[after Book 3 - Jace died at Lake Lyn and the Angel Raziel revived him - before the Epilogue]
Jace lays unconscious in his infirmary bed. He looked peaceful. All the blood and dirt had been washed away. His body was only covered up to his waist. His bare chest was covered with scars - pink skin around the healing wounds. Magnus sat next to him and worked with his magic.
He said the Angel healed the physical wounds but Jace was mentally hurt and unstable. The kind of coma he was in - Magnus put him in it after they saved him from the Lake, he was unconscious and barely breathing - would help him get better.
He had been in that bed for the last three days - not moving - only his chest rising and falling as he breathed in and out.
Clary opened the door in the infirmary.
"Oh, hi there biscuit." Magnus said. "Alec visited in the morning. Jace didn't get better. Clary. Please. Help me. Let me use your strength and help me heal him. He's got enough fresh blood, his wounds are healed, but he is just not waking up…" Magnus looked exhausted. He's been here with Jace 24/7 since they saved him from Valentine at the lake.
Clary walked over to Magnus, put his chair next to him. Now that she was so close she could smell blood, the soap they washed him with, she saw all the thin light scars form three different healing runes.
"Give me your hand." he told, and Clary did so. She felt how Magnus drew the energy from her. Her eyes were staring at Jace's body, but her mind lifted and was somewhere else. She couldn't tell if she was falling or not - she definitely wanted to scream but her body was frozen. They sat like that what felt like an eternity but it was only ten minutes.
Alec entered. The heart monitor spiked high. "Magnus! Stop! You're killing him!" Alec shouted and slapped his hand in front of Magnus' face to wake him from his trance. "He's slipping!" Magnus realized what he had done and abruptly stood up. Clary started crying uncontrollably - she hated crying in front of Jace - and tried to hold down Jace's moving body.
"What is happening?" She screamed.
Alec was by their side and drew a relaxing rune on Jace's belly. "Calm down, Jace! Please! I need you to stay still." Alec finished the rune, it worked instantly. Jace calmed down, his heart monitor steadied back to normal.
"Magnus! What was that?" Alec asked. "I have no idea. He was getting better. First when Clary came to help me… He tried to wake up! But something is blocking him." Magnus explained.
"Oh Jace… What did Valentine do to you?" Alec looked at Jace, he was devastated. He couldn't do anything to help his brother and that killed Alec. When he was attacked by that demon in Clary's house Jace had helped him get back on his feet quick but now that the situation is reserved Alec could do nothing. It killed him.
"Let me try something." Magnus said. He cast a spell - blue fog was coming from his fingers leading into Jace's head. His body moved, he clearly felt Magnus in his mind. After just a bit Magnus stopped with a blank expression on his face. "What is it? Is he brain dead?" Clary asked. Alec looked angry at her. "There is a spell blocking his mind. It's a strong and complicated one. Only an Angel could have done something like this…" Magnus told. "But you can stop it and heal him, right?" Alec asked concerned. "No… I suppose not." he said sadly. "Magnus! Please! You must do something. There must be something to help him regain consciousness." Clary said. "Maybe one thing. But only Alec and Isabelle can help. You must enter his mind, get him out of his own mind. Save him. But it's extremely dangerous!" "I'll do it! And Isabelle will help, too!" Alec almost yelled at Magnus.
Alec called Isabelle to come to the infirmary quick. She was in Jace's room about five minutes later. "What's wrong?! Is he alright?" she looked worried at Jace. "He's weaker again. He just had an attack… Magnus can try one last thing to save him. You and Alec have to enter his mind – there is a spell blocking him from waking." Clary told.
Isabelle was shocked, she almost started crying but Alec came to her, hugged her and said: "We will save him." Isabelle looked back at Jace. She visited him every night when everyone else was sleeping. He looked so peacefully. At night, only a dim light was on, the sound of the heart monitor – the steady beeping. She told him what had happened that day, what Magnus and Alec tried to heal him. Last night, she fell asleep on his bed, head resting in her arms. The nurse Catarina woke her and sent her to bed. Everything looked fine with Jace then. Now Clary telling this. Isabelle was clearly hurt, too.
"So you're saying we have to enter Jace's mind, free him from an Angel spell and it's dangerous? Okay. I don't care. I'll do everything to save him."
Magnus prepared everyone. Alec and Isabelle sat on a chair next to his bed, one on each side. Magnus himself stood at the foot of the bed facing them. Clary was next to Magnus. She had no part in the procedure but she wanted to be there if – when Jace wakes up.
Magnus started the spell. Alec felt his body tighten, his mind leaving his state. He suddenly stood in the entrance of the Institute. Isabelle was right next to him. "Are we in Jace's mind?" she asked. Alec nodded, took her hand "Let's find him. Get him out. Magnus doesn't have much time."
Together they walked through the Institute. For Alec it felt like he was dreaming. The halls and rooms where dark and empty. No one was there. They yelled his name a couple times but no answer. He wasn't there. They tried to think of Jace's favorite room – the weapons room.
When they entered, they were shocked. He was laying on the ground, on a big puddle of blood. It was his. Isabelle stood there frozen while Alec run to Jace's body. There was a big stab wound on his chest – directly over his heart. This is where Valentine killed him with the soul sword. Alec thought. He went through his pockets – he had his stele with him! He quickly drew healing runes on Jace. Isabelle came to them, too. "Can we help him?" She asked carefully. Suddenly she got thrown to the other side of the room. She quickly picked up a sword. There stood a demon. It looked at her – it was not interested in Jace or Alec at the moment. She quickly took the chance and threw the sword at the thing. The sword stuck in its body but it didn't seem to care. It walked slowly on it's four legs toward Isabelle. In the corner of her eyes she saw that Alec had helped Jace up – he was breathing again. He dragged Jace out of the room. Isabelle took another knife and stabbed the demon a couple times with it until it fell to the ground.
Alec had come back, took his bow and arrow and shot the demon. "It's not dead! Get the acid behind you! Burn it!" Alec commanded. She did. The acid she threw at the demon burnt its skin and the demon disappeared. "Is it done? Is Jace okay?" She asked. "I think so"
Both ran outside. They were suddenly in the botanic garden of the Institute. Jace sat by the pound. He stared at the water. The water looked weird. – like a portal.
"Jace?" Alec asked.
He stood up and walked towards the water.
"Don't" Isabelle said.
Jace kept walking. Alec run to him and tackled him to the ground. "Oh no! You're coming with me!" Jace suddenly looked at Alec, like he remembered what was happening. His trance state was gone! "Alec… What? What is going on?" Jace was confused, he looked at himself, at the dried blood on his chest. "I died! How am I awake?"
"We saved you! But you still have to wake up. We're in your mind!"
"Jace, wake up!" Alec said. He was holding his hand. Isabelle hugged Clary, who was crying. Magnus sat next to the bed and rested a bit. "Why is it not working? It's been an hour!" Alec got nervous. "Maybe it didn't work. Maybe there is really no chance of saving him." Isabelle said. She knew there must be something else, the little demon and that water can't be it. "I looked again. The spell is gone He should be waking up. He just needs more rest. We should let him rest. Come back tomorrow. It's late." Magnus said. He was right. It was already past midnight.
They told Catarina to inform them immediately if Jace woke up and all went to bed.
His eyelids felt heavy. The bright light was dazzling. He opened them slowly. He first didn't know where he was. He realized that he must be in the hospital. His heart was beating fast - that was the beeping. He was nervous. He was alone.
Catarina noticed the heart monitor spiking. She was scared for a moment that it might be something bad but then she saw him move his fingers. He was waking up.
She called Alec and Isabelle and went to Jace.
"Jace?" she said quietly. He didn't do anything.
Alec and Isabelle came running into the hospital room only moments after.
"You're alive!" Isabelle run to his bed and took his hand. She felt him squeezing hers a little bit. "Izzy?" he said with a dry voice - quietly. With a slow movement he touched her face. "It was dark.", he said softly. "There was nothing but shadows, and I was a shadow. I knew I was dead. It was all over. And then I saw you and Alec. I noticed Alec jumping on me. I was back." He paused and looked at Alec. "You saved me."
"The Angel revived you." Alec said. He couldn't believe Jace was alive, breathing, awake from the weird coma. It is all going to get better now, he thought.
Jace tried to sit up, groaned and layed back down. "You're still sore. You might sleep a few more hours till morning." Catarina mentioned. It was just 4 am.
"I slept long enough." he answered.
"It's been three days - almost four." Isabelle hold back tears. She hugged him and Alec came and hugged both.
"Don't leave." Jace said. "Never!" Alec smiled. He rarely smiled, Isabelle looked happy at both boys "I'll stay, too. I just got you back."
Jace fell back to sleep a few moments later. Alec and Izzy stayed by his bed the whole time. They were tired and slept in a few minutes later, too.
The next morning Jace woke up, both siblings still sleeping next to him. He felt so much better than the first time he woke up. He got up slowly. He didn't feel any pain. He walked over to a mirror. He saw the stab wound where Valentine put the soul sword through his chest was just a small line, above it a healing rune. He remembered the pain, all the blood that came out of the cut, the feeling of what it was like when everything turned to black. He still hears Clary shouting his name. He remembers every bit of that night but there were barely marks left on his body. He remembered when he woke up at the lake - all covered in his own pool of blood. Clary was next to him. At first he didn't know what was happening. He thought he was dead.
It was Alec who came running towards him, with Magnus following. Jace was barely conscious then. His whole body was hurting. Everyone was just yelling his name, yanking him up, trying to get him to speak, to move, to do something, but Jace just layed there staring at Alec. Then Magnus put him in this kind of coma where he was until a couple hours ago.
"Jace?" Alec stood up from his chair and came next to him. "Are you alright?"
Jace looked at Alec with his beautiful golden eyes. "I died. How am I here?" he asked. "I remember Valentine killing me, and then waking up at the lake but somehow that doesn't make sense."
"Because Clary asked the Angel to save you. And it did.", Alec told.
"She could have had anything else in the world, and she asked for me?"
Alec smiled. "I would have done the same. She saw Valentine kill you in front of her eyes. She somehow got to you, took your stele and drew a rune that made the Angel listen to her instead of Valentine. He got killed by the Angel, and the Angel saved you."
"Valentine is dead?"
Alec nodded.
"Does anyone know what Clary did? I mean…" Jace started but Alec interrupted him "Stop. We know what that means. She made THE wish… She saved you. And only we know, Magnus, Izzy, Clary, you and me. For now, at least. I think the Clave will want to know every detail from what happened at the Lake. Since you're basically a witness they will question you. They said they'll start the questionings after you regain consciousness. We need to tell them, you passed out or something. We can't tell them the truth." Alec looked concerned. "And we need to make sure they don't know you're awake yet! They'd come for you right away."
"We need a cover story." Izzy said. She woke up and listened. "But first…" Izzy walked up to Jace and hugged him tight. "I'm so happy, you're alive! Please never do anything like that again."
"Izzy. Shadowhunters die in battle. That's what we do. It's okay. And you know I'll do that again. Just next time there won't be an Angel to save me." Jace was okay with dying. He now actually knows what it feels like.
"How are you feeling, anyways? Must be pretty worn out, huh?" Izzy asked.
"I feel fine. Yeah." Jace didn't really know what to say. He died, came back and now woke up from a coma he was in for three days.
"We get you something to eat. Also we try to keep the Clave away from you today until we know what to tell them." Alec said. both nodded and Jace got back to his bed.
When Alec entered the room just half an hour later with some food, Jace was gone. His bed looked like he just jumped out. Alec put the plate on the bed side table and looked around worried. Where the heck was he? He should be resting and the Clave can't know he's awake.
He thought for a moment and then walked straight to the weapons- / training room.
In [the] middle of the training circle was Jace. He stood there with a seraph blade in his hands and his back was to the door. He was barefoot and shirtless. He only wore black pants.
"Jace?" Alec asked.
He turned.
"What are you doing? You should be resting." Alec looked in his normal serious face at Jace.
"I can't lay down anymore. I slept for three days. I'm done. I want to train and get out there again." Jace started swinging the sword from the left to the right side elegantly.
"What do you want to tell the Clave?"
"I don't know. If they use the Soul Sword, they'll know the truth. If they question me normally, I'll tell them that Valentine stabbed me and I passed out from the blood loss." Jace seems to have figured out the whole story. Alec, Izzy and also Clary were thinking non stop about what to tell at their questioning. Especially Alec didn't know what to say. His parabatai rune disappeared. But it is back now. Magnus was present when he was in great pain and he felt something die inside him. He didn't know how to forget that part of the story. He couldn't just cover up the fact that he actually lost his parabatai.
Mrs. Penhollow walked into the hospital room. Jace sat on his bed playing with his stele. Alec sat next to him.
"Jace Lightwood. I'm here to bring you to your questioning." She said. Alec was nervous. He was shaking and sweating. Jace on the other hand looked calm, as always. "I'm ready." he answered and stood up. Alec did so, too. "Oh no. Only Jace." she looked at Alec. "I'm his parabatai. I'm allowed to be with him during the interrogation." Alec said. "Not in this one." "Why?" "I'm not going without Alec. You want to question me, only with him or not at all." Jace fended. Jia nodded but wasn't happy with the incident.
She didn't want Alec there but otherwise Jace wouldn't do the questioning.
"So tell me your story from the lake."
"I can't tell you much.. I was fighting with Sebastian and I passed out because he hit me hard on my head. And… And then I woke up again at the lake and there were Clary and Valentine and I only saw Valentine coming towards me. He said something about me.. I can't remember. My head still hurt like hell at this point and then he rammed a sword into my guts.. I passed out of blood loss.. I didn't even see an Angel or whatever was supposed to happen. And then I woke up yesterday. Here. In the infirmary.." Jace told.
"How can I believe you? You're a Herondale. You have royal blood. You're the strongest, fiercest, fastest. So I heard. You never had trouble with passing out or being in a coma. And second: there should be some kind of mark on you. From such a big wound, I mean."
"Mrs. Penhallow. It was a long, exhausting day. I didn't sleep for days and I didn't have much training. I slipped.. It happens to the best. Valentine's 'attack' with the sword was a surprise. I wasn't back on my feet yet.. I don't have another explanation than the truth. And about the coma... I think Magnus just wanted to help me heal better.."
Alec was impressed by the way Jace lied directly at the Inquisitor and it was absolutely believable. But Jia still had trouble believing... All the others told their part of the story. Jace's part was the same for all of them. It had to work.
"And a mark? Please, remove your shirt."
"What? Please Miss. That's too much. His wounds are healed." Alec interrupted.
"Yes Mr. Lightwood. I'm aware of that. It's been almost a week. But still. I wanna see."
Jace hesitated... He didn't know what to do. She would see all the healing runes on his chest but not on his stomach. Only one was there. And that was the permanent one, which didn't count in this situation. Also he looked in the mirror this morning and he himself and Alec still were able to see the pink flesh, the freshly healed wound - right above his heart.
"Mr. Herondale?"
Jace didn't even notice he was deep in his thoughts that he didn't move for seconds. "Yeah.." he slowly pulled up his shirt.
There it was. A scar. On his stomach. Big enough for a sword to fit through. Next to it were three healing runes. He was slightly confused. Where did that come from? He played along and didn't move his shirt up further.
Alec just smiled. "There you go. Believe us now? We did nothing wrong. The Angel was never there. Clary killed Valentine with some kind of new rune she created in this moment. Done. Can we go now?" Alec said.
Jia nodded. Alec and Jace left the room.
When they were back at Jace's room he quickly shut the door behind him and asked Alec what that was about.
"Magnus helped. With a spell. Your body looked the way she wanted to see it. With a mark at the stomach. Please Jace, we couldn't let her have that victory. We needed to do something."
"But how did he knew Jia would insist on seeing a mark?"
"I didn't. I told Magnus to come with us, follow us and listen. If something like this happened, he should help. And he did. He is clearly the best."
With that there was a knock on the door. Jace jumped up and opened. It was Magnus.
He came in and Jace closed the door again. Magnus walked over to Alec, kissed him and sat next to him.
"I guess I have to say thank you. For saving my life and my ass and saving me. Thank you, Magnus. I still can't believe you did all that .." Jace knew other warlocks. They always wanted some kind of payment. With such a big task no one could ever repay a warlock. They would want the world from you.
"It's okay. I did it for Alec, too. He would have lost his parabatai. I couldn't see him sad. And trust me or not, but I actually like you." Magnus smiled.