Author's Note

"Breaking the Silence" is a multi-chapter AU fic that I've been working on for some time, mainly featuring Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane. As a result, in later chapters, there may be some rated-R material that is not suitable for younger audiences. Please read at your own risk. Additionally, as this is an AU, I've taken a few liberties here and there with the timeline and Shadowhunter basics (such as a stele being able to be traced, etc.).

Disclaimer

Alec, Magnus, and all other characters, places, and phrases from The Mortal Instruments are not mine, but belong to Cassandra Clare. No money is being made off this. All original characters and places in this fic are from my own imagination.

-prologue-

The smoke was so thick it was a wonder he could breathe at all.

Alec Lightwood propped himself up on his elbows, trying hard not to cough. Somehow he just knew that coughing would make his injury worse. Instead, he applied pressure to the wound on his neck, pulling the collar of his shirt up and feeling it quickly soak through with blood.

It took him all of five seconds to survey the situation.

Ichor and blood and smoke… the room was filled with it. Glass lay about the floor from where the windows had shattered, and Alec knew he'd be surprised if a single piece of furniture made it out unscathed.

His entire body hurt like hell. The demon had none too gently latched its claws into Alec's throat and proceeded to swing him into the nearest table, which collapsed instantly around him, scraping up portions of his skin. He knew he was lucky. The claws had barely sunk below the surface of his skin, although he could almost feel the poison pumping to his heart, even as blood continued to soak his shirt. He wondered how he was still conscious, but then realized it must be some kind of survival reflex, as he could feel it starting to wear off. There were black holes at the edge of his vision.

A few feet from him, a girl lay on the ground, unmoving. Alec didn't want to look, but found his eyes wandering to his sister's body anyway. Even though Alec had landed a nearly fatal blow on the demon, it had reared up for one last attack. Being injured, Alec hadn't been able to steady himself in time, and it was Isabelle who had come to his rescue, pushing him out of the way and taking the blow herself. He'd screamed for her to move, but had only managed to choke on blood, and then choke again as the demon's claws raked into her rib cage. He could only hope the death had been instantaneous. He hated the thought of his little sister suffering.

Across the room, Jace was also unmoving, but if Alec looked hard enough, he could make out the slight rise and fall of the boy's chest. Jace was breathing, but just barely from the looks of it. His skin looked battered and worn, and Alec spotted patches of blood around the boy. It wasn't a good sign.

The only other conscious form in the room was Clary, and she was a hysterical wreck. Alec could see blood dripping down from a rather nasty looking head wound above her right eye, but other than that, the girl appeared fine. Shaken, but otherwise ok. She was sobbing over Jace, holding her stele – the very weapon that had caused all this damn mess – in both hands, as if she meant to break it.

Alec's vision was a little darker now, and his limbs felt weak. He knew help would come before he and Jace could die, and when they investigated what happened, they would point fingers at Clary. The girl had never amounted to much of a Shadowhunter, but Jace liked her. Alec wouldn't be unhappy if the girl just disappeared from their lives, but he saw the way Jace smiled around her, the way Isabelle seemed genuinely pleased to have a girl who didn't run away from her more hyper-aggressive qualities. He did his best to pretend he liked her, too, but he really couldn't care less about what happened to her.

Except that they cared. And he cared about them.

And so he found himself sliding across the floor, inch by inch, despite the pain searing through his body and the blood trail he was leaving, towards Clary's shaking form. He tried not to think about what he was about to do, because thinking just made things worse. It wasn't as if he didn't know the consequences; he did. But… Jace was his friend, and Isabelle was his sister. And, really, if their roles had been reversed, and Alec had been the one unmoving, he knew his sister would have done the same thing as he was about to do.

He finally reached Clary and, with the last of his strength, he wrenched the stele from her hands.

"Alec, what—" he heard her trying to say, but he tuned her out.

I'm not doing this for you, he thought, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his own stele. He shoved it at her, one hand still pressed to his throat, before he let go to grab at her stele and pocket it. Clary screamed when she saw the wound on his throat, and instantly rambled on about helping him.

But with the deed done, Alec fell to the ground, unconscious.

Feedback is always welcomed. I'll try to update this at the beginning of each week. ^_^