Notes: Written for for rizzydaily's Rizzy Holiday Gift Exchange over on tumblr; title taken from Sigrid's Everybody Knows. First time with this ship and it's been a while since I tried to focus solely on either of these characters; hopefully this fic does a good enough job of it. Hope you like it!
Raphael had seen it happen. In retrospect, he'd known that that was the only reason he'd managed to get there in time to help, and more importantly, to actually set the process in motion – the situation was always so extremely delicate; one wrong move away from coming apart.
It had been one of those fights; the ones that involved enough demons to make the local Shadowhunters stoop to asking for help. They were almost human, after all, and when faced with such a brutal attack it was only natural for them to call any allies they had for aid. Raphael had only agreed to lead some of his best – and oldest, most experienced – vampires into the way of danger because he knew what the odds of them winning all on their own were. He had lived in this world long enough to know that if the Nephilim were to fail, the rest of the Shadow World and eventually the human one too would follow all too soon and he appreciated his continued existence far too much to ignore the threat of that happening.
It had started off well enough, with his clan dealing with some of the escapees from the initial fight. Raphael had made sure that they would all remain on the sidelines, not too eager to have them risk their lives despite the danger at hand, and so his focus had been on them almost the entire time even as he fought a few targets of his own. The Nephilim were the ones in the heart of the battle and they were supposed to have it covered, so he'd just assumed that no one else needed to interfere— that was, until he heard a far too familiar voice cry out in pain as yet another one of the dragon-like creatures descended upon them.
He was there in less than a second. It wasn't a conscious decision. The choice to leave whatever was left of the demons he'd been facing behind had been made so quickly that he didn't even have the time to process it and he raced towards the source of the sound instead. It was why he was there soon enough to see Isabelle fall, one of the demon's claws sinking into her chest with a terrifying ripping sound that made his blood freeze; soon enough to catch her in his arms before she had hit the ground.
"Izzy!" Her brother was on his knees next to them, quickly followed by the rest of their group. The fight was all but over now; some of their colleagues finishing off the rest of the demons and leaving them to deal with their fallen loved one. It always had been like this with Shadowhunters, Raphael had noticed – as often as they lost people, they never quite seemed to get used to it and they never really wanted to, either, preferring instead to leave the others of their kind to their grief.
Because this was what was happening, whether Raphael wanted to admit it or not. There were no runes that could help with a wound this deep and he was already sure of it as they all reached for their steles.
"Izzy," Clary echoed, one hand reaching out to card her fingers through her friend's hair. She was desperately trying to think of a solution, it seemed, but they all knew that it was too late – they would need a miracle for a wound of this size. She turned to Jace, tears already welling up in her eyes, but he shook his head even as she spoke. "Maybe if I can think of a rune—"
"This is demonic poison," Raphael spoke up. There was something about the runes that she'd meant that he wasn't fully aware of, he suspected – Simon had let things slip a few times – but whatever it was, he knew that it still wouldn't be enough. "Angelic marks won't work on it, no matter how powerful."
Isabelle had reached for her brother while they'd been busy talking and even if she couldn't speak – there was blood trickling out from her lips whenever she tried – it still seemed to be enough, because she let go of Alec before he could protest. He had been talking, though, a string of words that barely made sense but were still recognisable as reassurances, and to a degree, Raphael was grateful. Isabelle was taking it well, was using whatever was left of her strength to nod and smile and squeeze his hand one last time.
Raphael's mind was taking in the details with a distant sort of attention as his brain kicked into overdrive. Blood. It was everywhere around them; hanging heavy in the air and glistening through the tears in Isabelle's clothes and shining bright red on her lips. It was far too much far too quickly, but he could fix this. He wouldn't be able to tell her – he could hear her breath stuttering in her chest as she struggled to take another one – but her friends would have to make the choice for her.
"I can help her," he spoke up at last, somehow still surprised at how rough his voice sounded despite how shaken he was. Raphael looked up and met Lightwood's eyes where they were still focused on his sister with an unwavering, devastating focus. "You can't do anything – the wound is too severe for that – but I can help her. You have to decide now."
"She doesn't have enough vampire venom in her blood," Alec said. He sounded the exact same way as he looked – like he couldn't quite believe he was here, having this conversation. Raphael could sympathise. He had never expected to see Isabelle so still; not when she had been in the midst of a fight what felt like just a few moments ago. "It won't work, even if you tried it. And I don't even know—" The words trailed off for a moment before he spoke again. "I have no idea if this is what she would want."
"She'll make it. I'll make sure of that." No matter how little vampire venom would be involved, Raphael knew that it would have to be enough – he'd gone through this far too many times over the years and besides, what did they have to lose? "But you have to decide now."
With a heavy, collective sigh, the small group of Shadowhunters surrounding him formed an even tighter circle as they sat as close to Isabelle as they could; right there, in the middle of the sidewalk. There were mundanes going past them occasionally, but the world had still collapsed down to this – a small, inescapable bubble that only seemed to shrink as they tried to make their decision.
o.O.o
"What if it doesn't work?"
Raphael flinched. On a normal night, it would take quite a lot for anyone to startle him – especially the Daylighter, who was as stealthy as a fledging – but then again, this was as far from a normal night as it could get. "It will."
Truth be told, he had never seen a Shadowhunter Turn before. It was a complicated process, burying them when they usually burned their dead, but it was as close as they could get and one day – years from now, when she'd finally found her way around the new world she would have to live in from now on – Isabelle would be grateful for that. There were more than a few things that her grave dirt could do for her and even without that, they couldn't very well burn her body and expect her to come back to life.
"I'm just saying," Simon continued, lowering his voice to something below the Nephilim's hearing range, always conscious of how nervous everyone actually was, "What if she can't dig her way out? I don't know about you, but I remember how this works and honestly, Raphael, if—"
"It will work," Raphael gritted out, already beyond irritated. He was tense enough as it were and all the company wasn't helping, but he couldn't afford to chase them away. They wouldn't leave, for one, and it would be good for Isabelle to see them once she came back to herself. Still, they were starting to get on his nerves with their constant fiddling and the fight that seemed to be arising between Jace and Alec where they sat by her grave was reaching an unacceptable volume given the circumstances, so he kept going before Simon had had the time to ask more questions. "Go tell your friends to keep it down before she hears them and decides she's better off dead."
Simon clearly took threat of that happening seriously enough, because he did as he'd been told. Raphael wasn't sure what he'd told them, but Jace and Alec did seem to follow his advice and nodded amiably to each other before drawing closer to one another, likely for warmth – the night had been steadily growing colder the longer they stayed at the graveyard behind the Institute. Shadowhunters. They were always so impatient, and so easily upset despite their constant efforts to keep their cool and it wasn't just the two of them; Clary was also there, sitting quietly by the pile of dirt in front of her. She hadn't uttered a word so far, but she'd been crying steadily to make up for it and even the occasional comforting hand from one of her friends didn't appear to help much.
Raphael himself wasn't faring much better, really. He knew that she would be able to handle it – Isabelle of all people could find her way around everything – but it would be much more difficult in the aftermath, given how weak their link had been at that point. They were still lucky, he supposed – he'd given her his blood just a few days earlier to heal a different wound – but it was a far cry from the exchange they'd once made and even if made him glad (an addiction would be no basis for a bond between a newly turned vampire and their creator, he knew), it also made him uncertain and that, in this case, was as bad as it got. He would just have to give her his blood once she got out of her grave,
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of the ground shifting – moving under a new touch, being pushed out of the way by newly strengthened limbs – and he stepped closer, tentatively extending a hand towards the fingers that broke the surface and reached up. It was a close thing, choosing not to let himself help her out, but he managed to hold back – she needed to do this on her own, no matter how difficult it was.
And she did do it, just a moment later – inch by inch, Isabelle drew herself out, clawing at the earth around her as she shook the dirt from her hair and wiped it away from her eyes. Raphael had made sure that it would be either him or Simon she saw first and he positioned himself in front of her now, finally extending his arm towards her before she could take a good look around herself. She was too sensitive now, and too hungry – she would be able to smell all the fresh, angelic blood surrounding her before long – and he knew that she would never forgive herself if she hurt someone in the first, delirious minutes after she had been Turned.
"Where am I?" Her voice sounded like a raven's croak, but she took his hand to pull herself up. It would take a while for her to regain her memories fully and Raphael had made sure to arrange a safe place for her to do so nearby. The last thing he needed was another Simon, even if he expected Isabelle to be more collected – she was fully aware of the process even if she had never experienced it firsthand. "Raphael, what's going on?"
"Come with me," he coaxed, motioning everyone else to be quiet for once and give her time. Time. It was something she would have too much of in the future, but she desperately needed it for now. "Come with me, Isabelle. I'll explain everything."