A/N: Once a week is obviously not a realistic goal for me anymore. Things basically fell apart for awhile and ..yeah. I will do my best and update as often as I can. From now on, info on when chapters are coming, etc. will be in my bio.

This chapter is dedicated to the lovely TheArkAngel, who pushed me to write what might be my longest chapter to date!

Jace didn't know how to react. Just seconds ago, he'd heard Alec and Magnus laughing and having fun and now Alec was standing in front of him, arms crossed and glaring. He didn't even acknowledge Clary behind him.

It didn't seem like Alec was going to say anything anytime soon, so Jace decided to speak up. "What's wrong, Alec?"

Alec made a derisive-sounding snort. "What's wrong? Oh, nothing really. We're just stuck in a demon realm where we could die at any moment with some stupid illusion that could, for all we know, be leading us to our doom. That's all." His voice was eerily calm, made all the more creepy by the fact that Jace could still see the fury etched on his face. He turned back to Clary for support, but she was gone.

"Ok, yes, I know that. Anything else bothering you in particular? Because I don't understand why you're so mad about it all of a sudden, and why you seem to be mad at me in particular." Jace knew as soon as he'd finished speaking that it was the wrong thing to say. He could see it on Alec's face, which he had thought could not get any more furious. He was wrong.

"Oh, really? You know that already? It sure doesn't look seem like it! You're over here laughing and having loads of fun with Clary while I'm stuck in that stupid house dealing with an imposter and worrying about how we're going to do what we came here for and then get home safely! It's like you don't even care!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Alec? " Jace's voice was rising as well. He didn't like being accused of things that weren't true. Especially because he'd been arguing with Clary for most of the time. "You seemed to be perfectly happy here until a few seconds ago when you barged in here spewing nonsense! Why the hell do you think I'm having fun?" If Clary could hear them shouting, she didn't come over to back him up. Alec was being ridiculous. Jace figured he'd realized he'd come here to blame him for something so he could feel better about all the time he'd wasted hanging out with Magnus.

"I could hear you and Clary in here from the other house. Playing music and having fun and whatever. While I was sitting there trying to figure out the solution to this mess!"

"That's such a stupid lie, Alec. I could hear you and Magnus having fun right next door to us while WE were sitting here debating if we should come over and start talking strategy! You're the one playing music and having fun, and then you try to put it on me? Who are you trying to fool?" Jace took a deep breath, but it did nothing to calm him. He'd do anything for his parabatai, which is why it angered him so much to be accused of doing the opposite. "I'm not sure what exactly you are trying to accomplish here, but it's not going to work. I'm not just going to sit here and just accept all the crap you're accusing of. Wrongly accusing me of, I might add." It was almost ironic, Jace admitted to himself, that Alec had come over here accusing Jace of what he wished were true, that he and Clary weren't arguing and were having as much fun as Magnus and Alec had been. But they weren't and the injustice of it fed into his anger. Why should they be happy right now? There was almost nothing to be happy about, finding Magnus aside. But it didn't make sense to argue with him at the moment. Maybe I should just try and change the subject? thought Jace.

"And on top of it all, you're not even making sense," Jace continued. "What's this imposter nonsense you keep going on about?" He cringed as he finished. So much for changing the subject to diffuse the situation. He was pretty sure he'd just made it worse. Great. Just another thing he'd messed up today.

Alec just stared at him for a moment. The anger had mostly left his face at this point. He just looked exasperated now. "Magnus, Jace. Magnus is the imposter. As in, it's not really Magnus. He's just an illusion, probably one of Leviathan's. So you see why your little story doesn't make sense now? Why would I be having fun with a stupid illusion?"

"Illusion?" A small part of Jace still thought that Alec was just making excuses. That thought wouldn't leave him alone, like a kid clinging to their mother on the first day of school. But Jace decided to set his suspicion aside for the moment, even as it grew louder in his head, in an effort to get Alec to calm down. "Clary and I both saw Magnus and he seemed exactly the same to us. And I assume you asked him a whole bunch of personal questions to check." And then you celebrated, is what he didn't add to the end of that sentence. Why won't you just admit it and move on?

Alec opened his mouth to say something, but he must have thought better of it because he stopped and took a few deep breaths instead. "Of course I did. He seemed to remember everything I brought up perfectly, sometimes even finishing my sentences. And I guess that'd be enough to convince you, but not me. You don't know him as well as I do, so of course you think it's him. But something is off about him. He never notices the same things as I do. Usually, we could have a whole a whole conversation about some event and not even mention the same things at all. This time, it was like he was in my head, seeing everything exactly as I had seen it. So no, I'm not convinced."

Jace didn't say anything and Alec spoke again after a few moments. "All this yelling isn't getting us anywhere. Sorry to bother you." Alec tried to appear calm as he turned around and left, but he slammed the door behind him without really meaning to. His anger was still bottled up inside him; going over to Jace had been a complete waste of time. All he'd done was lie and belittle Alec until he'd begun to doubt himself. Which was not that surprising to Alec, in the end. He was usually wrong, and someone else was usually right. Just because he'd learned to stop trying to protect everyone and actually fight didn't mean that he wasn't still the weakest link in the group.

Alec realized he'd been heading back towards his house. No, he thought. The house belongs to Leviathan, not me. Don't get comfortable here. But as he reached the fence, he realized that the illusion would be waiting for him inside. He turned away from the fence abruptly and decided that now was as good a time as any to explore their surroundings. Looking ahead, the street never seemed to end. The rows of perfect houses surrounded by white fences stretch on into the horizon. It was starting to hurt his eyes.

Out of curiosity, Alec walked up to one of the houses. The door was locked, as usual, but the curtains were pulled back. Alec peered into the house. No pictures adorned these walls, and the house seemed bare and vacant. The only piece of furniture he could see was a single wooden chair that looked rather uncomfortable. He wondered absently if these houses just suddenly… furnished themselves as soon as someone got trapped in Invid. Alec knew he'd likely never get the answer. Regardless, answers weren't going to present themselves here anyway, so he stepped back out into the street to continue looking for ... something.

He found his something less than 5 minutes later. A small parkette. It had a little playground with colorful swings and a slide, a big oak tree, and beside it a bench. But what really surprised Alec was the view from the bench. In front of him, a sparkling lake surrounded by forest had appeared. It was too big for him not to have seen it from the houses—as he had taken to calling the two houses they were staying in—and yet there it was. It was mesmerizing. Alec sat on the bench and felt a calm settle over him, as if the lake had healing properties. A thought popped into his head before he could stop it. I hope Jace doesn't find this place. He dismissed it immediately, though the fact that it had occurred to him at all was troubling.

Suddenly, a voice behind him spoke. "Beautiful, isn't it? Almost reminds me of Lake Lyn." Alec bristled at the sound. He'd specifically been trying to avoid the fake Magnus. And right when he was just starting to feel better, of course. Alec didn't reply, instead opting for a noncommittal grunt. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Well, you. But other than that, nothing." His face remained neutral, but the words burned coming out of his mouth.

"Don't lie to me, Alec. I know you better than that." He stopped, waiting for Alec to answer. Alec simply stared at the lake. Part of him thought that if he put enough effort into ignoring the illusion, Leviathan would just give up. "I already know you fought with boy wonder. That can't possibly be the only thing bothering you, is it?"

Alec didn't like the way he was talking about Jace, but he had to admit it was perfectly in character, down to the slightly sarcastic nickname. Could I be wrong about him? "Jace is my parabatai, of course a fight with him would bother me." said Alec huffily "Honestly, I'd just like to be left alone for a bit."

Magnus nodded and walked away from the bench silently.

Alec knew he'd be back soon enough. And he'd bring up Jace and Clary again, which would do nothing but rile him up again. Maybe he'd even go marching back there again in another fit of jealousy or whatever that was earlier.

Suddenly, he had a realization. He jumped up and ran back towards Jace's house.

This time, when Jace heard knocking, he knew who it was. He yanked open the door and took a deep breath to prepare himself for Alec's second outburst. Except it never came. Before Jace could react, Alec wrapped his arms around him in a quick, but strong hug.

"I am so sorry for yelling at you earlier. It was … weird. But I think I've figured it out."

Jace felt his face scrunch up in confusion "I didn't know there was anything to figure out."

Alec sat down on the step. "I've figured out why we were so mad at each other. Leviathan is manipulating us. Jealousy is pretty much just a form of envy, right? So all he had to do was manipulate us to be jealous enough to fight." A new thought occurred to him, and he sighed. "And he probably made both of us hear the same thing, which made things even worse. You really weren't listening to music, were you?"

"No, and I'm guessing neither were you?"

"Definitely not." Though he was glad to have sorted this mess out, the issue of Magnus -fake or otherwise- still hung over him like a dark cloud. "I guess we'll just have to be careful from now on. Leviathan could be manipulating our emotions at any moment."

"I agree. I have a feeling this is just the beginning."

Frezdafranklur: You're absolutely right, I HAVE to use that line or at least some variation thereof. Somewhere, somehow. Consider it done. (Might have to be in another story, though.)

TheArkAngel: Better? This one was longer!

Guest: Thank you so much! I really appreciate it and I'm sorry this took me so long!

[FF isn't letting me add the bunny this time :*( ]