A/N: in case anybody's wondering, everything will make sense post Flash back : ) ok, continued . . .
Jace couldn't think, he lost all the hope in his heart that everything was going to be all right. Just a few hours ago, his biggest problem was Clary's confession. Now he stared speechless as a monster choked the life out of her. There was stillness in the room, a sort of moment of decision. The brothers didn't dare breathe; they didn't dare move, because Valentine held their girl in his claws.
Their girl, Jace's looked at his brother through the corner of his eye. She means everything to us, and we'd do anything to save her. Sebastian caught his motion and Jace could see the wild need to protect her in his eyes as well. Clary was struggling not to cry or scream, waiting for the brothers to leave and get backup, weapons, and secure the building. By shadowhunter law, Clary was supposed to be sacrificed if needed to alert the Clave of Valentines location. They should have followed Shadowhunter law.
This wasn't the shadowhunter law and they knew it. Jace thought keeping her away from him would allow them to focus on their duty, without emotional ties. He didn't want to risk people's lives for the sake of one person who mattered to him more. He thought turning Clary down, lying to her, would keep them in the game. But he'd been lying to himself, and . . .
He was wrong; Clary already had him body and soul. Perhaps she always had.
"Valentine." Jace growled, taking a shaking step forward. He would fight for her. If it killed him, he would still free Clarissa. "You sick piece of shit, I'm warning you, if anything happens to Clary –"
"You'll what Jonathan," Valentine barked. "Tell on me? Kill me? My dear boy I taught you everything you know, do you really think I wouldn't win?"
"Not if you're fighting us both." Sebastian joined Jace at his side, their differences forgotten. He wouldn't take his eyes off Clary. She looked wildly terrified and irritated that the boys weren't following orders. Somehow even in the grips of death she manages to disapprove of us, Sebastian almost smiled. "So release Clary now, or you'll find out first hand how well we've been trained. Because I can't think of anything better than watching you die . . ." they stepped forward in unison, and suddenly Clary screamed.
"I wouldn't move unless you'd like to watch Clarissa bleed even more." Valentine turned her now trembling body to the side and revealed the blade he'd slashed through her ribs. Jace gasped, realizing she'd been holding in the pain this whole time. Valentine twisted the silver dagger, but Clary simply clenched her teeth and whimpered. Blood stained her shirt and ran down in a waterfall down her jeans.
"Clary," Sebastian said pleadingly, "God."
"What do you want?" Jace couldn't hear his own voice. He stared at the pooling blood that Clary seemed to be trying to hide. "We'll give you anything, just please . . ."
"Take one of us instead." Sebastian actually dropped to his knees, holding his hands up in a plea. Jace still couldn't force his body to move.
Valentine looked surprised - Jace's vulnerability; at Sebastian's uncharacteristic fear. He relished in it.
"My, my" he looked down at his daughter. "You have really gotten around sweetheart, all the while here I thought it had just been one of my sons that you seduced. How cute, they both want you. Pretty girl . . . " he traced Clary's bottom lip lightly.
She bit him until her teeth grazed bone, liquid and metallic blood spurting in her mouth. Valentine hissed, and slapped her across the face, probably leaving a bruise. The action was enough of a distraction that Sebastian had just enough time to roll and reach behind the center table and grab a sword, naming it under his breath. The blade lit up, and in seconds it was raised toward Valentine, who still held the furiously scrappy girl in his bleeding hands.
"What are you doing?" Jace almost screamed. "You are going to get her killed, you fucking idiot."
"The question is what are you doing Jace," Sebastian spit. "We're Shadowhunters. Clary is still a shadowhunter. Her duty is to the Clave, to humanity, snap the fuck out of it."
"Ah perhaps I was wrong then," Valentine chuckled. "One brother is a better of an actor when it comes to matters of the heart." He eyes wandered to where Jace stood. "I wonder which one really loves you – not that it matters however - since Sebastian's little stunt just caused you your life."
Clary tried not to scream again when he pulled the blade that still pierced her ribs rapidly out, and wedged it in again. This time she felt the organs it was hitting, the nausea building. She didn't have much time- she saw spots. Valentine muttered in Latin, and the portal mirror directly behind shimmered, like water had been poured over the glass. He began moving Clary backwards.
"I have a marvelous idea," Valentine said, pressing his lips in a fatherly kiss to Clary's hair. She nearly vomited. "Lets see which boy will follow our little whore into the portal, and which will stay and warn the Clave. Separate the hunter from the lover, what do you say darling?"
With that, Clary and Valentine fell back into the mirror, leaving both brothers standing before the already closing portal door. They looked briefly at each other, already knowing there really only was one option. Sebastian threw Jace the weapon, grabbed his own, and they both dived in blindly after their girl...
Shadowhunters dealt with horror. It was literally in their job description to kill, slaughter, torture, and terrify any creature that threatened humanity, threatened their way of life. They had seem more blood than any teenager ever should; they watched things burn alive, skin bubbling and popping in the flames. Jace and Sebastian had been trained to watch bones break, skin tear, and hear screaming from the time they knew how to ride bikes. They could handle seeing any form of torture.
What they couldn't handle – was seeing their girl still, as if death had already claimed her - and not knowing how it happened. As they stepped into the colossal arena, their eyes immediately dropped to a blood drenched form, lying limply in the middle of the barren marble floor. She wasn't breathing. A pool of metallic wine colored liquid circled her like a shrine.
"This was a trap, " Jace said aloud.
"Obviously," Sebastian breathed, moving toward the body. No, not the body – She was still Clary. She was alive. "But that didn't stop us, did it? We're both too stupid to do our jobs, isn't that right dad?"
Valentine chucked from behind them, his voice echoing through the coliseum-like towers surrounding the arena. The door behind him shut. The place looked ancient; like the place where gladiators fought and died. The columns had a chant written in Greek script – two men enter, one man leaves. Jace couldn't stand it anymore - he sprinted toward Clary. He needed to feel her pulse beneath her skin.
Within a yard of her however, he collided with a wall. It was literal, like a force pushing against his weight and making him fall back. "Clary!" He grunted, "breathe, god please breathe for me." He rammed it again and again with his shoulder, trying to break through. Clary still hadn't moved. She still wasn't breathing and her skin had taken a pale blue glow.
"She's not going to live," Valentine pointed out. "Well, unless you get her medical treatment in the next hour, which by the way isn't going to happen." Sebastian felt his blood boil, rage coating his every emotion. He ran at his mentor, coming from the side, slashing with vicious precision at his every opening. It was no use- Valentine was armed and ready. Sebastian and him sparred and flew at each other until their bodies were a blur, until the boy was thrown nearly thirty feet with the force of his mentors strike.
"This is foolish son," Valentine panted. Jace shoved at Clary's cage again, using all his body weight. "And you are wasting your time. Would you like to save her?"
"You're bluffing,"
"No, I'm offering a little arrangement." Valentine looked over at Clarissa and Jace, his face amused. "As it seems I was right, you are both enthralled by her. That seal around her is unbreakable Jace, it's under Fairy magic."
"Fairies?" Sebastian spit blood, closing in again. "They are working for you?"
"We do not work for anybody," a woman's voice answered, sounding bored. "Shadowhunters, you really only see black and white don't you? It's so primitive. I am merely here for sport, I do enjoy your human love triangles."
The Seelie queen materialized, her body stepping out of the column near Clary as though she had been a part of the furniture this whole time. She smelled like poison berries and stale wine. She dressed in a dress of black lace. She was attending a funeral.
"The queen is holding Clary in time for me," Valentine explained. "You see she has no pulse, no breath, as long as she is under the spell, so she will not die here until what I want has been finished."
"And what do you want?" Jace left Clary's side, meeting his brother in front of their nightmare. "Why have you brought us here if you were not going to let her die. Why not kill us as well?"
"Ah but that would not serve my purpose," his mentor smirked and circled the brothers, as if he were about to lecture them. "I want you to join me, all of you. But love has blinded you all from your powers, and it has made you weak. I want to teach you what love can do. Perhaps after you are stripped of your distractions, you will finally come to your senses."
"How are you going to 'teach' us?"
"We are going to play a game," The queen grinned, pearly white teeth glowing behind her lace veil. "It will be as I say; my words are binding oath in this realm. Two brothers in love with a red haired maiden shall fight, for her heart- for her life. The battle will shed blood - the worthy will save their most desired. Valentine will not be let to intervene – that is my promise, but it will not end until a last breath is drawn by the blade of an angel's sword."
"You want us to fight each other," Jace felt his teeth clench in disgust. He met Sebastian's eyes, only to see the rare vulnerability that only he and Clary knew- the hidden worry behind his stormy eyes. "That's the most – "
"And the winner get's to take Clary home?" Sebastian interrupted. "She lives, either way she escapes with one of us?" Jace stared at his brother. You are seriously considering this? He felt his blood heating, his body tensing for battle. "If one of us kills the other, you promise she goes free?"
"Love," The queen said seriously. "Real love will free the girl. Unselfish, quiet, passionate love."
"That's not an answer." Jace couldn't keep the venom out of his voice. Even in the midst of all this, he still felt the pang of hearing the word. He could love Clary, and he promised himself that if they lived through this, he's never stop showing her how much he loved her. But he couldn't kill his own flesh and blood, he thought. Not even for Clary. He couldn't . . .
Yet all the years of rivalry suddenly came flowing like a wind-storm through his heart. He was always responsible for Sebastian's messes, for cleaning up after a wrecked relationships, - and now he may have lost the one relationship he valued; because of him. He was consistently standing in between his brother and danger. Jace had saved their hides more times than he could count, and it was all because Sebastian acted on impulse. Jace's face throbbed where his brother had hit him. Ungrateful bastard.
Sebastian must have been thinking the same thing, because when their eyes locked in that instant, the hatred and repressed feelings colored their consciousness. The boys were seeing red.
Valentine grinned at the scene as his sons seethed in contempt for each other. They looked to Clarissa, breaking their resolve at the sight of her limp body and the halo of blood that entrapped her in the still sleeping cage.
"She has minutes left" the Queen offered in a bored voice. "I suggest you make your choice"
"For Clary." Jace drew his sword. Sebastian smiled lightly and drew his own, the metal singing against his sash. "Just promise me that if you win, that you will take care of her. She deserves so much better from this life."
"Don't worry little brother," Sebastian's voice gave way to no emotion. "When I win, she'll be in good hands."
"Cocky bastard."
"Ignorant asshole"
They nodded at each other, and with one last glance at the girl they fought to protect, the boys charged. Sebastian got the first swing, missing Jace's body by mere inches. Jace arched his body against the wall and recoiled like a viper, knocking his brother to the side. Something told him that his brother meant to miss. They looked for an escape, challenged each other's weakest points, grunting and tearing at flesh. Sebastian drew his second sword without warning, but Jace attacked with his whole body; and although he caused his wounds to deepen the metal flew across the room, landing between Valentine and Clary's body.
"Good move son" Valentine called, making Jace gag. Twisted fucker was enjoying this.
There was no other way to set her free. When Jace clipped his brother's ribs, he knew the pain must have been excruciating. Sebastian met his eyes, but there was no fear of death in them. He was a shadowhunter; and he was in love with Clary. Both men battled with their hearts – a lethal combination.
Blood stained their clothing, seeping and coating them like sweat. The adrenaline numbed the gash on Jace's forearm like Novocain – but he felt the end coming. They were panting, exhausted. But they were taught to kill, and they were not going to relent.
That was when Clary stirred, and lightly rolled to her side. Her eyes went wide at the scene of her best friends, gripping each other in battle unlike she had ever seen before. Sebastian was soaked in black ooze, and Jace; oh god he could barely hold his eyes open through the swollen wounds that poured through his vision. She could not feel her own body – all Clary felt, saw, cared about was them.
Her mind and body detached, and she recalled some memory, like s fragmented worn photograph – that this was because of her. Jace and Sebastian were fighting to save her. Her love for them swelled to knew proportions, her heart sang in pain and in joy all at one in a whirlwind of beauty. She would not let them die for her. They were her world; and she would not go on living without them. They were not going to die for her.
She would never survive it if she lost one of them.
Clary's eyes reached the sword, bloodstained and ever present before her. Valentine was enthralled in the battle, and the boys were too far-gone to see her move. The only person to take notice of her was the Queen, dressed in glowing red now, staring at her with jewel eyes. "but it will not end until a last breath is drawn by the blade of an angel's sword," she said into Clary's mind.
She knew what she had to do. Clary reached, blindly feeling the cold floor ignoring the feeling of her own blood under her fingernails and the scream that built in her chest when she tried to move her body. She was dying anyway – at least she could save Them.
"I love you" she whimpered in a silent prayer as the cold blade touched her chest bone. "So much. This is for you."
Sebastian saw her, but it was too late. "Clary NO!"
The blade went in like cutting butter, simply cracked as it ran through her breastplate. Clary didn't scream. She just sighed and fell, as if going back to a pleasant sleep.
Jace dropped to his knees, letting the roar of pain come out of his chest. Sebastian remained standing this time. He was in shock; and suddenly he couldn't feel the bloodlust to kill Jace any longer. The queens influence slipped off very suddenly the second Clarissa died.
"Valentine is gone." The Seelie queen said in the silence, stepping over Clary's body. "The girl did beautifully."
"Explain you vicious bitch, how is your game over?" Jace growled through his heart breaking, feeling like a literal shattering of glass in his chest. "What happened?"
"I told you love would free the girl," The queen sighed, feeling vacant and too bored to explain. "And it did. Her love for you was the key, not yours for her. And I said the worthy will save their most desired – And Clarissa certainly was worthy. Now that a last breath is drawn by the blade of an angel's sword, I have finished my game. And amusing it was". She giggled.
"Oh God", Jace crawled on his knees like a child and cradled Clary's head in his lap. A tear rolled out of her eye, falling into his palm. "No, Clary baby you can't be gone, you can't, I need you here with me. There is so much I needed to tell you, you can't be dead please, please. . ."
"Yawn" The Queen turned on her stiletto to leave, when the tip of a sword clipped her perfect white neck. Sebastian glared at her; his voice as cold as death.
"Bring her back; you have the ability to. This place was under your spell, which means the souls that dwell here are under your ward. Bring Clary back, and you will get anything you desire. I promise you this."
The queen smiled, expecting this. She turned to Clarissa and removed the sword with a sickening clank as it exited her chest. Jace crumpled over the body as if to protect her, even in death. The queen strode over to Sebastian and whispered in his ear, handing him something as she spoke. Then she was gone, and the boys opened their eyes to the Institute library, surrounded by loose pieces of parchment.
"What did she say?" Jace felt his voice crackle through the words.
"She told me that she would be back, and that this wasn't over." Sebastian shook his head to clear it. "She said that Clary was not going to remember her life with us, and that it was her gift to the girl – to save her from heartache. She handed me a drawing of a rune. It will erase memories."
And lying there in silence, hunched over Clary's body, Jace felt the most amazing thing in the world. He felt Clary's lungs contract, and expand beneath his hands.
She was alive.
