however, REALLY occur in Chapter Six (~aka~ Chapter Five - ugh, I'm tripping over my three left feet) where Coraline runs JUST FAST ENOUGH that her dad isn't right behind her. How is this implied? A sentence showing that her dad's hand touched her hair has been removed. Thus, the No-See-Ums Condition is kept true, enabling Coraline to run through the door (no bricks) and safely head to the Other World and disappear, while her parents can open that thing all they want and find bricks.

What is the No-See-Ums Condition, you ask? The No-See-Ums Condition, in simple logic, is:

NO-SEE-UMS CONDITION:

If parents/guardians/other adults (an adult can tell that it's not a dream - a kid can't, especially one who may be mildly depressed; both book!Coraline and movie!Coraline are, actually) are unable to reach a position where the tunnel will be in view

Then the tunnel can be activated and traveled without fear from the beldam of witnesses and/or preventative measures.

In other words, since the dad's a bit farther behind her, Coraline can be a real fucking speed demon and get out of there before her dad fucking murders her.

That's also why the tunnel wasn't there in the original: her dad was pretty much RIGHT behind her. He probably could have stabbed her on the stairs if he wanted to, but it would throw him off balance and he fall on the stairs, thus letting her escape to the Other World by the No-See-Ums Condition being true.

Sorry about this long A/N, I just had to justify to myself the exact WHY that this would still have worked. Because I cut it because I thought it wouldn't, and that's why the Chapter Five you all know and love is in the original.

Read on, people!

~(::)~ALTERNATE ENDING~(::)~

My Other Mother brings out a delicious meal of chicken. We all eat, and then I go to my other bedroom and fall asleep.

~(::)~CHAPTER FIVE~(::)~

I awake to shouting. A lot of shouting.

I knew it was a dream. I'm back home now.

I hear my father shouting. I hear my mother screaming in pain.

"CORALINE! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!"

I don't know what I did. But I peek out my door and see my father running down the hall, a look of pure hatred in his red eyes.

I scream and run for the stairs. I hear my mother shouting.

"No! I did it! I DID IT!"

A third set of feet hit the stairs.

I know what I need. I hope it's not...

I run for the living room.

"You're my little Lily,

My little passionflower..."

I slide to the door.

"You're my little star

That sparkles on the hour..."

I open it.

"You're my little doll,

My cute, kind sweetie-pie..."

The tunnel opens before me. I crawl in and slam the door. Then I crawl on, back to my better father.

"You're my little Lily,

And Lily, you are mine..."

~(::)~CHAPTER SIX~(::)~

I crawl through the door on the other side. My Other Father - no, my father - is waiting there. I run to him and hug him, and he hugs me back.

"I don't want to go home!" I cry. "I want to stay here! Please!"

"Once you go to sleep, you'll wake up, just like last night. Or... there is a way to stay," he says.

"Really? How?"

"Come in the kitchen with me, Lily."

I follow him into the kitchen, and he presents me with a small box, which I open slowly, first untying the ribbon wrapped carefully around it, and then taking the lid off the box.

Inside, there are two black buttons, a spool of thread, and a needle.

"Black is traditional... but you could have pink..."

The buttons in the box become bright pink, then slowly fade to black.

"...or vermillion..."

They flash a fire orange and fade away.

"...or chartreuse..."

They change to a spring green color.

I pause, considering.

"Do they come in blue?" I ask. Blue was always my favorite color.

"They can."

And then his buttons flash through a billion shades of blue before finally fading to black.

"Thank you."

The Other Father picks up a needle and threads it, and picks up one of the buttons, which suddenly turns a shade of blue a bit darker than azure.

"Don't worry, darling, this will only hurt a bit."

~(::)~EPILOGUE~(::)~

Shh...

It's not listening anymore. It's not a he or a she, it's an it. The others told me. One had it be a mother. I had a father. It's anything it wants to be and more.

Four score and seven years ago, I died.

But before death, I finally gained something for people to look at besides the scar on my face, and I end up dead in a place where all they'll do is stare at my scar, because the buttons are normal, and there isn't much else to do besides feel your essence rot away with each passing second.

But before I died, I actually had some fun for a little while. It was great to spend time with my father. While it lasted, anyway. The end was horrible, but painless. Poison, as far as I can tell. There are no new markings.

At least this purgatory is better than what would have happened otherwise.

Or I hope so, anyway.

(A/N): I didn't want to put any A/Ns in the middle of this, so here they are!

There's actually only one. I hope I gave you a bit of deja vu with the paraphrase the OM's line in the movie - "Your better father, dear." - and with the song.

Part of the reason I picked the other ending was also that it was so unexpected. I had to get the buttons in there somewhere, though, the thing it's named after, so that's where the Chapter Five we all know and love came from.

I hope you enjoyed!

By the way, feel free to read some of my other stuff - if you were in this thing for the death/tragedy, or the Coraline stuff, I've got a lot of crap you can read!

Bai bai, peoplez!

FIN.