#ithuriel you need to let go of his arms

[sinistercall]

𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋 ━━━ @sanguisstella

She could not 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 the last time she'd acted so quickly; the instinct surged through her veins like 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 as she hurled herself into the path of the glinting lone arrow that had sang through the verdant lush growth around them. With a swift and powerful motion, she swung the blunt of her sword, the impact sending shards of wood and sharpened metal into the air to mingle among the freshly shaken pollen before vanishing into the forest's underbrush. The suddenness of her movement left the world around her in a 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐑, and she barely registered the soft thud of the freshly slain deer as it tumbled from her shoulders to the ground. Sweet perfume wafted off its pooling lifeblood — once a radiant force to keep the beast alive, now just a darkened 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍 upon the path's trodden soil, but she found herself unaffected by it; 𝐀𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 had its hold on her, demanding her attention.

Pointed ears zipped forward in shock and with a racing heart, the tiefling raised her shield just in time to catch the next incoming threat; he force reverberating through the metal and sending a tremor up her arm when the spear pointed tip of the arrow head halted its movement only a few inches from her left eye. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. Ithuriel's arm curled 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘 towards Astarion, and with teeth bared in a primal snarl she began to scan across the tree line in search of the next home for her axe's edge.  ... 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

"Astarion! What do your elf eyes see?" She asked quickly, an uneasiness settling in her stomach when she realized just how 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 she could actually see within the thick woodland; and the fact that they were being hunted only served to amplify her said sense of 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃. The tiefling felt tense — to say the least; her posture defensively tightened, muscles coiling like a spring ready to unleash whatever 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐎𝐍 filled fantasy she'd had last night. She could almost taste the heat of that fevered dream on her lips, feel it gripping her heart — and it was swiftly becoming something rather difficult to ignore.

"Filius caniculae!" She spat, 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 actually, infernal blazing across her tongue quick enough to set flame readied to burst forth in a blaze should her grinding teeth grant it 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄. Ithuriel deftly sheathed her short sword, the metallic whisper of steel sliding into its scabbard with a bellish 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬! before her shield clattered to the ground, forgotten. Oh she was 𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐅𝐅 now. Her weapons were practically ripped from their hold, and her pale fingers nocked an arrow to her bowstring; the supple wood creaking in protest under the pressure as she drew the string back enough so the arrow's quill brushed along the curve of her ear. Her hackles rose.

" — Show yourself, you 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 welp!" The words nearly erupted from her, tone infused with a primal ferocity that surged within her like a tidal wave. It was a feeling she hadn't tasted in some time, and the thrill of it both terrified and exhilarated her. It made her feel 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄. It made her feel 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐄. But regardless of whatever inner drama her worm was being entertained by, there were much more pressing matters in the real world. With eyes ever searching, the tiefling hissed lowly, her keen ears folding sideways as they 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 to capture any sound that might betray their unseen foe. But another sound caught her ear instead. His 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘 voice. There was something 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐋𝐘 reckless in her trust of Astarion and as she let his smooth tone instruct her, she felt the weight of his confidence 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 her own. With a deep breath, she freed the tension in her bowstring and released the arrow with his command. By some divine intervention, Lathander’s guiding hand seemed to steer her aim, as the arrow soared through the air — swift, unwavering, and true — finding its mark with a satisfying 𝐒𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐀𝐋 of pain.

An overwhelming impulse surged through her 𝐕𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐒​​​​​​​, urging her to lunge into the thicket, to tear apart and feast upon the intruder threatening their safety, bathe in their blood, drink their fluids — the 𝐔𝐒𝐔𝐀𝐋 Bhaalist agenda. Every nerve ending in her body screamed for action, yet her feet felt anchored to the ground by heavy lead weights that defied her desire to flee or fight. It was only when the familiar, intoxicating scent of Astarion’s cologne enveloped her in 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒 and 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 that she felt the tension 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄​​​​​​​. Instantly, the bow slipped from her fingers, falling to the forest floor beside her shield with a muted thud, as she whirled around to meet his cherry eyes.

“Oh, thank the Gods — ” she exhaled, her worry melting away as she examined him with frantic eyes, the relief she felt upon seeing his skin, unmarred and radiant, soothed her frayed nerves like cool summer rain. Without even a second thought, her hands reached forward and pulled him against her chest in a warm 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 that made the world, at least for her, nearly fade away. Ithuriel squeezed him firmly; the jabs and teasing that would surely come later were but a distant thought. Everything seemed eclipsed by the sheer 𝐉𝐎𝐘 of his safety. 

“The Lord of Light smiles upon us today, Astarion,” she whispered into his neck, not much caring — or perhaps not 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 — about the intense fluttering of her heart. With a subtle shift, her gaze drifted back to the bushes that framed their path, where moans and whimpers echoed eerily. A mischievous 𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐓 sparked in her cerise eyes as she mused and faced him with a laugh, “And look! We've found you breakfast!” 

[carelessflower]

A snippet

Max, Rafael, Mina and Tavvy were running in between the tables, giggling and laughing, Jem was watching the children closely.

Magnus and Alec were sitting down, at the opposite side of the hall, kids were running around, music was playing.

"Im hungry." Simon sat down, which was followed by Isabelle and Clary, Jace was talking with Kit.

"Dinner will be served at 8. We got 30 minutes."

"Who are they, I saw them come in the limo, and they have the men in black around them?" Isabelle nudged Magnus's arm, pointing at a woman who was talking to Ithuriel, but near her were two men, in black suits, that were standing and looking at the crowd of people.

"That is Queen El, my aunt, she didnt want the guards, but they advised her that it was for the best."

"Dont point Izzy." Alec warned, as his sister stuck her tounge out at him, which he rolled his eyes in response.

It was Stanley Morningstar and Johnathan Fairchild's wedding. Seven months after Magnus and Alec's wedding. Magnus was superised that Johnathan took his idea for the ribbons which was decorating the ceiling.

"Oh no." Alec watched as Max quickly walked over to them, holding a plate, which appeared to be half eaten cake.

Before he got to them, Alec picked him up, and sat him on his lap.

"Want some cake?" Max took a fistful and gave it to Alec, who placed it in a tissue.

"Max where did you get the cake from?" Clary took the plate away from him, as Max frowned.

"The kitchen, Uncle Kit and Ty, gave it to us." Max said, Magnus wiped Max's hands.

"No more cake, dinenr will be ready, go and get Raf and find grandma okay? Good boy.!" Alec kissed his son's forehead, who nodded and ran to where the kids were, Alec watched, as Jem lead the kids to Maryse, and Jocelynn.

"It was delicious." Simon said, wolfing the last piece down.

"I was hungry you know." Isabelle playfully slapped his arm.

"Im gonna check on Jace and Sebastian." Clary said, going back into the crowd.

"Your dad is coming" Alec nudged his husband arm, as Asmodeus and Lucifer walked towards them.

"Congratuations on your son's wedding sir." Alec shook Lucifer's hand, who smiled at him.

"Well ill leave you to it, dinner is being served now." Lucifer stated, before leaving the group.

"What do you want?" Magnus eyed his dad, who sat down.

"Nothing, but I need you home as they want an after party, well that is what Stanley wants its a family tradition, you and Alec. No kids."

"But -"

"No buts. I am not serving guests on my own in my own house."

"You wanted to hos-" Alec stopped talking as his father in law shot him a glare.

"GRANDDAD!" Rafael ran up and jumped, Asmoeus catching him.

"Lets get some food. Are you hungry, im hungry?" Asmodeus picked up Rafael and took him to the table where they were sitting.

"Well that sucks." Magnus muttered.

"Should we help? We can come over?" Simon helped, as starter food was placed on the table.

"Its a family thing, so its just the adults getting together."

"Did you do it when you guys got married?" Isabelle said, taking a bite out of the chicken leg.

"I did, stayed there until 1 am, and dad kicked everyone out. Came back to Alec around four in the morning."

"You were so tired, you forgor your keys and you were crying." Alec remembered that night, thinking he was being burglared, and remebering sobs and opening the door.

Magnus was fast asleep and didnt wake up later in the afternoon.

aweeee this is sweet!!!!

[dontmindmyshadowhunting]

Crazy theory about Kit and Ash and visions Clary had in TMI

So I have this crazy far fetched theory about Kit Herondale and Ash Morgenstern, and visions Clary had in TMI (that keep bothering me) 

First of all, I want to make it clear that I am 100% certain (please, Cassandra Clare, let it be true) that Kit Herondale will discover in the Wicked Powers that he has white-golden wings (since, unlike Ash, he doesn’t have any demon blood), the same way Ash discovered his own black angel wings in Thule, which means with a little incentive (like maybe having to save Ty’s life?).

I keep thinking about the dreams Clary used to have in TMI. 

In City of Glass, Chap. 9, Ithuriel showed Clary several dreams in the Wayland Manor: “Clary caught glimpses of images now familiar to her from her own nightmares-angels with wings both white and black...”

Also in City of Glass, Chap. 13: “Clary woke gasping out of a dream of bleeding angels.”

So this could definitely be visions of Kit and Ash.

But if we read her dreams in more detail in City of Ashes (Chap. 9):

“The sky began to shine. It was alight with points of fire, like burning match tips. They fell, a rain of hot coals from the sky, and she cowered, throwing up her arms. One fell just in front of her, a hurtling bonfire, but when it struck the ground it became a boy.  It was Jace, all in burning gold with his gold eyes and gold hair, and white-golden wings sprouted from his back, wider and more thickly feathered than any bird’s. 

He smiled like a cat and pointed behind her, and Clary turned to see that a dark-haired boy - was it Simon ? - was standing there, and wings spread from his back as well, feathered black as midnight, and each feather was tipped with blood.”

Now, we all know - or thought - Clary was looking at Jace and Sebastian (though Sebastian has, in fact, white-blond hair). But we also know they don’t have wings.

So what if?

What if Kit (often described as a Mini-Jace), burning with heavenly fire or some other power (hence the gold eyes - since we know his are blue) and Ash (son of Sebastian) were actually the ones Clary was seeing? I know what you are going to tell me. Clary could not mistake anyone for Jace. But what if she hadn’t seem him that clearly and had just figured it was Jace since she knew no one else it could be (the same way she didn’t recognize the dark haired figure)? I know it’s crazy. I know it’s far fetched. But here it is. I needed to share.

[celias-archieve]

Hold My Hand / Wessa, Herondales, CoI

chapter 1 / chapter 2

Tessa woke drenched in sweat, she sat up breathing heavily.

“Tess?” Will stirred next to her, blinking, as he glanced over at her, his blue eyes filled with worry. “Are you alright?”

Tessa burried her head in her hands. For the past 4 months, Tessa didn’t sleep well at all. She kept having same dream — no, not a dream, seemed more like vision, but she didn’t have any vision, for the past 25 years. Ever since the last battle against Mortmain, on Cadair Idris, she wasn’t sure if the vision was anything good, but she thought she knew for sure who is sending the vision to her.

At the beginning she brushed it off, not wanting to worry much about it. But visions didn’t stop, it kept her pacing her the floor at night. Every night.

The vision was about:

Man with large black wings, white hair, and eyes same as her own. And it didn’t take her long to figure it out, that man was her demonic father.

Suddenly she found herself standing in the ballroom, in London institute, her children, the Lightwoods, Fairchilds and Carstairs were there as well.

She looked up as someone took her hand, and relaxed as she realised it was her beautiful Will.

He was smiling down at her, Tessa found herself unable to smile back. She felt something was wrong.

Moments later his beautiful black hair changed into white hair, his clear blue eyes changed into grey, much similar to her own eye color, and similar cheekbones like her own. It was like she was looking at mirror.

She tried to take a step back, but was unable to. He was grabbing her close to himself, in an iron grip. The ballroom was suddenly filled with bright golden light, and nearly right away as soon as light came, no one else, apart from her, was in ballroom anymore.

“Tessa Gray,” a very familiar voice echoed, now throught the empty ballroom.

Tessa looked up, and to her astonishment, she saw the Angel Ithuriel, in all his angelic glory.

Before Tessa could even blink, he was suddenly in front of her, in human size.

“Someone needs your help. You are the only one who can destroy him, with your power.”

“Help who? Destroy who? I cannot use my shapeshifting ability anymore -“ Tessa was cut off by Ithuriel, who shook his golden head.

“I never mentioned for you to use shapeshifting ability, I know how painful it is for you to use it. I meant your other powers,” Ithuriel explained. “All those past months, I’ve sent you vision about Belial. I know you’ve figured it out what you need to do. Like you did first time.”

“But I don’t know who I have to help.”Tessa whispered.

“Of course you know, that person is really close to you, when you look at that person, you’ll know and understand everything.” And with that, Ithuriel was gone, but visions did not stop, they were more often, than before.

“Tessa!” Will exclaimed, snapping Tessa of her thoughts.

Tessa swallowed thickly, leaning towards her husband, who rubbed calming circles on her back, whispering words of comfort. “Again same vision?” Will murmured, bringing her closer to himself. Tessa nodded, wordlessly.

“We’ll find a killer soon. And hopefully you won’t have these visions anymore.”

There were 3 Shadowhunters who had been killed. First was Inquisitor Bridgestock, soon followed by Elias Carstairs and Rosamund Wentworth.

“Hopefully,” Tessa nodded in agreement. She stood up, without another word.

“Where are you going?” Will asked, confused. “It’s really late.”

“I’ll be back soon,” Tessa said, once she was dressed in her evening gown. “I just need some fresh air.” She kissed him, but before Will could open his mouth, Tessa slipped out of their bedroom.

She wandered hallways, thinking about what the Angel told her. Of course you know, that person is really close to you, when you look at that person, you’ll know and understand everything.

The only person Belial wanted to posses was—

She jumped startled, when loud crash from the library, snapped out of her thoughts.

Once she was in front library, she hesitated slightly, before opening the doors quitely.

She looked around the library, and relaxed once she saw James sitting in armchair.

James had a dagger twirling in his hand carelessly.

His golden eyes were dark, they were nearly black, there was no light in them, no kindness, no warmth in them. The eyes of sunlight Tessa loves so much, now looked nothing but nearly a darkness. There wasn’t any emotion at all, behind his eyes.

James glanced up at her, and smiled. But it wasn’t a warm smile, she once loved, in that smile there was nothing but wickedness.

Tessa shivered, when James stood up.

She pushed down the feeling of uneasiness.

“Jamie,” She took a hesitant step towards him. “Are you alright?”

James said nothing, only walked towards her, his footsteps were heavy and echoing in the library.

He stopped in front of her, and raised the other side of dagger.

Tessa drew in sharp breath, the other side of dagger was completely covered in dried blood.

“What have you done?” Tessa whispered.

James merely shrugged, and then grinned. “What I promised 4 months ago. To make sure all Nephilim from London suffer.” His voice didn’t sound like James’s.

Moments later, his beautiful golden eyes turned pitch black.

“You are not James.” Tessa said, realization hitting her.

“No, I am not.” He grinned. “But I think you can guess who I am.”

Tessa’s eyes widdened in disbelief, “Belial.”

“Correct,” He whispered. He turned away from her, and paced around the library. “For over the years, I tried to posses you, but was never being able to. All that because Ithuriel protected you. Even when you were weak because of heavenly fire after the last battle with that human Axel Mortmain and his Clockwork army, Ithuriel still protected you, without hesitation. Because you freed him. After that, even years later he still protected you.” He frowned, and then shrugged. “Shall we see if he can protect you from this?”

And then he lunged at her, before she could even blink.

She ducked gracefully, narrowly avoiding him.

I know how painful it is for you to use it. I meant your other powers.

And Tessa realized about what power was Ithuriel talking about.

It was a heavenly fire.

She had learned to control it years ago. But never thought if there would be a need for her to use it.

But now she had to, to help her son, and to destroy Belial.

She closed her eyes, and focused. She opened them again, she saw golden fire in her hands. Her skin was pale now, near-translucent, showing the mapping of veins beneath her skin.

It was like the first time, when she was affected by heavenly fire, when she shapeshifted into Ithuriel.

She glanced at James/Belial, who’s face whitened. There was nothing on his face, apart from horror, fear and rage.

She raised her hands and threw a small amount of heavenly fire at James/Belial.

She knew James would be fine, but Belial wouldn’t be. Just when Belial threw dagger at Tessa, which had hit her at chest.

She fell on the ground, a thin line of blood trailed out of Tessa’s mouth.

James/Belial screamed in agony, black eyes turned into their normal beautiful golden, and screaming stopped, just when he dropped to his knees.

He was breathing heavily, his hands curled into fists. James glanced at his mother, and froze, realizing what Belial did.

Without any word, he ran towards her, dropping to his knees next to her, just when the doors swung opened, Tessa’s vision became blurry, when she breathed heavily.

“Tessa! James!” Two different footsteps ran towards her and James, but Tessa knew instantly it was Will and Lucie.

Lucie gasped in horror, “What happened?”

“I—I was possesed,” James whispered, his golden eyes filling with tears. “By Belial. He attacked mum, and —“ James was shaking his head, tears streaming down his face.

Will dropped to his knees, and took Tessa in his arms, and started crying.

She wasn’t dead yet, but any moment she would be. Tessa opened her mouth to say something, but she only coughed blood, and Will cried more. As did James and Lucie.

Tessa reached out, and took Will’s hand, who squezed it tightly, afraid to let go of her.

“P — Please no,” Will’s voice creaked, and he began sobbing. “Don’t leave us. Please.”

“I lo—“ Tessa coughed more blood. “I love you so much.” She whispered, her eyes closing, and her hand fell slack in Will’s lap.

Tagging: @zafirafox4636 @brotherlipsmackariahs

@themostawesomehuman Thank you for helping me 🤗❤️🥺

[siderealxmelody]

Open Your Eyes

@silentwcrds

@foreverfallen

Cassiel watched as the ball got underway, he'd been there for a few hours already. He liked to people watch, it was interesting to see how everyone acted when they thought no one was noticing.

He heard an excited ripple flow through the crowd, he looked down to see his parents entering. His ma, Ierimiel wasn't here apparently he was going to be taking a day for himself.

It had been a while since he had seen his mama Fraciel had last attended a party. He looked good, his suit fit just right, and gold cuffs glinted as he moved.

The last time he remembered Mama being here was when Jophiel and Seraphiel had been too small to leave alone.

He loved his parents, he really did. But sometimes he didn't see what his father saw in his Mama. Fraciel wasn't as politically inclined as Ierimiel was. Ierimiel had been on the seraphic council representing the Galaerii as long as he could remember.

The immediate memories he had of Mama were being helped with homework, or told to do this or that chore. When he was much younger he remembered helping Mama make cookies and other treats...but nothing else very substantial.

His eyes slid to his father, he commanded the room - angels moved around him as if he had laid a halo around himself.

But his father wasn't paying attention, he was laughing at something his mama said. His father looked almost too happy.

Cassiel gripped the railing, a spike of jealousy flowinh through him. What was it like to have so much power that he act so careless? What was it like to have such a love that nothing else mattered?

He slid eyes to Damiel on the other side of the room. He was surrounded by a few angels, he seemed to command the group's attention. How did he do it? He wasn't even raised with any royal blood in him?

The group burst out laughing and Cassiel felt himself flush. It was exactly like the laugh Metateon and his cronies used to give in their school days. He pretended not to notice but it still stung.

He felt his breath catch as Damiel lifted his eyes and met his. He winked and inclined his wine glass in his direction.

Cassiel swallowed and gave a quick nod back. He hadn't meant to be noticed. What must Damiel think of him now? A stalker with an odd obsession? Or worse? An easy archangel to break into submission?

He turned away and grabbed a glass of wine, the lucid dream he had this morning wasn't helping. He - he didn't like how easy it felt to give Damiel so much control in bed...he was an archangel, surely that was taboo?

Weren't they always supposed to be in control? He crept closer to hear his parents talking, they were just underneath him now. Though no one could see him from this angle, but he could see everyone.

Lumiel was walking backwards laughing as something Fraciel was saying. He could make out snatches of conversation and-

"Lumiel! Watch where you're going!"

Lumiel turned and grinned to see Michael watching them both.

"Why? Won't everyone just move for me?"

Fraciel was laughing and sipping his wine. Michael rolled his eyes but he was smiling.

"Yes, but that's not the point. We need to be on gaurd what if -"

"Where are your mates Michael? Don't tell me you ditched them to talk to Lumi?"

Lumiel grinned when Michael flushed.

"I didn't Fraciel. Omniel went to find us a quiet place place catch up, and Narel went to get us drinks...what? Why are you both looking at me like that?"

Lumiel burst out laughing and Fraciel grinned wider.

"To catch up? Honestly Michael what are you 16? If you're going get laid you could just -"

"Shh! Someone could hear you! Not all of us are as crazy as you two!"

Lumiel beamed and pulled Fraciel into an embrace kissing the top of his head.

"You say that, but I bet you're just jealous at how healthy my relationship is!"

Michael stared at them both and just shook his head.

"I'm perfectly content and my relationship is fine. I'm going to go before I get roped into anything too insane. Oh look Gabe! Wonderful, go bother him."

He slipped past Gabriel who hadn't noticed Lumiel and Fraciel yet. Cassiel shook his head, he hadn't wanted to know any of that. He needed that mind bleach potion Zaphiel had been talking about.

Fraciel looked up at Lumiel.

"He's just jealous isn't he?"

"Of course he is darling. He must be boring in bed no wonder -"

"Oh good, Fraciel I was looking for you."

Fraciel groaned and gave Gabriel an annoyed look.

"Funny, I wasn't looking for you Gabriel, what do you want?"

Lumiel chuckled as he pulled away keeping only a hand on the small of Fraciel's back.

Gabriel didn't seem particularly dettered or surprised by the hostility in Fraciel's voice. Cassiel, on the other hand, was surprised he'd never heard his mama this irritated before, not in public anyway.

"I need your help. I need you to vet someone -"

"No, there are plenty of other angels to do you dirty work for you. Besides I'm sure Asmodel would do it for free anyway. I'm done remember?"

He went to push past Gabriel who grabbed his elbow in response.

Lumiel who had been watching Michael snapped his attention back to them as Fraciel let out a low growl.

"Get your hand off him Gabriel, he was more than polite with you."

This was the side of his father he was more comfortable with. This was the side he wanted to emulate - an archangel no one ever crossed. A powerful beacon for righteousness and justice.

"You call his tone polite? This is in public Lumiel, he needs to learn his -"

Gabriel cut himself off as Fraciel wrenched his arm free. He sent Gabriel an icy glare.

"I don't need to be anything. Lumiel is loved, my children have proven themselves over and over again, more than they should need to. I'm not your mate, or employee Gabriel - to be molded into something you like. The only opinions I take into consideration are Lumiel's and Ierimiel's. You are neither, so I suggest you learn to hold your tongue next time."

Cassiel stared in shock, he didn't know the background. Whenever he'd seen his uncle Gabriel and father they'd been more than friendly. But he'd never think his mama would be like this. Didn't he know better? If this had been Damiel...No he couldn't even think that.

How did his father put up with such disrespect? Why did his father not reprimand him? Perhaps he was waiting for when they were more alone to say something?

Fraciel slipped past Gabriel and to a small table in the corner. Lumiel was trying hard not to smile, did he find all of this amusing?

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Ithuriel's Destined, I just wanted him to look into the family Lu. Ithoo has been through so much more heartache than I'd ever wish on a child. I just wanted this one thing to go smoothly for him."

Lumiel gave a soft smile and patted his older brother's shoulder.

"You could have opened with that Gabe. You know he'd do anything for one of the kids. Look, I'll talk to him okay? Just keep your distance for the night?"

Gabriel gave a curt nod and walked off. Cassiel crept closer to hear Fraciel as Lumiel reached him.

He had gotten a few middle of the road nobles around him. He seemed amiable and conformable speaking with them. Which in of itself was odd, his mother wasn't one for political schmoozing.

He beamed as Lumiel made his way over. Even blushing when Lumiel kissed his cheek.

"Can you get you anything my love?"

In that moment Cassiel knew his father was never going to reprimand his mother. Apparently, his mother could say whatever he wanted and not have any consequences.

"A glass of wine if you don't mind?"

Lumiel nodded and squeezed his shoulder before he slipped away again. Cassiel gritted his teeth, his father wasn't some lowly Wisp to jump when his mother snapped his fingers.

He crept out of his hiding place and went to find his father. He was surprised to find him in the hallway looking out at the grounds. Hadn't he gone to get wine?

"Papa, I wanted to -"

"What is troubling you Cassiel? Why shouldn't I show how much your mothers mean to me?"

He turned to look at Cassiel, his blue eyes solemn, waiting for his answer.

[erchommai-a]

main timeline.

1989

●     Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern is born on the second year of the Uprising.

1991

●     Jocelyn’s betrayal.

●     Jonathan is presumed dead along side with Valentine on the 3rd of February.

●     23rd of August Clary is born.

1992

●     On his 3rd birthday, Valentine gives him his first sword.

●     His training begins.

1994

●     It was on the eve of 21st of January that he learned about the existence of the other boy.

●     On his 4th birthday, he learned about demons and met, face to face, with his first one.

●     He wasn’t allowed to fight it.

1995

●     On his 5th birthday, Valentine taught him to hunt.

●     He was also 5 when he first tried to kill Valentine.

●     When he fails, he hears Lilith for the first time and thinks it’s a dream.

●     He learns to take care of himself out of necessity ─ Valentine’s absence is frequent and unpredictable.

 1996

●     A week before his birthday, he manages to break into Valentine’s laboratory and burn half of his books.

●     He is 6 years old when he first learns of the whip.

●     He is also 6 years old when Valentine explains to him the nature of his birth when he realizes the scars don’t heal.

1997

●     On his 7th birthday, Valentine gives him a Falcon.

●     He named it Munin to match Valentine’s Hugin.

●     He doesn’t ask anything when he’s ordered to kill it.

●     He asked Valentine if he learned that from her instead.

●     He shot down everything that dared to fly over the cabin in Valentine’s absence for a month.

1998

●     He makes his first attempt to find out where Valentine keeps the other boy so he could kill him.

●     Valentine finds out. As compensation, he lets him kill his first wolf.

●     On his birthday, he gets a bow and a spear and the whole day with his Father.

●     Jonathan asks him about Jocelyn for the first time.

●     He breaks both of his new gifts a month from overuse.

●     Valentine introduces him to other weapons to pass the time until his next lesson.

1999

●     On his 9th birthday, Valentine gave him the challenge to kill his first demon after teaching him the exact place in a man’s back where you can pierce his heart and sever his spine all at once  .

●     He thinks he hears a voice inside of his head but it never answers back.

2000

●     Valentine starts with his formal education. Having instilled enough of what could be considered discipline in the boy.

●     He introduced him to languages, history, and the art.

●     He introduced him to all the necessary education that comes with the life of a Shadowhunter.

●     He learned to play the piano and the violin but his interest was still pulled more closely to things he could do with his hands.

●     He enjoyed whittling and woodworking with his Father.

●     And consuming books in his absence.

2001

●     On his 11th birthday, Valentine informs him of his plan to give up Jace as his present.

●     His unquestionable loyalty to his Father is sealed then and there.

●     His lessons begin to focus on adapting more human traits, spycraft and learning quick magical spells to help in fights and healing.

●     Valentine also starts rigorous experiments performed on him to study the full effects of the demon blood on his constitution.

●     Physical and Mental experiments alike.

2007

●     It’s the first time he’s seen his mother since she had put him to bed that night before Valentine fled.

●     It’s the first time Valentine brings him to the apartment and he only sees his mother in passing before he is sent on his first mission.

●     He dreams of Clary.

●     He spends the next six months stalking and studying Sebastian Verlac.

●     He explores Paris with him.

●     He learns everything about him.

2008

●     He only kills Sebastian when his Father calls him back.

●     He introduces himself as Sebastian.

●     He finally meets Jace and Clary face to face.

●     He dies by the foot of a river before Valentine’s plans come into fruition.

2009

●     Presumed dead. ( Again. )

●     For six months, he is enveloped in darkness ─ practically dead except in thought ─ forced into silence and face the absolute madness of solitude and only Lilith’s voice in his ear.

●     Lilith brings him back through the twinning ritual binding his life source to Jace.

●     He is incapacitated for at least a month ─ borrowing strength from Jace to build his body and his strength back.

●     Jace and Jon shenanigans.

●     Team Evil shenanigans.

●     Clary ruins said shenanigans and breaks the bond between Jace and Jon.

●     He flees to Valentine’s backup apartment in St. Petersburg.

●     He recuperates only for a month but not before leaving dead angel’s wings ( which he actually just stole from Valentine who stole from Ithuriel ) in front of the New York Institute’s doors with “Erchomai” drawn out on the asphalt in red blood like the dramatic bitch that he is.

●     Starts the Dark War while also starting an “affair” with the Seelie Queen.

●     Kills more wolves than people tbh. ( Sorry Praetor Lupus peeps. )

●     Mostly turned a lot of Shadowhunters into Endarkened.

●     Drags Dark War into Edom.

●     Makes himself God. Traps the heroes.

●     Dies.

●     Like an idiot.

●     “ I’ve never felt so light. “

●     TO CLARIFY:HE DOESN’T DIE  because he doesn’t have humanity left because THAT IS ABSOLUTELY BULLSHIT and I don’t sign up for that. HE DIES BECAUSE CLARY STABBED HIM IN THE HEART which is a lot more poetic and also appropriate so fuck that CASSANDRA.

●     RIP.

 2009 / Alternative Post COHF .

●     On the off chance he does survive ─ through some miracle or another ─ but also you know you can’t tell me that Clary couldn’t have just you know thought very hard and tried to save him. LIke I get why she didn’t cause he sucks ass but I’m just saying.

●     Okay for my preferred canon ─ I prefer Jocelyn being the one to go through great lengths to keep him alive.

●     His body is carried in her arms from Edom back to Earth. From there, he is submitted to the Silent brothers for funeral preparations but he isn’t fully gone. 

●     The fire is low but it’s still burning through his system. 

●     Tying his soul to his body.  

●     And one of the effects of the Heavenly Fire is kind of a test of wills. A challenge of how much of that little ounce of humanity in him can survive before the fire burns out. And the answer is six months in a comatose state ─ under 24 hour supervision from the Clave and the Silent Brothers where his survival and existence is kept in close wraps and is unknown beyond those within powerful influences.

●     A fake funeral is done in the interim ─ there is no grave. The Shadowhunter World’s biggest threat defeated. 

●     When he wakes up, he is immediately put in a cell without Jocelyn’s knowledge. The deliberation on his sentence takes months.  

●     Eventually his existence is exposed before the clave could come to a decision ─ the calm and peace that came with his death disappears overnight. Demands on his death are made. Attempts on his life follow not long after. The deliberation worsens.

●     Jocelyn is the only one arguing for his humanity. 

●     He hasn’t spoken to a single soul in months because no one is allowed to speak to him. His cell is warded off. 

●     He makes three attempts to kill himself. None ever quite work.

●     On the eve of his sentencing ─ he thinks it Jocelyn when its Clary who breaks him out.

●     “ Mercy, “ she said.

●     He remembers the word and he says no more before he flees.

2012 .

●     He hides in plain sight in Bucharest for a few years.

●     His skin no longer pale. His hair is sometimes a golden sheen under sunlight.

●     His eyes are a bright green.

●     He still has his Father’s resources.

●     He still has his skills.

●     He still has his weapons.

●     Sometimes he still hears Lilith even though he knows it can’t be.

2014 .

●     Moving to Munich, he fell in love with the Architecture of the city.

●     He was almost mauled by a werewolf, suspecting it first as an old demon coming to collect a debt he had owed or Valentine had.

●     He only lasts a few months before rumors start spreading that the Clave might be circling him.

●     He drops everything and changes his Alias for the 3rd time.

●     It’s snowing when he makes it to Amsterdam.

●     He falls easy prey to the many offers of the city ─ mundane and supernatural alike.

●     Find favor in a local warlock, he seduces him for information and protection.

●     Keeping himself safe for another few years.

2017 .

●     Leaving on somewhat good terms, he re-settles in Bolungarvík, finding it much easier to assimilate in a small town.

●      Building a life as a complete stranger and carving the smallest footprint available as his own home.

●      He picks out land on the outskirt of the town, much closer to the mountains where it reminded him of home than to the sea.

●      He gets back into Woodwork.

●      Eventually, sparking up a relationship with the local fishermen he gets the occasional job when he needs it.

2019 .

●     He gets a dog.

●     For the first time, it’s not named Jace.

●     He names him Wednesday.

[cristinablackthornkingson]

Shadowhunters Short Story #47, Herongraystairs. What if Jem had never been addicted to Yin Fen?

It is a cool October morning in 1887 and Tessa Herondale-Carstairs has found herself wide awake again due to the feeling of little feet kicking inside of her. She is currently 7 months pregnant with her, Will and Jem’s second child, a daughter they plan to name Lucie Ella. They have a 1 year old son named James William, after both of his fathers. 

Tessa had fallen in love with both Jem and Will the moment she met them and they had fallen in love with her, though little did she know they already loved each other too. During the battle with Mortmain, after Tessa transformed into Ithuriel, Jem had run to her side to aid her, but the Heavenly Fire was still burning through her, when he touched her, it burned him too and burned off his parabatia rune as well as Will’s, breaking their bond. Tessa had expected them to be devastated, until a few weeks later she walked into the music room and found them kissing. After that the three of them sat down together and talked about how they all felt about each other, in the end they realized no one had to choose anyone and that all three of them could be together.

In early 1886, much to everyone’s surprise, Tessa found out she was pregnant. She, Jem and Will were thrilled beyond words but also extremely nervous that something would go wrong. Throughout the pregnancy Will and Jem were extremely protective of Tessa, hardly letting her lift a finger and they were constantly at her beck and call. Throughout the pregnancy they did not know if the baby was Will or Jem’s, but they did not care because any baby born to the three of them would have two fathers, no matter their DNA. 

After a rough pregnancy filled with pain and sickness, Tessa gave birth to a healthy baby boy. It was almost immediately clear that Will is his biological father, even at moments old he looked just like him, with a few wisps of thick, curling black hair, Will’s bone structure, mouth and eye shape along with Tessa’s pallor and nose shape. Tessa was afraid at first, that Jem would be disappointed that they baby was not his, but he has always loved James just as Will does, he loves snuggling him and playing his violin for him, while Will loves to read him stories and tell him about everything he and Jem had gotten up to when they were younger.

Approximately 9 months ago, Tessa began to feel ill and achy and felt a lot of the symptoms she had felt while pregnant with James. She didn’t dare get her hopes at first, for the last year she had convinced herself that James was a miracle baby and that Tessa would not be able to fall pregnant again. However after a check up from The Silent Brothers, it was confirmed that Tessa was pregnant with a healthy baby girl. Once again all three of them were utterly thrilled and James was so excited to be a big brother, he loves feeling his sister kick and is forever asking Cecily to tell him stories about his daddy as a big brother, and vowing to be just as good as his daddy. 

Right now, Tessa is just weeks from her due date and having a lot of trouble sleeping due to the baby constantly kicking. She has been awake the past 2 hours and knows it is worthless trying to get back to sleep. With a sigh Tessa grabs her book off the bedside table and heaves herself from the bed, quietly padding across the hall to Will’s office where she can sit and read for a few hours without waking Will and Jem by switching on the lamp. It is odd to have light at the flick of a switch, but much better than trying to fumble around in the dark for a witchight or a match to light a candle with. 

After Tessa has been reading for approximately half an hour, she hears rapid footsteps approaching the office and seconds later the door swings open to reveal Jamie, his golden eyes wide with excitement for the new day, his thick black hair tangled and one of the legs of his pajama bottoms has rolled half way up his leg.

“Good morning my baby.” Tessa brightly says, setting her book down and holding her arms out for her son. Jamie dashes across the room to his mama and flings himself into her arms. His favorite way to start the day is by cuddling with his mama for an hour or two, he loves the way she holds him, strokes his hair, kisses his cheek and tells him how much she loves him. 

“Ucie.” Jamie softly says, placing a hand on Tessa’s bump and beaming up at her in delight. Having only turned 1 recently, James cannot pronounce his sister’s full name yet, so he calls her ‘Ucie’ which Tessa, Will and Jem find extremely sweet and endearing. Jamie is so excited to meet his sister and be a big brother, he’s always been so jealous that his cousin Anna has a little brother and his cousin Thomas has two big sisters, now he’s finally getting a sister and he could not be more happy. 

“Lucie’s been awake all night, I think she missed you.” Tessa softly tells her son, pushing his tangled hair back from his eyes. 

“Ove oo Ucie!” Jamie says, resting his head on his mother’s bump, pouting when he doesn’t feel her kick.

“Oh don’t be sad Jamie, she must have fallen asleep at last, shall we see if we can wake her up?” Tessa gently asks her son, pushing her top up and resting one hand on the side of her swollen stomach. “Come on now little one, you’ve been awake all night and now your brother wants to say hello.” She coos. Jamie furrows his brow at his mother when Lucie still doesn’t kick, then leans forward and pokes her stomach which immediately gets a reaction from Lucie. James’ face lights up and he laughs in delight.

“Mama she kick!” Jamie exclaims in a tone of delight. Tessa laughs lightly and says

“So she did, you must have woken her up.” 

“What a beautiful sight to wake up to.” comes a familiar voice, from the doorway. Tessa turns to see Will standing in the doorway, his hair ruffled from sleep, a smile playing on his lips. 

“Jem still asleep?” Tessa asks.

“Of course, you know him he could sleep through the apocalypse.” Will says in an amused tone, catching Jamie up in his arms when he runs at him. “Good morning Caraid, how are you this morning?” Will softly asks. 

“Good! I wake Ucie up!” James happily exclaims. 

“Did you now? Speaking of your sister, how is Miss Lucie doing in there?” Will softly asks, making his way to Tessa’s side and placing his hand on her bump. 

“Energetic as usual, even more so now she’s heard you and Jamie, this little girl is going to be an amazing Shadowhunter one day, if these kicks are anything to go by.” Tessa lightly says, holding Will’s hand over the spot where Lucie is kicking. 

“I guarantee the minute she hears Jem she’ll calm down, the man is so calm he can even relax an unborn baby.” Will says in an amused tone. Lucie always kicks up a fuss every time she hears Will and Jamie, but when Jem speaks to her she is totally calm and relaxed. When Jamie was a baby he had been the same, he was always hyper and wide awake around Will, but with Jem he was so relaxed and calm, it was amazing. 

“I’ll have to get him to have words with her, she’s not letting me sleep very much.” Tessa lightly says, rubbing at her heavy eyes. 

“Is she only this active at night?” Will asks, lifting his eyes from the bump to look at Tessa, who nods. 

“Yes, during the day she’s quiet calm.”

“Then you should get some sleep during the day when she isn’t so active, Jem and I can easily handle Jamie, you need your rest.” Will softly says. Tessa smiles at him and says

“I suppose but I like being up and spending time with my three boys.” 

“We love spending time with you too but you know how important it is for you to get enough rest.” Will says in a tone of concern. It worries him greatly that Tessa isn’t getting much sleep at night, Brother Enoch made it very clear that it is essential for Tessa to get as much rest as possible, especially in these last few weeks.

“I do but I feel guilty when I go back to bed during the day.” 

“You have absolutely no reason to feel guilty, you are carrying and growing our child, that is hard work and bound to wear you out, feeling guilty over needing to rest is as silly as feeling guilty over needing to eat.” Tessa hears Jem say. She turns to see him walking into the room with Church in his arms and a look of concern on his face.

“Papa!” Jamie squeals, wriggling in Will’s grip until he lets him down. He darts over to Jem, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist.

“Good morning sweet boy, I missed you so much.” Jem says in a tone of joy, scooping Jamie into his arms and kissing his cheek.

''Miss Oo too, love Oo papa.'' Jamie sofly says, snuggling into Jem. Jem beams and kisses his son's forehead.

''I love you too Jamie, shall we go have breakfast?'' Jem says. Jamie nods enthuastically and says

''Mama and daddy come too?'' Will and Tessa smile at their son and Tessa says

''Of course, I think Lucie is hungry too, judging by these kicks.''

When the three of them arrive downstairs they find they are the only ones up for breakfast, there is no sign of Charlotte, Henry, Charles and Matthew or Gabriel, Cecily, Anna and Christopher.

Halfway through breakfast Tessa begins to feel a famillar aching cramping pain in her lower stomach, she immediately knows that the pains are contractions but doenst want to say anything to Jem or Will incase she frightens Jamie.

When Ruby -The Institue Maid- arrives to clean up after breakfast she notices Tessa wincing and clutching her stomach.

''M'am are you alright?'' Ruby asks in a tone of concern, which immediately catches Jem and Will's attention.

''Tess are you alright, is it time?'' Jem calmly asks. Tessa winces as another pain hits her and weakly nods.

''Yes, yes I think so.'' she weakly says.

''I will take Jamie to my sister, Jem you help Tessa up to the infirmary.'' Will orders. Jem nods and begins to help Tessa out of her chair, while WIll takes Jamie to find Ceciily and Gabriel.

Tessa's labor is long and painful, she wishes more than anything that she could have Jem and Will by her side, they were there when this baby was concieved they should be here when she is born. But Tessa feels far too weak and tired to fight with the midwife and settles for having, Cecily, Charlotte and Sophie by her side. while Jem, Will, Gideon, Henry and Gabriel wait outside along with Jamie.

After six long and painful hours, Tessa gives birth to a healthy baby girl.

''Oh, Sophie can you bring Will and Jem in now?" Tessa asks in a breathless tone, wanting her husbands to meet their daughter immediately.

''Of course, Gideon and I will keep an eye on Jamie until we leave and Cecily and Gabriel and Charotte and Herny are practically fighting over who gets to look after him tonight, so you dont need to worry about that.'' Sophie lightly says, rising from her seat and making her way out of the infirmary.

A few minutes later, just as the midwife places Lucie in Tessa's arms, Will and Jem walk into the infirmary, immediately making their way to their wife's side.

All three of them gaze down at their daughter in awe, she is absolutely perfect, she looks so much like Tessa it would be almost impossible to tell who her father is, if it weren't for her blue eyes, identical to Will's.

''Lucie, sweet girl you look just like your mama and daddy you lucky little thing, you are so perfect.'' Jem queitly says, softly running his hand over Lucie's chestnut brown hair.

''I cannot believe she's finally here.'' Will queitly says.

''I cannot believe we have two children under two, I still cannot believe I was pregnant again when Jamie was only eight months old.'' Tessa lightly says, rembering how shocked she had been when at Jamie's eight month check up, Brother Enoch had told her she was pregnant again.

''At least we know we can concieve and quite easily, unlike poor Charlotte and Henry who tried for Mathew for years.'' Jem quietly says. He feels awful that he, Tessa and Will seem to have absoluetley no trouble concieving and had two children in 18 months while Charlotte and Henry struggled greatly to have a second child.

''Right as usual James.'' Will says, leaning in to kiss Jem on the cheek.

Just then, Lucie begins to fuss annd whine in Tessa's arms, her little fists clenched and her face turning bright red.

''And so it begins.'' Will jokingly says.

''Let me try and settle her, she always calmed down for me when you were pregnant.'' Jem says, holding his arms out for the baby.

The instant Lucie is placed in Jem's arm she calms down, her cries die down to whimpers before ceasing altogether and she snuggles closely into Jem, reaching a hand out of her blankets and grabbing onto Jem's shirt. Jem's heart swells with love and joy, just as it did when he held Jamie for the first time. He can still hardly believe he has two beauitful and healthy children.

''I think you're showing a bit of favouritism Miss Lucie, but I cannot blame you, your papa is rather wonderful.'' Will coos, leaning over to stroke his daughter's cheek softly.

Jem chuckles and kisses his daughter's forehead. He then looks between Lucie, Will and Tessa, his beautiful family.

''I love all four of you so much, I could not possibly ask for a more perfect family.'' Jem says in a tight tone, trying to hold back his tears of joy.

_________________________________________

It has now been two weeks since Lucie was born, and James is absoltuely in love with his sister, he loves cuddling her and showing her his favouriet books, though he's not too happy that his sister mostly sleeps all day and is too small to play with him just yet.

Right now Lucie is having her afteronon nap in the living room in her bassinet where Tessa, Jem or Will can hear her better if she starts to cry.

Just as Tessa sits down next door to read her book, she hears Lucie begin to fuss and whine. With a sigh Tessa closes her book and makes her way into the living room. When she arrives in the living room she doesn't know wheather to be anry or amused at the sight in front of her. Jamie is standing over his sister's bassinet, lightly poking her.

''James what are you doing?'' Tessa asks in a stern tone, making her way over to the bassinet and lifting Lucie into her arms and holding her against her shoulder.

''Want play wif her mama, but she not wake up so I poke her, when she in your tummy I poke her and she wake up!'' James explains, looking up at his mother with innocent golden eyes.

''Sweetheart when she was in my tummy she was protected by a sack of water, so when you poked my tummy it didnt hurt her, but it will hurt her now, you need to let her sleep okay?'' Tessa softly explains.

''Okay, oove oo mama.'' James softly says, leaning into her. Tessa places one hand on Jamie's back and softly says

''I love you too baby.''

That evening, a few hours before James' bedtime, Tessa, Jem, Will, Jamie and Lucie all head up to Tessa, Will and Jem's room and get into bed. For the first whiile Jem plays his violon for them, which soothes and relaxes both Jamie and Lucie. Right now, Jamie is curled up in Will's lap listening to him read, Tessa is nursing Lucie and Jem is simply watching his family with a huge smile on his face.

''Our family is just perfect now Lucie is here, dont you agree?'' Jem queitly says to Tessa, putting an arm around her and their daughter.

''Yes absolutely, it feels complete, I do not want anymore children, these two are more than enough.'' Tessa quietly says, looking from Jamie to Lucie.

''Me neither and neither does Will, we were talking about it earlier today, everything is perfect as it is.'' Jem softly says. Tessa smiles and nods in agreement.

''I love you.'' She softly says, tilting her head up to look Jem in the eyes. He grins and leans his forehad agaisnt hers.

''I love you too, you and Will and our babies have given me the perfect life and I could not love you all more.'' he says, before leaning down to kiss her. Tessa closes her eyes and while she enjoys the kiss she also revels in the delight of the weight of her beautiful new baby in her arms, the heat of Will next to her, the sound of her baby boy's giggles and the feeling of Jem's kiss. When she got off the boat from America all those years ago, she could never have imagined a life like this, but it is perfect and she could not be happier.

[little-fandom]

Lost In The Scene

When Jace wakes up hangover he doesn't expect to find Alec in Magnus' loft that early. He's even more surprised to find out he spent the night…

"Suddenly Jace feels it again. The feeling coursing through the Parabatai bond. Same as last night, and he realizes what the emotion is. It’s happiness. Pure happiness."  

Or Jace realizes that he hasn't actually shown enough support for Alec's and Magnus' relationship, as he watches how they act around each other the morning after their first time.

read on ao3

Jace comes back to the loft slightly drunk, again. At this point he considers The Hunter’s Moon more of a home than the Institute, or the loft.

After what he and Clary discovered he walked her back to the Institute, and on his way back he just couldn’t stop thinking. A real angel, nobody has seen any in years. How was it possible just now? Who would actually believe them? And the vision…it’s just too much for now, so he needed a drink. And of course he ended up in the Hunter’s Moon.

He doesn’t really know what time is it when he gets to the loft. All the lights in the place are out, which means it must be pretty late. Seems like Magnus is already asleep.

He stumbles to the guest room, takes of his shoes, jeans, t-shirt and falls on the bed face-first.

He places his hand on the Parabatai rune as he feels… something weird. It isn’t bad. It’s just, he’s never felt that kind of emotion from Alec. It’s something like…joy? As he makes sure it’s nothing disturbing he just decides to ask Alec about it tomorrow, right now too tired to think of anything else than sleep. As he closes his eyes he prays that he won’t wake up hangover.

 Of course, the prayers didn’t help.

He wakes up to soft music floating through the loft. His head hurts so bad, and he can’t even take the light sounds. Since Magnus is awake (judging by the music) Jace decides to get up and ask him for some hangover cure. He knows the Warlock has a special potion, for that sort of emergency. He just hopes Magnus will be this generous enough to it with him.

With some tripping and getting tangled in the bed sheets he finally manages to get out of bed. As he makes he’s way to the kitchen, he’s surprised to hear that Magnus is not alone. He would recognize the other voice everywhere. Alec. Jace doesn’t come fully into the kitchen. Just watches both of the men for a moment, hidden by the corner, amused by the view he didn’t think he’d ever get to see.

Magnus is flipping pancakes at the stove, while Alec stands behind him. Arms wrapped around the Warlock’s waist, head on his shoulder. They’re involved in some sort of conversation, Jace can’t quite catch what about. But, mostly Magnus talks, Alec’s to busy pressing light kisses to his neck. Magnus tilts his head to give him more access, and the both chuckle at something he said. Alec actually giggles. Jace never thought he get to hear Alec giggle. To be honest he’s never seen Alec like this before.

Alec’s still smiling as Magnus turns his head and presses a light kiss to his temple. Suddenly Jace feels it again. The feeling coursing through the Parabatai bond. Same as last night, and he realizes what the emotion is.

It’s happiness. Pure happiness.

And after all this time, since he became Alec’s Parabatai all those years ago, it’s the first time he ever feels it.

As he shakes off from his realization he decides to actually make his way into the kitchen.

“Hey” he says as he heads to the kitchen table, kind of feeling like he’s disturbing their little intimate moment. Jace actually expects Alec to jump away from Magnus and make at least 3 feet distance between them, too intimidated from the unexpected appearance of Jace.

He does no such thing.

He just turns his head back from Magnus’ neck, arms still around his waist and greets him.

“Hi.”

“Good morning.” Magnus adds, not even bothering to turn his head from the breakfast his preparing.

Silence falls between them as Alec turns his head and nuzzles against Magnus’ neck.

“I didn’t hear you come in Alec, how long are you here?” Jace asks after a while, truly curious. With his all Shadowhunters reflexes and light sleep he can usually hear and feel everything that’s happening around him. Well, he’ll need to blame the hangover if he gets murdered in his sleep one day.

“Well considering your current state, you wouldn’t even hear a horde of Shax demons approaching you.” Alec points out with a smirk, taking in his brother’s presence. “You look like crap.”

Jace’s sure he does. But that’s not the point now.

“Why, thank you,” he starts. “but that doesn’t actually answer my question.”

“I came last night, you weren’t here back then.” He’s brother takes mercy on him and answers.

“And what a pleasant time it has been…” Magnus cuts in, in a chanting tone as Alec lets out another chuckle.

“Thank you, I like you too Magnus.” Jace replays in a mocking tone. He’s ready to cut in with another sarcastic comment as it hits him: Alec spent the night. Was it the first time he stayed? By the angel did they… well that would actually explain the waves of pleasure and happiness running through their bond since last night.

Suddenly Jace feels awful. He's so caught up in his own problems that he didn’t even notice his brother was doing better than ever. He didn’t exactly show any interest in Alec’s relationship. Jace knew Alec didn’t mind, his brother was aware of his problems and with all of the stuff with Valentine…but it didn’t make Jace feel any better. This was no excuse. Alec always listens about his relationship, one night stands or whatever. He’s always there for Jace, and as the roles are finally switched he didn’t even ask…

“Jace, you okay?” Jace gets pulled out of his thoughts by Alec as he and Magnus join him at the table with some plates of pancakes.

“Yeah, yeah fine. I’m just-“

“Hangover.” Magnus finishes for him. “I can give you some of my potion, it should make you feel better.”

He’d be lying if he said he isn’t surprise. He knew Magnus wasn’t actually fond of him recently, since he barged into his home and brought in strangers almost every night. He was also aware that at some part Magnus let him stay here because of Alec. His brother definitely has some effect on the Warlock. Maybe even more then he thought…

“Thanks.” Is all Jace manages, eyes still wide in shock.

He needs to talk to Alec. Not only about last night, Ithuriel and what it all could mean, but about him. Him and Magnus actually. He feels that he needs to show more support for his brother…

The sound of Alec’s phone takes him out of his thoughts again. Alec frowns as he pulls it out and checks a message.

“It’s Izzy,” he turns with an apologetic look to Magnus “I need to go, I’m sorry.”

“Is everything okay?” Magnus asks in concern.

“Yeah.” Alec nods. “I’m really sorry…”

Magnus puts his hand on Alec’s in a comforting gesture. “You’ve barley eaten.”

“It’s okay, I can grab something on my way…”

“Nonsense, Alexander.” He snaps his fingers and a take-out bag and coffee cup appear on the table right next to Alec.

“Thank you.” Alec smiles, grabs the food and pecks his lips lightly.

Jace feels like an intruder in this scene. He doesn’t quite know where to look, but he can't find himself to take his eyes away from Alec’s face. His Parabatai was never the one for PDA, or at least he assumed so. But now…he looks more in his element than ever. Jace can’t help the feeling like this was meant for Alec, but he was always too afraid to reach for it. He’s is so proud of his brother, for finally putting himself first. It doesn’t feel selfish. Quite the opposite actually, it’s what he deserves.

As Alec stands up from the table and Magnus follows, Jaces finds himself unable to move. He’s just watching, lost in the sight, as the couple heads to the front door.

He slowly moves to the doorway to still observe the rest of the scene.

“Do you need a portal?” Magnus asks, his hand now on the small of Alec’s back.

“No, I actually think I want to take a walk.” The younger man answers and smiles. “But thanks anyway.”

“Always, Alexander.”

Magnus turns to face him and cups his face softly as he climbs on his tiptoes to place his lips on Alec’s. Something that was supposed to be just a light peck turns into deeper kiss as Alec puts his hands on Magnus’ waist. It’s like Jace isn’t even here. But he doesn’t care at least, too lost in the look of pure happiness that paints his brother’s face. Jace can’t help but smile.

“Are you free for lunch?” Alec asks, when they finally part from each other.

Magnus strokes his cheek lightly. “Yeah, I don’t have any appointments till late afternoon.”

“Okay, so I’ll text you, alright?”

Magnus nods and gives him one last quick kiss.

“Bye Jace,” Alec says as he turns from Magnus. “see you later.”

“Yeah, yeah later.” Jace replies still too caught up in the scene happening right before his eyes.

Alec just smiles, kisses Magnus lightly on the cheek and leaves through the front door.

“Bye, darling.” Magnus calls out after him. As he closes the door he’s still smiling to himself.

Then he turns around and it looks like he finally notices Jace’s presence in the room.

“I’ll go get you this potion.” He says and heads straight for his office.

“Yeah, thanks.” Jace mumbles much too quiet for him to hear.

When Magnus and Alec are together it seems like the whole world around them stops existing, it’s only them. They’re so lost in each other, that nothing else seems to matter. Jace doesn’t want to be the one who ruins their moments anymore. That’s not what they deserve. So there’s actually the only thing he can do now…

It’s time to move out of here.

[belsmomaus]

Friction (the one where everyone messes up, everyone is annoyed and Magnus feels old)

Read on AO3  (read the tags before you start with this one!)

The sun was beating down on him. Not that Jace noticed.

He'd pushed all the furniture on Magnus' rooftop terrace to the edges of the space to get some room to train. And that was what he was doing. Pushing himself through one routine after another, the seraph blade he'd snatched from the Circle member on a pretty different rooftop a few days ago whirling in his hand. Sweat was running down his naked back and chest. It drenched his hair and every time he turned his head sharply a wet strand would jab his eyes.

It didn't work.

No matter what, he'd always been able to count on the calming focus that training would bring. Only this time, it didn't work. It had always worked before!

But this time it was all too much. His mind was racing with all the problems that swirled around him and threatened to drown him if he made so much as one wrong step. But if he didn't move soon, he'd be swept away anyway.

He needed his mind to calm down, so that he could focus on a solution.

But it didn't work.

Jace clenched his jaw.

He would make it work!

With bitter determination he threw himself into yet another set of moves, his muscles straining already. He was desperate for the soothing emptiness in his head that the single minded focus of training his body usually brought.

Instead his mind was racing, flitting from one disastrous problem to the next.

They needed to find the demon that could destroy the soul sword.

It's better to destroy it than risk Valentine using it.

He didn’t dare thinking it, but deep down he knew it to be true: it’s better to destroy the sword than taking it back to the Clave. It wasn’t safe there. It wasn’t safe with them.

He'd been searching for days now for that demon. A demon he'd never seen before. He'd run through hundreds of books, exhausted every part of Magnus' seriously impressive library that he was able to read. And the one's that were written in foreign or ancient languages he'd mostly flipped through as well, searching the pictures at least, but nothing. Absolutely nothing.

If only he could go back to the Institute and search the library there or ask the Silent Brothers for help. But he wasn't welcome there anymore. Not him, not just the son of Valentine – as if that wasn't bad enough – but the one with pure demon blood in his veins. Put there by the man who was his father, supposed to keep him safe, not use him as a lab rat.

He couldn’t be trusted. He had said so himself! Unable to lie with the damn sword in his hands.

And Aldertree hated him for it all.

As if he didn’t hate himself enough already!

But he couldn’t ask for help either, not from the Silent Brothers nor anyone else. It would only lead to more questions. Questions about Clary and her runes and her connection to Ithuriel. Dangerous questions. Too dangerous!

He couldn’t let anything happen to her. He just couldn’t.

He lov--

She was his sister, after all.

His damn fucking SISTER!!!

He stumbled. Recovered his footing. The tip of his seraph blade caught on one of the tables that he’d gotten too close to, throwing him off balance for good. He crashed against the ground, his knee taking the brunt of it. Pain shot through his joint, bright and blinding.

“Jace.”

“What?” he hissed, pissed with the interruption. Pissed with the pain and his mistake and pissed in general, with everyone and everything. He pushed himself up, ignoring the pulsing throb in his knee and turned around.

It was Magnus.

Looking infuriatingly on top of things, styled to perfection and every crease of his eccentric outfit exactly where it should be. His very posture shouted self-confidence into the world. It seemed as if nothing could faze him. And right now Jace hated him for it.

For that, and for the pity in his eyes.

At least it only lasted for a second, before his gaze flitted across the terrace, clearly not amused, judging from the way his jaw clenched.

“I see you’ve redecorated.”

“I’m not in the mood, Magnus. So what do you want?”

One of his eyebrows climbed to skeptical heights. “I can see that. I just wanted to bring you this.” With an elegant motion he produced a small vial from a tiny pocket in his vest. It was filled with an alarmingly pink liquid.

Jace recoiled. From the color, from the idea of magical potions.

From the possibility of help.

“It’s something to soothe your frayed nerves a bit.”

Jace turned around, demonstratively putting his back towards the warlock. His voice sounded cold as he spoke. “I don’t need your magic. I’m fine.”

There was a sigh behind him. “No, you’re not. You haven’t been fine when you first came here, but now it’s even worse. Something has changed these last days and it’s eating away at you. Look, I don’t expect you to talk to me-”

“Then stop bothering me!” he interrupted him mid-sentence, his tone harsh and angry. Matching the hot rage filling his veins.

Why couldn’t everyone just leave him alone, for fuck’s sake???

Of course Magnus didn’t back off. Probably too used to getting what he wanted, that pompous--

“Jace!” It’s not a shout and not a plea. It’s that infuriating tone of voice parents used when they’re disappointed. He hated it from the bottom of his heart. Who did that warlock think he was to speak to him like that? “You haven’t been sleeping for days now. You can’t run on your stamina rune forever. You’re lashing out at anyone who crosses your path. And you’re so on edge that you keep pushing yourself although you can barely stand up anymore.”

There’s movement at the corner of his eye. A moment later Magnus was in front of him.

“Look, I won’t tell you what to do. I know you’ll do whatever you want anyway, but know that there are people who’d gladly help you. Until you’re ready to ask for help, take this at least.” Magnus held the small vial up again. “It’s just something to calm down your nerves a bit. To take the edge of. It’ll allow your mind some rest. And therefore some sleep. The angel knows you need it.” Then, as an afterthought, a frown on his face. “You look awful.”

Jace snorted. “That’s none of your business,” he spat.

He could watch as Magnus’ expression closed off in the blink of an eye. Something hard settled in the lines of his jaw and in his eyes, something angry and powerful and controlled. And Jace found that he didn’t want to be on the receiving end should that control slip.

“You make it my business when it affects Alexander!”

Magnus pushed past him, swift and sharp and pissed as hell. He’s gone in an instant.

Leaving Jace stunned. Standing there in the bright sunlight with a chill down his spine. There’s a lump in his throat that he couldn’t swallow down. Even if he could, it would only add to the churning in his stomach.

Alec!

He hadn’t thought about Alec at all. About their bond. He’d been so wrapped up in his own head that he hadn’t spent one thought about how all of this might translate through their parabatai bond. How all this might affect Alec.

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

Could he do nothing right???

***

Dusk was painting the sky in the most beautiful colors. Bright orange, mixed with hues of pink and blue. Though Magnus doubted that Alec had an eye for it, stressed and exhausted as he was. He’d just come over from the Institute to stay the night, like he did for a while now. Not every night, but most of them. And definitely more frequently now since they’d taken their relationship to the next level.

A smile played across his lips. He loved having Alexander in his loft and in his bed.

The smile wobbled. He’d love it more if Alec would get some proper sleep, though.

With practiced movements he poured two glasses of exquisite scotch to take them out on the balcony where Alec currently leaned against the banister. Alcohol in general might not be much to his taste, but he looked like he could really do with a strong drink right now.

Magnus was just about to lift the glasses up as he spotted Jace in the hallway, coming his way. His jaw clenched as he scowled towards the blond, slowly crossing his arms in front of his chest as the embers of his former anger caught fire again.

He didn’t know what was going on with Jace. He only knew about him leaving the Institute after being demoted. Learning about having demon blood certainly had something to do with his current behavior as well. Or that Valentine was his father. Or Clary his sister. Sure, a lot had changed in the boy’s life quite recently, but his behavior, this inconsiderate sullenness, it was grating on his nerves.

Especially since it affected Alexander. The nightmares, the exhaustion that sometimes seemed to simply spill over from their bond, these sudden bouts of testiness… Alec tried to made light of it, insisting that he was fine, but it had all started a few days ago. The same time Jace had stopped sleeping. He knew that Jace didn’t care much about himself, but Magnus had thought, that he would care about Alec, at least. They were parabatai after all.

Jace was quick to raise his hands in a placating gesture. He slowed down and finally stopped a few steps away. And, typically Jace, he didn’t beat around the bush.

“I’m sorry, Magnus. I-- I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.”

That wasn’t what he’d been expecting. He’s truly baffled. This had to be the first time a shadowhunter apologized to him – apart from Alexander, that is. He nodded in acknowledgement, but nothing more than that.

“What you said about Alec...” Jace had lowered his volume as if not to be overheard. He licked his lips, clearly uncomfortable, and cast a quick glance towards the balcony. Towards Alec. “I should have-” He broke off again, his voice cracking. Magnus wasn’t sure if he’d seen the cocky blond ever look so unsure of himself. And so very, very lost. “Do you still have that potion?”

And something within him softened. He wasn’t sure if it was because the boy actually did care about his parabatai – clearly more than about himself – or because he simply couldn’t stand seeing a look like that on anyone. He loosened his tense posture and unfolded his arms. A tentative smile tugged at his lips.

“Apology accepted. And the potion is on my desk in the apothecary.” He nodded towards the respective door. “Just don’t touch anything!”

Jace smiled, relieved. He looked even worse than on the rooftop that afternoon. An unhealthy shade of pale with dark bruises underneath his sunken eyes.

“Thank you!” Then, after a short pause. “How long until it starts working?”

“It’s more of a gradual effect, but- I’d say around an hour until it takes full effect.”

Jace nodded. “Alright. Then I’ll head out for a quick drink and some change of scenery. I’ll try to get some sleep, afterwards. Promise.” He turned around and headed straight for the apothecary.

Magnus called after him: “It’s the pink one!”

Feeling lighter already he finally grabbed those drinks and headed out onto the balcony.

***

Alec’s lips were hot against his own. Pliant and eager, hungry for more.

He pushed himself up a little bit to get a better angle at that delicious mouth. Their groins rubbed against each other, tantalizing, promising. Alec moaned into his mouth. The sound alone sent shivers down his spine and he pressed closer, wanted to feel more of that hot skin against his chest.

This wasn’t exactly how he’d thought this evening would go, seeing how worn out Alec had looked. And yet, soft kisses on the balcony had developed a life of their own and turned heated and more and more passionate. One thing had led to another and now he was here, in his bed with the most amazing man he’d ever met. Alec met each and every one of his actions with equal passion, if not more, and Magnus only had to make sure to power him out in every sense of the word. That and Jace finally sleeping should make sure that he’d wake up to a well rested boyfriend tomorrow, eventually rid of one of his worries.

If that’s what it took to grant Alec a night of blissful sleep and some much needed rest, he was the last to complain.

Alec’s hands roamed his back, digging into his muscles every now and then. He grinned against Alec’s lips as he realized that said digging coincided with those moments he did that thing with his tongue. That little swirl that he’d learned early on turned Alec into putty in his hands.

Alec panted, pushing his hips up against him to get more friction. His hands roamed on, reaching further as if he wanted to envelope him with everything he had, as he rubbed his forearms along his sides. It felt a bit weird, but his shadowhunter was still new to all of this after all.

And promptly proofed himself a clever and eager student as he bit into Magnus’ lip.

He gasped in surprise, not so much at the sting. Alec was quick to gently suck on it to take the sting away. And Magnus forgot about anything else.

“Cheeky,” he panted against Alec’s lips, grinning like an idiot while doing so.

Alec’s voice was husky and filled with mirth. “I learned from the best.”

Magnus went right back to it. He pressed closer still, reveling in the slight roughness of Alec’s chest hair against his own skin. They really, really needed to get rid of their jeans. But his hands were currently otherwise engaged. One buried into that thick, dark hair; the other busy with tweaking a nipple. He wasn’t ready yet to part with either activity to perform magic. And he was even less ready to separate himself from Alec to get rid of their pants the conventional way.

Alec’s legs spread wider, pulling him in even closer. One of his legs curled around Magnus’ and he pulled it up, rubbing his inner thigh all the way up to Magnus’ hip. Then down again. And up again, faster this time. More eager for more.

He kissed his way down Alec’s neck, licked and nibbled at the delicate skin, kissed the black lines of the deflect rune and trailed further down to his collarbone. His splayed hand against Alec’s side steadied him as he leaned with his elbow on the mattress and worked his lips and teeth to mark that pale skin. Not with a rune, but a hickey.  Alec’s hand bumped a few times against his own, as if he didn’t know what to do with it. But then Alec’s other hand pressed against his shoulder and he tilted his head down until it rested against Magnus’.

Magnus could feel Alec’s cheek press down against the spikes of his hair. It rubbed against his hair. Back and forth.

Back and forth.

He frowned.

Even more so as Alec moaned in pleasure.

This was new. And a bit weird.

Not that he was opposed to weird, it was just...

He paused in his ministrations and pushed up a bit. That’s when he noticed that Alec was absentmindedly scratching his belly. And he was still rubbing his leg against him.

His frown only deepened. He’s not really sure if he should be offended or amused at being used as some kind of full-body-scratcher. Anyway, he grabbed Alec’s still scratching hand, keeping him from going on, and looked up.

“Are you alright?”

There’s only confusion in those hazel eyes at first. Then Alec’s brow furrowed and from second to second he looked more uncomfortable until he freed his hand and started scratching at his chest. “Itches,” was all he said, puzzled and annoyed.

You don’t say!

He raised an eyebrow, giving his best not to laugh. “You know, a shower every once in a while usually helps.”

It was a joke. Of course it was, but Alec obviously failed to see the humor in it. He pouted – which was quite adorable, actually – and pushed him off – which was far from adorable – to scrabble back until he sat with his back against the headrest. And rasped at his chest with both his hands now.

“Haha, very funny. I showered in the Institute before I came here, just so you know. Did you use a different shower gel today? Or a new lotion?”

“No, wh-- wait,” he got up into a kneeling position, “you think this is because of me?” He’s still not sure if she should be amused or offended, but right now he was almost inclined to the latter.

“What else can it be? It has to be an allergic reaction, right? And it’s not the detergent, since these are the same sheets as this morning, so the only thing left is-- argh, dammit!!” Alec scratched even harder at himself, his fingernail roaming his chest, belly, his arms, his neck. He pulled his legs up and raked his fingers across his thighs through the jeans.

Magnus wasn’t sure if he was aware that he was doing it, but he rubbed his back against the headrest in small, scratching movements.

It looked absolutely ridiculous.

And the grin he’d been fighting so hard won out in the end.

Alec glowered back. Although it wasn’t even half as intimidating as usual with him wiggling about like that. “NOT FUNNY!”

He really tried to keep himself from giggling, which only turned into a snort. “But it is.” Alec growled. “A bit?” He ducked out of the way as Alec’s hand slapped in his direction. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” He raised his hand in submission and scooted closer. “Come here.”

It wasn’t meant literally, since they were already right next to each other, it was more to calm him down a bit. Magnus called his magic into his hand with a snap of his finger. Blue wisps swirled around his fingers. He turned his hand and sent his magic into his boyfriend’s body. Something had to be wrong and he was intent on finding the problem and solving it. As interesting as this interlude had been, he would really prefer to go back to their earlier activities.

Only…

He frowned.

“What? What’s wrong?” Alec wanted to know.

“Nothing. There- there’s nothing wrong with you.” Absolutely nothing out of the order. But that wasn’t possible, right? He sagged back on his heels, dropping his hand, the blue wisps dissolving. “There’s nothing I can do.”

“What?” It’s a whisper. It’s a shout. Or something in between. Anyway, it rang in Magnus’ ears. Angry and confused and a bit scared.

He didn’t understand. Something clearly was wrong, so why couldn’t he detect the cause? Why couldn’t he help? He hated feeling helpless. Especially when it came to those he cared about.

His eyes followed the frantic movements of hands, scraping away at already reddened skin. The sound of fingernails against skin filled the room, reverberated through his mind. There had to be something he could do. Alec scratched at his chest. His hand flitted lower, towards his side. Right above his parabatai rune.

And suddenly it clicked within his mind.

That damn idiot!!!

“Jace!”

Just at that moment, beyond the bedroom a door crashed open, the noise loud and unmistakably from the front door. And a booming shout rang through the whole loft.

“MAGNUS!!!”

***

He didn’t bother with throwing on a dressing gown or a shirt as he got up. The bedroom door had to suffer his annoyance. It crashed into the wall as he slid it open more forcefully than intended. Few long and hurried strides were all it took to get him to his front door, that stood still wide open with Jace against the doorframe.

Jace was a mess!

He was rubbing his back against the edge of the doorframe, up and down, from side to side. His right hand clutched at his stele-- and dragged it harshly against his jeans in jerky movements, scratching himself. His left hand raked across his chest and stomach and shoulders, hectically, over and over again.

There was something wild in his heterochromatic eyes. Something desperate. And betrayed.

“Jace?” It was Alec who asked. One quick glance told him that his boyfriend had indeed followed him – of course he had – and now stood in the open door to the bedroom, moving about uncomfortably, rubbing his hands along his arms and chest. “What happened?”

Jace ignored his brother completely, though. Instead he glared at Magnus and growled: “What did you do to me???”

In the corner of his eyes he saw Alec turning his way. “You did this?”

Magnus rolled his eyes up towards the ceiling, praying for patience, and sighed. The sigh of an old man faced with the shenanigans of children. And in the end that’s exactly what this was. Seriously, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt all his hundreds of years weighing down on him as in this very moment. This totally unnecessary, exasperating moment.

God, he was tired.

“You took the rose vial.”

“I took the one you told me to!” Jace shouted right back at him, defiant and pissed, his natural state these last days. “And you poisoned me!!!”

He chose to ignore that last bit. Not because it didn’t piss him off – it did – and not because Jace clearly wasn’t thinking straight, but for Alexander’s sake.

“No,” he replied, trying hard to keep his voice level. “I said pink! You clearly took the rose… never mind. How much did you-” Magnus looked him over, head to toe. The way he couldn’t keep still, always moving, fidgeting, rubbing. The angry red welts from blunt fingernails on his skin. Visible at his neck, at his side where his shirt had ridden up. And he heaved a sigh. He didn’t need to ask, the answer was staring him right in the face.

He facepalmed. And dragged his hand across his face until it dropped tiredly down his side.

“You drank the whole thing.”

“Would someone care to explain what the hell is going on?” It was Alec, taking a step forward, demanding answers. He was constantly scratching at himself, but far less frantic and desperate than Jace.

Jace, who currently rubbed the toe of his shoe against his calf, scraped his nails across his skalp and practically clawed at his stomach underneath his shirt. Jace, who threw his chin up in an angry nod towards him before he faced Alec.

“He’s pissed that I hurt you and now he’s punishing me!”

Alec frowned. “What?”

Hearing mostly disbelief in his boyfriend’s voice – he believed him more than his parabatai – filled him with a childish joy.

Still, enough was enough!

His voice growled in his chest as he spoke. Deep, dark and menacing. “Don’t put this on me, you colorblind idiot!” Magnus turned to Alec then to explain, nothing in his mild tone hinted at the threat from two seconds ago. “I’ve seen how much his distress has been bothering you these last days, so I made Jace a potion that would calm down his nerves a bit. Enough so that he would finally get some sleep – and therefore you as well.” He fixed his attention back to the blond, eyes narrowed. “But of course he took the wrong vial from my desk. He picked the special favor for a very old friend who got cheated out of a position yet again that should’ve been hers for years now. I prepared her a highly concentrated itching solution that would’ve been enough for the whole management level of her company. But your parabatai drank it all by himself and since you’re bonded...” he trailed off. There was no more explanation needed.

Alec frowned, rubbing his socked foot against his shin. “That’s why you couldn’t heal me. Because it was coming from Jace.”

“Could you please DO something about it?!?!” Jace shouted, whined, pleaded. Somehow he managed all of it at once.

Magnus was very much tempted to simply leave that rude, arrogant idiot to his own devices. But he was his boyfriend’s parabatai. And he would never willingly let Alexander suffer for his brother’s idiocy.

He rolled his eyes, threw his arms up much more melodramatically than necessary and sighed. “Alright, I’ll make an antidote.”

“Why are you still standing here then?” Jace shot right back, his voice shaking. Despite his rude words, it was the underlying whimper that tugged at something in Magnus. Maybe it was pity, maybe just some good old malicious glee.

He turned, only to come face to face with his Alexander, his naked chest an angry red in some areas. He looked absolutely miserable and yet he smiled at him, that warm and grateful smile, that usually came with a…

“Thank you, Magnus!”

Alec pressed a quick and chaste kiss onto his cheek. With one last look at them both he finally left for his apothecary, shaking his head along the way and cursing himself for trying to help in the first place.

It was still there, right where he’d left it at the corner of his big work table: the small vial with the pink potion. He shook his head again, mumbling to himself. “As if I’d poison somebody with itching solution. Who does he think I am?”

Still annoyed he started rummaging his shelves for all the things he needed for the antidote. Out in the hallway he heard the front door being closed – finally – closely followed by some grunting noises. There were footsteps, hissing sounds, a frustrated growl. Then more grunting and shuffling, even the occasional whining.

Then Alec’s voice, sharp and spitting mad. “You’re such an idiot! You ruined my night!”

“Your night? Do you think I enjoy this?” Jace countered right back.

“God.” Alec again. Whining. No, moaning. It almost sounded as if he were in pain. “This is worse than torture! And it is all your fault!”

“It’s your boyfriend who messed this up.”

“You took the wrong vial!”

“He said pink. They were both pink! I took the pinker one, okay?! Dammit, don’t pretend you know the difference between pink and rose, Alec!”

“YOU COULD’VE ASKED!!!”

Magnus couldn’t help but snicker. In a strange and maybe messed up kind of way listening to them argue like this was hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. It reminded him of himself and Ragnor. And for the first time, the memory of his dear old friend warmed his heart more than it hurt.

The argument outside died down soon after, leaving only grunts and hisses and impatient wails like ‘Magnus, how much longer?’ or ‘please hurry’.

“You’re lucky this one doesn’t have to simmer for a few hours,” he muttered under his breath.

***

Around fifteen minutes later Magnus mumbled a last incantation, his fingers danced in elaborate swirls around the little vial in his hands. Blue wasps of magic engulfed the vial. The yellowish liquid inside lit up, sparkled for a second and settled into a deep mossy green, that seemed to glow softly.

Done!

With a triumphant grin on his face – he’d managed that potion in almost half the time it would usually take by improvising some short cuts he definitely needed to write down later – he headed back to the living room. And stopped dead in his tracks right at the entrance to the room, stunned into silence.

Jace, one of the best young warriors the shadowhunters had to offer, was currently rolling around on his carpet in nothing but his shorts. Rubbing the whole length of his body against the deep-pile carpet, desperate to get some friction, while scraping his nails against any other part of his skin that he could reach. He was clearly at the end of his rope. His grimace alone almost enough to prompt pity in Magnus. Jace’s stele was lying at his side, right next to his still glowing endurance rune that he must have just activated. Not that it was doing him much good. Angry red welts crisscrossed along his thighs, chest and stomach, his sides and his neck. Red smears stained his skin where his frantic scratching had drawn blood.

My carpet!

Movement at the corner of his eyes drew his gaze. Alec was leaning against the winding stairs in the corner, using the cold and ornate metal of the banister against his back to get some short-lived relief as he moved against it.

Alec’s eyes lit up with relief as he spotted him, but Jace was too far gone to notice anything but his own misery.

Magnus shook himself after one last look at his carpet. Such a nice carpet.

“I’m done with the antidote.”

Jace was up and right in front of him in the blink of an eye. Magnus was still leaning back on instinct, a bit spooked and surprised at how fast the blond had moved – any vampire would’ve been impressed – as he felt the vial being ripped out of his hand.

But the High Warlock of Brooklyn didn’t let himself get caught off-guard for long.

He got his wits about him just as fast. “A small sip-”

Not fast enough. Jace, eyes red and wild and desperate, like an addict who’d finally managed to get his hands on a small morsel of their favored poison, downed the whole thing in one go.

“-is enough,” he ended lamely, smacked his lips in annoyance and rolled his eyes for the hundredth time that evening.

He watched the blond carefully. Watched as the wildness left his eyes and his face relaxed. Watched the tension in his body ease, his tight muscles uncoil. Jace practically deflated right then and there. Bone deep relief was flooding the blond’s expression, rendered audible in a long and heavy sigh that had almost lewd qualities. To his side he heard Alec sigh as well, his whispered “by the Angel, finally” drifting loudly through the silence. Magnus didn’t turn around. Instead he looked at Jace and counted.

Three.

Two.

One.

The blond’s eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the floor.

With yet another annoyed sigh he snapped his fingers and pushed outwards. His magic wrapped around Jace’s unconscious body and stopped his fall a mere inch above the floor. Another snap and his magic dissolved. Jace sank into the deep-pile of the carpet, like an angry red stain amid the light gray material.

Alec was at his side all of a sudden. “Will he be okay?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “He’s just knocked out for a while.”

Alec snorted. “You should’ve done that the first time around.”

He probably should have just mixed a strong sleeping potion into his coffee. Sure, it would’ve pissed Jace off, but it would’ve spared them all so much trouble. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

Warm hands wrapped around his waist and he could feel his boyfriend snuggling up against him. Soft kisses trailed up a line from his shoulder to his neck and he instinctively tilted his head to give him better access.

“Thank you,” Alexander mumbled against his skin.

The words registered, as did the alluring ministration, but his eyes still lingered on the floor in front of him in revulsion.

“I need a new carpet.”

It started with a twitch behind him. A chuckle followed, right beside his ear. Then Alexander laughed. Loud and open and infectious. His whole body shaking, the vibrations rumbling through his chest and through their embrace right into Magnus. And he couldn’t help but grin himself.

He’d missed that sound. With all that’s been going on and with his parabatai constantly on edge, Alec hadn’t laughed like this in… far too long.

It ended too soon.

He nodded towards the unconscious, almost naked shadowhunter on his floor. “What do we do about him?”

“I know he doesn’t deserve it, not with the way he was talking to you, but we should probably get him in his bed. I don’t know what’s currently going on with him, but he needs some proper rest.”

Magnus sighed. He’d known Alec would say something like that. He himself wouldn’t have minded leaving him just where he was. The carpet was already ruined, anyway.

Alec snuggled closer against his back, his fingers trailing distracting patterns across the skin of his stomach. And his lips mouthed along the shell of his ear. Soft lips. Hot breath. Wet tongue. It sent shivers down his spine in all the right ways. Alec’s voice was barely more than a breath, low and rumbling, his lips just a hair’s breadth away from his earlobe. “And then we could continue where we left off?”

Now that was more to his liking!

[umbralogia]

read on ao3

The words Magnus spoke hit him, each like further twist of a knife lodged somewhere in his heart.

“Clary drew the demon, it matched this one in the Silent City archives… it’s Lilith.” He turned the codex around for all of them to see, showing the sketched out horns and fangs of a beast, something that looked like it was out of his nightmares.

Alec let the other words slip into the back of his mind, his eyes locked with the image. He knew what they had to do, what he had to do, it all felt so simple, so necessary-- destroy Lilith, save Jace. The solution was almost like a mantra in his slightly hungover head, just repeating over and over, an awful repetition that turned into a hum.

“But why Jace?” He heard himself ask, and Alec straightened a little, his eyes still looking at the drawing, at the awful snarling demon that looked straight up, at the ceiling rather than meeting his eyes. Alec almost felt as though if he looked away, the drawing would move, peering at him, taunting him with what it had taken from him.

Clary took a sharp, shaking inhale of breath and released it just as shakily. Alec looked up at the soft movement of her red hair, at the tears still crowded in the green of her eyes. He felt guilty for her tears, almost like they were his fault. Jace was his parabatai, his brother, his responsibility, and the least he could do was look out for him, protect him when he needed to be protected. Alec had failed, Clary’s crying was evidence of that.

“Alec…” She looked up at him, her face washed out, her voice grainy, as though she had been screaming. “What you felt that night, when your parabatai rune disappeared… you were right.”

He straightened a little, the mantra, destroy Lilith, save Jace, stopped suddenly, his head finding nothing but silence and the shaking breath of the girl across from him.

Her fingers were gripping the side of the table, her eyes so watery that he could see the breakdown in her tears. “Jace did die.” She told him, trembling.

Jace did die.

Jace did die.

“Valentine killed him.” She continued, her voice a little clearer, now, a little stronger. Clary shifted her stance a little, as though she had to summon courage from her the tips of her toes to continue speaking to him, to continue telling him the truth like this.

“I knew it.” Alec’s voice spoke for him, almost like a declaration rather than the relief that he felt.

All this time, these days since they returned from Idris, he had been sure he was going crazy. Why had he woken up almost every time he tried to sleep? With that awful agonizing pain burning against his parabatai rune? Why was it that his heart pounded through his chest and ignited through his body like demonic fire? It had been so hard to bear, to endure, so all-consuming and devastating. All this time Alec had felt as though his body wasn’t his, his body was nothing more than the ruins of who he used to be.

“But if he died, how did he come back?” Simon asked, almost unsure if he could touch her to comfort her, if she would allow herself to accept that sort of affection.

Clary swayed a little, closing her eyes and blinking out the tears. She looked down, steadying herself as though the whole world was beginning to blur and fade into the mess of water that clustered in her eyelashes. “I made a wish to Raziel.”

The statement was so clear, so simple.

I made a wish to Raziel.

Alec could feel Magnus’s eyes on him, glancing at him for some sort of response, anything. He wanted to give some sort of response, anything, but his mind was blank, far too blank, far too panicked for what was unfolding in front of him. He hadn’t made any of these decisions, he hadn’t done any of this, and yet, it was all his fault, all his responsibility. The concept of it all was dizzying, the darkness of his thoughts was gnawing at him, telling him to destroy something, to destroy himself before anyone else could do it for him.

Isabelle found her ability to speak in those seconds of absolute horror. She enunciated her words as though they weren’t hers, the words of their mother came through her mouth in the same precise, scolding tone, but without the heat of anger. “You made the wish?”

“I had to,” the shaking in Clary’s voice was back, breaking her syllables with unheard sobs. “I had to.” She repeated, “it was the only way to bring him back.” She was shaking her head now, disbelief of herself and her own actions. Clary had done this, and she had reason to. Alec knew that in his heart she had all the reason in the world to destroy that wish, to waste it on Jace.

She continued speaking, licking her lips first and trying to calm herself as she leaned against the table a little more, her arms against the clear glass display. “But it…” she stopped herself, her lips quivering again, tight against her pale features. “It made him vulnerable… to Lilith, to this… this beast that is powerful enough to murder Ithuriel.”

“What?” Izzy breathed.

“Because of me!” Clary cried, she looked up at Alec again, watching him, waiting for him to think through just what she was telling him.

If he knew how to react, how to respond to any of what she was saying, he would, just to calm that part of her mind. Instead, all he could do was watch her, watch her walls shatter and splinter into nothing, just as his had what felt like so many nights ago.

“Because I summoned him. Because I was trying to help Jace.” Her hand hit the table a little, rattling the mug of coffee in front of Izzy. Clary was sobbing now, her resolve gone.

He closed his eyes and tried to distance himself, just for a second, to put together his thoughts, to put together anything. Jace was still there, attached to him through the rune, a single thread uniting them. He couldn’t feel anything other than that simple presence, that Jace was there, that he simply existed in the realm of Alec’s sense of self.

“Alec, I am so sorry.”

Everything inside of him shattered, the ruins of himself, the last bit of anger he could possibly hold against her. He knew, he always knew, that nothing was Clary’s fault, that no matter how angry she made him that they would always sort things out, that in the end, she would always find some way to make it up to him, to remind him that she respected him and didn’t mean to step on his toes.

“I should not have kept this from you. I know what position this puts you in with the Clave,”

Shit.

“So if you want to send me to the Gard… I understand.” Her voice was soft now, back to speaking through the remains of what she had left of herself. So accepting of a punishment Alec wouldn’t give to the worst criminals.

“Clary, no.” Simon’s voice was soft and scolding, as though he was talking to a cat instead of his best friend. He looked over at Alec, terrified, and Alec could see that terror in his face.

He hated how everyone was looking at him, expecting him to respond. He felt as though in those seconds he was losing Jace all over again, having to cope with that awful feeling of being lost in a sea of constant dark movement, without the light of his parabatai to keep him calm. Alec was no longer treading water, he was drowning, and everyone was forced to see it.

Alec blinked carefully, not letting the tears even cloud his vision or burn at the back of his eyes.

Magnus turned away from his side, looking off to the wall and the decor of the Institute as though there was something about gothic architecture that amused him. Alec hated him for that.

He forced himself around the table, to Clary, to look at the mess of devastation, the burned earth that she had razed herself. Alec looked over her, over all of her fear, her trembling. What should he do? What would he do? How could he stop her from rampaging through every ounce of herself?

Carefully, as though he was touching far more fragile, he put his arm around her, letting Clary rest her head against his chest. It felt oddly right, as though for some reason, in that moment, Clary belonged right there, beside him, his arm around her like the brother she never had. He could feel her breathing calm, the awful shaking breathless sobs slowly ceased.

Magnus was still behind him, looking at the stained glass, unsure of what to do or say.

“I would’ve done the same thing.” Alec told her, realizing then that in all reality, he would have. If he had been faced with that decision, the Angel’s wish before him, Magnus dead beside him, he would’ve made the wish without a moment of hesitation.

Clary nodded a little, sniffling back the tears that still fell from her red eyes.

I would’ve done the same thing.

[shanastoryteller]

she is an angel’s daughter

can we just. can we talk about how clary called for ithuriel, and he came, and she averted her eyes and said, scared, that she understood if he was angry at her, that she understood if he found her presumptuous and rude. she stood in front of him prepared that he might lash out and hurt her, or worse.

and ithuriel sighed and said, soft, that she had nothing to worry about. he answered her questions, came when she called when he didn’t have to, and – and i know i’ve talked about this before, but i think angles like clary fairchild, clarissa morgenstern, i think they look at her and see something of themselves – maybe not all their good traits, but their traits none the less.

and it got me thinking – what about a world where clary is more, is different, is the daughter of an angel? ithuriel considers her his in a way didn’t even know he was capable of. jace has angel blood too, but ithuriel doesn’t send him visions, doesn’t share forgotten runes with him, doesn’t call out and answers his calls in return. that is reserved for clary alone.

so valentine traps ithuriel and takes his blood to give to jace’s mother, right, and that does something, changes things of course. but it’s blood forcibly taken. but the second time valentine comes to take his blood for an unborn child, for his unborn child, well – ithuriel knows that valentine’s eldest child was cursed with the blood of a great demon, willingly given. so ithuriel, who’s bound and powerless in so many ways, does this: when valentine takes his blood, he doesn’t fight, he doesn’t resent, he holds no anger in his heart. valentine doesn’t notice the difference, but ithuriel gives his blood freely to the child growing under jocelyn’s heart, and it matters.

his consent changes it, his will changes it. his blood in her veins is different than it is in the other child’s. with her, it’s a claim, a mark of power, it’s something more and different and something that hasn’t been done in a long, long time.

clary shines just a little brighter than all those around her, because she’s an angel’s daughter, because ithuriel has claimed her, because she’s no normal girl, will not even be a normal shadowhunter.

she grows up, ignorant just like before, but it’s hard. angels notice her, and clary so often sees things that aren’t there, even more than a normal shadowhunter child. other angels take notice of her, of this little human girl who shines like she’s one of them, and clary could walk blind into traffic and never get hit, because she has angels watching her, she really does have guardian angels in a way that no one else does. they can’t find ithuriel, can’t free him because he’s so well hidden. but ithuriel’s mark is on this girl, his blood is in this girl, and she is someone they can protect.

they disapprove of jocelyn taking clary’s memories, but they do not interfere. magnus feels that she is different, but chalks it up to her being the daughter of two powerful shadowhunters, and doesn’t think on it further.

when clary gets pulled into the shadow world, there’s a reason everyone feels drawn to her, a reason so many people can’t help but listen to her and believe in her. she speaks with divine purpose, pulls at the heart strings of shadowhunter and downworlder alike. i've talked about clary’s hard line with morality combined with her ability to forgive almost any transgression against her before, and it should be contradictory, but it isn’t, it makes perfect sense when she’s an angel’s daughter, when she shares their strange almost-but-not-quite hypocritical world view. clary doesn’t revere angels. she understands them too well.  

when runes come to her, when ithuriel sends her runes, they’re ones no one else could use. other shadowhunters can’t use the runes that clary uses, she alone can wield them – because they are angelic runes, ones only someone with angel blood can wield. jace is affected by his angel blood, of course, but it’s not that overt, that powerful. it’s side affects, things that couldn’t be helped. but with clary she was chosen and she is loved and ithuriel’s blood in her veins means something different entirely.

things progress as normal, it doesn’t change much or become relevant, until – she and isabelle go and visit the iron sisters. isabelle thinks she has demon blood still, and something in clary rankles at the insinuation, at the idea of it. she goes into the water, and the iron sisters test to see if she’s pure, if she’s angelic enough to be let inside the iron gates.

she doesn’t just glow.

clary shines so brightly they have to avert their eyes, for the iron sisters it almost feels like when they summon an angel, the force of clary’s presence in the pool.

clary doesn’t know any better, doesn’t see what’s wrong, but everyone looks at her differently. after, the iron sisters support clary unquestioningly, they don’t know exactly what she is, but she’s not like the rest of them. they don’t make a show of it, don’t alert the clave to their changed allegiances. but the iron sisters know, they’ve decided, then when clary calls for them, they will answer. whether she needs weapons or warriors or advice, the iron sisters will be there. their first loyalty is to angels, not the clave, so now their first loyalty is to her.

so when ithuriel calls out to clary, this girl he’s had a connection to her whole life but has never even seen? she does the same thing, she doesn’t know him or what she is to him, but he’s an angel so she risks everything to free him. and jace is there, and helps and somehow it gets across that jace doesn’t have demon blood, he has angel blood too. but it’s not the same as clary, because then ithuriel raises his cracked and bleeding hands to clary’s face, and in her and around her all once she hears, my child, my daughter, oh how you’ve grown.

and clary is crying, because ithuriel loves her. valentine’s offer of paternal love had almost been appealing, a parent to hold on to after her mother’s death, but now – she knows the warm light of ithuriel’s affections, and she clings to his arms and presses her forehead against his and whispers, “go” and “be safe” and “thank you”

jace is freaking out, because she’s touching an angel, is being embraced by an angel, and what is clary, exactly? his touch should be burning, it should be too much for a mortal to stand now that he’s out of those power suppressing chains. ithuriel goes free, and clary – settles, somewhat. she knows who she is, she knows what she is, all those little things her whole life that never made sense, both as a mundane and a shadowhunter, suddenly do. she’s not valentine’s daughter, not really. she’s ithuriel’s.

jace doesn’t tell anyone what he saw, not really, he says what happened but he doesn’t mention ithuriel’s touch, how clary glowed while she stood in front of the angel. he goes to alec’s room late at night and whispers under the cover of darkness what he thinks clary is, wide eyed and afraid, because he thought he wasn’t good enough for clary before, and now this? alec doesn’t quite believe him, says maybe clary just has more angel blood than jace does, but – he can’t explain it, the way ithuriel had looked at clary.

she doesn’t say anything, because what will it prove, what will it change? nothing at all. clary doesn’t quite understand what angels mean to shadowhunters, not yet. they’ve always seemed too familiar to her for her to worship them.

she hears ithuriel now, at the corner of her mind sometimes, a soft glowing presence that strengthens as he does. clary fairchild shines brighter than any mortal, and somehow no one seems notice. they call her charismatic, charming, a nuisance, a silly girl who will lead them to war. they call her many things, but no one can deny one thing: she is certainly compelling.

her light rune isn’t sunlight, it’s holy light, she is a girl who wields heaven’s light like a sword, and people can’t help but be drawn to her. she is young, and imperfect, but she is shining.

they’re tricked into the institute with the soul sword, the sword of truth, and clary has been trying so hard to avoid it that she hasn’t been listening to it. it’s a mortal instrument, and there she is, half angel, half shadowhunter, and it’s calling out to her, it’s whispering things out to her that she wishes she’d heard before.

clary runs across the battle, to the center of the institute, and picks up the sword. her angelic touch changes it, charges it, and it becomes a weapon of mass destruction in her hands. everyone freezes, and jace scream at her, but clary only smiles and raises the sword and calls out, “father!”

and for a moment valentine thinks all his dreams have come true, that his daughter is on his side and there for him. but he’s not clary’s father.

ithuriel is.

the whole institute shakes with power, and everyone is driven to their knees by a force they can’t explain. clary is there holding the soul sword, and everyone thinks this is the end, the downworlders prepare themselves for death at hands of the girl they thought cared about them.

but it’s not the soul sword.

ithuriel appears, an angel appears within the institute, and the shadowhunters look on in awe, in disbelief. he is full of light, and had a cloak of power around him. “clary,” he says, and he’s soft, he’s smiling.

she doesn’t hesitate, she runs forward, stops just a few inches from him. he’s the one that closes the space between them, leans down to press a tender kiss to her forehead. she steps back, satisfied, and holds up the sword. “this is too dangerous. we don’t need it anymore – there are too many downworlders now, too many for us to protect from the effects of this sword. you have to get rid of it.”

ithuriel cups the side of clary’s face, rubbing a thumb against her cheek, and says, “if that is your desire, my child, then act. you have within you all the power you need.”

he’s gone in the next moment, and she doesn’t understand, but then a rune comes to mind, one she’s never used before. she takes out her stele and carves it into the sword, does what a normal shadowhunter wouldn’t be able to do, and alters a mortal instrument with a single rune.

“no!” valentine croaks out, and clary glances at him, irritated, and twists and turns and lets the blade fly.

the sword hits true. it slides through valentine’s chest, straight through his heart. he’s dead before he hits the ground. the downworlders watching this girl, this shadowhunter, this angel’s daughter, use the sword that was meant to kill them to kill their greatest enemy, watches her kill her birth father to keep them safe.

clary has made a stand, has done more than make a spark, has started a revolution that’s already burning bright.

the angel’s daughter stands with the downworld, with fairness, with equality, with justice. the angel’s daughter stands tall, and she will not bend.  

[singingwordwright]

Gorgeous cover art courtesy of @beyondthehunt Originally betaed by @roseglass with some final (eventual) copy-editing by @bonibaru

A Separate Peace (sequel to One Easy Answer) a Malec AU by @maleccrazedauthor

(Also on AO3)

Chapters: 23/28 Word Count: 104,900 Rating: Mature Premise: Arranged Marriage AU, Canon Divergent starting at Ep 1x12

(Please See Chapter List for Notes and Summary)

Alec found Maia in the training room, inspecting the dummies like she wanted to take a swing at them, but wasn’t sure if Shadowhunters were going to pounce on her if she did anything remotely aggressive. Given the way the Inquisitor had arrested her not long ago, Alec really couldn’t blame her.

“If you need to blow off some steam, go ahead,” he said leaning against the archway as he gestured to the dummy. “I’ve got your portal to Idris approved. Once Jace gets back, you’re good to go.”

She grimaced, shaking her head. “Sending me somewhere I’ve never been to talk to feral werewolves I’ve never met. Sure. Great plan.”

Alec conceded the point with a shrug. “Don’t blame you for being antsy. Well, with any luck, we’ll catch Valentine before he finds out Lake Lyn is the Mirror, so sending you to ask the Brocelind pack to help guard the lake won’t be necessary.”

“Since when has luck been on our side?” She scoffed. “If it were, Valentine would have died in that trap Magnus and Dot set for him.”

Alec clenched his fists at his sides, his jaw tightening as he muttered, “Fair point.”

Maia gave him a knowing look and folded her arms over her chest, leaning against one of the stonework pillars. “Right. Probably not a favorite subject for you right now, judging from how chilly that Council meeting was.”

Alec grimaced. It was tempting to dump it all out, which was weird because he didn’t do that.

“That’s what happens when you find out your husband’s been lying to you,” he blurted despite himself. Maybe it had something to do with Maia being a bartender. Didn’t people always spill their guts to bartenders? “Did he think I wouldn’t have helped, if I’d known?”

“He didn’t need your help.” Maia frowned. “Look, I don’t want to be harsh, because I know this is a truly terrible day for you, and I’m so sorry about your brother. But Magnus had it handled. Maybe this issue you’ve got with it is mostly just all the other stuff you’re dealing today creeping in, and that’s understandable, but honestly?” She took a deep breath and gentled her tone, which looked like it cost her some effort. “He needed you to stay out of it, and from the way you’re reacting, it sounds like maybe he was right to not trust that you would.”

“What, are you saying he was protecting me?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I’m saying it wasn’t about you. You know, when you were hyping your treaty at that first summit meeting, you said the Downworld factions would have autonomy to deal with their own affairs. But here you are upset because the High Warlock of Brooklyn didn’t consult you on a warlock matter.”

“It wasn’t just a warlock matter. It involved the Circle.”

“It involved cleaning up the remnants of the Circle, which the Clave couldn’t be bothered with.” She arched her eyebrows at him. “Once they had Valentine in custody, they stopped giving a damn that there was a small army of Nephilim supremacists out there, and that they were still a danger to us. I mean, let’s be real. How many of Valentine’s followers has this Institute tried to hunt down since he was captured?”

Alec sighed. “I’ll give you that. We didn’t have enough people for it, and we’d assessed they weren’t as much of a threat without Valentine leading them. Of course, we didn’t know he’d escaped.”

“Fine. Let’s deal with what you knew before you learned he’d escaped. The rest of the Circle was out there, they just weren’t a priority for you.” She jabbed a finger at him. “But you’re not a Downworlder who had been captured, mind-controlled, and made terminally ill by them. You’re not a Downworlder who has seen your entire pack, clan, or people you’ve known for literal centuries wiped out by them. You’re not a Downworlder whose race is being threatened with actual genocide. So maybe your priorities aren’t the ones that matter here. Look, sometimes your job is just to keep out of our way. If this Council is ever going to work, you need to figure that out.”

Alec wanted to argue with that but he couldn’t. Because she was making a good point, damn it. Alec rubbed his forehead, sighing. “I guess when I proposed the treaty, I always had it in mind that eventually, things would stop being warlock business or werewolf business or Shadowhunter business and it’d all just be shadow world business. We’d all concern ourselves with each other and work together on it.”

“And who decides what gets to be shadow world business? You?” She shook her head, her curls springing as they bumped against the pillar. “You Shadowhunters think you’ve got to be at the center of it all, and if it doesn’t concern you, it’s not important enough for any of us to be bothering with anyway. You taking over everything, is that your idea of peace? Because I’m not seeing much of an improvement over the Clave if it is.”

“That’s not what I want. I don’t think that.” He squeezed his eyes closed, sighing. “Do I?”

“Honestly, yeah, you probably do,” she said with a shrug. “You’ve been taught your whole life to believe it’s all about you. And I get it. You’re trying harder than most of us ever expected a Shadowhunter to try. I give you credit for that. But it’s not just about calling the meetings and making big gestures and yelling at stuffed shirts from the Clave. That’s important, but you gotta live the small things every day if you want to make real change happen. Sometimes it’s about recognizing that your input isn’t necessary and not getting involved. I guess what I’m saying is, if you don’t want to be treated like a typical Shadowhunter, don’t be one.”

“That’s your idea of not being harsh, huh?” Alec asked, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling.

She chuckled wryly. “Well, if you’d been Jace I probably would have just punched you in the face, so let’s keep it in perspective.”

On this day of all days, it should have been impossible to laugh even the smallest bit. But Alec found himself chuckling anyway, before looking intently at Maia. Her eyes were everywhere but on his, as though she’d been caught out.

The question was out before he even had a chance to consider it. “You know it’s been killing Jace that he activated the Soul Sword, right?”

She grimaced, meeting his gaze reluctantly. “Yeah, I know.” The fingers of one of her hands drummed against the biceps of her other arm. “When word gets around about what he said out there in front of the Institute, to his own grandmother even, the rest of the Downworld will start to catch on. Might make getting people on board with the treaty a little easier once they really believe you’re not sheltering a guy who deliberately tricked us into that massacre.”

Alec sighed. “People still think that?”

“A little more outreach might be necessary,” she said, her lips twitching. “Good thing you know a bartender. We—”

She broke off as voices approached the archway. Clary, Jace, and Izzy hurried in, bickering among themselves.

“Please tell me you found something that will keep me from having to portal to Idris with Jace,” Maia begged them.

Jace blinked with an exaggerated jerk of surprise. “I offer to play tour guide and you’re looking for a way to get out of it? I think I’m wounded.”

“Not yet, but we can fix that,” she retorted, narrowing her eyes.

“Despite rumors to the contrary, I really don’t like it that rough.”

“Can you flirt later?” Clary interrupted. “Let’s do this.”

Alec raised an eyebrow. “Someone planning to make a report sometime today?”

“The apartment was a bust,” Izzy said succinctly. “All we found was the body of the real Sebastian Verlac, booby-trapped with a demon. Clary and Jace are going to try to track Jonathan using Clary’s Morgenstern blood.”

Alec blinked slowly, shaking his head. No need to guess who came up with that idea.

“That’s…novel.”

Izzy shrugged. “It makes more sense when I’m not doing a fly-by. Clary, Jace, get ready. Remember, it doesn’t matter that you’re not together anymore. Don’t try to force the connection into a human context. Let it transcend that.”

Maia sidled over to Alec as Clary produced a stele and she and Jace began arguing over rune placement and finally Jace stripped off his shirt. “Should I…find somewhere else to be?”

Alec sighed. “Hell if I know.”

Izzy backed away, still coaching them. “You have the grace of the angels in your blood. Use it.”

Once she fell silent, Clary etched a bridging rune on Jace’s chest with a steady hand, then laid her palm over it, looking up into Jace’s eyes.

“It’s okay. We’ve got this,” she murmured with a reassuring smile.

Jace’s dubious expression relaxed into the dopey adoring grin he often wore around Clary. Seeing it, Alec found a new sympathy for the two of them not knowing how to categorize the connection they shared through Ithuriel’s blood. It was easy—even logical—to read it as another form of intimacy entirely. And it was intimate; Alec knew all too well that moment of intense awareness of one another from the times he and Jace had tracked together.

Alec assumed the incandescence that started to slowly rise was the tracking energy infusing Clary, since it was her very blood they were using as a focus. But then Jace’s runes ignited, all of them at once, blazing on his skin like fire, and Clary’s did the same. Her posture softened and she leaned into Jace, laying her cheek over his heart, and he wrapped his arms around her tenderly.

Alec didn’t need to know they weren’t dating anymore to understand that it wasn’t romantic or sexual. It was simply…love. There was a purity to the moment that was simply breathtaking. Angelic grace literally shone through their skin.

The glow spread. It flooded the room, so bright it seemed like it should have blinded them all, except it wasn’t that sort of light. It wasn’t harsh or cruel. Even a vampire could stand in this light without ever fearing it as they would the sun’s punishing rays. It was warm. Gentle. Approachable.

It felt like golden dawn in the bedroom in Magnus’s loft, a bedroom that was increasingly becoming theirs rather than just Magnus’s. It felt like waking up beside his husband, like quiet conversations mumbled with their faces still pressed into the pillows, and welcoming, good morning touches that transitioned into tender, sleepy lovemaking.

It felt…it felt like the adoring smile Max used to tip up at Alec when he was just a toddler, or the mischievous grin he’d adopted as he grew older.

Alec could look into that light without pain. It suffused them all, seeping through their skin to heal the wounds on their hearts. It wasn’t joy, exactly, but peace and love and something that was simply…holy. Religion wasn’t really a part of Alec’s worldview, but that caress on his soul felt like it came from somewhere entirely divine.

In that glow, the pain of losing Max, of his father’s betrayal, of Magnus’s deception, receded to a dull ache rather than something so intense and immediate it made him want to die. He heard a gasp beside him and knew without looking that tears streamed down Izzy’s face. He wiped his own cheeks as the glow started to fade.

On his other side, Maia looked awestruck.

“Okay,” she murmured. “Wow. Guess all the angel stuff isn’t just hype after all.”

Izzy chuckled softly. “Not this part at least.”

It took Alec a moment to drag his mind back from that peaceful, shining place to all the urgent matters at hand. “Did it work? Did you get anything we can use?”

Clary nodded firmly. “I can feel the directional pull, just like with normal tracking. Maybe not as strong or precise, but I don’t think he can block it.”

“Good. Jace, the warlock the werewolves have on retainer today is standing by to portal you and Maia to Idris. Once she’s on the scent of the Brocelind pack, get back here immediately. Magnus is waiting for the go-ahead to put wards up around the city that will vaporize any Shadowhunter trying to pass in or out.”

Maia looked like she wanted to protest this scheme one last time, but she nodded grimly and took off for the door with Jace on her heels.

Clary folded her arms over her chest, watching them go. “Well, that didn’t take long.”

“Bothered?” Izzy asked, arching a brow at her.

“Not even a little.” Clary shook her head decisively. “I’m just surprised I didn’t pick up on it before.”

“Seriously, you two?” Alec huffed, giving them a dubious look. “Did you pick up on the part where she likes to punch him in the face?”

Clary shrugged. “That’s a inclination shared by many, many women.”

“Whatever.” Alec threw his hands in the air and turned away. “Be ready. We leave in five. Jace can catch up when he’s back.”

Magnus loft was already full of warlocks by the time he arrived home. Madzie sat on the sofa beside Catarina, still and very quiet, but looking nowhere near as terrified as she had when in the Institute.

Still, she was a far cry from the smiling girl who jumped gleefully run into his arms when she had arrived to attend his wedding just a week ago.

Mouse was wedged between Madzie’s legs and the back of the sofa, her chin on Madzie’s thigh, and Magnus could hear the purr halfway across the room, as if the cat, too, was trying to reassure Madzie.

Catarina took one look at his face and shook her head. “Hmph. Alec took the news about the Mirror that well, huh?”

“Go ahead, say you told me so,” Magnus said with sigh, dropping down onto the arm of the sofa beside her. “You were never in favor of Dorothea’s scheme.”

“True, I would have liked to have given it more time, seen if we could have found a way to cure her, but it was Dot’s choice. And I did warn you that Shadowhunter of yours wasn’t gonna like it.” She shrugged. “But that’s not on you. It was a warlock matter. Warlocks handled it. He didn’t need to be involved.”

Magnus reached over and began rubbing her shoulders, frowning down at the top of her head. “Alexander doesn’t see it that way.”

“Of course he doesn’t.” Catarina snorted. “Shadowhunters think they need to be mixed up in everything. Figure the world’ll stop turning if they’re not the ones giving it a push.”

“True,” he conceded with a reluctant laugh, then laid a hand on Madzie’s shoulder. “How are you, Madzie?”

Catarina stroked Madzie’s hair. “She got a few hours of sleep. I think sharing those memories helped. We talked when she woke up. Seeing Robert Lightwood at the wedding was what shook her. She wanted to warn you and Alec, but then she realized he was Alec’s father and she thought everyone might be upset with her if she told.”

“Oh, sweet pea,” Magnus sighed, his eyes burning. Madzie turned to look at him soberly. “You don’t ever need to be afraid of telling Alec the truth, I promise,” he vowed. “Alec is your friend and he’ll be your friend no matter what.”

Catarina arched an eyebrow at him. “You be sure to remember that, Magnus,” she said with a small smirk.

Madzie merely nodded. “There’s so many warlocks,” she said, glancing around the loft.

“True, there are.” Magnus smiled warmly. “We need to work a very important spell together.”

“A spell?” her eyes brightened and Catarina chuckled.

“Yes. You know the Valentine escaped, right?” Madzie nodded, some of the light leaving her eyes. “Well, we’re going to help catch him again—and the man who hurt Max—so they can’t harm anyone else. We have to put up wards so they can’t leave the city, and it’s going to take a lot of warlocks.”

“Can I do the spell?” she asked, her voice soft.

Affection and wonder blossomed warm in Magnus’s chest. “You want to help catch them?”

Madzie nodded emphatically, her face sober and her eyes determined.

“I don’t see any problem with you helping lend your power, kiddo, as long as you let me know before you get too tired,” Catarina said, and met Magnus’s gaze with a look of fierce pride.

There was a time to soothe Madzie in her fear and pain, and they would be there to comfort her whenever she needed it. But if they had a chance to teach her about her power and what she could do it with—and if she was ready to learn—neither of them would do anything to stand in the way of her learning to be strong.

The notes of Alec’s ringtone sounded in Magnus’s pocket as he watched the warlocks filing up the spiral staircase to the roof. He drew it from his pocket with a heavy heart, unready for whatever fresh pain speaking to Alec would bring this time.

“Hello, Alexander,” he greeted softly.

“Um, hi. I just wanted to let you know, Jace is on his way to Idris. He’ll be back shortly.”

Straight to business, then. Which made sense, but it still hurt. Magnus swallowed and pulled in a slow breath. “My warlocks are beginning their preparations. He’ll have hurry; once we get to a certain point in the spell, there’s no turning back without starting all over again.”

“Understood.” Silence hissed between them, and then Alec muttered, “I need to go.”

“Of course.” Magnus closed his eyes as disappointment washed over him. They didn’t have time for the conversation they needed to have, and yet he’d hoped… “Call me once you’ve found Valentine. We’ll be working in shifts to avoid anyone becoming dangerously depleted, but it will still be draining.”

“Be careful,” Alec said abruptly. “Please? You were just wounded.”

It was ridiculous, how even that tiny gesture, that bit of concern, thawed the chill that had been creeping into Magnus’s soul. He smiled. “I’m the High Warlock of Brooklyn,” he said confidently. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Me, either,” Alec murmured, but he had disconnected before Magnus could force a reply past the sudden knot of emotion in his throat.

On to Chapter 24!

Please, if you’ve enjoyed this fanfic, consider buying some of my books, or buying me a cup of coffee!

[siderealxmelody]

Sweet Like Honey

A/N: A day in the life of Noma's family before everything went terribly wrong.

@waywardlightbearer

@silentwcrds

@blxsscd-x-fxrsakcn

@candy-addicted-angel

Gabriel and Noma usually walked home together from work. 

It helped they weren't far from each other. After Zephon had been born Asmodel had stepped down and Michael had given his position on the Seraphim Council to Noma. 

She worked with Ierimiel and Omniel most days. It was a delight to see Ierimiel again every day. She was still surprised how far they'd both come from the lower rings.

Asmodel had thrived away from court, he enjoyed playing with their sons. Noma privately thought it was because he had finally been "allowed" to be a kid again. 

The idea that Yehudiah had had to buy Asmodel from his father to give a modicum of stability and comfort still broke her heart. 

Asmodel's ex-father was lucky she had never found a way to be alone with him.  A small vial of belladonna and he'd never be bother to anyone again. 

Gabriel and Noma usually took the hour walk home to decompress and vent out their frustrations to each other. 

Apparently being the right hand, and unofficial co-leader of Olapireta came with more paperwork than anything else. 

Noma privately guessed Michael was trying to pass his paperwork to Gabriel but she had no proof. 

They took their shoes off and slipped inside. Ithuriel at a year old was probably napping upstairs. 

Zephon at 6 was probably doing some homework in his room. They'd gotten lucky with Zephon, Father had been generous to give them such a perfect son. 

Asmodel was humming to himself as he cooked soup for them. He grinned as he saw them both. 

"Gabe! Noma!"

"Ozzy!"

They hugged him tightly, Gabriel clinging as usual. Noma looked over the recipe taped to the table. Asmodel of course had carefully made a checklist for this. 

She finished cutting the parsley and stirred it. Asmodel gave her a lazy smile and pulled her into a hug. 

"You didn't need to do that, thanks Springtail."

She scrunched her nose up like a bunny, making him laugh as usual. 

"I like to, Gabe you gonna be down here? I'm gonna check on the boys and then take a shower."

He nodded and kissed her on the forehead. Noma went up first checking on Zephon's room. He was in his room coloring something.

"What are you doing Sunshine?"

"Mama you're home!"

She laughed leaning down to pick him up in her arms. 

"I'm coloring Mundus!"

"Oh? What colors have you decided for the sky?"

Zephon pointed to the worksheet on the new planet that Father had formed. 

"Miss Akriel says that Mundus is for us right Mama? So I thought about what we like, so I made the sky yellow! The sky is made of honey!"

She grinned and kissed his forehead.

"Oh? I love that! Does that mean I can eat the sky?"

Zephon wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

"No Mama, you eat the rain that falls from the honeycomb clouds!"

"Oh! Oh well I'm so glad you're here to tell how to live properly on Mundus. What about the ground? What's it made of?"

She had sat down letting Zephon run around the room. He was always excited when she and Gabe got home. 

"It's made of candy cuz Dada likes candy! But - but the trees are made of vegetables because I didn't want Papa to feel left out."

Noma nodded, listening to him prattle on. It was true, Ozzy truly liked eating vegetables - he was an odd one.

Gabriel stepped in the door and grinned as Zephon tackled his legs. 

"Dada! Dada I made a sky of honey!"

"Oh really? Can I eat it?"

Zephon sighed and began to explain why you can't eat the sky. Noma slipped out and went to check on Ithuriel.

Of course they all knew he was alright, the baby feathers on their claimants gave her and her mates a surface level feeling of their children's moods.

Ithuriel was calm and content. She smiled as she looked in the crib. He was happily flapping his wings standing in his crib. 

"Hey Bumblebee! Com'ere."

She picked him up and smiled soflty, he was such a happy child - they'd both been pretty easy. 

Though from what Irin had told her, that only meant adolescence was going to be a pain. Apparently Azrael had been a moody, sullen youth. 

Noma could see it, he still wore mostly black - all that was missing was the eyeliner and the piercings she's sure he had - and hid from his father. 

She hummed bouncing Ithuriel on her hip as she moved around the room to her closet. She set him down as she looked for some evening wear.

She had always thought the Higher angels were cold and emotionless to their children, and while a lot were. The ones that counted - that would be around her family hadn't been. 

The Furiad adored his mate Irin and was a calming presence to her and her peers. Nothing seemed to phase him - he had been around since Yehudiah had been a fledgling. They'd grown up and fallen in love together.

Their mates had been best friends. Noma sometimes wondered what Gabriel's mothers would have thought of her. 

She hoped they would have approved of her - would have loved her like their own. 

Irin had assured her they'd have been proud of the mates Gabriel had chosen. They would have been thrilled at the angel he had become. 

She chose some comfortier clothes and ticked Ithuriel's tail feathers making him laugh. 

They'd fall out when his flight feathers came in, right now he needed them for balance. as he walked they flared out around him, helping keep himself upright.

She walked him over to Gabriel who beamed pulling him into his arms. 

"Ithoo! How are you my little bumblee? Zephy you want show your brother what you colored?"

"Okay!"

Noma went to shower and then took the boys down for dinner. She made they ate while Gabe went to shower. 

Zephon took Ithuriel to the family room and played blocks with him while the three of them ate and talked about their day. 

Once everyone was finished and dishes were done. Gabriel picked a movie from them to watch. 

He lounged with the boys in his lap, giving commentary and refereeing any squabbles that broke out. 

Asmodel and she cuddled on the other side of the couch, their legs touching Gabriel's in a silent show of affection.

Noma sent a silent prayer to Father hoping nothing changed, hoping her children were this innocent and happy for all their days. 

Pictured Below: Zephon and Ithuriel when the family went away for Ithuriel's first birthday.

[erchommai-a]

how the bond thing should work: clary x jon edition.

i gooot bored at this party and kinda stressed so have some unedited rambling for now. I’ll fix it up later.

The main essence of the bond would not be any different really, in the sense that Clary would not be able to deny Jon anymore than Jon could have denied Clary anything they asked for each other.

The main difference would have been the balance of power between them.

Seb had the upper hand on Jace because Jace, by all honestly, has a soft heart. He’s a good boy. And Jon is a powerhouse, an intimidator, a dictator, and Jace is an easy target to push his will on.

Clary is not.

She’s stubborn and more powerful in many ways Jace just isn’t.

“You’ve got a dark heart in you, Clary.”

*With this bond, it would have been able to manifest much more clearly, much louder than any of Jon’s natural attempts because as I’ve talked about a bit before: it’s not just as simply as a tether.

It bleeds out. They bleed onto each other. A sharing of want and needs and a bond that clings to their soul and mashes it together.

But she’s stubborn.

She’s strong willed.

She’s impossible.

And every bit as hard headed as he is.

So unlike with Jace and Jon the possibility that the bond works differently in one distinct way is that it’s always going to be a fight: of whose will will overpower the other.

His darkness versus her light. Or her darkness versus his.

Because they share that too.

Those Morgensterns.

Those fallen angels.

Where Jonathan may just have a degree more control over his darkness does not mean that Clary does not hold the same power or capability for that same darkness.

And just because Clary has a much better hold on her light doesn’t mean there’s nothing to pull out of Jon.

( Similarly in how, to some degree, Jace managed to pull out some semblance of humanity in him.)

Only the difference here is Clary has a much stronger pull on Jonathan’s strings. She is his humanity even if its unrecognizable to him or her or anyone else really. It’s in her hands whether he fully burns himself to nothing or if there’s a possibility, even a small one, to bring out the boy inside of him.

But it’s not that easy.

Nothing ever is.

Loving a Monster never is.

So it’s a fight of how far down he could drag her with him. How much of the darkness he could pull onto the surface. How much he could do to show her that there could be monstrous acts in innocent intentions and there could be saving graces in horrible violence.

It’s a dance, a repeat through the centuries of that same old tune: dark v light.

Because to some degree, that’s always all Jonathan wants.

For Clary, or really anyone to see, they could be just like him.

And I do think this bond would work wonders in that sense for Clary to feel he struggle of violence and humanity inside of Jon he has never really learned to translate into thought or words.

Cos in the same way that Jon has a bond with Lilith, Clary has a bond with Ithuriel.

And where she translates Heaven, Jon infuses hell into his very actions because hell is so limited to only few words. Spoiler alert: they’re always bad. So what else would he know?

And there could be great symmetry simply in the fact that where he could master hell, Clary could master heaven.

Okay, I’m rambling.

But just picture this: 

They awake in the apartment. Jon still struggling barely alive, cos there’s always a price to pay for life, and it’s never just as simple as finding some other heart, some other spirit to share it with you, especially unwanted.

And she has no choice.

She has to help, has to care, has to bring him back to full health because the scar burns, her skin sizzles, her chest aches with every ragged breath and the agony in him screams in  her head until the bond is complete.

And then it’s quiet.

Just quiet for days and darkness.

An apartment to explore with a question behind every door.

And then he wakes up and she feels him before he sees him, standing behind her, watching him with his dark eyes and a shirt barely draped over him.

Cos Jon is that ass whose going to be barely clothed and still using every sneak attack at his disposal to seduce her, to prompt a reaction, to FEEL every emotion: hatred, disgust, annoyance, it didn’t matter, from her.

Because hey, let’s be honest, it’s an upgrade from indifference, from disappointment, from helpless longing for parental figures that fuck you over. 

At least it’s just a sister now that hates you and says it to your face.

AND YOU KNOW Clary’s hatred can feed him for eons with the intensity of it. 

But he’s close and she can feel him too.

The complicated emotion that swims in his chest.

The rage, the anger, the resentment because it never goes away. It lives in him like oxygen. And he’s loud and he’s heavy and he’s a monster but...she can’t really run away.

Because even without words he’s begging, demanding, commanding, making her stay.

And she can kill him.

He would offer it, walk up to her, knife in his hand. Put it in hers and take it to his chest, feel the burn that would pierce both of their skin, threaten to push deeper while they both bleed from the heart.

But she hears her better judgment.

She can get away from this some other way.

She’s smarter and sneakier than he knows. Than anyone gives her credit for.

But he knows and he lets her.

Cos again, he’s selfish. And he’s needy. And he wants her.

And there’s a trust that comes with the bond, for him, misplaced as it may be that so long as they’re tethered together she can’t leave and she can’t kill him. ( two very simple requirements for his roommate really )

And it’s a few days of quiet then, of Clary holed up i her room, away from him, feeding on sustenance runes.

But there’s the smell of food, of a breakfast laid out, of Jon in some ridiculous apron he’d brought in from outside and it’s normal.

And there’s still no talk of war. No future. Just food. And he shares and he watches her. She’s uncomfortable but she’s hungry. And the violence that comes from him is quiet, more quiet than its been before. And he looks healthier, more human now than he has been in days.

And he asks, because he caaan FEEL that’s important (rather than imposing) if she wants to go out, show her anywhere she wanted to go, takes her to Paris, explore the city, show her off.

Take her to art museums.

Things he thinks she’ll like. 

Places he thinks would make her like him. 

Tell her stories about the city, the people, the history.

And then a demon.

Cos war catches up even if they don’t want it.

And in a manner of days its the Clave.

Shadowhunters come because the world needs to know where Clary Fairchild disappeared to.

There can’t be quiet for long.

And it happens without either of them expecting it, she kills someone that tries to attack him.

A faceless shadowhunter dead in her arms.

And they have to go home, back to the apartment, Clary struggling with the guilt.

But Jon takes it away.

Cause blame is for him. 

He can carry it for her. She can hate him for trying to protect him.

What else is new after all?

And he’s planning, in quiet, in secret, just out of earshot when she’s in her room for what to do, how to be king, to bring back Lilith just in case.

( Cos even with all the want he can’t be sure, can’t be absolutely certain, that he could win with her. That she won’t walk away the minute she finds an exit strategy. Cos, again, when has anyone chosen him over everything else. It’s why COHF was so necessary to be done the way it was. To cage her in with him in Edom. But that’s for another discussion. )

But again, Clary’s a mistrustful clever girl and she’ll see through the ruse eventually.

In the mean time, he takes her to places and he asks her questions. Cos he has this neeed to know. To understand her. And in between he’s sneaking touches, moments, looking for any excuse really to get close to her.

And she’s playing the game, the long con, to figure out how to escape him, how to butter him up, cos in the same way she can’t deny his whims, he can’t deny hers.

( Even if its a battle of wills, there’s more of a balance in decision making with them then there was with Jace and Jon. )

So one day she asks to see Jocelyn, to go back home, to see family.

And he would let her, because he wants her to trust him, he wants her to see he can be good, if only for her.

( Which, also, to some degree he could. There’s more to talk about this too in COHF. )

And he takes her home, brings her to Jocelyn, watches out of view. But they don’t account for Luke. They don’t consider that Jocelyn is ready. And that she can attack him with a knife to his back and the only thing that could stand in her way is Clary who is just as in pain as him but still defiant.

Cos there’s a impulse to protect him, whether its his want or her own, she’s not sure anymore.

And again there’s the question: “Can you kill your own son?” from Jon, but this time, she can feel it, the skip in his chest when he asks it. The violent whiplash in his chest. The curious burning that explodes into absolute silence when Jocelyn says yes and he’s stealing Clary back, bringing them home.

And he’s taking the knife from his shoulder, taking off his shirt to ask for her help. For an iratze.

And then there’s the scars.

There’s a context for the pain.

There’s questions and then there’s answers.

A childhood spilled out onto every engraved line on the span of his back.

And god Clary is suddenly turned vengeful angel to anyone who has ever brought him harm.

Sister turned protector.

And again there’s the shift, there’s almost understanding, comfort in her touch, in her eyes, in the way they talk.

But he’s keeping secrets still and laying down traps.

Still not completely trusting her to understand what he wants, what he expects to happen.

And the little traps lead to clues.

Until they’re standing in front of some demon, offered answers on how to bring Lilith back.

But Clary does something without thinking, upsets the demon, an there’s a fight and they’re both scratched and clawed out after.

She asks why, she has to, she doesn’t understand. Why of everyone he would bring her back? A demon when there’s a mother to come back to? They just need to change her mind.

But again, that’s ridiculous to him. To comprehend Jocelyn the way Clary does.

And for the first time since the plains he kisses her, hard and desperate and she pushes him away.

“That’s why.”

Because he wants someone that’s entirely his. He needs someone just as devoted. He demands it from the universe and if it won’t give, he wills it into existence even if he has to kill a thousand more lives.

It’s madness.

It’s irrational.

It’s suicidal.

And they go home complete with answers with different goals.

She arranges to stop him, finally finding some sneaky way to call for Jace or anyone. While Jon is planning to bring Lilith back.

And he’s clouded with desperation because what? He’s a messsss and fucked up.

While she’s renewed with a sense of purpose. She wants her brother. She wants her family a second chance. And she’s just as impossible to change her mind as Jon is.

Jace tries of course, reminds her who Jonathan is to the world.

But she knows better.

She’s seen more of him than he did of himself.

And there’s a whole rush to the end, to the Burren, to the gang coming in and Jon’s people trying to fight them. It’s a mess and Jon is shouting that if Clary is harmed they’re all dead.

And they meet somewhere in the middle of it all, surrounded by clashing swords and war and devastation cos THAT should be the backdrop of everything that revolves these two.

With Jon coming in, sword through someone’s chest just as they’re about to attack Clary.

And it feels like their bond is burning after a few days of being far away from each other. Both their emotions loud and pronounced to each other.

Only this time its Clary that comes with an offer.

It’s Clary coming with salvation.

It’s Clary offering to take him home.

Give him absolution.

Mark him hers in no way anyone can because it’ll be no rune heaven or clave has ever done.

It’ll be hers.

Which means he’ll be hers.

Something that could share the hell with the heaven in the marks on both their chest.

Something that’s explicitly just theirs.

( Cos come ooon, Clary is literally the creator, she can make and do whatever she wants if she wills it. )

I meaaan that’s the pg-13 and summarized part

WHERE this could lead, I’m just saying there’s a lot of opportunity for obsession, possession and seduction to be involved. Cause Jon is my burning garbage baby.

And he’s not afraid to use the bond to steal opportune moments to get close to her as previously said.

And basically, theres a whole lot of potential too to make Clary absolute batshit crazy dark too. But again, it doesn’t necessarily have to end at this. Cos even in Jon’s absolute darkness his goal is very Clary-oriented. So if Clary ever changed her mind and wanted the world to be her kingdom than Jon is the first to get on his knees and help her with that.

I’m very stressed from this part so I’ll probably get back to editing/adding more when I get some freetime.

[snarktheater]

Shadowhunters S2 — Episode 8

Remember how last episode Isabelle had nothing at all to do and was just kind of there, suffering from her addiction (which, again, completely misunderstands that most addictions are more about the circumstances that push someone to use rather than the drug's actual addictiveness), and we left off with her meeting with vampires? Well, as it turns out, what I thought was a subtle fade to black as the vampires bite her was a…cliffhanger. In the middle of the episode. Huh. Figures.

So this week we're back with Isabelle meeting some vampires. And to be fair she's only asking for venom, not for a bite, and when the vampires threaten to bite her, she does try to fight them off…but she needs to be rescued by Raphael for some reason. I guess the show's just given up on portraying Isabelle as the badass she's supposed to be.

Oh, and she also faints in Raphael's arms, so…guess where this is going. No, really.

What is this bullshit? Did you not hear the word of ~~god~~ Clare? Raphael is totally canon asexual! Until you decide to create a new straight, forced romance, that is.

Isabelle also asks Raphael to bite her, and swears she won't ask again, and Raphael…does it, even though he just said she needed to sweat out the venom. And even though he has his own moral quandaries against it, if his "forgive me" at the sky is anything to go by.

And hey, you know what we need in this show? Another subplot! Remember Iris, the warlock woman who wanted to make more warlock babies because she was so afraid of Valentine? She's meeting with him now!

Okay, admittedly it's because he somehow found out about what happened, and he's pissed that Iris tried to have Clary raped by a demon. But instead of asking for…I don't know, vengeance or something, he wants her to work with him, and threatens Madzie (one of her warlock children) to make her. So…I guess I gave the show too much credit when I predicted that she wouldn't be working for Valentine. My bad. They really are this predictable.

Back from their rescue of Ithuriel, Luke rants against Clary for not telling him what the Soul-Sword could do. But it's okay, because the vision Ithuriel showed them is apparently of a demon who can destroy the sword.

"How do you know that's what he was telling you?" "There's no other explanation."

Um…yes, there is. It could be a warning against that demon, rather than a "hey, go summon that demon and destroy the sword". It's not like the Soul-Sword is important or anything. But I guess this is our plot now, so I'll just write it off as Mary Sue Guessing Powers.

We see Jace researching which demon he saw in his and Clary's vision, but who cares about the important plot development! Let's have some banter about the stray cats Magnus feeds (also, Magnus drops gratuitous French, but at least he pronounces it well) and Jace acting like an overprotective big brother and telling Magnus not to hurt Alec's feelings or something.

"Now that you guys have taken things to the next level—" "He told you." "No, he didn't have to. We're parabatai." Meaningful look from Magnus "No, it's not—it's not like that. I can—I can just—I can sense that he's happier."

So…happier = sex? That's a weird assumption. (Also, it would be way more interesting if it was "like that", if you ask me). But also, if you sense that Alec's happier, why do you think Magnus will hurt him?

"You think I'd invite Maryse Lightwood to my home for just anyone?"

Can you do anything without randomly taking a jab at her?

But speaking of that invitation, let's backtrack a little to Alex and Isabelle are watching footage of Ithuriel ascending into the heavens captured from afar.

"It could be a shooting star."

Um…flying upwards? Isabelle, I know you're dealing with heavy shit, but seriously? This is ridiculous.

And from there we go to Isabelle asking about Alec's sex life, mercifully cut short by Max running in, followed by Maryse. After the usual "we hate you mom" moment, we learn that Max is going to have his runing ceremony, and Maryse wants Alec to do it, because Robert can't be there and Alec is "the eldest male in the family". But hey, Shadowhunter society is totally not patriarchal!

Isabelle storms off because Maryse didn't come to Jocelyn's funeral or even check up on her children, and Max complains that everyone in the family is fighting, revealing that Maryse and Robert are also at odds.

"Mom doesn't like you having a warlock boyfriend."

I feel like I've complained about this in season one already, but…I really hate that they're making Maryse the one who's not okay with Alec's sexuality, when Robert was clearly the one with an issue with it in the books.

But Alec has a plan to fight the homophobia/fantasy racism: have Magnus throw a party for Max's runing ceremony. That…is the worst idea, which Magnus realizes, but Alec insists until he changes his mind, which apparently is a recurring thing in their relationship now.

Maryse is expectedly displeased by this, and in one line she gets so much bigotry across I can only quote it.

"It's very kind of your friend to offer, but the runing ceremony is a solemn right of passage, for Shadowhunters. It's not some Downworlder rave. […] It's tradition."

Emphasis mine.

"If Dad were here, he'd understand."

Why did you feel the need to demonize Maryse even further than she was in the books? Ugh.

But Alec basically shames her into accepting by pointing out that their family is basically a mess anyway, complete with trying to have Jace killed on shaky, circumstantial evidence and all. So the party's on!

Before we get there, though, there's one last thing to get out of the way: Simon meets up with Clary, psyching himself up to tell her how he feels. And…he rambles on for a while, but he actually says it. And then Clary…kisses him, because her feelings for him have been so well established in the—okay I can't finish that sentence, this makes no fucking sense. Unless Clary's semi-jealous, semi-awkward look from last episode counts? Nah, it's still terrible execution.

So they're going to Max's runing ceremony party as a couple.

"So do you think anyone's gonna notice? That we're—" "Only one way to find out."

The party is as ridiculously over-the-top as you might expect from Magnus. Also Maia's the barista, because she's the one bartender character in the show, so I guess she's gotta be everywhere there's a bar now. She does semi-apologize to Jace for trying to kill him, since she now knows he didn't kill Gretel (which she knows…how?). Maia also points out Simon and Clary to Jace, who immediately goes to them to act like he's happy for them and obviously not be happy for them. Oh, also, Clary acts jealous because Simon talks to Maia?

Cut to Clary following Simon and Maia and see them kissing in a corner. Oh, the drama!

"Look, she kissed me. I didn't know what to do." "That's it? That's seriously all you have to say?"

So Simon randomly decides maybe them dating is a mistake because it could ruin their friendship, and he tells Clary she'll never understand what it's like to be a Downworlder. Needless to say, Clary isn't convinced.

But Magnus the fairy godwarlock is here to offer advice.

"That doesn't sound like Simon."

Doesn't it? He's the embodiment of the straight nonsense. But i'm sure it's something else.

Guess who's not at the party for most of the episode? Isabelle, who's looking for Raphael to bite her again because she doesn't want to show the symptoms of addiction to her mom. Because hey, this episode is busy vilifying one Lightwood woman, might as well throw Isabelle under the bus while we're at it.

"You can get through this. You're one of the strongest Shadowhunters I know." "No I'm not. Everyone thinks I am, but I'm not."

Not with these writers you're not.

Isabelle goes as far as to cut herself to force him to bite her. Can we end this subplot already? I'm annoyed.

Afterwards, Raphael tries to talk to her out of her addiction, and tells her he went through a similar issue with drinking human blood as a vampire, but Magnus helped him out of it. More romantic tension, and Isabelle finally joins the party, just in time to forgive Clary and talk to her about ~boys!~ Specifically Simon, of course. Except what Clary says makes Isabelle think she's suspicious of her, so that goes nowhere. Um…okay?

Speaking of going nowhere, Clary sees Simon hitting on Maia again…but when Magnus steps in and tells her to calm down and she looks again, turns out Maia isn't even there. So…she's hallucinating now. Oh, and said "hallucinations" lead her to snap at Alec for killing her mom, because Magnus figured out that something was wrong, but not wrong enough to keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile, Maryse arrives, Magnus tries to be nice and explain he gave the party a Spanish theme because Robert proposed to Maryse in Spain, which immediately backfires.

"How sweet that Alec feels comfortable sharing our personal family stories with you."

And the "Maryse is mean" nonsense continues with Max as the tools of her evil womanness, who consecutively acts rude to Magnus twice in a row, then says Jace isn't his brother or part of the family, and everyone arguing again. It's almost like forcing people who hate each other in a single place doesn't actually solve anything! What does, apparently, is emotional blackmail.

"If you ever want to make things right with me, you'd better make things right with Jace."

Good job, I'm sure that'll lead to a healthy, happy family.

Maryse goes after Jace…but instead of apologizing she keeps sniping at him. Literally, one might even say.

Yeah, she decided to kill him because of his demon blood now. What is it with this show and having every mom do that while everyone else is cool with it?

Jace knocks her out and gets Isabelle's help, and Magnus comes as well, because he spotted them or something. Turns out Jace is also hallucinating and Maryse didn't attack him at all!

So remember how Clary snapped at Alec? Well, turns out that was Alec hallucinating and now he's about to jump off the roof, and while Clary tries to talk him out of it he just keeps hearing more insults. Magnus saves him at the last moment with magic,

"Now you can see why I was worried about having a party at a warlock's house!"

Thanks, Maryse, that random act of bigotry (which i'm fairly sure isn't a hallucination) was totally necessary.

Anyway, Magnus, knowing that at least three people are experiencing hallucinations, decides to…leave everyone on the roof (now including Simon) and "be right back". What could go wrong!

Well…nothing, apparently. Magnus finds the counterspell, and everyone's fine and apologizing, but someone steals Magnus's spellbook. He figures that the cat we saw earlier was actually a warlock in disguise, and surprise, it's Iris. She freezes everyone but Magnus, they fight of a while, it's kind of unimpressive and consists mostly of hurling fireballs at each other until Magnus captures Iris. Turns out they have history, but I don't really care about that.

She tells him the truth about Valentine and Madzie, and she's already given him the book…somehow. Also, before Magnus sends her over to the Clave, she tells Clary to honor her blood oath by finding Madzie, so…guess we have another plot now.

Oh, also, Clary and Jace catch everyone up about Ithuriel, the demon in their vision, and Clary's powers. Magnus figures out why Clary has that connection with Ituriel, because the first Shadowhunters had a similar connection to Raziel by virtue of sharing his blood directly, which means Clary must have Ithuriel's blood. And since Clary has pure angel blood, she can also activate the Soul-Sword…I guess. Of course, that also includes Jace, but they don't know that yet. So you can expect a twist to happen there.

And that's enough of that scene, let's cut to Clary and Simon going home (home where? no idea), and Simon saying that the prospect of his possible impending doom by genocide made him realize he wanted to spend every moment with Clary. Which…you'd almost think he's proposing to her or something.

We also do get to Max's runing ceremony, by the way. I know you probably forgot about it, since no one else seemed to care beyond a reason to throw this party.

It also ends with Clary telling Alec she doesn't blame him for Jocelyn's death, and Maryse apologizing to Jace and telling her she does consider him her son. It's fairly sweet, really. Oh, and Maryse explains to Jace and Alec that while Robert and Maryse have been fighting, it's not because of Alec after all, it's because Robert is cheating on her. Which Alec guesses…somehow.

"You can't tell Isabelle."

Why not? That's jus ridiculous.

Alec offers Maryse to stay here with Max, but she can't, because she has to report to the Clave about Clary and the Sword situation, and…I don't know, they don't have emails in Idris, I guess.

We close the episode with Valentine acting nice to Madzie, which is actually genuinely creepy, and the less I see of this in the future, the happier I'll be.

This episode was…a lot more focused than the earlier episodes in the season, which is a thankful change. We still got a lot of PoV switches, but at least there was, you know, a central plot to the episode and not a million romantic subplots to the side. And I guess it did eventually try to make Maryse more sympathetic? Although it doesn't really redeem her open bigotry, so it's only a small victory. And Isabelle's addiction subplot combined with her speech to Raphael is downright insulting. So…it's a step up from most of the season so far, but we're not exactly in clear waters.

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

Hi!! Any "we've been talking online but don't know each other" sterek fics? Or "I'm in love with this online dude but it's actually my friend the whole time/or he's been in front of me the whole time" sterek fics? Or anything close to this sort of trope?

Got a bit of both for you!  -Emmy

When You’re Ready by Julibean19 

(3,008 I Mature I Complete)  *veteran!derek, disabled!derek, librarian!stiles, online dating

He wasn’t going to do it again.  He wasn’t going to let another date look at him in horror.  Derek refused to be seen as a freak.  He was just going to find a new job, move out of his parent’s house, and die alone.  

“Just one more date Derek, please!” Laura begged, following him down the stairs and waving her phone at his back.  

“I said no!  You don’t know what it’s like,” Derek muttered, suddenly defeated.

“I know babe,” Laura told him, coming up to wrap an arm around her little brother, standing up on her tippy toes until she could lay her head on his shoulder.  “But look at this guy.  He’s gorgeous.”

Derek couldn’t resist a quick glance at the dating app.  Damnit.  Laura was right, as always.  The guy was gorgeous.  A mole dotted face with an adorably upturned nose smirked at him from behind a pair of square framed glasses, and he could feel his resolve crumbling.

(500) Days of Sitting in Front of the Computer by orphan_account

(4,115 I Teen I Complete)  *gamer!stiles, gamer!derek

The boy, Stiles Stilinski, had always been into MMORPGs. The other boy, Ithuriel, had always been into MMORPGs as well, albeit secretly. The Alpha, Derek Hale, was possibly the object of Stiles’s affections. One day, Stiles met Ithuriel.

But be warned, this is not a tragedy in which Derek Hale saves Stiles’s virtue from Ithuriel. That would be ridiculous.

This is a love story.

Catfish by ericaismeg 

(9,165 I General I Complete)  *online dating, alive!hale family

“You make it difficult for a guy to get a date in this town, Danny,” Stiles says.

Danny snorts. “You do not have to follow the Guy Code for people I’ve only gone on one shitty date with, you know.”

–OR: the one where Stiles gets Erica to sign him up on OK Cupid and tries some online dating. Also, maybe circumstances lead him to hanging out with his crush more than he expected?

Do You Wanna Date my Avatar?  by Renmackree 

(18,399 I Teen I Complete)   *gamers, online dating, online relationship

Scott frowned, grabbing the game case and reading it out loud.

“Become the Hero you’ve always wanted to be. Battle monsters, witches, dragons, and all the mythical beasts of the World of Fantasy. Play as a Human, Elf, Dwarf and other special races included in the basic game. Stiles this so stupid. Who the hell would want to play as a Werewolf?” Scott threw the game back on the bed and leaned back in the chair.

Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon by secondstar 

(21,317 I Explicit I Complete)   *online friendship, highschool au

Being a teenager sucks. Being a werewolf teenager sucks even more. With a life full of holding back who he really is, not having any privacy whatsoever, and the seemingly sudden appearance of one Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale’s life just got a whole lot harder.

I Should Meet You Because I Love You by derekstilinski 

(22,573 I Mature I Complete)

Derek and Stiles meet online, and then in real life.

For Science by grimm, Tsuminoaru 

(35,959 I Explicit I Complete)  *college au, craigslist, werewolves known, minor Deucalion/Stiles

From his textbooks, Stiles had gotten the impression that vampires had a weird, stretched out look to them — slightly too-long limbs and pale skin. This guy, though, he looked human, broad-shouldered and clearly muscular even under a loose sweatshirt. He wasn’t pale at all, his skin lightly tanned, hair dark, eyes pale. They narrowed at Stiles and Stiles froze as the man looked him up and down, clearly judging him. He must have passed the test, though, because the man kind of shrugged and said, “Take off your clothes.”

On Building a Family from the Ground Up by itschristaleigh (lizleminem) 

(38,455 I Explicit I Complete)  *online dating, kid fic

Erica signs Derek up for an online dating site as a joke. At first, he’s just pissed about it, but then her and Boyd announce they’re getting married and suddenly he really does need a date. Meanwhile, Laura becomes a foster mom, and Derek worries about growing way too attached to kids who are eventually going to be given a new home anyway.

Or, how, five years after the fire, Derek learns to open back up and create his own family from the people who occupy his life now.

Alpha and Omega by XX0Jessie0XX 

(58,579 I Explicit I Complete)  *high school au, omega!stiles, werewolves known, online relationships

High School AU: Derek is the head Lacrosse player at Beacon Hills High School and Stiles is an Omega that no one really knows. Stiles had been talking to someone online and wished they would meet up in real life but he knows it won’t ever happen. He could only wish.

My Heart’s Been Offline by thepsychicclam 

(58,893 I Explicit I Complete)  *famous!hales, online relationships

31/M/New York. Rich, lays in bed all day, likes to read (aka Derek Hale, son of an Oscar winning actress, brother of one obnoxious reality star and one rebellious fashion designer, hates the paparazzi so much he’s a recluse)

26/M/California. Boring office job, likes to read (aka Stiles Stilinski, co-owner of a 100 acre organic farm with his dad and two best friends, writer of obits for a newspaper, has absolutely no life)

Or, where Derek and Stiles meet online, and Stiles has no clue Derek’s part of a famous family.

The Silence Between by GoforthAndConquer 

(66,492 I Explicit I Complete)

When Stiles began volunteering at the Beacon Hills Crisis Center, all he hoped for was to help out kids (like him) that needed somewhere to turn. He didn’t expect to find something that he needed in a stranger’s voice on the other end of the line.

Prior to season one. Mostly canon-compliant.