#fic: ave atque vale

[felixravinstills]

Highlight reel Toxic Besties excerpts (Dr. Gaul-Pres. Ravinstill) as portrayed in my fics. (Maximinius Ravinstill is President Ravinstill. It's the name the prop money gave him.):

In Your Image/Pater Patriae/Ave Atque Vale

I just wanted to give people without an Ao3 account context for my random intermittant Toxic Besties posting.

[temerateadnascentia]

when the fic starts with a fucking catullus excerpt and you know youre fucked

[satans-poptarts]

Nevermoor fic masterlist

updated 12/4/24

WIP Multichapters

child prodigy

morrigan is raised at WunSoc from being a baby. last updated: 12/4/24

the trees deny themselves nothing that will make them grow

morrigan's mother gets to nevermoor before she dies. morrigan is raised in gresham. last updated 11/3/24

Completed Multichapters

o mio padre (there's a ghost in my body)

morrigan gets haunted by past wundersmiths

Events

silverborn mini countdown

ao3 collection

the feeling of being in motion again

Cadence and Morrigan through the Trials (January: Nevermoor)

(certain parts of) femslash february

diversion

A tabloid suggests that the wundersmith might have a girlfriend. Morrigan and Cadence decide to have some fun and mess with them. (morridence fake dating)

Choked

cadence starts coughing up flowers. morrigan has no idea why

ghostly hours

morrigan shows cadence some ghostly hours around nevermoor

matching

morrigan and cadence discover something

Mogtober 2023

day one: morrigan: Corvidae

day two: pyjamas: jim-jams

day three: the basement nerds: waiting

day four: the gossamer: accidental meeting

day five: favourite 919 member: cut it off

day six: the gossamer-spun garden: the elephant in the gossamer-spun garden

day seven: the scholar mistresses: Office Hours

day eight: a nevermoorian shop ('til our fingers decompose) keep my hand in yours

day nine: hobbies: hook yarn pull through

day ten: favourite moment in the series: Does Is There A Wundersmith In Nevermoor (What's Going On With The Fireblossoms?)

day eleven: favourite deucalion inhabitant: girls' night

day twelve: unknown wundrous arts: control issues

day thirteen: favourite quote: an entire universe

day fourteen: theory/theories: christmas eve gone wrong (NOTCLICKBAIT)

day fifteen: Fen + a cat meme: can has

day sixteen: headcanon: wrong bottle

day seventeen: mother: mother, may i sleep in peace?

day eighteen: jupiter north: slipping through my fingers

day nineteen: the gathering place: baz charlton hate club

day twenty: family: white lilies, wooden coffins

day twenty-one: past wundersmiths: not quite right

day twenty-two: favourite side characters: ave, soror meus, atque vale

day twenty-three: tricksy lane: chilly

day twenty-four: loyalty trial: Baz Charlton Hate Club: Elder's Edition, tasty, first ever defeat

day twenty-five: wunimals: me next?

day twenty-six: wunsoc patrons: you're wrong

day twenty seven: a wundrous divinity: trial by fire

day twenty-eight: courage square: six minutes

day twenty-nine: witness: what can you see?

day thirty: wundersmith: all nine

day thirty-one: free space: custody battle

Oneshots

an unpleasant surprise

jupiter finds out about the apprenticeship

First Dance

morrigan and cadence being cute at marina and roshni's wedding

Oblivious Crushes

morrigan has a crush. she doesn't know. everyone else does

strung out and spellbound

five times morrigan's head wasn't right around cadence + one time cadence's wasn't right around her

if my engine works perfect on empty (i guess i'll drive)

morrigan falls asleep one night at dinner and jupiter finally realises something is wrong

burning wood

morrigan finally tells the kindling what happened to the other wundersmiths (currently working on a translation of this in scots gaelic)

strange kind of prison

morrigan talks to ravi about gender. they figure some things out

danish and a latte

five times cadence brought morrigan a coffee in the morning, and one time morrigan brought her one

don't want to fight the tide

morrigan hasn't died yet. everyone else she has known has.

feannag

(ravenwun) morrigan catches the hollowpox

everyone in the room hates me but i did what i had to do

part of everything but the story challenge. jupiter and nan have a meeting with the elders.

i sing sometimes to know i'm alive

part of the everything but the story challenge. 919 are in mourning

canary in a coal mine

five times someone in the deucalion looked out for morrigan + one time she looks out for one of them

how ignorant thou in thy pride of wisdom!

part of the anything but the story challenge. jack, fenestra and paximus wake up on a spaceship. none of them remember anything.

(the blood is) rare and sweet as cherry wine

What if the Hollowpox hadn't left Sofia until a second later?

growing pains

Jupiter returns from a two month mission. Some things have changed at the Hotel Deucalion.

life is a race against the light

part of the anything but the story challenge. Morrigan goes to work with Squall after she graduates from being a senior scholar. A few years later, she comes back to Nevermoor because she has something important to tell them.

actually she just left [SMASHED GLASS SOUND]

919 do their best to avoid Holliday Wu.

i told you all not to vote for me

jupiter becomes an elder. he's not thrilled

what you do when no-one is looking determines who you are

Morrigan is a servant in the Wundersmith's mansion. Cadence is the her bodyguard, even though the Wundersmith has only shown one of the wundrous arts, and Morrigan has just started displaying two. Nevermoor x Rise of Kyoshi by FC Yee

at least it comes with dental

Squall's tailor needs a holiday.

homo sapiens corvo

Morrigan holds a dubiously desirable record as the wunimal with the most exposure to the hollowpox who's never caught it. (ravenwun morrigan au)

Cunk On Nevermoor

Philomena Cunk and her camera crew visit Nevermoor. She has some questions.

[dykerory]

10 + 17 for the writing asks! :)

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

I think haunting can mean a lot of things in different contexts. I just finished Little Rabbit by Alyssa Songsiridej and what it had to say about submission and the desire to lose yourself in it will definitely be haunting me. Catullus 101, the ave atque vale poem, always makes me cry because of its poignant grief at losing a sibling before their time.

I’m terms of my own writing- I wrote a short piece called “coyote” that’s about jealousy and the southwest that WOULD not leave me alone until o got it out of my system.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

I’m going to answer this based on my nascent ideas for a fantasy book rather than my actual WIP, which is a succession fic I’m coauthoring with @zaricats

In this world, an alien spore crashed in a pod hundreds of thousands of years ago and has slowly been biding his time and building power. He has the ability to create perfect clones of people that he puppets remotely.

Being he is essentially a sentient mycelium network, he doesn’t really have a true form, just different human forms he can use to communicate with people.

He knows he was created as a world conquering, terraforming to by a different sapient species, but he has no idea who they are or if they’re even still alive, and he’s just a self replicating weapon mindlessly fulfilling his purpose

Weird Writing Asks

[jackalgirl]

Thanks to @funkypoacher, @socially-awkward-skeleton, and @damejudyhench for pinging me on this; I feel a bit behind the curve and I'm not sure I'm going to do this properly -- but I will try.

Rules: We would like to ask you to recommend us 3 of YOUR fics: 1 that is "most popular" and 2 that are "hidden gems”!

1. My most popular fic

Sorted by general reaction (basically, any metric), that would be my WIP work for The Journeyman, which is my Outer Worlds fanfic. It's been static for months and I need to post a bunch more stuff there that I hope folks will enjoy. It is here:

My 2 “hidden gems”:

Hm, well, I think the one I'm most proud of is Connection, because it's actually finished (even though I misspelled the name of the planet's capital city throughout the whole thing on AO3 and haven't fixed it yet!), and because I actually go to have a conversation with C.J. Cherryh in which she bestowed her blessing upon my making it available as an ePub / PDF file for people to download (I won't lie: I cried). The series page on AO3 is here:

And you can get yourself the ePub or PDF if you prefer, over at jackalgirl.net -- but the series on AO3 has some artwork in a separate work.

And I really like Ave Atque Vale, which I wrote with @lamiahypnosia (and which is an Outer Worlds "side quest", as it were). I am a very much overly serious and verbose writer, and lamia's writing is snappy and delightfully irreverent, and I think they contrast against one another hilariously. It is here:

I'll tag @lamiahypnosia, @captastra, and @kourumi (I know you've already been tagged, too, and if you've already posted this, please forgive me -- I haven't been able to keep up with Tumblr very well lately).

Thanks for the tag!

[cuebooks]

Your Ave Atque Vale fic was so well written and so good! It also made me cry, but in a good way

Aww, thank you! That is so sweet 🥲 🥰

It took me forever to write because I wanted to do Jem and the others justice. It also made me cry when I edited it.

Thank you for the ask Luv, have an amazing day!

Ave Atque Vale is here

[cupiscent]

I am quite seriously losing my mind (in the most SPLENDID way) over this fic first chapter. I love everything from the tags (the long-legged nerd!) all the way to the author noting this sprang from anon-asks left for me. 🥰 You are magnificent, author! And this is 150-proof delightful banter with a gracenote of ~softness~ and seriously, I love everyone in this bar. Everyone. Especially you. (The only sad thing is that there’s just this little bit so far, but I am way too delighted not to insta-rec, and I will wait so very happily for more.)

[carmenlire]

Hi! I am pretty new to SH, and when I went to ao3 to find some malec fics I saw there were 19k fics there and I just... noped out. But then I came across one of your fics somewhere idr (prob tumblr) and I really really liked your writing style so I may or may not have spent my spring break reading all your fics... rip. I'm still way too intimidated by the sheer amount of fics on ao3 and since I really loved your writing, I was hoping you could maybe rec some, either fics or authors? Thanksss

holy shit, anon, I’ve written so much dkfgjhsdfkjg that must have been quite the undertaking for spring break lmao! I’m super happy to hear that you like my writing though, especially enough to read most/all of my fics! 

Okay, so. When I first started in this fandom, it was overwhelming too and that was in August of 2017 lol! I read a lot of fic rec masterlists on here and then once I went through those, I explored ao3 a little more, along with those authors that captured my interest. I don’t know what you’re interested in but I’ll just go ahead and list some of the fics I started with along with my favorite authors! Everyone on this list is a delight as a person and a writer and I hope you like them! 

(This is going to be probably a lot of me rambling variants of read this!! but I’m gonna put a short summary so you know what the story is actually about. I will most likely oversimplify the fic lmao but check out those links for the full synopsis!)

Over 100k

Fall Without Wings by @notcrypticbutcoy (WIP) This was the first fic I ever read in this fandom and it topped every masterlist when I started– for good reason. At the time, it was around 180k? and I read it in one day/sitting. The writing is impeccable, plot to die for, and the way the author builds the characters in this story is just engrossing as hell. This is god tier lmao!

One Line Summary: Canon divergent AU where shadowhunters have wings, Magnus is actively on the Clave’s shit list, and Malec’s relationship is the best sort of slowburn.

One Easy Answer by @maleccrazedauthor This is the first of a two part series and holy. shit. I was enthralled from the first sentence. Apparently, I have a thing for canon divergent AUs and I read this a year and a half ago but still remember gasping at a certain point, hanging on the edge of my seat as I waited to see what the characters would do. I love this canon divergent AU– it’s written so beautifully. (Note: The series itself is over 100k. This particular fic is around 36k)

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec are leaders of their people and have to learn how to make things work when a marriage of convenience is their only option.

Anything You Say by @milominderbindered Admittedly, I’ve only read the first 80k? of this because I started it like over a year ago and it was a wip at the time but I remember being Super Into It and desperate to see where the story was going. Now that it’s finished, I’d totally recommend it!

One Line Summary: Detective Alec and Forensic Expert Magnus. Honestly, need I say more lmao.

Deeper than the Truth by @insiemes This was one of the first fics I read– probably within the first week of entering the fandom. It’s a wonderful story and a classic for a reason. And that ending:’)

One Line Summary: Alec is a famous author who uses a pen name and Magnus is a fashion designer in love with Gideon’s books.

60k-80k

The Haunting of Lightwood Hall by @bonibaru There are tragically few historical Malec fics in ao3 and this is a gem! The plot is interesting and the love story is super well done. And that ending! I loved it so much.

One Line Summary: Magnus Bane, a psychic, is invited to the Lightwood estate when a murder mystery implicated the heir, Alec Lightwood.

42 North, 71 West by @lecrit Okay so, admittedly, I haven’t read this yet but it’s because I don’t read wips and this just concluded like, last week lol. However, lecrit is a brilliant author and I’ve read several of her fics before and loved all of them! You really can’t go wrong with this author and I would encourage you to read anything/everything in her ao3!

One Line Summary: Politics!Alec and Actor!Magnus in one AU? Sign me up!

The Strength of (Un)Broken Bonds by Blue This is the first of a three part series and I love it so, so much! This is a little grittier though not angsty. The plot is tightly woven, the characterization spot on, and it’s an excellent exploration of the parabatai bond done right. Wildly creative and I everytime I reread this, I’m just in awe at this author’s skill!

One Line Summary: Post 2b, shadowhunters realize just how intrinsically their biology is tied to demon energy and Alec has to deal with a fritzing parabatai bond.

Addicted to You by AlxSteele I’m not a huge fan of fuck buddy AUs but this author is prolific in the shadowfam so I took a chance and I’m so glad I did! This was a realistic portrayal of this AU without being needlessly angsty. Everything was just right and I was so ready to see Magnus and Alec get their shit together!

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec lead busy lives and neither one has time for a relationship– only what starts out as a string of one night stands leads both to catch feelings big time.

A Fighting Chance by HeartsDesire456 This is a classic for me. I read most of this in one sitting and was almost late for work! But it was totally worth it. I love the build up and the world that this author created. Really, one of the best malec fics I’ve ever read and I love it so, so much! I would recommend anything else by this author, especially Hard Choices, though that fic is considerably heavier though no less well done.

One Line Summary: Alec owns an MMA gym next to Magnus’s dance studio. What starts out as a noise complaint quickly changes Magnus and Alec’s life irrevocably.

We Break That Way by ifallonblackdays_fics and valfromrome I’ve read this several times and it’s a fic of substance. I love fluff but this is a really excellently plotted story that does a fantastic job of showing both Magnus and Alec as the leaders they are. It’s darker but realistic for the shadowhunters universe and I love how amazingly well these authors created a story that picks up after 2x18 in an excellent canon divergent AU where Magnus and Alec didn’t reconnect at that Hunter’s Moon party?

One Line Summary: Not all shadowhunters are happy that Alec’s trying to build relationships with the downworld– what happens when a group of extremists go after the Head of the New York Institute in a bid to return to the old way?

40k-60k

The Lonely Heart Hotline by @unrestrainedlyexcessive Anon. Listen. I am putting Fatale here because this is her latest completed fic and it’s 40k but I would heavily encourage you to read every single piece of writing by this author. I have read all of her fics at least twice and I love them to death. She does such an amazing job of portraying real life, even when her AU is fantastical. I’m partial to her Ave Atque Vale series, which was the first fic I read by her, and her Home series but as I was scrolling through her ao3 profile, I just kept remembering all her stories and how amazing they are. Seriously. I can’t stress enough about how much i love this author’s writing!!

One Line Summary: Alec’s a law student who moonlights as a phone sex operator and Magnus calls him one night, only to talk about music and his questionable phone professionalism.

Love is a Gamble by la_muerta This is another author that I adore and I’ve read all of her fics! This is a western historical AU that I read last spring and simply loved! I’d also recommend her series The Universe is Conspiring Against Us!

One Line Summary: Sheriff Alec Lightwood is busy enough keeping Nephilim Falls from descending into chaos but when Magnus Bane opens a gambling house in town, Alec’s has more on his mind than his townspeople.

20k-40k

Give Me the Pain (Then Take It Away) by LadyOxymoron This is a beautifully well-done story of Alec and Magnus exploring BDSM, particularly Alec’s submission. But it’s so much more that. It’s about their relationship and Alec learning to take better care of himself and overall, I was stunned at this fic. I would really recommend anyone read this for something that pulls the heartstrings while still being hot as hell.

One Line Summary:  After a near death experience and throwaway line from Magnus, Alec finds out that he can let himself fall, as long as Magnus is there to catch him.

Appassionato by chonideno This is a classic in the shadowfam. A wonderful story of malec falling in love before properly meeting. The vibe is so ethereal and full of feeling. Really lovely story.

One Line Summary: Alec plays the piano and one day, a request slips under his door– what follows is months of Alec playing for a stranger, both of them falling one note at a time.

Pillow Talk by lacheses This was one of the first fics I read and it’s a really beautiful story that takes place during season one. It’s gentle and really does a fantastic job of building Magnus and Alec’s relationship, both of them so cautious and invested so quickly after meeting.

One Line Summary: Alec Lightwood falls in love, one nap at a time.

Good Our Whole Lives by @beatperfume This fic ruined me. I was invested from the first word and read it in one sitting. The emotions are enough to put you in a stranglehold and while I was wildly unsure based on the synopsis/AU (hooker AU) I gave it a chance and I am so glad I did. I remember reading it and just feeling so much. Wonderful, 10/10. I would rec anything by this author (she really is very creative!) but particularly and I will be your shade.

One Line Summary: When Magnus catches Alec, a shadowhunter, hustling his club the two of them reach an agreement.

Three’s a Crowd by GoldenDaydreams I’ve read this a few times and I love it to death. Super lighthearted and funny, it’s a fun story about Alec and Magnus trying to have sex and Jace being a perpetually pain in the ass cockblock lmao.

One Line Summary: The story where Jace keeps interrupting Alec and Magnus’s ‘alone time,’ and they’re both super fed up.

Sympathy for a Prince by @ketzwrites This was a hella fun story about Magnus as a literal prince of hell and Alec, a no-nonsense detective just trying to do his job. Ketz has written several fics I’d recommend but this might just be my favorite!

One Line Summary: When Magnus, prince of hell, comes top side he doesn’t expect to meet Homicide Detective Alec and become his partner, so to speak.

Hold Onto Me (Cause I’m a Little Unsteady by MagnificentlyMagic One of my biggest pet peeves with the show is that scene in 1x09 where Jace betrays Alec and then it’s never spoken of again. This is a great fic that takes that scene and runs wild with it.

One Line Summary: His parabatai rune was burning, not with death, or injury, but with betrayal.

10k-20k

Yours is the Light by @theonetruenorth This author is an autoread for me and I love a good abo fic. This is so beautiful and I really, really love this. It spins the trope on its head while still in the shadowhunters verse and delivers a really satisfying love story for Alec and Magnus! I would really, really recommend literally everything they’ve written though!

One Line Summary: It wasn’t exactly a secret that out of all three secondary genders, it was the alphas who were the strongest, the most aggressive, the most territorial– It was also completely wrong.

Inimitable by Bumblebeesknees. I adore anything by this author but this. Wow. The plot is super creative as Alec and Magnus get sent back to Victorian London and Alec has to do something both of them would rather he didn’t. It explores a murky area that has the potential to ruin both of them and the writing is perfect. I don’t want to ruin anything but you gotta read this. I read it when it was first posted then scrolled back up to the top and immediately devoured it a second time. I’d recommend anything and everything by this author.

One Line Summary: Stuck in London in 1882 without Magnus’ magic, the way back to New York in the 21st century requires securing a charmed amulet from the Magnus who lives in that time.

It’s a Kind of Magicby @thealmostrhetoricalquestion I love every single fic by this author and would highly suggest you read everything by her but this one has a special place in my heart. It’s light and sweet and a wonderful AU!!!

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec live on the same floor and are highkey into each other– the only thing is that Magnus is a witch and Alec’s a mundane.

1k-10k

You Only Live Twice by partnerincrime I love this story so much!! It’s a fun little Simon POV on Alec as a gardening billionaire recluse and Magnus as a CEO of the shadow world’s largest department store. It’s hilarious and I lose my shit every time I read it!

One Line Summary: In which Simon Lewis becomes an entrepreneur, and, through a series of highly improbable events, fails upwardly toward success.

Lonely Starbucks Lovers by partnerincrime is also a hoot and I love this author so much!! It’s the quintessential coffeeshop AU.

PWP

The Way I Feel for You by @theonetruenorth Goddamn, this is a masterpiece. I’ve read this several time and like I said earlier, anything by this author is guaranteed to be amazing.

Shadows. Shovels. Joy. by oncethrown While this isn’t strictly a pwp, it’s about the parabatai bond and Jace’s POV on Alec having sex. Heartwarming and super well written! another example of how the parabatai bond could be well done.

In Plain Sight by redorchid. Holy shit, I love this to death and it’s actually the first in a series called membership, about Magnus and Alec’s exploration into exhibitionism.

hit me like a ray of sun, burning through my darkest night by liamandzayn I’ve read all of her malec fics at least twice and I just think she writes great sex lol. Definitely recommend!

With Bones Unbuttoned by @ohfreckle No smut list would be complete without ohfreckle. She’s an autoread author for me and I think I’ve yelled about this particular fic literally every chance I get. Goddamn, the sex is hot as hell and the emotions that pour through are enough to make my own heart ache. No one does it better and I wish everyone would read this and die with me.

Lionheart by Bumblebeesknees Both this one and the one above are 2x18 makeup sex fics but they’re both very different. I also love this one immensely and this author, as I’ve mentioned above, is amazing. 

Series

Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things by @my-nameless-bliss This series ruined me. I can’t stress enough how much I love this series. It’s beautiful written, the emotion gut wrenching, and it’s a wonderful exploration of Alec’s masculinity and what that even means. It really made me think and reevaluate my own life and I am awed by this author’s talent and everyone needs to read this. There’s also ALDNT extras which is a multichaptered work set in this universe.

We Built a Dynasty Like Nothing Ever Made by Madalena. This was a canon divergent AU set after 2x17 that does a great job of exploring shadow world tensions and Alec as a Leader and Head of the Institute. Creative and stunning and wonderfully plotted, I’ve read this series several times and love it so much!!

The Boundless Saga by sarcasticfluentry and teumessian This is a canon divergent AU that starts in season one and it’s a classic for the shadowfam in my opinion. I particularly love Parts 4 (which could go in the pwp section) and 7, which I think it’s an excellent exploration of shadowhunter tradition and expectation.

Authors

@laughingmagnus Serendi has been an autoread author for ages, since the beginning, really. Her writing is wonderful and she really hits emotions in a way that’s enviable. Her Maryse centered fics are superb.

@gingergenower I’ve been yelling about Kat’s writing since I discovered her last winter. I started with goddamn right (you should be scared of me) and I’ve read all of her fics multiple times. You really can’t go wrong with her!

@thattrainssailed Monica’s writing style is very distinctive and literary. She writes Malec like they’re set in stone entities, powerful and always in control, even if everything else is a chaotic mess.

@bytheangell Elle can write fluff or angst depending on her mood and she does a wonderful job with whatever strikes her fancy. She has a >100k fic called Support System that I’ve heard really great things about, even if I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

@royaltybane Lydia is an OG in the shadowfam for good reason! Her writing is fluid and suitably full of feeling. You really can’t go wrong with anything by her!

Ohprongs is a wonderful author and I’ve read all of their stuff on ao3. I’d highly recommend them for shorter pieces.

This is by no means an exhaustive list! I’ve quite literally read thousands of Malec fics since I joined the fandom in summer 2017. These are the most memorable to me, however, and the ones that I’ve returned to time and time again. Any author I mentioned would be worth going through their backlist. I often just picked my favorite fic of theirs. 

If there’s something that you’re into– a trope, a general tone– you can always come back and I’ll do my best to answer your questions and give you recs! I hope that this helps and isn’t too overwhelming– I tried to organize this masterlist by word count and then misc categories. Thank you so much for thinking highly enough of my writing to ask me this and I’m sorry it took a little while to compile this fic rec list! Happy Reading!!

[felixravinstills]

guess who wrote another short little fic centering around President Ravinstill and also Tigris (I haven't written about her before)! (it's around 2.5k). It's very meandering and also might be a sign that my sanity is slipping (as if there weren't already signs).

[pocket-elf]

If Aught But Death - parabatai angst fic

I didn’t think I would get deeper into this fandom than learning to gif for it. But here we are and I, the graphic person, have ended up writing a damn fic (2k long btw). 

Clary doesn’t ask for Jace’s life back, and Alec has to deal with losing a part of his soul...

It hits Alec like a punch to the gut. The air is knocked out of him and the ops centre fades. All he can see is…

Jace.

The fist to his stomach turns to a claw, ripping at his insides. His parabatai rune burns as he falls to the floor in agony. He doesn’t even notice Magnus and Izzy rushing to his side, as images of Jace flickers through his mind; their first meeting, training together, falling in impossible love with him, becoming parabatai and forever linked. And it hurts more than anything he could ever have imagined. This isn’t Jace being ravaged by poison or having his arm shattered by an elapid demon. No, this is different. This is Jace leaving. This is Jace being forcefully taken from him. He can’t breathe.

As the rune on his abdomen fades, so does the pain. And then there is… nothing. Where there was excruciating pain there is only emptiness. Where there was once a second heartbeat, a second energy always aligned to his, there is only one. There is only Alec. He is utterly alone.

“I can’t feel him. He’s dead.”

After a few shaky breaths, Alec gets back on his feet and asks for a portal to Idris. He cannot grieve now. There will be a time for tears, but that time is not now. If Jace is dead, there is a big risk Clary is too, but on the off chance she isn’t, they need to get to her and quickly. That is what Alec has to focus on - the possibility to save a life.

But as they step through the portal, an angelic glow is lighting up the Idris night sky, and they know it’s too late. As Magnus refuses to get to safety and instead insists on having to find Jace and Clary, all Alec can think is that this has turned into a body retrieval mission. But there is no way they will leave them behind, even if they are beyond saving. And so, they run.

When they are almost out of the woods, the world is plunged back into darkness — the angel is gone. They adjust quickly and as they exit onto the lakeshore the faint glow of the moon illuminates a body crumpled on the side of the muddy path — Valentine, blood drying in the corner of his mouth and soaking into the grass. Clearly no mercy was shown to him.

Alec looks ahead, and finds Clary with her back turned to them. She’s hunched over but her shoulders are shaking. She’s alive. And in front of her, partly shielded from Alec’s view, what can only be Jace, his body broken and still on the cold ground.

At the sound of Alec approaching, Clary lifts her face to meet his eyes. Dirty tear tracks streak her face but she has stopped crying. She looks almost as empty as Alec feels. Then his gaze finally drops to the ground. To Jace. And to Clary’s hands — they are covered in blood. As is her jacket. And something inside Alec snaps. An irrational anger rushes to the surface, breaking through the void filling him up. He lashes out.

“What did you do?!”

Clary startles, and he thinks that maybe she didn’t actually see him before. And just as quickly as it rose, the anger and blame inside Alec dissipates.

“I killed him…” She chokes on the words, and for a horrific moment he thinks she does mean Jace.

“My father. I stabbed him. He… he was waiting for us. And he…” She looks down at her bloodied hands, still clutching Jace’s, and she starts crying again. Alec understands. He can almost see it — Valentine ambushing them on the shore, taking a knife to Jace’s heart. His heart. Alec’s heart. And Clary, like a hurricane, exacting revenge on her own father. If the emptiness inside wasn’t trying to drown him he would have been proud of her, but now all he can do is stare at the body at his feet.

He barely registers Magnus gently urging Clary to stand up, and how she falls into his arms as he leads her away to a waiting Izzy. He isn’t really aware of kneeling on the damp ground, taking her place by Jace’s side. It isn’t until his fingertips brush against Jace’s cold cheek that he realises where he is and what he is doing. Whenever they would touch there would always be a kind of low humming inside Alec. Something barely perceptible, but a sort of feedback through their bond telling them everything was alright. Now there is nothing. Jace is as removed from him as the wet grass under his knees. The void in his heart where Jace should be expands, clawing at the edges of Alec’s own soul.

“I told you to be careful. Why couldn’t you have listened to me just this once?”

He gently positions his arm under Jace’s shoulders and heaves the limp body onto his lap and into an embrace. Cheek resting against cheek he takes a deep breath, but still doesn’t allow himself to cry. Gently rocking he starts reciting the parabatai oath right next to Jace’s ear.

“Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest, I will go…”

He stops. His voice is shaking, and he cradles Jace’s body closer, remembering how the oath once brought him back from the brink and into Jace’s arms. But he knows Jace is gone. He felt the bond break. There is nothing left anymore. Nothing to bring back.

“How could you leave me Jace? We said we would go together, you and I. You promised.”

Pressing their bodies together Alec is heedless of the blood spreading across the front of his jacket. Even if he knows it is nothing but an empty shell he is clutching, he can’t help but try to get closer to anything that might still be left of his parabatai.

The others have been keeping their distance, comforting Clary while giving Alec the space he needs. But through the fog of grief pressing in around him, Alec can hear someone gently call his name. They need to leave. He loosens his grip on Jace’s body just enough to be able to rest their foreheads together. He closes his eyes, holding the tears in.

“Ave atque vale… hail and farewell.”

With clenched teeth and an empty stare he stands up, putting his left arm under Jace’s knees, bringing his body up with him. He will not let go. Not yet.

The portal is open and waiting for them. Alec shrugs off any attempts to help him with his burden. This is his parabatai, and no one will touch Jace until he is home.

Izzy goes first, supporting a stumbling Clary. Behind them Alec’s face is set in stone, his steps are sure, and the body he is carrying doesn’t even seem heavy — not for his arms, but his heart is another matter.

At the institute people immediately cluster around them, but Alec pays them no attention. He just takes one step after another, into the elevator, and up to the top floor where stained glass windows cast a colourful light on the stone slabs reserved for the dead. The room is empty and Alec gently places Jace’s body on the centre slab by the window, letting the first fractured rays of dawn play over Jace’s skin.

“Do you want me to call for the Silent Brothers?” Izzy asks in a low voice. She has stayed in the open doorway, not wanting to intrude in Alec’s space. He is grateful for that.

Without looking up he gently shakes his head. It may be customary to leave the dead for the Brothers, but not this time. Not Jace.

His sister doesn’t say anything else and Alec can hear her soft footsteps retreating. He doesn’t take his eyes off Jace’s face. How can he ever let go? They were supposed to stay together. Forever. Follow each other into the dark. But here Alec is, alone, with the sun rising. And that is why he has to do this, on his own, without any help from his family of the Silent Brothers. He has to go with Jace as far as he can, and make sure that he is prepared for whatever may come next.

Unstrapping the double thigh holsters, he places them on the floor behind him. They’re empty. Alec has a vague memory of Jace’s seraph blade lying next to him where he fell. He will have to remember to ask someone to retrieve it before the ceremony. Jace should have his weapon with him, it is only right.

With trembling hands he unzips the torn leather jacket and tosses it to the side. The black t-shirt underneath is sticking to Jace’s body with drying blood. Alec doesn’t want to take any kind of blade to him, not after what happened. So he sits himself on the edge of the plinth and pulls Jace’s body up to meet his. With Jace’s head resting on his shoulders, Alec can gently ease the t-shirt up and finally off. With a supporting hand between the shoulder blades he brings the body back onto the stone surface, where Alec for a moment can almost believe he’s looking at someone sleeping, if it wasn’t for all the blood.

He fills a metal bowl with water, and dips a washcloth into it. With slow strokes he starts to clean the blood of Jace’s pale skin. He shudders a bit when he gets to the wound where the knife slipped between the ribs and into his heart. Alec has seen much worse, but this is different. This small, almost insignificant looking wound, is what tore his world apart in an instant. He bites back the tears, wrings red stained water from the cloth, and keeps going.

The last part of Jace’s torso to be wiped free of blood is his left side, and Alec notices that the parabatai rune is still etched into Jace’s skin. He lightly traces his fingers over the dark lines, while pressing his other hand to his own side, where he know there’s now only blank unmarred skin. He never thought about it before, but it makes sense for Jace to be keeping his while Alec’s rune fades. After all, Jace is the one that is taking a part of Alec with him in death. A big part.

Wrapping Jace’s body in the white mourning shroud is not an easy task. It is not meant to be done by a single person, but Alec will not call for aid. He takes his time and is careful to not jostle the body too much. He wraps and pulls and smooths any wrinkles in the pristine fabric. In a way it is soothing work. It lets him do something. Keeps him from fretting. Keeps him from breaking.

Finally, with a deep but shaking breath he pulls the fine linen over Jace’s face. His task is complete. And just before leaving Alec presses his right hand over Jace’s still heart, whispering the only words to come out of his mouth since Lake Lyn.

“If aught but death part thee and me…”

Alec closes the door to his office and sinks into a chair. He rubs his face. He can barely believe it — it’s over. Valentine is gone. The mortal instruments seem to have vanished into the lake forever. He will have to ask Clary about what actually happened later. But not now. Neither of them are ready to talk. Not about this. Tomorrow they will hold the Rite of Mourning, and Alec will recite Jace’s name with a clear voice. He will stand by his parabatai’s side one last time. Alec closes his eyes and leans back in the chair.

And he breaks.

[sometimesambroswrites]

Could you do a malec fic where Max dies? I love you and your writing by the way!!

nrgrnvcdincidjsnvfnfincdsjnc thank you so so much!! Sorry it took me so long but I’ve been a bit busy; @estefra refused to read this because she doesn’t want this kind of pain, so I have no idea if this is decent D: Please let me know!

There’s a grace too powerful to name

The first thought that goes through your head is no.

You look at your sister and you want to say you’re wrong, they’rewrong. It’s strange. Your mind keeps running in circles. It’squiet.

Someone says Alexander, soft and kind, but you don’tunderstand – there’s no need for kindness, no need for tact, it’sjust a mistake.

It’s Magnus, he takes a step forward like he’s afraid you’re going torun, but you’re not, you want to say there’s a mistake,you almost laugh because everyone’s overreacting, wasting their painfor nothing.

They say he didn’t make it and the words echo strangely inyour mind, you keep focusing on make it, didn’t make it, likehe was supposed to try harder, didn’t make it, he didn’t make it.

But you know him.

He’s a fighter. He’ll try as hard as he can. He’ll make it. He nevergives up. You think just give him another chance.

Alexander, again,softer, Magnus brushes his hand against your cheek and it’s wet, andyou don’t – oh.

-

You are bleeding through the bandages wrapped around your knucklesbut you keep punching, the muscles in your arms burning, andyou don’t feel anything else.

Jace calls your name twice before his palm is in front of your fist,and you still hit as hard as you can but he doesn’t flinch.

His eyes are red and his voice is broken when he says: -Alec, you’vegotta stop doing this.

You stare at your hand, still trapped in his; you can feel Magnus’eyes on you. He’s been sitting on the floor in a corner as long asyou’ve been here.

You don’t know who he’s trying to protect.

You yank your arm backwards, say: -Get out of my way.-, and yourvoice is terrible and rough and low, and Jace looks at you likeyou’ve just broken his heart, like something has just brokenhis heart, but he takes a step back.

You keep punching.

-

-You can bring him back.

You’ve thought about this, it could work. He’s the most powerfulWarlock you know, it will work.

He’s got desolation in his eyes as he looks at you; he whispers: -No,Alec, I can’t.

And: -You can’t or you won’t?- is ripped from you withviolence, because you know he won’t understand, that you accept therisks, that you don’t mind, that you just want –

He says: -If I could defeat death for you, I’d do it,- quiet, inpain, -No matter the price,- and you think there’s some heavyimplication behind that, like he’s thought about what the price couldbe, -But I can’t.

And it hits you.

He can’t.

Nobody can.

There’s nothing to be done, nothing to be fixed.

He’s gone.

-

It’s two days until the funeral and your limbs are heavy likesomeone’s poured lead into your bones.

Magnus is lying next to you, his hand keeps brushing your cheek; ittook you a while to realize you’ve been crying for a few hours now.

You say: -I don’t want to get up,- barely a whisper.

Magnus keeps brushing your cheek, your hair: -We don’t have to. Notyet.

-

You can barely stand, surrounded by white, white dresses and whitejackets and white flowers, your mother standing next to Max’s coveredbody with tears streaming down her face, and then Magnus takes yourhand.

A sob shakes your chest, makes the bones in your body tremble, andMax Joseph Lightwood, ave atque vale.

Izzy holds on to your other hand, and Clary onto hers, and Jace ontoClary’s.

Hail and farewell.

[isaksbestpillow]

lesquatrechevrons replied to your post

Which fic? Rec pretty please? #fanficjunkie Also sending you many hugs because I get it omg 🙏🏼✨

of course! the fic is an epic hp au called sacrifices arc. it’s from the golden era of livejournal and fanfiction.net so it’s not on ao3, but you can get the books in pdf format here. the author began the fic as an attempt to rework some common fanfic cliches, and the end result is pure magic. james and lily are alive, harry has a twin brother named connor who is the boy who lived, and harry has been trained to be his guardian. they’ve lived sheltered lives, content with the roles they’ve been assigned, until against all expectations harry is sorted into slytherin and that shatters everything.

there are seven books in total (saving connor, no mouth but some serpent’s, comes out of darkness morn, freedom and not peace, wind that shakes the seas and stars, a song in time of revolution, and i am also thy brother), so the story is long. which is not to say that long is synonymous to good, and i honestly think the fic could’ve used a bit of editing here and there length wise, but the world building is so incredibly vivid and nuanced that i’m just in awe.

the story gets really bleak and heavy from time to time, and there is a lot of violence and despair (but also breathtakingly beautiful moments of hope), so it’s probably not for everyone, but i love it so. it’s such an incredible journey into finding your own way and becoming your own person. it’s absolutely not without flaws, but very few things are. the story is told from multiple povs (most chapters are harry or draco pov, but there are dozens of other characters and almost everyone gets their chapter), which i personally enjoy, but i understand others may prefer a more tight pov. the central pairing in the story is harry/draco, who were saving each other way before our favourite norwegians, but the progression is veeery slow, so if you’re looking for mainly romance, this is not the fic. also, dumbledore’s manipulative ways are addressed in this fic, so if he is your ultimate favourite who can do no wrong, please proceed with caution.

i saw someone on the internet get ave atque vale tattooed on them as a homage to the story, and i didn’t find it strange at all.

[dnteverdoubtme]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (◠‿◠✿) (you can replace 'fics' with 'RP threads', that would probably make things easier for you :P)

only five!? damn this is harder than i thought it would be, i mean, HAVE YOU SEEN MY MASTERLIST? honestly i’m blessed with the most amazing partners and it’s so hard to pick only five, rest assured i have way more than five favorites and i tried to make a varied selection or else i’d just list all of my threads ( i wouldn’t be writing it if i didn’t love it )

“Othello” - circle!au with @ourheartsbeatas1Did anyone think I was capable of not mentioning the circle verse? This is the first heavily plotted verse B and I have started and I do believe it set the tone for all of our writing together. The Jace and Alec in this verse are what I imagine the exaggeration of their more prominent characteristics in the show would feel like with Jace’s heavily emotional side and Alec’s colder leadership. It has been a pleasure to write from the very get go ( lord knows I love any reason to make Alec a little darker, and 15 chapters down the road and over 150k words it does feel more than a little epic. 

“No Matter The Cost” - gameofthrones!au with @ourheartsbeatas1I think B said most of what I wanted to say about this verse in her own recs, but I couldn’t leave it out of my own ranks. Out of everything we’ve written together this verse is definitely the one that feels like it belongs to us the most. There’s very little of canon Jace and Alec in there and the further we delve into it the more Lord Jonathan and Ser Alec feel like their own characters ( and the more I fall in love with them ) - I could just as easily quote Sin City for this very same reason but there’s just something about the blood, gore and fun that makes this Game of Thrones AU slightly more dear to me.  

“Heat Wave” - with @ofgoldenblood​The premise for this RP was a post Min did back when I had barely started talking to her, it read: I want Jace and Alec in a situation where they have to share a really small (meant for one person) bed. That’s it, that was the plot, and from that on we came up with a list of the most frustrating situations we could think of and decided to have our fun with frustrating the hell out of Alec Lightwood. Of the many threads I have with Min ( 11? 12? idek anymore ) this is one of the funniest and it never fails to make me laugh - while kinda groaning at the same time cause really Jace? 

“Hooked On Your Love” - hooker!au with @ofgoldenblood​The trope is overused? Yes. Does it make me love it any less? Not in the slightest. As silly as it might sound I have a weakness for a good Pretty Woman moment and this verse hits all those key points and honestly just makes me smile. Talking about it as given it a life of its own ( with at least 3 other RPers and a bunch of NPCs involved ) and as simple and cliche as the initial plot is I guess it’s just one of those things that someone has got to do at some point for any ship and Min and I are more than happy to indulge. 

“Spilled Blood and Reveries” - with @erchommaiAfter jalec I think it’s no secret lightstar is my second favorite ship/obsession, the canon fact that baby Jonathan and Alec used to play together has always stuck to me, as well as the possibilities brought on by that fact. Alec and Jonathan knew each other before everything, before Valentine had a chance to turn a boy into a demon ( which Cas happens to write beautifully ), before the Lightwoods fled the Circle and raised their children to pay for their mistakes… This RP is all about that, about the few memories they have of each other as children and how that one connection could change the outcomes of a war.   

honorable mentions: Ave Atque Vale ( which I love but felt like it was too new to figure on the list ) The Morgenstern Brothers AU ( that we only did drabbles for but I am absolutely in love with the concept ) and Genesis ( not many posts on it but it’s a verse setting I’m really intrigued by )

[aesirfalling]

@fheythfully

7. Early influences on your writing

I want to say Greek Mythology and bad Chinese TV shows so I will say Greek Mythology and bad Chinese TV shows. I got a lot of tropes from there and I THINK to this day Marie’s grandmother is still Athena or something. To think that Ciel was once a jilted womanizer who murdered one of his children because she got into a lesbian relationship... yeah I was a weird child don’t question me

13. Hardest character to write

Already answered! (Hint: it’s Lightning)

28.  Worst review you ever got

Oh man there have been a few. I’m trying to think of one that genuinely hurt me, because some of the worse ones I could laugh off because they were genuinely ridiculous (accusing me of plagiarizing another writer who really was plagiarizing me, telling me I should not have included Snow in the character tags when he was an important part of the story). 

... Actually yeah I’ll go with that ridiculous review that claimed they couldn’t get past the halfway mark of Ave Atque Vale because they got pissed at my grammar and diction, questioned why Lightning was carrying Hope instead of Snow, and threw a fit at what they saw as “implied-ish Hoperai” when that fic... wasn’t meant to be romantic at all.

That was just weird.

[joyscott13]

My new Shadowhunters fic is up! Season 2 finale AU - I made myself cry with this one!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12872327/1/Ave-Atque-Vale

[felixravinstills]

Do you ever think abt how gaul was originally an obstetrician? I’ve never seen in discussed anywhere but that detail chilled me to my core when I read tbosas. sorry this is sooo random but I needed to share that with somebody. Kbye:3

I actually think about this surprisingly a lot! I was so sad that they didn’t include that detail in the movie when she’s stitching up Snow!

It’s actually one of those throwaway lines in the book that really make the character for me! (the other one being Festus Creed dogfighting line)

The way she talks about the parents wanting reassurances about their kids futures and her being unable to give them any (Ch. 16):

To me, her words characterize her as someone who wants certainty and control, and despite all her claims that people are born ruthless and bad, she still needs to influence people to get them to reinforce her own worldview. Confirmation bias.

I just think that it matches so well with her character that what children might face in the future (and possibly shape them) makes her uncomfortable (but maybe I'm reading too much into it).

Also there's something to her talking about this while she's stitching Snow up that really reinforces a kind of creator-creation imagery to me. Like she's waiting to deliver him into the world reborn. Volumnia being the name of Shakespeare's Coriolanus' mother... There's something here that has to be at least partially on-purpose by Suzanne Collins. I'm not just making things up (unlike 90% of this blog).

Anyway, being brought into the world by Gaul of all people does invoke a sense of horror (also lol Snow's internal monologue in that scene). It's why I weaponize it in my Dr. Gaul-Pres. Ravinstill weird dynamic. (I headcanon that despite the Vickers' being the President and by extension his family's personal physicians. Gaul still comes out of obstetrician retirement to help with the births of all of the president's brother's progeny... which obviously includes Felix. I've been putting him through situations in my mind since his literal birth.)

I've mentioned her past as an obstetrician a couple times in my Pres. Ravinstill-centric fics as well. The above headcanon makes a guest appearance in one of them (In Your Image), and I definitely mention it in passing within Ave Atque Vale.

Umm, yeah, so based on the length of this response, I definitely think about her being a former obstetrician a lot!

Thanks, anon! I am always happy to hear anyone's random thoughts on tbosas, although I can't always promise to be as able to engage with them as fully as I have here considering my unique perspective as Ravinstill EnjoyerTM (and General 10th HG Mentor Enjoyer) gives me a strange range of things I have lots of thoughts about.