![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[ooc: Continued from here.]
[ Alec has taken great care to memorize just where to touch Magnus for maximum effect. He's always been a good student.
He reaches for Magnus' belt and tugs it open, fingers moving quickly and nimbly to open his fly and slide a hand inside. It isn't easy with the distraction of Magnus' hands on him, that teasing touch over his hole making him groan into the kiss, nipping lightly at Magnus' lips. ]
[ Alec has taken great care to memorize just where to touch Magnus for maximum effect. He's always been a good student.
He reaches for Magnus' belt and tugs it open, fingers moving quickly and nimbly to open his fly and slide a hand inside. It isn't easy with the distraction of Magnus' hands on him, that teasing touch over his hole making him groan into the kiss, nipping lightly at Magnus' lips. ]
City of Ashes: Calling in a Favor
Nov. 28th, 2018 07:49 pmA group of Shadowhunters had been waiting for them when they finally exited the Silent City. Maryse and the Inquisitor but also several other Nephilim from both Alicante and New York.
"By the Angel," Maryse says, looking over Alec and Jace and Izzy. Jace moves away from Alec to stand a little ways off. From the look on the Inquisitor's face, he can tell she still wants to see Jace behind bars, so he fishes his phone from his pocket to text Magnus. There has to be another way. "What are you doing here, Alec? Isabelle? There was a distress call from the Silent City--"
"We answered it," Alec says, tucking his phone away again. He looks around the gathered crowd of Shadowhunters, full members of the Clave. They're all looking to him for answers. "You weren't at the Institute--and we couldn't raise anyone--so we came ourselves."
"Alec--"
"It doesn't matter anyway," Alec continues before anyone can try to stop him, can try to make light of what they saw down there. "They're dead. The Silent Brothers. Everyone in the Silent City. They're all dead. They've been murdered."
The whole group went silent and still, a pack of predators perched to pounce.
"Dead," Maryse says. "What do you mean, they're dead?"
Inquisitor Herondale steps forward. "I think it's quite clear what he means," she says, turning her attention to Alec, making him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. "You found no one alive in the City?"
"Not that we saw, Inquisitor," he says, falling into the role of dutiful Nephilim.
"That you saw," she says, and Alec feels like he's been reprimanded, though he's not sure for what. She turns to Maryse. "There may yet be survivors. I would send your people into the City for a thorough check."
There are arguments back and forth as Nephilim march into the Bone City to search for survivors. Inquisitor Herondale takes charge immediately, and Alec sees the way that rankles his mother. Maryse hates having people tell her what to do or question her authority. Questions come fast and furious, and soon it comes out that the Mortal Sword was taken by Valentine--something Jace hadn't mentioned to them.
No one can quite figure out why though. Maryse suggests that it could simply be to sap the morale of the Clave. "The fact is--"
But before she can say what the fact is, Jace raises his hand as if to ask a question and then sits down suddenly on the grass as though his legs have given out. Alec kneels next to him, and Jace waves him away. "Leave me alone. I'm fine."
"You're not fine," Clary says, joining Alec on the grass. Alec glances down to Jace's wrist, where he'd drawn the iratze, only to find that the run is completely gone, not even a scar left in its place. Too much energy for healing raw wrists. He looks at Clary and sees her worry mirroring his own as she says, "Something's wrong with him. Something serious."
"He probably needs a healing rune," the Inquisitor says. "An iratze, or--"
"We tried that," Alec says. "It isn't working. I think there's something of demonic origin going on here." Why else wouldn't the rune work?
"Like demon poison?" Maryse asks, moving toward Jace.
The Inquisitor holds her back. "He's shamming," she says. "He ought to be in the Silent City's cells right now."
Alec jumped to his feet. "You can't say that--look at him!" He gestures toward Jace who is slumped on the grass, eyes closed. "He can't even stand up. He needs doctors, he needs--"
"The Silent Brothers are dead," says the Inquisitor, her voice cool and detached. "Are you suggesting a mundane hospital?"
"No," Alec says, keeping his voice deliberately even and casual. "I thought he could go to Magnus."
Izzy makes a sound that is entirely unladylike, and the Inquisitor gives Alec a curious look. "Magnus?"
"He's a warlock," Alec says, trying to make it sound like everybody knows this and not like he has a particular reason to know this. "Actually, he's the High Warlock of Brooklyn."
"You mean Magnus Bane," Maryse says. "He has a reputation--"
"He healed me after I fought a Greater Demon," Alec interrupts. "The Silent Brothers couldn't do anything, but Magnus..." He trails off. He's never really talked to anyone about that night, about Magnus sitting up with him all night.
"It's ridiculous," says the Inquisitor. "What you want is to help Jonathan escape."
"He's not well enough to escape," Izzy argues. "Cant you see that?"
Alec shoots her a look, hoping she'll take the hint and be quiet. "Magnus would never let that happen," he says. "He's not interested in crossing the Clave."
"And how would he propose preventing it?" the Inquisitor asks, her voice disdainful. "Jonathan is a Shadowhunter; we're not so easy to keep under lock and key."
"Maybe you should ask him," Alec says, the picture of innocence.
The Inquisitor's smile could slice steel. "By all means. Where is he?"
Alec checks his phone quickly for confirmation and says, "He's here." Raising his voice he calls, "Magnus! Magnus, come on out."
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.]
"By the Angel," Maryse says, looking over Alec and Jace and Izzy. Jace moves away from Alec to stand a little ways off. From the look on the Inquisitor's face, he can tell she still wants to see Jace behind bars, so he fishes his phone from his pocket to text Magnus. There has to be another way. "What are you doing here, Alec? Isabelle? There was a distress call from the Silent City--"
"We answered it," Alec says, tucking his phone away again. He looks around the gathered crowd of Shadowhunters, full members of the Clave. They're all looking to him for answers. "You weren't at the Institute--and we couldn't raise anyone--so we came ourselves."
"Alec--"
"It doesn't matter anyway," Alec continues before anyone can try to stop him, can try to make light of what they saw down there. "They're dead. The Silent Brothers. Everyone in the Silent City. They're all dead. They've been murdered."
The whole group went silent and still, a pack of predators perched to pounce.
"Dead," Maryse says. "What do you mean, they're dead?"
Inquisitor Herondale steps forward. "I think it's quite clear what he means," she says, turning her attention to Alec, making him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. "You found no one alive in the City?"
"Not that we saw, Inquisitor," he says, falling into the role of dutiful Nephilim.
"That you saw," she says, and Alec feels like he's been reprimanded, though he's not sure for what. She turns to Maryse. "There may yet be survivors. I would send your people into the City for a thorough check."
There are arguments back and forth as Nephilim march into the Bone City to search for survivors. Inquisitor Herondale takes charge immediately, and Alec sees the way that rankles his mother. Maryse hates having people tell her what to do or question her authority. Questions come fast and furious, and soon it comes out that the Mortal Sword was taken by Valentine--something Jace hadn't mentioned to them.
No one can quite figure out why though. Maryse suggests that it could simply be to sap the morale of the Clave. "The fact is--"
But before she can say what the fact is, Jace raises his hand as if to ask a question and then sits down suddenly on the grass as though his legs have given out. Alec kneels next to him, and Jace waves him away. "Leave me alone. I'm fine."
"You're not fine," Clary says, joining Alec on the grass. Alec glances down to Jace's wrist, where he'd drawn the iratze, only to find that the run is completely gone, not even a scar left in its place. Too much energy for healing raw wrists. He looks at Clary and sees her worry mirroring his own as she says, "Something's wrong with him. Something serious."
"He probably needs a healing rune," the Inquisitor says. "An iratze, or--"
"We tried that," Alec says. "It isn't working. I think there's something of demonic origin going on here." Why else wouldn't the rune work?
"Like demon poison?" Maryse asks, moving toward Jace.
The Inquisitor holds her back. "He's shamming," she says. "He ought to be in the Silent City's cells right now."
Alec jumped to his feet. "You can't say that--look at him!" He gestures toward Jace who is slumped on the grass, eyes closed. "He can't even stand up. He needs doctors, he needs--"
"The Silent Brothers are dead," says the Inquisitor, her voice cool and detached. "Are you suggesting a mundane hospital?"
"No," Alec says, keeping his voice deliberately even and casual. "I thought he could go to Magnus."
Izzy makes a sound that is entirely unladylike, and the Inquisitor gives Alec a curious look. "Magnus?"
"He's a warlock," Alec says, trying to make it sound like everybody knows this and not like he has a particular reason to know this. "Actually, he's the High Warlock of Brooklyn."
"You mean Magnus Bane," Maryse says. "He has a reputation--"
"He healed me after I fought a Greater Demon," Alec interrupts. "The Silent Brothers couldn't do anything, but Magnus..." He trails off. He's never really talked to anyone about that night, about Magnus sitting up with him all night.
"It's ridiculous," says the Inquisitor. "What you want is to help Jonathan escape."
"He's not well enough to escape," Izzy argues. "Cant you see that?"
Alec shoots her a look, hoping she'll take the hint and be quiet. "Magnus would never let that happen," he says. "He's not interested in crossing the Clave."
"And how would he propose preventing it?" the Inquisitor asks, her voice disdainful. "Jonathan is a Shadowhunter; we're not so easy to keep under lock and key."
"Maybe you should ask him," Alec says, the picture of innocence.
The Inquisitor's smile could slice steel. "By all means. Where is he?"
Alec checks his phone quickly for confirmation and says, "He's here." Raising his voice he calls, "Magnus! Magnus, come on out."
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.]
City of Ashes: The Inquisitor Calls
Nov. 28th, 2018 05:28 pmWhen he comes back from his date with Magnus, Alec is sucked immediately back into the world of the Institute. Maryse stops him almost as soon as he steps inside, asking him to send Jace to the library.
He's pretty sure Jace is asleep so he knocks hesitantly, waits a few moments, and then knocks again. When Jace answers the door, he looks...exhausted. Like he hasn't been sleeping properly. Alec knows that he hasn't, at least since Valentine. Jace hasn't talked to him about it, but Alec knows he must be hurting, both from his father's deception and from the revelation that Clary is his sister.
Jace blinks in surprise. "Alec?"
Alec shrugs. "Sorry to wake you up. Mom sent me to get you. She wants to see you in the library."
"Right now?" Jace looks at him a little too closely. "I went to your room before. You weren't there."
"I was out," Alec says, hoping Jace doesn't ask for anymore information. What a pair of parabatai they make right now, each afraid to speak to the other about the most frightening thing in their lives right now.
"All right," Jace says, and Alec relaxes minutely. "Hang on a second while I change my shirt."
Alec watches as Jace finds a clean shirt and peels off the one he's wearing. It's stuck to his skin in some places with dried blood, and Alec feels that same spike of shame he always does when Jace gets hurt and Alec isn't there to help. He looks away and asks, "What happened to you?"
"Picked a fight with a pack of werewolves," Jace says as he pulls on his shirt. Apparently neither of them want to give details on their night. Jace follows Alec into the hallway and says, "You have something on your neck."
Alec's hand flies to his throat. He should have used an iratze after leaving Magnus's place, and he knew it.
"Looks like a bite mark," Jace continues. "What have you been doing all day, anyway?"
"Nothing," Alec says, and he can feel his cheeks flushing bright red. Keeping his hand clamped over his neck, he adds, "I went walking in teh park. Tried to clear my head."
"And ran into a vampire?"
"What? No! I fell."
"On your neck?"
Alec makes a noise that he really wishes he hadn't, but Jace seems to take the hint. "Fine, whatever. What did you need to clear your head about?"
"You," Alec says carefully. "My parents." His dad staying in Alicante and his mom's caginess as to why are not encouraging. "My mother came and explained why she was so angry after you left. And she explained about Hodge. Thanks for not telling me that, by the way."
"Sorry." Jace's cheeks flushed. "I couldn't bring myself to do it, somehow."
Alec feels for him. He's not sure he could have told Max that their tutor had betrayed them all to Valentine. "Well, it doesn't look good," Alec says, dropping his hand and looking at Jace seriously. "It looks like you were hiding things. Things about Valentine."
Jace stops short. "Do you think I was lying? About not knowing Valentine was my father?"
"No!" Alec says, startled by Jace's vehemence. "And I don't care who your father is either. It doesn't matter to me. You're still the same person."
"Whoever that is." Jace's voice is cold, and Alec has seen what that sort of mood can lead to for Jace.
"I'm just saying," Alec says, keeping his voice calm and soothing. "You can be a little--harsh sometimes. Just think before you talk, that's all I'm asking. No one's your enemy here, Jace."
"Well, thanks for the advice. I can walk myself the rest of the way to the library."
"Jace--"
But he's already gone, leaving Alec behind with his distress. It feels like his family is falling apart around him, and he can't figure out how to keep them all together.
***
Apparently, Jace didn't think before he talked, because now he's in the prisons in the Silent City until the Inquisitor decides what to do with him.
Alec is sitting on Izzy's unmade bed, and there's a noise in the hall that Izzy goes to investigate.
"I thought I heard someone coming down the hall, but I didn't think it would be you," Alec hears her from the door. "What are you doing here?"
Clary's voice answers, slightly frantic, "You sent me that text message. You said the Inquisitor threw Jace in jail."
"Clary! I didn't mean you should race down here right now."
"Isabelle! Jail!"
"Yes, but--." Alec hears Izzy sigh, and then she steps back into her room. "Look, you might as well come in. And shoo, you," she adds to Church, waving him out. "Go guard the elevator."
Church lays down on his stomach and goes to sleep.
"Cats," Izzy mutters, slamming the door.
"Hey, Clary," Alec says. "What are you doing here?"
"Isabelle texted me. She told me what happened to Jace."
Alec looked at Izzy. Why would she do that? She had to know Clary was just going to overreact.
"Oh, come on, Alec," she says. "I thought she should know. I didn't know she'd come racing up here!"
"Of course I came!" Clary interjects. "Is he all right? Why on earth did the Inquisitor throw him in prison?"
"It's not prison exactly," Alec says, sitting up and pulling one of Isabelle's pillows into his lap. "He's in the Silent City."
"In the Silent City? Why?"
Alec has mostly gotten over his initial annoyance at Clary's questions, but this one is a little tricky. One of those times where he's going to give her an answer, and she's going to react like a mundane and not a Shadowhunter.
"There are cells under the Silent City," he says hesitantly. "They keep criminals there sometimes before deporting them to Idris to stand trial before the Council. People who've done really bad things. Murderers, renegade vampires, Shadowhunters who break the Accords. That's where Jace is now."
"Locked up with a bunch of murderers?" Clary bounced to her feet. "What's wrong with you people? Why aren't you more upset?"
Alec and Izzy share another glance. "It's just for a night," Izzy says. "And there isn't anyone else down there with him. We asked."
"But why? What did Jace do?"
"He mouthed off to the Inquisitor," Alec answers with a sigh. "That was it, as far as I know."
"It's unbelievable," Izzy says, perching on the edge of her vanity.
"Then the Inquisitor must be insane," Clary says.
"She's not, actually," Alec says, trying to find a way to explain this toa mundane Clary. "If Jace were in your mundane army, do you think he'd be allowed to mouth off to his superiors? Absolutely not."
"Well, not during a war. But Jace isn't a soldier."
There it is. The fundamental misunderstanding. "But we're all soldiers," Alec says gently. "Jace as much as the rest of us. There's a hierarchy of command, and the Inquisitor is near the top. Jace is near the bottom. He should have treated her with more respect." It's always Jace's problem. He makes people work for his respect.
"If you agree that he ought to be in jail, why did you call me?" Clary snaps. "Just to get me to agree with you? I don't see the point. What do you want me to do?"
"We didn't say he should be in jail," Izzy shoots back. "Just that he shouldn't have talked back to one of the highest-ranked members of the Clave." Her voice softens a little. "Besides, I thought that maybe you could help."
"Help?" Clary asks. "How?"
Alec answers, "I told you before, half the time it seems like Jace is trying to get himself killed. He has to learn to look out for himself, and that includes cooperating with the Inquisitor."
"And you think I can help you make him do that?" Clary asks, clearly skeptical.
"I'm not sure anyone can make Jace do anything," Izzy says. "But I think you can remind him that he has something to live for."
Because no one here seems to be able to is the part she doesn't say, and it's the part that makes Alec yank on the fringe of Izzy's pillow, sending beads scattering across Izzy's blanket.
"Alec, don't," Izzy says.
"Can we go to the Silent City and see him?" Clary asks.
"Will you tell him to cooperate with the Inquisitor?" Alec asks. The last thing they need is Clary going in and making things worse.
Clary pauses a moment. "I want to hear what he has to say first."
Alec drops the pillow and stands with a frown, but before he can answer, someone knocks at the door. Izzy answers. "Max. I thought you were asleep."
Max stands in front of Izzy, wearing an oversized sweatshirt and carrying a book. "I was in the weapons room," he says. "But there were noises coming from the library. I think someone might be trying to contact the Institute." He peers around Izzy and asks, "Who's that?"
"That's Clary," Alec says. "She's Jace's sister."
"I thought Jace didn't have any brothers or sisters," Max says with wide eyes.
"That's what we all thought." Alec picks up his sweater from where he'd left it on Izzy's chair and pulls it on. His hair haloes out with static electricity and he presses it down impatiently. "I'd better get to the library."
"We'll both go," Izzy says. "Maybe something happened."
"Where are your parents?" Clary asks.
"They got called out a few hours ago," Alec says as he steps into the hall. "A faerie child was murdered in Central Park. The Inquisitor went with them."
"You didn't want to go?"
"We weren't invited," Izzy says, twisting her hair up and securing it with a glass dagger. "Look after Max, will you? We'll be right back."
"But--"
"We'll be right back," Izzy repeats, and then they're gone, leaving Clary with Max.
***
Since Hodge disappeared, Alec, Izzy, and Jace have been holding down the Institute, dealing with any and all Downworlder activity in New York, so it's not a strange thing for Alec and Izzy to answer a call from Alicante, but to get a call from the Silent Brothers is something else. An attack on the Bone City is nothing short of an all-out emergency, and Alec rushes to get into gear while Izzy makes sure Max is safe.
He's finishing with his runes when Izzy and Carly come around the corner. "Are you ready?" he asks Izzy. "Is Max taken care of?"
"He's fine," she says, holding out her arms. "Mark me."
Alec gets to work tracing the familiar runes on his sister's skin, then glances over to Clary. "You should probably head home. You don't want to be here by yourself when the Inquisitor gets back."
"I want to go with you," Clary says.
Izzy's answer is dry and slightly amused as she blows cool air over her Marks, cooling the sting of the stele. "You sound like Max."
"Max is nine. I'm the same age as you," Clary argues.
"But you haven't got any training," Alec says. "You'll just be a liability."
"No, I won't. Has either of you ever been inside the Silent City?" Clary demands. "I have. I know how to get in. I know how to find my way around."
Alec straightens, ready to argue. "I don't think--"
"She has a point actually," Izzy interrupts. "I think she should come if she wants."
Alec stares at her. "Last time we faced a demon, she just cowered and screamed." Clary is shooting daggers at him with her gaze, so he adds, "I'm sorry, but it's true."
"I think she needs a chance to learn," Izzy argues. "You know what Jace always says. Sometimes you don't have to search out danger, sometimes danger finds you."
Izzy always knows to bring up Jace's advice when Alec is being stubborn, and Clary jumps right in to the opening. "You can't lock me up like you did Max. I'm not a child. And I know where the Bone City is. I can find my way there without you."
Alec turns away, resigned, and Izzy says to Clary, "Give me your stele. It's time you got some Marks."
***
It's dark and cold by the time they're standing in front of the statue of Raziel that hides the entrance to the Silent City.
"Last time I was here, Brother Jeremiah used a rune on the statue to open the door to the City," Clary says.
Alec answers grimly, "I wouldn't want to use one of the Silent Brothers' runes." He looks around with a frown. "They should have sensed our presence before we got this far. Now I'm starting to worry." He pulls out a dagger and slices it neatly across his palm. Squeezing his fist tightly over the stone cup held in the statue's hands, he lets his blood drip out. "Blood of the Nephilim. It should work as a key."
The statue's eyes open and the grass at the Angel's feet splits, revealing a darkened stairway leading down into the Silent City.
"Something's wrong," Clary says, and Alec can't find it in him to argue. She holds up her witchlight stone to light the way, but Alec steps in front of her.
"I'll go first, then you follow me. Isabelle, bring up the rear."
They proceed slowly, the witchlight only enough to illuminate a short way of their path as they make their way between the rows of stone mausoleums.
"I never thought I would enter the Silent City," Alec says, his voice hushed and somber. "Not before death."
"Brother Jeremiah told me what they do to your dead," Clary says. "They burn them up and use most of the ashes to make the City's marble."
"Hmpph," Izzy says. "It's considered an honor. Besides, it's not like you mundies don't burn your dead."
The air around them smells like ash and smoke, but underneath it is something else. Thick and heavy, like rotting fruit. Alec pulls out one of his seraph blades and names it with a whispered, "Arathiel." The blade's light combines with Clary's witchlight as they head further down into the City.
The stench gets stronger the further they go, and when the corridor they're in opens out into a pavilion surrounded by spires of carved bone, Alec looks around in awe. At least until his gaze lands on a fan of red across one wall.
"Is that blood?" Izzy asks, startled.
"Looks like it," Alec says, gripping his blade tighter as he scans the room. The shadows are so thick they may as well be curtains.
"What could have happened?" Izzy asks. "The Silent Brothers--I thought they were indestructible...."
Clary's witchlight flares brightly, and in the sudden light, Alec catches sight of one of the Silent Brothers, impaled on a bone spire, blood pooled beneath him.
"Alec," Isabelle gasps. "Do you see--"
"I see," Alec says. "And I've seen worse. It's Jace I'm worried about."
Izzy moves forward for a closer look, her fingertips dragging over a table splattered in blood. "This blood is almost fresh. Whatever happened, it happened not long ago."
Alec heads for the corpse and spots a trail leading away from the pool of blood. "Footprints," he says. "Someone running." He gestures for the girls to follow and heads out of the pavilion, following the footprints down a narrow tunnel. He pauses in the darkness, and Clary pushes impatiently past him.
She starts running, and Alec calls after her, but she doesn't stop, and soon he and Izzy are running after her, chasing the faint, bobbing brightness of Clary's witchlight. She's moving so fast even Alec can't catch up with her. Just ahead, he hears an enormous ripping noise, and Izzy cries out in surprise.
Alec puts on a burst of speed and makes it to the cell Clary's light came to rest in, the door collapsed outside. "What's going on?"
Clary crouches on the floor next to Jace, who pulls himself upright. His face is grey, and his shirt is bloodstained. Alec's expression shifts immediately to concern, and he kneels by his parabatai. "And are you all right? What happened? Can you remember?"
Jace holds up a hand. "One question at a time, Alec. My head already feels like it's going to split open."
"Who did this to you?" Izzy asks, a tone of rage under her question.
"No one did anything to me. I did it to myself trying to get the manacles off." Jace looks at his wrist, and Alec sees that nearly all the skin has been scraped off.
"Here," he says, at the same time as Clary, and they both reach for Jace's hand. He meets Clary's gaze, and she drops her hand. Alec takes Jace's wrist gently and deftly marks him with an iratze just below the worst of it.
"Thanks," Jace says and pulls his already-healing hand back. "Brother Jeremiah--"
"Is dead," Clary says.
Alec offers Jace a hand, but he shrugs it off, pulling himself to a standing position. "I know. He was murdered."
"Did the Silent Brothers kill each other?" Isabell asks. "I don't understand--I don't understand why they'd do that--"
"They didn't," Jace answers, and Alec knows that this is going to cost him. Once again the only witness to a tragedy. "Something killed them. I don't know what." His face twists in pain. "My head--"
"Maybe we should go," Clary says. "Before whatever killed them..."
"Comes back for us?" Jace looks down at his shirt and his hand. "I think it's gone. But I suppose he could still bring it back."
"Who could bring what back?" Alec asks, but Jace's face has turned from grey to white, and Alec has to catch him as he starts to slide down the wall. "Jace--"
"I'm all right," Jace argues, but he's holding tightly to Alec's sleeve. "I can stand."
"It looks to me like you're using a wall to prop you up. That's not my definition of 'standing.'" Still, Jace can't be too badly hurt if he's being sarcastic.
"It's leaning," Jace says. "Leaning comes right before standing."
"Stop bickering," Izzy says, kicking something out of her way. "We need to get out of here. If there's something out there nasty enough to kill the Silent Brothers, it'll make short work of us."
"Izzy's right," Clary says. The first reasonable thing she's contributed all night, Alec is fairly certain. "We should go. Jace--are you okay to walk?"
"He can lean on me," Alec says, pulling Jace's arm over his shoulders. "We'll fix you up when we get outside."
They pass the twisted body of Brother Jeremiah lying on the paving stones as they leave, and Izzy stops to pull his hood down over his fear-contorted face. They all stand silently over his fallen form.
"I've never seen a Silent Brother afraid," Alec says. "I didn't think it was possible for them to feel fear."
"Everyone feels fear," Jace says, and something in his voice, in the way he seems to curl in on himself, makes Alec push on, wanting to get them all out of this dark, cold, despairing place.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.]
He's pretty sure Jace is asleep so he knocks hesitantly, waits a few moments, and then knocks again. When Jace answers the door, he looks...exhausted. Like he hasn't been sleeping properly. Alec knows that he hasn't, at least since Valentine. Jace hasn't talked to him about it, but Alec knows he must be hurting, both from his father's deception and from the revelation that Clary is his sister.
Jace blinks in surprise. "Alec?"
Alec shrugs. "Sorry to wake you up. Mom sent me to get you. She wants to see you in the library."
"Right now?" Jace looks at him a little too closely. "I went to your room before. You weren't there."
"I was out," Alec says, hoping Jace doesn't ask for anymore information. What a pair of parabatai they make right now, each afraid to speak to the other about the most frightening thing in their lives right now.
"All right," Jace says, and Alec relaxes minutely. "Hang on a second while I change my shirt."
Alec watches as Jace finds a clean shirt and peels off the one he's wearing. It's stuck to his skin in some places with dried blood, and Alec feels that same spike of shame he always does when Jace gets hurt and Alec isn't there to help. He looks away and asks, "What happened to you?"
"Picked a fight with a pack of werewolves," Jace says as he pulls on his shirt. Apparently neither of them want to give details on their night. Jace follows Alec into the hallway and says, "You have something on your neck."
Alec's hand flies to his throat. He should have used an iratze after leaving Magnus's place, and he knew it.
"Looks like a bite mark," Jace continues. "What have you been doing all day, anyway?"
"Nothing," Alec says, and he can feel his cheeks flushing bright red. Keeping his hand clamped over his neck, he adds, "I went walking in teh park. Tried to clear my head."
"And ran into a vampire?"
"What? No! I fell."
"On your neck?"
Alec makes a noise that he really wishes he hadn't, but Jace seems to take the hint. "Fine, whatever. What did you need to clear your head about?"
"You," Alec says carefully. "My parents." His dad staying in Alicante and his mom's caginess as to why are not encouraging. "My mother came and explained why she was so angry after you left. And she explained about Hodge. Thanks for not telling me that, by the way."
"Sorry." Jace's cheeks flushed. "I couldn't bring myself to do it, somehow."
Alec feels for him. He's not sure he could have told Max that their tutor had betrayed them all to Valentine. "Well, it doesn't look good," Alec says, dropping his hand and looking at Jace seriously. "It looks like you were hiding things. Things about Valentine."
Jace stops short. "Do you think I was lying? About not knowing Valentine was my father?"
"No!" Alec says, startled by Jace's vehemence. "And I don't care who your father is either. It doesn't matter to me. You're still the same person."
"Whoever that is." Jace's voice is cold, and Alec has seen what that sort of mood can lead to for Jace.
"I'm just saying," Alec says, keeping his voice calm and soothing. "You can be a little--harsh sometimes. Just think before you talk, that's all I'm asking. No one's your enemy here, Jace."
"Well, thanks for the advice. I can walk myself the rest of the way to the library."
"Jace--"
But he's already gone, leaving Alec behind with his distress. It feels like his family is falling apart around him, and he can't figure out how to keep them all together.
***
Apparently, Jace didn't think before he talked, because now he's in the prisons in the Silent City until the Inquisitor decides what to do with him.
Alec is sitting on Izzy's unmade bed, and there's a noise in the hall that Izzy goes to investigate.
"I thought I heard someone coming down the hall, but I didn't think it would be you," Alec hears her from the door. "What are you doing here?"
Clary's voice answers, slightly frantic, "You sent me that text message. You said the Inquisitor threw Jace in jail."
"Clary! I didn't mean you should race down here right now."
"Isabelle! Jail!"
"Yes, but--." Alec hears Izzy sigh, and then she steps back into her room. "Look, you might as well come in. And shoo, you," she adds to Church, waving him out. "Go guard the elevator."
Church lays down on his stomach and goes to sleep.
"Cats," Izzy mutters, slamming the door.
"Hey, Clary," Alec says. "What are you doing here?"
"Isabelle texted me. She told me what happened to Jace."
Alec looked at Izzy. Why would she do that? She had to know Clary was just going to overreact.
"Oh, come on, Alec," she says. "I thought she should know. I didn't know she'd come racing up here!"
"Of course I came!" Clary interjects. "Is he all right? Why on earth did the Inquisitor throw him in prison?"
"It's not prison exactly," Alec says, sitting up and pulling one of Isabelle's pillows into his lap. "He's in the Silent City."
"In the Silent City? Why?"
Alec has mostly gotten over his initial annoyance at Clary's questions, but this one is a little tricky. One of those times where he's going to give her an answer, and she's going to react like a mundane and not a Shadowhunter.
"There are cells under the Silent City," he says hesitantly. "They keep criminals there sometimes before deporting them to Idris to stand trial before the Council. People who've done really bad things. Murderers, renegade vampires, Shadowhunters who break the Accords. That's where Jace is now."
"Locked up with a bunch of murderers?" Clary bounced to her feet. "What's wrong with you people? Why aren't you more upset?"
Alec and Izzy share another glance. "It's just for a night," Izzy says. "And there isn't anyone else down there with him. We asked."
"But why? What did Jace do?"
"He mouthed off to the Inquisitor," Alec answers with a sigh. "That was it, as far as I know."
"It's unbelievable," Izzy says, perching on the edge of her vanity.
"Then the Inquisitor must be insane," Clary says.
"She's not, actually," Alec says, trying to find a way to explain this to
"Well, not during a war. But Jace isn't a soldier."
There it is. The fundamental misunderstanding. "But we're all soldiers," Alec says gently. "Jace as much as the rest of us. There's a hierarchy of command, and the Inquisitor is near the top. Jace is near the bottom. He should have treated her with more respect." It's always Jace's problem. He makes people work for his respect.
"If you agree that he ought to be in jail, why did you call me?" Clary snaps. "Just to get me to agree with you? I don't see the point. What do you want me to do?"
"We didn't say he should be in jail," Izzy shoots back. "Just that he shouldn't have talked back to one of the highest-ranked members of the Clave." Her voice softens a little. "Besides, I thought that maybe you could help."
"Help?" Clary asks. "How?"
Alec answers, "I told you before, half the time it seems like Jace is trying to get himself killed. He has to learn to look out for himself, and that includes cooperating with the Inquisitor."
"And you think I can help you make him do that?" Clary asks, clearly skeptical.
"I'm not sure anyone can make Jace do anything," Izzy says. "But I think you can remind him that he has something to live for."
Because no one here seems to be able to is the part she doesn't say, and it's the part that makes Alec yank on the fringe of Izzy's pillow, sending beads scattering across Izzy's blanket.
"Alec, don't," Izzy says.
"Can we go to the Silent City and see him?" Clary asks.
"Will you tell him to cooperate with the Inquisitor?" Alec asks. The last thing they need is Clary going in and making things worse.
Clary pauses a moment. "I want to hear what he has to say first."
Alec drops the pillow and stands with a frown, but before he can answer, someone knocks at the door. Izzy answers. "Max. I thought you were asleep."
Max stands in front of Izzy, wearing an oversized sweatshirt and carrying a book. "I was in the weapons room," he says. "But there were noises coming from the library. I think someone might be trying to contact the Institute." He peers around Izzy and asks, "Who's that?"
"That's Clary," Alec says. "She's Jace's sister."
"I thought Jace didn't have any brothers or sisters," Max says with wide eyes.
"That's what we all thought." Alec picks up his sweater from where he'd left it on Izzy's chair and pulls it on. His hair haloes out with static electricity and he presses it down impatiently. "I'd better get to the library."
"We'll both go," Izzy says. "Maybe something happened."
"Where are your parents?" Clary asks.
"They got called out a few hours ago," Alec says as he steps into the hall. "A faerie child was murdered in Central Park. The Inquisitor went with them."
"You didn't want to go?"
"We weren't invited," Izzy says, twisting her hair up and securing it with a glass dagger. "Look after Max, will you? We'll be right back."
"But--"
"We'll be right back," Izzy repeats, and then they're gone, leaving Clary with Max.
***
Since Hodge disappeared, Alec, Izzy, and Jace have been holding down the Institute, dealing with any and all Downworlder activity in New York, so it's not a strange thing for Alec and Izzy to answer a call from Alicante, but to get a call from the Silent Brothers is something else. An attack on the Bone City is nothing short of an all-out emergency, and Alec rushes to get into gear while Izzy makes sure Max is safe.
He's finishing with his runes when Izzy and Carly come around the corner. "Are you ready?" he asks Izzy. "Is Max taken care of?"
"He's fine," she says, holding out her arms. "Mark me."
Alec gets to work tracing the familiar runes on his sister's skin, then glances over to Clary. "You should probably head home. You don't want to be here by yourself when the Inquisitor gets back."
"I want to go with you," Clary says.
Izzy's answer is dry and slightly amused as she blows cool air over her Marks, cooling the sting of the stele. "You sound like Max."
"Max is nine. I'm the same age as you," Clary argues.
"But you haven't got any training," Alec says. "You'll just be a liability."
"No, I won't. Has either of you ever been inside the Silent City?" Clary demands. "I have. I know how to get in. I know how to find my way around."
Alec straightens, ready to argue. "I don't think--"
"She has a point actually," Izzy interrupts. "I think she should come if she wants."
Alec stares at her. "Last time we faced a demon, she just cowered and screamed." Clary is shooting daggers at him with her gaze, so he adds, "I'm sorry, but it's true."
"I think she needs a chance to learn," Izzy argues. "You know what Jace always says. Sometimes you don't have to search out danger, sometimes danger finds you."
Izzy always knows to bring up Jace's advice when Alec is being stubborn, and Clary jumps right in to the opening. "You can't lock me up like you did Max. I'm not a child. And I know where the Bone City is. I can find my way there without you."
Alec turns away, resigned, and Izzy says to Clary, "Give me your stele. It's time you got some Marks."
***
It's dark and cold by the time they're standing in front of the statue of Raziel that hides the entrance to the Silent City.
"Last time I was here, Brother Jeremiah used a rune on the statue to open the door to the City," Clary says.
Alec answers grimly, "I wouldn't want to use one of the Silent Brothers' runes." He looks around with a frown. "They should have sensed our presence before we got this far. Now I'm starting to worry." He pulls out a dagger and slices it neatly across his palm. Squeezing his fist tightly over the stone cup held in the statue's hands, he lets his blood drip out. "Blood of the Nephilim. It should work as a key."
The statue's eyes open and the grass at the Angel's feet splits, revealing a darkened stairway leading down into the Silent City.
"Something's wrong," Clary says, and Alec can't find it in him to argue. She holds up her witchlight stone to light the way, but Alec steps in front of her.
"I'll go first, then you follow me. Isabelle, bring up the rear."
They proceed slowly, the witchlight only enough to illuminate a short way of their path as they make their way between the rows of stone mausoleums.
"I never thought I would enter the Silent City," Alec says, his voice hushed and somber. "Not before death."
"Brother Jeremiah told me what they do to your dead," Clary says. "They burn them up and use most of the ashes to make the City's marble."
"Hmpph," Izzy says. "It's considered an honor. Besides, it's not like you mundies don't burn your dead."
The air around them smells like ash and smoke, but underneath it is something else. Thick and heavy, like rotting fruit. Alec pulls out one of his seraph blades and names it with a whispered, "Arathiel." The blade's light combines with Clary's witchlight as they head further down into the City.
The stench gets stronger the further they go, and when the corridor they're in opens out into a pavilion surrounded by spires of carved bone, Alec looks around in awe. At least until his gaze lands on a fan of red across one wall.
"Is that blood?" Izzy asks, startled.
"Looks like it," Alec says, gripping his blade tighter as he scans the room. The shadows are so thick they may as well be curtains.
"What could have happened?" Izzy asks. "The Silent Brothers--I thought they were indestructible...."
Clary's witchlight flares brightly, and in the sudden light, Alec catches sight of one of the Silent Brothers, impaled on a bone spire, blood pooled beneath him.
"Alec," Isabelle gasps. "Do you see--"
"I see," Alec says. "And I've seen worse. It's Jace I'm worried about."
Izzy moves forward for a closer look, her fingertips dragging over a table splattered in blood. "This blood is almost fresh. Whatever happened, it happened not long ago."
Alec heads for the corpse and spots a trail leading away from the pool of blood. "Footprints," he says. "Someone running." He gestures for the girls to follow and heads out of the pavilion, following the footprints down a narrow tunnel. He pauses in the darkness, and Clary pushes impatiently past him.
She starts running, and Alec calls after her, but she doesn't stop, and soon he and Izzy are running after her, chasing the faint, bobbing brightness of Clary's witchlight. She's moving so fast even Alec can't catch up with her. Just ahead, he hears an enormous ripping noise, and Izzy cries out in surprise.
Alec puts on a burst of speed and makes it to the cell Clary's light came to rest in, the door collapsed outside. "What's going on?"
Clary crouches on the floor next to Jace, who pulls himself upright. His face is grey, and his shirt is bloodstained. Alec's expression shifts immediately to concern, and he kneels by his parabatai. "And are you all right? What happened? Can you remember?"
Jace holds up a hand. "One question at a time, Alec. My head already feels like it's going to split open."
"Who did this to you?" Izzy asks, a tone of rage under her question.
"No one did anything to me. I did it to myself trying to get the manacles off." Jace looks at his wrist, and Alec sees that nearly all the skin has been scraped off.
"Here," he says, at the same time as Clary, and they both reach for Jace's hand. He meets Clary's gaze, and she drops her hand. Alec takes Jace's wrist gently and deftly marks him with an iratze just below the worst of it.
"Thanks," Jace says and pulls his already-healing hand back. "Brother Jeremiah--"
"Is dead," Clary says.
Alec offers Jace a hand, but he shrugs it off, pulling himself to a standing position. "I know. He was murdered."
"Did the Silent Brothers kill each other?" Isabell asks. "I don't understand--I don't understand why they'd do that--"
"They didn't," Jace answers, and Alec knows that this is going to cost him. Once again the only witness to a tragedy. "Something killed them. I don't know what." His face twists in pain. "My head--"
"Maybe we should go," Clary says. "Before whatever killed them..."
"Comes back for us?" Jace looks down at his shirt and his hand. "I think it's gone. But I suppose he could still bring it back."
"Who could bring what back?" Alec asks, but Jace's face has turned from grey to white, and Alec has to catch him as he starts to slide down the wall. "Jace--"
"I'm all right," Jace argues, but he's holding tightly to Alec's sleeve. "I can stand."
"It looks to me like you're using a wall to prop you up. That's not my definition of 'standing.'" Still, Jace can't be too badly hurt if he's being sarcastic.
"It's leaning," Jace says. "Leaning comes right before standing."
"Stop bickering," Izzy says, kicking something out of her way. "We need to get out of here. If there's something out there nasty enough to kill the Silent Brothers, it'll make short work of us."
"Izzy's right," Clary says. The first reasonable thing she's contributed all night, Alec is fairly certain. "We should go. Jace--are you okay to walk?"
"He can lean on me," Alec says, pulling Jace's arm over his shoulders. "We'll fix you up when we get outside."
They pass the twisted body of Brother Jeremiah lying on the paving stones as they leave, and Izzy stops to pull his hood down over his fear-contorted face. They all stand silently over his fallen form.
"I've never seen a Silent Brother afraid," Alec says. "I didn't think it was possible for them to feel fear."
"Everyone feels fear," Jace says, and something in his voice, in the way he seems to curl in on himself, makes Alec push on, wanting to get them all out of this dark, cold, despairing place.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.]
City of Ashes: Family Reunion
Nov. 27th, 2018 07:07 pmIt hasn't been that long since Alec has been allowed to go out patrolling after the incident with Abbadon. He had really hoped it would be a cake run, but, Jace being Jace, of course it wasn't.
"Are you still mad?" Jace asks as they ride up in the cramped elevator. Alec is certain he's about 50% mud right now. The rest is made up of blood, pain, and annoyance.
"I'm not mad," Alec insists, though he knows he's glaring at Jace.
"Oh, yes you are." Jace made a gesture that was cut off with a cry of pain. They've both been through hell tonight.
"I am not," Alec says again, more firmly. "Just because you said dragon demons were extinct--"
"I said mostly extinct."
"Mostly extinct," Alec says, jabbing a finger in Jace's direction, "is NOT EXTINCT ENOUGH."
Jace looks entirely too pleased with himself. "I see. I'll just have them change the entry in the demonology textbook from 'almost extinct' to 'not extinct enough for Alec. He prefers his monsters really, really extinct.' Will that make you happy?"
"Boys, boys." Isabelle, looking unnaturally pristine and grinning at them both, checks her reflection in the elevator's mirrored wall. "Don't fight. All right, so it was a little more action than we were expecting, but I thought it was fun."
Of course she did. Alec shakes his head. "How do you manage never to get mud on you?"
"I'm pure at heart," Izzy says with a shrug. "It repels dirt."
Jace snorts and wiggles muddy fingers at her. "Filthy inside and out."
The elevator screeches to a halt and Izzy yanks open the protesting grate. "Time to get this thing fixed."
Despite his grumbling, Alec can't help thinking that it was good to get out again, after everything. After Clary and Valentine and the Mortal Cup, it was good to be out as a team again, as a family. He hums under his breath as he kicks off his boots.
Izzy unpins her hair, letting it fall down in sheets of black around her face. "Now I'm hungry I wish Mom were here to cooks something."
Mom and Dad have been in Alicante with Max for weeks now, and they've been subsisting on takeout and cereal for the most part. Especially with Hodge gone.
"Better that she isn't," Jace says as he takes off his weapons belt. "She'd already be shrieking about the rugs."
And I'd be hiding Magnus from one more person, Alec thinks, half a second before he hears, "You're right about that," from over his shoulder and turns to see Maryse Lightwood standing over them, arms crossed.
"Mom!" Izzy says, jumping up to hug her. Alec follows a little more slowly, trying to hide the trace of a limp he still has from Abbadon. "Where's Dad?" Izzy asks as she steps back. "And Max?"
Maryse pauses a half-second too long before saying, "Max is in his room. And your father is still in Alicante. There was some business there that required his attention."
She's curt and business-like as always, but something is off, so Alec asks, "Is something wrong?"
Maryse turns to him with a wry smile and a dry tone. "I could ask you that. Are you limping?"
Well, crap. "I..." Alec starts and is saved having to come up with a lie about his reckless behavior that day at Clary's apartment by Isabelle.
"We had a run-in with a Draconidae demon in the subway tunnels. But it was nothing."
"And I suppose that Greater Demon you fought last week was nothing too?"
Alec has nothing. He's easily the worst liar of the three of them. Izzy looks to Jace.
"That wasn't planned for," he says, and Alec looks between his mother and Jace. Maryse is looking at Jace strangely. Like he's not her son. Like he's an imposter. Or a threat. "It was a mistake--"
"Jace!" Max squeezes past Maryse, his slight frame making it easy for him to avoid her grasp as he bursts in between them, spinning to grin at all three. "I thought I heard the elevator."
"And I thought I told you to stay in your room," Maryse says.
"I don't remember that," Max says, and Alec has to smile. Max is so small for his age and so serious looking in his oversized glasses that everything he says always comes off as precocious and sincere. Alec ruffles Max's hair but Max, as ever, has eyes only for Jace.
Alec can sympathize.
"I heard you fought a Greater Demon," Max says, turning shining eyes up to Jace. "Was it awesome?"
There's always a pang of jealousy when Alec sees Max and Jace together. Max never bonded with him that way. He was always the serious older brother, left in charge when Robert and Maryse weren't around--which was a lot when Max was younger. Jace and Izzy got to be the fun ones. Alec is looking forward to when Max is old enough to patrol with them. Then maybe he'll see that Alec's not always a stick in the mud.
"It was...different," Jace says, and Alec can hear in his voice that his parabatai is trying to hedge. "How was Alicante?"
"It was awesome," Max says, his eyes bright and wide behind his glasses. "We saw the coolest stuff. There's this huge armory in Alicante and they took me to some of the places where they make weapons. They showed me a new way to make seraph blades too, so they last longer, and I'm going to try to get Hodge to show me--"
Alec glances up sharply and sees that Jace's gaze shot straight to Maryse. Has she not told Max about Hodge yet? Is he expecting to find their tutor still at the Institute? Looking to his mother, Alec sees her lips pursed into a thin line.
"That's enough, Max," she says, taking Max's arm.
"But I'm talking to Jace--"
"I can see that." She nudges Max toward Alec and Izzy. "Isabelle, Alec, take your brother to his room. Jace, get yourself cleaned up and meet me in the library as soon as you can."
Alec frowns. The way Maryse is looking at Jace--or rather, the way she isn't looking at him--makes Alec uneasy. "I don't get it. What's going on?"
"Is this about my father?" Jace asks, and Alec can feel the cold fear of those words through his parabatai bond.
"The library," Maryse says through clenched teeth. "We'll discuss the matter there."
"What happened while you were gone wasn't Jace's fault," Alec says, stepping forward. "We were all in on it. And Hodge said--"
"We'll discuss Hodge later as well." Alec can tell by his mother's tone that this is not a matter that is up for discussion.
"But, Mother," Izzy says, stepping forward with Alec, "if you're going to punish Jace, you should punish us as well. It would only be fair. We did exactly the same things."
Maryse pauses so long that Alec is certain she isn't going to answer. When she speaks, her voice has a weight to it that Alec has rarely heard from her. "No," she says. "You didn't."
"Are you still mad?" Jace asks as they ride up in the cramped elevator. Alec is certain he's about 50% mud right now. The rest is made up of blood, pain, and annoyance.
"I'm not mad," Alec insists, though he knows he's glaring at Jace.
"Oh, yes you are." Jace made a gesture that was cut off with a cry of pain. They've both been through hell tonight.
"I am not," Alec says again, more firmly. "Just because you said dragon demons were extinct--"
"I said mostly extinct."
"Mostly extinct," Alec says, jabbing a finger in Jace's direction, "is NOT EXTINCT ENOUGH."
Jace looks entirely too pleased with himself. "I see. I'll just have them change the entry in the demonology textbook from 'almost extinct' to 'not extinct enough for Alec. He prefers his monsters really, really extinct.' Will that make you happy?"
"Boys, boys." Isabelle, looking unnaturally pristine and grinning at them both, checks her reflection in the elevator's mirrored wall. "Don't fight. All right, so it was a little more action than we were expecting, but I thought it was fun."
Of course she did. Alec shakes his head. "How do you manage never to get mud on you?"
"I'm pure at heart," Izzy says with a shrug. "It repels dirt."
Jace snorts and wiggles muddy fingers at her. "Filthy inside and out."
The elevator screeches to a halt and Izzy yanks open the protesting grate. "Time to get this thing fixed."
Despite his grumbling, Alec can't help thinking that it was good to get out again, after everything. After Clary and Valentine and the Mortal Cup, it was good to be out as a team again, as a family. He hums under his breath as he kicks off his boots.
Izzy unpins her hair, letting it fall down in sheets of black around her face. "Now I'm hungry I wish Mom were here to cooks something."
Mom and Dad have been in Alicante with Max for weeks now, and they've been subsisting on takeout and cereal for the most part. Especially with Hodge gone.
"Better that she isn't," Jace says as he takes off his weapons belt. "She'd already be shrieking about the rugs."
And I'd be hiding Magnus from one more person, Alec thinks, half a second before he hears, "You're right about that," from over his shoulder and turns to see Maryse Lightwood standing over them, arms crossed.
"Mom!" Izzy says, jumping up to hug her. Alec follows a little more slowly, trying to hide the trace of a limp he still has from Abbadon. "Where's Dad?" Izzy asks as she steps back. "And Max?"
Maryse pauses a half-second too long before saying, "Max is in his room. And your father is still in Alicante. There was some business there that required his attention."
She's curt and business-like as always, but something is off, so Alec asks, "Is something wrong?"
Maryse turns to him with a wry smile and a dry tone. "I could ask you that. Are you limping?"
Well, crap. "I..." Alec starts and is saved having to come up with a lie about his reckless behavior that day at Clary's apartment by Isabelle.
"We had a run-in with a Draconidae demon in the subway tunnels. But it was nothing."
"And I suppose that Greater Demon you fought last week was nothing too?"
Alec has nothing. He's easily the worst liar of the three of them. Izzy looks to Jace.
"That wasn't planned for," he says, and Alec looks between his mother and Jace. Maryse is looking at Jace strangely. Like he's not her son. Like he's an imposter. Or a threat. "It was a mistake--"
"Jace!" Max squeezes past Maryse, his slight frame making it easy for him to avoid her grasp as he bursts in between them, spinning to grin at all three. "I thought I heard the elevator."
"And I thought I told you to stay in your room," Maryse says.
"I don't remember that," Max says, and Alec has to smile. Max is so small for his age and so serious looking in his oversized glasses that everything he says always comes off as precocious and sincere. Alec ruffles Max's hair but Max, as ever, has eyes only for Jace.
Alec can sympathize.
"I heard you fought a Greater Demon," Max says, turning shining eyes up to Jace. "Was it awesome?"
There's always a pang of jealousy when Alec sees Max and Jace together. Max never bonded with him that way. He was always the serious older brother, left in charge when Robert and Maryse weren't around--which was a lot when Max was younger. Jace and Izzy got to be the fun ones. Alec is looking forward to when Max is old enough to patrol with them. Then maybe he'll see that Alec's not always a stick in the mud.
"It was...different," Jace says, and Alec can hear in his voice that his parabatai is trying to hedge. "How was Alicante?"
"It was awesome," Max says, his eyes bright and wide behind his glasses. "We saw the coolest stuff. There's this huge armory in Alicante and they took me to some of the places where they make weapons. They showed me a new way to make seraph blades too, so they last longer, and I'm going to try to get Hodge to show me--"
Alec glances up sharply and sees that Jace's gaze shot straight to Maryse. Has she not told Max about Hodge yet? Is he expecting to find their tutor still at the Institute? Looking to his mother, Alec sees her lips pursed into a thin line.
"That's enough, Max," she says, taking Max's arm.
"But I'm talking to Jace--"
"I can see that." She nudges Max toward Alec and Izzy. "Isabelle, Alec, take your brother to his room. Jace, get yourself cleaned up and meet me in the library as soon as you can."
Alec frowns. The way Maryse is looking at Jace--or rather, the way she isn't looking at him--makes Alec uneasy. "I don't get it. What's going on?"
"Is this about my father?" Jace asks, and Alec can feel the cold fear of those words through his parabatai bond.
"The library," Maryse says through clenched teeth. "We'll discuss the matter there."
"What happened while you were gone wasn't Jace's fault," Alec says, stepping forward. "We were all in on it. And Hodge said--"
"We'll discuss Hodge later as well." Alec can tell by his mother's tone that this is not a matter that is up for discussion.
"But, Mother," Izzy says, stepping forward with Alec, "if you're going to punish Jace, you should punish us as well. It would only be fair. We did exactly the same things."
Maryse pauses so long that Alec is certain she isn't going to answer. When she speaks, her voice has a weight to it that Alec has rarely heard from her. "No," she says. "You didn't."
The Course of Second Dates
Nov. 3rd, 2018 12:54 pmHe's on time this time, at least. And he has Magnus's shirt, neatly folded, in his hand. He'd thought about keeping it, but that seemed silly somehow. He wasn't ever going to wear it. (And he wasn't sure he'd ever tell Magnus that he lent it to Cecil. He had it back now, and it was clean.)
He clears his throat quietly and tugs at his shirt, another blue one, a sweater this time, but one Izzy had given him, so it was mostly free of holes and not too faded. He thinks he probably shouldn't be so nervous. It had gone really well last time, once they'd gotten through dinner.
Still, his hand is trembling a little when he presses the buzzer.
He clears his throat quietly and tugs at his shirt, another blue one, a sweater this time, but one Izzy had given him, so it was mostly free of holes and not too faded. He thinks he probably shouldn't be so nervous. It had gone really well last time, once they'd gotten through dinner.
Still, his hand is trembling a little when he presses the buzzer.
Alec was late. He was really late. Late enough that he was pretty sure Magnus would have given up on him. Damn Jace wanting to train and Alec's inability to think of a good enough excuse to get out of it.
He'd rushed through a shower and pulled on a light-blue shirt that was actually new. Izzy said it did good things for his eyes. Alec hoped they were good enough for Magnus to forget that he was supposed to be there more than twenty minutes ago. He also hoped Izzy had been right about the cologne. He'd never worn cologne before.
As he sprinted through the Brooklyn streets to Magnus's loft, Alec dodged between pedestrians and once or twice vaulted a low wall that was in his way. He couldn't be bothered to stop for things like red lights, so he just flitted between (or over) cars where necessary. He was already late, but he didn't have to be any later.
By the time he got to Magnus's loft and threw himself at the buzzer, he actually needed to catch his breath.
[ooc: Dialogue and plot courtesy of Cassandra Clare's The Bane Chronicles.]
He'd rushed through a shower and pulled on a light-blue shirt that was actually new. Izzy said it did good things for his eyes. Alec hoped they were good enough for Magnus to forget that he was supposed to be there more than twenty minutes ago. He also hoped Izzy had been right about the cologne. He'd never worn cologne before.
As he sprinted through the Brooklyn streets to Magnus's loft, Alec dodged between pedestrians and once or twice vaulted a low wall that was in his way. He couldn't be bothered to stop for things like red lights, so he just flitted between (or over) cars where necessary. He was already late, but he didn't have to be any later.
By the time he got to Magnus's loft and threw himself at the buzzer, he actually needed to catch his breath.
[ooc: Dialogue and plot courtesy of Cassandra Clare's The Bane Chronicles.]
City of Bones, Apologizing to Clary
Aug. 17th, 2018 08:01 pmIn the four days since he'd been spectacularly foolish and thrown himself at a Greater Demon, Alec has had quite a lot of time to think. Especially as he's hardly been allowed out of bed since then.
When Clary comes to the Institute, he knows he has to talk to her about...well, about everything, so he offers to walk her up to Jace.
Hobble her up, really. The crutches are swiftly losing their novelty. Even so, he doesn't realize she's fallen behind until she's jogging up next to him.
"I have short legs," she says.
"Sorry." He slows his pace. "Look," he starts, though he's not sure where he's going yet. He usually doesn't, just starts talking until the words are coming out too quickly for him to stop. "Those things you said to me," he goes on, "when I yelled at you about Jace..."
Her voice is quiet, as small as she is. "I remember."
"When you told me that you, you know, that I was just--that it was because--" It's so hard, trying to get the words out. It was difficult enough in Milliways, with Sinric. Saying it here, in his world, in his home, to this...to Clary....
But he owed it to her to try. "When you said I was..."
"Alec don't."
He snipped off his words, almost sucking them back in. "Sure. Never mind. You don't want to talk about it."
"It's not that. It's that I feel awful about what I said. It was horrible. It wasn't true at all--"
"But it was true." He's surprised at the steadiness of his voice, quiet but firm. "Every word."
"That doesn't make it okay. Not everything that's true needs to be said." She keeps surprising him, this not-mundane. He can see why Jace likes her. He can even, a little, see why she's good for him. Even now, knowing they're brother and sister, that made sense too, somehow, like they were always supposed to be part of each other. "It was mean," she continues. "And when I said Jace had told me you'd never killed a demon, he said it was because you were always protecting him and Isabelle. It was a good thing he was saying about you. Jace can be a jerk but he--" She stops, like she was about to say something and changed her mind. "Never said a bad word about you to me, ever. I swear."
"You don't have to swear," Alec says. "I know already." Because it's Jace, and as much as he'd feared otherwise, he knows Jace trusts him or they wouldn't be parabatai. "I know I didn't kill Abbadon either. But I appreciate you telling me I had."
The tremble in her laugh makes him feel better, like he's not the only one strained by this baring of emotions. "You appreciate me lying to you?"
"You did it out of kindness. That means a lot, that you would be kind to me, even after how I treated you." Yet another thing that surprised him.
"I think Jace would have been pretty pissed at me for lying if he hadn't been so upset at the time. Not as mad as he would be if he knew what I'd said to you before, though."
Alec feels himself smiling like he can't stop it. "I've got an idea. Let's not tell him. I mean, maybe Jace can behead a Du'sien demon from a distance of fifty feet with just a corkscrew and a rubber band, but sometimes I think he doesn't know much about people."
She smiles back, so he must have done something right. "I guess so."
The staircase to the roof, where Jace was hiding out, was the end of Alec's journey. "I can't go up," he said, tapping a crutch against the spiral stairway.
"It's okay. I can find my way."
He starts to leave but he wants to do something to break the tension, so he turns back. "I should have guessed you were Jace's sister," he says. "You both have the same artistic talent."
She stops like she's surprised. "Jace can draw?"
"Nah." Alec smiles brightly. "I was just kidding. He can't draw a straight line."
Laughing softly, he pivots away and swings himself down the hallway.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.]
When Clary comes to the Institute, he knows he has to talk to her about...well, about everything, so he offers to walk her up to Jace.
Hobble her up, really. The crutches are swiftly losing their novelty. Even so, he doesn't realize she's fallen behind until she's jogging up next to him.
"I have short legs," she says.
"Sorry." He slows his pace. "Look," he starts, though he's not sure where he's going yet. He usually doesn't, just starts talking until the words are coming out too quickly for him to stop. "Those things you said to me," he goes on, "when I yelled at you about Jace..."
Her voice is quiet, as small as she is. "I remember."
"When you told me that you, you know, that I was just--that it was because--" It's so hard, trying to get the words out. It was difficult enough in Milliways, with Sinric. Saying it here, in his world, in his home, to this...to Clary....
But he owed it to her to try. "When you said I was..."
"Alec don't."
He snipped off his words, almost sucking them back in. "Sure. Never mind. You don't want to talk about it."
"It's not that. It's that I feel awful about what I said. It was horrible. It wasn't true at all--"
"But it was true." He's surprised at the steadiness of his voice, quiet but firm. "Every word."
"That doesn't make it okay. Not everything that's true needs to be said." She keeps surprising him, this not-mundane. He can see why Jace likes her. He can even, a little, see why she's good for him. Even now, knowing they're brother and sister, that made sense too, somehow, like they were always supposed to be part of each other. "It was mean," she continues. "And when I said Jace had told me you'd never killed a demon, he said it was because you were always protecting him and Isabelle. It was a good thing he was saying about you. Jace can be a jerk but he--" She stops, like she was about to say something and changed her mind. "Never said a bad word about you to me, ever. I swear."
"You don't have to swear," Alec says. "I know already." Because it's Jace, and as much as he'd feared otherwise, he knows Jace trusts him or they wouldn't be parabatai. "I know I didn't kill Abbadon either. But I appreciate you telling me I had."
The tremble in her laugh makes him feel better, like he's not the only one strained by this baring of emotions. "You appreciate me lying to you?"
"You did it out of kindness. That means a lot, that you would be kind to me, even after how I treated you." Yet another thing that surprised him.
"I think Jace would have been pretty pissed at me for lying if he hadn't been so upset at the time. Not as mad as he would be if he knew what I'd said to you before, though."
Alec feels himself smiling like he can't stop it. "I've got an idea. Let's not tell him. I mean, maybe Jace can behead a Du'sien demon from a distance of fifty feet with just a corkscrew and a rubber band, but sometimes I think he doesn't know much about people."
She smiles back, so he must have done something right. "I guess so."
The staircase to the roof, where Jace was hiding out, was the end of Alec's journey. "I can't go up," he said, tapping a crutch against the spiral stairway.
"It's okay. I can find my way."
He starts to leave but he wants to do something to break the tension, so he turns back. "I should have guessed you were Jace's sister," he says. "You both have the same artistic talent."
She stops like she's surprised. "Jace can draw?"
"Nah." Alec smiles brightly. "I was just kidding. He can't draw a straight line."
Laughing softly, he pivots away and swings himself down the hallway.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.]
City of Bones: Night Fever
Aug. 17th, 2018 05:26 pmFrom the van to the infirmary, Alec remembers almost nothing. Scurried movements, mumbling voices.
He remembers Hodge, remembers the familiar touch of adamas to his skin. He doesn't remember moving to his room, but he knows he's in his own bed when the fire in his veins starts to burn through his skin and he begins to scream for his family.
He tries to scream, at least, but his voice sounds like a whisper to his fevered ears.
He remembers Hodge, remembers the familiar touch of adamas to his skin. He doesn't remember moving to his room, but he knows he's in his own bed when the fire in his veins starts to burn through his skin and he begins to scream for his family.
He tries to scream, at least, but his voice sounds like a whisper to his fevered ears.
City of Bones: at Madame Dorothea's
Aug. 12th, 2018 06:36 pmAll the way to Brooklyn in the mundane's--the other mundane, the one with glasses--roaring van, Alec heard Jace's voice in his head, taunting him. "If you're afraid of a few Forsaken, by all means stay home."
He'd wanted to believe that Clary had been lying about what Jace had said, about him being afraid, but Jace had all but said it himself. When they got to Clary's home, Alec had made up his mind. He was going to prove himself today.
"Ready to go," Alec said, dropping their equipment bag onto the sidewalk. "Let's kick some demon butt!"
"You all right?" Jace asked him, and Alec knew he was going to have to tone it down some.
"Fine," he said, deliberately not looking at Jace as he set aside his bow and pulled out a featherstaff instead. Close quarters combat would be better for this, better to prove himself. "This is better," he added when Isabelle gave him a strange look.
"But the bow..."
"I know what I'm doing, Isabelle."
They convinced the mundane to stay behind and headed into the building. Alec could feel the thrum of pre-battle adrenaline zinging through him, stronger than ever before, and not just because they might be about to retrieve the Mortal Cup. The stench as they approached was sickening, and Alec felt his stomach lurch. The sensors had shown very little demon activity, but whatever was here...it wasn't just Forsaken.
"Demons have been here," Jace said, a sharp grin on his face that only heightened Alec's anxiety. "Recently, too."
Clary's pale face went paler still. "But they're not still--"
"No," Jace was quick to assure her. "We woud have sensed it. Still." He gestured to the Control's door. "She might have some questions to answer if the Clave hears she's been entertaining demons."
Inside, the medium, Madame Dorothea, chattered with Jace and Clary as Alec and Isabelle inspected the room as unobtrusively as possible. He watched in awe as Clary, impossibly, pulled the Cup from Madame Dorothea's tarot card.
What happened next zipped past Alec almost too quickly for him to keep up. Madame Dorothea was saying something about the cup being damaged, then Jace's blade was at her throat, then she pulled the curtains down, and there was an open Portal behind, and then, suddenly, Madame Dorothea was not herself but a demon.
"But you said there wasn't much demonic activity--you said the levels were low!" Alec choked out as they stared in horror at the thing.
"They were low."
Alec shouted, "Your version of low must be different from mine!"
The thing was growing, filling the room, and Jace grabbed Clary, shoving her out the door into the foyer. Isabelle ran to let them out but the door wouldn't open. "It's resistant," she said. "Must be a spell--"
"Where the hell is my stele--?" Jace searched his pockets.
"I have it," Clary offered, and then the wall exploded in front of Alec, and he stood, shocked into stillness, staring at the creature.
He heard Jace's voice calling his name, and then Jace was tugging him back, away from the danger.
"Give me," the demon was saying, "the Mortal Cup. Give it to me, and I will let you live."
"What are you?" Jace asked, and Alec envied him the steadiness in his voice.
"I am Abbadon," the thing said. "I am the Demon of the Abyss. Mine are the empty places between the worlds. Mine is the wind and the howlign darkness. I am unlike those mewling things you call demons as an eagle is unlike a fly. You cannot hope to defeat me. Give me the Cup or die."
"It's a Greater Demon," Isabelle said, and Alec felt the fear in her voice freeze his blood. "Jace, if we--"
"What about Dorothea?" Clary interrupted, and Alec glared at her. Hadn't she done enough? "What happened to her?"
"She was a vessel only," Abbadon said, turning his gaze to Clary. "She opened the Portal and I took possession of her. Her death was swift. Yours will not be."
It moved toward Clary, and in a hearbeat Jace was in its way, seraph blade blazing in his hand.
"By the Angel," he said, giving the demon a once-over like a girl in a club. "I knew Greater Demons were meant to be ugly, but no one ever warned me about the smell." The demon opened its mouth, but Jace continued. "I'm not so sure about this wind and howling darkness business. Smells more like landfill to me. You sure you're not from Staten Island?"
The demon struck, and Jace slashed out, into the thing's abdomen, before it hit him, sending him sprawling. Isabelle's whip curled around a limb, but it kept going for Jace, who pulled another seraph blade, speaking its name and facing off against Abbadon, against a Greater Demon, grinning fiercely in the face of death.
And he was beautiful and strong and made of pure light, and Alec couldn't stand it, couldn't stand to see Jace throw himself away like that. Without a thought, Alec leaped between Jace and the thing's outstretched claws, featherstaff raised, and buried his blade deep into the demon.
It struck back, lightning-quick. Alec felt its talons slicing into him, and he was thrown across the room, slamming hard into the far wall. He heard a crunch, and then the world slipped into blackness.
When he woke, he was lying on his back, his head cradled in Isabelle's lap as Jace's face, golden and beautiful, hovered over him. Alec held onto his wrist, his fingers sliding through blood, human and demonic.
"Did I...." He broke off as he saw Clary's face, and he knew. This was his one chance to prove himself. "Did I kill it?"
Jace started to speak, "You--"
But Clary cut him off. "Yes," Clary said. "It's dead."
Alec laughed in relief, and something gurgled in his throat as he did. Jace tugged his hand out of Alec's grip and held onto Alec's face with both his hands. "Don't," he said. "Hold still, just hold still."
Alec's eyelids felt heavy, too heavy. He let them fall. "Do what you have to."
He was dimly aware of Jace and Isabell moving over him, speaking, of the tip of the stele touching his skin, the sting of a rune being drawn, and then there was nothing at all.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.]
He'd wanted to believe that Clary had been lying about what Jace had said, about him being afraid, but Jace had all but said it himself. When they got to Clary's home, Alec had made up his mind. He was going to prove himself today.
"Ready to go," Alec said, dropping their equipment bag onto the sidewalk. "Let's kick some demon butt!"
"You all right?" Jace asked him, and Alec knew he was going to have to tone it down some.
"Fine," he said, deliberately not looking at Jace as he set aside his bow and pulled out a featherstaff instead. Close quarters combat would be better for this, better to prove himself. "This is better," he added when Isabelle gave him a strange look.
"But the bow..."
"I know what I'm doing, Isabelle."
They convinced the mundane to stay behind and headed into the building. Alec could feel the thrum of pre-battle adrenaline zinging through him, stronger than ever before, and not just because they might be about to retrieve the Mortal Cup. The stench as they approached was sickening, and Alec felt his stomach lurch. The sensors had shown very little demon activity, but whatever was here...it wasn't just Forsaken.
"Demons have been here," Jace said, a sharp grin on his face that only heightened Alec's anxiety. "Recently, too."
Clary's pale face went paler still. "But they're not still--"
"No," Jace was quick to assure her. "We woud have sensed it. Still." He gestured to the Control's door. "She might have some questions to answer if the Clave hears she's been entertaining demons."
Inside, the medium, Madame Dorothea, chattered with Jace and Clary as Alec and Isabelle inspected the room as unobtrusively as possible. He watched in awe as Clary, impossibly, pulled the Cup from Madame Dorothea's tarot card.
What happened next zipped past Alec almost too quickly for him to keep up. Madame Dorothea was saying something about the cup being damaged, then Jace's blade was at her throat, then she pulled the curtains down, and there was an open Portal behind, and then, suddenly, Madame Dorothea was not herself but a demon.
"But you said there wasn't much demonic activity--you said the levels were low!" Alec choked out as they stared in horror at the thing.
"They were low."
Alec shouted, "Your version of low must be different from mine!"
The thing was growing, filling the room, and Jace grabbed Clary, shoving her out the door into the foyer. Isabelle ran to let them out but the door wouldn't open. "It's resistant," she said. "Must be a spell--"
"Where the hell is my stele--?" Jace searched his pockets.
"I have it," Clary offered, and then the wall exploded in front of Alec, and he stood, shocked into stillness, staring at the creature.
He heard Jace's voice calling his name, and then Jace was tugging him back, away from the danger.
"Give me," the demon was saying, "the Mortal Cup. Give it to me, and I will let you live."
"What are you?" Jace asked, and Alec envied him the steadiness in his voice.
"I am Abbadon," the thing said. "I am the Demon of the Abyss. Mine are the empty places between the worlds. Mine is the wind and the howlign darkness. I am unlike those mewling things you call demons as an eagle is unlike a fly. You cannot hope to defeat me. Give me the Cup or die."
"It's a Greater Demon," Isabelle said, and Alec felt the fear in her voice freeze his blood. "Jace, if we--"
"What about Dorothea?" Clary interrupted, and Alec glared at her. Hadn't she done enough? "What happened to her?"
"She was a vessel only," Abbadon said, turning his gaze to Clary. "She opened the Portal and I took possession of her. Her death was swift. Yours will not be."
It moved toward Clary, and in a hearbeat Jace was in its way, seraph blade blazing in his hand.
"By the Angel," he said, giving the demon a once-over like a girl in a club. "I knew Greater Demons were meant to be ugly, but no one ever warned me about the smell." The demon opened its mouth, but Jace continued. "I'm not so sure about this wind and howling darkness business. Smells more like landfill to me. You sure you're not from Staten Island?"
The demon struck, and Jace slashed out, into the thing's abdomen, before it hit him, sending him sprawling. Isabelle's whip curled around a limb, but it kept going for Jace, who pulled another seraph blade, speaking its name and facing off against Abbadon, against a Greater Demon, grinning fiercely in the face of death.
And he was beautiful and strong and made of pure light, and Alec couldn't stand it, couldn't stand to see Jace throw himself away like that. Without a thought, Alec leaped between Jace and the thing's outstretched claws, featherstaff raised, and buried his blade deep into the demon.
It struck back, lightning-quick. Alec felt its talons slicing into him, and he was thrown across the room, slamming hard into the far wall. He heard a crunch, and then the world slipped into blackness.
When he woke, he was lying on his back, his head cradled in Isabelle's lap as Jace's face, golden and beautiful, hovered over him. Alec held onto his wrist, his fingers sliding through blood, human and demonic.
"Did I...." He broke off as he saw Clary's face, and he knew. This was his one chance to prove himself. "Did I kill it?"
Jace started to speak, "You--"
But Clary cut him off. "Yes," Clary said. "It's dead."
Alec laughed in relief, and something gurgled in his throat as he did. Jace tugged his hand out of Alec's grip and held onto Alec's face with both his hands. "Don't," he said. "Hold still, just hold still."
Alec's eyelids felt heavy, too heavy. He let them fall. "Do what you have to."
He was dimly aware of Jace and Isabell moving over him, speaking, of the tip of the stele touching his skin, the sting of a rune being drawn, and then there was nothing at all.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.]
City of Bones, Warning Clary
Aug. 5th, 2018 04:46 pmThe mundane girl had not gone away.
She had, if possible, become more entrenched into their lives. Because of her, Alec had gone to a Downworlder party. Because of her, a warlock had flirted with Alec. (At least...he thinks that's what happened. He's still trying to figure out that particular interaction.)
Because of her, Jace had attempted to rescue the other mundane (Angel's sake, there were two mundanes in the Institute), by going to the Hotel Dumort alone. Without Alec. It was a miracle they'd come back in anything like one piece.
There was nothing for it, Alec was going to have to simply ask her to leave. She clearly wasn't going to do it on her own, and Jace was never going to send her away. When she left the infirmary, Alec hurried after her.
"Clary!" he said, jogging to catch her up. "I need to talk to you."
"What about?" She looked wary, like she wasn't sure she could trust what was going to come out of his mouth.
For a split second, he almost didn't say it, but he thought of Jace, bleeding on the entrance of the Institute, without his parabatai to protect him, and he pushed through. "I think you should leave," he said. "Go home."
Clary looked like she'd been slapped. "Alec, the last time I was home, it was infested with Forsaken. And Raveners. With fangs. Nobody wants to go home more than I do, but--"
He cut her off, mostly because she was making too much sense, because he knew he should care about all of that. "You must have relatives you could stay with?" He heard the desperation in his own voice.
"No," she said simply. "Besides, Hodge wants me to stay."
"He can't possibly," Alec said, shaking his head. "I mean, not after what you've done--"
"What I've done?"
He swallowed. She had to realize, didn't she? "You almost got Jace killed."
"I almost--What are you talking about?"
She didn't even realize. With Jace sitting in the infirmary even now, she still didn't realize. "Running off after your friend like that--do you know how much danger you put him in? Do you know--"
This time it was Clary who interrupted. "Him? You mean Jace? For your information, the whole thing was his idea," she said, like Alec hadn't known that from the start. Like he didn't know Jace well enough for that. "He asked Magnus where the lair was. He went to the church to get weapons. If I hadn't come with him, he would have gone anyway."
"You don't understand." That was painfully clear. She didn't understand anything at all. "You don't know him. I know him. He thinks he has to save the world; he'd be glad to kill himself trying. Sometimes I think he even wants to die, but that doesn't mean you should encourage him to do it."
"I don't get it." Even as she spoke, Alec wanted to scream at her that he knew that. If nothing else, that much was obvious. "Jace is a Nephilim. This is what you do, you rescue people, you kill demons, you put yourselves in danger. How was last night any different?"
"Because he left me behind!" Alec shouted, feeling his carefully constructed crontrol shattering. "Normally I'd be with him, covering him, watching his back, keeping him safe. But you--you're dead weight, a mundane." He said the word with more venom then he usually felt toward mundanes.
"No," Clary said. "I'm not. I'm Nephilim--just like you."
He could feel the sneer tugging up his lip. "Maybe," he said, because that was technically true. "But with no training, no nothing, you're still not much use, are you? Your mother brought you up in the mundane world, and that's where you belong. Not here, making Jace act like--like he isn't one of us. Making him break his oath to the Clave, making him break the Law--"
"News flash," Clary said, her eyes flashing, and Alec could see a spark of the warrior she could have been if she'd been raised a Shadowhunter. "I don't make Jace do anything. He does what he wants. You ought to know that."
He looked at her in horror. It was like she had no concept of a life outside of herself. How could she possibly be so self-absorbed. "You mundanes are completely selfish, aren't you? Have you no idea what he's done for you, what kind of personal risks he's taken? I'm not just talking about his safety. He could lose everything. He already lost his father and mother; do you want to make sure he loses the family he's got left as well?"
Alec couldn't bear the thought. Jace exiled, stripped of his Marks, cast out. He could almost swear he felt a pang in his shoulder, where his parabatai rune was, at the very thought of having that bond severed.
Clary was tiny, but she had gathered up a deep rage from somewhere, and when she hissed her response at him, Alec took a surprised step back. "You should talk about selfish. You couldn't care less about anyone in this world except yourself, Alec Lightwood. No wonder you've never killed a single demon, because you're too afraid."
The words hit him like an electric shock, and for a moment he just looked at her, stupefied. "Who told you that?"
Her answer was simply and devastating. "Jace."
"He wouldn't," Alec said. "He wouldn't say that." Not to her, especially. Not to a mundane.
"He did," she said, and he saw an almost cruel gleam in her eye "You can rant all you want about honor and honesty and how mundanes don't have any of either, but if you were honest, you'd admit this tantrum is just because you're in love with him. It doesn't have anything to do with--"
Alec wasn't even aware he had moved until he heard the crack of Clary's skull hitting the wood paneling of the hallway. The terror that swept over him pushed aside any other thought in his head. "Don't you ever," he whispered, hands gripping her arms tightly as he kept her pinned to the wall, "ever, say anything like that to him or I'll kill you. I swear on the Angel, I'll kill you."
In that moment, he meant it. His grip on her arms tightened, and she gasped in pain. He let go immediately, pushing off the wall and spinning on his heel, all but fleeing the hallway.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.]
She had, if possible, become more entrenched into their lives. Because of her, Alec had gone to a Downworlder party. Because of her, a warlock had flirted with Alec. (At least...he thinks that's what happened. He's still trying to figure out that particular interaction.)
Because of her, Jace had attempted to rescue the other mundane (Angel's sake, there were two mundanes in the Institute), by going to the Hotel Dumort alone. Without Alec. It was a miracle they'd come back in anything like one piece.
There was nothing for it, Alec was going to have to simply ask her to leave. She clearly wasn't going to do it on her own, and Jace was never going to send her away. When she left the infirmary, Alec hurried after her.
"Clary!" he said, jogging to catch her up. "I need to talk to you."
"What about?" She looked wary, like she wasn't sure she could trust what was going to come out of his mouth.
For a split second, he almost didn't say it, but he thought of Jace, bleeding on the entrance of the Institute, without his parabatai to protect him, and he pushed through. "I think you should leave," he said. "Go home."
Clary looked like she'd been slapped. "Alec, the last time I was home, it was infested with Forsaken. And Raveners. With fangs. Nobody wants to go home more than I do, but--"
He cut her off, mostly because she was making too much sense, because he knew he should care about all of that. "You must have relatives you could stay with?" He heard the desperation in his own voice.
"No," she said simply. "Besides, Hodge wants me to stay."
"He can't possibly," Alec said, shaking his head. "I mean, not after what you've done--"
"What I've done?"
He swallowed. She had to realize, didn't she? "You almost got Jace killed."
"I almost--What are you talking about?"
She didn't even realize. With Jace sitting in the infirmary even now, she still didn't realize. "Running off after your friend like that--do you know how much danger you put him in? Do you know--"
This time it was Clary who interrupted. "Him? You mean Jace? For your information, the whole thing was his idea," she said, like Alec hadn't known that from the start. Like he didn't know Jace well enough for that. "He asked Magnus where the lair was. He went to the church to get weapons. If I hadn't come with him, he would have gone anyway."
"You don't understand." That was painfully clear. She didn't understand anything at all. "You don't know him. I know him. He thinks he has to save the world; he'd be glad to kill himself trying. Sometimes I think he even wants to die, but that doesn't mean you should encourage him to do it."
"I don't get it." Even as she spoke, Alec wanted to scream at her that he knew that. If nothing else, that much was obvious. "Jace is a Nephilim. This is what you do, you rescue people, you kill demons, you put yourselves in danger. How was last night any different?"
"Because he left me behind!" Alec shouted, feeling his carefully constructed crontrol shattering. "Normally I'd be with him, covering him, watching his back, keeping him safe. But you--you're dead weight, a mundane." He said the word with more venom then he usually felt toward mundanes.
"No," Clary said. "I'm not. I'm Nephilim--just like you."
He could feel the sneer tugging up his lip. "Maybe," he said, because that was technically true. "But with no training, no nothing, you're still not much use, are you? Your mother brought you up in the mundane world, and that's where you belong. Not here, making Jace act like--like he isn't one of us. Making him break his oath to the Clave, making him break the Law--"
"News flash," Clary said, her eyes flashing, and Alec could see a spark of the warrior she could have been if she'd been raised a Shadowhunter. "I don't make Jace do anything. He does what he wants. You ought to know that."
He looked at her in horror. It was like she had no concept of a life outside of herself. How could she possibly be so self-absorbed. "You mundanes are completely selfish, aren't you? Have you no idea what he's done for you, what kind of personal risks he's taken? I'm not just talking about his safety. He could lose everything. He already lost his father and mother; do you want to make sure he loses the family he's got left as well?"
Alec couldn't bear the thought. Jace exiled, stripped of his Marks, cast out. He could almost swear he felt a pang in his shoulder, where his parabatai rune was, at the very thought of having that bond severed.
Clary was tiny, but she had gathered up a deep rage from somewhere, and when she hissed her response at him, Alec took a surprised step back. "You should talk about selfish. You couldn't care less about anyone in this world except yourself, Alec Lightwood. No wonder you've never killed a single demon, because you're too afraid."
The words hit him like an electric shock, and for a moment he just looked at her, stupefied. "Who told you that?"
Her answer was simply and devastating. "Jace."
"He wouldn't," Alec said. "He wouldn't say that." Not to her, especially. Not to a mundane.
"He did," she said, and he saw an almost cruel gleam in her eye "You can rant all you want about honor and honesty and how mundanes don't have any of either, but if you were honest, you'd admit this tantrum is just because you're in love with him. It doesn't have anything to do with--"
Alec wasn't even aware he had moved until he heard the crack of Clary's skull hitting the wood paneling of the hallway. The terror that swept over him pushed aside any other thought in his head. "Don't you ever," he whispered, hands gripping her arms tightly as he kept her pinned to the wall, "ever, say anything like that to him or I'll kill you. I swear on the Angel, I'll kill you."
In that moment, he meant it. His grip on her arms tightened, and she gasped in pain. He let go immediately, pushing off the wall and spinning on his heel, all but fleeing the hallway.
[ooc: All dialogue comes from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.]
City of Bones, Meeting Clary
Jul. 29th, 2018 08:29 amJace was shaken.
He didn't show it, but Alec could tell. He could always tell what his parabatai was feeling, and he'd been shaken since that night in Pandemonium. Since that mundane girl had shown up and nearly gotten Jace killed.
And it wasn't the nearly dying that had shaken him. Alec had seen Jace almost die many times before. Jace specialized in almost dying. Jace's goal in life seemed to be to almost die more times than any other Shadowhunter since Jonathan Shadowhunter himself.
No, it was that girl.
When Hodge agreed that she should be brought in, Jace insisted on going himself to bring her in. Insisted on going alone.
He'd brought her back limp and unmoving, poisoned by a Ravener demon, and Alec could see it in Jace's every movement, could feel it through their parabatai bond.
He'd seen Jace go after girls before too, but not like this, even if a part of Alec hoped that, like every other time, once he'd slept with her, he'd lose interest.
Which was why, when Jace hadn't gone to check on the mundie girl as she lay, unconscious and possibly dying, in the infirmary, and Izzy said, "I guess he doesn't care," Alec knew it wasn't true. Jace was staying away for the opposite reason.
Sometimes it surprised him that, even though they'd both grown up with Jace, close as siblings, Isabelle could still misread him when Alec saw right through him.
The mundie girl lived, and Alec surprised himself with how angry he was at the news she was awake. Keeping mundanes alive was literally the purpose of the Nephilim. He should have been pleased.
Instead, he'd cast aspersions on her story of having killed the Ravener with Jace's sensor, calling her, "a mundie...and a little kid, at that," though she was the same age as Izzy.
"Isabelle hails from one of the greatest Shadowhunter dynasties in history," he'd said. "This girl, on the other hand, hails from New Jersey."
Not that any of his comments had done any good. Hodge had shooed them out to speak with her alone, and Jace had taken them to the weapons room to wait for news.
"Where's Hodge?" Jace asked when Church had led the girl back to them.
"Writing to the Silent Brothers," she said, like that wasn't a horrific thought.
"Ugh." Alec couldn't quite hold back his shudder. The Silent Brothers gave him the creeps, as they did to most Shadowhunters. Alec's gaze shot to the girl's wrist, where Jace had shown them the scar left by the mendelin rune Jace had drawn on her to hide her from the demons. Not so mundane, though he wasn't ready to call her a Shadowhunter. She'd have to earn that title.
Alec saw the way Jace's eyes traced her movements, heard him fumble at his usually flawless game of words, and he felt it slice through his heart. Was this it? Was this the moment he lost his parabatai forever? To a mundane?
"Hodge said I can go home," she was saying, and Alec almost couldn't contain his relief.
The seraph blade Jace had been holding clattered to the table. "He said what?"
"To look through my mother's things. If you go with me."
She was looking at Jace, only at Jace.
"Jace," Alec said, hoping he sounded chiding rather than pleading.
"If you really want to prove that my mom or dad was a Shadowhunter," the girl continued, "we should look through my mom's things. What's left of them."
"Down the rabbit hole." Jace had that grin on his face, the one he got right before he did something Alec was going to have to protect him from. "Good idea. If we go right now, we should have another three, four hours of daylight."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Alec asked, already getting out of his chair, ready as ever to follow his parabatai, to protect him.
"No. That's all right." Jace didn't so much as turn to look at Alec, but the girl did, and Alec felt an unfamiliar jealousy, poisonous as a Ravener, well up in his chest when she met his gaze. "Clary and I can handle this on our own."
And then he was out the door, and Alec stared after them in shock.
He felt Izzy's hand on his shoulder as he dropped back into his chair. "She'll be gone soon," she said. "You'll have him back."
But this time, Alec wasn't so sure.
[All but the last line of dialogue come from Cassandra Clare's City of Bones.]
He didn't show it, but Alec could tell. He could always tell what his parabatai was feeling, and he'd been shaken since that night in Pandemonium. Since that mundane girl had shown up and nearly gotten Jace killed.
And it wasn't the nearly dying that had shaken him. Alec had seen Jace almost die many times before. Jace specialized in almost dying. Jace's goal in life seemed to be to almost die more times than any other Shadowhunter since Jonathan Shadowhunter himself.
No, it was that girl.
When Hodge agreed that she should be brought in, Jace insisted on going himself to bring her in. Insisted on going alone.
He'd brought her back limp and unmoving, poisoned by a Ravener demon, and Alec could see it in Jace's every movement, could feel it through their parabatai bond.
He'd seen Jace go after girls before too, but not like this, even if a part of Alec hoped that, like every other time, once he'd slept with her, he'd lose interest.
Which was why, when Jace hadn't gone to check on the mundie girl as she lay, unconscious and possibly dying, in the infirmary, and Izzy said, "I guess he doesn't care," Alec knew it wasn't true. Jace was staying away for the opposite reason.
Sometimes it surprised him that, even though they'd both grown up with Jace, close as siblings, Isabelle could still misread him when Alec saw right through him.
The mundie girl lived, and Alec surprised himself with how angry he was at the news she was awake. Keeping mundanes alive was literally the purpose of the Nephilim. He should have been pleased.
Instead, he'd cast aspersions on her story of having killed the Ravener with Jace's sensor, calling her, "a mundie...and a little kid, at that," though she was the same age as Izzy.
"Isabelle hails from one of the greatest Shadowhunter dynasties in history," he'd said. "This girl, on the other hand, hails from New Jersey."
Not that any of his comments had done any good. Hodge had shooed them out to speak with her alone, and Jace had taken them to the weapons room to wait for news.
"Where's Hodge?" Jace asked when Church had led the girl back to them.
"Writing to the Silent Brothers," she said, like that wasn't a horrific thought.
"Ugh." Alec couldn't quite hold back his shudder. The Silent Brothers gave him the creeps, as they did to most Shadowhunters. Alec's gaze shot to the girl's wrist, where Jace had shown them the scar left by the mendelin rune Jace had drawn on her to hide her from the demons. Not so mundane, though he wasn't ready to call her a Shadowhunter. She'd have to earn that title.
Alec saw the way Jace's eyes traced her movements, heard him fumble at his usually flawless game of words, and he felt it slice through his heart. Was this it? Was this the moment he lost his parabatai forever? To a mundane?
"Hodge said I can go home," she was saying, and Alec almost couldn't contain his relief.
The seraph blade Jace had been holding clattered to the table. "He said what?"
"To look through my mother's things. If you go with me."
She was looking at Jace, only at Jace.
"Jace," Alec said, hoping he sounded chiding rather than pleading.
"If you really want to prove that my mom or dad was a Shadowhunter," the girl continued, "we should look through my mom's things. What's left of them."
"Down the rabbit hole." Jace had that grin on his face, the one he got right before he did something Alec was going to have to protect him from. "Good idea. If we go right now, we should have another three, four hours of daylight."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Alec asked, already getting out of his chair, ready as ever to follow his parabatai, to protect him.
"No. That's all right." Jace didn't so much as turn to look at Alec, but the girl did, and Alec felt an unfamiliar jealousy, poisonous as a Ravener, well up in his chest when she met his gaze. "Clary and I can handle this on our own."
And then he was out the door, and Alec stared after them in shock.
He felt Izzy's hand on his shoulder as he dropped back into his chair. "She'll be gone soon," she said. "You'll have him back."
But this time, Alec wasn't so sure.
[All but the last line of dialogue come from Cassandra Clare's City of Bones.]
