A/N: This one was suggested to me by you-and-I-we-have-the-stars. Thanks so much for the reviews! Anyway, surprise visit from Sebastian in this one, so yeah... It's definitely a little angsty - but I promise you there's a fluffy ending. The story's set in a different background than all the other letters... I think. I'm not sure. It's post CoLS, and I think it should be rated either T or M. Also, I think I'm going to divide this into two parts, because it's like, incredibly long. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I love how for each of my disclaimers, I basically have to come up with a new and improved way of saying 'I am not Cassandra Clare and I don't own these characters.'

R Is For Rescue

(Part One)

A walk through the park was supposed to be - well, a walk through the park. Of course, Life had been bored and had obviously decided to pick on Alec, so it had placed a random stranger behind the bushes to ambush him as he walked. As soon as Alec figured out where he was, who his captor was, and how to get out of there, he was going to write a strongly worded letter to Karma. Clearly, it needed some well-directed encouragement.

Alec opened his eyes and found himself chained to a four-poster bed, tightly cuffed but (thankfully) clothed and wrapped in a warm blanket. Despite the pounding headache between his ears, Alec craned his neck around to see where he was. The dilapidated room had a musky smell to it, like a forgotten basement, or a dusty attic that no one knew existed for the last forty years. His kidnapper was nowhere to be seen, but there were signs of another person having recently been here. Half a bottle of wine stood on the rickety bedside table; an empty pizza box laying next to it on the equally rickety looking chair.

"Get used to it," a voice said, not harshly, but none too warmly either. It just was.

"Who-who are you?" Alec asked, trying to keep the tremble from reaching his voice.

His captor, unfortunately, heard it and laughed softly. "You'll see," he said (Alec was sure the voice belonged to a male by now). "Or maybe you won't. But knowing him, you'll see sunlight soon enough."

Who was the man talking about? "What the hell do you want with me?" Alec asked, craning his neck as far as it would go in his position. His tied arms somewhat blocked his view.

But the voice was gone.

For six whole days, Alec could not be found anywhere in New York City. It was as though he'd vanished. The local Clave members had searched throughout the city, hunting down places the boy could have been and contacting other Claves, but no luck. No one - and nothing - had turned up. By the seventh day, Jace Wayland was ready to punch a hole in the wall, burn the world down, and then take his temper out by killing a duck. Not necessarily in that order. He was tired of Robert telling him that he himself had been on enough nighttime adventures to know that Alec probably wasn't in danger. He'd probably just gone to a special someone's house for the weekend. The fact that Robert wouldn't even admit Alec's sexuality without feeling as though he'd wronged society or whatever just made Jace madder. He'd walked away from his adoptive parent in disgust.

Even Isabelle was worried. Her clothes had started to hang a little looser and last night she'd all but shuffled into Jace's room and cried on his shoulder. Okay, maybe that was stretching it a little, but still. Jace worried.

Finally, unable to stand not doing something, just like Clary had once done for him, Jace decided to find Alec himself, and had gathered all their friends together in the largest booth in Taki's, although no one was eating. Even Maia and Jordan, who weren't all that close to the black haired blue eyed boy, agreed to spend the day helping him. The search was on.

"We'll have to split up," Jace said, taking a sip of coffee. It didn't help, and he frowned thoughtfully at the bitter liquid.

"Maia and I can take the railways and the southern part of the city," Jordan suggested.

"And Simon and I'll check the Institute and the other places," Isabelle said.

Simon raised an eyebrow.

Isabelle sighed in exasperation. "You know, the hotel, the underground, the police station..."

"You shouldn't go alone," Jace said automatically, then realized this was something Alec usually would have said. A pang bounced in his chest.

"I can fight," Simon said defensively, bringing him back to the present. Jace didn't bother with his usual obligatory smirk or offhand comment. It wasn't worth it.

"That leaves you and me," Clary said, looking slowly up at Jace. The golden boy scowled.

"It's okay," Isabelle said quickly. "If things are still awkward between you, then Simon and Clary can-"

"We'll be fine," Jace said tightly. He'd been in an everlasting bad mood for the past week. "I've gotten over the break-up."

Clary raised her eyebrows. "You've gotten over the break-up?" she said indignantly. "You're the one who broke up with me."

"Here we go again," Simon muttered, to no one in particular.

"Look, me and Jordan are going to go now, okay?" Maia said, standing up. "It's better not to waste any time."

Jace stood up as well. "You're right," he said, sliding out of the booth. "Come on, Clary, let's go."

They left Isabelle and Simon there, who was grumbling about having to pay for the drinks.

Looking down at the redhead and his former girlfriend, Jace didn't know what to think. Why had he broken up with Clary? All he remembered was that something hadn't felt right. As Clary looked up at him and caught him staring at her, the golden boy pushed these thoughts away from his mind. They just got in the way of the search. He felt Clary's small hand grip his palm. "We'll find him," she said softly. "You know we will."

And somehow, that was all the encouragement Jace needed, even if it was from a person he no longer loved that way.

His captor seemed to have no intention of ever introducing himself. Alec found that on the second day, when he woke up, only one arm and one leg was cuffed - although on different sides of his body - and that the pizza box and the wine were gone. In its place had lain a sandwich and a bottle of water.

That is, until today. He had no idea how much time had passed, since sunlight never made its way down here, wherever here was. Alec only had the flickering lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling, and even that would probably run out in a couple of hours. With his luck, eternal darkness was guaranteed.

A figure walked into the room. Alec rolled to his side to see who had walked in. It was a tall man - no, a boy - tall, but probably shorter than Magnus. Magnus. The boy was well-built though, and moved with startling grace, which Alec had only seen one person ever have. Well, two, if you counted -

"Sebastian?" Alec gasped.

The figure chuckled, and then revealed himself, uncovering himself from the looming shadows. "Was it that obvious?"

Alec could feel his face automatically twisting into a look of disgust. "You," he spat.

"Me," Sebastian said cheerfully. "And stop looking at me like that. In fact, I should be the one looking at you like that. Filthy faggot."

There was a painful stutter in his chest, even though he knew Sebastian's words were meant to dislodge him. To weaken him. To break him. It was working.

"At least I'm not part demon," Alec hissed.

Sebastian looked infuriatingly amused. "At least I'm part of a new race - one that could crush yours like nuts in a nutcracker."

Alec winced at the analogy unconsciously.

The smirk on Sebastian's face widened. "That's right," he said. "Your kind- they shouldn't even be allowed."

"You've said that already. After you killed Hodge. After you killed Max."

A delicate shrug. "It deserved to be said twice."

Alec felt his breath hitch - and not in the good way. It was almost painful to breathe.

Sebastian smiled at his discomfort, and then at the empty paper plate on the bedside table where a sandwich had lain a couple hours ago. "Why in the world would you eat something I gave you?" he tutted. "Honestly. Kidnapping 101."

Alec felt his lips move in response, but he had no idea what he had said. His eyes felt drowsy, his breath shallowing steadily, and pretty soon, he was no longer conscious.

"Magnus," Clary said. "Have you asked him?"

Jace shook his head. "I couldn't find him anywhere. I think their break-up must have affected him as much as it had affected Alec."

Clary looked him in the eye defiantly then, the hard twinkle showing that she would not take no for an answer. Jace knew that twinkle too well. "Why did we break up, Jace?" she asked. "Was it me? Did we go too fast?" Then quickly, when he opened his mouth, she added quickly, "And don't you dare give me that 'It's not you, it's me,' crap."

Jace closed his mouth. What could he say? After all, what had driven him to give away what he loved most, who he loved most? Why had things changed between them? Jace opened his mouth again. "The heavenly fire," he said slowly, "unknitted more than just Sebastian's soul from mine. I think - I think it uncovered another place in my heart, which I never even knew existed. It was awful at first, living with you and knowing there was someone else, always in the back of my mind, lurking behind my eyelids whenever I closed them, and after a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I was ripping my heart in two." He looked up miserably at her, and found - to his surprise - not forgiving, gentle eyes, but a startling, cold green eyes.

"Who was it?" she demanded. "Who was the girl?"

Jace winced. Still, he owed this much to her. "It wasn't a girl."

Clary's jaw dropped in shock. "You're gay?"

This time, instead of looking back down at the ground, he looked at Clary in a questioning stare. "So?" he challenged. "You were okay with Alec being gay."

Clary shook her head. "All this time, I was a blind idiot. I thought you loved me."

"I did," Jace pleaded. "I do. I'm bi."

The redhead seemed to reconsider, kicking a plastic bag out of the way of the sidewalk. For the last half an hour, they'd been roaming aimlessly around the city, as though my some miracle they'd bump into the sparkly, spiky haired warlock. "If Alec knew," she started. "It would break him too."

Jace shook his head, confidence energizing the gesture. "No it wouldn't," he said. "Not in this case."

Clary tilted her head in confusion. "You fell in love with Magnus?"

Rolling his eyes, the golden boy sighed. "Right, and Izzy's ugly."

"Then who?"

"Who do you think?"

"Don't answer my question with a question!"

"As long as I'm answering your question, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"But you're not answering my question."

"Now you're contradicting yourself. You just said-"

"I don't care what I just said!" Clary almost yelled. Taking a deep breath, she grumbled, "You're impossible."

"Tell me about it," a voice said from behind. Jace whirled around to find himself face to face - or rather, face to neck - with a familiar glittery man, although his outfit was lacking its usual overboard display of quality sparkle.

"Magnus!" Clary yelled in delight.

Magnus grinned agreeably. "I am rather magnificent, aren't I?" he mused.

Jace raised an eyebrow. "How did you know we were here?" he asked. "Where were you when we needed you?"

Magnus shrugged casually. "I was in the area. I spotted you two." Jace could tell he'd ignored the last question purposely, but he didn't expand.

"Listen, warlock," he said, "we need your help."

It was Magnus's time to raise an eyebrow. "You want my help? Good lord, this must be important. But like I said, I'm tired of being your pet warlock. Go find someone else."

"Alec's missing," Jace growled, "when he left to deal with whatever you left him with. Seven days, Magnus. Seven days!"

Magnus immediately stopped smirking. "Alec's missing?" he asked, running a hand through his spiky hair, a lacking shower of sparkles flying out.

"Yes," Clary said. "And how much sparkle did you use? The ground isn't like, covered with it now. I think it's a first."

But Magnus was entirely business now. "Where and when did you last see him?"

"Friday. He said he wanted to clear his head in the park." He made no effort to make a sarcastic comment, although thousands flooded his mind.

"Do you have anything of his?" Magnus asked, turning around and walking briskly. Jace and Clary followed suit.

"Don't you have anything of his?" Jace asked, more surprised than unpleasantly. He'd assumed that even after the break-up Magnus would have kept something of the other of Alec's.

The glittery man in front of him bit his lip. "I have something that might work," he said thoughtfully.

Trying not to lose his patience, Jace said slowly, "What do you mean?"

"Follow me."

As it turned out, whatever Sebastian had given him not only induced him to hour long comas, but nightmares as well. And they weren't even monster nightmares either, which Alec could have easily dealt with. No, these were Jace nightmares.

Each one was different in their own way. In one, Jace kissed him, only for Alec to discover the blond bastard was drunk. In another one, Jace found out he was gay in a rather unceremonious fashion and stormed off in disgust, apparently scarred for life. It never mattered how it started - in each of them, Jace was featured and Alec was the disgusting gay. And in each one, Jace found a new and improved way to break Alec's heart.

The raven haired teen was just waking up from a nightmare when suddenly he heard a crash. Unable to get up and see what had happened (all four of his limbs were cuffed since Sebastian said he thrashed about in his sleep - but whether this was true or for Sebastian's amusement Alec didn't know.), Alec shut his eyes and listened. He vaguely heard two voices yell at each other, shouting and growling and sounding unearthly similar. Of course, there was plenty of glass-shattering and sickening bone crunches provided in the background. Finally, Alec heard a door open - his door - so he opened his eyes to see who was coming in.

And almost fainted from shock.

Jace, bloody and scowling and bruised all over, was thrown into the room. His skull hit the wall with a sound so terrifying that Alec forgot to be brave, or even to pretend. He flinched and shut his eyes, as though it would help to teleport them somewhere nice, like California or Peru, which according to Magnus, was the ideal honeymoon spot.

Sebastian came in after shoving Jace in roughly. "Oh little brother," he said, almost sympathetically. "You should know by now that the older one always wins." And with that, he turned around and walked briskly out of the room, leaving a bloody Jace and a tortured Alec in the room.

"You idiot!" Alec said. "What are you doing here?"

Jace, although beaten to a pulp, managed a smirk. "Saving your ass, fellow idiot."

Through the dim lighting, Alec could faintly make out the numerous scars on the other boy's body, which was shivering. "There's a couple blankets wrapped around me," he said, trying to bring his voice down softly. "Take them."

Jace shook his head, crouched into a ball on the cold hard floor.

"Jace," Alec said, trying not to grit his teeth together. "Don't be stubborn. You're cold."

Even though he was still visibly shivering, his jaw audibly chattering, the blond shook his head again. "I'll live," he said. "You're the one who's been kidnapped."

"Fine," Alec said irritatedly. "Freeze. See if I care."

"Of course you care," Jace said, surprising him. "You always care. I just don't want you to care."

Alec rolled his eyes, then realized the sentiment was somewhat lost in the dark. "How did you get here?" he asked.

"Magnus used a tracking spell on some blue scarf of yours. He didn't find you directly, but he found the area. Regrettably, he forgot to check the demon levels here. There were at least five nests of demons, so we had to kill all of them. Clary and Magnus stayed behind to fight."

"I don't own a blue scarf."

Jace laughed. "Is that the only thing you have to say?"

"I might have my stele with me," Alec said softly. "You're wounded."

"No."

"What are you punishing yourself for this time?" Alec let out an exasperated sigh.

"The reason he kidnapped you was to get to me. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be in this mess."

No, I wouldn't, Alec thought, but he wasn't thinking about being kidnapped. "Look, I should have been stronger. I shouldn't have let my guard down and let him attack me. It's not your fault. It's a whole lot of things put together."

"How can you just accept that?" Incredulity colored his voice like the Northern lights.

Mentally, Alec shrugged. "All my life I've been accepting things. This is just another one of those things that are hard to get through, but you do. You think you'll break from the pressure, or crack from the pain of it all, but in the end you always make it. Life is full of those."

Silence.

"At least untie me?"

Silently, Jace painfully got to his feet and broke the chains of the cuffs. The raven haired boy watched as the bruised golden shadowhunter worked quietly, sweat beading his forehead and blood beading his bottom lip. Even in the state he was in, Jace emitted a slight aura, which, however faint, brightened up the room considerably. In a matter of minutes Alec was free, although the metal still circled his wrists. Without thinking, he wrapped his parabatai in a hug, letting the younger boy hold the two of them up for a while, letting the weight behind him slip.

And then he realized he was going to go through another hour long nightmare. Had they no end?

He wasn't sure when, but at some point in the hug Alec had dozed off. As gently as he could, Jace tucked the blue eyed boy back into the bed, and then sat on the floor again, thinking. His heart had hurt so freaking much when Magnus had appeared. Jealousy had crashed on top of him in tidal waves, like never before, not even when Clary had dated the stupid mundane - sorry, bloodsucker.

He watched Alec patiently, watching his delicate features so similar to Isabelle's twist into a look of disgust. A few seconds later, the look morphed again into one of torture. Jace decided to wake Alec up. "Alec," he said, shaking the other boy's arm. "Wake up. Come on, you idiot, wake up, wake up, wake up."

"He won't wake up." Somehow, behind him, the door had opened without him noticing. Sebastian had walked in, fine blond hair shining in the faint light.

Jace looked up sharply. "What do you want?" he growled.

Sebastian ignored the question. "That fag won't wake up. The poison's running through his system for so long now, I doubt even the Silent Brothers could undo it."

Rage washed over Jace. "What did you do to him?" he asked tightly, trying to get past his gritted teeth. It was working.

"Anger management, little brother," Sebastian said slyly.

For a moment, Jace pondered whether or not to pound him into the ground, but then he realized that while he was still wounded, Sebastian was cleaned up and ready to fight. He'd be pinned on the ground in less than a second.

"You've got me," Jace said. "Let him go."

Sebastian shook his head. "Unfortunately, you're not the only one I need. I need Clarissa as well."

"Her name," Jace said, his fists whitening alarmingly, "is Clary."

Sebastian waved the comment off with a dismissive gesture of the arm. "Details, details," he said, shrugging. "The point is, I've got you. My plan is ready to work, soul-bonded or not, and I'm not going to fail this time. How does it feel?" He peered down at Jace, sneering. "You're not even chained or anything, the way your precious Alec was, and you're still under my power. And with that large ego of yours, I'm surprised you haven't obliterated yet."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Jace said, trying to fake a smirk. Beside him, Alec looked like he was being jabbed to death by a toothpick.

A huge crash interrupted whatever Sebastian was about to say. The older boy ran through the door and into the direction of the sound. Jace tried to follow, but found something invisible holding him back in. Crap. He was trapped.

A/N: Just a random author's note, but am I using italics too much? I feel like I am. Anyway, please review! I don't care if it's about my story or your day or your friend's insane love for chocolate, but please review! Oh, and thank you for all the people who have reviewed. Like seriously. Thank you. It really makes my day. =)