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grayacejace:

Shadowhunters & text messages 85/?

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#bless stained glass windows

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ALEC!

“can you?” alec glanced over at his parabatai’s appearance before sighing to himself. jace had always found himself in trouble of some kind and alec couldn’t always look the other way. especially now as head of the institute. “start talking.”

    “i tried to go through the official channels.” jace reminded his parabatai, wanting to ensure that was covered early on as he sighed, a hand coming up to card through golden locks. “valentine was never going to stay in new york. he’s smarter than that.  finding those journals, discovering the truth about jonathan ...” his stomach churned uncomfortably, a grimace settling across his features as he shook his head. “it was the right call, alec. now we know what,” or rather who, “to look out for.”

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CLARY!

it seemed the world she now inhabited worked upon simultaneous explosions. the murders, then the seelie court, and now valentine’s escape - one disaster logically followed another. therefore facilitating the continuing existence of the shadow-world. it was an intelligent system. “maybe valentine threatened him. maybe we’re underestimating the amount of circle members banding together to - free their leader.” it’s an uncomfortable thought, causing her to become immediately aware of the pit of anxiety in her stomach. the blanket assurance, thinking they were finally rid of valentine. ( of course they weren’t. ) her eyebrows raise, and an disbelieving, indignant expression colours her features. “together?” she walks further into the room, clearly unimpressed by the situation. coming to stand by him at the desk. “jace - “ her protests are put to a halt when something catches her eye, glancing down at the papers strewn across the desk. one map in particular, spread out and occupying most of the space. “what is all of this?” she leans a little further over to look at it more closely. 

     fingers deftly flipped through a few of the pages as he motioned for her to come forward, glancing over his shoulder to ensure they were ALONE. “..did you really think valentine was hiding out in staten island?” his skepticism was evident in his tone, a scoff accompanying his words as he shook his head. “they’re maps .. of idris. outside the gates to alicante. there was this cabin ..” he showed her on the map where he was talking about, glancing up at her as he continued. “valentine took me there when i was a kid. i don’t think he’s stupid enough to go back there with the clave on high alert.. but there’s bound to be something there we can use to help track him.” he rocked back on the balls of his ankles, stress furrowed between his brows as he sighed. “.. but the clave DENIED my request for a portal.”  his lips twisted into a hint of a smile, though there was a dark edge to it. “.. being a herondale might come with some  P E R K S,  but apparently that’s not one of them.”

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   “listen ... i can EXPLAIN.”  { @alecsassywood }

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IZZY!

       izzy wanted to say will it? but she bit her tongue. obviously, valentine needed to be kept under lock and key, but even when the day came that justice had been served … she just wondered if jace would ever recover from the trauma. she drew her deep sienna eyes away from him, looking at the b e a u t i f u l surroundings that made up alicante. she put her game face on. “maybe so– but we need to stay focused on what’s happening right now. it’s what alec would want.” looking around at the shadow hunters that surrounded them, her voice grew in volume. “valentine has escaped in the most of impossible of circumstances.” her eyes scanned over the individuals, as if she were looking for someone. “…where’s duncan?” 

        too many sets of watchful eyes were trained on them. he could only imagine what they were murmuring under their breaths; the lightwoods have betrayed us again .. he might not be valentine’s son, but look, he let him go. he can’t blame them for what they’re inevitably thinking but it makes his blood boil all the same. even more so because it’s entirely of their own doing. for the best shadowhunters of their generation, it’s starting to feel as if the odds are stacked AGAINST them. isabelle’s words sparkled a murmur of conversation within the group and jace turned his back to them, scanning their transport team as his blood ran cold. duncan was nowhere to be seen. “you,” he looked at the last two to have walked through the portal expectantly, eyes questioning. “did duncan come through the portal?” he could only furrow his brow when the other shadowhunter confirmed, yes, he did, as the aforementioned younger shadowhunter was decidedly NOT with them in alicante. which could only mean ... “he was the mole.” jace concluded, eyes hard as he turned to his sister. “he had to have helped valentine escape.”

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IZZY!

    izzy stared at jace, one arm crossed over her torso, and the other poised as if she were pinching an invisible cigarette holder between her pointer and index finger. though there was a fire fueled by her ire raging within her, insides alight and begging to reveal itself, the desire to continue being the level headed sibling in stressful situations was STRONGER. that didn’t mean she wasn’t judging him for that sad excuse of an explanation;  s e v e r e l y  judging him. “something like that?” she repeated, one of her eyebrows arched. “oh, for the angel’s sake, jace. if you want me to talk to alec, you should’ve just asked.” after a moment, her expression softened; she placed a hand on the blond’s shoulder. “it’s going to be okay.”

    while he appreciated her words, jace couldn’t help but disagree. valentine was a master manipulator and had somehow managed to evade them on the way to the gard.. on the way to  A L I C A N T E.  that wasn’t supposed to be possible, yet here they were. “it’ll be okay when he’s locked up again, where he can’t hurt anyone else.” jace replied instead, back straightening as a hand ran through his hair.  “consul dieudonne is going to call for alec’s replacement... they’ll use it as an excuse. we both know the clave never wanted a  L I G H T W O O D  as the head of the institute.”  he didn’t need to say that for them oth to know it was true. they’d already removed maryse and robert, what was one more lightwood? and seeing as he had been the one to appoint alec, well, it sure wouldn’t be handed be handed over to him.  N O T  that he wanted it to be.  “not to mention the downworld alliance. they’re not going to be happy when they find out we let valentine escape.” the AGAIN goes unmentioned, though he knew that she knew him well enough to know exactly what he was thinking. she always did. 

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“...and you’re  S U R E  there’s no way the portal could have glitched? sent valentine to another dimension?”  jace was exhausted; the bags under his eyes were like caverns, his jaw ticking as he pinched the bridge of his nose. valentine had escaped on their watch and the clave were  N O T going to be happy when they found out.  as alec’s parabatai it was his job to look out for him, help him, and he might have just lost him his job. he needed to do  EVERYTHING he could to try and make this right.. including exploring all possible outcomes. if that included inter-dimension time travel? so be it. @unexpectedtrajectories

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CLARY!

it was willed, with every moment that passed as she avoided him, with every attempt he made to speak to her, that his adamance would fade. ‘this means nothing’, the assertion seemed self explanatory. and was designed to ward off later contest to it. ( although the way that she had kissed him - well that was a contest within itself. ) her eyes met his, only briefly, when he came to stand in front of her, before she redirected her. pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear and looked around the institute. the desire not to cause another scene that would be blamed on her parentage seeking to outweigh the desire to distance herself from this conversation. her jaw does tighten at the mention of simon, and she wills the tears not to come - she’s shed too many. and she needs to conserve her energy for what is to come. ( the worst part is - this is her fault. she’s losing simon and it’s her fault. ) choosing to ignore the topic completely, avoiding acknowledging it’s existence. especially in such a public setting. “ well it had to have been a shadowhunter, right? a shadowhunter with access to the detention level and enough intel to know when valentine was being moved. alec did say we had a mole. ” it would be foolish to assume valentine’s demise, and thereby safety, in the overwhelming knowledge of the nature of power of such a man.

  for now, he’d let the topic of conversation drop. not because he thought it wasn’t important, or something that should be  A V O I D E D,  but because they had bigger problems... namely, valentine morgenstern loose and beyond their reach. any attempt to track him had resulted in failure, of which jace wasn’t surprised. valentine wasn’t an idiot..  despite his distaste for downworlders, he had no qualms using their talents to  H I D E  himself away from the prying eyes of the clave.  it had to have been how he manipulated the portal to send him elsewhere... even with duncan’s assistance, willing or otherwise.  “he was right behind us when we stepped through the portal.” jace explained. “everyone came out  E X C E P T  valentine... and duncan. so, you’re right... it was a shadowhunter. i’m more concerned with  W H Y.. “  he stepped around her to move towards the desk where he’d strewn all of his papers earlier that morning, a hand moving to card through his hair as he glanced up at her again.  this was a risky move, one that could only serve to distance them even more, but he had to try.  “alec’s sending everyone out to look for valentine; the institute’s on high alert. i told him we’d check out staten island, see what we can find.” 

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CLARY!

the quickening of footsteps echoing through the institute halls speaks to her motive; to avoid him and therefore avoid being forced to confront what had been brought out in both of them during the events that transpired within the seelie court. the consequences that it had borne. “ about what? ” the obvious. barely slowing her pace, only enough to indicate that she was at the very least semi attentive. “ do you have a lead on valentine’s escape ? “ 

    jace was no fool. whether clary was willing to admit it or not, there was something between the two of them. the events of the seelie court had only just confirmed what he’d already believed to be true. but assuming and knowing were two very different things and it was as if someone had flipped a switch in his heart;  L I T  a match and left the inferno to burn; whether it doused them all in flames or put itself out over time he couldn’t be sure, but could you blame him for  W O N D E R I N G ?  he caught up to her easily as he stepped in front of her, holding his hands out to stop her from evading him again as his brows furrowed. she wasn’t going to make this easy for him. “about the seelie court. about what happened with..” he doesn’t say simon’s name but the damage has been done, and he doesn’t have to look her in the eyes to see the hurt. while he might not be simon’s biggest fan, he never wanted to hurt him... hurt either of them. “i have a couple of theories but nothing concrete.” he replied instead, arms crossing over his chest. “valentine still has a lot of allies which means that the list of suspects doubles by the hour.” not to mention his enemies, though jace was of the belief that they weren’t fortunate enough to have had valentine slaughtered so easily. if he’d learned anything about the man it was that he wasn’t to be underestimated. he was  A L W A Y S  three steps ahead. 

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IZZY!

“ … that DEPENDS. pretend i’m alec– how do you break it to him?” 

       contrary to the cavalier tone of his words, jace was  F U R I O U S  that valentine had managed to somehow get away from them on their way to the gard. it made no sense.. he’d been right behind them. how had he managed to escape? “hey alec, i know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now but.. you remember valentine, right? the psychopath who wants to see the world burn at his feet? right, well, we  L O S T  him.”  his words were dry, face deadpan as he sighed; frustration evident.  “something like that.”

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        “ do  Y O U  want to tell alec we lost the prisoner, or should i? “ @ofredlipstick

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         “ you can’t  A V O I D  me forever, clary. “ his words are more of a sigh than a statement, arms folded over his chest as he followed her deeper into the institute. it seemed like no matter how often he tried, he couldn’t catch her alone for even a moment. not since the seelie court. when he entered a room, she exited. when he tried to speak to her, she bolted. it was starting to irritate him more than he knew how to express, hence the scowl twisted across his features. “ we should talk. “ @warsinterest

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you know the drill by now. please  L I K E  this post for a starter from jace!

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those who escape hell, however, never talk about it & nothing much bothers them after that.

Charles Bukowski, from “Lost” (via theclassicsreader)

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