I'm back! I hope the extra week wasn't too much of a wait, but now my summer is open and I should be able to get these chapters out once a week. I hope you enjoy this chapter and think it was worth the wait. Hope to hear from you!
Rescue
Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it.
-River Song
"Where are the Lightwood brats?" Valentine stormed into the Institute, his eyes flashing dangerously in the candle light. Rushing up to meet him was Malachi, face, the picture of worry. "Bring them to me now."
"Sir?" asked Malachi, confused.
When the war had been decided, Valentine had placed Isabelle, Alec, and Max in the care of Malachi. He had been about as pleased by this arrangement as the children had been, and had promptly marked them up with permanent runes, binding them to the Institute. Once a week, he would receive reports from the instructors about the progress the children made, and aside from dishing out any punishments, would rarely seek them out. It was accepted between the Lightwoods and Malachi that they hated each other, blamed each other for their current, unfavorable state, and would only be happy with the other one gone. Malachi, of course, didn't see what value the Lightwoods had, and was surprised to hear that Valentine wanted them,
"The Lightwoods," Valentine hissed through clenched teeth. "Three children: Alexander, tall, dark haired, Isabelle, a pretty girl your eyes were only too happy to follow, and Maxwell, a small, bespectacled boy. I put them in your care. Now, where are they?"
Malachi blinked and pointed upwards. "I think they're in the library studying; at least, that's where I find them whenever I go looking. What has happened?"
"I need a little encouragement," was all Valentine said before he took off for the stairs and the library, Malachi in tow.
Upstairs, Isabelle was seated at a desk, pouring over a text on greater demons; Alec was studying how to make stele blades last longer; and Max's head was bent, his finger frantically tracing a line in a book. First and foremost in their minds was their fear for Clary and Jace, and their desperate hope that had been woken by the strange pair. Even now, they wondered if Amy, Rory, the Doctor, and their friends were on their way to collect them. Every once in a while, Max would lift his head and glance out the window, wondering if some huge, time traveling spaceship was going to fall out of the air and land before the Institute. As they tried to focus on their work, the door to the library was thrown open.
Alec's head shot up and his hand shot out to collect Max to him and Isabelle jumped to her feet. They drew together, standing at attention, waiting to see who had come after them this time. When they saw Valentine approaching like an unwelcome shadow, they fell back. Isabelle wrapped her arms around Max, and pushed her behind him. Valentine came before them, bearing down upon the children.
"So, Lightwoods," he said, smiling down on them unkindly. "I've just received the most interesting phone call, from the most interesting man, and I find that I have lost something."
Isabelle and Alec were both thinking the same thing, and knew that if they mentioned Jace or Clary, it would be too much a giveaway. Instead, Alec cleared his throat and said, "What was that?"
"I think you might know," Valentine said evenly, but Alec's face remained the same. "Or perhaps you pretend not to. Tell me, when was the last time you heard from my daughter or Jace?"
"We haven't," said Alec quickly. "Not since the Mortal War, at least. Have they gone missing?"
"You know they have," snarled Valentine, and his towering figure was suddenly very imposing. "You two were Jace's closest cohorts, his little secret keepers. I know he told you where he was running off to. Tell me."
Isabelle opened her mouth to argue, but Alec cut her off sharply. "We don't even know where you took Jace and Clary, and there's no way we could have contacted them, Jonathan and Malachi keep too close an eye on us."
Valentine's grey eyes showed not the slightest interest in what Alec had to say, and Isabelle, sensing this, stepped forward. "Listen, we haven't got the slightest clue where Clary and Jace went. You haven't let us lave the Institute in months-"
"Isabelle!" Alec cried, but she kept going furiously.
"If we had some way of communicating with the outside world, don't you think we might have tried to find our parents? I love Jace and Clary as much as I love my brothers, but I have no doubt running after them is impossible. Wherever your children are, they aren't with us."
Alec's mouth was slightly ajar and his hands helplessly groped at Max's shoulder, pushing him back. Valentine, for his part, was impressed by the young girl. He'd always suspected that one of the Lightwoods must have inherited Myrse's temper, and now it seemed, he'd found out who. Smiling a slightly crooked smile, Valentine leaned a little closer to Isabelle.
"You might be telling the truth," Valentine mused, staring into Isabelle's eyes until she glanced away angrily. "Jace and Clarissa may not be with you, but that certainly doesn't mean they won't come after you."
"Breaking into the Institute is impossible," said Alec swiftly.
"I suspect my daughter and Jace have enlisted the help of someone who might be able to do just that. I'm not so sure I trust these walls," said Valentine, and then glanced around, displeased. "However, I trust Jace, I trust him as much as you do."
"What do you mean?"
"He's always tells the truth, always clings to his loyalties, always wears his riotousness on his sleeves. Jace could never abide his loved ones suffering while he was free and unharmed. He would come if you were in danger." Valentine straightened up and his eyes darkened. "You must realize what this means?"
Isabelle lifted her chin in a challenge. "I'm not afraid of you. If Jace and Clary really are free, and they really do have help, they'll come after us."
"I'm counting on it," returned Valentine in a low voice, and then turned and called back, "Malachi, bring your wards along and we'll make for Idris. It's high time I got my hands back on Clarissa and Jace."
Isabelle and Alec exchanged dark looks and Alec scooped Max up. "Where's he taking us? What about Jace? Are we leaving the Institute?" Max's questions poured out in a low stream into Alec's ear. The idea of finally escaping from the Institute, of possibly seeing Jace, had woken in him a frantic energy.
"I don't know, Max, and be quiet," Alec hissed just as Valentine turned about to shoot him a look. "Just stay by me or Isabelle, don't speak, and be brave."
Max's face changed to one of concern and he nodded quietly. His big eyes peeked out at Valentine who was leading them down the stairs to the entrance hall of the Institute, muttering to Malachi. Max had rarely given thought to the man who had raised his hero, Jace, and even now, found it had to connect his brother to this man. More often than not, he saw Valentine only as the man who had taken his parents and condemned him to life in Malachi's shadow. He frowned just a little, and felt a leaf of fear unfurl in his chest, but set his will firm. Jace had been raised by this man so why couldn't he, Max, be brave about him?
"We're leaving the Institute?" Malachi asked aloud, still confused by Valentine's sudden appearance.
"We're going to Idris," Valentine announced.
"Where do we go from here?" Clary asked the Doctor softly as they sat over dinner the next evening. "If you don't know what caused the paradox, can we do anything?"
The Doctor's eyes darted to River, but he cleared his throat. "River and I talked, and we think the best thing to do is to put a stop to Valentine in general."
Jace stirred, his eyes glowing with an old excitement Clary hadn't seen in months. "We're going to fight Valentine?"
"Well, we're going to in a roundabout sort of way," shrugged the Doctor. "I don't know if it's completely safe to remove Valentine, and besides, I'm not one for killing. I want to take his power away."
"How do you think we should do that?" It was Amy, and she was intrigued, as always, by the Doctor's ingenuity.
The Doctor grinned boyishly. "Where does Valentine draw his strength?"
"Runes?" offered Clary.
"The Clave," said Jace.
Rory considered it all a moment. "The Mortal Instruments."
The Doctor pointed at Rory. "I always knew there was a reason to keep you around, Rory. Right, Valentine is using the Mortal Instruments to summon and control demons, and he uses the demons to force the Clave's hand. If we take away the demons, we remove the threat Valentine poses to the Clave. Take that away and he's helpless."
"You want to remove all the demons in the world?" Jace's eyebrow was raised. "You realize how impossible that is."
"I like the impossible," answered the Doctor. "If Clary creates a portal rune, I can magnify it using the spare energy from a black hole, and then the Tardis can direct it to the nearest tear in space. You send the demons through there, and there's no coming out."
Clary blinked. "I-I haven't made many runes lately. The last one was…not very angelic."
"I saw," said the Doctor, and he was smiling all over. He jumped up and dashed around, looking for a piece of paper and pen. When he returned to the table, he scribbled on it, looking proudly down on his creation. "This is what you drew." He brandished the design of the rune at Clary and Jace, whose jaws dropped.
"How did you know-?"
"How did she do it?" asked River loudly, shooting Clary an impressed look.
The Doctor winked at Clary. "She probably didn't know what she was doing when she did it. Valentine asked her, and she drew; the Tardis picked up the signal. Well, you can imagine how shocked I was to see this…" He laughed and River shook her head, rolling her eyes.
"Rather impressive, Clary," River whistled. "I thought it was just me and the Doctor who could write Gallifreyan, let alone read it."
"Gallifreyan?" asked Clary, confused.
"The language of the Timelords," said the Doctor swiftly. "It's the oldest language in the universe, the most powerful…you could raise and crush whole galaxies with it. But it died a long time ago." The Doctor's face suddenly dropped, and his eyes closed off.
Clary and Jace shared a look. "If Clary can't read the language, how did she make the rune?"
"No clue," murmured the Doctor, "but it's useful if that's how you're going to be making your runes. I can show you a few useful symbols and you can work them how you like. We need a rune to transport them, but don't worry about the strength, I'll take care of that."
Clary still looked uncertain. "I don't know if I can," she whispered. "It worked last time, but…the other times I tried it went wrong. Horribly wrong."
"What happened?" asked Amy gently.
She shrugged helplessly. "They just were…wrong. I tried to mark myself and runes made me really sick, and it burned, and I don't know if another one will work."
"You said the last one you made worked," urged Rory.
"I was scared," Clary said and her eyes found Jace. "Valentine said he was going to hurt Jace if I didn't create the rune. I didn't have a choice."
Amy and Rory frowned and Amy felt a new wave of hatred for the man who had scared his own daughter. She reached out and took Clary's hand. "But now things have changed, haven't they? I saw you painting with Vincent, and I've seen some of your work recently; you're a wonderful artist. It should be natural for you."
Clary smiled faintly. "I have been painting more since I saw Vincent."
"Maybe," offered Jace, "it would help if you had your friends and family around you again? Do you think if the Lightwoods were here, you'd have an easier time designing a rune? Or maybe Luke?"
Clary knew Jace wanted the Lightwoods back, and even though Luke's presence might have been more welcome, she wanted Jace to be happy again. Her eyes found the Doctor. "Can we get the Lightwoods?"
"Of course," said the Doctor, glancing around to River. "The Tardis can trace the signal given off by Isabelle's necklace, and we can break them out."
"Even if they're in Idris?" asked Jace at once. "There are wards around Idris, protective spells to keep people out. Can the Tardis even land in Idris?"
The Doctor laughed. "Please, Jace. The Tardis travels through space and time, and you're asking if it can break through some barriers around a city? I mean, it's got a perpetual supernova as its engine!" When Jace continued to stare at him, the Doctor rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, Jace, the Tardis can land in Idris."
"Then let's do it!" said Clary, standing up and looking around the table. "I mean, it's going to be dangerous, trying to get past my father and Jonathan, but you can fight him, can't you, River?"
River's eyes gleamed and her smile was wide. "Well, I can certainly show him and thing or two. Do you think it will come to that?"
"One can only hope," muttered Jace.
"Doctor, can we go now?" Clary turned to the young man, who seemed to be considering many things at one time. When he bit his lip, uncertain, Clary clenched her hands into fists. "Doctor, please, I've been worried sick about Alec, Isabelle, and Max for months, every since my father took them. Even now, he could be doing horrible things to them, and even if it will never have had happened, I don't want to wait."
The Doctor looked away but held up his hands in defeat. "All right, but we've got to get a few things very clear, alright?"
"Anything," breathed Jace.
"I don't want you two getting caught up in anything with Valentine; he's still looking for you, and he'll go to no ends to get you. If there's any risk at all, you two have to stay in the Tardis. Also, we're going in to rescue the Lightwoods, and that's all." His eyes went from Jace to River. "I don't want a fight breaking out. I just want to get these three, get on the Tardis and fly away. After we have the demons gone, it'll be another thing, but until then, I don't want any fighting. Is that understood?"
Jace raised an eyebrow. "And if we see a fez?"
"Well of course you pick it up," said the Doctor, exasperated. "That's just obvious, isn't it?"
With that, they left the kitchen and headed for the control room. Jace's stomach was in a ball of nerves as he thought of seeing the Lightwoods. They were his family, after all, the people who had taken him in after years with Valentine. Valentine had been dropping cruel little hints that the Lightwoods might be in danger, that even the slightest misstep on Jace's part would result in them being hurt. Besides Clary, Isabelle, Alec, and Max had been the only thing Valentine could use against Jace. His moment of redemption was finally within reach, and it started with the Lightwoods.
The Doctor was fiddling with the controls of the Tardis, sending out its sensors for the telltale sign of Isabelle's necklace. The Tardis groaned in response, but she was searching. "Come on, sweetie, come on," the Doctor urged, rubbing the screen. "I know you can find them; find Isabelle Lightwood."
The Tardis jerked forward and Amy gave a shout. "What's going on?"
"She's found them!" cried the Doctor, ecstatic, and gave a whoop of joy. "Here we go!"
Before Amy could shout back the Tardis began shuddering, and then slamming back and forth, the innocent people inside, holding on for dear life. Lights were flashing everywhere and Clary had to close her eyes and concentrate on breathing to stop herself losing her dinner. The Tardis flipped upside down like a roller coaster and then began spinning like a top.
"What's wrong?" Jace called, having never experienced a ride like this in the Tardis. "Is it Idris?"
"We're going to slam the barrier!" The Doctor sounded ridiculously happy for such a terrifying prospect. "It's going to shatter."
"You're insane!" Clary screamed back, and Amy was thinking that Clary had no idea what she was talking about. "We'll die!"
"No we won't," laughed the Doctor. "Come on, sweetie, send that shield to oblivion."
For one long moment, they continued shaking erratically, and then the Tardis crashed headlong into the barrier around Idris. The lights within the Tardis flickered dramatically and she groaned louder than ever, but the Tardis was still lurching forward. And then, with a burst of green light, the Tardis shot like a bullet out of a barrel. They were moving again, and this time, faster than before. Jace could only assume the Tardis had broken the protective barrier around Idris and was now crashing to earth.
"We're landing," roared River over the sirens in the Tardis. "Is there room for the Tardis?"
"We're about to find out," chimed in the Doctor, and he seemed pleased.
Clary and Jace did seem a little worried, and they looked over to judge Amy and Rory's faces. Amy was looking annoyed but unconcerned and Rory kept shooting the Doctor uncertain eyes. "Jace, what if the Tardis materializes in front of Valentine or Jonathan?"
"The Doctor said they couldn't get in…" he said uncertainly.
"What if it lands on Isabelle?" gasped Clary, thinking a number of horrible things.
Jace grinned wickedly. "Well, in that case, I don't have to get her a birthday gift this year, do I?"
"Jace!" Clary cried, but the Tardis was now shaking so hard Clary was vibrating and her words were slurred. They were about to land.
Isabelle tugged the chain around her wrist uselessly and glanced at the door warily. She was waiting, tense and ready to pounce, on the door to open and reveal their attacker. Valentine and Malachi had marched the Lightwood siblings into the Guard and down to a cell where they bound them in chain. Malachi had glanced back once at Isabelle with a dark, calculating look in his eyes, and she knew, terror rising in her throat, that if Valentine killed Alec and Max, Malachi would take her back to the Institute…
And then what? asked a small voice in Isabelle's mind. You saw the way he looked at you, you know he's been watching you lately. Isabelle cringed away from the idea. Maybe you can get Malachi to save your brothers from Valentine if you…well, if you give him a good flirt.
Slowly, Isabelle's eyes moved to her brothers, sitting on the bench chained to the wall. Alec was slouched, looking miserable and Max was cradled in his arms. The little boy looked up through Alec's arms, his eyes magnified by his glasses, and he blinked slowly. While Max had been spared most of the punishments, Alec hadn't been quite so lucky. He had a nasty bruise over his eye where Jonathan had hit him a few days ago and his wrist was bleeding from the chain. He looked scared.
"Alec, do you think Jace and Clary escaped with that man-the Doctor?" she asked faintly. "Maybe they are going to come for us."
Alec shifted the weight of Max around and tried to sound hopeful when he felt miserable. "It's possible, I mean, Amy and Rory were very nice and they said he could help."
"I wonder what it's like to just be able to leave like that." Isabelle smiled at the idea. "If you're tired of place, just get up and go."
"It must be nice," was all Alec said. He was thinking how nice it might be to go now, since he knew that very soon Valentine was going to begin hurting them. Max was a little boy, and he hoped Valentine might spare him, but Isabelle was a fine age, almost an adult. "It could really help us."
"Don't think like that," said Max loudly. "Think about Jace and Clary and fixing everything. If the Doctor really does stop Valentine, won't all this be…well, will this never have happened?"
Isabelle and Alec shared a glance just when there was a strange rushing sound, and a high wind picked up. Isabelle's hair was whipped around and Alec jumped to his feet, almost pushed back by the force of the thing. There was an echoing all around them and Isabelle wondered if some demon was forming before them; she readied for an attack as something began to form, fading in and out.
"What is that-?" began Isabelle, but the air blowing around filled her mouth and throat.
Before the Lightwoods was a large blue box. They saw the light on the top of the box, flashing like a warning, and a blank window giving them a view into nothing. Across the top of the box were the words: Police Public Call Box. Isabelle drew a bit nearer, confused, and at her side, Alec stared open-mouthed. The wind faded and the room fell silent, and the police call box rested.
"What's a police call box?"
"Isabelle!"
Clary came bursting headlong out of the box, her eyes bright and open, a smile wide on her face, and her hair billowing out behind her. Jace came tumbling out after her, trying to reach out for her arm at the same time as he was running for the Lightwoods. A number of other people came stumbling out after Jace and Clary: Amy and Rory, a woman with a head full of curls, and a young man with glowing green eyes. There was a general pause and then the voices broke through.
"Jace!"
"What are you doing here-?"
"Alec, are you alright-?"
"What's that thing-?"
"Get in the Tardis-!"
"How did you get here-?"
"Who are they-?"
"Get in the Tardis-!"
"Is that the alien-?"
"We don't have time-!"
"Are we in Idris-?"
"GET IN THE TARDIS!"
It was the Doctor who finally managed to silence the onslaught of questions. He was looking a little shaken with his own outburst, but it had had the effect he'd wanted. Everyone turned around to face him, looking guilty. Isabelle raised an eyebrow and lifted her wrist for everyone to see.
"I don't know what a Tardis is, but I'm not getting in anything with my hand chained to the wall. You think you can break a binding rune?"
River came over to Isabelle, scanning the chain holding her to the wall. "It's nothing special, Doctor; the metal has been magnetized by the rune. A good blast from the screwdriver will disrupt the magnetic field."
"Who the hell are you?" Isabelle said, not unkindly.
"I'm River Song, sweetie," she smiled, all dimples.
"Alright, alright, make way for the screwdriver," sighed the Doctor, coming up to Isabelle to examine the chain for himself. He pointed the sonic screwdriver at it, Isabelle's eyes staring at him all the while, and then activated it. The chain rattled as the magnetic field was disrupted, and then it fell apart into a hundred little pieces of metal. "Never doubt the sonic."
Alec and Max pulled back as the Doctor drew level with them, but he smiled like a boy, and they relaxed. Like Jace, they could sense something about him was wrong, something about the Doctor was not human. They knew, however, that he had come to help them and they concentrated instead on the idea of freedom. As the Doctor waved the sonic screwdriver over the chains, they too fell apart.
"What is that?" asked Max curiously; he didn't know much about technology to begin with, and this was unheard of in the early twenty first century.
"Sonic screwdriver," answered the Doctor, waving it around. "Useless when it comes to a fight, wonderful at everything else."
"You're the Doctor," said Alec, and it wasn't a question.
"I am, and you're the Lightwoods in need of saving, and here we are, saving you!" The Doctor looked pleased with himself. "Which is why I repeat, get in the Tardis."
"We can't all fit," Isabelle protested, looking at the blue box that had somehow appeared in their cell. "It's impossible."
"The Tardis is interdimensional," answered the Doctor promptly.
"It's bigger on the inside," said Amy to Isabelle's look of confusion. "But the Doctor's right. We really do need to get out of here before Valentine comes back. He's hunting for Jace and Clary as we speak, and probably expected them to arrive any moment."
Alec glanced to Jace, his brother he hadn't seen in months, and felt his heart swell a little. "You came for us anyway?"
Jace shrugged. "It's gonna take a crack team to bring Valentine and Jonathan down. I figured I'd start with my family."
