Whenever Jace felt like his world was falling apart, there was always two people who held it all together like the sun held all the planets. Those people were Alexander and Isabelle Lightwood. His adopted siblings. Alec and Izzy were the two halves to the coin the kept Jace sane. If he ever felt himself slipping, Alec was always there to catch him, if he ever felt like he needed a loving, guiding, and correcting hand, he could find it in Izzy. There were so many days that Jace thought about how he didn't deserve Alec and Izzy and how he's been blessed with a gift he should return but selfishly has kept. And no matter how many times Alec and Izzy insist that he's not lost and that he never was a stray, but sometimes in his dark moments, he feels like he broke into their relationship. Yesterday they had all gotten together to watch a movie, all in Alec's room with popcorn and bad junk food like they were teens again. There was a beauty to moments like those that Jace couldn't explain, beauty that surpassed the normal lengths of beauty. He felt special then because he knew that both the siblings surrounding him loved him and would take a bullet for him and each other just as he would for them in a heartbeat.
Today was a new day though and Jace had found himself walking down the streets of New York City. Billboards flashed with advertisements, people rushed about with coffees and eyes glued to cell phones, head in the clouds, hands clutching maps. The smell on some of the back streets of the city left little to be desired, so Jace pointedly avoided them altogether. There was a strange lull of silence, strange drift of quiet in the demon side of the world. Though that was peculiar, Jace put it out of his mind as he rounded off of 56th street and to his favourite mundie cafe downtown. Jace pushed the door of the cafe open, a bell jingled notifying of his entrance and he went to claim his usual table. It was a circular table with two high stool seats directly across from each other, and third able to be dragged over if need-be as it usually was when Alec and Izzy joined him. The whole cafe was an array of colour splashed walls and counters with blue or yellow table tops and blue-green or red stools, some silver chairs. The walls were mostly lined with pictures, some motivational quotes, others signed music posters and paraphernalia like that, mostly mundane things but they all held a bizarre beauty. Mundanes were weird. But the wall that face the street had a large glass window lining it and where Jace sat, the window was propped wide open letting a fresh cool breeze drift in. He felt at peace for a moment and content to just sit there in the window and let the world drift on by without him, but he reached down and fished his phone out of his pocket after a moment and unlocked it, texting Alec and Izzy in the group chat they often used. "Can someone meet me in the cafe on 56th?" Flipping the phone back on the table he ordered himself a coffee and a doughnut. He then opened his phone and then the gallery and began scrolling.
The first image was of him and Isabelle, sparring sticks raised and Izzy was in mid air, her form perfect and aim true. Jace was crouching back on himself, raising his own stick to catch her when she hit him.
Isabelle was coming down at an angle to him, her sparring stick pointed to him, a look of determination in her dark eyes. At the angle she was, she was blocking the setting sun from entering the window and was but a silhouette lined by the stretching rays around her. It seemed she was up there for an eternity but she did come down, come crashing down, on him. His stick caught hers, keeping her from hitting his throat or his face, knocking it away from him so it pierced through the air above his shoulder and Isabelle's kick was a hair away from landing on him, he ducked and rolled to his right, smiling wickedly.
"Ooh close darling," Jace replied and caught her leg with his sparring stick, and yanking it roughly,sending her crashing to the ground. He swung out an arm to catch her though before she hit the ground too hard, he then rested her down and swiftly pinned her.
"Point you." Isabelle grunted and Jace rolled off smiling. Izzy looks to Jace as she sits up and stretches out the muscles he'd pulled to pin her. "Thanks for catching me."
"Of course. I know you're backs been killing you recently, didn't want you to hit the ground too hard." Jace replied, pushing his hair back on his head, a smile lining his lips gently, he rose to his feet reaching a hand down to her.
"You didn't have to, but… I am honestly grateful," Isabelle replied, getting up by taking his hand.
"Jonathan." Robert Lightwood's voice was sharp and cold. "Don't baby her. If she's sloppy, then she falls and gets hurt. Pity. She needs to be stronger." Jace's eyes hardened when he looked at Robert after he spoke.
"Pardon me, no one asked for your opinion or approval." Jace's voice was cold but true and unshaking.
"Jace… It's fine." Izzy mumbled and smiled at him sadly, "Thank you nonetheless."
It's sad how easily Robert could ruin a beautiful moment. The next image though was Alec. Alec never liked pictures but he looked, for lack of a better word, adorable. He was sipping on a coffee with whipped cream and they were sitting in a cafe, Jace couldn't recall which. Alec's hair was rustled and he looked tired but yet so alive.
"You know, you're paying for this one," Alec mumbled, sipping on the coffee in front of him. He normally only liked black coffee, and only black coffee, but today Jace had forced him to expand upon his coffee choices. When he sipped it he made a face and there was a line of whipped cream on his upper lip.
"Sure, no skin off my nose," Jace replied, enjoying his Parabatai's facial expressions. He loved Alec like one would a brother but because they were Parabatai, he also loved him like one would a best friend and it was a strong, strong bond. There was a sort of peace and comfort he found sitting with Alec that he couldn't find anywhere else, not even with Izzy.
"This coffee is nasty. How do you drink he crap?" Alec took another sip that was closely accompanied by a disgusted facial expression. "Nasty." He reiterated.
"I find your coffee nasty! You drink it black! Like pure black! Those coffees are fucking disgusting! There's no flavour! It's just like crushed fucking coffee beans poured into a cup with no sugar, no milk, no sweeteners, NOTHING!" Jace made a face and Alec got up with a mischievous look to him. He returned moments later with a different coffee cup which he sat in front of Jace. It was a cup filled with pure black coffee. Jace groaned.
"Mmm let's level the playing field brother. Bottoms up!" Alec raised his coffee cup and Jace reluctantly followed suit. They both clicked cups and then drank and their faces were of pure disgust as they swallowed the coffees.
Jace smiles gently and laughs at the memory, he can still taste the bitter coffee in his mouth and remember how Alec had made him drink it all like he'd make Alec drink his. The next image was a rare sight to see indeed. It was a picture of a tree in Central Park. People were going about their lives as normal in this park and were ignoring the obvious like mundanes often did. It looked to be mid summer in the picture and you can practically see the blistering heat radiating off the ground. What you couldn't see though was the archer perched in the tree and a few branches up, his sister, poised in movement ready to jump on signal. Izzy and Alec. They weren't invisible and they weren't wearing camouflage, in fact they were just simply adorned with their gear but no one ever bothered to look up and close at the minor details.
"Just be careful…" Jace heard Izzy mumble, it was soft and careful and he only heard her because of the rune on him for extended hearing. Alec grunted in reply adjusting himself in the tree, watching the movements of the people below them, they were waiting for someone very specific, for a demon. Jace spotted the demon and whistled once to his Parabatai and sister. Alec suddenly pulled and arrow from the seemingly empty arrow sheath on his back, but an arrow materialized when he reached back there. He slid it into the bow and notched the arrow in a fluid motion, letting it fly after a moment and it cleanly pierced a demon walking up the side of the park, the arrow fell to the ground as the demon burst apart with a yowl. Before any mundanes could turn or look to see the falling arrow, Isabelle swiftly snapped out her wrist and her silver snake whip came to life, darting out and catching the arrow a millisecond from the ground, pulling it back up into the tree where Alec was. This was always a sight to see. The three of them worked seamlessly and in perfect synchronization together, there was never even a hiccup. Izzy looked down to Jace, smiling brightly just as Alec did, the pair of them had Cheshire Cat like smiles, wide and shining but beautiful and enrapturing. It was a Lightwood look if he'd ever seen one.
"Another down. Only a million left." Jace teased and they all laughed.
Moments like those were what Jace lived for. Times when everyone was completely happy. He found there was too few of those moments now. A fourth scroll revealed an old image with a different story. It was taken in the dark it seemed, it was of a woman on a stage, a stripper it seemed. But it was the backstory that really complicated this image.
Isabelle was standing with Jace in the club, she was pretty much silent as they'd just swung in here because Jace wanted to see someone. A mundie girl. She worked as a stripper in this specific club. They started walking toward the private rooms and Isabelle just knew in the pit of her stomach how this was going to go. Jace watched Izzy from a different persons body it seemed. His head was screaming at him that this was wrong and he shouldn't do this, it wasn't fair, but he couldn't stop the devil on his shoulder whispering that she'd be ok. When he pushed open the woman's door, she was getting dressed. "Cass…" Jace said, a look of interest lighting his golden eyes. They scanned her and dilated. Cass smiled wickedly and drifts over to Jace, kissing him passionately.
"This the girl?" Cass asked, eyeing Izzy. Jace nodded, every fiber of his being rebelling against what he was going to do.
"I have a name you know." Izzy sneered, she was annoyed and Jace knew. He looked at her apologetically.
"They don't give a flying fuck about your fucking name doll. They just want to bend you over and fuck you senseless, or at least get a damn hot show. You have a body. Just fix your fucking attitude and put this on. You're going on for me tonight." Cass remarked, throwing a red dress way too tight to hold Izzy's breasts and too small to fit her decently. Jace swallowed, he realized suddenly that he was about to let his little sister do this so he can have sex. Izzy nodded and ushered Cass and him out of the room.
"Don't be a bitch to her. She's not happy right now and rightfully so." Jace said to Cass. Cass rolled her eyes and shrugs.
"Again. It's not my job to care how people feel or whatever. Look, I dress in sexy slut clothes and bend over for everyone, this isn't my first rodeo cowboy. You wanna watch her for a moment I assume?" Jace nodded and Cass leads them to seats. He seats himself and Izzy comes out moments later. As she drops the coat and starts to move Cass whistles. "She's a natural." Jace nods numbly. He was about to get up to leave with Cass when an overweight man makes a move to her. He was obviously highly intoxicated and could barely stand. Jace had enough and the Angel won out as he shoves Cass away and goes to Izzy pulling her away from the man and punching him to the ground. Cass yells.
"I'm sorry Iz… let's go home. I'm terrible…" Jace turns, giving her his jacket and pulling her close as they leave the strip club and Cass yelling explicit words.
"Be there in 2. I'm just down the street. Alec's with me so…" Jace's phone read as he shook his head out of the memory. He smiled and texted a quick reply. He looked out the window and saw them coming before they saw him. Izzy had somehow managed to get Alec to carry her on his shoulders and she was seated up like a little child laughing happily. Alec couldn't suppress a smile dislike how he was thinking about how he should reprimand her for this behaviour. And yet… Jace had never seen anything so beautiful. When Alec and Izzy noticed him, they waved smiling in that Cheshire Cat way again. He waved and turned the camera to selfie mode, getting himself in the shot as well as them, he snapped a picture.