Fallen Angels Rise
A/N: I believe my family is trying to sabotage my writing. We just got a new puppy and he's so stinking cute! It's been horrible for my writing because I get distracted playing with him. My normal writing time is at night before I go to sleep, but I have been so tired lately with my new job that I only get a few lines written before I fall asleep! Anyways, glad I got this one up!
Chapter 12: Testing the Waters
"Okay? Okay what?" Clary asked.
"I'll help you," Jonathan replied.
"But we didn't –" Clary said.
"You were going to though, so I thought I'd save us a step. We'll have to keep this a secret, I assume?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes, but Maryse has given us her discretionary permission to figure out if the rune works. The question is, how do we go about trying it out?" Jace postured, offering up the conversation to open discussion.
"Well, what exactly would happen to you if you were to try to leave the Institute right now?" Clary asked her brother.
Jonathan opened his mouth to response, but Jace spoke up first. "If any part of his body were to leave the walls of the Institute, he would experience an excruciating, paralyzing pain within seconds. The thinking is that he would have enough time to get a few steps out the door before he collapsed from pain, only to lay that and hope someone could bring him inside before the pain drives him to insanity."
"Thank you for that graphic imagery, Jace," Clary said curtly, not wanting to think about her brother in that kind of agony.
"It's important that you know exactly what we're dealing with here. This is not something to be taken lightly," Jace replied simply.
"I don't think Clary would take this lightly," Jonathan said in defense of his sister.
"You don't need to defend her, she can speak for herself," Jace retorted, barely evening turning to look at Jonathan before looking back at Clary.
"Neither of you should be talking about me as if I'm not sitting right here," Clary angrily contributed.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that," Jonathan replied apologetically, his face expressing his sincerity.
Clary was about to reply and let her brother off the hook when Jace interrupted again. "Listen, this might be a long process, let's stop messing around," he said pointedly at the other boy.
"I don't know what you mean. I'm not the one trying to scare Clary with images of my potential decent into madness," Jonathan quipped.
"Sure you do. You've been playing the sniveling victim since we started this conversation. There's no need to try to make me out to be a bad guy, we're all working towards the same goal. Also, it is in no one's best interest to try to hide the truth about what could happen from Clary. We all need to know everything we're getting into from the beginning in order to be successful," Jace said. Turning to Clary, he held her hands in his. "You need to realize that this might not work, or at least not in the way that we are thinking. There is a high probability that Jon will get hurt in the process." Clary raised an eyebrow at the shortening of her brother's name, but chose to ignore the informality.
"I understand that, but you didn't have to be so graphic about it," Clary chided.
"No, I really did. We have to use extreme caution with this matter," Jace emphasized.
"Okay, we get it. Be careful while we experiment. Where do we start?" Jonathan asked.
"By drawing the rune," Jace replied. Nodding her head in agreement, Clary pulled out her stele and went to draw her new rune.
"Where do you think I should put it?" Clary asked.
Jace considered the question for a moment before answering. "As of right now, I can't say for sure if it will be most effective in any particular place. Why don't we try his wrist so we can watch what happens to it?" Clary obliged his suggestion, pulling her brother's arm closer to her and drawing the new mark.
"Well, I don't feel any different. How are we supposed to know if it worked?" Jonathan asked. Jace walked the few steps over to the nearby window and opened it in answer.
The cold December air blew in through the open window, making Clary shiver. At least, she thought it was the cold. She became very nervous as she watched her brother approach the window. "Be careful!" She squeaked out. Jonathan gave her a nod in response.
He reached out the window, ever so cautiously, taking a breath to steady his hand. When he put his arm fully out the window, he winced back from the pain he expected to feel, but was astonished to find that he was in no pain at all. Smiling, he waved his arm around outside. "You did it Clary! It worked gr—ouch!" Jonathan yelled as he yanked his arm back in.
"Oh no! It didn't work!" Clary moaned, completely distraught.
"You're wrong. It did work, just not for very long," Jace corrected her. "Take a look at his wrist."
Jonathan and Clary both did as they were instructed. What lay before their eyes was a patch of pale skin with the faintest outline of a scar in the shape of the dark rune that was previously there. "I've never seen a mark burn up so fast!" Jonathan exclaimed.
"I have two theories as to why that happened," Jace replied. "Let me see your arm, I want to try something." Jonathan offered the same arm up to Jace, and Jace began to trace the rune again, but what he saw next left him stunned. "Well, that was unexpected."
"Di – Did the rune just disappear?!" Clary asked.
"Yes it did," Jonathan replied, just as shocked as his other two companions.
"I have absolutely no idea why that happened. I am at a complete loss," Jace stammered.
"That's a first," Jonathan muttered under his breath. Neither Clary nor Jace heard him though, as they were both looking at his wrist curiously.
"Clary, will you try to draw the rune again?" Jace asked. Clary did as she was asked, and when she finished, the rune stayed where it was.
"Interesting," was all Jace said. He was quiet for a moment, very deep in thought. "Clary, when you drew this rune, was the process any different than any of the other times that you created new runes?"
"Actually, it was the first time that I made the entire thing by myself. Normally it feels as if someone else is guiding my hand, but for this one it was all my own drawing. Except for the last part, but you were there when I finished it," Clary replied.
Jonathan, who had been rather quiet, was hit with the realization of Jace's train of thought. "I think this rune is only going to work when you draw it." Jace smiled as the other two began to catch on to what he was thinking.
"But what does that mean for its usefulness then?" Clary asked.
"It means that Jon can't draw it on himself and escape," Jace said with a smirk.
"Again with the nickname? What the hell happened when they were talking?" Clary thought. Jace seemed to be ruder to Jonathan today than before, but that wasn't the surprising part. She would have to ask him about that later.
"I wasn't planning on escaping," Jonathan replied, his annoyance clear in his voice.
"I didn't say you were planning on it, I just said that you couldn't," Jace retorted, continuing to smile broadly.
"Enough! Will you two please stop bickering?" Clary asked, exasperated. "Let's just keep trying with this rune. Jonathan, can you stick your arm out the window again?" He did as she asked and experienced the same result. A few seconds of freedom, and then a burning sensation all over his body.
"Now we begin to experiment," Jace said, his smile gone and his face turning more serious.
After two hours of trying the rune in different places and still not having any success, the three were about to give up for the day. Jonathan was incredibly sore from the number of times he had temporary shocks of pain and was more than ready to give up trying all together. They had run out of ideas and almost every part of his body had been marked. There was one last place, but he was sure that having his sister draw a rune on his butt was not going to be any more successful.
"I don't get it, I was so sure that this was going to work!" Clary complained. "My runes always work. I blew up a ship and a house!"
"This one works, we just haven't figured out how to get it to last for more than a few seconds," Jace comforted her. "We can keep trying tomorrow."
"Wait! I think I know what the problem is!" Jonathan exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. He regretted the quick action, because his body was aching, but he brushed away the pain for the moment.
"Well, tell us," Jace said impatiently.
"Well, Clary just reminded me. When she blew up the ship, she wasn't just drawing the rune like she would draw an iratze, she put more power behind it. I wonder if the protection would last longer if you put more emphasis into drawing the rune. Channeled more power, you know?" Jonathan suggested. Clary's eyes lit up eagerly. She had been so close to giving up, but now she had a renewed vigor for the task.
Taking Jonathan's arm, she placed the tip of the stele onto his skin and began to concentrate very hard on what she was doing. She made slow progress with the drawing, not wanting to lose her focus. Jonathan tried to hide his wincing, not wanting to alert Clary to the fact that this was far more painful than a regular rune ever felt.
When she finished drawing the rune, Jonathan took a few shaky steps towards the window. He sincerely hoped that it would work this time, both for Clary's sake and his own. He wasn't sure how much more his body could take, but he had to give this one more try. He put his arm out the window and counted to five. That was as long as the runes had ever lasted, five seconds. When he got to the count of five, his knees buckled to the ground. Clary let out a gasp and ran over to her brother. "Are you okay?!" Jonathan looked at her from where he knelt on the ground. He had a dazed look on his face and a small smile grew on his lips. "We'll stop for today, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have tried that last time." Jonathan's silence continued, he looked away from her and examined his arm.
"Clary, it's okay. I'm not in any pain. Well, not any new pain at least," Jonathan assured her, his smile growing.
"What are you talking about? You just collapsed onto the floor," Clary exclaimed.
"While this is true, I don't know why I did. I didn't feel any pain this time," Jonathan replied. "I think you did it Clary, look!" He offered her his arm to examine. The mark she had drawn was still there.
Looking up at him excitedly, Clary shrieked with joy. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. A thought struck her and she pulled back all of a sudden. "But how long will it last now?"
"Why don't we take some time and let Jonathan recover and then we can find out how long?" Jace suggested. Jonathan looked all too relieved at the offer. "Clary, why don't you go find Maryse and tell her about our progress?"
Clary, seeing no problem with the idea, agreed and headed off to find Church, and thus Maryse. "So, what did you want to say to me that you couldn't say in front of Clary?" Jonathan asked, knowing full well what Jace was planning.
Jace wheeled around to face the other boy. "You and I need to come to a little understanding. We both know that you can leave the Institute now, and I frankly do not feel like spending any more time with you than I have to. So, here's our agreement. You're not going to step foot outside of this Institute. You are going to act like you don't have that mark on you, and you are just going to go about your day like you would have. After dinner, we're going to figure out just how long you can stay outside, and then we'll call it a day when that mark fades."
"Why the hell do you think I would try to escape? It's already very clear that I will only be able to leave for a short amount of time, and while leaving this place is very tempting, as it does feel like I've been trapped in here for ages, I will not risk getting Clary in trouble with the Clave. I cannot figure out why you think I'm still the person I was before I was struck with the heavenly fire, but I am not that person anymore. I still don't know exactly who I am, but I do know who I'm not," Jonathan yelled back angrily.
Jace slammed the other boy into the wall. "Don't bring her into this. You act like you are the only one who cares about Clary. You could never be more wrong. Everyone here cares about her; we've all spent the last several months with her. You barely even know her, so quit acting like the victim around her, or one day you'll realize that her sympathy has run out." Jonathan yelled something in reply, but Jace was already walking away, deciding not to listen to a word that was being said.
Jonathan slumped against the wall in a daze. His body already hurt, so being thrown around like that didn't help. He thought he'd been making progress with Jace, but his assumption had been wrong. Admittedly, he had not helped himself out much today by being ornery towards the other boy. He would have to alter his approach, knowing that Jace wouldn't be the first to budge, and that a heightening of tension between the two of them would only upset Clary in the end.
Deciding it best to stay put, rather than raise any suspicion from Jace, Jonathan tracked down the stele that Clary had left and drew himself an iratze. Sighing in relief as the pain began to dull, he pulled out a book to keep himself occupied until dinner.
After storming out of the library, Jace needed to find a place to cool off before running into Clary. It would do him no good to give him any hint as to what had transpired in the library after she left. Figuring Clary might already be back in his room changing, he stopped in the kitchen to kill some time and calm down. He went to go open the fridge, but found it already propped open and Alec digging inside of it.
"Uhh, what are you doing?" Jace asked, struggling to recall a time that he ever saw Alec prepare food beyond making toast and pouring milk on cereal.
"Trying to find something to cook. Magnus is coming here – since I still can't leave to go see him – and I said I would cook us dinner," Alec said in a hurry.
"And you somehow managed to forget that you don't know how to cook?" Jace teased, reaching past her parabatai and digging around in the fridge.
"Well… yes. Can you help me?" Alec begged.
"How much time do you have?" Jace asked.
"He'll be here in about two hours," Alec answered, looking at Jace hopefully.
"Okay, can you go to my room and tell Clary that I'll be down here for a while? I can take care of all of this," Jace replied.
A look of relief washed over Alec's face and he was about to leave and do what Jace asked of him, but stopped in his tracks. "Actually, no. I don't want you to do this for me. I want to be the one to cook for Magnus. Will you teach me how to make something? Something easy?" Smiling, Jace agreed and explained his idea for the meal. They would make a salad and chicken fettuccini alfredo. "Magnus said he would bring the dessert."
"Excellent, that gives me more time to help prevent you from burning the house down. Please tell me you're not nearly as bad at cooking as Izzy is," Jace said.
"Well, my skills aren't any better, but I'm far less adventurous than she is. That has to count for something," Alec replied with a shrug, Jace only laughed.
They set to work on the meal, making swift progress and surprisingly few errors. Jace would pull ingredients and tell Alec what to do with each one, carefully supervising each task. "I have to run and find Clary, she's going to wonder where I am. Just keep doing what you're doing and I'll be right back," Jace said before hurrying off to his room.
He found Clary curled up in one of the chairs next to the window. It appeared that she had fallen asleep while reading. Leaning down, Jace picked the paperback up off the floor and examined the cover. It was the book that Jonathan had given her, making Jace laugh that once again is caused his girlfriend to fall asleep while reading it. He went to shake her awake, but decided better of it. Instead, he carried her to the bed and placed her under the covers.
The peacefulness that had come over him upon finding a sleeping Clary vaporized once he walked into the kitchen. The smoke alarm was going off, something smelled horribly burnt, and Alec's faced was stricken with a look of pure panic. "What the hell happened? I wasn't gone that long!"
"I thought I'd start on the chicken, but then I forgot about it and it started to burn and then I just panicked," Alec replied abashedly.
"Let me see what happened," Jace said in a resigned voice. He walked over and looked at the blackened chicken. Fortunately, he truly hadn't been gone all that long, and so the charring was only on half of the piece of meat. He simply cut away the burnt layer and then cut the chicken breast into strips to be mixed into the past later.
"Well, that was way easier than I thought," Alec said sheepishly. He was beginning to truly realize exactly how inept he was when it came to preparing food. The panic inside him began to swell, and he began to worry about what Magnus might think of the food. He regretted offering to cook, this could mess up his already fragile relationship.
Noticing his parabatai tense up, Jace put a reassuring had on his shoulder. "It will be just fine. Magnus won't leave you because of your lack of cooking skills. I don't think he knows how to make anything either. All the food he ever serves is what he can steal using his magic."
"I just don't want him to be disappointed. After we broke up, I thought I would never get a second chance. I don't want to screw up again," Alec said.
"Listen," Jace said, forcing Alec to turn and look at him. "You made a mistake – a huge mistake, mind you – but you've learned from it, right?" Alec nodded. "Then always make sure to remember what you learned. You have to learn to trust Magnus, and you have to give him a reason to trust you."
"I hope I can get him to trust me again," Alec sighed.
"You will, and to start, make him trust that you're not trying to kill him and let that chicken finish cooking," Jace joked. "I'm going to go get changed, enjoy your dinner." Alec smiled back at him before returning his focus to the chicken he was cooking. He mentally declared to himself that it wouldn't burn this time.
Back in his room, Jace found that Clary was still asleep in his bed. Kicking off his shoes, he decided there was still plenty of time until dinner and crawled into bed next to her. Wrapping his arms around Clary, he drew her in, causing her to stir and wake up slightly.
"How did I get into bed?" Clary asked sleepily, her eyes still closed.
"I carried you here, now go back to sleep," Jace replied, placing a trail of light kisses along her neck. Clary let out a small, content sigh before falling back asleep.
When they both woke up again, the room was dark. The late afternoon sunlight that had been streaming through the windows had disappeared. "Jace, wake up. We're going to miss dinner," Clary said, propping herself up on her elbow and nudging her boyfriend.
"What have you done to me woman? I never take naps!" Jace exclaimed both jokingly and a bit groggily, his face still buried in his pillow.
"Oh, so now you're blaming me for being able to sleep?" Clary chided, playing along with his pretend anger.
"Yes, yes I am. You have no right to make me feel relaxed and rested, Not being cranky takes away from my ability to brood and look angsty," He retorted, pulling Clary on top of him. She looked down at him for a moment before the urge to kiss him overwhelmed her. Jace smiled into the kiss, having gotten his way. As he was in the process of rolling them over so that he was looking down at her, his stomach let out a long growl.
"Even your own body doesn't want this to happen," Clary laughed. Jace rolled his eyes and they both climbed out of bed. He quickly changed his shirt and they made their way down to dinner together. No one suspected a thing, except maybe Isabelle, who took one look at Clary's hair and suppressed a small laugh.
"So what did you guys do this afternoon?" Isabelle inquired, eyeing Jace and Clary. Clary did her best not to blush as she smoothed down her hair, Jace just gave Isabelle a cocky smile.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He asked.
"Nothing, just Clary's lessons," Jonathan hurriedly blurted out at the same time. Isabelle raised an eyebrow at the two, causing Jace to groan internally.
"What's going on?" Isabelle questioned curiously.
"Nothing at all. This one here just always assumes the conversation is directed towards him," Jace answered, his split decision comment coming off crueler than he intended. Jonathan, however, took no offense to Jace's comments. Instead, he was glad to be spared the interrogation from Isabelle, no matter what was said at his expense.
Isabelle didn't look convinced, but Jace acted his part well enough that she didn't feel the need to pry further in fear of setting him off. Instead, she decided to change the subject, "Does anyone know where Alec is?"
"He's on a date," Jace replied, smirking again.
"He's what?! Why does he get to leave?" Isabelle whined.
"Calm down Iz, he hasn't left the Institute. Magnus came here, they're eating in the kitchen, I helped him cook a dinner for the two of them. I could give you some cooking lessons too if you wanted," Jace joked.
His humor was not received well though, because Isabelle quickly excused herself from the table, leaving behind a half finished dinner. Clary thought she saw the glimmer of tears swelling in her friend's eyes.
"What was that all about?" Jonathan asked, confused by the scene that just played out before him.
"I'm not sure, but it probably has to do with Simon. I think she misses him," Clary replied.
"She'll get over it soon enough. We need to focus on that rune though. I say we go all the way outside this time. Let's see if getting your whole body out the door is possible," Jace declared, effectively ending the previous conversation. Clary and Jonathan had both finished their meals, so they both shrugged and cleared their plates from the table. Grabbing their coats, the three climbed into the elevator and took it down to the sanctuary.
Upon reaching the door, Jace opened it and stepped outside, Clary following close behind him. Jonathan reached the doorframe and hesitated. He looked up at Clary, who gave him a warm smile and an encouraging nod. He took the last step out into the courtyard, and was immediately relieved to discover that he was in no pain. He breathed in a deep breathe of the fresh air, and it felt like he had not truly been breathing the entire time he was locked away in the Institute. The cold, crisp air felt good in his lungs, his mouth breaking into a wide grin at the simple pleasure.
"Well, are you in any pain?" Jace asked, breaking the other boy's reverie.
Jonathan took a second to consider the question, though he immediately felt foolish for doing so. If he was actually in pain, he would know immediately. "I feel great!" He replied with a smile laugh and giant smile. He looked over at his sister to see her reaction, and his joy immediately faded. Clary had an odd look on her face, somewhere between worry and sorrow. "What's wrong, Clary?"
"What? Oh, nothing, I guess. I just don't think we should get very far from the door, incase, you know…" Clary trailed off, not wanting to actually say what she knew would eventually happen. The two boys agreed, stepping back towards the door. In the following moments, the three were surprised to see that nothing happened. They continued to stand in a circle, just watching each other.
"Can you two not stare at me like that?" Jonathan asked.
"Actually no. I have fallen madly in love with you and it breaks my heart to look away," Jace replied.
Clary rolled her eyes at Jace, "I just want to be able to see the first signs of pain. You'll need to get inside the Institute immediately."
"Okay, fine. It's just kinda creepy the way you're looking at me," Jonathan sighed, resigning himself to the necessity of the matter. The three fell into an awkward silence as the most grueling of waiting games began.
After standing around for fifteen minutes, shivering the whole time, Clary couldn't stand the silence anymore. "This is taking forever! How much longer are we going to be out here?"
"Well, I can't say for sure, but isn't it a good thing that we're still out here?" Jonathan asked, slightly taken aback by his sister's comments.
Wincing as she realized how her words must have come out, Clary grimaced. "Yes, yes of course! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that. I'm just cold."
"Why don't you go inside then? We'll be fine out here," Jace suggested, concern for Clary clear in his voice.
"No, if you're out here, I want to be here too," Clary replied stubbornly.
"Of course you do," Jace sighed. "Come here then, let me keep you warm." He gestured for her to come near him and she gladly fell into his arms. By the time an hour had been up, all three of them were chilled to the bone and ready to call it a night. The mark was still as dark as when clary drew it, showing no signs of fading whatsoever.
They spent the following afternoon and evening standing outside for an hour at a time until once again it grew late into the night and they came inside for the last time. It wasn't until the next day that Jonathan began to feel any amount of pain, and it was very mild. He felt a dull ache begin to consume his body that gradually worsened over the course of an hour. It took a full two hours after his first inklings of pain for the pain to supersede his ability to withstand it and the mark to disappear. All in all, they calculated that he had been outside of the Institute for about twelve hours. The three quickly made plans to continue testing and experimenting with the rune, a process that they had to hurry through, as they had a deadline. Luke and Jocelyn would be married in six weeks, and they were now expecting Jonathan to be there.
