He had gotten himself locket up again. No matter what he did he just couldn't do it right. He had trained with his father for 13 hours nonstop. They were running, and fighting, and his eyes were so tired he found himself almost sleeping during the fight. Valentine noticed his temporary weakness and pressed the sword slightly against his neck, just enough to make a small scarlet drop roll down his body.
The fourteen year-old boy reached for his back. Several cuts were made by demon Iron so they could never heal. They hurt every day, and every day they were a reminder of what a bad son he was. He could see in his own father's eyes. Valentine hated him. And Valentine was the only person he knew. Well, at least until that very day.
Jonathan sat on the dark pressing his back against the wall hoping it's cold temperature would help him not to feel that pain but as soon as the most recent of the cuts met the dirty wall from what he called the 'punishment room' which was the place where he spent most of his time in , his injuries started hurting even more. He suppressed a scream automatically reaching for his neck.
"Pressing an open wound against a dusty wall is really not clever " he heard a girly voice say, the sound coming from the room's only window "It could get infected you know" . He turned to see who was talking. A young girl stared at him. She was probably around his age. Her dark brown hair flowing over her shoulders as she scanned him with those dollish blue eyes.
He and his dad, if that's what he could call Valentine, were now living in the U.S. now that every shadowhunter alive thought that they were dead. Jonathan thought it must have had something to do with his angelic brother, not that Valentine ever confirmed his suspicions. But that girl's accent was notably French. He supposed that she would be considered pretty by most people, but he didn't feel like talking ever, much less now.
"I could help you" She said in a calm voice.
"No one can help me" The boy answered, leaving them both alone with silence.
She left the window.
For a moment he thought that she was gone for good. Maybe now that she realized that there was no point trying to talk to him and just got back to her normal mortal life. Whether he was happy with this, not even himself could tell.
Three knocks on the window's glass broke the silence in the room.
"Could you open it for me?"
It was her. Again.
"Why should I?" He asked in a way that would make his father proud.
"Because you need me"
"I need nobody"
"Maybe not. But if you don't let yourself know anyone you'll never be sure of that"
He glanced at her supporting her confident look. He didn't know what, but there was something in the way she talked, that made him get up and open the window for her. He was prepared to help her get down but she jump, landing graciously on her feet.
"I brought something for you" She said showing a wet towel and some curatives used by mortals.
"I don't-" She laid a finger on his lips stopping him from talking and passed the wet towel gently through his back. The relief in his wounds were practically immediate though it was just water and didn't actually heal it. It just felt good to have someone take care of him for once.
"There" She said after finishing cleaning the open cut in his back. "Better?" she asked, turning to see his reaction. Jonathan nodded in agreement, but still without saying a word. "I'm Sapphire. Like the stone. It's a weird name really, you can just call me Saph. It's better."
It matches your eyes. He thought, but everything he said was " I'm Jonathan Morgenstern…" he thought about Valentine again and corrected his sentence "Just Jonathan. It's better."
And then she smiled in a way he would never forget.