Notes: Takes place between the time the connection breaks and the moment Alec wakes up; inspired by the finale promo and a quote from Dom on how we'll be able to 'see in a weird way the depths of [Jace and Alec's] love, but in the darkest way possible'.
In Alec's dream, his arrows bend backwards, but it's Jace who falls to his knees.
He's not sure how he can even tell that it's a dream. It feels as real as anything else: his own pain as the tip sinks into his chest and the one echoing through the bond mix and swirl inside him until he can't tell them apart anymore and it doesn't matter, not when this is hurting them both. It's a dream, except that it isn't. It's a dream, but it doesn't feel like he can ever wake up.
When he holds out a hand to help, he looks down and doesn't recognise it as his own anymore. He can see himself standing where Jace had been, bow still ready for an attack, and stops the next arrow mid-air, more instinct than anything else. It's painful, feeling so detached from anything even remotely familiar, but it also makes sense: he'd been inside Jace's mind, after all. There's no easy way out of this.
"You should have never let this happen," Jace says, and there's the same tint to it; it's him and it isn't, it's Alec's own conscience throwing accusations up at him from where Jace is tied up on the floor. The rope's wrapped around him from his shoulders to his ankles and Alec tugs at his own collar as if he's the one suffocating. A terrible, frightening part of him is glad: he can't hurt himself when he's like this, no matter how hard he tries.
Magnus had warned him about this, he remembers now. Opening the connection between them until it's this raw and unguarded means opening it to Lilith's presence too, but it's too late to take it back now, and it's not like they had a better plan to begin with anyway. This, whatever it is, is still better than the state that Jace had been in previously. Alec can't bring himself to regret any of it.
"There was no other way," he says like it's any excuse at all. "I can save you, Jace, I swear, I just need— time."
"There's no time." It's the same frantic whisper from before and Alec tastes the sharp tang of desperation on his own tongue as Jace speaks. The words are different, but the pleading is all the same. There's only one thing you can do, please, I've tried so many times... Alec's blood runs cold at the memory and somehow Jace is out of his restrictions and reaching out a hand that Alec has no choice but to take. "I can save you. Once you make it out of here—"
"I'm not going anywhere."
Jace looks pained, but exhausted, too. There's not much fight left in him and it's terrifying even though Alec is relieved. Soon, soon, he'll be able to do something about this. Just a while longer, he thinks and he's the one pleading now, just as desperately. Just hold on to me.
"You know what this could mean." Jace doesn't let go of him. He's still more afraid than he could possibly express, but the fragile tendrils of hope unfolding somewhere deep inside him can't be suffocated any longer. "And what you're risking."
All Alec can manage is a smile as he pulls his parabatai along and this time, he follows. "Trust me, I know."
When he opens his eyes, all Alec can see are Jace's broken chains strewn across the floor.