Ranko: Can you count the days how long it has been since I have updated on this story? I can. It is not a pretty number. I'm sorry TT_TT I love you all! Just slap me on the wrist if I ever do this again. It kind of makes me sad though that this story is almost over.
Enough of that sad talk! Who wants their review to be answered? …Anyone? Well, I'm answering them anyway, whether you like it or not! (insert evil laugh here)
thelastherondale: You flatter me so ^/^
GirlsRule2013: What? Magnus and Alec kissed in the beginning of the story? O_o Why do I not remember this? …Oh well, I'll take your word for it!
randomcutegirl: You are a random cute girl (really, I don't know ^^) but hey? Who doesn't like to be random? Thank you very much, darling, and you may call me Ranko! ;)
Bren: Thank you! /
iwishedforyouandyoucame: Your penname is probably the cutest, most bittersweet thing ever! I like it ^_^ I am so glad that you enjoy reading this story, I enjoy writing it and you are so sweet!
PennamePersona: Yes master! LOLS Okay, so your review just made my day; just wanted to let you know that. It just made me so happy to hear how much someone likes my humble little story and…internet hugs! (^_^)
Warby: Yes! That is my favorite quote ever from the book! Alec is a real boy now! Haha…Pinocchio reference.
That is all there is for today, lovelies!
The Mortal Instruments nor Howl's Moving Castle belong to me; they both belong to their respected owners/creators.
Enjoy, chickies!
-/-
Alec didn't understand how he ended up where he was. Sitting among the remains of the once moving castle, completely helpless as Magnus fought those monsters, and separated from Clary. He almost cried just thinking about it. And to top it all off he sprained his ankle.
Why was he here? How did this happen? He didn't do anything to deserve this. He had always been responsible and always did what he was told. He took care of his sister. So why did all of this happen to him of all people?
Earlier ~
Alec gasped in shock as he stared at the person—or at least what he thought was a person—standing on top of the bomb that would have killed him. Large wings sprouted from the man's back and his feathered arms ended with long sharp talons. He looked at the face; half of it was also covered in feathers but he recognized the eyes…
"Magnus!" he cried as he found his bearings and rushed over to the man, tripping multiple times as he ran.
Magnus jumped down to the ground effortlessly and was almost pushed down when Alec practically launched himself at him and flung his arms around his neck. "It's you…" was the only thing that Magnus could comprehend, everything else was muffled.
Magnus was just as much in such as Alec was, but for different reasons. Alec…was speaking to him? He thought that after what happened in the valley that he would never look at Magnus ever again. Wait…how did Alec change back in the first place?
"You're alive…" Alec said this time. "I'm so happy you're alive."
Magnus was fairly certain that Alec didn't even realize half of the things he was saying. Nonetheless, he carefully put his arms around Alec to hug him back. "Yes, its me. I'm sorry…" Magnus searched for something profound to say but came up with nothing so he just said, "I'm sorry" again and again because that seemed like the most appropriate thing to say at the moment.
"Why are you apologizing?" Alec asked, raising his head from Magnus's shoulder. "You weren't the one who…" He gulped. "Ran off with no explanation."
Magnus wanted to tell Alec that he understood why he did what he did but he saw over Alec's head some of Sebastian's blob men coming from the cracks in the walls and coming around corners. "Damn…" he muttered to himself. He tightened his hold around Alec's waist and began to back up towards the door. "I would love to continue this conversation with you, but I don't think the time or place is quite appropriate."
Alec finally seemed to notice that they were slowly being surrounded. Magnus was backing them into the door and the blob men were advancing slowly but they were great in number. Before Alec knew it, they were past the threshold and the door had magically slammed shut.
"Magnus!"
Alec jumped in surprise; he whirled around and saw Clary standing at the top of the stairs. She was giving Alec a questionable look but she seemed more worried about Magnus than anything else.
"Magnus, are you okay?" Clary asked.
Magnus gave a small grunt as a response as he limped over to the fender. Alec stared in confusion as he watched Magnus; there wasn't a scratch on him so why was he limping?
"I'm just peachy," he said.
"Who is this guy?" she asked, jerking a thumb in Alec's direction.
Magnus stood over Jace's logs that were still glowing from his fire but it was dull. "Don't give him such a dirty look, Clary. You have been living with him for nearly two weeks now."
Clary gaped. "So…you really are…?" she asked Alec.
Alec simply nodded his head in response and gave her an apologetic smile as he shrugged.
Magnus hovered his hand over the smoking logs. "Jace, its time to get up; you've been resting long enough."
Slowly, Jace's flames rose from the logs and he coughed up a smoke ring. "Shut it, you feathered bastard," he said weakly. He coughed up another smoke ring. "Oh, I feel sick…" He looked over at Camille who was smiling innocently. "Never. Again."
Magnus stared in confusion; to Alec he suddenly looked rejuvenated. "I'll ask to know about what happened later. But in case you didn't know, there is a war going on outside."
Clary, obviously not really paying attention to the conversation that just took place between Magnus and Jace, asked Alec, "So, why were you a girl in the first place?"
Alec shooed Clary away; just as nosy as his sister. "Magnus, you're not going back out there, are you?"
Magnus gave Alec a look. "What do you expect me to do?"
They all turned whenever they heard Camille laugh. "This is a new side of you I have never seen before, Magnus; I kind of like it. You're not running away anymore."
Magnus grinned. "Only for the time being." He turned back to Alec and grabbed his shoulders. "You stay here where it's safe, okay?"
Alec laughed. "Oh no," he said. "You did not just say that to me."
Magnus raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Alec snorted. "In case you forgot, I'm not actually a girl; I'm not helpless and I don't need anyone to protect me."
"Hey!" Clary cried.
Alec sighed. "I didn't mean all girls are like that," he said. "But what I mean is that I don't need to hide. I don't want to sit here and wait and worry about you. I'm going to fight too," he said determinedly.
It was Magnus's turn to laugh. "You can't be serious."
"Did you not just hear a word I said?" Alec cried. "I'm not just going to sit here and wait for you to possibly return!"
"And I can't worry about you while I'm fighting!" Magnus yelled back.
"You won't have to worry about me! I know how to fight!" Alec said stubbornly.
Magnus looked like he wanted to shake Alec. "That's not the point!" he yelled so loudly that everyone froze and just stopped to listen, even Chairman Meow and Church. "I want to make sure that you are safe! I want to keep you alive! I don't care if your pride won't allow it but you are staying here! I don't want to see you die, Alec! Please!" he said desperately, squeezing Alec's shoulders.
Alec stood there speechless for a few moments. "…Okay," he said a little insecurely.
Magnus was pleased nonetheless; he blew outa relieved breath and smiled. "Thank you," he said gratefully.
Alec walked Magnus to the door. Before Magnus left he kissed Alec on the cheek and then swept him up in a bone-crushing hug. "Please…wait for me."
As soon as Magnus left and took off into the red, fire-painted sky, Alec shut the door and turned the knob so it was green up on the color wheel. He heard Clary take in a breath behind him. "Alec, what are you doing?"
Alec ignored her and slowly opened the door. The sound of rumbling as the blob men tried to break in had stopped; the sound of roaring fires was nonexistent now. The only thing that was heard was the pounding of rain. It was the Waste.
He stepped outside; his clothes clinging to his skin immediately because of the heavy rain. He rushed over to the edge of the cliff they were on to see York Town below. It was horrific. It seemed like it was only flames now. Over where the Hat Shoppe should be he saw a black figure being surrounded by thousands of little bug like creatures that were shooting fire. He saw the largest black figure go spiraling down until he gained control and started flying higher, but he was still being followed by the bugs.
"No!" Alec cried.
Clary stood in the threshold watching from there. "Oh, no…" she said quietly to herself. "We have to do something."
Alec turned back around and Clary saw a fire in those blue eyes that were greater than the fires covering York Town. "Alec…" she said skeptically.
Alec marched back to the door and walked right past Clary, looking straight ahead.
Clary quickly followed him inside. He was already standing above Jace and she heard this,
"We have to move the castle portals."
"What?" Clary and Jace both exclaimed at once.
"Are you insane?" Jace continued. "Don't answer that! Because you are insane! I can't do that without Magnus and even if I could I still wouldn't do it! It makes us too vulnerable!"
"We already are vulnerable!" Alec snapped back. "It's our only chance to save Magnus; he doesn't stand a chance right now."
Clary was already helping Camille with her coat and leading her outside, the two loyal cats following behind her. Clary looked outside and gasped.
Alec felt like he had just been stabbed when he heard that noise. "What? Is Magnus alright?"
"Yeah, he's fine," she said, sort of in a daze. "But the scarecrow is back."
Alec didn't comprehend what Clary said and then it all clicked. "O-okay then…" he said awkwardly. Deciding to worry about how the scarecrow had found them again later, he picked up a fire hoe and scooped Jace onto it carefully.
"No, no, no! Alec put me down! You really are insane!" Jace started to yell.
Alec sighed. "You're coming with us; there is no time to lose!" Alec picked Jace up carefully out of the hearth and walked as fast as he could to the door.
"No, Alec, you can't do this! The castle will collapse!" Jace tried to reason.
"Good!"
"Good?" Jace questioned. "You and I obviously have different definition of good!"
"We're all ready out here," Clary told Alec.
"What?" Jace cried out. "No, Clary, what are you doing?"
"I agree with Alec," Clary said. "This is our only option. If you love Magnus like the rest of us do then please…" Clary let the sentence hang in the air.
Jace's flame turned pink. "I understand…" He sighed, blowing out a puff of smoke and turned back to Alec. "Make sure that I'm the last one out, Alec. I don't know what's going to happen, but I know that it is not going to be good."
Alec nodded and turned around to back out of the house, holding Jace as far away from him as possible. He made sure that both of his feet were out until he pulled Jace out with him.
The reaction was almost immediate; everything began to fall down and everything went limp as if it had lost the will to hold itself up. Alec had to step back quickly before anything fell on him. There was a horrible clunking and grinding noise as metal fell and collapsed and bent.
"I told you!" Jace said in a know-it-all way. "I told you it would collapse! And of course it had to be raining tonight! How can things get any better?"
They heard the stuttering of a plane's engine. The looked up and saw a bomber plane headed towards town.
Clary and Alec both looked at Jace who shrunk defensively into the coals he was living off of. "Don't look at me like that…"
Alec rolled his eyes. He heard the familiar clunk noise of Turnip Head's peg stick. He looked in the direction where the noise was coming from and saw the scarecrow hopping in front of an opening to get into the house.
Clary smiled brightly in joy and Alec couldn't help but laugh in glee. "Thank you so much, Turnip Head!" he said as he rushed over to the opening, covering Jace the best way he could without burning himself.
Alec put Jace down on what used to be a counter while Clary helped Camille and the two cats up. He collected wood from the house. Torn floor boards, loose steps, and all carried them to Jace, dumping them on top of him just to get him to shut up.
"It would have been better if we just stayed put, like we were supposed to," Jace said, giving Alec a look. "Magnus and I could have handled it."
"That wouldn't have helped Magnus though, we needed to act; we couldn't just sit around, twiddling our thumbs," Alec said.
Jace snorted. "I liked you better when you were a girl; you were a lot less commanding."
Alec decided to ignore that comment. "We need to tell Magnus that we aren't connected to the Shoppe anymore. Move the castle and take us to Magnus," he commanded urgently.
Jace sighed. "What?" he asked. Just then, another drop of water from a leak in the ceiling dropped on Jace; he hissed in pain as the water touched him. "I can't do that. There's no chimney here, I keep getting dripped on, and the wood is all damped."
Clary walked up and leaned over the fire, smiling. "I know you can do it, Jace. I have never known you to give up when things get rough."
Jace smiled wryly. "Rough is one thing, impossible is another."
Clary grinned. "Now is the best time to show me that you can do the impossible."
Jace turned pink again. "O-okay, but I need something that belongs to one of you."
Alec looked helpless for the first time since all of this started. "I don't have anything."
"I can't do this by myself, I need someone to led me some of their power."
Clary licked her cracked lips and grabbed a knife that was tucked away in her boot. With one flick of her wrist, before anyone could stop her, she chopped off all of her beautiful, long hair. "Here," she said, giving it to Jace. "Will this work?"
Jace gaped at Clary. "You didn't need to do that."
Clary nodded. "Yes, I did. Now just take it," she said.
Alec was still in shock. She had just cut off all of her hair; she really did care for Magnus…
Clary dropped her hair into the fire and everyone stood there and waited as Jace burned it up. He dimmed down to a dull flame for a moment and then he burst to life, jumping up to great heights as if he were going to lift up the house by pure strength alone. Jace's fire roared and crackled but did not generate a lot of heat.
They did begin to rise and many pieces fell off and all that remained of the castle was a basic skeleton shape of it.
Alec watched in awe as he saw how much Jace put into making the castle move; keeping up the strength and energy to do the impossible.
'Hold on, Magnus, we're coming!' Alec thought.
Present ~
So how did things end up where he was now? They were running down the valley to get to Magnus; Clary and Alec were watching the fight and when Magnus got seriously hurt, Jace groaned and faltered. When Magnus was dealt another blow, Jace became even smaller and smaller. With each hit that Magnus received, Jace became weaker until he could not sustain moving the castle anymore.
They lost complete control and the castle continued to run down the valley with no one controlling it. The skeleton fell down a cliff and spit in two. Alec fell down a crevice with the two cats and got separated from everyone. The last time he saw Jace, he was just a weak, blue flame.
If only he hadn't been stubborn. If only he had only done what Magnus told him to. Then he wouldn't be here and Jace wouldn't being dying…
He finally did cry; hot, thick tears rolled down his scratched up and dirtied face. The cats sat in front of him, just staring at him as he cried; somehow they had managed to stay clean.
"Oh no, what have I done?" he sobbed out. "Its all my fault…its all my fault! I killed Jace…and I might have killed Magnus too…" He hid his face in his hands as he began to cry. Oh, how he wanted Magnus to be here now more than any other time. His shoulders shook as he cried and he felt like his legs were being stabbed with thousands of little needles but he was too weak to get up.
What could have happened to Clary and Camille? Were they okay? He couldn't lose anymore people he loved.
He heard Chairman Meow's soft mew noise.
"Not now…" he said weakly.
The cat meowed again and Church joined in, distracting Alec from his sorrows. "What is it?" he asked, finally looking up at the cats and he saw what had their attention. A small blue light…that was coming from the ring that Magnus gave him. The ring that Magnus told him would help him find his way. Fresh tears sprung in Alec's eyes…
But it was pointing to something. He got up slowly, nearly falling over again because of his ankle and followed the light to the remains of the front door. It was open and even though it was impossible, the door lead to endless blackness. But that is where the ring was pointing him to…
He hesitantly reached out a hand and it sunk in like he had dipped his hand in water.
He pulled it back quickly and stared in confusion. How could this be…? He was half-tempted to walk away, but then he thought, 'This could lead me to Magnus.' Steeling himself and squaring back his shoulders, he stepped into the darkness, following the light Magnus gave him.
-/-
Ranko: Lame chapter is lame. I know, this one was kind of a filler which is why it took me forever to get it out because I was like, "meh." You know what I mean ;)
So announcement! I will be taking part in NaNoWriMo, those of you who know what that is also know I will be very busy in November. Those of you who don't know, don't worry your pretty little heads. It stands for National Novel Writing Month where you have to write 50,000 words in the month of November and that means nothing will be coming out from me for a month. Sorry ;)
Review if you love me!