Summary: What makes a Hero?
'A Hero of War, is that what they see?' He asked the man who looked back at him from the mirror.
he sighed to himself and splashed some water on his face before patting his face dry with one of the towels by the sink.
He was no Hero, the real Heroes were the ones who weren't here, who couldn't be, the real Heroes were Dead and Jace knew it even if the Clave refused to admit it.
Magnus, Alec, Isabelle, Simon, Raphael, Luke; they were the real Heroes, like so many others Jace couldn't name who had been lost in Valentine's War. Jace was only a survivor, named so by his grandmother along with Clary, but they weren't Heroes and nothing the Clave did or said would change that.
"Jace?" Clary's voice called, "Are you in here?"
"I'll be out in a minute." Jace answered.
Clary stepped into the tiled room and wrapped her arms around Jace's waist, arms curling up his back so her hands rested on his shoulders as she buried her face in his chest.
"I miss them." Clary whispered, quietly.
"I know, even Simon." Jace answered.
"Why did it have to be them?"
"I don't know."
"I hate this." Clary muttered, "This song and dance the Clave is making us do, parading us around, Valentine's daughter and Imogen's grandson, Heroes of War, the very image of what all Shadowhunters should strive to be. It's like their mocking their sacrifice."
Jace buried his nose in Clary's red hair and breathed her in, saying nothing in response, he had no argument, but an agreement was not enough either, it felt like Imogen had forgotten that he had lost most of his family, lost his Parabatai, or maybe she just didn't care. She hadn't cared about Alec when he was alive, he had just been an embarrassment to her, a gay Shadowhunter, one who loved a Warlock, she'd liked to ignore that Jace's soul was bound to Alec's while the man was alive and now she seemed almost pleased that he was gone.
"Do you..." Jace paused, "Do you think there is some other universe where Alec and Magnus got their fairy tale ending, with a wedding, a happy marriage, kids and years of love and laughter?"
"I think there must be one at the very least, one where everyone live and got their perfect, happy ending." Clary answered, "I have to believe that there is one where we all lived happily ever after, with children and laughter."
"Okay." Jace swallowed, "Maybe, maybe when every thing is over, we can just disappear, live far from the Clave and their hypocrisy and just be us."
"A little boy named Bane after Magnus, Belle and Lexa for Alec and Izzy, maybe Lewis for Simon, and..." Clary trailed off.
"Lucy and Rae for Luke and Raphael." Jace added.
"Yeah." Clary sighed, "We have to go back out there, don't we?"
"Yeah, they are probably looking for us by now." Jace said softly.
They separated and pulled themselves together, linking their hands as the exited the restroom , maybe they weren't Heroes but they would remember them, they would tell their stories to their children and never let them be forgotten.