So I decided to take on the iPod challenge to help inspire me to write (for those of you who don't know, that's where you put your iPod on shuffle, select your pairing and then write a 10 drabbles, one for each of the first ten songs that play) however, the first song was really deep in my opinion so this first little ficlet may be a bit longer than the others to follow.
Song – Tangled in the Great Escape by Peirce the Veil
Jace bounded into Alec's bedroom, hardly able to contain his excitement as he threw himself on the bed beside the heap of blankets that covered Alec's sleeping form.
"Wake up!" he shouted enthusiastically, "There's a high demon reading in an abandoned building not far from here, let's go!"
Annoyed, Alec sighed and crawled out from under the covers to read the red numbers on the alarm clock beside the bed.
"What the hell Jace! It's five in the morning!"
"Demons don't wait," Jace stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Get dressed and geared up, meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes. Izzy's not back yet so it's just you and me," and with that he left, leaving the door open.
Alec groaned as he picked himself up off the bed. He and Magnus had been spending long nights together and he was totally exhausted. This was the exact opposite of what he needed. Alec pushed the doors closed and grumbled as he selected his usual black attire for the adventure, grabbed a duffle bag of gear from under the bed and his stele from his nightstand before hurrying to meet Jace.
The other boy was already in the kitchen, two mugs of coffee beside him. He pushed one down the counter towards Alec, some of the liquid sloshing over the side, "Drink up, looks like you could use the caffeine,"
Without hesitation Alec took the mug and began chugging the bitter black liquid. Jace watched, a small smile on his face, "So you've been out late with Magnus a lot lately… but you look like crap, doesn't he ever let you sleep?"
Alec almost choked on his coffee and his cheeks flushed a desperate shade of scarlet.
He threw the boy a mortified glare but Jace just laughed, shrugging, "Hey, never mind, I don't want to know the dirty things you two do in the dark," and he hopped gracefully from the barstool and away from the counter, avoiding Alec's weak attempt to punch him.
"Jerk," Alec muttered; the affection still evident in his tone. He finished his coffee and followed Jace out of the kitchen.
The two drove to the building in silence. When they arrived Alec couldn't help but feel his apprehension rise. It was so quiet – too quiet.
They walked the long cracked sidewalk towards the front of the dilapidated building. When Jace made to enter the front door, Alec held up his hand, "Wait, I'll go first,"
Jace rolled his golden eyes but allowed Alec to step forward, between him and the door.
Alec notched an arrow in his bow, nudging his foot into the crack between the door and its frame. He gazed back at his parabatai, "You ready?" and when Jace nodded, drawing his stele, Alec kicked the door open. They both rushed into the darkness.
At first there was nothing - just stirred up dust and the echo of their entry.
Alec turned to Jace, whispering, "Something's wrong…" and just as he finished demons began to rain down, leaping from the high rafters above.
The notched arrow flew from Alec's grip in his surprise, embedding itself into the shoulder of one of the monsters. Cursing his mistake, Alec notched another arrow and sent it straight into the thing's eye socket. It let out a hideous screech before falling into a pile of ash.
Alec turned around, desperate to make sure that Jace had not been caught off guard, but one glance at his parabatai told him that all was well. Jace's eyes flashed with savage pleasure as he lashed out at the demons. Ichor and dust covered his clothes but he remained unharmed. Relieved, Alec maneuvered himself so that he was flanking Jace and continued his attack on the creatures. He shot arrow after arrow until his quiver was empty, then cast aside his bow, grabbing his seraph blade from its place at his hip. He lashed out, cleanly severing the head off one of the demons and then whirled just in time to remove the clawed hand of one as it reached towards Jace's back before stabbing it through the heart. Jace swung above Alec's head, taking out a monster behind him.
The two continued in a complicated dance, weaving in and out of one another and always covering the other. It was a choreography only known to parabatai, only produced by those who were bound for life. It had always been something that had captivated Alec, the way he could predict Jace's next move, the way he could detect even the slightest weakness in the other. It was what made them close – closer than brothers.
It was also what alerted Alec to Jace's sudden danger. He felt it – a dread so deep in his gut that for a moment he felt that he might vomit – and turned desperately, screaming, "JACE!"
Jace had somehow moved a few feet away, just out of reach. Upon hearing Alec's cry, he looked up. And in the second that their eyes connected he understood that something terrible was about to happen but before he could react, a rouge demon lashed out from the shadows, its claws sinking into the flesh of his right hip and embedding in the bone there.
Alec watched in horror as Jace's pupils dilated, swallowing the gold of his irises. Jace's mouth fell open and he let out a choking sound, his hands grappling at his side as the demon attempted to tear its claws from the wound. It succeeded, tearing back with a sick squelching noise, and Jace fell forward onto his hands and knees.
The air seemed to be sucked right out of Alec's chest. Fuelled by desperation and rage, he became a whirlwind, dashing between demons and slaying them as he rushed towards his parabatai. In a flash, he stood over Jace; the demons that had been in his way disintegrated into piles of ash in his wake. He found himself glaring up at the last one in the room – the one who had just had its filthy claws inside his parabatai.
"You will rot in hell," he ground out with an animalistic ferocity and he plunged his blade into the creature, slitting its midsection open. As soon as it began to fall, he turned to Jace.
The agony was immense but Jace desperately tried to stay up. He remained on his hands and knees, needing to see that Alec would be okay. He watched through watering eyes as his parabatai turned into an animal, slaughtering the demons with a force that was super-human. And when Alec came to the last one, Jace couldn't help but smile as he heard his parabatai damn the thing before killing it. Knowing that Alec was no longer in danger, he let out a sigh and felt what little adrenaline he had had wear off. Immediately his elbows gave out and he would have face planted had it not been for the strong leather-clad arms that caught him mid fall.
Alec caught Jace before he could fall. He gently turned him over, gritting his teeth when Jace made a horrid keening noise that was extremely uncharacteristic. Jace's eyes were open, blown huge with pain and shock.
Still, he whispered, "Good job,"
Alec tried to smile but just couldn't, "Hardly, I was supposed to have your back,"
Jace shook his head, "You did… I… I moved away," then biting his lip and squeezing his eyes shut he asked, "How bad… is it?"
"Bad," Alec answered, he didn't even have to look to know that.
He pulled out his stele and was about to draw an iratze when Jace's bloodstained fingers wrapped around his wrist, "Demon venom… in the claws…"
And suddenly it dawned on Alec – they would need something stronger than a rune to fix this. He ripped off his jacket and pressed it firmly onto the wound on Jace's side, feeling extremely guilty when the other boy cried out.
"It's okay, I'm going to get you back to the institute," but even as he said it, Alec began to doubt himself when he tried to pick Jace up only to have his parabatai scream, writhing and gagging against the pain which then caused more blood to gush up from the wound.
Alec stopped his attempt, focusing again on pressing his jacket to the wound to staunch the bleeding, tears filling his own eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Here, I won't do that again. Please Jace, you have to keep still!"
Jace panted, trying to stop the sobs that were ripping from his chest, and at last managed to breath, "Please Alec… Oh Angel it hurts… please not again…"
Alec nodded his agreement, one hand remaining on the fabric over the wound but the other moving up to card through Jace's matted golden locks. He could feel the cold sweat on Jace's brow – produced by a combination of poison, blood loss, and shock. Alec knew he had to move quickly.
"Okay Jace, I'm going to be right back. I need you to stay with me, stay awake okay?" he took the arms of his jacket, tying them tight around Jace's hips and trying to ignore the strangled noises that this produced, "I have to get my phone from the car. Stay awake, I'll only be a sec, I'm going to call Magnus. Everything will be okay," but he was off, racing to the car before he could tell if his words had actually been understood by his parabatai.
When he reached the car he frantically searched for his phone before finding it in his duffle and hitting the number one and then call. It rang once and then Magnus's voice filled his ears, "Darling do you have any idea what time it is? It's like six in the morning, what on earth…"
Alec cut him off before he could finish, "Magnus thank Angel! It's Jace, he took us on some crazy hunt and it was a trap. We killed all the demons but he's hurt really badly, he got clawed by a demon and its poison will make an iratze useless. He's bleeding horribly, I can't stop it and I can't move him…" his voice grew higher and faster as he tried to explain the dire nature of the situation but Magnus cut him off.
"It's all going to be alright darling, I'm on my way. Stay with him and keep him comfortable, I'll be there in a bit,"
"Thank you Magnus! Thank you!"
There was a brief pause on the other line, "Love, I'm afraid if he's as bad as you say he is it will take quite a bit of magic to fix him up. So it's best if I don't teleport, I'll need my strength for the healing process. I may be a few minutes, you know how mundane transportation is, but I will be there as soon as I can!"
Magnus's words only fueled Alec's rising sense of horror but the rational part of his brain told him that Magnus was right, creating portals would take a lot of magic and Magnus didn't have any to waste if he was going to save Jace.
"Thank you Magnus," Alec whispered.
"Take care of him Alexander. I'll be there soon," and with that Magnus's end of the line went dead.
During their conversation, Alec had been edging back towards the building, getting closer and closer to Jace. Now that the call ended, he turned and ran back into the building and through the open room until he was once again kneeling beside his parabatai.
Alec sat down cross-legged and pulled Jace's upper body into his lap, once again returning his hand to the make-shift jacket bandage. To his horror, he noticed that Jace's face was tear-streaked and his eye lashes moist.
"Jace, open your eyes man… look at me,"
Jace's eyes fluttered obediently and he gazed up into his parabatai's clear blue eyes. Relief positively rolled off of him and he raised a bloody hand to fist the front of Alec's black t-shirt, "Thought you… left…"
Alec felt as if his heart would break, "I would never leave you, especially not like this, ever!"
Jace tried to smile, "Know that… just… head is fuzzy…"
Alec pulled Jace's hand from his shirt and took it in his own, "I'm right here, I just had to call Magnus. He's coming to fix this,"
"Never liked me," Jace mused.
Alec snorted, "Actually, I think you're probably the only one who can match him in wit. And for that reason you drive him insane, but he also enjoys you more than he lets on,"
"Listen Alec… I never told you… but…"
Alec tried to hush him, "Shhh, it's alright. Save your energy, Magnus will be here soon,"
Shivers wracked Jace's body but still he tried to continue "You're… family. You're my brother,"
"Jace, stop, you don't have to do this,"
"And if I don't make…"
"Stop it!" Alec shouted, them immediately regretted it, "Jace, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to get upset… it's just that this isn't good bye. Don't treat it like that. Everything is going to be okay,"
Jace let out a weak cough, attempting to fight his erratic breathing and force it to normalize, "'kay,"
Moments of silence passed, feeling like hours for both boys, until at last Jace could no longer take the pain that was eating away at his left side or the cold that seeped into his bones, "'Lec?" he slurred.
"Yeah?"
"Please… don't leave me..."
Alec was about to reassure him that he wasn't going anywhere, that everything would be fine, when he felt it. It felt like fire, burning at his forearm and radiating all the way through his chest. He felt his heart constrict painful – was this how humans felt when they had a heart attack?
Then just as suddenly as the pain had come, it disappeared. Alec gasped, his hand flying to his forearm – to the parabatai rune that had just caused him so much pain. It was freezing to the touch.
"No!" Alec gasped; tearing frantically at Jace's shirt until his collar bone was exposed, laying his hand over the other boy's parabatai mark. It felt as if it were ice rather than skin. "NO!" Alec screamed, his cry ripping from his throat in a noise a pure anguish.
Magnus had just stepped out of the cab when he heard it – the most heart breaking cry he had ever heard; a cry of pure agony and utter despair. Without even thinking, he threw the driver his entire wallet and rushed towards the entrance. Immediately he saw Alec, kneeling on the ground with Jace pulled against him, sobbing into the other boy's shoulder and rocking back and forth incessantly. Unfortunately, Magnus knew that there was no time for pleasantries.
"Alexander, get back!" he practically bellowed, having to forcibly pry his boyfriend from Jace's still body. Magnus pushed him back and Alec fell, landing in a heap on his side but not even bothering to move as his weeping increased. Magnus wanted nothing more than to take him in his arms and get him as far away from here as possible. Still, he had to focus on Jace.
He turned his attentions to the blonde-haired boy, placing his hands on his chest and concentrating. It took a moment but then he felt it – the tiniest flutter of a heartbeat. Jace was alive! Thank the angel, for while he could heal dire wounds, he could not bring back the dead… well he wasn't supposed so he had never tried. Magnus focused all of his energy; forcing it into Alec's parabatai with all of his strength. At first nothing happened and dread built in Magnus's heart. Had he not done this correctly? But then at last he felt the body beneath his fingers responding. Slowly, ever so slowly, the injury on Jace's hip started oozing demon poison, forced out by Magnus's magic. It dripped from the wound and congregated in a black puddle on the floor until the wound stopped oozing and when at last it did, Magnus began channeling the healing power so that it started to knit the wound together. When that was done, Magnus felt greatly relieved. Already, Jace's face was regaining some color, still, he needed blood. Magnus focused on that next, using his magic to stimulate Jace's body to replenish its supply. It took several minutes but at last Magnus was satisfied. He ran his hands along the length of the boy's body, scanning for any other injuries, and came back with nothing. Next he measured Jace's breathing and heart rate. Both were normal. Magnus gave a curt nod and a slight smile – he had done it!
"Alec, darling," Magnus started, before realizing that his boyfriend had yet to move and remained sobbing into the floor.
Magnus jumped up and rushed to his side, sitting beside him and pulling the boy to his chest, "Love, talk to me,"
Alec only managed to cry harder, burying his face into Magnus's chest and wrapping his arms around the warlock's neck.
"Darling, are you hurt?" Magnus asked, concern flaring within him – he hadn't even bothered to see if Alec was okay!
"Can't breathe… Jace… it burned!" Alec gasped, practically incoherent as he removed his arms from Magnus's neck, laying his forearm so that his parabatai rune was over his heart and hugging the other one across himself as if trying to force the rune even closer to it.
"It's alright now Alexander," Magnus assured, pulling the boy closer to his chest, "Hush darling, Jace is fine,"
"But… but the rune!" Alec sobbed, "it was on fire. And then he was gone… it was so cold… freezing… oh Magnus! I lost him!"
Magnus gently took Alec's shoulders and pushed him out several inches so that they could see each other eye to eye, "Listen to me love. Jace is fine now, I healed him. He is resting right over there,"
Alec's sobbing turned into gasping and he turned his head to see his Parabatai. Sure enough, Jace's chest rose and fell and his skin tone was restored so that he no longer looked like a pasty corpse.
Alec's breathing hitched and started sobbing again – this time in relief, "Thank you, thank you Magnus,"
Magnus smiled and rubbed his hands gently up and down Alec's arms, "It's going to be okay now Alec, just relax. Calm down love,"
Alec nodded, gasping inhalations to try to calm himself. It worked for a minute but then his eyes grew bewildered, "Magnus, why did the rune do that? I thought he was dead!"
Magnus nodded sadly, "I noticed. You freaked me out for a minute there, I thought I was losing you. He's fine Alec. As far as the rune goes, call that last minute communication. It lets you know when your parabatai is close to death. The pain that you felt was its way of warning you. Historically, they do that during battles when one parabatai is gravely injured to alert the other of his need,"
Alec sighed, sagging into Magnus and finally calming, "Scared the hell out of me,"
"That's kind of the point – the rune is a connection between you two and this time it was warning you,"
"I thought he was dead," Alec replied again, unnecessarily.
"I know," Magnus said, "But unfortunately that was hardly even a taste of the pain that you will go through when he does die," and he couldn't hide the bitterness that was in his tone.
Alec scrubbed his fingers through his hair and then over his face. He pushed himself up and off of Magnus, teetering as he took a hesitant step towards Jace. In a flash, Magnus was beside him, wrapping a steadying arm around his waist, "Easy love, you've had quite the scare, you really should rest,"
"I just need to be with him for a minute, I need to see that he's okay," Alec assured Magnus, but none the less, he leaned into the warlock, thankful for the support. Magnus helped him sit, right beside Jace and Alec couldn't help himself, he immediately pressed one hand on Jace's chest, monitoring his breathing, and the other to his neck, savoring the feeling of a strong pulse beneath his fingers.
"Thank you Magnus," he breathed again, leaning forward over Jace. They stayed like that for an hour, Alec's hands never leaving Jace's body and Magnus's hands gently massaging Alec's shoulders, until at last Alec spoke, "He hasn't woken up yet…"
"The healing has done its job; he's just sapped for energy. If you like I can carry him to the institute, we can watch over him there until he awakes,"
Fear flashed behind Alec's eyes, "Isn't there something else we can do? I mean I just need to see him walk out of here…"
"Darling," Magnus began, "Really, he just needs rest…" and with that Magnus tried to slip his hands under Jace in order to lift him up but Alec stopped him with a feral cry – his hands pushing the warlock's away from Jace.
"You'll hurt him!" Alec cried, his head filled with images of Jace when he had tried to lift him earlier– the horrible noise, Jace pleading with him, and the blood flowing from his parabatai's hip faster than he could dampen it with his jacket. And just like that he was reduced to sobbing again, his hands covering his face, "Magnus, please don't hurt him! I can't bear it!"
Magnus approached Alec as one would approach a wild animal protecting her cubs – he was slow and cautious, looking directly at his boyfriend until he was an arm's length away. Then he took the shaking boy in his arms, pulling Alec to him before kissing the top of his head, "Darling, you're in shock. It's going to be okay. You know I would never hurt Jace. Trust me,"
Suddenly Alec looked up with hopeful eyes, "He just needs energy?"
"Yes,"
"Then give him mine!"
"What?" Magnus asked, totally confused.
"You can channel my energy, you've done it before! Give it to him!"
Magnus shook his head, "Alexander, you're exhausted, you hardly have any to give. I could give him some of mine though…"
Alec looked horrified, "No Magnus! You can't drain yourself anymore, we don't know how he will be when he wakes up, he may need you!"
"Alec, I assure you, he's perfectly healthy now and…"
"No Magnus! We can't risk it!"
Magnus could see Alec shaking, he could feel the building hysteria within his lover and it was for that reason alone that he decided to give in, "Alright Alexander, but so you know I do not approve of this whole selfless martyr thing! No come lie down beside him, before you collapse anyway,"
Alec lay beside Jace, sighing in relief that he would now be able to see Jace awake and healthy before they left the building. He relaxed as Magnus opened a link between himself and Jace and slowly pushed the strength and energy through it. Just as his vision started to blur, he noticed Jace twitching. Magnus stopped the flow through the link but Alec looked up at him insistently, "More," and so Magnus complied, pushing the last fragments of Alec's strength through the link.
Jace's eyes fluttered open and Alec allowed himself to bathe in the glory of their gold before he closed his own, falling into the darkness.
"Alec!" Jace gasped, forcing himself into a sitting position, "Magnus! What's happened?"
Magnus made a disapproving sound, "He just bled himself dry of any remaining strength that he had just so that he could watch you wake up,"
Jace looked at Alec, his eyes filled with affection, "What a stupidly selfless thing to do,"
"Yes," Magnus agreed, "And he will be feeling the effects of it for a few days at least. I do hope you are grateful,"
"I am," Jace assured but looked at Magnus in confusion, "But why did you let him do it?"
Magnus looked angrily at Jace, "He thought he lost you. He was scarred out of his mind and he was irrational. Who am I to deny his haggard mind the respite of seeing you alive? No, I couldn't have fought him on this one without hurting him further,"
Jace lowered his head in guilt, "Thank you Magnus. You saved my life. And I know this parabatai thing is hard for you…"
Magnus snorted, gathering Alec in his arms and standing, "Oh you think it's hard on me? You should have seen how hard it is on him! You should have heard the way he sobbed over you, the way he broke. Don't ever take this bond for granted, don't ever forget how capable you are of destroying the man that I love,"
And with that Magnus turned to the door, striding out with Alec's limp form cradled to his chest. He could only pray that his lecture would torture Jace the way that Alec's pain had tortured him. He could only hope that some good would come of this and that Jace would finally realize the danger that he was to Alec.
So what did you think? Hate it or love it, leave me a review. As always, my readers mean the world to me! Like I said at the start, this is from the IPod challenge, so there should be more soon I hope. MY pairing for it is Malec of course ;) just thought that the song really fit the bond between Jace and Alec.
Lots of Love,
JustAnotherSensitiveArtist